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Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [D06|0840]

CHAPTER 03: KNIFE'S EDGE | DAY 06 | 0840 hrs.

“If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are.”
― Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commanding Officer of the USS Enterprise

Mission Log, stardate 57556.08. It was in November last year that we began the hunt for the Theurgy, and over the course of the past five months, she and her traitorous Captain has continued to elude us. We thought we finally had her at Starbase 84, only to learn they had found allies in an alien species that had eluded the notice of the Federation. Clearly, Ives exploited the poor creatures, sacrificing them so that the Theurgy might escape. Truly, Ives' deceitful nature knows no bounds. It was with great regret that I had to destroy that fleet of saucers, since judging by the destruction dealt upon the starbase alone, it is clear that the Theurgy must be stopped at all cost.

Now, finally, we might have chance.

The present half of Task Force Archeron intercepted one of their subspace messages in the Azure Nebula forty minutes ago, and since then, the noose is tightened around one of the Theurgy's vectors. The others are surely present, but spread out as far as they seem to be, they are weaker than when operating in a coordinated unit. They have tried to elude us, to fool us, using probes and armed torpedoes in their wake to discourage us. They have tried to infect our computers again with subspace messages, but since Theta Eridani IV, we know what the Theurgy's A.I. can do. We will not be left adrift again, having spent a weak in futile repair and computer purging efforts as we did. No, we have offered one chance at surrender, and they have forsaken it.

After the damage done to the First Minister, and the loss of the Telemachus and Captain Slayton, I have discontinued the random search pattern and ordered all ships to move in a net. Why? To catch this elusive fish in the murky nebula, we now move in a relay network, which enables communication inside the nebula despite it's nature. My ships do not drift apart far enough to loose communication with the ships closest to them. As soon as we sight the Vector again, we can converge on the coordinates without delay.

Despite further attempts, I have yet to receive word from the other half of the Task Force, led by Captain th'Veral on the Ark Royal. We have not received any transmissions from any of the eleven ships since yesterday, and I fear that something might have happened to them. Could it be that the Theurgy are so widely spread apart in the nebula, that they enountered them, and were contaminated by the A.I. once more? The only proof of life was a single warp probe, which bore the markings of the Kusanagi. I had the contents of the message sent to my command chair, but when I opened it, it was empty, and even when Ops pried the thing open, it seemed like there hadn't been any message there to find either. My best guess is that the A.I. scrambled the data inside the probe, so that we couldn't learn where they had engaged the Theurgy.

I guess we will never learn what the probe said. I can but pray for the lives of the people on all those ships, and hope we can come to their aid, should the worst have happened.
― Admiral Ian Sankolov, Commanding Officer of USS Archeron

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]
Hands at her sides, Jennifer Dewitt had came to a stop in front of the bridge crew, her green eyes finding Trent's.

"What say you, Captain?"

Neither option she had presented was palatable, but with the detonation of the USS Thames, they did have a chance of escaping, before they drifted into the kind of sensor range that would make it impossible to avoid detection, leaking a modicum of plasma as they still were. Perhaps the other Vectors might pick up on the encrypted message Trent had ordered to leave behind, before Task Force Archeron discovered their arrival? In the soup of the nebula, it seemed unlikely, but there was still hope in that, even if the broadcast would likely be lost. As it were, with no warp capabilities and no cloak to hide them, it was only a question of time before either of Admiral Sankolov's ships found them.

Staying, there was the hope that - in the remaining 20 minutes - the other Vectors would arrive, even if they hadn't during the previous two RVs. This was the last one. The last chance for the Theurgy to reassemble. If they couldn't it was each Vector on their own, all having the same, independent mission, to continue what they had begun. The primary objective of the Continuance Protocol was survival, regardless what had become of them all.

"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth," she said, looking at Trent, and knowing that he might be emotionally compromised in this moment, knowing as she did about his personal loss of Heather McMillan, and how their Commanding Officer had wanted to prepare the crew of the Helmet for an infiltration mission aboard the Savi dreadnought - completely in disregard to what Ives' orders had been, and what the Protocol entailed. Luckily, she had managed to talk Trent out of it at that time.

Yet what of this moment, when their Captain stood to loose any chance of getting Heather back?

Would he do the rational thing, and leave, while they still could, or were the lives aboard Vector 01 worth nothing compared to the single one he wished to save?

Dewitt hoped he would see reason... lest she might have to tell the bridge what she knew, and relieve Trent from command. She really hoped she wouldn't have to do that, since even if she was confident in such an action, the timing for it was as catastrophic as it was necessary.

In three minutes, they would enter sensor range of the starships ahead of their trajectory, and all their lives hung in the balance.


Meanwhile, elsewhere on the ship, Drauc T'Laus had made Dyan Cardamone an offer, having learned of the plights she'd suffered aboard the Theurgy, and in Engineering, the officers there were desperately trying to keep the Vector's warp core from failing them, and to make the Reman cloaking device activate without further compromising their position in the nebula.



OOC: Now begins the final part of these events! In this part of the nebula, regular shields are operable by 50 %, with some emitters still needing to keep out some radiation. Passive sensor range limited to 10 000 meters. Next poster: @CanadianVet, after he has posted, a seven day response time begins for all.

This is the starter for Chapter 03: Knife's Edge. This thread features the last 20 minutes when the Helmet waits for the other Vectors in the third and final Rendezvous. All Supplemental Threads that are started between characters on this Vectors will have to be set before this time of 0810 hrs. on Day 06, but not afterwards, and they should also be posted on the Part 1 board. Just like in the interregnum, Supplemental one-on-one threads are started at your leisure! Supplemental threads should be named CH05: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title, and can extend as far back as right after the battle with the Versant and all the way up to 0810 hrs on Day 06, where the third Rendevouz began.

Main Bridge & Deck 01: [Show/Hide]
Known staff on the Helmet: [Show/Hide]
Inbound ships from Task Force Archeron: [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [Day 06 | 0840 hrs.]

Reply #1 –
[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @The Ostrich @Triton @Brutus @chXinya @FollowTomorrow @Mathis @JayLatte te @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe

What say you, Captain.

Dewitt's question was sharp, perhaps more than was proper, but he was willing to let that pass given the situation.  But when he met her eyes, he saw the doubt there.  He knew of her stance with regards to his preferred course of action and that weight hung, invisible and unsaid in the air.  And what followed, stating a Starfleet officer's duty was to the truth.  And that brought the ghost of a mirthless smile to Trent's lips for a mere heartbeat; he recalled the conversations about truth he had held with Jien Ives. 

His pale grey eyes locked with this XO's and in them, alongside a cold flame of determination and focus, danced fear and doubt and grief.  And the remembered horror of nightmares that plagued him even when he no longer slept.  But in the end it was that implacable focus that won out.  "Until Engineering reports a stable warp drive, we can't go anywhere," he simply replied. That was something that needed no further explanation; everyone on the Bridge knew about the warp core damage and how attempting to go to any kind of sustained warp velocity was liable to breach it and kill them all with a flash that would put the heart of a star to shame.  That, and it was just moments past he had given orders to shut it down to effect emergency repairs and perform a crash restart. 

But that did not mean they were out of the woods just yet.  The Task Force was arraying itself in such a way as to comb the area, going for a methodical, close sweep rather than the broader dispersal that had endangered its ships.  So, it would seem the damage to the First Minister had not done much to slow them down.  How many dead, for nothing, harshly thought the man in the command chair.  Well, what was done was done. 

They still needed to move, try to get themselves out of the way, buy themselves more time.  Thruster wash would light up the nebula like a flare; the impulse drive's emissions would put a beacon on their hull.  And going to warp just now was simply not going to happen.  But they needed motive power... and an idea dawned on him.  "Bridge to shuttlebay, if you haven't gotten all the physical work done, get into suits and prepare for decompression.  Do everything else you can remotely."  Then he called up a display of the ship, and he sectioned off a portion of all decks on the port side.  "Ops, evacuate these sections, seal them off from the rest of the ship and override all internal doors, emergency bulkheads and pressure doors in the area to keep them open.  Once that's done, open Airlock Beta 29 exactly... one point seven centimeters.  Simultaneously, you will open a half-meter square portion in the top, port-side corner of the shuttlebay's atmospheric forcefield.  Helm, your part will be the exhaust thruster fuel, unlit, through the lateral RCS thrusters."

It was a long shot, but it would buy them some time.  Not much, but hopefully enough for the engineers to finish what they were doing.  "Mister Arisaka, keep us hidden.  If we are hit with active emissions, bring up the reactive arrays and disrupt the return signals, make it look like natural distortion within the nebula.  Commander Marquez, an open engagement is our very last resort.  Though should it come down to it, your priority is to take out the Archeron.  All other targets are secondary."  And with Sankolov dead, there's a chance the next officer in line will be willing to entertain a proper surrender, with guarantees of treatment and trial as enumerated in Starfleet regulations as well as Federation and interstellar law.

And still, he was not done.  "Ensign Eloi-Danvers, call up the message that was sent earlier through the MVAM link and upload it to the Thames.  Remotely program her comms suite to broadcast it on all frequencies, maximum power, Priority 1, encrypted with the vectors' unique keys just before she goes to warp."

And finally, he called up the very heart of his vessel.  "Engineering, this is the Bridge.  Mister Suq, I understand these things take time, but I need you to expedite repairs and restart on the warp core.  Cut every corner that won't kill us outright, bypass redundant tests and diagnostics, I don't care.  But get me warp power."  But the alternative, or we are all dead, remained unsaid.

