Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 6, 2013 1:54:42 GMT
Andae was perched forward in the Raven's command chair as he absorbed the news from the Hinoiri. So, Wedlerson's suspicions had been correct. Kamat was tied to the device; the Proximian government couldn't destroy his ship even if they wanted to. The rebel seemed to hold all the cards, free to disable one of his former allies without fear of retribution.
At least Andae had confirmation they could go in. The orbital defences wouldn't destroy either Federation vessel when they beamed down; at least not now, only if they failed in their endeavour. The situation however remained delicate and perilous. There were decisions to be made... He'd already absent-mindedly told the Admirals he'd send an engineer down to attempt to disable the device's control matrix. But Q's words still played in his mind, echoing endlessly, and he was left to wonder if it was just an illusion.
"Commander Wedlerson, you have the bridge." He left the Ops officer to deal with the Valenti communication, as it had emerged the comm signal they had intercepted was between Calli and another source, unidentified but likely an element of the loyal Cordovin soldiers.
"Major Baslone, spare a squadron of your best for me, in transporter room 1 would you please?"
"Sir?"
Andae had already disappeared into the turbolift, the doors sliding shut to leave the bridge in a state of muted apprehension. He knew, or at least thought the person with the best chance of disabling the control matrix was the chief engineer himself. To ask one of his junior engineers to beam down...
Weapons fire had become increasingly sporadic, erupting from hidden cavities at various locations above and below them in the edifice that was the underground chamber. Blooms of light, some expanding slowly, some flickering like strobes, periodically lit the place illuminating the terrifying architecture.
The Cordovin comms officer - experienced in shipboard procedures but lost down here - kept his back tight to the wall. He still didn't know why Betran had chosen him to lead the team.
"What's she doing?" the nearby sniper whispered, unmoved from his posture as he peered down the scope of his rifle. He'd positioned it on a low broken wall section, angled upwards to the Starfleeter's location. Gantries led away upwards, forward and to the right. "She's taking forever to cross that damn section."
"It's structurally weakened, you can hardly blame her. Still, if she takes much longer give her another warning, over her shoulder should do." The comms officer reached for his communicator as it'd suddenly started buzzing silently in the gloom. "Yatil here," he whispered.
"Officer. Glad to hear you're still alive..." He recognised the voice of the old man, Betran. "Yatil, we've been disabled by El-Kamat's flagship. We're still operational but our orbit is degrading. We can no longer maintain altitude and will deorbit in approximately two hours. By the by, your comms are being monitored. We just picked this up. Just give me a second..."
Yatil listened in near horror to the playback of the female Starfleeter's report to her vessel, which must've been transmitted mere moments ago. The sniper overheard the comm message, his thumb beginning to press on the trigger. Yatil held an arm out, "Wait! We accomplish nothing killing her now. She needs to reach the main chamber." They both looked up to the concealed room, its harsh blue light still shining, piercing their near-reverent eyes and filling half the cavern with a cerulean glow.
"Continue with the mission, Yatil," Betran's voice came through grainily. "Follow your quarry now. You can't let her get too far ahead. By the way, it was a good idea." The channel cut out. Yatil briefly considered the fatefulness in his commander's words. Unless Betran could transport off, he was tied to a slow doom, as his vessel looped in ever-tightening circles about Proxima Oralix.
He had the sniper remain in place with a regular soldier for support, while he and the last two remaining in his squad tentatively traced Calli Valenti's footsteps. Some ten minutes later, they had jumped the destroyed gantry that Valenti had passed already. They still held her in sight, nearing the chamber of light still shining with the same intensity as it had before.
<Tag Calli>
"I advise you not to move." The CEO stood in the background, half in the shade from the cerulean light, while the muzzle of a UFP marine rifle nestled in the sniper's neck. Andae looked upwards to what he presumed was the chamber containing the control matrix. The Proximians had lowered the general shield about the complex, acquiescing to the Admirals' wishes, but Kamat had shielded the innermost chamber which not even the Proximians couldn't control. They couldn't have beamed directly in there. The sniper's movement was sudden but not quite quick enough.
A projectile wreathed in energy burst from the Cordovin's weapon, striking the ceiling far above. The sound of the impact echoed through the whole chamber like thunder echoing amongst cliffs. It was presumably a reflex reaction, or perhaps it was meant for Valenti. The marine had also discharged his rifle but the sniper had moved, and the shot had gone through the sniper's shoulder. He collapsed in agony, the whole left side of his torso singed to a crisp. The other Cordovin soldier made a lunge for Andae but was immediately shot down by another marine. He tumbled into the deep chasm, his screams fading with the distance but never seeming to cut out.
"I'll take that," the marine sergeant bent to collect the fallen sniper's rifle, pleased with himself.
Andae however had already turned his eyes towards the light-filled chamber. "Site-to-site transport? You brought some local enhancers?" The response was positive. "I wouldn't want to use them in here though: too inaccurate; we could beam into a bulkhead, or worse whatever that thing is up there."
As he spoke that light was partially eclipsed. A silhouetted figure, of clear inhuman proportion had cut it off, holding its arms wide as if it was measuring up the entire chamber. Weapons fire intensified at various points amongst the architecture for a few moments before diminishing substantially, perhaps to less than before.
<Tag Alex, Carl> <Tag All>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Sept 7, 2013 23:24:05 GMT
The next section was getting increasingly corroded, and she needed to take her time. She dared not try the Raven again, fearing her attempt would be picked up by the Cordovin. Looking down into the gloom, she couldn't see anyone, but had the feeling the snipers' sights were fixed on her head ... She moved forward, gingerly stepping onto what seemed a solid section of walkway. The metal latticework dropped from underfoot, crashing into the floor below. The gap, a meter, maybe more, was nothing 'if' you were on the ground, but at this height, a fall would be fatal ... Looking closely at the other side, she decided to take the leap. So, without second-guessing herself, she covered the gap and landed as softly as possible. Holding her breath for a second or two, she stood and started forward once more. Behind her there was a noise ... Starting up the steps, she kept herself pressed against the wall for fear the walkway would vanish at any point, but her goal was only fifteen meters away now, the light casting an eerie glow into the cavernous expanse, making the hanging mist shimmer as if alive. 'There it is again' she thought, the sound she had hear moments before. someone, no, at least two people were on the walkway behind her ! Crouching in the mist, she turned back toward the steps and waited. Whoever was following would find it hard to see her unless they had mechanical help, and she had seen no evidence of that, so she had the upper hand, so to speak. The first person emerged above the top step and made his way forward, Calli didn't wait ... As he neared her, she stood up grasping his tunic belt and heaved him over the rail, before quickly returning to her prone position. The scream and sunned sickening thud signaled the demise of one of her pursuers. The second man was being more cautious, he was feeling with his feet before putting any weight on the foot. Calli could see him, a ghostly figure moving forward, one hand on the rail, the other holding a phaser-type weapon. Calli was stealing herself to grab the man when a vivid blue beam of light slammed into the wall beside her. The man spun in the direction of the hit, waving his weapon in a tight arc. "Stand up Commander." a voice from the stairway ordered. She realized who her pursuers were instantly. The Cordovin who had held Aeryn hostage, and no doubt two, well now one, of his crew ... Slowly, she complied with the order, watching the obviously nervous guard as he aimed at her head, no doubt hoping to impress his employer. "Believe it or not Commander, we are on the same side, in some respects." the man who had spoken came into view, his eyes moving between Calli and the doorway only meters ahead, "I believe something has befallen my sniper. He has failed to reply to my hails. But no matter, it is you we require. Though we can do this ourselves should the need arise." "You want this weapon, device, for yourself ?" Calli asked, pondering the idea that the sniper was no longer with them. < tag : Yatil >Calli listened, then held her hand out ... Waiting to see just how sincere this Yantil was. She was surprised when, after a few seconds thought, he turned the phaser he was holding and handed it to her grip first ... Weighing the weapon in her hand she nodded, then turned to the door ahead. Glancing back at Yantil, she spoke quickly: "Let's get this straight. I go in ... If I locate our people we free them, 'THEN' go after El-Kamat ... Right !" "My priority, is El-Kamat, and of course, the device." was all she got in reply ...... ~~~~~ The door itself seemed over-engineered for purpose. A meter thick, three meters in height, and almost two wide, but it opened with the merest touch of her hand. The room was pristine, almost sanitary ... And large ... She guessed at almost a kilometer in diameter, and seemingly circular. The walls seemed to be inclined, making the room larger at the floor and reducing the overall diameter of the room as you went higher. She couldn't see any roof for the mist ... But she could see the device ! ... Enormous was an understatement. But it wasn't that that caught her eye, it was the doors to the left and right of where she stood. Making a decision before Yantil could argue, she moved to the first and tentatively looked through the glass section ... Empty. She looked into the room. The mist in the cavernous expanse seemed to be some bi-product of the devices' systems, and she could see movement in that mist. Glancing toward the doorway she could see the Cordovin and his remaining guard. They were focusing on the movement in the shadows, hardly giving her a thought. That was all the motivation she needed ... Moving quickly, she went from door to door, cautiously looking through the glass panel at the interior ... It seemed the rooms lined the full circumference, but thankfully she only needed to look into the first few before hitting the proverbial jackpot. Raising her head slowly, she peered through the glass of room eight. Two Cordovin, both with their backs to the door, thankfully ... Looking back the way she had come, there was no sign of Yantil ... 'So its on me' she thought, checking the weapon again. Kneeling, she tentatively placed a hand on the door and applied pressure. The door moved silently inward. Raising the weapon, she inched forward, still on her knees and opened the door a little more, until she could get a direct line of fire on the two. Almost inside the room, Calli moved the door one millimeter too far, it made a sound that in any other circumstances would have gone un-noticed, but the guards knew instantly .... The first turned and disintegrated in the lance of almost pure energy from Calli's weapon. She dropped to the floor narrowly avoiding the return fire from the second inquisitor. She fired from the floor, hitting the man in the chest and he too vanished from sight in a frenzy of ruptured atoms. Calli looked around the room, dismayed at the fact it was now totally empty. 'What the hell were the guards doing in here' she thought, turning back to the door. Their next stop was the interior of the main chamber ... She just hoped they would have better luck than a moment ago .......... < tag : Andae / Alex ? All >
[nearing the end now Guys n Gals]
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 10, 2013 1:52:18 GMT
"You want this weapon, device, for yourself ?" Calli asked, pondering the idea that the sniper was no longer with them.
