USS Spectre Compile - April 1st-30th 2007 by Alan Reading ========================================================================= Mission: The Sword of Damocles Day: (Previous to Mission start) Stardate: 2407.02.01 (USS Hood - Crew Lounge - Counsellor Jynea Kreung - 06:45) ========================================================================= Mission; The Sword of Damocles Day: 4 Stardate: 2407.02.05 (USS Spectre - Sickbay - President Rondar Nell - 15:38) (USS Spectre – Holodeck – Ensign S’rrep – 15:41) (USS Spectre - Holodeck – CEO, Ensign H’Chir – 15:42) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - Nurse Douwsy - 15:42) (USS Spectre - Engineering – Engineer’s Mate, CPO M’Rurrh – 15:47) (USS Spectre - Holodeck 2 – Engineer’s Mate, CPO M’Rurrh – 15:52) (USS Spectre - Corridors – Daimon Brak – 16:08) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 16:22) (USS Spectre - Deck 14 - CMO - Williams - 16:25) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 16:26) (USS Spectre - Turbolift - CMO - Williams - 16:27) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Corporal Houseman - 16:28 ) (USS Spectre - Deck 4 - Agent Smith - 16:29) (USS Spectre - Deck four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:30) (USS Spectre - Main Bridge - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 16:30) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Acting CEO - Lt. (JG) Chenoll - 16:31) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor - 16:35) (USS Spectre - Main Bridge - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 16:38) (USS Spectre - Deck Four, Marine Checkpoint Bravo - Marine Squad CO - Master Sergeant Scott Bowie - 16:42) (USS Spectre - Marine Hanger Bay - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 16:45) (USS Spectre - Deck Four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:45) (USS Spectre - Deck Four, Marine Checkpoint Bravo - Marine Squad CO - Master Sergeant Scott Bowie - 16.46) (USS Spectre - Deck 4 - CMO - Williams - 16:46) (USS Spectre - Deck four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:48) (USS Spectre - Deck 4 - CMO - Williams - 16:49) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Corporal Houseman - 16:50) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor - 16:51) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Nurse Douwsy - 16:52) (USS Spectre - Deck four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:53) (Marine Trojan-class Shuttlecraft - Cockpit - FO Lt. Brian Rogers & Marine Flight Officer Major Tonn Brennan - 16:55) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 16:57) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:59) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 17:02) (GDV Ssshrussa - Transporter Room - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:03) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering Corridor - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 17:05) (USS Hood - Transporter Room - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:07) (USS Spectre - Environmental control - CMO - Williams - 17:08) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO - O'Harper - 17:10) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:12) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:22) (GDV Ssshrussa - Bridge - Captain Ruxsa Zernix - 17:23) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Marine Squad CO - Master Sergeant Scott Bowie - 17:30) (USS Hood - Temporary Crew Quarters - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:30) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:32) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 17:33) (USS Hood - Science Department - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:33) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:40) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 17:43) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:45) (USS Hood - Bridge - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:45) (IRW DihVhael - Commanders Ready Room - Lomax - 17:50) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 17:55) (USS Hood - Bridge - Ensign(JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:55) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 18:35) (GDV Ssshrussa - Bridge - Captain Zernix - 18:35) (IRW DihVael - Bridge - Commander Talok & Tal'Shiar Officer N'Alae - 18:36) (Zulu Alpha - Bridge - CO - Commander Marco Ryan - 18:48) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 18:50) (GDV Sssharussa - Bridge - Captain Ruxsa Zernix - 18:50) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 18:59) ========================================================================= Mission: Ad Noctum (Andoria - City of She'nah Hoorn, the Ruins - Major General Michelle Roberts - 0549, Day 7) (Andoria - USS George C Patton, War Room (Somewhere over Andoria) - Major General Michelle Roberts - 0820, Day 7) (USS Johann - Interrogation Room - Admiral Richard Ian Lee - Time has no meaning to one chained) ========================================================================= Mission: The Sword of Damocles Day: 1 Stardate: 2407.02.01 (USS Hood - Crew Lounge - Counsellor Jynea Kreung - 06:45) How hopeless did you have to be to get lost going back to the lounge you'd been in just hours before? She swore the turbolift didn't let her off where she'd asked. Maybe it'd stopped to pick up someone who had dashed back into their office for something. That was her story and she was sticking to it. Grabbing a bowl of oatmeal, Jynea sat down at an empty table and wrinkled her nose at the bowl. There had been many a morning where she would have happily stolen or maybe even killed for a bowl of the stuff, as her mum was happy to remind her, but.. blech. She ordered it out of habit, many a morning her mum DID serve it. "So I says, get outs of MY nest!" came from the next table. "What happened?" came the interested answer from the table mate. "He says its a nest that beens in his family for centuries, no matter what *tradition* says, dere's no way that I'm gettings the nest!" Her beak clacked in irritation. "So?" The human prompted. "I'm here stills here serving Starfleet, aren'ts I? He gots the nest, the fledglings and the cliff! The councils find in his favours based on his family history. Years of tradition be darnded! I wear, its enough to makes me eat eggshells!" Out of the corner of her eye Jynea could see the Dryshid picking at what looked like a bowl of seed and roots. "Well, his family practically formed the council, I can see how they'd find in his favour, outsiders get it rough all over." The human female patted the Dryshid's clawed hand. The Dryshid's beak clacked a few more times in irritation. Listening was an easy skill to learn if you had the patience. It was a matter of learning how to filter out one set of noises in favour of another. Jynea could probably hear most of the room if she strained. Suppressing a yawn and eating a spoonful of oatmeal with a wistful sigh, she was too tired to be that enthusiastic. It wasn't like she had anywhere to be, she could replicate a deck of cards and play solitaire in the corner for 23 hours if necessary. She turned her attention to two males in yellow. By the worn patches on their belts, she guessed they were security. The fact that they'd moved the chairs so neither had their back to the windows or the door was also a bit of a give away. Jynea wondered if there were marines on the Hood. She'd never actually met a marine before, they were trained out on Mars, last she'd heard. A shiver travelled up her spine. Marines were supposed to be very scary killing machines when they wanted. Not that Starfleet security personnel were slouches, but they tended to be trained for body guarding, ship combat and minor skirmishes, not major operations. "You'd think the Chief would want us to rerun the drills, but he insists awareness and being at stations is enough." Groused the junior lieutenant. The yellow alert was still flashing to remind the crew they were at alert, but at least they'd not gone with the standard siren at the top of each hour. Jynea had heard on one ship a group of engineering cadets had changed the blat of the alert to a whistling canary in the supposed name of ship's morale. As a morale counsellor, she heartedly agreed, the alert was like nails down a board. Great for getting your attention, not good for one's nerves in the long run. Now, if only the two security officers would say *why*.. "Chief knows best." The Ensign agreed wryly. "Its not like we're going INTO the neutral zone, after all." NEUTRAL zone?! Jynea looked out the view window to the stars beyond the warp field. She really had to bone up on her astronomy and learn to recognize the constellations. Why in the Fates fuzzy universe were they going to the neutral zone?! "Don't count on it," said the Lieutenant, "I hear if we get clearance from the Romulan government to get closer to t he emergence, we'll be going in.. and you know what that means!" Yeah, one Orion counsellor cowering under her bed. Romulans were even scarier than marines, and she KNEW, she'd MET Romulans. They may have the emotions that Vulcans suppressed, but they were emotions one SHOULD suppress. "Yeah, double shifts and security checks at every turbolift. Hope I get science again, they don't believe in playing pranks on security personnel." The ensign griped as he contunued his breakfast. "It's your own fault," The lieutenant said with a grin, "Wasn't ME who told engineers that they couldn't get past his guard." The senior security guard stood and picked up his plate. "C'mon, better get in before Leshay, or you'll NEVER hear the end of it." "Sure I will," muttered the ensign, shovelling the last few mouthfuls in, "Right after I shove her out a torpedo tube." Well, ship's morale seemed fine, but Jynea wasn't too sure about her own. What was her new ship doing near the neutral zone and why was it classified from one of its own crew?! (Reply None) (Written by Lorna Appleby) ===================================================================== Mission; The Sword of Damocles Day: 4 Stardate: 2407.02.05 (USS Spectre - Sickbay - President Rondar Nell - 15:38) ~I have been drugged.~ ~So?~ ~So, these are the people you want to avoid.~ ~So?~ ~So, get off your lazy butt already!~ ~Nah, this is good.~ ~Do you want to die?~ ~Not really.~ ~Do you want to suffer?~ ~Gee, let me think about that for a moment.~ ~THEN FIGHT BACK, YOU'VE BEEN DRUGGED!~ Rondar, having an argument with himself as the sedatives did their work, opened his eyes and looked around and noticed an officer standing over him. "Mr President. My name is Doctor Williams. I am here to look after you. How are you feeling." He muttered something, which in his own mind was a sharp and pointed reply about traitors... but the doctor apparently took it as confirmation that all was well. "You are on the USS Spectre Mr President. Everything is going to be okay." The president stopped, and actually smiled. "Oh, I know." He said... and then he grabbed the doctor by the ears and YANKED him down. The president hadn't thought far enough ahead to know what he was going to do next, so he improvised... and bit down hard on the doctor's nose while yanking his ears mercilessly. He shoved the doctor away as hard as he could (which wasn't hard, but the doc wanted to get away anyway) and rolled off the bed. As he was trying to get up, he screamed (well, more like wheezed) "Guards, get me out of here, quick. Traitors are everywhere!" (reply: CMO, any) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre – Holodeck – Ensign S’rrep – 15:41) "The cloak. It should have worked," H’Chir said. S’rrep felt the influence of the curiosity he had been named for pressing against him once again. "So, it didn’ worrk?" He hoped he wasn’t about to be asked to help. When it came to engineering, he didn’t know the warp core from a transponder. Plants he was good with, machines not so much. The Andorian didn’t react well to the question. "You were there; you saw. The bomb was a decoy and I took it out – it should have worked fine after that." S’rrep was a bit confused, but he decided not to ask any more questions. It was probably getting time to tell Security what he’d stumbled across… The CEO continued, his tone abruptly changing from frustration to pride. "I’ve run simulations." Simulations were always good. "How many times?" he asked, hoping to calm H’Chir down before he called for Security. (reply H’Chir) "You haven’ callled forrr the otherrrs, to show what you foun’?" (reply H’Chir) He shook his head, mussing his mane a bit as he did so. No, he wouldn’t want to be stuck in sickbay either. Still, he couldn’t just leave and pretend he hadn’t seen anything. Nor could he pretend to understand what was going on if he asked to see the simulation run. "Why not show this to them when the rred alert is overrr?" he asked. (reply H’Chir) (Posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Holodeck – CEO, Ensign H’Chir – 15:42) Relieved to see the intruder taking an interest and not dismissing his efforts out of hand, H’Chir turned back to the control console and carried on studying the readouts from the latest simulation. “I’ve only run the simulation nine times, but it’s pretty clear already that it should have worked. See?” He tapped the console and the programme reset. The two of them watched as the holographic characters repeated their earlier conversation and then the holographic H’Chir walked up to the ‘bomb’ and pulled it free from the cloaking device. “You haven’ called forrr the otherrrs, to show what you found’?” the Ensign purred. “And get thrown back into Sickbay as the intrane saitor?” the Andorian laughed, “No thank you!” “Why not show this to them when the rred alert is over?” Fire glowing in his eyes, H’Chir turned his head sharply. “Because,” he said, “I have a better idea!” His hands flew over the controls in a blur, his mind already hard-wired into exactly what to do. There wasn’t going to be much time. Pretty soon they’d find him. “Computer, engage simulation in Holodeck 2 and energize.” (Reply S’rrrep, any) (Posted by Michael Drake) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - Nurse Douwsy - 15:42) Andrew could see the spark of wildness in the eyes. Suddenly shearing pain as the teeth crunched down on bone and cartilage. He tried to back away fear mixed with adrenaline grew as his fight or flight senses kicked in. The grip on his ears lessened and he took this chance to get away. He half pushed, half fell off the bio-bed and onto the floor. "Guards, get me out of here, quick. Traitors are everywhere!" As his mind gained some kind of control he realised that the front of his uniform was wet. He looked down and realised that it was blood. "Andrew come with me." He looked up to see Douwsy beside him. He got up slowly and took some wobbly steps cross sickbay to another bio-bed. He half watched Douwsy scanning his nose with a tricorder. His heart was still pumping hard he could feel the blood pounding through his body. He looked over at where the President was lying calling out as his security detail pinned him to the bio-bed. He saw O'Harper administering some thing to the president. "Andrew,Andrew look at me." He swung his sluggish head back to Douwsy. "Hold still or I'll set your nose all wrong and I'll have to break it again." He watched as Douwsy started with the dermal regenerator. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Engineering – Engineer’s Mate, CPO M’Rurrh – 15:47) Tapping her comm.-badge M’Rurrh called in “This diagnostic checks out fine,” across the engineering deck and leaned back. He wiped the back of her paw against her forehead. It was hot work today and with the red alert there were no signs she’d get a break any time soon. (Reply None) (Posted by Michael Drake) (USS Spectre - Holodeck 2 – Engineer’s Mate, CPO M’Rurrh – 15:52) The room sparkled around her with the familiar glow of a transporter beam. Nothing much had changed with her new surroundings; she appeared to have moved down to the cloaking device section. ~I know time is of the essence, but usually they let us walk to our next job!~ She was about to ask one of the senior officers what was going on when she saw H’Chir enter the room flanked by Counsellor Taxia and a security escort. H’Chir looked fresh-faced, no sign of worry about his former actions in engineering. It was then that she noticed something was wrong. The bomb that H’Chir had removed was back in position, and the officers were discussing how to remove it. “This has already been done,” she said, as much to herself as to anyone else. The senior officers before here didn’t move. (Reply any) (Posted by Michael Drake) (USS Spectre - Corridors – Daimon Brak – 16:08) “…the ship is readying for combat and you wish to imbibe alcohol, how foolish is that?” Stilling himself for a moment Brak gave a very sombre look and replied, “Seems perfectly sensible to me; eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die!” “Nevertheless, unless you can add anything constructive to our current situation you are of no use whatsoever & as such you will return to your quarters until further notice.” Lost for words, Brak allowed himself to be hurried down the corridor and turfed back into his quarters. He was beginning to get a sense of the danger lurking on this ship. Could the fight or flight reflex really amass itself inside a mechanism? Could the starship take on the characteristics of her passengers and crew? Or was his mind just playing tricks? All the same, he was sure the door to his quarters shut just a little quicker than usual; just a little… edgier. (Reply none) (Posted by Michael Drake) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 16:22) "We are being scanned sir", said the Security chief with a clear intonation of not being particularly happy about this. "Weapons status, ships operational capacity, shield harmonics strength, warp & impulse capability......" added Vasilyovna. "I thought they only wanted to look at our weapons sir", said Yelena. "Seems they want to know a little more than that", she added. "Let them scan", said T'Vhor, "we have nothing to hide & I would suspect the Captain of the Zulu Alpha will not be particularly happy in a moment or two", he added, hinting at the fact that he had already ascertained the thoughts of the Romulan Commander. "Stand by weapons, helm, prepare to initiate evasive maneuvers on my mark", said T'Vhor as he again accessed the panel in the armrest of his chair. =/\=Engineering, I need full warp availability at my command, bring the cloak to operational readiness & prepare to engage=/\= (Reply Any in Engineering) The Captain then overlayed a tactical map on the viewscreen showing their position & the last known position of the Hood. "Comms, transmit a subspace message to the Hood, inform them that we have lost all power", said the Captain. "Sir?", said the communication officer, "I don't understand, our power levels are at optimal.........", he added. "I'm well aware of that Ensign", said the Captain cutting in to the Ensign's remark. "Transmit the message as ordered", he added. The comms officer paused for a moment, then he carried out his orders. "Aye sir, informing the Hood that we have lost all power", said the Communications officer, unsure as he was as to why the Captain had initiated such an inaccurate statement. "Helm, if I am correct in my assumptions, I am anticipating the Zulu Alpha to engage in a moment or two", said T'Vhor, "prepare to initiate tactical maneuver Alpha one zero......Tactical, target the Zulu Alpha's primary shield generators & lock all weapons", said the CO. "Aye sir", said Vasilyovna, "Weapons locked, charging the photon flux cannon", she added as the CO braced his hands onto the armrests of his chair in anticipation. It didn't take long of course....... "Sir, the Zulu Alpha has initiated a course change, she is coming about", said Vasilyovna. "Stand by Lieutenant", said T'Vhor noticing how the Tactical officer had tensed up in response to this new development. "Shield strength?", said the Captain. "The Zulu Alpha has full shield capability, weapons are charged, the Warbird has moved to counter but the hostile has out maneuvered her sir", said Vasilyovna. "Understood Lieutenant, is the flux cannon at optimal capacity", said the Captain. "Aye sir", said Vasilyovna. "Range to target?", said the Captain. "Forty thousand metres & closing sir", said Vasilyovna, "she is on a tangential intercept, the Warbird is charging disrupters on the hostile" "Prepare to engage on my mark", said the Captain, "all hands, this is the Captain, prepare for imminent hostile contact, brace for impact", he added, his own hands bracing in response to his words in the process. "The Zulu Alpha is firing sir", said Vasilyovna with an urgency in her voice. "Full impulse, evasive maneuvers, execute tactical Alpha One", said the Captain, "fire all weapons", he added as the Spectre rolled onto it's side & then turned through one hundred & eighty degrees to present a minimal contact surface area to the Zulu Alpha. "Firing weapons sir", said Vasilyovna as four quantum torpedoes streaked through the void accompanied by a sustained phazer blast & four burst pulses from the photon flux cannon struck the Zulu Alpha's shields amidships. "Bring us about Helm", said the Captain, "re-establish a lock, target the Zulu Alpha's shield generators", said T'Vhor. "Re-targeting sir", said Vasilyovna as her fingers flew across her board in response to those orders. "Sir, the Warbird is engaging", said Vasilyovna, "the Romulan Commmander has fired upon the Zulu Alpha, direct hit on the port nacelle, shield strength is currently at eighty percent" said the Tactical chief. "Move to a diametric attack configuration", said T'Vhor, continue targeting the shield generators & fire at will" "Aye sir, charging the Photon Flux Cannon, firing at will", said Vasilyovna as the weapons lit up the area around them as they streaked towards their intended target. One hit after another took it's toll upon the attacking vessel whilst the Warbird swung about & unleashed it's disruptors against Ryans vessel. Then all of a sudden a vessel appeared from behind it sprouting three other smaller vessels of indeterminate configuration. "Sir, another vessel, it appears to be a marine Trojan heavy assault craft, looks like it's been launched from the Alpha & is firing weapons", said Vasilyovna. The Captain of course wasted no time at all as he punched at his comms button, he was no stranger to this, this was a Maquis tactic shared by the Bajoran resistance & as such, he knew what was now to come. "Those are not weapons Lieutenant, those are Marts", said the Captain upon realizing that the Trojan had launched it's marine boarding torpedoes. "All hands, prepare to be boarded, repeat, boarding is imminent, marine details to forward positions, security level one lockdown on all decks", said the Captain. "Lieutenant, switch targeting to the boarding torpedoes & take them down", said T'Vhor. "Aye sir, weapons locked, firing now", said the Tactical chief as the Spectre spat it's photon armoury directly at the incoming vessels to send one of them spiraling into oblivion. (Reply Any in Engineering, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Deck 14 - CMO - Williams - 16:25) Andrew walked along the corridor. He hoped he would find H’Chir soon. It was not good to have him running around the ship in his condition. H’Chir had been sighted near a holodeck and the marine holodeck was the closest to the cloaking device engineering section. Suddenly the deck dropped and the red alert klaxon sounded with more urgency. ~This is not good. Better get back to sickbay~ Andrew looked at Jo who seemed to have the some idea. “Need to get to sickbay.” Jo nodded as they turned and hurried for the turbolift. (Reply None) (Posted by Robbie Gray) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 16:26) "Can we go to cloak?", said the Captain, an uncharacteristic urgency now appearing in his voice as his Betazoid genetics took precedence over his usual Vulcan calm. "The cloak is offline sir, secondary backup has failed also"..... The words of course had come from Lieutenant DeSoto, the engineering officer stationed on the engineering