Season 15: Episode 4 - Vox Populai

[Malik Grippen]

"I did hear you, Lorut.  Its not a bad idea.  Let me get a piece of debris to try to pry it and put strain on your beam spot." he said, looking for a fallen shard of a beam and sticking the thin end near the bottom of the door away from the beam.  He, with assistance, started applying lever pressure, which at the moment was still very resistant.  It took some time, but slowly there were sparks from the sides of the door and a tiny gap as the door sides were loosening.  Then with a snap, the seal that was under fire broke, and the doors almost flew open.

"Good job everyone.  It looks like the fleet is not going to bother us.  We'll probably have assimilated crew to contend with, but otherwise we should be able to get to either the escape pods or the shuttles.  We should go."

[Starbase, Operations Centre]

Malik reacted with surprise as the door suddenly opened to reveal the rest of their shuttle compatriots, including the captain. The pilot tried to stand, but quickly fell back against the corridor wall, his head swimming. Malik's injuries thus far included 1. A suspected concussion from Drone-Dem tossing him like a sack of potatoes across the bridge; 2. Bruising and swelling of the neck after nearly being choked to death by a drone; 3 A sharp pain in the side of his torso from being thrown against the wall after the gravity failed; and finally 4. And worst of all, his immaculate hair and uniform were in a sorry state.

He did spot the young medical officer from outside of ops earlier. This was good, perhaps she could fix him.

[Novi]

[Starbase, Operations Centre]

Malik reacted with surprise as the door suddenly opened to reveal the rest of their shuttle compatriots, including the captain. The pilot tried to stand, but quickly fell back against the corridor wall, his head swimming. Malik's injuries thus far included 1. A suspected concussion from Drone-Dem tossing him like a sack of potatoes across the bridge; 2. Bruising and swelling of the neck after nearly being choked to death by a drone; 3 A sharp pain in the side of his torso from being thrown against the wall after the gravity failed; and finally 4. And worst of all, his immaculate hair and uniform were in a sorry state.

He did spot the young medical officer from outside of ops earlier. This was good, perhaps she could fix him.

[Starbase, Operations Centre]

Novi saw the door open with the work of everyone as she was setting down the Admiral after she took him from Torra. Making sure his state was still stable. The stimulants at least kept his eyes open but there weren't really enough painkillers so all he could do was stay and try not to pass out again.

Looking over she saw the few Starfleet officers who were still on the other side get pulled inside many injured. There just wasn't enough left for everyone and she was about to head over to the first one to do Triage when she noticed an officer get up then fall back, he clearly looked concussed and wouldn't be able to make it but everyone else seemed to have missed him! She frantically looked around as most everyone was getting back into cover. An officer was already down  from the crossfire and from the looks of that officer he seemed dead but she couldn't let him go knowing he was still alive.

She knew she could not hesitate. Taking a breathe she lept over a broken console and almost immediately took a phaser right to her shoulder. She yelped in pain and grabbed it but gritted her death and quickly dove the last couple feet to the man. She recognized him from the Medical profiles as the Risan Malik Grippen. Quickly giving a little slap on his face she opened an eye to check his pupils, "Stay with me Sir! I am not strong enough for us both!" Quickly moving to avoid another phaser blast she managed to keep the officer aware enough to at least let him get up and then the both of them practically fell back into the ops room Novi got up to help the man into cover but she felt another phaser blast hit her leg and she kept herself from yelling in pain as a few tears welled up. With the natural Adrenaline in her body she moved behind cover and help Grippen do the same.

Taking a moment to gather herself, the pain was already mostly gone but she had to control her breathing to avoid shock and passing out after getting shot twice so quickly that it was a minute before she could return her attention to Grippen. "You have a concussion, fractured hip and your 8, 9, and 10 ribs are broken." she hesitated for only a split second. Most of the others were already okay. Just from a quick observation she could see their pain definitely would be less then 3 broken ribs and a fractured hip bone. So she had no issue with using the last of hers on him. She gave a smile and another gentle slap as she saw him slouching again. "You can't pass out! I don't have anything to give you if you do! Not here at least"

*psst* the hypospray dropped the rest of the painkillers into Malik Grippen. She then reached into her emergency medkit and quickly tossed out a few empty hypospray bottles before she found a bottle with barely any blue liquid left and put it in the hypospray. She then grabbed the scanner from her medical tricorder and turned on its flashlight to look in his eyes. "Definitely internal bleeding" she thought to herself. If she didn't administer the blood thinner he could have an aneurysm and die very fast. She couldn't help but smile at the luck with just a little bit of the stuff left but she wasn't sure if it would be enough as she injected him with it.

Scanning him again the bleeding was better but of course. There's no cure for a concussion, only remedies, and for sure not with the tools she had in an empty emergency medkit. "You need to stay here and try not to move! If you do your concussion will only get worse!" she patted his shoulder before sitting down next to him. Knowing he at least wouldn't be dead in minutes the pain from her injuries got to her and she had to get off her leg. She started ripping off the burned part of her uniform and used it to bind her leg. all her uniform now covered was the most important parts and she gritted her teeth and how exposed her skin was to the fires of combat. Not that it mattered, the station was going down anyway.

[Kinley Garrison]

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck 1  - Ready Room] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

Rayek looked over the room but there was very little that the Romulan could see to use as a weapon in the sparsely furnished room.  He glanced up, knowing not far above his location his wife and their unconscious son were waiting for his return, yet he couldn't go to them now.  That would just make Tess a target, and his son would be lost to the Collective.  Never! He swore.

