Mission 10: The Harvest

Kejal Buris wrote:

He didn't even turn.  "Hull Breach!  Intruder Alert!  Captain, the enemy have breached the hull, they are here on Deck 1, forward section.  Dropping emergency bulkheads, engaging fire-suppression protocols.  I recommend site-to-site transport... just beam these bastards directly into space.  Also, Captain, I'm sure that if we use the main transporter bank and cross-linked it to the sensor arrays, we could use the hole in their shields from that armature, and beam a couple proximity-detonation photon torpedoes into their bridge and engine room."

[Bridge]

Archangel's eyes narrowed dangerously at her new operations officer. He was surprisingly aggressive, something that she knew she was going to have to keep an eye on.

The fact that they were being boarded by a species known to be hostile was ringing panic alarms in the young Romulan's head, memories of a boarding when she had been first officer of the Chin'Toka threatening to overwhelm her. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to remain calm and in control. From the security station, she grabbed a hand phaser, dialling up the setting slightly.

"Engage with phasers on heavy stun," she ordered. "Safefta, Kejal, look into beaming concussive charges only onto the Vidiian vessel. Only take a life if you absolutely have to!"

Leela Kaz wrote:

Leela stepped back as the station controlling the shields exploded. Sparks seemed to rain out from the console in every direction. A crewman ran behind her this an impressive reflex and began to extinguish the sparks. Through an alternate console the Trill brought up the shield diagnostic program and her head sank.

=/\="Bridge, the shield generator is gone!" Leela shouted above the noises behind her in the Engine Room. "It will have to be rebuilt from the ground up."=/\=

[Engineering]

"Confirmed," Gabriel said, biting off the word like it was a piece of bad plum. The next few moments were filled with a furious flow of entered commands, with schematics and readouts flying by like a shuffled deck of cards. "Primaries are offline...routing through auxiliary."

The minutes between commands and action were an agonizing stretch, but Gabriel breathed a minuscule sigh of relief when he read the console. "We have aux generators online. The amount of power flowing to them isn't much, considering the situation we're in, but...it's better than nothing."

=^="Arthur to Bridge - we have aux shielding. Won't be good for a full-on attack, though. Best thing we can do is retreat and lick these wounds...it'll take some time to re-work the mains!"=^=

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

=^="Arthur to Bridge - we have aux shielding.  Won't be good for a full-on attack, though.  Best thing we can do is retreat and lick these wounds...it'll take some time to re-work the mains!"=^=

[Bridge]

As much as the sound of Gabriel's voice was a reassurance to her, the news he was bringing was definitely not what she wanted to hear. She had know, thanks to her formative years in the engineering department, that rebuilding a shield generator outwith a dock was not going to be possible, but she had still nursed a small spark of hope that it hadn't been completely destroyed.

=/\= Bridge to Engineering, retreat is not an option right now, =/\= she replied, trying to keep her voice calm and even. =/\= The Vidiian ship has latched on to us and we're expecting boarding parties on the bridge in the next minute or so. Lock down Engineering and prepare to defend yourselves, non lethal force only!=/\=

[Corridors]

Conor had snapped to attention at Deela's barked commands.  The Bajoran security officer had left Pardek in charge of tactical on the Bridge.  There were plenty of officers that ranked him, but he'd been the one standing there with the big gun...and so here he was.  Moving through the empty corridors of a GC-secured starship, hunting for something that had sliced through their screens like they weren't even there.  

Deela silently motioned him to take a position along the bulkhead opposite her, moving forward like a stalking cat.  Conor had to admit...she seemed like a woman that he would enjoy working with.  Focus on the task, not the pretty face, he said to himself, glancing at the rifle for the nth time.  Just like every time he looked at it, it was set to max stun.  It was annoying to have to play Boy Scout every time an alien race decided to get cute, but...that was what life in the Federation was all about.

