S4: E11 - Fracture Lines

[Lagar]

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

She was about to move from the PCU to the ICU when she witnessed Lagar performing a rather invasive surgery on himself. Her eyes turned into saucers as she took in this intense action, and she ran over to him, narrowly missing being hit by a traveling hovergurney.

"Woah woah woah!" she exclaimed. "I totally appreciate you wanting to have all hands on deck, but next time let one of us do it, okay? A bruised arm can wait if it's something like this."

She let out a breath. Emotions had been high ever since this surge of patients had popped up, and seeing her new friend injured like that took her off guard. Her mind was already jumping to what she was going to do first in the ICU, but since she was momentarily overwhelmed she halted for a second and focused on Lagar, trying not to focus on the sutures.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

"Yes ma'am, I will do so in the future, but worry not for me." Lagar tells her, his voice that same peaceful tone despite the frustration and stress of the Sickbay environment. "To my physiology, four staples are far preferable to a collapsing central column. Think of it more as structural support than surgery. You'll see me heal this in due time."

He saw no need to tell he that he had suffered worse, for he had, and there were patients to treat. He moved to team up with Lieutenant Belmont then, hoping that their efforts, combined with those of the called-upon off-shift doctors, would get the situation under control!

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

[Planet]

"By Loki... what the heck!" Ruth said, as the ground moved beneath her.  "Is everyone ok? Try to keep your feet, we need to get to the pulses, switch them off before it tears this planet apart.  Koroz, keep communications with the ship open if you can and get them to pinpoint where the pulses are coming from, I've got my scanner set up but the ship's scanners are more powerful than our hand held ones.  I'm getting readings from over there... " she gestured with her hand.

Ruth heard Lahr's response and it was enough to have her smile despite the current situation.

Koroz is keeping comms open with ... well you now.  Keep those axes on standby for me!

Despite the seriousness of the situation, at hearing Ruth's remark, Lahr's antenna writhed in amusement.

"Aye ma'am.  I have their co-ordinates on 'speed dial'.   If call for them they'll be there." There was a silent addition of 'so would he' that didn't need to be spoken aloud.

[Planet]
"Koroz to Challenger." he began. "We've reached the site, and immediately began receiving phaser fire from what appears to be a patrol of Edoran military personnel. They made no attempt to communicate before opening fire." He lifted his body and twisted around to observe the engaging force below, releasing cover fire with his phaser rifle to help his comrades move to more secure positions. His team was higher up than the Edorans, an ideal position, and this shaking of the ground made the battle even more exhilerating. "We are returning fire using stun settings, there is only one patrol engaging us for now."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

There was so much chaos going on that Ian was struggling to keep up with all the information he was receiving. Morgan has stated that communications with the away team had failed after a short message from Koroz that they were taking fire, but then there was another pulse and all communications failed. In addition, Randall reported that the seismic activity on the planet was getting far worse and spiked at one minute intervals in time with the pulses. Finally, Grint at Tactical said that pulses had a subspace component that were draining them and he figured at current rate the shields would fail in less than ten minutes.

As if that wasn't enough, the Khranu decloaked off the ship's starboard bow with her weapons hot and her captain irate. Morgan put Thelal through and he immediately demanded.

"What have you done Galloway? I hold you personally responsible for this attack and if you don't give me a good reason not do, I will take immense pleasure in destroying that antique of yours!"

Lahr's antenna began drooping the moment that the comm line was lost.   He worked as hard as he could trying to regain connection.   He barely paid any mind to Thelal and his typical Romulan threats.

"If Thelal is too dense to realize we're in the same boat as he, the guy doesn't deserve to command a ship." the Andorian muttered - ideally quiet enough not to be heard by anyone other than himself... but then the sensitivity of the mic on the bridge was rather good.

NPC Crewman Frank Burke
[Planetside  - Away Team]

Ruth rolled her eyes a little at Burke but knew he was just doing his job.  "I'm not completely incompetent Crewman, but since a certain Andorian would rip you to pieces if you so much as let me get a scratch on me..." she chuckled.  "Lead off in that direction, I promise I'm on your shoulder.  Everyone...  you have personal shields...they might offer some protection from any falling rocks." she clicked hers on, having forgotten that she had one, so long had it been since she served in Security, she'd been kitted out the same as the rest of the away team but it wasn't automatic for her.

With his attention on getting the Commander to safety, Burke didn't see the eye roll that Ruth gave him, but he did hear the amusement and correction she gave him.  Her commentary about how Lahr might 'rip him to pieces' was too funny.  He managed to hold back his own laugh and merely nod at her orders to lead off.

However, it didn't take long for that to go sour.

Spotting the military patrol, she yelled "Take cover, we still have high ground!" Crouching behind a rock she started taking shots at the Edorans and they made pretty short work, stunning several and managing to round up two. In the process she stood briefly to get a better line of sight on one of the assailants, who managed to catch her on her ankle.

"ÁžÁº skÁ­thÁ¦ll, Á¾Áº munt borga fyrir Á¾aÁ°!" she spat out in Icelandic, hoping the UT didn't translate it as it wasn't exactly complimentary to said assailant's parents, since she'd proclaimed him illegitimate!

"Yes the pulses seem to be getting a little stronger..."  "...but this is ridiculous.  I think... " she turned to T'Kel, Burke and Koroz, "...you see that down there?  I think it's coming from there, we need to get down there first though.  And be ready for more things other than geology attacking us when we do!"

She glared at the two that they'd managed to round up, wincing from the pain in her left ankle but determined that she wasn't going to let the rest of the away crew realise she was hurt nor slow them down.

"OK, what's causing the tremors? Where is whatever is giving off these pulses located.  We need to shut it down or it's going to shake the planet apart.  This is for your benefit as much as mine.  Crewman Burke, tie up the stunned ones, these walking ones we'll take with us,.."

With orders to tie up those stunned, Burke did his task while the Commander attempted to interrogate the one still conscious.  Her threats to kill however drew his attention.   WTF!?   He rose from his task thinking he would have to intervene only to have another of the team place a hand on his shoulder and give brief negative shake of his head.

"Good idea not to test my patience however, don't you think.  From what I gather, we have about 12 minutes until this planet will shake itself to bits, if you want to see your wife again, might be an idea to start talking..."

"I don't know, I swear, you can't kill me, my wife is pregnant..." he looked appealingly both at Ruth and then at his fellow Edoran, now worried having been given a 'timeframe' for his demise, and realising that the angry red haired woman before him meant business. "The Sergeant might know..."

"Point out which one is the Sergeant."

[Planet]

"We are victorious! Commander Siggur's Daughter has captured the enemy!!" he shouts into the combadge, his excitement at their achievement getting the better of him for a moment. The Klingon joins Burke, keeping his phaser rifle trained on the stunned Edorans as his colleague ties them up. Once done, Koroz turns away from the prisoners to proudly observe the battlefield interrogation. His Commander is indeed frightening in her own human way, subtly using the setting on her phaser rifle to terrify the Orion. She was in a position of great power now, armed and in charge; the captured enemy combatant was hers to do with as she wished! Koroz was pleased by her choice to threaten the life of the detained man, going so far as to offer to pay for his funeral!

Koroz turned and quietly delivered the next part of his report out of earshot of Ruth and the green-skinned Edorans, as he did not want to reveal Ruth's deception. "She is threatening to kill one of the survivors if they do not guide us to the subspace device, and it appears to be effective." he reports proudly. "Her weapon is set to stun, of course." he quickly adds as an afterthought.

"Challenger, we need your scanners to pinpoint where the pulses are coming from, and send the data to our tricorders."

[Outside a large Cavern - Edoran]

The Edoran soldiers did put up a fight, but were not crack troops by any means and were quickly subdued. The two conscious soldiers were clearly afraid of the cavern, but when forced to enter, they didn't put up a fight. The cavern was rough hewn near the entrance, but then quickly opened into a massive, smooth-walled chamber the size of a Oberth-Class starship's primary hull.

In the center of the chamber, spot-lit and imposing, was an eight-meter tall obelisk covered with runes and markings. A small circle of control panels surrounded the base of the obelisk- one of them damaged and smoking. Ruth took one look at the runes and sucked in a sharp breath. She'd read about them even though she hadn't seen them in person before, the iconography on the obelisk were clearly Iconian.

[Outside a large Cavern - Edoran]

Koroz snarled, realizing that communications had failed sometime after he had made his initial report to the Challenger. He moved back over to his commander as they approached the cavern; he knew that he needed to make her aware this failure of communications immediately.

"Commander, we have lost communications with the ship." he reports.

The news about the loss of communications was bad... that also meant they no longer had transporter locks.

