Star Trek: Theurgy

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #75 – March 18, 2019, 04:27:11 AM

[ Lt Cmdr. Wenn Cinn & Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | Upper Shuttle Bay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] This is a Joint-Post by chXinya & Auctor Lucan

Rematerializing near one of the parked shuttles, Cinn looked around to survey the damage from the fighting. There were scorch marks from a fire-fight, a few of the shuttles had been knocked around with the impacts and hard maneuvers, but one Type 11 shuttle was already prepped and waiting. There were people in the back of the shuttle bay, who Cinn didn't recignise, but right then, there was only one thing on his mind.  The moment his dark eyes locked onto the familiar blue face, Cinn was across the bay. She had been standing by the shuttle, prepping if for flight. Ida turned her head just before he enveloped her in a bear hug. "By the Prophets you have no idea what it means to see you." he whispered straight into the Andorian's ear.  For some reason, seeing her alive and well brought a massive weight of of the Bajoran's shoulders.  He knew that as long as she was alive the crew was safe.

"Cinn," she said, caught by surprise... and despite her ordeal on the Versant, Ida couldn't muster the sense of indignation, of hating how her personal space had been invaded. She'd heard what the Captain said. Knew what Cinn was about to do, and it made her awkwardly raise her arms, and return the embrace. She felt her face twisting, and the notion that he would vanish once more finally settled in her mind. She wanted to curse him. To kick him and strike him down so that he might not leave the crew again. To not leave her once more. She'd already lost him before. She hated him for leaving her behind, but she couldn't say it. She couldn't beg him to stay like she was still suckling zhiassa, but she couldn't stop the tears that ran from her glare.

Finally letting go, Cinn didn't bother to recover a professional demeanor.  Looking down at the items in her hands, "These are it then?"

"Aye," she said, her jaws clenched, and she ran her free hand through her white hair, masking how she brushed away her tears as well. She cleared her throat. "The instructions are on that tablet. The password is Whisky, Alpha, Lima, Delta, Oscar."

Taking them from her, Cinn keyed it in and glanced at the instructions on the strange PADD.  They were pretty straightforward, though looking at the ball they went to, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to figure it out without them.  Certainly not in the few scant minutes left before the apocalypse arrived.  Before climbing into the cockpit, Cinn looked at his deputy straight in the eyes.  He knew her record, where she came from, why she was here, how her passion was both a boon and a hindrance to her.  "Take care of yourself." he finally counseled.  It was short and cliche, but that was all there was time for.

"I..." Ida began to say, but Cinn has already turned away. Was that it? She couldn't muster the words. She wanted to say that Cinn deserved more. That it was unfair. That the crew still needed him, but what of it? He didn't seem to care. He would just sacrifice himself because those aliens in the Bajoran wormhole told him to? Words failed her, and she was left standing there, with all the things unsaid. The bond she had with Cinn would be severed again, after having watched him die once already, and she couldn't tell him how much she looked up to the ridge-nose, and how grateful she was for his companionship. They had been comrades in arms since the ship was commissioned, and she wanted to laud him for his service and his dedication to the mission.

But she was left standing there, when the shuttle's airlock closed. Like a statue coming alive, she stepped away, her hands white-knuckled fists at her sides. She didn't bother to wipe away her tears again, while she watched Cinn take off.

Climbing aboard the shuttle, Cinn dropped into the pilot's seat and ran the final pre-flight steps.  It only took a few seconds, just enough time for Ida to get clear.  Looking out the open hangar doors, the Azure Nebula shone faintly against the stars while flashes of light marked ships jumping to warp.  The massive aperture hung off to the side, heralding the doom of everything.  As a security officer in Starfleet, Wenn Cinn could not allow that to happen.

Powering up the engines, the shuttle lifted off of the deck.  "Shuttle 3 departing."  With that one regulation-required phrase echoing in the shuttle control room and the Bridge, Cinn slipped through the atmospheric forcefield and angled straight for the aperture...

...where the Borg were coming through.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #76 – March 18, 2019, 10:42:36 AM

[ Ens. Cir'Cie | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]
^{Attn: @alphawiz @Doc M.}
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Cir'Cie's mien was completely void of emotion when Lieutenant Jeen gave O'Connell a dressing down, her hearing picking out most of the words. She might not have managed to rid herself completely from passive aggressive tendencies, but far be it from her to entertain humour at the expense of other shipmates. In her regard, such crude demeanour wasn't befitting a Vulcan, or a Starfleet officer for that matter. If anything, the delay in executing the task set before them was illogical. Clearly the ship faced a crisis unlike any it had faced before?

"Correct, Lieutenant," she said, having started the task herself since the others tarried with nonsensical debate and questions. "I have deactivated gravity in sealed and empty compartments, and I am now dedicating the available energy to the replication and transportation sequence. The bridge need this now, so I am about to inform officer Morgan Song that he can deploy the interference relays."

On a separate screen, she brought up the communication system, activating the voice-to-text feature. "Engineering to Petty Officer Song. Sequence ready to be authorised and energised at your command."

Once she had done the work for the present engineers, she ran diagnostic on the ship's systems. "The structural integrity field is holding over the hull breaches on decks two, thee, four, six, ten, twelve, eleven, twenty, twenty three, twenty six through eight and thirty two. I am lighting up the sections that are depressurised, as well as the current emergency force-fields that have been raised. Dorsal-starboard nacelle is offline, leaking plasma, ventral-port nacelle as well. I am reading plasma leaks in the dorsal-port nacelle as well, but it's still offline. All three warp cores are online and compensating for loss of EPS grid integrity. We have impulse speed, but if we are to go to warp, I believe we need on-site repair crews. Immediately. Until this is done, I am trying to seal the plasma leaks from here."

