Star Trek: Theurgy

Episode 04: Simulcast | Chapter 02 "Crucible"

"The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual - for it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost."

[ USS Theurgy | Main Bridge | Passing Through the Tachyon Defence Grid ] Attn: All

In grey mode, one could hear things that were not there. On his part, Captain Ives thought he heard the screams of those he had failed up until that day. Until that hour that he now faced. He continued to count the seconds left, waiting for the tachyon grid that they were approaching to compromise their position, to hear Commander Trent annoucning that they had been detected. Yet nothing happened as he sat there, back straight and face unreadable. Slowly, he opened his eyes where he sat in the commanding officer's chair, and the first thing he saw on the viewscreen was not the infrared reading of the grid... but a small pin-prick of light. It might just as well have been a star, but he knew knew it for what it was. Starbase 84. They had made it through.

The bridge was silent, and Jien imagined how everyone stared at him, waiting for his word now that they had passed the detection grid. He could feel the weight of their expectation pressing down on him, but that was but a fleeting thought as he weighed the full import of the next few minutes, hours and hopefully, days to come. Not only for him and his crew, but for the entire Federation. His next few words required perfect rhetoric, yet he wasn't perfect, and he feared that anything he said would be woefully inadequate. He fought down a deep breath, and rose to his feet, knowing he had to remain stoic at all times. He turned eyes his bridge crew, and they stopped what they were doing - looked up from their stations.

"Put me through to the whole ship. Low band frequency." There were a few of his senior officers that were not there, but he knew their assignments, and also knew that they were waiting to hear his words. He wanted to make sure everyone aboard heard him, for there were no room for mistakes. He wanted to demand just that, but he knew they needed to hear something else entirely.

"This is your Captain speaking. The time has come for us. For you, brave men and women. You, who have survived months of wandering, or joined us more recently. You, who have fought against the fleet that we swore to serve. Too long, you have endured the accusations of the usurpers. For too long, we have resisted this exile. We did it not for ourselves, but for truth, justice and freedom. We did it for the future of the Federation, and potentially, the whole galaxy. The true face of the enemy lay hidden in the heart of the fleet, but we shall not permit this to continue. Not for one more day. Not for one more day... shall the usurpers be deceiving our people, taking the role of our true leaders. We know the truth...and it's time to let it be known."

Not the best of starts. Too stoic. He could not just recite worn facts already known. Jien cleared his throat and paused, his thoughts venturing to what they have been through, and he knew he had to address it somehow. How could he not? He just wanted them to look forward, though, instead of what lay behind them.

"I do not need to remind you of the sacrifices you have made, scarred onto your bodies, and etched into your memories. You will carry these reminders with you for all your days to come. Yet in the best of outcomes, one day, many years from now, you might be able to gather your families and closest friends, and tell them the tale of how when the Theurgy saved the Federation. You will be able to tell them that you were there. You will tell them of those we had to kill, not in cold blood, or a desire for vengeance, but because we were forced to. We will one day face those who suffered loss at our hands. We will face their families, and we should do it with heads held high - with the calm assurance of those who did what was required. What had to be done in order to save all the rest. For when we were pressed into the darkest corners, we were able to survive. Not because we were better men and women. But because we were filled with the righteousness of our cause. We had the most at stake, and when cornered, we rose to the occasion like no other crew has ever done before."

Jien swallowed, closing his mouth for a moment. He changed... to her female form, needing to gain fortitude in order to continue - as if she channeled strength from a fresh, new form. She continued in her crystal clear tone. "When you tell those dear to you about our story, I ask that you tell them of the friends, the brothers and sisters-in-arms, who fought and died beside you. About those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be here today, fulfilling their mission." Clenching her teeth, she took a couple of steps forward, oaken eyes pinned on the distant starbase ahead of them. "For now... we shall honour that memory, and fulfill their duties for them. We face now, what I hope will be our final battle. When the truth is known, the battle will no longer be just ours. No longer will we be alone in the cold darkness. We will return once more to the fleet where we belong, and I - at least - dare hope that we will be lauded as saviours of the Federation."

Her thoughts went to those who thought differently, those who had sided with Captain Vasser out of self-preservation, untainted by T'Rena's mind-meld. "Some aboard might say it's folly, but I'm not telling you that this will be a simple mission. Nor will I tell you that we are all going to live. When we get there, we will have only a few minutes before they detect our presence. They will order all of the docked ships to target us, to kill us, and unleash the collective firepower of that base against us. In all probability, we might all die... but only if we fail." In the end, it was quite simple, so she spelled it out for the entire crew on no uncertain terms. It was long overdue. "Entering that base, activating the whistle-blower system, and letting everyone hear the truth, it will unmask the usurpers in front of the entire fleet. Aside from everything else, that alone gives sense to everything we had endured these past months. That alone gives sense to all our losses. In the eyes of the fleet, it is the only thing that can redeem us for all we have done. It is the compensation we bring... for the severe cost of our duty."

It was that simple, boiled down on no uncertain terms. "Well, I suppose we could go back and hide again," she said, a faint, rueful smile touching her face, fading quickly even if it drew a chuckle or two from the bridge crew, "Indeed, we could live the rest of our lives in the darkness, knowing what we do about Starfleet Command and what awaits, letting the Federation rot and fall apart from within. Watch the onset of a new galactic war. Or... we can continue forward. We can shed some light to this darkness. I don't know about you, but I'm done hiding. We are mere minutes away from executing our mission. Minutes away from saving those we love. From saving ourselves. I'm ready to right this wrong, and while I regret that more of us could not be here to see this day, I do not regret having each and every one of you at my side... in this final crucible. What say you?"

She turned from the viewscreen and faced those assembled. "Should we go back... or should we go forward?"

"Forward!"

"I say these months have been enough. We are going forward. Let's us unmask the usurpers and let everyone know the true face of the enemy. This is Captain Ives. All hands, be ready. The time has come."

Finally.

"Ives, out."

---

OOC: Next to post, CanadianVet, where the count-down to transporter range is done. Thea and Ravenholm gets their orders too. The order for the boarding teams to energise is given. After that, Brutus has Stark energising the transports from her duty station. Important to note is that Starbase 84 goes to Red Alert and raises shields just as they are transported - bringing to question whether or not they made it through. More notes to come after that point to the boarding teams. Everyone are encouraged to post ahead of this, and it would be in reaction to Ives' speech and before the Theurgy enter transporter range (one minute of waiting before the count-down) and Commander Trent deals the pre-set orders.

I will be posting separately for the ongoing Starbase 84 scenes, in the starter for other Chapters.

 

[ Commander Trent | USS Theurgy | Main Bridge | Passing Through the Tachyon Defence Grid ] Attn: All

The preparations after the final briefing had been done.  Personnel had been assigned, and even a promotion handed out in the time between that last chance for the Senior Staff to get their heads together and dropping out of warp.  There had been some protest, mainly from Lieutenant Carson, who was in charge of the Torpedo section of the Tactical Department, when Trent handed Arisaka the rank of Provisional Lieutenant J.G. and appointed him as the Assistant Tactical Officer.  If anything, the former Petty Officer was the best choice for the role; he had the right instincts, unlike Carson he did hold a valid Bridge Tactical Operations certification, and overall he had the respect of the department as a whole.  And truth be told, the XO did need a strong right hand with that department. 

And also he had effectively made Dewitt his right hand.  Granted, she as not appointed as Second Officer, and mostly she stood outside the chain of command, but she would be answering directly to him as his adjutant, help with intelligence matters, and as Starfleet's first dedicated Electronic Warfare Officer.  But on this day, she would not be on the Bridge, and it was Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura, whom he had also been bringing up to speed in such matters, who would be manning Theurgy's less conventional defensive systems. 

After all, he needed a chance to download some of his responsibilities, if only so he could focus on what he had to do. 

Each Battle Bridge was manned, and despite being in Grey Mode, the ship was effectively at Red Alert, with everyone ready to man their stations the moment power would be restored and the klaxons would sound.  But for the time being, he waited.

Once they crossed the Tachyon Grid, Trent looked at his console at Tactical before crossing to Support Systems, where Yukimura was managing Theurgy's fledging EW capabilities.  There hadn't been enough time to further polish it, but so far as he could tell they had a fraction of Calamity's sensor-blinding capability at their disposal, but for now the power levels were tightly leashed, doing nothing but providing the impression they were nothing but a chunk of rock and covering their minimal power signature, and instead he looked at the sensor readouts.  "We've crossed the Tachyon Grid.  Tachyon particles are sticking to the deflector shield, and we are radiating our cover signature.  We are being actively scanned by long-range sensors..." 

For a moment the Executive Officer held his breath.  Normally, it would be just a cursory scan to determine what triggered the alarm, and if it was nothing it would be but a single pass.  But if they were more persistently looked at... "We're no longer being scanned.  I think they've bought it."

But if he heaved a sigh of relief, it was entirely in his mind.  After all, the crew did not need to now just how nervous he had been.

Following the announcement, he listened to the Captain's speech, and once Ives had said his piece, Trent returned to Tactical and for what must have been the hundredth time, he checked the status of the other Battle Bridges, the Fighter Bay and the relays that would be tripped to bring all systems ready for action.  And then, he had to give the countdown.  "Captain, eleven minutes to transporter range.  Commander Stark, our personnel are beaming over and the crash power-up are on your go."

From Tactical, Trent tapped the earpiece he wore, one connected to a boom mike.  That had been his initiative, to keep the noise levels down on the Bridge while he would need to coordinate with the fighters in Ensign Henshaw's absence, two other command facilities, and the Flag Bridge where the drone operators were located.  "Battle Bridges, Fighter Bay, Flag Bridge, Shuttlebay, Allegiant, this is the XO.  Stand by for action.  You all know what you need to do, so I won't bore you with the details.  Remember, self-defence and minimum casualties rules of engagement don't mean you have to get yourself killed to spare anyone on the other side.  Try to avoid killing anyone if you can, but do it if you must.  But anyone trying to withdraw or standing down is to be left alone, but keep your eyes peeled in case they try for a dirty trick.  Watch each other's backs, and good hunting.  Trent out."

[ Miles Renard | Wolf 01 | Fighter Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All In Fighter Bay.

The squad leader looked around from his seat in his mark 3 Valkyrie.  The small ship was silent but prepared to be fired up and launched at the command of the mission ops desk.  He looked around the bay looking to his fellow pilots as he listed to Ives speak over the intercom knowing in mere minutes the silence would be a distant memory through the heat of stellar combat.  For the moment though his cockpit remained open. At some parts of the Captain's speech, his thoughts went to Dyan Cardamone, who would be on one of the boarding teams. He thought about the argument they had gotten into, and he was not even sure who's fault it had been.

Once the captain had said his piece and the XO said his own miles spoke up breaking the silence on the Deck.  "We were all in the briefing so I don't think the mission needs repeating.  With any luck we will all pull through this together.  He said reminding himself of last mission's tragedy.  Everyone keep your engines cold till we get the launch order then fire them up and we all launch try and stay non-lethal if you can but don't get yourself killed doing it."  He reminded everyone before adding.  "Chief you got anything to say before the shit hits the fan?"  He asked turning his head to Covington.

[ Aisha S'iti | USS Theurgy | Main Bridge ]

The officer at the helm listened and watched patiently as the ship drifted through space inertia and the occasional tug of gravity having adjusted their course as they passed through the grid.  Patiently she waited for the controls to light back up so she could resume a more active role knowing that until they exited gray mode there was nothing to do but trust in the flight path she had put them on before cutting all unnecessary power and allowing the nature of space and physics pilot them to their destination.

[ Selena Ravenholm | USS Theurgy | Transporter Room ]

As the captain spoke the cyborg adjusted the pistol in her left hand checking the power cells before looking to the rifle that was at her right side.  It was a TR120, a weapon she was more than familiar with the ammo for.    Quite possibly the perfect partner for her anti nadion grenades and a non-lethal partner at that.  It had not been hard at all for her to create a more intuitive interface for the rifle than its monocle like scope well for her at least.  All she had needed to do was to create a feed sending the visual data the scope would give to her enhanced eyesight's feed.  Now all she needed to do was touch her temple near her right eye and she saw a direct fed from the guns sights out of one eye and out of her left there was her usual field of vision.  Picking up the weapon in her right hand she got herself used to the view of her left field of vision being her POV while the right was that of her rifle's aim.  Given the strength in her prosthetic arms it was no issue to carry the normally two handed and shoulder aimed weapon loosely in the one hand.  Of course her plan was not to rely on one handing the rifle but she knew that if necessary she could double her effective firepower.  For the time being though she put the pistol like weapon away storing it in her thigh compartment and raised the rifle to her left shoulder lining up both views with each other.  Her augmented left eye and the view of the guns sight in her right aligned and her mind sorted the image allowing a level of detail unmatched by natural vision.  She was ready for her mission.

[ Heather McMillan | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Nada

[Show/Hide]

Daintily making her way through the corridors of the Theurgy, Heather McMillan's glow was non-existent now, as the tense buildup in her stomach made it hard for something even as natural as glowing to continue. Wispy thin strands of hair flowed around her in a surreal manner as she moved, followed by Bunny, the hologram rabbit. She nodded politely to whomever she passed, sometimes making a clumsy salute, which earned looks, and an increase in her speed of walking, which looked odd with the way she walked on tip-toe all the time, and her tendency to trip or fall. She was carrying her boots in one hand, preferring to go bare feet, and that was when she heard the Captain's voice. As he spoke, she placed her right palm over her heart, and started a soft ray of light from her palm, over her own chest, and her eyes began to shine.

"I walk in the light of Your favour and mercy," said McMillan, in a soft, nearly-inaudible murmur, "let Your light shine. Protect these people, may peace rest upon them and all who meet them."

A prayer, a plea, a petition, for the crew, even the ship, whom McMillan had come to regard to be as much a living being as anyone else on board her. Thea, they called her, and she had a shape, a form, a face, and to some extent, a personality. She fascinated McMillan no end, but the young woman was far too afraid and embarrassed to even approach the ship's humanoid form more than ten feet. Resuming her trek to the Medical Bay, the Radiant let the light from her hand vanish, and she idly patted her hair down, trying to keep it from floating up, more a force of habit than necessity now that everyone was aware of the fact that she was not human. Captain Ives' continued, now in a female voice, which made McMillan pause for a brief second, as she had to remind herself that the Captain could switch faces and voices.

Once at her destination, she carefully stepped through the threshold, yet still managed to trip over her own feet the last two steps in. "Hwah!"

She was back up as quickly as she went down, blushing furiously. "Quite all right, quite all right."

She was either assuring herself, or anyone else who bothered to look and listen.

[ Maya (https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/e/7/maya_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n3n.png) | Deck 11 | Main Sickbay| Entry Corridor/Waiting Room]

"Hwah!"  Provisional Warrant Officer Heather McMillan cried as she entered main sickbay on Deck Eleven.  Somehow the little scientist had tripped over her own feet.  It was the first time that Lieutenant (junior grade) Maya had seen her in uniform and apparently the shoes took some getting used to.  The greenblooded physician was manning the registry duty station and had an excellent view of her spill.

"Are you all right Miss McMillan?" Maya asked as she rose with an eerily fluid motion and glided around the desk to help Heather to her feet. 

"Quite all right, quite all right," the blushing woman replied as she rose to her feet quickly, too embarrassed to accept assistance.  Maya got the distinct impression that she had an aversion to being touched. 

"You're not hurt?" Maya asked.  "Are you certain?"

Maya didn't know Heather McMillian very well.  She did know that she was a civilian xenobiologist who had come aboard just a few weeks before they fled Earth.  They both had an interest in music but while Maya had a dulcet mezzosoprano voice Heather was completely off key.  Despite her clumsiness, Miss McMillan was an accomplished dancer.  Both Maya and Heather had an interest in fiction and were avid people watchers.  They were both pacifists, both socially awkward, and both of them were naïve, friendly, and cheerful.  (Maya considered herself friendly and cheerful, but in reality came off as aloof and distant.)  And both of them weren't homo sapiens from Sol III.

Aboard the Theurgy, the medical staff were privy to certain secrets above their clearance, namely what species their patients really were.  Maya wasn't really sure just what Miss McMillian was, only that the civilian scientist was a member of an intelligent species that hadn't made contact with the Federation yet.  Maya wasn't Heather McMillian's doctor, all she knew was that Heather McMillian was extremely fragile and was biologically so alien that it was unlikely that the intelligent parasites that had taken over Starfleet could infest her.  She also knew that anyone as susceptible to injury and infection as Miss McMillian was probably shouldn't be assigned a job where she might be exposed to bodily fluids. 
 

---

[ Tessa May Lance (https://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/0/d/tessa_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6mx6.png) | Wolf 07 | Fighter Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] 

Tessa Lance, call sign 'Goldeneye' sat in her Valkyrie waiting for the signal to launch.  She went through her breathing exercises and tried to put herself into 'the zone' she while she listened to her squadron commander's words through her helmet's headphones:

"We were all in the briefing so I don't think the mission needs repeating.  With any luck we will all pull through this together."  Miles Renard's steady and encouraging voice assured her.

Yeah right, Tessa thought.  Not going to make that promise.

"Everyone keep your engines cold till we get the launch order then fire them up and we all launch try and stay non-lethal if you can but don't get yourself killed doing it," Renard instructed. 

Tessa closed her eyes and recalled the mission briefing.  If she remembered correctly, the Lone Wolves' job was to provide an antifighter screen for the Theurgy and prevent any shuttles or runabouts from getting close enough to beam anyone aboard the carrier.  The Valkyries had been equipped with the new Twin mount cannons and given additional microtorpedo launchers to take down a small craft's shields and a tetryon pulse cannon to disable the small craft once its shield was down.  They were to avoid killing if at all possible; the men and women in that Starbase 84 would send after them were just as dedicated to protecting the Federation as the Lone Wolves were.  They were divided into two man flight elements.  Hurl was her wingman.  That meant that Chief Petty Officer Earl Lundh's life was her responsibility.  She prayed to Gods that had apparently gone deaf that he'd make it back today.

---

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell (https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Transporter Room Two | Deck 05 | USS Theurgy  ]  

With a RG-M1506 PT-10 Accipiter in his hands, MCPO William Robert "Billy Bob" O'Connell listened to Ives' speech as he stood in Transporter Room Two the company of six other men...  Seven other men and Miss Thea. 

It was normal to fret aboard this ship but the Theurgy seemed so much more complicated now.  Was it Billy Bob's imagination or was the ship somehow bigger, more complicated now that he had assumed the position of acting chief engineer?  For a ship this advanced, so cutting edge, so complex, it needed a well-educated savant who was trained specifically in the new technologies found aboard her.  Just last week he had bragged that he was the only one left who knew every nut and bolt of the Theurgy and now the ship seemed so large and complex he felt completely lost.  Thank God Miss Thea was aboard to explain how everything worked.

Thea, the patron saint of the Theurgy and the holographic representation of the ship's artificial intelligence stood by just as if she was a human crewmember.  Billy Bob wasn't sure it was a great idea to have Thea's personality "elsewhere" while the ship was danger, but with the ship in "grey mode" it hardly mattered.  Everything from the warp core to the structural integrity fields were either shut off or at minimal power; it wasn't as if Thea was going to have her mind on the ship or anything. 

Billy Bob wasn't sure it was a good idea to have the acting chief engineer go on a suicide mission.  He supposed one of the engineers recovered from the Harbinger or Black Opal Outpost would end up replacing him if things went south, but he was hoping it would be Master Chief Nolak Kalmil, who had just recently been taken out of stasis and undergone surgery.  Ensign Carla Abner was probably making herself at home in main engineering right now.  Just what the ship needed.  A green behind the ears ensign calling the shots in Engineering.  Could a kid fresh out of the academy handle the job?  He only hoped that Master Chief Kalmil was cleared for duty in time to keep Abner from blowing the ship up.

He looked around at the support team that was supposed to help him and Thea take over the reactor room and the station's systems.  They had been chosen not only for their skills, but because each of them had at one point been assigned to an Orunal-class spacedock and wouldn't get lost.

Chief Warrant Officer Gimli Luff (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/a/a9/Luff.jpg) of Operations had been serving in Starfleet since Zephram Cochrane was in high school.  A native of Tellar, his craggy porcine face and shaggy salt and pepper beard made him look like a figure from nightmares, but he had operated just about every piece of technology that Starfleet was currently using at one point or another.  He had spent five years of his life at Lya Station Alpha and knew the systems of the station as well as he knew the mess hall.  His corpulent frame meant that he seldom missed a meal and that he wasn't going to be sharing a transporter pad with anyone.

Chief Petty Officer Lavar Manfredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/5/5d/Manfredi_.jpg), main engineering's propulsion chief, was short and slender, so he'd probably be the lucky stiff who'd be sharing a transporter pad with Thea.  The coffee colored Terran from Earth's city of New Orleans was an expert in power and propulsion and it would be his job to take over the main reactor.  O'Connell hated to take him out of main engineering, but Manfredi actually had worked the reactor room of Starbase 84 before and would know his way around. 

Petty Officer First Class Mathew Johnson (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/b/ba/Elloitdepartment_by_mandarhobbit.jpg) would be assisting the propulsion chief.  The rising star of Manfredi's propulsion team, Matt Johnson had experience aboard civilian starships before he enlisted in Starfleet after the Dominion took Betazed.  He spent the war as a reactor technician at Lya Station Alpha before accepting a post at Deep Space 5.  He transferred to the Theurgy because he wanted to be part of something bigger.  He should have been careful for what he wished for because the fight for Starfleet's soul is as big as it gets.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Verguy Cam (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/b/ba/5_anderson-richard-dean_A.png) from Andoria was the tactical specialist who would be overriding Starbase 84's defensive systems.  His previous assignment had been at Starbase 133 and he had been a supervisor for the team that had updated 133's shields after the Dominion War.  His assignment before that had been manning the phaser room of the USS Kurmari.  He had earned his Bridge Tactical Certification prior to being assigned to the Theurgy and had experience in close quarters combat.  He was a shooter who was capable of taking the phaser off the stun setting if he had to.

Speaking of phasers, the muscle of this group would be provided by Chief Petty Officer Amlas Keyah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/8/8a/457_hayek-salma.png), the deadliest security specialist from Bolarus IX who peed sitting down.  Prior to being assigned to the Theurgy, she had studied for the chief's exam at Starbase 74, where the security department still talk about the day a team of Bynars hijacked the Enterprise back in Stardate 41365.9.  Her reflexes were reported to be lightning quick and she had seen action on Betazed during the Dominion War.

Backing her up was Petty Officer First Class Jean Paul Rivard (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/3/3d/621_dillon-matt-180.png) who had accompanied Commander Carrigan Trent during the supply raid at Black Opal.  Rivard had personally captured Black Opal's executive officer and helped repel the Romulans when they chose that moment to board the station.  He was combat tested and ready for action, and had spent his first assignment following boot camp and security school guarding the reactor level of Starbase 84 during the Dominion War.

Standing behind the transporter console was Chief Petty Officer Jeff Kowalski (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/e/e1/Goldblum1_by_Karma_Sinclair.png), a mournful expression on his long face.  From the expression he was giving the team, you'd think he was never going to see them again.  Come to think of it everybody in the room looked like they were either attending a funeral or suffering from constipation. 

Time to break the mood.  O'Connell decided it was time to flip the Tellarite the bird.  Chief Warrant Officer Luff responded by giving the backwards 'V for victory' signal and thrusting upwards to let O'Connell know where he could stick it.  Chief Petty Officer Amlas Keyah took her hand off her TR-120 rifle long enough to give him the 'A-OK' sign, or maybe she was letting him know that was the gesture for asshole on her planet.  It wasn't long before they were all flipping each other off. 

It was times like this that O'Connell knew how lucky he was serve with people like this.  Their dedication and spirit brought a tear to his eye.  But know it was time to put their game faces back on and get to work.  They'd be beaming down any minute now.

[ Sten Covington | Fighter Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All In Fighter Bay.

When he was briefed about the plan, Sten was largely left to his own devices as to the role he and his people were to play in it.  Oh, there were some clear directions such as taxiing the fighters into a launch position so they could scramble out the moment the word would come, and to prepare both the fighter and shuttle bays for recovery and combat service if it came down to it.  After all, even if the plan was for the fighters to warp out and be recovered at a rendez-vous point later on, he had been instructed to be ready to get fighters coming in for combat landings if required.  And in a crunch, it would mean all of the Valkyries would need to be brought onboard in a hurry, because one of the truisms he lived by what that no matter how well laid, Plan A never survived the start line. 

Along the wall of the hangar, there were countergrav pallets loaded with ordnance ready to be brought out to fighters, already counted and ready for rapid reloading, as were ladders and toolboxes and some of the more common spare parts that tended to need replacement in combat, or at least would be necessary to keep a fighter combat-capable even if it took a beating.  And the same was in the main shuttlebay, where he had a detachment of technicians ready to do the exact same job if it came down to it.

