Star Trek: Theurgy

Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

February 08, 2017, 12:28:51 AM

Episode 04: Simulcast | Chapter 06 "No Cosmic Justice"

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. "

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

[ Lt Cmdr. Miles Renard | Lone Wolves Squadron | Wolf-01 ] Attn: All (Esp. Lone/Grey/White Wolves, the Allegiant crew and Covington)

With his Mk III Valkyrie running on just one of its quantite cores, Miles Renard wasn't too optimistic about the odds he faced, even if he wasn't facing them alone.

The two modded shuttles that had escorted the Sabine to Vector 01's shuttle bay pulled up on either side of him, and he turned his helmet to see the modifications up close - a patchwork arsenal strapped to the once inferior crafts. Seeing through the glass of their cockpits, the lit interiors revealed that the pilots wore Tactical CONN exosuits from 2377, and he realised that they were wolves too - Grey Wolves in sheep's clothing. They had, no doubt, lost their Valkyries during the Resolve's voyage back to Federation space. He met their eyes through the visors of their helmets, and he inclined his head to them both, each in turn. Then he patched the Lone Wolves' squadron channel to them.

"Iron-Fox, Wolf Leader," he said by means of introduction, "Nice rides. Now, let's make sure your crew gets on the Theurgy, and we'll be leaving as soon as possible. We just need to get a message sent, and our teams back from the starbas-."

The Orcus opened fire against Vector 02, not too far off in the distance, and the garish purple light from the brutal bombardment made Miles narrow his slitted eyes. The effect was not the expected, since when the light faded between each pulse phaser bolt, it seemed the energy was saturating the Vector's shield. To what end, Miles did not know yet. What he did see, however, was the SCO of the Grey Wolves arriving - alone - from tangling with the Defiant-class USS Chester.

"There you are," he said on the same channel, one which Lieutenant Havenborn had been patched into before the two modded shuttles were, so he would have heard him speaking with them too. His gaze strayed from the last remaining Mk II fighter from the Resolve to the interceptors that were coming in his wake - like a vanguard for the straggling USS Chester. From above, an element of two new fighters from the Orcus was coming for them as well, only too far away to engage just yet. They were, truly, the last line of defence for Vector 01 and the Resolve, and at that moment, before the storm, it was clear just how poor the odds were. "Now... We might be strangers, but let's do this for a common cause."

Survival of their own. Perhaps even retribution for their wolven brothers and sisters.

"With me!" he called as the first interceptors came upon them, "Delta-2 manoeuvre, leading into Beta-4 and Omega-1 for that Defiant-class.Engage!"

Here goes nothing, Miles thought as he throttled whatever juice he had left out of his damaged engine - venting plasma as he shot off towards the approaching swarm. He saw on his sensors that Vector 01 set a course towards the Orcus behind their backs, and he had no idea what Captain Ives was up to with engaging the Vesta-class carrier while the wreckage of the Resolve was still docked with Thea's saucer section. The USS Chester broke off to engage Vector 03. It was hard to tell, but he thought Vector 02 had lost its shields from the Orcus' bombardment. He spotted the Allegiant in the fray as well, assailed by five interceptors. There was no way he could help her, but... what was that?

Something just launched from the Theurgy's Fighter Assault Bay on Vector 02, and from what little he could see of it, it had an eerily familiar silhouette. No, it can't be...

---

OOC: Edit: Updated the second to last paragraph to reflect events in Chapter 07: Cost of Truth.

The writers who's characters were not directly addressed in this post but who writes fighter pilots will be getting a PM too. The attack patterns mentioned above can be found here.

This Chapter will contain the scenes between the fighter pilots of the Theurgy, Resolve and Orcus as well as the Allegiant. Moreover, the scenes for the Boarding Teams will be finished here. Please try to limit comm traffic outside the fighter squadrons or the boarding teams so that it won't complicate things in Chapter 07 (I would need to coordinate across Chapters, which can be messy). Exceptions can certainly be made though. Stay tuned for the next half of the starter!

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #1 – February 08, 2017, 01:50:46 AM

[ SCPO Calvin Reagar | Boarding Team 01 | Communication Tower ] Attn: Wenn Cinn & CO

Behind the sliding doors that led the lowest level of Starbase 84's communication towers, Wenn Cinn's grenade went off, and Cal Reagar could hear the screams of the fallen. With his teeth bared, both in pain from his wound and in bitter determination, he did as they had drilled a hundred times on the holodeck. Only this time, it was the real deal - the pain reminding him every moment.

With a fear-defiant cry, he ran through the doors and into the aftermath of the blast. Narrowed eyes along the sights of his TR-120, he picked out five bodies on the floor, and then saw movements in the back of the large room. He saw two right away, having managed to find cover from the grenade, and he opened fire. He got one square in the neck, making him topple backwards. He had been unarmed, but not the other one.

Feeling his hair singe from the guard's phaser, Cal got behind the duty station next to the entrance, and he knew he had to alert his team. The anti-nadion field did not reach that far into the room, and the team was right on his heels. "Replicator!" he called, indicating where they should look, but as he saw them thundering inside, he saw another guard with a phaser emerging from another cover. "Three O'clock!"
   
If it only had been two officers that hadn't been hit by the stun grenade, but there were more of them, emerging from behind covers all across the room. And those who tried to fire within the anti-nadion cloud might have been stunned at first when their emitters didn't create a beam, but as soon as they did, they tried to overpower them with fists instead. By the point Cal got to his feet and struck one down with the butt of his rifle, he counted seven Starfleet personnel still standing, not all of them security, and the number wasn't too off from simulations since it was a large starbase.

Yet if they only managed to get through open area with its duty stations and listening booths, the main communication console was just beyond the next corridor, on the far side of the room...

In the midst of the ensuing shooting and fighting, O'Connell's voice was heard from Wenn Cinn's combadge. [O'Connell to boarding teams!  We're in!  If you got any requests I'd make 'em now, while there's still someone in th' primary reactor room that's on your side!]

---

OOC: This is the team's final fight, so go crazy and have fun! Just try to spread the fun around and don't hog all the take-downs for yourselves. Try to have the team work together as one unit, as if they have drilled this area a lot of times on the holodeck. One post each, and then we move on to the main communication console beyond a door on the far side of the area.

Suggested PO (feel free to post ahead of others): 1) Ravenholm 2) Cardamone 3) Isley 4) Wenn Cinn

Posts to come for the other two boarding teams!

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #2 – February 08, 2017, 04:22:21 PM

[ Theurgy "Thea" NX-79854 | Boarding Team 02 | Primary Reactor Control Room ] Attn: Doc M. & Brutus

[Boarding parties,] Thea heard Commander Carrigan Trent say from O'Connell's station by the main reactor, [space superiority is... hotly contested so you are directed to expedite your mission and extraction.]

"Dagnabbit! Fergit whut ah said Luff!  We need the transporters!  Git th' transporters back on line raight now!" O'Connell told the Tellarite, who scrambled to rectify how he'd redirected power from the station's transporter systems. The last security guard had been stunned by Cam and Rivard, so Thea set her pace towards the main consoles before the reactor. Before the guards had beamed in, Cam had not had the time to deactivate the starbase's shields or weapons, bypassing the security systems not being so easy for the Andorian, much less so when fired upon. Perhaps O'Connell would be quicker to power down the tower in the recreational dome called the Executive Offices Complex, and with it, the central command center. Then again, the starbase did have an auxillary reactor.

"I will assist you," said Thea as she closed the distance towards Luff and O'Connell, but  before she got there, the doors were breached on the second level, and Thea raised her TR-120 in one hand to take aim - eyes along the sights while she walked. She saw the Bolian woman on their team shield her eyes against the blast when the doors finally gave in, and Thea dealt rapid suppression fire into the gaping maw to the corridor. She saw movements in the smoke, guards attempting to pour through the opening, but she held them off long enough for Keyah to get her Accipiter up and charged. Once she fired, both the smoke and the guards cleared from the opening to the corridor. The concussion in the air was felt throughout the reactor control room, but even Keyah remained on her feet this time.

"I will attempt to deactivate the shields and the tactical systems," said Thea when she got to a station, and resequenced her abdomen to bare her mobile emitter, and for the second time, she connected it to the starbase with her datacord. She began to shred her way through the security systems in place while turning back towards the breached door - taking aim once more. Multitasking came easy to the A.I., so while she hacked her way into the defence systems, she also defended the team together with Keyah. Any guards that came into view was quickly dealt with.

"We will not be able to beam back aboard any of my vectors while I have my shields up," Thea reminded Luff and O'Connell both. "Therefore I do suggest the base's transporters remain offline, and that we report when the base's shields are deactivated."

As if emphasising her point, another security detail beamed into the reactor control room when Luff got the transporters online again, and Thea quickly shifted her aim to them - leaving the doorway to Keyah. There were six of them, too many for her to take out before they returned fire, so two more in the boarding team fell to the floor - fate uncertain.

---

OOC: The staff at the auxillary reactor is trying to wrest control away from O'Connell, Luff and Thea. Brutus, this is your cue to have Komial beamed to the primary reactor before Luff cuts the transporters again. Doc M., if you post first, you can have O'Connell cut the power to the EOC tower, and that would make the room dark for Komial, Brutus, in your post, and the auxiliary reactor might give her and Mackenzie emergency lighting. Oh, and I forgot to add O'Connell's message to the other boarding teams in my previous post, so I am adding it now.

Another post to come!

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #3 – February 08, 2017, 09:54:00 PM

[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Boarding Team 03 | EOC Top Floor Lounge ] Attn: SummerDawn & Doc M.

"You are too late," rasped the Romulan in a damaged voice, "the galactic war has already begun."

In the wake of those words, all that could be heard was the laboured breathing of the Romulan, and the minute movements from Sel and Zaraq at Ida's side. Even though the dead ringer of Isley in the brown, threadbare cloak lowered his weapon, Ida did not - sights still on the centre of his figure. She'd seen how fast he was, and would not take any chances. The fact that he looked like Isley did not help easing the tension in the lounge either. Quite the opposite. It just could not  be that they had the same kind of blood in their veins, could it?

"Who are you?" she said quietly, antennae angled towards him like twin adders.

"I'm neither enemy nor friend," he rasped, standing perfectly still - eyes unmoving, "I used to wear your uniform, but now, I just fight for what I believe in - walking a righteous path."

Ida didn't know Romulans spoke in riddles, but it might just be this one. Either way, it annoyed her. "What did you mean?" she pressed, having just as little patience as she had time, "Why would the war have begun already?"

The Romulan looked at her, as if he could see right through her eyes, and then he looked at Sel. "Interesting," he said quietly, his scarred forehead creasing in a frown behind the tresses of his burgundy hair. For a moment, it appeared as if he had tuned out, looking at something not present in the room. The pause even made Ida glance towards Sel and Zaraq. Then, as if returning to the present, the Romulan spoke anew. "My name is Drauc T'Laus, and for the last couple of hours, I have worked with the Starfleet crew of the Resolve. With them, I uncovered the truth about Captain Ian Hawthorne - the Commanding Officer of this station. I have come here to end his life, and prevent him from doing more damage than he has already done."

Ida clenched her jaw, her worst fears for Ensign Henshaw being confirmed. I've made a mistake.

Aloud, she snapped. "We don't have time for this. What has he done? Speak plainly!"

