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[USS Challenger]

This is a bit late, but here we go:

Unit Citation Award

This award is awarded by the Fleet Command to the crew of the most active SIMM of the period.

This award is presented to:
The crew of the USS Challenger

Ion Storm Award

Named after the most difficult challenge space travel has to offer, this award is given to the SIMM that has survived the roughest storm during the year.

This award is presented to:
The crew of the USS Challenger

Most Amiable Award
<Access Denied>
As the name implies, this award goes to the friendly crew of the fleet; the most welcoming and kind.

This award is presented to:
The crew of Outpost Solaere

Crew Efficiency Award

This award goes to the crew who have displayed the best synergy of working together.  No conflicts of responsibilities, no chaos on the bridge (aside from the story), and most importantly organization and cooperation on an IC and OOC level.

The award is presented to:
The crew of Outpost Solaere

Join me in congratulating the award winners!

[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

Vila sat at her console, having gained permission to proceed with the tests. After, they could take a collective lunch break, and then break off to assist Engineering and anyone else would need tickets answered.

"Thank you all," she said. "Your task is simple. YOU are going to attempt to hack into my systems, and change the loop feed from fifteen-second intervals to thirty-second intervals. I am going to try to stop you. Then, we'll switch. To keep it fair, I've converted the main life support and operational systems to Standard. Don't worry yet about any auxiliary systems; they're still in Bajoran," she said. "Let's begin," she said. She glanced quickly at Malik's empty console. She hoped he was OK. She glanced to Rayek's station, as well. If only he could see her now.

She flipped over her screens to the correct ones, and began their task.

A bit later, she glanced up. "Mr. McNair...quite impressive," she commented. She turned on her Comms.

M'Lenda. You're doing well, too, Cadet. 
She said. Neither had yet quite gotten her, but they were really close. "Keep going," she said. She quickly ran the Captain's reports to him, to give the others a head start. They were all three REALLY good at this, and it would be just the challenge she'd need to keep her mind from wandering.

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

"Thank you, ma'am." He replied.

Brute force would get him somewhere, and it seemed it was working bit by bit. Though, he knew he would be stumbling when it came to anything in Bajoran; it was one of his weaker languages and something which reminded him that he needed to take extra lessons if he was going to be a successful officer on board the Discovery. Well-roundedness was not necessarily a requirement, however he knew it to be looked well upon on the board. A holodeck immersive could be the-

"Dang." Buck muttered under his breath as the loop repeated. He shook his head, sighed and started it again. "Who's handling the main life support? I'll double up with you." Two heads, or three, were better than nothing. They would be able to work faster together and direct a large scale attack on a important system.

Especially if they were an attacking force distracting with incoming fire.

13...14...15.

Buck winced as the loop repeated.

So close.

They were nearly there.

Something pinged up on his PADD, distracting him momentarily as a notification popped up - a reminder from a day ago to follow up. Buck's attention shifted, weighing up the task at hand and the notification. He thought to the away team, his ear keen for any incoming comms from the team out and about. "Right, try this." He switched tactics, with all of the focus on the main life support, he went for the operational systems, hoping to slip through the gap that was created with most of the attack on the life systems.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain sat silent, watching the orbiting station while listening in to the simulated exercise. Oh the joys of being in command, the Captain not able to see what was going on.  Not everyone could skirt the regulations on the Command structure... but he was curious about this station.  And curious why there had been no report from the away team yet.  But if they went down to the surface, it was likely their signal would not have gotten out.

His thoughts were interrupted by a beep, and he looked down at the Captain's readout.  Raising an eyebrow, he spoke.

"Miss Lorut... is weakening the radiation shields part of your simulation?  The computer is reading heightened levels in main engineering."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain watched as the Commander and his selected bridge crew left the bridge to head to the shuttlebay.  In the meantime, the backup bridge took their station.  It took a few minutes after they left before the ship got another hail from the station.

"On screen." he stated, before he honestly regretted it.  It was the same recording, or at least mostly the same recording.  The message ended with assurances that the facilities will be available should the ship choose to dock, and then said there will be no more interruptions.

"Bridge to Shuttlecraft.  You are cleared to depart.  You're orders are to investigate and see what kind of threat the station is, or if it is a genuine welcome.  Discovery will continue to stand by."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

[[USS Discovery, Helm]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge | Science Station 1]

The Sensor test was going along smoothly. With the added assistance from Rajagopalan. Ramort was able to quickly finish all necessary checks on the Sensor Sub-Grid. All components in fact reported operation within expected parameters. Some miniscule variations in the upper Gamma Bands could be found but those the computer should be more than capable to compensate for.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge | Science Station 1]

Approaching the Planet Ramort engaged a wide sensor sweep of the Region to find the origins of the Energy Anomaly. Pretty soon it became evident it wasn't merely a trapped Subspace Phenomena but instead based in a very real source. A lone Docking Station orbiting the planet. When he tried to readout the Planets biomarkers or to that effect any other distinguishing factors about the planet all readouts came back with a flat "0". It was like the planet had been coated in a smooth but completely absorbent membrane simply eating the sensors careful rays.

"There seems to be a Docking station in Orbit around the Planet Sir. It features none of the expected local net of Satellites or other minor orbital installations. The planet on the other hand is resisting any effort to scan it. In fact it reflects all attempts to learn more about it. Permission to intensify efforts to pierce and analyse it apparent shielding?"

[USS Discovery, Helm]

Malik plotted a course to the orbiting station. As he did so the sensors detected that one of the stations docking ports activated and changed size to accommodate the Discovery. Lights illuminated the docking port as if to beckon them in.

"It looks like the station has adjusted a dock just to match the ship's requirements. It's as if we're being invited for tea."

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]  (arrival at Verallias II)

From his seated position, Rayek looked over towards the Junior Lieutenant Ramort as the Science officer reported out the scan finding.

Another scan-shielded area? The Romulan frowned until Ramort asked for permission to intensify his scan, much like how he had done during previous mission; then his frown turned into satisfied smirk.

"Thank you Mr. Ramort, I believe that is an excellent plan. Make it so."

The phrase was out of his mouth and drawing in amused looks from some of the junior personnel before the Romulan realized just how cliché his order sounded. Ignoring the mirth, Rayek focused his attention on Lorut.  "Attempt to hail the station."

No sooner had he spoken than there was movement from the orbiting station.

Rayek watched the docking port alter it's size before glancing to the Grippen at the Risan's comment.  It reminded him of a poem he'd read when learning Federation Standard.