Carrigan Trent had never been a particularly devout man.  He recognized there were powers greater than mortals out there, but in his whole adult life, he had never beseeched them.  But now, he did.  Please, don't let me be wrong.  Let us live.  Let us find the others.  Let me see Heather again. 

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [Day 06 | 0840 hrs.]

Reply #2 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Jeffries tubes behind the warp core | Vector 01 ]

"Engineering, this is the Bridge.”

Suq’s brain didn’t properly register the words at first. Rather, he heard an annoying sound coming from the vicinity of his chest and he waved his hand about, as if he could swat away the sound and continue on. He was standing in a jeffries’ tube, most of the wall tore out to expose the main EPS and cooling pipes that lead to and from the warp core. At his feet were a variety of thick, heavy canisters, and he had installed a huge, thick, black coiling lattice around the EPS vent. It was terribly long, but thankfully modular and easy to carry up here. He was in the midst of installing an ‘IV’ into the pipe when Trent interrupted him.

That’s it, that’s Trent’s voice, isn’t it?
“Mister Suq, I understand these things take time, but I need you to expedite repairs and restart on the warp core.  Cut every corner that won't kill us outright, bypass redundant tests and diagnostics, I don't care.  But get me warp power."

He was still on autopilot. It took him a while of just standing there to realize he ought to talk back, and keep working. He thumped his chest with a hardness, he could feel it in his lungs.
“...” He stood there, his jaw open. Words were boiling in his mind but they were not coming out. Instead, his hands finished with the shunt and started hooking up one of the canisters.
“...I’m gonna break Thea a bit.” He warned.

And so, he filled the lattice he installed with a mix of dangerous chemicals that together made an extremely effective supercoolant more befitting of the Breen than the Federation. The plasma, sufficiently cooled, would no longer flow directly to the warp core and overload it’s temperature. Coolant would still leak, but to hell with it. It’s a dumb coolant anyway.

After overseeing the successful transfer of the supercooling mixture from canisters to lattice, making sure nothing exploded, he left the setup as it was and walked, casually, back to main engineering.
"If it feels cold, don't turn the heat on."

[ PO Dyan Cardamone/Sar-Unga Neleo | "Thea's room" | Vector 01 ]

“Wait--” the Asurian woman stopped in her tracks, her mind whizzing and whirling like a teacup ride at a fair turned up to 11. She’d already tried to leave with her own kind and did not do so. Now, she could leave again. But would there be strings attached? She briefly thought of her former lover, trying to push himself on her, how satisfying it was to sock him right in the face.

“You...can get me off the ship. And you’re offering to do so.” She repeated, trying to understand her own wild waterfall of thought. Questions bubbled up, so many questions-- “Where exactly would we be going? How would we be getting there—why are you offering this to me? What’s in it for you?” What about the parasites? Her brain silently demanded.

She felt it acutely. She may not be able to see them, but she knew the parasite menace was there. War was on her doorstep.

Would she answer the call?

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [Day 06 | 0840 hrs.]

Reply #3 –
[Lt Cdr Leon Marquez | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet @Brutus @chXinya @FollowTomorrow @Mathis @The Ostrich  @JayLatte  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe


  "Bridge to shuttlebay, if you haven't gotten all the physical work done, get into suits and prepare for decompression.  Do everything else you can remotely. Ops, evacuate these sections off from the rest of the ship and override all internal doors, emergency bulkheads and pressure doors in the area to keep them open.  Once that's done, open Airlock Beta 29 exactly... one point seven centimeters.  Simultaneously, you will open a half-meter square portion of the shuttlebay's atmospheric forcefield.  Helm, your part will be the exhaust thruster fuel, unlit, through the lateral RCS thrusters."

The wait was killing Leon, much as any direct hit or mistaken order from the center seat could. His time, tenure, trials and tribulations in, out around and away from the center seat had all prepared him for moments of truth like this one. Experience had taught him indeed to stand his ground unless the orders were compromised, or chance of crew survival relative to a mission's ultimate outcome were outweighed. The scales, bleak as they weighed here and now were beyond Marquez's control.

"Mister Arisaka, keep us hidden.  If we are hit with active emissions, bring up the reactive arrays and disrupt the return signals, make it look like natural distortion within the nebula.  Commander Marquez, an open engagement is our very last resort.  Though should it come down to it, your priority is to take out the Archeron.  All other targets are secondary."

If Exposing the parasite could be done, there was a glimmer of hope for redemption, vindication and indeed hope itself. Otherwise, Leon would still rather incinerate any Parasite field officer in range than let this legacy of their ship go unpunished or their mission to reveal the truth die unchallenged if the other Vectors didn't arrive. That made the confirmation of Leon's prepared orders that much more difficult to utter, "Tactical ready, Captain." Too bad negotiation was not an option; only the comfort of peace only victims of crows' nest eqiuvalents would judge in this eternal infinite tomb called space.
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 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #4 –
[Zyrao Natauna | Bridgin' Ain't Easy |  Time to Make Moves |  Dance You Fuckers, Dance | Snack Time, Anyone?]
@Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet @Triton

Trent being unhappy with her suggestions was nothing new.  It was no skin off her back and she wasn't even remotely surprised.  She had told him that it wouldn't be a popular option, nor was it likely to be implemented.  “Just listing your options, T.” she said with a bit of a shrug of one shoulder.  The tattooed skin around her shoulder shifting against the muscles of her body.  The fact that he agreed that the cloak needed to be less a priority and instead a pocket idea for the future was nice.  At least he could see the merit in other people's ideas.  She hadn't been sure, earlier, that he could.  He took her other idea, the Shuttle Decoy, and twisted it to work a bit better with the anti-matter pods that would simulate a core breach. 

I give him props for that.

Zyrao shifted her weight.  She was a strong woman, and she didn't mind standing but after a while the joints just ached.  It was best to shift around so that the fluids and muscles would have a chance to move.  Stretch out the tendons and the body when she could do so.  It was time to make decisions.  It was time to go into action.  Shit had to go down, and they had to make the hard choices.  Or rather Trent did.  He was the one that had to decide to pull the trigger, to follow her advice, or to come up with a stellar plan with a less percentage chance of turning them all into atoms.  Now it was the time to see if the upstart in the center seat had an actual brain between the ears. 

Love to take bets on that, could make a killing.

Sometimes, Zyrao tickled herself.  She smirked slightly at her own mental joke but she kept herself quiet as she folded her arms across her chest.  Dewitt was asking the hard questions, waiting to see what the man was going to do.  It was time for him to make the fun choices.  In the set of his shoulders, Zyrao could tell that it wasn't an easy decision to make.  To her, there was only one decision that was the 'most right' because none of them were going to be without casualties.  But then, that was life, and this was battle.  There wasn't a battle fought that would not include casualties.  There was no limit, no number, nothing that would fully have a tally of the lives that would be lost. 

Greater good was in the eye of the beholder, and had nothing to do with right or wrong.

Trent burst into action and began barking his orders about.  Zyrao shifted off the holo computer where she had been leaning for the time being and found herself the replicator.  When she had last eaten, she wasn't aware, the cookies she supposed that the Security Ensign had kindly brought her earlier.  Such a dear, she would have to look him up later, he seemed to be receptive to her charms and she hadn't even fully turned them on yet.  Someone like that could be rather lucrative.  She replicated herself a small bowl of the Klingon snacks she most enjoyed.  Bits of fruit, the very fruit she had been eating when she had conversed with Ives and Martok not all that long ago.

Yet somehow it seems like it was eons ago. she mused to herself.

Returning to her spot on the holo computer, she watched the feed.  Training it as best as she could on the shuttle because she was most interested in how that plan worked out more than anything else.  Snacking, using only her fingers, she munched on the fruit and watched everything unfold.  Then a thought occurred to her. 

“Computer, show me the schematics for Acheron.” she stated in her native El-Aurian.  The melodic language slipping off her tongue beautifully.  Those around her would be able to understand her anyway with the UT doing it's job without even having to be initiated.  Fancy part of having a ship like this.  Once the Schematics came up on the screen in front of her she began to poke about.  Deck by deck to look for a vulnerable place where they could actually attack the ship with the minimal number of casualties.  She might be an old War Hero.. or veteran, whatever someone wanted to call it, but she didn't go about wishing the genocide of entire ships. 

She still mourned, secretly, in the back of her mind the loss of the Hakkarl that she had called home for so many years.  Many of those Klingon were family.  She had yet to allow herself the down time to mourn or really process.  She pushed it to the back as she did many other tragedies in her life.  Tears solved nothing.  Neither did anger.  None of those feelings would solve a damn thing.  It was best to fuck with later when she was alone and not on a Bridge full of people.

Chewing slowly on the fruit she worked her way through the computer lay out deck by deck.  Come on you fucker, I know you have a weakness.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #5 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Vector 01 Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @chXinya @Auctor Lucan @Triton @CanadianVet @Blue Zephyr @JayLatte @FollowTomorrow @The Ostrich @Brutus @Absinthe
[Show/Hide]


Lorad hissed again as he moved his arm the wrong way. He had almost managed to ignore most of the pain that the plasma burns were causing every time he moved the limb but then he would move just the wrong way and it would flare up again.

