Mission 2: Tell No Tales

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Already, the Captain's orders to return fire had been strafing the enemy pirates, but thus far had not managed to actually cripple any of them.  The call from Wu saying the transporter was out was not news to Andrew as he noted the same on his Ops board, but things were a bit more hectic for him to do much more than transfer some power from one transporter room to the second.  Sophie's own warning of the bombardment of the planet was alarming, and had to be dealt with.  Now was not the time to deal with all three ships as a group...at least not completely.

Coordinating with the Helm; Andrew guided the PHOENIX to where they had a better shot at the bombarding enemy vessel.  To cover their maneuver; the young Ops Ensign coordinated a new set of firing solutions for Tactical...a spread of quantum torpedoes directly into the face of the current two attackers on the starship.  The spread was timed to where only one of the torpedoes missed.  Two struck the lead vessel while the last hit the second vessel.  Such an attack would hopefully cause the pirate onslaught to give way.  Nor did he stop there.

With the new position achieved; Andrew coordinated a new focused strike on the bombarding murderous pirate ship.  A second spread of quantum torpedoes combined with phaser strikes came at the third foe with a fury.  Most of the strike landed on target...flashing brightly against their enemy.  One phaser array kept the other two pirate vessels at bay with a continuous fire until the PHOENIX could better be kept between the pirate's goal of wiping out the away team and slaves.

"Chief, keep those systems clear of ions.  We don't need them piling it on us.  If those ions get into the warp core...we will have a terrible time cleaning it later," he warned his superior at the secondary Ops station.

[Bridge]

"On it," Sophie said, barely sparing a glance to Sheridan as she moved to set up a dampening resistance wave to push the stray ions back where they belonged. Sheridan himself was performing admirably, as he tended to do. Like a technical manual on two legs, Sophie thought, wishing that she had more time to think about such things. Unfortunately, they had green pirates blasting the stuffing out of them.

An alert caught Sophie's attention, her eyebrows raising. "Power surges in the warp reactor of the bombardier," she reported. "I think something critical got hit. It's...it's about to blow!"

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

"We need to get the hell out of range of this ship," he called out.  "They must be targeting their craft!"  Not far off to the northwest was a heavy shelter of rock that looked to afford some protection from aerial assault.  "Those rocks!  Get everyone to them."  He grabbed another member of Safefta's security team.  "Help me move her," he said, indicating the Cardassian.  He knew that she probably needed stabilized, but...what other option did they have?  Leave her in a bombardment?  She was dead either way, if that happened.

Ilana Telak wrote:

Her ears were ringing from the blast, rock and metal fragments had grazed her skin, but she was in one piece.  Or at least so she thought until she tried to push herself upright, only to feel a tugging sensation in her throat and her skull.  A piece of debris that had grazed her neck was now pinning the wire to the ground.  The thin black wire that connected the implant in her brain to the implant in her larynx.

Hearing the pilot's voice through the ringing in her ears, she regretted that she didn't know his name, call out to her, she was relieved to find herself able to reply to him.  "I'm t-t-trapped!" she shouted back.  "G-get them out of h-h-here!"

[Planetside]

Even with Derek's background and training, he couldn't move the non-ambulatory casualties by himself. "Commander, I could use a hand in here!" He shouted outside before moving back in. "Anyone who can walk, get outside now!" Derek ordered, pulling several of the former slaves to their feet. Forcing them out, he pointed out the outcropping which Pardek had taken shelter. "Get over there, move!"

