"We help them by taking the core. And we do that by continuing forward," Tyra said softly. "The tunnel should turn into a grated platform ahead and we need to find a way down from there. I need you to focus on two things with your tricorder: the consciousness of the Romulans that we're about to detain and the arrival of any reinforcements. The gig is up so active scans."
Emily nodded, “I can do that.” She let out a shaky breath, “That, I can do.”
"I need to know one thing before we proceed and I need you to be absolutely honest with me: if it comes to it and it very likely will, are you capable of actually using your phaser on another living being? If you aren't, I need to know right this second."
"Answer on the go," Tyra said rather briskly as she wiggled past Star to lead the way, her rifle in hand as she crawled forward towards the core.
Emily watched the Captain move. Faintly, she picked up the intense emotions from the team, and felt her mouth go dry, “I have no issue with it in theory.” She responded, unable to keep her tone as self-assured as she'd usually like, “And, I am confident that theory will translate to field use.”
It wasn’t her goal to sound unsure. She’d been trained well with weapons. However, the Captain’s words had been deliberate. Another living being. Someone capable of having a family and feelings. Not just some animal she'd taken down while hunting or in a simulator.
Every few moments, she’d glance at her tricorder, which was actively scanning the area
==GM Input - What does she pick up while actively scanning?==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
Everything else seemed to shrink around her as the blood-red bolt of energy erupted from her PR-1 and slammed into the Cardassian intent on taking out Coleman and Calleja. For a moment Aeryn wondered if she had somehow missed and hadn't hit him hard enough as the Cardassian turned towards the COS and aimed at her. Not that he got the chance too, as his weapon arm went slack before their assailant toppled to the floor.
However, her small victory was short-lived as the emitters exploded, and Aeryn realised who must have done it, as she ignored the sparks and concentrated on Mara and Coleman. Mara was quick to utter her thanks, before the brief silence was interrupted by shouts and the sound of footfalls on the deckplates, and Aeryn knew that the other Cardassians were near. Sure enough, they arrived at full force firing their blasters in every direction, narrowly missing the team from the Artemis. Their goal was clear, to cut them off and stop them from going anywhere safely.
Not exactly an approach that she would have taken, if the roles had been reversed, but that wasn't important because they needed to take them out, just like they had with their comrades. There would also be a need for extra caution, so none of the team got caught in the crossfire, and as Mara spoke into the open channel, Aeryn was going to provide that cover fire, knowing that she wouldn't be alone as Miles, Damian and Harriman would assist.
With her PR-1 already raised from dispatching the Cardassian that had threatened Damian and Mara, and aware of the other members of the team, Aeryn began to return fire as Mara counter-charged the enemy, understanding what her second was attempting to do.
== Tags ==
== GM input. Is Aeryn successful in hitting the Cardassians with her return fire? ==
"Commander," Benjamin said as the class dismissed around him, "could I ask a couple of questions?" He tried not to let his nervousness show - advanced computing wasn't his comfort zone, and the teacher was nearly the same age as he was, if not a hair younger - and instead tried to just seem curious. It helped that he was just curious, of course, but that's how nervousness worked - it didn't let you realize how simple things were.
"Of course, cadet," the man said. He also was trying to hide his feelings, and doing just about as good of a job as Benjamin was, only the teacher's feelings were more of tiredness and annoyance. "What can I do for you?"
"Sir," he said, "I was looking through the assigned databases, and saw something that we wasn't on the syllabus?" He punched a couple of commands into his padd and pulled up a program. It just said 'Searching for connection...' but he turned it to the professor anyway. "This seems like a powerful piece of software for us to just essentially ignore it."
The commander took the proffered padd and looked, before smirking and looking back up at him. "That's because, while running the ship from anywhere seemed like a good idea, it's never been practical."
"I know," Benjamin said, "but doesn't it seem... irresponsible to leave it in the code? I mean, couldn't someone--"
The commander held up a hand and cut him off. "There are plenty of security measures in place. Only a command level officer on the ship in question could access the controls, plus any number of other safeguards that you should have learned about in Lieutenant Sovak's class."
"Yes, I did," Benjamin said, "but still--"
"Ben," the commander said as he cleaned up his padds and started towards the door, "don't worry about it. Trust me when I say that the top computing minds know about it and aren't worried about it, so neither should you."
==Present Day==
Benjamin sighed as the emitters exploded. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it appeared to have worked, as no forcefields came on. The Cardassian left standing in the corridor died as Miller shot him, and for half a moment things were silent.
Then more running steps were heard, and he knew that they were out of time. Whatever chance they had to get to the core was gone. He hoped that Tyra and Star would make it, but their group was unlikely to get any further than this junction. Shots came down the corridor, and Benjamin flattened himself against the wall and tried to think.
He had already tried to find a second route, and there weren't any. Getting through the gap the others had taken was out of the question. He felt the explosives he carried press into him, and knew that Plan Z was always an option, but he wasn't ready for that yet. There's got to be something else, he thought, and patted his pockets as he tried to think of something.
He hit his padd, and a smile grew on his face. It was a terrible plan, a plan they had dismissed very early on in the planning stages because there were too many variables. Some of them were solved now - the computer had let them interface with it from the Waverider, so it at least was still present and hadn't been completely replaced, for instance - but there were still more than he would have liked.
Of course, what he'd like and what he had were two completely different things.
He fished out a multitool from his pocket, turned to the wall, and started removing the access panel below the hallway computer display. "Captain," he said into the comm as the panel came free, "we're pinned down in the junction. I'm going for Plan H." Unspooling the small connector cable, he plugged it into the padd and made the connection. The cable was meant for doing diagnostics of the panel, but today it was going to do so much more.
First, though, he had to get into the ship's computer. He entered the fleet command codes that Tyra had shared, using those to add the padd to the ship's network and gain access to the controls. He hoped he was going to be in time to make a difference.
==GM Input: Can I access the ship's control system through my padd? If so, what type of access do I have?==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
The fall of footsteps did eventually reveal more Cardassians. From what Miles could tell, they appeared to be coming from the front, still leaving the rear for Miles and Harriman to watch. However, it would be time to take the offensive soon if they hoped to advance, something that would be harder fought than said.
They couldn't sit here forever, though. Miles hoped that the Captain and Midshipman Star were successful in their goal and staying safe. Their part would be critical for the next steps in retaking the Callisto. Each step still needed to be completed, or they would fail. And there was a lot at stake should that occur. Which is why they couldn't.
Regardless, Miles was doing his part and watching the rear, for, if any Cardassians did try to come from their rear, Miles was ready, taking his shots at them to cover his crew's back.
==Tag. GM input: Any Cardassians trying to flank? If so, does Miles dispatch of them?==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Jay D'Mar regretted moving up to the front. Now she was in the thick of the fighting, at least close to the fighting, waiting to move ahead and deploy the transport enhancers in the computer core. But it looked and sounded as though the game was up, the Cardassian were beginning to move numbers to their location.
Jays job now was to protect the enhancers and the person who would carry them and deploy them. She hatted battles especially close quarter battle like this, two Cardassians stabbed in the neck, one Cardassisn shot, and she was cowering near a bulkhead with heavy equipment, frozen, couldn't move, she hadn't even taken up her weapon to defend herself and Devereaux if needed. Her hands where shaking, her knuckles white as she gripped onto the enhancers.
You coward she heard in her head, loud and clear of over the din of the battle. You want to kill Cardassians, here is your chance!
Then there was silence, as though she was somewhere else, floating, weightless. She's had this nightmare before but only when she slept, never in broad daylight, so to speak. It was a continuous nightmare; she was going to die before she had lived. Jay didn't know where the ... this... visual feeling came from. Except that she knows it well like a brother or sister that she never had. It haunts Jay. Appearing at the oddest of times. Silent, serene and calm, floating in the midst of chaos, danger and death with great fear.
More disrupter fire and explosions followed. The sound of them dragged her back to reality. She shakingly let go of the equipment and prepare her cardassian disrupter for battle. Crouching by the bulkhead, she waited for the first Cardassian that made it past the leaders or the rear guard. Cardassian Disrupters have only two settings stun and disintegrate. Jay had set hers on disintegrate.
==Crawford==
The icon representing the doors flashed from green to red, indicating they had been sealed and locked. Upon exiting the Jeffries Tube, she found herself on a small grate surrounded on three sides (including the bulkhead she had emerged from) by banks of isolinear chips. The fragile chips did not directly control vital parts of the ship's systems unless the bio-neural systems were compromised, but they didn't react well to being interfered with.
The empty side of the grate had a ladder that descended to the ground floor, and ascended to another maintenance grate above. On the above grate was an unconscious Cardassian, while sitting slumped at some consoles on the ground floor were the others. All unconscious, all accounted for.
==Star==
Going active, Star was able to ascertain the ship was only sparsely crewed. There were six Cardassians in Engineering, a further four on the Bridge, and a dozen moving about on various decks between the two. So far, it didn't seem like anyone was rushing towards the Computer Core except for the two they had already been notified about.
==Elias==
From his current location, Elias was immediately granted control over the atmospheric controls and every single door on their current deck.
If he tried to access anything else, an error message would flash on the screen: [Command Functions Re-Routed.]
==Grant==
At the moment, nobody was attempting to flank the team.
==Calleja==
The tossing of the grenade followed berserk charge of the former vigilante surprised the Cardassians, who immediately skidded to a halt and turned their attention on the charging woman. Calleja got half-way to her target before the first disruptor blast skimmed her upper thigh, burning flesh and muscle. The second hit her square in the chest. Had she not been wearing body armor, it would have burned a hole through her heart and left lung.
Fortunately the majority of the energy wasted itself on the ablative plates within the vest, but enough transferred through to sear the flesh beneath and send debilitating jolts of pain through her body and drive her to her knees while she fought to catch her breath.
In reply, shortly before the flashbang detonated, she saw that one of her phaser bolts had drilled a neat hole through the closest Cardassian's shoulder and he was now struggling to maintain the grip on his rifle.
==Miller==
Miller's first shot missed the charging Cardassian. The second shot, lead-adjusted to match the man's run, also missed as he suddenly skidded to a halt. Her target staggered from a phaser bolt to the shoulder, allowing Miller's third shot to take his head cleanly off.
The detonation of the flashbang filled her sight with bright white light, so she did not see him fall.
Nor did she see the disruptor blast that, by luck more than judgement, had been blind-fired and caught her in the midsection. Like Calleja, the blast mostly spend itself on the ablative plating of her tactical vest, but the force of the impact and the sudden searing heat were enough to double her over.
==Everyone else==
As the flash from the flashbang cleared, one of their two assailants was down. The other was firing blindly with his rifle as he screamed in pain from his seared retinas and ruptured eardrums, beams wildly flying down the corridor and posing lethal risk to anyone who got in their way.
Calleja and Miller were also both down, at least temporarily. Medical scans would indicate both had the equivalent of second-degree burns to their abdomens, and damage to the nerves in the affected areas. They would require nerve regeneration when they got to a functioning Sickbay, but with painkillers and dermal regeneration they would be on their feet again within minutes.
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
The fire fight had intensified. A flashbang went off, fortunately Jay was behind the bulkhead and the flash didn't blind her. She waited noticing the phaser fire had stopped but the disrupter fire was continuing rather erratically. Jay wasn't sure what just happened up ahead. Obviously the two security officers had engaged some Cardassians but why they had stopped firing was a mystery. She decided to go against all her training, that is, keep you head down when the enemy is firing. She stuck her head out to take a peek. What she saw shocked her. Her team members where down.
The flashbang cleared, she saw that one of two Cardassians was down. The other was firing blindly with his rifle as he screamed in pain from his injuries, disrupter beams wildly flying down the corridor and posing lethal risk to anyone who got in their way.
Jay hesitated, absolutely petrified that one of those wild disrupter busts would take her head off and she ducked back behind the bulkhead shaking, remonstrating to herself Get out there, you coward and nail the sucker! At least put him out of his misery.
She knew that she could take the shot and eliminate the treat, she was proficient with the Cardassian disrupter at her side. But shooting in battle under fire was a very different thing to shooting targets on a firing range. She closed her eyes for a second and took a short breath and exhaled, and with her eye wide open raising her disrupter, set on disintegrate, to aim. Ens D'Mar moved to the edge of the bulkhead, identified the placement of the other members of the team, aimed at her target's broadest area, the chest, and as she tracked with his erratic movements, as he moves away from the other members of the team, pulled off a single shot.
== GM input, please. Does D'Mar's shoot disintegrate the Cardassian? ==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
As Mara said “Flash bomb, cover me" into the coms Robin slammed her eyes shut. She had to hope that she was far enough away to avoid the effects, because the grenade would overwhelm her enhanced senses leave her a blinded mess if she was too close. As it was she still saw the flash through her closed eyes. She was thankful for the noise suppression built into the helmet that damped down the worst of the bang. She opened her eyes, adjusting quickly, and saw both Cardassians take shots from Security; they had apparently skidded to a halt at the sight of the grenades.
But the two Security officers hadn't gotten it all their own way. Mara took two shots, one a glancing shot to the thigh and one a direct hit to the chest. Likewise Aeryn took a hit that doubled her over. In both cases it was only the body armor the two women were wearing that had saved their lives, absorbing otherwise fatal hits... but it was unlikely to save them again. Aeryn had taken the head off of one Cardassian while the other was screaming, blinded and deafened by Mara's grenade. His had been a lucky shot that had hit Aeryn.
Ensign D'Mar was the closest, trying to use what cover there was, but the nurse watched as she lifted the Cardassian rifle she was carrying after a moment and opened fire. Robin was further back and armed only with a hand phaser, but she leaned out of her even more limited cover and opened fire as well, hoping that one of them would take the Cardassian down before he got off another wild shot that killed someone.
The Artemis CMO's weapon was set to heavy stun, but she knew that Cardassian weapons had only two settings and briefly wondered which one the Engineer was using before dismissing the concern. Whether the Cardassian was unconscious or vaporized didn't matter one bit to her at the moment. Only the thought that she had to get to the two wounded officers and begin medical treatment.
== GM Input: Does Robin hit the Cardassian? Is there even a Cardassian there anymore when Robin shoots? If he's taken out she'll move up immediately, scan the two wounded, and begin treatment of whoever is worse off. ==
==Mayfair==
Thanks to her engineered brain giving her excellent spatial awareness and depth perception, Mayfair's snap-shot took the screaming Cardassian square in the chest and dropped him flat on his back.
==D'Mar==
While the engineer may have believed she was proficient with the rifle, she was no soldier. She was also, thanks to her calming breath, a second slower than Mayfair. As a result, the beam hit the falling Cardassian at an angle and glanced off the armored breastplate, leaving a melted gouge and scorched flesh beneath.
Though the shot had not killed the Cardassian instantly, it had done significant thermal damage to his internal organs. Blood visibly bubbled from his mouth, and a tricorder scan would indicate that both of his lungs had been seared beyond the ability of a medkit to repair.
==I did some research - Cardassian weapons do only have two settings, but neither of them is disintegrate. We only ever saw Garak's pistol do that, and as a former Obsidian Order agent, he'd probably modified it.==
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
== Clarification, Oh Kind and Benevolent GM: the two life signs you referenced for Star are the same life signs registered by Mayfair a bit back, correct? In Mayfair's input, you said the guards' life signs were headed in "their direction", I took that to mean the away team but did you mean the Cardassians in the core instead? ==
32 posts
First Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Everything had happened in a flash, but Coleman wasn’t just impressed by the team, there was pride in seeing them work too. There was still some confusion in Damian’s brain, like how he’d missed that there was a freakishly tall Cardassian in the corridor, with two silverback gorillas for arms. Perhaps they’d been hunched in and over to hide their monstrous size. Though it didn’t much matter, as even as Coleman rolled out from being thrown against Calleja, the amazon didn’t skip a beat. Covering fire from behind also helped, with Miller providing fire support and taking out the beast. Though the fight was far from over, as more Cardassians poured into the corridor.
Damian stayed where he was, trying to get an angle for a shot, though he held his fire; Calleja had powered forward with a flash, attempting to take out the new intruders. Both Mara and Aeryn dished it out, but also took hits in return, causing Coleman’s face to scrunch up inside his helmet before loudly spouting some profanity. He was about to move and take up position to take out the still standing Cardassian, when a shot came out from their back lines, the phaser shot sizzling right past him. There was a string of invectives that continued from Damian’s mouth, but whoever had fired did the job it seemed.
Sprinting from his position, Damian double tapped the Cardassians that weren't missing their head. There was still some worry about potential reinforcements from the Opfor, and so Coleman now took point.
“Grant, get up here with me and help cover point.”
“Sitrep on Miller and Calleja, sound off if you are still breathing,” Damian waited for answers and for Grant to move, while he held the front with his phaser rifle up and ready to blast. Once he heard back, he formulated a plan.
“Someone help Calleja and Miller up. We are going to continue pushing for the core. Mayfair, patch them up the best you can on the move, we’ll do a better assessment once we reach the core,” the comm went to just the team, before Damian switched to sending Tyra a message.
“We took some Cardassians down, but Miller and Calleja are hit. We are going to press forward toward the core and worry about treatment from there.”
Once everyone was in place, and with some general answers, Damian pushed forward toward the core.
== tags to corridor team, and also to Crawford.
GM input: do we encounter any further resistance as we move toward the core. Coleman is ready to take out any other guards ==
(01-21-2024, 06:14 PM)Tyra Crawford Wrote: == Clarification, Oh Kind and Benevolent GM: the two life signs you referenced for Star are the same life signs registered by Mayfair a bit back, correct? In Mayfair's input, you said the guards' life signs were headed in "their direction", I took that to mean the away team but did you mean the Cardassians in the core instead? ==
==indeed, my mistake. Those two Cardassians have now been dealt with - one is quite dead, the other is very nearly dead. There are now no Cardassians in the vicinity able to interfere with the Away Team.==
82 posts
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Mara knew she was in trouble when both Cardassians turned to face her long before she was close enough to get to grips with them. She let loose a barrage of shots from her type II as she ran and more through luck than judgment she managed to hit one of the enemy in the shoulder. Her marksmanship was deeply average when she was stationary, never mind shooting on the run with her off hand.
The Cardassian return fire was much more effective. When she was hit in the thigh Calleja stumbled with the shock, but the full-blooded hit to the chest was enough to completely drain her forward momentum and pitch her backwards. She hit the wall she’d been sticking tight to and rebounded forward, landing heavily on one knee as the flash bomb went off.
Her visor darkened automatically to protect her eyes from the burst of light, although that was the least of Mara’s troubles. She was suddenly acutely aware of where every panel edge was on her armour; the heat transfer had just superheated all of them and the force of the impact had hammered them into her body. There was a nasty burning smell in her helmet that was about 50% armour and 50% her own flesh, and it made her want to rip the thing off to draw in some clean air. She suppressed the urge as quickly as it appeared, knowing that the gas was already in the air from the core team of Crawford and Star.
The pain was intense as Calleja tried to drive herself to her feet and keep moving. She felt horribly vulnerable like this, neither in the fight nor out of it, but her battered body just wouldn’t respond. The whole thing was over in seconds but it felt so much longer to Mara, pinned down and fighting a battle against herself to get moving again.
When the firefight was over, and Coleman moved past her to finish off the wounded Cardassian, Calleja finally found the strength to force herself upright.
[Sitrep on Miller and Calleja, sound off if you are still breathing] the FO said into the comm.
“Still breathin’,” Mara replied. It was clear from her voice just how much she was struggling. “I’m not committin’ to much else though.”
She listened in to the rest of the conversation as she retrieved her dropped gear.
“I can make it to the core,” the Bandaran said. She had a type II in her left hand, her right braced against the corridor wall, as she limped slowly after Coleman. “A few painkillers, I’ll be fine. And something to reseal this suit.”
Calleja wanted to turn back, to check on Aeryn and the others, but she was finding it hard enough to keep putting one booted foot in front of the other right now. The COS was in good hands with Robin and everyone else. The best thing the towering Lieutenant could do was keep going and get to the next stage.
Fuck this. Fuck the Cardassians. Fuck the cowards who abandoned the Callisto. Fuck ‘em all. Right where it fuckin’ hurts.
The litany bounced around Mara’s head as she moved. Every step hurt, especially the ones where she had to put her weight on her burned and scorched left leg. Still, she had no regrets about her actions. The only option had been to go forward. It kept the away team in control of the situation and although the Security officers had taken hits, nobody else had been on the wrong end of anything serious.
I’ll take the trade. 4 Cardassians down for a couple of walkin’ wounded, assumin’ Aeryn’s OK. I know I’ll be good to go once I get a shot or two of the good stuff and an energy bar.
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
== Thank you, GM! ==
“I have no issue with it in theory," came the young doctor's answer from behind her. Tyra thought she heard the slightest warble in the voice but truthfully, she couldn't fault her that. “And, I am confident that theory will translate to field use.”
It wasn't the confident, bravado filled answer that Tyra was use to from overly confident young security officers and that was alright. It seemed honest and realistic with no airs that the midshipman was a trained killer or soldier. It was, in truth, the best answer Tyra could have hoped for with the exception of the young woman possibly admitting to being a security officer in a former life.
"I can work with that," Tyra throw over shoulder as she crawled forward.
[Captain,] her rank caught her attention as she'd been actively tuning out much of the channel's traffic, not wanting to get distracted from her own circumstances, [we're pinned down in the junction. I'm going for Plan H.]