He and the two crewmembers he had ‘recruited’ had been working on assembling a new Reman cloaking device that had an enlarged capacity from what was left of the Apache’s. They had replicated components as necessary or salvaged what they had too from the old device; namely the control chip and interface board. Working on the basis that the cloak’s maximum size and output were designed for the Apache, and the section of the ship he was on was about 20 times larger; they had built the cloak to have a maximum field size 600 metres long.

They had been fitting the last components when Lorad heard a cracking sound and a moment later, an EPS conduit in the wall near them exploded. The male crewmember helping them had taken the brunt of the blast on his back and right side while Lorad had taken a glancing hit to his left arm and side. That doctor hologram was now kneeling next to the male while Lorad and the female worked to fit the last component.

“That’s it,” the female declared as she finished connecting the component. “The cloak is finished.”

“No,” Lorad said through gritted teeth. “Control chip. It thinks its Apache. It must think Theurgy.”

“I can’t reprogram it,” the female responded, seeming to grasp what the Reman meant. “I don’t know how.”

“Get her,” Lorad ordered as he pointed at the back of Selena Ravenholm. “She can.”

“I hope so,” the female replied as she got up from where she had been kneeling.

“I have done all I can do for him here,” the holographic doctor said as he signalled to another crewman. “Take him to sickbay,” he commanded before turning to look at Lorad. “You should report there too. You have 2nd degree plasma burns.”

“Later, after ship safe,” Lorad retorted as he looked down at the completed device. He didn’t know if it would work. The PADD with the specifications said it should work but who knew if it would. Or what the consequences of its use would be.

“As you wish.”

[OOC] Have discussed with @chXinya about reprogramming the chip. So it's Selena's turn now.  :)

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #6 –
[PWO Selena Ravenholm | Vector 1 Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy] attn: @FollowTomorrow @Stegro88

Having moved over to the console F’Rell had pointed to with her tail, Selena kept trying to balance out the flow rates from the matter and antimatter injectors.  It was much harder than one would think: same amount of matter and antimatter reach the dilithium chamber at the same moment, but these streams weren’t from a water faucet.  Two separate series of magnetic constrictors kept the flows in check, but if any one of them were off it would throw the entire intermix out with disastrous results.  A quick glance at the system showed the analyst that this was a job normally left to the computer.  The balance coding was right at the top level and easily accessible, but with all of the damage and strain on the core it was having trouble optimizing the streams.

Selena’s fingers jumped from one input to another, brow furrowed as she had to bounce between adjusting the subroutines so that they could take over again and manually adjusting the magnetic constrictors on the fly.  Somehow she’d managed to keep them from exploding into quantum vapor in a runaway annihilation reaction so far, and the computer was doing better at cancelling out sudden spikes with every passing minute.  “I think I have it.  Computer should regain full control of the matter/antimatter streams in just another minute or two.”  Who knew that heuristic data processing algorithms would work on controlling a warp core?

Watching the final variables click into place, Selena started the upload when someone called out to her from behind.  Turning to look, she saw one of the engineers by the cloak waving her over.  “Yell if you need need me to work on the core.” she throws at the flying eel.  There wasn’t much more she could do at the moment anyways, but a dead core will definitely kill them, while a dead cloaking device only makes it easier for others to kill them.

Bounding over to the cloaking device, the woman who waved her over held out a PADD.  Lorad was busy looking at something inside the device so it was up to her to give the news.  “He said the cloak is stuck on its original design, or something like that.”  Curious as to what that meant, Selena looked at the PADD, metal fingers clicking against the casing.  Status reports from the device’s internal diagnostics all seemed to check out, verified by tricorder scans.  By all respects the cloak should work but it’s not pulling enough energy from the core.  “Original design…” she muttered, and then the connection was made.

“It’s made for a ship barely bigger than a shuttle, that’s what he meant.”  Interfacing the PADD with the cloak, Selena keyed up the universal translator and started parsing through the Reman programming.  This was going to be fun.  “It’s not drawing enough power to generate a large enough cloaking field.”  A split-screen view showed the original Reman on the left with Federation Standard translations on the right.  The PADD was doing ok with the translating, but it wasn’t perfect.  Red text showed where it couldn’t quite figure out what it was saying, but the more she read through the fewer gaps there were.  “Just need a few minutes to find the proper variables.  Has anyone done the math on how much juice we need here?”

Of course the answer was no, for some reason no one had thought to check the original values.  Rolling her eyes, Selena quickly searched for the proper terms and tossed the power curves to a nearby console.  “Run it quickly please.”  While the engineers worked on the match her fingers danced across the PADD, unlocking different lines of code for editing and patching in whatever updated she could think of requiring.  After what seemed an eternity, the new numbers were ready.  Entering the new power variables as they were called out, Selena stopped just before she sent the patches.  The quoted number was familiar.

Looking around the room, her steel-blue eyes darted between each consoles, her augmented vision automatically zooming in so that she could read them without having to approach.  In the end she ended up needing to focus on the antimatter regulator she gave up just a few minutes ago.  Displayed right on the screen was the predicted usable power output coming out of the dilithium chamber, and it was almost as large as what the cloak needed.

“Oh not good.  We can’t cloak and run.  Someone has to choose one.”

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #7 –
[ Drauc T'Laus | Main Computer Core | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow
[Show/Hide]
Dyan Cardamone's questions were born of skepticism and doubt, which Drauc should have known to expect. Standing there in the circular chamber of the Main Computer Core, he was unsure how to allay her fears, and make her see the nature of his altruistic offer. There was even a fleeting sense of... was it regret? Regret about failing in carrying out the mission? Most of it, he think he gleaned, was uncertainty.

"You say 'we'," he rasped to her, facing her with his intense stare, "yet the offer was for you. Of course, if you want me with you, I can leave with you, but my offer was to help you leave, and only if you wish to do so."

He raised a scarred hand, seeing how a band of her white hair had come loose from behind her ear. "To return to your people, to your mother, and if there is any interest in doing so, make this... Queen of yours understand that you have returned to stay loyal," he grated quietly as he stroked the loose hair back behind Dyan's ear. "You need no protection, but should you want it, I offer it freely. You deserve the chance to return to your people, if that's what you want to do, before it is too late. It is a chance I never got, having remained outside the Romulan society, with nothing to my name. I burned by bridges early on, and now, there is no way back. I am, and remain, off the grid, and without any people to call my own. I am a bastard of Romulus and the Federation, whom neither wants any more."

He dropped his hand to his side, his stare remaining. "I have told myself I don't need to belong anywhere. I have lived many different lives through the minds of others, seeing the joy and misery of many races, but after I lost my brother, the impressions and passions of other minds have paled compared to what I lost in him. I make this offer, to let you return to those closest to you, because I do not wish you to walk the same path that I did."

He turned his torso towards the exit, the sliding doors from whence they had entered the room. The overhead light rippled through the tresses of his hair and the corrugated leanness of his bare chest and abdomen. "You claim a shuttle in the bay, and I make sure the bay doors and the force field remain open for you." It would be at his expense, since the crew likely needed their shuttles, butit was not like they could demote him for it. "Whether you stay or go is not for me to argue. What you do next in this long life of yours... is your decision. I merely wish to enable you, Dyan Cardamone, because you deserve it."


[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triton @CanadianVet @Mathis  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]
When Trent spoke, and began to deal his orders, Dewitt remained where she stood, closely studying him. The announcement was at the tip of her tongue, that they had to leave while they had the chance. It was not about the people present on the bridge, but the hundreds of lives aboard the Helmet and the mission. They had to leave, and yet Trent chose to not take the opportunity, and remain. Did he do it because he wished to assert his command as XO over all the Vectors and try to make them forsake their real mission, or was he merely following the Continuance Protocol to the letter, and wished to remain for the full hour that it entailed? Or, was it as simple as avoiding to use the warp core at that given moment?

Dewitt clenched her jaw, thinking over the dilemma she faced. It would have been easier, she surmised, if he hadn't admitted to his feelings towards Heather McMillan, and said his objectives weren't affected by the presence of McMillan on the Sabine.

Numbly, she found herself walking back to the holo display table, joining Zyrao. She blinked, seeing how the El-Aurian had replicated herself something to eat in the midst of all that was happening, but made no comment. Instead she looked towards the latest passive sensor readings. Trent's orders to the Helm would - potentially - give them a couple of minutes before Task Force Archeron's closest ships would detect them. They had until then, to find a way to defend themselves...

...or to leave, while they still could.

She found herself looking towards Ryuan Sel with the Accipiter rifle. She was the only one with apparent armament, and it was her that Dewitt would have to sway if she were to protect the crew from Trent's folly. They were likely the last remaining Vector, and the one in the CO chair was emotionally compromised. How could it have come to this?

Closing her green eyes a moment, Dewitt took a deep breath, and began to type messages.

[ Meanwhile | Aboard the USS Bellerophon ]

The Intepid-class ship's bridge was quiet, the assorted officers all focused on different kind of sensor output on their screens. As a science vessel, with a long and prestigious service, and a crew that were used to the kind of tasks currently at hand, she were one of the best ships in Sankolov's Task Force when it came to searching the Azure Nebula for the elusive Vector.

"Captain..." said Ensign Berg at the Ops station, almost as if not hearing himself speak.

"Yes, Ensign. Do you have something?" said Captain Belfrag, running a hand over his grey stubble.

"I'm not sure... It's within sensor range, but there is like... I am not sure if it is some kind of natural dampening field from the nebula radiation that is covering it, and it's just debris. There is a minimal heat source there too, which comes and goes. I am tracing its trajectory for now, to see if anything hap-"

Belfrag frowned. "Ensign?"

