S3:E9 All Bad Things Come To An End

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

USS IP MAN
NPC:  Captain Kamiko Shibata

"This is getting messy, Captain," Commander Dao told her as the battle continued.  "We have new inbound ships coming in.  I read one Keldon-III class and two Galor-IV class cruisers approaching at high warp.  They will be arriving in 36 seconds.  I also have a Talarian cruiser and three support destroyers approaching.  Our picket ships might be in trouble real soon."

"Noted!  Make sure the Flagship is aware of the new approaches.  Soon as we get done here - get us ready to reinforce the defense line," Kamiko ordered.

"Message sent to CHALLENGER.  Whoever their Ops is over there is doing a fine job!" Cal stated proudly.

The Andorian's antenna quivered as Lahr kept his attention on the battle and the communications that were required to keep the ships working together.   News from the Ip Man was a bit alarming.

"Captain! The Ip Man has messaged that we have more enemy ships inbound! One Keldon-III class and two Galor-IV class cruisers arriving in 20 seconds!  Behind them are a Talarian cruiser and three support destroyers!"  This was important information for Challenger since their own long-range sensors were down.

Lahr glanced over to Reyes, almost pleadingly.  He wanted to ask if she was nearly done.  They needed that system restore to be able to 'see' and plan better.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ruth's knuckles were turning white at how hard she was gripping the armrests of her chair.  Sure she'd been in battles before but not directly responsible for the lives of others.

"Did you say 58% Mr Briggs, we'll hold on a little longer... Mr. Litt see if you can mirror the movement of the Wing Chun, I want to leave Ip Man free if I can.  Where is the Einstein?  And as much as I wanted them out of this we'll need to call in the Arkansas."

When Litt mentioned that they'd lost thrusters the Captain cursed out loud.

"Sorry not aimed at you Mr. Litt.  Mr. ch'Verret any of our ships not actively engaged with an enemy get them to give us whatever cover they can, and be ready to evacuate anyone we can..."

Ruth felt she didn't need to say it... this was getting worse by the minute and she didn't know how much longer they could hold on with multiple casualties in several departments, the Belfast gone, ...

The ship was rocked as the Redeemer came back for another attack. Ruth's eyes shone with unshed tears she was holding back. She couldn't help think about her husband, Will... about the Briggs never getting to see Elijah again, Maggie not getting to her wedding...

Taking a deep breath, sitting up straight and a look of steely resolve coming over her face with almost a glare to it she asked.  "Report, and Mr. Briggs, what we got left in our arsenal?"

Under her breath she said  "I think we're going to need that cunning plan sooner rather than later Mr. Lek..."

At the Captain's order, Lahr complied, calling on the last of the ships to engage. "Challenger to all available ships - we need cover!  Arkansas, you have orders to join the fray."

Her order to be ready to evacuate Lahr took to mean crew on other ships.  Surely she wasn't planning on evacuating the Challenger.  He quickly prepped the transporters and had them on standby.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The ship rocked about as the shields kept taking hits. Kali's steady fingers still made a mess of wires jumping to and fro above her head and, just as she got a hand on stabilizing the power source straight back to the motherboard, another blast bounced her forehead hard against the interior panel. Something warm slid down her cheek, though she assumed it was just a tear of frustration.

Her earpiece continued to buzz with status reports from personnel when she climbed out from underneath the console. The shields were coming down, so Kali made the executive decision to send as much power as she could to keep the lights on. "Long range sensors back online," she relayed to the bridge, then nodded to the officer with the flashlight. She wiped the sweat from her brow and didn't realize how sticky it was until she found herself smearing greenish blood all over the touchscreen.

She looked at her hand, mildly confused, then wiped the rest of her forehead with her sleeve before returning to work. Someone had to direct the evacuations in the subdecks after all.

Reyes announcement about long-range scanners couldn't have come at a better time. The glanced over to give her appreciative nod, and was dismayed to see the smear of blood at her forehead.   It seemed minor but head trauma was notoriously tricky.

"Reyes, call in for a replacement and have that head wound checked at the first opportunity"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The ship rocked about as the shields kept taking hits. Kali's steady fingers still made a mess of wires jumping to and fro above her head and, just as she got a hand on stabilizing the power source straight back to the motherboard, another blast bounced her forehead hard against the interior panel. Something warm slid down her cheek, though she assumed it was just a tear of frustration.

Her earpiece continued to buzz with status reports from personnel when she climbed out from underneath the console. The shields were coming down, so Kali made the executive decision to send as much power as she could to keep the lights on. "Long range sensors back online," she relayed to the bridge, then nodded to the officer with the flashlight. She wiped the sweat from her brow and didn't realize how sticky it was until she found herself smearing greenish blood all over the touchscreen.

She looked at her hand, mildly confused, then wiped the rest of her forehead with her sleeve before returning to work. Someone had to direct the evacuations in the subdecks after all.

Gohun doing security rounds when suddenly all Hell broke loose. The ship rocked and rolled with the impact of weapons to the shields. The crew frantically running back and forth fixing and strengthening the shields. Suddenly Gohun received a message to go to the bridge and help at the spot he was at last battle.
Then everything went red and Gohun was only aware of a pounding that he heard a very rhythmic pounding. As Gohon continued to regain consciousness he realized that the pounding was his own heartbeat. As he opened his eyes he saw debris everywhere and an injured person. With as much energy as he could muster, he picked himself up and stabilized the crewmen. With his standard tricorder he could tell the person was a Betazoid and was able to stop any superficial bleeding. Unfortunately, emergency transporters were down and time was of the utmost importance. With that, he discovered that his arm was broken but still picked the crewmember up and started running. As he ran down the corridor people also ran around him frantically trying to keep up with the battle. After what seemed to be a marathon of running Gohun reached sickbay and left the person in good care.
With that Gohun hustled to the nearest turbolift and made it to his bridge station and said Gohun reporting for duty.

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

The Andorian's antenna quivered as Lahr kept his attention on the battle and the communications that were required to keep the ships working together.   News from the Ip Man was a bit alarming.

"Captain! The Ip Man has messaged that we have more enemy ships inbound! One Keldon-III class and two Galor-IV class cruisers arriving in 20 seconds!  Behind them are a Talarian cruiser and three support destroyers!"  This was important information for Challenger since their own long-range sensors were down.

Lahr glanced over to Reyes, almost pleadingly.  He wanted to ask if she was nearly done.  They needed that system restore to be able to 'see' and plan better.

At the Captain's order, Lahr complied, calling on the last of the ships to engage. "Challenger to all available ships - we need cover!  Arkansas, you have orders to join the fray."

Her order to be ready to evacuate Lahr took to mean crew on other ships.  Surely she wasn't planning on evacuating the Challenger.  He quickly prepped the transporters and had them on standby.

Reyes announcement about long-range scanners couldn't have come at a better time. The glanced over to give her appreciative nod, and was dismayed to see the smear of blood at her forehead.   It seemed minor but head trauma was notoriously tricky.

"Reyes, call in for a replacement and have that head wound checked at the first opportunity"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"I second that Reyes, get that head seen to, better still ch'Verret send for medical if Ms. Reyes is even slightly wobbly.  I'm sorry Kali..." the Captain said not unkindly, "...you've been brilliant today but you need that seen to, even stubborn resilience to rival my own won't get you through when you're bleeding like that.  Go get it fixed, if either CMO lets you loose after that then you may come back."

She nodded at Gohun and offered a small smile "You might want to hold onto something Mr. Gohun, we're taking quite a battering here!"

When Lahr mentioned the update from the Ip Man, Ruth passed a hand over her face and gave him a worried look.

"Wonder if anyone else wants to join in the party, any more of this and I'll be re-employing your other skills... as a DJ." she said grimacing as another phaser attack from the Redeemer came in.

She looked over her shoulder at Kyle, and sighed.  "I think it's time regardless..."

Mr. Lek... initiate our plan please...

