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EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Epilogue: Precepts By Which We Survive

Captain's Log, Stardate 57505.28. The hunt has finally come to an end, and it was the prey that bested the predator, yet the achievement - however remarkable - was not without cost. Innocent victims were compelled to commit crimes and mutiny against their will, and they must now be forgiven despite the severity of their actions. Friends and lovers must be allowed to grieve for their lost ones, and accept that the true malefactors of these crimes have already paid with their lives. Still, I wonder, will this crew ever be able to move on from these events? How can they keep their eye on our mission objective, when the memories of the Calamity and the Harbinger might endure?
                                                                                                                       
- Captain Ives, Commanding Officer of the USS Theurgy

[ Maya | Main Sickbay | Surgical Suite | Deck 07 ]  Attention: Medical Personnel, Lin Kae and Rihen Neyah .

So far sickbay wasn't as overworked as they'd expected.  Patients came in, but they were patients who had been injured during the mutiny and not during the battle between starships.  Nearly everyone who was injured during the fight with the Calamity chose to remain at their posts, and fortunately none had been injured so gravely that they were unable to function.  That still left plenty of patients, both Theurgy and Harbinger personnel who were in critical condition. 

When the battle ended, Maya was in her surgical scrubs trying to save the cybernetic woman known as Selena Ravenholm.  The woman's body had so many mechanical modifications to it that a detailed medical record was essential.  All four of her limbs were artificial, and she had so many implants in her skull that one would have thought she was one of the Borg.  Miss Ravenholm had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and someone had placed a holographic patch over the ruptured blood vessel.  Currently the patient was hooked up to a blood transfusion unit and was receiving fluids. 

Sickbay was shorthanded, but fortunately Doctor Maya was a brain surgeon.  Hopefully, years of experience and centuries of Vulcan medicine could substitute for accurate medical information on the patient.  "Vascular regenerator," she ordered to the attendant on duty as she held out a long fingered hand that seemed too large for her tiny body.  The attendant in the room was flesh and blood.  Lin Kae and Rihen Neyah were repairing the holographic emitters in sickbay, but they hadn't gotten to the surgical suites yet, and in any case they would have to wait until surgery was concluded.


[ Selena Ravenholm| Main Sickbay | Surgical Suite | Deck 07 ]  Attention: Medical Personnel, Lin Kae, Rihen Neyah, and  Maya

As the procedure continued the civilian's fingers began to twitch slightly before her eyes fluttered open.   It hadn't been the first time she had experienced the rather unique sensation of being partially awake as things within her head were messed around with.  she weakly reached up and touched the surgeon's clothing trying to get her attention as she began to speak knowing that there were a few things that her files probably didn't have that she undoubtedly would need.  and for the sake of the conflict going on in her mind she needed some information herself.

Weakly whispering she spoke.  "Object, Intersection Lateral, central sulcus, surface olfactory cort...  she couldn't complete the word  pausing having to close her eyes tight to focus.  "Complete medical hist..."  she managed to get out before being seized with another painful jarr of both mind and body. 

As Selena had said If the doctor were to look near the intersections of the lateral and central sulcus under where the temporal lobe covered they would find a waver thin disc no larger in diameter than a old Terran U.S. dime adhered to the surface of her olfactory cortex. Upon scanning with a tricorder the etchings on its surface would decode by the sensors within it into a complete and accurate medical history including a mapping of all past and present alterations to her body, any biochemical differences from the norm because of her enhancements, and most importantly a detailed mapping of her brain, its implants, how they connect into the brain, how to remove and reinsert them and replicator schematics to recreate all present hardware in the event of damage.

Before she could do anything else though the cyber-augment needed to know one thing.  "Is the augment dead?" she asked in the clearest tone she could manage. The voice of her brain-washer continued to compel her to accomplish the mission.  She had figured out there was one thing that would shut the voice up for good and that was intel that the mission given to her by the mid meld was an unrecoverable failure. What she needed was information that would render the duties being shouted to her within her mind completely and utterly pointless  she needed the one tool that she could use to finally tell that Vulcan's increasingly intolerable whispers to once and for all shut the hell up.

Re: CHAPTER 04: Invictus [07: Undoing]

Reply #1 –
[ Maya | Main Sickbay | Surgical Suite | Deck 07 ]  Attention: Medical Personnel, Selena Ravenholm.

During the operation, the patient was trying to speak.  "Object, Intersection Lateral, central sulcus, surface olfactory cort... she gasped out.  "Complete medical hist..."

Fascinating.  Apparently Miss Ravenholm had latent extrasensory abilities and such close proximity to a touch telepath allowed her to know what Maya needed.  Maya placed the fingers of her gloved hand on the left side of Selena's face before removing it and holding it out to the attendant assisting. 

"Tweezers," she ordered before being handed the tool requested.  There it was; a tiny wafer thin disc no larger than 1.8 centimeters in diameter attached to the olfactory cortex.  "I need this analyzed in real time," she stated.  "It contains Miss Ravenholm's medical history.  Someone scan it and download her information into our computers.  Have one of the emergency medical holograms analyze that data.  Even though the holographic emitters haven't been repaired yet, the EMH can talk to me using the intercom."

"Yes Doctor."

Maya's sensitive Vulcan ears picked up another hoarse whisper from Selena.  "Is the augment dead?" the injured cyborg rasped.  The little Vulcan's meziofrontal cortex automatically suppressed the emotional reaction so Maya's hands wouldn't shake.  The brief mental contact she had with Selena made her aware of the cyborg's emotional distress.  T'Rena's orders continued to echo in her mind despite her effort to resist them.  The mental conflict was complicating Maya's readings and upsetting poor Miss Ravenholm. 

The truth be told, Maya couldn't truthfully say if Vasser was dead or not.  At this moment in time, she had no way of knowing.  Any definitive answer would be a lie, and despite her nearly flawless poker face, Maya wasn't a very good liar.  She simply didn't have the imagination for it.  But she did know what a placebo was and how to use it.  Right now, she would give the patient what she needed and see if the facts matched her statement later.

"Yes Miss Ravenholm.  The augment was pronounced dead on arrival shortly before you arrived."

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #2 –
[ Heather McMillan |  Sickbay | Deck 07 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Lucan cin Nicander, Hylota Vojona & all medical personnel

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The young biologist, McMillan, had never spent this much time away from her little lab before. Never interacted this much with anyone either. Until only just a short while ago, she had suddenly come to know Dr. Lucan Cin Nicander, and Hylota Vojona, and Simon Tovarek. It was, simply put, overwhelming. And as much as she would like to crawl back into her lab and go back into hiding, she had the feeling that was not going to be possible any longer. The Radiant were not isolationists, but rather, very social folk, and McMillan realized, after her adventure with these fine people, that she very much missed the company of people. She was still shy, and awkward if there were too many people, and especially if they showed interest in her. But at the same time, she feared truly being alone now.

Which was why she was still here, now, in the sickbay, after talking herself out of leaving for the fifteenth time mentally. After helping out Nurse Vojona with her problem, giving a sample of the salve she'd applied presumptuously on the Ovri, despite not having sufficient familiarity with their physiology, McMillan accepted the nurse's offer to have a drink some time, but she couldn't help apologizing again to her for causing such damage to her arm. The sight of Vojona's arm in a sling made the young woman feel even worse. She totally blamed herself for that, and made up her mind to ensure she knew the physiology of every alien from now on.

She smiled wanly at Dr. Nicander as she passed by. She didn't want to nag him to take it easy on himself. He really needed to get some rest himself. After all, what good would he be to anyone if he were severely incapacitated? "Run easy, doctor." She said softly when she was close enough.

There was plenty to do after the costly battle with the Calamity. While not normally a violent person, McMillan approved of that ship's destruction. Her singular oblivion meant many more would live. But she saw that sometimes survival could easily be worse than death. It amazed how true doctors endured the sight of this so well. She wore her emotions on her sleeve, and her heart was going out to everyone. She wanted to tend to the whole lot at once, but that was impossible, so she took an assignment, and approached the patient. "Hi," she greeted warmly in a soft voice, "I'm Heather McMillan. Let's take a look at that, yeah?"

She used her medical tricorder and went to work.

Having people around wasn't going to be so bad, after all. Flecks of light danced around her head and body as she glowed with warmth and energy.


[ Cameron "Cam" Elizabeth Henshaw | The Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Jien Ives

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After being relieved from duty, Henshaw had found a new appreciation for the word 'relief'. While it felt rather fulfilling performing in the role of Mission Ops, the Yeoman found she very much preferred being in her original position. The strain and the fear of messing up, getting something wrong was constantly in her mind, and it prevented her from being able to enjoy the job, as it were. So, once she was freed from the duty, she headed back to her quarters, took a quick shower, and dressed in a clean, fresh new uniform, but more notably, she put on regulation underwear beneath her uniform. Going commando all the time wasn't as fun as she thought it might be.

She had a mirror and examined herself. It was amazing how much just a few weeks could change a person. Henshaw found she no longer cared too much how she looked as long as she was acceptably presentable, and well-groomed. Giving her hair a bit of brushing, she was ready. She grabbed a personal datapad, since she was going to see Captain Ives. Until told otherwise, she considered herself first and foremost here, his/her Yeoman, and she was going to fulfill her duties to the letter as needed, and a little more besides. She mentally braced herself as she made her way to Ives' ready room, where she was told he'd/she'd be at about this time. There was work to be done.

She hit the chime on the doors to announce her presence, and once she heard the familiar voice to enter, she complied, and saluted the captain. After that, she gave a friendly, and ready smile.

"Captain," she said, "I'm ready to serve where you need."

She looked at him with her datapad held ready to jot down anything he/she said. Of course, there was far more in her mind that she would like to bring up, but she needed to know if Ives also felt the need for it. Otherwise, she would just bottle it up for some other time. She couldn't fault the chameloid if he/she chose not to, after all, there was just so much to do. They couldn't let personal matters, no matter how potent, get in the way, sometimes. Unless it put lives at risk.

And yet..."Pardon the bluntness, but how are you?"

A simple enough question, that could be brushed off with a simple enough answer, and yet, Henshaw put all her emotions and feelings into those few words. For an instant, letting down her guard, her posture and air of surety.


ooc: Post for Edena coming soon.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #3 –
[ Edena Rez | Edena's Quarters | USS Theurgy ]

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Edena paced around her room for a while, the ghosts of all the previous hosts surrounding her. Kiya sat on the edge of a chair, Illya lounged on the bed, and Jona stood by the door, arms folded, legs straight and at semi-parade rest. He was glowering, but for the moment, silent. Edena had a time of silence to herself. It was deserved, she felt, and maybe such was conveyed to her by the spirits too. She didn't know, but what she did know was that she needed the quiet, to think, for herself, for once, since the joining.

I suppose I'd better pack up...she mused to herself. It was logical. They'll probably move her back to her old quarters, or maybe reduce her space even. It didn't matter. With that in mind, she decided might as well enjoy some of the perks one last time. The shower would be dearly missed, she supposed. Not that it'd be a real issue adjusting. She's had simpler accommodations before. Her gift of silence ended when she redressed into her uniform, minus the command pins. She held those in her hand.