The redhead's forward progress paused just a second as her mind quickly ran through all of the plans before settling on H, which had involved attempting to access the computer through any console. It was reserved for if they absolutely could not get to the core, which seemed possible if they were pinned down.
"Understood. We're on Plan… I actually don't think I had a plan that involved a field trip with our newest crewmember so we'll call this Plan Cluster."
It seemed like forever on her hands and knees, trying to ignore the sounds of battle below, but rationally, she knew they hadn't come very far before the tube opened onto the grated platform. There were isolinear chips on three sides of them with a ladder system leading up and down. At the edge of the platform, she could see the downed Cardassians below but instinct caused her to glance up where one more Cardassian was slumped.
"Alright, here's the plan. I need to go up and restrain our friend up above us in case we don't have time to transport him to the others. I need you to cover the Cardassians on the ground while I do that. As soon as I'm done, start climbing down and I'll cover you. Once you're down, you'll cover me while I climb down."
"Just remember: they won't think twice about shooting you so you can't think twice about doing the same," she advised as she grabbed hold of the ladder and started the short climb to the next level.
[We took some Cardassians down, but Miller and Calleja are hit. We are going to press forward toward the core and worry about treatment from there,] Damian reported and based on the lack of background noise, she assumed it was a private channel.
"Damn, alright. We're in the core. We're working on securing the Cardassians now. I locked all of the doors to save myself from a last stand situation but Elias may be able to override them with the code I gave him. If not, I can undo that door when I get onto the ground," she answered, only the tiniest of huffs at the end indicating she was moving.
The platform above was pretty similar to the one they had entered onto and Tyra didn't waste much time analyzing that. She quickly divested the Cardassian of any obvious weapons or sharp objects before she pulled a set of restraints from utility pouch. These weren't the solid metals ones but resembled a much hardier version of zip-cuffs, which had allowed her to carry multiple sets without weight or size being an obstacle. They also had the added benefit of being able to be used almost like a hog tie as each set contained hand and leg versions and the addition of a strong cord between the two effectively immobilized most combatants. It had always been extremely effective on Romulans and she didn't think Cardassians would be any different. The worst he'd be able to do like this was accidentally roll off the platform and Tyra wasn't sure that would have been much of a loss.
She'd been able to accomplish her objective with little thought and with little wasted time, having done this particular maneuver many times over her career. His absolutely unconsciousness had been a little difficult to manage but it was preferred to someone fighting.
She walked to the ladder, peering down to make sure that she could see the Cardassians from her current perspective before deciding it was too far up to help if Star did run into trouble. "Coming down," she called down as she quickly started down the ladder to where Star was.
"Alright, go ahead and start down. I've got your back. Set your tricorder to alert you if one starts to regain consciousness… if one does, send a neurozine grenade their way," she said as soon as her boots hit the platform, not wanting them to waste anymore time.
==GM Input: What, if anything, did Tyra get off the Cardassian above? I didn't want to hold up Miss Star by pausing in the middle of that, hope you don't mind! Can she see the downed Cardassians below from the platform? ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
Everything felt as though it was happening in slow motion as the Cardassians began their charge, but rather than get frustrated as her first shot missed, Aeryn kept her focus, while still not ruling out the hope that she carried that others would join in the firefight. Blood and adrenaline continued to pump loudly through the security chief's veins, as she fired for a second time. This one narrowly missed as one of the Cardassians came to a skidding halt, realising why and where it had come from, as Mara got hit.
Fury burned through Aeryn, determined that her third shot wouldn't be in vain, and fired again. Although whether it hit successfully or not, Aeryn couldn't tell as the flashbang detonated, blinding her with its brilliant white light. Instinct told her to shut her eyes until she felt the searing pain and heat around her midsection. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd been hit, thankful for the ablative plating on her tactical vest that would have absorbed the majority of the blast. Yet that was little consolation as the force, the pain, and the heat forced Aeryn to double over, effectively taking her out of the battle.
At first, she thought it was herself who was screaming but, her brain soon caught up, confirming that there was still one assailant left. However, the redhead wasn't about to die in this godforsaken corridor, putting her trust in the remaining away team members to take him out. She also wasn't going to give the enemy the satisfaction of hearing her pain, gritting her teeth to stifle any sound and remember who was waiting for her back on Artemis.
Then it was over, and while she didn't know who had silenced the screams, she didn't care as she heard Damian's distinct voice taking charge, and issuing orders, so the team could finally press on and reach their destination. Upon hearing his voice, Aeryn hadn't lost the ability to speak. " I'm still alive" she muttered with some frustration and obvious pain in her voice, after Mara had also answered.
A plan was then made, and while Aeryn could argue that she didn't need any assistance in getting to the core, she decided against voicing it. As frustrated and angry as she was about getting injured, rather than dwell on it, Aeryn chose to channel it into completing the mission. There were also a few chosen curses aimed at no one in particular, as she awaited the sweet relief of whatever pain meds Robin had in her arsenal, so she could keep moving, and get away from this corridor.
== Tags ==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Robin was moving before the Cardassian hit the ground, swiftly covering the distance to the wounded officers. She felt no satisfaction at hitting the enemy, only a mental note that he had been taken out of the fight by her stun shot and D'Mar's more damaging hit.
Commander Coleman asked for a sitrep and both women responded weakly. Worry flooded the purple-haired nurse's mind, pushing out the cold and unfeeling aspect of her personality that terrified her so much. Mara herself had told her that such feelings were normal, and they were to a point, but the Augment still worried that there was something else going on. It was a matter for later; right now she had a job to do.
She skidded to a halt next to Aeryn, flicking the controls on her tricorder to the medical scan setting. The nurse popped the device's probe out and began running it over the Security chief's torso. Mara was already climbing to her feet, which might be a good sign or it might be terrible; the Bandaran was as tough as anyone Robin had ever met, tougher, but she had a tendency to keep going at all costs. It wasn't unique to her, and it was sometimes frustrating to the medic; she'd seen Artemis crew members continue even when she desperately needed to treat them.
The auburn-haired Security chief was cursing, something that gave Robin a brief moment of amusement. Security officers really were a different breed. She'd probably have been crying if she'd been in a similar state. "Lie still for a moment, Aeryn. We'll get you up." The scan results showed that Aeryn had 2nd degree burns underneath her torso armor.
With a swift, practiced hand the CMO was already reaching into her custom kit for one of the hyposprays. Having had enough field experience with the sometimes foolhardy Artemis crew she'd forgone the usual single spray that most medics carried. Instead several were available, each with a wide variety of medications... and she always carried extra burn treatments. She set for 10 ccs of Terakine, an analgesic designed for immediate effects, applied it to Aeryn's neck gently, and gave her a soft smile. "There you go, Aeryn. Give it a second. It'll help with the pain." The burn would have to be treated, of course, but 2nd degree burns weren't debilitating... unlike the one that her next patient had suffered. "Gonna go help Mara. D'mar? Help Miller to her feet, then help support Calleja."
She rose and moved up behind Mara as the amazonian Security officer stumbled down the corridor, putting one foot in front of the other through sheer determination. Robin's sensitive nose could smell burned flesh even through the mask. Third degree burns on her leg, and unknown on her torso.
"Hold up a second, Calleja, painkillers incoming." There was no point in actually trying to treat the wounds, much less trying to get her to stop for more than a few moments. They had to move, and Coleman had given orders. The nurse did a few quick body mass calculations and flicked the hypospray to 20 cc, the maximum safe dose in this situation. She could go higher, but only at the cost of making Mara dizzy. Treating the wounds would help more than just flooding her with painkillers, but that wasn't going to happen until they had a minute to stop. Robin didn't bother with the scan first and just used her medical knowledge and judgement. She would scan the Bandaran later, but she did need to determine whether there were internal injuries as soon as possible. She definitely needed regeneration on the thigh wound, and would need nerve repair back on the Artemis.
She pressed the hypospray to Mara's neck, and counted down in her head 4... 3... 2... 1....
"How's that?" she asked her friend. "Better? D'Mar's gonna help you. No objections, that's an order," she said with a brief laugh. Despite the danger they were still in she was feeling more like her usual self.
The nurse took a brief scan of the wounded Cardassian from her position next to Mara. Severe lung damage, extensive internal burns to the torso and catastrophic damage to the cardiovascular system. Treatment was theoretically possible, but would require a cardiovascular surgeon on the level of Sonaalk and the ultra-advanced treatment facilities aboard the Artemis... and even then survival was unlikely. She shook her head sadly. There was nothing to do for the man here and in this situation. Saddened, the nurse forced herself to turn and continue with the team, resuming her life scans but going active. There was no point in hiding now.
Damn it, why was all of this even necessary? Why did those idiots run down a corridor into fire?
If she survived this mess she'd visit the chapel on the Artemis and say a prayer for their souls. It was getting to be a regular occurrence, and this mess wasn't close to being over yet. Plenty of time for more bodies to be stacked up because the Cardassians couldn't stop poking the Federation and Star Fleet couldn't stop sending amateurs to perform black ops missions.
== Tags ==
== GM Input: What is the extent of Aeryn and Mara's wounds? And does Robin detect anything... interesting in her scans? ==
Benjamin knew things were happening all around him. He heard the flashbang go off. More phaser and disruptor fire seared around the hall. He knew it wasn't good, though as the weapons died away he knew that the good guys had the upper hand.
Which is good, he thought, considering I have no actual access from here. He wanted to hurl the padd down the corridor but refrained, knowing that it wouldn't help anything to do so. Instead, he looked at what he did have, and listened as new orders came in. Most went to Miller and Calleja - who were evidently hurt - as well as Mayfair and Grant. But the relevant part, he noted, came clear from Coleman: [We are going to continue pushing for the core.]
As Mayfair went to assess the damage, he did an assessment on his controls. He had environmental controls, but without the neurozyne canisters attached that didn't do him much good. He also had control over all the doors on deck 6. When he tried anything else, he got the message that it was rerouted, which on one hand was worrying, but on the other he couldn't do anything about it anyway so it was a problem for later.
So, barring any other utility, he did the only thing he could do. "All I've got is door control for this deck," he commed to Coleman. "I'm locking every door that isn't on our direct path between the Waverider and the Core - and also unlocking the door to the computer core," he added as he noticed that it was sealed already. "May help, may not, but it's all I can accomplish from here." He input the appropriate commands, waited to see if they were successful or not, and then uplugged the padd. A quick stow placed it in a pocket again, and he pulled his phaser back out. He was as ready as he was going to be to move on.
==GM Input: am I successful?==
With the team under fire, the journey to the core felt like it was taking an exhaustingly long time to complete. Even though Emily knew it was a mix of anxiety and adrenaline that crafted the sensation, it was still annoying. Hearing they were alright though was a relief.
So far.
"Alright, here's the plan. I need to go up and restrain our friend up above us in case we don't have time to transport him to the others. I need you to cover the Cardassians on the ground while I do that. As soon as I'm done, start climbing down and I'll cover you. Once you're down, you'll cover me while I climb down."
Emily nodded, “Got it.” She looked up towards the Cardassian and then down to the others, “Can do.”
"Just remember: they won't think twice about shooting you so you can't think twice about doing the same.”
Emily caught the Captain’s gaze this time when she said, “I won’t.” And she meant it. Or she was resolved to mean it. As the Captain climbed the ladder, Emily kept her eyes on the Cardassians below, the door, and anywhere else that could surprise them.
The time it took for the Captain to climb up, restrain the enemy and then rejoin her felt surprisingly fast. Emily had never been that close to a hostile being, and if she had been, there was no saying that her hands would have worked. Crawford made everything look so simple and that was what Emily found most intimidating.
"Alright, go ahead and start down. I've got your back. Set your tricorder to alert you if one starts to regain consciousness… if one does, send a neurozine grenade their way,"
Emily nodded, "Grenade, right." She began her descent, her foot almost missing a rung before catching it and finishing the journey. Once on solid ground, she called up, “Come on down.”
==GM - is all good still when she gets down there? How are the Cardassians?==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Miles didn't know whether he could consider himself lucky or not, as there were no signs of any Cardassians attempting to take their flank. He still held firm, ready at a moment's notice...
“Grant, get up here with me and help cover point,” the voice of Commander Coleman came through. With a quick "aye,sir" he looked over to Harriman.
"Keep covering our rear until otherwise notified," he informed her. He didn't need to tell her, but, sometimes, it was good so there was a clear concise plan. He quickly made his way up point, where he gathered that Calleja and Miller had been hit. Coleman called for the sitrep, and received responses that they were alive with what, at the moment, appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries.
Calleja, the hard as nails Officer she was, was doing her damnedest to push through the pain to make it through to the Core.
He noted that Mayfair was quick to render aid to stabilize the two, while calling upon D'Mar to assist them with movement. That was a good start, but...
Elias gave an update about what he was able to do as far as door controls. Having anything behind them blocked off would be a good thing, take a lot of pressure off. Miles noted Elias stow away his PADD and take out his phaser, ready to help.
"Commander Elias," Miles addressed his fellow Department Head. "It may be prudent for you to assist Ensign D'Mar with Lieutenants Miller and Calleja. Commander Coleman and I have point, and Lieutenant Harriman has the rear." He then turned to Commander Coleman. "Unless you deem otherwise, sir."
==Tag all==
82 posts
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
It made Mara flinch to hear Aeryn’s pain over the comm. It always hurt to hear anyone on her side in pain, but doubly so a friend.
Anyone gets hit on this trip, it’s the same feelin’. It hurts that bit more. I hate cliches but this group of ours feel like more than just a crew. Hell, they welcomed me. That’s way over and above the call of duty…
She listened in as Robin ministered to the fallen COS. Anyone who questioned the decision to make a nurse and an Augment the Chief Medical Officer would have Calleja to answer to. There was nobody better for the job. Even if the looming Security officer knew full well that her thoughts on the matter were about to be challenged, because it was very quickly her turn.
"Hold up a second, Calleja, painkillers incoming."
The Bandaran stopped, leaning her back against the wall and letting the medic work. She felt the familiar rush of powerful painkillers as the dose was administered to her neck. Resting her head against the wall, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before slowly exhaling.
"How's that?" Mayfair asked. "Better? D'Mar's gonna help you. No objections, that's an order."
“That’s the good shit. Thank you,” Mara replied. There was a grin on her lips despite everything, even if it wasn’t entirely visible through the faceplate of her helmet. “I’ll do you a deal. Once we get to the core, I’ll be a good girl and sit quietly whilst you patch me up. But we gotta get there and quickly. We can’t defend this corridor.”
Calleja listened in as Grant spoke to Elias and Coleman, and once he’d finished speaking she was surprisingly quick to intercede.
“With respect, our priority has to be to get to the core and get those transporter scramblers up,” she said into the comm as she moved off again. “We’re sittin’ ducks at the moment. The Cardies know we’re here. I can walk, D’Mar can bring Aer… Miller. Can we get Elias up with the pointmen and started with the scramblers? Hustle to the core and regroup with the Captain?”
Mara wasn’t moving quickly at all but she was moving. She was also feeling horribly vulnerable. Tough as she was, she knew she needed further treatment to get back to full effectiveness, and with Aeryn down too it left the team short of cover.
I feel fuckin’ naked at the moment. If there’s anyone with a brain on the Cardies’ side then we get beamed into space any second. And the longer we do this out here, the longer the Cap’n and Star are on their own. I can practically see the door to the core from here. Let’s just get there and regroup.
The smell of her own burned skin was still circulating in her suit and it was starting to turn the Bandaran’s stomach. She stole a glance at the readout and sighed when she saw the concentration of neurozene was still high.
Damn it. A little fresh air would go a long way… she thought as she picked up the pace, finding a little more energy as the painkillers went to work.
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
The result of collating her passive scans to her PADD was interesting to Lucy, but not entirely informative. Either Ben or Jay might get more out of what was being detected. Glowing lines of what was possibly power flowing through the EPS conduits might mean more to an Engineer. The question of who was going through the hole in the debris was quickly decided.
Lucy had been forming an impression of Captain Crawford and the lady was certainly formidable. Tyra being ex-Security certainly showed at times. Intriguingly she chose Emily to accompany her. It was a case of balancing experience with the wild cards like Lucy. Lucy knew her track record was not in her favor.
The plan seemed to be that the Captain and Midshipman Star would enter the Computer Core through the Jefferies system and neutralise the Cardassians there, so the rest would wait for the all-clear. The relative calm was interrupted by the approach of two Cardassians. They were chatting and unaware of what they were about to encounter.
Lucy had retreated to the assumed safety of the corridor they had entered from. Leaving those with Security experience to handle. She put on the gas mask that had been given to her. The fight with the two Cardassians ended as expected. Pretty brutal. It got worse as belated back up arrived for the two that had been dealt with. She did her best to keep out of the way.
Lucy had almost reached for her phaser, but she froze even as Jay had readied her disruptor rifle. Whatever training she had received hadn’t prepared her for the volleys of disruptor fire. The experience had brought back to her Zherru’s last moments. As she collected herself she tried to remember where she had set down the transporter scramblers she had been assigned.
== GM input request are the transporter scramblers Lucy had been carrying still intact? =
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
The amount of times that Aeryn had smelt burning flesh, including her own, was something that you never really forget. Sure, the smell went away once you'd been treated, but even then it seemed to linger, reminding you of how close you had come to losing it all. Sobering would be one word to describe it, although there were likely other words that could be said, but at the moment Aeryn zoned out for a fraction of a second, perhaps a little longer to refocus. Difficult as that was due to the pain and the sensations caused by her injuries, the Security Chief listened to Robin as the CMO appeared and prepared to get her back on her feet, or at least enough to get her to the Computer Core.
Nodding her understanding, Aeryn kept as still as possible while Robin performed her scans before the redhead felt the hypospray pressed against her neck. " Thank you" she uttered as she remained in position for a little longer, allowing the medication to filter through as Robin moved onto Calleja. The hate and frustration that had spilled from her mouth hadn't left her as quickly as the pain did, but that would be Aeryn's burden to carry as long as they all got out of there, watching as one friend treated another.
The injustice of it all sprang to mind, but again Aeryn pushed it back, adding it to the emotions that she had already begun to channel into something that could be used, to push on and how any further Cardassians would regret coming near them if she got her hands on them. As she slowly righted herself, determined to walk normally and reach the core, even if that meant walking at a slower pace, then that's what Aeryn would do as she caught some of the conversation, before Mara intervened.
She was all for moving, and getting Elias to the core. However, that happened because they needed to regroup and finish this mission.
== Tags ==
Benjamin listened as Mayfair tried to treat the injured as best as she could, and then as everyone began speaking about who should do what. None of them were bad suggestions, and he nodded at Grant as the tactical officer suggested he wouldn't be the biggest help on clearing the way - not wrong, and he'd phrased it well - and holstered his phaser. Calleja also wasn't wrong about trying to get the transport scramblers set up. She was just wrong about who had them.
He nodded and spoke firmly, using his best 'main engineering' voice as he thought of it - designed to cut through a din with clear, concise orders. "Alright," he said. "D'mar, Devereaux - you've got the scramblers, get up and follow point. Mayfair and I can help the injured after. Doors are open ahead, and time is definitely short. Move on your signal, Commander?" He addressed the last to Coleman, trying not to overstep his bounds with the first officer, who was in command of course.
He stepped over to Calleja, seeing the dejected look in her eye and knowing how she felt. He'd been forcibly sidelined before, as well, and didn't appreciate it then either. Of course, his had been because he was sealed in an irradiated main engineering with the corpse of his predecessor as chief engineer who had succumbed to the radiation, so maybe it wasn't exactly the same. But that was beside the point.
"Alright, Mara," he said to the security officer. "You heard the doc, and don't be stubborn. Sooner you let me help, sooner we get down the hall." He held out his hands to take a bit of her kit, to try and lessen the burden on her torso and, consequently, her lungs.
==Tag everyone, especially Coleman and Calleja==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
01-27-2024, 02:01 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-27-2024, 02:02 AM by Jay D'Mar.)
Jay watched to see if the single shot would hit its target and take out the last Cardassian. It didn't, someone had fired a phaser just before her shot and it hit first veering the Cardassian, turning him to the side as he fell.
Wait, wait!
Jay's shot did hit, not exactly where she had aimed but it did hit the Cardassian. She could see that the shot was lethal and she momentarily slumped back behind the bulkhead.
YES! I killed a Cardassian. I did it!... I ... I... took a life.
The hyped feeling of achieving her goal of killing Cardasians swiftly diminished into the stark reality of death. She didn't like that feeling at all.
The first officer called for confirmation that the two security officers were alive. They replied, injured but alive.
There was a flurry movement as the CMO arrived first at the battle site a few meters away from Jay, to give aid. Lt Grant rushed by, called to take point.
Ens D'Mar's job was to deliver the transport enhancers/scramblers to the core, so she remained where she was looking around to make sure that Lt Devereaux was okay, and she had the rest of the scramblers. She was okay.
There seemed to be a lot of chatter on the open comms and Jay noticed her name mentioned a few times, in reference to helping the wounded. Finaly a strategy emerged the Jay agreed with, as Cdr Elias said, "Alright, D'mar, Devereaux - you've got the scramblers, get up and follow point. Mayfair and I can help the injured after. Doors are open ahead, and time is definitely short. Move on your signal, Commander?"
"Aye, Commander," Jay immediately replied. and began collecting her bundle of scramblers in preparation to move.
She turned to Lt Devereaux, who was nearby, to see if she was doing the same, but it seemed as though she was confused or looking for something. Jay asked "You ready to move, Lieutenant?"