Something triggered a silent alarm in his mind.  Conor opened his mouth to warn the Bajoran when the bulkhead corner behind her suddenly shimmered, dropping to reveal a hidden creature straight out of a nightmare - all covered in swaths of flesh.  "Christ!" Conor breathed, unaware of just how much he sounded like his father at that particular moment.  The creature - Vidiian, he remembered - raised a weapon, its beam piercing Deela's chest and dropping the Bajoran like a sack of rocks.

Conor assumed that, by nature of being a hostile boarding party, the Vidiians had waived their criminal rights.  He fired, three blasts, two hitting the mark and one striking the disguised forcefield that the Vidiian had been hiding behind.  He made sure the two were down for the count, and then hurriedly checked on Deela.

=^="Security to Sickbay!  Emergency beam-out for Commander Deela!  She's been...hit..."=^=

Even as his voice trailed off, Conor could see that the Bajoran's...heart...had been removed.  There wasn't much coming back from that.

[Bridge]

Well. Things certainly had taken the transwarp lane to hell, hadn't they?

Gavin's mouth worked a few times as he tried to process everything that had been happening, as well as the multiple orders that had come down his way. Those orders seemed to change by the minute, but that was the nature of the situation the ship found itself in.

"Captain!" he said, jumping out of the chair and leaning over the Sciences console. He hoped T'Lara didn't mind him looming, but he always thought better when moving, and it was easier to move and not look like a madman in the process if you were standing up. "Vidiians aren't even from this quadrant, so there's no biosign in the Federation databanks like them. That might make it easier to pick up their signatures and beam them off the ship, if we want to use that route."

[Bridge]

Julia reached under the tactical console and located one of the phasers secured under the console. Things had gone from bad to terrible in the matter of moments. She adjusted the setting of the weapon to the maximum stun setting and clipped it to her belt.

"Gavin, find a way to make it happen. For this to work we need to find a way to get that arm off of our hull. We aren't going anywhere attached to that vessel."

The young commander heard could hear the phaser fire nearing their location. She knew what her responsibilities as first officer were. She knew she had to lead the charge in the corridor. Above all, she couldn't allow those aliens on the bridge. With a slight nod she stepped away from the console and headed to the exit. Her eyes conveyed everything the captain needed to know. Somewhere, deep within her, she knew that if she stepped into that corridor that it was a possibility that she would never come back to the bridge.

Julia passed through the door and into the corridor. The sounds of the weapons fire increased. As she rounded a corner a beam of light flew by her head. She saw the new Yeoman leaning over the body of the chief of security. "Conor!" She screamed. Without hesitation she picked up her weapon and struck the Viridian officer that was approaching his position. As the enemy fell to the deck plates Julia took a moment to regroup and prepare for the next encounter. "Crewman, get the hell out of there. Leave her for the transport. Take cover and prepare for the second wave."

Gavin Van Gelder wrote:

"Captain!" he said, jumping out of the chair and leaning over the Sciences console.  He hoped T'Lara didn't mind him looming, but he always thought better when moving, and it was easier to move and not look like a madman in the process if you were standing up.  "Vidiians aren't even from this quadrant, so there's no biosign in the Federation databanks like them.  That might make it easier to pick up their signatures and beam them off the ship, if we want to use that route."

Julia Rellek wrote:

The young commander heard could hear the phaser fire nearing their location. She knew what her responsibilities as first officer were. She knew she had to lead the charge in the corridor. Above all, she couldn't allow those aliens on the bridge. With a slight nod she stepped away from the console and headed to the exit. Her eyes conveyed everything the captain needed to know. Somewhere, deep within her, she knew that if she stepped into that corridor that it was a possibility that she would never come back to the bridge.

[Bridge]

Watching Julia leave the bridge was a difficult feat for Archangel, the knowledge that her new first officer was not a fighter in the slightest prevalent in her mind. She had no wish to have to look for yet another XO less than a day after appointing one. Giving a curt nod in acknowledgement, thinking to herself: You'd better come back, Rellek. I don't want to have to enter your name in the Starfleet Records for 'Shortest Time as First Officer'.

