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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2008 18:46:13 GMT
"Why did you destroy our homeland?" Tathen asked bitterly," we were told that we were going to become allies. The Federation was supposed to protect us from danger! You destroyed what we worked for our entire lives."
The Human doctor didn't understand, though the translator was finally picking up on the basics of the language. "We didn't destroy your land," he answered, desperately wanting to help. He felt Jayden's restraining hand on his arm and he took a deep breath. "Please, allow us, allow me to help. We've medications and shelters."
"Please let us take care of our dead, we do not want or need your help!" Tathen said as he took his son in his hands and took him away. Deep inside he knew that he was wrong. They would need this strangers help, if not for themselves but for their children.
Nathan sighed miserably, then tried to get someone else to point him to the hospital. After searching for the better part of an hour, an old woman finally led them to the battered building. The shock was again nearly too much for all in the away-team, but Nathan was determined to do as much good as he could.
After tending to hundreds of wounded over the course of the day, despite barrier languages as the universal translator seemed to experience difficulties at picking up the odd language, Nathan finally put down his medical tools. Not because he wanted to, but because the ever present marine lance corporal made him put it down. “Enough’s enough,” Jayden said as he put the laser scalpel and the tricorder out of the doctor’s reach. “And you’ve got to eat, when’s the last time you ate anything?”
Nathan cast his ‘guardian’ a rueful smile. “Not since lunch,” he admitted as he walked away from his last patient, but not before whispering him a few encouraging words.
“Well, we’ll see if they’ve left anything for us. Commander Garrett’s probably going to have a fit if she found out you were working non-stop, but the monitor didn’t go outside levels of tolerance so I’d say you’re doing quite well.”
The doctor’s smile brightened a little. “Why, thank you.” He patted the marine’s hand, then allowed himself to be pulled along as the young man gripped it in turn with renewed enthusiasm. When they got outside, back to the camp they’d made, the doctor noticed it’d gone already dark. “When exactly did it get dark?”
Jayden cast him an impish smile. “Ages ago,” he answered quickly, “some’ve gone to sleep already but you weren’t about to get pried away from your patients so well, I kinda had to decide for you.” He handed Nathan a bowl of what appeared to be some form of stew, then settled back before the tent. “I’m afraid we’ll be sharing...I hope you don’t mind?”
Shaking his head, Nathan devoured the stew, then held out the bowl for more, having discovered it was actually vegetarian. Now that he’d eaten, he realised how hungry he actually was. “There’s actually one more thing...” Jayden hesitated, appearing a little uncomfortable.
“Hm?”
“Well...” The marine hesitated again, sidling a little closer to his ‘warden’, “for some reason our companions seem to have misplaced my sleepingbag. The hospital’s overfull and we will be safer in our own shelters, but well, I’ve heard that nights can get extremely cold here.”
“So?” Nathan didn’t seem to be seeing the young marine’s problem. “They’re big enough for two, aren’t they?” He took another mouthful of his second helping, then remembered to take his medication, washing it down with the water Jayden handed him just in time. “We’ll just be warmer than the rest of them, shan’t we.”
Jayden blushed, not knowing what to say as he knew how Nathan viewed their current relationship, if one could call it that. They had formed a sort of informal attachement, but it certainly wasn’t the dating kind. Yet. Jayden still had his hopes and though he did his best not to pick up on the doctor’s private emotions too much, he occasionally did pick up something that would make him blush. “I guess,” he whispered, shivering slightly as he picked up stray feelings from the older man.
Stiffling a yawn, Nathan rose to his feet. “Tomorrow’s an early day, I’ll want to start as at first light, we’ve no time to lose. While Garrett and the rest go investigate the bombings, I’d like to try and save as many as possible. Perhaps the Jefferson can send more medical staff down to help us, we can use all the hands we can get.” He crawled into the tent Jayden had indicated was to be theirs, then pulled off his coat and over-tunic, before tossing aside his boots and socks; leaving him dressed in his shirt and pants. He sat silently admiring the view as Jayden crawled in and did the same. “It’ll be a tight fit,” he commented as he crawled in, holding up the side for the marine to join him. With a wicked grin he added, “I promise I’ll be have.” And he would keep to his promises, as he always did.
Not knowing what exactly to think of that comment, Jayden joined him as the human turned his back to him. Somewhat uncertainly, Jayden slung his arm across the doctor’s chest, crawling a little closer in the snug cocoon. Then, he quietly leaned over and kissed him full on the mouth, surprised to find the doctor responding in kind. His heart skipped a few beats as he drew the human closer to him, making him turn over.
Nathan held his breath, allowing the marine to take the lead. It was an unusual change, but not an unwelcome one. For weeks now, Jayden had quietly been taking the lead, even if he had been unconscious to it. The marine had cared for him, kept him out of trouble where he didn’t care for himself and prevented him from getting himself killed. He reached out and traced the Betazoid’s face with his free hand, feeling him shiver under his touch. In the small confinement of the tent, the two men quietly talked as they explored the next logical step for relationship, drawing even closer to eachother than they were before; becoming almost dependent.
The next morning, both woke early to birds singing as well as screaming. Nathan hurried out of the tent, followed on his heels by Jayden. "What's going on?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he pulled his tunic back on, shivering against the morning chill. He didn't even notice he was still barefeet.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2008 4:19:20 GMT
As the group materialized on the alien planet, the tension was high. Megan and the Marine’s kept their hands pretty close to their phasers as the security detail automatically spread out surrounding the medical personnel looking for any signs of trouble. Once it was confirmed that they were on their own, Commander Garrett signaled for everyone to head in the direction of the smoke that was rising through the trees. Her tricorder wasn’t picking up much as there seemed to be a lot of random power fluctuations and radiation bursts consistent with weapons fire.
As they drew nearer the ruined city, Megan found herself slipping into the role of a rescue party, dropping the appearance of being ready to react at a moment’s notice if not the actuality. A few of the more seasoned Marine’s followed her lead, though a few still looked a bit jumpy. As they entered the clearing, the team found themselves on the edge of chaos. The medical teams moved forward on instinct to help those closest, while the security officers and Marine’s held back looking for signs of trouble. While some of the injured seemed less than enthusiastic at the sight of them and some even slightly hostile, no one seemed to pose a threat.
After nearly twenty minutes securing the area, Megan felt the first site was secure enough for her and Lieutenant G’Rowk to move onto the next. The plan was for the Second Officer and Senior Marine Officer to arrive with each medical and security team and remain until it was secure before moving on to the next one. Taking one last look around, noting that Nathan’s “bodyguard” was still firmly in place by his side, the science officer felt ready to go. At least with Lance Corporal Mitchell keeping an eye on Doctor van Breughel, she wouldn’t need to worry, as it seemed the Betazoid was taking his task to look after the doctor very seriously.
~
Things had been going smoothly so far with little to no local resistance. Seven teams had now beamed to the surface, and Megan was still with the most recent. The last site had felt strange to the science officer, a little too quiet, but no one had behaved oddly and technically nothing had been different there than the previous five before that. Commander Garrett had only been at the seventh location for a few minutes when the report came through that the last team had been attacked.
Feeling helpless, as there was nothing to do from here and it wasn’t a good idea to leave her current location, Megan could only listen over the comm while keeping an eye as the security team fanned out and the medical team set up a makeshift field hospital. The backup security and Marine platoon she’d had remain ready on board the Jefferson was deployed and the situation quickly brought under control, but the science officer wished she’d listened to her gut instinct and stayed longer.
Within a few minutes everything had returned to normal, and Megan requested a new backup team assemble while the first set of additional officers remained on site in case the rouge settlers caused any more trouble there. In spite of the glitch, the system Commander Garrett had devised was working well, with a medical and security team leader at each location handling any requests for supplies and personnel and reporting in to her. It would only make a small dent in the Dorvan’s need for help, but at least the Jefferson was able to do something.
~
“I am not trying to belittle any human, sir, but I hope you understand me when I say I am glad that I am able to work on a team that is not wholly human. I understand that together we are one, and the Federation stressed cooperation, but even Spock admitted that humans could be irrational creatures.”
Zhukarak understood exactly what the Caitian was saying, but in deference to diplomacy, merely nodded bemusedly, feeling no need to say anything further. A few moments later and the two non-human officers were joined by two human counterparts, Counselor Thompson and Lieutenant Van Horn. Shortly after the away team had assembled, they materialized on the U.S.S. Lion where they were met by a stressed Captain Worthing. The woman looked as though she had aged considerably since this whole mess started, and it was little wonder. It was hard to imagine what it must be like to know that somehow under your supervision something so terrible had been allowed to happen and your own vessel had been the instrument for such destruction and loss of life. It was unfathomable…
“Brigadier Hrisvalar, I wish that I could say it’s a pleasure, but under these circumstances...” the Captain began, but the Andorian merely waved off her attempt to acknowledge the usual pleasantries. She was right…under these circumstances they were entirely unneeded if not downright out of place.
“Captain, these are my officers, our Chief Engineer, Commander T’Ress, Chief of Security, Lieutenant Van Horn, and our ship’s Counselor, Lieutenant Thompson. Mr. T’Ress and Mr. Van Horn will need full access to your ship’s systems, as well as engineering, the bridge, and the torpedo bays. I’m sure you understand.”
Nodding, her face turning a bit red at the embarrassment in spite of understanding, Captain Worthing replied, “Of course, Sir. You and your officers have our complete cooperation.” The last part seemed to be directed not only at Zhukarak, but also at two very frustrated looking officers, a Bajoran and a human, standing just behind her. “This is my Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Troy Wallace, and my chief of Security, Peia Trellis. They will be at your disposal as long as you are here, and provide you with any assistance you may need.”
<Tag J’Varr/Van Horn>
The four officers left the transporter room, Wallace and Peia looking less than pleased and T’Ress and Van Horn each aware of their jobs to find out what had caused the torpedoes to fire. Captain Worthing continued, “This is my first officer, Commander Sovel.” The predictably calm Vulcan officer merely nodded in acknowledgement. "If you would follow me Brigadier, Counselor, we should probably speak in the briefing room rather than here.”
