SubAccount: Ardyn Jaeger

[Shuttle]

If a Bolian was able to look green, this one certainly did.  "œ Keep it together.  should be a bag in the back somewhere," she warned.  It wouldn't be a good look if there was an acid scorch on the inner hull.

She nodded as she heard Alex's voice through the Comms. He sounded understandably concerned and she didn't blame him in the slightest. She was glad they were going to get some backup if there were more fighters on the way.  Two were fine for now, but if there were going to be more, they could possibly overwhelm them with numbers, and they still had injured to take care of and get back to safety. She didn't like the thought of leaving the Captain and the others down here, but if they had to get out, they might have to leave the others.

"œUnderstood."

It was a curt reply, but there was no time to think as she dodged another primitive missile. She turned to Zhuk. "œThey've gotta be running low on  ammo by now, right?"

Ardyn spiraled through the narrow mountain spires, weaving through the rocky crags, ideally hoping to scare the fighters into backing off from the Flyer by increasingly complex maneuvers, some she hadn't pulled since she was in her racing days, banking and turning  until she got out of the canyon.

Hearing Zhuk's compliment, she smirked. "œI appreciate the compliment. If we get out of this, I owe ya a drink."

A few minutes ago...

One of Zhuk's ears shifted toward Ardyn's direction as he overheard her statement. He did not turn, instead placing most of his attention on the screen, "Mayhaps. If I recall correctly, primitive vehicles often have limited ammunition storage. Still, we should exercise caution. I wouldn't be surprised if they show creativity in their endeavors,"

A moment of more analysis, and then a chuckle escaped his muzzle, "Why, that would be greatly appreciated, Lieutenant. I shalt take you on the offer..."

"Bring it on then." she said, gritting her teeth as she dodged another round of bullets, hoping they'd run out on them eventually.

For what it was worth, they were still tailing her, albeit seriously slowed as they tried keeping up to the Flyer without crashing themselves.  She could see at least a couple more coming into view behind them. "œMore company!" They were almost out of the canyon now.  Ardyn heard Alex's voice over the comms.  Change of plans again. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening Challenger-side but she'd have to ask Alex once they'd get back.    "œGot it. Heading to his coordinates now.

With the path clear, Ardy could go at full speed now.  She could see the Smith now flanking her.  "œSmith to Mjolnir, We have your back.

"œGreat. I'll need you to keep them occupied while I pick up the Captain and everyone else.

"œRoger. Prepare for engaging. "œ

They split, leaving the Smith to engage the remaining fighters while she could bank back towards the city and the captain's position.

Captain, We're en route to your position with the Flyer. Estimated time:  5 minutes and counting.  I have enemy fighters on my tail so we've got only one chance to get you guys while the Smith keeps "˜em busy. "œ   
--------------------------

The appearance of five more ships certainly had Zhuk tense. The phasers were all but loaded now, and he was certain that a dent could be made in those fancy military fliers. The problem would be if the Mjolnir's weapons were far too strong for their hulls. Attacking them was already a significant violation of the Prime Directive. Then again, thus far there was no arguing that it had been broken already.

It would seem that would not be necessary, however, as their encounter with the Smith allowed them to land near the warehouse. At least, whatever happened concerning the engagement, they would not be directly responsible for the fallout afterward. He at least hoped that the Smith's crew was wise enough to avoid creating an even worse incident. For now, they had a mission to complete.

One shot of theirs could easily make a serious hole in their enemy's ship, and the situation was fairly shot as is. "We might have to make it work as is." she said, as she dodged and weaved.
[Land Moot Hall]

They were coming up on the area where Galloway and the rest of the crew were; in the center of several tall spires surrounding a decent-sized plaza. That would have to work.

"œI think we have to land. I think if we beam them, out, whatever is in their time warping might kill the crew before they came back."

Deftly winding her way through the spires of the various buildings down to the plaza, she noticed one of the fighters had broken from formation and had followed them down here in an equally dangerous move. One wrong move, and either one of them could get civilian casualties or damage to the Flyer. "œI'm going to land,  Get ready!"

With a quick jerk, she touched down the Flyer and opened the hatch doors.

"œCaptain! The shuttle has touched down! Hurry up!"

[[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | The Capitol | Land | L7-425977 System]]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

It felt like an eon before he heard from Th'vyrrol, though it was really only a matter of minutes as Alex dealt with the other matters. Maddison and the other children being safe and in good hands took a crushing weight off his shoulders, and he felt inordinately grateful towards the crewman. "Understood, thank you. If Ms. Atkins doesn't require your assistance, you can report back to sickbay." There were still several injured according to their last report, including some who had collapsed during the first temporal pulse and hadn't regained consciousness.

"Sir, I think we might have a new problem." Booker suddenly spoke up, the alarm in her voice evident. "We've intercepted a broadcast that seems to introduce a new faction we hadn't seen before, someone called the An-shok. The language used in the message seems far more threatening than before. Something about words of help and friendship being lies, it sounds like surface negotiations have failed. They also referred to an 'impudent child thing', and if we take into context the original message, that could only be Commander Mackenzie."