Drauc paused, as if he could sense her hidden distress about the Yeoman. "My apologies. He has collaborated with my people, and provided them with coordinates for the Federation's hidden weapon depots and research facilities along the entire length of the RNZ. The raids have already begun, and in doing so, he has made one faction of my former Empire wroth with the Federation, since they think Starfleet is arming Donatra's rebel fleet with Federation technology. It is, without a doubt, a means to bring the war across the Neutral Zone, intentional or not."

The Romulan's words made a cold shiver run up Ida's spine. "He is Aidoann."

"So you have heard of him?" said Drauc with a frown of his own.

"We fought and pried the name from the Romulans who raided one of those facilities. The Black Opal."

"I see," said Drauc, tilting his head a bit, "so I reckon you are not collaborators with my people, as everyone says you are. Then I would surmise we have a common goal, though I suppose you would rather try to bring Hawthorne to justice."

"No," said Ida, finally lowering her weapon a little, "we will try to remove an alien parasite that has taken over his mind. There might be hope for him yet." She chose not to tell him they just didn't know how to do it.

[O'Connell to boarding teams!  We're in!  If you got any requests I'd make 'em now, while there's still someone in th' primary reactor room that's on your side!] The message from Ida's combadge prompted them to continue the mission, lest they'd be too late. Ida took a deep breath and tapped her badge to reply even as she began to move towards the Romulan, waving with her rifle for Sel and Zaraq to follow.

"This is zh'Wann," she said, walking past Drauc T'Laus and towards where Henshaw had gone, "there are only three of us left, and we are going to take the command center by force. Shut down internal sensors and communications in the EOC tower, and get those shields down so that we can get out of here as soon as Wenn sends the damnable simulcast. There are transporter inhibitors both here and in the communication towers, so cut the power for them as well. zh'Wann out."

Pausing, a cursory thought devoted to the plight of the second boarding team, she looked over her shoulder at Drauc and then to Zaraq. The Klingon shrugged, evidently not seeing any harm in the Romulan helping them. Then she looked at Sel, seeing if she had any reservations. Her own were strictly personal, completely biased, and all Isley's fault.

---

OOC: SummerDawn, you're up! Doc M., here you have Ida's reply to O'Connell above. Another post coming up here with Ian Hawthorne.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #4 – February 08, 2017, 11:17:58 PM

[ Captain Ian Hawthorne | EOC Command Center | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Nolan & Brutus

[No Captain Hawthorne, you will not be sending me anything. In pursuant to Starfleet Regulation One Nine One, I am here by taking tactical command of this situation and I have instructed my officers to ignore any data coming in from an outside source. I am familiar with the officers aboard the Theurgy and considering what happened the last time that ship came into contact with any Federation starship, I refuse to allow them access to any form of wireless data sent in the open.]

Hearing the voice of Slayton as he replied, Ian Hawthorne quelled the urge to chuckle at the ignorant skin-puppet. So arrogant, believing he was in control of the situation, whereas he was merely dancing to his kin's tune. Cattle like Slayton, who believed themselves holy crusaders for a constructed ideal, they were the ones most predictable of the mewling flesh all around them. They were like children's toys, which could only go one way unless you nudged them into a new direction.

"Have at them," Ian merely said, "and let's hope they won't succeed doing what they did to Task Force Archeron again. Hawthorne out."

He turned from the viewscreen, saw the internal sensors screen and the readings there before he tapped his combadge. "Hawthorne to Dotnhil. Reinforcements have arrived, and the Chester has managed to manually release her docking clamps, joining the battle outside, but it would seem none of the boarding teams are dealt with. Your top priority is the primary reactor room. Stop them from lowering our shields at any cost. Hawthorne out."

Of course Ian knew what he was doing, feeding the Trill's guilt and leading her on with her failures, pushing her further and further, until she would do anything he asked just to redeem herself in his eyes. Like Slayton, she was also a predictable glove of flesh, only far more appetising. He had come to enjoy her well enough, but as disposable as she were, Ian wouldn't give it a second thought if she perished in the crossfire. Just like Trish, she was - after all - just a plaything to discard as he saw fit.

[Lieutenant Junior Grade Selnak to Ops. Captain Hawthorne, there is a boarding party here in the EOC. One of of the insurgents is a woman claiming to be your daughter, a Cameron Henshaw. She wishes to speak directly with you about a seize-fire, while the boarding team remains where they are. If you don't, the boarders threaten to push on and seize the command center. What are your orders?]

Cam, here? thought Ian, intrigued about the development. The daughter of the host, of his, was a tantalising morsel of woman - the biological daughter of a long lost friend. As his adoptive daughter, he remembered how he had done his utmost to try and provide for her, and even patched things up with Trish to ensure that she and Lisa both could have all the opportunities in the universe to become what they wanted to be - to do what they wanted most. Now, she was just another one of the cattle, meaning nothing to him. Even if she'd been his real daughter, he would defile her if given the opportunity, and dispose of the body like he'd done with Trish.

Wearing a frown he knew looked thoughtful, Ian eventually nodded to one of the present security officers, letting the man answer the call. "The Captain will see her, but make sure she is unarmed. Keep the boarding party locked down. Do not let them through under any circumstances. Reinforcements are on the way to your position. Ops out."

Oh, it was not sentimentality that made him wish to see Cam again, and he already knew what she would say - unaware as she was that the very person she'd try to warn was the cause for her plight.

"Tell Selnak to remove her combadge as well. I do not want her beamed back on that ship again," he said, turning back to see the capital ships moving into battle outside his base. Why play Kal-toh when one could instigate and orchestrate a real war? Indeed, why play with toys when one might pit real starships against each other and watch them fight to the bitter end?

---

OOC: Brutus, here is the communication from Hawthorne again, and Nolan, here is where you post with Cameron next.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #5 – February 12, 2017, 12:09:23 AM

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell | Boarding Team Two | Primary Reactor Control | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ]  

"I will attempt to deactivate the shields and the tactical systems," Thea announced as she reached a console near Luff and O'Connell.  Out of Billy Bob's peripheral vision, he could see the heavenly hologram expose the mobile emitter hidden in her abdomen and connect it to the console with a datacord.  It was distracting to see a woman with what appeared to be an umbilical cord connected to the console while she turned and fired her TR-120 at the doorway on the level above them, so he tried to concentrate on the task at hand. 

"Thanks Thea I need the help," Cam muttered from his console some three meters away.  "Someone in the auxiliary reactor room is fighting us."

Speaking of fighting, sounds of gunfire could be heard on the level above.  From his vantage point on the deck below Billy Bob couldn't see his teammates up there, but as long as the sounds of an Accipiter could be heard, Keyah and Rivard were holding the door. Rivard had climbed the ladder to join Keyah and she needed the backup. 

"We will not be able to beam back aboard any of my vectors while I have my shields up," Thea reminded them. "Therefore I do suggest the base's transporters remain offline, and that we report when the base's shields are deactivated."

"Don't you worry yore purty li'l head none darlin'," O'Connell purred.  "When Ah tol' Luff we needed th' transporters back online Ah meant thet he should jest git one transporter back online, one thet only we could use an' the base people kain't use knowhow!  It's not lahk he jest reactivated all th' transporters so base security cud use 'em.  Ain't thet raight Luff?"  The master chief's face fell when he looked at the Tellarite.  Chief Warrant Officer Gimli Luff's countenance was hideous at rest but he look on his face at this moment told a story, and unfortunately it was a combination of a horror story and a comedy of errors.

"What?" the Tellarite boomed.  "I thought we were going to pull out immediately!  I restored power to all the transporters!  This console isn't exactly a Vulcan chronometer!"

But the others weren't listening.  Their attention was fixed on the six glowing silhouettes appearing to the right of the main reactor wielding phaser rifles.  O'Connell, Thea and Cam turned and fired their weapons at them, but the group scattered and rolled to the floor, firing their weapons in the group's direction as they did so.  O'Connell and the others were forced to drop to the deck and scramble for cover to avoid getting hit.  A lucky shot struck knocked Luff out of his chair.  It must have been a coordinated attack, because the sounds of combat upstairs suddenly intensified.   

"Rivard's been hit!"  Keyah's voice reported as the gunmen reached cover and took up positions facing them.  "It got through his SAFTI gear, he's out cold!"

"Dagnabbit woman, could we beam through the Theurgy's shields by using the sensor windows?"  Billy Bob asked Thea as he used his TR-120 rifle to lay down some covering fire.  "Th' Theurgy uses a high-energy sensor system, which cycles every five an' a half minutes if Ah remember correctly, with a window of a fiftieth of a second," he added before firing again at the security team.  "Ah know th' timing is a mite tricky but if anybody could time it raight it's you!" 

"That isn't going to help us if we can't get the station's shield's to drop!" Cam barked as he shot a slender pipe over the bulky machinery one of the enemy was hiding behind.  What appeared to be scalding hot steam but was in reality subzero temperature shot down at him, causing him to roll out from cover where O'Connell could stun him.

"Then you two really gotta bring down those shields," O'Connell grunted.  Raising his head over the machinery they had been using for cover, (and completely forgetting that he had a tricorder attached to his SAFTI gear), O'Connell surveyed the area downstairs.  Two of their assailants were down; the others had taken up firing positions behind pipes, coolant tanks, the matter/antimatter reaction core and a rib of the bulkhead. 

[This is zh'Wann,] a familiar feminine voice replied.  [There are only three of us left, and we are going to take the command center by force. Shut down internal sensors and communications in the EOC tower, and get those shields down so that we can get out of here as soon as Wenn sends the damnable simulcast. There are transporter inhibitors both here and in the communication towers, so cut the power for them as well. zh'Wann out.]

"Aye-aye Ma'am!" O'Connell acknowledged bitterly as he turned to operate the controls, leaving Thea and Cam to keep the new security detail in check. "There we go!" he announced as he ducked back down when the opposition sent some phaser beams his way, "the sensors and communications should be out, but fur raight now the doors still work!" he added as Cam and Thea gave him the covering fire he needed to rise to his knees and reach awkwardly across the console again.  "Shuttin' down th' transporter inhibitors raight now.  O'Connell out!" he shouted when a phaser beam missed him by centimeters.

Instinctively, he detonated one of the anti-nadion grenades at ground zero.  That was a mistake.  It may have been a harmless gas grenade, but it was still a grenade.  When it detonated it lifted the master chief up by his scrotum and dropped him down on the portly and reeling form of Gimli Luff.  Tapping the activation stud on his SAFTI gear, O'Connell once more rose to his knees so he could cut power to the station's transporters again.  They didn't need them.  If Thea was going to pull off the beam-through-your own shields trick, she would probably have to coordinate it with Kowalski or one of the other transporter operators aboard the Theurgy.  Unfortunately, even if it worked, it was probably going to be one of those procedures where only one person could beam back at a time, and knowing Billy's luck, he'd probably be the last one to beam back. "Ah'm gonna deactivate th' station's transporters!   We don't need 'em knowhow!  Dang it, Luff why'd yuh have t' git hit?"

---

OOC: Leaving some wiggle room so a PC can use the station's transporter to beam in or for a guard to shoot Billy's console, forcing him to scramble for another one if the plot demands the station keeps its transporters going.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #6 – February 13, 2017, 04:28:27 AM

[Selena Ravenholm | Boarding Team 01 | Communication Tower]

Selena had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at Reagar's cry, this wasn't a holo-novel.  But still, he was quite successful in pulling the attention of the entire room towards himself, giving the rest of the team a chance to get out of the turbolift as well.  Regaining her phaser pistol, she fired off a few snap-shots in the directions Reagar called out as she hustled to the nearest console.  She didn't hit anything (or if she did they were just winged and she missed it), but since she was just trying to keep the guards' heads down it wasn't a big deal.  One of the guards got lucky though, almost as soon as she was out of the door a beam singed Reagar's hair and nearly clipped her neck.

