Season 15: Episode 4 - Vox Populai

[Jettis Jyur]

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta (Battle) Bridge]

"Let's get off the ship.  We need to get to Spacedock.  Not only is it not part of the fleet system, but it also has the smallest amount of young officers.  We need to get to a shuttle." he stated, tapping his comm badge to reset the channel to the only open channel that worked. 99-Delta.

"All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation." Prophets he hated that word, and his face grimaced hard. "If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship."

So, it looked like that question was answered. At least the Captain was not Borgified, and whoever was left was also headed for the shuttles. Good, at least there were some other people out there. now, if only they could get there. That was going to be the challenge.

Harrington opened up the turbolift door just a smidge. The hallways seemed relatively clear for now. It seems like any Borg were on the far end of the corridor. "œHypothetically, we might be able to go through the science labs and find something there to make a distraction before we run all the way down. I don't think they'd find that all that interesting while they're taking over the ship, and Vin once kept mentioning that there's some potentially flammable or interesting stuff in those chem cabinets, That'll give them something to deal with."

[ USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Turbolift, Science Labs ]

As if this nightmare couldn't get any worse, suddenly the commbadges on the three officers crackled to life, with Jettis lacking his own since he was off-duty.  Pressing a hand to his head, he briefly steadied himself against the wall of the turbolift, dizziness sweeping over him. No amount of deep breathing would alleviate the headache, and her remained motionless until he heard one of them forcibly cracking the turbolift doors open. Straightening, he nodded at Harrington's words, something about creating a distraction. Something to distract the Borg so they could make it to the shuttlebay.

"Right." If the ship was lost, there wasn't much concern for exactly how he went about his distraction. Then again, pain and danger was not something that distracted the Borg either. A smoke screen would be best. When it was confirmed the coast was more or less clear, he stepped out to navigate to the labs, praying any turned borg would have already left to hunt down someone else. They were right, the science labs were not a likely spot to have heavy guarding - it wasn't a place to gather like a medbay, didn't hold anything particularly useful to them, and didn't offer any escape routes.

The call initially seemed correct, as the doors slid open to reveal an empty room. Jettis didn't bother to look around properly, before immediately moving towards where the chemicals were stored. While the first temptation was simply to break the glass, that would no doubt take some assorted chemicals along with it, and who knows what sort of reaction. Instead he glanced around for the nearest object that looked close enough to a pry bar, and searched for a spot to lever it from. Finally finding enough of a gap to wedge it between the casing and the sliding glass, he popped the case open against the force of the computer. It wasn't as difficult as it would be for more deadly or toxic chemicals of course, he was only getting some potassium nitrate and sodium bicarbonate. But without any ability to use the computer, he likely wouldn't be able to get anything more reactive than that.

"Anyone know where I can get some sugar without the replicators?"

[Dem Broadshire]

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta (Battle) Bridge]

He struggled to contain himself and started to calm down, giving a sharp exhale at Vila's answer about the Prophets.  "I'm not in the mood to have a religious debate, Ms Lorut." he said, looking down at his work.  What was he doing?  He was close to locking out weapons control, which would render Discovery useless to the Collective... but...

"We can't continue.  You all heard what happened to Ben. If we disable Discovery, the Collective will just consider her a total loss and move us out of formation.  We have to consider the whole crew, even those who are..." he struggled to finish.  "Those who are temporarily lost."

He looked over at James's report and took a look at the readings. It was... curious.  He took the tricorder and scanned himself, comparing the readings to that of James's.  "It's there for me, but much more... reduced."  Without another word he turned the scanner on Vila and compared her scan with his.  "Her's is even less.  Wait, this can't be a coincidence."

Unfortunately, he was interrupted when he heard a pounding at the doors.  "That was faster, but not unexpected.  Look, sabotage isn't going to work, neither is taking back the ship.  We saw what happened.  We need to get off Discovery.. ideally without fighting more of our crew..." he trailed off, even with the pounding outside.

"The Dominion War... millions of casualties.  Our generation was reduced, and we doubled our recruitment.  The majority of the fleet is less than 30.  Thats why they got Kinley and Dem and... well you know."

"Let's get off the ship.  We need to get to Spacedock.  Not only is it not part of the fleet system, but it also has the smallest amount of young officers.  We need to get to a shuttle." he stated, tapping his comm badge to reset the channel to the only open channel that worked. 99-Delta.

"All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation." Prophets he hated that word, and his face grimaced hard. "If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship."

He primed his phaser, and pointed to an area of the deck.  "Jefferies tube, Deck 10 has a crawlway for maintenance, and we can hit the shuttle bay to get out of here."

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NPC Dr. Misha Sluchaynyy
USS Discovery - Deck 9 (Beta Hull) - Sickbay ]

"You have  knack forrr underrrstatement, Tanarrr,"  the elderly Russian commented to the Romulan, addressing him not by his family name was common, but rather the man's personal name.  In the short time the Romulan had been aboard, Misha had grown to consider the other doctor a close comrade.

He frowned as he looked at the momentarily stunned medics that littered the Sickbay floor.  "What is going on vith  crrrew?" he asked, then as if answering is own question he offered up a thought.  "If I had to hazarrrd  guess, I'd say zey verrre assimilated but I don't have clue how since none have been exposed to  Borrrg nanites as farrr as I kan tell."

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NPC PO2 Helga Tragnar/Drone 356698
[USS Discovery - Deck 2 - Armory]

"We are the Borg"

Annihilate all the Non-Assimilated.

Drone 356698 - an assimilated hybrid species containing Human and Klingon genetics - surveyed the armory.  Through the hive mind, 356698 noted the presence of another drone - 356697 - Human genetics.

[Non-target]

No others were in the armory.

Armory secure Drone 356698 announced to the Collective.

A moment later, there was sound at the armory doors as they were forced open by some determined Starfleet security officers intent on gaining weapons to defend themselves against the Borg invasion.   Unfortunately for them their former crewmates within were already assimilated.

Doctor Betaika

[Sickbay | USS Discovery]

While he would never admit it, it brought a warm feeling to Tanar's heart to hear the Russian doctor call him by his first name. A decency that would not be returned, as the Romulan valued his seclusion.
"œThe borg work in mysterious ways my friend." Betaika offered. "œBut we are not going to figure it out stuck in sickbay with our murderous associates." He turned towards the nearest com panel when a rain of glass pelted down onto him. The drones were armed and breaking through. Simultaneously, the captain's orders to abandon ship were sent, barely audible above the phaser fire. "œI advise we go to the shuttle bay control room on this deck and make our way down to the shuttles" Betaika shouted with urgency, over the piercing sounds of the room being torn apart.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Drones converge on Alpha bridge, Beta bridge, Gamma bridge, Engineering, Shuttlebays.

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta (Battle) Bridge]

He struggled to contain himself and started to calm down, giving a sharp exhale at Vila's answer about the Prophets.  "I'm not in the mood to have a religious debate, Ms Lorut." he said, looking down at his work.  What was he doing?  He was close to locking out weapons control, which would render Discovery useless to the Collective... but...

"We can't continue.  You all heard what happened to Ben. If we disable Discovery, the Collective will just consider her a total loss and move us out of formation.  We have to consider the whole crew, even those who are..." he struggled to finish.  "Those who are temporarily lost."

[Beta Bridge - Past Excelsior]
Speaking to none of them in particular, he spoke up:

"Sir, I might have found something. There is something in our Brains. It is not fully grown in us here. I can't say if it is present in the assimilated ones or what it does but it wasn't part of what we were taught in the academy for sure."

He looked over at James's report and took a look at the readings. It was... curious.  He took the tricorder and scanned himself, comparing the readings to that of James's.  "It's there for me, but much more... reduced."  Without another word he turned the scanner on Vila and compared her scan with his.  "Her's is even less.  Wait, this can't be a coincidence."

Unfortunately, he was interrupted when he heard a pounding at the doors.  "That was faster, but not unexpected.  Look, sabotage isn't going to work, neither is taking back the ship.  We saw what happened.  We need to get off Discovery.. ideally without fighting more of our crew..." he trailed off, even with the pounding outside.

"The Dominion War... millions of casualties.  Our generation was reduced, and we doubled our recruitment.  The majority of the fleet is less than 30.  Thats why they got Kinley and Dem and... well you know."

"Let's get off the ship.  We need to get to Spacedock.  Not only is it not part of the fleet system, but it also has the smallest amount of young officers.  We need to get to a shuttle." he stated, tapping his comm badge to reset the channel to the only open channel that worked. 99-Delta.

"All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation." Prophets he hated that word, and his face grimaced hard. "If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship."

He primed his phaser, and pointed to an area of the deck.  "Jefferies tube, Deck 10 has a crawlway for maintenance, and we can hit the shuttle bay to get out of here."

"A message to those who resist. Your armada has been added to our own. Your weak and willful will soon be eliminated. Your strongest have all been assimilated. We are Borg. Starfleet now is Borg."

