"Well that is interesting part 3"

Posted on Sun Jun 23rd, 2019 @ 9:58am by Lieutenant Commander Jaeih t'Noramei-McKinley & Lieutenant JG Nerinath zh'Rhilror [Lalor] & Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Miran Lalor [Lalor] HRH & Cadet Junior Grade Triston Montgomery [Lalor] & Commodore Evelyn Mountbatten [ADMIN NPC] & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant Ian Murphy & Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris & Lieutenant Commander Turak & Captain Garrett Lovejoy [ Taylor] & Lieutenant Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen [Taylor] & Senior Chief Petty Officer Fernando De La Rosa [Taylor] & Riov S’Tokkr tr’Noramei

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: USS Elysium - Various
Timeline: MD9 13h00
6132 words - 12.3 OF Standard Post Measure

"Well that is interesting part 3"

===

Meanwhile Fernando had received no orders so he went to the armory, loaded up on weapons and headed for deck 10 and the civilian bunker. Reaching it he tapped on the sealed doors. "It's me Petty Officer De La Rosa. Do not open the doors. I will stay here and protect you."

As Naxea and Gunnery Sergeant Rhodes began to make their way to torpedo storage, she heard screaming as a terran woman dressed in civilian clothing rushed around the corner. "Help me!"

Naxea raised her pulse rifle and side stepped to the opposite side or the corner. "Get down!"

The woman threw herself to the deck as two Romulans also rounded the corner. The first Romulan caught a phaser pulse to the chest, knocking him to the deck.

A second shot to the chest took out the other Romulan as Fernando stepped into view. He looked at the other two, "Captain, Sergeant. Petty Officer Fernando De La Rosa at your service. I took up a position outside the civilian bunker when I heard the screams. I am glad to see we weren't too late."

"Decent shooting for a fleeter." The old Gunny nodded approvingly, never turning from the younger man as he threw his Ka-Bar into the chest of another Romulan trying to take a sneaky shot at them, "I hate when they try to get cute with me..."

Fernando smiled, showing a mouthful of perfect white teeth. "Decent? I admire your talent for understatement Sergeant and in that same vein, that was truly a fair knife toss just now."

Rhodes' face twisted into an ugly snarl before he broke out into laughter. Pulling his Ka-Bar from one now very dead Romulan, he turned back to Fernando, "Hell, I like you, Fleety."

Fernando nodded, "Mucho Gracious Sergeant. I like you as well even if you are a Jarhead."

"Smile when you say that." Rhodes chuckled, readying his weapon, "Waiting for orders, Captain."

"Of course Sergeant." Fernando replied as he again smiled, showing off his perfect teeth. "I was taught to always respect my elders."

"You two can get a room together after we repel the Romulans," Naxea said with a grin. "Gunny, inform Second and Third Squads to continue on Mission to protect the torpedo storage," she knew that it would only take one direct explosive in that area to cause a chain reaction that would literally disintegrate the ship. "We'll help clear this deck before joining them."

"I do not believe my Orion rose Mona would like that very much. In fact I am sure she would not."

~Orion rose? Kid apparently doesn't know much about Orions or Marines. Whatever, not my job to educate him.~ Rhodes shook his head, tapping his comm badge, =^=Rhodes to Squads 2 and 3, move out to torpedo room, expect hostiles, they may try to blow the ship by blowing the magazine.=^=

Watching 2nd and 3rd squads moving to the torpedo room made Rhodes realize they were now seriously short on manpower, "Swell." He grumbled, walking back to the civilian bunker and knocking on the door, "This is Gunny Rhodes. You got anybody in there that's not a civilian?"

"Yeah, Gunny." Cadet Senior Grade Mark Robeson replied, "There are three of us in here, got caught out jogging."

"Then move your butts." Rhodes ordered, the bunker coming unsealed as though his voice had done it. As soon as the cadets stepped out the civilian bunker resealed behind them, there was no going back now. He looked over the assemblage, immediately recognizing Ludmilla Brett, acknowledging the young African male, "You must be Robeson..."

"Yes, Gunnery Sergeant." He replied, "I'm senior grade on Marine track."

"Right, so you might be some damn use to me." Rhodes half growled, half smiled, turning to a pretty, shaking redhead, "And who are you, Miss?"

"I'm Maddy..." She replied timidly.

"Maddy?" Rhodes was taken aback, "Why don't you military that up for me, sweetheart."