As the time came closer, the Chief of the Deck was wandering between the fighters, making sure the safety plugs for engines and weapons had been removed for the hundredth time.  Well, it was the pilots' and his Cubs' job to do it, but his double-checking (even several times over) was not because he distrusted them.  It was one of the ways he dealt with the stress of impending combat.  But then, the Captain's voice came on the shipboard broadcast, and that was his cue to get the final preparation underway.

Even as he ordered his ground crew to remove the blocks that kept the fighters in place, another voice sounded, the XO, and that one he acknowledged curtly as he ensured everything was ready to go, save for the cockpits that would remain open until Iron Fox would give the word to launch.  However, he did ask the Chief of the Deck for any last words of wisdom, which he was more than ready to give. 

"Remember, we won't be sticking around long after the Captain gives the order to break off, so if you can't go to warp both our bays will be ready to receive you.  In the meantime, if you need rearming or repairs during the engagement, we've got teams and stores in the shuttlebay too.  Now, if any of your warp drive components take a hit, say the hell out of the shuttlebay.  I'm keeping Ji here to back me up if there's a repair needed, but if I can't fix it, remember to stay close so you can execute a nice controlled crash into my bay or directly on the hull." 

"Now, at least try not to ruin my birds."

[IrnaShall ch'Xinya | Stellar Cartography | Deck 15]

Sitting in the center of his domain, Ensign ch'Xinya stared at the one of the only sources of light in the expansive cylindrical room: the small console in front of him.  It's a strange sight, stellar cartography labs of this type are usually among the most brightly lit on a starship, but grey mode meant almost everything had to be shut down.  The massive screens were too much of a risk, and with the ceiling a full deck above him the dimmed lighting barely reached the platform that the Andorian resided on.  Reflecting off of his face, the green spherical outline of Starbase 4's tachyon grid grew larger as they approached.  It wasn't until after it passed the ship's location indicator that Shall realized he was holding his breath.

Deft fingers worked the controls moments after the ship was through the grid, the small screen shifting in response to show more of the area around the starbase.  They were still in grey mode so Shall was limited to the passive sensors for the moment, but as soon as they went to full power it would be his job to watch the entire sector, to be the first set of eyes on any reinforcements that may come to the Starbase's defense.  It may not have been what he'd been trained to do, but the Andorian was ready for it.

When the general broadcast tone echoed from the speakers above him, Shall's ears and antenna rose in interest.  The Captain's pre-mission speeches were legendary on the ship, and now that he was back at his post he could actually hear it for once.  It didn't disappoint.  The first mentions of their flight from Earth and all they had fought both with and against sent Shall down into his memories, his anger over his denial to return to Andoria, to his selthreth.  Thankfully, his job as a scientist kept him out of the fighting for the most part, but that didn't mean his hands were clean.  Twice he'd been beguiled into betraying his family, and sometimes he would wonder just what kind of danger they were in because of him, or what they were fighting.

As the Captain's speech continued, it brought Theta Eridani to mind.  Separation from his family was damaging enough, but when the rock shrapnel took his antenna...never before had Shall been wounded that badly, and it still affected him.  His balance was always off, sometimes so badly that it would bring him to his knees sometimes.  But he was recovering, bit by bit.  And like the rest of the crew, he was done sitting in the shadows licking wounds and feeling sorry for himself.  It was time to act.

As soon as the speech was over the call for reports came quickly from Commander Trent.  Waiting for his turn in the sequence, it was barely a minute before Shall gave his own.  "Bridge, Stellar Cartography.  Passive sensors show no inbound ships of any type in range."  Short and too the point, just how he liked it.

[ Wenn Cinn | USS Theurgy | Transporter Room OneDeck 14] Attn: IronFerrox, FollowTomorrow, All Others

Ives' speech emanated from the speakers and like all who were assembled in the transporter room, Cinn listened. The speech was good, although sad. Cinn reminded himself that he should sort out some time for him to sit down with the captain. The Bajoran had been a sounding board for years, helping Ives to make the hard choices, and to live with them. Cinn wouldn't have said it took much to help out Jien, he tended to work it out himself and Cinn's main purpose there was to occasionally interject. At times, he had wondered if Captain Ives could have the same support from the bulkhead wall, but Cinn guessed the occasional times he told his friend to stop being stupid might have helped.

Assembled alongside the large Bajoran was Selena Ravenholm - the cybernetically augmented communications specialist who, while Ives spoke, was fidgeting with her weapons. It caused Cinn to crinkle his brow slightly, did she not respect the captain enough to listen or did she just not care? Across the transport pad was the rest of the first team - an additional Operations officer to help Ravenholm as needed, two Engineers to get systems running in case of failure, two of his security officers to help secure starbase personnel and Dyan Cardamone. Or was it Sar-unga Neleo now?

The Asurian was a bit of an enigma, she had transported Cinn to the USS Allegiant instead of Sickbay during the whole farce with Vasser. Apart from that she had kept to herself really. In an ideal world Cinn would know everyone who worked under him but it wasn't always that easy in reality. He would make more effort in the future. Starting with this woman once they completed their mission. If she were to look over at Cinn during the time he was assessing her, he would give her a respectful nod.

The minutes after Ives' speech seemed to drag on and on. His team was assembly and ready. The waiting was arguably the worst part. He resisted the urge to double check his TR-120. He had to trust in the work of Ryuan Sel. She was qualified and capable, even if she was a heretic. Cinn tried to be more cultured and reasonable than to alienate the woman because of her religion, but the fact that the woman worshipped Pah'Wraiths made him uncomfortable. He'd never admit it out loud, but he was pleased that she was on another team for this mission.

Pushing the previous thoughts aside, he inhaled a long breath through his nose and closed his eyes. There was time for one last prayer to the Prophets. Safety for our crew, sense for the Starbase.

From the transporter console he heard a small chirp. It was time. 

[ Heather McMillan | Entry Corridor/Waiting Room | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Maya

[Show/Hide]

Unfortunately for the Radiant, her little act of kissing the floor was not unseen. She sighed, then looked to Lieutenant JG Maya with wide eyes, wondering, and considering. "Mostly just my pride..." said McMillan unevenly, with flecks of light beginning to glow within her cheeks, and her eyes were beginning to glitter like stars. She supposed Maya's concern was warming, and somewhat comforting, enough to finally allow her to begin feeding light back into her skin and body. But more than that, she felt...something...not towards Maya or anyone in particular in the immediate moment, but the place that surrounded her right then, and their proximity to the Starbase. "...oh, but yes, I'm quite certain. Thank you."

She studied Maya a moment. The Vulcan was an enigma, even for her race. She knew a little about her, but McMillan's memory of her files did little to make sense in her head. So, she opted instead to get to know her in person better. She understood the woman's curiosity. It was only a short time ago that McMillan had revealed the truth of her race and character. The fact that she managed to conceal the truth for so long was impressive, but now that they knew, there was bound to be much intrigue and interest in her, as far as a desire for knowledge went. And she had explained why she so seldom visited medical, since most treatments would prove fatal to her. It made the young biologist wonder how her own people had survived for so long when they had such an unprecedented level of weakness and frailty. But she supposed the Light more than made up for it.

"I'm light..." said McMillan, "...lighter than I look, I mean...so, whether I fall down or jump into water, I make less of an impact than I should, based on my appearance. Oh..."

She looked down at her feet, bare, whilst her boots were still in one hand, and she blushed, looking at Maya uncertainly, "Uhm, excuse me." said the young woman, and she bent down to put the uncomfortable boots on. It wasn't that it didn't fit her right, or was physically discomforting, but rather she simply did not enjoy footwear. Somewhere in the back of her mind, tickling her memory, she recalled running through gentle landscapes, with others, their bodies bare and shining, clothed only in light. Laughter and music intermixed in the air of a soft blue sky with puffy clouds billowing around in a pleasant and relaxed dancing pattern.

The sudden interruption of that memory, of a place and time she had never even seen or heard of, caused her to freeze, staring at the ground, unmoving. She had never seen this place before, but it looked like something and someplace she would love to be. A place and a life she longed to have, and she let out a soft, faint gasp, that perhaps only Vulcan ears might have perceived. With only one boot on, she stood up again, staring blankly at Maya, then turned her head to look, as if staring right through the bulkheads and the walls, through the structure of the Theurgy herself, and right at Starbase 84. And for an instant, Maya would have seen McMillan turning her entire body into a deeper shade of light and translucence (https://www.walldevil.com/wallpapers/a87/woman-glow.jpg) that she had never shown before, because she never knew how to.

[Show/Hide]

It was as if she had briefly become one with the stars. Even her movements were a level of fluidity and grace that she never showed. Bunny, the holographic rabbit reared up on its hind legs, intrigued, but the glow of the Radiant interfered with its own projections, and the rabbit flickered and shook, like a strange image distortion. Within her body, it looked like stars and galaxies, and a whole nexus moved within. In an instant, as soon as it had appeared, she was back to normal. As normal as a Radiant could get anyhow, with a soft glow around the entirety of her body, so that even if the lights of the entire room went out, she could easily illuminate the entire place. She blinked, and looked at Maya, perturbed, "How unusual," said McMillan, "but I feel like I just connected with something."

She put her hand out to the Vulcan, smiling, "Heather McMillan, nice to meet you."

[ Lt. Simon Tovarek | USS Theurgy | Main Bridge ] Attn: All

Passing through space in grey mode had been something Simon had always found special. Simon had been looking at the view screen as well, watching the pseudo star shaped object before them, knowing the starbase was right ahead. He hoped that the alarms wouldn't go off blaring as they would be discovered despite them trying to sneak in like this. Yet everything remained as silent as it could ever be, until Ives spoke up. Simon looked at the captain as he heeded his words. Inspiring once more as always, yet Simon's gut feeling was warning him about possible complications during the mission.

This mission would be the first where his newest project would get any attention. Never been space tested, the Tovarek drones were perhaps an ace in the hand of Theurgy. Then again, for all he knew the fighters might as well black out at some point due to the pressure and fighting going on, causing for loose debris to float around in space. This would make the life of the actual pilots out there more then hell. He shook the idea out of his head as Ive's speech came to an end and Trent picked up on it.

Tovarek looked at the readings on his control panel, nothing out of the ordinary yet he had added a status window on the drones, curious about how they'd perform out there. The readings would be stored automatically on the computer as he had to analyse and tweak them to improve the drones for the next assignment, if there even came a next assignment. Tovarek placed his hand on his stomach as he couldn't shake the upset feeling. Was it just stress about the mission? Or was there something larger at play here?

[ Ensign Cameron Henshaw | Transporter Room | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy  ]

Standing a bit uneasy between the members of her support team, Cameron Hensaw glanced over at her Andorian guard. For Cameron this was the first time that she had been appointed as a mission specialist. Unless you counted the events on Theta. She wrapped her hands against each other nervously as the time to get some actual face time with her adoptive father was closing in way faster than she had imagined it would be. She had prepared herself for the encounter for days now. Having trouble with it at first, yet now knowing that it had to be done for the good of the mission and the survival of the Federation.

She walked over to Ida now and asked her softly "Deputy, how do you estimate the odd of this mission?" it was probably a foolish question. Even so as the odds of success were deemed to be minimal, there had to be a speck of hope for them. Yet more importantly, Cameron was wondering how the situation would escalate if she wasn't able to convince her father of the truth. If the man wouldn't be open to their pleas and motivation, or worse... If Ian Hawthorne would be devoured by grief as he would hear about the loss of his daughter. Grief would do funny things to people, it made any speculation of the outcome unreliable and impossible to predict. Cameron could only hope that her counseling skills would come in handy to ease the man into lowering the shields and complying with them.

[ Hylota Vojona & Vinata Vojona | Entry Corridor/Waiting Room | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Maya & Heather McMillan

---

          As the Maya and Heather stood outside the main Sickbay apologizing over their collision a rather irate and grumbly voice could be heard coming down the corridor, one that Heather had not heard in a while. Approaching was a duo of amphibious individuals, the one that instantly caught attention was the shorter and by far much more colorful womanly looking indevidual, despite their vibrant blue and orange coloring they wore the teal of a medical officer, they had a hand on the side of their head rubbing their temple as the larger masculine looking individual groaned. Her name was Hylota a masculine looking individual who also wore medical teal, but her uniform was that of a pregnant crewman, she looked at least 8 months along and her attitude showed it as she got close enough to be heard.

"I do not care how close I am to delivery Vinata, as your commanding officer I am telling you to drop the subject. Besides Doctor Lucan has already permitted me to work, so long as I remain in my administrative and supervisory role, so stop acting so concerned, it is annoying brother. Vinata sighed and shook his head. He looked as though he had been working a well thought out argument only to get rank pulled on him. Throwing up his hands he let out a croak and sighed. "Fine, but I am sticking close and if things begin to happen I am reliving you of your duties and taking you to isolation to begin your delivery." Looking away from his sister Vinata looked to the two women before him and his sister and blinked before he smiled. "Oh Hello Doctor Maya, I am Nurse Vinata, I will be working along side you today, I hope to be of help." He smiled as he tried to be confident, but he was clearly nervous and looking to make a good impression.

Hylota rolled her eyes at her brother and looked to heather and smirked to the woman as she gave a quick wave. "Hey there Heather, you paralyze someone's arm again?" Hylota chuckled at this statement, but Vinata looked to his sister concerned before Hylota waved things off. "Sorry, I am having a bit of trouble with filtering things lately, comes with the territory I guess." She rubbed her swollen belly and sighed. "I had intended to track you down for a drink after our little adventure together, but turns out I got knocked up and I was strictly prohibited from alcohol. I have also been getting trained to my new post and helping my brother get settled." She shrugged. "Perhaps we can meet up after all this is over, I shouldn't be pregnant for much longer." Smiling she pushed Vinata from behind and encouraged him to go into the Sickbay as she slowly followed behind, lingering to just get a response from Heather before getting to work.

[ Chris "Husker" Slayton | Wolf 04 | Fighter Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All In Fighter Bay.

Husker was starting to go through his third pre-flight check to ensure that everything was working perfectly as he knew how important that this operation was going to be but he was also using it to hide his nervousness.

It wasn't every day that one went into an operation like this with a woman that you cared about in your squadron...

Chris turned his head just enough to look over at the Valk that contained Tessa and used the HUD's zoom function to try and get a better view on his fellow pilot but then his training kicked in and he pulled the zoom back and resumed his efforts by checking the plasma flow regulators to ensure peak efficiency in the field.

"Drinks are on me when this shindig is over gang and that means the strongest of stuff for you, Ghost, so don't go cheap on me boss lady." Husker said into the squadron's channel in a jovial yet respectful tone as he quickly did some minute re-alignment of his pulse phaser network.

That particular one wasn't because he needed to, he just learned from his time on the Harbinger that shaving time off his pulse weapons recharge time was much more important in a dogfight then anything else in the opening stages but once again his eyes strayed over to Tessa's plane and he felt a little bit nervous as he was still trying to figure out things between himself, Tessa and one other person...

...but just as quickly as that thought entered his head, he forced himself to shove it away as he quickly went back to his work.

[ Dyan Cardamone | Transporter Room 1| USS Theurgy] Attn: Those in Transporter Room 1

Jien's voice held her captive for quite some time, but right now Dyan had many thoughts in her head and they were competing against the Captain's voice. Her hands fidgeted with her Sindt blade, mounted on her left arm. She tightened, then loosened, then tightened again, then took a cloth out to polish it. She kept a TR-120 rifle slung over her shoulder, ready to use at a moment's notice. Her tail had been wrapped around her right leg to keep it out of the way, but she felt the muscles spasm as they attempted to move against their bindings.

She stood still as a statue, staring at the wall in front of her. Ives's voice had faded, unfortunately, she had to force herself to tune back in. Should we go back, or should we go forward? Forward, she thought in unison with her Captain. And then there was silence, only interrupted by her heart beating somewhere in her throat. She hoped one of her companions would speak, or that they would fall under attack or something.

She tilted her head up just enough to look over at Selena. Her arms were bared, her sleeves cut off to not interfere with her movement. She was fussing over her weapons in a way that was intimately familiar to Dyan. It's so much easier to busy yourself by preparing before the fight than it is to sit and think about what could happen.

Her eyes wandered over to Wenn and she was surprised to find her glance returned to her. He gave her a nod. She wished she could find it comforting, but she didn't know the Bajoran man well enough to tell.

It occurred to her that maybe she ought to get back into the habit of making friends. If she died here and nobody knew how to dispose of her body, well, she'd probably be quite sad, if she weren't dead.

[ Dr. Nicander | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Zenozine

On the curved walls, behind both the duty stations at the very centre of Sickbay, there were the scheduling displays. Large monitors that showed all the planning for the RW, ICU and PCU. Even the isolation wards and sugical suites were listed there, with dedicated nurses and medical officers named for the current and next shifts. Shifts that were going to see the strife of the Starbase 84 mission. There were only rough estimates on the number of wounded that might arrive, but the entire Sickbay was at full readiness. In front of one of the two scheduling displays stood Dr. Lucan cin Nicander, perusing the rows and columns to make sure everything was in place. Or rather, he appeared to be studying the large display.

In fact, he was already certain of the set schedule, his sharp mind devoted to other things when he saw a flash of light coming from the reception area, making his staff pause and look in that direction for a moment. The light died away quickly, but for some reason, the parasite inside Lucan was restless, as if the light had affected it somehow. Lucan frowned and remembered how it had acted that way sometime before, and soon, he remembered it to have happened in the presence of Heather McMillan. Was it her? As he looked that way, Vinata Vojona soon appeared in the corridor, and Lucan turned his pale grey eyes to the Ovri. He had no idea why the thing inside acted the way it did, but there was no time to contemplate it.

"Nurse Vojona," he said and smiled as he greeted the male Ovri, even though Vinata looked far more female than anything else; the figure of the teal-coloured uniform clearly suggesting feminine curves. Even though the two of them had been intimate a couple of days past, Lucan made nothing of the kind openly apparent as he spoke with the Ovri in the corridor. "I trust your sister is here as well, because the winds know I tried to deter her from taking on administrative duties today. I assume you had similar difficulties?"

On a more serious note, he added, "In your experience, when do you think she is due? Should I put her in the isolation ward right away and ask O'Connor to stay with her?"

Further down the corridor stood Maal, looking a bit hurt as he stared in their direction, hearing him, but Lucan ignored the young Klingon. He might as well be the father to the Ovri's children, something only he and Hylota knew, perhaps, but there had been no mentioning of Maal's name when the isolation ward was booked in pregnant Ovri's name.

---

[ "Thea" | Transporter Room 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Arista & Doc M.

At first, when Thea stood there on her transporter platform, she had consciously aided in the physical self's computational operations whilst she was in grey mode. A lof of tasks were slowed down because so many of her systems were shut down, but with effort, she was able to invest her emitter's procesing power to ease the burden via the subspace synchronisation link she had to her computer cores. He digital mind was devoted to the extremities of her bio-neural system, and she believed she was able to maintain the required sensor signature through her shield emitters. It was crucial she didn't appear to be what she was, instead looking to Starbase 84 like mere space debris instead of the multivector dreadnought that had passed through the tachyon detection grid.

That was when, suddenly, the organics around her seemed to engage in strange antics and social conventions that were entirely beyond her. She looked around at the boarding team and raised her eyebrows, unsure how she might act in that particular kind of situation. Clearing her throat, a sign of nervousness, she checked her TR-120 rifle and her SAFTI gear, which was strapped around her golden body suit version - colour in accordance to the security operation she was partaking in. By her thigh hung two grenades of Ravenholm's design, with particle charges that would render regular phaser fire ineffective. With the additional armament, she estimated that the mission, or at least the task of the boarding teams, had a 43,649 % chance of success. It was a number that she did not wish to share with the people present, both because it might be discouraging, and because it was a statistical assumption. Any unknown factor introduced through the operation might decrease or increase the estimated success ratio, so it had no valid application.

Eventually, the organics settled down, assuming a behaviour in which they seemed prepared, and that calmed Thea a bit. 43,745 %.

"Thea to Commander Wenn," she said after exchanging a nod with O'Connell, not having to tap a combadge to get in contact with Transporter Room 01, "This is the fusion reactor team, ready." As she counted down the ETA silently, in echo to what the systems told the bridge personnel, she had only wished Lin Kae had been allowed to accompany her on the starbase. Instead, he had to stay behind. Then again, Master Chief O'Connell had a lot more combat experience than her young saviour, so perhaps it was for the better that Kae remained where he was, protected by her hull and her shields.

---

[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Transporter Room 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Arista, Nolan & SummerDawn

With her rifle hanging across her front, Ida was braiding her white air tightly behind her head, not keen on having her vision or antennae obscured the least during the mission. She wore her SAFTI gear on top of her uniform, a couple of modified grenades by her hip, and she had opted to roll up the sleeves of her uniform, just to avoid snagging them on something. She stood on the transporter platform when Yeoman Henshaw spoke up, and Ida answered her question about the odds without much of a delay.

"Fifty-fifty," she said without embellishment and then stretched her neck once her hair hung in braid down her neck. She turned to check the Yeoman's gear next, since she was Ida's charge during the mission - an operation that would take then inside the command centre of the starbase. Right to the heart of the opposition. it was necessary because of whom the starbase's commanding officer was, and while Ida had hoped there were other ways to confront Captain Hawthrone, she had to agree that facing his daughter might give enough pause to hear the truth. Facing Henshaw, she made sure the pinkskin, while not carrying a rifle since it would seem to hostile in the meeting with her father, had her SAFTI gear on right. The female human was a counsellor, and while Ida was sure Henshaw knew her Academy courses, the SAFTI gear was new to them all. "Here, Ensign. Perhaps this feels better."

Saying so, she strapped a holster with a Type II hand phaser to Henshaw's hip, and then stepped away again. It was set to stun, just like her own was. She looked around to the security personnel that would be coming along with them. Junior Lieutenant Zaraq was there, the immense figure of the Klingon taking up his corner of the pad, and Ida was gratified to have some more muscle with them, despite how many felt uncomfortable around the exiled Klingon since the mutiny. Right then, the last person in the boarding party arrived, Mistress at Arms Ryuan Sel. It had been argued that she'd be on O'Connell's team, but it had appeared that security was tighter around the command centre, so she had switched teams the day before. Luckily, since she was one of the drill instructors, she knew all three boarding operations just as well as Ida did. Ida greeted the Bajoran with a wordless nod.

With the MoA, they were seven, and they were ready. She tapped her combadge. "Deputy zh'Wann to Commander Wenn, we're ready," she said to Cinn, then she grabbed her rifle and powered it up, the sound joined by the others - Zaraq chiming in with a focused scowl lowered over his eyes.

---

[ Evelyn Rawley | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: The Lone Wolves Squadron

Like the rest, Ghost was in her cockpit, but with her diminutive stature, she was standing in the seat with her exosuit-covered hands on the edge, just so that she might see Covington better when he spoke. She had heard Miles too, of course, but she maintained a reserved disposition towards the Vulpinian. Not too openly, but she found herself inclined to listen to Papa Bear more than Iron-Fox. Ives speech had been long and severe, painful to hear in some parts because of the loss of Winterbourne. It was when Husker spoke up - one of the new pups in the threadbare Lone Wolves Squadron - that Rawley tapped her own comm link in her helmet.

"Yeah? If you're providing the booze, Husker, you can bloody well consider yourself robbed," she said, turning towards him where she stood and gestured as if she was taking a swig from an invisible bottle. She was sure he could see it from afar in the flight hangar. "This time, I won't have it that you have a private party with Goldeneyes and Gun-Shy, you dog." The next gesture she made looked like she was jerking off on a non-present cock on her exosuit. Rumours travelled at warp speed on the Theurgy

[What? You didn't like our party, Ghost?] came the voice from the comm channel, and Rawley grinned as she turned towards Morrigan's Valkyrie, seeing the Colonist making a casual salute with her fingers to her helmet while she sat in her cockpit. Evelyn remembered hers and Fasha's party quite well, and they'd even had a chance to have an after-party - twice - since then.

"Oh, I'll show you how much I did if we make it through this so you better keep that perfectly rounded ass of yours in one fucking piece!" she called back with a wide grin.

[I... I don't know what she's... I mean,] came the nervous voice from Kanti 'Gun-Shy' MacTavish, which was a quite belated answer to Rawley's comment about her, Slayton and Lance, and it made Rawley laugh. It did feel good to laugh off the tension before a battle, and that was what she meant to do when she teased the others. Pointedly, she did not let herself think about Carver and Isley, not about to let that piss-soup saturate her mood the slightest. The Lone Wolves were few, but she had to try and trust the lot of them. She was not sure, however, if she could trust her Squadron Commander, and that was why she did not look at him. Not once.

The fucking mutt had better not try and kill her again. She turned her helmet his way - wordlessly - before she sat down in her cockpit.

---

[ Rihen Neyah | Main Engineering | USS Theurgy ] Attn: DocReno

At the main console of Main Engineering, Rihen Neyah was in her new Starfleet uniform, fitted to her figure but feeling a lot less comfortable than her usual overalls. She had conformed to regulations when she got her new rank and position on O'Connell's engineering team, so she would abide the chafe and warmth just to show how much she had come to care for the people on the Theurgy. Best of all was that she got to work with Lin Kae, whom she was so happy to see again.

