S:5 E:14 - Conflict of Interest

[Abas Th'vyrrol]

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Armory | Deck Nine | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Zhukdra'shar proceeded to stand up straight after the arrival of Senior Chief Petty Officer Blackfeather, and the subsequent appearance of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Mackenzie. He remained completely straight at the chatter, with only his ears pivoting around to pick up the talk, but he did not laugh, nor jest with the rest of the Security officers. His face remained serious, as he listened to the instructions provided by Kyan.

He was pleasantly surprised to realize that he would be commanding a Security team, smiling to himself as he looked forward to clearing the base out of hostiles. Though he had been trained by his old handler to fight Klingons, as the enmity between them and Romulans seemed to be considerable, he had not yet been able to properly combat them before. Besides, of course, some training with the Klingon Security members. It was an exciting prospect that made his Catian warrior's blood tingle, though he knew he would need to be careful.

Like Kyan, his height made him stand like a sore thumb amongst the other officers, and he didn't quite have the strength to outright battle a Klingon warrior. But he had his speed, dexterity, and stealth to do the job, and he hoped that would prove enough.

"No questions, sir." Zhukdra'shar stated, succinctly.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Transporter Room One | Deck Four | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Soon enough, after the briefing, Zhukdra'shar and his team moved out. He was looking forward to working with them, as he could swear that they were new faces. He was especially surprised by Zala, the Ferengi woman, coming along. He had not heard of a Ferengi ever being in Security, but he supposed that with what he had seen over at his mission in Ferenginar, they could be quite capable individuals.

They arrived at Transporter Room One, where Commander Nira proceeded to assign Petty Officer T'Roth, a Vulcan female assigned to Engineering, and Crewman Th'vyrrol, the Aenar male whom he had met in Medical before, to his team. He was glad that Heesou was not coming along with him, as such an interaction would have been awkward at best. And while he trusted T'Roth's ability to repair and work with tech, it was a shame Lahr was not coming along. He missed working with him, though he supposed that he would be much more needed with Nira if things got dicey. Yeah, better that way.

He offered a nod of acknowledgment at both his new teammates, "Welcome to Team Three. 'Tis but a pleasure to be working alongside you. Do remember to stay behind me and the rest of the Security team, if things prove to be unpleasant."

He offered a small chuckle, trying to smooth out any feelings of apprehension amongst his crew. It partly stemmed from the comment made by Commander Nira to Doctor Fellows about what had happened before over at Melek Nor. Man, that had been a horrid show, hadn't it?. But yes, he was also confident that this wouldn't go that way.

His team was the last one to position themselves on the pads, and he took a deep breath to better handle the uncomfortable feeling of having his molecules transported, as the system engaged...

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

Zhukdra'shar made sure to scan the area with his rifle as he took in the destruction of the colony. He had brief flashes of something, like a Deja VÁº coming upon him. He quickly ignored them, however, as he focused on exploring the area with his eyes, his ears constantly swishing around to pick up any sounds. He managed to pick up how Crewman Abas had retrieved his recorder and was scanning the terrain for any wounded. Smart.

"Very well. This is certainly a sad sight, but we must remain alert, gentlemen and ladies, for any interlopers who may still remain. And for any individuals who may require our aid," He finally spoke up, before pointing at Savliv, and then at Abas,
"We shalt comb this area thoroughly until further orders arrive from Command.  Chief Petty Officer Third Class Si-Okrei, protect and assist Crewman Abas," He then turned towards Rasalie, "Chief Petty Officer Third Class Beaux, I wish you to do the same with Crewman Th'vyrrol. I require both of your expertise in keeping our non-combatants safe. Now, let us proceed,"

Zhukdra'shar proceeded to move his team towards the remains of a building, what once might have been an administrative building, as he hoped that Abas would be able to pick up something. He did not shout, lest they would be exposed, but also, to avoid drowning out any faint sounds that he, or perhaps the Ferengi Security officer, could pick up with their hearing.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

Zhukdra'shar made sure to scan the area with his rifle as he took in the destruction of the colony. He had brief flashes of something, like a Deja VÁº coming upon him. He quickly ignored them, however, as he focused on exploring the area with his eyes, his ears constantly swishing around to pick up any sounds. He managed to pick up how Crewman Abas had retrieved his recorder and was scanning the terrain for any wounded. Smart.

"Very well. This is certainly a sad sight, but we must remain alert, gentlemen and ladies, for any interlopers who may still remain. And for any individuals who may require our aid," He finally spoke up, before pointing at Savliv, and then at Abas,
"We shalt comb this area thoroughly until further orders arrive from Command.  Chief Petty Officer Third Class Si-Okrei, protect and assist Crewman Abas," He then turned towards Rasalie, "Chief Petty Officer Third Class Beaux, I wish you to do the same with Crewman Th'vyrrol. I require both of your expertise in keeping our non-combatants safe. Now, let us proceed,"

Zhukdra'shar proceeded to move his team towards the remains of a building, what once might have been an administrative building, as he hoped that Abas would be able to pick up something. He did not shout, lest they would be exposed, but also, to avoid drowning out any faint sounds that he, or perhaps the Ferengi Security officer, could pick up with their hearing.

[Surface]

Unbeknownst to the Aenar medic, the teams had almost been split up in the exact opposite manner in where they were needed, at least for the Medical side of things. The injuries and deaths at the colony were tragic, but the more severe need almost seemed to be in orbit. Abas didn't know that, however, but put into practice his Urban Search and Rescue training. Since the formation of the Federation and the unified Starfleet, each of the member worlds' own militias and standing forces had either folded, been demilitarized, or served as a glorified amalgamation of a national guard and coast guard. This meant that, unfortunately, Abas had 'seen' his fair share of tragic circumstances. Icequakes on Andoria could be severe - and cave-ins causing devastation in some of the outlying underground cities. Despite all the technological innovation of the years, the ice moon was still a dangerous place, one you had to respect - or learn the hard way why the Andorian and Aenar people were such hardy folk.

The team seemed to at least all be on the same page - the same Lieutenant he'd run into in sickbay, with a cadre of armed personnel the Lieutenant seemed more than up to the task of corraling. He nodded thanks when the officer detailed the team to help him but stayed silent. There were no words that needed to be said - everyone knew the duty. He'd speak when required.

He let the heat and air around him be his guide, attentive to the vibrations in the air and chirps from his tricorder to supplement his awareness as they wandered through the ruins. They'd made it only a few meters into the building when Abas's antennae shot straight up in the air, before curling back down toward a large piece of debris which looked like it had at one time been part of the floor from the level above. There was someone underneath the rubble, as Abas holstered his tricorder and slung the medical bag off his shoulder, moving swiftly over to the rock while trying to indicate to one of the security officers to aid him. It appeared to be an older humanoid, unconscious but alive under the rubble. Likely the unfortunate man had suffered crush injuries, internal trauma, and potential impalement, as well as blood loss from the issues. "Lieutenant," he said, speaking just one word as he began the process of removing the object from the victim, hoping the rest of the team would get the message and assist. After all, it wasn't every day the sky was falling.

[Nira Said]

[Jyn Station - In Orbit of Iota Thelonis IX]

The air of the station was tainted with the acrid tang of smoke and burned circuits, but it's orbit seemed to be stable. Shields were out as were most of the weapons. Despite the chaos, Administrator Bikole seemed to have a good grasp of the situation.

"Casualties here are heavy. At least 12 dead and another 30 injured. The colony got off fairly light, 2 dead and 11 injured. A half-dozen surface structures have been destroyed, along with the outpost's shield generators and defensive systems. Worst of all there, has been a collapse of one of the mines.

"It was obvious what the Klingons wanted, 50 tons of refined kemocite was stolen. That represents a substantial portion of the entire colony's production for the last six months. The monetary loss is crippling. That loss aside, We desperately need help with rescuing those in the mine and whatever medical attention you can provide."

[Commander Nira Said | Operations Center | Jyn Outpost | In orbit of Iota Thelonis IX]

"The Klingons?" said Nira sharply. "What made you think they were Klingons?"

A Jyn officer pulled up an image. "Aside from the familiar signatures, and that we kept picking up the same damn ship the past four times, this should be obvious."

The image took a moment to pull up, but it showed an image, however obscured it was, of a B'rel class bird of prey on the attack.

She was getting an inkling, but on the other hand, there were so many of those ships, still around despite their age, even if one was put in the Fleet Museum (the "HMS Bounty," a similar bird of prey with the spray paint on its sides). She looked down at her comm badge, given she had linked it to the bridge, even activating a microscopic viewer so the bridge can see what was going on if they so chose, despite the angle.

"Well, we'll see what our ship can do about finding the hayawans responsible," Nira said, using a softcore Arabic insult to describe the Klingons. "Meantime, our teams can do our utmost to assist with the collapsed mine. Mister Mackenzie," she added, turning to Kyan, "I'm going to join Mister Mrekrerhas at the planet's surface, check things out and assist where I can. You, Fellows and Catalan see what you can do up here," she added, recalling that Lahr called in sick for the moment and was unable to come.