"Cadet Senior Grade Madelaine Rainbow Masters, Gunnery Sergeant." She thought about telling him not to call her 'sweetheart' but a quick look to the blonde who had joined them jogging said 'Don't' and a quick look back to him reminded her why she shouldn't, Because he scares the shit out of me...

"Madelaine Rainbow Masters, that's just darling." Rhodes rolled his eyes, he smelled hippies. Picking up three 'discarded' disruptor rifles, he approached the cadets, "Well, congratulations, cadets, you've all been promoted to riflemen."

"Rife...rifle what?" Maddy stammered as the Gunny put his own Starfleet issued phaser rifle into her arms; she'd never even held a weapon of any sort before, even in play, "Gunny, I think there's been some sort of mistake..."

Rhodes immediately locked eyes on her in a way similar to a python about to suck down a chubby little mouse, "A mistake you say? Do tell."

Ludmilla started to laugh, figuring Maddy was about to tell Rhodes it should be 'rifleperson.' His eyes darting from Maddy to her for only a split second shut her up as fast as his eyes moved.

"Um, it's just that, I'm a counseling cadet, Gunny." Maddy explained, sure the Gunny would realize his mistake and send her back into the bunker.

"Okay, so here's some wise counsel for you." Rhodes snarled, aligning the rifle in the cadet's arms, "Tuck it in firmly against your shoulder for accuracy, here's your trigger, this end towards enemy, move out on my six. Brett, you team up with Pretty Boy Floyd over there, Robeson, you move your ass to back up the Captain, marine."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Robeson replied, having decided the Gunny scared him shitless, too. He double timed it to the Captain's side, "Reporting as ordered, Sir."

Naxea looked at the young boy and sighed. "Stay behind me. Stay focused on the task at hand. Keep an eye on our flanks."

"Understood, sir." Robeson nodded, falling into position behind the Captain. He had known this would happen one day, his father, a retired Gunnery Sergeant himself, had reminded him many times, every Marine is a rifleman.

"Gunny, weapons aren't really my thi..." Maddy continued her protest, but that venomous glare from Rhodes said 'shut up' in every language humanoids spoke or had ever spoken, "Umm, okay, so moving in... But what's a six?"

"Follow my ass and do what you're told, Granola, and the Gunny will bring you back alive." Rhodes sighed, this girl was hopeless.

"Uh, yeah, alive." Maddy nodded, staying close to Rhodes' six, "Alive is good."

Fernando watch as Rhodes and Maddy moved away. It was all he could do not to laugh at the girls protests as they fell on Rhodes deaf ears. Then remembering he also had a 'rifleman' with him he turned to address her, He bowed at the waist and swung his arm in front of him. "I am Petty Officer Fernando De La Rosa. Who might you be my chickadee?"

"You're Fernando de la Rosa?" Ludmilla laughed, "The legend in the flesh, I'll be damned. Ludmilla Brett, I understand you and my sister know each other intimately..."

Fernando's smile grew broader, "Ahhhh! You are Anje's sister! It is a pleasure to meet you." With that he took her hand and kissed it softly. His face took on a dreamy look, "Yes, Anje. A most remarkable woman. Um very expressive."

It didn't take long for Milla to decipher the hidden meaning there, ~Well, well, well, looks like someone boldly went where no man had gone before.~ "She really is." Milla said, acting as though she didn't just figure out that this Fernando had been with her sister, mentally fighting away the 'expressions' she might have worn.

"Hey, kids, if you can break up the sewing circle, I think we're about to have company." Rhodes called to them, his tone serious but totally sarcastic.

"Yes Sergeant. We're ready." Fernando replied as he looked to Milla, "You ready?"

"Always." Milla replied, ~Though apparently not as ready as my sister. She is so much cooler than I remembered...~

"That's the spirit!" Fernando exclaimed happily then gave her some advice. "Don't rush your shots and when you fire take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Though I know you will be fine. It's that Mandy, Marty, you know the one the Sergeant called Granola. A most apt nickname by the way."

Naxea motioned for Robeson to come with her and then got Rhode's attention as she motioned in the Romulan's direction and gave him a circular hand motion and made a T with her hands indicating she was going to do a flanking maneuver. She took off at a brisk pace, keeping hunched over and her rifle at the ready position with Robeson right behind her.

Rhodes nodded in reply, finding cover and lining up his confiscated disruptor to take a shot if need be, "Okay, Granola, keep your head down and your eyes on the pointy ears, got it?"

"Gunny, maybe we should try to talk to them." Maddy suggested, "I mean, maybe if we open a dia..."

