El Sal Mission 14.1: Fractured Reflections...

[Deleted]

On board the El Salvador Nayomi paced near the back of the bridge, hovering near the med station to examine the life sign readings on board the station. Five security officers and only nine researches left. There would have been two dozen researchers and support staff according the the records she found, and it would appear the Bajoran Commander had lost a couple men herself. These mercenaries were ruthless and based on the readings they were a mix of races. Pirates banded together for the promise of a quick profit, or worse?

She feared for her team, and also (with a pang of frustration) for Jahka. She could see one strong male Trill life sign on her scans, there was a good chance that was him since he was the only Trill researcher on board. That slimy [word deleted] may have broke her heart then stuck around the smash it to pieces, but he had been the closest thing she found to a happily ever after, even if it only lasted as long as it took him to spot her sister.

She looked out the view screen. The Mercenary ships circled the station like wolves full from the last kill waiting to strike again. A shuttle of the same mis-matched design was attached the one of the stations ports. The ships bore no insignia or numbering. They appeared to be made from a scrap yard, a piece of warbird there, some cardassian, Ferengi, Bolian, Naussican, even a few federation bits and others she did not recognize. The station bore the scars of a short lived fight, meant only to bring down her shielding a sparse amorements. Clearly they were not interested in damaging the prize inside.

“Commander, I’m heading back down to sickbay.” Irae nodded and Nayomi took her leave. On the trip down the turbo lift she remembered her first meeting with Jahka. She’d been working with a medical response transport shuttle back on Trill, or MeRTS as they called it. It was one of her first gigs out of university and she loved every minute of it. He had been one of a handful of patients they picked up after a club brawl spilled out onto the streets and got out of hand. He had a nasty cut on his hand he claimed he got while rescuing an old women from an errant strike. A story she was pretty sure he made up now that she knew him better. He had been a charmer from the moment she took out the hyper spanner. They went out for dinner two days after, then dated for several months till he popped the question. At age 21 she was still naive and deep in love so she accepted. Then two weeks later….well then she got to know him for who he really was. Eight years had passed and she had done an awful lot of growing since then, had he?

The doors to the lift slid open and she headed for sickbay.

[Savot]

[Research station 578ap]


Delbridge played his role on the rescue team mainly by virtue of getting them through the doors that hadn't already been blown open.  The Marines were well trained and dispatched the 2 Nausicaans the team encountered with no casualties.  Delbridge snagged one of the Romulan disruptor rifles they were packing... for research purposes of course.  Finally they got just outside the mess hall where the incoming signal was finally perfectly clear, =^=This is Lt Commander Galen Taryn of Starfleet. If you can hear me, there are several mercenaries aboard the station that have been stealing systems and minerals collected from the asteroid field. They are armed and dangerous and are not afraid of dying. As for the crew, myself and four other security officers are held up in the mess hall with the remaining nine researchers.=^=


Delbridge adjusted his tricorder and nodded to Summers after a moment, "Confirmed, boss lady, picking up 14 life signs on the other side of the bulkhead.... none of which are currently discharging energy weapons or appear to be engaged in fisticuffs.  That's the good news.  The bad news is they very wisely blew out the door controls to keep the marauders at bay... so now we need to engage the manual override, which is gonna take a couple of minutes", at which point Zakryn, the El Salvador's resident Gorn who had been pulled from security duty to join the boarding party, hefted a sharp torn chunk of weight-bearing beam and speared the opening of the bulkhead and began shifting it side to side to wedge the door open while Delbridge's mouth simply sat open for a second before blinking and continuing, "...Or we get our awesome giant lizard to open it like a sardine can!  Hey in there don't fire it's Starfleet I promise!  No self-respecting pirate would say that."


<Tag Taryn>



(Was going to have another porition dealing with the space battle outside the station, but will hopefully Joint Post that with Commander Irae on the morrow.  This at least gets the people on the station together, and apologies for you being stuck so long!)

[Deleted]

Taryn sat next to the comm she had managed to rewire and waited on a reply. She started getting worried that something had happened when none came. Than, out of no where, a huge chunk of a bulkhead support beam ripped through the door that Taryn and Ensign Ortiz had disabled. They quickly readied their phasers.