With weapons handed out, Rayek turned his attention to securing the Beta Bridge doors.  Which for the moment meant opening the door access panel and removing the power circuits.  For security reasons, all pneumatic doors on a starship remained shut - and in the case of all three bridges, locked - when unpowered.  This was to prevent hostile takeover.

He had just finished locking down the turbolift system as well when the Captain announced that 'they couldn't continue'.   Rayek frowned.  What did that mean?  Was the man giving up?  Did he plan to surrender?  It didn't seem like the Borg were interested in taking prisoners.

There  was a momentary interruption to the Captain's statement when Ramort approached with interesting information.  The Romulan officer for all his years of experience, had little to no training in the sciences so was grateful that the Captain was the one to look over the man's readings .

Before the Captain could make sense of the findings, the Borg were at their doors.  Literally.  Pounding on them.  It wouldn't take long for them to get around his sealing of them.

That's when the Captain announced his idea to get off the ship - to head to Spacedock.   Before Rayek could argue the Captain's decision, Tekin had already sent a message throughout the ship via the emergency channel - the only one apparently not under the control of the Borg.

While the others prepared to follow the Captain into the Jeffries tubes, Rayek checked his gear one last time.

"Captain, I realize this is dereliction of duty, perhaps even desertion, but I cannot go with you.   I won't leave Tess and Fvienn behind.  Not if there's the slightest chance they are still alive."

He looked to the doors where the banging had now stopped.  That silence was even more worrisome.   They would gain entrance soon.   "Go.  I'll delay them as long as possible."  Then moved to a wall panel where he knew there was canister of anesthizine rigged to deploy as a security measure against intruders.

[Beta Bridge]

The relief was immediate as the pain sedatives worked their magic, 25th century medicine truly was a marvel. Malik rubbed his eyes clear and straightened back his hair trying to compose himself. "Ensign Ramort, isn't it? You have my thanks. Things aren't usually this bad by the way..." alluding to their current desperate situation.

Malik stood back to his feet still covered in blood most of which was his own, he must have appeared quite the spectacle as he listened to the captain. Malik couldn't help but feel they were giving up to easily, surely they had to take the fight to the Borg in some way and abandoning ship just felt wrong. But if they needed to escape via shuttle's, then they were going to need a couple of good unassimilated-pilots.

He nodded to Alex, "If we're flying out of here, lets do it. We just need to make it to the shuttlebay in one piece and give us time to power up and pre-flight whatever shuttles are currently functional. Assuming the damn Borg haven't infected them to." Flying through an enemy armada to a besieged space dock wasn't going to be easy, but Malik felt he and Alex were up to the task.

As the new security Chief, it didn't seem like a good idea to start her journey by arguing with the Captain, but damn it, Tanner wanted to. There were so many unknown variables and his message could be helpful or harmful, depending on the situation that the people were in.

So far he'd ignored anything she'd said. Maybe it was the fact she hadn't earned any respect yet and was too new to matter. Looking at the access panel she chewed her lip anxiously. There was no way she could leave the ship without knowing what was going on with the rest of her staff. Tanner needed to know if they were all dead, if they were still fighting or if they needed help.

Still, she couldn't go off on her own without saying anything, "Sir, permission to utilize the Jeffries to do a small deck sweep before I make my way to the shuttle bay. I can at least get a feel for whats going on out there, which will ...ease my conscience about leaving."

Hearing Lieutenant Lachlyn's request, Rayek looked up from his work on the anesthizine canister to turn towards the Captain, hoping the man understand why they needed to do these things.

"We could go together.  We'd have better chances of making it." he offered.  As long as during the sweep he had opportunity to locate his wife and son.

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NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge]

USS Discovery

"You know I am on it," she said. She was finally calm, carefully but quickly pulling yellow and red wires. "Leave the green, sir," she said. "You don't want to go down from electrocuting yourself," she said.

"Addams, get the green behind me, please," she said.

"This is futile. Can't we just take a shuttle out of here?" She voiced the thought.

"Never mind. If I survived the Cardassians, what's a few million Borg?" She said.

Torra appreciated Vila's warning to the Captain and was glad that she pointed it out to him.  It hadn't even crossed Torra's mind that the Captain might now recall such a detail despite it likely having been several years since he might have needed to actually do such himself.

Then Vila address her with. Despite being of superior rank than the Bajoran ensign, Torra acknowledged the other woman's request with a dip of her horned head.   Torra had heard the rumors about Vila and her 'attitude'.  The Grazerite had actually been asked to 'keep an eye on her' from the Ops Chief.   So Torra had.  She had learned about Vila's past as best as she could and what she discovered made Torra more on Vila's side than before.  Vila was the type to assume control of situation - even if she lacked the official rank, because she grew up a situation where she had to.  The passive Grazerite admired that leadership quality.  It wasn't one that came easily to the horned Ops officer.

As she worked at carefully removing the green wires (the last step to shutting down a particular console,  the Captain had a change of heart as to what they were going to do.   Spacedock was their goal now.

"Yes sir."  She pulled her phaser and at the Captain's order aided in phasering through the deck floor to access the Jeffries tube.

She was saddened to hear that Rayek was refusing to come with.   The journey to the shuttlebay (now that the Borg definitely knew their destination) was going to be much harder without him.   But Torra an optimist.   They would make it - because they had to in order to survive.

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NPC PO2 Helga Tragnar/Drone 356698
[USS Discovery-B - Jeffries Tube between Deck 7 and Deck 6]

[Jeffries Tube between Deck 7 and Deck 6 - USS Discovery]

Lek was huffing his way up the ladder, when he heard it, the soft thump of leather on metal, there was someone was below him.

"Dammit, so much for reaching the impulse engines."

He hissed. Lek knew he wasn't a fighter and he was only an average shot, no, he was an engineer and that was how he'd get out of this problem. When he reached the next cross tube, he got off ladder and quickly opened the nearest access panel. He pulled out several cables, leaving some dangling and reconnecting others. He heard the low whine of the cross circuiting he'd created begin to build power. He closed the panel and raced down the tube as quickly as he could because he didn't want to be anywhere near this junction when the next person entered. What he'd created was a very powerful electrical field that just needed someone to enter it to give it a path to ground that would, at the very least, deliver the same effect as a phaser set on high stun, or, if the person was unlucky, a lethal dose of electricity.

When he reached the next cross corridor, he duplicated his trap to prevent pursuit and then headed for the nearest ladder back down to deck 7. If he could reach the anti-matter storage, the interference caused by the volatile material would hide him from the ship's sensors.

Drone 356698 climbed up the ladder after the Ferengi.   They saw him clamber out above them at a cross tube.  The Borg drone continued their trek up to the jeffries tube they had spied him entering and exited at it.  They had barely travel a meter down the cross tube, passing by some torn out wiring when suddenly a jolt of energy went through the drone.  The electrical charge wracked their body, causing their limbs to convulse.   An involuntary cry slipped out from the pain and the drone for a moment 'flashbacked' to a similar experience that this shell had once undergone willingly as a 'rite of passage'.    It seemed the electrical jolt had momentarily cut the drone's connection to the Collective.

Helga felt completely spent as her body spasmed with lingering electrical impulses.  She was barely conscious, but
could vaguely recall having been ordered to eliminate her parmaqqay.  But he'd set a trap for her.  Unfortunately, she knew her Klingon physiology made her more resistant than most others would have been.   She'd recover soon enough, and she could already begin to hear the call of the others in the Collective.

No! She wouldn't be used that again.  Straining, she pushed her limbs which felt on fire, gaining purchase and sat up momentarily.

"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam, parmaq" she shouted as she threw herself backwards towards the ladder opening and let herself fall the several decks to the Engineering level on deck 11 where the ladder began.

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

NPC Lek
[USS Discovery-B  - Engineering]

The pair, in a remote corner of Engineering, seemed to face off against once another.  Neither speaking for a moment.

It was at that point that a distant Klingon shout could be heard.  'Lek' paid it no mind all.   "Well, are you going to get in my way or are you going to help?"

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

This was so not good. First everybody froze up then their eyes went black then they identified themselves as Borg! ' M'nia, you are n deep trouble here!' she thought to herself. She was trying not to panic but it couldn't get much worse. Then it did as they started talking about destroying the non assimilated. That meant her. She had to get away.

She took a chance that maybe Lek hadn't been assimilated. At any rate she knew he had a bolt hole or 3 ready. She knew of one such nearby. She ran for the jefferies tube and opened the hatch and practically shot in and closed the hatch behind her. she crawled up into the tube. , she stopped long enough to catch her breath and get her bearings and just gather herself so she could figure out what was going on. She had to think. If she wasn't affected then maybe others weren't as well. The question was why? and who? she wasn't sure but maybe she could find someone. She wished she knew if Lek was ok. She wasn't sure she should risk using the combadge. So much was uncertain at this time. too much was happening too fast.