Nodding in agreement, Zhukarak and Tamara followed the Captain and First Officer out of the transporter room.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2008 3:49:59 GMT
It had been a very long day for Commander Garrett. While the Captain, engineer, and security chief remained on the Lion conducting a thorough investigation, Megan and Lieutenant G’Rowk had beamed down with a team to a total of twelve sites and set up an emergency medical facility at each location. Three teams had been attacked throughout the first day: the sixth, eleventh, and then the third. The second attack at the eleventh site occurred moments after the team had arrived, so the Second Officer and Senior Marine Officer were both there. Luckily, the backup team was deployed immediately, and the threat was subdued within five minutes.
The third attack had actually been several hours after the initial teams had been established. Megan and G’Rowk had been back aboard the Jefferson in one of the conference rooms that had been set up as a command center when the call came in and were deployed along with the third backup team. The resistance here was far more organized and the fighting more intense. Thirty minutes and an additional deployment of security officers later, things were beginning to settle once more. Half a dozen officers were injured, two seriously, and even more rebels were hurt.
The medical staff moved to treat everyone, officers, rebels, and locals caught in the crossfire, the perimeter was secured once more, and another half an hour later it was over and everything was back to normal. As the science officer and Marine rematerialized on the transporter pad, Megan sighed heavily and glanced over at the Klingon who had been her companion throughout the day. “Assemble another back up team and then go off duty and get some rest because this is going to be a long mission. We’ll both be on call while we have officers on the surface, and most of the time we’ll need to be in the conference room monitoring the situation.”
~
Following her own orders, Megan had gone straight to her quarters after assigning someone to monitor the situation with orders to contact her in the event of another attack. After allowing herself around six hours of sleep, the science officer awoke at her normal time but skipped her usual morning exercise in favor of getting ready and heading straight for the conference room. Even though no one had found it necessary to bother her, she still felt on edge, knowing the silence wouldn’t last.
Less than an hour later, her instinct was proven right as her commbadge came to life. “Lance Corporal Elsberry…” Bursts of static disrupted the leading Marine at the first beam in site and the panic of battle could be heard in the background. “We are under attack by…large group of…seem to be very well...requiring im…”
The line went dead, and Megan snapped into action. “I want our sensors on the region and fed to our people on the surface as quickly as possible. Beam the current backup team to their location, now. Lieutenant G’Rowk, report to the conference room.” As the Commander reached for her gear in preparation to join the team on the surface, Ensign Lopez who had been assigned to monitor the sensors in the makeshift command center held up a hand to stop her.
“Ma’am, sensors are a bit fuzzy and it’s hard to tell for sure which lifesigns are civilian or rebel, but from what I can make out, there appear to be at least several hundred insurgents down there,” the young science officer reported looking worried. “They must have been very well organized because the build-up was gradual and their movements raised no red flags here until just before the attack took place.”
Trusting her officer, who had been monitoring the sensors for the entire night shift and was best qualified to read and understand the patterns, Megan nodded and tapped her commbadge once more. “Lieutenant G’Rowk, belay my previous order. I need you to assemble nearly every available security and Marine officer aboard the Jefferson in preparation for deployment to the surface immediately.”
Closing the channel and reopening another, Commander Garrett barely paused before continuing. “Garrett to Reynolds, we have a major problem on the surface. A large group of angry locals have attacked the primary medical facility. We’re going to need as many people as we can spare to keep our people safe and restore order. I realize we may have to leave the ship understaffed in security, but we don’t seem to have a choice. The situation on the surface looks desperate.”
<Tag Matt>
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2008 11:43:52 GMT
There was so much screaming in terror so that Nathan had no idea where to look first. They had enjoyed a quick rationed breakfast as there was little time for more. The main hospital still harboured many of the wounded from the bombing the USS Lion had caused and Nathan had his hands full trying to win the trust of the locals.
Dirt spat up as a projectile exploded right next to his feet and both he and Jayden jumped up and leapt for cover. "Mitchell to Jefferson!" the marine cried as he grabbed for Nathan's collar and held him down protectively for a moment. "We're under attack!" He wasn't sure whether Jefferson was receiving but he made the call regardless. Propelling the doctor forward, the young marine sought to make for the hospital before they would become solitary targets of the attack.
"Move!" he told his charge, keeping them both low until they reached the damaged building.
Nathan on his part didn't appreciate being treated like this, but he could understand the extend of it. He followed Jayden's ordes to the letter, staying as low as possible while moving as swiftly as possible. They were on the steps of the hospital now; angry wounded before them, and rebels behind them, trapped between two forces.
He was forcibly shoved forward and sent sprawling on the hard stone floor. Looking back, he saw Jayden stumble after him, his hands clutched to his side. His eyes widened in horror as the marine fell to his knees, his face ashen as blood seeped through his fingers. "Jayden!" Nathan cried, rushing back but then coming to a halt.
He looked back towards the wounded in the hospital, and then back to Jayden. Torn between his duties as medical officer and concern for his lover, Nathan picked up the marine and carried him further into the building, depositing him on one of the still vacant beds. "I'll get you back to Jefferson as soon as I can," he promised, running his hand through the Betazoid's hair, tracing the line of his jaw with two fingers in an act of compassion and love. "But I need to see to these people first." He pressed a hypospray against Jayden's throat and the marine's eyes closed as his breathing slowed down.
There was nothing Nathan could do for him right now, and he had no time to take better care of him. Triage demanded that he saw to the worst injured victims first and he was but one man in a crowd of injured. "Jefferson come in," he demanded, his tone defeated, "I need assistance. Corporal Mitchell has been injured, I have no back-up and I have hundreds of wounded here. The hospital is under attack and I don't know how long we can hold out."
He ducked as one of the windows broke, bits of glass stinging as they made minute cuts on his face and hands. The room filled up with smoke and he coughed, before pulling several locals into action, demanding they start an evacuation. He would remain behind to tend to those who couldn't be evacuated. Nathan prayed they would understand and follow his instructions.
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Matthew Reynolds
Rear Admiral
"It's good to have an end to a journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end."
Registered: Apr 28, 2005 20:58:32 GMT
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Post by Matthew Reynolds on Jul 8, 2008 5:42:01 GMT
The situation on the ground had grown desperate and it had fallen upon Matthew Reynolds to make the decision. The Jefferson housed a complete company of marines and dozens of security officer who were trained to deal with these situations. If anyone could solve this problem it was his crew.
"Commander Reynolds to all marine and security personal, prepare to beam down to the planet for riot control," Matt said on the comm," I repeat all marine and security personal prepare for riot control."
Matt knew that no one would question his order, but he immidiately felt a sense of vulnerability. The Jefferson would be without protection since all other personal were helping the injured on planet. A ship normally manned by hundreds of officers and crewman was now down to a few dozen.
"Reynolds to Garrett, I have ordered the entire company of marines and security officers down to the planet," Matt said," they are at your disposal."
(Megan)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2008 3:19:46 GMT
“This is my Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Troy Wallace, and my chief of Security, Peia Trellis. They will be at your disposal as long as you are here, and provide you with any assistance you may need.”
The feline purred slowly, looking to the other with a gentle nod as he stretched, sighing slowly and looking about in finality. He seemed to wish to look for some sort of exist, or perhaps delve into his work, to escape the mounting animosities that were growing, apparently, between the two commands. They were not well, nor well matched.
It further seemed as though while Hrisvalar was of a traditional position, Captain Worthing was far different. She was a commanding officer who came from a so called newer school of thought, were even things like the call of the boatswain’s pipe was a rare sound indeed to be heard. J’Varr T’Ress’ tail flicked carefully as he pondered this rift that previously existed before even this tragedy befell everyone.
The cat moved close to Lieutenant Commander Troy Wallace, seeming to size him up, though in a characteristically cooperative fashion. He did not mean to create any further competition, but rather simply wanted to try and understand what the other was up to.
As he followed Troy Wallace, relatively silently, to main engineering, he looked out at everything with a strange wonderment and bemusement in his eyes. It seemed as though things were not as different as they initially had seemed, though this was rather an overstatement. Officers and crew here were certainly on edge.
He stepped down into the main pit, allowing his boots to clang onto the latter as he did, making sure to carefully pad on each wrung. It was said safety rules were written in blood, and he did not want to become the next bloodied victim of breaking them. As he approached the table workstation with the other, he looked down at the panel and began to search throughout the records. It was his fantasy come true in the darkest, bleakest, and most cynical of terms – he was living the events of Praxis Crisis and the Enterprise-A’s last mission in 2291. There were shots fired, and nothing to show they had been.
Was the Federation teetering on the precipice of conflict?
It could be, in fact, that a cloaked vessel was making use of them some how, as farfetched as that idea might be. But wasn’t it farfetched in the events that his mind was recalling? He thought to his simulations on the Fading Sun. It was appalling, he recalled. A ship could definitely be shown to, or hidden from, its own torpedo banks, and right under its own nose.
Remote control was a real possibility, and one that bore investigation. Though there were no shows of it, according to either the communications personnel who had contacted them via combadge, nor the words of Troy Wallace himself. This was perplexing.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2008 3:22:58 GMT
"Reynolds to Garrett, I have ordered the entire company of marines and security officers down to the planet. They're at your disposal."
“Acknowledged,” Megan replied, already halfway to the transporter room to meet the assembled reinforcements. She’d only ordered almost all of the marines and security officers, while Commander Reynolds had ordered all of them. She was a bit surprised, but under the circumstances, it was entirely understandable to send every available soldier to deal with the rebels and protect not only their own people but also the civilians as well. It was certainly a bold move, but a dangerous one.
