Star Trek: Theurgy

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #25 – March 04, 2017, 12:35:23 AM

[ Lt Cmdr. Leon Marquez | Security Center | Holding Cell | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All
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Marquez had been frustrated by the debriefing. The explosion from earlier had rattled the Resolve's XO, whose tone was suddenly one of preoccupation and concern as he had answered his debriefers.

"We didn't violate any treaty regulations, Commander. We were just trying to get home under General Orders. You might as well trial half of the Enterprise's collective captains for what we did. So can we just get on with it?"

That exchange seemed like an eternity ago. Armageddon itself could have been raging outside, and the USS Resolve's XO could have been out of the loop until his combadge was returned to him.

"What is 'Theurgy' to you?" The Security debriefer asked. Marquez wondered if someone had involved spiritual release, or referring to the Rogue vessel USS Theurgy. "It's an ancient art of spiritual evocation, if I can recall. The Aztecs practiced forms of it over the centuries. To me, it's doesn't mean much. If you mean the ship, The News Service mentioned a rogue Federation warship, but then again, they called "Project Eagle" a hoax. I don't know anything about them, aside from what I've read lately. Theurgy itself means more to me personally than the name of a rogue crew." The ways of the world never permitted fair and unbiased truth in the media since Jaresh-Inyo anyway, in Marquez's point of view.

Marquez reflexively trained his ear to listen in on the distance, but was reminded by the debriefing officer "There are still more questions."

"I've got one, for a change: Where's the head on this deck? I have my rights, you know." By now, Marquez was genuinely annoyed, and showed that he wasn't in a cooperative mood at this particular moment by folding his arms and remaining silent. The men in the shadows murmored, even the interrogator was recalled.

All Marquez heard was a door open, and he was restrained by two security officers as the Resolve XO was blinded by an opaque black bag blinded the Resolve's XO, who bellowed a taunt as he attempted to fight himself loose, leaping from his seat enough to bicycle-kick one security officer along the temple, though he would only know the effect of his success when he woke up in a holding cell, coming to consciousness with at least one cracked rib, most likely a revenge kick for his own. From Marquez's point of view, the world existed in hues of red and spots. He tasted blood, and summoned up all his instincts to wake up. During moments of seeing black, he subliminally thought about ever seeing Cloi, Earth, or even another blade of grass ever again. Grass. The scent, the memory of earth flooded his senses. Muscle memory. It was an internal reserve of strength coming back to him. He was now glad he saved his strength during that-- how long ago had it been? Briefing. Explosion...

Coming slowly out of the shock after what must have been a few moments, Marquez assumed he was being watched and scrutinized by some inept jailor. At least he hoped the jailor was inept.

The explosion, the indifference of the debrief team. The dots. Connect the dots. Find more. Get answers. This wasn't a WWII Holonovel, and these men weren't Gestapo henchmen, but they were certainly acting like ones. Marquez shifted his weight about, hoping his hidden pocket wasn't discovered... it wasn't. Marquez sighed internally. All he had to do was pull the pin and tackle someone at its point of impact, and he was out of this bird cage. The image of an eagle ready to pounce, Leon Marquez took the posture of a martial artist and began to heel kick the forcefield. Sooner or later someone would come in and beat him.

Feigning outrage, Marquez yelled primally "LET ME OUT!!!" He panted, "NOW!!!" He cursed a stream of Spanish insults that echoed his shouts in English, before ultimately charging into the forcefield, bouncing off it and apparently hitting his head and twitched involuntarily. Though the injury was mild, his reflexes were convincing enough to get the alert of a security officer, who charged in frantically, lowering the forcefield  to enter. Before he could even check his heartrate, Marquez sprung to life.

In an unexpected move, he kicked out the kneecap of the guard, stranding his crumpled body in front of the forcefield emitters, the bio safety protocols preventhing the field from reemerging, harming the jailor. Meanwhile, Marquez jammed the stunner into the jailor's wrist. In under three seconds, Marquez rolled away from this security man, snagged his combadge and pocketed his baton and made sure he was properly subdued.

It was a close shave, Marquez only hoped no one looked twice at him in the chaos of the battle. Unaware of the map layout, he timed his route through the Security Center and wound up in a private study. Closing himself in, marquez fiddled with the combadge he'd secured.


[ Lt Cmdr. Leon Marquez | Security Center | Komial's Office | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All
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To no avail, he had just managed to prepare some sort of message in a bottle, when he overheard something in the next room.

MARQUEZ TO RESOLVE. COME IN RESOLVE. URGEN...

"Half light, half light!" came a woman's voice. From his hiding spot, Marquez was privately glad his night vision was still sharp, but the door soon opened as the female occupant granted them entry. Marquez remained hidden.

"Lt. Hi'Jak happened. Him and some bit-"

Marquez didn't move as he heard the woman give her report. He prayed no one here could hear his breathing-- or smell him, even if one would have to have been an augment to do so from this distance, from here, he had a convenient view of what ensued.

"A civilian accomplice, the pilot for the vessel Sabine...she helped Hi'Jak escape. We couldn't bring the ship down before it started unleashing micro torpedoes in the shuttle bay. Those they didn't outright kill were spaced as a result....except me. My...." Gods, this was embarrassing, and she hissed as the suture began its work, "my uniform got snagged. It was all that saved me. Kept me in the bay long enough before it...well." she didn't say it, "The doors slammed shut and the atmosphere returned. I was all that was left. Triox, please."

Unable to shut his eyes, but also unwilling to see any Trill spots after losing Cloi, Marquez enjoyed what he saw for what it was, any man's fantasy: A beautiful, naked woman. He jokingly hoped his 'phaser' give him away. As it was, he still wondered when someone would notice a missing jailor's security club. Or the officer in general. If it was, this Security chief would search the entire floor, possibly even this one. Marquez continued to hide his breathing. He was glad to have practiced techniques like these from the 'Our Man...' Series of spy novels. Sneaking around simulated guards was one thing. Unwittingly spying on the station security chief and seeing spots was its own challenge-reward. No Time for love, Striker, listen up. The lights wouldn't last, and neither would the show, so Marquez got himself out of there while the lights were still dim and the clothes were still off. He hid through the rafters over the CSO's office and listened in.

"We believe we have one boarding party in the building, previously moving towards the command center at the top floor, but they have been halted at the lounge. Reinforcements are on the way there already. We have also one team that hijacked a turbolift and ascended to the communication towers. The transporter inhibitors are still online, so we are sending staff up there in pursuit. Lastly, I am afraid that a third team has seized the reactor control room, and the only thing stopping them from powering down shields, communications, everything is that we are beaming more forces into the area - not letting them do anything unopposed. Our staff at the auxillary reactor is trying to wrest system controls back to their stations as we speak. It is only a matter of time until the doors are breached and the twenty guards outside will pour into the room, and they won't be able to do anything further. The duty stations are too exposed, with nowhere for them to hide."

I've got to get ahold of these people, whoever they are. Marquez was through with any official story bullshit at this point, so his ears were as attentive as his eyes had been.

"I got a report that the Captain's ex-wife docked with the station today, so when the Theurgy arrived, I wanted to pinpoint where she was, since I figured that she could be made a hostage. But the guards that were supposed to find her can't, and internal sensors won't pinpoint her anywhere on the station either. It might be that Captain Ives already has her..."

Maybe she knew something. Marquez thought. Ives and the Theurgy probably knew something. Then came Hawthorne's voice:

[Reinforcements have arrived, and the Chester has managed to manually release her docking clams, 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.]

The Trill named Komial had soon left, along with her closest officer. Coming out from his hiding place, Marquez made his way to the next section of the Security Center, peering in on the chaotic scene below. Only now did someone ask about the missing security guard. Striker halted in his tracks, produced the stunner he'd smuggled in and hotwired his commlink using a low setting at the corner of the stunner's rectangular tip. A microspark was all it took to avoid detection.

[Security to Mitch, come in. Mitch, respond.]

[Smythe here. I'll locate him.] Marquez recognized this voice and smirked. No you won't. It was the same guard he must've sent to sickbay earlier when he was first arrested. Time to strike back.

[Okay, Smythe, carry on.]  Marquez arrived in the section just outside of the lift, and upon hearing the chime, made his move.

"Excuse me? Marquez stood in front of officer Smythe before the lift even opened, and immediately headbutted and stunned the guard, then moved into the lift, ready to combat anyone else in there, friend or foe. Luckily, Smythe was alone and the lift closed behind them. Marquez secured Smythe's rifle and sent the lift on its way to the Command Center. 

"You never did tell me where the head was. How about we ask your Captain?" Marquez made sure the man who he'd incapacitated twice now was knocked out, taking a particular point of stopping just short of 'excessive force', per the regulations. Which were now the last thing on his mind as he set the nearby viewscreen to get up to speed on what he'd missed and was shocked by what he saw, particularly when the Resolve herself was devastated and summarily rescued by the so-called 'rogue' Starship Theurgy. 

Marquez set his phaser rifle setting to stun at compression fire; he wanted to take aim before each shot. And Marquez hoped to take particular aim on the shot meant for the man who ordered the USS Resolve fired upon, no matter what regulations Striker had to break: He knew once he opened that door, he'd be stepping into a new world of trouble... so he took cover, Rifle ready to open fire on Starbase personnel, and one Base Captain in particular.

Striker Marquez's normally gravelly voice now had a vengeful purr to it. "I'm going to carve 'resolve' into that man's skull for this treachery." Marquez placed Smythe in a position appearing to have been blindsided. Marquez hid in the corner, ready to use Smythe as a human shield if he had to.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #26 – March 04, 2017, 02:22:48 PM

[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Boarding Team 03 | EOC Top Floor Lounge ] Attn: 1) SummerDawn, 2) Nolan & 3) Striker N7

Ensign Ryuan Sel spoke the truth when she said they could ill afford dismissing the Romulan's aid if they were going to attempt capturing Hawthorne. So, as soon as as O'Connell verified that communications and internal sensors were down - barely heard over the sounds of the fire-fight in the reactor room - Ida inclined her head to Drauc T'Laus, despite her misgivings about his eerie resemblance to Isley. "Fine, you cover our six, and we make contact first. Zaraq, Sel, you two have either flank as we move in. If Hawthorne is 'Aidoaan', then Henshaw has failed. Her father might not himself any more, and we need to get those shields down, so cutting communications now only prevented them from calling for reinforcements. With the sensors down, they won't know we're coming either. Move out."

Taking point, her rifle at the ready, Ida could not help but consider the definite possibility that Hawthorne was like Acreth. Why else had he invited war upon the Federation? Based on what she'd read about the base's Commanding Officer, he his track record was impeccable, and did not fit the profile of a traitor in any way. It led her to believe that he was, indeed, one of their true enemies, and the upcoming fight in the command center might not fall in their favour. Perhaps, if they managed to neutralise all other opposition, then they might be able to bring him down together.

"I have fought these things before," she murmured to her small team as they closed in on the next intersection, moving forth with her legs bent - centre of gravity low, "Be ready for anything, and don't take any chances, not when it comes to his kind. Fast, strong, and merciless. Their abilities are not bound to this existence alone. The laws of physics doesn't seem to bind them as they do us. First chance you get, take him out. Zaraq, the effect of our TR-120s are untested when it comes to these things. Sel, T'Laus, set your phasers to maximum stun, but know that it will take at least ten beams to subdue him. "

Reaching the intersection, Ida looked back to her team. Did she see movements back in the lounge? They had no time to investigate. Better move on. Before she rounded the corner, she made sure they were all focused. "We close the last distance now and go in fast. Be ready in three, two, one, let's go!"

Then, Ida rushed down the corridor at a brisk pace. One uniformed officer came in their way, and was down on the floor one shot later. A second one almost had time to raise his voice before Ida drove the butt of her rifle into his face. Ten meters to go. This, except for Drauc, they had trained for in the simulators on the Theurgy. Rounding the next corner, the double doors to the command center fell into sight, along with four guards posted outside. Zaraq was the first to take out two of them, and Ida couldn't say if it was Sel or Drauc who sent the third into the wall behind his back, but she knew she caught the fourth one in the side of his chest, making him spin before he went down. Without pause they reached the doors, and they had expected them to be sealed. It seemed O'Connell must have managed to override the mechanism, however, because as soon as Ida approached, the doors slid open for them.

No, it had not been them, but a tall Vulcan - Selnak, who had brought Henshaw to her father - and the Lieuteant's dispassionate mien didn't betray any surprise before he raised his rifle.

Sheer instinct on Ida's side let her kick the muzzle of the weapon aside - the beam scourging a line across the wall in the corridor. Completing the spinning kick, Ida bared her teeth and struck the Vulcan across the head with her elbow, just in order to get him out of her way. She counted on Sel, Drauc or T'Laus to handle the Vulcan in her wake, because she was already moving into the Command Center - the dim Red Alert lights making all the LCARS displays in the area the first thing she saw. Next, she saw movements, officers getting out of their seats, alarmed. She saw two go for their phasers - posted security guards responding to her teams entry - and the took out one of them. She had to dive behind a duty station to escape the second one, swearing over the fact that she had been halted. Forgetting their training, some screamed, and people were running to to vacate the area from the other levels.

Yet from Ida's vantage point where she hid, she could see them on the lower level. Cameron Henshaw and Ian Hawthorne, father and daughter reunited. They were on the far side of the command center, standing next to each other in front of the main viewscreen. With all the running people, she had no clear shot. "Henshaw!" she screamed over the din of the ensuing fight, "He's one of them!"

As she said it, she made eye-contact with the Captain.

At first, it seemed like the thing debated whether to act, gauging the threat of their presence. It decided they were too few, and the quick smile she got from the parasite was just like Acreth's. It vanished quickly, as if it had never been there. But Ida had seen it.

"Protect the Captain!" shouted someone, and the Command Center descended into complete chaos.

