Aeryn Tavik
Command Staff ..
Members Representative
Lieutenant Colonel
Registered: Sept 9, 2010 12:14:15 GMT
Posts: 95
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Post by Aeryn Tavik on Aug 20, 2012 6:50:36 GMT
Aeryn awoke to the yellow alert call. She had finally taken the time to get some sleep, if for only a few hours. It would be enough to get herself energized to continue the search effort. She felt as though she was looking for a needle in a haystack. In reality, it was worse than that. This foe was literally invisible to every form of scan and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't come up with a single idea as to how they were going to apprehend the intruder. Aeryn had caught her nap in the marine headquarters. She was alone in her office, but there were two marines posted at the entrance as well as two working the security and sensor consoles. The rest of the marine detachment were spread out around the ship, working in shifts. Most were on guard duty, with primary focus on main engineering, the bridge, crew quarters, and sickbay. There were multiple teams set up in such a fashion that if one team went down, at least two other teams would see whatever happened. All parts of the ship that were not a neccessity were sealed off and depressurized. No one could get in or out, and in the random chance they did, they would not last long.
Aeryn began her new round. A usual round in this circumstance was attended by two marine personnel and more or less circumnavigated each deck that was currently accessible. A full standard round took approximately fifty five minutes, and included a check in at each security post located at the main turbolift as well as at each department operation center. She also would check in with the team in charge of Commodore Torek. At this point, his safety was paramount, just as much as the safety of the ship. Aeryn knew the Commodore would argue that the ship was more important, but to Aeryn, the ship included the Captain and as such, he was of paramount importance, just like everyone else.
Making her way though engineering and through sickbay, Aeryn finally reached the crew decks, quickly making her way to Commodore Torek's room. She planned to make a quick check in with the commodore, just to make sure he was comfortable. It was not only simple courtesy, but it would make her feel more secure knowing he was safe. She rounded the corridor and came into view of the door to his suite. There were no guards posted at his door, as there should have been. She knew she had just awakened, but she went to a wall display just to be sure. As she confirmed she was on the right deck, she drew her holstered side arm. Aeryn eyed the two marines with her and they took up positions on either side of the door, facing down each end of the corridor. Aeryn had been forced to post two other marines to his door, completely against her better judgement. It was for precisely this reason she didn't want the commodore leaving his quarters. She walked up to the door and overrode the lock.
The door swished open and Aeryn pointed the weapon forward, entering the room. Almost immediately, a woman walked out of the room.
"That was fas..." she stopped short as her eyes widened, seeing the major. Aeryn brought her finger up to her mouth, silencing the woman as she began to search the cabin. She silently searched all the rooms in the cabin, and when she was satisfied (or the best she could be) she walked back to the main room.
"Where is the Commodore?" she asked fervantly.
Obviously confused, the woman replied, "I think he went to the bridge."
Aeryn rolled her eyes. "Are you all okay? Has there been any commotion?"
"Not to my knowledge. He left and no one has come round since, until you of course."
Aeryn considered what she currently knew.
"What's going on?" the woman asked.
"I don't know. Maybe nothing. If anything out of the ordinary happens, please inform me immediately."
As the woman nodded, Aeryn left the room. The two marines looked at her expecting orders. "Stay here. Check in every twenty minutes until I say otherwise."
"Understood."
Aeryn made her way to the bridge, getting more and more agitated as she walked each step.
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(Main Bridge-At the end of the ready room meeting)
The turbolift doors opened and Aeryn stepped out of the lift. She scanned the bridge, not seeing Commodore Torek. It was obvious that she was angry as shown by Commander Wedlerson, who currently commanded te bridge. "Where the hell is Torek?"
"He's in the ready room," Harry said, somewhat quietly.
"Unbelieveable." She started walking down the ramp, seeing the two marines. "Who the hell gave you the authority to release Commodore Torek from his quarters?" she asked interrogitively.
"Commander Valenti, Major."
"And you let her do it?" Aeryn asked interrogatively. "What part of don't let anyone in or out of that door don't you understand?"
"Major, it was Commander Valenti's authorization. I thought she...." the young marine trailed off.
"You thought what, Corporal? That Commander Valenti outranked me? Never mind that. Do you have any idea that you have just endangered the life of Commodore Torek? There is a reason he is in his quarters. An attempt has been made on all of the senior staff. And where are Privates Smith and Weston? They might as well have left the door wide op..." she trailed off, her brain going into overdrive. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Aeryn went back over everything she had done in the last hour. Every inch of every round passed through her head in an instant. She remembered passing on every deck, checking in at every command post. She remembered stepping in and investigating the Commodore's quarters and fuming as she went up to the bridge. She remembered scanning every single person on the bridge, the seniormost officers of each departments the only ones allowed out of their rooms. She thought about all of their appearances, thinking what might be unusual about them. She focused in on the far science station. Something was wrong there. She remembered he had appeared to be working as normal. But there was something else...something there but...in the background, comepletely unimportant. She remembered what was behind the officer.
Aeryn quietly said to the marines, "Draw your weapons. The intruder is on the bridge."
"How do you know?"
"Look at the other turbolift."
Both marines looked at the turbolift. It was open!
What came next was something even Aeryn wasn't prepared for. Out of nowhere, her shoulder burst into pain as something pierced deep into her skin and muscle tissue. She brought her arm up instinctively and shot three blasts in front of her, but by this point, it was simply her body reacting to an invisible force. The two marines behind her shot a few blasts in all directions, but hit nothing but bulkheads. Only moments later, both lay in a pool of their own blood. Shots from hand phasers came from all directions, shooting over Aeryn's head. Some impacted the wall, but others hit some transparent thing. There was a flash of electrical current.
Aeryn, from her position laying on the floor, looked at the electrical illusion in front of her and for the first time she caught the briefest glimpse of her assailant, but just as soon as he had appeared, he vanished. Moments later, the turbolift doors closed and the bridge was quiet. Aeryn looked down at her left shoulder. A jagged cut knife had sliced her shoulder open, a deep cut had been made in her trapezius muscle. Unknown to her, the muscle had been cut into two pieces. Blood gushed out of her shoulder.
The last thing she saw was the Commodore kneeling over her, shouting something at her.
All went black....
(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 Aug 24, 2012 12:02:48 GMT
"If I remember rightly ...." Torek began, looking more closely at the system information, "Zennai Three and Four are heavily populated ...There is, or was, a duranium refining complex, massive place, on Zennai Two, a small city sprang up to accommodate the workforce, and all that goes with it." he finished, shrugging.
Then I think we need to get to the surface and begin an investi ......" Alex began, but was interrupted by alarms sounding signifying weapons fire on the Bridge. All three quickly collected phasers and headed for the door ... The Bridge was in chaos, people seemed to be shooting blindly but Calli couldn't see anything, or anyone, to target. She felt Torek behind her, raising a phaser he'd acquired, but a Security Officer jumped between them. He slammed against the Commodore and pushed him backwards out of the line of fire.
"COMPUTER .. Seal ready ro ..." the man shouted over the commotion as blood suddenly gushed from a neck wound. He clamped his hand to his neck to stem the flow, but it was already too late. He was dead before he hit the deck plates ...
Calli watched as Aeryn fell and tried to 'guess' where the invisible assailant could be moving to. She fired a wide-angle beam hoping to catch something, but it was in vain. As suddenly as it had started, the commotion was over and the Bridge fell silent. Torek stepped out of the ready room and looked at the carnage.
"Alex, Calli ... Are you both OK ?" he asked quickly, looking at the body of the Security Officer that had saved his life. Both confirmed they were unhurt, but that wasn't the case for the Senior Marine Officer. She was lying in an expanding pool of blood on the deck in front of the Command area. She had a deep cut through her shoulder. A medic worked quickly to hold off blood loss, but Calli and Torek could see that the muscle spanning her shoulder was severed completely. The Marine was in a bad way but she would recover once the muscle and surrounding tissue were repaired.
"Secure the Bridge !" Watson ordered, "Albeit a little damn late." he finished in a whisper as he looked at the dead and injured.
"How the HELL are we going to get this killer !" Calli said, exasperation in every word.
Carl knelt next to Aeryn as the medic worked on her arm. He was trying to reassure her, but it fell on deaf ears as the Marine slipped into unconsciousness. The medic reassured Torek that he had sedated her so they could work on the laceration. Moments later they had her on an anti-grav' stretcher and were taking her to Sick-bay.
Calli looked around the blood-soaked Bridge of the Raven. Crewmen were already cleaning away the life giving liquid. She looked at Torek.
"Computer. Initiate site to site transport. Lock on to Commodore Torek. Transport to his quarters ... ENERGIZE !"
Before he could argue, Carl vanished from the Bridge, and Calli ordered the Marine 'second in Command' to assign an additional two Officers to the Commodores quarters .. Two assigned to the door and two to secure the corridor.
"Computer ... Confirm all force-fields surrounding the Commodore's quarters are intact." the computer confirmed that Torek was effectively sealed in his own cocoon, Calli sighed, "I made a mistake allowing Carl to leave his quarters. We could have lost him."
"You had no idea the assassin had managed to get to the Bridge. Why would he need to, he was causing enough confusion without possibly getting himself trapped up here." Alex said, assigning no blame to her.
"So what now ?" Calli asked ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Aug 24, 2012 18:22:10 GMT
"We're going to have to kill him, somehow," Blakus said bluntly. He'd turned from the engineering console at the bridge's rear. Blood stained his fingers where a stray shot from the assassin had caught him. A sharp burst of white light had streaked across the bridge moments before the attacker vanished, interspersed amongst the phaser beams; Andae hadn't realised it had lanced across his hand 'til the carnage was over.