By the time the science officer had fully geared up and arrived, the transporter room and the hallway outside was crowded with grim but determined men and women. The group was mostly silent and easily parted to allow the Commander to the front. Approaching the transporter operator, who wordlessly stepped aside, Megan accessed the controls to pull up scans of the area patched through from the command center. Ensign Lopez was actively working to clearly identify which lifesigns belonged to the enemy and which to civilians, highlighting the confirmed and suspected of each in a different color while their own personnel were also identified with light blue for medical and dark blue for security and Marine troops.
The door to the transporter room opened, and G’Rowk solemnly stepped up behind Commander Garrett to look over her shoulder at the display. Sparing him a single glance, Megan pointed out what appeared to be the weakest point in the line of defense. “We need to send the largest company here, with reinforcements here and here. I’m going to set up a command center here, where it looks like the medical personnel are congregating, most likely treating injured. We need to try and divert attention from that area, make it look like we’re defending the original hospital while subtly falling back to the new location. Understood?”
The Klingon merely nodded before moving to the transporter pad and signaling the first group of officers to join him. As the operator began to beam groups to the surface as directed by Megan, the science officer forwarded the beam down information to each transporter room and cargo bay, carefully calculating how many were going where. In an emergency situation like this, both Marine and security officers were each assigned a transporter pad for deployment in teams. In a matter of minutes, everyone would be on the surface, but once the orders were given, Commander Garrett held back, pulling up the schematics once more.
The original hospital had been almost entirely evacuated with only a few additional civilians, most likely injured, and two Starfleet signals, one light blue and one dark blue. Accessing the specific callback frequencies, Megan sighed heavily, shaking her head. Doctor van Breughel was still in the thick of things, along with his body guard. ‘Why does it always seem like he’s in trouble…’ the second officer wondered, as she signaled a small team of four Marines to the side to join her.
“We need to complete the evacuation of the hospital. You two are responsible for evacuating patients, while you two provide cover. I’ll get the doctor and Corporal,” Megan ordered, providing the coordinates to the operator and stepping up with her team in front of another group before ordering the Ensign to energize.
The transport felt like it took forever thanks to the interference, and Megan could almost feel her molecules shimmering in and out of cohesion, separating too much then slamming back into one another in an almost painful but mostly extremely uncomfortable way. As the form of the five man team finally fully materialized in the center of the hospital, a momentary wave of disorientation followed by a sudden overwhelming rush of the sensations of their new surroundings struck. The air was thick with smoke and dust, the sounds of people screaming and explosions ringing in their ears, and the smell of death and war assaulted the still recovering team.
With the very loud, very harsh jolt of a far too close detonation, the small team was rudely thrust into the present, as all five seemed to snap out of it in an instant and dove out of the way of the flying debris. They had ended up in the very center of the target zone, rather than in one of the outer rooms, most likely as a result of the transporter interference. Luckily, this room was clear, so signaling to the rest of the group, Megan pulled out a tricorder and in spite of the bursts of static led them from the center room toward a smaller side room where the remaining group of lifesigns was attempting to take refuge, including Doctor van Breughel, Lance Corporal Mitchell, and what looked like nearly a dozen most likely injured civilians.
Since it was fairly clear this area was a target for bombardment and not the center of close range combat, Megan swung her rifle over her shoulder in favor of a smaller hand phaser and her tricorder, signaling to the two she had tasked with moving injured to do the same while the other two kept their rifles raised. At the doorway to the small enclosed space, which looked like some sort of storage room, Commander Garrett halted the team and called out. “Doctor van Breughel it’s Commander Garrett…” before moving forward to enter the battered room.
At first glance, Nathan and two relatively uninjured civilians were standing in the center surrounded by nine or ten severely injured patients including Jayden who was unconscious. One of the standing civilians was armed, but Nathan held him back trying to say something to him over the noise. Moving forward, Megan nodded to the injured on the floor signaling the other four officers to do as they were tasked and shouted to Nathan. “We need to get all of you out of here. These four will get everyone else out. You are coming with me, and that’s not a request.”
Not giving him a chance to reply, Megan turned to the other two men and somehow managed to communicate to them to carry one of the injured and follow the four Marines out, two with a patient slung over their shoulders and the other two providing cover. Commander Garrett grabbed Nathan’s arm and drug him towards the pale Lance Corporal. “Help me carry him,” she ordered, shaking her head as the doctor’s eyes trailed to the half dozen or so severely injured patients still lying on the floor. “They’ll come back for them,” the science officer shouted over another explosion from a few rooms away. “We have to go now. That’s an order.”
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2008 20:22:54 GMT
Nathan had been moving on autopilot, directing the local authorities as much as possible in the evacuation of the hospital when it finally went into motion. He was flanked by one of the local police officers and two local doctors when Megan and her teams arrived. "No it's all right," he managed to convey to the senior sergeant, or the local equivalent thereof, "she's my boss, or one of them anyway."
He allowed her to drag him over to where Jayden was lying on a cot, but he shrugged her off when she mentioned her orders. "I'll carry him myself," he answered, his eyes sparkling with veiled anger and concern. "You'll need your hands free to defend us if necessary. Officer Taboon will join us as well, together with doctors Maybree and Yonara. We need their assistance. Your marines can get the rest of the patients out. I'll not relinguish care for Coproral Mitchell just now. There's only one that will touch him, and that's me. Understood?"
His face was now vivid with anger, though none of it was directed at Garrett herself. Leaning over, he checked Jayden's bandages, made sure he was properly sedated, then scooped him up in his arms. For a tall and muscled man, the marine felt strangely light as he was just dead weight at the moment. Cradling him close, Nathan straightened. "Lead the way," he prompted, trying to minimize the movements he made to keep his patient comfortable.
Nathan noticed the big Klingon in the team, nodded to him once, then turned his attention back to Megan. "I need to get back to Jefferson," he finally admitted, "he'll get proper care there. I'll return when he's settled." He hesitated, looking upon her with pleading eyes. "Please..." He took a deep breath then sighed. "He got shot when we entered the hospital, though he made sure to get me out of harm's way first. I owe him so much, please, let me get him back to Jefferson."
In his arms, Jayden stirred and moaned softly, causing Nathan to nearly lose his grip on the tall Betazoid. "Shh," Nathan murmured to him, kneeling now to keep them both comfortable. "Don't move and don't try to speak. I promised I'd take care of you and I will."
Shifting his hold, the doctor straightened again. "We need to start moving." The scratches on his face, hands and now bare arms (as he'd torn off the sleeves to use for bandages on the wounded) were starting to itch.
He ducked instinctively as more glass showered down on them when another attack struck the building, sending down large chunks of what resembled concrete as well. Nathan winced as particularly large-sized chunk struck his bare arm, causing him to nearly drop his patient. It got him moving immediately and, flanked by marines on either side, he found himself standing outside in mere seconds. "Where to!" he called, "I've got wounded!"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2008 3:41:39 GMT
"I'll carry him myself,” Nathan snapped back, surprising Megan slightly with the animosity in his voice. “You'll need your hands free to defend us if necessary. Officer Taboon will join us as well, together with doctors Maybree and Yonara. We need their assistance. Your marines can get the rest of the patients out. I'll not relinquish care for Corporal Mitchell just now. There's only one that will touch him, and that's me. Understood?" the doctor basically ordered his superior.
Raising her eyebrow at both his tone and insistence, Megan chose to ignore the tone in the meantime and allowed the doctor to hoist the Marine up on his own. The Commander now noticed a third uninjured man who had been caring for one of the injured, most likely one of the doctors. He and one of the other two locals were carrying an injured woman between them while the third local was lifting another injured man off the ground. With two Marines each carrying a patient, two Marines providing cover, plus Nathan carrying Jayden, that would leave four injured behind to come back for, unless the science officer tried to take one more.
Crossing to the remaining patients, Megan found a young woman, perhaps in her late teens, and with a little bit of effort managed to get her balanced over one shoulder using one hand for support, and leaving the other hand free for the tricorder to provide direction. Everyone seemed ready and all were waiting for her direction, so the science officer headed for the door followed closely by Nathan. "Lead the way," she barely managed to catch the doctor saying over the noise of the continuing battle, though her focus was more on their surroundings than him.
As they moved forward and began to weave their way through the nearly destroyed hospital, Doctor van Breughel stayed just behind her with one armed Marine beside her and another coming behind everyone else. "I need to get back to Jefferson. He'll get proper care there. I'll return when he's settled,” Nathan said, barely audible over the bombardment. As they came to a halt only a few meters from the exit, Megan glanced sideways at the doctor and caught the pleading in his eyes. "Please...he got shot when we entered the hospital, though he made sure to get me out of harm's way first. I owe him so much, please, let me get him back to Jefferson,” he practically begged the second officer.
While Megan felt sympathy for both Nathan and the Lance Corporal, in her mind this was not the time to have this discussion, and she already knew his request would need to be denied. Fighting between some sort of comforting remark that would postpone her need to tell him and the desire to snap back at him that this wasn’t the right time, Commander Garrett was cut off by another explosion from the room they had just left, and turned her attention to making sure everyone was alright, as the doctor’s attention was also diverted by his patient coming to a bit.
“We need to start moving," the doctor shouted, but his words were mostly swallowed up by another explosion as Megan surged forward spurred by yet another even closer explosion that showered glass and debris on the small group. Within a few moments, they were all outside and unfortunately in the open.
"Where to; I've got wounded!" Nathan called amidst the blasts as the others crowded together near some sort of decretive fountain. Replying nonverbally by signaling for everyone to follow her to a nearby building, Megan began to move as fast as she could, heading for the shelter of the structure, which if she had to guess served as some sort of library or court building. Once everyone was inside, things got slightly quieter, and it did seem that the explosions directed at their location were fewer and further away and the damage was less extensive.
Worried about the three remaining patients in the former hospital, Megan quickly ordered the two Marine’s carrying patients and one of the local doctors to return for the others with one of the armed officers as cover. “Leave the patients here; it’s safer. Once you get the remaining people out, stay here and I’ll send back others to help you bring everyone to safety and guide you to the new command center, while you…doctor…can take care of them until more help arrives.”
