AT/E01 - USS Callisto - Ancillary Locationa

[Benjamin Elias]

Benjamin couldn't help the sigh of relief as he heard the two teams beam out for the bridge. At least now they were working to control the ship, rather than simply being glorified spies within it. He heard D'Mar climbing the core and working on setting up her bomb, much to his relief, and Mayfair was still watching her tricorder and the prisoners.

For a moment, he tried to think of what to do. He didn't want to raise shields too early - there still weren't any intruder alerts active that he could see, so it was possible that the bridge team had missed any Cardassians there. If he raised shields now, he'd be trapping the remaining Cardassians aboard and making their job that much harder; it was better to let them get out at the moment, he thought, but he got the shields ready to snap up at a moment's notice just to be safe.

While he was at it, he also made sure the Callisto's weapons were prepared, moving them to standby mode. He didn't want to get them up much further than that, as it might be noticed, but from standby they could be brought to active within seconds. As the situation continued being more and more fluid, he wasn't sure what the captain would do, but he wanted her to have all the options.

That done, he pulled up internal sensors, and then a second instance of it. The first one, he used for a live view of engineering, trying to see if the room was abandoned and what shape it was in. He wasn't sure if they would need to take it or not, yet, but if was easy there wouldn't be any reason not to.

The other instance, he went back two weeks in engineering, and fast forwarded through the data to try and track the slipstream being taken out. He assumed it was going to go out through a shuttlecraft, but if they used the cargo transporters he might have a record he could find, narrowing down where it could be in system and thereby cutting down the time they would need to find it if and when the captain asked.

It's an engineer's job, he remembered being told at the Academy, to anticipate what the captain needs. Words that he tried to live by.

==GM Inputs on the internal sensors==

[Emily Star]

As much as she'd thought she'd been prepared for anything, Emily now stood slightly dumbfounded at the turn of events. Every new member of Starfleet knew missions could shift, plans changed and time was not your friend. But despite knowing this, Emily was still left feeling as if she'd missed something as the Captain beamed away. What had felt like a moment, in which Emily had come to terms with taking the bridge, was now gone. 

She looked to Mayfair, "Chief..." Emily briefly hesitated, "Nothing so far has gone to plan. I honestly have no clue what kind of a report this is going to generate." She rubbed the back of her neck. Every away mission she'd read in the Academy must have been heavily edited or selected for its teaching points.

=Tag Mayfair=

[Robin Mayfair]

== You're assumed to have gone with her to the Deck One thread. Looks like you beamed into the Ready Room with Coleman and Grant. It's a little confusing. Why don't we say that conversation took place beforehand?  ==

"Chief..." Emily briefly hesitated, "Nothing so far has gone to plan. I honestly have no clue what kind of a report this is going to generate."

Robin nodded sympathetically. "Nothing ever goes to plan on these missions, but this has been a bad one even by our standards. Sorry about that. One way or the other it'll probably be over soon. We'll either have control of the ship or we'll be running for the Waverider."

The last mission the Artemis crew had been on, to retrieve the USS Brittany, had been a disaster from the start. The Captain kidnapped, the derelict ship set to self-destruct, the entire crew dead from a mutated Augment virus, and the Chief Engineer and his assistant infected and dying. And despite that the young nurse had felt more in control than this mess. This? This was result of bad intel and a Star Fleet that was trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole by sending a starship crew instead of a trained commando team.

"But I absolutely understand. We weren't trained for this. We're stumbling around, so all we can do is put our heads down and charge through." It looked like the Captain's teams were getting ready to transport.

"You're up. Good luck!" Robin felt like any words she could say were inadequate, and Emily didn't need yet another pep talk. The CMO didn't have one left in her anyway. She was feeling very demoralized, and was determined to follow her own advice and charge through. What else was there to do? The Captain had told her to guard the unconscious, bound prisoners... so she would. But she could also at least track some team progress from here and keep Elias updated.

"Keep me updated, OK?"

The nurse's tricorder showed that the remaining Cardassians in the transporter room were gone. The ship looked to be largely empty, which didn't mean there weren't a couple of stragglers here or there. There were some spots on any starship that were shielded from a mere tricorder, at least at the range they were at.

== Tag Emily ==

[Emily Star]

== Yeah I TOTALLY missed we were all going to the bridge just two locations. Thanks for being just - so amazing with my chaos ==

Emily smiled at the Chief, "Charge through. You too, alright?" She offered a reassuring smile. The emotions for the entire team were understandably mixed, and Emily wished she could do more, but it seemed that all they could do was have each other's backs and figure it out together. 

She looked to where her group was getting prepped and nodded, "See you on the other side of this, Chief." Emily moved and took her place to beam over. 

>>Callisto Bridge>>

[Mara Calleja]

Mara noted Tyra’s increasing frustration with an impassive expression. Ever since the frank exchange of views on the Philadelphia, the Bandaran felt like she had a much better handle on the stresses and strains that the senior officers were under. It had made the firebrand Lieutenant that bit more patient and understanding. Granted, that wasn’t saying much, but it was a start.

If flarin’ off at us keeps her in the zone, fine. I’ll take those shots all day.

[Proceeding with disposal. All remaining personnel report to recovery stations.]

A particularly virulent curse in Bandar City slang slipped from Calleja’s lips, as the Captain started to issue orders and the team slid into gear.

The Security officer checked her weapons again and mentally ran herself through the path to the Bridge from here. She’d spent a long time studying the Callisto’s layout and was confident she could take point and lead the way if called on. Although judging by the comm chatter, the Cardassians were leaving anyway. Assuming they didn’t leave any spiteful surprises, and there was no evidence at all that they were expecting company, that would make the passage to deck 1 considerably easier with no need for stealth.

Crawford was soon giving the orders again.

[Calleja, Miller and myself will beam directly into the bridge first. If there's only one, he'll be easy pickings. Coleman, will take the rest of that team and beam into the ready room immediately afterwards and act as clean up if there's any attempt to come behind.] She gestured to the two security officers. [Let’s go!]

Mara slung her rifle and drew a type II and her remaining knife as she approached. If there was a fight, it was going to be at close quarters and she was much more comfortable with the smaller gun and a blade in that situation.

Bracing for transport, Calleja took a deep breath to steady herself. She was exhaling slowly when the beam carried her away.

>> Callisto Deck 1 >>

[Robin Mayfair]

"Charge through. You too, alright?" Emily said with a smile. ""See you on the other side of this, Chief."

Robin gave a grim smile in return, then returned to her duties. She gave the four unconscious Cardassians a quick scan to ensure no one was faking being unconscious. The odds were extremely remote, but she took nothing for granted.

Note to self: Do not look up Mara's curse later. Pretty sure I don't want to know what it means.