"The Cordovin administration sees this as an internal matter. El-Kamat leads a sect that has taken over the government apparatus, but loyalist factions that he calls insurgent sympathisers still maintain control over key departments. My ship commander, previously working within the main apparatus has formed his own faction. We came to capture or kill Tahl El-Kamat and disable this weapon he's constructed, not use it ourselves.
"Whatever happens to El-Kamat, it's us who should execute him or take him into custody. That said, we could do with some help," Yatil finally conceded, turning the phaser to present it to Calli. It was time to stop threatening and to start working with Starfleet; besides it made little tactical sense to maintain the aggressive stance when he was sure his sniper had been eliminated, and there was just him and his one soldier to keep a grip on both Valenti and Tavik.
They advanced into the unexpectedly large expanse about the main chamber interior. The ceiling was lost in this peculiar creeping mist that crawled with foreboding shadows, as if part of the device or weapon was the mist itself, and it relied on some gaseous process to activate itself.
"Well that didn't work." He met with Valenti after she'd vapourised the two guards, scanning for the best route into the main chamber interior. "You're lucky I'm on your side now. Killing Cordovin soldiers will hardly win you -"
He stopped abruptly, recognising the characteristic build up of energy of a Cordovin gun emplacement. He had bare seconds to react before it erupted in fire. He was just about quick enough to avoid it, which was better than could be said for his guard who was disintegrated. The blast had come from the doorway he'd just identified as the best way into the uttermost interior; a further burst of energy was coming.
It exploded in rapid fire across the floor of the chamber, spreading slowly in a wide arc of leaping fire. He and Valenti were sitting ducks.
* * *
The inner chamber...
The cerulean wash faded and his vision reintegrated, the marines about him seeming all present and fairly intact. The site-to-site transport had worked as intended, accurately placing them in the intersection at the front of the interior. He saw Milyanov immediately, relieved first of all his assistant was alive but secondly stunned by what was preserving that life and that of the Raven's Acting Captain behind him. Some type of shield, roughly spherical, covered the two men, and that shield was being bombarded by Cordovin weapons fire from most angles around them.
Andae quickly realised the suicidal tendencies of his site-to-site beam-in. Cordovin soldiers closed about them just as the last effect of the transporter vanished, leaving them at the rebels' mercy. But as they brought their weapons up a tall figure sprang between the groups and lifted several of the Kamat-aligned rebels from the floor with one improbably large swipe - it seemed physically impossible, despite the creature's dimensions. They were propelled away from Andae's group, dashed against the far wall in pieces after passing over Milyanov and Watson.
You know what El-Kamat could try now, I presume? a voice spoke, crystal clear at the front of his consciousness. He'll set the device to activate if he realises he can't win. Whatever happens, the Proxima system, perhaps surrounding sectors will be destroyed. A shame. Andae regarded the sight before him, his hand rising with the phaser as he started moving towards Milyanov and Alex. Cordovin soldiers still lay between him and the two officers. It seemed he only had a small amount of control over his own actions. Unless you can prevent him activating it, Commander. Remember though, it would be a bad idea to kill him.
"His biology is tied to the device," Andae murmured.
Yes, hence to execute him would be rather self defeating, don't you think? Q's voice taunted back.
<Tag Alex, Carl>
Milyanov thought the first recognisable thought that came from himself in as long as he could remember. Something shone above him, and all around him was a glaze as if tinted glass had been placed between him and his surroundings. An energy shield. Something was beaming in nearby.
<Tag All>
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Sept 11, 2013 4:05:40 GMT
Marionette had had her spare vulcan ears on after the 3rd time she had incurred significant damage, and also had had to put in her fanged mono-dentures.
“Hello Ensign, please tell me we are back on the Raven?” T’Brel asked. Marionette spoke with a rather rich russian accent due to her fanged mono-dentures. "No, we are still on Proxima.... but i could lie to you if you like." She visibly ticked up an eyebrow, which had an effect of being somewhere between feline and vulcan rather than robotic, given her ears and teeth at present.
Plasma mortars and the chatter of MAP (magnetically accelerated particle) machine guns could be heard off in the distance, when an irregular thud-CLANK was heard, followed by a whining buzz that rose in pitch, and someone yelled out "HIT THE DECK, DOWNED SHUTTLE INCOMING!"
Marionette did a doubletake between T'brel and the window, "Excuse me for one moment." before standing and sprinting so fast she visibly blurred, to stop at the balcony, and hop-catch the nose of the shuttle, putting her feet onto the wall and pushing with all of her robotic might against the inertia AND the thrusters of the not-yet-crashed shuttle. She quickly calculated in the span of a blink that it may be more than one metric ton of force, but she had already acted, and thus, must finish her concluded task.
Groaning metal and grinding servos could be heard, as the nose of the shuttle gave way to implode under the focused area of her hands, leaving deep handprints at the bottom of irregular indent craters. Marionette calculated how much strain her servos could take before stripping themselves to ruined...... 82 percent.
Upon reaching 75 percent servo stress, she fully extended herself as a protocol came online and all of her joints locked up reducing her to a jumping-jack statue imbedded knee-deep into the wall. Fortunately, the shuttle gave way and only took out the balcony as gravity took over and it rammed into the ground engines first.
Some of the militia soldiers got their folding shovels and dug her out of the wall, carried her inside, and slid her onto a cot next to T'brel.
Marionette was a statue on a cot for 10 minutes after that, unable to speak or move, just look around; However, she had saved everyone there; the sick, the wounded, T'Brel, and yes, even the shuttle pilot, who was captured by the proximan separatist militias as a not-quite- POW.
After she had rebooted, Marionette was mostly back to normal, except for the occasional whine of loose servos in her hands and knees. She would need a tune up sooner than normal because of her superhero stunt.
<tag T'brel>
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Sept 11, 2013 17:58:13 GMT
Alex slumped forward over the key, using it partly to support his weight in his kneeling position. His legs and torso still ached from the hours of pain he had been through, and he rubbed his head to stop the throbbing that had started to permeate through his skull.
As he opened his eyes, he saw that the Gandai had left the safety of the protective sphere he had placed around the two officers and was now laying into the Cordovin marines with what sounded strangely like glee. Alex couldn’t be sure, but the shouts and noises coming from the alien every time he dispatched a foe sounded like whoops of delight. Even in his weakened state, with his eyes blurring, Alex could appreciate the alien’s flexibility, grace and most of all its utterly inhuman strength – though both taller and more slender than a human, his willowy arms sent every soldier he hit flying through the air as if they’d been hit with a concussion grenade. Looking closely, Alex saw that every time, just before the alien’s fist connected with its target, a faint glow of blue energy that was transferred to the hapless marine and seemed to surround him in an aura for a few heartbeats.
Alex was stunned. It looked like this creature was using raw telekinetic energy to assist in his assault. Telepathy was not uncommon – every Betazoid and their offspring had varying levels of telepathic ability. The ability to actually move objects, moreover charge them with actual telekinetic power, was unheard of as far as Alex knew. He found himself wondering what in the wide Universe could have so utterly annihilated an entire civilisation of these creatures when just one was carving an unstoppable path through an entire platoon of highly trained, elite special force operatives.
As the creature leapt over to the far side of the room, to bull into another enemy, Alex saw the faint shimmer of a transporter beam. Hardly daring to breathe, he watched slowly as the form of Andae Blakus materialised in front of him. A tear dripped out of the corner of his eye as he closed them and held tight to the key supporting his body. They were here – they’d heard his beacon – he was saved.
…
A faint whisper in his ear…
“Oh…you’re rather touchingly foolish to be thinking that, Alexander…”
With the little strength that remained to him, Alex turned sharply, trying to see where the voice, that voice he knew so well, had come from.
“Can’t see me? Well…you’ll just have to keep looking…”
“Show yourself, Q!” Alex shouted into the air.
“Oh dear, I’d forgotten how grim you can be, Alexander. “Show yourself!” Now where’s the fun in that?”
“This isn’t a game, Q! This isn’t one of your sick little jokes!”
“Why of course it is, my dear man. It’s been one of my jokes right from the beginning. You can’t seriously believe that everything that has happened to this ship and this crew since our first meeting has been purely coincidence?”
“Explain yourself!”
“You try being just a bit nicer and maybe I will…maybe. No promises…you’ve rather hurt my feelings, you’ll have to make it up to me…” The voice faded and seemed to echo round Alex’s head as it dwindled into silence.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Sept 13, 2013 1:21:19 GMT
As the Comm closed between the Hiniori and the Raven, Carl stood and approached the view-screen ... Four of the orbital sentries were now stationary above the away team, the other four came to a halt one by one, each strategically positioned to fire on the Federation Star Ships !
"I think she is trying to call our bluff." Torek said, referring to President Braxxt, "She must know the consequences should those things fire on us. She knows we have informed the Federation of our situation."