" 'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly." Rayek quoted.  He then turned towards the Captain.  "Captain, I advise against docking the ship and recommend instead attempting to board the station via shuttlecraft.  I suspect once we launch a shuttle, a suitable landing pad will be made available."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain was leaning in his chair, with his left hand under his chin staring at the viewscreen.  He seemed to be either lost in thought or studying what he was seeing very hard.  The quote from Rayek peeked his interest, and he finally turned.

"Its a shame that we have to approach this with suspicion," he stated, before Malik announced a docking port had formed.  He raised an eyebrow in a very vulcan manner, and shook his head.

"This is getting more and more interesting..." he stated, listening to the tactical report and shielding.  "Mr Grippen, keep us at a safe distance for now.  Clearly, we've already been scanned." he stated, nodding to his first officer to hail them.

It didn't take long for a response, but instead of the viewscreen, a hologram seemed to activate on the bridge.  A woman in a wine-red gown with a smile.  She looked human.

"Greetings, Captain Tekin Nevir and the crew of the USS Discovery.  Welcome to Erewhon, where your fantasy becomes reality!  You and your crew are invited for rest and relaxation at our state-of-the-art facility.  We will also recharge your ship's supplies while you are below so you needn't worry about your ship.  Dock, and enjoy your stay!"

The hologram faded, and Nevir turned back to Rayek.  "Okay... this is very interesting... I agree with holding Discovery here.  Take a team over, see what this is about."

[Contribution Awards - July 2024]

Looks like its all up to me now... the last awards for this midyear!

Contribution Awards - July 2024

Outstanding Commitment Award

Awarded to players who are always online and posting. (for Discovery this was translated to posting on average 2 times a week over the course of the 6 months)

Petty Officer 3rd Grade Savyn
Lieutenant Junior Grade James Ramort
Lieutenant Dem Broadshire
Lieutenant Commander Malik Grippen
Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell

Contribution Award

This is awarded to players who make contributions outside of missions.
These could include submitting mission ideas and helping new members settle in.

Lieutenant Junior Grade James Ramort
For his assistance in developing a manual for new players.

Mission Submission Award
Lieutenant Commander Malik Grippen
Ensign Vadok Alvarez (reserved)

Vaughan Outstanding Contribution Award

Awarded to players who make outstanding continued contributions outside of missions.
These could include assisting the commanding officer with important tasks or temporarily taking on command officer responsibilities.
The Contribution Award must be earned before this award.

Since his return from reserve, and his assignment to the USS Discovery, this individual has made a point to be helpful to not just our ship's Command Team but to the Admin of the site overall. He volunteered to be our recruitment spokesperson and since then we've built a steady and growing membership once more.  He is definitely on track to being a great Command Officer.  Please join me in acknowledging the amazing efforts of...

Lieutenant Commander Malik Grippen

And finally, it ends with me.  And my favorite award:

Captain's Personal Merit Award

Awarded by the Commanding Officer of a SIMM to a player.

One of the most difficult responsibility for the command team is storytelling.  You would think something like that would be easy, but when you only control at most half of the characters, you need to be able to think on your feet. Thats why we have the mission submission board, and why we require storypoints for everyone.  It is rare that we will have someone else run or support a mission if they are not part of the command team, because you run the risk of that player turning this into their character's show. This is not like the series; the Captain and First Officer are normally the main characters, but in our case, we have to take a back seat to let other players feel important and shine.
So when someone steps up to the plate and does a spectacular job of assisting or running something, that demonstrates for us a future command officer, and someone we can trust to run things.

The Captain's Personal Merit, and last award of this period, goes to:

Lieutenant Commander Malik Grippen

Congratulations to all who received recognition, and good luck to those looking to gain one of these honors in January 2025.

Congratulations once more to one and all!
Huzzah!!

[[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]  (enroute to Verallias II)

Rayek watched as the Sec/Tac chief rose from her station without a word.  The bridge crew however was like a well-oiled machine.  No sooner had Lachlyn stepped onto the turbolift then the auxiliary sec/tac crewmember - Petty Officer First Grade Bradley Strider in this instance - assumed her station.  Rayek nodded in approval, until he overheard Lachlyn's call to Lorut's combadge.

Well, he had suggested Lorut's involvement...  But had assumed organizing it could have been done there on the bridge.

Rayek's eyebrow rose at Lorut's statement to the Captain. The only Ops on today?! Had the Vulcan T'Prith and Petty officer Forscher called in sick to her while he was in meeting with Broadshire?  Such should have been reported to him. He'd have to deal with.

His surprise matched her own from a few moments earlier, as she com-called him even though he was standing by the Science station not 3 meters away. Was she mocking him?!  He looked towards the Bajoran woman with a slight frown but nodded.

"Yes, Lieutenant, I will cover your station until either you return or I secure another Ops personnel to cover it for you."

He moved away from the science station and stood by Lorut's chair indicating that she should vacate it.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain watched Lorut leave and the look on Rayek's face, and he shook his head.

"Trauma, Rayek.  Our first mission after that horror show of Frontier Day and it ended up with officers shooting at each other again.  There have been at least 15 people in the last month who have requested a personal day, and most of them stay locked in their quarters. Better than the last 6 months, but still. Don't give Lorut too much of a hard time; she understands the trauma better than most.  Trust me on this." he stated, turning back to look out the screen.

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

Some time later...

Helm pulled the ship out of warp on his command, and they appeared within visual range of the planet in question.  There was evidence of past and recent warp travel, which only added to the questions, since there were no signs of subspace comms or even anything resembling exploration within and out of the system.  But the energy readings were hard to ignore; a very powerful reading in geosynchronous orbit of the planet.  The planet itself looked beautiful; like a larger Bajor or Earth.  Again though, it was devoid of communication satellites, waypoint stations, structures on its nearby moons, and the planet itself seemed to be completely uninhabited.

There was one thing, though.  The source of the signal.  It was something.  A large orbital docking station.

"Scan the planet directly." he ordered, standing up.  "This is only adding more questions."

[[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge]

Upon his return, Rayek reviewed the bridge log and the department statuses that had been reported to the Captain.  Things appeared to be quiet with everyone seeming to be kept occupied with their day to day tasks. Even the Captain seemed lost in his report reading.  A side-glance showed that the report on the Captain's PADD appeared to be last night's long range science report on the Verallias 12 binary star system - the system they were swiftly approaching.  Tekin seemed engrossed in it.  Rather than disturb the Bajoran Captain, Rayek rose from his seat and toured the bridge.  Stopping briefly at each station to check in with each officer.

