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CHAPTER 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

[ USS Theurgy | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 | 1000 hrs. ] Attn: Lone Wolves Writers & Canadian Vet

Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.

Five gloved fingers drummed against the glassy surface of the arm-rest inside the cockpit - beating out a simple rhythm. The canopy was open, and Soo Young Seung was waiting for the diagnostic to finish. She had her headphones on, the pop music kept the world at a convenient distance - not pressing in on her like it always did. As it were, her mind was already filled with the events of the morning, which even competed with the fact that they were preparing for battle.

Indeed, activity was high in the flight hangar, with both squadrons of Valkyries to prepare for the mission to Starbase 84. Soo looked up from the displays to monitor the entrance of the other squadron, led by Phantom, as they crossed the expanse of the flight hangar. They were about to leave, meaning to use the nebula to fly over to the Harbinger undetected. The grey Mk II Valkyries had been made flightworthy and restocked as far as the Theurgy could spare the hardpoints, and the final armament would be made on their base ship with the meagre reserves that were still available there. They walked like a wedge, with Phantom in the lead, and with Smoke and Titan on either side behind him. They looked like they had been in a fight, Soo thought, looking at them from a distance.

Soo watched them as they walked, a bit envious about how they were going to take off right into the nebula. She noticed how one of them seemed to be missing, but then she saw the eight pilot catching up with the rest, Riptor smiling with teeth showing through his beard as he nodded to Nightmare mid-step. Hannah smiled back to him, walking a bit stiffly as she checked the condition of her bird. She had not seemed herself since that morning, but Soo figured like with many others, she had yet to recover from last night.

The chirp sounded, signalling that the diagnostic was complete. Soo took a deep breath and looked it over, suppressing thoughts about Lin Kae in order to do her duties. Soon afterwards, she was done, and climbed down from her cockpit. At that point, the Harbinger pilots were seated and ready to leave, doing their pre-flight checks and donning their helmets. Odd, how seeing them leave made Soo feel better, not having liked some of the pilots. Even less that scarred Wing Commander.

"Chief," she called, looking for Covington in the busy area while the engineers cleared away around the Mk II:s in order to let them taxi out in a loose formation, engines powering up. "Chief! My diagnostics are ready! Nothing out of the ordinary! Is there something else I can help out with?"

Towards the back of the Flight Hangar was the SCO's office, and while Renard had yet to go in there.. the door was slightly ajar for some reason. Soo spotted this, frowning since it was an oddity, but thought no more of it as she looked towards the Chief of the Deck, well clear of the leaving Valkyries.


As the subject start to adjust to life after the incident, its life become a little calmer and more organised. The subject's physical and psychological symptoms lessen, and its depressed state is alleviated. It is of great import that this phase is monitored in order to glean evidence of successful imprint.
                                               
                                                                       
- Manipulation of Grief, by Host named cin Nicander

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #1
[Sten Covington]

When he entered his hangar, Papa Bear was surprised. His deck was not only smoothed from the impacts of the combat landings, it was freshly painted. So they had done it. Where the manpower to recondition his hangar came from, he wasn't sure. But O'Connell's idea to decompress the hangar and kill gravity paid off and Sten now had the equivalent of a flight deck that was fresh out of refit in a drydock.

And not a moment too soon. When they had wrapped up the night before, Phantom's older Valkyries had been all made spaceworthy and what could be spared, mostly hardpoint mounts to replace those that needed further maintenance. But the old deck chief did not provide them with a single piece of ordnance they hadn't come onboard with. Instead, he redistributed them amongst these fighters. There was nothing he could spare.

As Harbinger's pilots made their way their fighters, his gravelly, booming voice sounded across the deck. "All right boys and girls! We're going back to flight ops! Clear the flight path and mind the danger zones!" The second part of Sten's speech was a matter of reflex. He trusted his Cubs to remember their training, he knew they were damn good at their jobs. But still, the reminder was part of the procedures he had helped write when he was first assigned to the Peregrine program.

Good riddance, he thought as he watched the visiting pilots climb in their birds. To be rid of these animals, troublemakers and psychopaths was a good thing and not a moment too soon.

When he was addressed by Oracle, the Chief turned to face Iron Fox's deputy for pilot and tactical matters. "There's always stuff to do, Oracle. If your bird's a hundred percent, you can always lend a hand with the others. And I'd appreciate if a training rotation for combat landings could be started. I know we're short on time but I'd rather not have my deck torn apart every time you don't have all the time in the world to land."

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #2


[ Tessa May Lance ]

""And you can start with mine, Oracle!" Tessa called.  "I'd be lying if I said that my bird was a hundred percent ready to go," she added as she walked over to the enlisted pilot and the deck chief.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Tessa May Lance AKA 'Goldeneye' wasn't ready to face the day, but she did anyway.  As her old drill instructor told her, she didn't have to like it; she just had to do it.  Soo Young's uncanny ability to stay sane and get her job done was something she really envied right now.  There Oracle was, acting like a chief and getting things done despite the fact she was only one year older than Tessa.  She supposed that when you're stuck with the ability to look into everyone's minds you learn to cope or you go nuts.  Or maybe it was just the fact that the Harbinger pilots were finally leaving. 

Good riddance, she thought.  One look into Riptor's eyes and Tessa knew that going anywhere on the ship unescorted would be invitation for a gang rape as long as the Harbinger pilots were aboard.  Riptor didn't look like the type who'd commit a felony unless he got to show off in front of his friends.   She had actually been relieved to have woken up from her hangover with Master Chief O'Connell, although she would have preferred Ensign Connor Mathews.  Mathews was too smart to get anywhere near her but Billy Bob was just stupid enough to be taken advantage of by a dizzy officer almost half his age.

The look of horror on his face had been priceless.  Tessa was unsettled to have woken up with O'Connor herself, but the maintenance chief's reaction had nearly replaced shame with humor.   An unspoken agreement to 'never speak of this ever' was formed on the spot.  What happens during Lohlunat , stays in Lohlunat

Now she was trying to complete the diagnostics on her Valkyrie and counting the minutes until the Harbinger pilots left.  If her life had taught her anything was that if the universe could find a way to make things difficult for her it would.  The Harbinger pilots seemed to give the universe so much to work with the only reason they hadn't caused trouble yet was because the universe didn't know where to begin.  With Phantom and his goons leaving, hopefully the universe would have one less tool in its tool chest to make Tessa's life difficult.