---

OOC: I imagine the area to look like this: https://johneaves.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cc-b.jpg?w=1400&h= (Concept Art by John Eaves. I imagine Cam and Hawthorne to be by the Starfleet emblem on the floor of the lower level.) SummerDawn, you are next. Go crazy and feel free to NPC Drauc and Zaraq both to your advantage of you want to. Nolan, you follow with Cam's reaction and actions. Striker N7, Marquez has overheard the dialogue between Ida, Sel and Drauc in the lounge, as well as what Ida said about Hawthorne's abilities. That way, your character is up to speed with the main plotline with the parasites, and joins the fray in a decisive moment after Nolan's post.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #27 – March 06, 2017, 04:50:08 AM

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

"On it, Boss," replied Sten after he was given his orders.  Of course, that was not proper communications protocol when out in the black.  He knew it.  Iron Fox knew it.  Every damn pilot on the net knew it.  What the Chief of the Deck had said was the exact thing he would have once given his directives on the flight deck.  Because, let's face it, he might be qualified to take a fighter for a ferry flight, or run it though operational testing, but he was not a fighter pilot; he was a technician, a damn good one.  Hell, he'd personally written the last few iterations of flight deck procedure manuals and his methodology was one that had been copied for the Knight and Valravn project maintenance manuals.  But he was not a combat pilot, regardless of the fact he knew intimately what the birds on his deck could do and how they did it. 

So perhaps a slightly lax communications discipline was probably something that would be excused in the immediate. 

Locking the Chester's after aspect into Cinsaj's tactical computer, he once again let it do the hard work to give him firing solutions and a flight path.  A flight path that was taking him directly into the teeth of her fire.  But the controls were intuitive, and the threat detection on this bird were so good that he could literally fly between bursts of phaserfire, and whenever a torpedo cam his way, the mass drivers on his back would track and engage on their own, given that the computer did recommend setting them to point-defence mode during his approach. 

When he reached the Chester, there must have been mere meters between their shield bubbles, and he took the Reaver into the kind of turn he'd performed before, but with a much tighter radius.  He had an inkling she was a nimble little ship, but not to that extent.  It would seem that having a human pilot instead of a computer construct could exact a little bit more performance out of it...

But then, he was behind the Defiant-class ship, and he followed his orders.  His tetryon cannons fired several times, and once his sensors read that the shields were down, he cut loose with the transphasic torpedoes on his hardpoints.  They were powerful weapons, and they certainly packed a serious punch, but they were nowhere near what had come back with Voyager.  It would seem that Admiral Janeway had made a point that no ordnance could be recovered, if only as an attempt to keep violations of the Temporal Prime Directive to a minimum, so even coming from the future, they did not approach the yield that had been recorded by Voyager.  But the effect on Chester's unshielded hull was... sobering.

Covington knew the torpedo casings had been hardened and the nose was actually a duranium alloy penetrator.  The torpedoes themselves were a dual-mode device, with the option to set for surface detonation, or delayed blast.  Granted, there was only so much the nosecone could do, but it did allow the torpedoes to bury themselves, if shallowly, into Chester's warp nacelles and impulse engines, and mere microseconds later, they detonated.  It was a good thing for everyone on board that the engine components of a Defiant-class ships tended to be heavily armoured even on their inner face, and that there were plenty of blast-hardened hatches along the maintenance crawlspaces.  Not to mention the emergency cut-off valves along the power runs and plasma conduits.  Because, with a series of detonations like miniature supernovas, the heavily armed ship's propulsion systems were turned to craters. 

"Iron Fox, Papa Bear.  Chester's dead in the water."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #28 – March 07, 2017, 01:46:48 AM

[ Lt. JG Alessia Garcia | White Wolves Squadron | Wolf-09 ] Attn: Lone/Grey/White Wolves

[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.]

Hearing that voice again was strange feeling to Garcia, never having thought to consider Razor a 'hostile'. At first, she did not know how to respond, not entirely sure she'd heard it right. Yet despite all the commotion around her, and having to deal orders to her Flight, she soon came to acknowledge Thomas Ravon.

"This is Angel, confirmed." What was she supposed to say? She had her orders, didn't she? "Care to tell me what the hell is going on out here?"

Then, as if things were not complicated enough, she saw with her own two eyes how Terror and Sniper both opened fire against the interceptors of Starbase 84, all to protect their friend and lover from the USS Harbinger. What was she supposed to do now? She had no facts, only past allegiances that muddled the waters. Two of her pilots were deeply concerned on a private line, asking for orders and what to do about Terror and Sniper. The Orcus was targeted and nigh destroyed, leaving them nowhere to land except Starbase 84. Were they even welcome after what their SCO had just done? Dragon had fallen back to protect the Orcus while evacuation procedures were underway, and Stormraven was of similar mind.

Then, the other voice from the past spoke up on her channel.

"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."

That... certainly didn't make things any more simple. Nor the fact that even the USS Chester was disabled through a joint effort between Theurgy fighter crafts. She'd once defended that Defiant-class ship, in a skirmish that seemed so long ago. The comm chatter in her ears were of all possible reactions. The voice of the Vulpinian SCO sounded like Miles, that was certain, just as much as Razor had seemed himself. Both were people she had trusted, and despite how conflicted she felt, she could more and more understand her new SCO's actions when it came to defending the one named Husker. Still, what was she supposed to do?

"Angel to Terror," she grated, circling Vector 02 without engaging anything with her Flight. "We have lost our base ship, and I have two fighter pilots in my Flight who wish to respond in kind, I am not certain I can make them stand down. I mean, we are just a newly formed squadron of test pilots from all over Tac CONN, and I cannot vouch for anyone's loyalty this early on. That being said..."

What was she doing? It seemed so right at the same time as it defied all her Starfleet Officer training. She took a deep breath. "That being said... I will stand with you if you lend your aid to Renard and his fighers. If what he says is true, it makes more sense than anything else I have heard about the Theurgy these past months. Neither Iron Fox nor Razor would willingly defect to the Romulans. If they are being framed, it makes the most sense to me. If you confirm... I will see who else from my Flight stands with us. I leave no guarantees at this point."

What am I doing? She didn't tell her Flight yet, not entirely sure if she should either, at the risk of them opening fire...

---

OOC: As per our General Rules, I just took over playing Garcia temporarily because of lacking positing activity from Dam025. This scene as been locked up for everyone for far too long, so now it is finally DocReno's turn to post with Terror and Sniper. Dev asked Terror about Adioaan, and that question can be passed on to Miles Renard, who has a preliminary answer to it, and enough to make Dev make the same choice Garcia just did. Looking forward to your post, DocReno, and I will be replying with Renard post-haste to expedite this scene.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #29 – March 07, 2017, 04:31:22 AM

[ Primary Reactor Control | Level 14 | Starbase 84 ] Joint-Post by Brutus, Doc M. & Auctor Lucan

Regardles the status of the Transporters on Starbase 84 - being switched off and on depending on the immediate needs of the boarding team - Thea had her task set for herself. She meant to power down weapon systems and shields, and preserve her Vectors and the fighters defending her from the base's barrages of torpedoes and phaser beams. While she slipped past security systems in her processor's background tasks, her aiming software was handling how she fired her TR-120 against any guards that appeared through the destroyed doors. Keyah was of great assistance, and she scheduled a task to compliment her for her efforts during the mission.

Then, another security detail appeared on the terrace above. Even if her emotion ship made her feel fright, eyes wide, Thea whipped her head around and realigned her sights against the new threat, spinning on her heels and opening fire in the wake of the red-haired organic's words. She fired twice, aim true, and one of them guards she hit toppled over the railing, the other one slammed into the wall on the second level. The answer was quick and merciless, her Andorian crewmember going down hard from the counter strike; the firing squad around the Chief of Security smiting her and the computer consoles from on high. Her rifle took a direct hit. She had almost breached through to and accessed the base's defensive network, but she could not linger at the risk of her emitter taking a direct hit. If it was, the base's shields would never come down, and all three boarding teams lost. Dropping her weapon, grabbing the top of the duty station, she vaulted over it and took cover behind its frame - at least her emitter being covered from phaser fire.

Unfortunately, her data-cord unplugged itself from the console in her movement, and she lost her access completely. "Damn it," she swore, uncharacteristically.

Her people went down, and a snarl formed onto Komial's beautiful features. How dare those traitorous bastards she thought, and never mind that they were fighting for their lives, just as Komial was fighting for the lives of everyone on the station. But those weapons they were using ..."Spread out and take cover. Suppressing fire 3..2...1." She popped up over the safety rail again and let out a spread of bursts, not really aiming, just to keep the intruders off guard, giving her people time to get to new positions.

Feet pounded across the deck plates as her men and women sprung forth in both directions, moving to attempt to encircle the invaders. Turn the lower deck into a shooting gallery. Fish in a barrel, that was the old Terran saying, Komial thought to herself as one of her phaser pulses struck a station, sending out a new shard of sparks down on the crew of the Theurgy.

In the meantime Master Chief William Robert O'Connell crept up the narrow column of spiral stairs pausing only when he got to the top to peer up at the walkway above before he exposed himself.  He crouched in order to get as close to the upper deck as he could while plucking a grenade from the prototype webgear he was wearing that could also power a short lived personal force field.  He tapped his combadge.  "Keyah, warp concussion bubble." 

Down below, her duty station pelted with phaser fire and yet her emitter still hidden by it, Thea had reached out and grabbed a hold of SCPO Verguy Cam's wrist, and pulled his lifeless body into her cover without effort - her fine-turned force-fields dragging the Andorian across the floor plating. She seized his TR-120, knowing she'd need it, and then ripped the back-side of the duty station open - the cover over the maintenance access clattering against the floor. In short order, she had plugged her 'umbilical cord', but there was no power routed to the software any more. She did not pause in regret, regardless much the emotion chip made her feel it, and quickly decided to re-purpose the energy-pack of Verguy's rifle to become a power source for the station. Defenseless, she was ripping out the guts of the back of the station even as sustained phaser fire rippled through her projection.

Keyah swore under her breath, counting, softly, while the Accipiter wound up its warp field generator. The damn thing was glitchy as all get out, harder to control then a Klingon targ in heat. And just never, ever ask how the Bolian knew the details there. That was one shore leave she never wanted to remember. Her blue fingers danced across the side of the gun, wincing as she heard the rain of pulse phaser fire. Narrowing her eyes, she saw a leggy blond security officer being trailed by an alien, both armed to the teeth, head to get around and entrap Thea. The warp field generator made a small, soft sound - it had finally peeked.

"Not today. Not on my watch!" Keyah declared, popping up and letting her rip. The field coalesced for less than 2.75 standard seconds, barely visible. It lashed out, seeming to pop from one point to the next, and burst between the two security guards. The alien was slammed backwards, into the bulkhead, then slumping down. But Ensign Cavanni went tits over very impressive ass, getting caught from behind. She flew up and over the railing, crashing down to the reactor room one floor below with a sickening crack, followed by a ragged scream. Not only had she lost her weapon in the fall - but the drop had caused her to land on her leg, which had buckled under the pressure of the concussive burst, and snapped like a twig. The stunning blonde stared down at the white bone poking out through her trousers, before the pain and shock overtook her, and she too passed out.

Seconds later a roughly spherical object that was slightly smaller than a baseball soared up from the stairs and exploded in a blinding flash a deafening boom, and an obscuring cloud of smoke.  But this was wasn't merely a flashbang grenade of centuries past, it dispersed a cloud of antinadion gas that interfered with the hyper accelerated particles in a phaser beam.  With luck, combined with the personal force field in his SAFTI gear, O'Connell would be able to survive a few direct hits. 

But he wasn't going to let them score a direct hit.  Using the cloud of antinadion gas and the flashbang style explosion for cover, the master chief rolled up from the narrow spiral of stairs below to shoot two security specialists who were still on their feet.  They went down under the incapacitating magnetic shock the adhesive shot fired from O'Connell's TR-120 rifle and would be unable to walk or control their bowel movements for hours.  "You alright Keyah?" Billy Bob asked as he squatted next to an unconscious carrot topped Trill who was crouched against the meter high wall separating the walkway from the drop to the deck below.  But she wasn't unconscious.  She wasn't even playing possum!  The glare, noise, and mist that the antinadion grenade produced could not only conceal O'Connell, it had hidden the officer in charge of the base's security even at point blank range!  Before he knew it, Billy Bob was in for the fight of his life!

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #30 – March 07, 2017, 10:03:07 AM

[Lieutenant Talidenai zh'Idenna/Wolf-01/Space around Vector-02 of USS Theurgy]
ATTN: All space born units

Terror forced red hot tears out of the corners of her eyes as she hovered in space around Husker's fighter for a moment as she thought on what the Lone Wolf's SCO had just said and following the series of events, the Zhen simply sat there and pondered the current situation.

<Hey El-Tee..a slip for your thoughts?> came the voice of her RIO before the bajoran's face appeared on the closed-circuit channel between their spots in the fighter.

"Yes, what is it Shocker?" Terror asked simply.

<Asked around and so far I know that Sniper, Bear, Vapor, Bacon, Angel, Talon, Stormfang and Sycthe are backing you. No word on Dragon and her RIO.> Shocker said in a respectable tone from the other side of the fighter.

Suddenly Dragon's face appeared before her eyes and said <Terror, Dragon. I need to know about someone called Aidoaan. I need to know.>

"I don't know, Dragon, but I am going to shift you over to this Iron Fox as apparently he has more information then Captain Slayton or high command was willing to share with us flyers." Terror said simply before tying in Iron Fox to Dragon's communication's line.

It was at that point Terror could only give a small smile as she heard what Shocker had said.

Suddenly Stormraven's voice piped in with <"Angel to Terror, We have lost our base ship, and I have two fighter pilots in my Flight who wish to respond in kind, I am not certain I can make them stand down. I mean, we are just a newly formed squadron of test pilots from all over Tac CONN, and I cannot vouch for anyone's loyalty this early on. That being said..>

Terror was about to reply to the human's statement but before she could suddenly Angel's face was replaced by that of Lieutenant Junior Grade Amator Barcor, Callsign "Metalhead", who's eyes where narrowed very dangerously.