Given his trapped position in the Ready Room, he wished he could telepathically contact Tess and tell her once more how much he loved her; yet Rayek knew from past experience that his telepathic ability was only 'line of sight' - he couldn't hope to reach her from here even if the distance was less than 10 meters.  His mind would just wouldn't connect to hers without the visual confirmation.   Even with his deep familiarity with his wife and her mind a result of many mind melds shared between them, he couldn't reach out to her in warning or last goodbye because of the layers of metal between him and her.   Despite their common ancestry, Rayek wasn't Vulcan enough to have been given the ability to telepathically bond with his wife as he wished could.

He sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to clear the fear and desperation from thoughts.   He didn't need to reach out to his wife now, he would be with her again shortly, he affirmed to himself.   All would be fine.  He couldn't give up!

He took another deep breath before realizing that he might have a plan.  He shucked off the satchel containing the anesthezine canister and got the gas ready to deploy.  He retrieved from his security utility belt a small apparatus to hold in his mouth.  A short duration re-breather - which would filter out the anesthezine gas for up to 10 to 15  minutes.  He was certain the Borg would not take even half that long to break through the sealed doors.   Rayek released the gas, which should be enough to fill the room and the bridge beyond once the door was forced open.

Once the gas was released and filled the room, the Romulan took cover to the side of the Captain's desk.  From that vantage point, Rayek had sight towards both doors, which he covered alternatingly with his phaser.

A blast of thick, sickly-sweet gas engulfed her as the doors  to the ready room opened, causing her to cough and  briefly choke on the  vapors.  What was that?!    She asked the Collective, however, the sudden  dizziness  and lightheadedness answered that question. Some kind of sedative.  Symptoms pointed to anesthezine.  She tried shaking off the effects of the gas, but the more she tried to fight the effects, the more it seemed to work.  346572  was already down,  registering intense reactions of sensory effects rendering him inoperable.

She took this moment to strike now at the Unassimilated, grabbing him and pinning him to the  wall with a force that seemed unnatural for her small frame,

She would have shot him, but her vision had already begun to fade, and she fumbled to grab her phaser.

[Rayek trLhoell]

NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[Spacedock - Ops]

[Spacedock - Ops]

Nevir looked up at the view angled above them; the transparent aluminium that was showing the fleet and Earth, though Earth was slowly starting to turn away as the station's orbit and the conservation of energy was pushing the station off its own axis. The fleet had stopped firing completely; instead, the ship formation was moving, reangling, as they turned to face... Earth.

"Prophets... the planetary shields are down.  There is nothing between the Borg and Earth.  There's nothing we can do." Nevir stated, pushing himself to a standing position and carefully moving towards on the offline panels.  He wasn't the only one, other station officers were trying to restore power.  The Fleet Commander was nowhere to be seen.

He glanced over at his crew, already hard at work trying to release the door locks.  Good, it meant they were trying to secure escape.  The massive station would take some time to drop past the stable orbit limit and go through reentry, but without power or thrusters it would happen.

"Most of the reactors are down... some are gone.  Station engineering is... gone.  The lower decks were blown out. We don't even have emergency power.  Sensors and life support are the only systems still functioning.  I think... I think the Enterprise went in to the cube. There was a firefight and it then just turned inward.  We'll lose long-range sensors in 30 minutes."

Nevir nodded at the report from the Lieutenant who did have a working console.  Nevir gave up trying to reactivate his console and moved to join his crew.  He paused for a moment as he stepped over the Commander of the station; the man was lifeless.  At least the Admiral was still alive.

"I did hear you, Lorut.  Its not a bad idea.  Let me get a piece of debris to try to pry it and put strain on your beam spot." he said, looking for a fallen shard of a beam and sticking the thin end near the bottom of the door away from the beam.  He, with assistance, started applying lever pressure, which at the moment was still very resistant.  It took some time, but slowly there were sparks from the sides of the door and a tiny gap as the door sides were loosening.  Then with a snap, the seal that was under fire broke, and the doors almost flew open.

"Good job everyone.  It looks like the fleet is not going to bother us.  We'll probably have assimilated crew to contend with, but otherwise we should be able to get to either the escape pods or the shuttles.  We should go."

So intent on getting the doors open, it took several moments for the Grazerite to realized that the barrage had ceased.  It was the Captain's statement about the planetary shields being down that caught her attention.  The sight of the Fleet moving as one to turn the bulk of their armaments towards Earth was chilling.

She turned back towards the unpowered door and continued firing towards it.  This at least was something she could do.   Help the Captain and Admiral make it off the station before it descended into Earth's atmosphere.

When doors were finally pried open, they found more injured and behind those, more Borg-assimilated station crew.  Moving out into the hall, she stayed close to the wall and took a knee, before firing on the approaching Borg.  Torra took down several but it wasn't enough to keep others in her group from getting shot.

She heard the pained cry of the medic, but with more Borg approaching Torra was kept busy for a while.

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck 1  - Ready Room] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

A blast of thick, sickly-sweet gas engulfed her as the doors  to the ready room opened, causing her to cough and  briefly choke on the  vapors.  What was that?!    She asked the Collective, however, the sudden  dizziness  and lightheadedness answered that question. Some kind of sedative.  Symptoms pointed to anesthezine.  She tried shaking off the effects of the gas, but the more she tried to fight the effects, the more it seemed to work.  346572  was already down,  registering intense reactions of sensory effects rendering him inoperable.