In actuality, while Nira had planned to help out, she really wanted to take a look at the mines. She wanted to make sure about something.

"Said to Challenger, I'm beaming down to the surface," said Nira. "I request an additional science officer join me."

"Well, we can spare that new Romulan exchange officer," said Lieutenant Randall.

Good call, Lieutenant, Nira thought to herself. Savar may be more needed up there, and he figures Savar could distract me.

"Understood, Lieutenant," said Nira. "Have Mister N'Jeer meet me at the surface."

[Transporter Room]

As the medical crew was split up to the various teams, they received their orders in brief. They were beaming to a Jyn outpost and colony who were in need of aid. From the rumors and what he'd been able to piece together, there had been some sort of attack, and there were civilians injured. That was all that he needed to know for now. Once the Commander had beamed over, and gotten a sense of the information, further orders were distributed. His team was being sent to the surface, along with a rather substantial complement of the ship's security officers. One by one, they stepped onto the transporter pad and winked out of existence, materializing moments later in the colony, taking in the chaos around them.

[Jyn Colony]

As the transporter cycle completed, the acrid smell of fire in the air and heat around told Abas that the colony was very much worse off for wear. He quieted himself, listening around for a moment to try and establish his bearings before beginning to walk carefully around, trying to find either a good place free from debris to set up a triage station or see if anyone was immediately calling for a medic within earshot. He didn't say much, but worked on trying to understand where they were and what the situation was.

This wasn't the first time he'd beamed into the aftermath of a combat zone, either simulated or real, but it was always uncomfortable. So much suffering, for so little purpose. But, he had to make sure that wherever he went, the rest of the team was also aware and with him. He thought quickly to the rest of the team with him - a Vulcan engineering crewman, a handful of enlisted security officers, and a Caitian Lieutenant leading them all. Until given further orders, he'd stay close to the Security and try and obtain his bearings. He flipped open a tricorder, setting it to scan for bio-readings, and tried to establish a "normal" baseline to try and find anyone who might be injured or trapped, just in case.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Armory | Deck Nine | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Zhukdra'shar proceeded to stand up straight after the arrival of Senior Chief Petty Officer Blackfeather, and the subsequent appearance of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Mackenzie. He remained completely straight at the chatter, with only his ears pivoting around to pick up the talk, but he did not laugh, nor jest with the rest of the Security officers. His face remained serious, as he listened to the instructions provided by Kyan.

He was pleasantly surprised to realize that he would be commanding a Security team, smiling to himself as he looked forward to clearing the base out of hostiles. Though he had been trained by his old handler to fight Klingons, as the enmity between them and Romulans seemed to be considerable, he had not yet been able to properly combat them before. Besides, of course, some training with the Klingon Security members. It was an exciting prospect that made his Catian warrior's blood tingle, though he knew he would need to be careful.

Like Kyan, his height made him stand like a sore thumb amongst the other officers, and he didn't quite have the strength to outright battle a Klingon warrior. But he had his speed, dexterity, and stealth to do the job, and he hoped that would prove enough.

"No questions, sir." Zhukdra'shar stated, succinctly.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Transporter Room One | Deck Four | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Soon enough, after the briefing, Zhukdra'shar and his team moved out. He was looking forward to working with them, as he could swear that they were new faces. He was especially surprised by Zala, the Ferengi woman, coming along. He had not heard of a Ferengi ever being in Security, but he supposed that with what he had seen over at his mission in Ferenginar, they could be quite capable individuals.

They arrived at Transporter Room One, where Commander Nira proceeded to assign Petty Officer T'Roth, a Vulcan female assigned to Engineering, and Crewman Th'vyrrol, the Aenar male whom he had met in Medical before, to his team. He was glad that Heesou was not coming along with him, as such an interaction would have been awkward at best. And while he trusted T'Roth's ability to repair and work with tech, it was a shame Lahr was not coming along. He missed working with him, though he supposed that he would be much more needed with Nira if things got dicey. Yeah, better that way.

He offered a nod of acknowledgment at both his new teammates, "Welcome to Team Three. 'Tis but a pleasure to be working alongside you. Do remember to stay behind me and the rest of the Security team, if things prove to be unpleasant."

He offered a small chuckle, trying to smooth out any feelings of apprehension amongst his crew. It partly stemmed from the comment made by Commander Nira to Doctor Fellows about what had happened before over at Melek Nor. Man, that had been a horrid show, hadn't it?. But yes, he was also confident that this wouldn't go that way.

His team was the last one to position themselves on the pads, and he took a deep breath to better handle the uncomfortable feeling of having his molecules transported, as the system engaged...

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

Zhukdra'shar made sure to scan the area with his rifle as he took in the destruction of the colony. He had brief flashes of something, like a Deja VÁº coming upon him. He quickly ignored them, however, as he focused on exploring the area with his eyes, his ears constantly swishing around to pick up any sounds. He managed to pick up how Crewman Abas had retrieved his recorder and was scanning the terrain for any wounded. Smart.

"Very well. This is certainly a sad sight, but we must remain alert, gentlemen and ladies, for any interlopers who may still remain. And for any individuals who may require our aid," He finally spoke up, before pointing at Savliv, and then at Abas,
"We shalt comb this area thoroughly until further orders arrive from Command.  Chief Petty Officer Third Class Si-Okrei, protect and assist Crewman Abas," He then turned towards Rasalie, "Chief Petty Officer Third Class Beaux, I wish you to do the same with Crewman Th'vyrrol. I require both of your expertise in keeping our non-combatants safe. Now, let us proceed,"

Zhukdra'shar proceeded to move his team towards the remains of a building, what once might have been an administrative building, as he hoped that Abas would be able to pick up something. He did not shout, lest they would be exposed, but also, to avoid drowning out any faint sounds that he, or perhaps the Ferengi Security officer, could pick up with their hearing.

[Surface]

Unbeknownst to the Aenar medic, the teams had almost been split up in the exact opposite manner in where they were needed, at least for the Medical side of things. The injuries and deaths at the colony were tragic, but the more severe need almost seemed to be in orbit. Abas didn't know that, however, but put into practice his Urban Search and Rescue training. Since the formation of the Federation and the unified Starfleet, each of the member worlds' own militias and standing forces had either folded, been demilitarized, or served as a glorified amalgamation of a national guard and coast guard. This meant that, unfortunately, Abas had 'seen' his fair share of tragic circumstances. Icequakes on Andoria could be severe - and cave-ins causing devastation in some of the outlying underground cities. Despite all the technological innovation of the years, the ice moon was still a dangerous place, one you had to respect - or learn the hard way why the Andorian and Aenar people were such hardy folk.

The team seemed to at least all be on the same page - the same Lieutenant he'd run into in sickbay, with a cadre of armed personnel the Lieutenant seemed more than up to the task of corraling. He nodded thanks when the officer detailed the team to help him but stayed silent. There were no words that needed to be said - everyone knew the duty. He'd speak when required.

He let the heat and air around him be his guide, attentive to the vibrations in the air and chirps from his tricorder to supplement his awareness as they wandered through the ruins. They'd made it only a few meters into the building when Abas's antennae shot straight up in the air, before curling back down toward a large piece of debris which looked like it had at one time been part of the floor from the level above. There was someone underneath the rubble, as Abas holstered his tricorder and slung the medical bag off his shoulder, moving swiftly over to the rock while trying to indicate to one of the security officers to aid him. It appeared to be an older humanoid, unconscious but alive under the rubble. Likely the unfortunate man had suffered crush injuries, internal trauma, and potential impalement, as well as blood loss from the issues. "Lieutenant," he said, speaking just one word as he began the process of removing the object from the victim, hoping the rest of the team would get the message and assist. After all, it wasn't every day the sky was falling.

[Commander Nira Said | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

Arriving on the surface felt on par with stepping into a scene of nuclear devastation like in a battle of the Third World War. Tricorder handy, with the readings on the kemocite Lieutenant Jyur had found earlier, Nira approached Zhuk and Crewman Th'vyrrol.

"Lieutenant. Crewman," Nira said to them. "How have things been?"

Just from looking around, it was not all right. Her tricorder certainly picked up readings indicative of disruptor fire, just like up at the station. If it weren't for the mention of Klingons, singling them out, Nira would've theorized not just Klingons responsible, though they would've come last owing to the alliance between the Empire and the Federation; she would've figured Breen, Ferengi or Romulan. She heard Zhuk and Th'yvrrol out and then looked around at Mister N'jeer.....

[Nira Said]

[ Delta Flyer Mjolnir ]

Jettis nodded absently at the pilots initial observation, looking down at the scans of the frigate. "The atmosphere is failing, but breathable enough. I haven't detect any immediate dangers so far without going in."

