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Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #25 –
Lahkesis Saugn | Sickbay

And there it was. Lahkesis' priorities were not what they should have been and she knew it. Her mind raced, every book she had ever read on the mind meld, every clinical study and medical trial, everything she had ever come acroos that could help zoomed through her mind. And then, like a light at the ned of the tunnel she realized the simple truth. "Lexorin," she said aloud as the name of a drug that had been obscure for almost 5o years sprang to mind. The drug was not a simple one, it had been used to treat conditions ranging from multiple personality disorders to damage caused by mind melds. It had not been used very often since the beginning of the 25th century, but she was pretty sure a couple of doses could be easily manufactured. She looked around at the faces of the people there and continued. "If we give them both Lexorin it should soften the blow. Make it easier to recover any damage and prevent any more. It should keep Maya... Dr. Maya safe." She gave her Vulcan friend a concerned look, but said nothing more. She was afraid, afraid of what could happen. The drug might help, but she really wasn't sure.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #26 –
[ Heather McMillan | Jefferies Tubes | Just Below Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

"H-Heather...McMillan. I'm a biologist..." she tried her best to stop trembling and stay still.

He...or she...is nice. McMillan thought, But then, anybody could be...and there were two of them. Where's the other?

She glanced over at the shaft, wondering whether the other person had gone off to call for reinforcements, or something had happened? She was afraid to think she might have been responsible for that, especially since she had reacted with shock and flared brightly, something that happened if she was shocked of frightened enough.

That happened more than once, back when she was still in the university. It took no small amount of diplomacy - what little she had - to convince the witnesses to keep it to themselves.

She turned back to watch as Hylota slowly attempted to untangle McMillan's leg and hands from the tangled mess she managed to create by her desperate attempt to get free. She did not know why she was so bloody clumsy.

Sickbay...hmmm..."I've seen you before...I-I think..." she whispered while she struggled to keep still. And then she more hesitantly and quietly asked, "Are...uhm...are you with...Captain Vasser?"

Her eyes went wide with fear, hope and anticipation. She sincerely hoped Hylota was not with Vasser, because she didn't fancy being dragged over to the man.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #27 –
[ Dr. Lucan cin Nicander | Jefferies Tubes | On the Ledge of Deck 03 ] Attn: Hylota Vojona & Heather McMillan

At that point, Lucan appeared behind Hylota, having climbed over the edge and made his way over to the two women. "She is not," he said with a reassuring smile, trying to act professional despite almost having fallen to his death. "Nurse Vojona may have been with the Harbinger crew until she transferred to my staff after we left Theta Eridani, but she has not shown any signs of defecting back to her old Commanding Officer. In fact, she just saved my life back there."

His pale grey eyes took in the state the human was in and produced a medical tricorder from the pocket of his uniform trousers. As he switched it on, he looked towards Hylota with a grateful smile. "Nice catch," he said to her warmly, and the light of the scanner lit his exotic countenance. "Thank you. The winds know I am glad that you did not want to stay behind in Surgical Suite."

For two reasons, really. He knew the Ovri did not have the same abilities as the Ash'reem, and that Hylota would not be able to detect what he had hidden behind the bulkhead, but with a species as rare as hers, Lucan did not like to take any chances - disinclined as he was to leave her alone there. As for the Teslyliac Duplicate that did chose to stay behind, Lucan was familiar with her and knew that Dr. Lahkesis Saugn had no abilities to descry the abomination behind the wall.

Lucan turned back to their happenstance patient, scanning her in the close quarters that the three of them shared. "You may already know me, but I don't think we have been properly introduced," he said to McMillan and tried to use his charisma to calm the human, "I am Dr. Nicander, Lucan cin Nicander, and I am the Chief Medical Officer aboard. As far as I know, you are one of the Theurgy's civilian researchers, with xenobiology being your strongest forte, correct? A pleasure to make your acquaintance, even if this might not be the most pleasant of times."

The tricorder readings started to appear on the display beneath his eyes. Even if the human might have felt flattered that he would know about her, Lucan had made sure to keep as much track as he could of the ship's entire crew. Being a creature of manipulation and deception - always in control - he had to take as much as he could into account. How else was he supposed to kill them all for his own purposes?

Purposes that seemed to vane of late, either overshadowed by the darkness within... or loosing import in his attempts to appear the ideal officer - the act becoming more and more natural with each plight the ship suffered.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #28 –
[ Hylota Vojona | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Always A Healer

Hylota did her best and managed to pick the cords apart while Lucan was chatting with Heather. She also began to speed up and work faster as she noticed that the blood flow was being cut off from how tight the cords had been pulled. "You are correct Heather; I did work aboard the Harbinger with my brother. But this entire ordeal has put my brother at risk and so soon after a life threatening event. I might have served under Vasser, but his actions here are not acceptable in my opinion so I remain with Dr. Nicander." She began to tug on the cords to loosen them up and smiled.

She managed to slip Heather's left hand out and started working on undoing the twists while making further comment on the situation. "You're lucky we were so close by, you pulled these cords fairly tight against you, if you had been left undetected I fear you might have caused serious damage to your hands with this little fiasco." She loosened and untangled the cords and pulled Heather's other hand free. "In situations like this you must be sure that you do not panic, otherwise you might end up like this, in a bigger mess than when you started."

With one last bit of tugging she worked the loop of cord off of Heather's ankle and set the foot on the ground. "There, free at last." Hylota took the cord and bunched it up before shoving it back up into the space where it had fallen out of. She then looked to Lucan and spoke in a firm tone. "Doctor, in light of recent events, namely our incident with you falling a few moments ago, I feel that we should take a moment to top and rest for a bit. I fear that if we keep pushing on at this pace we will make another mistake and we might not be able to recover from." She also raised her filthy hands to show him. "And we should try and clean out hands off at least a little before we try and climb anything again." Hylota felt that this could be their best opportunity to recover for a little bit before putting their plan into effect.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #29 –
[ Maya | Main Sickbay | Deck 07 | 1300 hours ]

"Lexorin," Lahkesis said.

Maya blinked and what could almost be described as an expression appeared on her face.  Out of the mouth of babes indeed.

 "If we give them both Lexorin it should soften the blow," Lahkesis continued.   "Make it easier to recover any damage and prevent any more. It should keep Maya... Dr. Maya safe."

"That is brilliant," the little Vulcan murmured in what could have been awe.  Maya's lips twitched in what could have been a smile as her demeanor changed from professional to tranquil.  Maya's large hazel eyes shone with motherly pride as looked up at Lahkesis and touched her shoulder with her fingertips.  "Well done, little one," she said almost too softly for the others to hear.  "If anything happens to me, the others are in good hands."

Maya turned Eve Jenkins.  "Lexorin was developed in my century to alleviate symptoms of malaise and multiple personality disorder in those who experienced a Vulcan mind meld, or who carried a Vulcan katra prior to its placement on Mount Seleya," the green blooded physician explained.  "It has fallen out of use in recent years due to its potential for addiction, but I am still familiar with the drug.  During our visit to Nimbus III I arranged for some to be brought aboard in case the Theurgy's crew was once again subjected to some kind of mental influence.   There isn't enough for the entire crew but there is easily enough for Ensign Cir'Cie and myself.

What Maya didn't mention was the Lexorin was could also be used as a chemical substitute for mediation by a Vulcan trained in the mental discipline that Maya was skilled with.  It had first been used by sexual surrogates back on Vulcan who treated unmarried victims of ponn farr to help them deal with the strain of multiple mind melds and even today Maya still used on occasion to keep her mind compartmentalized and disciplined in case any psycho-neurological treatments were needed and the greenblooded neurologist was too fatigued to function.  She should have taken some before attempting to treat Morali that morning but she had spent the night in Hayden's room and forgotten about the drug. 



