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Honestly, Tora was so ready to go back to her quarters and have a good sleep. Talk about the roller coaster (literally) that they'd been on on their past mission. At least now the mood had calmed down overall - she was happy to see people regaining some semblance of normalcy around her, talking with somewhat less tension than they'd been for the past many hours. As she trudged her way through the corridors, she couldn't help but notice the small group gathered ahead of her in the hallway, and overhear a little of their conversation.

"Did someone say hot springs?" She quipped as she walked up to them. As much as she was tired and would've loved to lay down and sleep in peace, a nice hot soak certainly wasn't out of place in her opinion, especially with company. "If there's room for another, of course. The name's Tora."

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Shuttlebay | USS Challenger]

"Do we do it now?"

"Not now. We just gotta find the right opening." Calming down the antsy Ss'tiva, who was right now nervously shifting her feet on the floor as they waited for release, or salvation, whichever came first, hadn't exactly been an easy task. Tora had had to spend several minutes calming the anxiety-riddled Gorn down, lest she accidentally go on a rampage and jeapordize their chances of getting un-stuck from this situation of theirs. The Cardassian would've been lying if she told anyone (or herself, for that matter) that she wasn't scared. She was. She hated feeling helpless while the Ferengi corralled them like sheep. Getting worked up would do nothing to help anyone get out of here, though, and so she'd done her best to try and do that for others.

She had heard about there being a plan enacted to try and get them out, though. How it was progressing was anyone's guess.

Right about then, though, Neva's words, thought more than spoken, seemed to almost vibrate at the base of her brain. What a weird feeling, honestly. Neva was alive. That much Tora knew for certain. She had to stay alive. Somehow. For her. How she wished that she knew exactly how to reply - after all, she wasn't a telepath - the best she could do was to try and think some reassuring thoughts back at... well, Neva? Think of Neva? How their connection worked was a mystery to her, to be honest. But hey, life has many mysteries that don't always get solved.

"Maybe some kind of distraction might help." Tora whispered in the ear hole of Ss'tiva. "You're good at plant talk, right? Go do your thing, I'm sure these guards won't turn down a chance to make some extra latinum, huh?

"Oh! Yeah! Right. Let me see." The nervous-looking Gorn female stomped up to one of the Ferengi - or she would've made it there had she not stumbled and fallen on the floor with an audible thump.

[[Talinos IV, Shuttle Wreck]]

[Talinos IV - Away Team]

"I could use a shower, too." Aarwendil said, while he followed Neva. Like him, she was also covered with mud. Besides the discomfort of being dirty, at least he was going to work with the woman again. They didn't have the chance of doing it since their last away mission that didn't end being cool.

He could even say that it even ended up being a bit traumatic.

[Talinos IV | Crash Site - Away Team]

The group had to cross an arid wasteland to reach the crash site, but what made Aarwendil stop for a moment wasn't sand or the fat that the mud by this point had solidified in his body. No, the unmistakable sound of his tricorder alerted him to the fact that it had detected something. It wasn't only his device, but those of Tora and Neva were also warning them.

He looked at the alert of radiation in the tricorder, before walking after Tora. He would stop next to her at the crest of the dune, staring at the thousands of craters that laid below them. "It looks a lot like what we would expect of a nuclear war." the Betazoid said, remembering the concept of such conflict from his studies about how warfare could be self-destructive.

"Maybe a conflict of this type happened on this planet." he looked at the dunes, trying to make sense of it. To know what had been targeted, the group would need to get close. However, they would need to wear a hazmat suit.

Then, he remembered that tests with atomic weapons were made in uninhabited places. Would it be the case here? He had his doubts. There were too many craters around.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Talinos IV]

"Definitely seems like it." Tora remarked to her fellow scientist. A little shiver ran up her spine just thinking about it. "Come on. Let's go with the Commander. There's more to see!" She flashed a wonky smile and started after the rest of the away team with her tricorder in hand.

[Talinos IV, Shuttle Wreck]

"I'm guessing whoever survived the crash of this shuttle, their only option would've been the city there." He nodded to the abandoned city shimmering on the horizon across the dusty plain. Malik assisted with securing Zhuk's arm as best he could, but he was no medic. Maybe the city would have some left over medical equipment.

Now feeling rested again, Malik got ready to move on. Calindra picked up an energy source and so that would have to be their destination. "Lead the way, ensign."

"Grippen to away team. We've detected an energy source 2 km to the north. Rendezvous with us there. Grippen out."

Their half of the away team set off. A Risan, injured Caitain and two Humans.

[City Outskirts]

The seemingly abandoned city was constructed in a relatively modern looking style. With white stone buildings and long boulevards all leading to a central point. The buildings looked well preserved both inside and out although a few collapses had taken place. There was no signs of life or movement.

"Alright let's take a look around. See if we can find a hospital or medical facility with some left over equipment. Drinking Water also, we're already dehydrated. Ensign Zalos, you're up. Lets get these buildings analysed and dated, see who may have lived here."

