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Topic: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [D05|2330] (Read 25001 times) previous topic - next topic - Topic derived from Chapter 04: Charades ...
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Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #100 –
[ Junior Lieutenant Jovela | Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @patches
[Show/Hide]
At the time when the woman in the golden exosuit stepped into the ICU, Jovela was kneeling next to the Lone Wolf that had saved her life. She might have heard the reassuring words that Main Sickbay was secure, but her brown eyes were on her medical tricorder, until the point when the security officer noticed what she was doing.

"The suit saved him," she said, looking up and smiling towards the visor that faced her way. "He's just unconscious from an electrical short-circuit in the chest area. He was in a poor condition when he came in too, but he'll make a complete recovery."

Rising from the fighter pilot, Jovela sauntered over to the one who's suit was labelled 'PO2 Taer', and handed the phaser over to her, glad to be rid of it. She smiled. "It's his. He'll want it back when he returns to duty, but sickbay is no place to have those things lying around." As she said this, she remembered how one of the Devoted had nearly killed her, and how a phaser had been hidden in one of the linen closets. It was just two days ago, when Doctor Nicander's true nature had been revealed. Pushing the images of that nightmare from her mind, she made sure to smile warmly to the faceless security officer. "Thank you, Petty Officer Taer..."

Then came a call from the bridge, and Jovela turned her head away, seeing how Doctor Kobol  picked up a medkit. The security lockdown was gone. "I'll go there, but I'll be back as soon as I can. The injured from the battle are still coming in."

"Yes, Doctor. Computer, medical transport to the bridge. Lock on to Doctor Kobol , one to beam there. Authorization Jovela-Beta-Zero-Zero-Beta-Sierra. Energize when ready."

[Transport sequence initiated. Energizing.]

[ Lt. Tyreke Okafor | Battle Bridge | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]
On the bridge, where a Medical Officer finally appeared, Tyreke Okafor was in over his head - trying to make course alterations to avoid Klingon disruptor charges, but he was far too slow. So slow, actually, that the automated evasive manoeuvres he tapped at on the LCARS helm screen made the Sword dodge green energy beams two volleys later than intended. The result remained the same, however, keeping the ship nimble and moving despite the low acceleration.

Lieutenant Nator had came up with an idea, but since he was just as much an engineer as he was a pilot, Okafor had just stared at the Hermat with an incredulous expression. He did as s/he suggested, however, and to his astonishment, the Sword actually accelerated a bit when he pulled the port warp throttle back a little. "We... have warp 5!" he said, but amended his announcement with the obvious. A sector was several light-years across, and it would take them twenty-four hours just to travel a little bit over 0.5 light-years. "Though it's not enough, Captain. The third Rendevouz is three light years away inside the nebula."

Curt Lucas, the Engineer, spoke up next. “We have multple hull breaches, too much damage to count off now, but I will submit a fulll damage report, Captain. between the damages and the boarding parties I am counting fourty seven casualties and twenty injured so far...”

Behind Tyreke, Doctor Kobol  had scanned Miss Thorne, and asked for another transport back to sickbay since he couldn't treat her in the middle of the busy bridge, but at that time, Okafor's focus was entirely on keeping the Sword from becoming more damaged than it already was. He was supposed to coordinate with the Allegiant, but he had no way to talk helm-chatter with the expert that seemed to be flying the smaller ship. He focused on avoiding the fighters, and hoped Lieutenant T'Less and the tactical officer on the Allegiant could handle their current predicament.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura | Bridge | USS Allegiant NX-80978 ] Attn: @Griff @Fife @Masorin @Numen @Multificionado @lisavw @Triton @trevorvw
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When giving case to the Klingon warp raiders, Yukimura had stood up from his seat, arms crossed. He compensated for the movements the inertial dampeners couldn't handle with his legs - brown eyes on the elusive green shadows in the streaming nebula lights. Already, two raiders had been pinched between the torpedoes and phasers of the Sword and Martin's expert targeting. When they evaporated, the twirling clouds of plasma and debris vanished out of subspace, leaving just one more.

Yukimura supposed that the small crew of Klingons on the remaining raider wished to go to Sto'vo'kor instead of facing the dishonour of fleeing the battle, for it didn't break off. Instead, it accelerated, overshooting the Sword in order to evade the aft phasers. It riddled the dorsal hull of the Vector with its pulse disruptors, creating more hull-breaches. The next moment, even the last Klingon vanished in a bright flare, and the Allegiant and the Sword were left alone in subspace flight.

"Well done everyone," said Yukimura quietly, a small smile even creasing the corner of his mouth. He turned to glance at Mariner, who seemed keen on returning to the ship. "Since we wish to remain at warp, we can't transport aboard the Sword, so we'll dock in the Fighter Assault Bay. It will be a tight fit, Petty Officer, but I am confident you'll make it. Allegiant to Mission Ops!"

When the reply came, Yukimura seated himself. "If you wouldn't mind, we would like to come aboard? Unless you wish us to wait, would you please alert the fighter bay crew that the Allegiant will need some space at the mouth of the bay? Yet more importantly, we bear news that cannot wait, so I would need to speak with... Captain Wenn Cinn, isn't it?"

He thought he remembered the Continuance Protocol correctly, and that the Second Officer of the Theurgy was in command of the Sword if Captain Ives was gone.

Said and done, the Allegiant soon approached the opening bay doors of the fighter bay. Yukimura would be the last one to leave the small ship once they had set down, letting the others step aboard first. "Crew form the Cayuga, please don't venture too far until I have cleared your names with Security," he said, tapping the message on his armrest and sending it to the bridge, making sure their new passengers were accounted for.

Yet in the back of his mind, he still thought of what had happened to Task Force Archeron.

[ CPO Liam Herrold | Weapon Storage Room | Fighter Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan @Masorin @Blue Zephyr + Tactical CONN!
[Show/Hide]
In the fighter bay, more specifically the weapon storage area, Liam Herrold had been given an inoculation by Doctor Rez, and since then, things had been... floating together. He wasn't entirely sure what happened after that. Klingons?

"I thought Ji wanted to..." he began to say in reply to Rez, but he trailed off - light blue eyes widening at the commotion that interrupted him, seeing how Sithick dispatched one in a gruesome way. "Wooah. Freckles? No... That looks like war paint..." There was blood all over the doctor, and Liam tilted his head at the sight. The blonde Trill was pretty, but not as pretty as Ji, who seemed his mirror image in the way she also talked gibberish. What she said made him chuckle.

"Who's Nic? Is he nice? I like nice guys. Not too nice though. No..." He waggled his finger at the ceiling, unable to rise up for some reason. "Just enough nice. That's nice..."

More people arrived. Lone Wolves by the looks of it. He chuckled at the way they all looked the same in those suits. "Wolves Anonymous," he mused with a grin, "You should say 'Hi, my name is Bob, and I am a wolf.' Then, even if you’re humans, we'd all say...'Hi Bob!'"

He paused, expecting others to have said the phrase as well, but no one he could hear joined him in laughing at the joke either. Instead, he heard something about the security lockdown finally having been lifted from sickbay over the intercom, and in short order, both Liam and Ji were transported there. It all happened in a haze, the vertigo of being relocated almost making Liam fall off the biobed, but there was a hand on his shoulder there - catching him.

"All right, you just lay still until we have time for you, okay?" said Nurse Jovela, whom he recognised. There were others present as well. Why was there a security guard in a golden exosuit in sickbay? Nothing made sense any more. There was a brunette with a handsome male doctor standing over her, but his eyes fell on Ji next, who occupied the biobed next to him in Intensive Care. Liam couldn't help the grin he gave her, as if there wasn't a care in the whole world when looking at her.

"What were we talking about again?" he asked Ji with a smile, not sure what was happening anymore.

OOC: Another post coming up with Nicander, but seven days of posting for all begins today, and there is no suggested posting order. Crew of the Allegiant, please have your characters step off the Allegiant in the end of your post. Here's the bridge crew on the Sword: [Show/Hide]
Here are the characters in the Fighter Assault Bay and the Lone Wolves Squadron: [Show/Hide]
Main Sickbay & Security Center: [Show/Hide]
Again, as previously stated about the current situation, please notice how five hours have passed since the earlier events in this Chapter and 2300 hrs, which was the present time when the scene began. These five hours are, of course, still available for everyone to use in setting up their own Supplemental threads. The naming convention for Suppplemental threads leading up to Chapter 04 in Part 1 (Charades) is still: CH04: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title. These should also be posted in the Part 1 board of Epsiode 05!

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #101 –
[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw | Battle Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @chXinya, @steelphoenix, @Top Hat, @trevorvw & @Firefox013
[Show/Hide]
They were out of there. Barely intact, but they survived. That would suffice for the time being. Letting go of a breath she didn't even know she had been holding, Cameron turned to look gratefully at Jaya Thorne. Her control at helms took them out of the worst of it, and then the woman collapsed. Eyes widening, the Yeoman darted forward just behind Wenn Cinn, who called for medical assistance after a cursory examination. While she didn't take actual medical courses back in the academy, she hung around doctors and nurses long enough to pick up a thing or two about field triage.

Sadly, without even the basic tricorder, she could only assess the visual signs of injury, but to the unconscious helmsman's luck, the situation in Sickbay had finally settled down, and Jovela beamed directly to the bridge. Leaving the woman to tend to Jaya, Cameron got back to her feet and started when Yukimura's voice sounded in her earpiece, and she pressed a finger to the device as she spoke, “This is Henshaw, go ahead, Allegiant.”

Once the man spoke, Cameron nodded to herself and then replied, “Acknowledged. We'll clear you for landing. I'll patch you to Captain Wenn, stand by.”

Turning to the Bajoran, she said, “Captain, the Allegiant is hailing us. Captain Yukimura says it's urgent.”

Once she alerted the Sword's captain, the Yeoman returned to her station and alerted the Fighter Assault Bay to clear space for the Allegiant. “Be advised,” she said in her usual calm detachment, “the Allegiant is coming in for a landing, repeat, the Allegiant is coming in for a landing. Make space with all due alacrity.”

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #102 –
[ Cmdr Ranaan Ducote | Battle Bridge | Deck 08 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @trevorvw  @Auctor Lucan  @patches @Jm Von Cat @CanadianVet @chXinya @Doc M. et al

[Akoni to Ducote. I'm on my way back to the Bridge, unless you need me elsewhere.]

Scratching at his stubble, the XO checked over the reports coming in as he compared them with the readings from the internal sensors. There were an unfortunate number of holes in their coverage after the battle and the boarding action, but the tallies of killed and captured Klingons matched the number of detected transporter signatures. He cancelled the forcefields now that they were unnecessary.

Tapping a button on the console to respond, "Head back up here, Kai. Mister Wenn wants a meeting... I hope there's coffee." The reference was both to Ducote's extreme tiredness and to the meetings he himself had held back on the Endeavour - staff or informal meetings were taken over coffee whether he was speaking to officers or enlisted, but a disciplinary meeting was as dry as a bone. He didn't really expect a reprimand, given the tone of the marathon meeting they'd endured after their 'release' from the brig and the task he had just undertaken on their behalf during the battle, but anything was possible with this madcap crew.

The man himself arrived at his side, after calling for a medic for their fallen conn officer, and he commanded the computer to display the scene in the Security Centre. It wasn't pretty, but at least it confirmed that the doctor-they-wanted-to-keep was still alive and mostly unharmed. Afterwards, the Bajoran redeployed some of the remaining security complement - looked as if he was spreading to cover as much ground as possible with their diminished group. Sensible enough-

"Apologies, Commander Ducote; old habit..." Ranaan just blinked at him. Not my ship, not my Fleet, not my problem. Ultimately. "... As for Nicander, seal off the temporary holding cell and isolate-"

He worked as Wenn spoke, trying not to watch the bubbles form in the blood around the mouths of the dead security officers as the pressure dropped in the antechamber. While he managed that, Wenn made sure his enlisted were toeing the line. Briefly, he wondered what Bremmer was used to getting away with, before mentally repeating his Not my ship point. At any rate, between worrying about his own crew in sickbay and the other potential survivors of his ship's destruction, he didn't have much spare energy for their shenanigans.

