S:5 E:13 - Dominion Rising Part 2

[Renley Banwell]

[USS Challenger-A - Sickbay]

The doors to sickbay slid open as the ship went into red alert. The pristine consoles and displays around the rooms were impressive.  Nows not a time to be timid Renley thought as he looked around to get his bearings. The medical staff already rushing around preparing beds for potential incoming wounded. Renley looked around at all of the consoles and began to inspect the beds ensuring that he was familiar with where everything was located.

"Nurse can you point me to the Chief Medical Officer" Renley asked one of the sickbay nurses as she hurried by. She pointed off further into sickbay near the surgical bays. As the minutes went by Renley's heartbeat started to slow back down to a normal pace as to not get caught up in the chaos. "For a first assignment the Federation is really putting me to the test." Renley muttered to himself as he continued to make his way to find the CMO.

As he hurried around sickbay Renley noticed another medical ensign rushing around preparing as well and he tried to keep up but as he turned a corner he ran right into another member of the crew. Before him stood a human female in a nurses uniform with Lt. insignia on her collar.

"Terrible sorry ma'am." Renley stammered. "I'm looking for the Chief Medical Officer"

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck two - Observation Lounge (staging area for Damage Control Team One)]

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO: Bridge - USS Challenger-A]

Ruth let a wry smile cross her face, she knew exactly what Lahr was saying, and pinged him a quick 'Acknowledged'. She was surprised her access codes were still active but she kept that to herself, who knows when her clearance might be useful.

She swivelled in her chair.  "I dunno if the Captain remembers but I know Lt.Cmdr Falleg-Tekin used the old Bajoran Resistance channels to search too... I'm sure it was something she picked up from her husband Captain Tekin.  That being the case it might help the ships going on the search to find them, they may be putting out info on that to circumvent 'normal' channels and avoid the Jem'Hadar detecting comms. If could you run that scan on the channel I'm sending you, Mr Cheizex?  I figure the more ammo, literally and figuratively we have at our disposal the better."

Still listening in to the Bridge via the camera and mic security feed through his earbud, Lahr waited with the rest of Damage Control Team One.  He was glad that Cheizex had be put onto the search for Discovery.  It wouldn't take the Ops officer long to find the ship, though Lahr was a bit worried - because the initial call to Challenger from Discovery for aid hadn't repeated.  Had the ship been lost?  Was the Prometheus-class just without comms or had something dire happened to the ship to have their call for aid ceased?  Lahr's antennae flicked about in nervous concern.  Torra and Helga, his former security colleagues, and even Lek the curmudgeon engineer... were all on the Discovery.  He needed them to be okay...

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian listened to the mission brief and noted the twenty ships designated for Challenger to engage. Even with support, this was going to be a hard fight.

"Sobeit"

Ian growled and began barking orders.

"Helm, course 147 mark 88, full impulse. Tactical, Attack Pattern Beta Four. Weapons free. Ops, bring the second warp core online and apply the entire output ta point of impact shields. Cue 'Scotland the Brave' on all channels. We're ta break those cruisers and break them we shall! Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war! FIRE!!"

Even amidst his worry for his friends aboard the Discovery, Lahr couldn't help but smile slightly hearing the Captain call for his banner music to be played on all channels.   Lahr would need to sneak into the music database and add a few more remixes of that tune... to liven things up a little and keep the Captain wondering.  Maybe he could even do a mashup of 'Ride of the Valkyries' and 'Scotland the Brave'.  Lahr chuckled.   "Yeah... that would be epic."

The CSO stifled a laugh with a cough, mostly because she knew the Captain of old.  "Are we attacking with extreme prejudice here, Captain?!" she said mischievously.  "They'll be matchsticks by the time we're finished with them.  Environmental and atmospheric scans sent to the Tactical and Helm stations so use those gas pockets if you see fit, they probably won't knock out a cruiser by themselves but serve to at least knock them off their game.  Even a split second will give them pause and that's our chances made."

Grinning she gave the Captain a look "Never took you for a Shakespeare buff, Sir! However, quote is apt and let's hope the dogs of war are Doberman Pincers, really pissed off Chihuahuas or something and not Toy Poodles!"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian was sitting leaning forward in the command chair his entire body tense from the rapidly approaching battle. He was angry and ready to vent that anger on the Breen and Dominion standing in the way of the search for the Discovery. When Ruth spoke, it broke the spell he was in.

"Not really a Shakespeare fan, but the 'cry havoc' line seemed appropriate. However, yes, we are attackin' these gits with extreme prejudice. Sooner we burn these buggers down, the sooner we can look for the Discovery."

Lahr, still listening in, wasn't a Shakespeare buff so hadn't recognized the quote the Captain had used.  He'd heard of the Human playwright.  Had even seen a Klingon version of the play MacBeth... but it wasn't his thing.

The Andorian smirked hearing the Captain's honest reply to Ruth - the he intended to attack with 'extreme prejudice'.    For once, Lahr was in complete agreement.

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

"œYes, ma'am." Sigurdsdottir didn't need to ask twice, Aarwendil was already working to find the location of the Discovery. He scanned the channel and located the ship.  "œFound it! Transmitting the information to you, ma'am."

Hearing that that Cheizex found Discovery, Lahr's antennae twitched up.  Now they just needed to get someone to send help to them.

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

"œAlready on it, sir!"  Aarwendil said, while moving his hands across the console. As the Captain had ordered, the young Betazoid put the other warp core online and applied the output in the shields. If they were going to engage other ships, doing it would increase the Challenger's defenses.

The only thing that he didn't understand was why the Captain still wanted the song that sounded like agonizing animals to be blasted on all the channels. However, it seemed to help in the fight so far. He wasn't going to question this order. Aarwendil immediately made what he was ordered and soon "œScotland the Brave" was sounding in all the channels connected to the Challenger.

With Discovery's position found, Lahr's worries lifted a bit a hearing the familiar tune of 'Scotland the Brave' being played.   He enjoyed lull as the Captain lead them into battle.  For soon, he'd be too busy putting the ship back together to enjoy anything.

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 7 - Sickbay]

[USS Challenger-A - Sickbay]

The doors to sickbay slid open as the ship went into red alert. The pristine consoles and displays around the rooms were impressive.  Nows not a time to be timid Renley thought as he looked around to get his bearings. The medical staff already rushing around preparing beds for potential incoming wounded. Renley looked around at all of the consoles and began to inspect the beds ensuring that he was familiar with where everything was located.

"Nurse can you point me to the Chief Medical Officer" Renley asked one of the sickbay nurses as she hurried by. She pointed off further into sickbay near the surgical bays. As the minutes went by Renley's heartbeat started to slow back down to a normal pace as to not get caught up in the chaos. "For a first assignment the Federation is really putting me to the test." Renley muttered to himself as he continued to make his way to find the CMO.

As he hurried around sickbay Renley noticed another medical ensign rushing around preparing as well and he tried to keep up but as he turned a corner he ran right into another member of the crew. Before him stood a human female in a nurses uniform with.

"Terrible sorry ma'am." Renley stammered. "Ensign Renley Banwell reporting for duty"

Sickbay was organized chaos.  The medical staff were well-trained, and well-prepared yet still the tension of the renewed battle so close on the heels of the first skirmish, didn't give the staff any time to rest.   It seemed they had just finished treating the first round of wounded, when the intercoms sounded the wailing so that damned bagpipe tune.

Chloe wished he had the authority to just shut off the sound but since it was coming from the bridge it took a Lieutenant or higher to mute it... the most she could do was order the volume down, which she had.

Now she was headed back to assist with triaging up front when in her hurry she approached a corner without glancing towards the corner-mirror, and ended colliding with another staff member... but this one it took a moment to place the name for... he was one of the new crewmembers that came on at DS9 a few days earlier but he'd been assigned a different rotation than her.

His introduction provided her with the name she'd been wondering about.

"Junior Lieutenant Chloe Davis...  Head Nurse... and the fault was mine.  I didn't check the mirror first before approaching the corner... rookie mistake." she replied back before continuing.  "Glad to see you reporting in Ensign.  Two of our doctors, the CMO...Dr. Fellows and Dr. Nural, both somehow got assigned to the Away Mission, so we're down two doctors."

She guided him back towards the triage area and began provisioning him with the necessary gear for his medkit.  "Do you have a medical specialty or can you be assigned to any medical condition or trauma?"

[Kyan Mackenzie]

:: Ops | Melok Nor ::

When the first jem'Hadar charged him, Kyan angled his kar'tarkin to deflect the downward strike to his right. Even with good form it was still jarring when the larger foe's blade "œclanked" off his own. Had the jem'Hadar been a little stronger, Kyan might have lost control of his weapon. As it was, he didn't, and was able to absorb the shock and took a step back, rotating his torso away from the attacking blade. As soon as the deflected blade finished its sparky slide down his own, he planted his foot and twisted forward, finding the right side of the jem'Hadar's belly.

The pointed end of the blade sank into the exposed midsection and the attacker gave a pained grunt as he stumbled forward. Kyan's blade emerged just under the ribcage. If it were a one on one fight, he'd have been able to turn and finish, but there was another jem'Hadar right behind the first one with the same idea. He had no time to put up an effective block. The soldier was coming overhead with the pointed end of his kar'tarkin aimed for a downward stabbing strike. The Onlie simultaneously stepped to his left and brought his right hand down the weapon to grip it like an ax. Then he swung at the attacker's right leg, forcing him to dodge mid-swing or have his leg taken out. He dodged the attack, but lost his balance for an instant. He caught himself but Kyan was behind him before he could turn himself to re-engage. No sooner than he turned his body to face his diminutive foe, a disruptor caught him full in the chest, knocking him back into the first jem'Hadar. Both fall to the ground.

Kyan saw that the disruptor had either knocked out the second jem'Hadar or killed him, either of which was fine. A quick glace around showed that the other jem'Hadar were engaged elsewhere. The first one was rising to his feet again so Kyan focused on him. Keeping an double-handed ax grip on the kar'tarkin, he make an overhead chop into the first jem'Hadar's back, burying the blade there. The foe let out a pain fueled yell and arched his back, staggering Kyan and sending him backwards. Kyan kept hold of the weapon and tried pulling it free but it was stuck.

The soldier whirled to face his attacker but Kyan kept ahold of the kar'tarkin and went along for the ride, his feet leaving the deck for a moment as he was hurled from side to side. His weight and refusal to release the kar'tarkin's handle had the effect of wrenching the buried blade and after a few thrashing turns, the jem'Hadar suddenly seized up and his legs gave out, sending the two of them to the deck in a heap.

Now atop the wounded soldier, Kyan released the handle and drew the punch dagger. He scrambled up his back and buried it in the back of the jem'Hadar's neck. He went limp instantly. Crawling off the carcass, he looked around and saw another jem'Hadar tackle Zhuk and both of them go to the deck.

Zhuk's reflexes proved effective, but his lack of training on such a weapon, and the fact that the Jem'Hadar outmatched him in strength, meant that he could barely shift to avoid the worst of the attack. Changing his intent, however, the Jem'Hadar outmaneuvered Zhuk as instead of stabbing his chest, he proceeded to cut at his right shoulder, before tackling Zhuk with full force, causing him to slam on the metal floor, hard.

Kyan crossed the distance to them and struck him in the side of the head with a series of left handed jabs, the dagger going full in on the last one. His body went limp atop the Caitain.