==Tag Lt Devereaux==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
“I’ll do you a deal. Once we get to the core," Mara said I’ll be a good girl and sit quietly whilst you patch me up. But we gotta get there and quickly. We can’t defend this corridor.”
Good Lord save me from stubborn Security officers, Robin thought. She's got a burn in her leg that would have most people screaming in agony, and even the painkillers can't be taking care of all of it. And the pain would be worse than even that if the nerves weren't cooked.
Robin wasn't sure if her friend caught the eye roll the nurse made. She hadn't used the word 'order' lightly, though it was said with a smile. And she didn't want to have an argument about it, since they really did have to get moving. It would have looked like a chipmunk arguing with a bear. At least Aeryn seemed to be ready to go.
Mara made a good point about the scramblers, though. They had no idea whether the Captain and Star had access to the core yet, but there were still Cardassians on the Bridge, and if they didn't get scramblers set up it was even money that they'd be floating in vacuum in a minute or two. At most.
Thankfully Robin didn't have to try to force the point. Benjamin stepped up. "Alright, Mara," he said to the security officer. "You heard the doc, and don't be stubborn. Sooner you let me help, sooner we get down the hall." The purple-haired CMO gave the Engineer a grateful look.
"I'm ready, Commander, let's go," she said to Coleman. Her tricorder was out and her phaser ready in her right hand. While Mara and Aeryn were still dangerous, they were hurt and the team was also down Tyra and Emily, waiting for them in the core. They needed to get there as quickly as they could, with no more delays.
== Tags ==
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
Lucy found her part of the transporter scramblers where she’d left them before she’d attempted to see what she could map with her tricorder and PADD. She knelt down checked the scrambler for damage. Superficially they seemed intact. She cautiously lifted scramblers and noticed Jay behind her. It was good that the Midshipman didn’t appear to have too phased by the encounter. Lucy felt a little rattled, but she was ready to make some progression.
“I’m ready. No point keeping the Captain waiting.”
If the Captain... Could she think of Captain Crawford by her first name? Nope, it was still too soon. There was little doubt that she and Midshipman Star had pacified the Computer Core. Lucy and Jay were to settle in behind whoever had point and make their way to the Computer Core. She certainly hadn’t been ready for the strength of the Cardassians. They were taking their possession of the Callisto seriously, even if the condition of the interior seemed to suggest otherwise.
== tag. ==
==Apologies for the delay, folks. In Jurassic Park they say "life finds a way", but they didn't mention the second sentence of "to get in the way."==
==Crawford==
The Cardassian had a PADD on him; he'd been working on it when he had been rendered unconscious, so it wasn't locked. The text was all in Cardassian, however. From her vantage point, all but one of the unconscious Cardassians were visible. The last was on the other side of the room, obscured by the Core itself.
==Star==
Aside from the buzzing and humming of the Computer Core, the occasional beep of a console, and of the two Humans' feet on the grated decking, everything was almost eerily quiet. The Cardassians were quite unconscious, showing no signs of coming to any time soon.
==Mayfair==
Miller's injuries were thermal damage, aka burning, to her epidermis and the musculature beneath. Painkillers would be immediately required, with intensive dermal regeneration and nerve regeneration when they found a operational sickbay.
Calleja's chest wound was similar, though she had been much closer to her attacker and thus hadn't benefitted from particle dissipation caused by charged energy beams moving through atmosphere. She would also need immediate painkillers and a more extensive regeneration visit in Sickbay.
Calleja's leg wound, for all intents and purposes, was a graze. It could be repaired with a handheld dermal regenerator, though the destroyed nerves would require regeneration therapy in a full Sickbay.
Mayfair's Tricorder, now on active, detected a further twelve Cardassians aboard the Callisto. Four on the Bridge, four in Engineering, and four in the Crew Quarters. Curiously, there were no traces of Benamite detected; this was odd because even an inert drive left detectable traces of its fuel source.
==Deveraux==
They were still intact; battered but functional.
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
== No worries ==
"Team, I've gone active scan, and I'm picking up a total of twelve additional Cardassians," Robin said into her microphone so everyone (including the Tyra and Emily) could hear. "Four on the Bridge, four in crew quarters, four in Engineering. And..." She hesitated.
"And that's strange. I'm not detecting any Benamite in Engineering. At all. Not even a trace." She'd read the provided documents before they'd left and remembered the discussion aboard the Philadelphia about Benamite. To her limited understanding the rare material was necessary to the function of the Slipstream drive, and there should be at least a little bit left to detect. There was none at all. Robin had an increasing sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Oh no. I'll bet anything they pulled the drive completely. It might be systems away, getting taken apart. More and more it looks like the whole mission was for nothing. We didn't rescue any hostages, and it's likely we can't even keep the Slipstream Drive out of Cardassian hands.
== Tag team ==
== GM Input: As the Away Team moves Robin will keep active scans going to determine if anyone is moving in the ship. ==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
“I’m ready. No point keeping the captain waiting.” Lt Devereaux replied as she collected the battered scramblers.
Bugger the friggin Captain, I just want to get to somewhere safe! Jay thought as she held the scramblers tightly to stop her body trembling with fear. Her greatest wish was not what she expected, she hatted fighting, she hatted Cardassians more. To kill them she thought she would be elated. But not so. Jay tried to look clam and focus on the task at hand, that was one thing being a engineer had taught her, how to focus.
"Okay, let's move up front to Lt Grant, so we're ready when the Commander give the signal to move." Jay led the way, looking for Lt Grant.
==GM input, does D'Mar have any trouble finding Lt Grant. ==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Hearing Calleja's response initially peeved Miles. She was wounded. Seriously enough that she needed immediate Medical attention, if the words of their Chief Medical Officer was anything to go off of. And yet, she was trying to keep pushing forward, almost to the point it sounded like giving commands that undermined another Officer, one who was a Department Head.
But that thought was fleeting, since he had gotten to know most of the crew better by this point. This was not someone who wanted to try to hog the spotlight. Not someone who thought they were better because of the color of their uniform.
Miles had known Officers like that, especially on Utopia Planitia, which is where his initial feeling had come from. But, once his mind went through everything, he knew that wasn't the case.
Calleja was stubborn, sure. But she wasn't stubborn for the aforementioned reasons. She was stubborn because she wanted to be involved. Wanted to ensure the success and protection of the rest of the crew. Miles understood that. Empathized with it. So, he knew how difficult it would have been for himself to be in that position. He would probably react much of the same way.
Luckily it wasn't going to be a matter of the two of them butting heads over things, as he was quickly backed up by Lieutenant Mayfair and Commander Elias. With everyone getting situated, he awaited the signal from Commander Coleman before they would proceed to the Core and meet up with the Captain and Star.
As they proceeded, Mayfair also brought up that she had more active scans on the ship. Twelve Cardassians...no Benamite. Half good. Half bad. How long would it be before the Cardassians on this ship managed to get a message out informing any other Cardassian crews in the area of the Star Fleet Officers' presence on the Callisto? A problem they would have to deal with...and swiftly.
==Tag all.==
82 posts
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
[Alright, D'mar, Devereaux - you've got the scramblers, get up and follow point. Mayfair and I can help the injured after. Doors are open ahead, and time is definitely short. Move on your signal, Commander?]
Even though Elias had just proved Calleja had lost track of where the scramblers were in the team, a mistake that normally would annoy her immensely, this time she mentally shrugged. The team was moving forward and that was all she really cared about. This wasn’t the time to have an ego about getting things wrong, it was all about achieving their goal.
Mara was glad that her interjection didn’t seem to have frustrated anybody else though, particularly Grant, and she made a mental note to speak to the CTO just to make sure they were still OK.
I’ll buy him a drink and hopefully convince him I’m not a ragin’ ****. Although he’s been stuck with me often enough, he’s probably already reached that conclusion.
The Bandaran was doing her absolute best to bury the pain from her injuries deep, deep down where it wouldn’t bother her. It wasn’t a new experience. She’d been shot, stabbed, punched, kicked and bludgeoned so many times that she had had a lot of practice at carrying on regardless. Pain made her temper fray earlier than it would otherwise, but it took something like the Cardassian poison from the last mission to actually stop her.
[Alright, Mara.] The Chief Engineer had caught her up. [You heard the doc, and don't be stubborn. Sooner you let me help, sooner we get down the hall.]
“Stubborn? Me? Perish the thought,” Mara replied. There was no venom in her voice, more a tone of wry amusement. She saw him hold out a hand for her kit and shook her head gently. “Unwrappin’ all this webbin’ would take too long. You wanna help me, take a lil weight off this leg.”
Without standing on ceremony, Calleja wrapped a long arm across Elias’ shoulders, letting the Engineer take some of her weight to spare her burned left leg. The Bandaran was 210lbs before armouring up so that weight definitely wasn’t inconsiderable, but he was broad-shouldered enough that she figured he could take enough of it to help speed her up.
“Probably a stupid question,” she said. “But you got anythin’ in that kit to reseal this suit? I should be fine in the core as it is, but if we’re gonna start throwin’ gas grenades around again, I need to patch that hole.”
The Cardassian disruptor shot that had grazed her thigh and left a trail of scorched flesh had also tore through the suit. Mara wasn’t beyond taping it up if she had to, but she was hopeful that the legendarily ingenious Benjamin Elias had a better idea.
== Back atcha Elias! And Grant, thank you - made me smile, and would have done Mara too if she knew!  ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
Elias' voice cut through Aeryn's thoughts when the CE gave some additional orders, changing the order in which they moved, but with good reason, as he then spoke to Damian. To the COS, it made just as much sense for those with the scramblers to follow behind Coleman and Grant, allowing her and Mara to be helped by Elias and Mayfair. While Elias moved over to Mara, and engaged her fellow security officer in conversation, Aeryn concentrated on what she had to do, as Robin told Damian that she was also ready, including using her tricorder.
This wasn't the time to think about their scans being traced, not after everything that had transpired, and the information that Robin received was interesting to say the least. Although there was some hesitation in the CMO's voice after informing everyone about how many Cardassians were left. Having dispatched four of them, plus whoever had been in the Core itself, Aeryn was confident that they could deal with them.
However, that was something they could discuss and plan once they reached the core, before Robin continued and advised that she wasn't picking up on any Benamite, and Aeryn understood why she had hesitated. Without the Benamite present, alarm bells began to ring as to what the Cardassians had done with the slipstream drive, adding further fury to Aeryn's already complex emotions. If it wasn't here, then had this all been for nothing?
It was a question that she couldn't answer and perhaps all hope for success hadn't been lost completely as Aeryn took a few more steps, ignoring the discomfort as she attempted to increase her walking speed.
== Tags ==
[Stubborn? Me?] Mara said teasingly. [Perish the thought.] Benjamin smiled, though that likely wasn't easy to tell underneath his mask, and nodded as she explained that the kit was pretty well locked down and threw an arm across his shoulders. He didn't doubt she was right, and braced her to help get them both down the corridor as fast as possible. She wasn't an inconsiderable weight, particularly with all of that kit, but he'd had to help people evacuate like this before so he wasn't unused to supporting someone like this. He was also used to shifting weighty components during repairs and the like, not to mention his recent addition of blacksmithing to his hobby repertoire.
They weren't as fast as either of them alone, but they didn't slow down the group, either. The team moved down the corridor smoothly, despite the wounded. [Probably a stupid question,] she asked. [But you got anythin’ in that kit to reseal this suit?]
"I can probably find something," he replied, but left it at that. He was distracted by listening to Mayfair report what her tricorder was reading.
He had only half listening to her lifesign readings, but then he heard some key danger words: [And that's strange.] He had never heard any good news start with phrases like that, and as she continued he realized this wasn't going to be the exception. [I'm not detecting any Benamite in Engineering. At all. Not even a trace.]
"That's impossible," he said while he tried to think through the implications. "Even if the benamite supply was empty, there would still be trace amounts in the drive, because it isn't a completely efficient reaction. If there's none present, then either they scrubbed the entire drive of fuel, or it's... it's just not there."
Several phrases he wanted to say and refrained from saying ran through his head, and his lips even moved to some of them though he refused to give them voice. Either way, that was going to complicate their escape. While they hadn't expressly planned to use the slipstream to escape, it had seemed the best option, both for its speed and for the fact their pursuers wouldn't have the ability to follow. Now, they had to pin their hopes on the ability to evade pursuit the old-fashioned way.
He needed to get to the computer core. The sooner they could get actual information instead of the partial info they've been getting so far... well, at least that way they could know how screwed they would be. "Let's get to the core, and fast," he said, and pushed Calleja a little faster.
82 posts
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Mara understood the basics of the conversation that was going on. Benamite was a key component of slipstream drives. The fact that it wasn’t there meant they had a problem. The rest of it, she left to those more capable with Engineering than she was.
Which on past evidence is pretty much everyone.
The revelation certainly seemed to spur Elias on that little bit more.
[Let's get to the core, and fast] he said.
“You don’t need to convince me of that,” Calleja replied evenly. She braced against the pain and then found an extra gear, pushing herself along to match speed with the hurrying Engineer.
32 posts
First Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Link to Bio
02-04-2024, 05:09 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2024, 05:26 AM by Damien Coleman.)
== Moving us to the core with GM permission ==
[Move on your signal, Commander?] Elias asked Damian, and the Commander nodded.
[I'm ready, Commander, let's go,] Mayfair also added.
Checking that everyone was in their place, and that Calleja and Miller had the support they needed, Coleman looked over to Grant who was to take point with him.
“Let’s move.”
Pushing through the corridor it seemed that Mayfair had started active scans. There were twelve more Cardassians, which was a surprise. If it had been him, there would have been a hell of a lot more security. Perhaps they never thought that an infiltration team would ever make it as far as they did without prior warning? Though that cover was not blown for them. There was further revelation about the benamite, and Elias’ thoughts on that particular subject made things even murkier.
[...If there's none present, then either they scrubbed the entire drive of fuel, or it's... it's just not there…]
Coleman’s face furrowed into frustration, and then anger. He wondered exactly what intel Starfleet Command had when they even considered the mission. It was incredibly smart on the part of the Cardassians if it was true too. Removing the drive from the ship made it so that if they did conduct a mission to rescue her, such as they were, they’d still have the real prize; the slipstream drive.
[Let's get to the core, and fast.]
“You heard Elias, let’s double time it,” Coleman ordered, his voice betraying his frustrations.
As the team came to an intersection, Damian gave Grant a hand signal to cover their left. Pushing to the right, it wasn’t all that much further until they reached the core. Whatever came next, he hoped that Elias could get them some much needed answers.
“Entering the core now,” Damian commed Tyra and Star before crossing the threshold, mostly to encourage them not to stun himself or the team.
Looking at the aftermath of the neurozine, Coleman almost chuckled seeing Tyra drag an unconscious Cardassian over to the other. What stopped him was the seriousness of their position, and the injuries the team had sustained. Especially what Ben had said about the drive.
“Alright. Grant and Harriman, secure the room. Elias, do what you need to. D'Mar and Devereaux get those scramblers up. Mayfair, let us know if you need anything while patching up Calleja and Miller.”
Damian headed over to Crawford and Star, ready to provide assistance with the dragging or the restraining.
“Bad news,” Damian spoke to Tyra over comms, “no trace of benamite on the ship, which Elias says would be impossible unless they scrubbed the entire thing totally clean…”
Coleman paused with a pained expression,
“...or the drive isn’t here. Good news that may also be bad news in disguise, only twelve Cardassians left aboard for the moment.”
== tag all ==
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
== Sorry for the delay. 18 hour work days are no joke. ==
Star was quick to clamber down the ladder with a speed that Tyra could appreciate under the circumstances. As soon as she hit the ground, she called up to Tyra that the captain could come down and Tyra wasted no time in doing so, almost sliding down the last five rungs as if she was still regularly climbing ladders on the Madi.
As soon as her boots hit the ground, she was moving, assessing the core from the ground and matching it to what she had observed from her previous bird's eye view. All but one Cardassian was within her current view, all seemingly still unconscious.
"Watch those Cardassians," Tyra requested of Star before unhooking two of her restraints from her rig and offering them to the young woman. The zip-tie like restraints were user friendly enough that the redhead didn't think she needed to explain how they worked, though she supposed, in retrospect, maybe she should have. "If you're feeling brave, you can start restraining them while I drag their friend over from the other side."
She didn't know how long it would take Coleman and company to make it into the core but she knew they needed to centralize their captives in the meantime to make holding the core a little easier for her and Star to manage.
The last Cardassian wasn't difficult to locate though he was on the other side of the room from the others. The Cardassian's gear would add some weight but on inspection, Tyra considered that she was more than capable of moving them. She'd moved far larger members of her own team before and for a much longer distance. First though, she searched for weapons, removing all that she could find, before beginning the process of restraining their hands and legs. Even if they managed to wake up during the drag, they wouldn't have much of a chance to fight without their limbs and she could grapple them a lot easier with that advantage.
Once that was done, she slipped her arms under the Cardassian's arm pits with her rifle slung carefully over her back and began the process of dragging them across the room towards Star and the downed Cardassian's comrades. She was part way across when she heard Damian's announcement over her earpiece, though her only answer was a bit of a grunt.
She dumped the Cardassian unceremoniously near the rest, taking a moment before straightening up to watch the team begin to assert itself with Coleman providing direction. The redhead's eyes momentarily paused on Calleja and Miller, who clearly had taken the brunt of the fight, and she winced in sympathy. It was a good sign that they were up and mobile but it was not good news for their defensive posture. She suspected it wasn't the only bad news as Coleman started towards her and Star.
[Bad news,] Damian spoke to Tyra over comms, [no trace of benamite on the ship, which Elias says would be impossible unless they scrubbed the entire thing totally clean…] He paused and Tyra knew it wasn't going to get better. [...or the drive isn’t here. Good news that may also be bad news in disguise, only twelve Cardassians left aboard for the moment.]
She didn't answer him immediately, though she did nod before focusing on Midshipman Star.
"Go help your boss treat Calleja and Miller," she instructed Star, giving the young woman a squeeze on the shoulder. "You did really good, Emily," she added with a little nod before motioning for the girl to move out.
With the girl gone, it would have made sense to answer Coleman but the redhead found that she needed a moment to process what he was saying and what it meant for their mission, or more crucially, their survival. "Help me restrain these guys. We'll need to come up with a more permanent solution but this will have to do…"
Ultimately, it wasn't a good thing. None of it was good. Either the Cardassians were the victim of their own hubris and felt comfortable in a system that wasn't actually very secure from potential invasion or the Callisto wasn't a high value asset because they'd already gotten what they needed from it. She knew which was more likely and it made her wonder if this was another instance of bad intel or half-assed interpretation of decent intel. And what of the Human life signs they'd detected initially? Where had they disappeared to?
She closed her eyes for a moment before she began restraining one of the Cardassians, her hands moving on autopilot as the familiar process of weapon stripping, searching and then, securing gave her something to focus on for a moment. She double checked that her comm was set to private before speaking as she worked. "This is bad, Damian. Neither option is good. And while we can take care of 12 guards easily if we can get the transporters online, it's all for nothing if we don't get the drive out of their hands. Not even scuttling this piece of shit fixes that…"
"I pulled a PADD off the Cardassian on the top level. It's in Cardassian but maybe our junior engineer either can read it or can get the computer to translate it once she's done with the scramblers. Maybe it has orders or some type of intel in it…"
"But I'm starting to think this system is just a chop shop for the Callisto… tear it apart so they can build their own. How we couldn't figure that out from a distance…" her words dropped off as she shook her head, her tone less than impressed with the whole situation.
== Tag Star and Damian!
As some of y'all know, I'm in a very hectic and busy season of work so I will apologize in advance if I am not as quick as I usually am! ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
There was little that Aeryn could add to the continued conversation as Elias reacted to the not-so good news about the Benamite as the group pushed on through the corridor. Still feeling somewhat useless thanks to her current predicament, the security chief powered through the discomfort, especially when the order was given to double time it. Her focus remained solely on reaching the core, where she could get treated as much as possible, and enable Aeryn to be able to once again contribute to the mission as opposed to being a hindrance.
Of course, the others might not see it that way, but the security officer did, knowing that trying to take her and Mara out had been a smart move, but not for much longer. Determination burned within her, the need to be useful again matching that intensity as they arrived at their destination after Damian had given the Captain and Star a heads-up.
Once inside, there was a grim satisfaction upon seeing the scene laid out before them, albeit mixed with the sheer relief that she had gotten there without fumbling or causing further delay to her colleagues. She then listened as Coleman issued orders, and again there was a slight sliver of frustration, knowing that she was out of action until further notice. Until she was told otherwise and directed to a safe space for treatment to be carried out, Aeryn stood out of the way, so the others could get to work with securing their position and preventing the Cardassians from removing them from the core.
She could only imagine the Captain's response to the latest of what they had learned, and not for the first time Aeryn wished that they had never stepped foot on the Callisto, even more so if it turned out to be one big dumpster fire that they should have avoided at all costs.
== Tags ==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
== This is gonna be a big 'un ==
They finally entered the computer core of the Callisto. Crawford and Star had been busy, and several unconscious (maybe) Cardassians lay inside. Robin's tricorder registered neurozine, enough to knock out any of the team that removed their masks but not so high as to be otherwise dangerous. Coleman began giving orders to the team. “Alright, Grant and Harriman, secure the room. Elias, do what you need to. D'Mar and Devereaux get those scramblers up. Mayfair, let us know if you need anything while patching up Calleja and Miller.” With that he went to talk to the Captain.
