5.1 Salvage

[Magellan Lin]

Last time on Star Trek: Starbase Assailant…



<sup>The station
Like a puppet with one string broken the ship careened out of the nebula. Tendrils of nebula gas snagged on its nacelles left bright trails as it entered normal space dissipating like vapour trails behind it. Thin and needle like the ship was sleek and without functional design. Its hull contained superfluous features, viewing galleries and wide airlocks. It was designed to impress.

Vebn
"Ah I am glad you are both here" he said not allowing either to greet him, "I wish Major Govan Echal to be released."

"Released!!" Magellan exclaimed

"Yes he is my Cheif of Security. He has diplomatic immunity. Obviously the Romulan Government condemns his behaviour and offers its apologies. We will ensure he will be punished. I think you ll find the papers all in order" He handed a PADD to Tyr.

Felix
Magellan looked up,

"Commander Savali!" he said in surprise

Tedak
"Energize"; Saarok spoke as he dematerialized and materialized in the office of Ambassador Tedak shocking the poor Romulan out of his skin
"Greeting old friend", Saarok spoke as emotionless as ever, "I trust I am not disturbing?", he questioned turning his head around as if attempting to see if Tedak had any company


Elarus
"Actually... yes. Well possibly. Long range sensors have picked up an uncoming ship. Its course is erratic."

Magellan looked at the small blip on the screen,

"Course?"

"Directly here, in fact if it carrys on without stopping it will pass directly though the habitat section."
"Just go take a look for us Voran" Magellan said, "She isnt responding to our hails and doesnt seem to be altering course. Be careful of a trap though

Govan
Vebn looked around him,
"There is a federation ship on a collision course with Assailant. The Galaxy has been sent to intercept it. They found it abandoned and its control systems locked out using a Romulan encryption algorithim."

Govans eyebrows rose in interest

"I need you to go aboard...undetected. Find out whats going on. Is this a plot hatched on Romulus - if so you must do what you can to ensure it succeeds and hits the station, after alerting me of course. If however it is designed to frame us or is not in our interests then you will do the opposite and assist Starfleet. Understand"

"Well it appeaars that the origin of this ship is from somewhere near the neutral zone, however it appears that someone had tampered with the data for it appears to be slightly damaged so we can not say for sure it came from there. We will need to analize the transponder and i do not think we have enough time to do so at this time as the more imediate concern is to stop this ship from hitting Assaillant", Felix said

Govan
The romulan was amking a systematic search of the ship and also keeping out of sight of the Starfleet crew. This made is simpler to be intercepted. He hid in a recess motionless whilst Govan walked past him towards the next room.

He holstered his phaser, drawing instead a thin blade. He took a step forward and froze as Govan also halted,

"You need to move quieter than that to catch me" Govan said softly turning on his heel to face a black clad Vulcan

Tyr
He scanned the room he had entered with his mind.

"Drop the weapon and fall to your knees" He called, his voice no longer disguised, and bearing his full mascline brunt "I have a phaser aimed. Drop the weapon now!"

Suddenly the Romulan turned, his disruptor now seemingly aimed at Tyr, whilst he aimed his phaser at the Vulcan, whose knife was held in a position to threaten the Romulan. None of the three blinked, each waiting for one mistake to be made, one momentary lapse of weakness when they could take advantage

He fired his phaser, and the Vulcan fell to the floor, stunned. The Romulan, probably more spooked than anything else, fired back, Tyr narrowly dodging the beam and re-raising his own phaser, the setting now changed to kill. The two men stood there, unflinching, each with their weapons aimed at each other.

Solank
Solank looked up, masking his pain.
"I surmise that you are very well trained. But you are inferior to me. Computer Activate Program Theta -Phi-Gamma-One"

=^=Confirmed. Auto destruct begun. The ship will explode in 1 minute... 59 seconds...58 seconds...=^=

Tyr pulled Solank to his feet grabbing him around the neck.
"Turn it off, turn it off." He demanded,
Solank just looked blankly at him,
"It would be illogical to do so. The needs of the many..." he bit down on a tooth and slumped.
"Poison!" Elarus exclaimed.

Space
The timed and carefully placed charges exploded in uniform. The detonation created a shockwave that rippled out like a pebble thrown in a lake. It wasn't all that was thrown. The explosion in the engineering section of the starliner blew free the forward section. The debris was accelerated like a bullet and sped towards the station.

Well done Captain" He thanked Elarus who was just up dating him, "Come on home and take that shoreleave of yours."

VRRROOOP VRROOP VRRRROOOP VRROOOP

Klaxons rang throughout the station.

"Collision Alert Collision Alert" Lily announced calmly almost coldly.

Magellan leapt towards the Master Ops Table.

"Its a fragment of the Mary" F'Rass noted,

"Raise shields. Bring the Defence Grid online" Magellan ordered

"Insufficient time" Lily responded "Collision to Habitat Section in 4...3...2...1............."

There was a deafening roar. The station rocked. A small plume of fire erupted into space deep enough to be viewed from Ops before the vacuum squeezed the life from it. A dozen more alarms sounded as the lights went out……..</sup>

And now the conclusion….
The lights flickered a few times before, accompanied by a whirring, they came back on. Magellan picked himself up from the floor, “Report” he demanded as he helped Ensign Solar to her feet. The Vulcan nodded politely and resumed her station.

F’rass his fur on end, a sign he was rattled quickly went to the master ops table.
“Multiple hull breaches decks 87 through 97. I can’t get any readings below that until the main engineering section.”

Magellan tapped his comm. Badge, it fritzed for a moment before activating.

“Ops to Chief Alari”

“I m a bit busy sir.” Alaris strained voice replied

“Busy, are you okay?”

“My team is fine but the shockwave has misaligned the reactor core. So if you don’t mind I’d like to stabilise that….sir”

Magellan nodded to himself, “Okay Alari keep me informed. F’rass what about emergency forcefields?”

“Slow but they are holding.”

Magellan cringed, he wondered how many had died before they had activated.

“Lily what can you tell me.”

There was a faint wail from the computer.
“I am not whole. I am injured. I can’t sense parts of myself.”
She sounded shocked.
“Its okay Lily. Theres been an accident the collision remember”

There was a pause. “Y..eesss I remember. I m not whole.”

“I need you to focus Lily. FOCUS. We need you attention fully. We will fix you but first we need to get repair teams and medical teams to the damage.”

“I understand” she replied uncertainly “ I will do what I can”

“Thankyou.” Magellan sighed, glad that at least the main computer was not about to give out on him. He tapped his badge again.

“Ops to Sickbay. Implement Emergency Procedure Alpha 6. Prepare for search and rescue. We have an unknown number of trapped casualties.”

TAG Sickbay,

“F’raas get me the Galaxy we are going to need their support.”

TAG All

[Deleted]

T'Val and Stuart exchanged a worried glance, then Stuart tapped his combadge. "Yes sir," he answered, then started snapping orders at the medical staff. The couple had felt the tremors of the collision and had already taken measures to receive casualties in the infirmaries all over the station. Fortunately, the collision hadn't taken place near this infirmary or the situation would've been a lot worse.

"Lily's not responding," Rayna reported, "at least not as normal. I think she's hurt."

"I fear that's for engineering to look at," Stuart answered to her uneasy report, "since Lily is a computer entity, there's nothing much we can do."

"However much we want to," T'Val added, then turned to her mate. "I will be in the civilian ward," she told him, before kissing him goodbye. "Let me know if your latest research turned up anything?" She was referring to their private research on getting her pregnant.

Stuart nodded sadly, before returning to his office to organise the trauma teams. "Sickbay to OPS, we're ready when you are."

Meanwhile, T'Val had entered her own domain and spotted Tamir tending to medication stocks. "Tamir!" she called, beckoning the woman over, "who told you to tend to the stocks? I thought you were tasked with tending to Miss Denters?" She motioned over to the heavily pregnant patient on the other end of the ward.

When Tamir didn't answer, she sighed. "Never mind, it is no fault of yours. I do, however, need your help in preparing the field medical kits. We have an emergency here on the station, there was a collision and I need you on one of the trauma teams. You did specialise in trauma care did you not?"