Barren described the city they were looking at perfectly. Barren. Desolate. Devoid of all life. The whole place felt sterilised, almost, with the blocky white buildings and long, featureless boulevards leading to what seemed to be a central plaza or courtyard. It was almost as if the builders of the entire place had wanted it to look that way on purpose. Steeling herself, Tora forged ahead into what seemed like an apartment complex, judging by the architecture of it. Opening the door revealed what seemed to be a concierge-like desk with a chair behind it located within a lobby of some kind. The furniture seemed not too dissimilar to what one might find on Earth - sofa-like seats or divans, small triangular tables stood on four three legs and what appeared to be some sort of cooling unit in a corner. That was good. Cooling hopefully meant water, or some other kind of hydrating liquid. Her tricorder began to sound as soon as she got within about five feet of it, though - neutronic radiation, decayed but still present. Tora sighed as she reluctantly moved on from it. Without proper protective equipment, opening it would be far more dangerous than was actually worth it.

Looking at the concierge desk, though, was about to yield a nasty surprise. A skeleton, humanoid in shape, rattled as she turned the chair around, and fell to the floor in a decomposed heap of bones with a clatter - elliciting a squeak of surprise from the Cardassian. A quick scan of the pile of bones lined her brow with worry. "Neutronic radiation." She murmured. "I guess we now know how all the people in here died..."

[[Talinos IV, shuttle wreck]]

"Negative, we stick together. Strength in numbers should whoever blasted the ship make an appearance. You two lead from the front and keep an eye out, I've got my hands full here..."

Malik appreciated the ensign's initiative however, but the last thing he wanted was for two of them to fall behind, be ambushed or even lost. They were nearly to the wreck, just a little further now.

[Talinos IV, shuttle wreck]

When they arrived at the burnt out shuttle wreck, Malik gently aided the caitian to the ground and propped up against the hull. The Risan took a moment to rest then to. He was parched, the plain dust had coated his uniform and made him all the more thirsty.

"Lets rest here for a bit. Need to take a closer look at your arm, Zhuk. Calindra, see what you can salvage from this hulk. Even a splint for the broken arm would be useful."

He examined Mrekrerhas's broke arm and head wound. "How do you feel?"

Malik knew the Starfleet basic first aid that all officers were taught, and this was refreshed annually. But it was limited. He didn't now how to properly reset a broken bone, but did know how to apply a decent splint to secure it. At least this wasn't an open fracture, those were nasty.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Talinos IV | Crash Site]

Honestly, Tora was a little bit miffed at the progression of this mission so far. There was little in the way of civilization for her to study, barren, dusty land everywhere and the air was so dry she could feel her skin and scales beginning to parch by the second. Well, maybe not the last one, but she did feel somewhat more dehydrated just standing in this arid wasteland. Then there was also the matter of what'd happened to her and the rest of the away team as they transported down - obviously her materializing several feet above a body of brackish water had not been part of the original plan, and, from what she could hear over the first officer's commbadge, someone evidently didn't want them (or anyone else, for that matter) to be down planetside.

Regardless, though, as much as quite a lot of things had gone wrong on this trip so far (as they seemed to do with the Challenger, usually), Tora still had a job to do down here, which didn't necessarily involve her specialised expertise. So she'd followed her group north, tracking the source of the radiation they were meant to be locating. Time seemed to run like molasses; the more they trekked, the more sand, dust, rocks and jaggedy formations they saw. Indeed, the entire planet seemed pretty devoid of life; a possible reason became clear as soon as she and the team came within about one hundred metres of the source and her tricorder began to beep more insistently as it registered heightened levels of radiation.

"Neutronic radiation. Straight ahead." She reported to the others, before beginning the brief trek up the sandy dune in front of them. Beep. Beep beep. Beep beep beep beep. Her tricorder was almost buzzing by the time she crested the dune and took in the sight beyond, just downslope. Craters. Many of them. All of them circular-ish and several feet wide each, arranged almost in a discernible patten. Tora held up her tricorder, and what she saw on screen made her take a sharp breath. "We found it. The source." She said, motioning to the craters below. "I'd hazard a guess that those craters were probably made by some kind of explosive. Powerful ones. Neutron bombs or torpedoes or some kind of similar ordnance." She said. "Judging by the atomic decay here, I'd say it happened about..." She tapped buttons on her tricorder, and the numbers came up on screen. "A century ago. One hundred to maybe a hundred and twenty."

[All went black.]

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Talinos]

Finally, a use for her specialization! Tora had been more than glad to pack some supplies and join the rest in the transporter room. She'd been given some information about the planet they were visiting - relatively barren, kind of hot, possibly with a civilization to make contact with. Lovely. It probably wouldn't be her taking the lead in first contact, but hey, being part of first contact was always an honor and privilege in her eyes. She'd stood on the transporter pad and hidden an excited smile at the thought of her boots making contact with alien ground as she and the team dematerialized...

