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Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #50 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, Lone Wolves

As Daniel maneuvered his fighter towards Vector 2 he watched as the battle unfolded, the enemy fighters could take hit after hit from the Valkyries and only when extreme force was applied did they finally manage to be destroyed.  They’d run out of ordnance and energy for their weapons before the hostiles ran out of fighters to throw at them.  “Damn if it takes that much firepower to just damage one we’ll be here forever.”  Remarked Knight as he watched a Valkyrie try to destroy one.

“Understood Razor, moving to Vector Two now.”  Daniel said as he switched communication channels to those fighter in range of Vector 2.  “All fighters in range of Vector Two, Salvo has lead.”  He said as he watched more of the enemy fighters swarm around Vector 2.  As Daniel was about to line up and try his luck he received the message from the Theurgy directing all fighters to support the drones that were being launched.

“Looks like we’ve got a change of plans Knight.”  Daniel said as he found the nearest cluster of drones and began to provide covering fire to distract the hostile fighters, intending to make himself the target instead of the drones.  He targeted the nearest enemy fighter and launched a salvo of phaser fire, mass drivers and a group of torpedoes.  He repeated the process again firing another salvo of phaser fire, mass drivers and the last of his torpedoes hoping that the enemy fighters would focus their fire on him and not the pilots under his command or the drones.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #51 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

It had been a good thing Eliska had planned to get back into her exosuit very shortly after the moment they had dropped out of warp.  And that she could do it quickly.  Because no sooner had she gotten the gauntlets sealed that the Sabine lurched violently and the violent wind of explosive decompression nearly knocked her off her feet.  But that was what magnetic boots were for.  And the strength-amplifying servos in one of her arms.  While the other hand was occupied in donning her helmet even as the Sabine went from a survivable atmosphere to a total vacuum. 

And it was on days like these Eliska Bremmer was grateful for the long, grueling hours spent training for EVA operations, including controlled exposure to hard vacuum.  It was not so much that the training allowed her to keep her head; it was far simpler than that, really.  The reflexes learned under this form of training formed automatic reactions, and the only thoughts that occupied her mind were an all-encompassing need to protect her self from the vacuum, and make sure she could remain functional.  And so she did, explosively expelling every bit of air in her lungs to protect them from the decompression, and closed her eyes to try and keep as much moisture as possible within them as to be able to see when she would be under pressure again.  And, blindly, she donned her helmet and sealed it, and one-handed she activated her suit's life support system, and life-giving atmosphere was restored to her... just in time for the ship to recover from being hulled multiple times and her own life support to start reasserting itself. 

And while things were being settled, she armed herself again.  Her own pistol was in its holster, and she had the last remaining phaser rifle on the ship.  And while ammunition was low, it wasn't that critical.  Not when they had a starship full of ammo to re-bomb from now.  But at least, she had enough for anything but a sustained engagement against an ass-load of giant spiders that could survive in vacuum and still be feisty in near-vacuum... and could only have been dealt with en masse when the corridor in said near-vacuum turned into the barrel of a gun all of the sudden... 

But, before long, she and Mariner had been beamed out of Sabine, and just outside the broad doors leading to the fighter bay.  From the briefing they had received, the initial boarding party had been dealt with, but an Asurian ship had forcibly boarded and they were expecting ground troops any second... and that was when the bulkhead next to her erupted with a blue beam and a blast of shrapnel.  Well, that certainly looked like a good cue to get moving all right. 

Storming into the shuttlebay, Bremmer was just in time to see half a dozen Asurians disgorging from their ship and charging forward, one of them howling their own war cry. 

"Pushing through!"  Eliska herself had called out, her rifle tightly pulled into her shoulder as she headed towards the incoming Asurians.  There weren't many left who were anywhere near the action in the bay itself.  But that no-nonsense CWO who had been there when Captain Ives addressed the crew of the Resolve had been nearby.  He had armed himself and certainly held his phaser like he meant business and knew how to handle himself, but the arrival of actual Security personnel had held him back behind the cover he had picked for himself.  Because Sten Covington was competent, and he knew how to handle himself.  And he was trained to be in actual scraps.  But there were times it was just better to leave things to the professionals. 

And Bremmer was just that, and she opened fire on the line of incoming Asurians, her finger pulling the trigger with the rhythmic perfection of a metronome... but eventually, given the relative closing speeds and the Asurians' predilection for melee weapons, eventually it would go to hand to hand... and that would be interesting. 

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #52 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]
When the Asurians boarders had rushed forth through the fighter bay, Liam Herrold had escaped their notice. He had been hiding behind his cover, unarmed and unable to oppose them despite how much he wanted to do something about them. His immediate plan was to let them pass, and them make a run for that ECM crate - to throw the countermeasures after them.

Yet just as he was about to make his move, Ji emerged from out of the latticework of the tractor rig! He could not even credit the fact that she was alive before she went head to head - injured and unarmed - with the boarding party. They had blades and rifles both! It did seem, based on the first blows traded, that Ji was quite able to hold her own in a fight, but Liam doubted she'd lasted as long as she did if it wasn't for Sithick, who started to fire against the boarders with the gun he had acquired from the black-armoured aliens.

With both of them there, he couldn't throw the ECMs in their direction, lest he'd kill Ji and the Gorn. Nonetheless, he ran for the crate and picked up one in each hand. When he rounded on the ensuing fight in the middle of the fighter bay, he saw reinforcements arrive. A man and a woman in Security exosuits, and while it was impossible to make out their faces through their visors at that distance, Liam was happy to see them there - feeling that the battle was turning in their favour.

No more had he got the notion before the giant eye of the saucer's beam emitter adjusted its aim and fired anew - the thick beam scourging a line towards Sithick's position and then continuing towards the two in exosuits at the farther side of the bay. Liam swore, looking at the damn thing that was wrecking the hangar, and bit his teeth together. "Okay, you bastards... You want to play?"

He did not call out, not asking for cover fire, since he didn't want any attention from the Asurians as he made his move. Mid-sprint towards the saucer, he armed his two ECM units with his thumbs, not slowing down for a moment. He was bathed in aquamarine light as he passed the beam emitter, light blue eyes never leaving the point of his mad dash. Behind him, he could hear the fight continuing, with blades against metal and weapons fire, but he dared not look back, hoping Ji and the rest would make it. The fuse of the ECM units was short, but he only needed another few moments.

When there were less than two seconds left, he cried out... and threw them both into the open airlock of the saucer.

Liam dared not look if he managed to hit, throwing himself to the deck and covering his head.

What followed was a detonation like the ones heard before, only this time, the two consecutive blasts tore up interior bulkheads of the saucer and cleaned out the majority of its innards. It rocked on its landing gears, likely killing the pilot since the beam emitter abruptly died - the exterior lights of the craft flickering out.

It left only the Asurians still standing, and when Liam dared look back, the old Asurian woman was still on her feet - still fighting and firing against the Theurgy's crew...

OOC: @Triton @Blue Zephyr @Masorin & @CanadianVet , please divide the kills between yourselves! :) Five Asurians in the boarding party and four of you, but five counting the NPC Covington. I suggest one kill each? Seven days count-down begin now for all four of you, with no posting order set. Go!

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #53 –
[P02 Sithick | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan , @Blue Zephyr ,
[Show/Hide]

The gun was powerful, Sithick's aim was less true however his first time firing the gun was inaccurate and his shot missed the old assurian woman by a few inches, probably ripping off a few of her hairs, before the ship opened fire towards him. The lance of energy streamed towards Sithick and he barely had time to throw himself towards the wall of the cropping where he had sat, the stream of energy burning away at the area he had been seconds prior as he hid himself and made himself as small as possible before the attack moved to a different area of the ship.

However the attack didn't last much longer after it continued towards the back of the fighter bay, going for two security guards in exosuits. When Sithick emerged from under the desk he  was not surprised to see holes in his ship. Holes he was going to have to patch... again. He sighed it was like they couldn't keep this place in one piece for more than a day!

Anger surged through Sithick as he got to his feet and looked over the Assurian boarding party, the gun he was holding dropped, and Sithick did what he had done back when he had been a child, when battlefields had been his home.

He charged forward. His yellow eyes flickered with anger as he charged towards one of the boarding party, the other seemingly stuck watching the the Gorn come closer, probably terrified as the large 7 foot tall monster's claws scraped the ground with every step towards him.

SIthick reached his target and grabbed the being with a claw around it's chest, a sudden theraputic sense of anger release washing over him as he threw the other against the hull of the deck, smashing it and watching it bounce before his mouth snapped around the creatures leg, and the assurian was thrown upwards into the air, before being violently slammed back down to be picked up a third and final time the force of the lifting breaking the creatures bones as Sithick flung them wide hurling them against the wall, where they stayed in a mess of a heap that once resembled a humanoid.

"Stop, blowing holes, in my ship!"

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #54 –
[ PO1 Vincent "Fury" Ferris | Valravn Cockpit | Wolf-11 | Vector 3 | Azure Nebula ]
Attn: Tactical CONN, @Mathis @CanadianVet @Triton @chXinya @Brutus
[Show/Hide]
By sheer luck, Fury was still flying his Valravn from the back seat, shaken by what he had just seen. Vector 3 hadn't blown up, so the behemoth ship must have missed any engine parts that would have otherwise compromised the warp core. Vector 2 was scarred, but still moving, and Vector 1 was unscathed. He could detect the drones launching from the Upper Shuttle Bay as he heard the reply from Husker.

[We don't retreat, Fury. The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person.]

From where Fury was sitting, it didn't look like they were making these aliens any angry at all. Was Husker referring to the pack? To him? Well, he had earned his callsign for a reason, only he had not been aggravated enough to show him why-

That was when the alien fighters caught on to the new development, and the squadrons out there began to diverge on the drones. They must have foreseen something Fury didn't quite grasp yet, but he knew that he had been charged to ward those drones. Those were his orders, and the goddamn aliens were about to make his day worse than it already was. "Not on my watch..." he said off the comms and throttled up what was left of his fighter, missing a wing and a launcher as it was, with deep gouges in the hull plating from enemy fire.

[Warning,] said his computer inside his helmet, [Plasma levels dropping. Core integrity failing. ETS evac recommended.]

"Fuck you, I won't run," he said, surprising even himself as he had just wanted a tactical retreat. It was too late for that now.

[Acknowledged.]

So what if he was leaking plasma? It wasn't as if it mattered at that point. The brass wanted those drones to do something. Fine. The aliens were already targeting the small, unmanned things as they emerged from the bay, one by one blowing up or being cut apart. He bared his teeth and went in, leaving any kind of formation behind. His thumbs squeezed down on the triggers to his oversized Type VII emitters, and he sent fiery lances of orange energy into the face of the opposition - deterring them and making them break formation.