Until they left, Tessa wasn't going to be in the same room with them unless a friend was in close proximity.  Soo Young was a friend who was skilled in Judo, Aikido, and Taekwondo.   Tessa was skilled in singing and exotic dance.  If Riptor or any of his friends tried anything, Tessa wanted Soo Young nearby.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #3
[Thomas Ravon]

Still tasting the blood in his mouth, Thomas made his way towards his fighter. Although his plan earlier this day was to work on the Reaver, he needed some time to re order what had happened a mere three hours ago with Rawley. He couldn't account for a small time period in which he seemingly blacked out? The idea of blacking out was a bit frightening, what if it happened during combat or mid flight? What if it would happen during a critical landing? What if it would happen around Skye? Did it happen before that he just couldn't remember? These ideas dwelled and tormented his mind right now as he saw the Harbinger pilots head into their Valkyries. He didn't give them much attention and noticed Hannah by her bird.

Once by his own bird he fired up the systems and the diagnostic scan run while he inspected the fighter up close. He heard Goldeneye shout at Oracle for help, the two ladies seemed to be going along fine at the moment and Ravon gave it little thought. He heard a few chirps and a flaring beep a second later and when he checked it out he noticed that something was wrong with one of his ailerons. He sighed and made himself comfortable to check what the problem was, probably just a bolt or vice that wasn't screwed in properly, would take him longer than half an hour tops to get it fixed.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #4
The Alpha of the Wolves himself, as strange as it seemed, was possibly the furthest in the room from being in any state near ready for flight.  To be exact he looked less the pilot and more just one of the cubs running across the deck doing last minute maintenance checks  on the fighters.  He had not scheduled himself on the list of wolves designated to escort the Harbingers pilots back to their home.  Instead he had given his Secondary the honors of the escort opting instead to take a role as Papa-Bear's Second to help expedite the flight to get the other squad back SCO interrupted as he tapped on the back of Phantom's wing flashing him a thumbs up signaling that everything on his bird checked out.  "Hey, don't blame my pilots for that one! First off that was all from my landing, second you try landing when the base is executing evasive maneuvers on manual piloting at full impulse.  I had to throttle up to above manual impulse threshold just to gain ground on the bay and land; Oracle feel free to join me out here; I got two more of phantom's squad to give a final checkoff on and they will be good to go.  Feel free to go over there and check out O-Seven"

After checking out the final two of the harbingers birds he gave a signal to the man at the launch console.  The hangar erupted into a series of alarms and klaxons as Phantoms fighter lifted off of the ground and it made its way through the forcefield and into space. followed by another of his quad lifting off and two others positioning themselves in a staggered launch arrangement.  Secretly miles whispered to himself , "Thank The Mother he's gone."

as the ships took off miles took the time to look over the mission briefing and noticing the current situation on deck decided since near everyone was on deck at the moment that it was as good a time as any to forward the needed information to the other pilots' KneePADDs and also forward it to his deck chief.

Before he could think further on the relief of seeing them gone or how he had meant to talk to Sten a little more personally about the mission and find out how his closest adviser felt about it he noticed something else that caught his attention.  The door to his office as open.  He thought this strange since neither he nor Papa-bear had any reason to put the door in propped open mode. *Papa bear you have the deck, office door's been propped open. I know it wasn't you so I'm gonna check it out and make sure nothings out of place in the office."  Saying this he approached the door cautiously allowing his own caution and reasoned suspicion to curb the overzealous impulse to just walk in with an air of impatient curiosity.




OOC:  Notes on my post.

I hope no one minds my idea of having the wolves run an escort for the visiting squadron during the transfer.
* By proped open he is using an archaic 20th century term that is still in use.  in this case it us used to refer to the act of Disabling how a door usually automatically shuts.  essentially triggering an intentional malfunction in the doors shutting feature. 
Both Miles and Sten have been known to do this if they are preforming operations that require one person on the inside of the office and one outside.  This is usually only done though when one of the two of them is currently near the door though as his office includes among other sensitive materials a small weapons locker.**

**Weapons protocol on the flight deck.  Weapons are prohibited on the deck itself Sidearms of pilots are stored within the cockpits of their crafts along with their type 3 phaser rifle.  Pilots can retrieve their sidearm for on ship duty from a personal weapon hideaway within their own personal flight suit lockers.  These Small weapon storage slots are keyed to their personal access code but can be overridden by a Theurgy security officer of above Lt. Commander rank, Sten Covington, Miles Renard, or any Theurgy officer above Commander rank.  When on duty Tac Conn officers carry at minimum a type 1 phaser sidearm due to their designation as as combat personnel like Security and Tactical Division. Many opt to Carry a Type 2 as personal sidearm though.  On the flight deck there are at minimum 4 security officers stationed with modified type 1 phasers designed to emit less heat when on stun so as to prevent a weapons detonation if it has to be used on the flight deck.  IN cases of emergency Miles and Sten both have an extra phaser stored within the SCO's Office weapon's locker.  These 2 phasers are modified Type 2 phasers similar in nature to the 4 security officers type 1 phasers.  These have been modified to have a setting like the lower heat modified type 1 stun but also have the capability to be set on other higher settings like other standard type 2 hand phasers.[/i]

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #5
[ Soo Young Seung ]

Nodding to Papa Bear, Soo raised her hands to put on her headphones again before she heard Tessa's call. She turned and smiled to the other wolf from afar before Goldeneye reached her, and while Soo got the impression that she was worried about something, she did not think too much of it since Soo did not like the impression of Phantom and his pilots either. Instead, she joined Tessa in the walk towards her Valkyrie and the diagnostics that hadn't checked out. "Alright then, let's go."

Renard appeared in the busy activity of the hangar, probably having overheard Soo speaking to the Chief, telling him she could join him in pre-flight checks. She hesitated a moment, merely because of what had happened between them on Theta Eridani IV. "Sorry, Fox! Tess called dibs first!" she called to him across the distance, "I'll join you afterwards!"

She did not want to shut our GoldenEye completely so she let her headphones hang around her neck as she climbed up the ladder and sat down crosslegged right beside the cockpit, letting Tess climb in to start over. "How are you this morning?" she asked, trying not to think too much of her own mornings escapades, or the Ovri she had found the night before. "Did you end up having fun at the Festival?"



[ Evelyn Rawley ]

Rubbing her head, Rawley walked between the different Valkyries lined up in the Flight Hangar, assisting in the last repairs and the following diagnostics. There was still some last armament to complete, micro-missiles to carefully feed into a couple of the launchers underneath the wings, but Rawley was not entirely at ease that morning for a number of reasons.

First, of course, was the fact that Ravon had attacked her a couple of hours ago, and he'd said he didn't even remember doing so. She glanced in his direction from time to time where he sat in his cockpit, but she did not linger in her gaze, even if she wasn't sure she could trust him anymore. Then there was the fact that she'd had sex with Covington during the festival, which in the light of day made things... strange. Especially since she did not know if it had been him that followed her to her quarters. Some memories resurfaced, but it was still not entirely clear if it had been Papa Bear. From the glimpses of the last hours of the night that came to her, it could have been anyone of those she'd talked with.