== Tags ==

[GM-01]

==Elias, sorry for the delay==

It took some searching, but he found the evidence. The drive had been disassembled and then beamed, in parts, to a transport over the last couple of days. Though it seemed they didn't have the data they'd need to operate the Slipstream Drive effectively, they had a working copy through which reverse-engineering and trial and error would eventually yield results.

[Benjamin Elias]

[Calleja to Coleman and Elias,] he heard over his comms. [The Cardies are gone, it’s just us here. I’m gonna sweep now for any hidden surprises.] There was a moment's pause before the security officer added, [Looks like everything is powered down here except the viewscreeen and the Captain’s chair.] 

He pulled up an extra sensor feed and tuned it to the bridge, verifying what he'd been told. It took a few moments as he navigated through different access screens, but he managed to find the controls that brought all the bridge's consoles to life, though he didn't notice that a few had already been turned on before he got to it. It wasn't much, but he hoped it would help.

He waited, listening to what little activity there still was in the core, and watched the material from his own scan of the sensor records. He watched as the pieces of the slipstream were taken to the transporters and beamed away, which he then cross-referenced with the transporter logs to find that they had been beamed to a transport in the system. Unfortunately, it was a day or more ago, so there was no guarantee that it was even still in the system.

Benjamin was about to call up to the bridge to pass that information along when Calleja reached out about the padd, which he hadn't realized was still there. "Hold on," he told her, "I'm going to beam to you." It would just be easier to deal with that from on site.

"D'Mar!" he called up to the young engineer. "When you're done with the charge, get me a diagnostic on the warp drive; make sure it's up to at least a short burst. If you need to go to engineering, go. I'm heading to the bridge. Mayfair, you're in charge here." With that done, he grabbed a container of antimatter and beamed to the bridge.

==Tags D'Mar and Mayfair==

>>Deck 1>>

[Robin Mayfair]

Having little else to do for the moment (until the next crisis), Robin went over to the console vacated by Elias moments before. She set her medical tricorder to scan for life signs approaching the core, keyed in a secondary alert if any of them were Cardassian, and got to work. The Away team had been moving so quickly that there hadn't been time to think about what would happen next. The nurse wasn't too worried about the ship actually being destroyed. With the Bridge taken and Elias on the case the odds were that they'd be able to stop a disaster, and besides, she wanted to start gathering what intel she could in the event that they couldn't stop it. The team might be running for the Liberty Bell shortly, so it was best to assume there wasn't much time. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, as the saying went.

Robin opened the command system and went into the medical records. The Artemis CMO wanted everything she could get on what had happened when the ship was taken and what had happened in the months afterwards. She had the grim feeling that many of the crew had suffered the tender mercies of the Cardassians in an attempt to pry information out of them, and if so there was a chance they had been treated right here on the ship. After all, a dead prisoner couldn't reveal any secrets. Any such records might be valuable evidence against the Cardassians in any political maneuvering after the mission was over. She also looked for any surveillance video she could find, making it a point not to watch it. Knowing the Cardassians it would make her sick to her stomach.

After she dumped the records into her tricorder she started trying to find whatever other information she could dig out of the system. The Augment looked for logs, replicator records, anything that would give a clue about how many Federation prisoners had survived initially and their fates. When the Away Team had arrived there had been a couple dozen survivors, but that was only a fraction of the crew... and the ship just wasn't that badly damaged to indicate that most of the crew had perished in the battle. Had they been taken away earlier or had they been killed?

== GM input: Does Robin find anything? Basically she's looking for happened to the survivors, any evidence of war crimes, and the like. ==

[Jay D'Mar]

"D'Mar!" the Chief Engineer called up to the young engineer. "When you're done with the charge, get me a diagnostic on the warp drive; make sure it's up to at least a short burst. If you need to go to engineering, go. I'm heading to the bridge. Mayfair, you're in charge here."

D'Mar immediately shouted, "YES, SIR."

With that done, Commander Elias grabbed a container of antimatter and beamed to the bridge.

Once she had finished securing the canister in place Jay came down to the bottom of the core and organised to beam to engineering, as it would be much easier to run a full diagnostic on the Warp Core from there, she thought to herself. Also, it would be a good opportunity to visually inspect engineering and Warp Core, as well.

Jay then checked internal sensors, just to make sure she was not going to run into any Cardassian, although she was fairly sure the Cardassian had left the ship.

== GM input, please? What do internal sensors show about engineering in general and particularly are there any Cardassian life signs in Engineering? ==

[GM-01]

==Sincere apologies for the delay, folks! Life started lifeing, and that meant no hobby time for poor old GM-01!==

==D'Mar==

Engineering was deserted. Most of the consoles were powered down. Life support was at minimum comfortable levels for a Cardassian.

==Mayfair==

The logs indicated that perhaps half of the crew had survived the Callisto's capture. The surviving Engineering personnel had been kept aboard while everyone else had been transported off the ship only days after the incident.

There was no visual evidence of war crimes, but the prisoners seem to have been kept in an area where internal sensors had been disabled, either by enemy fire or deliberately by the Cardassians.

There was, interestingly, no record of the bodies of the fallen being disposed of.

[Jay D'Mar]

Ens D'Mar sort out the officer now in charge of the computer core, Lt Mayfair.

"Lieutenant Mayfair, I will be beaming to engineering, as Cdr Elias asked me to check the warp core and make sure it was working. I've checked internal sensors and there are no Cardassian in Engineering."

After informing Lt Mayfair of her movement and her assignment in a matter-of-fact way, she moved to the beam out point, giving a nod to Lt Mayfair, beamed to Engineering.

>> Callisto Engineering >>

[Jay D'Mar]

>> Callisto Computer Core >>

== Callisto Engineering ==

Ens Jay D'Mar materialized in the centre of main engineering. All the consols were powered down and it was cold. cold enough that she could feel it through her armer and helmet, but it wasn't uncomfortable. She began by checking the whole main engineering, just in case there were any surprises, or Cardassian, although she was confident there weren't any. Once that was done, she found and tapped the main warp core terminal. If came to life immediately.

Tapping in the correct sequence of instructions she instructed the computer to begin a complete diagnostic of the Callisto's warp core.

[Diagnostic in progress.]

So, whilst the diagnostic was in progress, she took time to explore the engineer section thoroughly.

== GM input, please?
1. What does D'Mar fine during her thorough exploration of Callisto's Mian Engineering? Damage? Bodies? Any logs from the cardassian engineers, or pads abandoned? Anything that Cardassian left behind that would be of interest. Is there anything she may explore further that may give an indication of where the Slipstream Drive was relocated?

2. Results of the Warp Core Diagnostic, please? ==

[Robin Mayfair]

"Lieutenant Mayfair, I will be beaming to engineering, as Cdr Elias asked me to check the warp core and make sure it was working. I've checked internal sensors and there are no Cardassian in Engineering."

"Understood, Ensign," Robin responded just before the young engineer beamed away. She was a bit distracted by what she'd found in the system.