She took this moment to strike now at the Unassimilated, grabbing him and pinning him to the  wall with a force that seemed unnatural for her small frame,

She would have shot him, but her vision had already begun to fade, and she fumbled to grab her phaser.

Unfortunately for Rayek, the effects of anesthezine were not instantaneous.  So though he had successfully managed to startle the assimilated Dem into breathing in the gas, it took several moments for that gas to take affect during which time Rayek needed to avoid getting shot.   The speed at which Dem was firing had slowed dramatically giving Rayek a bit of an opportunity to fire back and strike the former doctor at least two times.

His relief at seeing Dem topple was short-lived, as he had misjudged how long it would take for the Borg coming in from the Bridge to assess the situation and reach him.   Thinking he had time, Rayek turned to face the Bridge entrance only to find himself face to face with the black-veined visage of Commander Kinley.   Before he could react, he was grabbed (thankfully by his uniform collar and not his throat).  The force with which Rayek was pinned to the wall knocked the air out of him (along with his rebreather as well), but the Romulan had the sense of mind not to attempt to fill his lungs with the anesthezine-laced air.

Rayek, at first attempted, to break out of the Kinley's grip- but her Borg strength was greater than his.  His struggles had managed to keep her from laying hand on her phaser but it was using what oxygen his lungs had left more quickly.  He needed to break-free quickly.  His eyes searched the room for something to help... when he spotted the downed Dem.  Downed because he had managed to trigger Dem's pain synapses.

Well, if it worked on one, hopefully it worked on them all.   Rayek met eyes with Kinley, and threw his mind against hers, seeking those same synapses. Readying himself to make a break the moment her hold might loosen.

[Tekin Nevir]

A blast of thick, sickly-sweet gas engulfed her as the doors  to the ready room opened, causing her to cough and  briefly choke on the  vapors.  What was that?!    She asked the Collective, however, the sudden  dizziness  and lightheadedness answered that question. Some kind of sedative.  Symptoms pointed to anesthezine.  She tried shaking off the effects of the gas, but the more she tried to fight the effects, the more it seemed to work.  346572  was already down,  registering intense reactions of sensory effects rendering him inoperable.

She took this moment to strike now at the Unassimilated, grabbing him and pinning him to the  wall with a force that seemed unnatural for her small frame,

She would have shot him, but her vision had already begun to fade, and she fumbled to grab her phaser.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
(Ensign Ruthie Falleq-Tekin)

As soon as the Spacedock was covered in fireballs, Ruthie, or rather Drone 056239, no longer had any attention or concern for the object.  Instead, while the other two bridge drones were handling the unassimilated intruder, Ruthie had done a number of things.  One, called for more drone support.  Two, access environmental controls.  Three, finally received new instructions. The gas being emitted into the Main Bridge was starting to be siphoned.  At least at the front of the bridge.  Drone 056239 continued to work as the Discovery took its position facing the planet below.

"All defenses destroyed.  We are the Borg.  Resistance is Futile.  Eliminate all unassimilate."

"Target Lock: Los Angeles."

"Target Lock: Ottowa."

"Target Lock: Indianapolis."

The comms were filled with the sounds of the Borg recieving their instructions; tens of thousands of orders targetting the major cities of Earth.  The largest to the most insiginificant.  If there was something the Borg understood about humanity, its that even refugee camps like Boseman, Montana in the 2060s could prove to be a threat later.  They housed unassimilated.  So they would have to be destroyed.

The Borg grabbed a phaser and stood up.  Their ship could be remote fired, so they didn't need someone at Helm, or weapons, or even command. Ruthie slowly walked towards the back of the bridge, holding her phaser up as she scanned for the unassimilated.  She heard the turbolift doors open as several more drone stepped onto the bridge, all vying for the First Officer. Before she could fire though, she froze.  They all froze.  Something happened.  The directives from the collective just... stopped.  There was a noticeable absence.

"Signal interrupted..." she and others stated, still frozen, until her foot came down for another step.

"Continue last directive." she stated, as the Discovery charged her weapons and ready to fire on her selected cities.  The Borq started to converge on Rayek as even the gas was no longer a thread.  This looked like the end.

[Dem Broadshire]

\

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck 1  - Ready Room] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

Unfortunately for Rayek, the effects of anesthezine were not instantaneous.  So though he had successfully managed to startle the assimilated Dem into breathing in the gas, it took several moments for that gas to take affect during which time Rayek needed to avoid getting shot.   The speed at which Dem was firing had slowed dramatically giving Rayek a bit of an opportunity to fire back and strike the former doctor at least two times.

His relief at seeing Dem topple was short-lived, as he had misjudged how long it would take for the Borg coming in from the Bridge to assess the situation and reach him.   Thinking he had time, Rayek turned to face the Bridge entrance only to find himself face to face with the black-veined visage of Commander Kinley.   Before he could react, he was grabbed (thankfully by his uniform collar and not his throat).  The force with which Rayek was pinned to the wall knocked the air out of him (along with his rebreather as well), but the Romulan had the sense of mind not to attempt to fill his lungs with the anesthezine-laced air.

Rayek, at first attempted, to break out of the Kinley's grip- but her Borg strength was greater than his.  His struggles had managed to keep her from laying hand on her phaser but it was using what oxygen his lungs had left more quickly.  He needed to break-free quickly.  His eyes searched the room for something to help... when he spotted the downed Dem.  Downed because he had managed to trigger Dem's pain synapses.