console as her power level indications fell by corresponding amounts as each of the Alpha's phazer strikes hit home. The resulting damage caused by the first of the Zulu Alpha's attack runs had been swift & accurate despite their avoidance tactics & in minutes, the shields had weakened on their dorsal aspect & had been smartly targeted by the incoming Marine boarding torpedoes, which had passed the minimal shielding & had hit the hull with an uncanny accuracy. "Sir, dorsal shielding is at twenty nine percent, we have hull contact on deck four", said Vasilyovna, her voice becoming increasingly more urgent as her board began indicating explosions in the corresponding area. Yelena shook her head in concern. "These are not your normal Martini's sir", said the Security chief, "shields are now at twenty four percent & the MBT's passed them......we have a hull breach sir!", she added. The Captain swung about, his hands continuing to run across one of the panels in his chair as the bridge shook to two more impacts from the Alpha's weapons arrays. The news didn't surprise him in the least, everything about the Zulu Alpha's was unconventional, why should her boarding torpedoes be any different. "Get the marines down there immediately, continue targeting the Alpha with all weapons & fire at will", said T'Vhor. Vasilyovna of course needed no prompting as she let fly with a barrage of quantum torpedoes backed up by the pulse charges of the flux cannon. "Direct hits on the hostiles forward aspect sir, her shields are at seventy two percent.....marines are responding to the deck four alert", said Vasilyovna. "The Warbird is now moving to intercept", she added as the helm anticipated the Alpha's latest attack run & rolled the Spectre through a hundred & eighty degree maneuver in a successful attempt to avoid the incoming phazer barrage. In an instance, the Alpha had countered the Warbird & had broken off it's attack run to begin firing upon it, the Romulan Commander however was not so easily swayed as he swiftly returned fire with their forward disruptors, disabling the Alpha's auxiliary power generators in one foul swoop. The Tactical chief of course read the damage instantly & began targeting the weakening shields in that area. "I'm reading hull breaches on decks four & six of the hostile sir, shield strength is currently twenty two percent on their ventral aspect", said Vasilyovna. "Our own shields are now at forty six percent on our forward aspect", she added. "Helm, keep us at a tangential course to the Alpha, Ops, divert auxiliary power to the shield generators", said the Captain. "Sir, I have an incoming message from the Hood, audio only", said Vasilyovna, "she has monitored the conflict & is standing by to assist. "Understood", said the Captain, "have them hold their position until further notice" "Aye sir", said Vasilyovna as the bridge shook again from another hit from the Alpha's heavy weaponry. (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Turbolift - CMO - Williams - 16.27) Andrew automatically looked up at the ceiling as the captain came over the comm system. =^= All hands, prepare to be boarded, repeat, boarding is imminent, marine details to forward positions, security level one lockdown on all decks=^= The turbolift suddenly stopped and the doors opened. Andrew stood there for a moment and then stepped out into the corridor. ~Well I’m not on deck 2 that’s for sure~ He turned to Jo. “Where are we?” (reply Smith) “I need to get to Sickbay.” (reply Smith) Andrew nodded and followed Jo as she headed off down the corridor. (reply Smith, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Corporal Houseman - 16:28 ) =^= All hands, prepare to be boarded, repeat, boarding is imminent, marine details to forward positions, security level one lockdown on all decks=^= ~Not good~ Houseman stepped out of his alcove. and moved over to where Bedford was placed. "Cover the upper level. I'll stay here. When two from B squad arrives I'll take one and hold the junction outside." Bedford nodded and moved towards the access ladder. He looked towards the main door. ~Okay I need to clear this area and get my arcs of fire set up~ He looked around engineering until he found who he was looking for. He crossed over to them. "Sir I need you to close down those terminals" He said pointing to the ones nearest the door. "and move your team to the area by the core." (reply Chenoll, Bourne, Bristed) "Sir, I need to set up a defensive position and I can't if your team are in the firing line." (reply Chenoll, Bourne, Bristed) (reply Chenoll, Bourne, Bristed, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck 4 - Agent Smith - 16:29) Jo was very worried when she heard the captain’s message. The fact that they were in danger of being boarded and that she did not have a weapon made her feel kind of naked. She had left her weapon in sickbay thinking it would have been too much while looking for H’Chir. She realised Andrew was speaking to her. “Where are we?” “It looks like deck 4.” “I need to get to Sickbay.” “Doctor we are on a lockdown. We are not getting off this deck. There is a security station nearby lets go there and find out what is happening.” ~That and I can get a gun~ She headed off down the corridor at a fast rate. She felt the deck shudder and she staggered. She kept her feet and carried on. They came up to the security station. Is was manned by a lieutenant and his deputy as well as two solid looking marines. “Can anyone tell me what is happening.” She watched as the lieutenant turned and pointed his phaser at her. “Who the hell are yo….” There was a sudden explosion that seamed to roll down the corridor. The lights flickered before returning. Jo could smell a faint whiff of explosives. ~Not good~ “What was that.” One of the marines looked to his partner. “Breeching charge.” His partner nodded. “Yep definatly a charge all right.” “A what.” Jo looked back at the scared Lieutenant. “The decks are sealed off. So the enemy are using explosives to blow the deck hatches so that they can move up through the decks quickly. What’s on this deck.” “CSO’s Office, Transporter Rooms 2 & 3, Research Section, Engineering Section…” “What’s in the engineering section?” “Environmental control.” ~Ow hell not good. If they get there hands on that then were are good as dead~ “They are going for Environmental control. If they get that we‘ll have problems. ” She stepped over to a nearby console where a couple of phasers were lying. She quickly picked one up and then turned back to the group. “Okay. Marine’s up front.” She nodded to the security officers. “You both follow close.” She turned to Andrew. “Doctor Williams if you hang back. I would not want to be responsible for harm that may come to you.” Williams nodded. “Okay lets go.” (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:30) The heavy clank of the bulkhead metal falling from the side of the corridor as the MBT's cutting device was deployed, rang through the ears of the entire squad as they rounded the corner to come face to face with a shower of sparks & thick black smoke. Almost immediately, four men in starfleet BDU's dropped through the resultant hole to deploy below the entrance point, their weapons fire streaking towards the marines as they quickly ducked for cover. The MXO fell to the floor, his III-C rifle actively targeting the nearest of the intruders & designating the remainders as he squeezed the trigger. In an instance, phaser fire tore through the smoke filled corridor illuminating the dense particles like Borg ranging equipment to strike at the heavy chest armour of the advancing assailant. He fell to the floor with a heavy thud as the man behind him took his position & then returned fire, hitting the MXO in the upper arm with a searing phazer blow as he did so. In seconds, four more intruders had dropped through the hole in the ceiling to back up those already advancing up the corridor as the Marine detail held it's ground. Kowalski rolled to his side & then ducked into a side corridor to quickly ascertain the extent of his injury as one of his team took his position to take down two of the advancing men. In seconds, backup had arrived in the form of two details of reinforcements but already, yet another four men had come through the breach point to add to the developing skirmish. Hits were taken on both sides & before long, each side had established key defensive positions within the Spectres corridors & were dug in for maximum efficiency as phazer shots continued to be exchanged in rapid succession. Kowalski, having judged his injury to be superficial, moved quickly through the now dissipating smoke to the left & then took up a position adjacent to the man that had just replaced him, he then raised his rifle & resumed fire in a determined move to halt the intruders advance whilst the steady flow of marine comm chatter came through his earpiece, updating him with tactical info in the process as he again resumed fire. NRPG: Anyone wanting to play either a marine or an intruder here, please feel free to jump in... (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Main Bridge - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 16:30) Rogers sat in his chair, monitoring various ship activities while the battle continued. The ship raddled hard following another torpedo barrage. Rogers stood up and listened to the Captain's and Yelena's exchanges during the battle. "I'm reading hull breaches on decks four & six of the hostile sir, shield strength is currently twenty two percent on their ventral aspect", said Vasilyovna. "Our own shields are now at forty six percent on our forward aspect", she added with an uncanny cool. Rogers had taken an unconventional route to the right seat. While most command candidates typically came from helm or tactical, Rogers had been a counselor. Although his command training on Starbase Geneva and later the USS Boudicca had included tactical theory, Brian wasn't a tactical genus like one who had been in the field their whole life. He stood up and walked to a rear console and brought up a tactical display of the battle. He entered a few quick commands and brought up the information he wanted. "Captain T'Vhor, a word please," he said. (reply T'Vhor) T'Vhor swiftly moved to his position, and Brian knew he needed to make it quick. "Captain, they must know we have the President, so what if we distracted them for a bit," Brian entered a command, and the station display brought up technical information on the Type 7 shuttle. "A Marine pilot and I could take this shuttle out. We could feign one of the Kirk defensive tactical holding patterns. They might assume we're trying to smuggle the President out," Rogers explained. (reply T'Vhor) "Even so, sir. If they realize we don't have the President, we'll have distracted them for a bit, and we'll have a third set of phasers out on field," Rogers explained. ~Although the shuttles Type-V phaser emitters would be worthless against the Alpha,~ Rogers didn't have to add. (reply T'Vhor) "I'm well aware of the risks, sir. We need to add a new aspect to this battle. Even if we throw them off balance for a nanosecond, it gives Lt. Vasilyovna more time," Rogers argued. (reply T'Vhor, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Acting CEO - Lt. (JG) Chenoll - 16:31) Chenoll was now standing near Bristed and Bourne as they did their work. While they worked on the cloaking device situation, Chenoll had been organizing and assigning the repair teams, and now had walked over to check in with them when a Marine arrived. "Sir, I need you to close down those terminals and move your team to the area by the core," he instructed. Chenoll cleared her throat and spoke up in a soft, respectful tone. "Corporal, they're working some important work here. We can't exactly move any time soon," she explained. "Sir, I need to set up a defensive position, and I can't if your team is in the firing line," the Corporal explained. Chenoll glanced at Bristed and Bourne and sighed. "Very well, Ensigns, shut everything down." she said weakly. "We'll need to find a new place to work," Chenoll said to the two Ensigns. (reply Bristed, Bourne, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor - 16:35) The Warbird had now suffered a failure on it's lateral disruptor array as a result of a broad spread firing pattern from the Alpha's phazer banks, Vasilyovna had both monitored & reported it to the CO & had then concentrated fire upon the hostile vessels ailing ventral shielding. This however had only been moderately successful. It had already fallen as low as fifteen percent of optimal at one time, but the Prometheus variant seemed capable of unusually fast regeneration of it's shields & they had now risen again to thirty two percent. The arrival of the First Officer at her side working on one of the tactical consoles however, distracted her briefly as he called up various information he seemed to think was pertinent, then he turned back towards the Captain. "Captain T'Vhor, a word please," said Rogers. Another torpedo hit rocked the bridge as the CO responded by moving from the command chair to the relevant console. "Whatever you have in mind Lieutenant, make it quick", said the Captain as he leaned towards the console to see what he had come up with. "Captain, they must know we have the President, so what if we distracted them for a bit," said the FO as he began bringing up technical details on one of their shuttlecraft. "A Marine pilot and I could take this shuttle out. We could feign one of the Kirk defensive tactical holding patterns. They might assume we're trying to smuggle the President out,", said Rogers. "They know we are on a mission of rescue, they don't know who it is we have rescued though", said T'Vhor pondering the FO's suggestion further. "Your plan could work, they need not know who it is we carry, only that it is someone of great worth, otherwise why would we have entered Romulan space to retrieve them", he added. "Even so, sir. If they realize we don't have the President, we'll have distracted them for a bit, and we'll have a third set of phasers out on field,", said Rogers. "The type seven is no match for the Zulu Alpha Lieutenant, much too risky", said the Captain as the ship was shook by yet another hit to their shields. "I'm well aware of the risks, sir. We need to add a new aspect to this battle. Even if we throw them off balance for a nanosecond, it gives Lt. Vasilyovna more time," said the FO with a hint more insistence than he had done before. "We would have to lift the level one security lockdown, to even have the use of our turbolifts again", said the CO as he quickly returned to the centre chair, then he opened a channel from his armrest. "Status report, marine hanger deck", said the Captain. (Reply Any on hangerdeck) "Have the Trojan prepped for launch, Lieutenant Rogers will be joining you shortly", said T'Vhor turning then to the First Officer who was by this time resting with both hands upon the centre rail. "Go to security alert two Lieutenant, make your way to the dropship bay & take out the Marine Trojan, it's better armed & equipped than the shuttle", said the Captain. (Reply Rogers) The FO then turned about & headed for the turbolift as the Captain drew his attention once again. "Make this one work Lieutenant, we are counting on you to draw their fire but do not take any more risks than you have to", said the Captain. (Reply Rogers, Any in Marine Hanger deck) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Main Bridge - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 16.38) "We would have to lift the level one security lockdown, to even have the use of our turbolifts again," T'Vhor said, moving back to the center seat. Rogers nodded in agreement. He listened in while T'Vhor contacted the Marine hanger bay. When he was finished, he turned to Brian, who was standing, waiting for word. "Go to security alert two Lieutenant, make your way to the dropship bay & take out the Marine Trojan, it's better armed & equipped than the shuttle," T'Vhor instructed. Brian nodded, and was already on his way towards the turbolift before his Captain had stopped talking, however, T'Vhor stopped him once again. "Make this one work Lieutenant, we are counting on you to draw their fire but do not take any more risks than you have to," T'Vhor instructed. "Yes, sir," Rogers said, and entered the turbolift. (Reply None) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Deck Four, Marine Checkpoint Bravo - Marine Squad CO - Master Sergeant Scott Bowie - 16:42) Bowie and his unit were placed several meters back, away from the enemy MBT's entry point, providing a second wave or defensive fallback position to the primary unit, led by Kowalski. Bowie and his men had heard the moment the enemy had boarded the ship, the sound of phaser fire filled their ears, and the quick shouts and death cries of Marines had filled their helmet comms. "Hold steady... hold steady..." Bowie instructed his men, an average-sized group of interracial Marines, all wearing standard gear and the standard Marine assault rifle. One of them was carrying the large Close Combat Scattergun. A few mobile cover units, basically flat trititanium sheets that were held up at a 100-degree angle providing cover for Marines, were set up. They listened to the fight, and soon, a few wounded Marines started running back, past their position. Bowie turned to his 12-man squad and gave the thumbs up, and they all raised their assault rifles. Two men, wearing some sort of all-black non-conventional Battle Suits ran out of the haze of smoke and into their firing lane. Bowie and his men opened fire, ripping the men to shreds. Bowie turned on his secure comm channel to Major Kowalski. "Marine Alpha, this is Checkpoint Bravo. We are receiving guests at our position, what is your condition over? Do you need more servers at the party, over?" he asked into the secure line. (reply Kowalski, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) NRPG: Feel free to jump in as a Marine in my unit, guys. (USS Spectre - Marine Hanger Bay - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 16.45) Rogers jogged out of the blast doors that protected the hanger bay and started jogging towards the Trojan-class Marine Shuttle. He was met en route by the Marine deck officer, a Second Lieutenant. "She's ready to go, Commander. Got her ready myself." The Marine said. Brian grimaced slightly at the incorrect reference to his rank, but didn't bring it up. "Where's my pilot?" Rogers asked. The deck officer glanced around and sighed, "Oh hell, that pilot was just around here. I'm afraid they've ran off. I'll go get him, sir." The deck officer said, and broke stride with Rogers and sprinted to the Pilot Ready Room. Rogers reached the Trojan and walked inside. Inside the large shuttlecraft, he sat down in the copilot's station and quickly glanced over the helm and tactical controls. He turned back and sighed and glanced at the hatch. No sign of the pilot yet. (reply Marine Pilot, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) NRPG: If anybody wants to play a NPC Marine pilot for this little bit, jump in here. If nobody replies within a day (24 hours) I'll proceed with one of my own. (USS Spectre - Deck Four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:45) Already, some of Kowalski's team had fallen or had been taken out of action in some way as the relentless intruders pushed them back up the corridor. It seemed they were coming from nowhere since no matter how many they managed to take down, more were simply backing them up as they fell. Behind him, a conduit exploded in a shower of sparks as it was hit by hostile fire from an enemy rifle, then another of his men fell as he was hit badly in the leg. Chatter continued to fill Kowalski's communications system as their progress, or lack of it was reported back from the squad leaders engaging the boarders, then it was Bowie's voice crackling into life to report on his squads current situation. "Marine Alpha, this is Checkpoint Bravo. We are receiving guests at our position, what is your condition over? Do you need more servers at the party, over?", said the Master Sergeant. "Bowie, I need you to move a team to section four D this deck, if they are converging on your position now then they are trying a pincer move to pin us down from both ends of this corridor, Over", said the MXO as a phazer beam shot above his head narrowly missing his Pallas helmet as it struck the bulkhead behind him. (Reply Bowie) "We are taking heavy resistance, looks like that other Mart may have made contact also if the amount of men coming at us now are anything to go by", said Kowalski. (Reply Bowie) "Understood, watch your back down there Bowie, Marine Alpha out", said the MXO as he began resuming fire up the corridor at the seemingly endless supply of black clad Guerrilla's that were coming at them. (Reply Bowie, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Deck Four, Marine Checkpoint Bravo - Marine Squad CO - Master Sergeant Scott Bowie - 16.46) =/\= Bowie, I need you to move a team to section four D this deck, if they are converging on your position now then they are trying a pincer move to pin us down from both ends of this corridor, over, =/\= Kowie said in between phaser shots. "Understood." =/\= We are taking heavy resistance, looks like that other Mart may have made contact also if the amount of men coming at us now are anything to go by. =/\= Kowalski said via the secure comm channel. "Yes, sir. We're on our way now," Bowie said, and gave his unit the proper hand signals. All together, they rose up from their mobile cover stations, slipped into a dagger formation, and started moving through the curving, hazy corridors of the Spectre. =/\= Understood, watch your back down there Bowie, Marine Alpha out.=/\= Kowalski said, signing off for now. Bowie and his men kept moving carefully and slowly through the corridors, when suddenly, they came around a gentle arc in the corridor when they were met with a wall of enemy fire. Bowie's scout and one of the two forward guards were hit, and crumbled to the ground. The other Marines either dropped to the ground in time, or jumped to the cover of the bulkheads. "How many, Chief?" =/\= Three, maybe four, =/\= Rhelin, an Andorian Marine, who was playing dead on the deck, replied. He had a better vantage point than Bowie. "Alright. I need covering fire. Renar, you still alive back there?" Bowie asked. =/\= Yes, sir, =/\= A cool and collected Orion Marine replied from his cover, a few meters behind Bowie. "On my word, suppress those bastards. Rhelin, when he starts, you and I will charge these bastards. Hoorah?" Bowie asked. =/\= Hoorah, Boss, =/\= The Andorian replied. "Alright... three, two, one. Go!" Bowie shouted. Renar pushed his assault rifle out from his cover and started blind firing down the corridor. Rhelin rose to his knees and started moving forward, his rifle at the ready. Bowie ducked down, and joined him. The two Marines moved in the prone position when suddenly, they saw one of the bastards hiding behind a wall. The two opened fire, hitting the bugger, and dropping him. Another one jumped out and fired at them, Rhelin's trigger finger took care of him. A third tried to play Hero, and coincidently, was hit in the chest three times by Renar's blind fire. =/\= Clear, =/\= Rhelin called. Bowie stood up and turned back to his unit. "Square up, Marines," Bowie said. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and Bowie felt a sharp pain in the back. His head suddenly ached, he had no control over his body. His knees crumbled, and his body fell to the ground. His eyes were facing the ceiling, and he saw phaser fire pass over his body. He tried to keep his eyes open, he felt the pain... and everything else slowly disappear. ~Hold on, Scott. Hold on....~ He weakly raised his hand. ~Damnit... where's...