Robin nodded. "Understood," she said as she went over to Mara. The Amazonian Security officer had taken the worst hits and was most in need of immediate treatment, and besides, Mara had cooperated with being helped and Robin owed her the chance to get back on her feet as quickly as possible. "Let's get you fixed up, Mara," the nurse said as she pointed to a bench along the side wall. The Captain had already ordered Emily to help out, which was good. It was a chance for the CMO to see how she worked in the field. "Doctor," she said to Emily, "Would you get started on Lt. Miller?" She reminded herself to talk to the young medic when they had a moment. Evidently she'd impressed the Captain, no mean feat... especially for a Midshipman.
Now that they had a bit of time Robin could scan Mara's wounds. 3rd degree laceration burn in the left vastus medialus. Epidermis, very slight outer muscle damage, and some nerve damage. A couple of inches over and it would have burned right through. 2nd degree burns to the upper torso epidermis, no deeper penetration. Her visual diagnosis confirmed the tricorder results. There was an ugly burned gash on the Bandaran's thigh, showing charring, but it had only been a grazing hit and hadn't gone more than the barest fraction into the leg muscle.
That was good, if such a word could be applied in this situation. Neither wound was deadly, and the purple-haired nurse would be able to get her friend back into action without too much effort. Mara would need nerve regeneration in her thigh when... if they got back. In the meantime she'd have a numb spot on her leg which wouldn't slow Mara down for an instant. Nonetheless that wound was her first priority because of the neurozine in the air; the concentrations weren't so high that they were an instant problem, but it could get into the bloodstream and start affecting the Security Lieutenant if left untreated for more than a short time.
Using the scissors she prefered Robin cut away the section of uniform around the burn. She examined it with a practiced eye. One didn't serve as a medic on the Artemis without getting a lot of opportunities to treat burns. After sterilizing her hands and putting on medical gloves she reached into her bag and took out a spray. First things first. A numbing agent to take care of any lingering pain from the wound, followed by a quick pass with a sterilizer. Normally at this point the nurse would have given her patient a warning that the procedure might sting even with the numbing spray, but this was Mara and Robin didn't waste her breath. A medical laser zapped away the small bits of charred skin. With that done the nurse took out her dermal regenerator.
Gotta go fast on this. Normally she would take her time with short passes over a few minutes to ensure proper healing was done and to avoid discomfort, but they were on the clock. This was 'meatball surgery.' The wound would likely be painful later, but the Bandaran had been hurt far worse in the past. Problems for the future were in the future. She set the small device for maximum and began at the edges of the burn. The edges quickly began to knit themselves, new skin growing to replace the damage the disruptor wound had caused. When it was done Robin applied a sterile bandage containing a slow-acting numbing agent. It wasn't pretty, but the wound wouldn't likely trouble her friend for the next few hours.
"OK, Mara, let's take care of your other injury and get you going." She helped her friend remove her burned torso armor. She began zipping the bodysuit down, and then paused for a second. "Hope you don't mind, but we don't have a privacy screen," she joked. Briefly she wondered if Mara was shy, and then dismissed the thought as laughable. Robin herself would have been mortified to disrobe in front of others, but she trusted the males in the away team to find somewhere else to look if it bothered them. She doubted that the Security Officer cared.
Mara's skin was red and blistered across almost a foot of her chest. Her armor really had saved her life and dispersed the hit. Robin noted more than a few scars, relics of Mara's difficult life on the gang-infested world of Bandar. The small, slight nurse probably wouldn't have survived in a similar situation, genetic enhancements or not. Thankfully this damage was easier to fix. After sterilization she began the dermal regeneration, setting for wider passes at a lower setting. There was no nerve damage and the painkiller she'd applied earlier should take care of any lingering discomfort, but she resolved to ask her friend later to make sure. Mara was the sort to just fight through pain.
After a minute the skin was fresh again. She ran a sterilizing cloth over the remains to clean it up, then tossed it. The wound wouldn't require a dressing since it was superficial and had fully regenerated, but the nurse did apply a lower dose spray of the numbing agent to take care of any lingering issues for the next couple of hours. With that she helped the Security Lieutenant zip up.
"There you go, new skin on and ready to go. You've been a good patient and I'll get out of your hair. I'd give you a lollipop, but we're wearing masks."
With that done she helped her friend back into her damaged armor, and afterwards went to talk to the Captain and First Officer. "Calleja's back on her feet," she said with her slight southern accent. "I brought a ton of sedatives, and I can keep these guys knocked out for as long as you want. Days, if necessary. They won't be a problem."
== Tags ==
82 posts
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Just the act of crossing the threshold into the core made Mara feel dramatically less tense. They’d made it, and just in time to see that the Captain had made her usual impact on the enemy. The sight of the formidable redhead stacking up the bodies drew a feral smile to the Bandaran’s lips as she extricated herself from Benjamin.
“Thanks. I got it from here,” she said, taking her own weight again and letting the Engineer go.
I don’t like one bit of what I’m hearin’ about this drive Calleja thought as she retreated to the back of the core, mentally processing everything she’d heard over the comm. If it ain’t here, then where is it? That was our main objective. We’re gonna have to go huntin’ for it. 12 Cardies on Callisto ain’t gonna slow us down. But if we then gotta go searchin’ other ships and stations… This is gonna be a long fuckin’ day.
She unslung her rifle, checked the safety and lowered it to the deck before sinking gratefully onto a bench. The dull ache in her leg was becoming much more insistent, and she winced as she stretched out the limb.
"Let's get you fixed up, Mara," Robin said.
“A promise is a promise,” Mara replied calmly.
The Security officer let her head rest against the wall and tried to relax, as much as it was possible to do so on an enemy controlled ship with the CMO rummaging through her kit. Full credit to Mayfair, she worked quickly and efficiently. Calleja didn’t so much as flinch when the laser went to work, and that was the extent of the discomfort.
She’s good. She’s very good.
"OK, Mara, let's take care of your other injury and get you going."
Calleja nodded. She unbuckled her webbing and carefully laid it all down on the bench next to her, given she was carrying enough grenades and explosives to blow a very large hole in the superstructure.
“Let’s do this carefully,” she said. “Take it slow and the neck seal should stay intact. ‘Cause I don’t wanna have to worry about all the neurozene in the air. Or what the Cap’n would say if I went down to that.” There was a wry smile on Mara’s lips behind the faceplate.
The armoured suit had releases built in for exactly this purpose, and it came apart easily enough. Calleja checked the plates for damage as she stacked them up on the bench and it all seemed intact beyond some charring on the edges.
"Hope you don't mind, but we don't have a privacy screen," Robin joked as she started to unzip Mara’s bodysuit as the Security officer unfastened the concealed blade strapped to her arm.
“Hey, I ain’t got much of what they’re interested in anyway,” the Bandaran answered dryly. She let Robin peel the fabric away without complaint, completely unbothered about sitting there with just a strapless sports bra across her chest as the medic got to work.
Somehow Mara seemed more imposing without her armour. Almost impossibly wide-shouldered, her arms heavy with muscle and sculpted abs shifting under bronzed skin as she moved, every inch of her physique had been earned the hard way over the last decade.
The burns had left her feeling raw and sore, and the cooling sensation from the dermal regenerator followed by the spray was extremely welcome. It was like Mayfair had just unwound the effects of a full-power kill shot and not for the first time Calleja was grateful for her skills.
"There you go, new skin on and ready to go,” the purple-haired nurse said as she helped the Amazonian Lieutenant pull her bodysuit back up. “You've been a good patient and I'll get out of your hair. I'd give you a lollipop, but we're wearing masks."
“Thanks,” Mara said, understated in her choice of words but the strength of feeling conveyed in her voice as she nodded in appreciation.
Gingerly she rose and stretched out before armouring up again with Robin’s help. As the CMO went to report in to Crawford and Coleman, Calleja fastened up her webbing and then sat back down. She purged the air in her helmet, drew in a deep breath as the system recycled and looked around.
I’m allowed a breather before they put me back to work she thought. Maybe I can take the scramblers on to free up D’Mar to translate? We’ll see. It’ll be time to fight again soon enough.
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
The journey to the Core had been surprisingly uneventful, not that Miles was complaining. The less issues or further encounters with Cardassians with two of their main combat ready personnel injured, the better. It had also helped that Calleja had relented to being assisted to the Core where the Medical team could properly heal her and Miller.
They did eventually make it to the Core under Coleman's Command, as Miles checked the left side as they proceeded to the right. Once established, they met up with Captain Crawford and Midshipman Star, and orders were given to secure the Core while others got to work and the Security members were patched up.
Miles nodded with a quick "aye" before going about keeping watch over the team and looking out for any Cardassians that might come to try to reclaim the Core. Miles overheard the update to the Captain from Coleman, and the possible ramifications that update gave and implied. He couldn't help but grit his teeth as the treacherous thought came to mind.
This damn ship should have just been scuttled.
==Tag. GM input: Are there any signs that further Cardassians are heading their way?==
They arrived in the core quite rapidly, but Elias still wished they'd been there minutes ago. It wasn't anyone's fault, but there was more and more going on that made him nervous. Calleja disentangled herself from his shoulder with a word of thanks, and he nodded to her, watching to make sure she was actually okay as she and Mayfair got together for some proper treatment before pushing the wounded security officer out of his mind.
[Alright,] Coleman said. [Grant and Harriman, secure the room. Elias, do what you need to. D'Mar and Devereaux get those scramblers up. Mayfair, let us know if you need anything while patching up Calleja and Miller.] Quick, concise orders, something he had always liked about Coleman. He wasn't taciturn, but he also didn't use three words when two would do, particularly during tense situations.
"On it," he replied. Taking his cue, he moved quickly to the nearest terminal. The computer core, as with every Starfleet ship large enough, had several terminals for accessing the core from within the core; usually they were for diagnostics, but they were full-fledged terminals which meant he could do what he needed from there rather than trying to do it half-assed from a padd in a hallway, thank the Lord.
His fingers flew on the terminal, and he reentered the command codes to gain root access. Based on what Mayfair had reported earlier, he knew that the transporters were functional; now, he went in to reroute control of them to his console, and to lock everyone else out. As he did so, he also got a lock on every Cardassian biosign he could, and prepared to lock them in the transporter buffer. He was about to lock the command in when he remembered to check and see if it was getting D'Mar; to be safe, he excluded the Computer Core area to make sure they didn't get her by accident. Speed was important, but so was precision.
As that command processed and he monitored it, on a second screen he accessed the diagnostic logs. Routine diagnostics dropped their logs into long-term storage as a matter of procedure to make over-time comparison that much easier; he, on the other hand, wanted some simpler information. He accessed the Slipstream diagnostics, and looked for the last one to be run. While it's possible that the Cardassians had never made use of the procedure, he found it hard to believe, particularly since they didn't have experience with the system. It might not give them precisely when it was removed, but the difference between them running a diagnostic last week and last year would be a very telling difference.
He thought for a moment, and then accessed the more general propulsion diagnostics. Those would test all of the different propulsion types - thrusters, impulse, warp, and slipstream - and might be useful as well, assuming they had been run. Whatever information we can get, he thought, we need to get.
He turned his attention back to the transporters, and watched the locks. When he got as many as he thought they could - either the dozen lifesigns that he'd been told about, or when no new locks had been achieved for a few seconds - he keyed his comm for Coleman and Crawford. "I'm trying to store the other hostiles in the buffer for the moment," he told them; "if you've got a recommendation on where to put them, I'm open to it."
==GM Input: How many hostiles can I take care of, and what information can I find?==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
D'Mar heard the command to move and followed Lt Grant quickly to the computer core with all hast carrying her bundle of scramblers. She asumed that Miller was right behind her with the other bunch of scramblers.
[Alright,] Coleman said. [Grant and Harriman, secure the room. Elias, do what you need to. D'Mar and Devereaux get those scramblers up. Following orders, she immediately began to place the scramblers around the core to give the maximum coverage, scrambling any transporter lock or wide beam transport on anyone or thing within the area covered by the scrambles.
"Lucy, do you know how to set up and turn on the scramblers?" Jay asked.
== Tag Devereaux ==
== GM input, please? Once the scramblers are set up will they work?
Do they have the capacity for a portable transport out of the core if needed and /or are the Scramblers only scramblers or can they also be used as transport enhancers, to enable transport out of the core if there is any sort of interference detected to a transport out. (I realise if the scramblers only enhance as well, that we would need to access a transport station to be able to transport out of the core, either the ships transporter, or the one in the WaveRider or a shuttle on board or someone who comes to rescue us.) ==
When the Captain handed over the restraints and asked if she felt brave enough to use them, Emily quickly responded, “Totally comfortable with it. Doctors are trained to restrain patients; not everyone lies down and lets us work.” Her lips curved into a dry smirk as she motioned for the Captain to get the other one, “I’ll be fine.”
The Captain returned, as did the rest of the team moments later, and Emily was dismissed to work with her Chief again. As much as she knew they’d merely crawled together to the core, the words, "You did really good, Emily," from the Captain added a spring to her steps.
Walking over to Mayfair, she was quickly directed to Miller while the Chief saw to Calleja. A brief nod of confirmation before retrieving a medkit, “Can do.”
Given she didn’t know the woman, she kept her expectations neutral, “Hey.” She said with a wave, “Lemme see what you got.” Tricorder out, she examined the burns to her abdomen. The blistered, angry second-degree burns were oozing and red. Whatever the Chief had given her was working, thankfully.
Cleaning the wound and using a topical spray to numb it, she pulled out the dermal regenerator, “The good news is, I don’t need to debride anything.” Emily said as she began to pass the device over the skin, slowly letting it heal the wounded tissue underneath.
=tag Miller=
=GM Input - hows her wound healing?=
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
Robin soon took care of Mara, helping the Bandaran to remove her armour, so she could gain access to the wounds beneath. It wasn't exactly cumbersome and had undoubtedly prevented their injuries from becoming so much worse and for that, Aeryn was extremely grateful. The Security Chief was far from being a prude, but she also respected Mara's privacy as her attention diverted away from Robin treating her, in the hope that she would soon be back and raring to go. Not that Aeryn had to wait as long as Star was directed towards her, while Robin treated Mara.
After acknowledging her with a nod, they were soon able to gain access to the charred flesh that punctuated Aeryn's abdomen, and despite the pain medication, Aeryn was hit by a small wave of nausea now that her wound had been exposed to the outside world. Still, she appreciated Emily's approach, aware that they hadn't spoken much until now. Which was usually the case unless she had a reason to visit Sickbay other than meeting Beka once her shift had ended. The thought of her girlfriend gave Aeryn something else to focus on, enabling her to keep as still as possible, so Emily could work without her thinking about what was happening.
Memories were a powerful thing, as Emily then set about cleaning her wound, before picking up the dermal regenerator. There would likely be more follow-ups to deal with repairing her nerves, but Aeryn was just happy to be back in action once the skin had been healed.
" I certainly needed to hear some good news," Aeryn remarked, aware that it wasn't exactly abundant at this precise moment, as Emily began waving the medical device across the damaged skin.
== Tag Star ==
==Star==
The wound began to heal up nicely. It would sting for a good while thanks to the nerve damage, and the regenerated skin would take a few days to toughen up, but it was sealed and sterilised.
==Elias==
It was theoretically possible to transport the remaining Cardassians into the buffer, but the computer warned that thanks to battle damage, doing so might trigger an overload that would wreck the transporters.
The system indicated that the Impulse and Thrusters were operating at 60% efficiency, with the port Impulse Engine having been totally disabled by weapons fire, and the automated repair log showed that the Cardassians had not yet gotten around to fixing it. The Warp Core was in minimal power mode, but could be brought to operating power within a few minutes. The Dilithium Recrystalisation Chamber was damaged and only partially repaired, so any faster-than-light jumps would have to be brief.
The Slipstream system was offline, the system listing several vital components missing and the Benamite stores completely empty. Furthermore, the system indicated that a complete copy of the schematics had been created within the last week. Automatic anti-tampering measures had kept the Cardassians out of the system for longer than many might have predicted, and when they had been broken, a complete visual log had been made of their progress.
To an Engineer who knew the system as intimately as Elias, the footage was like someone performing surgery with a chainsaw. Components were cut free with plasma torches, cracked open with pry-bars, and generally subjected to abuse that no self-respecting engineer would tolerate. All of this occurred under the direction of a Cardassian just under average height for the species and thickening around the middle; the insignia on his breastplate identified him as a Legate in the Cardassian Military.
==Grant==
Currently nobody was moving towards them; thanks to quick thinking, some merciless killing, and technological cleverness, the alarm had not been successfully raised.
==D'Mar==
The scramblers were just that; scramblers. They were intended to prevent sensors acquiring a lock on anyone within their protective field, and would also prevent accurate re-integration for anyone trying to beam in to the same area; it wouldn't take an overly-active imagination to figure out what a messy way to die that would be.
If they needed an extraction quickly, the system came with an emergency kill-switch that could be activated with the correct authorisation code.
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
02-08-2024, 11:04 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-08-2024, 11:33 AM by Lucy Devereaux.)
With the group arrived in the Computer Core everyone started on their allotted tasks. Lucy took a little time to take in her surroundings. The upper area was only accessible by ladder. Trying to get the transporter scramblers through the Jeffries Tubes would be a pain. While she was getting herself orientated Jay approached her.
"Lucy, do you know how to set up and turn on the scramblers?" Jay asked.
Upon hearing Jay’s question reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out her PADD. It took a few seconds to bring up the instructions for activation and calibration of the scramblers. After she had refreshed her memory Lucy handed the PADD to Jay.
“Here, I have a readme. Hold onto that. I’ll pick it up when I’ve set up my half of the scramblers.” said Lucy.
Lucy hefted her bundle of scramblers and started climbing the nearest ladder. It certainly wouldn’t be fair on Jay.
Looks like I’m getting a bit of a workout and on second thoughts who designs these spaces?
Granted the area wasn’t designed for someone carrying a number of transporter scramblers. Lucy caught her breath and examined the scramblers. They’d received a few knocks with the Cardassians, but they were functional. She recalled the instructions and started setting up the scramblers. She didn’t know the likelihood of the Cardassians teleporting in on the upper area, but it was important to cover the high ground.
Lucy positioned the scramblers with a reasonable amount of overlap. It was easy enough to not get in the way of any of the upper consoles. One thing nagged at her when she noticed the various Jeffries’ access doors. Wouldn’t be much of a point blocking the area off from transporters if the Cardassians used the tubes. Booby trapping wasn’t a viable option, but some judicious use of a welding torch could help.
Lucy had left the field Engineering kit at the bottom of the ladder. Also she needed to make sure what the next plan was. With the upper area covered she made her way down the ladder to where she’d left the kit was.
[ Commander Coleman, are any thoughts on sealing the Jeffries access doors? ]
== tag. ==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Upon hearing Jay’s question, Lucy reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out her PADD. It took a few seconds to bring up the instructions for activation and calibration of the scramblers. After Lucy had refreshed her memory, she handed the PADD to Jay.
“Here, I have a readme. Hold onto that. I’ll pick it up when I’ve set up my half of the scramblers.” said Lucy.
Jay felt as though Lucy was questioning her ability as an engineer 'if you don't know, read this.'
I know how to do this, but obviously you need to read a manual! A second or so later Jay had retreated a little. Perhaps she's giving it to me to look after? Whatever?
And Jay simply replied "OK" and went to double check that she had set her scrambles up correctly, just in case. It never hurts to double check everything. Jay decided to trust Lucy with minor engineering tasks... until something when wrong!
==GM input please? Are the scramblers all working correctly? ==
Benjamin started looking at the information that came up. Across both consoles, the news started off bad and continued to get worse, and worse. He tried to find a silver lining and couldn't. "Captain, Commander," he called. He didn't add anything else, but there was definitely an urgency in his voice.
When they finally arrived, he went through the information, trying to summarize as best he could. He pointed first at his transporter controls and the large warning emblazoned on the console. "First point - transporters are damaged enough that I can't lock on to all of the Cardassians at once. I could beam out one group or the other, but not both, not without potentially blowing the transporters out. I don't know what would happen in that case." He left unsaid that they could propose another plan, but they were both security officers by trade - taking out the enemy was part and parcel to their training.
"Next, in descending order of bad news - propulsion systems are in rough shape," he continued as he waved at the diagnostic reports on the second monitor. "Impulse is only at 60%, which isn't bad but could compromise us in a combat situation, particularly since the port engine is just inoperative. Thrusters seem fine, and warp is on a cold standby but appears mostly operational." He pointed to a single line of red text within the report before adding, "The mostly is because the dilithium chamber was damaged and not competently repaired. It should be fine for power generation, but warp jumps longer than a few minutes could be problematic, with higher speeds cutting that time dramatically."
Benjamin sighed, and pulled up his final piece for the presentation. This had been what had made his stomach fully drop out, and made him call the command staff over. "This is surveillance video automatically captured less than a week ago." He played the video, showing the Cardassians desecrating the Slipstream engine chamber, removing components by brute force that needed delicate controls, ravaging the system in their efforts to remove it. "It looks like the security measures worked for basically the entire two years, but they finally managed to get the drive out just recently." There were several other words he wanted to use there, but all of them were extremely vulgar, and he knew that they simply didn't have the time for that kind of indulgence. "They removed a number of critical components, along with all of the Benamite stores, and even worse they managed to get a full schematic out of the computer."