She looked up at the two males - the Trill and the Human. She raised an eyebrow at them. "I could use adequate assistance with these tasks," she said, keeping any dryness from her tone. At least she was confident the present officers in Engineering, who may only know her as a formerly mind-controlled saboteur from Vasser's mutiny, now shed the notion that she was just a botanist. She was a Starfleet officer and a Vulcan. She had many talents, and had been taught many things. "Further delays may have dire consequences, so I suggest expedient actions."

The situation aside, Cir'Cie's personal regret was the lingering headache from the prior evening. It made it difficult to contain irritation and keep focused. More so, with Kaylon Jeen present, she was reminded about her shortcomings in self-discipline. As gratifying as coitus with the man had been at the time, judging by the flashes of memories that surfaced in his company, the event served as a distraction she didn't need.

[ Drauc T'Laus | Security Centre Lobby | Deck 08 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Cosmos
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Working together with the two present security officers, Drauc T'Laus dealt with the remaining drones - the flashes of phaser bolts lighting up the interior of the lobby. Once the metal and flesh humanoids were out of commission, Drauc turned to the Andorian who had laughed, her blue face evident behind her visor. Her martial arts skills had been impressive, and quite efficient when utilising the added strength of the exosuit. She was thanking him for his sense of timing, and he inclined his head.

"I had come sooner if the turbolifts were working," he rasped to her, only briefly picking up on her thoughts and emotions. She seemed to be exhilarated about being in the battlefield, contrary to her companion, and it wasn't often Drauc experienced such a mind-set and attitude. Dyan Cardamone had shared that lust for battle, but the Asurian's instincts - and her desire for harm - were quite different from that of the Andorian. While Dyan had been a chaotic presence in his mind, the Andorian was exhilarated in a completely different manner. In a... wholesome way, as far as he could determine from their initial encounter.

Having looked into her eyes though the burgundy tresses of his hair, piercing the darkness of the room as well as her visor with his passive scrutiny, he soon looked away towards the door behind the console. It led to the Security Command Center, with all the internal sensors and available surveillance screens of the ship.  "With so many teams deployed, I can stand guard here, while the two of you try to ascertain how many drones are left aboard. I will not let any more come through."

Drauc turned his stare back to the Andorian, his next words being of more personal nature. "You are uniquely apt for your chosen profession. Where I have met many of the Andorian warrior caste, your spirit is not dampened by the burdens, nor do you crave to inflict harm solely for the sake of it. Do not loose this spirit, officer Zark, for it is just as much your fortifications as it is a part of your weaponry."

Having said as much, Drauc turned away from her - his threadbare robe settling around his legs as he set his eyes on the entrance. He would stand guard in the darkness, and no drones would pass him by.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #77 – March 18, 2019, 02:36:44 PM

[ Lieutenant Elro Kobol | Corridors | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] @Juzzie

Elro found it uncomfortable to watch the disheveled looking counselor cut through the pinning fragments of metal surrounding the trapped crewman; he didn’t like waiting on things, it made him feel anxious. The hesitant progress of the man didn't do a whole lot more to stay his nerves, but he continuosuly reminded himself that he was much worse with a phaser than Rhys was. He wasn't quite sure why, it was just a very big exoscalpel... He was great with the latter....

Yet, despite all of his conflicting reservations, he had to thank his luck that he’d run into Rhys so suddenly; the distraction was a welcome one, and the Borg suddenly seemed a lot more distant now that there was a critically injured crewman underneath the rubble before him. Being stuffed up in a Sickbay with no triage or urgent treatment required for its occupants, would have been delightful for some Doctors. For Elro, it was an uncomfortable, yawning, void of inactivity that allowed his fears and anxieties to bubble up freely. Being back in a situation where he was being depended on to make life and death decisions however, misted out any fear of the Borg behind a fog of knowlege and diagnostics.

From what Elro could extrapolate from his tricorder readings, it looked as though the man's legs had been crushed fairly severely by the falling debris. The limbs were no doubt numbed with pain, rife with internal bleeding, muscle contusion and shattered bone fragments. From what he could tell, the femur was in one piece, nought but a few fractures, but the tibia and fibula were both broken in several places... Whether the legs could be saved at this stage was another matter entirely, they were ravaged from the debris and internal damage... But his life was the more pressing concern in Elro's mind... Judging from the information the tricorder was feeding him, the debris had damaged much more than his legs.

He had internal bleeding somewhere in his abdomen, and his head had taken a nasty blow, and the man would have a concussion at the very least, perhaps even a subarachnoid haemorrhage if he wasn’t lucky. A bleed on the brain wouldn’t be a huge concern if he were in sickbay; it was life threatening, but treatable with the right intervention in good time. Out in the corridors with Borg flooding the ship however, was a different story…

“Glad to see you.” A small singsong voice echoed in his ears, making Elro snap out of his diagnostic trance, to turn to catch the fleeting corner of an honest smile across Rhys’s lips.

“Likewise Leuitenant.” Elro returned with a soft nod. “You’re one of the few people I know aboard this ship; I’m...” Elro wasn’t great at displays of emotion or expressions of his feelings, but it was hardly the time for a heart to heart about how glad he was to see the young councilor in one piece. Instead, he crouched down to the crewman pinned under the rubble, ignoring the fact he had started a sentance without finishing it.