[USS Discovery - Jeffries tube 21 engineering section

M'nia did not like what she heard. The discovery? Lost? It was a sad day indeed. However felt comfortable replying on that channel. "Captain, this is Lt. JG M'nia. I made it to the Jeffries tube in one piece. I can make it to  the shuttle bay from here. Any word from lt. Cmdr Lek?" she said as she started to make her way through the tube system. She had to minimize her time on the regular decks as it was too risky. Fortunately she knew enough to get from here to there. Still this was nerve wracking. Several of her friends and colleagues had been assimilated somehow. She didn't know if it was revers able of not or what was going to happen but she would do her best to get to that shuttle bay and pray to K'tal that everyone would be alright in the end.

In the distance, M'Nia heard a familiar shouted Klingon phrase indicating it was a good day to die.  There was a moment of silence then a much closer, somewhat gruesome sounding 'thump'.    The sound and follow up groan seemed to come from ahead where the ladder was.

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NPC Crewman Kitaa Horg/Drone 356700
[USS Discovery - Deck 5 - Alpha Hull Medical Facilities]

[NPC Doctor Meelar Phlome | Deck 5 | Alpha Hull Medical Facilities | USS Discovery NCC 78393-B]

Oh. Right! Phlome realized she had forgotten to report to her assigned Security detail, as she heard the grunted nod of Kitaa just when she was about to take her leave.

"Aw geez."

That was the right expression, right? Human one. Meelar was almost certain.

Whatever the case, she felt a twinge of guilt at forgetting her presence. She knew that Horg's stern and severe expression put most off, but talking to her had revealed that there was more than just a stoic face. She enjoyed talking to Kitaa. And, Meelar also appreciated her dutiful watch. Maybe inviting her to come along would be ideal? She decided to proceed, though soon stopped as she overheard some kind of... warning.

Meelar raised an eyebrow, listening to it over before advancing closer. Once again, she stopped as she overheard a shrill screech that instinctively made her shield her ears. She gritted her teeth, wondering what the heck that had been until she saw with horror that Kitaa was beginning to convulse. She gasped, quickly reaching for her Medical Tricorder and running to scan her. She set her fear aside, even though she wasn't sure what was happening. She was certain Kitaa had no history of seizures...

"Hold on Kitaa!" She exclaimed, as the scanner made its work. Her inner peace, however, was quickly disrupted as she read the analyses, horror seeping in as she gazed at her, seeing thick, dark-green veins beginning to bulge underneath her skin. She shook her head, trying to make sense of how could this be happening.

She stumbled backward onto the cold ground as Horg moved, her head moving from side to side, as if she could deny what was transpiring.

"K-Kitaa! S-Stop! It is me! Your friend, Meelar! Meelar Phlome! You don't have t-to do this!"

But her pleading fell on deaf ears as Horg kept advancing, without any hint that she could be even there any longer. Phlome's survival instinct kicked in finally just as Kitaa loomed above her, extending her hands towards her to grab either Meelar's head or neck. She decided to move before she could find out, quickly flexing her legs before kicking her square in the navel, hopefully making the Borg flinch, at least momentarily, and propelling Meelar backward half-a-foot or so.

She crawled backward some more, making sure she was away from the infected crewmember, up until she bumped her head against the wall. She groaned in pain but endured it as she attempted to call for Security, "S-Security! I-I need you at Deck 5, Alpha Hull Medical Facilities! P-Please!"

No response. She felt a hole in her stomach as she realized she was all alone. And that she had no weapons or ways to defend herself. Maybe if she could reach the medical cabinet, get a hypospray. But she was too far from it.

She fished around in her pockets, trying to find something that she could use to fight her off. She found not a weapon, but instead, a container of Dermaline Gel. Why was that even there? She decided not to question it, as she scooped out a handful, tossing it towards the feet of Horg, before she sped off deeper into the Laboratory. She hoped that the slippery substance would give her enough time to grab some equipment before the Drone could recover... of course, Kitaa was quite close to her already...

Drone 356700 did not pause when pleaded with.  All non-assimilated must be eliminated.  The kick sent the drone staggered back a few steps, but it only delayed the inevitable momentarily.  The non-assimilated attempt to scramble away, calling for aid and even throwing things at the drone.  But it made no difference, the ship was in their control.   All non-assimilated would be eliminated.  "Resistance is futile" the drone intoned emotionless as it stepped forward after the fleeing medic, unknowing stepping onto the slick Dermaline gel.

The lack of friction beneath the drone's foot unbalanced them momentarily, yet before they could tumble to the floor in a heap, their hands shot out and gripped at the nearby counter to recover their balance.  Their next step was steady, but every time they stepped forward using their left foot,  they would slide a bit.  It was very disorienting and slowed the drone's pursuit.

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NPC Dr. Misha Sluchaynyy
[USS Discovery - Deck 9 (Beta Hull) - Sickbay ]

Doctor Betaika

[Sickbay | USS Discovery]

While he would never admit it, it brought a warm feeling to Tanar's heart to hear the Russian doctor call him by his first name. A decency that would not be returned, as the Romulan valued his seclusion.
"œThe borg work in mysterious ways my friend." Betaika offered. "œBut we are not going to figure it out stuck in sickbay with our murderous associates." He turned towards the nearest com panel when a rain of glass pelted down onto him. The drones were armed and breaking through. Simultaneously, the captain's orders to abandon ship were sent, barely audible above the phaser fire. "œI advise we go to the shuttle bay control room on this deck and make our way down to the shuttles" Betaika shouted with urgency, over the piercing sounds of the room being torn apart.

Misha flinched as the glass from the window showered them.  He was surprised by how calm Betaika was throughout all this.  "Agrrreed.   But how do you suggest ve get ut of herrre?  Ourrr escape rrroute is blocked." the Assistant Medical Chief asked.   The only one of the three doctors who had a weapon was Betaika.    The most that Misha had managed to grab before Thane had dragged him into his office was a multidose hypospray.    Presently, it contained 10 doses of a general analgesic, and 10 doses of a mild sedative.  The sedative wasn't enough to take down a Borg - not unless he used all 10 doses at once.

"Zis ess all I 'ave az veapon."

Seeing the first a borg attempting to clamber through the window opening, Misha shrank back against the far wall.   In his 70's, Misha was far too old to be expected to engage in hand to hand combat.

[Lorut Vila]

USS Discovery
Beta Bridge

Beta Bridge is just a stop.. but a good one.  I didn't have anyone stationed in Gamma or Beta because the ship's MVA was disabled.  It will buy us some time... maybe enough to retake the ship.  That's why I needed you with us, Vila.  I need someone I know can handle terrible odds with us than sacrificing yourself on the Bridge.

She still wasn't convinced, but she DID know sabotage. Her preferred method was more like "phase the systems out of existence," though. Much faster, more precise. A pain in the ass for the repair team, but she didn't care.

She didn't know how to respond, though, so she simply nodded her understanding. Truthfully, her brain was trying to process what was going on. It was also trying to block out the memories. It was difficult.

"I'm not in the mood to have a religious debate, Ms Lorut...

"Neither am I. Just an observation," she said, coolly. This wasn't the time, but it made her point. The Prophets were useless-definitely in this situation, but really, in general, weren't they?

Frustrated at her own slowness, she pounded a hand against a panel. This was supposed to be easier. She was the best programmer the Resistance had had-while maybe not the best in the Fleet, she felt she was also pretty good at her job there. But this?! It was futile. "Can't I just phaser the consoles? It'll be so much faster, and they won't be able to access them at all. No one will," she said.

"Yes sir,

Vila understood the other Ops officer outranked her. She didn't care about things like that-she was naturally a Type-A anyway, and she knew that Addam's wheelhouse was in the actual physical hardware, while hers was the programs.

The Dominion War... millions of casualties.  Our generation was reduced, and we doubled our recruitment.  The majority of the fleet is less than 30.  Thats why they got Kinley and Dem and... well you know...Let's get off the ship.  We need to get to Spacedock.  Not only is it not part of the fleet system, but it also has the smallest amount of young officers.  We need to get to a shuttle. =/\=All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation...If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship." Jefferies tube, Deck 10 has a crawlway for maintenance, and we can hit the shuttle bay to get out of here."

Vila smiled a little. FINALLY, someone with some leadership skills was doing something useful! Still. It wasn't in her nature to back down from a fight.

"We can still hold out, Sir. We have options...do we have any way to access dynamite? We can rig up a few corridors and blast them into the Nether...it means sacrificing some hulls, and crew, but..I'll do it myself. I've done it before...tied it to rafters at the Cardassian command stations. A few minutes later, and...well. Cardassians smell like burnt leather when they blow up," she said. It was macabre, and she said it without a hint of irony or glee. It was just her job-her way to cope. Of course, she'd cried for a week after and had been reassigned to computers and sabotage in other ways that were more remote, but...it had worked. It could work again.

"Get me an engineer who knows the inner hulls," she said. "I won't leave without trying it. You can go. I don't care. What is there left for me to lose? My life? It'd be welcome these days," she said.