"I still have my tachyon detector," he stated, "If I can refine it I might be able to pinpoint his location, but it's going to take some work."
The Raven was heading into the Zennai Epsa system, on a course towards the inner populated planets. The Cordovin chasers - as far as Andae was aware - were still following them, treading after them like ghosts. In the absence of any naturally-obscuring physical phenomena, their best bet was to obscure themselves behind one of the planets, preferably an inhabitated one.
"Maybe we should depressurise every deck," he suggested, "Get everyone locked in quarters and void all passageways and critical areas... engineering, deflector control, sickbay. We know he's not on the bridge so we can remain here."
"The only issue is if he's in somebody's quarters," somebody said.
"We can't be sure that he's not in one of them," Andae nodded his head thoughtfully, "But it can only help."
His mind was suddenly jammed into another fugue, his short-term memory receding to nothingness as he lost all comprehension of the sensorial stimuli around him. Fifteen minutes it persisted, during which he worked at his station, the other bridge crew seemingly oblivious to his plight. Andae came out of it, not being aware that fifteen minutes had passed, nor being aware of the sight of armageddon that'd passed across his mind's eye during the blackout.
He turned, "If we could just -" and his words stuck in his throat. The bridge was in chaos. Arterial blood the colour of burning roses decorated the upper deck. Crewmembers were picking up the pieces, tending to the injured, trying to douse flames at sparking consoles. The assassin had struck again.
"Lock the bridge down. Lock everything down!" Calli was shouting. People were glaring at the turbolift, phasers that'd been pointing there just now lowering to their sides. It seemed their assailant had just left. Or perhaps he was still present, in the shadows, waiting to pounce again.
Andae was still in shock, the fugue sliding away from his mind in unsubtle shunts of beclouded memory. The first time this had happened he'd 'woken up' in the ready room, and as soon as he'd made it back to the bridge the shooting had begun. Aeryn had been pierced through the shoulder; a security officer had died, and then others. This time it seemed as if half the bridge crew had been taken out.
Apparently they had lost the ability to manipulate the thrusters; rotational, translational or thrust. They were drifting into the system with only directed impulse as the tool with which to change momentum vector.
"I recommend transporting to Zennai Epsa III or IV," Andae said suddenly, the words coming quite unbidden, "We need to get off this ship before any more damage is done. We can mask ourselves from the Cordovin."
<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 Aug 29, 2012 14:15:37 GMT
The battle was over before it even began. Even Marionette, with her android reflexes, was not fast enough to avoid being damaged by the assassins incoming assault.
Marionette had a long sleek gash running across her face and left arm that had tinted black from the biotic hydro-fluid. It was a lucky thing that her synth-skin had been able to hermetically seal itself, reducing what would have been gushing bio-fluid, to a mere trickle.
The Console however, was another matter;The Helm/Navigations console had been sliced off-center in half. It was otherwise completely useless, save for the navigation sensor display, and the cluster of impulse sequencer buttons.
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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 Aug 30, 2012 14:11:29 GMT
Three of the senior Officers, Acting Captain Watson, Commander Blakus, and Commander Valenti, were stood to one side of the Bridge. Medics had treated their injuries and had moved on to removing the dead and injured.
One man did this ........" Calli said, looking around the bloodstained and phaser-blasted Bridge. The gleaming, almost sterile look had all but vanished. Replaced by pockmarked walls, slashed seating, damaged consoles ... Helm had taken the worst damage, Calli couldn't, no, wouldn't believe that a single knife attack had caused the damage. The assailant must be carrying some sort of modified laser-scalpel, but bigger !
"Ensign Marionette ..." Calli said, waiting for the android to approach the group, Status of the Helm ?" watching Blakus shaking his head at what he was looking at.
"The console has been sliced off-center in half. Save for the navigation sensor display, and the cluster of impulse sequencer buttons, the station is completely useless at this point in time. I could sta ......" the android began, but Blakus cut her off.
"You can reconfigure auxiliary station two up there to helm / navigation layout. You can fly the ship from there while the repairs are carried out." he said, pointing to the upper section of the Bridge, ".... You can oversee the repairs to your station if you will Ensign. No fancy modifications understand, get it back up and running that's all. Panels we can change, we certainly don't have the time to start fabricating a helm from scratch, so it will need replacing completely once we return to Star-base forty seven. I'll see what else he's managed to destroy." Andae finished, looking at the deep slash across the Captain's chair before beginning a slow walk of the Bridge to see what needed to be done.
Calli thought the android was about to disagree, but she turned and walked to a vacant station and got to work.
"We need to start thinking about going after this assassin Captain." she said quietly, then louder, "Secondly ... Information ... We're getting nowhere fast up here, and I do agree with Commander Blakus re concealing the Raven. The Cordovin vessels are still on the outer edge of our sensors and don't look in any hurry to come any closer ... To be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if they want El'Kamat as much as we do and are letting us do the donkey work." ..........
< tag : Captain / All >
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 27, 2024 2:30:32 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2012 2:12:48 GMT
Harry couldn't believe what had happened. The bridge was in disarray due to a single man with a knife and a bunch of phaser fire. He also felt the astonishment knowing that only one man did this. All of this. While most of the senior staff and several other crewmen worked on the bridge to get it back in working order, Harry escorted the medical team carrying Major Tavik to sickbay. She had a heavy laceration on her shoulder. Thankfully, the team on the bridge stopped the bleeding and would be able to deliver her to the doctor in sickbay without too much trouble.
As they reached sickbay, they immediately got Tavik up on the surgical bed and the doctor got to work. He repaired the internal injuries and cleaned the outer wound to repair it. Tavik lost a little more blood, but once the doctor was finished, they set her up to get a blood transfusion and the doctor moved on. Tavik's color started returning to her face, which was of course a good sign. She started to stir, but went back to sleep. Harry watched her sleep for a bit, but was interrupted by the comm.
=/\= Bridge to Wedlerson.=/\=
He tapped his comm badge. "Go ahead."
=/\= How's Tavik? =/\=
"She'll be fine. They cleaned up the wound and got her fixed up. She is currently recovering from a blood transfusion."
=/\= Very well. We need you up here. Apparently the are areas all over the ship that have been hit. We'll brief you when you get up here.=/\=
"Alright, I'm on my way." Harry turned to the nurse. "Let me know when she wakes up, please."
The nurse nodded and Harry took one last look at Tavik, feeling a rush of warmth go over him. He left sickbay.
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 5, 2012 1:54:47 GMT
Lieutenants Taylor and Milyanov were vying for control of engineering in the CEO's absence. By rights Milyanov should be in charge - and he didn't hesitate to remind Taylor of that - but regarding their next course of action Taylor had most of the engineers on her side, and thus it was a stalemate.
They'd shouted at each other and then gone off in a huff. Now Taylor was doing her best to direct the engineers around the warp core, while Milyanov and a few others had gone sulking to the darkness of the upper level.
"You could always call the Chief, sir," Milyanov's main supporter offered.
Milyanov was hunched over the main upper level console. "I'm not going crying to the big guy. Anyway, no point... He'd probably support Taylor. And he's busy playing Captain, so let him enjoy his fun while it lasts. We need to figure out how we can help Mr Peers detect those Cordovin craft."
"We can see the Cordovin, I think, sir..." the assistant frowned, "They're following us on the edge of sensor range."
"Not those Cordovin craft, Ensign," the Russian chided, "The ones ahead of us. They might even be in this system for crying out loud. I think it would be prudent to find a method of detecting cloaked Cordovin ships before we go any further, don't you? A modification of Blakus's tachyon detector should be possible."
"Sir, we haven't been able to find the cloaked assassin with that detector. How are we going to detect a whole starship?"
"Commander Peers," Milyanov addressed the bridge, "Set your scanners to the following frequency... I'm sending it to your console. It should help detect any cloaked Cordovin ships that might be in the region ahead of us."
<Tag T'Brel>
He closed the channel and turned to the Ensign beside him, "It should be easier if anything..." He trailed off as something caught his eye on the lower level, down by the dilithium chamber. A flash, a perturbation of something passing by the upper set of magnetic constrictors. Lieutenant Taylor was standing nearby the chamber, working the master console.
Realisation gripped the Russian, "Taylor! Stand back, now!"
His warning was slightly too late. Something tore across Taylor's chest, leaving a slash of red; she flew back, hitting the deck with a thud. Blurry suggestions of motion slithered through engineering, bursts of light leaving engineers sprawling in their wake. Then a phaser shot - almost out of place amongst the white flashes - cut in angularly from the other side of the warp core. Milyanov's face broke in confusion and fury. The phaser missed its target, striking the reaction chamber.
'Warning, dilithium intermix misalignment detected.'
"I knew it... You idiot!" he shouted down the other side of the warp core.
The doors to engineering slid calmly open, allowing the invisible assassin to exit the room. Milyanov twisted around, aiming his phaser, but it was too late - the assassin was gone again. He quickly assessed the reaction chamber's containment; luckily he found that the intermix was easily stabilised. There shouldn't be any lasting damage. "Is she alright?" he asked, looking down with concern to the prone form of Taylor. Ensign Darwin cradled the Lieutenant's head and looked up at Milyanov uncertainly.
<All>
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Aeryn Tavik
Command Staff ..