What Ruth didn't know was that the latest attack had rendered them totally unable to move, either out of the way or to a safe location to lick our wounds, they were in effect... a sitting duck.

[Lek]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Mr. Lek... initiate our plan please...

What Ruth didn't know was that the latest attack had rendered them totally unable to move, either out of the way or to a safe location to lick our wounds, they were in effect... a sitting duck.

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

As the point of impact were still rebooting, Lek didn't have to focus his complete attention on them, so when the order finally came through to execute the neural jamming, he tapped a single on a key that he'd set up for this very purpose. The tap activated a fleet wide communication link.

"Brain Freeze! Brain Freeze! Brain Freeze!"

Throughout the fleet, every ship's lateral sensor arrays began to emit a powerful burst of energy tuned specifically to the wavelength range used by the Thought Maker. The effect was immediate... on every ship under Leyton's control, the majority of the crew screamed and gripped the sides of their heads in pain. How much pain depended on their species. Humans were merely doubled over and unable to function, for telepathic species, they crumpled to the deck stunned insensate by the noise. Regardless of who was running them, Leyton's ships stopped firing and maneuvering with purpose. For the Starfleet ships, they had a golden opportunity to get into position to deliver devastating shots or to get out of the line of fire of Leyton's ships.

As the Redeemer's crew were all true believers, they were not affected by the jamming, but all Leyton could do was watch in dumbfounded shock as his grand plan came apart at the seams.

"What the hell is going on? Get them under control dammit! How much incompetency must I endure!"

All the officers on the bridge of the Redeemer cringed at the Admiral's outburst, but it fell to his Operations officer to reply.

"Something has jammed every Thought Maker in the fleet!  I'm rebooting now, but that will take several minutes and I don't know if we can restore control without a direct treatment."

If Leyton was mad before, he became apoplectic at this news.

"IMBECILES! IMBECILES! IMBECILES! DO SOMETHING!!"

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"I second that Reyes, get that head seen to, better still ch'Verret send for medical if Ms. Reyes is even slightly wobbly.  I'm sorry Kali..." the Captain said not unkindly, "...you've been brilliant today but you need that seen to, even stubborn resilience to rival my own won't get you through when you're bleeding like that.  Go get it fixed, if either CMO lets you loose after that then you may come back."

She nodded at Gohun and offered a small smile "You might want to hold onto something Mr. Gohun, we're taking quite a battering here!"

When Lahr mentioned the update from the Ip Man, Ruth passed a hand over her face and gave him a worried look.

"Wonder if anyone else wants to join in the party, any more of this and I'll be re-employing your other skills... as a DJ." she said grimacing as another phaser attack from the Redeemer came in.

She looked over her shoulder at Kyle, and sighed.  "I think it's time regardless..."

Mr. Lek... initiate our plan please...

What Ruth didn't know was that the latest attack had rendered them totally unable to move, either out of the way or to a safe location to lick our wounds, they were in effect... a sitting duck.

Lahr nodded at the Captain's order to call Medical up to the Bridge. "Aye ma'am."

The Andorian opened an internal comm to pass on the order.  "Bridge to Sickbay.  The Captain requests a medic be sent to attend injured up on the Bridge."

Lahr gripped his console tightly against another barrage of phaser fire from the Redeemer.  The Captain's joking words about his DJ'ing skills, prompted a smirk.

"I'm game for that!  Hell, why don't you challenge Leyton to a traditional Rap Battle and save us all the this trouble?" he commented back smirking at the notion that his red-haired Viking Captain would even know what a Rap Battle was.

His joking words however seemed ill timed as that's when he noticed that the ship wasn't moving.  He glanced over to Reyes' display. "Captain, we've got a problem!  We lost main engines on that last pass from Leyton.  We are on auxiliary power only.. and all routes to propulsion seem down."

He didn't need to say what that meant.  They all knew it.  They were a sitting duck!  And it seemed even Leyton knew it for at just that moment Lahr picked up a comm from the Redeemer.

Lahr listened a moment, his face falling.  "It's Leyton ma'am.  Calling for our forces surrender."

Lahr opened the comm to the bridge so the Captain could hear for herself.

"This is Admiral Leyton addressing the remainder of the Federation forces.  Surrender your ships and surviving command officers, to me and my ships and the lives of your crew may be spared. You have one minute to comply before we blow your flagship - the Challenger into spacedust!"

Leyton's threat was very real and given their situation, Lahr didn't know if they were going to make it out of this... But that's when the Captain called out to initiate Lek's plan.  'Oh, here's hoping it works!'

In the precious seconds after Lek's odd battle cry, Lahr watched the sensor display.  The majority of Leyton's ships suddenly stopped firing and their evasive maneuvering just suddenly stopped evading - as if pilot in control of those ships were no longer piloting.

"Captain! It's working! Leyton's forces ... seem stunned." he called out in astonishment.

It was only after he said this that he noticed he'd spoken too soon.  The Redeemer seemed completely unaffected as she continued her wide-turn to make another pass at them.  He frowned, his antenna writhing in anxious knots.

"Captain, we have the Redeemer coming around on our portside, charging phasers once more! She's not affected by the Brain Freeze."

[Sukal]

USS ELESSAR
NPC:  Admiral Alexander D'arth

Things were looking better for the Federation task force under the command of Captain Ruth Sigurdsdottir.  Even with the arrival of the Tholians and Cardassians - the task force had continued to fight valiantly and efficiently.  It was a testament to all of the Captains and crews of the ships who fought against Leyton's rebel ships.  But, there had been some serious losses, and it was starting to mount up heavily for both sides.  Listening to the battle as it played out on the tactical overlay on the main viewer was about all Alex could do at the moment.  However, the newest arrivals of the Cardassian and Talarian contigents began firing on their own comrades.  A fleet wide message went out from the lead Cardassian ship - one of the new Keldon-class III.

"This is Gul Kesko Gom of the Cardassian Union.  We are here with the Talarians in order to put an end to those corrupted by Leyton's actions and words!!" came the female Cardassian voice over the comm.

A moment later, the newly arrived FURY'S STORM and her escorting Galor cruisers began opening fire on the Tholians and the one rogue Cardassian warship.  The Talarians did the same as they swept in to strike savagely at their own rogue contingents among Leyton's fleet.  That was when Alex noticed the remaining rebel fleet vessels that had once belonged to Starfleet were suddenly paralyzed.  The second they were, the task force began targeting each ship with orders to surrender or be blown from the stars.  There was no choice, and thus the remaining ships began to surrender.  All...except one...REDEEMER - Leyton's overpowered Nova-class.

During the fighting, the CHALLENGER had been going toe to toe with Leyton's cruiser, but the result had been with the task force's flagship taking a real pounding.  From what Admiral D'arth could see - the CHALLENGER was on the verge of losing power, and the REDEEMER was about to make them into scrap.

"This is Admiral Leyton addressing the remainder of the Federation forces.  Surrender your ships and surviving command officers, to me and my ships and the lives of your crew may be spared. You have one minute to comply before we blow your flagship - the Challenger into spacedust!"

"Time to intercept," Alex inquired of the Trill woman at Ops - Lieutenant Commander Belia Rauihn.

"Arrival in twenty seconds, Admiral," came her calm response.

"This is it.  Prepare to fire on my command," Alex ordered as the tactical overlay vanished to show the battle taking place.  Even now REDEEMER was swinging around ready to carry out Leyton's threat.  The seconds ticked by as if eternity had entered the equation somehow, but the wait was over at last, and with it came the full firepower of the USS ELESSAR upon the rogue REDEEMER.  A full spread of quantum torpedoes hit Leyton's flagship at nearly point blank range - causing the small Nova cruiser to rock violently.  In concert with this, the experimental tetryon phasers of the ELESSAR lanced out from the various arrays, and suddenly the REDEEMER was sparking with electrical arcs and explosions all along her hull where the weapons had impacted through her shields.

Just over 600 kilometers away from the CHALLENGER - Leyton's flagship went dead.