Behind her, the Commander spoke up.

Captain, I realize this is dereliction of duty, perhaps even desertion, but I cannot go with you.   I won't leave Tess and Fvienn behind.  Not if there's the slightest chance they are still alive...

She raised an eyebrow. She hadn't realized he had a family. Interesting.

"The explosion will allow the Commander to evacuate his family. And you, yours. If the other ships are gone, then my brother and sister in law are, as well, and my ex-husband. All I can hope is that Bajor is safe," she said.

She moved her head when the Captain scanned her, but didn't say anything. She had no idea what the Scientist was talking about, and, frankly, she didn't care.

"Captain?" She asked. "Commander?" She turned to the Romulan.

If they denied, she'd go, but she wanted it on the record that she offered to stay, to fight to the death.

[Alexander Graham]

[Beta Bridge]

The relief was immediate as the pain sedatives worked their magic, 25th century medicine truly was a marvel. Malik rubbed his eyes clear and straightened back his hair trying to compose himself. "Ensign Ramort, isn't it? You have my thanks. Things aren't usually this bad by the way..." alluding to their current desperate situation.

Malik stood back to his feet still covered in blood most of which was his own, he must have appeared quite the spectacle as he listened to the captain. Malik couldn't help but feel they were giving up to easily, surely they had to take the fight to the Borg in some way and abandoning ship just felt wrong. But if they needed to escape via shuttle's, then they were going to need a couple of good unassimilated-pilots.

He nodded to Alex, "If we're flying out of here, lets do it. We just need to make it to the shuttlebay in one piece and give us time to power up and pre-flight whatever shuttles are currently functional. Assuming the damn Borg haven't infected them to." Flying through an enemy armada to a besieged space dock wasn't going to be easy, but Malik felt he and Alex were up to the task.

[Beta bridge]

"œUnderstood Lieutenant I believe that we should get out of here as soon as possible. Let's hope that the shuttles haven't been infected by the borg." He knew that there was a possibility that the borg could have infected the shuttle. He was up to the challenge of flying through an enemy armada to get to the space dock. He was confident in their abilities and didn't think there was any reason to worry.

[Zavrol Gohun]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)b
"Lorut, Addams - I hope you are helping the Captain in his sabotage there. " He called out figuring those two would know best what circuits to pull and chips to brea

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

NPC Lek
[USS Discovery-B  - Engineering]

The Ferengi startled by the sudden appearance of another, seemed to shrink back a moment.   "Why would you even question that?!  Of course, I'm the real Lek.  I'm the only Lek!  Do I look like a Borg to you?!"  The Ferengi huffed.  "I don't have time to play 20 questions, with you."

Without the full knowledge of what was going on Gohun looked at Lek. Was he a shapeshifter? Gohun looked over and said "There has not been enough time for the crew to have been assimilated. We do know that changelings are on board. In other words  how do I know"""

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta (Battle) Bridge]

"All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation." Prophets he hated that word, and his face grimaced hard. "If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship."

[Deck 7 - Antimatter Pod Storage - USS Discovery]

Lek heard the message from the Captain and while it did him good to hear he had survived, it destroyed him to know that Discovery had fallen. He didn't consider himself heroic and not really even that brave, but he was the Chief Engineer of the USS Discovery and he would not let the Borg have her.

"I'm not fool enough to try to fight the drones that have taken the ship, there are too many and I'm not a fighter, I am an engineer. No, I'm in the perfect place to stop this. If they find me, I will set my phaser to overload, that will breach the Anti-Matter Pod and that will be as good as a warp core breach. THEY WILL NOT HAVE MY SHIP!"

He snarled and hunkered down to see if he'd have to put his plan into action.

Gohun was so confused. How did the Borg take the ship so fast? They would have to beamed 100 drones on the ship. "œHow did we lost the ship so fast? What is going on?"

[Dem Broadshire]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

He looked over at James's report and took a look at the readings. It was... curious.  He took the tricorder and scanned himself, comparing the readings to that of James's.  "It's there for me, but much more... reduced."  Without another word he turned the scanner on Vila and compared her scan with his.  "Her's is even less.  Wait, this can't be a coincidence."

Unfortunately, he was interrupted when he heard a pounding at the doors.  "That was faster, but not unexpected.  Look, sabotage isn't going to work, neither is taking back the ship.  We saw what happened.  We need to get off Discovery.. ideally without fighting more of our crew..." he trailed off, even with the pounding outside.

"The Dominion War... millions of casualties.  Our generation was reduced, and we doubled our recruitment.  The majority of the fleet is less than 30.  Thats why they got Kinley and Dem and... well you know."

"Let's get off the ship.  We need to get to Spacedock.  Not only is it not part of the fleet system, but it also has the smallest amount of young officers.  We need to get to a shuttle." he stated, tapping his comm badge to reset the channel to the only open channel that worked. 99-Delta.

"All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation." Prophets he hated that word, and his face grimaced hard. "If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship."

He primed his phaser, and pointed to an area of the deck.  "Jefferies tube, Deck 10 has a crawlway for maintenance, and we can hit the shuttle bay to get out of here."

With weapons handed out, Rayek turned his attention to securing the Beta Bridge doors.  Which for the moment meant opening the door access panel and removing the power circuits.  For security reasons, all pneumatic doors on a starship remained shut - and in the case of all three bridges, locked - when unpowered.  This was to prevent hostile takeover.

He had just finished locking down the turbolift system as well when the Captain announced that 'they couldn't continue'.   Rayek frowned.  What did that mean?  Was the man giving up?  Did he plan to surrender?  It didn't seem like the Borg were interested in taking prisoners.

There  was a momentary interruption to the Captain's statement when Ramort approached with interesting information.  The Romulan officer for all his years of experience, had little to no training in the sciences so was grateful that the Captain was the one to look over the man's readings .

Before the Captain could make sense of the findings, the Borg were at their doors.  Literally.  Pounding on them.  It wouldn't take long for them to get around his sealing of them.

That's when the Captain announced his idea to get off the ship - to head to Spacedock.   Before Rayek could argue the Captain's decision, Tekin had already sent a message throughout the ship via the emergency channel - the only one apparently not under the control of the Borg.

While the others prepared to follow the Captain into the Jeffries tubes, Rayek checked his gear one last time.

"Captain, I realize this is dereliction of duty, perhaps even desertion, but I cannot go with you.   I won't leave Tess and Fvienn behind.  Not if there's the slightest chance they are still alive."

He looked to the doors where the banging had now stopped.  That silence was even more worrisome.   They would gain entrance soon.   "Go.  I'll delay them as long as possible."  Then moved to a wall panel where he knew there was canister of anesthizine rigged to deploy as a security measure against intruders.
Hearing Lieutenant Lachlyn's request, Rayek looked up from his work on the anesthizine canister to turn towards the Captain, hoping the man understand why they needed to do these things.

"We could go together.  We'd have better chances of making it." he offered.  As long as during the sweep he had opportunity to locate his wife and son.

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

NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge]

Torra appreciated Vila's warning to the Captain and was glad that she pointed it out to him.  It hadn't even crossed Torra's mind that the Captain might now recall such a detail despite it likely having been several years since he might have needed to actually do such himself.

Then Vila address her with. Despite being of superior rank than the Bajoran ensign, Torra acknowledged the other woman's request with a dip of her horned head.   Torra had heard the rumors about Vila and her 'attitude'.  The Grazerite had actually been asked to 'keep an eye on her' from the Ops Chief.   So Torra had.  She had learned about Vila's past as best as she could and what she discovered made Torra more on Vila's side than before.  Vila was the type to assume control of situation - even if she lacked the official rank, because she grew up a situation where she had to.  The passive Grazerite admired that leadership quality.  It wasn't one that came easily to the horned Ops officer.

As she worked at carefully removing the green wires (the last step to shutting down a particular console,  the Captain had a change of heart as to what they were going to do.   Spacedock was their goal now.

"Yes sir."  She pulled her phaser and at the Captain's order aided in phasering through the deck floor to access the Jeffries tube.

She was saddened to hear that Rayek was refusing to come with.   The journey to the shuttlebay (now that the Borg definitely knew their destination) was going to be much harder without him.   But Torra an optimist.   They would make it - because they had to in order to survive.

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

NPC PO2 Helga Tragnar/Drone 356698
[USS Discovery-B - Jeffries Tube between Deck 7 and Deck 6]

Drone 356698 climbed up the ladder after the Ferengi.   They saw him clamber out above them at a cross tube.  The Borg drone continued their trek up to the jeffries tube they had spied him entering and exited at it.  They had barely travel a meter down the cross tube, passing by some torn out wiring when suddenly a jolt of energy went through the drone.  The electrical charge wracked their body, causing their limbs to convulse.   An involuntary cry slipped out from the pain and the drone for a moment 'flashbacked' to a similar experience that this shell had once undergone willingly as a 'rite of passage'.    It seemed the electrical jolt had momentarily cut the drone's connection to the Collective.

