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CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

CHAPTER 05: SUPPLEMENTAL [ DAY 06 | 1110 HRS. ] INJUSTICE



[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Triage
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When the roar of all the Lone Wolves launching finally abated, Liam Herrold limped out from behind the transparent blast wall and unto the vacated deck. His team filed out as well, and he spoke to them while still waking.

"Prepare new hard-points and launchers for mounting in case the fighters need to restock mid-battle. I want grav sleds with fresh micro torpedoes behind the blast wall of each of these fighter slots. Coordinate with Chief Ji about the available room for mid-battle repairs, since those engines might need spare parts as well. You two, begin replicating spare plating in case we run out of our current stock, and make sure the plasma torches are available and ready for use. Where is the triage team from Medical? Shouldn't they be here yet?"

"I don't know, Chief, they said they were going to send a team soon," said Dawson, one of his technicians.

"All right. Where is Sithick?" he asked next.

"He was drafted to go on the Allegiant. We got Wilkinson instead," said Dawson, and pointed towards a scrawny man with unkempt hair. Liam was certain he'd rather keep Sithick around if there were chances of Borg boarding the ship, but it wasn't like he had any say in the matter when the brass just stole people from his team. Such was life, only he regretted the fact. It was almost a bad omen, since Sithick had been there when both the Savi, Asurians and Klingons boarded them. With the Gorn gone...

In the bustling activity, Liam thought he saw one of the turbolifts opening, and someone in strange clothing was moving behind the blast wall, but the reflections against the glass made it impossible to see who it was. What he did see, however, was Covington waving for him, standing at the back of the Fighter Bay, close to his and the SCO's office. He saw Covington waving for Ji to come over to him as well.

What's this about? Liam wondered, and gave a couple of last orders before he moved towards Sten, with Ji likely due to come over from her direction as well.

OOC: This thread takes place in the Fighter Assault Bay during the Battle of the Apertures, right after all the Lone Wolves have launched. Since Shared Hope is unfinished, this starter is merely posted for future use, and there is no rush in replying yet!

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #1 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Working Hard | Prepping for the Worst | Hoping for the Best]
@Auctor Lucan @Triage

“Jack!”

The large burly man turned at the sound of his name.  He had started growing a beard recently and the thick black fuzz that covered his chin was just starting to truly shade in his face causing it only to look more round because of the sheer mass.  Still, the man was large and burly.  He had arms as thick as her thighs but a smile that warmed many of the hearts of women on deck.  He had never been the sort to settle down, but he was a good man, though Ji had never entertained him, she had always enjoyed their talks and knew that she could count on him.  That big smile graced his lips as he rushed over across the deck his boots squeaking slightly on the deck as he did so before pausing right in front of her.

“Hey Chief, what's up?”

“How did the crew do, I didn't hear from Rodriguez or zh'Kan.” she said looking down at her PADD, everyone else had checked in, released their fighters, and sent her the reports.  Memos of what was fixed, needed to be fixed, and the system diagnostics they had at the current moment. 

“Uh, yeah, I talked to Rodriguez a few minutes ago, his reports should be coming in quickly.  I think... well they should be.  I haven't heard from zh'Kan though, have you seen him?”

Ji's eyes searched the deck for the blue skinned mechanic, and didn't see him.  “Find him and tell him to report his ass to me.  I want his reports and damnit if I find he didn't do his fucking job ...” she cut herself off for a moment.

She saw Sten stick his head out of the office and wave her down.  Her brow rose and she stuck her hand up in the air giving him a quick wave and a nod.  Stating without words she would be over in a minute.  “Apparently I have a meeting with the Big Boss.”

“Well don't let it go your head, Chief.”

She gave a bit of a grin and looked over at Jack.  “Go find zh'Kan, you dick.”

He laughed.  “Yeah yeah.. I'll make sure he knows what a hole he's in when I find him for ya.”

Jack headed off to find the missing Andorian and Ji turned and headed over towards the office that Sten used.  She had her full yellow jumpsuit on, zipped, and comfortable.  Though the sleeves were rolled up so that her forearms were exposed and the corded muscle there from years of work was on display.  She stepped over towards the office running a hand through her short hair and saw that Liam was coming that way too.  She gave him a bit of a soft smile and a quick nod as she stepped into the office and gave a nod to Sten.

“Hey Boss, what's up?”

Ji didn't particularly like Sten, in fact, hate would likely be a good almost weak word for the whole situation.  But, she had always worked really hard on being professional and not letting her dislike for him cloud her judgment or her work ethic.  She stood waiting for Liam to join them and figure out what he was going to need them for.  Probably a project, or how to prep the deck for the incoming fighters, or some kind of work load that they would need to prep for.  Orders.. who knew.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #2 –
“I've seen my darker side. The murderer and monster that resides within. I accepted it as part of me, who I am, and what I am. But if I let hypocrisy take control, if I deny that the cruel darkness exists in me. That is when it truly takes over.”
- Captain Tristan Kendrick, Shield of Lies

[ CWO 1 Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan & @BZ
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The timing was terrible. But in Theurgy, you learned there was no such thing as a good time for anything. You just had to deal with them as they came, best as you could. And that was why Sten Covington was calling on his Chief of Propulsions and the Chief of Weapons & Ordnance over to him, to address their antics, in the midst of one of the most pivotal battles that the crew of the Theurgy has faced yet. Against the Borg, with hostile Klingons and potentially Task Force Archeron doggedly nipping at their heels. He couldn't deny that his reasons for not delaying this was motivated mostly from anger, whole lot of self-righteous indignation, and perhaps a smidgen of jealousy. Yes, there was definitely jealousy in this. Maybe more than a smidgen too.

Ji was beautiful, and who wouldn't be able to see that?

But Liam Herrold couldn't resist, could he? The insult to injury was the location where they chose to flaunt their passion for one another. Right. In. This. Room! After that Harbinger pilot raped and murdered the Boslic named Cinsaj right in that office, Sten had ensured that the surveillance system was repaired there, even if it wasn't exactly a security area. Ji likely didn't know about the incident, and Liam certainly didn't, so they would not know Sten had made the office a priority in terms of repairing the ship-wide surveillance system.

Or maybe the knew, and they wanted to send a message. If so, the message was received, loud and clear, and now he had one of his own, that he was going to deliver. He was a meticulous man, and he knew his workspaces. So when he found his table looking...used, for lack of a better word, and not by himself, he began to search the archived footages, and the rage that surged within him when he saw what he saw, could barely be contained. Why Liam? Why would she...? It was to be a professional work environment. Yes, he was lax in some ways, knowing the strain this life, this situation, had placed on all of them, but there were boundaries! Ones that can never be crossed. And both Liam and Ji had merrily skipped well past those lines all the way into the border of no return as far as the large man was concerned.

Even now, the two of them couldn't keep their eyes off one another. The soft smiles, the micro-expressions of love and desire. Sten knew enough of it to identify it when he saw it.

He also saw the undertones coming off from Ji when she spoke to him. She was polite, almost to the letter, but that was all she would accord to him. After all he'd done, after all his efforts to make things right between them, and she came at him with this attitude? Sten was normally good at masking his own feelings, but today, the curl of his lips were visibly aiming downwards, and the fury in his eyes was unmistakable. But his tone was amiable enough. Once they were both in the office, he turned away from them, walking towards his desk, where they both writhed and joined together in passion, and picked up the PADD, but he held the screen away from their sight first. “There's something I wanted to speak to the both of you about,” said Sten, “but I'll give you one chance to give me an explanation first. Then we'll talk about what happens next.”

He turned around, artfully swinging the Padd and holding it behind him, all the while ensuring not even a bit of the screen showed its contents. “Care to venture a guess as to what I'm talking about?” His voice, while gruff, was deceptively calm, almost assuring, even. But Sten was this near to striking both of them with all the unbridled fury boiling within.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #3 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Triage
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The development made Liam deeply uncomfortable, that was certain, even though he could not at all guess the exact nature of Covington's issue.

Of course, there was the ultimate fear of what he may have learned about him and Ji, and it wasn't like Liam knew how the old man would react if his closest subordinate being with another Head in Sten's team. Much less did he know how the old man handled a situation where someone far younger than him had won over the heart of someone he'd been with. Yet seemingly without commitment. Some humans of the older generations might still harbor some kind of possessiveness when those they had been with were feeling better together with someone else. It was as if they had laid some nameless, invisible claim o n the.

"No, I don't know, Chief," he said truthfully, shoulder's relaxed, and trying not to look in Ji's direction, because then, all the pretense in the wouldn't have mattered.

It was difficult to hide what he thought about Ji, all the time, but at least the deck was busy right then, preparing for combat landings and possibly reequipping the bad boys up there..

Unfortunately, the inside of Sten's office was bereft of movements.

It was only them and Sten.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #4 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fuck You Mother Fucker | Jealousy Doesn't Suit | Guilty | Not Repentant]
@Auctor Lucan @Triage

Sten was pissed.

Who knew about what, but she could read his face as she stepped into the office and asked what he needed.  Sten had left several bad tastes in her mouth due to his actions and there were some things that you could not take back.  Sending her to another ship, a ship that wanted to breed her.  There was no forgiving that kind of thing.  She stood there watching his lip curl in anger.. disgust, she didn't know and honestly didn't care.  She had done her job to the letter, as much as she wanted to punch his face until he swallowed his own teeth, she had refrained from all of that.  Despite how badly she wanted to.  Ji had some interior rage and when it came out, the deck knew it was bad and to move out of the way.  Most of the time she was light, happy, and enjoyed joking with the people she worked with.  However, with Sten, she hadn't shot him so much as a smile since the Harbinger.

