Compile#24 August 01-08 (USS Rosenante & USS Boudicca Joint) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission: Once More into the Breach Day 4 Stardate: 2414.01.18 Compile Summary (USS Boudicca - Battle Bridge - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 4 - 1739) (Runabout Rosencrantz - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma - 1758) (Runabout Rosencrantz, ACSO Ensign Isra Caliel, Day 4, 1759) (Runabout Rosencrantz, ACSO Ensign Isra Caliel, Day 4, 1826) (Runabout Rosencrantz- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 1830) (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - FO - Commander T'Larah Sullivan - 1831) (Shuttle Rosencrantz - ATAC/SC Ensign (jg) Jessica Signos - Day 4 - 1833) (Shuttle Rosencrantz - CMO Lt jg Kimiko Ichijo - Day 4 - 1834) (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CONN - Lieutenant Dralar, Day 4 -1835) (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CO - Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 4 -1836) (Runabout Rosencrantz - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 4 - 1837) (Runabout Rosencrantz, ACSO Ensign Isra Caliel, Day 4, 1838) (Runabout Rosencrantz, SO, Ens. Mike Rosenbauer, Day 4 -1840) (Runabout Rosenante, 2O/COPS, Lieutenant Tom Jackson, Day 4 -1843) (Runabout Rosenante, 2O/COPS, Lieutenant Tom Jackson, Day 4 -1844) (Runabout Rosencrantz- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 1845) (USS Rosenante - En-route to Sickbay - ATAC/SC Ensign (jg) Jessica Signos - Day 4 - 1920) (USS Rosenante - Sickbay - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 4 - 2005) (USS Rosenante- Security Office- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 2300) (USS Rosenante- Security Office- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 2301) (USS Rosenante- Security Office- ATAC/SC Ensign (jg) Jessica Signos- 2333) (USS Rosenante- Security Office- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 2334) ======================================================= Mission: Once More Into the Breach Day 5 Stardate: Age of Makto Compile Summary (Dovek II - Private Residence - Chief Scientist D’askto - 0600) (Dovek II - Research Complex, Security Bay Alpha - Chief Scientist D’askto - 0603) (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CO - Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 5 -0800) (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - 2O/COPS - Lieutenant Thomas Jackson, Day 5 -0803) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - CO Captain Durand - 0805) (USS Rosenante - Main Engineering - CEO, Lieutenant Steven Matrix, Day 5 -0807) (USS Boudicca - Battle Bridge - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - 0808) (USS Rosenante - Starboard Nacelle Junction - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 5 - 0817) (USS Rosenante – Transporter room 3 – Ensign Isra Caliel - 0819) (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma -0820) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Battle Bridge - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - Day 4 - 1739) As the doors to the Battle Bridge opened Josh turned her head minimally, enough to see that Vanik had arrived. He marched up to the centre chair and reported in. "Commander. I have arrived. How may I assist you?" Josh simply nodded, although one side of her mouth pulled up into a smile that those that knew her well would recognise. "Indeed you have Ensign. I would be grateful if you would man the science station please and link it into it's counterpart on the bridge." (Reply Vanik) She watched as he crossed to the station and did as he was ordered. When she noticed him turn and nod to her that he was ready Josh began updating him on the situation. "Both the Boudicca and the Rose have been hiding in the atmosphere of the nearest Gas Giant to the planet we investigated, since the Borg attacked us. They have been laying down charges in the hope of smoking us out and I need you to monitor exactly where those charges are and send that information to both the Bridge Tactical and our own Tactical station too. Also, I need you to keep an eye on the planet since we need to know exactly when and where our shuttles clear the atmosphere. The Rose will be the rescue craft and we will be running interference with the Borg so I need you to keep on top of everything in this sector of space and please don't be afraid to sing out if you see anything, anything at all that catches your eye. Do you understand Ensign?" (Reply Vanik) "Good. You have your orders Ensign. Carry on." (Reply Vanik iyw) (Posted by Marilyn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma - 1758) "That much energy consumption will be noticed by the Borg...even at this range," Chance managed to get out between coughs. Ben knew he was right but they had to do something to stop the Borg, they couldn't let them go back in time. "He's right," Eian said, making his way toward the forward end of the runabout. "But I can modify the deflector dish to emit a holographic signature, like we had with our weapons, but at a larger rate. We have to pick a system to sacrifice for the power output, and I think it should be the replicators. They have just enough power in their damaged state, and it looks like we have enough medical supplies for everything that can be done here, anyway." Ben considered it for a moment, the replicators were the only system they could sacrifice now. They still needed weapons, engines and life support. "I'll need about five minutes to reroute power from the replicators, and then another two to input the holographic layover code. The Borg will see a signature that'll blend in with the rest of the radiation discharge in the atmosphere." "Get on it." Ben said. "Mr. Rosenbauer, move us into position." Then he had a thought, operational command wasn't his. Tom was the ranking officer present and the call was his to make. He moved to the 2O's side and said. "Didn't mean to step on your toes Tom. The call is yours." Another thought entered his head and he added. "The only thing I can think of that would cause the Borg to jump back in time is the sphere. We destroyed it in the present but it still exists in the past, we have to stop them from getting it or everything we did here today will be in vain." He was certain Tom didn't need to be told that, others had to be thinking the same thing at this point. The Borg weren't jumping back to avoid a conflict, they still wanted the sphere. The Borg were nothing if not persistent, if they couldn't get what they wanted now they would get it in another time. What was the sphere and why was it so important to the Borg. What secrets did it hold if the Borg were willing to expend so many resources to acquire it, they weren't in the process of wasting resources for nothing. (reply O'Neill, Jackson, any) (posted by Milo Young) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz, ACSO Ensign Isra Caliel, Day 4, 1759) "Didn't mean to step on your toes Tom. The call is yours." Ben said, to Tom After a short pause, he added again "The only thing I can think of that would cause the Borg to jump back in time is the sphere. We destroyed it in the present but it still exists in the past, we have to stop them from getting it or everything we did here today will be in vain." Isra stayed at the science station for a moment, before moving over to one of the engineering stations. "Eian, if you deal with the rerouting, I'll get that holographic signature written. I've had a bit of experience with holographic programs, so should be able to at least save you some time checking it over." Isra said, as she began working on it. It was easy enough to make a holographic signature that looked like radiation, but it was a whole new kettle of fish to make it look like that to the Borg. ~I should have thought about the energy signature from the deflector. Stupid mistake.~ (Reply Eian) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz, ACSO Ensign Isra Caliel, Day 4, 1826) “Mr Rosenbauer... If you bring us in so that piece of moon debris is directly between us and the Borg Pyramid, I can use the deflector to push it towards them. Might not do much damage, but it could at least disrupt their attempts to mess with time.” She said. “Drop a couple of armed photon torpedos on it too, for added boom.” She added. It was a plan, as good as any. If they could disrupt the Borg's attempt for even a second it might be enough for the Rosenante and the Bouddica to intervene. "Let's give it a try." Ben said. "If they open a temporal rift and travel back in time god knows what damage they can inflict." “Yes sir.” Caliel said, making the necessary modifications to the deflector. The changes were very easy, as she only needed to enhance its already apt deflective abilities. “Ok, I’m ready when you are, Mr Rosenbauer.” She said, ready on the trigger. (reply rosenbauer) Written By Andy Jones --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 1830) “Mr Rosenbauer... If you bring us in so that piece of moon debris is directly between us and the Borg Pyramid, I can use the deflector to push it towards them. Might not do much damage, but it could at least disrupt their attempts to mess with time. Drop a couple of armed photon torpedoes on it too, for added boom.” It was a plan, Raschen heard suggested from where he lay bandaged up on the deck. Against any other enemy, Chance felt the plan was as good as good as any. Against the Borg, he was scared $***less. "Let's give it a try." He heard Ben say. "If they open a temporal rift and travel back in time god knows what damage they can inflict." “Yes sir.” Caliel said. Then a few seconds later “Ok, I’m ready when you are, Mr Rosenbauer.” She said. "NO!" Chance tried to shout between coughs as blood continued to escape from the corners of his mouth. (Reply any) "Tom, Mike, Ben..." (Cough, hack, cough cough) "That much energy consumption will be noticed by the Borg..." (Cough cough hack) "they could swat us to death with a single shot..." (Cough hack cough) "even at this range." Chance finished as he spit blood onto his bandages. (Reply any in earshot) Posted by Charlie --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - FO - Commander T'Larah Sullivan - 1831) "Mister Dralar, earlier you stated that the mine's explosion could ignite the atmosphere of this planet we are in, what is in this atmosphere that could ignite?" she inquired. (Reply Dralar or OPS or Science) "Pockets of methane and nitrous-oxide?" She thought for a moment. ~That's it.