Well, except that wasn't quite what happened. Where she had expected to contact solid ground, instead the Cardassian found herself floating in the air, easily fifteen feet off the ground - well, if you were want to consider a body of brackish-looking water the ground. A cry of terror tore its way from her lips as she plummeted helplessly towards the water. Tora had tried diving from a height before, but that had been on Risa with a multitude of safety features in place, from a springboard and into a nice, deep pool full of clean, clear water. This situation offered no such comforts. Her contact with the water was an ugly one, almost belly first - and she was sure she could feel the little bag of supplies she'd brought fly open on the way down, too.

Impact.

All went black.

[Some time later]

Everything hurt. Literally everything. Tora scrunched up her face and coughed, expelling... was that sand? ... from her mouth, and rolled over. Wait, sand? That meant she'd washed ashore at some point, from... wherever she'd landed. Her cognition was woozy at best for the time being, but she found the strength to sit up and look around. Barren. Sand, shrubs and scraggly bush for as far as the eye could see... and no one else in sight. Either this was a training exercise of some kind (certainly a brutal one), or something had gone very, very wrong in transport.

Well, shit. What was she to do now?

[[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Lounge 2B | Deep Space K7]]

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Lounge 2B | Deep Space K7]

Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas found himself lost in his thoughts, once he had inspected the inventory, making sure that everything had been readied for the evening at hand. The new shindig that Tora had prepared alongside him and a couple of fellow members of the crew had gone off without a hitch. People were arriving, and beginning to partake in the festivities. The Caitian felt... less festive, though. While the administrative duties have aided him in keeping his mind busy, his mind usually strayed back to the two members of Security that he had lost back in the USS Rainier.

He wondered if he could have done a better job in training and organizing his Security officers. If he had any failures while commanding them on the Engineering deck. If he had any failings as a leader. Previously, he had struck against his enemies with certainty and unwavering conviction. Had the fear of the Kinshaya affected him?

Or, had it just been bad luck?

His actions, after all, had allowed Neva and the rest of Engineering to regain the section and had prevented the total loss of the vessel. Most of the Rainier survivors had made it out alive, too.

It had been not easy to reconcile both views that constantly quarreled in his mind, thus he could not fully enjoy his current duties. In fact, he was so out of it, that he missed when Tora had called for him the first time, his ear swishing instinctively to the direction of her voice. It took him a moment to fully process the words spoken,

"Ah... yes. All the decorations have been set in place, Tora."

He spoke, in the serious, monotone voice he almost always used. He supposed that the Cardassian may notice he was not feeling his best, but he hoped that she wouldn't ask. He had no intention of bringing it up. In fact, with the event going well thus far, he was shuffling the idea of heading out to a place where no one knew him. When he first arrived at Deep Space K7, he saw a club that had caught his attention: the Kit Kat Club. A place with an ancient theme to it, that just sounded quite interesting to him. It could prove as a perfect next distraction for him to avoid having to fully face his current feelings.

[Crewman Zala | Transport Room Two | Deck Four | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Zala gazed at the tender scene with a smile, shared between Maddy and her parents. Reunions, even if they came from other people besides her family, always made her teary-eyed. She also felt a certain relief at seeing that both Ardy and Wu had remained completely unscathed. Not everyone had been so lucky over at Security, yet she decided not to think too much about it. She was thankful for Lieutenant Commander Mrekrerhas, who had saved her life not once, but twice, by quickly getting them to cover, and shouting a warning just before she had attempted to fire on her rifle on one occasion, saving her life. Sure, she had been wounded on her shoulder shortly afterward, but she had at least not lost her entire head. She had also made sure to pray, and offer a few slips of the little Latinium she had to the Blessed Exchequer for letting her remain relatively unscathed from the brutal engagement.

And of course, reuniting with her beloved brother.

"Sisther, sisther!"

Came the excited words of Little Mo as the two of them ran towards each other to reunite. Zala brought him into a bear hug, and she began to cry,

"Yes, it is me, Chikeki! It makes me so happy to see you!"

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Lounge 2B | Deep Space K7]

Poor Zhuk looked tired - heck, he even sounded tired. Tora knew extremely well that the Caitian had a lot on his plate at all times, and after their last battle she could only imagine the kind of stress he'd been under. That he'd volunteered to help her get this small party together must've taken quite a bit of effort. Quietly, she shuffled up to him and placed her hand on his arm. "Go rest if you need it, okay? We can hold the fort for a while; I'll call if you're needed. I'll see you later for that fur brushing I promised you, okay?" She squeezed his arm and let him go; while she would've loved to stay by his side and talk to him about what'd just happened to all of them and how he felt, she couldn't. She was the host of the party, and the host could not stay with just one person all the time.

[Transport room 2]

Ardy smiled as Maddy swung around on their hands. "That sounds like a good idea." she said, referring to Maddy's favorite food, Gagh.