[ Tessa May Lance | USS Theurgy | Below Decks | Deck 07  | 1300 hours ]

"Tessa, I need you here at 100%,"  Wenn  rumbled.  "If you cannot handle this I would be fine leaving you here to look after the remaining crew and help oversee fortifying the location. I will also send Sten with you as you second in command if you feel that you require his guidance on this."

That remark was like a slap in the face, but it was exactly what Lieutenant (junior grade) Tessa May Lance needed.  She had been caught wallowing in her own angst and it was time for business.  

Tessa closed her eyes and shuddered before swallowing a fixing her topaz yellow eyes on Wenn.  'Clear your head,' she silently told herself.  'Don't say the first thing that comes out of your mind; make sure you know what you want before you say anything.  Don't do anything to jeopardize your goal.'

And then it hit her, that moment of clarity.  Centuries ago her people had an expression:  Even a broken clock is right twice a day.  For Tessa, this was the right time of day.  She knew exactly how she wanted this conversation to end, and she had a feeling that Wenn wanted the same thing.

She cleared her throat and spoke softly so that hopefully only Wenn and Sten could hear her.  "Sir, with all due respect using the word of an officer who isn't present to vouch for you doesn't hold a lot of weight right now.  Captain Ives said that Vasser was our friend and that didn't work out did it?"

Without waiting for an answer the gold eyed blonde continued.  "It can't escape anyone's notice that the you've assigned the one person who had the guts to doubt you out loud to a duty that makes her target and gets her away from anyone who would be useful."  She held up a hand.  "Don't apologize sir.  Don't explain yourself.   There's no need to apologize, it was the one hundred percent right decision.  Whether you're here to free the captain or lure us all into a trap it was the right thing to do.  I get it.  I'm a liability.  I'm dead weight.  I understand.  I get it.  I'm fine with that.  I really am."

She attempted to lean in forward for effect but due to the seven inch height difference between them the effect was impossible to pull off.  One couldn't fault her effort though.  "But," she announced tersely, "before I go off on a suicide mission I need to know that I'm leaving the others in good hands.  I have to trust you sir.  We all have to.  But I can't unless I know there's a person inside that big scary Bajorran who knows how to hurt and feel just like I do."

"The only reason these people believe you is because they want to believe," she hissed.  "The alternative if you're lying is too awful to accept right now.  The thing is, your behavior is textbook for someone trying to take us over from the inside.  It's happened to Starfleet, it's happened to the Harbinger, it's even happening to the Theurgy.  I just watched one of my best friends shoot down another of my best friends without warning, before she was shot down by another of my friends in return.  So yeah, if I have a hard time believing that our Chief of Security who was blown into space has miraculously come back to life, this is understandable.  Even if you did somehow come back, you could still be one of the enemy.  So what I need from you is a glimpse of a real person, not an officer, not a commando, I need to see someone that I can trust my life to and trust the success of this mission."

"Right now I could easily turn all of these people against you but that won't get Captain Ives out of the brig," she announced quietly, "but if you give me someone I can believe I can fix it so that if you ask them these people will crawl across a field of broken glass with their flies unsealed.  All I need from you is some indication that I'm dealing with a real person, not some horrible thing that's wearing your shape."

Tears appeared in her eyes.  "So please, I'm begging you, give me glimpse of the man inside.  Let me know that he knows what it's like to lose something and still have the strength to keep going.  Shed a tear, tell me joke, give me story about your childhood, make something up if you have to!  Lie to me if you gotta, just give me something I can believe in!  Stop being the chief of security for a second and let me see the real you!  Please!  Please..."  From the way she was shaking, one would have thought that the temperature had dropped twenty degrees.

OOC:  This is your first hurdle Wenn, but one that shouldn't be glossed over.  A major point of the 'rescue Captain Ives' storyline should be for Cinn to prove himself as being of the Theurgy and join the cast in a heroic, dramatic fashion.  Here's your first challenge:  A frightened girl.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #30 –
[ Wenn Cinn | USS Theurgy | Below Decks | Deck 07  | 1300 hours ] Attn: Doctor Maya

Wenn Cinn listened to Tessa as she voiced her concerns, but as she began to break down and simply asked for him to prove who he was to her and to encourage her Cinn put a hand on her back, making sure that to those looking on it looked like he was simply pulling her in for a bit of a huddle. "I see your point Lieutenant,and I understand your reaction, and like you asked I will not go into explaining myself or working on the other points, right now I will just talk with you. You want to make sure you know I am Wenn Cinn, you want to know I am truly a feeling person. Well I think Ives mistake with Vasser proves the Captain is just a normal person...in the grand scheme of things at last." He smiled before he looked Tessa in the eyes.

"Lieutenant you were about to go on a mission to save the captain on your own before I arrived and inserted myself into this situation. I have to admit I feel I have stolen your moment of glory and self discovery. Command changes a person, weather it be for the best or the worst it changes us. Now I am going to tell you what my first Commander ever told me when I was put in command of a squad. "You will be fine. I would not choose you for this mission if I did not think you could handle it." Now I believe in you Tessa, you are a gifted young officer and you could not have gotten this far if your superiors did not think you deserved it." He took a deep breath."My first command was a security team sent to keep focus on us while my commander took a strike team to flank a group of infiltrators from behind. I was an ensign then, and I took that moment to heart. Our trials define us Tessa, how we stare them down and overcome them is how we are remembered, and I know your type Lieutenant, you will struggle, but when you overcome your hurdle the sky is the limit."

Wenn Cinn sighed and spoke softly. "We are of Theurgy Tessa. This ship is our home, the crew our family, we both do not want to see if fall apart. I know the fear that comes with facing the unknown, but as much as you are struggling you nee to be strong, no for me, and not for this mission, but for your family here, for the crew." He patted hr shoulder and then smiled. "Now if you want a joke I could try my best, but I have been told that my jokes have routinely been used in interrogations to get people to talk before so I will spare you that." He hoped he was able to motivate Tessa Lance, if he could not get her to believe in herself and be willing to take on a mission, he did not know if he was able to help anyone.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #31 –
[ Heather McMillan | Jefferies Tubes | Just Below Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

McMillan looked up at Nicander when he made his appearance. Her face took on a visible sign of relief when he answered for Hylota that neither of them were with Vasser. That was a relief. She wanted to ask if her flare of light was what caused Nicander to have had a near-death experience, but decided that might rouse too many return questions she wasn't prepared to answer, like where was her source of light? Now that would get awkward very fast, especially since she was a lousy liar.

Fortunately, Nicander took a more medical concern towards McMillan, and also took a moment to thank Hylota. Still, she grew nervous again as the tricorder went over her. She had thus far managed to fool tricorders and bioscans, and physical readings she only had one when joining Starfleet as a civilian the first time, and she had friends who helped gloss over her report with the readings of a real human.

She nodded when Nicander asked about her profession and skill, "Yes, Xenobiology, medicine...n-nice to meet you too." She was distracted with Hylota still freeing her, and also because she was feeling a little self-conscious around a man, and the fact that he's scanning her with a medical tricorder, an activity which she preferred to avoid at all costs. That, along with his flattering familiarity with her history (and good looks) made her feel nice and intimidated all at once.

That was also when she noticed that her hands and leg was beginning to ache, and she realized she had not only tangled herself up extenssively, but rather tightly. She sighed as the alien nurse commented on how close she came to serious damage to herself. "That's me...little Miss Tangled. It's the story of my life."

"Thank you." She smiled gratefully at Hylota once she was free, and very carefully removed herself from the spot where she had gotten caught initially.

Now that she was free, and a lot less anxious, she wondered where these two were heading. Considering how inexperienced she was with this situation, not to mention her lack of social aptitude, McMillan decided it would be best to stay close to these two. Plus they were all medical officers, that would make them far more valuable to all people concerned. So she asked "Uhm...where were you both headed before you met me? Can I come along? I-...I'm rather hopeless in something like this. I really need to get out of the lab more often."