<Lieutenant, I am taking command of the squadron and ordering an attack on the traitors as per the Captain's orders.> Metalhead said in a very harsh tone before he opened up their channel to a squadron wide one. <This is Lieutenant Barcor, I am taking command of squadron. Any White Wolf that refuses to follow the orders of the proper command which is Captain Slayton will be counted as a traitor and fired upon. End of discussion.>

Metalhead's fighter then quickly started to target one of the remaining birds from the Resolve when Sniper's very calm voice came through the channels like a hot, dry, Vulcan breeze in the Forge;

<You have made your second mistake, Metalhead.>

Terror couldn't help but smile as she opened up a sub channel to Shocker. "I need you to confirm what you said to me in the next twenty seconds, Shocker."

The Zhen then shifted a squadron assignment file and filtered out the data that Shocker quickly sent to her before shunting it into a flash packet. "Terror to Iron Fox, I am sending you the elements of my squadron that are supporting elements from Theurgy and Resolve. Please ID them as friendly and all others save for the one marked as White Wolf Zero Oh Five as possible friendly while the rest..mark as hostile."
/////////////////////////////////////

[Ensign Chris Slayton/Lone Wolf Zero Four/Space around Vector 02]
ATTN: All space born units.

Husker attempted to do the best that he could follow what Salvo needed him to do but the damage that the interceptor's had done to his bird was making it slightly more sluggish then normal but he was still getting it done none the less.

<Perhaps, Husker, it would be easier if you got out and pushed?> came familiar voice in his right ear.

"I missed you too, t'hy'la." Husker replied softly to his fellow pilot, using a word that was once shared rather regularly between the two of them.

<While it may not be the best of times to discuss such things..but you have been miss Christopher.> Sniper said finally, breaking her usual formal rules for while on duty as her helmeted visage appeared on the screen.

"I missed you too but I just hope that Eun doesn't kill me for the work that she's going to have to put into my bird after this fight." Husker replied as he finished the maneuver that the Resolve's SCO had asked him to perform.

The albino Vulcan's red eyes glittered like twin rubies with a hint of apparent mischief as she said <The way that you said this person's name makes one wonder, Christopher.>

Husker blinked hard as he suddenly jinxed some enemy fire and was able to return it in kind before he turned his gaze partially to the vulcan. "You are going right for a smack bottom, Sniper."

If she could, Husker could've sworn that he saw Sniper smile as she simply stated <Promises, Promises Husker. Perhaps I need to see if this..Eun was it..see if she would be willing to do such a thing then?>

Before Husker could even think of a way to respond, the battle was rejoined.
////////////////////////////////////////

[Lieutenant Talidenai zh'Idenna/Wolf-01/Space around Vector-02 of USS Theurgy]
ATTN: All space born units

Terror's eyes narrowed darkly as she watched as Metalhead's "squadron" suddenly pick up speed for an attack vector at which point she simply growled "These are my wolves, Metalhead... Mine!"

Terror then opened up the throttle big time as her prototype fighter flared to life and she let loose with her twin forward phaser arrays which sliced hard into the other fighter's shields but unlike the others, while she had been talking and trying to figure out what to do-she had also been quickly making small adjustments to her bird's weapons.

When she was first approached by Captain Slayton, he gave her the specs for the next line of fighters and asked for her opinion on them within twenty four hours of studying the technical data and as she did so, she was able to gain a certain understanding for the fighter from a technical standpoint-she understood why the prototype run had been equipped with phaser arrays rather then pulse phasers, why their hulls have been designed along this strange format, etc.

She also knew that each one of them had a specific shield frequency issue within five hundred to five hundred sixty megehertz that was breachable as the right counter field wavelength...

A moment later her twin lances of phaser energy quickly sliced through the primary field stabilizers for his power distribution network and his fighter suddenly and abruptly went dark save for his life support and as she tied in her communications with his exo-suit's, she felt her eyes go very cold and her tone colder as she simply growled again with;

"My pack!"

Terror then shifted "her" squadron into a support position. "Alright my wolves, let's get to work."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #31 – March 08, 2017, 05:57:04 AM

Jaya Thorne |  USS Allegiant Bridge | Open Space] Attn: Open Space Fighter Elements, Theurgy Bridge

"Interzeptors breaking pursuit, we are clear from enemy fire.. for ze moment."

The help came from seemingly nowhere.  Within seconds, all five of the Allegiant's pursuers were gone and Jaya was clear to make her Starbase approach.  How many times did that make?  Three?  Four?  She had begun to lose count.  And once again, she owed her salvation to a different person.  While she appreciated not dying today (now at least four times over), she wasn't looking forward to the amount of repayment that would be required.  She ought to have made a list, or at least taken names.  Although all she had to go on were callsigns: Resolve Tactical (whoever that was), Sithick (the Assassin) and now this Papa Bear.  Was she forgetting anyone?  No other names popped into mind, but at that moment the edge of the viewscreen erupted in what could only be a massive 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."

The resulting detonation and collapse of part of the enemy starship was sobering and Jaya took a moment of silence for them.  Enemy or not, the amount of lives they had just lost must be staggering.  She would not want to be responsible for something like that.  Not in a million years.  A handful of deaths from enemies that she was actively engaging?  She could live with that on her conscience.  But that... the tragic loss of life just to attempt to turn the tide in a battle?  She never wanted to have to make that decision, let alone be the one who had to notify the next of kin. 

But a moment's reflection was all the time Jaya had for the Orcus.  She needed to focus on flying, the thing she did best, and get them close enough to get scans on the boarding parties.  With Sithick manning the weapons array, Jaya was able to concentrate on her piloting skills alone.  She didn't need the shield pulse anymore, especially not with how damaged they already were.  So she was able to input her destination and plot a course with minimal adjustments needed.  Now that her tail was free from hostiles, she hardly needed to pull any defensive maneuvers either.  It was smooth sailing for the Allegiant, despite the raging battle going on.

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."

Jaya tapped her console and produced the most direct route back to the Theurgy.  They would have to wait until the scan finished, of course, and even then they might need to keep in range so that they could monitor the boarding parties.  Once they were cleared to go, however, she'd need to get them out quick.  There were thirty-some interceptors out there and she didn't need the unwanted attention.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #32 – March 09, 2017, 11:05:59 PM

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

Ravenholm's acrobatics caused Cinn to pause, temporarily forgetting his place. In that exact moment, he marvelled at her flexibility, imagining uses for that inhumane limberness. If you were to ask him later, the Bajoran would, of course, grumble before speaking of the usefulness that that pliability would have on future missions; but as he stared, it wasn't the mission at hand to what he thought.

As she came to her landing, Cinn regained his senses and returned to the problem at hand. In this case, Nathaniel Isley. With the last guard dispatched, there was no issue with Cinn closing the gap to the newest additional to Security. He looked down to the rifle in Isley's hands, the lights giving away his deeds.

"Just what do you think..." He started, before sighing. Time and place, Cinn reminded himself "This is a stun only operation, Isley. Reset your weapon and we'll discuss this later." The disappointment and aggravation was palpable from his words. Without much more to say, Cinn turned, beckoning Reagar and Cardamone over.

"This is our hold point. Ravenholm and I will continue and get our message out. Cardamone, Isley, Reagar. Your job is to hold this location. Keep any security off our backs until we're done here." With the orders given, Wenn Cinn nodded to his Senior Petty Officer. "Cal, you're in charge. Watch our new recruit, it seems the fallen wolf can't work out which power setting is appropriate to the mission at hand."

Joining his cyborg compatriot, Cinn pushed forward into the final location for the mission. The Communications control centre was a high vaulted octagonal room. Equally spaced consoles lay around the edges, circling a section of lowered floor in which stood a central circular control console. Directly opposite the entrance was a viewscreen, which provided a method for the technicians to visually check signal quality of any outgoing or incoming message they wished.

Cinn scoped the room within seconds. Inside two technicians worked, checking the feeds, stuck on monitor and maintenance duty. Despite the action that had happened in the next room, they were seemingly caught surprised by the big, black Bajoran.

"Down on the ground!" He called. "Resist and we will be forced to fire." Then, he nodded to Ravenholm. It was time to send the message.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #33 – March 10, 2017, 05:14:31 PM

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

The remaining interceptors still harried all three Vectors of the Theurgy, only posing a slightly lesser threat with their diminishing numbers. Yet they were a considerable threat to Iron Fox and his motley squadron of new allies and strangers mixed with the Lone Wolves he'd originally led into battle. While they did not have the manoeuvrability for the current kind of engagement, their the aptitude of their firepower couldn't be denied. Those heavy pulse phaser cannons were deadly to Miles' fighter crafts.

At first, as he fought back against the Knight-class opposition, Miles was not certain his message to the Valravn squadron had gotten through, but then, a written message appeared on on of his HUDs, a query about 'Aidoaan', and as he dipped and rolled in evasive manoeuvres together with the modded Type-8 shuttles, the unique crafts of Havenborn, Razor and Papa Bear, along with the remaining Wolves flying Mk III Valkyries like him, he brought to mind what little he remembered from the Black Opal and what he knew for a fact. He reckoned it to be some kind of challenge to his claim, and he could but answer as truthfully as he could, and as thoroughly as possible given the present circumstances. There was no way in hell he could type the reply, so he spoke anew to the whole squadron of Valravn fighters.

"As far as we know, the individual with that codename is the one that have been feeding coordinates to Federation weapon facilities along the RNZ to the Romulans, likely Donatra's rebels. We know because Captain Ives forced the Captain of a Romulan warbird to divulge the name of their contact when we defended the Black Opal facility from their raid." Speaking quickly, Miles' slitted eyes darted between readings on his controls, "To the best of our knowledge, Aidoaan is seeding a war between the Praetor and the Federation, since she will not take kindly to find Starfleet weaponry in the possession of the Rebels. We can but assume the person with that codename is one of the alien usurpers too... another piece that fits the puzzle."

There was a pause, before he received a data package and a call from Terror, the SCO of the squadron of Valravn fighters. The list was short, but Miles would take any ally he could get, both surprised and pleased to find that they had new allies among the White Wolves from the Orcus.

Allies:
Wolf 01: Terror & Shocker
Wolf 02: Sniper & Bear
Wolf 07: Vapor & Bacon
Wolf 09: Angel & Talon
Wolf 10: Stormfang & Sycthe

Unknown:
Wolf 05: Dragon & Furry

Five allies, possibly six, and Miles quickly distributed the signatures of the fighters to his present allies, the rest of the Valravn fighters remaining red and hostile in his tactical read-out. He just hoped he could trust the information from the SCO. He also tapped the new allies into the squadron channel. "Iron Fox to White Wolves... your choice to stand by your SCO today, to believe in her and to have faith in the truth - however difficult it might be for you - it will be remembered, and to the very best of my ability, I will try t-"

His gratitude was interrupted by a hailstorm of pulse phaser energy. "Incoming!"

The interceptors had formed up against them, led by a craft designated as Deadline on his HUD. It seemed damaged, but it was still operating. It seemed the CAG was still alive. There were twenty of them, approaching in a double-tiered echelon formation. They had opened fire as one, raining heavy pulse phaser fire from on high as they swept down against Vector 02 and its defenders. The losses were immediate. Fasha was caught in the middle of the first barrage, and as skilled as she was, there was no escape in time. Her remaining shields wore down in the onslaught, and Miles hoped to see the sensor reading of an ETS beam-out. There was none, and the Valkyrie disintegrated. Morrigan...

The Type-8 shuttle designated Goshawk tried to strafe out of the assault, but her craft was too slow, and it was eaten up from the aft - chewed to pieces by a wall of raining fire. It seemed the hostile Valravn fighters were moving in a coordinated pattern with the interceptors too, communication obviously established between the one designated Metalhead and the CAG of Starbase 84.

"By elements, fire at will! Defend the Vector at all cost!" Miles knew his engines would not hold out much longer. Keying up his double micro torpedo launchers, he opened fire - a constant stream of ordinance meeting the deadly formation. "Havenborn, you are with me! I go to port, covering your advance. Bite off their head! I need those Tovarek drones to act decoy Mk III:s and distract the hostile White Wolves, now!"

---

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

Hearing his orders, Reagar nodded to Wenn Cinn and scanned the room - trying to see how to best use the lobby to his advantage. He glanced a moment longer at Isley, deciding that he wanted him in his field of vision. Reinforcements were due any moment, and there really wasn't time for anything fancy.

"Cardamone, you are on the left facing the entrance. Find cover there. Isley, same right side. I'll be centre and in the back, picking off those you guys miss. Set to it, and hold the god damn line, else we'll not get that fucking message out, okay? Wenn and Ravenholm has no means to defend themselves back there, so get your shit together. This is bloody it..."

Cal turned away to get to his cover, but no more had he turned his back when he heard the sliding doors open, and the shuffle of running feet. Curling his upper lip, he knew what had just happened, and he rounded on the reinforcements with his TR-120 coughing projectiles in their faces. Lances of phaser beams pierced the air around him from the running security guards, and he screamed in defiance of the inevitable. He managed to take out three of them with his rifle, somehow avoiding taking a hit. He struck a fourth one down with his rifle, and a fifth one with the return swing. The sixth one collided with him, but Cal had his hand in his face, and pushed him down into the floor head-first. The seventh grabbed his uniform and tried to haul him off his feet, but Cal spun around and sent him off his balance.

It was the eight that shot him in the back, twice, and then the lobby went dark for Reagar - lost in oblivion.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #34 – March 11, 2017, 05:37:37 PM

[Dev "Dragon" Okhala| Wolf-05 | USS ORCUS "White Wolves Squadron] attn: Auctor, DocReno, other pilots

Dev took in the information with remarkable speed, even as the White Wolves squad faced a crisis of leadership.