Personally, it wasn't Ardy's favorite to make, given the spicy sauce was hard to get just right without the replicator and well, live worms were , just that, live worms,  however for such a picky kid when she wanted to be (especially concerning her veggies,)  Maddy certainly loved those "gummy worms."

"Why don't we eat out tonight?" she asked, much to the delight of Maddy. One less thing to make for dinner, after all.

Anyhow, this time was time to celebrate.

"Can we daddy?" Asked the little girl  with that look of hers that could probably melt the iciest heart. Ardyn laughed. That crafty kiddo was persuasive, alright.

[  Restaurants - Promenade]

From what Ardy had read, the restaurants here at K-7 were pretty well-rated. After putting Maddy's stuff away in their quarters, they had made their way down here.  Slipping her hand into Alex's as they walked down to figure out what was open and also served Maddy's favorite food, she gave Alex a grin," "Let's eat."

[As Oyari Sedaya]

The somewhat nervous cadet nodded. "This looks like a really nice party you have here," she said, taking a hors d'oeuvre off a platter.  They hadn't had much of a chance, to chat, beyond keeping the surgeons going during the battle, but while she was fairly cautious of this woman whose own people were on the opposite side of the Occupation, she did respect the help that she offered, in the heat of everything.

" Yeah, I'm holding up really well, so far. They weren't kidding when they said things could get crazy at the drop of a hat. I think things have finally gotten to normal now they have transferred everyone who's left to the Station hospital." she said. It was one of the things that you had to face as a doctor, after all. "I definitely have a lot to learn, for sure..." she said, nodding.

Her attention then turned to Sedaya, who seemed rather nervous. She couldn't blame her, really. No cadet asked to enlist for the thrill of going into battle with militaristic religious zealots with wings. That kind of experience tended to change people. Harden some, soften some. "There'll always be a lot to learn, no matter what rank you are." She assured her. "But you can't learn properly when you're not in the right state of mind. If you ever need help, don't be afraid to look for it. No shame in needing support, okay?"
Tora's brow furrowed as she noticed Zemi seemingly standing by herself, observing the rest of the party from a distance. Indeed some people preferred to stay on their lonesome and enjoy the atmosphere or whatever have they, but sometimes their reason was feeling left out of the crowd for whatever reason. Which wasn't the goal of tonight. "Give me a second-" Tora patted the cadet on the shoulder and walked towards the Andorian with a smile. "Zee? You feeling alright? Would you like to join me and cadet Oyari?" She offered, nodding back at Sedaya.

[Challenger]

With Ranier scuttled, there had been a mad rush to transfer crew and patients across to Challenger and some of the other attending vessels. The doomed vessel's CMO, the bolian Lt.Cmd Virel, was still in and out of consciousness thanks to an unknown condition. Doctor Rashar had taken on the case personally, which Zee had understood. Still, given that she'd been there herself she felt it right, nay, required, to lend as much of a hand in his care as she could.

Eventually her betazoid CO had gotten sick of having some inexperienced Andorian running under his feet. Once they'd docked at K7, Rashar had ordered Zee to take advantage of the shoreleave and let him deal with his own patient.

Honestly, she had spent the journey feeling a little helpless. The engineer she'd met back on Ranier, Neva, had done a fine job getting the EMH back online. Based on the engineer's assessment it seemed like Ranier was more than salvageable, so the evac-and-scuttle order had come as quite a shock.

Zee just hoped her CMO didn't go the same way.

[Deep Space K7]

A wander around the amenities of K7 did wonders for Zee's mood. She wasn't usually one to get down, but being on temporary exile made her feel even more helpless. Then she visited the commissary and got acquainted with one of the station's resident workers, a ferengi chef called Ligg.

During her hitchhiking years, ferengi usually meant trouble. Misogynists at the best of times, genuine creeps at the worse. For all the effort their homeworld had made on the steps towards liberalism, their extant conservatives seemed to have taken to the Merchant Leagues to make themselves useful. For all their backwards attitudes, however, they truly were fantastic chefs and Ligg in particular stood out. One well-done slug steak later - a delicacy Zee had found quite the taste for - and her mood picked up considerably. She even began to reconsider that crew get-together she'd heard rumours about.

Eventually, Zee found herself drifting towards lounge 2B. An ensign from the science division had put out open invitations, and Zee was curious if it was the Cardassian one. She'd never met a Cardassian before, and could do with a new friend.

Zee quite airily wandered into the lounge, taking in the decor or lack thereof before the people. Hands clasped behind her back, her weight jovially wavering between her left and right as she walked over, Zee approached the Cardassian with a beaming smile. "Hi! I'm Zemi from Medical, I don't think we've met yet." Of course they hadn't, but Zee had learned that people didn't like to be told that with such certainty. "Nice to get off the ship for a bit, right?"