When Commander Tharn piped up, Jettis cast an unreadable look at the chief engineer, pondering her words. Though she was respecting his status as the away team leader, there was the air of challenge, unsurprising from the engineer. He had no interest in further fighting though, especially not when he'd have a whole lot of paperwork once he got back.

"If you think you can get this antique to interface, you have my blessing. The power being down should at least make your job a simpler one." Though Jettis noted Tiio's eyeroll, he didn't comment on it - only hoped the Commander noticed it as well. The atmosphere was stable, at least for the moment, so he failed to see how cracking the airlock of a dead power ship was going to be the safer option - however, if that meant he could keep an eye on Denton and the possibility it would allow them to evacuate the crew faster, so be it. Jettis waited for Tharn and Denton to dock at the airlock, before the team would move forward.

[Shuttle Mjolnir - In Orbit of Iota Thelonis II]

As the Mjolnir moved in close to the Burke, it was clear the old ship had taken extensive damage. Scans showed hull integrity was at 76% with several compartments open to space. Damage was clearly from phasers which eliminated the Klingons as responsible for the attack. Internally, scans showed fire damage on all decks with an atmosphere still breathable, but with an unsafe level of carbon dioxide. In addition, the temperature was only 8.43 degrees C, boarding would require oxygen masks and cold weather gear.

It took some effort to find an undamaged airlock, but one was located lower mid-ship. Once found, it was a simple maneuver to bring the Mjolnir to where she could dock. When the computer indicated a good seal, it required some effort to manually get the airlock open.

So far, there had been no attempts to hail the Mjolnir, thus it was unknown if there were survivors. Learning more about the derelict was going to require entering the Burke to learn her secrets.

Never one for subtlety, Tharn, after grabbing her oxygen mask, her Tellerite hide could tolerate the cold better than the others, so she skipped the cold weather gear.

"Ensign Cordon, Engineering is aft and up three decks from here. That is our destination."

With that, Tharn, carrying her large tool kit strode off without looking back. In her mind, Neva would either keep up or get left behind.

Lieutenant Davies and Chief Petty Officer T'ealc looked to Jettis with a questioning expression.

"Where would you like us Lieutenant?"

[USS Burke NCC-3210-A]

Neva adjusted her oxygen mask as she marveled at the state of the Burke. It almost broke her Engineer's heart to see the ship in its current state, but such were the hazards of space travel.
At the Commander's direction, Neva's head snapped to look at the Chief, checks burning with embarrassment. "Aye, Sir!" Neva jogged along behind the Commander as she rubbed her gloved hands together and smirked. "Time to get my hands dirty!" she murmured to herself.

[Engineering - USS Burke]

Tharn took one look at the state of the engine room and swore in multiple languages in an extremely colorful manner. She looked at Neva and growled, because growling was her default means of communicating.

"I wouldn't get too excited Ensign. The dilithium matrix is fused and there's no way we're going to be able to do anything about that. Impulse might be salvageable, but given the nature of the jury-rigging I'm seeing everywhere, I won't risk trying to bring it online. Focus on the fusion generators. I think we can get those working without blowing up, but don't quote me on that."

With that, Tharn moved to investigate the deuterium injectors.

[USS Mjolnir outside of the USS Burke]

A small grin flashed on the pilot's face, "Of course, Lieutenant. It be nothing." Glancing at the Engineering Commander as she turned to return to her seat at the Mjolnir's helm, Tiio was quick to enter commands and get the shuttlecraft moving slowly towards the damage Burke. With just a few adjustments to settings, the once speedy Delta Flyer was now able to float through space with extreme agility as the pilot kept its nose facing the starship as she moved them around it, examining the damage both visually and with the sensors, in an attempt to find a good airlock to interface with.

"Burke Hull Integrity at seventy-six percent. There are several breached sectors that have been exposed to the vacuum of space. Seems the emergency systems activated to seal them off. There signs of thermal damage on all decks. Probably from fires. Air quality is not good. 'CO2' at unsafe levels, and the ambient temperature is barely above Eight degrees."

While the repeating of the sensor data was useful, it didn't help as much with finding an available airlock as other, simpler options. Reaching up to flip a switch, two large lights located near the nose of the Mjolnir showered the hull with a bright, white glow as the pilot continued to slowly buzz around the damaged starship like a botfly looking for decaying flesh to feast and lay their eggs upon. Searching the saucer section first, it was clear that none of those airlocks showed promise. It wasn't until Tiio took them lower, to the engineering section that she finally stopped the shuttlecraft's movement and seemed to study the closed airlock in front of them.

"That one looks good, yeah?" she asked Tharn before quickly getting a confirmation. They'd already spent a good bit of time finding an option, and this one had certainly looked the best so far. "Maneuvering into position and initiating manual docking procedures."

Approaching the Burke's hull closely, Tiio used the precise manipulation of the RCS thrusters to bring them to a dead halt before spinning the shuttle in place. Pressing several options on her console, the screens built into them filled with a rear-view of the Mjolnir before she slowly started to reverse the craft towards it. It seemed the woman couldn't help but let out a small chuckle before softly commenting, "There are stations that would fine you for not having warning sounds when backing up like this." It seemed the differences between Starfleet and Civilian regulations were once again mildly amusing to her.

Narrating as she went through each step, as she had been taught to do, "Enabling forcefield and lowering ramp." The rear-view showed the ramp start to slowly come down to become perpendicular to the Burke's hull before stopping to create a level walkway that was the same length as the Delta Flyer's protruding tail. Inching the shuttlecraft closer and closer, there was a slight shudder as the Mjolnir's hull kissed that of the starship, with Tiio quickly shifting to activate, "Activating magnetic docking system," followed quickly by, "Extending docking tunnel," and "Securing and testing docking seal."

Once the whole maneuver had been completed, the pilot shut down the shuttlecraft's propulsion systems and reinforced the power going to the docking system. With only a few more commands, she turned in her chair to look to the Mission Leader, "Docking successful. The docking tube is secured, reinforced, and pressurized. I also have activated the rear forcefield to be semi-permeable to retain pressurization on the"¦shuttle" The pause had been the woman looking as if she was going to naturally attempt to pronounce the name of the Delta Flyer, but found herself unable and choose a generic term instead of showing her unfamiliarity with the Earthen language-derived name.

Given the conditions registered inside of the Burke, Tiio followed the lead of the others to grab one of the cold-weather overalls to step into before taking one of the oxygen masks from the storage cabinet. Making sure she was all zipped and velcroed tightly before donning the mask, she blinked and sucked in a deep breath of the crisp air as the mask sealed around her nose and mouth.

Grabbing one of the smaller tool kits that were always in the inventory of every Starfleet shuttle, the pilot was the last to step up to the edge of the Mjolnir's hatch before looking to Jettis and asking, "You want me here? Or am I following you?" While it was a simple enough question on its surface, the way Tiio said it clearly was giving the Lieutenant the option of leaving her behind if he didn't want to continue to deal with the independent attitude she'd already presented, given his penchant for absolute control.

[ USS Burke ]

Once the Mjonlir was successfully docked to the airlock, and the engineer and pilot ensured it was structurally sound enough to not send them into space. Once that was done, Tharn grabbed Cordon and jetted off to engineering, leaving Jettis with the flight officer and two medical officers.

Giving a nod, he answered her question simply. "Yes, you will be joining us Ms. Denton." Turning to the two medical officers, he wished he'd had some proper schematics for the ship. "Scans haven't picked up any lifesigns, so we'll have to manually scan a few decks until the power is back up. Don't force open any doors unless you know there's no breaches on the other side, this ship has so much patchwork that there's no telling what you'll find on the other side of a door."

"Hopefully by the time we catch up to the engineers, we'll be able to see if any lifeboats were deployed."

[Head Nurse Chloe Davies | Airlock >- Bridge | USS Burke NCC-3210-A]

Deep down, Chloe appreciated that Ensign Denton had the rifle and was around to watch the teams' butts, seeing as how they had no security personnel for escort. She didn't mind the oxygen masks; at least things weren't so bad on the Burke that they would've had to get on EVA suits. She'd rather not go looking like a lean marshmallow.

"So we got us a long hike ahead of us. Acknowledged, Lieutenant," said Chloe with a nod.

Given not knowing the layout and manually scanning, they had plenty of time on their hands as they made their way to the bridge, enough so that by the time they arrived, there was partial power. The fusion generators were slowly kicking online - emphasis on the word slowly. Only a handful of consoles were working, including a science station and the helm, though, judging from the fact that most of the helm console was still darkened, Chloe figured the best thing possible was to find the star charts.

"Thank God," Chloe muttered. "At least we can figure out at least what happened and where everybody's gone..."

Indeed, throughout their hike, there was not a living soul in sight, as Chloe could see. It certainly made her worried.

"Let me see what I can find on the sensors," Chloe said cautiously. "I'd appreciate some help with this, Lieutenant," she added to Jyur.