"This is Admiral Alexander D'arth.  The game is over, Leyton.  You will surrender yourself and your vessel, or I will make sure it is you who are turned into spacedust!  Your treachery has seen its last hour!" Alex sent to the traitor.

[Lek]

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

His joking words however seemed ill timed as that's when he noticed that the ship wasn't moving.  He glanced over to Reyes' display. "Captain, we've got a problem!  We lost main engines on that last pass from Leyton.  We are on auxiliary power only.. and all routes to propulsion seem down."

He didn't need to say what that meant.  They all knew it.  They were a sitting duck!  And it seemed even Leyton knew it for at just that moment Lahr picked up a comm from the Redeemer.

Lahr listened a moment, his face falling.  "It's Leyton ma'am.  Calling for our forces surrender."

Lahr opened the comm to the bridge so the Captain could hear for herself.

"This is Admiral Leyton addressing the remainder of the Federation forces.  Surrender your ships and surviving command officers, to me and my ships and the lives of your crew may be spared. You have one minute to comply before we blow your flagship - the Challenger into spacedust!"

Leyton's threat was very real and given their situation, Lahr didn't know if they were going to make it out of this... But that's when the Captain called out to initiate Lek's plan.  'Oh, here's hoping it works!'

In the precious seconds after Lek's odd battle cry, Lahr watched the sensor display.  The majority of Leyton's ships suddenly stopped firing and their evasive maneuvering just suddenly stopped evading - as if pilot in control of those ships were no longer piloting.

"Captain! It's working! Leyton's forces ... seem stunned." he called out in astonishment.

It was only after he said this that he noticed he'd spoken too soon.  The Redeemer seemed completely unaffected as she continued her wide-turn to make another pass at them.  He frowned, his antenna writhing in anxious knots.

"Captain, we have the Redeemer coming around on our portside, charging phasers once more! She's not affected by the Brain Freeze."

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

Lek found himself crawling back off the floor for the second time and he knew by the change in harmonics from the deck plates that they weren't moving. He might not be the most brilliant tactician in Starfleet history, but he also knew a motionless ship in a space battle was right up there with the worst things possible.

"Gianetti! Reroute all available power to thrusters! We need to give the bridge something to maneuver with! I'll check on the linkage to the impulse engine to see what's wrong."

Lek then pulled open two panels and began frantically searching for what had gotten damaged during the last time they'd taken fire. He spared a glance and saw that the point of impact shields were operational again, which was a massive relief.

On the bridge, the helm showed thrusters with 130% of normal capacity, they wouldn't be able to go fast, but they could at least turn as needed, which was a decidedly better situation than wallowing barge they had been.

Furthermore, Ops could see that, while the port shields were only at 68%, they were fully augmented by the point of impact shielding. This would allow the shields to surge to 200% of normal rating or enough to handle an attack by a single ship. 

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

As the point of impact were still rebooting, Lek didn't have to focus his complete attention on them, so when the order finally came through to execute the neural jamming, he tapped a single on a key that he'd set up for this very purpose. The tap activated a fleet wide communication link.

"Brain Freeze! Brain Freeze! Brain Freeze!"

Throughout the fleet, every ship's lateral sensor arrays began to emit a powerful burst of energy tuned specifically to the wavelength range used by the Thought Maker. The effect was immediate... on every ship under Leyton's control, the majority of the crew screamed and gripped the sides of their heads in pain. How much pain depended on their species. Humans were merely doubled over and unable to function, for telepathic species, they crumpled to the deck stunned insensate by the noise. Regardless of who was running them, Leyton's ships stopped firing and maneuvering with purpose. For the Starfleet ships, they had a golden opportunity to get into position to deliver devastating shots or to get out of the line of fire of Leyton's ships.

As the Redeemer's crew were all true believers, they were not affected by the jamming, but all Leyton could do was watch in dumbfounded shock as his grand plan came apart at the seams.

"What the hell is going on? Get them under control dammit! How much incompetency must I endure!"

All the officers on the bridge of the Redeemer cringed at the Admiral's outburst, but it fell to his Operations officer to reply.

"Something has jammed every Thought Maker in the fleet!  I'm rebooting now, but that will take several minutes and I don't know if we can restore control without a direct treatment."

If Leyton was mad before, he became apoplectic at this news.

"IMBECILES! IMBECILES! IMBECILES! DO SOMETHING!!"

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

Lahr nodded at the Captain's order to call Medical up to the Bridge. "Aye ma'am."

The Andorian opened an internal comm to pass on the order.  "Bridge to Sickbay.  The Captain requests a medic be sent to attend injured up on the Bridge."

Lahr gripped his console tightly against another barrage of phaser fire from the Redeemer.  The Captain's joking words about his DJ'ing skills, prompted a smirk.

"I'm game for that!  Hell, why don't you challenge Leyton to a traditional Rap Battle and save us all the this trouble?" he commented back smirking at the notion that his red-haired Viking Captain would even know what a Rap Battle was.

His joking words however seemed ill timed as that's when he noticed that the ship wasn't moving.  He glanced over to Reyes' display. "Captain, we've got a problem!  We lost main engines on that last pass from Leyton.  We are on auxiliary power only.. and all routes to propulsion seem down."

He didn't need to say what that meant.  They all knew it.  They were a sitting duck!  And it seemed even Leyton knew it for at just that moment Lahr picked up a comm from the Redeemer.

Lahr listened a moment, his face falling.  "It's Leyton ma'am.  Calling for our forces surrender."

Lahr opened the comm to the bridge so the Captain could hear for herself.

"This is Admiral Leyton addressing the remainder of the Federation forces.  Surrender your ships and surviving command officers, to me and my ships and the lives of your crew may be spared. You have one minute to comply before we blow your flagship - the Challenger into spacedust!"

Leyton's threat was very real and given their situation, Lahr didn't know if they were going to make it out of this... But that's when the Captain called out to initiate Lek's plan.  'Oh, here's hoping it works!'

In the precious seconds after Lek's odd battle cry, Lahr watched the sensor display.  The majority of Leyton's ships suddenly stopped firing and their evasive maneuvering just suddenly stopped evading - as if pilot in control of those ships were no longer piloting.

"Captain! It's working! Leyton's forces ... seem stunned." he called out in astonishment.

It was only after he said this that he noticed he'd spoken too soon.  The Redeemer seemed completely unaffected as she continued her wide-turn to make another pass at them.  He frowned, his antenna writhing in anxious knots.

"Captain, we have the Redeemer coming around on our portside, charging phasers once more! She's not affected by the Brain Freeze."

USS ELESSAR
NPC:  Admiral Alexander D'arth

Things were looking better for the Federation task force under the command of Captain Ruth Sigurdsdottir.  Even with the arrival of the Tholians and Cardassians - the task force had continued to fight valiantly and efficiently.  It was a testament to all of the Captains and crews of the ships who fought against Leyton's rebel ships.  But, there had been some serious losses, and it was starting to mount up heavily for both sides.  Listening to the battle as it played out on the tactical overlay on the main viewer was about all Alex could do at the moment.  However, the newest arrivals of the Cardassian and Talarian contigents began firing on their own comrades.  A fleet wide message went out from the lead Cardassian ship - one of the new Keldon-class III.

"This is Gul Kesko Gom of the Cardassian Union.  We are here with the Talarians in order to put an end to those corrupted by Leyton's actions and words!!" came the female Cardassian voice over the comm.

A moment later, the newly arrived FURY'S STORM and her escorting Galor cruisers began opening fire on the Tholians and the one rogue Cardassian warship.  The Talarians did the same as they swept in to strike savagely at their own rogue contingents among Leyton's fleet.  That was when Alex noticed the remaining rebel fleet vessels that had once belonged to Starfleet were suddenly paralyzed.  The second they were, the task force began targeting each ship with orders to surrender or be blown from the stars.  There was no choice, and thus the remaining ships began to surrender.  All...except one...REDEEMER - Leyton's overpowered Nova-class.

