S6 - E3 - Tripwire

[Tora Zalos]

[Bridge]

'Heh, you know it!"

Ardy smirked as Zhuk caused a brilliant explosion along one of the flanks of the ship, but the moment couldn't last forever. The ship shook as the Challenger took a round of heavy fire, some kind of torpedo.  They could handle the hit for now, She just had to keep running. Keep the ship flying.  "I'm moving in for another round! " she shouted to Zhuk,  sending the ship into a bit of a dive before  turning into a spin, leaving the ship in a good enough spot to fire.  They were holding the line for now.

"How's it looking for the ship?" she asked the others on the bridge.

Suddenly, she heard the comms chatter flare up.

One look at the scanners showed her enough; They had caught the other ship in a pincer move. She mentally readied her flightpath.

[As Oyari Sedaya]

[Science labs]

The cadet nodded to Aarwendil as she began to look through the notes they had made concerning the Kinshaya's biology. A very strong-seeming species, who definitely looked like they were rather tough beings

Seeing the Cardassian woman, she froze and stiffened, just a little bit, before taking the documents provided and smiled in return, cautiously. She had heard  horror stories from her parents, but the scientist didn't seem to be too hostile. Actually,  the opposite. And right now, she knew that there was a lot more at stake than to let old enemies flare up. Something to deal with later, for sure. She nodded and got respectfully closer.  not too close, but enough to discuss with the others

"Thank you; I appreciate it." said the young cadet, taking the PADD. given what limited autopsy data they had, these beings vere very tough.

Then the Gorn science lady spoke. This plant toxin could be rather potent to the Kinshaya? That was news!

"That's great! Do you think it can be aerosolized?  if it's diluted enough,  they might breathe it in and get put out of commission and  that could be a really efficient way to capture them.   Just in case they might come on here?", she asked , before the ship jolted roughly, sending the science panels flickering.

Oyari, we need you down here in medbay."

She had to go.

"On it. Just  finishing working with the science labs on something and I'll be down as soon as I can "

[As Ensign Ss'tiva]

The Gorn woman stumbled with a hiss of annoyance, catching the wall with her large, scaly hand in time to prevent herself from falling over. Once she'd regained her composure she typed rapidly on her PADD - surprisingly quickly for someone with such huge fingers - and handed Sedaya the device immediately afterward. "Yes, it can. Seventy parts per million will induce full-body paralysis for about five hours. Oh, and possibly vertigo - at least, in bipeds like us it does. I cannot recommend exposure in any higher concentration than that without appropriate protection, because it'll affect us too." She replied hurriedly. "Just... use it as a last resort, please?" She looked at the Bajoran cadet with large, mournful reptilian eyes. Yes, apparently even slit-pupilled Gorn are capable of expressing deep sorrow though their eyes, as much as their facial structure seemed to imply otherwise.

[As Ensign Tora Zalos]
"Don't keep the people in sickbay waiting, cadet. Go. And maybe run." Tora urged her, nodding at the door. She rose to her feet, patted Ss'tiva on the arm and spoke a few comforting words in the Gorn's ear hole. "We'll catch you later."

[Cerna Nox]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian gripped the arms of the command chair tightly as the ship rocked yet again from Kinshaya fire. The Starfleet ships had acquitted themselves well against the globe ships having disabled a half dozen at the cost of the Tarhe and the Rainier limping away badly damaged by the initial encircling attack of the Kinshaya. Once the Federation ships recognized the tactic, Commodore Soro came up with the simple counter of just maintaining a line and never allowing any of the ships under her command to be isolated long enough to be encircled again.

Now, the bulk of the fighting was almost like sailing ships of the line trading broadsides which had resulted in a stalemate. With the battle less furious than it had been before, Ian had time to do more than issue evasion or firing orders. He did wish he could have seen the Kinshaya captain's expression when he had Challenger snap roll into a split-ess to evade encirclement. This was not a maneuver for large ships, but Ardy and pulled it off flawlessly. It seemed their time in Kunming had paid off when it counted. Ian had just taken a deep breath to keep himself focused when he got a ping on the command chair from Lieutenant Randall in science.

"Sir, we've made a couple useful discoveries regarding the Kinshaya."

"Do tell Lieutenant."

"We've noted a sensitivity to very high sonic frequencies over 5,000 cycles. Properly focused, this really seems to have the potential to scramble their neurogenic pathways."

"That seems like it would be a useful counter-boardin' weapon."

"Aye Sir, our other discovery is a plant based toxin that when inhaled, shuts down autonomic functions. As this is highly lethal, I don't know if we want to go down that road."

Ian wasn't too concerned about the moral aspects of such a weapon, he was more concerned with a delivery mechanism. He replied to Randall.

"Get with Ops, tie in Engineerin' if necessary and see if'n you can figure out a way to deliver this toxin. I will contact Commodore Soro ta see what she thinks."

"Aye Sir."

"Ops patch me into Commodore Soro, secure channel, eyes only."

This new weapon was a game changer, but if used, knowing the Klingons, they would exploit the discovery to exterminate the Kinshaya and that was a burden Ian was not willing to carry.

[Main Engineering - USS Challenger]

Ensign Nox had busied herself alongside Lieutenant Sunik and Ensign Mushar, putting out fires and rushing to fix every little broken thing as the battle raged outside. Her only real goal was to keep her head above water, explicitly following the guide of her senior officers. While many of her fellow hosts had been in battles before her, it was completely foreign to Cerna. She made many attempts to steel herself, drawing upon their resilience, but it didn't really help, and if anything made it worse. The young Ensign couldn't just take the trauma of past lives and put it behind her, she had to earn her own.