Well, if it worked on one, hopefully it worked on them all.   Rayek met eyes with Kinley, and threw his mind against hers, seeking those same synapses. Readying himself to make a break the moment her hold might loosen.

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Dems drone let out a piercing screech as the commander unravelled Dem's mind. Later, Dem would remember these moments distinctly, as his mind was now in a battle with the borg. This was short-lived however, because in his distracted state, the gas had consumed him. Still intermittently firing his phaser, Dem landed on the floor, not destined to wake up for some hours.

Doctor Betaika

[Operations Centre | Spacedock]

The Doctor found himself sitting at an unmanned station, fiddling with a shard of debris that had slipped into his pocket. While to the outside he appeared calm, on the inside "" by his standards "" he was frazzled. Betaika had never liked violence. When he first joined the star empire, over a century ago, he was just regular infantry. After being involved in numerous subjugations in the name of "œpeace" he had had enough of the violence, instead realigning himself to help people. "œLook how that's working out" he thought.

Hearing the captains orders, he took a moment to consider, before speaking up. "œIn all due respect to you, Mister Nevir, I will remain behind. I have no suitable place to go if I leave the station."

[Lorut Vila]

Spacedock
Ops Center

Vila suddenly realized they were in a free-fall to Earth. There was nothing she'd experienced before in her life that would prepare for this. Still, she knew that the worst that would happen would be her death, and frankly, at this point in her life, that would be welcomed.

Prophets... the planetary shields are down.  There is nothing between the Borg and Earth.  There's nothing we can do.

"We can restore them. If our people can mine for resources AND build a space station while ALSO fighting for our lives, this is a piece of cake." She sounded far more assured than she felt. Still, he seemed to recover quickly.

I did hear you, Lorut.  It's not a bad idea.  Let me get a piece of debris to try to pry it and put strain on your beam spot

"Actually, that might work," she said. She looked around for something to use-a stray board from a table that had been shot up was nearby, and she dove for it, handing it to the man.

...Good job everyone.  It looks like the fleet is not going to bother us.  We'll probably have assimilated crew to contend with, but otherwise we should be able to get to either the escape pods or the shuttles.  We should go.

"We're not going to stay and...try?" She asked. She sighed, knowing it was futile. She grabbed the Phaser rifle, and headed back for the shuttle, firing as she went.

Help the Captain and Admiral make it off the station before it descended into Earth's atmosphere.

Vila nodded to Torra; each woman was going to have to fight her way out. While that's what Vila lived for, she wasn't so sure the Grazerite did. Most normal people didn't, really, Vila had learned.

The arrival of the second shuttle from the Discovery added more fuel to the fire, and Grippen was out. She actually didn't know the man-only having seen him around the ship, but she was bigger than the junior doctor.

. "You need to stay here and try not to move! If you do your concussion will only get worse!"

Vila paused. "You both need to haul ass out of here," she said. "I can carry him out if we need to," she said, reaching down, and grabbing the injured man under his arm, and crab walking backwards. "If you want to get his feet, it'll go faster. Put him back in the shuttle-it's the safest place for you both," she said. She moved her body so that her arms were hooked under Grippens, in sort of a reverse bear hug, sat him up carefully to sitting, and rose, so that Novi could lift his legs. Vila was much stronger than she appeared to be, and the sheer anger she held helped her to channel it to something else for once. A bit later, she deposited the man back on the floor of the shuttle. "I'll cover you as long as I can," she said. To the others, she yelled loudly. "Sixes back on the shuttle. Get out. I'll cover you as long as I can," she said, taking her firing stance. She had taken a few phaser shots to her arms and legs while moving the Lieutenant, but the adrenaline was keeping her upright. She wasn't down for the count yet.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Jeffries tubes]

Murphy could only nod. They were close to a safe spot. Well, safer than it was . Maybe at least  they could get his arm fixed. "œThink we're at a safe spot yet? I think we're getting closer to engineering and the pods." he asked.
""""""""""

[As Kinley]

[Bridge]

The Unassimilated was still larger than she was, and it made it difficult to hold on to him and kept her from using her phaser. He was pinned, however. She tried moving to try to cut off his air, when he locked eyes with her.

Out of nowhere, she suddenly felt an odd static-like sensation across her body, prickling at first, then shrieking. Every nerve  in her body felt like it was burning,  and it only  seemed to intensify with every second that passed. Ahh! she screamed, but not before she realized something;  Everything was quiet. She was herself, out of the Collective for now.  "œWhat the"¦?"

She let go of Rayek. Her vision was darkening quickly as the anesthesia began to kick in,  and sent her crumpling to the floor, out like a light into a deep, dreamless sleep.

[Somewhere"¦]

Somehow, Kinley, or her consciousness, or soul, whatever it was  that was her personality woke up again, the shock of what happened to her shaking her out of the reverie of the Collective.  It wouldn't be long before they'd rectify her again,  or worse. Did she"¦ Did she really just do that?  But even more so, something was different. There was a sudden shift in the Collective. Everything went silent for a moment. The voice of Vox had gone quiet. There were no directions from the Collective. What was going on?

Kinley couldn't answer as the Collective resumed their last directive, whisking her thoughts alongside them. They were already bringing her back into the hive mind.

[James Ramort]

[Spacedock - Ops]
"Good job everyone.  It looks like the fleet is not going to bother us.  We'll probably have assimilated crew to contend with, but otherwise we should be able to get to either the escape pods or the shuttles.  We should go."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
(Ensign Ruthie Falleq-Tekin)

"Signal interrupted..." she and others stated, still frozen, until her foot came down for another step.

