[April 4 - April 14] Mission: Exercise of Vital Powers Mission Day: 15 Stardate: 2406.10.28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Paladin, Bridge, Acting CSO Joran Matthew Brownlee, 10:00) (USS Paladin - Deck 5, corridor - ACONN Ensign (jg) Christian Soval Brownlee - 10:01) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:01) (USS Paladin, Bridge, Ensign Greg Dunn – 1003) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:03) (USS Paladin - Bridge - CONN Lt. Max - 1005) (USS Paladin - Main Engineering Deck - Ensign Zack Tristen - 1010) (USS Paladin - Bridge - FO/Chief Ops Lt. Calvin Capps - 1012) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:12) (USS Paladin - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Alura Rathyn - 1013) (USS Paladin - Main Engineering - CEO LTJG Steven Matrix - 1013) (USS Paladin - Bridge - CONN Lt. Max - 1015) (Boarding Vessel. Cockpit. Ensign Greg Dunn, 1016) (USS Paladin, Bridge, CO, Captain Eva Straton, 1018) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:18) (USS Paladin - Deck 1, Bridge - Acting CSO Joran Matthew Brownlee - 10:20) (USS Paladin - Bridge - FO/Chief Ops Lt. Calvin Capps - 1020) (USS Paladin, Sickbay, CMO Jared Keller , 1027) (USS Paladin - Bridge - CONN Lt. Max - 1028) (Captured Sovereign, Bridge, ACSO, Lt Shane Schofield, 1045) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission: Exercise of Vital Powers Mission Day: 15 Stardate: 2406.10.28 (USS Paladin, Bridge, Acting CSO Joran Matthew Brownlee, 10:00) Greg watched with horror as the Sovereign class vessel released its swarm of fighters on the crippled Nautilus and then it turned on them and fired a group of three quantum torpedoes at the Paladin. They struck home and the ship shook violently. Joran, at a rear console, was shaken, but otherwise alright. Behind Ensign Dunn, howver, a conduit had burst and a small fire had ignited. Consoles all over the bridge bleeped and warning lights flashed. "Captain decks four through to eight are reporting hull breaches. Force Fields are in place. they are barely holding. Sending instructions for those decks to evacuate." came Ensign Dunn's assessment. (Reply: Cap'n) Then the Sovereign fired again and stuck home yet again, the ship shook violently and the science consoles erupted in a shower of sparks and then went black. Phaser fire meeting its target confirmed his fears. "Captain," Joran said, a bit of urgency and fear in his voice, "all sensors are down. We're flying blind." (posted by Spencer) (USS Paladin - Deck 5, corridor - ACONN Ensign (jg) Christian Soval Brownlee - 10:01) Christian staggered as he walked down the corridor toward the turbolift. ~With this many hits,~ he thought, ~the situation must be getting desperate.~ He tapped his comlink. "Ensign Brownlee to Captain Straton." (reply Straton) "Permission to join the fight among the Dragon Slayers." (Posted by Spencer) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:01) Things had suddenly just gone from bad to worse as the Paladin took multiple hits from the Sovereign. Consoles had exploded violently around them showering the crewmembers operating them in sparks & flame. Ensign Dunn on Tac 2 was right on the ball though, along with the console fires, he had monitored hull breeches on decks four & eight & had re-routed commands to the respective repair crews as he did so. “Captain decks four through to eight are reporting hull breaches… Force Fields are in place… they are barely holding.", he said in a calm professional manner making T`Vhor feel almost proud of his assistants cool nerve in a time of considerable chaos. Ensign T`Vhor then looked down to the second console as yet more impacts from the Sovereign shook the ship & took out the science console manned by the CSO, imediately rendering them sensor blind. Joran looked worried at the loss of data as his screens suddenly went blank. The moment they went down, Ensign T`Vhor imediately remembered an old Bajoran trick he`d learned during his time in the resistance. It was normally just a ruse to fool an enemy into thinking that his target was blind but it could be used at times such as these also. Quickly, almost without thinking he transferred the sensor data to the Tactical console & overlayed the Sovereigns last known positions onto the display. He then set the sensor stream to a narrow beam before rescanning the imediate area. The pings then came in, they were erattic & not as precise as the dedicated sensor stations but precise enough to still follow her moves. "Sir, we can still see the Sovereign by following her impulse turns", said T`Vhor. "We can tie in the weapons to the tactical data & target them manually with an eighty four percent margain of error", he added. (Reply Straton, Any) "Aye sir, switching to manual targetting now", said T`Vhor, "Target acquired, firing now", he added as the Paladin`s forward phaser array opened up, slicing a huge gash along the engineering hull of the Sovereign. The Sovereign of course was monitoring the Paladin via her telemetry data & seeing her running blind, she had been more or less