He circled counter clockwise, starting with his own preferred station of Tactical.  "Lieutenant, given our current lull, I think it would do our the sec/tac personnel some good to be run through an unexpected security drill.  Please coordinate with junior lieutenant Lorut in arranging that."

The First Officer looked over towards the Operations station to be sure that Lorut had overheard his orders to Tanner.  "Nothing too intense though, it shouldn't interfere with science's mapping task."

He then circled in front of the Helm station, nodding to both Malik and Mr. Graham.  A glance at their consoles as he walked past, told him that the ship was close to approaching the binary star system - a statement that one of them would likely be making shortly.  "Gentlemen.  Any concerns navigation-wise in entering the Verallias 12 system?"  Rayek knew that some systems - like the Sol system had an Oort cloud surrounding it - making navigation a bit more challenging.  He wondered if that were the case with the Verallias 12 system.
.
.
Rayek knew once the ship did arrive within the system, the quiet of the Bridge would be lost as every science personnel on shift dealing with the scan and mapping task would of course reach out to discuss their 'fascinating' discoveries with their Department Head - a position presently held by the Captain.  Oh well, the peace and quiet was pleasant while it lasted.

He paused by the Science station console where Ramort seated. "Mister Ramort, I am glad to see it is you who are manning the station for this shift." Rayek greeted as his stride took him around to the Science section of the Bridge.  "Is there anything on medium range scans that might be of particular interest?" he asked, but his glance had already moved on toward the back of Bridge where he noted the engineering station was vacant.

This puzzled Rayek as he knew from Lek's report yesterday that the engineering checks which had dominated the Ferengi's every waking moment for the past few weeks were done.  So surely someone from engineering could be spared to man the Bridge.
.
.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Almost as if on cue, the sensors went off after picking up energy readings.  High energy readings. And they were emanating around the 2nd planet of the system. The Captain looked up and raised an eyebrow. After hearing the confirmation of the sensor readings, he frowned.

"Mr Reyak... the long-range sensors said this system was uninhabited.  What would create high energy readings?" he asked, partly as a question and partly as a rhetorical statement.  With a sign, he turned to Alex at the helm.

"Helm, adjust course for the second planet in the system. Mr. Ramort, run a level 4 diagnostic on all sensors; lets make sure we aren't chasing ghosts."

Captain's Log, Stardate 79439.95

Discovery has been assigned to deep space exploration near the Gamma Quadrant.  We are currently mapping the Verallias Sector, including the binary star system Verallias 12. While a big change from the missions that Discovery was built for, the lack of available ships has reassigned many of us to non-recovery efforts, in a show of confidence that Starfleet is still here and still on our primary mission.  At least that is the official reasoning; I have the distinct impression they are either hoping we run into the Keeper Clones again, or just to get rid of the nosy crew that exposed too much from Starfleet Intelligence.

Since we currently haven't found anything really interesting, I have put us on a course for Verallias 12 to let Astrometrics do their job.  I also recently received word of a rechristening of the USS Titan, the ship that fought against the fleet alone. While I respect the ship, I'm not too keen on what they did to her, and that makes me nostalgic for my part in the history of a certain name...

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

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Holodeck 2]

Nevir sat in silence, feeling the leather cushion beneath him and really wishing Discovery was built for a bit more comfort.  He could honestly fall asleep here.  Just the sounds of the bridge were around him; the hum of the engines, the beeping of the scanners, and the acoustics that followed them.  The lights were brighter than the bridge of Discovery, but he had to remind himself that when he first took command, the lightning on the ship was nearly blinding.  Still, he would take the warm light of this bridge over the sharp light of the Prometheus and her sister ships any day.

"Computer, what is the time?"

"It is currently 1359 hours." came the response, in the old familiar computer voice of the bridge he was standing on.

As much as he would love to stay here, especially with the chair calling for him to rest, he had to at least show up to the bridge to show he was still on duty. Nevir stood up, walking over to the ship's dedication plaque. True history was before him as he looked at the engraving.  'To boldly go where no one has gone before.' Built at Utopian Planetia on Mars.  NCC 1701-D.  USS Enterprise-D.  The relic that saved the Federation, and which he had the honor of being part of the crew that manned her following Frontier day and her final travels, and finally to the Fleet Museum.

"Computer... end program." he stated, turning around and heading towards a bulkhead as the ship around him faded and showed the bare bone emitters of the holodeck.  The doors opened, and he left.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir returned to the bridge and took his seat, taking the awaiting report from the science teams monitoring the space around them.  He automatically called for a report from the bridge stations while he was reading, and really seemed to be on auto-pilot.

"The best thing about space; it is so very big.  The worst thing about space; it is so very big. With a lot of space between objects." he stated, shaking his head.

Relaxed to Active.

[[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]]

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

Since this Captain had shown trust, Lek was inclined to do the same. Whispering to Lieutenant T'Farr. "Cover me." Lek stepped from cover with a tricorder. He stepped up to the two and ran the most extensive scan he could to try and find any signs of genetic drift in their DNA. When he didn't, he shrugged.

"Well, if you aren't the real deal, the fifty kilo head that created you really knows his stuff. What are your orders Captain? We're on the clock because a fake Rayek just cut comms with me. Knowing how conniving Rayek to be, I'm sure he's up to something. Not that he can. The warp and impulse systems are not only rigged to explode, they are disconnected from the ship's computer. Just needs a few connections to reconnect, I didn't get into active sabotage like last time, but he can play jiggery pokery all he wants, the engines are solidly locked down."

She blinked once as Dem walked away. What the HELL? Oh, well.

Quickly, she implemented the first part of her plan. She rerouted essential power to sickbay and engineering, and then killed internal power to the rest of the ship. She deleted the stopgaps she'd installed, replaced them with codes specifically written in ancient Bajoran, and then clicked off, disabling her console-and thus, the rest of them, as well. Across the ship, you could hear cries of "what the hell?" as computers stared blankly back at their users.

Ok, assholes, attack us NOW.

She paused long enough to rearm herself, "borrowing" a phaser from one of the console seats as the Battle bridge exploded into chaos. She pulled herself to her feet. Quietly, she creeped along the corridors towards the clone Romulan. "Commander," she said, the phaser cocked and ready. "Fancy seeing you here. I assume that your Ferengi friend saw through your façade and that's why you're here?" She shook her head, a small smirk on her face. "He's many things, but stupid isn't one of them." Indeed, he was an intelligent man, even if his personality reminded her of a snail. "I hope you're up on your ancient Bajoran," she said. She clicked her comms on.