"Dragon, Vapor. What the blazes is going on?"

Dev maneuvered her fighter to allow her element to stay on her wing. Interdiction formation was messy under the best of circumstances, and this mission was rapidly falling apart before her eyes. Never mind her own mental wrestling match.

"Keep covering Orcus' evac."

"What about Terror?"

"I'm sorting that out. For now, protect our crew, then fall back to the base"

Dev was working to try and preserve lives, but this mission was a sham. She clicked her comm to Vinnie.

"You pick up any Rom signals?"

"Negative, D. It's pretty calm. What do you think that means?"
 
"That we're not being told the truth. You're going to have to trust me."

"Always, D. Always."

Dev never knew were the unconditional acceptance that her RIO placed in her came from, but she welcomed it. The rest of her element were more formal, as each pilot was working to prove themselves on the new fighters. She didn't risk verbal chatter, and just sent a text based message to her target.

"Iron-Fox, this White Wolf 05. Need debrief on topic 'Aidoaan'"

Dev steered her fighter around the Orcus again, pulling up in the mist of sparking plasma and gutted debris. As the information she requested was relayed across her HUD, her mind started sifting the pieces. She waited shadow games and manipulated wars.

"Vinnie, we're being played fools."
"D, Slayton wouldn't..."

"No, he wouldn't, but Starfleet Command might. The Romulans are being pushed towards a war-we have to stop it."

"What?!" Vinnie's voice hit a shocked tone."

"I can beam you out. But the Romulans are moving, something I suspected for a while. If Starfleet won't protect the Federation, then I'll have to find out how to do it."

"You're talking nonsense, D. Starfleet wouldn't want a war."

"That's what I need to find out."

Silence for a moment, as they made they're next orbit around the Orcus.

"We'll find out then." Vinnie's voice sounded uncertain, and Dev knew that in a quiet moment, he would have some very stern words for her.

"Dragon to Beta Flight. I'm pursuing Terror. Continue interdiction and coordinate with Metalhead."

"Dragon, Vapor. That's not our orders."

"Roger that, Vapor. I have intelligence regarding Terror that must be secured."

"Dragon, bad call. Could get splashed. Let me raise Metalhead."

"Negative. My call. You protect the evac."

With that, Dev ended the signal, and brought up Terror's tag. With her in sight, she pushed the fighter forward, sending a text message again to Terror.

"With you."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #35 – March 12, 2017, 12:57:59 AM

[ Cmdr. Jared "Deadline" Salazar | CAG 23rd TacCONN Air Group | Knight-class Interceptor Cockpit ] Attn: All

The plasma burns down his side and right thigh hurt so much he had been hyperventilating, but by the time he had rerouted power and got his impulse drive back online, Jared Salazar had grown numb to it - the pain channeled into bitter rage against the traitors of the Federation.

"Fire!" he had called, and as one, the survivors he'd gathered from the 23rd had rained hellfire down upon the unshielded Vector and its defenders. He'd plotted the formation and angle of approach to best benefit the speed of their Knight-class vessels, quick as they were albeit slow to turn. The velocity of their first pass put strain on them because of their curved trajectory, but their firing options were plentiful. Twenty interceptors in a double echelon formation smote the traitors from on high, and Salazar's dark eyes were lit by the muzzle flares of their heavy pulse phaser cannons.

A Theurgy fighter was caught in the middle of it, his formation eradicating the one designated 'Morrigan' in a matter of seconds. Then, one of the Resolve's ridiculous shuttles didn't manage to get away, and it looked like a shoe box catching fire and crumbling to the solar winds. The Theurgy's middle hull was breached, though and resilient as it might have been. Without shields, Salazar saw personnel and air being vented into the fray of battle, shrapnel cutting bodies apart or pulse phasers evaporating them.

[Metalhead to Deadline,] came the call from one of the Orcus fighters, [I have taken command of the White Wolves. I am dead in the water, but I'm using my exosuit to coordinate them. They will come in on your six, dealing with whatever is left. Be aware, sending tactical update on Theurgy defectors in my squadron, our former SCO among them. They are Ives sympathisers and hostiles.]

"Acknowledged, Metalhead," said Salazar, spreading the news with a tap on his controls, making the 23rd aware of the new number of contacts. "Ratch, Poker Face, Mouse and Headcount, you target Valravn fighters 01, 02 and 07 on your second pass. Card, Eagle, Gypsy and Fury, you take 09 and 10. Code, Jester, Mayhem and Spitfire, you go for the remaining Mk III Valkyries around the Vector. Looks like there's only two left, and you can handle that last shuttle too, can't you? Virus, Sandman, Frostbite and Panzar, you take care of that cobbled together nightmare that can barely fly. Mad Dog, Monk and Quickdraw, you are with me... We will join the White Wolves heading for Vector 03 and deal with the two remaining fighters there."

White Wolves 11 and 12 from the Orcus - designated Wraith and Blizzard - were both bearing down on the black, strange fighter and the remaining Mk III Valkyrie that accompanied Vector 03 of the Theurgy, and Jared meant to strip it entirely of its defences. "Salazar to Starbase 84 actual, I need concentrated fire upon the bottom section of the Theurgy, over," he said, frowning when there was no reply, "Captain Hawthorne, are you there? We need a continued torpedo fire against the Theurgy."

Yet there was no answer from the starbase, as if communication had been cut.

Worse, and hard to tell through the jamming field permating the scene of battle, but it seeemed that there were suddenly fifteen new Mk III Valkyries in the battle, and Salazar had no idea when they'd launched. Mierda! Where did they come from?

Before Salazar even reached Vector 03, he saw a Mk III on his six, along with the last Mk II from the Resolve...

---

OOC: The fifteen new Mk III contacts are Tovarek-class FTR Drones with faked signatures, launched before the Orcus was disabled and now implmemented in the battle proper. Link: uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Mk_I_Tovarek-class_FTR_Drone. Salazar and Metalhead are both unaware Dragon has defected too, granting a perfect opportunity to strike back when least expected. If you all read the orders Salazar has made, you will see interceptor opposition split up by four and going for your characters. Also, read my Miles Renard post. For example, Havenborn was cued to chase after Salazar, as seen above too.

Loose Battle PO: 1) Triage 2) Nolan 3) Havenborn 4) DocReno 5) Even Angels Cry 6) Burningtransformation 7) CanadianVet and Rawley JP

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #36 – March 14, 2017, 02:02:21 AM

[Sar-unga Neleo | Communication Tower | Starbase 84]
Neleo's orders were to keep security off their backs. She could do that easily, she thought, and in order to prove it she took her phaser to the nearest hostile face, and with a satisfying wa-PAK, she knocked the poor gal clean out. That would bruise horribly in a few hours. The next of her victims wasn't even fully on his feet when she fired directly at his chest. A third victim got a kick to the family jewels so harsh, so crushing, that she may have ended his ability to start a family.

She was on a roll. A violent, wild roll that involved bashing in the faces of anybody unfortunate enough to come close as she barreled her way down the room. She was a terror of nature, a being of power, a force to be reckoned with. Nobody could touch her.

She was aware Isley had switched the setting on his phaser. Really, she understood the urge. She understood very well, she thought, as she fired into some poor Vulcan's face. But she was not the commanding officer here, and neither was he. There was a good reason Cinn told them what to do, and it was because he was the officer most fit to lead this group. If Isley was a good soldier, he would recognize Cinn's merits and tone it back. There was absolutely no need to kill, she thought, as the butt of her phaser went across some poor young woman's temples, only to quickly align back in her arms the right way so she could fire in rapid succession at a grouping of security officers attempting to take cover. No need to be so violent.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #37 – March 14, 2017, 04:56:35 PM

[ Ryuan Sel | Boarding Team 03 | EOC Top Floor Lounge ] Attn: 1) Nolan & 2) Striker N7, 3) Auctor Lucan

Ryuann nodded her understanding. "There will be others infested as well Lieutenant. No infection goes this deep without spreading. We must be prepared to cut deep and remove it, even if that means the death of fellow officers." With that she quickly set her phaser carbine to Max stun and prepared to follow Ida into the command center. The run down the hall was quick, they had little time to effect their plan and Sel wasn't about to reason with the guards. She watched Ida take down one guard, her rifle up as she dropped another guarding the entrance to the starbase command center. The doors opened as the Vulcan Selnak turned, rifle raised.

The fight was brief as Ida dispatched the Vulcan, the Andorians were one of the few races with the strength and speed to match the Vulcan's and Ida used it to good effect on the man. As the team entered the upper level entrance, Ryuan motioned for Zaraq to take one side entrance as she moved to take the other. The upper platforms on either edge left little for cover but with the door frame for cover, Ryuan was protected enough. The command center erupted in chaos as guards attempted to return fire, only to be taken down by Ryuann and Zaraq with well placed fire. A few managed to place shots close to Sel and while she didn't have time to think what setting they were using, she doubted it was anything less then heavy stun.

---

OOC: Gonna give folks a chance to add some before I dive in again.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #38 – March 15, 2017, 03:30:24 AM

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

 
"Pull up, pull up!" Cried Tancredi, coaxing her lumbering war shuttle with the steering yoke, resisting the urge to use both hands as many people often see in media entertainment. Such an action might very well cause her to lose the apparatus. As it was, the shuttle's manoeuvring thrusters were suffering response time issues and functionality. Between the modifications and the sustained damage in this battle thus far, Tancredi knew that Fuzzy Flayer was operating solely on the miracles of Randall's magic touch and lots and lots of prayer. "Guess this is it, sweetie," said Tancredi, patting the dashboard of her ship affectionately, "Ah'm gonna need everything ya got!"
 
:: Meony! :: said Goshawk, :: Too many! I can't...! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!! ::
 
Tancredi's head whipped around to look out her side screens and she watched in speechless horror as the last of Tribble Squadron vanished in a cloud of brilliant orange, gold and debris, her friend amongst them. "KIIIIIIIIM!!!" Her friend's last words and frightened plea forever etched in her mind, and the cut off scream as she died spurring her on. Tancredi's fury rekindled, and she slapped every emergency override on her shuttle, intending to push the craft to its own explosive end, but not before she took down every last Federation bastard that was labelled in red on her HUD.
 
The interceptors from the Starbase were far from finished, and their counterassault had taken down another Theurgy fighter, and now Goshawk. It felt utterly unfair, and unbelievable, even as they gained a few new allies from surprising places, but it still couldn't compare to the enemies arrayed against them. Now most people who knew tiny Krystal "Meony" Tancredi personally would all agree on one thing: The girl was more instinct than thought. She would punch a face sooner than consider a diplomatic alternative to prevent unwanted escalations. She was rage and fury, not calm and collected. It both served and undermined her all her life. But for once, the girl drew into herself even as she juked her shuttlecraft into a spiral and dive, dodging the pulse phaser cannons.
 
Realistically, there was no way she could take them all on, and as fearless as she was of death, as much as she welcomed it, she doubted others felt the same as she did. She wanted her family to survive this after she was gone, but between the loss of the Resolve and the countless lives lost on all sides, it was all up to chance, and that was something Tancredi was not willing to take with their lives on the line. She did the only thing she could. She was the last of Tribble Squadron, the last flying fighter shuttle, last, last, last. Always the last of her kind, so to speak. The girl was starting to think she was a pariah of some sort.
 
Keying in a few commands, Tancredi had her automated weapon turret swivelled around to fire above and behind her as she turned about to present her rear to the swarm of enemies, while giving chase to Havenborn and Renard, carefully picking at enemies ahead, clearing their path for them, and scattering enemies from behind. They were dangerous adversaries with their impressive pulse cannons, but God help them if they thought they could weather an assault from her tetryon turret.
 
"Computer, cut engines on mah mark, let 'er drift, but keep manoeuvring thrusters online." said Tancredi, "Now!"
 
The computer did as instructed, bypassing safety protocols thanks to her emergency override, and she spun around even as the shuttle continued drifting at the same speeds, now flying backwards, while she faced the interceptors, and she cut loose with her own pulse cannons, the tetryon turret picking targets at random, and she fired two proton torpedoes to make the interceptor pilots rethink their life choices for a moment. As she was executing her dangerous gambit, the girl noticed on her HUD that the hostile CAG, Deadline, was flying a damaged craft. In that instant, all the deaths of her friends and family, the pain of her losses, she channelled into that pilot and that craft. Blaming him or her for everything that's happened, Tancredi might have gotten a little carried away with shooting at it with almost everything she had, save for her torpedoes, still holding those in reserve.
 
But the girl definitely made clear her hatred for Deadline.
 
She was also increasing her threat value, drawing attention to herself with her actions. Both good and bad. Good, because that meant her new allies had more breathing space, and Havenborn too. Bad, because the Fuzzy Flayer just about had it. As many hits as she had been scoring on the interceptors, even managing to blow a hole through a few, just as many hits had been scored on her ship, and shuttle's shielding was faltering. Continuing to drift a while, she presented her ship's underbelly to the enemies, also giving them a fresh layer of shielding to cover Renard and Havenborn as they continued their own flights. The instruction to protect Vector 02 still held, so she eventually brought her engines back online and lumbered over to drive away foolhardy interceptors and whatever other hostile fighters remained, ignoring all the red lights and klaxon alarms going off, warning her of multiple system failures and a few hull breaches.
 
The ship was now having to consider her action requests before complying.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #39 – March 15, 2017, 03:33:00 PM

[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | USS Allegiant | Upper Deck | Bridge ] Attn: 1) Sithick 2) Jaya Thorne

With gravity off, tresses of red haired danced before Jennifer's green eyes - teeth clenched together as the first readings came through on the whereabouts of the three boarding teams. Time was precious, their seconds keeping the Allegiant in the vicinity of the the Starbase short before they'd have to pull away, but the holes in the base's shields did give them something - the signals of the Theurgy's personnel on the base fluctuating on the display that Morwen showed on the side of the viewscreen. The science officer looked pale.