"Had you imagined this down on Nimbus III?" she asked the Holographic Specialist with a warm smile, stepping up and giving the young Bajoran a quick hug in the midst of all the activity around the warp core. "I will still have you repair my replicator again someday, just so that you know!" This she added and waggled her finger at him, her jest meant to lift his spirits a bit. Ever since he'd left the Brig, spotting him now and then, he had not been quite the same, and Rihen supposed it had to do with the loss of Ensign Carver - the blonde pilot that had been injured down in Paradise City and protected them both during the mutiny. Rihen had not known the tough woman well, but she mourned the loss of her anyway. She had obviously meant a lot to Lin Kae, that was certain. Perhaps she could distract him a bit?

When she walked over to another station to check the readings there, she slapped his behind playfully with a comment thrown over her shoulder. "If you do, I might just thank you the same way I did last!"  With a mischievous grin and a wink, she bit her lip and made sure the warp core was purring like a Caitian before Jamaharon.

[ Hylota Vojona & Vinata Vojona | Waiting Room | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

---

          Vinata sighed as he was shoved by his sister into the Main Sickbay, he was not in a rush, but he had no reason to stick out with Doctor Maya and this other woman, he had other things to be doing, he had to get himself settled in and get into his duties. As he entered he was quick to spot Dr. Nicander and smiled to the Chief Medical Officer as he remembered the brief fling he had shared with the man, it had truly been a special moment for him, but there were much more important things to deal with right now as Nicander asked him about his sister.

Almost without pause Vinata's smile faded and he sighed as he was asked for his professional opinion on the matter. "I tried to get her to take time off as well, but she just pulled rank on me and ended the debate on me." Looking over his shoulder he looked to his sister and then back to Dr. Nicander. "In my experience she will be having her clutch soon, most likely within 36 hours, but with the hybrid possibility I cannot truthfully say. If we were to keep her locked up we would just be punishment to whoever she was locked in with. I trust her to be professional and hand over her position if things happen. I do not think we have to worry about her, not like she would make the act worth the headache." Vinata gave a gentle chuckle and looked his commanding officer in the eye. "As for myself sir, I am prepared for duty and I will not let you down."

As Maal looked on to the Ovri before him Vinata did not notice the Klingon and casually set about preparing for his duties, Hylota on the other hand did take notice of the man who had impregnated her and she lost her jovial smile and made her way over to him. "Hello Maal, it has been a while...I really do not know what to say in this situation, your kind like so many others invests a lot into your offspring,but for me as an Ovri I have not grown very attached...I must admit you slipped from my mind at times. Hylota took a deep breath and shifted her weight. "I have been unkind to you and I did not take you into account, nor how you might be interested in our possible children...I have been selfish with this whole pregnancy and I spited you, I should not have been so petty, I promise after today I shall make an effort to get you up to speed about my clutch." Hylota had felt rather rotten after O'Conner had reminded her the emotional ties Maal might have formed and how this situation w as effecting him, she felt she needed to at least try and meet him half way on this, he was the father after all.

[ Ryuan Sel | Transporter Room 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Arista, Nolan & AuctorLucan

Ryuan greeted those assembled with a nod. She kept her opinion of the odds of surviving this Op to herself. Penetrating the heart of a Federation space station, especially one as large and important to fleet operations would be a tough nut to crack, even for a heavily armed and specially trained team of soldiers. As much as she was proud of the Theurgy crew, seasons and grizzled vets the lot of them. herself included, they still were not the specially trained troops needed for this op. She could only hope, pray to the prophets actually, that they survived this mission, or at least achieved the tactical & strategic aims they were tasked with.

Unlike many of the others on the team, Ryuan had elected to arm herself with the 3e model of phaser rifle rather then the standard Type 3a or 3b models in use. Designed for easier use while suited up, Ryuan had found during extensive holodeck simulations that the 3e model offered better muzzle control, leading to better accuracy in close quarters combat, something they'd be facing a literal shit-tonne of this mission. She also packed the standard type 2 in a holster but elected not to carry any heavier weapons, instead extra phaser power packs as those would, to her mind at least, be more useful.


(OOC: Quick nomenclature ref as I can't find info on our wiki: http://www.phasers.net/2370/index.htm (http://www.phasers.net/2370/index.htm) A & B refer to the standard rifle seen in first contact (angular & rounded models respectively) and the 3e model is the one packed during the spacewalk scene in the same movie. Also, Ryuan's opinion is based on my own experience in RL shooting AR-15 derivatives with and without the pistol style foregrip. )

[ Dr. Nicander | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Zenozine

"Good to hear, Nurse Vojona," said Doctor Nicander to Vinata before the male Ovri moved to set about preparing for his duties. "Thank you."

As Lucan stepped away from the scheduling display, he happened to overhear Hylota as she stepped into Main Sickbay and began speaking with Maal. Lucan picked up a journal and pretended to read it behind the corner of the corridor, being out of eyeshot but still hearing the Ovri and the Klingon speaking quite clearly.

"I... understand," said Maal, the low rumble of his heard as a stark contrast to the feminine, alien resonance of Hylota's voice. "This is quite strange for me as well, for I have no idea what parenthood to a... a clutch would entail. I do not know what my role is supposed to be, and how it might be different to what human - or Klingon - fathers ought to do. I suppose we need to find out as we go along, after they... after they are out. Let us just hope here is a tomorrow after this battle for... for talking again."

Resisting the urge to chuckle and shake his head at the Klingon's awkwardness, Lucan kept listening as Maal spoke anew.  "My gratitude for speaking with me, it means a lot to me that you do. The last time was not so... I mean, I understand you were upset about the fate of your Brother, so I did not hold it against you. So, please, no reason to apologise. I understand. I hope that we can... That you and I can see each other in... in private again."

Lucan returned the journal to its place and almost rolled his eyes. It seemed Maal wanted more of Hylota, but he wasn't eloquent enough to tell her what he wanted. Lucan decided that it would be amusing to speak with them both. He had to welcome Hylota on her shift, didn't he? He stepped around the corner, and raised his hands in exclamation. "Nurse Vojona! By the winds, you look amazing. Are you ready for - perhaps - your last shift before you are due?" Stepping up to her and Maal, he waggled a finger at her in jest. "You already know I think you should be resting... but knowing you, you rather want me to give you something to do, right? Maal, would you be willing to help Hylota whenever she needs you today?"

Maal looked positively mortified at the timing of Lucan' interruption. "Yes, Doctor, I... I would be honoured to aid her. I c-can brig the administrative work to her, so long as I know where she will be at."

[ Maya (https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/e/7/maya_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n3n.png) | Deck 11 | Main Sickbay| Entry Corridor/Waiting Room]

"You're not hurt?" Maya asked.  "Are you certain?"

"Mostly just my pride..." said McMillan unevenly, with flecks of light beginning to glow within her cheeks, and her eyes were beginning to glitter like stars. "...oh, but yes, I'm quite certain. Thank you.  I'm light..." she stammered "...lighter than I look, I mean...so, whether I fall down or jump into water, I make less of an impact than I should, based on my appearance."

She seemed to be waiting for a response from Maya so the greenblooded physician raised an eyebrow.

"Oh..." the alien scientist murmured as she looked down at her bare feet.  "Uhm, excuse me."  As she bent over to put her boots on Maya instinctively glided towards her in case McMillan started to fall again and needed someone to catch her. 

That was when Heather McMillan stood up straight and emitted a bright glow that seemed as bright as the stars themselves.  It was uncanny.  It was as if McMillan was momentarily transformed into a being of pure energy.  For a millisecond, Maya thought she had been struck be a phaser beam.

Then just as quickly as it happened, Heather McMillan was flesh and blood again, appearing to the naked eye as Terran female from Sol III. 

"How unusual," said McMillan, "but I feel like I just connected with something."

Maya blinked in order to open her inner eyelids. 

"Heather McMillan, nice to meet you." Heather greeted as she extended her hand.

Maya tilted her head in order to stare at Heather's hand.  Maya would often open her large hazel eyes as wide as possible to let whoever she was conversing with know that they had her full attention.  This had the effect of making the little Vulcan appear to be perpetually surprised.  In this case her surprise might have been genuine. 

Vulcans were not handshakers.  As a species of touch telepaths any physical contact had the unwelcome chance of being more intimate than intended.  Fortunately, every Vulcan schoolchild was trained to erect mental barriers insuring their privacy and Maya was no exception.  Clasping the hand of someone who had just been in contact with something and had glowed like the sun was not considered desirable after the Niga incident, the encounter with the entity calling itself Ishtar, or the psychic trauma caused by irresponsible telepaths like Commander T'Rena or Lieutenant Nurse Eve Jenkins.

Nevertheless, paranoia was a greater enemy than trust so Maya considered shaking hands an obligation.  Narrowing her eyes, the greenblooded physician stiffly extended a hand that seemed too large for her petite body and opened it, revealing her long spidery fingers.  "Doctor Maya," she said as she took her hand and gave it two shakes as if Heather was a hand operated pump and released her grip quickly.  "It is an honor to serve with you," she greeted coolly.  She picked up a PADD from the reception desk and made some changes.  "It says here that you're scheduled assist in the Battle Sickbay on Deck Seven, but I'd like to send Newbury there so you can train as an orderly here," the pointyeared doctor said as she led McMillan into Main Sickbay. 

They stopped as they encountered the two Orvi nurses nicknamed "the twins," although Head Nurse Hylota Vojona and her brother Vinata were in fact merely two of a clutch of quadruplets.  "Here are two of our nurses," she said, for she couldn't remember seeing Heather in sickbay before. 

"Oh Hello Doctor Maya," said the blue one with the pronounced bosom.  "I am Nurse Vinata, I will be working alongside you today," he said to the newcomer.  "I hope to be of help."

Hylota had obviously met Miss McMillan before. "Hey there Heather, you paralyze someone's arm again?" Hylota chuckled at this statement, but Vinata looked to his sister concerned before Hylota waved things off. "Sorry, I am having a bit of trouble with filtering things lately, comes with the territory I guess." She rubbed her swollen belly and sighed. "I had intended to track you down for a drink after our little adventure together, but turns out I got knocked up and I was strictly prohibited from alcohol. I have also been getting trained to my new post and helping my brother get settled." She shrugged. "Perhaps we can meet up after all this is over, I shouldn't be pregnant for much longer." Smiling she pushed Vinata from behind and encouraged him to go into the Sickbay as she slowly followed behind, lingering to just get a response from Heather before getting to work.

"Oh yes, we mustn't keep you," Maya replied with an eerily artificial Stepford smile that vanished as soon as the Orvi left.  She turned to face Heather.  "This is a big day for us," she declared in a smooth even voice as she led her past the head nurse duty station.  "It's possible that this could be the day that Hylota delivers her baby.  If so, it will be the first time a child is born aboard the Theurgy."  She paused when they reached the medical storage closet next to the morgue and the recovery ward.  "And it could also be the day that the Federation learns the truth of what happened to Starfleet," she added as an afterthought.

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark and Lt. (jg) Sarresh Morali| Main Bridge | USS Theurgy ]

Natalie would swear that the bridge felt warm, oppressive, like a cloying heat was washing over everyone present. She knew that it wasn't true - that the jungle level heat was just her nerves manifesting themselves, than any failing in the life support systems. After all, in gray mode, not much else was left running - albeit at minimal levels. So while the air was slightly stale, it was not as hot as it seemed to feel to Natalie.

The brunette kept an eye on her console, not daring to look back at Captain Ives, or around the bridge in general. She glanced to her side, to the helm, and then ahead again, before looking back down at her readings. Such as they were. Sensors were powered down to the barest of levels as well. She took a slow, deep breath through her nose, smelling something...something faint in the air, that really didn't matter.

In short, there was nothing much for her to do until they crossed the threshold. And they were....almost.......there.

Silence. No sudden alarms, no hails, no scrambling of fighters (as far as she could see). Behind her, Captain Ives opened the intercom; beside her, Lt. S'iti seemed to be itching to engage the engines. Natalie couldn't blame her at all, even as she forced herself to ease back into her chair.

Ahead of them, the sparkling dot that was Starbase 84 grew larger, slowly, so very slowly on the view-screen. Natalie listened with rapt attention, eager to get underway. Those fingers sifted through one read out after another as the passive sensors slowly reveed up, pulling in more data. She found herself caught up in the moment with everyone else, and despite her unreasonable fear of being too loud, she too joined the cry of "Forward."

Natalie wasn't the only one. Hell, the whole bridge joined in. Even Sarresh Morrali, perhaps the one man on the bridge that had the least reason to fall in line with Captain Ives. He stood as the secondary science station, waiting to power it back up fully so he could do something useful. He wanted to roll his artificial eyes - but he didn't. Sarresh had made a promise - one that he remembered, in any case - to back the Captain, and to do his best not to insight rebellion. He was angry about the conversation, but it had been eye opening.

Sarresh did not want to be a man the crew looked up to - he wanted to wallow (or had until his night with Ryuan Sel) - but what he wanted didn't much matter in the galactic scheme of things. And as rude an awakening as it was, he'd realized he had become someone that the crew - at least parts - viewed highly. And with that came more of a sense of responsibility than some conversation he didn't remember, where he had supposedly volunteered for all this mess.

So he too joined in the cheer, before turning back to his duties, ignoring the itch in the back of his mind, the worry growing there. Worry for the mission; worry for Sel; worry that there was something critical that he was missing.

Meanwhile, Natalie turned her head ever so slightly as she listened to the XO's words when he specifically called her out, and nodded, not wanting to verbally interrupt. They were thru the grid, but despite her cheer, she still - irrationally - felt a bone deep need for quiet. They were past the grid but they were still out of transporter range.

Things could still go wrong. Very, very wrong.

Stellar cartography checked in, their readings matching what she was seeing on her console: nothing out there yet. It also matched what Sarresh Morrali was seeing on the secondary science station. He frowned, and glanced over his shoulder at his immediate superior.   Was it the Ash'reem turned human's imagination, or was Tovarek looking antsy?

They all were, so what did it matter, really?

One by one, the security teams checked in with Winn Cenn, and the Chief of Security checked in with the bridge in turn.  "Acknowledged, Commander," Natalie said softly in response to the C-Sec. She looked back over her shoulder at the captain, and the steady force of control and calm that Jien Ives radiated. The dark haired captain nodded towards Natalie, and the C-Ops pulled up transporter control.

"All teams, stand by for transport," she said, her voice calm, betraying no trace of the anxiety boiling under the surface. That worry was tamped down tight, pushed into a small marble of fear in the pit of her stomach. Manageable. On the top left portion of her console a countdown clock appeared, ticking down faster and faster.

Behind her, at the Sciences section, Sarresh ran his fingers over his console, adjusting the passive sensors to focus in - as best as could be done, which wasn't all that much - on Starbase 84. He spared one more thought for Ryuan Sel, in one of the Theurgy's transporter rooms, ready to beam over. He wanted to see where things with her might go - if anywhere at all - and so he silently wished her luck.

It took everything that Natalie had not to fidget as the ship drifted into transporter range. Her eyes were glued to her console read out, but her mind was imagining all the ways this could go wrong. Her toes curled in her boots, and she slid forward ever so slightly in her seat as she brought her fingers down to bear.

5...4...3...2...1...

"All teams, all teams, transport initiating. Repeat, transport initiated," she calmly ordered, as her fingers pressed down on the padded console top. Applying pressure, she swept her fingers up across her console, leaving a yellow green wake of four lines on its receptive surface. And in each of the transporter rooms, the blue white sparkling glow of Federation transporters began to form, along with the tale tell whistle-whine of the matter transfer beam.

One moment, the teams were on the dreadnought - and the next, they weren't, bodies trapped as pure energy, whisked away towards -

The base shields had gone up! They snapped into place around the large space fortress, effectively cutting off transport between Theurgy and Starbase 84.

"Dammit!" Natalie cursed, pulling up the full sensors, "Starbase 84 has raised shields," she stated quickly, "They must have spotted us and gone to red alert. Suggest we do the same!" Her heart began to pound in her chest, but instead of panic, a strange calm gripped her. Punch this sensor node online, she thought, bring up this feed, scanning, scanning....please don't let them all bed dead. The transporter room computers clearly showed that the teams had been dematerialized, their patterns no longer in the Theurgy's buffers. But were they alive...did they make it, or are they just....

"Transport successful. I repeat, transport successful!" She called out, over the din of the Red Alert siren now sounding throughout the ship, the command having been given while Natalie was focused on determining the result of their people.

[ Captain Ives | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

The count-down to transporter range seemed longer than the time to approach and pass through the tachyon grid had been, but when they were finally there, Lieutenant Commander Stark wasted no time on energising the transports that the operators in each transporter room had keyed in.  As one, and without delay, all three boarding teams left them. Jien had pursed her lips to speak...

...when Stark said that they had been compromised. Jien's eyes widened, her first thought going to the people on the boarding teams and whether or not they passed unscathed through the raised shields of Starbase 84. The Orunal-class base loomed larger on the viewscreen, and the fact of all its collective fire power made the choice simple. Jien could not afford hesitation if she'd keep her crew safe.

"Red alert!" she called, the klaxon resounding in her ears as they exited grey mode. She threw Commander Trent a glance where he stood at Tactical. "Stand ready for MVAM at my command, alert the Battle Bridges, have Dewitt launch the Allegiant, and release the Wolves immediately." Having said this, she turned to Stark, who just informed them that the boarding teams had been successfully beamed out of the Theurgy's buffers. A small sense of relief despite the battle they now faced: that the mission parameters might still be met. So much was riding on their endeavour, and the worst thing possible had just happened. They would have to fight for survival right from the first moment, and do so until the boarding teams could lower the base's shields and have the message sent.

"We defend ourselves and await word from the teams on the base. Stark, keep your eyes on any hails or messages coming in. It might be from our own." Jien turned, belatedly realising that the projection of Thea was not with them, the hologram instead on the base. It did not matter, since Thea was still present, only incorporeal. "Thea, engage multi-vector assault mode."

[Initiating decoupling sequence. Auto-separation in ten seconds,] said Thea on the intercom, overriding the klaxon. [Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Separation sequence in progress.]

The count-down would give Commander Trent ample of opportunity to carry out his orders before Thea separated. Once Dewitt and her small crew on the Allegiant had decoupled from the saucer section, Thea would tell them, and Squadron Commander Renard would report when all the Lone Wolves were out of the Fighter Assault Bay.

"On the defensive, Mister Trent, and evasive manoeuvres as required for all Vectors," she ordered as she sat down in the Commanding Officer's chair. Her mimicked heart beat quickly in her chest, and she clenched her jaw hard, knowing that the base was bound to open fire any moment. All starships within communication range would be receiving the alert of their location, and unless Thea was successful in preventing it, all the ships inside the spacedock would launch in defence of Starbase 84.

The die is cast.

---

OOC: CanadianVet, you are next with Trent. The transcript for the Tactical Officer during MVAM can be found here (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command,_Tactical_%26_CONN#MVAM_Procedure_Transcript). Below it you an find the Attack and Defensive Patterns. After CV has posted, IronFerrox can have the Lone Wolves launch. I will be posting with Jennifer Dewitt, launching the Allegiant.

Boarding teams, no need to wait for CanadianVet to post with Trent. Here is the map you need, which I made to help get your bearings a bit:
BOARDING ACTION MAP (https://orig04.deviantart.net/8e30/f/2016/276/2/f/episode_04___insertion_points_by_auctor_lucan-dajsu47.png)

Description of Boarding Team 01's insertion point can be found here (http://houseeros.com/roleplay-role-playing-forum/index.php?topic=53593.msg1503465#msg1503465). Boarding Team 02, yours is a regular corridor close to the spacedock control computers, and the staffed primary reactor controls are on the same level, only further away. Boarding Team 03 transports into a lounge on the ground level of the Executive Offices Complex (EOC). All these insertion points are as close as they can get without immediate detection.

Please let me know if you all have questions or need me to set the scenes or locations for you a bit more with further detail!

[ Commander Trent | USS Theurgy | Main Bridge ] Attn: All

Time was trickling by.  The way before an engagement was the worst.  Once they would come under contact, then things would crystallize and simplify a great deal  But in the meantime, in the minutes before the battle would be joined, there was entirely too much time to think.  But there was something to be said for Theurgy's bridge crew: they knew how to handle themselves and while the tension was palpable, everyone seemed calm enough; even Stark who had seemed to be one to wear her feelings on her sleeve.  It would seem their conversation and her mission on the Allegiant had done wonders for her confidence. 

And just at the moment he had expected it, lights and systems became to come back to life even as the boarding party was beamed over.  But then, there were those horrified words, words that accompanied his own readings of the Starbase's defences coming online.  And when the Captain called for Red Alert, the XO and Chief Tactical Officer's finger jabbed the control that would send the alarm coursing through the ship and bringing his own combat systems to full readiness.  Oh, he knew it would be fast, much faster than it would normally take when coming out of Grey Mode thanks to the preparations that had taken place in the final hours before crossing the Tachyon Grid.  And when his orders came, he spoke again in his headset even as he acknowledge the Captain's orders with a nod, quietly as to avoid unnecessary noise on the Bridge.  "This is the XO.  All hands prepare for MVAM.  Allegiant and Lone Wolves, launch now.  Battle Bridges, prepare for independent operations.  Flag Bridge, stand by for orders to activate and launch the drones."   

There was much for Trent to manage, but he still had his head above water.  But soon he would be busier than he'd ever been on a starship's bridge.  Effectively he would be in tactical control of three warp-capable platforms, and at least having Commander Renard and his experience out there would mean that he would not have to do much to manage the fighters, especially with Allegiant out there to act as a sensor and coordination platform.  But this would still be as complex an engagement as he'd ever taken part in. 

As the ship began to separate and new instructions came, the XO acknowledged again.  "Aye-aye, Captain.  Bringing all point-defence clusters online.  Mister Yukiumura, drop to simulacrum and bring up the EW suite."  And only then did he address the Battle Bridges again.  "Vectors 2 and 3, fall in for maximum defensive fire coverage.  Hold fire until fired upon, and you are to target only combat systems, and even then only if you have a clean shot." 

But then, now that he had a moment to consider what had happened, he quickly reviewed the sensor logs, and he called out.  "Captain, I don't know what's happening on the Starbase, but they didn't detect us, otherwise they'd have destroyed us while our shields were down.  There's something else going on in there."

[ Jennifer Dewitt | USS Allegiant Bridge (Docked) | Deck 10 | USS Theurgy NX-79854 ] Attn: All

[Allegiant and Lone Wolves, launch now.] 

That was the command heard on the intercom, and Lieutenant Commander Dewitt sat down in the central chair on the Allegiant's bridge. Pre-flights checked well before the Theurgy passed through the Tachyon Grid, her verification to Commander Trent and the orders to the small bridge crew were succinct. "This is the Allegiant, launching now," she said raking her hand through her red hair as she collected herself a bit - not having thought they'd be given the order so soon. She steeled herself, her hand closing to a fist. "You heard the XO, power her up and launch immediately."

"Aye, Commander," said Jaya Thorne at the helm, a Petty Officer that had been the ace on the Black Opal when it came to shuttle operations inside the docking bay - drilled in flying the Allegiant since he came aboard the Theurgy. But Miss Thorne was not the only one from her past command. In fact, everyone present on the Allegiant had served under her at the Black Opal. Ensign Edgar Rogers manned the tactical station - the co-pilot seat next to Thorne's. He had been the last one from the Opal to conform to the Theurgy's mission but perhaps, now, the most steadfast in his conviction that Captain Ives did was the right thing. Jennifer thought the shaved man's guilt about shooting down that fighter pilot - Ensign Carver - had something to do with it.

Morwen Angharad was at communications and sensors behind her right shoulder, keeping an eye on both the Lone Wolves and Tovarek Drones. Behind Jennifer's right shoulder was Ensign T'sebl Felr, the Vulcan manning the Ops station and being in direct communication with the three people down in the Allegiant's warp core room. As she gave her orders, the last person aboard - Doctor Henandez - retreated from the bridge, heading to the yacht's medical bay to prepare. He had been the CMO on the Black Opal, and would be monitoring the development from the med bay. Before he left, he put his hand on Jennifer's shoulder.

"A patient of mine once said he thought he'd broken his leg in two places," he said and winked at her as the whole bridge came alive with lights and sounds,  "I simply told him to quit going to those places.... Then again, I suppose we won't have any choice today, so... Break a leg, I suppose? I will be waiting int he back if you do."

Jennifer could not help but chuckle at George's bad puns, and she shook her head, grateful for the small distraction. It was, perhaps, the last joke she'd ever hear.