=/\=Can I get security to the Battle bridge? I have the clone in my sights. He's about to fire on the real Commanders tr'Lhoell and Grippen.

She clicked off, then opened a second channel.

=/\=Captain, if you could hurry, please, that'd be great. I can handle myself, but not the entirety of the Battle bridge under whatever mind control they have going on here. She was good. But she wasn't that good.

"What'll it be? Is today the day we both meet the Prophets?" She asked. Most of it was bluster. But the leftover bits of trauma that Vila hadn't had time to readdress with therapy when they set sail was bubbling to the surface. Six months had been a healing time. But it would take a lifetime of work. A backslide here and there was understandable but she wouldn't have that option if she were dead. She knew this. But she also knew she was tired.

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering]

With relief, the Captain picked his rifle back up and slung it on his back, immediately walking to the pool table. "My counterpart is on my yacht firing at the ship.  The station is secured for the moment and we have the USS Zheng He on its way.  We need to restore power to the ship and keep it contained to Engineering for now.  Lorut has a plan to isolate Rayek's clone on the battle bridge." he stated, as he worked to help get full functionality restored before Lorut's plan.  The screens flashed and started showing in a blocky language, which prevented people from being able to read and understand the consoles.  Nevir was frustrated for a moment, but one of the symbols looked familiar.  Then another.  And he realized what it was.

"Lorut you're a genius!  Lek, the language has been changed to ancient Bajoran.  Luckily I can read it, thanks to Hrafn.  Use a binary 47-shift cypher and you should be able to access as normal.  Call out any unfamiliar term and I'll translate it."

"I can't remote access the yacht. We're going to have to disable it the hard way..." he stated, accessing weapons and targeting his own vessel.  The first couple of shots hit, but the effectiveness was starting to weaken.  And it wasn't Rayek or issues with their own weapons.

"Prophets... two science officers with command access... they know the tricks to evade weapons.  Lek, we need to narrowband the phasers!"

He tapped the comm to answer Lorut.  "I am literally trying to outsmart myself.  Its not as easy as it seems.  He's pulling all the tricks I know." he said, looking over the power systems.  Lorut's plan was initiated and it showed that everything was cut around the battle bridge.  He smiled for a moment but then came to a realization.

The transport inhibitors...

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

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]

The news of another ship incoming was troubling.  It might be best to cut their losses and just attempt to flee and cover their tracks.  rRayek was certain he could, with an hour or two head start, disappear without a trace.  Problem was they might not have the head start at this rate.
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rRayek quickly realized that his attempt to access the Engineering controls was not going to work.  It was like the mainline and all sub-routes had been physically cut.  Damn that clever Ferengi!  It was a shame Lek hadn't been on the away team and cloned.

However for all of the Chief Engineering's threats, the Romulan's attempt to access the engines didn't trigger any explosion.  rRayek scowled at the realization that the Ferengi had been bluffing. That had been a waste of time!

Suddenly all the consoles in the Battle Bridge went dead.  In the moment that it took for rRayek to realize that the power had been cut to everything (including the transport inhibitor), the sound of a transporter effect could be heard.  Seated at the Ops console, rRayek didn't have time to hide though he did raise his weapon and readied to fire at the materializing Sec/Tac individuals.

The first wave of phaser fire was exchanged and though the rRomulan was hit, the last lingering effects of his adrenaline shot meant that he alone was still standing at the end of it.

It was time to go.

He had just tapped his comm calling on the clone-Tekin when he heard a movement behind him and the distinctive sound of a phaser powered up.

He remained with his back to her, though he craned his neck around to catch a glimpse of her.

While rRayek didn't understand ancient Bajoran, he was certain that his Tekin did.

"I have no intention of dying today." he answered the bold woman and dropped his phaser obligingly. ""But there is no way I'm going back to that station alive."

"Beam me out now, Captain." rRayek shouted as he plunged into the Bajoran's mind openly and painfully, attempting to startle the woman enough to drop her weapon or at least be unable to aim properly during the transport sequence.  He dodged to the left in case she fired anyways.

A moment later, he felt the transporter effect take hold and rRayek withdrew his mind, only to appear on the yacht a few seconds later.  "Get us out of here! Maximum speed while the Discovery's engines and bulk of her systems are offline and powered down."

[Captain's Yacht - Clone Tekin]

"Gamma emitters are at 100%.  Shields are leveling off at 26%.  But we won't be able to stop that other ship.  We need to get out of here.  Try to get the inhibitors offline."

"I'm working on it. Rayek is in trouble.  I think we're about to lose Discovery."

"Stand by, getting the transporters online.  I'll try to get as many as our people as I can."

It didn't take very long, as Hrafn turned and announced that the inhibitors just turned off on their own.  Then Rayek called in.

"Energizing!" he called, transporting Rayek, and as much of the cloned team as he could.  As soon as Rayek was materialized on the bridge, Tekin turned to Hrafn.

"Get us out of here!"

The yacht did one more strafing run, focusing on the nacelles, and then jumped to warp to who know where.  Leaving the ship and the originals to hover in space.

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

Captian's Log, Supplemental

The Zheng He has arrived to provide assistance, and unfortunately for us, it appears that we learned too much.  There is an investigation to see why the Discovery was sent, since there was too close a connection between us and what was happening on the station. We weren't supposed to be here, which leads us to believe that this was a setup.  While no charges will be filed, I will have to answer to Starfleet intelligence.  Just myself, as I have taken responsibility for everything that happened.

The yacht is long gone, our best estimates lead us to believe they are headed for the Gamma Quadrant. These replicants seemed to have a higher purpose, working genetically for a group called the Thinkers.  They believe there is a galactic threat, which does cause some concern, but the Federation has plenty of problems right now.

Computer, encode this and all associated logs with Intelligence Cyber Beta 4-7.

[real]

Vila had calmed enough to think more clear-headed.

Ha! That's what he thought. She was good at tactical planning, and she had one, for sure. For now, she was holding steady with Ops. "Dem, what's the plan? Implement it FAST because I have some unfinished business to take care of," she said. She was planning a hunting trip. Only her game wouldn't be Hesperats, it would be clones.

She clicked on to her Comms and radioed the real Captain. =/\=Sir...as soon as we get the Yacht out of the sky, meet me in Security. Remember our holodeck thing? It's time to implement that but in real life. The younger Bajoran was going to learn the Guerrilla tactics that had saved their people.

M'nia, made her way to engineering alongside the captain, not knowing what she would find, she had grabbed a phaser. She more than likely would need it. The doors opened up and they was fired upon. She followed the captain.  "Sorry captain but looks like right now I'm all you got. Cmdr lek. It's M'nia and the captain. Are you ok?"