"You gave up. How very like you." Said Jona.

"Jona..." Kiya started, but Edena held up a hand.

"No, Kiya. Let me take this." She said, and looked to the male Trill evenly.

"Mmmmm..." Illya hummed breathily, smiling. She approved of Edena taking a stand for herself.

"Have you any any idea how much I have done to help you get where you are?!?" Jona said sternly.

"Have you?" Edena retorted, and then scowled, scrunching up her nose, "Don't talk like you did all this for me. Jona looks out for Jona."

The male ghost sneered at her, "The scared little girl who runs away when it gets too dangerous for her. You were never meant to have the symbiont, you're an absolute disgrace."

"At least I have my honour." Edena fixed Jona with a look, "I'll never betray someone just because they didn't agree with me."

"Hah!" The dead SI barked a laugh and looked at Edena incredulously, "You're a lot more naive than I initially believed. Your precious idealism, what has it done for you lately?"

He counted off on his fingers, "You got raped, you got violated by the captain you're so loyal to..."

"He wasn't himself!"

"...you whored yourself out to everyone," Jona continued, ignoring her interruption, "Do you honestly believe Tovarek would ever be able to take you seriously ever again? You think he hasn't spoken to his friends about what an easy ride you are? Oh Illya would enjoy the attention no doubt. Would you like to give full control over to her?"

Edena shook her head, looking at the ghost in disbelief, "How does one become so bitter and spiteful?"

Jona folded his arms, watching Edena, as her temper began to flare. "So Ives doesn't agree with you, and it's his right. First of all, you're dead. Remember that. Your time has come and gone. The fact that you can take control of my body on occasion is not a right, it's a privilege, and one you had best remember to appreciate as such."

She walked right up to him, and jabbed her finger at his chest, stopping just as it came into contact with it, knowing her hand would go right through if she continued, "Moreover, I will accept when your experience and knowledge can be used to help myself, or those around me for a mutual benefit, but any attempt that is deemed beneficial to Jona Rez is unacceptable. Your death has been resolved long ago. Deal with it, get over it." She pointed at herself, "I am now Edena Rez, and that means, for better or for worse, I bear the gifts, burdens and honour of the Rez symbiont. So stop trying to screw my life up, and let me live it as Edena Rez, not Jona, not Kiya, not Illya."

Illya, from her place on the bed raised her hands and daintily applauded Edena, offering her form of support, and Kiya just smiled, acceptance could be felt from the two. It was Jona that scoffed, and looked away, "You'll be the shortest host to bear the Rez symbiont, that much is certain."

"Maybe, but it will be my decision, my fate. I accept you, Jona, as the 'ancestor' of the symbiont. I welcome you into myself, a part of me, and not apart." She walked right through the ghost, and he seemingly vanished.

She repeated this for both Kiya and Illya, and they all vanished.

They were not gone, no. Just for the moment, they were...given rest. Edena's mind quieted for the moment. Thanks to her faulty Joining, come the morning, they would all be back, if not sooner. But pleased with herself, she left her quarters, and headed out to see the captain. They needed to discuss her resignation without interruptions or high-stress situations dogging them.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #4 –
[ Ensign Cir'Cie | Sickbay | Deck 07 ] Attn: All

Raising her hand, Cir'Cie lay it against the face of the tall man front of her.

"My thoughts, to your thoughts. My mind, to your mind..." she said, green eyes staring into the Klingon's brown orbs. He was the Master-at-Arms, and from the looks of his appearance, he had seen battle aboard. Yet she did not need to look upon his uniform, nor espy the blood upon his coarse skin, for she saw into his mind. She saw Zaraq's actions through his own eyes; how he had killed Ensign Cale Winterbourne on the Main Bridge at T'Rena's orders. She saw him holding Miles Renard's wrists against the tabletop in an interrogation room while Daniel Ritwer sodomised the Squadron Commander, and she saw Zaraq force himself upon Dyan Cardamone before Miles Renard appeared in a doorway with a phaser.

All these things Cir'Cie saw, and she made no comment as she removed her hand, and T'Rena's touch had been removed from Zaraq's mind. Now, these memories were plain to the man as well, cast in new light since the Lexorin dispersal, and now - with the mind-meld - the corruption he had been subject to had been made perfectly plain. Cir'Cie could offer no consolation to the man, for it was not hers to give, merely repeating what she had already said to the people before him - the line winding down the corridor. "Please return to your quarters. One of our Counselors will visit you there, and you may discuss the actions your body performed without your consent."

Yet Zaraq did not move on immediately, brown eyes drifting, until he saw the security team that was posted along the corridor as well. They were his colleagues. They were supposed to look up to him and he was meant to train them. How could they refer to him now, after what he had done? Benumbed, he left - slow steps taking him to his quarters. His thoughts kept returning to Dyan, and what he had done to her. He had hoped to make her his mate since she came aboard the Harbinger, but not like that. No. She would never be his mate. He had killed that white-haired human boy, even after what they had done together during Lohlunat . His actions may not have been his own... but he would have to face both the blame and the guilt nonetheless.

With leaden steps of utter shame, the once proud Klingon made a stop by a weapons locker on the way to his quarters.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #5 –
[ Carrigan Trent | USS Theurgy - Personal Quarters ]

There was an old adage out there.  A senior officer's work was never done.  And Lieutenant Commander Trent knew it to be quite true.  No sooner had the dust settled and the Theurgy had been stood down from Red Alert that he found himself even busier.  In the absence of a Chief Tactical Officer and the tac department being as badly gutted as it had been, the Intelligence Officer took the initiative to man that post for the time being.  Under these conditions, despite the fact that he had not been directed nor authorized to take that particular step, he thought the ship needed someone to handle the tactical department more than an analyst in the Computer Core. 

And after a solid twelve hours of work after the last of the Reavers became part of the debris field and the ship's lighting returned to normal levels, he finally managed to return to his quarters.  A real shower had first stung when the hot water and soap touched his number of scratches and bruises, but then this privilege of senior officers started to do its work and the strain began to wash from muscles and joints even as the dirt and associated filth started to pool at the bottom of the shower.

And he remembered what he had been doing.  Donovra had been a good substitute at Tactical during the battle and Trent would have to make a note to speak to Wenn, see if he could poach her from the Bajoran and brought up to speed as a full-fledged Tactical Officer, but her report on ordnance had not been completely accurate.  Yes, ordnance was perilously low, to say the least, but to be more accurate the magazines that were usable when the ship was in SOM were empty.  There was still some ordnance available in those that were only in use when the vessel was in MVAM.  And there were components in the ship's stores to put together more torpedoes.  And as such, using the transporters from a shuttlecraft, one weapon at a time, he began the transfer of torpedoes to the empty magazines and, using what few technicians he could spare, he started putting together whatever he could.  In the end, Theurgy was left with a pitiful stock of seven quantum torpedoes and nineteen photon torpedoes.  It was not much but it was something. 

As for the rest of the ship's combat systems?  The weapons technicians had done their work and everything that had been damaged, used up or burnt out during the engagement had been repaired but there were still a lot of very definite concerns.  The last of the replacement torpedo tube accelerator coils had just been expended in repairing the damaged tube; the starboard pulse phaser cannons were working, but one of them was using some reconditioned components in its rebuilt prefire chamber.  If the mission to Starbase 84 was important before the mutiny and the encounter with Calamity, now it was crucial.

For if the Tactical department's situation with its stores being practically fully depleted was any indication of the ship at large, then Theurgy was in serious trouble; for no matter how advanced a ship was, she always needed spare parts and components that could not be readily replicated.  That is assuming they had all the resources on hand to replicate what they needed and those were running extremely low to begin with and now that so much battle damage needed tending to the shortages were bound to become critical across the board. 

And with his hair finally dried, he allowed himself to lay down and close his eyes and then the full pall of exhaustion dropped upon him and he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Whatever the morning would bring, he knew he needed his sleep.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #6 –
[ Lahkesis Saugn | The Past ]

Darkness.

In her mind there was darkness.

Then sprang up the fire of the past. She could see the fire, burning everything. The once green leaves of the few remaining Teslyliac plats wilting in the heat. The fire consuming the plants, the dirt, even the metal gave way to the heat of it all. Her life, her sister's lives, up until this point were now over.

She heard cries in the flames. The scientists were dying. Or maybe they were already dead and the crying was just her sisters. Or maybe it was her. It sounded like it was afraid. The smoke filled air burned her eyes, it burned her lungs. She was going to die here.

And then a hand reached out and grabbed hers. She was pulled from the flames by her sister, or maybe she pulled her sister from the flames. She could not be sure. Who was she anyway?

The building burned to rubble. The people inside burned to ash. Everything burned, everything but her and her sisters.

Then came the time in the wilderness. Living in a cave, basking in the sun. Doing away with the tattered remains of their clothes. They would sleep, cuddled together, under the stars. They lived together and free.

And then that ended.

There were questions, so many questions. About who and what she was. About the fire.

She did not know where the fire came from.

Had she done it? Or had it been the other ones, those she called her sisters. She didn't know. She had forgotten, chosen to forget, so long ago.

***

Lahkesis Saugn opened her eyes and blinked. Tears clouded her vision and she wiped them away. Sometime in the chaos of the battle she had crawl under a desk and lost consciousness. It had all been to much for her to process, it still was. The shock of killing that man and the smell of his burnt flesh had dragged her back to the fire, the past she did her best to forget so long ago. She wiped the tears from her eyes and blinked some more, the world around her resolving into something that made some sort of sense.

She slowly got to her feet and looked around. She was still in the Chief Medical Officer's Office. She was also shaking still, it felt like her feet wanted to give out from underneath her. She felt nauseous, though she had only eaten experimentally a few times she only now knew what it felt like to want to vomit.

She fell back into the chair behind the desk, pulling her long limbs in, balling her body in the chair. It felt like her mind was on fire, it hurt so much. Images of the fire and of the charred body of the man she had killed lashed through her mind. It felt like the whole of her mind was spinning in circles, she felt almost dizzy. The burning hurt so much. Her mind was not meant to deal with these emotions and they tore through it like the fire had torn through that building.

Outwardly her body seemed to change. The long faded scars of the fire resurfaced on her once flawless skin and her soft petal like hair seemed to wilt, the color fading from her hair and her skin.


OOC: Well it's been awhile since I've posted for Lahkesis huh? LOL. She was pretty much out of it after killing Phantom. But I hope this gives some insight as to why that fucked with her so much. I'm gonna leave this open ended in case anyone finds her and tries to tend to the seriously fucked up plant girl. If not I'll probably have her fail to recover and deal with the crap in the interregnum, or maybe just let the mind fuck carry through into the next episode. Who knows?