As he kept watch outside the cavern, he glanced back towards the Commander at her reaction.  "Is that a good reaction or a bad reaction, ma'am?"  He eyed the obelisk.  "What is it?"

[Hanir Seph]

[USS Challenger - Sickbay]

Shazham saw that Lahr was feeling better. "œAre you planning to help with the injury, Petty Officer?" he asked. He was not sure whether Lahr said it or not when helping with his stretches. Was not sure he was talking about the stretchers for carrying people or stretching his muscles. The Counselor was concerned if the Andorian was staying to help. If he felt he needed to help the bridge it was his duty. "œBecause I will work with you to make sure everyone gets a bed. I know some combat medic treatment from training. We can be sure we will be a big help to the nurses and doctors. We can do light injury." He smiled at the Andorian.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Lagar, only one tendril down, moved from patient to patient, shifting some to the ICU and keeping others in the PCU in accordance with Lieutenant Belmont's instructions, but he was hampered by a developing problem. The chunk missing from the Phylosian's side was causing his central stalk to tilt ever so slightly; the missing piece meant a weakening in the structural support for his upper body. His body was gruesomely folding over into the missing space, and the pressure was forcing more of his internal liquids to ooze out, despite his efforts to close off the unwanted spillage of his vital fluids.

Frustrated with the problem, and knowing it would get worse before it got better, Lagar took a brief moment to retreive an auto-suture and a long, rigid splint shaped like a flat board. He placed the board on his body perpendicular to the gouge, and set the auto-suture to create U-shaped, nail-like staples. Wordlessly, and missing the facial features that might afford him the ability to grimace, Lagar stapled the top and bottom of the splint over the hole in his body, the sutures serving to 'brace' the open space and give him the support he needed to continue his duties. The nail structures pierced deeply into his trunk, only a small bit of his internal aloe excreting before it solidified around the heads of the staples. Outwardly, the procedure was brutal, and it meant he could keep moving... But he and his colleagues just were not keeping up...

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

"No problem, Derek," Lisa said warmly, hearing the sincerity in the young man's voice. She was happy to have a more amicable patient for a change. "You can go on to your quarters now, or wherever else you go to relax. See you again soon," she gave him a wave as he left and then cleared the biobed for a new patient.

Lisa listened to Hanir with interest, as she was fascinated by how Betazoid neurology worked. Sometimes the best way to describe medical concepts was to hear it from the person who was experiencing them, as a textbook could only tell so much. She smiled back at her and was about to respond when there was a sudden jolt all over the ship accompanied by an influx in activity. She managed to grab hold of the medcart next to her, and as soon as the patients started coming in she sprang into action.

The CMO hadn't noticed Hanir's injury, not out of lack of caring, but because many other injuries that needed her attention were calling. By now she had called all of Beta shift to action and the EMH was conducting diagnoses and aiding Jess with her triage efforts by categorizing the injuries by severity. As she was practically running from each biobed she watched as Lagar bandaged his gash and cringed at what she saw. But this couldn't take her attention for long and he was surrounded by people who could help him if needed. She proceeded to administer treatment to five individuals with bruises and superficial wounds, her skill with the dermal regenerator allowing her to finish the job in four minutes or less depending on the size of the wound. She had long ago given permission for low-ranking officers to administer treatment without her consent. She assumed that most cases wouldn't be serious enough to need it but, if that was the case and she was too busy to be there to sign off on it...she didn't want to take that chance. This way she was able to be more of a doctor than a supervisor, and this suited her nicely.

She was about to move from the PCU to the ICU when she witnessed Lagar performing a rather invasive surgery on himself. Her eyes turned into saucers as she took in this intense action, and she ran over to him, narrowly missing being hit by a traveling hovergurney.

"Woah woah woah!" she exclaimed. "I totally appreciate you wanting to have all hands on deck, but next time let one of us do it, okay? A bruised arm can wait if it's something like this."

She let out a breath. Emotions had been high ever since this surge of patients had popped up, and seeing her new friend injured like that took her off guard. Her mind was already jumping to what she was going to do first in the ICU, but since she was momentarily overwhelmed she halted for a second and focused on Lagar, trying not to focus on the sutures.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

"Yes ma'am, I will do so in the future, but worry not for me." Lagar tells her, his voice that same peaceful tone despite the frustration and stress of the Sickbay environment. "To my physiology, four staples are far preferable to a collapsing central column. Think of it more as structural support than surgery. You'll see me heal this in due time."

He saw no need to tell he that he had suffered worse, for he had, and there were patients to treat. He moved to team up with Lieutenant Belmont then, hoping that their efforts, combined with those of the called-upon off-shift doctors, would get the situation under control!

[USS Challenger-A | Sickbay]

"Per Ardua Vitae." Hanir muttered silently to herself. If anyone would ask her later in life about this Sickbay visit, she would say truthfully she remembered very little of it. That wasn't exactly true, because all the details blurred into each other. There was Doctor Belmont, who appeared to be moving from patient to patient, working miracles whenever she blinked her eyes. There was Lagar, a tendril and bits of his body injured in ways that made Hanir blush and turn away in shame. There was Shazam, running around like a crazy person performing treatments.

Steeling herself, Hanir had to open her empathic senses. Immediately, she was bombarded from all sides, a mixture of distress, pain, anxiety but mostly stoic determination. Picking a direction, she found herself near an Ensign wearing Operations Gold, arm twisted at an odd angle, moaning quietly on a biobed. She grasped the Ensign's hand, projecting as many calming thoughts as she could into the Ensign's hand: pictures of springtime, a park, children playing, while also projecting Beethoven's Pastoral symphony. As if on cue, another of the Beta Shift Medical personnel took over the treatment.

Hanir forced herself forward, step by step. Although the empathic thoughts of the crew were intruding into her mind, she pressed on. There was a Bolian Crewman with a gash to the head, an Orion Lieutenant JG with a fractured jaw, a blur of people. Hanir wasn't sure how many hands she held, how much projection of calm she managed to convey, but Sickbay seemed to be a lot more calm and subdued as she made her way around.

Somewhere along the way in all the chaos, she managed to find Doctor Belmont while she was taking a second for a breather: "I think you could do with a friend after this." Hanir reached out to gently squeeze Lisa's shoulder before she herself moved on.

To Lagar, she mentioned in passing: "I've never met anyone so passionate and driven. We are lucky to have you." After what seemed like an eternity, she found she could walk no further and slumped against an empty patch of wall in Sickbay, putting up her mental shields and letting the tension start to drain away.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Outside a large Cavern - Edoran]

The Edoran soldiers did put up a fight, but were not crack troops by any means and were quickly subdued. The two conscious soldiers were clearly afraid of the cavern, but when forced to enter, they didn't put up a fight. The cavern was rough hewn near the entrance, but then quickly opened into a massive, smooth-walled chamber the size of a Oberth-Class starship's primary hull.

In the center of the chamber, spot-lit and imposing, was an eight-meter tall obelisk covered with runes and markings. A small circle of control panels surrounded the base of the obelisk- one of them damaged and smoking. Ruth took one look at the runes and sucked in a sharp breath. She'd read about them even though she hadn't seen them in person before, the iconography on the obelisk were clearly Iconian.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

Despite the seriousness of the situation, at hearing Ruth's remark, Lahr's antenna writhed in amusement.

"Aye ma'am.  I have their co-ordinates on 'speed dial'.   If call for them they'll be there." There was a silent addition of 'so would he' that didn't need to be spoken aloud.

Lahr's antenna began drooping the moment that the comm line was lost.   He worked as hard as he could trying to regain connection.   He barely paid any mind to Thelal and his typical Romulan threats.

"If Thelal is too dense to realize we're in the same boat as he, the guy doesn't deserve to command a ship." the Andorian muttered - ideally quiet enough not to be heard by anyone other than himself... but then the sensitivity of the mic on the bridge was rather good.

NPC Crewman Frank Burke
[Planetside  - Away Team]

With his attention on getting the Commander to safety, Burke didn't see the eye roll that Ruth gave him, but he did hear the amusement and correction she gave him.  Her commentary about how Lahr might 'rip him to pieces' was too funny.  He managed to hold back his own laugh and merely nod at her orders to lead off.

However, it didn't take long for that to go sour.

With orders to tie up those stunned, Burke did his task while the Commander attempted to interrogate the one still conscious.  Her threats to kill however drew his attention.   WTF!?   He rose from his task thinking he would have to intervene only to have another of the team place a hand on his shoulder and give brief negative shake of his head.

"Point out which one is the Sergeant."