The local doctor she had addressed nodded in understanding, so Megan carefully placed her own charge with the others to help the remaining local doctor carry his patient, whom he could not carry on his own. Once the now smaller group was ready, Commander Garrett once again took the lead helping the local doctor while using the tricorder for direction followed by Nathan carrying Jayden, the local officer carrying another patient, and the armed Marine providing cover in the back. Carefully moving from building to building to provide cover with the sounds of fighting getting a little quieter every minute, they eventually arrived at a rather large structure that looked deserted but inside was full of injured and doctors.
Within a few moments, the patients were placed on the floor with the hundreds of others, and Megan turned to face the doctor. “I’m sorry, but not only are you needed here, but it would be all but impossible for you to get to the Jefferson with the levels of interference. I need you to stay here in charge of the medical effort.”
Turning away, Megan quickly addressed the Marine who had accompanied her and ordered him to assemble a team to complete the evacuation before moving to a quieter, unoccupied room that looked like some sort of manager’s office. Removing some of the equipment she’d brought with her, the science officer set up a rudimentary, make-shift commander center with sporadic bursts of updated sensor data sent from the ship and relatively stable ground communication. Ship to ground voice communication unfortunately was nearly impossible to maintain.
“Garrett to all team leaders, I have established a base of operations in sector 037 and will be organizing all offensive and defensive actions from here. Send injured to this location as discretely as possible but continue defending the original location as if our base were located there. All communications will be routed through here. Use only the specific mid-band frequencies I’m sending to you now as they seem to cut through ground level interference. Let’s get this area stabilized, Garrett out.”
As the channel closed, Megan took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she began to send out orders to different teams to fall back, move forward, or shift positions hoping that the situation would be diffused as quickly as possible.
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2008 4:13:15 GMT
Normally not phased by silence, it was nonetheless rather awkward walking from the transporter room to the briefing room. While Commander Sovel predictably seemed rather nonplused by the silence, his commanding officer was a much different story. Though not a psychologist like Lieutenant Thompson, Captain Worthing was so frazzled it was impossible to miss it. Constantly fidgeting with her fingers, pulling at her collar, running her hands over her hair…the woman was an absolute mess, and it was beginning to make the Brigadier feel a bit edgy himself.
Though trying to appear as unaffected as the Vulcan first officer, Zhukarak couldn’t help but make eye contact with Counselor Thompson regularly, almost as if he needed her reassurance that the woman wasn’t going to go completely insane and kill them all. Tamara merely met his gaze, nodding every now and then as if she understood his concerns. It felt like an eternity before the lift came to a halt at the bridge. The command center was eerily silent, the crew seeming to barely move or make a sound as they sat or stood at their respective consoles. The only sign of life was the almost synchronous movement of heads turning their way as they entered, strangely blank stares following them across the room from the turbolift to the door which the Andorian prayed led to the conference room.
Thankful it did, and the uncomfortable trip ended at a standard meeting table in a standard conference room. Slumping into his seat in relief with an equally relieved looking counselor sitting beside him, Captain Worthing moved almost in a daze towards the replicator before Hrisvalar shook her off. “Nothing, thank you; please have a seat, Captain,” the Brigadier requested gesturing to the seat across from him which the commanding officer drifted towards before sliding into the chair, her fingers still fidgeting and her eyes glued to the smooth, cold surface of the table.
Once Sovel sat beside his Captain, Zhukarak continued, “Now, please tell me exactly what happened, everything and anything you can remember. I know you were asked not to investigate this on your own, but I don’t think you or your crew could have entirely resisted trying to figure out what went wrong, so tell me what you may or may not have discovered as well. Every detail; leave nothing out.”
Still not able to meet her superior’s eyes, Janice began to rattle off the details as if she had repeated them a thousand times, which she probably had. “We were on a simple mission, restocking supplies, checking the welfare of the population, scouting for any sign of trouble without any real indication of anything amiss...it was nothing that hasn’t been done over and over again on countless planets by countless ships.” The human woman took a deep breath and sighed heavily before continuing. “We had been here three days, completed the transfer of all the supplies and were merely running through one of the series of scans required when out of nowhere the torpedoes began to fire, one by one. We could hear them as they left the tubes and the sensors picked them up as they entered the atmosphere and headed towards the planet. Every system was completely frozen in place; we couldn’t access anything. All we could do was watch it happen.”
Her eyes darting away to look out the window and her hand once again moving to smooth her hair, Janice Worthing’s entire body slumped in her chair as if the simple act of recounting the event again left her drained of all emotion. As if on cue, detecting his commanding officer’s state of mind, Commander Sovel smoothly picked up where she left off as if trying to spare her further stress. “It was over in less than ninety seconds, and thirty seconds after the final torpedo was fired, all system controls came back online. By then it was too late to act.”
Nodding slowly, the Captain continued where her first officer left off. “We contacted Starfleet Command instantly before attempting to contact the surface to offer aid. Everyone we reached begged us not to help, to go away, leave them alone…” her voice cracked slightly before her eyes moved to meet Zhukarak’s gaze for the first time since they’d entered the briefing room. “They reacted as if we were monsters…and in a way, that’s what we are...monsters…” The room fell strangely silent, as Janice once again looked away gazing out at the stars.
“After that, we went into a higher orbit, ceased communications with the surface, and waited for you to arrive,” the Vulcan First Officer continued calmly. “We were under orders not to investigate; however, we felt it necessary to take all weapons systems offline and run full diagnostics to ensure nothing further happened. Every test came back negative for any problems or malfunctions. After that, we ceased any form of investigation but kept weapons systems offline just in case.”
The room fell silent once more, and a shiver descended down the Andorian’s spine. He could only imagine how it would feel to be in the position of this Captain, this crew. What a horrible, horrible thing to happen. “Thank you for your report,” Zhukarak replied quietly, glancing sideways at Tamara who looked equally if not more choked up by what had happened than he was. Words seemed to fail him for expressing his…what, sympathy? The Brigadier didn’t know exactly what to say. Finally, he sighed heavily and added, “We will get to the bottom of this.”
Janice Worthing turned to him then and the two commanding officer’s eyes met as an understanding passed between them. A little bit of strength flared up in the Captain’s eyes as she nodded in a silent thank you. Nothing more needed to be said, so the Brigadier rose, nodded to Counselor Thompson as a silent way of saying ‘you’ve got your work cut out for you,’ and left the room to go find T’Ress.
Everywhere he went, silence and the eyes of everyone he encountered followed. It was a bit creepy to say the least, but the Brigadier felt much better once he saw Commander T’Ress and Lieutenant Van Horn. Gesturing his officers aside as the two officers from the Lion exchanged looks, Zhukarak quickly and quietly brought them up to date on what had happened on the bridge during the incident. “I don’t know if their system controls freezing is an important piece of the puzzle of what happened here, but I figured it might be. What have you discovered so far?”
<Tag T’Ress>
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2008 20:42:48 GMT
Cyle opened his eyes after a long nap in the shuttle that was heading towards his home away from home. Although it had been a few months since he was "removed" from the Jefferson he still felt that he belonged there, rather than any where else. He was still a bit unsure about the fact he was no long the SMO, but rather the new operations officer. Being a marine he figured someone would ask about it later, but he would address that situation later. "USS Jefferson, USS Tropic requesting permission to dock." Cyle sat back and waited a few second before a response was heard. "USS Tropic, permission granted, Welcome aboard Major Johnson" Cyle put in the coordinate that would allow him to dock and waited until the doors opened to allow him to exit. In the docking bay he saw various supplies which he knew where going to be beamed down to the surface, he had received a small report about the situation, but nothing that would really give him to much detail.
Making his way to the bridge Cyle passed a few of the marines that were once under his command, they stopped abruptly in shock, before smiling and greeting the newly reinstated Major. Cyle passed them with a nod and continued on to the bridge, aware of the fact that the marines, and security personnel were being beamed down for riot control. He wasn't sure what was going on but he knew he would find out shortly. When he entered the bridge he wasn't at all surprised to see the not so friendly face of Commander Reynolds. "Major Johnson reporting for duty" He said popping a quick salute and standing at ease, with a look that could only mean one thing. 'What is going on...'
<tag Matt>
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2008 21:51:34 GMT
T’Ress continued to poke through the engineering records. His eyes grew wide and narrowed at various points before he simply yawned and started to lean back into the seat, trying to uncover the continued result of the torpedo fires. He was beginning to think that somehow the system had been broken to permit this to be done – the gunnery logs did contain any data. However, there were definitely missing torpedoes from the weapons stores. Starfleet personnel could not have moved them. What could have happened?
The words it was over in ninety seconds simply kept running through his mind. And the fact that it could happen again was even stronger. He hoped that his anachronistic security systems paw modified on the Jefferson would be enough to hold. His tail then flicked in angst.
He grappled with the idea of being part of the hand of evil for a moment. He could not stand to think of himself as something that, through ineffectual work, could cause a great deal more of suffering.
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Everywhere he went, silence and the eyes of everyone he encountered followed. It was a bit creepy to say the least, but the Brigadier felt much better once he saw Commander T’Ress and Lieutenant Van Horn. Gesturing his officers aside as the two officers from the Lion exchanged looks, Zhukarak quickly and quietly brought them up to date on what had happened on the bridge during the incident. “I don’t know if their system controls freezing is an important piece of the puzzle of what happened here, but I figured it might be. What have you discovered so far?”
“Murr, I have confirmed that, formally, there are two torpedos missing. The computers, however, report that there have been no discharges. They further report that, murrr, the vessel has a full compliment of unexploded ordnances. This is a falsehood.”
The feline paused, gazing at the screen.
“I further understand that the recoil could not have been operated by remote. I thought very deeply about that, and about the presence of a cloaked vessel. I even thought very deeply about the way in which such events were in 2293. None of it came up, meerrr. We have to find someone aboard, or many whom transported and have run exunt.”