“I won’t lie, your condition could hardly be described as stellar…” Elro paused, as usual coming up with a way to intwine his Betazoid honesty with some hope from his optimistic treatment plans. “But there's no reason we can’t save you… So if you could try and steady your breathing, I’m going to give you an analgesic for the pain.” He said with a kind expression, producing a hypospray from his kit and reaching through the rubble to apply it to his newest patient.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #78 – March 19, 2019, 05:17:32 AM

[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  ^{Attn:  @alphawiz  @Auctor Lucan  @fiendfall  @FollowTomorrow}

"Chief, didn't you ask for that to be brought to you?" Kaylon reprimanded.  "I'm pretty certain I heard you ask for it."

“Yes sir, Ah did, an’ Ah also admitted thet Ah wuz lookin’ fur uh replacement,” Billy Bob admitted sheepishly.  “Know any takers?”  There was no escaping it.  All of those long hours with no leave had left O’Connell’s knife too dull to cut hot butter.  The old master chief needed a furlough before he blew the ship up. 

Things got worse when the gorram BOTANIST took over engineering to the chagrin of both Lieutenant Jeen and himself.  When he asked for takers he didn’t mean her.  The problem was that the master systems display table backed up everything she said and there was no correcting her.  There was only one thing left to do in order to emerge with a sense of dignity intact.  Surrender the field of battle and let Lieutenant Jeen handle her. 

“I’ll lead th’ team makin’ repairs on th’ dorsal-starboard nacelle,” the master chief volunteered in order to escape the room before Ensign Cir’Ce emasculated him further.  It would be grueling and dangerous work, but anything seemed better than watching the Theurgy’s walking jinx take over his department.  “Johnson, Koizumi, an' Zol, you’re with me.  Git yore tools an’ meet me at th’ turbolift cloast to mah office,” he ordered as he turned on his heel to walk over to one of the workstations and pick up a PADD.  He opened a file and handed it to Kaylon.  “Sir, this here is a list of the folks we got available to make th’ repairs.  Until I git back yore in charge Lieutenant,” Billy Bob announced with a nod. 

As Billy Bob returned to his office to retrieve his toolkit, he wondered what Kaylon would do once he was left in charge.  There was a good chance the lieutenant would go to personally supervise the repairs on the dorsal-port nacelle but O’Connell was hoping he’d delegate and oversee the entire operation from main engineering.  It was vital for the enlisted crew in engineering see him as an authority figure if he was going to become the Theurgy’s permanent chief engineering officer.  Taking orders from a slip of an ensign wasn’t going to create that image so the master chief hoped that Lieutenant Jeen would assert himself.  The absolute worst possible thing he could would be remain and receive orders from Cir’Ce instead of giving them.  That would undercut both the lieutenant and Billy Bob in the eyes of the department.

---

[ Maya | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] ^{Attn: @Auctor Lucan  @TWilkins @lisavw @FollowTomorrow} 

”This man needs help now!” Lieutenant (junior grade) Annika Juliana Van den Berg cried out.

“Lieutenant, I will take him,” Doctor Maya replied calmly as she used a hypospray on the injured Telarite’s neck.  The little Vulcan was already wearing her crimson colored surgical scrubs and was prepared for duty.  The green blooded physician turned to the coffee colored enlisted nurse standing next to her.  “Jones take Mister Luff to surgical suite two and prepare him for surgery,” she ordered.  Jones quickly retrieved an antigravity gurney and together she and Maya transferred the portly and comatose patient to the gurney and whisked him away.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #79 – March 21, 2019, 01:51:51 AM

[ Lieutenant Junior Grade Zark | Security Center | Deck 07 | Vector: Combined | USS Theurgy ]   Attn: @Auctor Lucan
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Zark smiled at the Romulan’s response about the turbolifts and nodded. “Yeah that can be a bummer and slow down the best of us.” Turning she moved to one of the fallen security officers and kneeled. A flick of her thumb and the memory metal of the Chaka refolded itself into the grip and she placed it on her belt. With a practiced motion she drew the medical tricorder and flipped it open scanning the fallen crewman. A shake of her head and sigh. The antennae in their little armored sleeves atop the helmet drooped a bit and she reached and closed his eyes, as was the human custom. Far different from the Klingon one who liked their dead eyes open.

Zark glanced up at Drauc as he spoke again and her antennae twitched. She glanced to the door and gave a firm nod. “Sounds like a plan.” Flicking the medical tricorder shut with a practiced motion she holstered it. Reaching down she relieved the fallen man of his spare power cells for the phaser and the rifle itself. Standing she moved over to Drauc and offered him the cells. “Better to have um and not need them than need um and not have um.”  She offered a smile up to him through the faceplate of the helmet.

Then he paused to compliment her. The young officer’s head tilted to the side a moment and her antennae craned forward as she listened. A bit of a nod and she looked around her. “I hate to have to do it.. but if not me.. who? I’d rather be here.. and my bondgroup safe. My people safe. So we hold the line. Heal all that we can and if we have to harm…”  She shrugged a bit. “Regrettable but necessary. The 'Verse doesn’t always give us a diplomatic option.”

She nodded to Drauc as he took up position and she held up the rifle and put it behind the console. “Phaser here if you need a fallback position, big guy.”

Then she and the crewman moved deeper into the Security Center’s core. Finding the consoles there she brought them online and accessed the Security Comm channel.

“Lieutenant Zark to Security forces. Security center re-taken. Conducting sweeps now… and will be relaying position of resistance to your squads forthwith. Lets take out the trash.”