"Debris doesn't change trajectory, right?" said Berg, turning around and looking at the other officers. The silence that followed was telling. "Because I'm not quite certain, but I think it just did."

Belfrag didn't have much confidence in Berg, so after a couple of seconds, he rejected the idea to give the alert, and have the task force converge on this piece of debris that might - and mightn't - have changed course. "I'll report it to the other ships, but I will not sound the alert yet," said Captain Belfrag. "Keep your eyes on it, Ensign, in case you get certain of what you're seeing.

Thus, the notation about the debris became one of thirty other similar messages on the Archeron's bridge. Ensign Berg wet his lips, eager to do well, and bent over the readings anew.

OOC: Unfortunately, not everyone have posted here since last, but again a seven day response time begins for all. Please make sure you chime in? :) I have a lot in store in this Chapter.

All Supplemental Threads that are started between characters on this Vectors will have to be set before this time of 0810 hrs. on Day 06, but not afterwards, and they should also be posted on the Part 1 board. Just like in the interregnum, Supplemental one-on-one threads are started at your leisure! Supplemental threads should be named CH05: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title, and can extend as far back as right after the battle with the Versant and all the way up to 0810 hrs on Day 06, where the third Rendevouz began.

Main Bridge & Deck 01: [Show/Hide]
Known staff on the Helmet: [Show/Hide]
Inbound ships from Task Force Archeron: [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #8 –
[ PO Dyan Cardamone/Sar-Unga Neleo | "Thea's room" | Vector 01 ] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan

Mother, she thought, mother needs me. Her mind conjured up the images of her mother, crying, all alone with no more husband, no more children but Sar-unga, her precious baby girl. She was never a very strong warrior, her own inner demons haunted her for so long that it was all she could do to show up some days. Dyan was old enough now that she knew what it was like to be fighting yourself so much. Mother needed her, mother needed someone.

To say she didn’t want to go back was a lie too. She hurt so badly inside. Her family was ripped from her so suddenly, their lives cut to an end that shouldn’t have happened. They had so much more to do, so much they needed to accomplish, wanted to accomplish...and it was all over now. She wanted to go back home and just grieve. Maybe cry with her mother a while. Start over in life, forget this stupid mess of a world and all the little people in it who made it a mess.

Drauc was the one who triggered her mind to explode with thought and anger and disgust. The same path Drauc walked, he was trying to keep her from walking the same path he did. She looked over at him, her eyes meeting his and filled with the fire that comes from, well, crazy.

The strange, scarred-up man had lost a brother. She’d lost more. He was unwanted by both Federation and Romulans, she had betrayed both her people and her Federation. She did not like the way Drauc moped. To think that, after all she had lost, if she kept going she’d turn into a brooding, glowering, useless lump--

“If you think--” Her voice echoed off the walls, a near shout made louder by the acoustics of the room and the hatred on her face, “--that for a moment, because I lost everything, I’d turn into someone like you--You have no idea who I am. I am Sar-unga Neleo, Dyan Cardamone—and I’m going to kick the asses of everyone who thinks they can bring me down. I don’t just give up on life and being happy and shit just because the universe fucking sucks—I get up again and I kick ass. I will not let myself fall down to your level of mopey. I am going to stay here and slaughter. You get on that stupid shuttle and fly yourself away if your life is so awful. I’m staying right here.”

So the fire continues to burn.


[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Jeffries tubes behind the warp core | Vector 01 ] ATTN: @chXinya @Stegro88 @Absinthe @Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet

He was starting to run out of steam, if the headache growing in his shoulders and up his neck was anything to go by. It was real pain, just like the real pain in his hands and fingers. It was bringing him back into the real world, and if he dipped his feet in the real world, he’d likely panic. If he panicked, he wouldn’t get things done. If he wanted to work at the maximum efficiency he’d come to be proud of, then he would have to remain in the space between real and dreams.

He climbed out the Jeffries tube and took a moment to purposefully kick himself right back out of reality. The pain kept trying to bring him back, but he would have none of it. To the outside world, he was standing in front of the tubes, staring at the ladder.

It was a good thing he did it too, because he saw Selena leaving the warp core console and it was just F’rell. He wasn’t a warp theorist by any means, but he knew enough of what F’rell taught him to do the job in an emergency—much like this one. So he meandered to the newly-emptied console, stared down the words and numbers flying by. He hated this part of the job. At the very least, the brace he put on the EPS conduit was doing a good job. Better than he thought it’d do. He made a mental note for later…

He heard Selena Ravenholm. She said they couldn’t cloak and run. It took him a moment to parse his console and the situation before he understood what that meant. It meant the cloak was ready, but they could only do one thing at a time. He tapped his badge, gentler than he had been doing all this time,
“Trent,” He started, disposing of any formalities for the sake of speed, “We can cloak or we can warp, not both.”

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #9 –
[Lt Cdr Leon Marquez | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet @Brutus @chXinya @FollowTomorrow @Mathis @The Ostrich  @JayLatte  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe

During his cadet years, Marquez balanced his free time with studying by use of holodeck renditions of historical warfare scenarios, and the one dynamic Leon had truly studied during the Maquis crisis had been submarine warfare. There couldn't be any more differences between the Azure Nebula and the Badlands, or for that matter, the atmospheric difference betwen a U-boat or Submarine against a fleet of hunters. The Hunt For Red October in Leon's opinion, should have been a required read for tactical officers alongside Crimson Tide. But in the former's case, there was something Leon was considering as he ran a simulation overlay over his console to keep his attention trained on his duties while actively running theoreticals. His thoughts on the matter were interrupted when an Intrepid-class Bellerophon entered sensor range.

Leon almost hoped Admiral Ross was aboard in the event one of Leon's torpedoes would hit its mark if ordered to. Leon was going to propose to his then-girlfriend at the time upon receiving the blessing of her parents when the Admiral invited himself over and interrupted the evening to issue Leon's posting to the Resolve in the days after the Dominion War was over and the celebrations had died down as the fallout rose. Threatened me with AWOL charges during shore leave, that fat fool. I'll send you a charge or two if you're a damn parasite.

"Captain, contact. USS Bellerophon They're getting close and are within sensor range. They've probably spotted us." Leon reported. "Science, are we sure we're not giving anything away? Intrepid-class sensors are built for nebulae like this one." Leon asked Vivian while making sure everything that he was doing everything possible to maintain stealth while keeping first-reply torpedo salvos ready to ignite this nebula with one four-lettered F-word. If the cloak wasn't fixxed, they'd be... another F-word'ed. Marquez would be out of line to rush the cloak's deployment but his hunch about Intrepid sensors was well founded.
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 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #10 –
[ Drauc T'Laus | Main Computer Core | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow
[Show/Hide]
Since the experiments upon him began when he was so young, Drauc rarely took someone else's words at face value. The speaker's mind and his or her words worked in tandem, and gave a more nuanced impression. One might say someone's words were laced by seen and unseen emotion, and dishonesty was a stain upon anything spoken.

Yet Drauc did not think the Asurian was dishonest with him, much less did he take offence at her words. Others might, but not when her mind told him exactly how much he'd ended up hurting her. He regretted his offer immediately, having caused her such distress.

"My apologies," he rasped, and looked away - frowning at his own indiscretion. He should have known better than to prod her memories too deeply and to incite emotions with his findings.

He realised, also, that his offer was not the same as the one Jovela had given him, when he escaped from Starfleet Medical. He had stepped aboard that shuttle in fear of consequence, confused and alone, in grief of his brother's demise. Dyan Cardamone had already made her choice, when she chose to remain on the Theurgy. It was clear that he had erred, since her mind was already set on completing the Theurgy's mission. All he had done, was to cast doubt and confuse her objectives. While he had noble intentions with his offer, and he had thought he knew this Asurian after such a brief time, it was clear that memories alone were not enough to understand another person. She was, also, different than anyone else he'd met.

"All of my words, if not well put nor well taken... were well meant,” he added quietly, looking back at her. "Kindly intentioned, but not considerate enough. You have chosen your battlefield, and I should not have undermined your fortifications. It would be my privelage to still fight this battle at your side, if you still want me here."

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #11 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Vector 1 Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy] attn: @FollowTomorrow @Stegro88 @chXinya

While the world around her moved, F'Rell did her best to still herself, letting her body move so much as was necessary to maintain her current position. There were a nearly infinite number of variables in stabilizing the warp field, including the warp core's power output, which was fluctuation as it went through cycles of more or less matter/anti-matter mixture in the reaction chamber. Thus she needed to directly feed in new instructions to keep the field both stable and functioning.

It meant the warp nacelles could not properly cycle down and that the plasma network was gaining heat much faster than it was losing it, and with the damage already done that was not a good thing, but it also meant that she could insert new commands in between power cycles rather than needing to wait for a complete warp cycle each time. It was all a matter of heat, compression, and coolant. There was to much heat, the pressure was being held in by a number of clamps, and the coolant was actively leaking into a sealed off area. In some ways the situation was well in hand, solving it would mean simply powering the affected systems down and doing the needed repairs, but F'Rell knew that was not an option.

No, they needed to push the system farther than it was meant to go. She gazed at the power readouts, the spikes in output. There was a possibility, but a dangerous one, one that should not be considered and if it was not a situation like this she would not have considered it at all.

