Commander Ash MacKenna - Still Here

[Marissa Jeffrey]

((Ops, Deck One, Central Module, Deep Space Thirty Three))

There was something in the silence that screamed louder than the whole of the universe come together in symphony, ringing in her ears and beating on her head with millions of tiny little hammers. To say her head pounded was a massive understatement, and that said nothing about the state of the rest of her body. Her first glance around her wasn't a pleasant one as her emerald eyes met lifeless black ones and she knew that the pale horse of death had come to collect its due.

MacKenna: For the afterlife, this seems a bit underwhelming.

Not too far off she could hear signs of life, namely in the form of coughing.

Stergis:  With jokes like that you're wasted on Starfleet, Ash.  Can you move?  I'm having...a little trouble.  

She still hadn't moved much, aside from flexing fingers and pointing toes to see if they still worked. It appeared that all of the internal hydraulics of her body were functional.

MacKenna: I believe I am in one piece, but not everyone made it.

There was no answer to that, and Ash hadn't really expected one. The dead were the only ones who could rest now. They were beyond the grasp of the Alliance. As for the rest of them, there was still a fight to be had.

Stergis: Can you get to a console?  We need...find out what happened.

Now that required real movement. Ash sighed and willed her body into movement. As she had expected, everything hurt and she wanted to do nothing more than slip into sleep. If they survived this, she promised herself a good, long nap.

MacKenna:  Working on it.

The command center of ops was dark, but from the look of things between sparks and flashes, none of it was good. Moving towards the voice she'd been speaking with, she grew concerned when the tone shifted along with the form.

Stergis:  I need a hand, Commander.  Seems like some of my nervous system is still on break.

Feeling that she had been spared much of what could have happened to her, she made her way over as quickly as she dared, taking the kit from the station's commander as she arrived.

MacKenna:  I'd ask what's wrong, but that'd be redundant.

Taking the medical tricorder out, she ran it over the woman as she leaned back against the ops table and groaned. Internal bleeding as expected, and a nasty head wound that spelled out concussion were only the most pressing results.

Stergis:  Just..keep me on my feet.  I'm not leaving my post.  

Not that they had anywhere else to go anyways. Ash nodded.

MacKenna:  I can give something that can help for a bit, but you're going to need a doctor.

The tricorder was chirping in alarm at all the things that Ash could do nothing about as the woman hit her badge and opened comms to the rest of the station. Ash hoped that perhaps a doctor survived and could attend to this emergency, though she knew there were probably countless others throughout the station in similar positions.

Stergis:  =/\= Stergis to any defense team...report in. =/\=

Raga: =/\= Seiuri Team here. Barely.. =/\=

Saying nothing and listening in, Ash loaded a hypospray as indicated before administering it. There was some kind of immediate relief on the commander's face, though they both knew it was only temporary.

Stergis: =/\= It's good to hear from you, Commander.  What's your status? =/\=

Raga: =/\= Not good, we’re barely holding the line but that shockwave just destroyed several viewports. Both sides just had people decompressed before the forcefields kicked in.

Stowing the medkit for the moment, Ash had turned her attention back to the flickering console. 

MacKenna: =/\= Looks like those will hold. For now. =/\=

Not to be pessimistic, but reality was always far more comforting than the alternative. That remained the case even when faced with this kind of oblivion.

Stergis:  =/\= The last thing we saw up here was our ships attempting to defend the station from a huge Alliance weapon.  Judging by the fact we're still here I'd say they were successful...mostly. =/\=

Raga: =/\= Good. There’s no way we could survive another one of those. =/\=

A glance at some of the raw data, as broken as it was, told her there was debris out there. A lot of debris.

MacKenna: =/\= Don't think we will need to. I believe it's been destroyed, but there are still Alliance ships around. =/\=

The station commander seemed to think about things for a minute before continuing. Her body might have taken a beating, but she was still functioning as sharp as ever, and that meant some hard and fast decisions.

Stergis: =/\= Commander, I think it's time to pull all the surviving defense teams back, collapse our perimeter as small as possible.  Do you think you can get up to Ops?  =/\=

Raga: =/\= We’ll try. We’ve got a lot of casualties and we’ve not had contact with anyone in Gamma Module for the last three hours. =/\=

MacKenna: =/\= We will try to restore internal sensors to get a fix on where everyone is, but it may take some time. =/\=

Stergis: =/\= Response =/\=

There were minor sounds on the line and Ash knew that they were hurt too, just as bad, if not worse, than those in ops. Her eyes drifted to the doors the marines were covering not long ago. Were they open to the next Alliance advance?

Raga: =/\= Understood, I’ll order all teams to fall back to Ops. We should still have enough to do a fighting retreat. Especially since I think that hurt the Alliance troops as much as it did us. =/\=

Kiran/Valo (if any): Response

If there was a silver lining to anything, perhaps it was that.

MacKenna: =/\= Good luck, commander. =/\=

Stergis: =/\= Response =/\=

Ash wasn't one for luck usually, just skill, but right now luck might have been all they had...

TBC/End Act 2

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Commander Ash MacKenna

Chief Intelligence Officer

USS Khitomer

R238605KN0