The captain then turned her attention to her young science officer, giving another sharp nod. "Good idea, Lieutenant. See what you can find out about it and implement it if it's going to work."

Conor Terell wrote:

=^="Security to Sickbay!  Emergency beam-out for Commander Deela!  She's been...hit..."=^=

[Sickbay]

"Undersssstood," Kintiss replied as he activated the emergency transporter. He downed his fourth or fifth or whatever'th Raktajino and prepared himself for surgery. He flexed his fingers and silently offered up a quick prayer to his gods, hoping they'd make his fingers quick and the patient's recover quicker.

"Get me a ssssurgical arch," he said to Alpha. If he was lucky, it would just be a quick dermal regen job. As it turned out, he was not lucky. Commander Deela was missing her heart.

"Well, thissss'll be easssy to fix up!" he exclaimed, not bothering to hide the rampant sarcasm and irritation. Miracle worker he may be, he couldn't exactly replace a Bajoran heart quickly. He had to put her on life support quickly.

Conor Terell wrote:

=^="Security to Sickbay!  Emergency beam-out for Commander Deela!  She's been...hit..."=^=

Even as his voice trailed off, Conor could see that the Bajoran's...heart...had been removed.  There wasn't much coming back from that.

Kintiss wrote:

"Undersssstood," Kintiss replied as he activated the emergency transporter. He downed his fourth or fifth or whatever'th Raktajino and prepared himself for surgery. He flexed his fingers and silently offered up a quick prayer to his gods, hoping they'd make his fingers quick and the patient's recover quicker.

"Get me a ssssurgical arch," he said to Alpha. If he was lucky, it would just be a quick dermal regen job. As it turned out, he was not lucky. Commander Deela was missing her heart.

"Well, thissss'll be easssy to fix up!" he exclaimed, not bothering to hide the rampant sarcasm and irritation. Miracle worker he may be, he couldn't exactly replace a Bajoran heart quickly. He had to put her on life support quickly.

[Sickbay]

When the call came through to sickbay, Zero looked up from her scrubbing and sterilization with a look of faint fear on her pale features. This was her first shift back on after her recover, and even then she wasn't supposed to be doing anything strenuous.

As the patient was beamed onto a biobed, it was instantly clear that time was going to be of the essence in keeping the Bajoran alive. Tapping a couple of keys on the side of the bed, she activated the clamshell, but shook her head at the possibility of putting her on life support.

"There is nothing for life support to stimulate. We must maintain neural tissue oxydation and install an artificial cardiac organ rapidly. Even the most rudimentary and inefficient one will at the least maintain her organs until we can arrange for a more permanent solution," she quickly interjected, preparing a hypo of trioxin to maintain the oxygen levels in the patient's brain.

Zero Alpha wrote:

"There is nothing for life support to stimulate.  We must maintain neural tissue oxydation and install an artificial cardiac organ rapidly.  Even the most rudimentary and inefficient one will at the least maintain her organs until we can arrange for a more permanent solution," she quickly interjected, preparing a hypo of trioxin to maintain the oxygen levels in the patient's brain.

"Then go and replicate a cardiac pump, ssstat!" Kintiss said, somewhat exasperated. "I'll keep giving her trioxin injectionssss." He tried to calm himself. An unfortunate side effect of the Raktajinos. They let him work a lot longer, but he also got a little bit jumpy, particularly under stressful situations.

He checked the Commander's vitals and was alarmed to discover that her brain's oxygen levels were dropping drastically. With quick hands, he gave her another hypo of trioxin. It had no immediate effect.

Kintiss wrote:

"Then go and replicate a cardiac pump, ssstat!" Kintiss said, somewhat exasperated. "I'll keep giving her trioxin injectionssss." He tried to calm himself. An unfortunate side effect of the Raktajinos. They let him work a lot longer, but he also got a little bit jumpy, particularly under stressful situations.

He checked the Commander's vitals and was alarmed to discover that her brain's oxygen levels were dropping drastically. With quick hands, he gave her another hypo of trioxin. It had no immediate effect.