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #7 –
[ Ensign  Chris "Husker" Slayton | USS Theurgy | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ] Attention: IronFerrox and Lone Wolves


Even though Chris had been on the Theurgy for a short time and while Ida had vouched for him, he still felt the need to show that he wasn't apart of what had happened to them even though he had heard the captain's words earlier, he inwardly felt that he should've been confined to quarters because of what the rest of the Survivors had done to this ship..

...which was the ultimate irony because he was now officially the Survivor of the Survivors.

Chris stopped what he was doing and wiped his forehead with one bare arm as that finally sunk in. An Akira-class starship was considered to be a medium type carrier due to the fact that it carried forty fighters of various types but towards the end of the Harbinger's "life", she carried only a squadron which Phanatos had called the "Survivors" and Chris was proud to call himself that as he survived so much before becoming a pilot and after.

But the events of the past few hours...that started to slowly tear at him but he was a Slayton and as his father once told him "Slayton men are adaptable and hardy folk, capable of throwing back even worse then what we get."

This time he was willing to believe his late father.

Chris went back to helping fix the hanger bay which had been damaged in the fighting, his new uniform jacket was off and hanging near by as he picked up another piece of debris and carried it over to a anti-grav gurney before going back to what he was doing as he waited for the squadron commander to contact him in order to have a sit down interview before being put back on the active flight roster with a Valk and a number, he didn't mind helping out with the repairs as it was engineering was something amusingly enough he enjoyed doing.

But as he worked, his mind every so often kept going back to his kiss with Ida. How she felt against him, her smell and everything else about her and her comment about "speaking of it later" which he fully expected for her to want to physically spar over the situation which he would be glad to do as he didn't get a chance to spar with another person trained as a guardsman since Paran's death a few years earlier.

Chris stopped and let out a dry, mirthless chuckle. "My god, what a day." he said before going back to work as he waited and pondered.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[ LT. Lin Kae | Main Sickbay | Surgical Section | Deck 07 ] Attention: Medical Personnel, Rihen Neyah, Selena Ravenholm, Thea, and Maya


Kae was going around from deck to deck to try and get as much of Thea's emittor network back up online that was damaged during the attempt by Declar and his people to take Thea but as hard as he worked, he still couldn't get over the events of the day which made even him slightly disturbed.

As he started on the first of the surgical suite's emitters, he couldn't help but be thankful that both Rihen and Skye made it out safe with him as did Thea..but he hadn't heard anything about Soo Young, Oracle. He knew that some of the pilots had been injured and a couple of them were dead but Soo was too nice to have something like that happen to her and he hoped that she was okay.

Kae quickly pulled out the damage sections of the emitter and started to check each one of them over as he had done with each singular emitter so far. While they were all damaged by the sabotage, not everything was completely damaged and with every bit of corrupt code that he could find was another piece of a potential way of helping Thea keep from ever being used like this again. Despite T'Rena's opinion and views, Thea was a living entity with her own hopes and dreams and didn't deserve to be treated as nothing more then some weapon by someone who claimed to be dedicated to pure logic but was instead a simple savage.

Kae stopped and shook his head to clear it, it was events like this that only helped to serve his preference to photonic beings rather then the flesh and blood ones.

But he stopped in mid thought and looked over at Rihen then allowed himself a slight smile. *Well, maybe not all of them* he thought to himself before he went back to work.
=====================================================

OOC: Apologies on the Lin Kae half of this, trying to get into the groove of writing him while trying to keep as much of Kuro in him that I can while adding to him.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #8 –
[ Captain Ives | CO Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: Triage

She sat by her desk in her female form, far from idle in the wake of the battle and the prior mutiny.

Not a minute had gone by where Jien hadn't been reading reports from all departments and dealing new orders as required to the senior staff. The top priority had been the Lexorin dispersal and its timing, added with the proceedings in Sickbay and its security surveillance. Thea had been helpful in handling the seamless communication, but Jien had also heard that their Ship A.I. had disobeyed orders, which put Jien in the difficult position of having to address the insubordination of an A.I. It was, however, not something that she would be able to handle that very same day.

One of her first appointments in her Ready Room had been with their new Chief CONN Officer, Aisha S'Iti, closely followed by others that she needed to see briefly. One by one, the department heads were passing along the reports on the hostile takeover and their individual actions to Jien for a final say about disciplinary actions. These were, however, not a priority when the extent of damage that the Calamity had caused them were still being investigated by the dedicated crew from Engineering. Bit by bit, Jien was piecing together what had actually happened aboard while she had been confined to the Brig, and what continued to give her pause were margins of error, and how small the variables had been between their success and their destruction.

If Dr. Nicander, Lieutenant Tovarek and the civilian by the name McMillan had not assisted in Cargo Bay 04, then the gravimetric mines would have detonated against the bay doors. If Selena Ravenholm had not defied the mind-meld placed upon her cybernetically augmented mind, then Thea would not have been restored to the ship systems, and none of the communication she had supplied to the resistance cells would have helped them coordinate the retaliation against Vasser. They might not have managed to reclaim the bridge or arranged for the Lexorin to be dispersed. If Sjaandin Fedd had not chosen to aide Lieutenant Commander Trent, then the Intelligence Officer's speech would not have rallied the crew to their stations in time for the battle. If ThanIda zh'Wann had not requested her transfer to the Harbinger and worked together with the two prisoners there, the Calamity might not have been destroyed. If Wenn Cinn and Dyan Cardamone had not intercepted Vasser by the Captain's Yacht, Vasser might have escaped, or Edena Rez would have been killed by Jien's own hand.

The list never ended. So many actions had - collectively - led to victory.

The chime alerted Jien of another visitor, and when she called, Cameron Henshaw appeared in the doorway and stepped inside, holding a PADD. The Ensign was a welcome sight, sparking a quiet smile, even if Jien's own resentment towards the woman after what Fedd had said about her on the Main Bridge was just as fresh as it was false. It appeared that Cam had showered, and wanted to resume her duties. Looking at her, Jien paused instead of answering her the first time she spoke. Instead she put down the report in her own hand and leaned back in the chair - trying to sort out her own mind in the wake of all that had happened.
 
"Pardon the bluntness, but how are you?" A legitimate question. Jien was not entirely sure, though.

"I don't know," she replied, and she quietly got back on her feet. She raked her dark hair back from her face as she answered, rounding the desk that sat between them with slow steps - the look of her gaze making it plain that Jien was focused on the ordeal they had just got through, the collective weeks that the Calamity had chased them, and the time spent with the Harbinger commanders and crew. "There is a lot to think about, if you allow yourself to do it, and it leaves me... bitter."

That was one word for it.

"I could not protect my crew from what befell them today when Vasser tried to take command. After Niga, and the Ishtar Incident, I can but hope we will be able to rise again. Once more, we repair and rebuild our strength so that we may carry on, but when the wounds are so... fresh, it makes me doubt we will be able to put this behind us. What I tell you now, I cannot tell the crew, of course; that I fear for crew morale. I can only say it to you, since it is your duty to be frank with me... and advise me on how to make them all stand tall again."

Leaning against the edge of her desk, Jien folded her arms underneath her chest and took a deep breath. "That is, if you still want this position... given what happened today. I cannot make any excuses about the circumstances, neither in regard to the cell's condition nor the mutiny and its body count. I truly thought you were one of those backing Vasser because it was plausible, with your application and because... of what happened between us on Theta Eridani IV. I thought you seduced me and had blinded me; made me unable to see the red flags... even if there were none there. I find my actions unforgivable, and I would understand if you want to serve in some other capacity."

It pained Jien a great deal to speak of what had happened, but she had to - her oaken eyes lined with the fatigue and worries that she would never let her crew see. She needed to stay strong and lead their way back into the Alpha Quadrant and Starbase 84 despite the odds.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #9 –
[ Miles Renard | USS Theurgy | Deck 15 | Fighter Assault Bay | Office ] Attention:  Surviving Tac-conn personnel, and deck crew

The Vulpinian stood within the ruins of his office still in his flight suit save for having removed his helmet which now sat on the scorched surface of his desk.    It had been a full thirty minutes since he had landed, and he had no words for the emotions going through him as he stood there looking down at the surface of the PADD which bore the casualty report. 

Giving one last glace at the report he--in a moment of weakness--threw the device at the wall causing the display to immediately crack on impact as the metal around it deformed not to mention leaving yet another dent in the exposed metal of the office wall.  He turned away from the report and looked out into the hangar bay contemplating what he would do now.  Officially he was supposed to be filling out the necessary requisition forms and rubber-stamping papa bears requests that the noncom didn't have the rank to authorize. 

Of course the part he was really dreading was filing the necessary authorizations on the funeral services. What it came down to was that, he just couldn't stomach to even look at another reminder of the losses his squadron and the two ships as a whole had suffered today.  Finally he took a look at the cracked PADD seeing how it was still functional.  Picking it up, he switched to a list of casualties for both ships. 
Amongst the list there was no mention of a certain person who had also been lost.  "Add casualty listing."  He said before the small computer chirped in acknowledgement. 

"Name: Calamity NX-79995.
Status: KIA attempting to preform her Mission.
Surviving relatives, Theurgy NX-79854: Mother. 
Upload."

He then sat the mostly broken PADD back on the desk beside his helmet.

[ Selena Ravenholm | Main Sickbay | Surgical Section | Deck 07 ] Attention: Maya

She smiled hearing the news looking a bit relieved, feeling her thoughts begin to become more coherent and her struggles to speak seeming to clear as the mind within her had very little recourse but to surrender to the logic of the situation. 

Vasser, the very lynch pin of her logic was dead.  Without his existence much of the success in her plan was gone.  Now it was a plan simply to hide.  No longer was there altered genetic stock necessary to over time create a race capable of defeating their enemy.  Now the only logical choice for a means of defeating the enemy was the plans Ives had proposed.  Sure it was comparatively suicidal.  But from a position of pure logic it had the higher probability of creating some lasting success in the long run for defeating the enemy than hiding and breeding a resistance without their augment would provide.

The logic that had made the mutiny the only option in her mind was now gone.  "Hear that bitch? You lost." she said feeling a sense of relief from the constant throbbing of headache and voices.  Turning to the doctor she smiled softly, "If you don't mind." she asked, "Can you get this green-blooded-sorceress out of my head.   I believe the strain of my resisting her control has caused most of the cerebral damage that you are seeing."

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #10 –
[ Cameron "Cam" Elizabeth Henshaw | CO Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Jien Ives

[Show/Hide]


Henshaw followed the captain's movements closely with her eyes, while she held her PADD against her chest, seeing as Ives chose to initiate something on a more personal basis. This was what she swore to do. To be. And it pleased her that Ives was willing to give her that much. She gently nodded her head once when Ives brought up the matter of how she felt about the last few events. Bitter was a pretty accurate summary.