"Arrrgh!" he cried, wanting more speed out of his dying fighter, wishing Devyrie was there to keep the core from breaching, and pushed for maximum impulse speed. He set for an intercept course that would flank the first wave of alien fighters, shooting straight into their formation. They had likely thought he'd break away, and had to scramble to get out of his path. Their mistake earned them several busts of phaser beams into their shields, and he actually got his first kills. Not because of his phasers penetrating their shields, but because two alien fighters flew into each other - both torn apart by the collision.

[Warnin-]

"Shut up!" he barked and twisted his fighter around for another pass, going for the second wave of aliens that converged on the drones. The trickle of unmanned crafts had stopped, and there were only five of them left. Four, as another drone was cut apart. Fury screamed and went for the aliens closest to the surviving drones, but that's when the Behemoth opened fire again.

This time, it was the torpedo launchers on the alien dreadnought that sent a massive barrage against the Wolves and the Vectors of the Theurgy. The readings screamed 'TRI-COBALT', which Federation starships only had a handful of. Fury's tactical systems went haywire with warnings about incoming ordinance, over thirty torpedoes closing the distance... and yet he was no longer afraid. With his face twisted in ire, he earned his callsign the second time that day, whilst targeting as many torpedoes as he could.

One, two, three... He caught two with a single beam. Six. His polarised visor shielded him from the detonations, and his TVD targeting system traced his eye movements. He found himself in a barrel roll towards the seventh rapidly moving torp, and it was getting away from him, but he caught its tail with his last beam - making it detonate before it reached the Theurgy. He was too far into enemy space. At that range, the other wolves might pick off a few, and the point-defence system of the Theurgy might take care of a few more. But without shields, they could not afford a single hit against either of the vectors. The shockwaves of those torps being shot out was enough to cause hull breaches.

It was then that Fury understood the purpose of the drones.

A single one had survived, and through the debris, Fury saw the light as it jumped to warp.

One moment, he'd seen the pinprick vanishing, and the next, the Behemoth ship's shield and hull had both been ruptured. A metallic gash marked where the drone had collided - right into the dark aft section of the alien dreadnought. The blast was delayed, and Fury had to squint against the light. It's massive engine section was wrecked, and he could hardly credit what he was seeing.

The elation he felt at the sight was stuck in his throat, since a black alien fighter went for him. Twin beams of green energy cut into his Valravn. While the cockpit was breached and the core lit up behind him in pending detonation, he reached for the ETS... and was thrown forward by the shockwave.

OOC: Thirty-two minus seven makes for twenty-five tri-cobalt torpedoes to target in rapid mid-flight towards the Theurgy's Vectors. Whatever the wolves can't be quick-thinking enough to shoot out has to be taken care of by the point-defence system phasers. Neither of the Vectors can - unshielded - sustain a single hit by a tri-cobalt impact. As you might have read, only a single drone made it through. Fury's fate is unknown.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #55 –
[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Wolf-07, Element Leader | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III “Sassy Slayer” | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno @Masorin & @Havenborn
[Show/Hide]
“Aw hell...” said Meony when she saw the tri-cobalt torpies, “...AIN'T IT TOO MUCH TA ASK FER A FAH-KIN' BREAK?!?”

The Sassy Slayer spun like a corkscrew on steroids in a forward motion, firing at bandits and torps alike, narrowly avoiding enemy fire as she began to plot a intercept course for the torpedoes. They couldn't risk even one of those warheads impacting against an unshielded vector. These Savi were pretty savvy with their weapons and technology, and while both the numbers and firepower far outstripped anything Thea and her crew had presently, they weren't yet completely defenseless nor were they out of options. So long as the redhead saw and held even the tiniest flicker of hope, she wasn't going to give up. She called up a line of attack through torpedoes and layered in a playbook for the rest of the remaining fighters that they could pull up and follow if they saw fit. It was a malleable plan that could be adjusted as the split-second updates of new positions and situations arose for each pilot.

For Meony, she had her attack plan, and escape route as well.

While her large array of warheads were no use except to an unshielded enemy fighter, they certainly would have no trouble against the tri-cobalts. Punching the Valkyrie's thrusters for all available speed, she let fly with a full spread of her pulse phasers and beam emitters, relying on the computer's auto-targetting systems to compensate for movement and maximum effect that her own eyes and mind would have trouble handling, while she maintained control and accuracy for the pulse phasers. When she was halfway through her course, she targeted one of the torpedoes with her cluster bomb, and laid out a trajectory so that it would take out several other warheads in one go, then fired, along with a hail of micro torpedoes, each dedicated to one torpedo.

“Take out them torps!” said Meony unnecessarily to the rest of the fighter elements. Her eyes caught a flicker on one of the Valravns on her HUD and a quick glance told her it was Fury. She wasn't able to discern where he was amidst the chaos, and bogeys were coming up behind her like hornets to the last honey pot in the field. She was out of time and she had to run. Breaking from her attack course, she spiralled away, and ducked right back amidst the bandits, firing only her energy weapons the whole way, and threatening to dance them to hell if they crashed with her. Now she requested an escape route for the Fighter Assault Bay on Vector 02.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #56 –
[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Kestrel-Wolf 01 | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Havenborn , @DocReno   , @Triage   @Auctor Lucan  , @Doc M.   , @Even Angels Cry

With the drones on final approach a new threat loomed for the surviving wolf pack and their home base. The tri cobalt torpedoes launched from the Versant were a major thread to the Theurgy and as the icons appeared on Razor's HUD he had to think quick to relay a new order to the pack. The drones had come this far and would probably have to fend for their own at this point as survival of the ship outclassed the importance of the drone mission.

"All Wolves, this is Razor, break away from the drones and pick those torpedoes off!" he ordered as he jerked his fighter into a steep climb before giving chase to torpedoes that were headed for Vector 01. His eyes narrowed as the Savi fighters shot past him, barely scraping his hull against theirs as the evasive maneuvers for their weapon fire remained consistent. Once the Fighters were past him, he dropped his hellbore torpedoes. The torpedoes not launched towards the tri cobalt warheads, yet their propulsion simply made them slow down and just float in Thomas his wake. It appeared to be malfunctioning ordinance at first sight, yet they were primed. They remained their for a few seconds, long enough for a few Savi fighters to catch up to Razor before they detonated. Unsure if the blast would've killed them off , Thomas throttled up to max impulse speed as he chased the warheads that headed to vector 01. The orange bursts of phaser fire connected with the five torpedoes and the shockwaves had sent him into a spin as he flew too close to them in the end. His systems screeched warnings as he pushed his stick down to spiral out in to a steady trajectory.

The rest of the wolves would have to do the job together with the point defense system as classified information trickled in via a secure channel. The continuance protocol had been started and that meant that the vectors would be moving out soon. Thomas glanced over at the RV coordinated before he called out once more to his pack "All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics." Thomas wouldn't land his ship until all the rest would've landed. He turned around to cover the escape of some of the wolves, harassing the fighters that remained whilst the damage of the single Tovarek drone seemed to be sufficient to damage the Versant slightly.

Thomas punched in the RV coordinates in the meantime in case he wouldn't be able to link up with Vector 02. Mag locking would be tricky enough at these speeds not to mention whilst sustaining enemy fire, it would be a near impossible job to do so. He scanned the space around him, registering the remaining wolves as hell had broken loose in the Nebula. Now however was the time fora tactical retreat. There was no time to loiter around.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #57 –
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: @Nolan,@Triage, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada @Even Angels Cry & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]
If only given an impromptu briefing or even a last-minute warning, Ensign Jimmy Mariner would've eagerly awaited coordinates to the alien dreadnought to bust out Heather from her predicament. Still, there was no sense fighting in a burning house. It was the Australian first-responder's job to put out the fires aboard his home... and on that note, Jimmy resisted the urge to give Sera an idle invite to 'fire-dance' sometime as he responded to his call of duty. However, with Bremmer nearby, Mariner instead briefly revealed his face to the pilot and winked at at her as he uttered an innocuous invite, "Another round, another party." <Another time, another place.> Mariner re-polarized his impeccably-repaired HUD and prepared his two pistols in time for the beam-out.

Mariner stood a foot behind Bremmer in 'Klingon-style' back-to-back transporter configuration to cover more ground and avoiding a flank in the process. With Ida's phaser in one hand, a repaired Disruptor pistol in the other, Mariner was keenly versed in the unofficial combat art best-called 'Meony-style' and he was was truly itching for a fight. This style was a rarely-used but often-requested opportunity that rarely saw use outside of the style creator's Ancient West holonovels. With a gun in each hand, he could contend with multiple armed opponents through multiple firing lines while covering his surroundings with punishing fire. It was sloppy, but effective. And fun.

"It ain't a party if you're not dancing!" Jimmy barked in glib humor at Zyrao before the transporter buffer shut him up.

Jimmy didn't have to wait long after his beam-out to find targets for his pistols. When the Asurian weapon perforated the bulkhead nearby, Jimmy reactively dashed out of harm's way and took up a better firing position to counterattack. He got some distance from Bremmer to cover more ground and to get away from the firing arc of that weapon.  As a half-dozen enemy reinforcements arrived, Jimmy scored some hits against the boarders. His two-toned akimbo fire sang in concert with Eliska's steady, rhythmic firing pace. Making a war face under his HUD.. As Mariner fired, he hoped he could draw attention away from some of the 'squishy' non-security Bay personnel, providing cover fire for them to make a run for it (or hopefully, join in).

Fortunately, Jimmy's wish was as satisfied as was his passive need for a reminder of home...
Except the crocodile was the one holding the rifle for a change. Gritting his teeth Jimmy singled out a straggling Asurian warrior, probably at least a foot taller than him and fired one Disruptor shot shot as a challenge to the death toward the apparent leader of the enemy strike force. The Asurian let off some sort of primal animal roar and charged right at Mariner.

With his yan sword at his back, Mariner had more confidence than usual, knowing he had a weapon that wouldn't run out of ammo. For the second time today, Jimmy engaged in a duel to the death. Mariner was an agile combatant and had fought many opponents with various types of blades, more of an expert in the basics of KA-BAR C.Q.C. and sabreur fencing obtained from the Ushaan-Tor-Happy Tarsi.

"All security personnel not assigned to secure areas arm up and head to Main Engineering or Fighter Assault Bay to repel boarders.  Set phasers to kill." But it was then when Commander Cinn's voice came through on a security channel.

Oh! Okay. Bad news for you, goat-head.

Instead of reaching for his sword, Jimmy reactively raised his phaser pistol and thumbed two buttons to set it to its highest setting and fired off two consecutive blasts at the Asurian's muzzle. The alien warrior collapsed on where its face would have been had the Ensign not blasted it right off. Messy business.

"Ole." Jimmy quipped, taking a firing position to best compliment Bremmer, who was validating his confidence in her. It wasn't that he was avoiding a fight, far from it: He had a job to do, and he had an example to set regarding combat efficiency. He knew nothing about the 'Hornies' and had no time nor patience-- nor pity, for that matter, for these abductors. Mariner found and secured some cover providing his colleagues some flanking cover fire. The Gorn could clearly fight, but he spared no expense making himself useful by peppering the enemy with two weapon types, very mindful of his weapons' fire, not one to risk hitting any combustibles behind his intended targets. He thought he'd spotted a humanoid make its way into the enemy's dropship but could only continue to cause a diversion if there was a bigger plan at play.