[Sickbay]

Despite flinching at the snapped command, Zero moved quickly away from the biobed, heading for the replicator, already sorting through in her mind what was needed. Without more time to replicate a heart, she programmed the replicator to give her the most basic functional artificial replacement they had on file. Even so, it was still an agonising few seconds before it appeared.

Grabbing the replacement, the young Augment darted back to their patient, activating the sterile field and preparing to cut into the Commander's chest. For a split second, her breath caught in her throat, eyes wide as she struggled with the memory of the Romulans cutting into her, curious about how her internal systems worked and were arranged. Her hands, which already shook under normal circumstances, trembled more and it took less than a second for her to hand the laser scalpel to Kintiss. We cannot afford to waste any time with my neuroses. We must act now.

"Operate. I will assist," she stated, willingly putting herself in the subordinate role of the procedure as she picked up a delta wave inducer, placing it on Deela's forehead and activating it, putting the Commander under.

Julia Rellek wrote:

Julia passed through the door and into the corridor. The sounds of the weapons fire increased. As she rounded a corner a beam of light flew by her head. She saw the new Yeoman leaning over the body of the chief of security. "Conor!" She screamed. Without hesitation she picked up her weapon and struck the Viridian officer that was approaching his position. As the enemy fell to the deck plates Julia took a moment to regroup and prepare for the next encounter. "Crewman, get the hell out of there. Leave her for the transport. Take cover and prepare for the second wave."

[Corridors]

There was barely time to register the shock of everything that'd happened before someone was shouting at him. Conor turned to regard the newcomer, frowning confusedly as Commander Rellek herself charged down the hall. He had to give it to her - the woman was pretty handy in taking a swing. Either that, or she'd gotten lucky in incapacitating the Vidiian.

Thankfully, Sickbay was listening. At least transporters still work, Conor thought, watching Deela's body de-materialize from the corridor. "They shot her right in the heart," he said, pressing against the bulkhead. "Dropped like a puppet with cut strings." The young man turned his attention to Rellek, cocking an eyebrow. "All due respect, ma'am...but what in the blue hell are you doing out here? I think it's my job to be lobbing weapons fire in hallways."

Zero Alpha wrote:

"Operate.  I will assist," she stated, willingly putting herself in the subordinate role of the procedure as she picked up a delta wave inducer, placing it on Deela's forehead and activating it, putting the Commander under.

Gripping the laser scalpel in one hand, Kintiss began the delicate work of saving the Commander's life. They only had a precious few minutes with which to work. Every single second counted. At least the Commander was safely under. He didn't pretend to sympathise with her plight. All the same, that had to have hurt. At least whoever had attacked her had left a clean hole. That made it much easier to work.

There was a lot of blood pooling in the Commander's chest. That could be a problem. He set the laser scalpel aside, and used another medical tool to siphon the blood out. The area needed to be clear for the next part. He then took up the cardiac pump. This was the part where he needed utmost concentration.

"Keep giving her trioxin," he said to Alpha. He lowered the pump gently into the Commander's chest, trying to perfectly align the machine's outputs to the exposed blood vessels. It was difficult, given that it was only a general-purpose pump. If they had more time, they could have replicated one that was more compatible with Bajoran physiology. Time that they, unfortunately, did not have.

"Get me the sssstitcher," he said. "Sssset it for Ford-pattern ssssuture." The pump outputs were a softer material, that could easily be stitched to other kinds of tissue.

Conor Terell wrote:

[Corridors]

There was barely time to register the shock of everything that'd happened before someone was shouting at him.  Conor turned to regard the newcomer, frowning confusedly as Commander Rellek herself charged down the hall.  He had to give it to her - the woman was pretty handy in taking a swing.  Either that, or she'd gotten lucky in incapacitating the Vidiian.

Thankfully, Sickbay was listening.  At least transporters still work, Conor thought, watching Deela's body de-materialize from the corridor.  "They shot her right in the heart," he said, pressing against the bulkhead.  "Dropped like a puppet with cut strings."  The young man turned his attention to Rellek, cocking an eyebrow.  "All due respect, ma'am...but what in the blue hell are you doing out here?  I think it's my job to be lobbing weapons fire in hallways."