Then there was the fact that she had no Valkyrie of her own, since as she had lost it when they first fought the Calamity outside the Hromi Cluster. She was a pilot without a fighter, forced to borrow one from someone else provided they were not using it. If the whole squadron would be out there, depending on Fox's order's, she might have to stay behind. Hence she wandered between the birds, not focusing on her own. Until that morning, she had not realised how much she missed her own bird. It had served her since the beginning of the Mk III program, and now it was gone.



Inside the SCO Office, when the lights reactivated upon Renard's entry, it was immediately clear that something had happened. Furniture had been overturned. PADDs were strewn across the floor. The glass cabinette had been destoryed, with shards crunching underneath Miles' shoes when he walked in. It was glass that had lodged itself underneath the sliding door, and even the small sitting area had been pushed out of place - the sofa turned on its back. The first impression would likely have it that the destruction was deliberate, either as if something of value had been searched for, or merely as some kind of malign statement.

But such a notion would likely vanish as soon as Miles noticed the blood splatter upon the broken glass.

What he witnessed were signs of great struggle, with droplets of blood decorating the ship models that had been inside the cabinette. If he would follow the trail of blood, it would lead him behind his desk, and the atrocious events that had taken place inside his office plain to the eye.

Behind the desk lay a woman with torn clothes, purple hair matted with blood. She'd bled out from numerous cuts, small but deep. She lay still, slate grey eyes wide and staring towards the ceiling, but the macabre expression of her face, the rictus grimace of panic with bared teeth and her slack jaw ruled out any chance that she may be unconscious. There was blood on her teeth too, as if she'd try to bite a hand that kept her silent. The knuckles of one hand was white, fingers half-closed in a lost grip upon something. Yet the other hand was more closed than the other, as if she held on to something despite what had been done to her - fingers locked in a death grip. As for what that was, the coagulated blood and semen between her legs made that perfectly plain.

In the stark light of the overturned desktop lamp, which had been used to strike her marked forehead, the dark bruising upon her neck made it evident that Narik Cinsaj had been strangled to death. With the security surveillance system offline, and with her combadge stripped from her, there had been no one there to help the Engineering Consultant in her desperate fight for her life.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #6
Miles despite the horrifying scene retained his calm.  Before he had seen it his other senses had suspected there was far more than the initially evident destruction for his nose had already been hit with the scent of blood and.. something else. far before the lights came on.  Knowing what to expect made it no easier when he followed his nose to behind the desk laying eyes on the corpse of the civilian engineer. 

The Vulpinian make a quick scan of the room and immediately regretted having allowed the Harbinger pilots to leave so recently knowing there was a distinct possibility that on the body there would be some form of evidence leading back to one of them.  First he began with the wreckage imagining the arrangement of the office when everything was in its proper place.  then noting just what glass had been broken scanning the walls for signs of blood which he soon saw splattering the model ships.  Most importantly to examining the scene and deciding how to phrase his report he examined the body and knelt down placing a finger at  the artery of her neck feeling for a pulse.  He was assuming death by the way she lay and the paleness but assumptions were never the best thing to go on in deciding whether to alert medical or security first.  With the quick check death was indeed confirmed as he feared.

Glancing to her neck he could easily notice the marks making the cause of death rather obvious. Strangulation was the most evident cause of death though he knew it may not be the only factor and he figured in the initial summons he better mention everything readily evident. taking a few more moments to look he noticed the open but recently clenched hand and the other hand which was still clenched.  Finally his gaze shifted to the lower half of the corpse as he noticed what the other smell that had invaded his olfactory senses had been the very thing he didn't want to see.

He imediately turned away a steely look of hate searing behind his eyes as he tapped his com-badge.  "SCO Renard to C-Sec Cinn, there is a sensitive crime scene within my office. Please Inform only the necessary parties.  There has been a Rape murder within my office.  Victim is the Civilian Engineer Narik Cinsaj.  Request you inform Captain Ives, Comander Rez, and, inform medical to transport a body to morgue.  I am requesting you here to do immediate crime scene workup.  As of currently no one else knows of this crime scene except for obviously the victim and the perpetrator  I am erecting a forcefield at my office entrance immediately and will be informing my deck chief prior to your arrival.  I am requesting this crime scene be kept as calm as possible so we don't have everyone knowing." he spoke as he opened a maintenance tricorder he kept on his hip when doing maintenance and switched the mode of it to medical settings and took a general scan of the body before any further disturbances.  "There appears to be an object clenched in her hand and so far my only activity with the body has been upon discovery of the corpse a quick pulse check which confirmed death.  I have taken a scan of the semen sample and am sending it directly to you.  I am also attempting to open her clinched hand to discern what if anything she was desperately holding onto at time of death.  Renard out"

He, as gently as he could, pried at her dead fingers attempting to open up her closed hand knowing whatever it held may be something of great importance.  He then spoke up to the computer and said simply.  "Keep door in open position.  Erect a forcefield in a 3 meter semicircle around the doorway."  He then tapped his Combadge again "Miles to Chief Covington. I need you to look down at your PADD and read the message I just sent you and try not to react."

On his padd was the recent message from Miles.  "I have already informed Lt. Cmdr Cinn, There is a dead body within my office behind the desk."There is a forcefield projecting in a hemisphere 3 meters from door opening so as to preserve the crime scene until C-sec arrival.  I am also erecting a hologram to create the illusion of a door so that curiosities are not aroused. further.   After investigating the Scene C sec can decide what information gets out.  Until he gets here and unless he says otherwise I want you to make sure for me that everything stays as business as usual.  Last thing we need is a panic in a hangar bay.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #7
When Renard mentioned it wasn't his pilots' fault the deck got so badly damaged, citing the difficulty of the landing, Sten let out some of his good natured laugh. "Well Boss, you do have a history of mangling flight decks. Bit this time, even you can't take all the credit." The old Chef was in a good mood all right, alhtough he did refrain, as he was wont to do in public, from using the nickname he'd bestowed a particular Vulpinian who had transferred into Starfleet's fighter program from his own defence forces. 'Skidmarks' was once a common sobriquet for Miles but over the years it had become a private thing between the pilot and Sten. "And besides, I let all that fancy deep space twirling around to you pilots. I got real work to do."

Yes, Covington was in a fine mood. His roll around with Rawley, which would most likely be a one-time thing that was bound to be shrouded in secrecy felt good, he tuned in some officers who deserved it, managed to form a better rapport with the Boslic engineer and he was getting rid of the troublemakers, animals and psychopaths from the Harbinger. and most importantly, his deck was as good as if it had just been refitted in a drydock. And, just before the SCO entered his office, Sten spoke again, this time more seriously. "All kidding aside boss, some landings were barely not a crash and my guys weren't as sharp as they could be. All things considered it wasn't all that bad, but it could be much better. I'd still like to recommend a training rotation in the sims and the holodeck."