Well that's not good. There was a brief sensation of deja vu, with Alex previously having sat in a very similar chair and hearing about then-Lieutenant Mackenzie getting into trouble. I guess he's still alive and his normal self if he's irritating the Landsers. Before he could decide what to do with this new information, Booker spoke up again, "Incoming message from the Mjolnir."

Merde. Ardyn's voice was unmistakable, and unless they were under attack, she wouldn't be flying evasive maneuvers. Alex's list of possible actions was suddenly much smaller, and much more time sensitive. And if their people were in danger, his priority was to see they got to safety, diplomacy be damned. "Grelek, get that repair team back in, we can't raise shields with them out there. Schultz, I saw we have two type-9s on Challenger, tell flight control I need their two best atmospheric shuttle pilots sitting in them. And Davenport, send some of your people to run weapons too. Booker, ask Mjolnir if they're able to return to Galloway's location or the ship."

"Grelek to ch'Verret, return onboard immediately, no delay."

"Challenger to Mjolnir, what is your current condition? Can you return to Challenger or reach Captain Galloway?"

it seemed like the port transceiver had been repaired just in time, as yet another message came flying in, hot and cryptic.

Mackenzie, in voice and spirit, finally. The manner in which he'd passed on his current condition wasn't at all reassuring, however. Alex thought he caught the general gist of it. 46A, someone unfriendly was party to their conversation, and New Zealand hospitality, Mackenzie considered himself a prisoner, probably of those same people listening in, people who weren't likely to abide by the Seldonis convention. The situation was bad enough that he'd asked them to scrub his command codes, which weren't something any Starfleet officer generally gave up willingly. "Lieutenants Booker and Randell, it is of my professional opinion that Commander Mackenize is compromised, and have interpreted his last orders as such. Do you concur?"

The young lieutenants looked startled to be asked, but nodded nevertheless. "Very well, this will need all three us." And this is one reason why the Captain isn't supposed to leave the ship. "Computer, suspend Lieutenant Commander Mackenzie's command codes under suspicion of his capture and current status as a prisoner of war, authorization Wu-Alpha-Kilo-Two-Two-Five."

"I concur, Booker-Gamma-Hotel-One-Seven-Nine."

"I concur, Randell-Sierra-Mike-Zero-Two-Six."

With that done, Alex moved onto the next task immediately, trying to maintain that rapidly dissolving perception of control. "Tactical, what are our options?"

"Not much from up here. Transporters are still offline, since we can't use them here anyways. I don't recommend phasers for any sort of orbital strike, if we hit one of those temporal pockets in the atmosphere, who knows what we'll end up hitting or when. Torpedoes are possible, but it'd take several minutes to plot in navigational data so they don't fly into those same pockets. It's doable sir." Davenport sounded more confident than she looked, but it wasn't as if they had many other options.

"Okay, call up a replacement and get started on the torpedoes, as soon as your replacement gets here, report to the Cutty Sark and prepare for launch." Alex turned next to Randell with another idea, though this one being far more objectionable than their original intention. "Is the tractor beam still operational?"

"Yes sir." Randell gave him a confused frown. "I don't think it'd be a good idea using it on the fold-space device however, we just don't know enough about how it works to know what effects a graviton beam would have."

"We won't use it on the device." Alex remarked grimly, solidifying his idea into a viable option. "Schultz, adjust our orbit and put us in a position where we can intercept the Landser's crew vehicle. Mr. Randell, change of plans, we're going to let them launch, but hit them with the dampening field as soon as you get a tractor lock on their capsule. Maybe if the Landsers don't believe our words, they'll believe the eyes and voices of their own people."

"And worst case scenario, we'd have collateral for a prisoner exchange." Randell realized, speaking aloud what Alex had been thinking.

"Exactly." His critical directions given, Alex finally hailed the Captain, hoping the other senior officer on the surface wasn't in the same, or worse, situation than Mackenzie. "Challenger to Galloway, we've made contact with Commander Mackenzie, he appears to have been captured and is in immediate danger. Mjolnir's last transmission indicated they are under attack. Do you require extraction?"

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | The Capitol | Land | L7-425977 System]

Zhukdra'shar proceeded to don his seatbelt to prevent himself from being thrown around, in case their pilot attempted a rather aggressive maneuver. He gritted his teeth as she gave a sharp steer to the ship, before making sure that everyone else had properly secured themselves. Fortunately, they had, though still, a chill went down his spine as he realized that the Bolian Doctor, Zorr, was looking somewhat pale. He just hoped that he would be able to resist the journey.

Turning towards the pilot, he proceeded to groan in displeasure at the movements of the vessel, "Keep thyself from engaging the... the hostile vehicles. We are in quite poor relations with the Landsers thus far... I do not want to experience our troubles becoming even worse..."

He partly warned and advised. Zhuk was also feeling somewhat dizzy now, but he could simply not allow his body to give in to the nausea. That would certainly reflect poorly on him, and embarrass him to no end. There was also the matter of causing a chain reaction within the relatively small Mjolnir. That would also be a pity.

