Messages

["Ops, signal the Deletham Mosarum, let them know we're ta warp back ta Angdarr Prime. That will give us a few hours ta off load the crew and organize our last stand."]

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira ran up to the bridge, despite looking dirty and smelling from having spent more than a day in the wreck, and made it in time to watch the flash in the warp core...only to see the machine was still on course.

"NO!" shouted Nira. "Dammit, I knew we needed that core, I knew we should've had extra deutrium...!"

She clenched her fists and grit her teeth angrily. She felt she had let down some promises, and now Andgarr was doomed.

"Don't we have any more...? Allah's sake, what can we do?" she said in distress, feeling helpless for the first time since the news of Frontier Day, and that Earth had fallen for all she knew.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Internally, Ian felt as despondent as Nira stated, but he couldn't show that. He had to remain the 'non-anxious presence' for the crew. He sighed and said.

"Ops, signal the Deletham Mosarum, let them know we're ta warp back ta Angdarr Prime. That will give us a few hours ta off load the crew and organize our last stand."

As the ship went to warp, Ian's mind was spinning through the few options as they had. At warp 8, it took less than a minute to reach Angdarr Prime and as soon as they dropped out of warp, Lieutenant Commander Catalan said.

"Sir, I'm receiving a hail from that freighter captain, Pat O'Flaherty."

Before Ian could reply, Lieutenant Randall at the Science One station reported.

"Sir, ships decloaking! Six of them! They're Romulan Free State Norexan-Class!"

[[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Romulan Wreck - Ancient Battlehawk | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | En Route to the Doomsday Weapon | Andgarr System]

She kept her eye on the ETA, and when it reached a hundred seconds - or one minute and forty seconds - Nira said, "Mark!"

The countdown had begun, the course still automatically headed toward the maw of the weapon. She then ordered, "Keep on course, make sure it's still at it, and I'll call for beam-out at the right moment. Zhuk, empty the payload of torpedoes into the maw of the weapon, don't hit the hull."Nira had been watching the battle the Challenger and the old Romulan ship started. She shook her head; why in Allah's name didn't they fire into the maw?

At fifty seconds, she flinched at Ian's shout to get out. She replied, "Acknowledged. Said to Challenger. Transporter Room, three to beam up."

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Romulan Wreck - Ancient Battlehawk | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

"Yes ma'am!"

Came the voice of Zhuk as he proceeded to fire all the payload that the ancient Romulan Battlehawk could muster, as well as firing the disruptor array directly at the maw of the Doomsday Machine. Though one of the torpedoes went wide, hitting the rim of the vessel's 'mouth', the other four launched landed directly within. The disruptor ray also fired three times into its interior before completely powering down, much to Zhuk's chagrin.

He held his breath, as he desperately tried to get another salvo of torpedoes to fly. Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar made peace with himself and with his life as he got ready for the worst to happen...

[Angdarr System - Between orbit of Angdarr VII and the remnant of Angdarr VIII]

The Challenger and the Deletham Mosarum kept firing as a distraction until the Battlehawk began it's final approach. The transporter locked onto Nira, Neva, and Zhuk and whisked them off the old hulk just before the battleship entered the maw of the Machine.

There was a flash as the old engines detonated, when the actinic overload cleared, the glow inside the Machine was undimmed and it returned to it's primary course, Angdarr Prime. They had failed and it looked like the planet was now doomed.

[Fleet Applications - Join Here!]

Okay then, welcome to Challenger.

[Fleet Applications - Join Here!]

This is a great application. I get you want to do something different and that is awesome, but we've had a run on medical lately. Challenger has three in medical and Discovery has two. Since your primary character is on Discovery, you can't have your alt on the same ship.

This leaves us with a couple options.

First, you can use your secondary department choice of security for Challenger, which will give us three in that department.

You can wait for the third simm to open and have Hansen be medical there.

Or, you can choose a different department. There is a huge need for flight, engineering, and Ops.

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Revenant NCC-99333]

Nira, Kinley and Torra stepped onto the bridge, seeing the department heads, and thus the bridge crew (though M'Nia, as Chief Engineer, and Novi, as CMO, are exceptions to the bridge crew given their elsewhere stations). She can see that Cutter was at his station but wasn't doing a thing.

"All right, Commander Garrison, Lieutenant Addams, man your stations," she said. "Computer, open shipwide comms."

With comms on, Nira announced, "If I may have everybody's attention?" She especially directed the question at Cutter and even put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"By order of Starfleet, I, Acting Captain Nira Said, assume command of the Revenant. We have our orders from Starfleet to escort a medical convoy to the Iquilon System across the Klingon border. We are to rendezvous with the convoy at Starbase 133 and escort the convoy from there. Something has occurred at Iquilon in which the Klingons have requested medical aid from Starfleet. Given unavailability of ships and personnel in that sector, it is why the Klingons have requested aid from the Federation to that system. We will do our utmost to help where we can."

Disengaging the comms, Nira then looked back at Cutter. "Mister Cutter," she said. "I may have asked this of you," she added gently, "but if you missed it: set course for Starbase 133."