"Commander! We'll have a whole fleet of starships here in a minute!"

"Allegiant to Theurgy tactical," said Jennifer, voice tight as she spoke to Trent on the main bridge, "all boarding teams appear to be in their assigned areas, only diminished in numbers. Four team members have reached the comm tower. Three of the second team are in the reactor room, and four in Ops. Attempting to contact them no-"

There was no phaser beam from the starbase that hit them, despite how close they were flying, but four more interceptors had given chase - the pulse phasers of the lead one connecting with their aft shields. All loose objects in the bridge was cast about when they were hit, new sparks of liquid fire emanating from the bulkheads, drifting weightlessly. Dewitt swore, denying the fear that crept through her that she was about to die along with her people from the Black Opal, and tried to find some way to deal with the situation.

[Inertial Dampeners are offline.] It was Thea's voice, the A.I.'s voice files installed on the Allegiant as well. [Communication system offline. Warning. Plasma levels dropping. Structural integrity breach on Deck 02. Shields at 21 %.]

"Sithick, get those fires out, and fix the comm system!" ordered Jennifer, typing into the controls in her armrest, typing a message that she hoped would get through to the teams, leaving it to send as soon as the systems allowed. It simply read 'Hurry. Fleet here already. Retreat imminent.' Her eyes then snapped to the back of Thorne's head. "Fire at will! Use the aft phasers and take us through that debris field ahead! Morwen, keep an eye on the ETA for the reinforcements!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am. ETA forty seconds!"

"Goddammit..." Another barrage from the interceptors shook them before they reached the debris field, the hits made all the worse since inertial dampeners were gone, and Thea spoke anew into the weightless atmosphere of the bridge.

[Warning. Hull breach on Deck 02. Warp Core area depressurised. Shields at 10 %]

Felr... No... Their engineers had just been spaced, the but the core was still online. Jennifer's eyes were wide. We're going to die...

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #40 – March 18, 2017, 07:03:50 AM

[Nathaniel Isley | Communication Tower | Starbase 84] Attn: Boarding Team 01 + Auctor Lucan,

Being told to stand down as he was figured out made Isley huff. Now was not however the time to start a fight with his superior officer, but it seemed foolish to not act out in this moment. They were literally fighting for their lives. While Isley wanted to be petulant, he couldn't very well pick a fight with Wenn, win said argument and walk out of here with his life.

So for the moment at least he toned down the power settings on his rifle. while it had been fun to swing it around like a flame thrower he had a narrow position to fill at this point, and he wanted to keep his fire as concentrated as possible. Reagar's words were very much true in this moment, if he panic'd or acted out then he would be dead. This was the end of it the big moment.

And despite taking his flank as it had been assigned to him by Reagar he had to watch as he was gunned down. It was a moment he hadn't honestly expected. If anyone was supposed to die from this campaign he was pretty sure he had tried to make himself a bigger target.

It also silently proved every point Isley wanted to yell at Cinn, why did they have to tone down their fire power if they were never going to be given that same courtesy, their lives were all in danger at this point. Isley was returning fire whenever he saw an opening his weapon on the proper setting. At the same time Neleo broke her cover and went on a rampage that was honestly terrifying to behold.

Taking Reagar's rifle from the ground Isley quickly set the battery pack to overheat. There was some joke here about how he was messing with the man's settings after properly adjusting his own, or maybe a witty one liner about how he wasn't going to need this thing anymore, but honestly Nathan had just watched one of the men on his team die. He was getting pretty tired of getting people killed.

Taking a stand up from his cover he had his own gun to keep suppressing fire, as he nestled his rifle under his arm and fired using one hand. The other held the barrel of the rifle which was now a timed explosive. which he threw down the hall as hard as his years of muscle building would allow. Watching as it smacked into the wall at the far end of the hall and bounced down a corner to a rather confused looking security team.