That was all the encouragement Selena needed, quickly sliding into position behind a console.  Down on her rear, she kept her legs tucked in front of her, taking up an odd sitting position that had the console to her right side.  This made it nearly impossible to fire for effect, at least for normal people, and Selena was not normal.  Bringing up the pistol's POV view once again, she simply stuck the weapon over the top and used it as a periscope, snapping off a shot whenever she saw an opportunity.

That was when the brave ones starting to rush the team.  Probably figuring that their numbers would let them overpower the invaders, some of the officers in yellow came in fast.  The first went for Reagar and got a rifle butt in the chin for his trouble.  His partner, a Denobulan woman tried to take his spot but either missed Selena there or didn't think of her as a threat.  That was a costly mistake.  Jabbing her cybernetic leg out with full force, the Denobulan took the impact in the back of her knee, collapsing it with a sickening crunch. Before she could even hit the deck Selena was up on her feet in a crouch and caught her by the uniform jacket.  Using her foot as an anchor the two women spun around and the fin-faced woman went flying into the wall like a doll.

Impressive a move it may have been, it did cost Selena in the end.  Before she could rotate back under cover someone scored a solid hit to her chest.  Thankfully the SAFTI net was still online at the moment, but it was too much for it.  Components overloaded and blew out, showering her front with sparks and glowing embers.  Cursing up a storm, she rethought her plans.  Gazing up at the ceiling she could see plenty of hand-holds up there.  "Think you can keep their heads down for a few moments?" she asked her compatriots.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #7 – February 14, 2017, 07:26:44 AM

[ Tessa May Lance | Wolf 07 | Outer space | Within phaser range of Starbase 84 ] 

Try as she might, Tessa couldn't lose the Chester.  The Defiant class escort that had followed her out of Starbase 84's main docking bay seemed intent on staying on her tail, despite all of her attempts to shake it.  And the Chester wasn't her only problem.  Everywhere she flew it seemed that the station's Knight interceptors were there to greet her even though the swarms of them finally seemed to be thinning.  Fortunately, the Chester seemed to have acquired its own problems in the form of three Mark II Valkyries that had decided to engage her.  Okay, two.  There were two Mark II Valkyries engaging her.  One of them had been destroyed, but Tessa wouldn't let that bother her.  The pilots from the Resolve had managed to get the Chester off her six so she could rendezvous with Ghost at Vector Three, and that was what mattered. 

Ahead of her, Tessa could see two Knight interceptors flying in close formation.  They fired photon torpedoes at her and she countered by firing an ECM micro torpedo full of shrapnel and debris with her Valk's transponder signature and sensor reading in order to confuse the torpedoes and give them a false lock.  They two Knights ahead of her responded by launching ECM pods of their own to prevent her from shooting back at them. 

That was okay, she wasn't going to need a lock, for she wasn't going to fire any torpedoes at all.  Rather than avoid the two fighters she flew right at them and fired her tetryon pulse phase cannon when she was close enough to see them with her naked eyes.  They responded by firing their twin dual cannons that used an ammunition replicator to create 30 mm Osmiridum shells.  The shells were ineffective against Tessa's shields but her tetryon pulse phase cannon was effective against theirs.  A single hit on primary firing mode and a second hit on secondary firing mode was all she needed to take down one of the fighter's shields and cause malfunctions that essentially took it out of the fight.

"Woo hoo!" Tessa cheered as her Valkyrie and the two Knights missed each other by meters as they played a deadly game of 'chicken'.  "You'd be proud of me, Iron Fox!  I managed to take out that Knight without killing him!"

Behind her, the malfunctioning fighter swerved out of control into his wingman and exploded against his shields.  The second fighter was mostly intact with a broken wing and its shields down and was spinning out of control, but that didn't matter for it had ejected its canopy, turning it into an escape pod that shattered like an egg when the USS Chester accidentally hit it while following Tessa to the Theurgy's stardrive section.

"Gawd DAMN IT!!!"  Tessa shrieked in frustration.  How come things never worked out for anyone anymore?  Oh well, at least the Chester was still fighting two Valkyries... 

No, that wasn't right.  It was fighting one.  There was only ONE Valkyrie engaging the Chester right now.  The second one had gone kamikaze and rammed into the escort and taken the Chester's shields down to a fraction of where they had been earlier. 

And there was Vector Three, AKA 'the stallion', looking awfully long and skinny without the rest of the Theurgy.  Ghost's Valkyrie was on Tessa's scope; Rawley was still spaceborne.  Tessa turned her fighter around to face the Chester just as it fired at the third section of the fugitive carrier.  V3's hull shuddered under the impact of the torpedoes, but its shields remained intact.   Only now did Tessa realize her conceit.  The Chester hadn't been chasing her.  It hadn't even been following her.  What it had been doing was the same thing that Tessa had been doing:  making a beeline for the third section of the Theurgy taking the most direct path available.  

It was time to stop running.  Tessa turned her Valkyrie and screamed her battle cry as she fired her tetryon pulse phase cannon to bring down the Chester's shields so Ghost, the Valkyrie from the Resolve or the stallion could deliver the knockout blow.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #8 – February 15, 2017, 08:29:07 PM

[ CWO1 Sten "Papa Bear" Covington | Open Space | Reaver-class fighter Cinsaj ]

The Chief of the Deck knew this was a bad idea.  He was qualified to fly shuttles in combat situations.  He was even qualified to take fighters through operational test flights.  But he was not a combat pilot.  Yet, there he was in the cockpit of a fighter no one alive was even remotely checked out on, about to engage in active combat operations.  But when necessity calls, there was only one thing to do and that was to grin, bear it, and do what needed doing.  And that was what he did when he advised he was going to launch, and he certainly did not feel very good about it when the flight deck ran beneath him and he went from the well-lit cavern of the hangar deck and into the black.

But first, he had to make sure he wasn't going to get blown out of space by his own people, and he ensured his transponder was locked into the Theurgy's battle net, and he joined the tactical comm channel as he opened up the engines.  "Sweet fuck!" he swore as he saw his velocity climb.  He had never seen an acceleration curve like this on anything larger than a torpedo, and he mused at the amazingly efficient inertial dampeners that prevented him from being crushed by punishing g-forces.  But once he collected himself, he called out.  "This is Papa Bear in a non-standard fighter.  Don't shoot me." 

He was about to ask for directions and something to shoot at, but he caught something.  Allegiant had a handful of Knight-class interceptors on her tail, and he wasted no time in picking them as a target.  Besides, they were mostly coming his way.  There was no maneuvering, not clever tactics.  He simply drove right for them with the throttle open as wide as it would go, and he designated the targets.  The system was amazingly intuitive and he needed to do very little, and as soon as he entered range, he simply hit the firing control and bursts of phaser-fire lashed out from the Reaver.  And all he had to do was to fly the course of green boxes the computer had projected, and his weapons fired autonomously at each of the interceptors as he did his first pass, and by the time he blew past the pursuit, two were expanding balls of wreckage, with the cockpit pods ejected, two had been driven off, limping back towards the Starbase in some form of evasive pattern, and the last one was simply spinning away towards deep space, without power to propulsion and atmosphere venting from the cockpit. 

And only then did he call out again.  "Iron Fox, this is Papa Bear.  Point me towards something."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #9 – February 16, 2017, 07:53:17 AM

[ Nathanal Isley | Boarding Team 01 | Communication Tower ] Attn: Boarding Team 01, Auctor Lucan

Nathan was really starting to question his choice to be placed into Security. The more people he watched run into their hallway and get fired upon the more he was starting to think that they didn't really have any room for career advancement. Looking down at his gold undershirt for a moment he had to wonder if their was any chance he could get a word thrown in and maybe get himself some red. Bridge crew and command almost never died on away missions.

These thoughts were compounded as streaks of phaser fire seemed to travel closer to his head then he would have liked. Taking shelter for a moment he breathed trying to think about how best to not get stunned. Seeing Selena's plan of attack he had to admit that she seemed to be a rather powerful and agile fighter. He winced when she was struck by phazer fire and watched her drop for a moment wondering if she was dead.

Thankfully she wasn't, and he could focus on the continued might of starbase security. He had to admit that open area did give them a bit of cover, and with the seven personnel they were facing off with, well more like five after Selena's attack he had to admit that the odds were starting to be in their favor.

Still he wanted to clear a bit more of a path to the corridor they wanted to reach as they were being charged in. Keeping the enemy's head down was a bit of a difficult request, but, he remembered the drills from the dominion wars, and quickly set his rifle to a wide dispersal. Considering he had already jacked it to the highest setting this was a bit more then the rashes and burns that had been reported during most sensor sweep drills, it was dispersed too much to kill (unfortunately) but it would probably hurt a lot.

"Phaser sweep!" Standing out of cover he pressed fire and held onto his weapon as the head gave a larger burst field. At close range it would have been like a shot gun, but anyone farther off the dispersal had a problem with drop off not being nearly as effective, still it made a few put their heads down.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #10 – February 20, 2017, 08:03:06 AM

[ Chris "Husker" Slayton & Lieutenant Talidenai zh'Idenna | Lone Wolf 04 and White Wolf 01 | Space around Vector 2 | USS Theurgy ] Attention: Warp-fighter related

Husker sat in his cockpit, looking across the short gulf at the fighter that contained his fellow pilot and one time former lover and tried to ignore every sense that was screaming at him to do his duty to protect the elements of the Theurgy under his protection and made damn sure to ignore the glowing red targeting recital in his field of vision.

"I'm serious Tali, I need to know what side your on because after the past few weeks things have royally gone from kosher to hell in a hand basket." Chris said in a firm voice.

A moment later a smaller screen appeared in Chris' view and those beautiful eyes of his former lover appeared in front of him with a look of utter concern in them.

<Christopher, why did you betray Vasser and the others on the Harbinger to join Ives' crusade against our own people?> she asked in a very trouble tone.

"I didn't betray anyone, Tali. A few weeks after you left, Vasser took the ship and escaped the Federation and at first everything was fine before we started loosing people left and right." Chris explained, praying that she wouldn't ask for more specific things.

<Not what I asked, I asked why *YOU* did.> came back her still troubled reply.

"Because it was my duty to back Phantos, he was my mentor and commanding officer...and my friend." Chris said as he tried to ignore the stories that he had heard about those last hours of his friend. "But he is dead as is Vasser, T'Rena, and the rest of our people with the small exception of a couple."

In her own fighter, Tali had to blink hard to accept this but she knew Chris and could tell when he was hiding something but unlike other people when Tali could tell that they were hiding things-it was almost like he was hiding things to keep from her being hurt.

<Then tell me why did you join up with Ives' and her crusade. Why did you betray everyone including your family!?> Tali shot back at him without adding the additional "And us?" to it.

Chris bit back a what he was going to say because he didn't want it to be something more painful when his senses started to tingle just a little bit as he could almost feel what was happening and very quickly he adjusted his position so that he could face another one of the Orcus' fighters that had just appeared.

"Hello, Sniper."

The mini-screen split and Sniper's pale red eyes appeared next to her lover's.

<It is very..agreeable to see you again, Christopher. But Tali asked you a question I believe and I myself wish an answer as well.> came her slightly breathy accented voice.

"I joined them because the charges are false, there is something wrong with the Federation command and Ives has proof of it." Chris said, trying to keep himself composed as he spoke to the two of them.