"Yes." the aging Japanese Admiral agreed.
"So let's she what sort of hand she is holding ?" Carl said. Then receiving a nod from Sato, turned to Captain Hara, "Captain, bring phasers on-line ... Target the four platforms on close orbit to us. Contact the Raven, tell her to lock onto the four over our personnel ... Establish a Comm link to this terminal with Commander Blakus and have him stand by ... Oh, then open a Comm to 'Madam' President, split-screen. When she responds lock photon torpedoes onto her location ... Don't try to hide the fact of what we're doing !"
Carl sat down at the ornate desk and glanced at his friend. Sato had adopted his usual poker-face and was waiting patiently for the river card ... Hara re-entered, informing them that everything was ready, but Commander Blakus had beamed to the surface. Commander Wedlerson was on a Comm link and awaiting orders. Carl nodded then activated the desk screen:
=^= Madam President .. We are a little concerned at the sudden redeployment of your orbital facilities .. Care to explain their current locations ? =^= Torek asked pleasantly.
"Sirs, the four in our proximity have powered-up to full capacity and have targeted both vessels." Hara said from in front of the wall-screen.
=^= Admiral .. Our orbital sentries are self-gui ...... =^=
=^= You have fifteen seconds to power-down all eight of your sentries that are currently locked onto either of these vessels or members of the away-team =^= Carl interrupted.
=^= I am afraid that is impossible without extensive reprogra ...... =^=
=^= Ten seconds ..... =^=
=^= You realized that you are signing your own death warrants ! =^= the woman said, clearly worried.
=^= Five seconds ..... =^= Carl said, expressionless.
=^= DEACTIVATE NOW ! =^= Braxxt yelled at someone off-screen, panic ruling her actions.
"The sentries are powering down to passive scanning mode." Hara said, idly wishing he'd taken up poker.
=^= Thank you Madam President .... Commander Wedlerson .. Fire on your designated targets =^= Carl said, never taking his eyes off the President.
=^= All four targets destroyed Admiral .. No overt action from remaining sentries =^= Wedlerson confirmed seconds later.
=^= Stand-by Raven ...... Madam President .. As you can see .. I am in no mood to play games .. You will cease 'ALL' actions against Federation personnel and will make no attempt to reactivate your remaining sentries .. The Hiniori has established a bio-metric link with your life-signs .. Should any sentry begin build-up your location will be hit with Photon torpedoes .. Do we understand each other .. Madam ? =^=
=^= You are no better than that tyrant El-Kamat .. This is your Federation at work is it ! =^=
Admiral Tetsutaro leaned forward, placing a hand on Carl's arm:
=^= Madam .. You have brought this upon yourselves .. Albeit unwittingly .. Nevertheless .. You must understand we cannot allow this weapon to reach full maturity .. The very fate of the known Universe could depend on how 'we' proceed together to prevent that happening ...... =^=
=^= We too cannot allow the weapons completion .. That was the purpose of the sentries above the device .. Now that option is no longer available .. I hope beyond all hope that you can succeed in your efforts =^=
The Comm closed without warning and several red traces suddenly appeared on the view-screen.
"She is moving replacements into place Admiral." Hara said, looking at the two men.
=^= Commander Wedlerson .. Move the Raven into Geo-stationary orbit above our people .. Take no action against the sentries .. Lock everything you have onto the location Commander Blakus transported down to extrapolating for lateral movement .. If and 'ONLY IF' that thing reaches full execution status .. Take all necessary actions to prevent it's firing solution =^=
=^= Sir .. Please confirm last =^= Wedlerson said, shocked and understandably worried by the order.
=^= You heard me Harry .. Torek out =^=
Carl shrugged as Sato raised an eyebrow ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 16, 2013 15:53:47 GMT
The shield was proving annoyingly effective. The Gandai seemed to have lost interest in the shield and its two inhabitants, having moved to the other side of the chamber in pursuit of the terrified Cordovin rebels. They couldn't retreat fast enough, losing half-dozens of their number with every swipe of the Gandai's telekinetically-charged fist.
Andae studied the phaser in his hand, switching his gaze between it and the shield encasing Watson and Milyanov. He dare not use the higher setting for fear of searing the people in the bubble when it collapsed. He was vaguely conscious of the marine sergeant yelling at the two protected officers, as well as the cries of marines shouting orders as they attempted to hold back the rebels from the shield.
Everything seemed cold and distant. He felt like a mere observer, witness to events he had no control over and was never meant to be a part of. As if he didn't belong. Hurry. Commander! Q's omnipresent thought resonated through his skull, touching the deep dark places, jarring his very consciousness. Why are you wasting your time with these men, these fellow humans? You have a whole quadrant to save!
He started walking away, towards the end of the chamber and the access panel to the control matrix, seeing reason in Q's words. The shield had withstood the barrage from Cordovin weapons so far. What's to say it couldn't take a fair deal more? The Gandai apparently had no problem leaving it to its own devices.
On the very moment reason overtook him - reestablishing his link with rational decision, causation, action and reaction - an overwhelming tide of grey and uncertainty assailed his senses. Something jerked, and he felt a peculiar sense of dislocation, as if he'd missed the last few instants.
"Why did you do that?" the marine sergeant pulled him away. "I thought we said no vapourisation setting. Sir."
Andae shrugged the man off, dropping his phaser. A sickening smell of sulphur filled the air and the Cordovin poured forward anew. The shield - having been put at the mercy of a sudden full-setting discharge of Andae's phaser - was collapsed. Its two inhabitants - Watson and Milyanov - came to their senses blearily and stumbled backwards towards the near wall.
Still only half-aware of his actions, Andae staggered away from the scene, defending himself in hand-to-hand as he ran close to a group of Cordovin soldiers. The control matrix was in a narrow passageway, adjacent to the gantry that overlooked the endless chasm. Meanwhile the sergeant's men recovered Watson and Milyanov.
<Tag Alex, All>
Proxima Oralix mesosphere, over secondary continent...
The frigate streamed into the atmosphere of the planet ventral side first, serenely crossing the open expanse above storm-tortured skies. From his vantage point on the bridge, Betran caught the glare of the Proxima star as it briefly came into the viewscreen's periphery, the light being near unperturbed by atmospheric particles. Oralix was captured in sharp contrast, appearing vibrant and coloured in sublime shades too luminous to bear.
He turned away from the view, regarding each of his bridge crew. He appeared discrete and digitised before the bright colour that signalled their impending doom. "The ward room," he said quietly to his first officer, words loaded with gallows humour.
The ward room - layered with the same detritus - was even darker than it'd been before. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed during the fatal attack by Kamat's flagship, and biometric and isolinear circuitry had sprawled out in frozen explosion. The old man was stood by the portal, watching the planet again. "You'll stop this madness, Tahl..."
It became apparent to the XO that Betran wasn't simply talking to himself, but had opened a channel to Kamat and patched it over the intercom. The archaeologist's disembodied voice was only slightly more raspy than it was in person, "There's no going back now. The device is set to activate if my surface forces are overwhelmed. I die, the sector dies."
The XO watched Betran shake his head, multihued colour cast across the sallow skin of his cheek as he was partially silhouetted by the glare of the mesosphere. Three hours 'til theoretical impact; a little over two before their craft inevitably disintegrated in the atmosphere.
Of course, Kamat couldn't know exactly how destructive his weapon would be. The XO suspected that he wasn't even sure of the exact firing mechanism, or method of delivery. All the despot needed to know was that it would work. "You made an error long ago, Kamat, when you chose to delve too far into the scriptures. I knew when enough was enough. And while I supported your position on Cordovin internal policy... The promise of armageddon is no reward. Turn back now, and you may receive pardon from the Cordovin administration."
The voice that came back had an odd quality. It took the XO a while to realise that Kamat was laughing. "You have no power over the administration and haven't for a long time. My allies hold - "
"They did, Kamat, but they've been defeated."
"Regardless of your lies, all here will die in thirty minutes if my forces fail." The intercom crackled off loudly, making the XO flinch. Betran watched the glaring light of the approaching planet in silence.
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Sept 17, 2013 17:39:51 GMT
Calli was about to follow the Cordovin Officer out of the room when her Comm badge crackled to life:
=^= USS Hiniori to Surface Team .. =^=
=^= Commander Valenti Admiral .. Good to hear your voice =^=
=^= Commander .. Status report =^=
=^= We are inside the main chamber as far as we can tell .. I am with a Cordovin who seems hell-bent on stopping El-Kamat =^=
=^= We are currently working alongside a faction of the Cordovin Government Commander .. But be wary of allowing the man too much lee-way =^=
=^= We believe the Captain and Commander Milyanov may be being held close by .. From the curvature of the walls, I can speculate that the cavern should be at least eight hundred to one thousand meters in diameter .. With this mist fog that has settled we can only see two maybe three meters ahead .. So we're almost feeling our way forward but too slowly for my liking =^= Calli said.
=^= We have received unconfirmed information that a contingent of Marines from the Raven have secured both men .. Also .. Ensign Marionette has managed to get Commander Peers to safety and has been instructed to make her way to you at assist =^=
=^= Sir .. It is possible the Raven's Senior Marine Officer .. Major Tavik .. Is being held on the sub-level were we entered .. Site to site Comms are non-existent down here .. Could you relay she should attempt to secure the Major before climbing to our level ? =^=
=^= Relaying that now Commander =^=
=^= Thank you Admiral =^= Calli replied, frowning at something in Sato's voice.
