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Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #25 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

The Intelligence Officer knew well the risks of challenging a Vulcan in hand to hand combat.  He'd heard several times of the infamous challenge between Solok and Ben Sisko and more than one of the Vulcan's papers had crossed his desk, all referencing the bout the human so disastrously lost.  And now, the undertones of that wrestling match went through Trent's mind as he raised his arms to avoid being brained on the Tactical console.

However, it was no to say he wasn't dazed and he was rather unsure of how he'd come to rest in a crumpled mass at the foot of the bulkhead, and missing his jacket of all things.  As he gathered himself up, Trent saw a panel that had been opened by his impact and a handheld fire extinguisher sat there.  However, it was not to suppress the fire within the Battle Bridge that the Lieutenant Commander removed it from its brackets.

T'Rena had his back to him as she closed on O'Connell.  And he took full advantage of that when he raised his improvised weapon and brought it down hard, aiming at the base of her skull.  Yes, compromise her brain stem and she'll die just as a human would with a similar injury.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #26 –
[ USS Harbinger | Restroom | Deck 01 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

Ida was, perhaps, as surprised as the two security guards at the suddenness and the... vehemence of Doctor Duv's actions. Before Liam had the time to react, the Trill had pumped the Pinkskin full of sedatives - likely enough to put him out of commission forever.

When Liam finally caught up with what was going on, it was much too late, but he still moved to strike down the doctor. At this, point, Ida had already caught on to the chance Duv had provided, and she intercepted the man before the rifle came anywhere near the Harbinger's CMO. With the momentum of two steps and the turn of her body, she drove an elbow straight into Liam's ribs. Andorians might have an endoskeleton structure with compartmentalised inner organs to protect them from blunt force, but humans only had their brittle bone structure in their poorly protected torso, and since Liam had no more protection than his uniform, Ida took advantage of the opening to its fullest extent.

The Pinkskin's movement towards the Trill was halted in its tracks, and Ida followed up with reversing her pivoting motion - turning away from Liam after attack. But not before she seized his closest arm and wrenched him across her hip in a throw - sending him straight into the edge of one of the stalls. He caught it with his face, and fell to the floor at the same time as Elliot fell into one of the bulkheads - slowly sliding down as consciousness left him forever. Ensuring that Liam wasn't going to rise again, Ida picked up the rifle from his hands and stunned him where he lay on the floor.

"Quick moves, Doctor," said Ida in passing as she handed her hand phaser back from Elliot's limp fingers. They could not afford to break pace, so Ida did not linger with reassurances that Duv hadn't had a choice, that she had acted in defence of their lives and the importance of the mission and so on. There was no bloody time, so she lay her hand against the side of Duv's neck and sought her gaze. "We must move on. Come, let's see what we are up against."

With her reacquired rifle ready and eyes along the sights, Ida moved to the door and checked the corridor. It lay empty, only the Red Alert lights blinking along the edges to the ceiling. "Captain's Ready Room," she said in a low voice to Amelya, and moved the short distance to the doors. They were locked, but that was not going to stop her. She tore the control panel next to the door open with one hand and began to tug out the isolinear chips - one by one falling to the floor. "Keep an eye out."

It only took her a few seconds before she could force the door open. Inside Captain Vasser's old quarters, nothing moved, so she motioned for Duv to follow her as she stepped in. "Let's see what is happening on the Bridge," she said, quickly moving to the computer console on the desk with her rifle raised next to her shoulder. She pushed a button to make the screen fold up, and then she tried her security override. "Seems they have realised their mistake. Trujillo has rescinded my system access and removed my security clearance. I have no access to the surveillance syste-"

Ida's eyes had fallen on the view screen in the Ready Room. They were moving at Warp velocity - the stars shooting by the window. It meant they were on the run from the Calamity, and so was - perhaps - the Theurgy. With any luck, the tactic to use the mines at mid-warp would work, but that was only if the Calamity began chasing the Theurgy instead of the Harbinger...

"If we are at warp, we are - at least - not engaged with the Calamity... and we could make our move. It's a gamble, but I am thinking that we hold to our course, and move in. We would be going in blind, but it might be the only chance we have. I will take point, opening fire against everyone onside, and you have to help me. Are you ready, Doctor? There is no merit in hesitating at this point."

OOC: DocReno, check your PMs, I have a suggestion for what DocReno could do on the way.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #27 –
[ T'Rena | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ] Attn: Carrigan Trent & Billy Bob O'Connell

As determined as T'Rena was to end the life of the puny human hiding behind the ops station, the dying flicker of flames cast the shadow of her first opponent when he came at her from behind. Adjusting the grip of her weapon, she rounded on Carrigan Trent with the ambition strike him across the face with the handle of the phaser, but it would seem the spy had acquired a weapon of his own, and her powerful blow caught the hard cylinder of a fire extinguisher instead.

While the makeshift weapon was struck wide off its mark, the phaser in T'Rena's hand fell to the floor from senseless fingers. The acute agony that her nervous system announced through her whole arm probably meant that she had sustained a transverse fracture to her ulna - or elbow bone. Likely a consequence to the trauma it had sustained when the spy blocked one of her attacks at the onset of their fight. Her face was already a mask of horrifying determination, and the agony only twisted it into something more inhuman. Not just from her arm, but from the joint of her leg too - which had been twisted when she rounded on the human.

That did not delay her, however, since pain held no room in the clear intent of murder that her Vulcan mind was bent upon. Hundreds of times before that day, she had followed her turn through with the left-hand strike she now dealt against Trent's head - a open-hand strike with the palm aimed to the face. If he managed to change his momentum backwards before she connected, he might make out out unharmed. Discombobulated or imbalanced, yes, but with the bone structure of his face still intact.

Therefore, she had wanted to finish him for certain with a kick, but she could no longer trust her hip, so the initiative to end him faltered. Instead, she tried to grab him with the same hand she just had struck him with and yank him off his feet - meaning to throw him off the podium where they were and down to the floor where the ops and conn stations were. Not to the floor, of course, but straight into the ops station. Then she limbed down from the upper level of the Battle Bridge to pursue the two humans left to die - them being in the same general area at that point at the front of the bridge.

T'Rena did not care if they chose to try and work together to oppose her. They would die either way - one by one or together.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #28 –
[ USS Harbinger | Captain's Quarters | Deck 01 ] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann & Amelya Duv


Even though he knew that he needed to hurry and catch up with Ida and Doctor Duv, Chris had made a quick stop to the Quartermaster's office on Deck Two to "acquire" some equipment because his gut was telling him that the items that was now slung across his back and shoulders in an equipment bag would come in very handy.

As he resumed his climb, he could feel the contents of the equipment shifting around across his upper back and shoulders even though it was placed evenly there that once more his mind tried to shift to his past and the Auriga but he couldn't help it because of the sheer number of similarities to that one event in his life that changed alot for him. He could almost hear Paran's quiet snapping that if they were going to survive then he would have to do more.