It took a moment for the sensors to do their work, but Chloe noticed something as she worked with Jyur. "Hey. Look here," she said. "The Burke had come under attack all right, but they were hit with...phasers..."

Chloe shuddered. If it was a Starfleet ship, what caused them to attack the Burke? Did the Burke come across something?

"Also, thank God for our comm badges," she added to Jyur. "The Communications Array is down, but...hm, it failed on its own rather than succumb to the attack...looks like something to break Lahr's heart."

She shrugged and kept looking for the more vital bits... "Look here," she said. "Shuttles are all accounted for, but the escape pods have been launched..."

An idea came to her and she looked over at the helm. "Ensign Denton?" she said. "I'm sending you escape pod beacon signatures to the helm; all escape pods have beacons to call for help upon launch. Hopefully you can use the star charts to zero in on the beacons."

She grimaced and looked at Jyur for help on that...

[Kaniehtiio Denton]

[USS Mjolnir -> USS Burke]

Giving a nod, he answered her question simply. "Yes, you will be joining us Ms. Denton." Turning to the two medical officers, he wished he'd had some proper schematics for the ship. "Scans haven't picked up any lifesigns, so we'll have to manually scan a few decks until the power is back up. Don't force open any doors unless you know there's no breaches on the other side, this ship has so much patchwork that there's no telling what you'll find on the other side of a door."

"Hopefully by the time we catch up to the engineers, we'll be able to see if any lifeboats were deployed."

Tiio wish she could have been surprised, but she wasn't. The Lieutenant had already shown he didn't trust her and seemed to be enjoying flexing his authority on the woman. Being the last to exit the shuttle, the pilot took a moment to reach for the console to initiate a lockdown of the Mjonir's systems so it would be cemented into its position and prevent anyone from taking off with it if the Burke wasn't as devoid of life as the initial sensor scan had shown.

The pilot also wasn't surprised that the Science Officer had taken the rifle with him onto the Burke. While it made sense since he'd taken responsibility for it, it did leave Tiio to wonder what level of proficiency he had with it. Her tendency to 'jury-rig' had been what kept her from taking Engineering seriously, and the Starfleet Law professors had dismissed her when she attempted to present an oral history of Starfleet's Commission of War Crimes. Piloting had been the easiest and best answer, especially since she had probably twenty years of starship experience over her Academy peers.

The only worry Tiio had was the fact that she was under-armed compared to the Lieutenant who had already shown a great deal about the kind of man he was; the kind of man her mother had warned her about. What she feared most was finding herself isolated with the El-Aurian. She wouldn't put it past him to kill her and claim whatever story he liked to Command. It was well known that the Dead didn't get to tell their side of the story. Luckily, Tiio was taking up the rear position, making sure to keep Lyur in her field of view at all times.

[Head Nurse Chloe Davies | Airlock >- Bridge | USS Burke NCC-3210-A]

"So we got us a long hike ahead of us. Acknowledged, Lieutenant," said Chloe with a nod.

Given not knowing the layout and manually scanning, they had plenty of time on their hands as they made their way to the bridge, enough so that by the time they arrived, there was partial power. The fusion generators were slowly kicking online - emphasis on the word slowly. Only a handful of consoles were working, including a science station and the helm, though, judging from the fact that most of the helm console was still darkened, Chloe figured the best thing possible was to find the star charts.

"Thank God," Chloe muttered. "At least we can figure out at least what happened and where everybody's gone..."

Indeed, throughout their hike, there was not a living soul in sight, as Chloe could see. It certainly made her worried.

"Let me see what I can find on the sensors," Chloe said cautiously. "I'd appreciate some help with this, Lieutenant," she added to Jyur.

It took a moment for the sensors to do their work, but Chloe noticed something as she worked with Jyur. "Hey. Look here," she said. "The Burke had come under attack all right, but they were hit with...phasers..."

Chloe shuddered. If it was a Starfleet ship, what caused them to attack the Burke? Did the Burke come across something?

"Also, thank God for our comm badges," she added to Jyur. "The Communications Array is down, but...hm, it failed on its own rather than succumb to the attack...looks like something to break Lahr's heart."

She shrugged and kept looking for the more vital bits... "Look here," she said. "Shuttles are all accounted for, but the escape pods have been launched..."

An idea came to her and she looked over at the helm. "Ensign Denton?" she said. "I'm sending you escape pod beacon signatures to the helm; all escape pods have beacons to call for help upon launch. Hopefully, you can use the star charts to zero in on the beacons."

Upon making their way to the Bridge, for which Tiio had been more concerned with having her Type-2 Phaser at the ready than scanning with her Tricorder during the long, winding walk there, she was surprised by how already the Engineering contingent had started to return limited power to the starship's systems. If she'd been properly briefed, the pilot may have researched and downloaded deck plans for the USS Burke, but that had not been an apparent concern of the Lieutenant.

As the other officers moved to various consoles that had begun to dimly light up, Tiio naturally made her way to the Helm console to take a seat, only then holstering her phaser as her focus turned to learning whatever she could on what had happened to the starship. Nurse Davies was proving to have experience beyond the medical as she was quickly able to access various systems and logs, leading the pilot to focus her own efforts on specific concerns.

"Phasers?" she blurted out, turning momentarily to look at the Nurse. While she couldn't discount that another Starfleet vessel had attacked the Burke they were the only faction she knew of that used that technology. With talk of the escape pods all having jettisoned, receiving the beacon details allowed Tiio to focus on finding out where and when they had been deployed, as well as calculating the most likely place they would have traveled towards to ensure the continued survival of the crew. It only took her a few minutes before she found the closest, suitable astral body.

Turning in the chair, "I have found trajectory information on the escape pods. It seems, once deployed, their auto-piloting had them head to and land upon Iota Thelonis IV-b, a habitable moon there. It's our best chance to find the crew, but we'll need the Challenger or another Starfleet vessel to handle recovery and evacuation." Not turning back to the console, Tiio looked to the Mission Leader to see what he would do with the information she'd discovered.

[Neva Cordon]

[Engineering - USS Burke]

Tharn took one look at the state of the engine room and swore in multiple languages in an extremely colorful manner. She looked at Neva and growled, because growling was her default means of communicating.

"I wouldn't get too excited Ensign. The dilithium matrix is fused and there's no way we're going to be able to do anything about that. Impulse might be salvageable, but given the nature of the jury-rigging I'm seeing everywhere, I won't risk trying to bring it online. Focus on the fusion generators. I think we can get those working without blowing up, but don't quote me on that."

With that, Tharn moved to investigate the deuterium injectors.

[Engineering - USS Burke]

Neva's eyes widened at the Chief's choice of words, but she couldn't blame the woman for the epithets. She'd wanted to say a few herself.
When she was overheard, she chuckled. "Sorry, Sir. I've always loved getting into things that can break. It's a puzzle to me." She shrugged dismissively.
With a quick "yessir," Neva zipped over to the generators and set to work, giving the generators a slight caress. 'You, my little pretties, are mine!'

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Operations Center | Jyn Outpost | In orbit of Iota Thelonis IX]

In actuality, while Nira had planned to help out, she really wanted to take a look at the mines. She wanted to make sure about something.

"Said to Challenger, I'm beaming down to the surface," said Nira. "I request an additional science officer join me."

"Well, we can spare that new Romulan exchange officer," said Lieutenant Randall.

Good call, Lieutenant, Nira thought to herself. Savar may be more needed up there, and he figures Savar could distract me.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"Helm. Evasive Pattern Delta Two! Make your headin' 138 mark 20!"

The Challenger rocked slightly again as one of the B'Rels let loose with a full salvo, this time against the port shields. The Klingons were using standard tactics of as one ship fired, the second ship cloaked and came around to attack from a different side to split the defense hoping to get in a lucky hit. When Nira called in, Ian replied himself.

"Bit busy at the moment Nira, Khran has brought a friend and we're havin' a right fine dance around the May Pole. You're goin' ta have ta manage on your own for a wee bit longer. Galloway out."

Ian had to admit these two Klingons knew their stuff because they kept varying their attacks and avoided a pattern that he could track. As Challenger rocked again from an attack on the aft shields. He decided standard tactics were not going to work.

"Helm, time ta get clever. Pull us into a climb straight up off the galactic plane. Tactical, I want you ta start rollin' photons, nae launched, rolled from the aft tubes. Configure them for proximity detonation. When we've laid a string of a dozen, Helm, fire all forward thrusters as well as aft lower, and forward upper. We're goin' ta pitchpole ta bring the forward weapons ta bear. Tactical, as soon as we're headin' downward again, be ready ta light up whichever of the unlucky buggers that sets off the mines. Ops all reserve power ta structural integrity, the old girl is nae goin' ta like havin' ta flash her arse in such a manner."