[Bridge - USS Revenant] - [As Nathan Cutter]

Nathan flinched when the new captain spoke to him and he replied woodenly.

"Aye Sir. Course laid in, going to warp now."

Normally, the jump to faster than light speed exhilarated Nathan, but not today. It just felt like one more thing he loved was forever tainted by the Borg. He'd learned that the Borg were gone now, finally and completely, but in a way that made things worse because he could never personally get vengeance against them. He was lost and didn't even have an enemy to blame now. 

[your]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | En Route to the Doomsday Weapon | Andgarr System]

"Much appreciated, Neva," said Nira. "Prepare a detonation sequence with a countdown timer, but wait to set the timer. Arrange a remote detonation as a second setting as well, just in case."

Sighing with disappointment at one fact, she said, "I wish we could do more...no spare deuterium to spare from Challenger, Andgarr or anywhere else? It's a pity. We'll have to make do. Set course for the weapon, at our best possible speed."
Unfortunately, it too much too long for Nira's liking. All they could do was set course and wait. Nira had hoped, had hoped, that more could be added in with extra punch to take out the machine, but none other help was forthcoming.

So much time passed. Rest and sleep and eat from the Protein Resequencer, and Nira found preserved oosol sweets very excellent; sealed in so long, they tasted surprisingly good.

And the time came for the fight. Nira could only hope they were not too late. At Captain Galloway's call, she replied, "Acknowledged, Captain. I'll send the call for transport when we're ready."

She then turned to the away team and said, "Okay, we're primed and ready. Zhuk, you and I are to remain here while the rest of the team returns to Challenger. I'll ensure the course to ram the ship down the machine's throat continues. Zhuk, given what you know already about the Battlehawk's weapon systems, you'll be manning the weapon controls. Don't hit anywhere on the ship's outer hull, do your best unload the arsenal into the maw. Meantime, the countdown has to be primed. At current velocity," she asked to whoever was at the helm, "how long until the ship reaches the weapon's maw?"

Neva's jaw clenched a moment, her face turning resolute. As much as safety aboard Challenger appealed to her sense of self-preservation,  the young Engineer couldn't bring herself to turn into that skid.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "Commander Said, I'm sorry, but I can't in good conscience obey your order to leave. I volunteer to stay with you and Lt. Mrekrerhas until your beam out to make sure no issues arise beforehand." She gave a slight smirk. "Besides, any Engineer worth their salt would want to make sure their jerry-rigs hold."

[Battlehawk - Angdarr System]

As the away team made their final adjustments and lined up their approach to the Doomsday Machine, the massive weapon began to grow in size as the distance decreased. The old battleship shook and the consoles reported many overloads throughout the barely functioning ship. Although the viewscreen fuzzed in and out of focus, it was operational enough for the away team to have enough information to see the Challenger and the Deletham Mosarum begin their attack runs.

Approaching from directly ahead, the Challenger let loose a full salvo of quantum torpedoes as she closed, which all struck, but did no damage to the neutronium hull of the Machine. The anti-proton beam fired and despite the attempt to dodge, the beam hit and knocked the Challenger sideways by the impact. As the ship staggered, the Deletham Mosarum fired and drew off the Machine before cloaking. Fortunately, the anti-proton beam was not a rapid fire weapon, thus the slow recharge cycle allowed the Challenger to pass beyond the forward arc of fire of the Machine.

When the Challenger passed over the top of the Machine, her phasers strafing down the length of the massive weapon, also to no effect. She then fired a full spread of photons from the aft launchers as she completed her run. These warheads were fired with a proximity fuse and rigged to send out as big an EMP as possible to confuse the Machine's targeting as the Battlehawk began her terminal run toward the maw of the massive weapon. As the distance closed, Ian hit the comm system on the command chair.

"Nira! It's time ta bloody go!"

[Character Details]

Hey! Welcome to Shadowfleet. Please copy the application below and fill it out in a reply to this post to get things started.

Character Details

Character Name:
Character Age:
Character DOB:
Character Image:
Character Species:
Gender:
Character Family:
Character Bio:

Your Details

Previous Role-Playing Experience:
Department Preference:
Secondary Department Preference:
Commissioned, Enlisted or Civilian:

Sample post:

Additional information:

How did you find Shadow Fleet?

[Commander Nira Said | Captain's Ready Room | Deck Two | USS Revenant NCC-99333]

Nira waited for the appointed officers, as each arrived at different times. Torra and Bat arrived first, and Kinley and Cutter arrived last. She was glad Cutter had arrived, despite his having to find a wall interesting. He was the first order of business. She indicated for Kinley to stand next to her

"Glad you're all here," she said. "Now, Mister Cutter, I wanted to discuss first order of business. I received your request for resignation on my desk," she said, tapping a PADD on her desk. "And I believe I have two similar ones from Miss Feeka and Mister V'Larinn.

