Shattered Mirror Pt. 2

Tom O'FlaghertyShattered Mirror Pt. 2Being the captain of a Starfleet ship was nothing like the holovids they made of it. Even though there was more than a fair bit of excitement about the position, you never got to spend as much time on the Bridge as they said. Meetings, paperwork, inspections, and all the other little minutiae that came along with command, always seemed to conspire to keep you away from that chair you had worked so hard to fill. The best part is that most people in Starfleet believed that all a captain did was sit on the Bridge and look brave and intrepid. O’Flagherty chuckled whenever he thought about that. Today, though, was one of those days just like you dream about. Mostly, that was because the young captain did everything he could to make sure he was on the Bridge when it was time to leave space dock. He loved watching those big doors go by on the main viewer, the feel of the ship emerging again into the life it was made to live, almost like it was being reborn. During every duty station, from the time he was a cadet, O’Flagherty had done whatever it took to be on the bridge when the ship left a port of call. It was one of his little quirks to command. Thankfully, the anticipation hadn’t gotten too much for him. Crews all over Caloris Station had gone to full readiness after Fleet Captain Sala order the ships to leave in twelve hours. That meant the number of personnel onboard the Atlas had tripled in little under an hour. Jobs and tasks had been completed in record time, and bleary-eyed maintenance personnel had stomped their way off the ship just under an hour ago. Most were probably going to get a stiff drink. =/\=USS Atlas, this is Caloris Control. Stand-by for tractor beam.=/\= =/\= Acknowledged, Caloris=/\= O’Flagherty closed the channel and focused on his crew. “Alright, Operations, make sure all hatches are closed and prepare to clear all moorings. Engineering, bring impulse engines and navigational thrusters online. Sciences, I want both long-range and short-range sensors ready to go when we make formation with the task group. Navigation, begin plotting course to our rendezvous.” Everyone snapped to their assignments, and the indicators on his display begin to go from red to green, signifying that his orders were being met. “Hatches closed, sir,” was the audible reply from Johanna Mari at Operations. “Clear moorings,” the captain added as he opened the channel back to Caloris. =/\=Control, this is Atlas. We are standing-by.=/\= =/\=Acknowledged.=/\= Slowly, the ship started to move as the navigational tractor beams of Caloris station moved the Vesta-class explorer first away from the docking arm and then into a slow turn to face the space doors. Down the row of moored vessels, civilian transports and freighters could be seen. As well, there were people standing in some of the observation windows. On the viewer, they looked like small silhouettes with no distinguishable features. He remembered standing in that spot when on shore leave as a junior officer. He could think of the emotions going through their minds, if they were people like himself, and envied them to a degree, getting to watch his ship leaving Caloris. Now, the space doors were all that stood between the sleek, new ship and the space to which it was made. Starting small, O’Flagherty almost felt as if the traffic control office was having fun with the crew because it felt as if they were accelerating towards the doors quickly. In truth, it was his excitement in the moment. The ship moved steadily towards the portal, its borders growing incrementally as they continued to move out into the void. His yeoman, Ensign Karoush Ibrahim was standing beside him with a cup of coffee and a padd, and when he was just about to interrupt, O’Flagherty stopped him with a raised hand. “Just a second, Ensign. This is one of the perks.” Once the ship was passed the doors, the comm beeped again. =/\=Atlas, this is Caloris Control. You have cleared space dock, the traffic pattern is clear; you are free to navigate.=/\= =/\=Acknowledge, Caloris Control. Our thanks to the Operations and Engineering departments.=/\= =/\=We will pass that along, Atlas Safe journey.=/\= “P’Rim,” O’Flagherty said addressing his chief flight controller. “Take us to our position in the formation.” “Aye, sir,” the Vulcan responded as he focused on his instruments. “Navigation, maintain scans on the traffic area with special attention towards civilian traffic to ensure no collisions.” Which was his way of saying, “Make sure those civilian space jocks don’t come into our flight path thinking they know what we will do.” Ahead, the formation of six ships was just visible. Little more than silver specs illuminated by the sensors against the black backdrop of space. The Sovereign-class USS Integrity was the largest and took a commanding presence in the formation. Her sleek lines only highlighted the aggressive purpose for which she was built. She had been one of the mainstays of the Megiddo fleet for longer than Tom had been in the service, her former CO now being the head of said fleet. There was more than just a little bit of aura connected to the ship. As well, he could just make out the Nebula-class USS Broadhurst, the three Defiant-class ships, Hardagee, Surabaya, and Beijing. Taking its position at the rear of the formation was the boxy-looking Starfleet cargo vessel USS Paulsen. The formation was tight and efficient. Obviously, someone had been brushing up on their fleet tactics manual because it looked like a presentation for an Academy class. “Sir, the Integrity is ordering us to take up a position off their aft-port-quarter and await the opening of the Gateway.” Johanna Mari said without looking up from her console. “Alright. P’Rim, put the Integrity to forty-five degrees, distance, one thousand meters. Lieutenant Mari, have the environmental controls throughout the ship set to ‘Protocol Gateway.’” Typically, traveling through the Caloris Gateway was similar to one’s ears popping with a change in air pressure. The only difference was, it happened to your entire body and could leave a ship vulnerable once it emerged. The Medical staff at Caloris had apparently found a way to configure the environmental systems on a starship so they would release a collection of nebulized medicines to counteract the effects. This, however, would be its official real-world test. “Aye, sir. All engines answering ‘All Stop.’ We are in position for the Caloris Gateway.” “Environmental systems set.” “Signal the Integrity that we are ready. Sound General Quarters and prepare to enter the Gateway.” The alarm klaxons whooped out the call of General Quarters as members of the ship battened down things that were loose and prepared for the trip ahead of them. As O’Flagherty watched the screen. The blue-green tunnel of the Caloris Gateway opened in front of the vessels Hardagee and Surabaya. Unlike the Bajoran Wormhole, the Gateway didn’t have rings, or pulses of energy. It looked like a tunnel drilled in space ahead of them. It was colder, and more manufactured in appearance. Though it was a technological marvel, it wasn’t near as beautiful, at least to the captain, as the work of art built by the Prophets. “Alright, let’s take a dive. Hold onto your seats people,” O’Flagherty called out as P’Rim guided the explorer into the opening after the escort vessels. The blanket of space was blotted out by the sterile walls of the tunnel that would take the small group of ships to the far side of the Gamma Quadrant. O’Flagherty pushed himself back into his chair as he felt that typical sensation of nausea start to come over him. If he remembered right, the typical trip through the Gateway was just a few seconds. Hopefully, he could keep himself from throwing-up from motion sickness before they made their exit. At least, that was the hope before the normally green walls of the Gateway flashed red. That was the last thing O’Flagherty remembered. At least, it was when he woke up. I didn’t know going through the Gateway was that rough. In front of him, the main viewscreen was static, some of the consoles, including his systems display at his feet, were out. The crew was in different states of recovery. P’Rim, on the other hand, was tapping away at his console as if nothing happened. “Report,” the captain croaked. “Navigational systems are restored. I have maneuvering thrusters, but main engines are offline,” the Vulcan snapped back. Others were just beginning to get their stations back up and running and so it took them a few seconds longer. “Operations systems nominal...I think.” Johanna Mari stared at her console like it was spouting out Klingonese instead of Federation Standard. “I’ll have those engines back in a second. The system shut down to avoid an overload. Won’t take a minute, sir, “ Lt. Ayla Cressida, who had stepped up admirably since the former chief engineer, Lt. Commander Gerhardt Rahner, had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a Federation psychiatric hospital. Her blond hair was partly falling out of the typical bun she kept it in. “Long-range sensors are offline. They’ve been looked into a diagnostic loop.” Eduardo Solari was at his station, one hand steadying himself while the other typed commands, he looked a little paler than usual, but otherwise alright. “Tactical systems are functioning, however, shields are not at full power.” Lt. Colok at tactical was working on the shields before O’Flagherty could even give the order, and so he just kept his mouth shut. “Can someone explain what the hell just happened? Is the Gateway always that rough?” His stomach was just beginning to settle, somewhat. Mercifully, O’Flagherty wasn’t having to clean up a mess of sick at his feet, which is what he thought was going to happen. It was then that he looked over and saw that his yeoman had fallen from the high perch where the command chair was, and was lying unconscious on the floor. =/\=Medical team to the Bridge.=/\= He called out as he slapped his commbadge. “Sir, I’m reading a weapons lock.” The captain’s attention snapped back at the sound of Lt. Colok’s voice in time to see that the viewscreen was working now. The assorted ships of the task group were drifting as if each was in a similar state as the Atlas “With long-range sensors down, I can’t identify anything. Not until they get closer.” Solari added. “Raise shields, sound Red Alert, and get Fleet Captain Sala on visual.” O’Flagherty’s mind was reeling. He had expected to have another showdown with the Xul, but as soon as they had arrived? That was unexpected, and didn’t bode well for the rest of their mission. The screen shifted in a flash to the reptiloid face of the Saurian Fleet Captain. O’Flagherty never even had a chance to ask a question. “Fall into defensive pattern Delta Three. Make sure no one is able to get a shot on the Paulsen.” With that, the connection was severed. “You heard the man, defensive pattern Delta Three, and focus on protecting the Paulsen. Let’s move people.” The newly restarted impulse engines vibrated the decks as the ship accelerated to provide a defensive screen around the Starfleet cargo vessel. “Tactical and Flight Control, make sure you are coordinating your work with your counterparts on the other ships. I don’t want to waste energy if we don’t have to.” Out of the corner of his eye, O’Flagherty could see the med team taking Ensign Ibrahim away for treatment. Hopefully, it was minor. Those thoughts would have to wait as Lt. Colok called out, “Incoming disruptor fire!” The ship lurched to starboard with the impact against its shields. The automatic restraints in O’Flagherty’s chair locked down on his legs at the same time and almost caused him to scream in pain. Then, Eduardo Solari’s voice cut through. “Sir, I’ve got a visual on the attacker.” The screen changed again to be filled with the largest Klingon battle cruiser he had ever seen. It looked like a Negh’Var, but it was almost twice the size. Moving around it like flies were seven birds-of-prey, each one looking for targets. “I hope those shields are up to full power.” When they broke into attack patterns, O’Flagherty saw a big problem developing. “Maneuver us off the port bow of the Paulsen. Deflection 60 degrees positive Z-axis. We need to get between them and the cargo ship. Tactical, lay down covering fire. Make sure we can give them a way to escape.” P’Rim raced the ship into the fray, dodging and bouncing at his nimble touch. The boxy-looking cargo ship moved as fast as her design would allow her, but she still looked like an easy target. The Atlas bucked again under a heavy disruptor blast as she set up station between the attackers and their prey. But the cargo ship was too slow, and was about to be outflanked by the nimbler Birds-of-Prey that tried to skip through the phaser barrage from the Vesta-class ship. “Get one of the Defiant-class ships to cover the Paulsen’s other flank.” The Integrity and the Broadhurst tried to make flanking runs on the huge battle cruiser, but her entire surface seemed to bristle with weapons. Port and Starboard mounted disruptor arrays unleashed a harrowing barrage of fire that slammed into the attacking ships. The Surabaya and the Hardagee had set up a skirmish line to try and stop the smaller ships, but were outnumbered badly. Unfortunately, it was looking like things were beginning to take a bad turn. “Sir, the Paulsen is loosing power,” Lt. Mari announced as another concussive boom rocked the ship and caused the lights to flicker. “I’m reading a containment leak in their anti-matter storage pods.” O’Flagherty punched the comm control in his armrest before he spoke. =/\=Captain to all transporter rooms. Stand-by to collect survivors.=/\= As he closed the channel, another jolt racked the whole ship, and sent sparks flying from the auxiliary consoles along the back wall of the bridge. Then, it was Lt. Colok’s turn to give bad news. “We’ve lost shields on the aft-port-quarter. I’m working to compensate.” Immediately, another alert sounded as four figures began to shimmer into existence on the Bridge. The captain punched the comm again and said one of the phrases he hoped he would never have to say. “Prepare to repel boarders!”*05-04-2013, 10:07 PMAnahera Chernova '''USS Atlas Deck 8 Security Office''' It was Ana's rostered duty shift in the Security Office when the ship went through the Gateway. It was here first ride though it and it wasn't something she wanted to repeat any time soon. When the Red Alert sounded she checked the Security teams were at their stations, called up the off-duty personnel for damage control and put the RRT teams on standby. Now that the intruder alert had sounded, she contacted the RRT leaders. =/\="Okay gentlemen, we have some uninvited guests, let's give them a warm welcome. Reynolds, take Alpha Team and help defend Main Engineering. Kenwith, you and Beta Team have Main Sickbay. Branning, Gamma Team gets the Armoury, defend it and help arm non-security personnel. Lastly Kron, I want you to keep Delta Team mobile so you can aid the patrol teams. Now you have your assignments, get to work and remember we have the home advantage, use it, if you encounter the enemy, utilise guerilla tactics, make them work for it. Chernova, out."=/\= Ana wished she could be out there too, but she had job to do right here. Worries for Reena, Draka and Virginia entered her mind, but she pushed them aside, she had to remain focus on the situation at hand. Ana fielded reports from the Security Teams and sent reinforcements when required. The reports, that were coming from various parts of the ship, identified the intruders as a mixture of Klingons and Cardassians. Klingons and Cardassians working together? Ana thought. This didn't make sense, their cultural philosophies were totally at odds and they detested each other. Any further pondering of the strangeness of the situation was interrupted when the Security Chief walked in. "What the hell are you doing here, Chernova?" He demanded. "My job, sir." "Lieutenant, you have more warfare experience than the rest of this department combined, I want you out there leading from the front." "Yes, sir, thank you, sir." Raising from her chair and heading for the door. "And don't worry about your post here, I'll have Petty Officer Clayborne fill in, he's always bugging me for more responsibility. " Lebowski explained. Ana got geared up and stepped into the corridor. Tapping comm. badge she said. "All RRT Leaders, this is Chernova, I'm now in the field, anyone need a hand?" =/\="Meru, here, ma'am. We could use a hand, we're pinned down and Chief Kron is down, I'm sending our coordinates now."=/\=" =/\="Understood, sit tight, I'm on my way, Chernova, out."=/\= Ana replied and quicken her pace towards Deck 6 to aid her old team. Off to greet the 'guests'. A post featuring Edward was in his office going over the little information that he had available about the gateway. His Intel department had been buzzing ever since they were recalled. Master Chief Sunday was barking like a mad dog at the Intel crewman trying to make them come alive. They were almost all hung over and just wanted to go to bed. Though Edward was not. He was wide awake and trying desperately to concentrate on his work. As much as he would love to he could not because in a walk around the station he had a drink or two, three, ah who the hell knew. All he knew was that he awoke in the station's library under a table with holo novels all around him. From the night before to this moment in his office he hadn't a clue what had happened. As his name would suggest he was in line to be the next Viscount Exmouth and this was not how that type of person should have behaved. He had already pissed his father off to no end by running off and enlisting into Starfleet. That feeling had been quelled when he was commissioned as a Warrant. They were also pissed that Edward and his brother Lewis Calvin Pellew had set up a Cigar and whiskey company that had made cutting them off not even close to an option to teach them a lesson were they to do so. Edward was called back almost immediately after he had come to consciousness. She was beautiful. What he was able to remember was that she was a mousy librarian with brown hair. When he woke up she was a beautiful woman that made his heart skip a beat. In an effort to not seem like a rogue, he got her name and gave her his and told her if she wished he could contact her. She nodded as if she understood the urgency in his voice. The name to the beautiful face was Brooklyn Di Caprio and he fully intended to see her again. “Hey Snap your head out of your ass and come back to reality!” Edward looked up and saw the Master Chief standing in his doorway. “Master Chief calm down I dont like the way you're talking to me!” “Warrant I know you got struck by some vixen or something but we have a full load. We are about to go through the gateway!” “I am aware I just cant get her off my.............” Right as Edward was about to finish his thought, the order to repel boarders came over the ship. Edward immediately jumped into action. “Master Chief, assemble everybody and lock down this section. We have sensitive information me must protect!” “Aye aye Sir! Alright you heard what that officer said everybody in hear and grab a rifle!” Because the Intel section had top secret information, there was almost a small armory locked up in Edward's office. He began passing out phaser rifles to his ten personnel and he and the Maser Chief took a phaser pistol. “Alright guys three of you bar the door and if they break through you know to destroy the system!” Intel had a system that was operated separately from the ships computer to if the ship was accessed by a foreign source it wouldn’t have access to Intel. “The rest of you follow me!” Edward cautiously moved his team out into the P-way. He turned to Master Chief, “We got to try to link up with security.” “Agreed, I wonder what boarded us?” “Haven’t the foggiest but lets send the blighters to hell!.” The team rounded the corner and what Edward saw surprised him. Klingons and Cardassians. The Intel office was for now near Ops on