The Dark Backward

Featuring the Following NPCs
jason-isaacs-1.jpg - S'Van
BNaath-1.jpg - B'Naath
Vegal-Djinn-1.jpg - Djinn
FerrisJones-1.jpg - Jones

Originally Posted by Harry Finn/02-28-2009 06:39:02 PM

::USS Chimera::
::Multi-use Office - Deck 1::

The yellow alert, which S’Van was given to understand indicated that Chimera had caught up with the Veritas and, most importantly, the last cylinder, continued to sound as he waited with rapidly disintegrating patience. The phaser fire had, of course, been detected but with so many being prepped to board the enemy vessel, he had been told to remain with the barely stirring Commander Finn until a member of Security could be dispatched.

Though he’d found some small pleasure in those extra moments with Finn… and the bruises could easily be attributed to his fall… the edges of the desk were quite wicked, after all. Under normal circumstances the operative would never stoop to such petty vengeance but Finn had trespassed… digging up classified information before Rev had been prepared to divulge the full extent of the upcoming mission. That was simply not to be tolerated… less even than the mortal sin of striking a superior officer.

Still, even as he’d made quite certain that Harry would remember his faux pas, Rev thought it would be rather a waste if the man weren’t required for the upcoming trials. Resourceful, focused and not overly bound by regulations… at least, not when he perceived a threat to his … people… Finn, with his antiquated code of honor, was practically tailor made for the coming insertion.

“A man born out of your time, perhaps?” he asked, rising from where he’d crouched, phaser ready to administer another shot should such be required, to greet the incoming ‘cavalry’.

“Ah,” he said, seeing who had arrived. “Petty Officer…”

“B’Naath,” the Caitian officer replied, as polite as ever, though, if it weren’t suppressed by the uniform, his fur would be rising with his instinctive distaste for the present company. “I understand there’s been an… incident.”

“Alas, yes,” S’Van stepped aside. “I daresay Mister Finn will require some medical attention prior to his incarceration. He may have hit his head as he fell. I regret having to fire at all but he was delving into classified records… after giving me quite the left cross.”

“I see.” B’Naath, who’s respect for Finn had taken root during the last hours of the Human’s time on Kendrassa Prime, knelt and checked the commander’s pulse, noting as he did the scent of Human blood, though he saw no visible wounds. “And what of yourself, Commander?” he asked without looking back, “Would you also be requiring medical assistance?”

S’Van touched the swollen area of his jaw, wincing only slightly. “Perhaps later,” he replied, “for now I’d prefer to join Captain Torrik on the bridge. I wish very much to know how the extraction of the artifact is proceeding.” And there may be some fallout to attend once Atropos made her report. Not that S’Van was concerned. He was, after all, the mission control and Finn had almost gleefully broken several regulations…

“As you wish,” B’Naath tapped his combadge. =/\=Transporter control, this is PO2 B’Naath. Commander Finn is down. At your convenience, please lock on to our signals and transport to primary sickbay.=/\=

=/\=Jenkins to B’Naath, copy that. Energizing, now.=/\=

Someone will have to tell Anderson, B’Naath thought as the transporter took hold. Then the two men were in the sickbay where, he was almost certain, Dr. Seldon would have a bed reserved just for Commander Finn.

Featuring NPC’s Commander Rev S’Van and PO2 B’Naath


Originally Posted by Simba Wekesa/03-1-2009 01:15:12 PM

Archaeological Vessel Veritas
Auxiliary Control Center

A few minutes earlier…

Cautiously, Ensign Simba Wekesa stepped over the bodies of the two stunned Terra Prime guards and entered the Veritas' auxiliary control center. It was dimly lit, mostly illuminated by the glow of the various displays and consoles that surrounded the room, and unmanned save for the two guards who had been posted on either side of the doorway. Apparently the crew was either tied up dealing with the Chimera on the bridge or confronting the other strike teams. Just as well, he figured. It would make his work here much easier if there were minimal interruptions.

"I suggest we get to work on disabling the defenses before we are discovered," Petty Officer Zal Govan commented as he dragged the unconscious guards into the control center and allowed the door to slide shut behind them. He placed a small device on the door and activate it, sealing the doors shut, and fell back to the center of the room where he crouched behind a console and pointed his phaser rifle at the door. "The retrieval team should be beaming in any moment now."

Simba nodded, leaning over another console and attempting to break through the security lockouts. "I'm already on it." While he worked, he considered his escort. He'd never met a Cardassian before, and perhaps Zal Govan wasn't a typical Cardassian, but he certainly didn't fit the stereotypes of his people. Thoughtful and calculating, yes, but certainly not cold. He was quiet but efficient, a quality which Simba valued. The sooner they accomplished their mission and got back to the Chimera the better.

"Alright, I've broken through their security protocols. Accessing main computer controls now." Suddenly, a red indicator began flashing on the console. Simba quickly turned his attention to another display. "Dammit, I tripped some kind of alarm."

"There are several humans moving in this direction," Zal informed him as he looked at his tricorder's display. Quietly, he set the tricorder on the floor and checked the targeting sensor on his rifle.

"I'm raising a forcefield around the doorway, that should at least buy us a few minutes," Simba replied as his hands flew quickly over the console. Behind him, he heard the distinctive energy buzz as the field activated. "I'm sure it won't take them long to find a way past it, but hopefully it'll be enough." He turned back to the first display and set to work. Disabling internal defenses was his first priority. That meant taking out forcefields and anything else that might get in the way of the retrieval team first. Then, if there was time, take out the internal sensors.

Alright, you can do this, Simba thought to himself as he skimmed through the Veritas' technical data. Shutting down main power seemed like the quickest way to kill the forcefields. Then lock it out with an encryption code to keep them from turning it back on.

Buzz! Somebody had just run into his own forcefield on the other side of the control room doors.

"This is too easy," Simba muttered, accessing the primary power distribution grid. Certainly, a fifty year old civilian archaeological vessel didn't have the same sorts of security and safeguards he was used to. There was another buzz outside the door as the Terra Prime crew continued their attempts to break into the room. Entering a final set of commands, Simba grinned in satisfaction as he ordered the computer to cut main power. The background thrum of the vessel's systems faded as the Veritas switched to emergency power.

Thud! A heavy object slammed directly into the control room door.

"I think you just disabled our forcefield too, sir," Zal reported as he lifted his rifle and took aim at the center of the doorway.

"Yes, but the locks on the door are still secure." He frowned at the display. "Damn, magnetic locking mechanisms engaged on all the doors as soon as main power was cut. These people are paranoid…" Wekesa punched up another screen, looking for a way to disable the locks.

"Xenophobes usually are," the Cardassian observed quietly. The pounding on the doors continued; it was only a matter of time before they would break through.

"Got it!" Simba exclaimed, overriding the security lockouts. "Locking mechanisms have been disabled, they should have a clear shot." He tapped his commbadge. "Wekesa to Chimera… internal defenses are offline, you are clear to transport the retrieval team." With any luck, McMennan's team would have the Veritas' communication systems disabled by now. He turned his attention back to the console and set to work on the internal sensors and. No reason not to give their people every advantage they could.

"We've got company!" Zal shouted suddenly. The control room doors exploded as the Veritas' crew blasted through. The Cardassian ducked behind a console, shielding himself from the debris that flew through the air, then took aim at the thick cloud of smoke that filled the jagged opening into the corridor, ready to take out anyone who might try to come through.

To be continued…

Featuring Petty Officer Zal Govan.


Originally Posted by Harry Finn/03-1-2009 03:18:30 PM

::Archeological Vessel Veritas::
::Communications Hub::

Aengus was head and shoulders deep into the Veritas communications juncture, slicing as fast as he could. It was imperative that the Chimera discover what, if any, communications the Terra Prime crew had made over the past few days. It was also deemed prudent to prevent any outgoing calls until after the Federation crew had recovered the stolen artifact…

The artifact Cadet Star and Pierce were currently tracking.

Pierce…

His boarding assignment received, McMennan reported to the armory along with his team and, once there, he’d given PO3 Pierce a good, long look before accepting his weapons and moving on. It had been enough to ascertain that the petty officer had no idea what had gone down between Aengus and Jenny in the ‘lift.

Not that Pierce’s ignorance made it okay. But the cadet would prefer he have the chance to make things right with Jenny before Anderson’s sworn protector rearranged Aengus’ features, rather than the other way 'round. It was just… he didn’t know how to make it right. He should ask T’Shaini. She’d been dead on when she’d indicated his unchecked rage could only lead to regret.

But first, he checked his equipment once more, first there was an enemy vessel to board…

“‘Ow’s it goin’ then, sir?”

Ferris Jones’ voice broke through the shouts and weapons’ fire… it had been quiet for all of two minutes before the Terra Prime crew had taken up arms, making sporadic forays down one of the two ‘spokes’ which fed into the ventricle column where the junction was housed.

“I’m in,” he replied calmly, focusing on the job, not the chaos behind. It was hard, given the numerous racial slurs the Terra Prime contingent were… well he was impressed that Koll kept his phaser at a stun setting quite frankly. These people were…

“Shit,” the stream of data hitting his tricorder just bumped… “they’re getting a com out…” he shouted back into the corridor.

“I thought you had blocked the signal.” That was Koll’s deep growl.

“I did! There’s a secondary juncture… has to be…” It was overkill for a vessel this size but these people were clearly, as Finn would say, ‘suspenders and a belt’ types. A sudden rise, drop and steadying in the lighting indicated that the tactical team had managed to cut main power.

“We don’t have time to suss it out… get what you can,” Jones again. “Soon as the data’s transferred we can move out and lay suppressive for the retrieval team.” That last was punctuated by a rapid series of phaser blasts and some ripe curses. “An’ don’t spare the circuits, while you’re a' it…”

“Roger that,” Aengus replied. He uplinked with Chimera and copied the communications cache to T’Preen. Once that was completed, he shut down, double checked the locking code he’d programmed into the coms and ducked out. “We’re good to go…”

“Hello.”