~ Barely able to hold his eyes open now, he saw the phaser fire stop, and Rhelin's Pallas helmet in his field of vision. =/\= Son offfff aaaaaaaaaaa bbbbbbbbiiiiiitttttttttccccccccccchhhhhhhh Bbbbbboooooowwwwwwiiiiieeeeeeee'ssssss goneeeeeeeeee =/\= Rhelin's words said slowly has everything started slipping away from him. He couldn't keep himself awake any longer. While his unit called for a medic, Master Sergeant Scott Bowie closed his eyes peacefully. (reply none, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Deck 4 - CMO - Williams - 16.46 ) Andrew flung himself over the lieutenant as the phaser shots whipped passed his head. Things had not gone exactly to Jo’s plan. They had gotten to environmental control at the same time as the enemy boarding party. In the firefight that had followed the lieutenant had been hit and they had piled into the control room. “Get the force field up now.” The force field went up and flared under the phaser impact. Andrew rolled himself of the lieutenant and looked at the wounds. He felt sadness sweep over him as he realised the condition the lieutenant was in. ~Really not good. He’s not going to last long~ He looked down and smiled at the lieutenant “Am I going to be okay doc. I don’t feel too good.” The lieutenant wheezed. “Don’t worry you’ll be fine.” “Dr Williams can I have a word?” Andrew looked up and saw Jo beckon him over. He crossed over to him and out of ear shot of the lieutenant. “How is he?” Andrew shook his head. “Not good.” “Sir you better come quick.” Andrew looked up and saw one of the marines by the door. Andrew and Jo quickly moved to him. On the other side of the forcefield a gnarled looking marine looked back. He eased a canister in his hand and smiled evilly. Andrew took a second to recognise the sign on the canister and his blood ran cold. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:48) Finally, the ferocious onslaught seemed to be ceasing as the number of men replacing those that had been cut down, slowed to a more managable amount. Two more of the intruders had just fallen to the business end of the Mark III-C marine issue battle axe & Kowalski's men were now beginning to take back ground again. The smoke had cleared somewhat also & as the Marines moved up through the corridor, they could now see the damage in the bulkhead caused by the MBT's cutting gear when it'd latched on to the outer hull. Kowalski paused to look up at the damage it had created as he passed beneath it, one of it's seals was hissing slightly due to an incomplete seal but thankfully, it didn't look like it was gonna blow anytime soon. The Marines moved on & then inched further up around the bend, stepping over the burnt, inert bodies lying on the floor around them as they went. Phazer fire could still be heard from the other group taking on Bowie's men further back & the marine comm chatter quickly became more insistent as they engaged the enemy. Kowalski ordered his own men to back them up & together they ran up the corridor before heading down J-2 to meet them. Before they had even arrived however the cries of Medic through the Marine comm systems signaled that someone had been hit bad & Kowalski was quickly on the blower. "Bowie, what the hells going on?", said the MXO.... Nothing came back. "I need an update Master Sergeant, on the double", said Kowalski, "Bowie are you there?", he added just as another Marine came on the air to update the MXO with the news that Bowie had just been hit by phazer fire in the chest. "Goddamn it Bowie", said the MXO, clearly trying to cover the fact that he was more than just a little worried about his Master Sergeant's condition now, after all, they were friends both in & out of the corp. "Bowie...Bowie don't you die on me man, that's an order soldier......do you hear me Bowie", said the MXO as he took up a position with his men just before the point where the firefight was continuing with the second wave of intruders. =/\=He's out of it sir, I've ordered a direct beamout to sickbay, I'm sure the Doc will sort him out=/\= Kowalski closed his eyes, leaned back heavily against the bulkhead & did the professional thing that he was trained to do. He put aside his personal feelings & then he concentrated on the job in hand, namely ridding the ship of the hostiles that had stormed it. Bowie's fate & condition now would wait...... "Ok people, let's get this job done. Mac, hold that area.... Now that Bowie's offline your the squad leader, we are converging on your position & will move up behind your hostiles, Kowalski out" (Reply Any, IYW) Kowalski then moved out from his cover & began inching up the corridor again with the remaining members of his own squad. (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Deck 4 - CMO - Williams - 16:49) Andrew watched as the gnarled marine sealed his helmet into place. He took a step back from the force field trying to withhold the instinct to run. ~Ow no he’s got the Naxton~ “Ow hell.” He heard Jo curse beside him. “Get that into the ventilation system and were totally stuffed.” Jo nodded and turned to the marines. “Marines bio-weapon threat seal up.” Andrew watched as the marines grabbed their helmets and sealed their suits. “Um what’s Naxton?” Andrew looked over at the security deputy who was at the environmental console. “It’s a toxin which comes in a gaseous form. It effects the coagulation in your blood. It basically turns your blood into concrete.” The deputy went pale. Andrew nodded and turned back to Jo. “Dr Williams to all hands. We have a bio-weapon on board. Deck 4 section 5.” (Reply T’Vhor or Kowalski) “Sir. Enemy marines have a canister of Naxton. They are trying to get into the environmental control. I am in here with Agent Smith, two marines and two security deputy have barricaded ourselves in here. We are keeping them out at the moment but not for long.” (Reply T’Vhor or Kowalski) ~Hope the marines come soon. I need to see that cavalry coming over that hill~ (Reply T’Vhor or Kowalski, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Corporal Houseman - 16:50) Houseman waited for the enemy to arrive. He could hear over the marine net that the enemy had had been engaged on deck four and deck six. He was itching to get into the fight. But he knew that he was here for a reason. If the warp core was not defended then all it would take was a couple of plasma grenades and they would be nothing but free floating atoms. =^= Contact deck 12, section 9=^= Houseman stiffened. It looked like some of them had gotten off of deck six and were nearby. The old saying of be careful what you wished for sprang into his mind. As he looked up the doors to main engineering opened. A marine was standing in the doorway firing his phaser rifle. Houseman could not get a clear shot. ~Come on. Get out the way~ The marine was suddenly thrown back hard against the door frame as a couple of phaser shot slammed into his chest. Houseman could see the enemy moving cautiously down the corridor towards him. "Every one get down." He opened the marine comm system. Contact Main engineering. Engaging." He lined up his weapon on the closest target and began to fire. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor - 16:51) =/\=Dr Williams to all hands. We have a bio-weapon on board. Deck 4 section 5=/\= The moment the communication had arrived, the Captain's blood froze in his veins as it's content registered like a shard within him. "What kind of bio-weapon are we talking about here Doctor?", said the Captain just as the Spectre pitched hard a starboard in a successful attempt to avoid a quantum torpedo shot fired from the Zulu Alpha. =/\=Sir. Enemy marines have a canister of Naxton. They are trying to get into the environmental control.....=/\= The Doctor had continued on with details of what he had done to contain things of course, but after the word Naxton, the CO knew that this could go very wrong & in an instance he had cut the Doc off in order to prioritize what must happen next. "Stand by Doctor, at all costs, Engineering must not fall into enemy hands, it is imperative that it is held", said the Captain as he opened a channel to Kowalski. "Major, I'm assuming you copied that last message", said T'Vhor. =/\=Affirmative on that Captain, we are on it as we speak, Kowalski out=/\= The line was cut dead in a second, the MXO clearly not wanting to waste any time now discussing this new development. He, as well as any other knew what it would mean if their environmental control was infected & the consequences were of course, unthinkable. The Captain didn't blame him in the least as he quickly turned to the tactical chief who was busy exchanging shots with the Alpha in an increasingly difficult effort to simply keep them alive now. A quick nod in the direction of the Engineering officer however & the said officer instinctively knew what the CO was now implying. Environmental control would of course need to be shut down if need be & that meant that things could suddenly become very cold & stuffy! But it was still better than the alternative..... (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Nurse Douwsy - 16:52) Douwsy looked up as the transporter beam released two people into sickbay. One was a marine corpsman. She could not tell who the other marine was due to his combat gear. “I need some help here.” Douwsy and Dr O’Harper arrived at the same time. “Talk to me.” “It’s the Master Sergeant. He took couple of shots to the spine. I can't tell how much damage there is. “Okay but we need to turn him. Then get his combat gear off. Douwsy. I need the spinal trauma tray just in case.” “Yes Doctor.” Douwsy turned and headed down the adjoining corridor to a store room beside the operating theatre. On the shelves were all the different instrument trays that were needed for any operation. She grabbed the spinal trauma tray and hurried back. “Got it.” Douwys nodded. The master sergeant was now on his front with his back exposed. As she reached the bio-bed Dr O’Harper activated the sterile field. She placed the tray on a small trolley and opened it. “Okay. Could have been worse. looks like a couple of his thoracic vertebra have broken. it could have been a lot worse. lets go. Scalpel and then dermal regenerator. Hopefully he'll be up on his feet in no time.” Douwsy handed him the laser scalpel. With the help of the corpsman they began the operation. (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck four - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:53) Naxton in the mix was not good! No siree..... The MXO didn't need to be told anything about this damned stuff, for he'd encountered it before on a botched hostage recovery mission to free a research scientist onboard Starbase 173. The border station itself had been invaded by a group of renegade Tellarites intent on claiming that the scientist had poisoned an entire community on their homeworld. Their idea of payback it would seem was to dump a load of this gas into the closed ventilation system feeding the science block & Admiral Nakamura had expressly asked for Krige's team to deal with it. Kowalski had been the squad leader on that day & despite their best efforts to secure the scientists safety, by the time they got him out of his lab he was as solid as a rock! It would not be the same now, they just needed to get Bowie's men out before attending to it.... The MXO had already signaled to his men, pointing left & right to two of them nearby to indicate where he wanted them to be, then he began moving up the corridor behind the point where Bowie's team had been pinned down by repeated phazer fire from a well dug in team of five. Once there, Kowalski wasted no time & promptly gave the command. "Fire in the hold".... His men ducked, the unaware assailants flinched & the resultant photon grenades finished off the remainder of those particular intruders. Deck four at least had been secured. Now to main Engineering. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (Marine Trojan-class Shuttlecraft - Cockpit - FO Lt. Brian Rogers & Marine Flight Officer Major Tonn Brennan - 16:55) "Alright, stick to a defensive tactical pattern, Major. We want them to think we have a VIP," Rogers explained. The Bajoran fighter ace looked over at the first officer and rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir," he replied curtly ~Yes, sir, Mr. Tool.~ "Keep maximum distance as long has possible, I want them to think..." Rogers started, but suddenly, Brennan turned the Trojan towards the Zulu, albeit, not directly. "What the hell are you doing?" Brian demanded. "Listen, we want them to think that we have the bastard, but want them to think we don't have them, so we're going to attack them," Tonn explained. "That makes no sense. Turn back now, that's an order, Major." Rogers explained. Tonn smiled. "In case you forgot, Lieutenant. Major is the equivalent to a Lieutenant Commander. I'm the CO on this flight," Brennan explained. Rogers' jaw dropped in shock while the enemy ship prepared to fire on their shuttle. "Are you kidding, Marine? I'm the First Officer, that gives me-...." "Listen, man, down in the barracks, sitting next to T'Vhor doesn't add inches to your-..." Before he could finish, a heavy barrage of torpedoes hit the Trojan shuttle. Brennan spun the shuttle around, and at full sublight speed, shot away from the ship. Rogers brought up the weapons systems and began firing all the firepower of the Trojan at the ship. Phaser pulses continued to damage their shields. "Move into a wingman position, assist the Spectre," Rogers commanded, and he opened a channel to the Spectre. "I hope we bought you enough time, Yelena, we're having some difficulties here. We'll fly interference, continue your attack," Rogers explained. (reply Vasilyovna, iyw) "Mr. Rogers, heads up, we're started our attack run," Brennan said. Rogers looked up, and saw the Trojan closing on the Zulu Alpha at an incredible rate, and suddenly, Brennan pulled up, leaving them a few meters from the Zulu Alpha's shields. Rogers suddenly fired all weapons on the bottom of the Trojan, sending a clear message to the aggressors. "Good flying, Major, now get us back to the Spectre's ten," Rogers explained. The Bajoran grimaced and slammed one fist on the controls. "Will you listen to me, damn it," he said, "sir!" he added has an after-thought. "You will be thrown out of Starfleet for this, Major." Rogers said coldly. Before he could finish, the Zulu Alpha struck a death blow. A barrage of torpedoes dropped the small craft's shields, and a quick second wave hit the rear hull. The passenger compartment decompressed, although bulkheads kept Rogers and Brennan safe, for now. "Damn it, we've got to get out of here. Knight 1 to Spectre, emergency beamout for two," Rogers shouted. Brennan turned back to the rear bulkhead and smiled slightly. "Too late." he said, making fate with his destiny. Before Rogers could turn, the warm blast of a plasma fire consumed the rear bulkhead, and the oxygen was instantly dissipated into the vastness of space. Rogers felt the blood vessels on his skin start to expand, and he instinctively reached for something... anything to hold onto. Suddenly, he felt a warm shimmer of a transporter beam around him. The darkness of the destroyed Trojan was replaced by warmth, and Rogers, exhausted from his ordeal, gave out. (reply none, yet) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 16:57) "The Trojan is engaging the Alpha sir!", cried Vasilyovna, clearly confused now over the FO's modus operandi as the CO turned bewildered to face her. "Have they been fired upon?", said the Captain. "No sir, the Lieutenant's shuttle has engaged unprovoked, I don't know why, it's..... sir, this isn't what was supposed to happen", said Yelena, her hands flying over the tactical console now to plot further contingency's as the Trojan opened fire upon the hostile vessel. T'Vhor turned back to the viewscreen, his own face betraying an element of discord now as he attempted to rationalize his First Officers illogical actions. The Lieutenant had been ordered to give the Alpha something else to focus upon, not engage it directly in such an apparently haphazard fashion! Within seconds, the Captain had ordered the Tactical chief to re-target the hostiles phazer arrays & Vasilyovna had wasted no time at all in bringing their weapons to bear. Two sustained bursts of red, coherent energy streaked through the void to pierce the Alpha's already weakened ventral shields, taking her ventral phazer array temporarily offline within seconds. It would hopefully buy the smaller Marine vessel some leverage, but due to the super efficiency of the Alpha's regenerative shielding, it would not be for very long. "Lieutenant Rogers, why have you not followed the arranged plan?", said the Captain after opening a channel to the Trojan. Yelena shook her head & quickly recalculated the Trojans trajectory as it headed off in a one eighty degree course after it's uncoordinated attack run. "Nothing sir, all I'm getting is static, the Trojans comms are down", said the Security chief whilst the Spectre's helmsman performed further evasive maneuvers as the Zulu Alpha swung about to re-acquire the Spectre in her gunsights. "Lieutenant Vasilyovna, quantum torpedoes, full yield, optimal spread", said the Captain, his fingers tightening onto the armrest of the command chair as the Alpha loomed larger in their viewscreen. Within a second, four sparkling blue emanations streaked towards the incoming to strike her forward shields & drop them to thirteen percent of optimal capacity. "Her shields are damaged sir, but she's holding her course & preparing to return fire", said Vasilyovna as she again targeted the Alpha. "Sir, sir the Trojan is beginning another attack run", she added as her console readings distracted her concentration. With her communications offline, the Captain was at a loss now as to what his FO was up to, once this was over there would be questions that was for sure, assuming he returned that is. For now however, all they could do was hope that HE at least knew where he was going with this. The Trojan had seemed to appear from nowhere on their viewscreen as it effectively moved in at full impulse to bounce tangentially off of her shielding while opening fire against her now vulnerable underbelly. The hit's scored well & before long the Security chief was registering micro fractures appearing in the hull plating of the Zulu Alpha as a direct result of those strikes. "Concentrate your fire upon the shield generators & the weapons arrays Lieutenant, I want that beasts teeth pulled", said the Captain uncharacteristically resorting to analogy as he spoke. "Aye sir, the Trojan is disengaging.....she is under heavy fire sir, her shields are failing", said Vasilyovna. "Can we get a transporter lock?", asked the Captain knowing as he spoke that this was probably their only chance now to recover the crew of the Trojan before it disintegrated right before their eyes. "Possibly, but we will have to lower our shields sir!", said Vasilyovna somewhat surprised at the CO's unorthodox query. "I'm well aware of that Lieutenant", said the Captain stoically, "prepare to momentarily lower our shields.... helm, come to course heading three one nine mark two four, keep the Alpha's ventral aspect towards us at all times", said the Captain. Both the Helm & Tactical stations duly acknowledged his orders whilst the CO opened a channel to transporter room one. "Bridge to Transporter room One, lock onto the crew of the Trojan shuttle & beam them directly to sickbay", said the Captain, "lower the shields, redeploy the moment we have them Lieutenant", he added turning his attention towards the tactical officer. Seconds seemed like minutes now as the viewscreen switched to the ailing Marine Trojan as it sped away, debris & ionizing matter peeling away from them as they went. Then she was gone! The explosion filled the viewscreen as the bridge crew looked on in abject horror, a myriad of peppered light spreading away from it's destruction as it was reduced to atoms. "Did we get them?", said the Captain holding his breath now in the hope that they were not too late, then he turned towards the Tactical chief, the tension almost palpable now as his question hung in the air. Yelena paused just briefly, then she turned to the Captain, a look of temporary relief upon her face. "Yes sir, sickbay reports the pilot & First Officer are aboard", she said, then, without even flinching she was back to re-targeting the Zulu Alpha once more. (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 16:59) By the time Kowalski & his men had made their way to deck twelve via the now functional turbolift system, the sound of repeated phazer fire, followed by curses from an irate enemy sparks as he pulled about at one of the forcefield control panels, met their ears. Four marines had now sealed off direct access to the Engineering corridor & due to the sensitive nature of the area in which they now stood, Photon grenades were quite simply out of the question. Kowalski could see Houseman on the other side of the shimmering Forcefield as he looked down through the corridor, it was too bad that he was on the wrong side of it though for as much as it protected the Spectre crewmembers behind it, it also protected the assailants from the uncanny accuracy of his trigger finger. So far however, the intruders were not aware of the newly arrived marines now closing in on them. The Naxton cannister could be activated in a second of course & in consequence to this, any hit upon the soldier holding it could set it off, killing them all in the process. Kowalski was not about to be beaten though, there had to be a way to do this without too many complications. Quickly, he scanned the corridor as he contemplated his options, then he saw it. There was an access hatch set into the ceiling above them that led directly to the point in the bulkhead where the irate marine with the cannister was now standing. If they could get Corporal T'Vek along that channel he could open the access panel & reach the key mark to render him 'out of picture' with a Vulcan neck pinch, whilst Kowalski & the others took down the other three. Timing of course would be critical but it was possible & for now anyway, it was their best chance of preventing a shipwide cementing of the highest order. NRPG: More to come... (Reply, any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 17:02) Things were now becoming critical in regards their ongoing battle with the Zulu Alpha attack ship, even with the combined firepower of both the Spectre & the Warbird the damned thing kept regenerating it's shielding at a phenomenal rate. The last one they had encountered had clearly not had such tough shields it would seem, it was now latched up at Starbase thirty nine sierra being combed by swarms of tech engineers intent on pulling it's secrets apart, but needless to say however, this didn't help the Spectre crew now in any way shape or form. In the here & now, the bridge of the Spectre was being rocked again & again as the Alpha pounded her shields with volley after volley of seemingly endless munitions. The Engineering officer had taken a bad fall against her console as a result of this & blood was now issuing forth from a gaping wound on her forehead. It was quickly becoming clear now that they would not be able to continue to trade blows with this vessel for much longer so with that in mind, the Captain changed his tactics once again. The safety of his ship & crew were now paramount, they had done their best & yet the Alpha was still coming at them, it was time now to make a run. "Lieutenant DeSoto, do we have warp capability?", said the Captain. "Aye sir, but I don't know for how much longer", said DeSoto as she wiped at the blood now running down across her left cheek. The Captain then turned to Vasilyovna, his face almost set in stone at what he knew he must now do. It wasn't that they were just running away of course, this was a tactical withdrawal from a situation that could not end in anything other than the destruction of the Spectre & that was quite simply, not an option. "Transmit a general distress call to all Federation vessels within communications range Lieutenant & inform the Hood that we are returning to Federation space", said the Captain. "Sir, we are currently under DOA from the 52nd fleet", said Vasilyovna, "will they even acknowledge us?", she added. "The Hood will Lieutenant, she has been ordered to assist us the moment we request help, even if that means her entering the Neutral Zone in order for her to do so", said the Captain. "All other priorities have been negated", he