"œAnd that's us, even." Kyan grinned down at Zhuk.

Then he was flying.

He'd heard a yell from hehind him and felt big hands grabbing him. The next thing he knew he was airborne. His back hit hard against a console knocking the air from his lungs. Then he landed face down on the deck in front of the console. Time passed. He wasn't sure how much. When his thoughts finally found focus he heard something oddly out of place and also very familiar. Unsure if it was real, or maybe a dream he opened his eyes and pushed off the deck. Shaking off the fog of being knocked silly, Kyan saw that the fight was still ongoing. The cacophony of shouts, klanks of steel on steel and the whine of disruptors still swirled around him like a hurricane of chaos.

But now amid those sounds were the unmistakable humming skirl of bagpipes, joined by the quick staccato of snare drums. Kyan hauled himself to his feet and looked at the console. Apparently, the Challenger was broadcasting "œScotland the Brave". "œMusic ye can dance to an no fookin mistake either!" he thought, smiling. Then turning back to the melee behind him, the little Onlie brandished his punch dagger.

"œAlba gu brÁ th! You arse faced wankstains!" he gleefully shouted at the top of his lungs before leaping back into the fray.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

"œAlready on it, sir!"  Aarwendil said, while moving his hands across the console. As the Captain had ordered, the young Betazoid put the other warp core online and applied the output in the shields. If they were going to engage other ships, doing it would increase the Challenger's defenses.

The only thing that he didn't understand was why the Captain still wanted the song that sounded like agonizing animals to be blasted on all the channels. However, it seemed to help in the fight so far. He wasn't going to question this order. Aarwendil immediately made what he was ordered and soon "œScotland the Brave" was sounding in all the channels connected to the Challenger.

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

"œYes, ma'am." Sigurdsdottir didn't need to ask twice, Aarwendil was already working to find the location of the Discovery. He scanned the channel and located the ship.  "œFound it! Transmitting the information to you, ma'am."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian clutched the command chair tightly as the ship rocked from a particularly hard hit. He glanced at the display built into the chair and saw shields were still at 96% and regenerating, which made him smile.

"One day I am goin' ta have ta buy that Ferengi who designed these shields enough scotch ta float the HMS Victory."

When word came in that Discovery had been located, Ian perked up with an idea that was most unbecoming of a Starfleet officer.

"Sod the admiral, we may nae be cleared ta go look for the Discovery, but he dinnae say we couldn't stumble upon her."

Out loud, he ordered.

"Ops, signal the fleet our course is 242 mark 85 as able based on current threat assessment. Once you've done that, send a tight beam ta Discovery that we're on our way. Helm, thread the needle, best speed you can manage. T'Kel, continue what you are doin' blast us a passage."

The Challenger began a very careful dance in the direction of the Discovery, 'Scotland the Brave' still blaring out over all channels in defiance of the odds and the situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"yeah gotta second that Your problem is overconfidence! Never underestimate the good guys! That's us by the way! So you're right. I'm no ambassador but I fooled your buddy" M'nia said with a feral grin as she struggled against the tendrils. "You have us for the moment but it won't last!"

"Teeth can be pulled slimy!" M'nia said defiantly!
"Don't know who you are lady but I take ti you are on our side! Welcome to the party!"

"That's half your problem slimey. You don't believe what is obviously true! Commander, you alright?" M'nia said. "By the way, Nice shot! How did you hurt him?" she fired a shot from her disruptor that she had taken off one of the guards at the cold one  to see if that did anything. "I though blades didn't hurt them?"

:: Ops | Melok Nor ::

When the first jem'Hadar charged him, angled his kar'tarkin to deflect the downward strike to his right. Even with good form it was still jarring when the larger foe's blade "œclanked" off his own. Had the jem'Hadar been a little stronger, Kyan might have lost control of his weapon. As it was, he didn't, and was able to absorb the shock and took a step back, rotating his torso away from the attacking blade. As soon as the deflected blade finished its sparky slide down his own, he planted his foot and twisted forward, finding the right side of the jem'Hadar's belly.

The pointed end of the blade sank into the exposed midsection and the attacker gave a pained grunt as he stumbled forward. Kyan's blade emerged just under the ribcage. If it were a one on one fight, he'd have been able to turn and finish, but there was another jem'Hadar right behind the first one with the same idea. He had no time to put up an effective block. The soldier was coming overhead with the pointed end of his kar'tarkin aimed for a downward stabbing strike. The Onlie simultaneously stepped to his left and brought his right hand down the weapon to grip it like an ax. Then he swung at the attacker's right leg, forcing him to dodge mid-swing or have his leg taken out. He dodged the attack, but lost his balance for an instant. He caught himself but Kyan was behind him before he could turn himself to re-engage. No sooner than he turned his body to face his diminutive foe, a disruptor caught him full in the chest, knocking him back into the first jem'Hadar. Both fall to the ground.

Kyan saw that the disruptor had either knocked out the second jem'Hadar or killed him, either of which was fine. A quick glace around showed that the other jem'Hadar were engaged elsewhere. The first one was rising to his feet again so Kyan focused on him. Keeping an double-handed ax grip on the kar'tarkin, he make an overhead chop into the first jem'Hadar's back, burying the blade there. The foe let out a pain fueled yell and arched his back, staggering Kyan and sending him backwards. Kyan kept hold of the weapon and tried pulling it free but it was stuck.

The soldier whirled to face his attacker but Kyan kept ahold of the kar'tarkin and went along for the ride, his feet leaving the deck for a moment as he was hurled from side to side. His weight and refusal to release the kar'tarkin's handle had the effect of wrenching the buried blade and after a few thrashing turns, the jem'Hadar suddenly seized up and his legs gave out, sending the two of them to the deck in a heap.

Now atop the wounded soldier, Kyan released the handle and drew the punch dagger. He scrambled up his back and buried it in the back of the jem'Hadar's neck. He went limp instantly. Crawling off the carcass, he looked around and saw another jem'Hadar tackle Zhuk and both of them go to the deck.

Kyan crossed the distance to them and struck him in the side of the head with a series of left handed jabs, the dagger going full in on the last one. His body went limp atop the Caitain.

"œAnd that's us, even." Kyan grinned down at Zhuk.

Then he was flying.

He'd heard a yell from hehind him and felt big hands grabbing him. The next thing he knew he was airborne. His back hit hard against a console knocking the air from his lungs. Then he landed face down on the deck in front of the console. Time passed. He wasn't sure how much. When his thoughts finally found focus he heard something oddly out of place and also very familiar. Unsure if it was real, or maybe a dream he opened his eyes and pushed off the deck. Shaking off the fog of being knocked silly, Kyan saw that the fight was still ongoing. The cacophony of shouts, klanks of steel on steel and the whine of disruptors still swirled around him like a hurricane of chaos.

But now amid those sounds were the unmistakable humming skirl of bagpipes, joined by the quick staccato of snare drums. Kyan hauled himself to his feet and looked at the console. Apparently, the Challenger was broadcasting "œScotland the Brave". "œMusic ye can dance to an no fookin mistake either!" he thought, smiling. Then turning back to the melee behind him, the little Onlie brandished his punch dagger.

"œAlba gu brÁ th! You arse faced wankstains!" he gleefully shouted at the top of his lungs before leaping back into the fray.

[Ops - Melek Nor] - [Dr. Jessica Fellows]

Jess was beginning to get worn down by the length of the fight in Ops, no one had ever told her such a vicious battle could last so long. It felt like centuries had passed since the shooting started. She been firing nearly continuously in between her wild evasive maneuvers.

She'd heard of the ancient term 'no quarter given', but thought the concept was limited to equally ancient times. She was rapidly coming to the realization that no, the concept was very much still in service. She then heard an unfamiliar beeping and after finding cover, she saw her disruptor was down to just three more shots.

"Oh bloody hell!"

She muttered, a term she'd picked up from Ian and started to look for another weapon as with all the dead, dying, and wounded, there wasn't a shortage of options. She saw a rifle beside a dead Jem'Hadar and made a running dive to slide next to the body.

As her hand closed on the weapon, the 'dead Jem'Hadar' reanimated, being only stunned, which made Jess scream in a very un-Starfleet like manner as she tried to roll away from the Dominion soldier. Genetically bred for fighting, the Jem'Hadar was faster and grabbed the weapon at the same time. The two struggled over the particle rifle with the Jem'Hadar's greater strength making it clear to Jess that if she kept trying to use brute strength, she was going to lose the contest, so she took a chance.

She let go of the rifle with one hand and drove two fingers into the Jem'Hadar's left eye with all her might, sinking to the second knuckles just as she had done on the Cardassian previously. It turned out, Jess had discovered a virtually universal weakness that not even the vaunted Jem'Hadar could resist...their eyes were just as vulnerable as any other humanoid's.

The Jem'Hadar yelped in pain and for an instant, lost grip on the rifle and this allowed Jess to reach the trigger. It was her turn to yelp as the weapon's discharge was so close that she sustained burns to her torso that really, really hurt. Fortunately, the Jem'Hadar had taken the full brunt of the shot and this time was really most sincerely dead. Jess rolled away from the soldier's body cursing in several languages she'd picked up over her career before settling on.

"Owieowieowieowieowie! Dammit that hurts!"

Knowing despite only taking the muzzle blast of the weapon didn't lessen the fact that it hurt in the slightest and she remembered something from her Academy marksmanship instructor.

"When you hit a live target, it will experience the F.I.B.S. factor, this is a universal reaction that you are not immune to, so remember to shoot, and most importantly, hit first, because misses to not end fights."

As Jess lay curled up in the tiny bit of cover she found, she muttered.

"Fudge. I've been shot."

[Nira Said]

:: Ops | Melok Nor ::

Kyan had landed on his feet when the Changeling dropped him. Both feet. That mistake had driven the shrapnel further in and elicited a string of curses that might have peeled the paint off the bulkheads. In a moment of rage, the boy had yanked the whole thing out and thrown it across the room. He waited for the spurts of blood that would indicate he'd opened an artery but it never came. Instead it was a steady oozing of dark blood that indicated it wasn't arterial. He'd lose quite a bit, but it wouldn't kill him. And now he had his mobility back, albeit with the addition of a bloody footprint wherever he walked.

He and Zhuk had been working toward Nira and the Changeling since things had popped off properly, fighting through a few Cardassians and Jem Hadar. Kyan baseball slid between a Jem Hadar's legs and came up behind the Changeling, who was holding Nira. The Jem Hadar reached down for him, but was mauled by a blur of Caitian claws and fur for his troubles.

Kyan gave a pair of slashes with the Jem Hadar punch dagger.

"Told ya I'd see to ye." he offered as he stood back up and glanced around at the Jem Hadar reforming around he and Zhuk. "Ya great Snotter."

Kyan sheathed the punch dagger and picked up the kar'tarkin dropped by the Jem Hadar that Zhuk had mauled, testing it's balance. It was a bit heavier than he preferred, but still a better choice than the punch dagger for fighting the Jem Hadar who were all using the same weapon in these close quarters. His eyes shifted between the Changeling with Nira and the Jem Hadar surrounding himself and Zhuk. He adopted a wide, loose stance and gripped the kar'tarkin in a two handed defensive posture with one on the bottom of the pole and the other closer to the top, with the blade out.

"Arright boyos, come get some then!"