Members Representative
Lieutenant Colonel
Registered: Sept 9, 2010 12:14:15 GMT
Posts: 95
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Post by Aeryn Tavik on Sept 6, 2012 4:31:04 GMT
In a wispy whiteness, Aeryn felt bliss. As if flying, she was weightless. She felt no pain. Opening her eyes, Aeryn looked around her and saw clouds. Through the clouds, she saw the rays of a sun and felt its warmth. She smiled and inhaled deeply. The air running through her nose was sweet, an almost sensual feeling. She soaked it all up until something off in the horizon caught her eye. It was a small speck, not quite visible, but she could tell it was coming towards her, very slowly. As it came towards her, the clouds behind the figure began to darken. The figure picked up speed and grew larger to Aeryn's vision. She tried to look away, but found herself frozen in place. She could look nowhere, not even able to move her eyes to one way or the other. The figure grew and the clouds surrounding it darkened and became full of electricity. The lightning crashed around the figure as it grew to the point of Aeryn recognizing it. It was a face!...
Aeryn inhaled deeply and the rush of emotion stopped as she zeroed in on the moment. The darkness turned back into light and her eyes refocused on what was around her. She realized she was where she was supposed to be: in sickbay. The thoughts of the bridge scene ran through her mind again and again, each time more angering than the last. She noticed that she had been kept relatively well, but the pain in her shoulder was great. She looked at the place where the wound had been, knowing full well that when she removed the covering, it would reveal a perfectly healed wound. No one had come up to her, to her contentment. She slowly arose from the bed, a little groggy, but otherwise functional. She tried move her arm and was slightly surprised at the result. She had most of the range of motion. It had obviously been a clean cut and while it had severed something in her shoulder, it was working well enough to deal with the problem. It was incredibly sore, but that would not stop her from doing her duty.
Finally realizing that Aeryn was awake, the nurse ran over to her. "You need to lie down!"
Aeryn continued on towards the door.
"Major..!" The nurse looked around frantically. "Doctor!" but by the time he came round, Aeryn was already out the door, dressing down the marines standing outside who had attempted to get in her way. She yelled at them, quoting some phrase from history. The doctor came rushing out.
"I'm not in the mood."
"Major Tavik, as Chief Medical Officer, I order you to return to bed," the doctor ordered forcefully.
Aeryn stopped abruptly. She turned around and held one finger up. "One, I don't have to recognize your authority." The other finger went up. "Two, I would love to see you make me." And with that, she turned back around and made her way to her quarters, sure that the doctor was contacting the bridge.
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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 6, 2012 16:16:18 GMT
Calli sat next to the Acting Captain. She had been watching Alex closely, and her concern about his leaving sick-bay too quickly seemed to be justified.
"Alex ..." she said, leaning in close so as not to be overheard, "I think you should go down to sick-bay and let the Doctor check you out. You are as pale as the hull plating and are obviously suffering a little ... Go on, I'll get us into orbit and by then you should be good to go."
The Captain looked at her for a moment. Realizing Calli had his well-being in the forefront of her suggestion, he nodded.
"You have the Bridge. Inform me once we achieve orbit ... Given the options I'll leave the choice of location to you OK." Calli watched the man walk toward the turbo-lift and nodded to two of the remaining Marines. Both filed into the lift with Watson.
"Helm, make our speed full impulse and head for Zennai Three." she was about to contact sick-bay to inform the Doctor of Watson's pending arrival, when the Comm chirped to life:
=^= Sick-bay to Bridge =^=
=^= Go ahead Doctor =^=
Calli sat in silence while he explained the Senior Marines' departure and was informing Command that he was relieving Tavik of duty pending full recovery. She explained that the Captain was on his way down with possible side affects from his previous injuries, and asked the Doctor to hold off on relieving Tavik. She would go down and speak to the Marine herself ... Closing the Comm she stood up. Commander Wedlerson was exiting the turbo-lift as she approached.
"You have the Bridge Commander." she said as the doors closed.
~~~~~~~~~~
She pressed the chime and waited patiently. After a moment the door opened to Aeryn donning her combat jacket.
"The Doctor sent you ... I told him I am mor ......"
"I want you to go back to Sick-bay and let the Doctor finish treating you Aeryn." the Marine began to protest, reassuring Calli she was alright, but she just waited for her to finish then continued to speak, "Aeryn ... Please don't make me feel the need to make this 'request' an 'order' ... Because you know I will. We're not playing who's got the biggest set here. But I need to know you are one hundred percent. You can co-ordinate your teams from the bed if you must, but I'd like you to go back down there before the Doc blows a gasket. Believe me, you don't want to suffer the alternative ...... OK ...... ?"
After a moment Aeryn took off the jacket and started for the door. She turned to pick up her weapon then pointed for Calli to precede her.
"I'll give him two hours !" Tavik said defiantly.
"Three." Calli retorted, a wry smile forming, "I'm taking the leisurely route to Zennai Three to give the doctor time to look at the Captain. You can make yourself comfy on the next bed. But you 'STAY' there until we reach orbit ... Do I make myself clear !"
"Yes Ma'am !" Aeryn said, throwing a mock salute and grinning in submission.
The two went their separate ways and Calli made her way back to the Bridge. Secretly, she was hoping both the Senior Marine, and the Acting Captain would be cleared by Medical before they reached Zennai Three ! ..........
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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 9, 2012 0:52:14 GMT
Three hours later ...Marionette eased the USS Raven-B into high orbit around the third planet in the Zennai Epsa System. The blue green planet was similar to Earth, but has less land mass. Civilizations had sprang up on the four main land area's with the most technologically advanced on the equatorial region ... Calli, sat in the Exec's chair, tapped the Comm link: =^= Bridge to Sick-bay =^= =^= Sick-bay .. Doctor Travis =^= =^= Commander Valenti .. What is the current status of the Captain and Major Tavik Doctor ? =^= =^= I'm treating the Captain for delayed concussion symptoms .. He is resting now and should be able to return to duty by morning .. As for our Marine ........ I'm releasing her now .. She won't sit still long enough anyway =^= Calli was a little annoyed, given her talk to the Marine, but she knew full well the Doctor wouldn't have released her to duty if there was a problem. She needed to get moving before El-Kamat got further out of reach ... =^= Ask Major Tavik to come to the Bridge when you have finalized her release Doctor =^= =^= Will do .. Travis out =^= The Com closed and Calli asked Marionette to put out a call for all Senior Staff to convene in the observation lounge as soon as practical ..... ~~~~~~~~~~Calli waited while the staff came in. They took their regular seats and waited for her to speak: "First off, I want to ask Commander Blakus if he would like to assume Command in the Acting Captains' absence ?" Andae declined the offer stating his priority was the ship's systems at this point, and he was happy for Calli to continue, "OK, thank you Andae. Right, first off, the Captain is going to be out of action until mid-morning tomorrow at the earliest." "He's going to be OK though ?" Wedlerson asked, as Major Tavik entered the room and took her seat. "Yes ... He just needed to rest. He'll be fine ... Now, we need to get a team down to the surface. We will be beaming down once this meeting is concluded." Calli could see the Marine edging toward a question, but continued speaking, she was getting to Aeryn shortly anyway, so she could wait a moment, "Andae, T'Brel, Harry, Marionette, you will be coming down to the surface with me and a Security team ... Major Tavik ... I know this is unusual, but we're in unusual circumstances at the moment, so I'm leaving you in Command of the Raven until the Captain is on his feet ... I want Commodore Torek protected at 'ALL' costs. THAT is you're primary concern. But, on a secondary, I want you to use whatever means necessary to hunt down that bloody assassin OK." "Understood Ma'am." Aeryn said. "OK ......" Calli said, checking the chronometer on the wall, "It's twenty seventeen hours now, so twenty one seventeen local time. I think we can be ready in fifteen minutes, so grab what you need. Commander Peers, please assign Security. Make it one to one got that, and have them in civvy's." "Ma'am." Peers said, hitting his Comm badge and getting his teams readied. "OK. Transporter room two in fifteen .... Dismissed." Calli said. ~~~~~~~~~~Andae, Harry, and Marionette, along with three of the Security team beamed down first. Calli and T'Brel came next with the remaining security to a second area of the city ... They were on the surface. Calli tapped her comm badge: =^= Everyone down ? =^= she asked, getting confirmations from all teams before continuing. =^= Right .. Let's try to keep Comms to a minimum .. Get into town and settle in .. According to records there are plenty of, lets say, less than savory places, that I'm sure we can look for information .. Be discreet .. The last thing we want to do is ask the wrong person the wrong question and spook El-Kamat into fleeing from wherever the hell he's holed-up at present .. We don't have the time for a hide 'n' seek chase .. Good luck everyone .. We'll conference at zero eight hundred aboard the ship .. Valenti out ! =^= Calli checked her tricorder ... They had beamed down five hundred meters outside the main area of the city, in a wooded area. She scanned one eighty degrees quickly then pointed. "That way." .......... < tag : Away teams *** (go looking for Info / Intel guys n gals) >
Note: Feel free to meet up & switch the teams around if you want to OK ...
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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 9, 2012 16:47:05 GMT
Alex lay on the bed in the med bay rather restlessly. His head was pounding like hell, the Doctor had told him that he was suffering from a concussion and hadn’t felt it until now because of the increased presence of adrenaline in his system. He wanted to be on the bridge with the others, even to be on the away team, but the Doctor’s word was absolute. Closing his eyes, he tried to ignore the pulse he could feel at the back of his skull. After a minute or two, he decided that it was no good. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, making his way over to the computer terminal.
“Captain, I told you to – ” the Doctor began.