He had started a computer search before Tyra and Damian had walked up, trying to get some more information. First, he'd tried to trace where the schematic download had gone, either digitally - trying to find any transmissions that might have contained them - or physically - by following where the overseer had gone. He assumed the Legate was the one responsible for this work, and so had also set the archives to try and identify him through facial recognition.
"I don't know what we need to do," he told them. "The drive is already gone, in Cardassian hands. It might be in system still, but I'm not putting my money on that. I can get us control, and if I can get down to engineering I might be able to get the warp drive in better shape, but I can't guarantee anything yet." He did go ahead and try to access the diagnostic logs for the weapons and shields, so he could find out how they were, at least to the best of his ability. He didn't want to run a full diagnostic yet, not while the Cardassians were still in control of the bridge and engineering.
==Tags Coleman and Crawford==
==GM Input: Diagnostic logs for weapons and shields; traces of where the schematics went, either physically or digitally; and identification of the Legate?==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Miles was quick but thorough with his sweep, and he entrusted Harriman to be likewise. After checking everything, securing any additional items that needed to be secured, and checking the status, everything was clear.
It appeared that the group had been quick and efficient enough both here and back when they engaged the other Cardassians not to have raised any additional alarms. As of right now, as far as he could tell, there would not be any foreseeable intrusion by the remaining Cardassian crew.
That didn't mean they could rest on their laurels. Eventually, if the Cardassians were half-way efficient, they would know something was off when someone missed their scheduled check in. Miles needed to remain vigilant, and hope they got some halfway decent news that would allow them to advance, reclaim the ship, and leave.
Although, setting the ship to self-destruct before booking on the Liberty Bell was also looking like an option if they didn't. He wasn't going to say that aloud, and the possibility had already been discussed. Time would tell, but Miles feared they would run out of that quickly.
==D'Mar==
As far as could be determined, they were working at peak efficiency.
==Elias==
Weapons, for the most part, were good; the torpedo magazine was mostly full, and the phasers were in good shape. Fire control systems were offline but intact. Almost as though the Callisto hadn't put up much of a fight before it was captured.
The schematics had been copied onto a portable data device. According to the ship's internal sensors, said device was currently plugged into the Captain's chair on the Bridge, and was downloading copies of the Starfleet Tactical and Security databases.
With a 90% degree of certainty, the Cardassian was identified as Legate Gholmek, the Cardassian who had tried to outbid the Federation for mining and basing rights in Parhelia, and leader of the Cardassian military occupation.
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Tyra and Coleman spoke quietly as they finished restraining the Cardassians, an easy task for the two all in all. Unfortunately, most of what was said was just vented frustration at their current circumstance and the seemingly endless incompetence of Starfleet Intelligence.
"I'd say we're the butt end of some cosmic joke but there isn't much funny about this Hellscape," she'd commented dryly to him before noticing Mayfair's approach.
She nodded her head towards the nurse as a signal to Coleman that their conference had come to an end; the things they could say to each other didn't need to be said more openly, not if they were going to make the best of this.
"Calleja's back on her feet," Mayfair reported. "I brought a ton of sedatives, and I can keep these guys knocked out for as long as you want. Days, if necessary. They won't be a problem."
The redhead stopped herself from shaking her head at the idea. Yes, Mayfair offered up a short term solution to a major problem but they couldn't keep kicking the can down the road. It also took attention and manpower to monitor them. It wasn't sustainable in an already perilous and precarious situation.
"Thank you, Robin. How many canisters do we still have available?"
Before Mayfair could answer, her and Coleman's com link opened with Elias' voice delivery good news with a dash of conundrum. [I'm trying to store the other hostiles in the buffer for the moment,] he told them; [if you've got a recommendation on where to put them, I'm open to it.]
"I don't suppose space is an appropriate answer…give us a few to sort out some details and we'll come up with something," she answered, trying to mentally sort issues into priority categories. That issue was unfortunately fairly high up the list.
She rubbed a hand across her brow, trying to sort out what was the most pressing need, but it felt like her brain was starting to spin in a circle, trying to find traction but failing before another issue sent it spiraling in the opposite direction. She was about to ask Coleman for his opinion on the issue when Elias called out for them with enough urgency to get her attention.
"C'mon," she said to Coleman, her tone holding a grimness that suggested she wasn't anticipating any good news.
And as expected, she wasn't disappointed as Elias began to run down the bad news from top to bottom, starting with a damaged transporter and propulsion systems and ending with what felt like a kill shot in the form of the drive and its Benamite being gone, along with the schematics. On the surface, it truly seemed like this entire endeavor had been for nothing, based on old or poorly verified intelligence.
She couldn't decide what to make of the fact that the security system had held it all together for two years while Intelligence was doing God knew what but it had failed as soon as Intelligence had pulled its head out of its ass long enough to locate the Callisto. It seemed like a cruel twist of fate and she was struggling to work through the twists and turns to see the bigger picture.
She forced her hand to stay down, tucked into the edge of her vest so that it couldn't rub across her face in frustration. She didn't need to be broadcasting the swirling of frustration and futility she felt settling into the pit of her stomach, not right now. It wouldn't do them any good.
"Damian, get this PADD to D'Mar to see if they can make heads or tails of it. And have Calleja and Harriman work on a plan for storing and detaining our new friends as we take custody of more of them," she requested. "Ben, I need to know where that ******* drive is and I need to know where the Human life signs that were on this ship went. We didn't come here against our better judgement to come out of here empty handed and with war crimes to boot."
Her hand twitched, wanting to soothe away the tension she could feel building behind her eyes. "And I… I need a minute to think this through," Tyra stated quietly, though her expression was sharper, almost a warning to let her be, as she stepped back.
Her steps took her to the side of the computer core where she'd found the Cardassian earlier, the core blocking her from the view of most of the team without some purposeful movements and giving her just a few moments of peace to get her act together.
Experience told her that even the most hardened soldiers found themselves overwhelmed by the turning tide of battle, the shifting of odds and the ever changing landscape. It felt like she was standing in quicksand, the ground below her boots sucking out from underneath her with each revelation of just how truly out of control the situation was becoming. There were too many variables, too many unknowns and not enough certainties. And the whiplash had her head feeling clouded and foggy, struggling to make sense of what was the right path, but that wasn't an ordeal and struggle that needed to be made public.
Captains were expected to be sure and steady, purposeful in action even under the worst circumstances. And she'd be damned if her death knell was caused by a falter in her steps, not when they'd been so sure in circumstances just as bad as this one.
Her fingers dug into her pocket, searching for something. This wasn't an unheard of moment in a soldier's career and the most seasoned ones knew how to ground themselves before they floated into sheer helplessness. Steve had always carried a pocket full of candy -- these hard sour candies -- that packed a punch but she knew from experience that the tartness was enough to cut through the static. Unfortunately, those hadn’t made her packing list; however, her fingers quickly closed around her flask like it was a lifeline. She took the tiniest of swigs, just enough for that familiar burn to slide down her throat, but it was enough for her to focus on.
You eat an elephant one bite at a time… and this is an elephant, if I've ever seen one, she thought to herself, feeling that hazy cotton feeling start to recede.
As she started to move back towards Elias, she still wasn't entirely certain what the right path was but she also was entirely certain that she had no intentions of dying on the Callisto of all places or due to the general incompetence of Starfleet and its equally incompetent Intelligence arm. What she did know was that they couldn't do anything else without controlling the entire ship, which meant that was their next task. It was a task they were more than capable of managing, all things considered.
"Tell me that you've got, at least, a sliver of good news this time," she requested as she came to stop next to Elias once more, though she truly wasn't expecting anything even remotely positive.
== Tag! ==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
"I'd say we're the butt end of some cosmic joke but there isn't much funny about this Hellscape," the Captain said to Coleman as Robin approached. Robin didn't comment on her words as she gave her brief report. Not that it mattered, but she completely agreed. The nurse had thought that since the briefing, and nothing that had happened since had changed her mind.
"Thank you, Robin. How many canisters do we still have available?"
Before Robin could respond Elias contacted the Captain and Commander with news about the ship status. Since Tyra was trying to handle a million things at once the CMO held up five fingers, mouthed the words 'five,' and let the redhead get on with her next task with a nod. Anything further could wait, and Tyra would let her know if she wanted the Cardassians to take a long nap.
Robin headed back to the rest of the team as they went about their tasks. First stop was her newest addition to Sickbay. "Hey, Midshipman. Just wanted to say you did great. And you even seem to have impressed the Captain. Believe me, that's no small feat, especially for a new graduate." The CMO made a mental reminder to herself to tell Emily some of the reasons why the Captain had a low tolerance for Middies. "And good job with Lt. Miller. When this is over I'd like you to be a medical liason with Security. Lord knows they need it."
If this is over. The Captain's right, this whole thing has been a mess from the start. Thankfully no one's been screwing around like on some of our missions. This is honestly the most professional I've ever seen us work. Does make me think we'll get out of it alive, though whether we get a 'mission accomplished' is another matter. Just once I'd like a solid win, especially since Star Fleet seems to have set us up for failure.
"The Captain assigned me to Commander Elias during the briefing, so that's where I'm gonna stay until I hear otherwise. When we're ready to move out, or if there's an attack, stay with Miller and Calleja... I mean behind them, of course," she chuckled. "You know what to do."
She didn't think Emily would go all gung-ho, but fresh medics without combat experience sometimes made the mistake of thinking they were there to start shooting in a firefight. If the front rank went down, then sure, as Robin herself had been forced to do a few minutes ago, but not until then. It was the Cardassians' willingness to throw themselves into fire stupidly that was most risky; they seemed badly-trained, little better than the Kazon they'd fought back in the Delta Quadrant.
After listening to Star's reply and seeing if she had any concerns the nurse headed over to the Chief Engineer. She turned the problem over in her head. Twelve more, split between Engineering, the Bridge, and crew quarters. So eight were in relatively compact locations, if Main Engineering on a Luna-class could be called that. "Commander, if we have transporters could we beam over some neurozine canisters as 'presents' to the Cardassians?"
== Tags Emily and Benjamin ==
As Benjamin went through his presentation, he could feel the frustration boiling off of Tyra. It was mostly a matter of proximity; she was schooling her gestures and her expressions well, but there was almost a wave of heat radiating off of her that he did his best to ignore. She finally started issuing orders to Coleman before turning to him. "Ben," she said, "I need to know where that ******* drive is and I need to know where the Human life signs that were on this ship went. We didn't come here against our better judgement to come out of here empty handed and with war crimes to boot."
He was about to say something but let it be as she quietly added, "And I… I need a minute to think this through."
A wave of fear went up his spine as she walked away. He was holding it together mostly by focusing on the job and knowing that everyone else was focused on theirs. To know that the Captain was at a loss... He bent to the console instead, refusing to think about it. If he thought about it, he might never look at the console again.
Fortunately, he got a bit of good news as he did so. Weapons reported good to go - phasers were operational and most of her torpedoes were present. What that said about Callisto's fighting prowess he refused to speculate, but knew that it didn't speak well of her former crew. Hopefully we can make a better showing, he thought.
He also got a report that the legate shown with the schematics was Legate Gholmek, who was also identified as the Cardassian leader who had taken this system back when Callisto was lost. He was obviously still keeping his hands in the pie, so to speak. And, even better news, the padd in question was still on the ship. Specifically, on the bridge, downloading a lot of tactical data.
His fingers felt a little lighter as he started combing the transporter logs. They knew that the human lifesigns had beamed off just minutes ago; so long as they used the local pads there should be a record of the target coordinates. He started to check for the shield status when Mayfair walked up to him. "Commander," she asked, "if we have transporters could we beam over some neurozine canisters as 'presents' to the Cardassians?" It was a valid question, and had a fairly decent answer.
"It's a possibility," he told her. "We'd have to open the valves before we beam so they would start to disperse upon arrival, of course. The only issue then would be how to make sure we got them all. We got really lucky with the core; we were able to effectively seal them in so no one got out. The bridge is a better candidate for that course - fewer ways in or out."
Before they could continue, Tyra walked back up somberly. However, he also noted the rhythm of her footfalls, and how determined she seemed now. It was something, at least. "Tell me that you've got, at least, a sliver of good news this time," she ordered, and he was happy to oblige.
"I'm still waiting on shield status, but we have essentially all weapons. We're short a couple of torpedoes, but the phasers are in great shape. If we need to fight, Callisto still has teeth to use. Also, our enemy is the same enemy: Legate Gholmek, the bastard who took this system in the first place, is the one who downloaded the plans. And - best for last, of course - they're still on the ship. The padd he downloaded them to is on the bridge right now, trying to copy off the tactical data from the computer.
"We might just be able to pull some of this off," he told her.
==GM Input: Shield status, and can I find out where the prisoners were taken?==
32 posts
First Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Nodding his head as he listened to Tyra, there wasn’t much that Damian could say beyond simply agreeing with her. The system was definitely a chop shop for the Callisto. It was obviously brought there so that they could tear it down, hack the core, and get as much as they could out of the captured prize. But that wasn’t the only thing Tyra was saying either. The incompetence of SFI and SFS together made it seem like there was an inside job on sending the Artemis crew on a dangerously wild goose chase.
"I'd say we're the butt end of some cosmic joke but there isn't much funny about this Hellscape.”
That caused Damian to chuckle, not at it actually being funny, but how incredibly dire and shit the situation seemed to be. Coleman almost wanted there to be a court martial for the use of the cloak to infiltrate the system. That would mean they’d stand a miniscule, but better than nothing, chance of finding out who the hell has screwed up so badly. Though if he were an Admiral, seeing how much Intelligence, Security, and Command all screwed up, he could just imagine the pressure to just sweep it all under the rug.
[Commander Coleman…] he heard Devereaux in his earpiece as Mayfair arrived with her own news. It was good timing, as Crawford had made it clear their chat was done for the moment, sparing the crew with the gravity of it all.
[... are any thoughts on sealing the Jeffries access doors?]
“It is definitely an option; we are working on what comes next. Before sealing them off, can you detail a plan of what needs to be done to fully secure our position? Chat with Grant and see what his take is on it, and then advise me once you know more?”
Damian didn’t want to seal the Jefferies Tubes just yet. Especially because there was a chance that they might have to use them to assault yet another section of the ship. It wasn’t something that Coleman particularly looked forward to. While it didn’t seem so to him, Aeryn, or Mara probably, they had actually been lucky in taking out the patrol and the Core guards; all without apparently setting off alarms. In a situation that seemed cursed, Damian was willing to accept a little bit of Lady Luck’s fortune.
Hearing Elias buzzing them again, this time about where they could store some Cardassian bodies, Tyra beat Damian to the punch on darkly suggesting the cold void of space. It did make him wonder at what point would they need to be desperate enough to use such a tactic; and if they were already at that point. Still yet, he wondered what it meant if he might actually consider it. Their team was still outnumbered, even if they did have the element of surprise. They’d been left out in the wind by the brass. There wouldn’t be any backup. And if the alarm went up, their odds of survival would plummet faster than the Ferengi Market Exchange on news of adopting socialism.
As if they hadn’t heard enough from the Chief Engineer, Ben called both Tyra and Damian over with some urgency in his voice.
“C'mon," Tyra said, and he could hear the gravel in her voice.
“If he gives us more bad news, I might start calling him Old Crow.”
Once they arrived, the news struck like a fist to the solar plexus.
"First point - transporters are damaged enough that I can't lock on to all of the Cardassians at once…”
Old Crow…
Coleman managed to stop himself from putting his hand to his face, and from letting out the loudest frustrated exhalation. But there was no power in the galaxy that would prevent him from furrowing his brow so deeply that soldiers from the first World War couldn’t use them as trenches. It wasn’t Ben’s fault. He just happened to be the bearer of bad news. Or, had a knack for uncovering it.
Maybe we should put him in charge of the investigation of this little shit show mission, should we get out of it alive…
Watching the video of the Cardassians ripping up the Slipstream Drive for parts didn’t hurt much to see for Damian. It was the fact that the footage had been captured only a week before. The Callisto had been in possession of the Cardassians for two years, and they had just defeated the security system? It was beyond measure how badly Intelligence had fucked up. It wasn’t like the Callisto was being hidden particularly well. Surely someone in Starfleet had known its location for some time. It was a cluster, and it made Coleman’s blood boil.
"...The drive is already gone, in Cardassian hands. It might be in system still, but I'm not putting my money on that…” Ben continued, and Damian was in agreement with him.
Could the Cardassians have known that an Op was being planned? Is that why they took the Slipstream out with little better than hacksaws and crowbars? If so, it would have been incredibly wise for them to make off with it as deep into Cardassian territory, squirreling it away on some secret base. Though, with the state of Starfleet Intelligence, they probably could just leave it in plain sight on Risa and Starfleet wouldn’t know its whereabouts anyway.
"Damian, get this PADD to D'Mar to see if they can make heads or tails of it. And have Calleja and Harriman work on a plan for storing and detaining our new friends as we take custody of more of them.”
“On it,” Coleman replied, trying not to let his irritation at the situation leak out in the tone of his voice.
Taking the PADD, Damian immediately scouted the room for D’Mar. It wasn’t hard to find the engineer, and so he immediately made way to intercept the officer as he tapped into Harriman and Calleja’s comms,
“Carol, Mara,” he used their first names to help pull himself out of the pit his mind was in.
“Cap’n needs you two to figure out custody arrangements for our new friends. We need somewhere to detain those we’ve already captured, and also those who we might capture in the near future. Preference being given to keeping them alive with the least supervision possible. Figure it out and then come chat with me.”
Cutting the comm link before he rolled up on D’Mar, Coleman took a little breath for himself and gave himself permission to give a little sigh. With any hope, the PADD might have an extra bit of good news on it. But there was only one way to find out.
“D’Mar,” his voice sounded deeper than his usual self, and certainly different from when they had first been on the Liberty Bell.
“I need you to translate what is on this PADD, A S A P. When you’ve got it figured out, come give Captain Crawford and me an executive summary of what’s on it.”
Giving the engineer a nod, Coleman turned and walked to where Miller had been patched up by Star. Checking Aeryn over, it seemed like she was doing well. Though he hoped that she was more than just well. Damian didn’t need to know Tyra all that well to have an idea of what was coming next. Anyone in their position would probably be making the same plans. Which meant they’d need as many guns, and people with good aim holding them, in the next phase of their trek.
“How you doin’ Aeryn? Feeling like a million bars of latinum?” he teased, but there was sincere concern spread across his eyes.
“Probably best that you come with me for this next bit. We’re gonna have to figure out what comes next, and something tells me it's probably another fight.”
Once Aeryn fell in with him, Coleman walked back toward where the Old Crow was still perched. It seemed that it would quickly become the new gathering place, as Mayfair also approached around the same time. The suggestion to beam the neurozine seemed plausible, at least according to Elias’ response. Though Damian worried about how long it would take to knock Cardassians out with the stuff.
“Robin, any way you could make it so the neurozine worked faster? Perhaps something that you could add to the knockout juice so it gets metabolized by the Cardassians more quickly?”
By that point, the Captain had reached them, and so he didn’t wait on a response from Mayfair. Tyra got straight to it, asking for some good news for once from Ben. That made Damian chuckle. A little bit of weight lifted from his shoulders when he saw Elias’ face light up a bit just before he spoke. The information he gave, while positive, also included a name drop. The Legate mentioned was the one holding the plans, which were still on the ship.
There is some light in this tunnel…
“Sounds like we are going to have to make this a two-pronged affair; a team to the Bridge, and a team to Engineering.”
In Damian’s mind, he was sure that Tyra knew exactly where she was going already. It’d be the Bridge for her. It was also the riskiest of the two options too, as the Legate would surely have bodyguards with him. If the patrol showed anything, it was that the Cardassians' ability to fight shouldn’t be discounted. Plus, assaulting the Bridge would have the fewest options for infiltration. Though using Mayfair’s idea could help sow a little chaos as a diversion before the actual assault.
== oh boy, tags galore: Devereaux, Harriman, Calleja, D’Mar, Miller, Mayfair, Elias, and Crawford ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
While Star continued working on healing her burnt skin, Aeryn shifted her focus to what was going on around her as the others followed the orders that had been given. It was a little frustrating that she couldn't join them yet, but Aeryn kept that to herself. No one needed to hear how she felt or how she blamed herself for getting hurt. In reality, it hadn't been her fault, only bad luck thanks to the Cardassians that they had encountered, but at least they had been dealt with and there were still enough of them to take care of.
Perhaps she would feel less guilty once she could get back into action, to achieve something useful and turn their fortunes around, regardless of the ineptitude of those who had sent them here in the first place. Movement and what she assumed to be discussions took place, no doubt weighing up the severity of their situation, the good and bad news added to what they already knew, and what would happen next.
She might not be privy to it all, but she understood changes in body language, and how frustrating it was for all of them. How many times had she seen this take place? Aeryn doubted that it would be the last. Robin then went over to talk to Star, before going back to where Elias had been talking to the Captain and Damian. Knowing them as she did, they weren't about to give up now. As the FO then approached, Carol, Mara, Lucy, D'Mar, and then Aeryn herself. He might have been teasing her but Aeryn could see the obvious concern etched upon his face.
" Something like that," she remarked with her best attempt at humour, considering how she felt. " Got it, and yes I was wondering the same thing myself".