When her green eyes returned to the viewscreen, the Allegiant had decoupled from the Theurgy's saucer section. As the vista of space spread out before them, Starbase 84 came into view directly ahead, and she willed herself to be brave. She found herself grateful, in spite of all the time she'd spent with them, that she would undertake this mission in the company of her old staff from the Opal. The conditions of their commissioning to that remote base had not been healthy, but now, with a change of pace and with new conditions entirely, the bond between them had grown stronger than it had ever been on the Opal. In fact, she had only wished to have Yukimura at her side, but she knew he served better next to Carrigan Trent on the Theurgy's bridge.

"Raise shields and boost sensors. Feed all readings to the Lone Wolves and the Theurgy. Take us about the base and as far out of phaser range as you can without loosing sensor integrity. Engage!"

A thought went to the boarding teams on the starbase, hoping they would be successful before they suffered too heavy losses.

---

[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: SummerDawn & Nolan

In the transition from Transporter Room 03 to Starbase 84, Ida had no idea what kind of danger she and the team had been in - the signal almost severed along the way as the base raised its shield. When she did materialise, however, the first thing she heard was the Red Alert klaxon echoing in the gargantuan lobby of the Executive Offices Complex, and she saw people getting up and running out of the area. She frowned, wondering if she and the team had been displaced in time as well as space, their arrival much later than she'd thought. If the base was at Red Alert already, it meant that the Theurgy would have to fight every moment in wait for them to lower the the base's shields, lest they'd be trapped without means of returning.

"Perimeter," she ordered and raised her rifle, eyes along the sights as she looked about. The team fanned out in the small visitor's lounge in the corner of the large lobby. At this point the pinkskin behind the counter noticed them, and her eyes went wide at the sight of a fully armed group of Starfleet officers having beamed into her establishment - all whom were clearly not there for her beverages and snack assortment. Ida met her alarmed stare, antennae angling towards the civilian. "Get out."

The woman needn't be told twice, taking off in the same direction as the throng of visitors that were returning to their assigned quarters. Ida didn't shed her another look, instead stepping towards the side of the lounge that faced the entrance to the EOC, fourty yards away and their singular entry-point before they could enter the jefferies tubes. The small lounge was the closest they could beam in, with transporter inhibitors set up inside the complex itself. They had to make their way through the security gate inside the entrance, and if the Red Alert had been raised, those high, transparent blast doors before the gate would be sealed as well, with additional staff about to arrive. It was the worst conditions for the onset of their infiltration, but it also granted one, small opening.

"Ensign Ryuan," said Ida and turned her gaze to the Mistress-at-Arms. The Bajoran already knew what she had to do, having drilled the procedure a hundred times on the holodeck. Sel not being armed with the TR-120 or the SAFTI gear as she were, she would be able to more easily slip into the wake of the security detail that was about to approach the blast doors. She was to take the long way around the lobby, fall in behind the new detail without being noticed, and as soon as the blast doors opened, she would deploy stun grenades to take out the whole present security force - the new detail included. "Go."

Ida looked to Yeoman Henshaw, Zaraq and the other team members, gesturing for them to crouch down and hide behind the furniture in the lounge - their presence obscured by the plants and the lounge decor. Meanwhile, Ida was on the lookout, her antennae scanning the bustling activity in the lobby from her hiding place. By Lor'Vela, how could they go to Red Alert so fast? she thought, clenching her jaw as she waited, keeping her pulse in check.

Did someone tip them off about our arrival? Once more, she found herself thinking about Nathaniel Isley, and whether or not he was a traitor after all.

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell (https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Transporter Room Two | Deck 05 | USS Theurgy ]  

"All teams, stand by for transport," Natalie Stark's voice announced.

"All right, you heard the lady," O'Connell said he gestured to the transporter.  "Everybody git on th' transporter pads and prepare to share!  Manfredi and Johnson, share a pad.  Go ahead and hug each other, hold each other as close as your girlfriend, maybe closer.  Chief Keyah, you kin share one with Thea.  Ah kin see yore holdin' that great big rifle, so you'll have to go cheek to cheek.  That's it; jest back up into each other.  Squeeze them hindquarters together now!  That's it.  Jest like an advertisement fer a Ferengi holosuite.  Okay, thet leaves a spare pad fur th' rest!"

"All teams, all teams, transport initiating. Repeat, transport initiated,"  Stark's voice reported.

"Energize now, Kowalski!" O'Connor ordered as he hopped up onto the remaining pad and turned to face the transporter chief.

"Energizing," Kowalski murmured as his hands played over the console.  A field of sparks obscured Billy Bob's vision as an electronic hum filled his ears.  The hum faded away as the sparks disappeared to reveal...

---

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell (https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Corridor outside the Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ]  

...a wide corridor, the same kind of ubiquitous corridor found aboard many starbases and large starships.  As the eight of them appeared, they jerked violently at the sound of an alarm klaxon!

"Why don't these things ever run smooth?" O'Connell whined.  It was a saucy, yet delicate whine that cleansed the palate.  

"They're onto us!" Gimli Luff barked his deep phlegmy baritone.

"Ya think?" Senior Chief Cam growled.

"No wait Luff, that's a General Quarters klaxon," O'Connell corrected him, "not an intruder alert!  We can still make this happen by pretending to be security!"

"I can do that," Chief Keyah nodded as before directing her newfangled TR-120 rifle down the corridor before turning to cover the other direction.

Chief Manfredi shook his head. "Oh I got a bad... feeling about this."

"Stick to the plan y'all," O'Connell hissed.  "We reckoned things would go south.  Let's knock off the jawjackin' and git t' work!"

[ Outside the Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ] Attn: DocM.

When they materialised, the first sound they heard was the klaxon that Thea hadn't hoped to detect just yet, at the very onset of the mission. She scanned the vicinity with her projection's optical sensors, head whipping about as the organics spoke, them debating whether or not their endeavour had been made futile. Thea's priorities were others, the foremost one imperative that she addressed within the minute. Each second counted, and the odds became worse with every minute moment they tarried.

"I need to lock down the spacedock immediately," she announced, and they knew it to be the first task at hand.  Yet with her approach being compromised, the starbase was about to deploy everything it had against her, making the battle short before she was destroyed, and the subspace sync her emitter had to her A.I. brain core would fall silent, and she would merely remain with the emitter's reduced processing powers until the power cell was depleted. Therefore, she did not wait for the organics to settle their argument, instead striding at a brisk pace to the next intersection and the corridor where the spacedock control room awaited them. Every second counted, and she raised her rifle to her shoulder - eyes along the sights.

Rounding the corner, she saw the two posted security guards - the regular deployment since it was a critical area of the base. Within the minute, the guard detail would be increased because of the Red Alert, three times as many about to materialise via site-to-site transport. There was no time to await them, making an ambush not the highest priority. At least not for her, since she was the one that needed to access the spacedock control subroutines and seal the entire base from launching any crafts - Starfleet or civilian.

The two guards in front of her in the corridor had drawn their hand phasers in reaction to the alert, and the closest one spotted her the second after she came into sight, which was too late. She raised a cry to alert the other guard, but Thea's TR-120 had already fired twice, and both guards sank to the floor in two disjointed heaps - one ending up lying against the bulkhead. Thea never paused her step, calling back to O'Connell. "Starbase security inbound. Cover me."

She walked up to the control panel next to the door, tore away the cover and dug her force-field hard fingers into the circuitry gut of the door mechanism, finding an awkward grip on the two key isolinear chips there. She ripped them out, making the sliding doors part for her. Even as she strode through, she heard the familiar sound of the security detail beaming into the corridor. She had no time to address the threat they posed. She had to trust O'Connell, lest she'd loose too much time. She heard the voices raised, but she was inside the control room already.

Two technicians were there, likely having run diagnostics, but Thea spared no time in opening fire again, one shot each making them topple to the hard floor.  Before their bodies settled, she was by the main console. She held her rifle vertically in one hand while she let her projected abdomen fade away - revealing her spherical emitter within. She had a cord there, connected to her dataport, and she took the other end in her fingers, quickly plugging herself into the console. Having done so, her pre-written program was executed and she could turn around and take aim towards the doors - hoping that O'Connell and his men did not let anyone through while she shut down the spacedock in its entirety.

[ Heather McMillan | Deck 11 | Main Sickbay| Entry Corridor/Waiting Room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Maya, Vinata & Hylota Vojona

[Show/Hide]

McMillan barely concealed the wince as she felt the sheer strength of the Vulcan. She wished she had remembered sooner that Vulcan were much, much stronger than Humans were, and though Vulcans were very controlled, they hadn't had the chance to meet the Radiant or know the exact extent of their frailty. Fortunately, Maya did not appear prone to crushing on first grip, or the young woman would have been down one hand. The hand that had touched Maya's was pulsing, literally, with a red-gold light.

"Orderly?" said McMillan, "Yeah, all right."

Smiling, she made to trail after the Vulcan, walking on tip-toe, when she whirled around, and her light fade away completely as her eyes widened with recognition at the sight of Hylota Vojona, "Oh dear God." Her voice was a weak squeak as all the memories and the shame of her actions came back. She still had nightmares of her stupidity causing the death of a sentient being. The guilt and horror was evident, and the woman clammed up due to her failure to decide whether to apologize, or break down in tears first.

It bothered her that the female Ovri was treating her like a friend rather than shunning her. She was also glad to see that the woman was still intact, and even pregnant! When did that happen? She kept talking of taking her for a drink, and McMillan was tempted to blurt out that Vojona ought to be putting toxins into her drink for what she had done, nearly incapacitating her arm with a medication that had an adverse effect on Ovri instead of making things better.

No Radiant shall ever do harm to another life form.

McMillan was doing a terrible job of it.

Bunny, her little hologram pet, was hopping around the young woman's feet. "After all of this is over," said McMillan at last, with a shaky smile, and guilt-ridden eyes, "I'll be right here, whenever you want."

She breathed a little easier once the two were past, going further in, and she turned back to Doctor Maya, looking like she had just run naked through a crossfire between Romulans and Klingons and escaped with her life. With no lights, she looked even paler, and more sickly. She didn't realize that her dependence on glowing like a lamp was making her addicted to her own abilities. Until she had shown herself to people, she had only ever allowed light to flash from the palms of her hands and fingertips, but now that she was letting the Light flow through the entirety of her body, she could no longer control or stop herself from touching the light. And when she did stop, it required conscious effort, and her body and mind would keep yearning to let herself glow, as if her life depended on it. But seeing Hylota made McMillan want to punish herself, and so she willfully shut off her light, and lowered herself to stand on the soles of her feet. Only her hair continued to float about with the slightest movements.

She listened to what Maya had to say and smiled weakly, nodding, "That should be good for morale," said the Radiant. "a newborn child, and maybe...maybe the chance that this would be coming to an end...that we could go home."

[ Maya (https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/e/7/maya_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n3n.png) | Deck 11 | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ]
 
Maya made a mental note to inform Doctor Nicander about the “contact” that McMillan had apparently made.  After the Istar incident it was foolish to ignore something like that.  There was no point interrupting him right now, what with Hylota’s baby and all.

---

[ MCPO William Robert O’Connell (https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Corridor outside the Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ]  

"Starbase security inbound. Cover me."

“Here they come!” Petty Officer Johnson cried as a quiet electronic hum struggled to be heard over the “red alert” claxon.

Chief Petty Officer Amlas Keyah tapped a stud on her webgear before tearing a small grenade off it and tossing it into a group of six glowing silhouettes that were appearing in the corridor.  The webgear the team wore wasn’t merely a series of straps secured by a belt that held the teams portable gear, it was also a device used for personal protection that used subspace harmonics to generate a personal force field.  Called SAFTI gear, short for Subspace Armor Field Tactical Integration gear, the system had been juryrigged by O’Connell and his friend and shipmate Senior Chief Petty Officer Calvin Reagar.  Like the personal armor systems of the past, it wasn’t perfect.  The prototype was only capable of protecting a standard sized person for over ten minutes from weak attacks like physical blows or slow moving projectiles. Billy Bob predicted that the system would protect a wearer from shots from phasers, disruptors and other particle beam weapons for two minutes at best assuming the weapon was fired at standard settings. A beam that could disintegrate a human would likely get through in seconds.

That was why CPO Keyah had tossed the grenade.  It was a flashbang grenade filled with antinadions that were supposed to interfere with phaser beams for a few seconds before the station’s air filtration systems removed it from the corridor.  Hopefully it would make a phaser set on kill have only enough power to stun or even better, not do anything at all.

In case it didn’t work, everybody else in the corridor activated their SAFTI gear.  Even if the rigs had limited power this was something you didn’t want to save for later.

CPO Keyah, PO Rivard, and SCPO Cam fired first as the station’s security team to materialize.  As the best shots in the team they didn’t wait for the antinadion grenade to go off.  They crouched as if they were 18th century soldiers using “Brown Bess” muskets so that the rest of the team could fire over them, and to ensure that they themselves weren’t hit by friendly fire from a trigger happy engineer who hadn’t held a weapon since the last holodeck training session. 

The grenade went off right as PO Johnson was firing, startling the engineer and causing him to waste his first shot on the ceiling.  O’Connell placed the barrel of his Accipiter directly over Cam, firing over the Andorian to stun incoming security team before they got they received situational awareness, AKA knew what the rut was going on.  Manfredi was at his left firing over Keyah and Johnson was at his right firing over Rivard.  CWO Luff didn’t fire, but instinctively stole a glance over his broad bulky shoulder to make sure there wasn’t a second team beaming in behind them.

[ Hylota Vojona & Vinata Vojona | Waiting Room | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

---

          Vinata smiled and nodded. "I think that my sister will be resistant to having me as her assistant with how I am pushing for her to take this duty shift off. I figure I should just step away and let someone else handle working with her. I will just do my job sir...but I feel I will be focusing on assisting others, I feel it is best to take things slow to get myself eased back into service after all that has happened as of late." He gave a soft chirp before taking a deep breath and spared one last look to his sister as he muttered to himself. "Just hope we have another 24 hours on the pregnancy." Taking a deep breath Vinata went to make sure that the hypospray doses of sedative were fully restocked and prepared for the things to come.

As Vinata got to work his sister could not help but glance his way and watch him, despite her irritation with his insistence over her sitting out this shift Hylota still wanted her brother to be safe. Turning her gaze back to Maal, Hylota gave a weak smile, she was not going to make a good parent, Maal might not be ready for a child, but he could at least help her understand what it meant to be mother to a child. As Maal spoke of how he was sorry about what had happened to Vinata while in his care Hylota sighed and put a finger over his lips and shook her head no. "I do not need to hear it, the matter is closed, you were forced to do something you clearly hate yourself for. You almost died trying to save my brother, the fact you tried is all I need." In the back of her head Hylota thought of how she had gotten the closure she had needed already.

As Lucan came over and spoke with Hylota she smiled and nodded. "Indeed, I feel that when this is over I will be looking forward to the time off though." As Lucan then teased her about Vinata, Hylota could not help but sigh. "I am the head nurse, I need to prove I am worthy of my post even if it is a token expression of my worth. If we are facing hardship I want to be here with my piers." Not but mere moments after giving her little speech on needing to do this Lucan was tasking Maal to be her aid. Hylota wanted to protest and fight that she did not need any help, but she held her tongue and let things play out, she hoped Maal would refuse truthfully. However as Maal accepted the role Hylota looked to him and then sighed. "Alright then. I was intending to take up a place behind the medical desk and overlook the readouts for patients, keep an eye out for warning signs and allocate the nurses where needed most." She turned to look at Maal. "He will bee a big help at keeping in the loop." In the back of her head she repeated what Maal had said, "I can Brig the administrative work to her." Quite the Freudian slip there, showed Maal was still feeling guilty.

[ Wenn Cinn |Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84] Attn: FollowTomorrow, Kaligos, Auctor Lucan, All Others

The area under the Subspace Acquisition Grid was a relatively large open space, dimly lit with a number of different pieces of equipment strewn about. Cinn didn't pretend to understand what they all did. That was an Engineer's job. It was his task to ensure that they got safely up to the communications tower and ensure that the message got out. So when it was that they beamed into the section, immediately he began to scout the area with his eyes.

There was a number of doors out to various corridors and side rooms that would need to be secured before they could continue. Straining through the dim lights, Cinn believed he would see the hatch which would lead them to the Jefferies Tube. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the climb. As a man of a large size, the tubes themselves were a tight squeeze. He hadn't gotten stuck yet but the irrational part of his brain always worried about it when he was to undertake that specific activity.

"Isley, Cardamone secure those doors." He ordered firmly, pointing out the doors in question. All in the all, he still wasn't sure on Nathaniel Isley. Partially he'd taken on the troubled crewman as a favor to Renard. Cinn had read the reports on the investigation, inconclusive as it was, and wasn't that impressed. He'd give Isley the benefit of the doubt for now but he would be watching closely, ready for the take down.

All at once the color palette of their dim room changed. Red lights bathed the away team. It was completely apparent that the Starbase was now on tactical alert. Putting together an assessment of the situation quickly, Cinn knew they wouldn't be alone for long. "DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!" He called, ensuring his weapon was ready. "Ravenholm, if you could find a way to get that hatch open. I have the feeling we need to move quickly."

[ Dr. Nicander | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Zenozine

"Excellent, then the desk is yours," said Lucan with a smile and made an inviting gesture towards it. Maal still looked a bit embarrassed, but at least it seemed like he would be able to wo-

[Red Alert. Red Alert. All hands to battle stations. Red Alert...]

Thea's announcement on the intercom made the staff in Sickbay aware that something had gone wrong, or at least in regard to the silent and covert approach to the Starbase. By that time, Lucan estimated that the boarding teams would be on the base, but they ought to just have beamed over, and the Theurgy would be facing the collective forces of the Orunal-class base for the entirety of the boarding team's missions, which could last for some time depending on the opposition they faced at their insertion points. Moreover, if the base was aware of the Theurgy's presence, those boarding teams would not have an easier job.

Lucan was split in his thoughts on it, he found. The parasite rejoiced, while he was not certain if he liked the odds for his own survival. Again, that conflict of interest. The doubt he could not shake, not act upon.

"Listen up everyone! Activate the EMH programs in the Battle Sickbays, and make sure the staff there has not ventured too far away. I anticipate that we will be splitting up quite soon," said Lucan and walked over to the wall that held the schedule, tapped a few keys below it, and was instead granted the sight of Starbase 84 - the viewer revealing how the starbase was slowly opening its torpedo launchers along the edge of the mushroom head. His key staff likely gathered behind him, and they'd see what they were up against. "This is it. Prepare to receive wounded personnel and..."

[Warning. MVAM mode countdown initiated. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven...]

"Here we go..." he said and turned to face the Ovri, the Vulcan, the Klingon and the Radiant, along with other staff that had paused to see Starbase84 on display. "As I was saying, patients are to be treated based on their order of urgency. In other words, the Triage System applies."

When their patients arrived, their experienced nurses would evaluate their need for treatment by using the Triage System. Emergency patients first. If there was danger of the patient's life, treatment would begin immediately or as soon as possible. Where there was need for emergency care but no imminent danger to health and functioning, treatment could wait. If there was no emergency care required, the patients would be sent off to their quarters, or anywhere that they wouldn't be in the way.

"May the winds be with us," he said, and switched off the view of Starbase 84 before walking off.

---

[ Lt Cmdr. Miles Renard | Wolf-01 | Fighter Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: The Lone Wolves Squadron

The pilots' jargon had been quite reassuring for Miles as he heard the chatter on the squadron channel, seeing Rawly taunt and jest where she stood in her cockpit. For a moment, he thought that the spirit of the wolves lived on, despite losses, friendly fire and betrayal of trust. Tentatively, he thought that despite how Isley had confessed to neglect, Carver being dead because of it, and the losses from the mutiny, they were still the same as when they had fought Starfleet - before he had ended up in the damaged transporter buffer. Under Jaru Rel' command, they might have lost good pilots to the harrowing chase across the Alpha Quadrant, but they had never lost their spirit.

As Miles now faced the most important battle yet, he doubted himself and his ability to command the Lone Wolves. He told himself that it was not his fault, that what had happened was beyond his control. He liked to believe that... had it not been for that look that Rawley's helmet gave him before she seated herself. In that brief look lay the betrayal she'd placed at his feet - the blame for the tactic he had used in the battle against the Calamity. He tightened his jaw, knowing that while Rawley put on a show, trying to bolster the squadron's spirit... things might never be the same again.

The Red Alert was heard across the Fighter Assault bay, and instead of the tingle of fear for what may come, he found his thoughts going to Sar-unga, whom would be behind enemy lines at that point.

[Allegiant and Lone Wolves, launch now.]

With a sour grimace, Miles closed his eyes, and he pushed away those doubts, his worry for his mate, and tried to focus on what lay ahead. It was too late for second thoughts, or questioning himself. He had a new wingmate in Gun-Shy after Carver died, so he could not afford to show himself to be less the pilot he had been before the mutiny. He tapped his comm system, and gave the orders as he ignited his thrusters at the lowest setting - making his Valkyrie taxi out into the centre lane.

"This is Wolf Leader. We have clearance to  launch. I repeat, we have clearance to launch. Power up all systems and launch by elements," saw his Valkyrie's displays flare to life, detecting the other wolves as their systems came online. "Once out, fall into Echelon Formation and report readiness. We defend Thea by elements... and sink out teeth into anything that comes near her. Wolf Leader out."

With Gun-Shy directly behind him to his left, he ignited his launching thrusters and took off along the flight hangar. He saw the indication on his control panel that Thea was going into MVAM, and when he and Gun-Shy shot out of Vector 02 and came about to face Starbase 84, he could see Thea's Vectors separating. They were to defend all three of them, but it was hardly the first time. It was a lesser concern than that of his squadron, and if they would still be able to function as a pack.

---

[ Captain Ives | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

Behind Jien's back, he knew that the tactical display table would show the Theurgy split into three vectors, and the Lone Wolves would be launching too. Jien could already see the Allegiant on the viewscreen in front of him, having shot off in a roundabout course to provide better sensor readings for Thea and Tactical CONN both. When Trent spoke, it brought a deep frown to Jien's face, and she rose to her feet again, turning to look at her First Officer.

"Why else could they have raised their shields?" she asked, but did not wait for a reply. With a glance towards the readings on the edge of the viewscreen, determining that long range sensors did not pick up any approaching ships in the closest sector, Jien took his query to the officer that had his eyes even further out than they did. "Bridge to Stellar Cartography. Look again, and report immediately on indication that there is anything inbound."

The Stellar Cartography lab had a far greater processing capacity, with its own computer core devoted to rendering results far beyond what long range sensors reached. It was, however, a far more crude instrument - unable to render in real-time like the sensor array's normal data did. Yet whatever delays the readings might have from cartography, imprecise in its output, it might just give them the first indication of hostile ships approaching.
 
"We might stand without answers now, but we know what we must do," she said, settling the matter for the time being. Better to save any mistakes for the debriefing, and focus on the mission at hand. Already, the torpedo launchers on the starbase were being opened, and the readings shouted of phaser banks being powered up. Weapon signatures inside the space dock. Why was there indication of phaser fire from the base, but no beams shot towards them? Was it their boarding parties? No, hand held phasers did not cause such readings. "Let them make contact first. Whatever time we can gain will be in our favour. Let me know if they try to hail us."

By then, Jien would have expected the bay doors to open, so perhaps, just perhaps, Thea had accomplished to lock it down - preventing all docked starships and fighters from launching against them. "Mister Tovarek, most of your drones will be deployed as a distraction during our escape, but with the base detecting us this early, we might need them before then. How many are fitted with hardpoints?"

---

[ Thea | Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ] Attn: DocM.

In her background processes, Thea had already breached the starbase LCARS and sealed all spacedock operations, yet it was one thing to close down operating programs and quite another to make sure those programs could not be accessed remotely and reactivated again. So, while she kept her eyes and her rifle pointed to the door from whence she had come, she was also shredding sub-routines and overloading hardware in the wake of her invisible progress. 76 %... 82 %...

He only had hard-wire access to spacedock controls, and around her, consoles flared up as she overloaded them, yet she did not blink, keeping her auditory sensors on what might be happening in the corridor. She detected continued phaser fire, shouts and screams, bodies toppling to the floor, and after a few seconds, only the fizzling circuitry around her was heard. 94 %... 100 %.

She yanked her cord free from the main console and tucked it inside her projection again - her holographic abdomen re-sequenced to cover her emitter again - and then she stepped back to open fire on the console. It was rendered useless in three rapid shots, but she did not linger - already running towards the doors. She paused only to let them open for her, then she was out - eyes along the sights of her rifle.

The sight that met her were six unconscious security guards lying in a disjointed heap upon the floor, neutralised before they were able to mount any defence against the crew from the Theurgy. She turned her head O'Connell's way, and social convention dictated that a small nod of confirmation was in order. "Spacedock lock-down accomplished," she said, turning her head in the direction towards where the primary reactor control room would be. "On to the next objective?"

Unfortunately, the element of surprise would be lost to them, and the guard deployment increased.