Ives brought up the Niga and Ishtar incidents, which Henshaw had remembered reading up on, drawing what little data she could find on it, out of personal curiosity. She watched as the captain literally bared her soul to Henshaw, a sense of vulnerability that she could not show to anyone other than someone she could closely trust. It was a twofold thing, by Henshaw's understanding. On one hand, Ives needed this. But on the other, she was being asked to walk barefoot on coals of fire. The repercussions of the incident with Sjandinn Fedd was fresh on both people's minds. Well, Henshaw guessed Ives would be thinking on it as well, she knew she certainly was. Henshaw was being given a gun and asked what she would do with it.

And then she brought up what happened with them on Theta Eridani IV. For a moment Henshaw felt so oddly detached, as if she were listening to Ives talk about someone else. But that person was her. No matter how much she may have changed since, the events of the past would forever be seen as a definition of things between them, for better or for worse. Of course, that wasn't to say that the past locked the future on a set course. What Henshaw did here, now, would also define things between them. She knew where her heart stood with the captain. She saw the weariness in Ives. And she wanted nothing more than to be able to bolster the spark that still burned in her soul.

Share the fire.

"My place is here, with you," said Henshaw, "I forgive you. It wasn't in your control. But more than that, please learn to forgive yourself."

She lowered her PADD and walked closer to the captain. She allowed a warm, gentle smile to form, offering everything, and she continued to speak, "In many ways, you are now faced with a situation Jonathan Archer, captain of the Enterprise NX-01 was faced with in his time."

She placed her PADD on the desk, and looked away wistfully, "Alone, cut off from a stable means of support, having little more than the immediate resources of his ship, and a crew of eighty-four individuals. On his shoulders sat the weight of command in ways few captains ever had to endure. His every decision would alter the course of history as we would come to know it." She looked back at Ives, with a strange look in her eyes, "Only people, with greatness thrust upon them, have ever endured. You're one of them."

Henshaw chewed on her lip, "Yours is the duty to uphold the principles of the Federation. The Prime Directive. The rules of conduct. With perhaps a slight difference."

She turned and positioned herself, until she was beside Ives, and facing the same direction as her, "I think, whether you may want to consider it so or not, this crew, the people of the Theurgy, are now family. And you're the head of the household."

This was the most important point Henshaw wanted to get at, "We look out for each other. And we look to the head for leadership, for protection, for providence. But as much as you protect us, captain..." she leaned closer and whispered, "...we will protect you too."

She stepped around, to stand before Ives, "No one expects you to be able to protect us all the time, from everything that comes at us. And sometimes, horrible things just happen. Like the Niga or Ishtar incident. And sometimes, we shouldn't put it behind us, but let the wounds run its course. We carry the scars as a mark of strength. That is what defines us. We don't fall away from it, but be better than it, and move on. In time, on its own, it will be behind us. Maybe not for some, but it will be behind us. It's up to us to make it so."

"You ask my advise on how to make your crew to stand tall again, and I say this," she smiled, "trust them. Trust in them, to stand tall, for you, for each other. You're our leader, and if you trust us, how can we not stand taller? Will you stand with us?"

They had bad days, so they could appreciate the good days better. She extended her hand to the captain, inviting her to take it, "Do you know why we fall down, captain?...so we can learn to pick ourselves up."

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #11 –
[ Simon Tovarek | Sick bay | Deck 7 | USS Theurgy ]

After all the critical issues and major problems were solved, Simon Tovarek had left the bridge in order to find himself some peace and calm time for himself. The bruises along his body still hurt and a quick glance in the Turbolift at the decks made him proceed further to the Sickbay. Yet it wasn't entirely for himself as he saw how busy it was in the medical ward. Flocks of people waiting in line to get treated as others left from the beehive of medical. Tovarek walked past most of them, not asking anything or saying a word as he made his way to a biobed. His eyes were focused on the woman laying on it as she seemed a bit more isolated from the bulk of the patients.

He took a stool from one of the nearby desks and he sat himself down next to Tatiana Marlowe. A faint smile slowly forming on his lips as he pushed his hand through her hair. "You missed a hell of a show you know..." Simon whispered yet his voice sounded croaky as he talked to her. The first glance at the readouts of the biobed confirmed his expectations and these weren't all that great. The head of Engineering was slipping from this world it seemed, yet the induced coma kept her among the living. There was no telling how long she'd hold on to this frail strain of life or perhaps she might knock through at some point and regain consciousness. Yet the damage from the sabotage had been extensive to say the least. Physically most of it was healed with dermal regenerators, yet internal damage was hard to asses without a conscious patient.

This moment truly felt hard for Simon as he had started to grow a feeling for the woman he met on Theta Eredina. They had shared some wonderful moments, even up to the last moment whilst they both knew that survival was slim. Yet it felt unfair that he was the only one still around of the both of them to live on. The lieutenant rested his head on his forearm as he closed his eyes and guarded over Marlowe.

[ Amelya Duv | Sick bay | Deck 7 | USS Theurgy ]

After SAR got to Ida, Husker and Amelya, the three of them had a routine check up in Sickbay. Husker and Ida had been cleared relatively quickly and Duv was the last one to undergo the final range of tests. She was still wearing the exosuit and waited for one of the attending doctors to come look at her. She had already peeled the helmet off and her eyes were looking around already to take in the atmosphere. Seeing so many patients in the sickbay she wanted to get out of this suit and put to work as fast as she could. She wanted to help these people as fast as she could.

Yet suddenly Doctor Nicander stood before Amelya and the Trill doctor was caught a bit off guard. "Oh, uh.. Hello Lieutenant Commander." she mused a little as she felt a light blush taint her cheeks. She hadn't seen Nicander again from this close since their rather intimate yet interrupted encounter on Theta. Now that he stood before her, she sort of relived some of the moments that he had given her and she looked away, her eyes unluckily diverting down to his groin. "I was wondering doctor, if you could clear me for duty. Could I directly start assisting here in medical? I know the ranks and all might be a bit confusing for staff, yet I really just want to help the people here as fast as we can. We can discuss later how I could fit in here if that would be alright with you and your staff of course." She said quickly in order to avoid an awkward moment.

She was probably running ahead of herself as the good doctor still needed to start with her check up, yet Amelya thought this might be the best therapy for her, considering the assault she suffered on the former ship she served on. She needed to get her mind of things and back to the work she loved so much.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #12 –
[ Captain Ives | CO Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: Triage

That Cam wanted to stay in her position as her Yeoman meant a lot to Jien, especially given the circumstances in which they had found themselves in a couple of hours ago. A brief and quiet smile of gratitude touched her lips, only to slowly fade away when Cam began to speak of Jonathan Archer and his voyages, wondering how much of his time in command had been erased from the history books. Once being Starfleet Intelligence, Jien knew some facts the majority of the fleet didn't, much of it in regard to the Temporal Cold War.

That had been her leverage when she had asked Captain Ducane of the Relativity to ask his crew for volounteers. Sarresh Morali, who had been instrumental in finding the Theurgy in the timestream, had volounteered, even if he couldn't remember doing so. Again, Jien wondered how much Sarresh had known about the return to his own century. She supposed that the amount of foreknowledge the Ash'reem had before the MEM treatment was the measure of bravery in the man. Unlikely, perhaps, since the Calamity had yet to make its temporal incursion. Yet if he had known the dangers to his own life and his people when he volounteered, perhaps he had nurtured the hope to save them all from extinction. Unfortunately, regardless of his intentions when he volounteered, he had failed, and the entire Neotin family and the key to their people's renewed fertility were gone.

"Only some people, with greatness thrust upon them, have ever endured. You're one of them."

When Cameron said that, Jien could not help but think that the outcome of it all had yet to be seen, and that they did not know how long it might take to rinse the influence of this enemy out of the Federation. Much less how much longer she could endure. Already the toll was... undescribable. She dreamed of the families of the crews that had been forced to kill in battle against the Theurgy whilst escaping the Alpha Quadrant. She kept telling herself that the survival of the intel they possessed was more important for the Federation as a whole...

But all those orphans, all the hatred of the mothers and fathers out there who lost their children when she called 'fire' - deceived by Starfleet to think she was some kind of traitorous monster. How was she supposed to convince them otherwise when they reached Starbase 84? What kind of rhetoric would ever tear the veil placed over their eyes? Vasser had thought the precepts by which they survived - as now mentioned by Cameron - may be their downfall, but Jien was more worried about letting the lies fester and grow until the point they became a 'truth' that rivalled their own. With each day that passed, each hour, the chance that her crew would be vindicated diminished. If she had to, she would take the blame for it all, claim that she had acted on her own and fight with teeth and nails to make them accept that her crew merely followed her orders. If it meant she could save them from the trials to come, she would sign any confession. In fact, a part of her believed she deserved to die for her actions the past months.

But not before she saw this through.

Not when people like Cam still believed in her, despite her shortcomings. When the Ensign came to stand before her, Jien quietly met her gaze - trying to take heart in the words that they would emerge stronger, unbroken by the ordeals that they lay behind. She asked for Jien's faith in them, and to lead by example. She knew this, of course, but hearing Cam ask her to remain strong made it sound so easy. Jien's brown eyes lowered to the hand her Yeoman was holding out to her, and with a deep breath, she unfolded her arms and took it into her own.

Doing so, she changed... into his male form, as if trying to put his doubts behind. Cam's hand seemed smaller when his calloused fingers encompassed hers, but the Ensigns' words still breathed life into a desolate place; the empty courtyard that lay behind the cold fortifications of his heart. "Thank you," he said, his deeper tone of voice wrought with the cost of command, but underscored by the acceptance of her advise. His eyes were still the same as those of his female form - a limit to his kind's abilities - and they rose from her palm and fingers, travelling her figure where she stood before him. His thoughts led to what they had done in the modular shelter, and later, what they had done right on top of the desk he was leaning against. Then, he believed Cam had initiated the unspoken intimacy between them to escape the grief for her late half-sister; for her own sake. Unbidden his thoughts were, but nonetheless there - sprung by the forbidden closeness they now shared.

His eyes did not belie his thoughts, but he still felt he could never be the first to act on what lay between them. Instead, he looked away - the same principles and regulations he had to uphold keeping him from what his heart needed in order to thaw. "In the end, we can only go forward, regardless what we leave behind... and how much we might regret. Like you say, I have to stay strong. Somehow. It's not like I have the luxury of choice in the matter. Neither of us do. We are all victims, but can't victimise ourselves. It resolves nothing. It is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. They turn our brothers and sisters in the fleet against us, because regardless who may die, they win, meaning to cripple us with guilt and destroy us when we can't take any more."

Sometimes, the ire Jien felt towards the enemy was his only recourse to rise above the guilt they lay on him. For it was their fault, not his, that all those men and women had died, even if that perspective might slip his mind. The anger had flared in his gaze now, looking out at the vista of space from where he stood. He had to stay strong until the very end, and then he would save his crew from the public outcry for their blood.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #13 –
[ Dr. Nicander | Sickbay | Deck 07 ] Attn: Amelya Duv, Lin Kae (via Rihen Neyah) & Lahkesis Saugn

Leaning against the door-frame to the corridor, Dr. Nicander watched the long line of mutineers that had been exposed to the Lexorin dispersal.