<Wait, proof of what?> Tali asked, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"There is a conspiracy, Tali, and it's bigger then the one that Doomsday told us about from Kirk's day. Look, if we were really working with the Romulans then were is our back up..seriously??" Chris said as he took a hand off of his flight stick to gesture at the space around them. "Think about it, the fighter element alone should hint that if we were being supported by our new Romulan masters then we'd have newer fighters correct?"

It was T'Zantha spoke up with <His logic is sound, they are using a combination of fighters of the Valkyrie make and I have yet to see one Scorpion class flyer anywhere among them so far.>

Chris nodded slowly, "Look, I'm not asking for much but I wouldn't be backing Ives if there wasn't a damn good reason but I can honestly say that you two are supporting the wrong side and I need you two to trust me if you ever did before.."
//////////////////////////////////

Tali shifted her muted her channel to Chris as she could feel her heart going out to him, but something had been nagging at her since the moment that her fighter first hit the Black.

<Tali, I know that look. What is it?> T'Zantha's voice asked as she flicked her eyes up to meet the gaze of her lover.

"Question, if the Theurgy was really supporting the star empire then why is there no sign of imperial forces? Furthermore why not just take the Theurgy and reassign her crew to an older warbird?"

The albino vulcan's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before replying with <Counter Question, why have their biggest prize in technology and equipment be the sole ship attacking a station of this size?>

Tali slowly nodded her head as she could feel her antenna move in a certain way against her scalp but before she could reply, Sniper continued with <Fact, he is a Slayton and a Slayton does his duty to the Federation..no matter the cost to one's self.>

Tali blinked as she looked into T'Zantha's eyes and saw the unspoken words there to which she could only respond with a nod.
/////////////////////////////

Husker could hear a pinging in his left audio pickup at which point he opened up a sub-channel and he could see Morrigan's helmet appear on his screen. <Husker, do you require assistance as I have the enemy wing commander in my sights.> she asked in a very serious tone.

"No, I know her and the only thing that you'll do is piss her and Sniper off." Chris said as his eyes flicked back to the fighter to his right. "Besides, I think.."

Whatever Chris was going to say next was suddenly and brutally cut off by one of the station's Knight-class Interceptors roaring down with two of his fellow pilots and savagely blasting Husker's Valkyrie with his weapons at which point one thing became very obvious.

His fighter's shields didn't strobe but instead the actual fighter it's self took the full heat of the attack as the hostile fighters roared past.

Both Terror and Sniper noticed this and they reacted in a heartbeat with an uncharacteristic snarl coming from one of them as they took off after the interceptors.
///////////////////////////////////////////

<This is Jazz to Orcus elements, swinging around for another pass on the mark. Thank you for luring him into a trap. Tally one!!> came the joyus tone of the fighter that had gotten the most hits onto Husker's valk.

A red targeting marker appeared in Terror's line of sight followed by the Zhen pressing down on the firing stud as she lit up the back of Jazz's fighter with phaser fire.

<White Wolf One, what are you doing?!> came Jazz's voice through the channel.

Terror couldn't find the space in her throat from all of the rage she was feeling as she just kept up her weapons fire until the weapons found their marks and simply tore the interceptor apart and she knew that his wingman in turn was turned into so much wreckage as well by Sniper's own more surgical handiwork before the two fighters made their way back over to where Husker was.

Hanging in the space between them was another Valkyrie from the Theurgy. <My wingman is rattled but alive, why did you turn on your fellows?> an accented female voice asked as her helmeted visage appeared on the screen.

"His shields were down."

<Indeed they were..foolish on his part.> the other pilot intoned.

Tali shook her head, "No he did it as a sign of honesty. He was telling us about why he switched sides and..." Tali started to say as she bit back her concern when another screen appeared next to the other pilot's and she saw Chris' eyes looking back her. "Are you alright?"

<Yes..I only did what I could think of..> he started to say but then he winced.

"I understand, Husker. Just rest for a moment." Tali said before she switched settings and opened up a channel to two specific pilots. "Dragon, Stormraven. This is Terror, remember that talk that we had a while back..well it's caught up to Sniper and myself so follow what you feel is right."

Tali then shifted her channels back to the two pilots in front of her. "Husker, I need your SCO's channel..and your trust."

Husker simply nodded and then it appeared at which point the andorian had a moment of complete concern as if she was doing the right thing for a brief moment before tapping the connect. "This is Terror to Lone Wolf Leader, requesting callback and identify, over."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #11 – February 20, 2017, 05:21:21 PM

[ Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Tribble Squadron | Fuzzy Flayer ] Attn: All (Esp. Lone/Grey/White Wolves, the Allegiant crew and Covington)
 
[Show/Hide]

 
 
After Tancredi and Kimberley Phillips a.k.a. Goshawk completed their escort of the Sabine and its valuable cargo of a handsome half-Klingon and lots of useful information including the secret of Chut'Luth, and after Tancredi's mini heart attack when the Sabine altered course to save K'Ren and recover her pod, followed by the redhead privately yelling expletives that would make someone from the Q Continuum blush, the remaining members of Tribble Squadron wheeled around, to head back into the fray.
 
:: That is one fine ship, :: said Phillips privately to Tancredi, and the Texas born girl smiled.
 
"Roger that, Goshawk," said Tancredi, "whadaya figger them fellas'll take us pair o' tribbles after all this is done?"
 
:: You kidding? :: Phillips sounded incredulous, :: They'd kill to have us on their crew! ::
 
"Hahah! Yeah, that they would." Tancredi and her wingmate positioned their shuttles to flank a Valkyrie Mk III which appeared to be from the Theurgy, which was guarding the saucer section...or was it triangle section of the Theurgy and what was left of the Resolve, home to Tancredi and Phillips. For the moment, they appeared to be allies in this crazy Starfleet VS Starfleet match, and with the fighter looking as banged up as it was, Tancredi figured having two hulking shuttles playing linebackers wouldn't hurt. Besides, Tancredi and Goshawk still had payloads of shuttle-grade torpedoes handy.
 
In the brief respite, both the redhead and her wingmate briefly redirected power to shield recharge and minor auto-repairs. The pilot of the Valkyrie was studying them the same way they were studying him. They both returned his silent nod of salutation.
 
:: Iron-Fox, Wolf Leader, said the pilot, to which Phillips and Tancredi uttered a quick return greeting of :: Hey. :: and "Howdy!" respectively, before he continued, :: Nice rides. Now, let's make sure your crew gets on the Theurgy, and we'll be leaving as soon as possible. We just need to get a message sent, and our teams back from the starbas- ::
 
Iron-Fox just won points in Tancredi's head when he expressed care for her family. That just made him her new number one friend on the Theurgy, and Phillips probably felt the same way, but they both also just learnt a great deal about what the crew of the other ship were up to. They had teams on the starbase? And they were sending a message? Well that made sense; Starbase 84 had some powerful communications systems, it was a wonder they hadn't used some kind of electronic package to mess with their systems. Then again the Resolve and its shuttles and fighters had some pretty sophisticated and souped up electronic countermeasures of their own.
 
That was when Tancredi instinctively shielded her eyes with an arm even as she shouted, "Red alert!" The computer automatically kicked all systems back to battle readiness, and once her helmet's visor and the cockpit's viewport screened out the excess lighting, she was furiously keying in commands and finally pulled out the manual steering yoke.
 
:: There you are, :: said Iron-Fox, and Tancredi realized that Havenborn was stumbling back to them. Two Valkyries, a Mk III and Mk II respectively, and two heavily modified Type-8 shuttles (affectionately called shootles) were all that stood against a starbase, some freaky new Federation starship, and a Defiant-class warship. That wasn't counting their fighter complements, which was starting to make everything look like a severely one-sided battle, :: Now...We might be strangers, but let's do this for a common cause. ::
 
"You point, we punch!" said Tancredi hastily before Phillips added in, :: Roger that! ::
 
:: With me! :: said Iron-Fox, and Tancredi tensed her grip on the steering yoke, when she saw the interceptors gunning for them right on Havenborn's tail.
 
"Oh, you motherfuckers picked the wrong Wolf!" said Tancredi, her anger rising at seeing her friend being endangered. All the rage returned. The sheer unbridled hatred, the desire to end those bastards right where they were. If she were a Q...
 
:: Delta-2 manoeuvre, leading into Beta-4 and Omega-1 for that Defiant-class. Engage! :: said Iron-Fox, who promptly throttled into action.
 
"Fuck, those are some tricky moves!" said Tancredi privately to Phillips, "Does 'e think we fly lahk him or 'avenborn?!? Boy Ah sure 'ope they 'aven't changed Omega-1 too much, or dis is gonna be tricky."
 
:: Roger that, :: said Phillips, :: Let's kick tail! ::
 
"YEEEE-HOOO!" Tancredi throttled her shuttle forward before "dropping" and seemingly spiralling out of control and then coming up from the bottom, firing her autoblasters and turret fully into the thick of the interceptors, her eyes watchful on the scanners for new threats or incoming allies, few though they were. Parts of the Theurgy was moving to engage the carrier cruiser of the Uncle Chester, and that ship, which was either an extra-large shuttle or a micro cruiser, was lending a hand, but having interceptor trouble.
 
That was when Tancredi noticed a funky ship exiting one of the Theurgy's bodies, and she forgot to tune out her communicator, so everyone heard her ask, "What da fuck is dat?!?"
 
:: This is Papa Bear in a non-standard fighter. Don't shoot me. :: said the pilot of the ship, as if answering the redhead's question.
 
"Papa Bear, eh?" said Tancredi on the tactical channel for the squadron, "Ah lahk 'im already!"
 
She liked him even more when she saw his badass weirdo of a ship eliminate the fighters haranguing the other big shuttle/cruiser/whatever and then he coolly said, :: Iron Fox, this is Papa Bear.  Point me towards something. ::
 
"Sweet mother o'God!" said Tancredi even as Phillips said on the channel, :: Holy crap! ::
 
"Were ya savin' th'best fer the last?!?" Tancredi had to ask, "'coz dat fella is dis side o' ass-kicker!"

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #12 – February 20, 2017, 11:37:43 PM

[ Lt Cmdr. Miles Renard | Lone Wolves Squadron | Wolf-01 ] Attn: All (Esp. Lone/Grey/White Wolves, the Allegiant crew and Covington)

At the point where Renard launched into the Delta-2 manoeuvre, where he overshot Havenborn's approaching trajectory and then continued to climb, he had to silence his computer's warnings about his engines. He growled and tapped a couple of commands mid-approach to overclock the remaining half of his tandem engine, then pushed it from his mind, just as he pushed his thumbs down on his pulse phasers - spewing orange bolts down unto the interceptors that were chasing the Grey Wolves' SCO.

Little did he have time to think of how Papa Bear had seen the seriousness of their situation and joined the fight, but he did pick up on the reactions from the Grey Wolves when seeing a Reaver for the first time. He had acknowledged Covington when he'd appeared, and did so again when he effectively destroyed three Knights and sent the last two running in a single pass. Whereas the Grey Wolves were ecstatic, Renard knew he had to help his friend. The old COD was out of his water, even if he was piloting a killer machine from the future.

"Long story... Meony, was it? Salvo, you're clear!" he said, slitted eyes darting between his HUDs and the moving targets he fired upon - clearing the pursuers behind Lieutenant Havenborn together with the modded shuttles. When they were gone, Havenborn would be able to join the manoeuvre, which had just slipped seamlessly into the Beta-4 phase. He'd just seen the message from Theurgy Tactical.  "This is Wolf Leader. New orders, Vector 01 has gone after the USS Orcus, charging us to protect Vector 02, which has lost its shields completely and need a stronger line of defence. Grey Wolves, whatever you are flying, abort Omega-1 and defend Vector 02. I repeat, abort Omega-1 and set course for Vector 02."

