S:5 E:16 - A Doomsday Like Any Other

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[Commander Nira Said | Shuttle Cutty Sark | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

Nira watched in amazement at Espada's flying and Zhuk's shooting. They were so high up the canopy that there were so much more branches and more limbs of the huge trees; any higher up, and they'd break free from the canopy and would see it like a green sea, as Nira figured. And the shooting was good enough for the Scorpion to break off.

Now that it was gone, the shuttle was able to close in on the signature Tora found. Once again, it was a descent from great heights to feeling like reaching the bottom of a huge well...or rather, a very deep crater. Only this time, they were coming down deeper until they reached the ground. It was slightly dark, maybe a bit of murkiness, but the details can be made out well enough.

The wreck was certainly more than two and a half centuries old, maybe two and three-quarter centuries old. In point of fact, the hulk was a Battlehawk, the biggest of Romulan battleships ever to be face during the Human-Romulan War that led to the formation of the Federation. It rested at an angle in a way that it looked to tilt. One of its nacelles was missing, and it side missing the nacelle was the side more on the ground. Part of the Battlehawk was covered in foliage, almost like a model ship buried under leaves, and its rear was set against the roots of the huge tree, and after two hundred and seventy or eighty or so years, the roots were growing around and on top of it, absorbing the ship over time; Nira remembered hearing stories of ancient metal wedges placed amidst a tree, forgotten, only to be found a few decades later to have been partially absorbed into the tree, eventually leading to splitting the tree, but it was more rather the case of something being buried by a tree over time.

Looking around, Nira saw the huge trunk of an ohn'garr tree laying on the side like a log huge enough to bear semblance to the body of an old Constitution class...assuming Consitutions were made to be built as big as Galaxy-classes.

Remembering the secret Andgarr weapon of tractor emitters hidden on the tree trunks, Nira looked around. "Hey, look at that," she said, pointing. It was just at the top side of the trunk, a rusted piece of machinery, also partially absorbed into the tree.

"There's a reason for the wreckage and the junkyard," Nira said, addressing Taja and Tora and anybody who didn't see what the Andgarr did to the Praetorian Triumvirate earlier. "A long time ago, two hundred and seventy or eighty or so years ago, the Andgarr thwarted a conquest by the Romulans. There was a battle among the treetops, ships engaging each other among the trees. The climax was when the fleet was brought down by the trees. It was done using tractor emitters; the Andgarr cut partially into the trees, the emitters caught the ships, the ships tried to break free, and the result let to the trunks breaking free from their force. Some ships were crushed or flattened, others damaged.

"Looks like this ship may have gotten its nacelle sheared off and the trunk dragged it the rest of the way down," said Nira. "It wouldn't be surprising; if the ship didn't get crushed, it would've gotten dragged down by the trunk to the forest floor below, pulled by the weight of the trunk. If there was total sunlight, I'm sure we'll probably see indications of impact craters or indications of damage.

"Okay, here's the plan now that we found it," said Nira, giving instructions. "Mister Espada, take the Cutty Sark back to Challenger, just in case of any more scavengers; it's too exposed out here and I don't want any more surprise scavengers. The rest of us will proceed inside and head for the ship's Main Engineering. Aarwendil, Neva, Tora, you'll be our guides, your tricorders ought to point the way. Doctor Grippen, Nekab, medical support, particularly in the event of potential radiation leakage. Zhuk, you handled okay back up there against the Scorpion, but if you or the doctor feel you're not in any good shape to come with us, you can head back to Challenger with Espada, and Kyan can change places with you if you wish. And on the subject of the Challenger..."

She then tapped her comm badge.  "Said to Challenger. We found a warp core in the wreck of a Romulan ship with an active signature. We'll be heading inside the ship it's in. Please inform Davenport and Tharn to send a team from each of their departments and beam them to my comm badge signal. Phasers distributed to both away teams and weapons heavy with Security, I want to make sure we discourage any more potential hostiles or be able to respond to an engagement better if we get surprised."

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

Nira had to admit, she was surprised at the news of the delay. A rescue in progress and Security and Engineering would be delayed, Nira wondered what sort of ship got into that huge trouble. But given Lieutenant Booker's tone, there was no time.

"Understood, Booker," she said. "Hopefully it'll be finished by the time we're ready to get power up."

As she followed Tora, and especially Aarwendil and Neva, questions were flooding Nira's head, and this time, they could not be restrained. At first, she mulled over the possibility that she'd have to inquire of the Anax for help if Challenger was still to busy...or the Unification Movement, if they can be found again...then mulling over that they would have to carve into the ohn'garr tree to get the wreck out once they powered it up....

The beginnings of being fully distracted were catching on and was surprised when she stepped and crushed something with a brittle crunch. She looked down and flinched in surprise at the sight of having stepped into the rib cage of a Romulan skeleton...realizing that, she looked around and realized...

"Hey. We're in their bridge...well, control center," she said.

Looking around, Nira could see a circular design, with an apparatus in the center surrounded by half a dozen or so seats with elaborate visual displays extending from the ceiling to seating arrangements below. All the seats were occupied by skeletons, dead husks. A dozen more skeletons littered the bridge, and all had their heads uncovered. And they were all Romulan.

"I'm guessing they were all killed by the landing," said Nira, noticing how the Romulan skeletons were laying around in various positions, supine, prone, or on their sides. "And a hard landing it was indeed...dropped like a rock, given the tree was taking the ship down with it...can you verify that, Taja, before we move on?"

Nira then looked at the central apparatus. She instantly remembered files of Romulan control ships for drones, particularly in the accounts of Malcolm Reed and Charles "Trip" Tucker when they explored a Romulan drone ship, and their investigations indicated the drone being powered by means of telepathic remote control known as "telepresence." She had been reading up on it, especially more so, after encountering the ship so elaborately using holographic displays to impersonate the Discovery, down to its multi-vector assault mode, when the Tal Shiar almost sabotaged the formation of the Romulan Free State, using a ship similar to the drone Tucker and Reed infiltrated so long ago. She looked at the apparatuses. One or two looked to have been severed; at least one seated skeleton was decapitated. Looking at the severed visual display off to the side, Nira pulled it off and it showed the skull of a Reman, indicative of the sharp teeth and batlike vampiric structure of the skull.

"So that's how the Romulans controlled their drone ships back in the day," said Nira. "They'd been working on telepresence, and they even had a good source of manpower: Remans. Chances are, a Battlehawk is a control ship as well as a flagship. It's easy to imagine it led a squadron of six or so smaller ships. Taking one down in battle would not be easy..."

She brushed her uniform and then looked at Tora, Aarwendil and Neva. "Sorry for the delay, but it's an interesting discovery. Pity we'll have to shove this down the gullet of that incoming monster. Let's keep moving."

A while after leaving the control center, Nira had an even bigger realization: Since this was a ship predating the Earth-Romulan War by a decade or potentially more, the power source of its warp core wouldn't be a singularity, nor a matter/antimatter, power source. If she remembered the details, Romulans cores back then were powered by fusion. That made her concerned as to whether it would generate something powerful enough to take down the Doomsday Weapon, even at its power levels. Again, possibilties flooded her mind: They could get the power up, power the core, but what if they could ramp up the power somehow? Include a few deuterium tanks to pack a bigger punch? Nira was no engineer, but she knew weapons, and the power level of weapons; she had even looked up how a starship's engineering systems packed in power compared to torpedoes, and that had her wondering...but then, the thought came to her, since she ordered particularly to search for ships powered by singularity drives, how did Tora find this ship? And would it be more worth looking at one of the more recently downed ships to...?

If it hadn't been for Nekab's warning shout, Nira, in her distracted thinking, would've walked right into the ambush and would not have realized it until it was too late. The warning shout definitely roused her.

"Cover!" she shouted as the rain of deflector bolts lit up the hallway.

Nira berated herself as she got her rifle ready. Why did it not occur to her that there would be scavengers here already? And this was especially the situation where she needed more security officers. Well, no backing down now...

[Batttlehawk wreck/ Warbird Necropolis/ Andgarr Prime]

In the end they survived the attack of the Scorpion-class and reached the wreck, this time there wasn't any scanverge in sight. While the Cutty Sark returned to the Challenger, Aarwendil followed Commander Said and the others inside was probably the largest Romulan ship that he ever saw.

Not that he had seen many Romulans ships before.