They were many, and their every move was being watched by the security personnel that were posted along the side of the corridor. A couple of yards away stood Ensign Cir'Cie, and she worked as tirelessly as any Vulcan might to restore the minds of the mutineers. Standing there, Lucan saw their Master-at-Arms step up Cir'Cie, and when she was done, the Klingon looked around as if he had awakened into a living nightmare. He might not have said anything, but Lucan saw the moment of realisation in the outline of his figure. Cir'Cie said the usual words, the Klingon walked away, and then she took care of the next mutineer in line.

As soon as Doctor Maya finished surgery, the process would be twice as quick, and the the matter would be in the hands of the Counselling Department and Hayden O'Connor. The names of the mutineers were registered by one of the rehabilitation officers for sake of the follow-up therapy sessions that would be required. Lucan watched the process as a spectator, letting the thing in side feast on the shame of the Lexorin-induced cattle. For they looked like the cattle they were, on the way to slaughter, and it amused the beast to see them all crestfallen and frail. It will be quite interesting to see how many of them will recover, and how many will end their own lives rather than look their victims in the eye.

Turning away from the funnel, Lucan returned to his domain. Sickbay was a place that had been hit quite hard during the mutiny, much because Vasser and T'Rena had decided to capture him and facilitate their plans to clone Vasser's augment genes, using genetic engineering upon the foetus offspring that would build their pure army. The Theurgy had the means to see it through, but they had lacked the doctor that would do it for them. Because of Lucan, Cir'Cie had led a group of mutineers right into the Recovery Ward, and Hylota Vojona's brother had suffered the worst of the consequences. Doctor Saugn was quite stricken as well, resting in his CMO office for the time being after some scans had certified that her being asleep after the ordeal was not harmful to her.

“Run easy, doctor.”

Without pausing his steps, Lucan turned his head and acknowledged Heather McMillan with a smile and a nod. She was reminding him about his broken ribs, even if the pain was reminding itself quite on its own. Again, the thing inside became very still and quiet in her presence, and Lucan had no answers yet as to why. He paused to look at the Radiant's retreating back while she walked down the biobeds, wondering - while she spoke with one of the patients - if she could somehow become made an asset. There was no way of knowing what and how much she could do for him when the time was right. All he knew was that Lieutenant Tovarek was likely going to try and whisk her away to the Science Department, but there was no way Lucan would let a unique specimen such as her go to waste. If push came to shove... perhaps the man would have an unfortunate accident.

Seeing a familar face, Lucan drew to a halt before one of the biobeds. On it sat a woman in a Tactical Conn Exosuit, and it was evident that she had seen her share of the battle.  "Oh, uh.. Hello Lieutenant Commander," she said, and it seemed she could not keep her eyes from wandering the front of his body while he produced a medical tricorder out of his white lab boat. It made Lucan give her a rueful smile as he began to scan her, not about to mention what had happened between them right in the middle of his Sickbay. "I was wondering doctor, if you could clear me for duty. Could I directly start assisting here in medical? I know the ranks and all might be a bit confusing for staff, yet I really just want to help the people here as fast as we can. We can discuss later how I could fit in here if that would be alright with you and your staff of course."

"You appear to be in great condition despite whatever you have been through, so medically speaking, I cannot see why you shouldn't be able to help us as soon as you get out of that EVA suit," he said, unaware that she was practically naked underneath it. "As for the ranks, I just so happen to lack an Assistant Chief Medical Officer, so I will petition that you will work along side me here in Sickbay next I speak with the Captain. I would be surprised if the Chameloid had any objections, especially since I hear you and two others entered the battle when we were truly in a pinch - saving the day. Thank you, Doctor Duv, and welcome aboard."

Having said this, pleased about the exciting opportunity to work with a Trill such as Doctor Duv on a regular basis, Lucan would soon continue his path through Sickbay, entering the surgical bay on the starboard side. Lucan first noticed the two engineers in one of the surgical suites, namely Lieutenant Lin and Rihen Neyah - the latter being quite easy on the eye. Especially since the toil of repairing the emitters in the ceiling had made the exposed skin of that flamboyant cleavage of hers beaded with sweat. He could not stare like the majority of the patients had done when the engineers had been in the ICU, of course - and he wouldn't because he was no adolescent halfwit. Also, because the Lone-Wolf by the name Carver would not leave Lin Kae's side, still carrying a phaser assault rifle. Lucan knew the three people personally since the away-mission to Nimbus III, and he took the time acknowledge the trio through the open door with a smile and a nod before he moved down the corridor. As he did, he heard the Risian Engineer speak to Lin Kae.

"Do you think Captain Ives will forgive Thea for what she did?" she asked, but Lucan awarded the question little attention as he walked on - pale grey eyes fastened on the door at the end of the corridor.

On the right hand side was Isolation Ward 02, and there was someone inside there - someone that they had found on Nimbus III and he had recruited to fill the vacancy Jovela left behind when she died during the Niga Incident. The person was now under the strictest form of quarantine, locked inside there like a prisoner for the safety of the crew. She had been found shortly after the battle, naked and sexually servicing a number of mutineers in the relative privacy of the Medical Labs. She was not herself, but perhaps more so than the mutineers, who had acted as if their souls had vacated their bodies. The explanation lay in her Deltan heritage, and how she said she had failed to medicate and dampen her abilities. There was no more medication, and she was now a danger to the entire crew. In fact, she had started to affect the Ives Loyalists that had found her as well.

As conflicted as Lucan had been about it, knowing Eve Jenkins since Starfleet Academy, he had forcibly put her into her quarantine. The beast had rejoiced in the struggle. Now, there was a security guard posted outside the door, wearing a breathing mask to protect him from the dense pheromones that was locked behind the door and the bio-filter fields behind it. The mask was a safety measure, perhaps unwarranted, but also the ship's last line of defence if the fields failed and the Head Nurse got out of isolation. Eve had not taken the news about Doctor Maya and Ensign Cir'Cie being able to restore the mutineers to their rightful minds well, since her rampage had left them with no less than six  husks - likely never to recover. If the lack of medicines had not made Eve mad enough, Lucan did not know what she had become after she was locked inside that room.

He stood there, looking at the door, remembering how she had said she loved him. Eve had been the first to make him question the convictions of his kin, but after Theta Eridani IV, it felt like they had drifted apart. Now, they were prisoner and captor, and Lucan did not know what to do about her yet. The thing inside had several ideas, none viable options. He could never do such vile things to Eve. He just couldn't. For several seconds, he was looking at that closed door from afar until the posted guard was starting to shift uncomfortably. Lucan felt an odd tightness in his chest... and he just had to leave. He could not deal with the Eve situation. Not right then.

He left the surgical bay behind with a brisk pace, passing the door where the Engineers worked on the way out, and headed to his office instead. Before he did, he briefly wondered where Hylota Vojona had vanished off to...

The sliding doors opened to the CMO Office, and as expected, he found Doctor Saugn inside. He had meant to try and get her back on her feet, but what he had not expected was the change in her condition - plain to the eye even without a medical scan. Seeing her, the bitter-sweet memories of his years with Eve Jenkins vanished completely, and his steps took him to the Teslyliac duplicate's side.

"What's the matter, Saugn?" he asked quickly, eyes travelling the marks on her pale skin - her hair now paler as well. Balled up on the chair behind his desk, it looked like she had been burned, but Lucan was quite certain no one had entered or left his office. The emergency systems had not been triggered either. From above the collar of her uniform, and likely the rest of her body, she appeared to suffer from some kind of condition he had no idea about how to treat. Not unless the scans he did gave him some kind of clue. "Speak to me!"

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #14 –
[ Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy ]

It felt like hours since Eun Sae had last slept she rubbed her eyes and held back a yawn as she stepped away from the propulsion output computer. Her PADD was currently linked to one of the fighters that had been involved in the battle with the Calamity running a full system diagnostic. After the battle one would think that there would be proper time to rest and to be fair there was quite a bit of time to do so. But the thought of just sitting back and relaxing just didn't bode well in her mind. She would much rather be working it would allow her to keep her mind off of what had transpired in the times not far behind them. People she knew and worked with were dead killed in a squabble for power that only led back to the very first square that they had originally begun.

She let a heavy sigh slip past her lips as she rubbed her eyes. She took a moment to sit on the floor beside the fighter resting her back against a mobile workstation she'd rolled over to the fighter. The hangar was empty for the most part leaving her as the sole occupant as far as she knew. She looked out over the wide space that had served as her home during her time upon the Theurgy. The scars of the battle that had waged there still marred every surface scorch marks and rips in the bulkheads of the hangar served as reminders to what had transpired. Eun Sae could still remember arriving and finding so many dead strewn about and forgotten. She bit her lip closing her eyes and folded her arms atop her knees resting her chin upon them. It wasn't until after the battle had ended that she'd learned of the many casualties that had been sustained on their side during the conflict. Members of her team having been among them and other people she'd had the honor of serving with even if just for a short while.

She'd hadn't been there. Those were the words that seemed to plague her mind so heavily as she sat there curled into herself. She doubted that anything she could have done while present would have changed the outcome of anything but some part of her still pointed some sort of twisted blame and guilt in her direction for being absent. She felt tears well up at the edges of her eyes before sliding down her cheeks. She heard her PADD beep signalling that it was now finished with it's diagnostic and had put together a complete readout on any errors or malfunctions in the propulsion systems. Eun Sae hastily wiped her arm over her eyes before getting to her feet and picking up the PADD. Her eyes scanned the information scrolling across the screen a few parts would have to be replaced and a few other systems and settings would need re configuring and re calibration. 

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #15 –
[ Lahkesis Saugn | Chief Medical Officer's Office | Deck 07 ] Attn: Lucan

The world spun as the brain of the young plant girl attempted to find it's bearings. The pain and guilt it felt caused it to detach from reality and only connect to small bits for moments at a time. It was like spinning far to fast and trying to make out the faces of people watching, not impossible, but all the detail was lost. She could hear someone talking, but who? And what were they saying? She could not focus on either without a great deal of difficulty. She thought she had heard her name, but sound not be certain.

She blinked and did her best to focus on the face of the person in front of her. She saw the details, but she could not put them together in her mind. She tried to speak, but couldn't manage that either. She focused with all of her might, at least all of it she could gather up. She did not want to die.

At great length she managed to say four words and hoped that the person could understand. Some distant medical part of her brain knew what she needed, but getting that information from that distant piece to the person was a great deal of effort. "No fire... sunshine... water..." And then suddenly she disconnected again and her head lulled to her shoulder.