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The rebels had attempted to dig themselves in, wanting to create a strangely organized perimeter. As soon as they learned that there were other forces at play, considering the entrance of the Jefferson, and felt that they were risky counterrevolutionary action. Therefore, as well as the physical action that was going on, they had taken a tricorder that was left amongst wreckage, and modified it in such a way that its field would be generative and thus form a partial dampening field. They could not risk anyone transporting into the immediate area.
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Maybre and her masculine assistant were, at a simultaneous point in time, mounting an operation to continue the evacuation of the hospital area. They had resorted to removing patients one at a time by hand, when the other had to return into the building. It seemed another fell among the wounded.
Somehow knowing that the translocation systems were not going to be operable, the Doctor had the patient loaded onto an anti-gravity stretcher and activated it, with the help of several station personnel. He then pushed this stretcher, no longer requiring assistance, he reached sickbay via the heavily damaged turbolift. It was a struggle to operate it, and he had to slam his fist against the panel before it would move him, and then, at a slow rate.
Figuring that further medication would do little, he activated a control on the side of the bio bed that he had hastily been loaded into and began to slice into the torn clothing that was around his injuries. Once they were free of obstructions, he inched the control up carefully. A particle stream immediately writhed over each wound, cleansing it and preventing infection – a necessary procedure even in the cleanest of conditions.
Grasping for a dermal regenerator, the Doctor conducted a second stream of particles over a few of these wounds, sealing the skin as the energy and matter flux reformed the biological matrix in the manner of the operations of a transporter beam. At that moment, however, his patient’s heart began to fail.
Doing his best to avoid panic, the Doctor looked to his bedside for anything to act as a clamp. Seeing, however, that there was no aneurysm and that his care had at least avoided a full coronary, he turned the re generator over the body cavity and began to reform the cells of the heart.
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2008 21:26:33 GMT
Yonara, flanked by Taboon, started organising the patients, trying to get them settled as comforably as was possible under the circumstances. On the other side of the room, he spotted his partner Maybre tend to other patients. The alien doctor, the Human as he had called himself, was tending to more patients. The alien looked drawn, pale and he was carrying a lot of guilt, Yonara thought as he finished with his patient.
There were more doctors about, from other parts of the hospital but he barely knew those. Walking up to the alien, Yonara knelt beside his motionless patient, quietly pushing the fabric of his tunic aside. "Oh that doesn't look good," he exclaimed, whistling between his teeth as he examined the unmoving patient on the floor.
“I’m sorry, but not only are you needed here, but it would be all but impossible for you to get to the Jefferson with the levels of interference. I need you to stay here in charge of the medical effort.” Yonara pretended not to hear the woman's words, knowing they hurt the doctor's feelings.
Nathan immediately stood back beside him, glancing down at the wounded marine. "Can you help him?" he asked, ignoring Garrett for the moment.
Yonara shook his head, looking up with a vast sadness in his eyes. "There's nothing I can do for him, he needs treatment wherever you came from. You're Starfleet, aren't you?"
Nathan shook his head. "No, I'm not. I'm a civillian doctor assigned to the USS Jefferson. That man is my partner..." He hesitated, before correcting himself. "My friend," he continued softly, "he's saved my life, in more ways than one." Now, he turned back to Garrett, who was busy speaking to the other teams on the surface. "I'll stay, but as soon as we can, I want Mitchell back on the ship."
Yonara rose to his feet, gently patting the tall doctor's shoulder. "He'll be fine," he promised, "now, I need your help with a few others and then you need to take a rest."
The Human nodded miserably, but once he was back into the fray of patients, his misery was nowhere to be seen; he was all business towards the hundreds of patients they now worked on, trying to save them. Many died right under their care but an equal amount would survive to tell the tale of the heroic Starfleet effort to save them after one of their own had caused disaster.
Maybre joined them after a few hours, wiping her hands on her coat. She took one glance at Nathan, before frowning at Yonara. "He's hurt," she said candidly, pushing the Human down on one of the seats that they'd set up for themselves in a corner. Immediately, she pulled a pack of gauges from a pocked, drenched them in alcohol and started wiping Nathan's face and left shoulder.
The doctor cringed as the alcohol stung into the cuts on his face and hands but she was firm and held him down as he tried to squirm away from her. "Sit still!" she ordered, "or I'll have Yonara hold you still. You choose." She told him to remove his labcoat and shirt. "What, are the men in your culture shy about stripping down before a doctor?" she quipped irritably, upon which Nathan obeyed her order and removed his coat and shirt, allowing her to examine the deep cut on his shoulder. "That'll need stitches, however I've no anaestethics anymore. You're not weakhearted are you?"
Shaking his head, Nathan grimaced as she examined the cut, then went for needle and thread. He paled visibly upon seeing the needle, but he remained seated and perfectly still as Maybre applied the sutures with practiced skill, then bandaged his shoulder. "You're about Yonara's size, I'm sure he's got a spare shirt for you. A clean one."
"Yes ma'am," Nathan murmured under his breath as he pulled on the clean garment Yonara handed him.
"And now you'll rest. Your friend may appreciate your company."
Nathan blinked at her comment, but nodded and walked back to where Jayden was lying on the floor. Quietly, Nathan lowered himself to the floor, pulled one of the blankets over him and sighed quietly. He doubted he could sleep right now, but if he'd just lay here and try to relax he'd feel more refreshed in an hour.
He started when Yonara knelt beside him, pressing the hypo twice against his throat. "Your medication, I noticed you were coughing earlier, and I've given you a sedative. You'll sleep but we'll wake you in two hours. Then Maybre will take your place and have a rest."
As Nathan drifted off into sleep, Yonara walked over to Garrett. "He's resting, and you should take a rest too. Don't make me sedate you as well."
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2008 21:12:52 GMT
“Dawson to Garrett, the situation at site seven has been contained.”
“Acknowledged, Major, I’ll need one deployment to remain for additional security while the rest of you prepare for transport to the barracks,” Megan replied while sending the transport request back to the Jefferson. It had been nearly half a day since the science officer and all of the security and Marines had beamed to the surface and while the initial problem had been mostly resolved, more seemed to flare up. Sites were contained and attacked with an alarming consistency.
In the midst of all the chaos, a pattern of response had been established. Megan had created a second base for the officers to return to in shifts to rest and for easy deployment. With the use of transport enhancers it was becoming easier to beam some of their people out once they had moved a far enough distance away from the location of both the original torpedo destination and the ensuing fights. Luckily, with their entire compliment Marines and security officers, they were just managing to keep up with supply and demand with Commander Garrett overseeing everything from the command center. The frequency of the attacks had increased dramatically over the first ten hours but was actually beginning to calm somewhat.
The most stubborn group of resistance was in Megan's immediate area unfortunately. A dampening field had been established over the region that prevented transport in or out. Most of the fighting was over, with the exception of one entrenched cell, but they were at least isolated and not causing much trouble anymore, so a good deal of the officers and Marines had moved outside of the dampening field to be beamed to other locations. In the event of more trouble, it would be difficult to get backup immediately, but the Commander was trying to focus on one problem at a time.
“Garrett to Lugo, send a detachment two kilometers east of your current location. That’s the last concentration of rebels near site nine,” Megan ordered, glancing up as one of the local doctors entered the room. The Marine Captain acknowledged before closing the channel as the local man approached her as requested. “What is Doctor van Breughel’s condition? I do hope he’s resting,” Garrett queried.
“He's resting, and you should take a rest too. Don't make me sedate you as well,” the man replied, causing Megan to glance up once and raise an eyebrow.
‘Why do doctors all seem to be the same…’ the science officer wondered before answering. “I wouldn't if I were you,” she warned mildly before turning her attention back to the screen in front of her hoping that somehow the man would take her warning seriously and leave her alone. There was no way she was leaving her post, and yet Megan didn’t have the actual authority over him to order him away. “I have to remain at my post. I’m organizing the entire defensive measure on your planet from here, and without leadership response time will be slowed considerably and more lives will be lost. I’m needed here, and besides, I’m holding up fine.”
~
"Murr, I have confirmed that, formally, there are two torpedoes missing. The computers, however, report that there have been no discharges. They further report that, murrr, the vessel has a full compliment of unexploded ordnances. This is a falsehood. I further understand that the recoil could not have been operated by remote. I thought very deeply about that, and about the presence of a cloaked vessel. I even thought very deeply about the way in which such events were in 2293. None of it came up, meerrr. We have to find someone aboard, or many whom transported and have run exeunt,” the feline engineer reported.
Zhukarak frowned in confusion. “So...what you’re telling me is two additional torpedoes are missing on top of the twenty-five that were fired at the planet, and the ship’s systems show a full compliment?” With a heavy sigh, the Andorian moved onto the worst part of what his engineer had reported. “And…you believe that this only could have been accomplished by someone onboard the Lion?”
With another heavy sigh, the Brigadier added, “Well keep investigating. We need to figure out exactly what happened here. Good work so far, Commander.”
<Tag J’Varr>
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Matthew Reynolds
Rear Admiral
"It's good to have an end to a journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end."
Registered: Apr 28, 2005 20:58:32 GMT
Posts: 2,759
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Post by Matthew Reynolds on Jul 15, 2008 23:59:07 GMT
The decision to send every available security officer and marine to the planet seemed to be the right course of action. Commander Garrett was steadily gaining control of the situation but they had paid a high price for this small victory. Doctor van Breughel was hurt in the explosion and five members of the security detachment had been confirmed dead. It was a high price indeed.
"Major Johnson reporting for duty"
"Welcome back Major, as you can see we are busy with a resuce operation," Matt said addressing the new operations officer. It was well known that Cyle and Matt didn't like each other, but both men respected what the other brought to the table. Cyle was a capable marine and Matt could only hope that he was just as good in the operations role.
(Cyle)
Wanting to further explain the situation to the marine, Matt began to quickly brief him on the situation. Half way through the lights on the bridge began to flicker and a second later a large explosion was heard.