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #80 – March 25, 2019, 07:15:18 PM

[ Dyan Cardamone/Sar-unga Neleo | Corridors | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] @TWilkins

Art in death was not a concept Dyan grasped, though perhaps others of her kind did. If she did grasp it, it was a fleeting, momentary understanding that left her the second it was no longer useful. As she wiped some blood off her face and bared her usual troublemaker grin, her mind had already moved on from the drone. It deserved no more than a half-minute of contemplation from her, she felt.

Her ‘swagger’, to her, felt like her usual walk. Confident, full of herself, sexy-and-she-knows-it. All the things she loved to be. She was in her element here, taunting the little green spy. She knew that he was a spy, because he was orion, and doing suspicious things to the computer core. She had no further evidence. She needed no further evidence. She was right, and this was the end of the conversation. So when the topic changed, she thought nothing more of going along with it. It was just even further confirmation, in her mind.

“Is that it?” She half laughed as she spoke, “That’s the information you’ve been after all this time? You risked your life for that?” She let him go, not because he ‘asked’, but because a great big belly laugh was brewing. She could hardly believe it. What an idiot, her tone seemed to imply without even the slightest hint of irony.

“We’ve got a foothold situation in the Federation. And in, like, every other major power we investigate. Parasites, but they don’t change your biosigns, so they’re effectively invisible. We will not be dying. We will survive to defend this truth, spread it across the cosmos. If you had the common sense, you’d probably have found this whole ‘secret’ out by yourself, considering our whole goal is to make it not a secret anymore.” She paused, giving a glance around the area.

The man, partially assimilated, had the great misfortune of catching her attention. She walked towards him--her back to what she thought was a crewman, as if she either trusted him or did not consider him a threat. Her sindt flipped forward, like an extension of her arm. In one swift, maybe even graceful movement, she had relieved the man of his head. She kicked the head away, apparently amused by the way it rolled now that it was free of a neck.

“Listen. You’re obviously still new at being a spy.” She turned back to face him, “Or at least, newer at this than I am. Either that, or someone up the chain sent you on a suicide mission to get rid of you, because our whole goal is to make sure everyone knows this info. That’s why the Feddies want us dead in the first place. And now that you know, they want you dead too.” She stopped to adjust her sindt, it flipped back into place. It remained alongside her arm, parallel to it.

“You’ve got two choice here. One--you team up with me!” She laughed again, as if she knew just how awful that option sounded and she loved inflicting it on him.

“I’m sure you have the same standing orders I do--kill yourself before you get assimilated. The borg can’t have either of us. But things get messy in combat like this, and let’s be honest, those daggers are a pathetic way to die. So we stick together. If you’re injected, I kill you before it gets too far. If I get injected, same for me.”

“Or. You choose not to team up with me, and I offer you up to the borg to be assimilated. Then I kill you.” She pushed her hair out of her face. The white strands absorbed blood unusually well.

“Make your choice spy. Either way, I get a kick out of this.”

---

OOC: Ejek post on the way. I'll be posting them separate for now, so please pardon my double-posting

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #81 – March 26, 2019, 09:47:49 PM

[ Y'Lev | Corridors | Deck 7 | USS Theurgy ] @FollowTomorrow

Y’Lev watched up through his lashes with a disdainful expression as Cardamone wiped the blood off of her face with a rather repugnant grin decorating her mouth. She moved away from him, releasing her grip upon his hair callously and making him hiss in discomfort. She moved away from him with a structured confidence that made her look arrogant and aloof to all that surrounded her, flicking her blade down and severing the head of the man who’d been subjected to the Borg drone just moments before.

She then kicked the severed head bouncing down the deck.

A former crewmate of hers? Y’Lev grimaced at the thought that this woman he was dealing with was possibly the least Starfleet person whom could have ended up getting his scent. She was happy to mock him all the whole too, mocking his attempts at gathering intel, then following up her jeering with the most inconceivable nonsense he had heard in a long time. Evidently, she was an utterly unhinged lunatic.

Parasites that are invisible… That had infected the Federation and the other major powers that dominated the Alpha quadrant… But, of course, he was a fool for not having discovered the invisible parasites all by himself… It was sheer lunacy.

Yet… Said lunacy was a feasible enough explanation to reveal as to why the USS Theurgy was being hunted by Starfleet so ruthlessly and uncharacteristically. It would explain why the crew were so determined and reckless, going as far as to split another ship in two… Yes, being renegades also demonstrated those facts, but one thing that theory didn’t support, was why the Theurgy had just flown itself into an apparent Borg assault, and Y’Lev was veered well enough in war to know that the crew were far too prepared for this to have been an ambush.

Renegades wouldn’t fly themselves into the proverbial jaws of the proverbial beast…

Regardless, it wasn’t his position to make assumptions or theories. He was there to gather intelligence; there were a whole building full of analysts who existed to interpret the data. He just needed to deliver it to them.

Unless…

Cardamone had mentioned that these make-believe parasites had infected every major power that the Theurgy has encountered on its journey… That would have had to include the Orion Syndicate, no other force held more sway over the politics of the quadrant…  If Cardamone was somehow telling the truth, the Syndicate high command could be compromised… If he reported back to the Syndicate about a parasite that had infected the higher echelons, the Primus,  the Legatus… It could destabilize the entire Syndicate. Whether that intel were true or not, it could start a Civil war, if someone interpreted it the same way that he had. make the hierarchy collapse in onto itself…

He ground his teeth together… It seemed he had just bitten off more than he really wanted to chew…

Still, he had to verify that information. The goat could hardly be trusted…

Luckily, Y’Lev’s internal monologue had taken favour in his head over Cardamone’s ranting and dismissal of his abilities… But regrettably, not enough to miss hearing her mention the possibility of… Teaming up… With her.  He almost gagged. But at this stage, it was the best option.