Sten told them both that he was going to speak to them about something, but he was going to give them a moment to explain before they got that far.  Her brow rose.  She tilted her head to the side, and her eyes shifted over to Liam.  She didn't give him any looks of love, just curiosity and she saw his face as blank as her own.  Neither of them had any idea  what was going on.

Dark eyes shifted back over to Sten.

“The fighters are off and ready, pilots are informed of the maintenance done to each of the shuttles.  I sent you my reports about ten minutes ago, Sir.” she stated firmly, calmly, and extremely professionally.  It was how she had treated Sten since then.  Mostly because she knew the kind of man he was now.  The kind that would over react and send people off to other ships merely because you didn't want to deal with the fallout of a one night stand. 

Her shoulder shrugged. 

“Is there something I missed?”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #5 –
[ CWO 1 Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan & @BZ
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“Hardly,” said Sten in answer to Sae Ji's query, “It was all...done acceptably.”

He begrudged the woman that one compliment, if it could be seen as such. Every time he looked at them now, all he could see is the memory of them both rolling around on his desk. Liam was seemingly stiff, perhaps trying not to look at Sae Ji? The woman did not hesitate to glance at her beau. It was all the proof he needed as he looked as far as he was concerned. People would probably try to say he was seeing things. Except he didn't bother, and turned the PADD around, now, set to loop and play the recording of them, he let the audio play as well. All the while as he showed it, he didn't take his eyes off them.

“Clearly there was a lot I missed.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #6 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Triage
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Naturally, when Covington showed them the recording, Liam was mortified.

He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, looking away and decidedly not on the depiction on the PADD. The recording showed him and Ji in full detail. Even though he looked away, he could still hear every sound, ranging from the passionate sounds they let out at the crescendo of the act to the creaking of the desk. Food and Sten's PADDs ending up on the deck below that desk. Like a cornered animal, Liam's mind went into a fight or flight setting, but both responses were moot. He could not attack a superior officer, nor could he just leave the room. Even though Ji may have been the one to set things in motion in that office, Liam had been more than a willing participant.

So, what was he supposed to do? Sten hadn't asked any questions, so Liam cleared his throat and did the only thing he could do.

Apologise, and protect Ji.

"I am sorry, Chief. It was my idea that we'd eat in your office. I asked Chief Ji to replicate the food and bring it here, as for what it led to," Liam scratched the back of his neck and stood a bit straighter. "It is pretty new, what has developed between Ji and I, and since we haven't really known ourselves what has been developing, we have failed to report it. Moreover, times here in the Fighter Bay has been a bit... hectic, to say the least, and the relationship between Ji and I didn't seem like a priority."

Since Covington had sent Ji away before, Liam couldn't let the man go at her again. She'd suffered enough. "I assure you, Chief, what happened here in this office was a one-time thing, and it won't happen while we're on duty." They had been on the noon break, of course, but Liam didn't want to try and argue that point. "It was a lapse in judgement, and the blame is mine."

Below the surface, Liam found the man an inelegant ass by playing that recording in front of them. Did he have no respect?

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #7 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Caught Red Handed |  Or Red Faced | Just Caught]
@Triage @Auctor Lucan

So it wasn't the work.

Her head tilted to the side and her hand rose to rub against her neck and throat trying to figure out why they both had been called in here.  She couldn't figure out why the hell he was so mad.  She couldn't think of anything that they had done that would get some kind of dual punishment doled out in here.  Tapping her fingers along her collarbone for a moment her hand dropped back to her side as Sten messed with his PADD.  She hoped that he was about to give them some actual information rather than asking them broad questions without any kind of clues as to what they were talking about.

The PADD was turned around so that she and Liam could see what he was talking about and all the blood drained from Ji's face.  Before returning hard.  Her face was pale then bright red as she witnessed a virtual porno.  And it was clear that he had watched it.  What a sick perverted asshole! she thought as she looked up at him torn between horror and embarrassment.  Swallowing the massive lump that had taken residence in her throat, she wanted to reach out for Liam.  To hold his hand.  To look at him.  But, clearly, now was not the time.

Ji didn't wait.  As Liam was rubbing his neck trying to puzzle out a phrase she reached forward and snatched the PADD off of the desk and turned off the power button before putting it back down.  They all knew how it ended, watching their own sex scene was odd enough, watching it with a third party was one hundred percent creepville.  She looked up at Sten that was waiting for an answer from all of them, and she was still struggling for wards as Liam launched into his own explanation.

He was throwing himself under the bus.

Which frankly, pissed Ji off more than Sten being a massive anal fissure just because someone was having a relationship.  Sure they shouldn't have used his office, but it wasn't like he didn't fuck in here.  She guaranteed that gritty dirty man had been bare assed on his own desk several times.  She didn't have proof and she sure as fuck wasn't going to go dig around until she found some, but she was pretty sure that he wasn't innocent of quick office sex either.  Fucking hypocrite.

It was Liam's idea, to eat in the office. 

It was a new relationship.  They hadn't reported it yet.  Reported it!?!?  She turned to look at him the death glare on her face was not pretty as she tried to figure out what fresh shit he was spewing from his mouth.  Now she was just getting flat pissed all together.  She wasn't going to throw Liam under the bus and she wasn't going to tell him that she had wanted to eat and fuck in here too.  No, this was getting to the point of just really un-fucking-comfortable and she was going to have to set some things to right.

“I'm not seeing the issue.” she stated, her voice sounding calmer than she had thought it would, but there was a dangerous edge to it.  “We are dating.  We had sex.  It's not a new concept.” she stated calmly crossing her arms over her chest she looked at Sten.  She wasn't going to sit there and beg for forgiveness.  She wasn't going to sit there and cow in front of him.  Oh no, she was done being afraid of him, she had something to fight for now and she wasn't about to stand here and quake in her boots.

“Granted we could have found somewhere else to have sex.  But, we were both on our lunch break, the deck was well cared for, nothing suffered because we were both on break at the same time.  We keep it highly professional on deck not once have we kissed or anything while on duty.  So I think you're being a bit over much at the moment.” she stated.  She was standing up for them, she would not apologize for having a love life, she would not apologize for having a sex life.  She agreed they might have found better places to show themselves to each other but it was heat of the moment.  It was still new, but she would not stand here and apologize.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #8 –
[ CWO 1 Sten Covington | SCO's Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan & @BZ
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When he revealed what he knew, it had the desired result. Neither of them wanted to look at each other, but what was the point? Everyone here knew what was going on now.

These two had been brewing their romance over the last few days. Perhaps it was the living day-to-day in constant peril, never knowing if the next instant would be your last, that stemmed a habit in most of the Theurgy crew to never waste time if they felt something for one another. Heaven knew he acted on the same impulses these days, but they were never of his department. Dammit, that was the one rule he always had. If it had been anyone else, but why Liam? She snatched the PADD out of his hands to shut it off. Now the righteous anger will bubble up. There it was. He almost didn't even hear Liam's martyr speech.

Well at least he was the gentleman. But he didn't know Sae Ji, did he? Noooo, that's not how you won her heart.

Sae Ji on the other hand, was justifying them, and calling him out for being a pervy voyeur. It was just sex. “Oh don't worry, Herrold,” said Sten, “I know it won't happen again ever. Not here, not anywhere, if I have anything to say about it.”

He folded his arms and stood to his full height, his own anger building up some more, provoked by Sae Ji's response. “You think you know how to manage it all,” he shook his head and began marching back and forth between the two of them, “you think you can keep control, and maybe...maybe it'll start out like that. But before long, that's going to change.”

He turned around to stare at them, “At the most crucial, critical moment, your actions and motivations will be different. You'd do things differently, and that's what's going to get people killed.” He looked at Liam, “I'm dissapointed in you, Herrold...I really hoped for better from you. And as for you...” he turned to look at Sae Ji, “...you know how things work here better than him, and you still couldn't help yourself, could you?”

He shook his head, never taking his eyes off her, steel blue eyes blazing down at the woman, “I guess once a bitch, always a bitch. We're going to...” he never saw it coming.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #9 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fuck You | Fuck You | Fuck You]
@Auctor Lucan @Triage

It wouldn't happen again, eh?

Ji was half tempted to screw Liam on the fucking deck right then and there just to prove a damn point.  It was a desk, it was an office, and if she wanted to she could have found a much more public place for them to proclaim their desires to one another.  But no, they were in here, away from everyone on their break, not even on active duty.  So if he was going to be a massive dick wad about it all then she didn't care much for him even more than before.  She had lost her respect for him when he sent her off to the Harbinger, but right now she didn't just dislike or disrespect him, she wanted to punch him in the nutsack until it needed to be amputated.  That would make her feel a little better as he stood there looking at the both of them like he had caught them in the act. 

She could not figure out why he cared so much.

Sure, they had sex in his office, on his desk, but he hadn't wanted her.  He had made that clear twice now and she didn't really want to entertain any of those thoughts any more.  She was happy with Liam and they loved each other.  A very new development for the both of them but honestly, she was glad for it.  She was happy to see him, he brightened up her every day.  She loved eating with him, sleeping with him, walking down the corridors with him.  It might be early, and it might be soon, but they didn't live the life where waiting and the slow burn made sense.

Sten began to pace back and forth between them.  Ji wasn't even watching, she was staring at the upper corner of the room trying to keep her fist at her side and not in his face.  Every single word that poured out of the old fuckers mouth was pissing her off more and more.  Talking about how they were handling it all well and fine now but then later things would escalate and things would get dropped and forgotten and things would happen. 

“Well whyyyyy don't we worry about that shit when it actually happens and not before it happens.  Because I have full faith that Liam and I can handle this on our own.” she stated as she shifted her eyes back to Sten.  Though he was busy staring at Liam.  Apparently, his goal was to make Liam feel like shit and probably blow him down so low that he wouldn't want to continue with Ji.  But, Ji didn't want to give her man up and she didn't want Sten getting in her way.

