Lt Jovenan – It’s not a retreat if we were meant to go there
Jovenan
((Deck 4, USS Artemis))
Jovenan: I-incoming!
Their charge to the transporter room had triggered a counter assault by the assimilated crew. The Borg hivemind had been quick to inform all nearby drones and perhaps those of the entire ship of the location of some of their primary targets. Now, while Commander Hopper was struggling with a drone in the transporter room, several more were closing in on their positions. They were moving fast, too, unwilling to allow the unassimilated team to go uneliminated and resume their resistance. A drone who had once been a human man, donning a red uniform, walked into Jovenan’s vision, his raised hand holding a phaser pistol.
Jovenan flinched involuntarily. The beam originating from the drone’s phaser had burnt a mark in the wall a mere metre from her, where her rifle and a part of her head peeked around the corner. It was a close miss, far too close for her liking; had she not taken cover in the doorway, she may have been already dead. She didn’t want to give the drone a chance to improve his aim, and fired.
Her first blast only scraped the drone’s arm, lightly knocking him back but failing to knock him down. Too busy to curse her lack of practice, Jovenan fired again. This time she either aimed better or had better luck, as the blast hit the drone to the torso, and he fell down to the floor, unconscious. Jovenan felt bad having done that, as illogical it was; he was a Borg drone and had tried to kill her, but she also remembered having seen him somewhere in the corridors or on the bridge. She had shot one of their crewmembers.
Hopper: I’m fine. Go help!
Silveira: The Captain is on it, now can you please solve this or let me shoot Commander.
Coverian Drone: ::Weakly:: Resistance is futile…
Hopper: ::Exasperated:: Yeah, yeah…
The unarmed fight against the drone inside resumed, while the Captain had taken position alongside Jovenan, covering the other side of the corridor from the other corner of the doorway. Having both sides covered improved their hold of the transporter room, but they were very much still surrounded in the dead-end of a room.
Jovenan: O-one down! Are you alright?
MacKenzie: No worse for wear.
Jovenan could barely hear anything from under her racing heartbeat, but she was fairly certain the sounds of combat inside the transporter room had ceased.
Silveira: I am getting a new weapon but I got you covered Commander.
The Captain was firing in the other direction, but Jovenan had a few seconds to consider before the next drone would show up on her side. The turbolift they had used earlier was there, ahead of them. From there, a defender could react to the drones earlier, while the rest of the team retreated to safety in there. It was their only option to advance, except maybe the Jefferies tubes, which might be even worse of a death trap. She made her suggestion to the Captain when she heard Vitor join them.
Jovenan: If one of us takes cover in the turbolift doorway, they can secure this part of the corridor while the others get in.
MacKenzie: Vitor?
Silveira: I can do that. Lay down…
Hopper: Look out!
The sudden shout startled Jovenan, who pulled her head and rifle away from the door, having the wall cover her entirely from any drones in the corridor. It might have been a reasonable way to protect herself had the threat been from outside. However, as she turned her head, she saw the Coverian drone fall to the ground, with Commander Hopper holding a phaser up towards them.
Silveira: Good job Commander.
Another crisis averted, Jovenan returned to the firing position as the Commander joined them. Another drone had appeared in the corridor, so she released a volley of blasts into the corridor, some of which didn’t even miss. As yet another drone collapsed to the ground, Jovenan felt her nausea return. She was fairly certain that she had overheard that crewman tell someone they were going for a parental leave later this year.
Hopper: So – what’s the plan? Did I hear “turbolift”? Then what?
MacKenzie: We have to try to secure the ship.
Silveira: I am all for it.
Jovenan: The question is how.
A new set of drones appeared. Now that all the defenders were taking them down, the drones were less likely to manage to fire a shot. It was just too bad they happened to be on the deck with many of the junior officer and senior enlisted quarters. Jovenan had decided to avoid identifying too many drones, just for her own mental stability, but she had still noticed that very few of the drones were senior enlisted, but there were quite many junior enlisted and ensigns among them. Either way, the drones outnumbered them and if they also decided to start firing from the cover as well, they could easily overwhelm them.
Savel: =/\= Savel to any officer, requesting immediate assistance at the Intel Suite. Multiple casualties and hostiles present. =/\=
Jovenan was pleased to hear Savel’s voice. They had heard very little of the people in other parts of the ship yet, and for as long Savel spoke without using the phrases to the effect of “we are the Borg” or “eliminate the unassimilated”, they could be safe to assume he remained alive and free of the Collective. Still, the casualties report concerned Jovenan.
Hopper: So, Elysium, Sickbay, or Intel…? ::Pausing to fire again:: Unless we can find a way to bring us all together?
Savel was a security officer, and as much as Jovenan wanted to help Genkos, having another trained combat specialist to the group might be preferable. Then again, his report seemed to imply his location wasn’t the safest to get into, so perhaps reaching Genkos first would give them the manpower to liberate the Intel. Regardless, it was the Captain’s decision, while Jovenan needed to focus on firing down the approaching drones.
MacKenzie: Safety in numbers – we can’t afford to lose any unassimilated crewmembers. Let’s see if we can go reinforce their positions.
Silveira: Let’s get there before they block our movements.
Jovenan: Good idea. The entire deck might be coming to get us if we don’t leave now.
Hopper: Response
Another drone dropped to the ground. There were some 350 crew on the Artemis, surely the Borg would find a way to overpower them before running out of drones. By what they had seen on the bridge, the crews of the other ships had been assimilated as well, so they could always beam in more. Their odds didn’t seem particularly good.
MacKenzie: Vitor, we’ll cover you while you make it to the turbolift. Then, you cover each of us. Ready?
Jovenan got a better grip of her rifle. Vitor would be running across her field of fire, while she and the drones would be shooting at each other. She’d better not allow the drones to hit him, but she needed to be sharp not to do that to him either. She would have been crushed if Vitor were to die because of her poor aim. The mental image alone was enough to cause a rush of anxiety flush over her.
Silveira: Ready, give me cover.
Jovenan: Be careful…
Hopper: Response
Vitor took his rifle and bolted out into the corridor. Jovenan readjusted her aim so that she wouldn’t accidentally hit him, and fired at the other end of the corridor with the others, hopefully keeping the drones at bay until Vitor had taken cover by the turbolift. Soon, she saw him kneel behind the turbolift doorway and join firing at the drones.
Silveira: CLEAR, I WILL COVER YOU
One by one, the team found their way to the turbolift under the cover of the others. When they all had reached there, they backed into the turbolift and allowed the doors to close in front of them, separating them from the approaching drones once more. They had survived, but by the looks of it, this was only the first leg of the run. Jovenan leaned in, taking support of her knees, breathing slowly to calm down her heart and mind.
Silveira: One express elevator to Hell, going down.
Ah yes, Hell, one of the versions of a place where the spirits of the dead would found up after shuffling off this mortal coil. Jovenan didn’t know if an afterlife existed, she didn’t believe so, but should she be wrong, they would celebrate Frontier Day there, for all the residents they were about to receive today.
Hopper: Response (if desired)
((OOC: Hour 2 sim coming later.))
TAG
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Lieutenant Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11