During the fighting, the CHALLENGER had been going toe to toe with Leyton's cruiser, but the result had been with the task force's flagship taking a real pounding.  From what Admiral D'arth could see - the CHALLENGER was on the verge of losing power, and the REDEEMER was about to make them into scrap.

"Time to intercept," Alex inquired of the Trill woman at Ops - Lieutenant Commander Belia Rauihn.

"Arrival in twenty seconds, Admiral," came her calm response.

"This is it.  Prepare to fire on my command," Alex ordered as the tactical overlay vanished to show the battle taking place.  Even now REDEEMER was swinging around ready to carry out Leyton's threat.  The seconds ticked by as if eternity had entered the equation somehow, but the wait was over at last, and with it came the full firepower of the USS ELESSAR upon the rogue REDEEMER.  A full spread of quantum torpedoes hit Leyton's flagship at nearly point blank range - causing the small Nova cruiser to rock violently.  In concert with this, the experimental tetryon phasers of the ELESSAR lanced out from the various arrays, and suddenly the REDEEMER was sparking with electrical arcs and explosions all along her hull where the weapons had impacted through her shields.

Just over 600 kilometers away from the CHALLENGER - Leyton's flagship went dead.

"This is Admiral Alexander D'arth.  The game is over, Leyton.  You will surrender yourself and your vessel, or I will make sure it is you who are turned into spacedust!  Your treachery has seen its last hour!" Alex sent to the traitor.

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

Lek found himself crawling back off the floor for the second time and he knew by the change in harmonics from the deck plates that they weren't moving. He might not be the most brilliant tactician in Starfleet history, but he also knew a motionless ship in a space battle was right up there with the worst things possible.

"Gianetti! Reroute all available power to thrusters! We need to give the bridge something to maneuver with! I'll check on the linkage to the impulse engine to see what's wrong."

Lek then pulled open two panels and began frantically searching for what had gotten damaged during the last time they'd taken fire. He spared a glance and saw that the point of impact shields were operational again, which was a massive relief.

On the bridge, the helm showed thrusters with 130% of normal capacity, they wouldn't be able to go fast, but they could at least turn as needed, which was a decidedly better situation than wallowing barge they had been.

Furthermore, Ops could see that, while the port shields were only at 68%, they were fully augmented by the point of impact shielding. This would allow the shields to surge to 200% of normal rating or enough to handle an attack by a single ship.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

[Ruth, Noel Hampton - Arkansas, Leyton, Hecate, Gril'ka, Aedile Arya]

The Captain smiled as she heard Lek's voice through the comms acknowledging that Operation Brain Freeze was away.... she didn't have much time to celebrate that small victory of the plan working because it only worked in part... Why hadn't she thought that of course Leyton's flagship would be crewed with those loyal to his cause without the need of brainwashing... and he'd take every precaution to save his own skin.

The moment Ruth had been dreading came... Leyton hailed her.

Taking a deep breath she prepared to reply while in her head the words 'Like hell are we going to just give up like that!' in rather more colourful terms were uttered!

As she opened her mouth a communication report came through from the USS Arkansas

This is Captain Noel Hampton of the USS Arkansas we're now in position but... it's kinda confusing... there appear to several of Leyton's ships turning on each other and a massive Cardassian ship turned up too, can anyone confirm what the hell is going on?! 

This is Hecate, the Tholians are turning tail and running, are we to pursue or let them run?

IKS Nih'Jev to Challenger ... confirmation that we lost the Surk and Tronmad Krij the pilot.  We are otherwise mostly unharmed...at least as far as the IKS Nih'Jev is concerned.  I have assumed command as Captain Trumoci has unfortunately been killed.  We can confirm 'kills', although we cannot confirm that we are responsible just that they are now 'dead', of the USS Poseidon, Falcon is incapacitated and drifting, they may need assistance for any surrendering crew.  Kumari-E is missing a nacelle and spinning out of control.  I do not know where the Gol is we can't see it however, can ch'Verret pick that one up at all?

Aedile here on the Shining Star - I think you're aware that we lost the Asgard, Einstein and both the Phobos and Deimos we managed to beam some of the crew aboard there are still some escape pods out there from the Deimos.  We lost all our Scorpion Fighters I'm afraid.  I can confirm Hecate's report of the Tholians, the Talarians seem to be heading back towards the Elorg Bloc...

"Kyle whatever power we have be ready to throw it at the.... what the hell, who's that?!"

As they had the Redeemer in their sights on the viewfinder and Leyton was now playing a game of 'chicken' not allowing them to actually answer, Ruth shouted "Brace for impact..." squeezing her eyes tight shut and breaking a nail at how tightly she was holding the armrests.  She offered up a prayer to Odin, Thor and Freya, asking that it might be thought that a Federation starship might be thought of as a weapon for all souls aboard to go to Valhalla as they were about there duty as they died....but then the Redeemer stopped... only a mere 600 metres in front of them.

They also watched as Talarian and Cardassian ships started picking off their own forces.

"Lahr, acknowledge the Cardassian Captain and offer our thanks, same to the Talarian.  Lek it worked other than the Redeemer, thank you.  Ops, get whatever power you have to shields and thrusters so we can at least manouevre. Litt, even if it's drop and roll, get out of here if that thing moves... but who the hell is that??  Lahr, when you get half a second, zoom in on that ship that's just arrived and hail them."

[On the Bridge of the Redeemer]

You think I've come all this way to surrender, years of work, you had the audacity to be on my ship, you're all cowards... blow my ship to spacedust see if I care, D'Arth...

With a nod to Winchester he stood up and ran to the transporter room.  Winchester his XO then initiated the plan nodding slowly to various members of the bridge crew who left and started towards the escape pods.  It was unlikely that they would make it but they knew that the Admiral was going to get out alive.

From the Transporter Room, Leyton toggled the controls then ran up onto the pad clutching a Phaser rifle, the controls set to beam directly onto the bridge of the Challenger.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

The blue light of a transporter beam shimmered into being next to the Science console, and there stood Admiral Leyton on the Bridge,  he quickly grabbed Arya who had the sense not to struggle with a phaser rifle jammed under her chin.

Arya uttered one word "Ruth..." a mute frightened plea in her eyes as the rifle was jammed forcefully under her jaw again.

The ex-Admiral manoevered her to the turbolift and disappeared.

It took only seconds for Ruth to be galvanised into action.

"Lahr... shut that turbolift down, allow him to get out, as in don't seal the doors, because if he's totally trapped he's going to potentially blow my sister's head off, erect force fields to guide him...somewhere, but trap him, yet give him enough space to move.... so we know where he is, and where he can go.  Kyle, get some teams .... Lt. Bailey or get him up here if you want to come help me.  Gohun with me, keep up, bring whatever weaponry you wish but do not deploy until or unless I tell you to, understand?!"

With that she ran into her Ready Room, strapped on her Type 2 phaser, ripped the battle axes off the wall and ran into the other turbolift off the bridge.

Lahr, take me to whatever corridor Leyton is on... let's play cat and mouse.  We'll let whomever our friend in the Federation ship that has just turned up to finish off any stragglers.  Medical, prepare for more ah... high calibre casualties... the Captain said ominously.

Were it not for the order to try to bring Leyton in alive, she would have gladly said 'prepare a special place in the morgue...'

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

[Ruth, Noel Hampton - Arkansas, Leyton, Hecate, Gril'ka, Aedile Arya]
The moment Ruth had been dreading came... Leyton hailed her.

Taking a deep breath she prepared to reply while in her head the words 'Like hell are we going to just give up like that!' in rather more colourful terms were uttered!

As she opened her mouth a communication report came through from the USS Arkansas

This is Captain Noel Hampton of the USS Arkansas we're now in position but... it's kinda confusing... there appear to several of Leyton's ships turning on each other and a massive Cardassian ship turned up too, can anyone confirm what the hell is going on?! 

This is Hecate, the Tholians are turning tail and running, are we to pursue or let them run?