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #32 –
[Sten Covington | USS Theurgy | Below Decks | Deck 7 | 1300 ]

When the bartender spoke of making himself useful with a phaser in hand, Sten was hardly surprised when the hulking Bajoran refused him on grounds of being a civilian. Truth be told, the Chief agreed with this on several levels. However, he could understand the Irishman's desire to make himself useful. There had to be a role for him, a way to give him a sense of purpose and keep him out from underfoot for the time being. And with this in mind, the powerfully-built Briton spoke. "Mister Callahan, we'd welcome your help but not with a phaser. We've all been on the run for a good hour now and we'll be here for a while. If you want to help, get some water to everyone, find us some food and distribute it. If there's nothing fresh, there should be some survival rations in the stuff we pulled out from the emergency lockers."

Covington began to turn away, but stopped himself and locked gaze with the barkeep. "I know it's not what you'd rather do, but that's how you can help. And making sure we're fed and watered will help us do our job and retake the ship."

Without waiting for a reply, the Chief of the Deck pointed to both ordnance techs. They had been listening and they knew what was expected of them. They would prepare the devices all right. The Chief of Security wanted two? They were determined to cobble up at least one or two more without sacrificing the yield. Their Chief trained them well; they knew the very best was expected of them and the intended to do it.

Once called over for a semi-private conference, Covington looked back and forth between both officers. Wenn was a strong leader, but Goldeneye? She was shaky at best. Pilots weren't like other officers. Being in charge of other lives while not flying their fighters was alien to them. But officers they were regardless. Of course he would support Wenn's plan. The man was now in command and it was his job to back him. But Tessa? She was one of his. Divided loyalties had never been a problem for him. He always was able to juggle the various allegiances he held, to his ship, his superiors, his fighters, his people, and get the job done. And this he would do again.

The exchange went for a while, and then the Chief spoke. Goldeneye, look at me. The Sir's on our side." The Sir, the way non-commissioned personnel so often referred to their officers. And one Sten typically saved for Renard. But at this time, he had to give every impression he trusted the Bajoran as much as he trusted the Vulpinian. "It's a solid plan, one that's built on the one you were going to go forward with. If he didn't think you had a good head on your shoulders, he wouldn't have kept a single element of it and he'd have put me, or Oneas as his right hand. You're still his second. And I'll back you."

Looking up to the Lieutenant Commander, Covington spoke directly. "I'll go with the Lieutenant. Any of my techs can do what you need in the brig and they've all got some combat training so take your pick." Indeed, when the fighter bay crew courses were being designed, Sten, drawing from his own experience dealing with contested landing zones, insisted a degree of ground combat be included in it. It wasn't on the same level as Security training, but it did beat what most cremembers had. And he himself was a certified ground combat training instructor for deck crews. Perhaps Wenn didn't know that, but it would be a solid backing for Lance's team.

"You'll need a security element left behind in the shuttlebay. Recommend you use the Master Chief and three others for that. And internal communications are down, so you should grab four of the tricorders for comms." He was a Chief. His job was backing officers when they needed it, straightening them out as required and making things happen. "Worse comes to worse, they could seal themselves in whatever ships they're using to beam you over and beam themselves to safety once you've secured the Captain."

And then, he returned his attention to Tessa, landing both his hirsute paws on her slender shoulders. "We've got some work to do. But first things first. You're not a liability or dead weight. You're Lieutenant Junior Grade Tessa May Lance. You're Wolf-07, Goldeneye. You're one hell of a pilot and a Starfleet Officer. You've led fourteen people to safety while under contact. If you were a waste of skin, I'd have shoved you in a survival locker and welded it shut to keep you out of the way long ago. We need you, lass. The crew that's loyal to Captain Ives needs to see there's organized resistance and officers to lead them."

Then, he squeezed at her shoulders beneath his hands, his grip as unbreakable as a vice yet only hard enough to convey a hint of his strength and conviction, yet gentle enough to let it be known he cared for this young woman and supported her all the way. "I trust you, and because the lads trust me, they will trust you too. Don't make a liar out of me."

Then, he smiled ever so slightly, offering a wink. He had her back. The ship needed her and he'd make damn sure they'd get her.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #33 –
[ Tessa May Lance | USS Theurgy | Below Decks | Deck 07  | 1300 hours ]

Tessa was grateful for the encouragement that Commander Cinn and Poppa Bear had given her.   She smiled gratefully and gave the burly Bajorran a hug.  It was horribly unprofessional and displayed a total lack of discipline but what better way to convince the others that Commander Cinn was trustworthy than to offer him a tearful hug?   She had intended to fake it if Cinn passed her test.  She had planned to kiss him on the lips and shout 'It really is you' to make it appear that they had been past lovers or some such nonsense.   Instead she had given him a sincere, heartfelt hug that let him know how grateful she was the Wenn Cinn was really Wenn Cinn. 

It didn't matter how he got back to life; nobody knew how they had gotten rid of the alien pollen ending the Niga Incident but everyone had been grateful.  The way Tessa saw it, the universe owed them.  Rumor had it that he claimed the Bajorran Prophets saved him and brought him back to the Theurgy.  Tessa was no theologist but in her religion the Powers Above only seemed to intervene when things were at their blackest, and boy, were things black now.  It was so bad that she could believe that incredibly powerful super beings that swore by a noninterference code that made the Prime Directive seem permissive would get off their backsides and make a change to history, no matter how small.  What better reason to bring Cinn back was there than getting the Theurgy back?

Tessa wanted to hug Sten Covington too, but he was depending on her to be an officer and she didn't want to disappoint him.   She settled for smiling and playfully punching her shoulder before saying "I won't, Papa Bear," in the steadiest voice she could muster.  Yes, she knew that Papa Bear should have gone with Cinn's team, but without him Tessa's group wouldn't last long enough to be a distraction.  Not only that, but there was also the possibility of using the Deck's Chief's experience to accomplish something greater than merely buying the others some time.


OOC:  Okay, I'm going to have Tessa shut up now and give someone else a chance to play.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #34 –
[ Dr. Nicander | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Zenozine & Always a Healer

The tricorder readings seemed quite ordinary at first glance, and Lucan had not expected them to show something beyond the circulatory problems in her hands. He might not have read them as thoroughly as he used to, since after he put them away, he frowned as he realised a that a couple of the numbers had not added up, but not in any way that suggested any harm. Something about her body mass? It was a fleeting thought, and he did not give it too much credence since the adrenaline was still thinning in is veins after his fall. Also, the darkness inside would have known and resonated with her if she was kin, so he did not linger on such idea even for a moment.

Hylota speaking with him stole his attention, where she firmly requested that they would stop and rest before moving on. Lucan nodded and sank back against the side of the Jefferies tube, casually resting one arm across his knee and unzipping his undershirt a bit more. "Agreed," he said and laid his head against the metal, running his other hand through his hair. It made little difference if his dark hair became more dirty than it already was. "We still need to get further up after our stop on this Deck..."

The human spoke next, asking where they were headed and if she could tag along, and Lucan chuckled in good humour despite the circumstances they were in. "Of course, in fact, we could really need an extra hand for what we are planning to do," he said, and he hiked up his dirty undershirt from his abdomen so that he could start wiping his hands clean on the teal cloth, "We are heading to Waste Management on this Deck, where we will pick up six gas tubes filled with xenon. These, we'll have to get to the next Deck, and unless we dare using a turbolift, we will have to pull them up one of these ladders as well. They weigh twenty pounds each, and in some clandestine way - as subtle as we can be with that kind of luggage - we'll have to distribute the gas into Cargo Bay 02, where all the people willing to defect to Vasser will be gathering as we speak."

Not having any luck with the grime on his hands, Lucan shifted his position and pulled off his undershirt instead. The back of it was more sweaty, and as ungentlemanly as it was, he needed the dampness to get the oil off. "By getting enough xenon concentration into the area, and then stirring the heavy gas from the floor when the time is right, we hope to sedate everyone present - Vasser or T'Rena included when they head there to round up the volounteers. First, however, we have to get the xenon out of the bottom chambers of Waste Management, which is just a hundred meters away in that direction."