As soon as he saw them begin staggering in the right direction, Derek ducked back inside. There were still two casualties inside who needed to be carried, along with the doctor. "What are you talking about, you're not pinned." He told her confusedly, sweeping off loose pieces of rock and dust from her back. A supporting beam had fallen from the upper bulkheads, and had only been millimetres from the Doc's head, but from what he could see, she was still clear. "Come on, we've got to get out of here." Derek urged, taking her arm. He was worried that the beam would shift and finish it's job.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[USS Phoenix - Bridge]

Archangel wanted to strangle Wu as the communication came in to tell her that he had lost the away team's signals.  That meant that there was no way to beam any of the crew or any of the survivors back.  She swore aloud again, hitting the communications panel on the chair hard enough to crack it, but she didn't care at that point.  She could see one of the three ships starting to bombard the planet and knew that time was running out before people down there started dying.

"Then get to another transporter room and re-establish the locks!  We need to get them out of there!"

[Corridor]

Having pried the doors open, Alex hurried out, bracing against the bulkhead as the floor lurched again. The acrid scent of frying electronics had already permeated the air, and he could tell that Phoenix was taking a beating. =/\="It won't matter even if we got a lock again, we can't beam them out with shields up!"=/\= Alex replied, continuing to the turbolifts. He had two decks up to go. =/\="If you can give me ten minutes, I can take the runabout down and pick up survivors. We can jump out as soon as we hit low orbit, and meet you at coordinates."=/\=

Safefta Pardek wrote:

Having found herself useless to the rest of the away team as a result of her injury, Safefta's primary concern was the well-being of Aeri. As far as she was concerned, that was now her job, and she'd never, ever shirk her duty. Doing that duty meant staying alive, staying conscious. However, Aeri was right. She'd lost quite a bit of blood already, and it wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. The fact that she felt little pain anymore was terrifying in its own way, like watching a limb die from lack of blood flow.

"I thank you for your assistance, but you are far too weak to have done even what you did," Safefta said coolly as she pressed her back against the hard surface of the rock. Doing so nearly pushed the shuttle fragment deeper into her shoulder, and the Romulan concealed a yelp of pain before she adjusted her position.

A silence fell before the Deltan broke it again. Her question confused Safefta, who glanced down at her soiled uniform and back up at the bald woman. "Affirmative," she said. Unfortunately for her, Safefta was a woman of few words, especially in a crisis.

[Planetside]

"That...that's good," Aeri smiled, her eyelids flickering as she fought to stay awake.  "Glad it was you, and not...anyone else."  Leaning her back against the rock, she struggled to move herself into a more seated position.  "We ran out of water two days ago," she said, seeming to speak more to herself than the Romulan.  "Food before that.  Started...started to think about the meat that was in the cargo compartment with us."

The Deltan turned to Safefta, her dark eyes full of revulsion and horror.  "Meat.  That's all they were...those that didn't survive the crash.  People...turned to meat!"  Thin tears began to trail down the woman's smooth cheeks.

Derek Black wrote:

Even with Derek's background and training, he couldn't move the non-ambulatory casualties by himself. "Commander, I could use a hand in here!" He shouted outside before moving back in. "Anyone who can walk, get outside now!" Derek ordered, pulling several of the former slaves to their feet. Forcing them out, he pointed out the outcropping which Pardek had taken shelter. "Get over there, move!"

As soon as he saw them begin staggering in the right direction, Derek ducked back inside. There were still two casualties inside who needed to be carried, along with the doctor. "What are you talking about, you're not pinned." He told her confusedly, sweeping off loose pieces of rock and dust from her back. A supporting beam had fallen from the upper bulkheads, and had only been millimetres from the Doc's head, but from what he could see, she was still clear. "Come on, we've got to get out of here." Derek urged, taking her arm. He was worried that the beam would shift and finish it's job.

[Planetside]

Two other of Saf's security team helped drag Kattell to the safety of the rocks. If such a thing as 'safety' was to be found. The Cardassian's signs did not look good, and the amount of blunt trauma she'd taken was staggering. Gabriel honestly would be surprised if she survived...even if they did make it to the ship. First one lost under your watch, Arthur, he thought, shaking his head. If they didn't get the rest of the team out of that ship, there'd be even more lost.

