Lieutenant JG Torvi Ylvor - All The Pieces - Part 2

[Torvi Ylvor]

((Frontier Day plus 3, Jupiter Station))

Torvi had come to see Dalton, finding him in one of the cargo bays on Jupiter station, being used as overflow accommodation for the personnel who had been displaced by the Frontier day chaos. There really wasn't an abundance of places to store people comfortably, Mars' surface was still recovering, Sol station was in ruins, and the fleet itself was in such disrepair. Earth itself had its own problems, its hospitals and medical facilities having been overwhelmed with casualties. But there really was no better place to be when it came to medical care. Plus any place on earth you could think to visit was a short site to site transport away. 

Dalton's eyes seemed angry, but also hurt, and now he had come out from the shadows, he had bags under his eyes. Seemingly waiting for a response from Torvi. 

Torvi took a deep breath, seeking to understand. 

Ylvor: Tell me what I did. 

Wakefield: The Albion was crippled, my Marines engaged the ships personnel, apparently under my orders... I woke up to red alert lights.

((Flashback, Frontier Day minus 1 - Cargo Bay 3 - USS Albion (Curry Class) in orbit of Cestus III))

Dalton awoke in darkness, the only light was the slow strobing of the red alert lighting. He'd landed on his back, and was laying in his own blood. His adrenaline spiked and he moved to react to the attack, only much too late. Fresh pain seared through his body. Grabbing some bedding he put a corner between his boots and tore off a long strip with his good arm. Stuffing parts of it into the large wound on the back of his shoulder, his vision flashed white. He wrapped the rest around with tremendous pressure, under and around his shoulder. Then tying it off as best he could to stop the bleeding. With another strip, he made a sling. 

Looking around there was no sign of Torvi, or what had stabbed him. oO She wouldn't have left me would she? Oo. 

Stumbling into the corridor, the lighting not much better. He could see shapes.. bodies down the curving corridor. 

oO What the hell has happened here? Oo 

He slumped up against a wall panel that still had power, and keyed the comm with his authorisation code. 

Wakefield: =/\= Anvil actual to any Anvil callsign, sitrep? =u/\=

Nothing was heard for a moment, before the screen lit up with the face of one of his marines, Staff Sergeant Raekmun. Her eyes went wide and the colour drained from her face. Her face was dirty and she had a gash on her cheek. 

Raekmun: =/\= Uh.. Actual? Anvil Two here... =/\= 

Wakefield: =/\= Rake, Report.. =/\=

Raekmun: =/\= You're alive.. =/\= 

Dalton's brow furrowed. Raekmun turned the camera towards a body, sitting upright against the wall with its head back. Several phaser burns to it's torso. It was his turn to have his blood run from his face. 

It was clearly 1st Lieutenant Dalton Wakefield, now deceased. He felt dizzy, and stabilised himself against the wall. 

Raekmun: =/\= We had to put you down sir, you.. it.. whatever was trying to commandeer the ship, get us to reconfigure this ::shakes hand in vicinity of control room:: comm relay.. =/\=

Wakefield: =/\= I gave no such orders.. =/\= 

He felt sick.

Raekmun: =/\= It did.. we thought it was you. =/\= 

A tear streamed down Raekmun's cheek. 

Raekmun: =/\= It started out like a training sortie, but unannounced this time, the fleet crew were taken off guard, we secured them like you said. A Trill fleeter on the bridge got jumpy and shot Koriak, he went down, then we fired back stunning most of them. ::she wiped another tear:: Koriak was dead. We didn't find the Trill in the stunned. =/\=

oO a Trill, Torvi? Was she still on the ship? She wouldn't have fired at marines though Oo Dalton felt like throwing up, the pain in his shoulder coupled with this information. The smell of phaser fire was very much prevalent in the corridor he stood in. 

Raekmun: =/\= Things escalated, you, it, said that they had been compromised, and to take them down. Then you disappeared, right before the... ::A realisation hit Raekmun:: the power grid fluctuated. Ship went haywire, explosions in the deuterium tanks, ODNs overloading. =/\=

He was having trouble catching his breath. None of this made sense. 

Wakefield: =/\= And this comm relay? =/\= 

Raekmun: =/\= It mentioned that we needed to get comms out, made us beam over and start prepping it. Had some terrified communications officer try to do what you asked. When it asked us to kill him for not complying... =/\= 

He nodded, looking past the Staff Sergeant to the body, wearing his face. oO So that's what my death would look like Oo

Wakefield: =/\= How many dead? =/\= 

He braced himself for the answer. 

Raekmun: =/\= Marines, we lost 22, Starfleet had a light crew on board, they've lost 87. I.. this got out of hand so quickly. =/\=

Wakefield: =/\= Oh no.. =/\= 

He slid down the bulkhead slowly, grief crashing over him like a wave. Ringing in his ears had began earlier in the conversation, yet now became overwhelming and unbearable. 

((End Flashback))

Wakefield: ...The Albion did it's best to limp back to Earth, no warp, no comms. We had no idea what was happening in the Sol Sector, but we missed the assimilation signal. We got picked up by a Klingon Vorcha, who overtook us heading to Earth to investigate reports. 

He leant back in his bunk again, continuing to recount the story to Torvi, who seemed entirely mortified. 

Wakefield: 47 survivors out of 156 on the Albion altogether. The changeling.. or changelings, crippled the ship, played both groups expertly.

Ylvor: But why the comm relay? 

Wakefield: To further the signal for the Borg, or that's what we assumed. But they would have needed another ship to bridge the gap. Presumably from the fleet formation takeover they would have orchestrated it. 

Ylvor: By the symbiote ponds, it could have covered half the quadrant like that. 

Wakefield: It could have been drastically worse. 

He looked at Torvi again. 

Wakefield: We never did find any sign of you, it. Showing your file picture around though, it was using your likeness to start the chaos. It killed Koriak. ::He took a moment:: And indirectly most of my platoon.

He swallowed hard, finding it rough to keep talking. Torvi moved onto the bunk and sat next to him, putting her arms around him. He squeezed one of her arms. 

Torvi knew others had gone through hell too, but she hadn't imagined that someone would use her face to manipulate someone she loved. Hence the look of fear and anger she saw in him when she walked in. 

This day of days would most certainly leave its ugly scars across everyone, in some way or another.

She stayed with him until they both fell asleep on the single bunk. 

Lieutenant JG Torvi Ylvor | Security/Tactical Officer | Amity Outpost 

G240005TY4

First Lieutenant Dalton Wakefield | Platoon Commander | Camp Killigrew

PNPC by Kyle