This was her greatest fear.  Not the act of getting caught, not that people found out, but that, Sten would destroy the first good thing that had happened to her since he had fucked her over, twice.  She looked up at Liam, and swallowed heavily hoping that he could get through Sten's words without being upset about it all.  That he could stand up for them, despite wanting to be a nice person and despite wanting to be respectful that he wouldn't push her to the side merely because Sten was being a fetid sack of shit.

He told Liam he was disappointed in him.  Ji rolled her eyes, she knew they called him Papa Bear, not that she ever had, but she sure as fuck wasn't going to ever call him that.  He turned to her just shy of missing the eye roll that she gave out.  He told her that she knew how it worked here and he was surprised that she had done this.

“What?  Find someone I like to spend my time with?  Actually have a relationship instead of meaningless sex?  That is what you find so disappointing?  Something I should have avoided.  Sorry Big Man, not gonna happen.  I work my ass off on this deck, I train my men and women to be the best, we fucking work ourselves to the bone every single day.  We battle, we die, we put shit back together and make sure it can fly again with only hours to work.  And the little time I find for myself, to make a better life, you're going to stand here and admonish me for.  I don't think so.”

She wasn't apologetic. Not even a little, if anything she was pissed royally. 

And then he called her a bitch. 

Ji's back straightened and her chin lifted as if she had been slapped in the face.  She swallowed heavily, and stood there staring back into the eyes of Sten Covington the scum of the fucking universe as far as she was concerned at this point.  She didn't look at Liam, it would do no good and he would probably try to tell her to be calm.  But, she wasn't going to be calm, she was way past calm at this point.  She was so pissed off that she was calm in a completely deadly way.  Her hand curled into a fist.  She wanted to punch him in the face so fucking bad.  She wanted to her arm literally shook from the effor she was expending just to keep it at  her side. 

No she was going to have to go bigger. 

Bigger than punching him.  Punching him would put her in the Brig and that was that.  No, this was going to be a fucking war.  Ji reached down and grabbed the PADD out of her pocket and tossed it on Sten's desk.  Then she reached forward and unclasped the tool belt that was around her waist and let the weight of it fall onto Sten's desk.  She looked right at him, never once taking her eyes off the rat bastard that stood there as if all was right with the world. 

“You think I don't have proof of you sending me to the Harbinger.  Think I don't know why you did that you miserable puss sack?  I don't give a shit if you disagree with Liam and I until your teeth fall out of your face from old age.  I will not apologize to you for having a love life.  I don't regret one fucking thing about my time with Liam.  Just because you took me for granted doesn't mean everyone else will.  You can call me a bitch, I don't give a shit.  But as of right now, I'm on strike.”

She let those words sit heavily on him for a moment.  Watching the veins in his neck and forehead bulge, likely as his blood pressure sky rocketed.  “Lets see what you can accomplish without your whole propulsion crew.  Because I guarantee, that my boys, will not touching a fucking thing on this ship until you apologize, on your hands and knees, with sincerity.  Eat shit.  Sten Covington.”

Ji turned on her heel to leave the room grabbing her combadge as she went.  “Ji to all Propulsion Crew.  Report to center deck.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #10 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Triage
[Show/Hide]
Word by word, the things Ji had been telling him about Sten Covington were confirmed.

When he had heard who the Chief of the Deck was on the Theurgy, Liam had already known him as a big name in the Valkyrie Project. An old CoD in the pond, with a reputation of being a bit of a know-it-all. Escaping the Resolve, Liam had not expected him to be named second in command on the deck, retaining the position he'd had under Erik Randall on the Resolve. In a way, he had looked up to Covington because of his long background.

Though even before Ji had told him what the old man had done to her after partaking in games at the amusement of the Ishtar Entity, Liam's opinion about the man had been undermined. Not because of what Ji had told him, but because how he behaved. He was no true Starfleet officer, acting like this arrogant, boastful old-timer who discriminated against those younger and of lesser experience. That was not what Liam was used to, so when Ji had told him about the transfer to the Harbinger, and afterward that, how the old man had bedded her again - this time out of his own interest? His need to blow off some steam? Who knew? In either case, he had treated Ji like air after that. The Chief was hypocrite, and he had hurt Ji, so Liam's view of the man had already deteriorated.

And after the veiled threat he received personally... the arrogant bastard had the nerve to call Ji a bitch to her face. He had the bloody gall to do it in his presence, even, as if he believed himself untouchable? That he was some kind of god of the deck, as he commonly boasted far and wide?

When Liam became angry, he never became physical. He never cursed. His rage was a cold, burning ice, as blue as his eyes. He stared at the man, not saying a word while Ji went of on a tirade, justifiably so. Between the three of them, it was the old man that was behaving like an adolescent, and Liam was not about to stoop to his level.

Ji left, after surrendering her tool-belt and her PADD. She was about to go on a strike, and take her team with her. Liam guessed her game already, using the timely opportunity now that the fighters were deployed - their services of little need for the time being -  to make a statement. A dangerous game, that would have her reported. Sten had yet to fire him, the threat - if thinly veiled - not acted upon. Therefore, Liam remained where he stood, alone with the Chief, and pursed his lips to speak.

"I thought your kind belonged in the 20th century, 'Chief', where lecherous old excuses for 'men' used their position of power to prey upon younger women, and then threw them away like used rags. The worst of them were even territorial, prone to attack any other men who strayed too close to these victims - fearing... what they might learn."

Having said this, his voice calm and low, he turned to leave, unsure what to do next, and if Sten might follow him out there. If they survived the battle, he already knew what he'd report to Commander Stark. She deserved to know what had truly happened, and offer a counter-point to whatever lies Sten had fed his superior officer about what was happening in the Fighter Bay.

No more had he limped out unto the deck... than the first attack of the Borg struck into the Theurgy's shields. It sent everyone stumbling sideways. Liam caught himself on the opening of the blast wall. Alarm klaxons blared, and he threw his gaze about, spotting red hair somewhere close. He didn't quite see who it was before the next hit came, which sent him off his feet, his knee giving out. He landed on his side, but quickly struggled to get up.

That's when the first green flares could be seen - nine of them appearing along the sides of the bay. Two of them far too close for comfort. Liam had never faced the Borg before, but it was just like the simulations... only this was very real. Pasty flesh and metal, a red eye homing in on him where he laid. Despite the pain in his knee, he tried to scramble away, but the drone stepped after him. His eyes widened when it raised it's arm in his direction....

That's when the red hair appeared again.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #11 –
"Ah'm lahk 'erpes. Ah always come back."
- Krystal "Meony" Tancredi, Personal Logs

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan & @BZ
[Show/Hide]
She felt awfully light-headed. Not so much dizzy, or unsteady or drowsy, but she felt so free of pain and pressure that she hadn't felt for so long, that she only now realized this whole time she'd simply gotten used to the pain and the pressing sensation she felt in her head, and with it now gone, the tumour removed and her life no longer in constant danger from ending in days of perpetual screaming before an inevitable death, it was a nearly giddy feeling. Despite the orders for bed rest and to remain under observation, the redhead had managed to sneak out once she had gotten wind of what was going down since the time she'd returned to the Fighter Assault Bay.

She knew she couldn't sit idle and wait for news, despite her current state.

She saw Liam, Sae Ji and Sten meeting up for something, but she ducked into the locker room first. Her priority was to get out of these God-awful scrubs. How many people had she mooned on her way here? “Howdy, goh-gias,” said Meony as she looked at her EVA suit. She slid on the underclothing and the thermal jumpsuit, then fitted the full suit, getting dressed slowly and carefully, but with a sense of urgency. She was just putting on the last boot when the ship rocked with a powerful impact and she rolled, covering her head with her arms protectively, while cussing out loud. Quickly getting back to her feet, she nabbed her helmet and left her hat hanging behind her as she raced out into the assault bay once more, and she activated her suit's magnetic clamps just in time when another impact would have flattened her to the floor.

She saw the flashes of green light, and her eyes widened. The Borg were here!

Liam was on the ground, and a drone was approaching him. There was little time to do anything but act. Drawing out her phaser pistol, and setting the weapon to rotate its frequency, she deactivated the clamps, ran towards Liam, drew out her new prize d'k tahg, claimed from the body of the Klingon warrior she had unintentionally felled by landing her Valkyrie on him, and fired right into the drone's back.

Her second shot caught it in the shoulder as she placed herself between Liam and the two drones. Red hair flashing, she shot one last time right into its face. The second drone had its arm stretched out, and Meony used the Klingon dagger to pierce it in the wrist, twisted, and yanked the dagger out forcefully, made possible only through the augmented strength provided by the EVA suit, then she fired her phaser right into its face. Two down, seven to go, but there were other combatants moving to deal with them. Once she was certain there was no immediate danger, Meony turned to help Liam back to his feet, and she put her helmet on, “Ya all raht there, sugah?” asked Meony, looking the man over, and she saw Sten approaching them. “Is mah bird ready t' flah?”

“Ensign Tancredi,” said Sten as he reached the pair, “you're not cleared to fly. You just had an operati-”

“Ah stick dat up yer craw, bustah!” said Meony, interrupting the man, and glared at him for calling her Tancredi. She jabbed a finger past the bay, “We've got fahkin' Borg in 'ere and mah family's out der gettin' demselves killed! Ah ain't gonna stick aroun' waitin' 'till Ah'm all good an' ready fer flaht duty. Ya know we need all wings dat we cain get!”

The large man pursed his lips, then looked towards the Borg drones, and then at Liam, and at Sae Ji and her team. “When this is taken care of,” said Sten, addressing Liam, “You and Eun Sae Ji are done here.”

