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Main OOC Board / Re: Main OOC Thread
Last post by Brutus -I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with while I am away. We have an amazing writing base and it continues to be a privilege to collaborate with all of you.
I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with while I am away. We have an amazing writing base and it continues to be a privilege to collaborate with all of you.
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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 3 : The Meeting of Heroes (or Villains) [ Day 1 | 1500+]
Last post by Brutus -
It would be an outright lie to say the dinner party was going off without a hitch. Natalie was not naive enough to believe that. She made her way through the crowd, doing her best to mingle and encourage others. She made note of which of her crew saddled up to which Klingons and which Romulans as able - and the far fewer pairings of Romulans and Klingons. Those all seemed to be helped along, mostly, by Starfleet personnel, though it did appear that, at least for a moment, Marktok and Donatra made a pointed effort of exchanging...well, Natalie wouldn't outright call it pleasantries.
But neither had used the available tableware to skewer each other, so the young Commander would take that as a win.
On the whole, no one had resorted to violence of the physical form, and Natalie had only noted a few sparse moments of raised voices. She clocked Enyd in conversation with a Colonel from Martok's staff, and clocked the Empress' aide making her way back toward Donata. I'll have to follow up on that conversation later, tho I'm sure the Lieutenant will provide a full brief before I can get around to cornering her. Natalie watched Lt. Reggie Suder acting as one of those bridges she'd noted, in conversation with a Klingon and a Romulan, seemingly in deep conversation, and admired the other woman's sliver dress. Though she didn't give that much more than a passing thought.
Looking around again, she found herself torn over the fact that her own paramour was absent from the ship. While it would have been wonderful to have Vanya's company in the moment, she wondered what effect it might have upon those gathered for the statuesque Romulan to be hanging off Natalie's arm in such a public -and charged - setting. No, it was likely for the best, no matter how much the commander missed the scientist. Vanya's very nature would insight some of the Romulan's, and Natalie wasn't stupid enough to believe that her relationship with the android would not call her into question among her Klingon allies.
Its thoughts like that which were the whole reason I wanted to go into Operations and not Command to begin with. And yet, here we are...She was just peeling off to address one of her new tactical officers, a Lt. MacFearland, No, MacFarlane she corrected,the officer in question standing in what looked to be a forced relaxed posture with a female Klingon when the intruder alert split the air, muffling all conversation in the room.
She felt a hundred eyes turn to her, and a visible trension ripple across the gathered forces. Biting back an oath, she squared her shoulders. "Security, defend the entrances and our guests. They are your number one priority. Chancellor, Empress," she turned to the dignitaries, "for your safety I ask that you remain here. By all means, your personal security forces may protect you if any attack occurs." Not that they would do otherwise if she had suggested anything less. This was a tense balancing act.
"If you would designate one officer each to accompany me we will see what this is about." Her eyes shifted to the man that had been beside Enyd, Colonel Hauq she remembered, and the Romulan aide-de-camp Jaeih T’haelaa. Before she could address them by name, one of the minor Klingon dignitaries barked out an accusation that the Starfleeters were going to kill them all. And with that, the headache that Natalie had felt brewing in the back of her mind surged forward with a mighty, painful throb, as the shouting broke out.
It would take her far longer than she liked to calm the mess down, and actually take the representatives down to investigate the utterly bloody mess that had triggered all of this off. But at least no one had died in the conference room. She knew the night was only going to grow longer, and this was going to need a special kind of coordination between increasingly distrustful parties to resolve without all out war breaking out before their mutual enemy even showed up.
- Fin -
OOC: Alright folks. Anything else that needs to be covered can either be picked up in supplemental threads, or addressed in the Chapter 3 JP on the wiki.
Thank you all for your participation to this point. I look forward to seeing more of what everyone comes up with as we drive this mission to its conclusion.
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Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Nolan -"Glad to hear that it feels like coming home. I can't imagine what I must be like to never see home..." She answered him and refrained from over thinking the matter further. She didn't want to make Sarresh's thought spiral about home, about what he missed, about what was lost. "As for the water, I may have cheated and created an algorithm that allows for the water to feel pleasantly warm at all times. On Betazed the water is usually warm, yet it does have cooler patches once you go in deeper. Which can be pleasant in turn, though I figured pleasure was something that would be more suited, in the aftermath of what you've went through." She admitted and smiled faintly, hoping the man wouldn't hold it against her.