What did help was when Lieutenant Randal's news made it to Engineering. At the mention of high sonic frequencies, she thought of her lessons in Trill history. Most primitive humanoids use X-Radiation for the purposes of medical imaging despite it's ionizing nature, which leads to it's eventual abandoning. Ancient Trill society, however, abandoned it much earlier than others due to the sensitive nature of Symbionts, who seemed to develop health issues quite regularly.

Instead, the Trill adopted terahertz radiation for medical imaging. She recalled that the technology operated by stimulating sound waves with a standard laser, which could multiply them, then channeling the sound waves through several layers of atom-thick lattices, alternating between gallium arsenide and aluminum arsenide which would shorten them into phonons, which were nanometers in length compared to the average sound wave.

While it wouldn't be necessary to reach terahertz frequencies, the principle for creating a directed beam of phonons could apply to boarding weapons to be used against the Kinshaya.

Nox made a point to notify Lieutenant Sunik of her plan.

"Make it so, Ensign. Time is of the essence."

"Yes sir!" Cerna darted off to the nearest replicator capable of fabricating the parts she would need. Her current plan was to create an attachment for the Starfleet type-3 phaser rifle.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When Ops stated they had Commodore Soro on the secure channel, Ian rose and said.

"Kyan, you have the bridge, this will nae take long."

Rushing to his ready room, Ian opened the channel to see the harried Bolian barking orders as she replied.

"I received your research. I will have the fleet begin working on the sonic weapons, but under no circumstances are you to work on that toxin without my express orders. It would be too easy to misuse such a weapon. Is that understood Captain?"

"Perfectly Sir, your thoughts mirror my own. Challenger out."

Ian closed the channel and returned to the command chair. In the few minutes he'd been gone, the tactical situation had changed. Although both the Tarhe and the Rainier had limped out of line after their initial encirclement, they had effected sterling damage control work and had retaken their place in the battleline. Unfortunately, it seemed the Kinshaya were able to scan the two ships and determine they were the weak link in the Klingon line. This was especially bad for the Rainier as the Steamrunner was the smallest of the Federation ships present.

In the time it took Ian to retake the command chair, the Kinshaya sent three of their smaller globes to swarm the Rainier the combined fire from the three globes was more than the reconstituted shields of the Rainier could handle. Ian watched in horror as the Starfleet ship's flared, failed, and the ship itself stagger from multiple hits. The Rainier called for help and without hesitation, Ian began giving orders.

"Helm, make your course 124 mark 19, full impulse, barrel roll us over the top of the Rainier. Ops, all secondary warp core power ta structural integrity. Tactical, full yield quantums on those three globes as we approach, once we are over the Rainier, grab them with the tractor and we'll make for our own line. Security and medical, stand by for transport for counter boardin' operations."

Ian was concerned he was acting without orders, but if Commodore Soro had a problem with it, she was obviously going to talk about it later. The Galahad began firing her photons as proximity bursts to create a wall of jamming to screen the Challenger's approach and hopefully reduce the amount of hits she took during her rescue attempt.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

In the time it took Ian to retake the command chair, the Kinshaya sent three of their smaller globes to swarm the Rainier the combined fire from the three globes was more than the reconstituted shields of the Rainier could handle. Ian watched in horror as the Starfleet ship's flared, failed, and the ship itself stagger from multiple hits. The Rainier called for help and without hesitation, Ian began giving orders.

"Helm, make your course 124 mark 19, full impulse, barrel roll us over the top of the Rainier. Ops, all secondary warp core power ta structural integrity. Tactical, full yield quantums on those three globes as we approach, once we are over the Rainier, grab them with the tractor and we'll make for our own line. Security and medical, stand by for transport for counter boardin' operations."

Ian was concerned he was acting without orders, but if Commodore Soro had a problem with it, she was obviously going to talk about it later. The Galahad began firing her photons as proximity bursts to create a wall of jamming to screen the Challenger's approach and hopefully reduce the amount of hits she took during her rescue attempt.

Sitting in the jeffries just behind the Bridge viewscreen, Lahr finished the access panel. What he saw was not good. Blackened isolinear chips.  Chips that had only been replaced less than two months ago... if that.  Lahr had a suspicion that the Landsers Fold-Space technology had done more to their systems than just blow out their isolinear chips.  There was more going on... but this was not the time to be doing in-depth diagnostics to figure out the cause of the problem.  The Andorian tapped his commbadge.

"ch'Verret to Lieutenant Sunik. We've got a problem.  The recently replaced isolinear chips in the power relay box for the viewscreen are overheating.  We're fortunate that they haven't failed completely yet but it's only a matter of time.  They have to be replaced, but doing so will blank out the viewscreen and the displays for Helm and Navigation for the duration of the procedure - at my swiftest, I figure 30 to 35 seconds to pull the chips and replace."

Lahr had gotten a lot of practice of doing such. Previous to the Landser mission, it would have taken him about 2 minutes to pull and replace. He was much more time-efficient now.

"Chief, when you break the news to the Captain, tell him to let me know when is the best time to make the repair. I'll work to his schedule."

As the Engineering Chief passed on the bad news to the Captain, Lahr strained his hearing, pressing an ear to the metal wall that separated him from Bridge.  No doubt, Galloway would be cussin' in that odd Scottish manner that Lahr had grown to miss.

[Ardyn Jaeger - Wu]

[Bridge]

Ardy didn't have to be told twice. She probably would have broken formation herself and gone to help  had Ian not been fast enough on the order.  "Right! Hang on tight!" she barked, before punching the Impulse drive and deftly spinning the ship to go reinforce the others.