Ian was glad Tharn was on one of the away teams because he could hear her voice in his mind as she berated him for putting so much strain on the hull.

"Better ta beg for forgiveness than permission I suppose."

He muttered and waited to see if his unorthodox maneuver would work.

[Jettis Jyur]

[Head Nurse Chloe Davies | Airlock >- Bridge | USS Burke NCC-3210-A]

Deep down, Chloe appreciated that Ensign Denton had the rifle and was around to watch the teams' butts, seeing as how they had no security personnel for escort. She didn't mind the oxygen masks; at least things weren't so bad on the Burke that they would've had to get on EVA suits. She'd rather not go looking like a lean marshmallow.

"So we got us a long hike ahead of us. Acknowledged, Lieutenant," said Chloe with a nod.

Given not knowing the layout and manually scanning, they had plenty of time on their hands as they made their way to the bridge, enough so that by the time they arrived, there was partial power. The fusion generators were slowly kicking online - emphasis on the word slowly. Only a handful of consoles were working, including a science station and the helm, though, judging from the fact that most of the helm console was still darkened, Chloe figured the best thing possible was to find the star charts.

"Thank God," Chloe muttered. "At least we can figure out at least what happened and where everybody's gone..."

Indeed, throughout their hike, there was not a living soul in sight, as Chloe could see. It certainly made her worried.

"Let me see what I can find on the sensors," Chloe said cautiously. "I'd appreciate some help with this, Lieutenant," she added to Jyur.

It took a moment for the sensors to do their work, but Chloe noticed something as she worked with Jyur. "Hey. Look here," she said. "The Burke had come under attack all right, but they were hit with...phasers..."

Chloe shuddered. If it was a Starfleet ship, what caused them to attack the Burke? Did the Burke come across something?

"Also, thank God for our comm badges," she added to Jyur. "The Communications Array is down, but...hm, it failed on its own rather than succumb to the attack...looks like something to break Lahr's heart."

She shrugged and kept looking for the more vital bits... "Look here," she said. "Shuttles are all accounted for, but the escape pods have been launched..."

An idea came to her and she looked over at the helm. "Ensign Denton?" she said. "I'm sending you escape pod beacon signatures to the helm; all escape pods have beacons to call for help upon launch. Hopefully you can use the star charts to zero in on the beacons."

She grimaced and looked at Jyur for help on that...

Turning in the chair, "I have found trajectory information on the escape pods. It seems, once deployed, their auto-piloting had them head to and land upon Iota Thelonis IV-b, a habitable moon there. It's our best chance to find the crew, but we'll need the Challenger or another Starfleet vessel to handle recovery and evacuation." Not turning back to the console, Tiio looked to the Mission Leader to see what he would do with the information she'd discovered.

[ USS Burke - Airlock --> Bridge ]

The manual sweep of the decks was a long trek from where they landed, all the way up to the bridge. The layout, while almost familiar, was different enough that they had to thoroughly check each room they could access, and take note of the ones they could not. Unsurprisingly though, their search found no surviving crew members. Surprisingly, it didn't find any dead ones, either.

As the ship flickered to life, the dimmest of lights shining through the ship's broken hull. "Tharn is a miracle worker," he muttered to himself. Trust the chief engineer to get things back in order in record speed.

Jettis moved over to the medical officer when she requested help, to the science station that was lit up. It was impressive the sensors were even functioning enough to get any sort of readings, but in the meantime the officer looked through the logs. "Phasers? In this section of space?" He wasn't aware of any other ships that should be out here, nor had their scans picked any up before the incident with the Jyn. Now they had three possible assailants, and zero possible answers. And possibly another Starfleet ship to confront.

And the communications array failing was another confusing puzzle piece.  "Well, we have a duty to respond to their distress call, and they're the only ones who can give us any answers currently." Unfortunately, as Denton pointed out the Mjolnir didn't have the capability to evacuate them. However perhaps they could at least contact them, as well as notify the Challenger.

Turning back to the sensors, his eyes scanned the previous results, until some concerning new ones came in. It was faint, barely picked up by the damaged ship, but there was evidence of weapon fire. It was certainly far enough away that it wasn't endangering them - however, it was in the direction they needed to go to reconvene with the Challenger.

Tapping his commbadge, he called down to the Commander: "Lieutenant Jyur to Commander Tharn, we've picked up a trail from the ship's launched lifepods. There are no lifesigns on this freighter save for ours, so we'll proceed to follow those pods. Bad news is, there's some fighting going on in that direction, so we'll have to keep ourselves unnoticed and come back for the Burke later. Meet us back at the Mjolnir for departure."

With one finally check of the scans, Jettis lead the way back down to the airlock. He didn't dare hail the pods from this distance, especially knowing that someone, or something was on the attack nearby. When the entire team reconvened, Jettis filled Tharn in on the ship being attacked by phasers. It seemed they could rule out pirates, at least, as there was little to salvage, and more damage than the average looter would want to inflict on the ship.

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[USS Challenger-A / Bridge]

Aarwendil strengthened his hold on the seat. The Klingons had started attacking the Challenger and the Captain had ordered the evasive actions, making the ship realize sharp movements that could throw the Betazoid away if he wasn't careful.  The Ensign was having a small deja vu, remembering that he was in a similar situation not long ago, during his first mission.

[Cole Shepard]

[Bridge - USS Challenger

"Helm. Evasive Pattern Delta Two! Make your headin' 138 mark 20!"

Cole's fingers danced over the helm. Damn. Maybe the away team wouldn't have been so bad. he jokingly thought to himself as the Klingon vessel scored a hit.

The Challenger rocked slightly again as one of the B'Rels let loose with a full salvo, this time against the port shields. The Klingons were using standard tactics of as one ship fired, the second ship cloaked and came around to attack from a different side to split the defense hoping to get in a lucky hit. Ian had to admit these two Klingons knew their stuff because they kept varying their attacks and avoided a pattern that he could track. As Challenger rocked again from an attack on the aft shields. He decided standard tactics were not going to work.

"Helm, time ta get clever. Pull us into a climb straight up off the galactic plane. Tactical, I want you ta start rollin' photons, nae launched, rolled from the aft tubes. Configure them for proximity detonation. When we've laid a string of a dozen, Helm, fire all forward thrusters as well as aft lower, and forward upper. We're goin' ta pitchpole ta bring the forward weapons ta bear. Tactical, as soon as we're headin' downward again, be ready ta light up whichever of the unlucky buggers that sets off the mines. Ops all reserve power ta structural integrity, the old girl is nae goin' ta like havin' ta flash her arse in such a manner."

Ian was glad Tharn was on one of the away teams because he could hear her voice in his mind as she berated him for putting so much strain on the hull.

"Better ta beg for forgiveness than permission I suppose."

He muttered and waited to see if his unorthodox maneuver would work.

"Aye, Sir." was Cole's reply as he carried out the orders. The screams of the engines could be heard and the pressure was holding Cole tight into his seat. As the ship ascended, he could follow the torpedoes as Tactical fired them. If the crew had any concerns, no one voiced it. Cole figured that the CO didn't get to where he was without knowing a few things.

[Ian Galloway]

[Engineering - USS Burke]

Neva's eyes widened at the Chief's choice of words, but she couldn't blame the woman for the epithets. She'd wanted to say a few herself.
When she was overheard, she chuckled. "Sorry, Sir. I've always loved getting into things that can break. It's a puzzle to me." She shrugged dismissively.
With a quick "yessir," Neva zipped over to the generators and set to work, giving the generators a slight caress. 'You, my little pretties, are mine!'

[ USS Burke - Airlock --> Bridge ]

The manual sweep of the decks was a long trek from where they landed, all the way up to the bridge. The layout, while almost familiar, was different enough that they had to thoroughly check each room they could access, and take note of the ones they could not. Unsurprisingly though, their search found no surviving crew members. Surprisingly, it didn't find any dead ones, either.

As the ship flickered to life, the dimmest of lights shining through the ship's broken hull. "Tharn is a miracle worker," he muttered to himself. Trust the chief engineer to get things back in order in record speed.

Jettis moved over to the medical officer when she requested help, to the science station that was lit up. It was impressive the sensors were even functioning enough to get any sort of readings, but in the meantime the officer looked through the logs. "Phasers? In this section of space?" He wasn't aware of any other ships that should be out here, nor had their scans picked any up before the incident with the Jyn. Now they had three possible assailants, and zero possible answers. And possibly another Starfleet ship to confront.

And the communications array failing was another confusing puzzle piece.  "Well, we have a duty to respond to their distress call, and they're the only ones who can give us any answers currently." Unfortunately, as Denton pointed out the Mjolnir didn't have the capability to evacuate them. However perhaps they could at least contact them, as well as notify the Challenger.

Turning back to the sensors, his eyes scanned the previous results, until some concerning new ones came in. It was faint, barely picked up by the damaged ship, but there was evidence of weapon fire. It was certainly far enough away that it wasn't endangering them - however, it was in the direction they needed to go to reconvene with the Challenger.

