Mission 7: Flight of the Wolves

[Bridge]

Otto the Autopilot. That is what his superior, one of his creators, referred to him as. He hated it. Well, as much as a programmed personality could. It did come off the tongue easier than Emergency Pilot Hologram. The name was misleading, though a reference to his EMH Mark 1 origins, he was used for everything but an emergency. Until today.

Looking at a console was redundant to him. He could see the data streams and create the information faster than the graphic user interface displayed it. The main reason for his creation was this. Someone who could think faster than an organic, react faster. To the commandments set down by Lieutenant Jiseth created a doctrine that suppressed concepts such as distance. Everything was about time. Speed ensured survival.

The Phoenix was in orbit over Pullock V. Had been for days. Ferrying supplies from the ship to the surface, it was a massive undertaking to assist the small Cardassian population in making it all operational. A world often overlooked by outsiders, it was once said by the late Damar that "there are no minor planets in the Cardassian Union." What was left of it anyway.

They were still in the middle of a delivery operation when it happened. Unthinkable to some in the current time. Old hatreds perhaps never die. The EPH turned around in his chair towards that of the Captain, rehearsing hundreds of times in that space of time what the right thing to say would be. Sometimes the simplest was the best.

"Sir, the Monongahela has just been shot down."

[Ready Room]

Reports, reports and more reports. One might think that the paperwork involved with being a captain never ended. On the other hand, the ship had been in orbit of Pullock V in order to drop off much needed supplies to the Cardassian colonies there.

Sighing heavily, Archangel pushed the PADDs to one side. That was plenty of paperwork for now. It was time to look in on the bridge and find out how the crew were doing. She knew that Ensigns Telak and Epath were taking advantage of the fact that they were once again amongst their own kind again, but it was more difficult to know how the other members of her crew were handling being around and helping a species that they had, albeit fairly briefly, been at war with.


[Bridge]

She had only been sat in the chair for a moment when the autopiloting program that they were testing turned and addressed her. She stood up, moving swiftly over to the helm station.

"I need more detail than that," she replied, lifting her voice to speak to the rest of the bridge crew. "I want to know who was on the craft, if there are any survivors, who shot it down?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

She had only been sat in the chair for a moment when the autopiloting program that they were testing turned and addressed her.  She stood up, moving swiftly over to the helm station.

"I need more detail than that," she replied, lifting her voice to speak to the rest of the bridge crew.  "I want to know who was on the craft, if there are any survivors, who shot it down?"

Turning back to the console, the Otto's hands seemed to blur over the button controls. Every bit of information that could be divined from the surface below was precious. The clock was already ticking.

"Lieutenant Jiseth, Lieutenants JG Meru and Fornell, as well as Ensign Van Gelder were on board. I can't see them now because of all the dust that was kicked up, they-wait... I've lost sensor readings. It appears we're being jammed, sir."

[Bridge]

Amber and crimson alert lights flickered over the Ops panel, but Reyaen only gave them a cursory glance before her eyes returned to staring into what seemed nothingness. The virtual display device gave her an unparalleled view of... everything. It was indeed a viewscreen projected into her brain, but so much more. She wondered at times if the Chief Flight Officer's holographic helmsman saw the world in a similar fashion.

Then came a pin prick of blue light. It seemed to be moving from the surface, then turned and started to grow in size. Then the alerts all turned crimson and an audible alarm. She took a step back from her console and held her hands up defensively as if the object has heading for her directly. Technically it was. It was also heading for everyone else too.

"Cap-tain... Captain! Incoming torpedo!"

[Bridge]

It seemed a little strange that after the bloodshed of he dominion war, they were now helping the cardassians rebuild their shattered lives and existence. Safefta was indifferent for the most part, seeing the Cardassians as simply another mission. She did,however have a special eye on them in terms of considering safety. It would be... Unfortunate if somehow their new friends become their enemies once more. All this peace was too quiet.

Even before she finished the thought, tereport came in of the destroyed ship. She found the same as the others-- the signal was jammed and there was no way she could get through it as is. She grit her teeth. The names... She didn't know the JG lieutenants, but Jiseth... She remembered the other romulan from her days on the ship. Gone in an instant. Dead? Possibly. In dire straights? Most certainly. Who did this? she mentally demanded of her console.

Before she could even start thinking of a way to bypass the interference, the sound of the ops Vorta yelling cut it off. Her hair practically stood on end. There was no time to ask the captain for permission. The hybrid pulled the shields up immediately and set the ship at red alert. With a ship destroyed already, there was no other option.