Gabe ran back toward the open bay doors in the crashed Orion ship, not liking the ever-collapsing nature of it. Darting through the doors, he helped scoop up a fallen slave. The stench inside the bay was still like a solid wall. Don't know how they lived as long as they did in there, he thought. "Derek, can you and Telak get the last one out?"

Bridge

Andrew heard the call from his fellow Ops companion that was handling the transporters this day. His idea was not a bad one, but it involved some risk as well. After all, they were in the middle of an intense firefight with two Orion vessels that had ion weaponry. One shot from one of those weapons on a runabout, and it would completely ionize it. That was not a pleasant prospect, but it was also not his call. Such a decision was up to the Captain. It might be worth the risk...maybe, but then again, maybe not. If Wu was hit out there, he'd be a sitting duck. If he wasn't hit, then they could rescue the away team and wounded slaves.

Of course, the transporter could still do the job after the firefight, or if Andrew could find a gap long enough to lower the shields for such a transport. That, however, was not likely to happen...even with one enemy vessel now going critical.

The Tactical console sparked, and there was a scream behind him as the crew member was shocked severely...collapsing to the deck. Andrew had no choice, but to route weapons control through his console. Fortunately, that was something Ops could do. In the event of any station going down; Operations could take over as needed, and that meant now.

Thus, the young Ops officer found himself no longer coordinating the attack and defense, but actually firing the weapons to protect the PHOENIX. Phasers lanced out in rapid succession as torpedoes continued to fire in spreads for maximum coverage and effect against the remaining two enemy ships. One of the torpedoes appeared to break through the second ship's shields to cause massive damage to the weapons array. Andrew smiled grimly...hoping that was enough to put that vessel out of commission.

NPC wrote:

Aeri

[Planetside]

"That...that's good," Aeri smiled, her eyelids flickering as she fought to stay awake.  "Glad it was you, and not...anyone else."  Leaning her back against the rock, she struggled to move herself into a more seated position.  "We ran out of water two days ago," she said, seeming to speak more to herself than the Romulan.  "Food before that.  Started...started to think about the meat that was in the cargo compartment with us."

The Deltan turned to Safefta, her dark eyes full of revulsion and horror.  "Meat.  That's all they were...those that didn't survive the crash.  People...turned to meat!"  Thin tears began to trail down the woman's smooth cheeks.

[Planetside]

For a few moments, Safefta's attention had floated away from the current situation. THe pain in her shoulder was beginning to return, although much more slowly, and she honestly felt utterly exhausted. The tiredness she didn't like, having been used to Romulan endurance. Perhaps it was the mind-touching done by Aeri...

Her attention was brought back when Aeri's muttering- which she'd admittedly only been half-listening to- took a dark turn, roving over to cannibalism. Such a thing wasn't unheard of among the Romulans... but all it did was remind Safefta of the terrible condition that they'd found the survivors in to begin with.

"You... If you had done so... you did what you had to in order to survive," the Romulan said faintly, staring straight ahead.

Derek Black wrote:

As soon as he saw them begin staggering in the right direction, Derek ducked back inside. There were still two casualties inside who needed to be carried, along with the doctor. "What are you talking about, you're not pinned." He told her confusedly, sweeping off loose pieces of rock and dust from her back. A supporting beam had fallen from the upper bulkheads, and had only been millimetres from the Doc's head, but from what he could see, she was still clear. "Come on, we've got to get out of here." Derek urged, taking her arm. He was worried that the beam would shift and finish it's job.

[Planetside]

"N-no! Move the b-beam!" Ilana replied, her eyes flicking to the side to try to see Derek, hoping that he wasn't going to pull on her arm to get her up. Moving would only rip the wire from her implants. "The wire! Its on m-my wire!"

Ilana Telak wrote:

[Planetside]

"N-no!  Move the b-beam!" Ilana replied, her eyes flicking to the side to try to see Derek, hoping that he wasn't going to pull on her arm to get her up.  Moving would only rip the wire from her implants.  "The wire!  Its on m-my wire!"