Kythalie's hair had been soaked by the water in the meantime, clinging onto her caramel skin and draping lightly over her breasts as she brought her hands to her face to get some of the water out of her eyes. Small rivers of water ran down from her hair and trailed along her smooth skin. Sarresh moved a little closer to Kythalie and the latter couldn't help but look him over as he came within arm's length. Unsure whether she picked it up subconsciously or if she was just reading the situation, she felt the faint idea of him wanting to get closer in a way. Perhaps it were her barriers that were lowering as she felt at ease with the man, allowing for the emotions or intentions of the man to be picked up. She blinked a few time before slowly drifting closer to him in turn. At the end, she stood before him, her head tilted slightly back to look up at him. They weren't that much different in height after all.
Kythalie wasn't sure how to proceed further. The relation between the two of them was friendly, very friendly perhaps. Though neither of them had spoken about anything else but said friendship. For the Betazoid, Sarresh felt like a man that had been through a lot. A lot of his emotions were things that she could relate to. The loss of a friend, a lover... These core feelings had perhaps brought them together and she had learned to appreciate the man even more. Though as of late, she couldn't help but also look at him in a different light. Perhaps something more as a friend... She could undoubtedly and very easily peer into his mind to discover if the feeling was mutual or not. If the fine lieutenant held anything else feelings wise beside the friendship they had. Yet she knew how wrong it was to peek under the hood so to speak, thus she refrained from doing so.
However, her eyes kept gazing into the artificial ones that Sarresh had, her hand moved slightly forward as she allowed herself to lose herself in the moment. She'd undoubtedly discover if the man before her considered her as just a friend or if there was a possibility of something else. Her fingers reached out hesitantly under the surface of the water, lightly reaching and brushing against his fingertips as she held her breath unsubconsciously to see what reaction it might trigger.
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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: CH2: S [Day1|1900hrs] Show us what you got!
Last post by Krajin -He wondered why they were treating him like a complete rookie fighter pilot. He knew full well that things could go tits down, balls up the moment they entered the arena that was battle. Heck, even patrols could go that way if you were not careful or just had an unlucky roll of the dice. Putting his ego away for the moment Atlas understood that these ladies were here to get to know him and his skills, what he can do, and what his flaws are. Dom had been rather harsh in his own judgment of the two.
“Yeah, sorry about killing the Sim. Tell you what they do move! I am so glad there’s no RIO involved either, least they complain about getting sick when I pull a high-G turn.” Dominic’s right ear twitched in the form of the Kzint grin. “I like the assessment, formidable. We all can complement each other while in flight.” He nodded lightly. “Going Borg is not a good look for anyone, weird myriad attachments aside that I am sure someone would find an unusual use for.” he joked lightly.
When Shadow brought up his tactic not potentially working he brought the back of his hand up to his forehead like he was feigning a dramatic injury. “Oh, you wound me!” He then chuckled. “Yeah, it's a good trick to run with when you want to surprise your enemy. I bet it would have worked unless, of course, Goldeneye here can see the future eh?” He teased.
He liked the mention of food and when Shadow’s stomach growled his ear twitched in that direction as well and that seemed to tell him that food was a good idea despite her own statement. “Three hours? So no food until 2200? Oh no. This cannot do. How about we sit, break out some snacks from the replicator and snack here with each other? Share a story or two and then go back into the sim. How’s that sound?” He asks, his right ear twitched. “We can learn about each other differently. Eh? Just no Jamie Oliver or those who followed his style of cooking. Ick.” Dominic poked his tongue out in a ‘bleh’ kind of manner. "Maybe as part we can introduce each other to snacks and bits we prefer."
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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: CH2: S [Day1|1900hrs] Show us what you got!
Last post by Dumedion -[Show/Hide]
While Atlas and Goldeneye conversed, Shadow busied herself by watching the holo-recording from Atlas’ helm during the sim on mute so she could multitask. Her eyes glanced up at the towering Kzin's every other word to linger long enough in an attempt to acclimate herself to his tone and body language, which was proving difficult for her to interpret; not that she was an expert in that area to begin with. Not for the first time, Talia wished she was better at being sociable and more adept at understanding it’s nuances. From his point of view, she could at least understand the confusion, however.
With a nod at Goldeneye’s praise, Talia spoke her mind; helmet shifted from under one arm to the other after she cleared the display on her wrist PADD – voice modulated with calm assertion.
“To answer your question,” she looked up at Atlas, “consider the scenario. Conventional wisdom based on historical events would necessitate an immediate request for reinforcements following positive identification and threat assessment before we bounced the hell out of the AO. Three fighters against any Borg forces would be suicide in reality, which is when I realized that Goldie was taking us for a ride, so I played along.” Talia shrugged and threw a smirk at Tessa. “One of our first sims together was similar, and we got to know each other from the experience. I’d like to say that we understand each other better for it, which is what we’re trying to do here with you, big guy. And yeah, I haven’t been here long, but I learned pretty quick to lighten up and have some fun whenever I can. Still, I learned a new maneuver from you – that attack line-up was impressive – even if it didn’t work and probably wouldn’t have worked,” she shrugged again.