He was talking very fast, and even managed to tap in the coordinates, but then he had to complete the Beta-4 climb and veer of to starboard, firing continuous phaser fire into a squadron of interceptors that  has meant to give chase to Vector 01. As he hammered his cannon fire into the flank and ventral shields of the passing squadron, he answered Covington. "Papa Bear, this is Iron Fox. Pursue the USS Chester and empty Cinsaj's entire arsenal into its aft shields. Don't stop firing until those engines are gone. Goldeneye and Ghost are there to cover you. Ladies, you heard me."

Since Vector 03's hull was not completely unshielded, Vector 02 had to be the priority in number of fighters, and from what he had seen from the weapons tests that the Reaver named Cinsaj had preformed, he was confident about his orders to Papa Bear. More confident than he was about his engines lasting through the battle, at least. Moreover, if the message was sent, he wanted as many fighters as possible close to the Fighter Assault Bay on Vector 02 so that the Theurgy could jump to warp immediately.

With the Omega-1 raid on the Chester aborted, and Papa Bear going after the Defiant-class ship instead, Miles broke off towards Vector 02 and the four Lone Wolves present there. "I am reading twenty contacts from the Orcus, and forty-two more from Starbase 84 - the survivors of three squadro-. Hold..." he had to say, seeing how after Husker sustained heavy fire, two of the strange, new fighters from the USS Orcus opened fire and destroyed his two assailants. "You saw that too, didn't you? Line Abreast Formation, circling Vector 02, but... hold fire against Orcus fighter elements until fired upon."

He he had no idea what was going on, so in the seconds where he led Salvo, Meony and Goshawk towards Vector 02, he keyed up the sensor readings on the new fighters, apparently named AC-477 Mk I Valravn. As he dealt a few potshots against interceptors that got in his way, Renard could also see the callsigns of the Valravn fighters on the sensors, added by the pilots themselves. While the ones who had fired against Husker's attackers were not familiar, he did see another name he hadn't seen in years. Angel? From the Kusanagi?

"Morrigan, Husker, sitrep? Razor and Outrider, you all have bandits on your six. I am counting six interceptors, the rest inbound." Not sure what to make of it all, he made a second call. "Razor, when able, please confirm Orcus fighter contact designated Angel. Verify if you can."

[This is Terror to Lone Wolf Leader, requesting callback and identify, over.] It came from one of the two fighters that had defended Husker, and Miles saw it was marked as Wolf-01 as well, just like Salvo's and his own fighter were. It was the third alpha present from the three packs. When he answered, Miles patched his communication system to all the present Valravn fighters too - making his word a recorded message they could chose whether or not to respond to.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Miles Renard of the Lone Wolves, and with me is also Lieutenant Havenborn from the Resolve. We will defend ourselves, but the Theurgy is not here for anything else than to send a message from Starbase 84, where we'll set the record straight, and tell everyone who the real enemy is. We are not defectors, with no affiliation to either of the splintered Romulan factions. It is Starfleet Command that has been taken over by alien parasites, who seek to seed discord in the Federation, destabilising the fleet. The truth will be known today."

At that moment, in the far distance, the USS Orcus was disabled by Vector 01 of the Theurgy, the sensor spike showing the Resolve's warp core detonation against the Vesta-class carrier's shields and the severe destruction it meant. Captain Ives had removed the threat of Slayton's shield-overloading pulse phasers. Hopefully, the Valravn wolves would heed him regardless what just happened to their base ship.

This was when the last remaining swarm of interceptors arrived - the six already present followed by the last thirty-six. They were the survivors from the station's last three squadrons, and they came for the unshielded Vector. Miles had no more time to talk - the orbital defence line to be held. Slitted eyes narrowing, he opened fire.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #13 – February 22, 2017, 02:55:10 PM

[ Ryuan Sel | Boarding Team 03 | EOC Top Floor Lounge ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

The firefight had been short, intense, and now the path before them lay clear. Clear except for this enigma standing before them, a Romulan. Ryuan had no idea who this man was, his allegiances, his creed. All she knew was that he'd just mowed down the remaining guards with a skill rarely seen, and started to speak of a war, of Hawthorne being the traitor, confirming her fears. And yet even now he spoke in riddles, adding pieces to the puzzle like little drops, clarifying and yet confusing the situation further.

She listened to the exchange between Ida & Drauc, listening, trying to see if the man was telling the truth, the real truth, his understanding of the truth, or a fabrication to stall them. He seemed sincere yet Sel had her misgivings, her distrusts. She was still scanning the entrances as she looked at Drauc, studying the man. Communications came in from the other team, orders given right back and they were again left in relative silence. She caught Ida's gaze, noting the question in her eyes.

"We don't have much choice Lieutenant. We take that control centre and rescue Henshaw. If we can capture Hawthorne, we do. If not, our Romulan friend can do the honor." She looked to Zaraq and then back to Ida. "And we have little time. By now the staff inside the EOC know we've eliminated their guards, and will be requesting more." She looked to Drauc, "It seems we fight for the same cause."

((OOC: My apologies for such a terse and late reply. Been insane at work and isn't going to calm down for another few weeks at least.))

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #14 – February 24, 2017, 12:29:38 AM

[ Sar-unga Neleo | Boarding Team 01 | Communications Tower ]

Where Isely felt regret, Sar-unga felt exhilaration. People appear from hiding spots like little surprised, their bodies collapse in an unconscious heap on the ground. It was like a game of whack-a-mole, except much more involved, and the moles whacked back. Her job was to run in and wreck shit, and she loved every second. Career advancement could bite her tail.

As she ran into the room, her teammates became a blur. She already knew what to do, take cover and return fire, and she could generally predict where they were and where her teammates were going. Selena was hiding out, probably cooking up something smart up in that robo-head of hers. She had a knack for things like that. Reagar was...screaming? Well, now's not the time to judge his war cry. Isely prepared a phaser sweep--Ravenholm mentioned keeping heads down.

As soon as his sweep ended, the Asurian shot up from her cover and began hers. Between the two of them, there wasn't a break. No, it would not clear a room like she would like, but Sar-unga was a huge fan of Ravenholm's ideas. Her tail quivered to think of what mischief lay ahead of them.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #15 – February 24, 2017, 05:11:12 PM

[ Lt Thomas Ravon | Hybrid Wolf cockpit | Vector 02 ] Attn: Lone/Grey/White Wolves, the Allegiant crew and Covington

The situation around Vector 02 had become somewhat problematic as the Orcus had released it's fighters to them. Yet the worst part was that the Orcus managed to drain the shields of vector 02 in a matter of seconds. It meant that Razor had to improvise and he looked over at Outrider "Outrider, you have three incoming fighters on your si-" before Ravon's message was complete the knight class interceptors had performed a inescapable execution against Outrider. The Valkyrie spun out of control as both nacelles were hit, leaking plasma into space. Seconds later it ignited and what remained was an incinerated outline of what once was a Valkyrie. "Fuck!" he grunted as he made his own bird spin around and flew head on against the assailants. The combined phaser power of the Reaver and Valkyrie simply shredded through the fuselages and caused for various explosions next to Vector 02.

With more fighter incoming Razor heard Miles' voice over the channel before he saw the outline of a Reaver speed away of his vector. The first reaction of Thomas was to lock on to it and unload, until he realized that nobody else but Covington was flying it. "Cheeky..." he murmured to himself as the Reaver got the orders to harass the Chester. It made Thomas smile at least a little as he could still appreciate the design of a Reaver fighter.

"Razor, when able, please confirm Orcus fighter contact designated Angel. Verify if you can."

Razor looked at his scanners as he frowned and confirmed "I see her Iron, will verify." he answered before he looked at the scanners. He opened up a channel to Stormraven as he pointed his atrocity towards main bulk of the forty-two incoming fighters from SB 84. "Angel this is Razor... I repeat this is Razor.  Confirm former attendance from Red Viper squad. Come on Garcia, let me hear that raspy voice." he called out to her.

They'd be upon him soon and he charged up the Mk I Transphasic Compression Phaser Cannon. Reaver tech at it's finest though it remained to be seen how effective it would be on a non fully commissioned Reaver. As the weapon powered up, the engines started to stutter and Thomas had to fight to keep his bird in a straight line once more. Alarms went off once more as usual and he rolled his eyes before he locked the weapon to the center of the formation. "Peekaboo..." he smirked before he opened fire. The Transphasic Cannon spiked and caused for a major malfunction on his support systems and for a solid two second his engines just cut out. The shot however was concentrated and delivered to where it was pointed at. The damage and onslaught of it was tremendous as the shot managed to take out at least three of the knight class fighters and severely damaged another two, which made them fly uncontrollably. For Ravon however the kickback had its consequences as his fighter nearly slammed into the hull of vector 02. He managed to restore power just in time before scraping the paintjob of the ship and managed to steer back to open space.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #16 – February 25, 2017, 11:02:59 PM

[Dev "Dragon" Okhala| Wolf-05 | USS ORCUS "White Wolves Squadron] attn: pretty much all

"Fives squad, line up with me, straight edge," Dev ordered, her voice tight and clipped as her wing made its rounds. The Theurgy and her fighters were putting up a ridiculous effort, and her weapons were more than sufficient against the Orcus.

"Dragon, we've got a problem." It was Vinnie's voice, calm despite the burning flames that seemed to engulf all of space in front of the starbase. The Orcus was under heavy fire and Dev's quick eyes noted the damage.

"I see it, Fury."

Then Tali's voice broke in, and Dev listened clearly to her flight leader's words. She was still flying, but moving away from the battle.

"Fives, fall back to 101, line abreast." With that, Dev angled off, dodging sprites of debris, and other craft jockeying around. Her eyes burned with a sudden intensity as she saw their enemy holding off firing on the Orcus. It gave her a small measure of comfort.

"Dragon, Theurgy is requesting surrender terms from 101."

"They won't break radio silence." Dev's lips pursed, her face a hard line of creases that could have blended with her flight suit. "Fives, interdict on 101."

"Wolf-05, Wolf-6."

"Copy."

"Dragon, what about the mission?"

"Popper should have friendlies incoming. We'll fall back to interdiction."

Dev's mind was racing, with Tali's last message, and Theurgy holding fire. Clearly there was more going on than they were being told. It stank of black ops and secrets, both of which Dev hated. Secrets had nearly destroyed her father.

Tal Shiar.

"What's that, D?" Vinnie's voice was in her ear.

"Scan for Romulan signals in the area, including Tal Shiar frequencies."

"Tal Shiar? Dragon, this isn't..."

"Just do it." Dev snapped out. "If Theurgy is supported by Romulans then they might be signaling for back up."

Her flight elements were not in a pattern around the damaged Orcus, pursuing and diverting Theurgy attacks to the best of their ability. Just as the battle raged outside, Dev's mind raced with thoughts. She had picked up rumors of an agent in the midst of Starfleet, someone feeding false information, and none of it added up.

She flipped a switch to the flight leader's channel, a private line, pilot to pilot. "Terror, Dragon. I need to know about someone called Aidoaan. I need to know."