"Brace for impact," she called out to the bridge crew.

[USS Monongahela - Planetside]

Some days, Gavin Van Gelder regretted being such a damned nice guy.

Like today, for instance. He could have just remained on the Phoenix, being newly back and re-assigned and all that. Really, it was fantastic, since he'd already resigned himself to never having a shipboard assignment again. However, someone...he wasn't sure who, be it Captain T'Koris or Admiral Stark or even Thelos in full Andorian combat gear...but, someone had pulled some strings and got his old billet back. Without his long-overdue promotion to jay-gee, of course, but...at least it brought him back to serve alongside Thelos.

He'd have preferred to sit and muse at just how rapidly he continued to fall for his Andorian every day, maybe idly scrolling through a padd, catching up on mission parameters, doing his best to pretend that Jiseth wasn't sharing the cramped runabout cockpit space with him and the rest of her band of flyboy thugs.

Discomfort of the emotional variety quickly gave way to the physical, though, as the runabout rocked violently. The craft lurched to one side, and the next thing Gavin knew, they were being showered with hot sparks as the tang of plasma filled the small cabin. It seemed as if he didn't even have time to register what was going on before it was over and done.

"Everyone alright?" the young science officer asked, wincing as a lance of pain shot up his leg. His ankle could very well be broken, or at least stoved to all hell. Gavin looked over to Jiseth while reaching for his kitbag.

[Pullock V - Surface]


If he had been any other Cardassian, Nelkar might have enjoyed his assignment assisting the Cardassian colonies on this planet. As it stood, his status as an apparent defector earned him no kind glances as he went about the work of organizing the many bins and crates that can along with the equipment transfer to the colony. If only they knew of his actual position, knew how much GE was still loyal to them... Bah. No matter. He kept his head down and his mouth shut, and just hoped no one remembered the face of the Gul who forked himself over to the Federation.

He was expecting the Monongahela at any time, now. Whether they would get there on time was another matter... On the other hand, he did know one of the pilots likely flying the thing was a stickler for precision. He shrugged to himself, then grunted as he hoisted up a large crate containing medical supplies to move it to yet another pile. "Grunt work," he muttered to himself. He thought he'd be setting up more technical equipment, and he'd done some of that, but they seemed more interested in having him haul supplies all over.

In moving, he happened to glance up at the sky. A strangely moving figure caught his eye that he then recognized to be the Monongahela. Whatever it was doing, it didn't look like any landing procedure he'd ever seen. Not that he could see much. Nelkar dropped the crate and put a hand on his forehead to shield some of the sun. Blasted planet is too bright... Whose decision was it to put cardassians here?

His quarrel with the light level was extinguished when he realized that was he was looking at wasn't a normal landing. The vessel was going down, bound to crash hard. It was too far away for him to judge where it was going to land, but he knew it wasn't good. The Cardassian hurried tapped his combadge. "Epath to Phoeni-- what the?" He was cut off when all he received was static. Someone didn't want him to contact the ship.

He looked around him. No other members of his team could be found, and he nonl knew the name of one. Though it was a long shot, the worried officers tapped his combadge again. =/\=Nelkar to Ilana Telak. Did you see the shuttle go down as well as I did? I am unable to contact the ship,=/\= he said, immediately grateful that the link had conntected completely. Apparently the problem was only ship to surface, or ship to ship.

Are we under attack?

Gavin Van Gelder wrote:

He'd have preferred to sit and muse at just how rapidly he continued to fall for his Andorian every day, maybe idly scrolling through a padd, catching up on mission parameters, doing his best to pretend that Jiseth wasn't sharing the cramped runabout cockpit space with him and the rest of her band of flyboy thugs.  

Discomfort of the emotional variety quickly gave way to the physical, though, as the runabout rocked violently.  The craft lurched to one side, and the next thing Gavin knew, they were being showered with hot sparks as the tang of plasma filled the small cabin.  It seemed as if he didn't even have time to register what was going on before it was over and done.

"Everyone alright?" the young science officer asked, wincing as a lance of pain shot up his leg.  His ankle could very well be broken, or at least stoved to all hell.  Gavin looked over to Jiseth while reaching for his kitbag.