IKS Nih'Jev to Challenger ... confirmation that we lost the Surk and Tronmad Krij the pilot.  We are otherwise mostly unharmed...at least as far as the IKS Nih'Jev is concerned.  I have assumed command as Captain Trumoci has unfortunately been killed.  We can confirm 'kills', although we cannot confirm that we are responsible just that they are now 'dead', of the USS Poseidon, Falcon is incapacitated and drifting, they may need assistance for any surrendering crew.  Kumari-E is missing a nacelle and spinning out of control.  I do not know where the Gol is we can't see it however, can ch'Verret pick that one up at all?

Lahr had been keeping the lines of communication open between all ship Captain's so to help with better coordinating the attacks.  It also helped to keep them informed of new developments.  Like now.  The reports by the majority of the ships were great news.  Operation Brain Freeze had turned the tide!  And it looked like most of Leyton's forces were either surrendering, lost to the Federatioin Allied forces or were retreating back to their home space with their own governments ships on their heels.

The IKS Nih'Jev however called on him to assist looking for the Kumari-E.   Lahr knew why they asked him.  They likely thought being Andorian himself, he'd know better than most what an Andorian Captain might do at suddenly being freed of a mind-control device.   That was a rather easy answer for Lahr.   They'd seek revenge on the one who had controlling them.

As yet more reports came in Lahr was scanning the route between the Kumari-E's last known location and the Redeemer's current location.

Aedile here on the Shining Star - I think you're aware that we lost the Asgard, Einstein and both the Phobos and Deimos we managed to beam some of the crew aboard there are still some escape pods out there from the Deimos.  We lost all our Scorpion Fighters I'm afraid.  I can confirm Hecate's report of the Tholians, the Talarians seem to be heading back towards the Elorg Bloc...

"Kyle whatever power we have be ready to throw it at the.... what the hell, who's that?!"

As they had the Redeemer in their sights on the viewfinder and Leyton was now playing a game of 'chicken' not allowing them to actually answer, Ruth shouted "Brace for impact..." squeezing her eyes tight shut and breaking a nail at how tightly she was holding the armrests.  She offered up a prayer to Odin, Thor and Freya, asking that it might be thought that a Federation starship might be thought of as a weapon for all souls aboard to go to Valhalla as they were about there duty as they died....but then the Redeemer stopped... only a mere 600 metres in front of them.

At the Captain's alarmed question, Lahr looked up from his scan display to the view screen to see the Redeemer suddenly rushing them.  The Captain's call to 'Brace for Impact' was followed with a wince.  He waited for the impending impact - and in that moment had his life flash before his eyes...and the Andorian realized that though he'd been given a second chance at life following the recapture of Innominatum, he hadn't done much with his life... he was still alone - kinda, he didn't know how to classify his relationship with Chloe.

It was kind of discouraging.. maybe being taken out in a blaze was the most he could hope for?  The moment of wincing seemed to go on for far too long and Lahr peeked open at an eye see the Redeemed loomed on the viewscreen - a stone's throw away.  What was with that?!  Had his engines failed him at the last possible second? Or had someone interfered?  Did Leyton think being this close to Challenger would mean they couldn't launch any sort of offensive against him for fear of the explosions ripping apart their own ship... because that's what it looked like to Lahr.

But he didn't have time to think much about it as the Captain drew his attention back to his overview of the battle map.

They also watched as Talarian and Cardassian ships started picking off their own forces.

"Lahr, acknowledge the Cardassian Captain and offer our thanks, same to the Talarian.  Lek it worked other than the Redeemer, thank you.  Ops, get whatever power you have to shields and thrusters so we can at least manouevre. Litt, even if it's drop and roll, get out of here if that thing moves... but who the hell is that??  Lahr, when you get half a second, zoom in on that ship that's just arrived and hail them."

When she ordered him to contact the friendly Cardassians and Talarian's to thank them for the assist, Lahr nodded. "Yes, ma'am"

It seemed like an odd request given the Redeemed parked just outside their front window, but despite the title of Second Officer - the position was just too new and unfamiliar, Lahr didn't feel it was his place to question the prior of her orders given.

He started on the task comm-calling the Cardassians first, while she handed out orders to the rest of the Bridge, including Reyes.  Lahr glanced to the Vulcan-hybrid, hoping she was doing okay and would be able to do the task assigned her.  If not he'd have to take over.  It was worrisome that the medic he'd called for hadn't arrived yet.  That just gave an indication just how many of Challengers' crew were injured.

[On the Bridge of the Redeemer]

You think I've come all this way to surrender, years of work, you had the audacity to be on my ship, you're all cowards... blow my ship to spacedust see if I care, D'Arth...

With a nod to Winchester he stood up and ran to the transporter room.  Winchester his XO then initiated the plan nodding slowly to various members of the bridge crew who left and started towards the escape pods.  It was unlikely that they would make it but they knew that the Admiral was going to get out alive.

From the Transporter Room, Leyton toggled the controls then ran up onto the pad clutching a Phaser rifle, the controls set to beam directly onto the bridge of the Challenger.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

The blue light of a transporter beam shimmered into being next to the Science console, and there stood Admiral Leyton on the Bridge,  he quickly grabbed Arya who had the sense not to struggle with a phaser rifle jammed under her chin.

Arya uttered one word "Ruth..." a mute frightened plea in her eyes as the rifle was jammed forcefully under her jaw again.

The ex-Admiral manoevered her to the turbolift and disappeared.

It took only seconds for Ruth to be galvanised into action.

"Lahr... shut that turbolift down, allow him to get out, as in don't seal the doors, because if he's totally trapped he's going to potentially blow my sister's head off, erect force fields to guide him...somewhere, but trap him, yet give him enough space to move.... so we know where he is, and where he can go.  Kyle, get some teams .... Lt. Bailey or get him up here if you want to come help me.  Gohun with me, keep up, bring whatever weaponry you wish but do not deploy until or unless I tell you to, understand?!"

With that she ran into her Ready Room, strapped on her Type 2 phaser, ripped the battle axes off the wall and ran into the other turbolift off the bridge.

Leyton's sudden appearance on the Bridge was a shock, and his antenna bristled when the man dared lay a hand on Arya, threatening her with a phaser rifle.  Lahr couldn't do anything but watch as they disappeared into the turbolift.

The second the doors closed the Captain was ordering him to shut the turbolift down.  And Lahr was on it!   "The lift's power has been cut... he'll be forced to use the manual override to open the doors.  They are on .. Deck 7... Roozh" he cursed.  That put the Leyton far too close to Sickbay!

Lahr, take me to whatever corridor Leyton is on... let's play cat and mouse.  We'll let whomever our friend in the Federation ship that has just turned up to finish off any stragglers.  Medical, prepare for more ah... high calibre casualties... the Captain said ominously.

Were it not for the order to try to bring Leyton in alive, she would have gladly said 'prepare a special place in the morgue...'

Lahr once more nodded his acknowledgment of the orders given.  When the Captain was ready, Lahr sent her turbolift off to Deck 7.  Then as the Captain ordered he began enclosing the possible routes Leyton and his captive could go.

Why she didn't just call on the release of anesthezine gas in the corridor Leyton would be traveling through, was a question not easily answered.  But again it wasn't his call.  His opinion hadn't been asked so he just did what little he could, blocking off side corridors trying to cut him off from Sickbay without impacting any others in the hallway that might be needing to get to medical care.

[Olivia Briggs]

[Sickbay - Challenger]

After she had finished treating the injured officer with the broken arm, Liv was preparing to move onto the next patient when the call came through requesting medical assistance on the Bridge. Her immediate thought was had something happened to Kyle, but she had to push that worry aside for the time being as she was sure that they would of told her as much. Then again perhaps not, given the situation and Sickbay needed her to focus, especially as it was getting a lot busier than normal.

