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Topic: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ] (Read 20338 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #50 –
[ Lt Cmdr Leon Marquez, | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
@CanadianVet @Auctor Lucan  @Triage @Mathis @Hastata-Nerada @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Brutus @SummerDawn @Stegro88 @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe
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"Captain, Lieutenant Commander, the Sabine went to maximum warp and successfully caught the attention from the Task Force. Our passive sensors could only tell us so much in these conditions, but I believe I noticed several warp signatures flaring up in response to vers Aldnoah's stunt. From what I could see, the sensor ghost was working too. I am updating the positions detected now on the tactical display."

"Two-One-Nine-Mark-Five. and One-Eight-Zero, mark." Marquez acknowledged the First Officer, as he sensed the distant explosions, hoping as ever that the Nebula wouldn't set off a chain reaction: There were Seven Thousand on that task force, not counting the Theurgy crew, whom he was more immediately concerned about, but not exclusively.

Leon reactively indicated the display to show the relative direction of Sera's and A'vura's shuttlecraft, avidly hoping this would draw the Task Force's advanced party away. It was indeed like Operation Rodeo, but with one of his old crewmates aboard, making his job all the more invested. Sensors registered an explosion.

"We're not going to leave anyone behind." Leon so far tried to minimize chatter, unless it pertained to combat, but he had to remind twofold that they had friends and family out there, but also that in the long run, even one other Vector had the means, methods, tools, people and common goals to get to safety and expose the truth. He was not going to lose sight of that, and reminded himself.

If we're outgunned and about to go down fighting, I'm going to personally rip Sankolov's guts out like I would have done to the Hawthorne parasite. Only this time, I'll do it in a fleetwide transmission and expose this damned conspiracy. Then that Task Force's parasites will reveal themselves the moment they give compromised orders.

Leon realized that his gaze met with Ensign Eloi-Danvers' for a moment. Indifferently, he looked back to his readings.

"Then the hunted become the hunters." Leon grumbled in a low voice that mirrored his sentiments. Despite a considerably patient and even-keeled output, Leon all the same kept his true sentiments to himself. "But we will succeed. So will our crews." Marquez added. Patiently biding his time as he glued his eyes to his monitors, reacting as he detected and magnified a reading. It was a glimmer in this nebula, but enough to warrant a report. Moments later, his earpiece chimed something that mirrored a report on his station.

"Captain. Passive sensors are picking up movements..." Marquez announced. "Multiple contacts... But without going to active sensors, I can's poinpoint anything in this nebula." Leon glowered, forwarding his readings to the holographic table. The IFF and identification relays may have been more of Archeron's scouts, or it could have been one of the Vectors. Given their odds and the inability to identify, this was wishful thinking; he chided himself for an instant for letting hope outweigh logic in this situation; It was attributed to fallout from what he'd do to the Parasite commander if he only could. "Fluctuating signals detected... Captain, I reccomend a particle sensor ping before another micro warp jump."
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #51 –
[PWO Selena Ravenholm | Vector 1 Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy] attn: @FollowTomorrow @Stegro88

She couldn’t say it out loud, but Selena was very glad that Suq took over on the cloaking device.  She’d been so lost in getting this cloaking device to work that she’d effectively given up.  Nothing she’d tried worked and the console had come within seconds of suffering for it.  Luckily, someone far more familiar with the technology had arrived, with the ship’s main hardware wonk a few steps behind him.  Watching the two work, Selena followed along silently, mentally lambasting herself for not seeing the solution to the power incompatibility.  In theory she might’ve been able to program in a transformer in the existing power flow, but she hadn’t seen it.  I need to focus better, can’t let Thea distract me… she reminded herself again.

“The ship’s system is ready for the input.” Selena reported when Suq asked if everything was ready.  Clearly everything wasn’t otherwise they’d be cloaked already, but she’d made it clear it was a hardware issue as far as she could tell.  If he heard, the Efrosian didn’t respond to her, he simply tossed a tool at Lorad and had him get to work opening the cloak and pulling a part.

Following Suq as he moved around the room and started replicating things, a new arrival’s mention of the Efrosian’s access code caught her ear.  Turning enough to see what was going on, she hid any reaction to the flying eel hanging by the warp core, clearly expecting to be able to work on the warp core.  As surreptitiously as possible, Selena watched as Suq set the newly replicated parts he was carrying over to it and typed something into the console, unlocking it for use.  Practiced motions hid the entry from ordinary prying eyes, but Selena’s weren’t ordinary.  Zooming in with her occular implants, she could clearly see the code entry and filed it away for later.

Watching Lorad for a moment once the parts here handed over, the software expert saw what she needed to do to patch the cloak into the Helmet’s power distribution properly.  It was a beautiful workaround hardware-wise, eliminating the need to transform the energy input via software, instead they were going with the old 20th century hardware set-up.  Working fast to strip out her earlier coding, Selena reset the cloaking program into a simple on-off control with attached diagnostics.  The three of them would have to stick around at first to keep an eye on the machine to make sure the cloak remained stable and get the kinks worked out, but once that was done it only needed someone to keep an eye on it to make sure the energy flow remains in tolerance.

Finishing up with a quick debug function, Selena uploaded the finalized coding to the main computer.  “All set on this end.”

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #52 –
[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent, Captain | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

Torpedo detonation.  And a pocket of gas exploding.  He knew there would be casualties within the Task Force from this, Starfleet personnel whose only crime was to follow in good faith orders they thought to be coming from a lawful authority.  But still, Trent's eyes flashed with cold satisfaction, and his thin lips briefly twitched into an approximation of a smile.  But it was cold and mirthless, and all it conveyed was a sense of dreadful exultation, the knowledge that his tactics had started to pay off, that he had hurt the enemy. 

And then, Marquez launched himself into a rather long discourse.  Oh, it was quiet and it certainly did echo much of Trent's own feelings.  But this was no time for distraction, and there was only so much audio bandwidth the bridge crew could manage, and that meant there was little room for this sort of thing, no matter how well it matched his own state of mind.  But he would address that later.  There was his report about the multiple contact he may or may not be picking up, and his recommendation to do a single ping using their volumetric sensors.  "Tactical, make it so, and release one more spread of torpedoes."

And, even before the ping for the scan was released, his fingers worked one of his armrest consoles, considering the particulars of their next jump, and then he turned his attention to the helmsman.  "Lieutenant Veradin, microwarp jump to these coordinates, if you please, on a course back towards the RV point under inertia.  Execute once the torpedoes are away."

With the immediate tactical situation dealt with, the acting Captain had a chance to pay some attention to their El-Aurian advisor.  She was asking a pointed enough question, and there were contingencies.  Not that he planned to go into detail just yet.  "We have a cloaking device.  Once we activate it, we can remain on station pretty much at will, or depart without being detected as needed.  If the other Vectors do not get here, they have been sent an emergency RV point."

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #53 –
[ Dyan Cardamone / Sar-unga Neleo | Outside Drauc's Quarters | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan

Drauc was a fascination. Like a toy to play with, a warrior to fight alongside, and a lover to fuck. On top of that, he read minds. Maybe that’s why he was such a good fit for her.

“Yeah, let’s head out. Thea’s room, the computer core.” She agreed, though her mind clearly was occupied with another problem. It was like watching a pack of squirrels attempt to solve a rubix cube. Her chosen location wasn’t done with any thought—she had been told earlier that Thea’s brain had been stolen. There’s more in that room worth taking, so it was worth guarding.

She began walking without waiting to see if Drauc followed her. Of course he’d follow her, what else would he do?

“So...why not go get it fixed down in sickbay? Once our vectors are back, anyway. Medicine’s pretty damn good these days. You know how long I passed for human? Medicine.” She nodded, as if she expected him to understand the extent of change she was forced to undergo. To her, someone who only grasped the basics and didn’t really care about anything beyond that, it seemed like a lot. Nothing was out of reach for those who reached for it.

“Or maybe I could just take this blade and do some surgery? I’ve got a good hand.” She grinned and spun her blade on it’s pivot, just to show off. She was threatening and flirting and joking. Pay attention to me, her mind insisted. Pay attention!

[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy] attn: @chXinya  @Stegro88 @Auctor Lucan

Suq was fairly oblivious to Ravenholm or Lorad. He was only really focused on making the thing work. It was a...pretty damn shitty solution, if he said so himself. He’d ruined certain parts of the device purely to make way for a hillbilly-style power converter, and he had serious concerns that there would be at least one major explosion, thanks to the way Federation consoles were made. On top of that, there was a substantial chance this wouldn’t even work as well as the original Reman cloak—after all, the Theurgy was massive. Even just one vector was way too much.

But really, he didn’t even have enough metaphorical bandwidth for that. Solder this, fuse that, twist here. Like that old anatomy song. The leg bone is connected to the, head bone… If this was anatomy, he’d probably constructed a tumor. But it was theoretically a functioning, live tumor. Time to put theory to practice.

He thumped his badge, and using a firmer, louder voice, announced new information to both those around them and the bridge. His burnt, smoking hand hovered over a switch normally used in the cockpits of fighters, connected with a bunch of delicate wiring better suited for devices far larger than this thing.