[Deleted]

Tamir had indeed been ordered to tend to Miss Denters, who was resting as comfortably as she possibly could in her condition. In between checking on her, the Romulan nurse had been trying to help out as much as she could, which had been made difficult with most of the medical staff barely speaking to her. She had also felt the tremors resulting from the station being hit and had watched from the background as the other doctors and nurses had begun preparing for casualties.

No one had said a word to her, so Tamir had simply continued doing what she had been doing, after checking on her patient again to make sure she was alright. When T’Val had shown up asking what she was doing, the Romulan nurse felt her face drain of color before flushing in embarrassment. Not knowing what to say in reply, she had merely remained silent expecting some sort of reprimand.

"Never mind, it is no fault of yours. I do, however, need your help in preparing the field medical kits. We have an emergency here on the station, there was a collision and I need you on one of the trauma teams. You did specialize in trauma care did you not?" T’Val asked moving to the aforementioned med kids.

Her eyes lighting up slightly at the idea of being able to help with what she was best at, Tamir nodded, though T’Val clearly couldn’t see with her back turned. Moving to follow, the nurse spoke up. “Yes, Ma’am, I did.” she replied while moving to assist the Vulcan healer with the med kits. “If you don’t mind my asking, Ma’am, do you know what happened?”

~

Govan watched in mild shock as a piece of the Mary hit Assailant. Beside him, Tedak seemed far more stunned, which only made sense as he had friends onboard. The Major briefly thought of Tamir before dismissing it. True, if she was hurt or killed on the station, he was responsible for her being there, but thinking about that wouldn’t do anyone any good now. Bringing the shuttle out of warp and pulling it 180 degrees to port hard, just on the other side of the inertial dampeners limits, the security officer reengaged the engines to bring the shuttle as close to the damaged and tilted station as was currently safe.

Although the shuttle was too small to do much to help, that would most likely fall to those onboard the Federation starship, Govan realized that Ambassador Vebn was, for lack of a better definition, his ‘bread and butter’ so to speak. Ensuring the Romulan ambassador’s safety would ensure the Major’s continued survival and acceptance, if not favor, with the Romulan government. If worse came to worse, the Romulan security officer mused that he could always attempt to find Tamir wherever she was onboard Assailant and beam her out as well.

Opening a channel, Govan attempted to contact Vebn. “Major Echal to Ambassador S’Khellian; do you require assistance?”

<Tag Vebn>

[Magellan Lin]

Opening a channel, Govan attempted to contact Vebn. “Major Echal to Ambassador S’Khellian; do you require assistance?”

There was just silence for a moment and then a little static...

"This is Major Echal... Ambassador?"

More static and then a voice.

=^=This is Commander Zoilip. I am interrupting all incoming comm traffic.=^=

"Interrupting. This is a private conversation" Govan growled

=^= Hardly a conversation=^= Zoilip replied a tightness in his voice, =^= The Ambassadorial Section was hit by part of the debris. It is without power and we have no access as yet.=^=

TAG Govan

=^= Very well. Please dock on an external hard point near ops. We are keeping the shuttlebays clear for emergency evacuation of patients to Qualinost. On arrival Ambassador Tedak is to report to a secure location, you however are welcome join search and rescue teams. Report to ops for assignment. Assailant out=^=

TAG Govan and Tedak

[Deleted]

Tyr was in sickbay on the Galaxy, stood over the corpse of the Vulcan suicide. The room was deserted, as per Tyr's request, and the primary lights had all been deactivated, bar the one over the biobed around which Tyr worked. He had undressed the Vulcan, and upon examination had found no discernable physical characteristics, bar one symbol on his left clavicle, which appeared to be a tattoo. Given it's indecipherable nature, Tyr assumed it to be some sort of proto-Vulcan, and stored a recorded image for later analysis. He had just finished drawing blood samples, and saliva samples to identify the Vulcan's poison of choice, and was picking up the laser scalpel to begin the autopsy, when a tannoy sounded over the quiet of the sickbay.

=/\=Attention, all search and rescue teams, report to transporter rooms and shuttle bays. I say again, all search and rescue teams report to transporter rooms and shuttle bays=/\=

Placing the scalpel down, Tyr walked away from the Vulcan and exited the sickbay, stopping one of the many crewmen running by on it's threshold.

"Crewman, what's going on? We stopped the Mary?"

"The whole of it, yes sir, but a big chunk shot loose and smashed a hole in Assailant. Everyone in the area is sending search and rescue teams to help with the mess"

Tyr turned on heel and re-entered sickbay, allowing the crewman to run on. He moved over to the dead Vulcan.

"Computer, beam the Vuclan corpse into a stasis chamber, and seal it to all access below Level 7 clearance. Authorisation Tyr 53 Kappa Zion"

The Vulcan dematerialised, and Tyr moved over to the medical office, beginning to remove his ambassadorial robes as he did so. He was concerned in equal proportions about helping the people on Assailant, as well as investigating the piece of the Mary that was left over. The odds of a of a strangely controlled starship being detonated, and by freak chance a piece hitting the intended target was a million to one, and Tyr didn't like long shots. Now in his underwear, he rifled through the cupboards of the office, eventually finding the uniform of an enlisted medical officer. He dressed quickly, feeling strange to be back in uniform again, before grabbing a medical kit from the cupboard. He attached a phaser and tricorder to his belt, and then replaced his DCS communicator with a Starfleet one, leaving the impression that he was still in sickbay.

He ran out of sickbay, joining the throng of other Starfleet personnel heading for the shuttlebays. Getting aboard a shuttle packed with over a dozen other personnel, he held on to an overhead beam as he rapidly departed the Galaxy, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Almost half a dozen shuttles were flying alongside them, all trying to dock as near to the main damaged section as possible. The shuttle eventually found an external docking port, and the crew were able to push onto the station. The group made their way upwards to the Promenade, where a large proportion of the damaged station's population had been evacuated to. From his days as a tactical officer, Tyr had undergone enough battlefield medicine training to be able to hold his own, and so could successfully pass himself off as a nurse as he helped triage the hundreds of minor casualties present. He pointed as many as possible in the direction of sickbay, looking for an excuse to slip away, until he saw a search and rescue team headed down for the Ambassadorial Section. What was so special about this team, was that it appeared to have the good Major tagging along with it. He moved through the crowd and joined onto the back of the team, smiling at Govan who saw instantly through his impersonation.

<TAG Govan>

[Deleted]

The Romulan diplomat frowned. "Secure location?" He shifted uncomfortably, he'd been to presumably secure locations before and they'd not proven to be so secure before. "What is that supposed to mean, a secure location."

He glanced up at his bodyguard, seeing that the other man wasn't to keen on being separated from his charge. "I'm sure I'll be safe," he tried, making himself sound as if he trusted the secure location to be actually secure.

If someone was able to destroy part of a Federation station, and cause it to tilt on its axis, then he severly doubted the diplomats would be safe anywhere. "Lets get docked and we'll see how big the damage is," he suggested.

Tedak watched, with growing apprehension, as Govan neatly parked the shuttle into the bay. When they departed the shuttlebay, they discovered the station to be in chaos. "Lily, direct me to this secure location." No response. "Lily?"

An ensign approached both Romulans, looking flustered and scared. ~probably scared of us~ Tedak mused as he rearranged his wrinkled robes, trying to make himself look presentable. "Lily's sick," the ensign answered the unasked question, "and stuck in OPS. Admiral Lin sent me to escort you." He nodded towards Govan. "No offense sir, but this is a Federation station. I'm instructed to direct you to OPS. Ensign Daves will take you there major."

The ensign turned back to Tedak. "I'm Ensign Raoul Dwayne sir. If you'd please follow me?"

The Romulan nodded, still frowning. "Contact me when you're at OPS," he requested from Govan, "I'd like to be kept updated if possible. Lin knows I have medical training." He followed the ensign out of the room. "How many were wounded?" he asked, firing several questions at the poor ensign in rapid succession. "How many killed? What section was struck, is my ex-wife all right? Doctor Mercy?"

Dwayne turned. "No time sir," he answered, ushering the diplomat away. Seconds later, Tedak stood face to face with Nelon, neither man looking too pleased to see the other, but neither acknowledging the feeling.