deck 7. They need to get to deck 8 normally easy but they would take the jefferies tubes just in case. There were two Klingons and a Cardassian holding a crewman by the throat. Edward charged them. “Die you bastards!” The trio moved to shoot him but Edward got the Cardassian and a Klingon before the other fired his disruptor. The shot thankfully only singed Edward's uniform arm. Before the Klingon fired again, Master Chief burned him down. Master Chief Huffed as if out of breath, “Damn Wyatt Earp...take it easy!” “Come on old man, you out of breath?” Master Chief cussed him and they went to check on the crewman. “Son you ok?” The crewman was breathing heavy but squeaked out a yes sir. “What department are you from?” “Sir, I am a Line Rat from the Shuttle line shack.” The Line Rats were usually brand new crewman assigned to do the grunt work on the shuttles or and small space craft on board. They washed and waxed them, kept them oiled and greased and when they launched they stood in front of the craft and directed it to take off/land as the case maybe. They had a long and noble tradition dating back to the old aviation squadrons of antiquity. Since the main shuttle hangar was on this deck the crewman was not out of place. “What are you doing out this way?” “Well sir boarders appeared in the hangar so the rest of the Line Rats locked themselves in our shop and some went to space frames department. My LPO sent me to grab help when they captured me.” Edward stepped back to ponder, “How many are pinned?” “Seven Line Rats and four Framers, maybe more.” “Alright, grab one of those disruptors and follow us.” Edward turned to the Master Chief, “There is a small arms arsenal down the way we need more weapons.” “Agreed, we got to move fast though.” The team ran down the P-way toward the weapons locker. They passed the Aid station and Damage Control. They grabbed any available body they could and finally reached the locker. They recovered its contents and made there way to the Shuttle bay. When they got to the entrance they had 13 crew members. There seemed to be 30 or so Cardassians and Klingons. They were trying with a phase torch to get into the Space Frames Shop. “Alright Master Chief you take our seven and hit the port flank Ill take the line rat and the three other traglers and hit the starboard flank...... Break!” The team got into position and waited for Edward's signal. He dug down deep in his soul and muster the battle cry of his house. “Exmouth forever!” The hangar was engulfed in phaser and disruptor fire. The team was able to pin down the enemy wile the Line Rat and Edward made it to the Frames shop and got them out. Four framers and two Line Rats were recovered. They moved up to the Line Shack and recovered the five in there. Edward addressed the first class petty officer, “Warrant Pellew, are you all alright?” “Yes sir, PO1 Mike Boss, I figured these sum bitches had us for sure.” “Well we have them pinned down we need to make it down to security yall are coming with us.” “Yes sir. There is a Jefferies Tube right behind us.” The band of now twenty four moved into the tube and made there way to deck eight. Edward's mind was clear and in action he just hoped he could survive this. '''USS Atlas Main Sickbay''' Despite the alterations to the ships’ environmental systems, using the gateway had created an influx of patients for Zara and her staff due to the uncharacteristically rough crossing and it was a case of all hands on deck as people kept arriving suffering with nausea and vomiting. Zara had travelled the gateway before during her time in the marines but she didn’t remember the side effects being quite so severe. The Captain had requested a medical team for the bridge crew so after sending a team of three medics, Zara began to treat her remaining staff as the first crewmembers who were also feeling ill began to arrive. To their credit her staff were efficient, organised and though a few of them were still also suffering, they continued to perform admirably. Zara made a mental note to praise them when things quieted down, but her musing was interrupted by the sound of klaxons and the announcement of a shipwide red alert. There was no time to wonder what was happening before a massive jolt rocked the ship and caused everyone in sickbay to lose their footing. People who were sat being treated on biobeds were flung to the floor, equipment trays were sent to the ground; clanging and banging as the stainless steel hit the deck. Zara pulled herself to her feet by using the nearest biobed to help her up just as the Captain’s next comm came through warning the Atlas’s crew to prepare to repel boarders. Knowing there were no real weapons in Sickbay, Zara did the only thing she could do which was to order everyone to stay on task, treat the sick and get as many crewmen back to their posts as quickly as possible before doing what she had learned in the Marines; improvise. Zara moved to the area of sickbay that served as an operating theatre and went straight to the drawers where she knew laser scalpels and hyposprays were housed. She opened the drawer, picked out a laser scalpel for herself and adjusted the setting on it. “Let’s hope I don’t have to use it.” She muttered as she then took out a handful of hyposprays, loaded them with the strongest sedatives she had, turned around and walked back into Sickbay. It wasn’t the location she would have thought invaders would decide to materialise in but as she appeared around the corner she saw the bright light that signified a transport in progress. “People, grab these and use them on whoever appears!” She ordered; throwing them to the nearest medics. “We’ll deal with the paperwork later!” She had just finished speaking when the large, hulking forms of three Klingons shimmered into being and then chaos erupted all around her... Disruptor fire blasted around the room as the Klingons opened fire on every person they saw and the medical staff were left with only the option of duck and cover to keep themselves from being killed. The Klingons were dressed as though for battle and their Bat’leths were slung over their backs and as they continued to fire indiscriminately Zara hit her comm badge so hard it actually hurt. “Cooper to Security. We have three Klingons shooting the shit out of Sickbay. Get your asses here ASAP! We are taking fire!” Her furious hiss could hardly be heard over the noise of disruptor fire and the guttural growls of the invading forces so Zara didn’t worry about being overheard. Instead, she moved forward; keeping as low and stealthy as was possible. She glanced quickly down at the pathetic weapon in her hand and knew she wouldn’t really stand a chance against a disruptor. She could handle pretty much any weapon and she could use a Bat’leth with a good degree of competence too, but there was no way she could fight off three heavily armed Klingon warriors armed with nothing more than a scalpel and her wit. As she tried to figure out the best way to advance she watched in horror as the largest of the Klingons pointed his weapon at one of her new nurses. The young woman, Nurse Matthews, had only arrived from Caloris the day before, screamed in terror but was soon silenced as the weapon was discharged into her torso and she crumpled to the floor, the primal expression of ultimate fear etched permanently onto her face. Zara’s fury rose with such speed that she acted almost on instinct. “PujwI' hIvlu'chugh quvbe'lu!” She shouted, her Klingon dialect flawless and almost as guttural as theirs. She stood up ramrod straight and came out from her position of relative cover. There was no way she was letting another one of her people get hurt or killed, not while there was breath left in her body. “There is no honor in attacking the weak!” She said, shouting at them again in Federation Standard English. “Spineless Peta’Qs!” All three Klingons turned at almost the same instant and as they looked at her in both surprise and anger, Zara watched their expressions turn from hostility to shock and finally to what she could only describe as utter confusion. “Cooper?” The Klingon that had murdered Nurse Matthews said; his confused tone mirroring the look on his face. “You cannot be here. You are...dead!” It was now Zara’s turn to look bewildered as she knew two things for absolute certainty; One...that she did not know and hadn’t met this particular trio of Klingons at any time in her life and two...that she was most definitely alive...for the moment. “You are the second person to tell me I’m dead in a week.” She said; her tone deliberately irritable as she attempted to play for time until the Security personnel could arrive on scene with weapons. “He was wrong, just as you are clearly in error. I can guarantee I have no intention of entering Sto’Vo’Kor for many a long year. Now answer me this. What the Hell are you doing on this ship? We aren’t at war with the Klingons so what are you playing at and why are you killing innocent federation citizens? Have you no honor?” “Cooper, you ARE dead. I saw you die myself. Your husband wept as your broken body burned. We smelled your flesh roasting on your bones and laughed as we drank toasts to celebrate your death.” The Klingon grinned and showed a mouthful of jaggedly sharp, discoloured teeth. “You are a traitor and though you proclaimed your innocence, even your mate eventually came to realise the truth. You. ''ARE. DEAD''!” The conviction of his words gave her pause for thought, but she couldn’t waste precious time in trying to understand the enigma of two completely separate people telling her the same thing. She had to keep the Klingons off balance until help arrived and if that meant arguing with them about her being alive or dead then that was what she had to do. “I’m looking well for a charred corpse then...aren’t I?” She said, sneering at them and having the satisfaction of seeing them lowering their weapons as they gave each other questioning looks. It was as though they didn’t know how to proceed but she knew that no matter what, Klingons couldn’t be seen to lose face in front of anyone, let alone Humans. What’s keeping Security? She wondered, hoping that any second they would burst through the doors and stun the three warriors before her. These guys aren’t going to stay sidetracked for long... Draka gripped the edges of the tactical console as the ship crossed roughly through the Gateway, biting back bile. Immediately he began tapping commands into the consoles keypad to check the tactical systems once the crossing was completed. As various sections checked in Draka spoke,“Tactical systems are functioning, however, shields are not at full power.”, he said, already working to reroute power to shields. A tone sounded from his console, Draka's eyes widening some, unsure who could be out here and be hostile... the Xul perhaps. “Sir, I’m reading a weapons lock.”, he said to the captain. “With long-range sensors down, I can’t identify anything. Not until they get closer.” Solari added. “Raise shields, sound Red Alert, and get Fleet Captain Sala on visual.” O’Flagherty ordered, trying to keep the situation calm, it seemed to Draka. The screen shifted in a flash to the reptiloid face of the Saurian Fleet Captain. “Fall into defensive pattern Delta Three. Make sure no one is able to get a shot on the Paulsen.” With that, the connection was severed. “You heard the man, defensive pattern Delta Three, and focus on protecting the Paulsen. Let’s move people.”, the captain said. The newly restarted impulse engines vibrated the decks as the ship accelerated to provide a defensive screen around the Starfleet cargo vessel. “Tactical and Flight Control, make sure you are coordinating your work with your counterparts on the other ships. I don’t want to waste energy if we don’t have to.” "Incoming disruptor fire!", Draka exclaimed, already working the bolster the shields and cycle up the weapons systems, focusing on his task. Sending queries to the other ships in their small fleet, Draka directed the ship's forward phasers and torpedos launches towards the nearest Bird of Prey. Draka heard the captain's shout of,"Prepare to repel boarders!", even as he began the Atlas' barrage against the Bird of Prey harassing the Paulsen, powerful phaser beams lancing out to wreak havoc on the Klingon ship's forward shields, a volley of torpedos following the probing and prepatory phasers in to buckle the shields and spread explosions across the vessels surface. The severely damage Bird of Prey began to flip and twist in space, fire venting from multiple hull breeches. The sound of a transport beam right to Draka's side had him reacting with trained instinct. Stepping back from his console he felt the heat of a disruptor discharge burn past where he stood, sweeping towards the attacker and lowering some. The motion hiding his drawing of his Inquisitor blade from his thigh sheath, and, upon completing the sweeping, spinning motion he brought the knife upwards to impale the Klingon in the chest, just below the sternum, with the blade angled up to savage vital internal organs. Shoving the dying Klingon off his blade his eyes swept the bridge, shouting out,"They're not looking for prisoners! Take them down hard and fast!" <<>> '''USS Atlas Deck 11 Main Sickbay''' Travel though the Gateway had been particularly unpleasant for Medical Cadet Virginia Ward and she was beginning to wonder if she'd made the wrong choice. After the events on and in orbit of Kodana, she'd considered transferring to Caloris Station, but Anahera had talked her out of it. When the Klingons appeared, Virginia dived for cover behind a sufficiently robust piece of medical equipment. She watched in abject terror as they indiscriminately shot down patients and medical staff alike. She also cursed Anahera in her head for making her stay. Watching from her hiding place, she was puzzled as the CMO addressed them, in what Virginia assumed to be Klingon and they stopped firing to talk with her. Now she cursed the woman for not being here to fight the Klingons.- '''USS Atlas Deck 11 Corridor outside Main Sickbay''' Chief Petty Officer Keith Kenwith, leader of RRT Beta, and his team made their way as quickly as possible along the corridor. They'd encountered resistance in the form of a trio of Cardassians that had been trying to sabotage the Main ODN Trunk. They dealt with them swiftly and now with Crewman Qual on point they approached the Sickbay. The Ferengi consulted his rifle's built in tri-corder and signalled to the others that their where three Klingon invaders inside. Kenwith nodded his understanding then used had gestures to split into three. Petty Officer Qual and Crewman Martinez were to take the invader on the left, while Petty Officers Pran and Brodht were to go right and Kenwith himself would take out the centre invader, himself, backed up by Sniper Thomson. Qual and Martinez and Pran and Brodht stunned their targets without incident, but instead of turn on the attackers the lead Klingon screamed in Klingon and raised his weapon at the CMO. Sniper Rachel Thomson had no choice but to fire a high speed projectile into the man's brain, in order to save Commander Cooper's life. "Beta Team, report." Kenwith ordered. "Left, neutralized." Qual reported. "Right, neutralized." Came Pran's report. "Centre, neutralized...terminally." Thomson said. "Good job, Team." Kenwith said. He then approached Commander Cooper. "Chief Keith Kenwith, RRT, Beta, at your service, Ma'am. Sorry for the delay, but we ran into a little trouble on the way here." He'd surveyed the room on entering and noticed the bodies strewn on the deck. And Kenwith had been doing this long enough to know that despite your best efforts, soldiers die in battle, but this wasn't a battlefield and the majority of the dead weren't soldiers, they were medics, scientists, and engineers. He felt for her loss and as they talked he recognised the same battle hardened look in her, that he saw in his mirror every morning. There had been a rumour going around that the CMO had been a Marine, he could now see the rumour was true. '''Beta to the rescue. A post featuring a brief cameo by Cadet Virginia Ward and introducing CPO Keith Kenwith, POs Jata Pran, Alex Martinez and Andon Brodt, and Crewmen Qual and Rachel Thomson, aka RRT, Beta.''' The ship rocked under their feet, and booms could be heard thundering through the hull. On the view screen, flashes of energy danced by with dazzling speed as torpedoes, disruptor bolts, and phaser beams passed in all directions. On the bridge, itself, things were even deadlier it seemed. Lt. Colok had just dispatched one of the boarders with the proclamation, "They're not looking for prisoners! Take them down hard and fast!" but he didn’t see the one behind him, about to level his disruptor into the man’s back. O’Flagherty dove from the perch of his command chair, not thinking about the small phaser in the small of his back, and wrapped his arms around the man’s head. The shot went wide, impacting one of the forward screens and sending sparks flying as the display went black. The captain and the Klingon hit the deck with a loud crash of armor and bodies as each tried to grapple for the advantage. The Klingon drove his fists into the human’s ribs, and one on the left side popped loudly from the impact. O’Flagherty drove his thumb into the attackers right eye socket with his left as he reached for the phaser with his right, but the stronger man’s other arm was preventing him from getting there. A howl rose from the warrior’s throat as the pain of his now vacant eye socket reached his brain and he used his cranial ridges as they were intended, head-butting the captain. He rolled off, lights dancing in his vision, pain coming with every breath. A dark form was rising from the deck in front of him, a gleam at the end of one arm. O’Flagherty’s eyes cleared in time to see the d’k tahg being raised for a killing blow. At the same time, the captain was reaching slowly for the phaser he hadn’t been able to get to before. A flash of cobalt-blue energy made an aura around the attacker. The klingon’s remaining eye rolled up as he collapsed to his knees and then to his side. Behind the fallen warrior, the captain saw one of the sentries, phaser rifle leveled on the fallen victim of his marksmanship. “Are you OK, sir?” O’Flagherty didn’t have time to answer before a disruptor blast struck the young crewman in the chest and sent him into the rear bulkhead. He hit the floor like a ragdoll, and the captain could see from the vacant eyes that the young man was dead. The captain hurriedly moved over to the fallen rifle. He picked it up, shouldered it and swept the room. The other sentry had already stunned another intruder, while the last was on the deck, how he got there, O’Flagherty didn’t know. “Secure the prisoners. Someone give me a report.” “Security reports all threats are being responded to. There has been no disruption to ship’s systems from the intruders,” Johanna Mari said. There was a bruise starting to form on her left cheek, but she was still holding strong at her station. “What about the Paulsen?” “The Paulsen is gone, sir. She exploded due to a containment breach in her anti-matter. I’m reading escape pods though.” Another jostle rumbled through the ship as Eduardo Solari made his report. “Get transporters to put those pods in the cargo bays.” The bad news shook the captain, but he was able to keep his bearing for the crew as he climbed back to his seat. The rifle sat across his lap, and he favored his left side a little. O’Flagherty was not going to give up the bridge in the midst of a battle like this. “Looks like we won’t be installing a listening post after all.” “Sir, the Broadhurst has taken heavy damage. They are putting out a distress call.” Mari’s report was accentuated by the flash of an explosion on the view screen. Instantly, the magnification shifted to show the Nebula-class cruiser’s tactical pod being blown off its pylons by a photon torpedo. “The Integrity has also sustained damage, they seem to be pulling out of the fight.”