“Cloaking device activation in three...two...one...”

Click.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #54 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Engineering | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Peeps in engineering~
[Show/Hide]

The matter of inserting a new algorithm for the warp field could be as simple as simply installing the new parameters or as complex as a complete simulation to ensure the system could handle the new program. F'Rell tended to side with caution in such matters, but time was short. She could see her friend, Suq, working on installing what she was pretty sure was the cloak, and she also knew that no doubt the captain would want warp while the cloak was active. The issue was her initial algorithm was not such to allow for interface density and transphasic particles like a cloak field would generate. If they went to warp now they would likely overwork the system as it attempted to compensate and it could cause a cascade failure inside the warp core. And it would have been her fault

So she had to install a new algorithm before the cloak went active, accounting for not only the already odd shape of the vector's warp field, but also now compensating for the effect of the cloak. The mathematics alone would have taken a normal engineer several days to compute and install, but this was F'Rell's field of expertise. Much of what was going on around her was confusing and seemed alien to her, but this, this was simple.

The soft pad of her appendage allowed her to press an appendage over a section of the console without activating it and with careful movements of the pad activate the controls faster than fingers typing in could, creating a slightly more direct interface.

So with time low, and the true problem unknown to any but herself, F'Rell took the warp systems offline to install the new code. She left the core in an idle state, but the whole of the computer interface would need to be reset once she had installed the new algorithm for it to work properly and not attempt to merge the old algorithm with the new algorithm, something that could happen if things were not done just right.

Luckily Suq had given her access at the command level and she was unabashedly using it in a big damn hurry.

Finally, with the new algorithm in place, she set the system to incorporate it and then reset. It would take no more than 30 seconds, but for that 30 seconds, she barely dared to move.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #55 –
[ Drauc T'Laus | Outside Drauc's Quarters | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow 
[Show/Hide]
Walking a step behind Dyan Cardamone, Drauc T'Laus did not apply more or less focus on reading the Asurian's mind just because they were alone, nor did he do so because of what had happened between them. His ability was just present, always, and over the course of the years, he had tried to tune it out as best as he might, but his ability was not natural. It was a construct of the Tal'Shiar, and he had neither choice nor true reign over it.

Therefore, he picked out whatever might be revealed, not by choice, and he merely noticed her quick wit to run rampant, her incentives lost on hum in the stream of impulses, and it was quite refreshing to not be subjected to a slow, predictable mind. Already, she had come to suggest that his scarring would be removed.

He recognised her jest in using her native weapon for surgery, and while he did not smile he did pause to let her enjoy herself at his expense. This, he could offer, while he remained fascinated by the genuine feelings in her mind, fickle as they were.

"What can be seen upon my body is just skin-deep, of little consequence," he rasped quietly, flexing is scarred hands within the threadbare sleeves of his robe while he walked, "and while one might remove the memories of what was done to me with medicine, I do not believe I can remain who I am without knowing where I come from. More importantly, I have learned to function, so I remain sane despite of this ability of absorbing everything within its reach. Yet indeed, I might be able to have my scars removed, despite how little I love surgery suites... but there is little point to it."

He did not mention how there were advantages to having had his forehead ridges surgically carved out of his cranium. A casual glance might have him appear Vulcan instead, which had been a lot more inconspicuous when dealing with, or behind, the border to the Federation since he had deserted Starfleet. "Whereas your natural state of being, Dyan Cardamone, is to have your sac render your body entirely unblemished, preserving your flawless appearance," he said, and it was a statement of fact, having seen all of her, "my natural state is to get scarred. I would not recognise myself without the marks of a life led. The reminders of who I am... as opposed to the others in my head."

Briefly, he looked down his bare torso, framed by his robe. He saw fresh lines from her nails there, earned through the night.

OOC: Another post coming up with Sankolov and Dewitt! :)

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #56 –
[ Admiral Sankolov | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Archeron ] Attn: All

As this prolonged engagement continued to be a game of hide-and-seek, Admiral Sankolov remained as patient as his host body allowed him to be. Of course, the nameless darkness wished for erratic measures, but chaos had no place in this challenge, where there was such a ripe opportunity to silence the voice of the Theurgy. The ship was supposed to be spreading the Niga virus across Federation space, but it seemed that in this cycle, the ship persisted. No matter, there were - of course - contingencies, regardless if the other Vectors of the Theurgy might be inbound. Judging by the subspace message relating to ship re-integration, the one that they had intercepted to begin with - that was quite likely. Then again, I suppose it depends on how successful the Savi were in their pursuit... or if the new Borg Queen has crossed their path. Either way, it is merely a question of time before even this cycle is ours.

The development so far - in the events he dealt with directly - had not been entirely without a modicum of excitement, of course. There had been the sensor reading of the Theurgy that had sped right through one formation, and the fighter squadron was sent after it. A decoy? Too soon to tell. There had been armed torpedoes, just recently, which reacted to active sensor readings. It seemed, by some indications from his eyes and ears out there, that their prey was moving about, appearing and vanishing with random intervals. Sankolov believed that it was all smoke and mirrors, and that they ought to conserve resources and attention from a positive sighting. Of course, some of the Captains that reported to him didn't have his patience, and one of them had suffered for it. The USS Telemachus, with Captain Slayton in command, had taken the brunt of the punishment. Reports were still coming in about the result, but there was no word about Slayton himself.

With the fate of the Telemachus, it had become obvious that they now operated in a mine-field, where usage of active sensors came at a cost, and the need for readiness with defensive measures.

"We have another warp flare!" said the officer in Ops, and Sankolov shifted his eyes to the man over his steepled fingers. The officer continued. "This one had... something more, just before it was noticed on our passive sensors. A signal. Unknown composition. It could have been anything, but the other warp flares that our ships have detected didn't emit such a reading."

Sankolov's eyes shifted to the viewscreen. He gave it some thought, running a hand over the stubble on his chin. Soon enough, he made his decision. "Hail the Defiance, the Challenger, the Sydney, the Akagi, the Yeager and the Berlin. This is Admiral Sankolov. Break off current searches and investigate the latest warp flare . Go there and make an active sensor scan to learn more about what she did, and where she went. The Theurgy has lost the element of surprise, because now, you can all be ready for another number of torpedoes being armed. Anticipate the need to fire at them from an adequate distance when you make your scans. I want to know where the warp jump would have gone... and I will commit the other half of this search force to that area of the nebula." It was the best lead so far, this oddity of a reading that had occurred. "I stress, find out what that was; that signal they sent out before the warp reading."

Rising from his seat, Sankolov adjusted the sleeves of his uniform. "Hail the First Minister, the Monarch, the Sisko, the Dauntless and the Bellerophon. This is Sankolov on the Archeron. Stand by to receive coordinates and converge on them at maximum warp. Be ready to drop out warp... and engage the potential enemy there."

On the tactical display, Sankolov saw the indicators of the starships moving as he'd ordered - scenting the blood of their prey.

Then, it came... what he'd been waiting for. That mistake bound to be made.

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triton @CanadianVet @Mathis  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]
Dewitt had focused entirely on the tactical map over the table while the others had been talking, attentive to what Leon Marquez had warned them about. Natauna had asked a question, but Trent had answered for her. Passive sensors were poor in the conditions of the nebula, but Trent saw reason in making a ping with the particle sensors at that point, where they had sent out plenty of decoys and distractions with the Sabine and the probes. They had also done what they could to deter active scanning for them with sensor-triggered torpedo fields.

The orders were carried out, torpedoes away, the particle sensor signal flared out, and in the particle dust of the Azure Nebula, everyone on the bridge could see the cascade of contacts made across the closest vicinity. Immediately, it became clear that Marquez had it right. There were four capital ships within 80 000 km, and the rest were not too far off. Then, they were at warp, gone from the area and the four ships that might suffer the onslaught of torpedoes they'd left behind.

Yet as the brief warp jump ended, even the passive sensors picked up the aftermath of the area they'd left behind. Spikes showing torpedo detonations, but it was impossible to say how effective they were. Dewitt bit her lower lip before she murmured under her breath. "That was a close call. They were almost on top of us." More loudly, she added, as she saw the enemy deployment that the particle sensors had shown, "As of the ping we made, we had three contacts directly ahead of our current trajectory. Range, 100 000 km, and two more off our starboard side at 120 000 km. The others were further out, at warp distances, but I recommend another warp jump soon, even if that will alert them of our presence. We can only hope our probes out there - or the Sabine - will draw their attention again."

There was a brief pause, during which the voice ow Suq was heard, contacting the bridge. [Cloaking device activation in three...two...one...]

Then, there was a power warning klaxon, followed by flashing LCARS displays. Internal sensors went haywire. There was no operational control on the bridge over what was happening, not even a way to discern if the attempt was successful or not. All Dewitt noticed was that the fluctuations in power continued, making the holographic display in front of her flash and shimmer. Dewitt looked around, wondering if they were cloaked or not, but unable to tell for sure.

"This is the bridge, come in Engineering. Is it working? Please confirm!" she demanded, but then...