Falling into step with Coleman after thanking Star, they soon caught up with the small group consisting of Elias and Robin. Hearing what was being discussed before the Captain joined them, Aeryn quickly caught up and processed everything. The suggestions and ideas made sense to her, understanding that if they could neutralise the remaining Cardassians it would give them the upper hand when it came to infiltrating the Bridge and Engineering.
" That makes sense to me, and it still allows us to maintain our hold on the core".
== Tags ==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Commander Coleman had a question. “Robin, any way you could make it so the neurozine worked faster? Perhaps something that you could add to the knockout juice so it gets metabolized by the Cardassians more quickly?” Coleman's idea was a good one, though not without problems of its own. But nothing they could do was without problems, so the Artemis team would just have to do what it always did... improvise and adapt.
Robin thought for a moment as others (including the Captain) arrived in their little informal meeting. She turned the problem around in her head and did some quick calculations. When others had finished their reports she spoke up.
"I have three hyposprays with anesthizine that I was going to use on our friends there," she said, hooking a thumb towards the nearest unconscious Cardassian. "It wasn't useful for general dispersal because it's absorbed via skin and it would have knocked us out unless we were wearing full EVA suits... but it's crazy fast. If we were to take the drug cells out and add their contents to the canisters it would knock the Cardassians out in 1.4 seconds at 70 ppm. I'd need to borrow an engineer to rig it because the cells and the canisters aren't designed to interface, but it's possible."
The good news was that, aside from figuring out how to get the contents of the drug cells into the canisters, the remote that the Artemis engineers had rigged up already allowed her to control the parts per million for drug dispersal. Once again she was thankful for the thoroughness of Elias' people.
She smiled grimly. "But we wouldn't be able to enter those areas for roughly five minutes until the gas disperses. Or unless we issued a 'flush' command with the life support controls." That would quickly purge tainted atmosphere in a ship section and replace the air, something that was used to disperse smoke and other atmospheric contaminants.
I'm not sure I'd call it a great plan, but it's definitely a plan.
Her biggest concern wasn't the dispersal of the drugs. She believed that would work. It was Cardassian stupidity. She'd already witnessed them running straight into enemy fire as if charging made them phaser-proof. If one of the Cardassians shot a canister it would explode, filling the entire area with enough neurozine and anesthizine to knock them out instantly and kill them in less than a minute. Gas masks would be of no use, and the whole area would be uninhabitable for hours without a full flush... meaning the Artemis team wouldn't be able to enter until then.
Great. A plan that relies on the enemy not being morons when they've been consistently acting like morons. This is what we've been reduced to. Maybe we should put the canisters in a cardboard box with big letters 'DO NOT SHOOT' in red paint. It was a cynical thought for the normally cheerful and optimistic nurse, but she had to admit to herself that it was justified. It wasn't just the guards charging into fire, it was their comical attempts to steal the Slipstream by hacking it apart, and their inability to crack security after two years. She suspected that the whole mess was the pet project of this Legate. Maybe he was determined to get the drive for himself and so hadn't involved the Cardassian leadership. Even a small fleet of ships equipped with Slipstream drives would be a devastating weapon... in a coup attempt. In any event his actions had at least given them a chance to salvage the situation.
== Tags ==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Miles kept as much attention on the chatter from the rest of the crew as he could while still maintaining a sentry to ensure they didn't have any surprise guests. Though some of the information went over his head, especially when it came to the neurozine, he still kept track on who was assigned to do what, while also keeping an ear out for his next assignment if it was so determined he would be needed elsewhere.
It was not remiss on him when the idea of a two-pronged assault as initially planned, with one team to the Bridge, the other to Engineering, was brought up again. It was also not remiss that Coleman appeared to have approached most everyone with some update aside from himself, Ensign D'Mar, and Midshipman Star. Miles internally shrugged. If the First Officer didn't need Miles, then Miles would await his own set of instructions when they came or something else arose that required his attention and/or expertise.
Until such time, he remained vigilant to ensure the safety of his crew.
Emily gave Aeryn a tight light grin and nodded, “Happy to provide a lil good news.”She finished repairing the skin as basically as she could before returning to her feet,”You’ll be tender, and should avoid doing any barrel rolls but you’re able to do your thing.” She gave a nod,”If you need another patchup, I’ve got you covered.”
Leaving the Security Officer she moved to clean up her tools and prep them for use again. Looking up she nodded to her Chif as she approached.
“Miller will need more work once back, but she’s good to go.” Emily said with a nod.
"Hey, Midshipman. Just wanted to say you did great. And you even seem to have impressed the Captain. Believe me, that's no small feat, especially for a new graduate. And good job with Lt. Miller. When this is over I'd like you to be a medical liason with Security. Lord knows they need it."
Emily flushed slightly,”Thanks Chief. I just kept my head down and let the Captain do her thing. No praise really needed.” When the offer of a liaison came out Emily’s head immediately nodded before she could respond, “I’d love to. Really.”
"The Captain assigned me to Commander Elias during the briefing, so that's where I'm gonna stay until I hear otherwise. When we're ready to move out, or if there's an attack, stay with Miller and Calleja... I mean behind them, of course, you know what to do."
“I know, don’t be a hero. Stay back. Keep them alive.” Emily repeated the mantra she’d been committed to over and over again, “I got ya covered, Chief.”
She watched the command team in mild awe as they discussed amongst themselves. Emily was even more impressed by her Chief’s suggestion to Coleman. Although she’d initially wondered about a Nurse as as Chief, she now understood exactly why. That woman was a spitfire and smart. With a grin that lifted a single corner she watched and learned as they figured out the next steps.
=tag Mayfair=
==Elias==
The shields were currently down, but the generators were in good condition.
The prisoners had been beamed to a Cardassian ship, which was now already moving away from the area at Full Impulse. The passive sensors hadn't gotten a good look at the other ship, but its reactor emissions were close to those of a Keldon-class Battlecruiser.
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
02-20-2024, 10:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-20-2024, 10:23 PM by Robin Mayfair.
Edit Reason: Typo
)
== Response to Emily before Robin goes over to meet with Elias ==
"You would not believe some of the problems Captain Crawford has had with recent graduates," Robin responded with a laugh. "And that's good. I'll talk with Lieutenant Miller about it after we're done with this mess."
Star also had the good sense to listen to advice about her safety. Of course events rarely worked out as intended. On one her first away missions Robin had ended up stalking through a darkened corridor with Nathan Ramius, and had even managed to get the drop on the Kazon who had surprised him. Circumstances often ended up with medics tossed into the thick of things, being shot at... and even having to kill. They never told you about that at the Academy. It was always "duty" and "honor" and "sacrifice" all that, never about having to have a life on your conscience.
That reminded the nurse... at some point she needed to talk to D'Mar about how she was doing. Robin was no counselor, aside from a few courses at the Academy, but it was her job to make sure everyone was mentally sound, and the young engineer had taken a life. She didn't fault D'Mar for that for one moment, having been in very similar circumstances... but it affected you. Mara, who had killed a great many times, had told her that.
In the meantime they had a job to do.
== Tag Emily ==
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
The status of the mission felt tenuous or pretty bleak. Lucy’s place was to follow and give reasoned advice if necessary or possible. Commander Coleman took her suggestion and recommended having a chat with Lieutenant Grant. The Core was secure from transporter incursion. That left the main doors and the Jeffries access.
Lucy lifted her toolkit and made her way over to Miles.
“Lieutenant Grant. I’d been considering sealing the Jeffries doors on the upper level. Commander Coleman suggested I have a chat with you about securing our position. Transporter scramblers are set up, so we’re safe on that point. Any thoughts on what would be practical? The Commander wanted to know your take and what would be advisable.”
There was a lot to take in. Claiming the Callisto was the team’s best option, provided they could remove the Cardassians. Starting with the Core as planned, then going for Engineering and the Bridge. It didn’t help that slipstream drive had been removed. The logistics were not pleasant. Controlling the now was of the utmost importance. How much of the element of surprise they had left was important. Keeping it would be tricky especially with the modest trail of bodies.
Gotta keep my head on.
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Robin had made her way over to Elias in Tyra's absence and the two had been discussing something on Tyra's return, though Tyra wasn't entirely certain what it was. Elias, at least, had some good news to offer as he began going over his findings. However, she wasn't quite sure how those pieces of information fit with everything else; she didn't have enough idealism to think weapons alone would get them out of this but it was something. And she'd take anything right now.
This would be have been so much better if they were looking at a clearly defined puzzle but it felt like each piece had multiple places it could go. However, each placement drastically changed how the picture would look. What she wouldn't have given to have someone to give her advice but she suspected she wouldn't have liked what she'd be given.
When she'd been a young officer, casual observers had always assumed her idealism would shift in the direction of her father's borderline moralism. To Jeremy Crawford, the world was black and white and it was a leader's job to keep their people in the white, to be a moral compass, an anchor, a shining city on the hill. To be a gleaming example of the Fleet and it's values. However, Tyra had learned very early on that black and white was really just differing shades of gray and her footsteps had followed the less conventional path, worn by war, blood and impossibilities.
Her aunt, a decorated officer in her own right, had once told her that a leader's true job wasn't choosing right or wrong but making the hard decision when there was no right answer, no light to be found in the darkness. To be willing to shoulder the burden of such a choice and its consequences, to their own detriment, for the sake of their people. It wasn't about the right decision but the one you could live with, even at the expense of yourself.
And in those years since, Tyra had made many decisions that had cost her a little bit of her soul, she was well aware of that, and out of context, some of them were monstrous and horrific. And yet, people had gone home to their families because of them, greater loss had been prevented, and that was a context, she found, she could live with. Some would say that ruthless and merciless had no role in a civilized society but her experience was that they were what kept society civilized for everyone else. It was a balance and she knew where she fell in it. It was a role she would shoulder time and again, if needed.
Her head nodded a little as Elias finished speaking, her expression set into a grim edge but the way the very edge of her lip curled ever so slightly should have been a warning sign for what was to come.
"Gather up. Someone keep an eye on our friends and the doors while we brief. I'm going to make this fast and if there are any objections, I strongly suggest you swallow them because we don't have time for debate."
"We need to take the bridge. They're downloading data we can't let them have and there's likely an asshole up there that needs to be dealt with. While that team is taking the bridge, a second team will remain here with the core secured. If the bridge team fails in its assault, that team is to detonate and get the Hell out of here. If they succeed, then we'll move to engineering. The team here needs to maintain the core and lock out engineering and the bridge if possible."
"Bridge assault will be myself, Commander Coleman, J-G Grant, L-T Miller and L-T Calleja. Plus Middie Star," she stated before continuing on. "Elias is in charge with Mayfair as his second for the rest of the team. Harriman is your pilot and she can definitely get y'all out of here, if the worst happens."
"Grant, I need you to get schematics for their bridge. We need two entry points. Mayfair and Star, account for our neurozine stores and try to determine at what distance they can be triggered remotely. Miller and Harriman, make sure the core is fortified before we leave. Everyone else assist in fortifying and then, help Elias with the next phase. Elias, use whoever you need to start prepping for Plan Omega. Calleja and Coleman, step over there for a second," she tipped her head away from the core as both a dismissal for everyone else and a summons of the two.
However before she moved towards them, she stepped closer to Elias. "I need a couple things: I need to know the status of the transporters: can we transport people? Can we transport canisters? I also need to know how consolidated everyone in engineering is and whether we've got full force field control. And I need to know if the Legate is still aboard…"
The last was said with a look of distaste but there was more to it than just his location. His location would be telling. If he was on the bridge with the precious PADD, he was likely about to attempt to flee and if he wasn't, the PADD might not be what it seemed. With that request made and acknowledged, she turned away towards Coleman and Calleja with a nod.
Once the trio was away from everyone else, Tyra spoke quietly. "I need you to find a closet, preferable with an independent air source but not a deal breaker, with a door that can be sealed closed with a torch or a phaser in a rather permanent manner. If you're not comfortable moving our guests to their new quarters, I'll handle it but we no longer have the luxury of being hospitable."
"We'll find a more permanent solution when we have control so they better hope their friends don’t drag this out," she stated with a matter of factness that likely seemed cold from an outside perspective. Survival wasn't a game for the fragile or uncertain.
== Tag! ==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
“D’Mar,” Cdr coleman's voice sounded deeper than his usual self, and certainly different from when they had first been on the Liberty Bell.
“I need you to translate what is on this PADD, A S A P. When you’ve got it figured out, come give Captain Crawford and me an executive summary of what’s on it.”
Jay took the pad from Cdr Coleman.
What do I do now? I'm not fluent in Cardassian! Why does everyone think I speak Cardassian?... where in the computer core...Univeral translator?
Jay moved to a spare computer terminal and accessed the universal translator, and proceeded to direct the computer to access the file on the pad and translate it into Federation Standard.
Mean While the captain began to brief the away team on the next step.
At least I'm in the room this time!
== GM input, please? Is the computer able to translate the document on the pad? If yes, what does it say? "Executive summary would be fine. ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
While Aeryn had suffered a minor setback, it hadn't withered her resolve or her desire to get things done, so when the Captain began to deliver a quick brief as to what the plan was going forward, the COS kept a close eye on the doors, without having to detract from what was happening. It was also quite clear that nothing was up for debate, and that was perfectly okay with Aeryn considering how things had turned against them.
The plan was straightforward as to how the team would be divided while ensuring that the core remained secure, along with a backup should the bridge team fail in their task. The Captain's words also served as a reminder of what was still at stake and Aeryn was ready to be useful and perhaps exact a little revenge on the Cardassians. There would be no guilt, no mercy if called for, and as Crawford listed the names of those who were to be part of the bridge assault, and who would be staying in the core, her reaction was resolute, with no objections.
They hadn't come this far to try to change minds because you had to adapt and that's exactly what they were doing. People were then given specific tasks before the team split up, and it was now up to her and Harriman to fortify the core, along with assistance from others. " Acknowledged Captain" was Aeryn's reply, as Crawford called Coleman and Calleja over.
Knowing that they couldn't leave until everything was in place and that the safety of the core team was paramount, Aeryn spoke to Harriman. " Let's get this done, it might be worth planting a couple of grenades as an extra security measure, in case any of the access points are breached".
As Aeryn got to work, the COS was reminded of something Lucy had suggested earlier and promptly checked in with the science officer who had been talking to Miles. " Do the Jefferies tubes still need sealing?".
== Tags ==
As far as plans went, it wasn't the worst one he'd ever heard. That particular honor went to his and Nathan's escape plan from a slaver prison on Pomn, but that was a long time ago. The bridge was obviously the point that needed to be taken, and time was going to be of the essence once they started the assault.
Not that he was going to be part of it. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be left leading the team here, but he understood why, particularly when she mentioned preparing for Plan Omega. The canisters of antimatter on his back felt a little heavier, but he wasn't exactly happier to know that they were soon going to be set up around the area. He just hoped that they would be able to escape in time if it got called for.
She was breaking everyone into their task groups, but Tyra stepped to him before she left. "I need a couple things," she asked. "I need to know the status of the transporters: can we transport people? Can we transport canisters? I also need to know how consolidated everyone in engineering is and whether we've got full force field control. And I need to know if the Legate is still aboard…" The amount of venom dripping through her voice could have killed a cobra, but he just nodded and let her walk away.
Most of the crew was covered with assignments for the moment; only D'Mar didn't have one, but he turned and found the Cardassian engineer working on a console with a padd, one he'd seen Coleman with a moment before. He assumed that it was an assignment from the FO, and so left her to it for the moment. Meanwhile, he turned back to the console after shrugging out of his backpack.
He did a quick check first on the transporters. They had balked earlier at targeting the Cardassians from so many places at once, but assuming they weren't terminally damaged, a single target or even several from a single location should be doable. However, he wasn't going to risk anyone's life on an assumption and so ran a standard Level 5 diagnostic to make sure there were no fatal errors. As that ran, he also set about trying to determine if the Legate was still here. He accessed the internal visual sensors and ran facial recognition between the Legate and everyone still aboard. He also, anticipating the next order, ran a check on the forcefield emitters around both the bridge and engineering, making sure they were still online.
==GM Input: Transporter function - will they transport a strike team, or barring that a canister or two? Is the Legate still on board? And do the forcefields work?==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Things continued to progress, but this time Miles was becoming involved in the goings on. First, he was approached by Devereux regarding sealing the Jeffries for continued securing of their position. Apparently, Commander Coleman had requested she ask him.
He considered the idea. It had it's merits, for certain, though it could also prove to be a disadvantage for the Artemis crew as well by taking an access point away from them. And he knew the plan would not keep them in this position for the remainder of the mission.
However, before he could voice his thoughts, the Captain gathered everyone up for a plan, as their time was running down. Miles indicated to Harriman to continue keeping an eye on the doors and the unconscious Cardassians while they briefed, per the Captain's orders.
With that, Captain Crawford laid out a plan. It was rudimentary, but could be extremely effective should the Cardassians be caught off guard. It also didn't matter if there were to be any further debate from anyone, as the Captain had pretty much shut that down.
Once the plan was in motion, she indicated for Miles to get the schematics for the Bridge for two entry points, as well as gave orders for others before pulling Calleja and Coleman to the side. Miles went about heading to one of the consoles to pull up the requested schematics.
As the Callisto was a Luna-class, he had a decent idea of where everything should be. However, he also knew each vessel would have the possibility of individual alterations. There was also the further possibility of any Cardassian updates to the Bridge. All of these things, however, should be listed in the schematics, which he was studying so he could update and plan per the Captain's orders.
==Tag. GM input: What do the schematics for the Bridge of the Callisto look like? Any alterations from "established" layouts per our wiki?==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
02-28-2024, 10:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-28-2024, 10:40 PM by Robin Mayfair.)
Time was up. The Captain addressed the team.
"Gather up. Someone keep an eye on our friends and the doors while we brief. I'm going to make this fast and if there are any objections, I strongly suggest you swallow them because we don't have time for debate."
No,we don't. I'm honestly shocked we've made it this far. Our luck is gonna run out soon, so we'd better move. I can feel it.
"We need to take the bridge. They're downloading data we can't let them have and there's likely an asshole up there that needs to be dealt with. While that team is taking the bridge, a second team will remain here with the core secured. If the bridge team fails in its assault, that team is to detonate and get the Hell out of here. If they succeed, then we'll move to engineering. The team here needs to maintain the core and lock out engineering and the bridge if possible."
Robin nodded. Taking the bridge was going to be messy, to say the least. The Cardassians could theoretically turtle up in there and wait for reinforcements. Perhaps the team here could help out by granting access, shutting down security systems, and the like, but regardless it was extremely dangerous. And one medic would be going along.
"Bridge assault will be myself, Commander Coleman, J-G Grant, L-T Miller and L-T Calleja. Plus Middie Star," Tyra stated before continuing on. "Elias is in charge with Mayfair as his second for the rest of the team. Harriman is your pilot and she can definitely get y'all out of here, if the worst happens."
The CMO couldn't stop the frown from appearing on her face; she didn't like the idea of sending her new charge into such a dangerous situation. Emily was getting a real trial by fire, an Artemis tradition if there ever was one, and she hoped the young doctor would survive it. Still, Star did at least have some fighting skills (unlike Robin), and her Vulcan-enhanced strength might well come in handy if it came down to hand-to-hand combat. The nurse had no doubts about her ability as a medic and was confident at this point that she wouldn't do anything foolish. Emily was the, well... logical choice.
But that didn't mean Robin had to like it.
"Grant," the Captain continued, "I need you to get schematics for their bridge. We need two entry points. Mayfair and Star, account for our neurozine stores and try to determine at what distance they can be triggered remotely. Miller and Harriman, make sure the core is fortified before we leave. Everyone else assist in fortifying and then, help Elias with the next phase. Elias, use whoever you need to start prepping for Plan Omega."
Robin responded with a simple "Yes, sir" and headed over to Emily. She didn't even try to offer any trite wisdom or advice. The Midshipman no doubt knew just how dangerous the assignment was, and she'd do her best. "Take two canisters. One's a backup." One canister alone would be more than enough for the Bridge, but circumstances rarely ever worked out the way things were planned.
The nurse already knew the answer to the question the Captain had asked, about the range of triggering for the neurozine. It was over 200 meters, since the tricorders could reach that far for scanning purposes. That was roughly half the ship length. The small remote Robin had had somewhat less distance but was far faster to activate and gave more control. With it the doctor could set neurozine levels on the fly, anything from a minor dose to a fatal one if necessary. She handed it to Emily.
"Either you or the Captain can use this. It's all set up and gives you complete control of all the canisters." The nurse took a breath, blew it out. "I'll spare you the usual pep talk or warnings. I have faith in you."
She waited for Emily's comments and concerns, and afterward she was done went over to the unconscious Cardassians. The nurse gave them each a dose of anesthizine that would keep them out for at least a half day. Either the ship would be theirs and the Cardassians would be prisoners, or the Artemis crew would be captured or dead and it wouldn't matter, so that would be enough either way.
A thought occurred to her. If the Captain's team was going to assault the bridge then perhaps there was a way to keep the Cardassians unable to focus on any one thing so they couldn't concentrate their forces. The team was outnumbered even before they were split. And their leader was downloading the technical data even as they got ready. They needed to keep the enemy distracted. Mara's crybaby program should help with that, but...
Wait. If the PADD this Legate is using is downloading data, that means it's linked to the computer core right now. Connections run two ways.
She ran off to find Elias. She hoped her idea wasn't going to get shot down; Robin was no Engineer, and only had the basic Engineering training every Academy graduate had, but maybe it was possible to throw a wrench into the plans of the bastard in charge of this.