“You say I’m a terrible spy… But you just told me everything.” He decided to muse aloud with a sing-song tone, flinging himself up onto his feet and stretching out his neck and back a little. The stretching was a cover to glance for routes out, ways to escape, anything that would assist him in increasing his odds in surviving…

“It appears you have me at an impasse.” He sighed loftily. “I don’t know if I can beat you in a fair fight. To be honest, my speciality involves poisons and bioweaponry… Probably a bit beyond your understanding…” He couldn’t resist a jab, it was the only way he could stomach what he was about to say.

“So, we can stick together, and I can add a little elegance to your brutish charge.” He took a step forward leaning to whisper into her ear through her platinum blonde hair. “And if you’re really lucky, you won’t find yourself with a ‘pathetic dagger’ sticking out of your throat.” He pulled away with a dashing smile.

“Alas, lead the way then, darling.”

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #82 – March 27, 2019, 08:41:25 PM

[ Dr. Silim Parnak & Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Counsellor's Office | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Joint post with @Arista ]
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In the dim light of Ejek’s office, Parnak was busy trying to keep himself prepared. There was something sweet and intimate about being alone with the counselor in her workspace. Somewhere, much like his quarters, where they could be themselves without the watchful eye of the other starfleeters.  That was, at least, until the counselor called to him. The situation was tense, yet he always had time for her.

Turning, he came face to face with his shorter companion and smiled. It was a wide, cheeky grin. Something to fill the gap while he pondered what quip or one liner to use. Though, when he saw the look in her eyes, he faltered. Thank you, she had said, pressing her hand into his. In that instance, for one of the few times he had known, he was lost for words. All he could do was to just be with her and bask in the feeling of her flesh against his.

Moments passed and eventually Parnak found his courage, raising his hand. He knew what he wanted to do. He’d use his second knuckle on a lightly closed fist to lift her chin, before giving a witty comment and sharing a kiss. From his waist, his hand raised, ready to enact his plan. He wasn’t sure why he was nervous. Could be it be that he cared more than her than the others? Or was it that right now, he risked their friendship. The companionship he had come to depend on to give that sense of home.

Before he managed to reach her chin, from outside, there was the sound of shouting and commotion. Their brief period in time together was lost, like passing ships in the night. With a small knowing look to each other, Ejek left.

Parnak stood alone in the darkened room.

[ Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ]

The doors closed behind her with a soft woosh, though she hardly heard it over the racket of battle. Sickbay was already starting up with patients and orders shouted. She found her mind falling away from the emotions, left in her office with the vaccines and bland furniture and her fluttering heart. She had taken with her a PADD and some vaccines. She’d keep the science team updated on her vaccination antics, but she needed an assistant. She could hold all of these things in her two arms.

“Ensign B’nila?” She called out, hoping her peer would respond, but she did not see her. In fact, now that she focused on it, she had not seen B’nila at all since the combat began. The Cardassian began to walk sickbay, searching for her ward. Ejek couldn’t even try to fool herself into thinking the woman was capable of caring for herself. She was self-destructive right now. Without someone there to guide her, she may just hurtle herself head-first towards oblivion. Or, perhaps more likely, oblivion would be hiding around a corner, waiting to spring on the vulnerable Elsarian. All these thoughts ran through her mind as she began administering vaccines, all while asking,
“B’nila? B’nila? Has anyone seen Ensign B’nila?”

Nothing. Nobody had seen her. One vaccine, two, four, five, eight, and nobody knew. Finally she exhausted the handful of vaccines she had taken and been through all of sickbay and nobody had seen her. Her gut told her bad things. Her gut told her to follow. Normally quite the logical woman, Ejek found herself abandoning sickbay, headed down the hall, clutching the PADD close to her chest. It was more than a brisk walk, not quite a panicked run.

She should’ve said something to her. Stay by my side, or stay close. She shouldn’t have assumed she’d know to stay in sickbay. She should’ve had her committed to sickbay for her mental health, she should’ve assigned a nurse to her, she should’ve done something. Anything other than this. The dread grew and grew until she heard it--

“Ejek!”

It was her voice, weak and wispy. She was hurt. She heard pain in how she called. Ejek ran towards it, despite her fears telling her to turn back, to hide. She ran down the hall, turned the corner, and--

“Heke’arkan!” She found herself gasping and stumbling backwards, because the sight she saw was not B’Nila as she knew her. The Elsarian was normally pale, but not like this. She was turning whiter, and Ejek could see every vein in her body coming to the surface - straining against her skin like they were a balloon full of too much air. Pulling on her hair, B’Nila stepped forward as if she was drunk. The force that she pulled with was causing her to rip out her hair, as her body began to fall apart and remake into something else. Crumbled to the floor, by her side, was a drone. A massive smouldering hole where it’s head should have been. Nearby, a hand phaser lay on deck, still operating with the lights indicating it’s setting. On her body--holes, where tubules had punctured the delicate skin of her neck, scratches where she’d been using her nails to repeatedly tear her own skin open. Her eyes met Ejek’s, and the Cardassian knew that B’Nila was only half there.

“Please...” She cried out, in relief and joy at having found her former mentor, “Ejek, please, help me.” She began to stir once again, her body...didn’t look right. It didn’t move with the fluidity that she expected. She was hurt, or already, the borg nanoprobes were growing new structures in her body, removing old ones.