Rhodes turned briefly to glare at her, it only took a fraction of a second for the newly christened Cadet Granola to fall as silent as the grave, ~If she doesn't shut up I might kill her before the Romulan have the chance.~ He kept his eyes on the target, waiting for the Captain's next signal.

Naxea held her breath as the Romulans made their way forward with two splitting off down the corridor she had gone down--likely had the same idea she had. "Shit," she muttered. For her plan to work, she would have to take the two Romulans down quietly. Spotting a jeffries tube access nearby, she opened it and motioned for Robeson to enter.

Robeson merely nodded in obedience, moving into the tube as quickly as he could do it quietly, tucking his disruptor against his chest and climbing like his life depended on it.

Naxea slid in and closed the door partially as she watched the two Romulans make their way past her. She pushed the doors apart and slid out, drawing her Ka-Bar out, taking two steps in what seems one smooth motion, stabbed her knife into the back base of the Romulan's neck, withdrawing it and stabbing it into the side of the other Romulan's neck. She soon heard the sounds of a fire fight beginning as she wiped the green Romulan blood on the dead Romulans' uniforms and sheathed her knife. She motioned for Robeson to follow as she made her way to flank the attacking Romulan group.

The firefight had started alright, and it had started just a few meters from Rhodes and a now panicking Masters, "Damn it, Granola, fire that weapon!" The grizzled old NCO growled as he put down two more enemy soldiers, "Just squeeze the trigger!"

Madelaine wanted to go into the fetal position and surrender, but she had the feeling if she did that Gunnery Sergeant Rhodes would kill her before the Romulans got there, "What do I do?"

"Stock tight against the shoulder, squeeze the trigger, this end towards enemy." Rhodes snarled his previous instructions, "Now fire that damn weapon, Granola!"

"Okay, just squeeze the trigger, no problem. Just a little squeeze..." Maddy encouraged herself, not realizing while she'd been death gripping the rifle she had set it to full automatic. The squeeze on her trigger sent dozens of blasts in the general direction of three oncoming Romulans; she didn't hit any of them, but her wild fire sent them ducking for cover before bolting back towards the Captain and Robeson. Turning to Rhodes as she watched the Romulans fleeing, she asked, "Was that okay, Gunny?"

"Not bad for your first time, Granola." Rhodes nodded approvingly, "Not bad at all."

Naxea heard the pounding footsteps on running Romulans...and they were headed right to her. She took her left hand and placed it on Robeson's back, forcing him down. "Get prone and ready that rifle. Do not hesitate," she whispered sharply as she took a kneeling position and aimed the rifle at the approaching footsteps. As the first Romulan appeared, she fired a two pulse burst, that stuck the Romulan, sending him reeling to the deck.

A quick double tap from Robeson sent one Romulan to the deck dead, and the other ducking for cover and looking for alternate escape routes, "Just drop your weapon, nice and slow." Robeson ordered, "Fall to your knees, hands on your head, got me?"

The Romulan dropped his rifle, going through the motions of dropping to his knees, as well. Then, with reflexes like a snake, he slid a small hold out phaser from the sleeve of his uniform, firing quickly and striking Robeson between the eyes. Leaping to his feet, he grabbed his rifle and spun towards the other Marine.

On reflex Naxea fired, hitting the Romulan as he turned towards her. Seeing that the corridor was now clear, she knelt down next to Robeson, placing her fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse--hoping against hope to find one, finding none. She closed her eyes. "Damn," she sighed before standing, knowing she had to move on and that medical would be by soon. "Clear!" she called out before tapping her comm badge. "Captain Azhul to Medical. We have one KIA on Deck Ten, Section 21 Bravo. Marine Cadet Robeson."

Rhodes and Masters came around the corner, following the sounds of the battle. Well, Rhodes was following the sounds of the battle, Masters was panicking and following Rhodes so he wouldn't kill her... or worse. The old Gunny's eyes fell on the dead cadet, "Well, shit." He snarled, kneeling down and closing the young man's eyes, "Semper fi, Marine."

"Mark...." Maddy whispered through tears, she had not been prepared for anything like this.

"Save the meltdown for later, Granola, we've got to move it." Rhodes instructed, growing annoyed with the fact Masters was still on her knees beside the corpse, "I said we've got to move unless you want to end up just like him, Masters. On your feet."

All she wanted to do was stay there so Mark wouldn't have to be alone, but she involuntarily rose to her feet to obey the Gunny's commands.

Milla heard the shooting and ran to the sounds, Fernando, she hoped, close behind.