Aengus turned to the right, phaser up and ready but there, in sharp contrast to the belligerent rain of fire coming from the left passage, was only a young woman, unarmed and smiling warmly.

“Miss,” he eyed the woman as Jones covered the rear and Koll split his attentions between the oncoming civilian and the lessening fire. Why lessening? “This isn’t the safest place to be,” he told her.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, coming closer, still smiling but now he could see there was something not quite… right… about her eyes. “Nothing matters, you see. Nothing that happens now will make any difference…”

"Now that there," Jones inserted as he glanced over his shoulder, "is what me old dad would call two stones of crazy in a one stone bag…"

She was only two meters distant by now and her face wearing a look of such peace…

“Cadet, move back at once!” Koll stepped forward, throwing Aengus behind him when the girl calmly, as if in blessing, raised her right hand to display the detonator secreted in her small, smooth palm.

Featuring Security Officers: Aengus McMennan, Koll and Ferris Jones


Originally Posted by T'Shaini/03-1-2009 05:13:32 PM

USS Chimera
Sickbay

T'Shaini had not even made it back to their quarters when the commlink went off.

=^=Seldon to T'Shaini=^=

=^=T'Shaini here, what can I do for you doctor?=^= Thank goodness, her voice sounded no where near as weary as she felt.

=^=I got Finn here again…something fishy about it, I think you should come down and talk to him.=^= There was a slight pause, then he continued. =^=Was with Commander S'Van and…well, I think you had better come down here.=^=

=^=On my way.=^=

Breathe, do not jump to conclusions…it may not be what it appears. T'Shaini tried to tell herself that…over and over as she walked, but as she entered sickbay, she feared the worst. Soon all of the command crew will be confined… Acknowledging the jerk of his head that Ender used to indicate where Harry was housed with a nod, the counselor crossed the room and stood quietly at the side of his biobed.

He could pretend to still be out… that might work…

"Harry, I know you are awake…the fact that you tried to squinch your eyes tighter closed to pretend to be asleep was a dead giveaway." T'Shaini said dryly.

"Damn… I'll have to work on that," sighing, he opened his eyes and, daring the curses of the CMO, swung himself to sitting, though the spinning of the room, and B'Naath's careful throat clearing, kept him seated on the biobed. "So, how you doing?" He tried out a smile.

"What happened?"

Looked like he'd have to work on 'charm', too. "I hacked into S'Van's personal computer, found out why he's been stalking various members of the crew…" and he still couldn't quite grasp the scope of what he'd seen, "and then he showed up, got snarky and I slugged him. Just the once…"

"Oh Harry…" T'Shaini was at a loss. "you hit him?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Wait, first you hacked into his computer then you hit him?"

"I might have hit him first, if he'd been in the room at the time but he didn't show til after I'd broken into his files." Harry realized this wasn't making her feel any better. "The thing is, he's not playing by the rules, here. Not in his dealings with the crew and not with Torrik or me and, given his history… I didn't want to wait until I was standing over a bunch of dead bodies before I took the time to find out his agenda." He shook his head, which only made the room spin some more, "I should have expected him to bring a phaser to a fist fight, though," he added, waiting for the nauseating motion to cease.

"Let me get this straight…" She took a deep breath. "You decided, given your previous knowledge of his behavior, that you should eschew official channels and go over Nils head and handle this yourself?" T'Shaini dragged her hands through her hair. "How many times today can I have this conversation?"

He considered and summarily discarded, 'At least I hit a superior officer', 'Like, what, I'm worried it'll go on my permanent record?' and 'Javi did it first!' before sucking it up and admitting, "Maybe it wasn't the smartest move but…" he remembered the unsubtle threat against Wendy S'Van had made, decided against mentioning it and moved on to… "He's using us. He's using us and not disclosing the risk and I have danced that dance before…"

"I understand your worry, really I do…what I do not understand is the methods you chose to alleviate said worry." T'Shaini sat down next to him on the biobed with a sigh. "What good could hitting him possibly do?"

"It's not like I planned it," he pointed out, reluctantly meeting her eyes, "it just… happened."

She held his gaze for a long moment. "I am sorry if I, in any way, precipitated this exchange."

It was another moment before he broke contact, "You don't have to be sorry because some spook stepped over the line," he said, finally, rubbing a knuckle over his brow. "Besides, if you ask Seldon, he thinks it's all just PTSD…"

"Knows," came from a nearby console, where Ender was adding onto Finn''s copious medical records, "knows it's PTSD…"

"So, you see," Harry shrugged as his hand dropped, "not so much your fault."

"No motive is ever simple," She leaned against his shoulder and gave it a light push, "especially in a complex individual such as yourself."

"Yeahhh, you know, flattery only works on Tuesdays and alternate Sundays…" the fleetingly sad smile was gone before it could be registered, then he acknowledged the shifting of B'Naath's posture, where he stood at the entrance to sickbay. They only had a limited amount of time, here. "And meanwhile, there's the issue of what I found…"

T'Shaini leaned in, she felt somehow that she should not be interested…but she was. "Yes?"

"I didn't get to the source… the why… but he's got a list of crew, including you, Jav and… Jenny…" Harry's eyes met and held Wendy's, "crew he plans to insert into," he paused because, quite frankly he couldn't believe he was saying it, "into the past; into Nazi occupied France…"

"So that is where the map came in…." T'Shaini's brow knit in confusion. "But puzzles?"

He shook his head again, pleased that, at least, the vertigo was easing off. "I didn't get to the specifics… he shot me before I could access the next level…"

"Commanders, forgive me."

The two looked up to see that the Caitian had, quite cat-like, encroached on the conversation. Whiskers twitching, he gave a slight bow, "I'm afraid I must see you to the brig, sir… with the yellow alert, all hands are required…"

"Yeah," Harry sighed, sliding off the bed, "gotcha." He looked back to Wendy, "Atropos knows all I know and she's reporting to Nils but… this is big… bigger than… anything…" so big, he really had no words left. Harry held her eyes, as if he could find in their depths the answer… or any answers… before he turned briskly and nodded to his escort, "Let's go."

T'Shaini pushed herself off the bio bed to head back to her quarters. First take care of Lia, then see if Nils will see me, I would be much interested to hear the rest of Atropos report.

Testosterone testosterone everywhere….


Originally Posted by Javier Costala/03-1-2009 09:06:05 PM

-Deck 4-
-Brig-

Does all you have gained mean so little to you?

Javier sat on the floor, back to the energy barrier, facing the blank wall of his cell. His legs were crossed in the way that T'Shaini had shown him more than a year before. Nothing else had helped still the anger he felt so the engineer decided to try that which he had never been able to succeed at…meditation. He exhaled. A long drawn out sigh issued from his mouth. Then Javier inhaled, drawing himself up into an erect sitting position as air filled his lungs. He exhaled again.

Breathe deeply. T'Shaini told him. He could hear her, an inner voice, guiding him through the exercise. One. Inhale. Two. Exhale. Three. Inhale. Four. Exhale. It almost felt as if T'Shaini was sitting beside him, so strong was the resonance of her presence in his thoughts.

The engineer let his breathing follow the simple, steady rhythm of her words. The exercise was designed to allow him to focus on one central thought and find peace in it. But Javier's focus was dedicated to the single question that T'Shaini had asked of him.

Does all you have gained mean so little to you?

He was aware of the low hum of the energy field. Acutely aware of the passage of air into his cell as he could feel and hear it. The voices of the security detail who kept watch on the brig were present. The flashing lights of the alert were a distraction that could be removed and his eyes slid closed. The pulsing of the warp engine could be felt through the deck plates. Javier latched onto the rhythm. It was very similar to his own heart. His fingertips pressed against the deck plates and the pulsing life flowed through him.

Nine. Exhale. Ten. Inhale.

T'Shaini's hands pressed against his chest as Javier looked down into her eyes. She didn't push him away, but lightly rested her hands on his body. Her eyes held his as his hand softly caressed her cheek. There was a smudge on her bottom lip and he bent his head low to take her lip in between his own.

My lovely confidant.

Thirteen. Exhale. Fourteen. Inhale. Fifteen.

The floor was hard but his thoughts were far away. The sounds of the ship functioning continued on but the engineer could no longer hear them.

An excited squeal and then a cry for 'Daddy' and she was in his arms, hugging him fiercely. Lia, who had been taken from him. Lia, whom they said had been killed. His daughter. His little girl. She was crying and her tears mixed with his own.

My Lia.

Does all you have gained mean so little to you?

A punch knocked him to the floor of the shuttle. Nils stood over him, the Bajoran was positively furious. Then a look of bewilderment crept over Nils' face, it was followed by a curious frown then a hesitant smile. Laughter, his own, followed by an uncomfortable shrug from Nils took precedence in the moment. There was a warmth to the brief connection.

My friend.

Harry was frowning at him. There were harsh words issuing from the older man's mouth. Behind the harshness was a feeling of concern. Javier sensed that the words were meant to help him not belittle him. 'I won't let you die.' The words that had been his promise had now become Harry's.

My ally.

Does all you have gained mean so little to you?

"No, it means everything," he said aloud, breaking the rhythm. "You mean everything to me. You all do, I'm not going to give you up so easily." The words reflected a calmer resolve. Footsteps on the deck caused the engineer to turn around. Harry Finn was being escorted into the cell across from his own.

"Hey Harry," Javier called out to the XO, then remembering his last words to the man added, "I am an asshole!"


Torrik Nils 03-1-2009 09:15:29 PM

~ Moments Earlier ~

:: USS Chimera ::
:: Bridge ::

“Any longer, Captain, and I’m going to start to have my feelings hurt,” Atropos said still standing between the science station and the MSD where the young CO had asked her to wait. Nils had almost forgotten about her.

“Right,” the Bajoran said his eyes still glued to the viewscreen. “Meet me in my ready room,” he said starting to rise from his seat.