[USS Monongahela - Planetside]

Ringing. It's all that filled Jiseth's head when she started blinking, previously unconscious though her eyes had been open. Moving her head, she saw Fornell underneath her. His mass had absorbed most of the impact as noted by the shattered LCARS panel beneath the two of them. Looking around the cabin, the runabout was at an angle, hard to port.

"I'm fine."

Fornell's voice sounded muffled to Jiseth as she pushed off him and put one hand her head while the other braced against the flooring. The cabin lights were out, that much she could tell. The light that came in from the view ports was blinding, though she could tell they were cracked, and the pilot side one broken.

"Jiseth..?"

There was only one thing on her mind, the zen-like focus of someone still in shock. She stumbled past Gavin as her eyes transfixed on the voice that summoned her. Meru was limp, slouched back against the bulkhead, her right leg still in her seat. The Romulan lowered herself to fallen Bajoran, cupping her face in both hands and righting it so they could at least look each other in the eyes.

"I'm here."

"I-I can't see you... I can't feel anything below my jaw I can't breathe Jiseth-"

"Shhhhh."

"Jiseth, pray for me... Please..."

"...Raka-ja ut shala morala... ema bo roo kana... uranak... ralanon Klara Meru... propeh va nara ehsuk shala-kan vunek..."

Meru's eyes had drooped and closed midway through Jiseth's recitation of the traditional duranja lamp prayer, but she had finished it. Meru deserved at least that much. She had been like a sister to the Romulan, the shoulder of whom her head now slumped over as Jiseth clung to the body and wept.

[Bridge]

Julia was apprehensive at the thought of another battle. All of this conflict made her long for her days on a research station. She worked feverishly attempting to find a way to cut through the alien jamming signal. She knew, all to well, that the lives of the crew on the runabout would depend on her efforts. As her fingers moved across the console her mind honed in on her effort. She failed to catch the incoming torpedoe until she heard the Vorta alert to the incoming weapon. She quickly isolated and activated the ship wide communications systems.

=/\=All hands, brace for impact.=/\= Her voice echoed through every deck of the ship.

[Bridge]

Brace for impact. The Vorta had never heard those words used as a command before. Not in person anyway. Never once in her time as a field supervisor, then again, she would have been the one to give such an order. She never had to.

There was a frantic look in her eyes as she grabbed a hold of the console's frame. Four long years since anything remotely combat-oriented and old habits arouse. She had to stop herself from calling out to her First, a man long dead. Her whole crew was dead.

She could see the torpedo grow brighter and larger, but it was the impact that did it. What was an unpleasant jolt to everyone else, the bright explosion flash seared into her mind. With a yelp she ripped the device from her head onto the floor.

It's not supposed to do that...

Reyaen clenched her eyes shut in pain for a moment, before opening them slowly. Her hands were tensed and breaths quick. With a few blinks she looked over he readouts on the LCARS screen.

"Shields holding... 93 percent, Captain."

[Sickbay]

Unlike most days, Thelos was having a wonderful time doing tedious charts in sickbay. His hands were inputting patient data and treatment records, but his mind was in the clouds. Somehow, the impossible had happened. Gavin was back on the ship and things were right as they were supposed to be again. Maybe his impassioned letter to multiple admirals had done something after all...

His pleasant line of thought didn't seem to stick around long, not when the light in sickbay changed from a pleasant blue to an angry red. That only meant one thing-- trouble. Again? Oh, that's right annoying. What have we gotten into now? he thought irritably. His irritation turned to fear as the sound of 'brace for impact' rang through the ship. Brace for impact? From what?!

He gripped onto a biobed only just in time to be flung to the floor from the shudder that shook the whole vessel. This was supposed to be an aid mission! The Andorian tapped his combadge.

=/\=Ensign Th'Zhela to bridge. What in the name of hell is going on up there?=/\=

[Bridge]

Archangel had only had just enough time to fling herself back into the captain's chair and brace herself when the ship shuddered violently under the impact. Days, they had been in orbit without so much as a peep from anyone and how she had a shuttle shot down and a torpedo launched at her ship, and all with an Admiral on his way to take command of the ship.

"Someone get me a damage report and find a way to cut through that interference!" she barked out. "I need to know what's happening on the planet and try to get a message out to any friendly ships. Are we getting anything on the sensors?"

Thelos th'Zhela wrote:

[Sickbay]

Unlike most days, Thelos was having a wonderful time doing tedious charts in sickbay. His hands were inputting patient data and treatment records, but his mind was in the clouds. Somehow, the impossible had happened. Gavin was back on the ship and things were right as they were supposed to be again. Maybe his impassioned letter to multiple admirals had done something after all...