"Commander, if the Legate is downloading data doesn't that mean there's a direct connection to the PADD right now? Would it be possible to issue a deletion command from here to the PADD? Or a factory reset? Give the Legate something to worry about even as the team is storming the Bridge?"
The data would still be here in the core, and if the team lost then all it would do would slow the Cardassian leader down for a few hours, but maybe that would be enough. At the very least it might prevent him from somehow escaping with the data if things went south.
== Tag Emily and Benjamin ==
==Elias==
The transporters would be able to deal with small groups transported one after the other. It would only risk triggering an overload if more than a handful of people were transported at any one time. Forcefields were operational throughout most of the ship. The Legate was not currently aboard the Callisto.
==Grant==
The Callisto was a standard Flight 2 Luna-class. There were no modifications to the Bridge layout beyond slightly updated displays, slightly more ergonomic seating and control panels, and the carpet was more hard-wearing and visually appealing.
==D'Mar==
The PADD had multiple different files attached to it. After the Computer had run an extensive (though mercifully short) antivirus scan (while also displaying several caution warnings about connecting unprotected data devices to the most secure data device on the ship).
For the most part the PADD contained personal logs, a complete set of Luna-class schematics dated 2385, a detailed Obsidian Order briefing on Starfleet computer engineering and its safeguards, and a series of vague references to 'Project Mogrund'.
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
D'Mar waited as the computer did its expected security check on the document in question, which turned out to be a series of documents. Personal logs, a complete set of Luna class schematics dated 2385, a detailed Obsidian Order briefing on Starfleet computer engineering and its safeguards, and a series of vague references to 'Project Mogrund'.
D'Mar was curious about the personal logs, but the Obsidian order documents were of more interest and as she skimmed through them, she noticed the references to 'Project Mogrund'?
She turned from the console and searched the room for Cdr Coleman. 'Project Mogrund'
"Cdr Coleman," she called her comms when she spotted him, "I think you need to look at this, Sir?
Waiting for Cdr Coleman to respond to her call, Jay skimmed through the personal logs to see if there was any things of interest and who's logs they were.
== GM input, please? (In the interest of keeping things moving) Whose personal logs are these and is there anything that D'Mar can find of relevant interest to their current mission and situation.
Can she find any information about, 'Project Mogrund', any references or any clues to its whereabouts or who is involved, or what the project may be about? Is it a Cardassian project or is it someone else's project they are writing about? Assuming it's Cardassian, what does the word 'Mogrund' mean in Cardassian? place name? surname? a piece of equipment? What does it literally mean? ==
== Tag Cdr Coleman ==
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
Lucy hadn’t realised that Aeryn was addressing her until she noticed Lieutenant Grant go to assist preparation for taking the Bridge. She wasn’t familiar with Plan Omega, but maybe that was for the best. The teams were dividing along the previously decided groups, even if her group was holding the Computer Core instead of Engineering. Lucy answered the Lieutenant as best as she could assess.
“We’re sufficiently safe from intrusion by transporter. I was concerned about the Cardassians trying to gain access by the Jeffries tubes on the upper level when they figure they can’t use the transporters.
“I have the four neurozene grenades I picked up when we were prepping. Could use them to trap the upper level if it is more practical than sealing the tube doors.”
They were options. At this stage there wasn’t much else that she could do until something else happened. It was a weird experience. This infiltration stuff was odd, but the rest of the group had been doing a a stellar job. The PADD wasn’t really essential. Once they had proper control of the Callisto they’d have something to return once the cavalry arrived. The absence of the slipstream drive was a concern. Hopefully it hadn’t gone too far.
== tag. ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
With Grant carrying out the orders that the Captain had given them, Aeryn's focus shifted to Lucy, who realised who Aeryn had been talking to. The scientist's response was reassuring to the COS regarding the transporters before Lucy enlightened her about her concerns. That made sense to the security officer, as it was a concern that Aeryn shared upon asking her earlier question. " That's good, and I share the same concern".
Lucy then went on to make a suggestion that wasn't too dissimilar to what Aeryn had spoken to Harriman about, and it made a lot of sense, allowing those in the computer core to control the situation by simply detonating a few grenades should trouble come calling. The redhead was also certain that there could also be a way to lock out the access panel controls, but again, this would shore up other methods being used to keep the Cardassians out.
" I think that it could be the best option while giving the rest of the team the means to escape should it be required. Why don't you give me and Lieutenant Harriman a hand in placing the grenades? An extra pair of hands is always useful, considering that we need to cover all access points".
After all, the Captain had even mentioned that during the briefing, and the sooner it got done, the sooner the Bridge team could get on with their side of the plan. " We can start at the top and make our way down".
Being mindful of the unconscious Cardassians, she then led the way to the upper level, while wanting to ensure that everything was done correctly.
== Tag Lucy & Harriman, anyone else who wants to join us :-) ==
Her name was included in the bridge assault team?? She had to do a double take as she was certain Mayfair would have been a better pick. However, it was confirmed she'd heard correctly when Mayfair’s name appeared elsewhere, leaving Emily to process her feelings quickly.
With a resolved nod she decided to head over to her Chief, instead finding the Nurse heading her way and already working on the Captain’s request.
"Take two canisters. One's a backup.”
Emily nodded to the Chief’s words. Two canisters she could handle. ”These won’t be going into ventilation, will they? Are we just deploying their contents?” She hoped it wouldn’t be an obvious question that she’d be getting a strange look for. As she thought over her question, a remote was placed into her hand.
Either you or the Captain can use this. It's all set up and gives you complete control of all the canisters. I'll spare you the usual pep talk or warnings. I have faith in you."
A grin breaks out on her lips, “Don’t be a hero. Keep them alive.” She says with an affirming nod,” When you say all the canisters, that means don’t push the thing unless you all have masks on, right?”
=tag Robin=
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
”These won’t be going into ventilation, will they? Are we just deploying their contents?”
Robin nodded. "We can't hook them to ventilation anywhere except Main Engineering, so you'd just be deploying them. They'll give the Cardassians a nice long nap. Hopefully we can beam them in and that'll be that."
Oh yeah, press the button and take the bridge. When have our plans ever worked out that well? Still, one can hope there's a first time. Still, doesn't look like my idea for anesthazine is gonna work if the Captain wants to take the Bridge. Unless she wants to wait for the air to clear, which I doubt.
“Don’t be a hero. Keep them alive," Emily said. "When you say all the canisters, that means don’t push the thing unless you all have masks on, right?”
"Definitely. But you shouldn't need to. You can activate any canister you like with either that remote or a tricorder so just play it by ear. I'll find out from Commander Elias how he wants to run it with the remaining canisters. Oh, and if we beam them into the Bridge make sure you scan for neurozine concentrations before your team charges in."
She didn't have to tell Emily the results if someone shot a canister. Masks would last no more than a minute with those concentrations in the air, and the enemy would be dead in a short time. That was absolutely not something Robin wanted to happen, but she understood it was a distinct possibility. Too many people had already died during this disaster of a mission.
==Tag Emily ==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
It didn't take long for Miles to get the schematics to the Bridge up from the computer. Thankfully, he noted no major changes that could alter a plan for breach. Taking the information he had, he returned to the Captain to report. He waited until she finished speaking to Calleja and Coleman before doing so.
"Captain," Miles said once he had a moment to give his update. "The Bridge has the standard layout for a Flight 2 Luna-class. Only updates appear to be ergonomic and aesthetic at most. We have three possible entry points: the two turbolifts at the Rear, and access from the Captain's Ready Room in the Fore. Utilizing the turbolifts would be the quickest route for a two-pronged attack, but would keep focus in one direction for the Cardassians on the Bridge. If possible, I would recommend finding a way to beam half the team to the Ready Room, while another comes from the Turbolift on the same side as the Ready Room.
"This is to avoid friendly fire from the two groups, while still dividing the attention more than the alternative. With this plan, we should be able to take the Bridge swiftly." After finishing his report, he awaited the reply from Captain Crawford.
==Tags==
While he waited on the computer to do its thing, Mayfair came back up to him with another question. "Commander," she asked, "if the Legate is downloading data doesn't that mean there's a direct connection to the PADD right now? Would it be possible to issue a deletion command from here to the PADD? Or a factory reset? Give the Legate something to worry about even as the team is storming the Bridge?"
He nodded in a non-committal way. "We could, but with it being a Cardassian padd, its software might not interpret the commands like expected. If I try to wipe it, it might ignore the command, it might wipe everything, or it might even just send the processor into an infinite loop which ends up melting the padd down." He rubbed his chin, weighing the option before he continued. "It's a thought, but for the moment I'd rather not risk it. If it does something crazy that might draw attention - somehow, they still don't seem to know we're here - and if we can grab it intact, it might be more useful to know what they have and have not gotten their hands on yet. But I'll definitely have it as an option on standby."
As his results came in, he made his notes and then stepped over towards the captain. Once she and Coleman and Calleja finished, he stepped up to Tyra. "Okay, so bad news first - the Legate is not aboard at the moment. Don't have a current location, but the Nor is a safe bet.
"Over to the good news," he continued. "Transporters should be fine for a small group - for example, your strike team. Apparently my first idea just overstretched them. We should also be able to do the neurozene pods to engineering if needed, as the forcefields are working throughout the ship, letting us seal them in though that'll be more of a game-time decision, I expect.
"Once you can take the bridge," he added, "we'll be in a much better place. We've got an option to try and take out that padd remotely, but I'm expecting you'd rather get it intact. Let me know if you want it blown." Perhaps literally, he thought, but nodded and left Tyra to her preparations.
Instead, he went back to his second set of orders - preparing for Plan Omega. In other words, for the destruction of the ship as spectacularly as possible. He turned and found D'Mar before calling her over. He knelt over his backpack and pulled one of the containers out very carefully. "Ensign," he told her once she'd arrived, "take this up to the top of the core and secure it. Once it's locked in place, arm the detonator" - he indicated the blinking device on the side - "and back away from it very carefully. I'll get one set up down here, and then we'll work on the other ones. Got that?" He handed the five kilogram container of antimatter to the young ensign once she was ready, and prayed this wasn't going to be needed.
==Tags Tyra and D'Mar==
82 posts
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Mara was quiet for a while, just listening to the comm chatter as the team worked. She connected a liquid ration pack to the nutrition tube on the suit and took advantage of the fact that she wasn’t needed immediately to get some fuel on board. Her physique had a mighty need for calories and protein, and topping up her energy levels was never a bad idea given she’d been shot twice.
Well. Twice so far. Gonna bet that that number’s higher by the time I get off this cursed f*ckin’ ship.
There was an apparently heated discussion between Crawford, Coleman and Elias that was taking place off the open comm. Calleja sighed. She knew full well how badly that boded for their prospects.
Guess it’s worst case scenario territory after all.
Once the senior officers broke off, Damian’s voice sounded in Mara’s ear.
[Carol, Mara. Cap’n needs you two to figure out custody arrangements for our new friends. We need somewhere to detain those we’ve already captured, and also those who we might capture in the near future. Preference being given to keeping them alive with the least supervision possible. Figure it out and then come chat with me.]
Oh, I got some suggestions for you. But you really wouldn’t like ‘em.
Gingerly, Calleja levered herself to her feet and disposed of the now empty ration pack. She stretched out her legs and went to look for Harriman. The deck plans were at the front of her mind and she was considering where was best to pen in the enemy. There were options that she started to work through.
Before the Security officer could find her Tactical counterpart, the Captain was calling them all together again.
[Gather up. Someone keep an eye on our friends and the doors while we brief. I'm going to make this fast and if there are any objections, I strongly suggest you swallow them because we don't have time for debate.]
A tiny part of Mara immediately prepared a joke about what happened last time she tried to spark a debate, but the notion was quickly squashed. Now was not the time.
Calleja listened closely as Crawford outlined the new plan. Suddenly her earlier thought about being shot again before this day was out seemed almost prophetic. She was heading right back into the teeth of the enemy.
Although that’s where they need me to be. And it’s where I’m gonna be.
She stepped away as indicated and waited calmly for Tyra to get over to where she stood with the FO. With a command, the channel was closed between the three of them.
[I need you to find a closet, preferable with an independent air source but not a deal breaker, with a door that can be sealed closed with a torch or a phaser in a rather permanent manner. If you're not comfortable moving our guests to their new quarters, I'll handle it but we no longer have the luxury of being hospitable. We'll find a more permanent solution when we have control so they better hope their friends don’t drag this out.]
“You pay me to do the things other people aren’t comfortable doin’. I got your back,” Mara replied evenly. “Just to be clear, we all know the easiest way to deal with these pricks is permanent. It’s the only way to be absolutely sure they don’t pose a threat to our plan here. ‘Cause we either have to leave someone to watch them in case their friends show up, or waste time we don’t have weldin’ doors, blowin’ locks and settin’ traps.” Her hand rested on the hilt of the knife at her belt. “I’ll make sure everyone else sees me take ‘em away so we don’t have to deal with the angst, and I’ll do it quick. Which is more than the Cardies would ever give us. And you don’t have to worry about givin’ me an order like that, ‘cause it was my call and you better believe I ain’t gonna put it on record.”
Despite how it looked, Calleja was not a sociopathic serial killer. She understood the impact of killing better than 99% of the rest of Star Fleet. But she was also the ultimate pragmatist. The same upbringing that was so steeped in death from a tender age also meant she didn’t baulk at taking lives when the situation called for it. And right now, she believed that the situation really did call for it.
“If you want other ideas, I got a couple,” she added. “I don’t know that we can find enough closets to physically fit the bodies, no matter how hard I squash ‘em in. And so whatever we do, we’re gonna have to rig something to keep ‘em in. I can sabotage the locks easy enough, weld the doors, or rig explosives if anyone tries to tamper with things. But we’re on deck 6. That means we’re on the same deck as the upper part of sickbay. I studied the deck plans while we were in transit, and unless I’m really mistaken, that means we’re on the same deck as the isolation and quarantine labs which are designed to hold people who wanna leave. We could use the enlisted bunk rooms, but that would mean smashin’ up terminals and replicators first.”
She looked at Tyra and Damian.
“Your decision. If you want me to find closets I can do that, but again. Time ain’t on our side and you need me on the front line.”
== Tags boss(es) ==
==D'Mar==
"Mogrund", a creature from Cardassian folklore. A spiky creature with many red eyes that sometimes returns from the spirit world to correct balance. Cardassian children are told of the Mogrund in the same way Human children are told about the Boogeyman.
There were no explicit references to what "Project Mogrund" was; only that the Parhelia System and the USS Callisto were crucial to it.
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Unfortunately Robin's idea wasn't going to work. She wasn't particularly vexed; it had been a long shot. She headed back to talk to Mara, Coleman, and Tyra were talking. She didn't like the way things were turning. The nurse wasn't as naive as she had been when she'd first set foot on the Artemis, but there were lines that were being crossed here. Whatever the situation they were still Star Fleet officers. Killing in combat was one thing; slaughtering unconscious prisoners was something else entirely.
Mara and the Captain can look at me like I'm a Pollyanna if they like. We're on a vast, empty ship. We don't have to kill these Cardassians. There are places to stash them for a few hours. If we don't take the ship soon it won't matter anyway.
Still, Mara had some other good ideas, and Robin was relieved. The medic thought the best was to stick them in isolation fields in Sickbay. The Bandaran had done her homework. They were close by and would stop almost anything even assuming the Cardassians managed to wake up from the drug dose the purple-haired Lieutenant had given them and free themselves from their restraints. The Kazon that had freed themselves in the Artemis Sickbay had carried shielded devices designed specifically to escape detection and fry force fields. Tyra had been an experienced Security officer; she would have checked them for hidden devices.
"The neurozine is ready, Captain, and Star has the remote. She's ready to go. The tricorders can activate them from 200 meters, and the remote from about half that. The Cardassians here are sedated. I pumped them full of enough anesthazine to keep them out for at least twelve hours. Between that and being hog-tied they should be safe to stick in Sickbay isolation. We can activate the fields from here."
== Tags Tyra and Mara ==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Jay D'Mar waited for Cdr Coleman to respond, as she searched further and discovered "Mogrund", was a reference to a creature from Cardassian folklore. A spiky creature with many red eyes that sometimes returns from the spirit world to correct balance. She also noticed that in some vague references to the Mogrund project the Parheila system and the USS Callisto seemed crucial to the project.
For the most part the PADD contained personal logs, a complete set of Luna-class schematics dated 2385, a detailed Obsidian Order briefing on Starfleet computer engineering and its safeguards, and a series of vague references to 'Project Mogrund'.
There were no explicit references to what "Project Mogrund" was; only that the Parheila System and the USS Callisto were crucial to it.
Parheila system is where we are! So the Mogrund a folklore creature that restores balance... The project is to restore balance by... by...giving Cardassians a Quantum Slipstream drive thus the Callisto is here! But I heard over the Comms the Slipstream drive is not on the Callisto it was ripped out. There trying or may have already fitted it to a Cardassian ship for testing!!!
Jay was about to recontact Cdr Coleman when Commander Elis Called D'Mar over. Proceeding to Cdr Elias she founding him knelling over his backpack pulling one of the containers out very carefully.
"Ensign, take this up to the top of the core and secure it. Once it's locked in place, arm the detonator" - he indicated the blinking device on the side - "and back away from it very carefully. I'll get one set up down here, and then we'll work on the other ones. Got that?" He handed the five-kilogram container of antimatter to the young ensign once she was ready, and prayed this wasn't going to be needed.
"Yes sir!" Jay answered. She had handled antimatter containers before, but carrying a 5-kilogram container up several ladders to the top of the core was going to be a new, very intense experience.
"Cdr Elias, may I speak candidly, sir?"
== Tag Commander Elias ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
Another thing that Aeryn was mindful of as she reached the second level, was ensuring that none of the devices that she, Lucy, and Carol planted and primed were obstructive or placed anywhere near any other explosives. Things might not be straightforward, but there was no need for overkill, especially as those remaining in the core still had to escape or at least have the option when the time came. It was a mixture of common sense and strategy when it boiled down to where said devices should go. There was also the logistics of how many each person had, because Aeryn knew that she would likely need a couple of grenades for her designated group to take over the bridge.
Factoring in everything, the COS took one of the grenades from her stash attached to her suit and set it down beside the access point of the Jefferies tube. Time might be against them, but that didn't stop Aeryn from practicing caution as it was then primed to detonate remotely by one of the core team. Standing back, Aeryn considered her next move, before speaking.
" We'll need to space them out, and be sensible where we place them".
Trusting the others to do as she suggested and be smart about it, Aeryn then climbed back down to continue her part of fortifying the core with the means at her disposal. Satisfied that it would be sufficient combined with executing the rest of the plan set by the Captain.
== Tags ==
21 posts
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Carol continued to fulfill the orders given as there was no room to go off on a tangent. From the defense of the crew earlier to now being charged with making sure the so-called prisoners couldn’t get out, Carol almost felt as if she was a cow, mindlessly doing what she was told. It wasn’t that she would protest, there were others who had ideas for the moment and Carol had none.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true, she had her opinions as usual, but the captain’s orders were to be followed. Carol had read of mutinies before, though they were rare in occurrence. She stayed quiet, turned her head as if she were in a tennis match. She listened and watched for a sudden attack, but also kept attention to the orders, which kept her behind with the chief of security and a few others. She looked around at those behind and sighed internally. She nodded her head slightly towards the captain and then looked to Lieutenant Miller. Once that was done, the lieutenant spoke to Carol, mentioning the use of grenades as a backup and tasked the science officer to help.
“Gotcha sir,” Carole mumbled.
She then followed the lieutenant’s lead in placing and priming the grenades, spacing them out as the chief did. Carol worked quietly assuring the task was done as well as she could. Once finished with the first part, she went back to the security chief, to help her finish up.
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
As Miles awaited the final decision from the Captain, he listened to the other updates from the others. He also took a sweeping acknowledgment of what everyone else was doing. He noted how Harriman had been commandeered by Lieutenant Miller to assist with the grenades and the like.
Which was fine, in Miles' opinion. At the moment, he and Harriman, the two Tactical Officers on this mission, had been glorified Security since they had boarded the Callisto. He understood as much, and knew they would fulfill their true roles when the time came.
Until then, they would do what they needed to to assist the mission moving forward. As he looked over his plans, he also considered the make up of the members assaulting the Bridge, and how best to split them between the two assault groups. When he considered experience and any other factors he could think of, he followed up his plan to the Captain.
"I believe it best we have yourself, Lieutenant Calleja, and myself assault from the Ready Room, while Commander Coleman, Lieutenant Miller, and Midshipman Star come in from the turbolift," he stated. Though he would prefer Mayfair to be them as the more seasoned, he could understand why the Captain had chosen to split the team as she had.
He once again had to wait to see if she had anything to add or change to his plans.
==Tag all==
==Sorry, I was on a brief vacation early this week!==
Benjamin couldn't help but notice that Ensign D'Mar seemed... not distracted, but maybe preoccupied was the better term. He assumed it had something to do with the padd she had been analyzing, but left it at that.
At least, he was going to. She took the container, but then said, "Commander Elias, may I speak candidly, sir?"
He looked at the young Cardassian and set a hand on top of the other containers still at his feet, if only to keep the hand from shaking. "Always, Ensign," he told her, "but make it quick. We don't have much time."
==Tag D'Mar==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
"Always, Ensign," Cdr Elias replied, "but make it quick. We don't have much time."