[Ops - Melek Nor] - [Dr. Jessica Fellows]

When the shooting started, Jess' Starfleet training kicked in and she alternated between wild dodges to avoid being hit, interspersed with quick shots from her disruptor fired with surgical precision. As she bobbed and weaved between shots, the illogical part of her brain became fixated on a single thought she knew made no sense but was stuck in her head and would not leave.

"So this is what the inside of a kaleidoscope looks like."

The compartment was alive with crossfire, screaming soldiers, and exploding panels. She might not have been a commando, but Jess found herself caught up in the rush of her first ever firefight. She was terrified and exhilarated at the same time and despite the fear, she knew the real danger here was not Sherem. Although she wouldn't mind being the one that wiped that smug expression off his face, no the threat was that pasty white blob of a Changling that was the threat and every chance she could manage it, she pumped shots into the Cold One. She didn't know a lot about Changling physiology, but she knew if she shot it enough, it would burst like an over ripe melon.

"yeah gotta second that Your problem is overconfidence! Never underestimate the good guys! That's us by the way! So you're right. I'm no ambassador but I fooled your buddy" M'nia said with a feral grin as she struggled against the tendrils. "You have us for the moment but it won't last!"

"Teeth can be pulled slimy!" M'nia said defiantly!
"Don't know who you are lady but I take ti you are on our side! Welcome to the party!"

"That's half your problem slimey. You don't believe what is obviously true! Commander, you alright?" M'nia said. "By the way, Nice shot! How did you hurt him?" she fired a shot from her disruptor that she had taken off one of the guards at the cold one  to see if that did anything. "I though blades didn't hurt them?"

[Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas, cover blown | Ops | Melek Nor | Panora System - in the Kuiper Belt | Badlands]

Zhukdra'shar was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of tendrils from the Changeling that suddenly had him and the rest of his team bound. He discharged a shot, though that was all he could do, and to make things worse, it had gone towards the wall after his body had suddenly been pushed against the wall, his offending hand bound by another tendril as he was squeezed by the ribs. Though he still did not feel them crack, he could feel the pressure increasing steadily... until a disruptor beam hit the Changeling on the equivalent of its shoulder.

It dropped them, an opportunity that Zhuk did not squander, as he began to fire with his own Cardassian phaser pistol, towards the Cardassians and Jem'Hadar that sought to protect Sherem and the Cold One. Nimbly dodging out of the way as the fire was returned to him, he still managed to get grazed in the thigh by one of the weapons of his enemies.

Fur-singed and burnt skin could be felt and seen by Zhuk, but that still did not stop him from charging in with his claws on his left hand to assist Kyan on his maneuver, as a Jem'Hadar closed in and tried to grab him. He turned the Jem'Hadar's face into ribbons as he hissed, the adrenaline still keeping him together and preventing him from focusing on the pain. When the Jem'Hadar proved to be too tough to desist from his attack from just that, and instead decked him with his fist, Zhuk proceeded to fire upon his chest. That placed him out of commission for good.

He groaned in pain as he stumbled back, noticing that Kyan had adopted a defensive stance with his weapon. He noticed the arrival of even more Jem'Hadar to assist the Changeling, and so, Zhuk proceeded to fire upon them, diving towards the floor, and close to a chair, to try and keep himself out of harm's way. As a Jem'Hadar came to slash him with a kar'takin, Zhuk proved to be nimbler as he rolled out of the way from the attack, before springing back up to his feet and aiming at his reptilian face twice.

"I shalt show you why it was a mistake not to surrender! Have at thee, you obstreperous bastards!"

As he went in to retrieve the kar'takin, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Doctor Fellows was doing quite well by herself as she fended off her attackers with a disruptor. He would have commented on her rather precise aim and tried to make a note of practicing with her later after all this was over in the shooting range, but another Jem'Hadar stormed his position with his polearm, just as he had managed to grab ahold of his new weapon.

Zhuk's reflexes proved effective, but his lack of training on such a weapon, and the fact that the Jem'Hadar outmatched him in strength, meant that he could barely shift to avoid the worst of the attack. Changing his intent, however, the Jem'Hadar outmaneuvered Zhuk as instead of stabbing his chest, he proceeded to cut at his right shoulder, before tackling Zhuk with full force, causing him to slam on the metal floor, hard.

:: Ops | Melok Nor ::

When the first jem'Hadar charged him, Kyan angled his kar'tarkin to deflect the downward strike to his right. Even with good form it was still jarring when the larger foe's blade "œclanked" off his own. Had the jem'Hadar been a little stronger, Kyan might have lost control of his weapon. As it was, he didn't, and was able to absorb the shock and took a step back, rotating his torso away from the attacking blade. As soon as the deflected blade finished its sparky slide down his own, he planted his foot and twisted forward, finding the right side of the jem'Hadar's belly.

The pointed end of the blade sank into the exposed midsection and the attacker gave a pained grunt as he stumbled forward. Kyan's blade emerged just under the ribcage. If it were a one on one fight, he'd have been able to turn and finish, but there was another jem'Hadar right behind the first one with the same idea. He had no time to put up an effective block. The soldier was coming overhead with the pointed end of his kar'tarkin aimed for a downward stabbing strike. The Onlie simultaneously stepped to his left and brought his right hand down the weapon to grip it like an ax. Then he swung at the attacker's right leg, forcing him to dodge mid-swing or have his leg taken out. He dodged the attack, but lost his balance for an instant. He caught himself but Kyan was behind him before he could turn himself to re-engage. No sooner than he turned his body to face his diminutive foe, a disruptor caught him full in the chest, knocking him back into the first jem'Hadar. Both fall to the ground.

Kyan saw that the disruptor had either knocked out the second jem'Hadar or killed him, either of which was fine. A quick glace around showed that the other jem'Hadar were engaged elsewhere. The first one was rising to his feet again so Kyan focused on him. Keeping an double-handed ax grip on the kar'tarkin, he make an overhead chop into the first jem'Hadar's back, burying the blade there. The foe let out a pain fueled yell and arched his back, staggering Kyan and sending him backwards. Kyan kept hold of the weapon and tried pulling it free but it was stuck.

The soldier whirled to face his attacker but Kyan kept ahold of the kar'tarkin and went along for the ride, his feet leaving the deck for a moment as he was hurled from side to side. His weight and refusal to release the kar'tarkin's handle had the effect of wrenching the buried blade and after a few thrashing turns, the jem'Hadar suddenly seized up and his legs gave out, sending the two of them to the deck in a heap.

Now atop the wounded soldier, Kyan released the handle and drew the punch dagger. He scrambled up his back and buried it in the back of the jem'Hadar's neck. He went limp instantly. Crawling off the carcass, he looked around and saw another jem'Hadar tackle Zhuk and both of them go to the deck.

Kyan crossed the distance to them and struck him in the side of the head with a series of left handed jabs, the dagger going full in on the last one. His body went limp atop the Caitain.

"œAnd that's us, even." Kyan grinned down at Zhuk.

Then he was flying.

He'd heard a yell from hehind him and felt big hands grabbing him. The next thing he knew he was airborne. His back hit hard against a console knocking the air from his lungs. Then he landed face down on the deck in front of the console. Time passed. He wasn't sure how much. When his thoughts finally found focus he heard something oddly out of place and also very familiar. Unsure if it was real, or maybe a dream he opened his eyes and pushed off the deck. Shaking off the fog of being knocked silly, Kyan saw that the fight was still ongoing. The cacophony of shouts, klanks of steel on steel and the whine of disruptors still swirled around him like a hurricane of chaos.

But now amid those sounds were the unmistakable humming skirl of bagpipes, joined by the quick staccato of snare drums. Kyan hauled himself to his feet and looked at the console. Apparently, the Challenger was broadcasting "œScotland the Brave". "œMusic ye can dance to an no fookin mistake either!" he thought, smiling. Then turning back to the melee behind him, the little Onlie brandished his punch dagger.

"œAlba gu brÁ th! You arse faced wankstains!" he gleefully shouted at the top of his lungs before leaping back into the fray.

[Ops - Melek Nor] - [Dr. Jessica Fellows]

Jess was beginning to get worn down by the length of the fight in Ops, no one had ever told her such a vicious battle could last so long. It felt like centuries had passed since the shooting started. She been firing nearly continuously in between her wild evasive maneuvers.

She'd heard of the ancient term 'no quarter given', but thought the concept was limited to equally ancient times. She was rapidly coming to the realization that no, the concept was very much still in service. She then heard an unfamiliar beeping and after finding cover, she saw her disruptor was down to just three more shots.

"Oh bloody hell!"

She muttered, a term she'd picked up from Ian and started to look for another weapon as with all the dead, dying, and wounded, there wasn't a shortage of options. She saw a rifle beside a dead Jem'Hadar and made a running dive to slide next to the body.

As her hand closed on the weapon, the 'dead Jem'Hadar' reanimated, being only stunned, which made Jess scream in a very un-Starfleet like manner as she tried to roll away from the Dominion soldier. Genetically bred for fighting, the Jem'Hadar was faster and grabbed the weapon at the same time. The two struggled over the particle rifle with the Jem'Hadar's greater strength making it clear to Jess that if she kept trying to use brute strength, she was going to lose the contest, so she took a chance.

She let go of the rifle with one hand and drove two fingers into the Jem'Hadar's left eye with all her might, sinking to the second knuckles just as she had done on the Cardassian previously. It turned out, Jess had discovered a virtually universal weakness that not even the vaunted Jem'Hadar could resist...their eyes were just as vulnerable as any other humanoid's.

The Jem'Hadar yelped in pain and for an instant, lost grip on the rifle and this allowed Jess to reach the trigger. It was her turn to yelp as the weapon's discharge was so close that she sustained burns to her torso that really, really hurt. Fortunately, the Jem'Hadar had taken the full brunt of the shot and this time was really most sincerely dead. Jess rolled away from the soldier's body cursing in several languages she'd picked up over her career before settling on.

"Owieowieowieowieowie! Dammit that hurts!"

Knowing despite only taking the muzzle blast of the weapon didn't lessen the fact that it hurt in the slightest and she remembered something from her Academy marksmanship instructor.

"When you hit a live target, it will experience the F.I.B.S. factor, this is a universal reaction that you are not immune to, so remember to shoot, and most importantly, hit first, because misses to not end fights."

As Jess lay curled up in the tiny bit of cover she found, she muttered.

"Fudge. I've been shot."

[Commander Nira Said | Ops | Melek Nor]

One of the officers behind cover had detected something.

"Sir, there's some kind of strange transmission detected. It's on a Federation frequency, but...I can't make sense of it."

He put it on and flinched at the sound of "Scotland the Brave." Indeed, many of the crowd was surprised by the sound before resuming the battle.

The Cold One had kept getting pumped with blasts, but all he did was cringe. If Jess had kept it up, he would've keeled as Changelings would've, but he could see where the fight was going. He dragged down Nira in a momentary cover, one of his trendrils wrapped around her neck, but it didn't seem tight or constricting, he had been weakened. But the leer on his face disturbed her as he let her go.

"We'll be meeting again, beautiful Nira," he said creepily. "You will be mine. Perhaps sooner than expected."

Then, with the press of a button, he beamed away. Nira looked up and tried to make for getting at the old man, but her path was impeded by the Elder from earlier...

"Perhaps we have met before," the Elder had said. "You fight like him."

"Yes, I do," snarled Nira. "I fight like my father. He sacrificed himself to let my mother get away...with me. And you killed him."