Lucan handed his bundled up undershirt to Hylota when he was done, since given the circumstances, they were pretty far from etiquette and propriety, and the Ovri needed to clean both her hands and feet. "It was all Nurse Vojona's idea, actually," he said with a lopsided smile to her as he leaned back against the bulkhead again, pale grey eyes eventually returning to Heather McMillan after he passed both the word and the cloth to the Ovri. Being pretty good at reading people, which was a matter of survival for him, he was observing the human's demeanour - not yet having made any opinion about her beyond her appearance being quite exquisite.

Something that in the end hardly mattered to him in the current situation, but still made the beast inside howl in need to rape both the women and then throw them to their deaths down the vertical shaft. He silenced the voice irritably, even if the images flashed before his eyes.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #35 –
[ Wenn Cinn | USS Theurgy | Below Decks | Deck 07  | 1300 hours ]

Wenn Cinn nodded ad smiled, he patted Tessa on the back before he looked back to the rest of the crew and sighed. "I hate to break this up, but I fee we should get back to the rest of the crew and discuss the rest of the plan with them." He nodded to Sten and turned back to the group and assumed his position in front of the again. "Alright, sorry about that, we needed to sort some things out before we got the plan under way. Now we are going to be having the crew split up, we need to for three groups. One will go with me to he shuttle bay and work to rescue the captain and any other detained crew. the second will go with Lieutenant Lance and work to keep the mutineers distracted. The last group shall remain here, this group shall consist of anyone who is injured or unfit to enter a combat situation, those left behind shall work together to fortify the location and help anyone that is wounded recover." 

Wenn Cinn looked over the people that were gathered. "I will need at least one person who is familiar with the shuttle bays and the layout to come with my team. At the very least my team needs at the very least 6 people besides myself. One of which needs to be a trained engineer who can disable a forecefield, one needs to be familiar with transporter use and operations and the rest need to be combat trained in some degree." He crossed his arms. "My team will not be that large as we need to move quickly and quietly through the ship. Anyone else who has some combat experience and do not mind the prospect of getting into a combat situation should join up with Lieutenant Lance's team and move to deck 5 to draw attention away from the rest of us.

Taking a deep breath Cinn looked over the group and to people like Rory. "Those without combat training, or have any medical background should remain here. This place is now the base of our operations, this is where all team will meet up after the Captain has been rescued, this is the most important position that we hold right now." Wenn looked around the room and nodded before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "now then, it is time that we form the teams, I would lie to ask for volunteers to step forward that are willing to join up with the 2 teams that are going out." Wenn Cinn hoped hat a large enough group would be willing to join the teas, otherwise he would have to start drafting people.



[ Hylota Vojona | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Always A Healer

Hylota smiled at the praise from her commanding officer, it was nice that he had been recognized on two different accounts for her ideas with Doctor Nicander, it made her feel like she was indeed useful. "Thank you sir. I just hope that we pull his whole plan off before this entire ordeal is over." She chuckled as she began to wipe the grime from her toes. "I would look rather silly if we we to carry those tanks all the way through the ship and then finding out that it was over." She finished cleaning herself off rather quickly before looking to heather and smiled. "And it would be nice to have some more company on this little trip."

Hylota finished cleaning off and she started stretching to loosen herself up before hissing as she moved her shoulder. "Oh that does not feel good at all. Ngh, nothing feels damaged...probably just some swelling from fall you had back there Doctor." She begins to rub her arm and sighed as she did her best to try and relieve the discomfort of her arm. "This might be a bit problematic for moving those canisters to where they need to go Doctor." She frowned and shook her head.

Looking to Heather she smirked. "Hey Heather, you wouldn't happen to know any method that we could use to take care of this problem?" She smiled at Heather and hoped that he might know of some method to move things. although Hylota had a pretty good feeling that they could be secretive about things, and is thy too the turbolift they might not be noticed since other people would be moving to that part of the ship anyways.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #36 –
[ Heather McMillan | Jefferies Tubes | Just Below Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

McMillan frowned at Nicander's expression. He must have noticed something amiss...oh no...she thought.

Despite how disgusting it was, McMillan leaned back against the side as well, taking a moment to rest and prepare herself. While she looked human and had almost human capabilities, she was a lesser being in all ways of physicality. Whatever they were going to do next would require her exhert herself in ways that might be too much for her. She was not strong, and most certainly not durable, or had much stamina to run on. However, they might base her capabilities on her physical appearance, and in appearance, she looked deceptively able-bodied.

"Waste management...how lovely." She could not help but shiver at the thought of getting into even more glop. However her eyes widened in alarm. There's just no way!

At least Hylota was admitting gladness to have her along, it sort of made McMillan feel a little more useful. She looked up in concern however when the Ovri hissed in pain. "Wait, I might have something for that..."

She reached into her numerous pockets located in her large white lab coat and fished out a pressure hypospray. She smiled at Hylota and gently pressed it to the Ovri's shoulder, where the injury seemed to be. A soft hiss indicated that its contents had been applied. "It's just a cooling solution, and it's non-chemical. A balm I got from home. I've got lots of these, because I get bruises and inflamed swellings quite often..." she lightly rubbed the injured area. Her touch was soft, and her frailness could be felt easily now.

She tried to quickly change the subject, because she didn't want to explain why she got bruises so often. That would just be embarrassing. On the other hand, they might need to know that "I can be quite clumsy...on an epic scale. Now, as to your question about those canisters. Generally, on space stations, they use anti-gravity generators that can be applied to an object to ease transportation of cargo. This is something that has been around since the early twenty-third century. In fact, I believe the illustrious Captain Kirk of the Enterprise, in some of his missions, had found use for such devices. Waste management might have some of those devices available. I have some in my lab too, and they're fairly small themselves. But I don't fancy making a trip there while there's such...tensions aboard the ship right now."

In all that time, McMillan had not paused to take a breath, and it was only after she finished that she realized she nearly asphyxiated herself. She blushed after all her talking, because she had just noticed the way Nicander was watching her, studying her, and she felt wary and self-conscious again. Fussing with her hair, she brushed loose strands back behind her ears and looked away distractedly, though her hair floated up and took an unusually long time to settle back down. Also, her hair moved with the slightest shift of her head, fluttering about like silk in the wind. Then she abruptly turned back to look at Hylota, "How does the shoulder feel?"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #37 –
[ Hylota Vojona | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Always A Healer

As Hylota was suddenly given a hypospray she went wide eyed and scooted away from Heather, she did not like being given injections without being informed about what was going on. She put her hand over where she had been touched and she glared at heather, until she was informed about hat it was, at which point Hylota sighed and began to massage the joint, it did not feel all that much better, but it was feeling a little better she had to admit. Although i did not change the face that Hylota wanted to smack Heather for doing that without asking her first.

As sh was told about a simple anti-gravity device that they could use Hylota stroked hr chin and cocked her had to the side as she was given more information. "Alright...well I have a few things I would like to say. First, I have no idea who this Captain Kirk person is, I am assuming he is famous in your history on earth, but my race is new to your Federation, I have not had time to learn about your heroes." he worked her shoulder a little and she looked o Heather. "Second, my arm is feeling better and hank you for that, but I would lie to inform you that if I was not relaxed at this point in time I might have struck you for that. You do not administer a hypospray without informing a person and getting some form of consent. and lets just be thankful my muscle proteins are not reacting poorly to this."

Hylota groaned as she stretched out and move her arm a little bit more before talking to Heather again. "You know I would think a xenobiologist would be a bit more ware of the fact that some races are violently allergic or poisoned by mundane things among other races. An I am amphibian in my nature so I would like to have you never give me injections without running tests first." She sighed as she relaxed and looked to Heather. "I am sorry I am big rough on you, I am just a little uneasy right now with all that is going on and having to leave my brother in a hostile environment." she sighed gain and smiled slightly as she thought of something amusing. "You know Heater, if you are so clumsy, how did you manage to get into xenobiology? I hop you have steady hands and are able to avoid knocking things about in your lab while working."