[Corridor]

Julia kept watch, her head moving from side to side scanning the area as she addressed Connor. "Someone has to keep them off the bridge." She proclaimed. "They're harvesting organs. I saw T'Lara's research. Their society has been ravaged by an incurable illness. They are looking for replacement body parts." She sighed. "What has to happen to a society to sink to this level." The question was rhetorical. She simply could not fathom this being an acceptable alternative.

The new Executive Officer flipped open her tricorder and scanned the area. "There is another wave coming." Several other security officers had converged on their location. "We have to hold. They cannot be permitted access to the bridge."

=/\=Commander Rellek to Bridge, we are holding position. I recommend we secure the bridge and lock down all access points. We have another wave incoming.=/\=

Kintiss wrote:

"Keep giving her trioxin," he said to Alpha. He lowered the pump gently into the Commander's chest, trying to perfectly align the machine's outputs to the exposed blood vessels. It was difficult, given that it was only a general-purpose pump. If they had more time, they could have replicated one that was more compatible with Bajoran physiology. Time that they, unfortunately, did not have.

"Get me the sssstitcher," he said. "Sssset it for Ford-pattern ssssuture." The pump outputs were a softer material, that could easily be stitched to other kinds of tissue.

[Sickbay]

As she followed Kintiss's orders, Zero couldn't help but feel angry at herself for being unable to carry out the operation herself although she kept those emotions to herself, only betrayed by the furrowing of her brow which could have been mistaken for concentration.

She kept the oxygen flow to the commander's neural tissue going, making that her primary concern so that Kintiss wouldn't have to worry about it. It took a minimal glance to the tool tray to pick out the stitcher, a quick flick of her finger setting it to the appropriate suture before handing it over to the Selay.

"Oxygen levels low but within tolerance, remaining stable," she reported.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Bridge]

Watching Julia leave the bridge was a difficult feat for Archangel, the knowledge that her new first officer was not a fighter in the slightest prevalent in her mind.  She had no wish to have to look for yet another XO less than a day after appointing one.  Giving a curt nod in acknowledgement, thinking to herself:  You'd better come back, Rellek.  I don't want to have to enter your name in the Starfleet Records for 'Shortest Time as First Officer'.

The captain then turned her attention to her young science officer, giving another sharp nod.  "Good idea, Lieutenant.  See what you can find out about it and implement it if it's going to work."

[Bridge]

Gavin snapped to work at the captain's order, quickly bringing up all known data on the Vidiian physiology. They were fortunate (if such a word could be used to describe it) that these people had recently had a run-in on the starbase Athena. It had allowed a solid and comprehensive scan of the patchwork aliens.

"Got it," he said, sending the readings so that Ops could work their magic and, hopefully, perform the ship-wide scan and transportation. "Playing it safe, I'd ballpark it and say we have less than one bp margin-of-error...if the scanners pick everything up correctly."

[Main Engineering]

Knowing that armed forces were boarding the ship caused the Trills mind to flood with flashbacks to dark moments. She moved through the engine room unable to shake the image of Nantia's final moments. The between the situations were hard for her to ignore. Heavily armed boarding parties killing with no regard for life. The image of that Klingon soldier standing over her body in the final moment distracted her. She can remember the life draining from her as the Klingon reveled in his accomplishment. She tried to clear her mind and focus but her efforts produced little relief.

The conflict had certainly taken a toll on the engine room's systems. Smoke and sparks seemed to flow from every console and corner. The team would certainly have their work cut out for them, assuming they made it out alive. As she moved through the engine room she heard a high pitched screech emitting form the communications control console. She quickly moved to intercept and diagnose the situation. As she began to scan the system she realized overload was moments away. She turned to clear the area... "Everyone...." She screamed. Her voice reverberated through the engine room but she was unable to complete her warning. A loud explosion shot form the console. Sparks rained over her body and throughout a large area near the console.