“What? Have we been given orders to fall back?” “Negative, captain. I read damage to the bridge on that ship, sir.” “Contact the Integrity.” A few commands into her console and then he blonde haired chief of Operations nodded her head to tell O’Flagherty that there was an audio channel open. =/\=Integrity, this is Atlas. Are we falling back, sir?”=/\= =/\=Atlas this is Commander Dennehy, XO of the Integrity. Fleet Captain Sala has been badly wounded. We’ve moved him to sickbay. What do we do?=/\= Everyone froze, or at least if felt like they did. For a couple of seconds the young starship captain was without an answer. When he got one, he projected all the control he could muster to encourage his crew. “Contact the task group. I’m taking command.” People snapped back to their duty stations quickly. Many had new tasks since the ship would be giving the orders and coordinating the combat instead of responding to another. =/\=We have to change the status quo, Dennehy. What’s your status?=/\= =/\=Shields are at 40%, but we had a couple of breaches where they transported over a boarding party. Security is cleaning it up. We have lost aft phasers, but torpedo launchers are functioning as normal.=/\= =/\=Good.=/\= He turned to Solari at Sciences to get another update. “What about the other ships?” “The Broadhurst is done for. They are beginning to launch escape pods, but the Birds-of-Prey are preparing to swarm them. The Hardagee, Surabaya, and the Beijing are giving chase, but the Beijing has lost power to one of their nacelles. The Klingons are down three Birds, but the cruiser is still very active.” Solari never looked up from his station as he relayed the information, but his hands were shaking slightly. “What about us?” “Shields are at 70%, but they are climbing steadily. All other systems functioning as normal. The Birds-of-Prey were slipping around and not focusing on us, sir.” Lt. Colok was back at his station, his blade back in the sheath on his leg. =/\=Group, here’s the new plan. Integrity, you are in charge of getting the survivors from the Broadhurst, we will take care of the Birds-of-Prey. Hardagee, Surabaya, and Beijing you will engage the cruiser. I want you get get close, and not give them a chance to take a good shot at you. Make sure your pilots are ready for close maneuvers and don’t run into each other. But keep that cruiser swatting at you until we can join you.=/\= O’Flagherty paused to look around at his crew. The small beeps and background noise of the ship were still there, and her powerful engines could be felt in the deck. =/\=Let’s get to work people.=/\ The captain punched the channel closed and turned to his tactical officers. “Lt. Colok, you take control of all forward weapons, Ensign Rademaker, you’re in charge of all aft weapons. Pass shield control off to the 2FC in Main Engineering. Disable every ship that crosses your path, and make sure none of them can even come close to those escape pods.” “Flight Control,” O’Flagherty continued. “Start calculating an escape warp vector for the entire Group. P’Rim, take us into the middle of those Birds-of-Prey. Break up their formation and then make sure they can’t come back around on the rescue effort.” A chorus of “Aye, sir,” went up throughout the room, except for Lt. Solari. “Sir, without long-range sensors, flying at warp will be dangerous.” “Then I guess you will have to find us another set of eyes. Maybe one of the other ships will be able to provide that for you. Start talking.” The scientist turned to his work with a grim shake of his head as the captain refocused his sights on the main viewer. Displayed there was a maul of death that beckoned to him and his crew. Beyond, survivors of a dying ship that needed their help. “No more waiting around. Let’s start this dance.” '''Sickbay USS Atlas''' Everything happened so fast that it was difficult to say what was harder to take in; the unwarranted attack by Klingons in her sickbay, or the expedient way in which the Atlas’ security forces took down the enemy before Zara had the chance to quiz the Klingon more about what he had told her about...her. Zara watched the Chief as he approached her, her feelings a mixture of relief, anger and disappointment. Her expression hardened and her eyes narrowed as she took in the scene around her and when the Chief addressed her directly she didn’t have the chance to compose herself before looking him in the eye. “Thank you for your aid Chief.” She said; nodding to him and his team members, some of whom were helping survivors to biobeds while others placed restraints on the stunned Klingons. “Almost perfect timing.” It was almost impossible to keep the hard edge of anger from colouring her words and looking at the Chief’s expression she knew he hadn’t missed the inflection either. “My apologies Chief. I have no right to speak to you like that. I’m angry at myself for not doing more to protect the people under my command. Had I had a weapon in here, this...” She swept her arm around in an arc. “...this...debacle wouldn’t have happened. I could have taken all three out easily but what can you do with laser scalpels and hyposprays of sedatives? I’ll tell you what Chief..Nothing! That’s what!” Her ire and bitterness were now fully on show and Chief Kenwith gave her a consolatory nod before excusing himself to help his people remove the Klingons from the room. Zara watched two of his team manhandle the smaller of the two unconscious Klingons towards the exit and as they did so, the Bat’Leth that was slung over the assailant’s back clattered to the floor; its gleaming, razor sharp blade shining brightly in the red strobe lights that flashed intermittently. Zara glanced away but then something caught her eye, something familiar, but something impossible. Without seeing more than that passing glimpse she knew in her heart whose blade that was. She knew, but she didn’t believe it could possibly be real. That blade had been lost years earlier in the destruction of Paladin Marine Base and Zara had mourned for it almost as much as she had mourned its long dead owner; her Klingon brother, Toran. Without realising what she was doing, Zara advanced on the weapon and stooped to pick it up from the floor, keeping the curved arching blade away from her forearms in the process. She held it as Toran had taught her; weighing the traditional Klingon weapon in her hands as she scrutinised the intricate scroll work that was etched into the surface of the almost mirrored steel. “It can’t be...” She muttered; so quietly only she could hear herself. “What are you doing here and where did he get you? Surely Paladin held nothing of importance for Klingons...” Her muttered musings were interrupted by one of Kenwith’s team who held out his hand for the weapon. Zara shook her head in response but at his confused look she gave him a half smile. “This blade belongs to me.” She told him. “Take the Klingon, but please alert me when he wakes. I need to ask him some questions about this.” The Crewman gave her a nod. “Ma’am. Of course.” and then turned on his heel and returned to helping his comrades. Zara gave the Bat’Leth one more close, but brief examination and placed it reverently on the nearest counter top. “Later.” She said; turning her attention to the casualties so as to be able to give the Captain numbers of fatalities and injuries. She counted four dead and seven injured; two severely, and as two nurses cleared the debris from the floor Zara set to work on preparing an operating table to begin treating her patients. The dead, though nevertheless important, were left where they fell; the first rule of triage being to stabilize who you could and leave the fatalities until the living had been treated. It wasn’t pleasant, it certainly wasn’t ideal but it was what had to be. Comms began coming through requesting medical personnel at various locations around the ship and three teams of two were dispatched with triage kits to treat other injured crewmen. “Bring me the first patient!” Zara called urgently from her workstation. “Noone else dies today!” “Prepare to repel boarders!” Adina heard the words shouted over the comm but it wasn’t a second later when she heard the sound of transporter beams that her mind took the information on-board and ripped her forcibly away from her work on the damaged shield grid. She turned from the central console in front of the warp core to find herself looking upon a large party of very angry looking Cardassians materializing in the middle of Engineering. Lieutenant Mott, clearly faster on his feet, slammed his combadge and shouted “Security to Main Engineering!” A split second later the Lieutenant was riddled with disruptor shots, his hole ridden corpse slamming to the deck like so much dead weight. The intruders swung their attention back round to the rest of the room, but the Lieutenant’s shout for help had bought the rest of Engineering enough time to swing into action. As Adina herself swung behind her console she glanced others doing the same whilst some staff stood their ground and returned fire.The Ensign breathed a small sigh of relief as the sound of Federation phasers began to sound out in the large engine room. Chief Cressida’s decision to requisition sidearms before the gate jump suddenly didn’t seem as paranoid as it did before. A volley of disruptor shots bouncing off the Warp Core’s forcefield snapped Adina back into the present and she drew her own phaser, peeking round the console and snapping off a quick shot. The small bolt of orange energy taking the closest Cardassian in the back of the knee, a second shot took him in the small of the back as he fell flat to the deck. A pair of bright green shots impacted into the deck before her causing Adina to duck back into cover, cursing at the closeness of the shots. A few seconds later she dared a peek from the opposite side of the console, quickly taking in the scene before her, Cardassian and Starfleet bodies scattered across the deck. As she watched however, the air shimmered all over Engineering and yet more Cardassians began to appear. Worryingly this group seemed to have been joined by some particularly nasty looking Klingons and a pair of what looked like S’ti’ach. Once again the air was filled with a multitude of disruptor shots as well as the cries and shouts from both sides as each took yet more casualties. Adina added her own shots to the cacophony, taking out one of the new arrivals before he could so much as raise his weapon at a fresh target, another fluke shot took a Cardassian in the forehead as he peeked up from a console across the room, the heavy stun throwing the intruder to the deck like a sack of potatoes. Despite all of this it was quickly becoming obvious that the Engineering staff were outmanned and outgunned. A particularly shrill scream hammered through Engineering as Lieutenant T’Lara was set upon by the pair of S’ti’ach, the two brown furred creatures ripping the Vulcan to shreds with their bare teeth and claws, ignoring the disruptors still strapped to their belts. The sight was too much and Adina slammed herself back behind the console, swearing a multitude of Bajoran curses before her training reasserted itself. “Computer! Transport the intruders off the ship!” “Unable to comply.” The feminine voice replied, annoyingly calm. “Intruders biosigns are being disrupted, unable to lock on.” Adina let loose another curse before continuing, flinching as another barrage of shots hammered into the other side of her console. “Can you still lock on to Starfleet combadges?” “Affirmative.” Adina’s mind raced, piecing together a plan on the fly, silently praying it would all pay off. “Lockdown Engineering and prepare to transport all Starfleet personnel into the outside corridor on my mark. As soon as we’re clear, vent the plasma coolant tanks into Main Engineering.” “Warning, that procedure is not recommended.” The computer replied matter-of-factly. “Fuck you and just do it! Now! Authorization Wolfe-Two-Seven-Gamma-Kilo!” ''“Affirmative. Transporting.”'' As the blue fuzz of the transporter beams took hold, Adina swore she could see the first gouts of lethal green clouds bursting into the room a split second before her view re-resolved into that of the corridor outside Engineering. Scattered around her were the rest of the engineers, both living and dead, the nearby corpse of Lieutenant T’Lara already beginning to stain the carpet beneath her a deep green... Adina allowed herself to drop to the deck for a moment, the ship shuddering beneath her. “Computer, lifesigns in Engineering?” “There are no lifesigns currently in Main Engineering.” The voice replied calmly. Adina nodded, a smile of relief crossing her face. “Re-secure the coolant tanks and restore normal atmosphere.” A few seconds later the computer responded. “Tanks secure, atmosphere is now at Federation standard.” “Beam all dead and injured crew in this corridor to Sickbay and unlock Main Engineering.” “Affirmative.” As a good two thirds of the bodies around her were whisked away in a swirl of blue, the double doors before her swung open. Pushing herself to her feet Adina stared into the now empty room, nothing remained of the intruders except a scattered collection of disruptors, conbadges and Klingon Baldrics... A sharp jolt of the ship pushed Adina stumbling into the room, the remaining staff quickly following her in, it took the young Ensign a few moments to realise they were looking to her as Assistant Chief for orders. “O-okay people.” She coughed. “Back to work! Concentrate on re-establishing shields, I do not want any more of those bastards in this room...” Draka's fingertips flew over his consoles controls, letting Ops handle finding available backup power to route to shields, locking in targets as the forward torpedo launchers finished reloading. "Helm, give me a one eighty swap on my mark! I'm going to give them both front barrels, then both rear barrels.", he said, already locking one torpedo launcher onto an individual Bird-of-Prey. Phasers charged he targeted the first two Bird-of-Preys, beams lancing out from the top phaser arrays, striking the first two Klingon ships, wreaking havoc on their shields. As Draka tapped the keys to launch the twinned barrage of torpedos towards the two ships, Draka's sensor readout showed their shields collapsing in the affected areas. Before the Bird's crew could compensate, the torpedos began impacting across the greenish hulled ships surface, blowing huge holes into each ship, destroying and damaging vital systems. "One eighty swap, mark!", Draka barked out, the Helmsman complying swinging the ship around so the rear faced the now five Bird-of-Preys which began breaking off the dying Broadhurst to attack the ship causing so much damage to their fleet. As the Atlas completed the movement, Draka was already locking onto the remaining pair of smaller enemy ships, phasers lancing out, several blasts striking true. Not waiting for the shields to collapse Draka fired the rear torpedos, the Klingon ships going into tight evasive maneuvers. Torpedos zipped past into the expanse of space, some detonating against shields and hull, one Bird-of_prey losing control momentarily, twisting through space. The other bore on, firing disruptors and torpedos at the Atlas, rocking the larger ship. "Shields down to sixty three percent. Acquiring target, firing!", Draka said, lending commentary to his actions, phasers seeking the Atlas' foe. The first three beams struck along the Bird's forward shields, the fourth burst striking the ship on its 'neck' just behind the head. Draka targeted both Bird-of-Preys, the other one regaining control of itself and barraged each with a burstfire launcher's worth of torpedos. Brutal impacts ripped each ship to pieces, debris expanding outwards from the explosions. "Captain, Bird-of-Preys neutralized... shall we target the cruiser?", Draka said, keeping an eye on the shield readouts, which showed shield power steadily climbing. '''USS Atlas Deck 8''' One of the boring duties for Roger was patrolling the ship decks; nothing to do other than walking around until the time of the patrol is finished. The Atlas was going on a new mission and the only info about it that he managed to get was that they will be going through the gateway and that they will be escorting cargo ship. Although it was his first time to go through the artificial gateway, he had already read about it and how his body will react upon entering it. The Ensign was standing near the brig when it happened, one moment he was feeling the change of the air due to the effect of the gateway. The next thing he remembered hitting the floor fast. He heard the sound of the red alert followed by the order from the Captain to repel boarding parties. Roger knew that the RRT would be deployed to take out intruders and his job was to defend the key positions. Roger only had a phaser in his hand, it wasn’t a heavy weapon but it was better than nothing, he adjusted the setting on it and headed north, where the sound of weapons was coming from. Edward and his band were crawling down the jefferies tubes toward security on deck seven. He had to get his group to safety. He had no clue what had happened. the whole thing was completely bizarre. The sound of weapons was getting near, along with several screaming. Roger stopped, prepared his phaser and slowly walked to the edge of the corner to check what is happening. Two Klingon and two Cardassian were shooting at what looked like a damaged door and Roger noticed two bodies on the ground and two taking cover, trying to return fire on the attackers. The Ensign took a deep breath, recalled the training he had before joining the Atlas, and stepped out from behind the corner taking aim at the nearest enemy. One of the Cardassian fell down after being hit by Roger. Before he realised what happened and fired on Roger, both starfleet officers shoot them from behind taking the remaining three down. Roger still breathing heavily, approached to check the bodies on the floor. One of them was from Operations and the other was a Security officer who he used to hang along with during patrol duties. Roger replaced his phaser with the powerful rifle from one of the dead Security officers, checked the power cell. He heard voices coming from behind one of the hatches, not knowing what might come through, the now 3 Security officers, took aim at the hatch that went open to reveal one of the crew followed by many others. “Area is clear, you can come out” Roger put the rifle on his back and started helping the people out while the 2 others checked the area for hostiles. Edward peered through the hatchway and slowly walked out. “This is Warrant Pellew, I got 23 others. What is the situation here?” "Ensign Roger Mitri, we managed to clear this area and we were going to support other places. I suggest we supply from this small weapon locker before we move forward." “Sounds like a plan. We should probably make our way toward the Armory to try to secure it.” “Good idea, lets go” After getting weapons and ammo from the small locker, Roger ordered the non combatant personnel who came with the Warrant to get into nearby room and lock the door; he picked a new comm badge and put it on his uniform, then ordered the new created group to start moving. The main armory area was not far from where Roger met Warrant Pellew, but moving in a ship that was shaking along with some debris was making it hard to run in the corridor but in the end, the team reached the area that used to lead to the Armory. The place was filled with Klingon and Cardassian who were taking position and firing at the inside of entrance of the Armory. It wasn't long before the attackers noticed the new comers and without any warning, some of them turned and start shooting at the Ensigns team who managed to take cover before getting hit by the fire. “Warrant, can you handle this area while I use the nearby tube to get inside and help from inside. I will only take 2 persons with me” Peter looked up to see why the attackers had stopped shooting at him and his team. He was relieved to see other Starfleet personnel approaching them. Since their arrival to the Armory they were overwhelmed by Klingon’s and Cardassians, not giving them a chance to fight