added. Vasilyovna paused briefly, clearly a little unsure now as to wether the Hoods CO would carry out those orders, then she turned back to her console to carry out her own as the CO continued to deal out further command decisions. "Helm, come to heading three thirty mark one zero one, engage at warp nine point two on my mark", said T'Vhor as he watched the hostile vessel begin moving away from them in a tight arc in it's preparation for yet another attack run. The bridge fell silent as all eyes turned to face the viewscreen, their nerves already stretched as tight as a drumskin as they awaited the CO's next order. The Zulu Alpha had now reached a point where it was as far away from the Starfleet Vessel as it was going to be & still headed away from them. The time was now.... "Mark", said the Captain & the Spectre engaged it's warp drive at maximum sustainable output in order to flee this apparently indefatigable & deadly aggressor. The Captain settled back into the command chair & then began requesting damage reports from all decks & a report on the Alpha's latest response to their actions. "One moment sir", said Vasilyovna as she began reading off the incoming data from her tactical console. "We have partial decompression on Decks six & nine sir, forcefields are in place & holding, shields are at forty percent, our lateral sensor array is offline as is our forward quantum torpedo launcher", said Vasilyovna. "Warp integrity remains high but to sustain this speed will slow our shield regeneration to half sir", she added. "Understood Lieutenant.... Ops, have Engineering crews assigned to all critical systems failures, re-assign non essential systems to low power configuration & provide backup power to the phased cloak", said the Captain, "we may need it later if we fail to outrun the Zulu Alpha", he added. "Bridge to Sickbay", said the Captain opening a channel to the medical department. (Reply Williams, Any in Sickbay) "How badly have we been hit Doctor, what are our casualties?", said the Captain. (Reply Williams) The Captain furrowed his brow at the news, so many injured in this battle, the First Officer amongst them! "Keep me informed of your progress Doctor, we are not out of the woods yet but at least we may now have some breathing space", said the Captain. (Reply Williams) It was then though that Vasilyovna's report was added to once more & it wasn't looking particularly good. "The Alpha is in pursuit sir, she has left the Warbird & has come to our heading, she is following at Warp nine", said Yelena. "ETA to the USS Hood at our present speed?", said the Captain addressing the Helm now. "Approximately one hour fifty two minutes sir", said the Helm officer. "How soon will the Alpha intercept us at it's current speed & heading?", said T'Vhor. "We won't make it in time sir, the Alpha will reach intercept in one hour thirty minutes", came the reply. The Captain paused briefly to allow the information to settle in, then he began recalculating variables on his armrest console. "We need to slow them down", said the Captain pensively, "Lieutenant Nolly's, have you learned anything new from the Alpha's downloaded blueprints?", he added hoping that something she might have discovered may now give them an edge. (Reply Nolly's) "Keep working on it Lieutenant, let me know when we have something viable", said the Captain as he turned to address the Comms officer once more. "Has the Hood responded to our Communication?", said the Captain. "Captain Teleko reports they are standing by at location one zero one nine one sir", said the Communications officer, "shall I inform them that we have guests?", he added. "They already know we are not alone Lieutenant, inform them to prepare a welcoming reception", said the CO. "Aye sir", said the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Vasilyovna, prepare to re-target the hostile once it comes back into range, load all aft quantum launchers & transfer shield energy to our aft shielding", said the Captain. "Now all we do is wait"..... (Reply Williams, Nolly's, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (GDV Ssshrussa - Transporter Room - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:03) It had been good to spend a few days on a Gorn ship after his quick visit home. Once his graduation from Starfleet Academy was over and done with, Serixs had been granted a few days leave in route to the Spectre to gather up his personal belongings and scientific experiments for his new duties assisting the CSO of the Federation vessel. Now, the Ssshrussa, one of the stronger cruisers in the navy, was alongside the USS Hood, ready to transport the newest member of the Spectre's crew to the rendezvous point. Tension was high on the Gorn ship. They were close to the Romulan Neutral zone and were no doubt being watched. There was absolutely no love lost between the Romulans and the Gorn, perhaps second only to the relations between the Klingon Empire and the Romulans in the level of animosity. That animosity could be felt in the Ssshrussa's crew, but they had their orders. They were to drop off Ssarumon, then return to Hegemony space to begin patrolling the Neutral Zone...but those orders never stated how much time they had to return. The Ssshrussa's Captain, a tough female who had seen more than her fair share of battle engagements, planned to drag out the return, in case there was any trouble to the Federation vessel parked there. "Are you sure you won't accept the offer?" came the hissing voice of the vessel's first officer, speaking in the native Gorn tongue. "I am sure, Krusse." Serixs told the Gorn. No less than three times he had been offered the position of Chief Science Officer on the Ssshrussa. It was tempting, but he had his own path now. To better serve his people, he would have to leave them for a time. True, he was only offered the position because of the severe shortage of able-bodied crewmen, but that was beside the point. The older Gorn just snorted. "You cannot blame me for trying." Krusse shrugged. "Very well. All the preparations are complete." He pointed a taloned finger at Serixs. "Maybe you can get your new Federation friends to help us clear out the pirates, hrm?" He chuckled. "Then we might just be able to get our shipping lines open again. "Perhaps, old friend." Serixs said in return. "We shall see." He stepped up onto the transporter pad and nodded to the Transport Controller before tapping the Starfleet comm badge. Ensign Ssarumon to Hood. I am ready for transport." He spoke in the Terran standard language, irritating his throat as he did so, but he would have to get used to it. He was joining a Starfleet crew, and he suspected the Captain might take offense to being hissed at during status reports. =/\=Acknowledged, Ensign. Transporting now.=/\= As the grip of the transported took hold of Serixs, Krusse gave him one more piece of advice. "Serixs, don't scare the Endotherms." he chuckled as he turned to leave, returning to his duties on the bridge. The transporter room faded around the Gorn, the area shimmering and coalescing into the form of its Federation counterpart. (Reply None) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering Corridor - MXO Major Bruce Kowalski - 17:05) It had taken only seconds for the agile Vulcan Marine to climb up into the overhead hatchway & begin his crawl towards the Engineering bulkheads. Kowalski & the remainder of his team had simply ducked into the side alcoves of the Engineering corridor where they waited patiently for their signal to come. Up above them in the cramped crawlspace, Corporal T'Vek now moved stealthily onwards towards his goal, his breathing controlled, his objective focused & the logic of the act itself clear in his mind. As a Vulcan Marine this was nothing new to him of course, all part & parcel of a sometimes 'illogical' profession & yet he found the entire experience, fascinating. One might even go as far as to say that it was a contradiction to his very nature & yet here he was, doing what comes logically. Back in the corridor, Kowalski raised his III-C to his shoulder & then switched the display to tactical in his Pallas helmet, the active designation acquiring each of the marines one by one & then logging them within it's beam dispersal circuits for later use. This done, he designated the nearest of the three marines that were visible to them & prepared himself mentally for T'Vek's inevitable signal. Vulcan's of course were invariably anything but totally efficient & within a minute or two, the signal finally arrived. =/\=T'Vek to squad leader, I am in position.... the target however, is not in range=/\= Kowalski furrowed his brow at the news, if this were to work T'Vek would have to incapacitate the marine holding the Naxton at the precise moment the other three were taken out, otherwise the Naxton cannister could still be discharged in a second. It was a minor setback however & things would change of course. They had to..... "Understood, stand by", said Kowalski as he continued to follow the marines at the end of the corridor with the cross hair of his gunsight. =/\=Standing by sir.... the target is now moving=/\= Kowalski raised his hand briefly & then signaled to the rest of his team to acquire if they hadn't already, then they waited again. Seconds passed, nobody knew what was happening around the corner out of their line of sight of course but T'Vek had already opened the access panel & he was now in workable proximity of the Marine with the Cannister. The mark was standing with his back to the bulkhead, about a foot away from where the Vulcan lay in the service duct, all he had to do was reach forwards & deliver. It seemed too easy & yet the Marine had faltered. If he got this wrong now they could all be dead, it was now or never though. T'Vek pressed a small button sited on his dedicated marine comms transmitter to send a silent alert to the team in the corridor, then he reached tentatively forwards to grip the Marines neck firmly between the fingers of his right hand. The Vulcan nerve pinch had probably never been so effortlessly deployed & the Marine fell silently to the floor, his eyes closing & the cannister remaining firmly gripped in his hand as his knees collapsed beneath him. At that precise moment however, four pulse bursts from the waiting III-C's at the end of the corridor systematically dropped the remaining intruders to the floor in ungainly, crumpled heaps. Their little siege was now over. T'Vek slipped out of the access duct to be confronted with a rather relieved looking Doctor standing behind the shimmering forcefield that had just been protecting them all. "You may lower the forcefield now Doctor Williams", said T'Vek as he crouched down beside the fallen Marine to retrieve the Naxton cannister from his hand. (Reply Williams) The Vulcan of course remained completely expressionless as the rest of the Marines rounded the corner to take charge of the situation. "Nicely done Corporal, remind me to give you an extra ration of Shur t'bertakk", said Kowalski as he gripped the Vulcan's shoulder in a gesture of camaraderie. T'Vek simply raised an eyebrow in typical Vulcan fashion, he nodded courteously & then he moved off towards the Engineering doorway to inspect the opened panel that one of the Marines had been tampering with in his attempts to bypass the forcefield beforehand. "Interesting", said the Vulcan as he surveyed the battered circuitry within, "does this not constitute the old earth adage, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?", he added. Kowalski simply smiled. "You could say that", said the MXO as they then moved into Engineering itself. (Reply Williams, Any in Engineering) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Hood - Transporter Room - Ensign (j.g.) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:07) "Welcome aboard the Hood, Ensign." The Transporter Chief said as he looked up at the Gorn. The human was nervous. Serixs could see this, but he had become so used to it. Sometimes he forgot that his appearance was unsettling to those that had little experience with the Gorn, but in time, the uneasiness generally passed. "Thank you, Chief." Serixs replied. "Have my belongings been transported as well?" The transporter chief took a moment to check, then nodded. "Yes, sir." The Chief replied. "It's been stowed in Cargo bay two." Serixs nodded with satisfaction. "The Captain wants you to report to him so he can get you briefed on what's going on, sir." "Understood, Chief. Thank you." Serixs said firmly, then turned and stepped out into the corridor. Compared to Gorn vessels, Federation ships were so bright, dry, and cold. He shut the nictating membranes of his eyes to shield again the bright light, giving them the typical silvery faceted appearance humans were familiar with, then strode through the Corridor to the turbolift. All the way, he noticed the stares of those he walked past. ~What have you gotten yourself in to now, Serixs.~ NRPG: Hope that works. :) (reply none,any) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Environmental control - CMO - Williams - 17:08) "You may lower the force field now Doctor Williams", “That was close. Nice to see the cavalry coming to the rescue. Thanks Corporal. Can you get someone to take the Naxton to sickbay I‘ll need to dispose of it. I would take it but I‘ve got a seriously ill patient and I don‘t trust that stuff in the transporter.” The force field flickered and then died. Andrew turned back to Jo and pointed at the wounded lieutenant. “We better get him to sickbay.” As he went over to the Lieutenant the two marines and the security deputy hurried out of the room. ~We must not be finished yet~ He quickly checked the Lieutenant's worsening condition. There was now a small amount of blood pooling on the floor beside him. ~Need to go Now, now~ “Ready!” Jo nodded. “Dr Williams to transporter room. Medical emergency three to beam directly to sickbay.” A second later he felt the transporter grip him. (Reply Any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO - O'Harper - 17:10) O'Harper looked up as the transporter whined. Two people were deposited onto bio-beds. ~Keep this up we'll have to open another ward~ He looked at the corpsman. "Keep going I'll see to the new ones." He stepped back from the bio-bed and headed towards the new arrivals. "Computer activate EMH." The EMH shimmered into existence. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." "We have two new cases just been transported in. You take the one over there and I'll take this one." Before the EMH could say anything O'Harper stepped over to his patient. From the looks of him the patient was Bajoran. As O'Harper activated the bio-beds sensors it came apparent that he was in a bad way. ~Time to work miracles~ He got down to work. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:12) Andrew materialised in sickbay. The Lieutenant was lying on a bio-bed beside him and Jo was a couple of steps away. Andrew quickly scanned the chaos that was his sickbay. He saw a corpsman nearby assisted by Douwsy working on a patient. O'Harper was working on a second and the EMH was working of a third. ~We got the EMH out. It must be bad~ He saw Marshal hurrying towards them. “Marshal I need the laparotomy tray.” She nodded and hurried away. He picked up a hypospray and checked the vile. He then stepped close to the lieutenant. “Lieutenant. I need to operate. This will help you sleep okay. You’ll feel no pain I promise.” He heard the lieutenant murmur something. He injected the hypospray into the lieutenants neck. He stood back and watched the monitors as the lieutenant went under. He activated the sterile field as Marshal returned with the tray. “Okay. I don’t know what damage the shots have made but its hit something. Scalpel.” Marshal handed him the laser scalpel. He activated it and began to make an incision. He cut horizontally down the abdomen and around the belly button. He then carefully cut through the muscle and tissue until he reached the abdominal cavity. As he opened the abdominal cavity he could see blood inside. ~Ow F**K~ “Quick suction.” Jo pushed the suction device into the abdominal cavity. “Marshal were going to need lots of units. Better go and start replicating some now.” Andrew put his hand into the wound moving the bowel out the way to try and get a better look. ~There got yah~ “It looks like the splenic vein has got nicked. It’s a slow leak which was good.” He carefully moved the other organs out of the way until he could see the spleen fully. “Micro sutures.” He took the instrument and cautiously closed the hole. He stared at the suture for a couple of seconds to make sure that it was totally closed. “What’s that smell.” Andrew paused for a moment breathed in deeply. As his brain quickly work it out, the reality of the smell became apparent. ~Ow hell~ “Its excrement. His bowel must be ruptured. Need to find it and close that as well.” With that Andrew began working his way along the small and large intestine trying to find the hole. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:22) Andrew waved the dermal regenerator over the wound. He had repaired the hole in the bowel and it looked like the lieutenant was going to make a quick recovery. He picked up a hypospray and injected into the lieutenants neck. “He’ll wake up in a moment.” He paused and then looked at Marshal. “So how else do we have with us.” “Master Sergeant Bowie, Lieutenant Rogers and a pilot have been transported in.” Andrew was about to say something when the comm system activated. =^=Bridge to Sickbay=^= “Dr Williams here. What can I do for you?” =^=How badly have we been hit Doctor, what are our casualties?=^= “At the moment we have four cases include Mr Rogers and Mr Bowie. They are not too bad but I’m keeping them here for the moment.” =^=Keep me informed of your progress Doctor, we are not out of the woods yet but at least we may now have some breathing space=^= “Yes Captain. I’ll give you a report as soon as I can.” Andrew walked over to the corpsman who was finishing with Bowie. “How is he doing?” The corpsman looked up. “I’m finished. I’ve repaired his thoracic vertebra. He’s going to be a bit stiff for a few hours but he’ll be fine.” Andrew smiled. He looked down at the marine as he regained consciousness. “How are you doing Mr Bowie?" (reply Bowie) (reply Bowie, any) (posted by Robbie) (GDV Ssshrussa - Bridge - Captain Ruxsa Zernix - 17:23) It had only been about a half an hour since the Ssshrussa dropped off Ensign Ssarumon on board the Hood and was now en route back to Gorn space. The cruise was uneventful, but she had ordered the vessel to proceed at warp two. At present speed, they would reach Gorn space in roughly twenty-seven hours. All the while, Captain Zernix had been pondering the rendezvous with the Hood. ~What was a Federation ship doing this close to the Neutral Zone?~ She asked herself this question multiple times, all the while rubbing the deep scars that decorated her left arm and up along the side of her body. An old plasma fire she would never forget. During the voyage, she had ordered that Federation channels be monitored. Something was not quite right about this whole thing, and she did not like it. She clicked her razor-sharp teeth together, a habit she had when she was deep in contemplation. She surveyed the bridge quietly. The command chair was between the Conn and Ops stations, giving her the perfect and unobstructed view of the screen in front of her. Behind her, the other consoles were buzzing with activity as Crewmen saw to their duties. The entire bridge had a tense air that was almost as palpable as the humidity that they were all so fond of. "Anything, Subcaptain?" She hissed to her First Officer who was manning the sensor and communication station. Krusse had that look on his face. The one where he was not quite sure if he had anything useful to report. They had recieved what appeared to be a communication some time before, but was unable to get the transmission clearly due to the ionizing radiation in this sector. "There is a lot of interference." He hissed back to his captain. "I am attempting to clear it up." He hissed at his console, letting out a growl as he tried several algorithms to clean up the distortions. Finally, one broke through. "Captain! We are receiving a general distress call on a Federation channel. Vessel identifies as USS Spectre. I have them on long-range sensors." "Friendly?" The captain asked, knowing her First Officer would understand what she meant. "Yes, Captain." He hissed. "The vessel registers as assigned to the 52nd Fleet." He tried clearing up the channel a little further. "They say they are being pursued by an aggressive enemy and request assistance. The transmission is coming from inside Romulan space." A low guttural growl rose in the captain's throat. ~What in the name of all the creators was a Federation vessel doing so deep in Romulan territory.~ She thought. This was altogether unsettling now. The Federation, especially the 52nd, would not send a vessel so deep into hostile territory without a damn good reason. "Contact Fleet Command and get advisement." She barked at the Communications officer, then growled and looked at the viewscreen. "All stop!" She hissed to the helm. The ship lurched, then came to a dead stop in space. "Command orders that we are to provide any and all assistance to the Spectre." The communications officer replied. "She must reach Federation space at any cost. We have been given authorization to cross the Neutral Zone." "Why?" Asked the Captain. She knew the 52nd were the only allies that the Gorn had in the Federation anymore, but she wasn't going to put her crew at risk without a damn good reason. "Command states that information is classified." She considered that response. They knew something, whether they learned it openly or illicitly. Something important. The Spectre was important and she needed to get back home. Command knew this. in her gut, the captain knew it too. Covert or not, the Spectre needed help. "Your orders, Captain?" Krusse asked, tapping his talons on the console in front of him. The air just became a lot more tense while the Captain weighed her decision heavily, then let out what could only be described as a roar. That was all the answer the bridge crew needed. To the Gorn, that roar was a call to battle. "All hands to battle stations! Combat Alert! Shields and Weapons to maximum." Krusse hissed into the ship wide comm console. The lighting changed from deep amber to red as the growling warning klaxons sent the alert throughout the vessel. "Lay in a pursuit course to the Spectre and engage at maximum speed." The Captain snarled. "What is our time to arrival at Warp 9.5?" She looked at the helm station. "Counting their speed with ours, approximately fifty-six klixs." The helm hissed back to her. "Calibrate translation matrix to Federation Standard and get a message to the Spectre." She barked again. "Advise them that we are en route to their position." She snarled once more and leaned further into her chair. She narrowed her green eyes at the viewscreen and arched her fingers in front of her snout. "Then get a message to those Romulan worms. We are answering a distress call and are not interested in combat with their quaint little War-Chickens." She considered. "What is the status of the Hood?" "The Hood is standing by at coordinate one-zero-one-nine." Krusse responded. She nodded. That was right where it should be. The mottled olive and green hull of the Cruiser whipped around, her over-under warp nacelles flashing a brilliant aqua color as the ship jumped to full speed. ~Today this crew tastes blood.~ The captain thought. ~Romulan or Terran blood. It didn't matter.