Tapping his commbadge, he called down to the Commander: "Lieutenant Jyur to Commander Tharn, we've picked up a trail from the ship's launched lifepods. There are no lifesigns on this freighter save for ours, so we'll proceed to follow those pods. Bad news is, there's some fighting going on in that direction, so we'll have to keep ourselves unnoticed and come back for the Burke later. Meet us back at the Mjolnir for departure."

With one finally check of the scans, Jettis lead the way back down to the airlock. He didn't dare hail the pods from this distance, especially knowing that someone, or something was on the attack nearby. When the entire team reconvened, Jettis filled Tharn in on the ship being attacked by phasers. It seemed they could rule out pirates, at least, as there was little to salvage, and more damage than the average looter would want to inflict on the ship.

[Burke - Orbit of Iota Thelonis II]

As the crippled ship was beyond repair for their number, the away team reboarded the Mjolnir and headed for Iota Thelonis IV-b where they found a world covered with thick clouds and a highly-active ionosphere. This made for a difficult insertion into the atmosphere, but well within the Mjolnir's ability to handle. The Burke's survivors were in an small encampment on the surface, huddled around their escape pods that now served as temporary shelters. On landing, they were met by the leader of the survivors.

"Willis McCarthy, Master of the Burke. You have no idea how glad we are to see you lieutenant. Counting me, I have 82 survivors who, despite our ordeal are in fairly good shape. You see, our communications system gave out, Burke is an old ship you see. Anyway, with our subspace transmitter out, we we diverted for the Jyn colony at Iota Thelonis IX colony for repairs. Unfortunately, as we couldn't identify ourselves, when we approached transporter range, the Jyn opened fire and absolutely hammered us.

"We managed to sheer off, but we'd been gutted, as the situation aboard became increasingly untenable, we to evacuate and here's where we fetched up. Complicating things, the high-ion content of the upper atmosphere was sufficient to prevent their distress signals from being heard.

"Be that as it may, I do have eight people that could use more than a med kit's worth of help. Is your ship nearby? We were grateful this rock was here, but we'd really like to get off of it and back to the Burke if you don't mind giving us a ride."

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger

Cole's fingers danced over the helm. Damn. Maybe the away team wouldn't have been so bad. he jokingly thought to himself as the Klingon vessel scored a hit.

"Aye, Sir." was Cole's reply as he carried out the orders. The screams of the engines could be heard and the pressure was holding Cole tight into his seat. As the ship ascended, he could follow the torpedoes as Tactical fired them. If the crew had any concerns, no one voiced it. Cole figured that the CO didn't get to where he was without knowing a few things.

[USS Challenger-A / Bridge]

Aarwendil strengthened his hold on the seat. The Klingons had started attacking the Challenger and the Captain had ordered the evasive actions, making the ship realize sharp movements that could throw the Betazoid away if he wasn't careful.  The Ensign was having a small deja vu, remembering that he was in a similar situation not long ago, during his first mission.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

There was a delay from when the ship began its steep climb before Davenport reported that the photons rolled behind the Challenger had begun to detonate. As soon as he heard that, Ian gave the order to pitch pole the ship. As he'd expected, the ship audibly groaned at the stress of the maneuver, but the reinforced structural integrity field held and the Challenger executed a perfect 'Hammerhead Stall'.

As this was not a maneuver taught at the Academy, it wasn't something anyone familiar with Starfleet's way of doing things had ever seen before. Thus, it was a complete surprise to the pursuing Klingons, temporarily visible in the blasts of the photon mines they'd triggered. Davenport fired and hit hard, the closest Bird of Prey dropped out of cloak completely, one wing gone, burning, and listing heavily. The second Bird of Prey did a little better, but was also knocked out of cloak and no longer firing.

With the two ships clearly out of the fight Ian ordered.

"Helm, station keepin'. Hold us at 80,000 kilometers. Tactical, maintain weapons lock. I want them ta ken, that we're ready ta let them have another servin' if'n they decide today is a good day ta die. Ops, see if'n you can reach Commander Said."

[Jettis Jyur]

[ USS Mjolnir - Iota Thelonis IV-b - Planet Surface ]

Once the away team broke their way through the clouded and heavy atmosphere, it took little time to locate the stranded lifepods. A quick scan revealed it to be safe enough to land, and the Burke's Captain greeted them at the door, so to speak. The man was understandably relieved to see help on the way, but the misfortune of their situation would need to be navigated.

"Glad we were able to find you and your crew, McCarthy. The good news is, I have two medical officers with medkits prepped for the worst - we saw your ship adrift, and given how much time had passed since the initial distress signal, we weren't sure what we'd find." As he spoke, he motioned towards Davies and T'ealc. "However, our ship, the Challenger, received another distress call in this system. From the very planet you tried to stop at for repairs."

He let that sentence hang for a moment, partially to gauge McCarthy's immediate reaction, and partially to ponder his options. If their communications couldn't pull through the atmosphere, they would have to fly up and within communication distance of the ship. Nevermind that though, there was the matter of whether they could beam the injured crew out, or if the distortion was too heavy to risk it.

"Please, allow Lieutenant Davies and CPO T'ealc to provide some aide. In the mean time, Ms. Cordon and I will try to establish communication with the Challenger." The Mjolnir at least for the moment, could provide necessary supplies, between the kits and the replicator. However the issue of transportation would become the second issue - whether they contacted the Challenger or not.

[Nira Said]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"Helm. Evasive Pattern Delta Two! Make your headin' 138 mark 20!"

The Challenger rocked slightly again as one of the B'Rels let loose with a full salvo, this time against the port shields. The Klingons were using standard tactics of as one ship fired, the second ship cloaked and came around to attack from a different side to split the defense hoping to get in a lucky hit. When Nira called in, Ian replied himself.

"Bit busy at the moment Nira, Khran has brought a friend and we're havin' a right fine dance around the May Pole. You're goin' ta have ta manage on your own for a wee bit longer. Galloway out."

Ian had to admit these two Klingons knew their stuff because they kept varying their attacks and avoided a pattern that he could track. As Challenger rocked again from an attack on the aft shields. He decided standard tactics were not going to work.

"Helm, time ta get clever. Pull us into a climb straight up off the galactic plane. Tactical, I want you ta start rollin' photons, nae launched, rolled from the aft tubes. Configure them for proximity detonation. When we've laid a string of a dozen, Helm, fire all forward thrusters as well as aft lower, and forward upper. We're goin' ta pitchpole ta bring the forward weapons ta bear. Tactical, as soon as we're headin' downward again, be ready ta light up whichever of the unlucky buggers that sets off the mines. Ops all reserve power ta structural integrity, the old girl is nae goin' ta like havin' ta flash her arse in such a manner."

Ian was glad Tharn was on one of the away teams because he could hear her voice in his mind as she berated him for putting so much strain on the hull.

"Better ta beg for forgiveness than permission I suppose."

He muttered and waited to see if his unorthodox maneuver would work.

[Commander Nira Said | Operations Center | Jyn Outpost | In orbit of Iota Thelonis IX]

"Kharn?!?" Nira snarled. Whether or not the transmission cut, Nira couldn't help but snarl aloud, "that damn petaQ!" The classic Klingon insult came to her, but it was an appropriate phrase without resorting to worse Arabic insults. She had respect for some Klingons, but lack of any other particular kinds. And, naturally, when she spoke a Klingon word, the Jyn flinched. "Looks like he showed himself who he really is."

Nira couldn't help but seethe, but she was angry to realize finding a Klingon turning pirate, given she had fought alongside Klingons in her exchange program.

But the Jyn were a lot more worried. Plenty were looking out the windows and Nira followed their gaze. There wasn't one but two Birds of Prey engaging the Challenger.

"How many Klingons are affiliated with that bastard?!?" snapped Nira.

"Sore point for you, Commander?" asked Bikole.

"I've known better Klingons than these," snapped Nira. She took a deep breath and then added calmly, "At least the Challenger is going to keep them busy. There isn't much we can do here..."

And then suddenly a guttural groan sounded and Nira whirled around. She then saw the mass of Klingon bodies, hidden by a big cluster of flames. Nira had to focus hard to see the bodies, and it was clear to Nira that the Jyn had fought off some boarding parties, and the Klingons had been fighting to get to some crates, crates that Nira recognized from Satra, crates containing kemocite...and the Klingons, judging from the scattered disruptors, had fought at a distance to the last man...almost. A Klingon was lifting a crate of Kemocite, clearly straining under the weight, but he was lifting it off with some strain.

"We missed one!" Bikole shouted. Nira turned at him and he explained, "Klingons were boarding everywhere on the station. They were even storming up here to get to the crates up that were loaded here..."

"Mackenzie!" said Nira to Kyan. "With me! Blades if you have them, fists and martial arts to your best if not."