=^= Commander .. You realize we may have no other option but to fire on your location from orbit to prevent the full activation of the device ? ...... =^=
=^= I do admiral .. Valenti .. Out =^=
She closed the Comm quickly, then headed for the door:
"You heard all that, Cordovin." Calli said quietly, "There are numerous Federation Personnel inside this chamber. Try not to shoot at the first thing you see OK !"
Peering into the gloom she orientated herself and headed into the fog ... The Cordovin Officer raised his phaser, folowing Valenti closely ... Seconds later they entered the all consuming mist ..........
< tag : Marionette / All >
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Sept 18, 2013 8:56:18 GMT
(on the surface) A low rumble began, at first unheard because of the wide and loud sounds of revolution, and unfelt by anyone else - Except Marionette. Her internal gyros started out fine, but then detected the vibration of tremors. Seismic Activity. "There is an Imminent Earthquake !" she loudly said, which resulted in a long awkward silence. After afew seconds, she was vindicated by a younger medic next to a pitcher of water, which was reverberating in a hexagonal pattern. "This water is vibrating. See the water ripple ?" someone said. Upon others seeing the hexagon ripple in the pitcher, the whole building exploded into a mad dash to prep for the place coming down. Everyone who could afford to be moved out of the building, was, and the critically wounded in the ad-hoc-hospital was moved into sturdier doorways. By the time it was done, the ground was visibly swimming as fences flexed, houses leveled themselves, skyscrapers cracked and swayed, and streets broke into sections, and a truly awesome and terrifying sight was beholden, as a mountain grew up in the not-so-far distance. There was also an ominous low hum, more felt than heard, with no apparent direction of origin. The more religious people among the proximans dropped to their knees and prayed to the ancient gods for salvation, while everyone else simply looked on, gawping at the sprouting of a new mountain. Out of this mountain sprouted a very large megastructure, a sword-like skyscraper with glowing lines in its surface, that was truly massive, dwarfing the Proximans largest skyscrapers by a magnitude of atleast 20 to one, and tall enough in height to reach halfway into the stratosphere of the planet. This was merely the one observable from and nearest to the capital city, as 15 others sprouted from similar mountains around equidistant points on the planet, making a ring of 16 in total. Such a phenomena could not be missed by the Raven and the Hinoiri...... Or any other ship for that matter, considering that the 'citadels' could indeed be seen from space. Following her new orders, Marionette sprinted down the streets to where Valenti and Tavik had entered - to encounter UPSC (united proximan security coalition) international federal military forces, whom were armored in impressive black and OD green power armor, with red shoulders bearing a logo of proximan script (UPSC) and 3 yellow stars in an equilateral triangle around a white downpointed winged sword and shield. Following the appearance of the 'citadels' (which were actually the antennae of the superweapon) the UPSC were paranoidly gung-ho, and were about to storm down to the superweapon and kill anyone not having red shoulders, when Marionette arrived on scene, and was able to convince the lead officer to let her go down with the first wave. = - = - = - = (inside the superweapon chamber) 20 minutes later, the cavalry arrived; Marionette and the UPSC. Upon passing the massive first door, Marionette turned to the section leader, a Prior Ossier, according to rank and name-stripe "There are numerous Federation Personnel inside the chamber. Try not to shoot at the first thing you see."Down a similar passage, on the other side of the dome, hooting and back-and-forth conversation could be heard, as blue-jacketed proximan civilians (the separatist militias) with rigged-up weapons and ad-hoc body armor moved about. They thought they saw something in all the fog-mist, and fired into it. It was about to become far more chaotic, in 3 ..... 2 .... 1 .... <tag ; all >
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Sept 18, 2013 18:21:06 GMT
Everything seemed to blur together for a few minutes. Alex’s head continued to throb with pain as he knelt, resting his weight on the bulky device in his arms. For a few more minutes shouting and noise continued, until it finally seemed to begin to quieten. The cacophony of noise started to resolve itself into intelligible sounds and speech. It was a while before Alex realised that part of the effect was an audio distortion by the shield behind which he and the lieutenant were hidden.
Suddenly, the shield flashed orange as an over-powered phaser-blast hammered into it, sending an implosive sonic pulse towards the centre and knocking both Alex and Milyanov flat on their backs, their ears ringing and both of them with small trickles of blood dripping from their nostrils. The shield slowly disintegrated around them, but Alex was vaguely aware that it didn’t matter any more: there were no more enemies left to fight here – the Gandai had disposed of them all. They lay dead or dying twisted in ways that Alex knew could only result from extreme impact trauma.
The Gandai himself was standing, wreathed in his luminescent telekinetic energy that gave him an aura that looked almost like blue flames. Andae had his phaser trained on the alien’s chest. Both looked implacable and ready to attack. Weak as he was, Alex staggered to his feet and tried to position himself between them.
“Stop,” he said weakly, “Commander, that’s an order…you…” He considered the alien for a few seconds. “That’s a request.”
Andae lowered his phaser, looking almost confused as to how it had ended up in his hand, why it was beeping alarmingly at having been overpowered and why it was trained at the alien standing in front of him. It took him a while to fully register the alien’s presence, and Alex saw his eyes widen in shock.
“Are you –?” Andae began.
“Yes,” replied the creature simply.
“We owe him our lives, commander,” Alex said slowly, “Lieutenant Milyanov and I both.” Andae nodded.
“You…” the creature said, turning to Alex, “You do not seek destruction, but salvation. I read it in you when we touched.” It was the longest sentence that Alex had heard the Gandai speak, and he thought that the way the alien spoke English reminded him of the cadences of the African families in the East End of London during his childhood, the slow lilt of the voice, the lips and tongue moving to over-form each word, the deep, calm, reassuring tone.
“Yes. I come, we come…we come to destroy the weapon your people built – the superweapon that I think you and some of your people tried to hide from the wrong hands.”
“It is true what you say. We laboured long, and we laboured hard, to prevent this device from falling into the hands of those who would use it for evil. It was never designed to be a weapon.” He hung his head in something that seemed like aching, immeasurable sadness, and Alex felt a strong surge of empathic melancholy. These creatures obviously possessed formidable telepathy as well, to the point where those around would have latent empathy. “We were scientists, and we were charged with the protection and preservation of our race and culture. We designed this station as a gene-bank for our people – a mammoth cryo-freezing centre where we could protect and store those people in our civilisation who would be most useful when it came to rebuild.”
“But…” Alex interjected.
“But there were those in our culture, military men, soldiers and politicians, who realised that the energy produced by the device, the energy used to cryo-freeze the occupants, could be turned outward and transformed into an offensive beam weapon with the power to annihilate worlds. They begged us to change our minds and, when we would not, they took the station by force. They changed it, made their alterations, and used it for their own ends in the war. But they failed, as we always knew they would. All they brought was more death and destruction to our people – but this time by our own hands.”
“What happened then?” Andae questioned.
“Eventually, we were able to sneak a small team on board the station. They destroyed the power-key and activated the station’s warp drive. No one could trace it. It was decided by our order that we would remain on the station in cryo-sleep so that we might protect it through the ages, but we knew that it would be impossible to hide – it was also impossible, with what we had then, to destroy, so we activated certain mechanisms within the station that would attract other matter to it. It is good that our plan succeeded, although I fear that it may have succeeded a little too well.”
Alex felt vaguely like he was going to be sick. “You mean…you mean that the PLANET? This PLANET is…?”
“The ‘weapon’? Yes.”
“But…but…” Alex sank back to his knees “We can’t…” At that moment, the key in his hand glowed a violent and angry red, pulling itself from his grasp and flying towards the activation console. Alex had a split second to register that El-Kamat must have had him install a magneto-kinetic control system while he was blacked out before he dove after the key, a howl of pain and fear and rage on his lips. The Gandai also leapt towards the device to try and stop it, but with no more success than Alex – the key buried itself into the console and sank out of sight.
Instantly, systems began to come to life, engines began to whine and shake, and a furiously loud throbbing noise began to come from somewhere deep underground. Down here the shaking was bad enough, up on the surface it must have seemed like a cataclysmic earthquake. Several thuds that shook the entire room echoed around, accompanied by the hiss and whine of hydraulics and other mechanisms. The Gandai looked horrified.
“The machine is activating! The pylons are extending! Once they have all fully extended, the device will draw the energy from its core and relay it across them to form its arc-beam! We have to stop them!”
<Tag Marionette, Carl, Andae et al.>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Sept 18, 2013 21:36:19 GMT
The door to Admiral Tetsutaro's ready room opened suddenly:
"SIR .... Apologies." the Operations Manager of the USS Hiniori said suddenly, "We are picking up seismic disturbances within the planets' core ... There are numerous locations showing intense activity."
Torek and Tetsutaro followed the Lieutenant back onto the Bridge. She had already set the screen to show the most relevant information. Carl watched in fascination as sixteen 'hot-spots' erupted around the equator of the planet. But what happened next made even Torek take a step back !
The first spire, mast, whatever it could be described as, continued to rise, until it reached an incredible twenty kilometers in height ! ... Carl was dumbstruck ... Even their technology couldn't produce materials that could rise into the planets' troposphere, yet here were no less than 'SIXTEEN' of them.
"Sir. The orbital sentries are re-configuring their orbits. They are moving into equidistant positions around the main spire ... Orientation indicates their weaponry is projected outwards of the planet rather that towards the surface ?"
"Do we still have weapons lock on the facility ?" Carl asked.
"Confirmed Admiral ... Both vessels are now concentrating all available weaponry on target location."
Carl wondered for a second how Commander Wedlerson must be feeling sat in the center seat of a Star Ship,about to unleash enough power to possibly destroy not only the planet below, but quite possibly the whole system. Raven and Hiniori included !