~ NRPG: Figured the Gorns could buy the Spectre some time to effect repairs. Feel free to kill them off if it works for the story, or use the NPCs however you guys want. ;) Not sure what to do with Serixs at this point, so he's still on the Hood, keeping out of everyone's way. :) (reply Any) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Marine Squad CO - Master Sergeant Scott Bowie - 17:30) A bright light. A blinding painful light hit his eyes. Bowie let out a groan and covered his eyes. "How are you doing, Mr. Bowie?" a voice asked. "What? Oh, my head," Bowie complained. He felt the mother of all pain in his lower back, and another one in his head. Bowie's vision slowly cleared and he spotted Dr. Williams standing over him. "My lord, what happened to me, Doc?" Bowie asked. (reply Williams) "Ouch," Bowie replied, scratching his head. He sat up on the biobed. "What about the boarders? Did we push them back?" Scott asked. (reply Williams, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Hood - Temporary Crew Quarters - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:30) The briefing from the captain was the usual drone. Welcome to Starfleet. Stay out of trouble. Don't wander into classified areas. Be on call in case the science staff needs help since the ship is on Yellow Alert. Don't interfere with the crew. Don't interfere with the mission. So on so on add nausea. To his credit, the Hood's captain did not even bat an eye at the fact Serixs was a Gorn. More than likely the Captain had his own experience with the species. It was certainly blessed relief. Serixs had grown so tired of people being frightened by his appearance and it just got in the way of his work. It might come in handy though, considering the Captain warned him to be weary of the hazing rituals new officers went through. Once the briefing was done, Serixs returned to the quarters assigned to him, finding the smaller of his personal belongings piled up on the bed. Once the door to his quarters slid shut, he got out of his uniform jacket and tugged open the collar of his teal undershirt. For a moment, he pondered whether it would be possible to get his new captain to allow him a sleeveless undershirt variant. Such things can be determined later. Looking at the utilitarian quarters, he shook his head a moment. "Computer.." He started, waiting on the response before continuing. "Set local gravity to 1.4 G's, ambient temperature to 38 degrees Celsius, increase relative humidity by 18%, and decrease local lighting by 24%. It only took a moment for the computer to acknowledge and adjust the environment of his quarters to something he was more accustomed to. Once the temperature and lighting became comfortable, Serixs sat at the small desk and opened up the computer terminal. "Computer, display current mission of the USS Spectre." [That information is classified.] Figures. This close to the Neutral Zone, the Spectre was no doubt knee-deep in Romulans. "Display USS Spectre crew roster." This at least worked. The names scrolled up on the display, not showing anything out of the ordinary, though one name caught is eye. Jynea Kreung. The Spectre's new counsellor. An Orion and currently on the Hood herself. He might have to investigate that later. Out of curiosity, he pulled up the profile on the Spectre's First Officer before raising the ridge of one of his eyes. ~Well he certainly looks sure of himself.~ He thought, chuckling softly. It was a good sign. A confident First Officer and analytically minded Captain meant that the ship was well-commanded. He was satisfied by what he saw and got to his feet again. He made his way to the replicator, feeling better now that the gravity was heavier. "Coffee, Black." He snarled into the machine. One of the few vices he allowed himself while at the academy was Terran coffee. The doctors told him he should not drink much considering his lower metabolism, but he just could not resist the stuff. It only took a moment for the large mug to appear in the replicator slot. He took it, preparing to take a large swig when he noticed that what was in the mug was most certainly NOT coffee. It was far too thick and had an odd brown color. Not to mention that it had the disgustingly sweet smell of chocolate. "Computer what is this?" [Chocolate pudding.] That made Serixs snarl. He HATED the taste of chocolate, not to mention the enzymes and bacteria in it made him violently ill. "This is not what I ordered." [Affirmative] Serixs rubbed his eyes and shook his head again. He knew replicator tampering when he saw it. "Why was I not given coffee?" He asked finally. [You did not say the magic word.] The computer replied flatly to him. For a heartbeat, Serixs just stared at the replicator in disbelief. "SSRUSHAX!" He cursed at the replicator in his native tongue. [That is not the magic word.] The computer replied helpfully to him, which only drove his ire up a notch and caused his left eye to twitch with barely contained anger. "What is the 'magic word'?" He asked bitingly, hissing the whole time. He was tired and grouchy and he wanted his coffee NOW dammit! [Pretty please with sprinkles on top.] Someone was going to pay for this. Oh yes. "Give me black coffee now...pretty pleasssSssSSse with sSsSsSsSSSssprinklesSSS on top." He said to the replicator through clenched teeth. [You did not ask nicely.] That was the last straw. Murderous thoughts went through his reptilian brain, but he would need an accomplice. He looked at the Spectre's crew manifest once more, getting the location of Counsellor Kreung's quarters. If his replicator was misbehaving, hers probably was too. He tightened his collar and put his uniform jacket back on, then stepped out into the corridor once more, Starfleet issue mug of pudding in hand and a scowl on his face. (Reply Kreung, Any) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:32) "My lord, what happened to me, Doc?" Andrew smiled. "You were hit by phaser fire. It shattered a couple of the bones in your spine. We had to operate to repair them. You'll be a bit stiff and sore for a bit. Your corpsman did a very good job." "Ouch," He watched as Bowie sat up. He moved forward in case he became unsteady. "What about the boarders? Did we push them back?" "I gess so. the Captain called down so we should be on our way out of trouble. But your out of the fight for the moment until you back on your feet." (reply Bowie) (reply Bowie, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 17:33) "Sir?", said the communications officer with a somewhat quizzical look upon her face, "I'm receiving a transmission..it's...", she added stumbling slightly over her words now as she attempted to make some sense of the non standard format. The Captain turned to face the Lieutenant, his own face mirroring her confusion as he nodded towards her to indicate for her to elaborate. "Well quite frankly sir, I don't know what the hell it is", she added as she began running encryption algorithms on the transmission. "Is it ours?", asked the Captain, "Romulan?", he added. "No sir, neither....one moment sir, it's coming in now", said the Lieutenant. "Well I'll be damned, who'd have thought we'd run into them out here". The Captain simply raised an eyebrow in her direction as he awaited a more usable evaluation from the comms officer. "Well Lieutenant?", said the Captain..... "It's a Gorn vessel sir, they are answering our distress call & have entered Romulan space", said the communications officer. "They are on an intercept course & are signaling their intent to engage the Alpha sir", she added. The Captain looked decidedly puzzled at this & then settled slowly back into his chair, bringing the fingers of his hands together in contemplation as he did so. "Why would the Gorn be in Romulan space, are they even aware of what it is we are up against?", he asked rhetorically. "Lieutenant Vasilyovna, what is it's designation & under who's authority has it entered Romulan space?", he added addressing the question this time to the Security chief rather than to himself. "I have the source vessel on long range sensors now sir, it's a heavy battle cruiser, possibly Na'Shantaa class", said Vasilyovna. "The Federation database entry identifies it as Allosaur class, four plasma torpedo launchers, three forward one aft plus wing mounted disruptor type beam weapons", she added. "Sir....they are saying that their own Government has authorized this action", said the Communications officer jumping in to the conversation now with yet more information received. "Apparently, they have been informed that the Spectre must be protected at all costs", she added with just a hint of concern in her voice as to why they would be told that. "Interesting", said the Captain as he mused on the why's & wherefores of the notion that the 52nd may have possibly imparted confidential information to an outside species. It did not bear thinking about, even the ships of the 52nd fleet knew nothing of the Spectre's mission objectives, why would LoDona inform the Gorn of them? "I have no wish to bring another species into this mess & risk diplomatic relations", said the Captain. "Advise the Gorn vessel to return to the Neutral zone & await our arrival", said the Captain, "the Hood is the only vessel authorized by the 52nd to enter Romulan space", he added. "Aye sir", said the Communications Officer as she began to transmit the Captain's orders over the subspace net, a few moments later however she was shaking her head in clear disbelief at their obvious refusal to comply. "The Gorn vessel remains on an intercept course sir", said Vasilyovna preempting the Comms officers findings, "ETA fifty five minutes", she added. The Captain breathed deeply & then exhaled as he contemplated the Gorn tactics, the Zulu Alpha was no Bajoran barge, it was heavily armed & probably more than a match for the Gorn vessel & yet still they had refused to back off. What more could he do?..... "Very well Lieutenant, transmit the available tactical information on the Alpha to the Gorn vessel, if they are insisting on engaging then they had best be better informed at the very least", said the Captain. "Aye sir, transmitting all available tactical data now", said Vasilyovna, "ETA of the Alpha is now one hour & nineteen minutes....the Gorn Vessel will be with us in fifty three minutes sir", she added. "Understood, what is our overall operational & repair status now?", said the Captain. "Shields are at fifty four percent & rising, decks six & nine are being attended by Engineering workcrews as we speak", said Yelena. "The Marines are reporting that our boarding situation seems to be under control & they have returned to the task of finding the missing torpedo warhead &.....Mr H'Chir has yet to be found sir", said Yelena pausing briefly before adding the last part of her report. "Mr H'Chir is the least of our worries now Lieutenant", said the Captain, "assign extra security details to finding that warhead & have someone sent down to sickbay", he added before turning to Desoto who had remained on the bridge throughout despite her injury. "Ensign Desoto, report to sickbay immediately, have someone attend to that wound", said the Captain. "Aye sir....thank you sir", said Desoto as she gave up her Engineering console to a nearby officer & entered the turbolift. (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Hood - Science Department - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:33) Ssarumon had just about made it to the Counsellor's quarters when the Hood went from Yellow to Red alert. So much for stringing a crewman up by his entrails. His reptilian mind switched from thoughts of revenge to strictly business. There was only one place for him to be and that was the Science Lab. The room was buzzing with activity. The lower level Science crew were busying feeding information to the CSO up on the bridge. All of them were focused on trying to find something, anything, that might buy the Spectre a few more precious minutes to. The tension was high and they knew that as soon as they made the rendezvous, there would likely be a battle. "Is there anything I can do to assist?" He asked the Assistant CSO, a Vulcan whom he had not met. "Move to that console over there and begin scanning for stellar bodies in the vicinity of the USS Spectre." The Vulcan told him coolly. "What is occurring, sir?" Serixs asked, moving to the console and bringing up the sensors for that area. "The Spectre is en route to rendezvous with us at high warp. She is being pursued by another Federation vessel that is intent to destroy her." The Vulcan told him, then looked at his sensor readings again. "Captain T'Vhor has issued a general distress signal. In addition, the Gorn vessel that dropped you off has crossed the Neutral Zone and is moving to intercept in response to that signal." ~What is a Federation ship doing in the middle of Romulan space being chased by another Federation ship?~ Serixs thought to himself. Moreover, what did his government know that they were willing to sacrifice a ship and its crew to protect. This is all damn odd. "I cannot say whether my government knows anything or not. I can say that information can be bought, so long as someone in the know has a price." Ssarumon hissed, scanning the space in the vicinity of the Spectre and her pursuer, almost as if to answer the unasked question. "It is also possible that, given the information, the Fleet Command deduced that the Spectre was on a highly important mission that could have massive repercussions." "We cannot speculate at this time, Ensign." The vulcan told him. "Have you found anything?" Ssarumon nodded, pulling up the data. "There is a Mutara class Nebula less than a lightyear from the Spectre's current position." He considered. "It's a distance, but if they can evade this other vessel long enough, they might be able to hide there until the Allosaur arrives. The Spectre would be without shields and active sensors, but likely so would her attacker." The Vulcan ACSO, a Lt (JG) looked at his readings and shook his head. "The distance is too great." The Vulcan stated. "Likely Captain T'Vhor has seen that nebula as well. The enemy vessel is faster and is gaining on them, so they would likely not make it there in time. Is there anything else?" "Not in the vicinity, sir." Ssarumon started. "Nothing that is less than five lightyears." "Then we must hope that the Gorn can distract the enemy vessel long enough for the Spectre to make the rendezvous." the ACSO said. "In your opinion, Ensign, what are the chances that the Gorn can disable a vessel of this class?" He added, pulling up what very limited information on the Zulu Alpha the Hood had. It was enough though, and it was disheartening to the Gorn. "The Ssshrussa is not maneuverable enough to counter that." he said. "She might get a few hard shots off if her Plasma Torpedos are already armed, but she would be blasted to scrap before she could reload." Ssarumon sat in a chair. His government had sent that vessel on an apparent suicide run in order to protect the Spectre. There was a chance they would survive, but it was slim. "They might be able to draw the fire away from the Spectre, if the enemy vessel's captain is easily scared." "What do you mean?" the Vulcan asked. "Captain Zernix will tune her shields and use her tractor beams to bounce the enemy vessel as much as possible. She will attempt to keep the vessel off balance until she can bring weapons to bear." He considered. "This would mean getting dangerously close and the potential for damage to the Ssshrussa is high." "I will advise the Chief Science Officer." The ACSO told him. "Keep searching for any stellar bodies or planets." "Aye sir." Ssarumon said, then turned back to looking through the sensor data. (reply Any) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:40) Andrew moved away from Bowie and started to cross sickbay. He saw O’Harper working on a patient. He did not want to appear that he could not trust O’Harper by rushing over and taking over. ~He will ask for help if he wants it~ He walked over to the EMH and motioned for him to speak to him in private. “How is he doing?” “Lieutenant Rogers is doing well. He is very lucky to only have a few bumps and bruises.” Andrew nodded to the EMH and stepped over to Rogers. “How are you doing Mr Rogers?” (reply Rogers) (reply Rogers, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - FO - Lt. Brian Rogers - 17:43) Brian didn't like the feeling of laying in Sickbay. He felt like everything was passing him by outside those doors. Especially during his first mission with his new ship, although it felt like he had been on the Spectre forever. He took a long breath and felt a slight tingling pain in his lungs, an after effect from being exposed to space, the EMH informed him. The blood vessels in his hands had burst, causing a nasty collection of scars. Dr. Williams came over, "How are you doing, Mr. Rogers?" he asked. "Okay, I suppose," Rogers started, before a quick coughing fit. "Did the Marine pilot survive?" Rogers asked? (reply Williams) Brian nodded with the news. "When can I return to duty? I should be on the bridge," he said. (reply Williams, any) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 17:45) "Did the Marine pilot survive?" "Its going to be touch and go. Dr O'Harper is working on him now." "When can I return to duty? I should be on the bridge," Andrew smiled mentally to himself. ~Geez you would almost think they did not like sickbay~ "Now if you feel up to it but come back if you feel unwell." “Damn it.” Andrew looked quickly over at O’Harper who was still working on his patient. "Would you excuse me." He quickly went over to O'Harper. “What’s the matter Dr O’Harper?” “He’s got deep burns over his upper body, which has also scorched his lungs. As well as that his body is shutting down due to the lack of fluids and his brain has been starved from oxygen for to long.” He pointed to the scans. Andrew looked at them and understood exactly what O’Harper was saying. He looked at O’Harper. ~You’re his Doctor~ “What do you want to do now?” O’Harper shrugged. “I can infuse him with fluids and repair his alveoli but I don’t think its going to work. He’s been starved of oxygen for to long. What do you think I should do?” “You’re his doctor. Do what you think is right. Tell me later what you decide when you give me the report.” He knew that he was putting O’Harper in a horrible situation. The loss of a patient was always hard but it was an occupation hazard. It still hit him hard every time it happened to him. He could only do is best, he was not god. This was something O’Harper had to find out for himself. Andrew turned and headed for his office he had to write his report to the captain. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Hood - Bridge - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:45) Serixs stepped off the Turbolift to the bridge of the USS Hood. In the middle of his scans of the sector of Romulan space that the Spectre and the Zulu Alpha had occupied, Captain Teleko ordered the Gorn to the bridge. He was not sure but he suspected that it had to do with the Ssshrussa violating the Neutral Zone and making an attack run at the vessel chasing the Spectre. The Bridge was buzzing with activity as crewmen moved from station to station, trying to keep up with the events that were unfolding. Tension was high, nerves were raw, and the threat of engagement had changed from a probability to a reality. Ssarumon moved around in front of the Captain's chair, meeting the gaze of the older officer. The Gorn had learned to judge the expressions of other species, and he could tell that this particular officer was not pleased in the least. "Ensign Ssarumon reporting as ordered, Captain." Serixs began, doing his best to stand straight. This was something new. For all his size, he could easily physically overpower anyone else on this crew, but under the Captain's glare he was withering like a new cadet. "Ensign..." The Captain began. "As I am sure you are aware of, the GDV Sssharussa has crossed the Neutral Zone and is en route to the USS Spectre's position." "I am aware, sir." Ssarumon answered. He had seen the information on his scans. "Are you aware as to why, Ensign?" Captain Teleko asked him. Ssarumon thought and thought as to what the Gorn ship was doing. All he knew is that they intended to engage the Zulu Alpha directly. "No sir." He said finally in defeat. He could not be sure, but it felt like all eyes were on him. Captain Teleko took a deep breath, gathering his words before continuing. "The presence of the Gorn in this matter represents a random element in an already chaotic situation." The Captain told him. "This is something we had hoped to avoid. Do you understand this, Ensign." "Yes sir." Ssarumon answered. "We have been trying for over fifteen minutes to hail the Sssharussa with no luck as she is not answering us." He peered at the Gorn sternly. "Against the vessel attacking the Spectre, she is out-classed. I want you to try to get through to Captain Zernix and talk some sense into her. At the very least, ascertain why they have crossed the Neutral Zone in a matter that does not concern the Gorn." "Sir, if the Sssharussa is not answering hails.." Ssarumon began, then the captain cut him off. "Perhaps if one of her own people try to establish contact, she'll be more willing to answer, Ensign." Captain Teleko told him. "Yes sir." Ssarumon said finally, then moved to the communications console. He thought for a moment. There's no way to mask the Federation frequency as coming from another Gorn vessel, so that was out of the question. Perhaps if he used his old security codes as a prefix to the hail it would make a difference. Granted his codes were superseded a long time ago, but at least the Gorn captain would know that it was a Gorn attempting to contact her. He keyed in the sequence, then broadcast the security code to the Sssharussa. There was a brief moment of dead awkward silence from the console before it finally acknowledged his message. The Gorn vessel was finally responding in the native dialect. "Sir," Ssarumon started. "The Sssharussa is ignoring orders to withdrawal." He thought about how best to translate the message. "Captain Zernix states that they are under orders from Gorn Fleet Command to engage the attacking vessel and safeguard the USS Spectre." "Any reason why, Ensign." The Captain asked. "No Sir." Serixs began. "The information is classified level Red." He growled quietly. "They are aware of the superior maneuverability of the enemy vessel, but are continuing with the assault. ETA to intercept is twenty-two minutes." "Damn stubborn Gorn." The Captain said rhetorically. "Sir." the Tactical officer started. "The information we have indicates that the Zulu Alpha is equipped with regenerative shielding, which is why she was able to take so much punishment from the Spectre." "If that is the case.." Ssarumon added. "Then a full volley of Enveloping Plasma Torpedos might be able to overload the Regenerative system and knock out the enemy's shields." Ssarumon pulled up the Schematics for the Allosaur class cruiser and rubbed his chin. "They would need to be at close range and at full power, but it may just work." "Explain." The Captain ordered of Serixs. Now a plan was starting to form and perhaps the Gorn's presence would not be a detriment. He gave it a moment of thought, then prepared his brief on Gorn weaponry to the Captain. "Sir." Ssarumon started. "Enveloping Plasma Torpedos have the ability to condense damage along all of an enemy's shields simultaneously." He rubbed his chin again. "If the Sssharussa is able to fire all of her torpedos in EPT mode and score a hit, it would likely damage the regenerative system trying to compensate. Not to mention the high levels of theta radiation that the vessel's hull would be permeated with." "The Zulu Alpha would be without shields then, for a time." Captain Teleko finished. "That would make them think twice about continuing to attack the Spectre." He turned and looked directly at Ssarumon. "Get Captain Zernix on screen. Tell her we have a plan." He ordered. Ssarumon nodded and began relaying it to the Sssharussa. After a moment, the viewscreen filled with the image of the Gorn female poised in her command chair like a snake ready to strike. ~Perhaps something good would come of this after all.