As the smoke cleared Leela was left on the ground, motionless, burns apparent over a large amount of her skin. Her uniform was turned largely to black char.

Gavin Van Gelder wrote:

"Got it," he said, sending the readings so that Ops could work their magic and, hopefully, perform the ship-wide scan and transportation.  "Playing it safe, I'd ballpark it and say we have less than one bp margin-of-error...if the scanners pick everything up correctly."

[Bridge]

Nodding her head sharply, Archangel acknowledged what Lieutenant Van Gelder was saying. If she was completely honest with herself, she was rapidly losing patience with the whole situation. Had she not been bound by the expectations and regulations of Starfleet, she most probably would have had her security crews use lethal force. Fortunately for them, her loyalty to the Federation won out over her personal desires.

"Beam them back to their own ship," she ordered. "Try to keep them in one piece, but that's not to come above getting them off the Phoenix."

Julia Rellek wrote:

=/\=Commander Rellek to Bridge, we are holding position. I recommend we secure the bridge and lock down all access points. We have another wave incoming.=/\=

Swearing in Romulan, she realised that they were rapidly starting to run out of options. Sealing off the bridge completely was a bad idea. They needed to be able to escape rapidly should the situation go to Areinnye in a hurry.

=/\=Negative, Rellek. Secure all sensitive areas. We'll concentrate on defending the bridge.=/\=

Looking to the rest of the bridge, she ordered: "Arm yourselves. Phasers set to stun. You shoot first and ask questions later, is that understood?"

Zero Alpha wrote:

"Oxygen levels low but within tolerance, remaining stable," she reported.

"That'ssss good," Kintiss said as he took the stitcher from her and lowered the device into the Commander's body. His nerves were rattling, but he had to remain stable during the stitching process. One wrong step and he might cut off something vital, then all this surgical work would be for nothing. He didn't know if he could take that kind of failure.

Slowly, he stitched the cardiac pump to the blood vessels. The stitching tool took care of all the details, connecting the organic material with the synthetic. He kept his hands steady, calmly recalling his training in this area of surgery. They'd said occasions like this were very rare. He supposed that he should consider himself lucky.

"All connectionssss made," he observed, setting aside the stitcher. "Activating cardiac pump." He pressed a small switch on the pump, and it began to hum lightly. It didn't visibly beat, but a transparent chamber near the base began to fill with blood. Kintiss could tell it was working.

"Alright, let'ssss ssstitch her up."

Kintiss wrote:

"That'ssss good," Kintiss said as he took the stitcher from her and lowered the device into the Commander's body. His nerves were rattling, but he had to remain stable during the stitching process. One wrong step and he might cut off something vital, then all this surgical work would be for nothing. He didn't know if he could take that kind of failure.

"All connectionssss made," he observed, setting aside the stitcher. "Activating cardiac pump." He pressed a small switch on the pump, and it began to hum lightly. It didn't visibly beat, but a transparent chamber near the base began to fill with blood. Kintiss could tell it was working.

"Alright, let'ssss ssstitch her up."

[Sickbay]

"Acknowledged," Zero replied, relieved to see the artificial heart filling with blood and then expelling it, starting the circulation again.  Commander Deela would have to be kept calm and quiet, preferably off her feet, for a while.  At least until they could replace the pump with a more efficient and tailored one.

Reaching back over to the tool tray, the young Augment picked up a regenerator, preparing to activate it over the incision site.  A flashback overwhelmed her, memories of being restrained on a table while a Romulan cut into her, causing her to gasp and drop the instrument on the patient's abdomen.  She stepped back, shaking her head.  "My apologies.  I do not believe I can do this."

Zero Alpha wrote:

Reaching back over to the tool tray, the young Augment picked up a regenerator, preparing to activate it over the incision site.  A flashback overwhelmed her, memories of being restrained on a table while a Romulan cut into her, causing her to gasp and drop the instrument on the patient's abdomen.  She stepped back, shaking her head.  "My apologies.  I do not believe I can do this."