His green eyes returned to the screen in front of him, and quickly, the Lieutenant searched for a way to assist Ardyn. It took him a moment before he finally noticed something,

"There is... a narrow mountain pass that conforms a small valley. It stands fifteen kilometers from our current position. I believe... we may lose our pursuers if we venture within."

[Shuttle]

Good news: They got ahold of the Challenger. For a hot moment, Ardyn was worried that the ship couldn't hear them due to the temporal  and atmospheric interference.  Bad news: They had at least two different  enemies on their tail, guns blazing as they spun and weaved high above the city.  "œI'll definitely try to, but I make no promises.  If we can't , I might need you to man the guns ." She motioned to the Caitian in security yellows nearby her.

He recommended this narrow pass. It seemed like as good an idea as any, especially  given the aerial patterns the fighters were displaying

  "œThis is Mjolnir to Challenger. We have confirmed two fighters on our tail.  May be more on route. I'm headed towards this mountain pass to try and lose them before hopefully getting over to Galloway and the others to extract. They're making it kind of  - difficult to try landing right now, but if I get an opening, I'll get as many of our team as I can.  "œ

She banked hard to starboard around a tall building spire, causing one of the medics to shout in surprise in the back as stuff shifted. It couldn't be helped as she sped ahead towards the narrow passage in the distance that Zhuk mentioned.  She felt the ship shake as one of the crude weapons hit the shields. They were primitive, sure, but they were persistent.  She twisted around

"œHow are you guys in the back?" she asked, noticing the Bolian's thoughts about regretting eating his lunch today, really hoping he wasn't going to puke.

[School]

While those around him continually referenced Abas as a doctor, it wasn't technically accurate. He didn't hold any doctoral licensure, nor was he a registered MD in any jurisdiction he knew of. No, he was in fact a nurse in licensure, with his medical certifications from his time in the Andorian Guard and time on his home planet. Regardless of that fact, he still had a duty to care and was more than capable of handling minor bumps and scrapes, as well as quite a bit of battlefield traumas one might come across.

However, when Abas heard a Lieutenant was on the other end, that changed things. Officers could get particular, especially when their children were involved. Ideally, he'd let one of the other medical staff in the room - one of the officers, probably, deal with the situation. However, the teacher had come to him, so he would answer and deal with the repercussions later. "Sir, this is Petty Officer Th'vyrrol. All of the children are present and accounted for, no lasting impacts," he stated, keeping his tone level. "Same effects as the rest of the ship, looks like the second wave was blocked as intended."

Abas didn't react or note the hands being raised, not that he could see them anyway. With no further seeming actions - and the gaggle of children all seemingly fine - he simply waited for additional orders or the response of the Lieutenant to determine his next course of action.

[Schoolroom]

[As Maddy]

Maddy looked at the teacher and the nurse as he was leaving. She couldn't tell why, but something was really bad out in the greater scheme of things.  Bad enough for the little girl to forget about the issues with her own head and even her teacher's attempts to get everyone back to learning things. if she tried really hard, she could "hear" the people on the planet below.  "œUmmmm"¦. What's going on?  There's a lotta people talking really far away and they don't sound happy. "œ

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

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

[Outside Capital Hall - Kormaga - Magana - Land]

When Neva spoke, Doctor Zorr pulled out his tricorder and scanned her.

"Yes, your neural transmitters are all over the place Lieutenant, let's have you sit down in the shuttle so I can check you out properly."

As the group moved toward the Mjolnir, Kyan's order came through and for a second everyone froze. It was against everything taught at the Academy to leave someone behind, but the order was clear. Adding motivation was the sudden appearance of Magani soldiers, with weapons drawn and running their way! This new threat was more than enough to get the away team moving and as they were only steps away from the shuttle, they were easily aboard before the soldiers could reach them.

As Ardy had kept the shuttle on hot standby, it only took her seconds to lift off, which was good, because the soldiers had begun firing on the Mjolnir as it took off. Although it grated to abandon Kyan, they'd been given a course and a quick look at the sensors showed a pair of Magani atmospheric interceptors heading their way for addition incentive to get moving.

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

[Shuttle]

There was only so much Ardy could try to say about the situation before she  probably made even more of a mess.

Getting back into the shuttle, Ardyn nodded to the ones still onboard. "œAlright.  Shuttle is operational and ready to pick up all personnel to medevacuate"¦ "œ She looked outside of the shuttle, only to notice several guards coming on her position.

She opened a call to everyone both on the Challenger and the ground team. Change of plans guys.  I'm launching now.  There are some guys here and they don't look friendly.  We're going to have to retreat to some other safer spot. Preparing evasive maneuvers!" she barked in warning as they made their way into the atmosphere, energy blasts from both ground soldiers and fighters trying to hit them.

So that's how they were going to play.  She turned back to the people still onboard. She knew there were injured here who needed immediate medical help, and more who needed to get out ASAP,  but that would mean nothing if they were all atmospheric confetti.   "œ Alright.  We've got hostiles incoming.  Hold on tight. This is going to get  bumpy!"