"Permission denied," she said, "On all three of them. I understand how you feel, Mister Cutter, but with all the officers we have lost on Frontier Day, we are in need of officers. I know how bad you feel, but you weren't responsible for your actions. I know what it's like to have your mind screwed with, even I haven't been assimilated myself. Now, we will be discussing with Counselor Bat about your mental conditions. Meantime, we have our orders from Starfleet Command," she added, pulling up a PADD with coordinates. "We will be departing in less than an hour. Prepare a course to Starbase 133. If you have any questions for me, Commander Garrison and Lieutenant Addams, we will gladly answer them, but aside from that, you're dismissed."

[Bridge - USS Revenant] - As Nathan Cutter

All Nathan heard was 'denied' after that, everything became fuzzy. The next word he heard was 'dismissed'. This he was able to process as he left the office woodenly and returned to the helm. He plopped down at the station and his expression became that of a 'thousand meter' stare. Seeing, but not seeing. Present, but not here.

[NOT]

With the original six away team left alone to operate the ship, Nira began pondering. The core may or may not be powerful enough to take down the machine, even at its power capabilities. She had just been wondering about requesting a deuterium tank or two to amplify the blast when a report came that the outermost planet of the Andgarr System was breaking up. Nira looked over the shoulder and could see...

Her first thought was instantly, Holy crap, it's early! But then, she remembered it was traveling at sublight speeds. It was still twenty-two hours away, but it was still clear that they were out of time.

Nira then turned on the comm badge.  "Said to Challenger, our ship is flight capable. Engine systems are powered, although if need be, we can add some extra punch to the payload. We probably may need to get some detonators ready, but we're flight capable."

[Neva Cordon->Battlehawk Wreck-Andgarr Prime]

Neva worked as hard and as silently as she could. She was absolutely convinced Commander Said would put a formal reprimand in on her "outburst" once this mission was done. It had been ingrained in her from birth that an officer does NOT lip off like she had. The old adage "put up or shut up" in her dad's voice rang in her head.

Once the power was restored, Neva took the Engineering station on the bridge. A wave of pure terror crashed over her at the site of the Planet Ester. She had to close her eyes a few moments and take several deep breaths to keep her innards from "blessing" the deck.

Turning back to her station, Neva checked the power readings and made adjustments to make the final Big Bang as powerful as she could. She had channeled her inner Captain Scott to jerry-rig things as need arose, and prayed to The Gods it would be enough.

Pivoting in her chair to address the Commander, Neva spoke as calmly as she could muster with her stomach churning again. "Commander, I've got the power amped to give as much of a punch as this ship's capable of. I set the Core to blow on Con's discretion."

[Angdarr System]

The populated world of Angdarr Prime was part of a solar system with nine planets. The inner three were hot rock Class-F planets very much like Mercury in the Sol System of Earth. The next three worlds were habitable to one degree or another, Angdarr IV and Angdarr VI were Class-L and were only marginally habitable with thin atmospheres requiring assistance for humanoids to breath. Angdarr Prime was the fifth planet and was the only Class-M planet in the system. Angdarr VII was a large Jovian gas giant Class-J world, with the two outermost planets being Class-G ice worlds much like Neptune.

With the Battlehawk limited to impulse speed, even at maximum, it took 22 hours for the old hulk to reach the edge of the system. By the time the Battlehawk, which was flanked by the Challenger and the Deletham Mosarum intercepted the Doomsday Machine, the Angdarr system was reduced to seven planets as the two Class-G worlds had become fuel for the monstrous weapon.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the three ship flotilla approached their target, Lieutenant Randall reported on his findings.

"The Machine is now showing it is at full power and is actually reading as 15% higher than that of the original device. The Machine seems to be aware of us and the documented Anti-Proton Beam is powering up."

Ian winced at the information as that meant things had just become more complicated. They could no longer just fly the hulk down the maw on its own because in its current state, its insanely powerful weapon would destroy the Battlehawk with a single hit. Taking a calming breath, Ian began to issue orders.

"Ops, signal the Deletham Mosarum. Tell them we're ta play bait for the machine ta keep it from firin' on the Battlehawk. Bring the second warp core online and put all power into shields. Tactical, prepare full spreads of quantums. They will nae hurt the Beastie, but they should keep it too busy ta fire on the hulk. Helm, you've got the toughest job of all, we're ta dance a merry jig in front of that thing while tryin' ta dodge that Anti-Proton Beam. Take us in."

Ian tapped his combadge and said.

"Commander Said, we are startin' our run, stay behind us as best you can, once you are ready send the word and we will beam your team back ta Challenger."

As he gripped the arms of the command chair Ian added.

"Ops, Scotland the Brave on all channels."

["Go ahead Lieutenant."]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

Despite what Neva said, the scavengers sounded interested. She felt encouragement from Zhuk and pressed on negotiating.

"I speak the truth," called Nira. "We can take you with us. We'd be glad to take you from this place and bring you home."