...the power fluctuations stopped, lights returning to normal. Dewitt's eyes checked internal sensors and system readouts. They had just lit up like a Christmas tree! Cloak or not, that kind of flare would have been seen from light years away.

[Tactical Alert. Five vessels approaching, multiple bearings. Warning weapon signatures detected,] said the computer.

Shit, shit, shit... Dewitt called out the nearest contact, sensors giving them the identity of the ship. "Closest one is the First Minister, bearing Two-Four-Nine Mark Zero," she said, and then spoke with Suq and the others in Engineering. "Dewitt to Suq, if we were actually cloaked for a while there, any second attempt better work and the cloak better hold. Our position has just been compromised, since the power surge alerted the task force. We have them on our tail now. Make that cloak work and sustain it this time!"

Then, she looked towards the helm. "Mister Veradin, keep us alive," she said, then looked towards Captain Trent, trying to keep her focus and not letting her fears take over. "Orders, Captain?"

Every second counted now, before they were in full out engagement with the task force.

OOC: The cloak worked, for a few seconds. Unfortunately, the power surge of the activation was detected, since Vector 1 had been in grey mode before this attempt. Now, let's hope the cloak can last a bit longer the next time, and that the Vector can remain ahead of its foes until then! Have fun with this thrill and close call with destruction, just to elevate the pulse a bit more in this Chapter! :)

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #57 –
[ Lt. JG Derik Veradin | Main Birdge | Vector 1 "Helmet" | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triton @CanadianVet @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]

Billiards, as Derik Veradin had noticed during his practice of the game during his time at the Academy and kick-backs on the holodecks, was a game of intense geometry, physics, and, most often in his case, dumb luck. Here he was, in a nebula-sized pool table, with the power to win or lose the game of life consequence with other starship-sized billiard balls.

Theurgy was his cue ball. Careful where he placed it, moving it around from time to time, scrambling the other targets within the nebula to counteract his opponents attempts in finding the starship’s true location. Upon the touch of his console, the micro warp jumps surely causing some bridge officers some hell in the task force and the torpedos he left behind doing so even greater. When thinking of it as a game… taking orders… jumping to warp… knocking in a ball… it was as if he wasn’t too concerned on the win itself, rather the plays that got him there.

Thea under his helm, in a sort of twisted rush, he played the game damn well, on top of multiple different approaches for each jump he could make and reacting to anticipated orders with seamless precision. On his console, coordinates drawn up for countless locations within the nebula for prime areas that would block out sensor readings had a jump been made. In the chaos of explosions in the view screen, grunting, reluctant cheers of his crewmates, and deaths of innocent Starfleet officers, he had this under control. With a starship, or a third of a starship in his unfavorable position, under his wing, he knew he could bring them to safety.

However, while awaiting orders and continuing to anticipate his next warp jump, his console began to flash and flutter out of his control, the ringing background noise in his ears flooded into focus. From his forward station on the bridge, he swung his spotted head around, just in time to catch the computer notifying, [Tactical Alert. Five vessels approaching, multiple bearings. Warning weapon signatures detected.]

The Trill’s chiseled face fell in horror. His game had just become more difficult to win. Scratch.

As the holographic table blipped with more enemy icons, he was inclined to believe the cloak had, in fact, not worked to their favor, which was only confirmed by the shared new frantic air on the bride and wining klaxons. Knowing orders were to follow, he swiveled around once more, and began to regain control of the console that had previously faltered along with the rest of the LCARS displays.

"Mister Veradin, keep us alive!” He heard behind him. And so, he must.

“Wouldn't dream otherwise, Lieutenant Commander,” he called behind him, voice strained in his own concentration of the work ahead of him. He ignored the navigational sensors on his own console blaring at him with the red flash of enemy starships in proximity, choosing to look over their distance from Theurgy as it would be irrelevant in the moments to come. The long list of potential jumping coordinates he had crafted was about to come in handy.

Understanding Dewitt’s command meaning for him to pilot the Helmet at will, Veradin laid in the coordinates for his first jump, and without confirmation from the red-shirts with much more pips on their necks behind him, whispered “Engage,” to himself. The view screen flashed momentarily as the space around the vessel was warped by his fingertips, only lasting seconds as the first vector of his starship dropped out of warp. Without a moment of rest, he repeated, flying down the list of coordinates he had pre-installed.

“This will buy engineering more time,” he mentioned to anyone who was listening, hands flying over the controls as he repeatedly took the starship in and out of FTL propulsion, “And give Archeron a hell of a time trying to find where we’ll be next.”

The cycle continued. Rapid warp jumps made in erratic directions - a clusterfuck of warp signatures and possible locations for the taskforce to dig through. With the Sabine also out there causing a ruckus, there was no telling what was on their enemies’ sensors. Derik could only imagine how such rapid bursts of dropping in and out of warp was affecting the core, or even the structural integrity of the ship. He hadn’t seemed to have ripped it apart just yet, and if he was lucky, was preventing the enemy from doing so themselves. At the current state of things, he couldn’t see much more options he could procure other than facing the taskforce with guns blazing.

However, with that understanding, he smirked at the realization that the ship wasn't the cue ball any longer. It was his lucky number 8.

OOC: This is my first post for the SIM! Please let me know of anything I can work on in the posts to come. Excited to get mixed up in this action.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #58 –
[Zyrao Natauna | Battle Forthcoming | Playing Hide and Seek | Functioning Theories | I Win the Game]
@Auctor Lucan @JayLatte @CanadianVet

They had a cloaking device.

Why in the seven realms of fuck were they not using it.

Why in the eleven rings of excrement didn't they fucking get that shit working earlier?  Theyc could have fucking timed that shit to actually initiate the moment that the Sabine did her magic and Sera would have been the perfect fucking decoy.  She was incensed, almost pissed off, that she hadn't been told of the technology that was currently on board the ship.  She didn't have all the information, she had not been given the knowledge of all the tools at her finger tips.  She could have done her job that much better if she had only know things like this. 

For a moment, to control her anger, she squeezed the Bridge of her nose between her thumb and her forefinger and tried to just try to figure out what her next fucking move was going to be with this new information.

One day, the mother fucker in the center seat, would die.

She would not be surprised.

Dewitt began feeding the Bridge numbers.  She took them in thinking about their implications.  Yet, she could tell that they had warped off again and she was really starting to lose her affinity for that gut-wrenching sensation of moving quickly from one position to another.  She could handle a lot, and had been through a lot, her body was a veritable tapestry of her life story with tattoos for her triumphs and scars for her down falls.  Yet, she did not find that she wished for any more warps.  It wouldn't be the last, even when the cloak went into place she wasn't sure how well it worked and how long it could work.

The cloaking device was activated, and she looked around.  Surely, something that profound should have some kind of shimmer or something, a light would go on to say it was indeed, working and cloaking them from the view of others.  Yet, to her knowledge, she could see nothing had changed on the Bridge.  Suddenly, Klaxons echoed on the bridge, the consoles in front of the officers began to blink and flicker.  The lights were flickering the holographic displays were going in and out.

“This ship doesn't have enough power for this shit what were you even thinking?” she asked turning to Dewitt.  The idea of the cloaking device was sensational and were it working it would have been fantastic.  However, with it becoming something of a detriment instead of a boon without the proper power it was just going to drain the ship for no reason.  Aren't these people supposed to know what they're doing?

Tactical chimed in before the First Officer could say anything at all.  She was demanding answers, and the lights settled back on again.  There was an alert, five vessels had suddenly appeared in the area they were in.  “So much for being invisible.”  Dewitt was barking orders to Engineering and Zyrao hoped that she would get them to fix this shit so they could actually be cloaked.  Weapons were up.

Zyrao was at the holographic display pulling up the most recent information that she could get.  The ship themselves and she looked at the signatures that they were picking up without active sensors she couldn't get a great deal of information but she could at least get their positions.  The weapons and the like she could only be aware that they were here.  When she asked the toddler in the center seat for his orders, Zyrao wanted to go puke loudly in a corner.  Making sure that everyone knew that calling the man in the center seat a Captain was far too generous a word.

Hopefully it's temporary or I will make mutiny my bitch.

Veradin was their hope, he was the one that was going to get them out of this shit hole that the whole fucking Bridge Crew and the fucking Anal Fissure in the center seat had gotten them into.  She quickly worked up places where they could go, for strategical advantage, they didn't want to go too far, she just wanted to figure out where she could go.  Where could they go so that they could continue to be in range for the rendezvous and yet not become particles of space dust.

“Pilot-boy I'm sending you some suggestions of coordinates that will keep us close but safer.” she said as she used the holo display to do just that.  She was learning her way around the interfaces, and hopefully the coordinates would pop up on his console and he could determine which one he, as an officer, would like to go to.  He must have figured out that he liked one or the other, or none, because moments later that gut wrenching feeling was back and they had moved, again, to another location.

“Helm, unless you have better ideas of your own, keep those coordinates handy for when we need to jump again, hopefully the cloak doesn't fail again, but if it does we need to be able to bounce.  Do we have any probes left that we can use as a deterrent?  Any more torpedoes or anything that we could drop should the shield fail a second time?  We need a back up plan.”