Steering the ship into a sharp pitch, she deftly maneuvered the shuttle in a sharp dogfight position to dodge the oncoming fire, fingers flying across the different consoles.  If there were a safe position they could get to where they could evacuate the others still on the planet, that would be great,  but right now, she had to focus on not ending up making the shuttle Swiss cheese. 

[Outside Magana Capital Hall]

Ardy landed the Mjolnir in the open area right in front of the steps that led into the capital. Lieutenant Zorr and Petty Officer Heesou exited the shuttle with full medical bags. They looked around for a moment, then locked onto Zhuk and Neva at which point, Zorr asked.

"I understand there is a medical emergency."

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

[Inside Magana Capital Hall]

President K'ren looked at Kyan without expression. If his words had any impact, he simply couldn't tell until she spoke.

"A tragic tale to be sure Commander. However, your appearance on our would is most suspicious. You arrive just as we prove our Great Work is functional. Your 'help' seems like an attempt to trick us into giving our hard work to you. Thus you can stick to your claim that your Federation doesn't take what it wants.

"The most suspicious part of your claim is that our technology is causing problems with time, but you base this on your 'sensors' detecting something ours cannot. The Great Work is the culmination of our entire planet's effort. Even if I believed you, and I am not saying that I do, I cannot stop the progress of the tests. Only the Land Moot can decide such a major change. I will communicate with the Moot Master your concerns. Until then, I think it best that you remain here in Kormaga as our honored guests."

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Land Moot]

Someone had to get the ball rolling here; someone like them. Hard evidence would be more than convincing, Tora hoped - assuming, of course, these people weren't so obstinate in their beliefs. Hopefully the size of this cavernous government chamber also translated to open-mindedness to ideas and opinions. "Our crew and ship were substantially affected by your tests. Several of us were rendered unconscious by the effects of the temporal folding, for example Surely it is reasonable to conclude that the same might happen to others." Case in point, her own experience and that of many others. Imagine that backfiring on the Landsers themselves... or it being weaponized. "We would be pleased to show you some of the data we collected as well as the medical logs of those of us affected."

[Land Moot]

Ardy nodded to the Cardassian scientist, thinking those same things, not really caring that the Landsers would "œhear" her thoughts. These people were likely going to kill themselves if they kept this %&#$ experiment going!

She already had mostly recovered from the first temporal wave, but she didn't know if there were any further side effects that they just didn't know about.  She had to say something.  If she had been affected, it would have probably been so much more for Maddy.  These people probably wouldn't stand a chance.

"œWhen those people get up there on the manned flight and fly into that thing, They're probably gonna get hit just as bad if not worse. The energy messes with your head and any telepathic abilities you've got? It'll make it so much worse. "œ

"œWe were able to protect ourselves somewhat and we still got hurt! How are you going to prevent the crew from dying?! "  she warned,  motioning to the others to head back to the shuttle.  The mood seemed to grow significantly more sour.  "œLet's get to our injured teammate. I think we might be wearing out our welcome ."

^ Very proud to be a Risan.

["Sir, please forgive my interruption, but while we are here for many reasons, one of the primary reason I am here specifically is that one of the members of my crew from the first team we sent in requested medical assistance. I have a doctor with me and would like to send him ta capital of Magana ta assist with the medical emergency. I will remain here if you will have me as a show of good faith."]

[Landser Transport Aircraft]

The two men in red mostly ignored Jettis until he asked about speaking to the rest of the away team. This seemed to have hit a nerve as both men darkened when Jettis spoke.

"We of the An-Shok were prepared for Offworlders. As soon as the 'Great Work' began, we began endless exercises for what or who we would find when the Explorers left Land-Ta. You are not unlike what we pre-supposed, bilaterally symmetric, Oxygen breathing, Large brained. Your cosmetic difference was also expected, so we have not needed to speak to the other three of your infiltration team. We bring you to the Land Moot, there your fate will be decided."

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

[Land Moot]

Before being led inside, Ian caught the attention of Moot Master Inti.

"Sir, please forgive my interruption, but while we are here for many reasons, one of the primary reason I am here specifically is that one of the members of my crew from the first team we sent in requested medical assistance. I have a doctor with me and would like to send him ta capital of Magana ta assist with the medical emergency. I will remain here if you will have me as a show of good faith."

Inti paused for several long seconds and nodded.

"Then as a show of good faith, your medical team is cleared to travel to Magana."

Inti gestured, and a female Landser approached.

"This is my aide Geenita. She will go with your doctor to ensure there are no delays."

"Thank you Moot Master."

Geenita joined Ardy, Doctor Vonn Zorr, and PO2 Heesou on the Mjolnir. Ian gave Ardy a final nod and the shuttle lifted smoothly to head for the quick 300 kilometer hop to Kayala City.

