Star Trek: Theurgy

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #50 – September 01, 2021, 05:15:19 AM

[ Lieutenant Elro Kobol | USS Allegiant, Medbay<>Bridge | Praxis Space ] Attn:

Just as Luff had begun relaxing and the dermal regenerator was healing the skin it could, from behind him came a "Aw shit". Elro glanced up and over to see the Vulpian woman jerk, then brought in front of her a piece of jagged metal with blood on one end.

Ensign Nix awkwardly stood and dropped to the floor on all fours, that's when Elro saw blood staining her fur and as she gave an indignant sniff, Elro was already laying Luff down gently. He grabbed his kit and moved to Ensign Nix's side at the same time Commander Cross ordered it so.

”Ensign,” He tried but no response, she was out. He got to work with the dermal regenerator in one hand and medical tricorder in the other. He was scanning for how deep the metal piece went and what damage it did while regenerating the skin at the impact's edges.

By reducing the size of the wound Ensign Nix's body should heal quicker but he was already spotting issues as the metal piece may have caused more damage then what he could detect. He had to move her to Medical. ”Someone help me get Nix to medbay!” He called out.

After a moment he figured the transporter may be the best way. ”Actually beam her to medbay,” Elro amended.

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #51 – September 04, 2021, 06:36:13 AM

[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Warp Core Room | Lower Deck | USS Allegiant ] Attn: @Pierce @Brutus @Auctor Lucan @Sqweloookle @Ellen Fitz
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The ship was crossing sabers at this point. To Frank's illustration earlier, they were getting pummeled in this phone booth. It seemed, at least from the warp core room, that for every shot Ensign Pierce was dodging, there was another that they took on the chin. His PADD had long since been tossed from the console top where he had left it, and any tools that he didn't have strapped to his waist were long since scattered across the bay. If they survived he'd have a hell of a time finding them all. Right now the Warp Core Room was a magpie's nest of crossed wires hanging out of bulkheads, hoses patched and spliced, hasty micronized-weld repairs, and of course sparks and smoke.

He'd left his comm on open channel to listen to the bridge as best as he could, but between the sirens, the shudders, the sparks, and 'Frank's Funky Mix Vol. 3' he wasn't very much listening that closely. What he had gathered was, they were going to have to do some more fancy flying, more specifically Ensign Pierce was going to have to fly them down a tight tunnel, and that meant he was going to need to rob more power. The problem was, he was scraping the bottom of the barrel. If they wanted weapons, shields, propulsion, life support, and the cloak, there just wasn't enough to go around.

Frank found himself splicing conduit together when the ship shuddered for the umpteenth time. The idea dawned on him, that at this very moment, the cloak wasn't that important. If they needed to go faster, and as Frank had learned from pilots, they always needed to go faster, they could rob the startup sequence. He would wait for a pause in the cacophony of activity on the Allegiant's bridge, and then would speak. "Commander I am pausing the cloak's startup sequence. I can get Ensign Pierce more power if I do that, and I also shunt the remaining auxiliary static reserve banks back into the core, the stuff that feeds the replicators, makes sure the humidity is just right, makes sure the beers are cold, you know. That'll give us about a....you don't care what percent. In short, I'm turbocharging her."

Without waiting for permission, he sprang into action. First he slid over to the central control panel, and diverted what he had given tactical, and sent it directly over to shields, 50/50 split. This move had no merit if they hit a rock and exploded. Afterwards he would would snap one of the nearby panels off the wall, unrolled a spare temporary plasma splice conduit hose, and got to work.

He threw the total disconnect lever, and then grunted out as he started to turn the manual plasma valve, the strain evident in his voice as he spoke, "Be advised, sensor performance is going to take a hit, I can't give you an estimate, and we won't be able to run the replicators again until we can replace the circuit chips back on the Theurgy, because this is definitely going to blow them. It also might get a little balmy in the cargo bays...depending on how well the climate control systems take this. Also I'm taking back the weapons power, because I'm going to need it."  His nasty habit of conveying too much detail showed in this moment.

With the valve off and the message relayed, he affixed one end of the coupling to the access T usually used for flushing the valves during preventative maintenance, and unrolled the reinforced conduit to the other end to the exact same inlet valve on the core. By doing this he could shunt the already preheated plasma back into the reactor to milk it for every ounce of energy.

With everything affixed, Frank went back to his access panel, and threw the diverter for the flush valve, and then he threw the main disconnect. For a moment Frank's reality was brightness and white hot pain, followed by a heavy thud to the ground. Ensign Pierce's reality was a total loss of thruster power for a few milliseconds until the computer could compensate. After he wiped the soot out of his eyes, and looked up, he saw two things; The first being that in his flurry of activity he'd forgotten to clamp one side of one end of his connector hose; And the second being he'd succeeded in severely scorching his right calf and foot with errant plasma, as well as that his coverall leg was burned away and most of the toe of his boot had melted before the emergency diverter had sensed the loss in pressure and stopped the plasma flow.

Frank wanted to lay there in pain, however that wasn't an option right now and he knew it. He pried himself to his feet, and tried again, re-affixing the conduit more diligently, ignoring the swarm of fire ants eating his toes, and throwing the disconnect. He liked to imagine what happened next was like the movies, with an intensely colored jet of flame erupting from the back of the Allegiant as they rocketed down the mine shaft to save the day.