“You told me to stay here, Doctor. I’m not leaving, I just can’t lie down any longer. I need something to take my mind off everything.”
The Vulcan looked less than happy, but conceded and walked over to tend to another patient. Alex turned to the computer screen.
“Computer, when we were in orbit around Cordovin you downloaded relevant cultural data, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Run a search through it for any mention of assassins in the Cordovin cultural history.”
“Working. Complete.”
“Transfer results to screen.”
Several texts popped up on the computer screen in front of Alex, but most he was able to dismiss as irrelevant fairly quickly, even with his headache. One, however, caught his eye. He opened it and began to read.
There is a legend surrounding a group of assassins known collectively and individually as Ka’Rath. The name translates as “Divine Wind” as it was believed by the primitive populations that the actions of the assassin were a manifestation of the judgement of Deities. The order is believed to have originated as what might today be terms a “Black Ops” group, capable of performing for the ruling body actions which it must take, but cannot be seen to condone: for instance, the removal of opposing political rivals. However, it is unknown if the order exists today or whether it ever truly existed. Records indicate that if they did exist, they were notoriously relentless in their pursuit. They would not stop until their mission had been achieved, or they were dead. There is some evidence gathered that suggests primitive Blood Cult initiation rituals were used…
Alex read on, his eyes scanning the lines. His blood chilled inside him. If they really were facing a Ka’Rath assassin, the entire ship and her crew was at risk. He groaned, the sedative that the Doctor had given him was starting to kick in, and he slouched groggily back to the bed to lie down after flagging the passage he had been reading. Closing his eyes, he drifted slowly and painfully to sleep.
… “You can’t be serious! That is the Homeworld! There must be another way!”
“There is no other way, Kri’Tek. Gandar has fallen, and we must contain the situation before it can spread any further.”
Alex howled with rage and anguish as his friend and colleague spoke the words.
“This cannot be! Seventeen thousand years of recorded civilisation! Seventeen thousand! All gone in a matter of a few decades! And now, Re’Tran, you’re willing to utterly destroy the world which gave birth to our species, that was the beating heart of the Galactic Empire, all for the sake of another few months of existence!”
“No!” The other’s voice was firm now, a hard edge to it. “Do not think me so weak, Kri’Tek. We have put in motion a plan to preserve our species beyond this cataclysm. This…” he pointed around, and for the first time Alex realised that they were both standing on the bridge of what appeared to be an enormous starship, bigger than anything he had ever seen before. “This is not just a weapon of mass destruction, Kri’Tek. This is an ark that will carry our people in stasis until the enemy has retreated! We will then rise again, a million strong! We will guide the Galaxy to prepare!”
Alex looked at the floor, his voice barely audible as he said. “We must do what must be done…”
The two of them turned together, each placing a hand on a glowing red orb that stood on a pedestal in front of them. Mechanisms raced into life all around them, a hum became a whine, then a shriek until finally the noise was everything. It seemed to obliterate all other senses. Alex looked out of the viewing bay, and saw a colossal beam of energy strike the planet beneath them. It ignited the atmosphere, burning away everything. Within a matter of minutes, the entire planet was nothing more than a glowing cinder hanging in space.
“Take heart, Kri’Tek. Those on the surface will never have known the horror…they would have died instantaneously. There would have been no pain. There are three more planets in this star’s habitable zone.” He called up a chart of the system to show Alex. “New life will spring from there in the centuries to come. We must go, the time has come…”
<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, 2012 23:46:15 GMT
Marionette, Andae Blakus, Harry Wendlerson, and 3 Marine Security officers) beamed down near what looked to be the outer fringe of the city, as evidenced by nearby suburbs, juxtaposed by pockets of merchant booth's. Behind them was a wide meadow which marked the start of the wooded areas around the spaceport city.
In an effort to keep it low-profile, Marionette had dressed in a wrap-shirt blouse made of some sort of semi-rigid plastic gray material, which had blue-to-green (and back again) pearlescent lines forming various sized hexagons and other hexa-gap shapes.
Her pants were black with some thin gray stripes interspersed, and widened from the calf to encompass most of the foot, due to a gray triangle panel that had been cut and inserted in.
Within the city, and even the suburbs, was a multitude of species, from Ferengi peddling their goods and services, to clusters of Cardassians and Breen who looked like mercenaries and bounty hunters, to Vulcan ministers, Andorian machinists, Bolian barbers, Klingon warriors, and even the odd cluster of Pakled slumming for "things that make their ship go." at whatever price they can be duped into.
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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 12, 2012 18:34:12 GMT
=^= Right .. Let's try to keep Comms to a minimum .. Get into town and settle in ........ =^=
Calli finished passing on her orders then scanned the surrounding area ... The woods appeared to be almost circular in dimension and it occurred to her that they had beamed into a parkland area. Making sure everyone was ready, they began a leisurely walk into the city.
From her readings it looked as if the second team had beamed into the lower side of the city. Discrete scans from the ship showed industrial developments, along with a stretch of water. Several large craft were docked, so likely it was the commercial harbor area. To the north she could see housing, scattered among the hillside, obviously the affluent resided there ... She temporarily dismissed that option as somewhere El-Kamat was unlikely to find the help he needed, but not totally, as it was possible he require financing, and these people could certainly do that.
Entering the outskirts they approached an area of traders and merchants. She was happy, in one respect at least, to see multi-species interaction, so they wouldn't stick out like the proverbial. She made a decision quickly:
"I think we should try a bar."
"Ma'am ?" one of the Security Officers said, nightmare scenarios' of getting trapped inside with no real escape route rushing through his mind.
"Hey ..." Calli said, smiling broadly, "We're here to trade aren't we. So after a long day working where better to grab a bite to eat and a drink .... There's a lodging house over there, we'll take rooms and have a stroll down main street ermmm." she faltered, suddenly realizing they didn't have a clue of the name of the city they were in.
"Dalport." the Security Officer supplied.
"..... Main street Dalport. Thank you Lieutenant." she finished, grinning.
~~~~~~~~~~
Forty minutes later they had secured rooms as a group of off-world traders, and after enquiring about suitable eateries had been given some 'advice' from the manager as to where not to frequent ... 'Rough types' as he called them, tended to trade in the less 'legal' there.
Calli had sent the Security Officers ahead. They were to enter an establishment called Bar Red, the first on the Managers list of where not to go, and check the place out quickly, if it looked promising, then they would allow Valenti and Peers to enter. If not, then they would move to the next on the list and squawk the Comm link twice ... With no abort from the Security team, they made there way to their first location ...
"Might I make a suggestion ?" T'brel said, stopping Calli at the door to Bar Red.
"Feel free."
"Dump the inane grinning ... We are standing out like sore thumbs."
"And I thought I was projecting a look of the wide-eyed naive visitor." she replied, a hurt look appearing, albeit for a fraction of a second, then she roughed her hair and walked in the bar ....
Belman and Gorman were already seated and seemingly involved in private conversation, though Calli knew they had thoroughly checked the place out. Lieutenant Gorman nodded imperceptibly as they entered, so without any acknowlegement of her colleagues, Calli and T'brel headed for the bar where she ordered two chech'tluth and passed one to T'brel. Instinct had allowed her to scan the room from the entrance, and further with every step deeper into the large smoke-filled room. She was fully aware of escape routes, choke points, blind spots, as well as a myriad of other 'P.O.I.' (points of interest), as she liked to call them.
It was down to listening and observation now. They needed to pick up on something workable, one snippet of information that would give them an 'in' ... No-one expected, and would be seriously weary should El-Kamat's name being mentioned conveniently. No, they needed something that would get them noticed. A slightly off level deal, a possible trader would would be willing to help them 'smuggle' goods off-planet. Anything that would allow a conversation to start ..........
< tag : T'brel / Team Two / Aeryn >
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 14, 2012 0:01:01 GMT
Andae scanned the suburbs with a wary eye. A grey street stretched out before the team of six, arrowing straight from the forested outskirts towards what was presumably the town centre, judging by the size and setting of the buildings. The main spaceport was away to their left, situated half a mile distant and lost in a distasteful pall of pollutants and other noxious gases.
As the team were approaching a junction in the road, they witnessed a scrawny pack of gangers dragging a barely conscious Andorian out of a side alley. The Andorian struggled briefly, until the gang started kicking him. One went in hard, a glint of something silver in his fist, and the Andorian stopped moving. The gang fled across the street into a bar. No one on the street even blinked an eye.
The team walked past burnt out repulsor vehicles surrounded by clutches of Klingons, Pakleds and Centaurans, as well as some local Zennairi. Andae detected mild scoffing as they passed close by a Zennairi group. Some Pakleds looked on in bemusement, although one of them also had a hand on the gun in his jacket.
A shadowy figure with a long rifle leant out a second floor window on the opposite side of the street, a naked woman cowering behind him. He was screaming. A man was running down the street under the balcony, seemingly fleeing from the building, and the figure on the balcony took aim. One of the security guards went for his phaser but Andae blocked his arm, shaking his head. They watched as the rifle shot ricocheted off the pavement and shrapnel from the bullet struck several pedestrians, leaving them clutching their shins and sprawling on the paving stones in agony.
"Seems we've landed in the nice part of town," the CEO muttered to Marionette. They walked on, trying their best to present an unperturbed air.
They came upon a building that seemed to rise out of the horizon, emerging like an ancient ocean-going vessel out of the sea haze. It was a sizeable, extremely dilapidated monastic structure. The grime of it almost seemed laced within the stone, a sickly ichor that dripped off its crenellations.