She had to admit, this probably had to have been her first instance of negotiating, and ironically, in all places, it wasn't a treaty signing nor a diplomatic gala, but she was negotiating, haggling. She prayed that these people will accept her terms. Of course, she felt prepared to do more haggling.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Andgarr Prime]

There was an even longer pause and then figures began to appear from where the storm of fire had originated, as eight figures stepped into the open, weapons still in hand, but lowered. It turned out the gravelly voice belonged to a Klingon. The rest of the group was a mixed bag of species, consisting of two humans, two Orions, a pair of Angdarri, and a single Tellerite.

"I am Korrig Fenn. If you speak truth, we are prepared to be transported to your ship now. However, we have family here, there are a total of 31 of us all together. As soon as we are free of this place, this wreck is yours."

With a deal secured, Nira spoke to the Challenger that she had a priority transport that had to supersede the current evacuation process. Despite the stress on the transporters, Ops was able to coordinate beaming Fenn and his people from the Battlehawk.

Shortly after the scavengers left, Lieutenant sh'Vhaorhath and the rest of the scientists arrived. As several of the bridge consoles were still smouldering, the Andorian gave Nira a look that said 'what the hell have we walked into?', but out loud she asked.

"Commander, where do you need us?"

The reinforcements jumped in even though they weren't engineers and with the original away team's assistance, they soon had the fusion generators online, they were only producing 78% of rated capacity, but given their age, that output was one step short of miraculous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[SIX HOURS LATER]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian listened to Lieutenant Commanders Catalan and Fellows report and nodded, impressed at what they had accomplished.

"The Angdarri have taken the Guppy in tow and are heading back to the planet. The ship is not salvageable Sir, based on her age, it's just not economical to repair. We ended up transporting 6,227 of the 8,649 people on the ship, that's 72%. Doctor Fellows will comment on the casualties."

"Thank you Fernando. We ended up treating 498 people, we lost 36 that were too badly injured to save. That included five of the crew which included their entire engine room staff. We currently have 99 casualties that are too acute for transport. That still has us severely stretched as far as our capabilities. We have had to take over cargo bay three to handle the overflow. We're holding our own, but we are tapped out should any further injuries."

"Might I comment Sir?" Lieutenant Davenport said from Tactical.

"Go ahead Lieutenant."

"We have fifteen of the survivors in the brig. The owner of the Guppy is still in sickbay, but I've placed a guard on him. Both to prevent his escape and to protect him from the passengers."

"Thank you Lieutenant. Outstandin' work everyone, we certainly weren't expectin' a rescue, and certainly nae one so big. Thing is, that bit of heroics cost us six hours. The Machine is now twenty-two hours from Angdar.

"On the plus side, I've heard from Commander Said and they've got the Romulan wreck about as ready as they can make it. We're ready ta see if'n we can give the beastie a terminal case of heartburn."

Ian then tapped the communication panel on the command chair and spoke ship wide.

"All hands, this is the Captain. We have gotten an old Romulan ship functional enough ta suit our needs. We are currently about ta head out ta engage the Doomsday Machine. Everyone is expected ta do their duty as best as their capabilities allow. We are Challenger and we shall not fail."

Ian closed the channel and added.

"Red alert. Battlestations."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Orbit - Angdar Prime]

The Battlehawk had lurched it's way through the canopy of the massive trees and into a reasonably stable orbit. Once clear of the planet, the science team was beamed back to the Challenger, leaving just the six members of the away team to man the battered hulk toward its destiny.

The departure couldn't have come at a better time as sensors detected the outermost planet of the Angdarri system had begun to break up. It was clear the Doomsday Machine had arrived and was feeding. It was all too obvious, they were just about out of time.

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Revenant NCC-99333]

"Said to Garrison, Addams, Cutter and Bat," called Nira. "Meet me in my ready room. We have matters to discuss."

Inwardly, Nira felt it was going to get interesting. It was a small space, and Torra was easily taller than either Cutter and Bat. But Nira felt that if Kinley was at her side behind the desk, the room will be okay. Plus, Nira felt the need to include Torra mostly that Nira had indicated, en route to Tamansarret, that she wanted her as Second Officer and felt the need for advice in addition to Kinley's; it was mostly out of the fact that Kinley was younger than Nira and Torra, and Nira always regarded Torra as a big sister. Then there were the ranking representatives of the original Revenant crew, Bat and Cutter, and these were people to consult with, along with discussing what was wrong.

[Bridge - USS Revenant] As Nathan Cutter

Nathan groaned inwardly at the summons. He didn't want to talk to anyone. His job was simple. Fly the ship. All he needed was to be told where, but he knew there was no chance he could avoid the meeting. So, he stood, called his relief to take the helm and headed to the briefing room, studiously avoiding eye contact as he shuffled along in abject misery.

[is]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

So they were scavengers after all, thought Nira to herself. But this time, at least it looked to Nira that, unlike the last group of scavengers they met, there's a chance for negotiation.

"All the same, we're intending to save Andgarr," called Nira. "We intend to stop the monster before it gets to Andgarr. That's why we need the ship. If you still wish to leave Andgarr, we'd be willing to give you accommodation on our ship."