The reality was more benign; the hose he had ran across the floor would begin to glow a satisfying blue as it carried its payload back to the core, and Ensign Pierce's available power would be sharply boosted by the pre-heated plasma he'd short circuited back into the system. He got them about 14 percent, not that Frank would have a good estimate until he reviewed the logs later.

He ripped the first aid box off the wall and slumped to the ground, sitting with his back to the bulkhead as he tapped his comm and spoke, "Engineering to Bridge, you've got the nitrous, drop this old girl into sixth and let's go!" He also added, "Now I'm going to be patching up this leg, had myself a little weenie roast down here. If you could hold off on tearing up the ship for like, three minutes I'd appreciate it."

With that he got out the first aid sprays, and the bandages, and tried his best to remember Field Medicine for Engineering Emergencies 204.

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #52 – September 11, 2021, 03:18:40 PM

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MEANWHILE | PRAXIS MINING FACILITY

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"Lieutenant zh'Wann to the Allegiant, as you heard, we have a situation on our hands," she said, knowing that those on the bridge had overheard the conversation with Alistair and followed the progress through the helmet-feeds. "Can you see the mining shaft indicated ahead on sensors? Is there any other way to stop that bomb from reaching the dilithium in case we are too late?"

Yet Ida got no response from the Allegiant, and with the battle raging over the mining facility, she reckoned Cross and the scout ship's crew were too busy to answer, or they were too deep into the factory to break through the interference caused by the dampening field that had prevented House K'Tal from making scans of the inside of the facility. Perhaps Thea's comms array was powerful enough to pick up her exosuit's transmission, while the Allegiant's wasn't. Ida had no idea. There was a reason she wielded a rifle instead of a spanner. "Shelat... Looks like it will ride on us to stop that bomb from being deployed," she said eventually when they got no answer, and picked up the pace. "Let's go."

Nothing like having the fate of the entire Klingon Empire and the outcome of a new galactic war riding on one's shoulders to inspire some motivation, right?

It wasn't a long walk to the mining pit, but it seemed to take forever. Amidst the poor lighting and the heat from the malfunctioning life support, everyone was tense, Ida and her team having to carefully sweep every turn, every doorway, every junction before proceeding on. The place was a labyrinth, the Klingon signs nearly a century old and faded into illegibility, the group guided only by their time-travelling reinforcement. The silence was thick, nobody quite trusting the human on such a dangerous mission, but forcing themselves to keep alert for Klingon traps.

As the tunnels shook faintly from sort of impact on the moon's surface from afar, Alistair, tricorder in hand, silently gestured for Ida's attention, then held the little device up for her to see the Klingon lifesigns it was detecting, approaching their position from the bomb area. From that point, it was a series of hand signals, a hastily set ambush planned without a word to deal with the approaching Klingons. Thirty seconds later, after the high-pitched screech of two phasers fired by Tucker and Vansen, the Klingons were unconscious on the ground, having never known what hit them. The team didn't spare them a second glance as they stepped over the prone bodies and continued onward, nobody saying a word.

Once they reached the accessway to the main mining operation chamber, being a gangway across a rift in the moon's surface, Ida spotted a surveillance unit up high, and she paused so that she might shoot it down. Too late. Between that and the weapons fire, it couldn't be a secret that they were on the way any more. The Infested beyond the massive double doors ahead would be expecting them.

"Lieutenant Leavitt, you stay close to me. Cover my back and tell me what needs to be done inside. LeBlanc, you dealt with the Klingon systems on the Ta'rom, so your skills may come in handy once we reach some kind of control station, so you're with us. Tucker and Vansen, you need to keep Leavitt and LeBlanc alive so that they can stop this bomb from falling, so do whatever it takes to draw attention and protect them. I will not leave their side... but I can only do so much from one vantage point. Understood?"

"Yes, Deputy," they said, almost as one, and LeBlanc cleared his throat, nodding grimly in response.

"Stay sharp, and don't hesitate. Courage is fear when it has said its prayers," she said, the last sentence hissed through her teeth. Without dropping her pace, she raised her rifle towards the doors, which were undoubtedly sealed for them. "Fire!"

With all their weapon fire brought to bear against the doors, they were torn apart - partially vaporised -  and they entered the vaulted mining chamber through a haze of smoke. Ida saw movements, and called out targets as she spotted them, firing rapid bursts with her accipiter against those she didn't. The smoke was lit by green and orange from disruptors and phasers. Nonetheless, there was no mistaking where the bomb was. It was massive, over thirty meters in width, and it floated across the air of the vaulted chamber, suspended by a massive tractor beam emitter that was rigged on a ramp across a wide chasm, the barrel extended over into the pit itself.

A half an hour had yet to pass, so their presence must have provoked the Infested, wherever it was hiding.

"Hostiles bearing 130! On the terraces!" Ida called, knowing that Tucker and Vansen would get indicators in their helmet visors, and concentrated her fire on the Klingons that were in her way. The control station was on the other side of the chamber, and they had to circle around the chasm in order to reach it...

The answering Klingon fusillade was rapid and accurate, even at a distance. Following orders, Tucker and Vansen dropped to one knee and opened fire, phaser beams lancing out across the chasm with wild abandon at the Klingons who remained in cover on the other side of the pit. Meanwhile Ida, LeBlanc and Leavitt ran for their lives. There was no real cover around the circular pit, no way to hide, nothing to do but run like hell and pray, emerald disruptor fire screaming through the air.