Hylota did not now she as being a bit insensitive, she was not the social member of he family, that was hr brother's thing, she could talk on a professional level, but for simple interaction, well she was kind of lost on how to do that stuff. And this Hylota had very few friends outside of her work and was considered a very unpleasant person to be around for conversation.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #38 –
[Dr. Hayden O'Connor | Main Sickbay| Deck Seven| 1300 hrs.]  Attn: all in sickbay

Hayden continued to listen to the discussion around her, but was most dismayed by the reaction of the patient before her. O'Connor didn't blame the male Ovri for wanting to hide from the world for an eternity after what he'd been through, but the counselor knew if she let him give into avoidance, she would be reinforcing all of the most destructive traumatic beliefs, particularly the belief which told him he wasn't strong enough to heal from what he'd been through. Also, as much as she knew she needed to be with the others to come up with practical strategies to manage their predicament, she didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone. He wasn't in the best shape to defend himself, and even more than that, she knew Hylota was counting on the medical staff to attend to Vinata's needs.

Not wanting to further traumatize him by mentioning the possibility he was in greater danger by being left alone, Hayden simply offered with a wan smile, "Your sister would never forgive me if I were to leave you here in pain by yourself. Anything we do, we do together. In the meantime, how severe is your
pain?" O'Connor's eyes met his and she hoped her question was self-evident. Hayden wanted to make sure he hadn't suffered anything life-threatening. She knew he was already vulnerable at the time he was assaulted, and as much as she hated it, she had to rely on his own knowledge of his physiology to make sure he was okay.

In the meantime, elements of the discussion taking place around her trickled into her consciousness and she heard a familiar term - Lexorin. Searching her memory for the reference, Hayden nodded to no one in particular as she realized she had also heard of the drug and it indeed might offer the best opportunity to minimize any damage Maya might incur. Not for the first time, Hayden thought about all of the trauma the crew had already endured, and looking at Vinata, she realized the Niga incident might just be the beginning of the sexual trauma the crew was destined to be subjected to.

"The Niga Incident..." Hayden mused aloud. Something about the events from the past niggled at her brain, but her prefrontal cortex struggled to make the connection. Like a hand-held lighter fighting to ignite with each press of a button, Hayden suddenly felt a spark, followed by a tiny but strong flame inside her memory. "We can use the ship's life support systems to distribute the medicine," Hayden suddenly said. "We have to manufacture a crap load... Err, I mean a lot, of the drug here in the labs, but I remember reading that after the Nigra Incident, the crew upgraded the life support systems to facilitate the distribution of airborne substances in case it was ever needed. I'd say this qualifies," Hayden added with a smile. Her skin was suddenly flush, another indication besides her verbal slip that she was excited and overly tired. Hayden didn't usually speak in what would be considered vulgar or merely slang terms in a professional setting, but extraordinary circumstances created extraordinary consequences.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #39 –
[ Dr. Nicander | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Hylota Vojona & Heather McMillan

Resting his bare arms on top of his knees where he sat, Lucan watched the exchange without comment, taking note of McMillan's suggestion and hoping that she was right about there being a few anti-grav units available in Waste Management. He also saw Hylota's reaction to being inoculated, and to say that she did not take it lightly would have been an understatement. She did, however, apologise for her outburst with the reason that Vinata Vojona had been left behind in Sickbay and she was worried, and the soothing balm for her shoulder did not seem to cause any reaction for the Ovri.

"Regardless whether or not Ms McMillan is as clumsy as she claims to be," he said and picked up his dirty undershirt in order to sort the sleeves again, "I know that she came aboard practicing in xenobiology and medicine, so perhaps your fears were unwarranted, Nurse Vojona. Your species have been known to the Federation for a couple of years now, and if you would focus in the field of xenobiology, you would likely have studied such a new addition to our databases. So while it was unorthodox to inoculate you without your consent, she is no doctor used to dealing patients, and she only acted in your benefit to alleviate your pain since she knew it would work."

Just as he sorted out his undershirt, he was mediating the small incident between the two women that shared the close quarters with him - unravelling the sudden tension with his words. His dissembling smile and the fact that he was at a semi-state of undress might have aided his cause too, but his words were his main remedy.  "Your heart was in the right place," he told Heather and pulled on his undershirt again, "but Nurse Vojona is right, when dealing with patients, you learn the rights-and-wrongs of all manner of situations, and they may vary with each kind of patient, both physically and therapeutically. No harm done it seems... so let us focus on what he have to do instead."

Wearing his shirt again, he shifted his position and looked down the darkness ahead of them. "When you found us, Heather, I thought your palm light was phaser fire for a moment," he admitted to take the edge of the situation even further, "and it seems, with the lack of anyone else here, you thought we were going to hurt you when you got yourself caught in those cables. Now, however, we really could use that palm light to find our way. Do you want me to take point and light the way with it?"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #40 –
[ Heather McMillan | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

McMillan blanched as she realized her critical error. Oh Lord, what was I thinking?!? She started stammering.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I just, I mean...you were in pain, and I just thought I'd help, I shouldn't have...I mean..." she lowered her head and hands, and in an apologetic tone, "It won't happen again."

She flushed when Vojona wondered aloud how she got to be a xenobiologist being as clumsy and reckless as she was. And truth was, she had blundered around her lab, and more than half of her time was devoted to cleaning up messes she'd made.

When Vojona apologized for having an outburst at her, McMillan rose up on her tip toes, shaking her head, "No, no, I'm sorry. You're right, I should have asked first instead of just assuming things."

Her hair again did that strange thing of following in the wake of her head's movements and then taking an unusually long time to settle back down. As if she were underwater. The way her hair floated and moved, had an eerie, and inhuman demeanor. She seemed to be aware of this fact, as she quickly reached up and patted her hair down, matting it with grime and...stuff.

Her face turned downright red as tomato, when Nicander spoke up, rising to her defense and then addressing her mistake at the same time. She had only met them, and she already made a blunder. It was also somewhat distracting, him not quite covering his fine physique. She did not fail to notice that fact, and did her best not to keep looking. Instead, she took to studying the side of a panel, which was unusually clean, and none of them had made any attempts to clean it. Curious.

However, her eyes widened in full-on panic once more, and she looked at Nicander in horror when he mentioned her "palm" light. Oh he had no idea.

"P-p-palm light? It was a palm light? I-I-I mean, uh...I mean...what would...uh, where would..."

She looked around desperately, and started digging through her lab coat pockets, muttering to herself in frenzied desperation, when she abruptly stopped and looked up at Nicander, her expression unreadable.

"You...certainly, have a generous hair of head."

It was full panic mode now, and she appeared to be suffering a meltdown of some sort. She finally took out something from her pocket, and it looked like a broken device that might once have been a flashlight...or something. But she never took her eyes of Nicander's hair, for some reason trying determinedly to distract everyone.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #41 –
[ Hylota Vojona | USS Theurgy | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Always A Healer

Hylota simply nodded and waved the situation off dismissively. "Listen lets just dismiss the whole thing and get back to the matter at hand here. We need to remain calm and work on getting those canisters to transport them."  She was quite adamant that they get back to the mission that thy were working on. But that all changed when Heather began to freak out, she was acting very odd over such simple questions and she was quickly going form her calm stat to being a stuttering mess.

Hylota cocked her had as she watched as Heather moved about and her hair seemed to act odd for where they were, in fact everything about how Heather was acting was just too odd. Hylota looked to Nicander and then back to Heather and she closed her eyes before rubbing the bridge of her nose and she reached out and put a hand on Heather's shoulder and held her firmly. "Heather, you need to calm down. This is not some life or death situation, you are imply being asked about a light, if you lost it or you no longer have it then that is the way things will be. If you do have it, would you please take the lead for a little while or hand it over to the Doctor, and again if that is not an option I want you to take a deep breath and just say you cannot do that."