Helga felt completely spent as her body spasmed with lingering electrical impulses.  She was barely conscious, but
could vaguely recall having been ordered to eliminate her parmaqqay.  But he'd set a trap for her.  Unfortunately, she knew her Klingon physiology made her more resistant than most others would have been.   She'd recover soon enough, and she could already begin to hear the call of the others in the Collective.

No! She wouldn't be used that again.  Straining, she pushed her limbs which felt on fire, gaining purchase and sat up momentarily.

"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam, parmaq" she shouted as she threw herself backwards towards the ladder opening and let herself fall the several decks to the Engineering level on deck 11 where the ladder began.

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

NPC Lek
[USS Discovery-B  - Engineering]

The pair, in a remote corner of Engineering, seemed to face off against once another.  Neither speaking for a moment.

It was at that point that a distant Klingon shout could be heard.  'Lek' paid it no mind all.   "Well, are you going to get in my way or are you going to help?"

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

In the distance, M'Nia heard a familiar shouted Klingon phrase indicating it was a good day to die.  There was a moment of silence then a much closer, somewhat gruesome sounding 'thump'.    The sound and follow up groan seemed to come from ahead where the ladder was.

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

NPC Crewman Kitaa Horg/Drone 356700
[USS Discovery - Deck 5 - Alpha Hull Medical Facilities]

Drone 356700 did not pause when pleaded with.  All non-assimilated must be eliminated.  The kick sent the drone staggered back a few steps, but it only delayed the inevitable momentarily.  The non-assimilated attempt to scramble away, calling for aid and even throwing things at the drone.  But it made no difference, the ship was in their control.   All non-assimilated would be eliminated.  "Resistance is futile" the drone intoned emotionless as it stepped forward after the fleeing medic, unknowing stepping onto the slick Dermaline gel.

The lack of friction beneath the drone's foot unbalanced them momentarily, yet before they could tumble to the floor in a heap, their hands shot out and gripped at the nearby counter to recover their balance.  Their next step was steady, but every time they stepped forward using their left foot,  they would slide a bit.  It was very disorienting and slowed the drone's pursuit.

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

NPC Dr. Misha Sluchaynyy
[USS Discovery - Deck 9 (Beta Hull) - Sickbay ]

Misha flinched as the glass from the window showered them.  He was surprised by how calm Betaika was throughout all this.  "Agrrreed.   But how do you suggest ve get ut of herrre?  Ourrr escape rrroute is blocked." the Assistant Medical Chief asked.   The only one of the three doctors who had a weapon was Betaika.    The most that Misha had managed to grab before Thane had dragged him into his office was a multidose hypospray.    Presently, it contained 10 doses of a general analgesic, and 10 doses of a mild sedative.  The sedative wasn't enough to take down a Borg - not unless he used all 10 doses at once.

"Zis ess all I 'ave az veapon."

Seeing the first a borg attempting to clamber through the window opening, Misha shrank back against the far wall.   In his 70's, Misha was far too old to be expected to engage in hand to hand combat.

Doctor Betaika

[Sickbay | USS Discovery]

Seeing Misha scuttle back from the window, Betaika surmised that someone has attempted to enter the office. After spending more than 128 years with the Romulan military and the Tal Shiar, the now slightly rusty Doctor spun around and aimed his phaser directly toward the drone and pulled the trigger without flinching. Years of combat training started to kick in, along with a pang of guilt as he noticed he was a doctor no more. Taking a moment to rest, not having the stamina he used to, Betaika started to consider the predicament they faced. While his first reaction as a young officer would to escape by brute force, the wiser man used logic over strength. Crawling back over to the comm panel, he manually overloaded each circuit breaker in the room, until he could directly overloud all the electronics tied into the ship. "œI suggest you shield your eyes." Betaika stated before triggering the overload. A pure, white light washed over them, stunning any drone who had the misfortune of two open eyes.

[Kinley Garrison]

[ USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Turbolift, Science Labs ]

As if this nightmare couldn't get any worse, suddenly the commbadges on the three officers crackled to life, with Jettis lacking his own since he was off-duty.  Pressing a hand to his head, he briefly steadied himself against the wall of the turbolift, dizziness sweeping over him. No amount of deep breathing would alleviate the headache, and her remained motionless until he heard one of them forcibly cracking the turbolift doors open. Straightening, he nodded at Harrington's words, something about creating a distraction. Something to distract the Borg so they could make it to the shuttlebay.

"Right." If the ship was lost, there wasn't much concern for exactly how he went about his distraction. Then again, pain and danger was not something that distracted the Borg either. A smoke screen would be best. When it was confirmed the coast was more or less clear, he stepped out to navigate to the labs, praying any turned borg would have already left to hunt down someone else. They were right, the science labs were not a likely spot to have heavy guarding - it wasn't a place to gather like a medbay, didn't hold anything particularly useful to them, and didn't offer any escape routes.

The call initially seemed correct, as the doors slid open to reveal an empty room. Jettis didn't bother to look around properly, before immediately moving towards where the chemicals were stored. While the first temptation was simply to break the glass, that would no doubt take some assorted chemicals along with it, and who knows what sort of reaction. Instead he glanced around for the nearest object that looked close enough to a pry bar, and searched for a spot to lever it from. Finally finding enough of a gap to wedge it between the casing and the sliding glass, he popped the case open against the force of the computer. It wasn't as difficult as it would be for more deadly or toxic chemicals of course, he was only getting some potassium nitrate and sodium bicarbonate. But without any ability to use the computer, he likely wouldn't be able to get anything more reactive than that.

"Anyone know where I can get some sugar without the replicators?"

[as Murphy]

"œSugar? Well, gimme a second. I'm - I'm gonna find some!" Said Murphy as he quickly ran towards the 10-forward, which was deserted asides from the fallen crewmen who got swarmed. He really tried to not think about it as he grabbed a handful of sugar packets from the bar and ran back. "œGot some. Let's blow this pop stand! And maybe hurry? I don't know if anyone saw me but I d-don't want to take chances before we make a hole in the ship."

[J.B Dersch]

| Drone 356697 | Lt. JG JB Dersch | USS Discovery | Deck 2 |

Drone 356697 walked down the corridor outside the armory slowly. 356698 had been given orders to find and locate the so called Lek, The Discoverys cheif engineer. After handing out weapons to the others, 356697 took the lead letting the others form up into a Triangle Formation weapons rasied up. Movement upahead Then 5 Secuirty Officers rounded the corner and started to fire at the Drones. Elimnate all Targets All the Drones rasied thier weapons in unison and fired.

Target 1 - Elminated
Target 2 - Elminated
Target 3 - Elminated
Target 4 - Fleeing
Target 5 - Injured
Target 6 - Fleeing/Injured

"356789,356790 Locate and Elimnate Target 6 355697 walked up to the Secuirty officer that was injured. He was pleaing for his life. "Please! Please! Let me Liv.." He didn't have time to finish as 356789 smashed his head in with the rifle.

Target 5 - Elminated

Then down the Hall 355697 heard commotion down the hall, then screams,and more Phaser fire then,

Target 4 - Elminated

Target 6 - Elminated

The Drones then moved and searched the Entire Deck, then the orders came

"œAll Drones Converge on Alpha bridge, Gamma bridge, Beta bridge, Engineering, Shuttlebays"

It came from the Drone formerly the Ships Second Officer. Drone 355697 had been rerouted to Beta Bridge. The Group moved in unison once more. 355697 knew they had to destory the Excelsior, The Non-Asslimated had been more stronger then they had exspected.
The lift stopped above Beta bridge due to that lift being shut down.

"Targets have Locked Out Lift controls to Beta Bridge"¦356789 attempt to overide." 355697 left 356790 and 356791 with 356789 and took 356792 and 356793 and they came across drones 456778 and 456779 who in which joined 355697 as they searched the deck.

"Jefferis tube acess point upahead, 456778 watch and gaurd for possible exit from Beta Bridge"

456778 moved and stood next to the hatch, Waiting. 355697 and 456779 continued to move down the corrdior. Two Medical Officers walked around the corner and saw the Drones, they qiuckly turned to run but they both dropped dead to the ground as two shots came from 355697.
Target 1 - Elminated
Target 2 - Elminated

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

NPC Crewman Kitaa Horg/Drone 356700
[USS Discovery - Deck 5 - Alpha Hull Medical Facilities]

Drone 356700 did not pause when pleaded with.  All non-assimilated must be eliminated.  The kick sent the drone staggered back a few steps, but it only delayed the inevitable momentarily.  The non-assimilated attempt to scramble away, calling for aid and even throwing things at the drone.  But it made no difference, the ship was in their control.   All non-assimilated would be eliminated.  "Resistance is futile" the drone intoned emotionless as it stepped forward after the fleeing medic, unknowing stepping onto the slick Dermaline gel.