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Lounge 2B | Deep Space K7]

"No, we haven't, and my name is Tora. Please, make yourself at home, people are free to come and go whenever. Oh, and do help yourself to the food, there's enough for all of us." Tora beamed back at the pretty young Andorian officer who greeted her as she approached. She gestured to a part of the table laden with what appeared to be some Andorian finger foods, particularly roasted redbat skewers in a warmer tub. She'd tried to cater something for everyone - the major races, anyway. "I'll come chat in a bit, okay?"

[Transport room 2]

"Mom! DAD! You're back!" The little girl went barreling towards her parents at near warp speed as she finally materialized on the platform. Ardy smiled. It had been way too long to have been away from her little girl, and after worrying that they wouldn't make it through the night, they had limped the ship home, ready to get back to their loved ones as soon as possible. They were the lucky ones. Not everyone came home after that long dark night.

"Heya Mads! You have fun at the camp?" Asked Ardy, bringing in Maddy for a big hug before letting the little girl go over to Alex to hug him.

"Yeah! We did lots of games and did painting and a scavenger hunt, and got to look at stars and all the spaceships!" said Maddy excitedly as they picked up her stuff.

"Spaceships, you say?"

"Yeah! They showed us all the cool ships and we got to go on one and see inside of it!"

Ardy smiled to Alex as they came through the halls.  Things felt right.

[Lounge]

[As Cadet Oyari Sedaya]

They had survived! And given that she wasn't busy today, or at least she was just on call for now, she had time to relax. Maybe get something started in terms of food at least. After several long shifts finishing patching everyone up, she would like to not have to think about the next shift for a while. She wasn't too big on parties, but... given the harrowing time they had, she was looking to get her mind off things.  Maybe even make new friends.

The quiet cadet came into the room.  It was already starting  to come together.  She'd probably get in the way of people.

To the young Bajoran cadet she'd met in the lab and spoken to for all of five minutes or so (and, tragically, no more), Tora flashed an equally cheerful smile. "Cadet Sedaya! Welcome! Go get something to eat and relax, everyone's welcome." She said. "I'll be with you shortly - we didn't chat much while the Kinshaya were on board, obviously." Yeah, talk about hostile boardings and battles being mood killers. Tora didn't expect everything to be hunky dory and rainbows, of course, but still. "How're you holding up? I don't think our last voyage was what you expected to get on your first ever training cruise, huh?"

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Lounge 2B | Deep Space K7]

Thank goodness getting K7's quartermaster to rent out the starbase's lounge had been quite easy - and what a lovely view it had, too. If one looked out the window they were greeted with a sea of stars, endless black and gleaming white dots as the eye could see. Yes, it was just space, but after Tora and her crew's recent ordeal the Cardassian felt that what all of them needed was something low-key and simple; a chance for everybody to let down their hair.

Having convinced the station's quartermaster to let her have one of her lounges for a day she'd roped together a small team to put together a simple get-together with decent food contributed by the starbase's many vendors. There were no extraneous decorations beyond what the lounge already had this time. If anything the only addition was the playlist for the evening, which played softly overhead throughout, in addition to a table for food and utensils.  The lounge's small stage sat empty for now, though Tora had put out an interest form for any wishing to stretch their musical (or comedic, as the case could also be) muscles.

Presently, the Cardassian was preoccupied with helping to organise the food being brought in and thanking everyone involved. "That's all of them," She announced to one of her team, who'd been thus far been busy with another aspect of their prep. "How's it going over there?"

[Bridge]

It was an odd feeling, being left without control of the ship at her station after being so far in the zone in terms of flying.  Out of all the people on here, Alex was probably the best guy to fly the ship, at least through this maneuver.  She'd have to be ready for when things did get started again, however.

[medbay]

[As Oyari Sedaya]

Sedaya was learning a lot of things today; About surgery, about  herself, and how to deal with a true emergency. And then the call came out; They needed people to help on the away team. Unfortunately, that left her to take care of the remaining triaged patients mostly on her own. Looking at the unfortunate ensign who was still intubated, she noticed a sharp spike in his vitals.  She turned to one of the remaining doctors on duty. "He seems to be in cardiopulmonary distress. What now?" With as few doctors as they had right now, they needed backup. Can we get some more people to help us here? she asked out to the ship at large. She was running on fumes at this point, but she couldn't stop now.

[Deck 2 - Rainier]

[as Security crewman Kenny Mackit." ]

"Mackit! You're up!'

Crewman Mackit rushed the corridor along Lt. Saye, phaser in hand, He could do this. He had to.  Nodding to Bill as he got closer, he ducked behind a doorframe,  making whatever potshots he could. The Kinshaya were pretty tough. it took a couple good phaser shots to take one down.

"Should we hold the corridor?" asked Kenny to the Boss in charge, scrambling to reload his phaser.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Sickbay | USS Challenger]

Everyone who wasn't working on the toxin torpedoes had been told to go down to sickbay to lend an appendage (you know, since nowadays not every species serving in Starfleet necessarily had hands) - which was a category Tora and about half her colleagues fell into. She only possessed basic first aid knowledge common to all Starfleet personnel at best, but hey, any and all help was welcome, right? The Cardassian traipsed through the door with another three science officers; she in particular approached Sedaya, for it was her voice she'd heard over her commbadge anyway. "Rough evening, huh. Never a dull moment." She quipped, with somewhat forced cheerfulness. "How can we help?"