"What the hell just happened?" Matt said as he ran towards the nearest console. According to the computer a relay station on Deck 14 had just exploded and injuries were being reported," Major patch me through to the Brigadier and Commander Garrett."
(Cyle)
"Deck 14 is in complete shambles a relay station exploded and.." Matt said before the communications system abrubtly shut down. ~What the hell is happening?~ Matt thought before he began working on getting communications back on-line. The next thing he noticed seven officers and crewmembes walked onto the bridge.
"Lieutenant what are you doing here?" Matt asked surprised to see a security officer still onboard.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to disarm yourself," the Lieutenant asked as he raised his phaser at Matt," don't think about anything Major. I don't want to kill any of you, but I will if I have to."
"What the hell are you doing? We have thousands of injured on the planet, we don't have time for this," Matt said as he approached the security officer.
"Don't move towards me again," the security officer said as he fired his weapon grazing Matt's arm. The pain coursing through his arm was nothing compared to the anger he was feeeling towards the Lieutenant," why are you doing this?"
"Starfleet is responsible for what happened to our families and we are going to make them pay," the Lieutenant said as he pointed ot the viewscreen.
"The colonist did nothing, they are the victims," Matt said confused at the explanation.
"Not them, Commander," the Lieutenant said walking towards the command console," I'm talking about the USS Lion and her crew."
Matt's neck snapped so fast that the pop was heard by everyone on the bridge.
"And its all thanks to you," the Lieutenant said laughing," if you hadn't ordered the security teams and marines down to the planet, this plan would have never worked."
"Computer transport the most senior officer on the bridge to main engineering immediately," Matt said taking the opportunity to escape," Computer cut access to all system except for me."
"Unable to comply. Access to systems has been manually accessed. Control must be accessed from the bridge.
"Damn!" Matt said as he turned to Cyle," we need to arm ourselves. We also need to stop them from finding us to quickly. We are going to have to disable internal sensors or they will just be able to beam us into the brig or space."
(Cyle)
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2008 20:38:00 GMT
Five year old Freddy van Breughel was starting to get worried; he'd come home from school to find his father gone and when he had run down to sickbay he found his father wasn't there either. What was even more surprising was that Hannah wasn't on duty either. Frowning, the boy scouted around sickbay, calling for his dad, but there was nothing.
Finally, he stepped into the turbolift, hesitating for a moment, then ordering it to the bridge. He knew his father didn't want him to visit the bridge and the brigadier had been quite clear about not wanting children on his bridge either. Though a little miffed at being called a child (after all he was five years old!), Freddy had never disobeyed his father or the captain on this. But now, it was just different.
"Dad?" he called as he stepped upon the bridge, freezing as he saw someone holding a weapon on Commander Reynolds. Looking around, he saw another familiar face and the boy ran up to him, wrapping his arms around the officer's legs in fear.
"Mr Johnson, where's my dad?" he asked, his voice small and his eyes wide with fright. He remembered the marine to be a friend of his father's, a very close friend at that. "And who's that? Have they got my dad? Is he all right?"
(cyle/matt)
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 24, 2024 22:27:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2008 20:09:22 GMT
Yanora looked to Maybre carefully, sighing. The Doctor turned to her, murmuring to himself a moment in his usual manner before he began to speak. One started to pick up unusual traits after the fifth or sixth body one is working on. "Anaphylactic Shock surely. Fluid was lodged deep into the lungs. However, that is not what I find troubling. No, let me rephrase that - any loss of life is a troubling circumstance. What I mean to say is that there are scratches present...near the throat and face. I am not sure what to make of it, though they do not appear to be self-inflicted. I am confused as to how this happened. Could the rebels have caused this kind of damage?
Pausing for a moment, he looked up slowly, his eyes beginning to fall bloodshot from his penchant for staring into his work. With a deep exhale - not a particularly comfortable motion through a respirator - he looked back politely at the other physician.
With a hand behind his back, he took another glance at his tricorder. It seemed that the particulate count had decreased significantly since the kinetic movement of the particulates into that sealed container. He, however, still found small trace amounts. "I am beginning to feel that this was purposefully done, despite what information we have. I'm sorry if I'm going against policy or anything, but this seems a bit odd.”
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A revolutionary commander was chuckling at himself. He had been utilizing a modified phaser dispersal unit to replicate air molecules. In effect, he was sending a form of tear gas into a few medical chambers to cause choking in such a way that he had hoped to cause a great deal of pain. It was far more concentrated than ancient CS gas canisters, and therefore, a great deal more painful. He understood that as people grasped their throats they would cause scratches amongst them, and they certainly would not appear as though they were self-inflicted.
However, it would not be allowed to continue. Soon the ‘allies’ would be more than onto the operations and therefore it would have to be stopped immediately. The damage, though, he hoped, was already finished. A shadowy figure, it would seem that not even his compatriots were speaking to him by name.
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Zhukarak frowned in confusion. “So...what you’re telling me is two additional torpedoes are missing on top of the twenty-five that were fired at the planet, and the ship’s systems show a full compliment?” With a heavy sigh, the Andorian moved onto the worst part of what his engineer had reported. “And…you believe that this only could have been accomplished by someone onboard the Lion?”
The feline nodded with a second purr, though this time of disgust. “That, however, does not at all mean that there is a reason to suspect any of these Starfleet personnel. I do not want a repeat of a different occurrence of the events that I was previously referencing.” “In my opinion, there was a short period of time in which someone could have transported aboard, and not be recorded of that. That was during the time that the transporter computer was undergoing maintenance operations. During that time, there would have been a window.”
The feline flicked his tail carefully, thinking.
“There must be a way that we can make a not of this. Would you authorize a total scan of the ship, coming from our own vessel? I could modify the tractor beam to work as one larger scanner.”
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2008 19:25:52 GMT
"Welcome back Major, as you can see we are busy with a rescue operation," Matt said addressing the new operations officer. It was well known that Cyle and Matt didn't like each other, but both men respected what the other brought to the table. Cyle was a capable marine and Matt could only hope that he was just as good in the operations role.
Cyle stood waiting for a more detailed explanation of the mission at hand, and was surprised at what he heard. " so your saying the USS Lion fired upon the colonists, do was have any idea why?"
Half way through the lights on the bridge began to flicker and a second later a large explosion was heard.
"What the hell just happened?" Matt said as he ran towards the nearest console. According to the computer a relay station on Deck 14 had just exploded and injuries were being reported," Major patch me through to the Brigadier and Commander Garrett."
Cyle ran to his station and in minutes had a patch going to Commander Garrett and the Brigadier. "Deck 14 is in complete shambles a relay station exploded and.." Matt said before the communications system abruptly shut down. ~What the hell is happening?~ Matt thought before he began working on getting communications back on-line. The next thing he noticed seven officers and crew members walked onto the bridge.
"Lieutenant what are you doing here?" Matt asked surprised to see a security officer still on board. Cyle turned to see what Matt was looking at, and immediately stood, from his time as a marine officer he knew something was not right.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to disarm yourself," the Lieutenant asked as he raised his phaser at Matt," don't think about anything Major. I don't want to kill any of you, but I will if I have to."
"What the hell are you doing? We have thousands of injured on the planet, we don't have time for this," Matt said as he approached the security officer.
"Don't move towards me again," the security officer said as he fired his weapon grazing Matt's arm. The pain coursing through his arm was nothing compared to the anger he was feeling towards the Lieutenant," why are you doing this?"
"Starfleet is responsible for what happened to our families and we are going to make them pay," the Lieutenant said as he pointed to the viewscreen.
"The colonist did nothing, they are the victims," Matt said confused at the explanation.
"Not them, Commander," the Lieutenant said walking towards the command console," I'm talking about the USS Lion and her crew."
Matt's neck snapped so fast that the pop was heard by everyone on the bridge.
"And its all thanks to you," the Lieutenant said laughing," if you hadn't ordered the security teams and marines down to the planet, this plan would have never worked."
"Dad?" he called as he stepped upon the bridge, freezing as he saw someone holding a weapon on Commander Reynolds. Looking around, he saw another familiar face and the boy ran up to him, wrapping his arms around the officer's legs in fear.
"Mr Johnson, where's my dad?" he asked, his voice small and his eyes wide with fright. He remembered the marine to be a friend of his father's, a very close friend at that. "And who's that? Have they got my dad? Is he all right?"
"Computer transport the most senior officer on the bridge to main engineering immediately," Matt said taking the opportunity to escape," Computer cut access to all system except for me."
"Unable to comply. Access to systems has been manually accessed. Control must be accessed from the bridge.
"Damn!" Matt said as he turned to Cyle," we need to arm ourselves. We also need to stop them from finding us to quickly. We are going to have to disable internal sensors or they will just be able to beam us into the brig or space."
"well making it hard for them to find us should be easy enough, though we wouldn't be able to contact anyone unless we used a wall console" Cyle said, taking his comm badge off. Cyle looked down at the little boy still holding onto his leg. Unable to answer the boy, Cyle turned to face Matt who nodded to the side. Cyle held his finger up to Freddy, telling him to stay put. "The doctor was sent down to the planet more than 10 hours ago, I don't really know whats going on down there." The ex-marine officer nodded in response and moved back over to Freddy. "your dad is OK, he went down to the planet to help the poor people down there. But don't worry, I'll take care of you. But you have to promise to do as I say, that man on the bridge is a bad man and he wants to hurt me and Commander Reynolds." Freddy nodded in between his sobs and tried to stop crying.
Cyle looked around for a moment trying to gain his bearing. "They know we are down here, so i would suggest using the jefferies tubes, they are really the way to move around without being seen by anyone walking around. And if we can get down to the armory we can arm ourselves."