Even a simple tricorder scan would show that her body was dehydrated and not had access to the nourishing light it needed in some time. The usually would not have been a problem, but the psychological damage and strain her body had gone though had pushed it even farther. She wouldn't need the isolation tank, but rather a simple solar lamp and soaking her feet would restore her enough to stabilize her.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #16 –
[ Lt. Cmdr.  Natalie Stark | USS Theurgy | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ]

Sweat dribbled down the back of her neck, in slow, thin rivulets, pooling under the yellow collar of her uniform shirt. The heavier jacket sat tossed over a chair, like so many others in the bay, and her collar was unzipped down her chest to allow air flow - her rank pips partially obscured. At a glance, anyone could be forgiven for assuming that the slick haired brunette was just another deck grunt, working her ass off to help repair the damage to the fighter bay and the surrounding offices. Only those who knew her by sight would recognize the Theurgy's Chief of Operations, knee deep in the muck and the mess.

Stuck out in the back of beyond as they were, Captain Ives had deemed the Fighter bay a top priority for repair. And the deck crew fell under Natalie's sphere of influence. She trusted, with absolute certainty and conviction, that Sten Convington could handle the situation. But there was no reason, it was logically argued, by Papa Bear himself, that Natalie couldn't manage all of Ops while pitching in with a more hands on attitude down in the bay.

Later, when she had time to reflect, she would realize what he'd suckered her into. But having time to reflect was precisely what the crafty Chief had wanted to make sure she didn't have. Mind numbing, back breaking work was what he asked her to do, arguing that it was the kind of thing that could be easily stopped and picked back up when Natalie would - inevitably - have to pause and give out orders. Which she did, and often.

Case in point, her combadge chirpped. The bit of tarnished metal clung to her yellow shirt, unperturbed by the stains of grime surrounding it. Dragging the wrist of her left arm across her brow, Natalie swatted at her chest with her right hand in turn. "Stark here," she didn't quite sound breahtless yet - that would come later. The voice calling out to her from the badge sounded about as tired as she felt, and a momentary pang of sympathy bubbled up. They were all working hard.

"Sanders reporting in, Ma'am," the muted tones of one of her many techs wove through the noise of the fighter bay. "We got that ODN node back up and running; powers through deck 9 should be restored fully. We're gonna go see what the mooks in engineering need help with next, unless you know of somewhere specific we should be?" She wanted to tell him in bed, given how many hours had passed but she knew that the order would be ignored.

"Engineering will work just fine, Cole," she responded after a moments consideration, "If Billy Bob - sorry, Chief O'Connell - is still on his feet he'll find something for you to help fix, I'm sure." Half of her teams were out and about helping repair minor problems that engineering might otherwise deal with - such as the holo grid that had been shorted out during the mutiny. They could only do so much with what they had on hand, and given how short Engineering was on personnel in general, it made sense to Natalie for her people to be there, pitching in where they could.

"Anything else, Cole?" Natalie asked Sanders. When his quick "No Ma'am," came over the system she dismissed him and sent him on his way, before raking her fingers through sweat slick hair. She wanted a shower, and bed. She wanted it badly...but...Looking around the office she was restoring, she knew it wasn't time to quit yet. There was exhaustion deep in her, yes, but it wasn't overwhelming, and there was so much work to be done. A long sigh, and then, "Back to it, girl."

And so she did.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #17 –
[ Cameron "Cam" Elizabeth Henshaw | CO Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Jien Ives

[Show/Hide]


Henshaw could not lie to herself that she didn't feel a rush of excitement and appreciation when Captain Ives shifted into his male form. It was still Ives, irregardless of which gender he chose to be, but Henshaw definitely preferred this form, and there was a subtle tremor in her body when his hand enveloped her own. She took in a steadying breath, and maintained her stance, but she watched him for every sign, every indication of what he wanted at that moment. This was her job, and all that she wished to be at this point.

She saw the desire in his eyes, and predictably, he looked away. It still bothered her a little, that he felt the need to be so awkward, or uncomfortable in her presence. It wasn't like she was refusing him, or uninterested. Perhaps that was the problem? Maybe she was too keen? Should she pull back? No, maybe they needed to clearly establish where both stood. That may serve them better in the end. Paying attention to what he said, she nodded at him, even though he wasn't looking at her. She tensed her wrist, which was still in his hold, so he'd know, she was responding to whatever he said.

His words told her what went through him, after all that she had said, and she smiled again, believing she reached the proper decision that would help both of them in the best way possible.

She wanted to tell him that he could stay strong, yes, and that the crew would be there for him to bolster him on. But she had already said that, so instead of repeating herself, she opted for something else, because his mind was so wound up, right now, she could tell based on the way his jaw was working, the tenseness of his neck muscles, and the look in his eyes. Her heart went out to him once more, and she lowered her head for a moment.

"Jien Ives," she said in a soft, gentle voice, her eyes slowly raising her head so she could look up at him, and with her free hand she lightly rested her fingers on the side of his chin, to try and turn his head and have him look at her once more, "I don't need to be a Betazoid to know what is going on in your head at this moment. But working yourself into a tense state right now is not going to help anyone, least of all yourself."

She brought her free hand down, and boldly rested the palm against his chest, feeling for a heartbeat, and she kept her eyes aimed for his, "If I might offer some more advise...try letting go, just for a while, and just be Jien Ives, even for a few minutes...or more...every day. Not captain of the Theurgy, not a warrior, not a diplomat...nothing, just a person named Jien Ives. You'll be surprised how much that can do for one's mind and soul."

That was her open invitation, and to put it more pointedly, she allowed herself to sway forward a little, her lips inviting, as were her eyes, and she waited, and hoped, that he would accept her willing offering.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #18 –
[ Tessa May Lance | Deck 15 | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ]]

Tessa May Lance was the first one back after the battle with the Calamity.  She even beat Fasha into the fighter bay.  That was Lieutenant (junior grade) Lance these days, the last one out and the first one back in.  She tried to tell herself it was a damaged stabilizer but the truth of the matter was that she was spent, physically and mentally. 

And yet she felt a sense of elation.  She made it back to the Theurgy alive and in one piece!  Vasser's mutiny had failed and for the time being, they were safe.  It was strange when Petty Officers Eun Sae Ji and Adara Hussein towed the wounded fighter to Wolf-10's parking space.  Tessa had forgotten; she had been flying Nightmare's fighter; her own had been damaged in the gun battle since it was parked in spot seven, right in front of the doors to the locker room. 

"Which fighter did Ensign Slaverton use?" she asked the deck hands.

"Ma'am, Ensign Slaverton didn't take any of them out," Petty Officer Adara Hussein clarified.  "She was killed in the mutiny.  I heard they found her body on deck eight."

That was right!  Suddenly the memory of Hannah shooting Soo Young Seung in the chest flashed before Tessa's topaz yellow eyes.  "Uh," she grunted as she staggered backward.  "Soo Young Seung... Oracle?  Any word on her?"

"When they took her away they put a sheet over her," the short and dark Hussein admitted with a trace of the first actual emotion the little deck hand had shown all day.  "I'm sorry Ma'am, I think she's dead."

The phaser hadn't been set for stun!  Hannah had really killed Soo!  Before being killed herself!  The nightmare of the munity came back to Goldeneye, but neither Nightmare nor Soo would never fly with the Lone Wolves again. 

"If it helps, the mutineers were hypnotized," Hussein offered as Fasha's fighter entered the bay.  "They're getting medication to clear their heads right now until the Vulcan doctor can undo the mind control more permanently.  It's over."

"It sure is for Hannah and Soo," Tessa whispered as before she staggered into the locker room.  She took a long shower, curled up in a fetal ball as the sonic pulses danced over her naked skin.  Khorin, Soo, Hannah, and finally Axius and Ravon, unless they just had bad transponders, died thanks to the Calamity and Captain Vasser and his mutineers.  As if it wasn't bad enough having all of Starfleet after them!  How many more were they going to lose before it was really over?


[ William Robert "Billy Bob" O'Connell | USS Theurgy | Main Engineering | Deck 09 and 10 ] 

Before his promotion to chief engineer, Master Chief Petty Officer William O'Connell had a pretty full schedule.  Now Billy Bob wasn't only in charge of deciding what internal repairs needed to be done he was in charge of making the calls for repairing the whole gorram ship.  And dealing with all the people under his command which was no longer the just the maintenance and repair division, but was now the whole ruttin' department.  In laymen's terms that meant making sure that everybody was doing what they had been assigned to do, and make sure they were capable of doing it right in the first place.

Of course, thanks to the friggin' mutiny one couldn't depend on either really.

"Okay fellas, my way o' thinkin' says that we kin git our plasma levels back up to eighty percent before we..."  The burly engineer's voice trailed off as he looked at the empty chair near the plasma regulator console.  "Where the hell is Crewman Fok?"

"I don't know, Master Chief," Petty Officer Zil Arex of Bolarus IX replied. 

"You'll never make chief givin' th' boss answers like that Arex," Billy Bob grunted as he marched down the steps to the lower engineering deck.  "I thought they put that stuff into air handling to weaken the effects of the mind melds was supposed to do something.  What's that stuff called again?  Lexorin?  That was over an hour ago.  So where the hell is Fok?"

"Master Chief, have you checked your office?" Chief Petty Officer Lavar Manfredi asked him.  In Billy's mind, the short, coffee colored engineer looked mighty ashy right now.  "I think you'll find him there," he said quietly.  Chief Manfredi had an answer.  Of course he did.  He was a chief wasn't he?

"Much obliged Chief," Billy grunted as he marched towards the chief engineer's office.  "It's time to rip that smeg for brains a new one.  His brain cavity wouldn't make a drinkin' cup for a canary!"

When he entered the chief engineer's office he wasn't ready for what he saw.  Crewman Fok was sitting on the deck curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth with his hands on his head.  Tears were in his eyes and once Billy stood still he could hear a quiet kind of moan.

"Fok?" Billy's face was a mask of concern.  "You okay son?"

"It's all my fault, isn't it Master Chief?" Crewman Fok rasped in a hoarse voice.  "Lieutenant Marlowe, Crewman Poe, it's my fault they were hurt so bad.  I was just supposed to vent some plasma not blow the damn ship up..."

It was that moment when Billy Bob realized he was looking not a treacherous mutineer but a twenty year old boy who'd been brainwashed and only now realized what he had done.  The kid was young enough to be his son for Christ's sake!  It wasn't the crewman's fault a delusional telepath put the whammy on him.  If Billy hadn't escaped from the bridge with Carrigan Trent the same thing would have happened to him, and there was no denying it.

The selfish part of Billy Bob realized that it was going to be a long time before Counselor O'Connor could schedule another session with him.  Guys like Fok went to the head of the line. 

In the meantime Crewman Fok was in no shape to help out in engineering but he could get in the way.  Right now he wasn't fit to shoot at when you want to depower your phaser.  But if he was left alone the poor devil might just work up the will to kill himself. 

"It ain't yore fault son," Billy assured him in a fatherly tone.  "There ain't a man amongst us who'd be able t' resist when that woman plays God wit' cher mind.  But don't you worry none, Crewman.  You don't gotta do whut she says anymore.  I shot her dead m'self son.  You don't gotta think about her anymore," he assured him, blissfully unaware that it was Cir'Cie and not T'Rena who had mentally compromised Fok.  "She's as dead as a can o' corned beef."