The news about the loss of communications was bad... that also meant they no longer had transporter locks.

As he kept watch outside the cavern, he glanced back towards the Commander at her reaction.  "Is that a good reaction or a bad reaction, ma'am?"  He eyed the obelisk.  "What is it?"

[Cavern - Planet]

Ruth sighed heavily.  "It was both in a way, Burke.  Good only however in the case of I'm a Scientist, and a Xenolinguist actually being given an opportunity to see this up close and personal..."  She wished with all her heart that Lahr was there now, just to calm her.

"...unless I'm very much mistaken, that's Iconian....or Zibalian, possibly Lokirrim... I don't know any of them well enough to be 100% certain, but one thing I do know, the UT probably can't make head nor tail of it but try, either way that's the bad part. But there's a possibility that is one of their gateways.  We don't have communication with the ship so we can't get word out.  Iconians are supposed to be extinct, so maybe a race descended from them...either way. Don't go too near it, we don't know where that might lead, for all we know it could be onto Thelal's ship, or the middle of the Gamma Quadrant.  It needs to be destroyed however as that is very likely causing power surges and as a result the earthquakes and such."

The two conscious prisoners seemed to be quaking in their boots.  So she walked over and spoke kindly to them.

"OK, I know I threatened you before, but I think I get why you're scared here and it's not because of me in this instance, although I admit I can get pretty scary!  Have you seen anyone come through this, has it spoken?"

They looked at her as if the last thing they wanted to do was talk about what was in that cavern... but the one that had spoken before just said "Saaaarge....." looking at the other, as if begging him to be the one to give out information.

She turned back to her crew.  "T'Kel, Burke, Koroz... one of you try talking to it.  I know you won't know Iconian, or I doubt that very much, but try your native languages, see if anything or anyone responds and have your phasers ready for anything coming thru that, and see if you can find any kind of power supply without getting too close.  We need to find a way to shut this down.  I doubt this is the Master Resonator, or that all the known keys attached to this one have been deactivated... Has someone reactivated them maybe..." 

Ruth mused to herself.  "I just wish there were some way to get word back to the ship."

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Starfleet captain's received training in diplomacy because they frequently interacted with planetary leaders, initiated first contact with new species, or negotiated on behalf of the Federation Council. Ian fully admitted he wasn't much of a diplomat, he was far too plain spoken for that, but he did put in a lot of effort to compensate for that trait. Normally, he could ignore Thelal's insults and trade barbs with him without allowing himself to be goaded into actual anger, but now, with his ship under attack, the planet tearing itself apart, close to three dozen casualties, and having lost contact with the away team, Thelal was just one straw too much and he erupted.

"Thelal, you greasy, whiny, spineless git! If'n you didn't have your bloody head up your pompous arse all the bloody time you'd ken that those pulses are nae of our doin' and that they're comin' from the planet you pillock!"

Thelal got a crafty look on his face at that moment replied dismissively.

"It seems you are correct for once in your life Galloway. The Khranu will handle the situation and should you or that rapidly disintegrating rust bucket of yours attempt to interfere, there will be swift, and deadly, retribution."

Thelal's image faded to be replaced by that of Edoran. Lieutenant Morgan chose that moment to report.

"Sir, multiple ships are sending distress signals and Minister Conacian wants to speak to you."

"Put him on."

"Captain, I am holding you personally responsible for the chaos you have caused. You were ordered to stay in a standard orbit, you didn't and now the people of Edoran are paying the price for your disobedience. I want you out of the system immediately while we still have a planet. Have you got any idea how much damage has already occurred and the number of casualties we've sustained? This is a catastrophe!"

"Aye Minister, it is and it's about ta get far worse based off of our sensor readin's. I have an away team at the source of the subspace pulses that includes one of the finest scientists in the Federation. I ask that you just give her a chance ta get the situation under control, because based on our findin's if'n you don't, Edoran will tear itself apart."

This news caused Conacian to blanch and his voice quavered as he replied.

"I-I-I h-had no i-idea it was t-that bad. Can y-you stop it?"

"I have complete faith in Commander Sigurdsdottir Minister. If'n anyone can it is her."

"May the Lord of All Things watch over her."

"I'm sure she'd appreciate His help. Look ta your world Minister, I will report back once I know more."

As Conacian's image faded, Ian found himself wondering if there were any other higher powers that might be willing to help.

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

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As Ruth stared at the runes, she heard that familiar whine of a transporter, but it was not the comforting sound of a Federation model. Looking over some thirty meters from the obelisk, it was clear that whoever was trying to beam in was having a difficult time of it, but, despite the interference, the transporter operator knew his or her business and the cycle completed leaving six Romulans standing there with disruptors drawn.

"Back away from the device or we will fire!"

A Sub-Lieutenant shouted and it was clear he was not bluffing. Fortunately, the long beam in cycle gave the away team time to prepare to resist based on whatever orders Ruth gave.

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

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The steady stream of injured finally ended and with so many hands working on them, the feeling of being overwhelmed was no longer the medical personnel's first thought. While there were six very serious injuries, the rest were easily handled and cycled out of sickbay. Once the simple fractures and burns were resolved, that only left the six major casualties and those with head injuries, which included Jettis, Dashlish, and Thompson from the first away team.

With the casualties under control, Jess had established a link to the bridge to find out was going on and wasn't happy she had. She looked at the Lisa and Lagar and said.

"Looks like shields are failing. Those pulses are somehow draining them and according to Engineering, they will only last another ten minutes."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As Ruth stared at the runes, she heard that familiar whine of a transporter, but it was not the comforting sound of a Federation model. Looking over some thirty meters from the obelisk, it was clear that whoever was trying to beam in was having a difficult time of it, but, despite the interference, the transporter operator knew his or her business and the cycle completed leaving six Romulans standing there with disruptors drawn.

"Back away from the device or we will fire!"

A Sub-Lieutenant shouted and it was clear he was not bluffing. Fortunately, the long beam in cycle gave the away team time to prepare to resist based on whatever orders Ruth gave.

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As soon as the whine of the transporter started, Ruth had gestured for phasers to be up, ready since it was clearly not their own Federation transporters, unless something was interfering with it.  She wasn't sure who she should be expecting and she didn't want taken unawares.

They were clearly having some trouble completing the cycle, but eventually they did, and the Commander wished she could have been surprised to see the six Romulans standing there but in reality, considering what Thelal was like, she wasn't.

Upon the Sub-Commander's request she didn't back away an inch from the obelisk, but gestured to the rest of the away team to lower their weapons, giving a quick nod with her head turned so that the Romulans couldn't see and mouthed "...but ready for anything." to them.

She turned back and gave the Romulans her 'not amused' look.  "So... colleagues of Captain Sleezeball... I mean Thelal are you?  I'm pretty sure none of you are Iconian, and thus you'll need me to decipher this, unless of course one of your own party is a xenolinguist specialising in languages of extinct species?!" she continued scanning the obelisk, getting a full reading of all the runes, then trying to work them out in conjunction with where they were located on the obelisk.

"However, if you know how to turn this thing off I suggest we work together and you do so, otherwise it's not our ship or yours that is going to suffer but the Edorans.  One gentleman has a wife who if this planet shaking itself to pieces is anything to go by is probably in labour.. this is enough to bring on any pregnancy!, that or we need to appeal to your better nature..."

Ruth tried to hide the scathing look she visualised in her head wondering if Romulans in general, particularly Thelal's crew if indeed they were from his ship, actually had a 'better nature' but she had to try.

"...and if there is no way to shut this down or stabilise it, to get the inhabitants off the planet before it disintegrates and send a message to our ship to enable it to do the same.  In the meantime, I'm going to continue to try to find a way myself."

[Ian Galloway]

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As soon as the whine of the transporter started, Ruth had gestured for phasers to be up, ready since it was clearly not their own Federation transporters, unless something was interfering with it.  She wasn't sure who she should be expecting and she didn't want taken unawares.

They were clearly having some trouble completing the cycle, but eventually they did, and the Commander wished she could have been surprised to see the six Romulans standing there but in reality, considering what Thelal was like, she wasn't.

Upon the Sub-Commander's request she didn't back away an inch from the obelisk, but gestured to the rest of the away team to lower their weapons, giving a quick nod with her head turned so that the Romulans couldn't see and mouthed "...but ready for anything." to them.

She turned back and gave the Romulans her 'not amused' look.  "So... colleagues of Captain Sleezeball... I mean Thelal are you?  I'm pretty sure none of you are Iconian, and thus you'll need me to decipher this, unless of course one of your own party is a xenolinguist specialising in languages of extinct species?!" she continued scanning the obelisk, getting a full reading of all the runes, then trying to work them out in conjunction with where they were located on the obelisk.