It was a messy run, Leavitt and LeBlanc blindly firing their phasers, trying to keep up with Ida as they sprinted around the chasm towards the tractor control station. There were screams and shouts from Tucker and Vansen, bellowed orders from Ida to them as they ran, thundering war cries from a trio of Klingons who charged them, bat'leths in one hand and disruptor pistols in the other. Leavitt and Leblanc frantically aimed their phasers mid-run, missing every shot, only for Ida's massive accipiter to roar, making a gruesome mess of all three Klingons within moments.

They reached the tractor control station, Ida shooting the lone Klingon there before she could hit them in return, the woman (an engineer, it seemed, armed with a disruptor but only wearing a green jumpsuit) crumpling to the ground instantly, her left forearm sheared off by the accipiter. LeBlanc picked up the disruptor and threw it away from the wounded Klingon while Leavitt ran for the control panel, working the controls rapidly. The emitter itself was ancient and huge, looking very much like a giant cannon, the long 'barrel' extending out two meters into the pit, the blue tractor beam emanating from it.

"She encrypted the controls!" Leavitt shouted, struggling to make himself heard over the screeches of phaser and disruptor fire that echoed in the cavernous room. He pulled his tricorder out and laid it against the display, sweating as he set it to begin decrypting. The tractor emitter was a century old, the operating system was probably obsolete even when the Klingons installed it, the encryption couldn't be strong...

The chaos continued, all screams and confusion, Leavitt crouched behind the tractor emitter controls and hanging on for dear life as he worked, only taking occasional pot shots as a quartet of Klingons charged to try and reclaim the position, Tucker and Vansen either dead or incapacitated. No time to check.

Their attention focused on the counterattack, nobody saw the Klingon engineer get back up behind them. Only blind luck had Leavitt look back at the precise right moment to see the Klingon standing again, one arm mangled, d'k'tahg in her good hand. Leavitt instinctively raised an arm to protect himself and the d'k'tahg sliced his arm, drawing a pained cry from the human.

The Klingon laughed gleefully and, before Leavitt could do anything else, she reached over him and rammed her weapon into the control panel with impossible force, sparks flying as the metal crumpled, the delicate electronics crushed. Leavitt frantically crawled away, ignoring the pain in his arm as he hurriedly raised the setting on his phaser to maximum. He rushed to his feet and fired at the Klingon, who cried out in irritation as she moved to take cover behind a large crate.

"She destroyed the panel!" Leavitt shouted, not having the faintest idea where Ida or LeBlanc were amidst the frenzied fighting, simply continuing to pepper the crate with phaser fire and keep the monster down. He glanced at the pit, seeing the sapphire blue tractor beam still moving the enormous bomb in place, the dumb machine following the last command it had been given by the now destroyed controls. His brain started to work again amidst the panic... there might still be a way...

Meanwhile, Ida tore off her helmet, since the visor and casing had been compromised by a disruptor blast. Able to see again, she turned her head when she heard the time traveller, and she saw the situation. "Shelat," she said, checking the cooling rate of her weapon before opening fire against the crate, rapid bursts shredding it to pieces. She had faced this enemy before, and wasn't about to take any chances. "Think of something!"

"The emitter up there!" shouted LeBlanc, who was desperately keeping other Klingons from coming closer with his phaser. "We could reverse the polarity of the beam, keeping it from falling!"

"Do it!" Ida cried back, and had to turn around to deal with two other Klingons for a moment, their bodies pulped by the hiss of tritanium carbide bullets. She rounded on the Klingon in the jumpsuit again, the Infested, and knew it had heard them. Thus, Ida also knew she couldn't just ask either LeBlanc or Leavitt do it on his own. The chance for success was greater if they both tried to reach the emitter. She would have to keep the Infested off their backs alone. "Both of you, run! I'll cover you!""

That was when Ida realised the sarium-krellide battery of her rifle was almost depleted, but given the stakes, and the opposition she faced, she could do naught more than be a bit conservative with her firing options. With her white hair matted against her forehead, teeth bared in defiance when the Infested ran out of her hiding place to follow the two men, Ida switched to the dry-firing concussion mode of the weapon. The blast sent the Klingon tumbling into the damaged control panel, making it topple over.

Leavitt and LeBlanc, both sweating profusely amidst the intense heat of the battle, clambered the giant gun-shaped emitter from both sides. They were panting too heavily to try talking, fear and adrenaline pumping through their veins, Leavitt gasping in pain as he forced his injured arm to work, crimson blood flowing freely and staining his uniform. LeBlanc got to the top first, straddling the emitter barrel, emerald disruptor fire flying through the air around him. Only three Klingons remained, the trio running hard for the emitter now that Tucker and Vansen were dealt with, firing their disruptor pistols as they went, desperate to stop the humans from doing their work.

LeBlanc hurriedly drew his phaser and fired it at the Klingons down below, stunning one, and he reached down to grab Leavitt's good hand and help the other man up. The scruffy engineer led the way, crawling along the barrel, the metal searing hot as powerful energies were channeled through it to sustain the shimmering blue tractor beam holding the enormous bomb over the pit. The two humans kept on going, their arms and legs wrapped around the barrel, clinging on for dear life as they moved over the rim of the pit, the Klingons trying frantically to hit them from below.