moving in now for a kill. That last phaser hit however had shook her spirits somewhat. She knew now that the Paladin wasn`t quite as blind as was first thought. Two Quantums directly down her throat as she came about certainly made her think twice again as she imediately performed a tactical withdrawal to a safer area. The Paladin of course, having now bitten the dog back, wasted no time at all in using this short lease of time to concentrate on bringing her main sensors back online. Repair crews were imediately dispatched to the bridge & all associated stations as a matter of urgency. T`Vhor looked to his tactical station once again, following the Sovereigns course the best he could under the circumstances. She`d be back, that much was for sure. (Posted by Alan) (USS Paladin, Bridge, Ensign Greg Dunn – 1003) With the Sovereign at a distance Greg let out a sigh and rubbed his sweat ridden face and then he cracked his knuckles. He went over to the fire with a fire extinguisher that he retrieved from under the console and doused the fire with water. The fire was almost out when his console bleeped. Greg put the fire extinguisher to one side and investigated. Ten boarding shuttles had latched themselves onto the hull and had now begun cutting holes. Greg sealed off the decks they were trying to board and sent a command to the marine and security sections to retake those decks. “INTUDER ALERT.” The intruder claxons sounded. “Captain we have intruders on deck 2, 6, 10 and 15. I am picking up over 40 intruders... all heavily armed.” He said flatly. “I have sealed off those decks and assigned security teams and marines to those decks… They are through and are storming the decks.” (Posted by Greg Dunn) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:03) ~Where the hell did they come from~ Thought Ensign T`Vhor as his second relayed the information on the sudden boardings taking place on various decks throughout the Paladin. This was becoming crazier by the second, with the makeshift sensors doing their best to keep tabs on the Sovereign, the little vessels had somehow crept in under their noses. One thing was certain though. They would have to be dealt with & dealt with imediately. Within a few minutes, security teams were on location in the affected decks, a fire fight ensued almost imediately & T`Vhor felt only mildly relieved that his security details had been issued with upgraded weapons. Thoughts of Varon-T disruptors rang heavy in his mind but he had bigger fish to fry now. Two more ships had just latched onto the hull of the Paladin & were already engaged in cutting. Thinking quickly, T`Vhor ran his fingers hecticly across his console, temporarilly transferring a large proportion of the Paladin`s power reserves directly to the hull plating, if the plan worked it would fry the little ships circuitry in an instance & put an end to their games instantly. The lights on the bridge dimmed along with the rest of the ships lighting, in responce as T`Vhor threw the switch. The small vessels attached to the hull however, imediately shut down as the resultant power surge toasted everything electrical within them, knocking their crews unconscious as it did so. Now all they had to do was deal with those already within the ship. (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:05) At the Conn, Max was doing his best to pilot the Paladin amidst the unfolding chaos going on all around him. Working with T`Vhor now to keep the Sovereign in their gunsights the best they could, their latest course heading change had put them almost on a collision course with one another but if it worked, they would be able to deal the Sovereign a mighty blow indeed. The bridge crew did their utmost to keep everything together as the repair crews worked frantically to bring their damaged systems back online. Ensign T`Vhor stood at his own console awaiting the moment with bated breath as the Paladin & the Sovereign drew ever closer to one another. It would require split second timing on all their parts & Max certainly was`nt lacking in the split second, by the seat of the pants flying method. Then all of a sudden, that moment was upon them.... "Firing all phasers", cried T`Vhor at the precise moment Max turned the Paladin onto her side to position her topside at a ninety degree angle to the vulnerable underbelly of the Sovereign. The phasers fired continuously & with pinpoint accuracy, ripping into the Sovereign`s engineering section & tearing out her heart in a near fatal blow. Her crew were completely unaware of what had just happened, all they saw on their bridge consoles were the multiple flashing lights signalling the failure of most of their key systems & subsystems as their vessel continued on with almost nothing now but momentum as all power to her impulse engines ceased abruptly. Her lighting flickered all over her exterior & her warp nacelles changed from their normal bright blue photonic glow into a dim erratically pulsing shadow of their former glory. The Sovereign had at least been brought to some kind of a halt.......for the time being