And with this said, the Chief returned to the all-imprtant task of launching fighters. Yes, there were others who were more than qualified to orchestrated the careful dance but they all knew Sten preferred dealing with those more sensitive ones himself. And he wanted to see the last of those bastards leave.

But he was interrupted by his combadge and a message on his PADD. Looking up, the Chief did not show any signs of the dire news he received. Instead, he spoke up. "Marquette, boss needs me in a hurry. Get rid of these guys will you?"

As an acknowledgement sounded, Sten made for Miles' office, but not through the hangar door, instead using the less used access through the pilots' briefing room. And his expression turned from one of seriousness when he saw the body on the floor into something completely different. His large, scarred hirsute hands curled into white-knuckled fists and his face contorted into a mask of rage. "Motherfuckers," he savagely growled and instantly his eyes turned to the small weapons locker, murder in his eyes.

"I know who fucking did this."

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #8
[ Approaching the USS Harbinger | Class-9 Nebula | 1010 ]

The sharp profiles of the Mk II Valkyries knifed through space amidst the ceaseless exchange of green and orange energy in the nebulae. The eight attack fighters moved in tandem, a well conditioned flight of fighters shooting off towards their base ship.

Wing Commander Phantos "Phantom" Kilinvoss' eyes were locked on the USS Harbinger, and he felt a certain amount of relief to be gone from the Theurgy. Once they returned, he would make sure his squadron and their fighters were prepared for the mission ahead: to raid Starbase 84 and broadcast the truth as they knew it about Starfleet Command. Perhaps that would be some kind of payback for the thirty-two pilots he had lost since they left Earth in search for the Theurgy. He had known them all as children of his own, having never made a family with a woman but chosen his career in Starfleet instead. In retrospect, he thought that his soul had gradually died away, life by life, as his the Wing of pilots on the Harbinger had died for the cause of standing against the whole of Starfleet - the very institution he had sworn his life to.

What choice had he when their morale died away with their comrades? He had to be strong for them. He had to represent hope and ability in facing impossible odds. He had to make them don their flight gear over and over, knowing with certainty that all those who launched wouldn't be coming back. Phantom had begun to think of his own flight gear as funeral garb, and that he was forcing them all to dress before they settled into their coffins.

When encouragement failed, orders and threats came next. Discipline. They could not think about the losses or the long-term expectations of the endless fights against Starfleet. He was not entirely sure, but two of his pilots had deserted mid-battle, shot off with their bird to never return again - leaving the squadron and their friends behind to die simply because they were afraid. Despite this, Phantom hoped that they hadn't fled in fear, but because they did not want to kill others in Tactical CONN. It was, perhaps, what had been weighing the most on his own soul to begin with.

After a couple of weeks, he had stopped thinking about it at all. Not until yesterday, when he had forced himself on the Vulcan in the Steam-pools. Something she said... The way she had allowed him to... It made him think there was something wrong with the oxygen in the cockpit, even though the readings were fine.

"This is 01-Phantom, I will linger while the rest of you land," he rasped into the com-channel, his white and pale blue eyes unblinking behind his visor, "I will meet you in the briefing room at 1100 hrs. We have a new mission to prepare for. It might be our last... victorious or not."

And Phantos watched his children return home, trying to justify his harsh discipline with how he did not want any more of them to die. He would protect them as best as he could, against anyone. Themselves included. What he could not do was to let the hoarfrost around his numb heart melt for them.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #9
Miles Was busy still trying the pry the hand open as the Tricorder continued to search the database on-board the Theurgy for the DNA scan matching the sample..  He listened as His Maininance chief spoke and nodded, "No, you don't, Not just yet. I have my suspicions as well though and I fear whomever it was just flew through that bay forcefield."  He said in a serious tone HIs anger subdued though his eyes gleamed with the same murderous fire towards the perpetrator who did this."

"And don't you dare even consider that," he said catching the chief glancing at the phaser box.  "It is far too merciful a fate for the monster who committed this atrocity."  he said imagining taking a set of rivet bolters and bolting the bastards wrists and ankles to the wall in a semblance of the ancient roman form of public execution called a crucifixion. Having noted how among the old Terran capital punishments it seemed like the form that would probably cause the most long lasting agony for the one being punished.

As he imagined the few possibly appropriate punishments for this filth he felt the locked hand finally giving way and opening.  Within the firm grasp of her hand was a small metallic cylinder about the size of the handheld scanner portion of the previous medical Tricorder model.  He could see a small screen on the side of it displaying various things but soon recognized part of it was a timer counting forwards. having begun about a quarter hour ago.  The next thing he noticed was a biometric scanner on the side of it and he recognized what was going on here.  "Audio recording device.  Attack must have occurred shortly before I arrived in the bay.  It is currently still recording, I think.  End recording session."  He said saying the last sentence into the device.

In a standard computerized voice it replied, "Confirm identity."  He pressed her finger to the biometric reader and the device stopped its counting sequence.

"Begin playback of most recent recording, Time index 0"  He spoke as the device began its audio playback.


OOC:
Lucan: please feel free to write the discription for the audio playback. 

TheBanshee: If Wenn Cin arrives to the scene anytime soon I would prefer it occur sometime during or directly after the audio playback.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #10
When the metallic cylinder started to emit sound into the office, the first distinct noise was the breaking of glass. There was choking noises, as if someone was trying to scream but couldn't. The recording was poor in quality, which was probably due to the fact that Cinsaj had hid the recording device in her closed hand. Slapping sounds were heard. Muffled screams of anger. Her mouth was likely covered. The noise of someone laughing. Tearing of clothes. Thrashing limbs. Angry wailing, and laughing sounds when she had to take a new breath. Rhythmic shuffling, screams gurgling and pained.

[Say something.] A male voice. The horrible rhythm continued.

Choking sounds, the voice barely audible. Defiance heard in the strained syllables. [What... do you... want me... to say?]

[Say something!] Another laugh. [You can scream louder than that, can't you? Huh? What's the matter, don't you like to scream? Ah! Ouch! Oh, so you are a biter, huh?]

A hard, slapping noise, punctuated with a short scream against the gag. Then another. Another. Enough strikes to make the female voice wail while shuffling noises was heard against the floor.

The male voice was more menacing now. [There is nothing you can do, understand? If it hurts at any time, and you want to scream, go ahead and scream. Nothing matters any more. The Federation as you know it is dead, and I... I am the living proof that is fucking you up. We have been going in the wrong direction... All of them dead for a lost cause. You are all dead, fighting for no reason. Dying for no reason. I might just kill you instead.]