"However, if you know how to turn this thing off I suggest we work together and you do so, otherwise it's not our ship or yours that is going to suffer but the Edorans.  One gentleman has a wife who if this planet shaking itself to pieces is anything to go by is probably in labour.. this is enough to bring on any pregnancy!, that or we need to appeal to your better nature..."

Ruth tried to hide the scathing look she visualised in her head wondering if Romulans in general, particularly Thelal's crew if indeed they were from his ship, actually had a 'better nature' but she had to try.

"...and if there is no way to shut this down or stabilise it, to get the inhabitants off the planet before it disintegrates and send a message to our ship to enable it to do the same.  In the meantime, I'm going to continue to try to find a way myself."

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

The Romulan Sub-Lieutenant's eyes flashed and he snarled.

"You will die for your impertinence Earther!"

The Romulans immediately opened fire. Despite being prepared, T'Kel took a solid hit in the chest and immediately crumpled to the cavern floor. As she was dodging and returning fire, Ruth heard the distinctive bass of Koroz roar in pain as a disruptor beam grazed his left arm. The attack didn't go entirely the Romulan's way though when T'roth dropped one of the soldiers with a heavy stun beam.

The two Edoran soldiers used the distraction to make a fast escape out of the cavern, the sergeant leading the way as the terrified private followed screaming not unlike a little girl.

As the two sides fought, the quaking continued and it was now even odds on whether the Romulan disruptors or the rocks falling from the ceiling of the cavern were the greater threat.

Ruth had had to take cover behind one of the Iconian consoles and could see the primary input was a row of four diamond shaped buttons above a row of three triangle shaped buttons. A portion of he unoccupied mind noted that the diamond buttons were, from left to right, orange, green, purple, and brown; while the triangles were all primary colors in order, red, blue, yellow.

[Lagar]

NPC Crewman Frank Burke
[Planetside  - Away Team]

The news about the loss of communications was bad... that also meant they no longer had transporter locks.

As he kept watch outside the cavern, he glanced back towards the Commander at her reaction.  "Is that a good reaction or a bad reaction, ma'am?"  He eyed the obelisk.  "What is it?"

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Koroz similarly marvelled at the structure as they entered the cavern, until the revelation came that it was Iconian in nature.

"Iconians!!" he growled, hearing the name of a hated and treacherous enemy. Only a scant few years ago, Iconians, or at least a faction of their species, instigated a war that invovled the Klingon Empire, the Gorn, and the Federation. Though Koroz was already a member of Starfleet at that time, the manipulations of the Iconians had led to open fighting between his former people and Starfleet. It had been a challenging time for the Klingon enlisted crewman, and he laid full blame for the war and the deaths and the struggles on the Iconians.

He was prepared to follow the Commander's order and say"¦ something in his native tongue to the device when...

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As soon as the whine of the transporter started, Ruth had gestured for phasers to be up, ready since it was clearly not their own Federation transporters, unless something was interfering with it.  She wasn't sure who she should be expecting and she didn't want taken unawares.

They were clearly having some trouble completing the cycle, but eventually they did, and the Commander wished she could have been surprised to see the six Romulans standing there but in reality, considering what Thelal was like, she wasn't.

Upon the Sub-Commander's request she didn't back away an inch from the obelisk, but gestured to the rest of the away team to lower their weapons, giving a quick nod with her head turned so that the Romulans couldn't see and mouthed "...but ready for anything." to them.

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Koroz alternated between "˜phasers up' and "˜phasers down' as ordered until"¦

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

The Romulans immediately opened fire. Despite being prepared, T'Kel took a solid hit in the chest and immediately crumpled to the cavern floor. As she was dodging and returning fire, Ruth heard the distinctive bass of Koroz roar in pain as a disruptor beam grazed his left arm. The attack didn't go entirely the Romulan's way though when T'roth dropped one of the soldiers with a heavy stun beam.

The two Edoran soldiers used the distraction to make a fast escape out of the cavern, the sergeant leading the way as the terrified private followed screaming not unlike a little girl.

As the two sides fought, the quaking continued and it was now even odds on whether the Romulan disruptors or the rocks falling from the ceiling of the cavern were the greater threat.

Ruth had had to take cover behind one of the Iconian consoles and could see the primary input was a row of four diamond shaped buttons above a row of three triangle shaped buttons. A portion of he unoccupied mind noted that the diamond butters were, from left to right, orange, green, purple, and brown; while the triangles were all primary colors in order, red, blue, yellow.

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Following his instinctual roar of pain, Koroz struck the injury with an open hand, a practice from his House believed to make the pain of the first wound of a battle his own. The disruptor burn stung violently, but whether psychological or spiritual, Koroz took control of the pain.

His own phaser rifle still set to stun, Koroz passed a wide beam over the heads of the Romulans, hoping to force them into cover while his colleagues took up defensible positions. A falling chunk of ruck struck his left shoulder, ripping shreds in his uniform there and taking away a fair share of Klingon skin. He turned to check on his team, and saw that his supervisor, Lieutenant T'Kel, had dropped! He slung his phaser rifle, ignoring the pain as the weapon bounced against his freshly-wounded shoulder, and moved to the Vulcan Lieutenant. On the chances that she had not been slain already in honorable combat, he lifted her, keeping his exposed back to the Romulans as he attempted to move her around the obelisk and out of the line of fire. He sought a space under the device's consoles there; perhaps the Iconian technology was sturdy enough to shield his Lieutenant's body from the falling ceiling!

[USS Challenger-A | Sickbay]

To Lagar, she mentioned in passing: "I've never met anyone so passionate and driven. We are lucky to have you." After what seemed like an eternity, she found she could walk no further and slumped against an empty patch of wall in Sickbay, putting up her mental shields and letting the tension start to drain away.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The Phylosian watched after the Betazoid for a moment, seeing her slump against the wall. Should he be alarmed? Should he go to her? Or was she merely exhausted, as many of the humanoids were, or overwhelmed by the emotions in an empathic sense? His thoughts of concern were interrupted as...

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The steady stream of injured finally ended and with so many hands working on them, the feeling of being overwhelmed was no longer the medical personnel's first thought. While there were six very serious injuries, the rest were easily handled and cycled out of sickbay. Once the simple fractures and burns were resolved, that only left the six major casualties and those with head injuries, which included Jettis, Dashlish, and Thompson from the first away team.

With the casualties under control, Jess had established a link to the bridge to find out was going on and wasn't happy she had. She looked at the Lisa and Lagar and said.

"Looks like shields are failing. Those pulses are somehow draining them and according to Engineering, they will only last another ten minutes."

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

"If a pulse strikes the Challenger with its shields down, we may very well end up just like the Dawnspring." he comments, voicing what may have been the unspoken fear of his fellow officers in the PCU.

[Ian Galloway]

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Koroz similarly marvelled at the structure as they entered the cavern, until the revelation came that it was Iconian in nature.

"Iconians!!" he growled, hearing the name of a hated and treacherous enemy. Only a scant few years ago, Iconians, or at least a faction of their species, instigated a war that invovled the Klingon Empire, the Gorn, and the Federation. Though Koroz was already a member of Starfleet at that time, the manipulations of the Iconians had led to open fighting between his former people and Starfleet. It had been a challenging time for the Klingon enlisted crewman, and he laid full blame for the war and the deaths and the struggles on the Iconians.

He was prepared to follow the Commander's order and say"¦ something in his native tongue to the device when...

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Koroz alternated between "˜phasers up' and "˜phasers down' as ordered until"¦

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Following his instinctual roar of pain, Koroz struck the injury with an open hand, a practice from his House believed to make the pain of the first wound of a battle his own. The disruptor burn stung violently, but whether psychological or spiritual, Koroz took control of the pain.

His own phaser rifle still set to stun, Koroz passed a wide beam over the heads of the Romulans, hoping to force them into cover while his colleagues took up defensible positions. A falling chunk of ruck struck his left shoulder, ripping shreds in his uniform there and taking away a fair share of Klingon skin. He turned to check on his team, and saw that his supervisor, Lieutenant T'Kel, had dropped! He slung his phaser rifle, ignoring the pain as the weapon bounced against his freshly-wounded shoulder, and moved to the Vulcan Lieutenant. On the chances that she had not been slain already in honorable combat, he lifted her, keeping his exposed back to the Romulans as he attempted to move her around the obelisk and out of the line of fire. He sought a space under the device's consoles there; perhaps the Iconian technology was sturdy enough to shield his Lieutenant's body from the falling ceiling!