"œI had heard stories about the Battlehawks." Nekab said, while they walked through the decaying halls. "œThey were the most powerful ships during the Earth-Romulan War, being capable of destroying many enemy ships." the doctor looked around. He was still with his stoic demeanor, but the Betazoid was sure that he was impressed in being able to see this piece of story. "œOne of my ancestors was captain in one of them."

The Ensign was going to ask Nekab more about it when the doctor turned to look at the Commander. He did the same, still feeling a bit embarrassed, when he heard the Romulan shout for her to be careful. A group of scavengers was preparing to fire at them. Aarwendil pulled Nekab by his wrist and found some cover, before firing at them with his phaser.

It was obvious that they were going to be here too.

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Canopy - Angdarr Prime]

The Scorpion lanced in blazing away as it closed. Espada dodged most of the salvo, but a few hits registered on the shields, which held firm. The task of hitting the nimble fighter was greatly complicated by the need to constantly evade the branches, limbs, and trunks of the massive trees the two small ships darted around as the fought.

The combination of Zhuk's accurate firing and Espada's excelling flying skills soon gave the Cutty Sark the advantage and Zhuk scored a solid hit. The fighter pilot must have decided the target was no longer worth the effort as it broke off trailing smoke and finally allowing the away team to reach the power source Tora had discovered.

Espada brought the shuttle in for a smooth landing within a hundred meters of the old Romulan hulk that was the source of Tora's readings. A quick scan of the area didn't show any humanoid lifesigns within twenty kilometers. The wreck looked bent, rusting, and forlorn as it rested at an angle on the forest floor, ready to be explored.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | NCC-40117 'Cutty Sark' | Over the Skies of the Warbird Metropolis | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Zhukdra'shar took a deep breath as he felt the shuttle shake when it was hit by several salvos from the Scorpion-class. He had not fought one of its kind before, so besides the information scanned, he was not certain of what to expect. Still, he trusted Espada's flying, and his shooting, winning combinations as Espada managed to get the 'Cutty Sark' directly above the Scorpion-class. The Caitian then proceeded to reply with the shuttle's phaser fire, breaking the shields, and damaging one of the engines. I

It proved to be too much, and their enemy soon flew off, defeated. Zhuk celebrated with a grin on his face, nodding over to Nira.

He remained on the Tactical console while the area was scanned, though he got ready to descend as soon as no humanoid lifeform was detected on a radius of twenty kilometers. So he grabbed his phaser rifle (which thankfully he had kept a grip on while unconscious), and readied himself to find the piece that Commander Said sought.

[Commander Nira Said | Shuttle Cutty Sark | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

Nira watched in amazement at Espada's flying and Zhuk's shooting. They were so high up the canopy that there were so much more branches and more limbs of the huge trees; any higher up, and they'd break free from the canopy and would see it like a green sea, as Nira figured. And the shooting was good enough for the Scorpion to break off.

Now that it was gone, the shuttle was able to close in on the signature Tora found. Once again, it was a descent from great heights to feeling like reaching the bottom of a huge well...or rather, a very deep crater. Only this time, they were coming down deeper until they reached the ground. It was slightly dark, maybe a bit of murkiness, but the details can be made out well enough.

The wreck was certainly more than two and a half centuries old, maybe two and three-quarter centuries old. In point of fact, the hulk was a Battlehawk, the biggest of Romulan battleships ever to be face during the Human-Romulan War that led to the formation of the Federation. It rested at an angle in a way that it looked to tilt. One of its nacelles was missing, and it side missing the nacelle was the side more on the ground. Part of the Battlehawk was covered in foliage, almost like a model ship buried under leaves, and its rear was set against the roots of the huge tree, and after two hundred and seventy or eighty or so years, the roots were growing around and on top of it, absorbing the ship over time; Nira remembered hearing stories of ancient metal wedges placed amidst a tree, forgotten, only to be found a few decades later to have been partially absorbed into the tree, eventually leading to splitting the tree, but it was more rather the case of something being buried by a tree over time.

Looking around, Nira saw the huge trunk of an ohn'garr tree laying on the side like a log huge enough to bear semblance to the body of an old Constitution class...assuming Consitutions were made to be built as big as Galaxy-classes.

Remembering the secret Andgarr weapon of tractor emitters hidden on the tree trunks, Nira looked around. "Hey, look at that," she said, pointing. It was just at the top side of the trunk, a rusted piece of machinery, also partially absorbed into the tree.

"There's a reason for the wreckage and the junkyard," Nira said, addressing Taja and Tora and anybody who didn't see what the Andgarr did to the Praetorian Triumvirate earlier. "A long time ago, two hundred and seventy or eighty or so years ago, the Andgarr thwarted a conquest by the Romulans. There was a battle among the treetops, ships engaging each other among the trees. The climax was when the fleet was brought down by the trees. It was done using tractor emitters; the Andgarr cut partially into the trees, the emitters caught the ships, the ships tried to break free, and the result let to the trunks breaking free from their force. Some ships were crushed or flattened, others damaged.

"Looks like this ship may have gotten its nacelle sheared off and the trunk dragged it the rest of the way down," said Nira. "It wouldn't be surprising; if the ship didn't get crushed, it would've gotten dragged down by the trunk to the forest floor below, pulled by the weight of the trunk. If there was total sunlight, I'm sure we'll probably see indications of impact craters or indications of damage.

"Okay, here's the plan now that we found it," said Nira, giving instructions. "Mister Espada, take the Cutty Sark back to Challenger, just in case of any more scavengers; it's too exposed out here and I don't want any more surprise scavengers. The rest of us will proceed inside and head for the ship's Main Engineering. Aarwendil, Neva, Tora, you'll be our guides, your tricorders ought to point the way. Doctor Grippen, Nekab, medical support, particularly in the event of potential radiation leakage. Zhuk, you handled okay back up there against the Scorpion, but if you or the doctor feel you're not in any good shape to come with us, you can head back to Challenger with Espada, and Kyan can change places with you if you wish. And on the subject of the Challenger..."

She then tapped her comm badge.  "Said to Challenger. We found a warp core in the wreck of a Romulan ship with an active signature. We'll be heading inside the ship it's in. Please inform Davenport and Tharn to send a team from each of their departments and beam them to my comm badge signal. Phasers distributed to both away teams and weapons heavy with Security, I want to make sure we discourage any more potential hostiles or be able to respond to an engagement better if we get surprised."

As the shuttle door opened, Zhuk took a look over at the remainder of the ship. He did not quite recognize the class or model, but the vessel looked ancient if he was to guess. It did not help that it was half-buried amongst the vegetation, with a huge Angdarr tree growing on top of it. The roots had absorbed the stern section already. Zhuk could also notice a peculiar piece of machinery that reminded him of a weapon once he glanced towards the tree. It was rusted, and half-absorbed into the tree. Though wondering what that could be, his answer came from overhearing the tale recounted by Nira.

So a grand battle involving the same tactics that he had seen firsthand a few hours ago. With emplacements for tractor emitters. Incredible.

At the orders issued by the Commander, Zhuk proceeded to walk towards her, head held up high, before shaking his head, "As I said Commander Said, I remain utterly operational. I am more than capable of assisting with the exploration at hand."

He reassured her, and thus, he got his digitigrade feet back on the ground once more, raising his weapon, just in case. He did not expect hostiles, but it was better to be ready than to be sorry, he believed. He led the way, seeking an entryway into the dormant hulk...

[Romulan Wreck - Angdarri Prime]

Espada looked skeptical at being told to leave, but nodded and lifted as soon as the other six members of the away team left the shuttle. There were myriad sounds all about as small animals darted, always just out of sight, as they neared the hull. Despite the lost nacelle, the hull looked to be mostly intact at least intact enough to suit their purposes.

It took a bit to find an airlock that still functioned and wasn't blocked by the tree's assimilation of the hull. Entering the old hull felt like breaking into a tomb or some sacred place. Once they had an entry point, Nira called the Challenger only to be told that there was a rescue in progress and that the requested security and engineering support would be delayed.

Obviously Nira had questions, but it was clear by the tone of Lieutenant Booker's voice that now was not the time for answers. They would have to proceed on their own. As the entire venture of getting the old hulk depended on the readings Tora had located, Engineering would be their first stop.

As they made their way aft through the old hull, Nira had another thought. As this ship dated to the Earth-Romulan war, her power would not be a singularity or even matter/anti-matter. It would almost certainly be fusion and that caused a whole chain of questions of whether or not such an engine could generate a large enough explosion to disable the Doomsday Machine.