The Elder would've raised an eyebrow if he did. Nonetheless, she could see the spark of rectification in his eyes.

"Yes...a worthy opponent for a Betazoid," he said. "And you seem a formidable warrior as he is. It will be an honor to me to kill you."

"Of course you'd consider it an honor, you merciless bastard," spat Nira. "What you all call an honor everybody else in the galaxy considers bloody murder."

Nira's utmost hatred of Jem'Hadar came fully out when she spoke. The Elder had demonstrated why the Jem'Hadar make Klingons look like the Borg. They were merciless killing machines, in spite of their opinions of honor. They only cared about killing as efficiently as possible. At least, that was what the Founders had made them.

Nira looked over and saw Jess flinch at a bolt. She widened her eyes.

"Savar! See to Doctor Fellows! I'll handle the two fossils," she added, looking at the Elder. "Him and Sherem!"

The Elder curled his lips into a leer of savage delight. He drew a kar'tarkin of his own.

"Blade to blade," he said. "Better than the fists your father had. A better challenge."

But Nira had gotten a good look at blade. A bit of a polearm, he could have a lot of reach. However, where she felt confident were the spaces in the blade. Like the spaces in a bat'leth.

Hearing Zhuk's spouting a wordy insult in his Shakespearean English, Nira had to look around in surprise. "Obstre...?" But it was a mistake. Something in the corner of her eye made her whirl her head back to attention to the Elder. He charged and managed to pirouette, though not without getting nicked by the tip of the blade just near where Sherem had carved his brand into her. With one foot, she spun, and with the other, she kicked him just in the leg.

The howl of pain told Nira she had another advantage against him: He was an old man, in terms of Jem'Hadar. In spite of his muscle strength, his reflexes were a little slow and his bone structure had to be starting to weaken; in another year or two, he would've died peacefully in his old age.

But in Nira's opinion, the best way to meet a peaceful Jem'Hadar was to go back in time to long before the Founders corrupted their race.

He whirled around and Nira was upon him. She deflected his blade with her twin jimbayas, parried...and after the dangerous dance, with all the bolts blasting, she shoved him into the Prefect's office. With a swipe he made, she caught kar'tarkin in the spaces, hooking her blades into them, and stomped his foot. She may not have crushed it, but it was enough to get him in pain, and it distracted him enough to loosen his grip, and it made it all the more easier for Nira to get the hooked blade out of his hand, slamming it into the glass door, shattering the glass...and sending it flying back into Ops.

The Elder rushed to fetch the weapon, but Nira took advantage by plunging the blades into his back. She had a moment to give him the last words he will hear from her as she hissed in his ear:

"My father never did do this to you, did he? Well, I will. This is what he should've done, and the same with this!"

And she then withdrew the blades and brought them down on his neck, slicing his head clean off. Unlike the Changeling, it certainly didn't regrow.

She looked up in time to feel rumblings from the station and Rahab Sherem calling her troops.

"Everybody, to the turbolifts! We're getting out!"

She noticed Nira and called to her. "Commander, you best get your team assembled, get them ready for...!"

But it was cut short from the old man shooting Rahab in the shoulder, the beam from his disruptor in one hand burning a hole clean through her arm, and with a kar'tarkin in his other hand, he lunged forward and brought the blade into her stomach and out the small of her back.

"NO!"

Nira let out a scream and rushed to the crumpling Rahab and intercepted the old man's kar'tarkin before he could split her in two.

"Right in the stomach, where she bore me a backstabbing daughter," he snarled. "Appropriate, wouldn't you say?"

In her crouch, she pushed the polearm away from him and slashed his legs. The old man down for the time being behind a console, she got one arm around the wounded Rahab and dragged her to the turbolift.

"Away team, on me!" she shouted as she made to a console near the turbolift while the retreating troops kept on firing.

Meanwhile, Savar noticed the burn on Jess.

"Doesn't look to bad," he said with reassurance. "Don't worry, you'll get off the station. Here, I'll help you."

Acting as support for Jess, he saw Nira dragging Rahab and the rest of the team assembling. They made it over as the rumblings intensified.

[Nira Said]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian clutched the command chair tightly as the ship rocked from a particularly hard hit. He glanced at the display built into the chair and saw shields were still at 96% and regenerating, which made him smile.

"One day I am goin' ta have ta buy that Ferengi who designed these shields enough scotch ta float the HMS Victory."

When word came in that Discovery had been located, Ian perked up with an idea that was most unbecoming of a Starfleet officer.

"Sod the admiral, we may nae be cleared ta go look for the Discovery, but he dinnae say we couldn't stumble upon her."

Out loud, he ordered.

"Ops, signal the fleet our course is 242 mark 85 as able based on current threat assessment. Once you've done that, send a tight beam ta Discovery that we're on our way. Helm, thread the needle, best speed you can manage. T'Kel, continue what you are doin' blast us a passage."

The Challenger began a very careful dance in the direction of the Discovery, 'Scotland the Brave' still blaring out over all channels in defiance of the odds and the situation.

[Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Bridge | Deck One | USS Legacy NCC-75001-B]

In spite of the broadsiding, Gillespie could see from the tactical screens holographically built into his chair how the battle was going. The automated turrets from Melek Nor targeted and fired on, there would not have been any need for anybody on that Ops to keep on targeting, not with the notification sent from Rahab Sherem of her own boarding operating.

"Legacy to Valiant," he called. "Kira, do something aboot those turrets, our ships are having trouble bombarding!"

"On it," Kira acknowledged.

The idea of the bombardment was to have the bombarding ships cruise past and then had to turn back to give off another salvo. A bombardment formation designed so that no ship would stay still at any one instance, and every ship with a passing salvo lets off weapons free as best as possible. And plenty of times, they were sharing spaces with Cardassian ships, from Galors to Hutets to the occasional Ghemors. But he could see plenty of Akiras blow their payload toward the pylons and setting it ablaze, and they were still standing.

What's he got, adaptive armored plating nicked from the Borg? he thought in regards to that.

Then there's the Breen station to deal with. But that was another reason for the sauntering bombardment. Every ship passing underside had to shoot downward as well as upward.

"Sir," Tactical called. "The Challenger is breaking formation!"

He looked up to see the Challenger heading in a direction. He pursed his lips, he had a good idea what Galloway was doing, but he had no time.

"I'm going to have bloody choice words with him when he gets back from saving Discovery's arse." he snapped. "What's the status of the carrier?"

"We're going in circles around the big lug," called Tactical, amidst the rumbling. "We'll spin our way near Melek Nor soon. It's on fire, but still kicking."

[Admiral Kira Nerys | Bridge | Deck One | USS Valiant NCC-74210-B]

To Kira, this was bringing back memories, and not just of the Dominion War. The Valiant moved like a sub-impulse Raider, size notwithstanding. She had to admit, there was a difference: The Raiders could only ever annoy the bigger Cardassian ships, but she had seen ships advancing enough to when they could annoy their enemies to hell.

She was certainly impressed by how the small ships in the attack wings under her command moved. The new little Conestoga variants based on the Pre-Federation antiques moved may as well be diving birds to her, and the same with the swift little Apollos and Novas, the latter of which fitted for fast but hard combat. And as small as the Apollos looked, with two nacelles, one each above saucer behind the bridge, all their pulse firing made them forces to be reckoned with. It's partly why Kira took command of them. Nostalgia for the Bajoran Resistance.

"Admiral, Challenger's breaking formation!" Nuyu called from his station.

"On screen," requested Kira.

Indeed, she could see the Challenger heading off. Was it possible they found the Discovery?

"Do we go after them?" asked Captain Vaughn.

"No, Ulysses," Kira answered. "The Discovery's overdue, they'll see what happened. If for ill, maybe a rescue. I can respect that. But they're not going alone. Hail the Quagmire, the Shinobu, and the Eddington, inform their captains to accompany the Challenger."

Tactical got in the hailing frequencies, and Kira got the holo-screens displaying three ships in a row, the Duderstadt-class Quagmire, the Akira-class Shinobu, and the Sagan-class Eddington. She waited their call Lieutenant Tenmei dove the Valiant past a squad of Jem'Hadar fighters.

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Ops | Melek Nor]

One of the officers behind cover had detected something.

"Sir, there's some kind of strange transmission detected. It's on a Federation frequency, but...I can't make sense of it."

He put it on and flinched at the sound of "Scotland the Brave." Indeed, many of the crowd was surprised by the sound before resuming the battle.

The Cold One had kept getting pumped with blasts, but all he did was cringe. If Jess had kept it up, he would've keeled as Changelings would've, but he could see where the fight was going. He dragged down Nira in a momentary cover, one of his trendrils wrapped around her neck, but it didn't seem tight or constricting, he had been weakened. But the leer on his face disturbed her as he let her go.

"We'll be meeting again, beautiful Nira," he said creepily. "You will be mine. Perhaps sooner than expected."

Then, with the press of a button, he beamed away. Nira looked up and tried to make for getting at the old man, but her path was impeded by the Elder from earlier...

"Perhaps we have met before," the Elder had said. "You fight like him."

"Yes, I do," snarled Nira. "I fight like my father. He sacrificed himself to let my mother get away...with me. And you killed him."

The Elder would've raised an eyebrow if he did. Nonetheless, she could see the spark of rectification in his eyes.

"Yes...a worthy opponent for a Betazoid," he said. "And you seem a formidable warrior as he is. It will be an honor to me to kill you."

"Of course you'd consider it an honor, you merciless bastard," spat Nira. "What you all call an honor everybody else in the galaxy considers bloody murder."

Nira's utmost hatred of Jem'Hadar came fully out when she spoke. The Elder had demonstrated why the Jem'Hadar make Klingons look like the Borg. They were merciless killing machines, in spite of their opinions of honor. They only cared about killing as efficiently as possible. At least, that was what the Founders had made them.

Nira looked over and saw Jess flinch at a bolt. She widened her eyes.

"Savar! See to Doctor Fellows! I'll handle the two fossils," she added, looking at the Elder. "Him and Sherem!"

The Elder curled his lips into a leer of savage delight. He drew a kar'tarkin of his own.

"Blade to blade," he said. "Better than the fists your father had. A better challenge."

But Nira had gotten a good look at blade. A bit of a polearm, he could have a lot of reach. However, where she felt confident were the spaces in the blade. Like the spaces in a bat'leth.

Hearing Zhuk's spouting a wordy insult in his Shakespearean English, Nira had to look around in surprise. "Obstre...?" But it was a mistake. Something in the corner of her eye made her whirl her head back to attention to the Elder. He charged and managed to pirouette, though not without getting nicked by the tip of the blade just near where Sherem had carved his brand into her. With one foot, she spun, and with the other, she kicked him just in the leg.

The howl of pain told Nira she had another advantage against him: He was an old man, in terms of Jem'Hadar. In spite of his muscle strength, his reflexes were a little slow and his bone structure had to be starting to weaken; in another year or two, he would've died peacefully in his old age.

But in Nira's opinion, the best way to meet a peaceful Jem'Hadar was to go back in time to long before the Founders corrupted their race.

He whirled around and Nira was upon him. She deflected his blade with her twin jimbayas, parried...and after the dangerous dance, with all the bolts blasting, she shoved him into the Prefect's office. With a swipe he made, she caught kar'tarkin in the spaces, hooking her blades into them, and stomped his foot. She may not have crushed it, but it was enough to get him in pain, and it distracted him enough to loosen his grip, and it made it all the more easier for Nira to get the hooked blade out of his hand, slamming it into the glass door, shattering the glass...and sending it flying back into Ops.