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr Prime]

Neva knew in her head that they were dealing with wrecks, but seeing the actual remains of their former crew was another thing. She gulped down a lump of bile threatening to rise and took her attention back to the problem at hand.

Neva nodded at Commander Said's order and started opening her kit when the ship rocked from a familiar hit. She groaned a little as she braced herself and pulled out her phaser instead. When the new group of scavengers tried to lay claim, she shook her head in disgust. 'What in all Creation is this?' she wondered. 'Do we need to take a number on these things?'

Neva had finally hit breaking point. This was ludicrous and heading for dangerous. 'Here's hoping i don't get court marshalled or put in the brig!' Sighing loudly, she shook her head and prayed for calm even as she growled at the assembled. "Begging the Commander's and our esteemed friends' pardon, but we can stand here and squabble over who's ship this is all day. Unfortunately, we do not have the benefit of time." Her gaze leveled angrily on the new scavengers. "So if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get this ship up and running before that overgrown cigar up there" She pointed up with one finger. "makes us and this planet lunch! As my father would say: 'quit yer bitching and act like the adult you are.' So if one of you knows anything about Engineering or any other useful skill, get over to a station or something and DO IT!" With that, she shoved her phaser back onto her belt, turned away and went back to work.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Andgarr Prime]

There was a surprisingly long pause at Nira's offer even after Neva's outburst, the gravelly voice called back.

"You speak truth? You would take us from this place?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 4 - Transporter Room 1]

"Settle down!  No one is giving anymore beatings.   If you haven't noticed, there are enough casualties as it is.   Now you... " Lahr pointed towards one of the more vocal in the crowd, who to the Andorian seemed mostly uninjured.  The man had seemed to have plenty strength for punching when Lahr was trying to block hits on the doctor and his patient earlier.  "I want you to answer a few questions.  The rest of you, wait to be assessed by the doctor quietly and then go to where you are directed."

Stepping closer to the one individual he'd singled out, Lahr looked him over to get a sense of the man and his occupation.  "Okay... care to tell me why you were trying to kill that other fellow?  I heard someone say he tried to kill you.  How?  Who is he and what did he do that was so greedy and life-threatening?"

[Transporter Room One - USS Challenger]

The Angdarri man Lahr called out looked sullen as if he would refuse to answer out of spite, before he replied with a hiss.

"He's the owner of that wreck that almost killed us! He packed too many people aboard, knowing that wallowing pile of junk was unfit. A beating is the least of what he deserves."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Shuttle Resnick - Shuttlebay - USS Challenger]

Jamil found or was soon joined by Ensign Alexandria Winsdor, CPO Andrew McNeil, PO2 Kuni Jufforn, a Tellerite, PO2 Nallim Vuax, an unjoined Trill; with Lieutenant jg Vessaash sh'Vhaorhath, an Andorian in charge. The pilots were unknown to Jamil, but consisted of a Bolian woman and a human male.

Once they'd been given clearance, the shuttle lifted off with the McNair following close behind the two small craft dove down through the atmosphere and soon reached the towering trees of Angdarr. All had time to marvel at the staggering size of the trees as they passed below the great canopy and into the increasingly dim light nearer the surface. Eventually, the shuttles found the ancient Romulan wreck and landed. When they were on the ground, Lieutenant sh'Vhaorhath stood and drew her phaser.

"Make sure you have your weapons at the ready. The away team has already encountered scavengers and while I know you would all inclined to want a tricorder in your hand, this time, we have to be prepared for trouble. Let's go."

[Character Details]

Hey! Welcome to Shadowfleet. Please copy the application below and fill it out in a reply to this post to get things started.

Character Details

Character Name:
Character Age:
Character DOB:
Character Image:
Character Species:
Gender:
Character Family:
Character Bio:

Your Details

Previous Role-Playing Experience:
Department Preference:
Secondary Department Preference:
Commissioned, Enlisted or Civilian:

Sample post:

Additional information:

How did you find Shadow Fleet?

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

It was dawning on Nira that despite shooting up crap in the away team's direction, their accuracy was horrible. Nira figured it was almost like engaging Jem'Hadar going cold turkey on ketracel white: Violent in their shooting but with horrible accuracy. Nonetheless, they couldn't risk a chance of getting shot.

Then she heard a gravelly voice giving orders. It was clear that whoever these people were, they weren't scavengers and had mistaken the away team for scavengers.

"Hold your fire!" Nira shouted to her team. Then she inched up and called to the shooters. "Hold it! We're not scavengers! We're from the Federation Starship Challenger! We don't mean to intrude, we weren't aware of anybody here! May I ask who you are?"

Inwardly, Nira hoped these people will be willing to talk or be reasonable.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

There was another wave of fire before "Gravel" could get his people to stop shooting and he shouted.

"Starfleet? Why is Starfleet on our claim? We found it and we mean to keep it. Even if it's only sublight, it's still a ship and we can escape Angdarr before that monster eats the planet!"