"It's a museum," Wedlerson pointed out. It was also an art gallery. The place was closed, this being evening time, but happily the door was unlocked. They shuffled up the steps tentatively. No one spoke; Andae looked over his shoulder, shrugging at Marionette with a look of indifference.
He glided from picture to picture, article to article. Two of the security officers were watching the door. Marionette, Wedlerson and Thomas were checking out the other exhibits. Having spent an inordinate amount of time perusing two large galleries of boringly abstract frames, it was a relief for him to come across something more interesting. A schematic drawing of the duranium refinery built on Zennai 2 filled the wall before him. A data terminal provided information on the logistics of its construction, including the names of the Federation contractors.
"What are we doing in here, sir?" Thomas's voice came over the comm.
"Looking for information of course," he whispered back, "Ensign, I recommend comm silence until we reconvene. Blakus out." Something struck a familiar chord within the engineer: the name of the lead designer on the refinery project. It was the very same that had conducted the technology exchange with the Cordovin, upon their entry to the Federation. And the same that had supplied the necessary tech for the Cordovin hard drive device, that'd held the secret of the location of the Gandai's deep space station.
Murmuring himself at the significance, Andae fumbled around inside his leather jacket - a heavy brown thing with no lapels - for his tricorder. He stepped quietly around the gallery, scanning the walls, the painting frames, anything at all for something hidden Nope, nothing out of the ordinary there... He slapped the scanner shut and was about to slip it in his jacket pocket when he heard footsteps... A heavy click-clack on the imitation wood floor.
Silently he stepped to the wall, concealing himself from view and sliding his phaser from its holster. He peered around the corner into the next room - saw nothing. The footsteps faltered, resumed after a few seconds and came closer, the click-clack becoming louder and more pronounced. Andae knew better than to call out. It could be a team-member but you could never be sure...
"Freeze!" he hissed, pointing his phaser at the back of the person's head as they stepped into the room.
<Tag Marionette, Harry> <Tag Team 1>
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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 16, 2012 18:29:29 GMT
Marionette was witness to the unsavory chaos and other illicit activites going on around them. "Seems we've landed in the nice part of town." the CEO muttered to Marionette. They walked on, trying their best to present an unperturbed air.
Marionette mad an oberving comment to the CEO "If this is the nice part of the city, then it seems that Federation Law only applies to the Refinery station itself."
Walking along with the others, there were afew cat-calls directed at her "Hey miss, care for a good time ? All it takes is 99 !" She dismissed the lewd remarks, if she had ninety-nine of any currency, she could think of exactly 3,182 better uses for it than 2 hours worth of whatever the Ferengi pimp had in mind.
They came upon a building that seemed to rise out of the horizon, emerging like an ancient ocean-going vessel out of the sea haze. It was a sizeable, extremely dilapidated monastic structure. The grime of it almost seemed laced within the stone, a sickly ichor that dripped off its crenellations.
"Fascinating, it seems to be inspired by Earth's Neo-classical gothic architecture, with futuro elements and tessellation." She remarked.
Entering the museum/art gallery, they dispersed. Marionette had taken the left room, which was mostly museum pieces of the Zennairi asymmetrical industrial revolution, concurrent with their discovery of naval warfare, and almost immediate jump between clunky wheel-lock firearms technology to rapid-fire(semi-automatic/fully automatic fire rate) firearms.
The next room was a museum depicting vehicular development; first sailing technology, and then a short stint of internal combustion competing with electrical powered cars, but then a decided shift in favor of magneto-electrical cars, due to the scarcity of petrol deposits on Zennai, followed by magnetic engine based airplanes. The room ended there.
Marionette walked into the next room, which featured space flight history on Zennai ; petrol fuel ionizing jet turbines applied to early spaceflight experiments, which gave way to continued use of magnetic engines arranged in a ring to result in crude Impulse engines.
After warp technology, the particular room had begun to iterate intergalactic history; federation interaction, federation membership, dealings with other warp-capable species; Klingons, Ferengi, Cardassians.
Marionette then exited the air/space/technology exhibit, and went to another room, an art exhibit featuring various works of art. Being an android, the art pieces didn't really seem to signify much of anything to her, so she went onward.
The Art room had circled around to connect with the room that Andae was in, via the hallway.
Marionette saw a Zennairi walk into the room. "Freeze!" she heard Andae hiss, pointing his phaser at the back of the person's head as they stepped into the room.
Marionette opened the door further, looming over the person-who-was-not-any-of-the-away-team. "Who are you, and what is your business here ?" she asked, in that sort of almost-musical voice of hers.
The Zennairi did not look like he much cared to talk .....
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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 22, 2012 0:49:02 GMT
After exploring several options, and getting nowhere, the two moved around the bar toward the gaming area:
It took less than a minute for Calli's keen eye to spot exactly what they needed ... The little Ferengi was lording it up at one of the gaming tables. Betting heavily, as all Ferengi tended to do, loosing occasionally, but always keeping the house at bay. It was what they were good at after-all ...
"Him ......" Calli said, nodding in the obnoxious Ferengi' direction.
T'brel grinned, you could always trust a Ferengi to go for the profit first, second, and last. He ordered refills while Calli meandered her way toward the tables. Picking up the drinks he edged toward his colleague to get within earshot. By the time she reached her goal, Mia appeared less than sober. She threw her arm around the mans neck and began to run the tip of her tongue along the lobe of his left ear gently, performing oo-mox. The Ferengi missed a bet, and as a result lost a considerable amount of latinum ... Half of him was keen to see the interloper punished, but his libido proved more needy.
"Are you betting again Sir." the house dealer asked.
"I'll bet when I'm good and ready !" the Ferengi shot back, trying hard no to loose all control over his reactions as Calli continued her ministrations.
"I need a ship." she whispered, "My name is Mia, and I'm betting you have just what I need ... What do I call such a fortuitous man as yourself ?"
"You can call me Pex. DaiMon Pex actually." the Ferengi said, using all his will power to move her into his line of sight, "but, what makes you think I can help you ?"
"I have a shipment of dilithium hydroxyl." Calli whispered, "It was being picked up here three days ago, but I have received word that the Federation have picked up my courier and the idiot is facing charges that may well see the man off the scene for the foreseeable future. Given my commodity, and my deadline. Not to mention it's highly illegal status, I need to get it off this damn rock before my inept former employee starts to get chatty. You look as if the have the means, and inginuity, to be of help."
"Best of luck in your endeavors then young woman, but you are mistaken." Pex said, loking her up and down like an item in a sale, before turning back to the table.
"Well ...... That's got to be a first, but then there's always one without the urge to obtain wealth, never thought I'd see it." she said, swaying effectively and raising her voice to make sure they were the center of attention, "... but, HERE YOU ARE ... A Ferengi turning down a profit opportunity. Ahh well, I'm sure one of these other owners will oblige, given the fees involved ... Enjoy your game Pex."
Calli made her way back to the bar and signaled for fresh drinks. Keeping her back to the tables she chatted to T'brel as if he were a prospective employee. Her experience told her that Pex was the one they needed, and given time, he would come to them ... El-Kamat had been here, or was coming here. It was a haven for all things illegal, and if word got out that someone had the very thing he needed to prevent a star ship going to warp, it would only be a matter of time before he decided he needed it ...
It did occur to Calli, that El-Kamat may well have thought of this in his planning and already had all the hydroxyl he needed ... That being the case she hoped they came across another lead. Because if the renegade was suddenly offered a gift horse, he may well come see to it that the supplier was no longer in a position to barter ! ..........
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Sept 26, 2012 19:14:39 GMT
Blakus's hand twitched on the trigger button, suddenly lost in confusion. Marionette stood on the other side of the room, the notes of her vocalisation propagating across the museum chamber. The Zennairi had frozen in place like a statue, not answering the Ensign but quite fully acquiescing to the CEO.
"There's a reason you're not answering her," he said, tapping the phaser at the back of the man's head, "There's a reason you're in this museum, and I'm willing to bet you're not the janitor... Why were you following us?"
Blakus's words fell on death ears. The Zennairi wobbled, back and forth, reacting to the contact Andae had made with the phaser. After some lethargic, statuesque rocking, the Zennairi plummeted forwards to the fake-wooden floor. Andae frowned, nudging the prone body with his foot.
The two Raven crewmembers examined the man. Andae pulled his eyes wide open and peered at the locked pupils. "I'm no Doctor..." he coughed, rolling his eyes, "But I think he's been petrified."
Marionette tore back the man's upper-body garment which revealed a set of electrodes, piercing his skin bloodlessly and even now, delivering a small but intense electrical shock to his whole torso. The wires ran around his waist to a small unit attached to his belt. There was a miniature transceiver array attached to it, that Blakus assumed the Zennairi didn't think would be recognised.
Before they could pull the electrodes out, the current intensified, and the man slowly fried his way unto death. "I don't understand... Why would they kill their man by remote like this?" Blakus asked Marionette.
"Whoever they are," Thomas said, approaching from behind.
"Because we caught him..." Andae peered close at the burnt husk in confusion, "Perhaps they thought he would talk?"
The team departed the museum, for the time being assuming that they were being hunted, perhaps with lethal intent in mind. The electrodes might've been used on them if they hadn't caught the would-be assassin. Andae had Wedlerson scan the building intensively for further lifesigns, using all the tricks he knew that might reveal more hidden Zennairi. There was nothing this time. They rigged the tricorder to alert them should it detect more wired-up Zennairi. Then following Marionette's advice, they decided to peruse a more unsavoury locale. Namely, the local wrestling club and its attached bar.
