Lieutenant Serala: A poor trade
Jim Davis
Serala: I agree, sir. It is time to get him back. As for Maeli, if she thinks she can safely make contact with the Captain again, then I say we let her try. Let him know we’re coming so that the torture won’t be so hard to bear.
:: It was self-serving, she knew. She had just witnessed the potential consequences of the Rodulan’s telepathy, and Maeli had warned them repeatedly of the dangers, but Serala needed Brell back safely and if that meant risking the lives of everyone else on this ship, she would be okay with that. ::
Maeli: What will it be, Commander?
Williams: Open a channel the attack wings and the rest of you listen up.
=/\= Alright… here is the plan… Raga, I want you take over Tactical for now, I can use your skills and advice. Serala, assemble a team and prepare to board that thing out there. This has gone on long enough. Logan and McKnight will cover you on your way in. Maeli I want you to reach out to the captain as soon as we found our way in. Maybe you can let him know we are coming. Have him shout or something. Fight his opponents if he can. =/\=
Raga: Understood, Commander. I'd advise since we know their intent is not polite that we power up the weapons systems.
Serala: Aye, Commander. Raga, transferring controls to you. Your new codes are on the screen. Be advised, several stations still need new codes and are on lockdown.
:: It was at this point that the constant internal scans that were carried out during Red Alert picked up a massive energy discharge from the Computer Core. ::
Darkkdust: What the hell?
Williams: Response
Darkkdust: I think the Main Computer just shut down… I’m still trying to investigate the problem.
Raga: Commander. I recommend we lock the weapons on the asteroid and try to disable their systems. My ears are itching like made now and I would bet my life that they're actively responsible for this. Even though the main computer is down, I've still got partial weapons. They've been routed through the secondary computer cores. :: He looked at the screen in front of him :: I can't use torpedoes yet and I'd have to target the phasers manually.
Williams: response
Darkkdust: I’ve pieced together what logs I could get my hands on before the shutdown occurred. Only a handful of data packets made it to the Engineering Core for backup, but apparently the core shut itself down to prevent mass data erasure. The only thing that could cause that kind of safety trigger would be a massive electromagnetic discharge of some kind. Like putting a powerful magnet near an old twenty-first century hard disk.
Raga: Then that's different than the first device. It drew on the ship's own power and seemed to be more like a stun or flash bomb than an EMP. The signatures might match though.
Darkkdust: If the device that injured Kiliak discharged a similar energy, then yes, it would be safe to assume that there was a secondary device. If it was detonated, then Mad… I mean, Ensign Hyden could be injured.
Serala: :: tapping her commbadge :: =/\= Serala to Hyden, report. =/\=
Hyden: =/\= Response? =/\=
Darkkdust: If I can reroute communication subroutines through the engineering core, then we could tell someone to get there straight away. On the other hand, I could go down there and attempt a manual reboot by bypassing the safety lockout timer. It would certainly give me a better idea of how much, if any, damage there is. I’ve worked with Starship computers since I was seventeen. Their internal programming language is basically native to me at this point.
Williams: Response
Raga: Maeli should be able to keep us with this thing in case it moves.
Williams/Serala/Maeli: Responses
Raga: Commander, the asteroid just launched support craft. They're heading straight for the shuttles and Valkyries. :: He looked to Williams :: Permission to fire?
Williams: response
:: Serala watched as Toryn pressed the button on his station and through the viewscreen he saw the single phaser beam, of reduced power fire directly at the asteroid as it was beginning to fade away. Having served on board a vessel with a cloaking device he recognized it immediately. ::
Raga: The asteroid's cloaking!! :: He shouted ::
oO Not again!! Not this time! Oo
Serala: Toryn, don’t forget my tracking software! It can help track that thing even cloaked! :: The desperation in her voice was evident even to her. ::
Williams/Maeli/Darkkdust: response
:: She watched as a pair of quantum torpedoes were fired from nowhere and zipped straight for the ship. A second later and the ship rocked violently telling her well trained tactical mind that the ship had taken a direct hit. She registered all that as she went sailing over the rail to land on her back on the deck just forward of the command station, right leg twisted at a sickening angle underneath her. Pain lanced through her and she knew the leg was broken. Probably a multiple compound fracture. ::
Raga: They have our shield frequencies!
oO No kidding? But how? I just changed all the codes on this ship? Oo
:: gritting her teeth over the pain and trusting Raga’s hearing, which was superior to even her own keen senses, Serala uttered a suggestion. It couldn’t be a command, after all, he was her superior. But to untrained ears, it might have sounded that way. ::
Serala: Rotate the frequencies and change the codes to it again. I don’t know how they got it, since I just changed the codes, but don’t take any chances.
:: She then forced herself to get to her feet. She’d be damned if she was going to sickbay until after the Captain had been rescued. She slowly limped her way back to the Tactical station, waving away the look of concern Commander Williams was giving her. ::
Williams/Darkkdust/Maeli: response
Raga: Wait, you can? :: Toryn rushed from his console over to the helm :: Lieutenant, our sensors are barely functional but can you point out where on the asteroid you feel the Captain's mind? :: As he asked, he brought the scan of the now cloaked vessel on the console in front of her ::
Maeli: response
Raga: Serala...
Serala: Go, Toryn. I got the Tactical.
Raga: :: He smiled then touched a button on his console and looked to Williams :: I'll get him, sir.
:: Serala watched as her friend disappeared in the transporter beam. A few seconds later, a shipwide communication came in from the asteroid. ::
Op 157: =/\= Federation starship Atlantis, you have just witnessed the power of the Consortium and it’s just a small demonstration of what we can do. I am Commander Zakaria and we have met before. You will pay for your treachery and crimes committed against the Consortium, but for now, we shall bid you farewell. Your miserable lives are still yours to enjoy. Good luck repairing your ship. Oh… :: He paused for effect :: and your Captain is staying with us for now. =/\=
:: A second later she noticed the transporter reactivate. She had already noted that the Elysium had activated it’s own transporter seconds after Raga beamed off the ship. Then she saw the blue beam appear in the center of the bridge, just forward of the Command station and just aft of the helm. Right where she had just landed a few minutes ago and breaking her leg. She glanced down to see that her own bone had come out of the skin and had even ripped her pant legs. The pain was excruciating, but it wasn’t relevant. What was relevant was the heavyset, bald blue man laying on the deck. Her Captain was back. ::
oO But where’s Toryn? Oo
:: She raised her eyes to the viewscreen as the telltale signs of warp appeared around the blankness of a cloaked ship. ::
Serala: Sir! Commander Raga is still on that ship!!!
Williams/Darkkdust/Maeli: Responses
Brell: Response
oO What? Oh, of all the fool.. Oo
:: Serala couldn’t continue that thought. Before she had met Stevok, she had been deeply in love with Toryn. Only the telepathic bond between her and her husband had managed to overcome that. She didn’t regret her marriage. She loved Stevok very much, but her feelings for Toryn hadn’t gone completely away. They were much reduced, but not completely gone. It had been a mark of Stevok’s character that he wasn’t jealous of those feelings. What she hadn’t known until too late was that Toryn felt exactly the same way about her. Unlike her, however, he had no one to help lessen those feelings for her. Now, she feared, those feelings had caused him to do something rash to protect her and it had caused him to be captured. ::
Williams: Response
Maeli: Response
Darkkdust: Response
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