[[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | NCC-40117 'Cutty Sark' | Over the Skies of the Warbird Metropolis | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

A while after leaving the control center, Nira had an even bigger realization: Since this was a ship predating the Earth-Romulan War by a decade or potentially more, the power source of its warp core wouldn't be a singularity, nor a matter/antimatter, power source. If she remembered the details, Romulans cores back then were powered by fusion. That made her concerned as to whether it would generate something powerful enough to take down the Doomsday Weapon, even at its power levels. Again, possibilties flooded her mind: They could get the power up, power the core, but what if they could ramp up the power somehow? Include a few deuterium tanks to pack a bigger punch? Nira was no engineer, but she knew weapons, and the power level of weapons; she had even looked up how a starship's engineering systems packed in power compared to torpedoes, and that had her wondering...but then, the thought came to her, since she ordered particularly to search for ships powered by singularity drives, how did Tora find this ship? And would it be more worth looking at one of the more recently downed ships to...?

If it hadn't been for Nekab's warning shout, Nira, in her distracted thinking, would've walked right into the ambush and would not have realized it until it was too late. The warning shout definitely roused her.

"Cover!" she shouted as the rain of deflector bolts lit up the hallway.

Nira berated herself as she got her rifle ready. Why did it not occur to her that there would be scavengers here already? And this was especially the situation where she needed more security officers. Well, no backing down now...

[Batttlehawk wreck/ Warbird Necropolis/ Andgarr Prime]

In the end they survived the attack of the Scorpion-class and reached the wreck, this time there wasn't any scanverge in sight. While the Cutty Sark returned to the Challenger, Aarwendil followed Commander Said and the others inside was probably the largest Romulan ship that he ever saw.

Not that he had seen many Romulans ships before.

"œI had heard stories about the Battlehawks." Nekab said, while they walked through the decaying halls. "œThey were the most powerful ships during the Earth-Romulan War, being capable of destroying many enemy ships." the doctor looked around. He was still with his stoic demeanor, but the Betazoid was sure that he was impressed in being able to see this piece of story. "œOne of my ancestors was captain in one of them."

The Ensign was going to ask Nekab more about it when the doctor turned to look at the Commander. He did the same, still feeling a bit embarrassed, when he heard the Romulan shout for her to be careful. A group of scavengers was preparing to fire at them. Aarwendil pulled Nekab by his wrist and found some cover, before firing at them with his phaser.

It was obvious that they were going to be here too.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | NCC-40117 'Cutty Sark' | Over the Skies of the Warbird Metropolis | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Zhukdra'shar took a deep breath as he felt the shuttle shake when it was hit by several salvos from the Scorpion-class. He had not fought one of its kind before, so besides the information scanned, he was not certain of what to expect. Still, he trusted Espada's flying, and his shooting, winning combinations as Espada managed to get the 'Cutty Sark' directly above the Scorpion-class. The Caitian then proceeded to reply with the shuttle's phaser fire, breaking the shields, and damaging one of the engines. I

It proved to be too much, and their enemy soon flew off, defeated. Zhuk celebrated with a grin on his face, nodding over to Nira.

He remained on the Tactical console while the area was scanned, though he got ready to descend as soon as no humanoid lifeform was detected on a radius of twenty kilometers. So he grabbed his phaser rifle (which thankfully he had kept a grip on while unconscious), and readied himself to find the piece that Commander Said sought.

As the shuttle door opened, Zhuk took a look over at the remainder of the ship. He did not quite recognize the class or model, but the vessel looked ancient if he was to guess. It did not help that it was half-buried amongst the vegetation, with a huge Angdarr tree growing on top of it. The roots had absorbed the stern section already. Zhuk could also notice a peculiar piece of machinery that reminded him of a weapon once he glanced towards the tree. It was rusted, and half-absorbed into the tree. Though wondering what that could be, his answer came from overhearing the tale recounted by Nira.

So a grand battle involving the same tactics that he had seen firsthand a few hours ago. With emplacements for tractor emitters. Incredible.

At the orders issued by the Commander, Zhuk proceeded to walk towards her, head held up high, before shaking his head, "As I said Commander Said, I remain utterly operational. I am more than capable of assisting with the exploration at hand."

He reassured her, and thus, he got his digitigrade feet back on the ground once more, raising his weapon, just in case. He did not expect hostiles, but it was better to be ready than to be sorry, he believed. He led the way, seeking an entryway into the dormant hulk...

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Romulan Wreck - Ancient Battlehawk | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Albeit Zhuk remained attentive, being caught in his thoughts caused him to fail in noticing danger up ahead. Nekab did, though, and shouted out a warning, which immediately placed Zhuk on full alert. His reflexes saved him once more, as he pulled Tora out of danger by grabbing her arm and pushed her towards the wall, preventing both from getting caught in disruptor fire.

He hissed at the unknown assailants, ears flat against his head, as he began to fire back, letting them know that he was quite well-armed. This vexed him. It made no sense for someone to be within the ship. There had been no sentient signatures in a 20 kilometer radius, correct?! So then, why were now getting shot at?![/color]

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Taja scanned a couple of the long deceased skeletons with her tricorder and kneeled down to one that was prone. She leaned in closely to examine the bones and noticed several key fractures indicative of impact or crushing injuries. "Their remains suggest a large amount of force was applied to their bodies, it's reasonable to assume it was due to the crash landing."