“Captain there are power fluctuations on board Veritas,” O’Keefe said suddenly, and Nils dropped back into his chair. Atropos rolled her eyes and leaned back into the MSD. “They’re switching to emergency power,” Jada continued oblivious to the photonic’s irritation despite her proximity.

=/\= "Wekesa to Chimera… internal defenses are offline, you are clear to transport the retrieval team."=/\=

“Go,” said Nils signaling Grimm, who in turn signaled the next away team from his console.

“Sir, the Veritas just initiated a burst transmission…” T’Preen said, her fingers deftly gliding over her console. “Attempting to jam at the source.” A moment passed as the Vulcan continued her work. Then in true stoic form she added, “Comm burst made it through. I was unable to intercept. But I’m receiving an upload from Cadet McMennan… It is the Veritas communications cache.”

“Route it to Lab 522 and get a team down there for analysis. I want to know who they’ve been talking to and what they’ve been saying,” Nils said seriously. He spun to Jada and asked, “How are our teams holding up?”

“All vitals are strong but I’m reading a lot of phaser fire over there. They’re fighting for every inch,” she answered, eyes glued to her sensors.

“Nothing from the retrieval team yet, sir,” Grimm added from tactical.

Nils sighed deeply and leaned back into his seat. He never expected a command position to make him feel so…helpless. Silently he wished he were in O’Keefe’s spot analyzing data streams.

“Captain, I really do need to speak with you,” Atropos said again, with a sense of urgency. “It is a matter of…importance.”

After another sigh, Nils stood up and made a bee line for his ready room. The hologram had already refused to report whatever was on her mind in open company so he didn’t bother asking again. “Keep me updated,” he said pointing at T’Preen, O’Keefe, and Grimm in rapid succession.

Atropos didn’t bother following Nils, but by the time the doors to his ready room closed she stood next to his desk waiting for him. “I feel I should warn you,” she began. “You’re not going to like what I have to tell you.”

After a few minutes with Atropos, Nils whole heartedly agreed. He did not at all like what she had to tell him…

With the bridge crew & Atropos.


Originally Posted by Simba Wekesa/03-2-2009 11:45:35 AM

Archaeological Vessel Veritas
Auxiliary Control Center

"What the hell is going on?" Simba squinted through the haze, looking for any motion in the doorway. He and Petty Officer Govan had been pointing their phasers at the doorway for several seconds, and the Terra Prime followers had yet to appear.

Zal cocked his head slightly without taking his eyes off the door and listened to the diminishing noise outside. "No idea, sir, but I suggest you take advantage of it."

Simba nodded and, forcing himself to pull his eyes away from the impending invasion, returned to his console. "The retrieval team just beamed aboard. They should have a clear path to the lab. Let's see if I can't shut down their internal sensors and make our people a little harder to track." Quickly, he punched up the necessary subsystems on the archaic computer. "That's strange…" He frowned at the display.

"What's wrong?"

"The corridor outside is clear now. They blasted through the door, then pulled back. Internal sensors show that our section is now completely clear."

The Cardassian relaxed his grip on his phaser and turned to look at Simba. "Why would they pull back? They had enough manpower to overtake us easily."

"I don't know…" Wekesa stared intently at the screen, looking for any clues to the sudden change in tactics. "Unless they know they've already lost the ship, and they're focusing on guarding the artifact." No, that didn't make sense either. What would be the point of keeping a single artifact out of enemy hands if your enemy controlled the ship it was on? "Or, they've already accomplished whatever they're up to and they don't think it matters what we do anymore. But if that's true, you would think that they would just surrender. Save as many of their lives as possible."

"Zealots are seldom rational people, Ensign," Zal observed.

"I suppose that's true. But in that case, why not continue to fight?" He frowned. "It doesn't matter, I'm going to shut the internal sensors down so our people can get that artifact and get out of here." His hands flew over the controls, overriding the computer's programming to shut down the system. Suddenly, the room shook and the lights flickered as a deep 'boom' reverberated throughout the ship.

"What was that?" Zal instantly had his phaser back at the ready.

"Some kind of explosion in the main communications trunk. Must be our team." Simba paused as he entered a final set of commands and the display went blank. "Internal sensors are offline." He grinned. "I guess now we wait and hold down the fort until the other teams are ready to beam back."

Zal nodded and moved closer to Wekesa's console. He was glad, at least, that the Terra Prime crew had pulled back. Whatever the reason, it seemed better than the alternative of being in a firefight at the moment. He paused, feeling a distinctive vibration in the deckplates. "Do you feel that?"

Simba turned his head slightly. Not only was there a definite vibration, but he could hear a faint hum over the sounds of the various alarms going off. "Yes, I do." He turned to face the console and punched up the ship's status display. "Oh, shit… I don't know how, but they're bringing their impulse engines online. We're on a collision course with the Chimera… estimating about two minutes til impact." He felt his heart sink as another alarm light began flashing on the console. "The bridge has engaged a self-destruct sequence, timed to synchronize with impact."

"We have to override it!" Zal looked over his shoulder at the display, as if searching for a way to shut it down."

"I can't!" Simba pounded his fist down on the console, cracking its glass surface. "The bridge has locked out all command functions. They've turned the Veritas into a giant torpedo." He quickly pushed back from the console and tapped his commbadge. "Wekesa to all Chimera strike teams, converge on the Veritas' bridge and attempt to take the deck if you are able." He grabbed his phaser rifle and headed for the door with Zal Govan hot on his heels. "I hope you're ready for some real action…"


Originally Posted by Harry Finn/03-2-2009 01:05:12 PM

::USS Chimera::
::Bridge::

“I’m reading an explosion at the communications hub of the Veritas…” Lt. Grimm announced, moments after the Captain had left the bridge.

Jada O’Keefe was already on it, “I’ve got one compromised biosig… two more showing signs of distress… pull them out,” she ordered T’Preen, who had auxiliary transporter control.

“Locking on… I only have two com signals…”

“Just bring them all,” Jada snapped, “Worst case we send someone back…”

“Locked and transporting directly to primary sickbay.”

Grimm, hearing that, requested a security team as well. If there were, by any chance, a member of the Veritas crew aboard, they would bear watching.

::Archeological Vessel Veritas::
::Communications Hub::

=/\=Wekesa to all Chimera strike teams, converge on the Veritas' bridge and attempt to take the deck if you are able.=/\=

The young officer’s voice echoed through the smoking ruin of what had once been a corridor surrounding the communications hub of the Veritas. On the deck plating, a lone combadge lay, broadcasting a call to arms which would not be answered.

More from the bridge.


Originally Posted by Javier Costala/03-2-2009 04:27:06 PM

-Terra Prime Ship-

The corridors of the Terra Prime ship were curved inward, making their journey a little more difficult because there was no clear line of sight along the inner trailing edge of the wall. Keeping as close to the outer wall as possible, so he could see any approaching threats, Ben proceeded down the corridor, following Star's directions. A hatch opened on the side of the corridor, about five meters in front of BHP and two people popped out of the opening. One of the newcomers had what appeared to be a disruptor rifle.

BHP didn't give a warning. His weapon was set to stun and he fired without hesitation. The security officer's mission priority was to get to the artifact as quickly as possible, not arrest or secure any Terra Prime personnel. The shots struck one of the people and they fell to the deck. The second individual sprang back through the open hatch which closed and locked. Not dedicated to a fight..I like that, it will make this heist a lot easier. Pierce thought to himself as he moved forward warily. He covered the hatch until he stepped over the stunned Terra Prime man and continued forward.

Emily kept back, however her hand had automatically drawn her phaser if needed. She wasn't sure how many were coming, she knew there were more ahead but seeing little blips didn't say much about their thinking patterns or tempers. Which, as Pierce proved, wasn't much of a temper at all.

"Well, if that's any indication of this crew we're not going to have trouble…cowards." she murmured. Emily kept her compliments for later. Pierce wasn't a bad shot but she wouldn't tell him that in fear of jinxing things, "Right…" she stopped, "Pierce, I think they're moving it."

Emily pressed a few more buttons and cocked her head, "The other teams might have done their job too well. If these guys are worried they can hide it anywhere. We could be playing cat and mouse on this ship for hours."

"Negative, you have its signature and we have this deck locked down, if they avoid us, we'll find them or they'll run into another team," BHP replied as he traversed the corridor. Star sounded panicked and that was the last thing they needed, panic usually led to bad decisions and a bad decision often meant someone didn't return home. Stay frosty, is what his instructors had told him in his training, meaning alert but cool-headed.

The sound of another hatch opening in front of them had him scanning the walls as he and Star continued forward. A junction came into view and a fusillade of phaser fire erupted from the aperture that led to the inner recesses of the deck. Pierce retreated a step, pushing Emily back, as energy pulses washed over the walls and struck the deck where he'd been standing.

"So much for them being cowards," BHP remarked as they took cover along the inner curve of the corridor. He tried to peek around the 'corner' and get a fix on their attackers but the phaser fire intensified and BHP withdrew to cover. "So much for this being easy." He stuck the phaser rifle around the corridor and fired off a few shots before pulling back as the corridor was lit up by returning fire. "They have the advantage of a clear line of fire" he told Star, then, "find us another route..preferably one that intersects with where they're taking that artifact."

"Showing up in massive force doesn't say they aren't cowards," she said quietly," Just means they aren't completely stupid. Lemme take a look."

She checked the tricorder, "Well, we can retrace our steps and take a left where we took a right and that should bring us past them however its going to take time and they're moving fast with that artifact, However," she looked up," The ceilings are just like back home, they share the same design with earth's ventilation system. We could, if you were up for it, find a way up and simply come behind them or, even better, drop into a room and open a hatch on them as they did us. Gives us a clearer line of sight then shooting around corners plus we can close the door. Otherwise, it's back track, turn right, come around and pray to god they aren't following us. These corridors have limited options." she stopped, "Or we could just use me as a human shield and barge past."

Emily was feeling about as useful as a stopwatch and yet she had to try. She hadn't been shot at in years and she could feel herself unwinding. 'Stay cool' she told herself..'relax'….