"How back?" Tedak asked, "from the look outside, there's a big gap in the station. Did all our diplomats survive? Any Romulan citizens on this station injured or killed?" He barely gave the older Romulan time to answer. "And how can we help them when we're...secured? Are we being detained, or kept out of harm's way?"

[Felix Savali]

Felix was on the bridge of the Galaxy at the time when the fragment of the Celestial Mary hit Assailant and took a big chunk of the outer hall with it. He was at the same time shocked and not, for he was shocked the protective shielding was not up in time to shield the base, and also that the self destruct sequence had some rather odd effects on the ship... blowing away half the ship instead of turning it into space dust. Not a very effective self destruct sequence he thought.

Before he or Voran could react to contact Assailant, a call came from Magellan requesting their assistance, as the sensor systems were damaged they needed the Galaxy to do a scan of the damaged section to determine the extent of the damage that was done to the station.

<Tag Voran>

"If you don't mind Captain, I'd like to beam down to OPS.", Felix said

"Of course sir"; Voran replied

After that was cleared up Felix entered the turbolift and headed down to the transporter room. While on his way down a thought flew by on what was Tyr up to for he had not seen nor heard the man since they beamed of the Mary. But no matter, he will deal with him later.

After arriving to the transporter room he instructed the chief to beam him straight to OPS. And a few moments later he found himself disappearing from the Galaxy and appearing in OPS on Assailant. The lights were still flickering in OPS and it took him a few moments till his eyes adjusted to the emergency lightning before he was able to spot Magellan.

"Admiral", he said as he moved towards the man... "How bad is it"

<Tag Magellan>

[Magellan Lin]

"Admiral", he said as he moved towards the man... "How bad is it" Felix asked anxiously,

"To be frank I just don't know. We have minimal power and for now most of us are still breathing. The superstructure on the whole seems intact, so on that score we should be fine. Alari has his hands full keeping our operating systems up but we have lost all contact and access to several decks, including the embassies.
Our first concern is getting to the survivors."

"And our second concern?"

Magellan beckoned Felix over to a monitor. It depicted Assailant orbit around Qualinost.

"The impact knocked us off axis. We're listing enough to take us out of orbit, if we dont correct it Assailant will plunge planetside in 23 hours."

"Ah I see" Felix nodded, "Full evacuation"

Magellan pulled Felix over so they couldnt be overheard.
"With power systems at what they are, Transporters are offline. Even with the Galaxy and every Auxillary craft we have availble or could be here in time we could only evacuate 60% of the people aboard. Full Evac is impossible. I m going to need you to sort out a priority evacuation list and liase with security to ensure panic doesnt set in."

TAG Felix

"I m reporting to Ops" Came a voice from behind them

Magellan spun round unsure how much Major Echal had heard.

"Ah Major. Yes you can join the emergency teams on deck 87."

Govan shook his head.

"Has Ambassdor Vebn been found?"

Magellan shook his head.
"Not yet. The Embassy levels are inaccessible. His Aide Nelon however wasnt present and is with Tedak"

"Then that is where I will be."

"But..."

"That is where I will be"

"Very well. Link up with a medical team and begin accessing that area, I ll get you some help. Zoilip is attempting to reroute internal power to that section now to reactivate doors etc. Good luck Major"

TAG Govan

[Felix Savali]

"In that case i suggest we concentrate on getting the base back into orbit... for a loss of that many lives...", Felix said letting his words trail of for Magellan knew exactly what he wanted to say

"The civilians are the top priority for evacuation... starting with the families... however as i am sure you are aware once we start the evac... it will be very difficult to avoid panic... for it is in the nature of people to panic especially in cases like this.", he said

"I will attempt to show the evacuation, at least in the beginning as a precautionary measure... but eventually... people will begin to panic.", Felix said

As he was done talking Major Govan Echal appeared from the shadows, leaving both men with a shadow of a doubt in regards to how much he heard of their private conversation. Felix moved away from the two men and headed over to a panel which was still flickering but would allow him some access to the main computer... enough to draw up an priority evacuation list. But first thing was first.

=/\=Savali to Joanna=/\=

There was no response. Of course he thought... he was gonna need to use the priority channel if he was gonna communicate with anyone.

=/\=Computer open a priority one alpha channel, authorization Savali omega omega yellow red 112=/\=

=/\=Chanel open=/\=

=/\=Savali to Joanna do you read me=/\=

=/\=Felix, is that you, are you ok=/\=

=/\=Yes I am fine... i was not on the station when the incident occurred, now listen to me... go and get my daughter and get her off the station right now... Go to the main shuttle bay... I'll have a shuttle waiting for you there to take you and her down to the planet surface=/\=

=/\=Why, what's going on=/\=, she questioned

=/\=I can't go into the details, please, just do as i say=/\=

=/\=Ok, I'll go right away... And Felix, please take care of yourself=/\=

After he was done with the conversation with Joanna he contacted the main shuttle bay and had a shuttle prepared for Joanna and his daughter, which was no easy task with all what was happening, but in the end and calling in a few favors he was able to ensure that the two of them would get out with the first wave.

=/\=Savali to Sharon Vanetti=/\=

=/\=Vanetti here, go ahead=/\=

=/\=I understand your teams are stretched thin... but we have a problem... i am transmitting the information to your padd right now.=/\=

Felix said as he tapped some keys on the computer and transmitted the information on the evacuation priorities to her hand held padd.

=/\=I understand, Sharon said after reciving the information. I will reassign the security teams priorities according to the list you transmitted. However it will be no easy task to hold back the panic wave.=/\=

=/\=I know, but we have no choice=/\=

After he transmitted the data to Sharon he looked back at Magellan who did not look all that pleased after the conversation with Govan.

"I have drawn up a priority evac list and informed Commander Vanetti to initiate an evac... she will reassign her teams and attempt to hold back the panic for as long as she can.", he said

"What did mr. Echal want?", Felix questioned

<Tag Magellan>

[Deleted]

"Vebn are you injuried?" Ezdreiana asked as she approached the Romulan Ambassador. Ezdreiana was just leaving the her office when the first explosion rocked the entire base. She saw fire erupt throughout the entire deck, but luckily she has not in any immediate danger. She had already tried unsuccesfully to contact damage control teams or even Lily.

(Vebn)

"Help me with injuried," Ezdreiana instructed the Romulan which was immediately met with resistance. "Communications are down, access to this deck is impossible and so help me if anyone dies because you refused to help...."

(Vebn)

"I'm pretty sure you have basic knowledge in triage medicine," Ezdreiana said as she approached one of the Klingon's who was badly burned.

"This is no way for a warrior to die," the Klingon shouted in agony," I will never sing songs of glory with Kahless. I Jumag son of Jor'erk will die in shame!"

"Jumag son of Jor'erk shut the hell up," Ezdreiana said as she attended to his wounds," you will not die today. You in fact will help us kill those who did this cowardly act."

With that little bit of encouragement, Jumag son of Jor'erk remained quiet and still. For now they would need to help the injuried and wait for somebody to get to them.

(Vebn)

[Deleted]

=^= The Ambassadorial Section was hit by part of the debris. It is without power and we have no access as yet.=^=


Biting back an angry, profanity filled retort, Govan fought to remain calm, and simply replied, “I need to locate Ambassador S’Khellian, now.”

=^= Very well. Please dock on an external hard point near ops. We are keeping the shuttlebays clear for emergency evacuation of patients to Qualinost. On arrival Ambassador Tedak is to report to a secure location, you however are welcome join search and rescue teams. Report to ops for assignment. Assailant out=^=

Seeing no other choice but to dock as instructed, the Major continued glowering at the console, as if it were to blame, as he maneuvered the shuttlecraft towards the damaged station. The Romulan was very much against being separated from Tedak, let alone during a time like this. In spite of the Ambassador’s half-hearted assurances, Govan did not like this situation one bit. If anyone wanted to do the man harm, now would certainly be the perfect opportunity.