back. “Julot, Durham and Tharg, start fighting the enemy’s from this side, while the newcomers fight from the other side.” He yelled to the members of the Gamma Rapid Response Team. “Colm and Brewster, you follow me and make sure no one can enter the Armory” Edward setup the Master Chief and a couple of the crewman to cover the entrance to the Armoury. Some of the Klingons and Cardassians began to converge on their position. Petty officer Boss had come along to beef up the team. Some Klingons ran into them as the Cardassians laid down coverfire. Edward took the first Klingon down with his phaser pistol. The next Klingon Tackled the Master Chief. Petty Officer Boss grabbed the Klingon by the hair and pulled him on his back. The Klingon reacted and stuck his bat’leth into his shoulder. As Boss fell back, Master Chief came off the floor with a large Bowie knife he had concealed in God knows where and went straight for the Klingon’s heart. Edward ran over as careful as he was able too. “Would you two quit playing around and return some freaking fire!” The two got behind some cover to return fire. The Cardassians were continuing to try to suppress Warrant Pellew’s team. As Edward fired toward the Cardassians, They fell back and that made Edward nervous. He had no clue where they went. Peter looked as the fight with the Klingon’s and Cardassians continued. It seemed the attackers had the advantage, somehow. Then suddenly a disruptor blast hit the bulkhead above them, having him, Brewster and Colm stooping to avoid being hit by the falling debris. Peter looked up to asses the situation and saw that a Klingon was approaching them. Not having time for his teammates to take cover Peter yelled “Watch out!!” as he jumped to cover them with his own body and shooting the Klingon to the ground. Brewster was the first to react and saw his team leader lying on the ground, not moving. “Man down! Julad, get over here, the boss is shot” But Scott didn’t needed a medic to know that Peter was dead. Died saving his life. Roger managed to get in the Armory using one of the tubes from the corridor. He saw the RRT team, who was defending the area, being suppressed by the group of cardassians and klingons. He signaled for a security officer to take aim and start shooting. To give the defenders a break and to organize their defense. Three of the attackers went down by Roger team. When the attackers turned to face the new fire, they were pinned down by the rapid response team and the help of Warrant Pellew team. All the enemies were on the floor. The sound of one of the RRT team yelling for medic told Roger that something is wrong. He raced toward the man and noticed a body that looked like the team leader laying there motionless. A team of medics start entering the room to check on the injured and to take care of the deads. Roger checked the area and noticed there were no more enemies around. He told a few security officers to stay on guard for any new boarder, then tapped his comm badge. =/\= This is Ensign Mitri, the Armory is secured =/\= A JP brought to you by: http://www.startrekmegiddo.com/forum...ine=1354748221 https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-o...lRoger+sig.jpg and Kate Black as Peter Branning, Team Leader Gamma Rapid Response Team. '''USS Atlas Deck 6''' Anahera had used the Jefferies tubes to her advantage, since she'd run into a Cardassian invader outside of a turbolift. She'd discarded her uniform jacket, stained in his blood, next to the unfortunate man's body. The Security Lieutenant had almost reached her destination, when she heard the sound she'd heard intermittently since entering the tunnels, something small and quick was moving towards her. There had been a few reports of S'ti'ach among the boarding parties, so that must be what was hunting her. The former mercenary had never fought one before, but she'd studied them and she knew it had the advantage in this confined space. Then she heard another one approaching from the other direction. Thinking fast she closed the nearby hatch, locking one out and then she carefully drew her replica Imperial Russian Cavalry Sabre from its scabbard and thrust it out in front of her as the black furred creature charged her. The blade burst through its chest and it screamed in pain and surprise. Blood poured from its mouth and its six clawed limbs thrashed at the air, before stopping, as its brain caught up with the fact it was dead. As it died, Ana could hear the other one clawing at the sealed hatch. She had the computer erect a force field around the intruder and then vent the atmosphere from the area. The clawing became panicked and then stopped altogether. Ana then had the computer reinstate the atmosphere before retrieving her sword and exiting the tube. In the corridor, she found herself behind the attackers. There were two Klingons and two Cardassians. "Ilj SoS Qongta' tlhej Romulusha." She called out to the Klingons.The Klingons turned and charged her, bat'leth in their hands. She shot one down like a targ, but the other was on her, before she could fire again. The remaining Klingon brought down his bat'leth down in what would have been a killing blow, but Ana was able to use her rifle as a block to prevent the blade tips from slicing into her skull. She then used all the strength she could muster to push the man away. "Haha, you have more strength and sprit, than these other Terrans and inferior species, I would enjoy breaking you, but I don't have the time, so the best I can do is offer you a quick death." The Klingon told her as he stepped back to look at her. "Right back at ya." Ana said as she drew her sabre and plunged it into the man's chest. He roared in pain and fell to his knees. Ana didn't have long dwell on her victory, before she had to dive for cover, as a Cardassian began firing on her. But she'd given Delta Team the time they needed, and pretty soon the shooting stopped as the dispatched the final two attackers. "Ma'am, are we glad to see you." Bomber said with his usual youthful enthusiasm. "Yes, we are fortunate you arrived when you did, Lieutenant." Doc added. "The Chief's stable for now, but Saurian physiology isn't my strong suit." "Well, we can't stay here, so what do you suggest, Doc?" the Head of RRT asked. "We go to Deck 5, the Crew Mess Hall is there and it was designed to function as an Auxiliary Sickbay, and I'm sure I'll find some better equipment there." "Good idea, Bomber, Saarvon you carry, Meru, Turner and I will cover you." Ana ordered. After preparing Chief Kron for transport, the team moved off, with Crewman Turner on point and Ana watching their backs. '''Your Mother f**ked Romulans. A post featuring ''' '''Rapid Response Delta Team, some unfortunate invaders and ''' As the last of the Birds-of-Prey flashed across the screen, the captain turned to his Science officer. “Status report...go.” “The Integrity has four pods left, the escorts are swarming all over that Klingon cruiser and giving them hell, but the Surabaya has lost their starboard nacelle and will not be able to go to warp. The cruisers shields are still holding, but power consumption is limiting their weapon output. Also, the close proximity is hampering the Klingon’s ability to target them.” Solari, sweat pouring off his brow was directing the working of sensors. “Alright, time for phase two.” O’Flagherty took a look at the information on the tactical display at his feet, giving him the strength of each ship and its relative position in a 3D display. “P’Rim, set a new course, two-two-seven mark one-five-three. Tactical, target the cruisers nacelle. I want them immobile when we go to warp so cut loose everything you have. Ensign Rademaker, prepare to lock a tractor beam on the Surabaya when we go to warp. Everyone else, hold on, it’s going to get very bumpy.” The ship pivoted gracefully away from the recovery effort that was now out of danger, and raced toward the hulking form of the gigantic Negh’Var as disruptor banks all over its surface attempted to swat the small combat vessels that continued to harry it. Phaser beams lanced out from the explorer’s forward arrays, all focused on the nacelle housed at the end of the port wing. As they collided with the shields, the outline of their fields gleamed bright. The Hardagee pivoted about and unleashed a barrage from its phaser cannons, joining the melee from the Atlas as together, they battered the cruiser’s vulnerable spot, but it was costly. Photon torpedoes slammed into the Vesta-class ship, sending people flying across decks from their impact, battering the shield systems. O’Flagherty grabbed the arms of his chair, the automatic restraints digging into his legs to keep him in place. “Report!” “The cruiser’s shields are down to 15%! I’m patched into the Surabaya’s long range sensors, we can now see.” “Our forwards shields are holding at 35%, firing again,” Lt. Colok called out from his position at Tactical. “Escape vector plotted and laid in,” Samson Berry called out from his position at Astrogation. “Fire quantum torpedoes, give me clean hits,” the captain added. “Once that nacelle starts venting plasma, lock a tractor beam onto the Surabaya and extend our warp envelope. Get us out of here as fast as we can.” “The cruiser’s shields are buckling, torpedoes away.” Lt. Colok was calling out his actions over the cacophony of shield impacts, warnings from consoles, and shouted discussions and orders. His calm was preternatural in the midst of so much chaos. “Three direct hits on the nacelle, it’s totally out of commission.” “P’Rim, bring us about and let’s get the hell out of here.” O’Flagherty was about to jump out of his seat at the tension of the battle, but he held himself back. “Make sure all ships are in formation, we are leaving nothing behind.” The five remaining ships of the task force grouped up, a tractor beam tethering the Defiant-class Surabaya, and pointed their noses to deep space. In sequence, each ship extended in warp distorted blurs as they shot for faster than light speeds. The three flashes fading against the backdrop of space was the only indication that had ever been there. “Now,” Captain O’Flagherty said as people got themselves under control. “Will someone kindly explain what the hell is going on?” When no one responded, after a tense collection of heart beats where each member of the bridge crew looked from their consoles to each other in the hopes of someone having an answer, O’Flagherty filled the silence. “We need to find some safe harbor. Set a course for Sector 001, best possible speed. I want all senior officers to have a report ready in one hour. We will meet in the Ward Room.” '''Sickbay USS Atlas''' For all her mighty words of ‘no more people dying today’, Zara was helpless to prevail in more than a dozen cases of injuries so severe that nothing could be done to save the patients. The first victim to die on the table had been one of her own and it had hit her hard. She changed tack and decided that it would be more productive to triage and assess en masse and then operate on each depending on their level of necessity. Groans and cries could clearly be heard from the more fortunate ones in the main area of sickbay who were been treated for minor disruptor burns and while she worked at trying to save the ones who were at death’s door, nurses kept coming in with other Atlas crewmen from all over the ship who had been emergency transported to sickbay for treatment and deemed in dire need of treatment and surgery. The operating theatre resembled more and more a production line; with the injured personnel lying in rows on the floor and Zara and her team of two moving from one to the next dosing them with high strength analgesics and stabilising them as quickly as possible before moving down the ever increasing line of patients. Time seemed to have slowed to a snail’s pace and Zara felt like she was living in one moment that stretched on without end. She couldn’t recall the faces of the wounded even though she had looked upon them only moments before; her attention on the variety of injuries from disruptor blasts and gaping, bloody lacerations to partial or complete amputations that could only be from the razor sharp edges of Bat’Leths.She wiped the perspiration from her brow with one hand, substituting the sweat for sticky blood before she realised her mistake. Screw it.... she thought. No time for looking pretty. She moved on down the line and as she was administering a dose of Triptacederine the young man; who couldn’t have been older than twenty opened his eyes and grabbed her forearm tightly. Zara pressed the hypo against his neck. “It’s OK Crewman, you’re going to be fine.” She assured him gently; giving him a kindly smile. His tear filled eyes implored her to take the pain away and she could see the agony he was enduring. “The pain will go in a second...it’s...” but her words cut off abruptly as the crewman began to convulse violently; his legs flailing beside her as his eyes bulged and his grip tightened painfully on her wrist. “Nurse I need a neural stabiliser!” She yelled, but it was already too late. Zara looked down into the widely dilated eyes of the crewman and knew he was beyond her help. “What the Hell is going on around here?” She hissed furiously; feelings of frustration, anger and confusion fighting with her desire to get her job done efficiently and her patients tended to quickly. “I thought the Xul would be our only potential threat out here...not Klingons...” Chris lead a security team in the direction of sickbay. Had the situation been less dire he might have enjoyed the irony that it had been years since he had been forced to ‘lead’ a security detachment in any kind of serious combat situation. After the first shootout with the with the Klingons who had boarded the ship he had learned two very important things. The first was that Tom might have missed being a security grunt - Chris had not. He like ruling from the bridge and letting the kids handle the running and gunning. Secondly he learned he probably needed to spend more time keeping in practice with this phaser. Evidently marksmanship is a perishable skill....who knew? Fortunately...or perhaps unfortunately most of the Klingon intruders had been focus on taking critical areas of the ship. There weren’t too many prowling the corridors. It allowed Chris and his team a chance to make good time, but he worried how the rest of the ship was fairing. Arranged outside the doors to sickbay Chris checked to make sure team was ready for entry, once everyone nodded he toggled the sickbay doors open and the team poured in. Zara had stepped out of surgery and was in the process of wiping the blood from her hands on a clean towel when the doors opened and Chris entered with his team. At first she thought he had brought more casualties for her, but then she noticed they were all armed and scanning the room for intruders. “Sorry Commander,” She said; walking up to Chris as she gave him his formal address. “You missed the party already.” Her voice was weary and heavy with emotion. “Being fashionable late doesn’t count for shit when it comes to parties with Klingons.” She gave a cursory glance at his men and shrugged her shoulders. “We had three assailants; all Klingon and as you can see they made a helluva mess.” She kept her description of events to an understatement, not wanting to recount the full details until she had to write up her official report later. “Are you all alright? No injuries?” “Just my pride.” Chris replied. “Turns out you have to keep in practice with phasers.” A few of the security team gave a nervous laugh. “Any indication of what the hell Klingons are going on this ship?” “You mean besides indiscriminately gunning down the crew?” She retorted. Zara sighed sadly and walked right up to Chris. “I’m sorry Chris, ignore that’ I didn’t mean to take my temper out on you.” She said quietly; keeping her voice low enough so that the only people that could hear her were herself and the XO. “The bastards just appeared then began open firing. I’ve lost so many people and from the reports that are coming in we have many more fatalities. The severely injured keep getting transported in but I just lost another crewman on the table and I don’t understand what’s going on.” She shook her head wearily and sighed. “I want to formally request that Sickbay be outfitted with a weapons locker though. I could have taken them out before they hurt anyone Chris but I was helpless to do anything more than try and keep them focused on me until help arrived. How can I protect my staff if all I have to hand is a collection of medical equipment and hyposprays?” Her eyes were dark, her usually business like tone replaced by one of sadness and regret. A weapons locker in sickbay... “Ordinarily I’d say that was just some bullshit excuse to keep weapons on hand for dealing with obnoxious patients. But given the circumstances consider it done.” Chris ran his hands through his hair and let out a sharp exhale. “I’ve got no idea what Klingons are doing attacking us. How would they even get out here?” There was a sound of commotion from the outside corridor and before Chris could reach his weapon three more Klingons poured into the room with their weapons leveled at them. Chris stood frozen, his hand hovering over his holstered Mk 23. He knew there was no way he could draw the weapon before they mowed him down. But the too remained froze. Finally the lead Klingon lowered his weapon and the other two followed suit, each with confused looks on their faces. “Lord Paramount Vaughn?” the Klingon officer asked as if unsure. The statement seemingly leveled at Chris. There was a long and uncertain pause before Chris spoke. “Lord Paramount....Vaughn.....absolutely.” he agreed. Once again, in the face of a mortal threat she found herself without a weapon to defend her people but at least this time there were men with weapons there whose job it was to defend her people. She stood beside Chris and watched the Klingons faces turn from aggressive to confused. She’d seen that look on one of the last Klingons and the only thing that initially went through her mind was Here we go again... She paused as she considered stepping forward but before she had the chance to move the Klingon addressed Chris and now it was Zara’s turn to look confused. He, of course, played gamely along and she was grateful for his stalling tactic. “Lord Paramount?” She hissed, her lips barely moving as she leaned imperceptibly towards his ear. “These people must be suffering some kind of mass delusion, the last lot said they knew me and watched me die.” Chris replied moving his lips as little as possible. “They can’t be too confused. Did you hear that kick ass title they called me?” Zara had to contain any show of humour. “It’s a little pompous though, don’t you think?” She whispered back; keeping a close eye on the Klingons. “I’d have thought you’d have preferred Almighty High Regent Vaughn, or something equally omnipotent.” She added softly. “Looks like they think they know you though so it might be worthwhile you keeping them talking.” She pressed closer to his side and snaked her hand slowly and carefully around his lower back; her fingers brushing against his uniform as she reached for what she needed. Her fingers soon closed around his phaser and she gently lifted it up and brought it back around to her side. “I’ll keep you covered...Lord Paramount.” Just as she said that, the Atlas lurched violently and Zara was pitched headlong into Chris knocking them both to the ground. The phaser she had taken from Chris skittered away, having been ejected from her grip in the process. She heard phaser fire behind her and hoped the Klingons had been caught by surprise as she had and that the security detail had managed to stun them. “Get them to the brig now.” Chris order the security team. Slapping his combadge he let out a sigh, =/\= XO to bridge, I’ve got some prisoners being moved to the brig...and umm...I don’t usually say this...but I think once things are settled down...we need to have a staff meeting.