"Rule number one," Pierce answered as he fired a few shots around the edge of the inner bulkhead, "we only take air ducts if we have the element of surprise. If we get caught in that small space, we're finished." The other options were not really options at all because they would take too much time or leave the team vulnerable. "And no heroic suicidal sacrifices either, we're a team and I need you scanning and watching my back."

Footfalls on the deck behind them made Ben turn to see who was coming. A man with a hand phaser appeared and blasted off a shot at them. Sparks flew from the wall were the shot buried itself in some sort of energy relay. BHP switched his weapon over and fired his phaser rifle with one hand, catching the man with the second energy burst so their enemy sank to the floor stunned.

"Damn it! They're behind us..hold them back," BHP told the security officer, wondering if Star even knew how to use a phaser. He swung back and shot a couple of times at the Terra Prime people holding the junction. They had been in the process of rushing forward to use their numerical advantage but the Iotian's fire caught two of the men and brought them down, two others retreated. He and Star needed a plan or they were going to get caught, or worse, killed before long.

Emily pulled her phaser and fired. If there was one thing she did know how to do it was fight. She was rusty in many ways but not completely incompetent at beating the crap out of a couple of low life scum. Two advanced around a corner and then one swiftly returned as warning shots streamed above his head. She didn't have to be a Betazoid to know she wasn't pulling her own and she didn't have to be right next to him to know that Pierce wasn't impressed.

"Do you have a good lock on the artifact?" Ben suddenly asked Star as he fired on the junction again, "If so, relay the coordinates to the transporter chief and have him beam us closer to the artifact's location."

"Fine!" she snarled and tapped her badge, =/\= Star to the Transporter chief, we need you to beam us to the following co-ordinates. =/\= she checked her information and uploaded in a flash-burst transmission to the Chimera's communication relays.

=/\= Prepare for transport, =/\= came the swift reply.

Emily looked at Pierce, "Sorry you got stuck with me, let's hope I don't get you killed now."

Pierce stared at Cadet Star in disbelief. Why would she say something like that? The security officer had gone from panicked to frustrated to apologetic in a few minutes. Maybe it's a reaction to combat? he figured. A violent shudder ran through the ship as the transporter beam enveloped the two of them.

The corridor they were in disappeared to a more open room. A small room, barely half the size of her own quarters, holding a bed and a dresser was where they had moved to. It was empty as well. Emily walked over to the open doorway and peeked her head around. The second room was a little larger, holding five to six men each ready for a fight and all staring in the direction of the door.

She drew her phaser and pointed to the biggest guy, holding a black bag. She kept her mouth shut but gently motioned her head in their direction, before giving a thumbs up and a smile.

That was an explosion..before we transported. One of the other teams ran into trouble. Pierce realized as he silently followed Cadet Star and cautiously glanced out of the door. Their enemies' attention was devoted to watching the main entrance to the larger room so he and Emily slipped through the side door, covering the Terra Prime people. A man in the center of the group had a secure transport bag slung over his shoulder. Star indicated the man and Ben nodded in understanding as he raised his rifle.

=/\= Wekesa to all Chimera strike teams, converge on the Veritas' bridge and attempt to take the deck if you are able. =/\= BHP's commbadge squawked.

The Iotian let the Terra prime people have it. Firing as quickly as he could once their surprise attack had gone belly-up, Ben peppered the group with phaser fire using the rifle like a tommy-gun. Energy pulses smashed into the small group of terrorists. Searing pain arced through his right arm, as Ben was grazed by a stray disruptor bolt. He lost his grip on his rifle and almost immediately pulled his sidearm, firing left-handed as he and Star brought down the last of the group.

His right arm was burning but BHP ignored the pain as he made his way over to the man who had the black transport bag. Pierce clipped his phaser to his belt then jerked the bag away from its owner, who was paying a visit to Sleepy Town at that point. Ben thrust the bag into Star's hands. "Here, take this to Lieutenant Tenanji," the Iotian said as he took Star's tricorder and cinched it around his wound, hissing at the pain as the metal served as a compress against the wound. "I'm going to help Wekesa. I think the other team ran into trouble so he may not have much help unless one of us goes.." He took off his commbadge as he spoke.

Emily nodded, "I.." she had to agree, he had to go. She couldn't, she'd just mess things up as she already had, "Then again you've gotten all the glory thus far why not let me have…"

Star started to protest but Pierce pressed his commbadge, =/\= Artifact retrieved, two to transport, lock onto our commbadges and get us out of here. =/\= the Petty Officer informed the Transporter Chief, attaching his commbadge to the bag in which the artifact was stored. "It's up to you to complete the mission," BHP told the woman as the transporter energy shimmered around her form.

Emily appeared and shook her head in disbelief. She'd been the most irrational, useless woman and she'd never been that way. Where was her vulcan logic? Where was her usual hardworking character? How the hell had she let him show her up like that! She was like a fresh cadet out of the Academy, dropping her phaser and saying 'sorry' to the enemy for hurting them.

Growling quietly to herself she clutched the bag.

"I thought there were two?" the Transporter Chief said curiously.

"There was…me and my wounded ego." she left the room without another word and fast walked it to Tenanji who was in the Security area.

JP with BHP and Emily Star


Originally Posted by Harry Finn/03-2-2009 10:58:59 PM

::USS Chimera::
::Brig - Deck 4::

"Hey Harry," Javier called out to the XO, then remembering his last words to the man added, "I am an asshole!"

Finn turned to look at his new roommate as the energy field shimmered to life between him and the rest of the ship. "That makes two of us," he called back, "Maybe we should start a club… I can see the t-shirts, even: Asshole, it's the new black…" His tone was light but he wasn't sure it could hide the bitterness. He'd seen the inside of a Federation brig, before… after the Anarasi Maru. After he'd lost everything.

"I've been meditating.." Javier admitted after a brief laugh. "What? I finally got it to work," he commented at the expression on Harry's face. "Anyway, you were right, and T'Shaini was right..and man was she ever right." The engineer sighed and twisted around so he could face the energy barrier and study the XO. "Why are you in here?"

Harry glanced towards the brig officers… not that it was any secret by now what he'd been up to but, it didn't seem prudent to broadcast what he'd found, either. "I had some overriding concerns regarding S'Van's intentions for the crew," he finally settled on, "so I hacked into his files… and then S'Van showed up and I slugged him when he made… when he made the wrong comment."

Javier laughed so hard he fell over. The engineer lay on the floor of the brig and laughed for almost a solid minute. Then, feeling a little embarrassed, he crawled to his feet and walked over to lean a shoulder against the side wall. He did however make a pretense of staring over the top of Harry's head. "Must be invisible..can't find the strings." The engineer chuckled then said, "Did it make you feel any better?"

"I wish," figuring he'd earned the mocking, Harry also took some wall, "it didn't even get me any extra time with the files." He thunked his head back against the wall in frustration before looking across the brig once more, "I used to do this, you know," he said. "Lock up people who broke regs… who broke the law, who made life for people in the 'Fleet worse. Now," he shook his head and looked away again, "now I work for them. S'Van, Nechayev… they don't care about the people in the uniform… just that they get results…"

"Maybe," Javier shrugged, "but then they're looking from a much larger vantage point than we are. I mean, they probably know many things we don't, so to us it may seem uncaring when in fact they might be looking at a problem that includes more than our ship and our crew." The engineer thought about what he had said then added, "At least I hope that's the case." He frowned then asked, "What' is S'Van's purpose? He asked me some really odd questions in our meeting."

"Overall?" Finn straightened, faced the other man, "Don't have a clue… but, dammit… Mellon."

"Commander?"

"I need the room for ten. We're locked up, nothing's gonna happen…"

Astyr looked from the Chief Engineer, who smiled, back to the XO, who didn't. "Sir," was all she said before dragging the clearly confused Ramirez with her.

Harry waited for the doors to close before turning to Javier, "He seems to think you, T'Shaini, Jenny and Wekesa and a few others need to make a pit stop in World War II France."

Javier laughed until he realized Harry wasn't. "Wait, you're serious. How is that even possible? I'm assuming World War II came before World War III, which was a really long time ago." History hadn't been one of Javier's strong points in high school, he'd preferred music and art.

"Yup, but not as long ago as World War I," Harry leaned as close to the barrier as he could, "this one had some rare low points, though. Even after D-Day there was the Battle of the Bocage, shit, the Final Solution was still in progress," he held the other man's eye, "where and when he's looking to drop you… it's bad… like, Halcyon bad…" Harry figured that Tennyson's zombie filled planet was the closest approximation he could find for occupied France.

"There were zombies in World War II?" Javier asked with a voice that was hoarse with fear. The nightmare of Halcyon had taken a long time for the engineer to recover from. "And he's going to put us there? Me, T'Shaini, Jenny and Simba…you can't let him do that. I won't let him do that. Do you know how..of course you do, you were there. Can you imagine Jenny on Halcyon? We have to stop him!"

"You think I don't want to?" Harry's hands flew up in frustration then he turned and paced away from the barrier, as if he could distance himself from the vision of Seth's daughter in the midst of one of the most violent eras in Earth's history. "It wasn't the zombies who were dangerous, though," he added, half turning back as old, old images surfaced… the skeletal faces of the living dead… emaciated bodies stacked like wood in mass graves… "it's the people who made them who were dangerous." He realized he wasn't making any sense, "Whatever S'Van has going, it is sanctioned by Command but damned if I let him play us. He doesn't get to play god with our crew… I want disclosure, and Attie is delivering all this to Nils… probably she already did…"

Javier closed his eyes and tried to clear his head. The never-ending line of walking dead approached him, shuffling along, the rotting corpses reaching out for their next victim, wanting to feed the hunger that drove them to unspeakable acts. Harry's words sank in, mixing with the memories of what Javier had witnessed. "Good!" He pushed the nightmare back to the deeper recesses of his thoughts. "But Nils is only one guy. We have to help him, which means we have to get out of here," Javier concluded.