"Make sure you're on stun!" Taryn called out. "Unlike them, we aren't killers." The words no sooner left her lips when she heard a voice from outside the door.

"Hey in there don't fire it's Starfleet I promise! No self-respecting pirate would say that."

"Hold your fire but stay at the ready." ordered Taryn. She wasn't taking any chances. they watched in amazment as the beam was yanked back and forth, making the opening bigger. When it was actually large enough to see through, Taryn could make out the mustard yellow color of a Starfleet Officer that was tearing the hole in the doorway. Behind him stood what appeared to be several Marines.

"Stand down." she finally ordered as she stood and appraoched the doors. She was startled, and slightly flinched when she got closer and saw exactly what, or whom rather, was weilding the support beam. "My apologizes, Chief." she quickly recovered and said in attempt to not offend him. "You just took me by surprise. I've never met a Gorn in person before." She stepped back so as to be out of the way and let the rescue team finish getting in.

[Savot]

[El Salvador]


Outside the station, whether by excess of bravado or foolishness, the 2 remaining pirate vessels held their ground and engaged the new Excalibur-class starship.  The helmsman performed admirably but having one's evasive maneuvering area dictated by a small debris field only left so much possibility and it was fortunate that the El Salvador's previous warp core salvaged from her Prometheus-class ancestor provided the ship with a surplus of reserve power to channel into the shields as they were struck by repeated medium-strength disruptor style beams.  Commander Irae had sat down at the Tactical station to command the bridge whilst manning the weapons systems personally, and harried the aft shielding of Pirate 1 with repeated phaser strikes until the El Sal was forced to break off pursuit when the helm was alerted by Savot of a piece of asteroidal debris whose mineralogical composition would create an unpleasantly large explosion should it connect with a starship's shields.


Savot's voice rang out with constantly updating data, "Primary target moving to establish distance; with their aft shields so depleted I believe if they decide to attack again they will utilize a frontal assault and reinforce their forward shields.  Secondary target maneuvering to box us into a pincer and they're arming torpedo launchers preparing to establish lock, recommend course change to the following coordinates-"


But Savot's words were cut off by an inspired Irae, "Nae, gimme a parabolic course t' strafe in front of Target 2, then show her our heels and head straight towards Target 1.  Savot-"


And Savot pre-empted her words this time, "Standing by on tractor beam Commander."  Deis grinned for the briefest moment she could afford mid-battle then focused on business.  The El Salvador twisted almost 90 degrees to port as she executed a wide turn toward Target 2, unleashing a barrage of phaser fire then completing her turn and flying away and towards Target 1 who now had all power transferred to their forward shields.  Target 2 lit up the El Salvador's aft shields with a peppering of disruptor fire to soften them up for their heavy punch... a high-yield quantum torpedo they'd probably stolen from a Starfleet supply ship.  


Savot utilized his multitasking abilities to keep an eye on the debris, the building energy signature of the incoming torpedo so he could match it accordingly, and the changing speeds and direction of all 3 vessels as the impromptu combat maneuver Irae had thought up played itself out.  The pulsing blue oval of destruction rushed toward the rear of the El Salvador poised to do significant damage if it struck the wrong spot, but rather than try to outrun the torpedo the El Salvador actually slowed slightly to allow it to close some distance then kicked her speed back up to match just long enough for the Starfleet vessel's tractor beam to reach out with its blue grapple of energy and gently snag the weapon keeping it from closing any more distance toward the hull.  Deis watched the tactical readout, readied a full spread of quantum torpedos within the Sal's aft launchers, and held half a breath while counting down the right moment, "...Now Savot!  Helm pull us up!"


The Sal pulled up just as Savot disengaged the tractor beam from the enemy torpedo leaving it now squarely in the path of the oncoming Target 1 vessel.  Deis fired phasers detonating the torpedo in front of T1's forward shields, forcing them to keep all their power focused there to stay in one piece, and as the Sal dipped her nose again to move in behind T1 she sent a quartet of non-stolen quantums into their back adding an even more impressive explosion to the mix.  The remaining pirate vessel needed no further time to decide they wanted absolutely none of that action whatsoever and followed their lead ship's example from when the El Salvador first arrived and aimed themselves extremely anywhere but here before jumping to warp.