[Show/Hide]
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 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #58 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Dorsal side of  Vector 03 Starboard Pylon ]  Attn: @chXinya,) @Triton @Nolan, @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Clinging to the dorsal section of the Stallion’s starboard pylon, there wasn’t much Tessa could do besides make feeble attempts to get the systems in her Valkyrie going again.  Watching the conflict in the sky was just too scary; the threats could come from three hundred and sixty degrees.  There’s nowhere to run when the battle is all around you.

Almost before she could get started, her fighter was shaken as the Stallion shuddered under the impact of enemy weapons fire.  Tessa hadn’t been looking as she had been diagnosing her injured Valkyrie, but she was looking now.  From her position in the cockpit, all she had to do was look to her right to see the hole in the deck some tens of meters away.  The particles of detritus and the plume of deutronium leaking out of the hull bothered her.  What bothered her even more was the wide cone of debris that was shot into space. 
 
“Shields!” she cried as her gloved hands pecked frantically at her console.  “Shields!”

She instinctively ducked and whimpered as a basketball sized chunk of duranium bounced off the green semi hemispherical that appeared out of nowhere and then vanished into invisibility less than a second later.

Okay, she had a deflector screen protecting from projectiles and debris, but the weapons the enemy was using seemed to be slicing right through.  It was only because the shot that grounded her had hit the gravity field caused by her impulse engine was Tessa’s fighter still intact, but the feedback had overloaded engines.  Tessa was going to have to reroute her plasma systems if she wanted a chance of getting a shield that could deflect a particle beam weapon or a torpedo.  Not having the courage to go outside, even with a deflector shield up, Tessa decided to start with what she could do from the cockpit.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #59 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

As she had expected, Eliska Bremmer quickly found herself too close for her rifle to be useful.  She ought to have remembered just how fast they could be, what with bunking with one of them herself.  And she also knew they were strong.  In fact, if it wasn't of her exosuit, she'd definitely think twice about getting within arm's reach of one meaning her harm.  But, encased in her armoured exoskeleton?  She was much more confident of her odds of survival. 

Her fire had little effect on the aggressors.  But then again, it was meant to make them put their heads down.  But, it would appear the concept of hunkering down so they could open fire with their own ranged weapons failed to register and closing in aggressively seemed to be more their speed.  But, it did have an effect; from a compact mass, they had scattered and would be coming as individuals instead of a concerted wave.  At least there was that...

But there was not much time to think as one of them came at her with a wrist-mounted blade and the first swipe knocked the rifle from her hands, and the second, much closer than the first, drew furrows against the armour of her chestplate as she stepped back and severed the sling that kept her connected to her weapon.  But it did not complicate matters much, and Eliska too another step back, her right leg leading and her hands crossed by her left hip.  Schlussel, she thought to herself, and wait.  And when the next attack came, a thrust for her faceplate, her hands shot forward to intercept the incoming strike, and upon contact one hand wrapped around the wrist and the other went further forward yet to capture her aggressor's elbow and she brutally bent him over forward into a vicious arm lock, and a hard twist of her hips led to the Asurians letting out a howl of pain as his shoulder was dislocated, but that scream quickly turned to a gasp as the Human further manipulated the disabled arm to drive the hard-mounted blade into its owner's side, and she she pushed him back, her pistol flowed into her hands and she fired once, twice, thrice and each shot, set to kill, struck.  The first was just up from the navel, the second dead center of the chest, and the third directly into the Asurian's nasal cavity.  Heal from that, was the vicious thought that crossed her mind. 

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #60 –
[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton| Theurgy "Air Space" over Vector 1| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Nolan @Even Angels Cry @Triage @Havenborn @Doc M.

<All Wolves, this is Razor, break away from the drones and pick those torpedoes off!>

Husker's eyes narrowed sharply in confusion at Razor's order but it was rendered moot because at that point his sensors finally cleared enough from the ambient energy of the nebula to show him that on top of the still active hostile enemy fighters, there was now an array of twenty four tri-cobalt torpedoes heading towards the various Vectors of his carrier as he shunted some of the energy from his shields into his engines as he started to run down the closest tri-cobalt, his sensors screaming at him about the hazardous energy bleeding off of the torp as well as subspace shearing but he ignored it as he locked on his phasers and unloaded a full salvo into the ball of energy, destroying it before he swung his fighter to the right to avoid the back blast before he started to make his way towards the next torpedo.

But he wasn't fast enough as some of the subspace shearing caused by the weapons premature detonation caused his some havoc on his systems, especially his shields which he noticed the alert and saw that they were down to thirty percent which didn't matter much against these hostile fighters but it meant a whole hell of a lot against the energy put out by those torps!

In that moment, the icy calm that Husker was feeling was broken as he said "I won't let her down. I have a date to keep." in a focused but warm tone, forgetting that he was on an open channel.

At that moment, an alarm screamed at him as he barely dodged another enemy fighter and that cold, black "ocean" engulfed him again as his readings showed that the hostile was coming back around to trail him at which point there was a hail storm of aquamarine bolts that came flying at him at which point he dedicated himself to jinxing and juking his bird about with several beams catching his fighter easily while others cleanly missed but one lucky shot sheared its way through a set of systems at which point his computer decided to finally voice its opinion.

"Warning, primary energy bus for tactical systems offline. Rerouting to secondary bus, weapons offline until rerouting complete." the Valkyrie's computer intoned to him in a manner that made the mono toned computerized voice sound like it was really saying "Okay, whatcha gonna do now, mister big shot?!"

Husker's eyes narrowed as he tried to keep his fighter from being shredded by this enemy while keeping his eye on the target in front of him at which point something came unbidden into his mind as a fragment from an old conversation entered into his thoughts.

{"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. A normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop heart."} an accented voice ghosted into his ears from his mind's eye which caused Chris Slayton's lips to curl into a tight smile. {"Make the bastard chase you. He will follw."}

Husker then quickly shunted the unused weapons energy to his engines and then shoved his fighter's engines past the acceptable redline conditions, knowing full well that he was risking a impulse coil burn out but he had a promise to keep and he wasn't about to let someone down.

"Forgive me Ji for what I'm about to do." he said out loud as Valkyrie designation N7242C suddenly surged forward with a powerful intent with its Savi pursuer close at hand with it's dual colored hail of energy rain following close at hand as the Federation fighter duked between the remains of fighters from all sides of this recent, bloody conflict helped to cut down on how much damage his fighter was put through as he continued to close the distance to hostile energy projectile, its shimmering purple haze getting even bigger as its backwash was powerful.

"Warning. Energy readings at twenty two thousand TeraCochranes and rising. Suggesting immediate course alteration as hazardous situational levels past critical allowed limits." N7242C's computer once more snapped at him.

{That...isn't right...} Husker thought to himself as he thought about what he knew about Tricobalt devices from his time at the academy at which point that's when he saw it as his TVD highlighted the new situation;

Two tricobalts had come close enough to each other that they were now not only on their way to the FAB and Vector Two but also now basically operating as one and if that hit...then....

In that moment, Husker's mind went blank as various alerts starting going off as his shields were starting to be affected by the subspace shearing and warping as he drew even closer to it, his eyes could practically see the warping of his shields as his computer announced that the local area was at forty four thousand TeraCochranes plus his sensors were going kind of a drunk version of loopy but he could easily see that the black alien fighter was practically right there on his tail but then he did something unexpected as he swung his bird around the torpedoes which the Savi followed suit, uncaring about his own well being as he got a clear shot on Husker...only for the human's weapons systems to come back online as he slashed the two tricobalts with a single ruby red beam of energy as he powered past the oncoming threat, the detonation of two tricobalts not only caused a subspace shear that shunted the enemy fighter out of existence but also briefly cloaked Husker from other hostile threats for a few moments.

"Computer, do not give me a status report on what's not working. Instead give me a status report on what IS working." Husker said in a flat tone as he mentally swore never to do something so stupid like that again, he had a reason to stay alive and return to the carrier.

Suddenly, Razor's voice came through the communications system finally with <All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics.> at which point the Asgardian simply let out a groan of frustration as he shunted the excess power from his impulse coils and back into his weapons as he turned his fighter back towards the hanger.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward & Ensign Tallanyreen "Aria" sh'Kandros| Air space around Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Even Angels Cry @Nolan  @Triage  @Doc M.  @Havenborn @Auctor Lucan


<All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics.> came the voice of Razor through Aria's communications which made her smile tightly. "Witch King, its time to swing our bird around and go home again." the Andorian said tightly.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Cameron said, lining up his phasers on another tricobalt torpedo and sent it to it's fiery doom in the moments prior to them reaching the outer most edge of the Theurgy's point defense line which then opened up on the other torpedoes. "So any problems with joining Terror and the rest of the wolves in joining the Theurgy, Aria?" he quipped in a teasing manner.

<I heard that, Ward.> came the accented tones of Terror herself through the squadron's communication channel. <And I think most of the squadron did as well.>

Aria couldn't help but chuckle at the Laibok native's quip as she shook her head but before she could reply, Sniper retorted with <Terror my dear, you did not recruit Witch King into the project for his tactful nature.>

"Alright all joking aside, how many of these torps and enemy fighters are about still?" Witch King asked himself as he swung his fighter back towards the FAB. "Also does anyone have an eye on Fury since last contact with him?"

Aria checked her own boards, light blue eyes narrowing as the combined TeraCochranes in the area on top of all the gravimetric energy that was being thrown around was playing merry hell with her sensors. "I can't tell, plus I'm only getting sporadic readings from Husker due to all of the excess bleed off around."

<I...'m here...> came Husker's voice in a slightly spotty manner as his fighter showed up slightly due to where he was on the battlefield.

"Husker, how are you doing over there?" Aria asked as she tried to filter out the wavelengths to get a better idea of their fellow pilot.

<Fi...ne, j..ust...rea...lly....ha...te....> Husker's voice came back, communications still being spotty.

"This is Wolf Fifth-teen to Wolf Oh One, we have communication with Wolf Oh Eight but it's spotty, I think his communications system might be damaged." Aria reported in as an alert went off in her ears as the fighter suddenly jerked around as another one of the black fighters roared past with several lances of phaser energy shot out in thanks to Ward's quick trigger fingers as he moved the fighter closer to where Angel's own Valravn was flying. "Angel, Aria. We have your wing."

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #61 –
LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel", Wolf 13 - Flight Leader | Airspace over Vector 2 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @Triage , @DocReno , @SummerDawn , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]

"Vamanos, mis lobos! Deprisa!1 Get to the hangar!"  It wasn't the order she wanted to give, but it was the right call.  The enemy was powerful and foreign.  Their forces were fragmented and scattered.  Their strategies weren't working.  Their weapons barely dented the other fighters.  If they wanted a chance against this new foe, they would have to regroup and form a new plan. 