[Ensign Ss'tiva | Science Lab 2 | USS Challenger]

"It's done!" Ss'tiva looked up from her console at the rest of her colleagues. How the Gorn was managing to keep it together in the chaos around her was anyone's guess. She rose from her seat and stomped over to what looked like a massive metal container the size of a helium tank in the corner, donned a rebreather and removed the tube steadily filling it up with gas. "The aerosolised compound is ready! All we need to do is use it... at the right time." At least, that was what she hoped for. Of course, if the Kinshaya decide to break in and do their worst, there'd be no good option left. Sometimes, she'd learned, peace just wasn't realistic to expect.

[Bridge]

'Heh, you know it!"

Ardy smirked as Zhuk caused a brilliant explosion along one of the flanks of the ship, but the moment couldn't last forever. The ship shook as the Challenger took a round of heavy fire, some kind of torpedo.  They could handle the hit for now, She just had to keep running. Keep the ship flying.  "I'm moving in for another round! " she shouted to Zhuk,  sending the ship into a bit of a dive before  turning into a spin, leaving the ship in a good enough spot to fire.  They were holding the line for now.

"How's it looking for the ship?" she asked the others on the bridge.

Suddenly, she heard the comms chatter flare up.

One look at the scanners showed her enough; They had caught the other ship in a pincer move. She mentally readied her flightpath.

[As Oyari Sedaya]

[Science labs]

The cadet nodded to Aarwendil as she began to look through the notes they had made concerning the Kinshaya's biology. A very strong-seeming species, who definitely looked like they were rather tough beings

Seeing the Cardassian woman, she froze and stiffened, just a little bit, before taking the documents provided and smiled in return, cautiously. She had heard  horror stories from her parents, but the scientist didn't seem to be too hostile. Actually,  the opposite. And right now, she knew that there was a lot more at stake than to let old enemies flare up. Something to deal with later, for sure. She nodded and got respectfully closer.  not too close, but enough to discuss with the others

"Thank you; I appreciate it." said the young cadet, taking the PADD. given what limited autopsy data they had, these beings vere very tough.

Then the Gorn science lady spoke. This plant toxin could be rather potent to the Kinshaya? That was news!

"That's great! Do you think it can be aerosolized?  if it's diluted enough,  they might breathe it in and get put out of commission and  that could be a really efficient way to capture them.   Just in case they might come on here?", she asked , before the ship jolted roughly, sending the science panels flickering.

Oyari, we need you down here in medbay."

She had to go.

"On it. Just  finishing working with the science labs on something and I'll be down as soon as I can "

[As Ensign Ss'tiva]

The Gorn woman stumbled with a hiss of annoyance, catching the wall with her large, scaly hand in time to prevent herself from falling over. Once she'd regained her composure she typed rapidly on her PADD - surprisingly quickly for someone with such huge fingers - and handed Sedaya the device immediately afterward. "Yes, it can. Seventy parts per million will induce full-body paralysis for about five hours. Oh, and possibly vertigo - at least, in bipeds like us it does. I cannot recommend exposure in any higher concentration than that without appropriate protection, because it'll affect us too." She replied hurriedly. "Just... use it as a last resort, please?" She looked at the Bajoran cadet with large, mournful reptilian eyes. Yes, apparently even slit-pupilled Gorn are capable of expressing deep sorrow though their eyes, as much as their facial structure seemed to imply otherwise.

[As Ensign Tora Zalos]
"Don't keep the people in sickbay waiting, cadet. Go. And maybe run." Tora urged her, nodding at the door. She rose to her feet, patted Ss'tiva on the arm and spoke a few comforting words in the Gorn's ear hole. "We'll catch you later."

[Bridge | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

"I'll start to work on that immediately."  Aarwendil said to Wu, before preparing to leave the bridge. He looked briefly at Lieutenant Jyur, expecting that the man would also go to the laboratories and start the search. The two working together could find a solution faster than if they worked alone. If that last thought, the young Betazoid walked away.

-----------------------------

[Later in the Science Labs | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

He went to the labs and started to work. Aarwendil was a bit disappointed with the data that the Klingons had given to them. It wasn't as complete as he had hoped, being more observations about possible weaknesses that the Kinyasha could have. It was something expected for a warrior culture, but suited their situation.

It was only disappointing because the Betazoid's curiosity about the Kinyasha wasn't going completely satiated.

When the ship's light started to flash red, Aarwendil had discovered that the Klingon's had observed that the Kinyasha had sensible auditory organs and this information could be useful during the combat. He immediately sent the message about this discovery to Wu. Now he could turn his attention to the possibility of them being boarded.