His pleasant line of thought didn't seem to stick around long, not when the light in sickbay changed from a pleasant blue to an angry red. That only meant one thing-- trouble. Again? Oh, that's right annoying. What have we gotten into now? he thought irritably. His irritation turned to fear as the sound of 'brace for impact' rang through the ship. Brace for impact? From what?!

He gripped onto a biobed only just in time to be flung to the floor from the shudder that shook the whole vessel. This was supposed to be an aid mission! The Andorian tapped his combadge.

=/\=Ensign Th'Zhela to bridge. What in the name of hell is going on up there?=/\=

[Sickbay]

As soon as the red alert had sounded, Zero looked up from her experiments with a faintly irritated expression on her pale, youthful features. Such an inconvenience to have to put up with such things, honestly, but apparently it was all a part of being in Starfleet.

Knowing that her duty station during a red alert was on the sickbay floor, ready to deal with any incoming casualties, the Augment quickly tidied away the volatile elements of her work and quickly proceeded into the main section of sickbay in time to be flung to the floor close to her Andorian colleague in an undignified sprawl. Picking herself up, she heard him calling the bridge but hearing no reply.

"I believe that the officers assigned to the bridge may be otherwise occupied at this point in time," she stated blandly.

Nelkar Epath wrote:

=/\=Nelkar to Ilana Telak. Did you see the shuttle go down as well as I did? I am unable to contact the ship,=/\=

[Pullock V - Surface]

Down on the surface of the planet, Ilana had been quietly and efficiently working in the colony's hospital, dealing with an outbreak of scale rot that had rapidly spread through the colonists.

Being amongst her own kind was difficult, although she had learned from her encounter with Nelkar that it was best not to mention her last name. Her stammer and quiet demeanour were not well met by her fellow Cardassians, despite the fact that she was working to help them. The uniform probably wasn't making matters any better though.

She had been so involved in her work that she hadn't been paying attention to anything happening outside of the ward and her patients, so the call coming through from her fellow Starfleet Cardassian on her commbadge was quite a surprise. Frowning slightly, she attempted to contact the ship as well, but got nothing but static in return. Thankfully, the computer filtered out her stammer, making it easier for her to be understood.

"Telak here, I've been busy in the hospital, I haven't seen anything, but contacting the ship just gives me static."

Jiseth wrote:

There was only one thing on her mind, the zen-like focus of someone still in shock. She stumbled past Gavin as her eyes transfixed on the voice that summoned her. Meru was limp, slouched back against the bulkhead, her right leg still in her seat. The Romulan lowered herself to fallen Bajoran, cupping her face in both hands and righting it so they could at least look each other in the eyes.

"I'm here."

"I-I can't see you... I can't feel anything below my jaw I can't breathe Jiseth-"

"Shhhhh."

"Jiseth, pray for me... Please..."

"...Raka-ja ut shala morala... ema bo roo kana... uranak... ralanon Klara Meru... propeh va nara ehsuk shala-kan vunek..."

Meru's eyes had drooped  and closed midway through Jiseth's recitation of the traditional duranja lamp prayer, but she had finished it. Meru deserved at least that much. She had been like a sister to the Romulan, the shoulder of whom her head now slumped over as Jiseth clung to the body and wept.

[USS Monongahela - Wreckage]

Gavin gritted his teeth, gripping the medkit as he vaulted over the wreckage of what used to be his seat. Jiseth hadn't answered him, but...a quick visual assessment made it intuitively obvious as to why. He felt his adrenaline spike at the grievous injuries to the Bajoran flight crew. Gavin's training kicked in, though, and the surge became a buzz of low-level static. Science officer he may be, Gavin had prepared most of his adult life to be a doctor.

"For God's sake!" he said, the ringing in his ears making it too difficult to determine if he was yelling or not. "Don't move that neck like that!" The medical scanner was already in Gavin's hand as he took readings around Jiseth, his intellect partitioning as part of his brain translated the Bajoran that was being spoken. Jiseth seemed to already think that Meru was dead, and...

The scanner agreed.

Gavin's skills were more than adequate to serve as a primary medic for an away team, but this... If I had a full sickbay. If I had a surgeon to start right away. If...if...if So many 'if's. None of which could help them right now. None of which could help her.