There was a cage situated in the centre of the main space, where wrestlers of a myriad different species fought it out for whatever sordid prizes or enforced forfeits were on offer. An extended bar ringed half of the room's boundaries, with the other half given over to seating for the more privileged customers. "I advise we split up again," Andae said, shouting to make himself heard in the cacophonous locale, "Thomas, with me, we'll check the bar. Marionette, Harry, see what you can find out from those fighters," he pointed to the barechested aliens queueing to fight in the cage.
<Tag Marionette, Wedlerson>
Blakus and Thomas found a comparatively quiet space at the end of the bar, at which Blakus chose to contact the other team. "Commander Valenti, this is Blakus. Are you making progress?" he stated rather loudly. "We're at the wrestling club. I have Thomas with me. Commander, our group's being pursued; we encountered a Zennairi in the museum who was fatally electrocuted by remote as soon as we found him. Also, I believe there might be a distinct connection between the Zennairi administration and Kamat's renegades." Blakus had had a channel opened to the ship so that his findings were known by them as well.
<Tag Calli, T'Brel ... Alex, Aeryn>
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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 27, 2012 19:34:23 GMT
Opening his eyes slowly, Alex snatched at the memories of the dream before they faded, trying to force them into his memory so that he could relate the dream...no, it had been more than that. It had been a vision, he was certain of that now. Several other crew members had reported having strange dreams concerning their visit to Cordovin, and Alex was starting to think…was almost convinced…that they were linked. Something had happened with the “Stones of Quincunx” on the planet, something that had burned images into all their brains. Was it a threat? A warning? Was it even a cry for help? He shook his head vigorously, trying to clear the fuzziness from his mind. This was a mistake, as it made his head throb even harder with the now receding effects of the concussion. Standing up, he tapped his communicator. “Bridge,” came the reply. “Bridge, this is Watson. I’ll be up in twenty. Have a status report ready.” “Aye sir,” came the response. He needed to go to the bridge, he needed to work these problems out: the Ka’Rath, the Gandai visions. However, what he needed most in the entire universe at that precise second was a shower. --- As the turbolift doors opened, eyes swivelled towards him. He knew what was going on, the crew were getting edgy. He couldn’t blame them: his first foray into command had hardly been the seamless mission he had expected. Taking his place in the Captain’s chair, a young ensign came to hand him a report. “Status of the ground team?” Alex asked bluntly. “No luck yet, sir. Commander Blakus made contact with a hostile but he was killed remotely before they had a chance to interrogate him. Commander Valenti’s team is in a wrestling bar, but they’ve found nothing.” Alex nodded, he hadn’t been expecting this to be easy. Something nagged him…something…he couldn’t put his finger on it… “Ensign, pull up the star chart for this system and put it on the viewscreen.” “Yes, sir.” The chart came on display. Alex scanned it, not even entirely sure what he was looking for. Something about it just seemed familiar, he was having the most powerful sense of déjà vu. It hit him like a bullet, turning him cold. “Computer, report on Zennai 1.” “Zennai 1. Class Y planet. Classification disputed by scientific community due to lack of atmosphere. Mass 1.4 times that of Earth, Orbiting distance,0.8 AU. Solar Day, 35 hours. Orbit Length, 275 days –” “Computer, clarify. Zennai 1 has no atmosphere?” “Correct.” “But it has a mass nearly half as much again as Earth and the star isn’t exactly throwing off flares that would strip it. How could it fail to attract at least some form of atmosphere?” “Unknown. Scientists have disputed Zennai 1’s classification since its discovery.” Alex rubbed his forehead. This might just be it, their first solid lead. “Computer, scan for known terrestrial worlds of approximately Earth size that possess no atmosphere.” “Search Area?” “The whole galaxy.” “Working. Search complete. Displaying results.” The results flashed on-screen. There were many, many worlds, thousands of them, seemingly scattered at random across the Galaxy. Too many to be of any use. Alex shook his head, this would take lifetimes to look through. Unless… “Computer, discard all hits with aggressively flaring stars.” Many of the dots on the screen vanished, but there were still too many to be of any help. Holding his breath inwardly, Alex made one final demand of the computer. “Computer, cross reference hits with systems containing known archaeological relics of the ancient species known as ‘Gandai’.” “Working. Complete. Displaying results.” Alex’s heart started to pump wildly. There it was on the viewscreen. He pushed his commbadge, contacting the transporter room. His voice sounded a lot steadier than he really felt. “Get the away teams back, now!” “Yes sir. Away teams, prepare for transport in five, four, three, two…wait…something’s blocking the beam. I can’t get a lock, it’s like it’s being scrambled.” The world seemed to slow to a standstill in that instant, Alex’s brain working furiously to try to come up with another explanation, ANY other explanation than the one that was staring him in the face. “IT’S A TRAP! SHIELDS UP! RED ALERT!” <Tag Ship Crew, Away Teams>
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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 28, 2012 12:21:07 GMT
"Away teams, prepare for transport in five, four, (static) three, ....(more static, end of comm-line)" Nothing. No beam-out.
Marionette scanned the room, both visually and with her tricorder. Nothing on that front either.
Whomever they were, and wherever their location was, the attack would likely come later .... How much later ? She didn't have enough information to compile the variables, but what scant data was available, led to her conclusion of it being sooner rather than later, as the human expression went.
Marionette had turned and was about to ask a large, beefy, green-skinned Orionite brawler a question, when it happened - a full Dozen clean-uniformed troopers walked in.
They were dressed in white armor with full-face black visor shields, giving them a 'faceless' appearance, and black rectangular sections on the helmet, blending into the black of the face visor-shield. Their white armor was striped in gray trim, and their gantlets had integrated federation tricorders.
Even though they bore no federation insignia, their federation equipment and starfleet style were enough.
Right then, everything got real quiet .... It wasn't every day that Starfleet Security (?) showed up to a place like this. In assault gear. With disruptor rifles.
Something strange was going down, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
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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: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Sept 29, 2012 10:09:53 GMT
OOC: Apologies in advance for the length of this post Hope you manage to get through it OK IC:
Star Base Forty Seven:Admiral Sato Tetsutaro, head of Federation Security in the Sector, sat at his desk. He was worried at the lack of progress in finding the USS Raven-B ... It had been one week since the disappearence, and they were no closer. His Adjutent entered and almost embarressingly handed the Admiral a PADD:
VESSEL MISSING PRESUMED LOST !
The USS Raven-B .. Galaxy Class Star Ship .. Registration index NCC 750059 .......
Sato read the full report and knew he needed to put the final confirmation thumb-print on the report that would effectively say that the people he loved, The man he called his Son, and his Niece, were lost. He wasn't prepared to do that just yet.