[Sickbay]

"That'sss why I'm doing it," Kintiss said. He'd expected a symptom like this to manifest itself sooner or later. After all, nobody got thrown into the abyss and came out as smooth as silk. There was bound to be some damage from that experience. He didn't blame her for it.

He took the regenerator himself and moved it down the incision, watching it close up. It was a quick transfer. Commander Deela would probably feel terrible for the next few weeks, at least. Still, better than having no heart at all.

It was done. Kintiss gave a sigh and wiped his brow. "By all that'sss holy, I need a Raktajino."

Leela Kaz wrote:

[Main Engineering]

Knowing that armed forces were boarding the ship caused the Trills mind to flood with flashbacks to dark moments. She moved through the engine room unable to shake the image of Nantia's final moments. The between the situations were hard for her to ignore. Heavily armed boarding parties killing with no regard for life. The image of that Klingon soldier standing over her body in the final moment distracted her. She can remember the life draining from her as the Klingon reveled in his accomplishment. She tried to clear her mind and focus but her efforts produced little relief.

The conflict had certainly taken a toll on the engine room's systems. Smoke and sparks seemed to flow from every console and corner. The team would certainly have their work cut out for them, assuming they made it out alive. As she moved through the engine room she heard a high pitched screech emitting form the communications control console. She quickly moved to intercept and diagnose the situation. As she began to scan the system she realized overload was moments away. She turned to clear the area... "Everyone...." She screamed. Her voice reverberated through the engine room but she was unable to complete her warning. A loud explosion shot form the console. Sparks rained over her body and throughout a large area near the console.

As the smoke cleared Leela was left on the ground, motionless, burns apparent over a large amount of her skin. Her uniform was turned largely to black char.

[Main Engineering]

Nelkar was no stranger to combat, or the boarding of ships. Even though this was an unfamiliar playing field- that is, a federation ship-- he was one of the few people in engineering who wasn't moving in terror like there was a fire under his ass. The fact that he still wasn't used to his prosthetic leg probably had something to do with it.

Smoke was all around, and occasional sparks prayed amidst the blaring alarm systems, as if they weren't aware enough that there was something horribly wrong with the ship's systems. The only benefit of a boarding party was that the other ship wasn't taking pot shots at them anymore.

Nelkar heard the beginning of Leela's wahe explosion knocked him out of his chair, but he was spared the brunt of the blast by the wall of another console. Leela hadn't been so lucky. "Kaz!"

Awkwardly, the cardassian pulled himself off the ground and over to the horribly burned trill. Bah, not good... we need the engineer...

=/\=Epath to Sickbay! Medical emergency in engineering. Request immediate transport for Leela Kaz. You'll want a burn unit."

Nelkar Epath wrote:

Nelkar was no stranger to combat, or the boarding of ships. Even though this was an unfamiliar playing field- that is, a federation ship-- he was one of the few people in engineering who wasn't moving in terror like there was a fire under his ass. The fact that he still wasn't used to his prosthetic leg probably had something to do with it.

Smoke was all around, and occasional sparks prayed amidst the blaring alarm systems, as if they weren't aware enough that there was something horribly wrong with the ship's systems. The only benefit of a boarding party was that the other ship wasn't taking pot shots at them anymore.

Nelkar heard the beginning of Leela's wahe explosion knocked him out of his chair, but he was spared the brunt of the blast by the wall of another console. Leela hadn't been so lucky. "Kaz!"

Awkwardly, the cardassian pulled himself off the ground and over to the horribly burned trill. Bah, not good... we need the engineer...

=/\=Epath to Sickbay! Medical emergency in engineering. Request immediate transport for Leela Kaz. You'll want a burn unit."

[Main Engineering]

"Shut that down!" Gabriel yelled, bounding over toward the acrid blast zone. Epath was already on top of getting Sickbay called. He watched with a heavy heart as Leela was de-materialized and sent on her way. Not right, he thought. She's just a goddamn kid. Never mind that her host was centuries old...Kaz was still a kid to him.