The lack of friction beneath the drone's foot unbalanced them momentarily, yet before they could tumble to the floor in a heap, their hands shot out and gripped at the nearby counter to recover their balance.  Their next step was steady, but every time they stepped forward using their left foot,  they would slide a bit.  It was very disorienting and slowed the drone's pursuit.

[NPC Doctor Meelar Phlome | Deck 5 | Alpha Hull Medical Facilities | USS Discovery NCC 78393-B]

Meelar felt a burst of elation when she realized her plan worked. She had managed to slow down the infected Kitaa significantly, without the need to seriously hurt her. She hoped that it would keep her off from her scent, but that was certainly too much wishful thinking. Meelar did not dawdle as she sprinted towards a nearby medical cabinet, retrieving a hypospray and quickly looking over the available compounds. Fortunately, she found just what she needed. A dose of anesthizine.

Loading it up on the hypospray as fast as she could, thankful that her experience as a doctor had taught her to keep her hands steady and kept her from sweating, she turned around to face Kitaa once more. Her plan was crazy. But if it worked, it would mean that she would remove her out of the equation painlessly and efficiently. And without needing to kill her friend, which was the most important thing to her.

Deciding she still had enough time, she once more turned to the cupboard, proceeding to retrieve a few more compounds she hastily pocketed, which she would need to use in an emergency.

She glanced over at Kitaa once more. She was only a few feet from her. A chill ran down her spine.

She took a deep breath as her eyes darted around her, luck shining on her once more as she found another thing to complement her plan and keep Kitaa from reaching her. A rolling chair. Grabbing ahold of it, she pushed it with force towards Kitaa's direction, hoping to knock her on the ground or at the very least, stop her in her tracks for just a few moments more.

Then, filling herself with as much bravery as she could, she sought to grapple Kitaa from behind, hoping that would keep her from being too damaged if she proceeded to fight back. She knew she had to be fast, however, and so as soon as she had an arm around her, her hand flew to attempt to press the hypospray against her neck and push the button.

This might hurt.

[James Ramort]

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta (Battle) Bridge]

"We can't continue.  You all heard what happened to Ben. If we disable Discovery, the Collective will just consider her a total loss and move us out of formation.  We have to consider the whole crew, even those who are..." he struggled to finish.  "Those who are temporarily lost."

He looked over at James's report and took a look at the readings. It was... curious.  He took the tricorder and scanned himself, comparing the readings to that of James's.  "It's there for me, but much more... reduced."  Without another word he turned the scanner on Vila and compared her scan with his.  "Her's is even less.  Wait, this can't be a coincidence."

"Let's get off the ship.  We need to get to Spacedock.  Not only is it not part of the fleet system, but it also has the smallest amount of young officers.  We need to get to a shuttle." he stated, tapping his comm badge to reset the channel to the only open channel that worked. 99-Delta.

"All hands, this is the Captain.  The Discovery is under occupation." Prophets he hated that word, and his face grimaced hard. "If you can make it to a shuttle, do so.  Escape pods and transporters are out.  If you can't make it, secure your area and bunker down.  I say again, Discovery is lost.  Evacuate the ship."

He primed his phaser, and pointed to an area of the deck.  "Jefferies tube, Deck 10 has a crawlway for maintenance, and we can hit the shuttle bay to get out of here."

He nearly had shut close the Tricorders when their indicators lit up. He had run his scans from the unassimilated crew, including his own, through the logs he had been able to download. It was a really broad selection: Personal Logs, Technical Manuals, Medical Records spanning the last 120 Years from various ships and stations, some holo logs, replicator records and even some shipping manifests. It came back with something.
The brain nexus at the heart of the strange thing inside all their heads, it had about 70% similarity to some medical records. Specifically the telepathic nexus of the brain found in multiple telepathically talented species. It featured a gland to produce certain neuropeptides as well as minor traces or metallic atoms, mainly iron, lined in a near circle around the outer bounds of the modified organ.

He was no medic but it was highly likely this assembly was meant to serve as a kind of antenna. The latent electric stimulation created by this then aggravating in the gland to  make it exert the modified neuropeptides. How exactly those were able to influence the further brain chemistry was something he could not discern without the assistance of their further medical or scientific personal or, at the very least, advanced scanners.

Making educated guesses was within his possibilities though. The entire assembly seemed highly similar to other telepathic processes just that its effects were not aimed at the centers of the brain either responsible for hearing and speech or seeing, the way other telepathic species communicated with each other. Instead it aimed directly into the brain stem and the prefrontal cortex. Directly controlling emotions, memory and higher logic functions. Circumventing large portions of the Brain in the process. The base mechanism was somewhat similar though. At there was something in the logs, he had read about it in the Academy, he heard about it by some banter. But the equipment. And the time.
He queried the logs again and hoped it was in there. Somewhere in the recorded experiencec of thousands of Starfleet Officers.

He would have to work on the move, it would slow him but there were other Officers with him, he would be somewhat free to look at his instruments but they also needed to get going. The Captain had ordered it. Even if he personally questioned the Station as the most logical target, it wasn't his place nor his expertise to suggest another course of action. He did have respect the courage of all those still at large in the ship though, doing their part, sabotaging the ship to not have it fall into the Borgs hands.

He had his task to consider though.

"If I only had a bit more time and access to a Lab, I might be able to crack it, or at least block it.."

Then he headed to the hatch opened after the Captain's words to head to the shuttle bay.

[Jettis Jyur]

[as Murphy]

"œSugar? Well, gimme a second. I'm - I'm gonna find some!" Said Murphy as he quickly ran towards the 10-forward, which was deserted asides from the fallen crewmen who got swarmed. He really tried to not think about it as he grabbed a handful of sugar packets from the bar and ran back. "œGot some. Let's blow this pop stand! And maybe hurry? I don't know if anyone saw me but I d-don't want to take chances before we make a hole in the ship."

[ USS Discovery - Primary Science Labs ]

Jettis sighed at Murphey's anxious attitude. "Yes. Let me just hurry up with creating explosives." Taking the offered sugar, he immediately turned back to the burner, which he'd manage to jerry-rig on by now. He hadn't realized just how much of their lives were absolutely ruled and controlled by technology. Of course, it was always in the back of his mind, but the fact he had to struggle to turn on a small flame or get some glass bottles made him think the conspiracy theorists who refused to use transporters or turbolifts might have been on to something.

Working as quickly as he safely could, and trying to squeeze out every bit he could manage from the few supplies he had. Matches were by far the easiest material to find in the lab without having to bypass some high level security codes and heavy metal crates. Eventually, with some scrounging for safe containers, he was left with a few cannisters, one markedly bright red, while the other was a simple silver. Turning, he offered a silver cannister to Murphy. "These are smoke bombs. Use them to hopefully make enough cover to move from room to room, try to make a rescue if you see someone who hasn't been... claimed... or if you're stuck in a room and need a way to out maneuver. You shouldn't breath it in, ideally, but just move fast and don't get lost."

He then held up a red one, staring directly into Murphy's eyes and soul, enunciating very particularly. "This is an incendiary. Listen to me - Do not throw this thinking it is a smoke bomb. If you need to block off a path, light it and throw it as far behind you as possible and keep running." He paused. "Make sure it's a room you won't need to return to, either. So ideally don't use it if you're in front of us."

With that, he handed one of each to Zero and Harrington. The smoke would be heavy enough to cover most rooms, but the blasts wouldn't be huge with the quick work he'd done. Still, in an enclosed space like a Starship, the size of the blast hardly mattered. Finally shutting down the burner, he turned to the others with a nod. "Let's go."

Though, he had absolutely no intention of leaving the ship, he was going to make sure they got there. It wasn't far, but as had been pointed out, would certainly be swarming by now. But if even a few shuttles could be saved... that was enough.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

USS Discovery
Beta Bridge

Vila smiled a little. FINALLY, someone with some leadership skills was doing something useful! Still. It wasn't in her nature to back down from a fight.

"We can still hold out, Sir. We have options...do we have any way to access dynamite? We can rig up a few corridors and blast them into the Nether...it means sacrificing some hulls, and crew, but..I'll do it myself. I've done it before...tied it to rafters at the Cardassian command stations. A few minutes later, and...well. Cardassians smell like burnt leather when they blow up," she said. It was macabre, and she said it without a hint of irony or glee. It was just her job-her way to cope. Of course, she'd cried for a week after and had been reassigned to computers and sabotage in other ways that were more remote, but...it had worked. It could work again.

"Get me an engineer who knows the inner hulls," she said. "I won't leave without trying it. You can go. I don't care. What is there left for me to lose? My life? It'd be welcome these days," she said.

Behind her, the Commander spoke up.
She raised an eyebrow. She hadn't realized he had a family. Interesting.

"The explosion will allow the Commander to evacuate his family. And you, yours. If the other ships are gone, then my brother and sister in law are, as well, and my ex-husband. All I can hope is that Bajor is safe," she said.

She moved her head when the Captain scanned her, but didn't say anything. She had no idea what the Scientist was talking about, and, frankly, she didn't care.

