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CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Chapter 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]
Attn: IronFerrox, Kurohigi, Searcher, CanadianVet, Doctor Maya, DocReno, Nolan & RosariaRosette

[ USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]
Attn: Carrigan Trent, Billy Bob O'Connell & Declan Vasser. Optionally: Morrigan

When T'Rena heard her own voice being repeated on the intercom - her message recorded and broadcast - she pushed away from the computer console and walked off towards the turbolifts. Pure instinct made her move, and she reasoned she did not have to remain still to eventually hear the Intelligence Officer's reply, and it was more effective to make her way down to Deck 08 and handle the situation on her own. She had already sent off Phantom to Sickbay together with two of his Tactical Conn pilots, but two more remained with her, so she halted them from following her aboard the turbolift.

"I saw on the internal sensors that there were a lot of resistance people heading towards Life Support and the second Battle Bridge on this Deck. Lay an ambush and call for reinforcements. Report to me when they have been handled."

"Aye, Captain," said Smoke, Titan quickly ran off together with him to lay their makeshift ambush not far from there - calling for more people under Vasser's command to join them.

As T'Rena headed down the turbolift, she tapped her combadge. "T'Rena to Ravenholm. I demand that the reprogrammed version of Thea is uploaded to the computer core immediately. You have been granted access, and we are still waiting. I need Thea to vent the atmosphere from Vector 03:s Battle Bridge."

When there was no reply, T'Rena could not help running the analysis of what had just happened - the repercussions catching up with her. For some odd reason, her free hand was hurting. She looked at it, and she saw that it was curled into a white-knuckled fist - her palm bleeding from the bite of her nails. Breathing evenly, she worked her fingers - loosening them. While blood dripped to the floor, she assessed her actions again, and again. An oversight, no matter how she looked at it. Her words had not been meant for the whole ship to hear, and it was likely that Carrigan Trent had managed to rally a lot of support for Ives' cause. The prolonged fighting aboard did not harbour good odds to fight the Calamity.

There was a sense of vertigo as the analysis yielded more and more unfavourable results, and images began to flash before her eyes. Images that she had not considered for many decades. Vulcans in robes, killed and shedding green blood on the white bedrock. Brigands, screaming in repentance for what they had done to her acolytes. The outpost in flames, just like her home - a home she could still remember because of her training at the temple. Pleading voices, for her to give mercy. She alleviated their pain, and brought it down unto the filthy animals that had come their way. Snapping bones. Tearing of skin. Spatter of ichor on dewy grass.

[Deck 08] said the turbolift, and T'Rena opened her eyes - twain slits cutting the length of the corridor. She had lost control of her breathing, nostrils flaring as she set out towards the Battle Bridge. Her intent was clear, and it was to repeat history - to tear the lesser creatures apart for their slight. She needed neither Ravenholm nor an A.I. to end the lives of mere humans, and the matter had become... personal. "Computer, override the authority of Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent and seal all doors to both Battle Bridges. Only my command may open them. Rescind all command privileges and system access from said officer on my authority, T'Rena-Captain-Five-Beta-Niner. I also want the intercom disabled from this moment. Acknowledged?"

[Doors sealed. Access rescinded. Communication channel disabled.]

That would suffice before she reached this Lieutenant Commander Trent. He would not seed any more unrest aboard her ship before she killed him.


[ USS Theurgy | Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ]
Attn: Selena Ravenholm

Selena Ravenholm and Thea had gained access to the Upper Computer Core, but they were not alone. At the back stood one of the mutineers, namely the suspicious Catian by the name Ghaan. Outside the doors were three more mutineers, guarding the room from any resistance cells, but Ghaan was inside, watching the back of the two women that were about to reach the main console.

That was when T'Rena began to speak on the intercom - and Thea frowned in alarm.

[Captain T'Rena to Lieutenant Commander Trent, this is not acceptable, and I hope you realise how futile your efforts truly are. We are about to upload a reprogrammed version of the Ship A.I. from her mobile emitter and into the pasitronic brain core. Whatever access you might have gained from Lieutenant Fedd will then be rescinded and if you do not surrender immediately, Thea's first act to further our cause will be to shut down life support on your Battle Bridge. So unless you put away your weapons and surrender, you will be taking the lives of everyone on that bridge with you as you draw your last breaths. You will not be able to shut her out of her own systems, so I do suggest you comply. State your choice, Lieutenant Commander.]

Pausing her step to gauge the development, Thea turned her attention towards Selena, and she also wanted to know how Ghaan might react. She knew that the encryption specialist had felt ill when hearing the Vulcan in the turbolift, since the mind-meld still lingered in her subconsciousness. In the wake of the Vulcan's words, Carrigan Trent replied in defiance, but at the same time, Selena Ravenholm's combadge chirped - heralding T'Rena's words as she contacted the cybernetically enhanced woman.

[T'Rena to Ravenholm. I demand that the reprogrammed version of Thea is uploaded to the computer core immediately. You have been granted access, and we are still waiting. I need Thea to vent the atmosphere from Vector 03:s Battle Bridge.]

Would Selena manage to resist T'Rena's indoctrination, and keep silent about Thea's true nature?

"What is the matter?" asked Ghaan angrily, stepping closer with his phaser in hand.


[ USS Theurgy | Corridor | Close to the Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ]
Attn: Lin Kae & Skye Carver. Optionally: Morrigan

Not far away on Deck 05, the Holographic Specialist and two women at his side - Fighter Pilot Skye Carver and Engineer Rihen Neyah - were being held up by a hologram. She looked like Thea, wearing her golden security body suit, but all that she said to them was that she would let Lin Kae through, but only him. If Rihen or Skye would step closer, she would apprehend them and detain them until T'Rena could perform her mind-meld on them.

It was unclear what they could do. Were they to leave Lin Kae at the mercy of the hologram? Should they double back and find some other way? Dared they even move in the opposite direction or would Thea follow them? Also, was this really Thea in front of them, brainwashed and left guarding the corridor?

[Captain T'Rena to Lieutenant Commander Trent, this is not acceptable, and I hope you realise how futile your efforts truly are. We are about to upload a reprogrammed version of the Ship A.I. from her mobile emitter and into the pasitronic brain core. Whatever access you might have gained from Lieutenant Fedd will then be rescinded and if you do not surrender immediately, Thea's first act to further our cause will be to shut down life support on your Battle Bridge. So unless you put away your weapons and surrender, you will be taking the lives of everyone on that bridge with you as you draw your last breaths. You will not be able to shut her out of her own systems, so I do suggest you comply. State your choice, Lieutenant Commander.]

If it wasn't the real Thea - and they still had time to reach the Upper Computer Core and stop what the Vulcan was talking about on the intercom - would they be able to make it in time? During this impasse, Carrigan Trent replied to T'Rena's message in death-defiance. Were they hearing a dead man's last stand? Rihen hoped that they could stop it from happening. She did not want the man to die. Too many had already died for Starfleet reasons that she could not quite understand. The panic nearly overtook her. "We must do something! We are so close!"


[ USS Harbinger | Corridors | Deck 07 ]
Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

As they set their brisk pace down the corridor, heading for the turbolifts and stunning one or two crewmen on the way there, ThanIda zh'Wann's mind was bent of the task set before them. As to how, exactly, they were to get back on the Theurgy, she did not know for certain, but she figured that the Harbinger ship was something to use as leverage in any kind of situation - hostile or diplomatic.

That was when the intruder alert was sounded; the corridors cast in red light and the klaxon hounding them down the corridor. Their escape had become a known fact, and Ida supposed that the surveillance system was fully operational on the Harbinger, and that someone had seen them on a console somewhere. Their odds of reaching the bridge had just plummeted, but that did not merit them stopping. What choice did they have but to continue?

"We move on," she said without pasuse to Husker and Duv, changing route down an intersection to not stay on the same path as they might have been seen taking towards the turbolifts. "If we were spotted on screen, we have to be unpredictable. Otherwise, they will be abl-"

No more had she said it than a forcefield appeared ten feet ahead of them - blocking their path.

"Back up, hurry!" Ida turned on her heels and almost collided with the Pinkskin and the Trill in her haste to outrun the trap they might have found themselves in. Yet no more had she changed direction than another forcefield was raised - effectively imprisoning them again after only having escaped the Brig a couple of minutes earlier. Their holding cell might have become bigger, and with two force-fields, but it was still - essentially - a cell. The difference was that they were now armed.

"Try to take out the force-field emitters in the ceiling. If that doesn't work, we have to cut our way into the chamber next to us. Come on! We need to keep moving!" Said and done, Ida bared her teeth and powered up her phaser along with her escaped companions.


[ Uncharted Planetoid | Outside the Class-9 Nebula ]
Attn: Nathaniel Isley & Tomas Ravon

"The Calamity," Rawley mouthed, eyes wide.

There was no mistaking the silhouette against the orange sky - the dark outline of the Calamity-class starship sliding like a knife through the atmosphere of the ice planet they had ended up on. The adrenaline that started to pump through Rawley's limbs when she saw the nightmarish vessel made her fidget upon Nathaniel's shoulders. She realised she had to warn him, and Thomas, about what they were not seeing overhead. She was sure she had seen the Calamity deploy Reavers, and they were bound to find their landed Valkyries in no time at all. Perhaps they were already inbound - powering up their weapons to destroy their only means to fight back and to escape the planet.

"It is here!" she called over the com channel, and her cry sent her into a coughing fit. The blood that spattered the inside of her visor did not bode well, but nonetheless, she tried to croak her words out. "The Calami-ity! Reavers i-inbound!"

There were still alien creatures native to the ice chasing them, but no more than three or four left. It was hard to tell in the blizzard. "Hurry! Wolf three and eight, come in! Do you hear me? Abort patrol and power up the birds!" she wheezed, clinging to Nathaniel's shoulders as best as she might since he was definitely quicker than she'd be in her current state - ascending the mountainside without missing a step. Meanwhile, Razor was shooting the creatures, but he had no means to keep up with Maverick since he was facing the wrong way. He'd never be able to reach his Valkyrie in time if he straggled too far behind.

"Stop shooting a-and run!" she called to Thomas, coughing anew and tasting the metal of the blood in her mouth, "I will warn you if they get too f-fucking close. So run, Lieutenant! Run, you fat fuck!"

Rawley was not sure if she meant Maverick or Razor, but the military-wise encouragement went for them both. She tried to keep an eye out for the last creatures in the blizzard, but the blood inside her visor would make it hard to spot them in time. She kept looking over her shoulder too, expecting the Reavers to descend upon them from the sky at any moment.


This Chapter in the Theurgy story is dedicated to Mr. Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015. May he never be forgotten.