As the two men stepped out onto the deck of the station, the atmosphere of barely controlled panic filled the hallways, even as two less than capable looking Ensigns approached. Ignoring all talk of whoever this Lily person (completely confused as to what on earth she had to do with anything and thinking it completely ridiculous to be concerned about a woman at a time like this) Govan nonetheless forced his attention back on the junior officer as he was addressed. “Admiral Lin sent me to escort you. No offense sir, but this is a Federation station. I'm instructed to direct you to OPS. Ensign Daves will take you there major."

Sending the man the most intimidating glare he could manage, the Major turned his glare on the other, even more terrified Ensign who apparently was supposed to escort him. The man seemed to wilt under the gaze, which caused a menacing grin to cross the Romulan’s face, only making the Daves’ fear worse. “Contact me when you're at OPS. I'd like to be kept updated if possible. Lin knows I have medical training." Tedak requested, drawing Govan’s attention away from the petrified escort and evoking a stoic nod in reply.

Crossing through one chaos filled hallway after another, the Major remained silent, though he was certain the slightest threatening sound or movement from him would probably send the Federation officer running for the nearest airlock. As tempting as that was, and as amusing as that would be, Govan didn’t have time for games. He had a job to do. As soon as the Romulan stepped foot inside ops, his escort vanished, the job complete and his escape quick. Smirking once more, Major Echal scanned the room and quickly located the person in charge.

On his approach, Govan could tell from the tone in their voices that they were discussing something of grave importance, and the Romulan instinctively masked his approach to give him an opportunity to overhear. “…only evacuate 60% of the people aboard. Full Evac is impossible. I m going to need you to sort out a priority evacuation list and liaise with security to ensure panic doesn’t set in."

The Commodore Lin was speaking to glanced up then and noticed Govan standing there, so the Major had moved forward, to appear as though he had been en route as they spoke, and announced his presence. The conversation with Magellan had been quick and to the point, the Romulan’s face remaining a mask of stone and his words direct and forceful making his necessity to locate Vebn perfectly clear. Fortunately, the Admiral seemed to realize there was little he could do to stop the security officer from doing what he wanted.

"Very well. Link up with a medical team and begin accessing that area, I’ll get you some help. Zoilip is attempting to reroute internal power to that section now to reactivate doors etc. Good luck Major" Merely nodding in reply, Govan turned from the station commander and moved away from the two command officers. As frustrating as it was to be in a position where he was expected to ask permission or report in, the Romulan was at least pleased that no one was directly standing in his way, not that they would have succeeded if anyone had tried.

His goal was clear: find Vebn, reunite with Tedak, and get off this station. The situation was clearly not good given the conversation he had just overheard, and the Major was taking no chances that any harm would come to the Romulan ambassadors. Govan thought briefly of Tamir, wondering where she was and if she was alright, but tired to shake those thoughts from his head. Perhaps he could manage to find her and to take the nurse with them, after all she was a Romulan citizen he reasoned, and as such, part of his responsibility.

Along the way to the embassy offices, the damage became more and more pronounced, until the Romulan nearly ran into a throng of medical and security personnel preparing to begin to head to the Ambassadorial section. While Govan had no desire to actually work with these Federation officers, he realized the need to play along at least in the beginning. He could slip away and conduct his own, most likely far more thorough, search once they arrived. Being the dutiful helper did not come easily, but Major Echal managed to appear somewhat useful while merely biding his time.

As the group finally began to move, Govan merely followed along, his mind racing with exactly what his game plan would be once they arrived as his eyes scanned the group of officers and the damage around them warily. The sea of blue and yellow uniforms did nothing to attract his attention, so he very nearly missed Ambassador Tyr join the edge of the group wearing a medical uniform, his demeanor…different somehow. The two adversary’s eyes met, and the Federation operative smiled, clearly feeling quite pleased with himself still.

Sending the man a brief glare, Govan turned his back on Tyr and assisted two security officers to move a fallen beam, though his attention was still focused on the Ambassador. Silently cursing his luck, as now it would be nearly impossible to slip away, locate Vebn, and leave, the Major nonetheless continued plotting. Tyr couldn’t watch his every move, and once he slipped away, finding the Romulan Ambassador shouldn’t be too difficult. By the time his absence was noticed, Vebn and he would hopefully be long gone.

[Deleted]

"Vebn are you injuried?" Ezdreiana asked as she approached the Romulan Ambassador. Ezdreiana was just leaving the her office when the first explosion rocked the entire base. She saw fire erupt throughout the entire deck, but luckily she has not in any immediate danger. She had already tried unsuccesfully to contact damage control teams or even Lily.

Vebn groaned to himself, he seemed to hurt all over. He tasted the tart taste of copper in his mouth and spat out a ball of vibrant green blood and a tooth.

What had happened? One minute he was on his feet, the next he was thrown to the floor with debris raining down on him,

"Errrr... I...m.. Okay" He said shakily, trying to force the thumping inside his skull to subside.

"Help me with injuried," Ezdreiana instructed the Romulan which was immediately met with resistance.

"Injured, I am injured. We have to get out of here. I m not hanging about waiting for death to claim me in this hell hole."

"Communications are down, access to this deck is impossible and so help me if anyone dies because you refused to help...."

Vebn coloured noticable but had had neither strength nor the inclination to hold on to his anger, fear had swept all other emotions aside. Was this an assasination attempt on his life? for all he knew Ezedriana in her unstable state could have planted a bomb.

"I'm pretty sure you have basic knowledge in triage medicine," Ezdreiana said as she approached one of the Klingon's who was badly burned.

"Triage?" Vebn muttered, that was a thing for doctors not diplomats

"This is no way for a warrior to die," the Klingon shouted in agony," I will never sing songs of glory with Kahless. I Jumag son of Jor'erk will die in shame!"

"Jumag son of Jor'erk shut the hell up," Ezdreiana said as she attended to his wounds," you will not die today. You in fact will help us kill those who did this cowardly act."

With that little bit of encouragement, Jumag son of Jor'erk remained quiet and still. For now they would need to help the injuried and wait for somebody to get to them.

"You help them I m going to find a... us a way out of here." Vebn replied.
He went directly over to where the door had once stood. It was gone, buried beneath a pile of twisted girders and debris. Vebn gagged as he thought some of it contained human body parts.

"What?" he spat at Ezedrieana glare, "You can save them but we'll all die if we don't find away off this station."

Vebn left Ezedriana with the half dozen or so of walking wounded in the corridor and reentered his office. As the trill had said there was no power in any of his computers or communicators. He opened a desk and removed his honour blade and a small palm sized disruptor. It only held a few charges but it may just save his life. He plunged them in to the deep pockets of his robe and returned to Ezdriana.

"I think we should clear the debris" he suggested

[Deleted]

Tyr set about helping shift the rubble that now seperated the rescue team from the ambassadorial section. The structure was balancing precariously on a series of beams that were strewn at odd angles about the floor, and the teams were having to work around them to prevent the structure from collapsing in and taking a further part of the section with it.

"Get a bipolar torch in here" an engineering officer called out "We can try and cut through the centre of the collapse and put supports in"

Tyr stood to one side and allowed the workmen through, and watched from the distance with some security officers as they began melting a collapsed bulkhead. He had his arms folded, watching the slow progress, when a security Lieutenant came and addressed two of the crewmen present.

"Gates, Yosh, I need you to get down to shuttlebay 3. We need you on the other operation" He raised his eyebrows to send the crewmen on their way in a hurry.

"Is there anything I can help with, sir?" Tyr asked, remembering the disguise he was in.

"No, nothing" The Lieutenant began to walk away, just as Tyr made a quick recce into his mind. From a fraction of a second of contact, he saw the immediate problem with Assailant, and tried to force down an enormous wave of terror. He had to do something, but he was also obliged to help the survivors, most notably Ezdreiana. He had to find a way of fulfilling both, and as if by magic, the solution came to him. He walked quickly over to where Govan was, pulling him away from his efforts.

"A word Major" he said, as he pulled Govan into a corner. He began to whisper.
"It would appear we have a problem Major, namely the fact that Assailant is very slowly falling into the gravity well of Qualinost. I'm assuming that you know this already. Now, I have a duty to try and stop any particularly unpleasant events for the Federation, the destruction of a starbase and an entire species included in that, but I'm also obliged to try and save the lives of these diplomats. So, I'm going to offer you a trade. You came onboard with a female nurse, correct" He saw annoyance register in Govan's face.
"Don't look shocked Major, it's my business to know everyone else's business. So, what you are going to do is rescue all the diplomats, not just your own, and make sure that they are all evacuated in safety. In excahnge, I'm going to make sure that your lady friend gets out of here right now. Deal?"