~ she thought to herself. "Collect as much as you can on our way out, we add some deuterium from our reserves, probably about a 30% Deuterium mix will work. One quarter impulse until we clear the planet completely then punch it to full impulse on my command Mister Dralar." (Reply Dralar) "Hargaas, prepare to forcibly release our methane, nitrous-oxide and deuterium combo and blow it on to the cube." she said. (Reply Hargaas) "Mister Nunez, hold weapons fire until my mark." she said. (Reply Nunez) "I understand that it's not at full Ensign, we aren't going to need a lot to get the job done." she assured her. "And I'm going to set the main deflector to emit a sub-space pulse to confuse their sensors. Hopefully the Boudicca will be attempting something on their exit to do some damage as well." Everyone on the bridge nodded their understanding. "Mister Hargaas, start collecting, mix the deuterium as we collect it, Mister Dralar one quarter impulse power, bring us out." (Reply Hargaas, Dralar) The ship began to shudder slightly as she fought against the gas giant's gravity and atmosphere. T'Larah could imagine how the force fields holding the atmosphere in the Rose on certain decks would be shimmering and straining, but here surrounded by decks, safely nuzzled between layers upon layers of duranium composite, there were no force fields to strain. The main view screen swirled with activity as they ascended. Mixtures of gasses swirled in a myriad of patterns, rich greens and browns. (Reply Dralar) Dralar reported that they almost escaped the planet's soup-mist like atmosphere and T'Larah readied the subspace pulse. The next few moments felt like an eternity as the brief time stretched out in T'Larah's mind. The view screen cleared up to show the inky blackness littered with stars of normal space, the Borg cube loomed on the left side of the screen. T'Larah keyed the command and pure subspace 'white noise' issued from the main deflector briefly. T'Larah's scan confirmed it worked, but probably not for long. "Activate the ram-scoops." The Commander ordered. A noxious greenish-red-brown gas exhaled onto the Borg cube as Dralar pitched to Starboard and began moving away from the cube. The cube was large enough that the gaseous combo clung to it like a makeshift atmosphere. "Mister Dralar, full impulse, Mister Nunez, fire phasers for the center of the gas cloud, keep the heat up, and then fire a spread of three photon torpedoes." (Reply Dralar, Nunez) The Rosenante banked directly away from the cube under Dralar's expert commands. Then an orange beam lept our from the aft phaser array and ignited the nitrous oxide mixture into a blue fireball that completely engulfed one side of the cube. The phaser punched through as the Borg shield collapsed on that side of the cube. The three photons exited their tube one after the other in rapid succession. With no shields to intercept them and the Borg still blind as an earthworm, the torpedoes slammed into the hull of the cube creating large dents and smaller holes in the outer hull. "Good shooting Ensign." she said and turned around to congratulate the Ensign who was firing, and saw Captain Salid standing next to her. "Curious." Sullivan stated, "How long have you been standing there sir?" (Reply Salid) "Well lets go pick up the runabout then shall we?" (Reply Dralar) "Sir while you were gone the Borg Pyramid began generating chroniton particles, and we found the runabout that is why we exited the gas giant." T'Larah gave a small report to bring him up to speed. (Reply Salid, Dralar, Nunez, Hargaas, USS Boudicca) (posted by Todd) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Shuttle Rosencrantz - ATAC/SC Ensign (jg) Jessica Signos - Day 4 - 1833) It has always been said that the closer you are to death the more you find you who you really are, and for Jessica never had she been closer to that fine point than now. Has Jessica's body faltered, and her breathing, pulse, her life stopped. (reply Eain, Any Doc., or Any one in General) Jessica found herself surrounded by darkness and shadow, has her body clung to life. A figure emerged from the darkness, and Jessica found herself facing herself, or at least what appeared to be herself. The similarities were uncanny only a few differences could be found and those ever hard press to find. But Jessica found them the light shade of blue that out lined lavender eyes and the sliver streaks the passed in the others midnight black hair. "At last we meet.." her other self called to her. "Who are you?" Jessica replied defensively. "I'm you" her other self answered. "And then again I'm not." Jessica glared at herself, clearly not in the mood for cryptic answers, she only wanted the rest this person was keeping her from. "Besides," Her other self continued. "Your not even suppose to be here. We..." She motions a finger between the two. "Are never suppose to meet." Jessica took a step back at hearing that. "What?" "There is so much that has been kept from you," Spoke the one with lavender eyes. " And Yes, I know what you've gone though, I understand more than you know how much it hurts. But you can't let that stop you.... You can't die here!!" She screamed at Jessica. Jessica opened her mouth to speak but here other self was quicker. "Do you think our parents would want you cut our life short, no matter how hard things might be or how bleak they become we gotta fight though it. We gotta survive. We gotta find your dreams..." She was quite for a moment before she spoke again. "Because they are my dreams too." It was true, Jessica was ready to give up, to let the darkness overtake her. But how did this other self know so much about here. She saw though Jessica has if she wasn't there. She spoke again, the tear laden lavender eyes. "Understand that you have a gift, a curse, a cage that people have died for, will continue to die for, and die to protect. Don't you know that... No you wouldn't know that. Everyone that's been laid at our alter has been kept from you." She shook her head saying more than intended. "I wont let you give up on life." Her other self walked toward a stunned Jessica, wrapped her arms around her in a deep embrace. "You must go now, Tell Eian we love him" ~What?~ Next Jessica knew her other self though her out of the darkness and back to consciousness, her body wracked with pain. Her back arched has she came to gasping for air, and near screaming. Jessica soon calmed, the drugs and medication were taking there effect. She felt light headed, her chest burned and Jessica began to wonder if everything she just saw was a dream as her body began to stabilize. (reply Any.) (posted by Matthew Locke) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Shuttle Rosencrantz - CMO Lt jg Kimiko Ichijo - Day 4 - 1834) Kimiko had stabilized the ensign as much as she could in this environment, there was not a single reading that she liked or was even comfortable with. There were other injured that warred for her attention and there was no way in good conscious that she could devote all of her attention to a patient that may already be brain dead. There was no telling how much damage that had been done through lack of blood volume. Of course the heart was still beating and there was neuro-activity, but not in the higher regions, but on the scale barely discernable from autonomic features. Kimiko rose and tethered her tricorder to the monitoring remotes. ~So little time. So many fires~ Kimiko thought to herself. ~I am definitely going to issue orders that if anyone complains about being bored, M’Epak has permission to thump the sense back into the offender~ Dr Ichijo made it over to St. Jean and one of the other critical patients. Kimiko was impressed with the quiet efficiency of the medic. “What do we have?” The doctor asked (Reply St Jean) “Did you..” Kimiko started, when distinctive two toned alarm sounded from the tricorder. For a second as the doctor brought the device in view, Kimiko debated whether any further investment would be warranted. It would be a hard decision to make, but one that was necessary. Kimiko noticed there was spike in nuero-activity and aside from the heart stopping, her vitals were markedly better. ~Not dead yetm that’s weird~ Kimiko thought and turned back to St Jean while rising “You ok” (Reply St Jean) Both of the women knew there was only one answer to the question, but it had to be asked. With a quick nod, Kimiko returned Signo’s side. She cracked open the defibrillation case, applied the units to either side of the security officer’s chest, and started compressions. The blinking amber light showed that heart cocktail was being administered. ~If you die on me, I am going to be very cross~ Kimiko told the women silently as she watched the steady violet light. Hoping for a shockable rhythm, the doctor glanced at the vitals on the tricorder while doing compressions, after thirty compressions, Kimiko gave two breaths and started compressions again. After what seemed like hour, a tone sounded from the unit and Kimiko moved her hands. The blinking red light turned solid and a small jerk showed that a current was being applied. ~“Still v fib~ Kimiko thought as she resumed compressions and the device administered another round of drugs. Two minutes later the unit sounded another warning tone and shocked the security officer. “I have sinus” Kimiko declared Regloving, the doctor checked beneath the loose bandages to see if the resuscitation efforts had dislodged her earlier