"Great… let's do that." Harry turned back to his friend, "Know any good lawyers?"

"Nope. But I have been sleeping with a diplomat, I hear they know all the right people," Javier said with a grin.

Edmond Dantes and Abbe´ Faria plan their escape….


Originally Posted by Emily Star/03-3-2009 03:45:05 AM

Emily rushed as fast as she could, holding the black bag tightly. To say she was happy to be back was an understatement. However happiness was not the emotion fueling her fast moving feet. She was angry.

The doors to the security area opened with a gentle hiss. Emily barely noticed, she barely caused her own feet to stop when asking if Tenanji was in his office. The nod and glance at the bag got her moving again.

Pausing to calm down she pushed the chimes and took a deep breath. She entered.

"The artifact," she gave a nod and a smile. Emily walked over to his desk and moved to offered him the bag. It was then she noticed Pierce's combadge. As she passed it to him her hand gently scooped it off and returned down at her side.

"Good job," Tenanji said before adding,"Where is pierce?"

"He sent me back with the artifact. Then headed off to help Wekesa. They were in some trouble." Emily replied.

"You let him go off alone?" Tenanji's brow furrowed.

"The mission was to retrieve the artifact. We.."

"You mean, you. I don't see a 'we' here." He interrupted.

"Sir, with all due respect there was little I could do. He was set on it." Emily had agreed with Pierce and his decision. If it had been her she was sure she would have acted the same way,"Sir, Pierce is an amazing security officer. He basically ran this entire mission himself. He could have easily done it without me even being there."

"That is not reassuring." Tenanji sat back in his chair,"I want a full report from you on the mission and I will be asking Pierce for one as well."

"Yes sir," she replied curtly.

"Loose the attitude Star," he snapped quietly,"I've had a few complaints about your inability to control the simplest situation. As a Security officer you have a job to keep the peace, not disturb it."

Emily nodded,"Sorry sir, I'm just disappointed in myself."

"Don't make that two of us," he added,"Dismissed."

Emily nodded and heard him notify the Captain of their success.

"Or Pierce's success…" she mumbled to herself.

She so badly wanted to do her job properly, just like Pierce had. Once upon a time she'd been like that. She'd been dedicated and serious. She'd lost that…

'Why…'

Entering her quarters she paced in the living room. She had a report to write.

'What would he write?' Emotionally unstable, unable to do the job, useless..

She could think of what she'd write if she was him.

"Stupid!" she yelled. Having forgotten his combadge in hand, Emily noticed too late after that she'd thrown it clear across the room and into the wall.

A busted combadge lay on the floor.

"He can get another," she shrugged and disposed of it.


Originally Posted by Simba Wekesa/03-3-2009 10:24:39 AM

Archaeological Vessel Veritas
Main Bridge

The captain of the Veritas sat in his chair at the center of the tiny bridge, feeling incredibly calm and at peace as he looked at the looming image of the Federation warship on the viewscreen. A warship of infidels, who had long ago betrayed their own in favor of lesser species. "Are we ready?" he asked softly, to nobody in particular.

"Yes, final course is laid in and ready to execute," a young woman replied from the helm console, smiling slightly. The bridge had become quiet. Most of the crew had been sent to intercept the Starfleet invaders earlier… when it still mattered… and the six Terran crew who remained on the bridge all seemed to be in a contemplative state, preparing themselves for the journey ahead.

"Good. Computer, engage auto-destruct sequence, silent countdown. Please, execute course." The captain closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. The aged and battered ship vibrated heavily as the engines came to life one last time, propelling the Veritas towards her final destination and cementing the future, or perhaps the past, of human civilization. Things were in motion now that could not be undone. It didn't matter what happened here and now. They had already played their part in correcting the great cosmic scheme of the universe. A feeling of complete serenity washed over him, the sensations of the world fading away.

There was a small explosion somewhere at the back of the bridge as a phaser blast hit the bulkhead, and a short yelp and a thud as somebody hit the deckplates.

"What the hell…" Simba muttered as he quickly took a look around the bridge, bursting through the door and stunning the nearest Terra Prime crewman. The crew looked like zombies, staring at the viewscreen in silence as they barreled towards the Chimera. Quickly, he turned his phaser towards the next nearest target and fired again. Two down, four to go. The crew was reacting to his entry as if in slow motion, as though their minds were in a different reality.

"Cardassian FILTH!" one of the Veritas' crew screamed suddenly, looking as though his blood had suddenly boiled and steam was about to come pouring out of his ears, as Petty Officer Zal Govan followed Wekesa into the room. The crazed crewman fired a disruptor and Zal ducked, narrowly missing the bolt of energy as it seared past his head. The Cardassian already had his phaser rifle drawn and fired back, hitting the crewman square in the chest. He fell forward and slumped over a console, but his hateful cry seemed to have stirred the rest of the crew from their apparent trance.

A woman jumped up from the helm and, turning back towards her abandoned console, fired her disruptor directly into its controls. As the console exploded, she came charging towards the two Starfleet officers, screaming incoherently as she fired her disruptor aimlessly in their general direction. Simba instinctively dropped to the floor and rolled to his left, taking aim with his phaser as he did and firing at the woman. She tripped over the stunned body of one of her shipmates and fell face first onto the deck as the phaser beam hit her and dissipated throughout her body.

Zal turned to face the final Veritas crewman as he was raced towards him. They may have outnumbered the two Starfleet officers, but their irrational behavior had crippled their response and Govan and Wekesa had the element of surprise. The Cardassian fired, handily dispatching the crazed human, and turned his attention to the man who appeared to be the ship's captain, standing at the center of the bridge and drawing his disruptor in preparation to incinerate the alien invader.

The captain screamed in pain as a bolt from Simba's phaser him directly in the hand. His disruptor clattered to the floor as he instinctively grabbed the searing hand and held it against his body. Quickly, Simba walked over and kicked the disruptor, sending it well out of reach, and grabbed the captain by the collar as Govan kept his phaser trained on the man.

"Shut down your auto-destruct and stop your engines now!" the young officer ordered the captain.

The captain smiled slowly, pulling his eyes away from the Cardassian who was sullying his bridge and forcing himself to look at the alien's human collaborator. "I'm afraid I can't do that. It won't matter in a moment anyhow. Nothing you do will matter. All of this will cease to exist. It will be…" He paused, seemingly searching for the correct word. "It will be corrected."

Simba scowled at the man, whose outer calm and glassy eyes were giving him a bad feeling. "I don't give a damn what you think matters. Disable the self-destruct sequence and stop this ship now."

The captain studied the young man for a moment and then smiled again. "I'm sorry, I can't help you. I only wish you could understand. All of this is to help you. To help all of humanity. But I'm afraid the auto-destruct sequence is keyed to respond only to my voice. And, as you can see, the helm controls are… offline at the moment." He tipped his head towards the smoking shell of the helm console.

Ensign Wekesa shook his head in disgust and pushed the captain back a few steps. He pulled out his phaser and fired. The stunned captain collapsed onto the floor. They could deal with him later. "Govan, see what you can do about disabling the self-destruct. I'm going to deal with the engines so at least if the ship blows up it will do it at a safe distance from the Chimera." He frowned at the smoldering helm console, knowing there wasn't much that could be accomplished there, and made his way to the operations console instead. "I'm going to try to overload the impulse reactor," he commented quietly as he punched up the control systems.

The Cardassian was already hard at work at the engineering console. It may not have been his forte, but he knew enough to read through the computer readouts. "The auto-destruct is tied to a warp core overload. There doesn't appear to be any backup system for it," he reported as he skimmed through the data hastily.

"If that's true, ejecting the core should disable the self-destruct. Can you access the ejection systems?" Simba replied as he worked quickly through the power grid controls.

"I believe so," Zal replied, looking for the necessary command. Terra Prime, it appeared, for all their fanaticism, didn't seem to have a backup plan. Or perhaps they did, and that plan was already in motion. Either way, the first priority was to stop the immediate danger. Zal found the necessary controls and pressed the button.

"Warning: warp core overload is currently in progress. Core ejection will override auto-destruct mechanism," the ship's computer reported aloud. For some reason, it sounded much angrier than the Starfleet computers.

"For God's sake, yes!" Simba muttered as he continued to work on his console. The ship shuddered for several seconds as the warp core ejection system was activated and the core jettisoned from the belly of the Veritas. "Good work, Petty Officer! Hold on, this might get a little rough." He entered a command into the computer.

The bridge rocked violently as an explosion went off somewhere deep within the ship. On the viewscreen, the Chimera veered off to the side and out of view as the Veritas was knocked off course and drifted aimlessly through space, having been gutted of both her propulsion systems. Simba gripped the console as the shaking subsided. Overhead, a conduit burst and a shower of sparks rained down onto the smokey bridge. He exchanged a relieved glance with Govan. Somehow, they'd managed to pull it off. Still, the insane captain's cryptic warning of things being "corrected" weighed heavily on the young officer's mind. Sighing, he stood up and surveyed the bridge. Nothing left to do now but hold down the fort and wait for the rest of the teams to finish up their jobs so they could go home.

Some last minute explosive action featuring NPC Zal Govan.


Originally Posted by Jenny Anderson/03-3-2009 11:09:40 AM

~Several Minutes Prior to Star’s Return and Wekesa’s Hail Mary~

::USS Chimera::
::Main Armory - Deck 4::

“It’s fortunate Koll was able to put some distance between the Terra Prime attacker and your team,” Vegal-Djinn was saying as he and Ferris Jones entered the main armory, arms laden with recently used weaponry. His fellow officer, released from sickbay, was giving a report of the action which had left Cadet McMennon and D’Hom Koll under medical care. The Klingon in particular was in bad shape but word had it he’d make it through.