[Planetside]

Derek's confusion deepened. What wire? Pulling out a palm light, he shone it around the edge of the beam, catching sight of a slim, almost invisible line which was pinned underneath. One taut end led into the doctor's head, the other to her throat. "Oh sonofa-"

Gripping the end of the beam, he tested it with a small heave. It's too big. Too heavy. The offending piece of metal hadn't even budged. "Doc, it'd take four guys with an antigrav to move this thing. That wire...what does it control?"

[Orion Vessel Latinum Wave]

All around was controlled chaos. That, and the acrid tang of burned polymer and the ozone afterscent of plasma. A thin, bluish haze had settled into the command center of the Wave. Krespo's little fleet had taken a punch to the mouth. Attacking the Federation ship had been a calculated risk...but any gambler worth anything knew that the time came to fold.

"Night Jewel has a core breach. Seconds from going - " Zira said from her console, her fingers tapping out commands. "S-scratch that...Night Jewel is gone." Just like that, Krespo thought. Dice rolled. Chances taken. Bet large, lose large.

The captain stood from his chair, his motion deliberate and steady. "Signal Gilded Collar," he said, his voice cold as river stone. "Lay in a course for Orion space, maximum available warp." Zira nodded, glancing up. "They've eaten a lot of damage, my Lord...what if they cannot warp?" Krespo looked down at her, his dark green eyes like volcanic augers. "Then they cannot. Do we have warp?" A few seconds later, the engine room beeped affirmative. Sighing, Krespo returned to his seat. "Then get us out of here and somewhere the hell else. Now."

Derek Black wrote:

[Planetside]

Derek's confusion deepened. What wire? Pulling out a palm light, he shone it around the edge of the beam, catching sight of a slim, almost invisible line which was pinned underneath. One taut end led into the doctor's head, the other to her throat. "Oh sonofa-"

Gripping the end of the beam, he tested it with a small heave. It's too big. Too heavy. The offending piece of metal hadn't even budged. "Doc, it'd take four guys with an antigrav to move this thing. That wire...what does it control?"

[Planetside]

It was difficult to keep from panicking at the thought of being trapped in a wrecked shuttle by a thin length of wire. She was needed outside, she needed to get out and do her job! The survivors of the wreck needed her!

"My speech," she replied. "It c-controls my speech." She paused for a moment, trying to think. "Cut it. Y-you have to cut it!"

Bridge

"Captain, remaining ship....I believe the lead one...is breaking off. She's making for Orion held area at warp six, and increasing," Ensign Sheridan reported with relief, and a slight touch of disappointment. He would have preferred to taken out all three, but considering the roughness of the fight...two out of three wasn't bad. "The second vessel seems to have taken damage directly to her warp nacelles, and is spinning away from the planet surface. Damage to inertial dampeners, weapons, and life support. I estimate the seventeen survivors have about three minutes left of oxygen," Andrew added after he did a full sweep of the remaining vessel.

With the battle over now, Andrew signaled to Wu, =/\=Battle is over, Mr. Wu. Shields coming down soon; so hopefully you can beam up our people and the survivors from the surface. Captain will get back to you.=/\=

For a moment, he turned back to Sophie to give her an appreciative smile for her aid, but then sent a message to Sickbay. =/\=Medical attention to the Bridge.=/\=

Ilana Telak wrote:

[Planetside]

It was difficult to keep from panicking at the thought of being trapped in a wrecked shuttle by a thin length of wire.  She was needed outside, she needed to get out and do her job!  The survivors of the wreck needed her!

"My speech," she replied.  "It c-controls my speech."  She paused for a moment, trying to think.  "Cut it.  Y-you have to cut it!"