Hearing foot steps, Maddy panicked, spinning to the sound with the rifle leveled, "Don't!" She screamed, then whispered, "Please don't..."

"Calm down, Granola, these are ours." Rhodes said calmly, lowering Masters' rifle, "It's okay, we're almost out of this and you're doing fine..."

"Oh, shit, Maddy!" Milla gasped; that silly bitch had almost shot her. Her eyes next landed on Robeson, "Oh no, Mark..."

Fernando was indeed behind Milla, running down the corridor yet ready to dive for nonexistent cover if he needed to. He pulled up short as he saw the others standing around a fallen body. As he got closer he could see it was one of the cadets... Robeson. "Dios Mío!" He exclaimed as he crossed himself. There were no adequate to describe his feelings of intense sorrow. Instead he looked across at Gunny Rhodes. "I am very sorry Gunny."

"Good kid, followed orders and did what a Marine does." Rhodes noted, "I've got no complaints with him." He tapped the cadet's comm badge, sending him to medical.

Naxea sighed--none of this was good. "Alright, fall in line, we still have a job to do. You'll all have plenty of time to mourn Cadet Robeson later, believe me. We still have hostiles aboard the ship that needs to be taken care of, so let's show them why they chose the wrong ship to board."

"All right, people, you heard the lady, let's move out." Rhodes bellowed.

"But, Mark..." Maddy sobbed.

"Mark is dead." Rhodes stated matter of factly, "And there's nothing we can do for him now aside from kicking these sons a bitches off of our ship and winning this goddam fight, Cadet. Otherwise, that brave kid died for nothing. Got me?"

"Yes, Gunnery Sergeant." Maddy said, tears still obvious in her voice as she reached out for the Gunny's hand to help her up.

Hoisting Granola to her feet, Rhodes gently touched her shoulder, "You just hold it together a little while longer."

Naxea nodded to Rhodes. "Staggered formation. Don't get bunched up," she instructed the cadets. She then got a call from 1st Squad.

"Sergeant Anderson to Captain Azhul." sounds of a firefight could be heard in the background. "We have two squads of Romulans outside Engineering. We're holding at the moment but I don't know for how much longer--they're giving us hell. Lieutenant Edith and Corporal Lott left, escorting some engineers to the Torpedo Storage."

"Not what I want to hear, Sergeant Anderson. You return hell of your own," Naxea replied sternly. "Hold your position I'm enroute to your position Captain Azhul, out." Naxea wasn't too thrilled at her XO not informing that he had left his post. "Let's double time it to Main Engineering.

"Rhodes, take point."

"Like there was any question of that." Rhodes laughed wickedly, "Okay, people, you heard the lady, let's go find these sons of bitches before they take any more of our people from us." He turned to Maddy, "Remember what I told you?"

"Tight against the shoulder, squeeze the trigger." She answered, then remembered, "This end towards enemy."

"Oo-rah." Rhodes said approvingly.

TAG

TAG MEDICAL

==Deck 13==

"Oh crap! Oh crap!" Murphy shouted as he ran, dodging Romulan disruptors down the hallway in Deck 13. He was wearing a cadet atmo training suit, and really wondered if they were supposed to be this tight? Or maybe he needed to start hitting the gym more often.

=^=Murphy to Avalon, we've got boarders on Deck 13, request Security detachment.=^= He reported. And then wailed in a panicky voice, "Where's Security?!" You know, like an unarmed Cadet would. He kept running, ducking through a seemingly-random door, and pressing against the wall just inside, lashing his hand out to press some icons on the panel just inside the door. The Romulans, two of them, followed him inside and... Flew into the air. Because this was a zero-gravity training facility. Murphy pursed his lips, watching the Romulans flail about impotently as their momentum had them floating and spinning, one of them still firing his pistol.

Then Murphy calmly secured a grip on the door-frame, strolled outside, closed the door and restored gravity. At 2.5 times Earth standard. =^=Murphy to Avalon.=^= he said as two thuds reverberated through the deck. =^=Situation update: Two Romulans contained in Zero-G training.=^= He said, locking the door.

Just then, LTJG Turak saw Murphy exiting the Zero-G training room as he cautiously rounded a corner with a shouldered phase rifle. "Cadet, who's in the training room?"

"I'm actually the Vice Commandant. Lieutenant Murphy." Murphy responded, turning to look at the Vulcan. "There are two romulan boarders inside. There may be more on this deck, but these two are the only ones I've encountered between here and the hull breach. I didn't have a weapon on me at the moment, so I had to use the advantage of friendly terrain."