At the mention of food, Talia’s dark eyes glanced down at the chrono on her wrist, then shook her head even though her stomach groaned in protest. Shadow was always hungry, even though she tried really hard not to show it.
“I’ve still got three hours before I can eat and I’d rather not get caught by Janus wandering around when he ordered me in here in the first place,” a glove raked through the mess of her hair as Talia noticed Atlas’ ears twitch with every crunch of Tessa’s popcorn, which she interpreted as annoyance.
Shadow smirked at him then jerked her head to the side towards Goldeneye.
“You get used to it eventually. So, it’s your party, what’s next,” she asked him.
OOC - sorry for delay
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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: PRO: S [Day 1 | 1235 hrs] Tell Me I'm the Fairest of the Fair
Last post by joshs1000 -[Show/Hide]
Lok watched as the young officer continued to stumble and stammer, the anxiety Sylvain was filling the turbolift with was becoming almost crushing but Lok did his best to keep it at bay and honestly not get annoyed. Unfortunately Lok’s patience was a little thin at that moment, he had just woken up from stasis and found out all that was going on and of course just wanted to get to his quarters, change, then dive into his work. This beyond awkward officer was holding things up. At least he finally learned the guy’s name. Sylvain, it was a nice name, certainly suited this spotted one. Another moment of awkwardness ensued before Sylvain finally took Lok’s offer for a handshake only for him to seemingly suffer some sort of bout of pain or other discomfort. He released his hand at once.
“Oh shit! Kid I’m sorry!” he apologized, worried he might have squeezed too hard or perhaps got him with one of his razor sharp claws, it wouldn’t have been the first time.
Sylvain was however quick to apologize himself and explain, as best he could, what was going on.
He was some sort of psionic, which actually made a lot of sense now that he thought about it. It reminded him of some people on Betazed who had problems with their telepathy, namely that they just couldn’t turn it off, so would feel every emotion from every person around them or hear every thought and could not block it out. This was through no fault of their own but from some sort of genetic disorder, but it often left them as odd and seemingly rude when in reality they were suffering. Lok was happy that he could control his empathic abilities, he couldn’t imagine someone who couldn’t control them in his place right now with the tidal wave of emotions that this young officer was signaling to the world. With that understanding of the situation though, Lok made sure to keep his own impatience in check.
Lok’s ears shot up in excitement at the mention of Deck 10, not because he knew what was on that deck, he honestly didn’t, but because Sylvain had finally seemingly recognized that they needed to use the thing they had been standing in for the past couple minutes.
“I’m heading to Deck 14, need to get my stuff out of storage”, he responded with another smile, happy things were moving along.
His hopes were dashed and his ears drooped when Sylvain instead of saying his deck to the computer, instead asked about tea. He looked Sylvain directly in the eyes, his own feline eyes filled with a flash of hunger and anger, I should just eat this guy and put him out of my misery, his mind fleetingly thought, only to immediately feel nauseating shame wash over his entire body. He hated those thoughts, what he called “Kzinti Thoughts”, his natural urges and instincts finding their way to the surface for brief moments. They’ve only ever truly physically manifested a handful of times and each time was…violent and bloody. They seemed to be triggered by moments when he was stressed out or in certain situations; it wasn’t a surprise that this would be one of them, frustrated by his new situation, hungry, and stuck in a small space with “easy” prey. Maybe he was right to be scared of me, he silently self deprecated.
“Computer, Deck 10.”
The doors swished shut and the turbolift activated its whirring servos. Lok just felt kind of shitty now, sometimes he wished he was anything but Kzin. A Caitian perhaps? It certainly would have made his life a lot easier. It didn't help that when he had that thought his mouth started to water and now he had to subtly lick his lips and teeth to keep from drooling.
“I don’t really like tea, I prefer Earth coffee”, he finally responded, his body language was a bit more closed off than before and his friendly smile now replaced by a frown as now it was his turn to avert his gaze from Sylvain. To try and perhaps defuse the tension a little bit, after all Lok was annoyed at himself, not so much his turbolift companion, he struck up a bit of conversion once more.
“So my mother works with people with special psionic abilities on Betazed, not sure what exactly but they come from other planets and things.”
