Start of Compile, Part 3: Compile Mission: Requiem, Days 1-3 Stardates 2406.07.01 - 2406.07.03 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission Requiem, Day 3 Stardate: 2406.07.03 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Ready Room - Capt Sevant - 0439) Sevant narrowed his eyes slightly, he never forgot a face. The man that walked in was certainly one he recognized, in fact, the last time he had seen this particular engineer was the time he had stepped foot off the Boudicca. The engineer didn't look happy, that much could be said. "Here are my orders sir." and he threw the PADD on the desk. Sevant quirked an eyebrow and folded his hands together as West said, "Permission to speak freely sir?" The Captain considered that for a few moments, as he looked at West. The guy still had the same fire, and apparently the same self-destructive streak he remembered. He recalled a time, in fact, when he had to watch over West to make sure he didn't succeed in killing himself in the gardens of the Boudicca. The Vulcan spread his hands for a moment, then clasped them together again. "By all means." "Thank you. Frankly I want to know why I was pulled from my duties on Starbase 12. I know you had to pull in some hefty favors to get Admiral Bullock to personally call me at three in the morning and 'request I join the Boudicca'. Personally sir, I was enjoying my duties on Starbase 12. Nothing happened there, nice and quiet. I left the Boudicca over two years ago for just that reason. Too much too soon in my opinion. Now I will serve you in the way I always have and I will clean up the mess you always seem to make for me, but don't expect me to be any more then that. I have enough problems as it is and I don't need anymore. Now if you don't mind Sir I would like to get some rest before I go on duty. Is that all?" Sevant managed to keep his face straight, but only by pure will-power and experience. "This ship is fresh out of a refit, Lieutenant," he began, "And rushed through at that. This is not my mess, as you so nicely put it, this is the work of overs. The fact I had to take her out in this condition was not my choice, but it is my responsibility. There are few people that know this ship better then you." He leaned back, "But I didn't personally request you, I didn't know you were still in the fleet, in point of fact." He looked dead on at the Lieutenant, then glanced down at the PADD. He picked it up without another word, and looked at the posting information on it. It was as he figured, Chief Engineer. The Captain glanced back up at Trevan, and laid the PADD down. "Now, you will listen to me." he said in a voice half an octave lower, and a lot colder. "We are on a battleship, and we are in the middle of a war. I could give a good hot d*mn about your cozy little assignment on Starbase 12, I was pulled from a perfectly comfortable assignment myself to command a ship I never thought I would see again in a situation that will probably get us blasted straight to hell in a hurry. I don't care about your attitude, but if you pay the same respect to the ship as you are paying to me I will personally put you in your coffin... With EXTREME prejudice." He looked hard at the Engineer, "I trust I make myself perfectly clear?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Ready Room - Lt jg Trevan West - 0439) The Captain looked dead on at Trevan, then glanced down at the PADD. He picked it up without another word, and looked at the posting information on it. It was as he figured, Chief Engineer. The Captain glanced back up at Trevan, and laid the PADD down. "Now, you will listen to me." he said in a voice half an octave lower, and a lot colder. "We are on a battleship, and we are in the middle of a war. I could give a good hot d*mn about your cozy little assignment on Starbase 12, I was pulled from a perfectly comfortable assignment myself to command a ship I never thought I would see again in a situation that will probably get us blasted straight to hell in a hurry. I don't care about your attitude, but if you pay the same respect to the ship as you are paying to me I will personally put you in your coffin... With EXTREME prejudice." He looked hard at the Engineer, "I trust I make myself perfectly clear?" Trevan snapped straight up, "Yes sir. As clear as Tholian Glass sir." With that Trevan excused himself out of the ready room and headed to the turbolift. The doors swished open and Trevan proceeded in, "Computer, Deck 3." The rush of the lift moving filled the small compartment and then halted on Deck 3. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - West's Quarters - Lt jg Trevan West - 0441) Trevan unlocked the door and proceeded into his quarters. Now, his quarters were standard Senior officer quarters, a large couch sat under the forward facing windows. In the rear of the room was an enormous plant with a spiral like pattern on the leaves. Trevan chucked his bag onto one of the chairs and sat down at the computer terminal. "Computer, begin log entry, Chief Engineer Trevan J. West." The computer chirped its reply. "Personal log, I have checked in and met the Captain of the Boudicca. Captain Sevant. That was a shock to say the least, I was not expecting him to be onboard at all. In fact, I was not expecting to be in there longer then the 12 seconds it takes to resign my commission, but of course, I am a wimp and bit the bullet and stayed. I am not sure if I can whip this ship into shape but I am going to try. End log." Trevan tapped his communicator, "West to Engineering, I want an Engineering meeting at 1400 hours. No exceptions. West out." Again he tapped his communicator, "West to Counsellor Alizara, I need to meet with you as soon as possible." (reply Alizara) "I don't care if you are busy, this is an urgent matter and so help me, if I have to come down there and burst in on a session I will. I have the need for your services at the moment." "Thank you, West out." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - West's Quarters - Lt jg Trevan West - 0442) Trevan was eagerly awaiting a reply to his communication from Alizara when the comm. system popped on and a voice filled the room. =/\= Engineering to Lt West, there is a problem that requires your attention sir.=/\= Trevan sighed, "Of course there is, what else is new. I am on my way. West out." and he slapped the comm. panel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - ACMO Chang- 0445) It was indeed state of the art. Latest design biobeds, advanced diagnostic equipment and well stocked. At the academy during tactical ops training, edmund had learnt to make do with much less. This was the height of luxury. In the far end of the room was a woman calibrating one of the monitors. The rank on her collar indicated that she was a Lieutenant Commander. "Dr. Troi?" Edmund asked as he approached. [reply Troi] Edmund immediately felt more comfortable. He felt the warmth and compassion in her voice. A stark contrast from the Captain's. [reply Troi] "My specialty is emergency surgery and triage/trauma medicine. I have particular interest in medical nanotechnology. I did my research thesis on it at the Academy. I am honoured to be chosen for this posting and look forward to working with you." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara, 0445) Domini had just finished reporting what had happened between Major Straton and herself, and what had been said in the ready room. She ended with, "Major Straton seems to think that most of the crew will have no defense against this thing if it manages to try to 'devour souls'." Domini finished. "I suppose that as Betazoids, we are used to telepathic communication, so we might have a defense. I would rather not put it to a test, though." Domini shuddered again. "Major Straton says that as a Mind-Healer I'm more sensitive to the effects that these...things...have on other people. I would guess that if someone was hurt here we would be incapacitated with the pain of it. Again, I would rather not put that to a test, either." She rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of the goose-bumps and feel warm. She was so tired... She felt herself nodding off as Kestra was talking, then looked up and grimaced. "I didn't hear a thing you just said... I'm really tired. And hungry." She said, realizing for the first time she was hungry. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Engineering, Lt jg Trevan West, -0446) Trevan strolled through Engineering with the speed of herding Targs and he spotted a few engineers standing over the master display. "Okay, I'm here what's the problem and why aren't you working on it?" One of the technicians walked over and replied, "We are having a signal variance with the main sensors, we keep losing the signal." "Ok, well I would say recalibrate them but you wouldn't have called me down here if you hadn't already tried that. Okay, lets pop open the sensor systems and see what we have." The two of them climbed up the ladder running next to the warp core, the usual thud was more pronounced on the upper level. Trevan reached over and pulled off the sensor panel and to his disgust he immediately spotted the problem, "There's your problem, just replace it and it'll be fine." The technician gave him a puzzled look, "You do see the problem don't you Ensign?" asked West. The Ensign shook his head and Trevan just rolled his eyes, "You have a Class L signal processor in there, it should be a class J." "It says Class J on it sir." "I know that, but I also know what one looks like and that is not a J, it's an L. It's mis-labeled and any first year Engineer would know the difference. Replace it with a Class J and then get back down there." The Ensign nodded a reply and Trevan leaned over the railing encompassing the warp core, "Ok, everyone, meeting now!." his voice boomed in the great room, "And I mean everyone. This has gone on long enough." Trevan slid down the ladder and walked back towards the master display, "Okay, I don't know where you all went to school and I don't care. You are my team now and I expect nothing less then perfect operations from this department from this moment on. I trust you all, and I want you to trust me. I can't be everywhere at all times, so I need you to double and triple check all of your work. Measure twice, fix once is my motto. If you aren't sure of something, ask. I would rather you ask then not and get it wrong. I need you all to enjoy yourselves, so when crunch time comes, we're ready. Now get to work everyone." Trevan smiled and that was the first time he felt like a part of something special. "Engineering to Bridge, signal variance with the main sensors has been remedied. You now have sensors at 105% percent." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 0500) "Sir, long rang scan detected 3 pods, straight ahead of us... we should be in range in... 20 minutes." Yalta turn toward Captain Sevant a bit disconcerted. "I'm detecting no life signs, just organic life." Sevant leaned forward in his chair, "Continue." "One seem to have no organic life, the other 2 have. They have the same fire marks on them. The trail for the Backtron is getting more identifiable Sir... might I suggest that we send a probe ahead. I can modify it to seek the Backtron signature easily enough. I will need someone from engineering to help me do the modifications." "Do it, and work out an invasive program that gets us far away from the launch site once the probe becomes visible out-of-cloak." he ordered, sitting back again. (reply: Ops) He sat back and folded his hands together as he looked at the screen. "Set course for the pods, and prepare to pick them up." (reply: Ops/Conn if desired) =^=Rin to Capt. Sevant.=^= "Go ahead, Ensign." the Captain said. =^=Sir, I wanted to inform you of the last data on the sensor buffer condition.=^= Sevant quirked his head slightly, "Continue." =^=Not only has the Trilite sustained the power flow. It has increased as well to 55 percent return scans should contain more information.=^= "Very good, get me a report on it once you have a free opportunity, the current problem is your priority." =^=Aye sir, your welcome Rin out.=^= Sevant turned in the chair to Tactical, "I want security prepared, just in case there are traps and tricks on those pods. Send a security team to the shuttle bay for when we tractor them in." (Reply: Security, Ops, any) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – TAC/SC – LT. William Bush - 0500) William stood behind his tactical consol the sensors were detecting three pods. Reading the tactical display they had no weapons so they were no threat to the ship. Well at least no immediate threat, William looked over the sensor records once more. As the captain spoke William looked in his direction. "I want security prepared, just in case there are traps and tricks on those pods. Send a security team to the shuttle bay for when we tractor them in." ”Aye Captain,” Will started pushing the tactical consol he opened up the com to his assistant. “Skylynx, I want you to mobilize a security team fully armed. We are about to bring some pods aboard and the Captain wanted to be understandably cautious. Ensign remember I want you to be very cautious, keep a open com link and I want you to be prepared to fire on your own will. You will be in charge down there so I want you to do what ever is necessary,” (Reply Skylynx) “Captain, Ensign Skylynx is moving into position in the shuttle bay,” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – ATAC Ensign Ryko Skylynx - 0500) Ryko had left the meeting at its end, and was taking steps to implement his suggestions. He was looking forward to 0700, but he knew he had to concentrate on his duties. His com badge chimed. =^=Skylynx, I want you to mobilize a security team fully armed. We are about to bring some pods aboard and the Captain wanted to be understandably cautious. Ensign remember I want you to be very cautious, keep a open com link and I want you to be prepared to fire on your own will. You will be in charge down there so I want you to do what ever is necessary.=^= "Aye Sir, I'll be there," Ryko said. He glanced at his watch. 2 hours. It was okay. He tapped his badge again. "Security team alpha to shuttlebay 1, immediately, code 454," he said. He took out a phaser rifle from the weaponry locker and headed to the bay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - 2O/CMO Lt. Cmdr Kestra Troi - 0500) After talking to Sevant and Grailik, Kestra decided to go back to sickbay to see when some of the monitors she used where still in calibration. The command had given MCO Eva Straton and the counselor the go ahead to do what ever they wanted in trying to figure out the mystery of the patients that she had examined earlier. She had found some that needed to be recalibrated, but, none were so far out that it would have mattered on the readings. "Dr. Troi?" Kestra heard suddenly and she turned to see a human male approaching her. He stood about 5'10" sporting black hair and was not bad looking. "Yes, May I be of assistance to you?" Kestra said in reply as she gave him a warm smile. He in turn gave her is PADD to let her know that he was her new assistant. "Ensign Chang it is indeed good to see you. I was hoping that they would, in their infinite wisdom, send me an assistant. I see that my prayers were answered. Tell me while you were in medical training what was your specialty?" She asked wanting to know more about him before she started telling him what was going on. "My specialty is emergency surgery and triage/trauma medicine. I have particular interest in medical nano technology. I did my research thesis on it at the Academy. I am honored to be chosen for this posting and look forward to working with you." "It is nice to have you here Ensign. Your training will no doubt be put to test while on the Boudicca." She smiled as she answered him. "Let's go into the office so I can explain what has been happening and what we have here at the present." She said the proceeded to head for her office. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 0500) Yalta was starting to have nothing from the long rang scan until that very moment. She sat a bit more on edge of her seat and concentrate, by that time there was 3 object detected and about the same size has the pod in the shuttlebay. “Sir, long rang scan detected 3 pods, straight ahead of us... we should be in rang in... 20 minutes.” Yalta turn toward Captain Sevant a bit disconcerted. “I'm detecting no life signs, just organic life.” (Reply from Sevant) “One seem to have no organic life, the other 2 have. They have the same fire marks on them. The trail for the Backtron is getting more identifiable Sir... might I suggest that we send a probe ahead. I can modify it to seek the Backtron signature easily enough. I will need someone from engineering to help me do the modifications.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - CSO Office - ACSO Kyle Rin - 0500) "Coffee, BLACK!." Kyle spoke with a stern voice into the replicator. Picking up the cup he drank it as fast as he could. "That should help keep me awake." Kyle tapped his com badge now would be the time to report in. "Kyle to Grailik." (reply Grailik) "Sir, i've recovered more data from the pod logs. If you would come to the cso office you can pick it up here." (reply Grailik) "Thank you sir, Rin out." Kyle walked behind the cso desk and sat down. He felt completely exhausted from his duty working non-stop on the pod had worn him out. Picking up a PADD from the desk he read over its read-out. It contained data on the sensor buffer he completely forgot about this report. Tapping his com badge once more he set down the report. "Rin to Capt. Sevant." (reply Sevant) "Sir, i wanted to inform you of the last data on the sensor buffer condition." (reply Sevant) "Not only has the Trilite sustained the power flow. It has increased as well to 55 percent return scans should contain more information." (reply Sevant) "Aye sir, your welcome Rin out." That was about all he could take collapsing onto the desk Kyle fell asleep. Forgetting about the FO on his way for the data log. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, FO Cmndr Grailik, 0500) Grailik sat on the bridge looking over the data collected so far on the pod and the patients in sickbay. There was little to go on. All they knew was there was something nasty in the neighborhood. =/\=Kyle to Grailik.=/\= "Grailik here. Go ahead Ensign," Grailik said, tapping his comm-badge. =/\=Sir, i've recovered more data from the pod logs. If you would come to the cso office you can pick it up here.=/\= "Wonderful. I'll be right there." Grailik closed the connection and rose from his seat, looking around the Bridge once before heading to the turbo-lift. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 0505) “One seem to have no organic life, the other 2 have. They have the same fire marks on them. The trail for the Backtron is getting more identifiable Sir... might I suggest that we send a probe ahead. I can modify it to seek the Backtron signature easily enough. I will need someone from engineering to help me do the modifications.” "Do it, and work out an invasive program that gets us far away from the launch site once the probe becomes visible out-of-cloak." he ordered, sitting back again. “Understood and yes Sir!” He sat back and folded his hands together as he looked at the screen. "Set course for the pods, and prepare to pick them up." “Coordinates has been given to the helm... Once we have them, I will launch the probe and start the evasive program.” Yalta listen to what was going on and before getting up she tap her combadge. “Yalta to engineering, I need an engineer right away in the probe launcher to modify a probe.” (Reply from engineering) “Understood, I will meet you in 5 minutes.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Saim's quarters - ACEO Enaj - 0505) Saim was slumbering lightly when she heard her comm go off. =^= This is engineering. Lt. Shafio has requested someone to go to the probe launcher to modify a probe. You should tell you are coming.=^= "Really," Saim said ruefully. So much for catching up on sleep. "Lt. Shafio, I'm heading there now. Just give me fifteen minutes." (reply Yalta) Getting changed quickly Saim headed to the probe launcher. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, CSO's Office, Cmndr Grailik, 0505) Grailik heard snoring as he approached the CSO's Office, none to surprised. ~Everyone's been burning the midnight oil tonight.~ He looked in to see Rin fast asleep at his desk. His head propped up on his arms. Grailik picked up the PADD on the desk and looked at it to make sure it was the one he wanted, with the data from the escape pod. Once he was sure he had the right PADD he looked back toward Ensign Rin and considered waking the Ensign and sending him to his quarters. ~He's sleeping peacefully now. Why disturb him. Best to let him rest.~ Quietly, Grailik closed the office door as he left, looking over the PADD with the sensor data on it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio & ACEO Ensign Enaj - 0505) Yalta listen to what was going on and before getting up she tap her combadge. “Yalta to engineering, I need an engineer right away in the probe launcher to modify a probe.” =/\=Really,=/\= Saim said ruefully. So much for catching up on sleep. =/\=Lt. Shafio, I'm heading there now. Just give me fifteen minutes.=/\= “Understood, I will meet you in 5 minutes.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Office - 2O/CMO Lt. Cmdr Kestra Troi - 0510) Kestra walked in with the Ensign behind her and he shut the door behind him as he entered. "Have a seat Ensign, want anything from the replicator?" She asked as she walked over to it. (Reply Chang) Kestra then returned to sit beside him and started to tell him what was happening with the patients in quarantine. at the present." She said the proceeded to head for her office. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, Tactical Holographic Systems Research Center - Tactical Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0520) Melody growled and slapped the computer she was working on upside its monitor. There was only one other person with her, the only other person on this ship that had been trained on Earth in using and calibrating the experimental Tactical Holographic System. With the ship at Yellow Alert, and the buzz being that the Captain was taking them into a combat situation, Melody had come down to make sure the nerve-center of the system was working properly and that everyone on bridge duty knew what they were doing with it. So far, it had been a royal pain for her to work with, its matrix was going unstable whenever power became slightly strained on the ship... Which was nearly every moment, since they were at high alert and they were under cloak. She had tweaked it, and run diagnostics galore. She finally sat back after slapping the computer, and admitted she needed an engineer on this one. It wasn't an issue she could touch, she wasn't an engineer herself, just a tech troubleshooter on a very new system. She tapped her fingers on the console for a few moments. She didn't want some raw wannabe digging around in her baby, she needed someone with experience and she needed it quick. "Computer," she called, "Who is the highest ranking engineer on this ship, with the most experience on Boudicca's systems." [Lieutenant Trevan West, Chief Engineering Officer, has served on the USS Boudicca in the Engineering department for the greatest amount of time] That worked. She tapped her badge, "Chief Haverstaad to Lieutenant West, I require your services and I require them soon." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, FO Cmndr Grailik / CO Capt Sevant, 0515) Grailik stepped back onto the Bridge, the PADD with the recovered sensor data in one hand. He had looked it over during the trip to the bridge. He stepped down to the command deck and walked over and sat down next to Sevant, handing him the PADD. "The recovered sensor data from the first escape pod," Grailik said, "A bit piece meal, but it at least gives us a hull profile of what ever attacked them and a partial energy signature profile." "Have you given this to anyone else yet?" Sevant asked as he took the PADD. "What've we learned so far?" "Not yet," Grailik said, "I just got it from Ensign Rin. Thought you'd want to look it over before giving it to tactical. I've never seen that profile of ship before or that type of energy profile. You?" Sevant scrolled down and looked at it. His brow wrinkled slightly, "Nothing even remotely close," he admitted. "We're dealing with an unknown, this isn't standard tech for any of the major powers in this quadrant." He looked over, "Get it to engineering and tactical immediately, every little bit helps." Grailik nodded, took the PADD and rose to his feet and headed over to Lt. Bush at the tactical station. "Lt," Grailik said stepping up beside him, "Here is a the recovered data from the escape pod. Could you get together with someone from engineering and go over the hull profile and energy signature and come up with an analysis." (Reply Bush) Grailik turned back toward Sevant as Lt. Bush got to work on the data. "Captain, can I have a word with you in your Ready Room?" he asked casually. Sevant nodded and stood, then made his way for the ready room. Once inside, he stepped to the side, and waited for the First Officer had passed. The door slid shut as Sevant put his hands behind him, "Yes, XO?" Grailik moved over to the replicator and got himself a fresh mug of coffee. "Would you like anything to drink Captain?" "I'm fine." he said as he moved over to his seat behind the desk. "Captain," He said, looking up at Sevant, "have you given any consideration to the possibility of opening a dialogue with this ship when we finally track them down? Sevant quirked an eyebrow as he settled back in the chair. "Consideration? Surely. It depends on the condition of the Backtron herself, and the actions the enemy takes when we meet them." He folded his hands together, "I won't allow anything like what we are seeing now to happen to the Boudicca if I can possibly help it. " Grailik nodded. "Of course not," He said taking another sip of his coffee, "Yet, so far the only preparations we have made is for an armed confrontation. This species obviously has technology we do not have. They could prove to be a voluble ally in this region of space, if we can some how open a dialogue and find some common ground." Sevant waved a hand, "We are dealing with something that utterly destroyed the minds of Federation Citizens. Whether or not we are diplomatic, we have to prepare to the best of our ability to defend against them." His face hardened slightly, "And whoever they were, they boarded the Backtron forcefully, I would not take that as indication that they are overly peaceful or interested in treaties. If I'm wrong, we will know soon enough." "And we still have no idea why," Grailik countered, "They could of thought the Backtron an invader. We have no way of knowing at this time exactly what their motives where. Speaking as the Diplomatic Attaché to Admiral LoDona, I advise you not to proceed with the sole conclusion that they are totally hostile. Preconceived intentions of another can color how we perceive a situation and cloud our ability to be objective. The Backtron, on the greater scheme of diplomatic affairs, can be a minor incident or what precipitates a full scale war. The actions of this ship and her Captain could very well determine which." Sevant nodded, "I'm aware of that. However, if this is a matter of turf, then they are just moving in. We've had a few surveys in this direction, none of them ever encountered a post-warp race, much less one that held a large area of space." He sat back and mused for a few moments, "I will not be attacking them right off, not if I can help it. Neither am I going to let them be a danger to the Federation, however." He looked over, "This is the balance between our primary functions, XO, exploring and military. I will have to see when we get there." "Balance indeed, and a very fine line to walk sometimes. I've seen the survey results of this area as well, and why none of the surveys showed any advanced races in the area. We both know they've missed things before. I just wanted to make sure that you remember that we are not JUST a military vessel. As Star Fleet officers, peaceful contact with a new species should always be our first option." "A philosophical point, perhaps." Sevant replied, "One that I will keep in mind." "Isn't it Star Fleet's 'philosophy' that has gotten the Federation to where it is today?" Grailik asked taking another sip of his coffee. "Sometimes philosophy is all we have." "Even philosophies have exceptions," Sevant countered. "And it's those exceptions I am planning for, just in case." He shrugged, "Borg, Furies and Xenolithe come to mind. This race might have a perfectly good reason for wiping out a crew, but I won't take the chance it was benevolent until I meet them. In the mean time, we're preparing for battle." "Just so long as you haven't completely discounted the possibility of opening a peaceful dialogue. At least not yet." The Captain shook his head, "I never do." "Good," Grailik said, standing, "glad to hear it. Glad we had this little conversation, Captain. So there are no misunderstanding between us. We know where we each stand." Grailik smiled. Sevant nodded slightly as he looked at Grailik. The Commander had already spoken as 'the Admirals attaché' and not as his First Officer, he wondered just what else Grailik was and what he had the power to do. They would have to have another talk about that, sometime when they weren't in the midst of a crisis situation. "Carry on, Commander." he said as he stood himself. The bridge was his place, that was where he wanted to be. Grailik moved over to place his mug back into the replicator to be recycled. "Think I'm gonna take this lull to catch a little cat nap. Been up all night, and well I'm not as young as I use to be." Grailik smiled good naturedly. "Would you like me to relive you in a few hours so you can get a little rest your self?" Sevant considered that for a few moments, "That would work," he said. "Very well." "I'll see you in a couple hours then, Captain." Grailik inclined his head slightly and headed for the door and the turbo-lift. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Engineering, CEO Lt jg Trevan West - 0520) Trevan was finally able to place some of his items back in his office and was ready to go to SLEEP for the night when the comm. system beeped at him again. A wonderful angelic voice filled the room, =/\=Chief Haverstaad to Lieutenant West, I require your services and I require them soon.=/\=. ~Who the hell is this?~ he thought to himself, "West here, on my way." he slapped his comm. badge a little to hard and hurt his chest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Office - 2O/CMO Lt. Cmdr Kestra Troi - 0520) "Have we been able to determine their race or point of origin?" "At present time all we know is that the pods originated with a civilian science ship called the Backtron. All the patients arrived in a catatonic state." Kestra started answering the many questions that she knew would come. "Catatonic you say? Where any of their high brain functions intact. Obviously their lower brain functions must be functional as they are breathing and their cardiac and haemodynamic status is stable." Edmund offered excitedly. ~Finally some action~ "Yes they are stable and that is all that is functioning." Kestra was rapidly being impressed with her new assistant. "We need to examine them first hand. Take some tricorder readings, some blood tests. We need to confirm whether their catatonia is due technological causes: that is, via some mechanical means or biological causes: being suppressed via the blocking of acetylcholine creation or something preventing neurotransmitter binding in the postsynaptic membrane?" "What do and the counselor think? You are both Betazoids, what are you initial impressions?" "Well, The FO and Myself did the first examination of the patients. We took all the readings and blood tests that we could come up with. So far nothing out of the ordinary has shown up. I then asked that the counselor join us, not for the counselor expertise, but, for her talent as a Mind-Healer. Her impressions where that the mental functions, knowledge and such, have been sucked out. I am not under any reason thinking that this is done by any weapon of any sort, it is too clean." Kestra stopped short of telling all that she discussed with the captain. "I suggest that we don some environmental suits and get to work. That should protect us if it is indeed an a blood or airborne pathogen. Quick." Kestra could see that the Ensign was getting more excited by the moment at being able to work on something like this by the way his talking was progressively getting faster. She knew that she would have to bring him down to a tolerable level quickly. "Ensign, Ensign, hold on" Kestra said with a large smile on her face. "While it is good to see someone with so much enthusiasm, we need to slow down and take one step at a time." She saw him visibly shake and recognize that he was getting a bit overzealous. "We have already set up the quarantine area for the patients and the procedures are in place. If you want to go in to examine them you can but be careful. Also, let me know if you find anything." She wondered if she was letting him go to get into trouble or if he might be able to find something. She sat back watching his reaction for a minute then continued. "Ensign, Have you found your quarters and settled in as of yet? If not, I want you to do that before you do anything else then check back with me so I can give you some tasks to complete. Before you go though, tell me a bit about yourself, like before you started your career in starfleet and why you decided that starfleet was what you wanted." She sat there to listen to his story -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, THRSC - Tactical Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0520) =^=West here, on my way.=^= The channel clicked off immediately. Her partner looked at her for a moment, then shrugged. "I've got squad duty coming up, off to grab an hour before hand." Melody nodded absently as she walked over to the ODN Access panel and popped it. The other Senior Chief walked out as she was putting it to the side. For several moments she stood there looking at it, remembering all her lessons about the power grid and how the Holographic Systems independent power tapped into everything. Her best thought was that the connection wasn't aligned, so whenever main power fluctuated, the Independent system was a half-heartbeat slow in taking over. She stuck her head in and looked around for a few moments, gazing at the connections as she waited for the engineer. "Excuse me, that's an ODN access panel, please don't touch that. I am the Chief Engineer how may I be of service?" Melody closed her eyes, head still in the panel. ~Breaking his arms would be bad, remember that.