CJ allowed himself a moment to touch the item that hung around his throat which only served to renew his choice as he resumed his climb upto the main deck but instead of heading to the restroom and while it might be funny to drop down, cut a witty retort and then take out a guard in that holo that his brother Daniel loved so much-Husker made a tactical decision to move down to the access panel behind the desk in T'Rena's ready room and he slowly moved through that area, occasionally stopping long enough to listen for any sounds or signs of pursuit from anywhere like he was trained in his intrusion and counter-intrusion courses at the academy before finally activating the panel and moving it to the side and slowly started to exit the access way, a phaser at the ready.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #29 –
[ Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert "Billy Bob" O'Connell | USS Theurgy | Deck 8 | Vector 3 Battle Bridge ]  Attention:  Carrigan Trent and T'Rena

Whoever had coined the term 'tranquil fury' had probably had T'Rena in mind.  The universal translator in the combages (not that he was wearing a combadge right now) didn't translate names, but on a world with a capitalistic economy O'Connell would bet money that's what her name meant.  Either that or 'icy treacherous insane mind raping scary homicidal witch,' but it seemed a mite unlikely that her parents would name her such. 

The Vulcan attacked with no fear, no mercy, and no hesitation.  She was mean enough to hunt bears with a hickory switch and crazy enough to eat the devil with horns on.  She wasn't going to stop shooting through the smoke at the oversized human stupid enough to think that he could hide under the ops station without getting his butt shot off neither.   And then suddenly she stopped shooting at him as her phaser made a clattering sound as it bounced off the back wall.   

William Robert 'Billy Bob' O'Connell looked up from where he was crouched under the ops station to see that Carrigan Trent  had disarmed T'Rena.  This was the moment the master chief was waiting for.  Billy Bob sprang to his feet and...

...darn near knocked himself cold when his head hit the bottom of the ops console he was hiding under.  It looked like the battle bridge's main viewscreen must have been working because at that moment Billy saw stars.  Belay that.  He must have seen the whole dang galaxy.  

Painfully, he crawled backwards out from under the ops console.  His blurry vision cleared just in time to see someone get clobbered.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #30 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

While Trent had been hoping for success and ending the fight right then and there by shattering the Vulcan's upper cervical vertebrae, he was not surprised when she whirled about to strike him.  After all, he'd fairly thundered behind her and while he didn't bellow, he didn't make much effort to conceal his approach.  However, she did not surprise him.  In fact, what got his attention was how much give there had been when the fire extinguisher connected with her phaser.  Had he actually injured her?  Yes, the way she withdrew her arm, the way her face contorted even more, he had to have caused real damage.  And when she lashed out, he'd been ready for it.

Dropping the fire extinguisher, he threw his right elbow up, deflecting her blow upwards and well clear of him.  However, just as he prepared to step forward and counter-attack by ramming his synthetic fist into her face, he felt an iron grip about his right upper arm and he knew what was coming.  She'd bodily thrown him once already, and seeing how she had not used her right hand or her feet to strike at him, her intentions were obvious.  So, as she yanked at his arm with all of her inhuman strength, he leapt into her throw, adding further energy to it.  Yes, he felt where she was intending to send him and the added kinetic energy sent him not into the ops console but over it, using his prosthetic to safely see himself clear of the obstruction and landing in a controlled roll instead of a repeat of his previous landing.

Getting back onto his feet, Trent raised his arms into a guard as he adopted a simple bent-knee stance and he began circling to give O'Connel a chance to crawl out from under the Ops station.  And he took a moment to consider T'Rena's injuries.  Her right leg was compromised, as was her right arm.  And she he had the distinct impression her control was swiftly eluding her while his mind was razor-sharp.  Oh, he was battered and parts of his body were protesting the abuse, but he had enough.  It was time to end this. 

Circling towards T'Rena's right, and he lunged forward.  His left fist, the one made of metal and polymer, came straight towards her head but such was a faint, one that concealed his real strike.  For instead, Carrigan launched his legs forward and scissored them low.  His right one slammed backwards, the heel at the level of the Vulcan's ankles and the left, the prosthetic one, kicking hard at the back of her legs.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #31 –
[ USS Harbinger | Restroom | Deck 01 ] Attn: Husker & Ida

Getting over the initial shock of actually killing a man, Amelya looked up at Ida as she disposed quickly of the last assailant. The doctor assumed that she'd be feeling guilt and remorse for what she had done. Yet nothing came, in fact the feeling of being freed overwhelmed her and it seemed like she enjoyed the feeling to the fullest as she started to smile. She looked up at Ida now and got up while recovering her inoculator and looking down at the two guards. She couldn't care less what happened to them.

Amelya now followed Ida, phaser in hand as they moved further towards the Ready Room. She kept an eye out as Ida tore through the panel and opened the door for them. Once inside, she had noticed the stars as well as they warped by and she wondered if the entire takeover was completed or not by this time. If so, they would be fighting against very unfavorable odds. Still having heard what Ida had said she walked over to the console and used her own system access. As CMO she figured her clearances would he high enough to get what Ida wanted to do. Yet Ida seemed ready enough to risk it. Amelya looked up and smiled "If it's anything that I've remembered from Starfleet lessons on tactical levels, it's that you can never run into a fight without proper info. I've logged it, but I'm not sure if you can do what you wanted to do."

Amelya thought the alternative over, did they really have any other chance? "If not I will follow you Ida. You have the experience and skills to pull this off. I'll do my best to assist you." She answered her within a few seconds and took position by the door leading to the bridge.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #32 –
[ T'Rena | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ] Attn: Carrigan Trent & Billy Bob O'Connell

Unflinching, T'Rena's diabolic grimace was like a permanent death grin. Head tilted forth, she blocked the strike towards her face without batting an eye. Too late she felt it to be feigned when her good hand diverted it, and had she not taken such a hard blow to her hip a short while ago, she might have gotten out of the trap that the human had set for her.

As it were, something failed inside her body when she tried to take a leap back. The agony of the misplaced weight, the almost audible noise that her fractured hip made, it stalled her from moving in any direction. It almost made her loose consciousness, and she had no means to stop the spy from folding her legs by using his own. The support of her own body had failed her, and she was sent crashing straight into the ops console with her head first.

The head trauma added with her fractured hip benumbed her mind. Instincts alone kept her from lying still. Her nervous system was screaming at her to stop, yet pain was something she had earned control of a long time ago. Pain was nothing. Nor fear. There was just no recource than to keep fighting, because if she lost, she would have been proven wrong. Commodore Vasser had been the perfect solution, but T'Rena would have failed to give him what he needed. Breeding stock for an army, genetically engineered to resist the parasitic threat. If she gave up, she would just have given him failure.

She would not fail the father of her unborn children. There was no alternative. No other resort. Therefore she kept moving after she ended up on the floor, reached out to grab Trent's belt buckle and drag herself up his legs. He was on his back, probably struggling to get away from her, and yet she kept moving - her other arm held at an awkward angle against her own chest. Unstoppable and quick as a snake, she seized his collar with her next hand-hold - dragged herself up his abdomen. He might have punched her all he wanted, because his strikes were irrelevant to the absolute truth of her conviction. She kept her ruined face away from his flailing limbs, her weight on top of him, and her agony away from her mind.

"You... are... nothing compared to him," she said to the human as she locked her hard fingers around his throat. With her hold secure, she pushed herself up - supported her entire weight upon the grip. Straddling his hips, she held him in place against the deck plates. With eyes wide, she choked him - teeth baring to the dying flames of the bridge. "Perfection manifest... His children will wipe the Galaxy clean once more... "

Images flashed before her eyes. The outpost in flames. Green blood upon white cliffs. Children taught not to scream. Dying in silence.