Aiden Kobol  materialised on the bridge, and it would have been a lie to claim that he wasn't relieved. Though he did know better than to interrupt a current triage to try and ask how the Niger survivors were doing below. Friendly the good doctor may be, but get between him and a patient at your peril.

"Bridge to sickbay," he commed. "Prepare to receive Doctor Maya, site-to-site."

Ducote tapped away at his panel, setting the transporter to harmonise with the oscillation frequency of the force field surrounding the cell. The transport itself might take a little longer, but once the ACB encased her she would be impervious to whatever harm Nicander might attempt to inflict. And ACB confinement was the very second step in a transport process after 'achieve a lock'. However, the console threw up an alert. The usual algorithms couldn't separate Maya from Nicander; they were too close to one another. He sighed, before diving into things a little more thoroughly - making sure to set the lock for a Vulcan biosign only and double-checking that by adding the transponder code of her combadge. A few seconds more, and the lock was confirmed.

In a shower of scintillating light, Maya dissolved from Nicander's embrace.

That done, he moved the surviving Klinks from their disparate positions around the ship into empty cells in the complex, making sure to sterilise their signatures of any energy or bladed weapons on the way. No doubt they would be less than sanguine when they woke up in captivity.

"Transports complete," he reported.

ooc: The above section edited at AL's request.

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Bridge | Deck 08 | The Sword ]

There was a curious limbo to be found when assigning damage control teams - between the acknowledgement that all work took time, and the desire to have it all done now. Especially given the fact that they had a rather pressing appointment to keep and a damaged nacelle, on top of the depredations heaped upon them by the Rotarran.

And speaking of the hulking warship, s/he wasn't too confident in their being unable to follow the Sword. Federation technology as a whole might well have the marginal edge over the competition in the quadrant (particularly after the accelerated progress during the Borg incursions and the Dominion War), but Klingon engineers knew their own craft extremely well. S/he wouldn't put it past them to be able to salvage their own wrecked nacelle, despite however thorough T'Less had been.

The Vulcan was currently marking up a grim tally as she sandwiched the marauding raiders between the Vector and the Allegiant. Sluggish the Sword might have been compared to the Raiders, but the Allegiant was a barracuda among minnows. The last raider focused chiefly on evading the corvette, which gave her the time she needed to nail the solution down with a terrible finality. More alarms rang out with new impacts against their hull, eliciting a grimace from Nator wide enough to show hir fangs. With a final flourish, like some Cardassian judge signing a death warrant, T'Less fired a pattern from their ventral array that dismantled the enemy fighter by segments before converging on its warp core. A flash, that immediately zipped behind them into their slipstream, and a relative calm at last descended upon the bridge.

The Hermat took a deep breath.

The lieutenant next to hir didn't stop inputting commands, however, as once she verified that their immediate environs were clear she ran a swift diagnostic on their shield generators. "Shunting phaser power to shields," she informed Nator. S/he didn't comment; the quicker they came back up, the better. And if the Vulcan were content to take care of their weapons and defences, s/he could focus on repairs and getting underway.

"We... have warp five! Though it's not enough, Captain. The third rendezvous in three light years away inside the nebula."

A swift piece of mental arithmetic, and 'most of a week' was obviously too long to take to meet the rest of the Theurgy. A clawtip tak-tak-tak'd the edge of hir console while s/he utterly failed to think of a way to speed things up. Repairing the plasma conduits in the pylon would be impossible at warp, let alone inspecting the rest of the nacelle. A full service, reducing the rest of the repair crews to skeleton, could take a couple of days. With obvious reductions in time-needed as they cut stress tests and safety checks along the way. The old fast-safe-good triangle. Pick two.

Fuck's sake, this fu-"-cking galaxy sometimes, I swear-" s/he muttered as s/he stood and stalked over to the Engineering station to where the CPO was flicking through his display. Given that he wasn't sharing it with an apparently psychopathic Vulcan, s/he found it both a professional and social improvement on hir own console.

"What happened to the backups in the pylon?" Nator asked as s/he looked over the system diagrams. There was a depressing amount of red painted across the deck cutaways.

"I can't get them to engage. I sent a team to investigate, but there's a limited amount they can do on the wing." He looked over at Nator. "If we want to get there on time, we have to stop and fix it."

S/he sighed, looking over the displays for a hole in the logic. Ultimately, attempting to modify a warp engine while it was in-use was stupid, no matter how good your intentions were. Nator waited for the flight controller to make her announcement to the captain, before adding hir own.

"We also need to drop to sublight, sir. The starboard nacelle needs repair. We'll never make it to the rendezvous at this speed."
Nator 159: "I accept no responsibility for the ensign's manifest stupidity. Sir." [Show/Hide]
Ranaan Ducote: "A ship is a home; its crew a family." [Show/Hide]
T'Less: "Your odds of prevailing against us are... slim." [Show/Hide]
Valkra: "Come! We will shake the gates of Sto'Vo'Kor!" [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #103 –
[ Lt. Kai Akoni | Enroute to Battle Bridge | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] @Top Hat @chXinya et al.

As Kai approached the turbolift entrance, Ducote had replied to him.

”Head back up here, Kai. Mister Wenn wants a meeting… I hope there’s coffee”

Kai acknowledged Ducote’s order and boarded the turbolift as the doors had just opened. His escort had let him board the turbolift by himself, as the crewman was staying to maintain security in and around deflector control.

Coffee….oh how I need coffee

As the doors closed on the lift and it started moving, Kai finally found a moment to breathe. He sighed and and looked down at the floor in an effort to stretch his neck. Now with a moment to relax, he felt the enormity and stress of the last little while. Between the original Borg attack, the resistance to the Theurgy when they found the Niger and then the Klingons.

Kai had to chuckle himself as he thought back to the Battle of Betazed during the Dominion War. Somehow, that had been less fast paced then the immediate recent history. He hoped that all of this would be over soon; and hoped Ducote would have at least some of those answers.

The large man sighed again as he thought about Annika; it had been tough to lose her as quickly as had happened. Yet another person lost at the hands of the Borg. Truth of the matter was, she wasn’t just another person. She was one of the most important people in Kai’s life, and now her life was over. Kai’s thoughts then moved to Ducote and how he lost Blue as well from the original attack. He quickly realized that they both hadn’t had time to process the loss, but he was sure they would in the near future. Kai knew that alcohol had to be involved in that, wether it was healthy or not.

Kai then thought about Cross as well; hoping his friend was alive, but knowing that it wasn’t likely.

The turbolift slowed and then came to a gentle stop as it reached the Bridge and the doors swished open. Kai straightened himself and then stepped out onto the bridge and saw Ducote and the dark skinned Bajoran standing there.

He approached the two of them as Ducote had looked up.

”Commanders…Someone said something about coffee?”

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #104 –
[ Lt. T’Panu and Ensign Annika Van den Berg | Med Bay | USS Allegiant ] @Auctor Lucan @Fife @Numen @Triton @Masorin @Multificionado @Griff

Joint post with @trevorvw


T’Panu felt as the ship shook, before they made their descent and landed in the Fighter Bay. She wondered what the new ship was going to be like. She knew it would be far larger, and a far nicer ship than what they had become accustomed to.

Anything will be better than that Aerowing Shuttle, T’Panu thought.

She was extremely excited to check out the new medical rooms and meet the other doctors, but also quite nervous.

For being half Vulcan, you’d think the half Betazoid would affect my emotions less, she thought.

T’Panu wondered how Annika would feel knowing she was suddenly about to board yet another foreign ship. She hoped it wouldn’t be long before she started to feel more comfortable and trusting towards their crew. In all due time they would find out the horrors Annika had seen, and also share theirs. They would have to keep a close watch on Annika’s mental state to ensure she wasn’t overloaded with too much information.

T’Panu turned to Annika just as she noticed her starting to move uncomfortably.

”Well good morning, Annika!” T’Panu voiced, excitedly.

Annika slowly blinked her eyes and reached up try and clear her eyes. Her eyelids felt very heavy as she slowly blinked enough to clear her eyesight. She could finally see that a Vulcan doctor stood before her.

”Morning? Where am I?”

”You’re currently on the Allegiant. My name is T’Panu. You’ve been in quite the predicament, by the looks of things. We found your escape pod drifting through the Azure Nebula and rescued it. Do you remember anything that’s happened?”

The young brunette reached up and grabbed her head with her right hand. She slightly shook it from side to side. She tried to process what had just been told to her, but it didn’t make any sense.

The Azure Nebula?

Annika had never heard of it, besides the point though; last thing she remembered was that the Arizona was doing exercises near Betazed. What was going on? Annika was so confused and despite her efforts to try and make any sense of what the Vulcan had said; she couldn’t.

”Tha…That…um..doesn’t make sense to me. I’m sure the Arizona was near Betazed”

The Arizona? That’s interesting. That’s a ship I haven’t heard of in a very long time,T’Panu thought, as she processed what Annika had said.

You were on the Arizona? Near Betazed? That’s a long way from where we are now.

T’Panu grabbed her Medical Tricorder as Annika was trying to grasp her current situation. Her scans came back clear. All her trauma had nicely healed up, vitals were stable, neural function within normal range.

”Well on the plus side, everything is looking good from my end. What do you say we help you sit up and see how you feel?”, T’Panu offered.

Annika nodded slightly at T’Panu’s offer to sit up as she tried to get a handle on what was happening. She sat up slowly with T’Panu’s assistance. Her head felt like a shuttlecraft had landed on it, she also had winced from slight discomfort in her left ribs. She remembered something about the doctor fixing them earlier, but that was slightly hazy.

The woman groaned a bit as she achieved a sitting position on the edge of the bio bed.

”Well…I’m sitting up. That’s a good start”

The ship wide comm line opened just after Annika had spoken.

[This is Yukimura. We have docked aboard the second Vector of the Theurgy. You are free to leave the Allegiant, and it is encouraged, since there might be injured to treat, and repairs to be made. The ship has just been under heavy fire, and we need to help as much as we can. If you have any questions, contact me. More information about the continuation of our mission will come after I have conferred with Captain Wenn Cinn.]

This announcement had confused the Dutch woman even more.

Theurgy…Theurgy…The Theurgy….wasn’t she on a diplomatic mission to Romulus? Annika thought as she tried to jog her memory, to no avail.

T’Panu looked up to where the voice was coming from as she prepared for their departure. She could see the confusion on Annika’s face, and sense it as well. Annika appeared to be less confused than she actually was, which was impressive given the current circumstances.

"Here, let me help you up. Tell me if you have any pain or discomfort anywhere. We’ll go nice and slow at your pace; and remember, we’re in no rush. One step at a time,” T’Panu stated, calmly and reassuringly.

As the doctor helped Annika to a standing position, the younger woman felt a little woozy and unsteady on her feet, which had just as quickly disappeared. They took a couple of steps forward and all Annika felt was her headache, but nothing else she could really complain about.

Except for what was actually going on.., she thought to herself as she turned to the doctor.

”Other than a headache, I don’t have much to complain about Doc”

”There will be no headaches allowed in my Med Bay!” T’Panu stated, smiling. She administered Hydrocortilene. ”This should help with your headache. It shouldn’t take long for you to start feeling better!”

Annika’s steps starting coming easier as she got used to standing again. T’Panu felt her easing off a bit on her shoulder as she was slowly able to support her own weight again.

The woman was finally able to stand and walk unassisted after a few moments and the medication that the doctor had given her had helped with her headache. She was sore but doing better than she had in the last little bit.