His voice was soft, sounding leaden in his own still-ringing ears. "She's dead, Jiseth," he said, as he suddenly realized that he'd never lost someone before. "I'm sorry."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

Archangel had only had just enough time to fling herself back into the captain's chair and brace herself when the ship shuddered violently under the impact.  Days, they had been in orbit without so much as a peep from anyone and how she had a shuttle shot down and a torpedo launched at her ship, and all with an Admiral on his way to take command of the ship.

"Someone get me a damage report and find a way to cut through that interference!" she barked out.  "I need to know what's happening on the planet and try to get a message out to any friendly ships.  Are we getting anything on the sensors?"

[Bridge]

"Sensors are null over the settlement the Monongahela was in. Roughly a hundred square kilometer deadzone."

Reyaen shook her head once more as the pain lingered. Worse, she could not find a frequency that was having any more effectiveness than another. It was a complete blackout. There will still other shuttles buzzing about too. What a wonderful progression to her first mission.

"I do have the last images of the runabout before we lost signal, sir."

After a few moments, a segment of the main view screen showed a magnified view of the planet below. From overhead, the Monongahela lumbered portly along with its cargo module confined by several tractor beams emitted from the skeletal frame. The descent had begun, nothing out of the ordinary.

Then a bright, azure beam came in from outside the field of view of the camera and struck the starboard impulse engine. It was only there for an instance before there came the puff of black smoke and torrent of plasma flames. The runabout began to spin and a few moments later centripetal force won against the confinement beams. It slammed against the port engine pylon and rolled under, striking the warp nacelle on that side before tumbling to the ground where it lay smashed by its own weight.

The sudden loss of mass caused the runabout to leap through the air, cartwheeling. The nose went around a complete time and nearly a second when it struck a building at an angle. It looked almost as a serpent wrapped around the structure, the head cut into the roof while the rest followed to the ground. The starboard pylon wing had broken off and lay in the street while the port, though broken though the wall of the lower level, was crushed.

Finally came static and darkness as a red group of text flashed in the center of the video window LOSS OF SIGNAL. The Vorta had heard of crews of attack ships surviving impacts from orbit, but this was a much smaller ship and Federation engineering was not quite as robust as that of the Dominion. Still, it begged the question.

"Could anyone survive that?"

Gavin Van Gelder wrote:

Gavin's skills were more than adequate to serve as a primary medic for an away team, but this...  If I had a full sickbay.  If I had a surgeon to start right away.  If...if...if  So many 'if's.  None of which could help them right now.  None of which could help her.

His voice was soft, sounding leaden in his own still-ringing ears.  "She's dead, Jiseth," he said, as he suddenly realized that he'd never lost someone before.  "I'm sorry."

The feeling of Meru's limp body only made the tears come more from the Romulan. Her actions were quite uncommon for one of her kind, at least so the stereotypes said. She was not Vulcan and her emotions boiled far more voraciously at times than that of Humans, even Klingons. The proudly passionate people with pointy ears.

Fornell pushed off the bulkhead and shuffled to what remained of the bunk area. He pulled a blanket from a mattress that had been flung to the opposite side of the cabin and draped it over his shoulder. Next came the difficult part. One massive hand came over Jiseth's shoulder and the other under her left arm as he pulled her away from the Bajoran and moved her toward Gavin who she quickly ensnared.

Gingerly he took the slumped body of Klara Meru and lay her flat on the flooring before leaning over her. His own words he murmured as he paid his respects and kissed her forehead. Slowly he draped the blanket over her and sat back onto the floor, rubbing his eyebrows.

Jiseth eventually loosened her grip on Gavin though hot breath still swept over his shoulder and down his back. She could not yet open her eyes as she wished it all had been a terrible hallucination. A dream. A Tal Shiar mind game. Anything but the reality she found herself in.

"I... I let my guard down..."

Ilana Telak wrote:

She had been so involved in her work that she hadn't been paying attention to anything happening outside of the ward and her patients, so the call coming through from her fellow Starfleet Cardassian on her commbadge was quite a surprise.  Frowning slightly, she attempted to contact the ship as well, but got nothing but static in return.  Thankfully, the computer filtered out her stammer, making it easier for her to be understood.

"Telak here, I've been busy in the hospital, I haven't seen anything, but contacting the ship just gives me static."

Well, at least it wasn't just his device. Unfortunately, that meant that there was something seriously wrong. Whatever had cause that crash wasn't very friendly. He didn't even know if anyone made it through that crash. Ifanyokne had, they were extraordinarily lucky. If Telak was in the hospital, perhaps they could obtain some supplies and attempt to track down the crash site.