"Captain?" She asked. "Commander?" She turned to the Romulan.

If they denied, she'd go, but she wanted it on the record that she offered to stay, to fight to the death.

At one point in time the Romulan would have agreed with Vila.  Hard times called for hard measures; and as long as he survived and he succeeded in his goal - everything else didn't matter.  That had been his philosophy during  his time in the Tal'Shiar, 16 years ago.

But since that time, Rayek had overcome much of that Romulan conditioning and found a way connect to his ship's crew, so that their well-being was a priority.  Even now.

He frowned at Vila's suggestion.  "Ensign, while I understand your intention is to stop the Borg threat.  However, unlike you, I've put time into making connection with this crew.  They are an extension of my family now.  I will not easily give up on them."

He looked to the Captain hoping to get the man's buy-in on this.

"The Borg have taken people before .... and some have made it back... Picard,  Seven of Nine.   There are hundreds of liberated borg within the fleet.  While it may not seem like much, it is a start and progress will be made in liberating more... including our friends and family here today.   We can't be killing them needlessly."
.
.
.

[Beta bridge]

"œUnderstood Lieutenant I believe that we should get out of here as soon as possible. Let's hope that the shuttles haven't been infected by the borg." He knew that there was a possibility that the borg could have infected the shuttle. He was up to the challenge of flying through an enemy armada to get to the space dock. He was confident in their abilities and didn't think there was any reason to worry.

The pilots concerns where valid, and while Rayek worked on setting up his anesthizine trap for the Borg drones he pondered this a moment.   "The shuttles weren't put on the Fleet Formation mode, however, each shuttle has a remote takeover that is privy to Command - which the Borg now know.   You'll need to disable that on each shuttle before attempting to leave or I can guarantee they will just fly you into one another. "

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

NPC Lieutenant Danjar-Torra Addams
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge]

He would have to work on the move, it would slow him but there were other Officers with him, he would be somewhat free to look at his instruments but they also needed to get going. The Captain had ordered it. Even if he personally questioned the Station as the most logical target, it wasn't his place nor his expertise to suggest another course of action. He did have respect the courage of all those still at large in the ship though, doing their part, sabotaging the ship to not have it fall into the Borgs hands.

He had his task to consider though.

"If I only had a bit more time and access to a Lab, I might be able to crack it, or at least block it.."

Then he headed to the hatch opened after the Captain's words to head to the shuttle bay.

Torra's intent was to by the groups rear guard.  Though the Grazerite was an Ops officer presently, her initial training was in Security and Tactical.  So she assisted the others into the tube opening.

At overhearing the Science officer, Torra was relieved.   "Ensign, you'll have plenty of lab space once you reach Spacedock.  I hear they have an impression lab there. Far better than any facility on Discovery.

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

NPC PO2 Helga Tragnar/Drone 356698
[USS Discovery-B - Jeffries Tube Deck 11]

A locator beacon suddenly activated on the injured drone.   Earlier, the Collective had been alerted to its disconnection from the hive.  Now they were informed of its attempts at reconnection.

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

NPC Lek
[USS Discovery-B  - Engineering]

Without the full knowledge of what was going on Gohun looked at Lek. Was he a shapeshifter? Gohun looked over and said "There has not been enough time for the crew to have been assimilated. We do know that changelings are on board. In other words  how do I know"""

Gohun was so confused. How did the Borg take the ship so fast? They would have to beamed 100 drones on the ship. "œHow did we lost the ship so fast? What is going on?"

Surprise was etched over the Ferengi's face at hearing of Gohun's certain knowledge of Changelings being on board. "You do?  How?  Where do you think they are?" Yet despite going along with the El-Aurian's theory, the Ferengi's tone was mocking.

Given that the pair were at an impasse, 'Lek' shrugged and continued with his work.  He appeared to be installing a non-fleet issued device.   Nothing from it's exterior gave hint to its purpose.

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

NPC Crewman Kitaa Horg/Drone 356700
[USS Discovery - Deck 5 - Alpha Hull Medical Facilities]

[NPC Doctor Meelar Phlome | Deck 5 | Alpha Hull Medical Facilities | USS Discovery NCC 78393-B]

Meelar felt a burst of elation when she realized her plan worked. She had managed to slow down the infected Kitaa significantly, without the need to seriously hurt her. She hoped that it would keep her off from her scent, but that was certainly too much wishful thinking. Meelar did not dawdle as she sprinted towards a nearby medical cabinet, retrieving a hypospray and quickly looking over the available compounds. Fortunately, she found just what she needed. A dose of anesthizine.

Loading it up on the hypospray as fast as she could, thankful that her experience as a doctor had taught her to keep her hands steady and kept her from sweating, she turned around to face Kitaa once more. Her plan was crazy. But if it worked, it would mean that she would remove her out of the equation painlessly and efficiently. And without needing to kill her friend, which was the most important thing to her.

Deciding she still had enough time, she once more turned to the cupboard, proceeding to retrieve a few more compounds she hastily pocketed, which she would need to use in an emergency.

She glanced over at Kitaa once more. She was only a few feet from her. A chill ran down her spine.

She took a deep breath as her eyes darted around her, luck shining on her once more as she found another thing to complement her plan and keep Kitaa from reaching her. A rolling chair. Grabbing ahold of it, she pushed it with force towards Kitaa's direction, hoping to knock her on the ground or at the very least, stop her in her tracks for just a few moments more.

Then, filling herself with as much bravery as she could, she sought to grapple Kitaa from behind, hoping that would keep her from being too damaged if she proceeded to fight back. She knew she had to be fast, however, and so as soon as she had an arm around her, her hand flew to attempt to press the hypospray against her neck and push the button.

This might hurt.

Drone 356700 continue their slow pursuit of the medic to the far end of the room.  With each every other step, because of the dermaline gel, the drone struggled to find steady footing.  But still Drone 356700 managed to make progress forward until there was only a step or two between them.   356700 could see the medic was attempting to load a hypospray, however the drone judged that they would be in range to crunch her skull before the medic could finish her task.

That was BEFORE the rolling chair caught the drone just as they were already dealing with the slick footing of the gel'd shoe.   The result was that the chair and shove, rolled the drone back another 2 meters, spinning.

Then even before the drone could leave the chair to continue their pursuit, the medic attempted an attack, being grappled from behind and held down in the chair.  "Resistance is futile"   Yet each attempt to turn about in the seat, spun the chair rather than bring the medic into range of her grasp, and before the drone could grab at the hand,  the hypospray was held to her neck and the dose delivered.

At first nothing seemed to make a difference then the drone, slumped into its rolling chair.  How long it would be asleep was questionable but for the moment the medics escape seemed to have worked.

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

NPC Dr. Misha Sluchaynyy
[USS Discovery - Deck 9 (Beta Hull) - Sickbay ]

Doctor Betaika

[Sickbay | USS Discovery]

Seeing Misha scuttle back from the window, Betaika surmised that someone has attempted to enter the office. After spending more than 128 years with the Romulan military and the Tal Shiar, the now slightly rusty Doctor spun around and aimed his phaser directly toward the drone and pulled the trigger without flinching. Years of combat training started to kick in, along with a pang of guilt as he noticed he was a doctor no more. Taking a moment to rest, not having the stamina he used to, Betaika started to consider the predicament they faced. While his first reaction as a young officer would to escape by brute force, the wiser man used logic over strength. Crawling back over to the comm panel, he manually overloaded each circuit breaker in the room, until he could directly overloud all the electronics tied into the ship. "œI suggest you shield your eyes." Betaika stated before triggering the overload. A pure, white light washed over them, stunning any drone who had the misfortune of two open eyes.

Using the distraction that Betaika provided. Misha and the Medical Chief both followed the younger doctor in escaping Sickbay. 

[Tekin Nevir]

USS Discovery
Beta Bridge
She still wasn't convinced, but she DID know sabotage. Her preferred method was more like "phase the systems out of existence," though. Much faster, more precise. A pain in the ass for the repair team, but she didn't care.

She didn't know how to respond, though, so she simply nodded her understanding. Truthfully, her brain was trying to process what was going on. It was also trying to block out the memories. It was difficult.

"Neither am I. Just an observation," she said, coolly. This wasn't the time, but it made her point. The Prophets were useless-definitely in this situation, but really, in general, weren't they?

Frustrated at her own slowness, she pounded a hand against a panel. This was supposed to be easier. She was the best programmer the Resistance had had-while maybe not the best in the Fleet, she felt she was also pretty good at her job there. But this?! It was futile. "Can't I just phaser the consoles? It'll be so much faster, and they won't be able to access them at all. No one will," she said.
Vila understood the other Ops officer outranked her. She didn't care about things like that-she was naturally a Type-A anyway, and she knew that Addam's wheelhouse was in the actual physical hardware, while hers was the programs.

Vila smiled a little. FINALLY, someone with some leadership skills was doing something useful! Still. It wasn't in her nature to back down from a fight.