"I can still hear her voice Master Chief," Fok whispered in a frightened tone.  "Telling me to obey.  Telling me that the only sensible plan to save ourselves and the Federation is to follow Vasser wherever he takes us.  I know now that it's a lie, but I can still hear it!"

A shiver went down Billy's spine.  The mere thought made his skin crawl.  "Er, um ah, don't you worry 'bout that son," he stammered.  "Doctor Maya will git t' you when she's able an' git that woman outta yer head toot sweet.  You won't hafta listen to them voices no more.  Now come on, let's get you t' sickbay," he said as he helped the boy to his feet.  "No sense you waitin' 'round here.  Right now you must feel 'bout as welcome as a rattlesnake at a square dance, don't yuh?"

Until Maya or Cir'Cie silenced the command to obey, the poor Fok was a danger to himself and others.  The Theurgy had lost too many people already to risk that.  Hopefully Doctor Nicander had some people assigned to keep an eye on the line and make sure that nobody waiting to be deprogrammed hurt themselves.

"Ah'm gonna head down t' sickbay," Billy Bob announced as he led the shattered crewman back into main engineering.  "Fok and me had quite a tussle in here earlier.  You're in charge Manfredi.  I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

The coffee colored propulsion chief grimly nodded. 


 [ Maya | Main Sickbay | Surgical Suite | Deck 07 ] 

"Can you get this green-blooded-sorceress out of my head? Selena asked as Maya was finishing up.  "I believe the strain of my resisting her control has caused most of the cerebral damage that you are seeing."

It was a considerable advantage to have a patient capable of diagnosing herself.  It was also a reminder that after she was finished with surgery Doctor Maya would have to start deprogramming the officers and crew that T'Rena had compromised.  It was unrealistic to expect Cir'Cie, who had been affected herself, to be able to cope with the workload alone. 

In the meantime it was time to get started.  "Of course Miss Ravenholm," the little Vulcan murmured as she removed her surgical glove and placed the tips of her long spidery fingers on Selena's cheek.  "I am honored to oblige.  Close your eyes and relax.  You don't have to listen to T'Rena's voice alone; I will be with you.  My mind to your mind," she murmured softly.  "My thoughts, to your thoughts..."

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #19 –
[ Dr. Nicander | Sickbay | Deck 07 ] Attn: Lahkesis Saugn

The data on the small display of the medical tricorder revealed enough for Dr. Nicander to get a hunch about what may be happening to the Teslyliac duplicate - his foreknowledge of her species required of him because of her unique physiology since she came aboard.  Massive dehydration, cause unknown, but he had heard the hearsay about what she had been through in Sickbay. If there was a psychological link to her body's well-being, then she would need water and sunlight - just like the flora of most planets out there. The troublesome bit was just how quickly she seemed to need it.

"Computer, seal the doors please," he said, and a chirp acknowledged him. He was acting by instinct, without corrupted influence. No back-thought to the medical emergency he faced. As much as the Theurgy had been through, the emergencies had been many, and he acted on this one as if he was in the ICU. The patient deserved that her modesty was preserved, so he made sure the rest of Sickbay did not see him undressing the alien in his office chair. He used the advantage of her being in the chair to support her while he disentangled her from uniform jacket, trousers and undershirt. While he worked, he remembered what the Teslyliac had been treated with in Isolation, and issued further commands to Thea as her burn-marks were revealed.

"I need a solar lamp, some tripod version, and it should be aimed at this patient. Energise." At his command, the hologrid created what he had asked for with only a slight delay. At that point, Lucan had shed Lahkesis from her uniform so that the light may touch as much of her as possible, and he had propped her up so that she was sitting properly in the office chair. Of course the darkness that dwelt inside whispered that he should make use of the opportunity, but he did not listen. He preferred to have the creature thankful to him for saving her life than satisfying the insatiable hunger of his kin. How was he supposed to explain that he could not save her in time, much less the marks of abuse that the beast would bestow upon her body? There it was again, the conflict of interest that he just kept accepting as a part of his new life. Was he mad?

Lab coat flaring out as he turned to the new device in his office, he activated the light and changed it setting to be ideal for Lahkesis' recovery. The radiation lit her pale and voluptuous body where she sat - her head leaning back over the top of the chair and her red hair fallen away from her tranquil expression. Next, he looked around for a hypospray. Plants - in general - maintained tissue hydration by means of an outer waterproof layer. Usually with a waxy cuticle over the outer epidermis, or with waterproofing chemicals present in a secondary cell wall. Yet he knew from his required studies that like plants, Teslyliac duplicates also possessed an internal vascular system that distributed fluid throughout the body. So when he introduced chemical compounds to support her re-hydration with a sharp hiss, they would not just help locally.

"Thea, another request. I need to wet the patients entire feet, her roots, so I need a bowl, but I am afraid holographic water won't do if she is to absorb it. Just the bowl, please."

[Yes, Doctor.] came the reply, and while the bowl was materialising, Lucan was already on his way to a locker, making sure the water supply in his office had not been compromised during the battle. With his arms full of plastic water containers, he returned to the bowl and kicked it over to Lahkesis feet. As soon as he got her feet into the bowl, he started to empty the containers into it - not stopping until the water level was well above her ankles. He had plenty of water to spare, so he got back on his feet - only to slip on the wet floor and jar his broken ribs. Cursing in native language, teeth bared by the pain, he was soon back on his feet and started to pour water over her body - hoping that some of it may be absorbed into the damaged areas.

After he had emptied three of the containers over her, her short hair was hanging like a waterfall from the back of the chair, and there was water everywhere around them on the floor - his leather chair probably ruined forever. Finished, he put a hand over his hurting ribs and before he scanned her with his tricorder again, he waited to see if there was any change to Lahkesis condition - pale eyes wandering her wet skin.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #20 –
[ Captain Ives | CO Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: Triage

Letting Cam turn his head towards her, Jien ended up staring down into those brown eyes of hers, and he heard her say that it was okay. To stop being the Commanding Officer of a doomed ship in the middle of nowhere, persecuted by the very fleet they had once belonged to - staying true to the Federation's ideals even if it might be the death of them. To just be the singular duality that he had become amidst the humans - embracing both their subsets of biologies - and live as both the man and the woman he was entitled to be, instead of always carrying the yoke of command. The weight that was slowly becoming the death of him.

Yet could he truly afford to cast it off? Cam's lips and intimate presence beckoned for him, and even if he might wonder if it was even possible to do so, the cries he always heard in the silence bled from his mind when he lay his lips to hers. Her warm breath filled his mouth, and he could not help the sound that escaped his throat - the sense of fulfilment that overcame him and made him lay his hands upon her hips.

The invitation to kiss her gave Jien an unspoken reassurance, a realisation that what had happened in the Brig had not damaged anything between them. She was still going to look after him, tend to his and the crew's needs as best as she saw fit, and while they had not put words to what she was doing for him - and he had done for her after Lisa Hawthorne died - they might not need any labels. It was forbidden, and not to be spoken of, so why lay ruin and risk upon comfort and desire when meant to to last? Jien suspected that Cam saw it as a great benefit for everyone, herself included, as long as the knowledge remained between them and did not cast a shadow upon his authority. As for his own part...

...Jien found himself insatiable once he began to kiss her - calloused hands running up her sides. He did not wish to stop once she had invited him, and yet he would if she pulled away. Famished for her taste, and letting himself go, he pulled her to himself - his desire plainly there between them since she had evoked it.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #21 –
[ LT. Lin Kae | Main Sickbay | Surgical Section | Deck 07 ] Attention: Dr. Nicander, Amelya Duv, Rihen Neyah, and Lahkesis Saugn


Kae was trying not to allow himself a moment to admire the impressive nature of Rihen's cleavage as she helped him adjust one of the more heavily damaged emitters in Surgical Suit. He was standing on the empty bio-bed in order to reach into the emitter in question and he privately enjoyed the ability to glance down the front of the Risan's outfit as he worked, stopping only long enough to nod respectfully to Nicander's own nod of acknowledgement.

"Do you think Captain Ives will forgive Thea for what she did?" Kae heard Rihen ask from one side as he was making minute changes to Thea's emitter near Surgical-Three and raised one of his eyebrows at the question.

"To be honest I think s/he might take into consideration that Thea was effectively trying to help Cala in the only way that she thought that she could..like any mother would try to do for thier own child." Kae said as he thought back to the immense gamble that Thea had undertaken with the theft of the Reaver from the Theurgy's Tactical Hanger and the situation that in the end lead to Rihen asking the question that she'd just asked.

Kae thought back to his own childhood and closed his eyes tightly for a second to block how certain feelings that tried to come up with those memories and pushed them down as the thought process helped him to complete a cycle of questions that had been in his mind for the past while.

But then again there was a fair question as Thea had been unusually quiet on the subject herself to him and he had been working hard to bring her back up to full strength across the ship that composed her physical form...so why wouldn't she had said something to him about it by now?

Kae looked down into Rihen's heterochromatic eyes and then gave a light gallic shrug. "But between you and me, Rihen, I think that Thea might be blaming herself and in turn she may think that the captain may punish her for her actions but , but still..your question does bring up many possibilities." he said with a hint of registration in his tone.

As he reinserted the circuit that he'd been working on and watched with a quiet satisfaction as glowed with a light lime green of a healthy connection instead of the harsh red that he'd been seeing, he pulled the next one out to examine it. "We can only wait and see what happens next. By the way, do you know anyone else that didn't make it, Rihen?" he asked

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #22 –
[ Cameron "Cam" Elizabeth Henshaw | CO The Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Jien Ives

[Show/Hide]


Just be Jien Ives Henshaw thought, sort of glad that Chameloids weren't telepaths, as far as she knew, otherwise she might have been yelling into his head all kinds of things she really didn't need to be shouting internally. Just take this, and let it all go. For a while. And let me have this too...

She knew to whom her heart already belonged to. Would she be doing this otherwise? As his lips finally met hers, the sound of pleasure emitting from his throat made her match him with one of her own. She yielded willingly to him, showing him her absolute surrender. When he placed his hands on her hips, she gripped his wrists first, then she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, deepening the kiss, taking quick breaths through her nose. Why did her desire not feel like it was being sated despite wanting this the whole time? If anything, she wanted more and more, more than she dared ask for, because she felt oddly greedy and harsh, but at the same time, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was certain Ives felt the same way, if at least at the moment. Maybe they were compatible, maybe she was just reading too much into it, but she cast aside all thoughts and focused on trying to feel every inch of his body, while she willingly allowed him to do the same to her.

There was no need for words, no need for explanations or permissions to be asked. They were equals in this, and rank had no standing here. She had told herself as long as it made him happy and calmed him, even for a while, it was good enough, it was all...but it made her happy too, made her feel better, and more like a person. She only hoped she wasn't presuming that her feeling better meant the same for him. That he wasn't doing this for her, or that she was doing it for him, but that they were for each other. She wouldn't fault him if he chose to have someone else for a companion, because, if he loved another, would she not want him to have that? That was what love was, wasn't it? She loved him, no denial. And so, oh, who gave a shit? He was hers, and that was all that should matter right now.