<TAG Govan>

Tyr set of at a run away from the ambassadorial section, heading back for the main promenade. The area was busier than before, with even more people milling around, some looking for lost friends and relatives, others being escorted to evacuation by security. He found a restuarant which had been converted into a morgue, and set about looking through all the bodies. He eventually found what appeared to be a security Lieutenant, and dragged his body unseen into a side room. Moments later he emerged in his new security uniform, the medical uniform now adorning the corpse he had replaced on the table. From there he fought his way through to the civilian wards of sickbay.

Given the number of casualties, the room was overflowing, but luckily a Romulan femal did stick out from the crowd. Not wanting to draw attention to the situation, or to arouse panic, he clapped his hand over the mouth of the Romulan woman, and forcibly dragged her out of the room and into the corridor, which was only marginally less packed. He doubted that the vocal restraint had been really necessary, given that no-one would have heard the scream over the din, but he shook that thought out of his head.

However, his efforts had been in vain. The intransigent Healer mercy blatantly refused to let him remove Tamir, leaving him alone in the corridor. He cursed the Vulcan silently as she returned to the civilian ward with Tamir, until he saw a security detail, which he flagged down with a wave of his hand.

"I want two men posted on this ward here" he ordered, attempting to fit into the role of a security officer, and hoping no-one on the team recognised him "When the situation begins to warrant the evacuation of the medical staff, ensure that the Romulan nurse inside is evacuated safely. This is a top priority. Got it?"

"Yes Lieutenant" the officers chorused, taking up their places on the door.

From there on, Tyr accessed the nearest turbolift, travelling directly to Ops. He stepped out of the turbolift, mixing into the bustling group of officers milling around the command centre. He moved down to between Admiral Lin and Commodore Savali.

"Can I be of any assisstance sirs?"

<TAG Lin/Savali>

[Deleted]

"The nurse stays," T'Val spoke up from her kneeling position, waving Tamir over. "Nurse, I need your assistance please. You need to stop his headinjury from bleeding while I have a word with the ambassador."

As Tamir walked over, T'Val rose to her feet and pulled Tyr back before he could walk off. "You do not have the authority to commandeer my nursing staff," she told him, "nor do you have the authority to decide who leaves. Nurse Tamir is a member of my staff and as such she is on duty as a trauma nurse."

She paused, taking a few breaths to hold her rising anger in check. "Furthermore, no nurses are to be evacuated unless it is at their explicit request and even then they will be transported to Qualinost to assist in the trauma centre there, is that understood?"

The Vulcan stood, arms crossed over her chest, glaring expectantly at the Betazoid ambassador. "In addition, you are interfering with the duties of an excellent trauma nurse, so kindly do not bother my nurses again or I will lodge a complaint with admiral Lin."

Turning her back on the Betazoid, she walked back to Tamir. "You are doing a good job nurse," she praised, "have you been able to send a message to your friend Govan, to tell him you are safe with the nursing staff?"

[Deleted]

Tedak frowned as a transporter beam sent him to the Galaxy, only to be sent on towards a separate location. He barely got a glimpse of the transporter chief before the beam claimed him again. Beside him, Lieutenant Marilène Sauvignon looked equally surprised upon dematerialising straight away.

When he rematerialised, he found himself standing in the debris of what had been his office, Sauvignon standing beside him. The Romulan frowned, hand rising to tap his combadge when he realised communications were probably still down. Above him, two firelizards appeared out of thin air, hovery quietly. The only sounds Tedak heard were the beeps and blips of a device out of his visual range and the soft whooshing of his pets' wings.

Taintively, he walked around, careful not to disturb anything, when the ceiling suddenly collapsed. One of the heavy support beams struck him against the back of his right shoulder, sending him sprawing. He felt his shoulderblade snap with the weight of the beam, the sharp edge of it cutting deep into his skin. With a cry he fell, lying face down on the deck.

"Lieutenant!" he cried, gaining no answer. He pushed himself up using just his left hand, just enough to look up and around, searching for the third guard. She was lying a few feet away, one of the smaller beams literally pinning her to the deck. Her eyes were wide open and lifeless.

He shielded his face as more debris came raining down, and a large piece of the ceiling struck him down on the back of his head. Head spinning, he lay on the deck as more debris came down. ~how much more~ he wondered, then cried out in agony when something heavy fell down on him, pinning him to the deck altogether.

His right arm lay useless, pinned under his body. He couldn't shift position to save himself. With his left hand he tried to protect his head as more debris came raining down on him. Tedak knew his combadge was useless now that communications were down. The air was thin, which made breathing difficult, especially with the thick cloud of dust hanging in the room.

The Romulan coughed a few times, attempting to modulate his breathing. A soft keening drew his attention and he slightly moved his head, afraid to make too much of a movement lest the whole room would somehow collapse on top of him. "Find Dinas, find Lin" he whispered at his loyal bronze Sev." With a chirp, the little bronze disappeared, leaving his brown brother Nut behind.

"Dear Nut," he whispered as the little brown chirped in concern, his eyes whirling the white of danger. The Romulan passed out in agony and exhaustion.

~aboard Galaxy~
The two security men stepped off the transporter pad, fully expecting the Romulan to follow them. When they turned, their charge was gone. Surprised, they glanced at the chief. "Where is he?" He looked around. "And where's Mari?"

White-faced, the girl at the controls stared back at them. "I thought I had to reroute him to his office," she whispered, swallowing in fear.

"Idiot," one of the guards cursed, "that's the dangerzone. We're supposed to take him to the bridge. Get him back here! And Mari!"

"I can't!" the girl cried, frantically trying to get the diplomat back aboard. "Too much interference and the room collapsed."

"If they're dead..." the guard threatened.

"Easy there Juan," his partner cautioned, "if she was told to get him to his office...she could've been fed false information. There's always someone out there to get to these Romulans. Don't worry chief, everything will be all right." He pulled his partner away. "We'll report him missing when we get to the bridge. And I'm sure Mari can look after him for now. Don't forget he's a trained fighter himself, they'll be fine. Trust me."

[Deleted]

"A word, Major." The sound of Tyr’s voice caused the Romulan to roll his eyes, but the next thing he knew, the man had grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. Resisting the urge to twist the other agent's arm and break it, Govan instead forcibly tugged his arm out of the other man’s grasp and glared at him as he continued to speak. "It would appear we have a problem Major, namely the fact that Assailant is very slowly falling into the gravity well of Qualinost. I'm assuming that you know this already. Now, I have a duty to try and stop any particularly unpleasant events for the Federation, the destruction of a starbase and an entire species included in that, but I'm also obliged to try and save the lives of these diplomats. So, I'm going to offer you a trade. You came onboard with a female nurse, correct"

Seeing a flash of red, Major Echal continued glaring at Tyr. How was it that everyone seemed to know he had an obligation to Tamir’s protection? He certainly hadn’t told anyone that, and yet it seemed to be common knowledge, especially with the people he’d rather not know the most. Maybe she’d said something? "Don't look shocked, Major; it's my business to know everyone else's business. So, what you are going to do is rescue all the diplomats, not just your own, and make sure that they are all evacuated in safety. In exchange, I'm going to make sure that your lady friend gets out of here right now. Deal?"

Opening his mouth to come back with some sort of sarcastic retort, Govan was cut off when the station’s deck suddenly groaned beneath them, everything seeming to shift slightly. Both men automatically reached out to steady themselves against the wall before their eyes met. There wasn’t time for arguing or denying anything. “Deal.” The Major replied impassively, turning from Try without another word and moving to assist with the beams once again; he had to rescue Vebn anyway, so another few people didn’t really matter that much.