Angel's bird had followed Meony, on her wing.  Meony's methods were a bit unorthodox, but they proved at least a little bit effective.  But Angel had emptied her payload in an effort to take out only a handful of enemy fighters.  There were dozens if not hundreds out there, and it didn't help that almost half their pilots had been abducted from their ships.  They were out-manned and outgunned.

But they didn't have to retreat with their tails between their legs.

Angel opened the channel to the squadron once more.  "Mis lobos.. I know you're frustrated. Angry.  Desperate even.  But if we are to rescue our friends and defeat this new enemy, we have to regroup. Form a new strategy.  Analyze what we know.  What works? What doesn't?  Right now, the most important thins is that we do not lose anyone else.  Defensive formation.  Protect each other.  Everyone left.. Witch King, Meony, Catscratch, Shinigami, Neko, and you Aria, watch each other's backs.  If those bastardos2 chase us home, give them hell.  We ALL make it home, that's an order!"

Whether or not each fighter heard her message, she didn't know.  But she was ready to defend her pack with her life.  Angel fell into place with Aria on her wing as she turned towards the FAB and headed in.  The Bandits did not give up easily, however.  She let her ECM emitter drop while evading the fire they were under, but her wing was clipped by their lasers.  Warnings flashed on her console.  Angel silenced them as soon as they sounded.  The FAB was in sight, she just needed to be a tad closer..

And then the fire she was under stopped.  Praise God and her lucky stars!  Angel didn't wait around to see why.  The hangar was right there.  She could fly in and hope for the best. With the Theurgy damaged as it was from the last fight, she had no idea if the tractor beam systems were functional.  It was time to hail the Theurgy herself.

"Fighter Bay, this is wolf uno-tres3 bringing the pack in.  We're coming in hot and are taking fire.  Any cover you can give while we land would be great."

In case the Fighter Bay was in better shape now then when they left, Angel started docking procedures and requested a tractor beam in.  But she didn't expect it to be that easy.

1. Let's go my wolves!  Quickly!
2. bastards
3. wolf 1-3... or 13
"Relationships are not my strong suit; I deal in evenings."
 - Jaya Thorne, Asst. Chief CONN Officer, Ensign [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #62 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Kickin' Ass - No Need for Names | Flight Deck of Badassitude | Vector 02| USS Theurgy]

It was not time to be gentle.

It was not time to worry about dying or being hurt further.

What it was time for was taking back their deck, their ship, and getting these big bastards right out of there.  She was not about to go down without a fight and she knew that the others on this deck were much the same.  As she stepped out so that she could hopefully get something done she was ready to put her life down for the sanctity of her deck.  She didn't want to die, but she would go down fighting if that was the choice she had right now. Ji so far, had the element of surprise and that was exactly what she needed right ow.  She lowered herself down quietly.  Gritting her teeth against the pain that seared up her wound from the metal that she had pulled from it.  It was still bleeding, she needed to act before she passed out from blood loss but she was not going to do that just yet.

There was time.

Ji slid her hand to the side and picked up a jagged piece of metal that had come off the tractor beam unit that the asshole had shot down from the ceiling.  It was long like an axe almost, a bit heavy, and had a serrated edge due to being snapped off whatever it had once been paired to.  In the back of her mind she was thinking about the daunting task of having to replicate and rebuild a tractor unit that they had used frequently in here but she was the one that had made it a target and she would be taking it's replacement on her own shoulders.

Slowly rising, she whimpered slightly, her leg wiggled a bit, the pain of the severed nerves radiating through her entire body.  It was the kind of pain that was nearly all encompassing but she wasn't going to let that take her down.  No she was going to make sure that she at least got a last fight.  A last attack or something.. she would not lay down and let the world fade.  She didn't have medical right now, she didn't have Nicander to remind her that she needed to take care of herself, in his overly creepy way.

The Asaurians were massive, and she didn't really think she, a human, would easily survive and attack by one.  She slid her legs around, into a taekwondo fighting stance.  Since her leg was injured she knew that she could not stand on it alone which meant it would have to be her fighting leg, therefore it was in the front of her front-stance.  She held the piece of metal, her weapon, up as her hands blocked her face from any kind of incoming attacks, and then she launched.  Pulling herself back onto her good leg her injured one bent at the knee level and strong and then kicked out at the back of the large Asaurian.  It hurt, and badly too, she didn't cry out in attack she cried out in pain as it radiated once more from the nasty wound in her leg.

A fresh spurt of blood colored the once yellow leg of her work suit.  The suit that was turning more and more red by the minute.  She used that moment though, launching herself forward as the Asaurian had stumbled and turned in surprise.  She was aware of others around her.  Sithick, he was alive, that was good.  She had sworn she had seen Liam somewhere but she couldn't figure out where at the moment he had gone.  For now, she had to concentrate on living. 

She didn't have but a second to think, she launched into a flying round kick, the same wounded leg going for the damage blow so that her only good leg would be able to give her the power.  She spun and hit the thing right in the shoulder, where someone else's head would be.  She landed and fell, with a cry of pain as the landing jolted the wound.  Another spurt of warmth fell down her leg, coloring the deck beneath her a bright hue of red as she fell down.  Hitting her left elbow smartly on the deck plating beneath her, the arm went numb as her funny bone connected heavily with the plating.  She looked up.  The alien was pissed off now.  She couldn't even think about all the other people and what they were doing.

Liam.. where is Liam.

Her mind drifted to him for only a second before the massive alien stepped up closer, towering over the young Korean woman that lay on the ground working up the courage and giving her nerves time to settle before she tried to finish this beast off.  The great beast looked down at her and reached down to pick her up.  Only Ji was not as helpless as she might have probably seemed.  She gripped the serated metal piece that she had gotten off of the wreckage and she curled her leg underneath her and quicky jumped up to meet the Asaurian.  Right in the face.  She allowed the large piece of metal and the force behind her body to impale the head and brain of the massive alien.

The only thing she didn't account for was the fact that the alien was going to fall down on top of her.  And it did.  Only further impaling itself on the large piece of broken metal.  She grunted as she now found herself pinned underneath the weight of a huge alien being and unable to do much more than hope that at some point someone would see her and help her out.  She closed her eyes, hoping that between the blood and the fact that she was currently underneath a dead invader of the ship.  She hadn't seen Liam move, nor throw the ECM into the ship.  She jumped when the massive explosion rocked it from the inside and made pieces of it fly all over. 

Fuck you, thinking you can mess with our ship you bastards. Ji thought tiredly as she forced her eyes open.  She couldn't hear anything at all.  Her ears were ringing heavily as she tried to wiggle herself out from underneath the alien beast but she couldn't.  The pain was just too great.

I don't want to die here. she thought to herself.

“Liam.” she called out weakly.  She could not lift the alien on her own.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #63 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: Lone Wolves

As Daniel was flying cover for the drones, weaving between hostile and allied fighters, his computer began to warn him of something new, several dozen new, smaller objects were being launched from the enemy warship.  “Salvo, we got ordnance inbound.  Fuck me sideways, Tri-Cobalt signatures detected!”  Knight exclaimed as the warning came up on both of their screens.  Tri-Cobalt weapons were banned by Federation Law, not that he expected these aliens to adhere to that law, even his own people didn’t adhere to it although his people hadn’t managed to create Tri-Cobalt weapons yet, give them another hundred years and they probably would though.

“Knight lock onto the nearest cluster of ordnance and prep the mass drivers, we’re going hunting.”  Daniel said with a grin, he had developed a plan, knowing that their weapons barely scratched the enemy fighters; maybe he could turn their own weapons against them.  “Salvo, nearest cluster is at three-o-clock, range one-thousand meters and closing.”  Knight said as Daniel nodded, he fired a few bursts at an enemy fighter, getting its attention as he flew his fighter towards the cluster of torpedoes.  “Five-hundred meters and closing fast.” Knight called out.  Daniel slightly adjusted his course, making it look like he was going to make a strafing run on the warship itself.  By now another fighter had joined its friend in chasing his fighter down.

“Torpedoes are in firing range.”  Knight said.  Daniel said nothing as he concentrated on watching the two enemy fighters, this was all about timing, he had to wait for the right moment when the torpedoes were past him and in explosive range of the enemy fighters but they had to be far enough outside the explosive radius so as not to get caught and die with them, although it’s not like he’d have long to regret the decision if he didn’t time it right as they’d be dead.

Knight watched as the cluster of five torpedoes passed them, another moment and they were about to pass the hostile fighters as well.  Daniel quickly activated the mass drivers and began to target them.  “Angle the mass drivers.”  He said as he heard Knight acknowledge him and a heartbeat afterwards hearing confirmation that the mass drivers were in position.  He fired a burst at each torpedo then shunted power from all his weapons into the shields and engines as the torpedoes exploding taking both the enemy fighters with them in their wake.  He turned his fighter back around watching as the other Wolves managed to score some hits against the incoming torpedoes as well.

All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics.

Hearing the recall order Daniel locked in his trajectory towards Vector 2, though he slightly out of position so he wouldn’t be the first to land, he began to look for his flight element.  Neko’s fighter was nowhere to be seen but he managed to spot Meony’s and Husker’s, both of them were heading back to the hangar.  “Knight, see if you can find Neko’s fighter.”  He said and after a few moments Knight responded.  “I can’t find her Salvo, maybe she’s already landed.”  He said as Daniel nodded, he hoped that nothing bad had happened to her.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #64 –
[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Wolf-07, Element Leader | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III “Sassy Slayer” | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno @Masorin & @Havenborn
[Show/Hide]
“Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fahkin fuck!” said Meony, she received a lock-on alert, and saw beams firing all around her, none of them she fancied touching her craft. The shields would be as good as oxygen in the vacuum. “Da hell are these things made of?”

Juking her fighter left and right, she did her best to dodge fire, returning her own with her rear-facing weapons, but she already knew the bandit shields were as thick as Sinead's honesty and Jimmy's personality combined. So, she killed her thrusters and twisted around, allowing the momentum of her ship's initial direction to carry her onwards to the Sword's Fighter Landing Bay, while she took a second to flip off her pursuer, then gave him a cluster bomb to the face to remember her by. The warhead detonated point blank, with the scattered explosives going off everywhere, and actually made the fighters peel away, to rethink their life choices, when she saw something on her radar. One of the fighters was listing as damaged and out of the fight, but not making any attempts to return to Vector Two.

“Well Ah'll be a monkey's aunty!” said Meony, “Dat's gotta be Golden-ah's skybird. Hang on, gal, Meony t'da rescue!” She spun her craft and powered for the third Vector, where Tessa had parked her craft, apparently hoping to ride out with it when they jumped to warp, but her readings of the Valkyrie's damage said that was a one-way ticket to getting nuked in what was essentially a microwave hull casing. That wouldn't be pleasant even for a masochist. She took scans of the vector, and everything around it, including the bandits and the big ship, making logs and individual records and folders for Command to review if they liked, then she keyed in a hail to Tessa and said, “Howdy, hon, looks like ya need a hand there. Ah'm gunna scoop ya raht up with meh, okay? Don't do nuthin' 'cause this is already nuts. Disengage remaining power t'yer magnetic clamps, we gotta get back t' th' Sword, an' we're runnin' late. Hang on t' yer underwear!”