The Elder rushed to fetch the weapon, but Nira took advantage by plunging the blades into his back. She had a moment to give him the last words he will hear from her as she hissed in his ear:

"My father never did do this to you, did he? Well, I will. This is what he should've done, and the same with this!"

And she then withdrew the blades and brought them down on his neck, slicing his head clean off. Unlike the Changeling, it certainly didn't regrow.

She looked up in time to feel rumblings from the station and Rahab Sherem calling her troops.

"Everybody, to the turbolifts! We're getting out!"

She noticed Nira and called to her. "Commander, you best get your team assembled, get them ready for...!"

But it was cut short from the old man shooting Rahab in the shoulder, the beam from his disruptor in one hand burning a hole clean through her arm, and with a kar'tarkin in his other hand, he lunged forward and brought the blade into her stomach and out the small of her back.

"NO!"

Nira let out a scream and rushed to the crumpling Rahab and intercepted the old man's kar'tarkin before he could split her in two.

"Right in the stomach, where she bore me a backstabbing daughter," he snarled. "Appropriate, wouldn't you say?"

In her crouch, she pushed the polearm away from him and slashed his legs. The old man down for the time being behind a console, she got one arm around the wounded Rahab and dragged her to the turbolift.

"Away team, on me!" she shouted as she made to a console near the turbolift while the retreating troops kept on firing.

Meanwhile, Savar noticed the burn on Jess.

"Doesn't look to bad," he said with reassurance. "Don't worry, you'll get off the station. Here, I'll help you."

Acting as support for Jess, he saw Nira dragging Rahab and the rest of the team assembling. They made it over as the rumblings intensified.

[Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Bridge | Deck One | USS Legacy NCC-75001-B]

In spite of the broadsiding, Gillespie could see from the tactical screens holographically built into his chair how the battle was going. The automated turrets from Melek Nor targeted and fired on, there would not have been any need for anybody on that Ops to keep on targeting, not with the notification sent from Rahab Sherem of her own boarding operating.

"Legacy to Valiant," he called. "Kira, do something aboot those turrets, our ships are having trouble bombarding!"

"On it," Kira acknowledged.

The idea of the bombardment was to have the bombarding ships cruise past and then had to turn back to give off another salvo. A bombardment formation designed so that no ship would stay still at any one instance, and every ship with a passing salvo lets off weapons free as best as possible. And plenty of times, they were sharing spaces with Cardassian ships, from Galors to Hutets to the occasional Ghemors. But he could see plenty of Akiras blow their payload toward the pylons and setting it ablaze, and they were still standing.

What's he got, adaptive armored plating nicked from the Borg? he thought in regards to that.

Then there's the Breen station to deal with. But that was another reason for the sauntering bombardment. Every ship passing underside had to shoot downward as well as upward.

"Sir," Tactical called. "The Challenger is breaking formation!"

He looked up to see the Challenger heading in a direction. He pursed his lips, he had a good idea what Galloway was doing, but he had no time.

"I'm going to have bloody choice words with him when he gets back from saving Discovery's arse." he snapped. "What's the status of the carrier?"

"We're going in circles around the big lug," called Tactical, amidst the rumbling. "We'll spin our way near Melek Nor soon. It's on fire, but still kicking."

[Admiral Kira Nerys | Bridge | Deck One | USS Valiant NCC-74210-B]

To Kira, this was bringing back memories, and not just of the Dominion War. The Valiant moved like a sub-impulse Raider, size notwithstanding. She had to admit, there was a difference: The Raiders could only ever annoy the bigger Cardassian ships, but she had seen ships advancing enough to when they could annoy their enemies to hell.

She was certainly impressed by how the small ships in the attack wings under her command moved. The new little Conestoga variants based on the Pre-Federation antiques moved may as well be diving birds to her, and the same with the swift little Apollos and Novas, the latter of which fitted for fast but hard combat. And as small as the Apollos looked, with two nacelles, one each above saucer behind the bridge, all their pulse firing made them forces to be reckoned with. It's partly why Kira took command of them. Nostalgia for the Bajoran Resistance.

"Admiral, Challenger's breaking formation!" Nuyu called from his station.

"On screen," requested Kira.

Indeed, she could see the Challenger heading off. Was it possible they found the Discovery?

"Do we go after them?" asked Captain Vaughn.

"No, Ulysses," Kira answered. "The Discovery's overdue, they'll see what happened. If for ill, maybe a rescue. I can respect that. But they're not going alone. Hail the Quagmire, the Shinobu, and the Eddington, inform their captains to accompany the Challenger."

Tactical got in the hailing frequencies, and Kira got the holo-screens displaying three ships in a row, the Duderstadt-class Quagmire, the Akira-class Shinobu, and the Sagan-class Eddington. She waited their call Lieutenant Tenmei dove the Valiant past a squad of Jem'Hadar fighters.

[Ops - Melek Nor]

Jess hissed in pain as Savar pulled her to her feet and when he commented that her wounds weren't serious, she snapped.

"Easy for you to say, from my point of view it's bad enough!"

Angry as she might have been, she did lean on Savar as they made their way toward the turbolift and hopefully to soon leave the station which was clearly not doing well going by the rumblings that were getting louder.

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian saw the three ships joining him and figured he'd have to answer for his actions, but he was committed to this course of action. Checking the display on the command chair, he figured he could plead they were at the within their assigned sector, just the very edge of that sector and that evasive maneuvers had taken them this direction. Noting the names of the three ships moving to support them, Ian ordered.

"Ops, signal the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington ta form a defensive screen ta protect
Discovery. Also signal Discovery ta take up position in the center of our formation."

[Renley Banwell]

Sickbay was organized chaos.  The medical staff were well-trained, and well-prepared yet still the tension of the renewed battle so close on the heels of the first skirmish, didn't give the staff any time to rest.   It seemed they had just finished treating the first round of wounded, when the intercoms sounded the wailing so that damned bagpipe tune.

Chloe wished he had the authority to just shut off the sound but since it was coming from the bridge it took a Lieutenant or higher to mute it... the most she could do was order the volume down, which she had.

Now she was headed back to assist with triaging up front when in her hurry she approached a corner without glancing towards the corner-mirror, and ended colliding with another staff member... but this one it took a moment to place the name for... he was one of the new crewmembers that came on at DS9 a few days earlier but he'd been assigned a different rotation than her.

His introduction provided her with the name she'd been wondering about.

"Junior Lieutenant Chloe Davis...  Head Nurse... and the fault was mine.  I didn't check the mirror first before approaching the corner... rookie mistake." she replied back before continuing.  "Glad to see you reporting in Ensign.  Two of our doctors, the CMO...Dr. Fellows and Dr. Nural, both somehow got assigned to the Away Mission, so we're down two doctors."

She guided him back towards the triage area and began provisioning him with the necessary gear for his medkit.  "Do you have a medical specialty or can you be assigned to any medical condition or trauma?"

Renley gathered the essentials from nurse Chloe and looked up at her. His medkit was fully stocked with everything he could need.  "My mother always taught me that specializing in something is cheating yourself out of other experiences. Renley said with a smile on his face. "Every challenge is a new opportunity. Just put me where I'm needed." Looking around sickbay there was a lot to take in, doctors and nurses moving from room to room. No one was panicking just a real sense of urgency. Everyone was well trained, and it showed.

Seeing as the ship was a bit short handed with two of the doctors away on a mission. Renley was eager to jump in wherever the need was greatest. The feeling of being on a starship was invigorating. The opportunity to see new species was almost more than Renley could stand. There looked to be some patients coming in from all over the ship with varying degrees of injuries.

"Can we expect it to get much worse?" Renley said to nurse Chloe with a hint of panic in his voice as he followed her lead. One thing that Renley had learned with all the time around the hospitals his mother worked in was that the nurses truly had their fingers on the pulse.

[M'Nia]

[Commander Nira Said | Ops | Melek Nor]

The howl of pain told Nira she had another advantage against him: He was an old man, in terms of Jem'Hadar. In spite of his muscle strength, his reflexes were a little slow and his bone structure had to be starting to weaken; in another year or two, he would've died peacefully in his old age.

But in Nira's opinion, the best way to meet a peaceful Jem'Hadar was to go back in time to long before the Founders corrupted their race.

He whirled around and Nira was upon him. She deflected his blade with her twin jimbayas, parried...and after the dangerous dance, with all the bolts blasting, she shoved him into the Prefect's office. With a swipe he made, she caught kar'tarkin in the spaces, hooking her blades into them, and stomped his foot. She may not have crushed it, but it was enough to get him in pain, and it distracted him enough to loosen his grip, and it made it all the more easier for Nira to get the hooked blade out of his hand, slamming it into the glass door, shattering the glass...and sending it flying back into Ops.

The Elder rushed to fetch the weapon, but Nira took advantage by plunging the blades into his back. She had a moment to give him the last words he will hear from her as she hissed in his ear:

"My father never did do this to you, did he? Well, I will. This is what he should've done, and the same with this!"

And she then withdrew the blades and brought them down on his neck, slicing his head clean off. Unlike the Changeling, it certainly didn't regrow.

M'nia saw the decapitation and it rattled her a bit. She had never seen anything like that

She looked up in time to feel rumblings from the station and Rahab Sherem calling her troops.

"Everybody, to the turbolifts! We're getting out!"

She noticed Nira and called to her. "Commander, you best get your team assembled, get them ready for...!"

But it was cut short from the old man shooting Rahab in the shoulder, the beam from his disruptor in one hand burning a hole clean through her arm, and with a kar'tarkin in his other hand, he lunged forward and brought the blade into her stomach and out the small of her back.

"NO!"

Nira let out a scream and rushed to the crumpling Rahab and intercepted the old man's kar'tarkin before he could split her in two.

"Right in the stomach, where she bore me a backstabbing daughter," he snarled. "Appropriate, wouldn't you say?"

In her crouch, she pushed the polearm away from him and slashed his legs. The old man down for the time being behind a console, she got one arm around the wounded Rahab and dragged her to the turbolift.

"Away team, on me!" she shouted as she made to a console near the turbolift while the retreating troops kept on firing.

Meanwhile, Savar noticed the burn on Jess.

"Doesn't look to bad," he said with reassurance. "Don't worry, you'll get off the station. Here, I'll help you."

Acting as support for Jess, he saw Nira dragging Rahab and the rest of the team assembling. They made it over as the rumblings intensified.

M'nia summoned up her fortitude and headed to the turbolift. "Let me help you!" she helped with Rahab. "Lousy creep! Don't worry. The doc will get you fixed up soon. She's one of the best I hear!" she said trying to put on a cheerful demenor.  Zook, kyan, come one! Molly,savar, let's go!"'

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lieutenant Kyan Mackenzie | Ops | Melek Nor]

((Concurrent with the Events of Nira's post))

The young jem'Hadar's eyes were filled with the arrogance of youth. A smirk played at the corner of his mouth as he considered the small opponent before him. He knew that he was a superior warrior. He'd long thought himself the best fighter in his unit, and nothing thus far had shown him reason to doubt it. He had only had a handful of matches against his comrades in the training pit, but he'd won all of them. This would be no different. And after today, he'd be promoted. His First was dead, as was the Second. He didn't know about the Third, but considering that he'd beaten him in training, why would they promote him. And he was probably killed anyway.