Nathan opened his mouth for a one liner, but just kind of sighed as he watched the dead mans rifle explode against the enemy force. "Nope I got nothing."

~~~

[Po2 Sithick | USS Allegiant | Upper Deck | Bridge ] Atten: Auctor Lucan & EAC


Just like that the engineering crew was down to all of two people. The thought was more then a little horrific. He had worked along side the two cadets for years, and now one was in the sickbay hopefully not paralyzed for the rest of his life, and the other was spaced. What was more the bridge was in tatters. Sithick had seen worse of course. During his time as a slave he had seen his fair share of ships that had exploded, and even served on one of them. The fact that they had just lost the warp core area was bad, but in all honesty not the worst thing that could have happened.

Now at least many of the external parts of the warp core would be unable to overheat. Something that may actually buy them a few moments down the line. He was also sure that they were down to maybe the last of the engineering team they had started with.

Him.

Which meant Sithick had to somehow keep this ship afloat. With little of everything he could work with. Getting out of the tactical chair he pushed himself albeit not so gracefully towards the plasma fires and the communication controls. Without the automatic fire suppression system online he had to find a work around to shutting off the plasma feed. Since he couldn't deprive the stuff of oxygen he had to deprive of it of other fuels. For a moment he looked around the room knowing that even with his scales this was going to hurt. Just floating close to the fire made his entire body wince, but he could see which components were feeding that fire.

Finding the components was rather easy, finding a way to get to them without completely destroy himself was another matter entirely. Still he was able to find a work around, and after a moment of hesitation that honestly he couldn't afford he reached past the fires found the component that was malfunctioning and ripped it out of the console.

His hand burned. and his skin welted under the heat, deep rashes and burns going about him. If he were human his hand would be completely lost. As it was his skin was burned to a dark black, cracks in his scales dripping with a thick green blood. He could heal, but it would take a few days with a dermal re-generator.

With the fires out, Sithick could get to work on the comm unit. His yellow eyes and remaining claw focusing on the task at hand instead of worrying about things like medical treatment or the pain. He was a Gorn, he was resilient and he would not die here. "I can get a back up comm line up, and ready to broadcazt. We have shorter range, but we can reach the closest Theurgy and her fighters. After zat they will have to relay."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #41 – March 18, 2017, 10:56:14 AM

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

"This is Angel, confirmed." What was she supposed to say? She had her orders, didn't she? "Care to tell me what the hell is going on out here?" Thomas felt somewhat surprised to hear the voice of Angel as he cursed softly in his mind. "Well I'm late to this party myself... All I can tell you is we're fighting for our own survival here, trying to prove to the universe that there's a major conspiracy. I don't know much of the details on the how and what." he had to admit "I only know that we've been hunted by futuristic foes, my ship being the living proof of that."

Razor had only just turned his bird around once more as he witnessed his failure to defend his vector. In hindsight, there was little he could do against the double formed echelon the 23rd had formed up. Morrigan stood no chance as the barrage of heavy pulse phasers ripped through her bird and tore a hole in Vector 02. His eyes never closed as he witnessed the carnage, his hand tightening around the flight stick as his engines were steadily regaining power after his use of the Transphasic Compression Phaser Cannon. He chewed on his lip as he wanted to drive his fighter right through the formation, yet that moment had passed now and the HUD showed new problems.

"By elements, fire at will! Defend the Vector at all cost!" was the order he received from Renard.

'With pleasure...' he thought as he rushed his nightmare over to the damaged part of Theurgy's exposed hull. The fighters seemed to split up, counting four targets heading his way he marked them for target acquisition. Flying head on once more, he placed full power to his front shield section as his weapon acquired the first two fighters heading towards him. Their phasers firing away at his ship, trickling down the shields bit by bit, yet never having enough firepower to slice through. [Shields at 32%] came the garbled voice of his ship and Thomas narrowed his eyes when the signal came that his weapons were in optimal firing range. "Wrong move..." he said with a low cold voice as he opened fire, the diverse armament opening up on the two fighters, shredding their shields away before their ships exploded. As he soared past the incinerated wreckage he got the warning signal that the other two fighters locked on to his six, opening fire instantly.

The shield power on his aft section was diminished in no time as he transferred powers yet it didn't stop them from getting a few hits on his ship. Systems fried and sparked inside his cockpit as he lured the two fighters away from the Vector and into open space. His power rerouting to the engines as his plan was to outrun them. Yet suddenly he was met by two things he had never seen before. The Tovarek-class FTR Drones screeched nearly past his hull and engaged the targets chasing him. Their phasers opening up as the pilots giving chase now realized these weren't Mk III fighters at all. The two drones seemingly worked in sync as they unleashed their payload, firing their single payload photon torpedo towards a single target. The first fighter managed to dodge the torpedo yet the second one got caught by the blast radius from the first torpedo, leaving him open for a direct hit by the second torpedo.

Thomas took this distraction for what it was and used his thrusters to flip his fighter around, which took more effort than expected. Instead of facing head on his final assailant he got on an angle that provided him to chase his target. Stalking it now with his phasers, he pursued the target before dispatching of it finally, playing with the fighter like a cat with it's meal. The final fighter being stripped of components shot by shot.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #42 – March 19, 2017, 12:30:48 AM

[ Outside the Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Joint-Post by Striker N7 & Auctor Lucan

After he had heard the discussion between the Romulan named Drauc and the three members of the Theurgy's crew, the Resolve's XO had been through sneaking around. His rifle, an Type-III EVA variant, had been as ready for a fight as its wielder, and Marquez held his fire until he approached the battlefront, keeping out of sight in case anyone on rear guard detail spotted him.

Marquez had double-checked his Type-3 EVA phaser rifle's settings, and knew how to made sure the rifle was at max stun.
It was one thing for changelings to infiltrate, assassinate and compromise Alpha Quadrant Security, but parasites instigating a cross-faction war was an inconceivable concept after the bloodbath of the last one. Not on my watch, you son of a bitch.

As the Lieutenant named ThanIda zh'Wann had led the team from the Theurgy into the Command Center, Drauc T'Laus had accompanied them - joining their sprint into the very heart of the base. A Romulan, a Bajoran and a Klingon led by an Andorian, Drauc had observed idly as she used his phaser rifle to sudue the opposition in their path, all of them meaning to save a human ignorant of her father's corrupt nature. Allegedly, a father corrupted in more ways than to conspire with my people.

Drauc did not know what to think of the claim that Hawthorne was possessed by another entity, but he could respect the wish to spare him, should that be the case. It was the righteous thing to do, after all. Then again, the greater import lay in preventing the murder his offspring, and the destruction of the starships out there - fighting for survival against all odds. He owed Capatin Kendrick his loyalty, and he would stop the base's commander at any cost. If that entailed killing an innocent host to a parasite, then so be it, as long as an all-out war between his people and the Federation could be prevented. Having absorbed the thoughts and convictions of the three Theurgy crewmembers ahead of him, he believed he knew what was at stake.

Hearing movements behind him, Drauc rounded on the person that was following them - his threadbare cloak billowing out as he pivoted on his feet and raised his weapon. Ida, Sel and Zaraq had just gone into the command center, but Drauc now faced another human - eyes along the sights and a calloused finger ready to squeeze the trigger. The way the human spread his hands gave Drauc pause, and he rasped three words through his teeth. "Who are you?"

Marquez at once put his arms up and phaser rifle aside, but his identifiable gravelly voice quipped in a calm, professional tone.
"Friendly. Hold fire, Rihhansu, I'm not with the Starbase crew. Commander Marquez" He'd shake hands later, a nod would do for now, positioning his rifle aside in a good faith gesture towards their common enemy, still at least ready to dodge or swing the rifle if it came to it. With his offhand, he briefly gestured to his vessel's uniform patch on his jacket.

"'Tenant Commander Marquez, XO of the USS Resolve, I'm in line to blast the parasite out of Ian Hawthorne's skull. Where. Is. He?" Marquez concisely explained before clenching his own jaw and mirrored the Romulan's tone in his own voice, shifting his eyes to the battle but keeping a trained view on the Romulan. There may have been a moment of trust, but in case there wasn't, Striker Marquez was keeping his guard up. "Call me Striker."

Hearing what the human said, Drauc could verify the truthfulness of his claim easily enough - images of the Resolve's voyage seeping into his mind. If Kendrick's Executive Officer wished to lend a hand, Drauc could respect that. He lowered his rifle and inclined his head. "Then we are late," he rasped, and tuned to enter the command center - to follow the three crewmembers of the Theurgy. "Objectives are to take out the Captain, lower the shields, and power down the tactical systems. Moving in."

Said and done, Drauc closed the distance and stepped through the doors to Ops, and as he entered the chaos beyond the sliding doors, he quickly surveyed the battlefield. He saw Sel and Zaraq covering the flanks, and Ida being pinned down behind a duty station on the raised walkway directly ahead. He could see security officers firing from cover below, and made his decision. He never paused his step, instead beginning to run out along the walkway to the Captain's chair. He heard cries from the guards below, and beams of phaser energy pierced through his brown cloak while he ran. He bared his teeth, the instincts of battle animating his surgically scared face, and ran faster - gaining momentum.

Following the Romulan into the Ops center, Striker's assault rifle made a satisfying 'chirp' as it took aim and the scope took aim on the closest target to the projected path the Romulan indicated, firing carefully timed and consistently-accurate torso stun bolts. During the chaos, Striker was able to avoid hitting any consoles as he advanced In a circular approach, taking a vantage point he could soon vacate if he had to get a better shot to give his new accomplice a better covering fire arc. "Just like Soccer." Marquez sneered in anticipation.

From her cover, Ida had seen Drauc appear, having wondered what kept the Romulan. She saw him starting to move out along the walkway, but when she saw someone following him, her immediate response was to neutralise him. Yet the human with the red collared uniform immediately began to fire at the security guards in the area, so Ida stayed her finger at the trigger of her rifle, antennae rising in surprise. Someone from the Resolve? Dismissing the pinkskin as a threat, she looked back towards Drauc, and saw him running all the way to the lip of the walkway, and leaping from it. It would take him directly down to the lower level and where Hawthorne and Henshaw were at.

Marquez took a flanking route, past the Andorian and Bajoran from the Theurgy, taking care not to 'overkill' his fellow Starfleet personnel in the hopes they could be eventually healed; nor did Striker hit any consoles during his timed shots-- covering his newfound allies was now his top priority once he saw Drac prepare to rear up and leap into the air. Before Marquez could make a joke about Romulans being a warbird at everything, her found his next shots in time it took to see who would impede the Romulan's landing. Even if it only took the wind out of the guards, it would disrupt their aim before they could get a good lock on 'Mr. Warbird' in time to kill Marquez's tentatively-only ticket out of this place. 

Three phaser-armed personnel were down before they knew who hit them, and others around the command center's perimeter were also hit at least once before Marquez continued to corral the first targets he'd hit. Silently, however, Striker cursed himself. If there were any cameras around seeing him open fire on Starfleet personnel with such efficiency, he would have blown the Security feed motherboards himself.

"Push forward!" called Ida to Zaraq and Sel, getting a nod from the Klingon and seeing him run down the stairs on the right side, and then accompanied Sel down the left flight of stairs - following the human that had covered Drauc's bold leap from the upper level. A teal-collared officer from the starbase came close and tried to wrest her weapon out of her hands, but Ida quickly discouraged him by striking him across the face with said rifle, and made him topple over the railing of the stairs.

The introduction of another armed and unknown element, with objectives their own, only added to Sel's concern about the overall outcome of the mission. Unawares of the fight raging in space, of the Resolve switching sides to join the Theurgy, all Sel could go on was Drauc's trust in the new human, her trust in Drauc still uncertain. Gritting her teeth, Sel knew the tactical situation had just changed. Ida's order to charge galvanized Sel into action and, rifle raised, she advanced down the left stairs, following Ida, shooting at targets of opportunity, any armed personnel she saw. The officer Ida wrestled briefly with barely registered in Sel's mind, though the sickening crunch a few seconds later when the officer landed head first with a sickening crunch as their neck broke on impact.

Sel didn't have time as a officer came at her from an odd angle, apparently one stationed beneath the platform. She put a shot into the man, the heavy stun barely registering with him as he advanced on her. "Shit," she muttered to herself, knowing the guard was infested, no human could absorb a phaser hit like that and shrug it off like nothing happened. She managed to dial up her phaser to kill and get a second shot before the man reached her. That had more of an effect but it didn't stop him.

And then he was upon her, trying to wrest her gun from her hand. Sel had trained for close in fights and used the butt of her rifle to good effect, bloodying the man's face with a well timed strike to his nose. That should've subdued any human, or at least forced them to break off but the man didn't stop. Sel couldn't let go of the rifle, knew if she did she was as good as dead, so went on the offensive, using every last shred of training to fight off and force back this infested demon of a man. She managed to force the fight to the railing of the central pit and the ledge gave Sel the final advantage she needed.

Battering the man with a few final strikes, she knocked him over the edge into the pit. Those crucial seconds as he fell, easily recovering as he landed, gave Sel the time she needed to place several more well aimed shots into the man. Even on kill he needed two more shots before he dropped to his knees, still alive but only for the creature inside him. One final shot to the man's head and he dropped to the ground dead. Scanning the room, she saw that few targets remained, the few being unarmed uniforms and civilians to scared to move.

The situation now contained, Sel moved towards the Captain, which gave her a good view of the likely avenues of assault. She knew it would be only a matter of time before reinforcements arrived so whatever they were going to do now, they had to do fast.

At the front of the area, Drauc had landed and rolled with his momentum, colliding with a security guard that had tried to defend Captain Hawthorne. A swift strike to the nerve-cluster at the base of his neck made him fall limp to the floor, and Drauc got back on his feet - rifle pointed towards the traitor...

Yet Captain Hawthorne had a human shield, an arm wrapped tightly around the neck of his daughter, and the cold muzzle of a hand phaser pressed hard into her temple. Drauc stayed his shot, glaring at Base Commander through the tresses of his hair. No father would do such a thing to his offspring. It seemed the Andorian was correct. In fact, he did not need the assurances from the Theurgy's crew, because as he faced Hawthorne, Drauc sensed the oily, twisted nature of the bald man's mind. The malign, chaotic maelstrom of his thoughts were bent upon sickening acts he meant do upon those who opposed him, the host's daughter included. Nightmarish images flashed in Drauc's mind, where the parasite meant to rape their bodies in openings torn open by fingers and teeth alone. Drauc had seen a lot on the battlefields of his life... but nothing compared to the imagination of the alien entity inside Hawthorne. It make him sick.

"Computer, two to beam to Shuttle Bay 5-C," said Hawthorne after tapping his combadge, grinning at the Romulan across his daughter's shoulder.

[Transporter Systems are offline,] came the answer, which made the grin on his host's face die.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #43 – March 19, 2017, 07:09:05 PM

[ Cameron Henshaw | Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Sel, Striker, Ida, Drauc, Hawthorne

The chaos that erupted came like a tidal wave as Cameron's final request for a ceasefire had crumbled to dust with communications dropping offline. All she could do was watch and hope the Theurgy and Resolve crew would make it out alive as the battle raged on brutally and without the intend to save lives on either sides. Cameron just stood there powerless and without much choice. Yet all of that changed when someone shouted to protect the captain.

The sound of phasers being discharged and the firefight that ensued was nothing more than chaotic. Various persons falling down by the well placed shots of the Theurgy boarding squad, yet Cameron saw another figure moving quickly across the upper platform towards her. She turned to face Hawthorne, he seemingly looked unimpressed and even had that vacant smile on his face. A smile she had seen before with Acreth... Her heart skipped a beat but before she could act, or do anything, she saw Hawthorne look at her, the perversion glowing in his eyes before he grabbed her and used her as a shield. Her eyes widened and the air being limited by the strong arm of her adoptive father. "D-Da... Ian!" she managed to bring out as she struggled, as best as she could yet against the strength of the parasite controlled man, she never stood a chance.

"St- Stop it! she screamed frantically as her eyes turned moist, tears forming due to the pressure forming up. Although the fact that she was betrayed by her own adoptive parents hurting her just as much. She tried to elbow the man in his stomach or stomp him on the feet or legs. Yet it was futile "Ple- Please... Let me... Go... Surrender..." she pleaded as she knew the alternative as he kept her coiled up like this. She saw the group taking positions as they surrounded him. "Don't shoot him." was the last thing she could bring out "Please!" she mouthed as she kept struggling.

Despite the obvious evidence by Hawthorne's actions, Cameron couldn't come to peace with the idea her father was infected. Much less so with the idea that there was no known cure yet to rid him of the usurper inside him. The thought of the atrocities he committed or of what he had planned flashed to the back of her mind as she simply couldn't hate the man. This man, who had given her most of her values and earned her respect. Yet also, a man she had come to love as a father.

The tears rolled down her cheeks as she knew in that moment the end was near.

Of her life or his...

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #44 – March 19, 2017, 10:08:39 PM