Fumbling step after fumbling step, the Elsarian moved closer. Ejek couldn’t speak, she could only step backwards, clutching the PADD so tight to her chest and breathing heavy. Based on her movement, her appearance, the fact that she could see prosthetics growing under the skin--she was already too far gone. No vaccine could save her.

“Ejek, please, you can help me. You can save me. You always know what to do…” Clawing at her own skin, B’Nila pleaded with sad, desperate eyes.  “I don’t want to die anymore. Not like this.”

But Ejek couldn’t do this. Not like this indeed. B’Nila, a walking dead woman, stumbled towards her, coming closer and closer. She felt tears on her face as she backed away. Her mind was screaming at her to hide. Zelosa, run and hide.

“The voices.” B’Nila whimpered. “They’re so loud--It’s not--I’m not--it’s…”

The plea stopped suddenly and by the time Ejek wiped away the clear salty liquid that obscured her vision, she could suddenly understand why. Like a marionette picked up by it’s strings, B’Nila stood at attention in the corridor perfectly calm and still. No longer was she tearing at her own skin, pulling hair or pleading. Instead she silently stared down the Cardassian. Ejek could see that the Elsarian observed, but no longer saw.

It had happened. Another soul lost to the Borg.

The sudden movement broke the spell of silence in the corridor, B’Nila stepped forward. Not fumbling like she had previously, but purposefully. Dead eyes continued to scrutinize the Cardassian counselor as her lips parted and robotically she spoke.

“You will be assim…”

A bright orange stream of light broke the terror unfolding and hit the new drone squarely in the chest, burning away a section of her uniform and searing the pale white flesh underneath. If B’Nila was a marionette previously, now someone had cut the puppet’s strings as the former counselor tumbled ungracefully to the deck.

Ejek turned, not only to check who had fired but also, to avert her gaze. A few steps back down the corridor stood Parnak. The tall Cardassian had a grim look. In his hands he held a hand phaser, it’s barrel still smouldering, sending small wisps of smoke into the air.

She had been so weak just now. So vulnerable, watching her protege turn like that and denying her the death she needed. She was still weak, biting back her terror and fear and the pain she saw, B’Nila all still and crumpled on the floor. After all her struggle with Michal, her loss of identity...she did want to live after all. Just like that, it was taken from her.

Her shoulders shook. She kept her back to Parnak, unwilling to show him the grief she felt, but unwilling to let herself keep it in much longer either. B’Nila was gone. She was gone now. Gone. Gone and Ejek did nothing to save her.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #83 – March 31, 2019, 04:15:59 AM

[ Lt. Kai Akoni | Deck 11 Corridor | USS Theurgy ]

Kai had just finished climbing down from Deck four and exited the Jeffries Tube and stepped onto the deck plating of Deck 11 and started making his way towards Main Sickbay. What he saw on that deck was no different than the rest of the ship he had seen since the battle began. 

The ship was a mess, there was debris strewn all over the place, the acrid smell of smoke hung in the air and there were corpses, both Borg and Starfleet alike. He shook his head at all the loss of life that had occurred, not to mention how long it would take to repair the Theurgy. He heard some shouting getting closer to him as he saw some medical orderlies running down the corridor towards him. He pressed himself against the right side of the corridor as he tried to make as much room as possible for them to pass by. He didn’t really hear what they said as they whizzed by. He did catch one snippet of their conversation that piqued his curiosity, in which they said that survivors from the Savi ship were being beamed aboard in the transporter rooms on Deck five.

Kai rounded the bend in the corridor and saw two security crewmen stationed outside of the sickbay doors. He looked at them and sighed, thankful that their body language conveyed the fact there was no immediate threat at sickbay. 

He walked up to them, ”Gentlemen, what’s your status?” he asked.

The older looking of the two, even though Kai thought they both looked about 12 years old, spoke.

”No more threat here at the moment Lieutenant. We have another team sweeping this deck compartment by compartment. Survivors from the Savi ship are being beamed aboard as we speak, and the turbolifts are functional again”

Kai rubbed his scruffy face as he took in the information and took a deep breath. He nodded at the crew members as he found his voice again.

”Excellent. Keep up the good work, I’ll be on deck five” Kai finished saying as he turned around and started making his way to the turbolift. He thought about his friend and wondered if it was true that he was still alive.

Either way, Kai would find out shortly.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #84 – March 31, 2019, 10:17:24 PM

[ Dr T'Panu | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

T'Panu was still in shock, but she was beginning to stabilize. After her crazy outburst, she caused a lot of commotion in Sickbay, Which was admittedly impressive, given the chaos that had already ensued.

"Jones take Mister Luff to surgical suite two and prepare him for surgery," Doctor Maya had called out. She watched as the man was taken away via the antigravity gurney.

Every time T'Panu looked up, she swore there was someone new coming into Sickbay. Some under their own power, others unable to.  She scanned her next patient with her Tricorder, as she asked, "Where are you hurt the worst?" As she asked, she began fixing up their wounds. First with the giant, open gash on the thigh, next with the blood dripping down from a laceration to their brow. She listened intently, as she had done with the others, as she was told of immense pain, coursing through their body.

"I'm going to administer 2cc's of Triptacederine. This is a rather strong drug, and anymore would be enough to anesthetize an Algorian mammoth. Soon you won't feel any pain, and you will drift off, hopefully, asleep. We will monitor you to the best of our ability amongst this chaos. If you need anything, please raise your hand, until one of us comes to help." T'Panu administered the dose, and within seconds, he fell into a deep sleep.