This left Ian, Blackfeather, and Tora with the Landser dignitaries. Inti led the way inside the massive, but surprisingly understated Land Moot Hall. The interior was tastefully decorated with paneling made from multiple different types of wood. After walking for quite a distance, the group entered a staggering large well lit chamber that remained as understated as the rest of the building. It seemed the Landsers did not care for ostentation in their governmental places of power. Inti and the other dignitaries took their place on the high semi-circular bench as Ian and company stood on a platform facing the leaders.

"Captain Iangalloway. Why are you here?"

[School]

As the child described the incident that had happened, Abas nodded. It seemed that the children were describing exactly the same thing that had happened to the rest of the crew. "Same thing happened to everyone else. It'll pass," he said, snapping his tricorder shut.

"You're doing well to not be scared. Here, take this", he said, prepping a small hypospray dose. "It'll help"

As Abas moved to distribute the dose, he felt compelled to continue to comfort the young patient, or at very least keep her distracted and talking. "I felt it too, it was quite overwhelming. But nobody has been severely hurt from it. Just keep taking deep breaths and stay strong. It'll be okay."

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

With that particular issue being worked on, Alex turned his focus to other things, namely the hundreds of waiting tasks to be completed. Systems were slowly coming back online one by one, and blessedly, the main computer was at least partially functional, usable enough that he could ask for reports from throughout the ship to actually have an overview of their current condition. "Lieutenant...Flight." He referred to Ardyn's replacement, not knowing her name, or the names of most of the others on the bridge. "Sorry, could I just have everyone pause what they're doing for a minute?" Pushing himself upright, he gave a sheepish wave. "I understand this is a bit unorthodox, but would everyone just mind introducing themselves? I'm Lieutenant Wu, Alex Wu, just transferred onboard with that group from the Farragut. And you are...?" He indicated towards the pilot.

"Hi, Lieutenant Wilma Schultz, Flight Control." "Adelle Booker." "Lieutenant Randall, Evan." "Rachel Davenport." "Petty Officer Grelek, sir."

"It's a pleasure meeting all of you, and I look forwards to getting to know you better. Thank you for indulging my request. Lieutenant Schultz, give notice to the shuttlebay and have them assign a pilot to the Cutty Sark. Davenport, likewise with a security detail. If we have to send backup, you'll be leading that team." With Booker and Randall keeping a close watch on the fold-space device and the away teams respectively, it gave Alex the luxury of a few minutes to settle an uneasy sensation tickling the back of his mind. He needed to check on the civilians, namely their vulnerable children, and in his own personal interest, Maddison. All he needed was for her to say yes, and they could go about their business.
"Lieutenant Wu to Muriel Atkins. How is everyone holding up down there?"

"Lieutenant, I was just about to call, we're doing better now that we have the lights and tablets working again. No major injuries, thank the Prophets, but several of the children were more shaken up than others. Your daughter is being checked over right now, actually. I'll pass you over to the doctor."

"Is she okay? What happened?"

Alex's heart skipped a beat, his hands tightening on the armrests. He was halfway up before realizing it, catching Booker's furtive glance as she listened in. "You can go down if you'd like." She whispered, but Alex shook his head in response, lowering himself back down into the chair reluctantly while waiting for a reply. No I can't, not when I'm in this seat. Merde, I knew coming back was a bad idea.

"Grelek, can you take care of that please?" Alex asked, his mind still very much on his daughter's unknown level of hurting. Forcing himself back into thinking like a commander for a second, he added, "Keep a sensor lock on that crewman's EVA suit and monitor their progress, keep an open channel with them during the repairs."

"Yes sir." Grelek had no visuals to watch, with their outboard cameras all inactive, but he still brought up the tracking screen to follow along.

"Workbee A-3, this is Petty Officer Grelek. Permission granted, proceed as filed to the portside nacelle. We will be maintaining an open commlink for the EVA."

[Land Moot]

It took a hot moment  to finally figure out just how to understand them, but as she followed Ian and the other woman in science blues,  Ardyn nodded as she overheard the mental chatter of the Landsers "˜whispering" amongst themselves as they went into the  room. What are these strange people? Are they really spies? What are they doing here on our planet?!

"œCap, it looks like they're talking about us  on a different  wavelength, telepathically wise. "œ she mentioned from what little she got from the emotional feedback they were giving off. "œI don't know if they can hear  our thoughts, but  I'd be careful, just in case,"

Moving back to shuttle to keep it warm, she nodded and maneuvered the shuttle to the next spot in particular.

""

[As Maddy]

[Schoolroom]

Maddy tensed at the thought of getting a shot, but she let the doctor give her the medicine. She wasn't going to show her new friends she was scared.  They were already scared enough.  "œOkie." she said, giving a brave face. She was feeling a lot better now. It didn't hurt all that much like she thought it would.  Why her mom didn't like getting shots or seeing doctors, she didn't know.

"œ Did other people get headaches too?  Why'd everyone get hurt all at the same time? Can I help?" she asked, her normal curious self returning as she noticed the teacher come over to the doctor with a message.  "œI guess Daddy is worried . "œ she said, noting that as she could finally hear him again without it hurting.