She felt a sharp tug of g-force as she pulled up the Challenger to ambush one of the Kinshaya ships from "behind." in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. (At least she thought it was behind. Those round ships were hard to tell) It was enough to get into firing range though, which was all that mattered. "How's the ship holding?" she asked to the bridge as another round hit them.

[Medbay]

As Oyari Sedaya

Sedaya ran down to the medbay where there were already some casualties. Already a console had broadsided an unfortunate engineer, and triage stations were set up and ready. Grabbing a container full of hyposprays and starting to suit up as best she could for incoming patients, she asked the medical team "Where do you need me?"

[Zemi zhCharion]

Sedaya ran down to the medbay where there were already some casualties. Already a console had broadsided an unfortunate engineer, and triage stations were set up and ready. Grabbing a container full of hyposprays and starting to suit up as best she could for incoming patients, she asked the medical team "Where do you need me?"

[Medbay]

"Tricorder, cadet." The blue hand of the med bay's most recent transfer - Zemi zh'Charion, an Andorian fresh out of her residency - appeared in Cadet Sedaya's eyeline, though it already seemed to have a medical tricorder in it. "This one's dead, too." There had seemed to be a rash of portable medical devices not holding their charge lately, probably an issue with the charging port itself, but now was hardly the time.

Sedaya handed Zee a fresh tricorder and handed the dead one to the nearest free nurse. The Andorian's attention turned to the injured engineer.

Zee ran the tricorder's sensor over the engineer - he was badly burned along his right hand side, from face to hip. While unconscious, his breathing was laboured and wet. "Hm, looks like a pulmonary haemorrhage." Zee and Sedaya had interacted briefly in her short time here. Her usual lighthearted attitude had given way to an uncharacteristic focus - the Andorian was in Work Mode. "We need to identify the damaged blood vessels and close 'em - I'm gonna need a precision holoscope and point-five-CCs of adrenaline. Tell me, cadet," Zee looked Sedaya in the eye, and a hint of that playful nature shone through. "Ever drained blood off a dude's lung before?"

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Bridge, USS Challenger]

Now this was what kept Kyan in Starfleet. Sure the grups would go on and on about exploration and science and whatever else they were about. They could have all that. For Kyan, this was the reward for suffering through the diplomatic missions and the cataloging gaseous anomalies and the other boring stuff. Battles! Adventures! And Galloway even liked to listen to music while they did it. The only thing missing was getting to fire the weapons himself. But he couldn't have all the fun right? The Onlie spared a glance over at Zhuk, who was busy hammering the Kinshaya's black globe ships whenever one got close enough. He could tell by the swish of his tail that the Caitian was enjoying himself, which made him grin. If he had to give up the job, it was some solace to know that the one who took over was good at it... and liked doing it.

Sure. They might all get killed by the Kinshaya... some probably would. But Kyan reckoned that if they got him,then he'd just go to the Summerlands and be reunited with his da and all the other cool people that already went. And he could tell old Korgon that they went out fighting the Kinshaya, which he would definitely appreciate. And they might even make a song about it. All in all... not a bad way to go out if you wanted Kyan's opinion on it.

Since Zhuk and Ardy were good at their jobs, and Galloway wasn't a half bad tactician himself... certainly not some boffin captain who was gonna get everyone blown up...Kyan found himself able to watch the rest of the crew. Jettis and Wu had both seen a lot of battles, so they were used to it. But there were a lot of new people. Like the Cadet at the auxiliary tactical station, who kept looking over his shoulder at the big display on the main viewer.

In a fleet-on-fleet situation like this tactical was a two or three person job. On a Defiant or similar-sized ship, there was a single tactical station and one person. But On a cruiser like Challenger, a second person could be utilized. This allowed for the Chief tactical officer to focus on offensive maneuvers and carrying out the Captain's orders. Usually, the chief was responsible for the nine to three o'clock area, and the auxiliary officer watched the three to nine. On bigger ships it could be broken down further. Coordinating with friendly vessels was also a duty that could be passed down to the second tactical officer, which Kyan had always preferred to do so that he could focus on blasting the enemies. He didn't know if Zhuk felt the same way.

The next time the Cadet turned to look at the tactical display, Challenger shuddered from a hit on her aft shields. The POI shielding dispersed most of the impact. Kyan hopped out of his heat and made his way over.

"What's yer name?" He asked the distracted cadet.

"Morgan sir. Uhh... Wes Mo...Cadet Wes Morgan, from Earth." he answered, refocusing on his station after glancing over at Kyan, who stood at his left shoulder. It was plain to see that he was nervous, and as green as a leaf in the middle of the summer. The single elongated pip on his collar said that he was a first year cadet, which meant that he wasn't long out of high school. He was also Human, which Kyan could see now, since he didn't have spots, nose ridges, or black eyes indicating one of the species that looked mostly human but weren't. His curly brown hair was wet with sweat, even though it really wasn't hot on the bridge.

"Aye.. Mister Morgan." Kyan answered. "Is this yer first fight?"

Morgan nodded. "Yessir." Then he hurriedly added..."but I got really good scores on the simulator."

"Simulators is good, but real life's different." Kyan replied. "Ye cannae be distracted. Every time yer looking up there.." he indicated the viewscreen, "its our arse yer leaving in the wind."

"Aye sir." came the abashed reply.

Kyan looked at his console. "Have ye hit one yet?"

"Sir?"

"The Kinshaya. Have ye shot any of em yet?"

"I've been uhh...." Morgan paused... "Well I was..."

"It's distracted ye was an no mistake. Ok... look! See there? That one that on the aft port quarter, he's trying tae flank us. Blast him."

Morgan hesitated. Then he began aiming at the flanking sphere.

"Today'd be the best time ta be doing it."

"Right... " The flustered cadet finally got his target lock and fired two torpedoes from the aft launcher. One hit, the other missed.