Half the crew survived at first. Most were removed, but they kept the Engineers. And what's in this section? The bodies? Why wouldn't they have just ejected them into space?

The purple-haired Lieutenant came to a decision. They might only have minutes left, and she needed to find whatever clues were available about the fate of the crew, even if that meant opening up a room full of corpses. Everyone else was busy, and it was only her and Harriman left in the core. She quickly entered a priority command into the console Elias had left to unlock all doors in the section in question. The last thing the nurse needed was to run down there and find she couldn't get in anywhere.

"Harriman, stay here and keep the core secure. I need to go investigate something right now in case we have to evacuate."

== GM Input: Which section of the ship is it where internal sensors aren't working? Robin will inform the Away Team what she's doing and beam there immediately if it's more than a deck or two away, phaser out and ready to blast anyone in case there are any bloody Cardies still lurking. Otherwise she'll move there on foot, relying on her enhanced senses to warn her of danger. ==

[Aeryn Miller]

A familiar voice came through directly to Mayfair.

[Miller to Mayfair, can you send me the data that you collected about the prisoners that were beamed away when we first got here? The Captain has asked me, and Star to find some additional information about them, and I remembered that you picked them up on your scans]



== Tag ==

[Robin Mayfair]

Aeryn's voice came through Robin's combadge.

[Miller to Mayfair, can you send me the data that you collected about the prisoners that were beamed away when we first got here? The Captain has asked me, and Star to find some additional information about them, and I remembered that you picked them up on your scans]

She tapped it in reply. "Understood, Lieutenant. Transmitting the data now."

With a few keytaps on her custom medical tricorder the CMO send the requested information. She hoped it would be useful.

== Tag Aeryn ==

[GM-01]

==Mayfair==

The hostages had been kept in the Enlisted Barracks, packed in like sardines. Materialising in the area where they had been kept, the smell of unwashed bodies and overtaxed refreshers immediately assaulted her. The Engineering crew had been confined to a space meant for no more than ten, and fed emergency rations from the ship's stores rather than balanced meals, but there was no sign of abuse or torture.

==D'Mar==

Engineering was a mess, despite it having been used by the Cardassians to continue powering the ship. Consoles remained burned out, bits of bulkhead littered the floor, and in more than one place the presence of the previous crew was marked by dried blood and discarded medical equipment.

The diagnostic revealed the core was in working order, though at less than optimal levels, and would be good only for short distance travel.

[Robin Mayfair]

Before beaming Robin tapped her combadge. "Mayfair to Crawford. I've found where the Starfleet hostages were kept, Enlisted Quarters Deck 7, and I'm going to investigate since the internal sensors aren't working there. Harriman is going to guard the prisoners. D'Mar's beamed to Engineering."

The smell was overwhelming as Robin materialized in the filthy enlisted quarters. Body odor, human waste, and rotting food all combined.

Having enhanced senses really sucks sometimes.

Having grown up on a ranch and being a nurse Robin was used to foul odors (her line of work not being for the squeamish, after all), but it was too much and the purple-haired Augment found herself breathing through her mouth. A mistake. She could practically taste the stench. She used an old Vulcan trick she'd learned at the Academy to force the disgust away, pushing it into a small portion of her mind so she could continue without vomiting. She put her mask back on. It wouldn't completely mask the smell, not for her, but it helped enough. She was good for the moment.

Cardassians. Would it have taken much effort to at least treat the prisoners with some level of basic decency?

The nurse did a quick tricorder scan, trying to see if anything showed up that might be relevant. Any hope she had that a prisoner was left behind was extremely unlikely, but she had to make sure since internal sensors were offline here. Afterwards she began rummaging through the quarters, mindful of the time remaining, looking for anything. Journals, notes, something that the Engineers would have left that gave a clue about what was going on, a record of the dismantling of the Slipstream Drive maybe. Anything to make this mission more than just a waste of time, which she absolutely felt it had been.

We've gotten nothing out of this. A broken ship, no hostages, no Slipstream, and wounded friends. And it's likely that the Captain and Elias are in deep trouble for using the cloak, which they absolutely had to or we wouldn't have even gotten here. What is wrong with Starfleet?

As soon as the Artemis CMO had finished her search (taking any evidence with her) she left the disgusting quarters, only removing her mask once she'd put some distance between herself and it. She moved silently and silently through the empty corridors, phaser out, listening carefully as she made her way back to the Computer Core.

== GM Input: Does Robin find anything of note in the quarters? Or on her way back? ==

[Jay D'Mar]

Ens Jay D'Mar looked of the result of the Warp core diagnostic and it didn't look good. So she sent the diagnostic directly to the engineering station on the bridge.

"Ens D'Mar to Commander Elias. I've sent the Warp Core diagnostic to the Bridge engineering console. It doesn't look good, sir. It's working at optimal levels, good for short distance travel, only! I'm in engineering now and its a mess. It's going to take me some time to sort out what needs fixing to improve warp care performance."

And with that communication D'Mar began tring to figure what to do next to improve the Warp Core.

== GM input, please? Any critical damage to warp core that needs repair? After that what does D'Mar discover first, that needs adjusting or fixing to improve warp core performance, if it can be improved? ==

[Tyra Crawford]

Crawford answered almost immediately, her voice sounding extra from and set. [If you need back up, holler. Report what you find.]

[Jay D'Mar]

Jay immediately responded calmly "Acknowleged, Captain."

[Robin Mayfair]

== As soon as Robin is done with her search ==

There was an alert from Robin's tricorder, automatically triggered by a dangerous situation. Robin checked the display and saw a spike in radiation levels shipboard and an indication that the levels were rising.

Wonderful. This day just keeps getting better and better.

Reaching into her custom kit the nurse took out a hypo and set it to a 70/30 hyronolin/lectrazine mix, then applied the treatment to her neck, wincing slightly. It was a standard treatment for radiation and would buy some time, though levels weren't damaging... yet. If the radiation didn't increase much more they would have hours, but if the levels continued to climb at the current rate it wouldn't last long. She tapped her badge.

"Mayfair to Star. Prepare 70/30 hyronolin/lectrazine radiation treatment and administer it to everyone up there on the Bridge. I'll take care of everyone else."

D'Mar would have the most protection in Engineering, that area being designed to keep radiation leaks under control, but the nurse didn't want to backtrack. She headed off to meet with the young half-Cardassian engineer, grateful for her enhanced memory. As was her standard practice she'd memorized the deck plans of the ship before the mission.

"Mayfair to D'Mar and Harriman. We have a radiation spike. I'm on my way to Engineering to administer treatment that'll protect for a while and I'll head back to the computer core afterwards."

== Tags ==

[Benjamin Elias]

==Callisto Engineering==

Benjamin beamed in to what looked like a giant mess. There were burned out consoles and debris everywhere, and the detritus of battle and lives lost, as well. For a moment it pulled him back to the Megasphere battle, but he shook his head vigorously to clear the demons from his brain.