They were close to the emitter when LeBlanc turned, shouting something before he was cut off as a fusillade of disruptor fire erupted around them. Both men huddled down against the emitter, helpless to do anything else, before LeBlanc cried out in agony as a disruptor bolt hit his leg, scorching the Savi protective material but not penetrating. Another bolt slammed into the engineer's side as the Klingons found their range and LeBlanc screamed, sliding off the barrel, Leavitt trying in vain to catch him, but his fingers slipped helplessly on LeBlanc's tight infiltration suit...and he fell.

"Shitting shit fucking fuck!" Leavitt swore viciously, fumbling for his own holstered phaser as the Klingons, now close to the emitter as Ida fought the Infested on the other side of it, focused their fire on him. Leavitt's palm slipped on the butt of his phaser, his right hand covered in blood, but before he could try to draw the thing again, he heard the distinctive whine of a phaser rifle. Leavitt looked up at the other side of the pit, seeing Vansen on one knee with Tucker's body besides her, firing her rifle with pinpoint precision, distracting the last two Klingons...and giving Leavitt his chance.

Meanwhile, Ida was keeping the Infested right where it was with her rifle's concussion-mode setting, preventing the lighting-fast demon from reaching her or taking off in the direction where the two men had gone. Ida had taken a couple of disruptor bolts to her exosuit from Klingons in the distance, pulled her hand phaser to return fire, which forced her to fire the accipiter with one hand. Luckily, the firing solution had no recoil, but her aim wasn't perfect. She was exhausted, breathing at the top of her lungs, and screamed in ire as she conquered her exertion and continued fighting. The Infested was laughing at her, coming closer with each attempt to escape or attach her, but Ida wasn't going to quit.

"The home world will cease to be. All Houses will be without leaders," the possessed Klingon said as it stepped forth, its voice carrying the blood-curdling tone the Infested shared when the parasite was in full control of the host - reverberating out of some tear in the fabric of the space-time continuum. "The Klingon Empire will die this day, your allies gone... and the truth what we claim it to be."

Whilst it spoke, Ida had only a moment to catch her breath, which she'd used to switch her rifle's setting. When the Infested rushed her next, there was no concussive blast that met it, but the sustained fire of twenty five bullets per second. While the rail gun stuttered because of low power levels, the salvo tore the Klingon woman's body asunder mid-sprint. The Infested reached her still, by sheer momentum, and its strike sent Ida flying through the air. She lost all bearings, vision blackening out.

As Ida fought the monster, Leavitt, his thighs clinging to the emitter barrel for dear life, was finally up at the emitter itself. Sweat pouring down his face, the tractor beam hot and intense, static electricity sizzling the air, Leavitt drew his phaser, carefully cutting the casing open. He was half-blinded by the intensity of the unshielded glare, but Leavitt squinted, trying to work it out, trying to ignore everything else; the screams, the weapons fire, his increasingly numb right arm, the awful heat. Reverse the polarity...just grab that modulator and twist it around, surely...

Leavitt reached into the emitter itself, gasping as he grabbed the modulator, which was mercifully insulated and comparably cool. He tried to force the thing to turn, swearing under his breath, looking out at the enormous planet-killing bomb suspended over the pit by the tractor beam. Leavitt grunted in exertion as he tried to rotate the modulator, to make it pull rather than push, putting all his strength into it, and was surprised a moment later as the modulator suddenly stopped resisting and spun freely.

It spun freely because the bomb was in position, the emitter had completed its programmed task, the tractor beam had switched off...and the bomb was dropping.

"NOOOOO!" Leavitt cried out in horror, eyes wide. He frantically slammed his left hand against his combadge. "Leavitt to Allegiant, the bomb has dropped, the bomb has dropped, you have to catch it, you have to catch it! You've got-" (He did some rapid math in his head) "fifty seconds until it hits!"

Down on the ground, Ida came to when she felt a hand around the gorget of her exosuit, pressing her windpipe shut. She felt how she was picked up from the ground, feet dangling in the air. She opened her blue blood-shot eyes, and the fist thing she saw was the massive bomb falling down the chasm - causing the air and smoke of the mining area shift against her face. No...

"It... is.... over..." The Infested spoke, body barely in one piece as it held Ida by the neck. It smiled with a cleft jaw and a missing cheek, bloodied skull bared. It was missing both shoulder and arm on the other side. Perhaps that was why it hadn't killed Ida yet, but either way, even though all hope was lost...

....Ida reached down to her wrist, and activated her exosuit's thrusters.

With the Infested holding on to her still, Ida flew out over the chasm, and began to strike that mangled face for all that she was worth, screaming in rage. The thrusters weren't meant for carrying that much weight, so she was loosing altitude, but she kept destroying the head of the Klingon with her metal fist until, finally, the grip failed, and the Infested fell down the chasm.

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #53 – September 11, 2021, 07:12:06 PM

[CPO Sithick | Praxis] Attn: All @Auctor Lucan @Griffinsummoner

Sithick stood still, every muscle in his body tensed stiff. The nightmare visions continued to plague the Gorn as he remained at the post he was ordered to guard. The phantom dream of being tortured by the Duras Sisters, Lursa and B'Etor had continued to cycle through his mind. becoming more and more intense. Then a voice from the present faintly invaded the hallucinations. However, the memory did not fade.

Sithick felt vibrations through the floor of the base. It was a feeling he had learned during his time on this rock to be that of a K22B Bird of Prey landing. When the vibrations ended, Sithick swore he could hear the distinctive sound of a Klingon cloaking device disengaging. 