"The children... will save us all..." Even as her grip tightened, her voice broke by the memory.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #33 –
[ USS Harbinger | Captain's Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

Seeing that Ameya Duv's system access - medical officer as she might be - had not been revoked, Ida's antennae rose in elated surprise. She'd thought that Trujillo or whomever of his crew had thought to revoke their system access altogether, but it seems they had a lot to learn about proper security protocol when dealing with captive Starfleet officer aboard the ship. As pleased as she was that she could access the systems, she could have kissed the Trill right then and there. Alas, there was no time, and she had already been kissing that Pinkskin named Slayton a short while ago. It just didn't seem right, faultless as she may have been. Then again, there had certainly not been any fault in Husker's ki- No time to think on that. Focus, Ida!

"Your clearance is not enough for the security surveillance systems and the cameras on the bridge, but I can use the internal sensors to see that there are five people in there - which ought to represent the bridge crew." Closing the computer console, Ida joined Doctor Duv by the door to the bridge, keeping her voice down to not let the Harbinger personnel beyond the door hear her. "They will likely be by their stations. If they are engaged with the Calamity, then we shouldn't shoot them but keep our phasers trained on them. Let me do the talking, but be ready to open fire at my word."

Ida paused, blue eyes locked with the Harbinger's defecting CMO. "If we make it through this. I will make it my personal mission to make sure there is no doubt as to where your new loyalties lie. My name has been synonymous with weakness, treason or worse among my own crew for a long time, and as ill fortune as I might have had, and as much shame as I have endured, I do not want you to end up the same as me. If they ever doubt your fortitude, then you can send them my way. Now, are you ready? One, two..."

On 'three', Ida stepped into the sensor field of the door and emerged unto the Harbinger Bridge with her rifle raised - eyes casting about to identify her targets. "No one moves!" she called to the assembled faces before her, "I hereby assume command of this vessel and if anyone has anything to say about that, give voice to thoughts! Yet if you move to action, I swear I will shoot you down right where you are!"

"Stand down, Lieutenant zh'Wann," said Trujillo from the Captain's chair, not even looking at the Andorian or the Trill that had emerged on the bridge. "We are trying to determine if the Calamity has given chase to us or the Theurgy." His fingers moved over his armrest as he spoke, and Ida caught the subtle movements of his fingers too late.

"Keep your hand-" she began to say, but it was too late. With a whirring sound, the two force-fields activated - twain cylinders encasing Ida and Duv. No more than one meter in diameters each, and with no exits.

Trujillo turned his face to smirk at them, and Ida wanted nothing more than to claw the expression off the Pinkskin's face.

"Of course the Calamity would not come after us first," he said, and Ida answered by striking the forcefield with the butt of the rifle with a furious Andorian curse. "Let's keep the women for entertainment purposes when the Theurgy has disabled the Calamity with the mines. It shouldn't be too long now." Trujillo stood up and folded his hands behind his back, looking back to the viewscreen.

"For indeed... Celebrations are well due when the Commodore seizes his flag ship, and we can begin our voyage away from Federation space."

OOC: Up to you now, DocReno to be the hero of the day!

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #34 –
 [ Skye Carver| Near Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Lin Kae, Selena Ravenholm, Rihen, & Thea

Skye growled at her own big mouth and all the hell they were all going through but when Thea said she was going to her daughter, a chill went through her.  "Thea I'm sorry I said that, it's just my frustration with this whole fucking situation," she said before Lin Kae could give the authorization.  "And you can't go because we need you here.  You are part of this crew and ..."

Her voice had cracked, proving she was feeling emotional attachment.  "Lin Kae and I worked hard to help you become more than you were and, well, I know I'm not your mother but I feel a little like that because there's some of me in you.  Even before, as one of the Wolves, it was my duty to protect you and now that feeling is stronger.  I care about you and so does Lin Kae and I'm sure there are others."

She was trying to hit on an emotional level, likely something that wouldn't work but she had to try.  "If you go there, we could lose you.  We've lost too many already so please don't go.  Let us end this mutiny and focus on Cala.  Maybe we can be lucky enough to disable her and then Lin Kae and Rihen can help her, fix what those bastards did to her ... give us all a chance," she pleaded.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #35 –
[ USS Harbinger | Captain's Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann & Amelya Duv


Husker slowly edged his way out of the access panel behind the First Officer's desk in her ready room before entering into a combat crouch with the phasers at the ready as he moved towards the large opening that had been made into the bridge. The large hole was there because Ensign Sonja Acreth had escaped while they tried to flee Theta Eridani IV, and the pursuit of the escapee had caused some destruction to Deck 01 that was not critical to repair. As it were, T'Rena's old ready room opened up directly into the Harbinger's bridge. If there was one thing that both Paran and his flight instructors at the academy had taught him was that patience was the key of survival.

The patience to know when to stay low and quiet as opposed to high ground and loud meant an entirely different thing when the prey was about as Paran's words slowly echo'd into his mind:

"The Glikar'ma is a very intelligent bug, little brother. It feeds on small mammals but for a creature that is not sentient, it is very intelligent and capable of sneak attacks. It will wait patiently for it's prey to check every possible place, every knook..every canny..every *EDGE*..until finally the prey feels that it is safe in it's own arrogance which is then it strikes from the one place that no one would every expect it to be."

"Be the glikar'ma, little brother. Make the prey understand it's folly."

Chris' eyes narrowed in concentration as he reached up and manually opened the doors to the ready room a little bit and surveyed the bridge, seeing only that a skeleton crew of five was manning the bridge including that pinkskin bastard in Trujillo who was looking smug and bored in his chair as the Harbinger sat at red alert and slowly a tactical plan began to form in his head.

But before he could think any further, he heard movement followed by Ida's voice with  "No one moves!" she called to the assembled faces before her, "I hereby assume command of this vessel and if anyone has anything to say about that, give voice to thoughts! Yet if you move to action, I swear I will shoot you down right where you are!"

Trujillo's order for Ida to stand down was made with such arrogance that Husker's eyes narrowed followed by the rage of the curse that Ida snarled at which point Husker slowly started to re-formulate his plan but before he could think more, Trujillo's comment brought something darker to the forefront:

"For indeed... Celebrations are well due when the Commodore seizes his flag ship, and we can begin our voyage away from Federation space."

Husker's eyes narrowed as he slowly removed the equipment bag from his shoulders, rotated his neck a little bit and then stood up before switching the phasers to the highest stun setting before hitting the open button and quickly, quietly stepping out onto the bridge through the hole in the wall without a word and headed for the security station.

With two shots he quickly took down both of the smirking officers at tactical and science, catching tactical mid-line torso and science in the side of the face. Next down was mission ops who noticed what was happening and got a bolt of phaser energy dead center of his chest.

Husker got to security and then entered a simple command into the console which he then executed  before ducking the return fire. "I do believe that you were releaved of command, Trujillo." as the two security force fields dropped on the two women as the system went into a standard maintence check.
=============================================

OOC:
The Glikar'ma is a large spider found on Andoria. For reference:
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Glikar%27ma

GM note: I made a slight edit as to where Husker came from since Ida and Duv came from the Captain's Ready Room, and Husker couldn't do the same. - Auctor Lucan

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #36 –
[ Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert "Billy Bob" O'Connell | USS Theurgy | Deck 8 | Vector 3 Battle Bridge ]  Attention:  Carrigan Trent and Thea

When Billy Bob's vision cleared he found himself clutching the back of his head and leaning on the ops station for support.  He had damn near knocked himself out.  Trent had saved his skin, and he and T'Rena were whaling on each other like nobody's business.   O'Connell shuddered and almost tripped over Urban as Trent jumped on top of the Vulcan and sent her head into the ops console.  Now O'Connell was the only one on his feet, he had a clear view of a phaser rifle on the deck just to the right of the main viewscreen.  