Looking around, the CMO could see that everyone was busy, unsure who she could spare to attend to those on the Bridge, especially not knowing how severe the injuries were. That left her in a quandary, especially when there was another call from the Captain, warning them to expect a more high calibre patient. Again without specifics, she could only assume that this might mean Leyton, but with little information and not knowing when that would be, all she could do was have Sickbay prepared.

Tapping her badge to acknowledge Ruth's call, Liv then turned to those present. " Maggie, we need a private bed, secured for a possible incoming high risk patient, the Bridge have also requested medical to attend to injuries there, due to not knowing how serious these injuries are and no site to site requested, I'll go to the Bridge and get back here asap".

It was the only logical route to take at the moment as she tapped her badge once more.

" Sickbay to Bridge, I'll be up there immediately".

Grabbing a medkit, Liv then prepared to leave Sickbay, keen to get to the Bridge as soon as possible, knowing that Maggie could handle things down here, until she returned.

[Zavrol Gohun]

Gohun leveled a phaser and never got a chance to fire. This was rather embarrassing as a security officer. There were so many things that he could have done. He could have shot him the moment he beamed aboard. He could have turned the ship's energy weapon suppression system. Which no one uses anymore because it turned out to be a pain in the ass. All enemies would do is bring spring-loaded weapons with poison and have a huge advantage.  But he did not because he was not fast enough. With all of that doubt going on in Ghouns head time seemed to stop. He could not move he could not act until he heard a voice.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]
Lt. Bailey or get him up here if you want to come help me.  Gohun with me, keep up, bring whatever weaponry you wish but do not deploy until or unless I tell you to, understand?!"[/color]

With that Gohun was woke out of whatever was causing him to freeze.
Gohun spoke. "Computer track the Turbolift and tell me where it stops"
Computer "Order acknowledged"
[/quote]

With that she ran into her Ready Room, strapped on her Type 2 phaser, ripped the battle axes off the wall and ran into the other turbo-lift off the bridge.

\
Gohun ran with her and ordered the replicated to make two stun grenades. While he was running he mentioned something.
"Mam I recommend increasing security around sensitive areas of the ship on the off chance that this is a diversion."
At that moment the turbo-lift doors closed and the lift began to move.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret][/b]

[Sickbay - Challenger]

Tapping her badge to acknowledge Ruth's call, Liv then turned to those present. " Maggie, we need a private bed, secured for a possible incoming high risk patient, the Bridge have also requested medical to attend to injuries there, due to not knowing how serious these injuries are and no site to site requested, I'll go to the Bridge and get back here asap".

It was the only logical route to take at the moment as she tapped her badge once more.

" Sickbay to Bridge, I'll be up there immediately".

Grabbing a medkit, Liv then prepared to leave Sickbay, keen to get to the Bridge as soon as possible, knowing that Maggie could handle things down here, until she returned.

Lahr, hearing the doc's call, knew he had to respond.  "Avoid turbolift one!" he called out over the comm, opening it to two-way communication from his end.  "We have a hostile loose on the ship." he stated anxiously.  Then the gossiper in him took over briefly to explain.  "It's Leyton, he beamed aboard and has Arya as a hostage.  So keep clear of him.  His turbolift was stopped on your deck." the Andorian warned.  This all likely came as a surprise to the doctor who had no access to information from the bridge.

Gohun leveled a phaser and never got a chance to fire. This was rather embarrassing as a security officer. There were so many things that he could have done. He could have shot him the moment he beamed aboard. He could have turned the ship's energy weapon suppression system. Which no one uses anymore because it turned out to be a pain in the ass. All enemies would do is bring spring-loaded weapons with poison and have a huge advantage.  But he did not because he was not fast enough. With all of that doubt going on in Gohun's head time seemed to stop. He could not move he could not act until he heard a voice.

With that Gohun was woke out of whatever was causing him to freeze.
Gohun spoke. "Computer track the Turbolift and tell me where it stops"
Computer "Order acknowledged"

Gohun ran with her and ordered the replicated to make two stun grenades. While he was running he mentioned something.
"Mam I recommend increasing security around sensitive areas of the ship on the off chance that this is a diversion."
At that moment the turbo-lift doors closed and the lift began to move.

While Lahr passed on this information to Dr. Briggs,  he was glad to see that Crewman Gohun and joined the Captain on the turbolift.   She shouldn't be without security protection.  Not against Leyton.   Part of his security training almost had Lahr wanting to join... but he knew he was needed here to help track and corral the criminal.

Before the turbolift door closed Lahr called out to both the Captain and Gohun. "I'll try to corral him away from the Medical areas... I'll call you with an update once I get into the security feed and see whether my efforts are working.  Good luck!"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

Gohun leveled a phaser and never got a chance to fire. This was rather embarrassing as a security officer. There were so many things that he could have done. He could have shot him the moment he beamed aboard. He could have turned the ship's energy weapon suppression system. Which no one uses anymore because it turned out to be a pain in the ass. All enemies would do is bring spring-loaded weapons with poison and have a huge advantage.  But he did not because he was not fast enough. With all of that doubt going on in Ghouns head time seemed to stop. He could not move he could not act until he heard a voice.
With that Gohun was woke out of whatever was causing him to freeze.
Gohun spoke. "Computer track the Turbolift and tell me where it stops"
Computer "Order acknowledged"
\
Gohun ran with her and ordered the replicated to make two stun grenades. While he was running he mentioned something.
"Mam I recommend increasing security around sensitive areas of the ship on the off chance that this is a diversion."
At that moment the turbo-lift doors closed and the lift began to move.

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

Lahr had been keeping the lines of communication open between all ship Captain's so to help with better coordinating the attacks.  It also helped to keep them informed of new developments.  Like now.  The reports by the majority of the ships were great news.  Operation Brain Freeze had turned the tide!  And it looked like most of Leyton's forces were either surrendering, lost to the Federatioin Allied forces or were retreating back to their home space with their own governments ships on their heels.

The IKS Nih'Jev however called on him to assist looking for the Kumari-E.   Lahr knew why they asked him.  They likely thought being Andorian himself, he'd know better than most what an Andorian Captain might do at suddenly being freed of a mind-control device.   That was a rather easy answer for Lahr.   They'd seek revenge on the one who had controlling them.

As yet more reports came in Lahr was scanning the route between the Kumari-E's last known location and the Redeemer's current location.

At the Captain's alarmed question, Lahr looked up from his scan display to the view screen to see the Redeemer suddenly rushing them.  The Captain's call to 'Brace for Impact' was followed with a wince.  He waited for the impending impact - and in that moment had his life flash before his eyes...and the Andorian realized that though he'd been given a second chance at life following the recapture of Innominatum, he hadn't done much with his life... he was still alone - kinda, he didn't know how to classify his relationship with Chloe.

It was kind of discouraging.. maybe being taken out in a blaze was the most he could hope for?  The moment of wincing seemed to go on for far too long and Lahr peeked open at an eye see the Redeemed loomed on the viewscreen - a stone's throw away.  What was with that?!  Had his engines failed him at the last possible second? Or had someone interfered?  Did Leyton think being this close to Challenger would mean they couldn't launch any sort of offensive against him for fear of the explosions ripping apart their own ship... because that's what it looked like to Lahr.

But he didn't have time to think much about it as the Captain drew his attention back to his overview of the battle map.

When she ordered him to contact the friendly Cardassians and Talarian's to thank them for the assist, Lahr nodded. "Yes, ma'am"

It seemed like an odd request given the Redeemed parked just outside their front window, but despite the title of Second Officer - the position was just too new and unfamiliar, Lahr didn't feel it was his place to question the prior of her orders given.

He started on the task comm-calling the Cardassians first, while she handed out orders to the rest of the Bridge, including Reyes.  Lahr glanced to the Vulcan-hybrid, hoping she was doing okay and would be able to do the task assigned her.  If not he'd have to take over.  It was worrisome that the medic he'd called for hadn't arrived yet.  That just gave an indication just how many of Challengers' crew were injured.