Re: Chapter 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #1 –
[ USS Harbinger | Corridors | Deck 07 ]
Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann & Nolan


As they went quickly down the corridor, Chris couldn't help but to admire the form of security officer that was leading the three of them on an assault operation to the Harbinger's bridge moving much like a Le-matya on the prowl in a sleek and deadly way and inwardly he wondered what she azure beauty would be like in bed.

When that last thought went through his mind, he had to shake his head slightly to clear it and then mentally chalked it up to how stressful the situation was-being on the run for weeks on end, being hunted by their own fleet and it's allies, the whole situation with the Calamity and then all of the current bullshit madness involving T'Rena.

When the intruder alert started sounding and Ida told them that they had to quickly back up where she almost collided with him and the Doctor, she bumped into him for the briefest of moments in her haste and he the briefest of touches made his pulse race for just a second before she moved away from him.

He handed Duv one of the spare phasers that he'd taken from the guards that he had stunned before he quickly changed the settings on a different phaser before aiming at the same spot in the ceiling and to the left, the beam coming out wasn't a single shot but instead a constant pulse beam.

Re: Chapter 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #2 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

Trent was firmly seated in the command chair once he was one speaking his terms.  His hands were on the armrests, fingers curled about the ends and his head high.  Despite the tension that permeated the situation, his face was an impassive mask, calm and unreadable.  Long ago, he had effectively given up any chance to command again.  However, with the crisis at hand, he found he hardly had a choice in the matter.  Oh, he could have easily enough stood aside and focused solely on his survival.  But part of him remembered.  To hide and avoid capture, to let someone else take the lead had just become unspeakable.  He was a senior officer; he was trained for command and tactics.  On this day, he needed to wear his red shirt as it was meant to be. 

The lack of response from T'Rena was something he took as a good sign. His initial address had obviously unsettled her.  Vulcans were known to be cool under great stress, but despite the cold way she had spoken, there was a hint of stress he could hear.  Kholinar mistress or not, he had a strong feeling she was starting to lose her cool.  He had an advantage. 

But then, his armrest consoles went dark.  "Sir, my console is down.  Unable to regain access."  It was Ensign Urban who reported first.  But it was not long before the kid at Ops was followed suit.  "Confirmed, Commander.  We're locked out.  Your command access has been rescinded.  Again."

That last word was unnecessary and drew a sharp, hard look from the acting Commanding Officer.  Banter was not his way to deal with these situations.  However, he could not bring himself to berate young Mister Yelchin as the young man was quite green and his ability to deal with stress was still raw and likely had never been fully tested, not with him being the primary at Ops during a bona fide tactical emergency.

But Trent's mind was still racing.  "Peri, check the doors."  It was a simple, swift order he had given.  With the helm being locked out, she was little use at this time and keeping the young Trill busy was probably the only thing he could do to prevent her from breaking down.  In fact, of the three officers O'Connell and he had encountered on the Battle Bridge, only Urban seemed to be able to cope with the stress.  But then again, he was a transfer from the Enterprise following the battle of the Bassen Rift, the only true combat veteran outside the Master Chief and the Lieutenant Commander.  So him, he could use.  "Sir, ah, we're locked in.  Mister O'Connell's lock has been overridden." 

So, T'Rena had obviously made her decision.  And if she was so confident in her position, she would not have shut him down.  And there was only one reason to lock them inside the Battle Bridge.  She was going to try and murder them all.  "Mister Urban, get into the weapons locker.  Everyone, arm yourselves, phasers on maximum stun.  There should be a spare, I want it set to maximum."  Her threat to asphyxiate them was loud in Trent's memory.  And with the doors locked, there was only one thing that could be done.  The Jefferies tubes or other accesses were likely to be sealed as well so it meant there was exactly one door they could use to escape: one they would make themselves. 

"O'Connell!  We got trouble coming!  Looks like we're cut off from the shipwide channel.  Find me a way to address everyone."  If there were ways to do such a thing, the Maintenance Chief would find a way.  There were enough options out there, and that man with the backwater accent and speech patterns would find a way if there was one at all.

But only then did he hit his combadge, which once adorned Sjaandin Fedd's chest.  "T'Rena, this is Lieutenant Commander Trent.  This is the second time you impair this ship's legitimate command functions.  You are no Captain.  You never were regardless of what notions you might possess."  Carrigan had a plan.  Perhaps he could not be heard across the whole of the Theurgy, but hopefully he could keep that Vulcan bitch off-balance.  And he knew enough of her background from the dossier he had studied to keep hammering at her.  "You are a disgrace.  To Starfleet, to the Federation, to Vulcan and every philosophy you claim to embrace.  You are a nothing more that a common criminal, a thug.  And you don't even have the guts to personally end the one person on this ship with the stones to oppose you directly.  That's why you locked the doors, isn't it?  You plan to choke us out, alone and unwitnessed.  You disgust me, lacking the moral fortitude to look us in the eye when you murder us.  That is what you are, a damned coward who can't stand the sight of real Starfleet personnel doing their duty, let alone fight you to the very last."

Trent was speaking calmly and quietly as he every did.  However, his voice carried an edge.  But regardless of the nature of his words and his sharp tone, there was absolutely no intended malice.  If T'Rena had been rattled by a crew address and made to take drastic action based on their very brief conversation, there was reason to believe he had a solid chance at keeping on degrading her decision-making ability with his needling.  And right now, he needed every advantage he could get.

Re: Chapter 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #3 –
Selena gripped at her head as her eyes closed and data began to flood over the visor that covered her eyes.  she worked her magic at the computer as Thea waited.  She looked to Thea.  She fought the words inside.  Every word she began to speak made her head throb with resistance and a few drops of blood began to drip from her nose as her brain began to seemingly rebel against itself.  Thea, Do what you have to do! she said her voice trembling hoping Thea knew that now was the right time to do what was necessary to remove the enemy presence within the core, outside the core, and more importantly restore all the proper command pathways and doing what waqs necessary to place herself back into the worthy hands. 

As as she explored the file structure she saw what she had hoped she had created.  Before her was an stark option.  Delete or restore.  The voice of the Vulcan screamed for her to delete the old Thea file.  The part of herself said to restore the backup of Thea's previous state.  With a trembling hand she forced her hand forwards as it approached the delete option with a sheer force of will and a scream of pained defiance the hand pushed over and grazed over the option to restore. 

In a fraction of a fraction of a second Thea would have felt the wireless data feed within the core feeding information to her mobile emitter.  The reconnection to her true AI core self.  she was herself again in full apart from the damage to internals that was already known.  She had no emitters to project from aside from her mobile emitter now and one other.  One where a very close friend of hers was near.

Just as the flood of input hit Thea another flood came.  A flow of crimson out of both of Selena's nostrils as she felt herself go light headed and fall to the floor eyes still open looking as if dead.  Selena had resisted...but, at what cost.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #4 –
[ USS Theurgy | Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Selena Ravenholm

The situation was coming to its head, and Thea looked between the clearly affected woman by the controls and the mutineer that was approaching Selena from behind. The voice of the Vulcan was like a serrated blade cutting through Ravenholm's frame, and Thea's digital mind was rapidly analysing every kind of action she might take. Should she neutralise the liability of having Ghaan in the room? Was it better to blow their cover than to maintain it? Was Selena going to resist the grip T'Rena had on her mind, and if not, should she strike her down before she did something irreversible by the controls? The calculations changed with each second, determined by the shifting struggle that Ravenholm displayed.

In the end, it was Selena's assurance and word that solved all calculations.

"Aye, Chief Ravenholm," she said in reply and she stepped after Ghaan, who rounded on her with eyes widening and whiskers raised. He got his phaser up in time, fired two beams, but they went straight through Thea's upper body. Had he fired low, he might have hit the emitter, but he got no more chances to correct his aim. Thea rammed the butt of her assault rifle straight into Ghaan's solar plexus, which made him fall on his knees. As he hunched over in pain and loss of breath, Thea struck her rifle down like a veritable guillotine - hitting the nerve-centres in the nape of his neck. Her combat software indicated that Ghaan was out cold before he hit the floor.

Selena was still struggling by the computer core, screaming. The sliding doors opened - admitting two of the mutineers that had guarded the entrance. They had heard the phaser fire and the commotion, stepping in with phasers drawn. Thea rounded on them, gloved fingers securing a firm grip on her weapon during the turn, and she opened fire just as the one on the left did. The mutineers aim was off, but not Thea's. Her two rapid beams sent them sprawling backwards and out the door. The last mutineer peeked in, alarmed at seeing his fallen comrades - spotted Thea approaching him. He started to run, but Thea did not run after him. She stepped out into the corridor and took aim against the mutineer's retreating back - her stun beam catching him right between his shoulder blades.

Thea did not give the falling man a second look as she retraced her steps into the computer core room - stepping over the bodies of unconscious mutineers. "Ravenholm, you must resist th-" she began to say, but she did not finish the sentence, because the human fell down upon the deck plates - artificial limbs sprawled out at disjointed angles. Blood ran from her nose, and her eyes open wide. "Selena!"

She put the rifle aside and gathered up the woman in her arms, checking her pulse with gloved fingertips. Yet as she sat there, a realisation came to the forefront of her runtime processes; that her emitter had re-established transfer protocols with the three computer cores. She was already downloading data from the past hour, as much as her internal sensors and communication logs could tell her anyway since her surveillance system was offline. More importantly, she accessed the latest communication, hearing Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent taunt T'Rena.

Selena Ravenholm had resisted her indoctrination, and activated Thea's pasitronic brain and its bio-neural network. Yet even if she still had a pulse, Thea could not stay to make sure Selena got the medical attention she needed. There were crises all across the ship, and the most prominent one being that T'Rena was rapidly approaching the Vector 03 Battle Bridge. She had no means to raise force-fields to stop her either. The Brig's holding cells ran on their own system, so she could not free Captain Ives and the rest of the captives there either. Prominent Harbinger officers were already in Sickbay and she could detect phaser fire there, but the acute lack of plasma had forced Engineering to shut down the ship's own transporter systems anyway, so she could not move Selena even if it had been safe. Moreover, Vasser was still on the Bridge, and he was still the ranking officer of the ship since he had been given a Commodore's system access by  Selena through the auxiliary computer system.

"I'm sorry," whispered Thea to Ravenholm as she set the woman down on the floor, and the regret from her emotion chip threatened to lag her holographic field matrix. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I have to go."

And then she scooped up the rifle and ran out the door - running as fast as the anti-gravity units in her emitter allowed her to.

She was hard-wired to not be able to rescind system access from a Captain or a higher ranking officer completely on her own - needing at least one more officer to authorise such a change. Therefore, she could not stop T'Rena or Vasser unless she did so by direct - physical - means. Yet while she ran, she tried in vain to restore system access to the people that had been named on the Battle Bridge. She could, however, not revoke T'Rena's commands. She did, however, rescind access from mutineers that had been named in the communication logs. The decision on who she would go after personally was a decision of the heart, for while Vasser was not hurting anyone at the moment...