They were surrounded by debris from all the battle damage sustained by Thea. It was enough to make Meony wince and hope the sentient ship didn't register pain, or that would be very painful. It also made for a flight hazard, but Meony was nothing if not creative in a situation like this, except she now had a rather unique conundrum as she carefully maneuvered her craft and yanked Tessa's Valkyrie hard enough to dislodge it using Sassy Slayer's tractor beams, and then the southern belle gunned forward, weaving awkwardly through the debris field, while Meony triggered auto-targeting with her phasers front and back, discouraging hostile pursuit or approach. Pulling Tessa clear of the Stallion, Meony could only hope the ride wasn't rough on her wingmate as they made for the Fighter Assault Bay.

“YEEEE-HAW!” Meony crowed and grinned while hailing Tessa, “Betcha nevah learnt this in th' Academy! Hang taht, we're comin' up on th' Sword, gunna let them tractors take ya th' rest o' th' way in! Hey, when Ah clear yer lahn o' saht, overcharge yer weapons if ya can and punch holes in them fuckers!” With a last push forward, Tessa's craft got caught by the Sword's tractor beams, and Meony spun her ship around on its axis, killing her thrusters, so that it drifted backwards, whilst facing the torpedoes and bandits. Grinning, she took hold of her steering yoke, and squeezed on the firing triggers.

She gave Angel's message an “Uh-fuh-mative!” in reply, and continued firing phasers while she was still facing backwards in the tractor beam's tow. Overcharging the beam arrays, she managed to core through one bandit's shields, and a micro warhead earned her first actual kill. “TAKE DAT MOTHAFUCKA! AN' TELL 'EM MEONY SENT YA!”

[ Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02, The Sword | USS Theurgy ]

The Sassy Slayer was brought in and parked. Popping open her canopy, Meony powered down and clambered out of the craft with all the grace and efficiency of a drunk donkey, missing the step ladder completely and rolling down with a heavy thud, “Hot damn!” She hopped back to her feet, taking off her helmet and pulling her cowboy hat on, she studied the bay, and the scene of carnage. “Dafuq happened 'ere?”

She noticed a dead horny, and there were bits of Federation under him, so the redhead scampered over, curious to see if she could help. “Aw fuck! Ji!”

Eun Sae Ji was calling for Liam, but the redhead couldn't see him anywhere. “Hang on, hon,” said Meony. Using her suit's augmented strength, she carefully pulled the Asurian corpse off the woman, “Oh geez...dat don't look too good.”

She studied the woman's wounds, and started removing her suit's first aid kit, taking our the medical tricorder first to scan the woman's injuries, and see what was the necessary steps to take. “Ye're gunna be fahn, gal, Ah gotcha. Callin' fer an EMH an' all'at. Now hang on, dis is gunna tickle...”

Understatement, and even the best care probably won't spare her friend any pain, but it was better than being dead. Meony was no medic by any means, but she could staunch more bleeding and slap on plasters until real medical help arrived. She looked around warily, alert for more attackers even as she continued following the tricorder's recommendations and instructions on the necessary treatments to apply with whatever she had on hand. Not too long ago, Silim Parnak had saved her life in this manner too, using whatever her suit provided to treat the worst of her injuries. “Good news is, Ji, Ah don' think ye're gunna die. Bad news...well, Ah think dat can wait.”

Even as she went on, she quietly prayed everyone made it back in one piece, especially the Resolve crew survivors.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #65 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Dorsal side of  Vector 03 Starboard Pylon ]  [Attn: @chXinya,) @Triton @Nolan, @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

While trying to ignore the battle around her, Tessa continued to reroute the connections in her fighter to bypass the damaged sections.  She was startled when her Valkyrie was pulled off the hull and was soaring through the debris ridden nebula.  Looking up she discovered that she was being towed by another fighter, tethered to an identical Mark III Valkyrie by a tractor beam.

“What?” she squeaked.

As they soared away from the Stallion, Tessa heard the drawling voice of Ensign Krystal Tancredi, callsign ‘Meony’, the current Wolf-07 over the comm system.

[ Howdy, hon, looks like ya need a hand there. Ah'm gunna scoop ya raht up with meh, okay? Don't do nuthin' 'cause this is already nuts. Disengage remaining power t'yer magnetic clamps, we gotta get back t' th' Sword, an' we're runnin' late. Hang on t' yer underwear! ]

“Er, um, okay” Tessa stammered before she realized she wasn’t sending.  As she activated her communications gear to send an acknowledgment back, Meony sent another hail:

[ YEEEE-HAW!  Betcha nevah learnt this in th' Academy! Hang taht, we're comin' up on th' Sword, gunna let them tractors take ya th' rest o' th' way in! Hey, when Ah clear yer lahn o' saht, overcharge yer weapons if ya can and punch holes in them fuckers! ]

“What do you?  Oh…” Tessa cooed as she understood.  Meony had turned their fighters so that their aft sections were caught by the Sword’s Fighter Assault Bay tractor beam and their fore sections were still pointed out into space.  Allowing them to fire at targets while they were being reeled in.  Tessa doubted that their weapons would have any effect on the enemy’s shields, but the very least maybe the shots exploding off their deflector screens would momentarily blind their sensors.  “Got it.  Roger that Meony.” she said as she fired her phasers.


[ CWO1 Sten Covington | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]

The Asurian that had come for him was huge.  Marv had been killed by the aliens in the black armour and wasn’t going to be much help in fighting these horned homewreckers that had come aboard to wreak havoc in his fighter bay. 

Chief Warrant Officer Sten Covington maneuvered his phaser rife to face the threat that had sidelined himself and the Klingon, but it was too late.  The huge Asurian son-of-a-targ jumped his bones as if the burly Brit was a bride on her wedding night and the homicidal space satyr was the lucky groom.  Trust Sten to bring a gun to a knife fight.  But Sten wasn’t that kind of Chief of the Deck, he liked to be introduced before being completely rutted.  So he clamped his enormous left hand around the attacking Asurian’s wrist and seized the horn the right side of his assailant’s head with the other.  

You see, there was a little trick that Sten learned during his long career of bar fights.  You grab someone by the head, and the rest of their body will follow.  Lying on his back, Sten didn’t have quite as much leverage as he would have liked so he decided that he would try to roll the two of them over.  You could call the deck chief sexist if you wanted, but Sten liked to be on top. 

Grunting and groaning on the deck, Sten and his attacker that he mentally nicknamed Parfum de Goat because his distinctive odor, no doubt made a homoerotic display as they writhed, twisted, and struggled on the floor.  There was no escaping it; Parfum de Goat was a romantic soul and he had taken a shine to Sten and wasn’t going to let him go that easily.  Sten could really tell that his new playmate wanted to leave him breathless the way his free hand seized the deck chief by the throat and cut off his air supply. 

This was bad.  No air meant that Sten was running out of road.  The picture was bleak, but there was no point letting this son of a camel’s whore see it; so Sten let go of Parfum de Goat’s horn and went for his eye.

That had the reaction that Sten was going for.  Parfum de Goat forgot all of his combat training and did everything he could to protect his face.  He had even let go of his machete, a wicked curved blade that resembled a Terran kukri or the Klingon mek'leth, so he could use both hands to deal with the threat.  Well, that was fine, because Sten liked to use both hands too.  

Now both of his hands seized this attacker by the horns, and fortunately for Sten his attacker had great big curved ram horns he could really get a hold of.  Rolling around, Sten managed to get on top and then put his full two hundred and ten pounds on de Goat while using the horns like the handles on a tricycle.  Another thing he had learned in his long years in Starfleet is that sixty-six pounds of torque twisting a humanoid’s neck at a sharp angle usually broke.  It took a little more than sixty-six pounds of torque, but with Parfum de Goat’s handlebars for leverage, Sten turned a hard left and heard a satisfying “crack” sound followed by an equally pleasing death rattle.

Spent from his fight, Sten rolled off his horned homoerotic foe to lie on his back on the cool, cool, deck plating.  He opened his eyes to see Petty Officer Suvok looking down at him with a hint of concern that young folks get for old farts. 

”Chief?  Are you injured?” the Vulcan asked him.  ”Do you need to go do sickbay?”

“Sod off, you mint blooded pixie eared rectum,” Sten wheezed as he forced his battered and broken body off the deck.  “There’s no time for that; there’s way too much work to be done.  Find out who else need help and direct traffic so those birds comin’ back in don’t run someone over.  What are you still standing here for?  Get movin'.”

The fighters were returning and Sten’s aged and aching body had been cracked, smacked, whacked, and almost hacked.  He had been thumped, bumped, dumped, and whumped.  Right now forcing air down his injured windpipe seemed like too much work, and so was standing upright for that matter.  For a brief moment, Sten Covington thought that he might be getting old.  But all of that could wait.  There were dead and injured on the deck, debris to move out of the way, and the birds were coming in.  There was just too much to do.



OOC:  Added Tessa to this post.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #66 –
[ LCMDR Leon “Striker” Marquez | Main Bridge | Deck 1 | Vector 01 ]

Marquez exchanged a regard with Keval when the Andorian prepared himself to be beamed out. It was at that time when he gained access to the combat report that crossed onto his desk. At once, Marquez considered that one of the Parasites had been a member of the crew, or there was an enemy infiltrator, but that was for Security to work out at a later time. “Welcome home, away team. Well done. Send copies of your reports to your vector captains. Mariner: You’re reassigned to your next posting, stand by for vector beam-out. Continued good luck. ”

“Take your time, boss! We still got a few cabrones making a mess of things on V-2.” Jimmy replied, with intermittent weapons fire heard through the comm cleaning up the now-smoking fighter bay once the Asurians’ numbers and escape avenue were both dealt with as the Starfleet defenders fought on. “Give me notice when you’ve transporter locked.” Jimmy transmitted in the clear to whoever would handle his transport.

Leon worked the point-defense arsenal on Vector One’s firing arcs, providing what assistance he could spare against the incoming torpedoes as the number of deployed fighters decreased, even though at least two fighters, including Salvo momentarily stood their ground before they engaged docking procedures. In their stead, Marquez designated high-priority targets with white cubic ‘3D’ indicators highlighting the most vulnerable of incoming torpedoes; What he or the fighters couldn't immediately shoot down, he painted as high priority. The number of these increased as the torpedoes made their way to Theurgy.

Leon counted down the number of incoming warheads, adding his weapons focused fire to weaken undamaged warheads or finish off damaged ones. “Tricobalt contacts still inbound, Captain.” Marquez listed as the final incoming warhead count approached. “Vector 2 powering aft weapons.” Leon noticed the Second Vector was powering its aft complement as it aligned on its escape course.  Having the Helmet’s maneuverability allow him to cover multiple firing arcs, as the vector prepared its own escape.