"Hit him again." Kyan replied. "An this time be quick about it. Yer after bein perfect so ye are. But bein quick is better the now since there's lots of targets. Hurry up and hit him."

Morgan nodded and fired two more volleys in quick succession. Most of them hit and the sphere veered off, abandoning it's objective. The young human caught himself mid-whoop and glanced over at the Onlie peering over his shoulder.

"Good job Mister Morgan." Kyan grinned. "Now whenever one of them wankers gets a mind ta try and go up our arse again, you make em think twice on it. An if any of em get a shot off, you use the phasers an shoot it down. And if ye miss, We got more phasers and torpedoes. Keep shootin til he gives up or blows up. And dinna be looking at the main viewer."

"Aye sir."

"Ok." Kyan clapped him on the back. "Stay on em."

Kyan left him to it and made his way back over to his chair. When he had seared himself again, he noticed the same Kinshaya trying to flank them again. Glancing back at Morgan he saw the cadet focused on his console, likely prepping to fire a few torpedoes. A moment later the Challenger unleashed a volley or torpedoes from her aft launcher. Three seconds later the icon representing the Kinshaya vessel blinked out of existence.

"Yes! Yes! See that? I got him!" Morgan yelled excitedly from his station.

Kyan grinned before looking over at Ian. He shrugged. "It's his first one."

[Bridge]

'Heh, you know it!"

Ardy smirked as Zhuk caused a brilliant explosion along one of the flanks of the ship, but the moment couldn't last forever. The ship shook as the Challenger took a round of heavy fire, some kind of torpedo.  They could handle the hit for now, She just had to keep running. Keep the ship flying.  "I'm moving in for another round! " she shouted to Zhuk,  sending the ship into a bit of a dive before  turning into a spin, leaving the ship in a good enough spot to fire.  They were holding the line for now.

"How's it looking for the ship?" she asked the others on the bridge.

Suddenly, she heard the comms chatter flare up.

One look at the scanners showed her enough; They had caught the other ship in a pincer move. She mentally readied her flightpath.

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Klingon/Kinshaya Border]

Zhukdra'shar smirked to himself at the assistance provided by Cadet Morgan through the instruction of Commander Mackenzie. Slightly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of globe ships, he certainly appreciated the help. Admitting that, of course, was another matter entirely, but they did not have to know that. Zhuk focused the phasers on the next globe ship, not letting up, even as the whole ship shook when another of the Kinshaya's weapons impacted the shields. Thus far, though, Ardy was doing a stupendous job of avoiding them, disengaging, and then sending the Challenger into the fray.

It made his job all the more pleasant, that he needed only to focus on firing upon his enemies. Of course, by this point, he had realized that, while he was indeed having a grand ol' time, he slightly preferred ship combat at sea. It was less chaotic and certainly far more straightforward - at least in his mind. No need for fancy maneuvers, or swift twists and turns.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When Ops stated they had Commodore Soro on the secure channel, Ian rose and said.

"Kyan, you have the bridge, this will nae take long."

Rushing to his ready room, Ian opened the channel to see the harried Bolian barking orders as she replied.

"I received your research. I will have the fleet begin working on the sonic weapons, but under no circumstances are you to work on that toxin without my express orders. It would be too easy to misuse such a weapon. Is that understood Captain?"

"Perfectly Sir, your thoughts mirror my own. Challenger out."

Ian closed the channel and returned to the command chair. In the few minutes he'd been gone, the tactical situation had changed. Although both the Tarhe and the Rainier had limped out of line after their initial encirclement, they had effected sterling damage control work and had retaken their place in the battleline. Unfortunately, it seemed the Kinshaya were able to scan the two ships and determine they were the weak link in the Klingon line. This was especially bad for the Rainier as the Steamrunner was the smallest of the Federation ships present.

In the time it took Ian to retake the command chair, the Kinshaya sent three of their smaller globes to swarm the Rainier the combined fire from the three globes was more than the reconstituted shields of the Rainier could handle. Ian watched in horror as the Starfleet ship's flared, failed, and the ship itself stagger from multiple hits. The Rainier called for help and without hesitation, Ian began giving orders.

"Helm, make your course 124 mark 19, full impulse, barrel roll us over the top of the Rainier. Ops, all secondary warp core power ta structural integrity. Tactical, full yield quantums on those three globes as we approach, once we are over the Rainier, grab them with the tractor and we'll make for our own line. Security and medical, stand by for transport for counter boardin' operations."

Ian was concerned he was acting without orders, but if Commodore Soro had a problem with it, she was obviously going to talk about it later. The Galahad began firing her photons as proximity bursts to create a wall of jamming to screen the Challenger's approach and hopefully reduce the amount of hits she took during her rescue attempt.

[Bridge]

Ardy didn't have to be told twice. She probably would have broken formation herself and gone to help  had Ian not been fast enough on the order.  "Right! Hang on tight!" she barked, before punching the Impulse drive and deftly spinning the ship to go reinforce the others.

She felt a sharp tug of g-force as she pulled up the Challenger to ambush one of the Kinshaya ships from "behind." in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. (At least she thought it was behind. Those round ships were hard to tell) It was enough to get into firing range though, which was all that mattered. "How's the ship holding?" she asked to the bridge as another round hit them.

[Medbay]

As Oyari Sedaya

Sedaya ran down to the medbay where there were already some casualties. Already a console had broadsided an unfortunate engineer, and triage stations were set up and ready. Grabbing a container full of hyposprays and starting to suit up as best she could for incoming patients, she asked the medical team "Where do you need me?"