Hylota smiled at Heather. "The situation of a simple light is not our biggest concern right now. So please remain calm, say what needs to be said for this moment in time, and we will get moving again." Hylota knew the panic of a tough situation, she had had a panic attack when feared that her brother would be dead in the triage center not so long ago. She knew that there were some times that you needed to put some situations behind them as they began to near the big moment. She did not want thing breaking down now when they were so close to the wast management station, she just anted them to go on to their task.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #42 –
[ Dr. Nicander | USS Theurgy | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Zenozine & Always A Healer

Watching Heather's reaction to his simple question made Lucan wonder how affected she was by the current mutiny - how much worry and fright that had taken its toll. Yet he also wondered if the reason was rather himself, since he was not unaware of the effect he could have on men and women of many species. He did note how she tried to keep her eyes from wandering his body by looking towards the bulkheads, and when she complimented him on his hair, he was starting to think the latter might be the case - odd as her timing was to give voice to her desires.

This seemed to pass right over Nurse Vojona's head, since she asked the questions needed and clarified their situation in a very pragmatic way. It did, however, save Lucan from having to come up with some kind of response to the human's flirtatious demeanour. He had seen her pick up some kind of device from her lab coat, and he assumed that it was a palm light or a SIMs beacon. Shifting his seat, he came a bit closer and reached out to pick it from her hand.

"Thank you," he said, and with the smile he gave Heather, he could have referred to her comment about his hair as well as the presented device. He did not linger on the topic of her compliment, nor did he brush his fingers too boldly against hers when he accepted the palm beacon from her. There was something odd about her hair, as if there was a breeze coming from somewhere even though Lucan did not feel it. Errant thought. It was time to get moving again, and he examined the device - frowning a bit when he pushed the buttons. "Seems like you broke it when you got tangled in the wires. Unfortunate, but we'll just have to do without it."

He handed it back to Heather to let her decide whether she wished to keep it, and then spoke to them both. "I think its best we start moving before we arrive too late to the cargo hold. I will go first. Heather, you should go after me, and Nurse Vojona, you keep an eye behind us."

Then Lucan got on all four and started to crawl along the narrow Jefferies tube, the emergency lights leading the way towards Waste Management. His thoughts were split, in part delving into the challenges ahead of them and yet straying to Heather's reaction to his question. There was something odd about the human, but in retrospect, he could not quite put his finger on what it was.


[ Four Minutes Later | Reclamation Center | Waste Management | Deck 03 ] Attn: Zenozine & Always A Healer

With some effort, Lucan turned a valve and opened a grate that led into the sub-level of one of the Waste Management areas on the ship. There were a few of them spread across the decks of the ship, but they were essentially the same. The one on Deck 03 was strategically wedged between the Senior and Junior Officer Quarters on Decks 02 and 04. Lucan climbed out and helped the women that had followed him, giving them a hand as they emerged into the brighter light of the processing chamber, where its fancy name of 'RECLAMATION CENTER' was painted on the wall opposite the door in a vivid red colour.

"The gas canisters should be behind the panels on the bulkheads," he said, his voice low, "Heather, try to find the anti-grav units you mentioned. Nurse Vojona and I will collect the xenon cylinders and collect them by the grate."

They were standing on a terrace that circled the round processing pit, and the noise that made it hard to hear if there was someone else present outside the single door of the Reclamation Center came from the actuators that ground down the waste via hydraulics and then pushed the pulp into a number of combustion chambers. That was where the xenon gas came in use, and the ship reclaimed an amount of plasma to power a select couple of systems - the actuators in the pit for instance.

In any case, unless they made too much of a racket, they would be reasonably safe in noise-filled environment. Well, besides the risk of falling over the railing, of course. It was evident that the forcefield above the railing was missing, and it was likely due to the sabotage that had been done at 1100 hrs, where the mutineers had managed to cause a cascade failure across the EPS network and detonated a lot of the ship's plasma relays. The thing inside Lucan was curious to see how quickly the two women would die if he threw them into the pit, but that would hardly be constructive to the cause of restoring Ives to command.

He needed them... at least for the time being.

OOC: Clarification, if there is any confusion: Here are the devices in question on Memory Alpha: palm beacon & SIMs beacon. I wrote "palm light" erroneously but since it worked so well with Heather's reaction I'll chalk it up as a slang term. :)

Pardon the delay!

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #43 –
[ Heather McMillan | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

McMillan tried her best to quieten down her panicked state, but she did not fancy revealing the truth of her species at this point in time. And she was sure by now that both Nurse Vojona and Dr. Nicander had noticed the peculiarity of her hair, or her habit of rising up to tip toe. There was nothing she could do about it really. This was one of the reasons why she minimized contact with other crew members. It got harder to hide what she was the more she was around people, and she was a lousy liar on top of that. So instead, she had secluded herself in her lab. But now, that was not really an option for her. She concluded therefore, that by the end of today, it was more than likely Vojona and Nicander at least, would suspect that she was anything but human.

"Yeah...okay..." she answered Vojona as she tried to do as she was told. Then she blushed again when Nicander took the broken device from her. Watching apprehensively, McMillan wondered why she was so hopeless at lying or maintaining her cool. Her heart was often beating with frightening speeds, and she wondered if she would be one of the youngest humans...no, Radiants to perish of a cardiac arrest. When Nicander observed aloud that the device was broken, she took it back and pocketed it. Even she had no idea what that device once was.

"Okay." She answered when he told her to follow after him, while Nurse Vojona took the rear.

She bent her head and torso as she trailed after Nicander, her petite and tiny frame allowing her some options in how she travelled, but it was the way she moved; she was still scampering on tip toes, and she kept her hands in front of her, as if feeling about in the darkness, with her legs bent to keep her head from bumping on the top of the tube. Her dark long trousers was stretchy and comfortable, allowing her some significant freedom of movement, which she took advantage of in this narrow passage. She made very little noise as she moved, and her footwear appeared to be either extremely thick-yet-flexible socks, or some of the softest, and most bendable boots ever seen.

All this unique method of travelling and her attire did nothing to keep her from tripping herself twice during their travels however, and both times she revealed why she kept her hands flailing around in front of herself; when she fell, her hands, and fingertips would silently break her fall. Though she would quietly whisper "Oops! Clumsy me! Sorry!" before getting back up and continuing in her trek. The most interesting part about her falling was how her hands were so easily able to dispense her weight and so lightly land on the ground. By her appearance, she was at least a hundred and twenty pounds. She wasn't blade thin, and even if she was, she would still have landed much harder than her fingers could take with that much ease.


[ Reclamation Center | Waste Management | Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

McMillan accepted Nicander's offered hands and she lightly hopped out of the tube. It wasn't until she had let go of his hands that she realized she made another terrible error: By allowing him to brace her weight as she landed, Nicander would likely have noticed McMillan most definitely did not weigh one hundred and twenty pounds. She did her best not to make any expressions, but her eyes were wide and fully open, staring at anything and everything. She tip-toed a few feet away, studying the room with curiosity, her hair trailing behind her and slowly settling down like super-lightweight silk.

She squinted her eyes at the noise of in the room, and nodded silently at Nicander when he told her to try and locate the anti-gravity generators. Carefully scampering away on tip-toe again, she shied away from the unprotected railing, and she indeed stumbled, nearly falling flat on her face, but caught herself barely in time. Then, even more carefully, she searched around. To her delight, she managed to find a handful of the generators. They were small enough, generally attached to extremely heavy cargo, and this would allow even the most feeble being to be able to lift a large box with one hand. A good thing, since McMillan most certainly could not lift heavy weights without these generators. If Vojona and Nicander thought they would have a hard time carrying those cannisters without anti-grav generators, they would consider themselves lucky since McMillan was more likely to get her own arms ripped off trying to lift something heavy. Now that would be quite a sight, watching her "disarm" herself.