It was his first real battle, and thus far he'd aquitted himself well. He hadn't gotten any kills personally, but he'd assisted others. During the fray, he'd gone into the prefect's office to see if it was clear. Seeing no one, he turned to leave but stopped. Kneeling in front of him over a dead Cardassian was a human child. He'd missed him on the way in. The First would not have been pleased about such a lapse in concentration. But he was dead, and Arak'agar was about to get his first solo kill in battle. He adjusted his grip on the kar'tarkin. From what he could tell,  the little human had dispatched the Cardassian soldier from behind. The Cardassian never even saw him. "œYou fight like a coward."  The jem'Hadar offered as a greeting. "œYou Humans are so weak."

The boy rose to his full height, jerking the punch dagger out of the Cardsassian and glancing at it before narrowing his eyes at the jem'Hadar. "œFirstly, I'm not a Human." Kyan answered pointedly. "œAnd for second"¦ wait." Kyan looked the young jem'Hadar up and down, appraising him. "How old are ye the now anyways? Ye canne be more den two or tree?"

Arak'agar bristled at that. "œI am four years old, and have seen many"¦"

"œYer a wee bairn ye are!" Kyan laughed.

"œI am a jem'Hadar warrior!"

"œYa sure." Kyan nodded with a laugh. "œYer all jem'Hadar warriors so ye are, but"¦."

The jem'Hadar interrupted him. He wasn't accustomed to talking to his enemies, and definitely not used to them laughing at him. At a loss for words, he paused and then  asked a little too plaintively "œWell how old are you?

Kyan shrugged. "œSure and I dinnae keep track. Once ye hit four hundred it's a lot of math."

Shock replaced the arrogance in Arak'agar's expression. "œFour"¦"¦"

"œHundred, aye. Probably getting close on tae four fifty." Kyan chirped. "œAnd the secret is dat for every enemy killed off, the Powers let me skip getting older for a year. Probably skipped ten or fifteen years just off today. Sure an they might gimme two fer that big Cardie!"

"œYou were the one that killed Melot?"

Kyan gave a cheeky, self satisfied grin and nodded. "œAye, got him good and proper so, Got him with this." He raised the punch dagger. "œYous guys know how tae make a good weapon so ya do."

Arak'agar almost didn't believe him. After all, he had seen the giant Cardassian in action. To say that he, and the other jem'Hadar were impressed would be an understatement. And this one beat him? Several seconds went by before he spoke again. "œI"¦. I could kill you."

Kyan raised an eyebrow. "œAre ye sure?"

The jem'Hadar nodded. "œI am not a Cardassian, I am jem'Hadar wa"¦.."

"œAye"¦ yer a jem'Hadar warrior so ya are. Big and strong and blah blah blah. Victory is life"¦ whatever." Kyan was getting impatient. "œSo have at it then ya wee sprout. Come an kill me then." Although he was goading the jem'Hadar, he didn't change his posture, which was casual; hands down, feet shoulder width apart. He could get to a stance quick enough, but this was interesting. And honestly, he'd never spoken to a jem'Hadar for this long before.

"œI will."

Kyan gave him a questioning look. "œToday?"

"œStop talking!"

Kyan grinned. "œOh right! Sorry boyo. I'll let ye work up to it. You just hauls your horny toad arse over here and take a swing when yer ready. Just"¦ I don't have all day so"¦ hurry up."

Arak'akar frowned. "œI will kill you on my own terms! You do not dictate to me.."

"œWhat's your name baby jem'Hadar?" Kyan asked, casually leaning back against a table on the wall by the door.

This further confused him. "œMy"¦name.."

Kyan nodded slowly. "œYea boyo"¦ I'm Kyan, Kyan Mackenzie. And you are"¦.?"

"œWhy is that important?"

Kyan shrugged. "œS'not. I just figured you'd like to know the name of someone you might get around tae killing something soon, and I could know yours. So when ya kill me, I can tell the Powers who done it."

"œMy name is Arak'agar!" the young soldier replied. "œAnd now you will die!"

"Away team, on me!" she shouted as she made to a console near the turbolift while the retreating troops kept on firing.

Kyan glanced back to see the Challenger's away team heading for the turbo lifts. When he turned back toward Arak'agar the young soldier hadn't moved. This was definitely weird. A hesitant jem'Hadar wasn't something he was expecting. But honestly, he was getting pretty worn out from running around and fighting all day so it was a welcome weirdness.

He smiled over at him. "œWell Sprout'agar, looks like ye missed yer chance tae slay me so. Me boss says I gotta go home the now."

"œRunning like a coward!" the jem'Hadar jeered, a hint of the old arrogance coming back.

"œYeah, sure." Kyan shrugged dismissively. Then with a cheeky grin, "œMaybe we can set something up in the future. Have yer Vorta call ahead tae see if'n I can come over tae play ok?"

Arak'agar's answer was lost to him, if he even answered at all, as he ducked out of the office and headed toward the lift, stepping over the bodies of fallen Cardassians and jem'Hadar. More than once he stopped to collect a kar'tarkin or a punch dagger still in it's sheath on a jem'Hadar corpse. He was bending down to grab a Cardassian disruptor rifle when M'nia's voice rang out.

Zhuk, Kyan, come one! Molly, Savar, let's go!"'

He scooped up the rifle and got over to the lift as the others were getting on. He'd collected three kar'tarkins and two more punch daggers, as well as a pair of Cardassian disruptors; a pistol version and a rifle; which was slung on his back. Kyan had stuffed the punch daggers in his pockets still in their sheaths.

"œHad'ta get some spoils before we blow the place up so I did!" he offered, looking up at the assembled teams. "œNever know when we'll get the chance again so we don't!"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[OOC - Apologies for skipping quotes, I'm having a lousy weekend.  You can have a post that is halfway decent or you can have quotes LOL]

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO: Bridge - Challenger A]

Ruth chucked.... 'Doberman Pinchers it is then!' she thought to herself.  Gratified that Aarwendil had managed to find the Discovery and sent over a quick smile of thanks.  Her friends were on that ship, so it was personal to her as well as just professional duty.

"Thank you, Ensign, I'm most grateful.  Discovery is a special ship with special people aboard, not least some of the finist boffins I ever boffed with!" she grinned with a wink at Ian.

Humming along to the bagpipes she found herself rolling automatically with the helm's movements and trying to determine if this was a 36 or a 40 bar reel she was trying to stop her feet taping to.

Her eyes flicking between her console and the viewfinder she was relieved when she saw the Melek Nor was hit, but hit didn't mean dead in the sky so to speak it needed finished off.... and the Discovery had been found.

Knowing Ian had previously been the XO on the Discovery, so presumably he would still have favourable relations with the Tekins and the Discovery, the CSO let out an audible sigh of relief when she heard Ian order the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington to form around Discovery.

"Thank you, Ian" she mouthed over at the command chair, and sent a message to his arm PADD.  'Hope you feel it's worth the bolloxing you're going to get off Gillespie.  You can blame me if you need to, but I stand by it was the right decision to break formation and save our friends.  Now let's go kill that bloody Melek Nor.  Might I suggest 'Who Let the Dogs Out?' for this section... y'know those dogs of war.'

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian saw the three ships joining him and figured he'd have to answer for his actions, but he was committed to this course of action. Checking the display on the command chair, he figured he could plead they were at the within their assigned sector, just the very edge of that sector and that evasive maneuvers had taken them this direction. Noting the names of the three ships moving to support them, Ian ordered.

"Ops, signal the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington ta form a defensive screen ta protect
Discovery. Also signal Discovery ta take up position in the center of our formation."

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

"œYes, sir!" Aarwendil said, before moving to send a message to the ships. As the Captain had instructed him, the young Betazoid informed them that they should take position in the center of the formation. As soon as the message arrived, the crew would be able to see the ships moving.

While it happened, the Ensign wondered what the crew of the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington thought of the song that the Discovered had  blasted through the channels. Would the humans there appreciate it like the Captain? Or would they think that hearing an agonizing animal scream was bizarre to listen to during a battle?

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Ops | Melek Nor]

One of the officers behind cover had detected something.

"Sir, there's some kind of strange transmission detected. It's on a Federation frequency, but...I can't make sense of it."

He put it on and flinched at the sound of "Scotland the Brave." Indeed, many of the crowd was surprised by the sound before resuming the battle.

The Cold One had kept getting pumped with blasts, but all he did was cringe. If Jess had kept it up, he would've keeled as Changelings would've, but he could see where the fight was going. He dragged down Nira in a momentary cover, one of his trendrils wrapped around her neck, but it didn't seem tight or constricting, he had been weakened. But the leer on his face disturbed her as he let her go.

"We'll be meeting again, beautiful Nira," he said creepily. "You will be mine. Perhaps sooner than expected."

Then, with the press of a button, he beamed away. Nira looked up and tried to make for getting at the old man, but her path was impeded by the Elder from earlier...

"Perhaps we have met before," the Elder had said. "You fight like him."

"Yes, I do," snarled Nira. "I fight like my father. He sacrificed himself to let my mother get away...with me. And you killed him."

The Elder would've raised an eyebrow if he did. Nonetheless, she could see the spark of rectification in his eyes.

"Yes...a worthy opponent for a Betazoid," he said. "And you seem a formidable warrior as he is. It will be an honor to me to kill you."

"Of course you'd consider it an honor, you merciless bastard," spat Nira. "What you all call an honor everybody else in the galaxy considers bloody murder."

Nira's utmost hatred of Jem'Hadar came fully out when she spoke. The Elder had demonstrated why the Jem'Hadar make Klingons look like the Borg. They were merciless killing machines, in spite of their opinions of honor. They only cared about killing as efficiently as possible. At least, that was what the Founders had made them.

Nira looked over and saw Jess flinch at a bolt. She widened her eyes.

"Savar! See to Doctor Fellows! I'll handle the two fossils," she added, looking at the Elder. "Him and Sherem!"

The Elder curled his lips into a leer of savage delight. He drew a kar'tarkin of his own.

"Blade to blade," he said. "Better than the fists your father had. A better challenge."

But Nira had gotten a good look at blade. A bit of a polearm, he could have a lot of reach. However, where she felt confident were the spaces in the blade. Like the spaces in a bat'leth.

Hearing Zhuk's spouting a wordy insult in his Shakespearean English, Nira had to look around in surprise. "Obstre...?" But it was a mistake. Something in the corner of her eye made her whirl her head back to attention to the Elder. He charged and managed to pirouette, though not without getting nicked by the tip of the blade just near where Sherem had carved his brand into her. With one foot, she spun, and with the other, she kicked him just in the leg.

The howl of pain told Nira she had another advantage against him: He was an old man, in terms of Jem'Hadar. In spite of his muscle strength, his reflexes were a little slow and his bone structure had to be starting to weaken; in another year or two, he would've died peacefully in his old age.

But in Nira's opinion, the best way to meet a peaceful Jem'Hadar was to go back in time to long before the Founders corrupted their race.

He whirled around and Nira was upon him. She deflected his blade with her twin jimbayas, parried...and after the dangerous dance, with all the bolts blasting, she shoved him into the Prefect's office. With a swipe he made, she caught kar'tarkin in the spaces, hooking her blades into them, and stomped his foot. She may not have crushed it, but it was enough to get him in pain, and it distracted him enough to loosen his grip, and it made it all the more easier for Nira to get the hooked blade out of his hand, slamming it into the glass door, shattering the glass...and sending it flying back into Ops.