[Burke - Orbit of Iota Thelonis II]

As the crippled ship was beyond repair for their number, the away team reboarded the Mjolnir and headed for Iota Thelonis IV-b where they found a world covered with thick clouds and a highly-active ionosphere. This made for a difficult insertion into the atmosphere, but well within the Mjolnir's ability to handle. The Burke's survivors were in an small encampment on the surface, huddled around their escape pods that now served as temporary shelters. On landing, they were met by the leader of the survivors.

"Willis McCarthy, Master of the Burke. You have no idea how glad we are to see you lieutenant. Counting me, I have 82 survivors who, despite our ordeal are in fairly good shape. You see, our communications system gave out, Burke is an old ship you see. Anyway, with our subspace transmitter out, we we diverted for the Jyn colony at Iota Thelonis IX colony for repairs. Unfortunately, as we couldn't identify ourselves, when we approached transporter range, the Jyn opened fire and absolutely hammered us.

"We managed to sheer off, but we'd been gutted, as the situation aboard became increasingly untenable, we to evacuate and here's where we fetched up. Complicating things, the high-ion content of the upper atmosphere was sufficient to prevent their distress signals from being heard.

"Be that as it may, I do have eight people that could use more than a med kit's worth of help. Is your ship nearby? We were grateful this rock was here, but we'd really like to get off of it and back to the Burke if you don't mind giving us a ride."

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

There was a delay from when the ship began its steep climb before Davenport reported that the photons rolled behind the Challenger had begun to detonate. As soon as he heard that, Ian gave the order to pitch pole the ship. As he'd expected, the ship audibly groaned at the stress of the maneuver, but the reinforced structural integrity field held and the Challenger executed a perfect 'Hammerhead Stall'.

As this was not a maneuver taught at the Academy, it wasn't something anyone familiar with Starfleet's way of doing things had ever seen before. Thus, it was a complete surprise to the pursuing Klingons, temporarily visible in the blasts of the photon mines they'd triggered. Davenport fired and hit hard, the closest Bird of Prey dropped out of cloak completely, one wing gone, burning, and listing heavily. The second Bird of Prey did a little better, but was also knocked out of cloak and no longer firing.

With the two ships clearly out of the fight Ian ordered.

"Helm, station keepin'. Hold us at 80,000 kilometers. Tactical, maintain weapons lock. I want them ta ken, that we're ready ta let them have another servin' if'n they decide today is a good day ta die. Ops, see if'n you can reach Commander Said."

[Head Nurse Chloe Davies | Delta Flyer Mjolnir | Iota Thelonis IV-b]

Chloe didn't have to be a empath like Nira Said to see that Ensign Denton was in a foul mood. Nor did she have to be a counselor like Gemma Mills to tell was something about that attitude. Denton had something against authority, against taking orders and instruction. She made a note to tell Gemma when they get back to the ship, or Lieutenant Espada, Denton's immediate department head, assuming Jyur doesn't tell him first.

Of course, she wasn't the only one noticing. Tharn scowled more than usual whenever she got a look at Denton. Even more so when the Mjolnir made its atmospheric approach. There was no way to tell whether it was the atmosphere of the planet or Denton's angry piloting that made for the rough ride.

In no time, they made it to where the Burkes' crew had set up camp. She noticed Mister McCarthy's rank and listened to his explanation. Once Lieutenant Commander McCarthy finished, Chloe scowled.

"Something must've set them off if they fired at you," she said. "An unknown ship to them, no transponder, it makes me wonder..."

At Commander McCarthy's mention of a need of medical attention to some of the crew, Chloe nodded and looked at Lieutenant Jyur, and at his word, she nodded and looked at Chief T'ealc. "We'll get on it. We can at least provide supplies until the Challenger gets here.

Commander Tharn looked at Jyur and asked, "Anything I can do, Lieutenant?"

[Nira Said]

[Commander Nira Said | Jyn Colony >- Jyn Kemocite Mine | Iota Thelonis IX]

AFTER THE ATTACK...

"I need to get something done while we're down here, Zhuk," added Nira urgently. As she came closer, she looked like she had been in a blade fight; there was a cut on her face and two more on her arms, ripping her uniform, but she was in good condition to walk. "I need to check out the kemocite samples here at the mines. I checked some up at the station, but I needed to see samples from the mine myself. And backing from a science officer, of sorts, hence Mister N'Jeer..."

With Zhuk backing her up, and Th'vyrrol following, Nira headed for the mine, met by the foreman, and instantly, a sample of kemocite was brought up.

After four successive tests over thirty minutes, and with N'Jeer's assistance, Nira found that it was the same kemocite transported by Llydin. She was glad for N'Jeer's help when he came to the station after Challenger fended off Kharn's attack, but a near-hijacked crate wasn't enough, which all the more made Nira determined to see the mine herself...

There was plenty for Th'vyrrol to work with down there as well, as there had been plenty of Jyn breathing heavily, suffocating from lack of air in evacuating...

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Crumbling Administrative Building | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

[Surface]

Unbeknownst to the Aenar medic, the teams had almost been split up in the exact opposite manner in where they were needed, at least for the Medical side of things. The injuries and deaths at the colony were tragic, but the more severe need almost seemed to be in orbit. Abas didn't know that, however, but put into practice his Urban Search and Rescue training. Since the formation of the Federation and the unified Starfleet, each of the member worlds' own militias and standing forces had either folded, been demilitarized, or served as a glorified amalgamation of a national guard and coast guard. This meant that, unfortunately, Abas had 'seen' his fair share of tragic circumstances. Icequakes on Andoria could be severe - and cave-ins causing devastation in some of the outlying underground cities. Despite all the technological innovation of the years, the ice moon was still a dangerous place, one you had to respect - or learn the hard way why the Andorian and Aenar people were such hardy folk.

The team seemed to at least all be on the same page - the same Lieutenant he'd run into in sickbay, with a cadre of armed personnel the Lieutenant seemed more than up to the task of corraling. He nodded thanks when the officer detailed the team to help him but stayed silent. There were no words that needed to be said - everyone knew the duty. He'd speak when required.

He let the heat and air around him be his guide, attentive to the vibrations in the air and chirps from his tricorder to supplement his awareness as they wandered through the ruins. They'd made it only a few meters into the building when Abas's antennae shot straight up in the air, before curling back down toward a large piece of debris which looked like it had at one time been part of the floor from the level above. There was someone underneath the rubble, as Abas holstered his tricorder and slung the medical bag off his shoulder, moving swiftly over to the rock while trying to indicate to one of the security officers to aid him. It appeared to be an older humanoid, unconscious but alive under the rubble. Likely the unfortunate man had suffered crush injuries, internal trauma, and potential impalement, as well as blood loss from the issues. "Lieutenant," he said, speaking just one word as he began the process of removing the object from the victim, hoping the rest of the team would get the message and assist. After all, it wasn't every day the sky was falling.

Zhuk picked up his rank from the Aenar's lips being uttered and soon realized what was happening as the Efrosian assigned to Abas, Savliv Si-Okrei, proceeded to help remove the rubble. "Well, that was quick, Crewman. Hurgh!" Savliv spoke up, with his deep, powerful voice, as he began to push aside the piece of concrete that kept the man trapped underneath.

Zhuk slung his rifle on his shoulder, and soon moved to assist, with Sharen Anchors following shortly afterwards. After a minute or so of carefully maneuvering, using their strength together, and shoving, the structure was out of the way, with Abas able to provide medical treatment to the best of his ability. Zhuk took a deep breath and nodded to the two other officers, before once more gripping his rifle.

"Haah... let us continue our search for wounded."

Zhuk said, as the team once more began to explore the ruins, separating by a few feet, save for Savliv, who remained close to Abas in case he could use the help treating the older Jyn gentleman. While Savliv did not have a particularly profound knowledge of medical endeavors, he at least knew the basics of first aid. Plus, he supposed that perhaps more people would be coming soon, so the faster they made sure this guy would live, the better.

"Do tell me if I can do anything. If it helps you to keep pressure somewhere or carry him to a nicer place, I am happy to help," The Efrosian reassured Abas, watching him work.

Meanwhile, Zala, the Ferengi, made her way through a half-collapsed hallway, going deeper into the ruins as she remained close to the wall. Once within, she came across a larger room, what once had been a meeting area, perhaps. It was then that she overheard a faint noise, like some scratching, coming from a nearby fallen pillar. She was glad at this point that she had followed the Seventh Rule of Acquisition: "Keep your ears open".

Soon enough, she discovered what seemed to be an entrance, which had been blocked by the support. "Hey, is there someone here?!" She exclaimed, hoping to get the attention of whoever was trapped behind. Immediately, she was answered with a weak male voice, "H-Help! W-We are trapped! Please!"

She hesitated about what to do for a moment, as she gazed over at the huge piece blocking the way. She was pretty sure that she would not be able to move it, and she doubted that even the rest of Security could help. However, as she turned at her rifle, she had an idea.