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #59 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Vector 01 Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @FollowTomorrow @CanadianVet @Blue Zephyr @JayLatte @chXinya @Triton @Absinthe
[Show/Hide]
 

The Reman Shock Trooper stood back as the short man, Suq, spoke.

"Cloaking device activation in three...two...one..."

Click. Nothing happened. Then the lights came on inside the disembowelled cloaking device. Sparks emerged from it. The entire rooms lights flickered, screens flashed on and off and a deafening klaxon began to sound. Looking around, Lorad saw several of the crew just standing around and looking at the warp core. He didn’t know why. He was no engineer.

"This is the bridge, come in Engineering. Is it working? Please confirm!" called Commander Dewitt's voice through the air.

Before anyone could respond to the woman’s call, several pops echoed through the room. The pops were almost immediately followed by screams as multiple crewmen were enveloped in expanding clouds of… something. Lorad wasn’t sure what it was, but if it caused humans to scream in pain, best not to get hit by it. Other crewmen began to run around and shout but Lorad was having trouble focusing amongst the cacophony.

Looking down at what had once been the cloaking device, Lorad saw smoke wafting from it and the lights that had been on inside it were now gone. And Lorad did not need to be an engineer to know that not only was the cloak not working, but whatever had just happened was probably detected by anything within 5 lightyears. And had caused untold damage to the ship at the same time.

“I told you cloak not work for this ship. Ship is too big,” Lorad said from where he stood, back and out of the way. He had no idea how to fix this. “You need to build a Scimitar cloak. My sister, Samala would know that. She could explain to you why,” Lorad continued, wishing not for the first time that his and his sister’s places could be exchanged.
Hope that is alright to get the drama started. Given Lorad's unfamiliarity with engineering in general and Starfleet tech specifically, I did not go into too much detail. I will let @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow and @chXinya go into detail about that.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #60 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Engineering | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Peeps in engineering~
[Show/Hide]

Something went wrong.

No, that was too mild a term.

Something had gone so wrong that F'Rell watched as a plasma conduit blew and the man at the console in front of it be torn to shreds by the force and the concussion wave sent her back away from her own console.

Something had gone so wrong that a coolant tank ruptured and the fumes engulfed a few crewmen, leaving nothing but inorganic uniforms to fall on the floor empty as emergency shield held in the fumes.

Something had gone more than wrong.

F'Rell saw all of this in the few seconds before the alarm even had a chance to catch up with the weight of what just happened. And when it did the klaxons shot through the air, seeming almost as loud as the initial blast itself.

And for a moment F'Rell looked around the room, at the sheer horror of it, and she hesitated. In a second she had seen as 3 crewmen had died and at least a dozen were wounded by either the explosion or the fumes of warp plasma coolant. She watched as a man fell to his knees, coughing up the liquefied remains of what had been his lungs. Death would follow in only a minute. There was no way they could stop it, even though several crew members rushed to him and in another second he was transported away in a glitter of light, likely to sickbay.

She was grateful to not have the same feeling of smell as those around her, but she could taste the burnt flesh and chemical soup left behind by the chemically disintegrated men.

If she had a stomach she would have vomited, she watched as another crew member did, or at least she hoped it was vomit.

When she did move, it was to the warp field control console. The cloak had drawn on the EPS network and with the warp system resetting it had rerouted power from the warp systems without the computer to control the flow. The result was a power surge through the cloak and into the warp field. Then when the system had reset, before the new distribution could be undone, they had gone to warp. The nacelle had done there job and pulled the superheated plasma into them to power up and then had pumped the plasma back out.

The problem was the coolant system had not expected such a massive heat spike and overloaded.

This meant that the nacelle was now generating a faulty warp field because of heat damage inside and that the coolant system would not be able to keep up. Add to that the shock wave through the system was causing a feedback loop inside the core itself, generating increasing amounts of pressure, and they were not only looking at a damaged warp field, but the warp core itself was now right on the edge of a breach.

And with the might of the task force breathing down on them there would be no option to shut down and repair. No option to eject the core and either let it blow in the vacuum of space or let it go inactive.

No, as F'Rell looked over the readouts and alerts, she knew there was only one option. They needed to clamp down the core, keep it active, and attempt to keep the coolant system online, even though they could not get to the breach in it until it was shut down.

Meaning, if the emergency forcefield failed, they all died. If the clamps failed, they died. If she could not, on the fly, keep the warp field stable manually, they died.

At that moment, F'Rell missed the Resolve.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #61 –
[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent, Captain | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triton @Blue Zephyr @JayLatte @FollowTomorrow @chXinya

Warning the cloaking device was coming online had been sent, and Trent, even though he dared hope it would function, showed not a hint of emotion as he concentrated on the plot before him.  It wouldn't come a moment too late, for it would seem Sankolov had wised up as to where they were within the cloud of decoys.  The cloak had to work.  Otherwise, it would call for some serious tap-dancing to resume their game of hide and seek. 

And just as Engineering said they were activating the cloak, not only did it not function, but the failed activation made their energy signature spike, faster and harder than the low-level jamming Arisaka had been carefully managing could handle and conceal.  Task Force Archeron had them dialed in, and of course, their so-called advisor, rather than coming up with something constructive, decided to start going off.  Again.

"Miss Natauna, this ship has sufficient power to operate a cloaking device; what we lack is plug-and-play capability."  Trent's voice was its usual near-whisper, and neither voice nor face betrayed any emotion.  Would he rather he'd thought of this sooner?  Of course.  Were mistakes made in the implementation of the cloak?  Obviously.  However, he knew the situation: Engineering was forced to work faster than they'd like, with equipment not even compatible with their power grid.  And this was even before the stress of having to keep the warp drive functioning, no easy task with their repeated jumps.  One thing for certain, the coils would need serious maintenance if they go out of this one. 

And Trent nearly surprised himself with his own calm.  But then again, this was not the first time he was taking this ship through a death ride.  It was not even the first ship he commanded in such dire straits either.  But this was not the Harrier.  This was not a pack of Jem'Hadar fighters coming at him.  It was Starfleet officers.  Perhaps Sankolov would be relentless, but his crews, on the other hand?  They were merely mortals. 

That could be exploited all right. 

"Commander Dewitt, Mister Marquez, Mister Veradin, we have a few minutes here, let's use them.  Jennifer, prepare a set of instructions for the probes to send via burst transmission so they all make a warp jump and all come out of warp at the same time.  Helm, you will execute a near-simultaneous warp jump of our own, set to drop out of warp along with the probes.  Tactical, bring all tubes back to normal operation and reprogram a full spread of torpedoes from all of our tubes.  Have them set for image recognition on all of the Task Force's ships, and enter coordinates to target life support systems on the nearest vessels.  Set for computer-controlled launch the instant we enter warp speed." 

The order was not one given lightly.  For Trent had a plan, one that was ruthless, and utterly dependent on Sankolov having to maintain morale within his own fleet.  And even if he felt no particular obligation to pick up his crews, his other captains well might. And the order to launch the torpedoes from warp speed, that would mean the weapons would come screaming out of the tubes at a an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, relative to the ship.  But launched from warp, the sustainer motor that was their main drive would keep them at warp, and at such short ranges, the kinetic effect alone, even before the warheads would go, would be terrible on ships that could not maintain full shields.

And the acting captain knew he was going to kill a number of Starfleet personnel this way, but his more immediate concern was to take some of those ships out of the fight by giving them something bigger to worry about, and force others to peel off to start collecting their crews before space would claim them through their hulls. 

And only then did he consider the sets of coordinates the El-Aurian sent out.  Given the deployment and movement of the Task Force, most made sense.  But one in particular spoke to him.  "Mister Veradin, third set of coordinates, make those our arrival coordinates, and work the math to make it work with Commander Dewitt's probe operations. "

"And once we drop out of warp again, resume silent running." 

However, he was not quite done with addressing Bridge matters. "Miss Natauna, please remember to copy me when you send coordinates to the Helm."

And only then did he key the channel to Engineering.  "Mister Suq, I need a simple answer.  Can you make the cloak work?"

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #62 –
[ Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers | Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: 
[Show/Hide]

For a long while there was almost nothing for Faye to do. Nothing but, sit, stew, and feel the emotions around her fester. There was a spike of fear that made her shiver, cold sweat runnign down her spine, as the lights flickered all around them. She saw the power levels on the comm's array drop slightly, then return. And in her ear, calls from various stations around the ship began to echo, reporting in status updates for the vector. Her face paled just a bit more with the news.

Damn, she thought, gripping the side of her console with a tension that left her knuckles white. The cloak had failed - Dewitt had said as much, and others around the room were feeling it.  Tension climbed up rapidly, as the announcement of inbound ships send the rest of the crew around her springing forth into action. Not for the first time she wondered just what she was supposed to do. She was not picking up any enemy transmissions to hack into. There was no fleet for her to coordinate with. The computer took care of most of the internal transmissions. She was documenting reports as they came in, but all the same...she was a diplomat, not a fighter. And they were in the middle of a nasty cat and mouse game.