Nelkar looked around him, at the cases and boxes stacked haphazardly about. Moving them to their new locations was going to have to wait for later. He stopped when he found what he was looking for-- a tricorder. He wished he had a phaser rifle, but his small sidearm for the away team was going to have to do.

=/\=Do you believe we have a chance of finding the crashed shuttle? With all the interference from the ship, I don't think anyone else is going to find them from above,=/\= the Cardassian said bluntly. Their odds weren't good, even if there were survivors at all. =/\=I am going into meet you at the hospital.=/\=, he said as an afterthought. No sense in being on their own. With that, he set off away from the supply stacks and off towards the hospital Telak was helping at.

Zero Alpha wrote:

[Sickbay]

As soon as the red alert had sounded, Zero looked up from her experiments with a faintly irritated expression on her pale, youthful features.  Such an inconvenience to have to put up with such things, honestly, but apparently it was all a part of being in Starfleet.  

Knowing that her duty station during a red alert was on the sickbay floor, ready to deal with any incoming casualties, the Augment quickly tidied away the volatile elements of her work and quickly proceeded into the main section of sickbay in time to be flung to the floor close to her Andorian colleague in an undignified sprawl.  Picking herself up, she heard him calling the bridge but hearing no reply.

"I believe that the officers assigned to the bridge may be otherwise occupied at this point in time," she stated blandly.

[Sickbay]

Thelos had squished his one antenna a bit in hitting the ground, but hadn't noticed the discomfort until now. Ow, he thought to himself unhappily as he rubbed the kink out and pulled himself up after Zero had. He was thinking about suggesting some handrails for sickbay, but he had a feeling no one would take that seriously.

She was right, although once again masterfully stating the obvious. The Andorian dusted himself off and sighed heavily. "If they're going to yank us into these conflicts, the least the could do is drop a quick line to us. I'd quite like to know what casualties we're expecting for.. Whatever this scuffle is about."

Nelkar Epath wrote:

=/\=Do you believe we have a chance of finding the crashed shuttle? With all the interference from the ship, I don't think anyone else is going to find them from above. I am going into meet you at the hospital.=/\=

[Pullock V - Hospital]

Ilana glanced down at her communicator as the message came through, her facial scales shifting slightly into an expression first of surprise then of concern. Whatever was happening out there, it couldn't be good.

Since Nelkar seemed to have made up his mind about a plan of action, there was little left for the young Cardassian to do other than to pack up her medical kit, inform the Chief Medical Officer she had been working, and head out to the entrance of the hospital to wait for him. She kept a tight grip on the strap of her medkit, scanning the thin crowd of Cardassians for one in a Starfleet uniform.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

Archangel had only had just enough time to fling herself back into the captain's chair and brace herself when the ship shuddered violently under the impact.  Days, they had been in orbit without so much as a peep from anyone and how she had a shuttle shot down and a torpedo launched at her ship, and all with an Admiral on his way to take command of the ship.

"Someone get me a damage report and find a way to cut through that interference!" she barked out.  "I need to know what's happening on the planet and try to get a message out to any friendly ships.  Are we getting anything on the sensors?"

With her eyes closed Julia braced herself for an intense impact. The strike shook the ship and her head gyrated with the motion of the Phoenix. Her head made contact with her console in front of her. A small gash formed on her forehead and her hair was flung into her face. With the impact she heard the Captains orders. "Aye sir, I think I can get us through that jamming signal. She quickly realized just how narrow that jamming signal was. "It's only around the ship." She uttered to herself.

Julia flipped her head around and used her hand to pull her hair from her face. "Ensign Pardek." She shouted above the alarms. "Launch a class 3 probe." She then turned the other direction and looked to the captain. "Captain, the jamming signal is targeted directly at us. I'm going to establish an uplink to the probe and route the probes data into our sensor grid. It should give us a better look at what's going on."

Jiseth wrote:

The feeling of Meru's limp body only made the tears come more from the Romulan. Her actions were quite uncommon for one of her kind, at least so the stereotypes said. She was not Vulcan and her emotions boiled far more voraciously at times than that of Humans, even Klingons. The proudly passionate people with pointy ears.