[ ENS James “Jimmy” Mariner & Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02, The Sword | USS Theurgy ]

“Thanks, Theurgy.” Jimmy replied, crouching as he made an outer sweep of the bay’s perimeter, looking for other Asurian contacts in the wake of their shuttle’s explosion. This included the sight of one Asurian towering over a flight crewmate. Mariner flanked as fast as he could for a better shot without hitting the woman, but the creature had collapsed as the wounded female officer unexpectedly killed it.

The situation seemed contained as the bay became occupied with returning fighters; he steered well away from those, lest he get flattened. He reloaded his phaser with a spare clip, “A 3-second heads-up will do.” The Asurian threat was policed enough,that explosion could’ve been bad… but it sounded like a plan Jimmy would’ve himself done.

Mariner spotted a familiar sombrero as moved to the crewmate he didn’t get to defend in time, but she had obviously taken care of her herself, as evidenced by the dead carcass holding her in place. Jimmy made his way to them, crouching and ducking to the sound of weapons fire to catch perhaps a moment with Meony as he knelt at her side and helped lift the heaving creature up enough to let the crewmate escape. Jimmy strained but was able to help the crewmate get out from beneath the Asurian.

Jimmy knelt beside Ji and lent what medical assistance he could offer, as usual, making light of the situation. “The bad news is… you’re not a red shirt, so I think that uniform’s ruined.” Jimmy made eye contact with Meony but was more intent on getting her friend out long enough to get them all out of immediate danger. “Good news is you might’ve out-scarred Meony here.” chuckling, he had a moment to hold his gaze on Tancredi now that he undoubtedly had her attention. He only had less than a moment at most to spare, but at least he was indescribably relieved they both so far had survived this week of hell and was going to let her know it. He would have a three second warning if he was lucky, so the first 0.7 seconds would seem almost like an eternity.

Meony spared a moment to show Jimmy the relief in her eyes, as she weakly uttered his name, appearing on the verge of collapse, before she leaned into him and kissed him, then turned her eyes back to securing Eun Sae Ji's injuries. She was about done, and now they only needed to await the arrival of actual medical teams. She was still not too keen on moving the woman without a proper stretcher.

Jimmy barely had time to catch his breath before Meony literally stole it. Not one to let himself lose to his best friend, the Australian stole it right back with interest. That was the blissful moment he'd been expecting all day... it was very pleasurable beyond description, but there were matters at hand. "Got you something too, luv." He handed her a datarod. She'd know what files to go through, music, clips of his exploits and scans of the planet and items of note he'd obtained-- even a scan of how to properly fix and maintain a disruptor; souvenirs compliments of Zyrao. There was also his 'in-case-I-don't-make-it-back' recording. "I've only got a 3-second notice before I gotta giddyap. No offense, but there's a war goin' on."

“Don't Ah know it,” said Meony in a sardonic tone. She looked at the datarod in her hand and then back at the man, and many unsaid things were exchanged between them with their eyes only. There was so much she honestly wanted to express, but in the heat of the moment and the excitement, not to mention the sheer adrenaline rush they both felt from their own forms of battle, she only said, “Jim, be careful, and come back to meh.”

One messy hand rested lightly over his, and the words I love you permeated the air around them without her uttering it, but she knew he knew. She didn't say it because it felt too much like goodbye, thusly she preferred not to say it unless it comes like some twisted karma to fuck them up even more. “Go, go! Ah'll be fahn 'ere. An' thanks.” she lifted the datarod and then slipped it into her suit's storage pocket shell.

During his away team mission, he'd thought of countless things he promised he'd tell her if he ever saw her again after that nightmarish image of seeing her laid out in sickbay by those accursed cultists. The memory of holding her hand was enough to keep him going, he felt that stubborn pulse of willingness to live, and that kept his eyes and mind clear for the events of today. Right now he was getting energy enough to last indefinitely.

Jimmy quivered in a distinct cringe he couldn't hide. He was too thick-skulled to be a telepath but right now, he could almost feel Meony's thoughts as he pulled her in for a brief but tightly-gripped hug; it was a miracle their armor didn't dent. Before he could make one on his euphemisms or memorized one-liners to praise her, he received his 3-second beam-out warning. At least his morale was high. Jimmy stepped back, locked eyes with Meony and dematerialized out of the hangar bay, but he was able to muster two words amid the electronic hum transported him out to Vector 03:

"I know."
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 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #67 –
[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Azure Nebula ->Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | The Sword | USS Theurgy ]

Circling around Vector 01 Thomas unleashed the rest of his ordinance to cover the hasty retreat to the fighter assault bay. He could see various things unfolding before him while the engines of his ship were working on a maximum to get him back to Vector 02. He could see Tancredi Towing Lance's Valkyrie to the fighter assault bay and saw their ships vanish just as he recognized them on the HUD. He looked to the rest of the pack that scurried back, Angel, Havenborn, Husker and the rest of the pack. One by one the contacts vanished into the landing bay and Thomas reported in to the bridge "Bridge Ops, be advised, all fighters have made it home, initiating landing now, ETA 2 minutes." he called ahead as he lined up his approach. The point defense systems causing enough sparring fire to roll, pitch and barrel roll in whilst the chasing ships of the Versant broke away.

Finally after a bumpy ride Thomas his ship reached Vector 02 as his eyes widened when he saw the Asurian saucer parked to the end of the hangar bay "What the fu-" his words cut short as he made a rough landing onto the deck. The gear grinding on the deck and undoubtedly causing deck damage. A sharp turn to the side allowed him to slow down, yet the terror wasn't over yet as the deck was riddled with debris, bodies and junk. What the fuck had been going on here. The fighter eventually came to a stop barely scraping the hull of the other landed fighters to the side and just an inch short of digging the nose of his Valkyrie into the saucer. They all seemed to be piled up in a bunch in the hangar bay. Ravon powered down the systems before any more damage would be done to the ship be debris being sucked into the ship.

The canopy opened up and he stood up in his ship to oversee the chaos. Ravon didn't say a word as he simply looked around and did a head count of the pilots who had still made it. It was somewhat hard to get a decent image of what was going on and all they could do now was help the cubs of Convington into clearing out the fighter assault bay so they could park their fighters, get maintenance done and figure out what they had to do about the saucer that pretty much took up needed space in the hangar bay. The jump to Warp was made swiftly after that and Thomas jumped down before he looked at the other pilots "Alright guys and girls, lets get this deck cleaned up. Groups of two."

The debriefing of Lance and Havenborn would have to wait. They were going to have to explain to him why they were missing a fighter and what had happened on the away team. The debrief of the rest of the fighter squadron would also have to be postponed. Their focus right now would have to be on cleaning up their den, all the rest would come later.


OOC: Alright, this post is meant to wrap up this thread entirely. A 7 days response times starts from today. Feel free to write up your landing aboard the chaotic fighter assault bay and/or help out where you can to those in need.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #68 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy] [Attn: @chXinya,) @Triton @Nolan, @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Tessa crouched in her cockpit and tried to steady her shaking nerves.  The fighter assault bay was a mess.  One of the alien saucer shaped space craft was blocking the way but Meony had managed to guide her around it.  Then Razor came in like a bat of Hell, turning broadsides in an attempt to slow itself down coming right at her.  “AAAAAAAH!” Tessa screamed.  “Stop!  Stop!  Stop!  Puh-leeeze!” she cried as she waved her hands in desperation as Razor’s Valk skidded across the debris laden floor and getting closer with every nanosecond.  “Whoa!” she gasped as it slid to a stop, nudging her fighter, causing her cockpit’s inertial compensators to activate.  Apparently they were damaged too, because she was still shaken around in her cockpit like a tambourine during a musical performance.  “Oy!” she groaned as she tried to decide whether to get out of her fighter or stay put and see who else was coming in. 

Everybody was ignoring her and moving around on the flight deck checking the wounded and finding out who was dead.  Tessa couldn’t help but think of the time the pilots from the Harbinger attacked, boarding the flight deck after they had peppered with fire from their fighters…

Tessa was startled with her cockpit was opened for her.  “Huh?”

“Well what do you know, you’re still alive,” Chief Warrant Officer First Class Sten Michael Covington declared.  “You gonna come out and join the rest of us?  For a moment I thought your fighter was empty like the others.”

“Empty like the others?  What are you talking about?” Tessa asked as she climbed shakily out of her fighter and planted her unsteady feet on the deck.

“Before the Sword went to warp the tractor beams managed to pull a few of our birds outta the black,” the grizzled deck chief reported.  “Only their cockpits were empty.  Not shattered, perfectly intact, just empty.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look at Hardtop's, Neko's, and Icarus’ birds, they’re right over there.  When we opened them, there was no one inside.”

“How could that be?” Tessa protested.  “They couldn’t have beamed out.  Didn’t they have their shields up?”

“That they did lass; we had to deactivate ‘em using their prefix codes,” Sten nodded.  “It looks like somehow, the bastards managed to figure out a way to send a transporter beam right through a deflector screen.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Not even those bastards from the future could do that.”

“Golly!  If they could send a transporter beam right through a shield what hope do we have against their weaponry?” Tessa gasped. 

“Not much Goldeneye, not much,” the deck chief agreed gloomily as he glanced around the hangar bay.  Even with the Asurian saucer aboard there was still plenty of room for the remaining fighters.  So many of them hadn't come back.


OOC:  I think we should pretend that all of the unexploded fighters have been retrieved, because Starfleet isn't going to send any replacements.

OOC from GM: Excellent! I changed it so that it was Hardtop, Neko and Icarus' fighters since Dragon's RIO Fury piloted that Valravn until it's destruction. No worries, awesome post.

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #69 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]
After the detonation inside the airlock of the Asurian saucer, Liam's ears had been ringing. He'd looked up, having been pelted with the innards of the alien ship where he lay prone on the deck. There were fighters inbound and a glance back into the bay had told him the fight was winding down. He couldn't see Ji anywhere, nor hear anything over the noise of the fighers, all having to skirt around the big saucer in their way.

Liam knew he had to check inside it, to make sure there was no one left to operate those green beam emitters, if they were even functioning any more. Two ECM detonations, which were virtually equivalent to micro torpedoes, inside the hull armour of most crafts would tear it up pretty good, and he was lucky he hadn't made some kind of propulsion core blow up. In that case, he'd been dead meat, and so would the neck of Vector 2. He'd acted on instinct, needing to do something, and he'd gambled. Perhaps too high, some would say afterwards. Get up, Liam. You have to check. Have to make sure.

So he climbed to his feet, dusted off his arms and leapt up to the edge of the airlock, pulling himself inside the saucer. He was painfully aware that he was unarmed, trying to ignore the roar of fighter thrusters outside as the Lone Wolves returned to their scourged den. It was impossible to hear anything. No way to hear if any Asurian pilot was alive in the debris field that remained inside the saucer. He put one foot before the other, light blue eyes searching the rubble. What had once been separate compartments now had gaping blast-holes, shadows dancing with the light from the viewports as more fighters landed.