"From what I have discovered on this PAD that Cdr Coleman asked me to translate, sir, is that it seems the Slipstream drive is not aboard, sir. I believe it's part of some bigger project called "Project Mogrund". Mogrund is literally a Cardassian folklore creature that restores balance... The project is to restore balance by giving Cardassians the Quantum Slipstream drive technology for their ships, thus Callisto is here! This project Mogrund is situated close by, in this system, the Parheila system, where we are now, according to this pad.
We should use the Callisto and the WaveRider with its stealth capabilities to find the slipstream drive. Jay wanted to add more but with the fear of being presumptuous, she held back.
"I think I should bring this information to Cdr Coleman and the Captain before I do what you have requested, sir. Permission to make it so, sir?"
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
Lucy caught Aeryn’s words as she made her way back to the upper level of the Computer Core. This time she had the Engineering Field Kit she had acquired. It made sense to put a sensible amount of distance between the placement of the neurozene grenades. They appeared to be designed for remote triggering, which would be handy. Proximity activation would be useful, but there lay the inherent risk of of accidentally triggering and wasting them.
Lucy used an epoxy adhesive to place a grenade above two of the Jeffries entrances and one at the base of a console. She primed the three leaving them ready for activation and saved her last one to bounce off the head of any intruders who managed to bypass the traps that had been set. She had considered sticking them to the doors of the Jeffries entrances, but if it caught that would be a give-away. Better to put them somewhere where no-one would logically look.
Lucy made her way back down to the main area. The half setting to take the Bridge was getting ready to move out. The trick was the plan of attack. Jay had apparently been given some translation work and managed to glean some valuable information. Getting out of their depth seemed to be an increasing factor. She removed her phaser from her bag and tried to find a comfortable draw position.
At the waist just seemed uncomfortable. The old position of the banana phasers to the side of the pelvis at an angle was practical for a quick draw, but Lucy couldn’t see how anyone could run with such a bulky phaser. On the side of the thigh like the gunslingers in the Old West felt like a good fit. It was probably down to her arm length. Maybe it was the shoulder. She was happy enough to wait to see what happened next. She was certainly glad she wasn’t dealing with the logistics for this one.
As the team planned their next move, the deck started to rumble almost imperceptibly. More controls around the Computer Core came to life with noisy beeps and bright lights, and the small rumble became a subtle but constant vibration.
For long-term Starfleet Veterans, it was a sign that the Warp Core had been brought to operating power. A small rocking motion before the Inertial Dampeners kicked in revealed that the ship was also now in motion.
[Proceeding with disposal. All remaining personnel report to recovery stations.]
The readouts around the Computer Core would, if queried, confirm that the Callisto was now moving under its own power. The autonavigation system set to manual override and on a course towards Parhelia's primary star. With the Cardassians gone, it would be much easier to regain control of the ship, but the override could only be disengaged from the Bridge.
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
== My biggest apologies for my rather long absence, kids. ==
If Tyra had been irritated before, now she just wanted to scream into the ether and pretend that none of this was happening. And the reasons for wanting to scream just kept getting longer and longer. There was Calleja pointing out that they didn't have time to permanently seal their guests into rooms and then, there were Mayfair wandering into a conversation that she very specifically hadn't been invited to with a moral high ground and idealism that made Tyra want to slap her senseless and then, there was just the sheer ridiculousness of the circumstances. Actually, her list of people she wanted to lay hands on was getting long and almost all of them were still safely tucked in the Sol System.
"I'm not saying now is the time for a permanent solution," Tyra finally gritted out, her voice filled with obvious frustration, "but we also can't be so naïve to think that it might not come to that."
"From a security perspective, how the **** do we make sickbay isolation work? It's not secured and cleared right now; we would need to take time to clear that entire complex and then, drag our prisoners there. Yes, I know sensors say no one is down there but we can't be that trusting or stupid. And then, we just leave them there and hope that we maintain control of the forcefields and no one remotes into it? Or we don't miss someone and they get over there to free their friends?"
Her blue eyes shifted from Calleja to Mayfair, her eyebrow arched even if it was behind her visor. "No. That's how you lose prisoners and I say that from experience. If you're so confident that you sedated them completely, it sounds like you've volunteered to babysit them down here within sight of everyone, Mayfair. I truly hope that you calculated the doses correctly… or you'll find out what some of us have learned in our career. "Mercy" and "Cardassian" don't go in the same sentence."
It was clear the redhead was done with this particular conversation as she turned and began moving before being intercepted by Grant with the bridge schematics. He provided a rundown of the schematics before suggesting that transporting a small group into the ready room was the most advantageous approach along with the turbolift. It would need to be timed well but it was doable.
"Good job, we certainly needed some good news and that sounds like it," she said, offering him a tight smile but a smile nonetheless.
His news also changed her course as it took her back towards Elias with the intention of telling him they'd be utilizing the transporters after all. However, she got only about three steps into her trip before she felt that almost imperceptible tremor of the deck plates, the feeling captains savored when taking their ships out for missions. In this instance though, it was not a good feeling at all.
[Proceeding with disposal. All remaining personnel report to recovery stations.]
Tyra's reaction was a loud Deltan curse that seemed more growled than yelled. If there had been anything in her hand, she probably would have chunked it at the nearest target but fortunately, her right hand was empty.
"Alright, we need to get to the bridge now. Elias, do you need engineering?" she called across the core towards where he was standing with his minion.
Why didn't we just orbital strike this piece of junk? Admittedly, it doesn't sound like we need to scuttle it either… what a ******* pointless, waste of an assignment. Chalk another one up to Intel and their terrible intelligence skills. How many times do they get to almost kill me with bad intel before I get to airlock one of them?
== GM: Can I get some clarification? You mention there being no Cardassians anymore at the end of your input but don't actually explain what that means. Did all the Cardassians aboard disappear or just the ones on the bridge? Including our prisoners that we definitely would have seen poof out? ==
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
== No prob! ==
Robin understood that Tyra was frustrated, but her irritation wasn't helping. They were all frustrated. Frustrated at this mess of a mission that they never should have been assigned to. Frustrated because despite all that it was increasingly looking like the team had never even had a chance of success. No prisoners had been rescued, the Slipstream drive was gone, and likely so was the data that went with it. It was all a waste of time. Of lives. Possibly their own.
She felt as if the Captain was shooting down every possible solution because they might have a chance of failure. They were winging it, here, and the team was trying to come up with solutions that would help only to have them slapped down.
"No. That's how you lose prisoners and I say that from experience. If you're so confident that you sedated them completely, it sounds like you've volunteered to babysit them down here within sight of everyone, Mayfair. I truly hope that you calculated the doses correctly… or you'll find out what some of us have learned in our career. "Mercy" and "Cardassian" don't go in the same sentence."
Robin said nothing except "Yes, sir."
Don't insult my intelligence or imply I don't know how to do my job. I may be barely out of diapers as far as my career goes but I can calculate drug dosages in my sleep. Without having to look the numbers up. The day I get that wrong is the day I resign from Star Fleet and head back to the farm.
She met Tyra's gaze firmly. The nurse wasn't the same diffident Middie she'd been when she'd first set foot on the Artemis, the girl who would have been shattered by having a Captain berate her. She still had a long way to go, but being a department head had toughened her up immensely.
"Of course, Captain. I'll keep an eye on them."
Tyra's frustration wasn't going to be helped if Robin responded by expressing her own frustration. They had a job to do and the clock was ticking. The truth was that the nurse was more than happy to do so if it meant the rest of the team could get going on its assignment and take the bridge. No one was injured and required her attention at the moment, and she was absolutely confident that she'd given them enough sedatives. More than enough. A bull elephant would have a hard time waking up, and even if they somehow managed to throw off the dosage they were still hog-tied.
Robin felt the slight rumble and shift that meant that the Callisto had activated its warp core and the ship was now moving.
[Proceeding with disposal. All remaining personnel report to recovery stations.]
Well, crap.
The CMO's medical tricorder was back in her hand in an instant, scanning for life signs.
== GM Input: How many Cardassians does Robin detect? And their locations, too. Also do our sleepy friends disappear? ==
"From what I have discovered on this PADD that Cdr Coleman asked me to translate, sir," Ensign D'Mar started to rattle off, "is that it seems the Slipstream drive is not aboard, sir. I believe it's part of some bigger project called 'Project Mogrund.' Mogrund is literally a Cardassian folklore creature that restores balance... The project is to restore balance by giving Cardassians the Quantum Slipstream drive technology for their ships, thus Callisto is here! This project Mogrund is situated close by, in this system, the Parheila system, where we are now, according to this padd.
"I think I should bring this information to Cdr Coleman and the Captain before I do what you have requested, sir. Permission to make it so, sir?"
Benjamin stood there for a moment, speechless. While there was nothing incorrect in D'Mar's analysis, it was all so much less than useless that it made Benjamin's artificial eye wink out in static from the stress headache it brought on. Getting the Slipstream from Callisto was in the briefing material, and while D'Mar had been elsewhere they had already discovered the drive was already missing from Callisto. With no new information, it was simply more noise and distraction at a time when there was absolutely no time for distractions.
Fortunately, he didn't have time to say any of that. He saw Tyra coming towards him, and then all hell figuratively broke loose. The engines started to thrum through the decks - he could feel them ramping up from start to full power through his feet - and the comms came to life. [Proceeding with disposal. All remaining personnel report to recovery stations.]
Instead, what came out of his mouth was simply "Fuck." No time even for one of the more creative curses he knew - though a few neurons considered invoking the stunningly-dressed tax mistress of the Vault of Eternal Destitution - as their plans crumbled around them.
"Alright, we need to get to the bridge now," Tyra called from across the core. "Elias, do you need engineering?"
"Transporters standing by for your team, ma'am," he called back. "I'll lead a group to engineering after you're gone." He turned back to D'Mar. "Get that container set up, but only halfway up - no time for anything else. You've got one minute."
He dismissed the ensign from his thoughts and turned back to the console. Stealth was no longer an option - no time to be cute about any of the system requests he needed. He queried the navigation computer and saw it was locked in manual from the bridge. "Captain," he called, "navigation is locked in manual - your team will have to override." The engines were working and moving the ship, and with the warp core operating it was possible this was going to be a very short trip.
==Tags Crawford & D'Mar==
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
The engines started to thrum through the decks. Being an engineer Jay knew what that meant. Then the comms came to life.
[Proceeding with disposal. All remaining personnel report to recovery stations.]
'Preceding with disposal?' Are they going to destroy Callisto? 'All remaining personnel report to recovery stations...' of course, destroy the ship so the crew is leaving... and the Cardassians will kill us as well! No evidence and problem solved.
"Fuck." said Cdr Elias
I can not understand why humans use expletives. They are a waste of breath!
"Alright, we need to get to the bridge now," the captain called from across the core. "Elias, do you need engineering?"
Bridge? Engineering? Jay couldn't believe what she was hearing. Callisto is lost! We need to get to the WaveRider, find the Slipstream drive, it's in this system and destroy it. That's our objective! Mission accomplished!
"Transporters standing by for your team, ma'am," he called back. "I'll lead a group to engineering after you're gone." He turned back to D'Mar. "Get that container set up, but only halfway up - no time for anything else. You've got one minute."
Ens D'Mar considered her options, took the canister and said "Yes sir, but that's the wrong option, sir. Our objective is to stop the Cardassians gaining slipstream drive technology. Let them think Callisto and all the Starfleet intruders have been destroyed. While we escape in the WaveRider and find the slipstream drive, that PAD tells us it's in this planetary system, and destroy it. Yes sir, I'll do what you order me to do!"
Jay quickly turned, before the Commander had time even to think of more expletives, before she could be balled out a second time in front of the whole crew, and proceeded to go and place the canisters only halfway up the core, this time.
== GM input, lease? The transport inhibitors would stop the Cardassians transporting out the unconscious prisoners, right? Would the transport inhibitors stop the Star Fleet teams transporting to the bridge and/or Engineering? Do they need to be switched off? ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
With the last grenade in place, Aeryn righted her posture just in time to see Harriman and Lucy finish their tasks. Satisfied that the core would be well protected should the inevitable happen, the COS completed another check of her remaining devices, a sign that she was ready to get going to the bridge. There was little for her to do right now, but then just when she thought things couldn't get any worse than they already had, their time on the Callisto was about to get a lot shorter.
Normally, the thrum of the engines coming to life was a reassuring sound, but not today, especially when it was followed by a comm message informing them of the Cardassians' intentions. Several expletives came to the blonde's mind to describe this latest development, but none of them were said out loud because, frankly, it was just a waste of breath. The enemy had gotten what they wanted and had no problem disposing of Callisto without a second thought.
What that meant for the strike team she didn't know, although it was obvious that she wasn't the only one to react negatively to the news. The Captain then called out to everyone about needing to get to the bridge before directing her attention to Elias regarding engineering. Aeryn didn't have to be told twice, as things had become even more pressing than they had originally planned. " Ready to go Mara?" she asked, knowing the answer as the security officer awaited further details and instructions.
== Tags ==
==Crawford - More of a hypothetical to say that the job will be a whole lot easier after they leave. Apologies for any confusion!==
==Mayfair==
Aside from the four unconscious Cardassians currently in the Computer Core, the twenty-two she had detected earlier were still present. Twelve had assembled in Transporter Room 1, quickly reducing to six as they beamed away. Another ten were moving towards Transporter Room 2. One Cardassian remained on the Bridge and one in Engineering, likely doible-checking things before they themselves evacuated.
Sure enough, after a few moments of waiting, the two bio-signs began to move towards their comrades in the Transporter Rooms.
==D'Mar==
Yes, they would prevent any transporter signal functioning in the affected area. The sensors would scramble the sensors trying to lock on to any lifer signs, preventing a successful beam-out. The jamming would also prevent successful re-integration of anyone trying to beam in, leading to one of two outcomes; the traveller being scattered into the aether having never realised they were dead, or materialising in an agonising Picasso-esque jumble of body parts and organs.
165 posts
Chief Medical Officer
USS Artemis NCC-110000
Link to Bio
As Robin scanned with her tricorder a group of Cardassians beamed away. Six disappeared, and the next group would no doubt vanish as soon as the pad was clear and the system reengaged.
"Captain, the Cardassians are beaming away," she told Tyra. "Six are gone, with six more in Transporter Room 1 waiting. Ten more are are moving towards it from around the ship, with one remaining on the Bridge and one in Engineering."
That's it. Do we retreat to the Waverunner or still try and take the ship? They know we're here and may be trying to dispose of us. What options does that leave us?
== GM Input: Robin will keep an eye on her tricorder and track the enemy movements. ==
58 posts
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
Science Officer
Link to Bio
It was an odd change in fortunes for the crew. Lucy had to cover the urge to laugh at Commander Elias’ expletive outburst. She wasn’t too sure when she had run out of ***** to give. This mission had been laden with mishaps almost from the moment they had set foot on the Callisto. There was an odd sense of irony after her efforts to secure the Computer Core from an in-person intrusion, by the Cardassians.
For any other crew to have the vessel under you set for destruction, it was a disaster. From Lucy’s experience so far, for the crew of the Artemis, it was Tuesday. She thought it was unintentionally kind of the Cardassians to spare the crew the effort of scuttling the Callisto, sadly the crew probably needed the vessel now.
Aside from the stunned Cardassians and the ones killed in the fight at the junction there appeared to be two left on the Callisto, one on the Bridge and the other in Engineering. Something would have to be done as the Waverider wasn’t the escape vessel of choice. Planning and execution would be needed. Dying at this stage of the mission would be less than ideal.
Benjamin stood there, his face getting darker and darker as D'Mar questioned his - and the captain's incidentally - orders directly to his face. All that saved a reprimand was that she immediately turned around and followed his instructions to place the explosive charge, as despite his anger, he didn't want to yell across the room at her. He knew that a long talk was needed, but that was going to have to wait. Assuming any of us survive, he thought, and I have time before I'm arrested.
Instead, he turned and began consulting his console, trying to get a picture of what he could do. He had most of the controls here already, though he was currently locked out of navigation. Engineering would be a bonus - and if they were going to try and do anything with the ship once the Cardassians were gone, would be necessary - but at the moment he was pretty well set. He set up the transporter for it to beam the bridge team as soon as they assembled out in the hallway, and set that program to Tyra's voice command so it was ready for them.
However, his dark mood fell further when he heard Mayfair call out across the room that the Cardassians were beaming out, particularly when he remembered the padd that had been on the bridge. He couldn't assume it was still there - if they were leaving, it was going with them, obviously. He also couldn't just blow it up or beam it out of their hands, as they would start beaming more Cardassians here rather than taking them away.
So instead, he tried something different, taking the initiative to do it himself rather than asking the captain. He accessed the transporter safety routines, in particular the routine that allowed an operator to isolate weapon signatures and remove them from the transport stream. In most situations, this was simply an advisory program unless hostiles were being beamed aboard, and was more annoying than anything else when beaming people out. But Benjamin used it to his advantage.
With a few clicks, he widened its selection parameters to indicate that anything non-organic was a weapon, and then turned on the automatic removal feature for all outbound transports. That way, he was sure to get any equipment they were carrying - particularly the padd - though he also realized that might mean the Cardassians showed up at their destination naked. He didn't know what taboos their society had about that, but he found the thought distinctly hilarious. Unfortunately, as soon as they started materializing, the Cardassians would know there was a problem. He readied the shield controls, knowing they'd be needed sooner rather than later.
Fortunately, the way he'd set it up was only looking at outbound transports, meaning that the assault team's site-to-site would be unaffected. "Transporter is set to your voice," he called to the captain, "and sooner would be better; our surprise may be gone any second now."
==GM: transporter setup information for whenever it's needed.==
110 posts
Acting Chief Tactical Officer
USS Artemis, EX-11000
Link to Bio
Miles nodded as the Captain responded to his report. Before any further action could be taken, however, the ship began to rumble. Though no veteran, Miles had spent plenty of time on a ship and at the Helm to know the ship was beginning to move. Though he wasn't keen on the mechanics as of yet, he knew they were moving.
Then came the message about "disposal". That didn't sound overly promising. Everything truly became rapid fire after that point, to include the report that the remaining Cardassians aboard had been heading to the Transporter Rooms, and were apparently beaming out.
As the other tasks were being completed and Captain Crawford giving out updated orders, Miles fell into step, while also considering the ways this new information changed the game plan.
It seemed that every step of this so-called mission pointed to destroying the Callisto. Now, however, the opportunity to take the ship and get out of system had become exponentially more doable. As they moved about to move out, Miles took the opportunity to address the Captain.
"I think it may still be pertinent to continue with the original formations to take the Bridge," he stated. "Just as a precaution in case these updates and readouts aren't as...straightforward as they appear."
==Tag==
136 posts
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis, NCC-110000
There was a lot going on everywhere and Tyra wasn't sure whether she wanted to scrunch her eyes closed to beat back what was likely a building migraine or bang her head against a wall to help it along for the sake of added suffering. If it was going to suck, why not embrace it to its fullest?
Instead she nodded to Elias as he informed her that the transporters were set to her voice and then, continued that nod as Mayfair added more information and then, Grant added his recommendation.
"Agreed," was all she said to Grant as she moved past.
"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."
What she didn't mention was that the team would also remain intact if there was any booby traps with two pilots, they could still get Callisto under control and Coleman was more than capable of command.
"Let's go," she called, motioning for her three to gather close. As soon as they were, she gave them a small nod and then, gave the command to beam the four of them to the bridge, specifically the back portion by the lift. They'd be able to clear the lift and hold the upper hand on the bridge until back up came along.
As soon as they beamed out, the second team would be clear to beam into the ready room.
== GM: If you can take both teams to the bridge and ready room respectively, thanks! ==
121 posts
Acting Chief Of Security
USS Artemis
Link to Bio
There was further disturbing news as Robin confirmed that the remaining Cardassians were starting to beam off the ship, except one on the Bridge and one in Engineering. That would make things a lot easier when they got there, even if she would like nothing better than to take a few Cardassians out. Elias then called out that the transporters were set to the Captain's voice, understanding exactly what he meant regarding their element of surprise with the enemy departing like rats from a sinking ship.
Captain Crawford then issued orders after speaking to Grant, dividing the bridge assault into two teams, with her and Mara joining the Captain in the first wave. For Aeryn that was more than acceptable, as Tyra beckoned them to gather, so they could be beamed to the Bridge. Once the command was given, Aeryn waited for the inevitable beam of light to take them away.
== Tags ==
>> Callisto Bridge >>
64 posts
Engineering Officer
USS Artimes NCC-110000
Link to Bio
Jay started climbing the computer core, with a very dangerous package. If she dropped it... well, she didn't really want to think about that! As ordered, she reached about half way up the core and decided to attach the canister a small way from the ladder as it would be easily reach to dismantle if needed. She needed to secure it so that no violent movement would set it off or cause it to fall.
If that happened it would be curtains for everyone. But that was the mission, wasn't it? We aren't coming back from this? Unless, of course, she could find out where the slipstream dive was being held? With that information there is a change we'd all... um... some of us may get out alive.
Jay decided at that moment, once she had completed her task, she was going to search for the slipstream dive, somehow? But first the canister.
Several minutes pass. The captain and her split team transported to the bridge. Next the engineering team will be leaving. At least, that's how she had remembered the plan. She was on the engineering team. That was going to disturb her plan to search for the Slipstream.
I wonder what sort of mess Engineering is in. At least the ship is moving.
|