T’Panu and Annika then made their way to the airlock in order to disembark the Allegiant.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #105 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Security Center | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] @Jm Von Cat @patches @Top Hat @trevorvw @Auctor Lucan

Bremmer was ready to go in.  First they'd enter the office outside of secondary holding, which looked like it would serve as a perfectly good drunk tank come to think of it.  Then, they would storm into the holding pen itself, and she'd take Nicander's head off.  One shot, game over.  Or, if all else failed, everyone opens up and they would need medical sterilizing equipment to get the last of him out of the room. 

But that was not to be. 

Contain the prisoner only? Not a takedown?  Not putting it out of their collective misery?  Well, not her call all right. "Acknowledge, contain Nicander in place, and wait for the outer security holding room to decompress."

As she spoke, the telltale warnings of nearby transporter activity showed in the HUD of her faceplate, and she saw Doctor Maya's lifesigns vanish, as well as the transponder codes of the two suits, and the forms with no lifesigns.  "Confirm, all our personnel is out of there.  You can start pumping it out."

But then, an idea dawned upon the Petty Officer.  As an EVA instructor, she had a bloody good idea of how long she could stay conscious in a vacuum; in air pressure that would be half of normal, it wouldn't be much longer, but she also knew just how bloody tough Nicander was with the parasite within him, what with having witnessed him living much longer than he should have with non-trivial parts of its torso missing.  They had to make it longer, somehow.  Or just harder to cross, make it take longer, much longer...

Little air would mean little resistance, but unlike being out in space, there would still be gravity... 

"Bremmer to the Captain.  Sir, we know how tough the bastard is, and even with forcefields I don't like how little standoff we got between secondary holding and the outer door.  How about we make that compartment in vacuum harder to cross, say by cranking up gravity?  No idea how strong he really is, so I'd say going all out to a good 25Gs would be a good place to start?"

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #106 –
[ Lt. JG Alessia "Angel" Garcia & ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | USS Allegiant NX-80978 -> Pilot Lounge | Fighter Assault Bay | U.S.S. Theurgy | Vector 2 | In Quite a Bloody Mess | Heart of the Azure Nebula ]Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Havenborn, @Triage @Blue Zephyr & @Multificionado
[Show/Hide]

Jimmy could hardly wait to get in on the action, but he could not wait to dash out of the Allegiant to get to Meony's side and inform whoever could render aid what to do. "Doc!" Jimmy summoned T'panu and quickly explained. "Sickbay's been damaged, and we've got a critical WIA in the pilot's lounge." The urgency in his otherwise calm-as-tides speech, "Reports read we lost most pilots, and if we lose one more, we'll be at risk against more Klingon Raiders."

Amid the chaos of maintaining Meony's lifesigns, an announcement from Henshaw on the bridge that transmitted in the lounge's PA. "Be advised the Allegiant is coming in for a landing, repeat, the Allegiant is coming in for a landing. Make space with all due alacrity." The English accent was as calm as Angel wished she could be at the moment.

"We're losing her!" Angel warned frantically, as the tricorder began to make familiarly unpleasant beeping sound effects.  It  was then that Alessia heard the sound of the bay doors opening. The Latina whirled around to the nearest LCARS screen and spotted a friendly shuttlecraft enter per the verbal warning-- The Allegiant. Sexy ship or not, this wasn't the time to make wishful transfer order requests when she spotted a blue uniform emerge among other personnel who debarked. Passion and concern drove Alessia to dash toward the lounge door; nearly kicking it when it didn't open in time as she shouted at Rawley "Keep her alive! I'm getting medical!" The shuttle had barely touched down as a man in amor-suited male greeted Alessia, and there was a modicum of familiarity about that voice. Her TVD was off and she didn't have its display to identify the doctor or the man in armor. There was something familiar about him, she just didn't see past his Security helmet. "We got a pilot going cri-ti-cal!" a female Spanish shout interrupted Mariner's request before the doctor could reply . That voice was surprisingly familiar, but as the Allegiant landed, all Jimmy could think of was getting to the Pilot's lounge where he spotted two female officers -- no doubt the bald one was a lady too -- carry Meony to the Pilot's lounge like a lifeless hulk. Jimmy recognized that much of the other pilot, much as his screen could make out at the time, not that he cared much about anything else. Even someone he'd flown countless hours with eluding Jem'Hadar with.

Mariner had already bounded out of the airlock and was already sprinting toward the lounge, hardly bothering to see if he was being followed, but by the time he'd arrived, the Pilot had already passed him. Under normal circumstances, Jimmy might have made a mental note of the woman's figure while running away but nearly crashing into the doors to the lounge was more reason to justify getting to his partner. Even losing the race to the lounge was forgivable. Under the circumstances; Jimmy didn't like to lose and never more than now.


"Meony! It's Jimmy! I'm Home! Wake up!" Hurried instants passed as Jimmy raced to Meony, past the pilot with the unique hairstyle (or lack of one) and grabbed Meony's hands, Mariner roared for a medic again in time to apologize to the Doc's face. "MEDIC!!! Oh. Shite. Sorry, Doc. Listen: she's got a semi-sentient tumor right... here. She needs a biobed and emergency surgery, or she'll flatline. If you can reconstruct the protective coil keeping it out of her brain, you can save her. If you can get that bloody thing out, you'll get a mention in a documentary." being intimately familiar with the dangerous condition Meony had, this was the best possible report he could give in the precious heartbeats of time he had as the Doctor tended Meony, explaining further, "It was a nasty 'gift' from some hostile aliens looking to experiment on humans and kill us. They didn't like Resolve in their corner of space. Long story, make sure she tells it. Please."  Jimmy stepped back and let the doctor tend her ministrations, kissing her hand and humming into it as if it would make the difference. "Hang in there, Luv."

Now that the officer's security-exo suit had its helm cast off to the side, Alessia realized these two were an item. Ironic, as it was the same new recruit who wolf-whistled at her last week; Wow, the Azure Nebula's initial briefing seemed like an eternity ago. But genuine moments like this transcended all of that, especially since Alessia had no one else now of her former friends, except maybe Fury were still alive. "She helped nuke our attackers. She's a hell of a pilot. She'll pull through." Alessia didn't feel like mentioning this would have explained Meony nearly drifting into fire earlier.  Jimmy seemed intent on being in touch with Meony more than listening to Alessia's reassurance.

Jimmy's world consisted of Meony, her well being and then how he could find out what the hell happened. Not that he wasn't pleased to be here or see Meony alive and in medical hands; or for that matter, in familiar company. "I'll link up with security once I secure the hangar, but keep me posted, Doc. Beam me right in if there's even any a single Croc-head breathing in there--" the Australian's words were cut off by a transporter beam; he had to let go, however begrudgingly, of Meony, lest his hand get caught in the buffer. Jimmy considered that as an excuse for a sickbay visit, but opted against it; whoever did this, still had to pay. Best charge with both hands.

"Mariner! James Mariner!" Alessia realized in final recognition, wearing an expression of recognition as she pointed at him, Jimmy turned to face the Latin woman. Bloody Hell! Leon's lady-dearest during the Dominion War. Wow, that's who she was. "No one else has ever called them 'Croc-heads.' G'day, guero!<blondie>" the astonishment and surprise seemed mutual.

Despite red tear-pregnant eyes, Jimmy's face turned to one of recognition and relief. It was the Latina he wolf-whistled at without looking above her neck when the Bald pilot nearby unveiled a starfighter from the future. When they all joined; Jimmy thought Alessia looked familiar but didn't look twice when the Captain and Officers were giving their welcome-aboard speeches. " Angel. Alessia Garcia. Damn good to see you, again! Jolly good surprise! That was you with the Mek'leths? All those Clancy programs and war games we drilled under really saved your skin, didn't they?"

Alessia gave a brief but tight hug to Jimmy, one of friendship than anything else. A hug like that reserved for Mariner's mentor and mutual friend, if he was aboard. Or alive. She made introductions, "Lieutenant JG 'Ghost' Rawley, meet Jimmy Mariner. From the Hornet. We flew Hoppers in the War together. Well, I flew, he led teams... and apparently he's Meony's stallion." Was Alessia's hunch upon sensing the urgency of Mariner's prior behavior. Meony was a lucky girl, the way Alessia briefly sized up how Jimmy had grown in the last few years and approved; but if he was here, it was likely another officer they both served under likely was aboard.

"I taught Angel how to fight that. But I was a grunt, not a bloody pilot--no offense." Jimmy shook Rawley's hand with just a bit of exaggeration to his claim; Alessia only learned the basics during Hornet Security training and self-taught herself the rest during that ship's wargames and holodeck simulations. Mariner's humor however matched his uncharacteristic mood of dread and vengeance, with an expression of barely-contained fury. "What's the thirty-second version of what happened?"

That was more like the badged ruffian Alessia knew back in the Dominion War. 'Just the facts and where's the front?' Despite the gesture of the hug and formal introduction, the mood of relief passed as soon as it transpired. If not for the gravity of their situation, the bittersweet reunion could have otherwise gone on. Alessia, knowing Jimmy, kept the short-version of recent events as brief as she followed the Security man out the door on his way to the turbolift opposite the bay in an additional sweep for boarders. "We were pursuing a Borg Cube in the Nebula our squad and got bushwhacked by Martok and his new Neg'var Carrier Flagship crewed by those Yan-Isleth crocodrilos <Crocs>. Most of my old shipmates and about half of Wolf squadron... didn't make it." That was about 12 seconds in, following a sigh of intermission. "We got boarded, if you saw security footage, you know more than I do elsewhere on the ship. I hope, at least. Your arrival's some much-needed good news." She about had to test the waters on one of two questions. "By the way, it's 'lieu-oo-tenant' now; I hope you enjoyed being the senior ensign while it lasted, Jaime. <'Hai-Meh', Spanish form of 'James'>" Despite the seriousness of the moment, Alessia almost felt smug outranking her old friend and could theoretically now order him to shut up or turn down his music; at least some times now.

Without knowing what her second question was, or perhaps knowing it, Mariner abruptly responded, as if to derail the moment. "Leon's alive." The one bit of good news Jimmy had to report himself was given back in response; it was the least Jimmy could do was lighten his former crewmate and friend's spirits. Anyone aboard the Hornet knew that it was almost impossible to keep the Hornet XO's relationship with one of his pilots a secret. Alessia was stoic in response to this revelation but she stayed quiet, rifle drawn at a pace as they hustled to the weapons bay. Every spark or buzz from the kinetic cannon fire sent a jumpy rifle aim in that direction. "He was on the Helm Vector when we split. If he knew you were here, well... He's never told anyone else, but he misses you. We'll find him." Alessia's eyes widened for a moment as she recalled the Resolve's destruction at the Orcus's hands; that was probably what triggered her defection.

Mariner bit his lip at the thought of how many lives he could have saved if he could have beamed in to sickbay. There was a thin red line between a warrior and a soldier, and soldiers were often the response to warriors. These bastards must've been out for revenge after Sud Lang and were probably given orders for no mercy. Jimmy didn't take the casualty report lightly as he skimmed the list. It'd take a proper soldier to put these warriors in their place: With others in Sto'vo'kor.

"Ah good. Salvo made it. The good leftenant owes me latinum." On the other side of the bay, somewhat following Garcia, Jimmy spotted Havenborn as they approached the weapons bay, Mariner's own rifle drawn as he glanced inside. "G'day, Salvo. Sorry we're late to the party... Crikey! What you think was the cause of Death, Leftenant? A bloody Kaiju?" Jimmy remarked when he got a better view, nodding at Dan and as if it were no big deal, to the Gorn who had obviously dealt with these party-crashers.

Jimmy almost regarded with an amused regard of attained revenge. Alessia wrinkled her nose and uttered something in Spanish that translated as <UGH! Smells like [some extremely filthy] trash, for goodness sake!>.  Jimmy didn't need the universal translator to understand Alessia.
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #107 –
[ Lt. JG Izar Bila| Science Lab | USS Allegiant NX-80978 ]
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Att.: @Auctor Lucan  @Griff  @Masorin  @Fife  @Multificionado  @lisavw  @Triton @trevorvw

The lab shook several more times, the inertial dampers unable to completely stop the wobbling of the starship, which responded to the orders of the Romulan pilot with alacrity, but with the delicacy of a neurosurgeon working with boxing gloves. The chemist could only cling to one of the tables in the laboratory, his back against the ORE to prevent it from shattering on the floor, while his hands tried to protect the new vaccine batch in process. For a few terrifying minutes, the only thing he could do was try to keep both countermeasures safe, while the rest of the lab seemed to overcome the effects of a tornado.