To Meony he said, “Get going.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #12 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Wrong Time | Right Place | Strike or No Strike, this Ship Will Not Go Down]
@Auctor Lucan @Triage

Ji stormed from the office.

Sten could fuck himself.  She didn't see any need to work under a man that was so callous and so full of himself that he could even think that whole situation in there was precedented or even kosher.  No, she was fairly certain that she would be contacting security to get the feed of what had happened in there so that she could take it to the top of the top.  She would scream at anyone that would listen, and she was going to start with Ives.  If s/he ever came back, if not she would go to who ever it was that was taking hir spot.  She was not going to stop, she would not let it slide this time, she was going to make sure that fucker paid with his job. 

She wouldn't be happy as a civilian on a starship but if it was the only thing she could do until she could hop a shuttle (preferably with Liam), then so be it.  They could spend their days racing on Mars and enjoying life without being under the thumb of a creepy old man that didn't know when to stop while he was a head.  He must have seen her as weak, because she hadn't said anything when it happened previously.  He must have thought it was something that he could just use whenever he wanted.  A booty call when ever he needed to get his rocks off.  He must have been pissed that she had found someone that had seen her actual worth.

Well he had shown how little he had, and she intended to run with it.

She could see her men, her women, her people.  They were gathering as she had asked them to, confused looks played on their faces as they all looked to Ji trying to figure out why she would call them to an emergency meeting.  Jack, her second, stood out front of all of them and he knew.. he could read it in her face that she was pissed and this .. whatever it was.. wasn't going to go well.  Something had happened in that office, it was in Ji's very body language, but he just waited for the story.  Before she was half way across the deck, to her people, the ship was hit, and Ji stumbled, her shoulder smarting angrily against one of the support pillars in the bay.  She winced slightly, as she tried to regain her footing only to realize that the green flashing lights...

The Borg.

Sten picked a bad fucking day to piss me off.

She turned, as she tried to figure out what they were doing.  LIAM!  He was on the ground, she remembered about  his knee.  Her heart went straight into her throat, she had nothing.  No tools.  No padd.  Nothing that she could use as a distraction or a projectile to get the attention of the Borg away from Liam and anywhere else.  She could scream and yell but there were several and she might get one to come to her but it wouldn't be all of them. 

Think Ji, think!

All of a sudden there was Sten, her eyes narrowed into thin beads of hate, as if she could laser his ball sack right off into his jumpsuit.  Let them flump helplessly onto the deck plating after tumbling through his pant.  The Borg!  He was saying something to Liam, and Meony was there, though she couldn't hear what they were saying she stood up straight.  She should probably work, but no, she had told him she was going on strike.  Spinning quickly she looked at her mechanics.  “Run.  Fight.  Whatever you've got.”

She didn't hesitate to move again, this time towards Liam and unfortunately towards Sten.  Meony was heading for a fighter, though Ji was certain she shouldn't be flying one.  She had only just had an operation if the records that Ji had received about the fighter not needing to be a priority because of it were to believed.  The fighter hadn't been messed with at all, mainly because, of the fact that they didn't need to.  It wasn't incapable of flight but they hadn't pushed it like the others because the pilot wasn't supposed to fly.  She ran towards Liam still, her mind more on him than Meony at the moment.  If the woman wished to pass out in mid flight after an operation then so be it.  She had other things on her mind. 

There was a large trolley of tools and parts.  She didn't even know what the grabbed but it fit in her palm nicely as she chucked it across the deck.  She had aimed for the head but she didn't seem to have the strength to really get it as high as she had expected and so the metal only hit the Borg in the neck and shoulder joint.  Still, it jerked forward slightly in surprise and it wheeled around all of a sudden.  Though because she was smaller than Sten he didn't see her, not really.  He seemed to assume that Sten himself had thrown the device that had glanced off his shoulder.

[Resistance is futile you will become one of the collective.] the robotic voice called out and took a step towards Sten.  Though, something didn't quite work because as it grabbed Sten to probably inject the nanobots into his system to turn him over... it didn't work.  The Borg tilted its head to the side.  [Malfunction detected, initiating secondary procedures.]

He didn't even seem to really need time to process as the strong man one arm lifted Sten up into the air and tossed him over to the side.  Right across Meony's path and right against her fighter.  Sten hit with a thick, wet, thud, his body contorted with the sheer force against the fuselage created a nice dent in the shape of some of Sten's head. The sick sound that it made, amid all the screams and fighting with the Borg, Ji wasn't sure that she would ever get out of her head.  A quickly spreading puddle of vibrant red blood spilled out from the cranial cavity that had once held the brains of a truly large asshole. 

“Ji!  Duck!”  Ji didn't even look to see what Jack was talking about, she hit the deck as he soared over her and slammed into a Borg that had snuck up towards her while she was busy staring at the end of Sten Covington.  She felt a bit justified but she also felt a bit of remorse.  He deserved a better death, but he deserved a lot of pain first.  Not the torture kind, just the kind that made you realize you should be a better person to those around you while you were alive.  Jack's massive body, muscles, and wrench slammed into the Borg.  Pieces of metal flew and pinged off the deck plating.  Ji was a black belt in taekwondo and she was all ready for action.  As Jack fell to the deck because of the momentum stopping with the Borg attack Ji entered into battle.  She didn't have much of anything but she used her small body.  Thrusting her shoulder, the good one, into the Borg's stomach, he was already off kilter and now he fell to the deck with a loud clang.

“Ji!” 

Another voice, she looked up in time to see a large tool, one of the fighter wrenches sailing at her, she reached up and plucked it out of the air using it's own momentum and weight to bring it down onto the Borg.  Smashing the center of the head.  More pieces of metal pinged off of the deck plating and scattered under the feet of other attackers and the mechanics who were, at this point, getting used to boarders in the shuttle bay.  It was really getting to the point where they needed a Guest Room.  Here have some coffee, snacks, and a bit of TV while you wait for the orders of Total Domination.  Sparks erupted from the Borg's head piece as she slammed the wrench down again, and the red light to the side blinked and flickered out going dead in a moment.  She stepped back breathing heavily.  Sweat rolling down her neck and chest.

Her eyes scanned the deck.  Liam... where are you.  Don't die.  You said you wouldn't die.  I don't want to have to kill you.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #13 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Triage
[Show/Hide]
Being helped back to his feet by Krystal "Meony" Tancredi, Liam had not expected to see her down in the Fighter Bay anytime soon. For all he knew, she'd been in Sickbay, just like Ji and him, only the fighter pilot had brain surgery. Surely she was supposed to be in the Recovery Ward? Either way, Liam really wasn't in any position to complain, since he'd almost been assimilated by the drone. It was as if time has slowed down, and all he could think about was the promises between him and Ji.

Of course, Covington had come along, without any kind of compassion or sympathy towards the fact that he'd almost been killed. Perhaps he didn't see it, or perhaps he didn't care. Either way....

...Covington didn't see the second drone. Nor did Meony while she walked away, since since the nightmarish metal figure stepped out from behind the blast wall. "Chief!" Liam called, in warning. The next moment, a large hyperspanner - or some kind of tool - sailed through the air and connected with the drone. Yet by then, it was too late for Covington, even though he rounded on the Borg that was coming up behind him. For the drone had reacted to the tool, and thus seized the grizzled deck chief by the neck. It said something... but Liam was already running, limping, towards the weapons locker, which was back in Sten's office. He had no means to help the Chief whilst unarmed, so he didn't look back. He had to arm the deck crew out there!

He never saw the end of the Chief's life, busy getting the locker open. Once he got it open, he wrapped his calloused hands against the handles of two long weapon crates, and with them in his hands, he limped back towards the onset of a warzone. When he emerged on the deck once more, he did so at the same time as a security officer that wore an exosuit. The male figure was armed with a rifle, and he was already firing against one of the drones - one which was heading towards Meony and her fighter. Liam saw something lying on the deck below the fighter too, but he couldn't see what it was. Where is Covington?

[Meony!] called the Security officer, his voice garbled by the static of the suit's external audio channel. [Behind you!]

The voice of James Mariner was unmistakable to Liam, who'd often suffered the ridicule and scorn of the homophobic prankster. Three years on the Resolve had led to the jester learning about him and Derik Veradin, and since then, the childish geardo had given Liam nothing but grief. What Meony saw in the man, he had never fathomed, but at least he was a capable shooter.

"Arm yourselves!" called Liam, as loudly as he could, trying to get the attention of the frightened deck teams. He dropped the two weapon crates and crouched down, grimacing at the pain in his knee. He popped them open, and picked up one of the rifles for himself. He was a lousy marksman, but he knew the drills. He checked the energy level and armed the weapon, already limping out towards the present drones. He saw Ji, and his heart soared at the realisation she was still alive. "To me, rally here at the crates!"

Since Mariner had been the first to open fire against the Borg, it was he who had gotten all the attention from the drones. The security officer was beset by four drones at once, closing in on him, and stripping the plating from his exosuit with their beam weapons. The man put up a good fight, even until his last moments, when his scourged and smoking exosuit no longer could protect his seared flesh, and a Borg managed to reach him from behind...

"Mariner!" called Liam, eyes wide, even if he knew it was inevitable.