"<I can double the output of the power grid for 5 minutes, but then it will need a full repair and several power cycles to purge the code I will need to put in,>" F'Rell intoned calmly. She was forcing her emotions out of her mind, blocking them all out. She had to ignore the building panic, the building sense of fear deep inside. "<With the extra power it should be possible to make a series of cloaked warp jumps, but then we will need to power down or the entire system could go critical.>"

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #12 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Main Bridge | Deck 1 | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triton @CanadianVet @Brutus @chXinya @FollowTomorrow @Mathis @JayLatte @Absinthe

[Show/Hide]

Vivian was on the edge of her seat, both literally and figuratively. This game of cat and mouse was working upon her nerves, making her incredibly twitchy and causing her to jump at even the smallest objects which appeared on her sensors.

It had been a couple of minutes since Martin had received a signal return marking anything larger than stray stellar debris, and she was almost beginning to breathe easier when a sudden larger ping caused her to sit bolt upright at her station. She wasn’t the only one to have seen it, as Commander Marquez beat her to the punch and began issuing orders.

"Captain, contact. USS Bellerophon They're getting close and are within sensor range. They've probably spotted us."

Martin’s eyes were glued to her screen, looking for any sign that the other vessel may have detected their presence.

"Science, are we sure we're not giving anything away? Intrepid-class sensors are built for nebulae like this one."

”I’m doing what I can, but those Intrepids are fiendishly good.” Her eyes were still fixed on the blip marked as the Bellerophon, looking, perpetually searching for anything that might be able to give them an edge over their adversaries.

”There’s a small radiation pocket between us and them, its working to scatter some of the sensors, but I’ve analysed both our trajectories. We have another four minutes before it will no longer have an effect on either us or them.” Vivian quickly searched her scans, hoping to find another similar pocket that could be utilized to the same ends, but alas, came up empty.

A sudden stronger sensor pulse from the Bellerophon bounced off their hull and Vivian swore quietly under her breath ”Sir! Bellerophon just pinged us. We will be showing on their sensors now. To what extent I am still unsure. We’re running on low power, and with this background interference I doubt they can detect any emissions from us. I...I’m not seeing any reaction from them yet...they may have flagged us as stellar debris...shit...we can’t do anything until they look away sir, or the game will be up.”

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #13 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Vector 01 Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Triton @Brutus @CanadianVet @Absinthe @JayLatte @Mathis @The Ostrich
[Show/Hide]
 

Lorad tried to cradle his arm as best he could, using his other hand to hold it steady so as to avoid aggravating the plasma burns. It was not easy as every breath he took annoyed the ones he had sustained to his side, sending pain through his body. But he had suffered worse pain for longer; he would survive.

He had watched as Selena Ravenholm had worked on reprogramming the control chip and he had listened as she ordered for something about power to be run. And then some numbers came back and Selena had paused.

"Oh not good.  We can't cloak and run.  Someone has to choose one,” she had said. Lorad didn’t understand. This ship should easily have enough power to jump to warp while cloaked. He didn’t know about using weapons but going to warp should be possible. Unless they were damaged.

“You!” Lorad called out to the female that had helped him build the cloak as he whirled around. “Ship hurt. How?”

“I don’t know the full extent,” the engineer replied. “But I know the core is damaged in some way and that we are venting plasma.”

“Venting? What this mean?” Lorad asked, not knowing what the word meant.

“Seriously?” the woman said incredulously. The look on the Reman’s face, however, said it all. “Leaking. It means we are leaking plasma.”

“No. Bad,” Lorad said as realisation coupled with understanding. “Cloak cannot hide plasma.” He racked his brain, trying to remember a mission from his past. They had been sent to raid a Romulan supply depot that was supposedly lightly defended. It hadn’t been. They had still succeeded in their mission but their Hawk had sustained damage, specifically, they were leaking plasma. Lorad remembered that this had negated their cloak as it did not conceal the plasma. The situation had gotten worse when Romulan reinforcements had arrived. But how had they escaped?

They hadn’t stopped the leak because they had had to stop on another planet to make repairs. It had delayed their return by almost 2 days. They hadn’t fought their way free; their shields couldn’t take a hit from a D’deridex-class Warbird. Shields!

Bursting to his feet, Lorad looked around, searching and finally spotting the person he needed. Striding across the room with a purpose, Lorad released his injured arm and used his good arm to grasp the uniform from of the man known as Suq, lifting him up into the air until they were eye to eye. 

“Ship venting plasma,” Lorad stated, using the word he had just learned. “Cloak cannot hide this. Must use shield. Hold plasma inside cloak.”

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #14 –
[ Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers | Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: 
[Show/Hide]

"Ensign Eloi-Danvers, call up the message that was sent earlier through the MVAM link and upload it to the Thames.  Remotely program her comms suite to broadcast it on all frequencies, maximum power, Priority 1, encrypted with the vectors' unique keys just before she goes to warp." Faye's head snapped upward, turning to look over to Commander Trent. She hoped she kept her face calm. Someone had to. It would be very undiplomatic of her to show fear at a time like this.

"Aye, aye, Sir," she replied, acknowledging the order and setting to the task. What else could she say? Faye forced her coal black eyes to focus on her control panel and not wander the bridge. She couldn't risk the crew seeing what she knew, reflected in her eyes. Couldn't give away what she could sense all around her. Duty, she reminded herself. You have a duty to this crew and to the truth. The mission. You have to stop them so that you can then mend the fences of this Federation. You cannot let the others see what you know.

The orders, in and of themselves were not terribly hard to handle. Communications courses - the basics at least - were part of the Diplomatic specialty. Not only did they cover the technology side of it, but they covered the sociological aspects, linguistics. For a bit anyways, the two tracks ran parallel in the Academy. She had the skills to fall back on to handle this, and handle it she did. Falling into the routine motions, the commands entered.

Patch the channel to the Thames easy peasy. she told herself, another one of her mothers borrowed phrases. They were going through small craft at an alarming rate here in the nebula. She wondered idly if they would get any of them back. Not likely. Priority one...encoded. Uploading message....done. Yes, much easier to focus on this, and not thing about the possibility that the Bellerophon with its impressive Intrepid-class sensor suite might be pegging onto them.

Much better than the prayer that she heard Carrigan Trent mutter, to a God or gods he hand't spoken to in a long, long time. Or the face in his mind - a woman that Faye knew, from before. One she used to have tea with, back before everything went to hell. Now was not at all the time to try an analyze why her commanding officer was picturing Heather McMillan. Or why that thought would give Dewitt even more reason to ponder what she pondered.

No. Focus on the job. Encryption key laid. File your report Ensign.

"Commander," Faye called on the heels of Leon Marquez and Vivian Martin - vibrant Vivan, that long hair and those delicate fingers - not the time. "The Thames has been remotely prepped. Payload encrypted and uploaded. She's ready on your order." She hoped there wasn't a warble of fear - Trent's fear - on her voice. Because as much as Trent wanted to see Heather again, so too did Faye want to see Riley.

Please.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #15 –
[Zyrao Natauna |  Bridgin' Ain't Easy | Finding Weaknesses | Snacks and Strategy | Stressful Situations]

@Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet

Dewitt was stressed.

One look at the young woman and Zyrao was worried that she might just sway in her boots.  Not that she would, the woman was stronger than she looked, but it was no secret she was not a fan of the plans from Center Seat.  Zyrao couldn't blame her.  There were things that weren't easy.  Figuring out how to keep everyone alive and yet give the ship a chance to merge.  It was not a bad decision, but then there was no right decision honestly.  There was no right thing to do.  Run and lose the rest of the crew?  Stay and possibly die?  It was hard to say and that was something that no person really wanted on their shoulders.  Trent had the express pleasure of doing it. 

As Dewitt came to join Zyrao at the holo table, the El-Aurian woman looked up with those striking grey eyes of hers.  She could tell she was being judged, or at least, spectated.  She cared not for the thoughts of Dewitt and whether she decided to have a snack on the Bridge or not it shouldn't matter to a single person.  She had been around a long time and there was very little that took away her appetite.  The Bridge was not hairy enough to do that at this time.  The young woman stepped over to Dewitt and reached up laying her strong hand on the shoulder.

“Fear not, all hope is not lost.  Every plan has merit.” she said to the young woman. 

Giving a bit of a quick of her lips, Zyrao let go of the young woman's shoulders and turned her attention back to the deck plans of Acheron.  She was looking for something that was a weakness.  Something that they could exploit somehow.  Zyrao was a strategist and Acheron was a very large ship.    If it was just the one ship, they could out maneuver it probably, with some tricks from Helm.  But they weren't a solitary ship they were fighting a whole force of ships that were hell bent on capturing whatever they could.

There has to be something.  Somewhere.  Something we can sabotage without killing everyone since Trent is against a little massacre to save his own ass.  Not that he probably hasn't killed people before.  That's practically the Fleet's motto.  We'll help you unless you're bad then we kill you because you're bad.  It's really ridiculous.  All those electronics... all those little parts there has to be wait....

Zyrao pulled back and straightened her back.  Her grey eyes alight with an idea.  It would be evident in her face for a moment as her mind puzzled it out.

Electronics.

Zyrao turned her back to the holo table so that she could face the back of the head in the center seat.  “An EMP.  We need to set one off before warp.  Well no.  What we actually need to do is set one to detonate after we get out of range.  Or remote detonate, whatever the terminology is.  If we do this, we'll be able to eliminate the threat briefly from the Acheron and it's Task Force.”

She waited for the verdict.











Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #16 –
[ Aboard the USS Bellerophon ]

Ensign Berg couldn't help but feel like there was more to the readings he stared at than he had let on. The debris was quite large, about sixhundred meters, give or take. He frowned, and then looked at the other screen on his console, showing the three Vectors of the Theurgy. The top one, that's the one that the reports had mentioned before, it did have the approximate same size to it, and the odd contour? As if it was... perforated? Ensign Berg had come aboard the Bellerophon at Starbase 84, and he had yet to earn any recognition in Captain Belfrag's book, but...

Why was he doubting himself? Was it because he was treated like a Cadet again? No, he should have been more confident in what his instincts told him. He made a mental list of his findings, and added together, he had stand by his word.

"Captain. What I am seeing, when the Nebula doesn't dampen the readings, is a shape more than just reminiscent with the saucer section of the ship we are hunting. The way the readings are so obscured could also be caused by an artificial dampening field. This, added with the course change I did see, which set it off in a course away from us, and moreover, the faint heat source, I am convinced that we are looking at one of the Theurgy vectors, sir. I recommend we alert the rest of the Task Force!"

In his chair, Captain Belfrag looked at Berg, perhaps conflicted about what to think about the fresh-out-of-the-academy Ensign on his bridge.

"I can confirm the Ensign's findings to a degree, sir," said T'Vira from the Tactical station. "Yet I did not see any course change."

In the end, after another moment of thought, Captain Belfrag made a compromise. "Tactical, send this message to our closest ship, which would be the Dauntless, I believe. 'Suspicious readings found at the following coordinates. The Bellerophon will relay to all ships in the Task Force; Diverging from current course for investigation. Stand by for verified contact. Question, will the Dauntless join us to take a closer look?'"

"Sent, Captain. Relaying our course change to the rest of the fleet as well." T'Vira fell silent for a moment, but the answer came quite soon. "The Dauntless will accompany us. She verifies our find, also seeing something there, and they have ordered the closest of the Black Wolves to take the lead. ETA: Thirty seconds for the fighters, one minute for us."

Ensign Berg looked happy enough. "So, shall we, Captain?"

"Indeed we shall. Helm, take us there," said Belfrag, hoping that the Ensign was smarter than he looked. Soon enough, they were on a direct course towards the suspicious readings, and the Dauntless came in from another direction. Yet ahead of them, six warp fighters converged on the coordinates, led by their Wolf Leader.

[ Lt Cmdr. Ashton "Warlock" Bates | Black Wolf-01 | Mk II Valkyrie Cockpit ]

Keen on the information of a sensor anomaly, Ash Bates had immediately taken the lead of the wolves that were flying with him.

"Wolves, shields up. We go in at full impulse," he said, and while the deflector shields of the pack were diminished in capacity so that they might handle the radiation as well, he wanted battle readiness. "Pulsar, Banshee, echelon formation with me and Turret- Metalhead, Tinker, you follow, ready to engage." He did not trust those from the disbanded White Wolves squadron, but at least Metalhead seemed to share his loathing for traitors, having been very vocal about his hatred for Terror and those that had defected with her.

[This is Metalhead, acknowleged,] came the tight-lipped reply from the Anglosian, but Ash didn't care. If the new Black Wolves were to earn their recognition, they might have a chance soon enough. What was strange, however, was the lack of communication from Sneaky and Whiskers, who were flying with two of the other former White Wolves. They had another patrol route entirely, of course, but something seemed off - his gut feeling uneasy about the silence.

There was no time, however, to follow up on the rest of the squadron. They were thirty seconds out from the coordinates of the anomaly, and Ashton "Warlock" Bates curled his thumbs around the firing triggers on his Gryphon. The six Black Wolves were on the prowl, having scented prey, and he'd be the first to bite.

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triton @CanadianVet @Mathis  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]
No more had Dewitt managed to send one message, before she was interrupted by the El-Aurian, who approached her and spoke with her. Dewitt carefully schooled her features, and it took her a moment to remember that the short-haired woman couldn't have read over her shoulder, since she didn't know how to read Federation Standard. She smiled back at Zyrao, trying to be make the facial expression genuine. "I... don't think that applies to all plans, personally, but I will try to share your optimism."

That's when the officer in Ops swore, which was right after they heard the status from Engineering about the state of the cloak and the capacity to use it. The announcement followed. "Captain, two ships have changed course, both heading towards us. It's the Bellerophon and the Dauntless, sir.... and there are six warp fighters inbound ahead of them. ETA 20 seconds for the fighters and counting."

Dewitt closed her eyes. She'd been right. She switched the view on the holotable to a zoom in on the movements, seeing the six inbound wolves. Soon enough, she could see what kind they were; four Gryphons and two Valravn fighters. "There is no time to launch the Thames now!" she said, eyes darting as she thought, speaking fast. "And they are too close. They'll see us trying to bolt. There are two Valravn there too, and they have a very high warp capacity."

We should have run away while we could... Dewitt thought bitterly, wishing she could send more messages, but there was no time for that any more. "We need to try and cloak, now!"

Morgan Song was already shouting the same down to Engineering, listening to Dewitt and Trent both. Little did they know of F'Rell's solution, which had come too late.

OOC: Unfortunately, not everyone have posted here since last, but again a seven day response time begins for all. I had to push events forward a bit, so please make sure you chime in? :) As you all may have figured out, we have the Sabine and White Wolves inbound soon to aid a bit!

All Supplemental Threads that are started between characters on this Vectors will have to be set before this time of 0810 hrs. on Day 06, but not afterwards, and they should also be posted on the Part 1 board. Just like in the interregnum, Supplemental one-on-one threads are started at your leisure! Supplemental threads should be named CH05: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title, and can extend as far back as right after the battle with the Versant and all the way up to 0810 hrs on Day 06, where the third Rendevouz began.

Main Bridge & Deck 01: [Show/Hide]
Known staff on the Helmet: [Show/Hide]
The Black Wolves Squadron, those marked in yellow are inbound: [Show/Hide]
Present ships from Task Force Archeron, the ones marked in yellow inbound: [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #17 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Main Engineering | Vector 01 |USS Theurgy ]

“Initiating Cloaking sequence.” Announced Suq, and his hands tapped across the console to begin cloaking, again. His eyes screwed shut and he focused on hearing the ship. Listening to the way she hummed. He would not be able to see any changes from the inside. He would not know that they were cloaked without confirmation from a tactical console. This was his way of knowing.

There were seconds of normal humming. There was some fluctuation in the harmonics of the sound that aligned with the fluctuating temperature of the warp core, and he heard volume and pitch increasing as the core pushed out more and more power... but he did not hear anything that indicated the cloak had worked. He was holding his breath. His heart fluttered...

Sure enough, a near imperceptible tonal drop suggested that something was changing. There was a deep bass-y sound he was sure everyone could hear. He opened his eyes, and there were no visual changes in engineering. No fires, explosions, no lights fluctuating. All was relatively well.

Outside, the form of the Theurgy’s first vector faded away. Sensors and visual alike saw nothing left of the vector or it’s signs. It was as if nothing was there, save for maybe a sensor echo.

Except for the plasma.

Suq’s eyes snapped open and he turned around to the group behind him. F’rell, Lorad, Selena, the important people. He tapped his combadge to speak to the bridge as well, they were probably important too.
“We’re cloaked but bleeding plasma. They’ll find us. If you have a solution, go do it, because I need to babysit this cloak.”

[ Dyan Cardamone/Sar-unga Neleo | Thea's room | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] @Auctor Lucan


“You don’t get it!” She screeched, no longer caring much for Drauc’s feelings. Though she wanted him here, paying attention to her, she also wanted to strike back. Her desire for vengeance was as native to her as thirst or hunger.
“You don’t mean well. You can’t mean well. You wallow in self pity—you fucking built a house and live in self pity! Like your life is so awful and horrible and everything is bad. Oh, boo hoo--” Her tone switched, she was mocking now. She used her un-bladed hand to mimic crying near her own face, “Look at poor Drauc! No family! And he has telepathy! It’s so hard! Fuck you and fuck your entire life. Don’t ever try and drag me into running away and crying like you do.”

This time, it very much was an attack Dyan had always felt Drauc to be...weak, maybe? Unwilling. Pathetic. She herself wasn’t too sure which was the right answer, but she knew he was living a life that she thought was wrong. Even when she had been calm, that had been there as a basic disdain for him, disguised as an inflated ego.

Her inflated ego was still there, but now he saw in full color the hatred she had for his weakness. Be better, she thought, become better than this. Don’t allow yourself to stagnate. It was not said in a nice way, and if Drauc did not have the ability to skim her mind, he would’ve never seen it. She was trying, in a backwards way, to see him become the blazing fire of change in the world that all strong warriors must be.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #18 –
[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @The Ostrich @Triton @Brutus @chXinya @FollowTomorrow @Mathis @JayLatte @BZ @Absinthe

In the command chair, Carrigan Trent was remaining silent.  Between the plot, the readouts on his own consoles and his own mind, he was furiously crunching numbers.  So far, the math had been working out.  And by rights, it ought to have worked, even against the sensor suite of an Intrepid-class ship, for that matter.  Hell, if Theurgy's state of the art sensors had been all but blinded, in open space no less, by Calamity's EW, a system that was a direct adaptation ought to have kept them all but invisible at this time.  But no, it would see they had been detected.  Whoever it was who had managed it, was skilled and smart, and it did serve as a rather pointed reminder that Theurgy did not hold a monopoly on officers and crews who knew what they were about. 