Shut the hell up, brain. Go away.

When his hands went along her sides, he found some ticklish spots that had her jerking and moving right up against his body, while her lips, still locked upon his, creased up in a smile and her breath caught in her throat. She looked at him, and her hands began to move lower, running her own hands gently, clearly aiming without the need to see. Soon enough, her handling got more aggressive, and confident.

Clothes were soon anywhere but on people, and when both were finally sated, Henshaw was briefly marvelling at how creative she and Ives could be with the decor. How did my panties get up there?

WHY is my rank pin sticking on the ceiling? What the f-?

She looked away from the slight mess, and turned to run her hand along Ives' chest, appreciating the feel of his muscles and structure. That was right about the time when...


[ Edena Rez | Outside CO Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Jien Ives & Cameron Henshaw

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...Edena touched the chime to announce her presence. She adjusted her uniform uncomfortably, suddenly feeling stifled by it. As odd as it sounded, she wanted to just shuck the uniform and never wear it again. She didn't know why she felt this way so suddenly. Was it because she was holding her command rank pins in her cold hand rather than wearing it? Was it because of what Jona had nearly made her, Kiya and Illya do? That caused her to actually have a literal fight with herself for the first time since being Joined? But shouldn't she be feeling proud and more confident in herself instead? After all, she stood up to Jona Rez! If he were alive, she more likely would have wet herself or been killed already. But she faced him, alone, without the support of Kiya or Illya. That should have done wonders for her self-confidence, right? So why did she feel more afraid?

"Captain?" She said, "It's me, Edena. Just Edena. And I'm unarmed."

That was probably a weird statement. But she wasn't sure if Wenn would have told Ives about what she had done in the Hangar, when she handed her concealable phaser to Wenn, and asked him to ensure she was never armed, especially in the presence of Captain Ives. If he did though, then Edena's declaration of being unarmed would make sense. Otherwise, she had some explaining to do. She was prepared either way for anything. This was a difficult choice, but one that she felt was the best, for everybody. She had since decided that she had no business being in Starfleet. Jona always said that she was not suited to military life. Well, maybe he was right, this once. Kiya was a doctor, and Illya was an actress and a con-artist. Jona was the only one remotely affiliated with Starfleet, and Edena had done her best to achieve success, but she was always struggling just to maintain average. That should have been a telling message. Which she accepted now.

She thought she heard something inside, and turned her head to one side, almost pressing an ear to the doors, trying to hear. Frowning, she wondered if she should open the door. Was Ives in trouble?


[ Cameron "Cam" Elizabeth Henshaw | CO The Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Jien Ives

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"Oh fu..." If Ives ever was curious with just how fast Henshaw could move when sufficiently motivated, he was about to find out now. The young woman was blitzing around the room at warp speed, recovering her clothing and trying to dress in record time, except for her rank pin in the ceiling - she still had no idea how that happened - when fell over herself trying to get her pants on. Bloody Edena Rez and her incredible sense of timing! She stared wide-eyed at Ives. Everything else appeared to be in place. Things that might have gotten knocked aside earlier were carefully but quickly placed back where they belonged. Henshaw was another story entirely. Her clothes suddenly decided they didn't want to be worn by her, and were doing their level best to tangle every limb of her until she was near to cussing, save for the fact doing so would likely attract bloody Edena's attention, and the last thing Henshaw needed was the ship's first officer coming right in to see what was the matter and finding Henshaw rolling on the floor barely dressed in even her underwear in front of Captain Ives. Oh, wouldn't that be the story of a lifetime? Yeah, that wouldn't work at all.

She looked at Ives wonderingly for a moment, pausing in her struggle to get dressed. They couldn't exactly leave Edena waiting forever. She might call for backup. Yeah, that's just what Ives needed: the entire command crew forcing open the door to see what's wrong. Oh there was plenty wrong with that thought. Making a face, with her hand stuck in one pant leg, and the leg with it, Henshaw nodded at her captain, and tried to hop over to get behind her desk in the antechamber where her office was. And she collapsed, thankfully, making minimal noise. With the privacy under her desk, Henshaw did her best to dress as quietly as possible. She had grabbed her things, including her PADD and it was with her, on silent mode. She did not need it going off or making a noise to alert people to her presence, and as long as Edena didn't look up, everything ought to be fine. Since her rank insignia was the only thing she didn't have time to collect from the ceiling, she hoped there won't be anything that might get Ives into trouble. This was what she wanted to avoid for Ives: unnecessary stress. Well, she supposed her timing was a bit bad. Couldn't Edena have just waited another hour? No, probably not.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #23 –
[ Rihen Neyah | Sickbay | Surgical Section | Deck 07 ] Attn: DocReno

Working alongside Kae, Rihen listened to what he was thinking about Thea's actions and what the Starfleeter shape-shifter might do about it. Personally, she had no idea, but those Starfleeters went on and on about the import of obeying orders and all that, so there was no telling what might happen. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps... Well, how were they supposed to say 'naughty, naughty girl' to the digital spirit whom they all relied upon in order to breathe the very air around them? It seemed the sweet Bajoran did not know either.

"Hmm?" she look up at him and realised that he had asked her a question. Skye Carver remained silent, looking contemplative in a corner, so it had to be him asking. "Oh, well, I have picked up some gossip now that we have been in Sickbay for a while. Heard some nurses taking in one of the restrooms. Evidently, there was a lot of shooting down in the Fighter Assault Bay when that other Captain took over. Two of those Valkyries opened fire while inside the hangar. Many dead. So awful. I really admire those pilots and the technicians working there. Such a tragedy."

Rihen noticed that Skye Carver was not looking so contemplative anymore, and that was when she realised that she was one of those fighter pilots and not just a shuttle pilot. Blood draining from her face, Rihen felt compelled to say more now that she had begun, otherwise she did not know what the blonde human would do to her.

"Three pilots dead, one in the battle with the Calamity-ship. A fourth one - Thomas Ravon, or Razor - is still missing after the fighting. I am sorry. The dead were called... Nightmare, Quake and... Yeah, the last one was called Oracle."

In two seconds, Skye Carver was gone from the room - undoubtedly heading out there to find the bodies, or to go down to the hangar. Rihen called after her. "I'm sorry, I didn't know... I..." She sighed, looking up at Kae, distraught at telling the woman that her friends had died in such a crude fashion.

Then she saw the look on his face.


[ Captain Ives | CO Ready Room | Deck 01 ] Attn: Triage

Having enjoyed the afterglow, Jien had not been prepared to hear the chirp of the door and the voice of Edena Rez. Mind entirely elsewhere, still as entangled with Cameron as their bodies were, Jien still managed to get back on his feet rather quickly. His Yeoman was, perhaps, even quicker in catching up with what was at stake and collecting her uniform from the Ready Room.

Precious seconds of forced silence went by, where he restored his desktop to a semblance of order after having been doing all but office-work upon it, and Cameron somehow had her wits about her and vanished into the antechamber - barely wearing anything of the uniform he had removed from her. Any other time, perhaps later, the ordeal might have been jocular, but presently, Jien took a few steadying breaths, and changed...

...into her female form, no longer naked but wearing her mimicked uniform. Clearing her throat, she raked her fingers through her hair and picked up a random PADD from the restored desk. "Enter," she said, realising that the datapad was upside down and turning it over before the sliding doors admitted the Trill. Fortunately, she was not entering via the antechamber since she was - officially - still her First Officer and did not have to pass the Yeoman to gain admittance.

Breathing forced into normal rhythm, she raised her oaken eyes to Edena. Wenn Cinn had not only informed Jien about Edena being a security risk and her being denied further access to phasers, but also verified Jona's betrayal - having heard every word of it from inside the Captain's Yacht. Therefore, there was some gravity to this meeting, and it served to return Jien to the present quite fast - even if she saw Cameron writhing in pleasure whenever she blinked.

"So, I take it you have made a decision?" she said, hoping the thickness to her voice was easily mistaken for hidden feelings about the resignation. It would only illustrate the truth of it. Jien did not want this, even if she saw the reasoning behind it.

Re: EPILOGUE: Precepts By Which We Survive

Reply #24 –
[ Evelyn Rawley | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 15 ]

Personal boundaries. Rawley understood those all too well. They were the reason she had paused before entering Iron-Fox's office. She had seen him through the shattered window, still in his exosuit. He was reacting as well as could be expected, Rawley thought, if one had lost four pilots. Five, counting Khorin Douglas. A part of her said 'fuck it', and that she still should go in there and say something. She wanted to know what had happened in the battle since she had been out cold for a while, but she decided against it - turning from the door and walking thoughtfully through the debris of the Flight Hangar.

She had landed not long ago with her three remaining companions from the ice planetoid, heard what was to be heard, and seen Maverick report Thomas Ravon's MIA status. He was most likely dead, but somehow, it felt better to cling to hope. Seeing the activity around her was oddly enough encouraging on its own. For while the present devastation made her stomach turn in ire, the fact that people were doing something about it so soon was remarkable. She would assist them, of course, but she had a mind to showering off the battle first and take stock of her injuries.

In the locker room, she peeled off Fasha's exosuit piece by piece and put it in a container marked for maintenance. And as she shed her protection, Rawley could see the aftermath of the avalanche. The medics would be shaking their heads like they usually were, saying that it was a miracle she was still on her feet. Truthfully, she felt like shit, and looked the part too. Dark bruising all over her already scarred body. The mirror showed caked blood underneath her nose and lips, and her eyes looked like she was still hung-over from the Festival of the Moon. Strange to think that had only been yesterday night, when so much had happened in-between. She still hadn't talked to Papa Bear about it, but given what had happened since then, what was there to say, really?

She heard that one of the three sonic showers were on, and she saw Goldeneyes' gear by her locker. The two of them were polar opposites in terms of personality, but it was still nice to know that one of her sister wolves were still alive. As she walked into the shower next to Lance's, she set her hands against the wall and activated the shower with a voice command. As the vapour rose from her beaten and bloodied body, she remembered her on-and-off again relationship with Oracle. Axius had swung both ways so he could share her taste. She remembered partying with Slaverton, playing cards and drinking games long into the nights in Below Decks. The shit they talked about. Men. Women. Sex. Fights of old. She remembered a stupid joke that Hannah had told, but instead of quiet chuckle, she felt tears forming in her eyes. Ravon...

Angrily, she shoved the memories away and straightened where she stood in the shower. She brushed her forearm against her eyes and bared her teeth, virtually hissing the sentimentality out through her teeth. Fuck it. They were better off. They would drink together in the afterlife, since that was the only bloody place left for them to escape to at that point. Some measure of damn respite.

No rest for those yet alive, however. She ended her shower before the cycle was finished because no matter what Nicander and his fucking medics might say, she meant to go out and help clear the deck of the hangar. If it helped take her mind off her fallen comrades, then she would polish that bitch until you could see your fanny in it.
 
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