<Matt>
Cyle walked around for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He had to stop a few times to calm Freddy, and finally settled and picking him up and holding him, something that was quite out of character for him. 'OK, so far we know there are at least 7 of them onboard, i doubt they thought about leaving a few others behind to provide guards of any kind. But how did they get onboard, medical transport? That would be the only logical way, which would mean out first stop after arming ourselves should be sickbay to check on the nurses. Although I'm sure a full frontal attack would be best, we wouldn't be able to last long against all 7 of them, and with Freddy near me he might get hurt.' Putting Freddy down he moved to stand next to Matt. "Heres what i got, after the armory we should move to sickbay, they would have had to have been transported onboard for some kind of medical reasons, no other way for them to get on. And without our comm badges they cant find us, especially since we know the layout of the ship better then they do. Once we get to sickbay we check on the nurses and other patients. Hopefully we have some injured marines or security there as well, they can help us. From what i know there are only 7 of them, i doubt they would have left someone behind. Also we need to find a place for Freddy, but i don't know where would be best."
<tag Matt, and Freddy>
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Matthew Reynolds
Rear Admiral
"It's good to have an end to a journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end."
Registered: Apr 28, 2005 20:58:32 GMT
Posts: 2,759
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Post by Matthew Reynolds on Jul 20, 2008 11:54:00 GMT
"Cyle most of those men are members of this crew," Matt said as he took the weapons from the marine's hands. At the beginning of this mission, Matt had made it is priority to know all the names of Dorvan crewmembers. The list consisted of at least twenty names which caused his stomach to clench into knots.
"Matt I want my daddy," Freddy said as he approaching both men once again," why were those men pointing the phasers at you?"
"It's alright Freddy, everything will be alright," Matt said as he picked up the young boy to comfort him. He had gotten to know Freddy a bit during the camping trip. He was a smart sensitive boy who wouldn't be happy until he knew his father was safe," Freddy how were you able to reach the bridge? Weren't the lifts offline."
(Freddy)
"It seems they haven't taken complete control of the ship," Matt said turning his attention back to Cyle," we can use this to our advantage."
(Cyle)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2008 13:12:45 GMT
"So your saying they are part of our crew, how many did we have on board?" Cyle said whirling around on Reynolds, his obvious dislike for the senior officer showing. "There are at least 20 dorvan crew members assigned to the Jefferson." Matt replied staring cooly at the aggresive operations officer in front of him. Cyle took a few deep breaths to calm himself, looking down at Freddy he knew he had to find a place to keep him safe, while keeping him unseen by the renegade officers. "we still need to get to the armory, and the jefferies tubes are still the best way to get down there, but not with the kid" Cyle looked at Freddy and then back at Matt. "I just dont see any other option at this point"
<tag Matt>
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2008 2:15:14 GMT
That, however, does not at all mean that there is a reason to suspect any of these Starfleet personnel. I do not want a repeat of a different occurrence of the events that I was previously referencing. In my opinion, there was a short period of time in which someone could have transported aboard, and not be recorded of that. That was during the time that the transporter computer was undergoing maintenance operations. During that time, there would have been a window. There must be a way that we can make a not of this. Would you authorize a total scan of the ship, coming from our own vessel? I could modify the tractor beam to work as one larger scanner,” the engineer requested producing a nod in response.
“Make it happen, Commander. We need to determine whether or not the crew of the Lion needs to be suspected and held for questioning as soon as possible, so I want you to get to the Jefferson and get that scan done as quickly as possible. I’ll stay here with Lieutenant Van Horn to oversee the investigation from this end, and Counselor Thompson will continue her work as well. I will keep you apprised of what we discover here while complete the necessary modifications to determine if someone did beam aboard the Lion and commit this crime. If not, the entire crew of the Lion will be under investigation for what happened here.”
~
“Get a team to Engineering, NOW,” Lieutenant Matelus ordered. Although this takeover had been in the works for days now, the execution hadn’t gone according to plan. All civilians and off duty personnel had been quietly ordered to quarters and locked down, while on duty science officers were currently locked in their labs. That left a handful of on duty engineering officers and the bridge staff to take care of, the bridge officers already being escorted to lockup. “Can we lock onto Commander Reynolds and Major Johnson and beam them to the brig?”
“Negative,” Crewman Horella replied from his new station at ops. “They’ve already removed their commbadges. I’m trying to lock onto them using internal sensors but there are quite a few people in engineering. I’m having a difficult time distinguishing who’s who. Wait...Sir we have an incoming transport from the Lion.”
“How many, and who is it?” the Lieutenant demanded, visions of a very angry, armed Brigadier Hrisvalar entering his mind. It was bad enough dealing with the first officer along with the previously unplanned for appearance of a new Marine operations chief, but an angry Andorian commanding officer was as ‘worst case scenario’ as it could get. No, the last thing Matelus needed was Zhukarak Hrisvalar.
“It’s one man, a Caitian…that would be chief engineer T’Ress,” Horella replied.
Sighing in relief and waving his hand to dismiss the concern, the Dorvan officer answered, “Ignore him. One engineer isn’t that big of a deal. We’ll get him when we round up the rest of the on duty engineers. Speaking of which, why don’t we just beam everyone in engineering to the brig. We can sort out who we want under house arrest and who we want to stay incarcerated once we have them all.”
“Sir, the transport has been routed the Main Engineering, so Commander T’Ress is now there along with twenty other lifesigns, including I’m assuming Commander Reynolds and Major Johnson. I’m locking…” Horella was cut off by the sound of phaser fire just off the bridge. A small group of Starfleet personnel were putting up quite a fight from the conference room adjacent to the command center. Within a few minutes, the half dozen or so officers had been detained and were on their way to the brig leaving behind a large, quite room filled with equipment.
“So this is how they’ve been neutralizing our attack…” Matelus commented quietly, surveying the flashing lights and taking in the steady hum. In a moment, he’d pulled his phaser and sent the entire array up in a shower of sparks and smoke, inspecting the damage with a satisfied smirk. Things for his people on the surface were about to get a whole lot easier, and a whole lot harder for Starfleet.
Exiting the former war room, Matelus shot a look to Horella at ops. “Contact our people on the surface and let them know the Federation advantage has been neutralized. They should find it much easier to successfully attack the bases now.” ~
“Garrett to Lieutenant Dorell, advance several hundred yards north and pull in the west. The rebels in your area are pulling back,” the science officer ordered, while switching readouts to site five. The concentration of fighters to the south was once again beginning to grow, so Megan opened another channel. “Garrett to barracks, prepare an additional detachment to deploy in five minutes.”
While forwarding the transport authorization to the Jefferson, Commander Garrett spun around in her chair to view an overall assessment. The situation was most definitely beginning to quiet down, and things felt well in hand now. Actual trouble remained at only three locations, while only two more showed any risk of problems developing. So caught up in her general survey that it took a minute or two for her to realize that confirmation never came through from the Jefferson. Frowning, Megan attempted to open a channel directly to transporter room two but was unable to do so. While sending a reply request signal to the conference room, the science officer tapped her commbadge. “Garrett to Jefferson…”
There was no reply, and now Megan was beginning to grow concerned. No reply was coming through from the conference room command center, she was unable to reach anyone on any comm frequencies, and all she got from a standard hail was static. Thinking maybe something was wrong on her end, the Commander tapped her commbadge once more. “Garrett to Brigadier Hrisvalar.”
“Go ahead, Commander,” Zhukarak’s reply came through almost immediately.
“Sir, I’m having trouble reaching the Jefferson. Are you…” Megan’s question was abruptly cut off as the sensor link was severed and all readouts went dark. Pushing back a momentary flare of panic, the second officer continued. “I just lost all sensor data. We’re in a very delicate situation down here, Sir. Without sensor readings from the Jefferson and transporter support, things could go wrong very quickly.
“Understood, Commander; we’re unable to reach the Jefferson from here as well. I just sent Commander T’Ress there, so the problem could only have occurred a few minutes ago. We’re looking into it. Hrisvalar out.”
Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, Megan was painfully aware of the fact that very soon, the situation that had almost been under control could spiral into a disaster. Not having sensors was extremely dangerous, and not having a transporter to aid response to problems was even more precarious. What they needed, at the very least, was access to one transporter pad. If everything else failed, that would at least keep them afloat until help arrived. The Fang was currently coordinating efforts on the other half of the planet, and while the science officer knew they were far too busy with that to lend much help, she knew of one way they could.
“Garrett to Fang, I’d like to request a shuttle equipped with a transporter sent to sector 048 to aid with operations here on the surface.”
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2008 3:56:01 GMT
At present, the boy didn't know what was scarier; Johnson reassuring him that his dad was fine and just busy, or being picked up constantly to be dragged about while people had tried to shoot them. He wanted to believe this was all just either a game or a big understanding, but seeing the grim expression on Reynolds' face reaffirmed his belief that it was in fact, not.
Freddy listenend as the grown-ups talked, trying to make sense of their big words. "What's going to happen now?" he asked softly, his voice quivering with fear, then remembered that Matt had asked him a question. "I took the turbolift," he answered, "am I in trouble now?"
Nervously, the boy bit his lip. "Dad told me not to go to the bridge, the captain doesn't want kids there...but dad hasn't come home as usual and he hasn't called..."
~meanwhile~ Instead of after the promised two hours, Officer Taboon knelt beside the Human doctor barely four hours later, shaking him roughly. "Wake up, there's trouble."
Immediately, Nathan sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He tossed the blanket aside, ill-remembered that he was on the floor instead of a bed and roughly jarred the bones in his legs when he immediately encountered what passed for a concrete floor. He grimaced, sat up on his knees and leaned over to Jayden to check on him.
The young marine was still unconscious and deathly pale. Peeling the tunic back, Nathan checked on his wound, pleased to find the bandage still in place and untainted. Nodding to himself, he rose to his feet and rejoined the two other doctors, quietly tapping Maybre on the shoulder to indicate she could go rest now. He never mentioned that he was woken two hours late, as he knew he had needed the rest.