However, before the away team could figure out if this old ship would serve their purpose, Nekab, possessing the best hearing in the group shouted a warning.

"There is someone hiding ahead of us!"

The warning was just enough for the away team to dive to cover as a storm of disruptor bolts, most decidedly not set on stun, swept the corridor.

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

Nira had to admit, she was surprised at the news of the delay. A rescue in progress and Security and Engineering would be delayed, Nira wondered what sort of ship got into that huge trouble. But given Lieutenant Booker's tone, there was no time.

"Understood, Booker," she said. "Hopefully it'll be finished by the time we're ready to get power up."

As she followed Tora, and especially Aarwendil and Neva, questions were flooding Nira's head, and this time, they could not be restrained. At first, she mulled over the possibility that she'd have to inquire of the Anax for help if Challenger was still to busy...or the Unification Movement, if they can be found again...then mulling over that they would have to carve into the ohn'garr tree to get the wreck out once they powered it up....

The beginnings of being fully distracted were catching on and was surprised when she stepped and crushed something with a brittle crunch. She looked down and flinched in surprise at the sight of having stepped into the rib cage of a Romulan skeleton...realizing that, she looked around and realized...

"Hey. We're in their bridge...well, control center," she said.

Looking around, Nira could see a circular design, with an apparatus in the center surrounded by half a dozen or so seats with elaborate visual displays extending from the ceiling to seating arrangements below. All the seats were occupied by skeletons, dead husks. A dozen more skeletons littered the bridge, and all had their heads uncovered. And they were all Romulan.

"I'm guessing they were all killed by the landing," said Nira, noticing how the Romulan skeletons were laying around in various positions, supine, prone, or on their sides. "And a hard landing it was indeed...dropped like a rock, given the tree was taking the ship down with it...can you verify that, Taja, before we move on?"

Nira then looked at the central apparatus. She instantly remembered files of Romulan control ships for drones, particularly in the accounts of Malcolm Reed and Charles "Trip" Tucker when they explored a Romulan drone ship, and their investigations indicated the drone being powered by means of telepathic remote control known as "telepresence." She had been reading up on it, especially more so, after encountering the ship so elaborately using holographic displays to impersonate the Discovery, down to its multi-vector assault mode, when the Tal Shiar almost sabotaged the formation of the Romulan Free State, using a ship similar to the drone Tucker and Reed infiltrated so long ago. She looked at the apparatuses. One or two looked to have been severed; at least one seated skeleton was decapitated. Looking at the severed visual display off to the side, Nira pulled it off and it showed the skull of a Reman, indicative of the sharp teeth and batlike vampiric structure of the skull.

"So that's how the Romulans controlled their drone ships back in the day," said Nira. "They'd been working on telepresence, and they even had a good source of manpower: Remans. Chances are, a Battlehawk is a control ship as well as a flagship. It's easy to imagine it led a squadron of six or so smaller ships. Taking one down in battle would not be easy..."

She brushed her uniform and then looked at Tora, Aarwendil and Neva. "Sorry for the delay, but it's an interesting discovery. Pity we'll have to shove this down the gullet of that incoming monster. Let's keep moving."

A while after leaving the control center, Nira had an even bigger realization: Since this was a ship predating the Earth-Romulan War by a decade or potentially more, the power source of its warp core wouldn't be a singularity, nor a matter/antimatter, power source. If she remembered the details, Romulans cores back then were powered by fusion. That made her concerned as to whether it would generate something powerful enough to take down the Doomsday Weapon, even at its power levels. Again, possibilties flooded her mind: They could get the power up, power the core, but what if they could ramp up the power somehow? Include a few deuterium tanks to pack a bigger punch? Nira was no engineer, but she knew weapons, and the power level of weapons; she had even looked up how a starship's engineering systems packed in power compared to torpedoes, and that had her wondering...but then, the thought came to her, since she ordered particularly to search for ships powered by singularity drives, how did Tora find this ship? And would it be more worth looking at one of the more recently downed ships to...?

If it hadn't been for Nekab's warning shout, Nira, in her distracted thinking, would've walked right into the ambush and would not have realized it until it was too late. The warning shout definitely roused her.

"Cover!" she shouted as the rain of deflector bolts lit up the hallway.

Nira berated herself as she got her rifle ready. Why did it not occur to her that there would be scavengers here already? And this was especially the situation where she needed more security officers. Well, no backing down now...

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Romulan Wreck - Ancient Battlehawk | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Zhuk kept an eye on those small creatures that just scurried out of view when the team walked by them. He was not sure as to what they were, but his experiences in other alien jungles told him that he had to be careful not to underestimate nature. Fortunately, no creatures dared attack them, either too tiny to put up a front against the Starfleet officers, or wise enough to keep at bay.

After a while of searching, an airlock was finally located. Though the controls were old, and the metal creaked, the doors still made their function properly. Zhuk wandered into the vessel after the rest of the party had gotten inside, wanting to make sure that they were not followed. Once he closed the airlock behind him, he descended into the depths of the ship.

When Zhuk caught up with the rest of the team, he was surprised to overhear the statement of Nira as she claimed they were on the bridge of the Battlehawk. Zhuk's eyes took a moment to adjust to the low-light conditions of the vessel, but once he did, he couldn't help but gasp at the scene that unfolded in front of him: Romulan skeletons strewn all over.

A set of mixed feelings surfaced within him. On the one hand, he couldn't help but feel somewhat sad at the scene. So many lives lost, in an instant. Then again, these were Romulans they were speaking about. Cruel manipulators who abhorred other races. Which had kept him and the Remans under subjugation. He really should not be feeling any sympathy for them, and instead, he thought about taking a Romulan skull as a souvenir for himself. A reminder of what he had gained by being rescued and then joining Starfleet.

But, as he explored the control room further, he shook his head to take those thoughts out of his head. He was being too morbid. Still, he decided to nonethless take something from them, as he noticed an item on the belt of one of the skeletons. He squatted next to it, one ear in the general direction of the words being spoken by Commander Said, before he took it. A 22nd-century Romulan disruptor. A real rarity at this age. Though certainly crude by today's standards, he thought it would make an appropriate collectible for his room, joining his Klingon bat'leth and Jem'Hadar kar'takin.

As he further inspected it, he wondered if it still worked. He did not have much time to test it, however, as the rest of the team continued to advance deeper into the ship. He quickly proceeded to pocket the pistol into his uniform, as the rest headed towards Engineering, where the fusion reactor would most likely be.

On the way, Nekab spoke about what this type of ship was, a Battlehawk-class, mentioning that it was the most advanced ship during the Earth-Romulan War, and that it had felled many enemies. He also commented that one of his ancestors used to be a Captain of one.

Of course the Romulan would be proud of his belic past, Zhuk thought. Though focused, both Betazoids could most likely feel a deep sense of irritation coming from him. Not caring for the lives likely lost within the war, only his legacy.

Albeit Zhuk remained attentive, being caught in his thoughts caused him to fail in noticing danger up ahead. Nekab did, though, and shouted out a warning, which immediately placed Zhuk on full alert. His reflexes saved him once more, as he pulled Tora out of danger by grabbing her arm and pushed her towards the wall, preventing both from getting caught in disruptor fire.

He hissed at the unknown assailants, ears flat against his head, as he began to fire back, letting them know that he was quite well-armed. This vexed him. It made no sense for someone to be within the ship. There had been no sentient signatures in a 20 kilometer radius, correct?! So then, why were now getting shot at?!

[Dr Taja Grippen]

"Hey. We're in their bridge...well, control center," she said.

Looking around, Nira could see a circular design, with an apparatus in the center surrounded by half a dozen or so seats with elaborate visual displays extending from the ceiling to seating arrangements below. All the seats were occupied by skeletons, dead husks. A dozen more skeletons littered the bridge, and all had their heads uncovered. And they were all Romulan.

"I'm guessing they were all killed by the landing," said Nira, noticing how the Romulan skeletons were laying around in various positions, supine, prone, or on their sides. "And a hard landing it was indeed...dropped like a rock, given the tree was taking the ship down with it...can you verify that, Taja, before we move on?"

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Taja scanned a couple of the long deceased skeletons with her tricorder and kneeled down to one that was prone. She leaned in closely to examine the bones and noticed several key fractures indicative of impact or crushing injuries. "Their remains suggest a large amount of force was applied to their bodies, it's reasonable to assume it was due to the crash landing."