Screams, long ones. Pain reverberating in the speakers of the cylinder, yet still almost inaudible. The male voice asked something, and at this point, there were sobs heard over the recording. Still crying, she said something unintelligible which ended with [...that's right.]

[You want me to cum, yeah? Want me to come? Tell me, Boslic cunt.] Beating and slapping sounds. [What's wrong. Why aren't you screaming?]

A pleading, choked tone. [I'll scream if you let me go... I promise...]

An enthusiastic tone. [Oh yeah?] Then a loud, sickening thud. Choked screaming began anew, never seeming to end. A second strike, probably from the lamp. [Keep it up!]

The muffled screaming continued, joined by the male voice grunting hoarsely. A few more words came in the wake of the bearing. [No... More... Please...]

The answer was a derisive laugh. Then silence, with only that rhythmic, horrible shuffling. [Oh, I am going to cum, damn... Arggh!]

Then, after some grunting noises, when the male went silent, and the female voice is barely heard. Just hoarse breathing. Shuffling noises. Then, a weak, mewl... "No..."

Suddenly there was a lot of trashing again. Coughing noises. Wheezing. Then... there was silence for a long couple of seconds. It was evident that the poor woman's plight had finally come to an end.

The last audible thing heard was retreating footsteps across broken glass.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #11
Ensign Colin McArthur sat alone in security, everyone else was away doing other things and he had been left to man the desk as it were.  Thankfully it was relatively quiet, just the occasional routine check-in or a report being submitted.  The boss was away in an interrogation with that Acreth woman, she scared the crap out of him, he'd only had to go into the brig for a few minutes to pass a report along but the entire time he had been in there he felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and when he had glanced across at the in-use cell the smiling face made him shudder.  He swore he could hear her laughing as he left.  He shuddered again just thinking about it.

A beeping sound on the console made him come back to reality and he looked at the display.  Message for Lt. Cmdr. Wenn from Lt. Cmdr. Renard, he couldn't see the content but he thought it best to contact the Lieutenant and check the priority before disturbing Wenn.  Interrupting Wenn's interrogations was a serious no-no unless you wanted your head removed, so legend had it, and Colin didn't really want to risk that unless it was an emergency.

"Ensign McArthur to Lieutenant Commander Renard," he opened the comms to the leader of the pilots, "Lieutenant Commander Wenn is currently in an interview with the guest in our cells.  I saw you tried to contact him but he's set all comms to show up here, I didn't see the message, just that you tried to contact him.  If it is a priority request I can go and get him for you, please advise?"

Colin interlaced his fingers and nervously rolled his thumbs over each other, it felt like he was going to get his arse handed to him by one of the two Lieutenants and it was just a case of which... or both.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #12
Miles clenched his fists with a certain kind of controlled rage he had not felt in a long time.  He felt true anger towards an enemy.  Even in the Vulpinian civil war he fought in he had rarely felt any form of real bloodlust more a sense of joy in the adrenaline of the firefights.  It wasn't the blood that he spilled even at his deadliest that he reveled in but the thrill of combat itself.  He always embraced the sight of seeing an enemy ejection go off successfully as either a chute opened above the reinforced cockpit pod or in space the cockpits Escape thrusters kicking on.  Even the secondary ejection option of a manual bailout and the telltale light of an EV suits thrusters kicking to life or a single pilot chute unfurling was always a sight he relished.  There was always a wish to face the same worthy adversary again possibly even more skilled than they were the last time.

He had only once felt this kind of hatred before amongst the time in the dominion wars there was an respect for the enemy.  From the Lowly Jem Hedar soldiers to the Cardassian tacticians and Vorta obeying the will of the changeling founders there was a respect as his enemies in a war.  IN recent months the enemy had became the Federation itself he had been forced to kill those he had called allies only months before.  The same ships that were the salvation of the only ones who he had ever felt this kind of hate for.  The Ferengi

THe subject of the Vulpinians Acceptance into the Federation was a strange one as they had far from had any form of FTL travel under their belts.  Under all normal circumstances first contact would have been a violation of the prime directive.  However there was one overweening interference.   For years the Vulpinian civil war had taken a sudden escalation on both sides of the combat.  It seemed that at some point a ferengi merchant ship stumbled upon their world and happened to establish some weapons trades with one side of the conflict.  Not happy to just accept the first profit they began trading with the other side too.  This lead to other Ferengi merchants sooner or later catching on and by the ed there was practically a hidden Ferengi merchant colony just on the outside of their star system keeping both sides of the war in an ever increasingly deadly stalemate.  Even if there had been opportunities for the war to end the merchants and their words of trickery kept the war going manipulating an entire planet and its colonies into a course doomed to end in self destruction for mere profit.  these Ferengi profiteers that had interfered in the lives of his planet, who had kept his people killing each other to  increase their stack of coins.  It had taken years for him not to want to strangle anything resembling those four lobed big eared bastards just on principle.  By now he had overcome that certain streak of racism but right now he remembered those feelings all too well as blood began to stain his claw like nails that were digging into his palm as each second of the audio unfolded.

He had not noticed that there was a alert on his tricorder regarding the DNA results until the audio died down.  it simply read  'No results found'  "Damn."  he said in a low growl like tone that could easily been mistaken for the certain feral tinged accent of a Klingon warrior.  "If we only had their records too."  he said knowing that who the pool on the floor belonged to had probably only moments ago left this very hangar.  He opened his hand noticing the blood that was staining his nails and absentmindedly wiped the blood off on his pants legs.   About that time he heard the familiar chime of his com badge.

"Ensign McArthur to Lieutenant Commander Renard, Lieutenant Commander Wenn is currently in an interview with the guest in our cells.  I saw you tried to contact him but he's set all comms to show up here, I didn't see the message, just that you tried to contact him.  If it is a priority request I can go and get him for you, please advise?"

For a moment the immediate urge was to launch into a tirade on how much this is a fucking important message but  he breathed in an out in a way that was even audible over the coms.  Just in the breathing that could be heard by the ensign, the officer probably knew he was about to get the verbal lashing of a life time just through the tone of the breaths on the other side.  Still Miles remained calm but there was a cold menacing anger in hsi coice as he spoke as calmly as possible.  Despite the calm facade of his coice it was obvious there was a certain Dread laced with fury in his tone.  "Understood,"   he began to wonder if this murder had been committed at this particular time knowing that the C-sec would be busy with an extremely high priority interrogation.  "Please open the communication file and consider yourself and only yourself added to the list mentioned in the report."  He waited a moment for the ensign to open the log before adding, "Currently Sten Covington and I are both standing in my office at the crime scene and we have recovered the object she was holding.  It was a civilian issue audio recording device.  Contents of the recording begin at some point during the struggle and end with the assailant leaving my office.  The voice of the assailant is unrecognizable.  The DNA scans come back with no matches indicating a probability that the assailant is a member of the Harbinger crew."