The Elder rushed to fetch the weapon, but Nira took advantage by plunging the blades into his back. She had a moment to give him the last words he will hear from her as she hissed in his ear:

"My father never did do this to you, did he? Well, I will. This is what he should've done, and the same with this!"

And she then withdrew the blades and brought them down on his neck, slicing his head clean off. Unlike the Changeling, it certainly didn't regrow.

She looked up in time to feel rumblings from the station and Rahab Sherem calling her troops.

"Everybody, to the turbolifts! We're getting out!"

She noticed Nira and called to her. "Commander, you best get your team assembled, get them ready for...!"

But it was cut short from the old man shooting Rahab in the shoulder, the beam from his disruptor in one hand burning a hole clean through her arm, and with a kar'tarkin in his other hand, he lunged forward and brought the blade into her stomach and out the small of her back.

"NO!"

Nira let out a scream and rushed to the crumpling Rahab and intercepted the old man's kar'tarkin before he could split her in two.

"Right in the stomach, where she bore me a backstabbing daughter," he snarled. "Appropriate, wouldn't you say?"

In her crouch, she pushed the polearm away from him and slashed his legs. The old man down for the time being behind a console, she got one arm around the wounded Rahab and dragged her to the turbolift.

"Away team, on me!" she shouted as she made to a console near the turbolift while the retreating troops kept on firing.

Meanwhile, Savar noticed the burn on Jess.

"Doesn't look to bad," he said with reassurance. "Don't worry, you'll get off the station. Here, I'll help you."

Acting as support for Jess, he saw Nira dragging Rahab and the rest of the team assembling. They made it over as the rumblings intensified.

[Turbolift - Melek Nor] - [Dr. Jessica Fellows]

Jess leaned against Savar and gritted her teeth against the pain of the disruptor burn. She was content to stay in that position until they beamed out, until Nira made it to the turbolift dragging the severely wounded Rahab into the car. At that point, her own pain was secondary to treating someone else's. She pulled free of Savar and knelt next to the Cardassian woman and began applying pressure to the abdominal wound and shouted.

"I need a dressing! Anything you have a sleeve off of your uniform will do. I have to stop this bleeding!"

Jess' eyes met those of Nira's and she added.

"I have to get her to a sickbay or she's not going to make it!"

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

[OOC - Apologies for skipping quotes, I'm having a lousy weekend.  You can have a post that is halfway decent or you can have quotes LOL]

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO: Bridge - Challenger A]

Ruth chucked.... 'Doberman Pinchers it is then!' she thought to herself.  Gratified that Aarwendil had managed to find the Discovery and sent over a quick smile of thanks.  Her friends were on that ship, so it was personal to her as well as just professional duty.

"Thank you, Ensign, I'm most grateful.  Discovery is a special ship with special people aboard, not least some of the finist boffins I ever boffed with!" she grinned with a wink at Ian.

Humming along to the bagpipes she found herself rolling automatically with the helm's movements and trying to determine if this was a 36 or a 40 bar reel she was trying to stop her feet taping to.

Her eyes flicking between her console and the viewfinder she was relieved when she saw the Melek Nor was hit, but hit didn't mean dead in the sky so to speak it needed finished off.... and the Discovery had been found.

Knowing Ian had previously been the XO on the Discovery, so presumably he would still have favourable relations with the Tekins and the Discovery, the CSO let out an audible sigh of relief when she heard Ian order the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington to form around Discovery.

"Thank you, Ian" she mouthed over at the command chair, and sent a message to his arm PADD.  'Hope you feel it's worth the bolloxing you're going to get off Gillespie.  You can blame me if you need to, but I stand by it was the right decision to break formation and save our friends.  Now let's go kill that bloody Melek Nor.  Might I suggest 'Who Let the Dogs Out?' for this section... y'know those dogs of war.'

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian sucked in a breath when he got a good look at Discovery's damage and hoped the casualties didn't match what the ship looked like. He'd never seen Discovery looking so broken before and it pained him to his core to think about what she'd been through.

"Bloody hell, she's paid the devil this day."

He muttered. The command chair pinged and Ian read Ruth's message, which, despite how he was feeling, made him bark a short chuckle.

"A bollickin' is the least of my worries. Ops, contact Discovery and see if'n they need repair crews or medical assistance. Let them ken our sickbay is at their disposal."

As the small task force was on the outer edge of the battle, things had quieted down marginally, they were still taking occasional fire, but if any Breen ship dared to get to close, they were met by the combined firepower of four Starfleet ships and considering one of those ships was an Akira, which could lay down a barrage of twelve torpedoes on any axis, the Breen only tried to attack the squadron once and paid for it with the loss of two cruisers reduced to rapidly cooling plasma. Content the battle was under control, Ian hit the comm on the command chair.

"Bridge ta sickbay, stand by ta receive critical casualties and make arrangements ta form an away team should Discovery ask for help."

Looking at the larger battle, Melek Nor was looked decidedly the worse for wear and that made Ian cringe and growl.

"Come on Nira, evacuate, you nae have much time."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck Five - Corridor 5B73-2 (Damage Control Team One)]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian clutched the command chair tightly as the ship rocked from a particularly hard hit. He glanced at the display built into the chair and saw shields were still at 96% and regenerating, which made him smile.

"One day I am goin' ta have ta buy that Ferengi who designed these shields enough scotch ta float the HMS Victory."

Listening in while he worked on doing assigned repairs,  Lahr couldn't help but chuckle at the Captain's words.  The Andorian made a mental note to forward on that comment to Lek on the Discovery.

When word came in that Discovery had been located, Ian perked up with an idea that was most unbecoming of a Starfleet officer.

"Sod the admiral, we may nae be cleared ta go look for the Discovery, but he dinnae say we couldn't stumble upon her."

Out loud, he ordered.

"Ops, signal the fleet our course is 242 mark 85 as able based on current threat assessment. Once you've done that, send a tight beam ta Discovery that we're on our way. Helm, thread the needle, best speed you can manage. T'Kel, continue what you are doin' blast us a passage."

The Challenger began a very careful dance in the direction of the Discovery, 'Scotland the Brave' still blaring out over all channels in defiance of the odds and the situation.

Lahr's grin got wider when the Captain, defying orders, altered course to intercept with the Discovery.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian saw the three ships joining him and figured he'd have to answer for his actions, but he was committed to this course of action. Checking the display on the command chair, he figured he could plead they were at the within their assigned sector, just the very edge of that sector and that evasive maneuvers had taken them this direction. Noting the names of the three ships moving to support them, Ian ordered.

"Ops, signal the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington ta form a defensive screen ta protect
Discovery. Also signal Discovery ta take up position in the center of our formation."

However, it was unexpected to hear that other ships had been sent along to assist.

It didn't take long to arrive at Discovery's position, now that they knew where she was.

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

"œYes, sir!" Aarwendil said, before moving to send a message to the ships. As the Captain had instructed him, the young Betazoid informed them that they should take position in the center of the formation. As soon as the message arrived, the crew would be able to see the ships moving.

While it happened, the Ensign wondered what the crew of the Quagmire, Shinobu, and the Eddington thought of the song that the Challenger had blasted through the channels. Would the humans there appreciate it like the Captain? Or would they think that hearing an agonizing animal scream was bizarre to listen to during a battle?

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian sucked in a breath when he got a good look at Discovery's damage and hoped the casualties didn't match what the ship looked like. He'd never seen Discovery looking so broken before and it pained him to his core to think about what she'd been through.

"Bloody hell, she's paid the devil this day."

He muttered. The command chair pinged and Ian read Ruth's message, which, despite how he was feeling, made him bark a short chuckle.

"A bollickin' is the least of my worries. Ops, contact Discovery and see if'n they need repair crews or medical assistance. Let them ken our sickbay is at their disposal."

As the small task force was on the outer edge of the battle, things had quieted down marginally, they were still taking occasional fire, but if any Breen ship dared to get to close, they were met by the combined firepower of four Starfleet ships and considering one of those ships was an Akira, which could lay down a barrage of twelve torpedoes on any axis, the Breen only tried to attack the squadron once and paid for it with the loss of two cruisers reduced to rapidly cooling plasma. Content the battle was under control, Ian hit the comm on the command chair.

"Bridge ta sickbay, stand by ta receive critical casualties and make arrangements ta form an away team should Discovery ask for help."

Looking at the larger battle, Melek Nor was looked decidedly the worse for wear and that made Ian cringe and growl.

"Come on Nira, evacuate, you nae have much time."

Still working on the repair work he and Damage Control Team One had been assigned, Lahr hearing the Captain's muttered comment, wished he could pause to glance at his PADD to see for himself the damage done, but there was no time for that.  Especially not if he wanted to be done his repair in time to maybe be assigned to the assisting away team that Captain spoke of.

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 7 - Sickbay]

Renley gathered the essentials from nurse Chloe and looked up at her. His medkit was fully stocked with everything he could need.  "My mother always taught me that specializing in something is cheating yourself out of other experiences. Renley said with a smile on his face. "Every challenge is a new opportunity. Just put me where I'm needed." Looking around sickbay there was a lot to take in, doctors and nurses moving from room to room. No one was panicking just a real sense of urgency. Everyone was well trained, and it showed.

Seeing as the ship was a bit short handed with two of the doctors away on a mission. Renley was eager to jump in wherever the need was greatest. The feeling of being on a starship was invigorating. The opportunity to see new species was almost more than Renley could stand. There looked to be some patients coming in from all over the ship with varying degrees of injuries.

"Can we expect it to get much worse?" Renley said to nurse Chloe with a hint of panic in his voice as he followed her lead. One thing that Renley had learned with all the time around the hospitals his mother worked in was that the nurses truly had their fingers on the pulse.

Chloe busy though she was, had the time to give the doctor an appreciative smile at his mother's wisdom.  She assigned Dr. Banwell to deal with the next serious case.  Minor injuries, aka the walking wounded - were being handled by the junior nurses and required little more than time with a dermal regeneration.   But the serious injuries would require time in a biobed to sort out the internal injuries or mend the broken bones.

As head nurse, Chloe made excellent use of her staff.   No sooner had one patient been seen to and dismissed to either return to work or sent to recovery, than Chloe was directing another patient towards that doctor or nurse.   Her sickbay though it looked like chaos, had an order to it.

Dr. Banwell's question was a difficult one to answer.  It all depended on how long the battle went on and how fierce the fighting got.  She shrugged.  "Unfortunately, things can always get worse, so you do the best you can with what you got at the moment."

Though she'd lost count as to how many patients their department had seen today, each patient they couldn't save weighed on her.

When the Captain's voice sounded throughout Sickbay, Chloe didn't pause in her triaging.   She glanced over to Dr. Banwell, and head nodded towards the intercom.  Clearly indicating for him to 'answer that' on behalf of the department.    She did a quick assessment of the available doctors and how far along in their current treatments they were.

"Tell the Captain, we can spare 3 medics as an away team." She'd downsize the recovery ward care to provide the personnel. 

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Ops | Melek Nor | Panora System - in the Kuiper Belt | Badlands]

Kyan crossed the distance to them and struck him in the side of the head with a series of left handed jabs, the dagger going full in on the last one. His body went limp atop the Caitain.

"œAnd that's us, even." Kyan grinned down at Zhuk.

Then he was flying.