He locked the PADD on the report screen and slowly placed it in the top drawer of his desk. The Adjutent said nothing. he turned and left the Admiral alone ...... Zennai System:Carl was reading when the red alert klaxon sounded ... Chloe and the children looked at him from the bedroom, but he simply smiled, telling them it was possibly nothing serious. He was hoping he was hiding his concern well, though he doubted it if truth be known. Suddenly the planet fell from view and Torek felt the tell-tale shudder of a phaser hit against the shields ... Alex was breaking orbit. Standard reaction to an attack, get some space to move, under no circumstances should you get cornered in low orbit. Sitting duck would be the proverbial understatement !...... The door chime sounded suddenly, surprising Carl. he stood and moved to the door. Captain Barton was waiting, the two Marines stood impassively against the far bulkhead. "You need to come with me." Barton said, glancing at the Marines, "Don't worry about them, we had a little 'chat' about Command positions etcetera. You're needed Carl, the girls will be OK." he finished, nodding to Chloe, who had come from the bedroom. She simply nodded and Carl stepped into the corridor, slightly surprised that neither Marine seemed willing to prevent his departure. The two entered the turbo-lift: "Shuttle-bay one." Barton said then turned to Carl, "We're under attack from three Cordovin vessels. Captain Watson attempted to get the AT's back, but somethings preventing it. Also, Team One is trapped, and about to come under attack. The only option, in my opinion, is to get them off the surface by shuttle ... That's where you come in." "Has the Captain approved this course of action by any chance ?" Carl asked, but received no reply, "If I remember there are ten personnel on the surface, we'll need to use the Piper, the medical shuttle, it's bigger, better armed, and able to take a beating ... Computer, Shuttle-bay two." "Unable to comply." the ship replied. Barton repeated the order and the 'lift changed direction. As the doors opened they could see their path was blocked ... Aeryn was stood in front of them, her standard issue phaser aimed ominously at the stomach of Carl Torek. She waved the weapon from side to side, instructing them to leave the confines of the lift and get against the bulkhead. "I'm afraid your freedom to move about the ship will need to be rescinded gentlemen." she said, clearly annoyed at the turn of events, I have no idea what you were planning, but that doesn't matter." Barton began to explain his plan to get the away teams back. Aeryn wasn't convinced, but at least the weapon was now aiming at the floor and not their vital organs ... " ...... So either help get our people back, or shoot us, because frankly we're running out of time Major !" he finished. It took her a long moment, but then her phaser disappeared and she turned to the shuttle-bay ... Baton instructed Torek to get aboard and wait for them to drop the shields. He was dubious they could achieve this, but went all the same. Sitting in the cockpit, he watched Barton and Tavik, obviously having a heated discussion as the ship shook from multiple hits. Suddenly the Comm came to life. "Commodore, we're opening the door. Our Aft shields have dropped below twenty percent and are still falling, you should be able to punch through. Carl began to argue but was shot down, "We DON'T have time for chat SIR !" Torek raised the large shuttle off the deck and readied himself as he watched the two Officers arguing. < tag : Aeryn > This would all be moot if anyone on the Bridge noticed the bay door rising. They would slam it shut in short order. Bringing an end to any evacuation or rescue attempt ... < tag : Bridge (if you like) >The shuttle-bay held several craft, including two type nine long-range shuttles, both capable of warp. No-one noticed the second shuttle powering up behind the Piper. The ship lurched to port as a photon torpedo slammed through the shields and exploded next to the warp pylon. "Shields at two percent ... Go 'NOW' Commodore !" Carl didn't wait, he engaged two thirds impulse, the limit the shuttle-bay could withstand without automatically shutting the shuttles' propulsion off completely, then arrowed from the shuttle-bay. Les than a second behind, the type nine shuttle followed. "What the HELL !" Barton said as the two craft fell from view, "Who the ......" "The Ka'Rath." Aeryn said. Knowing it was the only plausible explanation. Both watched the progress of the shuttles. If the Assassin chose this as an opportunity to get at Torek, the Commodore was in serious trouble. He'd make the surface, but in pieces. But surprisingly, the type nine veered off at a tangent and headed toward open space, "I think we will need to see the Captain, before we end up in the cell I'd reserved for you." she finished, almost shrugging, and certainly not looking forward to explaining their actions. ~~~~~~~~~~Aboard the Piper, Carl aimed the nose at the largest land mass on the far off planet and increased to maximum impulse. To starboard, he could see the gleaming hull of the USS Raven as she moved further into space. He could also see the blue red beams of pure energy as they slammed against the shields. Raven was beginning to fight back and had destroyed one of the attackers in a fireball of released energy. But the ship was taking a battering, and Carl had to fight his urge to go back to the ship, and the people he loved ... He knew Alex was a good Officer, and would do everything he could to keep the ship, and those aboard, safe and well ... Should that require 'running' then he knew Watson would make the correct decision when faced with it. Turning his mind to more pressing concerns, he turned the shuttle and began a steep dive into the atmosphere. Readings told him he was almost three thousand kilometers from the city. He needed to be patient as the shuttle lanced across the evening sky as he passed the terminator from day into night. Dropping to half impulse he opened a Comm link: =^= Shuttle Piper to away teams .. Stand-by for emergency transport =^= He didn't wait for a reply, he'd be over the city in seconds ... Scanning for the personal sub-dermal transponders, he he locked on to team one and initiated. Seconds later a group appeared, all brandishing phasers and looking a little disheveled. "Talk about the nick of time." Wedlerson said, taking the seat next to Torek. "There's a ship coming up fast Commander, do the honors and keep it off my back for a moment will you." Harry nodded and brought the weapons on-line, seconds later he opened fire. =^= Team two .. Stand by =^= Again he didn't wait, he initiated the second beam up and looked around to see if he had everyone. Satisfied with the results, he increased sped and began to out-run the aged ship pursuing them ... "Hello Commodore." Calli said, a little confused, but relieved, "Good to see you out and about again." she finished. "I like to keep my hand in, so to speak." Carl said, a wry grin forming before he turned serious and addressed the whole group, "The Raven is under attack. There's no way we can help at this point, so I'm going to hide out behind the moon and monitor the situation from low orbit. If the Raven heads back, we'll go join her. The ship is taking a pounding, so Captain Watson may feel it necessary to leave the area, if that is the case then we'll go in chase." Everyone knew he was right, there was no way a shuttle, even one like the Piper, could survive a clash with a Warship. Breaking the atmosphere the group watched the unfolding battle on long-range scanners. It looked like a second Cordovin vessel was incapacitated, but the third was doing some damage. They could only sit and watch helplessly .......... < tag : Raven >
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Oct 3, 2012 21:48:38 GMT
Blakus had been standing by the bar with Thomas, each of them on their second tumbler of what the locals called blue sauce, when all hell broke loose. Kingly white figures, stark against the depraved greys of the wrestling club appeared by the entrance; they loped mechanically into the main arena brandishing Klingon disruptor rifles. They shone bright head-affixed lamps into the dirty space and ordered all the clients to get to the deck with electronic bursts from their hidden broadcasters.
Blakus tugged at Thomas's sleeve and they went to ground behind the bar stools. Under his leather jacket, Andae laid his hand on the phaser tucked into his belt. They didn't really look like Starfleet, he thought. Not any branch he knew of anyway. Tricorders were present yes, but the smooth, sheer mass of the suits were not Starfleet standard, and neither of course, were the weapons.
Shots criss-crossed in horribly familiar fashion - reminding Blakus of the white light darting through the Raven's bridge - scoring the floor and walls with sizzling marks that were barely blacker than the surface underneath. A phaser from the other group was fired into the white globule-shaped suits; Blakus and Thomas followed suit. His face screwed in concentration, Andae tracked the fast movement of the lead suit as it jogged in his direction around the circumference of the bar - skewering the punters as it went. It was coming straight for him, black visor emotionless and reaching for a sabre at its side, but then the transporter took him and Thomas in its soothing pearlescent wash.
Five minutes later...
"So where are they?" he asked, moving past Carl and the away team - who were engaged in hot discussion - to the get to the tactical station now manned by Wedlerson.
The Raven was almost two light minutes away now, engaged in a running, rotating fight with the last fully functional Cordovin ship and its crippled sister. The Galaxy class was struggling; two shield facings were failing, making it increasingly difficult for the stand-in Nav officer to orientate the ship to effectively block enemy fire. The Cordovin ships weren't fairing much better, however.
Andae grunted. A more pertinent question would be, 'What the hell just happened?'
Both the Raven and its teams on the surface of Zennai Three had been sprung upon simultaneously, taken completely offguard; that indicated to Andae some calculated, preplanned ambush. The Raven probably knew more, but the Piper couldn't call the ship for the whole story as that would reveal their location to the Cordovin vessels.
"They weren't Federation but they were certainly using our technology," one of the security officers was arguing.
Marionette or T'Brel seemed about to retort but Andae cut in, coming back from the conn. "Something I saw in the museum..." his words were slow and murmured, "The duranium refinery in this system was designed by the same Federation citizen that negotiated a tech exchange with the Cordovin when they entered the Federation." He looked at each of the ten officers in turn, "It's a bit of a leap of logic, but could the same individual still be active in this region, stealing Fed technology for Kamat and his friends? Certainly the Cordovin seem to have a presence in this system, and we've seen that Kamat's rebels might be in league with the Zennairi."
"You think that there is a Cordovin mole in the Federation?" Calli asked.
Andae shrugged, "I'm not saying they're Cordovin, I'm just speculating. But certainly an insider job would explain a good deal of what's happened since we took to the surface."
As he uttered the words the shuttle tremored under the latest long range barrage from the older shuttle that pursued them. This one felt unusually close. A couple of alarms sounded, then urgent scarlet lights started winking right across the board, squealing belligerently for attention. "We've got incoming!" Wedlerson hollered.
The shuttle seemed to capsize, cabin lights blinking out and leaving the officers in total darkness for a few moments. Capsizing in space was obviously impossible, but the illusion generated by the temporary loss of artificial gravity and straining dampeners was horribly realistic, and reminded Blakus of years ago being pitched out of a seagoing vessel into freezing water.
Red emergency lights lit the cabin as the eleven dazed officers pulled themselves to their feet. Almost simultaneously, four columns of pulsating energy spun into existence at the rear of the cabin. Four white globule-suited figures loomed there, pointing rifles straight at the team. The transporter effect was still evident in the maybe-men, twinkling across their bodies. They were mercifully still and statuesque, but would only remain so until the effect had fully faded.....
<Tag All in the shuttle!>
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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 6, 2012 18:16:02 GMT
"You think there's a Cordovin mole in the Federation ?" Calli said, surprised she hadn't given the option any consideration before ... Andae shrugged.
"I'm not saying they're Cordovin, I'm just specu ......." he began, but the shuttle suddenly came under a renewed attack. The shuttle rolled through three hundred and sixty degrees, throwing everyone off their feet. Emergency lighting sprang into life as the computer tried to control their free-fall. As Carl and Harry faught the controls, finally managing to get the shuttle into level flight, there came the tell-tale sound of a transport in progress !
The people beaming in were armed ... Well armed ... The crew had seconds to react before the transport was complete and the white-clad intruders were able to fire on them all. The Security Officers, along with Calli scrambled to retrieve their weapons. Calli threw herself to one side as the first beams of energy flashed past her. Returning fire, Star Fleet Officers tried to fire at the four intruders while trying not to get hit themselves.
A stray shot slammed into Calli's shoulder suddenly, spinnig her round. She dropped to the floor in pain but managed to return fire, hitting the lead intruder square in the chest. Her world suddenly went dark as the adrenaline fueling her fight finally gave in to her minds need to shut her body down. She watched one of the Security Officers vanish under the maximum setting from one of the intruders weapons, then she slipped into unconciousness ..........
< tag : Shuttle Members .. Your view on the fire-fight ? >
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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: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Oct 11, 2012 8:52:48 GMT
Wedlerson was fighting the shuttle every inch of the way ... Weapons fire from the pursuing craft was causing him to make some unouthodox manoeuvres to stay safe, and now someone had transported aboard and a fire-fight had begun. Two of the Security Officers had perished and Calli had been injured ... The Federation personell were loosing.