However, before the away team could figure out if this old ship would serve their purpose, Nekab, possessing the best hearing in the group shouted a warning.

"There is someone hiding ahead of us!"

The warning was just enough for the away team to dive to cover as a storm of disruptor bolts, most decidedly not set on stun, swept the corridor.

A small section of corridor wall a few inches to the left of Taja's head exploded as a disruptor bolt impacted out of nowhere. On instinct, Taja dropped behind some nearby crates and covered her head from the barrage of incoming fire. She tried to form as small a target as possible; unable to fire back without exposing herself and to afraid to even try. Why was this planet so desperately trying to kill them. The Risan was shocked into inaction, unable to move, unable to fight. All she could do was squeeze her eyes tightly shut and hope she wouldn't be killed. "Somebody do something!" Was all she could scream.

[Tora Zalos]

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Taja scanned a couple of the long deceased skeletons with her tricorder and kneeled down to one that was prone. She leaned in closely to examine the bones and noticed several key fractures indicative of impact or crushing injuries. "Their remains suggest a large amount of force was applied to their bodies, it's reasonable to assume it was due to the crash landing."

A small section of corridor wall a few inches to the left of Taja's head exploded as a disruptor bolt impacted out of nowhere. On instinct, Taja dropped behind some nearby crates and covered her head from the barrage of incoming fire. She tried to form as small a target as possible; unable to fire back without exposing herself and to afraid to even try. Why was this planet so desperately trying to kill them. The Risan was shocked into inaction, unable to move, unable to fight. All she could do was squeeze her eyes tightly shut and hope she wouldn't be killed. "Somebody do something!" Was all she could scream.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Everything had been fine so far. Tora could handle the bodies of dead Romulans and the thickness of the air and the overwhelming sense of dread that seemed to have settled over the entire interior. Maybe it was all the death inside. Thoughts went racing through her mind as she trailed behind the away team in stunned silence. What exactly had caused this? How had the crew of an entire Romulan warbird simply up and died like that? And more terrifyingly - what if what killed these Romulans came for them next?

All thought was interrupted, however, when the wall inches from her face exploded, leaving behind a nasty disruptor burn. Nope, definitely not set to stun - and clearly whatever or whomever was after them wanted them out. Every muscle in Tora's body screamed at her to book it out
of there - which she could not do without her team. Hell, she didn't even know if she could find her way out alone. A scream, all too familiar, crying out in a desperate plea for help - and Tora ran. Not away, mind - towards the owner of that voice. The Risian medic. The Cardassian grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her back to safety, or at least where she thought was safety. "You'll be okay, calm down..." She whispered in Risian. Speaking another's mother tongue was a surefire way to get them to relax - or at least distract them. And right now what they needed was definitely a distraction.

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

A while after leaving the control center, Nira had an even bigger realization: Since this was a ship predating the Earth-Romulan War by a decade or potentially more, the power source of its warp core wouldn't be a singularity, nor a matter/antimatter, power source. If she remembered the details, Romulans cores back then were powered by fusion. That made her concerned as to whether it would generate something powerful enough to take down the Doomsday Weapon, even at its power levels. Again, possibilties flooded her mind: They could get the power up, power the core, but what if they could ramp up the power somehow? Include a few deuterium tanks to pack a bigger punch? Nira was no engineer, but she knew weapons, and the power level of weapons; she had even looked up how a starship's engineering systems packed in power compared to torpedoes, and that had her wondering...but then, the thought came to her, since she ordered particularly to search for ships powered by singularity drives, how did Tora find this ship? And would it be more worth looking at one of the more recently downed ships to...?

If it hadn't been for Nekab's warning shout, Nira, in her distracted thinking, would've walked right into the ambush and would not have realized it until it was too late. The warning shout definitely roused her.

"Cover!" she shouted as the rain of deflector bolts lit up the hallway.

Nira berated herself as she got her rifle ready. Why did it not occur to her that there would be scavengers here already? And this was especially the situation where she needed more security officers. Well, no backing down now...

[Batttlehawk wreck/ Warbird Necropolis/ Andgarr Prime]

In the end they survived the attack of the Scorpion-class and reached the wreck, this time there wasn't any scanverge in sight. While the Cutty Sark returned to the Challenger, Aarwendil followed Commander Said and the others inside was probably the largest Romulan ship that he ever saw.

Not that he had seen many Romulans ships before.

"œI had heard stories about the Battlehawks." Nekab said, while they walked through the decaying halls. "œThey were the most powerful ships during the Earth-Romulan War, being capable of destroying many enemy ships." the doctor looked around. He was still with his stoic demeanor, but the Betazoid was sure that he was impressed in being able to see this piece of story. "œOne of my ancestors was captain in one of them."

The Ensign was going to ask Nekab more about it when the doctor turned to look at the Commander. He did the same, still feeling a bit embarrassed, when he heard the Romulan shout for her to be careful. A group of scavengers was preparing to fire at them. Aarwendil pulled Nekab by his wrist and found some cover, before firing at them with his phaser.

It was obvious that they were going to be here too.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | NCC-40117 'Cutty Sark' | Over the Skies of the Warbird Metropolis | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Zhukdra'shar took a deep breath as he felt the shuttle shake when it was hit by several salvos from the Scorpion-class. He had not fought one of its kind before, so besides the information scanned, he was not certain of what to expect. Still, he trusted Espada's flying, and his shooting, winning combinations as Espada managed to get the 'Cutty Sark' directly above the Scorpion-class. The Caitian then proceeded to reply with the shuttle's phaser fire, breaking the shields, and damaging one of the engines. I

It proved to be too much, and their enemy soon flew off, defeated. Zhuk celebrated with a grin on his face, nodding over to Nira.

He remained on the Tactical console while the area was scanned, though he got ready to descend as soon as no humanoid lifeform was detected on a radius of twenty kilometers. So he grabbed his phaser rifle (which thankfully he had kept a grip on while unconscious), and readied himself to find the piece that Commander Said sought.

As the shuttle door opened, Zhuk took a look over at the remainder of the ship. He did not quite recognize the class or model, but the vessel looked ancient if he was to guess. It did not help that it was half-buried amongst the vegetation, with a huge Angdarr tree growing on top of it. The roots had absorbed the stern section already. Zhuk could also notice a peculiar piece of machinery that reminded him of a weapon once he glanced towards the tree. It was rusted, and half-absorbed into the tree. Though wondering what that could be, his answer came from overhearing the tale recounted by Nira.

So a grand battle involving the same tactics that he had seen firsthand a few hours ago. With emplacements for tractor emitters. Incredible.

At the orders issued by the Commander, Zhuk proceeded to walk towards her, head held up high, before shaking his head, "As I said Commander Said, I remain utterly operational. I am more than capable of assisting with the exploration at hand."

He reassured her, and thus, he got his digitigrade feet back on the ground once more, raising his weapon, just in case. He did not expect hostiles, but it was better to be ready than to be sorry, he believed. He led the way, seeking an entryway into the dormant hulk...

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Romulan Wreck - Ancient Battlehawk | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Albeit Zhuk remained attentive, being caught in his thoughts caused him to fail in noticing danger up ahead. Nekab did, though, and shouted out a warning, which immediately placed Zhuk on full alert. His reflexes saved him once more, as he pulled Tora out of danger by grabbing her arm and pushed her towards the wall, preventing both from getting caught in disruptor fire.

He hissed at the unknown assailants, ears flat against his head, as he began to fire back, letting them know that he was quite well-armed. This vexed him. It made no sense for someone to be within the ship. There had been no sentient signatures in a 20 kilometer radius, correct?! So then, why were now getting shot at?![/color]

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Taja scanned a couple of the long deceased skeletons with her tricorder and kneeled down to one that was prone. She leaned in closely to examine the bones and noticed several key fractures indicative of impact or crushing injuries. "Their remains suggest a large amount of force was applied to their bodies, it's reasonable to assume it was due to the crash landing."

A small section of corridor wall a few inches to the left of Taja's head exploded as a disruptor bolt impacted out of nowhere. On instinct, Taja dropped behind some nearby crates and covered her head from the barrage of incoming fire. She tried to form as small a target as possible; unable to fire back without exposing herself and to afraid to even try. Why was this planet so desperately trying to kill them. The Risan was shocked into inaction, unable to move, unable to fight. All she could do was squeeze her eyes tightly shut and hope she wouldn't be killed. "Somebody do something!" Was all she could scream.