"D'Mar!" he called. "What else can you tell me about the core? Your message said it was good, but only for short hops. We need a plan to fix that ASAP." He hunted until he found a console that was just off rather than dead, and coaxed it back to life.

A few buttons later he had it reconfigured with the master system display, and began shutting off everything that wasn't necessary. He sealed off as many decks as he could and shut down life support to them, leaving the bridge, engineering, and the computer core active. He kept going, coaxing every last bit of power that he could - replicators, cargo transporters, all but one of the personnel transporters, anything that wasn't required by the away team but still drawing power. He shut it all down and diverted it to priority systems - engines, shields, and weapons, in that order.

He pondered that order for a moment. Weapons were definitely bottom of the list, as they weren't fighting their way through the entire Cardassian defense force. But he still considered engines to be the more important, as they needed the speed if they were gonna get out of here. We can tank a hit or two to the ship itself, he thought, even if he wouldn't consider more than that. But speed is of the essence.

==Tag D'Mar, presumably once the GM gives you some answers as well==

==GM Input: how much power can I divert, and how much does it help?==

[Robin Mayfair]

== Callisto Engineering ==

Robin entered Engineering at a brisk walk. She'd removed her mask again once she'd gotten far enough away from the hellhole of the enlisted quarters, and though the smell wasn't bad here the scene was still chaos. The Cardassians hadn't bothered to do even a basic bit of cleaning or maintenance in an area of the ship where it was vital.

I am so done with all of this.

Elias and D'Mar were already working, so the CMO headed over to the Chief Engineer first, not eager to distract him for a moment longer than necessary. "Radiation treatment, Commander. It should buy us a couple of hours so long as we don't stick around."

She waited for Elias to give his agreement before applying the hypo, and then headed over to the young half-Cardassian officer.

== Tags Elias and D'Mar ==

[GM-01]

==Mayfair==

Not really, only signs that people had lived in too close proximity for far too long. The only noteworthy sign was that someone had etched the number of days on the bulkhead; too many to count in the limited time she had available, even for her enhanced brain.

==D'Mar==

There was no damage to the core itself, nor could she enhance the capabilities of the ship. The entire drive system was in need of repair and overhaul, and without a shipyard, what they had to work with was what they had to work with.

==Elias==

Diverting power energized the engines, bumping efficiency up a crucial few points and allowing for a marginal increase in velocity. It also hastened the charge rate of both the Phasers and the Shields. The Phasers would come online within a minute, the Shields within two.

[Jay D'Mar]

== Main Engineering ==

[Mayfair to D'Mar and Harriman. We have a radiation spike. I'm on my way to Engineering to administer treatment that'll protect for a while and I'll head back to the computer core afterwards.]

"Acknowledged," was all D'Mar replied as she concentrated on her assignment to get the Warp Core to maximum efficiency.
Jay proceeded around the back of the warp core to a console she had rebooted to help her analyse damage etc., in her search for ways to increase the warp core power output. Suddenly surprised by a real voice and not comms, someone called out and she sprang to her feet grazing her head on the consol above.


"D'Mar!" Cdr Elias called. "What else can you tell me about the core? Your message said it was good, but only for short hops. We need a plan to fix that ASAP."

OUCH! (**fk#$oe** in the Bajoran language), D'Mar yelled. "Is that you Cdr Elais?" It certainly sounded like the Commander and not like a stray Cardassian, beside she had check and there was none in engineering. She walked slowly around the warp core to see Cdr Elias had coaxed a consol back to life. She was not in a good mood!

"You want the bad news or the worse news, sir." she said holding her head. "The bad news is that I've established that there is no damage to the core itself. Sir. BUT, the worse news is nor can I enhance the capabilities of the core, sir. The entire drive system is in need of repair and overhaul, and without a shipyard, what I can find is what we have to work with, is what the Cardassian left for us to work with. Which adds up to not enough! Unless, of course, a brilliant senior engineering officer can work some magic. Like the history stories told at the academy of Mr Scott, Mr Lie-forge, (she always pronounced his name wrong,) or like that other fella er, DS9 O'Brien? If not, then this is all we got! Sir."

The main engineering doors swooshed open and Robin the nurse, briskly walking, entered Engineering.

"Ah, radiation inoculations are here Cdr Elais," Jay said nodding in the direction of the purple hair headed nurse walking through the main engineering entrance.

== tag Cdr Elias and Nurse Robin ==

[Benjamin Elias]

The news on the warp core was, as D'Mar had promised, bad. With no actual damage to fix, there wasn't a lot that they could do to improve the situation. Of course, that also meant that it was possible the situation wasn't quite as dire as it seemed. He had managed to reroute some power to weapons and shields and had them basically ready, which was something.

His train of thought was interrupted as Mayfair walked up.  "Radiation treatment, Commander," she said. "It should buy us a couple of hours so long as we don't stick around." He nodded, and she applied the hypo to his neck. For a moment he was light-headed, but only for a moment; the hypo always did that to him.

"Alright," he said, picking up his thoughts and talking through them aloud. "If there's no damage to fix, and it's all just refurb work, then maybe we're not as bad off as we fear. Maybe we can ramp the warp drive up, start off slower, and increase our range that way." He turned to the MSD and highlighted the warp plasma conduits. "Give me a check on these. We may be able to shore them up and eke out little more speed or distance that way."

Once D'Mar acknowledged the order, Benjamin turned back to his console. He first checked fuel levels - presuming they could manage to make longer jumps, whether time or distance, they would need it - before checking a more radical idea. He knew that the warp coils in each nacelle were some of the more sensitive parts of the warp engine, and were likely some of the bits that needed that maintenance more than most. He first checked their status to confirm his supposition, and then simulated what might happen if he disabled half the coils before they went to warp, and then tried to reenable them after. Instinct told him that it would keep them from being damaged by the jump, and possibly give them a second use that they might not have had before.

But, as a good engineer had told him once, you always double-check.

==Tags D'Mar and Mayfair==

==GM Input on the simulation described above==

[Robin Mayfair]

== Callisto Engineering ==

Robin headed over immediately to D'Mar, giving her the treatment after her consent, then applied it to Elias. She stayed a few moments to make sure there were no problems and then let the two engineers continue their work. If they didn't succeed all the nurse had done was give everyone a few minutes. Time to evacuate, maybe?

Time was of the essence, and the purple-haired nurse didn't have time to make the trip back to the core on foot... even assuming the turbolifts hadn't been shut down. One of the personnel transporters was still operational, left on as a backup escape route by the Chief Engineer. D'Mar's had already beamed directly from the core to Engineering, so Robin went over to a spare console and keyed in for transporter access. She reversed the coordinates, did a quick check to make sure everything was good, and turned to the two. "I'm heading back to the Core. I still need to treat Harriman. Yell if you need anything." With that the Artemis CMO put her mask back on, activated the device and beamed away.