Ferris had to suppress the chill as he recalled the woman’s empty, dilated eyes… she’d been drugged into a half-stupor, that much he knew. Not enough of one to hide the blistering hate when Koll had pretty much tossed her down the corridor… nor enough to stop her activating the explosive she carried. “I’ve seen a lot, in my day, never doubt… but I never seen the likes o’ that. I mean, the stupid bint up and blew ‘erself to smithereens…” his voice petered out as he realized who was covering the armory watch. “Ah, Li’l Bit,” his voice was apologetic as he laid eyes on Jenny Anderson… who’s father had died when another woman… a friend… had turned herself into a weapon of mass destruction, "sorry…"

“Not a problem, Chief,” Jenny replied. And it wasn’t a problem. She told herself that quite firmly as she carefully ran the locker’s tricorder over the armaments the two men placed on the workbench before her. “There’s one rifle shy…”

Vegal, saying nothing, found himself curious as to why the young woman would have gone so pale at Jones’ words.

“It didn’t survive the… blast…” the other man explained. He threw Djinn a look which clearly said, ‘I’ll explain, later…’

Anderson merely nodded, notating the loss onto a PADD then setting the weapons aside for maintenance. “Just need your signoff, Chief,” she offered Jones the PADD, then softly asked, “Any word on the retriev… on the other teams?”

“None, yet,” Vegal offered with quiet understanding, “but the bridge is closely monitoring the remaining boarding parties.”

“Tha’s right, Li’l Bit,” Jones added, patting her shoulder, “why, that blast had barely gone off when we were in sickbay, lickety split,” he gave his fingers a snap, to show just how quickly the team had been extracted.

Jenny managed a smile but, before she could respond…

=/\=All hands, brace for impact… repeat, repeat, Veritas on collision course… all hands…=/\=

Anderson, Djinn and Jones, shooting the [censored]…


Originally Posted by Javier Costala/03-3-2009 06:00:00 PM

-Corridor-
-Terra Prime Vessel-

You've gotten all the glory thus far.. Ben thought about Star's last argument. What glory? The Iotian tried to think of any 'glory' that might have occurred during he and Star's short time as a team. He tapped a few keys on the tricorder to scan the hallway several meters in front of him. A hiss of breath escaped from Ben's teeth as the tricorder pressed against the disruptor burn on his left forearm. The wound was still bleeding, he could see the blood seeping out from beneath the instrument, staining his uniform sleeve. Ben cinched the wrist tricorder tighter over the wound even though it hurt like the devil.

Maybe getting shot was the 'glory'? If so, Cadet Star can have it.

He should have headed straight for the bridge, like Wekesa had suggested, but a sense of concern had Ben moving towards the area where the explosion had occurred. The tricorder scan had picked up enough structural damage so Pierce had a good heading. The amount of resistance he met with was limited as most of the crew seemed to be gravitating towards the bridge. Using the tricorder to scan for hostiles, Ben managed to avoid two Terra Prime patrols before running into a third. He stepped sideways through a hatch and found himself looking down the barrel of a disruptor rifle. His hand phaser was pointed at the teenage guard's chest.

"You..you're human?!" the teen with the weapon exclaimed in a startled voice.

"Sort of," BHP replied. His aim never faltered even if he didn't fire the weapon. The security officer didn't know if he could shoot the kid.

"You're a half-breed aren't you? One of those half-human, half-alien bastard children..my father told me about you," the young man accused as the rifle barrel wavered.

Ben didn't care for being called a bastard. "Wrong again Buddy, I'm an alien, one hundred percent Sigma Iotian and if you don't put down that goddamn disruptor rifle I'm going to blow your ****ing head off." The teenager didn't know BHP was full of it, or that Pierce wasn't about to shoot him, but acting like he was might just convince the young man to surrender. The teenager blanched and gripped the weapon tighter.

Another explosion rocked the ship and knocked the younger man off balance. The energy from his disruptor went into the ceiling while Pierce's left cross sent him flying to the side of the corridor. The youngster lay on the deck groaning. Ben kicked the disruptor rifle out of the teenager's grasp. "Lay quiet and don't make a sound," Pierce warned. He didn't want the youth running into any of the other teams and getting himself killed. "On Sigma Iotia we eat our enemies, if I see you again you're going into the stew pot," the security officer remarked, hoping the youth was prejuidiced enough to believe something so absurdly stupid. The teenager flattened himself against the deck and lay silent. The 'alien' snorted and moved away, the location of the first explosion was close.

BHP followed the map display on the tricorder until he found the corridor which had been ripped apart by an internal blast. The deck plates and walls were charred black and some very gruesome looking pieces of flesh adorned one of the bulkheads. There were no bodies so Pierce surmised they must have been beamed out by the Chimera. A glint from between two deckplates caused Ben to study the area closely. A commbadge lay on the deck. Ben picked it up and activated it, hissing at the pain from his wound. His arm hurt and was still bleeding, making him feel weaker, although the cinch of the tricorder had stopped the wound from bleeding profusely. He could see that his uniform sleeve had soaked up a good amount of the blood, staining the gold sleeve a dark gray. I need to get to a doc.

=/\= Pierce to Wekesa, what was that explosion? =/\=

=/\= Wekesa here, we had to take out the impulse engines. The Terra Prime crew were trying to ram the Chimera. =/\=

=/\= We got the artifact. Star returned it to the ship. Do you need my assistance? =/\=

=/\= Negative, Govan and I have the bridge. =/\=

=/\= That's the cat's pyjamas, let's get out of here. =/\= BHP replied. There was a short pause then an answer was forthcoming.

=/\= Agreed. Wekesa out. =/\=

Ben tapped his badge once more. =/\= Transporter Chief, one to transport to sickbay. Energize. =/\= The shimmering wave of energy surrounded the Iotian's form and he was sent on a molecular stream to the Chimera's sickbay.


Originally Posted by Harry Finn/03-3-2009 07:06:11 PM

~As the last of the away teams are returning~

::USS Chimera::
::Hazmat Unit - Deck 5::

Commander Rev S’Van never made it to the bridge. He was interrupted en route first by a com from Lt. Tenanji, who coolly informed his superior that the last cylinder had been retrieved, and second by the call to brace for impact.

He acknowledged the first and ignored the second. The Veritas might cause some limited damage to the shielded Chimera, but nothing that need get in the way of S’Van’s research. Rev simply ordered the Security Chief to have the prize transported directly to the Hazmat unit where the other two artifacts waited for their mate. There was much to learn and, ironically, very little time in which to do so.

Unlocking and entering the small chamber where the treasures waited… all three, now… he tugged at the red collar of his uniform which quite suddenly felt too tight. First, he ran a tricorder over the ancient metal container. It was nothing much on first view. Roughly sixty centimeters long and twenty five in diameter, with specks of olive paint still clinging voraciously to the pitted metal surface, as with the first two containers. Designed, so many hundreds of years ago, to hold documents for the British Special Operations Executive.

Certainly one of their operatives had been very special indeed. An El-Aurian observer, daringly placed in the midst of Britain’s Shadow Chiefs… not affecting history but notating it. Hugh Dalton, newly appointed by Churchill himself to head the SOE, had determined that posterity should not be left ignorant of his department’s efforts… or their mistakes. So he’d brought in an archivist and he could have found no better.

Not only had Gerald Aubrey (Jere Aubron, to be precise, who’d only recently made his research known to Starfleet Command), documented the workings of the inner circles of espionage, he had, with assistance from several sources in the United States Military and the French Underground, taken note of a series of… aberrations… which had occurred during the onset of Operation Overlord.

Events which, upon further investigation by Aubrey and cohorts, had implicated a temporal incursion at the turning point of Earth’s second world war.

It was S’Van’s purpose to make certain the events described by Aubrey… Aubron… turned out exactly as written. For, if they did not…

“Then all our yesterdays will truly have lighted a fool’s way to dusty death…” S’Van said quietly as he began to unseal the final cylinder.

Featuring Commander Rev S'Van


Originally Posted by Javier Costala/03-4-2009 09:21:24 AM

::USS Chimera::
::Main Armory - Deck 4::

The yellow alert had been stood down but Jen was still on the watch… along with PO Djinn, who had joined her in seeing to the needs of the returning weaponry. Jenny had just accepted Wekesa and Govan's arms when Dramm Pal sauntered up, bearing a phaser and a put-upon expression. He'd lost his place in sickbay… between the XO, Koll, the boy-cadet and now Pierce… there was no room at the inn. He was annoyed to have been displaced and saw no reason not to take it out on Pierce's woman.

"Pierce's sidearm," he said, throwing the weapon on the work bench before noticing the other man. "That is… he would have brought it himself but… he's been wounded…"

Jenny's hand dropped to the table, "Wounded?"

"Oh," suddenly all sympathy… especially with the formidable Djinn watching, "I'm so sorry, Crewman… he took a disruptor shot to the arm… with a Jem'Hadar weapon…"

"Go," Vegal-Djinn was already at her side, a hand guiding her towards the door. "Where is he?" he asked the now-nervous Xepolite.

"Primary sickbay… they're working on him now, but…"

"Go," the tall man repeated. "Pal and I will finish the watch… go."

Jenny went, walking at first but by the time she reached the main corridor, she was running as if death itself were at her heels.

::Sickbay::

"You should have transported here the moment after you were wounded," one of the pretty female doctors said, scolding Ben while she worked on his right forearm. He'd transported into sickbay and been given a biobed that Dramm Pal had been using. The security officer had put on a huge sulk right until BHP ordered Pal to secure his handphaser in the armory. Now Ben was watching, as the woman the nurse referred to as Stryfe, cleaned the wound and prepped him for some type of procedure.

"There wasn't much time," the Iotian answered, "and I had things to do..an artifact to steal." He glanced over at a side table where the remains of his bloody uniform shirt sleeve and tricorder lay. "Can you clean off that tricorder? I think the Lieutenant will rip me a new one if I take it back in that condition." Rather than answer his question the doctor seized a hypospray from the side table and pressed it against his shoulder. "C'mon, I bet you can sterilize it…" The drugs suddenly took effect and the security officer slid into La-La Land. When he awoke Ben found that the wound had been bandaged and he didn't feel any pain. He blinked then shook his head. "What just happened?"