[Bridge]

Thankfully, the boffin-isms had seemed to be successful. The quick work of the engineering and science teams appeared to have mitigated the damage being done to the ship, and the repairs seemed to be going smoothly, beyond the Captain playing fast and loose with the prime directive. Then again, given the circumstances, there wasn't a lot he could do here. The first duty of a Captain was the safety and security of the ship's crew, no matter what that took.

The three-crew medical team's commbadges all chirped simultaneously when the call for assistance from the school came through. The computer had calculated which medical away team was closest to the school - located on deck three - and determined the team on the Bridge was the best able to respond immediately. As a unit, the crew began to stream toward the now-working turbolifts, barely a word spoken as they disappeared from the Bridge, tricorders, and hyposprays already being prepared.

[School]

The team entered the doors of the school, looking around for the casualties that had been reported. It simply wasn't right - that those so young had to be forced to go through so much. Why oh why had Starfleet decided to put children and families on ships which routinely intended to go in harm's way? Abas could understand the thought of families on Starships, or even on the long-duration exploratory vessels that sat parked in front of stars or studying stellar phenomena. But on patrol ships, long-distance ships pushing the boundaries of the known and unknown, ships that went intentionally into the dangerous or unknown? It seemed like almost wanton disregard for safety.

Regardless, however, the children were here. They needed help. Abas knelt down next to one of the children - Maddy, it sounded like her name was - and began a scan with his tricorder, attempting to discern exactly what was the matter.

"What hurts?" he asked, his tone passive but trying to be comforting. Hopefully, it wasn't too serious.

[Schoolroom]

[As Maddy]

The class had kind of stopped as the teacher read them all a story instead of  doing any real lesson, mostly to help calm everyone down after that scary moment in particular.   Maddy  still wasn't sure what all just happened, but after what seemed like a really long time, it looked like a doctor came to help. She was still really dizzy, but she still tried to get back up, dizzy as she was.

"œMy head  really really hurts. Something big happened and I could hear a hun-dred people being really scared  in my mind and I'm really dizzy." She said, trying to explain the emotional overload.

"˜And teacher says that everyone blacked out.  It was really scary, but I'm not scared. My mommy helped me not be scared... "

["Quite the mixed bag of species. The Landsers will nae ken what ta think of the Federation when they get a load of us."]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Galloway didn't leave much of an opportunity for Alex to argue that the Captain leaving to go on a rescue mission was very much so against regulations, and even if he had, Alex couldn't immediately recall the actual policy number to quote. He would've volunteered himself instead, especially with Ardyn being assigned, if he didn't think his injured knee would be a liability if it came down to actual conflict.

"œAye sir, I have the conn." Alex automatically replied after a brief hesitation, surprised by the decision when there were several other officers on the bridge. Still, he quickly limped over to the centre of the bridge, only brushing Ardyn's hand with a passing thought, Stay safe down there, and took the chair, a familiar enough perch, albeit on a strange new bridge surrounded by colleagues, some of whom he hadn't even met. Alex was also very cognizant of the hundreds of lives he was now responsible for, an uncomfortable reality which he hadn't expected being faced with less than 48 hours of being onboard. "œLieutenant Booker, prepare your dampening field and prepare to execute. Randall, if that fold-space device so much as twitches, I need to know about it." He wouldn't relish starting a war, but he also wasn't about to take the risk of losing his Captain, or more importantly, the mother of his child.

"Away team, this is Challenger, we copy you require assistance. What is your current location and status?"

By now, he'd gotten a PADD working again, and pulled up a file on Challenger's available shuttlecraft. Even though the Captain had specified preparing Scobee, Alex wasn't confident it was the best choice based on it's possible required task. With the Captain's away team, they now had ten crewmembers on the surface, far too many for a single Type 11 shuttle to evacuate by itself in a worst case scenario, especially if they were to also carry down a pilot and reinforcing security team. With all of the onboard shuttlecraft also needing to be manually repaired, preparing two smaller shuttles would take up time they might not have if negotiations went south.

Reviewing the crew roster next, Alex made an executive choice to alter Galloway's orders. "Bridge to Chief ch'Verret, report to the main shuttlebay with your damage control team, prepare the Cutty Sark for launch."

[Shuttlebay - USS Challenger --> Land Moot Hall]

The Mjolnir departed with Ian; Ardy; Tora; Blackfeather; Lieutenant JG Doctor Vonn Zorr, a Bolian male; and Petty Officer Second Class Heesou, an Orion Female. Ian glanced surreptitiously as the away team and thought.

"Quite the mixed bag of species. The Landsers will nae ken what ta think of the Federation when they get a load of us."

With her shields up, the Mjolnir easily evaded the Landser's radar systems and headed for the Land Moot Hall. It was short notice, but Ian was certain as many Landser nation-state leaders as could would be there. He hoped that his second message, this time with the universal translator actually functioning would pave the way for a smooth encounter.

Ian had to force himself not to fidget as this was the first time he would be leading a First Contact. Based on consultations he'd made with the ship's computer on the subject, he was all too aware how easily the initial meeting with a new species could go wrong. So much hinged on nearly blind luck which way the encounter would go. This was especially important as the Landsers had an unintentional weapon for which Starfleet only had a provisional defense against with their fold space system.