=/\= A joint post with Chris (I like kick ass titles for myself) Vaughn ;) :::Lead Negh’Var Cruiser:::  Gul Evindic watched from the bridge main view screen as the unknown taskforce rocketed away. The alien ships were not like any he had encountered. And this close to the Research Base…how? He closed his eyes wishing he could un-see the vessels escaping. The Klingon commander of the Negh’Var turned as she ships disappeared in a streak of blue. “Someone will have to report their escape to the Lord Paramount.” Tos of House Kor said. “And it will not be me.” “This is your ship and your people.” Gul Evindic hissed. “Perhaps you should.” “The Lord Paramount gave you responsibility to oversee this fleet.” The Klingon gave him a sick smile. He had always hated Klingon smiled. What a wretched race we do business with. A thought he would never utter out loud on the ship. “So who do you think he will want to speak with, Gul.” “Begin tracing their trajectory.” The Gul said. He was a well-muscled Cardassian but even still the Klingon towered over him. “And I want to know what our loses were. Equipment and personnel.” The Klingon commander barked a series of commands to his XO in their guttural mother tongue. Within twenty minutes Gul Evindic was standing outside the office of the Lord Paramount. When the Klingons found out the Lord Paramount planned to travel aboard their ship they had converted three of the flag officer quarters into one massive complex to suit his needs. A throne room like main audience chamber, an office and quarters fit for his rank. The rooms had been styled that way the Lord Paramount preferred. Deep reds and blacks of his house color, the climate was kept more comfortable than the rest of the ship. The Klingons don’t even do that when an Intendant comes aboard. Then again…Intendants weren’t the Lord Paramount. A massive Klingon stood outside the office door. Taller than any Klingon Evindic had ever seen; its head almost scraped the ceiling of the corridor. Even the Gul charged with command of the fleet was required to ask permission. “I need to speak with the Lord Paramount.” “He’s expecting you.” The Klingon said, not looking at the Gul as he stepped aside and door to the office slide open. The inside of the Lord Paramount’s chambers were impressive, and completely un-Klingon. While the styling was hardly Cardassian, Gul Evindic preferred it to the rest of the ship. Carefully marching to the center of the room he gave a deep bow from the waist. “Lord Paramount Vaughn.” The Lord Paramount was not an old man, but his features were hard and his eyes cold. The desk Lord Vaughn sat behind had several stacks of PADDs, organized in perfect precession. Carefully Lord Vaughn went over each of them, typing in his orders and transmitting them before setting the PADD to the side and moving to the next. Gul Evindic knew that the Lord Paramount followed everything that happened in the Alliance closely. Every intendant, admiral, gul or general always felt – no matter where they were – the Lord Paramount was watching over their shoulder. The Regent might have been the head of the Alliance, but even the Regent was kept tightly in the pocket of the Lord Paramount. After finishing one of his stacks of PADDs Lord Vaughn looked up. “So we were under attack.” He sat back in his chair and allowed the tips of his fingers to rhythmically tap the desk in front of him. “Report.” Gul Evindic have a detailed report on what had happened. He knew the Lord Paramount had probably followed the fight from his office as he worked, but he always wanted to see if his subordinates would attempt to change details on him. Evindic hid nothing and gave every detail he knew. Finally he stood silent waiting for whatever would come next. “And do we know who they are or why they were so close to the Research Base?” Vaughn asked. “No My Lord.” The Gul replied. “Do we know where they are going?” “Yes, my lord.” Evindic allowed himself a slight sigh of relief that he had an answer. “They warped toward Sector 25-5-8.” “They are going to Earth?” Lord Vaughn said carefully. “Inform the Research Base to remain on high alert. Inform Commander Tor that this task force is to follow at full speed. Once we are in communication range I want to be informed.” “Yes my lord.” “And bring me to reports from every one of our troops who was aboard the foreign ship, I want to know who they are and they are here.” “Yes my lord.” Gul Evindic bowed as the Lord Paramount returned to his work. Right as he turned to leave Lord Vaughn spoke again. “And Evindic…who made you a Gul?” “You my lord.” Evindic replied. “Serve me well and you will be rewarded. But if this failure is a pattern for future performance, the consequences will be tragic.” Evindic bowed again, “It is not my lord.” '''Introducing Lord Paramount Christopher Vaughn of the Alliance and Gul Evindic.  Main Bridge Deck Six USS Atlas''' Quentin almost leapt onto the bridge as the turbo-lift doors opened. He knew the battle was over and they were at high warp, a quick look at one of the Flight OPs consoles as he crossed in front of Johanna told him they were hauling ass towards sector 001. Earth. He sat down at the second OPs station and glanced over at his boss, Johanna Mari. She was a full lieutenant, but she did not treat him as an underling. Mari was aware that Quentin was brilliant in the Operations field and made use of his talents as much as she could. That was the main reason Quentin had not been on the Bridge when the shooting started. Sensor packages and EPS conduits were fair-weather friends as it was. When the Atlas had gone through the Gateway, warning glyphs began lighting up on both Mari's and Quentin's consoles at once. They knew that whatever was throwing off the sensor readings had to be corrected as fast as possible. Quentin needed only to look to Lieutenant Mari and receive the almost imperceptible nod she gave him. It told him two things: Fix it and fix it now. He spared one glance at the main viewer as he left the Bridge and saw a swarm of Klingon ships. In the Gamma Quadrant. This day was just getting better and better. Once Quentin was in Engineering, Lieutenant Mott who headed up the Propulsion Division, had directed Quentin to the Sensor Bank arrays that would access the packages installed on the Atlas' hull. He had just climbed up into the Jefferies' Tube when the ship rocked under fire for the first time. Opening the access hatch to the bank controls, he saw the problem immediately. The main power supply, in the form of plasma conduits, had been jostled loose during the gateway crossover. He, himself, had checked these connections a dozen times and he silently chastised himself for not checking them once more. He clapped the connectors back together and checked them again as he slid out of the access hatch and then, back down the tube. As soon as his feet hit the deck, the Atlas was deep into the fire fight that he should have been on the Bridge for. Instead, he made himself useful getting any injured crew in Engineering to Sickbay amid disruptor fire, methodically trying not to get vaporized on his way out. He had gotten out of Engineering just as it was being invaded by boarders, only seconds before Adina Wolfe locked it down. He knew there were Cardassians in the boarding parties. What he wondered, was what they were doing here and aboard Klingon ships. He began working his way back up to Deck Six and the Bridge. As it happened, he arrived just as the ship had jumped to warp and the battle was over...for now. "What did I miss?" He logged back onto his OPs console and ran up the various reports that were streaming in now. Mari grinned as she routed power where it needed to go, her eyes not leaving the console. "Klingons, boarding parties. There were even Cardassians, I hear." Tyler gave her a sideways glance, trying not to betray the fact that he knew this already. "Stop lying." Mari raised her right hand. "Scout's honor." Quentin shook his head. "Sensors are operating at 100 percent, Lieutenant." http://i.imgur.com/bMAA6jT.jpghttp://startrekmegiddo.com/images/ra.../yellow-o1.png Ward Room The entire senior staff was gathered by the time Captain O’Flagherty and his relief yeoman, Ensign Vanessa Chalmers, walked through the doors. The spirited young assistant, just having received her reassignment as the Beta Shift Yeoman, called out, “Captain on deck!” O’Flagherty stopped and gave her a sideways look. The room was snapped to perfect attention. “At ease.” As he took his seat at the head of the U-shaped table, he looked around. All were a little shaken by what they had just experienced. Most of the bodies weren’t even cold yet, but the crew needed to move forward. The ship had to figure out what was going to happen next, and not wait around for another ship to show up. “Alright, let’s see what you got.” Lt. Ed Solari was the first to raise his hand. “Captain, we have been trying to re-establish the long range sensors, and we have figured out the problem. It turned out to be more than just the power systems.” The tall, rugged-looking scientist stood and moved to the lectern at the front of the room. He activated the holodisplay before continuing with his presentation. “When we traveled through the Gateway with our sensors active, they recorded a massive amount of information. There are 3 gigaquads of almost instantaneous information clogging the processors. In essence, we have an information traffic jam in the sensor array. Sensor systems division is teaming with Information Systems Division to get it sorted out. The plan is to remove the block of data into an external unit, then restart all the sensor systems, but that will require us to drop out of warp.” “I want to know what the hell Klingons and Cardassians were doing shooting up my ship?” Master Chief Petty Officer Jason Brokman croaked. The weathered looking Chief of the Boat was in charge of the overall dispensation of the enlisted people on the Atlas, which was most of the crew. “You’d think we’d get an intelligence briefing if the Khitomer Accords were dissolved.” “Mr. Colok,” O’Flagherty said to change the topic. “Can you tell us anything by the tactical scans of those ship?” “Sir, from the short range tactical scans I reviewed after the battle, the ships we fought have shown some... issues. Their weapons systems aren’t quite as advanced as Klingon ships should be after the Dominion War. That war spurred sweeping advancements in the technology of all governments involved. The Bird-of-Preys we encountered scan at pre-Dominion war ratings, as near as our computer can figure it. I can’t even intelligently comment on the cruiser. As near as I can tell the Klingons have never built that class of vessel that large. That Klingons and Cardassians are working together is also most unusual. Did we secure any captives from the boarding party?”, Draka said. “I’ll field this one, Captain, if I may?” Lebowski said. “Yes, we have some of each, we would have had more, but it seems Lieutenants Wolfe and Chernova were a little overzealous in their defense of the ship.” “Have these captives been able to tell us anything?” “Not much, they’re not very talkative, but from what we’ve been able to gather, they appear to be as surprised to see us out here, as we are to see them working together. Also, like their ships their hand weapons appear to be pre-Dominion War too.” Lt. P’Rim was the next to speak up. His measured, Vulcan calm cut through the tension of the room. “Captain, if what we are gathering about our new adversaries is true, then logic dictates that something on the very fundamental level has changed about our universe.” “Explain, Lieutenant.” O’Flagherty was leaning on his elbow, his curiosity obviously piqued. “The Dominion War changed the relationship between the Cardassians and the Klingons, as well as the way we function in the galaxy. The very ways we all design weapons is different due to the capabilities of that particular adversary. If those particular characteristics are non-existent, then the cause of those distinctives either no longer exists, or, more likely, didn’t happen.” “I think my universal translator is broken,” Chief Brockman threw in. “Sir, are you saying that due to what we just experienced, the Dominion War didn’t happen? Considering I was a participant in it, I disagree.” “The logical answer would be ‘yes,’ and ‘no’” the young Vulcan responded. “For us, the Dominion War was very much a part of our history. However, we may have found ourselves in a place where that history did not happen.” “I hated Temporal Theory at the Academy.” Ayla Cressida said when everyone stared blankly at the Chief Helmsman. “But, I believe what the Lieutenant is trying to say, is that we’re in some kind of alternate universe.” The captain was at a loss for words. “Well, How can we be sure of such a thing?” “Well,” Johanna Mari started. “We haven’t received any Starfleet, Federation, or Allied signals since we came out of the Gateway. There are no ships, as far as we can tell with short-range sensors, on any of the normal patrol routes. Normal civilian shipping traffic is nowhere to be seen, not even ion trails or warp wakes. According to Stellar Cartography, we were in the Denevan sector when we were attacked, and there should be a fairly large Starfleet installation nearby, but there is no trace of it. No nav beacons for damaged ships, and no subspace signals going through the area. What Lieutenant P’Rim is saying sounds more than just plausible.” “It also sheds some light on what one of the Klingons told me in Sickbay before Security stunned their asses.” Zara interjected, leaning forward in her seat and resting her forearms on the table top. “He was adamant that I was dead, that I was a traitor and he had watched me burn alive so he was more than surprised to see standing before him.” She gave Chris a quick glance before turning back to face the Captain. “It also explains the other Klingons addressing Chris as...” She turned to look at Chris again. “What was it again...? Lord High and Powerful...?” Chris raised an eyebrow, “When the second batch of Klingons entered sickbay they stopped just short of mowing us down and addressed me as, ‘Lord Paramount’.” Vaughn gave a slight smirk at Zara before continuing, “I’ve never been one to turn down an impressive title but that’s a bit much even for me. More to the point I’ve never been called that nor has anyone in my family. Isn’t there something in the records about other Starfleet ships crossing into alternate realities? I don’t recall the specifics but we can’t be the first people to have encountered this.” “We need to start correlating the data in the computer with whatever we can get from our prisoners.” O’Flagherty turned back to his chief of security for emphasis. “Commander, I want you to have Mr. Pellew focus on getting us an idea of what the hell is going on. I don’t care about tactical advantages like weapons designs or battle strategies as much as I need to know the lay of the land. Have him focus on the big picture. If he needs to piece it together by taking an indirect line of questioning, that’s fine. Just get it done.” “Now,” he said as he turned back to the rest of the room. “How are we on things like casualties and crew conditions?” Zara immediately spoke up. “Captain, current fatalities stand at 18, with casualty count in the high twenties.” She recited the figures in a neutral tone but it pained her to have lost so very many. “We have half a dozen or so still requiring surgery and my team are handling that now and triage teams are moving throughout the ship, patching up the walking wounded. I’ll have a full report ready for you by 0600 hours tomorrow.” O’Flagherty took a minute to breathe and let the numbers sink in. “We will have a memorial service for them, as soon as we can get to a safe harbor. Commander Lebowski, I want the sentry division to have people stationed at the doors to sickbay so something like this doesn’t happen again. Also, for everyone, as soon as I meet with the other ships COs, we will be able to disperse the survivors of the Paulsen and the Broadhurst to departments on ships that have lost people. We are in hostile waters, and we need to be up to strength. In the meantime, keep the ship on a standing combat readiness. I want all crewmembers armed with sidearms and all security with rifles at all times.” He stood from his chair at the table and looked around at the people gathered. “I know we’ve been shocked, but we responded well. That is a testament to the leadership in this room. I don’t want us to get caught again. Focus on one thing at a time, and we will get our people home. Dismissed.” “Sir! One thing.. I feel that until we have some idea what awaits us, we shouldn’t set our course for any potentially heavily populated areas. No Starfleet or Federation signals detected, where we should be getting plenty? I don’t like the sound of that. We need more information before we go anywhere.”, Draka said, as he rose. “Normally, I would agree with you, Commander,” O’Flagherty said as he traded information with Ensign Chalmers. “However, we also have a crippled ship, and displaced survivors who could fill holes in some rosters. We need some place to drop anchor, and there’s an old saying from Earth, ‘Any port in a storm.’” A "Coming to Grips" JP with Draka Ren Colok, Chris Vaughn, Zara Cooper, and Anahera Chernova helping flesh out the NPCs http://www.startrekmegiddo.com/forum...4&d=1369434693 '''Deck 11 Main Engineering USS Atlas''' Normally, Quentin stayed out of Engineering and they stayed out of his way as well. But, if what he heard rumored from the senior staff meeting was true, he wanted to be on hand just in case something else went wrong with the sensors. He was off-shift, but like so many others right now, sleep proved to be an elusive mistress and he really was not in the mood to chase her. It was for that reason that he found himself in Engineering with Masi Jojo, the Information Systems Chief and Science Officer Ed Solari as they were getting ready to dump the sensor data clogging the main processors, in the hope rebooting the sensor pallet back to its earlier configuration. Quentin shook his head. "Three giga-quads, Masi? How the hell did that happen?" "Couldn't say, Tyler," Lieutenant Jojo answered stoically. He and Tyler had been here for a couple of hours watching the preparations to dump the block of information in the sensor archives. Solari almost had the transfer ready to go. But, there were still questions. How had their long range sensors been log-jammed like this? Was it some side effect of using the gateway? Truth was, they just did not know right now. "Could it have been a targeted data burst?" "From who? If this is some kind of alternate universe, no one knew we were coming. Not even us." Masi stroked his chin. "Tell you what, Quentin. Once we get all this downloaded, why don't you go through it and see what you can cipher out of it? It won't hurt to have another pair of eyes on the data." Tyler nodded as Solari joined the two of them. The Chief Science Officer tapped his commbadge.  "Solari to Bridge. Captain, we're ready to dump the sensor logs and reboot the sensor pallet. We'll need to drop out warp, as discussed, sir." http://i.imgur.com/bMAA6jT.jpghttp://startrekmegiddo.com/images/ra.../yellow-o1.png '''USS Atlas Main Engineering''' The newly promoted Ensign Ravenor could barely keep herself from shouting as she spoke to Lieutenant Cressida “A little overzealous? Those were his exact words?” The Chief Engineer nodded, simultaneously motioning for Ravenor to quiet down as the pair headed to one of Engineering’s wall consoles. “Word for word, that’s what he said.” “He realises that if Adina hadn’t done what she did, the Atlas would most likely be little more then rapidly expanding space dust right now?” Cressida chuckled as she passed a pad to a pair of passing Crewmen. “You think I didn’t want to tell him exactly that?” “You kept quiet?” Ravenor replied, somewhat surprised. “Oh trust me I’ll be giving my full views to the Captain in time...and in writing.” Cressida shrugged, “But jumping over the briefing room table and slapping some humility into that uptight tosspot wouldn’t have been very clever, career wise.” The Caitian Ensign conceded the point with a toothy smile. “Fair point. But seriously? Overzealous?” “If you ask me-” The Chief started before being momentarily distracted by something on the display before them, “- I think he might just be bitter about the fact it took him so damn long to get his folks down to Engineering...Or the fact they weren’t any nearby to start with.” “Or the fact a ‘bunch of Engineers’ held out against a fully armed boarding party?” Ravenor offered, stifling a small chuckle. “Oh believe me, I’m using that against him every chance I get.” Cressida smiled before turning to the engineer working the next console over. “What do you think Adina?” “Balls.” Adina muttered. Ravenor and Cressida raised their collective eyebrows before the Caitian Ensign spoke up. “Come again?” Adina shook her head and looked up from her work, seemingly noticing them both for the first time. “Sorry, what was the question?” Ravenor smirked, somewhat amused by the distracted young woman. “I was just saying that Security might be a bit tender for a while about the fact you bested them in clearing Engineering...” “Oh.” Adina managed as she brought her attention back to the open bank of circuits before her, twirling the pair of tools in her hands in a small engineering ballet. “You told them I tried beaming them off the ship first right?” “Repeatedly.” Cressida confirmed with a small sigh. “The man told be you should have tried harder.” “Ha!” Ravenor exclaimed loudly despite herself before lowering her voice again. “I’d like to see him circumnavigate jamming tech like that whilst stuck between a quickly vanishing console and a freaking Warp Core.” “Another point that’ll be in my report.” Cressida confirmed with a sly smile before noticing what Adina was working on. “Good Lords girl, are you still working on that?” Adina just nodded, turning the calipers in her hands once more, silently hoping for the gentle beeping indicating an active system... Nothing. “Hang on.” Ravenor started, “She was working here when you came and took over again what, three hours ago?” The Caitian shook her head in surprise, “You telling me she hasn’t moved since then?” “Still trying to get the initiation circuits working.” Adina offered absently. “Every part has been fixed or replaced, but I’m getting nothing.” “Nothing at all?” Cressida enquired, looking over Adina’s shoulder to gaze at the line upon line of operational and holographic code scrolling at a fair pace across the screen. “Not so much as an EMH standard greeting protocol.” Adina confirmed, nodding to the charred panel covering left leaning against the bulkhead beside her. “Sweet Gods.” Ravenor managed as she kneeled to inspect the damage. “This thing looks like it took a disruptor volley point blank.” “Two, best McDaniels can tell.” Adina noted simply, reaching for another tool and trying again. Still nothing. Cressida gave a small sigh before continuing, knowing what she was about to say could go badly. “Listen Adina, I know Rube is important both as an EEH and as your friend, but you’re my deputy now, you’ve got to worry about the rest of the ship first before concentrating so hard on what could be seen as a personal project.” Adina didn’t so much as glance up from the open console as she picked up a nearby padd and handed it to the Chief. “I sent McDaniels out with DC teams three through seven and deployed them across the ship, specialists and non-coms with training have been spread out appropriately. Teams one and two are likewise spread throughout the ship, aiding Lieutenant Solari’s efforts to ‘declog’ the long range sensors, Ensigns T’Jak and Carson are helping directly at Aux stations two and three.” She jerked a thumb in the general direction of the mentioned consoles, the two Ensigns clearly in a quiet but heated conversation with the Science Chief, his blue collar a beacon in the sea of gold and grey that was Engineering. Meanwhile,” Adina continued,.” I have Ensign Baelika working on an malfunction in the environmental controls on Deck Three, upon preliminary scans she suspects it may have been caused by the Cardassians, I’ve rerouted controls from the bordering decks to compensate until she can get it repaired... “Okay I get it.” Cressida admitted as she cut off the woman’s verbal montage of completed tasks. “Looks like she’s got you beat there Chief.” Ravenor chuckled lightly. Cressida shrugged, “Maybe, but I still reckon you need some rest Adina, surely your shift is over already?” “Technically ended three minutes before we entered the Gateway.” Adina offered, swapping out a collection of Isolinear chips. “And you’re still here?” Cressida offered. “Not to mention still an Ensign.” Ravenor smiled, pointing to Adina’s collar, the single gold pip still shining on Adina’s otherwise scuffed up uniform. “Oh for the love of- that’s it.” The Chief managed before hooking her arms under Adina’s and pulling the woman from her seat, setting her upright on the deck before her. “Go to your quarters, scrub up and get some bloody sleep girl!” “But-” Adina managed before Cressida cut her off. “That is an order Lieutenant.” Adina quickly sized up any sort of counter-argument she could muster, and realised she didn’t have a leg to stand on. “Yes Ma’am.” “Good.” Cressida smiled waving her hands towards the main entrance. “Now scoot!” Ravenor smiled, watching Adina exit the room. “You sure told her Chief.” “Don’t smile too widely Ensign, you’re her cover till she gets back.” “Wait-what-now?” Ravenor managed as she did a small double take at the Chief. “How come?” “Because you’re closest.” The Chief chuckled, before strolling off to go help Solaris deal with the pair of increasingly irate looking Ensigns... '''USS Atlas Deck 8 Security Office''' After making sure Chief Kron received proper medical attention, Ana made her way to the Security Office to write up her sitrep. When she arrived Commander Lebowski, who was checking in on things, took one look at her blood stained uniform and sent her to the office’s private bathroom for a shower and a change of clothes. Now clean and dressed in a clean uniform, she sat a one of the terminals and reviewed the status of her Rapid Response Teams and glad to find their losses had been minimal. Chief Kron would be out of action for a few days, according to the docs, but she could cover for him as Delta’s leader until he could return to his post, also Crewman Colm, Gamma’s demolitions specialist had asked for a transfer out of the team, but most worrying was Chief Peter Branning’s death which left Gamma leaderless. She’d mourn for him later, right now she had a job to do, so she began to look through the department manifest for a suitable replacement. After a while she came to a Lieutenant jg Roger Mitri who had distinguished himself on Kodana as part of Lieutenant Banninga’s Desert Insertion Team and he was in Operations at the time. Time to see if he wanted the job. =/\=”Lieutenant Mitri, this is Lieutenant Chernova, please report the Security Office, asap.”=/\= Roger was in his quarter reading the memo about him being promoted from Ensign to Lieutenant jg, the promotion letter was sent during the Atlas travel and he missed reading it because of the fight to defend the ship from intruders; now that everything was settled, and the ship is no more under attack, he was able to change to new uniform and put the new rank but before he return back to his duty, the voice of Lieutenant Chernova came from his combadge ordering him to report to Security Office. The now Lieutenant jg acknowledge receiving the order and start moving toward the turbolift heading toward his destination. “I wonder what the Lieutenant wants from me?”, Roger told himself while exiting the lift heading toward the Security officer, he never met this Lieutenant but he heard that she was the CO of the Rapid Response Teams. Entering the room where Lieutenant Chernova’s office was and stood in front of her office. “Lieutenant jg Roger Mitri, reporting as ordered ma’am” “At ease, Lieutenant.” She said. “I sure you’re aware of the losses we sustained in the recent attack, the RRT especially has been hit hard by the loss of Chief Branning of Team Gamma. Which brings me to the reason I called you here. I’ve been reading your service record and believe you’re the perfect person to take his position, so I’m offering you the chance to join RRT as Gamma’s new leader. You’ll be leading a team of 5 other Security professionals each with their own specialities and your duties will include training with your team so you can perform missions such as repelling boarders, providing extra protection for landing parties in hostile environments and covert insertions, and of course you’ll be reporting directly to me.” She smiled. “Now, if you believe you can handle all that then, you can have the job. I’m afraid I’m going to need an answer asap.” Roger took some time to absorb what the Lieutenant wanted him to do. it is not like he don't want to be leading an RRT team, but he still remembered the moment where Gamma team leader was dead on the floor and his team members were all around him. The Lieutenant jg shook the image from his head and addressed his new commanding officer. “Thank you ma’am, I accept the position of Gamma Team Leader.” “Great, glad to have you on board.” She said shaking his hand. “Okay, lets get down to business, first of all, Crewman Colm, Gamma’s demolitions specialist has requested a transfer out of RRT, but has kindly agreed to stay with Gamma until I can find a replacement and be assured I’m looking. Now do you have any questions?” "No questions ma'am, but can i recommend you check Crewman John Kelley’s profile as a potential Gamma team demo; he seems very experienced." “Thank you, Lieutenant, I’ll do that and keep you apprised. Dismissed.” Roger turned and headed outside the Lieutenant’s room, for him it is time to check the team members profile and later on meet them. When Lieutenant Mitri was gone, Ana called up Crewman Kelley’s profile and service record, she’d skimmed it earlier and put him in the maybe pile, but since his new boss had recommended him, she now moved him into possible pile, it all depended on weather he wanted the job or not. Still no time to ask him now, she was already late for her weekly medical check up. I was provision of her returning to duty after the removal of her bio-implant. Shutting down the terminal, she left the office making her way to the Sickbay. '''Welcome to the RRT, Mr. Mitri. A JP featuring''' http://www.startrekmegiddo.com/forum...ine=1368217486 and Draka spent quite a bit of time after the meeting working at the tactical console on the Bridge. Tapping commands into the console he worked through programming and various files, uploading scans of the Klingon ships' shield and disruptor signatures. As the computer ran through programming designed to optimize the phaser effects against the Klingon shields, Draka reviewed the data gathered on the larger vessel they encountered. He took notes, things to check should they encounter the ship, or one similar, again. "Hmm.. think if we bombard the shields at any of these three points we can short them out briefly..enough to sneak a couple torpedos to strike the hull unshielded. I'll have to try that...", he murmured to himself, nodding as the computer finished its work. Saving his progress, he closed the various files and programs down, nodding to the officer coming to relieve him, as the end of his shift arrived ten minutes prior. Thanking him, Draka moved from the bridge to get some sack time. Ready Room“Captain, I feel you are taking liberties with my ship. How long until I can use my own long range sensors?” Commander Clayton Bishop, her blonde hair still ruffled from the tangle with the Klingon ships, glared out of the monitor on O’Flagherty’s desk. He had contacted all of the COs of the ships traveling with the Atlas in order to have a conference before their next actions. Having the screen of his desktop monitor split into four different faces was not something he enjoyed. At times, it felt that he was trying to referee a virtual free-for-all. Everyone wanted a piece of his time, and the questions were always the same. “Commander, until we can reach a safe harbour and repair our sensor pallet, we are going to have to keep the Surabaya linked with us. Besides, your port nacelle is a smoldering husk. I doubt you have repaired it while we have been moving. “ The captain searched for comfort in his chair, but the ribs that had cracked during the boarding action made that impossible. The visible wince was impossible to hide. “As soon as we reach Earth, we are going to hole-up and lick our wounds. Until then, you will just have to deal with it.” “Sir,” Commander Sonnek interjected. “I believe reaching Earth may be problematic, at best. We have picked up contact on our long range sensors that a ship is following us. At our present speeds, this unidentified ship will intercept us before we reach Sector 001.” Commander Robin Ellison, the new CO of the Integrity was the next to jump in. “We can confirm Commander Sonnek’s findings. In fact, our sensors have identified it as the Negh’Var cruiser that attacked us as we exited the Gateway. Depending on the repairs they completed before beginning the chase, we could be in for one hell of a fight.” O’Flagherty’s mind started to work before she finished her report. There was no information from the prisoners, it seemed Warrant Officer Pellew had been unable to get any of them to talk. They were still flying blind as to what was going on. With so many strange occurrences, there had to be another way to get some news on what was going on. “We need to find out what we are dealing with. I think it is time for a parlay.” “Do you think that is wise, Captain? Their attack on us was unprovoked. They could repeat that same tactic.” Sonnek, his visage etched from stone, always made a good point. “I think we need to hedge our bets, Commander.” Calling up a survey of their route from Stellar Cartography, O’Flagherty formulated a quick plan. “There is a rogue planetoid on this course. I think we should use that area as our meeting place. Commander, Ellison, you will take the rest of the ships, and hide in the planetoid’s shadow. Use a probe to monitor our situation while we meet with the commander of the cruiser. We will contact you through an encrypted burst. Any questions?” The other COs all nodded that they understood their orders, but Ellison spoke up quickly. “Sir, when we adjourn this meeting, may I have a moment of your time?” “That’s fine.” O’Flagherty responded. “The rest of you, prepare your ships. Bishop, I’m sorry, but make as many repairs as possible. When we meet back together, we will not be using your long range sensors. That I promise.” “Acknowledge, sir. Good luck.” “Thank you. Dismissed.” The screen reconstituted into a single image, that of Commander Ellison. Her eyes were bright with questions, but her face remained neutral. “What can I do for you, Commander?” “Sir, I feel you should transfer your flag to the Integrity for the remainder of our time here. It is a flag-level ship.” O’Flagherty’s eyebrows hiked up to his hairline in surprise. “I agree, but I am not a flag level officer. Are you giving me a promotion, Commander?” “No, sir,” Ellison snapped out, professionally. “However, you are now the commanding officer of this task group, and you should be stationed aboard a ship that can command the group. Also, the Integrity is better armed to deal with the threat of this unidentified cruiser that has attacked us. The Atlas, though a good ship, is not nearly as powerful.” “Agreed, but I just got my quarters the way I want them.” O’Flagherty winced again as he leaned his elbows on the desk, peering into the monitor. “What’s the real reason for your request?” “Sir,” Ellison started, but stopped as she tried to focus her response. Her face set with new resolution, she continued. “Captain, I am not prepared for this. I’ve been the XO of this ship for all of two months, and before that I was a scientist on a starbase. I have no experience commanding a ship in battle. I think we would all be best served with someone of your experience onboard.” “Commander, I hate to break it to you, but I’ve only been a CO for about a year. I know you knew that. I’m the new guy, and so I don’t have the experience you’re looking for.” “Be that as it may, you are the one who is now in command.” The captain sighed heavily in regret. “I don’t know what to tell you about all of this, but someone thought you were qualified, or you would not have been placed in that position. I’m guessing the choice was Fleet Captain Sala’s. He obviously thought you had what it took, or you would never have been allowed on that ship.” “I am qualified to be an XO, but to be the CO? Are you sure it is wise, sir.” “Ellison, I’m not sure it is wise, but I’m sure you will do your best.” O’Flagherty let his eyes drop to the table for a moment as he thought about his last meeting with Admiral Maddigan. “That’s all any of us can really do. We just do our best. Now, get your ship ready, and prepare to carry out your orders.” “Aye, sir.” The screen winked black, and O’Flagherty took a moment to think about what he was going to do next. He tapped his commbadge and called for Lt. Mari. =/\=Lieutenant, I want you to do some things for me. First, contact the unidentified vessel that is trailing us. Tell them....Tell them the commander of this...fleet wishes to speak to the shipmaster. Then, have him piped to my ready room. Also, have P’Rim prepare to drop out of warp near the rogue planetoid that is on this course.=/\= =/\=Anything else, sir?=/\= =/\=Yes, tell Commander Vaughn to get in here on the double. I want him present when I talk with this person.