"Commander, aside from losing communications, we have another problem," he reported quietly, after doing his rounds. "We are getting low on medications and the power cell of my tricorder is also dying." He fell silent for a few seconds, as if debating to report this as well. "I am also running out of my own medications," he added quietly, "I'll be able to manage without for a while, but not too long. This area is too heavily vegetated. Also, we need food. I can distribute emergency rations to the patients, but that won't be enough. We need to organise some locals to find food for everyone, scavenge if they have to."
He hesitated. "There are over four-hundred wounded commander, half of which are terminal. Aside from that we have fifty homeless families and well over three-hundred dead that cannot be identified one way or another. There's three medics, myself included and we're rotating shifts now, but it just won't be enough. We need more medical personnel, or I'm going to have to start drafting the marines into nursing service."
Again he fell silent, then met Megan's eyes with a look of pure despair. "Jayden's condition is deteriorating, I really need to get him to sickbay, even if I can't briefly leave to get him there."
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Matthew Reynolds
Rear Admiral
"It's good to have an end to a journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end."
Registered: Apr 28, 2005 20:58:32 GMT
Posts: 2,759
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Post by Matthew Reynolds on Jul 22, 2008 5:59:05 GMT
Knowing that it wouldn't take the traitors long to capture or kill them, Matt knew that the time to act had come. He would need to disable internal sensors or his plan would fail. Already knowing what he was going to ask the senior engineer left began to work.
"Do we still have access to the sensors?" Matt asked as he activiated engineering's command console.
"Limited, I've rerouted some of the subroutines, but it will only give us a few minutes at most," the engineer replied still working digilently to give him some extra time.
"Damn! It seems they have already incripted all major systems with thier own security codes," Matt said realizing that these men had been planning thise for days possibily since the day of the accident was report.
"Commander we have an incoming transport from the Lion, its Commander T'Ress," the engineer reported.
"Alright, I'm rerouting the transport here," Matt said as he quickly accessed transporter control. As soon as the transport had been completed the encryption codes locked him out.
"Commander T'Ress the Jefferson is no longer under our command," Matt said knowing that it was vitally important to quickly debrief his chief engineer," I need you to help me disable internal sensors."
(J'Varr)
"Cyle I need you to get these engineers to upper floor, take Freddy with you," Matt said," he should be safe with them."
(Cyle)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2008 6:15:05 GMT
With the shuttle on its way to the barracks, Megan was beginning to feel a tiny bit better. With the permission of the Brigadier, as well as Captain Worthing, the Lion was assisting with transport requests and had tied its sensors in with the equipment on the surface, so things were back up and running almost as well as before the comm and data silence. Still, the inability to communicate with her own ship made the science officer incredibly uneasy. Clearly something else was going on, but from the ground there was little to nothing Commander Garrett could do about it. So instead, the second officer kept her focus on her responsibilities to the civilians on the surface and the men and women helping and protecting them.
Indefinitely, they could continue to use the Lion, and the Fang provided support to the other half of the planet where their officers had developed a similar system, but in the even of something else going wrong, the shuttle’s transporter pad would probably make the difference between life and death a hundred times over until backup arrived. Without it, many more people would die. Even with how busy Megan was running the ground operation, she still felt anxious. What was going on aboard the Jefferson? With a sigh, the Commander turned her attention back to the readouts. Brigadier Hrisvalar was more than capable of handling that.
“Shuttlecraft Uritek to Garrett, we’ve landed at Base Two and are proceeding to move the backup command center inside the craft. We’re also ready to handle transport requests and have brought an emergency stock of backup supplies.”
“Acknowledged, Lieutenant Nelson; thank you for your assistance. Coordinate with Commander Ro’Tel to serve as a backup for the other half of the planet as well. The goal is to be completely independent down here pending something else going wrong. Try and keep a low level shield up at all times just in case of attack.”
“Understood, Commander; Nelson out.” With another heavy sigh, Megan closed her eyes for a second, before rubbing them and blinking a few times to clear her vision. She hadn’t slept in a day, but she was managing. The former operative had gotten by in much worse on much less, and didn’t see her fatigue as much of a concern yet, but she was aware of it and keeping an eye on her own condition.
As if on cue, a slightly rested Doctor van Breughel approached, causing Megan tried to appear a bit more energetic than she felt. She nodded to him somewhat absentmindedly, keeping her eyes on the screens as the doctor began his report. "Commander, aside from losing communications, we have another problem. We are getting low on medications and the power cell of my tricorder is also dying."
Almost automatically, Commander Garrett reached next to the desk to retrieve a power cell and tossed it to the slightly startled doctor, who still managed to catch it before continuing. "I am also running out of my own medications. I'll be able to manage without for a while, but not too long. This area is too heavily vegetated.” The doctor paused for a moment before adding. “Also, we need food. I can distribute emergency rations to the patients, but that won't be enough. We need to organize some locals to find food for everyone, scavenge if they have to."
Nodding, with her eyes still glued to the displays, Megan responded. “That sounds like a plan. Since you have better relations with the locals, I’ll leave that to you to organize that. Surely they must have food somewhere in this village or at least know what of that heavy vegetation you talked about is edible. Until then go ahead and distribute some of the food as needed, but make sure to ration.”
Nathan nodded, before continuing to report. "There are over four-hundred wounded, Commander, half of which are terminal. Aside from that we have fifty homeless families and well over three-hundred dead that cannot be identified one way or another. There’re three medics, myself included, and we're rotating shifts now, but it just won't be enough. We need more medical personnel, or I'm going to have to start drafting the marines into nursing service." He hesitated once again, before glancing up and adding, "Jayden's condition is deteriorating, I really need to get him to sickbay, even if I can't briefly leave to get him there."
With a sigh, Megan finally looked at Nathan. “Doctor, I understand the situation is dire, but the situation at each of the over two dozen sites all over this planet is just as dire. We’re going to have to make due as best we can. Make use of the locals as much as possible. Try to find as much of their own medicine as you can, teach some of them to serve as nurses to help care for the patients or at least know what to look out for as an emergency to allow you and the other doctors to get some rest. And go ahead and use some of the Marines if needed, but remember to leave enough on guard duty to keep everyone else alive too.”
“As for Jayden, I know you care about him, and I know he’s one of our own, but right now, you need to just do everything you can for him here. We can’t contact the Jefferson and this entire area is blanketed with a scattering field, so there is no possible way to get him out. It would take a several kilometer trip to get to a place where he could be beamed out, and even then most of the medical staff is here on the planet somewhere, spread out to help as many people as they can. I’m sorry, Doctor, truly I am, but there isn’t anything more we can do right now.”
Megan did feel sorry for Nathan, and for Jayden, but with so much more riding on her shoulders, she knew staying focused was vitally important. The science officer held a lot more responsibility on her shoulders than the life of one Marine. “Do what you can, and keep me updated. I need to stay on top of the situation here,” Commander Garrett replied before turning back to the screen and bringing up scans of site four, which was where the next signs of danger were emerging.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2008 19:37:39 GMT
"Yes ma'am," Nathan answered dully as he too turned away, then turned back to her. "When is the last time you took a break?" he asked, the lack of answer being answer enough. "Thought so," he added, before walking away. He had work to do and he would give Garrett the opportunity to take a break on her own accord.
Waving Yonara over, he nodded Taboon over to Maybre. "He'll stand guard over her and my patient," he acknowledged, "you and I are going to recruit us a few nurses to help with the basic care for the homeless and the wounded. I want you to recruit among the locals as you know them better than I do. I'll recruit a few among our marines, they're bound to have medical field training one way or the other."
The local doctor nodded in approval. "I'll also draft a few ablebodied men and women and children to gather fruits and vegetables from the forests," he added, then pulled the Human aside. "I've noticed you're unwell. What can I do to help you, so that you can continue to help us?"
While changing the powercell of his tricorder, Nathan sighed. "I've been very ill recently and that marine overthere has been of great help in my recovery. I owe him much more than just my life. Aside from that, I am running out of the medication that keeps my airways free. I am allergic to pollen, any pollen and the heavy vegetation isn't helping."
Yonara nodded in understanding. "We'll find something that can help you," he promised, "but for now we'll just help our people survive. I'll look for anything that could be used to fabricate useful medications, and I know that there's a plant that could even help your heart troubles." He smiled softly. "I'm a doctor," he grinned, "and I know of diseases of the heart. In more ways than one. Your marine will survive, you have my promise."
Nathan nodded as he walked around, tapping a marine on the shoulder here and there, giving them new instructions. One by one they nodded in acknowledgement, slung their rifles over their shoulders and started tending to the wounded and the homeless. One marine went with Yonara to organise the food-searching parties.
Satisfied that things were going well, Nathan returned to his own patients, devoting a few minutes to each of them to try and cheer them up. A child smiled brightly with clear blue eyes that were shining with fever. The child had been recovered from under the rubble and had sustained several injuries. The parents were sat beside the bed with an even younger child, about Freddy's age. Freezing mid-motion, the doctor remembered his son, then relaxed as he knew the child would be safe aboard Jefferson. He knew that Matt would keep him safe at all cost, together with his own young son.
His rounds done, the Human walked back to the command post, where to his annoyance he found Megan still talking quietly into a microphone. "Commander," he said quietly, his fingers tightening their grip around the hypospray in his left pocket. "The teams are organised and should return soon. I have assigned five marines to assist with the nursing and Doctor Yonara has constcripted several of ablebodied men and women to assist us. Doctor Maybre is still resting and with all due respect ma'am, so should you."
He took a deep breath as he took a step closer. "That isn't a request ma'am," he added as she turned to face him. Knowing she'd probably rant at him about duties first and rest later, a lecture he'd given himself several times as well, the doctor pulled the hypo from his pocked and in a quick motion pressed it against her arm. A swinging motion from her arm knocked the medical instrument from his grasp as it connected soundly with his arm, temporarily numbing his hand.
"You'll be woken in about an hour or two," he promised as he eased her to the ground, motioning for the next highest ranking officer to take over. "You should know by now that I don't take no for an answer where medical matters are concerned. Sleep well commander, I promise you'll feel more refreshed when you wake again."
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