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Everything had been fine so far. Tora could handle the bodies of dead Romulans and the thickness of the air and the overwhelming sense of dread that seemed to have settled over the entire interior. Maybe it was all the death inside. Thoughts went racing through her mind as she trailed behind the away team in stunned silence. What exactly had caused this? How had the crew of an entire Romulan warbird simply up and died like that? And more terrifyingly - what if what killed these Romulans came for them next?

All thought was interrupted, however, when the wall inches from her face exploded, leaving behind a nasty disruptor burn. Nope, definitely not set to stun - and clearly whatever or whomever was after them wanted them out. Every muscle in Tora's body screamed at her to book it out
of there - which she could not do without her team. Hell, she didn't even know if she could find her way out alone. A scream, all too familiar, crying out in a desperate plea for help - and Tora ran. Not away, mind - towards the owner of that voice. The Risian medic. The Cardassian grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her back to safety, or at least where she thought was safety. "You'll be okay, calm down..." She whispered in Risian. Speaking another's mother tongue was a surefire way to get them to relax - or at least distract them. And right now what they needed was definitely a distraction.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

The wave of disruptors splashed across the derelict's bridge, blowing open consoles and leaving deep burn scars on whatever cover the away team managed to have found. After the initial shock of the attack wore off, it became apparent that the attackers, while enthusiastic in their volume of fire, were not especially accurate. No one on the away team had been hit except for a few minor burns from the splashes of heat from near misses. The one thing the heavy fire did do however, was keep everyone pinned down as they heard one particularly gravelly voice shouting commands.

"Bring up the stunner cannon! Standby with those grenades! Keep that volume of fire up, we won't let scavengers have our prize!"

It suddenly dawned on away team that the attackers thought they were the troublemakers.

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

[Sickbay]

Abas nodded as the doctor spoke. It seemed whatever situation the Challenger had come across was much worse than he'd originally guessed. The sheer weight of person was proving to be quite the drag on resources, and leading to what could be reasonably deemed field triage in lieu of proper treatment. "With you, Doctor," he said, before moving the patient out of the flow of traffic to an unoccupied part of the corridor.

Moments later, their makeshift surgical ward was as good as it was going to get. With the assistance of two additional med-techs, a portable sterile field had been erected, with ready supplies of plasma, blood, and surgical tools like laser scalpels and autosutures prepped and on a tray, a tricorder happily whirring away, chirping and feeding the medical staff useful information as to just how close the patient was to meeting the great koala in the sky.

"Ready," Abas spoke, hoping that none of the passersby in the corridor would be too perturbed by the emergency surgery taking place right where folks might be walking by. Abas prepared to assist in any way needed - but with such rudimentary supplies on hand, it was anyone's guess as to what form of assistance he might be called upon to provide. They'd have to adapt and overcome on the fly to save the patient.

[Corridor outside Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Abas noted how efficiently Doctor Fellows worked in the worst of circumstances. Many doctors would balk at the makeshift conditions and even refuse to do surgery in such a way. However, Fellows simply ignored the complications and buckled down to get a critical task done. She eventually ran the dermal mender over the incision she'd made and once finished, stepped back with a sigh before addressing everyone.

"Good work everybody. That got touch and go for a moment. I especially wish to acknowledge your work Crewman Th'vyrrol. After this mess is over, you can expect a promotion and commendation letter for your skill at a most trying time. You are a credit to your calling."

Jess then had a moment to look around and saw that while they were still being overwhelmed by casualties, it looked like the volume of injured was starting to slow marginally.

"No rest for the weary. Next batch is here, let's get to those red tags!"

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

[Transporter Room 1 | USS Challenger]

Jalen turned when he heard the doors swish shut and listened with a bemused smile on his face as the new security"¦ scratch that auxiliary security officer thought he was helping. He was obviously quite young and not experienced in crowd control, as given my his rather ineffectual speech and domineering manner, that the crowd for the most part ignored utterly. He was just about to make his way to the man and graciously explain what he would have the man do for the situation, when the transporter whined again. He turned back with a sigh, the young man would figure it out or get exasperated and leave, casualties were his first responsibility. The carefully crafted calm and organized chaos that flowed around Jalen was shattered when combat erupted on the platform. Jalen wade right into the thick of it, suing well placed strikes to incapacitate the combatants, plus the liberal use of the sedative in his hypo. He approached the situation with the same calm and precision that he applied to all his medical endeavours. What people didn't know, and he usually liked to keep it that way, was that he had spent decades in drunken barfights trying to fill a whole left by his failure to save El-Auria. As such though he was a gentle teddy bear most of the time, that teddy bear had some well sharpened claws.

Jalen wade through the melee, a judicious elbow to a solar plexus here, a hypospray in the thigh there, all while dodging or checking blows aimed at him as the attackers relized they had an outside threat. Jalen also calmly spoke as he went.

"œOh excuse me, I didn't see you there." (tripping of a person by stepping between his legs and forcing a knee into the back of the assailants knee)

"œYou should have that checked out by medical, it might swell." (Calm and precise knee to the groin)

"œMy, it seems that he was tired." (Judicius use of a hypospray)

"Excuse me, this man seems to be injured, I am a doctor, I need to triage him." Jalen said in a detached professional tone, with no hint of condemnation or accusation, as he made it to the target of their aggressions and knelt down, his tricorder in hand and began to triage the person, oblivious to any combatants still left, projecting a calm professionalism that was his standard mean, and usually got him the result he wanted"¦

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 4 - Transporter Room 1]

At the start of the commotion, Lahr drew his phaser to stun the whole lot of them.  While, he recalled that was frowned upon by the higher ups, Lahr knew that on his own the mob could easily overpower him.  Yet before he could take the shot.  The doctor who was much closer to the commotion stupidity put himself at risk by intervening, and preventing him from controlling the situation.

"Roozh, Doc! What the hell are you doing?"  But his words were drowned out by the crowd.

Knowing he'd get an earful from Chloe and Dr. Fellows both if he allowed one of the precious medical department staff to be injured while he was supposed to be maintaining crowd control, Lahr put away his phaser and followed on the doctor's six, using a more hands on approach.

The Andorian blocked several unintentional swings at the doctor (and at himself) by the mob intent on their victim, while the doctor played nonchalant using his hypospray like a weapon rather than a medical tool.  Though effective, Lahr had his doubts as to the appropriateness of the doctor's actions.  Wasn't there some vow of no harm they were supposed to take?

When the doctor reached the downed victim, his path strewn by unconscious evacuees, that's when Lahr pulled his phaser, and began taking down those that got too close to the doctor.   Only after he took out the three nearest did he give warning to the rest. "Back away from the doctor and his patient! Everyone! Cease and desist all aggression or you'll wake to find yourself in a brig." He thumbed his phaser to wide-beam and upped the phaser setting to medium stun.  Some of these folks were running on adrenaline and a phaser on low stun might not take them down and at the moment - their own safety was in jeopardy.

During all this time, because of the Commander's height disadvantage, Lahr had no clue the Only was present.

[Transporter Room One - USS Challenger]

Lahr was peripherally aware of the transporter chief calling for help as he stunned the most aggressive of those attacking the human. Doctor Kartos' one man assault had taken the steam out of most of the attackers with Lahr's phaser bringing the mob under control. However, while the fighting may have stopped, the rage behind it was still obviously just as hot as before.

"He tried to kill us!"

"Greedy Flekmak!"

"Beat him some more!"

The focus of the mob's rage was in a heap on the deck with obvious facial fractures and unable to speak. Kartos made his initial diagnosis and the man was now a critical priority because of his injuries. It might have been difficult to get the man out of transporter room going by the unabated fury of the crowd, but the arrival of half a dozen security cooled the mob long enough to have the man beamed directly to sickbay. Once the object of their rage was gone, the mob lost its focus and began to settle down to simmering discontent rather than murder. It seemed like it might be possible to ask what had triggered such violence now.

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

With the Challenger serving as a way point rather than a destination, the transporters were working at their maximum of 100 personnel per hour for each of the six transporter room. So far, roughly nine percent of the 8,649 civilians crammed aboard the Guppy were injured to one degree or another, that meant 778 casualties needed care.