Fornell pushed off the bulkhead and shuffled to what remained of the bunk area. He pulled a blanket from a mattress that had been flung to the opposite side of the cabin and draped it over his shoulder. Next came the difficult part. One massive hand came over Jiseth's shoulder and the other under her left arm as he pulled her away from the Bajoran and moved her toward Gavin who she quickly ensnared.

Gingerly he took the slumped body of Klara Meru and lay her flat on the flooring before leaning over her. His own words he murmured as he paid his respects and kissed her forehead. Slowly he draped the blanket over her and sat back onto the floor, rubbing his eyebrows.

Jiseth eventually loosened her grip on Gavin though hot breath still swept over his shoulder and down his back. She could not yet open her eyes as she wished it all had been a terrible hallucination. A dream. A Tal Shiar mind game. Anything but the reality she found herself in.

"I... I let my guard down..."

[Monongahela - Crash]

Gavin was vaguely aware of the large mass of Fornell moving through the cabin wreckage.  His mind, impressive as it was, seemed to be stumbling through the dark as to just what to do next.  You have more to care for, he told himself, physically shaking his shaggy head as he turned to ask if there were any more injuries.

Jiseth's approach was as befitting her lineage - silent and fast.  Gavin let out a small noise as the Romulan woman wrapped her arms around him, choking off whatever he was going to say.  He'd fully expected the first time Jiseth made full physical contact with him, there would've been a knife of some kind involved.  But this...

"It jammed us..." Gavin numbly responded, quietly angry with himself over the fact that  it seemed like he just couldn't get focused.  Because someone's dead and there's not a damn thing your stunt-brain can do about it...  "We all...had our guard down."  The young science officer shifted, finding himself face-to-face someone he'd assumed would just as soon kick him out an airlock as to touch him.  "I can't do anything for her, Jiseth.  But we need to get the hell out of here, I think."

[Rooftop - Outside Monongahela]

The climb up the stairwell had luckily been an uneventful one. Gly Azit and her followers, four of them anyway, made the trek and the building remained standing. All clad head to toe in obscuring garments and body armor. It seemed their gambit would pay off. The structure was stable, even with the dying runabout facing them as they exited into the bright sunlight.

She could see into the cockpit and there seemed to have been survivors to her annoyance. One of her party prepared throw a grenade through the broken viewport, but she quickly grabbed his arm and forced it down to his side. There was something in the craft far more valuable than the lives of the occupants and she would not risk a shot damaging what she needed.

Fashioning a device of her own, she pitched it through the viewport and dove away as a bright flash came from within accompanied by several grunts. The wonderful sound of confirmation that it had stunned the occupants. With a wave to two particular followers, she moved to the end of the roof and inspected the damage on the runabout draped along the building while the subordinates worked quickly to get the side hatch open.

It only took seconds and then they entered. Stepping over the unconscious Starfleet personnel and setting up on the cracked LCARS console where the copilot would be. This process would take some time, removing the memory from the craft's computer. Gly knew this and motioned for the remaining two to return down the stairwell while she took a moment to enjoy the first taste of a plan going completely right. From her belt she took a small communicator and activated it, preparing a message to the starship overhead.

=/\=The crew of your shuttle, this Mon-... What? ...Mono-nga-hel-a... Your people are still alive. Most of them. I have no desire for prisoners, only to keep you from ever letting these grey-skin monsters grow as strong as they used to be. I want them to starve. I want them to suffer. To pray tearfully for their gods to deliver them from their wretched squalor as they look out over the fields of fresh, shallow graves. The silence will be their answer.=/\=

She looked up into the sky and hit the button the send the recording to the USS Phoenix above. After a moment of contemptuous glaring, Gly turned away from the ledge and headed toward and down the stairwell. The jamming device had been a worthwhile investment. No annoying attempts to negotiate was something most freedom fighters could only dream of.

[Monongahela - Crash]

Jiseth was the first to awake, a strange and rather uncomfortable buzz remained throughout her body. Lifting her head, she looked around to see the two figures rather preoccupied with tearing apart the forward bulkhead and consoles. Near her was the inert device that had caught her eye a moment before it went off and suddenly she found herself on the floor.

The last thing the meet her gaze was that of Fornell who lay just as quietly still across from her. After a moment they both looked to the intruders and slowly began to shift so they could get to their feet. Both had faced Jem'Hadar, even Breen, hand-to-hand before. This would be cake compared to that. As both made it to a couching position, the Romulan held out her head to halt her colleague as she motioned to the weapons slung behind the two men. Neither one liked what they saw.