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

The Phylosian watched after the Betazoid for a moment, seeing her slump against the wall. Should he be alarmed? Should he go to her? Or was she merely exhausted, as many of the humanoids were, or overwhelmed by the emotions in an empathic sense? His thoughts of concern were interrupted as...

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

"If a pulse strikes the Challenger with its shields down, we may very well end up just like the Dawnspring." he comments, voicing what may have been the unspoken fear of his fellow officers in the PCU.

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

T'Kel didn't respond when carried to safety and her complexion was ashen once she was in cover. A quick check found she had a pulse, but it was weak and thready. The disruptor burn was severe and while she was still alive, she wouldn't remain that way for long without treatment.

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

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Jess' expression was grim when she replied to Lagar.

"From what the Captain has told me, the Challenger is a much more robust ship than the Dawnspring, but I can't imagine he would take the risk of keeping us in orbit without a good cause. Right now, they've lost contact with the away team and that might be just the reason to keep us in place. Only time will tell."

[Derek Rodwell]

[Sickbay]

Derek had been headed for the exit when he over heard some of the medical staff discussing the issues at hand. Another away team had been sent down with which comms had been lost and the Challenger's shields were failing. He looked around for Doctor Belmont. She was no where to be seen. He stepped out the door and took a left, away from his quarters.

"Engineering is where I need to be right now." he muttered as he headed for the lift.

[Engineering]

Knowing T'Kel was on the away team, Derek walked in and took charge as needed. "REPORT!!" he called out.

Petty Officer Doring turned and immediately filled him in. "We've lost all comms with the away team, shields and tactical are failing and there's apparently a Romulan ship out there dogging us."

Derek walked to the nearest console and began reading the bridge reports. It was a lot worse than he had thought. He saw the report that mentioned the pulses hitting every minute and effecting the systems. If they had the timing down, maybe......

He slapped his comm and contacted the Bridge.

Rodwell to Bridge. Sir. I was just thinking. If we have the timing of the pulses down, could we rotate through our shield frequencies like the Borg did their shields?

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Starfleet captain's received training in diplomacy because they frequently interacted with planetary leaders, initiated first contact with new species, or negotiated on behalf of the Federation Council. Ian fully admitted he wasn't much of a diplomat, he was far too plain spoken for that, but he did put in a lot of effort to compensate for that trait. Normally, he could ignore Thelal's insults and trade barbs with him without allowing himself to be goaded into actual anger, but now, with his ship under attack, the planet tearing itself apart, close to three dozen casualties, and having lost contact with the away team, Thelal was just one straw too much and he erupted.

"Thelal, you greasy, whiny, spineless git! If'n you didn't have your bloody head up your pompous arse all the bloody time you'd ken that those pulses are nae of our doin' and that they're comin' from the planet you pillock!"

Thelal got a crafty look on his face at that moment replied dismissively.

"It seems you are correct for once in your life Galloway. The Khranu will handle the situation and should you or that rapidly disintegrating rust bucket of yours attempt to interfere, there will be swift, and deadly, retribution."

Thelal's image faded to be replaced by that of Edoran. Lieutenant Morgan chose that moment to report.

"Sir, multiple ships are sending distress signals and Minister Conacian wants to speak to you."

"Put him on."

"Captain, I am holding you personally responsible for the chaos you have caused. You were ordered to stay in a standard orbit, you didn't and now the people of Edoran are paying the price for your disobedience. I want you out of the system immediately while we still have a planet. Have you got any idea how much damage has already occurred and the number of casualties we've sustained? This is a catastrophe!"

"Aye Minister, it is and it's about ta get far worse based off of our sensor readin's. I have an away team at the source of the subspace pulses that includes one of the finest scientists in the Federation. I ask that you just give her a chance ta get the situation under control, because based on our findin's if'n you don't, Edoran will tear itself apart."

This news caused Conacian to blanch and his voice quavered as he replied.

"I-I-I h-had no i-idea it was t-that bad. Can y-you stop it?"

"I have complete faith in Commander Sigurdsdottir Minister. If'n anyone can it is her."

"May the Lord of All Things watch over her."

"I'm sure she'd appreciate His help. Look ta your world Minister, I will report back once I know more."

As Conacian's image faded, Ian found himself wondering if there were any other higher powers that might be willing to help.

Lahr's antenna twitched at the accusation from Thelal but as expected the Captain didn't put up with it.   The Andorian smirked at the inventive insults the Captain could string together.   It seemed insulting the Romulan was the perfect way to prove your sincerity.

No sooner hat the Romulan closed his comm, with a promise-threat to deal with this himself, than another incoming comm was on its heels for the Captain.

Lahr was upset that comms to the planet were impossible to regain yet the one from the Romulan ship and Edoran minister came through effortlessly.  Again, they were blamed them for all this!  Lahr wished he was free to give the man a piece of his mind but that wouldn't be diplomatically proper...and it wouldn't help get the Away Team back to safety.  But yet again the Captain dealt with the situation.

NPC Crewman Frank Burke
[Planetside - Outside the Cavern]

[Cavern - Planet]

Ruth sighed heavily.  "It was both in a way, Burke.  Good only however in the case of I'm a Scientist, and a Xenolinguist actually being given an opportunity to see this up close and personal..."  She wished with all her heart that Lahr was there now, just to calm her.

"...unless I'm very much mistaken, that's Iconian....or Zibalian, possibly Lokirrim... I don't know any of them well enough to be 100% certain, but one thing I do know, the UT probably can't make head nor tail of it but try, either way that's the bad part. But there's a possibility that is one of their gateways.  We don't have communication with the ship so we can't get word out.  Iconians are supposed to be extinct, so maybe a race descended from them...either way. Don't go too near it, we don't know where that might lead, for all we know it could be onto Thelal's ship, or the middle of the Gamma Quadrant.  It needs to be destroyed however as that is very likely causing power surges and as a result the earthquakes and such."

The two conscious prisoners seemed to be quaking in their boots.  So she walked over and spoke kindly to them.

"OK, I know I threatened you before, but I think I get why you're scared here and it's not because of me in this instance, although I admit I can get pretty scary!  Have you seen anyone come through this, has it spoken?"

They looked at her as if the last thing they wanted to do was talk about what was in that cavern... but the one that had spoken before just said "Saaaarge....." looking at the other, as if begging him to be the one to give out information.

She turned back to her crew.  "T'Kel, Burke, Koroz... one of you try talking to it.  I know you won't know Iconian, or I doubt that very much, but try your native languages, see if anything or anyone responds and have your phasers ready for anything coming thru that, and see if you can find any kind of power supply without getting too close.  We need to find a way to shut this down.  I doubt this is the Master Resonator, or that all the known keys attached to this one have been deactivated... Has someone reactivated them maybe..." 

Ruth mused to herself.  "I just wish there were some way to get word back to the ship."

Burke nodded at the Commander's explanation of why the situation was both good and bad.

He was grateful that she gave a bit of an overview of what species she thought the symbols might be from - but unlike Koroz, Burke had no knowledge of any of them or why the Commander thought it might be a 'gate' nor why she spoke like the 'gate' would be so dangerous.  She however was his Commanding officer.  "Aye ma'am." he acknowledged from his spot where he was covering the entrance to the cavern and keeping watch on the prisoners.

Burke listened to her interrogation and had to wonder how effective it was.  He wondered more about what she meant by 'talk to it'.  She wanted them to talk to an inanimate object?

"What are we supposed to say to it?"  His own native tongue was Federation Standard so it was unlikely anything he said would make a difference.

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As Ruth stared at the runes, she heard that familiar whine of a transporter, but it was not the comforting sound of a Federation model. Looking over some thirty meters from the obelisk, it was clear that whoever was trying to beam in was having a difficult time of it, but, despite the interference, the transporter operator knew his or her business and the cycle completed leaving six Romulans standing there with disruptors drawn.

"Back away from the device or we will fire!"

A Sub-Lieutenant shouted and it was clear he was not bluffing. Fortunately, the long beam in cycle gave the away team time to prepare to resist based on whatever orders Ruth gave.

With an incoming transporter whine, Burke had his phaser trained on the location of the incoming individual, and did his best to remain rock still and ready to defend despite the shudderings of the planet around them..

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

As soon as the whine of the transporter started, Ruth had gestured for phasers to be up, ready since it was clearly not their own Federation transporters, unless something was interfering with it.  She wasn't sure who she should be expecting and she didn't want taken unawares.

They were clearly having some trouble completing the cycle, but eventually they did, and the Commander wished she could have been surprised to see the six Romulans standing there but in reality, considering what Thelal was like, she wasn't.