anyway. Either way it now left the ailing Nautilus with the slightest of breathers & the Paladin free to engage the other vessels of Doenitz`s fleet until such time as the Sovereign had recovered once again to pose another threat, if indeed she was even able to. (Posted by Alan) (USS Paladin - Bridge - CONN Lt. Max - 1005) Now that the sensors were blank on the bridge, it was even tougher for Max to fly the ship correctly. He tried everything he could to get the sensor back on his board, but there was nothing he could. "Switching to Manual Drive, Sir." Max had to use the view screen as his eyes instead of the trusty console infront of him. As the soveriegn class continued on its way, Max coorelated with T'Vhor to get the best type of angle on the enemy ship as possible. Max remembered the last known point of the enemy ship and started to raise the ship a few degrees to try to go over the soveriegn class ship. There was no way of knowing where anyone else were and it was very difficult for him to manuever. A few seconds after Lt. Max had guessed his way through the fight, Mr. T'Vhor had some how been able to get a scan of the ships around the area. T'Vhor had sent them over to Max. Max ignored the thanks for now and kept controlling the ship to the best of his abilitly. Now knowing a better position for the soverign class, Max took the Paladin straight toward it. When the two ships were close enough to colide with each other Max turned the ship on its side to graze across the enemy's ship. At that time T'Vhor was able to attain what he wanted to do all this time. (Posted by Calvin Capps) (USS Paladin - Main Engineering Deck - Ensign Zack Tristen - 1010) Zack rushed out of the Main Engineering room with a whole new plan of his own. He couldn't believe his eyes when he read that enemy teams were cutting holes through the ship. He had to read the report twice to make sure it he had read it correctly. Ensign Tristen carried his tool kit in his left as he quickened his pace toward the end of the corridor. He barely saw the hole from the distance he was standing from. He immediatly touched his combadge. "Ensign Tristen to EE team 3, please meet me at engineering corridor b, 3. Bring EE package 3." =/\=Aye sir. ETA 3 minutes=/\= Zack walked a little further down the corridor and looked at the huge hole with a tear in his eye. He couldn't believe that there was a hole in the side of the Paladin. Ensign Tristen was happy that Security was able to get rid of the enemy so quickly. Only from observation Zack concluded that security was able to elimate this particular enemy team with no casualties of their own. The rest of Zack's team had arrived with the welder and the material needed to fix the hull. It was important that they reduce as much of the force fields to use so the bridge would have more reseve power to use. The other memebers put down the materials and laid them on the floor. Ensign Tristen picked up the first tool and started his job. (posted by Calvin Capps) (USS Paladin - Bridge - FO/Chief Ops Lt. Calvin Capps - 1012) The Paladin's crew had now successfully disabled the sovereign class ship. However their was still some issues to cover. One of them was the protection of USS Nautilus. It was still being pelted by the highly capable fighters of Doeintz. The Paladin itself wasn't in the greatest condition. Sparks were flying out of the walls, smoke slowly rose from the consoles. White smoke from other areas poured out quickly. Lt. Capps worked his board. He had to semi-scream over the loud repair teams to give his report for the Nautilus. "Nautilus is quickly losing life. Estimated time of survival with no help is 22 minutes." The Paladin raced as fast as it could to save the ship and lives of the crew members aboard. (posted by Calvin Capps) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:12) The repair teams were working wonders. The sensors & other damaged systems were almost back online now, their various power indicators rising & falling sporadicly in time with the tinkerings going on within the opened up accessways beneath the deck. "I`m almost there sir", said one of the engineers working within a tiny opening. "Just one more......minute......Sensors are........", he added, pausing & grunting slightly as he struggled to replace the burnt out panel & it`s associated circuitry within. "Back online.....!",he exclaimed. The bridge consoles imediately powered up one by one as the new panels initialised & ran through their self diagnostic preinstallation routines. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the Paladins hearing & vision suddenly returned once again. Ensign T`Vhor wasted no time at all. They had an ailing ship in need of attention now. The USS Nautilus was virtually crippled having gone through the hell of multiple onslaughts from Doenitz`s ships. T`Vhor read off her vital signs one by one as they were relayed upon his screen. "The Nautilus has hull breaches on decks nine, fourteen, fifteen, twenty one & twenty two sir", said T`Vhor, "her port nacelle remains offline as does her shield generator", he added. "She is not going to last much longer sir" (Reply CO, Any) "Plotting a course to the Nautilus now sir", said Ensign T`Vhor switching to the tactical viewer. "The Nautilus is stationary at bearing zero one four mark twenty, coordinates have been fed to helm", he added. Imediately, the Paladin was underway, leaving the crippled Sovereign behind to deal with her own onboard meltdowns. "I have multiple targets sir", said T`Vhor, "all hostile, all inbound to the Nautilus, the dragon slayers & the shark baits are regrouping & engaging the remaining Keltoi", he added whilst continually scanning the swarm of fighters that had come from nowhere to continue the relentless attack on the Nautilus. Imediately they were in range, the Paladin opened fire with her forward phaser array, sending two of the small vessels into shield collapse & subsequent meltdown as their warp cores took the full force of the next phaserblast. The remaining fighters quickly reformed into an attack formation, three of the six then broke off to attack the Paladin as it came in & the remaining three concentrated their fire on the Nautilus in another attempt to destroy the valiant & brave vessel. The three attack fighters were no match for the Paladin though & they were sent on their way within minutes, one being destroyed almost instantly, the other two rendered disabled & floating aimlessly without power as the Paladin veered away under Max`s expert helmsmanship to take on the three that were engaging the Nautilus. By the time the ships had finally been despatched, the Nautilus was in a terrible state. The crew had jettisoned the warp core after internal damage had compromised the matter/amtimatter containment chamber feeds. Her drive was now offline, her shields had collapsed & it was touch & go now as to wether she would even be able to be recovered. One thing however was certain, if she was recovered, it would not be taking place under her own power. "Sir, the Nautilus is signalling.......", said T`Vhor pausing momentarilly in order to take in what was coming through. "She is signalling.....abandon ship sir", he added, his voice trailing off as her desperate situation was all of a sudden made very clear to the Paladins bridge crew. (Reply CO, Any) "Aye sir", said T`Vhor, "the Sovereign remains stationary at her last coordinates, coming alongside the Nautilus now & preparing cargobay two for crew reception", said T`Vhor. "Medical has been alerted to receive multiple casualties", he added. (Reply CO, Any) "Rescanning now sir", said T`Vhor as he switched to the tactical viewer once again. "The Dragon Slayers & the Shark Baits have disabled the remaining Keltoi", said T`Vhor, "They are currently showing no other contacts nearby at this time". The eyes of the entire bridge crew of the Paladin however were now fixed upon the main viewer as it relayed in graphic detail, the extent of the damage the Nautilus had actually just taken. Burn marks were visible all over her exterior & large sections of her hull plating were missing, the debris floating nearby a testament to the violent decompressions she had sustained at her various hull breach points. Some of her escape pods had by this time fired, leaving small holes in the hull where they had once been. These were now floating nearby awaiting pickup by any capable starfleet vessel. Considering her damage, it was remarkable that the Nautilus was even still intact. The Paladin`s task now however had changed from one of attack & defence, to one of rescue. It was obvious that the crew needed to be evacuated as soon as possible lest the Nautilus exploded right there in front of them all. Medical teams had already been alerted & despatched to cargo bay two to receive her wounded & an engineering team had been put on standby for possible beam over to assess her viability for towing. The Nautilus `s life was clearly hanging in the balance now, that much was very clear for all to see. (posted by Alan) (USS Paladin - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Alura Rathyn - 1013) Alura watched over her board as the Paladin careened away from the disabled Sovereign class ship and moved to assist the beleaguered Nautilus, closing the expanse between to the two starships rapidly. Red lights flashed warning of the damage the Paladin had already taken in the battle. Shields were dropping below seventy percent. Alura touched off her combadge quickly. "Lt. Morgan," she hailed and didn't wait for a reply. "Divert every bit of power you can spare from the auxiliary generators into the shields — sir." She added the last after remembering, in time, that he outranked her. "We're covering life support on seven decks but I'll see what can be done," came the reply. Seconds passed as the ship's protective field strengthened. Alura praised the lieutenant silently and touched her badge again. "Rathyn to Matrix. Sir, our shields are up to 78 percent." (posted by David) (USS Paladin - Main Engineering - CEO LTJG Steven Matrix - 1013) Alura praised the lieutenant silently and touched her badge again. "Rathyn to Matrix. Sir, our shields are up to 78 percent." Matrix was on the other side of engineering barely noticing anything outside his view of the master console. He was trying to maintain power to the weapons systems, life support and the shields. - "Good work ensign...we need to find more power in a hurry...too many systems impacted by the fight." Matrix continued to scan the ships systems, then it hit him. "Ensign is the third warp coil online? I can't tell from my console...can't access it from here. If it isn't lets get it operational we can implement additional plasma generation and divert it to the shields." (Reply Rathyn) =^="Matrix to engineering teams. Please report in...I need a damage report."