== Callisto Computer Core ==
Robin blinked as she reappeared back in the core. The prisoners were still there, unconscious, and she did a quick tricorder scan to check their vitals. The anesthizine and neurozine were still in effect and the four prisoners were out. The air, though, was clear. The scrubbers had done their work and cleared the gas from the air. She removed her mask and headed over to Harriman. "Radiation treatment. It'll keep you safe for a couple hours... if we get the ship clear. Otherwise it'll buy enough time to at least get to the Liberty Bell. The air's clear of neurozine, by the way." She waited for the Tactical officer's agreement and then applied the treatment.

All right. Now we wait for the Captain's final decision.

== Tags ==

[Mara Calleja]

== Computer Core ==

>> Callisto Bridge >>

The faint blue light quickly coalesced into Mara’s armoured figure, the Security officer having beamed down to the computer core with a job to do. There was a faint green glow from the readout on her wrist indicating clear air, so she was only too happy to take her helmet off again and clip it back onto her belt, taking a deep breath as she looked over to Robin and Carol.

“Awesome. You’re both here,” Calleja said with a grin, despite the urgency in her voice. “Cap’n says we’re runnin’ and we’re takin’ Callisto with us, so we’re on the clock and we gotta move.”

She looked over at the Tactical officer first.

“Harriman, you’re needed up on the Bridge ‘cause we need to launch a probe to try and contact some back-up. Miller is on it but she needs a hand gettin’ everythin’ calibrated, and Grant right now is tryin’ to pick us a path outta here.”

Dark eyes moved quickly to the CMO.

“Robin, I need your help. We’re gonna put sleepin’ beauties A, B, C and D here into escape pods and get them ready to launch on the signal from the Bridge. Pod systems should take ‘em straight back to the station once they’re loose, but we gotta be sure they’re gonna stay under until the pods are good to go. And given how close we are to the star, probably make sure they’ll survive the trip too. Not my area, but can we give ‘em radiation treatment or somethin’?” Calleja asked.

== Tags both! ==

[Robin Mayfair]

Mara appeared shortly after Robin beamed in. “Awesome. You’re both here. Cap’n says we’re runnin’ and we’re takin’ Callisto with us, so we’re on the clock and we gotta move.”

The Security officer addressed Harriman first.

“Harriman, you’re needed up on the Bridge ‘cause we need to launch a probe to try and contact some back-up. Miller is on it but she needs a hand gettin’ everythin’ calibrated, and Grant right now is tryin’ to pick us a path outta here.”

Robin didn't have a preference for how they got going so long as they did. If the Callisto could be salvaged that would be fine, and more evidence of the Cardassians' crimes. It would make it more difficult for Starfleet Command to sweep the whole incident under the rug, which seemed to be their natural inclination.

“Robin, I need your help. We’re gonna put sleepin’ beauties A, B, C and D here into escape pods and get them ready to launch on the signal from the Bridge. Pod systems should take ‘em straight back to the station once they’re loose, but we gotta be sure they’re gonna stay under until the pods are good to go. And given how close we are to the star, probably make sure they’ll survive the trip too. Not my area, but can we give ‘em radiation treatment or somethin’?”

Shouldn't we take them with us and turn them over to Starfleet Intelligence? Maybe the Captain's decided they're more trouble than they're worth.

The purple-haired nurse gave a grim smile and nodded. "Can do. I pumped 'em full of enough anesthizine to take out an angry Nausicaan. They're not waking up any time soon... eleven to thirteen hours by my math, depending on body mass and metabolism. I'll give 'em the same radiation treatment everyone else got. That'll protect them until they're clear of the majority of the radiation."

Assuming we wait until we're out of the worst of it. If we launch now it'll be a death sentence.

The Artemis CMO was more than fine with that plan. She didn't want the Cardassians executed, but she wasn't particularly worried if they had a long and uncomfortable ride back to the station. After seeing (and smelling) the conditions in the Enlisted Quarters she wasn't in a good mood. She went over and applied a radiation treatment to the prisoners.

"They're ready, Mara." She went back to the console Elias had been using since it still had transporter system access. She keyed in one of the six closest pods, aft of them on Deck 3 and prepared to beam the prisoners away. Robin was no Transporter technician, but no one graduated Starfleet Academy without at least knowing the basics. "As soon as the Captain gives the word."

== Tag Mara ==

[Jay D'Mar]

"Alright," said Commander Elias, "If there's no damage to fix, and it's all just refurb work, then maybe we're not as bad off as we fear. Maybe we can ramp the warp drive up, start off slower, and increase our range that way."

"Give me a check on these. We may be able to shore them up and eke out little more speed or distance that way." Cdr Elias had indicated what he was suggesting by bring up the Warp plasma conduits on the console display.

Great! scrubbing warp plasma conduits, just what I joined Starfleet to do! she thought sarcastically.

Jay when back to the computer terminal she had been working with on the other side of the Warp core. At first, she decided to let her fingers to the walking, and search with the computer for minor damage and alike.

"Computer diagnostic on warp plasma conduits, please? Also give me the maintenance schedule of the warp plasma conduits, highlight any maintenance that has not be done? And list any part damaged, or needing cleaning, anything that may restrict the speed of the ship or any operation of the Warp drive?"

That should do it for a start before I do a physical inspection of the conduits. Hopefully that will highlight areas to inspect first

Meanwhile, as the computer began the diagnostic requested, she began to see what consols were working and bring them up if that may be needed in a battle situation or the consult dealt with specific of the warp drive and sunlight engines.

==GM input, please?
1. warp plasma conduit diagnostic results?
2. highlighted maintenance not done?
3. any damage to the conduits, any cleaning needed, anything with the conduits that may restrict warp speed and/or any operation with the Warp drive? ==

[Carol Harriman]

Carol acknowledged Calleja's presence with nod of her head. While she'd do whatever needed, she was secretly glad to be out of the way of her present chore. It wasn't guarding so called prisoners that bothered her, but other things. She didn't have to let that worry her anymore though as Calleja asked her to report to the bridge to help launch a probe.

"Aye," she responded back to Mara.

She heard the rest of Mara's plan, having a bit of discomfort in her belly. It could be hunger or it could be confusion of what they were going to do with the group they were keeping watch. She shrugged it off as hunger, mostly because she didn't want to think about alternatives.

[GM-01]

==Elias==

The Callisto had more than enough fuel for the jumps he envisaged, and his assumption that the coils were the problem was correct. Half of the coils in the nacelle that had been reattached wouldn't function again, and replacing them was a shipyard job given the dearth of spare components available, and their proximity to the star's radiation making any Workbee jaunts a quick and messy way to die.