efforts. She left the device in place and returned to her previous patient. (Reply St Jean, any) (Posted by Jack) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CONN - Lieutenant Dralar, Day 4 -1835) "Mister Dralar, earlier you stated that the mine's explosion could ignite the atmosphere of this planet we are in, what is in this atmosphere that could ignite?" she inquired. "There are numerous pockets of Nitrous Oxides, Triflourides and Methane gas, commander." The Helmsman replied. "Pockets of methane and nitrous-oxide?" She replied then paused for a moment. "Collect as much as you can on our way out, we add some deuterium from our reserves, probably about a 30% Deuterium mix will work. One quarter impulse until we clear the planet completely then punch it to full impulse on my command Mister Dralar." "Aye commander." The Skorr officer quickly tapped out the commands on his console that opened the Bussard Collectors on the leading of the warp nacelles. "The intakes are now open commander, we are ready to move on your command." He reported. "Hargaas, prepare to forcibly release our methane, nitrous-oxide and deuterium combo and blow it on to the cube." she said. "Aye sir, standing by." "Mister Nunez, hold weapons fire until my mark." she said. "Understood, sir. Weapons standing by." she replied. "tactical capability is only at 65% currently sir." "I understand that it's not at full Ensign, we aren't going to need a lot to get the job done." she assured her. "And I'm going to set the main deflector to emit a sub-space pulse to confuse their sensors. Hopefully the Boudicca will be attempting something on their exit to do some damage as well." Everyone on the bridge nodded their understanding. "Mister Hargaas, start collecting, mix the deuterium as we collect it, Mister Dralar one quarter impulse power, bring us out." Hargass tapped in the commands and reported that the collection and mixture process was underway. "Ahead One Quarter impulse, Aye commander." The ship began to shudder slightly as she fought her way to the surface of the Gas Giant. As he emerged long tendrils of ammonia, methane and nitrous Oxides trailed behind here like a gossamer veil revealing her feral beauty. "We are clear of the atmosphere. The Borg cube is adjusting their position, I believe that they've spotted us." Dralar reported. "Activate the ram-scoops." The Commander ordered. A noxious greenish-red-brown gas exhaled onto the Borg cube as Dralar pitched to Starboard and began moving away from the cube. The cube was large enough that the gas cloud clung to it like a makeshift atmosphere. "Mister Dralar, full impulse, Mister Nunez, fire phasers for the center of the gas cloud, keep the heat up, and then fire a spread of three photon torpedoes." "Ahead full Impulse, Aye." Dralar responded and his clawed fingers tapped out the command necessary to fulfill the order. "Firing Phasers." Nunez also responded. The Rosenante banked directly away from the cube under Dralar's expert commands. Then an orange beam lept our from the aft phaser array and ignited the nitrous oxide mixture into a blue fireball that completely engulfed one side of the cube. The phaser punched through as the Borg shield collapsed on that side of the cube. The three photons exited their tube one after the other in rapid succession. With no shields to intercept them and the Borg still blind as an earthworm, the torpedoes slammed into the hull of the cube creating large dents and smaller holes in the outer hull. "Good shooting Ensign." T'Larah praised and then grew quiet for a moment before stating, "Curious. How long have you been standing there sir?" "Just long enough to witness our escape from the planet." The captain replied, "it was good work. Let's go get our people.?" Sullivan turned to Dralar, "Well let's go pick up the runabout then shall we?" "Aye sir." The Skorr officer replied and set course to intercept the runabout. "Sir while you were gone the Borg Pyramid began generating chroniton particles, and we found the runabout that is why we exited the gas giant." T'Larah gave a small report to bring him up to speed. (reply: none needed) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CO - Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 4 -1836) Ahmed had secured the data that he had been reviewing and made his way as quickly as possible to the Holodeck. He stepped into the compartment and had no doubt that something important was underway. Rather than interfere with whatever it was that sullivan was undertaking, he just stepped to the dividing rail and observed. The maneuver wasn't new, it had been used in the Briar Patch by a federation ship during a battle with the Sona. Admittedly, Ahmed wasn't certain if the maneuver had ever been performed while exiting a gas giant, but he supposed there was no reason that it couldn't be attempted. The masterful coordinated maneuvers of his bridge crew assured that the assault performed admirably. The gas dealt some damage to the Cube, while a short follow-up with standard weapons did that much more. Of course the cube wasn't anywhere near critical, and Now Ahmed was pretty certain that they would be hounding the Rosenante on her way to recover the away team. L'Tarah turned to compliment Nunez on her tactical skill when she noticed him standing there. "Good shooting Ensign." T'Larah praised and then grew quiet for a moment before stating, "Curious. How long have you been standing there sir?" "Just long enough to witness our escape from the planet." The captain replied, "it was good work. Let's go get our people.?" Sullivan turned to Dralar, "Well let's go pick up the runabout then shall we?" "Aye sir." The Skorr officer replied and set course to intercept the runabout. "Sir while you were gone the Borg Pyramid began generating chroniton particles, and we found the runabout that is why we exited the gas giant." T'Larah gave a small report to bring him up to speed. Rather than take his seat, Salid strode forward and stood a short distance behind the Helm station. The Rosenante rocked as the Borg cube fired some disruption bolts into the aft quadrant of his ship. "Any sign of the Boudicca?" He asked. "None yet Captain," Nunez replied. "Did we signal them our intent to move?" (reply Sullivan) Ahmed watched as the ship quickly closed the distance to the runabout. With a combined speed of almost warp one, it didn't take very long at all. "Open a channel to the runabout." Salid ordered. "Channel open, "Yalix responded. "Runabout Rosencrantz, stand by to be tractored. Lower your shields and standby for emergency transport." =^= Rosenacrantz here. Understood Captain. Lower our shields now."=^= Ahmed watched as the Runabout slid under the leading edge of the Rosenante. "Tractor beam, Mister Nunez." "Aye, sir. I have them, Holding them steady at 800 meters outside of our shields. " She replied. "Bring them inside our shields Mister Nunez and once everyone is aboard, dump the runabout. we'll come back for it later. mister Yalix, shut it down once we've retrieved everyone." Both officers acknowledged their orders. "Mister Sullivan, meet them in the transporter room and make certain that they they report as needed to either sickbay or duty stations depending on their condition. Take a security team just to be on the safe side." (reply Sullivan) "They are inside the shields sir." Nunez reported. Ahmed Tapped his commbadge. " Salid to transporter Room. =^= Dawson here sir. =^= "Transport all the personnel off the Rosencrantz to the transporter room as quickly as possible ensign." =^= Understood captain. =^= "Salid out." Dawson obviously moved quickly because just a few moments later, Yalix reported, "The runabout has been remotely shut down sir." "Cut it free, Mister Nunez." "Done captain." "Mister Dralar, bring us on an intercept course on that Pyramid." "Yes captain." The Rosenante, already moving at Full Impulse was closing on the Borg Pyramid. They were just outside of weapon's range, when the Temporal vortex formed and the Pyramid slipped inside the temporal threshold. "Follow them through. Signal the Boudicca to follow." "Aye sir." Two officers replied. Ahmed watched with trepidation as the Rosenante crossed the temporal threshold into the conduit developed by the Borg. "Weapons Mister Nunez, phasers only." "Firing Phasers." With he time dilation Ahmed could see the phaser beams as they spanned the distance between the pyramid and the Rosenante. It was almost like watching a dragster move down the racing strip. measurably fast, yet still slow enough to see the movement as it took place. Phaser blast after phaser blast slammed into the pyramid, which apparently was using a great deal of energy to tear open the fabric of time. In the distance beyond the pyramid, the stars were shifting rapidly and the planets of the Dovek system were moving retrograde across the distant opening of the vortex. Behind them, The Boudicca and the Borg Tactical Cube had managed to follow them into the opening. The two Goliath warriors were trading blow after blow, both fighting for their lives. The Rosenante was firing as rapidly as she could. Suddenly a flash behind them signaled the destruction of the Borg Cube. And then a tremendous turbulence jerked them around as the temporal conduit began to destabilize "When we exit, maneuver us hard starboard mister Dralar." "Understood Captain." (reply Boudicca, Away teams, Sullivan) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 4 - 1837) "That much energy consumption will be noticed by the Borg...even at this range," Raschen said, and Eian felt a flutter of panic in his chest, for just a moment. The security officer was absolutely right, and Eian had missed it. He clenched his jaw in anger at himself. He couldn't sit here and allow engineering mistakes like that to be made while he was minimally injured and perfectly capable of stepping in and helping. Enough was enough. He slipped Jessica out of his arms as he stood with a grunt. "He's right," he said, making his way toward the