"We have no more use for you Gorn." the Klingon B'Etor whispered into his ear.

"But our friends on Halee are steadily in need of fresh labor." Lursor concluded by stroking Sithicks shoulder. "We will so miss these sessions of ours."

"Especially the ones in our quarters." B'Etor chimed in with a toothy grin.

"Nooooooooooooosssss" Sithick roared tearing his psyche from the phantasms his mind had created. His vision crimson with rage. Frozen no longer the Gorn charged in the direction of the source of the vibrations.

The first pair of Klingon reinforcements were quickly taken by surprise as Sithick's strong arms snapped their spines upon tackling them. The ones that followed, now alert began firing their disruptors at the berserker Gorn. The suit Sithick wore offered some protection from the disrupter hits, his rage-fueled agility assisted in avoided the remainder. His primitive brain was at the wheel of his body as he hunted this new prey.

"We have engaged the intruders. They have a Gorn! Repeat they have a Gurgh..." was all that could be relayed via comms as Sithick's clawed hand grabbed a panicked Klingon and crushed his windpipe. A predatory grin began to spread along Sithick's snout as he recalled the Klingon's favorite maxim, 'Today is a good day to die!'

"DIESSS" he hissed as he dropped the deceased Klingon body to the ground and began targeting his next kill. Today was very much a good day for Klingon's to die.

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #54 – September 18, 2021, 07:40:16 PM

[ Lt. T'Less | Tactical Station | Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Allegiant | Praxis ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Pierce
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The composition of Praxis hindered the Allegiant’s sensors to such a degree that T’Less was unable to detect much of anything beyond what was ahead or behind them as Ensign Pierce navigated the winding mining tunnel. The Vulcan was barely able to discern when the next deviation in their path would occur such was the sensor occlusion. And then her scopes cleared as the Allegiant burst into the shaft and T’Less was able to see from the dilithium vein beneath them to the mining station above them. And what she saw was quickly echoed by a panicked voice through the ship’s coms.

"Leavitt to Allegiant, the bomb has dropped, the bomb has dropped, you have to catch it, you have to catch it! You've got-" there was a pause from the man’s voice. "Fifty seconds until it hits!" 

Her sensors showed the descending weapon, and her first instinct was to shoot it, but the detonation would be funnelled by the shaft and could still ignite the vein, fracturing Praxis. A glance at a second screen told her that the weapon had a transport inhibitor attached to it, preventing them from holding it within their transport buffer until it could be disposed of. Their enemy was a fast learner. The bomb would detonate, that was certain, her task would be to alter the parameters of that blast.

Bringing the phaser arrays online, T’Less began to carve sections out of the shaft walls below the Allegiant but above the Dilithium vein, causing pillars and sheets of rock to collapse into the void. Her first attempts broke but she quickly adjusted her thickness to begin to cause a stack of rubble to build up as it jammed in the shaft above the exposed vein. The bomb would detonate on that pile, hopefully preventing the blast from reaching vein. 

Her plan had one flaw though. As the seconds until detonation became even fewer due to the plug she was creating, T’Less finished carving the wall mere meters from below the Allegiant, sealing the shaft and hopefully forcing the blast to travel a different path. And those paths were back up the shaft to the base above and out through the tunnel they had used to reach here.

“Ensign Pierce, come about and escape,” T’Less ordered directly, there not being time. “We have 14 seconds until detonation. I will attempt to seal the shaft above us to protect the others somewhat. We will be exposed unfortunately.”

As the Allegiant came about, T’Less fired a quartet of micro-torpedoes back up the shaft at a reduced speed, timed to detonate at the same time as bomb. It wouldn’t be much, but it might offer some small attenuation of the blast up the shaft.

“Diverting power from weapons to aft shields.”

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #55 – September 23, 2021, 05:39:50 PM

[ Ensign Lauren Pierce | Bridge | USS Allegiant | Approaching Praxis ] Attn: @Stegro88 @Auctor Lucan
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Lauren sat back up as the tiny ship lurched forward again. The inertial dampeners had taken a beating it wouldn't soon forget. Lights flickered again as the ship's nacelle pylons and outer hull could be heard scraping the edging of the cavern. The intensity was not lost on her however as the ship's energy flow into the deck plates and speed to the core seemed to have that added oomph that she required to make a quick shot there. She could hear Arnold's comments pass by her but couldn't dwell on the specifics.

Her head and eyes moved sporadically across the panels and helped her adrenaline run wild. What a rush she thought to herself. Fingers still strummed the controls like a pianist on an orchestral concert performing one of Beethoven's famous symphonies.

There it was dead ahead. The bomb. And it wasn't stationary anymore either. It was falling at a rapid rate to the core. Below she could see the crewman fighting for their lives on the instrument panels. Little ants to be seen on the viewscreen and sensors. The sound of transmission was heard over the comm systems.

"Leavitt to Allegiant, the bomb has dropped, the bomb has dropped, you have to catch it, you have to catch it! You've got......fifty seconds until it hits!"

Panic filled her heart and lungs as she thought of all the opportunities she'd likely never see if this went off and didn't make it. Her mind snapped back to attention as she had little time to dwell on it. Lauren heard to her side the orders of escape coming from none other than T'Less.

