Star Trek: Theurgy

Re: Prologue: [Under the Bludgeonings of Chance | Part I ]

Reply #25 – April 21, 2014, 05:55:31 PM

[Natalie Stark | Bridge | USS Theurgy]
The prisoner transport had been just a tad dicey, as far as Natalie was concerned. She had to make sure to shunt power to protect the existing buffer all while opening a new transport channel to the Harbinger. Aligning the transport targeting sensors had been a chore in and of itself, given everything else that was going on around them. Doing it all while trying to look forlorn, yet not obviously doing something important was a task that stressed the Ops officer further. But she managed, and the prisoner in question was transported safely, with accompanying guard, to the Theurgy

Managing everything else while listening to that monster of an Admiral tear her captain and crew down, that was a real challenge. His words cut her to core, and it was only when the captain cut the channel and started issuing orders that she was able to try to shove that nasty feeling in her gut aside.

"Stark, get the people out of the buffers now or we might lose them in the power fluctuations!" The rest of the orders seemed to fade into background nosie after Natalie heard those words. She swallowed, hard, her face paling. Ok, yes, she'd had some help and some luck so far, but there were still so many left! The engineering team had the device hooked into the ships systems, they were just awaiting the go word that power was there and ready.

what to do, what to do? She racked her brain, shook it about to try and get an idea to drop into her mind. Where could she put all the bodies? She couldn't just beam them in somewhere, there wasn't space for that many people. She began to despair as the images on the viewscreen shifted. The data was so much but they needed to shunt the power....the power....data...!

Her hands snapped forward as her eyes seemed to brighten, the dark orbs glowing with some burning, inner insight. She knew what to do! Having herself shaken about by Winterbourne's evasive maneuvers only cost her a few seconds. She was pulling up the power and systems data storage for the holodeck grid. Some genius back in Starfleet R&D had decided that, when the viewscreens shifted to using holographic emitters back around the time of the Dominion war, that the whole hologrid be given its own memory banks and power source.  This had lead to more than one ship, adrift in space, able to watch as a Jem Hadar attack cruiser bore down to deliver the final blow, even after life support had failed.

But right now that choice was going to save a lot of lives. It took a bit of cobbling together to form the data-bridge, and a soft "sorry Thea," as Natalie tapped into the hologrid data center. SHe didn't think this would hamper the ships avatar, given that Thea had her own portable emitter, but she still worried. IT was only temporary, after all...

The transfer took less time than Natalie thought, and with a giddy grin and a quick cry of vindication so out of place on that bridge, she called out, "Buffers are transferred and cleared," as the life patterns of hundreds of crew were converted to the holographic data storage cells, "Power available for cloak."

And right on top of her own words, she heard "Initiating cloak phasing." from Tovarek. Not a moment too soon she thought as she double checked the power fluctuations. The bridge lights had already dimmed, both as a purposeful indication that they had slipped into cloak, and because of the sheer power drain - dimmer lights just made sense. All over the ship, in fact, lights had shifted or gone out entirely, save for the sickbay, and some portions of engineering.   And even with all that, according to the science station? They'd bought themselves a minute and half.

Re: Prologue: [Under the Bludgeonings of Chance | Part I ]

Reply #26 – April 22, 2014, 12:05:02 AM

[ USS Theurgy | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ]

Fuming still, Rawley felt like she was boiling up from the inside in her anger at being bereft of the opportunity to fly and fight the fleet that threatened them. Nightmare's touch did little to settle her temper, and she had looked incredulously at the taller woman as she went to Maverick and kissed him. Then Miles had come to her, and offered something more than a pat on the shoulder.

"Faith in the Captain," she murmured to Iron Fox after he was done talking, taking deep breaths - teeth bared as her brown eyes shifted between random things in the hangar. "For me, 'faith' means not wanting to know what is true. I know for a fact that the enemy is out there, and that we are here. Then again, I suppose I do not know what the Captain is about, so I will just gnaw at my leash in protest for the time being. Thanks for the believing in me enough to let me fly, but it seems it was a complete waste, and we might die any moment if this ploy with a smokescreen fails."

Tom Ravon came by next, and she may have remembered what she promised, but it was no telling they would survive, so it was not the most opportune time to speak of the Reaver and the cursory accord they'd made. She was far to upset to think about any bloody bargains she'd made, however fun they might be for a better occasion.

In the background, Nightmare joined in to sing with Tessa, a tune that may have been the last they ever heard.

The Wolves are out tonight
By the Light of the Moon
Hush Child and rest your head
For everything is going to be alright.

[ Turbolifts | Deck 07 ]

Ida could not agree more with the Petty Officer, it was quite evident that their shields were being bombarded by phaser fire. They made it to the turbolifts however, and once they got inside, Zaraq was the first to bid the computer to take them to the top of the ship and the Main Bridge.

"This Klingon wonders what good it will do to protect people on the Bridge when the torpedoes strike into the hull from afar," said the Master-at-Arms as the turbolift moved. "What difference might we make if the fleet decimates us?"

"Unknown," replied Ida where she stood, her blue countenance grim as she shifted her grip on her rifle, "and therefore we must always be ready for anything. There is no way of telling in what fashion we can assist the crew or the Senior Staff; what might be required of us to ensure their survival."

They arrived, and even before the computer had finished announcing the deck they were on, Ida was setting a quick pace towards the Bridge, filing into the round chamber at the back - where the support staff had an allotted space in order to not get into the Bridge staff's way.

What met them was, oddly, a foreboding silence.

Ida furrowed her white eyebrows and tried to discern what was amiss, and realised that they were no more under fire... and her full lips pursed in wonder at what she saw upon the view screen.


[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 ]

Winterbourne had performed admirably, taking evasive manoeuvres when the fleet opened fire and also bringing them into the radiation field. They had taken several hits from phaser fire in those seconds that they had been out in the open, Jien had seen power fluctuations around the Warp Core in her armrest HUD that undoubtedly had to do with the quick rigging of the phasing cloak. The cloak did seem to work well in the end, and in the cover of the electronic interference of the field they had sped into, they had the opportunity to either try and flee, or bide their time in invisibility.

The choice had to be made quickly, and the fact that they could not go to Warp was the deciding factor.

"Gradually increase velocity to full impulse. Take us out slow and true, and be ready to decelerate if our Warp core cannot provide the power," she said quietly, trying to make out what was happening around them on the view screen. "Let us hope the cloak holds until we are out of sensor range."

It was when they emerged on the other side of the cloud of interference that silence fell over the present personnel, and Captain Ives rose from her seat - not giving what she saw with her own eyes any credit. "Wait. Hold position..."

For the fleet that faced them seemed to be powering down, each ship in rapid succession falling dark - windows along their hulls blackening. It was no chance, for they all went dead in the water in a rippling pattern extending from the Archeron, which had been damaged by the ordinance they had fired upon it. Undoubtedly since the shields were just as dead as the interior lights. One glance towards Lieutenant Tovarek's face confirmed what Jien was seeing.

"What the hell is going on?" she said under her breath as the turned her brown eyes back to the viewscreen. Whatever it was did not seem to affect them, and the question was whether they should stay to risk that; to investigate and assist in picking up escape pods... or leave without looking back.

Jien could but pray that all those Life Support systems had not been shut down as well. Otherwise, they were looking upon twenty-four titanium tombs adrift in the Acamar System.

"Check for life-signs..."

- Fin