~ She pulled her head out and turned it to look at him, one eyebrow quirked. "I've got power problems with the Holographic Tactical Systems... And being in yellow alert, with the specter of combat, I want it taken care of." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, THRSC - Tactical Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0520) =^=West here, on my way.=^= The channel clicked off immediately. Her partner looked at her for a moment, then shrugged. "I've got squad duty coming up, off to grab an hour before hand." Melody nodded absently as she walked over to the ODN Access panel and popped it. The other Senior Chief walked out as she was putting it to the side. For several moments she stood there looking at it, remembering all her lessons about the power grid and how the Holographic Systems independent power tapped into everything. Her best thought was that the connection wasn't aligned, so whenever main power fluctuated, the Independent system was a half-heartbeat slow in taking over. She stuck her head in and looked around for a few moments, gazing at the connections as she waited for the engineer. "Excuse me, that's an ODN access panel, please don't touch that. I am the Chief Engineer how may I be of service?" Melody closed her eyes, head still in the panel. ~Breaking his arms would be bad, remember that.~ She pulled her head out and turned it to look at him, one eyebrow quirked. "I've got power problems with the Holographic Tactical Systems... And being in yellow alert, with the specter of combat, I want it taken care of." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca – Probe Launcher – Enaj - 0520) Yalta had started to work on the probe has she saw Ensign Enaj walk in. He look tired like everyone. She return her attention to the task. “I have started, I took out the diagnostic system and started the reprogramming of it. It's necessary for the best accurate reading. The guidance system will need to be link up with it... this probe needs to be like a Bloodhound and the band we are searching to follow is very narrow.” "Whoa there," Saim replied. She knew she was not feeling particularly clear headed at the moment but still. "What is this probe looking for?" “The trail of the Backtron, here are the details and data you will need for the guidance system. We need to do this quickly and send this probe on it's way. There, I have completed this and the tests are conclusive. Now, can we work on the guidance system. I forgot to present myself... Chief OPS, Lt. Schafio.” "ACEO Enaj. Right then if you want to get started this should only take a little while." “You look tired... will you be okay?” "Sure. So we are close to the Backtron. That's the ship from where that mystery shuttle came from isn't it. It's very strange," Saim said striking up conversation while getting to work on the guidance system. When they were finally finished Saim turned to Yalta and said, "It's already now. I'll leave you to send its on its way. I have to head to the bridge to make sure the connection between the bridge and engineering is as I want it. It's been nice meeting you." Having said that Saim turned to leave. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, THRSC - Lt jg Trevan West - 0521) She pulled her head out and turned it to look at him, one eyebrow quirked. "I've got power problems with the Holographic Tactical Systems... And being in yellow alert, with the specter of combat, I want it taken care of." Trevan just stood there staring at this lovely woman who had the strangest look on her face. "Umm, yeah, power problems. Well let's see what we have here. I am familiar with this type of technology so it shouldn't be a problem." Trevan flipped out his Tricorder and was scanning away, "So, Senior Tactical Chief eh?" he said swallowing hard, "Must get pretty boring down here sometimes, I know the feeling." He looked back at her and she still had this look on her face. ~Right Trev, good one. Shut up~ he thought to himself, "Chief? Looks like the plasma flow is out of sync. It's still within regulations, but since this display is so sensitive to changes in the ship, any little fluctuation will just throw it for a loop. "West to Engineering, I need a repair team to Deck 12. West out, " he turned around and flipped his tricorder shut, "And we should swap out and processing components you may have." West walked over towards the far wall that housed most of the ships tactical displays and tapped a few commands into the computer when it suddenly warned him. "Warning, you are about to change engineering protocols, this procedure is not recommended." it replied. "To hell with that, override lockout, West Theta 2, 9, 9, 7." he smiled back at Melody, "That should also help, I have changed the protocol so when the ship is at Yellow or Red alert Status, there will be a 15% increase in the power flow to this deck. Also in a alert situation this unit will receive priority status." "You mind if I have go at it? I would love to try this thing out. Or we could wait until the Engineering crew finish in a few hours, up to you Chief?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, THRSC - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0521) "Umm, yeah, power problems. Well let's see what we have here. I am familiar with this type of technology so it shouldn't be a problem." Melody pulled completely away so he could work, and crossed her arms as he started scanning. She still wasn't impressed, she knew more then enough not to get zapped by the power flowing through that panel. "So, Senior Tactical Chief eh?" The Engineer said after a few moments, "Must get pretty boring down here sometimes, I know the feeling." He looked back over at her, though she didn't move a muscle. He quickly looked back down again. Melody quirked a small grin at that, he looked more at home with technology then inter-personal relations. "Chief? Looks like the plasma flow is out of sync. It's still within regulations, but since this display is so sensitive to changes in the ship, any little fluctuation will just throw it for a loop." She nodded. She had learned enough in her time with Tactical to pick up a lot of the engineering principles behind it, that sounded plausible. Either way, he knew more about this then he did by far. She sat back at her terminal as he called for a repair team. He turned back to her a moment later, "And we should swap out and processing components you may have." That caused Melody to quirk her head, but he was already walking over to the Master Status board. ~If you screw up by baby, bucko, Ill turn you inside out...~ She was half out of the chair when the computer said, [Warning, you are about to change engineering protocols, this procedure is not recommended.] "To hell with that, override lockout, West Theta 2, 9, 9, 7." he smiled back at Melody, "That should also help, I have changed the protocol so when the ship is at Yellow or Red alert Status, there will be a 15% increase in the power flow to this deck. Also in a alert situation this unit will receive priority status." Ahhhhh, that was more like it. She looked at him for a few seconds more as he said, "You mind if I have go at it? I would love to try this thing out. Or we could wait until the Engineering crew finish in a few hours, up to you Chief?" Melody placed her hands behind her back as she considered him. "You said you were familiar with this system?" she asked slowly, in thought. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, THRSC -Lt jg Trevan West - 0522) Melody placed her hands behind her back as she considered him. "You said you were familiar with this system?" she asked slowly, in thought. Trevan switched the unit on and stepped inside the holographic ring where all the major ship functions were displayed in front of him. He moved his head around and flicked his fingers a few times accessing the phaser controls, torpedoes and basically a blank starfield. He could see where this might come in handy in very tense firefights. After about 10 minutes fiddling with the systems and other various options he shut the display off and turned around the Melody, "You have an interesting setup here, very accessible with the fingertip functions. I have worked and read about these systems but never used one until now. Very nice indeed," he said with a small smile on his face. "Well," he cleared his throat, "Umm, if there is anything else you need, big or small, I am at your disposal chief." (reply Melody) "You're welcome, it's not a problem. This is what I live for, I love this stuff. I'll check in, in a little while to see how the engineering guys are doing. But in the meantime, could I ask you a favour?" "I am looking to add some security protocols in the engineering section in case we get boarded. Engineering is the first or second place someone would go to cause trouble, would you mind coming down and taking a look for me?" Trevan placed his hands behind his back and stared at his feet while he 'kicked the dirt' as it were waiting for the reply. This was certainly a confrontation he was not use to. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, Tactical Holographic Systems Research Center - Lt jg Trevan West - 0523) Trevan waltzed into the Research Centre and saw someone hovering over an open ODN access panel, "Excuse me, that's an ODN access panel, please don't touch that. I am the Chief Engineer how may I be of service?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, THRSC - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0532) "You have an interesting setup here, very accessible with the fingertip functions. I have worked and read about these systems but never used one until now. Very nice indeed," Melody inclined her head, it was always useful to find someone who knew just what she was doing. There were others on the Boudicca trained with this technology, but she had trained most of them herself. "Well, Umm, if there is anything else you need, big or small, I am at your disposal chief." Melody pressed her lips together, "Nothing particular comes to mind, just as long as my systems work. Thank you, by the way, for your swift response." Not that he should have done anything differently, but it always helped to have engineers on your side. "You're welcome, it's not a problem. This is what I live for, I love this stuff. I'll check in, in a little while to see how the engineering guys are doing. But in the meantime, could I ask you a favour?" Melody cocked her head to the side and quirked an eyebrow, in askance. "I am looking to add some security protocols in the engineering section in case we get boarded. Engineering is the first or second place someone would go to cause trouble, would you mind coming down and taking a look for me?" The Senior-Chief looked over at her systems. There was nothing more she could do until the engineers got here to fix whatever need fixing, meaning she was back on typical Security duty. It wasn't usually her place to check out the integrity of locations, but word had already filtered that the whole ship was supposed to be tighter then a Deltan virgin. Besides, her team was supposedly near engineering right now, she should check how they were mingling with the Jarhead Marines. "As you say," she said, as she noted that he was doting like a schoolboy. That nearly earned him a chuckle, but she kept her face straight. "Lead on, Lieutenant." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge, ACSO - Ens Vegra Gretud - 0532) Vegra entered the bridge it was a strange hive of activity with people rushing about. In the centre of the room was what Vegra assumed was captain Caladryll Sevant. He walked up to him and snapped to attention. “Ens JG Vegra Gretud reporting for duty.” Said Vegra handing over a padd. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 0532) "Ens JG Vegra Gretud reporting for duty." Sevant looked over and quirked an eyebrow. Before him was a Ferengi, rare enough in the fleet. The half-Vulcan took the PADD and looked at the Ensign for a few moments more before bending his head and looking at the contents. He scrolled it quickly, then shut it down at looked back up again. "We are in the midst of an emergency Ensign, and we don't have the time for you to settle in. Report immediately to Doctor Rin, he is currently in charge of the Science department." (reply: Gretud) He filed the ensign away in his mind, he would have to sit down and talk with him later. They didn't have the time now for his customary speech, for now he would have to be tested in a Trial-by-fire. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – ENS Gretud - 0532) "Ens JG Vegra Gretud reporting for duty." Sevant looked over and quirked an eyebrow. Before him was a Frengi, Rare enough in the fleet. The half-Vulcan took the PADD and looked at the Ensign for a few moments more before bending his head and looking at the contents. He scrolled it quickly, and then shut it down at looked back up again. "We are in the midst of an emergency Ensign, and we don't have the time for you to settle in. Report immediately to Doctor Rin, he is currently in charge of the Science department." “Aye Sir” said Vegra -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - Lt jg Trevan West / Senior-Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0539) Trevan and Melody walked in towards Main Engineering, the large warp core pounded away with all the energy of a thousand stars. Melody was in front by a few steps, possibly on purpose but Trevan new better then to say something to her, he didn't want to end up in Sickbay; looked like she could take him. "Here," he said gesturing towards the master control station, "is the master display, I would like some extra monitoring of this especially during high alert situations. Also, I think the warp core area needs some better security, either in the way of personnel or devices. Too many places to hide and do damage, what do you think?" Trevan tensed up awaiting a barrage of answers he didn't want to hear, ~Why did I ask her to come down here?~ Melody frowned as she looked around Engineering. There was one squad, nicely split and put in various corners, the legacy of orders given earlier. "You might want to think up some methods for locking the place down in a hurry, something to augment the security procedures already in place." "Oh yeah, that, well, I think we can get away with that down here. I can make a few adjustments to it." replied Trevan. Melody flipped open her tricorder and began to scan Engineering, while she was doing so she ended up walking right into the Chief Engineers office and was scanning the bulkheads. The Boudicca was basically sound, several places had been weakened when they had been cut apart to bring in new parts, or power cables, or whatever else. It was one of the after-effects of a rushed refit, something that was supposed to be fixed as time went on. The Engineers office was sound, it could serve as a base of ops in an invasion. She had read past records of the Boudicca, once this place had suffered a grenade explosion, not pretty. She swung the tricorder around and noticed a picture on the desk, beside one of the monitors. "Who is that?" she asked somewhat offhandedly as she flipped the Tricorder shut. "Oh, her, umm, that used to be well, my fiancé." he said almost with tears in his eyes, "I'd rather not talk about it." he said in a shaky voice. "Also I would like to have a word with you in here in private if you don't mind?" and he started to speak when she interrupted him. Melody held up her hand, with a sudden premonition of how things were about to degenerate. "Whoa, we're both on duty..." she frowned slightly, "I can meet you for a drink later on, but for now I have a scan to run. I trust that meets with your approval, Sir?" Trevan's eyes lit up for a brief moment then sub-sided, "Yeah go ahead with the scans, I'll just wait. A drink sounds good I guess, as long as it isn't alcoholic, I don't drink really. Not in a long time, so yeah go and run the scans." he replied. Melody took a breath and exited the office. They were not going to be able to fit more men into this area, not unless it was a battle situation. There were six security and seven Marines, fairly hefty firepower in the event of an emergency... Especially around such volatile things as Warp Cores. Her eyes flicked up and around, and she nodded. "Unless you want to trip over us and our equipment, I wouldn't recommend more people in here. We can alter your security procedures, you can talk to the Big Chief about having the engineers carry sidearms, that might be a good idea as long as they know how to use em." She looked over, "The rest would be methods of locking this place down in a hurry, and making life difficult on whomever wants it." Trevan nodded, "Lock down sounds like a feasible plan to me," he coughed, "and no, the Engineers can't carry sidearms in here. Too many things can get hit, but I will look into the possibility anyway. Trevan folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the bulkhead, "Well, we have the isolation door and emergency bulkheads, I think we can install several forcefield generators and perhaps an aft isolation door as well. You are," Trevan was going to say 'super great' and realized that would sound very corny, "very good at this Melody. Thank you very much." The look on her face was something he was not expecting, almost a smile, perhaps just shock he used her first name, he wasn't too sure. What he was sure of however, is that the room was becoming very uncomfortable to be in, "If you will excuse me, I believe I am needed on the bridge," and with that Trevan turned on his heel and literally sprinted towards the turbolift without giving a second thought to how rude he just was towards Melody. The Chief quirked an eyebrow as the CEO practically ran out of engineering and jumped into a turbolift. She crossed her arms as someone came up behind her, she recognized the foot-pattern, so she didnt bother turning. "Scare another one, Chief?" he said behind her. Her replying smile was patentedly evil as she half-turned to face her squad XO. "You expected less?" She looked over his shoulder briefly at the partial squad on duty, they were all hers. Melody slowly turned her attention back to him, "Smooth operating?" The Chief nodded, "We're staying out of the way, even the Marines are playing ball and staying in a corner." His snort told Melody all she wanted to know about his opinion of that, he didn’t think much of them most times. Though, he had once quietly admitted they came in handy during heavy combat. Melody herself had to admit they often-times were over-muscled brutes, but Starfleet wasn’t stupid and neither were the men and women who ended up getting into the Marine BDU's. She looked around and nodded, "Very well, Ill have some new procedures for you most likely, after I.. hmm... consult with the Chief Engineer again." The XO shook his head as he turned to leave, "You are a wicked lady, Boss." What could Melody say? The man was not only a Saint, he was perfectly correct. Haverstaad herself walked for the turbolift, but tapped her badge as she did so. "Computer, inform me the moment Lieutenant West comes off-duty." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Engineering, Lt jg Trevan West, 0542) Running through the corridors at warp speed Trevan finally stopped, huffing and puffing leaning against the bulkhead. Several crewmen passed by probably wondering if he was going to explode or collapse. "Where the hell am I going?" he said out loud to himself as he is known to do. Trevan took a deep breath, activated his communicator "West to Captain Sevant, I need to have a word with you sir. It is of the up most urgency." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 0543) =^=West to Captain Sevant, I need to have a word with you sir. It is of the up most urgency.=^= "Very well Chief, Ill be in the ready room." (reply: if desired) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, Lt jg Trevan West, 0547) Trevan walked onto the bridge totally ignoring everyone. As usual something was going on and he wasn't informed about it. Trevan rang the door chime and entered when he heard the Captain's voice. The ready room was pretty standard fare for a warship, sure there was the odd trinket and memento that belonged to the Captain but nothing really that put you at ease. Trevan wondered if that was on purpose or not. "Captain, firstly I want to apologize for my attitude towards you earlier. I know you understand where I am coming from but still, it was no excuse for it. Especially since we go way back." Trevan took a seat at the desk and clasped his hands on it, "Secondly I have a few issues that need to be discussed now, not later." Trevan went onto explain how out of the loop he felt and since he was the Chief Engineer he should be made aware of everything going on related to this ship and how that he knows that it's standard procedure to have the Chief on the bridge during alert situations, Trevan felt that he could be of better assistance to the ship and crew if he were to man his station in Engineering. "I can more efficiently direct my staff from there." "Also on the subject of Engineering, I was looking over the cloak and noticed that it could be performing better. Our engines need to be tuned to make sure our signature doesn't leak through the cloak. As it stands right now, it's on the bare minimum and one power fluctuation and poof, cloak is useless. I have assigned an engineering crew to better tune the engines, should be finished shortly." Trevan leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, "You know, most of the systems are in a total mess, being mothballed and then rushed out of dock doesn't make for a good mix, I would like permission to start overhauling some non-essential systems like the holodecks, tractor beams etc. It's the best I can do without interrupting key systems. What do you think?" (reply Sevant) "Thanks, I will get on it sir." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Ready Room - Capt Sevant - 0547) Sevant folded his hands together in his lap and leaned back in the chair as his Chief Engineer walked into his ready room. This was the second time in few hours, he wondered what had come up so suddenly and couldn't be discussed over comm. "Captain, firstly I want to apologize for my attitude towards you earlier. I know you understand where I am coming from but still, it was no excuse for it. Especially since we go way back." Trevan took a seat at the desk and clasped his hands on it, "Secondly I have a few issues that need to be discussed now, not later." Sevant nodded his head, and gestured for the CEO to continue. He started off saying that he felt he should be kept in information essential to the ship, Sevant agreed with that, and from there he continued saying that he didn't much want to be on Bridge Duty. "I can more efficiently direct my staff from there." "Also on the subject of Engineering, I was looking over the cloak and noticed that it could be performing better. Our engines need to be tuned to make sure our signature doesn't leak through the cloak. As it stands right now, it's on the bare minimum and one power fluctuation and poof, cloak is useless. I have assigned an engineering crew to better tune the engines, should be finished shortly." The Captain remained silent as his Chief Engineer almost took on an introspective aspect and started looking at his ceiling. "You know, most of the systems are in a total mess, being mothballed and then rushed out of dock doesn't make for a good mix, I would like permission to start overhauling some non-essential systems like the holodeck, tractor beams etc. It's the best I can do without interrupting key systems. What do you think?" Sevant quirked his head. "Once we are out of this combat situation, most certainly. As it stands now, I can't tell you if we will be in a fight or when, but it's starting to look likely." He leaned forward and put his folded hands on the desk. "This ship was taken out too early, we both know that, but there is nothing to be done for it. Once Geneva has covered her terrain we will be able to put in and get some more of the extensive work done, we just need to make sure she doesn't fall apart." He frowned slightly, "Assuming we are not required on the battle-line the entire time, which is entirely possible." He looked at Trevan closely for a moment, "Unless you have nothing else to do to put us up to battle readiness, or once we have over-come this crisis, then by all means Lieutenant. This ship was my home once, for a long time, I hate to see her broken when she doesn't need to be." "Thanks, I will get on it sir." Sevant waited a moment as he stood up, "Chief?" He waited for Trevan to pause, "Welcome aboard." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Chief Engineer's Office, Lt jg Trevan West, 0615) Trevan was busy pulling repair schedules together and notifying the required departments of the repairs to their areas when a PADD came across his desk. Trevan read the information contained in the report and slammed it down on the desk, "Damn," he cursed under his breath, "West to ACEO Ensign Enaj, report to me at once Ensign." (reply Enaj) After that Trevan sunk back into his chair and started going back over the reports and constantly gazing up at the ceiling of the office, noticing the small, almost unnoticeable burn scar from when he was first posted here. Trevan made a mental note not to have that removed, as it gave him reassurance that at least some things never change. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Corridor 16 - ACEO Enaj - 0615) "West to ACEO Ensign Enaj, report to me at once Ensign." "Coming", Saim replied. Who was this West Saim wondered. "Computer. Where is West? [Lt. West is in Chief Engineer's Office.] "Lt. West," Saim wondered outloud. [CEO West] "CEO. No one told my boss had come on board," Saim quietly swore and wishing not to keep her direct superior waiting started quickly walking. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Chief Engineer's Office - 0620) Saim stuck her head round the door and saw a man with the right number of pips sitting at the desk. "Sir?" Saim said enquiringly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - CSO's Office – ACSO Dr. Kyle Rin - 0535) Vegra walked to the Science Department and did what he was told and reported to Dr Rin. Vegra reached the dr and said “ENS Jg Vegra Gretud reporting for duty.” Kyle motioned for Vegra's PADD with his current orders on it. "Welcome aboard Ensign, i'm sure you'll find the Boudicca suitful to your needs?" Kyle asked with a raised eyebrow. (reply Vegra) "Finish getting any items to your quarters, then i will need you to begin your duties by monitoring the current probe read-outs on science panel nine. Let me know of any strange activity you might come across." Kyle returned to his work and watched as the ensign took his leave towards the science department. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 0700) Yalta was watching the analysis of the probe has it follow the trail of the Backtron, for now there was nothing in sight. She was starting to get annoy by this, making calibration, watching new information and reports from medical, and tactical, it was went she heard the turbolift doors and saw Ensign Shylynx that she remember it was breakfast time. Ryko walked onto the bridge, and caught Yalta's eye almost immediately. He approached, and stood next to her station. He looked fleetingly at the screens then asked her, "0700, don't tell me you forgot." “I didn't, just was very busy this pass couple hours.” Yalta knew that she had forgotten but it was true that she had been very busy. Ryko laughed and looked at her again. He cast a glance at the tactical console, then looked at the viewscreen. "It's alright. Are you ready?" He asked, wiping an invisible speck of dust off his sleeve. “Yes I am, just transferred everything to this padd, so I am ready and hungry!” She smiled getting up and signaling to her replacement that he could take her place. Ryko smiled at Yalta and motioned for her to go first as the turbolift doors opened (USS Boudicca – Mess Hall – 0705) They arrive to the Mess Hall, there was starting to be a lot of people there yet, there was a nice spot beside the main window. “I think this spot is ok... there's 2 seats free there.” Said Yalta. "After you, Ryko said, following her to the table. “Thank you.” She sat down and they waited for the waitress to come to there table which was quick. “I would like 2 Andorian pancakes, with strawberry jelly.” She put her padd beside her. "2 ktarian eggs, scrambled, please," Ryko said. The waitress nodded, and disappeared to take care of the order. Ryko absently touched his nose where his injury was, as if it was itching. “While we are waiting... how this injury happen to you?” Ryko smiled and leaned back a little. "It was before my first commission, I was in training at the Antares III colony, in orbit around Jupiter. I was only 19, so of course I acted like a complete showoff," Ryko said, chuckling a little. "You know they say, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"? That was me. I messed up one simple loop, and whacked my face off the control console." "For the next month I had to go around in a special regenerative dressing. Some of my friends thought I had a huge zit on my nose." “Ouch! Well, I had my share of scraps too back on my home. Broken ribs, wrist, and forearm.” She chuckled. Ryko laughed a little. "How did you do that?" he asked. “Let me see, wrist was during an expedition to a savage sector in are homeworld. There was an accident in water rafting. Forearm and ribs was during an excursion. We had a ice rock face to escalate, there was an accident, it was in the rescue. I was taken to an out post and then returned to the city. No pain killer at all.” “At least, until I arrived to the out post.” "Wow. Sounds like you had a rough ride," Ryko said as the food arrived. "Can't say I've had much worse than this," Ryko said as he touched his nose again. "Except maybe that fight I had with my dad a while back. Left me with a broken wrist," He sprinkled a little extra salt onto his eggs, and started to eat. “The weather was at least not so bad, so we made the trip quickly enough, but it wasn't fun. I was about 17 yrs old when that happen. We learn really young how to fight. At 5, I received my Kouta, a knife, we start to learn how to fight early, it's a rite of passage. At the age of 12, I started to learn about Bat'Leth and hand to hand combat. We learn endurance also, some the very hard way.” She look at her pancakes with a smile. “Starfleet was a shock for not saying change, but I don't regret my decision.” "Sounds a hell of a lot more grueling than I went through. I had to get up at about 4am every day, then run for around 4 miles." Ryko could clearly see that his early days were nothing compared to Yalta's. "Most of my training was mostly focused towards my stay at Antares. My dad always told me that I was gonna be a pilot. I didn't agree, I just wanted to learn about starfleet weaponry. I ended up making a whole load of weapon modifications, I must have at least forty at home." “I have learn to manipulate and improvised weapons since early childhood. Women's education are rather peculiar on my homeworld.” Yalta blush a little. “We have the same education has the men but we are separated at puberty for obvious reasons.” "I can guess," Ryko said, as he had some more egg. "Antares was kinda like that, they don't care who you are as long as you can fly, but guys and girls were separated. "You got any family back home?" Ryko asked as he finished the ktarian eggs." “I have an older brother, my family is still on Elaas.” She finished one pancake and attack the other. "My mother and father are still on earth, but my Son Fox is in Starfleet. “He doesn't speak to me much," Ryko said. A lump crawled into his throat. He felt guilty at not being more in contact with his own flesh and blood. “Why?” "He doesn't trust me. I never made it home in time before his mother died, and ever since I've been like a stranger to him." "It gets depressing, sometimes, but I prefer not to talk about it.” “I understand... everyone has secrets.” Yalta finished her second pancake and took her glass of milk. Ryko was grateful that Yalta didn't want to talk about it. He smiled, and tried to find something else to talk about. “Tell me, in your free you do train right?” Yalta drank her milk slowly, being careful not to have a mustache. "All the time," Ryko said. "It depends on what I feel like. Sometimes I just blow things up, but whenever I need to relax, I run the Ilasia Fighter Program. I just fly around for an hour or two then sit and watch the nebula." "How about you? You train in your free time?" “Yes, usually fight training... Old habits die hard. Hand to hand, blade, but sometimes I recreate my planet... the white sand beach on the south continents on Elaas. I just walk, and walk sometimes sit and look at the sun set." Ryko nodded. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "Yeah, sometimes you just need to wind down. I know the feeling," he said. "I also like to play guitar," he said. "It's one of those things about childhood I can't leave behind." “Missing home but I think everyone feels like that one and a while. I don't play any musical instruments... but I like the Elasian musical composer Makrtir. Soft music, it calms me.” "I've always been a bit of a sucker for ancient earth music. Things like Meatloaf, but I generally just ad-lib," Ryko said. "Give me a topic and the chances are I can invent a song around it." “I can't think of one... I guess I'm preoccupied.” "What's bothering you?" he said. “This situation, with those people not dead and yet. We should have found the ship by now but we haven't. It's like it is hiding. No indication about what happen, no trace. An invisible enemy.” "I know what you mean. When I scanned that pod, the crystallization was definitely caused by weapons. That video playback just made me sick." “What did you see?” She said interested by what he had to say, herself not having seen the recording. Ryko leaned close, hoping no one else would hear. "It was mostly scrambled, but it was certainly a log entry. The crew looked as though they were being raided. It was... sick, " Ryko said as he struggled to put the playback into words. "There was weapons fire, sounded like civilian phasers. The crew was horrified, but it still didn't explain what happened to them. It just made the whole thing sound like a pirate raid." “What ever did this, they just might be in trouble. I hope I didn't scare you about my past... it can be for certain people.” "I wasn't scared. If anything, it tells me that I'm not the only one who went through hell to get where I am today," Ryko said, smiling. “There's no right or wrong education I guess. We have both finished and I think we should get back on the bridge.” Yalta smiled a bit relieved. "Never could say no to a lady," Ryko said in an unnecessary texan accent. He stood, and motioned for Yalta to lead the way. On the way to the turbolift, he stopped. "I'm planning to hold a recital at some point in the future, not sure when, but hopefully soon. If you could be there, it'd be great," he asked, admittedly nervous. “I would be happy too.” She said has they left the Mess Hall. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 0900) Yalta had return to her console now since a little less then an hour and a half ago. Even since she was back she was scanning away area and at the same time keeping an eye on the probe. Suddenly the probe detected debris, at first very little, in between escape pods. Yalta ordered the probe to stop, when there was more debris. “Captain Sevant, the probe detected a good quantity of podds, about 15 of them. Also a debris field. I can put it on the main viewer.” (Reply from Sevant) “Yes Sir!” Yalta put the image on the viewer, the Backtron was completely destroyed at the exception of the drive section, heavily damage and missing about half of it.” (Reply from Sevant) “I don't know, but there are signs of energy weapons being fired and also organic lifesigns. There might be more people in the same stated in the pods. They are spread out for about 10 million kilometers across from the half destroyed drive section that we see here. More of the same weapons fire, but I can't detect anything out there or particular signature other then the Backtron.” (Reply from Sevant) “Time to intercept at the new current speed is half an hour. Understood... Security, and medical... get ready... we will have more of those pods coming in.” Yalta look at Captain Sevant, he didn't seem happy at all even if it was difficult to discern if he was or not. She return back to her console and check the progress of security and medical. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 0901) "Captain Sevant, the probe detected a good quantity of pods, about 15 of them. Also a debris field. I can put it on the main viewer." Sevant leaned forward, his exhaustion immediately forgotten as word came. "Do so, full magnification." "Yes Sir!" Sevant frowned as the image on the screen was flipped from a star field to an unmoving Starscape, and then was rapidly enhanced to show details and magnification. It was wreckage, and apparently from what he was hearing it was defiantly the Backtron. Most of the ship was in pieces, utterly destroyed, only a part of it was still recognizable as part of a Ship. "Scan it, what caused that?" "I don't know, but there are signs of energy weapons being fired and also organic lifesigns. There might be more people in the same stated in the pods. They are spread out for about 10 million kilometers across from the half destroyed drive section that we see here. More of the same weapons fire, but I can't detect anything out there or particular signature other then the Backtron." Sevant sat back again and folded his hands together. They were rapidly pulling on a lot of new people, soon enough Medical would be filled and they would have to turn a Cargo Bay into a triage area. "Bring us out of warp and set an intercept course. Run a full scan of the area, and make sure there is nothing about that can surprise us, and make ready to bring those pods aboard. Time to intercept?" "Time to intercept at the new current speed is half an hour. Understood... Security, and medical... get ready... we will have more of those pods coming in." Sevant looked at the screen hard for several moments. They defiantly had a real situation here, something they might not be able to handle on their own. He had already sent off a flash subspace message to Geneva and the Talons, and their log-buoy was ready at all times for launch should they run into major problems. "Launch several more Type 9 probes and blanket this entire area, if there is an enemy or any other lost ships within half a day's reach, I want to know about it post-haste." (reply: Ops, Science) Sevant sat back in his command chair, "Send the Tactical, Engineering and the Marines a full sensor schematic of what's left of that ship. If its safe enough, I want that ship boarded and searched." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 0905) “Time to intercept at the new current speed is half an hour. Understood... Security, and medical... get ready... we will have more of those pods coming in.” Yalta look at Captain Sevant, he didn't seem happy at all even if it was difficult to discern if he was or not. She return back to her console and check the progress of security and medical. "Launch several more Type 9 probes and blanket this entire area, if there is an enemy or any other lost ships within half a day's reach, I want to know about it post-haste." “Understood... probes will be ready and launch in a few minutes to blanket the area. Science department report ready please.” (reply: Science) Sevant sat back in his command chair, "Send the Tactical, Engineering and the Marines a full sensor schematic of what's left of that ship. If its safe enough, I want that ship boarded and searched." “Sir, the probes are launched, we should have results has we go. Waiting status on Tactical, and Engineering, Marines reported ready Sir!” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - CSO's Office - Dr. Kyle Rin - 0905) As Kyle slept his mind wondered the dream he was currently having was of the current mission towards the Backtron. There was some light ahead in the distance slowly coming towards him he was unsure of what this light was suppose to be... A sudden com link opened up and Kyle rose out of his deep sleep he recognized the voice as that of Lt. Schafio's. "Understood... probes will be ready and launch in a few minutes to blanket the area. Science department report ready please." "Science here." Kyle said slowly rubbing his eyes and tapping a few keys in to set-up the probe for it's scan after being launched. "All systems read normal and section ready Lt." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Marine Staging Center - Major Straton & Major 'Spider' Drizzt - 0908) "Straton to the Planning Center!" Spider said into his helmet as the planning board in front of him started going crazy with data from the bridge and engineering. =/\=On my way,=/\= came the curt response. Spider, a fully certified engineer as part of the pre-requisite to being a Combat Engineer, bent over the table and tapped up the sensor images. His hand lashed out and he brought the full schematics of the ship they had been planning with all night up on another screen. He cursed lightly as he compared the two, "Mother Frelling ship has been blown to hell," he growled. And that, at least, was an understatement. All that was really left of it was the Engineering section, and certain portions of that were exposed to vacuum. All told, there was 58% of the total deck-space of the ship still surviving, the rest was debris. The bridge had sent these down to ascertain if there was enough left of her to board. Spider frowned as he continued studying the schematics with his trained engineering eye. "As long as the Marines are in full EVO/C," he muttered, "A pity the bridge isn't intact, I hope this ship had working backups for the data-recorders." He stood up again as someone called that the Marine Commander was on deck. He turned as Eva entered, and without any other formalities gestured to the plans. "We can go, but you're going to want to see this first." Eva walked in slinging her scatter gun over one shoulder, a mrk 3 phaser rifle over the other and her sword between the two, it's hilt easily visible and in easy reach over her right shoulder. She nodded at Spider. "Troops are on the pad waiting. What do you got?" She said, stepping up beside him "A mess, a frellin' mess." he said. He brought the sensor sweep of the ship up on the larger planning screen as he was talking and pointed at the center Engineering. "Engineering proper is intact, a lot of the secondary decks are exposed to vacuum. Figure 90% of the Engineering section is still intact, in one way or another. All the forward decks are completely destroyed, and the lower anti-matter storage decks are disabled. It looks like we caught a break there though, all the storage pods had been jettisoned." He crossed his arms, "Until we can get it secured and the vacuum exposed decks clean, its only going to be EVO/C and space-suits going over there." Spider looked over, "Now the good news. Too much interference from disabled machinery, leaking coolant, radiation and other such goodies to tell if there are hidden enemies, its going to be a complete sweep-job for that. The place is a hell-hole." Eva looked over the display, she was still certified as a CE herself, even if she had changed to the command track some time ago. "I see what you mean," She said, running an armored finger along parts with the highest concentrations of radiation, her tactical mind working. "All right," she said, after a second, "We will beam in here, your team will beam in here," she pointing out two different locations. "We will still be close enough to lend fire support to each other if need be, but not too close to all get fraged at once. From there we will sweep outwards making sure there are no surprises waiting. Then you and your boys can get to work." "Ill have it rigged in minutes, it won't take much." Spider said with a shrug. "Ill have the rest of the team purging the data-banks after copy em, assuming there is anything left." He looked over, "Alright, go ahead and make the call to the Cap saying it's a go.. Ill get the teams informed and the backups on the pad." "One more thing," Eva said, standing straight, "I want transporter locks kept on all of us while we are over there. If something goes wrong, we bug out immediately. We don't fight this enemy on their terms. We cut and run. That understood?" "Perfectly." was his only response before nodded and heading to the Staging Center. "FALLEN ANGELS AND DEATH DEALERS TO THE PAD, MIGHTY THUNK AND SAMPLER PLATTER ON BACKUP... MOVE YOU APES!" Eva opened a comm-channel as Spider left to make final preparations. "Straton to Sevant." =^=Sevant here.=^= "Drizzt has given the green light. We are ready to deploy on your command." =^=The Command is given, proceed immediately and keep me informed.=^= "Understood. Straton out," Eva closed the connection already moving toward the transporter pad. The men were already hanging around the pads, they quickly took position as Spider moved up. He switched to a frequency that only the four squads and the MCO were using, and started talking as he unslung his scatter-gun. "This ship is in pieces, we're going to be sweeping it for both evidence and enemies. Johnson and Huruul are on the Core and Recorders, everyone else rig the wench to blow using standard techniques of cover." He stepped onto the pad himself as was handed a metal container, his 'little black bag' of explosives. He nodded that he had possession of it and strapped it to the special hooks on his BDU. "Once that's done, we will be joining the 'Dealers on inspecting the rest of the ship. The ship is a combat zone, Standard Firing Point Procedures for contact, if something moves on that ship you blow it to hell." He grasped the scatter-gun in both hands, "The backup squads stay here unless we run into problems. Keep a lock on us at all times, just in case." Eva stepped onto the pad, and unslung her scattergun as Spider was giving the troops their orders. "Cerberus," Eva said, referring to the experimental AI in her BDU armor. [Cerberus on line.] Came the AI's response. "Tie in with Boudicca tactical systems. Give me read out of ship's tactical status and sensor read out. Place in lower right hand corner. Then up link to Captain's console, real time tactical display of marine deployment and status." [Standby. Working. Tie-in complete. Up link complete.] Spider looked over at Straton, "Ready for your go, Major." "Let's roll," Eva said, bringing her scattergun up to a ready position. She nodded the marine running the transporter. Seconds latter, she felt the transporter beam engage and the world vanished. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 0915) Yalta was looking at the results of the probes, they were down right scary, but so far, there was nothing in sight. She didn't know if it reassured her or not. With one hear she was listening to what was going on around her. Everyone expecting the unexpected coming from the corner, and usually the hidden corner of the mind, imagination was the place where everyone should be weary about, in this game it was better to think with the facts and detachment. Troops were ready to get inside the remain of the ship, actually, they were there already because she was reading there lifesigns now. The podds that were scattered were being retrieved quickly, one out of 4 was empty which meant that there could be people alive on what remain of the Backtron. “Captain, I have been trying to download what ever logs is in the memory core of the Backtron, I can't... it might help us know what happen to him.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 0915) "Captain, I have been trying to download what ever logs is in the memory core of the Backtron, I can't... it might help us know what happen to him." Sevant nodded, "I'm not surprised, with all power on the ship out. The Marines will be trying a physical extraction." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (SS Backtron - Main Engineering - Major 'Spider' Drizzt - 0916) Spider brought the scatter-gun up as he immediately fell to his knee and scanned the area in front of him. The ship was in pieces, and it was only running on emergency power. He had his HUD pulling in various forms of imagery to make up for the deficient light. There were obvious signs of battle damage everywhere, though there wasn't hardly enough power to even provide for a sparking conduit. Smoke hung limply in the atmosphere, this whole area had been sealed off before the ship itself had been mostly destroyed, so no air was moving anywhere. There were no obvious signs of movement, but there was debris everywhere. Spider squinted as he looked, noting the pattern of fire. All he could make out were Federation style phaser marks, there didn't seem to be much else. It didn't, in the least bit, explain the utter chaos that he was seeing here. He brought up a hand, then with his hand flat, pointed to the engineering section. It was time, they had work to do. "Angels hovering in Main Engineering," he said lightly into his mic as he moved slowly for the Core. (reply: Straton, if desired) His squad expertly spread out through the Engineering section. Half of them immediately went on guard duty, covering the backs of the rest. Two went to a computer access point with a mobile power source, to purge it. The rest of them, Spider included, were rigging the ship for utter destruction. Typically, They would have rigged the core to go critical... But the core was silent, there wasn't any anti-matter left in the ship to blow. So, they were forced to rely on other methods. Spider spun the scatter-gun around his shoulder on its strap, and grabbed at an access panel in the floor. According to the plans, one of the four fusion generators was close by for easy maintenance, that would be one thing he set to go critical immediately. With the ease that bespoke his races strength, he yanked the access panel open and looked down. The generator and its control panels were right there, at first glance it apparently was functioning at minimal power. ~Odd~ He scanned it for a second, then hopped down beside it. He took a few moments to look at the status panel, to discover why this thing wasn't operating full-blast to augment the emergency power systems. It didn't take long to discover, the coolant lines had been ruptured and it was barely maintaining its lowest level of operation before shutting down. That made it easy on Spider, nearly anything he did was have a near instant effect on the reactor. With deft movements he opened his explosives pack and pulled out a small 'tube'. The fun part was getting to the places he needed to be in full BDU. He crawled around the side of the reactor, until he got to the coolant joints, and gently squeezed some of the substance onto the joint on the under-side where it wouldn't be seen without a careful search. Once he had put several grams worth onto it, he recapped the tube and pulled a thumbs-size detonator out of his pouch - and carefully stuck it into the mass. Once he was done, he went to the reactor control systems and bypassed all the safety features, then ordered it to go to full power on remote command, and keyed it for the detonation command of the detonator. The end result would be catastrophic, and probably enough to deal with this entire segment of the ship without any other explosives from his team. He looked at the chronometer in his helmet, he had been down here four minutes. The rest of the team should be finishing up, with the exception of the Computer retrieval team. He climbed up quickly, and looked around. "Status?" =/=Done Chief=\=, =/=Finished boss=\=, =/=explosives set=\= and various other confirmations that their work was done filled his ear. The only thing that needed done was, as predicted, the core. =/=Sir, there is heavy damage to this core, it was nearly wiped out. I'm downloading what I can, as fast as I can, its gonna be another five minutes minimum.