A small section of corridor wall a few inches to the left of Taja's head exploded as a disruptor bolt impacted out of nowhere. On instinct, Taja dropped behind some nearby crates and covered her head from the barrage of incoming fire. She tried to form as small a target as possible; unable to fire back without exposing herself and to afraid to even try. Why was this planet so desperately trying to kill them. The Risan was shocked into inaction, unable to move, unable to fight. All she could do was squeeze her eyes tightly shut and hope she wouldn't be killed. "Somebody do something!" Was all she could scream.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Everything had been fine so far. Tora could handle the bodies of dead Romulans and the thickness of the air and the overwhelming sense of dread that seemed to have settled over the entire interior. Maybe it was all the death inside. Thoughts went racing through her mind as she trailed behind the away team in stunned silence. What exactly had caused this? How had the crew of an entire Romulan warbird simply up and died like that? And more terrifyingly - what if what killed these Romulans came for them next?

All thought was interrupted, however, when the wall inches from her face exploded, leaving behind a nasty disruptor burn. Nope, definitely not set to stun - and clearly whatever or whomever was after them wanted them out. Every muscle in Tora's body screamed at her to book it out
of there - which she could not do without her team. Hell, she didn't even know if she could find her way out alone. A scream, all too familiar, crying out in a desperate plea for help - and Tora ran. Not away, mind - towards the owner of that voice. The Risian medic. The Cardassian grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her back to safety, or at least where she thought was safety. "You'll be okay, calm down..." She whispered in Risian. Speaking another's mother tongue was a surefire way to get them to relax - or at least distract them. And right now what they needed was definitely a distraction.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

The wave of disruptors splashed across the derelict's bridge, blowing open consoles and leaving deep burn scars on whatever cover the away team managed to have found. After the initial shock of the attack wore off, it became apparent that the attackers, while enthusiastic in their volume of fire, were not especially accurate. No one on the away team had been hit except for a few minor burns from the splashes of heat from near misses. The one thing the heavy fire did do however, was keep everyone pinned down as they heard one particularly gravelly voice shouting commands.

"Bring up the stunner cannon! Standby with those grenades! Keep that volume of fire up, we won't let scavengers have our prize!"

It suddenly dawned on away team that the attackers thought they were the troublemakers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sickbay]

Abas nodded as the doctor spoke. It seemed whatever situation the Challenger had come across was much worse than he'd originally guessed. The sheer weight of person was proving to be quite the drag on resources, and leading to what could be reasonably deemed field triage in lieu of proper treatment. "With you, Doctor," he said, before moving the patient out of the flow of traffic to an unoccupied part of the corridor.

Moments later, their makeshift surgical ward was as good as it was going to get. With the assistance of two additional med-techs, a portable sterile field had been erected, with ready supplies of plasma, blood, and surgical tools like laser scalpels and autosutures prepped and on a tray, a tricorder happily whirring away, chirping and feeding the medical staff useful information as to just how close the patient was to meeting the great koala in the sky.

"Ready," Abas spoke, hoping that none of the passersby in the corridor would be too perturbed by the emergency surgery taking place right where folks might be walking by. Abas prepared to assist in any way needed - but with such rudimentary supplies on hand, it was anyone's guess as to what form of assistance he might be called upon to provide. They'd have to adapt and overcome on the fly to save the patient.

[Corridor outside Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Abas noted how efficiently Doctor Fellows worked in the worst of circumstances. Many doctors would balk at the makeshift conditions and even refuse to do surgery in such a way. However, Fellows simply ignored the complications and buckled down to get a critical task done. She eventually ran the dermal mender over the incision she'd made and once finished, stepped back with a sigh before addressing everyone.

"Good work everybody. That got touch and go for a moment. I especially wish to acknowledge your work Crewman Th'vyrrol. After this mess is over, you can expect a promotion and commendation letter for your skill at a most trying time. You are a credit to your calling."

Jess then had a moment to look around and saw that while they were still being overwhelmed by casualties, it looked like the volume of injured was starting to slow marginally.

"No rest for the weary. Next batch is here, let's get to those red tags!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Transporter Room 1 | USS Challenger]

Jalen turned when he heard the doors swish shut and listened with a bemused smile on his face as the new security"¦ scratch that auxiliary security officer thought he was helping. He was obviously quite young and not experienced in crowd control, as given my his rather ineffectual speech and domineering manner, that the crowd for the most part ignored utterly. He was just about to make his way to the man and graciously explain what he would have the man do for the situation, when the transporter whined again. He turned back with a sigh, the young man would figure it out or get exasperated and leave, casualties were his first responsibility. The carefully crafted calm and organized chaos that flowed around Jalen was shattered when combat erupted on the platform. Jalen wade right into the thick of it, suing well placed strikes to incapacitate the combatants, plus the liberal use of the sedative in his hypo. He approached the situation with the same calm and precision that he applied to all his medical endeavours. What people didn't know, and he usually liked to keep it that way, was that he had spent decades in drunken barfights trying to fill a whole left by his failure to save El-Auria. As such though he was a gentle teddy bear most of the time, that teddy bear had some well sharpened claws.