She tottered back to the grate, and knelt low to the ground, hiding behind several containers. She was still resting on her toes rather than her feet even in a kneeling position, and she waited for the other two, a faint smile on her lips and her eyes wide with hopefulness. She kept her ears and eyes open to any signs of danger.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #44 –
[Sarresh Morali | Main Sickbay | Primary Surgical Suite | Deck 07 | 1300 hrs. ]

Sarresh was no empath, but even he could tell that Nurse Jenkins was not at all pleased by the revelation that she was the high ranking officer on site. Still, the detached part of his brain that was running constant analytic's on the group noted with some sense of satisfaction the way she squared her shoulders and set about the task at hand. If the need arose he'd take full on control of the group, rank be damned. He had too much of an idea - warped though it was - of what they were all struggling for. He'd be damned if he'd let it go to hell because the wrong person was in charge. But he was just as happy to drop that responsibility for final decisions off on the Nurse.

Instead, no longer worrying quite so much about her, he turned his focus back to the rest of the group. And figuring out where, and what, they all did and went from here. Glad that consensus seemed to be reached in regards to Cir'Cie - another repressed shiver went down his spine - there were still other concerns. Quite valid ones in fact, as he looked between Doctor's Saugn and Maya, idly wondering at just how the one knew the other so well. In the end, that hardly mattered, beyond the younger looking doctors ability to judge the Vulcan's mental loyalties upon the completion of the mind meld. He considered voicing an opinion, but dismissed the notion, as his input would have served little purpose.

His brow furrowed after a moment though, pondering the drug Lexorin, and what he knew about it. Which was nothi--or maybe not so nothing. Factoids seemed to flow into the back of his mind, easily recalled with the same crystal clarity of his last meal with Amikris. Just as real and readily available (if less painfully bitter-sweet). The only frustrating thing was that he would have bet money two minutes ago, he knew absolutely nothing about Lexorin. He was both frustrated by this, and absurdly grateful that whatever was unlocking key memories in his scrambled brain, it wasn't forcing him to twitch and drool sporadically like it had on the bridge when they first encountered the Calamity.

And surprised as he was to admit it, the Counsellor O'Connor had a valid point as well. As far as options went, ti was a rather tempting plan. He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head to one side, contemplating the dark haired woman. He had little use (at least at the moment) for her actual speciality, but he couldn't find anything inherently wrong with her suggestion. Beyond the need to synthesize more. Which he couldn't - no, that wasn't quite right- could help with.

"While I'm hesitant to put all our hopes on any one thing," he finally spoke up, "Anything that makes the mind meld easier on Dr. Maya, as well as any potential follow up work, has a certain amount of merit to it." He shifted his jaw from one side to the other, as if chewing on his next words. Part of him really, really wanted to take the fight to someone, physically. There was a predatory hunger from earlier that was still stirring deep under the surface. But the mission - the damned mission - came first. "I can certainly run point on synthesizing more of the Lexorin. I'd need some help of course - I don't have enough hands, frankly, to tackle it on my own in enough of a quantity to be dispersed throughout the ship." He sighed softly, "And since Dr. Maya would be rather...incapacitated while dealing with Cir'Cie, we'd need someone to stay and watch over her, as well."

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #45 –
[ Hylota Vojona | USS Theurgy | Jefferies Tubes | Deck 03 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Always A Healer

Hylota remained mostly silent as Heather an Nicander talked about the light before they began to move on again. She had to keep her attention on sounds while the other's were distracted, it was so often that people seemed to forget the ire situation when they were having a chat with someone. But once they decided that they were going to be going finally Hylota nodded and she just took up the position in the back of the group and she casually followed along, and when she watched Heather be clumsy along the way Hylota shook her head and helped her up.

Hylota motioned for Heather to keep going and just remained silent. Watching Heather from behind Hylota was able to easily figure out that Heather was not a human, it was painfully obvious for her, she was good at blending in, but the way that he carried herself, the way that she acted and moved, it was all so strange how Heather implemented similar actions to try and be ignored as Hylota did. Hylota could not help but tell that Heather was not a human and trying hard to just be seen as a human.

Hylota made a mental note to just take a moment when this was all over and talk with Heather on their own and find out what the girl  was for the sake of her own safety. As well as trying to give the poor girl someone to talk to and have some interaction with. Hylota hoped that they could at least be friend after this all was over.



[ Reclamation Center | Waste Management | Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Arriving in the Waste Management center Hylota was the last into the room n made sure that there was no one behind them before she listened to Lucan fill her in on the plan for what to do now. As she was told where the xenon was likely stored and that Heather was to go and get the anti gravity devices Hylota nodded and went to work on her part and started to open up the panel. But there was a problem as Hylota began to move her arm, and she realized that her shoulder was beginning to get rather stiff and numb.

Hylota worked the shoulder ad tried to gt it to loosen up again and gt the feeling back, but it was not working and in this situation she needed to act as if nothing was wrong an she began to just work on getting things moving, her left arm was beginning to fumble a bit before she took charge of things and began to use one hand to work the panel off while her other hand just braced it. Eventually Hylota managed to free the panel from the bulkhead and struggled as she set it aside and began to look over the canisters for the ones that were still full  and she began to pull them out one at a time.

As she took out the canisters Hylota pulled them out and she used her other hand to weakly catch the canister before setting it onto the ground as gently as she could so that hey could have them prepared to go at a moment's notice. But as she was going Hylota's arm got to the point where Hylota could no longer feel her fingers and she dropped a canister to the ground with a loud clang. She winced and quickly grabbed her numb arm and moved it so it did not look like she was having some problem, but only had lost her grip. But to Lucan it would be obvious, her entire left side was slack, hanging lower than her right and indicating that Hylota as not in the best shape.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #46 –
[Sten Covington | USS Theurgy | Below Decks | Deck 7 | 1300 ]

As the brief, semi-private meeting came to an end, Covington followed the officers as they addressed the gathered group. It was a rag-tag bunch all right. A fair portion were from the flight deck, but others were individuals they gathered up along the way. It was an odd collection, and other than the Chief of Security and one pilot there was not an officer amongst them. This was truly what one could call a grassroots movement.

But now, the time came to assign personnel. "Thomason, Young. You two need to go with the Sir." Chief Petty Officer Thomason was a man pushing his forties and he was Sten's right-hand man along with Marquette on the flight deck and his technical abilities were second only to Papa Bear's in their sub-department; Young, on the other hand, was barely into her mid-twenties and for her, fighter maintenance was a transfer from another trade. Before she saw the light, she had been a transporter technician.

"You'll definitely need these two, Sir. They can both handle themselves in a scrap and I'll let Thomason explain how you can best use them."

As the older man then regarded the rest of the gathered crewmembers. His deck apes were the only ones making any real moves towards readiness. Oh, there were a few who were shuffling about, but all too few. "Wake up!" He then bellowed. "Bear Cubs, I want four of you to hang back. There's nobody here from Security I can see so we need you to hold. This. Ground. The Sir called this our base of operations, so let's treat it that way. This place holds, no matter what."

Then, he walked to one of his technicians and handed him his rifle before taking the hand phaser that was in his toolbelt. "People following Lieutenant Lance, leave the rifles behind unless we run out of hand phasers. We'll be moving fast and hard. And besides, we're liable to encounter some weapons lockers along the way."

Then, he pressed the weapon he had just relieved his man from into a red-shirted crewman's hand. "Come on people! There's work to be done!"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #47 –
[ Dr. Nicander | Reclamation Center | Waste Management | Deck 03 ] Attn: Heather McMillan & Hylota Vojona

Like Hylota, Lucan had worked as best as he might to free the xenon cylinders from behind the bulkheads and stack them near the grate. Heather seemed to have found enough anti-grav generators and they were just about to bring the last two gas canisters when disaster struck. Or rather, one of the canisters struck the floor as it slipped from the Ovri's grip, and Lucan rounded on her with eyes wide.