=\= Spider nodded at that, his men didn't exaggerate. If they needed five minutes, that's what it would take. "Make it quick Johnson." The Chief Combat Engineer pointed at three men, "Stay with em, the rest of you up a deck... Time to start exploring." There were no confirmations, the other members of the squad not directly involved with the core-extraction started moving for the nearest set of Jeffery tubes. Spider went to command-frequencies and said, "Explosives set major, this ship is rigged to go." (reply: if desired) Spider flung the scatter-gun back around for easy grabbing, and followed one of his men up the tube. Gravity was minimal under emergency power, it was a quick trip up. At the top rung, Spider popped his head just above to look, and only came up at the 'all clear' sign from the man who had gone before him. The Andorian quietly pulled himself through the hatch, then quickly jumped to the side as he grabbed at his scatter gun. This was one of the secondary engineering decks, a lot of rooms and hallways, monitoring stations and theoretical engineering labs. Before the attack, it had been far more deftly decorated then any Starfleet ship. Now, it was hard to recognize that there was really even a corridor here, masses of wiring and tubing hung from the ceiling. Holes had been knocked into rooms, doors were half open, or even ripped out completely. His frown was intense as the rest of his half-squad quickly took a beach-head position and scanned. =/=What could do this Major, It wasn't energy weapons... not primarily energy weapons, anyway.=\= Spider shook his head as he tracked the path of phaser shots. "Keep your eyes open, there shouldn't be survivors but watch for em. If anything so much as looks wrong, back out quick." were his only words. His grip tightened on the trigger of his weapon as he brought up a hand, and then pointed forward. Half a second later his weapon came up for cover-fire as four men jumped forward and ran for the nearest doorways. They quickly scanned the rooms themselves, then stepped just inside to provide the next layer of protection for forward moving Marines. It was going to take some time, but that was fine by Spiders thinking... This place was a battle-zone, and he didn't intend to get killed himself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (SS Backtron, Main Engineering, Major Straton, 0917) Eva materialized in a dark smoke filled part of Main Engineering, not far from Spider and his squad. She quickly scanned the area, her scatter gun leading as her squad spread out around her. "Standard search pattern," She said, into her mic, talking only to her squad. "Billings you got point." Corporal Billings nodded, brought up his weapon and moved to the lead position. Eva and his squad-mates backing him up as they moved into the darkness around them. =/=Angels hovering in Main Engineering,=/= Spider reported over the command frequency. "Acknowledged, Major," Eva replied, "When your done there, begin a standard search. Dealers moving forward now. Aft is all yours." Spider and Eva were both combat veterans. They had served together before. Saved each others life more times than either cared to remember over the years. So, Eva did not have to tell him to follow her lead. She knew he would. The ship was a mess. Eva saw signs of phaser fire everywhere. Almost as if the civilians had been firing wildly at random. Her pallas helmet compensating for the low light by enhancing what light there was, as well as using it's internal scanners to build a 3D map of the corridor ahead. Slowly and carefully Eva's squad advanced. Moving from room to room. So far the ship seemed deserted. =/=Explosives set major, this ship is rigged to go.=/= Spider said several minuets latter. "Good. How long on that computer core?" She asked speaking normally, confident that the sound would not pass through her armor to alert any potential foes. (Reply Spider) "Acknowledged. Time to see who's home." She replied before closing the connection. Her squad had come to an intersection. Debris everywhere, wires and power conduits ripped from the ceiling. Down one corridor, Eva could see debris floating lazily, indicating that the artificial gravity had failed in that section of the ship. She point to 3 men and motioned them to search one way and another 3 the way, while she lead the rest straight ahead. Rooms every few meters made the progress slow. Eva stopped and was examining a door apparently ripped open by some unknown assailant. They're were grooves gouged into the metal as if by something immensely hard and sharp. Inside the room two bodies lay, staring blankly at the ceiling. Dead from exposure. =/=What could do this Major, It wasn't energy weapons... not primarily energy weapons, anyway.=\= "Looks like something metallic ripped the doors open," She replied to Spider inquiry, "Lends some evidenced that our friends need at least line of sight on their target to use their psycic weapon. Something to keep in mind." (Reply Spider) Eva rose to her feet, and motioned her group to move on. "Baker, Collins, report." She said, referring to the two groups she had sent in different directions. =/=Found a few more of the Backtron crew, Major. Their dead.=/= Collins responded first. Eva could hear the fear in the privates voice. He had never been in combat before. Had probably never seen a real corpse before. =/=Lots of weapons fire residue here,=/= Baker said, his voice still calm and collected. =/=Looks like all Federation phaser fire. Nothing special to report.=/= "Continue search," Eva said, "Report any contacts immediately." The search continued, slowly, carefully, with every ones nerves on edge. Eva's instincts told her it was the quite before the storm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - CMO Lt. Commander Kestra Troi - 0920) Kestra had gotten the time frame for the arrival of more possible 'survivors ' from the Backtron. She was hopeing that there would be some real survivors in the next group, but, she was not so sure based on the ones she already had. "Ensign Chang, we will be having more 'survivors' coming in about thirty minutes. I want you to see to it that they are put in the quarantine area. Let me know when you have them settled then we together will examine them along with Counselor Alizara. Do you have any questions?" (Reply Chang) "Well, maybe we will come up with some as we examine them no doubt." Kestra replied to the Ensign. (Reply Chang, iyw) "I am going to go down to where they will be transported in and see first hand what the pods look like when they come in. Also, I want to see from the beginning what they look like when the pods are opened." Kestra informed Chang. (Reply Chang) "Oh I will be careful Doctor Chang, believe you me." Kestra replied with a chuckle. "Dr. Troi to Security, I want to be present when the pods arrive, so, could you ensure that adequate security is present pls." Kestra asked as she tapped her combadge. (Reply any in Security) "Aye, thanks" Kestra closed the connection after confirmation was received. "Dr. Troi to Science, could you make sure that someone is with me when the pods arrive. I would like to get an initial opinion from your department as to whether or not they are in the same condition as the first." Kestra asked. (Reply any in Science) "Thanks I will be there just before they arrive. Troi out." She also cut the connection when they were done. "Dr. Troi to Engineering, I know that your department has examined the first pods that arrived. I don't know if you are aware that we have some others coming or not. I would like it if you could meet me where the others are when the new ones arrive and possibly tell me if they are in the same condition or not." Kestra explained what she was looking for. (Reply Engineering) "Aye, thanks. I will meet you there." This time Kestra did not have the chance to cut the connection as engineering did. She thought that engineering probably was being stretched to no end at the current time and she felt for them. Kestra went to her office to gather her medical equipment that she wanted to use when the pods arrived. She then looked around sickbay to ensure that all was moving along smoothly at the present time before moving out. Just as she was about to leave she had a thought and hit her combadge once again. "Dr. Troi to Counselor Alizara, could you meet me where the pods are arriving and help me there with the initail exam of our guests?" Kestra knew that Domini would be needed either there or sickbay but more likely both areas. (Reply Domini) "Thanks I appreciate the help" Kestra closed the connection then left sickbay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - ACEO Enaj - 0920) Saim was busy at a console, feeling puzzled at all these changes that had happened (it seemed someone had been doing things without her authorization which were not particularly routine) when her com chirped. "Dr. Troi to Engineering, I know that your department has examined the first pods that arrived. I don't know if you are aware that we have some others coming or not. I would like it if you could meet me where the others are when the new ones arrive and possibly tell me if they are in the same condition or not." "Sure thing. I'll see you in a minute. "Aye, thanks. I will meet you there." Saim decided the minor mystery would have to be put aside for a while for the larger continuing mystery of the Backtron. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - CSO's Office - ACSO Dr. Kyle Rin - 09:20) =^= "Dr. Troi to Science, could you make sure that someone is with me when the pods arrive. I would like to get an initial opinion from your department as to whether or not they are in the same condition as the first." =^= "I'll make sure to be there personally doctor, contact me again the moment you've arrived at the cargo bay. Rin out." =^= "Thanks I will be there just before they arrive. Troi out." =^= -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Cargo bay - CMO Lt. Commander Kestra Troi - 0928) As Kestra walked to the Cargo bay, she reflected back on the unpleasant conversation she had with Domini. She still had not liked the fact that the MCO had deemed it better to have the counselor with her during her visit with the 'Survivors' than the CMO. Also resented the fact that the Counselor had not deemed it necessary to suggest that the CMO accompany them. She could not fathom the why of the whole situation being that they all were Betazoids. There was something there that no one was saying, which, Kestra surmised they thought was none of her business or they would have told her. The more she rethought the conversation the more it infuriated her. She entered the Cargo bay and saw that Saim had already arrived ahead of her. She could see the other pods that had already been worked on and were still being worked on. She tapped her combadge as she continued in, "Dr. Troi to Dr. Rin, I have arrived the Cargo bay." (Reply Rin) "Aye see you in a few then." Kestra said after listening to what he had to say then cut the connection as she walked up to Saim. "Thanks for coming Ensign Enaj, maybe we can come up with something more about this mystery when the other pods come. Another set of eyes never hurts." Kestra said as she approached him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Cargo bay - ACEO Enaj - 0928) Saim spotted Kestra walking towards her. "Thanks for coming Ensign Enaj, maybe we can come up with something more about this mystery when the other pods come. Another set of eyes never hurts." Kestra said as she approached her. "Yes. Do you know when the shuttles should be coming in?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - CSO's Office - ACSO Dr. Kyle Rin - 0928) As Kyle picked up a few things for his trip to the cargo bay there came a beep from his com badge. =^= "Dr. Troi to Dr. Rin, I have arrived the Cargo bay." It was Kestra's voice informing him that had arrived. "I"m on my way Doctor." "Aye see you in a few then." The com link closed and Kyle left the office, standing in the corridor he paused for a few seconds to shift the load he was carrying into some order and headed for the nearest turbolift. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Cargo bay - CMO Lt. Commander Kestra Troi - 0932) "Yes. Do you know when the shuttles should be coming in?" "As I was told, they should be arriving any moment." Kestra replied looking toward the other pods that were still being looked over. At that time there came a whine as if from something being beamed in and the other pods had arrived. Kestra looked over at Saim with a shrug both of them walked over to them. From what she saw at first was that they seemed to be in the same shape as the first ones had been in. Then she saw that these had a few dents in them. "Ensign look at this" Kestra said as she pointed out the dents, "You think that could have happened as they were being sent out?" (Reply Saim, any) "Hmm, ok. So, if that is the case I wonder how the 'survivors' inside are." She ran her tricorder over one of the pods to see how the person inside read. "You know, I thought one time that we needed to be in protective suits to examine these, but, there have been people here all the time since they came and nothing has happened to them." She said as she observed the others in a different light. (Reply Saim,any) "Ok well I am going to open the first of the pods to see what the condition is of the person inside is. My tricorder only shows faint traces of life." She said as she opened the first one and made an audible gasp as she looked at the person. This one a male of about five feet, nine inches she guessed. He had many abrasions and cuts that was made by something very sharp. The cuts were not jagged as in most cases but razor sharp thin lines. She looked at Saim who had the same look on her face as she did. She ran the tricorder over the individual and it showed the same readings as the ones in quarantine with the exception of the damage. "Open the rest now!" Cried Kestra as she ran to the next one. After a few minutes she estimated that half of the new 'Survivors' had been damaged by whatever possibly in a fight to get to the pods, she did not know. "Transport the 'survivors' of these pods to the quarantine area of sickbay now." She hurriedly said as she tapped her combadge. "Dr. Troi to Dr. Chang, 'Survivors' incoming to Quarantine area. See what you make of them, I will be there shortly." Kestra informed Chang as he had been waiting for them to arrive. Then turning to Saim, "See if you can find any difference from the other pods that should be reported to the Captain." (Reply Saim, any) "Good, let me also know if you find anything" Kestra said as Saim turned heading for engineering to do some analysis there of what they had found. Kestra decided that it would be best that she head back to sickbay to see if she could find anything with the help of her assistant Dr. Chang. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Cargo bay - ACEO Enaj - 0932) "Ensign look at this" Kestra said as she pointed out the dents, "You think that could have happened as they were being sent out?" "No. There seem to be the same type of scorch marks as the other pods but they seem to have reacted differently. As if the last ones got damaged in space and these got damaged sitting in the Backtron." "Hmm, ok. So, if that is the case I wonder how the 'survivors' inside are."Kestra ran her tricorder over one of the pods, "You know, I thought one time that we needed to be in protective suits to examine these, but, there have been people here all the time since they came and nothing has happened to them." She said as she observed the others in a different light. Saim nodded sagely not quite knowing what was expected of her. "Ok well I am going to open the first of the pods to see what the conditions of the person inside is. My tricorder only shows faint traces of life." Saim leaned over Kestra's shoulder to look and wished she had not. Saim did not think of herself as squeamish but the sight of a man, very obviously deeply cut in a very purposeful way, made her feel quite sick. "Open the rest now!" Cried Kestra as she ran to the next one. Saim decided not to see what the other members of the Backtron looked like and left Kestra to search the rest of the pods while Saim started taking readings of the crystalline scorch marks which seemed to be all the hulls. Saim deep in thought was interrupted by "See if you can find any difference from the other pods that should be reported to the Captain." "Sure thing. I'll send an engineering team down to get more readings. If you need me I'll be analyzing the results in engineering, for better comparison with the data collected from the other pods. I advise you get Science to come down and check the scorch marks out. They were very interested in them the first time." "Good, let me also know if you find anything" Kestra said as Saim turned heading for engineering to do some analysis there of what they had found. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Cargo bay - COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara - 0935) Domini walked into the quarantine area as Kestra was having the survivors beamed away. "I'm sorry, I was reassuring one of the crew." She said walking up to Kestra. "Did you notice anything different in the survivors? Any kind of correlation?" She said as they headed out to sickbay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (SS Backtron, Engineering Section Deck 6 Aft, MXO 'Spider' Drizzt, 0938) Spider nodded to the CXO and pointed forward with his flat hand. Once again, his newly reformed squad moved forward in perfect choreography to take the ship room-by-room. The ship was dead quiet, only the sounds of Marines moving in their BDU's filled the corridors. They had run across a number of the crew, but all of them had been dead. Straton's squad had been at the search longer and had found a couple live ones, but they were all in the same shape as the escape-pod crew. It was disheartening, in a way, it also pissed him off something fierce. This was NOT how the Federation did things. This was the reason that they had Marines, to kick the rears of anyone who dared. Spider quelled his inner thoughts as he rushed forward, keeping his head down to minimize the target he made. He rushed passed the spot his Marines had just secured, and jumped inside another open doorway. He scanned the inside, and cursed as he saw another body. It was cold, dead, another corpse. He didn't have to check the pulse, no human could survive with a mean body temperature of 28 degrees. This ship had been without power for long enough that it was a meat-locker. Only certain parts of the ship retained its heat, thanks to several quirks of the power system and individually powered heater systems. =/=Stay sharp marines, We're not done yet and there could still be surprises on board.=\= Spider was just about to point more people forward, another leap-frog maneuver that would put them THAT Much closer to Straton's squad, when his Command Tactical HUD suddenly gave warning of outside intruders. His hand came up in a fist, telling everyone to stop and hunker down. =/=Incoming!,=\= the Major yelled into the general frequency. Spider cursed, "Angels form squad, move to Straton's position!" be bellowed himself. They started getting together and moving forward when several beams formed around them. Spider's face pulled back into a savage grimace as he brought up his scatter-gun and took a shot. Fifty small phaser-beams fired directly into something that resembled... Well... A metal spider. Still, very little could stand up to a scatter-gun at close range, the metal itsy-bitsy didn't stand a chance. "Didn't like the taste of THAT, didja!" he bellowed as he took aim at another. "We're a little harder to chew then the civilians you killed, eh!" His whole squad had, as they had trained for so long, formed a circle and were kneeling or standing at random to cover all angels. They were firing hot, taking out the enemy before they came close enough to really get a good bite. =/=ALL MARINES! ENGAGE BORG PROTOCOLS NOW! ALL WEAPONS ON RANDOM FREQUENCY ROTATION! DON'T LET THEM THING TOUCH YOU OR YOUR DEAD!=\= "Uh oh," the Andorian said to himself. He flipped the setting on his scattergun, then started spraying fire. "Move, Move, Move!" he bellowed into his mic. They weren't far from the MCO's position, they would be in a better situation when they could get together. "Borg Protocols, move in circle!" They began moving at a rapid pace, something they had practiced as Marines for ages at Paris Island... One didn't turn your back blindly to Borg Drones. The CE next to him went down without even a sound, though someone else blasted the offender before Spider could turn enough to engage it. ~One down.~ Within a minute they were just outside visual range of Straton and the Death Dealers, they weren't moving nearly as fast as he wanted too. He waved the men on, and turned to face the open corridor they had just come down, there were a number of the enemy coming down it. His HUD was alive with red 'threat' dots, there were far to many for them to overcome on their own here in this open corridor. =/=Spider! Watch your flank damn it!=\= Out of the corner of Spider's right eye, he noticed movement. That was all the warning he needed, he grabbed at a low, slung phaser with right hand, flung it out, and fired at high-power at whatever was moving. He hadn't had the time to bring the scatter-gun around. One of the metallic legs slapped his arm, slicing the armor slightly. His onboard computer told him the Nanite repair system had been activated, but he ignored that. Nothing other then that happened, he didn't die immediately. "It's just the glow-prods," he said into the mic, "Avoid touching the glow-prods!" (reply: any if desired) Spider reholstered the phaser and regripped his scatter-gun. A quick glance at it told him he had fired a forth of his energy clip, this thing was effective... But it was a power-hog. Luckily he carried a dozen more clips, the Marines made always made sure they had enough fireworks. He cursed as another Marine fell to the prod, and jumped aside himself as two of the spider-beasties came at him. =/=Alright marines! Lets punch a hole through these bastards! Concentrate fire to move toward amidships. Spider move toward us. Try to set up a cross-fire, corridor 6, junction 17.=\= "Johnson, Herrendez, cover our flank!" Spider bellowed as he fired point-blank into one of the Spider-beasties, someone else fired on the second that was intent on jumping him. "Angels, tighten the line and move in! Careful of your fire, we're moving at friendlies!" He swung the gun around, and fired randomly into the corridor, angled slightly so the fire would hit the bulkheads and walls well before it touched the incoming squad. "Move!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (SS Backtron, Engineering Section Deck 6, MCO Major Straton, 0940) The search of the Backtron was nearly complete. They were finishing searching the last few decks that remained. The CE's had finished downloading the content of the ships computer core and it had already been returned to the Boudicca for analysis. Currently Spider and his squad were in a rear section of the ship searching the last couple decks while Eva and her squad searched the fore sections of the same decks. The bodies they had found had been returned to the Boudicca for autopsies. They had only found two people on board still alive, but their were like all the other survivors found so far. Their minds gone. "Stay sharp marines," Eva said into her mic, broadcasting to all marines on board the Backtron, "We're not done yet and there could still be surprises on board." [Contact alert.] Cerberus, her suits AI, said suddenly, highlighting the tactical feed from the Boudicca on her HUD display. Eva held up a fist to stop her squad. Her eyes on the tactical feed. A ship had suddenly appeared on sensors and it had placed the Backtron smack dab between it and the Boudicca, and it was coming in very fast. The Boudicca would not be able to engage with out fear of hitting what was left of the Backtron. An obvious attack approach. "Incoming!," Eva yelled into her mic, dropping to one knee bring up her scattergun. as suddenly around her, and her squad, an alien transporter beam could be seen. Multiple contacts appeared suddenly on her HUD, they were surrounded. She quickly saw that Spider's squad was also surrounded. The unknown vessel had opened fire on the Boudicca, but Eva had her hands full and couldn't worry about that right now. They were surrounded by what appeared to be giant mechanical spiders, made of some unknown metal. One of their forelegs ended in a strange glowing rod. They charged the marines, their intent obvious. Eva opened fire as one leapt at her, blowing it to pieces, as her troops opened fire around her. In seconds an intense fire fight was underway. Eva watched as a phaser blast from a marine on her right was suddenly dispersed by an apparent force field surrounding one of the spider like things. It landed on the marine and touched him with the slightly glowing end of it foreleg. Eva was staggered, by the force of the psychic scream that filled her mind before the marine dropped to the ground his mind torn from him. "Holy Mother," Eva exclaimed, quickly switching to full broadcast. "ALL MARINES! ENGAGE BORG PROTOCOLS NOW! ALL WEAPONS ON RANDOM FREQUENCY ROTATION! DON'T LET THEM THING TOUCH YOU OR YOUR DEAD!" Eva flipped the setting on her scattergun and kept firing, a few more of the things were blown to bits as her weapon randomly changed setting not allowing them time to adapt. She noticed the things seem to be targeting her out, like they knew she was the leader. She was forced to dodge several leaps and attacks as multiple 'spider's' would attack her at once. Her troops, to their credit, also noticed this and moved to help when ever they could. "Boudicca, get us the hell out of here, or send us back up," Eva said into the comm, guessing they had their hands full at present too. =/\=Standby Major,=/\= came the curt reply. "Spider! Watch your flank damn it!" Eva yelled still firing away. (Reply Drizzt) "Collins fall back!" She cursed as she felt another psychic scream and Collins fell to the enemy. "Alright marines! Lets punch a hole through these bastards! Concentrate fire to move toward midships. Spider move toward us. Try to set up a cross-fire, corridor 6, junction 17." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (Boudicca - Bridge - Captain Sevant - 0941) Sevant gripped the arm-rests of his chair and half turned as a ship suddenly appeared between the Boudicca and the Backtron. He didn't wait long enough for anyone to announce it was there, he had seen it as well as they had. "Red Alert, Evasive Maneuvers!" The alien ship was the same design they had seen earlier, meaning they knew very little about it. It was, at first glance, exceptionally fast. And if his instincts were right, then it was obviously on an attack vector. ~So much for a peaceful solution.~ he thought grimly. "Incoming Fire!" yelled the officer at Tactical. Sevant gripped his arm-rests even tighter, he waited a couple seconds and the ship shuddered horribly. The Captain's teeth pressed together, the Boudicca hadn't taken that hit well, he could tell by the shimmy. "Forward shields down to 65%!" The Vulcan waited a few more seconds for the alien ship and the Boudicca herself to move into different positions, then grinned savagely as the Backtron no longer silhouetted the alien vessel. "Tactical... Fire at will!" His ship shuddered again as the alien vessel lanced out with more energy weapons. Yalta suddenly said, "Multiple transport signatures, all over the ship!" Sevant cursed, "All hands, repel boarders!" (reply: ALL on the Boudicca) =^=Boudicca, get us the hell out of here, or send us back up,=^= came a call from the Backtron. Sevant grimaced, there wasn't a lot he could do at the moment... He also couldn't leave them there, not this early in the game. He still didn't know what they were in for, but he couldn't leave the Boudicca to suffer either. Once again, he was forced to weight the many vs the few. If he had too, he would leave them for the good of the ship, he hoped Straton knew that. "Standby Major," Sevant said shortly. He looked at the First Officer, "Send them one squad, XO, it's all we can afford. We'll send them more as we're able." (reply: Grailik) The ship shuddered once more, then fell silent as no more weapons fire fell upon her. Sevant took a quick look at the tactical scans and noticed the ship was pulling back for now, probably to protect it's own landing parties. He cursed silently, the bastards would pay! He was just standing up to give more orders when the glow of an alien transporter beam filled the room. Three spider-like creatures stood in front of his ready room, complete with metallic legs and a glowing cattle-prod of some sort. Sevant was just pulling his phaser when one of the spider-beings lanced out at a bridge-replacement, touching him with the prod. The psychic scream Sevant heard was more then enough to give him a headache, AND convince him that there would be absolutely no negotiations with this race. "No prisoners!" he bellowed as he took aim at the closest creature, and let loose with a high-power phaser blast. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - ACEO Enaj - 0941) Saim was minding her own business, seeing to the every increasing pile of repairs when out of nowhere appeared this big old shiny spider. "Security," Saim bellowed, diving towards safety before lances of energy shot towards the intruder. (Saim had not signed up to shoot.) Straight after the shots were fired however suddenly ten more appeared from a greenish transporter. Suddenly "All hands repel boarders", boomed over ship wide frequencies. ~Well at least every one knows about it~ thought Saim, crawling towards the store of weapons. She did not care if she was meant to have one or not. While the ship was being boarded she was going to protect herself. Saim saw West come out of his office. "Sir, over here," Saim shouted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Sick bay, CMO Lt. Commander Kestra Troi, 0942) Kestra walked into sick bay and was heading for the quarantine area when the Red Alert klaxon went off. As everyone in sick bay moved into action required by Red Alert, the ship rocked as if it had been hit by something and hit hard. Kestra was about to request what was happening from the bridge when another announcement came over the comm, =/=All Hands, Repel Boarders=/= Then she felt the Boudicca return fire as she felt it through her feet and recognized it as being in command at one time on the bridge. The Boudicca shuddered once again as another hit from something outside connected with them and Kestra knew that there would be casualties coming in at any time. "Ok people we are going to be getting casualties very soon lets be ready. Medical teams get ready to go out and render assistance where needed." Kestra started barking orders to her people and they were moving like a well oiled machine getting things going. Kestra watched and knew that they were ready for anything, and then in that same moment she knew they were not ready for anything when she heard a psychic scream. She knew that they must have reached the Backtron and whatever had attacked them. As she was moving to ensure that everyone was ready, blue lights emerged into sick bay and left three strange looking spider like things complete with metallic legs and a glowing cattle prod of a sort. Some of the nurses began to scream as the spider-like creatures started toward them. Kestra saw that one was heading for Lt. Fala, she picked up one of the microscopes that was nearby then throw at it catching it where she thought would be the head of the creature. It caught the creatures attention enough for the Lt. to run from it. "Security alert intruders in Sickbay" Kestra yelled into her combadge as she moved quickly away from it also. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Sick bay, COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara, 0943) Domini was standing outside the quarantine area, mentally probing each of the new survivors and finding nothing but minor scrapes in those with a higher psi quotient and nothing in those that had none. She shook her head as she looked up, realizing she was on the floor. She heard Kestra talk about readying sickbay. Domini got up, and then held her head as several psychic screams ripped through her. Her shields had been down and she couldn't, she needed to move. As she managed to drag her shields into place, to din down the psychic babble, she looked up and saw a spider thing almost on top of her. She screamed and rolled out of the way of the metal wand that it was holding. She managed to get up and to the other side of sickbay. She hit the emergency phaser stash and grabbed two, looking around, she saw Kestra near her. ::Kestra!:: Domini cried, and when Kestra turned, Domini threw one across the intervening space. She looked down at the one in her hand, and thumbed the setting all the way up to Vaporize. She sighted her phaser on one, and fired, somehow her hand steady. She was surprised that it didn't vaporize, and only fell over. She sited on the next one, having it fall over also. She sited again and a blue force field appeared. She backed up against the wall as it turned towards her, somewhat angry that this phaser wasn't set to randomize it's beam. ::THEY ADAPT!:: She cried with all of her mental strength to the couple of telepaths on the ship. ::LIKE THE BORG!:: She ducked and grabbed another phaser, heading out of the sickbay, with a couple of other people. She saw one in a hallway, and sighted with her new phaser, knowing she would get at most, two hits out of it. This one didn't waver but kept advancing. She sited again, causing the metal spider like thing to fall. More psychic screams ripped through her skull and she knew that she wasn't going to be much help if this kept continuing. She looked around the hallway, and ran into her office. She huddled in a corner, putting her hands over her ears in an attempt to summon some kind of shield to block it all out. She felt herself black out about then, from all the pain. ::I'm going to die.:: She thought, unrealizing in her extreme pain that she was projecting as she passed out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge- ATAC Ensign Skylynx- 0919) "Red Alert, Evasive Maneuvers!" Sevant yelled. Ryko was on the bridge, handling the tactical station and trying to suppress the urge to yell "yeehaa" and take the Boudicca through a bunch of Fighter manoeuvres. "Incoming Fire!" Ryko yelled as a wave of energy seared across the Boudicca's shields. "Forward shields down to 65%!" "Tactical... Fire at will!" Ryko smiled the first true smile since he'd left Antares III. "Music to my ears, sir," he said as he brought up a tactical analysis of the enemy. The ship shuddered again as the alien vessel lanced out with more energy weapons. Yalta suddenly said, "Multiple transport signatures, all over the ship!" Sevant cursed, "All hands, repel boarders!" Ryko maneuvered the Boudicca into firing range and let loose a volley of photon torpedoes. The shining emeralds of light struck the enemy ship, dealing direct damage to its weapons. "Direct hit, enemy shields down to 53 percent!" Ryko said over