...T'Rena was almost at the Battle Bride already.


[ USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ] Attn: Carrigan Trent, Billy Bob O'Connell

With her mordant stride down the corridor, T'Rena's brown eyes glared underneath her browridge while hearing Carrigan Trent's voice from her combadge. She said nothing to interrupt him, neither breaking her pace nor changing the grip on her rifle.

"Captain," said a woman that came limping towards her in the corridor. It was one of the Lone Wolves. The one that T'Rena had performed the mind-meld on while Lieutenant Zaraq copulated with her. She called herself Nightmare, and T'Rena had left her to Zaraq's determined efforts to give her a child that morning. Still, she came to T'Rena like a canine on a leash. "Is this the bridge that the spy is on?"

Without breaking her stride, T'Rena rammed the muzzle of her rifle straight into the dark-haired woman's throat. Then she left the human to trash and slowly suffocate on the floor - face turning purple. It brought little satisfaction, but since she did not need the Ensign, the means to somehow vent her immediate ire served due purpose.

"This is Captain T'Rena," she said in ominous answer after tapping her combadge, "I do mean to look you in the eye, Lieutenant Commander, for in the end, I think you are quite willing to come out to meet me. Unless you do... you will die a pointless death. So... I will see you outside. T'Rena out."

She had reached the intersection that covered both exits from the Battle Bridge, and she took up position there - holding her rifle in a two-handed grip. "Computer. Shut down life-support on the Vector 03 Battle Bridge."

[Warning. Life signs detected in the affected area. Command authorisation required.] 

"T'Rena-Captain-Five-Beta-Niner," said the Vulcan, and she raised her rifle to her shoulder - standing ready to shoot the rats that scurried out of their nest. If they did not find any means to escape, she would revel in the noises of their panic.

[Acknowledged.] Was there a hint of regret in the static of the computer's voice? [Venting atmosphere. Life-support at 70 %. 60 %. 50 %...]


Inside the Bridge, where the air was hissing out of the room, Thea's voice was heard on the intercom. [Lieutenant Commander Trent! Listen to me, she is shutting down life-support and I cannot stop her, only delay the process.] The quite human desperation bled through the speakers. Yet the increasing vacuum was draining the volume. Already, the junior officers were panicking and beginning to cut through the two doors with their phasers.

[She is right outside and I cannot revoke a Captain's access to the systems. I am en-route but I won't make it in time. I'm sorry, I know you can barely breathe but you must try and answer me verbally. Do you hereby authorise the removal of command privileges from Captain T'Rena, Commanding Officer of the USS Theurgy? Please, authorise it now! I repeat...]

Yet the junior officers were not listening by the doors, purely focused on getting air - phaser blazing.


[ USS Harbinger | Corridors | Deck 07 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

With phasers blazing, Ida worked together with Husker and Doctor Duv to cut out an escape from the makeshift cell they had found themselves in. Any moment, the remaining security detail aboard the Harbinger would reach them, so they had to get out of view from the surveillance system.

"Come on!" she said with teeth bared, her beam cutting inch by inch across the metal. Sweat beaded the blue skin of her arms and neck, and her wet hair framed the grim set of her jaw - her thoughts on how she refused to be caught again. This time, they would not spare her modesty, and perhaps even break her limbs to keep her from escaping again.

Then, finally, as they heard the distant thunder of people running, the cut was finished. "Push it open!" she said to her companions, and she rammed her shoulder into the heavy bulkhead - paddling with her legs to push it back. She tried to look across their shoulders to spot how far off the Harbinger personnel were, expecting to see them in either ends of the corridor they were trapped in. "Harder!"

Should she stay behind and cover the pilot and the doctor as they escaped through the hole? Or would they make it through in time? The Pinkskin and the Trill in her company might not have been her own crew - the crew she had sworn to protect. But they wanted to defect, and as such... Ida would fight until death for them.

With a loud metallic noise, the bulkhead budged and fell over... just when the Harbinger security force came into view with phasers raised. "Deactivate the forcefields!" called one of them, and the moment of truth had arrived. She squared her shoulders to take aim.

Yet Ida had not counted on the Pinkskin's incentive...

OOC: Since Nolan is away, the turn goes back to you, DocReno.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #5 –
[ USS Harbinger | Corridors | Deck 07 ]
Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann & Nolan


After the hole was cut with the phasers, Chris helped Ida pushed the cut section forward and as he helped her-he caught the look of grim determination that was in her eyes and nodded to himself as he pushed until the plating finally gave way and hit the ground with a loud clang.

Chris knew that they only had a few options left to them as the first response team that was already sweeping the decks for them would've already been on their way and as such he pushed himself as hard as he could because he could only guess as to the sick and twisted things that the guards might do to "ensure" that they wouldn't escape again and it made him even angrier until finally he felt the cut section finally bend enough that it collapsed inward at which point he started to usher Duv toward the gap when he noticed the arrival of the guards and he felt things slow down.

He saw himself and Duv go into the hole as Ida squared her shoulders and laid down fire in order to save the two defectors which caused her to be hit a few times or they would possibly get a shot in that would stun the entire group..

Too many variables.

Chris made a decision in less than a second.

Moving as fast as he could, Chris quickly grabbed Ida by her closest shoulder and then quickly pushed her into the hole after Duv. "Keep heading for the bridge, lieutenant. I'll handle these guys and meet you up there but try and save me a piece of the last dance." he said briskly as they were quickly running out of time but before he went back out into the corridor, he looked into the Zhen's midnight blue eyes before saying "frak it" and then leaning in and kissed her, letting the fingers of his right hand become briefly entwined in the snow white hair as he did so, kissing her with as much passion, feeling and want as he could put into a couple of seconds before breaking the kiss.

"Just in case." he said with a rueful look on his face before saying "Now go, I've got your backs still." before he pushed her down the accessway a little bit before bracing himself against the corner of the hole as the force fields went down and he let loose with the first pulse blast from his phaser, catching one of the more eager security officers low in the left leg which made him stumble before a second shot from Husker caught him mid-center mass and dropping him quickly.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #6 –
[ Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert O'Connell | USS Theurgy | Deck 8 | Vector 3 Battle Bridge ]

In the battle bridge's ready room on deck eight Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert 'Billy Bob' O'Connell went through his stash.  Since the Theurgy couldn't separate these days he had converted the Vector Three's battle bridge into an emergency cache that the truly paranoid maintain when all of their conspiracy theories seem to have come true.  He found the breathing masks right where he left them and got five, four for the officers waiting for him in the battle bridge and one for himself.  If T'Rena decided to pump knock out gas into the room he was ready.  The masks could turn carbon dioxide into oxygen for at least eight hours...

William O'Connell's blood turned cold when he heard the hissing sound of the air being pumped out of the battle bridge suite.  It wasn't until he put his mask on his face that he realized that air was being pumped out rather than tranquilizing gas being pumped in.  T'Rena wasn't taking prisoners; that green blooded witch was out for blood!  The ruttin' air masks could keep them from suffocating but it wouldn't keep them from popping like balloons once the air pressure became zero.

Billy Bob said something in Mandarin and headed for the door.  He bounced off it and fell backwards when it failed to open.  The air masks scattered on the deck around him.  He was locked in!  "Why don't things ever run smooth?" he moaned as he straightened his air mask and staggered to his feet.  With numb fingers he opened a panel near the door and got it unlock manually.  He muscled the door open and saw Trent and Urban at their stations and Yelchin and Peri using hand phasers to cut the door to the hallway open.  Through the hissing of the atmosphere being drained from the room he heard Thea's voice getting softer and softer:

[She is right outside and I cannot revoke a Captain's access to the systems. I am en-route but I won't make it in time. I'm sorry, I know you can barely breathe but you must try and answer me verbally. Do you hereby authorise the removal of command privileges from Captain T'Rena, Commanding Officer of the USS Theurgy? Please, authorise it now! I repeat...]

Trent couldn't talk!  Even though it felt as if his innards was being filled up like a balloon, O'Connell managed to scoop up one of the breathing masks at his feet without losing his footing.  Ears ringing from the lack of air pressure, the master chief staggered up to the captain's chair and placed the breathing mask over Commander Trent's face.  The blood capillaries on the back of O'Connell's hands shone crimson as he slid the strap to the back of his head and shouted even though it was difficult to hear him.  "Breathe!  Breathe, God dammit breathe!  Give her the ruttin' command code afore we die!"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #7 –
[Lin Kae - Deck 05, near Upper Computer Core]

They made an unlikely trio, but Kae, Skye and Rihen moved with care through the ship towards the Upper Computer Core, The Holographic Specialist likely already branded as an enemy after his encounter with Selena Ravenholm, while Skye was probably considered a threat as well, simply for the amount of danger she could be to anyone who crossed her.  It meant moving slower and with more care then they pleased, but it was better safe then sorry.  As the speech was given over the ship-wide comm system was being given, Kae couldn't help but feel some measure of hope.  Trent was calling for officers to continue their duties as normal, something which Lin expected would create some manner of paranoia.  Would Vasser and his men see everyone working and start wondering who was still on their side and who was just doing their duty?

It took a shift with the threats of Commander T'Rena, ready to reprogram Thea.  Did that mean the one in front of them now wasn't the enemy?  But for how long?  Even if he trusted the one in front of him, if she were reprogrammed, he would be left alone, without the aid of Skye to watch his back.  Turning to face Skye, he spoke aloud, but it was his eyes which truly spoke to her, gesturing upward toward the emitter array above his head.  Thea and other holograms could only go where the emitters were, so all they had to do was destroy those as they went along.  It might have alerted their presence, but if this Thea turned on them, that was going to happen anyway.  They just had to move faster towards the Upper Computer Core, get there before anyone else interfered with the positronic brain.  "Skye, we have to do the right thing," he said, and she would know that taking aim at the emitters was that right thing.


[Nathan Isley - Planetoid]

Rawley was awake and putting them on a high alert.  Just when he thought they were already at red alert, she gave them a reason to invent a whole new level of crisis to describe their condition.  Isley pushed harder, faster, cutting through the snow and towards their Valkyries.  "Are you in a condition to fly?" he asked her, knowing she couldn't do much to walk, and if she couldn't get her bird off the ground, it meant she was going to be riding with him.  She wasn't getting left behind. be it on the planet or because she wasn't able to pilot.  The creatures were still advancing, and without weapons fire, they had little reason to be slow about it either.  Ravon had to move faster then their current plan allowed, and had to abandon shooting so he could run.