After what seemed like an eternity, the starship stabilized, and the only memory left in the laboratory was the ever-present hum of the engines. In addition to a lot of broken glass and delicate devices scattered on the floorplates. A real pity. Bila moved away from the ORE suspiciously, expecting  that the room would shake again at any moment, and throw overboard all the work he had done aboard the Allegiant.  However, the room remained innocently stable. He took that fact with a pinch of salt and hurriedly prepared an isothermal container to preserve the vaccines. The ORE was too big to be stored in any other place that was not a cargo cointaner, but that would prevent him from continuing with his tests …

[This is Yukimura. We have docked aboard the second Vector of the Theurgy. You are free to leave the Allegiant, and it is encouraged, since there might be injured to treat, and repairs to be made. The ship has just been under heavy fire, and we need to help as much as we can. If you have any questions, contact me. More information about the continuation of our mission will come after I have conferred with Captain Wenn Cinn.]

The captain's voice came through the intercom, clearing the shaking to which he had recently been exposed. Wishing to abandon that Prophetsforsaken barge as soon as possible, the hybrid scientist stuffed his datapadds with the records of his research in the vaccines' case, put it under his armpit and embraced the ORE as his life depended on it. Probably it would do, sooner or later. He needed to take a container in the hold to keep the device safe. Nor did it seem a bad idea to recover his duffel bag from the crew quarters, and make sure that he had the Kayo bottle with him too, as well as the dosage instructions provided by the counselor Ejek.

With his mind occupied with these tasks, trying to avoid the ramifications of the attack that Vector 2 and the Allegiant had just endured, Bila left the laboratory. His hurried steps went to the continuous room, and then he left his impedimenta in the airlock before running down the stairs in search of the rest of his belongings. Even if he had to leave the vessel dragging with his teeth his voluminous luggage, he wasn't going to spend a minute more than necessary on board that shuttle.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #108 –
[ Dr. Nicander | Temporary Holding Cell | Security Center | Deck 07 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]
Having seen - through the other Host's eyes - how even this broken cycle would repeat the invasion of the Borg, Lucan cin Nicander couldn't see how there was any hope left. The Radiant was dead, killed by another Host, just like the rest of those abducted. The same Host had seen them become liquefied and absorbed into some kind of machinery. Each cycle had minor changes, this he had learned, but now, when the Theurgy had escaped the Niga virus and continued the fight, Lucan had - in vain - thought that the Borg would not invade, since so much else had been different so far. How could he have been so naive?

Yet in the bleak knowledge of what was to come, and the despair of what the darkness had made him do to the three Starfleet officers just outside the cell... Lucan's pale grey eyes had slowly been drawn to a minute movement in Maya's face. She was looking at him, and smiling, and even though it shouldn't even begin to compare to the magnitude of his regrets, he found himself elated by the fact that she was alive. Stupidly, he found himself smiling back, as per reflex, making the tears that had amassed in his eyes run down his cheeks. "Maya," he whispered, his voice broken. There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to thank her, to apologise, ask her why she smiled to him, but the sight of her alone, and how she looked at him, it reminded him that there was hope yet, and that even if they knew his true nature, some of them would defend him.

As long as he could remain himself, he could yet help the crew, and perhaps find redemption in the havoc he would cause their enemy... knowing the things he did.

He pursed his lips to speak, yet even as he did, Maya dematerialized in his lap, her smiling face dissolving in shimmering light. His own smile faded then, denied the brittle tether he had on hope. They took Maya away from him, because of what he had done... but he didn't hold it against them. Seeing what he could do - even whilst unarmed and wearing a medical gown - they had to fear what he was capable of. He closed his eyes, and his mismatched hands became fists in his lap. He should not begrudge them their caution...

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the twisted bodies were gone, and the minute shimmer of the forcefield they had raised, and beyond it, another one. It seemed they dared not move him to the proper brig, rather taking every measure to keep him from doing more harm. Prudent. He welcomed it, as long as he could speak with them. All the cells had audio recording, so it was time. He rose from the deck plating, standing tall, and looked out through the two forcefields. The gown he wore was bloodied and askew, but he spoke with the clarity of a lucid man. One resigned to his fate.

"I know you are listening," he said in his deep voice, his faded Câroon accent filling the static, reaching whomever was on the other side. "I have a singular request. Please make sure Doctor Maya gets the treatment she needs, for she is the reason I could give you the Rotarran's shield frequency. She protected me from the Security officers that sought to interfere, and she suffered the consequences for all our sakes. I am a doctor, not a monster, and no words are adequate to describe the regret of how... peering into the abyss of this... nameless darkness inside.... let it take over, and what it made me do to those men."

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he wiped his face with his whole hand. He had no prospects of them believing him, but he said it nonetheless. "I am 'myself' again, and the healthier and stronger I am physically, the less influence it will have on me. So, when you are ready to listen, I will be here." He paused, not quite sure how much he should tell them. He could not afford to have his words dismissed as lies, now that their trust in him was non-existent. There was one thing they had to be told, lest it would be too late. "Just know this, in the meantime. The Borg will invade the Federation on the morrow, and there is no time. You must return to the apertures, and you must destroy them. Billions of lives hang in the balance. I can make a difference, if you are willing to heed my words."

Having said this, the Doctor resigned himself to the quietude of his new home.

Perhaps he could yet escape, with the kind of access he still had to the Theurgy. He wasn’t sure, but even so, if they thought they couldn’t contain him... he knew they would not keep him alive.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #109 –
[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | TacCONN Briefing Lounge | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Nolan @Triage @Triton @Havenborn @chXinya @Top Hat
[Show/Hide]
 

"Well, then, sod Maya," Ghost said, shrugging. It occurred to Rawley that Maya would be busy in Security and may be tending to that backstabbing bugger Nicander. There was nothing Rawley can do about Nicander; that was a matter for those of higher rank.

"Okay, then, Computer," she added, "identify the nearest physician and give me her location."

[Doctor Amelya Rez is the nearest physician and is currently in the weapons storage room.]

Rez? Sounds good enough for Ghost.

"We're losing her!" Angel warned frantically.

Ghost could see that, the tricorder beeping more and more. Rawley was no medic, but she knew all that beeping was not a good thing.

She whirled around, hearing the bay doors open, and was surprised to see the Allegiant fly in. Angel suddenly dashed to the door; did she see a blue uniform? Rawley could see one, too, must be Rez.

"Keep her alive! I'm getting medical!"

Rawley nodded. She would've done the same thing in Angel's shoes, and her behavior would match hers at any time.

A moment later, Angel returned with the doctor, along with a muscle-bound brute in an exo-suit, almost akin to Rawley's and any other of the Wolves' flight suits, albeit with lots of critical differences. The man rushed to Meony's side at warp speed; Rawley didn't need to be a genius to tell that Meony had a fuck-buddy.

Rawley was further astonished as the man explained Meony's condition.

"A 'semi-sentient tumor?'" she asked in astonishment to no one in particular. She never met a tumor that was alive.

"It was a nasty 'gift' from some hostile aliens looking to experiment on humans and kill us. They didn't like Resolve in their corner of space. Long story, make sure she tells it. Please."

He was explaining more to the doctor, but Rawley was further surprised at that. It's one thing to encounter hostile aliens, but if they were looking to experiment on humans...Rawley shuddered. She'd hate to let that happen to her...or worse, be assimilated by the Borg.

Meony was shortly beamed out, and Rawley smiled. She was going to make it, Rawley was sure of it.

"Get well soon, yeh brilliant ginger lass," she said quietly, and then turned back to Angel and the Aussie, whom Angel recognized as James Mariner.  Angel introduced Rawley a moment later.

"Lieutenant JG 'Ghost' Rawley, meet Jimmy Mariner. From the Hornet. We flew Hoppers in the War together. I flew, he led teams... and apparently he's Meony's stallion."

"Aye?" said Rawley smiling. Stallion, her arse. Jimmy Mariner was both man and stallion, a practical bloody centaur. Meony was a lucky lass to have such a knight in shining armour. And she can easily tell he served in the war; he seemed about as hardened as Angel was, not to mention his age.

"I taught Angel how to fight that. But I was a grunt, not a bloody pilot--no offense." Jimmy shook Rawley's hand.

Rawley's smile only widened further. She was taking a liking to the mek'leth Angel handed her.

"Aye?" she said again. "Yeh will have to teach me sometime, depending on whether or not yeh are needed on the Allegiant."

Angel and Jimmy exchanged news, especially on how their friends were wiped out in the Rotarran attack. It didn't occur to Rawley that a lot of those dead Wolves were friends of Angel's. However bad it was for Rawley to lose fellow Wolves, it must've been worse for Angel.

Rawley left the lounge; there was nothing left to keep here there now that Meony was beamed to Sickbay, and she was curious about the Allegiant, and what was going on. She had just arrived in the airlock when she flinched at the sight of a Borg drone in a uniform. Except she wasn't as pale.

[Ensign Six | Airlock | USS Allegiant NX-80978] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Masorin @Numen @Gadget @Griff @Fife @lisavw
[Show/Hide]


Upon the Allegiant landing, Six made for the airlock; her speed was partly due to her excitement of checking out the "Sword," and partly to get away from the crew who evidently didn't seem to trust her. She realized she may have to wait for Masuda; she was expecting to escort Masuda to meet the ranking officers of the "Sword," given her value as the Allegiant's guide.

Stepping out of the Allegiant, Six could see a slew of people, probably the squadron pilots attached to the Theurgy, the Lone Wolves. Everybody was staring at Six when she emerged. She looked around, and it occurred to Six that she should've expected this; she should've realized everybody would stare at an ex-drone, but Six could tell there was a heightened sense of apprehension. Did they just encounter the Borg?

Distracted by the Wolves' reactions, Six bumped into somebody. She realized just got in the way of a Lone Wolf. Six blinked in surprise at her appearance. It was one thing to see a bald woman, but her injuries...?

"Good heavens, why aren't you in Sickbay? You look like crap!" Six said to the bald woman. She couldn't help it; the woman was a mess. She had a broken nose and so much blood had streamed down the front of her flightsuit, not to mention one or two bruises on her face.

"Yeh're one to talk, lass," retorted the bald woman, her voice almost rasping in a husky Scottish accent. "Considering we just saw your ol' chums earlier."

Six realized that the bald woman was referring to the Borg; they must've seen a cube, if not the one they were following, and she didn't need the sight of the bloodied bald woman training her rifle at Six to have the feeling of edginess in her once again.

"Look, I realize I may be an ex-drone, but I'm on your side," she said. "In fact, I'm a part of the crew. We're from Theurgy's Vector Three."

"Aye? That a fact?" said the bald woman named Ghost; Six could see it on the side of her flight suit: "Wolf-02, Ghost." But comrade as she may be, Six was realizing she was making a wrong impression. She felt she was making a wrong impression when she saw the Lone Wolves staring apprehensively at her, but the point was driven home, because Ghost only glowered more and bore her bloodstained teeth.

"Well, let me tell yeh this, yeh wee sod, I dinnae care if yeh came from the office of ol' Janeway herself. For all I know, yeh led the Borg here to muck about the galaxy, like we need another backstabbing piece of shite on the 'Sword' a' the moment."

Six flinched at Ghost's words, like she had cracked a whip at her after she had wiped out a village. She had definitely seemed to have made the wrong impression.