Upon the Sub-Commander's request she didn't back away an inch from the obelisk, but gestured to the rest of the away team to lower their weapons, giving a quick nod with her head turned so that the Romulans couldn't see and mouthed "...but ready for anything." to them.

She turned back and gave the Romulans her 'not amused' look.  "So... colleagues of Captain Sleezeball... I mean Thelal are you?  I'm pretty sure none of you are Iconian, and thus you'll need me to decipher this, unless of course one of your own party is a xenolinguist specialising in languages of extinct species?!" she continued scanning the obelisk, getting a full reading of all the runes, then trying to work them out in conjunction with where they were located on the obelisk.

"However, if you know how to turn this thing off I suggest we work together and you do so, otherwise it's not our ship or yours that is going to suffer but the Edorans.  One gentleman has a wife who if this planet shaking itself to pieces is anything to go by is probably in labour.. this is enough to bring on any pregnancy!, that or we need to appeal to your better nature..."

Ruth tried to hide the scathing look she visualised in her head wondering if Romulans in general, particularly Thelal's crew if indeed they were from his ship, actually had a 'better nature' but she had to try.

"...and if there is no way to shut this down or stabilise it, to get the inhabitants off the planet before it disintegrates and send a message to our ship to enable it to do the same.  In the meantime, I'm going to continue to try to find a way myself."

The Commander's silent order to lower weapons was complied with but since the Commander hadn't moved away and seemed to mouth something (not that he could mouth read easily at a distance) he kept the weapon out and ready to lift at a moment's notice.

The Commander's open insult to the Romulan Captain took him by surprise and he half expected the Sub-Lieutenant to order his men to fire on them almost immediately.   Her whole attitude as she addressed the Romulans was haughty and insulting.

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

The Romulan Sub-Lieutenant's eyes flashed and he snarled.

"You will die for your impertinence Earther!"

The Romulans immediately opened fire. Despite being prepared, T'Kel took a solid hit in the chest and immediately crumpled to the cavern floor. As she was dodging and returning fire, Ruth heard the distinctive bass of Koroz roar in pain as a disruptor beam grazed his left arm. The attack didn't go entirely the Romulan's way though when T'roth dropped one of the soldiers with a heavy stun beam.

The two Edoran soldiers used the distraction to make a fast escape out of the cavern, the sergeant leading the way as the terrified private followed screaming not unlike a little girl.

As the two sides fought, the quaking continued and it was now even odds on whether the Romulan disruptors or the rocks falling from the ceiling of the cavern were the greater threat.

Ruth had had to take cover behind one of the Iconian consoles and could see the primary input was a row of four diamond shaped buttons above a row of three triangle shaped buttons. A portion of the unoccupied mind noted that the diamond buttons were, from left to right, orange, green, purple, and brown; while the triangles were all primary colors in order, red, blue, yellow.

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Following his instinctual roar of pain, Koroz struck the injury with an open hand, a practice from his House believed to make the pain of the first wound of a battle his own. The disruptor burn stung violently, but whether psychological or spiritual, Koroz took control of the pain.

His own phaser rifle still set to stun, Koroz passed a wide beam over the heads of the Romulans, hoping to force them into cover while his colleagues took up defensible positions. A falling chunk of ruck struck his left shoulder, ripping shreds in his uniform there and taking away a fair share of Klingon skin. He turned to check on his team, and saw that his supervisor, Lieutenant T'Kel, had dropped! He slung his phaser rifle, ignoring the pain as the weapon bounced against his freshly-wounded shoulder, and moved to the Vulcan Lieutenant. On the chances that she had not been slain already in honorable combat, he lifted her, keeping his exposed back to the Romulans as he attempted to move her around the obelisk and out of the line of fire. He sought a space under the device's consoles there; perhaps the Iconian technology was sturdy enough to shield his Lieutenant's body from the falling ceiling!

It was no surprise for Burke that the Romulans didn't tolerate the insult and attacked.   Burke fired... missing his first few shots due to the upheaval of the ground around him.  He heard the shout of pain from Koros who returned fire for a bit before heading for T'Kel.    Burke tried his best to give both the Commander and the Klingon and his unconscious charge covering fire so that they could get to some shelter.

Burke grimaced as the Edorans despite having been bound managed to escape.  Dammit!  Oh well probably for the best - it wouldn't do to have them killed from falling debris or Romulan phaser fire.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

It didn't take long for Lahr's console to inform him that things had gone from bad to worse.   "Sir, Romulans are attempting to beam down to the planet!"  That was suicide with the pulse interference right?

Apparently not, for a moment or two later...

"Sensors detect Romulan disruptor discharge and phaser fire from the area near to where the Away Team was beamed down."  Ruth was in trouble!  Lahr following Ruth's standing order, set up the transporter to snag a certain pattern and hold it.

Then while he waited for the Captain to respond to his news, Lahr focused on figuring out how the hell the Romulans forced through the transport... so he could repeat the process to send Ruth her axes.

[Ian Galloway]

[Engineering]

Knowing T'Kel was on the away team, Derek walked in and took charge as needed. "REPORT!!" he called out.

Petty Officer Doring turned and immediately filled him in. "We've lost all comms with the away team, shields and tactical are failing and there's apparently a Romulan ship out there dogging us."

Derek walked to the nearest console and began reading the bridge reports. It was a lot worse than he had thought. He saw the report that mentioned the pulses hitting every minute and effecting the systems. If they had the timing down, maybe......

He slapped his comm and contacted the Bridge.

Rodwell to Bridge. Sir. I was just thinking. If we have the timing of the pulses down, could we rotate through our shield frequencies like the Borg did their shields?

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian had unconsciously clenched his fists as he forced himself to focus on what he could do as opposed to what he would like to happen. The call from engineering was like a breath of fresh air to him as he felt as if the bridge was closing in on him as crisis after crisis hammered at him. He looked at Grint and he responded as if able to read his mind.

"The pulses are coming in at steady one minute intervals Sir."

"Then that should make rotatin' the shield frequency fairly easy. Bring the point of impact shielding online, that may give us and Commander Sigurdsdottir more time."

"Aye Sir!"

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

Lahr's antenna twitched at the accusation from Thelal but as expected the Captain didn't put up with it.   The Andorian smirked at the inventive insults the Captain could string together.   It seemed insulting the Romulan was the perfect way to prove your sincerity.

No sooner hat the Romulan closed his comm, with a promise-threat to deal with this himself, than another incoming comm was on its heels for the Captain.

Lahr was upset that comms to the planet were impossible to regain yet the one from the Romulan ship and Edoran minister came through effortlessly.  Again, they were blamed them for all this!  Lahr wished he was free to give the man a piece of his mind but that wouldn't be diplomatically proper...and it wouldn't help get the Away Team back to safety.  But yet again the Captain dealt with the situation.

NPC Crewman Frank Burke
[Planetside - Outside the Cavern]

Burke nodded at the Commander's explanation of why the situation was both good and bad.

He was grateful that she gave a bit of an overview of what species she thought the symbols might be from - but unlike Koroz, Burke had no knowledge of any of them or why the Commander thought it might be a 'gate' nor why she spoke like the 'gate' would be so dangerous.  She however was his Commanding officer.  "Aye ma'am." he acknowledged from his spot where he was covering the entrance to the cavern and keeping watch on the prisoners.

Burke listened to her interrogation and had to wonder how effective it was.  He wondered more about what she meant by 'talk to it'.  She wanted them to talk to an inanimate object?

"What are we supposed to say to it?"  His own native tongue was Federation Standard so it was unlikely anything he said would make a difference.

With an incoming transporter whine, Burke had his phaser trained on the location of the incoming individual, and did his best to remain rock still and ready to defend despite the shudderings of the planet around them..

The Commander's silent order to lower weapons was complied with but since the Commander hadn't moved away and seemed to mouth something (not that he could mouth read easily at a distance) he kept the weapon out and ready to lift at a moment's notice.

The Commander's open insult to the Romulan Captain took him by surprise and he half expected the Sub-Lieutenant to order his men to fire on them almost immediately.   Her whole attitude as she addressed the Romulans was haughty and insulting.

It was no surprise for Burke that the Romulans didn't tolerate the insult and attacked.   Burke fired... missing his first few shots due to the upheaval of the ground around him.  He heard the shout of pain from Koros who returned fire for a bit before heading for T'Kel.    Burke tried his best to give both the Commander and the Klingon and his unconscious charge covering fire so that they could get to some shelter.

Burke grimaced as the Edorans despite having been bound managed to escape.  Dammit!  Oh well probably for the best - it wouldn't do to have them killed from falling debris or Romulan phaser fire.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

It didn't take long for Lahr's console to inform him that things had gone from bad to worse.   "Sir, Romulans are attempting to beam down to the planet!"  That was suicide with the pulse interference right?