Balanced on the edge of a Terror-honed knife.

Faye found herself pressing back into her seat, braced against her console, as the Trill pilot from the other ship - the Resolve began a series of micro-warp jumps in rapid succession. Less so from any issues with the inertial dampeners, and more so from the spike of intent that the pilot had that Faye caught a whiff of. Her mind drew out and supplied the illusion of being shaken about, when the ship itself barely registered more than a few gentle stops and starts.

Hearing their 'guest' mouthing off at Lt. Cmdr. Dewitt did nothing at all for Faye's concentration or mental health. She couldn't read this Zayro's mind, which might every well have been for the best. Hearing how lacking the woman found them in her tone was more than enough for Faye. Never-mind picking up how everyone else around her felt about the enigmatic ally of theirs. She was pretty sure she was still an ally. But one that  was really getting on her Captains's nerves.

It was, perhaps Trent that drew most of the young diplomats attention, mostly because she got an inkling of what his next orders were, before he spoke them. She saw images of a ship bridge, smaller, more compact than this one, falling apart under a barrage. Flames leaping high along a bank of consoles, sparks ringing out. The profile of a Jem Hadar Attack cruiser - one that was replaced with an image of the Archeron and then other ships from the task force. Ships exploding as torpedoes detonated against them at impossible velocities, wrecking untold havoc.

Trent's mind-scape shifted again to the face, like a skeletal specter, of Admiral Sankolov, a death-head specter, and the question, crystal clear in Trent's mind, What would he have to give to maintain his fleets morale.

If anyone on the bridge had been paying attention to the silent, slender Betazoid that sat manning the comms station, they would have seen, a scant few seconds before Trent gave the order to target the life support systems, a look of unmitigated horror pass over her face. Those coal-black eyes went wide with shock, her mouth slightly agape. She wanted to protest, to call out the man in the center chair for his cold blooded calculus. Except, the math added up.

Gods help me...it might be the best plan we have.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #63 –
[ Lt Cmdr Leon Marquez | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
@CanadianVet @Auctor Lucan  @Triage @Mathis @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Brutus @SummerDawn @Stegro88 @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe
[Show/Hide]

Leon regretted fueling the situation with the outspoken Klingon guest tactician. While the Chief Tactical Officer had their collected ideas prepared and ready to be enabled, based off of attack patterns memorized so as not to have a trail on the computer's memory. Marquez seemed to 'think' better with her presence, or whatever he could imagine he sensed out of the El-Aurian. If only her verbal output could only be toned down a notch, Marquez had no difficulty focusing, but well, at least in respects to the job at hand, he didn't exactly need any more encouragement to think about the tension on the bridge right now.

"Tactical, bring all tubes back to normal operation and reprogram a full spread of torpedoes from all of our tubes.  Have them set for image recognition on all of the Task Force's ships, and enter coordinates to target life support systems on the nearest vessels.  Set for computer-controlled launch the instant we enter warp speed." 

"Aye, Captain."Leon pulled up the schematics of confirmed vessels according his prior sensor findings. Defiant, Akira, Intrepid, Rigel, Saber, Sovereigns, Excelsior, Galaxies, Luna... and the Archeron her--itself. The head of the snake. Leon's readouts projected color-coordinated readouts indicating the precise locations to hit those ships where it had to hurt. This was something that went against years of training and belief in the Federation. He was going to cripple the very people he wore a uniform to protect. At this point, his only hope was to restore the space time continuum to set things right. The afterthought was replaced by targeting the Berlins life support systems; the poor Cardassian-War relic was particularly susceptible to critical damage, and was the last to be targeted.

As the holotable and main viewer prepared a codex of target data of the confirmed readings of corresponding craft, the system read its targets locked. This was when he had a moment of micro-momentary hesitation, which ultimately ruled into the maxim of the needs of the billions of citizen lives at at stake, outweighing the needs of the few...thousand... Archeron crew, or the one parasite. Leon only wished he could've fired the barrage to kill Sankolov himself. In a moment of necessity, Theurgy's torpedoes armed. The Helm braced for battle.

In the spirit of opportunity, Marquez specifically targeted the enemy Flagship allthesame, and read out the torpedo readiness. "Torpedoes loaded, targets based off of proximity and vulnerability." Leon indicated potential torpedo vectors in 'alpha', 'beta' and 'delta' patterns, the latter of which locked on to the flagship's dorsal quadrant. Even one variably-effective missile hit would be a sufficient enough of a taunt. "Should I send further regards to the Admiral, Sir?" Leon asked, his voice as low as the light setting on the bridge and the voices of the others present. His hand was safely enough near the torpedoes' trigger to fire when ready.
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #64 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy] attn: @chXinya  @Stegro88 @Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet

The explosion shockwave rocked him, but he did not seem particularly surprised by it. This was the critical flaw of Federation-built ships; explosions.

As he lay on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut so they wouldn’t see what his ears were processing. Screaming, gas whistling past a ruptured something-or-another, emergency klaxons. Someone was heaving, or trying to breathe, or something. His men and women, dying by his hand. Blood, he saw blood, he felt blood, he was covered in it, all his fault, all his fault…

He pushed hi body up, without panic. He opened his eyes and all he saw was blood, covering his skin, the blood of all the people who died because of his decisions. At that moment, he decided that what he was seeing wasn’t real. Nothing he heard was real. So he stood up, and despite the ‘false’ whistling, he focused in on that sound. Not plasma, he decided, but a gas of some kind. Fumes, from...environmentals, or the coolant system. Not the EPS conduits. The other problem he could identify was the warp core. To him and his sensitive hearing, it sounded like it was screaming. Not yet breached, but that told him it was close.
“Ravenholm, Warp core. Lorad, fix the device.” He spoke as he walked on to the very much not-real cooling leak.

He heard Trent. He was so distant, under the waves of an ocean, almost. He wasn’t real. None of this was. He tapped his combadge,
“It will work. I will make it work. Give me time to patch ‘er up and we’ll try again.” And he meant those words. Despite the fog, the ocean, the distant roar of reality, there was an eternal flame burning in his chest. It was not bright, not huge, but it was, and by that very flame he would make this goddamn cloak work. There was no other outcome.

He ran his hands over his toolbelt. Yes, he had the right tools. He stopped by the replicator four sheets of alloy please. He walked by F’rell without further word, headed towards the jeffries tubes, his body language more fitting of a handyman come to change a lightbulb than an engineer in an emergency.

But what on Efros was he planning on doing anyway?

[ Dyan Cardamone / Sar-unga Neleo | On the way to Thea's room | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan

“Why do you like your scars?” She half-laughed, looking back at him as if he had suggested that they were beautiful. Dyan didn’t think so, but it also did not stop her from sleeping with him. Personally, she’d never had scarring. Even with her sac repressed, her skin was always perfect. She made a point to keep it that way, demanding that the nurses and doctors in sickbay don’t leave any marks behind.

“You’re still you even when you’re ugly, so why not choose to make yourself look better?” Admittedly, despite her racing mind, she could be shallow. This is one of her shallow moments. It came from not understanding. Or, if Drauc looked deeper, she did not want to understand. Drauc was different, and thus not as good as Dyan. There wasn’t any reason to understand; Drauc simply made bad decisions. Dyan didn’t. A defense mechanism, a thought process built to hide...something. Something she didn’t want to think about.

“You could at least do with a manicure. You know you can get your nails sharpened, right?” She grinned, looking back at his scratches. She did that on purpose. It made her proud to know that she did.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #65 –
[ Lt. JG Derik Veradin | Main Birdge | Vector 1 "Helmet" | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triton @CanadianVet @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
[Show/Hide]
While Derik had worked up an ample list of potential jump coordinates himself, that list was soon growing dry and would near its end within, if he calculated correctly, two and a half minutes of dropping in and out of warp. He tried not to panic, but looking at how quickly he had to apply these coordinates into his console, and administering the actual piloting of the ship, there was simply no time for him to draw up more coordinates and keep Archeron off their tails at the same time. It was simply too dangerous to jump to an unsurveyed area of the nebula, and certainly too dangerous to sit still, like a waiting duck, to lay in a brand new course every time they needed to jump.

That was until a little voice behind him, spoke up. "Pilot-boy I'm sending you some suggestions of coordinates that will keep us close but safer." While being referred to as “Pilot-boy” wasn’t exactly flattering, nor along the lines of Starfleet command protocol, he was grateful as the weaning list on his navigational display was replenished, offering the entire vessel at least another ten or so minutes of time that he couldn’t afford to give them otherwise.

The Trill did his best to award his appreciation, but through the concentration on their survival, the expediency at which his hands and mind were moving, and the noise on the bridge, had forgotten the woman’s name who had just thrown him a very large bone. Natauna he remembered, as she was sternly addressed by the acting captain, before she was passively chastised for the snarky comment to Commander Dewitt.

Not the most pleasant gal, he noted, yet proved extremely useful. He made sure to let her know while he continued the frequent warp jumps. “Much appreciated, Natauna,” he called to the El-Aurian. “Feel free to keep those coordinates coming.”