The process of getting through the beams and debris and bulkheads was taking forever, and Govan was growing more and more impatient. The longer they stayed out here cautiously breaking through inch by inch, the greater the probability that Vebn wouldn’t make it. While a part of the Major really didn’t care what happened to the annoying Ambassador, the diplomat was his responsibility and the only person standing between him and an entire empire of officers who wanted him dead. It would most certainly not do to allow him to be killed on Echal’s watch. “Why can’t we just beam in there?” the Romulan grumbled to no one in particular, but a nearby engineer overheard him anyway and gave him a condescending glare.

“Everyone knows that there’s no way to ensure anyone would materialize safely inside, let alone the fact there would be no way to beam you and whoever you might find back out. No communications either, so instead of whining about it, why don’t you try helping instead. Not that helping is something you people are good at.” the Ensign snapped, half expressing his opinions on Romulans and half expressing his general frustration at the slow progress.

The absolute fury Govan felt at this human was uncontrollable, and without a second thought he raised his fist to clobber the pathetic officer to dust. The abject terror that suddenly crossed the man’s face halted the punch in mid-air, just stopping him from doing something that could have gotten the Romulan in a whole lot of trouble. Sneering at the cowering engineer, Major Echal was about to mock his fear when another engineer, oblivious to anything else going on. “Hey, Merrow come give me a hand with the stabilization structure. We’re just about…to…” the other engineer’s voice halted as he suddenly noticed the rather tense situation he’d just walked into unaware.

Glancing between the two, Govan grinned once more. Terrorizing the little Ensign just got easier. “Ensign Merrow is it…carry on with what you were doing. I’ll be sure to find you later.” Echal promised with another sinister grin watching the human go completely pale at the realization that the Romulan now knew his name, not that the Major really would have needed it had he decided to track the pathetic engineer down and…have a little chat with him…

Turning from the now terrified officer, Govan once more pretended to be helpful until no one was watching him, when he slipped away quietly moving around a dim corner and down a corridor dead-ended by a mass of debris. A few minutes later, after barely managing to access Vebn’s shuttle controls and grateful that in all the commotion the shuttle had not been powered down, Major Echal disappeared in a shimmer of demolecularizing energy only to reappear what felt like full minutes later in the middle of the Romulan embassy. It had not been an easy transport, probably because the arrogant engineer had been right, and the security officer was actually feeling a little disoriented and queasy.

Shaking the cobwebs from his brain and ignoring his rolling stomach, Govan began to move, cautiously analyzing every step and movement and paying close attention to what was going on around him in preparation for the whole place to come apart at the seams around him. Beginning a search, the Major came across several dead and several severely injured. As Vebn, and now any diplomat, was his priority and not just any random staff member, he ignored everyone else. No one was in the Ambassador s’Khellian’s office, which worried the Romulan agent, but he continued searching the entirety of the embassy.

He was just about to leave and move out into the rest of the section when he glanced at Tedak’s office door. Could Vebn have maybe been snooping when the explosion occurred? With a slight grin, as such an action would not surprise him, Govan broke through the door and discovered to his horror Tedak pinned beneath a massive pile of debris. Leaping forward to begin moving the debris, the Major tried to rouse the unconscious diplomat. “Tedak, Ambassador Tedak, can you hear me?”

[Deleted]

A brown, frantic flying creature dove at the digging Romulan, clawing him, screeching for his attention. The Romulan batted it away, calling the unconscious man's name over and over.

The little brown kept coming until Govan had freed the diplomat for the most part. The heavy beam still kept him pinned, painfully so. The Romulan stirred and groaned, but couldn't get himself to move. He shivered, opened his eyes but closed them again. "Nut," he murmured, "stop." The brown settled down on the single command, but he eyed the other Romulan warily, closely, ready to attack.

Again, the Romulan opened his eyes and tried to get up this time. A groan escaped his lips once more, followed by a cry of agony when he tried to move his right arm. He sank back to the deck, glancing at his useless right arm. There was blood, but he couldn't determine who it belonged to.

He turned his head when he felt he was being shaken. "Govan?" he murmured, focussing on the other man's face. "Why can't I move? What happened? Where am I?"

[Deleted]

"Govan? Why can't I move? What happened? Where am I?"

The Major’s worry that he’d allowed his charge to die turned to relief at his words. Unfortunately for Tedak, the relief was short lived and quickly turned to anger. “I could ask you the same question. What were you thinking coming here? Is this what you’d call a safe place?! I leave you alone for just a little while and…” Govan’s speech was cut short by Tedak coughing violently, causing the security officer to sigh. “Very well, we’ll discuss this later. Is there a tricorder in here?”

The diplomat’s only answer was to indicate towards the remains of the desk, still coughing up dust and debris from the collapse. Turning towards the pile of rubble, Govan’s eyes fell on the annoying little creature sitting on the floor next to his master. On an impulse, Major Echal stepped forward swiftly trying to crush the little guy's head, but Nut was too quick and rewarded the Romulan with a loud squawk for his trouble. “Sorry...my mistake…” Govan grumbled wishing somehow he’d been just a little faster, as he found whatever it was terribly annoying.

Digging through what was left of the Ambassador’s desk, the Major found what he was looking for, a Federation tricorder, and returned to scan the fallen and semi-conscious man. Not being a doctor, Govan frowned at the device for a moment before reporting, “Well…you broke something in your shoulder and a few ribs I think, and it looks like something is pushing into your back.” Snapping the device closed, the Romulan shrugged slightly. “Well either way you need to get out of here, so hang on.”

It sounded like Tedak was trying to say something, but Govan ignored him. “There’s no point in trying to convince me otherwise. Yeah, this’ll probably hurt, but you’re a Romulan; deal with it.” he ordered unsympathetically and without warning simply hoisted the diplomat up and swung him to the floor on his stomach. The Ambassador cried out in pain, but the Major ignored this as he checked the other man’s back to make sure he would not bleed out.

The wound was bleeding, so just to be safe Govan tore off a ragged piece of Tedak’s robes and shoved it in the hole, causing another cry of agony from Tedak. “Hold still, will you...” Major Echal grumbled heartlessly before swinging the diplomat over his shoulder and beginning to move to the door. The little brown…lizard thing was swooping around the two men, screeching and scratching at the security officer, who occasionally tried to bat the creature away with his free hand, cursing under his breath at Nut.

Moving out of the office and kicking the damaged doors to the Romulan embassy aside, Major Echal stumbled slightly over a fallen bulkhead as he carried his charge into the corridor. There were more people in the general diplomatic section, several who glanced over at Govan and Tedak but none actually said anything or stopped to help. ‘Cowardly Federation hypocrites…’ the Romulan thought before stepping out in front of an out of breath human. “I am looking for any surviving diplomats. Have you seen Ambassador s’Khellian or...any other Ambassadors?” Govan asked as politely as he could manage, attempting to convey concern.

“I think I saw Ambassador Ezdreiana helping injured several rooms back that way.” the man replied hesitantly, looking Govan over once before hurrying off to wherever it was he was going. Mumbling his thanks, the Romulan continued on in the direction indicated, ignoring the groaning and cries of pain coming from Tedak. If he could just get to Vebn and this Ezdreiana person and get them out of here somehow his job would be done for the most part. What happened after that would be of little concern to him.

Ducking through a doorway partially bared by fallen wiring, Major Echal entered what he assumed was the Federation embassy and found injured spread out on the floor in some semblance of order. Clearly this area had been turned into a makeshift triage facility. As Govan didn’t know what Ezdreiana looked like, he glanced around for Vebn and was surprised to find him assisting an injured man looking like a fish out of water. Clearly medicine was not his strong point. Masking a smirk, the security officer approached him setting Tedak down for a moment on the deck. “Ambassador, I need to get the two of you out of here…and any other diplomats who may have survived. We don’t have much time.”

[Deleted]

"What do you mean not much time?" Vebn asked worriedly "Are we in danger?"
Govan shook his head but moved closer to whisper in the diplomats ear.
"The station may be destroyed"
Vebn felt a cold chill run through him. His legs began to buckle but he managed to just hold onto himself. "Then we have to get out of here."

Govan scowled, "Thats what I was saying"

"Lead the way" Vebn demanded. He left the man he had been stood beside and headed to where Govan had entered. He paused and turned to Govan.

"You can't go?"

TAG Govan

"Not yet. There are sensitive diplomatic details in the mebassy. They must be retrieved or destroyed. You must stay and do that. I will see to getting Tedak to safety. I assume my shuttle is still intact?"