Not only that, it was more than her mention of Janeway that brought back memories of Voyager again. Six had met only one other woman who talked smack as much as this woman, and that had been B'Lanna Torres, Voyager's chief engineer. Six had seen B'Lanna chew out Seven of Nine a few times, and now it seemed Six was getting a similar sort of brunt. True, B'Lanna was half-Klingon, but this little woman would easily take on B'Lanna in a chew-out contest.

"Look, Boudicca," retorted Six, feeling the comparison felt appropriate. "I'm not here to be insulted or distrusted. I was attached to the Allegiant as a guide. We were hearing evidence of Borg presence, and as a former drone, I can hear the Collective at times. I would never, EVER, turn to the Collective nor betray the Theurgy, so please, stop chewing me out."

"Aye?" Ghost only answered by extending her fist by the back and extending two fingers. It may look like the trademark Churchill peace gesture, but from the way it was given, it was almost like a gesture of insult. "Up yer arse, drone slut."
OOC: The two characters are written together in that it's the same setting. I would've made it two separate posts and saved Six for later, but that was only for an early concept. Plus, Rawley's reaction to Six is somewhat to show that Six is off on the wrong foot.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #110 –
[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Bridge | USS Allegiant NX-80978 ] @Auctor Lucan @Numen @Multificionado @lisavw @trevorvw @Griff @Masorin @Triton

As the Allegiant entered the Fighter Assault Bay of Theurgy’s Vector 2 and set down, Eboh let out a slow sigh of relief. PO t’Jellaieu’s graceful landing in the bay almost seemed to move in slow motion after the impressive maneuvering she had pulled off during their engagement with the Klingons, as well as back in the debris field.

Well, we were not blown up, burned alive, sucked into the vacuum or assimilated… Eboh thought to himself, I think we can call this a win.

Eboh raised his hands and placed them behind his head, interlocking his fingers and stretching his shoulder and back, feeling numerous pops as knots of tension released in various muscles and joints. As he stretched, he heard Yukimura make an announcement to the crew of the Allegiant.

“This is Yukimura. We have docked aboard the second Vector of the Theurgy. You are free to leave the Allegiant, and it is encouraged, since there might be injured to treat, and repairs to be made. The ship has just been under heavy fire, and we need to help as much as we can. If you have any questions, contact me. More information about the continuation of our mission will come after I have conferred with Captain Wenn Cinn.”

Hearing the words, Eboh rose to his feet and made his way off the Allegiant’s bridge. He moved down the corridor and hung a left to head down the stairs to the second deck. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he had to flatten himself against the wall to squeeze past Lieutenant Izar, who was attempting to make his way up the stairs while laden down with the newly constructed ORE, as well as a small case. One of the hands that embraced the ORE barely held the strap of Izar’s duffle, which was hanging down and bumping against his leg as he waddled his way towards the stairs.

After Ekon had squeezed past the Cardassian-Bajoran hybrid, he made his way to the crew’s quarters and scooped up his own duffle, the fabric of the carrier only half-filled. Eboh liked to travel light, having lost most of his personal possessions some 15 years previous on the Saratoga.

His duffle retrieved, he turned and made his way back towards the stairs, only to find them blocked halfway up by Lieutenant Izar’s slow progress.

”Would you like a hand with that, sir?” Eboh asked, unsure if the Cardassian heard him over his struggles to get up the stairs with his heavy burden.

”Oh! My lovely minion Igor, would you mind? I would be so grateful!” Izar replied, shuffling to turn himself to present some of the load for Eboh to take. With a smug grin, Eboh reach out and plucked the small case out from under the scientist’s arm, finding the it to be quite light.

”Happy to help, sir!” Eboh chuckled as he made to squeeze past the confused Izar. ”I would not want you to have to do it all on your own!” He gave the science officer a wink as he finally managed to pass between Izar and the bulkhead, slinging his newly acquired “burden” over his shoulder as he trotted up the stairs. ”I will see you out there, Doctor Frankenspoon!” Eboh called over his shoulder, raising his voice slightly so Izar might hear him over the scientist’s own protests. It felt satisfying to get the scientist back, even in such a small way, after having been called Igor so many times over the past day or so.

Having reached the top of the stairs, Eboh made his way aft towards the airlock. As he exited the Allegiant he passed Ensign Six, who was speaking to a rather worse-for-wear looking pilot.

”Up yer arse, drone slut.” He heard as he passed the two, the bald, bloodied pilot obviously having taken a liking to the former drone.

Making friends already, I see... Eboh thought with a suppressed grin.

The El-Aurian hybrid chuckled to himself as he moved off to the side, waiting for Lieutenant Izar to make his slow, ponderous journey out of the Allegiant to see where he wanted the vaccines taken. Then it would be off to see where the Ops CPO could be helpful. Based on Yukimura’s words, he expected they could use the extra hands.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #111 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @Auctor Lucan, @Havenborn, @Multificionado, @Even Angels Cry, @Jm Von Cat , @Blue Zephyr, @Masorin,  @Triage.

"What the..." Lieutenant Commander Thomas Ravon muttered before he looked at Tessa "Lets go, double time!" he ordered as he gave Tessa’s back a light tap and dashed to the other side of the fighter assault hanger bay.  

“Aye-aye sir!” Tessa chirped as she followed close behind.  As Lieutenant Daniel Haverborn and his RIO, Lieutenant (junior grade) JG Uriah Ahern joined them in the portside hallway Tessa checked her combat tricorder. “Okay, I’m reading two Klingon life signs…  No wait, one Klingon life sign…  No Klingon life forms?  How could that be?”

Thomas shot a glance in her direction and opened the door.

Inside was a scene of carnage that came of of the most demented of holonovels.  Chief Petty Officer Liam Herrold was down and and Doctor Amelya Duv, no… Rez, and Chief Petty Officer Eun Sae Ji were trapped in a room with a hulking green reptilian monster.  Two gorey messes that had once been people were crushed under what appeared to be a generator for a tetryon pulse phase Cannon and its batteries.  The huge creature turned its scaley visage to the newcomers.

“Eep! Tessa squeaked.  It was just Petty Officer Sithick.  Everything was all right.  The two remaining Klingons had been dealt with, Cretacious Era style.  Tessa had misread the situation.

Thomas, on the other hand, had ascertained the situation quicker.

"Salvo, Goldeneye, see what you can do to help the doc."

Tessa was surprised when she returned to the Fighter Assault Hangar Bay.  Parking right in the middle of it was the USS Allegiant, the Advanced Multi-Purpose Scout that doubled as a captain’s yacht, and it took up a lot of space.  It completely blocked her view of the starboard side of the hanger.  She was familiar with sight of the Allegiant, but she had never seen in parked in the fighter bay before.  She smiled as she saw the familiar sight of shipmates disembarking from it.  They had made contact with one of the other stardrive sectors; that meant they weren’t alone against the Rotarran.  Maybe they would be reuniting with the other section soon.

GM Note: Brig portion under revision. :)

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #112 –
[ Dr Amelya Rez & Lt Cmdr Thomas Ravon | Weapons Storage Room | Fighter Assault Deck | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Havenborn , @Masorin , @lisavw , @Numen , @Fife

As the exosuited pilots filed Amelya felt relieved to know that the bay was being cleared. She turned her attention back to her patients. One of the pilots came to her to help out. He asked her how he could help her and she smiled as she nodded over to Liam "Just make sure he doesn't move to much. Talk to him to keep him awake. We're just waiting for transport back to Sickbay." she said with a smile as she looked over the pilot briefly before turning her attention to poor Ji. Once she heard that Sickbay was now clear and safe once more she requested the site to site transport. The two patients vanished in a flicker and she got back up on her feet.

"Rez to Sickbay. Beamed over two patients. I'll just check for more wounded down here. If everything is clear, I'll beam back over to Sickbay to help out." she informed before she looked at Daniel "You guys must've had it rough? Are you alright?" she asked as she grabbed the rest of her kit and started to make her way to the exit. She looked around for Sithick and when she found him she gave him a hug before looking up to him "Thanks for saving my life."

After that Rez moved through the corridor and into the fighter bay. The impressive Allegiant taking up most of the space now as it had landed and people were exiting the ship. She looked around and got a report from Sickbay that another pilot had been beamed over from the pilot lounge. Rez figured that she didn't have to go there to check anymore in that case and she made her way over to the lightly and more severely injured deckhands that were scattered on the deck.

Thomas had in the meantime moved away from the weapon storage room. He had been worried about Ji, yet seeing Rez working her, he figured there was little he could do for her. He saw the Allegiant dock and watched the people file out of it. He strapped his rifle on his back as he moved closer to greet some of the familiar faces. He froze in his tracks however when he heard a far to familiar voice. He saw a dark skinned man walking ahead with luggage as he made a cheeky remark about Dr Frankenspoon and Thomas narrowed his eyes as he saw the distinct Bajoran/Cardassian scientist exit the ship. "No fucking way..." he mumbled to himself as his eyes were possibly deceiving him, which was rarely the case.

With a short jog he ran up to the scientist "Don't tell me the Prophets have brought you here just to smite me? Or do my eyes deceive me Ice-man?" he called out from behind him. To see Izar in the flesh was making his heart skip a beat. Despite all the hardship and sadness throughout this trip, it made Thomas feel enthusiastically for once to see an old friend after all that time. Izar and him had always kept in touch and Thomas considered the man to be one of his closest friends. He refrained from giving him a pat on the back, considering the items he was hauling. Knowing his friend he'd probably break a few bones and ruin his research if anything.

Rez had looked over to the pilot and the scientist, giving it a slight smirk before she spotted another medical officer which undoubtedly had disembarked from the Allegiant. She walked up to her as she introduced herself "Welcome aboard the Sword, my name is Doctor Rez." she extended her hand "I'm glad to see another medical officer on board the ship. Do you have any casualties aboard the ship that we need to beam over? If not I'll gladly beam us back to Sickbay, I think we might be shorthanded after the Klingon battle." she spoke with a warm voice and smiled at the Vulcan physician.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #113 –
[ Lt. JG Izar Bila| Fighter Assault Deck | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]
Att.: @Nolan @Fife

Bila's grimance while he endured the bad taste joke about the heavy luggage was quite a sight. That on top of that Eboh added the epithet of Frankespoon which didn't improve his outrage. But he had to admit that he had earned it to a certain extent. The comparison with that Frank' e Stein still eluded him due to his lack of context, but he was fed up to the back teeth with spoon pranks during the Academy years. He would have liked to respond with a scathing comment, but the weight of the ORE and the lack of sleep had consumed all his wit. So he just dedicated a precious insult he had heard in Bajor to a Bajoran soldier. One that he had taken years to fully understand and that, when he did, he wished he didn't understand. The UT wasn't able to translate half of the words. The few it did, sounded gruesome.

In this way he descended from the Allegiant carrying the heavy bulge, short steps until he could leave the container on the ground. He was barely able to see anything from behind the luggage, but when the voice he least expected to hear resonated within the Fighter Assault Deck, Bila opened wide eyes and tried to turn around to see the pilot approaching trotting towards him. "Do not tell me the Prophets have brought you here just to smite me? Or do my eyes deceive me Ice-man?" . The nickname and the glimmering green eyes in the face that protruded above the exosuit could only point to one person. "Glory be to the Prophets, Tom Ravon, flesh and blood!" A grin from ear to ear materialized in his face, the recent offenses forgotten as he saw his best friend appear from nowhere. "And look at you, in your bully armor and everything, you almost look like a real officer ..." he joked as he left the ORE in the floorplates, vaccines and other devices forgotten for a moment.

Without wasting a moment he took the pilot by both arms and studied his face for some minutes, the relief painted on his gray features. "I'm so glad to see you, my friend. Having seen what's out there, I expected you to have been one of the first MIAs, " the scientist whispered with a ease tone on his voice. While looking at the human, his face showed one of his few sincere smiles, far from his usual theatrical and impish behavior. He could almost say that the anguish, the constant fear, the successive attacks and the constant fear for his life had been worth it. Almost. His hands trembled slightly on his friend's shoulders when that thought crossed the chemist's mind, but the Kato did his job and the spasm barely lasted a moment.