One of the Caitian's ears pivoted towards the Captain's chair after his return, overhearing the orders to move towards the Rainier to assist. Zhukdra'shar shifted his priorities as he instead focused on eliminating the incoming volleys of the Kinshaya globe ships targeting the Challenger. Once more, the assistance provided by the Galahad was quite welcomed, as it cleared a path for Ardy to follow. Zhuk thought for a moment about how he should proceed, before speaking up.

"Captain. Allow me to lead the Security team that shalt assist the shift of the USS Rainier, as well as our own Medical officers. In the meanwhile, perhaps Commander Mackenzie could take over my duties upon the Tactical Console."

He suggested, briefly glancing over at Kyan for a couple of seconds with a knowing look, then returning back with the firing. He took a deep breath, wondering if he was in for a tall order. But he wished to see firsthand the training of his officers, and he would abide by it. If he had to die to defend others, so it would be.

That twinge of fear returned to him, albeit was successfully suppressed and did not show upon his expressions. Why was he afraid, however? He had valiantly struck against the Romulans and that infernal machine that ate up worlds. Did the Kinshaya disturb him that much?

Truth of the matter was... they did.

[Ian Galloway]

Sitting in the jeffries just behind the Bridge viewscreen, Lahr finished the access panel. What he saw was not good. Blackened isolinear chips.  Chips that had only been replaced less than two months ago... if that.  Lahr had a suspicion that the Landsers Fold-Space technology had done more to their systems than just blow out their isolinear chips.  There was more going on... but this was not the time to be doing in-depth diagnostics to figure out the cause of the problem.  The Andorian tapped his commbadge.

"ch'Verret to Lieutenant Sunik. We've got a problem.  The recently replaced isolinear chips in the power relay box for the viewscreen are overheating.  We're fortunate that they haven't failed completely yet but it's only a matter of time.  They have to be replaced, but doing so will blank out the viewscreen and the displays for Helm and Navigation for the duration of the procedure - at my swiftest, I figure 30 to 35 seconds to pull the chips and replace."

Lahr had gotten a lot of practice of doing such. Previous to the Landser mission, it would have taken him about 2 minutes to pull and replace. He was much more time-efficient now.

"Chief, when you break the news to the Captain, tell him to let me know when is the best time to make the repair. I'll work to his schedule."

As the Engineering Chief passed on the bad news to the Captain, Lahr strained his hearing, pressing an ear to the metal wall that separated him from Bridge.  No doubt, Galloway would be cussin' in that odd Scottish manner that Lahr had grown to miss.

[Bridge]

Ardy didn't have to be told twice. She probably would have broken formation herself and gone to help  had Ian not been fast enough on the order.  "Right! Hang on tight!" she barked, before punching the Impulse drive and deftly spinning the ship to go reinforce the others.

She felt a sharp tug of g-force as she pulled up the Challenger to ambush one of the Kinshaya ships from "behind." in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. (At least she thought it was behind. Those round ships were hard to tell) It was enough to get into firing range though, which was all that mattered. "How's the ship holding?" she asked to the bridge as another round hit them.

[Medbay]

As Oyari Sedaya

Sedaya ran down to the medbay where there were already some casualties. Already a console had broadsided an unfortunate engineer, and triage stations were set up and ready. Grabbing a container full of hyposprays and starting to suit up as best she could for incoming patients, she asked the medical team "Where do you need me?"

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | Klingon/Kinshaya Border]

Zhukdra'shar smirked to himself at the assistance provided by Cadet Morgan through the instruction of Commander Mackenzie. Slightly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of globe ships, he certainly appreciated the help. Admitting that, of course, was another matter entirely, but they did not have to know that. Zhuk focused the phasers on the next globe ship, not letting up, even as the whole ship shook when another of the Kinshaya's weapons impacted the shields. Thus far, though, Ardy was doing a stupendous job of avoiding them, disengaging, and then sending the Challenger into the fray.

It made his job all the more pleasant, that he needed only to focus on firing upon his enemies. Of course, by this point, he had realized that, while he was indeed having a grand ol' time, he slightly preferred ship combat at sea. It was less chaotic and certainly far more straightforward - at least in his mind. No need for fancy maneuvers, or swift twists and turns.

One of the Caitian's ears pivoted towards the Captain's chair after his return, overhearing the orders to move towards the Rainier to assist. Zhukdra'shar shifted his priorities as he instead focused on eliminating the incoming volleys of the Kinshaya globe ships targeting the Challenger. Once more, the assistance provided by the Galahad was quite welcomed, as it cleared a path for Ardy to follow. Zhuk thought for a moment about how he should proceed, before speaking up.

"Captain. Allow me to lead the Security team that shalt assist the shift of the USS Rainier, as well as our own Medical officers. In the meanwhile, perhaps Commander Mackenzie could take over my duties upon the Tactical Console."

He suggested, briefly glancing over at Kyan for a couple of seconds with a knowing look, then returning back with the firing. He took a deep breath, wondering if he was in for a tall order. But he wished to see firsthand the training of his officers, and he would abide by it. If he had to die to defend others, so it would be.

That twinge of fear returned to him, albeit was successfully suppressed and did not show upon his expressions. Why was he afraid, however? He had valiantly struck against the Romulans and that infernal machine that ate up worlds. Did the Kinshaya disturb him that much?

Truth of the matter was... they did.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian's head canted and twitched when he heard the report from Sunik that the viewscreen was about to fail in the middle of battle. He snarled in frustration, but kept his response civil.

"Sunik, we are in the middle of a bloody battle and about ta execute a rescue of another ship. Are you seriously tellin' me that you need ta take the viewscreen offline?"

"That is correct Sir."

Ian swore extensively in Gaelic for several second before adding.