=/\= Edward stared through the one way mirror of the interrogation room. He had a Cardassian in one section and a Klingon in the other. He had no clue what was going on but he figured he would start with the Klingon and get the tough interview out of the way. He looked over to Master Chief Sunday with a sigh. The Master Chief smiled, “Hey bubba this is your show.” “I know, this is not going to be easy.” Edward knew that Klingons responded better to a firm hand better than verbal trickery. The door slid open and Edward sat in the chair that was in front of his subject. The Klingon glared at him with hatred and disgust. His hands were restrained behind his back so that made sitting uncomfortable.He was cloaked in a normal Klingon get up though he had a white sash going across his sash and it had an odd symbol on it. One Edward had never seen. “I am Warrant Pellew. What is your name and title?” The warrior said nothing. “Are you in command of this feeble boarding party? The Klingon did not move. Edward was growing impatient, “If you do not answer me I will dishonor you and your entire f&%$&*g house by letting you rot in a penal colony in federation space! So dont sit there like one oclock half struck!” The Klingon was a statue, emotionless and cold. Edward jumped up and pulled the klingon onto the ground and placed his knee on the man's neck. “Tell me what I want to know and end your dis-honored existence!” Master Chief came on over the comm, “Sir may I have a word?” Edward walked out of the room in to the observation side of the glass. “Yes?” “Well sir, we could give him a truth serum.” “I'm not sure that will work plus its sort of frowned upon and we'd......” There was a loud noise and when Edward turned to see he saw that the Klingon had stood and broken his own neck across the back of the chair in front of him. Edward ran in and he saw the man's life leave his eye. He lifted the Klingons head and when he tilted his head back he noticed that his tongue had been removed. The other Klingon in the holding cell was dressed the same way and Edward wondered if that was the symbol of a house or something different. Edward turned to the Master Chief, “Go see if the other Klingon has his tongue.” In a short while the Master Chief confirmed that his had been removed, though Edward didnt even want to ponder how he got the Klingon to open and say ah. Edward was now curious which meant that if the Klingons had no answers, maybe the Cardassians did. '''USS Atlas Main Sickbay''' Things were beginning to calm down and only a handful of the most seriously injured crewmembers were still occupying beds. The rest had been treated and had either been regarded as fit for duty, or had been ordered to their quarters for rest and recuperation. Zara leaned across the biobed and reached for the hypospray that was on the tray beside it. All the checks on this particular patient had returned; his brain swelling had gone down and all his vitals were back to normal levels so it was time to bring him round and make sure there was no cognitive damage. She pressed the hypo to the soft tissue of his neck an injected the dose before placing the hypo back in its place. She waited a few seconds and then leaned down and spoke in a soft voice. “Wakey, wakey Mr Kelley. Time to open those eyes.” Ana walked in to Sickbay, seeing that Zara was busy attending a patient, she decided she had time to check up on Kron’s condition. Looking around she found a nurse. “Hi, I’m Lieutenant Chernova, I w....” She began. “I know who you are, we’ve met before.” The nurse interrupted. Her tone wasn't a happy one. Ana was about to ask when, when recognition dawned on her. “I’m sorry.” she said earnestly. “You’re sorry? I got in trouble, thanks to you, I’m lucky I’m not facing a court martial for incompetence.” The nurse said. “I doubt that’s likely.” Ana argued. “I know, I was exaggerating for effect.” She said sharply. “I had an unblemished record until you came along. Now since you’re so sorry, what are you going to do about it?” “What do you want me to do about it?” Ana said answering a question with a question. “I want you to apologise, properly. Something like, Rebecca, that’s my name, I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry if I hurt you in any way.” “Rebecca, I know what I did was wrong and I’m very sorry that I hurt you and that caused your record to become blemished, I would also be honoured if you’d let me take you to dinner when this is all over.” Ana said. “Oh and I’m glad you’re not dead.” “Good enough. Now what were you going to ask me?” “I was going to ask how Chief Kron was doing and if I could visit him.” “He’s recovering well, but he’s sleeping now, so I’m afraid a visit is out of the question. Speaking of recovering, how is it you were able to get up and walk out of here, mere hours after major surgery?” Rebecca said. “Good genes.” Ana replied with a smile. “Perhaps, I’ll let you see them someday.” After seeing Kelley open his eyes and utter his name, rank and where he was, Zara walked across Sickbay and gave Ana a smile. "It's good to see you Ana." She looked her up and down, a swift medical assessment that took her only a second or two. "Looks like you escaped unscathed from our encounter with our uninvited guests. I wish I could say the same for more of our personnel. You aren't having any issues pertaining to your surgery are you?" Ana smiled back. “You too, Doc.” At the mention of the personnel losses, she grew solemn. She remembered Peter and the other deaths of Security personnel as well as those who had died here. “I’m truly sorry about the people you lost.” She said. “There was a mix up and I failed to resolve it. A Security team was supposed to be stationed here in Sickbay, but they joined the damage control teams instead.” Then to answer Zara’s question she added. “I haven’t noticed any significant change in my condition, except that the headaches are gone and I’m sleeping better, which concerns me, as I would have expected a slowing of my reaction times or a reduction in my strength.” "I can perform some scans if you are concerned about it." Zara answered with a smile. "Though I would look on the lack of headaches and the uninterrupted sleep as more of a bonus." She patted Ana gently on the arm. "We all lost people and its going to be some time before we can come to terms with that. I'm more than a little angry about being an ex marine who couldn't defend her people but that has to take a back seat until we can figure out exactly what's going on." Zara's face belied her inner turmoil about the losses she had suffered in Sickbay. "Have the prisoners said anything yet?" She enquired, hoping for some clue as to the Klingon's cryptic comments about her being dead. "I'd really like to talk to them. One of them told me something that seems impossible, but there was such conviction in his voice..." Her words trailed off. "I'd just like some answers, but I guess we all do." “Yeah, I agree the sleep and lack of headaches are a bonus, but if you have the time, I wouldn’t mind the once over, just to be on the safe side.” Ana said. She nodded at Zara’s consoling words, although she didn’t know the her very well, she felt a kinship with the younger woman, they’d both experienced the tragedy of war and lost those under their command. The fact that she’d helped her with that ‘little misunderstanding’ on the Sentinel and got that damn implant out of her head, didn’t hurt either. “I wish I had some news about the prisoners, but I’m still waiting on Warrant Officer Pellew’s report, you see I’ve been banned from interacting with them myself, as my Chief believes I am ‘overzealous in the performance of my duties’, in other words I should have taken prisoners.” Then she smiled. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you access though.” "Overzealous...You?" Zara replied with a wide grin. "I don't believe it!" She added in mock surprise. "Seriously though," she continued, her tone taking on a more serious note. "I appreciate all you can do in getting me an audience with the Klingon's. If nothing else, them seeing me alive and well might put them off balance enough to let me get some information out of them and if it gives us even a small amount of intel, then all's the better." “It’s my l pleasure, I love watching Klingons squirm. I’ve made a few squirm, myself. In fact on Qo'noS, I’m feared and loathed, second only to Hur'q and the Tribbles.” She laughed. “I’m MaQmIgh, bad omen, the thing that Klingon parents use to scare their children. Can you believe that?” Zara gave a hearty chuckle. "I actually believe I can." She replied, smiling broadly. "Your looks are clearly deceiving us all Ana. You appear to be nothing more than an attractive young Human female, but beneath that benign exterior lurks a scary monster capable of driving terror into the fiercest Klingon hearts." She clapped Ana gently on the shoulder. "I hope you'll forgive me, but I really should get back to work now." Zara apologised. "Now the wounded have all been treated its time for the bane of my existence...paperwork!" Zara rolled her eyes. "I'm afraid we'll have to catch up again later, when things calm down a little. Maybe grab a drink or two?" Ana smiled back. “Thanks for the compliment, I never tire of people telling me I’m attractive, them yelling ‘Die, foul demon!’, I’m not so fond of.” Her smile faded. “I can empathise with you there, paperwork is a bane to me too, but it’s one of the prices we pay for being in charge.” Another price was obvious as she looked around Sickbay. Her smiled returned when Zara mentioned catching up for a drink or two, the Security Officer said. “I’d like that, maybe we can swap war stories. See ya around, Doc.” As she left Sickbay, she smiled to herself. Drinks with Zara and dinner with Rebecca, I hope Draka's not the overly jealous type. '''Brothers in Arms, or should that be sisters? A JP featuring Zara Cooper '''http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/...psfdac9883.jpg and :::Ready Room::: The captain was waiting at his desk, staring at the monitor, which was still lifeless on the smooth surface. He knew that Vaughn was on his way, but he had wanted to start the communication as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the commander on the Klingon ship was not in as big a hurry. It was beginning to get annoying when the doors to the Ready Room hissed open to let the XO in. “Can you believe this guy is making me wait?” Chris took a seat, sipping at his coffee. “Well, they are going to catch us in a short while. Not like they have to be in a hurry. If they decide to wait it out they can parley with us from our cells in their brig. It will save them on long distance charges.” “I guess I can see that easy enough.” The captain took his mug of coffee and downed another mouthful. After tapping a few commands, he switched the waiting screen image of their communication from his desk monitor to the large wall-mounted viewer over the couch/bed in the Ready Room. As the screen blinked, telling both of them the connection was now active, O’Flagherty straightened his uniform. “Now, for the begging.” A stiff looking Cardassian appear on the screen. “I am Gul Trevashi. I am informed you wish to treat with....” his eyes slid over to Chris and narrowed. “Is this some sort of trick?” he demanded suddenly. Chris glanced at Tom as he responded. “Um...no. Should it be?” “Hold.” the Gul said. The emblem of the Empire appeared. as the screen went dark. “Well that was weird,” O’Flagherty added. He and Chris looked at each other and shrugged as they waited for the Gul to come back. When the screen did finally reappear, the visage staring back at them made them both stare, slack-jawed. “I think it just got weirder.” A mirror image of Christopher Vaughn stared back through the screen at the captain and his XO. “Lord...Paramount?” Chris asked. The other man raised an eyebrow and he studied them. “Identify yourselves.” “I’m Captain Tom O’Flagherty of the Federation Starship Atlas,” he said before swiveling the chair slightly to indicate Chris. “And this is my XO, whose name I don’t guess I need to tell you.” The Lord Paramount look Chris over carefully. “Your...executive officer.” it was a statement of disappointment rather than a question. “How quaint.” “Well...” O’Flagherty offered after the silence stretched to an uncomfortable length. “As the commanding officer of the task group that dropped in on you, I would like to apologize for violating your sovereign space.” The captain hesitated bit before continuing. “It would seem we are a little out of our normal area of operations.” “Clearly.” Lord Paramount Vaughn replied dryly. “And how exactly did a Federation task force find itself in this region of space, Captain O’Flagherty?” The captain adjusted himself in his chair as he gave a hard look at the face on the screen. Clearly, the motives of this “Lord Paramount” were not exactly benign, and so he had to quickly formulate a way to play this. “That’s a great question, Mr. Vaughn. We were unaware of our location when we came in contact with your ships. Our intended destination was a great distance from our arrival point.” “And that would be?” Lord Paramount Vaughn asked. His lips curling slightly at Tom’s refusal to use his title. “Golly, Lord Paramount. Do you think our relationship is there yet?” Chris chimed in. “I mean, there was no wine...no dinning and not a lot of foreplay.” “Mmm.” The other Chris snorted slightly. “I can see how it is you stalled out at only XO.” He turned his attention to Tom. “I assume you don’t do much to restrain his behaviour.” “Only because I enjoy it from time to time.” It was time to change tactics, and the captain knew it. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk as he addressed the screen. “Lord Paramount, I’m not unaware of the situation we seem to be in. We were someplace we shouldn’t have been, and you don’t like that. Now, you want to know what we learned from that little experience and how we got to be where we were. All I can tell you is, we have just as much information as you. We are not looking for a fight, or a new enemy. That being the case, I propose a face-to-face meeting where we can...exchange information on our collective situation.” The Lord Paramount was initially inclined to deny the request...but his eyes flickered toward the alternate, seemingly less capable version of himself. “Very well. I can arrange to have you transported to our vessel and we can speak face to face, like civilized beings.” Chris leaned over, his hand partially covering his mouth, “Umm, lets not get silly Tom. I hardly trust myself let alone Bizzaro Land Chris.” Without looking up at his XO, O’Flagherty addressed the screen. “I will transmit our exact coordinates so you can gather our part directly from the transporter pad on our ship.” “You may bring a pair of guards with you. No others.” Lord Paramount Vaughn said. “Oh, and one other thing. I want your executive officer to join you.” His tone sharp. “One moment, please.” O’Flagherty muted the channel and turned to Chris. “What do you think we should do from here?” “Well, not trust the other me, for starters.” Chris said. “I think once the Lord Paramount here gets what he wants he is going to blow us straight to hell.” “Agreed. We will have to find a way to one, not give him everything he wants, and two, slow him down considerably.” O’Flagherty turned back to the screen and activated the feed. “We agree to your terms. I will transmit the coordinates for the rendezvous of our ships.” The Lord Paramount gave Tom a curt nod and closed the link. “OK...well, it looks like we need to make a new plan.” The captain flopped down in his chair again and looked up at Chris. “Any ideas. “We meet with my evil step-twin and while that is happening we sabotage their engines. Slow them down enough so that we can jump start the Atlas computer core and get a solid head start to Earth. Maybe have some backup by the time he catches up with us.” “Then, I guess we need to get some people with experience in destroying things.” O’Flagherty thought for a minute and then tapped his commbadge. =/\=O’Flagherty to Lebowski, Chernova, and Colok. I need all of you in the Ready Room, on the double.=/\= As he closed the channel, the captain looked up at his friend. “Is it too late to as for a demotion back to Chief of Security?” “I’m going to say....yes.” Chris replied, pouring himself another coffee. “Way too late.” a JP with Tom, me and 'Lord Paramount Me.'  '''U.S.S Altas Main Sickbay''' “What do you think?” Ana asked as she showed Draka her ‘new Klingon face’. They had decided that the best way to get around on the Klingon vessel unnoticed was to look like the crew. But since neither of them were Klingon, they needed prosthetics. Though due the lack of preparation time, their disguises wouldn’t stand up to close scrutinization. “So long as you don’t start biting me, I think it looks good. No going too far into character...”, Draka replied, frowning at his own prosthetics in the mirror. “These look horrendous... at least we have uniforms aplenty to choose from, from the boarding party. And weapons. As long as we keep moving and don’t stop to chat, we should do fine.” “Go too far into character, moi?” She asked with mock indignation. Draka chuckled,”Perish the thought. Save that for after the mission, when we’re off duty. I’d say I’m hoping everything goes according to plan, but things so rarely do. Let’s just hope things don’t derail too far.” “Yes, let’s.” Ana agreed. “Okay, we’ll go over the plan, one more time. First we piggyback on the Captain’s transporter signal, then we make our way to auxiliary engineering, where I do my magic, while you stand guard. Lastly we create a diversion and then beam back to the Atlas. Any questions?” “No, no questions. Just need to make sure we sabotage both engines and weapons systems. Other then that I have nothing to add. We’ll do fine, Ana. Just be ready to shoot first and answer questions later.” “That’s my motto.” Ana joked as she reached for one of the uniforms and quickly got dressed. She waited for Draka to do the same and soon they were on their way to transporter room 2, getting strange looks from some of the crew as they passed along the corridors. Draka rapidly, heading to transporter room 2 with Ana. Chuckling softly at some of the looks they got, he murmured to her just before entering the transporter room,”I think I like how that uniform looks on you. You can say one thing for Klingon uniforms... the female ones are... entrancing.”. He grinned to her before stepping into the transporter room, heading to the pad. “My eyes are up here, Mister.” She teased. Then to the transporter operator she said. “We’re ready when you are.” “I knew I was looking in the wrong spot. Alright... all eyes open... Wish us luck, Chief.”, he said, first to Ana, then the last bit to the transporter chief. “Good luck, Lieutenants.” The Transporter Chief said. “Standby.” Moments later he activated the transporter and the Lieutenants disappeared from the pad and reappeared in a storeroom aboard the Klingon cruiser. Draka immediately moved to the door to listen, hand resting on the butt of his Klingon disruptor, one of several weapons he had on him. “Clear so far, Ana.”, he said, slipping out his hidden tricorder to start taking scans of the ship’s surroundings. As they moved through the corridors, the crew paid little attention to them. So far, so good. Recalling the last time she was on a Klingon vessel, Ana quickly led the way to one of the auxiliary engineering alcoves. Finding it unmanned, she said. “Now that was easy, let’s get to work.” Draka moved along with Ana until they reached the auxiliary engineering alcove, keeping his ears opened for approaching Klingon or Cardassian crewmembers, assisting Ana by loosening the inspection plate of the console, then taking up a guarding position. After removing the inspection plate from the nearest console, Ana pulled an isolinear chip from her cleavage. Holding it up she said. “This should do the trick. Kyla Muller in Operations owed me a favour.” Inserting the chip into the right place and making a few adjustments to the console's security procedures, the Security officer elaborated while the virus on the chip did its work. “I introduced Kyla to Rhea Trul, she a Klimaszewski, you know the ones with the frog-like tongues. She she was a very delighted with her ‘company’.” She said with a wink. “Though not so happy to learn she eats butterflies.” “I’ve never met a Klimaszewski... and I’m not sure I needed to know about frog tongues and butterflies.”, he said, chuckling, putting a hand to Ana’s shoulder in warning as the sound of two pairs of hard soled boots hitting the decking approached, moving at a sedate pace. Draka hissed softly,”Klingons, sounds like a routine patrol.. cover that panel up.” Ana stood in front of the console. “Follow my lead.” She whispered pulling Draka into a passionate embrace, just as the guards entered the room. “By Kahless, what is the reason for this intrusion?” She screamed at the guards. Draka didn’t mind the passionate embrace, and actually got a bit angry at the interruption. Not speaking Klingon himself he just glared angrily at the Klingon patrolmen, doing his best to look imposing.The Klingons looked at the couple, then the elder of the two said through gritted teeth. “We are on patrol, Ma’am.” It was clear that he was annoyed about being questioned for doing his job. “Well, there is nothing here for you to see, so patrol elsewhere, Warriors.” Ana replied making the last word sound like an insult. With their anger barely restrained, the two Warriors turned and left. Draka waited until the pair walked off,”Mmm... too bad we’re on a vital mission here. I wouldn’t mind some more of that camouflage. When we get back to the ship maybe.”, he said, slipping out his tricorder, taking a few readings before slipping it away. “We can access their primary tactical systems from a panel near the closest torpedo bay. Might have higher security but its worth a shot. We need to make sure they can’t fire as well as not be able to move when we get out of here.” Ana smiled at Draka, showing off her fake teeth. “Okay, if this ship is the Negh'Var cruisers in our universe, then the closest torpedo bay is one deck down in compartment 23 starboard aft.” “Alright then.. I’ll lead the way. Give me some indication if I need to disruptor anyone trying to halt our progress, Miss Klingonese speaker.”, Draka said, leading the way towards their next destination. “Right behind you, Babe.” Ana said