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering]

The Bajoran fired back, taking down a few of the people who clearly didn't belong on his ship.  He was still under fire, but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier.  He sighed at Vila's call, and tapped his badge.

"Vila, if this is some fantasy of blowing away your Captain..."

"Understood.  Once I am done in Engineering, I'll be there.  But don't get used to ordering me around, Lieutenant." he said in a slightly teasing tone, as he fired back in the corridor.  At least this was better than having his ship ripped apart.

Thankfully, the cavalry arrived, and the Captain breathed a sigh of relief.  With the current threat ended, he gratefully pulled himself back and nodded. "Thank the Prophets... let's go."

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

When to doors to engineering opened, a couple of the more jumpy engineers opened fire. When Lek saw that it wasn't an assault, he began shouting.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Stop shooting you knuckleheads!"

The shooting did stop and that gave Lek time to see someone that looked like the Captain and someone that looked like M'Nia. Unfortunately, he didn't know either well enough to challenge them like he had with the fake Rayek and he didn't know how he would know if they were the real ones or clones.

"Okay, I know who you look like, but that doesn't mean much. Neither does your voice print or any access codes you might have. However, from what I understand, tricorders can detect traces of genetic drift in clones. If you are willing to drop your weapons and be subjected to a scan, we might have a way forward."

"Umm, well I'm game. Captain, up to you?" M'nia said. She trusted lek and knew they'd be safe in his hands.

While he was relieved that Lek seemed okay, the phasers pointed at him was honestly not something he was comfortable with.  But... Lek was smart.  And with his suggestion, the Captain lowered his rifle and laid it on the ground, as well as his phaser.

"I know for a fact that you haven't been captured, Lek, so I'll trust you not to shoot me outright.  Go ahead and test me, but do it quickly.  My other self is currently firing on the ship."

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

Clone Tekin Nevir
[USS Tyson - Captain's Yacht of the USS Discovery]

"Jalat, we have an incoming ship... its another Starfleet vessel.  We're running out of-"

The ship shuddered as it was being impacted, which confused the occupants of the yacht. Discovery's shot were relatively low powered, and at this distance they couldn't use a higher power if they wanted to.  Which meant...

"Dammit, the station's defenses are active.  I would have thought they would have more important things to worry about." Nevir growled, tapping the comms on the ship to reach Rayek... but the clone rang him first.

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]

The replicant silently cussed the ineptitude of the informant that had provided the background details of Rayek's relationships after their escape from the Thinker station. That was twice that the lack of proper intel had revealed his true nature to Starfleet. No matter.  The information the Ferengi provided gave him an idea.

He cut the comm to Engineering, not wanting to risk the Ferengi figuring out what he was up to by the background noise.

Despite the engineer's warning, rRayek began doing exactly what the Ferengi said he wouldn't be able to do.  He would either trigger the explosion... hopefully taking out the Ferengi at the same time... or surprise the engineer with his hacking skills.

As he did this he called on Tekin's clone.

"tr'Lhoell to Tekin.  I'm going to try hacking Lek's Engineering lockout.  Either I'll succeed or the Discovery will be a useless hunk of metal to us.  The transporter inhibitor will fail if the latter happens... be ready to beam me to the yacht."

"Make it quick!  We have the station firing on us and another Starfleet vessel on its way in!  Did not expect to fight off both ships and stations in something only slightly bigger than a shuttlecraft."

[Fleet Applications - Join Here!]

Hey T'Laar, I am Captain Tekin Nevir, the Science Academy instructor.  You can find your ATC here.

[[Station - Operations Center]

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Dem hesitated for a moment too long as the ship shook from the raining fire. "Shields Shields yep, ok." He started to rather clumsily input the required information into his console. "Firing back, disabling shots only" He offered, before remembering that they still had an intruder onboard. "Find the clone, he's still on the bridge." He commanded with a renewed confidence, still acting like he was in command. He was still slightly hesitant towards the captain.

USS Discovery
Bridge

Vila shook her head. SHe'd managed to dodge the efforts to disarm her, though she didn't know how long she'd be able to hold them off. "CAPTAIN. I MEAN NOW." She said. "Someone get the REAL Captain off the bridge!" She shouted over the noise. Where the hell was the Vulcan?! She could really use Grippen or Rayek right now; both men were taller and stronger than she, and both knew her..."leadership" style and would possibly back her up.

She fired off several more phaser shots, unfazed by the "fake" Rayek's still standing. Killing the Bridge would render it all useless anyway. With luck, it could even cause an override code to take over, shutting down the clones' movements. So far, that didn't seem to be happening.

Dem's voice came into her ear over the sounds of phaser fire and the clones closing in. Luckily, in a beam of light, she appeared on Beta Bridge. "For fuck's SAKE," she said, sighing deeply. "What the HELL is going on?" It was a rhetorical question. "Sir, I really think it's best if you go hide in Engineering with Commander Lek," she said. She might dislike the Ferengi, finding him rather full of himself, but he had the same sort of passion she did, even if he channeled it to different things.

"Yeah, I am working on it," she said, her head bent over the Ops console. Because she had killed the other one, the one on Beta bridge was fritzing but it had enough power still to get a life signs scan. Perfect. She headed back for the Main bridge, pausing only long enough to extract a second weapon from a nearby hull locker. She had run several internal schematics before this had all happened, and knew where they all were. In case.

She arrived back at the Bridge to chaos. Quietly, she slipped beneath the closest bank of consoles, taking out the legs of the two people seated there, and firing on them. If she could get a vantage point, she could phaser the sucker on her own. Of course, it would be better if she had a hand.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Of course the clone of Reyak was on the bridge, and the Captain was knocked back with a shot when phaser shots went wild.  It wasn't fatal, just a shoulder shot.  Prophets, he got those in the holodeck often enough.  He did a quick check to make sure it wasn't too dangerous, and then pushed himself back up, grabbing his weapon again.

"You only get this one, Vila!" he shouted back, as he moved to the tubolift as he heard the telltale sound of a transporter.  rRayek was on his way to another location.  Probably somewhere on the ship since the shields were up.

The Captain made it into the turbolift, but it stopped as the lockout occurred.  Great... now they were in a tug of war with command codes.

"Computer, override lockout.  Main Engineering." he ordered, and the turbolift started back up again.  "You can't control my ship while I'm here, Rayek." he muttered, as his comm chirped.