"Very well, we have one maneuver ta complete, then we will come ta a halt. That will be your cue ta do what you need ta do. Galloway out."

Turning to face Ardy, Ian spoke calmly.

"Take us in. Standby ta barrel roll."

The Challenger leapt forward at full impulse, when she reached 20,000 kilometers from the Rainier, Ian gave the order to roll.

The Challenger groaned as the spaceframe took on the added stress of being inverted. The ship screeched to a halt directly above the crippled Rainier where she became a magnet for Kinshaya fire leading to near continuous shaking from the many impacts. While they were making their approach, Ian turned to Kyan and said.

"Rainier reports they've been boarded in several places and are takin' heavy casualties from Kinshaya warriors. It is your call if'n you want ta lead the away team or let Zhuk do it. Either way, it's goin' ta be a blood bath. I'm sendin' as many people as we can in one transporter cycle, that's 72, which will consist of 64 security, four medics, and four engineers. We can't send more because we can't have our shields down any longer. Whatever choice you make, you've got thirty seconds ta make it."

[Neva Cordon]

[Deck 6- Primary Computer Core Control]

Neva growled low in her throat, teeth clenched to choke the sound. Wiping her sleeve over her forehead in a futile attempt to staunch the sweat, Neva fought for control over both the ship's desire to stop working and the mantra her mind was forcing into her consciousness.

Mother still needs my help...Go Home...

Shaking her head quickly, the young Betazoid Engineer tried to push the serpentine whisper away to focus on the task at hand.

"I can't DO anything there!" She spat out, her voice echoing in the room. She shoved a Magnaspanner at a panel to her left, watching lights dance from blue to red, then finally green.

"C'mon...c'mon!" She chanted as she watched, shoulders sagging when they returned to multicolor Christmas lights. A stream of epithets poured out as she dug in her kit for another tool.

Before she could return to her machinations, her Comm badge chirped. Neva straightened and patted her chest.

Cordon here.  How may I crush your spirit today? Her eyes widened slightly at what flowed out of her mouth, but she smirked nonetheless.

Your levity is ill-timed, Lieutenant, Intoned CEO Sunik. Neva rolled her eyes, but stayed silent. The Vulcan continued. Ensign Roschke will be relieving you momentarily. You are to meet the Away team to go to the Ranier and make any repairs you and 3 other Engineers are able. Be advised, the enemy is aboard ship and is actively trying to take over. It would behoove you to be well armed.

Aye Aye Sir. On my way.

Neva snapped off the connection and shoved her kit closed. Silently throwing the strap over her head, she stopped just in time at Roschke's appearance on the other side of the door. They chuckled at each other and Neva nodded, taking off before he could say more.

[Transporter Room]

Neva shouldered the Rifle & clapped the phaser on her belt as she stepped onto the pad. For once, she didn't make any jokes. She realized her grumbling was in response to what the crew was feeling, especially hearing the Challenger "Anthem".

She nodded to the rest of the those assembled, feeling ice flow through her veins. This was no "fix at a reasonable pace" Away Mission. This was  one you could lose your life on, and Neva knew just how precious life was now.

[Ardyn Jaeger - Wu]

[Bridge]

They were going to have to fly blind. The absolute worst situation a ship could be in for  during a highly mobile battle like this one. Ardy swore, probably not the most Officerlike, but she didn't care at the moment.  She could fly without the helm controls or even without the sensors, but not being able to see at all? That was bad.  Really bad. She wasn't sure how long the repairs would take, But she had to account for that. She might have to be flying blind for minutes, next to an eternity in the scope of a battle.   "Hey Alex, could you get the scanner readings up on the science console?"

The ship groaned as the barrel roll inversion righted itself as fast as it did. That didn't sound good
"Standing by for the shutdown."

[Meanwhile]

[As Oyari Sedaya]

Sedaya nodded, frantically grabbing another stack of tricorders before handing it over to the medical resident who , unlike her, was totally cool in the line of fire.

"They've all been having issues since the ship got cooked by some sace folding." she said, plugging the expended tricorders in and injecting a hypospray into the poor engineer's neck. It wasn't the most potent painkiller, but it would at least numb him until they could take care of him better.

"A holoscope?" She asked, " Got it! "

The poor guy was having a rough time breathing due to the shards of computer in his lungs. It looked rather painful.

Looking at her Andorian colleague, Zee, she shook her head. Sure, she had studied the holographic simulators on how to do this, but this was her first time doing the surgery. They were very good,  but nothing could really prepare you for in the field.  "Nope. Shall we begin?" she asked, careful to not let her nerves get the better of her. This guy's life was on the line, after all.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Bridge, USS Challenger]

Kyan was about to reply to Zhuk's proposal about him taking over tactical and allowing the Caitian to lead the pending away team mission to the Ranier when Ardy inidiated the barrel roll maneuver. So instead he had to focus on not being tosses out of his chair. When his stomach decided that everything was ok again, Ian had already begun talking about it.

"Rainier reports they've been boarded in several places and are takin' heavy casualties from Kinshaya warriors. It is your call if'n you want ta lead the away team or let Zhuk do it. Either way, it's goin' ta be a blood bath. I'm sendin' as many people as we can in one transporter cycle, that's 72, which will consist of 64 security, four medics, and four engineers. We can't send more because we can't have our shields down any longer. Whatever choice you make, you've got thirty seconds ta make it."

There was no way he was about to sit on the bridge, at the tactical console or otherwise, while Zhuk got to go off and fight against the Kinshaya. That was a non-starter. While shooting ships was fun and all, Kyan liked the up close and personal combat better. And he knew Zhuk did too. He also knew that the Kinshaya were huge and liable to stomp him like a bug. But they were big enough to stomp any of them like bugs so that was irrelevant. Besides if Kyan Mackenzie were the type to avoid a confrontation just because the other guy was bigger and stronger than he was... he'd never get to fight at all. Which is why he didn't hesitate in his decision.