TAG Govan

[Deleted]

A nice short return post for me. Thanks to Mark for his bits of speech in this, and for the fact that he wrote it knowing that I'd spin it against him and still gave me such easy fodder . Spin to follow in a day or two.

When the Mary had hit, Aiken had been sat in the Fishtank, just finishing off the tot of whiskey he'd ordered ritualistically. As usual, he'd considered over the drink whether he'd still be there had he taken the High Priest's offer all those months before. But there was little he could do about that. The man had been right though, a habit had formed, and his drinking had started affecting every part of his life. Actually, if he admitted the truth, it hadn't just started, it was mostly finishing him off. But he rarely made that admission, and when he did it was stupidly late at night when he resolved to sort himself out. In the morning, he never did.

But when the Mary had hit, he'd seen a chance to do just that. A big story like this would get him back on track with his senior editor, who'd stopped taking many of his stories lately, claiming they were aggressive works more worthy of a trashy news service, rather than United Press standard. He had to admit, his writing had taken something of a crash. Of course, the fact that he hadn't been able to see Kistine since she was released from the infirmary hadn't helped. And now, Nahi was loathe to allow him to see her due to his routines and habits, so he'd gotten even further into the negative cycle.

So when the Mary had hit, he'd quickly finished his drink and rushed up towards Ops. Already he was hearing various rumours from different people as he ran up through the base, all of which he noted mentally and started framing into questions to ask Admiral Magellan. He felt a familiar sharpness to his mind as he smelt the hints of a story. He pondered for a second the rhythmic effect it would have to place felt and smelt in the same sentence before bringing his mind back to the matter at hand.

Rushing into base ops, Aiken reflected for only a second on the complete lack of security before he located Admiral Magellan. The room was buzzing with activity, an organised chaos, or quite possibly simply a chaotic chaos, he had little way of telling the difference. As he wove his way towards the senior officer, his eyes flicked around the room, trying to take in as many of the details being displayed on the plethora of monitors as he could.

“Admiral, would you care to comment on reports that are emerging that the hit has thrown the starbase into a spiralling collision with Qualinost in under 6 hours?” He asked, his mind making quick alterations to the previously framed question as he went.

“No, I don't want to comment. I have one or two more important details on my mind right now.” He replied, his voice laced with disdain. “How did he get in here anyways?” He hissed at Felix stood beside him.

Aiken weighed the comment up for a second and when the human didn't reply, he offered his own explanation. “Your security sucks. How about the claims that the Mary was a tool of assassination aimed purely at yourself?” It had been one of the more far fetched things he'd heard and personally he didn't believe it for a second, but he needed to try and throw the trill off his balance.

“My security is pulling people out of wreckage. I don't expect to be doorstepped whilst people down below are dying. Now clear off, or I'll have you locked up.”

“Just trying to do my job Admiral.” He quickly acceded. “So I can report that other than the fact we're missing a few decks, and have a fair number of life support leaks, the population have nothing to worry about then?”

“Exactly, nothing to worry about. Our priority at the moment are our trapped people, and I'd be grateful if you do the responsible thing and try and reassure people.” Magellan tried to catch the eye of Felix or any of his other officers, but all were engaged in a thousand tasks; none of them easy. “Now get out of my ops before I throw you out. F'Raas, get me the Galaxy, we need their transporter support.”

“Of course Admiral, my thanks for your time, I imagine you are rather busy during this crisis.”

Only one thing made Magellan more uneasy than Aiken on the hunt for a story and that was him acquiescing so easily, but at this moment he wasn't going to question it. “Thank you Mr Drolar. Good day.”

“Personally I wouldn't call it that, but good luck to you.” Aiken flashed a quick smile as he left, a story already forming in his mind.

Magellan let out the breath he had been holding and returned to the master ops table. “Where are the Galaxy's triage teams?” He demanded.

When the Mary had hit, Aiken had found an opportunity to get his life back on track. And taken it with both hands.

[Deleted]

As soon as he had left Ops, Aiken had scoured the base to find a scientist, any scientist, who could back up the claims that the base was on a collision course with the planet below. He finally hit the jackpot with a stellar cartographer, Dr Bill Holt who had been researching the creation of stars in the nearby nebula, who had supporting data. The reporter glanced through it quickly, and read enough to tell that it was vague enough that it could suggest exactly what he needed, but also specific enough that it did clearly suggest a collision. It was therefore, pretty ideal. A few minutes later, he had a short piece written up. It was nowhere near the major frontpage article that it should be, but his recent lifestyle, and lack of time and information made it difficult to avoid.

[Deleted]

Tyr watched quietly, blending unnoticed into the background as the reported cross examined Amrial Lin, obviously intent on uncovering some juicy little story. Tyr remembered something his father had always taught him, reporters really were the scum of the galaxy. He waited until the reporter had left, before he went forward and whispered in the Admiral's ear.

"As it happens sir, I have thought of one or two things I coud be attending to. If you'll excuse me"

He swept out of the operations deck, and headed for the main promenade, deciding half way there to make a slight detour. Moments later he arrived back in the civilian medical ward, and fought his way through this time to T'Val, who he pulled into a sideroom of the ward. The Vulcan did not seem impressed by the officer's rough handling, or by his obvious disguise, but time was too much of the essence to waste on such trifling matters.

"Healer, I'm going to level with you. Assailant is losing orbit quite badly,a nd we can only evacuate 60% of the total station population. Now, you have some serious casualties here, and if you wait much longer, they're going to be caught in a mad rush for the last few shuttles and be trapped here. And even if you got down to Qualinost, I don't think I have to explain to an intelligent woman such as yourself how little of Qualinost will be left if Assailant impacts. I have enough authority to get your most critical patients moved to safety on the Galaxy, right now, but I want a favour in return. I want you to send nurse Tamir as one of the care givers. Don't ask why, let's just say that it is important to the Federation. What do you say?"

<TAG T'Val>

Tyr sighed and continued.

"Look, you still have some time before things start getting worse. Think about it, and comm me in the next hour. Please"

<TAG T'Val>

Tyr walked out of sickbay and set off through the crowds of injured and evacuees. His quarters had been isolated by the impact of the Mary, and he knew he had to find a secure computer terminal. An opportunity revealed itself when he discovered a jeffries tube leading to a communications relay junction. He climbed up into the tranquil quiet (compared to the rest of the station) of the jeffries tube, and set to work on opening an encrypted channel. He focused the transmission through the station's waste energy ducts, thus masking the communication to all but those who were looking in the strangest of places.

"Computer, open a channel to James Davis, Federation United Press"

"Channel open. Processing" the computer responded, leaving the screen blank for a moment befoer it was filled with the image of his handler.

"You shouldn't be contacting me like this" he chided seriously "Even on an encrypted frequency"

"I've taken all possible concealement precautions" Tyr responded before continuing "Assailant is in deep trouble, and we need ships in to evacuate the station asap"

"Starfleet are already sending all available ships"

"I know, but me and you both know that there are ships a lot closer that shouldn't technically be there. Look, this situation could light the powder keg, which is what I was placed here to stop happening. So pull some strings, scratch some backs, but find me some ships"

"Alright" James replied, nodding in submission "But don't get your hopes up"

"In this job I never do. One more thing. I need you to dig up as much dirt as possible on Mr Aiken Drolar, he's a reporter working for the agency providing your cover. I'm afraid he might provide an unstable element. Drop anything you have in our usual subspace dead drop. I'll check it tomorrow. And wipe the records for the last half an hour across the entire system. Make it look like a glitch. Out"

The screen went blank, and Tyr dropped down to the base of the tube. His next destination was the FUP office on Assailant, which was deserted apart from the good Mr Drolar. Resetting his tricorder to emit a high range EM jamming frequency, blocking all the surveillance equipment, Tyr entered Drolar's office, quietly closing the door behind him. He read the report on Drolar's padd over his shoulder, before tapping the reported. As he turned, obviously surprised to see a Starfleet lieutenant in his office, Tyr's strong right hook sent the man to the floor reeling, leaving him to bleed from his jaw as Tyr retrieved the dropped padd.