It was then, after turning his attention back to the helm, that he received orders for the first time after he began to fly Theurgy at will, a somewhat comforting and dulling of his predicament. It wasn’t every day that he got to pilot state-of-the-art machinery, running from enemies, and feeling like a badass. Tehren would be so proud.

Commander Trent was clear in his instructions, but his motives were not so crystal to the helmsman. Regardless, he processed his order to align his attention with that of the Lieutenant Commander, perfectly syncing their entrance and drop from warp along with the probes that Marquez and Dewitt were to reconfigure.

It then made sense. Like a bow and an arrow. He would draw the string back, launch to warp along with the torpedos, and when he dropped out, the arrow would continue to fly. Full spread. Right into the enemy ships. He grimaced at imagining the detriment a torpedo at warp speed would provoke on a ship’s hull… to a ship’s compliment.

"Mister Veradin, third set of coordinates, make those our arrival coordinates, and work the math to make it work with Commander Dewitt's probe operations."

He nodded his head affirmatively to his captain, offering the confirmation,  “Aye, sir.”

Derik was usually a man of many words, yet in this moment of life or death, which had previously thrilled him moments ago, he remained silent. The thrill had been in protecting his, and his crew’s, own lives. Not taking that of others. Derik wasn’t a tactical officer. Yet in the moment he disengaged the warp drive, he would function as one, sending a deadly blow at Federation starships, breaching hulls, sucking officers into the vacuum of space, and killing others upon impact.

Was he comfortable with letting go of the string? Well, he reminded himself, You can’t have your cake, and eat it too.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #66 –
[Zyrao Natauna | There is No Miss |  Sociopathic Assholes | Control Your Bridge |  Ideas are Welcome]
@Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet @JayLatte @FollowTomorrow @Triton @Brutus

“What was that?”

Thing was, on a Bridge were red alert was happening, people were talking, calling over each other, and so forth no one was going to hear a mother fucking whisper.  She didn't even, honestly care what he said, she heard something that sounded an awful lot like Miss.  She didn't think it was, because, she doubted that asshole knew how to show someone respect that wasn't decorated with shit on their collars.  She certainly hadn't seen him do it yet.  Perhaps, he was allergic to showing respect, regardless, it didn't really matter what he had said.  As she doubted that it really gave to the whole operation.  She was up here for a reason, to help, and if he was going to disrespect everyone that wasn't an officer merely because of that fact, he was going to have a very short list of people he could rely on.

He began to give orders, a bit louder than before, since it seemed that she could actually hear him this time.  She wasn't sure how everyone heard the man, afterall, he was so quiet.  Quiet didn't mean shit except for 'listen really hard for me because me because I'm only going to say this once, super quiet, and then if you didn't hear me it's your loss'.  Attention-grabbing, bull shit if she ever saw it.  There was nothing about being loud that meant you lost control.  You lost control when you were red faced and screaming, not taking your volume up a rung so that you could be heard and understood more easily.  But hey, apparently, he was a super cool Captain.  Maybe if he put more effort in being a Captain instead of being so damn quiet he might actually achieve something.

The orders weren't bad though.  The simultaneous warp out was not a bad idea.  They had lost the element of surprise when the cloak that they were playing with fucking failed.  “You'll need to time it as simultaneous as possible.  Nearly, is not going to be good enough.  Do we have anyone that can program it to actually be at the same time?” she asked she was standing behind Trent now.  She didn't much care where he wanted her to be, she was the one person on this Bridge he could not control.  The Engineering came back with an answer.  She thought about it for a moment, she didn't know much about Engineering but she understood power.

“We need as much power as possible to cloak a ship this size, Engineer.” she stated when the channel was open again.  “If the cloak doesn't work this time, we're running out of hiding places and luck.”

She didn't care who got pissed off at her for taking control.  Someone had to, and besides, she wasn't saying anything that was untrue.  Words came from the Pilot-Boy up front.

What was that?

Was that actual respect?

Was that a thing they taught in Starfleet? 

Who knew!?

Her eyes zeroed in on the Helmsman.  She had only called him Pilot-boy because she had no idea what his name was.  On a Bridge this size there were so many people that she could not keep up with them in the heat of the battle and her mind was working on many other things, it was not out of direspect that she had called him Pilot-Boy.  However, the fact that he had figured out her own name and went out of his way to thank her and request more of her work, straightened her back.  There was a gross change that came over her face, something those looking at her could see.  Respect, went a long way with her.  It was one of the reasons that she would respect Marquez over the Anal Boil that sat in the Captain's seat.  She thrust her shoulders back.

“Will do, Mister Helmsman.” she said quickly as she thought about how this was all going to go down.  Zyrao pulled her PADD up, the one given to her by Dewitt and began to plug away at more of the battle field trying to figure out what her next moves would be, depending on how well this worked.  Trent might be going after life support, but that didn't mean it would hit, and it didn't mean they didn't have their own method to fire back.  If the cloak didn't hold, if it didn't even get off the ground, they were fucked in a big way.


Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #67 –
[PWO Selena Ravenholm | Vector 1 Engineering | Deck 6 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy]

For a moment, everything worked.  Power flowed into the cloaking device, the device cranked out a unfathomable amount of exotic particles at a rate that flagged several warnings that she’d already disabled (as well as an automatic shutdown attempt that an earlier test had triggered), and pumped them all out into space.

And then everything went to hell.

Since she’d been looking at her console and not the warp core she only heard the explosion before the shockwave slammed her face first into the monitor.  Recoiling from the sudden headache, Selena’s hands quickly covered her face to feel if anything was broken, a move that saved her from the coolant splash.  Her hands flashed with simulated pain, but it died quickly as the compound quickly sublimated and decomposed into harmless components.  Since the emergency forcefield snapped around the core the moment the computer registered the threat to the crew that was the worst of what she took, not that it would’ve been much comfort to the three empty uniforms laying on the deck.

The moment Suq got his bearings and snapped out the orders, Selena was out of the chair and standing in front of the warp core control console.  The display was a hash of error messages, red lights marking every control point between the dilithium matrix and the nacelle itself.  With a shattered coolant pipe the fact that all of those warnings were heat related was no real surprise.  The bigger surprise was that the warp core hadn’t automatically shut down and that it was even still projecting a usable (if severely compromised) warp bubble.  Not knowing all that much about warp cores, Selena had to approach it like any other faulty machine with overheating issues: shut things down.

Mechanical fingers flew across the controls, limiting the matter and antimatter flows so that magnetic constrictors can work at lower level, reduce the load on the EPS conduits, and even allow the warp coils to radiate off some of their own heat into space.  It was a temporary measure, all of these little adjustments meant that their warp speed was severely impeded, but she had no idea by how much.

Once the immediate problems were addressed, Selena started up some new diagnostics, hoping the computer could figure out its own solutions.  While it worked, she looked up at the eel hovering nearby.  “Just what the hell did you do?!” she barked, struggling to keep from strangling the thing with her bare hands.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #68 –
[ Tesserarius Lorad | Vector 01 Main Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
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How, by the pit, was he supposed to fix the device? It wasn't even a device. It was the disembowelled, makeshift remnants of a device that were now also smoking. And he wasn't an engineer. 

It was at that moment that time seemed to catch up to the Reman and he realised he was standing in a room that was now a complete shambles. He had no idea how he had not noticed it before but something was most definitely wrong. Even to his eyes and ears. Selena's head looked like it had been slapped and that was the mildest of injuries his battlefield trained eyes picked out. But that was not his job.

Snapping out with his oversized arm, Lorad grasped onto the tunic of a passing human male and brought him around to stand in front of him. Before the man could say anything, Lorad repeated the manoeuvre and deposited a second crewman in front of himself.

"You, get PADD with plans for cloak," Lorad demanded of the female; noting that she seemed to have the higher ranked insignia. "And you," Lorad continued, turning to face the male. "Find working replicator. We fix cloak."

He wasn't sure if it was his gruff demeanour, unusual voice or that they had heard the Efrosian tell him to fix the device but the two crewmen disappeared into the tumultuous throng of people moving about as Lorad returned to staring at the device that had once upon a time been the Apache's cloaking device.

He still had no idea what to do.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #69 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Engineering | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Peeps in engineering~
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"Just what the hell did you do?!"

At those words, F'Rell froze. Her long body undulated just enough to hold her position as the whole of engineering moved around her, desperate to fix what had happened.

"<I...>"

This was her fault.

There were no two ways about it. She had reset the system at the worst possible moment and at that moment she was through her actions caused this. She had killed those people and likely because of this mistake more people would die. Her once flawless equation was now a jumble and the warp field was failing, and if it did they would all die. And if that happened it would be her fault.

"<I failed...>"

The was all her fault.

She looked down at the warp field controls and watched as the system moved to critical. She watched as the warp field integrity diminished rapidly. She watched as it tried to compensate with her equation and only furthered the imbalance.

She had to move. She had to create a balancing program, or at the very least balance the field parameters on the fly. They would want to go to warp again and again. That had been the plan. It had always been the plan. She had taken too long with the original algorithm and now she had no time to fix it.