Leyton's sudden appearance on the Bridge was a shock, and his antenna bristled when the man dared lay a hand on Arya, threatening her with a phaser rifle.  Lahr couldn't do anything but watch as they disappeared into the turbolift.

The second the doors closed the Captain was ordering him to shut the turbolift down.  And Lahr was on it!   "The lift's power has been cut... he'll be forced to use the manual override to open the doors.  They are on .. Deck 7... Roozh" he cursed.  That put the Leyton far too close to Sickbay!

Lahr once more nodded his acknowledgment of the orders given.  When the Captain was ready, Lahr sent her turbolift off to Deck 7.  Then as the Captain ordered he began enclosing the possible routes Leyton and his captive could go.

Why she didn't just call on the release of anesthezine gas in the corridor Leyton would be traveling through, was a question not easily answered.  But again it wasn't his call.  His opinion hadn't been asked so he just did what little he could, blocking off side corridors trying to cut him off from Sickbay without impacting any others in the hallway that might be needing to get to medical care.

[OOC]

via Discord]Kyle BriggsToday at 00:43
I'm so sorry. I fell back to sleep this morning and have been nursing a migraine since waking up. Feel free to post an action of me if you need to. I'm gonna continue to try to get rid of this damn headache.

[Turbolift > Deck 7 near Sickbay]

"Fjandinn!" the Captain swore loudly.  Kyle had followed her into the turbolift having got Bailey up to the Bridge, she thought it was probably wise given what happened the last time she'd run off alone.  And while her Acting XO might understand what she had said, Ruth hoped that Gohun only understood that she was pissed off, and for once not at him.

Lahr, keep them as far from actual Sickbay as possible, stand by with anaethezine, but I am holding off on that as Arya has an allergic reaction to it so we'd not only have her stunned but fighting for her life until we could get a jab in her. But if we can't neutralise him any other way, have Sickbay know that we might have allergy shock on our hands too.

"Right Ky... Mr. Briggs..." Ruth swapped to formal given that one of Kyle's own crew was standing right there and while they were best friends it didn't do to be familiar in front of the junior crew members.

"We need to get Arya away from Leyton, that's priority one, keeping him on the ship and bringing him to the Brig not so difficult.  Are those stun grenades Mr. Gohun... good thinking." she said with an approving nod.

As she stepped out of the turbolift she ran down the corridor, and then just froze, putting her hand up in a fist to stop the other two while she had the curve of corridor to shield them.

Lahr, put up a forcefield on the doors to the Sickbay, direct beam anyone into Medical who needs more attention than can be fixed up with the mobile teams out there and a medkit. the Captain ordered  =/\=Do you have eyes on Leyton? Actually...

As she spoke she heard a small whimper. Ruth would know that sound anywhere.  From the days when she would go and comfort her baby sister when she had nightmares, it was the same sound, it was Arya and was frightened and in pain.

She walked over to the men, with a murderous look on her face.

"Gohun, I want those grenades ready on my mark, Briggs, be ready, stun only we sadly have to keep the fáviti alive!" Ruth said and sighed.

Raising her axes she ran around the corner "For Odin and Freya forðast til vinstri Arya!" the Captain yelled.

Her sister did as she said and ducked down and left, which with the element of surprise twisted her out of Leyton's grip enough for Ruth to launch an axe into Leyton's now bare shoulder.

He yelled in pain but dropped Arya, and came charging towards the Captain, firing the phaser rifle.  Ruth dropped and rolled, yelling "Gohun, Briggs, NOW!" and scrambled over to Arya to cover her not before catching a phaser shot in her ankle.

Arya crawled into her sister's embrace and just buried her head into Ruth's shoulder.  Her big sister shushed and soothed her, while wincing in pain.

[Sickbay - Challenger]

After she had finished treating the injured officer with the broken arm, Liv was preparing to move onto the next patient when the call came through requesting medical assistance on the Bridge. Her immediate thought was had something happened to Kyle, but she had to push that worry aside for the time being as she was sure that they would of told her as much. Then again perhaps not, given the situation and Sickbay needed her to focus, especially as it was getting a lot busier than normal.

Looking around, the CMO could see that everyone was busy, unsure who she could spare to attend to those on the Bridge, especially not knowing how severe the injuries were. That left her in a quandary, especially when there was another call from the Captain, warning them to expect a more high calibre patient. Again without specifics, she could only assume that this might mean Leyton, but with little information and not knowing when that would be, all she could do was have Sickbay prepared.

Tapping her badge to acknowledge Ruth's call, Liv then turned to those present. " Maggie, we need a private bed, secured for a possible incoming high risk patient, the Bridge have also requested medical to attend to injuries there, due to not knowing how serious these injuries are and no site to site requested, I'll go to the Bridge and get back here asap".

It was the only logical route to take at the moment as she tapped her badge once more.

" Sickbay to Bridge, I'll be up there immediately".

Grabbing a medkit, Liv then prepared to leave Sickbay, keen to get to the Bridge as soon as possible, knowing that Maggie could handle things down here, until she returned.

[Sickbay]

[As Dr. Maggie York]

"You got it Liv..." Maggie replied then she heard on the feed about the locking down of the doors and Leyton.

"You might want to get Lahr to beam you directly there.  If we're keeping the wolf from the door so to speak, I'm not sure if you can get to Turbolift 2 without running into him.  Hang on I'll check for you."

York to Bridge, can you let us know how safe it is for Dr. Briggs to come up to the Bridge on foot or is it wiser to beam her there or the casualty here? 

[Kali Reyes]

Reyes announcement about long-range scanners couldn't have come at a better time. The glanced over to give her appreciative nod, and was dismayed to see the smear of blood at her forehead.   It seemed minor but head trauma was notoriously tricky.

"Reyes, call in for a replacement and have that head wound checked at the first opportunity"

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"Noted." Kind of.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"I second that Reyes, get that head seen to, better still ch'Verret send for medical if Ms. Reyes is even slightly wobbly.  I'm sorry Kali..." the Captain said not unkindly, "...you've been brilliant today but you need that seen to, even stubborn resilience to rival my own won't get you through when you're bleeding like that.  Go get it fixed, if either CMO lets you loose after that then you may come back."

Technically she did as was ordered, but with the replacement currently stuck multiple decks down and the first opportunity long behind them until the ship stopped rocking from phaser damage, Kali opted to man the station for as long as she could. Any complaints should be forwarded to the Ryder family, who's prodigal son taught her that only death should stop her.

And it was going to take time for any medical personnel to try and wrangle her out of her station, so Kali simply returned to coordinating damage control from the lower decks and occasionally wipe the bit of blood that trickled down her cheek. Head wounds were bloody, but superficial and if Kali can still recite her 16 digit personnel code in her head she was still fit for duty.

Layton's sudden appearance on the bridge caused Kali to turn, but little else when he took a hostage. She had no experience when it came to hostage situations, but the Captain took matters into her own hands. Kali was mildly impressed by the unorthodox method. It was almost medieval to use an ax so it certainly took her off guard. Maybe it was just a ceremonial thing for Irish women.

Kali lowly whistled at the scene. It was still pretty metal to watch.

[Kyle Briggs]

Kyle and Gohun fired simultaneously. Between the axe in his shoulder and the phaser blasts, Leyton dropped his weapon and fell to his knees and sat there for a moment.

"Check the Captain and Arya and call for medical." Kyle said to the Crewman as he slowly approached Leyton. He was a little surprised that the man was still conscious given his wounds but he chalked it up to adrenaline. "She wants you alive." he said with a nod toward the Captain. "But I swear on my mother's grave that if you don't raise your hands above your head and put an end to this, I will put an end to you." In the course of the next half a second, Leyton lunged for Kyle and Kyle fingered the controls on his phaser and hit the man square in the chest once more. Leyton fell flat on his back and his head rolled to the side. The higher stun setting did the trick this time. He kicked the ex Admirals weapon away and tapped his comm badge.

Briggs to Bridge. Leyton is in custody. 