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Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 15 [0823 hrs] Starships Aplenty
Last post by tongieboi -A slight bashful grin and perhaps a small flush of his own at the compliment, Joe nodded at her complement. Very satisfied with how he looked, he followed her towards the ship and inside. Paying no mind to the signs yet somehow finding his way to the bridge anyway.
Brown eyes keenly took in every detail of their surroundings, as if this was his first time aboard a starship, before they settled on the door ahead, wooshing open to reveal the bridge of the Enterprise,
Joe sauntered inside, drawn to the familiar sight of an Ops console, albeit with less touchpads and more physical controls in their place. He almost missed the idea, there was something strangely satisfying about buttons and dials that touchscreens didn't quite replace. Where Theurgy was a sleek and elegant design, as much a work of art as she was functional the Enterprise was a product of her time. Antiquated and retro to some, solely functional, but by no means any less elegant than her many times great granddaughters. All one had to do was look deeper than the aesthetics alone.
At Lauren's voice, he looked up and turned around suddenly, shook out of his thoughts, he'd already started fiddling with the controls of the ship. They wouldn't do anything anyway, right?
"Don't mind if I do, Captain Pierce!"
He replied, smirking back and walking towards the Captain's seat. She'd given him the rank of Captain, despite his uniform, so he decided to return the favour.
It was strangely smaller than he expected, not exactly cramped but certainly not as large as a lot of the other chairs he'd sat in. The arms of the chair might've been why, they protruded from the bottom of the seat and made quite a blocky shape. His arms could go nowhere except the armrests, which themselves had small control panels upon them.
The second he sat down in the chair, a small part of him felt like an imposter, but it was very much dwarfed by the fact that he was sitting in the Captain's Chair of the Enterprise. Holographic recreation or not, it was still awesome!
"It's less comfortable than I expected."
He mused with a small grin before kicking off with his feet and spinning the chair around, getting a good look at the bridge as he rotated in its centre in a manner unbecoming of a Starfleet Captain.
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Main OOC Board / Re: Main OOC Thread
Last post by joshs1000 -9
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Ch 4: S Day 01 [2325 hrs.] Awkwardness with Archon
Last post by Griff -[Show/Hide]
After a full day of work and preparation for the coming battle, Alistair had one more job to do. The corridors were less crowded than before, with most of the Starfleeters trying to get some sleep, giving the Savi corridors an unsettling feel to walk through alone. The vast hangar did have a trio of people chatting next to a shuttle, although they briefly stopped, looking at Alistair in askance. He waved them off, and they resumed their chat. Alistair was going to someone else.
Sure enough, Lieutenant Velin was with the fighters, apparently working on something or another. Alistair considered offering to help, just as a way to connect with Velin, but realised that he'd be useless. He didn't know anything about Valkyries, after all. Instead, as the pilot noticed his approach, Alistair raised a hand in greeting, even trying for a smile, but it was half-hearted. It was, after all, hard to be jovial the night before a suicide mission, as it surely would be.
"Hi," Alistair said. "Do you have a minute to talk, Lieutenant?"
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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Chapter 1: The (hopefully) Great Romulan Smash and Grab [Day 1 | 1800hrs ]
Last post by Sqweloookle -It wasn’t long before the Red team ran into resistance—an ambush, Adam having spotted the enemy first. He fired his phaser rifle at the cover the Romulan squad were peeking out from what looked like a corridor's T-section, green plasma beams sliced through the air with a loud sizzle for plasma produced heat filling the corridor. The Starfleet officers were in an X-section about 20 metres away.
They scattered, diving into cover just as the Romulan fire intensified. Oddly, the side corridors were empty—no Romulans in sight. Perhaps this part of the station hadn’t received reinforcements yet. A small mercy, but they all knew it wouldn’t last. "Kennedy, Patterson, cover the sides!" Adam ordered, his voice tight with adrenaline. Chief Petty Officer Helena Prince was already securing the rear, her body language appeared steady as she had her weapon ready. As for Adam, he and Crewman Petra Vansen fell into a rhythm, exchanging bursts of phaser fire with the Tal'Shiar guards ahead. Lieutenant J.G. Vince Kennedy and Petty Officer Second Class Riley Patterson soon found their own exchanges of fire.
There came several chirps from combadges as the crossfire went wild and Romulans on the side corridors fell to friendly fire. Adam heard Patterson and Kennedy announce enemy fire hitting their own forces in the opposite corridors. Adam grinned at this as he and Vansen continued to fire rapidly at what appeared to be the main entry for reinforcements.