[Planetside]

"Yeah, I do." Derek grabbed the depleted medical bag, dragging it closer to his side. Rummaging through, he pulled out the unused surgical kit, removing first a vial of pinkish fluid to ward off neurogenic shock and a laser scalpel. Trusting that whomever had packed the kit actually labelled properly, he injected Telak's neck with the listed dosage, and then made two quick incisions, leaving an inch of wire on both ends. "Come on, try to get up."

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

"Captain, remaining ship....I believe the lead one...is breaking off.  She's making for Orion held area at warp six, and increasing," Ensign Sheridan reported with relief, and a slight touch of disappointment.  He would have preferred to taken out all three, but considering the roughness of the fight...two out of three wasn't bad.  "The second vessel seems to have taken damage directly to her warp nacelles, and is spinning away from the planet surface.  Damage to inertial dampeners, weapons, and life support.  I estimate the seventeen survivors have about three minutes left of oxygen," Andrew added after he did a full sweep of the remaining vessel.

With the battle over now, Andrew signaled to Wu, =/\=Battle is over, Mr. Wu.  Shields coming down soon; so hopefully you can beam up our people and the survivors from the surface.  Captain will get back to you.=/\=

For a moment, he turned back to Sophie to give her an appreciative smile for her aid, but then sent a message to Sickbay.  =/\=Medical attention to the Bridge.=/\=

[USS Phoenix - Bridge]

Hearing the report from her operations officer, a man who was proving himself to be a very valuable resource on the ship, Archangel relaxed a fraction. Relaxing fully would have to wait until they beamed the away team back in one piece.

"Very good, Mr Sheridan," she replied, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Hail the damaged ship, offer to beam over any survivors. I suspect they won't want to, but we have to make the effort. Stand down from red alert and get the away team back on this ship with the survivors they found down there."

Derek Black wrote:

[Planetside]

"Yeah, I do." Derek grabbed the depleted medical bag, dragging it closer to his side. Rummaging through, he pulled out the unused surgical kit, removing first a vial of pinkish fluid to ward off neurogenic shock and a laser scalpel. Trusting that whomever had packed the kit actually labelled properly, he injected Telak's neck with the listed dosage, and then made two quick incisions, leaving an inch of wire on both ends. "Come on, try to get up."

[Planetside]

Resigning herself to the fact that she was, once again, going to be rendered mute for the foreseeable future, Ilana lay still so that Derek could do what was necessary. As the first cut was made in the wire, she could feel the nanoprobes and neurons in her head firing, but the effect was somewhat muted by the medication he had injected her with. She was going to pay the price later, but she was more concerned with the rest of the survivors in the shuttle.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, she took a moment for her sense of equilibrium to restore itself before nodding to Derek in both thanks and to assure him that she could continue.

Ilana Telak wrote:

[Planetside]

Resigning herself to the fact that she was, once again, going to be rendered mute for the foreseeable future, Ilana lay still so that Derek could do what was necessary.  As the first cut was made in the wire, she could feel the nanoprobes and neurons in her head firing, but the effect was somewhat muted by the medication he had injected her with.  She was going to pay the price later, but she was more concerned with the rest of the survivors in the shuttle.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, she took a moment for her sense of equilibrium to restore itself before nodding to Derek in both thanks and to assure him that she could continue.

"Cheers, Doc." Derek rapidly packed the bag up, slinging it over his shoulder. Grasping the doctor's elbow firmly to help her getting up, he pointed in the direction of the opening. "The XO's relocated survivors and the team about a hundred metres underneath a rock outcropping. We also have a security officer down, massive crush injuries to everything below the abdomen...we'll need to bring down equipment to brace the rock before beaming her out."

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

"Captain, remaining ship....I believe the lead one...is breaking off.  She's making for Orion held area at warp six, and increasing," Ensign Sheridan reported with relief, and a slight touch of disappointment.  He would have preferred to taken out all three, but considering the roughness of the fight...two out of three wasn't bad.  "The second vessel seems to have taken damage directly to her warp nacelles, and is spinning away from the planet surface.  Damage to inertial dampeners, weapons, and life support.  I estimate the seventeen survivors have about three minutes left of oxygen," Andrew added after he did a full sweep of the remaining vessel.