[ Dyan Cardamone | Transporter Room 1| USS Theurgy] Attn: Boarding Team 01

Dyan gazed at her teammates, wondering if they'd all make it out alive and how much damage they'd cause on the way to accomplishing their mission. In her mind, she wasn't even sure if they'd achieve their goal. She couldn't trick herself into believing things would work out anymore, now that she's standing on a transporter pad, waiting for the countdown. Her trigger finger itched though, and she was more than ready to take out some pent up aggression, even if their effort may not bear fruit.

The countdown began and the Asurian faced forwards, staring at the wall and waiting with held breath. Mentally, she urged the count down to go faster, damn it, nobody has time for slow counters. At the count of 'three', she released her held breath and tried to force herself to breathe normally. At the count of 'two', she screwed her eyes shut. Keeping them open while transporting had a habit of making her nauseous. At the count of 'one', she gripped her rifle tight...

---

[ Dyan Cardamone | Insertion Point 01; Subspace Acquisition Grid| Starbase 84 ] Attn: Boarding Team 01

She opened her eyes again to a dimly lit, open area. She could honestly say this was underwhelming, compared to what she was expecting. Wenn Cinn ordered her to secure that door, which she moved to do. It was way too quiet, too dark, nothing was happening--

Ah, there we go, she thought. Red Alarm Klaxons sounded off and echoed around the room and rattled her head. That's the sort of tension she was expecting. "That's more like it!" She called out with a wicked laugh following right after. She took a position just out of sight of the door, in case anyone came running down the hall at them. Nothing would get past her, she thought!

[IrnaShall ch'Xinya | Stellar Cartography | Deck 15]

The moment the Red Alert klaxons sounded, Shall's eyes looked up from his console, antenna snapping to attention.  Here we go. he cheered in his own head.  With just a few taps the lights came to full and the three main screens came to life.  The familiar mushroom of Starbase 84 filled the center of the middle screen, lights glittering all over its hull as if everything was normal.  Not for long... Shall smiled, eager to get some action after his long recovery.

Standing up and pushing the stool to the side of the platform (just by the junction with the walkway), the Andorian held up his hands as if in supplication.  "Thea, engage holographic systems, object focus: Starbase 84."  A few tones of acknowledgement sounded and the main screens shifted, the starbase zooming forward as if the ship were warping towards it.  Instead of a collision though, the structure materialized in midair directly between Shall's hands and in front of his face.  Testing the new controls, he turned and rolled the hologram, looking for any sign of anything leaving the starbase.

The comm sounded not long after: "Bridge to Stellar Cartography. Look again, and report immediately on indication that there is anything inbound."

"Stand by Captain." Shall answered, eyes already scanning the star field on the screens for any sign of something moving fast.  Nothing was visible, but of course that didn't mean a thing.  "Thea, scan for warp-field distortions in local space beginning with normal lanes and possible hiding spots."  He'd took the opportunity to identify the likely places to hide an ambush beforehand so Thea would know what he was talking about.

While she did that, the scientist tried another tactic.  Accessing the subspace sensors he overlaid the results onto his hologram.  In an instant the faux-starbase lit up with all sorts of false colors showing different subspace signals it was emitting by strength.  Most of it was bare while there were a number of bright spots at strategic places across the hull, clearly its own subspace sensors.  The comm array blazed with a bright white, but it caught Shall's eye for more than that.  Shifting the station and zooming in so that he could focus on the array, Shall then had the display run backwards through time.  The results were just what he thought, as strange as it was: the output of the comm array was steady, and not of the strength needed for an open hail.

In short, Starbase 84 wasn't talking to anyone on the outside.  As soon as its Red Alert kicked in the internal communications lit up sections like a Christmas tree, and the strongest source before that was a small cluster in the docking areas.  Something was going on in there, but Shall didn't want to guess.  He had his own question to answer.  Speaking of which, "Stellar Cartography to Bridge, there's no sign of anything coming out of hiding, and the station hasn't made any attempts to call for help."

[Provisional Ensign Lin Kae| Main Engineering| USS Theurgy]
Attn: Auctor Lucan

When Rihen gave him the little hug, Kae couldn't help but flinch inside as he still wasn't at ease with what he was going through at present and it made him uncertain about how he felt about people who before he had certain feelings for.

Rihen for instance; did he really feel the way that he had felt for her or was he just projecting how he felt onto her without meaning to?

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she slapped him on the arse and he bit the inside of his left cheek by accident as he really wasn't focused as he should be on things at that moment. "If you say so, Rihen. I'm just hoping that I don't fuck this up like I did the last time.." he said in a slightly bitter tone as he kept his eyes on the various feeds going through the systems and waited for his chance to redeem himself.

Suddenly the intense and sharp stabbing pain erupted behind his left eye and he quickly whipped his left hand up to massage the space next to his left temple with two fingers pressing firmly against it as he fought back the now semi-familiar feeling. "oh prophet's please..not now.." he muttered hopefully.

---

[ Chris "Husker" Slayton | Wolf 04 | Fighter Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All In Fighter Bay.

Husker couldn't help but smirk just a little bit about Ghost's comments and simply replied with "Well where it comes to the drinks, as my oldest brother would say why don't you put your credit's where your mouth is..you drink a pint for every fighter I down and vice versa, Ghost." before he turned his head to face the Brisish pilot's bird and gave her a wolfish smile. "Or do you not have the stomach to face a real drinking challenge?" he teased further.

Once he was done however, his bravado went away as he turned his head to look over at Tessa's fighter and silently hoped that they would make it through the mission as he was really hoping to see where his..thing, whatever it was...that the two of them had started that had lead to much confusion on his part would go and while he wasn't used to it, he was actually enjoying the feeling of uncertainty and looking forward to more of it amusingly enough.

Husker quickly opened up a private channel to Goldeneye's fighter and said quietly into it "Hey, what do you say that after all of the combat and bravado, you come by my quarters and we just chill. You, me, the bed and just the quiet. Think you'd be up for it?"

As he waited for an answer, the call went out for the squadron to be deployed and Husker's attention became rather focused on the operation ahead as the Wolves waited to have their leashes slipped..

[Nathanal Isley | Insertion Point 01; Subspace Acquisition Grid| Starbase 84 ] Attn: Boarding Team 01

In all honesty Nathan was far from a fan of transporters. One of the advantages of being a pilot was the fact that he had rarely had to deal with the things. He didn't suffer from any anxiety about them but they also never sat well with him. Not since the academy where he had overheard a bunch of science officers talking.

"So they don't really transport you, they just rip you apart, scan you, and reconstruct those bits into a clone of you somewhere else. In essence they are killing you every time they work."

Leave it to the sciences to ruin a perfectly good magical device. Once they got to the landing point he nodded towards Cinn as he was given an order. "Yes Sir."

Nathan was still very much trying to learn the paces of security work. He honestly had been expected to pass over this entire trip. It presented him with a lot of backs he had to cover. He had been sure to keep the safety of his rifle on, and as he moved to press his back against a wall covering his door he looked to Cardamone, who he was working with on keeping the flank clear.

The last time he had been watching someones back it hadn't gone very well. This time his heart rate was normal, and he felt fine. He had skipped breakfast unlike last time and while he was hungry he also wasn't hallucinating or so he thought... yay for progress?

Taking the safety off his rifle he set it to a low stun. He wasn't going to take any chances this time. "Okay, doors covered."

[ Ryuan Sel | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: AuctorLucan & Nolan

She knew the plan, she knew the drill, and as the transporter beam released it's grip on her, Ryuan knew her fate was far less certain. Taking a moment to acclimate herself with the complex, it was one thing to see it on paper or even in a holodeck another to know this was the real deal, Ryuan immediately began scanning the room. Ida's orders came as expected and she nodded. She was the pointed end of the stick this time, the surprise for the defenders, and she would be lying if she didn't feel fear.

But the mission required her to pretend she was station security and for this she'd grown out her hair and lost the earring, making her look a lot more like just another Starfleet officer, more likely to blend in amongst the throngs of security aboard the station. Her hope was to not be noticed, the grenades she stowed on her person ignored until it was too late. She also knew she was most likely going to be injured or killed by the time this was done, her two grenades were at maximum stun and she hoped she wouldn't be caught in the blast, otherwise she would be out cold.

Moving towards a place where she could se the approaching guards, but also look like she was at her post, Ryuan moved out to a vantage point just beyond the executive complex, and in the main path of any advancing security forces.

[ Tessa May Lance (https://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/0/d/tessa_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6mx6.png) | Wolf 07 | Outer space | Near the USS Theurgy ] 

As Tessa sat in her cockpit and attempted to put herself into "the zone" Commander Renard's voice came through her helmet.

"This is Wolf Leader. We have clearance to launch. I repeat, we have clearance to launch. Power up all systems and launch by elements.  Once out, fall into Echelon Formation and report readiness. We defend Thea by elements... and sink out teeth into anything that comes near her. Wolf Leader out."

One by one the Valkyries played follow the leader and launched themselves into the black.  As the USS Theurgy separated into three warp capable starships, the squadron of fighters formed a 'V' with Renard's fighter at the corner.  Once the action started they would divide into elements.  Iron-Fox and Gun-Shy would be the lead element, Morrigan and Husker was the next one. Ghost was paired with Hat Trick, AKA Quint Birch and Outrider AKA Ensign Gregor Strand was paired with Chief Petty Officer Carolina Archer, callsign Game. That left Goldeneye and Hurl AKA Tessa and Hurl together for the duration.  All of Renard's pilots were ordered to report their readiness, so Tessa didn't hesitate once she was in formation.  "Wolf-Seven and Wolf-Eight standing by."

Tessa expected to hear the other Wolves checking in.  Instead she heard a familiar husky voice in her headset over a private channel.  "Hey, what do you say that after all of the combat and bravado, you come by my quarters and we just chill. You, me, the bed and just the quiet. Think you'd be up for it?"

The absurdity of Husker's flirting when the squadron was staring death in the face struck Tessa as funny and she laughed out loud.  She should have been furious at him but what could possibly embody that 'Death or Glory Spirit' more than making a date for after the suicide mission?  Replying over the secure channel Tessa decided to go with the flow.  "I'll be there with bells on big boy," she assured him.  At this point it didn't matter if either one of them had any energy to do more than sleep.  The important thing was something to look forward to.  Tessa had gone into this mission assuming it was going to be the last one she ever flew, one way or another.   Husker's offer promised that somehow, someway, there would be a tomorrow.

---

[ Maya (https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/e/7/maya_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n3n.png) | Deck 11 | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ]

"As I was saying, patients are to be treated based on their order of urgency," Doctor Nicander said as he tore his pale grey eyes from the view of  Starbase slowly opening its torpedo launchers along the edge of the mushroom head. "In other words, the Triage System applies."

"Understood Doctor," Maya acknowledged with a respectful nod.
   
"May the winds be with us," he quietly invoked before replacing the view of the medical department's duty schedule and walking away. 

Maya glanced at the alien who called herself the deceptively Terran name of Heather McMillan.  "As an orderly you'll be assisting the nurses," she informed the little radiant.  "Herbert and Maal will be working in main sickbay today so you'll be receiving most of your instructions from them."

 

---

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell (https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Corridor outside the Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ]  

The six security specialists didn't have a chance.  O'Connell's team got the drop on them and once they were hit with by the TR-120s they dropped like flies and hit the deck.  Cam, Keyah, and Rivard rose to their feet. 

"Okay let's move like we got a purpose," O'Connell hissed.  "Luff whut you doin'?"

"I'm making sure we don't get snuck up on you Terran turdpole!" the Telarite grunted back.  Even when speaking softly his deep baritone seemed booming.  "All of you younglings are lucky to have someone experienced like me who can stay alert!"

"Spacedock lock-down accomplished," Thea reported as she glided up behind Luff.

Luff jumped and made a squealing noise like pig.  Hearing such a high pitched sound coming from the deep voiced Luff made O'Connell blink and take a step backwards.

"Careful there Luff, I don't think they heard you on Rigel," SCPO Verguy Cam quipped as his antenna wriggled like two caterpillars engaged in rhythmic dance.

"Stuff it up your blue backside Cam!" Gimli Luff growled.

"On to the next objective?" Thea continued as if Chief Warrant Officer Gimli Luff, the veteran of over two and a half decades in Starfleet, hadn't been frightened like a little girl.

"Darn tootin'," O'Connell grunted as he led the team down the corridor.  "We gotta get to th' reactor room afore they put up th' security forcefields!  Let's move out, double time!"

They made good time, until they reached the section of the corridor where the upper half of the right wall was a thick, transparent aluminum window overlooking the base's immense internal spacedock.  Then they got distracted.  Boy howdy, did they get distracted.

[ Cameron Henshaw | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: AuctorLucan & Summerdawn

Cameron fell in behind Zaraq as they took cover behind the furniture of the lounge. Henshaw could feel her heartbeat pound in the throat as she looked over the tables to see what was going on. Her fingers would be trembling as she really wasn't exactly fit for field combat. She felt somewhat safer in the SAFTi gear yet she believed it could be a false feeling of security as the starbase guards wouldn't be working on stun settings as their base was being boarded.

She looked over at Zaraq and asked him softly "How long do we need to stay here?" the adrenaline rushing through her veins had rendered her sense of time to nothing as she imagined they'd been siting her for far too long already. She needed to talk to the commander of the base, her adoptive father. She wanted to do something where she could make herself useful. Moving a little in her place it was obvious that Henshaw was becoming restless and impatient of waiting here.

Her eyes followed Ida now, the blue skinned warrior that seemed to be at te ready for the incoming patrols to be dealt with. Cameron bit her lower lip as she asked Zaraq once more "Shouldn't you be next to her to cover her more?"

[ Simon Tovarek | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Ives

Tovarek stood at his station as he processed the raw data that came pouring in. He shook his head as he didn't get why the station was at red alert already. It didn't make any sense to him before Ives asked him a question. He looked up from his station and glanced over at Ives "I'd have to check with the flight deck captain, but I believe we should have a dozen of the drones ready to be deployed instantly. We do still have another eighteen being fitted for our escape, but those aren't ready for active combat yet." he replied to Ives.

He sent a quick message down to the flight deck to receive confirmation and once it came in he nodded "A dozen drones at the ready captain. Do you want to launch them now?" he queried as he looked over to S'Iti. Her jocks about to take control over his drones and use them to their skills to be as annoying as possible to base defensive wings.

[ Amelya Duv | Transporter Room | Deck 12 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy  ]

With a security team and some combat medics Amelya Duv prepared herself for an eventual deployment on the starbase. Duv wasn't present at Sickbay as she figured she could be needed more as a medical officer in the field. Armed with a hand phaser and her medical gear strapped on her back, Amelya looked at the people who were with her. The group consisting out of a group of 3 more medical staff and 4 crewmen of security. They were wearing the SAFTI gear yet did not have the rifles the boarding teams had. Instead they had the standard issue assault rifle phasers set to stun nevertheless.

The tension was hanging in the air as Duv smiled and said "Alright ladies and gentlemen. Time to wait for our cue." she felt a little nervous but then again who wouldn't be on this moment throughout the entire ship. So to relieve the tension a bit she started with small talk with the medical and security staff. They were just abiding their time while the mission clock just ticked further and further...

[Selena Ravenholm | Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84]

The moment the transporter was finished Selenia was sweeping the room with her TR-120, but instead of looking for hostiles she was looking for points where she could link into the Starbase's system or even some fun toys that might be around.  Unlike the others on the team, her occular implants gave her perfect vision in the dim lighting, and she was even able to filter out the effects of the red alert lighting when it snapped on.  "That was fast!" the woman growled over the alarm.

Cinn started barking orders in an instant, and Selena was already ahead of him.  "I'm on it!."  she practically yells as she crouch-runs to the door.  Locked of course, but it was child's play to pry the control panel off and reset the control chips to override the lock.  Ready to open it, the cyborg turns to Cinn and nods, waiting for the go ahead.  Quickly tapping her right temple, the gunsight view from her TR-120 appeared on the right side of her vision and a quick thought command overlaid that with some targeting assistance.

Hefting the large rifle with the one hand for the moment, Selena's hand hovered over the now-functional door control.  The moment Cinn gives the word, the door is open, and anything waiting on the other end would be in for quite the surprise.

[ Sithick | USS Allegiant Warp Core Room ] Attn: Auctor, Angles

Bringing the Allegiant online meant powering up the warp core, and bringing everything online. The room was a bustle with the three man team, and it's largest member was no different as he ran the gambit of checklists and safety's that had been drilled into him by Starfleet training. He hadn't powered on many ships in his time with the Federation he had normally been with them when they were already started, or he had been working on a station where they were parking. Each time he went through these lists there was something new and exciting to learn.

Seeing the Warp Core come to life and the room start to fill with all that all too familiar pulsating noise as matter and antimatter were smashed together to grant the rest of the ship power. All of it contained by heavy shielding and directed to every station aboard the ship. So far it seemed that power was getting everywhere it was supposed to go. They were clean for launch, and good for warp if they needed it.

There was an increase of heat throughout the room, engineering was always the warmest part of the ship, that was why Sithick enjoyed it so much. Giving one final check of the list as he blinked he raised a claw and pressed his com badge, and slowly leaned his head towards the thing. While his normal speech was with an accent, his translator cleaned up the radio chatter. Even so his voice was low like a guttural growl. He lacked higher pitches, but was eager to report in. "Sithick to bridge all checklis's report positive. Zhe warp core iz ready at your servize."

ending the transmission he looked over the team. He had two cadets in his midst, the other member of his current three man team. He felt at ease for a moment. The ensign on the bridge was his commanding officer, but for the moment his team was moving smoothly even if the cadets did as they always did and gave him a wide breath of air. He was a little nervous being one of the more experienced in the room he never really thought he would get to give any kind of orders to a team.

For now though he was well within his element, and he took a moment to have his nostrils flair his broad chest expand and his mind to be calm, awaiting orders and problems.

[ Captain Ives | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

"A dozen drones at the ready captain. Do you want to launch them now?"

Tovarek's voice made Jien turn her eyes to the Science Officer, but she shook her head. "Let's not play that card just yet. We might need them soon, so power them up and ready them for launch for the time being. Trent, have the drone pilots stand by for immediate deployment."

No more had she given the order than she heard a chirp from the intercom. “Stellar Cartography to Bridge, there’s no sign of anything coming out of hiding, and the station hasn’t made any attempts to call for help.”

"That is bound to change soon, so keep your eyes on that horizon for the time being. Ives out."

The starbase had yet to open fire, even though its tactical systems were primed against them. Indicators on the edge of the bridge's viewscreen showed that they were locked on to by the closet torpedo launchers on the base, and the power signatures from the phaser banks suggested that they too were set to fire any moment. Ives turned to Trent. "Inform the other two vectors to circle the base at a distance. Gamma and Theta manoeuvres, to make the base have to switch launchers when trying to keep a lock on us. Also, prepare all measures that the EW suite can summon. Scramble their sensors. Lieutenant S'Iti, execute Gamma-1 manoeuvre to starboard. Keep us mobile and keep the distance."

"Aye, Captain," the Cardassian ex-Marquis said from the helm, seated next to Stark.

[Incoming transmission,] announced Thea on the intercom. [Audio only.]

"Let's hear it." Jien raised her chin and kept her hands closed at her sides.

[This is Captain Hawthorne. Starbase 84 will defend itself by whatever means necessary. Subspace calls have been dispatched to all starships within range. Surrender, and you will be spared. If any hostile action is taken, we will open fire. Either way, your voyage ends here.]

Jien had expected as much. Time was precious, and there was no telling what kind of forces Stellar Cartography would pick up from there on out. Long range sensors would later yield the details, but if the Andorian on Vector 3 could give them any indication, it would help. She took a breath, about to answer...

A new chirp was heard. [Another transmission, Captain.] Thea patched it through.

[This is Starbase 84. We have detected your boarding parties. You had your chance, and already, you force my hand. Hawthorne out.]

The distant base lit up when he first barrage of torpedoes launched, and streaks of phaser beams pierced the darkness. Jien clenched her jaw, and she needn't even look at Trent or S'Iti to to alert them. She knew the base commander to be tough before she knew where he had been posted - on the edge of the RNZ - and regardless how his daughter might be aboard for all he knew, he certainly did not make any compromises when it came to the thousands of people he was charged to protect. Duty above all. Justice. She had read his file many times. Jien would still attempt to speak with Hawthorne, but she had to change gears completely in her rhetoric, and let the first volley pass to make herself heard. Her thoughts went to the teams on the base...

...hoping they would still make it through.

---

[ Lt JG Evelyn "Ghost" Rawley | Wolf-09 | Cockpit ] Attn: The Lone Wolves Squadron & the Allegiant

Husker had challenged Rawley to a drinking competition if they made it back, and she had gladly accepted before they launched, thinking that the new pup really did not know what he was up against.

Once they were in echelon formation, Rawley reported in. "Wolf-Zero-Nine and One-Zero both standing by," she said, speaking for both herself and Hat Trick to save some time. The Tactical HUDs screamed of weapon signatures from the base, and she expected anything to happen, and quite soon. Once the whole, diminished pack had reported in to Renard - her element being last - he spoke up on the squadron channel.

[This is Wolf Leader. Wolves one through four, we defend Vector 01. Outrider and Game, you take Vector 02.] Since the carrier section of the ship had most teeth, Rawley had expected that it would only get two wolves even before the briefing they'd had before the launch. Lastly, Miles told Tessa and her the obvious. [The rest of you, you have Vector 03. Wolf Leader out.]

Rawley could not help feeling the butterflies in her stomach. This was it. This wa-

Warnings flared up. The HUD glared red, indicating enemy fire. "Shit!" She dove, rolled to port, and thick phaser beams overshot her - missing her with a few feet and turning her entire cockpit orange in the glare. "Hat Trick, come on!"

Together with her wingmate, she shot off towards where Vector 03 was - hoping Goldeneye and Hurl were on their six. In the distance, she thought she saw the Allegiant being fired upon too. Fuck, how could the shit have hit the fan already? The tossers on the base really didn't mess around...

---

OOC: Another post is due here for the boarding teams. :)

[ Boarding Team 01 | Below the Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84 ] Attn: 1) Arista 2) FollowTomorrow 3) chXinya

Just when Ravenholm announced that the boarding team had access, opening the door, the inbound security detail did not come from there. No, it would seem evident that their 'new' life-sign readings on the base had been picked up by starbase security, and the arrival was heralded by a sound of a transporter beam-in - six figures slowly materialising twenty yards away.

"Incoming!" called one of the NCOs on Wenn Cinn's team, just before he got behind cover - taking aim against the figures that were about to solidify. His name was Calvin Reagar (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Security_NPCs#Senior_Chief_Petty_Officer_Calvin_Reagar), and some would call him a veteran - having seen combat at Bajor, Cardassia, and Dorvan V. He'd fought in the Dominion War as well as the Borg's in Sector 001. Yet as experienced as he was, hand-picked to be aboard the Theurgy by Wenn Cinn himself, it was never easy to face the inevitable fact of the first engagement. His stomach tied up in knots, teeth bared in determination in spite it all, he had already powered up his TR-120. Terrain was shit, but he had a clear shot. The detail would be present within four seconds - emerging out of the transporter buffer. One second left.

"Right flank, two targets," he called to Wenn Cinn's team, telling them which ones he'd shoot, and leaving the other four guards for them to dispose of. Said and done, he exhaled, eased the trigger in twice, and he took out two of the guards consecutively before they even took as much as one step.

Then, his aim swivelled towards the remaining targets, anticipating they'd be falling too...

---

[ Boarding Team 02 | Thea | Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ] Attn: DocM.

While she had noticed how she'd accidentally frightened the Telarite on O'Connell's team, she did not allow it to pause progress for the mission - asking if they should set out instead. She heard the trade of comments too, but pushed the recording and analysis of the exchange to her background processes. Fortunately, O'Connell gave the order swiftly that they needed to move on. So, as according to how they'd drilled their movement back on one of her holodecks, she fell in line and moved with the organics - rifle at the ready.

The fact that she could not rely on internal sensors telling her what lay ahead forced her to rely entirely on the optical sensors in her projection - her eyes - and trust that the simulations done for this phase of the boarding plan had been accurate. After all, they had run down this corridor a hundred times together. Therefore, the difference from the simulation was instantly seen when they passed by a thick, transparent aluminium window overlooking the base's immense internal spacedock.

For what she saw there made her emotion chip send too much data to handle. She gasped at the sight, straggling behind. The reactor control room was far down the corner in the next intersection, but she had no reason to pause. She just couldn't help it - the repercussions of her actions too vivid. "No...."

She had sealed the docking bay doors shut, as according to plan, but one of the risk elements when doing that had been underestimated. The Red Alert had been sounded, and the base was launching its warp interceptors to deal with the threat of the Theurgy. The interceptors were built for speed and not for precise manoeuvrability. So, Thea's eyes were wide as she saw the first wave strike against the massive bay doors, or veering off in desperation to survive, only to collide with their wingmates. The staccato conflagrations reflected against her wide eyes as much as upon her digital soul. "No!"