What are you doing, Liam? You should have waited for security to handle this... he chided himself, hearing his heart beating loudly in his ears. He swallowed, unable to make out much in the dust that still swirled in the wake of the two blasts.

The roar came from behind him, and it was no Valkyrie.

Liam rounded on the source with wide eyes, and with his turn, his elbow caught the arm-mounted blade - deflecting it from his torso. Though lucky, the surviving Asurian still rammed his head into his face instead, sending Liam staggering through the scrap metal that remained of the saucer's bridge area. He ended up on the debris-strewn deck plates, with the Asurian leaping on top of him. Liam got his leg up in time, caught the heavy mass of the assailant before he landed. The blade came for his head, but since Liam had his leg separating them, the sideway slash passed just shy of his eyes. Fighting the panic he felt, Liam pushed the Asurian away with both legs before there could be any second slash. His opponent seemed hurt, limping as he caught his balance, but came for Liam again.

This time, Liam was back on his feet. He had merely basic Starfleet hand-to-hand training, but he managed to catch the forearm that held that blade, twisting the strike upwards to escape certain death a third time. Instinctive survival drove him as he punched as hard as he could into the Asurian's face. The assailant seemed too adrenaline-filled to care, trying to cut Liam again with a guttural roar. Only when he tried...

...the blade remained stuck in the ceiling.

Eyes wide, Liam struck again, and again. In part terror and part instinct, he lay his punches and kicks to the opponent as rapidly as he could. The Asurian just wouldn't stop moving, trying to catch his wrist. Liam cried out and continued...

...until his assailant stopped moving, dangling from the tight brace around his forearm - the blade still firmly stuck above him. Liam wasn't sure what bled the most, his knuckles or the Asurian's face, and he might have felt some kind of triumph if his face and hands hadn't been hurting so much. He looked around once more, breathing hard, and then left the Asurian where he was.

Once he was down on the deck again, he squinted at the bright light, making his way to Sithick and a group of pilots. He gave a nod to the Gorn, and then spotted Ji. She was getting medical treatment from one of the security officers. It was Mariner! The Resolve officer didn't see him though, but it seemed he had taken care of a nasty cut in Ji's leg with a dermal regenerator, stopping the bleeding for her. While Mariner seemed to have a moment with Meony, Liam went to Ji's side, not wanting to disturb them. His focus was on Ji anway.

"Hey," he said, reaching for her, ignoring his bleeding knuckles. He was crouching by her side, taking her closest hand into his. "Are you okay? Medical should be here soon. I was so worried I'd lost you..." His blue eyes fell on the dead Asurian only feet away - the bloodtrail on the deck making it evident that Ji had been the one that sent him to meet whatever maker the Asurians might believe in. "Seems like you are quite able to handle yourself... and my worries were entirely misplaced."

He gave her a grin, before catching Petty Officer Bremmer's eye. "Eliska, there is another Asurian inside the saucer that needs to be... secured. Is that what you guys call it? He's... hanging out in what's left of the bridge."

Activity was picking up, and there was a lot to do, but he stayed at Ji's side as long as he could, until Covington called for him.

"Be safe... I'll see you soon," he said, wanting to kiss her, but didn't, since there were too many around. He'd visit her later. "I promise."

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #70 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Deck 16 | Flight Deck of Death | USS Theurgy]

Ji didn't feel good. 

There was darkness beginning to encroach on the edges of her vision.  She wasn't sure if it was the two ton horned beast on top of her, or if she had really lost that much blood.  It was hard to figure out, but for the time being she was just trying to remain conscious.  One thing the massive beast on top of her was doing was making the pain a whole lot worse.  She wanted to close her eyes, but they were currently searching for a flash of yellow.  Anywhere.  Somewhere.  He had to have made it.  They were both in danger and neither of them were going to go down without a fight.  But neither of them were really fighters, in that sense.  Ji was well versed in taekwondo but there were times when that wasn't enough.

Like today.

Someone was coming, she could hear them, and she didn't think it was another Horned Beast because the steps were far too light.  Her dark eyes shifted up to see Meony leaning over her cursing about the state she was in.  Ji couldn't see it, which was likely a good thing.  Ji gasped as the large thing was removed on top of her and her lungs could finally inflate fully.  That didn't help the pain it just radiated in a completely different way now.  Still, she was conscious and the blackness started to recede which meant that it was the weight of the dead animal on top of her wound more than the wound itself.

Probably good news. she thought to herself, mostly to reassure herself she wasn't probably going to die.  At least, not yet.  Meony was scanning her and Ji's eyes tried to focus on the woman which helped her compartmentalize the pain.  She gasped as Meony began to treat the wound with whatever was in her kit.  She gripped the side of her work suit with her fists and squeezed as much as she could trying to get herself through the pain of being treated.  She kept reassuring her that she would be alright, Meony was good people, though her accent made it hard to understand her sometimes.  It was probably the same when Ji got angry and her Korean accent took over her Common.

Good news; she wasn't going to die.  Bad news; well they would get to that later.

Ji let out a tired and pained snort of a laugh.  “Pretty sure this entire day is bad.” she whispered softly through the pain of having someone treating her wounds.  New voice, her eyes shifted to find Jimmy over her.  Her eyes assessed him a bit as he tried to make light of the situation.  Swallowing heavily, her throat was dry, she could use something to drink but right now she wasn't exactly worried about that.  “Fuckin' horned bastards, owe me a new suit.” she whispered hoarsely and let her eyes close for a moment.  No no you can't sleep Ji. she reminded herself and forced her eyes back open.

The two beside her seemed to turn into themselves and that was fine, Ji was apparently waiting for Medical to give her the all clear.  He was there, her eyes found his face, and all the air escaped her lungs in a big gasp of relief.  He was alive.  His hand took hers and she clutched it for dear life.  “Hi.” she whispered.  Understatement of the day, for certain, there were so many things she wanted to say.  Unlike Meony and Mariner, Ji and Liam weren't in love, not yet, but she felt that the possibility was there given time and less battles.  But, he was there, and whole, and it was the most amazing thing she had seen all day.  Her eyes just drank in his face splattered with blood here and there meaning it had fought and fought hard.  She was proud of him.

“I'm.. I'm okay.” she whispered softly, just glad he was there.  He was okay.  He was safe and sound and hadn't died in the large explosion.  “I'm so glad you're okay.  When the explosion happened I couldn't see you and I thought maybe.. but no... here you are and I'm so glad to see you.”  She wouldn't have cared if he had kissed her, she was beyond caring at this point but she knew that everything between them was only hours old.  She didn't want to rush it.  Rushing it scared her off, the sudden thrust of commitment made her want to run for cover.  She wanted the slow burn that moved gently.  A candle started with the flame at the top and slowly over time it would burn down deeper into the candle.  That was what she was hoping to find.

It seemed he had to go.  His eyes flashed up and then back to her.  Where she lay waiting for medical.  He had a more serious look on his face.  She knew she could guilt him into staying with her but that wasn't who she was.  She could handle it.  Most of it was fine, she just needed a go ahead and a pick me up from medical.  He told her he would see her again, and promised that, her smile was his biggest answer.

“Me too.  I'm still hoping for that dinner.  You're not going to get out of it.” she teased a little bit and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.  “See you soon.”

He left to go do what he needed to do.  She closed her eyes and it seemed only seconds, though she was sure it was minutes when the Medical arrived. 

“Hey Chief, how are you holdin' up.”

Ji's eyes opened.  “Well, I'd like to get back to work, Doc.”

The woman, human, smiled and gave a nod.  “Lets check you out then.” she said as she ran a medical tricorder up over Ji and began to check the wound.  She ran a dermal regenerator over the wound and checked for the bleeding.  “Looks good Chief I'm going to give you a hypo of something that will help with the pain, swelling, and give you a boost of energy.”

Ji grinned.  “Sounds like my kind of hypo can I just keep a stock of those in my pocket?”

The Medic grinned.  “I don't know, you already have a habit of pushing yourself too far.” she teased.

Ji chuckled.  “Ah well what's the point of life if you aren't busy living it.”

The hypo pressed against her neck and she felt the brush of air that delivered the medication to her system.  Almost immediately the pain faded and Ji felt good, better, ready to go.  She sat up slowly because she didn't want to rush and get light headed.  For a moment she sat there and just surveyed the destruction of her deck.

“Holy fuck...” she whispered her dark eyes searching her sanctuary and finding nothing but carnage.  “I was right, it's a bad day....”

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #71 –
[LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward, Ensign Tallanyreen "Aria" sh'Kandros, LT Talidenai "Terror" zh'Idenna & LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper"| Fighter Assault Bay| Vector-2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Even Angels Cry @CanadianVet @Triage @Havenborn @Nolan @Doc M. @Masorin @Blue Zephyr @Triton @Auctor Lucan

As the fighter finished its landing cycle and the cockpit popped, Cameron pulled off his helmet, droplets of sweat flying slightly from his short hair as the edge of the helmet caught it. "Good grief, Talla..." the man from Calamity said as he surveyed the carnage.

Aria couldn't help but nod in agreement as she swung down from her seat in their fighter, her own eyes taking in the sights before them with the smoldering wreckage of what was the invading saucer to the mounds of bodies this way and that. "Reminds me of my bad old days..." she mused softly.

Cameron heard his RIO's words and reached out to gently squeeze her shoulder reassuringly as he knew exactly what she meant as he was the only person that she could trust with something so personal. "It's only going to get harder as we go along, partner...but we got this." he said with a smile.

Before anything more could be said between the two, both Terror and Sniper came around the corner with the albino Vulcan sporting a noticeable trail of green blood which clashed against her pale white forehead which brought a concerned look from Aria which Sniper waved off with "It's nothing, I took a turn much too sharply and slammed my head hard enough inside of my helmet." she explained.

"As long as you get it taken care of soon." Terror said, gently reaching out and touching the other woman's forearm.

Sniper took in the gesture and then bowed her head in response, "I will endeavor to do so at the soonest, ma'am." she said quietly.

The former squadron leader of the White Wolves looked around at the fighters, seeing that Husker's was one of the last ones in at which point the Andorian looked over at Cameron and asked "Do we have a count on who we lost?!"

Cameron slowly nodded, "I have a partial list, ma'am. From what I can gather from those that came with us we've lost Dragon, Fury, Strider, Flint, Shinigami and Tide." he explained to his former SCO, knowing that while it was the wrong person to make such a report to that by the same token she was the one who knew these people best.

The woman known as Talidenai zh'Idenna quickly reached out and grabbed the wing of Witch King's bird as she emotionally and physically sick after the human had named off several of the people that she had personally recruited into the program back on Luna for the Valravn fighters.