Following Cinn into the Communications Control Center, Selena was in full business mode now.  After her little display most people would be smiling, or cheerful, or some other signs of cockiness, but now wasn't the time for that.  She'd stood by silently while Cinn chewed Isley out, simply returning her pistol to its compartment.  Once they'd entered the CCC, she stayed by the Bajoran's side until he gave the signal.  Nodding back, the cyborg simply walked down to the lower floor, completely disregarding the two technicians who were busy holding the floor down.  It only took a moment to find the specific console on the center circle that she needed, as well as the port to plug into.

Quickly retrieving her ODN cable and attaching it to the transceiver in the back of her neck, Selena sat down and set her TR-120 down next to her, propping it up against the console.  "I'm going in, time will be different for me while I'm connected but it could easily take a while by your reckoning.  Do not let them shoot me while I'm in the system, it wouldn't end well.  Steeling herself for the biggest job of her life up to his point, Selena pushed the cable into place, closed her eyes, and let the signal wash over her.

Opening her eyes after just a moment, Selena Ravenholm once again found herself in a typical Starfleet office building, but unlike the one in the turbolift, this one was far from open.  Instead of the open desk layout, she was in a hallway with doors every few meters.  Many were labeled, but a few were not, and some had guards in front of them.  They were almost ghost-like, more wireframe with a transparent skin of a single color and some digital tracing for cosmetic purposes.  The guards were all red, every so often a yellow or blue sprite would emerge from a room and jump to another, PADDs held in hand or shoved into armpits.  Sometimes both.  This was the heart of Starbase 84's control system, and Selena was in her element.  Moving deftly down the corridor, the guards seldom did anything, a few would glance in her direction but since she did nothing to them or their charge they did nothing in return.  Those weren't the security programs to worry about, the roaming ones were.  Odd that there weren't any, but then communications wasn't the most secure of systems in Federation thinking, if this was tactical there would be a guard every 5 meters most likely.

Selena scanned each sign as she passed them: multiple sets of internal communication local sub-processors, universal translator data files, communications logs... Selena stopped at that one.  There was no guard in front for some reason, maybe these are the unclassified logs?  A quick glance down both directions showed that security still hadn't caught on to her snooping, so Selena walked in, curious as to what was there.  A truly massive vault was on the other side of the door, PADDs lined up on shelves like an ancient book library.  An opaque forcefield blocked off the back section, a red security sprite sitting at a desk in front of it.  Completely nonchalant, she walked right up to him and put her hand on the desk, lines of code already snaking from her fingertips to the red sprite.  It started to turn towards the intruder, but the moment the code reached it it flickered and resumed its blank vigil, completely ignoring Selena.

With a smile, she stepped through the forcefield like it wasn't even there.  Just as packed as the open archive behind her, this section was labeled with the names of the station's senior staff.  Grabbing one at random, the PADD showed some random letter home from the station's chief science officer.  Another was more like what she wanted, an internal memo from the chief of security about contingencies in case of a Romulan invasion.  What else could be squirreled away in here?  Only one way to find out.  One quick command started a massive download, this was a gold mine that Selena could not pass up.  Her implants couldn't hold everything of course, but what she could take was bound to have something of use.
Returning to the hallway, Selena resumed her search, time was growing short, it'd been several seconds since she'd plugged in.  Nothing had changed outside, her little incursion into the archive went unnoticed, at least for now.  The signs on the doors started to relate more to the Simulcast system, so she had to be getting close.  And then, there it was: Emergency Fleet Simulcast Override System.  Flanked by a guard sprite, the door was just like all of the others, rather odd for a keystone system, but then the Federation was all about standardization when it came to their computer designs.

"Restricted." the security sprite droned when Selena approached, throwing a ghostly arm in her path.  "Oh, but I have authorization, see?" She touched the sprite's arm like it was a lover's, code transferring in a flash.  The guard removed his arm and stood at attention.  "Access granted, you may proceed."  With a nod and a smile, Selena walked through the door only to be confronted with what amounted to a large cubicle and a single sprite sitting at a desk.

"You need to activate the Emergency Fleet Simulcast Override System." Selena tells the sprite, leaning on the desk and starting her download. 

"Activation requires command-level authorization or satisfaction of key indicators.  Neither have been met."  The sprite doesn't even look at Selena.

"The station is under attack by suspected Romulan agents, both external and internal.  That's exactly what the system was meant to warn the rest of the Federation about."

"Two subverted Federations starships do not meet the criteria of a concerted Romulan attack." the sprite continues to drone on with the same monotone voice.  "This station's defenses are more than capable of dealing with such situations."

Selena rolls her eyes.  "But what if it's just the beginning, a diversionary first strike meant to pull resources away from the main target?"

"Then the main target will trigger its own EFSOS."  The monotone voice was starting to drive Selena mad, and the speed at which she needed to move wasn't helping her mood.

"What if they can't?  With Fleet resources diverted here the other Starbases are more vulnerable, especially to a sneak attack from a cloaked fleet.  It's not without reason that a station could be disabled before its warning system could be triggered."  Her download finished, Selena prepared to break into the Simulcast's control program and seize control.  It wasn't what she wanted to do, it would leave her fingerprints all over it, but there was no time to continue arguing.  Before she could start though, the sprite started to flicker, decision processes running all along it's projected skin.

"The simulated scenario has merit, 58% of run simulations do show failure of engagement of the EFSOS.  I will alert the station commander, recommend manual engagement."  The sprite flickered again, and again, and again.  Knowing there was no time to prevent it or wait for Hawthorne's response, the hacker nearly panicked, and started to beat on the firewall.  It was a critical system though, well protected with some of the best defense software in existence.  On top of that, it would only be a matter of time before the defenses triggered the general computer security systems, guard sprites would be coming through that door any moment now.

Something happened though, something Selena was not expecting.  The sprite's flickering stopped and it looked up at its visitor.  "The commander is not responding to input, sensors show a hostile party in his presence.  Proposed scenario is showing a greater probability of occurrence.  Engaging Emergency Fleet Simulcast Override System."

Selena opened her eyes and quickly unplugged herself from the round console in front of her.  She could hear the phaser fire on the other side of the door, but it didn't matter any more.  Turning to Cinn she had to fight the urge to give him a hug then and there.

"It's done."

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #45 – March 21, 2017, 08:33:50 AM

Jaya Thorne |  USS Allegiant Bridge | Open Space] Attn: Open Space Fighter Elements, Theurgy Bridge

"Commander! We'll have a whole fleet of starships here in a minute!" Morwen's complexion paled as she spoke.

"Allegiant to Theurgy tactical," said Jennifer, voice tight as she spoke to Trent on the main bridge, "all boarding teams appear to be in their assigned areas, only diminished in numbers. Four team members have reached the comm tower. Three of the second team are in the reactor room, and four in Ops. Attempting to contact them no-"

Jaya lurched against the cross-body restraints on her seat.  Her body had finally begun to cope with the artificial gravity being off when she was suddenly and violently shoved forward as their pursuer's phasers impacted with their aft shields.  The impact had felt like whiplash, if whiplash lasted for thirty seconds or so and took place in slow-motion.  Jaya's head, arms and legs all jolted forward in an eerie, lifeless way before jerking back to their original positions.  It took her several seconds to register what had happened, and several more to force her arms to stop floating around, move down to the console and get to work.  Thankfully, hers was still functioning, unlike almost every other console or panel on the bridge.  And at least her hair had been in a ponytail so it wasn't going everywhere like Dewitt's was.

'Where did they come from?! We were clear!'  She'd been keeping a close eye on their position and hadn't received any proximity alerts for enemy elements before the phasers destroyed their aft shields.  Now she had 4 Knights on her tail, and she had no idea how they got there, unless..  Of course.  It was something she had done numerous times, at least one of which was in this very battle.  Sensors weren't perfect and a good pilot knew where the holes were.  It took some fancy flying and an off-guard foe, but with the right timing you could dive down and come up hard on someone's tail before they even knew you were there.  'Stupid.  I should have kept a better eye on our ass!'

[Inertial Dampeners are offline.] It was Thea's voice, the A.I.'s voice files installed on the Allegiant as well. [Communication system offline. Warning. Plasma levels dropping. Structural integrity breach on Deck 02. Shields at 21 %.]

Jaya's hands rushed over the console, but she wasn't as fast as she would have been if the gravity was on.  It was a constant struggle to force her arms down so her fingers could touch the screen an input the commands she needed.  She pulled up a damage report just as Thea gave her assessment of the situation.  Before the CONN Officer could relay any information, Dewitt was on top of it and barking out orders.

"Sithick, get those fires out, and fix the comm system!" ordered Jennifer, typing into the controls in her armrest, typing a message that she hoped would get through to the teams, leaving it to send as soon as the systems allowed. It simply read 'Hurry. Fleet here already. Retreat imminent.' Her eyes then snapped to the back of Thorne's head. "Fire at will! Use the aft phasers and take us through that debris field ahead! Morwen, keep an eye on the ETA for the reinforcements!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am. ETA forty seconds!" Morwen's complexion hadn't gotten any better.

Jaya quickly punched in a course through the debris field despite the warnings on her console not to do so.  She would fly it manually if she had to, as long as they got away from their pursuers.  "Got it, Commander!  Entering the debris field in thirty seconds!"  Jaya made a run for the floating bits of blown up ships and other crap that had collected on the battlefield.  With any luck, she'd make it before they got hit again and all the debris would make them harder to target.

"Goddammit..." Another barrage from the interceptors shook them before they reached the debris field, the hits made all the worse since inertial dampeners were gone, and Thea spoke anew into the weightless atmosphere of the bridge.

[Warning. Hull breach on Deck 02. Warp Core area depressurised. Shields at 10 %]

Time slowed down for Jaya in that instant, as she realized that this was it.  They were fighting a losing battle in a hopeless war and fleeing from an enemy who had them dead to rights.  They wouldn't make it.  Jaya lifted her brown eyes from her console and glanced at her fellow crewmates.  She had lived with these people for three years on the Black Opal.  Apart from the Gorn, she'd even grown to trust most of them.  Hell, she'd slept with most of them, again, aside from Sithick. 

Her eyes fell on the Gorn, who was in the middle of burning the scales off of his arm in some futile attempt to get the comm system back up.  She glanced over at Morwen next.  The poor girl was white with fear and looked to be trembling, but maybe that was just the affect of the artificial gravity being off.  Finally, Jaya turned to look at Dewitt herself.  The headstrong, charming, passionate commanding officer of both this Manta-class ship and the Black Opal spacestation was uncharacteristically panicked.  Dewitt's eyes seemed focused on the viewscreen, but it was almost as though she was looking at something beyond it.  'She thinks we're going to die..'

All her memories, good and bad, came flooding back to Jaya in that moment.  If she died here today, she could honestly say she had lived an OK life.  There were things she'd done that she regretted now, and things she'd never get to do, but all in all, it was a good life.  She found herself staring at the viewscreen: a field of debris stretched as far as the eye could see, and here and there were little ships hanging in the blackness of space.  Sometimes they moved, sometimes they didn't, and they all just hung there, floating like the toys on her nightstand.

"..told you I'd spend the rest of my life trying to make you proud, dad.." The words were a mere whisper compared to the blaring klaxons and red alert warnings that Thea kept repeating.  'This isn't how he'd want you to go.  He'd want you to fight.  Make a way.  Punch a path.  Get home safe.'  The thoughts came unbidden to the brunette, but they were far from unwelcome.  She was wrong; a death like this wouldn't make her father proud.  No, she had to find a way out and get back to the Theurgy.  She had to get back home.

"I can get a back up comm line up, and ready to broadcazt. We have shorter range, but we can reach the closest Theurgy and her fighters. After zat they will have to relay."  It was Sithick who spoke and brought Jaya back to the here and now.

Determination pierced Jaya's defeated countenance and her eyes seemed to burn with renewed vigor.  'Everyone else might have resigned us to die out here but not me.  And not Sithick either!'  She glanced at the Gorn and gave a curt nod with a hint of a smile.  If Dewitt and Morwen were going to freeze up in a panic, then it would have to be Jaya and Sithick who got them out of this mess.  "Good work Sithick!  I can wind us through the debris and get us close enough to send the message with orders to relay it.  With any luck, all this shit will fuck up their targeting and slow them down so I can get a clean shot at those motherfuckers.  We're not gonna die out here, goddammit!"

Despite the debris that she was flying into, Jaya diverted all shield power to her aft section as she dove her craft into the field of broken ships and space junk.  That meant she had to manually avoid getting hit by anything as she flew into it, but Jaya had proven herself thus far to be excellent at piloting by hand.  She then brought up a rear display onto her console and set a phaser-lock on the lead interceptor.  She dodged the bits and pieces of garbage as she flew further into the field, waiting for her pursuers to follow.  And to her delight, they did.  And they were slowing down.

Jaya grinned as her phaser-lock gave her the green light and she opened fire.  In an instant, the lead interceptor was lit up like a Christmas tree as Jaya shot blast after blast with her aft phasers and her aft micro canon.  Each hit either detonated a piece of debris or impacted on the interceptor's forward shields.  But the barrage coming from the Allegiant proved incredibly effective against the Knight-class interceptor and after several seconds of continual fire, it exploded in glorious fashion.  "YES!!"

The second interceptor swung into position to give chase to the Allegiant, and even managed to fire a few shots before Jaya gained the target.  She wove around the debris field, avoiding fire from the rear and collisions from the front.  There were still 3 ships on their tail, and despite their insistence on shooting her down, she planned to outmaneuver them and unleash the fury of hell on all of them. 

As she opened fire on the next closest interceptor, the Allegiant took a hit from it's phasers.  Instead of shooting her pursuer, the jolt from the hit made Jaya shoot several large pieces of an exploded fighter, hurling them at the Knight behind her.  The chunks smashed into the Knight-class ship, damaging some of their systems just as a slew of her micro-torpedoes slammed into it.  The interceptor dropped out of pursuit and Jaya realized that they must have sustained damage to their propulsion and warp systems, rendering them unable to move.  Another victory for the Allegiant! 

The final two fighters were similarly stopped: one was destroyed and the other was rendered immobile by Jaya's onslaught of weapons fire combined with her piloting skills.  Both made shots at the Allegiant and Jaya knew the shields had to be all but gone.  As they cleared the debris field and Jaya restored shields to the entire ship (instead of just the aft section), Thea chimed in a warning.

[Warning. Shields at 4%]

4% was better than 0%, and with their opposition now gone and the field clear, Jaya could focus on getting them out of there.  She had her sensors scan open space for the closest friendly element.  There.  Vector 3.  She could make it.  She hoped Sithick was ready.

"Sithick, tell me you'll have comms ready in a minute, because that's about all the time we have.  We're gonna make a flyby pass, drop the message and get the hell out of dodge and back to the Theurgy!"  With what little shields they had, it was Jaya's last Hail Mary at surviving, but she was confident it would work.

---

OOC: I'm coming for you, Covington & Rawley! 

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #46 – March 21, 2017, 03:20:20 PM

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Grey Wolf-01"] Attn: Auctor, White/Grey/Lone Wolves

Once Daniel had rejoined the formation he received a data packet containing new information, at least four of the new prototype fighters, designated as Valravn Mark-I, had defected to their side.  Behind him Knight spoke up. "Salvo, we've got micro-fractures along the hull, I don't think we'll be able to pull another Havenborn Special or anything else that requires us to push the engines beyond standard operating limits again.  At least not until we can land and get repairs."  He said.  "That's okay; I think I just used up a lifetime of luck with that one maneuver."  Daniel said in response as he watched his pulse phaser power return to normal levels.

When he was given the order to take out the interceptor with the designation of Deadline, he could only smile.  "With pleasure Iron Fox."  He said as he throttled forward his eyes set upon the damaged but operational interceptor.  Deadline's Air Group had accounted for ninety percent of his squadrons' decimation and Daniel would make sure that Deadline would regret his decision to stand against them today and Daniel would even get a little vengeance for his lost pilots.  "Knight, transfer power back to the forward phaser arrays, I want to hit him with everything we can."  Daniel said as Knight acknowledged him and a moment later he watched his shield percentage drop from sixty-seven percent down to forty-eight percent.  "Forty-eight percent is all we've got Daniel."  Knight stated. "We'll have to make it count then Uriah."  Daniel replied.

As he maneuvered his fighter around, he locked onto the enemy interceptor and opened fire with both his pulse phasers and forward phaser array, he watched as his shots were absorbed by what remained of his enemy's shields and then suddenly he saw the shields flicker and die.  His target however returned fire and he watched as the burst from the heavy pulse phasers brought his own shields down by eighteen percent. "Shields down to thirty percent."  Knight said as he tried to find whatever power he could put into the shields.  Both of them were wearing their helmets and relying on their suits for life support right now since power from that was being used for both shields and weapons.