The simulation gave Elias two options: he could do more short-range hops at low-warp (possibly up to eight or nine), or if speed was key, the system would manage maybe three or four before it broke down at a higher Warp Factor. A single longer-ranged jump would be possible if Grant could get them clear of the system's gravity well, but it had a 50% probability of burning the system out entirely.

==D'Mar==

The computer produced a litany of results, none of which would please the young Engineer.

1. The conduits had not been serviced or cleaned since the Callisto's capture. To say the system needed a good scrubbing was an understatement, and the extra wear on the components would require some TLC from the Corps of Engineers if the Callisto ever made it back to Federation Space.
2. The conduits to the previously-severed nacelle had been repaired, but the computer estimated the conduit would only operate for a short time under a full power load before the repair began to fail.

[Benjamin Elias]

"Dammit," Benjamin muttered under his breath. The more damaged nacelle was already only working with half of its warp coils. There simply weren't enough of them left to make alternating sets viable - if he tried, that nacelle wouldn't be able to sustain the warp field for more than a couple of seconds, at which point it would collapse and rip the ship to pieces.

And that did not seem like a viable solution.

Fortunately, he did get a bit of useful data. The engines may have been nearly shot, but he got a better picture of what they could actually endure - three or four high-speed hops, or maybe twice as many low-speed ones. Nowhere near ideal, but doable if Grant was skilled enough at piloting this bucket of self-sealing stem bolts.

For a moment, Benjamin considered what to do, but finally settled on hitting his commbadge. "Elias to bridge," he said. "Warp engines are on a thread, and there's not a whole lot we can do about it with just two guys and hand tools. As it stands now short hops will be easier on them, with low-speed being the easiest. You'll get eight or so at warp 2, cut to maybe half that if you go at warp 6 or 7. Anything longer than five minutes or so runs the risk of burning them out altogether. If we take it easy on the warp drive here in system, we should be able to make the rendezvous; I wouldn't bet on anything past that. We're still working, though, so updates as they happen."

He closed the channel, and called out to D'Mar. "Any good news?"

==Tag D'Mar==

[Mara Calleja]

"They're ready, Mara."

“Cool.” The looming Bandaran grabbed the two nearest Cardassians by their collars, having read what Robin was about to do from the way she was standing. “We need to go easy on the transports. Any power we got left needs to go to the warp engines. I mean, I don’t speak fluent Engineer, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were sayin’ just now.”

She lifted with a grunt of effort, her brute strength enough to unceremoniously haul the enemy combatants far enough off the deck plate that she could drag them towards the pods.

“I’ll load ‘em up the old way. You load me up a dose of that radiation stuff, yeah? And a little painkiller too. ‘Cause I am achin’.”

Calleja hoisted the two Cardassians to the nearest pod, secured them inside and then locked the doors. It wasn’t the effort that was leaving her out of breath but the deeply unsettling feeling of burning skin around the edges of her armour. She hustled back, swinging her arms to try and ease the itch before grabbing the next two and dragging them off to be secured as well in the next pod along.

As she came back around to where Mayfair waited, the Security officer reported their progress.

“Calleja to Bridge. Prisoners loaded in escape pods 86 and 87. Standin’ by to launch on your order.”

With the message sent, she looked over at the CMO.

“You wanna check my weapons? See. No blood. The Cardies are very much still breathin’,” Mara said, the ghost of a smile on her lips as she slid her remaining knife from its sheath and revealed the clean blade before slotting it back.

It was a particularly dark joke, even by her standards, but there had been a tense moment between the two officers earlier and she wanted to clear the air.

“When this is finally all done, I know I gotta talk to someone,” she added. “I didn’t catch it when it was happenin’ but I know it ain’t right to be executin’ prisoners. I am monumentally pissed at me. I just… I go to what I think is the most efficient way forward. And who I used to be isn’t entirely outta my head yet. If that makes any sense at all?”

Broad shoulders rose and fell as she shrugged.

“Sorry. I’m ramblin’ now,” she admitted. "Just that life was cheap where I come from. I value it a whole lot more now. But in the heat of the moment... That gang rat I didn't want to be has this horrible habit of stickin' her head out."

== Back atcha! ==

[Robin Mayfair]

“Cool,” Mara replied as she hefted two of the unconscious Cardassians like they were ragdolls. “We need to go easy on the transports. Any power we got left needs to go to the warp engines. I mean, I don’t speak fluent Engineer, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were sayin’ just now.”

Robin gave a nod. "Fair enough. As long as you're up for it." Robin herself wouldn't have been much help, maybe dragging one at a time unceremoniously down to the pods. Once more she regretted not getting the strength-enhancing Augment genes, though she was amused at the idea of her tiny 5'1" pixie self picking up the two unconscious enemies more easily than the Security officer did. 

“I’ll load ‘em up the old way. You load me up a dose of that radiation stuff, yeah? And a little painkiller too. ‘Cause I am achin’.”

"Oh, of course." Robin moved quickly over to the Bandaran. If she was giving complaint then it was likely it was more than just an ache. Mara had been through even worse pain than the recent burns, but getting hit full-on by a disruptor was nothing to shrug off, even with armor. The nurse set her hypospray to metorapan, 10cc, and applied it to her friend's neck. "This should help. I can't give you more of the terakine for another 45 minutes without making you seriously dizzy. And here's the rad treatment," she said as she reset the hypo for the same treatment everyone else was getting. With that Mara was off, hauling away the first couple Cardassians before taking the next. 

The Bandaran returned fairly quickly, though she was evidently in a bit of discomfort. “Calleja to Bridge. Prisoners loaded in escape pods 86 and 87. Standin’ by to launch on your order.”

With the message sent, she looked over at the CMO.

“You wanna check my weapons? See. No blood. The Cardies are very much still breathin’,” Mara said, the ghost of a smile on her lips as she slid her remaining knife from its sheath and revealed the clean blade before slotting it back.

The CMO waived it away, her slight smile matching Mara's own. "No, it's OK. I trust you." 

“When this is finally all done, I know I gotta talk to someone,” she added. “I didn’t catch it when it was happenin’ but I know it ain’t right to be executin’ prisoners. I am monumentally pissed at me. I just… I go to what I think is the most efficient way forward. And who I used to be isn’t entirely outta my head yet. If that makes any sense at all?”

Robin gave her another nod. "It does." 

“Sorry. I’m ramblin’ now,” she admitted. "Just that life was cheap where I come from. I value it a whole lot more now. But in the heat of the moment... That gang rat I didn't want to be has this horrible habit of stickin' her head out."

"You're not rambling. I don't judge you, at all. Ever. Believe me, Mara, I understand. More than you realize. I was never a gang rat. I'm a farmgirl, but I... I feel it sometimes, that utter cold ruthlessness. More than just 'kill him before he kills me,' it's the feeling that the enemy is nothing but an insect to be swatted, as quickly and efficiently as possible. It's part of me that I have to accept no matter how much I don't want to. After I killed the Breen on Utopia Planitia you helped me come to terms with it a bit, but I've felt that same ruthlessness again here on the Callisto. It's baked into my DNA."