Then, a Bajoran cadet entered the laboratory at this moment asking if she could help. "Hi! Maybe you could help me see if there is more information that we can use against the Kinyasha in the files sent by the Klingons?"

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Science Lab|USS Challenger]

It broke Tora's heart to see the young Bajoran cadet standing in the middle of the lab, unsure of what to do and presumably scared, too. That young girl probably hadn't asked to sign up with Starfleet, just to encounter a situation like this where she might just join the Prophets in their wormhole before she'd gotten the chance to actually earn her first pip.

That meant she had a duty to make the time she spent here meaningful - as meaningful as possible barring the unpleasant, of course.

"The help is appreciated, cadet. Join me over here please?" Tora smiled warmly and let the cadet approach her on her own. She didn't know how she felt about her people - there were some new Bajorans born after the Occupation, after all -but it was always respectful to let people approach and cross (or not) those boundaries on their own. "There's not a lot in here, really. The Klingons' old encounters with the Kinshaya are mostly in combat. What we know so far is that the Kinshaya think of them as demons - and that they're highly, highly religious." It was then she realized that, maybe, just maybe, they were cutting it a bit too close to what'd just happened between their peoples only so long ago. "I'll pass you the datafiles-"

"I have something." Tora's eyes turned to the Gorn ensign that stomped out of one of the other labs and through the door - she held a PADD in her hands while glancing around the room with mournful yellow eyes. "Go on, Ss'tiva, what've you got?" Tora asked. "Sorry for the intrusion. We've found a plant compound that soaks into the skin and targets the muscles directly, resulting in spasms and loss of motor function for up to seventy-two hours..." A long, hissing sigh escaped her jaws. "We aren't going to need something of this scale until push comes to shove, right?" The Gorn added mournfully.

[ USS Challenger - Bridge - Previously ]

After the meeting was adjourned, Jettis didn't immediately leave. His mind was instead running overtime with the idea of leaving Theresa at a station alone. It was certainly the safest option, and after Frontier day there wasn't a universe where he'd take a chance on her safety. Still, the idea unsettled him.

Pulled from his thoughts when Wu approached him with Cheizex in tow, Jettis nodded to both men.
"It's certainly something to explore. I'll see what information the Klingons have managed to provide to us." He turned to Aarwendil with a pinched smile. "We welcome all hands on deck in the efforts though, any information we have will be substantial, considering our sample size is.. one."

"Any biological creature should logically have some sort of drawback, some conditions that hinder them. It's just a matter of finding out what it might be in time, and then designing counter measures." Something that would prove more difficult on such a time crunch.

[ USS Challenger - Main Laboratory - Lieutenant Randell ]

Randell looked up from his own screen, looking towards Tora's PADD. "You've got a point there. But finding out anything from the religious zealots may be a lot harder than just respectfully asking them." He mused.

"They've been almost constantly at war with the Klingons, right? What beliefs would the Klingons have that the Kinyasha would find so repulsive to fight for that long?" The question was more rhetorical than anything, turning back to his screen as he wracked his brain for the answer. Unfortunately, he wasn't particularly familiar with Klingons aside from the basic information.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Science Lab| USS Challenger]

"Klingons are a violent people. They find honor and glory in combat and winning at nearly any cost and are as fierce as demons in battle. Those might be the chief reasons as to why." Tora guessed. "Not that the Kinshaya are a peaceful people by all means, as far as I can tell from what little we know about them. Maybe a large part of it is self-righteousness. Who knows. Its not like we can just ask and expect them to give us an answer willingly." Which was the sad truth, really. The universe would've been a much better place if people learned to talk first, then fight and squabble later - but there wasn't much in the way of such cosmic fairness. That much Tora had learned over the course of her own life. "I don't think we can make them turn around and leave based just on that. So my best guess is that convincing them to stand down will have to be on another facet of their faith. Maybe... a divine sign that they should not continue the fight. Something like that." Tora sighed. Such a feat was very easy to mention, but very, very hard to pull off. Go figure. Hell, even she wasn't entirely confident that it was even possible.

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Science Labs|USS Challenger]

Tora didn't relish the idea of going back into space just to risk her life in battle at all. That wasn't really what she'd signed up for. Granted she'd entered Starfleet accepting that that might be a hazard of the job, but still, would it really be far too much to ask for an assignment that didn't risk the lives of herself and her entire crew? Like, there had to be some sort of cosmic fairness like that somewhere, right?

Regardless, there wasn't much time or opportunity for debate. When she and her fellow scientists were briefed on their assignment for this mission, she'd sworn to herself to figure out a peaceful way to deal with their potential opponents - even as she forced herself to bite the bullet and follow their actual orders. To both ends, she'd been trawling Federation databases for an answer for the past two hours to find... well, not much. Evidently the Kinshaya weren't keen on sharing much about themselves, especially with those kind-of-sort-of allied with the people they dubbed as demons.