T'Panu felt someone grab her shoulder, as she began to turn around, confused of what was happening. As she spun, she saw someone coming towards her rapidly, as they lost their balance and fell. She took a step back to bolster herself and try to hold them upright; however, this failed and they both quickly went tumbling to the floor. T'Panu saw the Andorian hit his head and fall unconscious. She counted out how long as she tried to wake him. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand.

"Hey, hey, wake up! She scanned the Andorian and found severe trauma, a large contusion on his frontal lobe, damage to his C6. He had uncontrollable tremors in his forearms and wrists. She continued scanning. Large, blunt force trauma to his abdominal region. Contusions to his back. Burns to 60% of his body. Blood everywhere. She realized he had been near a blast, forcing him backwards. He was likely attacked point blank, when there was an explosion on the ship, where he was thrown into a wall, hard, and subsequently injured everywhere. The damage to his cervical spine explained his tremors.

He began to speak, when he found he couldn't. He tried to mouth some words, but only a garbled mess came out. He had a look of panic, pain, fear; and then, nothingness.

T'Panu then realized she had his hand in hers, as his clutching ceased, and his arm fell to the floor, unmoving. She closed his eyes, and set him to the side to be moved to the morgue. She gave herself a chance to breathe. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, as she looked for the next patient. Time to get back to work.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #85 – April 05, 2019, 07:47:44 PM

[Lt. Rhys Williams| Corridors|Deck 11| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] @TWilkins

Rhys could almost sense the doctor’s trepidation. This was taking too long there was not doubt about it, but as the sweat dripped off his brow, Rhys knew there was nothing else he could really do. This had to be done slowly and carefully or he would risk further injuring the already very injured crewman. There were a couple of pained moans from the poor boy, as the wreckage shifted under Rhys’ phaser fire.

Elro’s response to his comment was very understandable both of them were outsiders on the ship and one of the few people the other knew. Not that they knew each other well, but there was a certain trust there after having worked to save lives together in the sickbay.

As the doctor tended to the young man Rhys continued to work on the rubble, and wreckage. It was taking so long and every groan of metal, every tick in a power conduit made Rhys imagine hordes of Borg were about to descend upon them. Eventually the young man was freed up enough that he could be moved. Rhys crouched next to the doctor. Rhys took him under the arms and with all his strength started to pull the crewman free. It was such an awkward angle that it made the work slow going, but it had to be done the longer he said under that junk the greater the chance that more would fall on him.

“Think we can get him to sickbay?” Rhys said looking at Elro with concern, he did not want to ask the other question rattling around in his head. ‘Will he make it that far?’ That would be too much to say.

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #86 – April 06, 2019, 11:31:54 AM

[ Lieutenant Elro Kobol | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]  @Juzzie

Elro grimaced slightly as Rhys helped move the man out from the rubble, having created enough space with his phaser to slowly shift the man through the briar maze of bulkhead debris. It was slow going, and with every passing second, Elro felt his anxiety growing. Less so for the Borg this time, but now. for his patient.

His tricorder readings had revealed to him only so much; they were accurate devices, but no substitute for the clarity of a physical examination.

As soon as he could safely reach the patient's legs, Elro crouched down with his exoscalpel and began cutting away the material of his uniform trousers, working speedily to expose the leg that his tricorder had flagged as being severely injured. The dark material fell away from the limb, and Elro barely needed an examination to confirm what his mind was telling him, though when his bare fingers pressed against the wound, his diagnosis was all but confirmed.

The patient let out a dire screech that all but drowned out whatever Rhys was asking him, whilst Elro steeled himself and pressed in a few more locations around the muscle, probably reducing the patient to tears, but clarifying everything he needed to know.

"Compartment syndrome." Elro breathed to himself, noting that the leg was incredibly tight, and evidently tender and remarkably painful, to be causing such discomfort following the dose of an analgesic. If they were in sickbay, it wouldn't be a risky procedure... As Elro's eyes scanned around him, he realised that the same was not true of the wrecked corridor they were currently holed up in.

With a sigh, Elro breathed some focus into his paracortex and extended his empathy to the crewman on the floor, sensing overwhelming quantities of fear seeping through his body. Elro did his best to extend some modicum of comfort to him, silently presenting him with some telepathic reassurance that the procedure was relatively simple to perform. Of course, he didn't mention anything about severe nerve damage in his telepathic exchange... 

"We're going to have to try and get him to Sickbay..." Elro grimly informed Rhys, turning up to the blonde Human with an apathetic expression. "He is bleeding into one of the fascial compartment's within his leg, which is increasing the pressure in the limb, and will soon start to cut off blood flow to the rest of the limb." The Doctor hurriedly explained to the councillor. "I need to perform an emergency fasciotomy, to cut open the compartment and relief the pressure, which is a relatively simple procedure, but..." Elro paused to glance around again. "This location is far from sterile."

It was truthfully, the best option for the patient. Moving him to sickbay could cause him severe discomfort, alongside the risk of running into Borg, and increasing the duration before the procedure could be performed, increasing the chance of permanent nerve damage. However, should Elro perform the procedure in the corridor, a non-sterile environment, without adequate surgical lighting or equipment, the chances of a contaminant getting into the wound and causing a severe infection, along with necessitating further, more invasive, surgeries, was too great a risk.

"This is going to be very uncomfortable for you... But we need to get you to sickbay." Elro softly told the wounded man, putting a comforting arm on his shoulder and extending some more telepathic comfort to him, before signalling to Rhys to get the man's shoulders, whilst Elro carefully manoeuvred his legs into a comfortable grip that would reduce any pressure on the wounded area.