And ships were moving to intercept.  They had been made.  But, it would seem, the cloak was working and not a moment too soon, and it was Jennifer Dewitt who took the decision out of his hands by calling for Engineering to bring it up immediately.  Well, that was not the option Trent would have preferred, not until it was an extreme last resort, and while he had a few tricks left up his sleeve, those became a moot point all right. 

But a rather unpleasant fact was how she was rattling off what was common knowledge about the Valravn fighters.  Was she truly this shaken?  Well, in truth he could hardly blame her for it. 

The lights dimmed as the cloak came online, and Trent's mind immediately shifted gear to the other problem they had, the plasma they were still venting.  It was but a trickle compared to the initial leak, but it would still show their position.  And they needed to be somewhere else, and fast at that. 

"Helm, hard about, bearing 250 mark 45, full impulse."  The command snapped out quickly and decisively, yet he had not even raised his voice past a conversational level.  "Continually roll ship and take us in a corkscrew pattern across our base course.  Petty Officer Song, personally join the damage control party looking after that plasma leak and close it down by whatever means necessary." 

In the meantime, he could only hope that the movement he had ordered Derek Veradin to adopt would be enough, that between the cloak, their wake and the physical movement of the ship, the plasma stream would be sufficiently disrupted to prevent serving as a trail of breadcrumbs across space.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #19 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Main Bridge | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ]

[Show/Hide]

Vivian took a deep breath, calming herself as she watched the Taskforce vessels approaching. They were drawing awfully close, very soon they would be close enough to positively identify the Theurgy, and shortly after that they would be within weapons range. It was incredibly tense and Vivian almost jumped out of her skin as the lights on the bridge dimmed and a small notification popped up on her screen, informing her that the Helmet was now cloaked.

She smiled to herself, the geniuses down in engineering had pulled through and now the Theurgy had a distinct advantage over the predators lurking in the Nebula. Vivian gingerly entered a command into her console, as if the slightest rushed move might accidentally dispel their cloak. A small display appeared in the corner of her screen, a status readout on the cloak. She knew that down in engineering there would be another officer keeping their own eyes fixed to a similar readout, but Vivian wanted to be prepared. If the cloak suddenly failed, the command crew on the bridge would need to know instantly, and the engineering crew would most likely be too busy repairing the cloak to immediately call the bridge.

Commander Trent’s plan for dispersing the plasma seemed a good one. That was one of the few things which still had the potential to give away their position. Although they wouldn’t truly be out of the proverbial woods until the leak itself was properly sealed. There was little Vivian could do about the leak, there was already an engineering team on the job, and if she joined them all she was likely to do was get in the way.

Her eyes returned to their previous task, watching the incoming vessels. Without a doubt they had now vanished from their sensors, something which would hopefully be causing a fair amount of concern and hopefully even a little bit of panic aboard the opposing ships. A faint smile crossed her lips as she imagined the faces of the officers watching them disappear. It was an oddly pleasing image.

The next few minutes would be very telling. Everything was teetering and with the slightest mishap the entire situation could easily slip, and one side would have the opportunity to seize the advantage. And Vivian doubted that either side would be willing to pass up that opportunity.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #20 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Vector 01 Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]


He had stood back, leaning against a bulkhead and continuing to cradle his arm as he watched Suq start up the cloak. He had never seen one activate before; hidden under the deck plating as it was but in hindsight he would later say it was a boring event. He was sure that if the casing around the device had been installed even this activation would have been boring. As it was, not much happened. Lights came on, a humming started up and the lights dimmed for a moment before returning to normal.

Lorad was about to push himself off the wall when Suq turned away from the console he had been standing at and looked at him, Selena and some snake-like creature that had appeared at some point. 

"We're cloaked but bleeding plasma. They'll find us. If you have a solution, go do it, because I need to babysit this cloak,” he had said to them. Despite Lorad’s rather, overt reminder about needing to hold the plasma inside the shield, they hadn’t done so. He didn’t even know why they hadn’t. And now wasn’t the time to ask.

But what could he do? He was no engineer and couldn’t fix whatever was leaking plasma. His skills were rather more the opposite of fixing stuff. He broke it instead. Whether it was living or not. His skillset wouldn’t become usable unless the ship was boarded. And if that happened, even Lorad knew that they would have worse problems than a boarding party. 

Maybe I should get my arm looked at? Just in case?

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #21 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Vector 1 Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]

In her world there was only the display and the controls. F'Rell could not allow herself to be distracted. She knew how to increase the output of the warp core, to give them enough power to keep the cloak active and jump the ship into warp. The power demands were astronomical and could very well overwhelm the system, but she'd heard of ships pulling such a feat off, she knew it was possible. But now was not the time for that, now she had to keep warp power online to power just the cloak, and that was no easy feat given the growing instability in the system.

---
[ Ensign Ryuan Sel | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]

It seemed as if the world moved around Sel and she was detached from it. Her men were in position and waiting, the most logical entry points covered by what few security personnel she had, all waiting to see if they were going to be needed, if they were going to be boarded and taken. Now all she could do was wait and watch those around her work. Her eyes drifted to Vivian and she pondered the shape of the woman for a moment. There was a pang of guilt in her mind, that she would think about someone besides Sarresh in that moment, but she wasn't even sure if he was alive, wasn't sure if they were really exclusive or what the nature of their relationship was. She didn't know and she kept pushing it. She was grateful that the exosuit she wore at least hid some of her facial expression, she was glad the rest of the bridge could not see exactly how anxious she was, on on the edge she was.

Not that it would matter soon anyway. They might have been cloaked, but there was no guarantee that the ships out there wouldn't find them and blow them into a million pieces. And it wasn't like she and him believed in the same afterlife. Hell the only one normally on the ship that even close was living proof that the Prophets, the celestial dickheads that they were, were only interested in interfering with her people when it suited them.

So yeah, even if she died, she knew there was no reunion waiting for her. There was barely a chance of one if she made it through all of this.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #22 –
[Lt Cdr Leon Marquez | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet @Brutus @chXinya @FollowTomorrow @Mathis @The Ostrich  @JayLatte  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe

Leon indicated the incoming Valravns on the tactical displays with blinking outlines highlighting the largest threat. Per prior orders, he could send torpedoes from drift-release and sudden-launch strikes. At the fighters, or the Ship drawing a bead on the Helm-Vector. Depending on the orders, he had the ability to shoot out the searchlight or scatter the hounds as needed. Both options presented in Plan-A and Plan-B colors of blue and green.

"An EMP.  We need to set one off before warp.  Well no.  What we actually need to do is set one to detonate after we get out of range.  Or remote detonate, whatever the terminology is.  If we do this, we'll be able to eliminate the threat briefly from the Acheron and it's Task Force."

"Torpedo Rooms report drift-release ready, Captain. New priority targets updated. Fighters are raising shields and arming weapons, Captain." Leon highlighted and magnified readouts of the plasma leak's wake in their current nebula pocket. "Reccomend we tripwire-this leak to our advantage and load it with a red herring: debris, spare parts... nonessential cargo." Submariners often feigned their own destruction with the bodies of their dead, which was the artless word for Leon implying as much. The thought of a photon grenade hidden with in the uniforms of fallen comrades as a booby trap for whoever beamed them aboard to collect them. It was barbaric but not unheard of, particularly in the Viet Nam Conflict.

Playing possum was a risky and destructive venture, but if the leak was patched and they could warp out, perhaps Plan C would be a realistic bet. Then they could have a shot in reuniting with the other vectors, given the gravity of the hour. "Perhaps we could stow the passive-aggressive bullshit while we're at it, and program it into the Torpedo that hit's Stink-love's bridge." Marquez crudely remarked as he nodded at Zyrao with a respectful, almost impish regard; akin to giving a compliment to a Tellarite. It also implied that any lingering feud or point of contention be put on pause; for now, 'Time and place, Buddy, save it. For now, have fun with it later.' At the same time, the Chief Tactical Officer just combined the El-Aurian's reccomendation as a purple plan with its projected vectors taking the color on the tactical readouts in the event Trent went with that option at a point when they could.

Or they could sit here like a deer on train tracks.

Come on, Suq and your little Reman, too. Leon muttered as the Cloaking Device staggered online.
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 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #23 –
[Zyrao Natauna | Patience is More than a Virtue |  Still  Running Thin | Unwanted Assistance |  Place Unwelcome Mat Here]

Even if, Dewitt did not believe that every plan had merit, Zyrao did.  There was always a chance that something would work and sometimes the most infinitesimal amounts of success could and would change everything.  She didn't know if her words would help or aid the woman but she hoped it would be so.  The El-Aurian battle warrior brushed a hand through her thick short hair trying to make sense of the map and come up with her own idea.  One that she pitched to him a moment later. 

Ignored.

She rolled her eyes.  Unsure if it was merely that she hadn't used his name or the unearned moniker of Captain, but she didn't appreciate being wholly unheard.  Perhaps it was only that the bridge jumped into motion and words like cloaking device were thrown around more quickly again.  She wasn't sure that the ship could handle that pay load and like she had stated earlier, the risk was real.  To overload the system like that again would be their death nail.  Why the fuck they were trying to put all their hopes and dreams on a shoddy piece of equipment than no one seemed to have any fucking idea of how to use was just absolutely ridiculous to her.

This was battle.

They were at war.