Apparently not, for a moment or two later...

"Sensors detect Romulan disruptor discharge and phaser fire from the area near to where the Away Team was beamed down."  Ruth was in trouble!  Lahr following Ruth's standing order, set up the transporter to snag a certain pattern and hold it.

Then while he waited for the Captain to respond to his news, Lahr focused on figuring out how the hell the Romulans forced through the transport... so he could repeat the process to send Ruth her axes.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian jerked to his feet his face clouded with anger and he growled.

"Get me that Lan dhen cac Thelal!"

Lieutenant Morgan winced and sent out the hail.

"The Khranu is not responding Sir."

Ian didn't think it was possible to get any madder than he was at that moment, but Morgan's news managed to do so. He unclenched his fists and nodded once before turning to face Grint at Tactical.

"Bring quantums to ready. Bring phasers to ready. Lock onto the Khranu. Let's see if that will get that toll-toine attention."

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

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

To an outside observer, the fact that there were people shooting at each other as the ground shook and large rocks were raining down on the combatants, would seem the very definition of insanity. However, that was what was happening. Lieutenant Lowe stunned another Romulan, but took a disruptor bolt for his trouble and lay very still after dropping to the floor of cavern. Kismet, fate, luck, karma, or whatever you wanted to call it then stepped in as a rock crushed the skull of the Romulan that shot Lowe. That left four members of the away team still fighting versus three Romulans. The bigger question, would anyone survive long enough to claim victory as the world literally shook itself apart around them.

As Ruth took snap shots at the Romulan, she couldn't get the Iconian console buttons out of her mind. She instinctively knew the input would have to be fairly simple, a progression of some sort. probably no more than three sequences. The buttons were all colors with no symbols, so it followed that something like one color, two colors, three colors would do it, but where to start. The triangles were primary colors and the diamonds were all blends of those primary colors. The first sequence had to be a single primary color, but which one, red, blue, or yellow? Ruth's unconscious mind was rather put out that so much of her concentration was directed at shooting Romulans and not focusing on the problem of the code, but what was an unconscious mind supposed to do?

[Don Damien Addams]

[USS Challenger -Sickbay]

Shazam smiled at the recent patient he had helped. "œThings be fine. Little sore. You can come back for more deeper treatment," he told the Lieutenant who had belonged to security.

Then he went over to another individual who seemed waiting for a thumbs up. He scanned the person's left arm with the medical tricorder. "œYou seem to be ready to go," he told that person. He was feeling a little stressed and tired. He was literally doing the minor injuries while the doctors and nurses cared for the heavy wounded.

The amazing thing about today's science and medicine is that most of it can be fixed and patched. They even found a cure for the common cold. That was a great achievement.

Then he had turned to see that Lagar was patched up to his standard. He went over to Lagar. "œHow are you, Doctor?" he asked. "œYou need me to do anything to help you?"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Koroz similarly marvelled at the structure as they entered the cavern, until the revelation came that it was Iconian in nature.

"Iconians!!" he growled, hearing the name of a hated and treacherous enemy. Only a scant few years ago, Iconians, or at least a faction of their species, instigated a war that invovled the Klingon Empire, the Gorn, and the Federation. Though Koroz was already a member of Starfleet at that time, the manipulations of the Iconians had led to open fighting between his former people and Starfleet. It had been a challenging time for the Klingon enlisted crewman, and he laid full blame for the war and the deaths and the struggles on the Iconians.

He was prepared to follow the Commander's order and say"¦ something in his native tongue to the device when...

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Koroz alternated between "˜phasers up' and "˜phasers down' as ordered until"¦

[Planetside  - Away Team]

Following his instinctual roar of pain, Koroz struck the injury with an open hand, a practice from his House believed to make the pain of the first wound of a battle his own. The disruptor burn stung violently, but whether psychological or spiritual, Koroz took control of the pain.

His own phaser rifle still set to stun, Koroz passed a wide beam over the heads of the Romulans, hoping to force them into cover while his colleagues took up defensible positions. A falling chunk of ruck struck his left shoulder, ripping shreds in his uniform there and taking away a fair share of Klingon skin. He turned to check on his team, and saw that his supervisor, Lieutenant T'Kel, had dropped! He slung his phaser rifle, ignoring the pain as the weapon bounced against his freshly-wounded shoulder, and moved to the Vulcan Lieutenant. On the chances that she had not been slain already in honorable combat, he lifted her, keeping his exposed back to the Romulans as he attempted to move her around the obelisk and out of the line of fire. He sought a space under the device's consoles there; perhaps the Iconian technology was sturdy enough to shield his Lieutenant's body from the falling ceiling!

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

The Romulan Sub-Lieutenant's eyes flashed and he snarled.

"You will die for your impertinence Earther!"

The Romulans immediately opened fire. Despite being prepared, T'Kel took a solid hit in the chest and immediately crumpled to the cavern floor. As she was dodging and returning fire, Ruth heard the distinctive bass of Koroz roar in pain as a disruptor beam grazed his left arm. The attack didn't go entirely the Romulan's way though when T'roth dropped one of the soldiers with a heavy stun beam.

The two Edoran soldiers used the distraction to make a fast escape out of the cavern, the sergeant leading the way as the terrified private followed screaming not unlike a little girl.

As the two sides fought, the quaking continued and it was now even odds on whether the Romulan disruptors or the rocks falling from the ceiling of the cavern were the greater threat.

Ruth had had to take cover behind one of the Iconian consoles and could see the primary input was a row of four diamond shaped buttons above a row of three triangle shaped buttons. A portion of he unoccupied mind noted that the diamond buttons were, from left to right, orange, green, purple, and brown; while the triangles were all primary colors in order, red, blue, yellow.

[Iconian Cavern]

Ruth looked in alarm as T'Kel fell, but she was concentrating on her own survival at that moment, knowing the rest of the team would look out for her, she shouted out to them.

"Take cover wherever you can, Koroz I know you're hurt, I don't need to be fluent in Klingon to know if a Klingon warrior roars like that and these are common or garden Romulans to be exact, although no less evil and sneaky than Iconians I'm sure.  Stay out of sight, guard Lt. T'Kel until we can get some response from the ship.  Hopefully someone up there clocked their beam in."

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

T'Kel didn't respond when carried to safety and her complexion was ashen once she was in cover. A quick check found she had a pulse, but it was weak and thready. The disruptor burn was severe and while she was still alive, she wouldn't remain that way for long without treatment.

"Koroz?" called Ruth, her mind still working on what the buttons meant.  "I know everyone is taught basic field medicine.  Do what you can to make T'Kel comfortable.  Burke, assist please, I'll cover you to get to them." 

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

Lahr's antenna twitched at the accusation from Thelal but as expected the Captain didn't put up with it.   The Andorian smirked at the inventive insults the Captain could string together.   It seemed insulting the Romulan was the perfect way to prove your sincerity.

No sooner hat the Romulan closed his comm, with a promise-threat to deal with this himself, than another incoming comm was on its heels for the Captain.

Lahr was upset that comms to the planet were impossible to regain yet the one from the Romulan ship and Edoran minister came through effortlessly.  Again, they were blamed them for all this!  Lahr wished he was free to give the man a piece of his mind but that wouldn't be diplomatically proper...and it wouldn't help get the Away Team back to safety.  But yet again the Captain dealt with the situation.

NPC Crewman Frank Burke
[Planetside - Outside the Cavern]

Burke nodded at the Commander's explanation of why the situation was both good and bad.

He was grateful that she gave a bit of an overview of what species she thought the symbols might be from - but unlike Koroz, Burke had no knowledge of any of them or why the Commander thought it might be a 'gate' nor why she spoke like the 'gate' would be so dangerous.  She however was his Commanding officer.  "Aye ma'am." he acknowledged from his spot where he was covering the entrance to the cavern and keeping watch on the prisoners.

Burke listened to her interrogation and had to wonder how effective it was.  He wondered more about what she meant by 'talk to it'.  She wanted them to talk to an inanimate object?

"What are we supposed to say to it?"  His own native tongue was Federation Standard so it was unlikely anything he said would make a difference.

With an incoming transporter whine, Burke had his phaser trained on the location of the incoming individual, and did his best to remain rock still and ready to defend despite the shudderings of the planet around them..

The Commander's silent order to lower weapons was complied with but since the Commander hadn't moved away and seemed to mouth something (not that he could mouth read easily at a distance) he kept the weapon out and ready to lift at a moment's notice.