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Station - Operations Center

When Malik suggested the division of labor, Rayek went along with it, even though by Chain of Command the one contacting the SC should be him.  What harm was there for the Second officer to do it.  Malik had been present at the briefing same as Rayek, so he knew the mission was classified and that support was not likely to be coming.

"tr'Lhoell to Discovery..."   Rayek frowned when his call to the ship went unanswered (because the main Ops console was down and the Bridge crew and Away Team were dealing with issues of their own).

He turned his attention to Malik and his message just as the Risian hit send.  Rayek facepalmed. "Um. Grippen.... I believe the clones were to be considered classified material"

When the response came back ...announcing that another ship was enroute,  Rayek didn't know whether to be happy to have support or worried that the lot of them were about to face a demotion.  Guess they would find out in 2 hours.

Rayek tried again to reach the Bridge this time, via the Captain's commbadge.

"tr'Lhoell to Tekin."   Rayek could hear the comm connecting.

"Station Ops has been secured and the self-destruct halted." 
Rayek wished that was the end of it but no..

"I need to inform you that that Starfleet Command has been contacted and they have sent the USS Zheng He to lend support"

It was then that the Romulan noticed the Captain's Yacht was detached and flying strafing runs against the ship itself.

"Commander,  can the firechain buoys be manually operated to select a specific target?"  Rayek knew it was possible with Katra's defense system... but he had learned that the two systems were not synonymous.
.
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery]

[Deck One]
Unknown to Vila, the officers she was firing on were her own crewmates.  Elena from Ops, and the Bolian flight officer, Bok Char.  No one seemed safe from the rampaging Bajoran.  The only ones she didn't seem to be firing on were those who had arrived with her. Everyone else was fair game.
.
.

[Deck 6]
rRayek materialized on the Battle Bridge and was not surprised to find himself facing down a pair of security officers, left behind to secure the location from the rogue Captain.  The pair of ensigns seemed uncertain as to his status, friend or foe, so the rRomulan took advantage of that fact.  "The Bridge is under attack.  See for yourself. Computer, display main Bridge security camera."  When the pair turned their attention towards the activated viewscreen, rRayek fired on the pair with a wide beam from his phaser.  They dropped.

"Computer, activate transporter inhibitors on all three Bridges and initiate a security lockout."  He authorized it using the authorization code that he'd read from his original's mind.  That should give him some breathing room, until the Captain figured out that it was in effect and overrode his First Officer's clearance.

The rRomulan moved to the Ops console and began an assessment of the ship.  Engines were locked out. That would be Lek.  And the Captain's Yacht seemed to be coming about for another strafing run.

Hmmm..

rRayek tapped his comm badge. "tr'Lhoell to Lek.  I need you to release the engine lockout, the station is about to self-destruction, and we need to distance the ship from it."

"The first bit of good news I've heard today..." the Captain started, stepping out of the turbolift and into the hallway.  A shot nearly missed him, and for a moment he wondering if he would going to end up taking down his entire crew.  But no... these looked like station personnel.  Evidently there were more clones on the ship.  That made sense... they couldn't take over Discovery let alone the station if they didn't have numbers.  Who knows how long they had been working on their plan.

The Captain held a grimace as he fired back and Rayek told him of the update.  "The Zheng He is a guardian ship... they could be either Intelligence or our back-up from Starfleet Command.  Either way, not great.  Keep information to a minimum.  If its one of our we'll be implicating them.  If they aren't, then we're going to be in deep soon.  See if you can use the station defenses to disable my yacht."

Soon, the Captain arrived in engineering, only for him to come under fire.  He dove, the lab scrub-clad Captain firing at station personnel clones on his ship.

"Dammit... I don't supposed I can get some help down here?" he called out to anyone who could hear him.

[[Station - Transporter Room]]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Station - Transporter Room]

.
Rayek was somewhat surprised by Tekin's strong reaction and the Bajoran's willingness to let the station be destroyed - with all hands aboard.  He would have thought that the former science officer would have more understanding for the morally grey areas of some sciences and those who are ordered to do such studies.

"You won't need to look for an new First Officer.  I have no intention of dying here, sir.  Tess would kill me." he added with a slight amused smile.

Rayek then looked to Malik and was reminded that he'd suggested the Risan be in charge. "What are your orders, Mr. Grippen?  Do I stay and attempt to shutdown the self-destruct or do I go with the Away Team back to the ship, leaving hundreds to die without even an attempt to stop it?"

The question was unfair; biased even - but that was sort of situation command officers dealt with a lot of the time.  Rayek knew what his choice would be.  Question was:  what was Malik's decision?

While Rayek waited on Malik's response, the Romulan noted Lorut working diligently on the transporters.  He moved to look over her shoulder and was surprised by what the readings on the board showed.  While the ship was out of range, a 'bridge' of sorts seemed to have been made using the Captain's yacht and tractor beams between it and the station and it and the USS Discovery.

"Lorut, are you seeing the bridge?  Piggyback the transporter beam along the tractor beam." The Romulan advised, even though that was likely what the Bajoran Ops officer was already doing. She knew her job well.

Unnamed station
Labs-Transporter
Real Vila

"If I can blow up the lab, it'll buy us time, and probably also draw out at least one or two more clones-yours, hopefully," she responded, keeping her tone even. "I can figure something out--it'd be easiest to just set my phaser on the chemicals in here," she said. Guerrilla warfare was something she knew, and while she wasn't as eager as she'd once been, it WAS her strong suit, and a place where she could be useful currently.

They finally made their way to the Transport room, the sabotage forgotten. Apparently, it was set to self-destruct anyway. Damn the luck. She'd just have to blow things up in the holodecks, she guessed.

A "bridge" of sorts to the Disco had been made, and Vila got to work even before the Romulan spoke.

"Already on it, sir," she said, head bent over a console, typing furiously. "Captain...are you sure you don't want to try...I don't know, something a bit...not me?!" She asked the other Bajoran. While Lorut was often of the mind that evil people deserved the worst, she also did understand that clones weren't sentient, per se, and some of them likely weren't totally willing participants, much like the Comfort women on her own planet. After a moment or so, she raised her head, hazel eyes firing.

"SIR? I got the transporter up," she said. "I don't know how long Clone Captain will allow it so haul ass," she said. She made her way to the light beams.

[Station]

To Malik the decision was clear. "Starfleet would expect us to try. We must attempt to shut down the self destruct no matter the cost to us. We also need to update Starfleet Command asap on the situation here and request immediate reinforcements should Discovery escape with the clones onboard. I will stay with you to attempt to disable the countdown, everyone else get back to the ship and regain control by whatever means necessary. Good luck everyone.