forward end of the runabout. "But I can modify the deflector dish to emit a holographic signature, like we had with our weapons, but at a larger rate. We have to pick a system to sacrifice for the power output, and I think it should be the replicators. They have just enough power in their damaged state, and it looks like we have enough medical supplies for everything that can be done here, anyway." He thought he heard Kimiko saying something to the effect of 'we've done what we can for them here.' He looked to Sanok and Ben. "I'll need about five minutes to reroute power from the replicators, and then another two to input the holographic layover code. The Borg will see a signature that'll blend in with the rest of the radiation discharge in the atmosphere." (reply Sanok or Soma or anyone else) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz, ACSO Ensign Isra Caliel, Day 4, 1838) "Right. I've got the main part of it written. Need any help with the rerouting?" Isra asked, knowing that Eian would be able to continue where she left off. It had been his idea, after all, which meant he must know how to do it. (Reply Eian) "Switch? I can carry on from where you are, if it helps." She replied. At this point, she had tossed her shirt into the decontamination chamber that had been set up, leaving her in her undershirt. The life support systems were already running overtime before, and now they were starting to noticeably struggle. Heat levels were rising. (Reply Eian, any) For a moment, Isra turned back to the viewscreen. "Any change in the Pyramid?" she asked, while there was a short respite in her work. (Reply any) Written by Andy Jones --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz, SO, Ens. Mike Rosenbauer, Day 4 -1840) Mike had listened to all the discussion about the Borg Pyramid and what action everyone thought they should take to stop them from traveling backwards in time and seizing the Sphere. He wasn't liking the direction that the discussion was taking about using the Runabout's shields to bump a piece of the planetary debris into the path of the Borg ship. First off, They'd have to bump it pretty hard. The debris was already traveling at a high rate of speed and the Borg Pyramid was no where even close to being on a tangent vector, which meant that the runabout would have to alter the vector of the chunk of selected debris through several degrees. The shields on the small vessel, even with a bunch of other adjustments simply could not maintain sustained contact with any of these chunks of debris and survive. It simply wasn't possible. Three times Mike had been asked to contribute his opinion, but each time before he could someone would add another bit of information to the stream and the discussion would move forward. When Soma finally realized that Jackson had the final say and was deferring the decision to him, MIke took that opportunity to speak up. He gave a glance at Sanok and said in a clear voice. "Your discussion is moot. There's no way, with the power that this shuttle has available to it, that we can maintain contact with a piece of high-velocity planetary matter long enough to alter it's vector to intercept or even threaten to intercept the Pyramid. " He continued. "The shields simply can't handle the strain, the emitters will collapse and then we'd find ourselves in a collision. Even if Lieutenant jackson gave me that order, I couldn't in good conscious obey it. It's a needless risk with no chance of success." "To further complicate matters, the ship didn't come out of that mess untouched. We've got damaged impulse manifolds and shields are only operating at 13% as it is. What is being proposed simply isn't possible in our current state." (Reply any in the shuttlecraft, especially Jackson) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosenante, 2O/COPS, Lieutenant Tom Jackson, Day 4 -1843) Tom Jackson was tired as well as slightly ticked off. Tom normally was easy going but the past few days had caused him a lot of stress and exhaustion. Tom was about to explode - the teams had momentarily forgotten he had the final say as senior officer present. Ben Soma reminded them of Tom's position. As J9kson started to speak, the looks each person had caused Tom's heart grief. But like it or now, his word was the one that mattered. Jackson took a deep cleansing breath to calm himself. "You all raise good points however Mr Rosenbauer has raised several points I agree with. We are going to find the Rosenante and Boudicca. Then we are going to get aboard and follow the Borg" Tom stopped and waited for responses. (Reply: any in shuttle) Tom's next order was "let's turn to and go home". (Reply: any) (Posted by: Bill W.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosenante, 2O/COPS, Lieutenant Tom Jackson, Day 4 -1844) Tom Jackson was tired as well as slightly ticked off. The discussion of what to do hadn't as considered he was the senior officer present and as such had the final say. Tom said "Let's hold on here folks. I have something I want to say. I am the senior officer here and as such will decide what we do or do not do" Tom said looking at each officer present. Tom normally was easy going but the past few days had caused him a lot of stress and exhaustion. The looks each person caused Tom's heart grief. But like it or now, his word was the one that mattered. Jackson took a deep cleansing breath to calm himself. "You all raise good points however Mr Rosenbauer has raised several points I agree with. We are going to find the Rosenante and Boudicca. Then we are going to get aboard and follow the Borg" Tom stopped and waited for responses. (Reply: any in shuttle) Tom's next order was "let's turn to and go home". (Reply: any) (Posted by: Bill W.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Runabout Rosencrantz- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 1845) From where Chance had managed to prop himself upright in the corner by the open door to the cockpit, Chance could overhear much of what was being said. And yes, much of it worried him. Jackson was the senior ranking office onboard and that made it his command. Raschen wasn't sure if he was the second, but with his injuries it didn't matter. The security chief could tell from the tone of his voice the Tom Jackson was tired as well as slightly ticked off. Chance felt bad for his friend, and angry with his junior ranking shipmates who had started acting like they had momentarily forgotten that they did not have the final say. As much as he wanted to help his friend, Chance realized there was very little he could do until he got better. "Come on Tom, you are already in command; now BE in command." Raschen muttered under his breath and continued to listen to what happened in the cockpit. Ben Soma reminded them of Tom's position. Jackson took a audible deep cleansing breath to calm himself before he spoke. "You all raise good points however Mr Rosenbauer has raised several points I agree with. We are going to find the Rosenante and Boudicca. Then we are going to get aboard and follow the Borg" Tom stopped and waited for responses. "Oh damn!" Raschen exclaimed in a whisper. Tom's next order was "let's turn to and go home". "Praise be to Jesus. Tom, you ARE in command." He said aloud before coughing up some more blood, and slumping to the side far enough that he again lay on the deck. Passed out and slowly bleeding to death. (Reply any iyw) Posted by Charlie --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - En-route to Sickbay - ATAC/SC Ensign (jg) Jessica Signos - Day 4 - 1920) How hard can a person hold on to their life? It seemed has if Jessica was determined to find the answer to that question has she struggled to hold firm to her dieing body. How many more close calls could dodge before death's hand found her. Jessica knew not the answers, she may never know, but she was determined to go on living her life and chasing her dreams. Has her other-self had told her to do. Jessica took solace in the fact the Eian was near by. He had only left her side for a few moments but he was never far away. Then there was a bright light and Jessica feared for a moment that she was falling under again that this time she would be beyond all help. But that was not the case. The light faded and she was surrounded by the familiar comforts of the teleporter room on one of the federation vessels. Which one it was she did not care, but at least one had survived. The operator, a young officer Jessica knew not his name, was apparently not prepared for the state of being of the away teams. Has the words "By god, what in the Hell..." reached Jessica's ears. In these lucid moments of a near death existence Jessica did her best to focus on the world around her and try not to think about how hurt and torn her body looked, How exposed she felt, and how helpless she seemed. She saw though blurred vision has the door opened and a medical and tactical teams rushed into the room. The teams took a step back and away from the away teams though, stopping for a second to take measure of the sight before them. Her vision failed and everything went dark, she was so tired, and exhaustion attempted to overtake her. She forced herself awake, forced herself to open her eyes. Jessica saw passing lights from overhead has she was rushed to someplace she could only assume it was medical. She saw the flashes of red has the ship went tor ed alert and the sounds of phaser and disruptor were exchanged liberty. Jessica did not need to be told what had happened. She along with the rest of the away team already knew that the Borg had boarded the vessel they were on and their fight was not over. Pain wracked though her hands re flexed grabbing for whatever they could find purchase. What they found was the softness of the sheets that were laid on the litter she now rode upon. Cloth that was quickly becoming stained crimson with the loss of Jessica's blood. The door's to the medical bay slide open has she was ushered in. It was clear she was not alone, many were hurt, the worse cases were stabilized by the time the away teams were picked up. But that by no means that the medical bay was not a flurry of activity. Jessica relaxed and let the Doctors to there work. She hoped she could again join the fight soon. (posted by Matthew Locke) (reply none needed but always welcome.