OOC: @Triage goes next, and in your following post, @BZ , you can detail how a Gryphon fighter with only one wing makes an emergency landing in the fighter bay, followed by a Mk III Valkyrie that is so shot up and patch-work repaired that it looks like it may never fly again. Also, at first, the phaser rifles do work aganist the Borg, but at some point before the two fighters makes emergency landings, the Borg drones momentarily adapts to the phasers, turning the tables against the deck crew and Meony. By the time the fighters land, I will post again, and then the phasers will start working again (all of this because of the development in Chapter 05: Battle of the Apertures). Please let me know if you have any questions! :)

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #14 –
[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan & @BZ
[Show/Hide]
There was very little time to do anything except react. As soon as the big man told her to get going, she simply took that to mean she could get on the Sassy Slayer, but there was still the matter of the Borg drones in the bay, and the fact she was the only one conventionally armed. She took aim at one of the drones between her and the Valkyrie, when Jimmy called out a warning. She turned around in time to see him tackle another drone to the ground, then, while still possessing the momentum from his roll, threw himself at the Borg in front of her.

She would have said something, except she had to duck as a large yellow-clad being came hurtling through the air straight at her. She ducked and the sound of Sten's body crumpling against the hull of her fighter shook the girl. She wasn't going to be able to get the sight and sound of him out of her mind. She didn't know the man well aside from an initial encounter once she and her fellow Resolve crew had been assimilated into the Theurgy's ranks, but now, she would never know anything else about him. The way his neck and body lay told her all she needed to know.

Liam had fetched weapons and was rallying the deck crew to him. Eager as she was to join the fight in her bird, she found herself returning to Liam, shooting wildly at the drone that had nearly ambushed her from behind along the way. Jimmy, in typical Jimmy fashion, had rushed into the thick of it, and was firing and lashing out recklessly at the dones, making such a nuisance of himself, he'd drawn the attention of four of them, and they worked in concert, quickly. Effectively. His suit and armour protected him in the melee, but only for so long as Meony watched in horror.

She cried out his name at the same time as Liam did, and she followed up with a frantic shot at one of the drones, scoring a glancing blow on its shoulder, but it didn't suffer any significant damage, and Jimmy gasped, choked, his smoking armour obscuring everyone's vision of what transpired. After a moment, she didn't need confirmation, as Jimmy stopped struggling, and slowly stood up, eyes vacant and staring ahead. He began lurching forward with the other drones, and Meony shook her head, stepping backwards, “No...no...” her phaser hung limply in her hand. She couldn't bring herself to fire on him, even though in the back of her mind, she knew he was already dead, and putting him down was a mercy. She still couldn't.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #15 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Shit has Gotten Real | Arm Up | Time to Take our Deck Back AGAIN | No Admittance Signs Forthcoming]
@Auctor Lucan @Triage

Liam called out from across the deck and Ji turned on her heel.  She saw him over across the way coming out of Sten's office.  He's alive.  He's okay. she tried not to worry too much.  She had just given Sten an earful about how they could completely and utterly remain professional on the deck but she couldn't help but need to make sure that he was all right.  She didn't think twice about heading over, they were going to need to have some kind of weaponry.  Even then, this was the Borg.  Ji, herself, had never come close to meeting them before but there was no secret of them in the galaxy.  They were well known for who and what they were she didn't need any kind of knowledge or experience with them.  It was all first hand and fear.

She rushed over, not knowing how long they had to get an attack on the Borg together.  She rallied her men as well.  “Lets go!  To Liam!”

As she slid next to Liam she didn't waste time saying anything.  As much as she wanted to reach out and touch him just because he was alive and she loved him she kept her hand to herself.  She reached in and pulled out a rifle.  She didn't bother going to a setting that wasn't kill.  Because if you didn't kill them they would kill you.  That or assimilate you and neither of those things was something she was interested in at the moment.  Liam screamed out a name, she knew the name, and turned quickly rifle raised but it was too late.  The horror of watching him take on the hits from all the Borg at once was fairly severe. 

He was one of their own!

Meony was close at hand.  Ji didn't have any real experience with the woman.  Half the time she couldn't understand a damn thing she said.  Ji would spout Korean just because it was probably about the same level of confusion.  Still, she was sad that the woman had lost someone she cared about.  Ji knew that they didn't really have time to mourn, and she could not imagine what it must feel like.  To watch someone you loved get shot down like that, and to know that you couldn't rush to his side.  Ji softly rose her hand, firm as it was, and squeezed her shoulder gently.  She didn't have words, nothing was going to make it better.  But she hoped the 'I'm here for you' for a moment would at least convey through the simple touch.

She rose her rifle and ducked out of the crowd beginning to lay fire on the Borg.  She could see them hitting, and she knew that this was their chance.  She had no idea how this was working, she hadn't expected it to.  But it was and so she landed blow after blow.  She had not been trained very well outside of just general training and had passed well enough.  That didn't mean she was going to give up though, she wasn't the sort.  Had never been and would never be.  Although, it seemed that something changed.  She shot one of them in the head, a rare shot for her, she tended to go for center mass because it was the largest target.  But even when it connected, the Borg did not go down.

“They're adapting!” she called out.

A loud sound began to scream across the deck.  Her eyes shifted, away from the Borg for the moment, only because of instinct.  There was a Gryphon coming in.  It wasn't slowing down as she would like it to.  “EVERYONE MOVE!” she screamed out, it only had one wing.  It was shaking back and forth and likely the only reason it was going in a somewhat straight manner was because of the excellent work of the pilot within it.  But it wasn't going to land smoothly that much was for certain.  And it did, it impacted the deck, plowed through one of the Borg cutting a deep river of ripped metal in the deck before it finally screeched to a stop, Borg pieces were smashed against the hull.  The red light on the head carriage blinked and fizzled out.

The mechanics that had been fighting had dove for the deck out of the way of the fighter.  The Gryphon was smoking and hissing slightly as the heated metal to metal contact had created a great amount of friction.  Everyone, for a moment, just seemed to stare at the large ship. 

“Incoming!”  Yelled Jack.

Ji looked back at the opening to the deck and realized that Jack was right.  Another ship, this one a Valkyrie was coming in hot.  She looked over at Liam, her eyes widened.  “What the fuck happened.”  Of course, the answer was, The Borg, but these two ships were in shit shape and as the Valkyrie landed she wasn't even sure they could get that thing back together.  It was had a better landing than the Gryphon had though.  Ji didn't have time to assess them, there were more Borg on the bay and they needed to get them gone before they could concentrate on the ships that clearly needed their assistance. 

Firing started back up and Ji ducked behind one of the doorways in the transparent blast wall.  Using it to cover most of her slight body while she fired back.  The rifles weren't doing much of anything, and now the people on her deck were dying.  The Borg had adapted or.. figured out what was going on and now they were laying waste to their people. 

“Get behind cover!  Make the most of what we've got!” she cried out as best as she could to the others around her. 

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #16 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Havenborn @Iron Ferrox @CanadianVet @BZ @Triage
[Show/Hide]
When Mariner had been assimilated, apparently not getting the vaccine, it was a matter of helping Meony doing what she couldn't. As much as he hated it, since Mariner didn't yet look like the other drones, Liam raised the Type III rifle and fired. Mariner had yet to develop the tech for those personal forcefields. Therfore, he hit the soft tissue exposed behind the exosuit's plating, and vapourised the security officer while still inside the suit. The thing collapsed like a doll having its strings cut - no one left inside it but some ashes.

Just like the rest of the deck crew, Liam Herrold edged backwards when that first Gryphon entered the bay, taking out one drone in its emergency landing. It had to be Havenborn, the Resolve's old SCO, and barring that the man was hurt - and the fact that Liam didn't particularly like him - it was good that he was back. Yet then came a Mk III Valkyrie, looking like it had undergone makeshift repairs, and this didn't make any sense at all to Liam. He frowned, wondering how the pilot might have been able to do such repairs between launching from the Theurgy and returning just then. Or is this someone new?

Either way, there were four drones left from what he could count with a quick glance around the bay, and he sought shelter in the same spot that Ji did, limping his was backwards so that he could use the blast wall for protection. There was no time to talk, with one of the drones shuffling towards them. Liam tried his luck at aiming, and failed, only to have to shoot twice more. The second shot made a glancing hit, and that's when he remembered the training. "Set your phasers on a rotating phase modulation!"

Having shouted this, he quickly made the adjustment on his own phaser rifle, slow as he might be since he wasn't accustomed to that particular tool. Weapons were tools, in his opinion, only meant for task not belonging in the fighter bay. The drone was getting close. There were only a couple of yards left between his and Ji's position and the nightmarish figure. With only two yards left, Liam raised his rifle...

...but the drone was quicker, delivering an overhead strike with his elongated metal arm. It hit Liam over his arm and his rifle, and he cried out in pain, falling down to the deck. The drone loomed there over him, eyes wide and without soul. He reached down towards Liam with his other hand, tubes about to burst forth from pallid flesh.

Afterwards, he wouldn't remember it, but he had squeezed the trigger of his rifle, and the orange light of rapid fire bathed him, Ji and the drone. The first bolt struck through the torso of the drone. The second one severed the non-metal arm by the armpit. The third grazed the head. The fourth seared away the front of its neck, and the fifth decapitated it. The headless drone continued to stumble backwards, until it toppled over. The remains of the head stopped rolling at the nosecone of the Gryphon.

Liam hissed through his teeth at the pain in his arm, but he didn't believe it was too serious. His knee was hurting still, and he reached out to Ji, hoping she'd help him up, and that the other three drones were not heading towards them. With the adrenaline running thick in his blood, he didn't think about how close it had been that he'd been assimilated...