She wondered how much to tell her friend. One revelation from the mission aboard the USS Brittany had been that Robin's enhanced DNA had been that of Eugenics War Augments. It wasn't just a case where the treatment that had saved her when she was young was a 'mere' restructuring... it had used some of the most dangerous genetic material in the Federation. It had saved her life, and her blood had saved Elias and Whitby by providing a treatment for the Augment plague that had killed the ship's crew, but it scared the young nurse sometimes. Especially when she was pushed in a combat situation and that aspect of her personality came out. Sometimes she wondered if there would come a point where she couldn't come back from it.

"And I'll tell you, after seeing... and smelling the pigsty that the Cardassians forced the crew to live in there's a part of me that wants to press the button right now and launch the pods into the star. I can still taste it. My jumpsuit stinks of it, at least to me, and I was only there a few minutes. I just... I just know I can't let that part of me win. And you realize it too, and you stopped yourself. It's not the feeling, it's acting on the feeling." She paused, then gave a slight laugh. "The sooner we get off this boat the better. It's like this mission is just dragging us all to a very dark place."

== Tag ==

[Jay D'Mar]

== apologies for posting late. ==

Cdr Elias closed the channel, and called out to D'Mar. "Any good news?"

"No, sir. All bad, unless we have time to scrub all the warp plasma conduits andI don't think we have time to do that sir." D'Mar said with some disappointment in the sound of her voice.

Jay walked over to where Cdr Elais was and stated the full litany of problems.

"The conduits haven't been serviced or cleaned probably since the Callisto was captured, scrubbing will not give us what we need which is more speed! The wear and tear in the conduits need dry dock maintenance sir at a star base. The conduits to the severed nacelle had been repaired, but the computer estimated the conduit would only operate for a short time under a full power load before the repair began to fail. I can start scrubbing and repairing as much as I am able to do, but that exercise will mostly be in vain, sir." The emotion in her voice changed as she spoke from disappointment to dissatisfaction, discouragement and finally defeat.

== Tag Cdr Elias ==

[Tyra Crawford]

== For Calleja ==

[We just launched the Liberty Bell for a distraction. We'll launch the shuttle as we start our mad dash so stand by,] Calleja's earpiece came to life.

== For Elias ==

[Liberty Bell has been launched,] Tyra informed Elias over the comm link. [We've got her travel time to get everything ready.]

== For everyone, an unspecified amount of time later. ==

[Five minutes to execute. Repeat, five minutes to execute. Everyone get your tasks wrapped up and ready to go. I need an all clear from the probe team, shuttle team and engineering.]

[Mara Calleja]

"The sooner we get off this boat the better. It's like this mission is just dragging us all to a very dark place."

“Abso-fuckin'-lutely.” The conviction in Mara’s voice was total - she’d absolutely had enough. “I’m so done with this. If I ever see another Cardie it’ll be too soon. I mean, that's bad news for D'Mar admittedly.”

She stretched her neck out as the painkillers went to work.

“The only thing I can smell is burnin’,” the Bandaran admitted. “And the worst part of it is that it’s my fuckin’ skin burnin’. Damn near ripped my helmet off once the air was clear and it’s not helped at all.” She chuckled dryly. “I feel like I should be hungry. I’ve got bars in my webbin’. But that fuckin’ smell is makin’ my stomach twist.”

The chime of her commbadge interrupted the conversation.

[We just launched the Liberty Bell for a distraction. We'll launch the shuttle as we start our mad dash so stand by.]

Mara acknowledged the signal and smiled faintly.

“OK, I’m claimin’ some of the credit for that,” she said. “First time any Bridge crew has listened to my ideas. Gonna get me a little trophy to sit in my tiny bedroom.”

Her own withering sarcasm made her laugh and shake her head.

“Sorry. You got your own stuff goin’ on and here’s me bangin’ on. On the bright side at least, you haven’t had to give yourself a deadly virus so far this mission,” she joked. “Even if we do wanna give the Cardies a plague or two on our way out.”

== Tag Robin! You OK to work in the ‘5 minutes’ message? ==

[Robin Mayfair]

“The only thing I can smell is burnin’,” Mara admitted. “And the worst part of it is that it’s my fuckin’ skin burnin’. Damn near ripped my helmet off once the air was clear and it’s not helped at all.” She chuckled dryly. “I feel like I should be hungry. I’ve got bars in my webbin’. But that fuckin’ smell is makin’ my stomach twist.”

"Understandable. For once in my life I'm not hungry." Even as Robin said the words she realized how true they were. As someone who prided herself on her lack of squeamishness the crew quarters had affected her.

The word came from the Captain on the bridge to get ready.

Thank the Lord.

The CMO laughed as Mara took credit. After the chewing out she'd gotten from Captain Crawford a few days ago it was good for her.

“Sorry. You got your own stuff goin’ on and here’s me bangin’ on. On the bright side at least, you haven’t had to give yourself a deadly virus so far this mission,” she joked. “Even if we do wanna give the Cardies a plague or two on our way out.”

"It's fine. It's honestly nice to talk about it with someone who understands. I'm not sure whether to tell anyone on the command staff. The Captain doesn't need to worry about yet another Augment on her crew. Not that I'm gonna go rogue or anything." She matched Mara's earlier chuckle. "And yeah, I prefer the missions where I don't have to give myself the plague. If only so I don't have to spend a week in isolation." The young nurse took out her medical tricorder. "Since we've got a few minutes let me see how your burns are doing."

As she checked the damage she gave a slight laugh. "I should have given the Cardies a serious laxative. For the trip."

Shortly after the message came through from the Captain.

[Five minutes to execute. Repeat, five minutes to execute. Everyone get your tasks wrapped up and ready to go. I need an all clear from the probe team, shuttle team and engineering.]

She was about to tap her combadge to reply when she paused. "Go ahead. It's your idea."

== Tag Mara ==

[Benjamin Elias]

"No, sir. All bad, unless we have time to scrub all the warp plasma conduits and I don't think we have time to do that sir." D'Mar seemed almost disappointed, but continued on. She spoke for a moment more about maintenance and scrubbing the conduits, but Benjamin heard a little nugget of what they might need: "The conduits to the severed nacelle had been repaired, but the computer estimated the conduit would only operate for a short time under a full power load before the repair began to fail." She kept talking about - and somehow sounding disappointed about - not having time or facilities to do the maintenance that they needed, but Benjamin was already thinking around the problem.

Of course we can't do maintenance, he thought briefly. They had known that as soon as they stepped foot on this rotten tub. There were only the two engineers here, and more to do than an entire shipyard's worth of engineers could take care of in the mere minutes - he checked his chronometer and realized that it had in fact only been a few minutes since they disembarked the Liberty Bell - that they'd had available. But that wasn't the task. The task was survival and trying to get out of there as soon as they could. And to that end...