As Ian looked through the numbers displayed on his command chair he know that was more than the entire medical staff could possibly handle. Fortunately, the Anax had come through and Angdarri transporters were starting to assist in the evacuation. However, even with the additional support, only half of the civilians had been rescued by this point.

Catalan had relayed Nira's request for security and engineering teams to assist with the recovery of a ship that might serve as their sacrificial lamb to stop the Machine, but security was only just keeping the civilians from becoming a mob. Ian was aware of a few fights breaking out and knew he couldn't spare any security. Ops and Engineering had been tapped to backup security, so he was thin on engineers too and he grumbled to no one in particular.

"When it bloody rains, it bloody pours."

Then he had an idea, the science department wasn't engaged at the moment. That gave him a resource he desperately needed.

"Evan, I need as many of your department as you can spare, I'm lookin' at around a dozen, they can take the Resnick and the McNair ta assist Commander Said. I ken your people are nae engineers, but boffins are brilliant sorts and can come up with summat ta help."

"Aye Sir. Let me get my people moving."

Randall's eye fell on Jamil and he added.

"Ensign, time ta be brilliant. Report to the shuttlebay."

[Nira Said]

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

The wave of disruptors splashed across the derelict's bridge, blowing open consoles and leaving deep burn scars on whatever cover the away team managed to have found. After the initial shock of the attack wore off, it became apparent that the attackers, while enthusiastic in their volume of fire, were not especially accurate. No one on the away team had been hit except for a few minor burns from the splashes of heat from near misses. The one thing the heavy fire did do however, was keep everyone pinned down as they heard one particularly gravelly voice shouting commands.

"Bring up the stunner cannon! Standby with those grenades! Keep that volume of fire up, we won't let scavengers have our prize!"

It suddenly dawned on away team that the attackers thought they were the troublemakers.

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

It was dawning on Nira that despite shooting up crap in the away team's direction, their accuracy was horrible. Nira figured it was almost like engaging Jem'Hadar going cold turkey on ketracel white: Violent in their shooting but with horrible accuracy. Nonetheless, they couldn't risk a chance of getting shot.

Then she heard a gravelly voice giving orders. It was clear that whoever these people were, they weren't scavengers and had mistaken the away team for scavengers.

"Hold your fire!" Nira shouted to her team. Then she inched up and called to the shooters. "Hold it! We're not scavengers! We're from the Federation Starship Challenger! We don't mean to intrude, we weren't aware of anybody here! May I ask who you are?"

Inwardly, Nira hoped these people will be willing to talk or be reasonable.

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

It was dawning on Nira that despite shooting up crap in the away team's direction, their accuracy was horrible. Nira figured it was almost like engaging Jem'Hadar going cold turkey on ketracel white: Violent in their shooting but with horrible accuracy. Nonetheless, they couldn't risk a chance of getting shot.

Then she heard a gravelly voice giving orders. It was clear that whoever these people were, they weren't scavengers and had mistaken the away team for scavengers.

"Hold your fire!" Nira shouted to her team. Then she inched up and called to the shooters. "Hold it! We're not scavengers! We're from the Federation Starship Challenger! We don't mean to intrude, we weren't aware of anybody here! May I ask who you are?"

Inwardly, Nira hoped these people will be willing to talk or be reasonable.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

There was another wave of fire before "Gravel" could get his people to stop shooting and he shouted.

"Starfleet? Why is Starfleet on our claim? We found it and we mean to keep it. Even if it's only sublight, it's still a ship and we can escape Angdarr before that monster eats the planet!"

[Nira Said]

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

There was another wave of fire before "Gravel" could get his people to stop shooting and he shouted.

"Starfleet? Why is Starfleet on our claim? We found it and we mean to keep it. Even if it's only sublight, it's still a ship and we can escape Angdarr before that monster eats the planet!"

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

So they were scavengers after all, thought Nira to herself. But this time, at least it looked to Nira that, unlike the last group of scavengers they met, there's a chance for negotiation.

"All the same, we're intending to save Andgarr," called Nira. "We intend to stop the monster before it gets to Andgarr. That's why we need the ship. If you still wish to leave Andgarr, we'd be willing to give you accommodation on our ship."

[Jamil]

[USS Challenger - Bridge >>> Turbolift>>>Shuttlebay]

Jamil was watching things from afar at the science station. Eyes on what was going on. He was not planning to take over the operations station as they were scanning and keeping their eyes on the party. Though, he had studied the bio signs of the party. You can say he was playing guardian angel.

Scans were showing small life signs on the Romulan wreck where the party was. Jamil leaped from the energy levels skyrocketing on the Romulan wreckage ship, where the away team was. However, he had said nothing, that was the operations job. However, he was paying attention the environment around them.

Folks were getting escorted by using Guppy and transporting folks. The chromo timer of the situation was getting close.

Jamil had failed to hear his name, and then someone next to him coughed, he looked at the person next to him which he looked at the Commander Randal. The one who saved him whispered what the Commander said.

"œAye Aye. To shuttle bay. Be brilliant, Commander Aye aye," he said as he got up from his seat. He whispered to the other fellow Challenger crew member. "œI owe you one."

The turbolift opened, he stepped in, then he told computer to shuttlebay. "œSure beats the air lock!" That was humor to lighten up the heavy stress in the air. He was unsure what brilliant scheme the Commander was expected of him. He fake it. Yeah. Be brilliant and fake it. That was one of the tricks of a trade for bargain. Fake it. Overdo it. Fool them. Never take your eyes off the prize.

As the turbolift opened, he went to the shuttle bay. Hold on. What was he supposed to be doing? Be brilliant. Fake it. Just do it. They are taking Resnick. Who came up with the names of these shuttles? Was there one name Einstein? Or Zuckyburgermongerwhathisface?

"œOkay, Okay, I am heading in," he said. "œI know science color. I am able person. I can assist anyway there is be done," he told the flight officer. Should I say I am brilliant, and they are not? Take full credit. Hmm.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 4 - Transporter Room 1]

[Transporter Room One - USS Challenger]

Lahr was peripherally aware of the transporter chief calling for help as he stunned the most aggressive of those attacking the human. Doctor Kartos' one man assault had taken the steam out of most of the attackers with Lahr's phaser bringing the mob under control. However, while the fighting may have stopped, the rage behind it was still obviously just as hot as before.

"He tried to kill us!"

"Greedy Flekmak!"

"Beat him some more!"

The focus of the mob's rage was in a heap on the deck with obvious facial fractures and unable to speak. Kartos made his initial diagnosis and the man was now a critical priority because of his injuries. It might have been difficult to get the man out of transporter room going by the unabated fury of the crowd, but the arrival of half a dozen security cooled the mob long enough to have the man beamed directly to sickbay. Once the object of their rage was gone, the mob lost its focus and began to settle down to simmering discontent rather than murder. It seemed like it might be possible to ask what had triggered such violence now.

"Settle down!  No one is giving anymore beatings.   If you haven't noticed, there are enough casualties as it is.   Now you... " Lahr pointed towards one of the more vocal in the crowd, who to the Andorian seemed mostly uninjured.  The man had seemed to have plenty strength for punching when Lahr was trying to block hits on the doctor and his patient earlier.  "I want you to answer a few questions.  The rest of you, wait to be assessed by the doctor quietly and then go to where you are directed."

Stepping closer to the one individual he'd singled out, Lahr looked him over to get a sense of the man and his occupation.  "Okay... care to tell me why you were trying to kill that other fellow?  I heard someone say he tried to kill you.  How?  Who is he and what did he do that was so greedy and life-threatening?"

[Neva Cordon]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

So they were scavengers after all, thought Nira to herself. But this time, at least it looked to Nira that, unlike the last group of scavengers they met, there's a chance for negotiation.

"All the same, we're intending to save Andgarr," called Nira. "We intend to stop the monster before it gets to Andgarr. That's why we need the ship. If you still wish to leave Andgarr, we'd be willing to give you accommodation on our ship."

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr Prime]

Neva knew in her head that they were dealing with wrecks, but seeing the actual remains of their former crew was another thing. She gulped down a lump of bile threatening to rise and took her attention back to the problem at hand.

Neva nodded at Commander Said's order and started opening her kit when the ship rocked from a familiar hit. She groaned a little as she braced herself and pulled out her phaser instead. When the new group of scavengers tried to lay claim, she shook her head in disgust. 'What in all Creation is this?' she wondered. 'Do we need to take a number on these things?'