[Station Transporters - Real Captain Nevir]

"The one time I am on your side in wanting to blow things up, you ask for a not-you solution?" Nevir said with a smirk towards Lorut as she worked.

"Doing anything to the lab will waste precious time, and may jeopardize attempts to stop the self-destruct or at least get people off the station.  Don't worry about my clone.  If he even notices what is happening he won't have time to process it.  By the time they break the connection, we'll already be on Discovery.  What I would be concerned with is where the clones transport.  Prepare for a fight." he stated, turning towards Rayek and Malik, and glancing at Vadok.

"I will try to get a transporter lock on you guys once we get Discovery back.  I will pull you out if you run out of time." he stated sternly, before turning towards the others and stepping on the pad.

"Listen up!  Discovery will be locked out to anyone below the rank of Captain. No one will be able to do anything until I lift the lockdown.  We don't really have a means of giving a heads-up to Discovery, nor any guarantee that they would believe its really us.  Be ready to fight your own crewmates, especially if you end up seeing yourself on the bridge. It will be easy to see which one of me is the real me; I'm the one out of uniform.  If my clone shows up, knock his ass out.  Keep weapons on stun; we're Starfleet.  Alright, energize." he stated, as his world of view shimmered.

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

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain shimmered as he appeared on the ship, and mentally cursed the seconds it took to do so.  Someday they needed a millisecond type of transporter.  He ended up near a console in the front, facing the back, and was surprised when he saw Vadok by his chair.  Wait didn't he...?

The Captain dodged phaser shots as he dove behind the helm console, unsure if it was his own crew or the clones firing at him.  There were plenty of people in the away team, he didn't need to participate.

"Computer, recognize. Tekin, Nevir.  Captain, USS Discovery"

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Being shot at is a hard thing to comprehend for anyone. It all happens so fast. The moment Dem's brain processed the muzzle flash from the commander's weapon, it had impacted and exploded the panel in front of him. Diving back well after the sparks had subsided, he covered his face from the heat of a direct blast. It took him a few moments to recover, but when he did he was met with an unusual sight. The commander and the entire team. This was even a little too overwhelming for Dem. "Everyone who has just arrived hands up. Hands up." He shouted, motioning to the existing crew to disarm them, while he scanned the room for the known hostile.

Nevir put down the rifle as he stood up and raised his eyes.  He stared at Dem, and calmly spoke.

"Computer, release Pegasus lockout, authorization Tekin two pi alpha gamma."

With an acknowledgment chime, the screens lit up with their normal functions, and the crew was given access. Crew quarters were unlocked, and Main Engineering had full controls restored.

"Dem.  Raise the shields." he said, not moving.  He kept his eyes on him.  "Trust me, raise the shields before-"

The Bridge shook as weapons fire hit it.  The Captain's Yacht had fired on Discovery.

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

[Captain's Yatch - Clone Tekin]

"Oh... so we are going to play, are we, Lek?  I should have taken you out when I had the chance..." Nevir growled as the ship's thrusters stopped and the reverse thrusters activated.  So Lek knew what he was doing.  Luckily for him (and the real away team it turned out), the ship was already comfortably in the range for the transporters.  To slow the ship's pull away from the station, both Nevir and Hrafn worked to strengthen the tractor beams, and even pulled a buoy or two to help with bridging power.

"Jalat... there is a second transporter beam."

"What?" he asked, looking over at Hrafn's monitor.  Sure enough, the power band readout for the transporter power was larger... much larger than just two individuals.

"Captain, you clever bastard.  We can't disrupt it without threatening our own Rayek."

"Yeah, let's not kill him to get your clone... we've been around longer than you.  Also the hull stress is increasing, we may want to deal with that first."

Nevir growled and jumped back into his seat, strengthening the integrity field until Hrafn announced that the transporter was complete.  "Alright, cut power to the beams and divert to weapons.  We can still disrupt them long enough to take over." he stated, as he activated the phasers and torpedoes.

"Lockout has been released.... Nevir, your original is there."

"Good... he's proving too dangerous to be kept alive.  Rayek was right.  Targetting the bridge, let's do a strafing run." he stated, as he fired on his own ship.

[[Station - Operations Center]]

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[Station - Operations Center] [Present]

The rRomulan waited.. but there seemed to be no response from the ship and it remained unmoving out of range of the transporters.
"Dammit Tekin, I need that ship in range," he muttered.

The replicant quickly considered his options. He looked to the Vulcan-clone.

"Help me rewrite some code.... and upload it to the defense buoys.  We're going to use them to boost the transporter signal to get us onto that ship."  The timing of this was going to be tight.

[Unknown location - USS Discovery]

The Bajoran slammed his hand on the panel, disrupting the semi-3d controls.  "Dammit Lek!" he growled, looking over the systems.  Weapons were online.  Propulsion was online.  Thats what the sensors said.  When the weapons were cold, and the engines were on standby, ignoring his own commands.  Lek apparently did not trust the Captain, no surprise.  But he needed to move the ship, now.  He heard the doors open, and Hrafn walked in.

"Good, our little Ferengi is trying to fool us.  We need to get the ship moving. Rayek already got the self-destruct started.  And I think there is enough confusion that they don't even want to try to rescue their crew on the station."

"On it." she stated, as the two of them ripped out panels and started rewiring and moving chips.  The two bounced ideas off each other as they tried to bypass different locks, and then an idea formed.

The first one was minor, and maneuvering thrusters were restored.  Activating them, the ship slowly... very slowly, started to move.  The sentry buoys that had been a threat to the station were dormant, and not responsive.  Then, they access the shuttle bay controls, and cleared the bay before decompressing it.  That gave the ship a boost in speed, and was bringing them closer to the station.  Now even if the thrusters were taken offline, the ship's momentum would carry.

Finally, the range of the tractor beam was increased, and Nevir and Hrafn took their seats in the cockpit of where they were hiding... the Captain's Yacht.  It disconnected and moved ahead of the ship, and then sent its own tractor beam out to impact the station.  The station was obviously much bigger and wouldn't move, but then the tractor beam from Discovery was activated from the Yacht, tracking onto the ship.  The bridge created, the Yacht was pulled towards the station, while Discovery was being pulled by its control on the Yacht.  Breaking a sigh of relief, he activated his comms to the clone Rayek.

"Discovery is moving.  Lek tried to trick us by faking systems online, so we had to find a more... creative solution.  I do not know how long we have, but we are preparing to take care of the rest of the crew.  Get to the Bridge and I'll release the lockout.  Discovery should know where Hrafn and I are by now."