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Sickbay - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 4 - 2005) Eian had never prayed more in such a short amount of time than he had prayed on that away mission. After coming on board the Rosenante and running to Sickbay at Jessica's side, after watching the doctors work through the chaos of a half-destroyed ship and all the injuries that came along with such a crisis, and after seeing Jessica stable and resting comfortably on a biobed, Eian was convinced that God Himself had reached down with His mighty hand, plucked them out of the doom in which they found themselves, and placed them in a still dangerous, but not fatal, situation. "Tis by the grace of God I am saved," he whispered the quote as he walked over to Jessica's biobed. The ship shook under weapons fire, and Eian knew he would soon have to run to Engineering. Somewhere between the time they had beamed aboard the ship and now, a nurse had healed his various cuts, scrapes, and bruises, and his left wrist was no longer broken. He was so engrossed in the situation that he didn't even recall the regenerators being applied. He reached down and held Jessica's still-battered hand. They hadn't had time to heal her less serious wounds, but Eian was sure they would get to it. "Jessica...can you hear me?" (reply Signos iyw) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante- Security Office- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 2300) Chance sat behind his desk. He had called a late night meeting of all his Security Department plus any available personnel from Tactical. Even La Croix was there. Despite what the Medical Staff had told him, Raschen knew he couldn't just stay in bed. Not with the upcoming fight. ~Round 2~ he thought to himself. "Okay folks, let's get down to the point. I have not officially been cleared for duty, but we are going to need every possible gun in the fight." Referring to the injuries that the folks in Sickbay did a good job of healing as best they could as quick as they did. "Secondly, I have not submitted my official report in to Commander Sullivan as of yet. Part of that report will be the death of Lieutenant Major Shea." Chance looked at the faces present as he remembered sharpshooting her through the head from his position on the planet as Borg drones surrounded her with his Phase rifle on max, he watch her head vaporize and was disgusted with himself. "Any comments thus far anyone?" (Reply any) "We are about to have round 2 of this fight. After what I saw on the planet, I want us to re-evaluate our battle plan. If I were the enemy, I would attack and board this ship as soon as it came out of the vortex and its shields are down. "I know how I would do it. The primary hull will be split in half. The starboard half will be section 1, port 2, and the secondary hull will be 3." Raschen then looked at the assembled group and paused for questions? (Reply any) "Rosenbauer, Nunez, and Sanok; you three choose which section you want to be in charge of. I want you to make your plans to defend your section Without, I say again, without any support from the other two. Questions?" (Reply Rosenbauer, Nunez, Sanok, any) "La Croix, I want you to select a team. You are going to be in charge of the safety for Wang and his cyber-crime unit." Lucien simply nodded. "What are we gonna be doing, Sir?" Wang asked. "I want your team to try and hack into the Borg and feed them false commands." Raschen answered. "One other thing section leaders; I am going to get with the CMO about getting medics into each of your teams." "Last chance for questions. If I didn't answer something clearly enough or not at all; this is the time to get it clarified." Chance finished saying. (Reply any) (Reply Nunez, Rosenbauer, Sanok, any) Posted by Charlie --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante- Security Office- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 2301) Chance sat behind his desk. He had called an early meeting of all his team leaders. Even La Croix was there. Despite what the Medical Staff had told him, Raschen knew he couldn't just stay in bed. Not with the upcoming fight. ~Round 2~ he thought to himself. "Okay folks, let's get down to the point. I have not officially been cleared for duty, but we are going to need every possible gun in the fight. Secondly, I have not submitted my official report in to Commander Sullivan as of yet. Part of that report will be the death of Lieutenant Major Shea." Chance looked at the faces present. "Any comments thus far anyone?" (Reply any) "We are about to have round 2 of this fight. After what I saw on the planet, I want us to re-evaluate our battle plan. If I were the enemy, I would attack and board this ship as soon as it came out of the vortex and its shields are down. "I know how I would do it. The primary hull will be split in half. The starboard half will be section 1, port 2, and the secondary hull will be 3." Raschen then looked at the assembled group and paused for questions? (Reply any) "Rosenbauer, Nunez, and Sanok; you three choose which section you want to be in charge of. I want you to make your plans to defend your section Without, I say again, without any support from the other two. Questions?" (Reply Rosenbauer, Nunez, Sanok, any) "La Croix, I want you to select a team. You are going to be in charge of the safety for Wang and his cyber-crime unit." Lucien simply nodded. "What are we gonna be doing, Sir?" Wang asked. "I want your team to try and hack into the Borg and feed them false commands." Raschen answered. "One other thing section leaders; I am going to get with the CMO about getting medics into each of your teams." "Last chance for questions. If I didn't answer something clearly enough or not at all; this is the time to get it clarified." Chance finished saying. (Reply any) (Reply Nunez, Rosenbauer, Sanok, any) Posted by Charlie --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante- Security Office- ATAC/SC Ensign (jg) Jessica Signos- 2333) Jessica wondered the halls of the Rosenante, she had been by far the worse of the away team members to survive the surface of Dovek II. She had been rushed into sickbay, and into operation. It took three different operations just to get Jessica to this point. The first was to stop and mend the more life threatening wounds, the second was the wounds on her back, finally the mass array of internal damage that had been done. She knew it would still take some time before medical would release her from their care. But when word reached her ear of a meeting of all tactical team leaders, Jessica felt it was her duty to attend. Even if it was only to be told to get back to sickbay and rest. She was glad for the reprieve from the Bio-bed, Jessica understood it was only a reprieve, The Doctor on call would not let the young woman leave unless Jessica gave her word to return has soon has the meeting was over. The Doctor's were concerned about abnormal test results and brain patterns. Jessica in the end conceded and was let to find the Rose's security offices. Jessica wondered and was thankful someone had the foresight to replicate a light blue house dress, for Jessica to wear and replace the tatters that were left of uniform and armor. True going into a tactical meeting to discuss how the Rose was going to fend off the Borg, one would of preferred to be in uniform but for the time being this was all Jessica has to wear. It took sometime to find the Security offices but find them she did. It was had to miss the wave of golden uniforms, that exited the office and passed her by. Jessica made her way into the office, she had to seem out of place, has she stood behind the much older looking man behind the desk. "Sir, I am sorry I am late and for my attire. I was detained." She spoke softly but with a sense of practiced authority. (reply Lieutenant Raschen) "I am Ensign Jessica Signos, ATAC of the Boudicca, and like you I should still be in medical than here talking about the Borg. Where do you need me?" Jessica spoke getting right done to the meat of the subject. (reply Lieutenant Raschen) Jessica had to steady herself on the back of a chair then she was better but still far from a hundred percent. The amount of time she spent of death's door had w pushed her past the point of exhaustion, She needed rest, and she would rest has soon has she learned the part she had to play in the coming fight with the Borg. (reply Lieutenant Raschen) (posted by Matthew Locke) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante- Security Office- CSec- Lieutenant Chance Raschen- 2334) Raschen was standing behind his desk. Ens Nunez, Ens Rosenbauer, LMaj La Croix, LT Sanok, and PO1 Wang were there talking about all the different ideas that the other members of the Security and Tactical Departments had before Chance had released them to prepare for the upcoming battle. As they were talking and debating strategies, Chance noticed a female entering his office wearing a light blue house dress. True it wasn't the most typical thing he had ever seen someone wear going into a tactical meeting. ~She does have nice legs~ Raschen thought with a questioning look and a raised eyebrow on his face. It was hard to miss her as she weaved her way through the wave of golden uniforms, that exited the office as they passed her by. The newcomer made her way into the office and stood behind the much older looking man behind the desk. "Sir, I am sorry I am late and for my attire. I was detained." She spoke softly but with a sense of practiced authority. He turned and looked her up and down before focusing on her face. Raschen kind of recognized the gown she