"They made you better," Jenny said, automatically smoothing what was left of Ben's uniform and wishing her hair were down so she could hide the tears.

"It feels a lot better," BHP admitted before turning to look at Jenny. He sat up and let his legs slip over the side of the biobed, they brushed against her leg and Ben made no effort to move them. "If I'm better there's no need to shed any tears," he said in a low tone that only she could hear, as his hand caught hers and squeezed it.

"Happy tears," she replied, moving closer so the words were whispered in his ear… and he wouldn't see the remaining dread. 'Just five minutes more and it would have been too late…' Dr. Stryfe had been brutally honest as she'd worked her magic. Five minutes difference between having him and… not. "They're happy tears," she said again over the sudden spiking in her chest… she closed her eyes against the memory of loss and lay her head on his left shoulder…

Who's trying to pull the wool over my eyes? Ben thought. He let it go, deciding not to push her. He could hardly blame Jenny for worrying, knowing that if she had been part of the mission he would have been concerned about her too. And more than a little distraught if she'd gone and gotten herself shot. "Did the doctor say how long I had to stay?" he asked as his good arm slipped around Jenny's waist and hugged her.

"Umm," she let out a long slow breath and lifted her head, "long enough to make sure the anti-anti-coagulant is doing the job…" Jenny's hand reached up to rest on his collarbone, "At least another twelve hours."

"Do I have to stay here the whole time?" BHP asked in disappointment. "I mean, do you think they'd let me go if I promised to take it easy?" He looked into Jenny's eyes as his voice lowered again. "I promised you I'd be there later..I don't intend to break that promise, wounded or not."

Oh… "But then I'd have to sit up all night staring at you because I'd be terrified you'd bleed out." She leaned in, bold now because she'd been so afraid, before, and left a soft kiss on his lips before adding, "I'd rather go without you for one night and know you'll be there for the rest of the nights, after."

"I don't think I'll bleed out.." he had started to say until Jenny's kiss silenced the unspoken protest. It surprised him and also lifted his spirits. For a moment Ben couldn't argue with Jenny's reasoning and once he had formulated an answer he realized he didn't want to argue. "I'll be there, as long as you want me to stay." He lifted up on the edge of the biobed and returned her kiss, lingering close to her so she could hear him whisper: "I ain't going to leave you."

It was a joyous ache, hearing those words… but an ache nonetheless because she knew, even if he didn't, that the universe didn't always let people keep their promises. But that didn't matter… because he was here now and for now and as long as she could she'd… "love you," she whispered.

"Yeah, me too." Ben spoke before he thought about it. "I mean.." The Sigma Iotian realized that what she had said also fully described what he felt for Jenny. He smiled then agreed with her sentiments. "I love you too, Jenny."

Her smile echoed his, "I know," she said, hooking a finger in his uniform and pulling him closer, "cause you're my guy." The smile widened to a grin, "And since you're my guy, I expect to see you at a hundred percent in twelve hours so," she dropped a quick kiss on his cheek then looked into his eyes, "do what the doc's say… please?"

Jenny's actions had revealed an intimacy that Ben liked and he played along. "Anything for my girl," he resigned, holding up his hands in mock surrender, "I'll go peaceful-like officer. There's no need for putting the squeeze on me." His voice dropped an octave and then teased, "Unless you want to.." BHP winked at Jenny.

"I…"

"Now, as much as I'm sure your presence cheers up the patient," Bramley offered as he joined the two young people, "I don't believe he's been cleared for this much… excitement." He raised the medical tricorder and added, "Visiting hours are over…"

Jenny reluctantly drew away from Ben as the medic began to record his vitals. "I'll be waiting," she said, daringly winking back and then, because it really was stupidly hard to say goodbye, dashing out the door, where she could, out of Ben's sight, place her head against the wall and offer up a thankful prayer to whomever watched over muleheaded knights in pinstriped suits.

Featuring Pierce's Girl & Anderson's Guy


Originallly Posted by Torrik Nils/03-4-2009 09:36:56 AM

:: USS Chimera ::
:: Deck 5, Lab 522 ::

Captain Torrik swooped into the lab at near a full run and put himself directly in the mix without hesitation. “What do we have?” His tone was sharp and borderline irritated.

Lincoln Purcell looked up and smiled, betraying his half-Vulcan heritage. “We’re just getting the last of the decryptions lifted, but it looks like we’ve hit the mother load. The routing information shows multiple communiqué’s to the Terra Prime home world and another ship somewhere in the sector. They also appear to be communicating with someone on Earth.”

“Their contact,” Nils surmised looking at the other two scientists.

“I would assume so,” offered Ensign Saito intensely. “It would make sense that they had a mole or person on the inside.”

“And score,” Alex Gorsky said lifting his head from where it had been buried in the console. He raised his arms in mock victory.

“Athletic poses don’t wear well on science geeks, Gorsky,” Lincoln said with a jab at the younger man’s ribs. “At least traditionally speaking…”

“Listen, I don’t conform to those archaic stereotypes and…”

“Enough,” Nils snapped, cutting off the AI technician. “Just find something worth knowing and report.”

“Aye sir,” responded both Alex and Saito in unison. Lincoln’s smile faded but he didn’t say anything. His concern for Nils passed clearly over his face. The Bajoran ignored it, however.

“The Veritas reported to the Draconis system fifteen hours ago that they were en route with the final cylinder. Do we know what the cylinder is,” asked Saito as he reviewed the cache.

“Just…report what you find…please,” Nils said trying to shield the scientists from his irritation. The pressure began to wear on him and he felt it like a pounding fist in the back of his skull.

“Looks like they were in pretty steady contact with that other ship… The Anomaly?” Gorsky looked up and quirked his nose at the word. “That’s a strange name for a ship.”

“Focus on those transmissions,” the CO said trying to hurry the men along. “I want to know what they are saying to each other.” Immediately aware that the Anomaly was the time ship Vail discovered via the Freya listening post, Nils became deeply uncomfortable. Every sign pointed to Terra Prime using that ship for a heinous adventure into the past. Every clue they’d unearthed led him to the same conclusion…

“I’ve got it,” Saito said intensely. “But there are micro-encryptions garbling much of this information. Whatever they were talking about they wanted to keep to private.”

“You read… I’ll decrypt,” Alex said energetically. He spun around and immediately began working his technomagic on the queue.

“It’s clearing up,” Saito began. “They were planning a rendezvous with the ship in the Iota Draconis sector… The cylinder was to be passed from the survey ship to the Anomaly and then the Anomaly was going to… Make the jump?” Kenji raised his head and looked to Nils. “Make the jump to where?”

“Make the jump to when,” the Captain corrected. Unlike S’Van, the young CO didn’t believe in keeping his crew in the dark. “The Anomaly is a time ship. At least that is our conclusion based on our limited information. They’re going to make a jump through time. And their motives are clearly not benevolent.”

“Through time?” Lincoln’s interest peaked. “Are you sure it’s a time ship? That kind of technology wouldn’t be…”

“I’m not sure of anything, Lincoln,” Nils said raising his hand to cut off his friend. “I’ll make the intel available to you and you can analyze it as fully as you want. But at this point it is the best theory and the one we are working with. If they have a chance to…”

“Uh oh,” Saito said, his tone dismal.

“Uh oh?” All three men echoed him.

“The final transmission that the Veritas pulled off says that they’ve been compromised and to make the jump without the cylinder. Whatever they are going to do, they’re about to do it…”

Nils suppressed the urge to panic. He had no way of knowing if the time ship had already made the jump and if so where they had gone. But he knew someone with more answers.

“Computer, locate Commander S’Van,” he called furiously.

Commander S’Van is not on board the Chimera. =

“What?” Suddenly baffled Nils looked to the scientists in utter helplessness.

“Oh he’s on board all right,” said a soft feminine voice from behind them. Lachesis had materialized without their notice. “He has a private little room set aside that the thinks we don’t know about. Which technically we don’t,” she said cryptically. “But it itches like a missing limb,” she added, absently scratching her hand. “With your authorization Captain I can get you there…”

“Authorized! It’s authorized! Torrik sigma four zero zero delta!”

Lachesis eyes darted about the ceiling as the Captain’s codes gave her authorization she’d been previously locked out of and she smiled warmly. “Thank you, Captain. Clothos has informed the transporter chief of your destination… Prepare for departure.”

Both Lachesis and Nils dematerialized, leaving the three remaining scientists to stare at one another in confusion.

With:
Lincoln Purcell, Alex Gorsky, Kenji Saito, and Lachesis.


Originally Posted by Torrik Nils/03-4-2009 11:32:21 AM

:: USS Chimera ::
:: Hazmat Unit – Deck 5 ::

“Finally Captain,” S’Van said, making eye contact with the CO as soon as he materialized in the ‘secret’ chamber. Nils thought he saw a moment of complete surprise on the man’s face before the matter stream fully released him, but he couldn’t be sure. Looking around, he realized that Lachesis had opted not to make the journey with him.

“I’m unaccustomed to having areas of my ship swept under a carpet,” Nils said coldly.

“I assume you’re more accustomed to your senior staff collapsing beneath you. It must feel terribly unnerving to know that your Chief Helmsman is on disciplinary action and your Chief of Engineering and your First Officer are locked up in the brig.” S’Van smiled and peered at the Captain through the narrow slits of his eye lids. “Who can you count on, Torrik?”

“Drop it S’Van…” Nils countered. He stepped forward and quickly took in the three cylinders and began categorizing every piece of scrap and data he could take in. He picked up what appeared to be a diary and skimmed it for answers. “The Anomaly is about to make its jump into the past so I don’t have time for your games.”

“What?” S’Van didn’t even try to recover from the obvious horror of the announcement. “Have the comms been analyzed?”

“Obviously,” said Nils callously. “And it’s entirely possible that the time ship has already made the jump. Where are they going and why?”