The Commander's open insult to the Romulan Captain took him by surprise and he half expected the Sub-Lieutenant to order his men to fire on them almost immediately.   Her whole attitude as she addressed the Romulans was haughty and insulting.

It was no surprise for Burke that the Romulans didn't tolerate the insult and attacked.   Burke fired... missing his first few shots due to the upheaval of the ground around him.  He heard the shout of pain from Koros who returned fire for a bit before heading for T'Kel.    Burke tried his best to give both the Commander and the Klingon and his unconscious charge covering fire so that they could get to some shelter.

Burke grimaced as the Edorans despite having been bound managed to escape.  Dammit!  Oh well probably for the best - it wouldn't do to have them killed from falling debris or Romulan phaser fire.

PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

It didn't take long for Lahr's console to inform him that things had gone from bad to worse.   "Sir, Romulans are attempting to beam down to the planet!"  That was suicide with the pulse interference right?

Apparently not, for a moment or two later...

"Sensors detect Romulan disruptor discharge and phaser fire from the area near to where the Away Team was beamed down."  Ruth was in trouble!  Lahr following Ruth's standing order, set up the transporter to snag a certain pattern and hold it.

Then while he waited for the Captain to respond to his news, Lahr focused on figuring out how the hell the Romulans forced through the transport... so he could repeat the process to send Ruth her axes.

"Don't worry about talking to it, just fire at them now... I had thought that it might be voice activated, that someone somewhere might answer.  But I'm looking at something now and I just have to figure it out. Requires more of a degree in the Arts than in Literature and Linguistics I think!"

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

To an outside observer, the fact that there were people shooting at each other as the ground shook and large rocks were raining down on the combatants, would seem the very definition of insanity. However, that was what was happening. Lieutenant Lowe stunned another Romulan, but took a disruptor bolt for his trouble and lay very still after dropping to the floor of cavern. Kismet, fate, luck, karma, or whatever you wanted to call it then stepped in as a rock crushed the skull of the Romulan that shot Lowe. That left four members of the away team still fighting versus three Romulans. The bigger question, would anyone survive long enough to claim victory as the world literally shook itself apart around them.

As Ruth took snap shots at the Romulan, she couldn't get the Iconian console buttons out of her mind. She instinctively knew the input would have to be fairly simple, a progression of some sort. probably no more than three sequences. The buttons were all colors with no symbols, so it followed that something like one color, two colors, three colors would do it, but where to start. The triangles were primary colors and the diamonds were all blends of those primary colors. The first sequence had to be a single primary color, but which one, red, blue, or yellow? Ruth's unconscious mind was rather put out that so much of her concentration was directed at shooting Romulans and not focusing on the problem of the code, but what was an unconscious mind supposed to do?

It suddenly dawned on Ruth from her days dabbling in watercolours, a flash of memory possibly jolted by the flash of pain in her side from being hit by a Romulan.  Taking a deep breath she managed to conceal the squeal of pain in a grunt.

She was lucky in that someone had seen the sense to build the console under a slight overhang of rock in the cavern so that all the smaller rocks weren't hitting her, she was however conscious that if that fell, it would be game over, not just for the console but for her... squished under several tonnes of stone.  'Oh well... would save on a memorial headstone I suppose...' she mused.

'Think... ' she said quietly to herself, a song she'd heard a young Mormon girl singing years ago came into her brain.  'The Primary colours are one, two, three... Red, Yellow and Blue... Each one has a message for you, and me... each has a symbol too...  Primary, Secondary, Tertiary......'

Ruth gasped in pain, and in recognition, surely it couldn't be that simple.

She pressed the buttons... talking to herself.

"Red, Yellow... that makes Orange..." she pressed the triangular buttons red, and yellow then the orange diamond.

"Yellow, Blue makes Green." Again Ruth pressed the relevant buttons.

"Blue and Red makes Purple" A third time the buttons were depressed in order.

"And Orange and Green makes Brown...here goes nothing! Loki if you ever loved this disciple of yours, work your mischief now!"  The Commander pressed the brown button and waited.

[Ian Galloway]

[Iconian Cavern]

Ruth looked in alarm as T'Kel fell, but she was concentrating on her own survival at that moment, knowing the rest of the team would look out for her, she shouted out to them.

"Take cover wherever you can, Koroz I know you're hurt, I don't need to be fluent in Klingon to know if a Klingon warrior roars like that and these are common or garden Romulans to be exact, although no less evil and sneaky than Iconians I'm sure.  Stay out of sight, guard Lt. T'Kel until we can get some response from the ship.  Hopefully someone up there clocked their beam in."

"Koroz?" called Ruth, her mind still working on what the buttons meant.  "I know everyone is taught basic field medicine.  Do what you can to make T'Kel comfortable.  Burke, assist please, I'll cover you to get to them." 

"Don't worry about talking to it, just fire at them now... I had thought that it might be voice activated, that someone somewhere might answer.  But I'm looking at something now and I just have to figure it out. Requires more of a degree in the Arts than in Literature and Linguistics I think!"

It suddenly dawned on Ruth from her days dabbling in watercolours, a flash of memory possibly jolted by the flash of pain in her side from being hit by a Romulan.  Taking a deep breath she managed to conceal the squeal of pain in a grunt.

She was lucky in that someone had seen the sense to build the console under a slight overhang of rock in the cavern so that all the smaller rocks weren't hitting her, she was however conscious that if that fell, it would be game over, not just for the console but for her... squished under several tonnes of stone.  'Oh well... would save on a memorial headstone I suppose...' she mused.

'Think... ' she said quietly to herself, a song she'd heard a young Mormon girl singing years ago came into her brain.  'The Primary colours are one, two, three... Red, Yellow and Blue... Each one has a message for you, and me... each has a symbol too...  Primary, Secondary, Tertiary......'

Ruth gasped in pain, and in recognition, surely it couldn't be that simple.

She pressed the buttons... talking to herself.

"Red, Yellow... that makes Orange..." she pressed the triangular buttons red, and yellow then the orange diamond.

"Yellow, Blue makes Green." Again Ruth pressed the relevant buttons.

"Blue and Red makes Purple" A third time the buttons were depressed in order.

"And Orange and Green makes Brown...here goes nothing! Loki if you ever loved this disciple of yours, work your mischief now!"  The Commander pressed the brown button and waited.

[Iconian Cavern - Edoran]

Burke, Koroz, and T'roth worked as a finely tuned machine and caught the Romulans in a crossfire resulting in two of their number falling stunned and the last one knocked out by a falling rock. The rumbling of the quakes continued, but at least the shooting had stopped.

As Ruth pushed the last button, the shaking stopped and things became ominously silent for a full minute, then a deep-throated alarm began to sound and a disembodied voice began a monotone chanting that sounded suspiciously like a countdown. Even though Ruth wasn't fluent in Iconian, her best guess was that whatever was going to happen, would do so in around thirty seconds.

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As Ian had smugly predicted, Lieutenant Morgan said that Thelal wanted to speak to him. Deciding to be petty, Ian counted to twenty before he said.

"On screen."

Thelal's expression was a mixture of fury and hate as his image solidified and Ian waited expectantly with a smirk that only seemed to anger the Romulan even further.

"I take it you have lost all connection to reason Galloway. You wish to engage a far superior ship in combat? The Khranu will crush you."

"Actually, I just wanted ta get your attention wanker."

Ian then turned his head to address Grint.

"Stand down weapons."

Turning back to Thelal with a feral grin.

"Now, perhaps we can speak as adults for a change. We detected transporter activity and disruptor fire at the location of our away team. Since you declined ta answer my hail, I figured s full spread of armed quantums might pull your head out of your arse long enough for you ta reply."

"This is beyond an outrage Galloway, I will ensure both my government and the Edorans are aware of your actions.

"Your government can bugger itself with a splintered rake for all I care and the Edorans are probably goin' ta fall over themselves in gratitude for my away team stoppin' those pulses and quakes."

Thelal tried to keep his expression from showing his surprise, but failed miserably as he muted the comm link and spoke to someone off camera before unmuting and continuing.

"Just found out I was right? May want ta have the government of your try ta upgrade your sensors or maybe improve your trainin' program ta use those sensors more effectively. Since it seems Federation technology and personnel have addressed the threats ta the planet as well as ta ships in orbit, it doesn't seem there is any purpose in your fancy new ship ta be here any longer. How about you go back ta your homeworld an work on those short comin's I mentioned. Wouldn't want you be embarrassed again. Bye for now Thelal."

Ian signaled to Morgan to close the channel and added.

"Now that the pulses have stopped, see if'n you can raise the away team."