"What the 'HELL' is going on down there." Carl said quietly, exasperation getting the better of him for a moment, but Sato placed a discrete hand on his arm and he calmed down, a little, "Can we re-establish contact with the surface teams ?"
"Negative at this time Admiral. But we do have solid tracking on our personnel." the Ops manager said, changing the image on-screen.
It was than that it dawned on Carl that should he need to prevent the final activation of the Gandai weapon, he would need to kill those closest to him ! ..........
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Sept 19, 2013 22:25:50 GMT
Inside the chamber ...Calli moved forward, the visibility making her progress painfully slow, but she knew she dare not make any rash moves. Too much depended on it now ! Every few seconds there would be some movement within the mist, a shadow, or light from a phaser blast. She was convinced now that this room had been designed to be operated remotely, there was no way any race could operate effectively in this cloying fog. So it was a given that the main controls would be at the center of the cavern ... She was about to relay her thoughts to the Cordovin when he suddenly ran past her. before she could react he was lost from sight. The momentary glow within the mist told her he had been hit. "Damn !" she said. Standing totally still, she tried to let her eyes accustom themselves to her surroundings, but it made little difference. She took a few steps forward and could make out a darkened area ahead. It was obvious she was heading in the right direction. She was about to take another step when a hand on her shoulder almost caused her to scream: "Commander. I must apologize for my late arrival." Ensign Marionette said. Calli spun on the woman, android, and almost shot her where she stood, "I was instructed to rendezvous with you and assist." Calli noticed several uniform-clad people in the gloom, each of them was firing indiscriminately into the mist: "Hold your fire .. NOW !" she hissed, "There are Federation Officers inside the chamber, along with at least 'TWO' factions of Cordovin ... Not to mention a bloody 'SUPER WEAPON' so, please, hold your fire !" Marionette stood impassively watching her as the firing ceased. "You believe we are close to our comrades Commander ?" the android asked, "If so, should we not endeavor to make our presence known ?" Calli gave it three second's worth of thought before stepping forward: "CAPTAIN WATSON ... COMMANDER MILYANOV !" she shouted, "If you can reply then do so !" she said, dropping to her knees. 'No point in giving someone a full-sized target' she thought ... grinning at the obviously confused android ..... < tag : Alex / Marionette >***************************************************** Aboard the USS Hiniori ..."Sir, President Braxxt is asking to be beamed aboard." Captain Hara said. Tetsutaro nodded, asking his Captain to escort her to his ready room. "This should be interesting." Carl commented ..... ~~~~~ "Madam President. What can we do for you ?" Sato asked. Braxxt handed a coded data-chip to Captain Hara then faced the Federation Admirals: "I have given your Officer the lock-out overrides and control protocol data for our orbital defense satellites ... It has become blatantly obvious, that Proxima has been used. By whom, i have no idea, but it is now clear that we can no longer control or dictate an acceptable outcome that would guarantee our continued well-being." "Can we target all of those spires simultaneously, using the Hiniori, the Raven, and the defense system !" Carl asked. "Our planetary defenses can lock on to all sixteen structures." Braxxt informed them, "Also, there are currently seventy six outer platforms that can be re-tasked if the need should arise." "Sir, there seem to be a total of fifty four stations in orbit, we can re-task so at least three will be targeting each spire." Hara said from the view-screen, "They can be in position in three minutes. Hiniori and Raven can cover the main spire." "Continue Captain." Tetsutaro said, looking at the Proximian President, "Why the sudden change of allegiance Madam ... Hours ago, you were more than willing to stand alone, despite the damage to your application to join the Federation ?" "We are not stupid Admiral." Braxxt said after a few moments, "Had we known of the device embedded within our planet, we would have worked to ensure it was harmless, but alas, we were ignorant ... El-Kamat misled us, and for that, we will suffer. But you must prevent this thing from happening ... The Federation is sworn to help those in need, and without sounding too, coy ... Proximia Oralix is in need." "I must commend you Madam on your insight into your, position. We will make every effort to ensure you 'still' have a planet once this situation is concluded." Tetsutaro said, turning to his Captain, "Lock all orbital defenses onto designated targets. Inform the Raven of their assigned target !" ..........
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Sept 25, 2013 0:43:57 GMT
Tilting her head and blinking android'ly, Marionette spoke. "Commander Valenti, why are you kneeling on the floor ?" Valenti answered "Target aspect minimization." As if to prove Valenti's answer, afew bolts of phaser-fire lanced within inches of the gynoid. Dropping to her hands and knees on the floor, she looked at Valenti. "I see your point, Commander."- = - = - = - On the surface, the proximan militia and proximan coalition had renewed their fighting spirit, now fueled by violently horrible desperation to save their civilization, in spite of equally violent earthquakes and the appearance of the spires. As communication with higher officers began failing, the people either took up with the Coalition, the Militia, or committed suicide in the belief that the Old Gods were returning, and that they would be born again into a new world. Those who still fought operated under the presumptions of their last issued orders, in spite of the overwhelming reason to unite and end conflict.....Even if they wouldn't live to see that night anyway.
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 25, 2013 12:37:34 GMT
OOC: Sorry it's taken me a while to respond.
Proxima Oralix stratosphere...
A horrified Betran watched the sight out of the ward room window. It was not the trailing plume of fire or the glowing hull segments of his ship visible from the portal that were causing him distress. On the far horizon - coming closer now as the ship currently on the planet's darkside drew closer to the terminator - was a line of giant structures. They reached far into the stratosphere, almost on level with his ship's current altitude, and marched away into the distance at a diagonal, fading into the mist of the new day.
He clenched his fist on the rail by the portal, "That's the equatorial line."
"Aye, sir," his first officer reported from the door on to the bridge.
"Have we heard anything from the assault team?"
"Negative. We've lost contact with Yatil and his squadron, as well as the special ops commander."
"Tahl!" the old man raised his fists to the broken ceiling. "Revert the firing process. Deactivate the mechanism now before it's too late, for you, for us, for everybody."
I'm afraid he can't hear you. The wretched bonehunter is a little preoccupied now, with the destruction of a sector of space... Betran cocked his head. He'd heard that voice before, but long, long ago. The voice broke into cackling, echoing around Betran's head as if it was the reverberation of a king's laughter in the courtroom.
Where are you? Show yourself. Q. Betran spoke inside his mind. He experienced an instantaneous flash of what was happening below on the surface, too brief to remember for more than a few seconds.
El-Kamat has been experimenting with mind control, Q began, as if by way of explanation of the incomprehensible scenes Betran had just been offered a glimpse of. He tried it with the Raven's Acting Captain and Assistant Chief Engineer, but failed on account of the former's willpower to resist the agent and the latter's lack of expertise in what he was asked to do. So Kamat took another path that's been open to him ever since he touched an artefact of your species some months ago. He's invaded the mind of the Raven's Chief Engineer, controlling it intermittently via means of dream induction and hijacking a telepathy lock.
What the hell are you talking about.
Oh of course, I forgot, there was the sound of Q slapping his forehead, Makes no difference to you. In the early days when I showed your old friend El-Kamat what was possible, I knew even then you'd never follow him. The only thing you have in common with him now is you'll soon be dead.
Betran was no longer listening. A new horror had developed, one that gave rise to hope as well as fear. Lances of phaser and plasma fire - mere pencil scratches against the infinite vacuum that were only visible courtesy of their tremendous EM output - were striking the monolithic columns arrayed along the equator. The world shook under the barrage.
Andae was rendered numb, barely aware of his actions let alone how wrong they were.
Two marines had noticed what he was doing and were heading towards him. They ducked Cordovin weapons fire, desperately covering each other as they attempted to make it across the open space of the chamber. The Raven's Chief Engineer was turning the key in the lock mechanism, twisting it through several full rotations. With each complete turn the whole mechanism - which was the architecture behind the lock, the chamber, the mist, the planet itself - spun up a further degree. Clanking of machinery resounded throughout the place with each turn, shaking people off their feet.
Inside Andae's mind a small rasp of glee had taken up. It built in his consciousness til it became a pernicious scream, scratching through his mind, resonating with something inside him. It was Kamat's voice.
One marine was hit in the crossing, but with his covering sacrifice the other made it to the control matrix. He tore Blakus away from the mechanism but on dragging the engineer to the floor, was himself shot by a Cordovin weapon.
Pushing aside the smashed ruin of the marine's head, Andae staggered to his feet, but in that instant his senses returned to him. He felt a curious sense of deja vu, realising he'd experienced this same sensation when he was released from the Torek doubt essence on Cordovin IV. He concentrated on the control matrix before him, intent on undoing his damage. The screams of the device as it spun up were continuing but had passed to a whole new level. Something was attacking it. The entire structure shook, clearly now under the barrage of weapons fire. Structures were collapsing, ceilings falling in and gantrys swinging wide across the gap in the chasm on the other side of inner chamber. Sparks filled the hall and fires licked out from cracked machinery, searing invading Proximian and beleaguered Cordovin soldiery alike.
"Sir!" Milyanov was charging towards him. As Andae began to hold up a hand the control matrix cracked and dislodged itself. The detached part - as tall as a person - shot from the wall and thumped into Andae's chest, taking him off his feet. He grunted at the impact and was thrown into a recess between the wall and a back passage leading out onto a gantry, disappearing from sight of the chamber. The screams of Kamat in his mind descended into mad utterings of denial.