The echo of the metallic sound reverberated in the air, and it was distinctly louder than the noise of the actuators and the pumping hydraulics. Lucan saw how the injury to Hylota's shoulder seemed to have gotten worse, and it was obvious how the her grip had slipped because of it. If they were lucky, no one was in the Waste Management area outside the door, and the noise hadn't been noticed. Lucan stood still, hardly daring to breathe as he looked at the door - waiting to see if it would open...

Seconds passed while the processing pit marked the time with its steady grind and conflagration. With each second, Lucan became more and more confident that no one had noticed, so he began to move again - walking over to Hylota and picking up the canister from the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked her and studied her poise and the way she did not like to use her arm. It was obvious that moving the canisters had not been ideal given her recent injury when she caught him from falling, and the injury had gotten worse. He could not tell if Heather's inoculation had numbed the pain or not, but regardless how much agony Hylota was in, her arm was more or less out of commission. "Remove your jacket. I need to see the area and its swelling."

Lucan put the canister down and fished up a tricorder from the pocket of his trousers, meaning to see what his eyes wouldn't tell him. They lacked in time, but how were they supposed to accomplish their goal if they couldn't carry the canisters to Cargo Hold 02. "Let's see what I can d-"

The sliding doors opened.

"Who goes there?" came the shout to override the din in the processing chamber, and when Lucan cast his pale grey eyes towards the doorway, a young Harbinger Cadet with a shaved head was pointing his Type III rifle against Lucan and Hylota - not yet having located Heather where she was taking cover at the back. It seemed like the Cadet did not need an introduction, however, since he tapped his combadge rather quickly. "Cadet Wilkinson to all search parties, I have located the Theurgy CMO on Deck 03 Waste Management. I'm incapacitating him no-"

With two steps and a turn, Lucan picked up and hurled the 20 pound gas canister at the Cadet, which collided with the human's rifle and torso. He was unbalanced, and Lucan too, but the doctor found his footing after another turn and ran towards the Cadet in the wake of the canister. The rifle had clattered against the ground, but it was not good enough. It was imperative that the Cadet, which appeared to wear the teal of sciences or medical and potentially a former colleague of Hylota's, was struck unconscious so that they could vanish into the Jefferies tubes as soon as possible.

It was Lucan, however, who received and uppercut by the time he reached the human, and then another hook across his cheek. Lucan lost all sense of orientation, finding himself with his back against the railing, and then felt his ribs being pummelled by the young man. He was a bloody doctor and not a boxer, which was made quite evident.

There was no room for thought in the split seconds of survival, only instincts taking over.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #48 –
[ Hylota Vojona | Reclamation Center | Waste Management | Deck 03 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Always A Healer

Hylota looked back at Lucan as he came to her and asked about the injury Hylota shook her head no. "This is not the injury, if it was I would just be swollen and sore. No the Ovri would not have survived that long if we lost the use of a limb that was put under strain. We might not recover from open wounds that well, but this is not anything that would normally happen." She was certain this was a slow reaction to the injection she had gotten from Heather, but she did not have time to get angry, instead she did as Lucan had told her to do and she began to pull her uniform away from her shoulder.

It took her a bit of time to reveal her arm and she revealed the area, the slightly swollen spot was normal enough, but the arm seemed to be cold and slightly discolored. It as sadly obvious that the reflex injection had caused a situation where it was working as a slow paralytic inside of Hylota's body. It did not appear to be going anywhere else but the arm at that pint in time, but the sudden appearance of a mutineer brought an end to the investigation.

the fight was quick, but Hylota was able to see it all, the throwing of the canister, the failed strike from Lucan and the pummeling Hylota's CO received as he was knocked back into the railing. Hylota had a second to act and she used that second to take her hypospray into her good hand and place it to the neck of the cadet and too a half step back before raising her leg and sending one swift kick into the side of Wilkinson's chest making him fall away from Nicander. taking a deep breath Hylota tossed the spend hypospray away and rushed to the side of her CO and put her go arm behind his back an helped hi away from the railing.

Looking at Dr Nicaner with wide eyes Hylota asked him some questions. "Doctor? Doctor Nicander, are you alright? Sir please tell me if you are alright? We need to move quickly, and if you cannot get these canisters we need to find a place to hide you, if you fall into enemy hands we would have done all of this for nothing sir." It was clear that Hylota was trying to assess the situation to find out if Nicander as able to continue their plan, and she was also assessing the situation and considering if thy were going to be able to handle thing as they were right now. To be honest the only plus she could think of was that they had a phaser rifle now.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [03: Liberation]

Reply #49 –
[ Heather McMillan | Reclamation Center | Waste Management | Deck 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Lucan cin Nicander & Hylota Vojona

[Show/Hide]


"Crikey O'Reilly..." McMillan said as she watched everything unfold before her. From her vantage point, she could see everything without revealing herself too much.

The first thing she had noticed was that Nurse Vojona was having a truly adverse reaction to the cooling solution she had applied into the Ovri, making her feel even more horrible for not consulting first. It looked like she was losing use of her injured arm, which was strange since what she had given should not be doing that, and only cool down inflamations. Something that they might need to look into as soon as possible. Plus, they were not in the cleanest states, and a dirty wound was a breeding ground for untold volumes of bacteria and lethal infections.

While Dr. Nicander was looking into it, they were interrupted by the arrival of what appeared to be a Vasser Loyalist. Nicander and Vojona saw to him, but at serious cost to the both of themselves.

"Blast it..." McMillan scrambled over her hiding place and made her way towards the two of them, stumbling part way when her feet run over each other, and soon found herself on her knees next to Nicander. She was worried about the look in the doctor's eyes. Nicander may be a doctor, but McMillan gave an involuntary shudder when she looked at him. Her reaction could easily be mistaken for nerves or fear for the safety of her new friends, but McMillan's reaction was just out of plain fear...of him. It was his capacity for violence, and the sheer brutality in which he dealt with the Vasser Loyalist. Granted, it wasn't particularly efficient, skilled, or excellent, but it still frightened her. While she did not approve of or condone violence under any conditions, she was gradually coming to the realization that very few, if not no one at all in this universe save for her thought poorly on using such for any purpose. Given that circumstance, she likely would have been captured long since if not for Nicander and Vojona.

But she needed to look past this, for now. After all, she would be just as afraid of a Tal Shiar Romulan or Klingon warrior, and right now, a man of violence, while not something she fully approved of, was someone who could get the job done and see her to safety. Plus, Vojona up close, looked even worse. She fished out of her coat pockets a bio tricorder, similar in most ways to a medical tricorder, and held it up hesitantly. McMillan rarely left anywhere without it. Plus, it wasn't awfully large, and was easy to carry around. By getting their readings, she would be able to ascertain more information about both individuals and their current states.

However, after her last experience of doing things without asking permission, she looked to both of them for their permissions first. Since they were still conscious, they were more than capable of giving their approval to let her scan them. Also, this would tell her what they might need.

Time was of the essence too, though, and McMillan needed to act fast, being the only uninjured one of the trio as far as she could tell. And Cadet Wilkinson had gotten word out with his combadge. He gave the identity of Nicander and his location. More were undoubtedly on their way, and then they would have a real problem. Nicander and Vojona did not know about McMillan's inability with any kind of weapon, and if they asked her to pick up and use that phaser rifle, they would be better off pointing the weapon at themselves and pulling the trigger. It would have the same effect as her trying to use it.

"We need to get out of here, now." She said in a timid voice, stating the obvious. "That man got word out with that darn combadge of his."

She considered slapping on the anti-grav generators to the cannisters that she could see around, but she really couldn't do everything all at once. So she instead waited to see what Nicander told her to do.
 
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