The glimpse of sincere joy lasted only a moment, as he looked up and down at his friend. Soon, his smile twisted in a mischivious smirk as he said. "You know, I would give you a hug, but the uniform is new and I don't want to spoil it with peasant filth"

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #114 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo & Lieutenant Amelya Rez | Fighter Assault Bay, Deck 16 | USS Theurgy, Vector 2 ] Attn: @Nolan, + Anyone listening in.

Daniel nodded as he looked over to Liam and placed a hand on his shoulder.  "Everything is going to be alright Chief."  He said to him, although he wasn't quite sure if the man had actually heard him.  A moment later and he and Ji were beamed to Sickbay. As Doctor Rez looked back to him and spoke he nodded.  "I'm fine though one of my pilots is down if you could take a look at her.  I've got a fairly good idea of what it is."  Daniel said. As they began to make their way back out into the FAB proper.  "Lieutenant Daniel Havenborn by the way." He said as he formally greeted her.

"Sure, lead the way." Rez replied as she got up to her feet and straightened her uniform. The blood was still rather wet on her uniform. The red streaks being smeared out and almost gone, yet still observable to the trained eye. As they made their way further out to the bay he introduced himself to her and Amelya looked up to the pilot "Doctor Amelya Rez, nice to meet you. I don't think we've met before have we?" she answered to him as she kept up with the brisk pace "What do you think is wrong with your pilot by the way lieutenant?"

"I don't believe so Lieutenant.  I'm one of the influx from the USS Resolve, Captain Ives allowed us to join after Starfleet declared us traitors as well." Daniel replied, as she asked about Meony's condition Daniel thought back to it. "Long story short she's got an alien tumor inside of her brain that our medical staff wasn't able to remove so a preventative coil was placed around it to keep it in check, I believe that the coil has deteriorated enough that it could kill her." Daniel said.  He, like the other Resolve crewmembers, knew that Captain Kendrick and Lieutenant Lyhn had done their very best to remove it but in the end the Resolve just didn't have the facility to do it.

Amelya stopped dead in her tracks as the pilot began to talk about an alien tumor and preventative coils. The frown on her face probably said enough as she shook her head "How was she authorized to fly!?" she sped up her pace as she tapped her badge "Sickbay, prepare for patient with unknown brain tumor, prepare the surgical suite immediately." she looked at Daniel as they were in the fighter bay by this point "Could you give me a quick rundown of how she contracted it? Anything else I need to know about it before I start poking around in her head?"

"The coil that surrounds the tumor kept it from harming her, she was cleared for duty by our CMO and to be honest I needed all the pilots I could get no matter their condition." Daniel said honestly.  "As for the tumor itself, it's a bioweapon from an hostile semi-aquatic alien species, they kind of look like humanoid octopuses.  The biowewapon grows quickly and latches onto the brain stem, it gradually grows tendrils that snake their way into parts of the brain that cause pain, eventually overwhelming the senses and causing the person to die." Daniel explained. "I'll help out any way that I can Lieutenant, but I only took basic first aid at the Academy."  He said.

"A bioweapon tumor..." she repeated as she seemingly hadn't heard him correctly the first time. She nodded slowly as he explained more of it and she wasn't sure what she could do to save the pilot entirely. Sure she could remove the tumor by radiating it and hoping it wouldn't do more damage. Or she could slice out the tissue that'd be compromised and remove all of it. The latter case would either make the pilot either slightly different than how she was before or turn her into a vegetable plant all together. She would need more hands for this and she spotted a Vulcan officer in the distance. "Thank you lieutenant, I'll do my best, but I'll make no promises about this pilot."

"Understood Lieutenant, let me know her post-op status as soon as possible."  Daniel said as he spotted Knight walking towards him, his rifle lowered.  As she walked towards another medical officer Daniel turned to face Knight.  "Report."  He said.  "The rest of the maintenance side is clear, no traps or hidden hostiles."  Knight reported to Daniel.  "Alright, see what you can do for the injured out here, I'm going to go find Commander Ravon and find get new orders."  He said as Knight nodded and walked towards some of the injured crewmen to help perform first aid.

Daniel walked towards Ravon and waited for him to notice him.  Once he did he spoke up.  "The maintenance side is all clear, no hidden Klingons or traps.  Any new orders Commander?"  Daniel asked.

OOC:
This Joint-Post brought to you by: Havenborn, Nolan and the letter K.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #115 –
[ Maya | Primary Surgical Suite | CMO Office | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @patches

Maya’s large hazel eyes fluttered open.  She felt strangely disassociated and experienced a numbness that was disconcerting.  It look her a moment to realise that she was lying on the biobed.  Maya blinked again and her long pale face twitched as she frowned, pursed her lips, and tried to will herself awake.  She couldn't feel anything.  Not in an emotional sense.  In the stress filled environment of life aboard the Theurgy, that was normal for the little Vulcan.  She couldn't feel anything in the tactile sense; she didn't seem to have a sense of touch.

She had returned to the same room she had left; the primary surgical suite that was connected to the chief medical officer’s office, and she was lying on the same biobed that Lucan had been on when the two of them had been beamed away.  For Maya to return to his place was understandable.  Patients were often beamed to the primary surgical suite when the Theurgy was engaged in starship combat and then moved to a surgical suit, the intensive care unit, the primary care unit, a medical lab, or cryogenic stasis as needed to make room for the next one.  If the primary surgical suit was in use, patients would be beamed to the intensive care unit there were beds available.  Her presence in the primary surgical suite was no mystery.  The true mystery was what she was still doing there.

Slowly, carefully, Maya sat up to survey her surroundings.  She still didn’t seem to have a sense of touch, so she had to look at what her hands were doing.  She massaged her hands quite intently for a few moments. 

“Doctor Maya, come quickly!” a female voice chirped.  Maya looked up to see Petty Officer Second Class Riley Patterson, a medical orderly and unregistered nurse who had been serving aboard the Theurgy six months before Captain Ives had made the discovery that had changed their lives forever.  “There’s been an… incident in the ICU,” Patterson stammered.  “There was shooting, but Nurse Jovela and Doctor Kobol  have it under control but now that Doctor Kobol  has beamed to the bridge we need you in the ICU!  We’ve got wounded!  Doctor?  Are you all right?” Patterson asked when Maya didn’t respond.

Maya blinked and simply frowned at the lightblue collared petty officer, tilting her head and studying her as if she was foreign or unfamiliar in someway.  Normally, the little Vulcan’s telepathic senses detected the presence of another sentient being in such a close proximity.  It wasn’t true empathic or telepathic contact; she was simply able to detect the presence of another person in the room.  This made her difficult to sneak up on but if there were multiple people in the room her psychic senses wouldn’t tell her anything that she her eyes and ears didn’t tell her already.  It wasn’t as if she could discern locations or motives or anything.

But right now Maya detected nothing.  Patterson could have been a holodeck character or something.  It was as if she wasn’t in the room at all.  Thanks to the little Vulcan’s tactile numbness, it was as if Maya wasn’t in the room.  It was very disconcerting indeed.

“I am uncertain Nurse,” the little Vulcan admitted.  “Before I return to duty, perhaps we should run a neurological scan on my person.”

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #116 –
[ Lt. Commander Wenn Cinn | Battle Bridge | Deck 8 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by ch'Xinya & Auctor Lucan

Commander Wenn struggled to hide his displeasure at the news from Engineering.  Topping out at warp five was better than warp four but they needed to get to that Rendezvous fast.  The rest of the damage report simply helped drive the point home at just how badly Chancellor Martok had mauled them.  The worst were the casualty reports.  He sent a quick prayer to the Prophets for their sakes, hopefully the departed souls would at last find some measure of peace.  He wondered how many of them came from that last raider’s suicide pass over the dorsal surface.

As usual, Starfleet waited for nothing, the calls came rushing in before Cinn even opened his eyes.  Nator was warning about a need to drop to sublight for repairs, Bremmer pitched an idea to help contain Nicander, and then Akoni appeared out of the turbolift spouting off something about coffee like this was the galley.  “Take the security console Lieutenant.” Cinn barked, perhaps a bit harshly, with more bite than he intended. After hearing about the casualties, he found the comment unfitting. Turning his attention to the situation in the Brig, he tapped his combadge. “Wenn to Bremmer, agreed.  Set it up.”  25G might sound a bit much, but better to pulp a body then risk a parasite getting out.  The Hermat at Ops spoke, and after mulling over Nator’s request for a moment, the Bajoran found himself reluctantly agreeing with hir assessment.  Warp five wouldn't get them to the Rendevouz in time, but they’d still get there. A blown nacelle trapped them where they stand.  “Very well.  Helm, once we’ve gone 100 AU from the Rotarran, and found somewhere safe to conduct the repairs yet remain hidden, drop us to sublight.  I want those repairs done immediately."

Before he could leave, he had to ensure that the situation in the Brig wasn't escalating. He tapped the display in the armrest of his chair, and opened up the live-feed from the temporary holding cell. Nicander was still there, alone, just standing there in his bloodied patient's gown. Someone had managed to extract the Vulcan doctor, to which he was grateful.

Rising from his chair, Cinn stood tall.  Mouth open for some words of encouragement...

...a new voice filled the Bridge instead - emanating from the feed in his Captain's chair.

"I know you are listening. I have a singular request. Please make sure Doctor Maya gets the treatment she needs, for she is the reason I could give you the Rotarran's shield frequency. She protected me from the Security officers that sought to interfere, and she suffered the consequences for all our sakes. I am a doctor, not a monster, and no words are adequate to describe the regret of how... peering into the abyss of this... nameless darkness inside.... let it take over, and what it made me do to those men."

"I am 'myself' again, and the healthier and stronger I am physically, the less influence it will have on me. So, when you are ready to listen, I will be here. Just know this, in the meantime. The Borg will invade the Federation on the morrow, and there is no time. You must return to the apertures, and you must destroy them. Billions of lives hang in the balance. I can make a difference, if you are willing to heed my words."

Far from being encouraging, Nicander managed to turn a simple situational update into a pall of doom.  Somehow, he knew that the Borg would arrive tomorrow, but also claimed to have a way deal with them.  When he was done, the Bridge was as silent as a tomb, all eyes on him.

“Continue with your duties, prioritize on repairs to the warp drive," he said at last, and added, "Commander Ducote, Lt. Tovarek, please accompany me to the Brig.” Without checking to see that they had fallen in behind him, Cinn strode to the turbolift.

Yet as Wenn Cinn stepped up to the door, and they slid open, he found himself face-to-face with Doctor Nicander.

Jumping back in surprise, his dark hand went for the phaser that would normally be on his waist, but it wasn’t there.  Cursing the switch from security to command, he could only fall back and warn everyone else.  “Phasers up!” he yelled, alerting everyone on the Bridge.

Though he was unanswered.

There was not a single motion on the bridge. In fact, the lighting seemed wrong. It seemed like there was a brightness to everything, the smoke from the damages on the bridge lit from beneath. There were no longer any officers behind him. The only motion came from the figure in the doorway, as he stepped unto the bridge.

"The Wenn is confused," said the Câroon doctor, dressed in his scourged and frayed uniform. "The Wenn has been told: With each new consequence made by mortal lives, the existence that mortals occupy take shape."

Of course I’m confused!  You shouldn’t be here, and what happened to my Bridge? ran through his head, but something kept him from saying it out loud.  His pagh itched again... and then it came to him.  Dampening down his thoughts, Wenn Cinn knew this from before his resurrection. He stood in awe... at the presence of the Prophets.

"The Wenn is of Theurgy," said a voice behind him, and when he looked, he saw Tyreke Okafor - the scientist - as he slowly walked past Cinn. "It is where he belong."

"Yet the Theurgy is not one." This time it was Amelya Rez, the new Trill host with the Rez symbiont, who leaned against the broken tactical station. She was Edena Rez no more, even though Cinn knew a part of her still remained. "You must make Theurgy whole again."