<Tag All>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Sept 25, 2013 15:29:32 GMT
Aboard the Hiniori ..."Admiral, we have confirmed target lock on all spires ... Raven is standing by to fire on your command." "Thank you Captain Hara .. Please stand by." "Sato." Carl said quietly, "I'd like a word with Commander Wedlerson before we do this." Tetsutaro nodded and pointed to the ready room. As Carl sat he could see the Commander waiting on-screen: =^= Commander .. The Raven is ready ? =^= =^= Yes Sir =^= Wedlerson replied, the merest tremor in his voice. =^= If you are having probl ....... =^= =^= No Admiral .. I and the Raven are awaiting the command to fire .. It was just that this seat feels way 'TOO' big at the moment =^= =^= OK .. Right .. We're not one hundred percent sure how this will effect the planet or the atmosphere .. It's more than possible there could be a magnetic shift if the planet begins to self-destruct ! .. Be ready to warp out of orbit immediately if things don't go as planned .. I don't want the Raven caught up in the aftermath .. Do you understand Commander ? =^= =^= Warp .. Sir ? =^= =^= Harry .. If this goes wrong there will be nothing left to suffer the effects of your warp signature .. Good luck .. Torek out =^= he closed the Comm and re-entered the Bridge. he nodded to Tetsutaro as he took the Exec's seat and looked at the view-screen. "Captain Hara ... Send firing instructions to all orbital sentries, let's get those towers out of commission first off." Tetsutaro ordered. The screen lit up as lances of almost pure plasma energy began to arrow into the surface of the planet below. Even a vessel the size of the USS Huniori could feel the enormous shock-wave as gravitational fluxes expanded into the surrounding space ! "Sir ... We're picking up power fluctuations deep inside the complex holding the main weapon ..." the Duty Tactical Officer informed the Admiral, "Sir, form these readings, the epicenter of the build-up is approximately seven kilometers beneath the surface. If it explodes seismic stresses will lift the surface several hundred meters. We're looking at a subsidence crater of three point eight kilometers across, one kilometer in depth, with possible radiation issues resulting if the displaced rock does not seal the blast focal point completely." "Those co-ordinates are well below the area of the cavern containing the control complex." Carl pointed out, "We need to get our people off the surface before detonation." "Proxima Oralix Security has informed us that there is now a ten kilometer exclusion zone around the complex that has been fully evacuated." the Comms Officer informed the Bridge. "I doubt ten kilometers will be enough." the Tactical Officer said, making Tetsutaro and Torek both glance in her direction, realizing simultaneously that her assumption may well be right. "The weapon cannot be fully discharged through the spires now, so we're facing a massive implosion event, but those fighting within the complex will not know that. El-Kamat may try to fire the thing anyway, especially if he knows his options have run out, and that thing will go up seconds later." Carl said, standing and walking towards the massive view-screen, "We need to find a way to get our people out of there before that happens ... How long before the overload reaches critical Captain ?" Hara looked at the readings with the Tactical Officer: "Twenty minutes ... It has already reached and passed safe de-activation point, cascade failure is definite at this point, so even if our people 'could' get to the controls, they are useless now, Admiral." the man said. "Captain ...... Inform the Raven to expend every effort in achieving adequate transporter locks on 'ALL' personnel within the complex itself, regardless of race. We will do likewise." Admiral Tetsutaro said, watching the scene play out as seismic waves continued to stress the planet beyond anything it had ever known ... He hoped he was not watching the death-throes of a unique civilization .......... [Twenty minutes and counting everyone] < tag : ALL >
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Sept 27, 2013 3:38:44 GMT
As Marionette and Valenti crawled their way through the mists, they came to a definite structure ; a gantry leading to the inner chamber, and the Control Matrix (with Milyanov and Blakus). There was no mist to obscure the apparently bottomless chasm, as it screamed and yawned as if alive and hungry.
The gantry loudly groaned and visibly up-arched at the unbelievably absurd amounts of stress now affecting the complex. "You should go first commander, as you weigh less, Also, we should run across to minimise crossing time." Marionette said. "Good idea" Valenti agreed.
On a 3-count, Valenti set and sprinted like her life counted on it, and once she was over, now on the edge of the inner chamber, she waved to Marionette. The gynoid set and sprinted at speed, just as the gantry began to collapse and was but a mere 3 strides when the whole thing snapped like a toothpick and twisted down the chasm, apparently taking the positronic ensign with it !
(Valenti's reaction?)
After afew minutes, an auto-tuned voice spoke "Perceptions of my demise are greatly exaggerated, however, Something to climb up with would be appreciated." Marionette said nonchalantly, clinging to an under-ledge a meter below and 2 meters to the side where the gantry had been. Thank heavens for weird architecture, no ?
Finding the remains of a mounting strut, Marionette climbed up and joined Valenti on the ledge of the inner chamber, before they both continued their way in towards the control matrix.
= - = - =
Entering the Control Matrix, Marionette saw the engineer and spoke "Milyanov, do you where Blakus is ? We must depart as soon as possible."
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Sept 27, 2013 18:23:11 GMT
Aboard the Raven:
=^= Harry .. If this goes wrong there will be nothing left to suffer the effects of your warp signature .. Good luck .. Torek out =^=
=^= Yes ..... Sir =^= he replied.
He had been trying to think about not only getting a transporter lock, but how to get everyone in roughly the same place. Multiple transporter locks would be next to impossible given the continued build-up of radiation ... Then something struck him, he jumped up and left the Bridge, barely taking time to hand the Con to the Duty Operations Officer before heading for Engineering .....
~~~~~
"Is there any way we can use these pattern enhancers to boost a Comm signal ?" he asked the Lieutenant as he placed the three poles on the deck.
"I'm not sure." the woman said, pondering the devices, "We'd need to modifications to the pattern matrix emitter's , activate them 'before' we try to beam them down, there's no saying they wou ....."
"Get to it ... 'TOP PRIORITY' ... I want them ready in five minutes !" ..........
Inside the chamber:
"Whenever you're ready." she said, watching the Android make her run. She was maybe half way when the gantry collapsed beneath her ! ... Calli gasped as Marionette vanished from view. She moved to the rim in time to loose sight of the metal walkway in the depths. The Android was nowhere to be seen.
"Perceptions of my demise are greatly exaggerated. However, something to climb up with would be appreciated."
Calli sighed in relief and set to work. Ten minutes later they were in the chamber ......
~~~~~
Entering the Control Matrix, Marionette saw the engineer and spoke "Commander Milyanov, do you where Commander Blakus is. We must depart as soon as possible."
Calli could see he was looking at something to one side of the central control. Suddenly her Comm badge chirped to life:
=^= Raven to away team =^=
=^= Commander Valenti =^= she replied.
=^= Commander .. I don't have time to elaborate .. We have destroyed the emitter spires on the surface .. You need to vacate the central core .. We cannot get a transporter lock due to residual radiation .. Power feed-back is building .. The device core almost eight kilometers below your position is going into overload and there is nothing anyone can do about the impending explosion =^=
=^= Do you have any of the away team aboard ? =^=
=^= Negative .. We have been ordered to get anyone and everyone but at this point we need you away from the core =^=
=^= Can you send more transport enhancers .. I'll have them set up in the outer chamber .. Will that allow you to establish adequate locks ? =^=
=^= At this point yes .. They will be on the level above your present position .. We cannot keep a lock on your position once the Comm closes .. Be aware Commander .. The core will implode in .. Thirteen minutes plus or minus thirty seconds .. Good luck .. Raven out =^=
Calli turned to the others:
"This place is going to vanish. We need to re-group, and QUICKLY !" ..........
< tag : ALL >
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Sept 29, 2013 16:23:05 GMT
"Captain ...... Inform the Raven to expend every effort in achieving adequate transporter locks on 'ALL' personnel within the complex itself, regardless of race. We will do likewise." Tetsutaro ordered. "I think my place is on the Raven Sato." Carl said quietly, receiving a nod of agreement from the aged Admiral. Aboard the Raven:"Welcome back Admiral." the Transported Chief said as Torek stepped off the pad, "Commander Wedlerson would appreciate it if you would go to the Bridge." "Thank you Lieutenant." ~~~~~Carl couldn't help grinning as Commander Wedlerson all but leaped out of the Command seat as if he'd been electrocuted. He looked around at the crew, grateful to be back aboard his ship, and thankfully no longer in hiding. He asked a yeoman to go to his quarters and inform Chloe and the children that he was back and would see them shortly ... Then he sat down, in the center seat for the first time in a long long while: "OK Commander, bring me up to speed please." he said, listening intently to the concise report, pleased that Harry had handled himself well after being thrust into the seat unexpectedly, "So we have tentative contact with the surface team, albeit only a couple of them ... Is there any chance we can work on somethi ......" "Admiral. Cordovin Battle Cruiser on an intercept course with us !" the Tactical Officer suddenly informed them, "The Hiniori is moving to intercept." "On screen." Carl ordered quickly ... He watched as the enormous Battleship moved closer, the Hiniori matching her maneuvers to stay between them. It was obvious these were from the faction wanting Torek's death, and had chosen this point in time to make their move for him. The Tactical Officer snapped the shields into place as two other Cordovin vessels began their approach. He was about to order the Raven to turn toward the oncoming Battleship when the two newcomers opened fire, but not on the Raven, or indeed the Hiniori, but on their own vessel ! ... The fire-fight, idf you could call it that, was short. The Battleship had no hint that they were going to be fired upon, thus allowed the two ships to approach. By the time they realized their mistake it was over. The massive battleship began a slow arc towards the atmosphere of Proxima Oralix. The two ships followed, firing continuously, until the ruptured warp core gave up the fight and exploded ... What was left of the Battleship burned up as it slammed into the atmosphere ... Neither ship contacted the Raven, but climbed back to their original positions and locked weapons onto their designated targets. "Do we have a time to core detonation ?" Carl asked after a moment. "Eleven minutes." Harry said .......... OOC:
Lets try to get as much content as possible into the final moments guys 'n' gals
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 29, 2013 19:15:04 GMT
"Commander Milyanov?" the Russian replied tentatively. "Have I received a field promotion, Ensign Marionette?"