With the battle over now, Andrew signaled to Wu, =/\=Battle is over, Mr. Wu.  Shields coming down soon; so hopefully you can beam up our people and the survivors from the surface.  Captain will get back to you.=/\=

For a moment, he turned back to Sophie to give her an appreciative smile for her aid, but then sent a message to Sickbay.  =/\=Medical attention to the Bridge.=/\=

[Bridge]

Returning Sheridan's smile, Sophie nevertheless snapped back into 'work mode'.  They were out of the fire, so to speak, but still very much in the pan.  She was glad to hear that medical attention was coming up to the bridge for Jones - he'd taken a nasty blast from that exploding console.  

Her own console suddenly lit up.  Frowning in thought, Sophie received the data, and her eyebrows shot up in a surprised look.  "Captain," she said, turning toward the Romulan.  "The second ship's survivors have accepted being beamed aboard the ship.  Where would you like me to send seventeen of them?"

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

"Captain, remaining ship....I believe the lead one...is breaking off.  She's making for Orion held area at warp six, and increasing," Ensign Sheridan reported with relief, and a slight touch of disappointment.  He would have preferred to taken out all three, but considering the roughness of the fight...two out of three wasn't bad.  "The second vessel seems to have taken damage directly to her warp nacelles, and is spinning away from the planet surface.  Damage to inertial dampeners, weapons, and life support.  I estimate the seventeen survivors have about three minutes left of oxygen," Andrew added after he did a full sweep of the remaining vessel.

With the battle over now, Andrew signaled to Wu, =/\=Battle is over, Mr. Wu.  Shields coming down soon; so hopefully you can beam up our people and the survivors from the surface.  Captain will get back to you.=/\=

For a moment, he turned back to Sophie to give her an appreciative smile for her aid, but then sent a message to Sickbay.  =/\=Medical attention to the Bridge.=/\=

[Sickbay]

After Thompson had left in a huff and some assorted issues related to that had been plodded through and filed away, Thelos was very glad to pass that responsibility off to starlfleet security- though he found himself pitying even them. He'd come very close to losing his temper, there... unusual for him.

There were of course more pressing matters to attend to, given the current firefight. There's been more than a few casualties pouring in the doors and Thelos was very happy that they had a well-staffed medical team... though he missed Telak at the moment for some extra support.

"Move him over here, that area of medbay's got a busted EPS conduit," he said as he redirected the red-shirted officer who had another, unconscious, person dragging along with them. He could see right off that she had what was pretty common in medbay at the moment- plasma burns. He'd deal with that later. Now if he could just....

Oh, for crying out loud. Thelos heard his combadge chirp loudly and heard the order for medical to the bridge. Given that the ship had stop playing rocking horse a few minutes prior and now this, Thelos felt it safe to assume that the firefight was over, at least for now.

=/\=This is Doctor th'Zhela. I'll be there momentarily.=/\=

He then tapped his badge again as an afterthought.

=/\=th'Zhela to Chira Arthur. Please accompany me to the bridge.=/\=

With that, he left the bustling sickbay and was off to the nearest turbolift.

Bridge

Though the battle was over; there was still a lot to do in order to keep things going smoothly. Like Engineering, Operations had no such time for breaks. There was always something to do.

"We can beam them directly to the brig, Captain. The transporter can have the security override to neutralize any energy weapons they have on them," Andrew suggested after hearing from Sophie that the enemy had surrendered. That was the best idea in order to keep them under wraps until Medical could deal with them, and things had settled down.