and pat him on the behind. Like before their journey through the corridors was uneventful. Until the reached the guarded door, that was. Ana tried to bluff their way into the room, but the Klingons weren’t buying it and drew their weapons. As the Klingons reached for their disruptors Draka stepped forward, quick drawing his Inquisitor knife from the sheathe across the small of his back, hidden under his Klingon tunic. He brought the blade around and up into the first guard’s chest, before snatching the disruptor from his loosening grasp. Trusting Ana to handle the two guards on the other side of the hall, Draka lifted the disruptor half way, angling the barrel up some, triggering a pair of blasts at the other guard on his side of the hall who was leveling his own weapon towards the Delian. Draka’s first blast grazed along the warrior’s arm, the second caught him full in the chest, energy bleedout flashing behind the warrior as he staggered backwards and tripped, a large hole expanding in his chest. While Draka dealt with two of the Klingons, Ana closed the between herself and the other pair. Then relished their looks of surprise as blades extended from her sleeves and cut into their flesh as she twirled her body towards them, like a ballerina from Hell. Draka shifts position, leveling his borrowed disruptor, noticing Ana handled her two targets easily. “The element of surprise, always a good thing in missions like these. They may have picked up the disruptor discharges, lets sabotage their tactical systems and get out of here.”, he says, keying the door to open, stepping into the alcove to get to work on the tactical systems. “Do your magic, Babe, I’ll watch your back.” Ana said letting the blades retract and then picking up a discarded disruptor and watching the door. Draka opened the access panel on the console, hooking his PADD up into the machine to provide on the fly translations, working to scramble and cross wire the vessel’s tactical systems. “Shouldn’t take too much longer. This should keep them from opening fire on us until at least after we’re safely out of range. Doing anything more drastic would be immediately noticeable.” There were raise voices coming from the other side of the door and Ana could make out some disturbing words. “Are you done yet, cause a sh*tload of angry Klingons and Cardassians are going to be coming through that door any minute now.” Ana exclaimed. “I need thirty more seconds... almost done. Route this to here, they try accessing weapons with shields up they’ll blow out several energy relays and. Done! Lets get the hell out of here.”, Draka said, unplugging the PADD from the console, covering the access panel back up before drawing his disruptor. Ana smiled at Draka tapped her comm. that was hidden beneath her breast plate and said. “*tIDeba.” She and Draka then felt the familiar sensation of being enveloped in a transporter beam. '''Seeing the sights and meeting the natives. A JP featuring;''' http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/Sigdraka.jpg and '''Negh’Var Ship Transporter Room''' As the away team materialized on the pad of their pursuer, O’Flagherty took a quick look around to size up the situation. The room was dark, cold, and smelled of stale air. In other words, it was just like everyone else had described a Klingon ship. All of the angles were sharp and every surface appeared to be made of duranium. “Well, there are some things the same across universes.” A phalanx of Klingon guards stood at a rigid attention staring the captain and XO down as they re-materialized. “I think you’re right.” Chris said giving the Klingons a nonchalant wave. “The Lord Paramount is waiting.” The one in charge of the guards practically barked at the men. Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel to lead the way out of the transporter bay. As O’Flagherty stepped down to follow, he noticed that the guards made sure to take positions all around the formation of Starfleet officers as they moved through the ship. Their towering heights made him feel as if this was not the peaceful meeting they had been told about. The rest of the crew of the ship was hard at work. Cardassians, Klingons, and just a couple of humans who looked to need medical attention moved about the ship. O’Flagherty tried to take in as much as possible as they moved to their destination, remembering the different turns and directions back to where they came from. The leader of the guard turned around another bend and then through a large door. As O’Flagherty followed, he noticed it was a large anteroom. Waiting inside was the ugliest Cardassian he had ever seen. He stood with his back to the door into what was presumably the main area. “Captain, I am Gul Envindic...” As Chris Vaughn stepped up beside the Captain, the Gul went absolutely quiet. “It’s OK, Gul. The Lord Paramount is in his office, this is my Executive Officer, Chris Vaughn.” The Gul stared silently at the quartet of people in strange uniforms. His eyes lingered over the human who looked like his Lord Paramount. Regardless of the discipline inherent to being a Cardassian, he felt as if he was falling into a nightmare. “Wait here.” The large doors shut with a resounding crash, leaving the captain, Chris, Lt. Lebowski, and Ensign Rush with their “escort.” As they loomed over the group, O’Flagherty made sure to position himself in order to see the exits. It wasn’t easy. While watching the guards, he spoke under his breath to Chris, “I sure hope this plan works.” “Well, it can’t be worse than some of our other plans over the years.” the XO replied. As Chris finished, the doors opened again as Evindic returned, indicating that the room was ready for them to enter. O’Flagherty walked in first, with Chris right behind, but the door slammed shut as Lt. Lebowski and Ensign Rush tried to follow. As Lebowski slowly turned away from the door, he was met by the scene of laughing Klingon and Cardassian guards. Inside, the room was silent, but warmer. The decorations were also different. The Klingon cultural decorations typical on ships like that were softened. There was nothing that looked like it was from Earth, but instead other cultures. All of it looked handcrafted and much of it was definitely expensive. Paintings and sculptures were placed around the room. All of it was set up to show the opulence of the Lord Paramount, and most of it made O’Flagherty sick. Sitting on a raised dais on the far wall, the Lord Paramount was perched on a chair, very reminiscent to a throne. The captain strode towards the dais, but stopped before the steps. “Thank you for seeing us.” The Lord Paramount stood slow and stepped down the dias. “Please, take a seat.” he offered, gesturing to a long oaken table with only three chair. Two one one side and a larger chair on the other. The Lord Paramount took the larger seat. “I am Lord Paramount Christopher Vaughn of the Alliance.” he introduced himself with a formal tone. “Adjunct to the Regent and Protector of Unity.” The captain took one of the chairs on the side opposite the Lord Paramount, trying to look as casual as possible. It was difficult, knowing deep down they were going to get double-crossed. “I am Captain Thomas David O’Flagherty of the United Federation of Planets,” O’Flagherty responded as he indicated Chris with his right hand to let him have the floor. Chris tossed a two fingered ‘peace’ sign, “I am Commander Chris Vaughn, XO of the USS Atlas, Lord of the Dance and the Great and Powerful Oz….Esquire.” The Lord Paramount’s raised an eyebrow. “Mmmm.” he replied with a half-snort. “So tell me captain, you came here from a different...dimension?” “It would seem so, sir.” O’Flagherty faltered for a moment. “You will have to excuse me. Our arrival in an alternate dimension was unplanned. I’m afraid I do not know all of the protocol for how to address you in conversation. Is ‘sir’ or ‘Lord’ or ‘mister’ acceptable?” “You may address me as, ‘my lord.’” the other Vaughn replied. He spoke again as he indicated a tray on the table or water, and other beverages “And please, accept these refreshments for our meeting.” “For the record I prefer ‘your eminence.” Chris said. “But we can haggle over specifics later. But I’ve never been one to stand on titles.” O’Flagherty shot his XO a hard look before turning back to the ‘other’ Vaughn. “My Lord, yes, we are from another dimension, but our arrival here was completely by mistake. We had no intention of encroaching on anyone’s sovereign territory, nor do we fully understand the political landscape of this place.” He lifted the decanter of water from the table and poured himself a glass, from which he took a sip, before continuing. “We would just like to ask for peaceful travel through your space until we can find a way to get our ships back to their home ports.” “Well then.” the alternate Vaughn said. “Perhaps we can help you. I can have a few of my scientists come over to your vessel and review its data to see if we can’t get you back on your way.” Chris fought to retain a laugh. “Yeah, thats one option. Why don’t we see if we can arrange something a little less obviously sinister.” The Lord Paramount gave Chris a sidelong glance. “Do you find this meeting boring...Mr. Vaughn?” “Not at all.” he replied, his tone slightly more cautious. “The threat of death hovering over our heads is anything but.” “What if I have a another proposal,” O’Flagherty interjected quickly. “We can establish a secure data-link between my science department and your scientists and collaborate without anyone having to leave their ships. This way it pools our resources, allowing your people to add their knowledge of the area and anomalies specific to this dimension, while my people use the instruments tuned to our particular piece of space. Would that settle everyone?” The Lord Paramount studied Tom and finally spoke, ignoring the proposal. “How many dimensions do your people routine visit?” “In truth, sir, we are not in the habit of visiting any other dimensions,” the captain responded, honestly. “Like I said, our arrival here was a complete accident. We only fought back to defend ourselves.” “I see.” The Lord Paramount said. “I would be willing to allow your data link proposal with a counter offer, I wish to have my medical department do a detailed scan of the duplicate Vaughn.” This time Chris did laugh. “Does the phrase ‘a snowballs chance’ have any meaning in this dimension? I wouldn’t subject a monkey to the Klingon-Cardassian butchers in your sickbay.” “Your indignity to spare the lives of your crew.” the Lord Paramount gave a slight shrug. “You’re a lesser copy of a better man.” “You’re throwing around the words ‘copy’ and ‘duplicate’ and ‘better’ and ‘man’ pretty goddamn liberally.” Chris snapped. The captain jumped in quickly to try and stem the tide. “Wait! There is another alternative, as there always is.” He placed his hand on his friend’s arm to try and calm him while O’Flagherty spoke directly to his diplomatic adversary. “In our dimension, people are not allowed to submit to medical examinations against their will. I propose a compromise. We keep detailed records of all crewmember’s medical history. If Commander Vaughn submits, and you accept, I can send you a copy of his latest medical physical. It’s complete down to a genome scan.” “Thanks Tom.” Chris mumbled. “We aren’t in your dimension are we captain?” the Lord Paramount said coldly. “I’ll let your people carry on in exchange for the medical examination of the duplicate, otherwise...” “And you with this duplicate shit.” Chris snapped at the Lord Paramount. “Where exactly do you keep getting this?” “Regardless!” O’Flagherty snapped while turning toward his friend. “I can not order Commander Vaughn to do this. He has to submit to it on his own.” “And for the life of your crew, Mr. Vaughn?” the other Chris asked. Looking from Tom to the colder mirror image of himself and back he let out an uneasy breath. “I have your word of honor regarding our safe conduct?” “Yes.” the Lord Paramount replied. “Then I’ll do it.” Chris said finally. “I need to return to the Atlas to make arrangements. I can be back over here at 1830.” “And I have your word on that?” the Lord Paramount asked. “I swear to you on my honor as a Starfleet officer and an officer of the court to present myself presently. As long as we have a deal…” “Agreed.” the Lord Paramount said standing. “Well, though I think we could have done this more humanely, I think we have an agreement,” the captain added as he, also, stood from the table. “We will return to the ship where Mr. Vaughn will make his preparations while I brief the science department.” “I look forward to your return.” the alternate Chris turned and left the room. The two Klingon’s then escorted the group of Starfleet officers to the transporter room. '''USS Atlas Transporter Room 1''' As the group stepped down off of the pad together, O’Flagherty turned to Chris, “You’re not really going back over there are you?” “Well he did give me his word about our safety.” Chris replied. “So...no.” “Good.” Slapping his commbadge, O’Flagherty started speaking, =/\=O’Flagherty to Bridge, is plan B complete?=/\= The voice of Lt. Johanna Mari, the Operations Chief came back, quickly. =/\= Yes, sir. Lieutenants Chernova and Colok returned not long before you did.=/\= =/\=Good, establish communications with Commander Dennehy and tell them we’re getting the hell outta here.=/\= =/\=Where to, sir?=/\= =/\=Continue our course to, Sector 001. Best possible speed.=/\= =/\=Aye, sir.=/\= As the channel closed, the captain could feel the decks vibrate through his boots as the ship jumped to warp. He turned to Chris, and smiled, wryly. “I’m glad I have this Chris Vaughn. A JP with both Chris Vaughnseses '''USS Atlas Holding Cells''' Her duty shift had ended hours previously, but there was still much work to be done and Zara had worked tirelessly until every last report had been filed. She went back to her quarters only long enough to have the briefest of sonic showers and to dress in a fresh uniform before placing the ornately crafted, highly polished bat'eth upon her dresser. She then made her way to the holding cells to speak to the prisoners. The doors moved apart with their customary ease and as she stepped inside the brig it wasn’t hard to spot the Klingons. They sat in stony silence behind their cell’s force field, their backs’ ramrod straight as they eyeballed the duty officer. Zara entered and approached the Ensign to enquire as to whether she might have a few moments with the prisoners. “Of course Ma’am.” The Ensign replied. “Lieutenant Chernova cleared your request with Commander Lebowski. I’ll remain in here at all times though Ma’am” He gave her an apologetic smile. “Protocol.” “Of course Ensign, wouldn’t have it any other way.” Zara responded; returning his smile before she moved to the area directly in front of the Klingon’s cell. She watched them stare at her for a few moments, before she clicked her tongue and shook her head. “What shame you have brought on your houses.” She remarked. “Allowing yourselves to be captured by your enemy. Your children and your children’s will rue the day you allowed yourselves to be taken prisoner rather than die in glorious battle.” “Cooper!” Sneered the largest of the Klingons; the one who had previously addressed her in Sickbay. “You and your people are weak and insignificant. You shall be thwarted by our forces and we shall again have the pleasure of seeing you burn!” His companion began a deep, throaty chuckle; nodding in agreement with his counterpart. “You brought shame on the House of Karg and it is only just that I should be the one to mete out your punishment...again!” “What do you know of the House of Karg?” She asked; trying her best not to allow a note of surprise to enter her voice. “And what of my association with it?” “The Klingon rose to his feet and approached the energy field that separated him from her. “I am Gorath of the House of Karg. My brother Toran was slain by your hand and now I shall have the pleasure of avenging him twice. You will find I am not so easy to beguile in the way you did my Brother. He was weak and was too fond of you and your Terran friends. He allowed himself to believe that you were a faithful part of our plans which made him easy prey for you. Poisoning him was a dishonourable act; denying him passage into Sto’Vo’Kor and forever keeping him from the Halls of our Forefathers. As his Brother, it fell to me to kill you and I have never enjoyed something more.” He leaned down so he could leer at her face to face. “Watching you burn slowly once was exquisite...watching you burn twice will be even better!” Zara folded her arms across her chest. "And you're going to accomplish this how?" She enquired; lifting a hand and gesturing toward the force field. "I don't see you getting out from behind there anytime soon." "Be assured Cooper, you Terran Sli-Vak." The Klingon spat back; his words holding all the menace they could. "You and all your Terran peta'Q will die and you personally will die by my hand." "I'm a Terran whore?" She retorted; her own tone taking on a harsh, guttural quality. "It must really chap you're ass to be stuck there like a caged targ and only fed if we choose to feed you. What would Kahless say if he could see you now? YOU are a disgrace to the Klingon race. peta'Q!" The Klingon roared ferociously and launched himself at the barrier while Zara grinned and shook her head. "Now, now targ..." She spat. "You don't want to hurt yourself. You see, I'm the chief medic around here and who knows what I might slip into your hypospray if you don't behave." In his eyes, Zara could clearly see the desire the Klingon had to tear her limb from limb, but he was safely behind the force field and head no hope of acting upon his desire. A cough from behind her had Zara turning around to give the clearly uncomfortable Ensign an encouraging smile.  It's ok. She mouthed.  I'm just jerking their chain. The Ensign nodded and returned to his station, though he still looked uneasy. Zara figured her time would soon be up so she attempted one last thing to elicit some meaningful information from the prisoners. She walked over to the Ensign's console and lifted a padd from the workstation with a "Hope you don't mind..." to the security officer. Walking the few steps back to the cell she brought up an image of Chris then turned the padd so the Klingon could see it, hoping their Chris Vaughn had chosen a similar, if not idential, hairstyle. "As you can see from this holoimage I took of him, we are already in discussions with your leader and I don't think the Lord Paramount is going to be too happy when I tell him we have two of his men in custody." She said; bluffing in as bright and carefree a tone as she could muster. "In fact, I think he's going to be even more pissed when we tell him that upon your arrival here you express your intention to defect." With that she turned her back on them and strode away to give the Ensign his padd back. "You lie Cooper! The Lord Paramount is not so foolish as to believe your treachery!" Gorath bellowed; his rage now laced with what Zara believed to bealarm. "We'll see..."She replied with a wide smile. "Enjoy your stay!"
 * 05-05-2013, 09:37 AMEdward Pellew
 * 05-08-2013, 02:45 PMZara Cooper
 * 05-08-2013, 05:44 PMDraka
 * 05-09-2013, 06:59 PMAnahera Chernova
 * 05-09-2013, 10:49 PMTom O'Flagherty
 * 05-10-2013, 12:13 PMZara Cooper
 * 05-11-2013, 09:01 AMD'Rel
 * 05-13-2013, 10:10 PMDraka
 * 05-13-2013, 11:15 PMJamil Mrad
 * 05-16-2013, 04:42 AMAnahera Chernova
 * 05-17-2013, 09:35 AMTom O'Flagherty
 * 05-18-2013, 06:17 AMZara Cooper
 * 05-19-2013, 11:58 PMChristopher Vaughn
 * 05-21-2013, 01:02 PMCaleb Marlowe
 * 05-24-2013, 01:55 AMTom O'Flagherty
 * 05-25-2013, 09:00 AMCaleb Marlowe
 * 05-25-2013, 04:48 PMD'Rel
 * 05-30-2013, 06:57 PMAnahera Chernova
 * 06-03-2013, 07:14 PMDraka
 * 06-07-2013, 07:54 PMTom O'Flagherty
 * 06-29-2013, 04:07 PMEdward Pellew
 * 07-03-2013, 07:25 PMAnahera Chernova
 * 07-12-2013, 09:03 PMChristopher Vaughn
 * 08-11-2013, 12:01 AMAnahera Chernova
 * 08-22-2013, 09:34 PMTom O'Flagherty
 * 08-23-2013, 04:09 AMZara Cooper