It was not the time to be playing with magic and rubbing sticks together in the hopes that there would ignite a spark betwixt them.  The EMP would have taken out those fighters, they could have sent something out there to them.  However, she wasn't privy to repeating herself especially in present company and she was really just tired of being an advisor that seemed to have no real purpose.  Come to the Bridge, they said, come advise us, they told her.  Yet, it seemed that all she did was consistently try to prove herself, come up with ideas, and try to help.  To be shut down or forced to defend herself in a situation where pettiness need not apply. 

Zyrao was frankly over it.

Her eyes flickered to the door of the Bridge.  Wondering if it was wiser to take her leave or to sit down somewhere and wait until she was called upon again to offer aid.  Only hoping that at the point they realized she was needed it wouldn't be so late that she couldn't help bring them back from it.  She shrugged her shoulders, Marquez said something but she didn't quite register what it was.  Perhaps she didn't quite understand it, the language barrier in her exhaustion becoming too large or her frustrations with the whole situation just sitting heavily on her stomach.  She was just over feeling unwanted and not helpful in the least.  So the El-Aurian fell quiet. 

If they went to their doom at least she had gone down trying to help.  Instead, she leaned against the holo table and watched the view screen in front of her.  The scrambling of the officers on the Bridge to make Trent's decisions a reality.  Slowly she slid another piece of fruit in her mouth and chewed. 

The replicator made good snacks.

Re: Chapter 03: Knife's Edge [ Day 06 | 0840 hrs. ]

Reply #24 –
[ Drauc T'Laus | Main Computer Core | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow
[Show/Hide]
Once more, there was a schism between what the Asurian was saying and the impression of what she was thinking, and Drauc remained quiet through her tirade. At one level, he was perplexed at her reaction to his altruism, yet when she finished, he spoke without pause. "You seek to provoke me, as if my anger would prove something," he said and slowly, and he began to circle Dyan where she stood. He tilted his head sideways, quizzical to what she might be getting at.

"You will find two facts that might impede you." Walking around her, he made no motion of hostility, much less ire - his stare through the tresses of his hair intense yet unperturbed. "For one, whether I am angry do not prove my strength, it rather undermines it. My experience was once honed by ire, yet at this point, I do not need anger to fight. I need purpose. I see no purpose in proving myself to you."

Having said this, Drauc came to stand in front of Dyan again. "Secondly, I am confident enough in my skills, so I do not believe myself weak. Whether you chose to think so - in ignorance - is entirely up to you," he added, his stance remaining the same, yet the stillness of his figure belied his readiness. He was so still, that it seemed he might explode into sudden, brutal movements at any moment. The difference was in his mind, how he suspected that the Asurian might not like being wrong. "I don't see the point, yet if you want to test your assumption... you may do so at your earliest convenience."

Suddenly, the deck beneath their feet moved, as if the ship suddenly made a sharp turn. The inertial dampeners struggled to compensate, and Drauc caught his balance, but stumbled one step towards Dyan...

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triton @CanadianVet @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]
For once, or finally, something went well, in how the cloak did activate, the dimming of lights and the makeshift program interface program loading on consoles around the bridge being a clear sign. They had pulled through in Engineering, Ravenholm likely being the designer behind the new LCARS screen. They'd had but miliseconds to spare before the fighters would have been right above them, and Trent gave the order to the helm to put a wide berth between them and the Black Wolves. A rotating, full-impulse course set. The reason was what Suq had told them.

The plasma leak, she remembered, how it was minimized but still there. Trent ordered Morgan Song to tend to the problem, but as Dewitt saw the young man bolt out of his chair and become replaced with Lavar Manfredi, she was thinking that - given the damaged cause to the warp core - there was little chance that anything could be done without further compromising it. There was no time either. The excess plasma had to go somewhere, and they were at the brink of power consumption already with the cloak activated. Still, Trent would continue their presence in the RV zone....

...and as Dewitt held on to the tactical holo table while Vector 01 spun along its trajectory, she thought of the message she had prepared, and looked at the button that would transmit it below her - flashing in her green eyes,

From: Lieutenant Commander Dewitt
To: Ensign Ryuan Sel

I am hereby relieving Commander Carrigan Trent of command of this Vector under Starfleet Regulation One-Six-Nine. Because his love interest Heather McMillan was abducted by the Savi, the Commanding Officer has become emotionally compromised and unable to make rational decisions. The proof of this is in personal confession to me, and in how he will try to go up against the Versant purely to reclaim her. He wants the ship reintegrated towards this purpose, at any cost. In disregard of this crew and of how this last Vector alone carry the truth of Starfleet Command, Commander Trent is now jeopardizing the future of the Federation by irrationally not taking the chance to leave this Rendevouz Zone.

My order, Ensign Ryuan, is to incapacitate Trent on these grounds, on my signal. You are not alone in receiving this message. The whole of the Security Department will be given the same instructions, should you fail to carry out your order.

I do not give this order lightly, and to not further cause chaos aboard, only act when I give a signal, not before.

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt
Executive Officer of Vector 01 - The Helmet
Gritting her teeth, loose red hair across her eyes, Dewitt looked around the bridge. The deciding factor of whether to send the message or not, she recked, was if the Black Wolves would give chase. Her green eyes were firmly on the sensor readings. Still, she spoke to Zyrao, who was the closest. "I think we might need that EMP pulse - best sent from our deflector - to take out warp fighters, should things still turn sour..."

Please, she thought bitterly, looking at the symbols that marked fighters in their wake. Stay where you are. She didn't want to send the message to Sel's helmet HUD. She truly didn't, but she might not have any choice.

[ Lt Cmdr. Ashton "Warlock" Bates | Black Wolf-01 | Mk II Valkyrie Cockpit ]
One moment, Warlock had seen the marker for the anomaly on their sensors, just ahead of them. In the rolling particle clouds of the Azure Nebula, he had expected to see it, and he magnified ahead of time, to peer at it as soon as it entered the visual range of the Gryphon's systems.  There was still one cloud obscuring it, even if he was at the point of the echelon formation.

Then, for the barest of moments, he saw it, his eyes widening - seeing the distant lights of a ship.

And then, it seemingly shimmered out of existence.

"Black Wolves, I got an ocular verification that a ship just cloaked ahead of us, and the anomaly is now gone on sensors. The Theurgy cloaked above Theta Eridani IV," he said, having seen it with his own eyes, just before the whole Task Force had gone dark. As to why she hadn't cloaked earlier was anyone's guess. "Therefore, I am positive on enemy contact, Over. Spread the word to the fleet."

There was verbal verification from the pack, followed by the Dauntless and the Bellerophon, and the news spread like wildfire. Yet the Black Wolves were closest, and Ash was tasked to investigate. Of course, the Gryphon's sensors couldn't see shit in the nebula, but evidently, someone on the Bellerophon had sighted the Vector to begin with.

"Wolf Leader to the Bellerophon, I need your eyes. Are there any signs of presence left, or a trace to follow?"

After a couple of seconds, a young voice answered. "This is Ensign Berg on the Bellerophon, we detected a heat source, and it's now confirmed as plasma. I am seeing a faint trace leading away from your position, bearing Two-Five-Zero mark Four-Five. Hurry, for it is dispersing fast."

Ashton didn't bother to reply, instantaneously throttling up his Gyphon and adjusting his course for pursuit. "Wolves, on my lead, now! Weapons free! Fire phasers along the given trajectory! Compromise that cloak! Ensign Berg, if you are still there, keep talking to us!"

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triton @CanadianVet @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]

And on the Helmet, where she saw the fighters give chase, Dewitt's heart sank. She closed her eyes momentarily, the shouts of pursuers and pulse phasers in their wake heard. She pressed the button, and sent the message to Ryuan Sel and the rest of Security.

The message was away...

...when she saw new symbols appearing. She frowned, hardly believing her eyes. "It's... It's the Sabine, with three warp fighters in pursuit!"

OOC: All right! Seven days of posting time begins today. Please notice how Dewitt has not given any signal to Ryuan Sel yet, merely informed her, Dyan Cardamone and the rest of Security (Not sure Dyan would be able to see the message now anyway?). The phaser fire of the Gryphons - firing at random along the trajectories that the Bellerophon is feeding them - will gradually compromise the cloak, and there is no power for shields! The Dauntless and the Bellerophon are behind the Black Wolves, no more than 30 seconds behind. And behind them, the remaining Task Force Archeron. So... Keep moving!

Please remember that the Thames is prepped and ready, the EMP pulse possibility, and the readied torpedoes. High speed chase and combat, go! This is also a posting cue for Stegro88 and Fife, who may introduce their characters Chance and Foxfire in this thread! Their close proximity in the right time and place is largely incidental, yet drawn in the last couple of seconds by the phaser fire of the Black Wolves.

All Supplemental Threads that are started between characters on this Vectors will have to be set before this time of 0810 hrs. on Day 06, but not afterwards, and they should also be posted on the Part 1 board. Just like in the interregnum, Supplemental one-on-one threads are started at your leisure! Supplemental threads should be named CH05: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title, and can extend as far back as right after the battle with the Versant and all the way up to 0810 hrs on Day 06, where the third Rendevouz began.

Main Bridge & Deck 01: [Show/Hide]
Known staff on the Helmet: [Show/Hide]
The Black Wolves Squadron, those marked in yellow are inbound: [Show/Hide]
Present ships from Task Force Archeron, the ones marked in yellow inbound: [Show/Hide]
 
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