Helm routed them back toward the research station in case further aid was required while Savot performed a comprehensive scan of the region to determine if they were definitively 'safe' or not, for a moment he was braced to sound another alert but then more detailed readings came up and his tension eased, "Picking up an incoming vessel reading from the other side of the asteroid field, but it's IFF confirmed as a Federation transport vessel carrying passengers to meet us.  Their navigational capacity is less refined than ours so they cannot yet give a precise ETA but I believe the immediate area to now be safe enough for their approach."


Deis looked over the tactical readings one last time before getting up and returning to the center seat, giving Savot a glance now that the immediate crisis seemed to be over but the vulcan merely answered her with a silent nod indicating she should take the chair for now; sitting in a captain's chair of a starship for the first time in years, Deis took a breath and nodded, "Verra well; signal confirmation t' tha transport.  An' try patchin' in to the station's intercoms.  The pirates still aboard might get a little less roudy when they hear there's nae one left to gi' em a ride."


**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
[Research Station Mess Hall]


The Marines paused with fingers near their triggers as first contact was made with the survivors just in case it was a ruse of some sort, much as the beleaguered defenders within the Mess Hall were doing with their potential rescuers, all in all two groups of well-trained personnel.  Zakryn grinned with only half his teeth to demonstrate amusement while trying not to make the female superior officer who had approached feel like he intended to eat her, "My apologizes, Chief." she quickly recovered and said, "You just took me by surprise. I've never met a Gorn in person before."


His reptilian head dipped slightly, "No need, bossss lady.  If I didn't get that reaction I wouldn't be doing my job."  Abruptly, a Trill science-looking male approached as though to speak of something incredibly essential with the Bajoran LC, at which point Zakryn bared his entire set of rather impressive teeth and let out a low snarl that sent the Trill into a surprisingly graceful 180, the Gorn then turned back to the Bajoran as the full rescue party filed in through the doors and the Marines re-established a defense at the opening.  Zak looked around at the shambles the place was in, then to the rag-tag pack of survivors and nodded, "Held out well ma'am, all thingsss considered."  The Gorn turned away and crossed his arms as though striking a bored posture and said the following very simply as though reporting on the weather, "Department Head of Tac/Sec isss vacant on our ship, Lieutenant Commander.  If you're looking for a change of scenery that isss."  Security guards randomly got to 'scout' their own bosses, but seeing what had gone down here Zak felt confident he could tolerate working for this lady, assuming she even wanted the posting of course.


The station's speaker system then rang out with an Irish woman's voice, =^=This is the Federation Starship El Salvador to everyone aboard tha station; all attacking vessels 'ave been destroyed or fled the scene.  Any intruders not on their knees with their hands behind their heads will be stunned on sight before gettin' tossed in the brig.  Irae out.=^=


The Rescue team then received instructions via commbadge to get the survivors prepped for beam-out and to tag anyone that needed transport directly to sickbay.

[Deleted]

[Research Station Mess Hall]

Taryn couldn't help but to grin when the Gorn growled at the other officer. Than her face turned to one of surprise when he offered her a posting on the El Salvador.

"CTSO?" she asked. "On a, a um...starship?" she stammered through. "I'd love it." she continued.

=^=This is the Federation Starship El Salvador to everyone aboard tha station; all attacking vessels 'ave been destroyed or fled the scene. Any intruders not on their knees with their hands behind their heads will be stunned on sight before gettin' tossed in the brig. Irae out.=^=

"She sounds like she means business. Let's get these folks out of here and go see if we can find any stragglers." she added. They were going around tagging the researchers for transport when she heard his voice again.

"Taryn? Taryn? You're not gonna send me to that ship and then disappear on me are you? I really want us to see each other outside of these circumstances." said Jahka Trev.

She had almost, almost been able to forget about him. She turned to face him as one of the rescue team helped him stand.