OOC: @Havenborn goes next, followed by @Iron Ferrox and @CanadianVet . If I've counted right, there are 3 drones left, so it's one drone each for you three to destroy somehow. The phasers has started to work again (all of this because of the development in Chapter 05: Battle of the Apertures). @Triage and @BZ , you can then post a sight seen through the open bay doors, in which the Versant fires its tricobalt torpedoes into the remains of the cube, which at that point has been split into nine pieces by the Lone Wolves, the Theurgy and the Versant's joint efforts. Please let me know if you have any questions! :)

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #17 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Deck 16, Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Triage, @CanadianVet, @Iron Ferrox, @BZ

Once his Gryphon had finally come to a halt Daniel checked the lifesigns of his friend again, they were still semi-stable from the basic medical knowledge he had but he knew that he needed to get him to a medical team as soon as possible.  As his cockpit canopy opened he took stock of the situation, he was wondering why there wasn’t a team of technicians immediately running over to his fighter and he saw the reason, three Borg drones were active in the bay.  There was a mass of panic as the technicians did their best to hold the Borg back; he noticed a lot of missed shots.  Most people couldn’t force themselves to kill another living being and Daniel still remembered the first person he had killed, a convict that had been part of his combat training.  Daniel had been bred for combat, sure it was for aerial combat but he had been trained how to fight on the ground in the case that he was ever shot down.  He was by no means a true infantryman but he could fight ground-side if he needed to.  He climbed out of the cockpit and planted his feet on the hangar bay floor.

As he watched his hand instinctively reached down to his pulse phaser pistol and he pulled it from its sheath.  He scanned the room and found the closest Borg drone to his fighter, he raised his pistol and took aim, he changed the setting on his pistol from the his standard of three to the higher setting of eight, it may consume more energy from the weapon battery but he decided that he needed to make the first shot count as he wasn’t likely to get another one, besides if he really needed to he grab Knight’s pulse phaser pistol as well, or either of their rifles which were still stored in the cockpit.

He waited until he had a clear shot on the drone and then pulled the trigger, watching as the single bolt hit the drone and then he watched in shock as it disintegrated, he had expected the bolt to hit a shield or something but it didn’t.  As he stood there for a moment he suddenly remembered his friend.  “I need a med-team here on the double!”  He shouted out to those in the bay that could hear him.  He climbed back up into his fighter and began to remove Knight from the cockpit as best as he could without exacerbating his current situation.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #18 –
[ Crewman First Class Pedro Swanson | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ @Triage @Havenborn @Auctor Lucan @Iron Ferrox

When he had first been assigned to Theurgy, Pedro Swanson had been ecstatic.  He knew she was the lead ship of her class, and she would also be embarking a new class of fighters for their operational trials.  He was just out of training to serve as a fighter computer technician when he had received his orders, and when he had reported to the ship with the rest of the deck gang, he was not even given enough time to unpack before he and everyone else were gathered on this very hangar deck.  The fighters had yet to be embarked, and there were still some dockyard hands working on a few things here and there.  And then, he saw him.  Chief Warrant Officer First Class Covington.  The man who'd literally written the book about fighter bay operations and the care and maintenance of three generations of Valkyrie warp fighters.  The man who explained that everyone in his deck gang had been hand-picked for he job, for upon return from shaking down those new fighters, ironing out the kinks and applying the lessons learned to doctrine, operations and training, just about all the people in his crew would be looking at promotion, and serve as the cadres at the core of the deck gangs of subsequent Theurgy-class ships, or bays that would carry the this new type of fighters. 

It had been a dream come true; until it turned to a prolonged nightmare. 

There was nothing more Pedro Swanson wanted more right now than just go home.  Sure, he had bee armed, but his nerve had quit.  Instead of fighting the Borg, he was huddled between mobile toolboxes and a countergrav pallet jack, and he was terrified.  His rifle was clutched to his chest like some sort of lethal teddybear, and his bladder had given way in his terror.  And then, he saw it: a Jefferies tube hissed open, and a form came flying out directly towards him.  He screamed in terror as he brought the rifle to bear and his finger locked around the trigger, sending a long, wild and utterly uncontrolled stream of phaser bolts towards the form that was floating towards him.

It was entirely too late that he realized it was not some Borg drone he had fired upon, but instead that weird floating lifeform of an engineer that had been taken off of the Resolve... but by then, it had already flopped onto the deck, several charred holes burnt through its fragile body, utterly lifeless.  And only one word came to his mind at that point, and he howled it with every fiber of his being.  "MEEEEEEEDIIIIIIC!"


[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ]

He had made it to the fighter bay.  Now all Trent would need was a fighter with a functional cockpit.  It did not need to be space-worthy, let alone battle-ready.  All that bird would need was a chair, and a fully charged emergency transporter system.  It would not get him directly to the Bridge, but it would get him close enough to get there in a reasonable amount of time.  After all, he had been relieved, but he was at loose ends.  As a ground-fighter, he was wasted, but fighting other ships, that was where he excelled.  And since no one had bothered to furnish him with fresh instructions after he'd reported Soup Sandwich was active, he would keep to his declared course of action. 

And it was going well...

Until he entered the hangar deck and found it to be yet another battlefield. 

Drones were lumbering across the deck, but they were not conventional, unarmed drones; those bore energy weapons of their own and the sick green glow of their weapons was joining the lurid orange shrieks of phasers.  One more bird came screaming in, entirely too fast and all but crashed into the bay, followed by another one.  At the aft end of the bay, there was a scream of horror and a rapid burst of phaserfire, followed by a call for medical attention, but that was all peripheral information to the Commander.  For there was one redhead, one of the pilots rescued from Resolve's savaged fighter complement and whose name he simply could not recall at the time, simply standing there in shock, watching as a newly assimilated drone was blown apart by a carefully aimed volley.  And she was unaware of the one coming up behind her.

"Pilot!"  Trent's voice was not one well-suited to shouting, but it came out like the crack of an old-fashioned chemically-propelled rifle round.  As he called to her, he raised his hand phaser, not even one of the pilots' or Security's pistols, and took aim even as he walked forward still.  The weapon shrieked once and the blast caught the drone in the shoulder, the only part he had a clear shot at and kept approaching, widening the angle as to give himself a clear line of fire to the staggered boarder.  And he fired again, a long burst that ran from one hip to the opposing shoulder.  As the Borg started to collapse, it started to turn, and Trent's third blast caught him in the side of the head, carving a deep furrow into its head, from where its one remaining, and very Vulcan, ear was to a spot just back from the top of its skull, and finally it dropped bonelessly. 

And, scanning the area around him, he caught a glance out the forcefield, just in time to see a white shape fly past behind Theurgy, and the gaunt Commander went pale.  For he knew this shape, intimately even.  He had spent countless hours reviewing raw sensor data and tactical readouts on that monstrosity.  It appeared in his nightmares, and every time he closed his eyes even for a moment.  Versant.

"Bridge!" He called out after slapping his combadge.  "This is Trent.  I need to know the tactical situation, NOW."

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #19 –
[ LT CMDR Miles "Iron Ferrox" Renard, | Deck 16, Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Triage , @CanadianVet , @Havenborn, @BZ

Miles watched from his cockpit as the Mark 2 came in for its rather non ceremonious landing.  He quickly diverted his course around noting the locations of deck crew in his trajectory as well as the drones that were invading the fighter bay.  with a few quickly entered commands he began firing his repulsors and thrusters to decelerate enough to avoid any form of crash while guiding it in for a landing in the landing space for 04 knowing just in case the Borg sent another wave of drones or if they adapted he wanted to be in position to access the replicators and armory. He did know after all that even if they did adapt to energy weapons, the armory likely held at least a few close quarters melee weapons.  Something which tended to be one of the few things the Borg seemed to have difficulty quickly adapting to. 

Seeing the deck crew vastly under-armed and seeing the danger in the bay he not so gently reduced the thruster speed and lowered the craft to the ground.  Since the tetrion canon was locked in a downward position it contacted the ground before the landing pads did causing a loud scraping sound of metal on metal.  Still the craft landed safely and miles quickly turned his attention to the items in his cockpit particularly the type three phaser rifle.  He popped the canopy and climbed out as quickly as he could slinging the rifle forwards as he raised the weapon, Speaking to the minor computer within his suits equipment he simply said,  "Display; Reticle," The onboard computer answered with a simple acknowledging chime as his helmets HUD now displayed a targeting recticle displayed itself  as he raised the weapon essentially linking his helmets display with what he would see had he been manually looking through the rifles sights.  He quickly looked around and caught sight of the closest drone to his location and dropped to a knee and lining up the shot, In a single efficient pull of the trigger the rifle discharged and impacted the drone in the chest.  Just to be sure miles sent two more shots downrange at the drone hitting it in the chest two more times.  Likely the first shot had done the trick and it simply had not fell yet but he was hardly going to be the type to to take any chances hence the immediate follow up.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #20 –
[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Final Countdown | Casualties of an Unwanted War | Why Must We Suffer | Small Mercies]
@Auctor Lucan @Triage

Rotating phase modulation.

Of course, she should have thought of it, but she was too concerned with all the shit that was going down around her.  She had a crashed Gryphon, she had another fighter that was in shit shape, half her mind was thinking about all the work that was going to need to be done on them.  Then there were the Borg.  Sten hadn't moved.  Either he was playing possum or taking the long nap.  Either way she couldn't really be bothered to check on him at the moment.  With her thumb, she flicked the button over to the proper setting and began to shoot. 

Mariner, she didn't really know him but she knew of him.  Ji knew that he and Meony had been together for a while.. or maybe it just seemed like a while... But then, sometimes the fucking days ran together so much on the Theurgy that she used her padd just to keep straight what day was what.  Mariner was attacked, and Ji could already see that nanobots were taking over his system.  Fresh metallic pieces started piercing out of his skin to take over the pale flesh that had been there before.  That was before he was fired upon.  She looked in the direction that the beams were coming from and found Liam taking the job that no one wanted.

Mariner was dust before she looked back.