This allowed their team leader Amarik some leeway to plan their next move, though time was kind of against them as more and more plasma beams joined in the fray. Adam stole a glance toward Valyn, who seemed to be holding her ground. Then, from the corner of his eye, he spotted movement—a new wave of Romulans advancing from Kennedy’s position. Adam’s pulse quickened, his mind torn between the logic of survival and the reckless urge to break through the advancing Romulan lines. Maybe it was a bad idea and they should stay together, he mused, without a second thought, Adam darted toward Kennedy. He could feel his heart racing as he moved, a green beam emitting strong heat and light blazed only a few centimetres in front of his face. He could feel the heat, smell the burn of ozone as it singed his face. His vision blurred as he blinked away the light.
He was lucky Kennedy caught Adam as he fell onto the other officer. Kennedy used the flow of the Master-at-arms momentum to shift around and place Adam against the corridor wall. Another few phaser shots from Kennedy down the corridor he was watching and there was a lull in the action.
"Kennedy we have to push forward!" Adam stated, though they were the same rank but he could feel Kennedy's hand on his shoulder.
"Your face L.T." Vince said firmly as the plasma beams continued to blaze by from other corridors which had countering phaser beams blasted back at their source.
"It'll pass," Adam said blinking rapidly to clear his eyes though it hurt to do so. The sting and scent of the burn was sharp, but his focus remained on the enemy. He could barely see Kennedy’s concern in between the chaos of their counterattack at the Tal'Shiar guards. "Kennedy we must push them back and get out of here, switch to a wide beam and fire." Adam said.
Kennedy seemed to think it might be a good way to clear an escape route for the others so nodded. "Let's do it."
Both adjusted their weapons in sync, and Kennedy's multiple beams cut through the corridor. Seven Romulans, clustered together, were caught in the crossfire. Five went down immediately. Adam grinned, fired thankfully with the wide beam setting, didn't have to see his targets clearly, and the remaining two collapsed in a heap. Both Adam and Kennedy sat back to take stock of the other corridors' situations.
“Patterson! Prince! Wide beam!” Adam called, and they quickly followed suit, eliminating the enemy from their respective directions. Vansen’s quick switch forced the Romulans into retreat. For the first time in minutes, they had time to breathe.
Adam's hands were nearly about to rub his face but Patterson was already at his side and stopped his hands in hers.
”No, don't rub the burn. Let me run the regenerator on your eyes.” Patterson told Adam, her voice steady despite the tension. The dermal regenerator hummed as she passed it over his eyes, the sting easing enough to give some relief. It was quick and dirty as Adam thanked her, his face still felt hot, aching and tight. Patterson, already glancing back down the corridor she was watching, didn’t miss a beat. ”Any chance we can move forward?” Thankfully she saw no one.
"That is up to Lieutenant Amarik," Adam replied, he then turned to Valyn. "Lieutenant, I suggest we split up, we could slip by the enemy and do some damage?"
For the life of him Adam couldn't fathom why they didn't hear it coming, a beast of monstrous characteristics, barrelled out from the corridor that their team were heading into. With a wide, dripping with saliva, jagged teeth filled maw closing down over Amarik's head and upper torso, the creature body slammed Lieutenant Valyn Amarik to the ground. Time seemed to slow down for the Red team as they watched the beast's mouth mercilessly clamp down. A sickening crunch echoed through the corridor and the Starfleet officers.
Blood and intestinal bits splashed all over the floor and splattered on each of the Red team members. The combination of the wet slap of the blood making contact with their skin and the metallic tang scented wave of death assaulted them all--for what felt like forever but merely a moment, they froze. The horror of it all was paralysing, but training kicked in. Adam, Vansen, and Prince instinctively grabbed Patterson and Kennedy. They locked eyes for a brief second, wordlessly agreeing on what had to be done: Run! Thankfully Patterson had come to Adam's side to treat him otherwise, he realised she'd be on the other side of the beast as it fed on their team leader effectively cutting her off from them.
Adam, still watching the beast as it tore into Valyn’s body, reached out to each of his teammates and half gestured half pushed for the team to move--fast. They sprinted down Kennedy's corridor, the Master-at-arms covering their retreat. Tears blurred his vision as he whispered a silent farewell to Valyn. He brought his phaser rifle to aim, and he fired directly into the beast’s face at full power for several seconds. He prayed his attack would slow it down allowing him to catch up with his team.
A deafening roar came at his back. The beast recoiled, but it wasn’t following which a glance over his shoulder revealed. That was the only good news as Adam ran, his heart heavy and his legs carrying him away from the carnage.
OOC: I talked with ellenfitz about killing Valyn Amarik and they gave me the go ahead for this. RIP Valyn.