He shook his head to clear it and stepped to the right before vaulting over the helm console.  He picked it up and pointed it at the battling duo.  Somehow, T'Rena had reversed the roll and ended up on top of Trent.  She looked like a murder victim right before somebody summons the police, but she was still fighting.  Wasn't nothing going to keep her down but a shot from a phaser.

"You... are... nothing compared to him," she gasped as her hands tightened around Trent's throat. 

"T'Rena!" O'Connor barked.  "Stop!  Let him go!"

"The children... will save us all..." the Vulcan hissed, her voice braking right along with her sanity.

"You asked for it," Billy Bob muttered.  She was in such bad shape that it was unlikely she would ever have children, but even so, Billy thought it would take more than one shot set on stun to knock her out.  Oh well.  It didn't matter.  One shot should get her off Trent and two...

Billy pulled the trigger, unaware that the weapon he had picked up was T'Rena's.  It was still on the setting that had killed Peri, Urban, and Yelchin and had set half the carpet on fire.  The Vulcan's head and shoulders burst into flame and Billy heard a short, high pitched yelp that sounded like it came from a little girl.  It was only after he noticed his throat was sore that he realized that he had made that noise.

The ruttin' thing was set to kill!  He almost took the flesh off Trent's hand, but fortunately the hand closest to the blast zone was his mechanical one.  O'Connell dropped the weapon and darted to Trent's side, gingerly lifting T'Rena's body off of him.

"You okay, Commander?" he asked him as he took his breathing mask off and was hit with a stench of burning flesh and chemicals.  "It's okay sir," he said as he help him sit up.  "No rush.  Take your time."

Suddenly the red alert claxon sounded and the main viewscreen displayed the image of the Calamity.  Time was something they didn't have a lot of.  As a matter of fact, time was literally against them.  The enemy ship from the future was coming and the officers assigned to the emergency bridge were dead.  There was only the two of them who could take the Theurgy into combat from here, and that wasn't anywhere near enough.

"God damn it!" Billy swore.  "Can't you let up just once?"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #37 –
[Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 08 ]

When he saw T'Rena go down and her head slammed into the Ops console, Trent allowed himself  moment of exultation.  Finally, he was getting the upper hand on the Vulcan bitch.  However, when she swiftly recovered and slithered up his body he found himself unpleasantly surprised by just how stubborn the woman was.  He had felt her hip give way when he had scissored at her legs; he had seen how her thigh had moved most unnaturally as she crumpled to the deck.  For the vast majority of individuals, Klingons and Vulcans included, this would be the end of it.  The shock and the pain would be incapacitating and the fight would end right then and there. 

But not so with this insane Vulcan.  Trent tried to break contact, but he was unable to and before he knew it, the iron grip of her good hand was about his throat.  He could see her face, contorted with rage.  He could hear her words, savage and crazed.  But he didn't care.  There was very little air coming through his throat.  Oh, he had contracted the muscles in his neck to blunt her grip and his natural hand was at her wrist, trying to pry it away from his throat.  Perhaps he could not free himself, but he could buy himself some precious time in which air would still come to his lungs. 

But it would not last long.  Her head was out of his reach, but his synthetic hand kept hammering and hammering at the Vulcan.  Into her broken hip where he could feel more pieces of bone giving way under his strikes; into her chest and breaking ribs; into her midsection where no doubt he was starting to cause internal bleeding.  But there was no way to get her off him.  And he was tiring.  The modicum of air he could get past her iron grip was no longer enough and as he weakened, his vision grew dim.

Until a phaser's shriek led to the hand about his throat to be released and a mass reeking of burnt flesh pinned him to the deck.  Before long, hacking and coughing, Trent found himself aided to a sitting position. T'Rena was next to him, her head a charred lump.  No, she was done for this time.  No one could live with most of their skull removed by a phaser blast.  As he sought to catch his breath, the Lieutenant Commander coughed again and spat, a gob of phlegm, soot and blood from his tortured throat flying free to land close to the fallen Vulcan.  "Thanks," he then croaked.  Yes, it might take a while for his throat to stop hurting.  At least, it did very little to blunt his normally soft delivery.

But then, the dread sound of Red Alert flooded the ship.  Calamity.  They had the most unpleasant timing.  As O'Connell bemoaned the situation, Trent rose to his feet and went to his destroyed jacket and proceeded to remove his combadge from it and pinned it to his shirt.  "Master Chief, change of plans, again.  Get to Engineering.  Gather up everyone you can round up and get them to their stations.  We're low on plasma still so I'll need you to keep the power loads balanced."

Then, he turned to his companion of the last hour or so.  "I'll be on the Bridge."

Indeed, Trent knew that unless other members of the senior staff were there, especially Tovarek or Stark, there was no one else who even came close to understanding the algorithm that would filter their passive sensor input to defeat Calamity's barrage jammers and clear up their active sensor picture.  And even then, he still had to defeat their reactive jammers in order to return their own sensors to full efficiency.  And that even didn't take under account the wizardry he'd have to perform on her shields, an on-the-fly adaptation of the concepts that saw him published and promoted early in his career.

And if the Bridge was manned by loyal crewmen, they would need a commander until such a time as Jien Ives was back in command.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #38 –
[ Rihen Neyah | Near Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Skye Carver & Selena Ravenholm

Meanwhile the fighter pilot urged Thea to deviate from her set course-of-action - trying to talk her out of going to Cala and try to save her on her own - the EMH spoke up behind Rihen.

"The patient is suffering from severe cerebral haemorrhage," he said, and Rihen whirled about to see him frown as he looked at the readings on the tricorder - his balding head bent over the prone form of Selena Ravenholm. "She needs a blood transfusion since the bleeding has not been trapped inside her head, but is leaking out through her nasal cavity. If I stem the bleeding, she will sustain blood swelling on her brain, but if I don't stop the bleeding, she will face lethal blood-loss. All I could do from here - with this single emitter that I am projected through - was to place a holographic patch over the ruptured blood vessel. It is slowing the bleeding until she can be treated with a proficiently calibrated vascular regenerator and given a blood transfusion. This can only be done in Sickbay, which is where she has to be moved as soon as possible. Why am I activated here if she needs a medical emergency transport?"

"Oh, no," said Rihen, realising that the strange woman who had helped them might be dying. She was no doctor, but any engineer could understand how a holographic patch in Ravenholm's head couldn't exist outside the area beneath the repaired emitter, and she knew that the emitters in Sickbay were gone as well. "The Transporters have been down since the overload that made all those plasma relays explode, and even if we could, the patch would be gone after we beamed her there..."

Through the intercom, Thea answered the blonde fighter pilot. [Whether or not my crew cares about me - some more than others - is not the question, Skye.] The informal use of the woman's first name was lost on Rihen, who was not used to addressing people with titles to begin with. [Even as a part of this crew, and with the liberty of my mobile emitter, I was restricted in my movements - not approved to attend an away mission. Captain Ives denied me to try and save my daughter, but I will not obey that order. If there is a chance that I could reach her and restore her to her true self, I will take it. If I fail... I will not be the photonic being that Kae has managed to create, my emitter likely lost in battle, but I would still be here - an holographic shadow of what I have become. It it comes to that, I was at least able to feel the world around me like you do, and I am grateful for the privilege.]