Others were on deck now.  Not just her boys, not just the wailing and heartbroken Meony, but someone from the Gryphon and the fighter.  They too were taking on the battle that they had been lucky enough to land into.  She looked over at Liam to see how he was faring and only then did she notice that somehow while she was firing and dealing with everything that had happened, a Borg had gotten between them.

“Liam!” she called out loudly.  Though whether he could hear her over the din of the bay or not she couldn't tell.  But, if it was her, or if it was just that he was paying better attention; he rose his rifle to take out the Borg.  All of a sudden, the Borg struck down.  Metal arm nearly disarming Liam but he kept ahold of his rifle, the cry of pain was loud, and yet the arm wasn't looking broken.  He fired wildly and shot the Borg several times, before it too .. was gone.

Suddenly, it was as if everything fell silent.  The Borg, were gone.  They were all gone, dead, disentegrated.  Everything was just.. done.  For a long moment she didn't know what to do.  Though something caught her attention.  Flashes of bright blue light shot out from somewhere across the back of the bay.  Ji turned to give it her full attention, nearly mesmerized by the bright beautiful beams.  There, in the sights of the bay was the large  Borg cube and it had been torn.. assunder, by these cobalt beams.  I don't know what ship that is, but I want one. Ji thought to herself as she watched as the beauty of an effort began to take down the Borg and destroy the cube.

“They're.. destroying it!” she gasped in surprise, and elation.

She turned, eyes alight with renewed hope as she looked at Liam.  He was still on the ground, groaning slightly from the pain.  She knew his knee likely still bothered him.  Walking over to him, she stepped over the remains of the Borg drone and reached down to take his hand.  Using her muscles she pulled him up right and instead of worrying about damn thing else.. she hugged him.  It was a long and tight hug.  Not so long that other things were being neglected but long enough to say everything that she couldn't find the words for right now.

Thank you for being alive.  Thank you for being here.  For fighting beside me.  That was horrendous.  Can we go to Mars Now?  Can we leave?  I want to vacation for the rest of our lives.

Once she pulled back she made sure he was steady and smiled up at him.  She turned and headed over towards Sten who was still laying where he had fallen earlier.  His eyes glared up at the ceiling unseeing.  She could tell by the bulge in the back of his neck and the way that his head was partially dented in... he wasn't alive anymore.  She didn't really need to check.  Ji looked down at the man that had been her boss for so very long.  The man she had slept with, he had burned her, then tried to fire her.  Everything had been nothing but a struggle in the last several months with him above her head.  Part of her was glad; good riddance.  Part of her struggled to know that he was actually dead.  She would have preferred fired. 

She kind of really wanted off this ship now.  She was tired of being attacked, tired of being hurt.  She wanted to go to some place warm, sunny, and spend the rest of her life enjoying it.  Not fighting for it, but enjoying it.  She was a mechanic, she wasn't supposed to be armed with a rifle and fighting down the bad guys.  But, here she was. But, it was over, and she wouldn't have to worry about being sent off with a bad rap.  She wouldn't have to worry about getting the shit jobs because of some asshole's jealous problem and .. she could safely date Liam without someone above them being pissy.

Liam came up beside her, and she reached her hand back for his.  Sliding her fingers between his own.  “He's dead.” she said as if it wasn't evident, though her voice held a bit of shallowness to it.  Ji never wished the worst on anyone, but, she had come close with Sten.  “I guess we're not fired anymore.”

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #21 –
“Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.”
- Lord Agelmar, The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @CanadianVet, @Havenborn, @Iron Ferrox & @BZ
[Show/Hide]
She couldn't do it. He was going to kill her, and who knew how many others, because she couldn't bring herself to shoot that face. There were times that James Mariner would drive Meony up the proverbial screaming ding-dong wall with his antics, attitude and overall personality. Many often wondered how they could have even become a couple at all. Sometimes, even Meony asked herself that. But when it came to it, she found that she cared for him, and now, that was the reason she was backing away, unable to raise her phaser against him. But Liam did it for her, and she couldn't blame him. She knew, it had to be done, James was dead from the moment he got back up after the Borg attacked him.

Turning her fury on the drones that remained, she fired wild shots that completely missed their intended targets. The result of her exhaustion, mild dizziness, and grief making her accuracy non-existent. But one by one, Liam, Daniel, Carrigan and a Vulpinian pilot took down the remaining drones. There was a scream of panic, and wild shots fired just as F'rell made an entrance. The beautiful T'fanrell was always a sight to behold when she flew in. Except Meony watched in horror as a screaming crewman put holes in the flying alien's body, then he screamed for a medic upon realization of what he had done.

Daniel was calling for medical assistance to, something must have happened to Uriah.

Unable to believe what she was seeing, Meony took steps, seemingly not aware that she was even doing so, and she knelt down beside the smoking body of F'Rell, a gauntleted hand very gently touching the flesh, near one of the charred holes. There were gasping noises, and it was only a moment later that Meony realized it was coming from her, her lips parted, opened wide as it could, and then finally, she screamed, one long shriek of anguish, anger and absolute unbridled rage. Lightheaded as she was, she stepped around F'rell's corpse, and threw herself at the crewman, her phaser pistol calling out of her grip, shouting, “MURDERER!!! YOU FUCKING MURDERER!!!”

With one hand gripping him by the collar, her other hand balled into a fist, she struck him again and again in the face, using the full availability of her EVA suit's enhanced strength to increase the force of her attacks. She wanted to cave his entire face in, plug him full of holes like he did F'Rell. At length, she stopped, her tears soaking the transparent visor of her helmet, until she could barely make out the crewman's face. She grabbed the rifle out of his hands, and pointed the barrel at him, sobbing as she spoke, “Ah...Ah saw th' Borg...they assimilated ya...Ah had t' shoot ya first...yeah...th-they won't question it. Whah should ya get t' live when Jimmy and F'Rell won't?”

As she aimed the rifle at the man, contemplating his life or death, she heard Eun Sae Ji cry out, but she didn't turn to even glance at what was happening beyond the bay, even as the bright purple lights flashed colours and lights over her visor, even as she processed that there were fighters returning to the bay, all she saw, all she could think of now, was squeezing the trigger, and ending this bastard's life. But her finger remained frozen over the trigger. Could she do it? What was one more death?

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #22 –
[ CPO Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Havenborn @Iron Ferrox @CanadianVet @BZ @Triage
[Show/Hide]
After Ji helped him to his feet, Liam returned her embrace. He'd looked around and determined how the two arrving fighter pilots had finished off two drones, and another shooter with a red collar uniform had dealt with the last one. The man was too far away to see who it was, and Liam closed his eyes momentarily as he hugged Ji close with one arm, holding the muzzle of his rifle raised with the other. It had been a close call, but they were still alive. What he had done to Mariner had yet to fully settle with him, the rationalisation being that he hadn't wanted to loose Meony as well.

When they parted from each other, Liam saw the same thing Ji saw - along with the rest of the present deck crew and visitors. the Versant, attacking the Borg cube. Liam shared in Ji's elation at the sight, and he overheard the one with the red collar trying to contact the bridge without getting any reply. Likely they were too busy given the situation, Liam reckoned. He now recognised the man as well, having served as the First Officer since Liam came aboard. Rumours had it he had been deposed from command because he was emotionally compromised, endangering one of the Vectors needlessly, and ordered the Bellerophon destroyed even though he could have left the Rendevzous Zone. What's he doing here?

Ji had headed off towards where Covington had fallen, and by the time Liam followed her, it was time to deal orders to the deck crew. There were two fighters who had to be cleared from the centre of the deck to make room for the rest of the squadron. "That's the last of them. Sandstrom and Brighton, man the tractor beams and move the fighters to the side. Make sure there is a triage team on the way here and check with Havenborn if his RIO has to be extracted before we move the fighter. I suggest an emergency medical transport. Where's Swanson?" he asked, not having seen the crewman since the fighting began...

When he caught up with Ji, she stated the obvious. Liam was firmly of the mind that regardless how Sten had become too arrogant to handle subordinates in a way befitting a Starfleet officer, he hadn't wanted the man to die. It was an uncomfortable situation, here his demise became a personal gain to them, but Liam refused to acknowledge relief in the face of another officer's death. "I guess we're not," she said, and put a hand on her shoulder when she reached for him. The lights from torpedo detonations lit their faces from outside the open bay doors. Others of the deck crew had paused to look at the fallen, and Liam hoped the triage team would come soon. "I think Sten wouldn't have liked us just standing around. Ji, can you go check who's in the Valk III behind Havenborn? I think it says Wolf-01 at the side but that can't be Razor's fighter. Crewman Jack, have you s-"

"MURDERER!!! YOU FUCKING MURDERER!!!"

Between the ruckus of medical officers filing into the bay, and the warp fighters being seen to and moved, there was one shout that caught Liam's attention. Frowning, he walked towards the noise, and after a few steps, the lights of the fighter bay fall on a limp form on the deck. A shape well known to anyone from the Resolve. Oh, no...

F'Rell and he had got aboard the Theurgy together, evacuating the Resolve before it was destroyed. For years, the T'fanrell had frequented the fighter bay. Liam felt his face contort in grief, thinking that this had been her last visit. The Borg had been the end of her, like so many other species out there.

Meony knew F'Rell as well as he did, and after loosing Mariner too, it seemed she was quite vocal. Did she have a rifle pointed at a drone? Liam and Jack approached, but Commander Trent was closer. While the walked, there was an announcement from Mission Ops over the intercom in the bay, and outside the bay doors, a single Type 11 shuttle appeared to have launched from the Upper Shuttle Bay, spotted outside as it entered the debris field.

[Mission Ops to Fighter Assault Bay. The ship will enter a subspace tunnel to execute a tactical retreat. Stand by to receive the squadron once we're through. Everyone hang on tight and we'll be out of this shortly. Stark, out.]