As ghastly as the sight was, it was made more horrible by the scene's silence - no air in the spacedock acting as a conduit for the explosions. She imagined to feel the reverberations when the fuselages hit the bay doors, lighting up the corridor where she lingered. The data from her emotion chip first clogged her processor with the number of lives lost from what she could see, odds for injured too. Another analysis showed how the dead damaged Ives' credibility too, undermining the Theurgy's mission. One objective was to not kill anyone unless they were forced to do so in self-defence. From Thea's vantage point, she thought between thirty and forty interceptors were compromised in their launch, and the spacedock was filling up with with the rest of the base's Air Group, soon to be two hundred crafts with nowhere to go. Thea also saw how one damaged Luna-class ship was trying to manoeuvre through the debris field and interceptors, but the rest of the docked starships remained upon their docking pylons - locked there by her.

Worst of the emotional impact was that she was reminded of the first time she had killed Starfleet officers, forced to do so by the infected staff during the Niga Incident. They had puppettered her projection and made her kill Head Nurse Jovela among others, and those acts - while not entirely her fault - were still etched into her memory banks. Now, she war directly responsible for forty people, and their surviving families.

The horror she was made to feel by the datafeed had stopped her in her tracks, but for the organics, it was just a matter of seconds until O'Connell noticed it. Those seconds were more than enough to make her realise what she had done, and how unfortunate the timing of those launching orders were. They had not counted on the Red Alert... but they should have. Thea raised her free hand and covered her mouth, and the tears that were close at hand might not have been organic, but still just as real for her.

"This w-was not supposed to happen... It was not in the simulations," she said, regardless if anyone heard her. She knew she had to move on, but the data built exponentially with each horrible conclusion reached - the raw guilt eating up all her reserve memory.

---

[ Boarding Team 03 | ThanIda zh'Wann | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Nolan & Summerdawn

Ida had a good vantage point where she hid, and while she heard Henshaw's restlessness and her hushed conversation with Zaraq, she did not look away from the entrance to the EOC or where the security detail would likely show up - coming to fortify this key area on Starbase 84. She knew that Ensign Ryuan would be in place by then, so it was just a matter of waiting for a short while longer. The problem was that every second made it more likely that their life-signs would be detected. That they had beamed into a public place had helped a lot, giving them more time than Wenn Cinn's team would have at the top of the base.

Zaraq had merely shrugged with a massive shoulder when Henshaw asked how much longer they had to wait. Then, when she asked if Zaraq shouldn't be closer to Ida so that he might protect her, Ida almost turned her head to give the Captain's yeoman a raised eyebrow. As it were, she remained motionless, eyes still down the sight of her rifle, and Zaraq gave his answer.

"The Deputy can take care of herself," he rumbled in a low voice. "You are a key component to our mission..." When Ida heard him say this, she could almost hear in his pause that the Klingon meant to say that Ensign Henshaw did not have the same training or experience, but it seemed that his time in exile had taught him some modicum of respectful manners, yet perhaps that was only because the two of them came from the Harbinger that he showed good manners.

Then, the security reinforcements arrived into the lobby, six people filing in through the double doors to the open area of the lobby and heading for the glass entrance of the EOC. Ida raised a hand in Henshaw's and Zaraq's direction to silence them, but she never looked away.

Where is Sel? Ida wondered, until she saw movement behind the six guards. The walk across the lobby would take ten seconds at the most, then the Bajoran would have to act; taking advantage of the transparent blast walls opening - making the present, small detail inside vulnerable too. By Lor-Vela, let her timing be true...

[ Commander Trent | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

From where he stood at Tactical, Trent was keeping an eye on Yukimura as he was manning the EW suite.  When the Lieutenant brought up that new addition to Theurgy's capabilities, he knew to start slow.  The goal was to gradually bring up the barrage of background noise, to do so slowly enough that the sensor watch on the Starbase would not have an idea of what was hitting them.  However, for the time being the reactive jammer was kept offline for the time being.  After all, there was value in keeping things under wrap for a time.

And additionally, he had made sure that the point-defence grid, for the time being, would be limited to the clusters that were installed as part of Theurgy's original fit, as opposed to some of the pallets that had been acquired on Black Opal.  And what was currently free to fire, it had taken him and Arisaka some time but they had come up with a way to step down the apparent effectiveness by inserting 'dummy fire' into each burst of defensive fire in order to give the illusion of system degradation and loss of performance. 

Starbase 84 would see a ship that had been through hell and back and was accordingly operating below its design specifications, but in reality they would find she was as good as new, if not better.

But if anything, Trent was watching the sensor readings coming from the Starbase.  There was indeed some phaser fire, and definite targeting sensor emissions.  And one active warp signature within the spacedock.  And with further examination, the Executive Officer had to speak up.  "Captain, there is one ship active in there, and a lot of auxiliary craft.  It's the Resolve, Ma'am,  Believed lost three years ago."  However, before he could continue, hailing frequencies were opened.

When Hawthorne hailed them first, Trent spoke in his boom mike.  "All fighters, all vectors, stand by to receive fire.  Allegiant, set up your sensor picket, keep an eye out for incoming starships.  Be ready for action."

But there was little time to get reports, because the Starbase was opening fire.  "Incoming torpedoes!  Point-defence active and tracking."  As the warheads came in closer, pulses of rapid phaser fire lanced out from the three vectors and intercepted the incoming fire.  The Starbase's phasers, on the other hand, found the shields.  "Shields are holding."

And now, it was time to establish space superiority.  "Mister Arisaka, have your fighter element launch a tetryon strike and follow it up with two passes with your pulse phaser.  Your target is the Starbase's tactical control array.  Take it out."

[Jaya Thorne (https://orig05.deviantart.net/12e0/f/2016/300/a/4/imgpsh_fullsize_by_auctor_lucan-damefg0.png) | USS Allegiant Bridge] Attn: Auctor, Kaligos, Allegiant Bridge Crew

Jaya tapped her index finger lightly against the edge of the helm control display.  She clenched and unclenched her jaw as her eyes flicked back and forth from her touch screen to the main viewer.  As soon as her CO gave the order, Jaya's fingers hit the newly ingrained sequence and the ship launched from dock 10.  Her ship.  Jen may have been the CO, but she wasn't at the helm.  Jaya was.   And as the Allegiant left the Theurgy's dock, a smirk appeared on Jaya's face.  There was nowhere the PO1 felt more at home than at the helm, piloting a starship.  It had taken years for her to get to this point with Starfleet, but as the Allegiant's drive activated and the craft dove into the vastness of space, Jaya knew everything had been worth it.  This was where she was meant to be, here in this moment, and nothing would steal this perfect memory from her.

Jaya's hands reacted nimbly to her CO's orders as she input their heading and calculated for the Starbase's phaser range.  It was a tricky line to walk, being close enough for accurate sensor readings but far enough away that you weren't in danger of being fired upon.  Jaya maneuvered the Allegiant as she had been taught since they had arrived on the Theurgy, but she had to guesstimate what the phaser range might be.  There was a standard range for ships, shuttlecraft and bases, and those were the numbers she was using.  She hoped she was right, but they wouldn't know until SB84 fired on them.

As the com filled with reports of 'mission-a-go' Jaya thought the hard part was over.  Their plans had been launched and now all that remained was to stay focused on the mission at hand.  She rechecked her heading and made a slight adjustment to bring the Allegiant a little further away.  Sensor readings were still strong and full, but she worried about her calculations regarding the Starbase.  While the Allegiant was an amazing little ship, she doubted it could hold out long against the full weapons array of a Starbase. 

"The Lone Wolves are away and in formation.  Bringing the Allegiant about to stay out of the line of fire."

But the prideful, happy sentiments Jaya had been enjoying had disappeared when the ship was rocked with a cursory blast from the Starbase.  "Shit.." She mumbled under her breath as her fingers rapidly input a new heading to move even further away from the base.  Apparently the Starbase could hit them, or at least graze their shields enough to make her uncomfortable.  "Moving to maximum sensor range!"  She'd be damned if her first real flight in more than 5 years was going to be her last.

[IrnaShall ch’Xinya | Stellar Cartography | Deck 15]

“That is bound to change soon, so keep your eyes on that horizon for the time being. Ives out.”

Of that, Shall was certain.  There’s no way a major starbase like SB84 was going to be alone for more than an hour at best.  With a literal push, the holographic version of Starbase 84 was shut down and the cartography system reset to the 2D screens only.  Almost as soon as the station was on the screen the communications array lit up like a beacon.  “There goes the call!” Shall calls out to the room, not sure if Thea was listening.  “Where’s it going…” he mutters, fingers flying over the console.  The screens moved quickly, the view rolling and pitching as the Andorian tried to follow the subspace broadcast’s path.  And then, there it was, a reply.  The tight-beam subspace transmission came screaming through the space underneath the cosmos in an instant.

Setting that vector directly in the middle of the wall screen, Shall switched the view away from the subspace sensors and overlaid data from multiple sensor suites.  Visible light would be useless of course, but thankfully he didn’t need it.  Taking control of the long range sensors the way he was wasn’t part of his normal duties, normally he’d be part of damage control in combat situations, but this was different.  The bridge crew had their hands full with the Starbase itself, so it was up to him to be the ship’s eyes in the distance.

Speaking of the Starbase, the first volley hit Vector-3’s shields.  It wasn’t much of a hit, just enough to throw the Andorian into his console.  Bracing himself on the edge of it, it was just an annoyance.  So far.  Momentarily distracted though, the information Shall needed almost escaped his notice thanks to the numerous chart lines and false color overlays on the screen.  Transferring the data chart to his console, antenna rose straight up and quivered a bit.  There was a massive ion bloom on the outskirts of a system approximately 6 light years away.  It was too far out to look for the characteristic warp bubble distortions, but an ion bloom of that size in that location could only mean one thing.

“Stellar Cartography to Bridge!  I’m reading reinforcements approximately 6 light years out, we’re looking at maybe 30 minutes maximum before they get here.  Short end could be as little as 10.”

---

[Selena Ravenholm | Below the Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84]

The moment Reagar made the call about the incoming transporter beam, Selena whirled around and knelt in a combat stance, TR-120 up with both hands.  The targeting reticle in her VISOR shifted around as the cyborg picked her targets.  It would be much for efficient to use a wider beam to take down the entire team, but from where she was there was no way keep members of her team outside of the shot.  “Left flank, two targets.” she called out, settling on the two semi-materialized forms on the outside.

Reagar may have been a good shot, but he wasn’t blessed with cybernetic upgrades like Ms. Ravenholm was.  The moment the transporter beam released the security team, two imperceptible projectiles smacked both of Selena’s targets square in the chest.  Thanks to her VISOR she could see the normally invisible magnetic pulse that disables their nervous systems, causing them to drop like sacks of meat.  Reagar's victims fell a fraction of a second after hers, and for a brief moment she felt pity for the poor saps in the middle of the formation, they were bound to get multiple hits.

[ Tessa May Lance (https://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/0/d/tessa_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6mx6.png) | Wolf 07 | Outer space | Within phaser range of Starbase 84 ] 

Tessa's Heads Up Display (HUD) revealed the weapons hardpoints on the station powering up.  Tessa felt her stomach clench as she focused on the job at hand.

[This is Wolf Leader,] Commander Trent's voice murmured in Tessa's ears. [Wolves one through four, we defend Vector 01. Outrider and Game, you take Vector 02.  The rest of you, you have Vector 03. Wolf Leader out.]

The warning chime sounded as Tessa's HUD indicating a weapon's lock.   "I'm spiked!" Tessa cried.  "Hurl, Beta one to port!" she cried as she climbed slightly and then dove hard to port, just in time to avoid a phaser beam that was wider than her fighter. 

To her relief the voice of her wingmate filled her helmet.  "Copy that Goldeneye.  I'm on your six."

"Acknowledged Hurl," she said as they followed Ghost and Hat Trick to the Theurgy's Vector 03.  "Stay with us and try not get yourself killed!"

---

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell (https://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Corridor outside the Spacedock | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ]  

"No!" Thea whined.

O'Connell stared at the destruction in the spacedock in mute disbelief as the first interceptors to launch met their doom.  What was happening?  How could this happen?  Why did they launch when the doors weren't open?  In a flash it hit him.  The computer didn't know the spacedock doors weren't open.  Otherwise it would have corrected the problem or sent a safety override to the fighters that the pilots would have to manually disengage if they wanted to launch.  And the dipshit pilots were so dependent on the data from their flight computers that a half dozen of them hadn't bothered to look out their cockpit window before activating their main thrusters.  Who the hell had given them permission to launch?  Thea should have kayoed everyone in spacedock control.  The gorram fighters shouldn't have launched without permission from spacedock control.  Mister Murphy of Murphy's Law fame was definitely stationed here.

"Oh my god," Johnson muttered.  "What happened?  Is the station under attack?"

Verguy Cam tore his Andorian eyes away from the carnage to give the bearded human a dirty look.

"Besides from us I mean," Johnson corrected himself lamely.

"Master Chief, we're supposed to be the good guys..." Manfredi muttered.

"We are!" Billy Bob O'Connell growled.  "It's not our fault they couldn't tear their eyes from their panels to look out the window!"  O'Connell's face flushed when he realized that the accident in the spacedock had created doubts and demoralized the team.  Without conviction in their purpose, without their fire in the belly, the boarding party wouldn't have the initiative to commit the violence of action to minimize their area of vulnerability and they would increase their chances of being neutralized by the station's security forces.  In other words, if they second guessed themselves now they would screw up and make mistakes.  They would hesitate and get themselves killed.  The Theurgy would be destroyed, disabled, or driven away and the bad guys would win.  It was time to nip this in the bud.  "Get ahold of yourselves!" O'Connell barked.  "We can't afford to get soft now!   We gotta be as ruthless as unfeeling as a computer right now and get the job done!  You don't see Thea makin' a fuss do ya?"

Cam rolled his eyes as he, Keyah, and Rivard stepped away from the transparent aluminum wall to reveal Thea to Billy Bob's vision.  The holographic girl was staring into the spacedock in mute horror, her innocent brown eyes misting up and a hand over her mouth. 

O'Connell rolled his own eyes before stepping forward and putting a hand on Thea's shoulder.  "Hey, it wasn't your fault," he assured her.

"This w-was not supposed to happen... It was not in the simulations," the digital damsel stammered.  Whatever algorithm that governed her morality threatened to overwhelm her completely.  She looked as miserable as a Cardassian who couldn't lie.

"It ain't your fault Miz Thea," O'Connell insisted as he put his large meaty hands on her shoulders and turned her away from the window to face him.  "It's the fault of the officer who gave 'em permission to launch.  You took out the fellers in Spacedock Control.  They should have been waiting fur the okay and somebody gave it to 'em," he said.  "Somebody who's tryin' t' make us look bad.  That's the only explanation that makes sense, Thea.  The enemy decided to sacrifice 'em to give us a bad name."

That did the trick.  It was like a light was activated in the eyes of the rest of the boarding party.  Guilt and horror had been replaced by righteous anger and grim determination.  Their warrior's edge had been restored, and they had what it took to get the job done.

Were Billy Bob's words true?  Who knew?  Probably not.  The ding-dong who had given the order probably thought the doors were open, but right now, who cared?  O'Connell thought it was true and had managed to convince the others.  Now if only Thea was convinced.  He didn't need her guilt eroding the determination of the boarding party.  The rest of the team would take her word as gospel.

"Now don't say a word, Miz Thea," he ordered as he wagged a fatherly finger at her.  "You jest suck it up and get the job done.  We got too much work to do.  People are depending on us."   He looked up from her to address the rest of the team.  "Come on let's get along now, and vamoose afore we git spotted!  Move like you've got a purpose!"

"Yes Master Chief," Rivard and Johnson replied automatically.  Soon the boarding party was double timing it down the corridor again.  As they did so O'Connell ran the possibilities through his mind.  The starbase had reacted so fast it was as if they had been expecting them.  The Theurgy must not have been as invisible as they'd hoped.  That meant that there were probably more than just the standard two guards outside the reactor room.  He hoped the SAFTI gear they were wearing would stand up to multiple shots if his team was half a second too slow. Nothing was more demoralizing than losing a few fellers and since Kowalski couldn't beam the rest of his team to him they didn't have that many fellers to spare.
 

---

OOC:  Making the assumption that it normally takes more than eight men to seize control of a reactor room from an enemy force and since the deflector shield is up O'Connell and company have been overtaken by events and have to make do.

[ Sithick | USS Allegiant Warp Core Room ] Attn: Auctor, Angles

Sithick had flown in many ships, some held together with 24th century duct tape others like the Allegiant were more streamlined. He had to admit that there was a lot to like about the Federation. Their technology had simple understandable repair guides that were almost always forgotten, everything was replaceable and there was a lot less static to deal with when working on repairs. Compared to other ships the Allegiant could have been a cruise ship for all he cared.

But combat was never smooth sailing. To his credit his broad stance and unique claws allowed Sithick to sway with the ship as it rocked from a hit. He was back in his element even as there were a few minor sparks thrown around him. That was of course the one minor complaint he had about Federation technology all of these touch screens exploded at a mild brush of of energy. In his time as an engineer he had seen more people committed to sickbay due to burns from 'exploding consoles' then he had any other kind of injury.

As the Allegiant rocked and swayed he heard a scream and his head swayed towards the source of it. Cadet Zhong Wu had managed to fling himself painfully to the ground it seemed, shivering from... Burns due to exploding consoles, Hello darkness my old friend, Sithick lumbered slowly over to the cadet who was shivering from the pain his wounds was giving him.

"What are you doing get away from him." Cadet Vitaly walked up looking like he was about to try and attack the Gorn. As if he were about to eat his fellow officer or something. The Gorn's yellow eyes flashed with annoyance narrowing dangerously as his head tilted towards the smaller cadet. Brave little fool that he was, he was also being dumb and offensive.

A claw slowly moved up to his chest to press on his com badge. "Engineering to medikal, I'm taking Cadet Zhong up to your sickbay, he has fallen, esstent of injuries iz unknown." Honestly he probably should have expected this, the cadets had only ever served on stations before. They didn't know how to walk on a starship. They were also fragile human beings instead of something sturdy. He reached down and with two claws gently scooped the unconscious cadet from the ground cradling him gently against his broad chest.

"Cadet, do your Job." It wasn't a threat, or anything more than a single statement as Sithick started for the stairs pushing the other man aside so that he could be on his way with slow careful steps not wanting to hurt Zhong as he carried him off to Sickbay.

[ Dyan Cardamone | Boarding Team 01 | Below the Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Arista, chXinya, Auctor Lucan,

Dyan was no robot nor was she a highly experienced war vet, but she was a good shot and had quite a bit of pent up energy. Their first engagement of the mission sent thrills up her spine. She crouched down, mirroring Ravenholm.
“Center, two targets.” She announced, and took aim with her rifle.

She was not as fast as the vet or the cybernetically enhanced woman. Her targets had the chance to react, but only briefly. Dyan took good care to aim at the center of her targets' mass before making each shot. She had confidence that she would hit.

[ Heather McMillan | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Maya, Lucan Cin Nicander, Herbert & Maal

[Show/Hide]

Hearing the alarm and warning, McMillan took a deep breath, to ready herself mentally for all that was to come. Mostly her thoughts went to the few people she had begun opening up to, lately, like Carrigan Trent, Simon Tovarek, Carrigan Trent, Hylota Vojona, Carrigan Trent, Doctor Nicander, and Carrigan Trent. Idly, as she grabbed a field kit and attached it to the right side of her waist, along with a scientific tricorder and a medical tricorder, she wondered just how much danger the man would be exposing himself to now. She questioned the wisdom and necessity of it all, but finally gave it up. Those thought lead to futile loops that she nor any other Radiant could ever begin to comprehend or solve. Rather, she turned her attentions to what she could do, and that was tending to the wounded, of which many was likely to come.

She turned her attentions on Maya and smiled her best smile, even if she was probably fooling no one (she was terrified). The events of the mutiny still haunted her, as they had forced her out of hiding and running around and doing all sorts of frightening things, not to mention all the awkward moments since then. And now they were facing a Starbase. smiling was one of the last things she wanted to do, really. "Got it!" said McMillan, and she darted off in one direction before twisting about and running back to Maya, "Uhm...who's Herbert and Maal?"

Without thinking, she went back to standing on tip-toe. Bunny rose to stand on his hind feet as well.

[ Boarding Team 03 | Ryuan Sel | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Nolan

Ryuan fell in with the guards, hoping that for the few seconds she needed, her presence would not be noticed in the group. The guard in front of her noticed her but assumed she must have been an extra body assigned to the detail he'd never noticed, perhaps one of the advanced tactical personel. That oversight would come back to haunt him. For Ryuan, the half walk half run of the unit felt strange, even more so as she knew they had a wolf in their midst.

The seconds ticked by but once the detail arrived at the gates, things kicked into overdrive. The doors opened as expected and the detail moved to enter the complex. As per the plan, Ryuan followed them in through the doors, silently dropping two grenades at her feet as she walked. The timing had to be perfect however as if she was even a fraction of a second off, she could get caught in the blast and shrapnel of her own weapons.

At the last second, Ryuan yelled grenade, sparking panic and dove away from the door, praying the door would protect her. Two ear shattering bangs went off, dropping several guards and disorienting the rest. That was the signal for the rest of the team to charge while confusion reigned. Seeing a guard near her reaching for a panic button, Ryuan butted the back of his head with her rifle, dropping him to the floor. It was then that the guard in front of her recognized her. He tried pulling the trigger of his rifle, only to have nothing happen. His eyes went wide, desperately seeking a weapon of some kind, not realizing the energy dampening effect of her grenades.

(OOC: Feel free to join the melee. :P )

[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Deck 11 | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ]

Being a man of action Nolak Kalmil had enough being stuck in sickbay. After his revival and surgery nearly a day ago his mind was made up. From hell to high water he's getting out of Sickbay and head someplace where he'll be useful. All that remained was the best opportunity to make his move. After leaving a small log in his personal record he took action.

From his biobed he noticed hanging on the wall an engineering uniform. Nolak stood slowly his muscles aching as he walked over to the wall and took the uniform down. Then he walked over to a computer interface quietly he said, "Computer, run override command Alpha Tango Kalmil 318 Silent." Thea chirped in acknowledgement. A smile appeared on his face as he gained full access to the computer systems. "End holographic privacy program 3."

The white robes faded away. His muscles screamed at him as he laboriously put the uniform on taking much longer than he intended. He noticed that the uniform was much larger than himself, so he rolled the arm sleeves and cuff of the pants so they at least don't interfere with his work. He then took the golden communication badge off the front of the uniform and tossed it upon the biobed.

"Thea," He rarely ever called the computer by it's name. "Mask my bio reading from sensors sweeps, encryption code 3817. If someone tries to break the code do everything you can to delay them as long as possible. Chief out." The computer beeped in acknowledgement. He placed his hand onto his neck and felt the scars from surgery the skin still painful to the touch. His fingers also brush over the rank pin on the collar as he walked towards the exit. Thinking, I just might be reduced to ensign after all, as he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his neck. He also grabbed a hypospray that was carelessly left on a tray near a biobed. Must be my lucky day, are is final thoughts as he exited the recovery ward and into main sickbay.

Main Sickbay was a buzz of activity as nurses and crew member shuffled about getting ready for the battle that was minutes away. He needed to get down to Vector 3 segment of the ship before the ship activated the MVAM systems. Everyone in sickbay appeared busy getting ready for the wounded that was sure to be arriving any minute now. Nolak's only thought was to avoid three people, his friend Dr. Nicander, the lovely Doctor Maya, and the Klingon Nurse Maal. They were only ones who had any real interaction with the Chief after his awaking and had the authority to prevent him from returning to service. The rest of sickbay staff he'd hoped would be too busy with their own duties to pay him any heed.

By chance he didn't see any of them as he walked across the sickbay headed straight for the main exit. He held the hypospray he found in the recovery ward hidden in his rolled up sleeve of the over sized uniform, just in case he needed to use it. As Nolak neared the main exit a voice spoke behind him.

"Now, where do you think your going, Master Chief Kalmil?" The low deep voice said behind him. The Chief turned around on the heels of his bare feet and looked up at the taller Klingon Nurse Maal standing nearby holding a PADD.

"Look around you Maal, we about to go into battle, and you expect me to a coward and hide on a biobed. You should know me better than that. This ship and crew are in danger and I intend to protect it and everyone on it. So, if your going to stop me nurse, now is your golden opportunity. However where's the honor in that? If I die then it's a good death in combat, not like a sniveling coward." Nolak Kalmil said in a stern calm voice.

The towering Klingon youth looked at the Deltan man in recognition of his words, but as first, he shook his head. He did not seem to be moved by the words of honour as much as other Klingons might, with served as a reminder that he had been raised by humans. Yet he did not move to intercept the patient either, looking at him from underneath his thick, dark eyebrows. Perhaps he thought of the larger picture, and how the former Cheif Engineer might make a difference in the most important battle the Theurgy would fight since they fled Federation space. Perhaps he did not want to think that the decision to stop Kalmil would have repercussions for the crew as a whole, or perhaps he was already too busy, and neither time nor desire to wrestle with a patient who was recently operated. Whatever thoughts passed behind the lingering look the Klingon gave Kalmil, he said naught more... and walked away.