"Continue last directive." she stated, as the Discovery charged her weapons and ready to fire on her selected cities.  The Borq started to converge on Rayek as even the gas was no longer a thread.  This looked like the end.

[Earths Termosphere | Sol Station | Ops Center]

Having just opened the Door, it seemed like the situation in the Operations Center was under control. As under control as things on a disintegrating space station falling down through a planets' atmosphere could ever be. There were wounded though, wounded off all station and ranks that would need help to get to the nearest escape pod.

He quickly holstered his phaser (he wasn't much of a fighter anyway) and hurried to the closest wounded that seemed stable enough to move to help them get moving. Maybe their quick departure would lead to other medical problems down the line but those were a lot easier to fix by Medical later than having every single atom in their bodies scattered across two continents and an ocean by way of burning up in earths lower atmosphere trapped in a couple of thousand metric tons of alloys and metals intertwined by burned out computers.

Luckily the ways to escape pods were not allowed to be too long by Starfleet regulation, an actual useful one among the thousands of regulations Starfleet Command produced every single year. Also all Stations and Ships followed similar design philosophies so finding the nearest Escape Pod wouldn't be all too difficult.
Securing his grip around the Lieutenant he was helping leave Ops he carefully exited the Room into the Corridor, half sure to have to draw his phaser again to defend against incoming drones. Strangely, it seemed though that the few drones that were still left standing in the Corridors leading up to the the now broken Door were suffering from what looked like an Episode of extreme disorientation. Deciding not to test his luck any further than needed on a day like this, he looked towards one of the still standing Security Officers.

"Can you provide us with some cover?"

He just hoped they wouldn't get caught up in yet another lengthy firefight, as that surely would mean their doom.

[J.B Dersch]

"Signal interrupted..." she and others stated, still frozen, until her foot came down for another step.

| Lt. JG Dersch | Drone 356697 | USS Discovery |

As the signal cut, All the pain from the Right arm came through with more power. Enough for JB to fully come back for a split second before being taken back into the collective. What the hell is Going On!? And why is my Arm Bro... He didn't get to finish his thought as the Drone reconnect.

Drone 356697: Reconnected...Attempting To Move and Continue Search Finally The Drone was able to stand, He found a Phaser Pistol and begun to look for the group he had been chasing. The Drone wished it had the rifle, But he lost it and had his entire Right arm disabled. So the Pistol was the best option at the time, the Drone did hope he didn't get into another Scuffle, Cause he had a feeling it would not survive the encounter. He walked past already taken out Non-Assimilated. Some had Rifles, And He thought about getting them, But he chose not to.

[Malik Grippen]

[Starbase, Operations Centre > Shuttle Evacuation]

Novi saw the door open with the work of everyone as she was setting down the Admiral after she took him from Torra. Making sure his state was still stable. The stimulants at least kept his eyes open but there weren't really enough painkillers so all he could do was stay and try not to pass out again.

Looking over she saw the few Starfleet officers who were still on the other side get pulled inside many injured. There just wasn't enough left for everyone and she was about to head over to the first one to do Triage when she noticed an officer get up then fall back, he clearly looked concussed and wouldn't be able to make it but everyone else seemed to have missed him! She frantically looked around as most everyone was getting back into cover. An officer was already down  from the crossfire and from the looks of that officer he seemed dead but she couldn't let him go knowing he was still alive.

She knew she could not hesitate. Taking a breathe she lept over a broken console and almost immediately took a phaser right to her shoulder. She yelped in pain and grabbed it but gritted her death and quickly dove the last couple feet to the man. She recognized him from the Medical profiles as the Risan Malik Grippen. Quickly giving a little slap on his face she opened an eye to check his pupils, "Stay with me Sir! I am not strong enough for us both!" Quickly moving to avoid another phaser blast she managed to keep the officer aware enough to at least let him get up and then the both of them practically fell back into the ops room Novi got up to help the man into cover but she felt another phaser blast hit her leg and she kept herself from yelling in pain as a few tears welled up. With the natural Adrenaline in her body she moved behind cover and help Grippen do the same.

Taking a moment to gather herself, the pain was already mostly gone but she had to control her breathing to avoid shock and passing out after getting shot twice so quickly that it was a minute before she could return her attention to Grippen. "You have a concussion, fractured hip and your 8, 9, and 10 ribs are broken." she hesitated for only a split second. Most of the others were already okay. Just from a quick observation she could see their pain definitely would be less then 3 broken ribs and a fractured hip bone. So she had no issue with using the last of hers on him. She gave a smile and another gentle slap as she saw him slouching again. "You can't pass out! I don't have anything to give you if you do! Not here at least"

*psst* the hypospray dropped the rest of the painkillers into Malik Grippen. She then reached into her emergency medkit and quickly tossed out a few empty hypospray bottles before she found a bottle with barely any blue liquid left and put it in the hypospray. She then grabbed the scanner from her medical tricorder and turned on its flashlight to look in his eyes. "Definitely internal bleeding" she thought to herself. If she didn't administer the blood thinner he could have an aneurysm and die very fast. She couldn't help but smile at the luck with just a little bit of the stuff left but she wasn't sure if it would be enough as she injected him with it.