"We can still hold out, Sir. We have options...do we have any way to access dynamite? We can rig up a few corridors and blast them into the Nether...it means sacrificing some hulls, and crew, but..I'll do it myself. I've done it before...tied it to rafters at the Cardassian command stations. A few minutes later, and...well. Cardassians smell like burnt leather when they blow up," she said. It was macabre, and she said it without a hint of irony or glee. It was just her job-her way to cope. Of course, she'd cried for a week after and had been reassigned to computers and sabotage in other ways that were more remote, but...it had worked. It could work again.

"Get me an engineer who knows the inner hulls," she said. "I won't leave without trying it. You can go. I don't care. What is there left for me to lose? My life? It'd be welcome these days," she said.

Behind her, the Commander spoke up.
She raised an eyebrow. She hadn't realized he had a family. Interesting.

"The explosion will allow the Commander to evacuate his family. And you, yours. If the other ships are gone, then my brother and sister in law are, as well, and my ex-husband. All I can hope is that Bajor is safe," she said.

She moved her head when the Captain scanned her, but didn't say anything. She had no idea what the Scientist was talking about, and, frankly, she didn't care.

"Captain?" She asked. "Commander?" She turned to the Romulan.

If they denied, she'd go, but she wanted it on the record that she offered to stay, to fight to the death.

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck Six - Beta Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

At one point in time the Romulan would have agreed with Vila.  Hard times called for hard measures; and as long as he survived and he succeeded in his goal - everything else didn't matter.  That had been his philosophy during  his time in the Tal'Shiar, 16 years ago.

But since that time, Rayek had overcome much of that Romulan conditioning and found a way connect to his ship's crew, so that their well-being was a priority.  Even now.

He frowned at Vila's suggestion.  "Ensign, while I understand your intention is to stop the Borg threat.  However, unlike you, I've put time into making connection with them.  They are an extension of my family now.  I will not easily give up on them."

He looked to the Captain hoping to get the man's buy-in on this.

"The Borg have taken people before .... and some have made it back... Picard,  Seven of Nine.   There are hundreds of liberated borg within the fleet.  While it may not seem like much, it is a start and progress will be made in liberating more... including our friends and family here today.   We can't be killing them needlessly."

[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Beta (Battle) Bridge]

The Captain sighed, even with the pounding and forcing of the locked doors.  They really didn't have time to argue. It was admirable that the crew didn't want to abandon their ship, and were more than willing to give up their lives for the ship and crew.  He would be honored to have them serve with distinction... if he didn't think he would need them.

"I know that Rayek.  I'm not counting Ruth out yet.  But the truth is that this assimilation is different.  There aren't any metal objects sticking out of them.  There are no tubulars injecting nanoprobes into the computer. One of the biggest risks in bringing someone back from the Borg is removing that kind of implantation.  That gives me hope that they are not lost.  But also concerned because right now we don't know how they were assimilated in the first place.

"I won't lie to you all.  There is a very real chance that a good portion of the crew we spent years working with will be dead. We've already lost hundreds just with the Excelsior.  The Borg mean to annihilate us, and they seem to have no care for their own assimilated. The longer you stay here to fight, you're not just increasing the chances you'll die, you're going to increase the chance of depriving our crew of rescue.  Its taking increasing levels of stun to take these people down; eventually stun won't work.  And then what?  You are going to execute members of the crew?"

Nevir sighed, gripping his own phaser tighter.  "Vila, we are not going to do any kind of sabotage on this ship.  This is akin to a hostage situation, one where we can't afford to lose our people.  Disable the weapon systems, and they'll just consider Discovery a loss, and everyone, Borg and Starfleet alike, will die. Blow up a part of the ship, and you'll have directly killed some before the rest are killed by the other Starfleet ships. This," he gestured around him.  "This is just a resistance group.  But that," he pointed towards the front of the ship, where Spacedock would be.  "That's our cell. And if I'm right and Spacedock is not assimilated, it is a threat.  One that will be the next target between a Borg Starfleet and Earth.  If Spacedock falls, Earth falls.  If Earth falls, Bajor will follow."

"Moving as a big group is not a good idea.  They'll be able to track movement, and having a line of people crawling through a jefferies tube will bottleneck up.  So we're going to split up.  I will be heading straight for the shuttle bay... since the shuttles aren't part of the system, my Captain's code will override anything the Borg put up. I will give you all 10 minutes to get to the shuttles.  If you choose to stay here, your actions are your own, and you better pray that those you end up killing have no chance of survival. Otherwise, Spaceport is going to need assistance defending itself and Earth.  That's where I'm going.  Dismissed."

The Captain made sure he was one of the last to leave the Beta bridge, just to make sure no one was pinned here, and escaped down the jefferies tube just as the Borg crew burst onto the Bridge.  He locked the door behind him (as much good as that would do) and made the challenging climb and diversion through the tubes and side corridors.  Within 5 minutes, the Captain had made it to the maintenance shuttle bay and sealed the doors, leaving only the emergency tube accesses available.  Jumping in to one of the shuttles, he activated it, and sure enough, there was a lockout.  The Captain put in his override and the shuttle released the lock, giving him control of it.  There were only two shuttles in the maintenance bay, so he quickly did the same to the second shuttle.  He kept them both in standby, just to buy extra time before the Borg realized they were in the maintenance bay.

"And now we wait... to see what they all decide." he said to no one in particular.  The waiting was the hardest part, because it left him with seeing the look on his daughter's face over, and over.  In truth, the Captain was not okay.  There was turmoil, and an urge to race back to deck 1 and grab his daughter and rip the nightmare from her.  The most illogical a scientist got was with matters of the heart, and this was his.

Five minutes later, with everyone who was going with him already there, the Captain had the shuttle started and shot out of the bay, using the debris of the Excelsior as cover before making a beeline for Spacedock.  From the corner of the cockpit, he could see the ships in the farthest part of the formation moving, like a pair of giant wings turning to point at Spacedock.  Just as he feared.  Spacedock was the next target.

[Lorut Vila]

USS Discovery
Beta Bridge

While talking things out, the Bajoran had finished pulling wires. The Beta bridge was now as good as useless. It was going to be a HELL of a job redoing it all later, but luckily, that wouldn't be her job.

I know that Rayek. I'm not counting Ruth out yet.  But the truth is that this assimilation is different.  There aren't any metal objects sticking out of them.  There are no tubulars injecting nanoprobes into the computer. One of the biggest risks in bringing someone back from the Borg is removing that kind of implantation.  That gives me hope that they are not lost.  But also concerned because right now we don't know how they were assimilated in the first place.

"I won't lie to you all.  There is a very real chance that a good portion of the crew we spent years working with will be dead. We've already lost hundreds just with the Excelsior.  The Borg mean to annihilate us, and they seem to have no care for their own assimilated. The longer you stay here to fight, you're not just increasing the chances you'll die, you're going to increase the chance of depriving our crew of rescue.  It's taking increasing levels of stun to take these people down; eventually stun won't work.  And then what?  You are going to execute members of the crew?...Vila, we are not going to do any kind of sabotage on this ship.  This is akin to a hostage situation, one where we can't afford to lose our people.  Disable the weapon systems, and they'll just consider Discovery a loss, and everyone, Borg and Starfleet alike, will die. Blow up a part of the ship, and you'll have directly killed some before the rest are killed by the other Starfleet ships. This,"... "This is just a resistance group.  But that...That's our cell. And if I'm right and Spacedock is not assimilated, it is a threat.  One that will be the next target between a Borg Starfleet and Earth.  If Spacedock falls, Earth falls.  If Earth falls, Bajor will follow."Moving as a big group is not a good idea.  They'll be able to track movement, and having a line of people crawling through a jefferies tube will bottleneck up.  So we're going to split up.  I will be heading straight for the shuttle bay... since the shuttles aren't part of the system, my Captain's code will override anything the Borg put up. I will give you all 10 minutes to get to the shuttles.  If you choose to stay here, your actions are your own, and you better pray that those you end up killing have no chance of survival. Otherwise, Spaceport is going to need assistance defending itself and Earth.  That's where I'm going. Dismissed."

Vila sighed, but nodded. She knew when she was beat, and she also knew he was correct. She had no hope of anything if she were dead.

"Understood, sir. Ten minutes," she said. She looked to the others. "Does anyone need an escort?" She asked the assembled crew. "I don't need anything from my quarters." The only thing she kept in there of any value was aged Kanar, anyway. Her personal effects were back at Bajor; she'd sent them to her mother when they'd left DS9 last. She lived simply, spartanly, anyway.

"If not, I'll hold off who I can hear while you all go and collect your family and whatever else you need."

----------------------------------------------------
USS Discovery
Shuttle Bays

Vila stood, phaser ready, tense. Always. She scanned the corridors, and the people arriving-so far, so good. The sooner they could get out of here, the sooner she'd calm down. A little. Maybe.

"Ensign Lorut Vila, reporting," she sounded off.