~ Ssarumon thought to himself while the two captains prepared. (reply any,none) (posted by Don Jones) (IRW DihVhael - Commanders Ready Room - Lomax - 17:50) The Romulan Commander was now seated in a comfortable looking leather chair, his fingers pressed together as he contemplated the events that had brought this unusual man to them. Lomax of course said nothing, his face now bore the signs of a man that had been beaten harshly, his lip twisted & split apart at the point where it now exposed a section of ragged gum by way of a Romulan officers boot heel. He had led them a merry dance though that much was for sure, his skills at avoidance had been second to none & the Romulans of course had not faired well either. Six of them were now being tended in the DihVhael's sickbay as a direct result of this one man, one of them had been critical in fact but the Romulan medic had pulled him back from the brink twice now before he had finally managed to stabilize him. How Lomax had actually managed to beam himself aboard the Warbird was a subject that now preoccupied Talok's meandering thoughts to the extreme. One could only guess that he had possessed something of a highly specialized nature that enabled him to take advantage of the phaze variance of the Warbirds shield rotations, as they shifted in battle with Ryan's vessel. It was neither here nor there though of course, he was here now & kneeling upon the floor, his wrists manacled behind him with heavy steel clasps as Talok surveyed him cautiously, as one would regard a dangerous animal. "So are you ready to talk now", said the Romulan, "or do I pass you back to the guards for more games", he added wryly. Lomax sighed heavily & then lifted his head to face the taunting voice once more. "Name, Lomax, Rank, Lieutenant Commander, serial number 895-40-2969084....attached to subcomp...........". "Silence!", cried Talok as he rose up & out of his chair to step towards the kneeling man, "I know your rank, I know your serial number, I know your attachment & I even know your mothers maiden name", said Talok, "tell me something I don't know", he added. Lomax just broke into a smile at the Romulans words & his obviously escalating impatience, clearly he was formulating an answer of a sort but the Commander had hardly expected the one he now chose. He had simply pursed his lips together & then gazed up at the ceiling before speaking, then he went on to antagonize the Romulan Commander further. "I know how to make lemon merangue pie, do you know how to make a lemon merangue pie Commander Talok?", said Lomax much to the Romulan's displeasure as he turned about sharply & shouted to the guards outside. "Take him back down below", said Talok, "when he is ready to talk sense instead of cookery, we will speak again", he added just as the two Romulans hoisted him by the arms & dragged him from the room. Lomax turned his head back briefly to look at the Romulan where he stood as they dragged him away. Then he made yet another statement. "I know Ryan's true agenda Talok", said Lomax, "I know what it is that he is up to & why he wishes to destroy the Spectre" Talok froze in mid stare, Lomax's words hung in the air as he contemplated them, then he turned about just as the man was seen to be disappearing through the door under the steam of the two Romulan guards. "Wait!", cried Talok moving slowly across the room now towards the now exhausted man. "Tell me why", said Talok, "tell me what you know of this dishonourable human scum", he added expressing the fact that he couldn't even bear to mention Ryan's name now. Lomax's battered expression changed again as he broke into yet another smile. "I'm assuming that we are about to get under way again Commander", said Lomax, "the Alpha dealt your ship a cruel blow did it not & I'm sure you might wish to repay that act in a likewise manner", he added. Talok had grown weary of the games & he advanced abruptly towards the man now, clearly he was at his wits end over Ryan & his ship for the Zulu Alpha's CO had indeed inflicted heavy damage upon them, revenge would indeed be sweet. "Give me Ryan & you will not have to go back to that cage again", said Talok, his eyes glaring now at the very thought of the man they had spoken of. Lomax closed his eyes briefly & then allowed himself to go limp in the guards arms as he struggled to find any strength left within his battered & bruised body. "Avail me of your sickbay Commander, allow me to make contact with my superiors & you will have Ryan", said Lomax. Talok fell silent as he looked into Lomax's eyes as though searching for some semblance of any truth within them, he had been fooled once already by the Human Ryan, dare he trust Lomax now? His ship was only just coming back online, such was the damage it had endured. The quantum singularity drive was now fully operational again & the damage they had sustained was now livable once more, if he was to find Ryan & face him again then he needed to move now. What did he have to lose from trusting this man... "Very well", said the Romulan Commander, "I am not an unreasonable individual....perhaps we can find a common ground after all", he added turning to face one of the viewing ports that looked out onto the vast tapestry of space all around them. "One condition Mr Lomax", said Talok in a quiet, although unnervingly controlled voice. "you make contact with your superiors after you have given us assistance.....not until", he added. Lomax quirked his head to one side, then he agreed to the condition that had been made. "I scratch your back, you scratch mine uh?", he said with a smile. The sentiment was lost on the Romulan of course, Humanisms had never curried favour with him & he wasn't about to change now. "Get him cleaned up", said the Romulan as he continued to look out at the stars with hands clasped behind him. "Then we will talk".... (Reply none) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 17:55) "Sir, I have a scrambled incoming communication from the Hood, access codes are confirmed & logged", said Vasilyovna. "Put it on the viewer Lieutenant", said the Captain & the face of the Hood's CO quickly appeared on their viewscreen. "Captain Teleko, it's been a while", said T'Vhor, "I trust this is not a hospitality call", he added. =/\=Most definitely not Captain....there have been some... well, some developments=/\=, said Teleko pausing mid sentence as though unsure now of just how to describe the situation regarding the Gorn. =/\=No doubt you are aware that there is a Gorn vessel on an intercept to your current location & that it intends to engage the Alpha directly=/\=, said Teleko. Captain T'Vhor nodded once to confirm the assumption, then he elaborated upon it verbally. "We have it on long range sensors, it has been advised to return to the Neutral zone but it remains on it's present course", said T'Vhor. =/\=Well, we had a little difficulty hailing her but we managed to contact the ship via one of her own, an Ensign Ssarumon, one of your new crew transfers no less=/\=, said Teleko extending his hand to his left as though beckoning someone to come forwards. The Gorn officer, dressed in Starfleet uniform of Science colours appearing at his side was certainly an unexpected sight to the Spectre's CO, & one which was to cause a typically Vulcan expression to appear upon his face. The quizzical raised eyebrow however did not cause the Vulcan hybrid to appear offguard in the slightest. "I was not aware of this transfer", said the Captain, "we were told to expect a new Councellor only, an Ensign Kreung", he added. =/\=It's only just come down the line Captain, we were ordered to rendezvous with the Gorn Vessel Ssshrussa to pick him up, so, assuming that we get out of this mess, he's your new science officer=/\=, said Teleko. =/\=But anyway, Ensign Ssarumon has informed us of a contingency that may just give you an edge over the Alpha, I'll let him explain it to you himself=/\= Captain Teleko then allowed the Gorn to speak. (Reply Ssarumon) The Spectre's CO listened to the plan intently, the EPT's would definitely give them a distinct advantage but it was still a long shot & one which relied entirely upon the Ssshrussa getting close enough to the Zulu Alpha to execute it's plan, without being blown to pieces. "The Ssshrussa's helmsman would need expert timing to perform the maneuvers correctly Ensign, computer course corrections would be required at the very least & the Alpha would have to be otherwise engaged the moment the EPT's were launched", said the Captain. (Reply Ssarumon) "I'm sure we will be in a position to be able to keep her busy Ensign, our shields however are not at maximum efficiency so any plan must be quickly & precisely executed", said the Captain. (Reply Ssarumon) Captain T'Vhor nodded appropriately & then addressed the Hood's CO once again. "Captain Teleko, has the Ssshrussa's Captain been briefed on this also?", said T'Vhor, "any precise plan involving more than one vessel on an attack run will only be as good as the communications existing between them", he added. "Are they prepared to tie in any telemetry & comms data to our own?", he asked. =/\=Don't worry, it's in hand. The Gorn Captain has been informed, all available data has been made available to them & they will, according to Ensign Ssarumon, assist you in any way you require=/\= said Teleko. "Understood Captain, I'll contact you again when the Ssshrussa has arrived", said T'Vhor moving to cut the transmission, but then stopping just briefly to return his gaze towards the viewscreen. "Ensign Ssarumon, I look forwards to welcoming you aboard the Spectre in person", said T'Vhor. (Reply Ssarumon) "Until then, T'Vhor out".... The viewscreen then returned to the familiar warp star vista as they continued on their current course heading. (Reply Ssarumon, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Hood - Bridge - Ensign(JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 17:55) Serixs remained off to the side for the time while Captain Teleko spoke with Captain T'Vhor. This was the first time he'd seen his future CO in more than just an outdated image in the personnel profile, and he could tell he would work well with this one. A Vulcan. Of all the races the Gorn respected and admired, the Vulcans, with their cool detached logic, were high among them. Once he had made it to the Spectre, he would have to speak to the Captain in person. Of course, the Spectre had to survive her imminent re-encounter with the Zulu Alpha for that to happen. That, of course, was why he was here. "Well, we had a little difficulty hailing her but we managed to contact the ship via one of her own, an Ensign Ssarumon, one of your new crew transfers no less." said Teleko extending his hand to his left towards Serixs, much to the Gorn's surprise. He stepped forward into view of Captain T'Vhor. He nodded his head slight in greeting to the Captain, but otherwise remained silent. =/\=I was not aware of this transfer=/\=, said the Captain, =/\=we were told to expect a new Counsellor only, an Ensign Kreung=/\=, he added. "It's only just come down the line Captain, we were ordered to rendezvous with the Gorn Vessel Ssshrussa to pick him up, so, assuming that we get out of this mess, he's your new science officer", said Teleko. "But anyway, Ensign Ssarumon has informed us of a contingency that may just give you an edge over the Alpha, I'll let him explain it to you himself." Captain Teleko turned his head to Serixs and again it felt like all eyes were on him. One thing he had promised himself before even getting into this program was that he would not be the center of attention. Much to his chagrin, though, that is exactly what happened, and it made him more than a little uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he did have information and he needed to impart it to Captain T'Vhor. "Sir." Serixs began. "The GDV Ssshrussa is equipped with type-R plasma torpedo launchers, as I am sure you are aware. These can be set to an enveloping mode that would allow each Torpedo to damage all of the target's shields simultaneously." He took a breath and thought for a moment, trying to decide how best to word his explanation. "If she were to score a direct hit with all of her weapons at in quick succession, it would likely cause severe damage to the Regenerative Shielding that the Zulu Alpha employs while trying to compensate for the plasma damage. At best, the shielding would be destroyed. More likely, however, it will be temporarily rendered offline which would allow the Spectre and the Ssshrussa to score a great deal of direct damage before the shields are brought up again. The Zulu Alpha will also be permeated with Theta Radiation, giving her position away to any vessel with long-range sensor capabilities, such as the Romulans. Of course, Captain, the Gorn vessel is not as maneuverable as either the Spectre or the Zulu Alpha. The Spectre's CO listened to the plan intently, the EPT's would definitely give them a distinct advantage but it was still a long shot & one which relied entirely upon the Ssshrussa getting close enough to the Zulu Alpha to execute it's plan, without being blown to pieces. =/\=The Ssshrussa's helmsman would need expert timing to perform the maneuvers correctly Ensign, computer course corrections would be required at the very least & the Alpha would have to be otherwise engaged the moment the EPT's were launched=/\=, said the Captain. "Yes sir." Ssarumon replied. "That is a factor of risk in this plan. The Zulu Alpha will need to be distracted in order for the Ssshrussa to gain a firing posture. It would be necessary for the Spectre to directly engage the vessel and draw its fire or otherwise prevent it from tearing the Gorn to pieces." =/\=I'm sure we will be in a position to be able to keep her busy Ensign, our shields however are not at maximum efficiency so any plan must be quickly & precisely executed=/\=, said the Captain. "Agreed. I do not know her personally sir." Serixs said to Captain T'Vhor. "However I have observed how Captain Zernix operates her ship. She is efficient and highly intelligent, as is her crew. She will not fail you." Captain T'Vhor nodded appropriately & then addressed the Hood's CO once again. Serixs took a deep breath once more. He hoped he was right about the Gorn Captain. He'd seen her operate under more overwhelming situations thing this, but under fire, one can never be too sure. He remained quiet while the two COs discussed the plans further. He needed to believe that this would work. Though he had not stepped for on it, the Spectre was his ship and it was in imminent danger. Being trapped here while his ship was in trouble was, to say the least, highly frustrating. Serixs was snapped from his reverie when Captain T'Vhor addressed him once more. =/\=Ensign Ssarumon, I look forwards to welcoming you aboard the Spectre in person=/\=, said T'Vhor. Serixs nodded his response. "I look forward to that as well, Captain." he said. =/\=Until then, T'Vhor out.=/\= The image of the Spectre's CO was replaced by the starfield. With a deep sigh, Serixs nodded to Captain Teleko who had dismissed him to return to the Science lab and offer assistance there. Every little bit helped now. Quietly, he stepped onto the turbolift, lost in his thoughts for the time being. He had not been this tense since Sobek. (reply any,none) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 18:35) "Sir, I have the Gorn vessel closing on our position now, she's at alert status, weapons are armed & ready", said the Tactical chief turning to face the Captain. "I would say she's definitely looking for a fight sir", said Vasilyovna with the slightest of smiles. "Hail them", said the Captain abruptly. "Aye sir, opening a channel......Captain Zernix is responding", said the Communications officer just as the imposing features of the Gorn Captain appeared on their viewscreen. "Captain Zernix, please accept my greetings to you on behalf of my crew & the Federation", said the Captain, "I feel it's best though if we didn't spend too much time on pleasantries right now....time of course, is of the essence", he added. (Reply Zernix) The Captain turned briefly towards his TAC/SC for a moment & she immediately offered the desired information. "The Alpha will reach us in approximately twenty minutes sir", said Vasilyovna as she ran her fingers across her board drawing up further information on the incoming hostile. "One moment sir.....", she added, her brow furrowing slightly as she began reading off a sudden course correction. "The Alpha has changed course & speed sir, they have come to heading three one four mark two zero.....they are going after the Gorn vessel!", said Vasilyovna with more than just a little insistence in her voice. Had the Alpha's CO encountered Gorn weaponry before perhaps? Either way he had just made the Ssharussa a priority..... Captain T'Vhor immediately began entering commands into the armrest of his chair, then he addressed the helm directly. "Helm, come to heading three one zero, mark twelve, slow to warp seven", said the Captain. "Aye sir", said the helmsman. "Heading is now three one zero, mark twelve, slowing to warp seven", he added. "Captain Zernix", said T'Vhor addressing the Gorn Captain once again, "the Alpha is now an an intercept with your vessel, we have corrected our own course to place the Spectre between you & them", he added as he again began performing calculations via his armrest console. (Reply Zernix, IYW) "I would suggest you now drop out off warp & come to a full stop, once the Zulu Alpha is within firing range we will attempt to engage them at warp to slow their advance", said the Captain. (Reply Zernix) "I am aware of this Captain, my calculations show us as engaging the hostile approximately twelve seconds before our arrival at your location, we will drop out of warp & take a course heading that will take us immediately to your port aspect.", said the Vulcan hybrid CO. "If I'm right, the Alpha will alter course accordingly giving you an optimal firing solution for a strike at her most vulnerable aspect.....her underbelly", said the Captain. (Reply Zernix) "We shall see", said T'Vhor, "Time will tell & time tells no lies", he added. "Contact in ten minutes, stand by Captain Zernix, Spectre out". NRPG: More to follow.... (Reply Zernix, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (GDV Ssshrussa - Bridge - Captain Zernix - 18:35) "Captain. We are approaching the USS Spectre's position." the First Officer, Krusse, said to his CO. He had been monitoring the position of all of the ships involved in this engagement that he could, making sure to keep Captain Zernix informed. "Excellent." Zernix responded, arching her fingers in front of her snout as she looked upon the starfield streaking by on the viewscreen. "What is our status?" "The torpedo room reports that all tubes are on hot standby and ready to fire on command." Krusse began. "A second battery is ready for reload and can be fired twenty seconds after the first." The captain nodded her head for him to continue. "Shields are at full. Disruptor cannons are at optimal level." He looked through his list of reports, getting the most important out of the way first. "The Engine Room reports primary and secondary warp cores are at full power." "Position of the Zulu Alpha?" Captain Zernix asked next. "Approaching the Spectre at maximum warp." Krusse responded. As soon as they were sent the tactical information on the thing, he studied it as much as possible given the time he had. It was a powerful ship, that much was certain. Far more powerful than the Ssshrussa. Their shielding, though, was the weakness. He knew that much. "Captain..." The communications officer piped in. "We are being hailed by the Spectre." "On screen." Captain Zernix said, letting out a low hiss. She arched the ridge of one of her eyes when she saw the face looking back at her. The Vulcan lineage was unmistakable. =/\=Captain Zernix, please accept my greetings to you on behalf of my crew & the Federation=/\=, Captain T'Vhor, =/\=I feel it's best though if we didn't spend too much time on pleasantries right now....time of course, is of the essence=/\=, he added. The voice coming through the Gorn translation matrix was hollow and mechanical in its hissing connotations. Gorn UTs were notoriously inferior to Federation models, but it was sufficient for the job. "Agreed Captain. We can leave such distractions for after we are all finished with this fiasco." Zernix said to the Vulcan. "What is your status?" She asked harshly. Her demeanor was neither friendly, nor unfriendly. It was all business at this point. She watched as the Captain simply turned his head and his crew knew exactly what he wanted. Such is the manner and mark of a good officer. =/\="The Alpha will reach us in approximately twenty minutes sir", one of the crew on the Spectre's bridge said, but Zernix could tell a moment later by the female's expression that something had changed. =/\="One moment sir....."The Alpha has changed course & speed sir, they have come to heading three one four mark two zero.....they are going after the Gorn vessel!=/\= Darting her head around, the Gorn captain looked at her first officer who was busy getting the same readings. "Confirmed." Krusse said. "They are incoming at maximum warp." Captain Zernix shot a long look at her weapons officer. "Get the Zulu Alpha on sensors and begin your calculations for a firing solution. I want one before they arrive." The weapons officer acknowledged. "Helm, bring us to a heading of three-three-three-mark-seven-two. I want best line of sight at the enemy. We will shove those torpedos right down his putrid throat." =/\Captain Zernix,=/\= Captain T'Vhor said on the viewscreen, snapping the Gorn CO's attention back to her new ally. =/\=the Alpha is now an an intercept with your vessel, we have corrected our own course to place the Spectre between you & them.=/\= "We have the data, Captain." Zernix said to her counterpart on the Spectre. "We are putting ourselves into position to fire upon the Zulu Alpha as soon as it is within weapons range. We are on course at warp 8.5" =/\=I would suggest you now drop out off warp & come to a full stop, once the Zulu Alpha is within firing range we will attempt to engage them at warp to slow their advance.=/\= "Understood, Captain T'Vhor." the Gorn CO said. "Do I need to remind you, though, that your vessel is still damaged and no match for that thing." She hissed. She hated waiting around while others were in harms way, especially the target her ship had been designated to protect. "You could be torn to pieces while we simply sit here." =/\=I am aware of this Captain, my calculations show us as engaging the hostile approximately twelve seconds before our arrival at your location, we will drop out of warp & take a course heading that will take us immediately to your port aspect.=/\= Captain T'Vhor said. In quiet response, the Gorn captain just hissed. Damn Vulcan logic. =/\=If I'm right, the Alpha will alter course accordingly giving you an optimal firing solution for a strike at her most vulnerable aspect.....her underbelly=/\= "Understood." Zernix said, then looked at her helmsman. "All Stop and hold position." She commanded, then looked at Captain T'Vhor once more. "We will have a firing solution before the Zulu Alpha arrives. As soon as you get her to turn, we will strike." She hissed once more and stood from her command chair, coming to her full imposing height. "We will be ready." She snarled. "I only hope that whatever it is that you are carrying is worth the risk." =/\=We shall see=/\=, said T'Vhor, =/\=Time will tell & time tells no lies. Contact in ten minutes, stand by Captain Zernix. Spectre out.