Dev knew certain rumors from Starfleet Intelligence and other contacts she had developed. This piece of data could make up her mind one way or the other.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #17 – February 26, 2017, 09:15:28 AM

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Grey Wolf-01"] Attn: DocReno, Auctor Lucan, anyone I missed

With the remaining fighters off his tail and having caught up to the remains of his squadron, Daniel cycled through his weapons list, all of his ordnance was gone, he was down to just phaser cannons now. "You holding up okay Knight?"  He said to his RIO.  "All good here Salvo, just looking forward to getting outta this cockpit."  Knight said in response.  Hearing the new orders to begin a series of maneuvers Daniel pushed the engines to full throttle and began to go through them, however as he was about to finish up the maneuvers he got the abort order from Commander Renard.  "Omega-1 aborted, moving to support."  Daniel said over the squadron channel.  As they got closer to Vector 02 he saw the mass of fighters coming towards them, the way they were formed up would only make it harder for them to miss.

Seeing the Orcus fighters open fire on the interceptors was kind of a shock but he was glad to have some more potential allies, he hoped that they'd become allies anyway, they needed all the help they could get at the moment.  He saw the Husker's fighter being chased by the interceptors and decided to help out.  "Salvo to Husker, adjust your course by thirty degrees and continue forwards at maximum thrust."  Daniel said as he matched the course correction himself, he was on a direct course with Husker but if he'd done his math right, and he liked to believe that he did, their fighters would only come within a few inches of each other, this would help him surprise the interceptors, if only a little.

As his fighter got closer he could hear the collision alarm in his fighter begin to sound, Daniel rechecked his math and it still checked out so he shut the alarm off and continued on course, another five hundred meters...three hundred meters...one hundred meters...  He watched as Husker flew over his cockpit, had he been able to open his cockpit he could've reached out and touched the outer hull of the other fighter.  There, his targeting sensors locked onto the first interceptor, he fired a full blast with his pulse phasers, watching as its shields flickered and then failed, he kept firing until the ship was destroyed, he locked onto the second interceptor and repeated the process.

When the second interceptor was destroyed he knew he wasn't going to get a chance at the third, at least not from this angle.  He thrust past them and made an Immelman turn maneuver, now that he was behind them he targeted the closest interceptor and fired until its shield flickered and the ship was destroyed, he locked onto the fourth interceptor as another one broke formation to get behind Daniel's fighter.  He'd have to worry about that one later. "Knight, watch that interceptor, let me know when it's in weapons range."  He said as he began firing on the fourth interceptor. "Got it Salvo, it'll have weapons lock in thirty seconds."  Knight said in response.  Thirty seconds was more than enough time for him to take out the remaining two interceptors.

The fourth interceptor's shields flickered then failed and he scored direct hits on its warp engines, the detonation blinded his sensors for a moment but he recovered and locked onto the fifth interceptor, he followed the same pattern as before, though this one had learned a bit and was trying to evade his shots. "Ten seconds to weapons range."  Knight said.  Daniel kept at it and soon enough the interceptor's shield failed. "Incoming torpedo!"  Knight said as Daniel watched them on his tactical display, he just had a brilliant idea, he just needed to adjust his course a little.  He dodged the torpedo and got the lock back onto the fifth interceptor, he fired all of his phasers and watched as the interceptor exploded into a ball of dust.  One more to go.  "And now to try something I've always wanted to do."  He said out loud. "Salvo, no; this is not a time for the Havenborn Special!"  Came Knight's response.  "It'll work, trust me."  Daniel said, he seriously hoped that it would work, he'd only done it in simulations and hadn't had a lot of success with it, but it was better than nothing right now.

He slowed his fighter down letting the interceptor get a clear targeting lock on him.  He could feel Knight's anticipation; the two of them had worked on this maneuver for hours at a time on their journey home so they both knew what they needed to do.  "Targeting lock, incoming torpedo!"  Knight said as he tried to calm himself.  Daniel thrust the engine output to maximum.  "Knight, take weapons offline and divert power from the phaser arrays into the engines and the pulse phasers into the shields."  He said as he watched his display screen show the changes in the power allotment.  "Engine output increased by ten percent, we can't sustain this for long."  Knight said as Daniel brought the fighter around, the torpedo gaining on him as he maneuvered.  He could see the energy levels dropping as he pushed his engines, another few meters.  "Interceptor is directly in front of us, he's locking on."  Knight said.  Daniel grit his teeth, another couple hundred meters...  "Interceptor has a lock!"  Knight said.  "Keep it together Knight, we can do this."  Daniel said in response, as the interceptor tried to maneuver away but Daniel matched each maneuver as the torpedo closed in.  "Fifteen seconds to impact."  Knight said.

"Transfer all power to shields and engines."  Daniel said and he watched as the energy transfer, another five percent.  Daniel supposed that's the best he could hope for, he watched as he closed distance with the interceptor, it switched from its torpedo launchers to its phasers and Daniel could feel the phaser impacts against Valkyrie's shields, he watched as they began to drop, ninety-six percent, eighty-one percent, sixty-three percent...  Daniel watched as his fighter came within inches of hitting the interceptor and suddenly the target lock tone was gone and he relaxed for a moment.  Then there was an explosion behind his fighter as the torpedo slammed into the interceptor.  He watched as his shields depleted another twenty-six percent as they absorbed the explosion.  "Shields at thirty-seven percent and holding."  Knight said.  "Transfer power from the phaser arrays from engines to shields but transfer power back to the pulse phasers."  Daniel said as he set course back to formation with the other fighters before the rest of the interceptors caught up to them.  "We've got shields back up to sixty-seven percent."  Knight said.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #18 – February 26, 2017, 02:35:48 PM

[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | Security Center]Atten: Mac, Hawthorne
[Show/Hide]

She processed Mac's words - it never crossed her mind that he was having issues with her state. Mac was a handsome man, but she was the Captains woman and - or was she?? Though she didn't get a chance to comment, her eyebrows shot up high on her forehead at the new found knowledge. Trish was here. The Ex. Mother of one of his two children. Children she'd looked forward to meeting at some point. If she were going to be a part of the Captains private life...

Doubt reared its ugly head. Why didn't he tell me? she asked herself. When had the former Mrs. Hawthorne beamed aboard? Before their dalliance in the quarters? Was her appearing....did he profess love for her in response to Trish? Or did she beam in after? Was part of his anger because his ex was here? Or was there something more at play. Was Trish making a move? I need to find out what happened to Trish Hawthor--

The captains voice, and the captains orders rang out into the office, robbing Komial of her ability to think, stealing away her concerns of her Ian's ex wife and her own horrible ordeal and refocusing her on the task at hand. "Aye, Captain," was all she replied. What else could she do? Turning to Mac, she swallowed and drew on strength from the man that might not actually be in his being to lend. But she perceived it in her own xo, whether he did or not,and that was enough.

"Thank you," she said quietly. She would not bring it up again. Her face shifted - the horror of the past few minutes, and the shame at letting her captain and lover down, vanished behind the cold, professional mask that was Komial Dotnihl, Lt. and Chief of Security of Starbase 84. "You hard the Captain," She told Mac as she swept past him and into the primary Security center like the winter wind, harsh and cold, her voice carrying out. "I want screens up displaying all the known boarding parties. Get me a transporter room dedicated to us, now." She took in the room, the controlled bustle what was her people at work. She drew satisfaction from what she saw. The captain might not be pleased yet, but her men and woman would do the job.

"Anderson.  Vibro, Himmenez. Cavani. R'z't'vey. Tolchek. You six with me," she pointed, one after another, summoning the security officers from their stations and gesturing to the armory locker. "Load up. We're going for," She swept her eyes over the monitors, "Primary reactor control. No. Scratch that," a cold grin formed on her face, "Tell the transporter room to beam us into the Chief Engineers office. No nee to drop us into the line of fire right away. Oh, remotely suppress the rooms lights" Then, turning to Mac, she continued, coming closer, the two of them moving to stay against one of the secondary console stations.

"Stay here. Coordinate. I know you're itching to get out there to, but your Analytical mind is the reason you're my Assistant. You see the big picture and draw the conclusions. You're a hell of a shot, but right now, I need the best set of eyes on the station itself. That's you." She clapped his shoulder. Her praise wasn't false, it wasn't said simply in gratitude for what he had done moments before. It was sincere. "And..." her voice dropped lower. She didn't want the rest of the staff to hear. "See if you can find the captains ex-wife. If Ives has her, we need to know so that I- that Captain Hawthorne can be prepared for the hostage ploy."

With that said she turned back to her team, and took a fresh phaser rifle from the cabinet. She ran it through a quick diagnostic and was satisfied with what she saw. As more junior people moved in to take up the slack, she turned to her people. "Take them down hard, and fast. The whole security of the station depends on this." and hit her combadge. "Dotnhil to transporter room. Seven to beam to Chief Engineers office, Deck 14. Energize." She braced herself, phaser locked into position as the beams caught the team -

[ Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | Primary Reactor Control | Level 14 ]Atten: O'Connell, Thea

-and deposited them in the dimly lit room. It was at tight fit but they spread out swiftly. Komial took pride in her people, the way they had indeed suppressed the automated lights per her orders, the professional way they took up cover fire positions and prepped to breach the room outside. She could hear the last vestiges of a fire fight - other men and women trying to breach in. Well, they would just see about that.   Raising her hand, she began the countdown. Five. Four. Three. Two.

At One, she jerked her hand forward and two of her team - Cavani, the striking, curvy blond ensign, and R'z't'vey, the long legged veteran non com Rigillian with his greying hair swept back away from his cranial ridge, burst through the door. They saw, across the way, an Bollian covering the other main entrance to the room. He had just let out a burst of fire with some kind of non-phased energy rail-gun. They had seen images of this in use from the Security Center and the duo knew the kind of threat such a weapon represented. Without a word, the two braced themselves on the railing before them, and began to lay in a series of cover fire, pinning the blue skinned, hairless individual, who had to duck under the far security railing to avoid being taken out.

That gave her team to the time to spread out and pop up and over. They had found the boarding party below. It was clear to her people and the CSec that the team was trying to take control through the consoles. Her angle was off, but she could see a cord running up into the far panel, the one guarded by two of the Theurgy traitors.

Vibro and Anderson opened fire even as Komial cried out. "This is Lt. Dothnil, Chief of Security. Consider yourselves under arrest for acts of terrorism against the Federation -" necessities out of the way, she lined up a shot and let out a burst of bolts. While some of her people had targeted the woman standing by the console - and their bursts shimmered through her body! - Komial's aim was true. Two stun bolts slammed into the Andorian at the far console, next to the shimmering woman, picking him up and slinging him over the controls to crash down to the floor, unconscious. The poor man got a shower of sparks as another bolt took out the nearer of the two consoles.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #19 – February 26, 2017, 06:37:31 PM

[Wenn Cinn | Communication Tower | Starbase 84] Attn: Kaligos, Auctor Lucan, chXinya, FollowTomorrow, Anyone else

The doors parted and the team unleashed hell. Wenn Cinn held back, using the time to call his compatriots in the Reactor Room.

"Wenn to O'Connell." He called, pressing the combadge on his chest. The sound of fire echoed as Cinn moved through the door, finding cover behind a nearby console. Each of the boarding team were making their respective moves and despite the initial trouble they had, this section of the plan seemed to be working well. "We've made it to target. Keep the lights on and the consoles working. We should be just..." Cinn paused, hearing the shout from Isley. "...Let me call you back."

Without a chance to stop him, Isley's blast fired across the room. What in the Prophet's name was he thinking? He could have easily hit one of his colleagues. The most troubling thing was when Cinn saw how on the nearby wall, the paint had puckered and blistered from the intense power of the Phaser fire. It was obvious that the half Romulan had used a setting too high for the parameters of this mission. Swallowing down the bitter taste in his mouth. Cinn managed to bark out the three words he needed to.