Ardy brought the Mjolnir in for a landing with flair almost as good as his own as they landed in the courtyard of the hall. Steeling himself, he stood and offered some quick words to the others on the away team.

"Best behavior now. You are representin' the entire Federation and this is about as delicate a situation as you will ever face. Friendship or all out war will turn on a single phrase. All any of us can do is our best. Let's make some new friends."

Blackfeather had opened the airlock as Ian spoke and then stood aside to let the captain go first. Ian stepped out into the bright sunny day and hoped that was a good omen. Outside, there were a dozen Landsers in varying styles of dress, which implied that there was a good representation of the people of Land were present. Ian stopped two meters from the semi-circle of dignitaries and smiled.

"People of Land-Ta. I am Captain Ian Galloway of the United Federation of Planets. I greet you in friendship."

Ian then waited to see what would happened next and hoped pitchforks were not involved.

[Central Jail - Kayala City]

It was only a matter of moments before Jettis' call brought results. A pair of Landsers arrived, wearing red uniforms. They stopped in front of his cell and gave Jettis a long probing stare.

"You are lucky none of the people you shot died. We are very interested in your weapon, we will be asking about how it works later. However, now, we are more concerned about your infiltration of Magana territory. Are you working with the Gosure Enclave? It would be like them to have your "Captain" speaking of peace while you penetrate our airspace to conduct espionage."

[Bridge]

The  message from the away team sounded pretty dire to her. She didn't know the woman who  was on the other end of the line, but from the tone of her voice, it was enough to send Ardyn into action mode.  The good news was that the shuttle they were going to use was  already warmed up and ready to go,  she just needed the coordinates for this Moot place and she'd be good.

She gave a quiet nod to Alex in response to his thought as he took the seat, a neat little trick they'd figured out between each other.  I will,  promise. Keep an eye on Maddy if you can, and  don't let the big chair get to your head. "   She gave a wry grin at that last one to try and ease his tension a little, a bit of an inside joke  of sorts.

[Shuttle]

Taking the shuttle out, Ardy smirked. "œTrust me, Boss. not scratching paint is my specialty."

She could sense his trepidation at the thought of doing this First Contact. She didn't blame him in the slightest on that. With the firepower that these Landsers were playing with,  This could either go well or it could go equally south just as fast.

"œWe've reached the surface." She reported as they landed. So far, the Landsers had given them a clearing, at least.

"œLet's hope we make a good impression then," she said as they went out onto the planet.

Nodding, Ardyn gave a smile to the dignitaries. It was hard to get any sort of mental read on them just yet. So, she just stayed silent and alert for now.

[Schoolroom]

[Before the blast]

[As Maddy]

"œBye, mommy and daddy!  I'll see you soon!"

Maddy was already so excited to go meet her new teacher and make some friends. That was cool enough on its own, but now that she was on a big huge spaceship,  it was even cooler!

"œClass! We have a new student, Maddison, Can you tell us something you're interested in? "

There weren't a lot of kids in the classroom Maddy's age, but from what she saw, they seemed nice enough. there looked like there were three at least that might be nice. Would they like spaceships and dinosaurs like she did?  She hoped so. She gave a little wave to all of them. "˜Hi, I'm Maddy.  I really like spaceships and dinos."

"œThat's really nice.  Why don't you sit with Zach, T'Miri, and  Yuta?

Maddy sat down at the table as the teacher started the lesson

"œYou like dinos too?" asked Zach "œThat's cool!"

"œYeah!" She'd have to tell him all about her friend Steve before he went off on an adventure.

""""""""""-

[Schoolroom - present time]

Maddy's head felt like an elephant sat on it as she woke up, frightened and confused at what happened. Her new friends were all scared too as they watched her wake up.  What happened? Why is my head hurting so much? Where's mommy?! I can't hear her!    She started to panic. Finally, after a moment, she could finally feel her mom's presence.

"œTeacher, my head really really hurts. "œMaddy said, as her head spun, and she had to sit back down .

Could I get someone to the Schoolroom? We've got some kids here that got hurt in the blast.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Aye sir." Alex utilized the Landser's own satellite to 'piggyback' a signal, though it would only have the most basic of encryptions. Still, based on their level of technology, it would take hours for them to crack it even if they were trying, by which point hopefully their onboard subspace transceivers would be repaired. "Challenger to Mckenzie. Away team, how do you copy?"

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Booker finally had a break while waiting for the next communications buoy to be readied for launch, and she brought up an idea to Galloway's attention. "Sir, we may still be able to temporarily disable the fold-space device in a manner of speaking by generating a dampening field around it with our ship's deflector. To the Landsers, it should just appear to be a malfunction in contacting their probe, common enough with new prototypes or technologies that it shouldn't raise any alarms or look like interference from us, and wouldn't leave any lasting damage."

[Bridge]

The plan worked, thank goodness.  Had those chronitons not worked, it would have probably been another frantic run of unplugging chips that she did not want to do again.  Her eyebrows raised at the mention of a bottle of the good stuff.