Valenti and Marionette said nothing, the latter blinking slowly. "I'm sure they beg your forgiveness, Lieutenant." The Russian looked about, mystified at the sound. It came across weak, as if it was a voice from beyond the grave. "Can you help me up? I'm not sure of the state of my legs, but I'd be willing to have a go at it. Over here!"
Now he saw it. Obscured by a mass of wreckage - the remnants of the front of the control matrix - was Andae Blakus. Only his face and part of his shoulder were visible. Valenti and Marionette had already moved away, organising the withdrawal from the central chamber. It seemed Proximians, Cordovin and Starfleet officers were temporarily reconciling to assist each other in the retreat, and the only uncooperative party was that of the Cordovin rebels of which few remained. They were boxed into a corner, partly thanks to the efforts of the Gandai, fending off their attackers with final desperate volleys of energy-projectile fire.
Milyanov ignored the sight and dived in after his Chief, who (until a few moments ago) he hadn't seen for almost a week. Blakus's limbs came into sight as the Russian got closer. He was waving them around, trying to shake loose the rubble that had closed partially over him. "Are you injured, Andae?"
"What do you think?" Andae spat blood from his mouth. "I've got half a ton of machinery pressing down on my torso and I was just floored by a UFP marine. I should be asking you, Milyanov. What did they do to you?"
A greyness fell over Milyanov; he faltered in trying to pull the wreckage off his Chief. "I don't know... We're getting out of here though. We've got just over ten minutes before the core detonates."
Andae shut his eyes in pain. "What...?" He knew it to be all his body's fault. His mind had been forced into retreat. Kamat, or at least the effects of one of his neural agents had got hold of his motor functions and coerced him into providing the final activation sequence of the apocalyptic weapon. Even though the sequence had been interrupted, it didn't make it any easier to think his actions could've been the death knell of a sector. But he wasn't alone in this complicity. Others were responsible; he had merely been the near final nail in the coffin.
"Some pattern enhancers were beamed down by the Raven to boost comm signals. We're going to be rescued as long as we can get to the outer chamber or the floor above." The Russian grimaced. "I've had enough of this." He stepped back and drew his phaser.
"No, Milyan -"
Milyanov discharged the weapon into the mass of wreckage. Andae disappeared behind a fireball, melting into Milyanov's saturated eye lenses. The dust and grit settled moments later, flames dying out; the wreckage was gone.
Parts of Andae's uniform were on fire. He was rolling around - less hurt than he'd led Milyanov to believe, or he himself had believed - doing his level best to put out the flames. He cried out a couple times but with the Russian's assistance the fires were doused. "You fool! You could've killed me."
"No time to argue now, sir." Milyanov grabbed his Chief by the arm and began to hurry them both from the chamber. They immediately found a group of marines in cover by ruined, sparking machinery near to the centre console, providing the rear guard for the last of them as they fled the chamber. Milyanov scratched his beard; it seemed the Cordovin rebels, while subdued still offered a significant threat.
"We've got ten minutes, Commander, Lieutenant," the marine sergeant shouted. Andae looked at the Cordovin rebels. "Never mind them, this chamber's on the verge of collapse." Andae nodded, indicating the sergeant lead the way. The sergeant had a corporal go ahead while he himself took up the rear, spraying pulse phaser fire back at the last Cordovin resistance.
Andae looked ahead pensively. They'd passed out of the inner chamber and had come to an intersection that was partially blocked. The floor was shaking violently. "Take the right stairwell," the sergeant shouted above the din. Andae inspected the rags of his own uniform, realising there were large holes where the fires had burnt away the fabric. Sizeable areas of bare skin were showing through.
"Are you alright?" Milyanov called back.
Andae glowered at his assistant in the darkness of the stairwell. "I'm going to kill you, Milyanov."
"Valenti, watch out!" They turned about at the alert. The leading corporal had met with Valenti's group at the top of the stairs. Andae just saw the closing Cordovin soldiers before they reached the intelligence officer. "We haven't got long!" the Sergeant shouted, reloading his rifle as the situation was diffused.
<Tag All on Surface>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Oct 1, 2013 18:40:03 GMT
"We've got ten minutes, Commander. Lieutenant." the Marine replied, watching Milyanov helping the scorched Blakus shakily to his feet. Calli could hear the Marine shouting to two of his Marines. They had picked up the unconscious Captain and were throwing his prone body over the shoulder of the larger of the two men, the other taking his weapon and aiming in two directions.
"OK ... We need to put space between us and that bloody thing. Our main issue is an exit strategy. We erm, burned the bridge we came in on, so to speak. So we'll need an alternate."
"This way Sir." the Marine sergeant said, pointing through the dissipating fog towards a doorway, "Corporal, you're on point."
The staircase was empty as the lead Marine began his rise to the upper floor. The rest followed leaving enough space to fire without hitting each other. The Corporal reached the top step and tentatively peered left and right before moving across the corridor. Putting his back to the wall he waved for the others to follow ... Unlike the chamber below, the corridor was thick with cloying fog, reducing visibility to maybe two meters at best. The Marine's head was darting back and forth trying to scan each direction simultaneously. The marine looked left as Calli reached the top step, the Cordovin came at her from the right !
"VALENTI ... Watch out !" the man shouted as the first of the Cordovin soldiers opened fire. She hit the deck instantly, rolling away from the stairs and firing blind into the fog. Marionette and the Marine Sergeant hit the top step firing along the corridor, the others following in rapid succession ... The enhanced visual capabilities of the Marine helping her find a target with each shot. Milyanov, on one knee looked down as his phaser misfired suddenly, the Cordovin was on him instantly.
Calli saw the Russian go down and spun her phaser in his direction. Taking less than a second to aim, she fired. The Cordovin vanished down the corridor, leaving Milyanov wide-eyed but safe. They finished off the assault quickly from then.
"We haven't got long ... We 'should' be heading in that direction ...." the Sergeant said, pointing in the direction their erstwhile company had come from, "But it's a given that there are more down there than we can handle. We'll need to detour." he finished, looking at the two Senior Officers.
"How long will it take ?" Calli asked.
The Marine didn't look ruffled as he quickly worked out the time they would need to circumnavigate the chamber below. It was over a kilometer in diameter, but thankfully, they didn't need a room directly opposite, or it would have been more prudent to just go back down and take their chances crossing the chamber floor.
"In these conditions .... With no further guest appearances." he finally said, taking a few seconds to double-check his estimate, "Twelve minutes, and we'll need at least 'one' of them to set up the enhancers."
"You have eight !" Calli replied, heading into the fog ..........
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Oct 4, 2013 7:32:12 GMT
Andae glowered at his assistant in the darkness of the stairwell. "I'm going to kill you, Milyanov." Marionette commented on that " The Lieutenants demise would not be productive at this time." Several pairs of eyes rolled, and the Marine next to her face-palmed and tittered out a giggle.
Marionette and the Marine Sergeant both hit the top step firing along the corridor, hitting left/right and high/low. Marionette would have made a fine Starfleet Marine, as her crackshot aiming skills were second to none, but, the gynoid aspired to the eventual command of a starship, among many other things.
If they kept going at that pace that was achieve in that minute, they would probably have 30 seconds to spare. If not, they may need to slog through at a dead-run pace, set up the enhancers while under fire, and hope they could make a last stand long enough to be beamed out and not die in the process.
Marionette calculated in the span of point-7 seconds that the latter outcome was 57 percent more likely, with another 63 percent chance that they would take atleast 5 casualties between t-minus 12 seconds before beam-out, and actual beam-out. The situation was..... dismal, according to the definition. She also calculated that it was 72 percent unsocial to actually verbalise all this, and so concluded that she should just shut up and keep firing, until they actually get there, beam out, and get away from Proxima Oralix altogether.
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Oct 5, 2013 16:08:45 GMT
Andae helped the shaken Milyanov to his feet, dusting down his subordinate who had nearly been swamped and killed thanks to a misfiring phaser. "Here, take mine," a marine to their side pulled his phaser from its holster and threw it across to the Russian.
"Thanks," Milyanov muttered, scampering forward to some cover that protruded into the passageway. The way seemed clear of Cordovin but they couldn't assume that would remain the case.
"The chamber is near circular. If it's approximately more than a kilometre across then it's about 3.5 kilometres in circumference. That makes the beam out point just over a kilometre away from our current position," Andae looked over at Calli and the marine sergeant.
Calli seemed exasperated, possibly annoyed that Andae had pointed this out. Either she considered what he'd said to be obvious, or her reaction was the result of realisation at how far they had to go. Andae imagined it was the former, since Marionette had already pointed out how long in minutes it would take.
A crashing from the chamber below stole their attention. The luminescent glow from the inner chamber had started up again. Perhaps the Gandai had reactivated his shield. Hopefully, Andae thought. He didn't want to know the alternative of what could be causing it. Unfortunately he found out a second later.
The chamber was shaking as it had never shaken before. The column that exited the top surface of the inner chamber came loose from the pylons connecting it to the ceiling and plummeted into the hole in the inner room's domed top. It came down as if it was an old building in the process of being demolished, straight and without deviation, rubble and smoke and dust billowing out in all directions.
Andae held on to the wall for support, but even that seemed an uncertain handhold. "Run!" Calli shouted above the tumult, her words nearly lost like a sailor's among waves on the high sea.