“Actually, it’s not possible that they’ve departed. The fact that we can have this conversation means they’ve not yet made the foray into one of Earth’s most volatile periods of history. And although I’d love to mince words with you, Captain, there just isn’t time for that…” For once, the spook dropped all pretense and seemed intent on actually communicating. “You have to take Chimera back to the past immediately… We can work out the details of the mission as we go but…”

“I’m not going to do anything without knowing exactly…” Nils tried to cut off S’Van but the man never stopped speaking.

“BUT if we don’t get out of the natural time stream before they make their journey into history we will be swept away in the incurring time quake,” the Commander said coldly. “If we don’t get back in time with them… All of this will cease to exist.”

The logic of the man’s argument began to sink in. The Bajoran knew full well the dynamics of altering time and space and even the smallest incursion into the past could undo everything around them and remake it in another image. “I get it… History will be changed unless we go back to…” Pieces fell into place. And as he scanned another news clipping answers coalesced fully formed in the Captain’s consciousness. As he looked at the bits and pieces of ‘history’ strewn about from the bowels of the cylinders, he realized why the Hawking had been chosen and why his crew had been transplanted. “Fine…give me a date.”

“Temporal travel isn’t as easy as that, Captain… The precise calculations of time travel are a very closely guarded secret,” S’Van said almost looking down his nose at Nils.

“Nonsense,” Nils said furiously. “Calculations can’t be a secret. They just are. And I’m fully aware of the ‘sling shot effect’ and its history.”

“Look,” the spook continued sounding almost patronizing. “I’ll take command of this part of our endeavor. We’ve been working on this problem for fifty years and our best calculations say we need to make our jump at least a decade prior to the target date so that we can insure our presence…”

“That would only threaten the time stream further. Give me the date and I’ll make the necessary calculations,” answered Nils unshaken. “And it’ll be a cold day in the fire caves when I hand over my Command to you.”

“Torrik, you don’t seem to understand. I know what you’re thinking but even the slightest miscalculation in the mass of one strand of hair could alter your temporal trajectory and make us too late for the…”

Again Nils cut him off. “S’Van, obviously we made it,” said Nils gesturing at the variety of data that lay bare across the table. “Have a little faith. Now give me…the date…”

“End of May… 1944…” S’Van finally relinquished the information. “But the calculations are…”

“Commander,” Nils spat finally. “This is what I do.” He held the man’s gaze only very briefly before continuing. Then he tapped his badge with all due haste. “Torrik to transporter room… Beam me directly to the bridge.”

:: Bridge ::

Before he’d fully materialized, Nils began talking. “O’Keefe, locate the nearest star to our current location.”

Without question the Chief of Science jumped into action at her station. “There is an F-Class star two and a half light-years from our position.”

“Helm, lay in a course… Maximum Warp,” Nils said as he took his seat. “Prepare for light-speed breakaway.”

A moment of stunned silence issued from the helm before confirmation. “Aye sir…”

“Bridge to Engineering,” Nils said as he put every console on his chair into action. “Push the engines as hard as you can. Every tenth and hundredth of a warp factor you can pull out of the ship matters…” Damn you Javier for not being where I need you to be.

=/\= Understood sir, =/\= came Mustapha Ibrahim’s steady reply. Thankfully, the CoB seemed to be picking up the slack down there.

“Passing Warp 9.9,” said Stryfe who’d taken helm as soon as things started to look dicey. “Still accelerating… Looks like they’ll give us .998 past Factor Nine, sir.”

“That puts us at just over ten minutes until breakaway,” Nils thought aloud. Plenty of time for the most important and difficult calculations thus far in my career. “Stryfe, remember when we opened up a subspace flexure by altering our navigational deflector’s parabolic output on board Sentinel, thus allowing our ship and the Hawking to jump into slipstream and escape the Avaaru?”

“Aye, sir,” answered Vince with a wicked grin. “What about it?”

“In hindsight, those calculations weren’t all that difficult…”

“Greeeat,” said Chimera’s Chief Helmsman.


Originally Posted by Vince Stryfe/03-4-2009 12:54:16 PM

:: USS Chimera ::
:: Bridge ::

Vince stood infront of the navigation station, looking for anything that he felt could help them locate The Anomaly, but with his little experience in the matter, his luck wasn't good. Of all the many things he knew how to do, from plotting a ships course, to plotting an attack vector, locating another ship's trajectory was beyond him. Even in his Marine days he never had to do it, due to his target usually being right there infront of him.

He sat down in the chair as the Nav. Officer walked off for a moment. Rubbing his forehead he stared at the attempts that he had already made, but nothing clicked for him still. He tapped a few buttons, going through another set of coordinates, but found nothing he could work with. He threw his hands up and relinquished the seat to the returning Nav. Officer, but remained next to the console, watching her work.

He turned around, locking his fingers and resting his hands on his head.He looked around the bridge, realizing that Nils hadn't returned yet, then a smirk came across his face. Glancing at everyone's collars, he noticed that he was the highest rank on the bridge, and that meant he was incharge for the moment. He took his hands from his head, crossing them infront of him. He walked around the bridge, glancing at people's work, giving them a good job as he walked by.

He looked up at the view screen, then thought back to what he had been trying to do. Why could they not grasp where that ship was, or where it was going. The best technolgy in the known Galaxy, and nothin. He had made his way up to the helm, where Scott was intently coasting the ship along. With his arms still crossed he looked back at the Captain's chair, another smirk on his face. He backed up slowly, softly whistling. He gave the room a quick look, then made one last step, locating himself right infront of the chair. He gave one more look around the room, then when he was satisfied nobody was looking he began to sit down.

Just as he touched the seat, Nils popped back up, and seemed quite disturbed if that was the right word. Vince shot up from the seat, jumping a good three feet away, acting like nothing had happened. Nils didn't even seem to pay him any mind, shouting orders before he had fully materialized.

“O’Keefe, locate the nearest star to our current location.”

Without question the Chief of Science jumped into action at her station. “There is an F-Class star two and a half light-years from our position.”

“Helm, lay in a course… Maximum Warp,” Nils said as he took his seat. “Prepare for light-speed breakaway.”

A moment of stunned silence issued from the helm before confirmation. “Aye sir…”

Vince lifted an eyebrow, then starting to turn the gears in his head. He shot over to the helm, practically pushing Scott out of the seat, knowing that somthing enjoyable was about to occur, and he was damned if he wasn't the one that would be flying the ship. He quickly layed in the appropriate coordinates, heading for the star. He closely watched the the console, checking his velocity, tapping the console compensating for any irregularities.

Vince listened to Nils talking to the Engineering department, surprised to not hear Javier's voice, but he was most likly busy with something. He looked down at the console, then reported to Nills.

“Passing Warp 9.9,” said Stryfe who’d taken helm as soon as things started to look dicey. “Still accelerating… Looks like they’ll give us .998 past Factor Nine, sir.”

“That puts us at just over ten minutes until breakaway,” Nils thought aloud. Plenty of time for the most important and difficult calculations thus far in my career. “Stryfe, remember when we opened up a subspace flexure by altering our navigational deflector’s parabolic output on board Sentinel, thus allowing our ship and the Hawking to jump into slipstream and escape the Avaaru?”

“Aye, sir,” answered Vince with a wicked grin. “What about it?”

“In hindsight, those calculations weren’t all that difficult…”

“Greeeat,” said Chimera’s Chief Helmsman.

Vince could clearly remember the incursion that had taken place at that time, and he could remember the adreniline that he had felt. Tough risky moves were his thing, and this one was no different. Although the major calculations for the manuver they were about to do, a slingshot no doubt, were complicated, Vince could do the simpler ones mainly dealt with the ship itself. He tapped buttons furiously, and found himself waiting. He turned back and looked at Nils, who was intently dug into his console, calculating away.

Vince spoke in a comforting tone, " Umm sir, It would be nice to….."

Nils just held up a finger towards Vince, still engrossed in his work.

Vince spun around in his seat, crossing his arms, beginning to get a little frustrated, wanting to have all the info he needed. This is the kind of stuff he lived for, but without proper calculations, he would put the ship in danger," You know, the last time you made complicated calculation of this magnitude, I didn't have time to turn around and cross my arms."

" Not now, Vince," Nils didn't look away from his work.

" I'm only saying that we are nearing the threshhold for a successful slingshot, and I'd really hate to shove this puppy into a Class F star," Vince smiled as he knew he was getting under the Captain's skin a bit," Ok, I'll just sit here and wait for you to tell me."

Vince looked around the room, noticing that people were looking at him with concern, as he wasn't paying any mind to the Helm console. The operations officer leaned aver to look at the console, ready to do what Vince wasn't, but Vince, still staring at Nils, spoke up," Just mind your console, I'm ten steps ahead of you right now, and I'm sure you don't want to mess with any of my work on there, could knock the ship a loop or two."

Finally Nils looked upat Vince, nodding then spoke," You have the calculations, now get us through this."

Vince crakked his knuckles, spinning back to his console," Aye sir, and hold on to your seats everyone, this may be a bumpy ride."


Originally Posted by Torrik Nils/03-6-2009 06:35:11 PM

Prometheuswarp1.jpg

Like a beast flung from the depths of hell, the USS Chimera cast herself with reckless abandon through space at many thousands of times the speed of light. The warp bubble she rode threatened to tear apart the very fabric of reality as she edged toward the universal threshold of transwarp. Faster and faster she flew, her nose edging ever nearer the bright and burning star before her. Its yellow and orange rays shot out toward her, as if daring her to come closer - daring her to get burned. It twisted and undulated as the fusion within its heart created life giving heat… life ending heat…

The ship quivered as she neared her own limitations and her shields began to glow as the radiation from the sun before her cascaded around her sleek and aerodynamic form. Just before it was too late… Just before the Chimera lost herself in fiery destruction… The Prometheus class vessel tore away from her heading and slingshotted around the star propelled by the magnificent power of her warp engines and the unfathomable power of gravity, which lulled her toward the solar core.

Then she was gone… Vanished from 2385 completely.

Four hundred and forty one years earlier she emerged from the Class F star and shot back into dark space.


Epicenter 1944

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