"Ensign Pierce, come about and escape. We have 14 seconds until detonation. I will attempt to seal the shaft above us to protect the others somewhat. We will be exposed, unfortunately."

She brought the Allegiant about as she heard confirmation that T'Less had fired a quartet of micro-torpedoes back up the shaft. The final note from T'Less was on her diverting power from the weapons to the aft shields.

"On it!" the redheaded woman yelled abruptly as the ship continued its forward path towards the other end of the tunnel system. The caverns were vast and many in the mining of the once whole moon. With any luck, what's left would remain that way. Her sensors showed the phaser fire had finished its job of burying the exposed dilithium but watched on as the bomb edged closer to the micro-torpedoes. The tension on the bridge was high with the yells of various commands and attempts to beam up the away team.

"If you're looking to get the infiltration team, NOW would be a great time!" The ship cruised faster out of the radius of the bomb as it, and the torpedoes ignited into a blinding white light on the viewscreen. Luckily she had sensors to back it up but that didn't last long as the shockwaves and explosive fire from the explosion began to quickly creep up with them. Sweat dripped from the corners of her temples as she massaged the panel's instruments in hopes that she could squeeze the added power needed for a temporary boost of speed.

The wave of fire grew ever closer to the Allegiant as it began to overtake the ship, overheating the structure from the rear. Without looking, she knew the aft shields were not going to last long with the accelerated heat striking the small vessel. Fighting back tears of worry, she stifled her cries of fear as the ship edged closer to the outer rim. The light at the end of the proverbial tunnel was close but not as close as she'd hoped as the Allegiant was ultimately enveloped entirely in the remnants of the blast.

Outside the caverns of Praxis, the sight of a growing light from within could be seen by the ships around the already battered moon. There was no Allegiant but a giant fireball billowed that escaped the cavernous planetoid. Followed closely by a small Starfleet vessel, the Allegiant, as it soared further away from the fire. Scorched portions of the outer hull made it look as if someone put the ship in a giant toaster and set it to extra crispy. Gone was the pristine silver and whites, and replaced by an aesthetically unpleasing sight.

The Allegiant whipped around at breakneck speeds to avoid further damage as it spiraled back to the station above.

Lauren sat back at her console, exhaling the air she held so tight during the final moments of their escape uncertain if her efforts would bring them all out alive. What she didn't yet know was how many would make it back from the surface.

"Sir! We're back in normal space above Praxis."

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #56 – September 28, 2021, 05:37:30 AM

[ Lt. Cmdr. Cross & Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Bridge & Engineering | Deck 01 & Lower Deck| USS Allegiant | Praxis ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan  @Brutus  @Stegro88 @Pierce  @BipSpoon @uytrereee @Sqweloookle @jreeves1701

Taking his eyes from the viewscreen just long enough to watch Elro care for the fallen Ensign Nix, Cross returned his attention in time to watch the darkened opening of the shaft engulf the ship. The sound of the ship rumbling through the shaft echoed off the close quarters of the hardened rock surrounding it, adding to the reverberating of the ship as it powered through an area most would have deemed impossible for their passage. Pierce was at her instrument conducting the choir, her movements smooth and calculated.

All on the bridge gained an added layer of tension when they heard Leavitt update them on the bomb status mere seconds before it was visible on their viewscreen, plummeting mercilessly into the chasm below. The away team was but a moment on their sensors before they blew by, T’Less using the phasers to slice out segments of the rock walls hoping to add a protective cover on the vein to weaken the blast and redirect its force. Cross nodded in agreement with her quick thinking and was already aware of the need to get the hell out of there fast, considering the physics involved with the coming explosion. He opened his mouth to order Pierce to come about, but T’Less beat him to it. Cross trusted the bridge crew to do as they were trained to do, as he’d ordered them to do, and instead turned his attention to the dilemma of the away team.

“Cross to Lieutenant Arnold, take whatever power is necessary from whatever system you deem fit while keeping us alive, but you have less than ten seconds to get their asses back on board!”

His eyes scanning over the monitors next to his chair, Cross saw the release of the micro-torpedoes only out of his peripherals and heard T’Less announce her intention to divert power to aft shields. Pierce kept her eyes on the viewscreen and panels but called over her shoulder the need for speed in retrieving the away team. Cross gritted his teeth as he, along with the rest of the crew, played the waiting game. Waiting for death, or life, to greet you at the end of the tunnel.

A mere minute into his bandaging, Frank was interrupted by blaring systems alarms, as more and more of the auxiliary systems failed, or were automatically taken offline to compensate for the now massive stress that the Allegiant was under. He'd made short work of his coveralls, cutting the legs off of the pants, which made him look ridiculous dressed in two-thirds of a jumpsuit. From the chatter on his combadge, now tossed beside him as he tore caps off of gels and sprays which were hastily applied to his ankle and calf, he'd deduced they were in need of a hasty escape. All the speed they'd gotten down the hole, and they had to turn back.

Frank pried himself to his feet, and was about to take residence in front of his main terminal, an anchor to hold onto as the ship was buffeted by cruel inertia with the partial loss of dampers. But this brief respite, a sliver of peace as the topical pain relief kicked in and intense burning was replaced with cool numbness, was interrupted.

'Cross to Lieutenant Arnold, take whatever power is necessary from whatever system you deem fit while keeping us alive, but you have less than ten seconds to get their asses back on board!'