=^= (Reply any) "Ensign Rathyn, I'm heading up a deck to visually inspect the warp cores...I'll contact you when I arrive...looks like the turbo lift is out so I'll have to get there via Jeffries tube." (posted by Steve) (USS Paladin - Bridge - CONN Lt. Max - 1015) Now that the engineering teams had succesfuly gotten the computers running again was a great relief for Max. He thought of himself as one of the best pilots in starfleet, but it wasn't the esasiest task to do being blind. Max now viewed all the small ships on his console and flew staright for them. Thanks to the help of the Paladin's computers Max was able to manuever between the fighters with out hitting them with the Paladin. T'Vhor did a great job again with letting Max know exactly his ideas and best tactics to attack the enemy fighters. Max had learned to trust T'Vhor with out any questions. Max flew and T'Vhor delivered what he was suppose to. Max kept punching in commands into his board. As he kept switching from looking at the view screen to his console. Max had heard the different reports comming in from the different officers for the status of the Nautilus. He had no idea though that the Nautilus was going to relese its core. Max looked up again at the view screen and watched escape pods fly from the side of the Nautilus. The Paladin had now made it to the Nautilus to protect it and the two officers at tactical were able to elimate the enemy fighters. Also from the help of the Dragon Slayers. (posted by Calvin Capps) (Boarding Vessel. Cockpit. Ensign Greg Dunn, 1016) The vessel’s tactical officer turned around in his seat and gave Greg the thumbs up indicating that the show was on. He then turned back to his console and the pilot turned around and showed him five fingers indicating an ETA of five minutes. Greg got out of the chair and headed onto the flight deck where the marines and security personel were waiting patiently. “OK People five minutes.” Greg picked up one of his collection. A double barrel shot gun as well as the bandolier of cartridges, which he slung over his shoulder. “We are going to storm deck three and move up to the bridge from there. Do not fire until fired upon… I say again do not fire until fired upon.” Greg loaded the shotgun and pulled on the pump making the weapon lethal. He then drew the desert eagle and checked the chamber. Seeing that it was safe he loaded the weapon. “OK let’s rock this joint.” Greg gave the security and marine personnel a smile. He poked his head in the cockpit. “Signal for the other ships to move in.” (posted by Greg Dunn) (USS Paladin, Bridge, CO, Captain Eva Straton, 1018) Eva sat in the command chair watching the rescue of the Nautilus crew. Her eyes moved to the tactical display in one corner of the screen. She wasn't gonna relax just yet, there was still much to do. Her crew were haggard, but performing their duty with precision and skill. She was proud of them. ~Still we are not out of the woods yet.~ The Bright Star and the Fighting Whatever's where still engaged on Gamma Sigma VII D. The Mithrandir was providing aerial bombardment for the marines on Gamma Sigma IV. The space battle was over, but the ground battle was just getting started. "Order Shark Bait back to Gamma Sigma IV and provide air cover for the marines there. Dragon Slayers, proceed to Sigma VII and back up the Fighting Whatever's and the Bright Star. Once all the Nautilus crew is on board, move us into orbit of Sigma IV. We will come back for the Nautilus when the system is secured. Have the boarding teams on the Sovereign follow us and establish orbit 5,000 kilometers beneath us," Eva ordered, her eyes never leaving the main view screen. She pressed button on the arm of her command chair. "Commander Tahlmari report." (Reply Capps, Tahlmari) "Lt. Matrix," Eva said next, "I need a complete damage report and repair estimates. ASAP Lt." (Reply Matrix) "Ensign T'Vhor, what is the status of those enemy boarding teams?" (Reply T'Vhor) "Ensign Brownlee. What is sensor status?" (Reply Brownlee) "Bridge to Sickbay. What is your status? Are you prepared to begin receiving wounded from the surface?" (Reply Sickbay) (posted by Wes) (USS Paladin - Bridge - TAC/Acting SC T`Vhor - 10:18) "Ensign T'Vhor, what is the status of those enemy boarding teams?", said the Captain. "The hostiles have been neutralised & taken care of sir", said T`Vhor, "those still alive are either in the