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

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[Station - Operations Center]

The rRomulan was glad the call was audio only, his scowl at the officer's apology and all too convenient explanation might have given him away.  It was only when he heard the slight telltale thickening of the man's voice near the end did he realize the man was crying.  Maybe it wasn't a ploy? Ah but then came the question.

rRayek recognized the actor's name.  His original had been introduced to the 20th century actor by Saqa7 and her love of old action movies.  Tom Cruise, however, to his recollection had a long acting career spanning over 5 decades - naming one movie among over 30 would be next to impossible.

It was clear the question was intended to verify his identity.  He turned to the Vulcan-clone with a questioning look to see if the science officer's clone might have the memory of what film was being talked of.

While rRayek didn't have a clue what film the two might have decided on to watch, he did know his original's preferences - a mix of action and romance.

"My preference is still for either Legend, or Far and Away." Legend was a bit of cult-classic and played on the mythological theme.  Where as Far and Away was more a Western.

It was only after answering this, that rRayek realized that there was one other possible answer.  Ignoring preference - if this film name was a code word between the two... his original would have definitely used the name of the movie most appropriate to their situation.

"But I believe we settled on Oblivion." he added while still working diligently on writing code to extend the distance of the transporters.  There was no way he was going to die on this miserable station!

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Station -  Cloning lab  >>  Vent  >> Transporter Room]

She and M'Nia moved, and together, they were able to get enough power for Vila to run the replicators, issuing five flight-suit uniforms. Once she and M'Nia were dressed, she killed the power to the remaining pods, and the rest of the labs. A quick round of phaser fire ensured that it would STAY off-the clones here would have difficulty rerouting power until the wires were fully fixed, buying them time.

"I've sabotaged the wiring," she said. She passed out the replicated uniforms.

Too many things happened far too fast for Rayek to have had time to change into the flight-suit that the Caitian had managed to replicate for him.  Escaping the self-destructing station seemed far more important - at least to the Romulan.

Since it seemed the others were about to leave the unconscious Malik-clone behind to die, Rayek handsigned to the two Lachlyn's to bring the unconscious body to the vent.

When Lorut flat-out refused to get into the air vent, Rayek was tempted to risk inhaling the anesthezine make it a direct order except doing that was just as likely to blow up in his face with another refusal, than actually help.  With Lorut, Rayek realized that direct force often had the opposite reaction.  He was about to suggest, ironically, that she remain behind then to sabotage lab of the self-destructing station when he was saved from uttering such a ridiculous order, by her sighing and climbing up into the area vent.

Eventually it was just himself and the Captain left to enter the vent.  Rather than waste precious time silently arguing who would be last to leave - both feeling it was their role to do so - Rayek jumped up, caught the edge of the opening and pulled himself up and into the vent.  He then turned and held out a hand back towards the Captain to help him up.

When he thought he was far enough from the anesthezine gas, Rayek risked taking his first breath of air.
...
The countdown to self-destruct was a mostly silent one.  There was just the occasional reminder from the station's computer that "all personnel were to evacuate."  Occasionally, as they traveled the air vents they could hear calls for help echoing through the vents.  It seemed that station personnel were trapped and unable to evacuate.  Rayek had his suspicions that such calls could be a ploy by some of the Thinker clones to delay their escape, but he still knew that not helping would haunt him afterwards.

Unaware that Lorut had spent precious time intended for escape, replicating comm badges as well as clothing, Rayek thought his ear comm was the only communication device the away team had.  As such, during their crawl, he attempted to contact the ship.  A call to the Bridge would be likely monitored.  But the personal communications of a lowly Ensign might be less so

"tr'Lhoell to Hansen.  I've found the original away team and we're... safe for the moment. Captain included."

He knew he had to be cautious in what he said because it was possible that his replicant was still listening in on all calls.  "Escaping on our own prior to the self-destruct might not be possible.  Please tell me Ramort managed to find the right frequency to scan through the station shields. The entire station staff may need an emergency beam out, if he did.  Get back to me on that."

In the tight crawlway, Rayek looked back towards Tekin. "Captain, it may still be possible to abort the self-destruct.  I feel I have an obligation to try."  Because this was his clone's doing, he felt responsible and he was seeking permission to leave the Away Team to attempt to stop the countdown.

[Clone Lab-en route - Station]

It was starting to become an easy way to tell if he was in a true Starfleet sickbay or not.  He woke up without already wearing some sort of medical clothing; and he was starting to despise that.  Getting something put on wasn't an issue, even if it wasn't his uniform.  That could be replicated later.  Or taken back from his clone.

He was so close to yelling at Lorut's refusal, but at this point, it would have been more dangerous, and luckily, she ended up complying.  He had the same thoughts of who should end up going through last, but Rayek took the high road and went in first, Nevir thankfully taking his hand and helping himself up.  Once they were far enough away, you could hear the sudden gasp of air from the away team.

"The easy answer is Regula, but at this point those types of stations have been built and rebuilt almost none of them are built like any others.  Plus SI having their own equipment makes it even more difficult.  That said, they should all have similar controls.  Relays, Ops, Infirmary, Engineering access, transporters and shuttles.  What are you thinking?" he asked in response to Lorut's question.

He however, sighed, when Rayek made his suggestion.  "Normally I am all for that... but I've been jerked around a bit too much by Starfleet Intelligence.  I'm half temped to blow this place up myself, which is how I know my clone is more than willing to do it at any time.  The only reason we are probably still alive is that your own counterpart is likely here on the station still.  I'm also holding out hope that Lek's normally pessimistic and distrustful nature will prevent me from being able to access weapons and transporters.  The lockout is useless if no one is able to activate the ship's systems.  Unless they reroute power from a bridged connection to the holodeck system and put it through the holo-systems and life support so that interfering with those relays would put the entire ship at risk, then they can use the deflector to... I better stop thinking.  If I can figure out this fast, so can he... and he probably has." the Captain said with a sigh, as they entered into a transporter room from the looks of things.

"See if you can extend the range... unless Discovery gets closer we won't be able to beam off." he ordered, turning towards Rayek.

"The right thing to do is try to stop the self destruct, and I have a feeling that its going to be one of us. I'd probably argue that it should be me, but I'm the only one that can access Discovery's systems right now.  If you try, it is very nearly a death sentence.  There are a number of things that can go wrong, and you're going to be relying on my ability to restore systems before the countdown is over.  I'm not ready to lose a First Officer because an echo from the past came back."