Neva had finally hit breaking point. This was ludicrous and heading for dangerous. 'Here's hoping i don't get court marshalled or put in the brig!' Sighing loudly, she shook her head and prayed for calm even as she growled at the assembled. "Begging the Commander's and our esteemed friends' pardon, but we can stand here and squabble over who's ship this is all day. Unfortunately, we do not have the benefit of time." Her gaze leveled angrily on the new scavengers. "So if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get this ship up and running before that overgrown cigar up there" She pointed up with one finger. "makes us and this planet lunch! As my father would say: 'quit yer bitching and act like the adult you are.' So if one of you knows anything about Engineering or any other useful skill, get over to a station or something and DO IT!" With that, she shoved her phaser back onto her belt, turned away and went back to work.

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

So they were scavengers after all, thought Nira to herself. But this time, at least it looked to Nira that, unlike the last group of scavengers they met, there's a chance for negotiation.

"All the same, we're intending to save Andgarr," called Nira. "We intend to stop the monster before it gets to Andgarr. That's why we need the ship. If you still wish to leave Andgarr, we'd be willing to give you accommodation on our ship."

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr Prime]

Neva knew in her head that they were dealing with wrecks, but seeing the actual remains of their former crew was another thing. She gulped down a lump of bile threatening to rise and took her attention back to the problem at hand.

Neva nodded at Commander Said's order and started opening her kit when the ship rocked from a familiar hit. She groaned a little as she braced herself and pulled out her phaser instead. When the new group of scavengers tried to lay claim, she shook her head in disgust. 'What in all Creation is this?' she wondered. 'Do we need to take a number on these things?'

Neva had finally hit breaking point. This was ludicrous and heading for dangerous. 'Here's hoping i don't get court marshalled or put in the brig!' Sighing loudly, she shook her head and prayed for calm even as she growled at the assembled. "Begging the Commander's and our esteemed friends' pardon, but we can stand here and squabble over who's ship this is all day. Unfortunately, we do not have the benefit of time." Her gaze leveled angrily on the new scavengers. "So if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get this ship up and running before that overgrown cigar up there" She pointed up with one finger. "makes us and this planet lunch! As my father would say: 'quit yer bitching and act like the adult you are.' So if one of you knows anything about Engineering or any other useful skill, get over to a station or something and DO IT!" With that, she shoved her phaser back onto her belt, turned away and went back to work.

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Andgarr Prime]

There was a surprisingly long pause at Nira's offer even after Neva's outburst, the gravelly voice called back.

"You speak truth? You would take us from this place?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 4 - Transporter Room 1]

"Settle down!  No one is giving anymore beatings.   If you haven't noticed, there are enough casualties as it is.   Now you... " Lahr pointed towards one of the more vocal in the crowd, who to the Andorian seemed mostly uninjured.  The man had seemed to have plenty strength for punching when Lahr was trying to block hits on the doctor and his patient earlier.  "I want you to answer a few questions.  The rest of you, wait to be assessed by the doctor quietly and then go to where you are directed."

Stepping closer to the one individual he'd singled out, Lahr looked him over to get a sense of the man and his occupation.  "Okay... care to tell me why you were trying to kill that other fellow?  I heard someone say he tried to kill you.  How?  Who is he and what did he do that was so greedy and life-threatening?"

[Transporter Room One - USS Challenger]

The Angdarri man Lahr called out looked sullen as if he would refuse to answer out of spite, before he replied with a hiss.

"He's the owner of that wreck that almost killed us! He packed too many people aboard, knowing that wallowing pile of junk was unfit. A beating is the least of what he deserves."

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

[Shuttle Resnick - Shuttlebay - USS Challenger]

Jamil found or was soon joined by Ensign Alexandria Winsdor, CPO Andrew McNeil, PO2 Kuni Jufforn, a Tellerite, PO2 Nallim Vuax, an unjoined Trill; with Lieutenant jg Vessaash sh'Vhaorhath, an Andorian in charge. The pilots were unknown to Jamil, but consisted of a Bolian woman and a human male.

Once they'd been given clearance, the shuttle lifted off with the McNair following close behind the two small craft dove down through the atmosphere and soon reached the towering trees of Angdarr. All had time to marvel at the staggering size of the trees as they passed below the great canopy and into the increasingly dim light nearer the surface. Eventually, the shuttles found the ancient Romulan wreck and landed. When they were on the ground, Lieutenant sh'Vhaorhath stood and drew her phaser.

"Make sure you have your weapons at the ready. The away team has already encountered scavengers and while I know you would all inclined to want a tricorder in your hand, this time, we have to be prepared for trouble. Let's go."

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Battlehawk Wreck - Warbird Necropolis - Angdarr Prime]

There was another wave of fire before "Gravel" could get his people to stop shooting and he shouted.

"Starfleet? Why is Starfleet on our claim? We found it and we mean to keep it. Even if it's only sublight, it's still a ship and we can escape Angdarr before that monster eats the planet!"

[Commander Nira Said | Battlehawk Wreck | Warbird Necropolis | Andgarr Prime]

It was dawning on Nira that despite shooting up crap in the away team's direction, their accuracy was horrible. Nira figured it was almost like engaging Jem'Hadar going cold turkey on ketracel white: Violent in their shooting but with horrible accuracy. Nonetheless, they couldn't risk a chance of getting shot.

Then she heard a gravelly voice giving orders. It was clear that whoever these people were, they weren't scavengers and had mistaken the away team for scavengers.

"Hold your fire!" Nira shouted to her team. Then she inched up and called to the shooters. "Hold it! We're not scavengers! We're from the Federation Starship Challenger! We don't mean to intrude, we weren't aware of anybody here! May I ask who you are?"

Inwardly, Nira hoped these people will be willing to talk or be reasonable.

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr Prime]

Neva knew in her head that they were dealing with wrecks, but seeing the actual remains of their former crew was another thing. She gulped down a lump of bile threatening to rise and took her attention back to the problem at hand.

Neva nodded at Commander Said's order and started opening her kit when the ship rocked from a familiar hit. She groaned a little as she braced herself and pulled out her phaser instead. When the new group of scavengers tried to lay claim, she shook her head in disgust. 'What in all Creation is this?' she wondered. 'Do we need to take a number on these things?'

Neva had finally hit breaking point. This was ludicrous and heading for dangerous. 'Here's hoping i don't get court marshalled or put in the brig!' Sighing loudly, she shook her head and prayed for calm even as she growled at the assembled. "Begging the Commander's and our esteemed friends' pardon, but we can stand here and squabble over who's ship this is all day. Unfortunately, we do not have the benefit of time." Her gaze leveled angrily on the new scavengers. "So if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get this ship up and running before that overgrown cigar up there" She pointed up with one finger. "makes us and this planet lunch! As my father would say: 'quit yer bitching and act like the adult you are.' So if one of you knows anything about Engineering or any other useful skill, get over to a station or something and DO IT!" With that, she shoved her phaser back onto her belt, turned away and went back to work.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Romulan Wreck - Ancient Battlehawk | Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

"I am acting-!"

Came the response of the Caitian at Taja as she recoiled, though he could not reply with something more reassuring. Zhukdra'shar yowled as he was burnt by the residual heat as a disruptor blast melted a piece of the wall next to him. Gritting his teeth, he proceeded to throw himself belly down on the ground, hoping that would reduce any more potential damage. His right foot, left leg, and a small area around the waist had been already seared, though it was nothing more than minor damage.

Though he kept firing, things were not getting better, as he failed to confirm his targets, or that he had hit any of them as he returned fire with fire. He could not advance any further, as though these individuals were inaccurate, their weapons kept the team pinned down. He voted to ask the Commander for a tactical retreat, especially as he overheard that a hoarse voice was asking for something bigger to be brought in.

The orders that Nira spoke up caught him off guard. However, he obeyed, stopping his shooting. Zhuk remained flat on the floor, as he heard his Commander attempt to find a diplomatic solution. He was a bit skeptical such an attempt would work, but he dared not speak anything about it. There was a faint possibility of such a tactic succeeding.

The shooting on their part did not stop immediately, but at least their targeting was not better. Eventually, though, the disruptor beams stopped, and the voice from before asked, rather confused, what was Starfleet doing here. Zhuk's tail twitched suddenly at the proposal made by Nira to take them along. He was not sure it was wise. But then again, if they allowed them to take the warp core, by all means.