 The words came out calmly as he stared down at the body.   He then added in almost the same tone as the ensign had said moments ago.  "Please advise."  almost hammering in the sight and sounds of the room had pretty much put Miles into a state so far beyond anger that he was now calm.  No calm wasn't the right term.  He his eyes were locked on the body in an almost emotionless ice cold stare and his hands were no linger clenched.  His voice had became almost bored by now even.  He had for all intents and purposes became numb with a rage only describable in his own mind as righteous fury.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #13
The pause between him finishing his communication and the response was very nearly the most terrifying thing Colin had yet experienced in this chaotic mess they were in.  It wasn't that the Lt. Cmdr. was clearly annoyed it was just that he was a hell of a lot closer than the enemy that had been trying to shoot them out of the skies.  Still there wasn't a response and Colin did wonder for a moment if the Vulpinian was heading up to pull his head off rather than a verbal head slapping he was certain was coming his way.

Then the superior officer spoke again and Colin listened carefully to the intensely seething voice and did as he was instructed.  Firstly logging that he was an addition to the list and then reading the message the young Ensign paled as he read the content.  He swallowed hard before responding.  He would have to get Cinn but something needed to happen now, as in right now, before he went to face the wrath of the Boss.  The only other person he could think of to help out was Thea, she was able to cover any position if needed.

"Sir, I am going to retrieve Lieutenant Commander Wenn for you but as it may take a little time before he can get to you I am going to request the presence of Thea at your location," he spoke calmly although he felt sick at what he had just read.

"Ensign McArthur to Thea, your attendance in a Security role is required at Lieutenant Commander Renard's position.  This is a priority request," he didn't want to say too much and breathed a heavy sigh as he waited to hear back from both parties before he headed to interrupt an interrogation.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #14
[ SCO Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attn: IronFerrox & CanadianVet

Upon request, and having left her portable emitter with Lin Kae while he began to work on his ideas for the potential battle ahead, Thea used the ship-wide hologrid to answer the call. She left Lin Kae and materialised inside Lieutenant Commander Renard's office, and her first step gave away her presence with the tinkle of broken glass underneath her projected feet. Her chameleon body suit was golden in colour, representing Security as she were. She looked around, and even if her sensory mapping was bereft of her when she was using her standard holoemitter projection, it did not diminish the datafeed from her emotion ship, nor her acuity when it came to performing analysis.

After surveying the mess around her with a worried frown, she looked between the two present officers. "Chief Covington," she said, and then addressed the Vulpinian occupant of the office she had entered. "Renard, what has..." she said, glancing his way, and in doing so, her optical sensors detected a pair of feet sticking out from behind the desk. By the same time, Ensign MacArthur also finished his brief report and send it to her through his computer console, detailing what he knew and attaching the original files. In a moment, she was briefed as far as Security had been before she arrived at the scene, barring whatever findings had been made since Wenn Cinn was originally contacted.

With her brows furrowed in worry and being upset with what she saw, the Ship A.I. stepped up to the desk and saw the face of the woman on the floor. She looked between the two present and then crouched down next to her, covering her own mouth with her hand. "Oh, dear. Narik Cinsaj," she said quietly, "Civilian. I should have noticed her life-signs in my internal sensory data, but was not Starfleet, so her life-signs vanishing did not give me the kind of alert my systems usually get, and with the Harbinger pilots leaving me at the same time, I did not actively act on the data even if it was received. I need an upgrade... but it is too late for her now."

Upgrading her own subroutines pertaining to internal sensors, incorporating alerts for civilian passengers as well even if she was a tactical strike cruiser, it seemed something she should have had from the beginning, and the oversight in her software compilation had now cost the Boslic her life, or at least the chance to apprehend her murderer.

"I am taking photos of the scene as we speak," she said, feeding imagery to her databanks with her eyes and using her internal sensors to process her readings like a tricorder might, "I will also scan the entire room with all the filters I have access to and collect samples before moving the body to the morgue. I will alert Medical and Commander Rez about what has happened, and if evidence point towards any Harbinger personnel, I will inform Lieutenant zh'Wann since she is their new Chief of Security."

Glancing towards the two men present, she sighed. "Cause of death: strangulation. The pain and emotional trauma before she was strangled must have been severe. Did you find anything else?" she asked, before stating the obvious. "It would benefit my scans if you left the room. In fact, perhaps some of the Lone Wolves might have seen something, so it could be a good idea to gather them all  and ask them..."

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #15
Miles nodded,  listening to the security desk officer. ""Understood," he said in a calm having detached himself as much as he could from his emotional turmoil at the moment.  Many hours in the cockpit had hones his ability to remain calm under a state of raging emotions and channel them into calm instinctual fluid actions. "she would have been my request to address this situation as well.  If the Captain or XO are with C-sec Cinn please inform them as well.  I fully understand the difficulties reaching them though.  Thea will be more than an adequate crew member to work the crime scene. Just inform them when they are available to be informed.  Renard out."

Miles allowed himself the brief happiness of seeing Thea materialize as her photons solidified into a solid construct of light acting as matter. He allowed her to process the sights and data feed she was most likely receiving.

AS she began to speak up talking about how she coudl have saved the civilian engineer Miles stepped closer to her, "Oh, dear. Narik Cinsaj, Civilian. I should have noticed her life-signs in my internal sensory data, but was not Starfleet, so her life-signs vanishing did not give me the kind of alert my systems usually get, and with the Harbinger pilots leaving me at the same time, I did not actively act on the data even if it was received. I need an upgrade... but it is too late for her now."

Miles sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up over it, Thea.  We all make mistakes.  You're only human after all.  Well advanced human based AI simulation.  But you get the point.   All we can do is find the culprit and make sure the victim receives justice."

He nodded as she continued and began her cataloging of the crime scene.

"Cause of death: strangulation. The pain and emotional trauma before she was strangled must have been severe. Did you find anything else? It would benefit my scans if you left the room. In fact, perhaps some of the Lone Wolves might have seen something, so it could be a good idea to gather them all  and ask them..."

he shuddered as he handed her the Recording device.  "You have no idea about the trauma she wentr through...she was clutching this in her palm. It's a civilian voice recorder  Please.  Wait until we are out of the room before reviewing it.  "I... I don't want to hear that again.  Vigilantism would become even more tempting if I did.

With that he walked out of the room looking over to Covington.  "Lets go.  Thea can take care of this."  With that he hit his com badge.  "Renard to Lone Wolves.  Cease whatevery you are currently doing and calmly report to the squadron briefing room immediately.  This order is priority alpha.  Repeat Drop everything and calmly report to the squadron briefing room Priority alpha."  He emphasized the priority alpha to get the point across There was only one thing that usually necessitated a Tac-Conn priority alpha order and that was a scramble all fighters order.