Scanning him again the bleeding was better but of course. There's no cure for a concussion, only remedies, and for sure not with the tools she had in an empty emergency medkit. "You need to stay here and try not to move! If you do your concussion will only get worse!" she patted his shoulder before sitting down next to him. Knowing he at least wouldn't be dead in minutes the pain from her injuries got to her and she had to get off her leg. She started ripping off the burned part of her uniform and used it to bind her leg. all her uniform now covered was the most important parts and she gritted her teeth and how exposed her skin was to the fires of combat. Not that it mattered, the station was going down anyway.

Vila paused. "You both need to haul ass out of here," she said. "I can carry him out if we need to," she said, reaching down, and grabbing the injured man under his arm, and crab walking backwards. "If you want to get his feet, it'll go faster. Put him back in the shuttle-it's the safest place for you both," she said. She moved her body so that her arms were hooked under Grippens, in sort of a reverse bear hug, sat him up carefully to sitting, and rose, so that Novi could lift his legs. Vila was much stronger than she appeared to be, and the sheer anger she held helped her to channel it to something else for once. A bit later, she deposited the man back on the floor of the shuttle. "I'll cover you as long as I can," she said. To the others, she yelled loudly. "Sixes back on the shuttle. Get out. I'll cover you as long as I can," she said, taking her firing stance. She had taken a few phaser shots to her arms and legs while moving the Lieutenant, but the adrenaline was keeping her upright. She wasn't down for the count yet.

[Starbase, Operations Centre]

Malik tried to listen as the medical officer listed his not insignificant injuries, but he was feeling woozy and could only take in limited information. He cried out in pain as he was first dragged into Ops and then more so as Lorut hoisted him up with surprising strength. Malik could feel his broken ribs grinding against each other and his fractured hip felt disturbingly loose and wobbly. At that point the pain, even with the initial dose of painkillers, became to much and he passed out.

The Risan drifted in and out of consciousness as he was carried back to hanger bay 47. Looking up at the faces around him he recognised some, Ramort, Alvarez - his battle brothers. A sudden jolt of pain caused him to cry out again as his fractured body was dropped to the hard shuttle floor. Surely there was a softer place.

This was hell, he'd never known pain like it. Every intake of breath was like agony against several broken riblets and any slight movement only exacerbated it. "Hurts...pain..." Was all he could say to anyone close enough to hear a whisper.

[Lek]

[Antimatter Pod Storage - Deck - USS Discovery]

It felt like hours had passed since Lek had taken shelter in the anti-matter storage compartment. Aside from the one all ship message from the captain that said the ship was lost, he hadn't seen or heard from another member of the crew. He was safe where he was, the interference caused by his proximity to the anti-matter shielded him from internal sensors. He'd destroyed his combadge shortly after he fled and he was in a part of the ship no one ever visited except for occasional maintenance checks.

However, it had been a long time with the ship in control of the corrupted crew. He didn't know what they were doing, but he knew the ship had been firing, that he could tell by the change in harmonics from the deck plates. Was his inaction contributing to what was occurring? He knew that there was no question that he could destroy the ship from where he was. All he had to do was set his phaser to overload and it would cause an uncontrolled mixture of matter and anti-matter the destruction of Discovery was a foregone conclusion.

However again, such an action also meant his death was also a foregone conclusion. He was young, he had probably a hundred years of life before him. He wasn't ready to throw his life away prematurely. If the 'others' showed up, then he wasn't throwing away his life, he was stopping them. He had made peace with that when he took refuge here. The real question was, if 'they' didn't find him, what then? He'd crippled the warp drive, the ship wasn't leaving the system without time in a shipyard.

He knew the ship was firing, but at who? The corrupted didn't seem to be looking for him and if they were, they couldn't find him. How long did he allow the current situation to continue? When did he 'pull the trigger' so to speak? He wished he had anyone to talk to so he had more information. What to do? What to do? What to do? He was beginning to think that he was on the road to madness trying to answer that one question. What. To. Do.

[Tanner Lachlyn]

[USS Discovery - Jeffries Tubes ]

The mood was sombre as they moved from the walking jeffries to the confined crawling portion. Occasionally, there was a pause to check a nearby noise, but they moved silently in a single file line for the most part.

Then they stopped.

"How do we want to handle this?" Tanner asked the group, "Our destination is on the other side of this access panel. Let's go up one and open the access panel away from the main group. If there are borg on the other side, it will ensure the majority of the group can make a clear break for it.  I know I can count on the security personnel to come along. However, it's a straight break to the pod once we give the clear."

Desperately, Tanner wanted to ask Jettis about Theresa, but there was a better place to bring up a topic that could be potentially volatile.

"Thoughts?" She looked about the group, "Just cuz I'm the Chief here doesn't make me the final say. I welcome opinions."

[Novi]

[Starbase, Operations Centre]

Malik tried to listen as the medical officer listed his not insignificant injuries, but he was feeling woozy and could only take in limited information. He cried out in pain as he was first dragged into Ops and then more so as Lorut hoisted him up with surprising strength. Malik could feel his broken ribs grinding against each other and his fractured hip felt disturbingly loose and wobbly. At that point the pain, even with the initial dose of painkillers, became to much and he passed out.

The Risan drifted in and out of consciousness as he was carried back to hanger bay 47. Looking up at the faces around him he recognised some, Ramort, Alvarez - his battle brothers. A sudden jolt of pain caused him to cry out again as his fractured body was dropped to the hard shuttle floor. Surely there was a softer place.

This was hell, he'd never known pain like it. Every intake of breath was like agony against several broken riblets and any slight movement only exacerbated it. "Hurts...pain..." Was all he could say to anyone close enough to hear a whisper.