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the comms.  [Liberty Bell has been launched,] Tyra informed Elias over the comm link. [We've got her travel time to get everything ready.]

Thanks for letting me know how long that is, he grumbled to himself before hitting his comms in turn. "Understood," he replied, and turned back to D'Mar. "Alright, we've only got fifteen minutes" - a sheer guess, but he considered it an educated one given what he knew of the circumstances, such as speeds while cloaked and their situation - "to try and get every ounce of speed out of this bucket. Forget scrubbing, forget proper maintenance. Hell, forget procedures altogether: we just don't have time." He pulled up the point where the plasma conduits had been severed on a display, and gestured at it. "Ensign, I need you to get that break point reinforced somehow, some way. I don't care if you use the ship's forcefield emitters, sheets of duranium - hell, seal a spare EV suit around the thing. Anything that might give it a few extra minutes, or even seconds of integrity before it fails completely. Understood?" He barely waited for the Cardassian ensign to reply before turning back to his own console.

If the flag was going up, it was time to get things moving. He began spooling up the shields and weapons, getting them to hot standby, and making sure that every ounce of energy was scraped from non-essential systems. Benjamin checked the warp drive one last time, making sure it was at least providing power properly, and did a quick check to make sure the SIF was running as best as it could be. Everything appeared to be running smoothly.

Well, he corrected himself. Things were definitely not running smoothly. If things were running smoothly, he'd be back on the Artemis reading the latest engineering journals with a bottle and a cup of coffee on the nightstand next to him. Hell, things weren't even going smoothly for an intel op in enemy territory. But for the state the ship was in, things were at least operating as he had expected - they'd run for the next five minutes. After that, he was going to have to break out the duct tape.

[Five minutes to execute. Repeat, five minutes to execute,] Tyra said once again on the comms. [Everyone get your tasks wrapped up and ready to go. I need an all clear from the probe team, shuttle team and engineering.]

He hit his own comms to D'Mar. "Elias to D'Mar; status! We're five out from go, so you've got three minutes to finish."

==Tag D'Mar==

[Mara Calleja]

"It's fine. It's honestly nice to talk about it with someone who understands. I'm not sure whether to tell anyone on the command staff. The Captain doesn't need to worry about yet another Augment on her crew. Not that I'm gonna go rogue or anything."

“I mean, yeah. If you did go nuts, it would be me huntin’ you. And I really don’t wanna have to do that, y’know? I like you. And I don’t like any medics.” There was a wry smile on Mara’s lips as she spoke. Her interactions with the medical department were usually driven by the counsellors she was compelled to check in with regularly, and the Bandaran was too private a person to actually open up and let herself be helped.

"I should have given the Cardies a serious laxative. For the trip."

Calleja’s harsh bark of a laugh was loud in the air.

“Yeah, I can get behind that. Petty revenge because we’re not allowed terminal revenge,” she said.

[Five minutes to execute. Repeat, five minutes to execute. Everyone get your tasks wrapped up and ready to go. I need an all clear from the probe team, shuttle team and engineering.]

Robin looked up at Mara.

"Go ahead. It's your idea."

The taller woman shook her head.

“My idea, sure. But I know fuck all about how to execute it. Gonna have to go on a course or somethin’,” she replied. “My areas of expertise boil down to killin’ people and stoppin’ people gettin’ killed. Flyin’ and blowin’ up ships, I leave that to the experts. Although on this ship, pretty much everyone knows how to create explosions visible from the next quadrant. Must be a secret filter on the applications.”

There was a faint smile still on her lips as she spoke, and then she frowned.

“Oh, hang on. Shuttle. She means the escape pods. That’s us,” she said, realising she’d been talking at cross-purposes and dismissing it with a shrug.

Calleja ran a last-minute diagnostic of the escape pod systems, just to make sure it wasn’t going to make a liar of her when she’d said they were ready to launch.

== GM input please - are the escape pods ready to launch? Are the pod systems all good to go? ==

[Robin Mayfair]

“I mean, yeah. If you did go nuts, it would be me huntin’ you. And I really don’t wanna have to do that, y’know? I like you. And I don’t like any medics.”

Robin laughed, genuinely, but there was a slight bitterness to it as well. The Captain had made it clear that she would be the one to deal with Robin. She had experience. Not that the CMO posed much of a threat to anyone. The genetically-enhanced officers who had turned traitor on the Gettysburg had possessed the enhanced strength and endurance of Eugenics War Augments, something Robin lacked.

Is that something that any other Starfleet officer has to worry about? They put me on the Artemis specifically because Tyra Crawford and Jennifer Braggins had Augment kills under their belts. Starfleet seems to think Augments are automatically gonna turn traitor. And it didn't matter that I told them what I was because I wanted to be open and above board.

“My idea, sure. But I know fuck all about how to execute it. Gonna have to go on a course or somethin’,” she replied. “My areas of expertise boil down to killin’ people and stoppin’ people gettin’ killed. Flyin’ and blowin’ up ships, I leave that to the experts. Although on this ship, pretty much everyone knows how to create explosions visible from the next quadrant. Must be a secret filter on the applications. Oh, hang on. Shuttle. She means the escape pods. That’s us.”

"Yeah, I think there was a miscommunication there. Pods are better anyway, because if they somehow wake up and escape they won't be on something that could actually pose a threat to this ship." With the condition the Callisto was in even a shuttle could pose a danger either through attack runs or simply by keeping tabs on the ship so the Cardassians could locate it. The nurse went ahead and tapped her badge.

"Mayfair to Crawford. The prisoners are in pods, Captain, not shuttles. Sorry for any miscommunication. We're all clear and ready to go in the Computer Core."

== Tag Mara ==

[Jay D'Mar]

Cdr Elias' voice came over the comms [Elias to D'Mar; status! We're five out from go, so you've got three minutes to finish.]

"Three minutes!! Aye sir."

That's right, give the impossible job to the lowly Ens. That way the Cdr doesn't get the blame when it all goes up in excrement and blood and gizzards! It will take me three minutes to get there let alone do anything.

D'Mar grabbed the nearest tools she could find and some materials she deemed to be useful for the reinforcement. They just happen to be lying on the floor as part of the Engineering mess.

"Computer, site to site transport to the damaged conduits at the repaired severed nacelle."

== GM input, please?
1 Does D'Mar materialise in the correct place?
2. Can the break point in the conduits be reinforced? What is available to reinforce them?
2a. Would bracing the conduits together and to structural sections of the surrounding area, so they supported each other, be a viable method?
3. What's the risk to D'Mar in trying to reinforce the conduits?
4. And if the conduits don't hold what would happen to D'Mar say, if she stayed there to manage the reinforcement during the pending operation?

thank you. ==