Jalen wade through the melee, a judicious elbow to a solar plexus here, a hypospray in the thigh there, all while dodging or checking blows aimed at him as the attackers relized they had an outside threat. Jalen also calmly spoke as he went.

"œOh excuse me, I didn't see you there." (tripping of a person by stepping between his legs and forcing a knee into the back of the assailants knee)

"œYou should have that checked out by medical, it might swell." (Calm and precise knee to the groin)

"œMy, it seems that he was tired." (Judicius use of a hypospray)

"Excuse me, this man seems to be injured, I am a doctor, I need to triage him." Jalen said in a detached professional tone, with no hint of condemnation or accusation, as he made it to the target of their aggressions and knelt down, his tricorder in hand and began to triage the person, oblivious to any combatants still left, projecting a calm professionalism that was his standard mean, and usually got him the result he wanted"¦

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 4 - Transporter Room 1]

At the start of the commotion, Lahr drew his phaser to stun the whole lot of them.  While, he recalled that was frowned upon by the higher ups, Lahr knew that on his own the mob could easily overpower him.  Yet before he could take the shot.  The doctor who was much closer to the commotion stupidity put himself at risk by intervening, and preventing him from controlling the situation.

"Roozh, Doc! What the hell are you doing?"  But his words were drowned out by the crowd.

Knowing he'd get an earful from Chloe and Dr. Fellows both if he allowed one of the precious medical department staff to be injured while he was supposed to be maintaining crowd control, Lahr put away his phaser and followed on the doctor's six, using a more hands on approach.

The Andorian blocked several unintentional swings at the doctor (and at himself) by the mob intent on their victim, while the doctor played nonchalant using his hypospray like a weapon rather than a medical tool.  Though effective, Lahr had his doubts as to the appropriateness of the doctor's actions.  Wasn't there some vow of no harm they were supposed to take?

When the doctor reached the downed victim, his path strewn by unconscious evacuees, that's when Lahr pulled his phaser, and began taking down those that got too close to the doctor.   Only after he took out the three nearest did he give warning to the rest. "Back away from the doctor and his patient! Everyone! Cease and desist all aggression or you'll wake to find yourself in a brig." He thumbed his phaser to wide-beam and upped the phaser setting to medium stun.  Some of these folks were running on adrenaline and a phaser on low stun might not take them down and at the moment - their own safety was in jeopardy.

During all this time, because of the Commander's height disadvantage, Lahr had no clue the Only was present.

[Transporter Room One - USS Challenger]

Lahr was peripherally aware of the transporter chief calling for help as he stunned the most aggressive of those attacking the human. Doctor Kartos' one man assault had taken the steam out of most of the attackers with Lahr's phaser bringing the mob under control. However, while the fighting may have stopped, the rage behind it was still obviously just as hot as before.

"He tried to kill us!"

"Greedy Flekmak!"

"Beat him some more!"

The focus of the mob's rage was in a heap on the deck with obvious facial fractures and unable to speak. Kartos made his initial diagnosis and the man was now a critical priority because of his injuries. It might have been difficult to get the man out of transporter room going by the unabated fury of the crowd, but the arrival of half a dozen security cooled the mob long enough to have the man beamed directly to sickbay. Once the object of their rage was gone, the mob lost its focus and began to settle down to simmering discontent rather than murder. It seemed like it might be possible to ask what had triggered such violence now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

With the Challenger serving as a way point rather than a destination, the transporters were working at their maximum of 100 personnel per hour for each of the six transporter room. So far, roughly nine percent of the 8,649 civilians crammed aboard the Guppy were injured to one degree or another, that meant 778 casualties needed care.

As Ian looked through the numbers displayed on his command chair he know that was more than the entire medical staff could possibly handle. Fortunately, the Anax had come through and Angdarri transporters were starting to assist in the evacuation. However, even with the additional support, only half of the civilians had been rescued by this point.

Catalan had relayed Nira's request for security and engineering teams to assist with the recovery of a ship that might serve as their sacrificial lamb to stop the Machine, but security was only just keeping the civilians from becoming a mob. Ian was aware of a few fights breaking out and knew he couldn't spare any security. Ops and Engineering had been tapped to backup security, so he was thin on engineers too and he grumbled to no one in particular.

"When it bloody rains, it bloody pours."

Then he had an idea, the science department wasn't engaged at the moment. That gave him a resource he desperately needed.

"Evan, I need as many of your department as you can spare, I'm lookin' at around a dozen, they can take the Resnick and the McNair ta assist Commander Said. I ken your people are nae engineers, but boffins are brilliant sorts and can come up with summat ta help."

"Aye Sir. Let me get my people moving."

Randall's eye fell on Jamil and he added.

"Ensign, time ta be brilliant. Report to the shuttlebay."