"Okay, stand back! I am going to try and burn off some of the debris!" She heard some scramble out of view before she proceeded to tap on her commbadge,  "Sir... ah... I found some survivors. I'm by a big room by the center of this building, past a half-blocked hallway. If you hear phaser fire, its me!"

"Acknowledged. Carry on, we shalt assist shortly."

Content enough by the response of the Lieutenant, she proceeded to open fire at maximum power with her phaser rifle, slowly beginning to cut the column by the middle. Sharen was the first to reach her, and noticing her actions, quickly followed suit. Between the two women, soon enough the stone crumbled enough to allow for an opening to be seen.

"Heh, nice thinkin' Zala," The Ferengi smiled at the compliment, as she proceeded to aid the three people caught behind the pillar, a young male who had a nasty head injury, which had been patched up to the best of his ability with some clothe, an older Jyn who's arm was dangling to the side, wincing every time he helped his fellow Jyn, a woman who limped. Zala was quick to support the young Jyn, while Sharen soon positioned her arm underneath the woman's own, helping to take some load off the older man.

"Come with us! We're Starfleet and we got a medic by the entrance. He can check you out."

Eventually, the five reached their destination, just in time to find Zhukdra'shar carrying what seemed to be an unconscious Jyn girl of around sixteen in his arms, gently depositing her by the man found by Abas, "My apologies. T'Roth managed to detect another life sign just out of view just as we were heading in your direction. She is breathing but is not reacting to outside stimuli."

"Ah, eh... it's no biggie, Sir. We got them. See?" She offered a bit of a nervous smile with her pointy, uneven teeth, doing her best to not let the sheer weight of this endeavor get to her. It was hard to see so many injured people, but at least, now they were safe. Zhuk proceeded to nod at her, as the trio that was found gathered by their fellow Jyn, sitting down to receive medical attention.

T'Roth, and the rest of Security did their best to help the Jyn, mostly reassuring them and providing basic treatment. For a moment, Zhuk wished that he had another medical officer with them, to take the load out of Abas' work.

"Excellent performance all, I wish to comm-"

[Commander Nira Said | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

Arriving on the surface felt on par with stepping into a scene of nuclear devastation like in a battle of the Third World War. Tricorder handy, with the readings on the kemocite Lieutenant Jyur had found earlier, Nira approached Zhuk and Crewman Th'vyrrol.

"Lieutenant. Crewman," Nira said to them. "How have things been?"

Just from looking around, it was not all right. Her tricorder certainly picked up readings indicative of disruptor fire, just like up at the station. If it weren't for the mention of Klingons, singling them out, Nira would've theorized not just Klingons responsible, though they would've come last owing to the alliance between the Empire and the Federation; she would've figured Breen, Ferengi or Romulan. She heard Zhuk and Th'yvrrol out and then looked around at Mister N'jeer.....

Before he could finish, however, he overheard someone else being transported just outside. He turned quickly in case they were not friendlies, though his fears proved unfounded. He gazed as Commander Nira materialized, accompanied by a Romulan Science Officer. N'jeer, if he was not mistaken. He remembered reading about him on the logs and actually seeing him a couple of times. Not that he had ever interacted, but he knew how to act professionally.

"Thus far, Commander Said, things have been relatively tranquil here. We are still looking for wounded, but thus far we have not been engaged," He spoke up, when Nira approached closer, "How were things within the Station?"

[Commander Nira Said | Jyn Colony >- Jyn Kemocite Mine | Iota Thelonis IX]

AFTER THE ATTACK...

"I need to get something done while we're down here, Zhuk," added Nira urgently. As she came closer, she looked like she had been in a blade fight; there was a cut on her face and two more on her arms, ripping her uniform, but she was in good condition to walk. "I need to check out the kemocite samples here at the mines. I checked some up at the station, but I needed to see samples from the mine myself. And backing from a science officer, of sorts, hence Mister N'Jeer..."

With Zhuk backing her up, and Th'vyrrol following, Nira headed for the mine, met by the foreman, and instantly, a sample of kemocite was brought up.

After four successive tests over thirty minutes, and with N'Jeer's assistance, Nira found that it was the same kemocite transported by Llydin. She was glad for N'Jeer's help when he came to the station after Challenger fended off Kharn's attack, but a near-hijacked crate wasn't enough, which all the more made Nira determined to see the mine herself...

There was plenty for Th'vyrrol to work with down there as well, as there had been plenty of Jyn breathing heavily, suffocating from lack of air in evacuating...

Not good, he supposed, as he gazed over at Nira's injuries on her face and on her body. He was somewhat concerned, but the Commander at least seemed to be in good enough shape to lead and walk around. He nodded at her request to inspect the mines, and proceeded to motion towards Beaux, Beaux, accompany us to the mines. Si-Okrei, you are in charge of the operation. Report any happenstances and keep looking for survivors while we return.

"Heard you, Sir. I'll keep an eye here."

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Jyn Kemocite Mine | Jyn Colony | Iota Thelonis IX]

With this, Zhuk, proceeded to follow after Said into the mines. While she verified the samples with Mister N'Jeer's help, Zhuk and Beaux proceeded to support Abas with his medical work, carrying or taking any and all Jyn that they could find short of breath to the medic, while they once more lent succor when it came to minor injuries and the like. It was an exhausting job, and Zhuk could feel the air of the mines making things even more difficult. Beaux seemed to be doing a little better, but still, he could see large drops of sweat clinging to her forehead.

He wondered what was the reason for the analysis, but for now, he focused on other things.

[Abas Th'vyrrol]

[Surface]

With the combined efforts of the three Challenger crew, the rubble was successfully dislodged, crashing down a few meters away. Quickly, Abas began treatment of the victim, ensuring that shock didn't set in from the sudden change, stabilizing the victim for the moment. He prepared a hypospray of painkillers and antibiotics, and extracted a dermal regenerator from his medical kit. With a few presses of buttons, the concoction was prepared and administered, as he worked to clean the wound. "Hold, please," he said to nobody in particular, extracting a light from his bag and offering it to anyone who would take it, casting the light downward. Thankfully, the security personnel with him seemed more than willing to assist, and so Abas used their skills as he proceeded to finish treatment.

A few minutes later, and the elderly Jyn was stabilized. While not healed by any means, he was now effectively walking wounded, able to self-extract from the area of destruction with the assistance of a makeshift crutch Abas had fashioned out of a broken bit of piping. Being intuitive and able to improvise and self-assist was an important skill for anyone to learn - and was something that could also be used to help others. In the distance, the sound of sirens moving and approaching gave away the colony's own medical response efforts, likely supplemented by Starfleet. The undeniable sounds of the Doppler Effect betraying the rapidly closing bearing of the responders. For now, however, he simply found the man a safe place to rest while he triaged

Moments later, a new batch of wounded arrived, as the security continued to extract survivors from the rubble. There were too many for Abas on his own to deal with, so he turned to the Efrosian next to him. "Here, take this tricorder," he said, offering it to Savliv. "Segregate the wounded into three categories - those who are scraped but can still move, those who require attention we can provide, and those we can't help. You will know the third category when they come in."

The coarse triage was always uncomfortable. His duty was to help everyone he could - but sometimes, people were beyond saving. Hopefully none of that category would show up, but it never hurt to be prepared. Regardless, he set to work on the second category, leaving the least injured for the security officers to assist with while he focused. Head injuries, severe trauma, and broken appendages were the most pressing, being set or mended or attended to as they came.

A few minutes later, he heard the voice of some of the Challenger's command crew. He continued to his work, listening but not directly attending to the Commander. The Lieutenant was more than capable of providing a status report, as the number of treated, walking wounded, and scared Jyn had continued to grow. His supplies were at about three quarters of what he'd beamed down with. That all changed when the Commander issued orders for him to accompany her and some of the other officers to the mines. He handed off the local medical staff who had arrived, giving them a quick synopsis of what had occurred and what treatment had been performed before exchanging curt nods and standing to follow the Commander.

[Jyn Kemocite Mines]

Setting up near the exit of the Mine, much the same process as earlier took place. Abas set up a triage area, setting up the orderly location in almost an identical pattern as the field triage center he'd set up in the ruins. The dust in the air was almost a choking, noxious, pervasive companion, making breathing difficult. A quick swab with a tricorder detected several micro-contaminants in the air, likely from the rubble and seismic activity surrounding the attack, but that was a question for a scientist, not a Medic.

But, there was something he could do... Abas to Challenger, Medical section. Is it possible to have a mobile air purifier beamed to my location?

He called the ship, hoping they might be able to get something to start cleaning the air and making it easier to breathe. He checked the oxygen levels in the mines, trying to determine if the air was even safe to breathe without supplemental oxygen. The last thing he wanted was to start carrying out Starfleet personnel. It'd scuff the uniforms, after all.