Immediately he pressed the com badge and spoke again.  "Renard to Fighter bay security, lock down the fighter bay entrances and exits and only allow entrances of members of Tactical conn, Flight deck support staff, or senior staff or those accompanying them.  I am ordering all Pilots and flight deck personnel to report to the deck immediately and i do not want anyone leaving. as of right now.  Direct all queries from support staff on deck to assemble for a impromptu mandatory address by myself and chief Covington.  Reason is a serious crime has been committed within my office earlier this morning and we need to find out if anyone may have seen anyone entering or leaving the office.   Please do not inform anyone of a crime being even reported.  THea is currently within the office gathering evidence and conducting an investigation and C-sec office has been informed.  I also request the senior security officer within the hangar to immediately report to the squadron briefing room."

He looked over at the chief and sighed.  "Guess you can call the cubs and tell them to gather for a full deck crew assembly Give them 15 minutes to report for it.  If you don't want to attend the meeting with the pilots you don't need to.  If anything I could use your help keeping the cubs calm and not too overly curious about what's going on."  he said taking a seat at the Squad briefing room desk for once in recent memory not regretting the idea of no longer being in the same room as his holographic friend.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #16
Axius tended to have two stages of waking up. One, being the events carried on in his quarters after rising from consciousness, which were, like a few moments ago, sprinkled with pleasure and fun. And two, being the sight of those white Valkyries in the Bay. Nothing was like the reminder that inside a vessel under the control of so many people and positions, he was in control of his own, powerful, operating vessel. Starfleet can easily be reduced to skeletons with pips bolted into their necks when situations got sticky. He made his own choices in that cockpit, even if aided by the orders of his commandant.

At first, through his immediate desire to jump into his baby, 04, and take it for a short little cruise and forget the tension alleviated by the night before, he was overcome with the smell of fresh paint. In all the years of human repopulation and industrialization, they have never seemed to fix that god-awful smell that brewed inside of that pigment. He ignored it and finally decided to stop awkwardly standing in the doorway and make his rounds of socialization before attending to his Valkyrie.

Before choosing to speak, hearing the soft rush of the closing bulkhead behind him, he examined the faces busy at work, remembering the pilots he once flew with before the hell unleashed by the Calamity. Finally placing eyes on white-collared officers, he relapsed in thought that each had problems, too, and that no matter how many sexual encounters and medical staff visits he had, he was still lonely without working with his Wolves.

"Anybody miss me?" he asked, his lips kissing the crisp air.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #17
[ Tessa May Lance | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy ]



"Nope," Tessa teased from her Valkyrie.  "We didn't even know you were late.  I thought one of the Harbinger's pilots kidnapped you and took you home to marry you!  But now that they're gone the flight deck is peaceful and quiet..."

Her tirade was interrupted by a familiar yet disembodied voice.    "Renard to Lone Wolves, Lieutenant Commander Miles Renard's voice announced from their combadges, "Cease whatever you are currently doing and calmly report to the squadron briefing room immediately.  This order is priority alpha.  Repeat Drop everything and calmly report to the squadron briefing room Priority alpha."

Tessa's mouth had been hanging open in disbelief as she listened. "Of course, I could be wrong," she muttered lamely as she and Oracle climbed off her fighter and scrambled to the flight deck.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #18
"Ah," he thought to himself. "That darn Tessa," he thought once more, quoting the insufferable situational comedy his roommate used to play on his padd during his days at the Academy. If anyone could cheer him up, it would be GoldenEye with her quick whit and sheer personality. Axius missed her, just like he missed all the other faces that looked down at their com badges as their Wing Commander announced. He managed to banter back with a playful wink, "I didn't engage in wedlock, but I did engage in something that was not so peaceful and quiet."

Well that was odd.

He raised an eyebrow attempting to make eye contact with Tessa, who was currently walking to the room they had been ordered to. He couldn't remember the last time he had entered the briefing room; the last time he sat at the long tables and paid close attention to every morsel of data the viewscreen projected. He missed it, for sure.

"Does anybody know why we're 'calmly reporting' to the briefing room?" he asked, following the flotilla of officers in ivory collars. "Priority Alpha..." he whispered to himself, pondering possible causations to this alert.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #19
((OOC:  This post will be deleted in a matter of days.  All posts after this point in the thread occur at a point starting with 30 seconds after The lone wolves receive the following hail from Miles.

"Renard to Lone Wolves, Cease whatever you are currently doing and calmly report to the squadron briefing room immediately.  This order is priority alpha.  Repeat Drop everything and calmly report to the squadron briefing room Priority alpha."


Information regarding what this would mean to a member of the squadron.  Priority alpha essentially means get into the briefing room as quickly as you would get to your fighter if the red alert siren began going off.  Saying for them to do so calmly means get there quick but don't do so in a panicked way. 

Make yourselves look like you are just going to an ordinary meeting but do it quickly. 

Essentially I was imagining a fire drill in elementary school.  No one running but everyone dropping what they are doing and all going to the designated area.

As for everyone's next posts starting now 
My request is all peoples next post either begin with their character going from where they were at the point of receiving the hail to the Squadron briefing room or your posts starting with them  arriving in the briefing room.

Since the deck crew are all unnamed NPCs we dont have to worry bout players posting as them but at this time Covington should be telling them to gather in the usual assembly area in the hangar bay where Covington usually addresses them as a group and wait for him to arrive in 5-15 minutes.

The total number of white collars that are heading to the briefing room should be around 20 at most   at least 10 should be on deck at this moment anyways 5 are probably off duty or in sims the remaining are probably still sleeping off last night and are being awoken by the hail.  ((it should be noted that the pilots that have no shit to their name are still members of the squadron but are considered reserve pilots  ))of course these are unnamed NPCs But I just wanted to acknowledge that as characters they do exist but essentially are like extras on the set of a movie.

For the sake of easier understanding Here is a crude floor diagram of the entrance area of the hangar bay which can give people an idea of where the ready room and briefing room is located.
as you can see I also made a diagram of what the ready room and Briefing room layout is.  click the spoiler tag for the image.
[Show/Hide]
if image don't load link is
http://i.imgur.com/ivQt8KG.png

ADDENDUM.  this is a very rough draft of the briefing room area the only parts that are concrete is the relative size of the room and where doors are.  In addition It seems that it woudl be more natural if it were not desks and chairs but rows of chairs so the configuration of seating is in this case more like  3-5 rows of 4 to 6 chairs.