And she was too scared to move. Too ashamed to move. She had never failed so badly it has cost anyone their lives. Not until now, not until today. She had failed and it had killed. She had through her own actions killed 4 people.

And she could not bring herself to move.

The warp field integrity began to go critical.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #70 –
[ Drauc T'Laus | Outside Drauc's Quarters | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow 
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It seemed apparent, judging by what Drauc was able to pick up in the Asurian's chaotic mind, that she did not understand the point he was trying to make. The deeper machinations of her thinking was difficult to discern, and even if his experience over the years of absorbing the minds of others allowed him to make educated guesses, he could not see the root causes of her current conscience.  At some distant level, he did appreciate her jest about her nails.

"No mind is like another's, and therefore, no one's preference is more valid than another's. Your preferences are your own, yet merely your own, and based on ideals solely sprung from your cultural exposure and what you have grown to prefer. Some would look at your body and merely see it as attractive, yet never think for a moment that you are the kind of warrior you are, because you do not have the marks to prove your experience; the tokens of survival." He said this without inflection of being insulted, since he had no opinion about his scars aside from the facts he had stated earlier "Therefore, my scars are essentially moot, and not the subject of absolutes in opinion, since there are too many."

Her certainty was compelling, and he asked what he'd meant to ask after seeing her in front of the Asurian saucer in the Spearhead Lounge - the blood of one of her people all over her. She had slain one of her own, betraying the Asurian Queen and her people, the blood all over her arm-blade. She had tried to make the larger Asurian stand down, projecting blame upon the Savi.

"You have not mentioned what made you stay aboard the Theurgy," he rasped to her, and they reached the entrance to the Upper Computer Core, which also served as the Flag Bridge. The room inside the sliding doors, which Dyan would have to access with her security clearance, had once housed Thea's positronic brain, yet now, it was merely the key access area to the common computer core of the ship, the same kind which all starships shared.

"You lost your family at Starbase 84, and as I have understood it, they died defending the Theurgy," he grated, not knowing the details, "and yet when you were given the chance to return to your people, you chose to betray them, even killing them in your service to this ship and crew. This, we have in common, since I have left Romulus behind."

He looked at her through the tresses of his hair, wondering if there might be a hint in her thoughts when he posed the question. "Thus, I come to wonder if your unblemished skin have marks akin to my own - merely unseen to the naked eye. You need not answer... but because I care, I wonder what happened. I see this dark shadow in your mind, someone - or some event in the past - that made you slay your own. You continue to serve here, in conflict with yourself, on a ship that had your family slain on the battlefield."

He found himself moved by ire, an emotion of his own, towards the person that had wronged her.

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triton @CanadianVet @Mathis  @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Stegro88 
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Dewitt had her orders, and while she was somewhat aware of what was happening on the bridge overall, chaotic as it might be, her focus and priority was the survival of the Helmet's crew.

"Yes, sir!" she said, raking back her red hair from her face as she set about to try and calibrate the probes for a simultaneous warp jump. Since they had moved so far out, she couldn't maintain a reliable connection with two of them, but she sent the data package nonetheless, hoping it would reach them in time. Fortunately enough, their chronometers were already synced, so as long as they would receive them, it would still work.

Derik Veradin was doing wonders at the helm of the Vector, and Dewitt began to understand how the Resolve had been able to make it back from the far edge of known space in the galaxy. Zyrano was helping him as well, allowing him to be agile. "The First Minister is right on top of us," she announced, her voice tight as she multitasked, since there was no help in seeing the holographic representations of their pursuers above the tactical holo-table. "There are three others right behind it. Helm! Coordinated warp jump to specified coordinates almost ready. Just keep at it."

[Warning. Warp core status critical,] announced a voice file Thea left behind.

Dewitts eyes lifted, and Morgan spoke up from the Engineering station. "Captain, I have tried, but I am not receiving any replies. I saw the warp core might have been compromised when the cloak failed. Right now, I think they have been forced to vent excess plasma to keep us running. I keep sending queries, but they are too busy to answer. Each of these warp jumps have made it worse, and right now, we are virtually a tinderbox about to blow at the slightest provocation. What I am saying is... any enemy fire we sustain might compromise the remaining balance we have in the containment fields in the core!"

Grinding her teeth together, she refrained from cursing. "Can we make two more jumps?"

"Yes, I think so, perhaps more, depending on... too many factors to mention," said the young Engineer.

Throwing an eye towards Marquez, it was evident he was on top of things, the full spread of calibrated torpedoes at the ready. "Helm! One jump for the torpedo-launch. Flip her over to use the four forward launchers, and jump to warp immediately! The second jump has to be the simultaneous one. Countdown starting soon."

As soon as the Trill at the helm made the jump, Marquez's torpedoes were away, and they were sent straight into the pursuers. Because of the warp jump, the ships and the results vanished from the display above the holo-table. Sensors were taking in some facts despite the quick development. "The First Minister's shields took the brunt of the force, the image recognition seeing it first. We might have breached the hull on several decks too. Helm! Are you ready? Synchronised warp jump in five, four, three, two, one. Engage!"

Across the RV zone, where they were supposed to meet with the other Vectors, the probes they had launched blasted off along with the Helmet. It had to be just another short jump, but already Morgan at Engineering was worried. "The status of the core only allowed us to reach Warp 2. And... it seems we still have to vent plasma, so as silently as we might want to run... We're still bleeding."

Dewitt wanted to swear. "Have them mitigate it, Petty Officer. Somehow. Inform Suq that it is imperative we try to minimise our sensor signature, and the cloak is still our best option if we can make it work without alerting the entire Galaxy about our position. Zyrano, are there any really dense clouds of nebula dust we can safely bleed into? There can't be any sirillium there though, since the plasma will likely ignite it. Helm! Minimal impulse boost after we drop out of warp, and have us drift by inertia to the safe coordinates."

Unknown to Dewitt, they could not shut down the core entirely at that point, since then it might take a long time to get it running again.

BEEP-BEEP.

Her eyes went to the sensors, the Helmet still at warp. "We have no pursuit, but there are a lot of capital ships further ahead. I recommend we drop out of warp now, before we end up in too close proximity."

They had a slim chance that the ones ahead were watching all the warp signatures from the probes too, and didn't single out theirs...

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #71 –
[Zyrao Natauna | Actions & Maneuvers | Saving Asses |  Mutiny for the Center Seat Forthcoming]
@CanadianVet @Auctor Lucan @JayLatte

They were jumping, again.  The Engineer mentioned that he wasn’t sure it would even work.  That the warp core was overloading.  “Well I for one would prefer not to be space particles this day, or any one, truly.  So lets see if we can get our collective asses out of this mess before we become so.” She said as she turned back to the table where Dewitt was standing doing her job.  The dark headed El-Aurian was in the heat of battle and her mind was racing with the tons of ideas that plagued her mind while she stood there thinking of where they could go and how far they could go without blowing the engines.  The cloak would be nice, but if it didn’t take a second time they would be dead in the water and floating among the stars for someone to just come by and pick off. 

That wasn’t where they were going to want to be.  Dewitt mentioned that the First Minister was right on top of them.  She looked at the red headed woman and shook her head.  “We have no choice we have to risk the engines to warp.” She counseled the woman that likely already knew that but Zyrao knew that sometimes in the heat of battle having a second voice that echoed your own thoughts could go a long way.  She swallowed heavily as she looked at the map that was in front of her on the screen.  They needed a place they could vent the plasma.  No one had actually admitted to her that they needed it yet but she knew they were going to have to cool down the engines before they became much more fucked than they already were.

The imagery disappeared after they launched the torps at the direction of the ship and then they were off on another part of the area.  Zyrao waited a moment for her stomach to come back out of her feet, clawing it’s way back up, small step by step.  She could use a few less jumps at the moment but their battle was not yet done.  She looked around at the map they had now.  They were venting plasma.  They had to, if the engines didn’t get cool enough they would be just asking for Archeron to take them down and she had not worked so hard today to find that happening.

“I think we drop the cloak idea for now.” She admitted to the bridge loudly, because she was not going to be quiet.  She wasn’t yelling but she wanted to be heard over the alarms, and the other officers that were calling out on the Bridge trading information.  “We only have so much power, we have to get that core cool unless you all fancy being space dust, and I don’t.  We vent first and foremost.  If we debilitate ourselves it won’t matter if we’re cloaked or not.” She said, her eyes zeroing In on Dewitt, the only fucking officer of command on this damn bridge that had a modicum of respect for someone that was new but knowledgeable.

Zyrao heard the words of Dewitt, asking her to find a part of the Nebula that they could bleed into, one void of sirillium.  Her brow rose and she shifted her attention over to the massive map on the holo-display that they had been using together since she had come up on the Bridge and put away the fun of the fake uniform and pips. 

“Well lets see.  It’s a fairly large nebula, the problem is without active scanners I can only estimate what kind of sirillium content we’re going to be dealing with and I can’t guarantee as much as I would like to.  But that’s battle, a game of chances and risk.”