OOC: Some suggestions on this very last post you will be writing in this thread, since Chapter 05 is coming to a close. :) Important for the scenery: The bay doors will be open while the Theurgy flies through the subspace tunnel, and the Lone Wolves and the Allegiant can be seen behind the ship, trying to keep up. @Havenborn: NPC the deck crew people known as Sandstom and Brighton in handling Knight, and a medical team is arriving as well. Knight could also be beamed to sickbay, and the Gryphon moved to it's slot. @CanadianVet & @Triage: You have a JP underway with Triage, I believe. Make the ending work as an ending to the thread, but as according to the General Rules, you must incorporate everything that affects the scene you're writing that is posted here in this thread before you post. @BZ & @Iron Ferrox: To Miles Renard, Eun Sae Ji is a known face among the deck crew. Not sure how much Ji and Renard have interacted personally, but they've both been on the Theurgy since it was commissioned, I believe. Miles Renard, the pilot of that Mk III Valkyrie, was lost at the Battle of Starbase 84, and he served as the SCO before Razor. Seeing him again is bound to be a surprise. Moreover, Renard and Covington worked a lot together since Episode 01 (bad news for Miles?). Either the two of you post one post each, or you do a JP with a conversation by the damaged fighter?

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #23 –
[ Commander Carrigan Trent & Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ][/color] Attn: @BZ @Triage @CanadianVet @Havenborn @Auctor Lucan @Iron Ferrox

Having just called to the Bridge, Trent surveyed the bay as he took in long, deep breaths.  He was a man who had no issue with the delivery of violence where it was required.  He had killed, and would kill again, and while he didn't particularly he enjoy it and had many a haunted night from the aftermath of violence, he understood it to be the way of things.  But there was something far more... detached about the delivery of death from a starship's bridge.  Engagement distances measurable in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of kilometers, the ability to not see the immediate aftermath if one focused on their console or a plot rather than the visual display. 

But engagement distances measured in feet, with small arms or in melee range, one had no such luxury.  The smell of hot metal, burnt flesh and seared viscera.  The flash of weapons fire still imprinted in his retinas.  The sounds of personal combat.  So much more personal, intimate almost. 

But it did not take long for something to catch his attention, beyond the immediate aftermath of the battle that had been fought in the bay.  The pilot whose life he had saved made for the crumpled form of the alien they had rescued from the Resolve, this F'Rell, and she bounded over to a very young crewman with a look of horror on his face, and he saw her fist rise as she grabbed him. 

Not good.

Crossing the distance, the Commander watched as the pilot, whose name he just remembered, grabbed the rifle from him and took aim just as he came within arm's reach.  With the hand he was not born with, he reached for her weapon and closed the synthetic fingers about the barrel and pushed down and away to point the muzzle away from the crewman.  At first, there was resistance, more than he could overcome with arm power alone, so instead he straightened his elbow and took one more step, using the force of his legs to reach the desired effect, and his hand of flesh and blood landed atop the pilot's blood-stained gauntlet.  "Meony," he said in his usual near-whisper, "I understand why you want to kill him."

And so he certainly did.  For he was not even close to forgiving Dewitt for what she did.  The primal, animal part of his mind wanted payback of the lethal variety, even if his higher functions knew such was most unwise or wishful thinking, at best.  "Please, Krystal," the use of given names by Commander Carrigan Trent was a rare thing; it was either used for his friends and intimates or those who had earned his favour.  Or, in this case, someone he needed to connect with very quickly. "Right now, you've done nothing that can't be written off as the heat of battle.  But if you pull that trigger, that's all going to change.  Please, give me the weapon."

He felt the grip and resistance to his hold slacken, and then give away completely, as a strange whimpering sound could be heard, and it soon became clear it was the young pilot's sobbing. Her face was obscured by the helmet's visor, from all the tears and sweat, generating more quickly than the life support could clear away. “Wh-whah does he get to live, when they d-don't?!” her voice cracked and broke, raised to an octave that was near shrieking, yet her volume was not particularly high. And the way she enunciated the "he" was filled with such unbridled hatred.

Now without the weapon, she let her arms fall limply to either side of her, but she was still pinning the man with her legs, sitting on him. As far as Carrigan could tell, the woman couldn't weigh much, due to her current build, but the armour must put some significant pressure on Pedro, possibly enough to choke him while her knee pressed into his chest.

Trent simply lobbed the rifle behind him, letting it clatter to the deck most unceremoniously.  It was the kind of arms handling that tended to be frowned upon, but at this point in time he simply needed to remove the weapon from the equation, and the threat of it being used needed to be disposed of.  But that was only the beginning of dealing with this situation, for now he needed to get the pilot to release the hapless crewman whose breath was being crushed out of him by Meony's armoured mass. 

"I know how this sounds, but that's war," he said softly.  His tone was low, heavily laden with much of his own regrets and grief.  He had lost most of his crew, and his first starship command to enemy action; he had killed Starfleet personnel in action; more people who trusted him had died because they followed his orders.  That was part of the weight of command, to be the one to bear this guilt.  But this was different; this was a woman mourning the loss of friends and shipmates in a brutal action against an implacable foe.  One of them, apparently, to friendly fire no less. "I know it is little comfort, but people are lost, even ones we care about."

"Look at him.  He's terrified and he panicked.  He called for help as soon as he realized what he did.  He never wanted to hurt her."  He kept his voice steady and calm.  "I know you want to kill him, and I can't blame you for that.  But think of your friend."  As he said those words, Carrigan's voice wavered and cracked a little.  Think of Heather. "Would she want you to murder him?" The image of the Radiant's face, smiling gently at him came unbidden to his own mind; what would she say if she knew he wished a terrible death on Dewitt?  The mental picture and the thought brought tears to the corners of his eyes, tears of grief, tears of shame. 

"Let him go.  Enough people have died in the last few days.  There's no need to add any more names to the list of those we've lost."

If only she knew it was not just her he was trying to fully convince of this, but the darkest reaches of his own self was well.

For a moment, it looked like he hadn't reached through her, and she stayed still as a statue, staring into the eyes of Pedro, but she suddenly leaned backwards, slowly at first, then more quickly, until she was lying on her back, her helmet disconnecting with a snap hiss. She slid off Pedro, letting the man breathe, but she now lay motionless on the floor, staring listlessly at the ceiling. “Name: Tancredi, Krystal 'Meony', designation: pilot, rank: Ensign, affiliation: Starfleet, United Federation of Planets...” she started saying in a droning deadpan, and she repeated, “Name: Tancredi, Krystal 'Meony', designation: pilot, rank: Ensign, affiliation: Starfleet, United Federation of Planets...Name: Tancredi, Krystal 'Meony', designation: pilot, rank: Ensign, affiliation: Starfleet, United Federation of Planets...” she was unresponsive to any stimulus, and just kept repeating herself.

The wolves were returning to their den, Theurgy was getting ready to flee the battle. It felt like things were coming to a decisive close.

Re: CH05: S [D06|1110] Injustice

Reply #24 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Deck 16, Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Triage, @CanadianVet, @Iron Ferrox, @BZ

Sandstrom rushed over to the pilot as soon as Chief Herrold had given him the orders.  “Sir, we need to move your fighter into its slot, we can have your RIO transported to sickbay beforehand if needed.”  He said.  Daniel looked at him and shook his head.  “Negative, move the fighter first then I’ll remove him from the cockpit.”  He said.  Sandstrom nodded and motioned to Brighton to activate the tractor beam and move the Lieutenant’s fighter.  Daniel watched as the fighter was moved from its landing position to its docking position, he made his way over and as Sandstrom brought a boarding ladder over he climbed up.  He reached down to the unconscious form of his RIO and pulled him out of the cockpit.

Daniel heard as Sandstrom called out to him again.  “Lieutenant, a medical team should be arriving shortly.”  He said as Daniel nodded and carried his friend down the boarding ramp slowly.  Once he was at the bottom he set him down and waited for the medical team to arrive.  He glanced around the bay and saw the deckhands working to prepare the deck for when the rest of the squadron returned, he could hear the bustle of activity and even hear Meony’s voice, and as much as he wanted to find out why she was in the FAB after her surgery he needed to stay near Knight just in case something went wrong.  He and Knight had been friends since their time on the USS Persephone flying Peregrines in what seemed like a century ago, there was no one that he trusted more.

The FAB doors opened and Daniel could make out the distinctive teal department color, part of him had hoped that Riley would have been with the medical team but she wasn’t.  The medics split up two came over to him while the others went to other places of the FAB to tend to other wounded.  Daniel had managed to get Knight’s helmet off but his breathing was irregular.  The medics kneeled down next to him and they asked him questions, he answered them quickly and efficiently thanks in part to his memory being near-eidetic.

The medic completed his scan and after conferring with his associate he told Daniel that they needed to beam Knight directly to sickbay to which Daniel nodded and stood back as one knelt down next to him and tapped his combadge requesting an emergency medical beam-out.  A moment later and they were gone, the second medic then nodded to Daniel as he walked off to help others.  Daniel looked back at his fighter and sighed.  He walked over to it and placed a gauntleted hand on the fighter’s hull.  “Don’t worry, the three of us will be flying together again soon Hellcat.  Chief Herrold will fix you up just like he and Chief Randall used to.”

Daniel removed his gauntleted hand from the fighter and then turned towards the exit.  He watched as Commander Trent clearly had the situation with Meony in hand and thus he wasn’t needed and as much as he wanted to make sure Knight was going to be okay he knew that he’d just be in the way so he decided that he’d volunteer for CONN duty instead of taking some downtime, maybe he could run shuttles around or give the CONN officers a break from piloting the ship, either way he needed to keep active right now to keep his mind off of his injured friends.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.
 
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