Ten seconds. Ten seconds was nothing, eight heartbeats, three breaths. Time enough to tie a tie, or a shoelace; but to solve a problem of this magnitude, it was nothing. He grit his teeth and looked at the options in front of him. Couldn't lose shields, they'd incinerate, tactical had redirected them aft for a reason. Weapons power wasn't a good choice either, at least not all of it. If they did have obstacles in the way up front, they'd need a countermeasure.

And then he was back on the Cortez all those years ago, young and naive, fresh out of fellowship, and onto the front line. No support, help, or guidance. He just had to guess.

Except he was not a young man anymore, he had the breadth of experience required for this, and the confidence of his peers. Frank murmured softly, “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.”

He said firmly into his combadge, “Shipwide Channel, all crew, emergency restraints,” and without delay nor explanation sprung into action to fulfill Cross's order. Andoria had refreshed a few lessons in his mind: safe transport was all about power stability. Life support was first to go, then gravity, all but the most rudimentary inertial dampeners and then fresh air; they could live on reserves for just a few minutes. Anyone not strapped in would be afloat in moments. Sensors were. Next, Ensign Pierce would be left with only the most basic point and direction with which to fly, fortunately, they only needed to fly out.

With a flurry of fingers, Frank stripped it all, down to the bare minimum, lights, sound dampening, doors, and hatches. Everything he could take, he took, right down to the paint, and then he slid into the nearby chair, activating the multi-point harness that would hold him firmly against the chair back.

With the last fraction of his time, with a lock acquired, he pressed the energize button, “Energizing.”

On the bridge, they could see an orangish hue color the edges on the viewscreen, testimony to the fast traveling ball of fire behind them. Those not strapped in became weightless, and even Cross felt his body lift from the chair, suddenly thankful for the belt he’d thought to use in response to Pierce’s fierce piloting. Cross clenched his fingers into fists, taking a deep breath, as the viewscreen of Allegiant no longer displayed the end of the tunnel or the open space beyond. There was only fire. Glancing down at the display on his armrest, Cross saw all sensors were gone, and Pierce was flying on instinct.

Then, just as quickly as the fire had embraced them in its deadly arms, they were free. After turning the ship about to face the moon once more, Pierce leaned back at her console, heaving the sigh they all felt. On the viewscreen now was what was left of Praxis, the residual effects of the blast apparent. Cross was certain the Allegiant bore similar scars on her hull.

Cross nodded to Pierce before signaling Arnold. “Cross to Arnold, how many did we get?”

Once complete, Frank would slide out of his harness and answer his comm, “I think... all of them? Without internal sensors, it's impossible for me to say, Commander. I will begin bringing systems back online. You're going to have to check the old-fashioned way.”

"Noted. Cross to transporter room, how many of our away team did we get?" Cross clenched his jaw as the faces of those potentially lost flashed in his mind.

<”Transporter room to Commander Cross, sir, we have all of them.”>

Around him, Cross heard the collective sigh of relief and allowed himself a small smile as well. “Thank you, transporter room, and thank you, Lieutenant Arnold. Ensign Pierce,” his gaze sought hers momentarily, “take us back to Theurgy."

He'd almost said home, but Cross refrained from the sentiment and kept the thought to himself given the losses and the unknowns still to come.

---

Joint Post between Ellen Fitz and uytrereee.

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #57 – September 29, 2021, 04:46:43 AM

[CPO Sithick  | Transporter Room | Deck 01 | USS Allegiant | Praxis ] Attn: All @Auctor Lucan

One second he was rampaging through an abandoned base on Praxis, dismembering one Klingon after another and the next second he was not. A bright light engulfed the blood-soaked Gorn leading him to believe that the Klingons had finally managed to flank him for a killing disintegrating shot from their disruptors. The tingling sensation pulsing through his body indicated that that was not the case. His higher brain screamed to take control but the feral blood lust ignited by the unleashing of some unresolved past trauma would not let go of the stick.

When the light subsided, Sithick was in a new yet familiar place. "What had happened to the Klingon architecture? How did I get here?" He thought, his primal brain still clinging to the wheel.

To the transporter operator, the scene had to be terrifying, as it must have for the crew surrounding Sithick. There in the rear of the transporter pad was their reptilian crewmate, drenched in Klingon blood and guts. A half-beating heart in one talon and the severed head of some poor Klingon in the other. While each crewmember backed away from the murder lizard, toward the safety of the corridor exit, Sithick began to thrash upon the pad. With a single leap up, he stomped upon the pad, cracking and destroying the receiving plates. He smashed the decapitated Klingon head in his talon against the receiving pad walls, shattering them and snuffing out the illumination indicating their operational status. With a feral roar that humans associated with Dinosaurs of their planet's past, Sithick threw his head upwards shattering the receiving dome above the transporter pad.

To an outside observer, it would look like this Gorn posed a threat, yet an empath would sense that a great internal struggle was taking place within Sithick's mind. His higher brain was trying desperately to regain control. To soothe the feral beast unleashed on Praxis. In the end, neither would win. Sithick was too preoccupied burning through his berserker rage to notice which of his crewmates had pulled their phaser and set it to the maximum safe setting to stun him. It had to be pretty high as it burn a sizable hole in the patchwork Savi suit made special for him.

The final thoughts passing through Sithick's mind as his head collapsed upon the shattered floor of the transporter pad was, "What penal colony would the Captain sentence him to? Once more a slave."