"Thea, I..." Lin Kae found his voice - the moment likely having gotten to him. "I know you will do what you can for your crew as well as your daughter. I understand that you have to do this, and as much as I hate to see you suffer from your old restrictions once the ship-wide hologrid is repaired... I think it is your right as a person to make this choice. I.. hereby authorise the removal of full command privileges from Commodore Declan Vasser, restricted as your judgement see fit. Kae-Epsilon-Niner-Alpha."

There was a chirp of acknowledgement before Thea spoke again. [My gratitude, Kae.] She sounded relieved to hear Kae wasn't going to try and stop her. [Miss Neyah? A personal request, if I may. Selena Ravenholm needs urgent medical attention, and since she sacrificed herself to ensure that I was restored to the ship systems, and I feel that I have a personal debt to repay her, can you take her to Sickbay? If she joins our crew, Captain Ives will have earned an extraordinary asset for the mission back to Earth.]

"That will be kind of hard, the emit-" Rihen said, only to be interrupted by Thea.

[The EMH Mk I is there, and he can carry her if you repair the emitters between where you are and to one of the surgical suites in Sickbay. All the emitters need to have their EH-5 controller isolinear chips replaced, so you will need to replicate a total amount of 35 of them if you take the shortest route to Sickbay. Changing the chips is well within your range of expertise.]

"Carrying the patient... What is this ship from, the twentieth century?" muttered the EMH.

"I will do it!" said Rihen, eager to be able to help somehow. All she needed to find was a replicator and she'd be off. She stopped short and stepped up to the sweet young engineer. "If you can help me, we will be able to move twice as fast..."

"Ah, yes, but..." said Kae, eyes momentary dropping to her chest from some reason, but then Rihen saw him turn to the fighter pilot. "What will you be doing now? Will you be going out there in your Valkyrie if the Calamity is here? If not, we could need protection from T'Rena's search parties if they are still roaming the corridors."

Essentially, a choice between her duty towards the crew as a whole or the protection of Lin Kae, Rihen Neyah and Selena Ravenholm.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #39 –
[ USS Harbinger | Captain's Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

The sight of Husker emerging from the hole in the wall that led from the Executive Officer's quarters made Ida's ire drain - feeling herself being filled with both fear for his sake and hope for success. The Harbinger fighter pilot shot them all down, one by one, in rapid succession - leaving only Trujillo sitting in his chair and the helmsman. A youthful, stout Pinkskin who looked like he was about to soil his undergarments.

Once Ida and Doctor Duv were freed from the forcefields, Ida raised her rifle again and walked up to the helm, but she gave Husker a lopsided smile on the way there. "Nice shooting," was all she really had time to say given the fact that they were handling a crisis. Then she set the muzzle of her rifle against the thigh of the helmsman and leaned over him to check their present course and velocity. "Give me the coordinates and trajectories of the Theurgy and the Calamity. Now. Otherwise I will have to ask the good Ensign behind me to retrieve the data from you."

"There will be no need of that," said Trujillo from where he sat, looking properly angry and yet... the bitter smile he wore also suggested that he had made a decision he did not like. "Let me remind you that Selena Ravenholm has reconfigured this ship to be handled by a skeleton crew, and that also extend to certain command privileges as well." Standing up, hands raised, he faced the three escaped captives with a resigned demeanour. "The command is yours, of course, and I hope you enjoy the short voyage into battle. If you are lucky, you might even make it there to fire off a few shots."

Ida narrowed her eyes at the man as he began to walk around the Captain's chair - laying his hands on top of its back as if to pull it out for Ida. She turned around to give her full attention to the Hispanic bastard, not trusting his intentions for a second. She had her rifle trained on the man as she stepped away from the helm - sights on his face. "What are you talking about?"

He took a deep breath. "I am talking about one of the core principles of a Commanding Officer. You go down with the ship," he said, and Ida's perplexed scowl seemed to amuse him before... he gave the barest of nods to the helmsman. At which point Ida rounded on the youth in time to see him tackle into her - sending them both off their feet and sprawling on the floor. In the commotion, Ida could hear Trujillo proclaim their collective death sentence. "Computer, Two-Zero-Zero-Five."

[Auto Destruct Sequence initiated. Abandon ship. Abandon ship.]

The blare of the alert resounded on the bridge. Usually it took two officers to self destruct a ship, but not the Harbinger since it had a limited crew complement. Ida was dealing as many strikes as she got. The helmsman was not so frightened as he has made Ida think, nor as weak - struggling as he were to wrest the rifle from her hands. Ida knew that Husker would likely try to aide her since the helmsman was on the verge of arming himself, and Trujillo had appeared unarmed. "No, take him!"

But it was too late. Trujillo was already going for Doctor Duv - about to take her weapon since she was a weaker opponent than Husker. In her peripheral vision, she saw the vile man reaching her. Husker was caught between helping either of his companions, and both adversaries on the bridge might just arm themselves.

It was the moment where their fate turned in a new direction, and when the future unravelled and formed to something entirely else. Ida did not dare even breathe, time standing still as she saw it - the moment so fragile that it would shatter. As if the timestream itself shifted on the bridge, and then finally seized the scene.  Everything came alive again in the moments of death.

OOC: Next poster: Nolan.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #40 –
[ Evelyn "Ranger" Rawley | Uncharted Planetoid ] Attn: Thomas "Razor" Ravon

[Roger that,] said Maverick on the squadron channel, [This is Wolf-Leader. Set a course straight into the nebula. Full impulse. Redirect all auxiliary power to long range sensors and keep an eye out for the warptrail of either of the three starships. I repeat, begin ascent and head straight towards the last known coordinates that we have on the Theurgy and the Harbinger. Loose these toasters in the interference clouds if you can. They are not our primary target.]

"This is Wolf-Zero-Six. Acknowledged. Beginning ascent now!"

Yanking her joystick backwards, Rawley bared her bloodied teeth at the orange sky - forcing Morrigan's Valkyrie to soar straight into the stratosphere. The readings on the visor of her helmet told her that she had two Reavers on her six, so she switched to TVD and looked over her shoulder. She saw the icy planetscape vanishing behind the high altitude clouds, pierced by the red signatures of her pursuers. They were hot on her tail, and tried to gain on her before she reached the Class-9 nebula. She was rattled when she broke atmosphere, and she felt blood trickle from her nose. She could not afford to let herself be concerned. She would never yield. Not while she still drew breath.

"ETA to nebula-entry, thirty seconds!" she announced and she turned around to see the tail fire of the hard-points that her pursuers released. She dove into a barrel-role and held her thumb on the release of her countermeasures. "Twenty seconds! They have target lock on me and I am trying to outrun three torpedoes here! Fuck, they released two more! Requesting backup!"

[Negative,] replied Maverick, and both Wolf-03 and 08 repeated the answer before Isley added his take on the situation. [They are using the window of opportunity to release all they got before we enter the nebula. Ready countermeasures and hope for the best...]

"Fuck, I have to waves of ordinance chasing me..."

Chances I can hit them both are slim to none. Strangely, her thoughts went to her half-brother. She wondered what Winterbourne was doing on the Theurgy. Probably shitting mines into Cala's ugly face... Hope you are having better luck than me, Cale...

Ten seconds. She jammed her thumb down, releasing her countermeasures to deal with the first wave, but the second wave got through. She tried to engage a low warp factor, but she got an error message. Her deflector had not been powered up yet since she skipped the pre-flight checks. She could hear Papa Bear yelling at her for her mistake. She remembered fucking him in that beach house on the holodeck. Singing with him.

Five seconds.

Two seconds short.