Maintaining control over Tactical from his station; Andrew continued to help Sophie clear the excess ions they had picked up from the starship's systems. If they had been left unattended; the ions would eventually begin to disrupt systems, and that was simply unacceptable. Overall, the firefight had been a decent success against such unusual weapons. All information the sensors had collected on the enemy ion energy weapons was put into a file for further investigation later on. After all, such weapons could be useful later against more technological advanced foes...perhaps even used to disrupt Borg activities aboard one of their vessels. Of course, if they had been able to clean out the excess ions, and defend successfully against such; then the Borg would likely adapt even more quickly.

Frowning, Andrew continued to work, and put this info to the back of his mind. Time enough later to think on the Borg. To free up Wu for transporting the away team and survivors; Ensign Sheridan prepared to beam the enemy pirates to the brig on the Captain's orders.

Derek Black wrote:

"Cheers, Doc." Derek rapidly packed the bag up, slinging it over his shoulder. Grasping the doctor's elbow firmly to help her getting up, he pointed in the direction of the opening. "The XO's relocated survivors and the team about a hundred metres underneath a rock outcropping. We also have a security officer down, massive crush injuries to everything below the abdomen...we'll need to bring down equipment to brace the rock before beaming her out."

[Planetside]

Having managed to gather the rest of the crew and the survivors to the safety of the rocks, Gabriel made his way back to the wrecked craft. The aerial bombardment had slacked, and, judging from the fireworks show in orbit, the Phoenix had silenced the guns for good.

Telak did...not look good. Apparently, she'd suffered some kind of injury to her implants, even though she appeared to be up and walking alright. "Depends on if they still don't trust those ion readings, as to whether or not we're beaming out of here," he said, tapping his badge.

=^="Arthur to Phoenix. Thanks for letting some of the pressure off for us. We have multiple injuries, as well as former Orion prisoners in need of attention. Crewman Kattell sustained massive injury...the Durer was destroyed. Can you beam us, or do you need to send the Monongahela down?"=^=

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge
"We can beam them directly to the brig, Captain.  The transporter can have the security override to neutralize any energy weapons they have on them," Andrew suggested after hearing from Sophie that the enemy had surrendered.  That was the best idea in order to keep them under wraps until Medical could deal with them, and things had settled down.

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

=^="Arthur to Phoenix. Thanks for letting some of the pressure off for us. We have multiple injuries, as well as former Orion prisoners in need of attention. Crewman Kattell sustained massive injury...the Durer was destroyed. Can you beam us, or do you need to send the Monongahela down?"=^=

[USS Phoenix]

"Make it so," Archangel replied to the operations officer. "Let the brig know they're coming and ask medical to take a look in on them when they get a chance. I'd rather we could return survivors to Command for trial rather than corpses."

Before she could say anything else, a communication came in from the planet, and she couldn't stop the breath of relief that escaped her lips as she heard Gabriel's voice come through loud and clear.

"It's good to hear your voice, Commander," she replied over the comm channel. "Dogfight's over up here for the moment. We'll be beaming you out of there as soon as the transporter room gets their arse in gear. Make sure all of the survivors are tagged for transport so we can get a lock on them easily."

Safefta Pardek wrote:

For a few moments, Safefta's attention had floated away from the current situation. THe pain in her shoulder was beginning to return, although much more slowly, and she honestly felt utterly exhausted. The tiredness she didn't like, having been used to Romulan endurance. Perhaps it was the mind-touching done by Aeri...

Her attention was brought back when Aeri's muttering- which she'd admittedly only been half-listening to- took a dark turn, roving over to cannibalism. Such a thing wasn't unheard of among the Romulans... but all it did was remind Safefta of the terrible condition that they'd found the survivors in to begin with.

"You... If you had done so... you did what you had to in order to survive," the Romulan said faintly, staring straight ahead.

[Planetside]

"I know," the Deltan girl said, her voice a soft tone tinged with roughness, like silk dragged over concrete.  "I know we did what we had to...would have done what we had to."  Aeri closed her eyes again, opening them after a few seconds, giving the wound in Safefta's shoulder a considering look.  "I'm sorry I can't take more of your pain," she said.  "The skies...they're quiet."  The Deltan closed her eyes, drifting into unconsciousness.