With the hypospray readied, Nolak turned away from the Klingon and continued his walk towards the door. His bare feet cold to the touch of the ships floor. With a quick glance at a computer panel he saw the ETA countdown to the arrival to Starbase 84, which just reached zero. It meant that the ship would in all likelihood enter MVAM combat phase and separate into three combat vessels.

Every muscle in his body still ached he stepped through main doors into the corridor. With time quickly running out he started to jog heading to the closest turbolift. Over the main speakers the Thea's voice chimed out, [Thirty seconds to MVAM maneuver initiated] This sent a chill down his spine as he started to run. His muscles burning as the computer started it's silent countdown.

[Warning. MVAM decoupling sequence imminent. Remain at your battle stations.]

He reached the turbolift and stepped inside, "Thea, override safety protocol and get me down to Vector 3 Now!" He nearly shouted at the panel as he grabbed the railing inside the turbolift. His body lurched as the turbolift moved downward through the decks. Feeling the butterflies of near weightlessness before the sudden jolt as turbolift came to a sudden stop.

He nearly collapse to the floor from the pain as the speaker overhead said, [5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Separation Sequence in progress.] A sigh of relief escaped his lips. He could hear the airlocks somewhere overhead closing as the ship shuddered and began to split apart.

[ Captain Ives | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

Jien had heard Trent mentioning the single starship that had launched inside the spacedock, but no more could be said before Starbase 84 opened fire - bright orange beams cutting the distance and striking their shield. The point defence system kicked in, protecting the fortified command ship that was Vector 01. The shields held, Lieutenant S'Iti at the helm was taking them through evasive manoeuvres that helped minimise the impact against their shields, and Trent ordered Vector 02 to engage with the starbase pre-emptively - meaning to destroy it's tactical sensor array. Arisaka's voice was likely heard in Trent's ear-piece, and Jien reckoned it was an acknowledgement since she could see Vector 02 and it's fighters closing the distance to the base. The two fighters throttled up, the flares of their impulse engines bright lights of defiance against their odds.

[Stellar Cartography to Bridge!  I'm reading reinforcements approximately 6 light years out, we're looking at maybe 30 minutes maximum before they get here.  Short end could be as little as 10.]

With the bridge staff devoted to the ensuing battle, Jien certainly did not regret allocating long range sensor responsibility to the Andorian on Vector 03. She did have regrets about what he said, however, because the boarding teams had barely touched ground on the starbase, and reinfocements were due to arrive in just ten minutes. By that time, Starbase 84 might have managed to get their bay doors opened, and Commander Salazar's Air Group with interceptors would have launched to engage them and the Lone Wolves. Odds were looking more grim by the second, and yet she could not let it faze her - no doubts seen in her face. She had to make Hawthorne listen to her, if not only to gain time and respite.

"This is Ives," she said in response to Ensign ch'Xinya. "We need more than that. How many in the first wave? What's their warp signatures? Let us know the moment you learn something substantial. Ives out."

As Vector 01 rolled to port and then overshot a new series of phaser beams from the starbase - the inertial dampeners almost compensating fully for the momentum - Ives walked up behind Natalie Stark and placed a hand on the back of her chair. "Hail them, and if they won't heed, send this message: The Theurgy is not here to harm anyone on the base. We must defend ourselves, but we have not come to do battle. The boarding teams only have the objective to ensure the most minimum of casualties in this operation, where we hope that you will listen to us, and understand that we are truly not the enemy you have been led to believe. Cease fire, and hear us out."

Having given her orders to Stark, Ives turned back to her seat at the centre of the bridge and as she did, she locked eyes with Junior Lieutenant Morali, who's primary duty - aside from the tasks Tovarek had no time for - was to keep his eyes out for temporal breaches in their vicinity. Wordlessly, with that look, she enquired as to whether they should suspect another Calamity-class hunter suddenly appearing through a rift in time.

When she resumed her seat, her oaken eyes fell on the tactical readings on the viewscreen. "Magnify and follow the trajectory of those wolves," she said, and the viewscreen homed into the progress of the two Valkyries, showing how they made their approach against the base, dodging and rolling to avoid the cutting beams of phaser fire. Ives witnessed their battle-honed skill, feeling like she was on the edge of her seat even if she wasn't, because the dance they preformed in their death-defying assault was nothing short of miraculous. Split decisions, instinct, and sheer luck preserved them. In the end, they deployed countermeasures to keep photon torpedoes from locking on to them. And in their wake, Arisaka was both on the defensive and keeping a firm lock on the base's tactical array - waiting for the tetryon cannons on the Valkyries to punch a hole in the shield.

A couple of kilometres out, the two Lone Wolves deployed their large cannons, since they had needed all the manoeuvrability they could muster to stay alive up until that point. Ives held her breath, counted the seconds, knowing the cannons needed to be charged, and that they had to fly more straight. The phaser beams from the base came closer by the moment. One of them took a hit, wobbled, but kept going. The second one took two hits, loosing its aim. It fired nonetheless, punching a hole that was too far out. The first one fired... aim true.

Arisaka was ready, launching a full spread of quantum torpedoes - the tactical array being such a critical target. Before the torps reached the base, the two Valkyries broke off. Yet the base never ceased firing its phaser banks, flaying the Lone Wolves during their escape. The quantum torpedoes struck home... yet the hole in the shield was too narrow, and it had regenerated too quickly. The base had already launched torpedoes against both the Valkyries and Vector 03, forcing them to veer off before the flares of the impacts settled.

That was when the first Valkyrie was hit by a photon torpedo, sent cartwheeling off in a burning wreckage. The second one still had countermeasures left, but it took a hit too. The shields on Vector 03 held, a flaring blue sphere, and Arisaka got out with - according to the tactical read-out - minor hull damage.

Unfortunately, the base's tactical array had taken some damage, but appeared largely intact.

"Report," said Ives, her teeth clenched, fearing what Trent might say. Another wolf dead, unless she'd managed to eject somehow, and the array still operating... If the wolf had died, she'd died in a failed assault.

---

[ Boarding Team 02 | Thea | Spacedock Control Room | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ] Attn: DocM.

Hearing O'Connell, Thea wished to believe in his estimates - to think that she was not directly to blame. Of course, it was merely guesswork, impossible to know the mathematical truth of the poor timing and the lack of a functioning spacedock control system. There were too many possibilities, uncertain in all regards.

Flight Ops, the people on another level who gave clearance to the Air Group to launch, could simply have given clearance to the fighters before Thea disabled the bay doors, to their horror realising that the bay doors did not operate when they tried to open them from there. They could have tried to contact the staff Thea just rendered unconscious in the spacedock control room, too late realising that there was no one answering. By then, the first fighters were already away - eager to join the fray.

"Regardless," she said, almost feeling as numb as when her emotional chip was deactivated, looking at the debris field and the Knight-class interceptors that tried to navigate inside the closed spacedock, "it can't be helped now."

She cleared her throat, rubbed her hand across her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned to O'Connell with her teeth clenched, suffering the aftermath of her shock yet knowing they could not linger any more. "The mission objective is more important than my good name and repute of my crew. Already, we stand accused for worse, and therefore, we must continue. My thanks, Master Chief O'Connell."

The human was already telling them to move on, and Thea followed along with the rest of the boarding team... but she could not help but throwing one more glance out towards the debris field, knowing that the imagery would forever be stored in her memory banks.

---

[ Boarding Team 03 | ThanIda zh'Wann | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Nolan & Summerdawn

Ida had watched with a held breath as Sel brought up the rear of the arriving detail, hoping that they would not look at her twice. The Bajoran was easy on the eye, for certain, but given present circumstances, she hoped that face did not draw more attention than the Red Alert.

Sure enough, Sel made it all the way to the opened doors, getting inside the EOC. Ida knew the Mistress-at-Arms was going to act before those doors closed, but even then, the detonation of the grenades came as a jarring surprise - compelling her to finally move out. Sel was alone in the aftermath of those two blasts, and they had to get in there.

"Come on!" she called and leapt over the table that she had been behind, hitting the floor running. She hoped that the others in her team were just as alert, and were right behind her. Cameron and Zaraq, along with the others, had made this run before in on the holodeck a hundred times - practising for this very situation - and she knew they should be able to keep up. Closing the distance took them a couple of seconds, and then they were inside the smoke-filled security checkpoint.

In the haze, Ida saw Sel dispatching one of the guards, but she had no time to catch the outcome. A security guard was getting out from behind a cover he'd found to shield himself from the blast, and Ida intercepted him before he got his rifle up. Even if the phaser rifle wouldn't have fired a beam against Ida, he didn't get the chance to learn about the dampening field. She levelled a blow with the end of her TR-120 against the man's midriff, and then gave him a savage backhand blow across the jaw - sending him into the edge of a counter. He fell without a word getting out.

Zaraq fired his TR-120 to dispatch two guards, but the last one was getting back on his feet closest to Yeoman Henshaw. Ida quickly raised her own rifle to shoot the man if the pinkskin didn't see him in time.

---

OOC: Another post coming up tomorrow with the Allegiant and the Lone Wolves in this thread. Too late to finish those sections for me, it being over 4 am.

[ Lt JG Evelyn "Ghost" Rawley | Wolf-09 | Cockpit ] Attn: The Lone Wolves Squadron & CanadianVett

Whilst under heavy fire from the starbase, narrowly keeping her Valkyrie from sustaining enough hits that her bird's regenerative shielding couldn't handle, Ghost caught up with Vector 03 together with Hat Trick, and just behind them, Goldeneye and Hurl joined them. Being as they were chased by lances of orange phaser fire from Starbase 84, there was hardly any breath for reporting status, but Rawley tapped the squadron comm between two volleys.

"This is Wolf-Zero-Six and One-Zero, shadowing Vector-Zero-Three!" she called, baring her teeth at the gargantuan structure of the starbase, fitted with far too many phaser banks than she cared for. Just as she looked, two torpedo launchers opened fire against them, the flares seen in tandem with the warnings blinking on her HUDs. "Evasive manoeuvres! Hat trick, with me, and deploy counter-measures between the base and Thea on my mark!"

[This is One-Zero, acknowledged!] came the answer from her wingmate, and as the torpedoes shot towards them and Vector 03, Rawley counted the seconds while she adjusted her trajectory, coming up next to the hull of their charge. She took two hits from the base's phasers while doing so, tossed back and forth in her seat, but she could not stray from her position until...

"Three, two, one, now!" she called, quite crudely, but Hat Trick heard her. As one, they deployed ECMs into their wake, and throttled up their birds so they shot ahead of Vector 03. The barrage of torpedoes hit hard, and the conflagration from the impact against the countermeasures filled Rawley's cockpit with its glare. Wordlessly, she prayed that none got through, but she could tell from her systems that there was no torpedo lock on her own bird. Nor did Hat Trick from what she could tell, no indication shown, yet she did see how Outrider and Game - protecting Vector 02 - were not so fortunate. With widening eyes, she saw their shields shredded by phasers on one HUD, and she cast her helmet about to see what they were up to. She followed the sensor spike to the base, and saw them trying to punch a hole in that massive shield, and how Vector 02 unloaded a spread of quantum torpedoes against the base.

Whatever they tried to destroy - likely the targeting array on the base - it seemed a failed attempt. She saw how Game was hit - hearing her own computer making that dreaded chirp that told her one of her pack mates might have died. "Bloody tossers!" she felt her heart sink, but gritted her teeth together and snapped to it, only hoping that Game had energised her ETS in time.

---

[ Dr. Lucan cin Nicander | Main Sickbay | Vector 02 ] Attn: Zenozine and all in Sickbay

The Assistant CTO had spoken on the intercom before the attempt on the targeting array was made, and Nicander had heard it along with the rest in Main Sickbay.

[All hands, this is Arisaka. We have orders to make an assault on the base, the objective being to take out its tactical sensor array. Brace yourselves.] In the brief pause, Lucan imagined he heard a wordless request for them to prey to whatever deities they still believed in. [Arisaka out.]

Not the least impressed with the idea, Lucan made the short run to the viewer on the wall in Sickbay and keyed up a tactical screen. It showed how Vector 02 was going in, following two Valkyries as it did so. The turbulence increased underneath his feet as the shields were hit by phaser fire, and he swore under his breath, knowing that they would enter effective torpedo range in a manner of seconds. He rounded on his medical staff, his lab coat flaring out in the movement. "Secure the patients! Hold on to something!" he called, even if he told himself he did not care for their well-being. He certainly wouldn't mind seeing one or two split their skulls on something as the torpedoes hit, as long as the deck was not depressurised and he was spaced through the bulkhead. Yet to his own surprise, he even moved to Hylota, helping her get down on the deck plates behind the nurse's duty station. She shouldn't be standing up, pregnant and all, and there was no one else close enough to help her down.

Lucan had meant to make some glib remark behind the duty station, some quip about... something, but then tge first torpedo hit the Vector and whatever thought he'd had was shaken out of his mind. He fell sideways, hitting his own head against the edge of the duty station, and he swore vehemently in Câroon. The turbulance continued, two more torpedoes hitting home judging by the way sickbay moved under their feet...

...and then they seemed to be retreating. Arisaka's voice was heard on the intercom anew. [Battle Bridge to Sickbay, prepare to recieve injured personnel. Arisaka out.]

Lucan put a tattooed hand to his temple, and found his fingers bloodied. What irony...

---

[ Dr. George Hernandez | USS Allegiant | Medbay ] Attn: CanadianVet, Kaligos & EAC

George's knuckles where white as he held on to the arm rests of the small medbay, staring at the computer console on the table. It was showing him what the people on the bridge saw, and he did not like it the least. So much deadly energy unleashed against them and the other parts of the Theurgy, against the Valkyries and their poor pilots. Good riddance, he hoped that if the Allegiant was hit, the Manta-class scout-ship was built well enough to keep the hull intact. He had much preferred the peace and quiet on the Opal... but it was not like he could wind back the hands of time, could he? Then again, he was not sure he wanted to, knowing the truth about Starfleet Command.

[Moving to maximum sensor range!] shouted their helmswoman, Jaya Thorn having been taught to fly their allotted tin can merely two days ago. It was not a reassuring thought to George, so he shook it off, trying to find confidence in the fact that she had been unmatched as a shuttle pilot on the Black Opal. On the console, he saw glimpses of the attempt made to destroy some vital part of the base's systems, and mouthed a prayer for the fighter pilot who's Valkyrie was destroyed, hoping there had been enough time to eject from the disintegrating fuselage.

No more had he finished his prayer when he heard the unique voice of Sithick from his combadge. [Engineering to medikal, I'm taking Cadet Zhong up to your sickbay, he has fallen, esstent of injuries iz unknown.]

George tapped his combadge to respond to the Gorn. "Hernandez here, standing by," he said and got on his feet, eyes darting across the medical instruments so that he could make sure he knew where everything was. While he had arranged everything the way he wanted it, like he'd done during the mission simulations, it was something else entirely when outside the holodeck. While he waited for Sithick to arrive, he heard the voice of Jennifer Dewitt from the computer console.

[Allegiant to Theurgy. Deploying the TPS probe now (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Manta-class_Advanced_Scout#Tetryon_Pulse_Sensor_Probe). Target; that tactical array,] she said, and George closed his eyes, having hoped Jennifer didn't chose to do so. It had been a part of the simulations, a pre-planned option if the fighters failed, and he hadn't liked the prospects at all. The probe was designed to detect cloaked ships, apparently, but now, it would paint some kind of tetryon sensor target for all vectors of the Theurgy and its fighters. From afar, all crafts would supposedly be able to concentrate their fire on that painted mark. Dewitt was heard again. [Thorne, we are going in. New course; One-Zero-Niner, mark Four. Employ whatever tricks you know, but you must take us that close before we launch the probe. We will be far inside the base's weapons envelope, to keep the probe from being shot to pieces before its activated. Do you understand? That targetting array must be destroyed.]

George certainly did not envy the Petty Officer at the helm. Not the least. It was all riding on her now.

By then, Sithick arrived in the medbay, and Hernandez moved to help ease Zhong down on the biobed. No more had be been put in place before Dewitt's voice was heard again, and this time, her voice came both from the computer console and the Gorn's combadge.

[Bridge to Petty Officer Sithick. Stand ready to release the clamps and deploy the sensor probe through the airlock. Deployment is imminent. Dewitt out.]

The Gorn's strength was going to be needed to quickly handle some of the moorings on the probe, which sat in the middle of the airlock. Once it was out there, its guidance thrusters would take it where it was needed - remote-controlled from the bridge as the probe was. Hernandez locked eyes with the Gorn before he'd leave, and he just couldn't help making a joke - wasted as it might be given the situation. "I wonder why there isn't a morgue on these shuttles. People seem to be dying to get there..."

With a bitter little laugh, George then attended to Zhong - not letting the possibility of imminent death get to him.

[ Nolak Kalmil | Turbolift 7 > Main Engineering | Vector 3 ]

Master Chief Nolak Kalmil stood in the turbolift his uniform too large, sleeves and leg cuffs rolled in bundles his feet still barefooted. A towel is tightly wrapped around his neck. Letting go of the lift's railing, he walked over to the computer console. An unknown period of time passed as he stood leaning against the wall. He was dealing with the pain in the back of his neck and the rest of his body still coping with the recent surgery. He felt the ship shudder as the ship shields took fire from Starbase 84. This snapped him out of his painful daze and he focused his attention away from the pain.

"Computer, show me the quickest route to engineering." The computer chirped in response and displayed a map onto the screen. He looked at the map displayed, current deck 18. Tracing his finger along the map leading to main engineering located in the mid section below on deck 25. "Computer, I need you to make a pair of sandals in replicator 182, just down the hallway. Thank you." The computer beeped as he stepped out the turbolift into the hallway.

After a short walk away he grabbed the pair of sandals from the replicator then put them on. He then continued towards the next main turbolift which would take him down to the proper deck. The ship shuddered again as the shields took another hit. Damn it, what the hell was the Captain thinking taking on a Starbase. Lucky I wasn't at the officers briefing. I would of really railed into her logic.

As he walked down the hallways, random crew members and a few civilians gave the short Master Chief a puzzled look as he walked by them lost in thought. No doubt looking at him dressed funny with a towel draped around his neck, like an ascot. None of them interacted with the man as they rush to their post or their living quarters. 

Reaching the main turbolift for Vector 3 section of the ship he stepped inside. "Deck 25 please." Thea, beeped as the turbolift began to move down. Next to the computer interface he checked a few damage reports while he waited for the lift to finish. Boy, whom ever is left in charge is not really ready for the job. He thought to himself as the lift stopped moving. He stood there a few more seconds reading additional data readouts when the turbolift doors opened.

In walked two crew members carrying another wounded. They looked at him and one said, "Hey shorty do you mind, we need to get this man to Battle Sickbay." Nolak looked at them and walked out the turbolift without saying a word. The action outside the turbolift was a blur of crew members running about making minor repairs or performing random assignments. He walked swiftly through the hallways. Somehow he felt that the ship was much larger than his memory remembered it to be. At one point he almost made a wrong turn and became lost before finally arriving to the Main Engineering.

From the moment the the doors opened he could tell engineering was just how he left it, chaos all over again. Only this time he will be working with complete strangers on a ship he really wasn't all that familiar with. Even if he did helped build it from the warp core out in space dock. Never realizing that it was in fact a completely different ship than the one he barely kept together a mire two months earlier.

The doors slid shut behind him as he looked into the busy engineering bay. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Master Chief Petty Officer Nolak Kalmil, former Chief Engineer of this vessel. Some of you who are members of this ship should remember me. Greetings again, as for the rest the odds are good you may even know me as a professor from Starfleet Academy. Those of you that are from either the USS Harbinger, or where ever else you came from I greet you." He said this with a slight bow to his head then continued. "Introductions done, who's the person in charge while Master Chief O'Connell is on the away team?" Nolak said with an authoritarian tone in his voice.

[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Kaligos, chXinya, FollowTomorrow, Auctor Lucan, Anyone else

Hearing the familiar whine of the transporter, Wenn Cinn and his team took cover, well, all but one. Petty Officer James Madsen stood frozen, fingers clenched so hard around his type-II phaser that his knuckles were bone white. The operations officer was assigned to assist Ravenholm in the event that she needed him, and although young and unexperienced, he had performed adequately in the training. Obviously, it wasn't enough or wasn't effective as he was petrified, staring down the six transporter beams head on.

It took Cinn a few moments to realise that not everybody was where they should be. Just as the transporters finished their cycle, he sprang into action, leaping up and pulling Madsen to the floor by the back of his collar. The phaser held in James' hands clattered to the floor, as if the single act of aggression from Cinn had seemingly broken the spell. Reagar, Ravenholm and Cardamone all stepped into motion, working as a team, they quickly stunned the incoming security team to submission. They were fast, efficient and effective. He'd have been proud, if it wasn't for the quivering wreck in his hands.

"You alright, son?" Cinn asked simply, rolling off of the boy. He breathed a soft sigh, trying to work out a plan of what to do about Madsen.

"Y-yeah. I think so..." Came the croaked reply.

"Good, now we've been over this many many times. All we need to do is a bit of climbing and running. Leave the gunning to security and just focus on the job at hand - getting to central communications." Cinn spoke softly, trying to reassure the petty officer. "You've done this plenty at the academy. It's just a run." Madsen nodded meekly in replied and Cinn smiled, patting him gently on the back. "Good, you just stay with me and we'll get there."

"Alright!" He called, standing up. "Let's get moving. Reagar, head us up. I'll take rear." It wasn't that Cinn didn't want to lead from the front but with having to look after Madsen and keep an eye on Isley. It would be easier to watch them all from that position. As the team converged on Ravenholm, Cal Reagar scouted ahead, climbing into the Jefferies tube and up the ladder with ease. Up one deck, Cinn knew there would be a doorway opening to the corridor. They would need to make a dash to the next junction and into one of the rooms there. The team had practiced this multiple times, so he was sure they would know where to go. He just hoped they could get there before Starbase security figured their first team was down. As he headed across to the group, he collected Madsen's discarded Phaser and tucked it into a pocket of his SAFTI gear. He'd hold onto that for now. Madsen had no use for it.

Setting up position to cover by the hatchway, Cinn waved Isley and Cardamone over. One by one, they all climbed up and off that deck. Madsen was second to last, holding himself close to Cinn as requested. As they huddled by the door to the corridor, Cinn said a silent prayer.
"Move out." Prophets protect us.

[ Hylota Vojona & Vinata Vojona | Main Sickbay | Vector 02 ]

---

As things in sickbay began to prepare for the ensuing battle Hylota had taken charge of looking over the medical list, keeping a close eye on the patients that were set aside and made to wait for treatment, if any conditions deteriorated she was prompt to move them up the list so that those in need of aid were receiving it in a timely manner. Of course as one of the older patients got up and saw themselves out of the sickbay Hylota watched curiously as he walked to Maal and spoke to him briefly before leaving, Hylota intended to ask him about that, but her data padd began to beep as it informed her that one of the patients with minor head trauma was beginning to suffer a brain hemorrhage. Getting up from her desk Hylota directed some of the nurses to the patient as to get him to a bio bed immediately.

In the meantime Vinata was focusing more on the clean injuries, focusing on internal injuries and broken bones, the sight of blood still made his stomach turn, thankfully nowhere near as badly as it had been previously. Vinata watched as Nolak had spoken to Maal, he did not know what was going on, but he knew that the next chance he got he was going to have to talk with Maal. Sadly his intentions to talk with Maal were cut short and forgotten as Lucan instructed the staff to brace and secure patients. Vinata felt his heart race as he quickly reached over the bio bed, bracing himself over his patient and using his own body as a loose restraint to keep his patient from falling to the ground.

As the ship was about to be hit Hylota had gotten up from her chair and was preparing to lower herself to the ground when Lucan rushed to her side and assisted her to the ground, holding her as the ship was struck and shook violently. Hylota yelped loudly as everything shook, her body carrying the vibrations more strongly as her pregnant belly shook with each impact. Thankfully things did not shake for very long and the ship quickly recovered, sitting up Hylota began to breath a bit more heavily as she looked around the nurse station, tools were scattered over the floor along with an assortment of data padds and...blood. Hylota stared at the blood for a moment before seeking the source out and looking at Lucan and his injury. Hylota was quick to act, looking around she picked up a first aid kit and slid it in front of Lucan. "Here Doctor, you need to take care of yourself before anything else happens." Opening it and taking out the simple medical tricorder to begin scanning Lucan to get an idea of how extensive the damage was.

Meanwhile Vinata had ridden out the strikes, his patient was in discomfort from the shaking, but at least they had not fallen to the ground. Vinata took a moment to collect himself before going to gather the proper hypospray to ease the crewman's pain and make them well enough to head back to their quarters, their injuries were minor, and with the two hits that the ship had just taken they were going to be seeing much more drastic injuries, this meant they would need open beds and space to put the more drastically injured patients. Looking around Vinata looked for Lucan to try and get confirmation of his plan. If they spent the time waiting for the injured patients to come in, rushing out the lighter injuries Vinata figured they could free up a lot of space to work with, but he needed to track him down to get Lucan's opinion on the matter.