He found his voice at last. “You want us to go to the third Rendezvous?  We’re already on our way there, but we won’t make it in time.  Are you saying being late won’t be an issue?”  That was a bit of good news he needed right now, but of course the Prophets weren’t being quite so pleasant.

"The Wenn will fail. The Theurgy will not be whole. The Theurgy will be destroyed," said Ranaan Ducote, standing on the other side of the bridge, his expression as vacant as the others had been. Another figure appeared, stepping through the haze. It was High Chancellor Martok.

"Consequence shape your linear existence. We do not approve of the way the shape is turning out," said the Klingon, his grizzly face cast in garish light. "We want to change the shape."

Damn. It was a weird way to say they wouldn’t reach the rendezvous, but that was normal for the Prophets.  He tried not to take it personally either, They couldn’t really be putting the failure on his shoulders could they?  At least They were willing to give them a solution.  “How do I make the Theurgy whole?  If I can’t get to the other vectors in time, what can I do?”

"The Wenn is of Theurgy. It is where he belongs. For now," said ThanIda zh'Wann, suddenly standing next to Cinn, her blue eyes impassive, antennae angled forth. She was wearing a strange, black suit for some reason, but the reports from the SuD Lang mission suggested she was dead. Why would the Prophets chose to haunt him with his Deputy? "The Wenn will be shown a second path. By taking it, the Wenn will make Theurgy whole again."

“For now?  What does that mean?  And what second path?  Without our warp drive at full capacity we can’t make it in time.  You just said that!”  So to speak, he added silently.  Despite his reverence for the beings surrounding him Cinn couldn’t help but let his frustrations leak through.

There was silence at first, then Nicander spoke again, his mismatched hands folded behind his back, and his unshaven face unreadable. "The concept of time is foreign to us. Yet at one point, the Wenn must leave Theurgy. He must leave it, to save it, and also preserve Bajor, and even our existence. It is the Wenn's purpose. It is the shape we require."

This was the second time They said that.  “Leave where?  And when?  What do I need to do?  Tell me more, please!”  Why in the name of the Prophets did They have to be so cryptic? he wondered, the paradoxical nature of the phrase in this instance catching his attention a moment later.

Simon Tovarek spoke up from behind him, standing in the middle of the bridge. "The Wenn must follow the second path. Lest he will not make Theurgy whole again."

And the next time he blinked, the doorway where Nicader had stood was empty, and Wenn Cinn was as close to it as he had been when the Doctor had appeared. The sounds behind him had returned, and the bridge officers were back. There was no sight of the apparitions he'd seen, and the brightness was gone.

That was when Cinn heard from Ensign Henshaw, that Lietuenant Masuda Yukimura had to speak with him.

“Lt. Yukimura?”  Is this what the Prophets were referring to?  “Patch him through, I’ll talk on the way.”  Blinking away his confusion, Cinn wondered if anyone noticed his sudden change in countenance.  Stepping into the turbolift, “Deck 7.”

[This is Lieutenant Yukimura. I bear news of the Stallion. It encountered USS Cayuga - adrift in the Azure Nebula after being attacked by the Borg - and Captain Stark is lending aid to Captain Anya Ziegler's crew. I believe... you are familiar with her.]

Cinn was. It was his former First Officer. An ally ship?

"Yukimura, meet me in the Brig."

OOC: This has been a Joint-Post between ch'Xinya and I. This Chapter will remain open for more posts a while longer, but the scene in the Brig will be written as a Supplemental thread. When everyone are content with their contributions to this awesome chapter, I will end it with a post from Martok's Point-of-View. :)

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #117 –
[PO1 Lillee t'Jellaieu] | Fighter Assault Deck | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

Attn: @Doc M.

[Show/Hide]

Docking the Allegiant inside the Sword was no easy feat. The Fighter Assault Bay was designed to accommodate the small Valkryie fighters, not the far larger Allegiant. Indeed, before all of the recent insanity since leaving Earth, Lillee would've baulked at being ordered to perform such a delicate docking maneuver. She would've spent a good few minutes eyeing the angles, checking the geometry, confirming the dimensions of the bay.

Now, though, after flying the Stallion against the Asurians and then the Allegiant against the Klingons, she didn't even hesitate, feeling that old familiar burn in her blood, that cold battle-rage that still lingered even after the Klingons were beaten. Lillee checked the sensors to confirm there was nothing in the way, called the vector's Ops to confirm that the bay was clear then simply took the corvette in, feathering the warp engine in tiny fractions of a warp factor.

Soon enough, after the Allegiant entered the Sword's warp field, Lillee set the craft down carefully inside the bay. Out the viewport, her mouth opened in horror at the carnage outside. Scorch marks and still smoking debris covered the deck, with the few remaining Valkryies in their dedicated bays, some of them bearing damage. Even worse, though, was the bodies, both Klingon and Federation, that were scattered around the bay. Pools of blood were congealing amidst the carnage, telling the story of a fierce and brutal battle for the Fighter Assault Bay.

Yukimura gave his final order, and so after running the required power-down procedures, Lillee hurried to her quarters, retrieving the honour-blade that was now her only possession to accompany the phaser on her hip. Even if the Theurgy security officers said that they'd finished off the Klingon boarders, she most certainly wasn't taking any risks.

Thus, with her sword slung on her back, Lillee descended down the ramp into the bay, looking around. There was a crowd of people now, many of them dealing with the bodies and discarded weapons and some kind of medical emergency in the lounge. Yet more were reuniting with lost friends. It was an oddly endearing sight, although it left Lillee feeling strangely lonely. She flicked a blonde lock of hair behind her pointed ear, smiling sadly, before her eyes locked on a familiar face.

Perhaps she wasn't entirely alone.

Approaching the female human from across the bay, Lillee bowed her head formally as she got near, still smiling slightly. "Lieutenant Lance," she said politely, "I am Petty Officer t'Jellaieu. We met briefly at Sol, just before the ship was attacked, when I was inspecting the Valkryies. I take it that you shall need help here?"

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #118 –
[ Ensign Jaya Thorne | Main Sickbay | Deck 11| Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]
Attn: attending medical officers.

Jaya’s condition was bad but not hopeless, the gashes on her body, on her arm and leg were fairly deep but, miraculously missed any major arteries or veins, though a fair bit of muscular and skin cover reconstruction would be needed. Otherwise, her burns and cuts were not horribly bad, what was the biggest problem as it took a while for medical help to get to her, on top of the stubborn young human not leaving her station till she got them all out of there as safely as she could, was the blood loss.

Her loss of blood was fairly substantial, showing just how determined and focused she was in her duties for having stayed awake, let alone alive so long while losing blood. Jaya looked very place, her breath was slow, weak but steady, her uniform torn and streaked with blood, she looked a fair wreck but the docs probably had seen far worse. The young helmsman had definitely acquitted herself well in the fight and her life, though at a bit of a tipping point right then, could be saved without too much hard work, more, time, to let their tools properly mend her injuries than anything, wasn’t anything they were not ready to deal with.

Inside Jaya’s Mind:
A forest extends in all directions, over hills, gullies, valleys, around rivers, over mountains, it is night and the stars are out, shining brightly in their diamond like speckling of the dark sky, a beautiful full moon shines down, giving the surrounding landscape a soft, bluish night sheen.

Jaya sits alone on a large rock, atop an open outcropping over a large ravine overlooking a lake. Lights from a few houses around the lake can be seen but she’s a good ways away. “So peaceful… so beautiful, heh, not like how my life’s been so far.” She thought to herself in that dreamscape. “heh this must be what it feels like to be dying or something.” She thought and sighed.

“You aren’t dying dear, not yet.” Spoke a voice Jaya hadn’t heard in ages, not since she was still a little girl. She turned, standing there was an older woman yet not old, she looked in her prime and Jaya remembered her well, from pictures and holo’s. “G-Grand-Mother!?” Blurted out the young woman, making the other smile warmly as she walks up and sat next to her Grand-Daughter. “Hello Sweetie, I’m here to sit with you, I think you need the company.” Jaya suddenly lunged over, hugging the other woman.

Her Grand-Mother smiled. “That’s my little Jaya, always the sweetest girl. Oh How I’ve missed you, don’t be afraid, you won’t die, it isn’t your time but we can talk, I am here because I’ve always been here honey, I’ll be here as long as you are.” She said sweetly. “Just relax and be here with me.” To this Jaya smiled, crying a bit, nodding.

OOC: sorry this took a bit, I kinda had trouble figuring out how I wanted to do this, its got a bit of a… personal touch, if anyone wants to ask PM me on discord or message me directly on the forums, I’m happy to speak of it but not in some open everyone can read forum.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #119 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Weapons Storage Locker – To Sickbay | In Transit | Happy Pills]
@Auctor Lucan

Liam laughed.

He had smiles.

He had big smiles.

His teeth were really white.

His hair was really bright.

He had skin.  It was nice skin.  And the tattoo that didn't mean anything.

Liam was funny.

Ji felt like she was swimming.  Weightless, floating in the seat.  The waves rose and fell and she rose and fell with them.  The sun baked down upon her body from the Korean sky.  Somewhere, there was screaming.  Screaming and fighting.  Angrily Ji looked around her, still in a daze, her eyes glassed over as she searched for the source of such horrendous heaven-ending sounds.  This was pretty, and serene, and all hers, and everyone else could just get the fuck out.

“TIMOTHY!  CAT SELFISH BEACH ANGRY BUTT!” she cried out and then swayed just from the sheer effort of saying these words at such a volume.  That'll take care of them.

Suddenly, there were tingles. 

I hope I'm not peeing myself.  That'd be embarassing.  Hey look guys, you can call me Puddles now!  No... I don't think the men would have respect for Puddles.  They would walk all over Puddles!  I can't let that happen!

“I REFRIDGERATE THE CATS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE!” she cried out in shock, worried she was, indeed peeing herself. 

Then, things changed.  Bright flashes, and more tingles, definitely not pee tingles.  Then she was on a bed.  Oh!  It's nap time!  I like naps.  Naps are awesome, we should schedule nap times more often and make that a thing.  We could all have mats, and curl up with our favorite stuffed animals and sleep for a little while.  Bet that would put some of those asshole mechanics in a better mood! Food and naps!

There was a face over her.  Hello face! she thought to herself, the face swam slightly and Ji tried to focus on it.  “Hello, dear, how are you doing?”

“I HAVE A MILLION PAPER TOWELS!”

The nurse paused for a moment.  “Do you know you're name?”

“SNUFFALUPAGUS!” she shouted and shot her fist into the air, the nurse dodged it, just barely but managed not to suffer a fancy blow from the woman on the bio bed.

“Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?” she asked.

Ji tried to focus.  Her eyes swam around for a few moments before she closed them.  “Icecream.” she said matter of factly.

“Ho-kay, so this one needs some scans.” she told the Doctor and stepped back to check on others.

Ji looked ovr to her side and saw Liam there.  Aww Liam, his big goofy smile.  His huge big face.  His little voice.  He was so cute.  Like a giant fur-less teddy bear.  He asked her what they were talking about and she thought about it for a moment. 

“Sniffles became car and dogs walk christmas trees on Sundays.” she said as if that made absolute sense.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #120 –
[ PO1 Varder Ridun | Deflector Control > Turbolift > Security Center | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy  | 2300 hrs. ] Attn: @patches @CanadianVet
[Show/Hide]
The young Bajoran may not have been trained in any manner of advanced medical care, but the knowledge to aid a fellow officer was well within the purview of both experience and basic training for security personnel. With that in mind, it took very little time for him to staunch the bleeding in the fallen Andorian's shoulder. A brief enough amount of time that he was able to finish just as Bremmer issued the parties new instructions, the life of security, stand still until your needed to sprint the length of the ship again and again.