"Isley, Stand Down!"

It was then that Ravenholm kicked into action.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #20 – February 27, 2017, 12:47:09 PM

[ Lone Wolves Squadron | Wolves 07 & 09 | Goldeneye & Ghost ] Joint-post by Doc M. & Auctor Lucan

It was time to stop running.  Tessa turned her Valkyrie and screamed her battle cry as she fired her tetryon pulse phase cannon to bring down the Chester's shields...

...and Rawley knew the mind of her sister wolf like the back of her hand, already anticipating what she had to do. They had fought for months against all kinds of odds, and while they might be polar opposites in personality, and despite their doubts about themselves or their squad leader, neither would deter them when charged with the defense of Vector 03. No one understood how they could fly together when meeting them in person, but their track record spoke for itself. It could be the last time, and be that as it may, Rawley was the last person to be sentimental about it.

Her battle cry echoed Tessa's, and while the bright tetryon energy still shone brightly, Rawley shot past her sister wolf with her pulse phaser cannons ablaze - hammering into the dispersing shield section on the Defiant-class Chester. Her rapid bolts pounded past the residual shield energy and into plated hull, tearing it open for as long as she could before she had to break away - rolling out on the starboard side. Evidently, it got the Chester's attention, since it changed its course and gave chase. As small and limber as it might be for a capital ship, Rawley's Valkyrie was faster, and had already changed course anew. During her arched ascent, Rawley deployed her own tetryon pulse cannon - her hands cramping around her flight stick to maintain her fighter's curved trajectory.

"She's yours!" she barked through clenched teeth to Goldeneye, who wasn't in the Chester's sights. When she said it, she had completed the curve and got the Defiant-class ship's dorsal side in her sights, and she jammed her thumb down to fire her cannon - her tetryon pulse dispersing the projected shield for Tessa and making a hole for her to target.

"I got 'er Ghost!" Tessa chirped as she fired her micro torpedoes.  "We'll alternate taking down her shields and firing for effect!  Ah!" she squeaked as the Defiant class fired its phasers to ward them off.  Tessa broke off before her shields were overloaded, appearing to spin out of control but managing to get back on the escort's tail.  She released chaff just in time to confuse two photon torpedoes fired from the Chester aft and dipped down to its ventral side.  The Theurgy's Third stardrive vector known as the stallion managed to hit the Chester's shields with a phaser beam, but all this did was cause the escort to fire more torpedoes in the stallion's direction.  "We've got to hold it off!"

Rawley swore bitterly in her English accent and took the opportunity she had to target the torpedoes heading for the stallion. She had the right positioning for it, but her tetryon canon was big and not so nimble in targeting, so the heavy pulse only caught up with two of the three photon torpedoes - destroying them before they hit the shields. "Copy that, Goldie," she snapped belatedly. The reason why Goldie was her Flight Leader was that Rawley was entirely a creature of instinct, not good enough in communicating or planning ahead. Mid-combat, Tessa could funnel her in the right direction, focusing her where she normally got by with bold luck and sheer lack of self-preservation. She lived to dance with death, but Goldie made her function in a squadron.

Now, however, there were only the two of them left in their Flight, and their dancing partner was a true beast to take on by themselves. They had managed to temporarily disable one of the Chester's forward phaser cannons but other than that its shields seemed to have taken more damage than its hull.  Tessa wondered, could the two of them really hold it off? Perhaps the final Valkyrie from the Resolve could back them up...

[This is Wolf Leader. New orders, Vector 01 has gone after the USS Orcus, charging us to protect Vector 02, which has lost its shields completely and need a stronger line of defence. Grey Wolves, whatever you are flying, abort Omega-1 and defend Vector 02. I repeat, abort Omega-1 and set course for Vector 02.]

"What?" Tessa squeaked.  "No-no-no-no-no!" she stammered, not realizing her communications system was still on as Rawley lay burst fire unto the shield section Tessa just hit with her tetryon cannon.  "We need all the help we can get--"

[Papa Bear, this is Iron Fox. Pursue the USS Chester and empty Cinsaj's entire arsenal into its aft shields. Don't stop firing until those engines are gone. Goldeneye and Ghost are there to cover you. Ladies, you heard me.]

"Acknowledged, Iron Fox," Tessa replied in a surprisingly professional manner as she and Rawley dodged and pummeled at the Chester to keep it from being able to fire a continuous stream of torpedoes at the stallion.  Maybe they could keep it off balance until Papa Bear arrived with the fighter from the future...

"I'm no fucking 'lady'," growled Ghost, doing an Omega-3 manoeuvre that had her fighter dive to starboard, executing a long S-turn as it did, all the while charging her tetryon cannon. "And what the hell is Papa Bear doing out here?" She had fucked the COD during Lohlunat , and while she was not sentimental, she did not want him to die either.  Rawely finished her run firing into the Chester's port shields, right across its phaser cannons on that side. She took a glancing hit of pulse phaser energy before she got away.

Papa Bear?  Did Iron Fox say Papa Bear?  He was an avionics engineer, not a pilot!  Tessa hoped that the modified Reaver was user friendly beyond belief or their beloved deck chief might be throwing away his life for nothing!  There was no time to wait for Papa Bear; with this many enemies in the black he might not make it!  It was time to press the attack on the Chester like there was no tomorrow!  

When the Chester turned to deal with Rawley, Tessa was able to fire at its weakened port shield, damaging and rendering the portside phaser cannos inoperative.  That was enough to make the escort ignore the stallion and concentrate its fire on the pesky Valkyries.  Tessa was overcome when the Chester turned and gave her an onslaught of torpedoes. 

"Ah!" Tessa screamed as she armed all of her remaining ordinance and roared forward, her damaged fighter on a collision course with the escort.  She managed to activate her fighter's emergency transport system just seconds before her Valkyrie hit the Chester and exploded in a dramatic fireball.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #21 – February 28, 2017, 06:19:38 PM

[PO2 Sithick | Allegiant | Bridge ] Attn: EAC, Auctor

The tactical console wasn't beyond salvaging, but it wasn't operating at the best capacity either. Thick cracks in the transparent screen and static meant that any command entered in was delayed. What made things more difficult to read out was the fact that the giant lizard sitting in the chair wasn't an officer. Wasn't bridge crew, and only had a little training in actually using anything that was on the bridge. He could repair the console but using it?

He hadn't done that outside of a few simulations he had taken part in.

Still he kept his eyes on the read out. Seeing the new vessel some oddly designed fighter that Sithick would have loved to get his claws on actually. That thing looked like it had been salvaged and put together puzzle style. But it clearly had some kick to it as it had taken down three of the in coming fighters and forced the last two to break off their persuit. Sithick let out a loud sigh of relief. "Interzeptors breaking pursuit, we are clear from enemy fire.. for ze moment."

His muscles were still tense not at all used to the feeling of negative gravity. He had to admit that some part of him was enjoying that. It was a bit of a gloating victory actually in that he had been able to restore power to the ship's shields. He was focused on trying to get the tactical station as close to perfect as possible setting it to a simpler display used mostly by cadets, and even going so far as to change the language display from English to Orion, the second closest thing he had to a native tongue.

With the display changed up he actually was able to take in and understand more of the controls then he had with the english overlay. Looking back at the battlefield readout, and seeing what was happening with the theurgy and the resolve their view screen only caught the edge of the explosion.

It was Morwen who actually explained what had just happened.  "The resolve ejected it's warp core as a projectile towards the Orcus. It seems to have been a direct hit."

Looking over the somewhat broken tactical read out Sithick had to admit that he would not have wanted to be on the Orcus right now.  They had taken a direct hit from an antimater mater explosion. From what he could see part of the Orcus was melted, he shivered slightly at the thought. He had seen enough ships detonate in his time. The resolve was falling apart, powerless and broken their was probably nothing holding it's stability together. Closing his eyes for a second he had to admit that he wasn't a fan of this conflict Federation ships destroying each other was not something to celebrate even if they were trying to route out a horrific enemy the cost would be a little too high.

Sithick closed his eyes to re-orient himself for the task that he was supposed to be focusing on. He was mostly focused on covering fire. Making sure that their path to the Star base stayed clear of enemy bodies. Trying to conserve what he could of their weapon stock he mostly just used the phaser fire to make that happen.

When they got close enough to activate the scan, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Morwen Angharad from her consol was actually the one to initiate the scan to try and find the boarding teams. Checking on their progress. "We have the scan going commander."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #22 – February 28, 2017, 09:34:16 PM

[ Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Joint-post by Nolan & Auctor Lucan

Lieutenant Junior Grade Selnak had walked Cameron away from the boarding party, leaving Ida, Zaraq and Ryuan. The corridor to the command center had been a pretty long one. Cam estimated it to be at least fifteen meters before she'd reach the heavy blast doors that could ensure a safe lockdown. Cameron looked to her left and right, the few men that accompanied them, walking beside her with their assault rifles aimed downwards. Selnak came to a stop at the doors of the command center and turned around to face Cam. His eyes looking straight into hers as he snatched the combadge off her uniform. By doing so, his hand brushed over her breast for a second. "Captain's orders," the Vulcan mentioned dryly before the doors opened and they entered.

Inside, the activity was quite impressive, much like how Cameron would imagine the situation being aboard the main bridge on the Theurgy. It seemed to be like a beehive with various stations working at full capacity with orders and statuses being sent and received while some of the men and women relayed their orders to their direct superiors. Cameron took a few seconds to take in the sight before her eyes went over to the viewscreen. The massive battle developing before her just as the Theurgy delivered a devastating blow upon a ship unknown to her - looking like a Vesta-class variation before it was demolished. Cameron's breath hitched for a second and she placed her hand before her lips, the size and magnitude of the battle being delivered before her eyes in full now.

It reminded her, however, why she was there, what her objective was and who she desperately needed to see. She started to move again as Selnak didn't want to linger much longer than needed before seeing his base commander and direct superior. He walked Cameron past the various stations before bringing her to the ebony colored man who looked at the viewscreen, seemingly cold and calculated.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Cameron offered with a slight nod to the Vulcan before she stepped forward, the guards besides her raising their weapons as they meant to make sure she wasn't up to anything tricky. "Dad... Stop this madness... Please, we need to have a cease-fire and talk. I have information that needs to be sent to everyone out there and to you personally. Please, just hear me out..."

Hearing Cam behind him, Ian refrained from smiling, instead turning around slowly with his face expressionless - as if carved in stone. "How Cammie?" he said, as he always did, his voice grave. "Whatever has gotten into you? How can you willingly partake in this Captain's madness? Do you see what this traitor just did? Look! Hundreds of Starfleet officers dead!" His open hand thrust towards the wreckage of the USS Orcus, and his stern brow was furrowed in incomprehension. "How do you expect there to be any kind of cease-fire now? Is Lisa also willingly following Captain Ives' orders? What the hell did the shapeshifter say to you two?"

Seeing the face of Hawthorne made Cam's heard jump a little. Her eyes locked on his as she heard his familiar voice, the name he always called her being used to stress the seriousness of the matter. Cameron's eyes slowly followed his hands as she saw the Orcus laid to waste next to Vector 01. 

"Dad..." Cameron started as she looked away from the Orcus and looked into his eyes once more "You haven't been through what we've endured. The losses we've suffered, the odds we've faced that weighed against us. We've been hunted down like animals, not even as Starfleet personnel. We've fought off formidable foes that solely aimed to wipe us out, not even take us captive." she tried to reason with the man, which she knew would ask more questions.