[ Sithick | USS Allegiant Medical Bay ] Attn: Auctor, Angles

Sithick sniffed at the young cadet. The scent of burnt flesh, and blood were around him, but he could also hear the shallow breathing of a man who was most likely concussed. Helping him into the bed he was about to ask the medical chief of the black opal if he could be of assistance to save the cadets life. But was cut off by his own communicator. It seemed his work was never going to be done, and he closed his eyes and tilted his his head towards his com link understanding that the next part of his job was underway.

He turned to the doctor when he made his joke. His yellow eyes turning towards the man, before his lips peeled back into a very wide toothy smile a low sound of a chuckle rumbling through his body. His translator spoke for a moment after registering his alien language and tongue motions, it was simply too much of a hassle to speak the Federations tongue when there was so much shit to do. plus he wasn't sure the joke would translate well but he would try some attempt at humor anyway. "Outlaw sector philosophy clearly states; why build shields when you can have more...." the translator paused for a moment searching for the best replacement word and finally came to a conclusion on a earth term from a table top game in the early 20th century. "Dakka.*"

"No need for morgue when you have the cold of space." He turned and started to walk away from the  medical bay and started down his way towards the aft of the ship clicking his comlink to acknowledge his orders. Stepping heavily as he pulled himself into the airlock.

The thin wall that now separated him from the vacuum of space was very apparent. While the Gorn could survive the cold of space the actual vacuum would kill him, rapid exposure would lead to his death as it would not be the controlled exposure he had done back in the klingon escape pod. He was painfully aware of this fact and decided that he needed to move as quickly as possible to get this probe ready for deployment. The probe was currently magnetically locked into place, Moving through the room he felt the vibrations of the locks as the ship adjusted and moved through space. He started to work on removing the various locks, but more importantly arming the Tetryon probe so that once launched the device would do as instructed.

It was slow work as his claws tapped away at the mine's locks as he had done so in the simulations. There was a click and the mag locks inverted, lifting the device slowly off the ground as he stood next to it. This was the dangerous part, with the probe free the device could move around the room, the only thing keeping it secure now was a powerful tether that was supposed to open remotely deploying the device. However before he could leave and get out of the current danger zone he still had to arm it.

*Dakka: for those uninformed the term Dakka comes from warhammer 40k, and is the Ork word for amassing and firing automatic weapons to the point of it being gun porn, sometimes referred too as multi lazer masturbation.

[ Boarding Team 03 | Cameron Henshaw | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Lucan & Summerdawn

As time ticked by ever so slow for Cameron the two loud bangs made her cover her ears for a second. She knew it was going to happen though, yet being prepared to something and hearing the real thing is something entirely different. She wasn't sure but she could've sworn that the moment the grenades went off, she had yelped out and grabbed Zaraq by the arm. It was a harsh reminder that this wasn't her place. She wasn't trained or prepared enough to be out in the field, this close to hostile combatants.

Next she could hear Ida's order, loud and clear as Zaraq leaped out of cover, Cameron flinching for just a second and doing the same. Her one second delay however had given the security detail a head start as she sprinted across the room towards the smoke. She could hear the discharges of Zaraq's rifle and the punches being delivered by both Ida and Ryuan. The haze however caught Cameron more than she anticipated, coughing a little and feeling the sensation of the haze prickling against her eyes. The combination of both had brought her in the situation where she couldn't anticipate the unaffected guard as he got back on his feet and raised his rifle.

Luckily for Cameron Ida had spotted the man as he prepared to dispatch of the mission specialist. A shout to get down by Ida was instantly followed by Cameron as Ida aimed her own rifle in order to dispatch of the guard. The man however was quick on his feet and heard the warning as well, spotting Ida as she trained her gun at him. In a last ditch effort to evade the shot he tossed his own rifle towards Ida, causing it to hit the rifle enough as Ida fired at him. The shot missed and the guard wasn't startled by this chance as he pounced Cameron and quickly reached down for the parsteel blade that he kept with him. A little souvenir he bought when being on leave. He had carried it around as a fail safe in case he'd be without weaponry. Crawling back up on his feet and keeping the specialist between himself and the boarding party he held the blade tightly against the throat of the Yeoman.

They got up on their feet as his eyes jolted from Zaraq to Ida and eventually to Ryuan. "Let go!" Cameron struggled, causing for her and him to keep moving not allowing a clear shot for most people. Cameron could feel the frame of the guard against her back, he was well toned as she could feel his muscles overpower her easily. The blade being pressed tighter against her throat, just a moment away of splitting open her skin superficially. The guard bent her arm around her back, causing her to stop the struggling as he hissed "Stop it!" he looked at the rest "Guns on the ground now or this woman will be pouring out a fountain like you've never seen before." he threatened the remaining boarding crew.

[ Boarding Team 03 | Ryuan Sel | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Lucan & Nolan

Even as the initial explosions went off in the complex, the signal for the team to make their move, and the energy dampening field took effect, Ryuan was already mentally counting down the seconds till her weapon went online again. The grenades by design only created a temporary dampening field, useful for the sort of fast sharp attack on a position where you still wanted your weapons to work. Within half a minute the team's weapons would be online and it was in that critical last few seconds, that Ryuan and Ida found themselves in a standoff.

Her weapon raised and pointed at the man's head, the only clear aim point she had, Ryuan could only hope the man's cranium was solid enough to withstand the energy release of heavy stun. She didn't want to kill the man, he was only following the orders of his superior, as was she, but in this moment there was no time to sit down and compare notes, decide who was in the right. No, she only had the certainty of her mission, and he stood between her and the success of that mission.

At close range stun could kill, and Ryuan could only utter a prayer to her gods that the man's skull was solid enough to withstand the violent influx of energy, and that the dampening field had dispersed enough to permit her weapon to fire as she pulled the trigger on her rifle. The familiar kick and flash as the pulse of phaser energy lanced out across the intervening feet was all Ryuan felt but for the hapless guard, the effect was immediate and devastating.

The man fell back, his hand going limp, the blade clattering to the ground as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground. Ryuan could see from her vantage as she lowered her weapon the man was beyond hope. She'd seen enough phaser wounds in training to know the man was dead, mercifully he'd never have felt the injury, death being near instantaneous. She glanced to Ida, "There was no other choice."

[ Dyan Cardamone | Boarding Team 01 | Below the Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Arista, chXinya, Auctor Lucan, Kaligos

She almost felt sad to have to leave this spot. She knew if she stayed, she'd eventually find another fight. But her mission wasn't to eliminate the entire security team of the Starbase. She turned, and to her surprise, there was Wenn Cinn, and one terrified Petty Officer James Madsen. He was shaking, on the ground. She hadn't seen what happened, but she could infer that Cinn probably took Madsen down before either of them could be shot at.

A thought came to her, that Madsen was weak and should not be on this team. He could get someone killed. But that was not how Starfleet functioned. All people, regardless of their combat ability had some sort of worth, apparently. She just couldn't see how the petty officer had any. She huffed, the only sign of impatience she allowed to slip from her otherwise collected composure.

It was time to move on. She left her thoughts about Madsen in this room as she followed behind Reagar. Onto the next trial.

Time to give 'em hell

[ Dr. Nicander | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: 1) Doc M. 2) Triage 3) Zenozine

Having put a tattooed hand to his temple to stem the bleeding, Lucan heard Hylota through the ache spreading through his skull. The familiar chirping of a medical tricorder told him the Ovri was on top of things. Odd, how in the split moments of personal injury, there was clarity in his head about his true priorities. The crew needed him. Suddenly, he did not just see them as cattle bound for slaughter, and he asked himself how he could have betrayed them. For years, he had lived a fairytale of lies, yet they did not see him as a liar. They all saw him as their benefactor. If it weren't for the thing inside, then he...

Then he what? The certainty of his inevitable fate as a host settled once more, and he shook off the errant thought. He had no choice, so he might as well enjoy himself to the best of his ability before his kin did not need him any more. After all, he could not betray Kisane's memory for the sake of a crew that would very likely be dead within the hour. No, it was time to act.

Like a veil put before his eyes, he forgot the very idea that anything he could do for the crew mattered.

"It's just a laceration," he announced, seeing the tricorder's readings across from Hylota and determining that he had no concussion. Then, his pale grey eyes fell on her abdomen, the fact of her unborn offspring touching something inside him - the doubt resurfacing for a moment - before it faded away again. It was time. "I can tend to it myself. Just hand  me that dermal regenerator in the med kit and I'll find a mirror."

He said this with an embarrassed smile, got the regenerator, and stood tall behind the duty desk, in turn helping Hylota back on her feet with the same hand that held the medical instrument - the other hand still pressed to his temple. In standing up and helping Hylota, he made eye-contact with Vinata. The word of Arisaka had not escaped him. There were patients inbound. "Prepare for arrival of injured personnel. Clear the last beds in the ICU and prep the ER. There are still beds available in the Recovery Ward. I will return shortly," he said and showed his bloodied hand to Vinata. He then saw Maya, McMillan and Maal appearing in the corridor, the tremors of sustained phaser fire lessened. "Doctor Duv is on standby for beaming onto the base, so you are in charge, Doctor Maya."

Just as he said this, the sliding doors opened and the first patients arrived, helped along by their fellow crewmen. Mostly injuries from falling, Lucan saw, and some plasma burns where relays had blown, some burns worse than others. Yet as they arrived, he left with the dermal regenerator, heading to Surgical Suite 02 and the mirror he meant to use.

Quite fortunate, how he had been granted the perfect excuse to set his plan in action.

---

[ SCPO Calvin Reagar | Beneath the Subspace Acquisition Grid | Starbase 84 ] Loose PO: 1) ch'Xinya 2) Kaligos 3) FollowTomorrow 4) Arista

With his rifle on his back, Cal quickly climbed the ladder behind the door, breathing through his nostrils and biting down hard in his focus - the mission at hand more important than trying to think about how he might help Madsen. Wenn was already on top of that complication, so he needn't add his voice to the matter. He was just glad he hadn't been shot in the back. A small thing fortunate in a task far from complete - the mission objective still some levels away.

At the end of the ladder, he pulled forth his rifle again and waited, letting the others catch up to him as they climbed the ladder behind him. When he judged the closest ones were ready if they were chanced upon, he pulled the manual release of the maintenance access door and shouldered his way into the corridor - eyes along the sights. He whipped his aim about as he checked for movements, heart beating loudly in his ears. While the holodeck had been one thing, this was something quite else, knowing that the mission rode on all of their collective shoulders. A quiet word to those behind him. "Clear."

With that word, he set off down the corridor at a brisk pace, still not lowering his rifle as he moved. There was not time for stealth. Not if the Red Alert had been sounded. He knew so, even if he wished that they could have taken more precautions. He had wished to bide his sweet time before stepping into each intersection, listening in quietude for movements. Now, he only had Ravenholm behind his shoulder, and the tricorder she carried. It was a matter of speed to get to where they needed to be, and there was simply no time for it. Each passing minute, Thea suffered the full attention of the base's phaser banks and torpedo launchers.

Regardless how sensitive Ravenholm's tricorder was... it didn't help when the opposition appeared from behind.

Cal heard the grate being kicked open behind the boarding team, and he rounded on the loud noise. He had ended up on the wrong side of the team, with Wenn Cinn and Madsen closest to the security guards that spilled into the corridor. "Shit," he cursed under his breath, seeing the two guards that rolled into the corridor opening fire against them. He already saw movements in the opening from whence the first two had come, so there were bound to be more of them in Jefferies tube that they had just passed by. "Cover!"

---

[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Transporter Room 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Nolan & SummerDawn

Cursing, Ida had bared her teeth when the security guard managed to throw his useless rifle at her just when she was about to drop him. The impact of the Type III against her own TR-120 made her shot go wide, and quick as the man was on his feet, he had managed to take the Yeoman hostage.

While the guard challenged the boarding team, Ida counted the seconds too, seeing Ryuan Sel in her peripheral vision and how she had the best angle for her shot. Yet as the seconds bled away far too slowly, Ida was more concerned that the guard would call for reinforcements, and ruin their element of surprise. Another moment gained, another moment spelling imminent disaster, until finally... Ryuan took the shot.

It was over the moment the rifle filled the security checkpoint with its orange glare. The guard fell down in a disjointed heap of limbs, and the parsteel blade clattered in a metallic emphasis of the fact against the floor. Ida lowered her rifle from where she had tried to get a clear shot from the front - the pinkskin being in the way for it - and took a deep breath. Sel told her the obvious, and Ida inclined her head in confirmation. The ridgenose told the truth.

"By now, internal sensors must have detected that shot, so we have to take the quicker route." It was far from ideal, the original plan having been better suited for them to get to the Command Center without being noticed. Now, the element of surprise might have been lost, and they had to make their way there in a more bold way. Otherwise, they'd stand no chance of getting there without being intercepted by more security teams. "Zaraq."

"Aye, Deputy," said the hulking mass of the Klingon at the back of the room, and he walked past the jefferies tubes access to the turbolift, and he produced a small device from his SAFTI gear's utility pockets. It was a small jammer, the unit being able to scramble the life-signs around it for a short period of time. Say, for example, the duration of a riding the lift to the Command Centre's level in the EOC. The device was complementary from Selena Ravenholm, a black market unit that she'd brought aboard, and it just proved itself useful. Ida turned to the boarding team in the smoke-filled security checkpoint.

"You know the drill. Ensigns Cameron and Ryuan, you come with me and Zaraq, riding the turbolift. The rest of you," she said, facing the thre NCOs that had brought up the rear guard until that point. "You take the route through the Jefferies Tubes, as we had originally intended. You'll be detected on sensors, but you'll be able to use the tubes to your advantage. We rendevouz at the Command Centre's exterior corridor. Move out, before they deploy any teams here!"

Unceremoniously, Ida put a hand on Cameron's shoulder, with no words or comfort but with the clear signal that it was time to move, and they had precious little time. She headed into the turbolift after Zaraq activated Ravenholm's device, dragging Ensign Henshaw along with her if she needed to.

If they were fortunate, starbase security would not investigate the lift that would go directly to the EOC's top level, since according to sensors... there would be no one on the lift. For Ida, she knew the ten second ride on the lift would be the longest ten seconds she'd experience in a long while - standing there with the pinkskin, the ridgenose and the big, bald ridgehead.

---

[ PWO Rihen Neyah | Main Engineering | USS Theurgy ] Attn: DocReno & MasterRat

"If you say so, Rihen. I'm just hoping that I don't fuck this up like I did the last time.."

Hearing sweet Kae say those words somewhat confirmed the hear-say Rihen had heard about him; that he had done something terrible when the ship visited that Black Opal base and fought off a Romulan ship. Such a disheartening comment, and Rihen's heart broke a bit hearing him say it. Surely it was not all that bad? She had tried to lift his spirits, dispel whatever dark thoughts had been bothering him, but if he had such deep regrets, it seemed it would require far more than some jesting and a slap on his bum to get through to him.

"Hey, hey, sweet Kae," she said and stepped up next to him, running a hand through his hair and hoping he'd turn towards her - meeting her mismatched eyes. She smiled to him, her usual warm smile, and she said something she'd never said to any of her patrons down on Risa. Nor any people she'd met on Nimbus III. "Do you know why I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself? Because my father taught me something besides juggling blades on the stage of  the circus I was raised. He taught me that the greater part of our misery, of any unhappiness we feel, it is all determined not by our circumstance... but by our disposition. If you truly hope you won't fail again, it says more about you - far more - than that you once did."

She said this and tousled his hair, flashing him another, wide grin, before she walked off to take care of her next row of duties. She had no idea whether or not she'd reached through to him, but she hoped her words would stay with him. Minutes passed, and she stole glances towards Kae now and then to see how he was faring, and duties became more and more demanding the longer into the battle they got.

Eventually, the voice of someone Rihen had never met came from the entrance to Main Engineering, and she turned her head to look at him in consternation. The bald man made a formal introduction, all of which Rihen had little time to listen to and didn't bother to either since she'd certainly remember having met the handsome fellow on the Theurgy. In the end, the former Chief Engineer asked who was in charge.

"Me, Ensign Carla Abner (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Engineering_NPCs#Ensign_Carla_Abner), right over here!" called the blonde woman who they were taking orders from now that O'Connell was on Starbase 84. She was a pretty woman from the Harbinger, whom Rihen was confident would have had a lot of attention from patrons if she'd been raised on Risa. The woman was busy delegating orders, taking her job quite seriously too, and certainly didn't seem like she had time to enquire what the former Chief Engineer was doing there. The man had not partaken in any of the drills for the mission, as much Rihen knew, but if he used to be Chief Engineer... perhaps he could help nonetheless?

"What are you doing here, Mister Kalmil?" called Abner before directing herself to two men close by her. "Rodriquez (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Engineering_NPCs#Crewman_Russell_Rodriquez) and Kaizumi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Engineering_NPCs#Petty_Officer_Tenchi_Koizumi), free up power to the shield emitters and notify the bridge its available if so required! We should be able to increase regeneration by 3 % if you reroute Nine-Alpha and Five-Delta relays!"

Then, Abner's green eyes returned to the visitor. "Aren't you supposed to be in Sickbay?"

Rihen watched from the background, not sure what she should think, but tried to focus on her duties.

[ Boarding Team 03 | Cameron Henshaw | Executive Offices Complex Lobby | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Lucan & Summerdawn

Petrified by fear Cameron held still against the guard as she saw Ryuan line up the shot. the eyes of the yeoman widening before she shut them tight and heard the discharge of the rifle. The tight hold of the parsteel blade against her neck faltered nearly instantly. It was a sigh of relief that escaped from her lips as the blade fell down in front of her feet. Her eyes opening slowly as she heard the thud of the man dropping lifeless behind her. It took a few nanoseconds before it hit her, her legs starting to tremble and her eyes turning more watery.

She glanced over at Ryuan and nodded thankfully at her before she looked down at the floor. She felt like she came short of the party and her legs trembled more profoundly now. Her breathing became more erratic, shallow yet not receiving enough oxygen to her muscles and organs that needed it the most. She looked up again when Ida was standing in front of her. Her hand came to rest on her shoulder and it was supposed to bring her some solace perhaps. The conversation that had been held was not picked up by Cam as she felt Ida tug her towards the Turbolifts.

She closed her eyes as she tried to regain her normal breathing once more, keeping her hands in front of her mouth and nose as she tried to regulate her breathing. This was only a panic attack, she had seen so before and just had to control herself. Once the elevator doors opened she had managed to get her breathing back to normal, she was however still shaken by the events and swallowed hard as she waited for the rest to enter the elevator first before joining them.

[Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 ]

Main Engineering was massive, lines of computer banks and readouts peppered the walls in a half circle around the main computer terminal in the center of the main control area. The semi-transparent monitors flashing bits of data and readouts from all parts of the ship dance across each one as the engineering crew of a couple dozens dance about performing duties.

Farther into engineering st-robing in a light blue tone light stood the massive matter/anti-matter reaction core. The matter reaction injector (MRI) stood towering several decks above and below the main engineer deck. The noise of her ‘heartbeat’ USS Theurgy humming in the background as supercold deuterium is converted into energy. Ever other deck spreading away from Deck 25 there was another rampart of service and repairs computers with see through transparent monitors. Each deck arches out and away from the circular chamber housing the entire core. The monitors light the deck giving them a neon blue glow adding to the ambient lighting. All decks are connect by either a ladder, or a small two person lift.

The main warp core, is a towering fourteen decks from top to bottom. The MRI with a diameter close to 10 meters wide bathes the entire engine compartment a light blue light color as it pulses from the warp core. Every deck with a computer station surrounding the core has one short gangway leading to the core it self. From the gangway one could look up and down and see nearly all fourteen decks from a dizzying perspective. The railings on either side the only security between solid flooring and a free fall to the bottom. The central core itself is surrounded by a small repair platform each with various monitor readouts. Only the main engineering level is the computer station capable of complete computer access and control commands.

As Master Chief Kalmil walked through the room. His mirror polished bald head reflected the lights within the room. Walking in sandals and a ruffled up uniform too big for him, he shot an expression towards Ensign Carla Abner, as though she had slapped him across the face. “Sickbay! Haw, I’d clawed my way straight from the gates of hell, and escaped that infernal pit of despair. Besides, I’m a Starfleet engineer, not a voodoo witch shaman like our charming Doctor Nicander.” Chief Kalmil recognized of of the men Carla Abner was giving orders to. He added, “It’s great to see a familiar face Petty Officer Tenchi Koizumi, glad to see your still alive and looking well.”

Chief Kalmil then turned and moved to some storage lockers and took out a workman’s belt with a few repair tools hanging from it. As he wrapped it around his waist he continued across the room.

Looking back towards Ensign Abner as he continued heading towards the main warp core terminal. “Look, my main field of expertise is in warp design and power management. So if you have no objections I’ll locate myself by the core itself and keep Thea from having a heart attack and going critical. At the moment we should all work together like a well oiled machine, there’s little time for us to have a power struggle over command structure. Besides if O’Connell left you in charge, I’ll not question his judgment. However,” He emphasized on the word however, “if you can’t handle the stress don’t hesitate to ask for help, every second is precious if we are to survive this day.”

As he passed a young man sitting at a computer station he taped him on the shoulder, “Increase power to Deck 27’s life support by eight percent it’s about to……” Suddenly the ship shuddered again from another direct hit from the starbase. Chief Kalmil grabs the man and yanked him out of his chair just as a shower of sparks erupted from the computer station, sending them both to the floor.

For a split moment everything turned white as pain overwhelms his senses as he hit the floor. He quickly recovered and stood up trying to hide the painful expression on his face. He glanced at the man he just yanked and looked at Ensign Lin Kae, hologram specialist. A crew member he knew and worked with before his injury. Seeing that he’s okay and uninjured, he then looked back at the station he was sitting at. Which is now a smoldering pile of computer bits and exposed wires. “Looks like your okay, Mr. Kae. Try to find another working station and let’s all stay alive.” Turning back to Ensign Abner and points to the core, “I’ll be found there if you need me,” then continued his advance towards it.
___________________________________________________________
I hope this works, if not tell me and I'll gladly edit, change, or delete it.

[Doctor Hayden O'Connor| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy]



As the battle raged outside the confines of the infirmary and beyond, a cauldron of mixed emotions churned inside Hayden O'Connor. Some of them were easily recognizable and swiftly attributed to the realities of facing battle. Every Starfleet medical provider understood what those feelings were. Even if they couldn't be fully experienced in training scenarios, simulations came close enough most of the time. They had to. Starfleet couldn't afford to have its highly trained medical personnel freeze the first time battle threatened to knock them off their feet. After all, saving lives in the middle of battle was difficult enough without having to suppress the effects of a double shot of adrenaline.

Some part of Hayden was responding exactly as her training dictated. Some part of her brain was telling her what to do as if she were a Starfleet officer serving the Federation she believed in and once knew to be as reliable as her own existence. Make sure the path to the wards was clear. Make sure that the supplies were stocked. Check to ensure tricorders and bio beds were properly calibrated. Mentally review basic triage protocols as the wounded came pouring in. Tend to patients in the ward. Take the time to offer reassurance even as you classify patients streaming past you, demanding treatment, if not with their voices, with their eyes. In these moments, it was easy to believe this was just another challenge they would get through with determination. In a crisis, Starfleet officers couldn't afford to dwell on the possibility of their deaths. They had to act on instinct, tamping down on the anxiety, anticipation, regret for opportunities not taken.

Even aboard the Theurgy, where service aboard was anything but routine, Hayden had had to learn how to manage the cauldron of emotions within her so she couldn't just function on a regular basis, but so that she could be in a position to calm emotional storms for others. Yes, they were being hunted. Yes, they were losing people far too often. Yes, psychologically everyone was suffering to a degree and at a rate that seemed impossible to manage. All of these things were realities for Hayden O'Connor and every member of the Theurgy crew, but no one could stay sane or healthy living in that crisis mode daily.

The result?  A way of life that demanded suppression of any thoughts of future crossroads or the risk of impending doom. In short, many of them knew the future critical points in their fight to ensure their long-term survival, but as long as they were weeks or even hours away, sanity demanded they be pushed down, to be dealt with later.

Except later was now, and as the ship rocked beneath her feet, the significance of this battle and the consequences of potential failure were hard to ignore. If they couldn't truly convince others to join their fight, to believe that Theurgy crew weren't traitors this critical juncture in Captain Ives' plan, it was hard for Hayden to imagine where they could turn. If they didn't survive this battle...

Shaken from her reverie by Hylota's words to Doctor Nicander, she realized she had shielded the patient nearby with her body purely out of instinct. Even as Hylota's gravid body reminded her just how much precious lives were at stake, O'Connor was already yelling at herself to get back into medical mode. They weren't dead yet, and if she were destined to die today, she wouldn't have her family believing she had died frozen in fear.