Thelos th'Zhela wrote:

Oh, for crying out loud. Thelos heard his combadge chirp loudly and heard the order for medical to the bridge. Given that the ship had stop playing rocking horse a few minutes prior and now this, Thelos felt it safe to assume that the firefight was over, at least for now.

=/\=This is Doctor th'Zhela. I'll be there momentarily.=/\=

He then tapped his badge again as an afterthought.

=/\=th'Zhela to Chira Arthur. Please accompany me to the bridge.=/\=

With that, he left the bustling sickbay and was off to the nearest turbolift.

[Sickbay]

Having had her mind buried in reviewing Thompson's psychological profile, Chira had been glad for the distraction of incoming treatments to sickbay. Good god, what an awful thing to be glad over, she thought, shaking her head. Maybe she was the one that needed evaluated.

"On it," she said, coming out of her side office and falling into step with the Andorian doctor. Chira assumed there hadn't been any word from the away mission, or Thelos would have mentioned it. She never would have imagined how hard it would be to see her baby brother put himself into danger on landing parties like this. Just imagine how Arch must feel...

[Bridge]

The object of the medical call was obvious - one of the gold-shirted crew was lying close to a smoking console. Probably plasma burns from one of these damned consoles, she thought, nodding to the doctor and kneeling down close to him. "We should probably beam him right back to Sickbay."

Chira Abols wrote:

[Sickbay]

Having had her mind buried in reviewing Thompson's psychological profile, Chira had been glad for the distraction of incoming treatments to sickbay.  Good god, what an awful thing to be glad over, she thought, shaking her head.  Maybe she was the one that needed evaluated.

"On it," she said, coming out of her side office and falling into step with the Andorian doctor.  Chira assumed there hadn't been any word from the away mission, or Thelos would have mentioned it.  She never would have imagined how hard it would be to see her baby brother put himself into danger on landing parties like this.  Just imagine how Arch must feel...

[Bridge]

The object of the medical call was obvious - one of the gold-shirted crew was lying close to a smoking console.  Probably plasma burns from one of these damned consoles, she thought, nodding to the doctor and kneeling down close to him.  "We should probably beam him right back to Sickbay."

[Corridor]

Thelos nodded politely to the counselor. He knew that she was also the one stuck with Thompson's case... and he suddenly felt a little bad about being so happy to hand him over before. "Sickbay's been getting a little too crazy," he muttered under his breath, more to himself than to Chira.

[Bridge]

Once they got onto the bridge, Thelos immediately gravitated toward the unfortunate crewman on the ground, along with Chira. He agreed with her, that he should be moved back to sickbay, and he nodded to her as he pulled out a small hypospray -filled with a booster to kickstart healing and make his job easier- and pressed it to the side of the yellowshirt's neck. "I agree, though sickbay's getting a little crowded..."

He then looked up at the Ops console, and met the face belonging to the voice over the comm. "Please beam this patient to medical bay... are there any other bridge casualties?"

Bridge

"Not that I am aware of, Doctor," Andrew answered with a look back briefly as he signaled to Security to have their people in place at the brig before beaming the seventeen pirates over there. "The Captain may need to be checked. She was standing when we took our first hit, but other than that...I don't recall any other injuries. We have seventeen pirates beaming to the brig very soon, but you can have them checked over when you are ready. I doubt there is a rush. If anything, you can monitor their condition from Medical to decide if they need immediate help. For any needing to go to Sickbay - two guards will accompany the patient in question," the young Ensign continued just as he beamed the pirates to the brig, and then secured them in their new cells. Any energy or electronic devices they had on them were neutralized by the transporter.

"Pirates secured, Captain," Andrew continued with another glance back at his CO. With the shields down now; Wu would be able to beam the survivors and away team aboard with ease.