"Seems like the Kinshaya care a lot about their religion." Tora turned around with her PADD in hand to address the duty officer, one  Evan Randell, in the laboratory. "Their entire military is a sort of theocracy. Their ranks even go by things which the universal translator makes out to be Vicar, Deacon and even Archbishop." Then she sighed and rubbed at her eyes. Staring at one's screen for hours does that to someone, of course. "Maybe a good way to deal with them would be to tackle them at their beliefs. Finding out what they worship might be useful, but there's nothing to go on, at least in our database."

[Starbase Promende]

Ardyn wandered about the shops on the promenade, looking for the bridal shop that was supposedly down here.  Ardy wasn't really for dresses. like, the last time she had worn a formal dress was  when she was pregnant with Maddy, and even then, it was something that was replicated from a holocatalog on short notice.  Formality wasn't something she was used to.

This... This was something different. Ardy only  wanted to do this just once, and she didn't want to simply get married in just her dress uniform.

Traditionally, at least from what she had heard, you'd go with a bunch of female relatives or friends. Ardy didn't really have that, at least not within several light years away.  (And she was pretty sure that her own mother's opinions on dresses might lean toward either the extremely traditional manner for the whole thing, reception and all, that was, nothing at all.)  Anyhow, Maddy was in school and didn't quite know all too much about weddings, and Ardy wanted to surprise the little girl. Maddy was the whole reason things had gotten started after all, all things considered.

Passing by, she noticed Zhuk, looking around at some outfits himself.

"Hey there! Fancy meeting you here.  I just wanted to say thanks for releasing Maddy's dinosaur from evidence collections when you did. You saved us from an extended meltdown from a distressed little girl." she said, cocking her usual wry grin

"So, whatcha looking at?" she asked.

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Starbase Promenade]

Breaks, no matter how brief, were always greatly appreciated. Tora had decided to use hers to the best of her ability - that is, sampling the food from several of the food stalls on the promenade, buying snacks to bring with her on the Challenger's next mission, get some new clothes, that sort of thing. The Cardassian had what appeared to be an ice cream cone in hand, off-white in color and covered in crushed peanuts, along with three more bags of shopping. Might as well use the opportunity to the fullest, right?

It brought a smile to her face to see her colleagues - Zhuk and the helmswoman whose name she didn't quite know yet - just up ahead, though. She was glad to see the former finally take a break; the whole ordeal with people's stuff getting stolen must have taken a toll on him indeed. At least now her precious hot chocolate cup had been returned and so had the personal belongings of everyone else, and the culprit was in custody, which meant that, for now at least, all was well. "Zhuk! And uh... ma'am." Tora called out as she approached the two. Her eyes widened as she saw what the Caitian was doing; was he picking out an outfit for himself? Granted, she'd rarely ever seen him wear something fancy. "What are you both doing-"

Then their commbadges chirped, and the captain's heavily accented voice piped through. Tora exchanged a look with the two senior officers and nodded solemnly. "Looks like I won't be able to get that tub of honey earl grey ice cream after all." She quipped, before nodding at the airlock nearby. "We should definitely go..."

[ USS Challenger - Holodeck 1 ]

Jettis exhaled a breath slowly, trying to avoid fogging his goggles for the umpteenth time as his hand caught his next handhold. The snow-covered rock, thankfully didn't budge in his grip. The same rush of adrenaline hit him, as he continued his descent from the mountain.

Time off had thankfully come into his possession more readily, after the entire upset of Land and the court martial. He'd spent such time dusting off long forgotten and abandoned hobbies, like free climbing.
He'd managed to ascend the mountain in record time, and got halfway down before his smart watch began shrilley alerting him that his time was up. Sighing, he lifted his goggles and glared down at the device. "Computer, end program."

The landscape dissipated, leaving him standing on solid ground. "I'm going to have to block out more holodeck time," he muttered to himself. Reaching up to fix his hair, ensuring it was still tightly tied back, he stepped out of the holodeck, giving a passive wave to the next person who had scheduled it.

Right, back to his quarters. A quick check of his watch and he knew he'd missed Theresa's lunch break from school, so he'd settle for picking up something light before sequestering himself off in his office. His eyes briefly observed the scene that was already being handled, and promptly decided it wasn't apart of his wheelhouse and grabbed a sandwich to go. He was ready to make his escape, before he noticed one of his officers being helped out of the messhall. Damn wheelhouse.

"Ensign Zalos, are you alright?" he called out, making his way over.

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Mess Hall|USS Challenger]

"Barely. Crewman Rala decided to take a swing at me when I tried to stop him from beating the snot out of Jeyshon over there." Tora pointed backwards at the poor Tamarian - the poor guy didn't ask for any of this, really, and here he was caught right in the middle. She felt sorry for him, really. When all this was over he was chief among the first few she wanted to bring out to a nice meal and possibly a massage on the holodeck - as an apology of sorts, in his case. "I'll be sure to turn up on duty as soon as possible, promise! Lots to do!" Which would be within the hour or something, she was sure of that, provided the doctors didn't find anything serious floating around her brain fluids or something.