"Mr Drolar, a pleasure I'm certain" Tyr smiled down at the man, obviously in some stall state of shock.
"I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but I can't have you throwing petrol on an already flammable situation. Now, I'm not an unreasonable man, and I fully understand the rights of freedom of press. But, and this is a big but, I also understand the need for Federation security to be maintained by stamping down on little social scavengers like yourself. This being so I leave you two choices. One, print nice little things, not what you want to print to discredit people ten times the man you are. Or two, make me your enemy, and as a result only have the power to publish in the Rigel VII penal colony newsletter. Your choice"

He turned to leave, but then turned back to look down menacingly on the man, smiling remorselessly.

"By the way, we never met, and we certainly didn't have this conversation. Hope you don't mind if i keep the padd, ok"

<TAG Mr Drolar>

[Deleted]

"...I have enough authority to get your most critical patients moved to safety on the Galaxy, right now, but I want a favour in return. I want you to send nurse Tamir as one of the care givers. Don't ask why, let's just say that it is important to the Federation. What do you say?"

"The most critical patients cannot be moved," T'Val informed the persistent diplomat, "and even you do not have enough influence with the Debrune to get them moved. And I am a healer, not an official you can bribe with favours. Kindly return to what you do best, and allow me to return to my duties. I wil bring your offer to Nurse Tamir. If, after her duties end, she wishes to depart, then she can but until then she is on duty."

Tyr sighed and continued.

"Look, you still have some time before things start getting worse. Think about it, and comm me in the next hour. Please"

"As I said, I will take your offer under consideration and will ask Tamir how she feels. I cannot make decisions for her if she is off duty. But while on duty, she will remain here to assist. She is an excellent trauma nurse and she is needed here."

She positively glared at the diplomat as he left, then sighed and turned to her mate. "That is one annoying diplomat," she confided to him, "he tried to take Tamir earlier, tried to whisk her away while she was on duty. I stopped him then but he seems persistent on taking her."

As she watched Stuart return to his duties, the Vulcan healer approached her Romulan nurse. "Tamir, do you have a moment?" She beckoned the Romulan. "Ambassador Tyr seems insistent that you leave Assaillant immediately and join him on the USS Galaxy. I need you here as you have proven to be an excellent trauma care nurse. You have a choice though. Once you are off duty, you may choose to depart for Qualinost or the Galaxy and take your next shift there or you may remain here."

[Deleted]

"Lead the way" Vebn demanded, causing Govan to roll his eyes as he once more hauled Tedak off the floor and began moving to the door. Just before leaving the room, Ambassador s’Khellian stopped him. "You can't go?"

Turning slowly, the Major sent Vebn the most irritated glare he could manage. “And just what is that supposed to mean? I have to ensure the two of you survive, and the best way to do that is to go with you.” Govan replied, his voice dangerously quiet in a warning tone through gritted teeth.

"Not yet. There are sensitive diplomatic details in the embassy. They must be retrieved or destroyed. You must stay and do that. I will see to getting Tedak to safety. I assume my shuttle is still intact?" Vebn asked, seemingly too distracted by everything going on to feel just how close his security chief was to snapping.

Dumping Tedak heartlessly back on the ground, Govan sighed in frustration. “Your shuttle is intact. Ensure that you stay away from the station and the planet and remain in the shuttle once you depart. I will return to the embassy and join you when I am able.” Major Echal finally agreed, leaving out his little deal with Tyr.

Glancing down at a nearly delirious Tedak for a brief moment the Major regretted having to leave him, but quickly dismissed that as a result of dedication to his job and stepped over the semi-conscious diplomat on the way back to the Romulan embassy. Once he retrieved any sensitive information and destroyed all residual traces of it, Govan would return to the Federation sector, gather together any remaining diplomats from any planet, and get them out of there, thus fulfilling his obligations. He could only hope to do so before the station’s orbit decayed further.

His assignment did not take long, rummaging through Vebn’s computer and desk drawers for anything that wouldn’t be prudent to leave behind. To his delight, in one ‘hidden’ compartment, Govan found his own honor blade, most likely placed there after being returned to Vebn from the Federation once the Major had been freed. Grinning at his discovery, which Vebn had most likely been holding until such a time when it might be useful, the Tal Shiar operative quickly stored his only personal possession where it belonged, close at hand, before completing his search and returning to the general diplomatic sector.

Glancing around at the scores of injured being cared for by numerous others, Govan had no idea where to start. His first inclination was just to forget about his deal with Tyr and get out of here, but his sense of honor wouldn’t let him…as it often seemed to get in the way. Grabbing a civilian by the arm, Major Echal decided to dispense with pleasantries and demanded, “Where is Ezdreiana?”

The man was clearly startled, if not outright alarmed, but managed to point in the direction of a tall, blond Trill helping with the injured. Brushing coldly past the source of his assistance, Govan approached the woman directly and addressed her firmly. “Ambassador, how many other diplomats have survived? I need to get you and whoever else there is off this station, now.”

<Tag Ezdreiana>

~

Tamir glanced up from her patient as her new boss informed her of the choice available. It felt very awkward, being in the middle of this. The nurse had no idea who this man was that seemed so intent on taking her away to somewhere, but he had most certainly scared her when she’d been dragged out of sickbay by force. At the moment, the Romulan felt far safer staying in sickbay with T’Val than going with this stranger, even if he’d said Govan had sent him. Not only that, but she was clearly needed here to take care of patients. This was where she belonged.

“I’ll stay here, Ma’am. I want to help.” Tamir replied, smiling hesitantly at the Vulcan. While still a bit confused by all of this fuss over her, she decided to stick with what she knew best for now: medicine. Besides, T’Val seemed a lot more sincere and safe than a guy who would grab her and drag her away like that…

[Magellan Lin]

A small crowd had gathered around the plas screen in the arcade. Scrolling news kept all updated on the situation including a news flash from the FUP.

It took surprisingly long for the words of Aiken Drolar to sink in. Those that read it fully didnt at first grasp what the reporter was saying. Slowly like a gentle wave crashing on a shore a collective realisation dawned. The wave became a tide and then a whirlpool. Silently to begin with and then with increasing panic those watching the screens began to leave the aracde. Some ran in terror back to their homes to gather loved ones and belongings whilst others ran directly to the escape pods and shuttle terminals.

Within 10 minutes word of mouth had mobilised close to 6000 people throughout the station. They stormed into Transporter rooms and flooded the deprature lounges. The few customs officers remaining on duty were swept aside beneath the tide, trampled under foot. One had the foresight to lower the forcefields severing the crowd from the shuttle bays. He quickly commed Ops.

"Sir we have a problem developing" F'rass stated in what could have been the years understatement.

"I am aware of the problems F'rass. My damn station is trying to park itself on the planet. Any word from Alari yet?"

"No Sir. Something new. We have rioting."

Magellan pulled up short. "Riots? Where?"

Frass highlighted the packed screaming crowds outside each transporter room and shuttle departure area.

"A hand ful have already stolen vehicles. Before forcefields went up."

"Good lord" Magellan exclaimed as he watched the throngs of people now starting to turn upon themselves as they struggled to get of the doomed base, "Security?"

"Even on a good day we would be hard pressed to handle this"

"I dont understand" Magellan whispered almost to himself, "What could have started them off."

"This perhaps" Felix replied pulling up Aikens report on the main viewer.

Magellans face went red,
"The idiot. The bloo..." he reined in his anger before he fully exploded, "No its my fault I should have given him more time. Well theres only one way to calm this. I ll have to go down there."

"Down there" Felix exclaimed in shock, "They'll tear you limb from limb. Send out a telecast."

"And how would that look. THe master speaking from the safety of Ops. No Felix this has to be done face to face. If we dont clear those crowds no one is going to get out. No sick, no injured and no families. I want Alari to update me as we go. And tell him he needs to get us back in a stable orbit before I am torn limb from limb."

Felix finally backed down and offered a phaser,
"Sir perhaps you should take this."

Magellan chuckled,
"If you insist Commodore. Keep the base together in my absence." He exited ops and began to head for the arcade with some trepidation. He unhooked the phaser, deactivated it and tossed it in a rubbish chute. The chrage would run out long before the people did if they did turn nasty. If...