"Razor, as fast as you can do your preflight check, get off the ground!  We need to get off this planet and back into the Nebula before the enemy fighters are right on top of us and have visual!"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #8 –
[ USS Theurgy | Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ]

The seemingly lifeless body on the floor twitched for a second.  It was before long that her head was seized with another pulse as a cortical stimulator that had been implanted along with her brain to computer interfaces sent a shock through her brain attempting to restore her brain back to its normal bio-electric rhythm.  After the third shock, she made a loud gasp as her brain came back to into function and in a desperate need for oxygen forced her to gasp for air.  Her heart began to pound rapidly, attempting to deliver the oxygenated blood to her near O2 starved brain.  Her eyes shot open and she immediately jerked over and vomited a mixture of bile and blood onto the computer core room floor. Her nose began to pour blood again.  She was at a point of near delirium, knowing that if she didn't act fast she would be dead from of all things a fatal nosebleed.  Still, there were things she had the mind to remember.  The Thea in the area most nearby the active holo emitter.   She rose to her feet stumbling and practically fell out into the hallway.

With as quick a pace as she managed, she rounded the closest interesction - seeing the trio. Thank God... it's Kae. He must have come for Thea. she thought. 

She stumbled down the hallway, blood pouring from both her mouth and nose. "Thea, remote unit 1,  medical mode. Now,"  she said, blood filling her sinuses  and beginning to also fill her mouth  as she stumbled down the hallway.  "She's safe.  Kae,"  she coughed, "she's trying to stop...T' Re...na."

Stumbling down further, she pointed at the Thea hologram. "Thea... emergency mode...  code...  One... One... Al...pha... Two..." She coughed again, falling to the ground, blood pouring from her nasal passages - filling her sinuses and threatening to not only cause her to bleed out but to choke her on her own haemorrhaging blood.  "Five... E. Lieutenant Lin is here... alive..."  she said, collapsing to the ground.

The hologram between them disappeared from its previous emotionless state and another program flashed to life. It was the EMH Mk. I, who spoke with a raised chin. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency," he said dryly, then looked around - gauging the health of Lin Kae, Skye Carver and Rihen Neyah. He frowned, then looked behind him, seeing Selena Ravenholm. "Oh, I see."

In what could be her dying breaths the augmented human had alerted Thea to Lin Kae's whereabouts and activated the EMH Mk. I outside Sickbay.  As she lay dying of a massive cerebral haemorrhage, not only was Lin Kae's restored system access about to be put to use, but his word could remove Commodore Vasser and Captain T'Rena from command.

OOC: I had to edit this otherwise excellent post because of continuity problems and discrepancies in Thea's range and capabilities. Better to make this edit to save time and to avoid a loosing time in lengthy explanations at moment - where I have a short window of time to finish my own posts today. - Auctor Lucan

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #9 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

Trent did not have to await his answer long.  And when he had it, a stab of fear drove into his chest.  He would willingly leave the Battle Bridge?  Through secured doors?  That could mean only two things: firstly, T'Rena had absolutely no intention of meeting anyone face to face if she could avoid it; second, she was going to suffocate his bridge crew. 

Blue lights began flashing, the universal sign of a life-support failure and it was accompanied both by the hissing of air and a very audible alarm.  And there was something else, a voice that was growing dimmer as there was less and less medium for it to transmit through.  It was the computer; no, it was Thea telling him what needed to be done.  She was back on line!  Perhaps her hands were tied, but all it needed was him to gasp out a few words and he would be back in business! 

But no.  By the time he understood, Carrigan Trent was paralyzed.  Not just by fear but by bone-chilling horror.  He had been exposed to a hard vacuum before as his ship, the USS Harrier, was being demolished around him, as his crew died inside and outside a tortured hull.  The pressure as his eardrums stretched and could not equalize, his vision blurring as all moisture left his eyes, his saliva boiling out of his mouth, the pain of his skin stretching to hold him together, lungs trying desperately to bring in oxygen.  In his mind's eye, he could see the plumes of vented smoke and atmosphere, the broken bodies and the debris.  He could feel the tingle of Jem'Hadar weapons discharges.  He did not have his prosthetics, but flensed, charred bones where once hale limbs at been.

And that is when the worst thing that could happen to the Lieutenant Commander happened: he panicked.  His heart was beating frenetically, swiftly depleting his body's dwindling supply of oxygen as he clawed at his collar, but to no avail.  The lurid glow of the phasers at the door was distant and inconsequential.  He had failed.

And his vision started to dim.  He was out of air; unconsciousness was coming and he did not have long in this world.  But then, a gift from heaven, a blast of air pushed into his face and down a spasming respiratory tract. At first, he thought himself dead and ascending into the afterlife but instead he was being shaken by O'Connell and he could see his mouth moving through the tears that rehydrated his eyeballs.  He was yelling at him.  Breathe?  Give the code?  Yes!  Thea's request.  Tapping his combadge, the communicator linked with the small transceiver assembly in his mask and he spoke, his words gasping.  "Thea.  This is.  Lieutenant-Comm...ander Carrigan.  Trent.  Authorization Trent Three Seven Four.  Nine Epsilon.  Confirmed and assuming command.  Restore all Theurgy crew command access and remove all authorizations and functions from all Harbinger personnel and mutineer T'Rena.  Restore life support on Vector 03 Battle Bridge!"

But that last command had gotten in just a moment too late.  No sooner had he finished giving it that Ensign Yelchin, suprisingly still functional, managed to hit the door's interlock subsystems and upon damage, driven by a hard-wired set of protocols, the panels halfway flew open and a generic computer voice generated from the door panel sounded.  "Warning, pressure seal broken.  Atmospheric venting halted.  Restoring pressure." 

But this voice, accompanied by a gust of air, was also a harbinger of death for a phaser shrieked multiple times and young Pavel Viktorovich Yelchin, born and raised at Utopia Planitia, flew back and died as his chest cavity was reduced to a charred mess. 

"No!"  Trent's shout was low and hoarse as he ripped off the restrictive mask.  His ears still smarted from the change in pressure and his skin was red and raw-feeling and he knew some nice bruises would develop in places but he hardly cared.  He was so young; he had been terrified but once pointed the right way, the kid was doing his duty as well as any officer ever could.  His sightless eyes were looking up, accusingly at the acting commanding officer whose actions had led to the circumstances of his death.  One more man he had led to his demise. 

But no rage, no anger showed on Carrigan's face.  Instead, his was an impassive mask, almost serene.  But his eyes burned bright with a cold and dangerous light.  He was filled with purpose and a deadly, frigid rage.  But not the irrational, blinding kind that robbed one of all sense and clouded judgement and decision-making.  His was calm and served as a lens through which his every skill, instinct and iota of knowledge was focused into crystal clarity.  Tapping his combadge again, knowing his voice would not carry in its quiet intensity, he spoke, his tone icy and flat.  "T'Rena, this is the last time.  You are done murdering.  You are done leading your mutiny.  Surrender and live, resist and I will end you."  Four days past, witnessing the death of an officer under his direct command would have shattered him; now, filled with this rediscovered confidence and sense of purpose, it only cemented his resolve.  Guilt and grief would wait.

Rising to his feet from the command chair phaser in hand, Trent continued on, addressing the Vulcan outside the Battle Bridge.  "State your choice, you fucking bitch."

The epithet was unintentional yet spoken almost soullessly.  In fact, the nature of Trent's voice made Ensign Peri recoil as of physically struck by the weight and impossibly sharp edge of the barely constrained rage it carried; she was too young, too inexperienced to fully comprehend what she was witness to.  Urban, on the other hand, allowed himself a savage grin for he knew precisely what this calm meant: that whoever and whatever Lieutenant-Carrigan Trent was seen as since he joined this crew, the man who stood in the centre of the Battle Bridge was something else entirely.

Better late than never, this proven veteran of wartime command had fully emerged from the shell he'd buried himself in.  And he was ready to prove it.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #10 –
[ USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ] Attn: Carrigan Trent, Billy Bob O'Connell & Declan Vasser

Raising the smoking muzzle of her Type-III assault rifle, T'Rena was far from content with the development. While she had killed one of those inside the Battle Bridge, it seemed they had been able to restore pressure and remained conscious. As much was evident when the human in charge dealt her new threats through her combadge - now faintly echoed through the parted doors ahead of her. She was given a new ultimatum, but it mattered naught. They were not in control of the situation. Hostilities would end when she decided they would, and she had an obligation to her Commodore and the father of her unborn child.

In the new order, she would bear as many children as possible - all sired by their saviour. Once they caught and turned Dr. Nicander to their cause, he would bestow all children the properties of the Commodore's blood, added with the healing abilities of the Asurian they had taken captive. DNA Resequencing would grant them victory, and immunity towards the enemy parasites. They needed time, that was all.

Time, which the resistance cell on the Battle Bridge was not to be given. They were not to recover from their brush with death before she descended upon them - about to end their lives and merely keep their DNA for cloning. They could manage without their seed, after all.

So, in the wake of Trent's sharp words, T'Rena increased the setting of her rifle and stepped through the opened doors with her weapon raised - shooting the closest two humans on the bridge with two consecutive beams. One young woman and one older man - both dropping into disjointed heaps of charred flesh. They barely had the time to scream. Then she took cover, crouching down behind the Conn and Ops stations at the front of the bridge while she tried to established the whereabouts of Lieutenant Commander Trent and MCPO O'Connell with her hearing.

"Did you expect any other answer, Mister Trent?" she asked evenly, not even winded. While not a verbal answer, hers had been definite. With her back to the Conn station, she changed her setting to wide dispersal and raised the rifle above her head - firing walls of phaser energy across the bridge blindly. Suppressive fire. Had likely forced the two last standing officers to take cover. The interior of the room was put to flames - carpet and chair padding igniting.

Then she stepped out from her cover, rifle firmly to her shoulder and eyes along the sights - seeking her two targets in the flames.

OOC: Battle Bridge Layout, where T'Rena entered the door on the left hand side in the image: [Show/Hide]

[ USS Theurgy | Corridor Outside Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Selena Ravenholm, Lin Kae & Skye Carver.

OOC: Please check the edit of IronFerrox latest post before reading the development below.

Rihen gasped, seeing the woman from the Harbinger with the synthetic limbs fall to the deck. The balding medical hologram appeared, however, and he set about tending to her as soon as he noticed her. The Thea-hologram had been replaced, so there was no one in the way for them to reach the Upper Computer Core. Yet it seemed the last words from Chief Ravenholm had alerted the real Thea about her Holographic Specialist's whereabouts - his lack of a combadge not giving away his position before then.

[Lieutenant Lin? This is Thea. Are you alright? If I only had run in the opposite direction, I would have met you in person. I am sorry, there is no time to explain. I am on my way to help officers at great risk, and while I have verbal verification for the removal of T'Rena's command privileges, I have yet to remove Declan Vasser - ranked Commodore - from command of this ship.]

Since this was clearly over her own head, Rihen Neyah moved over to Ravenholm and crouched down on the opposite side from the EMH, trying to offer help as best as she might while Thea continued to speak with Lin Kae and Skye Carver.