Time waited for nothing, however. Even grief. Gabriel handed one of the manual extinguisher units to Nelkar, activating his own.

Kintiss wrote:

"That'sss why I'm doing it," Kintiss said. He'd expected a symptom like this to manifest itself sooner or later. After all, nobody got thrown into the abyss and came out as smooth as silk. There was bound to be some damage from that experience. He didn't blame her for it.

He took the regenerator himself and moved it down the incision, watching it close up. It was a quick transfer. Commander Deela would probably feel terrible for the next few weeks, at least. Still, better than having no heart at all.

It was done. Kintiss gave a sigh and wiped his brow. "By all that'sss holy, I need a Raktajino."

[Sickbay]

Zero stood by to assist as Kintiss did the final closing on their patient, her trembling hands clenched at her sides. How long would it take for all of this to go away? How long before the incessant shaking, the nightmares and the flashbacks to be over?

The Selay moved quickly and efficiently to close and clean up the incision site, not needing her to do anything more than hand over the occasional tool. She couldn't help but wonder if he had been like this when it had been her on the table, when he had helped to put her back together.

Pushing those thoughts to one side, she mentally prepared a quip about his caffeine intake, hoping to brush off the fact that she had been incapable of carrying out her duty during a vital moment. The words never left her mouth, interrupted by an urgent message:

Nelkar Epath wrote:

=/\=Epath to Sickbay! Medical emergency in engineering. Request immediate transport for Leela Kaz. You'll want a burn unit."

It only took a second or two after the communication for the sound of the transporters to fill Zero's ears as the Trill materialised on a biobed. A strange sensation of panic seized her chest, prompting her to dart over to the bed, grabbing a kit on the way.

"Leela, respond!" she ordered, hoping to get some answer that she was conscious as she prepped a hypo of painkiller and injected it into her neck before she ran the tricorder over the burned body, looking for any internal injuries.

If anyone saw the facial expression of the man at the Operations panel, they'd wonder why he wasn't out there wielding a phaser rifle.  In fact, that had been Buris' first instinct, but at the moment, he didn't have a better option for transporter control than himself - at least not targeting; he'd have to do it from here, up close and personal.

He switched control schemes easily and started Transporter pre-scanning.  The Vidiians lit up bright as day - unregistered lifeforms not wearing commbadges... the Science guys had done it right.  In moments, Buris had a bead on every one of the intruders.  He then sent that data down to Transporter control, where Keldar was waiting for data.  "Sir. Transporter Room 1 reports readiness to beam these bastards off our ship.  Working on getting a solution to beam a present onto theirs."

That, too, would be his responsibility; Keldar would have everything taken up by trying to keep a lock on the Vidiians' vessel.  Surprisingly to the Bajoran, it wasn't a cobbled-together hodgepodge.  Apparently, their biology and medical concerns weren't enough to stunt their engineering skill... that was, frankly, interesting.

But speaking of Engineering, Buris muttered when he saw reports fly across his board. "Sir!  Explosion in Engineering! One casualty, Engineer Kaz - beamed to Sickbay with massive burns."

He heard the Captain give the order to beam them back to their own ship, and grimaced.  That would just let them come back.  But he pushed the order through to Crewman Keldar - and Vidiians started to disappear from wherever they were on the Phoenix.  "Sir - permission to enable use of cargo transporters to rematerialize intruders on their own vessel - we really do need the high-res units for our wounded to get to Sickbay safely..."

It was a cruel suggestion - crueler even than just beaming them into space.  The cargo transporters were theoretically capable of beaming life-forms, but you'd need a wizard to beam that many at a time and have them arrive as they'd left.  The errors wouldn't be "huge" - a misaligned blood vessel here, a spine in two pieces there, nervous damage... but they'd be enough to make the point that the Federation wasn't playing around.  And that of course assumed that the transporter didn't just materialize them inside one another (it was programmed not to, but... "mistakes" happened).