She didn’t say that so that people would feel nervous, she only said that to inform the crew of what was going on and so that they didn’t take her word as gold.  However, she knew that the pockets of sirillium would be something she should be able to predict.  However, they could also use the sirillium to their benefit as well.  She chewed on her lower lip as she read the Nebula.  She had been around a long time and Nebulas weren’t all that uncommon in the universe.  She had multiple experiences with it.

“Has anyone thought to use the pockets of sirillium against the Task Force?”  she asked the Bridge as a whole.  The Waste of Space that sat in the center seat surely hadn’t spoken up for a while since he had quietly mentioned what he wanted to do.  “If we could cool ourselves off, and move again, cloak up.  Ignite the Sirillium when we have the chance after luring them in there.  It’s something that we could use to debilitate the fleet while we can.” She threw the idea out there.  Mass murder was not always the best way to go, but if they could use it.. they might have a chance.

“Furthermore, actually, a better idea, is do we have any other shuttles or anything that we could launch.  Change it to our signature.  Then leave, ignite the Sirillium with the shuttle on some sort of remote detonation and boom, they believe us dead, and we can get out of here while they swarm the Nebula.” She offered, again, trying to put out as many ideas as she could.  She compiled a very quick list of the choices she deemed the most-likely-safe-ish and sent it over to helm.

"Coordinates coming your way, Boy.  Three of them, you pick, Time to gamble, my dear Helm." she grinned darkly. 

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #72 –
[ Ensign Ryuan Sel | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
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Patience was not one of Sel's strongest qualities. She was a fighter, not a waiter. And yet, standing at the security station, directing what security officers she had via the computer system, she felt like not only were her hands tied, but she had to wait. Wait for the plan to work and for them to be fine, or wait for something else to go wrong and for this fight to turn into one for every inch. She knew full well that more than likely it wouldn't come to them actually being boarded, it'd be far easier to simply hit them with a lucky torpedo hit or phaser shot and then they'd be nothing but debris.

Not that it would matter one way or another. If they were boarded it was not likely they'd be able to put up a fight worth a whole heck of a lot. Even though she had every confidence that her security teams would do their job, that they would stand and fight, there was a heck of a lot of ships out there and they had a lot more men than Sel had. It would be a losing fight if it came down to it. Sel knew that, even if she would never say it out loud.

This was not how she wanted to die. She didn't want to die so far away from Sarresh. She didn't want to die at all. She looked down at the security console and glared at the readout. There was nothing she could do to turn the tide at this point. She wasn't in charge of any critical system that could win them the day, she was Mistress-at-Arms and being forced to pretend she could handle being the full-on head of the department. It was a job she could fake, but she knew her limits, or at least she was certain she was way outside her comfort zone on this.

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #73 –
[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent, Captain | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triton @Blue Zephyr @JayLatte @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Absinthe

"Belay the all out venting.  Shunt the plasma to the impulse reactors, empty deuterium tanks and Bussard collectors.  Only let go of the overflow.  Prepare to evacuate overheating sections of all non-essential personnel, and get the remainder into environmental suits."  Trent's voice snapped out from an impassive face.  As soon as he knew of the warp core's malfunctions, his mind had been racing.  He might be a tactical officer by training and not be an engineer, but no one made it to command appointments without a grounding in those disciplines as well.  He knew what he was asking would not be as thermally efficient as just getting rid of the offending material, but he also knew such venting would leave a trail a drunk, half-blind Pakled on a barely spaceworthy freighter's sensor watch could follow. 

And he had no intention of making things any easier than they had to be for Task Force Archeron.

And still, there was much to be considered about the situation before him.  At this point in time, they were no longer being pursued, so they had time to think and act while they were resuming their game of hide and seek.  But, despite her arrogance, the El-Aurian had made a few good points.  The cloak was important, but without the warp drive, they would be unable to run no matter what.  And there was the matter of hiding...

But there was one option in particular that was definitely not an acceptable initial course of action.  A second-last resort, perhaps, but definitely not as a first choice. 

"First of all, I've already given orders that have killed, and well might have condemned to death, entirely too many innocent Starfleet personnel for my taste, so luring them into a sirillium cloud is not an option at this time."  Trent could be ruthless, he had to be.  But that did not mean he particularly enjoyed such things.  Willingness and desire, after all, were two entirely different beasts.  "Second, I agree, the cloak needs to become a second priority."

Tapping the comms button in his armrest, he contacted engineering.  [Bridge to Engineering.  Cloak is no longer a primary focus.  Priority goes to the warp core.  If you were to shut down the core, how long to effect repairs and perform a crash restart?]

With that question hanging in the air, he could now focus on the tactical picture.  "Faking our own death might work, but not with a straight sirillium explosion.  The enemy knows we are operating with decoys, so they are certain to do a mass survey of the wreckage, and will find out it was an auxiliary craft.  What we need is a departing warp signature, with a core detonation just as the ship leaves normal space."  Indeed, a warp core breach tended to leave very little debris behind, and if it happened when a ship was jumping to warp, even more would be lost in subspace, and there would be absolutely no way to know for certain the mass of the destroyed vessel. 

"We still have one runabout in the shuttlebay, that will be our decoy.  Have it modified to radiate something that looks like our warp signature, and load it with as many of the shuttlebay's antimatter fuel pods as you can fit on board.  Red-line its warp core to have a signature that approaches appropriate strength, and have it set to drift towards a sirillium gas concentration, and have the warp core breach as soon as it jumps to warp.  It would be impossible to miss the subpace spike of a warp core breach, and between the additional antimatter and the sirillium gas, it should generate enough energy to make it believable."

"Commanders Dewitt, Marquez and Martin, work the math and have the shuttlebay prepare the runabout.  Mister Arisaka, manage EW to keep us in hiding even better.  Running won't be an option for some time, so your job is to make it so we pretend really, really well to be a hole in space."

Re: Chapter 05: Vertex [ Day 06 | 0810 hrs. ]

Reply #74 –
[ Lt Cmdr Leon Marquez | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
@CanadianVet @Auctor Lucan  @Triage @Mathis @FollowTomorrow @chXinya @Brutus @SummerDawn @Stegro88 @Blue Zephyr @Absinthe
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Leon shuddered internally as the ship rocked due to power failure and the cloaking device's malfunction. Damn this situation: where a next-generation dreadnought's vector was jury-rigged to a questionably-safe cloaking device. Never mind the Pegasus scandal Leon had been privately briefed upon, or Benjamin Sisko's ship and the strings pulled to get that installed. The technology, and compatability -were- there for this to work, but nothing like this, nothing this short-notice cobbled together like an old automobile retrofit. Leon continued monitoring the Task Force's progress (and that of A'vura's.) as he awaited to continue the next salvo of gassed-out torpedoes. Marquez didn't know what the nebula could have smelled like, but for Sankolov's sake, he hoped the impact of the torpedoes would cause a literal stink aboard. Maybe the smell would poison the parasite. Despite his admonitions to the contrary, Leon dabbled in wishful thinking to some extent during his duties.

"Belay the all out venting.  Shunt the plasma to the impulse reactors, empty deuterium tanks and Bussard collectors.  Only let go of the overflow.  Prepare to evacuate overheating sections of all non-essential personnel, and get the remainder into environmental suits." Trent ordered.

Never one to waste time when crew lives were in peril, Leon opened channels to the at-risk decks and sections. "This is the bridge. Evacuate immediately if your section is overheating, or get to an environmental suit. Move!" Leon was able to hushedly urge into the channel he'd opened which came out over those designated areas' comm speakers.

"Aye, Captain." Leon replied in an equally passive tone to the rest of the command, best befitting his scratchy growling accent; it wasn't like whispering was going to give them away... was it? "Vivian, drop down power to nonessential systems. Bottom the boat out. Dim the lights, if you have to. Give our Reman friend and our teams the most slack we can possibly afford." At his own orders, he powered down the extra tactical systems to mimimize the vessel's energy readings, warp silhouette, heat and infrared signatures, continuing to mention to fellow Resolve officer Vivian Martin, "Use some of the configs we used on our last deployment as a reference."

Meanwhile, he'd had another window opened with readouts of the Danube needed for the next course of action and had been at work looking for templates for the craft's loadouts. After a few seconds of designing the runabout's best equipment to be prepped, Leon then hailed the shuttlebay crew. "Bridge to shuttlebay: Prepare the runabout. Prepare it for... jackrabbiting." It was the closest euphimisim he could think of for the concept of a decoy, but had a workable template in hand to be rigged for a diversionary run.

With the cult of Morali seizing one runabout, and now this one altered as a sacrifice, Leon was passively starting to wonder how long their overall situation would last if they kept spending craft like that. It still didn't pass his notice that he hadn't heard from the other Vector crews for too long, but he hoped the runabout wouldn't lead the task force or its elements to the Stallion or Sword. Leon pulled up from his own cadet years with Danube prototypes, this would require a dedicated minute of adding additional power signature falsification while his console network-linked into a counterpart for him to work with someone in the bay itself, on a 2-way interface. "Bay reports the runabout will be good to go in T-minus 60." Marquez conveyed the info he'd received on his earpiece.
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"
 
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