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #58 – September 30, 2021, 09:26:04 PM

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt | Tramsporter Room | USS Allegiant] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @jreeves1701, @Ellen Fitz

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The minute that Alistair spent on the emitter, holding on for dear life, stretched on forever. He looked straignt down the pit, so absorded in his anxiety that he barely even noticed Ida flying by. Alistair counted in his head, unable to look away from the bottomless darkness that the bomb had fallen into.

Would he even feel the explosion? Would he have time to even see it, or feel it vaporise his body? The impact site was five kilometers down, so he'd have...microseconds, no more. Alistair held on to the emitter even tighter, instinctively huddling himself against it...

Then Alistair saw a bright flash, heard rumbling from far below...an engine? Suddenly he felt the familiar tingle of the transporter rippling through his body, blue sparks filling his vision, and before Alistair could form another coherent thought, he was standing in a transporter room, arms at his sides. Barely believing it, Alistair looked to his sides, seeing the rest of the away team standing beside him. Tucker's collapsed to the deck immediately, either dead or unconscious, a phaser rifle rattling off the transporter pad, while LeBlanc's mangled body fell like a marionette that had its string cut. Exhausted but still running on adrenaline and instinct, Alistair instinctively moved to check on Tucker, and in the process, saw the Gorn standing behind him.

The Gorn covered in gore, his uniform torn and disheveled, a bloodied heart in one claw and a decapitated head in the other, his great chest heaving.

The Gorn who was clearly very, very pissed.

"Oh come on," Alistair protested, hurriedly backing away towards the door. He saw Vansen dragging Tucker away from the pad as the Gorn began smashing in primal rage, screaming madly and wrecking the transporter pad with sheer brute strength, kicking LeBlanc's body off the pad in the process. Too worn out to be frightened, Alistair glanced at Ida, sighed, then simply drew his phaser with his working hand, deftly increasing the power setting as high as he dared.

Without a moment's hesitation, Alistair fired, the phaser beam burning through what was left of the Gorn's uniform and sending him to the deck. At that, Alistair holstered the phaser and pulled out the tricorder with his one good hand, aiming it first at the Gorn.

"The Gorn...uh...what's his name? Stick? Shick? He'll be fine, I think, but we should get him medical attention." Alistair's shoulders drooped as he aimed the tricorder at Tucker. "I'm sorry, he's gone. His neck has been snapped." Alistair sighed, the weight of it hitting him as he scanned LeBlanc in turn, knowing that it had to be done, but hating it all the same. Alistair was so worn out, LeBlanc's body so clearly damaged, that it took a few moments for the tricorder's readings to sink in.

"What the hell? He's alive!" Alistair exclaimed in shock, baffled as he rushed closer, eyes fixed on the tricorder. "I don't know how...he fell, I saw him...an outcropping in the chasm maybe, I don't...his legs are broken...bad...a couple of broken ribs, skull fracture, few other issues...I can't tell much more, this isn't a medical tricorder. I don't think he's at immediate risk of dying, I don't see anything obvious, but he needs to get to a medical facility right now."

Alistair glanced around them, belatedly realising where they must be.

"Think they did it?" Alistair asked Ida wearily.

Re: CH07: S [D03|1725] Praxis Crucible

Reply #59 – October 04, 2021, 12:27:46 PM

[ Lt. ThanIda zh'Wann | Transporter Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Having already been on her way off the transporter pad when the Gorn went berserk on it, Ida rounded on Sithick, and she'd tried to reach through to him by barking a loud order for him to stand down, but there had been no reaction. Lieutenant Leavitt had sorted out the situation, however, since he was still armed. Ida had lost her Accipiter down there on Praxis, and with the adrenaline running thick in her cobalt blood still, she had barely grasped the fact that she was still alive. They had suffered casualties, and she had expected herself to be among them.

"I don't know," she managed through her teeth in answer to the time traveller, hurting all over. She imagined her body being bruised all over underneath her hardsuit. She turned her antennae and eyes towards the door, past Doctor Kobol, whom had reported their presence to the bridge. She set her steps towards it, even if she wasn't prepared to face the aftermath of their failure. "Only one way to find out."

Earlier, she'd had a bad landing on the other side of the chasm, almost having fallen down as well but catching the far edge with her hip. She'd crawled her way up, and ended up on her back. She had seen the bomb drop, so she knew there was naught more she could do, so she'd laid there, catching her breath. She'd swallowed down the regret over failing her crew, and accepting the blessing of dying rather than living with the guilt of not having saved the lives of all whom lived their life on the Klingon home world. The next moment, even as she'd heard the bomb go off far down the chasm... she'd found herself on the transporter platform instead.

With leaden steps, Ida feared what she would see when she stepped unto the bridge, expecting to witness Praxis split and fall unto Qo'noS. Yet when she limped onto the bridge... that wasn't the case. The Allegiant was damaged, smoke and sparks shooting off the bulkheads. They were missing officers since last she'd been there, but through the viewscreen, she was merely seeing the mining facility crumble apart, as if devoured by a sinkhole. It was hardly the cataclysmic event she'd feared to see, so with wide eyes, she looked towards Commander Cross, T'Less and Pierce. Somehow, they must have made their way down the mining tunnel and out again, stopping the bomb from reaching the dilithium.

"By Lor'Vela," she whispered, voice raw after the Infested's choking grip. "We did it..."

- FIN