"Yes we're guilty of the loss of Starfleet lives, yet all we did was out of self-preservation. Dad, I've come here alone to speak to you. I don't want to lose any more lives than we already have. Hail Ives, call for a cease-fire. You'll see that he'll accept. Let us send our message of truth and we'll surrender," she pleaded. She deliberately didn't mention a word of Lisa. The timing of it wouldn't be right now. It would only frustrate her adoptive father ever more, make his sense to hear her out vanish.
Hearing what Cameron said confirmed what Ian had guessed; the reason why they had come. The Theurgy wanted to expose his kin. It was interesting, since there were benefits and disadvantages to allowing it. In the long run, however, the outcome was unpredictable, and it would weaken his own position - the truth about his new nature being exposed a risk he was not too keen on indulging. "A 'message of truth'?"

"Yes, we have living proof aboard the ship that Starfleet has been infiltrated, we even have technologies of those that hunted us down. Things that came through temporal rifts! It was a cold reminder to us why we're doing this. If they keep sending things at us, we're doing something right." she said calmly, hoping rational facts would have affect on him.

Frowning, Ian shook his head, acting confounded. "What are you talking about? What proof? Are you saying you have one of these 'infiltrators' from the future aboard the Theurgy?" he asked, but he had to give orders so he stepped away from Cameron, addressing his personnel. "Is the Orcus within transporter range? Monitor their evacuation, and if needed be, lower the shields so that we can beam aboard the people that can't make it to their escape pods. Alert the Infirmary and deploy triage teams to the transporter rooms. Keep trying to disable all three of the Theurgy's vectors before they destroy the Chester as well, and establish space superiority with the remaining interceptors. Is Salazar still alive? Who is in command over the 23rd?"

Cameron paused for a second as Hawthorne handed out his orders, used to not interrupt the man even from when Lisa and she were children. Yet this was urgent, it held lives in the balance as Cameron spoke up "Ian, forget about the Theurgy, it's these infiltrators that are responsible for everything!" she said as she took a step forward and tugged at his uniform to make him face her "They...." she paused for a second and looked in his eyes. "They're responsible for what happened to Lisa." she said, her voice not a bit softer now as she wanted to make a scene on the command center. They all had the right to know what these beasts had done.

"It's what rallied me even more to fight this crusade." she continued. "These monsters need to be held accountable for their acts. Their warmongering and their accountability to the loss of innocent lives. Please, help us in that. You know that Trish would want justice for her daughter as well."

Ian guessed he was supposed to be surprised, but he was not. After all, why send the adoptive daughter when Ives could have sent the host's real one?

Nevertheless, Ian knew he was supposed to act taken by the news, if nothing else for sake of appearances in front of his command staff. So, he let his eyes widen, and slowly turned the host's head back towards Cammie. "You mean, she's dead?" he asked quietly, the whisper overriding the chaos of shouting of the present staff. A couple of them were demanding his attention, but he let himself continue to stare at Cammie. Idly, he wondered what it would be like to break the delicate bone structure of her face.

"What 'monsters' are you talking about?" he said, his tone a little louder, "Who's responsible for Lisa being dead?"

The explosions on the background were rather intense as Cameron looked over Ian's shoulder before she chewed on her lip. I'm talking about the people sent to hunt us down for trying to spread the truth. "Your admiralty, that is infiltrated entirely, and is moving you around like pawns on a game board. Dad please, I beg of you... Lisa believed in this cause, she was as innocent as could be... For her, stop this mindless fighting, I beg of you," she whispered as she maintained eye contact, her eyes watery as she fought back the tears. The moment she dreaded so much happened in an instant, without too much time to prepare either party for it.

Ian worked his jaw, disbelief mixing with grief and horror in his countenance. "No... You don't know what has happened here. I will not order a cease-fire unless I know more," snapped Ian and stalked off, acting deeply affected by what she'd said, "and frankly, Captain Ives has not only killed in self-defence out there. Someone from your crew hacked our systems and sealed the docking bay doors on this station, making a third of our Air Group smash against them, all dead. Its only the surviving fighter pilots out there, desperately trying to defend us. Sweet Cammie, can't you see? Ives even had help from Captain Kendrick on the USS Resolve, who's fighters are fighting alongside yours!"

Cameron shook her head in disbelief, there seemed to be enough evidence to her adoptive father to disagree on her point of view. Frankly, she could understand why if a third of their fighter group had been decimated. "What was the alternative dad? Look at it from our point of view. Should we just warp in, get decimated before even getting the chance to explain ourselves? Look me in the eye and tell me that you wouldn't blow us to smithereens if you had been given the full power of this station. We'd be slaughtered. This was the only way..." she retorted, pausing for breath.

"As for Kendrick, we have never met him before, I have no idea why they are fighting alongside us, though I can imagine that their ruined ship might have something to do with it. They could just be looking for a safe place. Truly, if you want to save lives now, call the fighters back. Let me send a message to Ives to indicate that we've reached a ceasefire and stop every hostility. Trust needs to come from both ways... Else I wouldn't even be here," she said as she stepped closer, within reach of her adoptive father, resting her hand on his chest. "Please, dad... We need to mourn our losses, not increase them."

Ian stood his ground, but did not back away. "Kendrick freed a Romulan from our Brig, and one of his crew detonated a bomb on this base. It can't be a coincidence that it happened by the time the Theurgy arrived - clearly a diversion. There is more to this than Ives is telling you. Starfleet Command has evidence that your Captain have been feeding classified coordinates to the Romulans, allowing for them to raid weapon facilities all along the RNZ. I get reports every day about another facility being emptied and all the officers killed."

Cameron shook her head "Starfleet Command are the enemy!"

"What?" said Ian, doing his best to act surprised, even though he wanted to twist her neck for uttering the words.

"Please, listen to yourself! I'm the Ives' Yeoman, and I get every piece of intel before he does, I screen everything! We had no idea about Kendrick or his actions prior to our arrival. We know nothing about the damage done to this station, for all we know..." she paused at the thought that Kendrick and his crew might be infiltrated as well. Perhaps their goal was to destroy the starbase in order to prevent their message from being sent.

She quickly regained her composure as she sighed. "Dad... the facilities that are raided... All the officers aren't dead. The officers from Black Opal, they are alive and working alongside us. We saved them from the Romulans! They're on the ship! Call for a cease-fire and ask to see them, ask for a sit down! Don't believe this bullcrap intel they are feeding you through corrupted channels! See it with your own eyes! Stop being used like a pawn!" she shouted out now, her composure lost a little as she tried to shout some sense into her father, knowing it was her final attempt to do so.

Ian realised that plausibly, he should yield some ground to her given what she's said. How could he stall it? How could he bring this around without...

"Captain!" shouted his Chief of Operations, "Someone has shut down communications and internal sensors. We are blind and we can't reach anyone on the base!"

Behind his shocked features, Ian smiled, wondering just who had removed the means to contact Ives, and why. Nonetheless, he was grateful for the chance, and left Cameron behind to speak with the officer.

The news of communications being down came at the worst timing. Cameron was now stuck, unable to do anything more but stay by her father's side as the only chance for a ceasefire now seemed more distant than ever.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #23 – March 01, 2017, 06:04:17 AM

[Selena Ravenholm | Boarding Team 01 | Communication Tower]

Cinn may not have agreed with Isley and Sar-unga's actions but it was exactly the distraction that Selena was looking for.  In the split second it took for the two to swap positions she leapt straight up, cybernetic legs giving her far more lift than any human leg could.  Grabbing some sort of protruding items mounted to the ceiling she swung her legs up and out of the second phaser sweep, wedging them between another set of something.  Using her feet as a new anchor Selena simply flipped around to grab a light fixture.  Smiling from the exhilaration, the floor below was a blur as the woman somersaulted along the ceiling like a gymnast.

On the fourth flip, holding onto what was probably an onmi-directional microphone for the comm system, instead of going for the next foothold, the cyborg used her momentum to land a powerful drop-kick right into the chest of a Kasheeta male, knocking the saurian right off of his feet and probably crushing some of his ribs in the impact.  Using the reddish lizard as a cushion for her own landing Selena was the first to recover, planting her hands behind her and quickly flipping up into a handstand and spinning around with her legs out.  Clocking an attractive Deltan square in the jaw hard enough to snap her head around with her foot, that left just two others standing, one on both sides of her.

Regaining her footing, Selena sent the command to open up the leg compartment that held her pistol, jumping backwards with her full strength while grabbing the weapon.  Slamming into the guard that was trying to shoot her in the back, the security guard ended up smushed against the wall and was finished off with an elbow to the nose.  Almost at the same time a single stun blast from the pistol dropped the final guard, his own phaser clattering to the deck before its owner slumped on top of it.

Silent at last, Selena ignored the pile of bodies they left in their wake.  "Come on, we're almost out of time." she said, nodding towards the door the team needed to get through.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #24 – March 02, 2017, 02:14:06 AM

[ MCPO William Robert O'Connell | Boarding Team Two | Primary Reactor Control | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ]  

"Ah'm gonna deactivate th' station's transporters!" Billy Bob shouted over the din of phaser fire.   "We don't need 'em knowhow!  Dang it, Luff why'd yuh have t' git hit?"  Once he had shut down the station's transporters, he dropped to the deck as one of the base's security shot at him.  He tapped his combadge and rolled his body in order to turn around and point his TR-120 at the enemy.  "O'Connell to Theurgy, beam up Boarding Team Two!  Beam us up immediately yah hear?  Beam us up yesterday, toot sweet!" he hollered as he managed to hit one of the men shooting at him, Thea, and Cam.

[Acknowledged,] replied Petty Officer Tenchi Koizumi's voice.  [We'll beam you aboard as soon as we're able.]

"We're in luck," Senior Chief Petty Officer Verguy Cam called from his console.  "There's a great big hole in their shields!  With any luck the Theurgy can transport us out through there!" he shouted as he turned to shoot at the security men in the chamber.  "Did you shut down the station's transporters?"

"What yuh talkin' about?" O'Connell shouted back as he fired his weapon.  "Are you plumb loco?  Your knife is so dull it couldn't cut butter!  Uh course I shut down the station's transporters!  Ain't nobody's a gonna come up behind us!"

As soon as he said that the door to the Chief Engineers' office on the deck above hissed open and out came six more security specialists led by a carrot topped officer whose short slender frame made her hard to hit.  They were up on the level above and from their vantage point could they had a splendid view of the chamber below, making O'Connell, Thea, and Cam easy targets. 

"Dagnabbit," O'Connell muttered as he raced for the stairs.  One of the security men who had beamed in earlier had been using the spiral staircase for cover and was surprised by Billy Bob's charge.  A lucky shot from Billy sent a non-lethal shock via magnetic pulse through his body allowing O'Connell to reach the stairs.  "Keyah's alone up there!" the master chief grumbled.  "Why don't things ever run smooth?"  He was now below the new arrivals, who apparently hadn't noticed him yet.

"This is Lt. Dothnil, Chief of Security, a feminine voice called out from above.  "Consider yourselves under arrest for acts of terrorism against the Federation -"  Whatever she was going to say next was drowned by the sound of phaser fire as both Thea and Cam got hit.  Thea was alright, but the Andorian was spun around and slammed against the console so hard that Billy Bob thought he could feel the impact.  As a console near the comatose Cam was hit and erupted in a shower of sparks, O'Connell hoped the Andorian's SAFTI gear was working or Cam was deader than a can of corned beef.