They surged forwards, stumbling with the vibrations rattling through the floor, and a hole was rent in the passageway ahead of them. A marine screamed as he fell into the gap, at the last second trying to make the jump but lacking the sufficient momentum to carry him across. Milyanov was next. He let out a yelp of surprise, teetering on the edge; he grabbed for a piece of piping that'd swung loose from the ceiling, and swung in uncontrolled fashion over the gap with his arms wrapped around the tubing in a poor imitation of Tarzan. The piping was too long and arced from the wrong central point. He clunked into a wall of the level below, still holding the piping and dangling there scrabbling for a footing.
It became apparent that what'd opened up before them was in fact a deep chasm. Andae surmised that the main pit undercut some of the levels, so that parts of the underground complex were built 'on top' of the chasm. There was, he saw, a narrow gap along the side of the corridor where the team should be able to pass. "You first," he nodded to the marine corporal. Without a second glance the corporal complied, edging his way along the narrow part of remaining flooring. The rest followed. Hopefully from the other side, they would be able to pull the beleaguered assistant engineer up from the lower level.
"We've got six, maybe seven damn minutes!" Blakus shouted, hand on his head as he looked back and forth from Milyanov to the passageway leading towards the beam out coordinates.
<Tag All>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,160
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Post by Carl Torek on Oct 6, 2013 20:31:42 GMT
Aboard the Hiniori:"Captain, please send out a general transmission to all vessels foolishly remaining in orbit ... They are to depart immediately and rendezvous outside the system." "Yes Admiral." Hara said, nodding to the Comms Officer. "Has anyone reached the Raven's beam-out location yet ?" the aged Admiral said, looking worriedly at the view-screen. "No confirmation Admiral. Our scans have located over seventy life-signs, we can only assume that some of those are our people, but interference is preventing us from locating individual Star Fleet Personnel." ...... Aboard the Raven:"Sir, the last ships are leaving orbit." Wedlerson informed Carl. "Thank you." Torek said, watching the increasing seismic activity wreaking havoc below. He felt helpless, and essentially, he was just that ... There was no way the Raven could get a lock on those inside the complex without the help of the transport enhancers. They were very much on their own down there ... he looked at the countdown above the view-screen: ... 00:06:47 ... Carl got up from the Command seat and walked over to Wedlerson at Opps: "Commander, if we were to reduce our orbit ....." he began as Wedlerson turned to face him full of sudden concern, "I'm not saying go into the atmosphere, but how long could we hold an orbit if we were to drop down, and could we improve the chances of beaming the team out if we did ?" Harry knew full well that the Admiral already knew the answer to his question, but replied as requested: "We're currently thirty five thousand kilometers above sea level Sir, we can reduce our relative height above the complex by, maybe four thousand kilometers maximum, if we drop our orbit any further, we loose the Clark orbit, the geosynchronous equilateral positioning. Greater gravitational pull will force us into a transitional orbital path. There's pretty much a zero chance we could be above the beam out point in the time-frame available to us, Sir." Carl watched the planet below for a long moment. "It wasn't an exam question Commander." Carl said, grinning, "But thank you for the in-depth explanation." "OK ... Helm ... Reduce our speed enough to keep us in our present orbit, but drop us behind the facility until the complex is almost on the horizon.... At 'T' minus thirty seconds I want you to increase speed and drop us into the upper atmosphere. I want the ship above the complex moving slow enough to give us time to snatch everyone quickly 'AND' get out of low orbit before we go up in smoke ... Oh, and Lieutenant, don't mess this up." he said returning to his seat, "Harry, inform the Hiniori of our plans." he said, looking at the clock. ... 00:05:31 ...
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Oct 8, 2013 19:10:55 GMT
Calli heard the scream ahead of her, but the cloying mist obscured her vision. As she moved forward she saw something swing in a wide downward arc ... It was Lieutenant Milyanov !
As she cautiously approached the railing, she could see him hanging above a seemingly bottomless drop. Ahead, Blakus was dividing his attention to Milyanov as he began to tentatively climb hand over hand up the slippery piping, and the remainder of the walkway. He tapped a Marine on the shoulder, told him to traverse the gap, carefully ...
"We've got SIX, maybe SEVEN damn minutes !" Andae shouted over the ever growing din. Each of the team put their back against the wall and shuffled across the gap, Milyanov finally made it back to their level as Marionette reached down to help him onto firm ground. No sooner had they congratulated themselves when phaser-fire slammed into the wall's around them.
'Here we go again' Calli thought as she threw herself against the far wall and opened fire. Two valuable minutes were exhausted clearing their path yet again, and they began to move toward the room they needed to be in .....
Twice they were slowed by open doorways, making the Marine's check the room was clear before they could pass the threshold. Luck was on their side each time so they quickly reached their goal ... The Marine Sergeant put his head around the door and dove back out. Raising his right fist to halt their progress ... He turned to face the group and pointed to the room before kneeling. He took a small mirror from one pocket and slowly extended his arm. A moment later he turned:
"Eight ..... Cordovin." he said to Calli and Andae.
"The pattern enhancers ?" Calli asked.
"Middle of the room. The Cordovin seem to be deciding on what to do with them." the Sergeant said, already checking the charge on his phaser, the other three Marines following suit, "Given the limited time-frame, I think my men and I should go in. There are going to be casualties. We need to clear that room inside three minutes to allow time to set up." the fourth Marine lowered Captain Watson to the ground and placed him against the wall away from the door before checking retrieving his weapon.
Calli knew when to cede, and this situation was something the Marines trained for constantly, she took the mirror and checked the room herself, the Sergeant was correct. Her main worry was that most of the Cordovin were facing the door they needed to pass through, and were within two meters of their equipment. Too close, in her estimation, so she voiced her concerns:
"We need them away from the enhancers ..... One stray hit and it's going to get very warm very quickly !" She looked around the corridor. Ensign Marionette, move the Captain back a little. Everyone, get against the far wall ..... Ready."
The Marines knelt and took up firing positions, as did the remaining Star Fleet Officers. Calli ripped her tunic and wiped blood from a cut on her thigh on her face. Taking a breath, she threw herself to the floor, partially in the doorway, then screamed ! ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,447
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Post by Andae Blakus on Oct 10, 2013 11:50:57 GMT
Blakus pulled Milyanov up for the second time in as many minutes, this time from the bottomless chasm that'd opened up in the floor. They ran as much as they could for the remaining kilometre distance to the coordinates - although it wasn't always possible as they had to take diversions from the circular path. After much toil they arrived outside the room that contained the pattern enhancers.
There was an octet of Cordovin soldiers inside, presumably rebels. Blakus held his phaser at the ready and took up a position near the rear in order to watch the captain. He was second-in-command here, despite Calli's proactive role. The intel officer devised a tactic without much consultation and threw herself in front of the open doorway.
He watched as two of the Cordovin soldiers stopped fussing over the pattern enhancers and came over to the doorway. One stooped to check on Calli, when in a sharp motion that caught everyone by surprise, she 'came back to life' and kicked him hard in the groin. He moaned and went down as his comrade brought his weapon up, and then the UFP marines revealed themselves. Two to either side of the door rolled in coming to crouching positions, and fired their rifles at the nearest rebels.
The other rebels were disorganised, too unexpecting of the attack to form any real resistance, with the exception of one. Andae spotted the soldier near the back, his/her head fully enclosed by a black helmet with some sort of circuitry appended to the side and attached at the temple. The soldier crouched and touched his/her hand to the device. Andae looked around; the room was slowly filling with a pervasive electric charge. His field of sight seemed to distort and all his hairs stood on end. Something was building.
"I think it's a good idea we get out of here..." Milyanov commented by his side.
Blakus scratched his hair, feeling the static charge crackling among the follicles. "I believe that to be a wise assessment, Lieutenant."
=/\= Raven to away team. We have moved to a lower orbit and are moving towards the facility... We have a small window in which to make this work. You have four and a half minutes by our reckoning, away team. Raven out. =/\=
There was no time to respond and the ship had rightly recognised that. Communication was limited, with the enhancers they'd already been sent specially modified for interplanetary comms, but it was certainly useful.
The marines continued subduing the Cordovin soldiery, having lost none of their own for the incapacitation of four of the eight Cordovin in return, but Blakus was worried about the device-wielding Cordovin in the corner. The marines had recognised the soldier's importance but he/she was being covered by the remaining rebels, making it impossible for them to get a line of sight to fire.
The sergeant was yelling himself hoarse. "Corporal! Bring that one down! Whatever means necess-"
Something racheted up in intensity, a building quantised electric squeal that abruptly 'zipped' across the room. They'd encountered this before on Cordovin IV, Blakus realised, when Kamat himself had come to the chamber containing the blue stone and... deactivated all of the Raven team's beam weaponry. "The pattern enhancers," he croaked, feeling the parched throat and blocked sinuses that was the result of the electric discharge. "Get to the damn pattern enhancers."
He slipped over on blood spilt from a Cordovin soldier, as he tried to amble forward to the next part of cover. The Cordovin, having been aware of their colleague's impending attack, now brandished hand-to-hand weapons - long carved daggers. One of which Blakus immediately recognised from his prone position on the floor. That dagger form, the serrated edge. The assassin! The one that'd plagued the Raven, the one that Blakus had nearly disposed of on the doomed Cordovin frigate over Zennai Epsa, but whom had escaped in an impeccably-timed long range transportation, and the one who stood at Kamat's right side (the despot now in orbit).
Steel came to Blakus's eyes, steel ringed with scarlet as the eyes had become bloodshot from the energy weapon nullifier. He would end that assassin, or else see him in a Federation prison. That said, he might end up in Federation prison after all that'd passed in the last few months...
<Tag All Surface Team>
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