Daniel brought his fighter around and quickly regained his target lock on Deadline. "Burn in hell asshole."  Daniel said as he opened fire with his forward weapons systems.  The Valkyrie Mark-II's pulse phasers and phaser arrays ripped into the unshielded craft, Daniel angled his port phaser array and cut across the cockpit of the interceptor and he watched as it decompressed as his starboard phaser array ignited the warp core and the interceptor was destroyed in a ball of plasma.  He let himself have a moment before turning his fighter towards the other enemy interceptors. "Knight transfer power from the forward phaser arrays back into the shields."  Daniel said as Knight acknowledged him.  "Salvo to Iron Fox, the head is cut off."  He said as he rejoined his new wingmate in defending Vector 02.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #47 – March 24, 2017, 09:50:39 AM

[LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel" | Cockpit | ACC-477 Mark I Valravn Flight Leader "White Wolf 09" | Vector 02] Attn: Vector 02, White/Grey/Lone Wolves, anyone else

<This is Lieutenant Barcor, I am taking command of squadron. Any White Wolf that refuses to follow the orders of the proper command which is Captain Slayton will be counted as a traitor and fired upon. End of discussion.>

For better or for worse, Angel had made her choice to stand with Razor and Iron Fox.  They were more than friends to her, they were like family and seeing them again had to be a blessing.  She knew she was defying her Captain's orders and directly going against her Starfleet Officer's Code, but it felt like the right decision in her heart.  She knew there would be repercussions, but she hadn't expected Metalhead to pull rank and take charge so quickly.  Nor had she anticipated just how protective Terror would be of their pack.

Moments after Angel relayed her message of camaraderie, she watched her SCO rip into Metalhead's Valravn with a concentrated blast from the twin phaser arrays.  She immediately looked at her readings just in time to see Metalhead's signal go dark, save for his life support and comm systems.  He wasn't dead, but he was adrift and unable to pursue or retaliate.  She was grateful to be on Terror's side and not standing against her.  And then, a message came through.

"As far as we know, the individual with that code name is the one that have been feeding coordinates to Federation weapon facilities along the RNZ to the Romulans, likely Donatra's rebels. We know because Captain Ives forced the Captain of a Romulan warbird to divulge the name of their contact when we defended the Black Opal facility from their raid." Speaking quickly, Miles' slitted eyes darted between readings on his controls, "To the best of our knowledge, Aidoaan is seeding a war between the Praetor and the Federation, since she will not take kindly to find Starfleet weaponry in the possession of the Rebels. We can but assume the person with that codename is one of the alien usurpers too... another piece that fits the puzzle."

If this was the truth behind all the Starfleet lies, Angel understood why it might be covered up.  Without physical evidence, it would be hard to prove that an uninterested third party was trying to incite a war between two groups who didn't much care for each other.  As far as she knew, the peace with the Romulan Star Empire was uneasy at best, so any step seemingly out of line could initiate a conflict.  The Dominion War was still so fresh in her mind and the last thing she wanted was another War.  That's part of why she had joined Starfleet in the first place: to prevent what happened to her family from happening to anyone else.

Another message came through from the same familiar voice from her past, along with a new packet of friendly targets.  Angel input the friendlies and marked everyone else as hostile, including a few of her White Wolves Pack. 

"Iron Fox to White Wolves... your choice to stand by your SCO today, to believe in her and to have faith in the truth - however difficult it might be for you - it will be remembered, and to the very best of my ability, I will try t-"

The phaser fire was suddenly everywhere at once as nearly twenty Interceptors closed in on their position in Vector 02.  Angel's evasive maneuvers got them through the worst of it with little damage to their shields, but her fighter was fresh and she hadn't been in the battle as long as some of her new allies.  One of them took a barrage of hits and exploded into a brilliant orange ball of light while another was too slow to strafe away and suffered the consequences.  Her former pack-mates were flying with the Interceptors and raining fire upon her new allies as well. 

"By elements, fire at will! Defend the Vector at all cost!

Angel didn't need Iron Fox to tell her what to do; she was already on it and firing upon the nearest Interceptors to her.  Her phaser emitters rippled against Interceptor shields, weakening several of them as they flew by.  They had made their surprise run, now it was her turn.  "Talon, we're chasing down the enemy.  Keep 'em busy." 

Angel pressed her fighter and gave chase to the Interceptors as they made their pass.  She noticed that they were slow to turn and seemed to struggle with holding their formation, then suddenly they broke apart into groups of four.  As they split off to pursue separate targets, she focused on the four headed her way. "Target those Knights and disable them!  Now!" 

"As you say, Angel!"  Talon complied with surprising enthusiasm to Angel's request and together, the Human Flight Leader and Andorian Intercept Officer charged the incoming Interceptors with their phaser emitters clearing a path.  The orange energy bursts lit up the darkness and hammered the shields on the lead Interceptor as Angel continued her head-on trajectory.  "Angel's away, Talon!" At the last second before diving under the pack, She let loose her ordinance in spectacular fashion.  Four micro torpedoes and 2 photon torpedoes launched from each wing, as well as one hell-hound cluster bomb.  Together, they streaked across the minimal distance to her targets, leaving an angel-wing pattern in their wake with White Wolf 09 at it's center, and impacted three of the four Interceptors. 

The lead Knight took the worst of it, with the hell-hound bomb demolishing his shields only seconds before most of the torpedoes impacted upon his craft.  He exploded in a glorious fireball, spewing debris across his wing mates and into open space.  The other torpedoes smashed against the remaining fighters, some with already weakened shields, and Angel banked right to give chase.  But Angel hadn't noticed that the Interceptors had banked left and opened fire on her Valravn as she came about.  Their phasers did minimal damage to her shields in small doses, but they had already learned that lesson and their heavy pulse phaser canons were recharged and ready to go.

"Angel, three fighters incoming, heavy phaser fire!"  Talon brought up the targets and marked them for another round with their wolf's type VIII phase emitters.  But the Andorian only got in a few shots before they were hit with a coordinated heavy pulse phaser canon strike from the three Knights.  Angel dove and dodged what she could, but their heavy canon shots were brutal.  The hits she took brought her shields down to 80% and slowed her down enough to let the Interceptors swing around behind her.

"Angel to Stormfang, do me a favor and get these guys off me!"  Angel was now playing a deadly game of mouse and cat with the remaining three Knights.  One of them seemed to have most of it's shields in tact, but the other two were definitely worse for wear.  If they could just get a few more good shots, they'd only have one fighter to deal with instead of three!

---

OOC: This is the effect that Alessia was going for.  I know it is created with flares and the vortexes around their wake, but it's not listed that her Valravn has flares (would they even work in space?!) and I didn't think it would work with her ECM pod, so I thought I could attempt to create something vaguely similar with phaser fire and torpedoes   Did I mention it's called the "Angel Wing Flare Pattern"?  Cuz that's awesome!

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #48 – March 27, 2017, 11:38:30 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

And like that Morrigan was gone.

Husker blinked hard against his disbelief that it took a savage salvo of several of the interceptors to take out such a fighter like Fasha..

Husker gripped his controls tightly before he started to input a number of commands, bypassing what he could where he could and slowly but surely the amber lit systems shifted over to green.

<Christopher, are you alright?> came Tali's quiet question as her helmeted visage appeared on a mini-screen inside of his visor.

"No frak it, those damn interceptors are acting more like a gang of fucking thugs like those found on Turkana IV!" he growled hotly as he double checked his offensive and defensive systems before making a few more minor tweaks. "I'm done..."

<Husker, do you know of a pilot called Goldeneye?> came Sniper's own voice.

This drew Husker up short as a cold lump slowly started to fill his stomach suddenly for some reason. "Yes..why?"

<I do not wish to be the bearer of bad news..> Sniper started to say.

"Then don't, but right now I'm in dire need of doing some hunting..are you two with me?" he growled hotly, his eyes already starting the systems lock ons of the interceptors as he saw how they were starting to make a sweep.

<Of course, lead the way.> Sniper replied and he could almost her a predatory smile in her collected Vulcan tones.

Terror on the other hand was starting to issue orders to the remains of her "Pack". "Vapor, I want you and Stormfang to play nice with the Iron and Gray Wolves, make sure to cover your respective backs."

<Aye Lieutenant, we've got this.> came the purring voice of Stormfang through the channel.

Terror smiled and then quickly looked at the tactical plot of the area. "Sniper, can you be a dear and see if you can't explain to our rather crude hosts why you have that particular callsign?"

There was a moment of silence but Tali could hear the formation of the cruel math that her lover would need to which Sniper simply replyed with <Of course, my dear. Have fun hunting with Husker now.>

Sniper moved her fighter out as Husker started his own movement with Terror close at hand.
/////////////////////////////////////

[Lt. JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward/ White Wolf 13 & Flight Leader] ATTN: Krystal and all other fighter elements.

Most people said that Cameron Ward was a very pragmatic man even for a pilot and this was a simple fact as he had gone through a long life before even becoming a member of the Tactical CONN that landed him here..in this fight of all things.

<Witch King, Strider. Most of our unit is divided..where do we stand?> came the voice of Wolf-14, Esa "Strider" Ojanpera.

Cameron studied the battle before him, he had kept his flight back while the majority of the fighting was going on to ensure that none of the hostiles came close to the evacuation of their carrier since it was crippled but he had heard the words of both his overall commanding officer and then this... Iron Fox.

"Why would Terror abandon her post, Strider. She seemed like she had a very sensible head on her shoulders." Cameron stated firmly.

<Good question, perhaps Aria might know something?> Strider offered up.

Cameron blinked a couple times before slowly nodding, "Agreed..and you have been rather quiet back there, old friend."

Witch King's RIO and an officer that he had served with for the last few years didn't say anything at first but eventually the Shen simply stated <I agree with the Iron Fox.>

Cameron blinked once before bringing up the dark eyed Shen's visage on his own screen. "Why is that?"

<As the master once said, "Shoot once but  straight."> was her only reply.

Cameron was about to reply when he spotted a strange looking shuttle doing some very incredible feats of action when he noticed a couple of elements of intercepters backed by an element of the Wolves that had stayed under Metalhead's "command".

Cameron noticed that the shuttle may not have been able to see the incoming triple threat and made a decision in a heart beat.
"Strider, have your element follow me in. Shnigami, stay on my six." Cameron said as he throtltled up his fighter to maximum and sighted his targeting system squarely onto the soon to be hostile fighters that was coming up behind the strange little shuttle.

Fourth Flight of the White Wolves roared in a diamond formation towards the strange little shuttle but instead of flying exactly towards it, White Wolf-13 flew up and over it, it's weapons systems slashing through the unexpecting hostile fighters and destroying two of them in quick order before splashing one of Metalhead's "Pack" while the rest of his flight took out the other interceptors in quick order.

"This is White Wolf Thirteen, Callsign Witch King to shuttle Fuzzy Flyer. Are you alright, pilot?" Cameron asked in a respectful tone, trying not to sound confused saying the name "Fuzzy Flyer",  as he swung his fighter's weapons systems onto another interceptor and quickly splashed it before damaging one of the hostile White Wolves' with another shot.

<Hehe..it's just like Betazed all over again.> came the voice of Catscratch, White Wolf Sixteen with just a hint of glee.

<I think that you and I remember Betezed in vastly different ways, Chatrine.> Strider's voice came back as he quickly threw his own fighter into a quick stopping motion that allowed one of the hostile Wolves to be splashed by Shinigami's fighter as Strider took out the interceptor that was trying to get a torpedo lock on him.

<Umm..large body count, tons of senseless violence, and we're fighting huge odds?> Catscratch simply pointed out.

Strider didn't have a comeback for that one.

"Enough talk, we have a job to do." Cameron said as he waited for the shuttle's pilot to reply. "Aria, send word to the Iron-Fox and Terror that we're with them but whatever proof that they have to support their actions today had best be pretty damn good."

<Roger that, King.> was Aria's only reply as Cameron's RIO did just as she was instructed to do.

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

[ Lt. JG T'Zantha "Sniper"/White Wolf Zero-Two/Orbit around Vector Zero-Two, USS Theurgy]ATTN: Warp Fighter Elements

If Sniper was disappointed about not being on her lover's wing, the albino vulcan didn't show it even though she was considered to be an outcast amongst her own people due to her "condition", she was still a vulcan..a daughter of Surak.

<What is the plan, Sniper?> came the reverbating voice of her RIO in Ensign Freedom Running-Moon as he sat in the back of their Valravn.

"I am to shown them why I am known as Sniper, Bear." Sniper said in a perfectly calm voice as she brought her fighter's M-142 RF Mass Drivers online and slowly re-wrapped her slender yet powerful fingers around her controls as she slowly started to track a number of hostile craft that was starting to surround the area.

<Yes..but why are we not moving though?> Bear asked.

"Shush now, Bear..working." was Sniper's only reply as she signed her weapons system onto White Wolf Twelve as it started to enter the standard bombing run on a capital ship and waited until her scanner glowed amber before pulling the trigger.

In the span of a nano-second, twin lances from her Type VIII Phaser Arrays lashed out and took out both of of the standard issue photon torpedoes that Blizzard had just launched for her bombing run and Sniper then did a quick bit of mental math and then adjusted her aim twenty degrees from what she had remembered of Blizzard's habits and switched over to her mass drivers.

Sure enough, Blizzard obliged her and then the Andorian's fighter suddenly found its self stitched hard with several rounds of thirty milimeter Osmiridium shells punching through his weaker dorsal shields which granted him a six point two second window of utter shock before his fighter flew apart into a large fireball with only his RIO being able to eject.

"White Wolf Zero Two, Sniper, to Theurgy. Scan the area next to me and please beam the transponder signal of the Rear Intercept Officer of White Wolf Twelve into a secure location." Sniper said calmly as she selected her next target and then repeated the process.

<Sniper, how did you know that he was going to do that?> Bear asked as he went about his duties on the fighter.

"Simple, Blizzard always have her fighter equipped with a standard issue torpedo launcher." she said simply as an intercepter found it's way into a fireball.

<Hm, interesting. I wonder what people would say about you then in that manner?>

Sniper gave the question exactly two seconds thought before letting loose with two micro-torpedoes before simply replying with "I talk too much, Bear."

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

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

Terror wondered why for the upteeth time why she was Husker's wingman and not the other way around but as the two of them, the outdated Valkyrie and the prototype Valravn, roared around Theurgy's Vector, quickly taking out hostile after hostile to their new tender she quickly found herself idely wondering what had changed in Husker over the past several months to make him like this.

Not that she minded, she enjoyed changed as much as the next woman but there was a hardness now to him.

"You keep going at this rate, lover, you'll be an ace after this fight for certain." Terror said with a certain amount of pride in her voice as she watched another interceptor disappear in a ball of flame.

<That's a word that I never thought I'd hear from your lips again, Terror..even after our last conversation made it perfectly clear.> Husker said over a private channel.

Terror winced outwardly at that memory as she in turn splashed another hostile fighter herself and then double checked her own craft's status. "To be honest I thought that we were doing the right thing, Husker. I didn't know that the original offer to sign onto the project behind these new fighters and the assignment as SCO came from your eldest brother..I just thought that you had settled in nicely as Phanatos' wingman."

Husker was quiet for a couple of minutes before he said anything and what he said chilled her to the bone.

<Aside from myself and maybe a few others, the Harbinger is gone.>

"Wh..what happened? I mean she was an Akira class carrier for fuck's sake!" Terror asked as she allowed her moment of confusion for a couple of hostile interceptors to almost redline her shields before her and Husker performed a manuever that was practically second nature to them.

The moment that the two Knight series interceptors started to hit Terror's shields hard, Husker quickly spun his bird over her fighter, using his underside shields to absorb the rest of the impact which in turn gave her enough time to collect her wits and roar out from under him.

Once the tail section of her fighter was out from under the nose of his plane, Husker abruptly tilted his fighter up and opened up with all of his phaser based weapons and tore the first interceptor into hundreds of thousands of tiny shards in the night.

The other interceptor had a rather pissed off Zhen catching him center mass of the fighter with twin micro-torpedoes which split the hostile craft in two before simply going poof into nothingness.

<If we survive this then I'll give you the whole story, Terror. But remember how you couldn't stand being in the same section as T'Rena?> Husker calmly replied.

"Yeah.." Terror asked cautiously.

<I found out why> was his only response before his side of the channel lapsed into silence.

Re: Chapter 06: No Cosmic Justice

Reply #49 – April 02, 2017, 03:49:46 AM

[Dev "Dragon" Okhala | White Wolf 05 |Space around the USS Orcus, enroute to the Vector] ATTN: Doc, EAC, and other pilots

It was a turning in to a full scale melee, with the pandemonium to match. Streaks of plasma provided an eerie glow to the inside of Dev's fighter, as she cut an intense swath through the confused fighters. Some of the White Wolves had formed upon behind their squad leader, which impressed her to no end. Their squad was still working on prototype fighters, meaning combat camaraderie was unusual. But, pilots would be pilots.

[Dragon, we're getting a lot of cross chatter here.] It was Scylla, a-pilot who had proven herself quite well. [Angel is following Terror, against orders.]

"We have evidence that a war is being instigated between the Romulans and the Federation. Follow your conscience, but we're defending a greater threat."

There was silence as the pilots in her element considered their options. Dev was already aware that Starfleet would brand her a traitor and her fate would be shared with the rest of Theurgy's crew. She was already resigned to this, yet her duty to the truth couldn't be denied.

She flipped her fighter upside, relative to the Starbase targeting elements from the base. "Fury, you best get me the best engine lock you can. These are good pilots-be precise and get them out of the fight."

"Copy that, Dragon."

Dev checked her readout, and was impressed-her element was following in diamond formation, spearheading a drive towards the Vector to clear away starbase fighters.