"œ Moving the ship starboard for you guys to get the best angle to get that probe," she reported. Once we get that taken care of, I can fly you down planetside so we can find our crew. "œ

[Bridge]

There wasn't much time before the ship  would be hit  by the second wave.  Bolting to the helm, Ardyn took the empty seat and began trying to move the ship into a defensive  position,  far away enough  to keep them in orbit even if the ship did get cooked again.  She tried to focus on Maddy again, to mentally warn her about maybe another scary moment.  Hopefully, the little girl would understand.

"œHolding steady.  What's the estimated time of impact?"

["Well, it just so happens, we nae ta be needin' ta generate them, we've an abundance of chronitons in our ablative armor. We've been on extended patrol long enough ta have accumulated plenty as we've nae have dock time ta sweep the bloody things. Question is, how ta access them?"]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian listened to Wu's suggestion and from what he knew of temporal mechanics, chronitons had temporal properties, but unless they were polarized, they were mostly passive.

"Well, it just so happens, we nae ta be needin' ta generate them, we've an abundance of chronitons in our ablative armor. We've been on extended patrol long enough ta have accumulated plenty as we've nae have dock time ta sweep the bloody things. Question is, how ta access them?"

"I believe I have an answer for that Sir." Randall said. "We configure the deflector dish to emit tetryons. They will draw out the chronitons and polarize them."

"Won't they just drift away?"

"Not if we raise the shields, the polarized chronitons will remain trapped in a bubble between the hull and the shields."

Ian smiled for the first time since Randall reported on the danger of a second temporal pulse.

"Do it. All bloody hands and the ship's cook are yours Mister Randall. Make this happen. But make sure'n ta tune the shields ta nae block radio frequencies, if'n we disappear ta the Landsers, they may misunderstand our intentions."

Ian then turned to face Wu.

"Lieutenant, if'n this works, it will be a bottle of my personal stash of single malt for ye. Brilliant thinkin', you sure you're nae a boffin in Ops clothin'?"

[Shuttlebay â†' bridge]

The Flyer that the  Challenger had was better off than she had anticipated, considering it too had been put on the fritz by the blast. But at least she was a bit more familiar with those systems than most, so that took less time. She had left  Ensign Schlemann to make final preparations on the Flyer before launch before she had headed back to the Bridge to report her progress.

Coming back, she caught the tail end of the discussion about Chronitons. She was in no way fluent in that, but it did seem plausible enough. "œI've got the  Flyer up and running and just about as flight-ready as we can be so we can pick up the away team before the Landsers can hit us again, Sir. "œ

[Deck 9]

Ardy expected the jolt when the thrusters came back online.  She wasn't fully expecting Alex to land right on top of her as a result of said jolt.  "You're not wrong on both of those fronts, but, that's what got us into this together  to start with." she  nudged him  playfully, as she helped him up, noticing the wince he gave as he put some weight on it. "œYou okay there? That looks  like it hurts. "œ

Thinking about all the remaining chips that they'd all eventually have to replug in, she nodded. That was not something she'd rather have to do right now either. "œI agree. We can work on plugging stuff in once the ship and  away team is not actively in danger."

Speaking of the away team,  They would have to have a shuttle back there, and if the shuttles  were just as fried as the rest  of the ship"¦. Oof.  "œYou've got a point. Let's go back up. "   She offered her arm to balance him so he didn't have to walk on  his injury.  "œ Shuttles tend to be less complicated than the whole ship, so if we  have to get one started, it should be a lot faster than this."

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - RCS Thruster Control]

"Okay, so that'd be..." Alex closed his eyes, trying to remember what he had seen on the viewscreen earlier. The oncoming planet was an unmistakable fixed reference point to use, and with how it had appeared from their viewpoint, Challenger was actually angled with their dorsal aspect facing the planet. "Dorsal and bow." He knelt down to turn over the bulkhead coverings they'd taken down earlier, reading the descriptions taped on their front. "I think this one is for the panel you're working on. Dorsal thruster controls. I'll finish up the bow ones here."

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Ardyn, he could feel her shivering as the ventilation system started circulating a cool breeze throughout the small room. "Want me to find you a blanket?" Alex asked, only half-jokingly while taking off his outer tunic and draping it over Ardyn's shoulders. "I wonder if anyone's got the inertial dampeners back online yet."

[Deck 9]

Even in the middle of a life-or-death scenario, Ardy couldn't help but feel like she lucked out as they tried to narrow down which chips it was with his help. Turns out, she was looking at the wrong panel entirely. Figures. She was a pilot, not a computer specialist, after all.  "œI'm good. Thanks though." she gave a quick squeeze of his hand.

There were just so many chips, but narrowing it down, they worked quickly through the potential ones.  "œI certainly hope this system's the one that works since there's way too many chips to test -"

Ardy's train of thought was interrupted when after resetting yet another chip,  the ship suddenly came to life, thrusters punching in and running,  jolting her hard enough that she fell to the ground. "œI think it works," she said, giving a deadpan grin.