Kyle walked over to the others and looked over at Gohun. "Here. Let's get the Captain up and on a seat while we wait for medical. How bad is it, Captain?" he asked. "Can you stand on it?"

They lowered Ruth to a sitting position and Kyle reached a hand down to Arya to assist her up. He looked her up, down and over as she stood. "You hurt anywhere?" he asked the younger sister. He could feel her trembling and saw her glancing at Ruth. "She'll be fine." he assured Arya. "Come on. You can sit with her while we wait."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

Acting CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

[Turbolift > Deck 7 near Sickbay]

"Fjandinn!" the Captain swore loudly.  Kyle had followed her into the turbolift having got Bailey up to the Bridge, she thought it was probably wise given what happened the last time she'd run off alone.  And while her Acting XO might understand what she had said, Ruth hoped that Gohun only understood that she was pissed off, and for once not at him.

Lahr, keep them as far from actual Sickbay as possible, stand by with anaethezine, but I am holding off on that as Arya has an allergic reaction to it so we'd not only have her stunned but fighting for her life until we could get a jab in her. But if we can't neutralise him any other way, have Sickbay know that we might have allergy shock on our hands too.

"Right Ky... Mr. Briggs..." Ruth swapped to formal given that one of Kyle's own crew was standing right there and while they were best friends it didn't do to be familiar in front of the junior crew members.

"We need to get Arya away from Leyton, that's priority one, keeping him on the ship and bringing him to the Brig not so difficult.  Are those stun grenades Mr. Gohun... good thinking." she said with an approving nod.

As she stepped out of the turbolift she ran down the corridor, and then just froze, putting her hand up in a fist to stop the other two while she had the curve of corridor to shield them.

Lahr, put up a forcefield on the doors to the Sickbay, direct beam anyone into Medical who needs more attention than can be fixed up with the mobile teams out there and a medkit. the Captain ordered  =/\=Do you have eyes on Leyton? Actually...

As she spoke she heard a small whimper. Ruth would know that sound anywhere.  From the days when she would go and comfort her baby sister when she had nightmares, it was the same sound, it was Arya and was frightened and in pain.

She walked over to the men, with a murderous look on her face.

"Gohun, I want those grenades ready on my mark, Briggs, be ready, stun only we sadly have to keep the fáviti alive!" Ruth said and sighed.

Raising her axes she ran around the corner "For Odin and Freya forðast til vinstri Arya!" the Captain yelled.

Her sister did as she said and ducked down and left, which with the element of surprise twisted her out of Leyton's grip enough for Ruth to launch an axe into Leyton's now bare shoulder.

He yelled in pain but dropped Arya, and came charging towards the Captain, firing the phaser rifle.  Ruth dropped and rolled, yelling "Gohun, Briggs, NOW!" and scrambled over to Arya to cover her not before catching a phaser shot in her ankle.

Arya crawled into her sister's embrace and just buried her head into Ruth's shoulder.  Her big sister shushed and soothed her, while wincing in pain.

[Sickbay]

[As Dr. Maggie York]

"You got it Liv..." Maggie replied then she heard on the feed about the locking down of the doors and Leyton.

"You might want to get Lahr to beam you directly there.  If we're keeping the wolf from the door so to speak, I'm not sure if you can get to Turbolift 2 without running into him.  Hang on I'll check for you."

York to Bridge, can you let us know how safe it is for Dr. Briggs to come up to the Bridge on foot or is it wiser to beam her there or the casualty here? 

With both the Captain and York's messages coming in at pretty much the same time Lahr had to prioritize which to respond to first.  The Captain's of course.

As the Andorian called up the security cameras from on Deck 7, he answered the Captain "Yes, ma'am - anesthezine standby but only as a last resort - with Medical forewarned."

Lahr looked over toward Tactical but both Kyle and Gohun had gone with the Captain.  He turned then to Reyes.  "Reyes, can you prep the anesthezine protocol?  Have it ready to deploy in the hallways of Deck 7."

While Reyes saw to that Lahr was placing force fields up at every junction and door way.  There would be no place for Leyton to go.

For a brief moment he caught a glimpse of Leyton and Arya moving along the corridor before the man shot out the camera.  Roozh!

Before he turned his attention to other things he still had medical he needed to respond to

He acknowledged the CMO's comm.  "Sorry about the delay Ma'am.  Not safe at all.  Leyton is maybe 300 m from your location.  I've block off the corridors and all doorways with forcefields - that includes Medical.  Hold one moment and I'll arrange for a site-to-site transport for Dr. Briggs."

Lahr swiftly set up the transport locking onto the doctor, as the Captain's second call came through regarding forcefields around Medical and using transporters.  Oh well what was it they said about 'great minds and thinking alike?'

The Ops officer switched comm channel to answer the Captain.  "Yes, ma'am already done."

Back again to Sickbay.  "Ready to transport?" he inquired and beamed Dr. Briggs over when he got the confirmation. "By the way Dr. York, please have a shot of epinephrine prepared.  We have the anesthezine security anti-boarding protocol on standby and I'm told Arya is highly allergic."

Then it was back to the Captain - asking if he had eyes on Leyton - he did the man and Arya had moved nearer to Sickbay by about 200 m, and he had a nice view of the pair.  But Ruth's voice dropped off mid-sentence as he could only assume she heard or saw Leyton herself.  He couldn't see Ruth the two security with her because of the shot out cameras.

Normally the comm system would kick off after a few seconds of silence, but Lahr purposefully turned off this feature so that he could listen in via the Captain's comm badge.   He heard the Captain speaking to Kyle and Gohun, obviously prepping for an offensive.  Oh roozh!

He winced, his antenna quivering at the volume of her battle cry.. and then he saw Arya duck and turn and an axe embed in Leyton's shoulder.   Damn!

Then the scene became chaotic at the Captain charged in to cover her sister which phaser fire crossed the length of the hallway.

Then it was over.  Leyton was down.   Arya was safe, as was the Captain.

Kyle and Gohun fired simultaneously. Between the axe in his shoulder and the phaser blasts, Leyton dropped his weapon and fell to his knees and sat there for a moment.

"Check the Captain and Arya and call for medical." Kyle said to the Crewman as he slowly approached Leyton. He was a little surprised that the man was still conscious given his wounds but he chalked it up to adrenaline. "She wants you alive." he said with a nod toward the Captain. "But I swear on my mother's grave that if you don't raise your hands above your head and put an end to this, I will put an end to you." In the course of the next half a second, Leyton lunged for Kyle and Kyle fingered the controls on his phaser and hit the man square in the chest once more. Leyton fell flat on his back and his head rolled to the side. The higher stun setting did the trick this time. He kicked the ex Admirals weapon away and tapped his comm badge.

Briggs to Bridge. Leyton is in custody. 

Kyle walked over to the others and looked over at Gohun. "Here. Let's get the Captain up and on a seat while we wait for medical. How bad is it, Captain?" he asked. "Can you stand on it?"

They lowered Ruth to a sitting position and Kyle reached a hand down to Arya to assist her up. He looked her up, down and over as she stood. "You hurt anywhere?" he asked the younger sister. He could feel her trembling and saw her glancing at Ruth. "She'll be fine." he assured Arya. "Come on. You can sit with her while we wait."

"Yes!  They got Leyton!" Lahr cheered at pretty much the same time Kyle called up.

Then hearing/seeing the security chief question the Captain seemingly about some injury - had she been hit in the crossfire? - Lahr worked the transporter controls prepping for another site to site (unfortunately in his haste he forgot to clear Dr. Briggs comm badge from the list).

"Sickbay, initiating a second site to site... which personnel is available to treat the Captain?"   he asked hurriedly.

As soon as he had the name Lahr was looking up the comm badge ID and locking on their signal.

"Beaming now."

This is when Lahr realized his mistake he'd beamed both Liv and the other, to the Captain.  He frowned looking at the comm badge ID (a series of numbers) and wasn't certain which was who's.   Lahr, hoping, he got it right selected one to beam back to the Bridge.