With a shaky sigh, Elro began to move, sincerely hoping that his decision was the correct one...

Re: CH05: BL [D06|1110] Storm Glass

Reply #87 – April 06, 2019, 04:19:53 PM

[ Y'Lev and Dyan Cardamone/Sar-unga Neleo| Corridors | Deck 7 | USS Theurgy ]

Darling! She got called a darling. Finally he was learning some sort of respect for her beauty. She tossed her hair, staining it red with more blood. Poisons and bioweaponry--entirely useless. If anything, murdering him would’ve been merciful. At least Dyan would not assimilate him, and he’d die with a semblance of honor in Asurian culture.

“Nice threat. At least you have a pair.” She began walking, her back to him once more. She gave him so many openings to attack. Perhaps she was foolish, stupid, inexperienced...or perhaps she was tempting him. Maybe it was as if she was trying to tell him ‘try me.’ Her tail whipped about, her blade ahead of her arm, and her walk alarmingly silent for someone wearing her work boots, she began leading the way.

Y’Lev raised an amused eyebrow at her, glancing down at the floor before throwing up a glorious look of bemusement at her. A curious creature… He watched as she almost silently strutted away, her tail flicking side to side as her blade carried the path before her, like one of those sickeningly heroic ‘holonovel’ characters that Federations were always going on about.

His body count was high enough to allow him to rise above such a daft little comment, his eyes following her as she provided such a tempting target… But no. She was competent enough to handle herself in a fight, and he could not possibly believe she trusted him by any stretch… Therefore, it was a ruse. An invitation to strike at her, only to get gifted with a blade in the gut in return.

Whilst Y’Lev was almost certain he would be quicker, there were no benefits to lunging for it… For one, if he was wrong, he would be laying bisected on the deck. On the other hand, were he right, that certainly made his position weaker… Not only would it mean the crew would start investigating her death, which could cast some doubt on his cover story, but it also meant he didn’t have a bodyguard against the Borg…

Hopefully she’d just get assimilated.

She was walking farther down the hallway. Leading him towards the sounds of battle, of phasers and screaming. ‘You will be assimilated’ echoes down the hallway, and no longer did it strike fear in her. She was not alone.

“Last one to draw blood gives oral.” She cackled, and bolted forward to make sure she would not be the last to draw blood.

“Ugh…” A truly disgusted sound fled his lips as he watched her scamper down the corridor like some sort of demonic cretin. “Assimilation is truthfully more tempting than both of those options…”

----

Violence. If her name was not Dyan, then it was Violence, for there was no gentleness within her. No kindness, no tenderness, nothing that suggested she held empathy for the borg drones or her assimilated brethren. All were to be slaughtered, and the slaughter held some frighteningly arousing joy for her. Though, by the end of the battle, she was too bloodied all over for any wetness of the panties to be seen and she certainly wasn’t foolish enough to begin masturbating right then and there.

She kept Y’Lev nearby. Either she hovered near him, or she’d pull him along, but she made it clear they were a team. Now, as deck 7 was cleared of borg boarders and the medical teams were pouring in, they were finally allowed to relax. Or at least, Dyan was.

As they surveyed the damage, they were standing among the broken drone bodies, the broken spirits that were once crew and officers. Bloodstains, debris, green and red tissue and bodily matter. Once more she reached out to Y’Lev, meaning to grab some hair, just as before.

Y’Lev felt the dirty paw yank at his hair as he wiped his daggers clean of Borg gunk, having taken full advantage of failing force-fields during his dances with drones. His mouth made a hissing noise not so dissimilar from an angered feline, staggering a little with his daggers in grip as he felt himself slightly unbalanced from the intrusion.

“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, you’re coming with me to security!” She grinned wicked, laughing once more, as if victory was ever-so-certain. “Can’t have little spies like you running free!”

She was truly a wretch in Y’Lev’s eyes, mostly for having a twisted desperation to continually paw at his scalp. Her intentions to hand him over to Security were certainly noble… But he knew as well as she did, that his case was only stronger now than it had been the last time she dragged him into a security team. Y’Lev flicked away his daggers back into their rings and shadowed his face with the most downtrodden look he could muster.

“Please… I’ve done everything you’ve asked… I helped you fight the Borg, I ignored your inappropriate sexual comments to a junior member of the crew...” He put on the full show, whimpering lip and his eyes beginning to brim with sparkling tears. “I know I shouldn’t have gone to the computer core and I-I’m s-sorry and I’ll n-never d-do it a-again…” Y’Lev enhanced his monologue with full on blubbering now.

“I didn’t w-want to do it, but our ship w-was destroyed and we were all so angry… B-but then I s-saw my s-sister on the crew manifest and I knew, I knew this couldn’t be an evil ship like they all think.” He was reaching new levels of pathetic with his monologue, and he absolutely adored it. His mind imagined the look on his bovidae companion’s face and it was a joyous picture. “P-please, I just want to s-see her… I j-just want to find out if she’s o-okay.” He finished with a grandiose sniff, before glancing back up at his captor without any hint of fabrication upon his face.

He put on a great face. If Dyan were not so foolish and stubborn, she would’ve believed him. As it was, she simply took delight in what she saw as sad, pathetic mewling. The look she gave him was one that clearly displayed just how much she enjoyed it. Bedroom eyes would’ve been a polite, yet somewhat inaccurate way to describe it.

“I hope you cry like that when they put you in the brig.” She gleamed, and roughly dragged him along to security, where she imagined he would be brigged, and she would be acclaimed for her excellent detective skills…

- FIN