What irony.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #41 –
[ Thomas "Razor" Ravon| Uncharted Planetoid ] Attn: Evelyn "Ranger" Rawley

[This is Wolf-Leader. Set a course straight into the nebula. Full impulse. Redirect all auxiliary power to long range sensors and keep an eye out for the warptrail of either of the three starships. I repeat, begin ascent and head straight towards the last known coordinates that we have on the Theurgy and the Harbinger. Loose these toasters in the interference clouds if you can. They are not our primary target.]

Razor didn't bother to copy as his bird had already started to ascend into the orange nebula. The interference seemed to play havoc with most of his systems and he hoped that it would do the same for the Reavers. Checking his tail he noticed that he had no pursuers. Boosting his instruments to find the two starships now, and hopefully not run into the Calamity while doing so, Razor checked his radar for any sign. He could hear the radio traffic in the meantime and heard Rawley's request for help. He cursed softly as Maverick and the other wolves replied with a negative. He pushed the joystick backwards violently and his plane did a backflip before firing down towards the planetoid again. "Oh yes sure, I'm a fucking traitor that would get us all killed." He mumbled without activating the communication link.

His eyes searched for the Reavers and Rawley and soon enough he noticed the bright phaser rounds being discharged in the clouds. He narrowed his eyes and while he came down with a bit too much velocity he had to act fast if he wanted to help or save his fellow wolf. Indicators started to blare now as the maximum speed was starting to etch closer and the G forces would no doubt start to work on him if he had to pull up hard now. The fighter started to shake a bit by the speed and pressure put to it and Thomas knew that he could rip his wings off with this action.

"Here goes nothing..." He grinned and fired away. From his elevated position Thomas came out of the nebula as a stealth jet for the Reavers. He assumed they hadn't spotted him due to the interference in the cloud and their reaction time was too slow no matter what machine they had put in them. Razor's fighter had achieved a too high speed to react too and the cannon fire ripped through the Reavers from behind, damaging engines and flight gears alike. Not scoring actual kills though, Thomas was damn sure that the fighters wouldn't be able to keep up with Rawley and especially not him as they were damaged moderately. The next problem however laid up ahead, the ordinance chasing Rawley.

The speed he had achieved meant that he only had one shot at this. The distance between the ordinance and Rawley not greater than a few meters. Thomas screamed it out now as he screeched his fighter past the ordinance not being able to fire at it as his speed was too high and his angle was off after engaging the Reavers. Time seemed to slow down now as if it was one of those moments were every detail became vivid for ones mind. He could see Ranger just in front of him and the kill load just behind him. His fingers bashed the button and time re assumed it's normal course as he released his own counter measures between Rawley and the ordinance. The explosion of the torpedoes came nearly instantly so one would believe they were hit. One torpedo had hit the countermeasures and the other blew up along with it clearing Ranger's tail.

For a second Thomas smiled before he realized he was now on an instant crash course with the planetoid. He deployed air brakes, reverse thrusters, everything that could slow him down enough. Yet the explosion behind him had increased his airspeed making a upward pitch life threatening. He could see the snowy landscape ahead as it formed itself with mountains around him. More alarms started blaring now and just before his fighter smacked into the thick pack of ice and snow, Razor pulled up. He diverted all power to thrusters and afterburners and the belly of his jet scraped the snow without causing any real damage. The G forces kicked in causing a near blackout jet Razor managed to sent his fighter back in an upward direction that would lead him into the nebula and back towards space. He would use that time to recover from his action.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #42 –
[ USS Harbinger | Bridge | Deck 01 ] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann & CJ "Husker" Slayton

Husker seemed to be the right man at the right time as he emerged on the bridge and fired nearly everyone down. Amelya was relieved that the force fields dropped and she wondered what would have happened if they never ran into the Harbinger pilot in the first place. She shook the idea out of her head though as it most probably wouldn't lead to the nicest places in her mind. She focused again on the task at hand, which was to hold the remaining crew at gunpoint.

As Ida gave the Trujillo her orders, Amelya let her eyes linger on Husker and nodded when he made eye contact with her. This way she showed her appreciation to the valiant rescue and she smiled warmly towards him before she turned her eyes towards Trujillo. While the conversation unfolded between the new found captain and Ida, Amelya looked away from him and checked the helmsman. He was far too quiet she thought and She stepped towards his direction a bit before checking what he was doing. Again, Amelya wasn't trained for this. To this point pretty much everything looked suspicious in her eyes and he looked back at Trujillo as he seemed overconfident to be on the losing side.

Then it happened, a moment of not being fast enough allowed the helmsman to do what he had to do it seemed. The tackle seemed brutal from Amelya's point of view and she aimed her phaser towards the helmsman in response, yet couldn't make sure that she'd hit him. Not without risking Ida's own safety, yet matters took a turn for the worse as suddenly the Hispanic captain came into Amelya's field of view. She turned around and shouted at him to stop where he was. She switched target, yet the man was trained and faster then she imagined. A struggle started now for control of the weapon and Amelya suddenly received a low kick straight in the stomach. She felt the air being sucked out of her lungs by the blow and felt her hold on the weapon dissipate. Trujillo would soon have the weapon under his control yet the Trill wouldn't give up this easily.

She clawed back and suddenly in all the commotion two shots were fired in between them. From Husker or Ida's point of view, they couldn't tell who had hit who as the two of them froze up in the moment. Amelya looked Trujillo right in the eyes as he looked up at her. Amelya's eyes widening a bit as she mouthed something that was beyond anyone's range to hear. Trujillo still had that devilish smile on his face as the phaser fell on the floor. For a second or two it seemed like the two of them were just standing there, yet eventually they both fell down against the console walls as the alarms of self destruction continued to blare.

With a rough push, Amelya dropped Trujillo next to her against the console and she got up and looked around her to figure out where the rifle was. She had to help Ida, she really had to! It was the only sane thing that came to her mind as she tried to push away the idea that she just shot a Starfleet captain. "Husker! Help her!" She shouted at the pilot eventually, repeating the same sentence in a whisper at first.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #43 –
[ USS Harbinger | Bridge | Deck 01 ] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann & Amelya Duv


Chris had kept both of his weapons trained on the two remaining members of the Harbinger's bridge crew and the corners of his eyes grew tight when he heard the destruct order being given to the ship's computer but it was a good thing that Chris had thought ahead of time but that didn't stop him from gripping both phasers tightly in his hands as he watched the two women fight with the bridge crew for their respective weapons.

Chris was about to follow Ida's request to help the soft spoken doctor but when the weapons fire between Amelya and Trujillo erupted briefly before the Hispanic man was pushed off of Amelya with a hint of finality on his face did Chris go into motion as he holstered the two phasers as he quickly strode over to where Ida was wrestling with the Helmsman who had all of his weight and attention directed solely at the andorian Zhen.

This lack of attention allowed Chris to grab the helmsman, an arrogant and self absorbed man who Chris wasn't too entirely fond of to begin with, by the back of his uniform with his left hand to yank him into a standing position as Chris growled "You are *RELEAVED*, pinkskin." before driving all of the force of his right fist into Gist's throat, silencing him before he could possibly lock the helm out of spite, which was then followed up with two more blows-one to double him over and then the second one to take him out completely before letting go of the man and offering a hand to Ida to help her up as he simply asked one thing-"Orders, Lieutenant?"

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #44 –
[ Skye Carver| Near Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ]

Skye couldn't keep the grimace from forming as she heard the report of Ravenholm's condition and then Thea's counter argument.  "But if you fail and she gets the mobile emitter we all die for sure," Skye tried to continue the argument but it was Thea's words of fighting for what she believed in that cut away any further arguments.  "You just had to pull that card didn't you?" she grumbled.