was in. After all, he walked out of Sickbay wearing one just like it only a few hours prior to the meeting. Suddenly he started coughing and then wiped the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief. "Excuse me." He said to everyone in general. The Rose's CSec then focused on the newcomer again saying "There's no need to apologies; but who are you though and what can I do for you?" "I am Ensign Jessica Signos, ATAC of the Boudicca, and like you I should still be in medical than here talking about the Borg. Where do you need me?" Jessica spoke getting right done to the meat of the subject. Attempting to be a gentleman, Raschen did introductions, and then called up her bio on his computer. "Well Jessica, do you have any special skills that will be of use in this fight but that are not in your bio?" Jessica had to steady herself on the back of a chair then she was better but still far from a hundred percent. The amount of time she spent of death's door had w pushed her past the point of exhaustion, She needed rest, and she would rest has soon has she learned the part she had to play in the coming fight with the Borg. "Ensign, if you need to sit down, I understand. But answer my question." Chance said in a harsh tone thinking ~come on; if you can't hold yourself together for a meeting, then I have no use for you~ (Reply Signos) "Okay then. Sit down and help out tuning our plans and we will find a spot for you. Fair enough?" Raschen said as he wiped blood off his mouth again. (Reply Signos) "Good." Then looking at everyone present he started "The Borg showed their ability to Logically and objectively take territory and hold their lines admirably. That being said..." And he let that train of thought just end there. "The Rosenante-class is based on the Sovereign -class. As a privateer, my first 3 objectives would be to take both computer cores, and Main Engineering. There is a core in section 1 and another in 2. Who has those?" (Reply any present) (Reply Signos, any at meeting room for more) Posted by Charlie ======================================================= (Dovek II - Private Residence - Chief Scientist D’askto - 0600) He was a small, unimposing figure -- physically -- but a giant of his time nonetheless. In the language of his time, he was D’askto; a learned individual, revered almost, for his intellect, his compassion, and most of all his wisdom. Nearly all that knew him held him in the utmost regard. Nearly all. He had awoken early. He barely slept of late, so much pressure had he been applying to himself. Time grew short, and he more than any other was keenly aware of that very fact. He felt something move against his leg as he stood looking across the city. He smiled, distracted for a moment and reached down to scratch his Reklar under its neck affectionately. He and his pet had been together for all of the last fourteen seasons -- a long time, in any measure -- and he and the creature shared a bond as strong as any family members might. The creature, though not able to verbalize, seemed possessed of an almost T’kon level of intelligence. It could sense, it would seem, its master’s agitation, and nuzzled back against D’askto’s hand. He let it fix his gaze for a moment. Telepathy in Reklar had never been proven, nor observed in any specimen. D’askto was a scientist above all else, and his view and opinions were those of logic and reason alone. But he *swore* he could feel the touch of his pet’s mind within its gaze... saying ‘plenty of time’. He shook that off, chiding himself for his burst of irrationality, downed his tumbler of Jenesk extract, and headed for the portal. As he stepped into the small anteroom containing his personal transport, he cleared his mind and focused, thinking only of his destination and purpose. He waved his hand before the safety actuator plate and was gone into nothingness. No longer fettered by the constraints, nor even the concepts of conventional space or time, his form... all that he was, whisked to his destination in an un-discernable instant. --------------------------------------------------------------------- (Dovek II - Research Complex, Security Bay Alpha - Chief Scientist D’askto - 0603) As usual -- per his personal preference -- he arrived before any of his assistants. He enjoyed working undisturbed. His colleagues perceived this as bold faced arrogance; nothing could be further from the truth, however. It was simply that the brilliant D’askto preferred to have no distractions. Inevitably, when he had ‘assistance’, he spent more time explaining his hyper advanced concepts and processes than he did getting work done. Despite the feeling from his Reklar, he knew time was short. He donned his sterile clothing, a head to toe covering of Klee’irg material, which repelled all manner of contamination (he had once had an entire measure of Bik’r liquid spill on it, only to run off harmlessly) and stepped into the null gravity work frame. Grasping the hand hold firmly, he *thought* of the location he needed to be, and the frame responded by gently lifting him up and away from its storage cradle and up along the surface of the sphere to the control and processing module. Access panels would allow work on this section once completed, although little maintenance or adjustment were projected to be necessary. Truly, the device was a marvel, even of T’kon technology. Perhaps six individuals in the breadth -- what remained of the breadth, he reminded himself -- of the Empire could begin to fathom its function. He was the only one on Dovek II among them. The particular section he was working on was the primary processor unit. It was the most advanced reasoning network -- some called it ‘artificial intelligence’ -- ever created by the T’kon. Only D’askto knew its true scope. He had created a ‘crippled’, more primitive version for the already completed prototype nanosphere, which sat under heavy guard a short distance from where he now worked. This version... the ‘working’ version, was something several orders of magnitude more complex. It would have to be. The citizens of the Empire were doomed, though precious few knew, or would admit that if they were aware of the looming disaster. The entire reason, the overriding reason, for the advanced intelligence was that it would need, once deployed, to control, operate, analyze ‘on the fly’,calculate, recalculate... And travel through time. Only D’askto and a handful of others knew that there was no hope of completing the project in time. By the time it was ready to be deployed, the nanosphere would have far too short an operational window remaining to complete the task set for it. The only way to make it work, was to have it travel back in time -- at or just before the instant of the cataclysm -- in order to move far enough back to save both its own future, and that of the Empire. It was the reason for its own existence; would, in fact, be its own beginning... its own ending. That was precisely why the advanced reasoning network that the Chief Scientist had labored to create could make value judgments. It could *moralize*, empathize... In essence, he had created a machine with a soul. Something very foreign, and yet absolutely necessary for the task at hand. No less than delivering the T’kon from their own destiny. (Reply None, yet) (Posted by Russ, with more to come) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CO - Captain Ahmed Ibn Salid, Day 5 -0800) The Rosenante slid out of the exit of the temporal vortex and suddenly everything seemed to sped back up to a more normal rate of speed. Dralar had tried his best to comply with the captain's orders as they exited, but the effects of the temporal dilation was working against him. The Borg pyramid had been free of the effects long enough to have calculated a series of attacks against the opening. They were timed with mechanical precision and the Rosenante ran right into them without even realizing what had happened. The ship jerked hard as the multiple disruptor strikes slammed into the already weakened forward shields of the federation starship. her shields failed completely as power systems collapsed under the sudden inexorable barrage of Borg beam attacks. Dralar struggle to perform evasive maneuvers, but the best he could do was perform a quick fly by past the pyramid. The Rosenante's starboard nacelle, already badly damaged, didn't make the grade. The vectored stresses of performing such a hairpin turn at such a high rate of speed sheared the pylon, and the nacelle ripped itself free of it's housing and slammed headlong into the face of the pyramid. Alarms sounded all over the bridge. "Captain. We are receiving intruder alerts all over the ship. the Borg are boarding us!" "Dispatch Security teams. Activate all security containment fields. Alert commander Sullivan" "Understood Captain" Nunez replied. "Sir I'm reading Borg biosigns aboard the Boudicca as well" she added. "Get me the Boudicca." "Captain, the Borg Pyrami...." Suddenly the Pyramid exploded into a massive fireball. The Warp nacelle must have struck something vital. (reply All) Daniel Greene --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - 2O/COPS - Lieutenant Thomas Jackson, Day 5 -0803) The Rosenante slid out of the exit of the temporal vortex and suddenly everything seemed to sped back up to a more normal rate of speed. Tom Jackson always found this to be like re-materializing after being beamed anywhere. Tom's thoughts were forcibly returned to the present as the Rose was bombarded by the Borg's shots aimed at the opening of the vortex. The salvos slammed into the forward shields. Try as they might, the Rose's crew couldn't keep them from failing. Worried about additional hull breaches, Jackson re-routed what little free power was available to structural integrity fields. Jackson initiated a quick ship wide assessment. Tom's mood grew a lot darker quickly. His Rose was being pounded relentlessly. Engineering was the last to report in. The crew there was working hard to keep