Harry took a phaser from the compartment under his control panel and turned to Torek:
"If you could take control Sir ?" he asked, Carl nodded and turned his back on the fighting. As shots were traded back and forth, he knew it was only a matter of time before they were all dead. He had an idea ...
"Get Calli inside the cockpit bulkhead .. NOW !" he shouted over the din, someone grabbed her by the foot and unceremoniously dragged her toward the front. Carl began a vertical climb, not too fast, he wanted the enemy shuttle to follow him up, "Everyone get behind the bulkhead." he finished.
The remaining Federation members continued to fire on the three remaining intruders. Carl released a volley of proximity mines and continued upward. Due to the artificial gravity, exterior up and down made no difference inside the shuttle, and he was counting on that very thing. Making rapid adjustments until satisfied, he told everyone to hold on ...
He switched the internal gravity in the cabin section from standard one 'Gee' to a negative six 'Gee' ... This had the immediate effect of two positive poles on magnets coming close and the intruders were pushed away from the deck plates at over six times their own weight. They smashed into the ceiling with sickening thuds. One had suffered a broken neck and had died instantly. The remaining two were seriously injured. He set gravity back to Earth normal and the intruders fell to the deck, but before anyone could check on them they were beamed away. A second later they felt the concussion shockwave as the enemy shuttle got too close to the mines ... They exploded in quick succession, alll but destroying the shuttle chasing them. Carl leveled off and turned the Piper to look at the other ship. It was falling in a lazy spiral burning heavily. He made a quick scan and confirmed there were no life-signs aboard, then he turned the shuttle upwards and the safety of space. On sensors ... The Raven had damaged the third Cordovin warship and had jumped to warp to escape any further damage herself. Torek was pleased her Acting Captain had used the better part of valour and had left the area. At maximum warp, the Piper would take almost six hours to catch up with her parent vessel, but Carl knew that Alex would slow once he was sure the ship was out of danger. 'At least for the moment' he thought.
"OK, let's deal with the injured. Get a bio-bed ready and get Commander Valenti's injuries seen to. I'm setting an intercept course for the Raven, we'll keep communication silence for the time being."
Everyone got to work. A bio-bed was activated and extended from its position flush against the bulkhead, and Marionette lifted Calli off the deck. As one of the Security Officer's began to treat Valenti, Wedlerson came back to the cockpit and took his seat heavily.
"I can take it now Sir, if you want to check on the Commander." he said.
Carl nodded gratefully and relinquished control. He stood and moved into the cabin area. He stood to one side as the Medic worked on Calli's injuries. She had severe burn trauma from the phaser hit and her shoulder was damaged. The Medic reassured Torek that she was stable would make a full recovery. He was treating the burns and had re-set the damaged clavicle and humerus.
He thanked the Medic and accepted the drink offered by the other Security Officer. Taking a seat he looked around the room. They had lost four of the Security team in the fire-fight, Calli, himself, and Marionette had been injured. He hoped the Raven was faring better than they had, but if not, he knew they, and the ship, would recover ..........
< tag : Shuttle > < tag : Raven >
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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 13, 2012 2:34:23 GMT
From the planetside cantina, Marionette was about to fire, and turned from behind the table.... .... to aim her phaser at Carl Torek. Tilting her head almost imperceptibly, she concluded that they were beamed up. Stowing her phaser, she looked around and concluded that they were on the Piper, Raven's primary Type-11 shuttle. - = - = - = - "We've got incoming!" Wedlerson hollered. Marionette fell into a bench-seat when the shuttle took what seemed like a fairly direct hit - from another shuttle. - And then 4 of the same troopers beamed onto the shuttle. Once the transport was complete, the one nearest to her raised a chunky pistol-with-a-stock carbine looking thing, and gave Marionette a full spray of lightning-bolt ion phaser-fire, reducing the duraplast skin and silicon padding on her face and chest (never-mind her clothing) to charcoal-ed and peeling 3rd and 4th degree burns. The trooper, thinking that his target was vanquished, turned his rifle on a fellow officer and de-atomizing him, while Marionette was on the floor, her positronic net still trying to handle the overload. Marionette stood back up, stepped forward, and thumped a trooper in the head so hard that his helmet gave way - imploded skull. He died standing, and with no pain. Beneath the helmet, his face would have likely faded into a sort of slack-ness, before gravity set in, and the body went to knees, and then face-to-floor. If he lived (a 3.47 percent chance of that), he would be a vegetable, regardless of 24th century medicine. Just as the 4 troopers were beamed away, Marionette finally rebooted, coming to positronic consciousness again and jerking awake as if she had awoken from a full nights sleep that was jam-packed with nightmares. Her internal clock could not account for 241 seconds of elapsed time. - = - = - = - A bio-bed was activated and extended from its position flush against the bulkhead, and Marionette lifted Calli off the deck and gently slid her onto the bio-bed. Marionette was definitely worse for the wear; sections of the duraplast of her face, chest and arms was gone, leaving a jarring display of either blinkies, synthetic musculature wires, or other internal subsurface parts (some of which were obviously Borg).
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Oct 14, 2012 18:27:36 GMT
OOC: Sorry if it's a little long
The three injured members of the team rested in the rear compartment of the shuttle, while two dead security were propped against the wall with the remaining two officers' remains a fine vapourised mist in the air of the cabin. Andae was going through his tricorder's collected data, gleaning anything from the time on the surface that might be of use. He was one of the four uninjured along with Peers, Wedlerson and the remaining security officer Thomas.
It was frustrating that the intruders had been beamed away before anyone could check them. They'd been denied that opportunity, just as they'd been denied on the surface when the Zennairi that'd been following them had been remotely electrocuted. It probably wasn't a coincidence. Who were they then? he wondered. He thought they looked like secret police, but really it was impossible to say. Armed with an array of weaponry stolen or imported from other races. Were they Zennairi, or closer to the circle of El-Kamat's rebels - if Andae's suspicions were correct?
"Do we have any activity on the surface? Anything untoward?" Andae asked, peering over Wedlerson's shoulder.
"Define untoward, Commander." Wedlerson was shrugging his shoulders, "If you mean energy discharges, that sort of thing, it's hard to distinguish anything significant above the domestic use of small arms that's rife across the planet."
Andae looked behind him. Carl was just visible near the rear compartment, at the entrance to the treatment bay. Convenient this is the ambulance shuttle, Blakus thought. The Commodore had the rank but not the authorisation to command right now, and as Calli was incapacitated, Blakus decided to take temporary control.
"Move us towards Zennai 2, high eccentric orbit," he indicated quietly, "Let's take a closer look at that duranium refinery."
The Piper slipped silently, negotiating the vacuum between planetary orbits, towards Zennai 2, shaping for a rough slingshot trajectory around the planet, a phantom flyby.
They passed closer than a thousand kilometres in the night, grazing the planetary atmosphere. "It's what it appears to be. Except," Wedlerson added, "For an unusually large fusion-based power generator; four of them in fact, interlinked."
Andae shared a look with T'Brel, both, as the joint senior officers, debating what to do. "Let's hold here," Andae suggested, "We need to wait for the Raven." Torek and Marionette came forward, the injured officers surveying the viewscreen. The lights of Zennai 2's night side shone brightly, the refinery at the luminescent heart of it and its secret mystery.
<Tag Carl & Shuttle> <Tag Raven>
Meanwhile, Huasala, Cordovin IV...
She couldn't recall what'd happened. The rebels had squandered the secrecy of their cover; administration craft closed on their position and shelled the bunker with shaped warheads that were designed to minimise the damage to the surrounding habdomes. The lower bunker had been blown open, a hailing torrent of rock fragments had closed on their heads, and when she'd regained awareness she'd been lying on a blasted field of rubble on a grey morning.
Then black-garbed and masked figures had come, and she'd lost consciousness again as the squad leader struck her a bloodying blow across the cheek.
Now she was strapped to a reclined table in what appeared to be a luxury apartment, a high class suite, bleeding profusely from the gums and missing several teeth above the shapely curve of her bruised jaw.
"You disappointed me." She recognised that voice. A political acquaintance, and a true backstabber. "It's over, Pammik. The movement has been crushed," the voice sounded tired, peering out a window that looked across the pleasant part of Huasala. "Also, your colleagues in Special Ops have apprehended the Raven. Seems they went on a little trip and ran into some trouble in a system called Zennai Epsa."
Pammik spat blood and said nothing. She pulled at the restraints that tied her to the table but obviously to no avail.
"That's where Tahl El-Kamat went, I think," the voice went on, the tone of voice conveying that there was no doubt the treacherous 'archaeologist' had gone there. "He passed through it at any rate. You know where he was going, don't you?" Still she didn't reply. "The Na'Kari's reporting that they've hounded the Federation ship out of the system. They have a sect of the Ka'Rath aboard, and certainly if that's true then the Raven's commander doesn't stand a chance, not against those ritualist maniacs. Are you listening to me?"
She sensed them looking and nodded slowly. She glared pointedly at the person, then at a beaker of water on a plush stool nearby. "Ah," the person said, coming over, lifting the beaker and letting some droplets trickle into her mouth, then splashing it into her eyes. "There we go." The person took a scalpel from their side and casually sliced it across Pammik's exposed wrist. The former Special Ops grimaced in pain but made no sound.
The person sat on the plush stool and regarded Pammik's prone form, "Kamat should be well on his way now. Ha, he might be there already thanks to our flotilla's contribution. But, perhaps more pertinent to you is the question, what is going to happen right here and now?"
<Tag All>
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