infirmary under guard or in the brig", he added. The boarding craft have been detached from the hull & repair teams are currently replacing the damaged hull plating", said T`Vhor whilst continuing to oversee the status of the Nautilus via his tactical console. Most of her crew were now onboard the Paladin & the engineering teams were also in place to carry out assessments on her viability for recovery. NRPG: The balls in yours & Jeremy`s court on her fate now Wes.... RPG: With the last of the Nautilus`s crew now aboard & being attended to, she was left with a skeleton crew of engineers & support teams to maintain her position via minimal command functions. As for the Paladin though, the Captain had just ordered her to proceed to Signa IV, Ensign T`Vhor returned to his console & accessed the required course & heading information. "Plotting a course to Signa IV & feeding coordinates to helm now sir", said T`Vhor. The Paladin then swung about & left the Nautilus in the capable hands of those left onboard her. Within a few minutes, the Paladin was approaching Signa IV`s orbital apogee & preparing to enter standard orbit as ordered. There was still some damage to the Paladins autohelm controls however, so Max was going to have to do this manually. A task he would very probably relish. "The coordinates for orbit insertion have been fed to helm sir, but Lt Max is going to have to perform the maneouver manually", said T`Vhor. (Reply CO, Max, Any) The Sovereign has responded to her new orders & is following us in sir", said T`Vhor. (posted by Alan) (USS Paladin - Deck 1, Bridge - Acting CSO Joran Matthew Brownlee - 10:20) "Ensign Brownlee. What is sensor status?" Still sifting through reams of sensor data, Joran was able to get an answer out. "Sensors are online, but we still don't have long-range sensors, captain." (posted by Spencer) (USS Paladin - Bridge - FO/Chief Ops Lt. Calvin Capps - 1020) Lt. Capps was still having trouble with his console, and it was getting harder and harder for him perform do his dutys. Every so often Calvin has had to personally send another ops personal to give orders to certain teams around the huge ship. Other times it worked as if nothing was ever wrong with the computers. After the assault in the air was over there was still alot that needed to be done. The wise Commanding Officer knew this and started to bark orders around immediatly. Obvisoulsly not wanting to lose any time that was always necessary in battles. "Order Shark Bait back to Gamma Sigma IV and provide air cover for the marines there. Dragon Slayers, proceed to Sigma VII and back up the Fighting Whatever's and the Bright Star. Once all the Nautilus crew is on board, move us into orbit of Sigma IV. We will come back for the Nautilus when the system is secured. Have the boarding teams on the Sovereign follow us and establish orbit 5,000 kilometers beneath us," Eva ordered, her eyes never leaving the main view screen. Captain Straton was tossing out the ordrs right and left with no pause between them. Lt. Capps was having some problems keeping up with her since the console was being more stubborn than ever. He wanted to take his fist and slam into the baord, but had the inner strenght not to. However Calvin had succesfully been able to enter all the commands from Captain Straton. The diffent ships all responded back in seconds. "All ships responded sir," Calvin reported letting the Captain know that the orders were confirmed and they would be executed. After a few more minutes of laoding the rest of the Nautilus crew on baord, Calvin recieved a message on his board. He looked down at it. Half the message was missing, but Lt. Capps was confident that he knew what it was getting at. "All personal has arrived on the Paladin, and all personal has left the Paladin to help the Nautilus. We are ready for Sigma IV, Sir." In no time the Captain gave the order and Lt. Max flew the ship toward the respected planet. (posted by Calvin Capps) (USS Paladin, Sickbay, CMO Jared Keller , 1027) Sickbay was handling the injuries from the battle well, the extra drills he had pushed them into had formed medical into a much more efficient group and Jared was satisfied with the way they were handling themselves. several decks had been heavily damaged or breached and among the injuries were some deaths he would have to handle later; but first he had to attend to the living. He was wrist deep in the torso of a security officer who had been too close to an exploding bulkhead and received a number of large shrapnel fragments when the voice of Captain Straton came over the intercom in sickbay. =^=Bridge to Sickbay. What is your status? Are you prepared to begin receiving wounded from the surface?=^= "Orderly activate my com unit please!" Jared shouted to an attendant standing nearby. The startled man jumped to him and slapped his badge. "This is Keller here Captain, Sickbay is ready." (Reply: Straton) "I am activating our Emergency response team now Captain, Keller out." He took his eyes off the fragment as he dropped it onto the tray. "Doctor Weiler activate our cargo bay emergency unit, they are about to beam up wounded." Eric nodded and hurried off as he slapped his combadge and began ordering his team in place. ~Now comes the hard part.