He'd heard a yell from hehind him and felt big hands grabbing him. The next thing he knew he was airborne. His back hit hard against a console knocking the air from his lungs. Then he landed face down on the deck in front of the console. Time passed. He wasn't sure how much. When his thoughts finally found focus he heard something oddly out of place and also very familiar. Unsure if it was real, or maybe a dream he opened his eyes and pushed off the deck. Shaking off the fog of being knocked silly, Kyan saw that the fight was still ongoing. The cacophony of shouts, klanks of steel on steel and the whine of disruptors still swirled around him like a hurricane of chaos.

But now amid those sounds were the unmistakable humming skirl of bagpipes, joined by the quick staccato of snare drums. Kyan hauled himself to his feet and looked at the console. Apparently, the Challenger was broadcasting "œScotland the Brave". "œMusic ye can dance to an no fookin mistake either!" he thought, smiling. Then turning back to the melee behind him, the little Onlie brandished his punch dagger.

Zhuk's eyes saw double, no, triple when he came to be. His ears rang, and he felt nauseous, yet he was still aware enough to gaze at the Jem'Hadar preparing to give him the coup of grace as he loomed above him. His hand moved to try and fire with his disruptor, but he did not feel the weapon in his grasp anymore. He still had the kar'takin he had "recuperated" from that other fallen warrior, however. He tried to swing the weapon like an axe, aiming for the arm of the Jem'Hadar to hopefully disarm him as his enemy tried to stab him. However, his strength was still sapped, and for a moment, a cascade of fear came awash over him.

Suddenly, though, the Jem'Hadar froze, as a furious set of stabs to the side of his head proceeded to leave him out cold. As momentum was lost, it allowed Zhuk to parry the weapon away, though the alien's body did not stop from falling towards him, especially at the last brutal pierce into his skull. Zhuk grunted in pain and discomfort as the full weight crashed into his slender being, though at least, he would not be cut.

His savior turned out to be none other than Kyan, and he couldn't help but chuckle at his comment. With everything but his head and his left arm buried under the Jem'Hadar, he offered a nod. "S-Sounds... g-good to me... a-agh... thank y-"

He couldn't finish, as he saw Kyan grabbed from behind and tossed toward a console. To his astonishment, however, the Cardassian that attacked him did not proceed to finish him off in his vulnerable state, a couple of shots from a disruptor forcing him to retreat, as he was out of a weapon, and already wounded. It allowed Zhuk to let go of the kar'takin momentarily, as the battle ensued, everyone too distracted to properly focus on the hurt Caitian. Trying to push the Jem'Hadar off proved to be a challenge: his shoulder throbbed each time he attempted to do so, and he could notice that it was bleeding.

He steeled himself, knowing that, if he remained there, he would not survive the conflict. Gritting his teeth, wriggling, and little by little, he finally managed to free his right arm, and part of his torso, which allowed him to finally escape. He panted from the effort, and took hold of the kar'takin with his right hand, allowing his wounded extremity to rest for now.

[Lieutenant Kyan Mackenzie | Ops | Melek Nor]
Arak'agar's answer was lost to him, if he even answered at all, as he ducked out of the office and headed toward the lift, stepping over the bodies of fallen Cardassians and jem'Hadar. More than once he stopped to collect a kar'tarkin or a punch dagger still in it's sheath on a jem'Hadar corpse. He was bending down to grab a Cardassian disruptor rifle when M'nia's voice rang out.

He scooped up the rifle and got over to the lift as the others were getting on. He'd collected three kar'tarkins and two more punch daggers, as well as a pair of Cardassian disruptors; a pistol version and a rifle; which was slung on his back. Kyan had stuffed the punch daggers in his pockets still in their sheaths.

"œHad'ta get some spoils before we blow the place up so I did!" he offered, looking up at the assembled teams. "œNever know when we'll get the chance again so we don't!"

[Commander Nira Said | Ops | Melek Nor]

One of the officers behind cover had detected something.

"Sir, there's some kind of strange transmission detected. It's on a Federation frequency, but...I can't make sense of it."

He put it on and flinched at the sound of "Scotland the Brave." Indeed, many of the crowd was surprised by the sound before resuming the battle.

The Cold One had kept getting pumped with blasts, but all he did was cringe. If Jess had kept it up, he would've keeled as Changelings would've, but he could see where the fight was going. He dragged down Nira in a momentary cover, one of his trendrils wrapped around her neck, but it didn't seem tight or constricting, he had been weakened. But the leer on his face disturbed her as he let her go.

"We'll be meeting again, beautiful Nira," he said creepily. "You will be mine. Perhaps sooner than expected."

Then, with the press of a button, he beamed away. Nira looked up and tried to make for getting at the old man, but her path was impeded by the Elder from earlier...

"Perhaps we have met before," the Elder had said. "You fight like him."

"Yes, I do," snarled Nira. "I fight like my father. He sacrificed himself to let my mother get away...with me. And you killed him."

The Elder would've raised an eyebrow if he did. Nonetheless, she could see the spark of rectification in his eyes.

"Yes...a worthy opponent for a Betazoid," he said. "And you seem a formidable warrior as he is. It will be an honor to me to kill you."

"Of course you'd consider it an honor, you merciless bastard," spat Nira. "What you all call an honor everybody else in the galaxy considers bloody murder."

Nira's utmost hatred of Jem'Hadar came fully out when she spoke. The Elder had demonstrated why the Jem'Hadar make Klingons look like the Borg. They were merciless killing machines, in spite of their opinions of honor. They only cared about killing as efficiently as possible. At least, that was what the Founders had made them.

Nira looked over and saw Jess flinch at a bolt. She widened her eyes.

"Savar! See to Doctor Fellows! I'll handle the two fossils," she added, looking at the Elder. "Him and Sherem!"

The Elder curled his lips into a leer of savage delight. He drew a kar'tarkin of his own.

"Blade to blade," he said. "Better than the fists your father had. A better challenge."

But Nira had gotten a good look at blade. A bit of a polearm, he could have a lot of reach. However, where she felt confident were the spaces in the blade. Like the spaces in a bat'leth.

Hearing Zhuk's spouting a wordy insult in his Shakespearean English, Nira had to look around in surprise. "Obstre...?" But it was a mistake. Something in the corner of her eye made her whirl her head back to attention to the Elder. He charged and managed to pirouette, though not without getting nicked by the tip of the blade just near where Sherem had carved his brand into her. With one foot, she spun, and with the other, she kicked him just in the leg.

The howl of pain told Nira she had another advantage against him: He was an old man, in terms of Jem'Hadar. In spite of his muscle strength, his reflexes were a little slow and his bone structure had to be starting to weaken; in another year or two, he would've died peacefully in his old age.

But in Nira's opinion, the best way to meet a peaceful Jem'Hadar was to go back in time to long before the Founders corrupted their race.

He whirled around and Nira was upon him. She deflected his blade with her twin jimbayas, parried...and after the dangerous dance, with all the bolts blasting, she shoved him into the Prefect's office. With a swipe he made, she caught kar'tarkin in the spaces, hooking her blades into them, and stomped his foot. She may not have crushed it, but it was enough to get him in pain, and it distracted him enough to loosen his grip, and it made it all the more easier for Nira to get the hooked blade out of his hand, slamming it into the glass door, shattering the glass...and sending it flying back into Ops.

The Elder rushed to fetch the weapon, but Nira took advantage by plunging the blades into his back. She had a moment to give him the last words he will hear from her as she hissed in his ear:

"My father never did do this to you, did he? Well, I will. This is what he should've done, and the same with this!"

And she then withdrew the blades and brought them down on his neck, slicing his head clean off. Unlike the Changeling, it certainly didn't regrow.

She looked up in time to feel rumblings from the station and Rahab Sherem calling her troops.

"Everybody, to the turbolifts! We're getting out!"

She noticed Nira and called to her. "Commander, you best get your team assembled, get them ready for...!"

But it was cut short from the old man shooting Rahab in the shoulder, the beam from his disruptor in one hand burning a hole clean through her arm, and with a kar'tarkin in his other hand, he lunged forward and brought the blade into her stomach and out the small of her back.

"NO!"

Nira let out a scream and rushed to the crumpling Rahab and intercepted the old man's kar'tarkin before he could split her in two.

"Right in the stomach, where she bore me a backstabbing daughter," he snarled. "Appropriate, wouldn't you say?"

In her crouch, she pushed the polearm away from him and slashed his legs. The old man down for the time being behind a console, she got one arm around the wounded Rahab and dragged her to the turbolift.

"Away team, on me!" she shouted as she made to a console near the turbolift while the retreating troops kept on firing.

Meanwhile, Savar noticed the burn on Jess.

"Doesn't look to bad," he said with reassurance. "Don't worry, you'll get off the station. Here, I'll help you."

Acting as support for Jess, he saw Nira dragging Rahab and the rest of the team assembling. They made it over as the rumblings intensified.

As he carefully squatted and took cover behind a fallen piece of furniture, his attention quickly turned towards the glass door that led into Sherem's office, as it cracked into a thousand pieces, by a flying kar'takin. Amongst the dying and the still fighting, his attention was then taken by someone he could recognize, Savar, quickly moving towards another position. Curious, he made sure that no Jem'Hadar or enemy Cardassian followed after him, before he sought to find Kyan, wondering if he was alright. His eye once more scanned the room, yet he couldn't quite find him.

He heard Lieutenant Said through the comms, informing everyone to head over to the turbolift, just as several rumbles shook the space station. He decided to head there, following after Savar, who supported Doctor Fellows, escorting them, albeit lagging behind due to his own injuries. On his way out, though, he made sure to attach his kar'takin to his belt, in order to acquire a Cardassian disruptor rifle, and be better able to defend himself and the rest of the officers.

He was relieved when he saw Kyan, an arsenal on his body. He couldn't help but offer a soft chuckle before he walked inside and saw how badly harmed his fellow crew were.

[Turbolift - Melek Nor] - [Dr. Jessica Fellows]

Jess leaned against Savar and gritted her teeth against the pain of the disruptor burn. She was content to stay in that position until they beamed out, until Nira made it to the turbolift dragging the severely wounded Rahab into the car. At that point, her own pain was secondary to treating someone else's. She pulled free of Savar and knelt next to the Cardassian woman and began applying pressure to the abdominal wound and shouted.

"I need a dressing! Anything you have a sleeve off of your uniform will do. I have to stop this bleeding!"

Jess' eyes met those of Nira's and she added.

"I have to get her to a sickbay or she's not going to make it!"

At the request of Doctor Fellows, he proceeded to lower his weapon, placing it against the walls of the turbolift, as he used his claws to remove a piece of his pants, offering it to her, "I-I hope this is appropriate..."

He couldn't help but notice her own injury, and pointed it out, "You are also wounded, Doctor Fellows. Should I produce another strip for you?"

He tried not to concentrate on the fact that Rahab was in a critical condition, nor waited on an answer from the Doctor, instead pulling out another strip, this time of his jacket, and doing his best to wrap it around Jess, hoping she would not mind. Then, he proceeded to tend to himself by breaking more of his clothing, exposing the reddish-orange fur on his legs, and wrapping the piece around his shoulder with some difficulty. The scorch on his navel, he decided, did not require any bandage, as the wound was already cauterized. And not that deep.

It hurt bad, though, as his adrenaline levels slowly began to descend. He also felt weak, his ears and gums, if anyone were to properly gaze at them, losing their pink coloration, instead having turned pale.