the noise of sparking consoles. The ship shuddered once more, then fell silent as no more weapons fire fell upon her. Sevant took a quick look at the tactical scans and noticed the ship was pulling back for now, probably to protect it's own landing parties. A transporter beam flared and suddenly Three spider-like creatures stood in front of the captain's ready room, complete with metallic legs and a glowing cattle-prod of some sort. Sevant was just pulling his phaser when one of the spider-beings lanced out at a bridge-replacement, touching him with the prod. The psychic scream made Ryko flinch and duck, before he resurfaced from the storage locker with a phaser rifle. "Damn lucky I forgot to put this away," he said, as he moved to join Sevant. "No prisoners!" Sevant bellowed as he took aim at the closest creature, andlet loose with a high-power phaser blast. The lifeform crumpled to the ground, twitching. Ryko took aim and shot the nearest creature, sending it to the floor. He went to fire on the other but the beam of his rifle was absorbed. "Shit, these things can adapt?" he yelled, as he backed off slightly. The bridge crew was panicking. Only one thing to do. Ryko charged forward, and holding the butt of the rifle in one hand, delivered a heavy blow to the creature's head. It stumbled slightly as it tried to recover, giving both the captain and Ryko more than enough time to remodulate their phasers. Both men took aim and fired. The alien was vaporised. Ryko lowered his rifle, panting, and headed back to the tactical station to tell the defending parties the news. (Reply Sevant) "All decks acknowledge," Ryko reported, still holding his rifle. "Captain, now may be a good time to bring those phaser mounts online," he said, looking at the captain, his face alight with anger. (Reply Sevant) Ryko tapped a few commands into the console. "Done," he said, setting his rifle down. He cast a glance at Yalta. She looked a little shaken. "You okay?" he asked as he approached her. (Reply Yalta) "Good, I wouldn't want you to get hurt before I have a chance to take you to dinner," he said, as he checked the status of the ship on the main cutaway display. (Reply Yalta) Ryko returned to his station and set about programming the ship's internal defenses, as he waited for Sevant's orders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - Senior-Chief Melody Haverstaad - 0944) Melody grimaced as she brought up her phaser and loosed three quick shots in succession into the upper-segment of a spider that had moved up beside her. Someone screamed off to the side as her target blasted into pieces, and another moved to take it's place. She took another couple shots, but they were absorbed by the creature. She cursed as someone else took her place and blew it to hell. She wasn't paying any more attention then that, she already had her phaser down and was running through a different frequency patterns. "No good Chief, they're eating us up!" her squad XO bellowed as he took aim at another and blasted a couple of its legs off. Melody's face was pulled back in a grimace as her side lanced pain, she had caught the sharp edge of one of the enemies legs. Her uniform was good and wet already from the gash, but she didn't have time to stop and look at it. Besides, if she hurt, she wasn't in shock... It was all good. "No choice XO, we've gotta hold em off!" she bellowed back as she flipped the phaser up and took aim down its barrel. She took two quick shots that blew one of the spiders apart before it could get a hold of an engineer, then turned her targeting and started firing at another. Her XO was right though, they just didn't have enough manpower here to stop the flood, and they had been taken too much by surprise to get much for reinforcements right away. "Withdrawal to the core!" she bellowed into the chaos, "To the CORE!" Her squad was well trained, and the Marines were also well trained, they began covering each other as they backed into a cordon around the warp core itself. Engineers were rushing everywhere, some armed, some not. The lucky ones were those that managed to get to a weapons cache or stay near the security/marine teams. The unlucky ones were laying on the ground like bags. She cursed as she jumped to the side when one more Spider jumped at her, but it was taken apart before it could reach her. Her side pulled with sharp pains, nothing to be done about it. One more spider made moves towards her general direction, she pulled her side-arm and fired for several long seconds, dismantling it with the stream of power. "Fall back!" she once again screamed into the din. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant- 0423) "Captain, now may be a good time to bring those phaser mounts online," Sevant ignored the Assistant Tactical Chief for a moment as he walked forward to the mental wreckage. He kicked a couple pieces aside, and looked at the pile. "Belay that," he said as he knelt down, "Get all internal forcefields up proto." "Done," Sevant picked up a hot piece of metal and threw it aside, looking at the main section of what had been the 'body' of the Spider. They had hit it with high power, but it hadn't been disintegrated, there were metal shards everywhere.. But there were no obvious organics. No bodies, no nothing. That didn't bode well, stunning wouldn't do much, not with machines that were adapting to their phaser frequencies. =^=Captain, Security has secured Sickbay and we are going to activate force fields to keep the area secure. I'm also going to secure Cargo bays and activate force fields around there to act as emergency shelters. A security detail is on route to the bridge however sir i'm suffering heavy casualties my own team is down to 4 from 9,=^= "Belay the team to the bridge, we have it covered. The Marines are under your command now, Commander, hop to it!" Sevant said as he stood. "Put me on speaker." he said to anyone in particular. (reply TAC/SC) "Bridge to Crew: Condition Black, Full Anti-Borg procedures. These are not aliens, these are machines, and they are reacting like the Borg in adaptation. Destroy them, take no chances, and avoid all physical contact. Bridge Out." Sevant jerked a head to the two Marines, then looked back over at the TAC/ASC. "Get yourself to the Chief, he is under heavy attack. Move!" (reply: Skylynx) "Status report." Sevant ordered, looking at his Ops officer. (reply: Schafio) Sevant looked at the Tactical display on the screen and bit back a curse. The enemy ship had pulled away out of range, and was holding. With an internal fight on their hands, he didn't want to take the Boudicca into more fire if he could help it. "They're waiting..." he said to himself darkly. He turned to the replacement on tactical, "Keep a targeting solution on them, if they come within range, hit them hard without waiting for confirming orders." The Tactical Chief nodded. "Aye, Sir!" ~If they get close enough to beam more in, should this batch fail, we will be lost.~ He turned to face the First Officer, "XO, grab a Marine and make way for the Battle Bridge double-time. If we go offline here, the ship is yours." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant- 0947) "Captain, now may be a good time to bring those phaser mounts online," Sevant ignored the Assistant Tactical Chief for a moment as he walked forward to the mental wreckage. He kicked a couple pieces aside, and looked at the pile. "Belay that," he said as he knelt down, "Get all internal forcefields up proto." "Done," Sevant picked up a hot piece of metal and threw it aside, looking at the main section of what had been the 'body' of the Spider. They had hit it with high power, but it hadn't been disintegrated, there were metal shards everywhere.. But there were no obvious organics. No bodies, no nothing. That didn't bode well, stunning wouldn't do much, not with machines that were adapting to their phaser frequencies. =^=Captain, Security has secured Sickbay and we are going to activate force fields to keep the area secure. I'm also going to secure Cargo bays and activate force fields around there to act as emergency shelters. A security detail is on route to the bridge however sir i'm suffering heavy casualties my own team is down to 4 from 9,=^= "Belay the team to the bridge, we have it covered. The Marines are under your command now, Commander, hop to it!" Sevant said as he stood. "Put me on speaker." he said to anyone in particular. (reply TAC/SC) "Bridge to Crew: Condition Black, Full Anti-Borg procedures. These are not aliens, these are machines, and they are reacting like the Borg in adaptation. Destroy them, take no chances, and avoid all physical contact. Bridge Out." Sevant jerked a head to the two Marines, then looked back over at the TAC/ASC. "Get yourself to the Chief, he is under heavy attack. Move!" (reply: Skylynx) "Status report." Sevant ordered, looking at his Ops officer. (reply: Schafio) Sevant looked at the Tactical display on the screen and bit back a curse. The enemy ship had pulled away out of range, and was holding. With an internal fight on their hands, he didn't want to take the Boudicca into more fire if he could help it. "They're waiting..." he said to himself darkly. He turned to the replacement on tactical, "Keep a targeting solution on them, if they come within range, hit them hard without waiting for confirming orders." The Tactical Chief nodded. "Aye, Sir!" ~If they get close enough to beam more in, should this batch fail, we will be lost.~ He turned to face the First Officer, "XO, grab a Marine and make way for the Battle Bridge double-time. If we go offline here, the ship is yours." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca - Deck 22, outside Anti-matter Storage Bay 3 - Master Sergeant Hammond McMatthews - 0949) =/=I repeat, we are under heavy attack!=\= Hamm ignored his Squad Superior, some wet-nosed 3rd Lieutenant, he was to busy playing games of life-or-death with metallic beasties at the moment to pay anything more then passing mind. Not that the wet Lieutenant was doing a bad job, Hammond would have already dealt with that had it been true. This squad, Dennings Demons, was brand-spanking new and it was reacting as such... They were all Marines, but there was something to be said about having been together long enough that each member knew the others strengths and weaknesses. The Master Sergeant side-stepped one of the metallic monsters and was greeted with a scraping sound as one of its legs just scraped the outer-surface of his combat BDU. Faster then thought, the Marine ripped out his knife and gave a determined swipe as a glowing prod came close to him. He struck it just behind the glow, and was well satisfied when the prod broke nearly in half and the glow died. Someone else sawed into it with a type-3 phaser just as the beastie was rearing back to have another go with its legs. "Thankie laddy!" was all the Sergeant said as he stuffed the knife back into it's belt sheath and brought up his scatter-gun. "Aight my lovlies, come hea' ta daddy and get yer whoppin' like ya deserve!" His scatter-gun made a positively lovely mess of their metallic hides, this was the kind of close-quarters battle it was made for. Considering their tight locale and the fact they couldn't back the fight off into the actual Storage Bays for fear of blowing them all to hell, this was where they had to make their last stand, there was no where they could escape too. There were no less then twenty of the buggers in the immediate area, and most of them were pressing them from the two sides of the corridor they could come across. The 3rd Lieutenant, Dennings, had taken the Sergeants advice and split the squad in two with their backs to the corner so they could easily reinforce each line as holes opened up, but even so they were being pressed hard... Already five of their number had dropped in the mass-suicidal attacks of these spider-beasties. Another scream ripped through his helmet as a man on the port line fell, followed quickly by the blasted body of a spider as it was taken out. Ham grit his teeth and continued bellowing taunts to the enemy. "Come on out'n fight like men!" he bellowed as one got particularly close to him before being blasted into a dozen pieces by the power of his scatter-gun. He grunted his happiness at that shot, then turned his gun to face another that was moving swiftly at him. "Have at ye!" he bellowed as he fired a full blast into it... And croaked as the fire did nothing in particular to him. With the swiftness of trained years at combat he started pulling his sidearm, but he wasn't quick enough. He tried dodging the glowing prod, but also wasn't quick enough. It touched his armor, and for half a moment he fancied that he felt heat in every place where the armor had metal connects to his skin. Then, all fancy was gone as his head literally felt like exploding from the inside out. The scream that formed on his tongue didn't have time to form as he fell to his knees, and he didn't feel when his body fell to the floor and the metallic shell fell on top of him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (USS Boudicca, Sick bay, CMO Lt. Commander Kestra Troi, 1000) Kestra heard the reply from Lt Bush that he was on his way, but, had other things to worry about than to reply. She had too many spider-like creatures in her sick bay and too many people to worry about. She continued to dodge the creatures and trying to get all her people out before they were victims. Out of the blue, she heard someone call her name in her mind. ::Kestra!:: She recognized it as Domini and she looked around just in time to catch something she had thrown. She looked down and saw that it was a phaser, she had no time to figure out where in the world Domini would have gotten one. As far as she knew, there were no weapons in sickbay and if there are then she will make sure they are taken out after this was over. She did not like having weapons in her sickbay even though she could use one she really did not like to. ::THEY ADAPT!:: Kestra heard Domini again, ::LIKE THE BORG!:: Domini had yelled it in her mind so loud that it had drowned out most of the other sounds that Kestra was receiving, but, her shield held. She had always had her shield up and the psychic screams she was receiving had not penetrated them only enough for her to acknowledge them. Ever since her battle with the Alternate Vanyssa her shield strength and abilities had risen, but, she had not liked it. Kestra felt Domini leave sickbay as her presence was no longer close by. She figured that she would be heading to her own office. A few moments later Kestra received one more projection from Domini, ::I'm going to die.:: Kestra could feel the extreme pain that Domini was in, but, at that time she was unable to go to her aid. Kestra watched as one of the creatures was carrying one of her ensigns out of sick bay. She was about to head toward them to help when she heard the voice of Lt. Bush. "PUT HIM DOWN NOW!" Lt. Bush shouted from outside. She knew that the creatures would not comply. She did not know if it was from not understanding or pure arrogance. She then heard screams from, she guessed, the men that were evidently being hit from another group of creatures. Then an all out battle ensued and Kestra started to move around sick bay to get ready for the injured hopefully. She hoped that Lt. Bush and his men would prevail with minimal injuries, but, with what she saw from the creatures, she know differently. After what seemed like ages, she finally heard Lt. Bush once again, "Get them to sickbay," just as several creatures materialized again in Sick bay. Kestra set her phaser on random since Domini had said that they were like Borg. Kestra knew that the Borg were able to adapt to the weapons fire on them quickly. Once she had set it, she started firing at the nearest one, which, vaporized instantly. Then Lt. Bush and his men, that were left over, burst into sick bay to start firing at the other creatures left. They soon cleared the room of all creatures to Kestra's relief. "Commander, im going to leave my security detail here and I have casualties, "William stated to the her. "Absolutely" she responded to him and started to look at the men that were brought in. "Put them on the beds now!" She waved at her staff to come over to help. "Lt. Bush, the counselor headed out I believe headed for her office. Please check in on her to see if she needs help. Also, if you would let the captain know what has happened, I would be thankful while we work on your men." Kestra asked then turned back to the wounded men. She saw that her team had started working on each one of them and hoped that they would be able to save all of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate:2406.07.03 (Boudicca – Counselor’s Office – COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara - 1011) Domini felt something warm touch her, someone saying her name. The screams were still tearing through her, and it made her want to go and hide. There was concern, and the concern was warm, and good, and everything that these monsters weren't. She tried to focus on the voice, to wake up, and her eyelids fluttered a bit. Her brow furrowed and she woke up to see the quite handsome security chief bent over her, two fingers on her neck. "Oh." She said, blushing quite red. The blush didn't quite go with her fair skin and blond hair, though. She accepted his hand, sitting up against the wall. She waited for the obvious question to come, about what happened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================ End of Compile ================