the ship in one piece. Despite the best efforts of Matrix and company things looked bleak. "Steve, what's the word my friend?" He asked hoping against hope his readouts and his gut feeling were some how wrong. (Reply: Engineering) Steve reported his area's findings. Tom sighed his gut reactions had been confirmed. As they spoke Lieutenant Dralar had the crippled vessel dodging as best he could. The Rosenante's starboard nacelle, already badly damaged, didn't make the grade. The vectored stresses of performing such a hairpin turn at such a high rate of speed sheared the pylon, and the nacelle ripped itself free of it's housing and slammed headlong into the face of the pyramid. Alarms went off - Jackson's console looked light a christmas tree with almost all red lights flashing in a smoke and spark filled environment. The pyramid exploded with a brilliant ball of light and debris. ~Take that you damned demons~ Jackson said silently. (Reply: any present) Just to demonstrate things could get even worse, intruder alert alarms added to the din. (Reply: CO) (Posted by: Bill) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Bridge - CO Captain Durand - 0805) It had been one of the longest nights anyone could remember -- or so it had seemed. The longest running battle of his career -- perhaps anyone’s in fact -- had started before the four vessels had entered the vortex. The four mighty ships of the line had exchanged fire throughout the interminable night as they traveled somewhere, *somewhen*, more correctly. Torpedo guidance had proven impossible in the body of the temporal vortex. Due to a swirling, complex miasma of converging forces and factors, energy weapon fire was barely effective at all. What began as an effort by the Boudicca to hold off the tactical cube long enough for the Rosenante to rescue the away teams had turned into a battle for survival... not only of the Federation crews versus the Borg, but perhaps for the existence of the Federation itself. As the small flotilla of vessels, both friend and foe, traversed the vortex throughout the length of the night, the ships had exchanged bruising, but not fatal body blows. On the Boudicca, damage control and engineering teams had managed to keep ahead – or at least abreast of – the damage, much like a foundering ancient sailing vessel, her crew keeping her afloat with pumps. But that wasn’t good enough, Durand knew. Wherever, whenever, that they exited this vortex, the end result was going to be a brutal challenge; a starship battle of dreadful importance. And they were out. The Pyramid, the Rosenante… and now the Boudicca herself, followed closely by the Tactical Cube. Sensor and tactical data was confused at best. But perhaps they could use that… The only thing that was clear at the moment was that the Rosenante and the Pyramid were locked in a deadly struggle. And the Boudicca couldn’t go to their aid… at least not yet. The threat of the Tactical Cube *had* to be the primary focus. Operations reported next. “Captain, sensors are starting to clear. Considerable residual temporal displacement waves. We are detecting a modulated pulse of seylerons… it appears something else is about to exit from the vortex.” Durand’s brain was racing. “Status of our shields?” “Fifteen percent sir, building slowly,” reported Clarke at the tactical station. “They’ll fold like a house of cards if we take much fire.” “Very well!” Of course… it was not ‘very well’ at all… ~But we play the hand we are dealt. Unless… we can change the game~ Durand was no theorist, nor did he claim to be. But he was a man with the ability to turn disadvantage into something unexpected. Game changing was something he excelled at. There was a chance, he thought. Slim, but there… “Engineering! Standby to overload the trionic initiators in both warp nacelles. Divert all necessary power. Standby to create a static warp shell forward of our center of mass. Helm, come about and reverse course. Point our bow straight at the terminus of the temporal vortex.” He spun around and faced the tactical station. “Chief Clarke, stand by all weapons. All energy we don’t need for the warp engines will be going to tactical. Drop the shields if you have to Chief… when that Cube exits… and if this works… I want you to fire every functional weapon this ship has. Concentrate your fire, see if we can hit something vital. We’ll only get the one shot Chief… do your best.” “Aye aye sir. Standing by on target lock.” “The Borg Cube is emerging from the temporal horizon Captain!” “Engineering, overload power to the nacelles. Establish and maintain the static warp shell as long as you can. Divert all remaining power to the weapons.” On the main viewer , the multihued swirling terminus of the temporal vortex loomed large. In a shimmering burst of multivectored radiated energies, the tactical cube emerged, weapons activated. The Boudicca’s lights dimmed, returned to a more normal level, then went out completely save for the emergency lighting. Engineering was using all necessary… all available… energy to carry out Durand’s orders. Invisible to the visual spectrum, the mighty starship’s nacelles generated a spherical distortion in the fabric of space, creating and expanding an artificial rent in the universe. As the expanding subspace barrier contacted the Borg shields, already heavily drained from the impact of the temporal distoration waves, they collapsed. Durand was following it all on the tactical displays. “Now, Chief! Open fire!” The Boudicca lurched as power was diverted from even the maneuvering systems. Everything she had left was powering the shields, engines, and weapons. The shields failed. They were weak to begin with, and all the reinforcing energy was diverted to weapons and engines. Almost immediately, intruder alerts sounded from multiple decks. The focused phaser fire and maximum density torpedo bursts paid off. Something critical to the existence of the cube was damaged, and a detonation built, slowly at first, then cascading rapidly beyond containment. The cube exploded into shards of debris, some of which struck the unshielded hull of the Boudicca. Damage reports flooded in to join the chorus of intruder alerts. But the cube was no more. Durand jumped from his chair, though his exuberance was tempered by the knowledge that the battle… the real one… was about to begin. “Commander Caskie!” he roared into the comm. system. “Send someone to release the prisoner… we need all able hands. Stand by to direct security teams as necessary. Utilize any personnel able to carry a weapon. The borg will not take this ship!” (Reply Caskie, Any, All) (Posted by Russ) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Main Engineering - CEO, Lieutenant Steven Matrix, Day 5 -0807) "TRANSFER AUXILIARY POWER TO SHIELDS!" shouted Matrix as he made way around the main engineering duty station. He looked up at the primary display board, but already knew what it read. The inertial dampening generators couldn't compensate for the impact of whatever the Rosenante hit or hit the Rosenante. "Sir, forward shields collapsing...power generators and energy pathways are failing. We can't augment the loss with additional power feeds." said the Ensign. Matrix looked at the young ensign already in a pouring sweat. "Do what you can Ensign. Relax and just do your job." replied Matrix. The Ensign returned a nervous smile. "The bridge is calling for reserver power to the structural integrity fields." said Matrix looking at the flow indicators. "Peter, see if you can tap into the spiral drive's flow reserve power...feed it into the main power channel." ordered Matrix. Ensign Peter Cohen gave his customary nod and got to work on the other side of engineering. He could be heard shouting orders to the crewmen nearby. The Rosenante's guidance display showed her pivoting hard at extreme speed. The structural alarms started to alert the crew of something imminent. "Steve, what's the word my friend?" asked Jackon. =^=Tom...not good news. We're going to lose the forward shields momentarily and if....=^= said Matrix in a shortened response. In an instant everyone in engineering, all decks were thrown against the floor, walls or panels. Matrix pulled himself up from the floor. All of the engineering displays were overloaded with alarms and sensor information. The nacelle pylon buckled and twisted apart from the maneuver. The Rosenante rocked from the damage. Matrix couldn't believe what the internal sensors were telling him. He stood there motionless for a moment. Peter Cohen was helping other crew members off the floor. He looked at Matrix in bewilderment. Emergency lighting snapped on and engineering went pitch black momentarily, then the red condition lighting came on. Sparks from failing power junctions were pouring into engineering from various consoles and junction centers. Crew members reacted. Peter walked over to where Matrix was standing. The primary display board was listing from the upper deck mount, but was still functional. Smoke was filling engineering. Matrix pressed the compression vents and the smoke started to clear. "Am I reading that correctly Peter? We lost a warp nacelle...a complete nacelle is gone?" asked Matrix. Glass pieces, plastic and components were littering the display table. Peter brushed off the debris and tapped the readout. "Structural containment is holding the breach so far. It looks like the entire nacelle from the pedestal junction bulkhead has been sheered off." said Peter. =^= Matrix structural containment on the hull breach is holding, all power feeds from that side are down. What the hell happened? =^= asked Matrix. (Reply Jackson, Bridge) [Intruder Alert Intruder Alert] ~Bring it~ thought Matrix as he visually swept engineering for the foe. Peter opened the weapon locker just a few meters away and tossed Matrix a hand phaser. "Alert status people. Stay sharp...everyone is now a marine. Shoot any intruder on sight." shouted Matrix. "Peter, take six to the other side of engineering. Put three