=/\= Zernix hissed again and walked to her Helmsman, standing up behind him. "Are we in position?" She hissed. "Yes Captain." the helmsman responded. "We have best line of sight to the Zulu Alpha." Captain Zernix looked over at her weapons officer. "As soon as the Zulu Alpha presents her underside, I want those torpedos in space." She then looked at the helm once more. "As soon as the Torpedos from the forward launchers are away, I want to coast the Ssshrussa in their wake, matching their speed. That will mask us from weapons lock by the Zulu Alpha's sensors. Once we are within two-hundred meters, bring us hard to port and fire the aft torpedo targeting the enemy's engines." She then looked at the Weapons officer once more. "Have the second reload for the forward tubes readied the moment we fire, then once the enemy's shields are at their weakest, fire disruptors to keep them busy until the torpedo tubes are ready again." She looked out at the starfield once more and clicked her teeth in anticipation. "I have always wanted to engage a Federation vessel." Krusse said, barely masking his excitement at the prospect. "No." The captain added. "We are not to destroy her." She hissed and moved to her chair again. "Our mission is to protect the Spectre. The best we should hope with the Zulu Alpha is to disable her ability to go to warp." She looked at the Tactical officer. "If the Spectre comes under fire once the Zulu Alpha is disabled, I want you to get a tractor beam on her." She then looked at the helm once more. "Once the tractor is secure, get us to Federation Space at best possible speed." "And if we are unsuccessful, Captain?" Krusse asked, knowing that this was a contingency that had to be planned for. "Then we will Tractor the Alpha and ram her until she is destroyed." The entire Bridge went dead silent at that command, though they knew that when they were ordered to protect the Spectre at all costs, that is exactly what it meant. "You have your orders, and we have a job to do. Let us get to it." She snapped and sat in her chair once more, again assuming the posture she had before with her fingers arched before her snout. (reply Any) (Posted by Don Jones) (IRW DihVael - Bridge - Commander Talok & Tal'Shiar Officer N'Alae - 18:36) The Warbird had been operational again for over an hour now & it was making good time in it's progress towards the sensor readings of the Alpha as it pursued the fleeing Federation starship. Talok had been musing somewhat on being stung so abruptly by the Human Commander he had so wrongly put his trust in, the truth of the matter however was that any threat to the Romulan homeworld could not be taken lightly & as such, the Romulan Commander had been justified in his actions. What if the Federation vessel had intended to carry out the mission that had been implied by Ryan? That of course did not bear thinking about & as he returned to the bridge from his ready room, his thoughts now were only of retribution on the vessel that had dealt his ship such a fierce & unforgiving blow. "Report", said Talok. "Ryan's vessel is on course towards the neutral zone commander, she closes on the Spectre as we speak", said the Tactical officer. Talok paused at the report & raised a hand to grip lightly at his chin as he contemplated matters further. Then he addressed N'Alae directly. "What are YOUR recommendations N'Alae", he asked guardedly, "how would the Tal'Shiar have us proceed now?" The Tal'Shiar officer had been mildly taken aback at the Commander asking her advice now, so far this entire mission had been one contradiction after another, Talok had his own agenda of course & N'Alae sported an entirely different one but in so saying, each of them still had Romulus as their overall priority, that much was evident. N'Alae simply turned about in her chair to gaze at the Romulan commander. "I would annihilate them both", said N'Alae calmly, "remove both Ryan's ship & the Federation vessel without a single hesitation", she added. "That is after all the only way we can be sure of the safety of the homeworld", said N'Alae. "And if we are wrong?", said Talok abruptly, "do you wish an all out war with the Federation over the destruction of one of it's ships?", he asked. N'Alae stood & moved from her chair towards the step that led down towards the Commanders chair, then she moved slowly around to face him directly with her usual smug countenance. "If the safety of Romulus depended upon it then yes", said N'Alae, "without a doubt....annihilate them, remove them from the universe", she added, her expression one of clear disgust at the very mention of the Humans & their overt expansion throughout the Alpha quadrant & beyond. "And you would risk this ship & crew to do this, perhaps even your own life?", said Talok looking her directly in the eye now to gauge her response. The Tal'Shiar officer didn't even blink, her answer was there immediately. "Without a doubt Commander, I swore an oath as a member of the Tal'Shiar to do whatever was necessary in order to ensure the protection of Romulus & her people", said N'Alae moving away now & back towards her console. Then with a flick of her hand in the direction of the viewscreen, she repeated her assessment of the situation. "They are in Romulan space, destroy them both, be done with it now", she cried, "or do you not have the stomach or an ounce of loyal Romulan blood left within your veins Commander?", she added, her words tinged as they were with spite. Talok's response however was cut short in an instance as the Tactical officer began reporting on further developments ahead of them. "I have another vessel closing fast on the other ships location Commander, she bears no discernible identification", said the TAC officer as he began fine tuning his sensors to gain more information on what exactly was happening. "Heavy cruiser configuration, disruptor weapons & torpedo launchers......it's a Gorn vessel Commander", said the Romulan. "Gorn?", said Talok, "what are the Gorn doing here, why would they be........." The Commanders question however was again cut short in an instance as the Tactical officer began firing off reports concerning weapons fire. "I am reading multiple torpedo detonations, phazer discharge also, Ryan has engaged the Federation vessel Commander", said the Tactical officer. Talok frowned & then sat back hard into his chair, it was clear he felt frustrated now at still not having caught up with his rather slippery prey, already they were pushing the engines to their limits & yet still they were looking at at least thirty minutes to contact. "Maximum emergency warp, get us to that ship as soon as possible", cried Talok, "run the quantum singularity drive into near meltdown if need be but get us there now", he added. The bridge crew exchanged glances of concern over their actions & their need for more thorough repair time, but N'Alae simply smiled & then filed yet another of her odious reports on the Warbird's Commmander. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (Zulu Alpha - Bridge - CO - Commander Marco Ryan - 18:48) Ryan sighed and cleared the sweat from his brow. This meaningless battle had gone on for several hours now, thanks to those damn Romulans. Several minutes ago, when they had found a Gorn ship inbound, Ryan had sworn he wouldn't let anybody else interfere with his quarry. He pulled away from the other two ships and altered his course to attack the Gorn. Of course, he had a personal vendetta against the backwards green-skinned Neanderthals. Early in his Starfleet career, while fighting for Admiral Doenitz' crack fighter squadron, his wing had been dispatched to eliminate a group of Gorn traders that was hurting Doenitz' black market economy deals. However, their intel didn't tell them that the cargo vessels were escorted by several Gorn destroyers, equipped to take out the nimble Federation fightercraft. That siege had lasted several hours, also. Ryan was the only survivor, with his last micro-torpedo making a near-impossible shot on a weak spot in the Gorn's hull. Ryan's operations officer had informed him that Gorn and Spectre were in some sort of communication, and Captain T'Vhor's uncanny ability to turn anybody into an ally of that little grey ship was going to seemingly take place here. Eliminating the Gorn would take out one of T'Vhor's allies. "We'll be arriving at the Gorn location in ten... nine... eight...The helm officer started. Ryan interrupted. "Tactical, keep those weapons..." "Sir! We've got something, the short-range sensor array needed to be recalibrate. The Spectre is in between us and the Gorn vessel," Ryan said. "Trying to play interference, eh, T'Vhor? Thats the oldest trick in the-..." before he could finish, the Alpha dropped out of warp, and was suddenly hit by a barrage of torpedoes. "REPORT!" Ryan shouted, having been thrown from his chair, unprepared for the assault. He stood up and returned to the center and only seat in the minimalist bridge. "Shields at 82%. Returning fire!" "Blow that Vulcan bastard out of the sky," Ryan shouted. "Where the hell is Lomax?" he asked, glanced at his security chief. The chief shrugged, and moved into a turbolift. "Sir, the Spectre is leaving our firing range," TAC reported. "Coward. Get us back to those Gorn," he said. "Aye, sir. I need a minute, we're currently not in position to hit them." A pin dropped in Ryan's mind. "Evasive action, damn it! Turn us right side up, those Gorn have a shot at our gut!" he shouted. (reply others in battle) (Posted by Kevin Schram) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Captain T'Vhor & TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 18:50) The mood on the bridge of the Federation vessel was what could be best described now as pensive. The ship was of course at red alert, her shield strength had now risen to seventy percent of optimal, her warp engines were maintaining a comfortable factor of seven whilst her crew prepared for battle once again. The science officer had offered little more than what they already knew from the systematic disassembly of the captured vessel at Starbase thirty nine sierra, & whilst this was meagre in the extreme due to possible major differences between the two vessels, for now at least it would have to do. Sitting in the centre chair, the Spectre's CO had already finalized the prerequisites of battle, the phase cloak had been brought to standby, their weapons were primed & ready & the Presidents chief of security had now taken up a position in the First officers chair to the right of the Captain. As the second ranking bridge officer, Lieutenant Commander Tovardi had felt it a necessary step just in case the CO were to become incapacitated during the skirmish that would soon follow, Lieutenant Rogers of course was reported to be coming to duty very soon but in the interim, the Captain needed a dependable command officer at his side & for the moment anyway, Tovardi was that officer. "Report please Lieutenant", said the Captain. "The hostile has entered the theatre of conflict sir, she is now in range bearing one eighty mark zero, intercept in.....thirty five seconds", said Vasilyovna. "Aft view on the viewer, target their position Lieutenant, prepare to fire on my mark", said the CO as he turned quickly to the communications officer whilst the gears of the Spectre war machine began turning once more. "Send a communication to the Ssharussa, secure channel...inform them that we are about to engage", said the Captain. The comms officer duly nodded & carried out the order whilst the Captain opened a channel in order to broadcast a ship wide announcement to his crew. "Bridge to all hands this is the Captain, prepare for engagement, all crew to alert one status, contact is imminent, repeat contact is now imminent", said the Captain as he turned his attention yet again to the tactical chief. "The gunsight is yours Lieutenant, full yield on the Quantum torpedoes, narrow spread, set phazers at maximum power, intermittent pulse & ready the photon flux cannon", said the Captain returning his hardened gaze now to the viewscreen & the impending view of the Zulu Alpha as it loomed larger upon it. "Fire at will", said the Captain & in an instance the aft torpedo launchers & the Spectre's dorsal & ventral phazer arrays were spitting venom in the path of the seemingly indefatigable aggressor. The seconds passed by as everyone held their breath, then the Tactical chief began reporting. "Direct hits on their forward shielding sir, hostiles shields are now at eighty two percent.....she is returning fire...torpedoes inbound", said Vasilyovna. "All hands, prepare for impact", said the Captain, "transfer available power to the aft shielding & continue returning fire", he added. Vasilyovna needed no prompting of course as she let fly with another volley of Quantum's & phazer bursts into their disappearing wake. Then all of a sudden, the enemy torpedoes hit them with their usual deadly accuracy. The bridge shook as they did so throwing the inertial dampers into conflict with the counterpart SIF & hurling one of the science officers from his chair in the process. "Damage report", said the Captain turning to note the condition of the fallen officer & seeing him rise again to retake his console. "Decks five & nine are reporting damage sir, shields are holding", said Vasilyovna. "The Ssharussa is preparing to engage", she added. The Captain remained calm & cool as events transpired, his Vulcan heritage no doubt assisting there somewhere along the lines as he continued issuing his orders to the bridge crew. "Prepare to disengage the warp drive, impulse in five...four...three...two...one, full impulse come to course heading zero one four mark twenty & prepare to come about", said the Captain as the Tactical chief began observing the Gorn vessel move to engage the following Alpha. NRPG: Over to you Don ;-) (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (GDV Sssharussa - Bridge - Captain Ruxsa Zernix - 18:50) The tension on the Gorn bridge was almost tangible. Everyone was in position. All preparations had been made, but when it came to ship-to-ship combat, there were so many variables that even the best laid plans could fall to waste. In the center of the bridge, Captain Zernix sat in her command chair. One leg crossed over the other and quietly tapping the armrest. On the viewscreen was just stars, but in a matter of seconds, she knew that was going to change. "Captain Zernix." Her communications officer reported. "The Zulu Alpha has entered the system." There was a brief pause while she took in this information. "Captain T'Vhor reports that Spectre is engaging the enemy." "Status!" Captain Zernix barked. "We have a firing solution." The weapons officer responded. "We are in position at Station Keeping ready to fire on your command." Captain Zernix pulled her lips over her razor sharp teeth, the Gorn equivalent of a feral grin. "Captain!" Krusse yelled. "The Spectre is under fire!" On the view screen, both the Spectre and the Zulu Alpha emerged from Warp and trading blows. With a low hiss Zernix jumped from her chair and stood over the shoulder of the helmsman. The seconds became years as the two other vessels traded blows. The captain even held her breath..Waiting... ~Turn, dammit!~ She mentally commanded of the Zulu Alpha. "Hold...." She said to the weapons officer, holding her hand up slightly... "Hold..." The attack continued as reports came in to her. "The Zulu Alpha's shields are at 82%, Captain." Krusse said. "The Spectre is taking damage." "HOLD!!!" Then...Finally, after what felt like a century, though could not have been more than a handfull of seconds, the Zulu Alpha turned and exposed her underside. "All forward batteries fire!" Zernix forcefully commanded. With a brilliant flash, the pale green balls of condensed plasma filled the void of space, streaking towards the exposed underbelly of their target. "Helm, engage Sirok attack pattern." She snarled. "Get in behind those torpedos." The lumbering Gorn vessel moved into position, letting the contrails of the plasma torpedos tickle against her shields. The three green balls of plasma followed in formation, correcting heading and matching speed to home in on their target. "300 meters." the Tactical officer said. "Torpedo room reports we can fire again in twenty seconds." The weapons officer chimed in as well. Now was the critical moment. If something was to go wrong it would in the next few seconds. "250 meters, Captain." The Tactical officer said again. "The Zulu Alpha is turning!" Krusse said. "Coming about for an attack run!" This was expected. As soon as the Torpedos were in play, she suspected the Zulu Alpha's captain would react. "200 meters!" The Tactical officer said finally. "Hard to port!" She bellowed just as the first three Torpedos met their target's underside. The pale green plasma exploded and danced across the shields of the Zulu Alpha. Not just one of her shields, though. All of her shields lit up in a brilliant display of glowing fire. "Target shields are at 15% and falling!" Krusse yelled. "One more Torpedo should do it. The Spectre is preparing to fire." The larger Gorn vessel pulled up and coasted, her underside a scant hundred meters from her targets own underside. "Aft torpedo, Fire!" the captain yelled, knowing that this one would deliver the final blow that would drop the Zulu Alpha's shields. "Torpedo away!" The weapons officer yelled, but the mood very abruptly changed. "The target has launched countermeasures!" On screen, the captain watched in horror as the final torpedo sailed off, detonating far too far away to be effective. "Bring us about! Get the forward tubes ready to fire!" She hissed, getting into her command chair. "The Zulu Alpha is firing!" Krusse yelled as all the crew on the bridge scrambled. All around, the vessel shook under the barrage of fire from the Zulu Alpha. "Report!!" Captain Zernix yelled. "Shields are at 70%. Hull breaches on decks seven, eight, and nine." Krusse yelled in response. "Emergency bulkheads are not responding. " He kept reading the list and growled. "Ventral warp nacelle is offline!. He looked up at his CO. "Captain, we are venting atmosphere!" "All disruptors return fire!" She looked at Krusse. "Clear and seal those decks. Get damage control teams down there NOW! I want those breaches closed!" On the screen, the brilliant streams of green energy fired out at the target, scorching the Zulu Alpha's already battered shields. "Direct hit!" The tactical officer yelled. "Enemy shields are at 10% They're returning fire!" Again, the bridge shook under the hit of the quantum torpedos and phasers from the Zulu Alpha. "Main power is offline! Backups in place. Shields are at 50%. Forward shields are at 30%." "Get us into a firing position!" She yelled at her helmsman who worked frantically to get the sluggish vessel to move. "The Spectre is beginning a straffing run!" Krusse yelled. "Do not worry about the Spectre, keep on that Alpha!" Captain Zernix snarled in response, knowing that the Zulu Alpha was more interested in the Gorn at this moment than in the Federation vessel. "Fire all disruptors! Target enemy weapons!" She yelled again. The Alpha's remaining shields lit up under the barrage. "Captain! We have a firing solution on tube 2." The weapons officer said. "torpedo room reports that it is ready." It took no prompting from the captain. She knew what needed to be done. "Then fire it!" She yelled. At this range, the backlash of the Torpedo would damage the Sssharussa as well as the Zulu Alpha, but she considered it an acceptable amount of collateral damage. The Torpedo streaked from the Sssharussa's forward torpedo tube, striking hard against the Zulu Alpha's remaining shields and likewise against her own. All around, sparks flew once more. "Forward shields are failing. All other shields are at 35%" The tactical officer responded. "The Zulu Alpha's shields are down!" "Target her engines!" Captain Zernix yelled. "Tear them apart!" (reply Any) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 18:59) Andrew looked around the hustle and bustle that was his sickbay. He saw O'Harper working hard on his patient. He reminded himself to have a talk to him afterwards. He noticed Bowie becoming restless on his bed. He began to move over and talk to him. =^=Bridge to all hands this is the Captain, prepare for engagement, all crew to alert one status, contact is imminent, repeat contact is now imminent=^= He saw Bowie stiffen and look over at him. He could feel that the man wanted to be with his men. Andrew realised that Bowie was going to leave with or with out his approval. As he reached Bowie's bed he grabbed a hypospray. "Some pain killers. This will help." He injected it into Bowie's neck and then stepped back. "Do what you need to do Master Sargent. Come back if anything gets worse." (reply Bowie IUW) Andrew then turned and was about to address his team. =^=All hands, prepare for impact=^= Andrew gripped the bio-bed near him and waited. (reply Bowie, any) (posted by Robbie) ===================================================================== Mission: Ad Noctum (Andoria - City of She'nah Hoorn, the Ruins - Major General Michelle Roberts - 05:49, Day 7) Michelle, her helmet off and standing on top of some ruins of what had been a city center, lifted her head into the wind. It smelled of smoke, and death. But when she opened her eyes. A new sunrise was just breaking, bringing with it either victory or defeat. Michelle had learned often that life was full of Shades of grey, with precious little black and white. But, once in a while, it was as simple as that. Either they pulled off their coup, or her force would be decimated (along with tens of thousands of Andorians) and the Insurgency would be over. She felt a twinge in her gut, not for the first time, because this was not her plan. She was placing her life, and the lives of her troopers, into the hands of a child. That child was sitting next to her in fact, watching the same sunrise. Michelle had dressed him in a security version of the BDU for his protection. and because she needed him. If they won, then the faces of the Resistance were gong to be required to put the government back together and prevent another revolt that would be aimed at HER people. He'd been irritated, until he'd gotten to play with it. which took about the whole of ten minutes. Now he was doing his best to look natural in it, when most Marines spent a year in training for it. "Five minutes general." One of her Aides reported just before stepping into the Sod-Hopper that was going to serve as her command post. The battle they were about to step into was too large for her to stay in one city, or even one sector. She'd have to watch it all, at once. Suvven D'nall was going to be going with her, he would have to route certain commands to hot-headed Andorian's who no longer wanted anything to do with Starfleet, whatever side they were on. Michelle couldn't say that she blamed them, not after their once beautiful planet had been laid waste. She slid her helmet on and locked it. "Come on tag-along. I've got a war to run." He snorted, but followed along. They boarded the ship, the venerable old USS Patton, and made their way to the War Room. The rest of her aide's and half her theater commanders were there, all were simply waiting for the order. Roberts stepped up to the strategy table and looked at it, then looked up. "Today we either win, or loose. There is no middle ground." Simple words, large deeds. She gestured to Suvven, who stepped up to the table with her. "If you would, Mr. D'nall." He nodded and picked up a small communicator, one that was tuned not only to all the Marines of the Expeditionary Forces, but to every communicator, broadcast system and PA system on the planet that they could wire in time. The words he spoke would launch the greatest land battle in over two hundred years. In what could have been a sudden attack of nerves, he cleared his throat and cracked his neck and fidgeted with the communicator. And then he tapped it and said in a clear voice, "This is D'Nall: Let Freedom Ring." Michelle closed her eyes. She knew the battle plan; it had been burned into her memory. With those words, pre-arranged orders were given. Heavy bombardment of enemy positions would begin by Heavy Artillery and the Fighter Command. Her Expeditionary Forces would go for an all-or-nothing storming of the Enemies fortresses and strong points. And, if all went according to plan, every Andorian of an age to pick up a phaser would join them. The idea was to massively over-whelm the enemy, to cover them in bodies until they could no longer breathe. The projected losses were horrendous, both for the Expeditionary Force and the local populace. But using the last year as a model, the losses would be greater if nothing were done, or if they lost and had to pull off the planet. The entire plan hinged on D'nalls word, that the Planet's Populace would rise. =/=Captain, we're lifting off.=\= "Very well Captain." She said. "Now we pray." She muttered. (Andoria - USS George C Patton, War Room (Somewhere over Andoria) - Major General Michelle Roberts - 0820, Day 7) "My God, I think it's going to work." She said in awe. Suvven hadn't been lying, if anything he'd been conservative. The attack had been massive, it had been brutal, and it was starting to snowball. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of screaming Andorian's were storming the enemy. Tens of thousands were being chopped down without mercy. Her Marines were also being chopped down. At least nineteen thousand were confirmed dead with estimates ranging as high as fifty thousand. However, the estimates of enemy dead were running into the high tens of thousands. Some estimates put enemy losses as high as sixty thousand. That left them with another nine hundred thousand or so, but the population of Andoria was quickly putting them through a ringer. The ship suddenly jinked, probably to avoid ground strafing fire. The phaser turret under the ship unleashed its fire; the distinctive sound of its phaser cannons filled the corridors. Michelle paid little attention to it. until the ship shuddered again and again from weapons fire. "We're taking heavy weapons fire!" the Captain bellowed. Michelle had opened a constant comm. Channel to the bridge, so it was like he was right next to her speaking. Orders were given out rapidly, mostly to increase power to dorsal shields and engage evasive maneuvers, but it didn't matter much. More phaser fire hit the ship from a couple of distinct locations, all of it from planetary batteries meant to strike at full starships in orbit. The Sod-Hopper, with as close as she was regardless of how heavy its shielding was, was quickly stripped of shields and dealt serious damage. She shivered as the shields failed and the engines were hit. "We're hit, going down!" the Captain's voice bellowed. Michelle grabbed onto a console and watched the ground twist sickeningly as the Sod-hopper went into a downward spin when the bulk of her stabilizers failed. The ship spun this way and that as the CONN officer no doubt fought to get the ship back under control, but Michelle could see that it was no use. There weren't enough thrusters on the planet that could halt the ship's nose-ward dive to the planet. The best they could hope for was to survive. maybe. She turned from the small monitor and looked at her command staff. She cast for something to say, but the only thing that popped out of her mouth was, "'luck!" It was inane, but she supposed it fit the situation. The Patton slammed into the ground at high speed, and then it skipped. The Conn officer had just gotten the nose up just enough to make sure they didn't end up as a metallic puddle on the dirt of Andoria. Michelle kept her feet, but the panel she was holding onto was shredded by the force of her grip. Several of her officers weren't so lucky and went flying. She could only imagine the casualties they were going to have in the lower levels where most of the Company that guarded her was staying. And anyone who'd been manning the lower level phaser emplacement was likely a smear on the rocks. The ship hit the ground again, and then began flipping end over end at high speed. Michelle lost her grip and was thrown forward the next time the nose hit the ground, and from there she was unable to grab anything, and was tossed around like a rag doll inside the command room. Finally, thirty seconds later or so, the ship came to a dusty halt in the dirt and rocks of Andoria. Sounds of screams and tortured metal filled her ears, and the room she was in seemed. different. It took her a few moments to realize that the star frame of the ship must have twisted, because the room she was in was no longer square, it was twisted like taffy. Her suit's AI was talking in her ear, reporting minimal suit damage, but she ignored that as she stood up. Marines all around her were standing up and shaking themselves off. Steam was flying from a pipe on one end, and radiation measures were on the high side, probably from a ruptured fusion reactor. She hoped, if that were the case, that it would survive and the emergency shutdown mechanisms would function. One of her staff was screaming, a heavy bracing-beam had landed on him and breeched the integrity of his suit. Michelle, thin-lipped, moved over and gestured for another Marine to join her. She looked at the brace for a moment and decided that moving it probably wouldn't cause the rest of the ship to fall on their heads. She braced herself against it and heaved with all the force of the suit, but the brace did little more then wiggle. "Come on!" she growled, and the Marine she'd gestured to joined her. She took a breath and said, "One, two, THREE!" both heaved at the same time, and the brace lifted off the injured Marine - one of her theater commanders. One of her aides pulled the injured man out, so they dropped the beam with a heavy -thunk- on the deck. One of the Marines from the bridge pushed into the damaged command deck, "General, the Bridge crew is all dead!" he said. She turned to look at him, his suit was half destroyed. He'd been in charge of Weapons control, and the only suited Marine on the Bridge. IF he looked like that, then anyone without a suit was probably red mash. The Marine paid no attention to her gaze, if indeed he was even aware of it, he continued saying "We have about fifty Marines dead in the hold, another thirty whose suits are too damaged to salvage. Everyone else is in fighting shape, for now." He paused, "Our last sensor reading before." he broke off and mimed flipping over and over with his hands, "Indicated that we've got about five company of the Enemy moving our way. I didn't get a good look, but about half looked to be standard security, no BDU signature." "Five company worth make them dangerous, suit or not." She said as she looked around for her weapons. She found them on the rack, still attached. She pulled them out and opened a frequency to all the Marines on the ship, "Enemy incoming, form up on top of the Patton. what's left of it." She cut the channel. "Suvven, you stay here." "Go to the hells General," he said in a raspy voice. His lack of training showed, he hadn't known what to do when the ship spun and he'd been bounced around like a pin-ball, his suit was quite damaged. However, it still functioned, and he already had his axe and phaser in hand. In fact, as if to prove his point, he left the room and turned left - the direction of the upper most escape hatch. Michelle growled something about hard-headed Andorian's under her breath, and then made her way double-time to join him. Other Marines were rushing up to join them, all in various states of injury. She crawled up right behind Suvven, and once on top of the ship, immediately hunched over to make herself a harder target and stepped behind one of the weapons emplacements for cover. What she saw didn't please her much. The sensors had been right, there was a large enemy force coming her way. Five companies, approximately, more then enough to destroy the men she had left. She turned and looked over her shoulder, then back again. There was no possible way they could outrun the enemy, not with so many wounded on the ship. And she would be double-damned if she tried to surrender; Doenitz's forces had taken to executing prisoners lately. "All Marines, this is where we take a stand! Snipers to the front!" she bellowed. Her men were still pulling themselves out of the ship; some had taken the quick route and were digging in on the ground in front of the ship. Either way, it didn't matter; she doubted that any of them stood a chance. She took a breath and tapped into a different command frequency. "XO, this is Roberts. You have command, I'm. preoccupied." A few seconds passed, =/=Understood. Do you require assistance?=\= "Hell yes," she replied as she pulled out her sniper scope and attached it to her phaser. "But I doubt you'll get here in time. Some Angels would be nice, though, if you can rustle up a few. Our ship is broken, and half my men are out before we've even started. We have five companies converging on our position." =/=I'll see what I can do. Luck, General.=\= "Always," She replied after the channel had closed. She shook her head as NCO's and Squad CO's began bellowing orders for the men to get down and prepare for battle. She took position and looked down her scope; the enemy was just in range and moving closer at a goodly rate. There were three companies of Security, without BDU from the look of it, and another two of Marines. She saw a couple squads of Heavy Infantry; at least one Recon- the rest appeared to be standard infantry." "This is going to be fun," she muttered to herself. "All hands, open fire when you get a shot. Make them ALL count. God speed and good luck!" She took her own words to heart, and planted a phaser beam at high power through the heart of one Security Officer, followed by another. The Enemy began scattering then, and the Marines left the security officers behind, they came forward at their best speed, closing the distance in remarkably little time. Once they'd come within three hundred yards, almost every Marine on the ship opened fire. A dozen enemy Marines fell almost immediately, the rest dived for cover and began standard techniques for moving forward under fire. They kept up enough fire to force Michelle's troops to keep their heads down anyway. And the reality of their situation was brought home brutally when a high-power phaser shot took the Marine standing next to her in the chest. He clutched at the hole and fell forward off the ship before she could grab him. She heard the distinctive -thump/crunch- that said he'd landed some sixty feet below at the foot of the wreck which had once been the proud Patton. In the time they were trying to take the Marines, the Security forces had made their way forward as well. They only had on riot gear, light armor, but there were more then enough of them to raise havoc. The incoming fire suddenly increased ten-fold, and more of her precious Marines fell. And after not to long, her perimeter was breached. The Marines on the ground were all slaughtered as the enemy poured forward and into the stricken Sod-Hopper. Michelle grimaced and moved back from the edge of the ship. "Marines, form circle. Bar the hatches!" Her Marines rushed to do her bidding, they threw the hatches shut and began to weld them closed with phaser-fire, while others took up defensive positions and prepared for what would become a last stand. Michelle looked to the sky, but saw no evidence of any Fighters- her Angels. She sighed and shrugged, they wouldn't do much good anymore anyway: the enemy was already among them. "General, the hatches are sealed." One of the Senior NCO's reported. She nodded, "Move away from them then, they'll blow them when they can. We don't need more casualties by shrapnel." "Aye Sir." Michelle replaced the power-pack in her phaser and looked at the handful of survivors she had left. "Well, Marines, it's been real. Who are we?" "The First Marine Expeditionary Force, General!" They bellowed. "And what do we say?" "ALL THEIR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, VICTORY OR DEATH. .OOOOO RAH!" "Victory or death." Suvven repeated as he replaced his own power pack. "It's been fun general." "Hoo wah." She replied, quietly but with feeling. "You've done magnificently. We failed you here, but I suspect we'll win in the end." "Probably," he agreed. "But I don't give up so easily." Michelle pulled out her scatter-gun and charged it, "Who said anything about giving up?" she inquired with a wicked gleam in her eye. "I don't sell myself cheap." Several minutes passed, but eventually it happened. Every exit hatch, main and emergency, suddenly blew with a plethora of explosions. Deck plates were blown hundreds of feet into the air. and out of those new holes came piles of Security and Marines. Michelle didn't have to give the order; all the remaining defenders began opening fire immediately. Michelle's scattergun took at least one solder with each shot, and often-times more. The enemy was therefore slow on gaining a foothold, but the flow of soldiers was never-ending, and gain a foothold they did. After that, it was only a matter of time. The defending Marines began to fall with smoking holes blown into their suits; some were disintegrated inside their suits by the sheer energy of the shots. The general's scatter-gun was knocked from her hands by a foolish Tactical trooper, she replied by grabbing him and snapping his neck. She pulled her sidearm out and continued fighting the hopeless cause. Michelle caught a glancing blow of a scatter-gun just a few moments later, her suit was pierced in five places and her whole side was ripped open. She fell with a scream, and her weapon fell from nerveless fingers. A figure suddenly jumped over her and crouched, firing a small rifle. She brought her head up as far as she could, and noticed that it was Suvven D'nall, the Andorian was fighting to protect her. But he too fell from a phaser shot; it looked like it hit him in the stomach. His axe fell from his fingers and landed on Michelle's legs. ... and after that, Michelle could no longer hold up her head. She let it fall to the deck-plates and a cold shiver overcame her. ~I'm bleeding out, she thought, slightly panicked, though there was nothing she could do about it. She kept expecting to be killed, but she didn't even hear any footsteps on the deck plating. ~Please don't tell me I'm so far gone I can't hear.~ she thought. After a few more moments, she worked up the strength to lift her head. . the enemy was gone! "What the hell?" she muttered weakly. She tried to sit up but failed, so she didn't move at all. And indeterminate amount of time later, a Marine bent over her. "General, GENERAL, are you alive Sir?" "No, now leave me alone." She croaked. "Medic, MEDIC!" the Marine shouted. "The General is down!" "See to Suvven first," she managed to say. "On him. rests. the future of. Andoria." "We've got enough to take care of both of you," the Marine said reassuringly. "Lucky we got here when we did." "How." she began, but then cut off and coughed instead. That wasn't a good sign, but it didn't matter, she figured she was to far gone for it to matter anyway. The Marine seemed to understand (she noticed he wore a Major's bars), "This crazy plan seems to be working General, whole regiments are surrendering in the face of over-whelming odds. It freed us up anyway; we got here just in time to beam most of the attacking force out and save your sorry butts." The General grunted as a doctor came rushing up. "Get her out of BDU!" he barked as he pulled out his medkit. "On the double!" ~Marine Docs, they have no bedside manner.~ she thought, strangely amused as her rescuing Marine pulled at her helmet. She turned her head slightly and noticed Suvven looking at her. She gave him a small smile once her helmet was pulled off, "Did you hear? Your scheme seems to be working." Suvven turned his head away from her and looked at the remains of the battlefield, and then turned back to Michelle. "We will remake our world, General, now that we have the chance." He groaned and looked back up at the sky as the Medics knelt at his side to work on him as well. Her armor was stripped off and dura-plast applied to her multiple wounds. ~Yes, you will get your chance.~ she thought, as she didn't have the energy to speak. ~We paid for it. And, perhaps with our blood, the sins you and yours endured might be partially washed away.~ It was a good thought. And it might even be enough to sustain her life through the night. (reply: none) (posted by Trout) Mission: Ad Noctum (USS Johann - Interrogation Room - Admiral Richard Ian Lee - Time has no meaning to one chained) "So, Captain Lee, what is the anticipated fleet placement for the 52nd Fleet's illegal invasion into the Federation? Cooperation will be rewarded, resistance will be punished." "Right up your a$$." "What is the anticipated fleet placement for the illegal invasion into the Federation? Cooperation will be rewarded, resistance will be punished." "Up your a$$ sideways." "What is the anticipated fleet placement for the illegal invasion into the Federation? Cooperation will be rewarded, resistance will be punished." "Sideways, with mustard sauce." "What is the anticipated fleet placement for the illegal invasion into the Federation? Cooperation will be rewarded, resistance will be punished." "You're right, you caught me. I'd actually planned to choreograph the 52nd into a fleet-sized variation of the Nutcracker Suite. The Steel Talons will broadcast the music, and the ships will be our dancers. It's quite ingenious really, I've got the smaller ships as the females and the Galaxies playing the big rat-brutes that we all know and love so we-" Richard Ian Lee's speech was cut off by pain, a rather large amount of it, zapping into his body by several well-placed anodes which had been stuck to his body. He clicked his teeth and ground his jaw together, still unwilling to give the buggers the joy of knowing that the pain was starting to wear on his nerves. He jaw remained tight for long moments after the pain had stopped; his nerves still tingled in the after-effects of it. "Why are you are not cooperating, Captain Lee?" Rich looked up and managed a smart-assed grin. "Why should I? Your methods don't inspire confidence, nor does your ignorance. I've told you my rank, you refuse to use it. Why should you listen to my expertise if you refuse to acknowledge what I've already said?" The interrogator, a Commander wearing the black-on-black of Starfleet Special Services, sat on a small wooden desk facing Admiral Lee. His arms were crossed and his face was bland. His was a face that could, and probably had, been lost in crowds before. He considered what he was going to say for a moment, and then said "Our records show you as a Captain, on detached duty from Utopia Planitia Strategic Operations. You have... received a promotion? To Admiral?" "Indeed." Lee said, buying a bit more time to recover. "Admiral Robert LoDona himself promoted me to Rear-Admiral and Commander of the USS Steel Talons." Lee's grin turned sheepish, "I doubt the paperwork made it to Starfleet BUPERS, though." NRPG: Bureau of Personnel (BUPERS) RPG: The interrogator shook his head, as if he had news and was pained to give it. "Sorry Captain, it doesn't work that way. Even if LoDona were still an Admiral of Starfleet, which he isn't, all promotions to Flag Rank have to be approved by BUPERS and the Office of the Presidency." "You mean the Senate." Lee said as he stretched his neck a bit and continued trying to clear his head, not just from the pain but from the drugs they were feeding him by IV. He was strapped to a chair, only his head was free to move, and he'd been here for many hours. His internal counting had halted some time ago, and he'd not been able to get any sense of time back, but his butt hurt enough to tell him he'd been around for a while. "No, Captain. That particular regulation was changed. The Senate was dissolved; President Doenitz now has the sole authority to approve Flag Officers." "A President with no senate. Sounds fishy." Lee said, finally focusing as best he could on the interrogator. "But then, I'd expect nothing less from a man who'd bomb innocent planets for asking the wrong questions." "Tsk, Captain." The man said with something like a ghost of a smile. "We were rooting out terrorists, not bombing innocents. It is, perhaps, a fine line. but the distinction exists." "Stomping out dissension you mean." Lee said dully. He did his best to shrug, strapped to the chair as he was. "Anyway, that is neither here nor there. I'm still an Admiral, you still refuse to listen to me, so I don't see the point in continued questions when you obviously won't listen to my answers." The interrogator said nothing for long moments, then he touched a small button on the desk. Pain again filled Lee's awareness, to the exception of anything else. Sweet Pain, Horrid Pain, it filled his nostrils and danced behind his eyes. It sang in his temples, it throbbed in his joints. It was everywhere, it was everything. It was his existence. The pain faded again, this time not receding as fast as it had the times before. A sound filled Rich's ears and he realized after many agonizing moments that it was his own panting. His throat felt raw, almost bloody, and he vaguely remembered screaming at the top of his lungs until his lungs held nothing, and still he'd tried to scream. ~Ah well, one more threshold crossed.~ He thought, as he tried to get a hold of himself. "This is really becoming quite tiresome, Captain Lee." The man said, as if disappointed at an unruly child. "If you would answer a few of our very simple, straightforward and very reasonable questions." He left the statement hanging, letting Lee's mind fill in the details. 'you will be set free', 'you won't be hurt anymore', 'you will be allowed to live' all filled his mind in the space of a heartbeat. But what came out of his parched lips was, ". I will betray Admiral LoDona, the 52nd fleet and all the ideals the Federation was built on. And further, I will damn myself to hell. Sorry, I think not." The half smile the interrogator had worn, as if to encourage pleasant thoughts, quickly vanished. The man's face was left blank again. "You disappoint me, Captain Lee." He said. "I really had hoped for better from a decorated combat officer. You are a Strategic Operations Officer, quite intelligent and wise to the ways of war. You know as well as I that anyone can be broken. The only difference is, if you cooperate with us now, you can leave my office and take up your duties again: this time on the proper side." "And 'the proper side', I suppose, is working for Admiral Doenitz? Letting him in on all the strategies I supposedly helped create? Wouldn't it be a burr in your side to find out that I was an Admiral only because Regulations insist that an Admiral must be in charge of a battle-group of more then twenty ships- we were hard-strapped for officer's, man. I stopped being a Stratops command officer and commenced being a Combat Command Officer right after we pulled out." The Interrogator's face remained placid as he said, "A sad attempt at a lie, Captain. I have it from several sources that, while you commanded a Battleship, that ship was the 52nd Fleets Strategic Operations Command Vessel. And you were actually Commander of all Strategic Operations for the Rebellion." The man stood up with little warning, "I will leave you to think about this, for now. Have a good morning." Rich frowned slightly as the man left. He was almost totally sure that the interrogator had said, "Good evening, Captain." When he'd stepped in. They had only been talking for a few minutes (he thought, but couldn't prove). Certainly they hadn't been talking for a whole night (again, he thought but couldn't prove). It was probably just another exorcize to mess with his head. one that was, sadly, working. He leaned his head back and surrendered himself to his aches and his muddled head. The interrogator had left the drugs turned wide open when he'd left. Rich could take a guess at what they were, they were doing a real number on his perceptions, but he couldn't turn his head enough to look at the IV's. What seemed to be minutes later, the door opened again and the interrogator walked in. "Good morning Captain Lee, I trust you slept well? Do you have anything you'd like to say after having some time to think?" "You're good, you know that?" Rich muttered. "Excuse me?" he said in an aire of innocence. Rich shook his head. He'd forgotten to count, but the man couldn't have been gone for more then five or ten minutes. And yet, now he was saying it was morning. The bugger of it was, on drugs as he was, it might very well have been several hours. "Nevermind," he temporized. "In the end, it really doesn't mat-" he was interrupted when the ship shook and shimmied. Or rather, it appeared to. Lee's perceptions were messed up, it might have been nothing. He was about to speak again when the Interrogator touched his head, "What is it this time?" Lee found himself growing sleepy, his eyes closed and he began to loose consciousness. He thought he'd captured someone replying '. under attack', but that could have been his imagination. He hoped it wasn't, but it probably was. His luck hadn't been good enough lately to be killed before spilling everything he knew. The Blackness took him. (reply: none) (posted by Trout)