[Ensign Novi - Ops >>> Spacedock Shuttle]

Novi heard the officers voice, the same one she spoke to earlier urging them up, with a grunt she stood up but knew with her bad leg she couldn't carry Malik like the officer hoped, she could help him up and they did the rest. She was surprised by her strength, as their team fought the way down to the shuttle.

-----

When they arrived to the shuttle and set down under cover Novi breathed a sigh of relief as she immediately pulled out a seat and brought out 2 medkits from beneath the seats. One was emergency the other was only slightly more sophisticated. But it would allow her to better stabilize The wounded. Quickly openeing them she accidentally dropped a vial and watch in horror as it fell and rolled out of the shuttle, shattering. She looked at her hands, shaking she held them as she took a breath and more carefully set them up. "Yes...y-yes I know it hurts." she said between breaths. "Please just lay your head. I have some things that can help."

Grabbing a new hypospray she quickly shot Malik with both Triptacedrine and Morphenolog to help with his broken bones and head. She gave herself a little bit of Bicaridine to help with her burns. She then pulled out the dermal regenerator and quickly healed her shoulder, although it was still sore she could at least have more mobility to help the wounded once more. Grabbing a rag and dumping some cold water on it she set it over Maliks forehead before unbuttoning his uniform to let him breath a bit better. She looked around for something soft to rest his head on but only the seats would do. Making sure she had everyone she wanted out of them she apologized then pulled the wounded officer on one of the benches. Not having his head on the hard floor would be good.

Spacedock
Ops Center
The arrival of the second shuttle from the Discovery added more fuel to the fire, and Grippen was out. She actually didn't know the man-only having seen him around the ship, but she was bigger than the junior doctor.

Vila paused. "You both need to haul ass out of here," she said. "I can carry him out if we need to," she said, reaching down, and grabbing the injured man under his arm, and crab walking backwards. "If you want to get his feet, it'll go faster. Put him back in the shuttle-it's the safest place for you both," she said. She moved her body so that her arms were hooked under Grippens, in sort of a reverse bear hug, sat him up carefully to sitting, and rose, so that Novi could lift his legs. Vila was much stronger than she appeared to be, and the sheer anger she held helped her to channel it to something else for once. A bit later, she deposited the man back on the floor of the shuttle. "I'll cover you as long as I can," she said. To the others, she yelled loudly. "Sixes back on the shuttle. Get out. I'll cover you as long as I can," she said, taking her firing stance. She had taken a few phaser shots to her arms and legs while moving the Lieutenant, but the adrenaline was keeping her upright. She wasn't down for the count yet.

Novi then stood up, wincing a little at the slight pain she still in before turning to Vila, "You are very injured yourself" she pulled out her tricorder and a brief scan already confirmed what she believed. With the wounds the Bajoran had the second she had a moment to breathe her fatigue and wounds would get the best of her. "You need to take a seat or else you'll end up injuring yourself more! Let me help those phaser burns!" she grabbed her hypospray and loaded it with a collection of Bicaridine and Romiplostim to help with her burns and stimulate the healing process for the Bajorans wounds.

[Rayek trLhoell]

NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[Spacedock - corridor outside Ops > shuttle]

Vila paused. "You both need to haul ass out of here," she said. "I can carry him out if we need to," she said, reaching down, and grabbing the injured man under his arm, and crab walking backwards. "If you want to get his feet, it'll go faster. Put him back in the shuttle-it's the safest place for you both," she said. She moved her body so that her arms were hooked under Grippens, in sort of a reverse bear hug, sat him up carefully to sitting, and rose, so that Novi could lift his legs. Vila was much stronger than she appeared to be, and the sheer anger she held helped her to channel it to something else for once. A bit later, she deposited the man back on the floor of the shuttle. "I'll cover you as long as I can," she said. To the others, she yelled loudly. "Sixes back on the shuttle. Get out. I'll cover you as long as I can," she said, taking her firing stance. She had taken a few phaser shots to her arms and legs while moving the Lieutenant, but the adrenaline was keeping her upright. She wasn't down for the count yet.

[Earths Termosphere | Sol Station | Ops Center]

"Can you provide us with some cover?"

He just hoped they wouldn't get caught up in yet another lengthy firefight, as that surely would mean their doom.

Torra was among the lead 'security' that opened up a clear path to the shuttles and nearby escape pods. The Grazerite wanted to make sure as many escaped as possible, especially the Admiral and Captain Tekin.   She protected Lorut while the Bajoran carried the Risan flight officer, Malik, all the way back to the shuttle - which surprisingly hadn't taken additional damage during the destruction of the base.

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

NPC Dr. Misha Sluchaynyy
[Spacedock - Ops]

Doctor Betaika
[Operations Centre | Spacedock]

The Doctor found himself sitting at an unmanned station, fiddling with a shard of debris that had slipped into his pocket. While to the outside he appeared calm, on the inside "" by his standards "" he was frazzled. Betaika had never liked violence. When he first joined the star empire, over a century ago, he was just regular infantry. After being involved in numerous subjugations in the name of "œpeace" he had had enough of the violence, instead realigning himself to help people. "œLook how that's working out" he thought.

Hearing the captains orders, he took a moment to consider, before speaking up. "œIn all due respect to you, Mister Nevir, I will remain behind. I have no suitable place to go if I leave the station."

The elderly Russian, who had been assisting in the medical treatment of numerous station staff in the wake of the antigrav plate failure and power outage, paused in his packing up of a patient to look over to his colleague.