on the upper deck at the secondary duty stations. If anyone gets in here we can get them in a crossfire." ordered Matrix. "Secure your stations. Work in groups of at least two...watch your backs." shouted Matrix. (Reply Jackson, Bridge, any) (Posted by Steve) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Boudicca - Battle Bridge - aFO - Cmdr Josh Caskie - 0808) Finally Josh had realised how ineffectual her station was yet how suddenly crucial it could become. She had watched silently as the Boudicca attempted to hold off the Tactical Cube long enough for the Rose to rescue the shuttle. She had watched silently as all four ships had entered the vortex... and she had watched silently as they had exited that same vortex and the battle between the Rose and the Pyramid had finally ended in the loss of one of the Rose's warp nacelles. Josh simply could not help it, she winced as she watched the Rose suddenly limp off to the side. The Rose had been her ship and she wanted nothing more than to go punish the Borg for what had happened to her. Thankfully someone spoke to her. "The Borg Cube is exiting the Vortex Sir." Watching as the bridge used their shields as a weapon Josh managed a smile as the Cube finally blew apart. That smile died a second later as bits of the cube began to tear into the exposed parts of the Boudicca's hull. All of a sudden the intruder alarms started sounding and Josh suddenly heard the Captain giving her orders. =/\= Commander Caskie! =/\= he roared into the comm. system. =/\= Send someone to release the prisoner… we need all able hands. Stand by to direct security teams as necessary. Utilize any personnel able to carry a weapon. The Borg will not take this ship! =/\= Turning to the crew she had on the Battle Bridge Josh made a quick decision. Tapping the comm on her chair she contacted Security and told them that she would be sending someone down to 'requisition' Lt Trei for duty during the emergency. "Tell him that on my orders he will obey all of the instructions my designated officer gives him." Turning to Vanik she smiled slightly. "I'm sorry Ensign, but you are the only person I can spare. Make your way down to Security and bring both Lt Trei and as many weapons as you can both carry back here. Don't skimp we are going to need everything you can carry. The Battle Bridge may well be a target so any weapons you cannot carry, make sure you destroy. Don't just neutralize them make sure they are destroyed so they can't be used against us, but you don't have unlimited time here so you need to hotfoot it." (Reply Vanik and Trei) (Posted by Marilyn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Starboard Nacelle Junction - ACEO Lt JG Eian O'Neill - Day 5 - 0817) The area was smoky and impossible to see through. Alarms blared in his ears, sparks and emergency lights glowed through the smoke as electrical fires raged, and Eian ran into the thick of things, flooding the junction with a fire extinguisher. As soon as environmental controls were restored and the area was no longer open to the vacuum of space, Eian had grabbed two junior engineers and ran to the area to contain the problem. The ship could fly with one nacelle--it was just a matter of balancing out every critical system that had overloaded on the ship, and ensuring that their directional control, inertial dampeners, warp field, and impulse drive were all stable. Matrix and company back in Engineering would handle the programming, and Eian and his two junior engineers would attempt to patch things together in this nearly destroyed section of the ship. It was a very dangerous area to be working in. With the inertial dampeners in the junction flickering on and off, a sudden acceleration or deceleration could turn any of them into pink mist with the force. A hull breach was very possible, especially if an electrical overload occurred and an explosion resulted. That was why there were only three of them, and they were all very skilled. "Seal off the plasma manifold!" Eian screamed through the roar of the fire extinguisher. "Get a handle on that leaking transformer--and I want more power to the shield generator!" He didn't even hear the 'yes, Sir's' that followed. When the fires were mostly under control, he slung his engineering kit around by the strap and took out the tools he needed to 'tourniquet' the signal junction. Until that happened, the ship would barely coast at Impulse 1 without it costing a huge amount of power. It was risky, to say the least, to keep piloting the ship until this situation was under control. And in case this area was blown apart, Eian had three other engineers on standby, waiting to come in and take their places once any hull breaches were sealed. He had a bad feeling in his gut that he couldn't explain. He understood where these 'bad feelings' typically came from--the subconscious mind noticing tiny discrepancies in one's surroundings and alerting one's brain to 'danger!'. But there were an infinite number of threats in this hazardous working area--everything from another electrical fire, to the smoke making it impossible to avoid bumping into live wires, to an explosion that would rip them all violently out into space. Suddenly, klaxons sounded as the intruder alert alarm blared. ~Wonderful. Add that to the list,~ he thought. It was unlikely the Borg would come down here, he knew. They were looking for volumes of people to assimilate, and there were only three of them here. But nonetheless, he still yelled, "Stay sharp! Keep your phaser on hand! Look around for Borg, and shout out if you see one!" "Aye, Sir!" they answered. He turned back to his work, and said a short prayer for Jessica. He didn't know if she was still in Sickbay or if she had disobeyed the doctor's orders to stay put, but he knew Sickbay was a prime target for assimilation and in some patients' cases, resistance really was futile. When he finally got the signal junction sealed off, he moved over to help his people with the plasma manifold. (reply none necessary, any welcome) (posted by Morgan G) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante – Transporter room 3 – Ensign Isra Caliel - 0819) “Transport me back to the Boudicca.” Isra said, standing near to one of the Pads in the transporter room of the Rosenante. Looking around this room, you’d swear nothing had happened. Until of course, the whole ship shuddered. “What in the world was that?” Isra asked, as the alarm sirens went off all over the place, almost deafening her, as she had chosen the worst place to stand – right next to the siren. Moving away from it quickly, she stepped up to the transporter control panel, and used the secondary monitor to check the ship. “I’m sorry, Sir. I can’t transport you anywhere. Systems are going down all over the ship, and we both have Shields raised.” The technician replied. He was standing there, unable to do anything but look pretty. “Oh my god... The ship’s lost a Nacelle. Warp power is down, shields have failed all over the place, and the emergency containment is only just holding.” She said, relaying the warnings that were on her panel. Isra tapped her commbadge. “Captain Salid. This is Isra Caliel, from the Boudicca. I’m in transporter room three. Do you need a science officer anywhere?” She asked, hoping to be of use until she could get back to her own ship. She couldn’t tell from here if there were still Borg around, until the Emergency sirens for Intruder Alerts interrupted her. (Reply Salid) “Affirmative, sir. Caliel out.” She said, stepping out of the transporter room, phaser in hand. ~Weapons locker... Weapons locker.... Where the hell is the weapons locker on this ship.~ (Reply anyone, iyw) Written by Andy Jones --------------------------------------------------------------------- (USS Rosenante - Holodeck 1 - Bridge Simulation - CTAC/SEC Lt. jg Ben Soma -0820) Ben was at the tactical station, the bridge had been abandoned and now the holodeck was serving as the command center. After he had been treated for his wounds and the radiation sickness he wasted no time in assuming his proper position. They had followed the Borg through the temporal rift and defeated them soon after. The Boud had taken care of the cube and the Rose's severed nacelle had taken out the pyramid. For now the Borg had been stopped, but only for a short period. Drones had been transported to both ships, now they had to face them once again. This time they had the home field advantage, there was no way the Borg were going to beat them on their own ship. So far they had beaten the odds, they had gone up against a superior force and won. The Borg sent wave after wave of drones to stop them but they prevailed each time. They had gone against the drones in hand to hand combat and had beaten them, sure they had taken some licks but they had accomplished what most wouldn't have. He had lead his team into certain death and they had made it through, it wasn't easy but they had survived. After they had returned from Dovek II there was no time for celebration. He and Sanok had exchanged quick glances and nods, both happy to see the other alive and well. Once again they had made it back from a skirmish and were ready to have at it again. Even though everyone was exhausted they knew they couldn't give in, they still had work to do. Repairs had to be made, decisions had to be made, plans had to be made and implemented. He felt an overwhelming sense of pride, even though they felt like they were on deaths door they pressed on. No one was ready to call it quits. As far as he was concerned everyone had gone above and beyond, they had driven back the scourge of the galaxy. The greatest threat known to the Federation, the Borg, the mere mention of them caused people to shiver. They were an unstoppable force, but the crews of the Rose and the Boud had stopped them. (reply any) (posted by Milo Young) --------------------------------------------------------------------- End Compile ---------------------------------------------------------------------