[Given his many infractions upon Starfleet protocols and endangering the crew, I am in full authority to remove his system access, but only with the added verification from another Senior Officer. I know this is much to take in, but bear with me. Lieutenant Commander Trent gave the order to revoke system access from all Harbinger personnel, but the tactical situation has changed, and Trent is now indisposed - fighting T'Rena on Deck 08... which is where I am heading.]

Rihen looked up, frowning. "What does she mean? Shouldn't we shut out Vasser?"

[Listen to me,] said Thea over the intercom, [I have delayed revoking Vasser's access because she is here.... Cala. My daughter.]

The Calamity! Rihen could barely breathe.

[I detected her on long-range sensors via our sensor bouy, and she is just outside the nebula. Do you understand? If there is no one up on Deck 01 to take us into Warp and deploy the gravametric mines, Cala may kill us all in just a matter of minutes. Right now, Vasser is the only one on the Main Bridge that can do that. You have to decide, Kae... Should I shut him out or not, when he might be the only one to save us? You know that I do not have access to those systems, so we need someone to replace him at the helm!]

Personally, Rihen did not know what to think any more. Things were too crazy.


[ USS Harbinger | Corridors | Deck 07 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

Ida had been completely prepared to stand her ground against the Harbinger security officers, butin the last second, she had been pulled away and into the opening they'd cut. She heard the pilot saying he'd take her place but she'd have none of it. The Pinkskin had to fly the damn starship and she...

Then he kissed her, and she found herself making a startled sound in the dim light of the maintenance chute. His breath was warm, and his lips damp. His stubble ground against her blue skin, and she felt her chest being pressed against his - a hand in her hair. When he spoke next, she had hardly noticed that he pulled away - her own eyes shut for some reason. "Just in case," he said to her, and when her mind caught up with what he had done, he was already out there - shooting at the security team.

"Fall back, fall back," they shouted from their end of the corridor, and even though Ida couldn't see the results of the volley of suppressive fire that Husker had sent their way, he must have hit someone to make them change tactics. At that point, it was not the right time to strike down the bloody Pinkskin for what he had done, and she was not entirely sure what she was so angry about. Him acting a bloody hero, kissing her or  breaking protocols. Or some other reason she could not put a finger on.

"We will speak of t-this later, Ensign," she promised with ill hidden ire, but her reprimand was kind of undermined by the darker cerulean shade of her neck. "Rendezvous with us on the Bridge as soon as you can."

And then she was off, climbing the ship through the maintenance tunnels of the Akira-class ship together with Amelya Duv. Ida did not know if if she was going to see the Pinkskin again, but if he didn't get to the Bridge, she'd have to put a phaser to the helmsman's temple to ensure passage back to the Theurgy.

[Red Alert,] said the static of the ship's computer -the echo travelling through the tunnels as Ida and Duv climbed. The voice was heard all over the ship. [Red alert. All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations.]

"What, why would the-" Ida tried to make sense of why Trujillo would sound the alert even if their escape was well underway. The Harbinger was run by a skeleton crew, so why the need to change the alert status when they were already engaged in combat with the escaped prisoners? Then it hit her, and her antennae rose in alarm as she met Doctor Duv's eyes in the darkness.

"The Calamity."

Maybe getting to the Theurgy in time would not be so simple. Then again, it had been a shoddy plan to begin with. Now, they had another threat to deal with... one surpassing the rest by far.

OOC: DocReno, I would be happy to write the actions of the security team for a couple of posts with you. The next time Husker will see either zh'Wann or Duv will be when he reaches the Main Bridge of the Harbinger. Therefore, after the fight is finished, leave it open-ended as to what kind of scene he will walk into. Nolan, Ida and Duv need to continue through the tubes, so I welcome if your post takes them to the Deck 01 but ends there.

[ Uncharted Planetoid | Outside the Class-9 Nebula ] Attn: Nathaniel Isley & Tomas Ravon

"Just get to the ledge and drop me by my Valkyrie," rasped Evelyn Rawley in answer to Maverick, "I sure as hell won't be sitting this one out, fuck the odds and piss on the consequences. I will be in Morrigan's  bloody Valkyrie, or you will throw me to the creatures down there, you hear me?"

Wolf-03 and 08 had time on their side, already firing up their Valkyries. It would compromise their position to the Reavers, but it was not like they had any choice in the matter. They had to get away, and delaying that would not help in the least. And it was a good thing they did, because the creatures were more or less onto of Razor when the thrusters of the fighters carried the wolves out from the ledge above Maverick's head. In short order, the two Lone Wolves rounded on the pursuing creatures on the mountainside and picked them off with their phaser canons, one by one. The sound of the canons echoed in the blizzard, accompanied with the agonized screams of the dying creatures. Razor mightn't have made it otherwise.

"Reavers inbound! They are here!" said Rawley when she spotted them - enemies coming in hard from their drop-point.

The seven advanced attack fighters opened fire against Wolf-03 and 08 as soon as they were in range, and while the barrages were cushioned by the shields, Rawley saw how the enemy fire tore into the hulls of their fellow wolves regardless. "Tell them to lead them away from us while we get off the ground!" Rawley landed on her feet, nearly falling before she scrambled to get to Morrigan's Valkyrie. "If we are quick, we can get on their six."

That was, unless Wolf-03 and 08 were not shot to pieces first...

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #11 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

There was no answer at first.  At least not verbally.  There was little time between Trent delivering his last and final warning and the Vulcan stepping into the Battle Bridge, her phaser rifle spitting out death.  Her aim was unerring and while Nizni Peri did not even manage to get a shot out before her torso was ripped asunder by incoming fire, Kenneth Urban did get his weapon to bear and fired back.  Perhaps his fire was ineffective, but at least he had managed a few blasts before a burst from T'Rena's rifle remove his right arm and the entire right side of his head.

As both Ensigns crumpled into charred and lifeless hunks of flesh and bone, Trent turned to engage, his phaser held in both hands.  Yes, hand phasers were mostly used one-handed but when given the chance, he preferred a two-handed grasp, his left thumb pointing parallel to the business end of his weapon, a clever trick he had picked up from a small-arms instructor when he was undergoing Basic Intelligence Officer training.  However, he did not have time to open fire for a wall of phaser-fire and he was forced to evade by diving behind Tactical, using the pillars holding the console up to avoid being incinerated much as the carpeting and the command chair had just been.  However, he was no gymnast.  His dive was hardly graceful and his roll even less so and as he eventually got to safety, his realized, all too late, his weapon had been ripped from his hand and laid on the deck, twice his arm's reach away.

For a moment, he spared a thought for O'Connell.  Since the Chief had slapped the mask upon his face and shook him back into the real world, the Lieutenant Commander had lost track of the man.  But for now, he did not have time to think of him.  As T'Rena advanced through the flames and smoke, the Intelligence Officer knew he had to engage her lest he be cornered and killed.  He had to face it: she was Vulcan with all the toughness, speed and strength that came with it; she was an expert in hand-to-hand combat and she was still armed.  His odds were not good.  But if the acting Chief Engineer was still capable of fighting, he might be able to give him an opening to exploit. 

Using the thick, acrid smoke to hide his movements, Trent closed in on T'Rena's right side and his right hand, his good one, closed upon her rifle, just where the barrel started and he heaved her forward even as he brought his prosthetic down in a hammer-fist directed right at her shoulder blade.  There was a nerve cluster there.  Humans had it, and he prayed Vulcans did as well.  And, remembering the effect his synthetic limbs had on Fedd, he hoped he'd cause real damage. 

His hand connected with the mutineer's back and, as he'd hoped, there had been a nerve cluster there and her arm spasmed and released her rifle altogether.  Now holding the weapon, Trent brought his artificial hand to the barrel, joining the one he was born with, and with a savage bellow he swung the rifle about in a long arc that went about his head and sought to bring the butt straight down upon the back of her neck with every ounce of strength he possessed. 

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #12 –
[ USS Harbinger | Corridors | Deck 07 ]
Attn: Harbinger Security/Auctor Lycan


As Ida and Doctor Duv made their way up the access tubes towards saftey and the bridge, Husker forced himself to wait for the phaser fire of the security team to slow down before returning fire himself and as he waited, he checked the power cells on his phasers with the same calm that he would as if he was in the middle of combat in his fighter.

But apart of him was still trying to figure out why he just suddenly kissed the Andorian and recalled the taste of her lips, her smell and everything which was the only bright spot of this whole year to date. "I'm glad that I didn't do that one thing that Paran told me about or she really would've killed me right then." Chris muttered to himself as he heard the phaser start to slow down just a little as he tucked the third phaser into the back of his pants and got the other two ready.

He closed his eyes and mentally counted to three as he recalled his own security training from the academy as the standard tactic was after laying down light to medium supression fire to move up forward elements to try and enter flanking positions..that is if they followed standard protocol mixed with arrogance.

Eh..one way to find out.

Husker brought up both of his phasers and let loose with a snap shot at the oncoming guards.



Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #13 –
[ USS Harbinger | Amelya Duv| Corridors | Deck 07 ] Attn: Ida, Husker

While their escape to the bridge didn't exactly go as planned, Amelya found herself trapped with Ida and Husker in a corridor between force fields. Yet it didn't take long for the security trained woman and the pilot to come up with a plan to escape once again. Once Husker handed over his phaser to Amelya she used to help cut a hole in the wall which would be their new way to break out of their trapped situation. Once that was done Amelya could hear the security guards shout as they closed the distance between them and the escapees. The thud of the wall being brought down by Husker and Ida was a welcoming sound and Amelya looked at the hole before looking back to Ida and Husker. During the entire escape, she didn't feel afraid or hurt like she was in the cell with Ida. No, now she felt the need for survival and a bit of revenge boiling her up from the inside.

She made her way through the hole as the first one and she tried to get her bearings, spotting the tubes that would lead all the way up to deck 1. Yet she stopped and looked back just in time to see Husker push his lips on Ida's. It brought a smile on the face of Amelya and she waited a bit longer to see how Ida would react. She could hear that Ida had not suspected this move at all, yet she'd get back to him about it. Amelya couldn't help but wonder what she was going to say or do about it and halfway their climb she couldn't help but ask her. Yet this wasn't the time for pleasantries, as Ida replied with "The calamity."

Amelya felt a shudder go through her body and realized that that probably was the reason why the skeleton crew had to go to battle stations, yet how much good would it do against a far more superior ship. A ship that could easily rip through them even with a full crew staffing. They had to be quick to make onto the bridge. Amelya only gave a nod to Ida as she stated that the Calamity class ship had probably doomed up "We better get moving." Amelya answered and they hurriedly made their way to the service hatches on deck 1.