~ Jared thought as he grasped the last fragment with the forceps and pulled it out. "Close this man up." (posted by Charles) (USS Paladin - Bridge - CONN Lt. Max - 1028) Max stayed clam under the situation he had just gotten in to. The fire fight with the enemy vessels had knocked out different boards and consoles on the bridge. Repair teams have tried their hardest to fix as much as possible as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the conn console was not one of the lucky one they have gotten to yet. In any case if they were to work on it, it would be most likely for the engineering team to take it offline, but that was impossible to do. The navigation systems was a necessity. So, Lt. Max was having to fly it with his experience alone with a few components still working on his console. The now captured sovereign was following behind the Paladin. Max needed to get the standard orbit right the first time other wise there could be harder turbulence than necessary. Also if it went to badly then the gravitational force could send the ship bouncing from the atmosphere or blowing up through it. Max typed a few buttons into the console and then put his fore finger on to the circular grid to manually fly the ship into orbit. The Paladin descended slightly toward the planets surface. Max then maneuvered the ship into a circular motion so it would now travel in the direction of the planets orbit. Once in position, Max looked at the view screen one last time and double checked everything he could to make this successful. He commanded the Paladin to descend a little more. He decided it was to much and pulled the ship up a few degrees to fix his mistake. A small bead of sweet now dripped down from his forehead. It fell onto his bottom lip and he instinctively wiped it off with his tongue quickly. He had no time to think how bad it tasted or even why he licked it off in the first place. His mind was on flying this ship into standard orbit. A few seconds later after Max started to breath again, the planets force took control of the ship and started to carry it into the path of the planets orbit. "Standard Orbit achieved sir. The sovereign class is also now 5,000 kilometers beneath us sir." Max smiled. (posted by Calvin Capps) (Captured Sovereign, Bridge, ACSO, Lt Shane Schofield, 1045) While the boarding party used the transporters to beam the unconscious crew of the Sovereign to the Cargo Bay Shane finally entered the bridge. It had been the scene of a brutal, but short lived, firefight in which both sides had taken casualties. Once command of the bridge had been established every deck beneath the bridge had been flood with anestasine gas which had rendered the crew unconscious and had probably saved a great many lives. It was decided that the Cargo Bay would be of sufficient size to hold the entire crew temporarily, at least until their fates were ultimately decided. There were so few Paladin personnel on board the captured vessel to effectively contain the crew so it was decided that they should remain unconscious until further personnel could be brought over from the Paladin and the rest of the fleet. Shane sat in the CONN position and scanned the area to get a better idea of what was happening in the battle. Seeing the Paladin rush over to the Nautilus sent a cold shiver of fear up Shane's spine. Scanning her, he saw that she was indeed in a lot of trouble. Accessing helm control Shane brought the Sovereign closer to the Nautilus and its escape pods, careful to move slowly and to broadcast his identification and the news of the capture of the vessel to the fleet. The last thing he wanted now was to be attacked by his own side while attempting to render assistance. As many as could be spared of the boarders were sent to assist in the recovery of the escape pods and their cargoes of Nautilus crew. Those that were able immediately took up temporary duties aboard the Sovereign and Shane was mightily glad to be relieved at the helm. All the while he had been sitting at the helm he had felt uncomfortable. A growing wetness had spread across the seat of his pants. Shane feared he had wet himself with excitement or fear, most probably both he told himself, but when he looked down at the seat when his relief showed up he saw to his horror that he had actually been sitting in a pool of blood. Shane hurriedly made his way into the Captain's Ready Room, found the small bathroom there and promptly relieved himself of his last meal. When he finally stopped throwing up he returned to the bridge and took up a vacant station, all the while trying not to look at the CONN but always finding his eyes drawn there. He tried to force himself to focus on his work but it was all but impossible. Shane rushed back to the ASP that still sat amid the shattered remains of the conference room table, locked himself in and broke down in tears. (posted by Andrew) [END] ~Calvin Capps