Slowly, they crept across the cabin together. They stopped for a moment as the unknown persons hefted out something from the innards of the console and place a smaller device on it. A moment later, the component had disappeared in the misty dance of particles of a transport beam. Then one of them turned to grab the case behind him and knelt halfway to pick it up before he processed fully that the Starfleet crew was awake. He stopped suddenly, one hand reaching out, as he looked up and quickly grabbed the rifle slung over his shoulder.

It all happened in seconds. Jiseth's heart stopped as the intruder took aim at her and felt something massive collide into her side and send her flying off her feet into the opposite bulkhead. Fornell's figure took up most of her vision as he took the shot. It did not stop there. He did not stop there. There was no choice in the matter. If he did nothing, then all three officers would surely perish. With a yell that seemed to shake the whole cabin, Fornell rushed the shooter. Taking another two shots in the process did little to slow him and his mass. The weapon was swiftly removed with one hand while the other punched his target so hard his jaw came loose with a pop before the rifle came flying back and struck him between the eyes.

The second intruder found himself unable to fully turn around before Fornell was on him. There came a blow to the back of the head that sent it shattering down through the screen of the LCARS console and a second sounded the sickening crack that broke the neck. For good measure, he placed two shots in the torso of each body. Then the weapon dropped from his hand. Jiseth pushed herself off the bulk head and stumbled a bit as Fornell turned and to her horror revealed the three charred, still smoking, holes of burnt flesh in his chest and abdomen.

His movements were not just slow now. His body was sagging and he had to grab onto the bulkhead to remain upright, though hunched over. Jiseth moved in swiftly, but his weight was too great, even for her. With a grunt from him, she helped ease him to the floor and propped up up against the cabin wall.

"Tobias... Not you too."

"You've never called me that before... My lady? What do you notice about their weapons? About these wounds..?"

"They're... Vorta Vor, how did they get their hands on those?"

"You know I'm going to bleed out... I need you to let me have my dignity. I don't want to suffer like the others did when hit by those things. You know your duty..."

Jiseth looked away, but she knew he was right. The Federation never found a means to aid the grievous damage from a plasma rifle. The additives that prevented the blood from clotting meant death was a destination at the end of a long and painful trail. With a deep breath she rose picked up the weapon from the floor before kneeling before Fornell.

"My duty is to my crews and their well-being..."

"There's a box on my bookshelf, I was saving it as a present for your daughter when she is born."

"I'll make sure she gets it."

"...Good bye, Jiseth."

"Our friendship was forged in one life, it can be done in the next."

The Romulan leaned in and kissed Fornell's forehead. His eyes were closed and his breathing deep then cut short. The muffled hiss of the shot burning through his chest pointblank and scorching his heart. The rifle fell from Jiseth's hand as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and held him as tightly as she could. Her body shook as the tears ran quickly down her face, her teeth clenched hard. But it was the smell. The burnt flesh and boiling blood. There was only so long she could hold back before the Romulan let out cry that made her throat burn and lungs beg for air before she finally stopped.

[Main Engineering]

To say that the ship was in disarray, what with the sudden attack of a nearby vessel and the proton torpedo that had slammed into their shields, was more than just an understatement. Tufezr hadn't been here all that long, but he'd been here long enough to know when Engineering was going to have hell to pay to the Captain if they couldn't get things working around here. So he dashed to the nearest unmanned console, which just happened to be flashing a number of signals and lights about the many operations being attempted throughout the ship. Countless people were trying to activate comms but it seemed like the jamming signal he'd heard briefly about was blocking everything onboard the ship as well as keeping the ship from contacting or being contacted by the planet. Interesting.

If they sent out a jamming signal powerful enough to keep intership comms down as well as ship to surface comms...It must be directional. Tufezr and his symbiote thought near in tandem, their combined memories and experiences making the consclusion all the more rational sounding in their shared mind. The Joined Trill worked as quickly as he could, rerouting power from auxiliary to the bridge and ship-wide comms, hoping that would somehow help but unsure seeing as he couldn't call in and ask what they needed. It will have to do, now to see if we can't trace that signal...

With that, the Ensign put his Engineering knowledge and skill to the test, hurrying to a different console, and crouching down to open the panel beneath it. Then he quickly began to re-calibrate the deflector dish, remembering a time one of his symbiote's hosts presented the theory that a deflector dish could be used to re-direct a directional jamming signal, not only inerting it's effects but making it possible to trace it's origins.