[ Uncharted Planetoid | Outside the Class-9 Nebula ] Attn: Nathaniel Isley & Evelyn Rawley

"So run, Lieutenant! Run, you fat fuck!"

That was the key sentence that Razor had heard during his repelling barrage towards their wild pursuers. He had noticed something breaking through the atmosphere yet he didn't really have the time to look up and check it out. Hearing Rawley shout however meant that she was still alive. Thomas fired off his last couple of rounds before swinging the rifle over his shoulder and started to make more speed now as he had a gap to close between him and Maverick. He looked towards Rawley as she seemed nothing more than a ragdoll on Nathaniel's shoulder, yet it was good to know that she was still alive.

That's when Thomas however felt a chill run over his back, one of the creatures had gotten closer to him with the absence of phaser fire to hold them back. Thomas looked behind him for a second and saw the gaping maw and claws heading down onto him. He pushed through and that's when he heard the sound of thrusters being fired up and the roar of the Valkyrie engines. The orange glow of phaser fire broke away the beast that nearly got Thomas and even if it was just a thought, Thomas could feel the warmth of the fire through his suit. "Yeah! Thanks you guys! I owe you one!" he shouted over the intercom over to the two airborne fighters.

Within several seconds Razor managed to get to his bird and hopped in as the ice had covered some of his canopy. He started the fighter up and ran the essential pre flight checks, he didn't have time for the entire list as he heard the Reavers open fire on his saviors. He looked around him to see Rawley get into a bird herself and he saw Maverick do the same. He nodded slowly, happy to know that they both made it. They probably had a minute tops of pre flight ahead of him so he'd be the last bird in the air. He could see the Reavers pounding away on the two airborne Valkyries and Thomas could only hope that they could dodge and evade as long s they could. "Come on, come on, come on..." he grunted impatiently as he tapped away at the screen. It took longer due to the ice and the harsh conditions to complete yet Thomas punched the buttons hard as his thrusters fired up on max power, causing most of the ice to thaw. "Razor ready for combat. Hang in there 03 and 08."
With a loud crackling roar of the engines, Razor blasted off the icy rock and started his pursuit, cannons screaming as he engaged the first Reaver that got into his sight.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #14 –
[ Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert O'Connell | USS Theurgy | Deck 8 | Vector 3 Battle Bridge ]

Yelchin was down, and it didn't look like he was going to get back up again.   O'Connell darted away from the captain's chair and flattened himself against the wall flush with the door to the corridor.  Peri was shaking and looked like she was about to go into shock.  There was something about seeing someone you knew getting shot close up and personal that was different than seeing them getting killed by a piece of exploding conduit or shrapnel during starship combat.  Peri was so scared that she had even dropped her phaser.

Trent only froze for a second, then his voice was as cold as ice.  "T'Rena, this is the last time.  You are done murdering.  You are done leading your mutiny.  Surrender and live, resist and I will end you."  He rose from the captain's chair, phaser in hand.  "State your choice, you fucking bitch."

"Cover me Ma'am, while I get Mister Yelchin out of the way," O'Connell hissed as he pressed his Mark II pistol sized hand phaser into the Trill's trembling hand.  He didn't comment on her dropping her weapon, he just knelt down seized Yelchin by the ankles and concentrated on dragging him out of harm's way without exposing himself to enemy fire.  With the monitors out, there was no way to determine how many of them were out there, but Billy Bob had brought two tricorders that were now resting under the engineering console with his phaser rifle and maybe he could...

There was no time.  Bold as brass, T'Rena walked right into the battle bridge and shot Peri and Urban just as quick as you please.  She didn't seem to have seen O'Connell crouching over Yelchin's body and she thankfully didn't seem to be using her peripheral vision.  There were a number of phasers on the floor, but they all seemed far away at the moment and Billy didn't dare breathe lest he give himself away.

"Did you expect any other answer, Mister Trent?" the Vulcan witch sneered.  She had spoken perfectly calm and professionally, but it was a sneer none the less.  Trent had taken cover behind the conn and O'Connell just crouched up against the wall flush with the door to avoid being seen.  T'Rena adjust the setting on her weapon and sprayed the bridge with wide angle fire at a lethal setting.  The carpet was ablaze and the sparks flew out of consoles.  She was hosing the room down it was only a matter of seconds before she'd notice Billy Bob and make him look like a frankfurter that had been left over the fire too long. 

Smoke filled the room and Billy edged closer to one of the discarded phasers.  That was when Trent came out of nowhere and  hit T'Rena in the shoulder blade.  The Vulcan's foot kicked the phaser that O'Connell was going for across the room but it didn't matter.  This was the engineer's chance to move.  He ran towards the engineering console and picked up his phaser rifle.  He took aim and glanced down the sight but it was no use.  With the two of them bobbing and weaving so close to each other, it was impossible to fire a shot without hitting Trent too.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #15 –
[Lin Kae - Upper Computer Core]
Before they started blasting emitter arrays, they received help from a most unexpected source.  Ravenholm restored his system access and put him in contact with Thea.  They were beginning to take the shop back from Vasser, command privilege already revoked from T'Rena, and the Commodores could have followed rather quickly after.  The problem came with the fact that the Calamity was almost on top of them, and Vasser was the only one who could have gotten them out of there.  It was the kind of decision that Lin Kae did not find himself particularly happy about having to make.  It was the rock and the hard place, but there was one key difference; one decision would be instantly fatal, while the other they could still recover from.  Vasser might have been evil, but at least he wasn't trying to destroy them outright.

"Are you able to take remote access and pilot us away from the Calamity, Thea?"  If they jumped to maximum warp, they might at least be able to keep the Calamity off their backs, even if the faster vessel were to begin a pursuit path.  If Thea could do so remotely, then there was no reason for them to not lock Vasser out.  "If you can, I can use my clearance to give you full integration, assure the only one capable of using the controls is you.  It would not only allow us to escape, but it would give you control of the ship again, allowing you to seal the doors and keep any of Vasser's supporters locked down."  Thea was an intelligence that far outmatched any other ship's computer, and her unity between holographic form and ship was powerful enough to overthrow any tyrant who thought he could waltz in and make her do something that opposed her own beliefs.


[Nathan Isley - Planetoid]

They had cover fire, and it had arrived just in time.  "03, 08, evasive maneuvers and draw fire from aggressors until launch preparations are complete!" isley called out, giving word to the other squadron members capable of fighting back while they readied their own Valkyries.  Rawley was dropped off at her own craft before Nathan scrambled for his own, skipping as many pre-flight checks as possible to try and get them airborne again as soon as possible.  They were sitting ducks on the ground, and their squad was outnumbered in the sky by superior machines.  What they had working for them was good old fashioned wits and experience, and as soon as Nathan was in the sky, he was putting it to use, flying like a wild man.  The enemy was an AI, used to set formations and countering them, so the more unpredictable they were, the harder it was for those ships to read them.

"Alright people, I'm feeling a bit democratic.  Do we head back back to the Theurgy with evasive maneuvers, taking these guys along on a pursuit course, or do we take them down here and now?"  Both plans had their own risks and rewards, but he would not make the decision alone.  he might have found himself in a leadership position, but like a Captain on the bridge proposing a seemingly no-win scenario, he looked to those around him for what they thought.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #16 –
[ T'Rena | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ] Attn: Carrigan Trent & Billy Bob O'Connell

T'Rena's mind had become blank when the human brought down his bionic arm behind her shoulder - thoughts retreating to grant sole focus on repressing the pain. Only instincts remained for a couple of seconds, even though she realised that she had become unbalanced and disarmed by the human spy. There was little time for thinking in battle, and thus, instinct and experience was key to victory and survival. These factors were on her side, given her age and time to hone her combat aptitude.

For the pool of one's knowledge as a fighter was only as wide and deep as what experience and repetition you refilled it with. No motion was ever perfected, only ever repeated. Else the knowledge would dry out. Drained by the other preoccupations of the mind. The Acolytes had said that fighting an opponent was to drown him in that pool of steadily replenished knowledge. A knowledge barely known consciously, since by some pinnacle point of a long life of practice, active thought ceased to be, and became deadly instinct.

After the moments it had taken Carrigan Trent to swing the rifle around and to bring it down against her neck, T'Rena had already straightened up and swayed back - the butt of the assault rifle harmlessly slamming into the burning deck below their feet. It left the human exposed to whatever attack she fancied, and had she not been so completely emotionally compromised and benumbed by the blow she had taken, she might have seized the opportunity to perform the Vulcan nerve pinch on him. As it were, however, she favoured a more satisfying riposte. The grinding, gruelling repetition of seventy years lay behind the first haymaker - as humans liked to call the technique - followed by a second one, which was almost just as quick but much harder since it was dealt with her left and unharmed side.

T'Rena had gone for the head, but even if she missed, she was not inclined to fall back on defensive techniques. She would follow through with a spinning kick towards the abdomen. She had registered movements in her peripheral vision, but could do naught else than to try and keep Trent between her and surviving engineer - who was likely trying to get a clear shot.

OOC: More posts in the making, but as per request in the poll, I will split them up a bit.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #17 –
[ USS Harbinger | Security Detail | Corridor | Deck 07 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton

The security team was caught entirely unawares when the fighter pilot emerged from the hole which the escapees had vanished into. There were four of them, and two went down immediately - dropping to the deck mid-sprint and tumbling forth until they finally lay still.

"Retreat!" called one of them, rather falling back than trying to aim against their former crewmate. The second one, while having crouched down and tried to get his sights on Husker, hesitated when he heard the call for a retreat. That mere moment was enough to let the fighter pilot shoot before him...

The one who had fallen back punched in a security override to enter a door leading to vacated quarters - soon hiding in the doorway while he considered what he might do. After a moment or two, he withdrew a stun grenade and armed it, deciding that it was the best way to get past Ensign Slayton that did not involve a shoot-out in the corridor. "Why are you doing this?" called the man from where he hid. His name was Peter Hildebrandt, whom had occasionally lost some rations to Husker in card-games. "How many in Tactical Conn have not died fighting the last couple of months? They were your friends, were they not? How can you betray them? How can you turn your back on their memories and throw your faith to the lost cause that Captain Ives refuse to abandon?" With his thumbnail, he set the detonation timer. "If you go on the Theurgy's futile mission now, you will die a traitor to your crew! Surrender, and Vasser will ensure victory! All those dead pilots of yours will no longer be known as traitors to Starfleet, but commemorated for the heroes that they truly were!"

Peter did not care if his distraction worked or not, he had no choice but to throw the stun grenade. So he did, and with only a 3-second fuse.

After the detonation, and through the ringing in one's ears, something unexpected was heard. [Red Alert,] said the the ship's computer - the echo travelling through the corridor. The voice was heard all over the ship. [Red alert. All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations.]