"Vhut arrre you saying? You vish to go down vith the station?  Vell forrget zat!  Yourr place...be vith frrriends, not angels!"

The balding, white-haired doctor gathered up his near empty kit and tugged on Betaika's arm to indicate the other man was to get up off his butt and move.  If the man wouldn't move then neither would Misha.

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

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck 1  - Ready Room] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Dems drone let out a piercing screech as the commander unravelled Dem's mind. Later, Dem would remember these moments distinctly, as his mind was now in a battle with the borg. This was short-lived however, because in his distracted state, the gas had consumed him. Still intermittently firing his phaser, Dem landed on the floor, not destined to wake up for some hours.

[As Kinley]

[Bridge]

The Unassimilated was still larger than she was, and it made it difficult to hold on to him and kept her from using her phaser. He was pinned, however. She tried moving to try to cut off his air, when he locked eyes with her.

Out of nowhere, she suddenly felt an odd static-like sensation across her body, prickling at first, then shrieking. Every nerve  in her body felt like it was burning,  and it only  seemed to intensify with every second that passed. Ahh! she screamed, but not before she realized something;  Everything was quiet. She was herself, out of the Collective for now.  "œWhat the"¦?"

She let go of Rayek. Her vision was darkening quickly as the anesthesia began to kick in,  and sent her crumpling to the floor, out like a light into a deep, dreamless sleep.

[Somewhere"¦]

Somehow, Kinley, or her consciousness, or soul, whatever it was  that was her personality woke up again, the shock of what happened to her shaking her out of the reverie of the Collective.  It wouldn't be long before they'd rectify her again,  or worse. Did she"¦ Did she really just do that?  But even more so, something was different. There was a sudden shift in the Collective. Everything went silent for a moment. The voice of Vox had gone quiet. There were no directions from the Collective. What was going on?

Kinley couldn't answer as the Collective resumed their last directive, whisking her thoughts alongside them. They were already bringing her back into the hive mind.

Once more, Rayek found the lack of an individual presence in the Borg mind very disturbing.

His lungs strained from the lack of oxygen, urging the Romulan to take in a breath  - but Rayek held off as Kinley screamed and then released him.  He pushed her back even as she crumpled to the floor.  Once she was down, he withdrew his mind and focused his attention on finding the missing rebreather.   He mentally made a note to have the devices redesigned to be attached to a lanyard - so dropped units couldn't be lost in this manner in the future.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
(Ensign Ruthie Falleq-Tekin)

As soon as the Spacedock was covered in fireballs, Ruthie, or rather Drone 056239, no longer had any attention or concern for the object.  Instead, while the other two bridge drones were handling the unassimilated intruder, Ruthie had done a number of things.  One, called for more drone support.  Two, access environmental controls.  Three, finally received new instructions. The gas being emitted into the Main Bridge was starting to be siphoned.  At least at the front of the bridge.  Drone 056239 continued to work as the Discovery took its position facing the planet below.

"All defenses destroyed.  We are the Borg.  Resistance is Futile.  Eliminate all unassimilate."

"Target Lock: Los Angeles."

"Target Lock: Ottowa."

"Target Lock: Indianapolis."

The comms were filled with the sounds of the Borg recieving their instructions; tens of thousands of orders targetting the major cities of Earth.  The largest to the most insiginificant.  If there was something the Borg understood about humanity, its that even refugee camps like Boseman, Montana in the 2060s could prove to be a threat later.  They housed unassimilated.  So they would have to be destroyed.

The Borg grabbed a phaser and stood up.  Their ship could be remote fired, so they didn't need someone at Helm, or weapons, or even command. Ruthie slowly walked towards the back of the bridge, holding her phaser up as she scanned for the unassimilated.  She heard the turbolift doors open as several more drone stepped onto the bridge, all vying for the First Officer. Before she could fire though, she froze.  They all froze.  Something happened.  The directives from the collective just... stopped.  There was a noticeable absence.

"Signal interrupted..." she and others stated, still frozen, until her foot came down for another step.

"Continue last directive." she stated, as the Discovery charged her weapons and ready to fire on her selected cities.  The Borg started to converge on Rayek as even the gas was no longer a threat.  This looked like the end.

The rebreather took several long moments to locate - having been knocked under Tekin's desk during Rayek's scuffle with the Kinley-borg.   His lungs felt like they were on fire the entire time he searched.  The one saving grace was that he was mostly out of sight from the bridge because he was down on his hands and knees feeling about underneath the Captain's chair and such. His vision was beginning to fade by the time he laid hand on the unit.  Ignoring all proper hygiene and even the infamous '5-second rule' - Rayek put the rebreather back in his mouth and took in a much needed draw of air.

With oxygen came a clearer mind, and it was then that Rayek realized that there were other borg converging on him from the Bridge!  Too many for him to distract with his telepathy trick, though he was tempted to try anyways.  There was no where to run.  The Romulan rose, not willing to be shot down in a perceived position of weakness  - as if he was pleading for his life.  He braced, anticipating a fury of phaser shots to take him down.  However, before that could happen... and before the drones could fire upon him, they all just stopped.

Rayek blinked once, confused, before taking advantage of their pause. He charged the nearest Borg in a semi-tackle and hefted them up bodily to carry over his shoulder.  The Romulan then used the assimilated crewmember like a shield while he ran towards the blocked doorway.  If he could get out onto the Bridge it was only a few more steps to the turbolift.