"There is no us, Mr. Trev." she calmly replied. "Take him." she added to the Marine.

They slowly began transporting out as Taryn and Zak went on a "Scavenger" hunt. She stayed alert but couldn't help to let her mind wonder to the job offer. CTSO on a starship. Her dream. Of course, she knew she still had to see the ships Captain but she was confident in herself. Bringing her mind back to the business, they rounded a corner and found two mercenaries kneeling with thier hands on thier heads. Taking from an old Earth TV show, she turned to Zak and smiled as she said, "Book'em Dano".

[Deleted]

They could see the El-Salvador on sensors now and S'reena was actually happy to see them. "Hail them," she ordered the pilot, "hail them and let them know we're waiting for them to pick us up." She would have her order carried through as she glared at the pilot, then turned around and headed back to her family. She wasn't in uniform, didn't see the need while on a transport though everyone knew exactly who she was. 

Yarna was hopping up and down the bed while Kahlan, as usual was curled up with a novel or study material; S'reena never was sure what her oldest was reading. The triplets were sleeping, thankfully. Jayvee and Jasen were curled up together while Kyala was lying on a different kot. The three had grown a lot and were certainly growing into their own personalities. But it was Yarna, who seemed the most excited. "I wonder if he still has the fish," she whispered excitedly, "and do you think I can still be captain's assistant?"

To S'reena, it was obvious the young girl had missed the tall Vulcan and she briefly wondered if her friend had missed her daughter too. Would they be able to occupy their old quarters? They hadn't been gone that insanely long, only a few months at best. Perhaps, most of their belongings were actually still there? S'reena didn't know. But she knew that soon, it was time to report in, and she'd see how she would be welcomed back.

[Deleted]

Jahka wisely kept his head down when the giant lizard crammed into a uniform burst through the doors and continued to keep himself tucked away until he could determine the strangers were safe. “It’s alright! I have everything under control Private!” he declared to a young women in starfleet security red as he stood up.

“Ummm, Private?” she giggled and shot a funny look to her colleague. “I’m an Ensign, and this is not a 20th century army.

He decided she was a waste of his time and looked around for Taryn who was conversing with the big lizard.

Jun 3, 2015 23:46:20 GMT @galentaryn said:

[Research Station Mess Hall]

"Taryn? Taryn? You're not gonna send me to that ship and then disappear on me are you? I really want us to see each other outside of these circumstances." said Jahka Trev.

She had almost, almost been able to forget about him. She turned to face him as one of the rescue team helped him stand.

"There is no us, Mr. Trev." she calmly replied. "Take him." she added to the Marine.

A burly bolian marine grabbed him rather abruptly and guided him back to the rest of the survivors who were being herded together to be escorted to the shuttle. He grumbled to one of them about being treated like a prisoner of war rather then the hero that he was and followed the rest of them to the airlock.

“Each and every one of you is going to be be given a quick once over in sickbay upon arrival, but if you are not clearly injured you can expect a bit of a wait.” A human nurse with a no-nonsense face explained. “Dr Chavet and the rest of our team can only work so fast”

“Wait… Who?” Jahka sputtered. “Chavet…”

“The ship’s Doctor, Nayomi Chavet. You don’t look too badly injured, just that scratch so I doubt the Dr will be treating you.”

Jahka had not seen Nayomi since she tossed his things out on the front lawn and threw her engagement ring off the hospital roof. Maybe this was all about to get a lot more interesting…..

-------------------------------

Nayomi paced sickbay during the worst part of any rescue mission, the wait. Soon the doors slid open and the first wave of injured researches poured in. Nurse Cutler quickly triaged them and Nayomi set to work on a Vulcan with an ugly phaser burn up the right side of his torso. Someone had done some pretty decent first aid work, but he needed technology that only a sickbay like hers had. She soon finished with him and moved onto the next patient.

“Janice, can you hand me a protoplaser.” she asked, holding her hand out without looking up. She felt cold steel in her hand, but it was not quite right. “Janice this is a vasoconstrictor.”

“I think you’ll find your need that.”

She turned sharply to see a spotted grinning face and immediately slapped it