A good example of this room woudl be the briefing rooms for pilots i from battlestar galactica.
http://greatreader.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/gallery-ep101-03.jpg
http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/BSG-MS-Briefing-the-crew.jpg
[/i]



Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #20
"I have not the faintest bloody idea," said Evelyn Rawley, walking past Quake and GoldenEye, running her arms through the sleeves of her flight jacket as she walked. She imagined her eyes were still a bit blood-shot from her alcoholic exploits during the festival, and she rubbed her temple with two fingers to ease the lingering ache. The worst of it was not from her drinking though, but from her fight with Razor that morning - having taken a blow to the head right where she had hurt herself in the Hromi Cluster. She glanced in Thomas' direction but did not say anything, not being sure what she ought to do.

Hannah von Slaverton filed in with the group that walked to the briefing room, and she walked a little more stiffly than usual. Rawley saw this and gave her a sidelong glance. "Did you have a rough time, Nightmare?" she asked with a lopsided smile, and she got a snort in return.

"I had a Klingon clean my pipes last night," Hannah mumbled and combed back her long hair with her hand. She was the true party girl among the Lone Wolves, but she did not look so party to Rawley right then. "I am certain you know the feeling."

"Actually, I don't," said Rawley with a smirk, scratching her shaved head as they filed into the small auditorium, "I have never sampled one of those, but judging from how the fuck you walk, the rumours about them must be bloody true. You have to be careful sticking things up there, Hannah. Otherwise, you'll end up shitting yourself in the cockpit some day."

Soo Young Seung chuckled as she sat down in one of the chairs, choosing the front row just like most of the other Lone Wolves. As she sat down, she tied her hair up in a ponytail, removing her white headphones as she did s. "I am sure the Klingon was a true gentleman," she said and grinned, "he probably recited a poem to her that made her spread her cheeks."

"Not quite," grated Nightmare and eased herself down in her own chair, "aren't you 'Oracle'? Shit..."

"Not here, Hannah, please..." said Rawley and covered her nose, which drew some laughter from the pack.

Their pilot jargon aside, Soo's smile made something ache in Rawley's chest. She was finding it harder and harder to justify breaking up with Oracle now that she had settled back into the pack. That morning on Theta Eridani IV, where Soo had come to visit Rawley in the Triage Centre seemed so long ago, even if it was only a little more than a week. It felt like so much had happened to them all that the past did not matter.

Why was Soo looking strangely at Hannah all of a sudden? Oracle had removed her headphones, so it was probably something Nightmare thought about. Perhaps Soo was granted a glimpse of what had happened to Hannah's ass, and Rawley did not envy the half-Betazoid the least for it. Soo put her headphones back on in wait for Fox to speak, and Rawley folded her arms across the front of her flight jacket in wait as well.

What is it this time? Borg sightings? What is lady luck throwing our way now?

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #21
[Thomas Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy]

Hearing the hail from Renard to head to the briefing room made Thomas look up for a second. He glanced over at the other pilots as they dropped whatever they were doing and he placed down his own gear as well while his eyes lingered on Rawley. His eyes following the curves of her body before he shook his head and slammed his hand against the side of his bird. Without saying anything more he stashed away the rest of his things before walking over the hangar deck.

Thomas didn't really join one of his fellow wolves as  his mindset wasn't really set to it. Once he made it into the briefing room he gazed over the gathered pilots before he dropped himself in one of the seat and without saying a word he gazed towards his pants, picking off at some folds in it as he waited for Renard to show up. He didn't listen to whatever conversation the other wolves were making and to an outsider he might seem to be somewhere else with his thoughts.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #22
The Câroon filed into the room closely behind Rawley, who, as always, jabbed at Hannah every chance she got. Tales of Nightmare's sex life was commonplace, but the graphics of "cleaning her pipes" wasn't appetizing. He opened his mouth to slide a snarky jest her way, but Ranger beat him to it, speaking sharply. It almost seemed unnecessarily antagonizing of Rawley, but he ignored it.

Axius jumped into the banter abruptly, shooting his glance at Rawley, "You mean to say you've never been with a Klingon?" He looked at the thoughtful smirks adorning the faces of the pilots who all found their seats. "It's not the prettiest, but everything is good in moderation."

He chuckled along with Hannah and drew his attention to the only soul not conversing, other than Oracle who never spoke with the wires hanging from her ears. As Razor picked at his clothing, Axius felt the need to spark a conversation. "I believe, as I observe humans, a very popular ice breaker is 'What are you thinking about?'"

No doubt his commander would be here any second with instructions, but he wanted Thomas to respond. In the midst of a - maybe - emergency, comfort should always be administered.

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #23
Renard's words were slow to register within the Chief of the Deck. He'd just managed to strike a real rapport with the Boslic engineer. From the previous day when she was ready to give up on working on the Reaver simply because of the rules imposed on her to keep the working environment safe, she was ready now to work with him and respect the boundaries he'd set.

And now, she was dead.

The recording that was played did little to reveal her aggressor's identity. A muffled male voice and that was it. And truth be told, he'd been too drunk the night before to clearly recall Titan or Smoke's voice and it was unsure if it was Riptor's. But the whole time the recording played, his meat hooks were curled into white-knuckled fists. He was a Chief. His job was to protect his people and, even if she didn't realize it, she had been on of his. Perhaps he was no stranger to losing people as a flight deck was a dangerous place to work. But this one, it was personal. It was not a tragic accident or even someone being negligent or feloniously stupid. It was deliberate. It was murder.

When Thea arrived and instructions were passed, Covington had to say something before he did anything else. "Boss, you should know, you know about the argument with Riptor, but after the party, I caught Smoke and Titan after they cornered her. They were going to rape her but I tuned them in pretty good. I was hoping it'd stay at that."

Then, his tone changed and became laden with guilt. "I should've called Security but I was too fucking drunk to think of it and I trusted that maniac Phantom to keep his animals in check after the incident with Riptor. Boss, it might as well have been my hands around her neck."

However, Sten did not wait long for a reply. Instead, he knew he had a job to do. "I'll talk to my guys. If it's all the the same to you, I'll keep them busy and shut down any scuttlebutt until you've got something like an official statement for me to give them. But let me deal with them. If anyone saw anything, I'll take them to you."

Re: Chapter 03: The Captain of My Soul [06: The Turn]

Reply #24
Razor's picking at his garments slowly seemed to grind to a halt as his mind registered the notion that he was being addressed by Axius. He turned his head to the young pilot and smiled a bit faint before shaking his head. He didn't reply at first as his eyes looked straight into the Câroon's eyes. His own eyes however would seem hollow and without any sign of emotion to be detected in them.

"What's it to you Quake?" he answered on a cold tone and kept his eyes locked on him. Even though this might be a possible emergency meeting, Thomas still didn't seem to be fully recovered from his earlier run in with Rawley earlier today. Physically he was no doubt fine yet mentally the entire ordeal had left some damage it seemed as Thomas really just seemed to be left alone for he moment. His voice sounded a bit cold and maybe just on the edge of hostile.

 
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