It was then that Kae put in his thoughts and authorization which basically made further discussions moot.  She drew in and then let out a deep breath.  "Mother's have to let go sometime and I guess maybe right now I'm facing that sort of thing.  Good luck, Thea, but please come home and let's try to change things for you," she added, knowing she and Kae both would do their best to convince others that Thea deserved better.

For a moment she seemed to zone out as discussion turned to moving the patient and fixing emitters along the way but it was Kae's voice that drew her back and she snorted along with giving him The Look though he could see the affection behind the stern expression when he asked what she was going to do.  "You think I'm about to leave you unguarded?" she said softly, the tone contradictory to the look.

"It's my duty to protect, whether it's out there or here."  There was no choice and she was not shirking her duty, simply guarding a very small portion of the crew.  Wolves had to adapt and do the best they could with what was available, which was exactly what she was doing.  They had helped get Thea back, though it seemed they might lose her again.  Still, they were fighting tooth and nail if they had to for their crew.

"The deck was being destroyed as I left so I doubt I could get my bird out but even if I could, there's no way I'd leave you to fall prey to those demons."  She touched his face then, her expression softer like those special times they'd been together.  "You are my dearest friend and I would die a thousand deaths before I let them get to you," she continued.  "Not the Naussicans, not whatever it is that's taken over Starfleet, and sure as hell not Vasser and T'Rena's mutineers."

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #45 –
[ Evelyn "Ranger" Rawley | Uncharted Planetoid ] Attn: Thomas "Razor" Ravon

In the last seconds before she was enveloped by the orange nebula, Rawley had thought she was about to die. He had done all the evasive manoeuvres she'd had in her repertoire and still fallen short. That was, until her pack came to aide her, and this in the shape of the one she thought least likely to do so. The sensor readings kicked her out of the momentary pause she had fell into in the face of certain death, and the blare of Razor's Valkyrie nearly colliding with her own made her blink and look around herself with her TVD vision.

At first, she didn't see much at all - jarred as she was by the engine output of her fellow wolf as he shot by from on high. Much less so when his countermeasures detonated right behind her, and threw her into an involuntary barrel roll off to her port side. Cursing, and yet elated to still be alive, she wrestled with Morrigan's Valkyrie to restore her set course - knowing that she could not afford to fall behind for a moment.

"Wolf-06 to-" she started to say, not knowing what she was supposed to say to Razor after all that had happened, but the readings on her HUD:s were unanimous in stopping her from wasting her breath and his time on sentimentality. "You have three Reavers inbound, Razor! You are way down by the planet again and they are moving in on you. Bearings... Five-Niner-Two-Alpha and Three-Three-Zero-Epsilon. No, I count four of them! You need to get out of there! You must catch up with us or you will not find us up here in the nebula!"

Already, communications were breaking up, and Rawley struggled with the audio channel to clear up her message. "Maverick! He will loose us! Request permission to stay behind!"

[This is Wolf-Leader. That is a negative,] said Nathaniel Isley, and the conflict was plain in his voice, [If we stay behind, we will all die against those kind of numbers. If the Calamity has come, we must protect the base ship. Our chances are better with less Reavers present. I... I'm sorry, Thomas. If you can still hear us, try to make it into the nebula and find the warp trail. We must reach the Theurgy before it is too late. I repeat, try...]

"This is bullshit! We cannot leave him behind! Thomas! Don't you fucking die out there! I will come back to you," called Rawley, the static swallowing her voice. Close proximity transmissions seemed to be working still, because the only answer she got was from Maverick.

[I cannot pick up his signal any more. Stand down, Evelyn. We must protect the base ship from the Calamity. We cannot affor-]

"Fuck you, Nathan!" screamed Rawley and slammed he fist down into the armrest of her chair, some chirping protests heard in response. She screamed wordlessly when she was off the comm channel. Her whole body was shouting at her to turn around and return the favour to Thomas  for saving her life, and to show him that she found herself giving more credit to his claim: That he hadn't intended to force himself on her that morning. "I should break off. I must go back there. It is only right... We can't just leave him. Fuck, we just can't... I just..."

The debate she held with herself was cut off by Wolf-03.

[I'm on the other side of the nebula soon and I have found the warp-trail of the Theurgy on my sensors. Bearing Four-Two-Three-Beta. She has a shadow, and while I can't confirm the signature, it must be the Calamity's. We should go after them immediately.]

Rawley closed her eyes, knowing that it was too late. She could not betray the three wolves at her side and leave them facing such odds, but what did not sit right with her was that the same could have been said for Thomas if they weren't sworn to protect Thea and her crew first. Maverick was right, but it was one tough bloody call to make - leaving a brother wolf behind in such a situation.

"This is Wolf-06," she said, crestfallen and hurting all over - her heart the most. "Going to Maximum Warp."

And the four of them shot were embraced by the shooting stars around their canopies.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #46 –
[ USS Harbinger | ThanIda zh'Wann | Bridge | Deck 01 ] Attn: CJ "Husker" Slayton & Amelya Duv

The big, burly helmsman had managed to pin her with all his weight, bending one of her arms back to make her drop her rifle. Yet Ida refused to let go, trying to roll and to drive her knee into his ribs, but she found no leverage to set herself in motion - at least not without having to let go of her weapon. She even tried to drive her elbow backwards, to somehow catch him over his face with her other arm, but that threatened to dislocate the arm he had a hold on. The self destruct message and the fact that Doctor Duv might loose to Captain Trujillo were factors she could not affect at that given moment, so she tried to remove them from her thoughts - hard as it proved to be.

Then, the weight was off her, and she drew breath between her teeth as she rolled over with her rifle raised - only to find the Ensign saving her and Doctor Duv yet again. Ida saw him relieve the helmsman in a very definitive way; sending him sprawling across the deck plates.

Did he call him 'pinkskin'? she wondered, quite sure she'd heard the flavour-rich voice denominate the CONN officer in that particular Andorian fashion. It was - at least - the second thing that somehow told her that there was far more to this fighter pilot than met the eye, because he looked like he was fighting like some Imperial Guard.  She had first seen it in the Brig, and now again - strikes akin to those practised in Kharakom. She frowned in consternation even as she was helped up to her feet, coming up face-to-face and close to the man again. She sought his features for an answer, and even if she found none, she realised he had asked her for orders.

A quick glance in Trujillo's direction told Ida that they had seized the bridge after all.

She had to put the enigma of the fighter pilot out of her mind. They had a battle on their hands, and a bitter one at that.

"Take the helm, Ensign," she said, letting go of his strong hand so that she could collect her thoughts. She cleared her throat and sat down in the Captain's chair - trying to remember far gone Academy days that described Bridge protocol. "I need to know where we are, but more importantly, where the Theurgy and the Calamity are heading. Take us there, follow their trajectory but do not match it since there might be gravametric mines in our path if we do. Maximum warp if so required. We have less than ten minutes before this ship is going to blow, so let's make the most of the time."

She turned her head to Doctor Duv. "If we are lucky, the remaining crew will be going to the escape pods. Check internal sensors. If they don't, I want you to seal off this floor with forcefields in order to let us remain undisturbed.  I also want system access restored on my behalf, tactical systems a priority. See what you can do, doctor."

Ida could but hope they would't be too late to the scene once they got there.