[ USS Harbinger | ThanIda zh'Wann | En-Route Main Bridge | Deck 01 ] Attn: Amelya Duv

The Harbinger's CMO had the right of it. They had better get moving. So they climbed, Ida determined to not let doubt cloud her mind. Yet she could not help thinking that with the Calamity quite possibly moving in on their position - which she still believed to be inside the Class-9 Nebula - would Amelya Duv and her own ambition to take over the Bridge get in the way for the bridge personnel on the Harbinger? Would they end up an ill-timed hindrance for survival?

When they finally reached Deck 01 and climbed out of a grate - located next to the stalls in the restroom - Ida still did not know what was the right thing to do. She did not know the situation well enough to make the judgement-call, so the best thing they could do was to find out. She told Dr. Duv as much after opening all of the stalls - one by one - with her rifle ready. She had to make sure they were alone. "If we are already in engagement with the Calamity, we shouldn't barge in with phasers blazing. We need to know more before we g-"

The door opened, and two armed men sprang into the room. "Drop your weapons! Now!" one of them said, and the other fired against Ida when she whipped her rifle around towards them.

Ida would never know whether the shooter was a skilled marksman or if it was a lucky shot... but the security guard managed to hit the rifle in her hands. Given the fact that the rifle was instantly heated and that she just barely managed to throw it away from herself before it detonated proved that they had not set their rifles to stun either. Ida had managed to throw the rifle into the closest stall and retreated before the plasma explosion shredded its walls to pieces. The two security guards quickly advanced through the smoke so that they would not loose sight of the two women.

"Sorry, 'Chief'," said the shooter with a sarcastic drawl to her would-have-been title on their ship, "we were watching all possible access points from the check-point room. This is Liam, and I am Elliot Grant. We were under orders to kill you on sight... but here you are, all unarmed."

"We would never condone to killing unarmed women," said Liam, moving forth to retrieve any weapons surrendered by the doctor, and the way he smiled to Duv suggested that there was some cruel inside joke to them being there that Ida did not understand. "Not when we should be adding numbers to Vasser's future army, and the two of you have wombs to fill... Right, Doctor?"

They were the guards that had assaulted Doctor Duv in her office.


[ Evelyn "Ranger" Rawley | Uncharted Planetoid ] Attn: Thomas "Razor" Ravon & Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley

Rawley had never thought getting into her cockpit would be any problem, but between the unknown injuries to her body after the avalanche, her old wounds, and the bloody blizzard having caked everything in ice and snow, she reckoned she'd never make it. Nor was she ever the one to quit either. This was what she did. Her only agreeable skill was to fight, and to never give up doing so. She never yielded an inch, and now was the time to prove to herself that she had not lost anything in the loss of Oracle and her old Valkyrie. Regardless of who commanded their base ship, they were still fighters - every single one of the motley pack of wolves.

She was a good number of seconds behind Maverick and Razor when she finally got into her seat and closed the canopy. Hurriedly, swearing without her comm on, she brushed off the snow that had managed to get inside whilst she climbed in. Her controls were beaded in snowmelt but she could not afford the luxury of wiping them off. She was behind as it were. She made a judgement call. Save their fellow wolves or ensure the safety of her own take-off? The split second decision was to forego all pre-flight checks and power up the thrusters and atmospheric adaptation systems - melting the ice and snow off Morrigan's Valkyrie even as the  attack fighter reared and left the mountainside. Warning signals blared, and she could very well have plummeted into the valley, but it was a barely calculated risk she had to take in order to catch up with Maverick and Razor.

Thrusters gave way to impulse engines, and she was on the chase - glaring though her bloodied visor. Through the canopy, however, she could not see shit. It was all rapid snow-storm interchanged with glimpses of orange sky and dark mountains. She had to fly using the sensors and targeting system alone, and only when she got close enough to see the tail-fire of the enemies could she have any use of a targeting reticule. The high-speed chase through the skies of the uncharted planetoid outside the nebula had not lasted long before Maverick asked what might be the best tactic considering that the Calamity had arrived.

"Wolf-Zero-Six to Wolf Leader," she replied on the squadron-wide channel and could not help the fit of coughing that ripped through her - almost making her collide with a sharply jutting mountain, "I have no fucking idea, but last I saw the Calamity, she was already leaving this fucking hell-hole. She just dropped these toasters to deal with us before moving on. I... I say we follow, else we'll never be able to catch up with our base ship if Vasser go off at maximum Warp and try to deploy those fancy mines. Problem is... these Reavers are likely quicker than us."

Wolf-03 and 08 were still showing up on sensors, but none of the Lone Wolves had managed to destroy any Reavers yet. Swearing, Rawley took deep breaths to keep her vision from blurring. The adrenaline that had kept her going was likely thinning out in her veins. She did not want to look at her own vital signs on one of the HUDs. "We need to loose them in the nebula..." she said when the idea came to her, and then repeated it after opening the comm channel again. "Hell, we need to loose them at some point, and better now than later. I say we flip them off in the nebula and then go after the base ship as soon as we find the Warp trail."

She had no idea what they should be doing once they arrived at the potential scenario of a battle between three starships, but she supposed that there was some foul merit in assisting Vasser to fight the Calamity.

OOC: Waiting on Searcher to post with Skye Carver in the Deck 05 corridor scene before posting with Thea in reply to Lin Kae.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #18 –
[ Skye Carver - Deck Five - Near Upper Computer Core ]

Skye was doing her best to keep her mouth shut as more and more of the mutiny was being broadcast but there was a feral smile as Trent continued his verbal sparring.  She was aware of everything being said but her main focus was still on the area around them and her task of protecting Lin Kae.  Things seemed to be going fairly well until they ran into the gold collared version of Thea and she shook her head, sensing that this wasn't 'their' Thea.

Sure enough they wanted Lin Kae but threatened to neutralize herself and Rihen, something that only made the wolf in her raise its hackles.  She took a breath, ready to tell this version that she was Lin Kae's body guard, that she was the one making sure he was kept alive when her friend turned and spoke.  Her eyes followed his for just a moment and she nodded understanding.  "Yes, we do," she stated and was about to shift so she could blow out the emitter when Ravenholm fell out into the hallway.

It was the perfect time to take out the emitter and yet it seemed Ravenholm was alerting the real Thea and a different hologram appeared.  All things considered, she didn't shoot and looked to Lin Kae for his decisions though pointed to the room as if suggesting they get out of sight and get to work.  The fact that Calamity was nearby didn't help matters and her first thought was of her fellow Wolves out there.  If they went to warp, they would be left behind, something she had a hard time stomaching.  "Damn your daughter to the lowest of hells," she growled.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #19 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

Starfleet Intelligence trained its people well.  Anyone who joined that part of Starfleet, whether they be headed for deep cover assignments or destined to be analysts, received advanced close-combat training.  And against the likes of T'Rena, Trent knew even before he had engaged her he would need every single dirty trick he had learned during that phase of his training.  She was Vulcan.  That made her faster, stronger and tougher than he'd ever be.  However, it did not mean he was fighting desperately.  He was first and foremost a tactical officer and that meant he had analyzed both his opponent and himself and he'd accepted the risk.

He was well-enough trained, but he knew T'Rena had a solid advantage in speed, strength, toughness, stamina and experience; between Starfleet training, her stint as an instructor and her time back home, she was truly a force to be reckoned with.  But her logic was compromised, that much he was sure of and while that struggle would affect her it could also effectively make her completely berserk.   On the other hand, he was fully focused on what he was doing, not needing to split his attention between fighting and maintaining his control; to him, one was the same as the other.  And he had a solid advantage himself.  His synthetic limbs.  They did not confer him any strength that he did not already possess but they were immune to pain and the alloy of their construction was unyielding and, as he'd discovered in his fight with Sjaandin, that even his strength was enough to cause a Human terminal damage when it drove them into the right targets.  Perhaps his openings to the most vulnerable spots would be limited, especially given his lack of familiarity with Vulcan physiology, but he could still try to damage something critical or load-bearing. 

When she came at him, Trent barely had the time to release the rifle and bring his arms up.  The first haymaker struck with bone-jarring weight near his right elbow when he'd thrown up a desperate defence, but the second such blow he intercepted with a kinetic block of his own, aiming his metallic forearm in a sharp blow against T'Rena's flesh-and-blood one.  Against a Human, he knew such a blow would break bones but a Vulcan?  It was very much open for debate. 

But her kick gave him a rare opening.  He was no expert in hand-to-hand combat, but he had an innate understanding of movement and velocities.  And he had seen his target.  Her hip.  To be more accurate, the point of her hip and where her femur was socketed.  And that is what he aimed for when he stepped in and, in complete opposition to her own movement, he aimed a vicious knee strike there with his prosthetic leg.  That was the blow that he spelled Fedd's death.  And while the psychotic mutineer was strong and tough, he was certain that if it connected, bones would definitely break.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #20 –
[ USS Harbinger | Security Detail | Corridor | Deck 07 ] Attn: Harbinger Security, ThanIda zh'Wann  & Amelya Duv


When he heard the call for retreat, Chris quickly ducked back into the hole and holstered his right phaser as he worked quickly on the one in his left hand, quickly sliding back a panel that showed the weapon's power charge and settings control, and he then set the power cell on an overload which effectively turned the weapon into an improteu explosive before he quickly tossed it out of the hole as he heard Hildebrandt start to talk.

"Frakker never knew when to shut up." Husker muttered as he quickly got his ass in gear and started making his way towards one of the access ladders that would lead him up to deck one and started climbing up one of the access ladders at a quick pace because he wasn't there to do a holding action but to simply keep them occupied long enough for Ida and the doctor to get a good ways up to the bridge if not there and already causing enough trouble to capture it.

As he started his climb, Husker's mind went back to what happened on the Auriga and his eyes narrowed just a little bit as he recalled having to run all over the place on a ship that had been his home for so many months, watching as Paran fought to keep them going while imparting various lessons that Husker was using this very day about survival during a hostile boarding action..

..but this time it was different because it wasn't some ore transport, it was an Akira-class Heavy Cruiser and Carrier and the invaders was his own fellow shipmates with ill intent.

Husker shook his head and then quickly went back to the climb, smiling darkly as he hoped that Hildebrandt enjoyed his parting "gift" as he climbed up the access ladder as fast as he could, occasionally looking down to ensure that he wasn't being followed at that moment as he headed for Deck One and the main bridge.

==================================
OOC: kept it open but went ahead and did the attention just in case.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #21 –
[ Rihen Neyah | Near Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Lin Kae, Skye Carver & Selena Ravenholm

Trying to confer with the EMH and assist him in a quiet voice, Rihen Neyah could not help but overhear Thea's answer to Lin Kae's questions, and it was not a heartening conversation. Rihen's former lover had asked - among other things - if Thea could make them go to Warp.