"Oh I'm after going and no mistake." He replied after a moment's thought. "But Zhuk oughtta go too. We can split up inta three teams. One team fer securing the bridge, one fer engineering, an one fer deck sweepin." Kyan hopped off his chair. "And since they dinna wanna talk, and they're huge an monstrous creatures who are after killin folks, I'm after telling everyone ta set their phasers ta kill, the which is prolly not what the Ranier folks was doin."

He considered Galloway, who he reckoned was probably grappling with the whole stun vs. kill setting dilemma himself, being a Starfleet captain and all. But having been around him for more than a year now, he was pretty confident that they had the same idea on the subject. It wasn't that he was eager to kill, moreso that he was eager not to be killed because he had to play by a different set of rules than the Kinshaya. They would most assuredly not have their weapons on the stun setting, if they even had such a setting to begin with.

In Kyan's experience, Starfleet had lost a lot of people in conflicts with the Cardassians, Klingons, Tzenkethi, and especially the Doninion because they always wanted to be the "good guys". But there were no good guys in a war. There was only alive guys and dead guys. And no one ever got to keep being an alive guy with their phaser on the stun setting when the enemy didn't even have one.

"So that's me choice." He nodded. "Let's be about it!"

[Zemi zhCharion]

"Nope. Shall we begin?" she asked, careful to not let her nerves get the better of her. This guy's life was on the line, after all.

[Medbay]

Zee grinned. "Ah, this is gonna be so cool." She oversaw a pair of nurses as they moved the suffering engineer into the vacant surgical suite, and began setting up equipment. Whatever anaesthetic Sedaya had hit the officer with was working, and his breathing slowed to a pained but gentle wheeze.

"'Kay, here's how this is gonna work." Zee grabbed Sedaya by the arm and maneuvered her so they were standing opposite each other, flanking the surgical bed. "The holoscope is going to give us a blow-up image of his lungs, and the surrounding airways and blood vessels. Something, somewhere is leaking into the lung - I'm gonna find the damaged vessels, inject 'em with adrenaline and let the body heal itself. You're-" She passed the cadet a device that looked like a particularly complex syringe, about six inches long and with a pair of control panels. "-gonna use the holoscope to pick out clots, or trapped fluid, and suck it out. Focus on the edemas - the swelling - they'll lead you to fluid. When you've got blood, the self-sealing steriliser will clean it and prepare it for reinjection, just put it back somewhere that's not leaking." Without waiting for an affirmative response, Zee kept talking - now poking her hand at one of the surgical monitors. "This readout will show you his arterial blood pressure - keep it stable, between 100 and 75. Too low and his blood oxygen level will start to drop and we're potentially looking at further cell death. Too high and there's a risk that more vessels will burst."

As she began calibrating the holoscope, she took a brief second to touch Sedaya on the shoulder. "Ready to help me save his life?"

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Jeffries tube behind the viewscreen]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian's head canted and twitched when he heard the report from Sunik that the viewscreen was about to fail in the middle of battle. He snarled in frustration, but kept his response civil.

"Sunik, we are in the middle of a bloody battle and about ta execute a rescue of another ship. Are you seriously tellin' me that you need ta take the viewscreen offline?"

"That is correct Sir."

Ian swore extensively in Gaelic for several second before adding.

"Very well, we have one maneuver ta complete, then we will come ta a halt. That will be your cue ta do what you need ta do. Galloway out."

Anticipating the Captain to respond, Lahr was a bit disappointed to instead have Sunik pass on Galloway's words and cut the comm in the middle of Lahr's complaint.

"Aw man.  Like how am I supposed to know when we stop from in here?" But there was no answer.  "Roohz!"

Turning to face Ardy, Ian spoke calmly.

"Take us in. Standby ta barrel roll."

The Challenger leapt forward at full impulse, when she reached 20,000 kilometers from the Rainier, Ian gave the order to roll.

The Challenger groaned as the spaceframe took on the added stress of being inverted. The ship screeched to a halt directly above the crippled Rainier where she became a magnet for Kinshaya fire leading to near continuous shaking from the many impacts.

No sooner was his complaint uttered than he could hear the Challenger groan.  The sound however was not unfamiliar to Lahr, who had sat on the bridge many times in the past when Captain Galloway would use 'aerial' maneuvers not intended for starships.  This must be the maneuver they ship had to complete.  Lahr readied himself.

Even with the inertial dampeners working, Lahr could feel himself sway slightly.  The sudden stop.  This was it, he hoped.  He cut power and began swiftly pulling isolinear chips.

On the Bridge, the viewscreen went black, as did the Helm and Navigation console displays.

[Alexander Wu]

[Bridge]

They were going to have to fly blind. The absolute worst situation a ship could be in for  during a highly mobile battle like this one. Ardy swore, probably not the most Officerlike, but she didn't care at the moment.  She could fly without the helm controls or even without the sensors, but not being able to see at all? That was bad.  Really bad. She wasn't sure how long the repairs would take, But she had to account for that. She might have to be flying blind for minutes, next to an eternity in the scope of a battle.   "Hey Alex, could you get the scanner readings up on the science console?"

The ship groaned as the barrel roll inversion righted itself as fast as it did. That didn't sound good
"Standing by for the shutdown."

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

The battle was in full swing. but Alex only had one job while manning Ops, and that was to keep their ship alive, shuffling power to wherever it was needed while keeping an ear open to the rest of the bridge. Even with emergency power to the structural integrity field and inertial dampeners, Alex wasn't 100% sure they'd survive some of Ardyn's wild maneuvers, and in the back of his mind, he added more time to how long they'd be drydocked if they made it out of this alive. Glancing at his secondary display to check on the battle outside their little world, it appeared that the fleet was holding their own, but just barely.