He gripped his rifle tightly, waiting to see the reaction of the scavengers. Truly, he hoped they would take the offer. He glanced behind to see his teammates, determining that they were not injured, though he was surprised to have Neva be the one to speak up after Nira, shouting how this was an unbearable situation, and demanding that they work together. It was not the type of diplomacy that ended well, he reckoned, but maybe it would be the motivation the scavengers needed to accept.

After a moment, he was colored surprised. Nira had succeeded! Go Commander!

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 4 - Transporter Room 1]

"Settle down!  No one is giving anymore beatings.   If you haven't noticed, there are enough casualties as it is.   Now you... " Lahr pointed towards one of the more vocal in the crowd, who to the Andorian seemed mostly uninjured.  The man had seemed to have plenty strength for punching when Lahr was trying to block hits on the doctor and his patient earlier.  "I want you to answer a few questions.  The rest of you, wait to be assessed by the doctor quietly and then go to where you are directed."

Stepping closer to the one individual he'd singled out, Lahr looked him over to get a sense of the man and his occupation.  "Okay... care to tell me why you were trying to kill that other fellow?  I heard someone say he tried to kill you.  How?  Who is he and what did he do that was so greedy and life-threatening?"

[Transporter Room One - USS Challenger]

The Angdarri man Lahr called out looked sullen as if he would refuse to answer out of spite, before he replied with a hiss.

"He's the owner of that wreck that almost killed us! He packed too many people aboard, knowing that wallowing pile of junk was unfit. A beating is the least of what he deserves."

[Ensign Zala | Deck 4 | Transporter Room One | USS Challenger 40117-A | In orbit around Angdarr Prime | Angdarr System]

Zala was experiencing a general feeling of discomfort. Her legs were wobbly, and she felt like throwing up. Such sensations were not helped by the strong smell of iron coming from the blood, which caked half of her suit. At least, she was reassured by the fact that she had managed to save that lady bleeding out after helping her reach sickbay. Other gnarly scenes also swam through her mind, though she tried not to focus on them. She would need to see the Counselor after this...

Though she was not too tall, nor imposing, which caused her problems when wanting to move around the cramped hallways, she had Petty Officer 1st Class Koroz on the lead. As a Klingon male, he was more than capable of pushing people aside, or barking threats when people began to get rowdy. Which was a blessing when they arrived to the Transporter Room One. With his booming voice, he dispersed the crowd around a beaten human. The sight of it made Zala gasp,

"G-Great Exchequer! W-What happened here?!" She exclaimed, though neither Koloz nor the rest of Security could offer her one, "Alright all of you! Settle down, before we throw you into the brig! Officers, form a perimeter, assist the Transporter Chief, one of you!" The sharp-eyed Klingon noticed the presence of Lahr, who was talking to some of the mob, just as the injured human was transported off to sickbay, "Zala. Help ch'Verret."

She immediately nodded, gently shoving injured people aside, guiding them to the exit of the Transporter Room, or carefully avoiding them, until she managed to reach Lahr. She came to find an angry Angdarri man telling of the apparent reason as to why they had ended up beating up whom she assumed was the Captain of the S.S. Guppy, by his words. That only made it even more awful.

The man had successfully managed to con a bunch of desperate individuals into a rather rickety ship, and most likely turned up a profit as a result. Then again, his actions had caused much suffering, so her training and upbringing were at a conflict for a moment. Still, she reminded herself of Rule of Acquisition number 125, "You can't make a deal if you are dead."

And that man had been rather close to being killed,

"I understand your p-pain, but please, don't dirty your hands with more violence. Our medics are swamped w-with patients as it is. A-And we are allowed t-to use non-lethal force if necessary," Zala barged into the conversation, offering a warning, before looking at Lahr, "Can I be of any help, Chief Petty Officer?"

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Transporter Room 1, U.S.S. Challenger]

NOTE: This post takes place immediately before and during Ian's latest post.

In approximately four minutes, maybe less than that, the situation in the transporter room had gone from a sort of benign chaos to an interstellar mosh pit. When the shouting and shoving had started, Kyan had been smack dab in the middle of an entire gaggle of people who all began moving at once. And while he was an accomplished tactician and a good fighter if he had room to move around, close confines and numbers negated any advantage he might have had.

Additionally, Onlies and Planet of the Apes mosh pits don't mix. Like... at all.

Given that Kyan was annoyed by unsolicited touching from grups, especially those he didn't know, the stampede of people was offensive on several levels. In the past few minutes the boy had been shoved, pushed, moved via a very malicious hip check, actually picked up under the arms and heaved aside, picked up by the back of his jacket and placed down elsewhere, and had his whole head palmed and redirected more than once. And he was pretty certain that someone tried to pick his pocket! His hair was tousled, he had been scratched, and someone in the crowd had terrible body odor.

The latest facepalm was the straw that broke the camel's back... and some Human's finger. His howl could be heard clearly over the now-settling crowd.

"Little bastard!" the scruffy middle-aged man cried out, "You broke my finger!" Before Kyan could retort, he was hauled off his feet and looking eye to eye with the snarling man, who had him by the front of his jacket. The people around them had begun moving away when the man screamed initially. There was a bit of space now so he could move when he freed himself. "What the he'll is wro....."

Kyan reached out and grabbed the man's shirt with both hands and gave a push, locking out his arms. He was feinting a push-off. Predictably, the grup tried to pull him back. Kyan let him. When he was close enough, he head-butted the man in the nose, which gave a wet crunching sound and elicited another pained howl from the grup. He let go of Kyan and grabbed his mangled nose.

Kyan landed on the deck and reached behind him for karambit, producing the curved knife and adopting a loose stance, his eyes darting around to see who was going to come at him. Then he said with all the steel that he could put into it, "I swear tae the Moriggu Her black feathered self, the next hand dat touches me is coming off!

The poor sap with the broken nose and finger decided not to try for payback, since he was unarmed and Kyan was holding a knife. He just held his gushing nose and whimpered. Seeing that no one else was moving toward him, Kyan sheathed his karambit.

"Good. Ok den." he began.... Now you lot best start explaining yerselves before we start trowin people out the airlocks!

The Angdarri man Lahr called out looked sullen as if he would refuse to answer out of spite, before he replied with a hiss.

"He's the owner of that wreck that almost killed us! He packed too many people aboard, knowing that wallowing pile of junk was unfit. A beating is the least of what he deserves."

"Den he can go tae the brig." Kyan said, then with a look at Jalen, "when he's been fixed... den he can."

[Dr Taja Grippen]

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Everything had been fine so far. Tora could handle the bodies of dead Romulans and the thickness of the air and the overwhelming sense of dread that seemed to have settled over the entire interior. Maybe it was all the death inside. Thoughts went racing through her mind as she trailed behind the away team in stunned silence. What exactly had caused this? How had the crew of an entire Romulan warbird simply up and died like that? And more terrifyingly - what if what killed these Romulans came for them next?

All thought was interrupted, however, when the wall inches from her face exploded, leaving behind a nasty disruptor burn. Nope, definitely not set to stun - and clearly whatever or whomever was after them wanted them out. Every muscle in Tora's body screamed at her to book it out
of there - which she could not do without her team. Hell, she didn't even know if she could find her way out alone. A scream, all too familiar, crying out in a desperate plea for help - and Tora ran. Not away, mind - towards the owner of that voice. The Risian medic. The Cardassian grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her back to safety, or at least where she thought was safety. "You'll be okay, calm down..." She whispered in Risian. Speaking another's mother tongue was a surefire way to get them to relax - or at least distract them. And right now what they needed was definitely a distraction.

[Battlehawk Wreck, Andgarr]

Taja shouted out a 'Woah!' as she was dragged unexpectedly backwards and into better cover. Thinking for a moment she was being grabbed by one of the scavengers she wheeled around with a fist, but stopped herself seeing that it was their friendly Cardassian scientist. And just in time it was to, as her former piece of cover disintegrated from enemy fire.

Then just as suddenly as it had started, the fire fight stopped. The doctor caught her breath a moment before responding and collecting herself, "Thank you, today is the first time I've been in a real firefight, save for the holo-simulations at the Academy." Taja then noticed that Tora had been injured, a disruptor burn to the side of her face. "You're hurt, let me take care of that real quick..." Taja unslung her trusty medical kit and grabbed the dermal regenerator, then activated it across Tora's scorched cheek. It would only take a few minutes to heal and the skin would be good as new.