OOC: There is still some IC-time before the Harbinger can catch up, so I plan to have more things to handle for them in short order. It will also allow for character development between the three of them. I reckon they have questions about life on the Theurgy if nothing else, lol.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #47 –
[ Rihen Neyah / Lin Kae | Near Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Skye Carver & Selena Ravenholm

[Thank you, Ensign Carver. For everything. Kae, I hope to return the emitter, but if I can't... I am sure you can make a new one someday.] Then Thea's logged out of the intercom system with a chirping noise.

Hearing that the fighter pilot would be staying with them, to protect them, Rihen was immensely relieved. While Skye talked to Kae, Rihen moved away to the EMH. "I will go to get the chips we need to fix the emitters, make sure she doesn't die before I come back."

"I'm confused. Does that mean I'm supposed to kill her when you do?" said the EMH with bewilderment furrowing his brow. "Euthanasia is not within my range of medical practice. I lack the subroutines to commit murder. You will have to find someone else to do your dirty work."

"You know what I meant. I will be back soon," said Rihen and rolled her eyes at the hologram when she jogged down the corridor towards a place she knew where she might find a replicator.

"No, I don't! I..." The EMH paused in sudden understanding and then returned to calibrating his hypospray with a sour look. "One might think figures of speech shouldn't be used in life-and-death situations... Medical practice is nothing to joke about."

Kae was smiling in relief to Skye after she stepped close to him, and when she touched his chin, he couldn't help but swallow as he noticed the look on her face - reminiscent of the times they had been intimate with each other. Their first time had been strange, having switched bodies with each other under the Ishtar Entity's influence, and the second time, they had been mapping Skye's bodily sensations with a cortical stimulator - uploading the sensory input to Thea's new emitter memory bank - and Kae had provided the tactile sensations. It had been a long session, but it had been for Thea's benefit; to make her feel alive. As alive as Skye had felt underneath his hands.

He had only known holographic lovers before then, his health allowing for nothing more, but if there was one woman who could make him think there was someone worthwhile outside the hologrids, then it was Skye. Her mere touched quickened him. His first time with a real woman might have been with Rihen Neyah on Nimbus III, true, but that had just been... It had been her way of thanking him, and he hadn't had the heart to deny her. He had thought he'd jeopardise the mission if he had not played... No, those were both lies. Rihen had been attractive enough to compel him, but compared to Skye? Skye was like the dawn while Rihen was just a pretty candle.

Yet that made him ask himself, what was Thea? They had yet to copulate - as Thea would call it - but she had showed Kae her gratitude by exploring her budding sexuality. She had pleased him orally, but he had almost felt shame when he saw her on her knees. As if he was not worthy, and he even felt it projected badly on his work ethics, regardless of how he was still attracted to the soul of the ship they were on. She was, to him, too sacred to befoul with his desire for her.

And now, Skye said he was her dearest friend, but was that the only way she felt about him after all they had been through? Even with a mutiny on their hands, Kae could not help but ask her, because she was so close and looked at him in that particular way. "I think she was jealous when I told her you were the template for her new sensors," he said, not having to say Thea's name in that context, "and I did not know what to tell her. I did not know if we were just friends or not, after all that we have been through. Starfleet, Nausicaans, mutineers... and the Ishtar Entity. Like you said."

She had not mentioned their first time together. He added it because it had been important to him.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #48 –
[ Skye Carver | Near Upper Computer Core | Deck 05 ] Attn: Rihen Neyah, Lin Kae, and Selena Ravenholm

Skye still felt letting Thea go was the wrong move, that she should have tried harder to convince her to stay with them.  Yet if she wanted to prove to Thea that she believed in her right to have a choice, she knew she had to let her go.  Now Rihen was darting off to get chips and the doctor was fussing over the woman with a lot of implants, wondering irreverently if this was what the Borg could have evolved into to be less repulsive appearing.  There was also an apologetic look at the doctor as he realized Rihen hadn't meant things literally but Lin Kae drew and kept her full attention.

There was something going on in that genius mind of his, conflict and concern well past the current situation.  She simply waited until he found the words but they were the last words she expected.  "Jealous?" she murmured and the reality that the ship itself could murder her anytime it wanted ... something that contradicted her intentions for Thea to think of herself as a real person.  It was too confusing really and Skye knew she wasn't smart enough to enter into that kind of debate, not to mention now really wasn't the time as the klaxon of red alert was blaring.

Still she found herself in a discussion that was best left for another time but couldn't be, because she knew he would think she was avoiding the topic and that she didn't care for him.  That simply wasn't true though she poked internally at the depth of her feelings.  "Kae," she said softly, her hand moving to rest upon his chest.  "We are friends, and we have been more than friends.  I knew you were in love with her," neither having to say Thea's name because they knew each other well enough.  "The truth is I do love you on many levels but ... I don't think I'm what you need."

It hurt her to say the truth, to admit that yet again there was a wonderful man standing in front of her but she wasn't ever what they truly needed.  "I'm not smart enough for one thing and you need more than your body stimulated, not that I didn't enjoy loving you."  He was smart enough to see her deliberate choice of words, that their time being switched in each other's body changed the way she thought about a lot of things and she truly, deeply cared for him.

When the shit hit the fan on deck and she couldn't get to her bird, he was her first thought and he was the one she went to find.  He couldn't deny she loved him.  She wouldn't deny it either but she loved him enough to let him go and not hold him down when she too had feelings for someone else, though she didn't know those depths and possibilities either.  "God we're all a mess," she groaned, pulling him close for a moment of needed comfort.  "Let's just try to survive through this and then we can figure out who the hell we are and what the hell we want."

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [06: Calamity]

Reply #49 –
[ Thomas Razor Ravon | Uncharted Planetoid ]

Finally he was on his way out of this icy shit hole. Yet sensors seemed to disagree as he heard a crackled message through the comms hearing Rawley's voice. "...three ...-avers ..-.und..." The message got cut short when phaser fire started to rain down on Razor's jet forcing him to take evasive courses once again. "Fucking hell!" He cursed as his fighter toppled mid air and plummeted down once again to achieve higher speeds for a chase that could only last so long. Nolan looked around him to spot the Reavers that were on him now instead of Rawley. The transmissions between Maverick and Rawley were coming through again yet some parts were missing now and then due to the erratic flight path, the nebula and the constant phaser fire of the Reavers. Yet Thomas had no time really to focus what they were saying, he could hear the discussion rising to a heated one yet eventually he heard nothing but static as he had gone to low to the planet surface to be in range of the short range communicators.

Therefore he never heard Wolf 03 report that they had picked up the warp trail, nor did he hear the order of Maverick to leave him behind. Yet somewhere Thomas knew that there wasn't anybody coming down to save him, not when the priority was the Theurgy itself. Besides it would be suicide to come after him with three Reavers on his tail. Razor screeched his fighter just meters above the snowy ice surface as the pursuers behind him tore up the planetoid with their fire. He needed to lose them or this planetoid would be his grave. He noticed a mountain formation with gorges and canyons, if anything it would be his safest bet to lose them or to fight them.

He yanked his controls hard to the right as he broke off, his wingtip cutting through the fresh snow that was falling to cover the harsh white planetoid. He looked behind him again, only two Reavers were chasing him now, where did the third go? Soon enough Razor found out as the third Reaver had met up with the fourth. The odds weren't in his favor before yet now they were pretty grim. As the five fighters launched themselves into the ragged mountains the sound of explosions could be heard thundering through the land. After that peace returned to the planetoid as the snow covered up what happened.
 
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