Before he stood he pushed his Phase pistol into the Andorians good hand, she had little ability to handle a rifle in her present state and with the situation being what it was at present an armament might still be required. Once he straightened to move in compliance with the instructions to move back to the security centre he picked up both his and the Andorians rifles, one being slung over his shoulder to leave both hands free for effective combat handling.

Once returned to the turbolift he was not disappointed with the team being left in deflector control, moving the fallen and maintaining security. Then the doors slid closed, they were on their way back down to Nicander. Within the lift, he quietly adjusted the setting of the rifle cradled in his arms back up to seven. As the doors slid open and everyone filed out to brace against the wall, ready to enter and end he found himself unwilling or unsure of how or what to speak, what words would hold meaning now? Better to let the job be done as needed. He simply nodded a confirmation of his readiness to Bremmer as she advised of their status to the bridge.

The order was to hold, the order itself providing a strange feeling. Varder had not really applied much thought to it until one of those small, sudden and often irritating realizations occurred. The man, the parasite within the holding cell was the very same as the one whom had returned him to duty, returned him to life more or less. In a way meaning he owed his life to that creature, a being who at this time seemed like he could not decide upon killing them all or helping. The possession of this thought was a confusing and conflicting one, the answers and swirling thoughts of such eluded the young man as he attempted to push them all to the back of his mind with a brief shake of his head.

Think He had an exo, it was capable of so much more than simple form augmentation and protection. Flicking through settings, channels and connections he patched himself into the recording devices within the holding cell. A small vid feed occupied a corner of his heads-up display, a copy of the sound from within that room was fed into his ears, the volume lower than that of more important channels related to command and his team. It was like this, from his position out of sight of Nicander that he was able to witness the measures being put in place to contain him and perhaps more importantly, was able to hear what was said by the former crewmember.

The words of Nicander, in some ways provided answers and logical conclusions. Even if those conclusions only appeared that way after his words, how then was it he found himself trusting those words? To Varder it seemed as if there might be a cycle here within this small corner of the ship. There was little Nicander could reasonably do to prove his word without being given a chance, yet the chance would require trust in him first. Trust that may not be accepted based upon his word...

And yet the Petty officer found himself in a position where it was not his place to make any call, so he would stand and do what his duty called of him. The thoughts he had would remain his own to coil and twist in his mind, unanswered and ignored for now.

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #121 –
[ Lt. Kai Akoni | Battle Bridge | Deck 8 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

Kai had arrived at the bridge in hopes of some downtime and especially coffee, however the barked order from the dark skinned Bajoran made Kai realize he should probably remove the foot he had securely placed in his mouth.

"Take the security console Lieutenant."

Well I'm an idiot.., Kai thought to himself as he sheepishly acknowledged the order.

"Aye sir"

Kai nodded slightly and made his way promptly to the security console, lest he incur any more wrath from the man in charge.

The large man stood at the security console, pushing buttons and just generally looking busy. There wasn't much for him to do at the present time, however he made sure that the security people were going where they were supposed to. 

No point in interfering since they seem to know what they're doing, the ex Chief of Security of the Endeavour thought as he noted that the security personnel aboard the Theurgy seemed to be some of the best in the business.

As Lt. Cmdr. Wenn left the bridge without chastising Kai any further, Kai sighed and stared at the console in front of him.

The large Hawaiian had been used to Ducote's meetings and his laid back attitude towards the structure aboard the Endeavour. Kai had been used to joking at certain times, especially in tense situations as a way for him to release the stress of the situation. Apparently, Kai had missed something in his journey back from Deflector Control.

Way to make a good impression Kai, he thought to himself as he rolled his eyes at how dumb he had been. He realized that this clearly wasn't the Endeavour and that he should be on his best behaviour from here on out.

Akoni stood and stared the display in front of him, as a thought popped into his head causing him to grin slightly, imperceptible to anyone but himself.

So....no coffee then?

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #122 –
[ Cmdr Ranaan Ducote | Battle Bridge | Deck 08 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @Auctor Lucan @chXinya @trevorvw

Aiden tended to the wounded officer to the point that he seemed less worried about the outcome, at least to Ducote's empathy. Scrolling through status reports on the security console as they came in, he asked after the survivors in sickbay. "What's it like downstairs, Doc?"

"Not ideal... they were shooting people in their beds, sir. Several dead. I was called up here before I could get a complete count."

"And our people?"

"At least two of the civilian scientists were killed. T'Rel and Jeffers."

There didn't seem to be anything to say to that. Though he felt as if he should. Ultimately, Ducote elected to stay quiet and let them both go back to their work.

Kai arrived shortly afterwards, while the bridge crew discussed their prospects. It didn't seem good - and none of it seemed to be conducive to the kidnapped Endeavour officers' release. Perhaps there was some merit in investigating the parasite allegation from outside - at least that way, all he stood to lose was time and a few favours. Here, there was a real risk of death for him and his remaining crew. The importance of keeping them alive seemed to grow in inverse proportion to the number of them left.

"Commanders... Someone said something about coffee?"

One corner of Ducote's mouth quirked into a small smile, but he felt Wenn's mood sour further, an instant before he snapped an order. "Take the security console, Lieutenant."

The Brazilian raised an eyebrow as his gaze tracked around to fix the Bajoran with a second's level stare, before he nodded to Akoni with a glance. All humour had faded from his face. The order may well have been reasonable in any other circumstance, but the delivery left a lot to be desired. As did its propriety in the first place, honestly. Kai was not part of this chain of command, nor was this chain of command any that the Endeavour, or anyone else really, were expected to follow.

"Aye, sir," Kai said. Ranaan could feel the spike of embarrassment from the mountain of a man. Briefly, he weighed the desire to lose his shit against the need to be diplomatic, plus basic decorum and the acknowledgement of the stress Wenn was under. He was saved from the need for a swift decision by the sound of the PA.

Nicander made a... proclamation from the cell in which he'd been trapped. On one hand, a vindication for the decision to dive into the nebula was welcome. On the other, a Borg invasion was never going to be a happy prospect. A handful of Collective vessels had given them merry hell before, and there was no way that could account for the Borg on a true war footing. Despite himself, Ranaan felt goosebumps rise on his arms. He felt quite small.

Assuming, of course, he's telling the truth.

Wenn Cinn brought him back to his ire. "Commander Ducote, Lieutenant Tovarek, please accompany me to the Brig."

Ducote watched Wenn walk past to the turbolift, then looked at Kai. "Duty calls," he deadpanned. "Stay here 'til red alert's over, I get in touch, or you're relieved. Whichever is first. We're still technically under duress; we still need to get off this death trap." He made to step away, then hesitated. "Replicator's over there, don't forget," he added with a twinkle in his eye.

With that, he turned away and followed Wenn into the lift. The acting captain was mid-communication with someone else due to meet them below, so he politely waited his turn before speaking.

"Mister Wenn, I would remind you that we did not have to lift a finger to help you in that fight. We are still the victims of a kidnapping under a false pretence, your story is still in dire need of independent verification... and if you speak to one of my officers like that again, we will have a rather more robust disagreement." The doors hissed open; it was only a short journey to the next deck, after all.

"Am I clear, Lieutenant Commander?"
Nator 159: "I accept no responsibility for the ensign's manifest stupidity. Sir." [Show/Hide]
Ranaan Ducote: "A ship is a home; its crew a family." [Show/Hide]
T'Less: "Your odds of prevailing against us are... slim." [Show/Hide]
Valkra: "Come! We will shake the gates of Sto'Vo'Kor!" [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #123 –
[ PO2 Kino Taer | Intensive Care Unit | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] @Doc M. @Auctor Lucan

"The suit saved him," answered the nurse with a smile to Taer’s soft exclamation. "He's just unconscious from an electrical short-circuit in the chest area. He was in a poor condition when he came in too, but he'll make a complete recovery."

“That’s good. The suit did its job well then.” Kino replied as Jovela approached her with the phaser pistol. Jovela’s comment that the pilot’s pistol didn’t belong there was true enough, the Trill knew, and she also knew most of the medical personnel that were now flooding Sickbay again were uncomfortable with the number of armed goldshirts roaming the halls inside, as well as the dead bodies that were only now being moved to the morgue to be identified and stored for a proper burial. “No worries, Lieutenant, just doing my job. I’ll get out of your way so you can do yours.”

Fucking Klingons. All their talk of honor and glory and they come to kill unarmed wounded and medics. Taer mused to herself as she walked back out of the room, the doorway now clear of bodies both unconscious and dead. In their places on biobeds, those that she couldn’t save in time were being replaced by wounded that needed a high level of medical care, among them the wounded man from her team. Without fully registering the motions, the pistol she was given was deactivated, its power pack removed, and both inserted into the mostly empty compartment meant for mission-specific gear. It would need to be checked into the Armoury later to be returned to the pilot.

The officer command Beta Team greeted her next to the desk outside of the ICU. He was speaking with someone in Security to coordinate the beaming out of their new guests, a task that didn’t take long.

“Hey, Taer.”

“Hello, Ensign. Good job all around, eh? You don’t look familiar.”

“Ah right. I came over from the Harbinger,” he replied as if the ship’s name was supposed to be familiar to Kino. “Anyway, the Klingons are secured in the Centre now. I will be taking my team to clear the neighboring sections per orders from the Bridge. Will you join?”

Kino noticed the telltale shimmer of someone being beamed into the primary surgical suite. The figure looked familiar but it wasn’t until the HUD showed the identity attached to the combadge that she placed it. If she had her helmet off, she would have run her hand through her hair before responding, a nervous habit picked up from the humans she trained with years ago.

“Roger that. I’ve got no orders right this moment so I think I will stay a moment and be useful, sir. If the alert I saw earlier is any indication, I’ll be summoned back to the Centre any moment now anyway.”

After a moment of looking at her curiously, the Security officer nodded in understanding and turned around to leave. The rest of Beta Team filed out after him, leaving just the Petty Officer and the surviving members of her squad as the armed presence in Sickbay. She looked around to note where they were, smiling approvingly as she saw them working with orderlies to move bodies. She would join them in moment, but first….

[ >> Primary Surgical Suite ]

She walked slowly through the doors into the suite as the petite Vulcan finished responding to the nurse. Maya sounded and looked as if she wasn’t quite there, but Kino assumed it was likely shock. Whatever happened with Nicander necessitated a quick lockdown in the Centre and chatter overheard indicated that Bremmer and Varder were already securing the waiting room outside of the temporary brig area. She suppressed the urge to sigh. It had been a long enough day and the faint siren song of sleep was only getting stronger by the minute.

“If you don’t mind, miss. I’d like to ask the good doctor here a question while you run your scans.” Kino said as she stepped fully into Maya’s field of vision, ultimately leaning against the wall opposite of the surgeon. “Doctor Maya, I’m told there’s a serious situation developing in the temporary brig. Do you recall what happened before you were beamed out?”

Re: Chapter 02: Vantage Points [ Day 05 | 2330 hrs. ]

Reply #124 –
[Lt. Commander Vael Kaeris | Battle Bridge | Deck 8 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: Anyone on the bridge

It had been a simple matter to isolate the sensor logs for the borg fly by.  Scarcely thirty seconds from their inexplicable arrival to their unceremonious departure.  The active sensors, such as they were, had been otherwise engaged, targeting the Rotarran, tracking hostiles both abroad and within.  In truth, all he had to work with was the navigational sensor array.

He'd locked down the recording and set up a series of algorithmic filters to begin the process of stripping out the background radiation of the nebula and the combating signals of the Theurgy and the klingons.  Some fine tuning would be required to ensure they had identified the proper harmonics, but the computer could handle the brunt of the work for now. 

"I have the sensor log filtering," he stated aloud, ensuring that the local members of the science department were aware of his efforts should they be required to pick up in his place.  "Barring interruptions, it should be ready for clean up in ten minutes."

Standing, he stepped away from the station.  "While that is underway," be began, straightening his uniform, eyes passing over those left on the bridge, "is anyone in need of medical attention that doesn't require a visit to sickbay?"
 
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