"Navigation's patched into Science 2, transferring all available power to dorsal shields." Alex replied as they slid to a stop above Rainier and became the biggest sitting target on the battlefield. Like moths to light, several Kinshaya ships broke off from their previous targets, hurtling towards the crippled flagship and Challenger. Others closed ranks behind them, blocking off any further Starfleet ships from coming to their rescue. It's almost like they anticipated this. This was a trap, Alex realized with a sinking feeling, they knew we wouldn't abandon Rainier. And now they've got both of us. "Multiple incoming!" He called out, clutching onto his console as the deck shuddered violently, making it nearly impossible to stay upright. The ship's status readouts rapidly began flickering from their previous greens and yellows to red, and Alex ducked when an overloaded conduit exploded above their heads, raining sparks down over the suddenly darkened bridge.

"Multiple minor hull breaches decks three thru fifteen, number one and two impulse engines are offline. They're targeting our dorsal shield emitters now, imminent failure in thirty seconds. Those boarding parties need to leave now, Captain." Alex rapidly reported, glancing at the chronometer to check on how much longer the helm console would still be offline. "Requesting permission to take helm control, if we roll 180 to present our ventral aspect now, we can buy some more time in our current position."

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

The battle was in full swing. but Alex only had one job while manning Ops, and that was to keep their ship alive, shuffling power to wherever it was needed while keeping an ear open to the rest of the bridge. Even with emergency power to the structural integrity field and inertial dampeners, Alex wasn't 100% sure they'd survive some of Ardyn's wild maneuvers, and in the back of his mind, he added more time to how long they'd be drydocked if they made it out of this alive. Glancing at his secondary display to check on the battle outside their little world, it appeared that the fleet was holding their own, but just barely.

"Navigation's patched into Science 2, transferring all available power to dorsal shields." Alex replied as they slid to a stop above Rainier and became the biggest sitting target on the battlefield. Like moths to light, several Kinshaya ships broke off from their previous targets, hurtling towards the crippled flagship and Challenger. Others closed ranks behind them, blocking off any further Starfleet ships from coming to their rescue. It's almost like they anticipated this. This was a trap, Alex realized with a sinking feeling, they knew we wouldn't abandon Rainier. And now they've got both of us. "Multiple incoming!" He called out, clutching onto his console as the deck shuddered violently, making it nearly impossible to stay upright. The ship's status readouts rapidly began flickering from their previous greens and yellows to red, and Alex ducked when an overloaded conduit exploded above their heads, raining sparks down over the suddenly darkened bridge.

"Multiple minor hull breaches decks three thru fifteen, number one and two impulse engines are offline. They're targeting our dorsal shield emitters now, imminent failure in thirty seconds. Those boarding parties need to leave now, Captain." Alex rapidly reported, glancing at the chronometer to check on how much longer the helm console would still be offline. "Requesting permission to take helm control, if we roll 180 to present our ventral aspect now, we can buy some more time in our current position."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Of course Kyan had chosen to lead the away team. Ian was not surprised by that, what he didn't understand was why, someone who was functionally immortal was in such a hurry to get themselves killed. Leading the away team was his right and was what the regulations stated was the right thing to do, but nothing seemed to phase the Onlie. His last mission had left him critically injured. Regardless of that, here he was hell bent to come to grips with a Kinshaya, a species that invoked fear in Klingons. Ian figured he'd never understand.

As the Challenger rolled into position inverted, Ian gave the order to drop the shield between them and the Rainier. As the shield dropped, Ian ordered Davenport to fire photons in proximity within a 1,000 kilometers of the ship to scramble Kinshaya targeting sensors. Regardless of this added bit of protection, one of the Kinshaya globes had a clear shot through the down shield and the Challenger staggered from several beam hits. The ship's armor and the structural integrity field prevented any of these shots from penetrating the hull, but the spot overloads and circuitry failures lit up the pool table in Engineering.

During the time the shield was down, the 12 transporters on the Challenger hummed with life and 72 lifeforms were transferred from the Challenger to the Rainier. Sixty-four security officers in full battle armor arrived and began laying down a heavy covering fire. The Kinshaya, if surprised by the arrival of Federation reinforcements, they didn't show it. They simply shifted fire from the few tattered remnants of the Rainier's crew to the new comers without pause and both sides began to take casualties.

As the fighting on the Rainier raged, Ian was doing his own raging as the main viewscreen along with the Nav and Helm stations went dark. Fortunately, Tactical was unaffected and was able to keep firing. As Ian seethed, all he could do was hope whoever was working on the viewscreen issue knew what he was doing.

"Away team away Captain."

"Shields up! Thank you Lieutenant Davenport, now all we can do is hope the Maker is on our side and there will be someone to bring back."

When Lieutenant Wu made his report, Ian sighed as he replied.

"The away team knew goin' in it was goin' ta be a rough go. With as many targets as we have in bound, we'd never survive droppin' the shields ta recover them. Kyan is used ta operatin' on his own. You could drop him on the north pole of Earth and a week later he'd show up in New York City with a pocket full of pesos, a Maori tattoo, and an infuriatin' smug smile because you'd have no idea how he did it.

"Since helm is still out, you'll get us out of this via a direction they won't be expectin'. We're already inverted Lieutenant, fire the aft dorsal and bow ventral thrusters and take us straight down. Tactical, fire all photons in proximity, give us a smoke screen. If'n anyone follows us below the galactic plane, we'll light them up with every phaser we have."