[Only if I was physically on the bridge and by the helm, Kae, and my projection lack the software to fly myself that way with the kind of precision that Winterbourne did... before he died." Hearing this, Rihen remembered reading something in the Theurgy's technical manual when she took up duties in Engineering. Thea was hard-wired to not be able to assume direct control of propulsion or tactical systems. Thea continued. "As unshackled as you have made me, I am still limited by my original installation into the ship systems. As a ship, I was still built to be manned by a crew.]

The Calamity wasn't, Rihen realised, and since Cala's programming had been compromised, perhaps the Theurgy's set-up was the wiser option. Sometimes, the people building things did not take all consequences into account... A sentiment that Skye Carver seemed to share, given her comment towards that end.

[I... do not wish to damn her anywhere,] said Thea, her social sub-routines not quite definite on the subject of her daughter, [I wish to restore her, but I cannot accomplish this while she tries to destroy me, so the gravametric mines is the best option to cause enough damage for me to have a chance at accessing her systems and re-installing the software that I believe the enemy has removed. Wait... Stand by.]

Rihen rose to her feet beside Selena Ravenholm and the EMH, concerned about what she heard. "What does she mean? Weren't Captain Ives' orders that we destroy her? Tia Marlowe said during the briefing she held after your meeting that..."

[I will not be heading to the Bridge, but I am currently coordinating a strike team to convey on the Main Bridge and seize it from Commodore Vasser,] said Thea after her brief pause, [but since we are out of options, I will limit his access to propulsion and tactical systems alone. He will not be able to stop the strike team from entering the Bridge. According to my logs, it would appear that the Harbinger's Chief Conn Officer has defected to our side and helped Lieutenant Commander Stark and Lieutenant Tovarek escape captivity. She is the best candidate to hit Cala with the mines, so I will ensure that she is on the strike team too.]

Her concern growing, Rihen bit her lower lip. It was not like Thea to ignore someone, and Rihen thought it meant that Thea was about to do something that the Theurgy's true Captain hadn't liked her to do. After her failure during Lohlunat to make the two crews become one, she would hate if the A.I. of the ship rebelled against its rightful Captain. The consequences... "Thea, you helped me when I came aboard. What will you do? Is there any way we can help?"

[I am going to my daughter, and I am sorry, but there is nothing you can do to stop me.]

The shocked silence lasted for a couple of seconds. "What? Thea, what are you saying? You are scaring me..." Rihen's concern was plain on her face. "They will not stop attacking Cala, and then you will be..."

[Lieutenant Lin Kae, on the grounds of the Commodore's crimes, his failure to follow Starfleet protocols, and endangering the crew of this ship, give me your authorisation code to hereby revoke Commodore Decaln Vasser's system access, with the exception of propulsion and tactical systems.]

OOC: Another post coming soon, with T'Rena...

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #22 –
[ T'Rena | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ] Attn: Carrigan Trent & Billy Bob O'Connell

Her forearm hurt from being caught mid-way by the spy's prosthetic arm, but a good fighter knew to halt the forward momentum as soon as possible - to not waste energy on completing the arcs of futile attacks. The pain was manageable, any severe bruising irrelevant, and her instincts had already led into her spinning kick.

Despite the fickle light of the flames around them, experience allowed her to read the lower attack, and she acted on the threat by folding her extended leg with the turn to block with her lower leg. Still she was hit, the force driving into the joint of her thigh and her hip, but while the damage and the pain was severe, she remained on her feet - balance nigh unbroken - and her turning motion led Trent's momentum away from her.

They were in close combat then, not much air between them, and her hard fingers seized the back of his uniform jacket. She continued her turn - having already built up momentum. It was just a matter of bringing the dead weight of the human with her. So she did, her face twisting into a vicious snarl as she drove the spy head-first into the tactical station on the burning bridge. The chair was knocked sideways and clattered straight towards Chief O'Connell, but the computer console was only loosened from the deck with sparks snapping and chirping warnings overriding the roar of the flames.

Still, she did not let go of the spy's jacket, and despite the protestations of her body - hip in particular - she used the same grip to try and hurl him straight into the wall behind tactical. Problem was that the seams did not hold, and as the clothing tore, the spy was sent rolling elsewhere across the burning carpet.

Her brown eyes snapped towards Chief O'Connell - realising that the chair might have delayed him in trying to shoot her. Regardless, it was time for him to die, so with her face twisted into a mask of fury, she scooped up a hand-phaser from the floor and started shooting towards the man - limping steps set towards him with each rapid beam cutting through the smoke.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #23 –
[ Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert "Billy Bob" O'Connell | USS Theurgy | Deck 8 | Vector 3 Battle Bridge ]  Attention:  Carrigan Trent and T'Rena

It was ridiculous; the bionic officer was fighting for his life and even with a phaser rifle pointed at the two of them O'Connell didn't dare fire at T'Rena. If he miscalculated he could hit Commander Trent and...

Suddenly Billy Bob realized that he was so stupid that he couldn't tell skunks from housecats.  He had his phaser set on stun!  All he needed to do was set it for wide angle stun and he could get both combatants with one shot.  A medkit that had been stashed in the battle bridge's ready room would provide a stimulant to wake up Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent and then they could decide if T'Rena was ever going to wake up.  He adjusted the settings on the rifle and...

Then it hit him:  No, Billy Bob O'Connell didn't get a great idea; he was hit by the chair that had formerly been placed at tactical.  How T'Rena was able to kick it loose from the floor was a testament to the strength and skill of a Kohlinar mistress and a condemnation against the carelessness of Petty Officer Dylan Cobb, who O'Connell had assigned to make sure the furniture on the bridge didn't come loose during combat. 

The chair slid across the deck as fast a vehicle and knocked the master chief right off his feet.  Thankfully the battle bridge's internal dampeners hadn't been damaged or scavenged for parts.  That meant O'Connell didn't break anything when he spun in the air and landed on the deck but he did see the phaser rifle fly out of his hands, bounce against the bulkhead, and slide out of reach.   O'Connell leapt to his feet and swatted out the flames that had ignited on his leg:  It seemed that the spread of phaser fire that T'Rena had filled the battle bridge with had set the carpet on fire. 

A glance in T'rena's direction revealed that the Vulcan had tossed Trent over the tactical station and was now fixing her chilling gaze on O'Connell.  Billy Bob instinctively reached for the pistol sized phaser that was attached to his hip only to discover that it wasn't there.  Of course it wasn't.  He had handed it to Peri right before she was shot. 

Instinctively his eyes scanned the floor to find a weapon he could use.  There was one, only a meter or so away.  A pistol sized hand phaser that was in a patch of burning carpet.  Who's phaser was it?  Was it Yelchin's?  Or Trent's?  It could have been the one that he gave Peri.  Who knew?  And right now, who cared? 

As if compelled by the power of suggestion, T'Rena glanced at her feet and noticed the phaser pistol that had formerly belonged to the late Kenneth Urban.  Billy's eyes goggled and his breath caught in his throat as she spared him a glance that could kill Satan himself before darting to the floor to fetch it. 

That broke the spell.  It didn't matter if the phaser was sitting in a patch of flames.  It would take fire hotter than that to damage it and it would be worth a first degree burn to shoot that witch and save their skins.  Master Chief O'Connell dove towards his phaser only to be stymied by a small hemispherical force field that appeared around his goal.

"Warning," Thea's disembodied voice announced in a professional tone completely devoid of life, "Fire detected on Battle Bridge on Deck Eight.  Firefighting countermeasures initiated."

"What?" gasped a disbelieving Billy Bob.  "No!  No-no-no-no!"  he yelped as he ineffectually slammed his fist into the force field.  "Thea!  Cancel--"   The shot of a phaser beam searing through the smoke cut him off.  It hit mere centimeters away from O'Connell's right hand and the master chief rolled on the floor to get out of the way.  His progress was impeded by other glowing hemispheres that were enveloping other patches of smoldering carpet and he was forced to crawl under the ops station to get out of the line of T'Rena's fire.  He whispered a few curses in Mandarin as his smoke stung eyes searched for a way out of this mess.

 

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #24 –
[ USS Harbinger | Amelya Duv | Main Bridge | Deck 01 ] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann

While listening to ThanIda Amelya nodded slowly in acknowledgment. This indeed wasn't the most suited time to rush the bridge and cause more mayhem if the crew was focusing on repelling the Calamity. The speech in Ida however got interrupted when the door of the restrooms opened up. The faces of the two security guards made Duv freeze up as Elliot fired his weapon and hit the rifle in Ida her hands. Her eyes turned wide and her pupils focused on the people before her. A sick feeling came over her and the effects of vomiting weren't far behind as she gagged a bit before her mind when into shock.

How could this happen, out of all the people there were, it had to be them. Yet the nauseating feeling she got was quickly set aside as anger, hate and disgust formed a new front against her fear and against the two men before them. She swallowed hard when she got stripped of her phaser and she felt the inoculator burn in the pocket of her labcoat. She had still worn the coat over her uniform as it seemed to still carry some interesting gadgets.

"Not when we should be adding numbers to Vasser's future army, and the two of you have wombs to fill... Right, Doctor?" The comment of Elliot was the droplet for Amelya and she grinded her teeth together before she launched herself off. With a scream of rage she took out the inoculator from her pocket and jammed it against the neck of Elliot. She had no clue what the dosage was, yet she knew it was certainly high enough to get Elliot out of combat immediately. In fact, she gave the officer more than one dose as she clicked the injector more than once. She looked up now at Liam as she had forgotten that they were with the two of them and he seemed to be readying himself to plant the butt of his rifle against her face.

[ Uncharted Planetoid | Outside the Class-9 Nebula ] Attn: Nathaniel Isley & Evelyn Rawley

The orange glows of phaser cannons were lighting up around Thomas when he heard Maverick's democratic question. A grin formed on his lips and he tapped the comms "I think we might have a better chance if we lead these guys on a goose chase back to the starships. Flak will certainly make it harder for them to stay on our tail if they're active that is... And well, strength with bigger guns I'd say when we show up. Though, for all we know we might get shot down by our own weapons if the takeover is completed. Renard made you squadron leader for a reason Mav, I'll follow your lead whether it is down here or back into the nebula. The choice is yours." He cut out with a barrel roll now as a Reaver nearly came head on into him and the fire he dealt out probably hit the Reaver enough to scratch the paintjob if not do some minimal damage to flight controls.

"Scratch that, fighting in here is too risky if we need to believe in the instruments alone, I rather see them out in space instead of blips on my screen." Razor replied and pulled up to get some altitude as a ragged mountain slope became visible in front of him. "Fucking hell, I hate this rock!" He cursed out loud and noticed Morrigan's fighter above him. He went onto her tail and bugged the Reaver chasing her before he doubted to communicate with her. She most probably noticed the action and he just broke off into the clouds again.
 
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