While she felt the death of the pilots under now former command during the previous battle at the starbase when Metalhead took command of those who didn't join her and the rest, these latest ones who were the core of her little family...

Sometimes it just felt like too much.

T'Zantha saw the look on Tali's face and reached out to offer her own version of moral support as she placed a hand on the Zhen's left shoulder, bowing her head with closed eyes and tried to let some of her strength flow through the bond that they shared and into her.

Tali blinked away the tears as she reached over and squeezed her lover's hand tenderly even through the gauntlets.

Aria looked around and noticed the security ratings as a painful thought suddenly snapped through her head and quickly said something about "Igottagobe..." before she quickly headed out into the odd maze of metal and flesh around them, her blue eyes scanning the area with a powerful need.

As Cameron watched his longtime partner in crime and RIO run off with an intent for some reason when he blinked hard and then turned to look at Tali once more, “Also, we picked up a report that Talon went MIA while he was in Angel’s bird.”

Now this bit of information caused even T’Zantha to raise both of her eyebrows before she looked over at her partner as the two women were on at least somewhat friends with the other Andorian and his human counterpart. “I must admit that this news makes me very worried, Cameron. Do you know what happened?”

Cameron shook his head, “I’m afraid not, Sniper. General theory is that it has something to do with the Savi..I mean their fucking tech is pretty damn tight.”

“Yes, tight indeed.” T’Zantha said as she turned to ask Tali something only to see her walk off a little bit.

Tali actually was moving over to glance at Angel’s bird as she took in the human’s fighter, streaked with its own battle damage like all of the others in the bay and found it very disconcerting that Sehl was missing...sure he was known for a romancer of the so called “stronger sex” but he was a Than that she could count on in a pinch.

Plus he was Angel’s best friend in the entire ‘verse and she felt bad that their Heavenly Badass was without her own personal guiding light...and she almost pitied the Savi if they were the ones who took Sehl…

…ALMOST…
/////////////////////////////////

[Ensign Chris “Husker” Slayton| Fighter Assault Bay| Vector-2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Blue Zephyr @Even Angels Cry

Once his bird hit the deck and was done cycling its landing sequence, Husker reached up and unlatched the seals on his helmet before pulling it off as he looked around at the sheer carnage of the FAB and wondered how many people had died in the cavernous bay before him.

He popped the canopy of his bird before setting the helmet on the edge of the cockpit before levelling himself out of it, wincing slightly as he felt something twinge where there should not be a twinge before swinging himself out of his fighter and onto the deck below.

Bits of various aliens and their technology lay strew about, but he jumped slightly with his left hand snapping to his phaser as he heard more weapons fire before tracking it to the remains of the alien saucer that laid there, a bright beam of blue energy lancing outwards from somewhere deeper within the Asurian craft which made him wonder who was still fighting...or if their fighting for the day was truly over?

As he looked around, he counted the number of fighters that was left and it made his heart sink deeply as memories of the bad old days on the Harbinger crept into his heart as he slowly looked around, seeing the now familiar form of his new friend Alessia and her fighter off to one side which allowed him a moment to be thankful for that as he also saw Tali to one side, her face tense as she too looked at Angel’s bird.

He thought about everything that he had been through both today and over the last few weeks and years and he hated that his newest friend was having to be exposed to the darkest of dark and he actually felt hurt that she had to see such things in her lifetime.

As he turned his head around and took in the view of the rest of the bay, he spotted Ji sitting off to one side...looking broken, battered, and beaten but most importantly unbowed and even though their agreement to try and see if something could work between them was only not even a day fully started he couldn’t help but find himself respecting her even more, the eyes that had first drew his attention was filled with a kind of sorrow that was understandable.

Chris slowly made his way over to her and gently knelt down next to her on one knee, his face showing how tired and worried he was did nothing to show the honest and pure relief at seeing her alright as he took in her bloodied appearance with the mixture of both what appeared to be her blood and another species on her jumpsuit.

“I was worried about you…” he said, his tone low and honest as he tried to find the right words before he gently reached out and gently squeezed her forearm as he didn’t want to do anything romantic but by the same token he also wanted her to know that he was happy that she was alright. “I’m glad that you’re okay, Ji.”

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #72 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]


Bremmer had just recovered her rifle from the deck when she heard Chief Herrod speak to her.  There was another one of those horny bastards in there?  "You got it, boss-man," she replied after taking a deep breath.  Damnit, she needed a break but it didn't look like it was going to happen just now.  And then, there would be equipment maintenance and return, mission reports, and whatever needed doing after the battle the ship had just been through, whatever the hell that was. 

So there was no telling when, or if, she'd see her rack anytime in the near future.  And now, there was going to be even one more fight.

Carefully, with her weapon in her shoulder, she went up the saucer's ramp.  This was the worst kind of approach, one where she had no idea of the layout, where she did not know where to find the opposition, and had no idea what kind of state he was in. 

The Asurian warrior was just coming to.  He couldn't believe how badly he had screwed up, jamming his sindt into the deckhead like some wet-behind-the-horns dumb shit recruit.  And then, the Human he had dead to rights pummeled him into unconsciousness.  That was a shame he couldn't allow himself to live with.  At least not without exacting retribution first.  But first, he had to free himself, and that was not going to happen with just one arm.  So, he reached up and freed himself from his weapon... just in time to see an armoured figure turn onto the control deck.  A human warrior?   A legitimate one?  It had to be.  It carried a rifle, and it moved like it knew what it was doing.  So, he dove to the deck to scoop up a fallen gravity gun just as the human saw him. 

Bremmer had come nearly face to face with the Asurian just as it was making for a weapon.  And, with a curse of her own, she dove to the side even as he too opened fire. 

From outside the fighter, all that could be seen were the lances of Asurian weapons fire and the lurid glow of phaser blasts, and the shrieking of energy weapons poured from the open hatch and damaged hull.  And then, it stopped.

And, what might seem an eternity to an onlooker, Bremmer walked down the ramp.  Her rifle hung from her right hand, her helmet from her left, and she was breathing hard.  Her battered exosuit looked a little worse for wear and sweat made much of her hair stick to her head, and more dripped from her frazzled braid.  "One hostile down.  Ship is secure."

And, upon stepping off the ramp, she allowed herself to collapse to her backside as she sought to bring her heart rate back under control.  "What a fucking day."

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #73 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: @Nolan, @Doc M., @Triage, @Even Angels Cry, Other Lone Wolves

Daniel could see the remaining fighters making their way to land in the FAB.  He was still a good ways out though due to his interception of the torpedoes and the hostile fighters.  “Knight shunt power from all weapons to shields and engines.”  Daniel said as he began to power down all non-essential systems, including life support.  Their suits were rated for vacuum after all and this wasn’t the first time he’d done this so he was fairly used to it.

“Engines at one-hundred and twenty percent Salvo, although I don’t know how long they’ll last.”  Knight said from behind him.  Daniel knew that the engines wouldn’t last long but he didn’t need them too, he just needed them to last just long enough to land in the FAB.  He maneuvered his fighter through the debris field that was starting to accumulate from spent torpedo casings, hostile fighters, and other various objects that now littered the battlefield.  After a couple minutes he lined his fighter up with the FAB and began to slow down slightly, just another few hundred meters.  Those few hundred meters came fast and he throttled back and dropped his engine power down by fifty percent.  When he was just a few meters from the entrance to the FAB he slowed down another thirty percent and extended his landing gear, this was definitely going to be a hard landing.

He angled his fighter down as when he felt the unmistakable thump of the landing gear hitting the deck he powered his engines down except for his maneuvering thrusters which he used to move his fighter towards his docking cradle, not quite avoiding a saucer shaped ship that was sitting in the bay, he clipped it ever so slightly but it was enough that his console sparked and he could hear circuits fusing and felt his fighter getting heavy as he managed to finally slow to a halt on the deck, just a meter from his docking cradle.  As he attempted to move it in further he suddenly lost all power.  “That’s not good.”  Knight said from behind him.  Daniel shook his head and pulled the emergency release on the canopy, as it opened Daniel stood up and looked around the bay, it seemed like a war had been fought inside of here.  He spotted Meony and Husker and the other survivors but couldn’t see K’Ren which worried him, he’d hate to have gotten her home finally only for her to die here and now.

As Knight stood up and surveyed the scene he looked back at the damage the fighter had sustained.  He let out a low whistle which attracted Daniel’s attention. “Looks like the techs are going to have a hard time with this.”  Knight said as Daniel looked around him to see what he was looking at.  He let out a long sigh as he saw it and understood why the fighter’s power had failed.  Part of the nacelle had plasma scoring that looked bad; it looked like he was going to get that upgrade to his fighter sooner rather than later now.  “Knight, we’ll worry about Hellcat later, let’s go find out what we can do to help out around here.”  He'd have to find out what happened to K'Ren later.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.
 

Re: Chapter 01: Supplemental | New Pack, Old Teeth

Reply #74 –
LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel", Wolf 13 - Flight Leader | FAB | Deck 14 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @Triage  , @SummerDawn , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]

Alessia closed her eyes.  Her pack had landed, and all birds were accounted for.  She couldn't say the same about the pilots though.  They barely had a chance to fight back, but maybe that was a good thing.  This new foe had superior weapons and shielding technology.  The real battle would claim countless lives.  She wasn't ready for that yet.  Right now, all she wanted was a moment of peace.

A few seconds later she opened her eyes and glanced around the hangar.  Chaos everywhere.  The whole FAB was in disarray.  She needed to summon a strength she didnt feel like she possesed.  She clenched her knuckles and whispered a prayer.  "Dios, ayudame.1"  She needed another momenr of silence but there wasn't time.  She needed to act.  Now.

Alessia clambered out of her valravn and hit the flight deck with both feet.  She snatched her phaser rifle from its home in her bird and changed the setting to maximum stun.  A cursory glance around the deck left no enemies in sight, but she had to be sure.  She did a quick sweep of the immediate area, but found only debris, injured crew and dead aliens.  'Gracias a Dios!'2  She wouldn't need this rifle today.  Instead, she'd need both hands to help clear this debris and rescue any crewmen in need.

Alessia hurried to a cluster of familiar faces: Meony, Chris, Ji.  In the air, she knew what to do.  When she flew, she had all the answers.  But on the ground?  She was just another officer with a phaser.  She needed direction and orders, but she'd settle for friendly faces.  It took mere minutes for the three of them to update Alessia on the situation on the ship.  Apparently these aliens had been after some very specific things.  She shuddered to think what fate the kidnaped crew might face. With any luck, theyd be able to regroup and rescue their stolen friends before anything else happened.

There was little else she could do here.  Ji was in good hands, Chris and Meony made it back alive and the FAB was no longer under attack.  But Alessia wouldn't just wait around for something to do.  There was plenty to help with right here and she needed to get her mind off of, well, everything else.

- FIN

1. God, help me.
2. Thank God
"Relationships are not my strong suit; I deal in evenings."
 - Jaya Thorne, Asst. Chief CONN Officer, Ensign [Show/Hide]
 
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