Turak responded, "My apologies Lieutenant, I assumed you were a Cadet. As for the Romulans inside, I will have a Security team take care of them when we have the manpower. Right now I'll lock down this room and then we will continue our search for more of our personnel." Turak then walked over to the wall control panel outside of the Zero-G room and locked it down, "Computer, this is Lieutenant JG Turak, lock down this room only to be opened by myself, security personnel, or higher leadership. Also, give a warning to anyone that opens this door that their are two Romulans inside." He looked back at Murphy and said, "I wish we could just beam them to the brig right now, but who knows if it is secure. Let's move on....."



===

Lt. Vaii watched as Beta wing began their run on the G-12 Class Warbird, Four of the Valkyries began to strafe the ship from above, micro-torpedoes hit the Romulan ship from above, like planned, the warbird broke off and tried to evade.

Jess spoke. "Alpha and Gamma, on my wing." Jess lead the Raptor's in a combined assault on the warbird. All her pilots locked onto the white and blue markers, apparently some of the warbird's sytems were in the process of an overload and the fighters fired a concentrated volley of torpedoes towards the warbird's underside. "Fox One." Jess noted as she fired as well. The ship tried to swat the fighters away with disruptor fire. The fighters evaded and the volley hit the warbird's lightly shielded underside. The ship began to spin out of control.

"Lieutenant, I'm reading main power failures on the warbird. I'm reading a possible containment failure on it's singularity."

"All fighters, clear the warbird's airspace." The Warbird suddenly exploded, but then it seemed like the ship imploded as the singularity crushed the ship.

Anje watched with a certain level of excitement as one of the warbirds became a past problem; this excitement was, naturally, tempered by the fact that two remained current problems. Turning to the Commodore she stated, "Sir, these ships are clearly in bad repair, if you'll indulge me, I have an idea to take down the others. I'll just need some help from a friend in engineering and Lt. Morris to keep shooting as well as he has."

"Make it so" Came Evelyn's reply

"Commodore. I think our missing officers are close, why else would they be jamming us. I need our fighters to attempt a triangulation sweep so we can cut through this interference." Arrianna noted.

Percy nodded as he watched the crew work around him, a much better team he would have given them credit for in any of his individual evaluations. Perhaps there had been some merit to Arrianna's previous assessment of his personal vendetta. He stepped in next to her. "Can I help somehow?" he asked her.

Arri looked at Albright for a moment, a part of her wanted to rip into him again. "Yes... And it may be suited to your specific skill set." She gestured him over to a console. "We need damage control and medical teams sent where they are needed. We're not out of this yet. You're good with efficiency, so get our team working on our critical systems. First; our shields and get the long range sensors online. I think I'm on to something, and we can't have any more suicide runs. Welcome to your first time in Battle, Commander. The best thing I can say right now is you need to do what you need to do. You don't have time to be afraid."

Percy narrowed his eyes at her. He took out his PADD from under his arm.

And he tossed it onto a nearby chair.

"Commander, I'll even prepare a self-evaluation of my work at the end of all this," Percy said. The faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at his own joke. He cleared his throat, reasserting his sense of duty. "I won't let you down," he promised. With that he activated the console she had indicated. In seconds he began triaging the ship's needs and assigning the needed personnel.

Anje, with the Commodore's permission, made her way to a comm panel, =^=Brett to Norris, I need your assistance.=^=

=^=I dinnae know what I can do for ya, Commander.=^= Came Gallia's reply, =^=We're on our way to do damage control.=^=

=^=I just need you for two minutes; you, Dorso, and Justice.=^= Anje began, =^=Go to the main torpedo room, there are some probes in there that we use for tracking gaseous anomalies.=^=

Gallia already knew where the Ops manager was going with this, they studied Kirk's torpedoes at the Academy. The only thing she didn't get was this, the Romulan ship wasn't cloaked, =^=So you want me to make heatseekers then?=^=

=^=Exactly.=^= Anje replied, =^=The Romulan ships are in bad shape, they're putting off white and blue heat around the thrusters, if we can hit them hard we can take them down.=^=

=^=Aye, Norris out.=^= Gallia replied, turning to Liorga, "Li, you get Fray and a couple more, head down to start repairs, me and the muscle twins will be there in a minute."

"Right." Liorga nodded, motioning for Fliehr and some new girl she hadn't met yet to follow her, "Good luck, Gallia."

"Mona, change a plans!" Gallia relayed, "We're goin' ta the main torpedo bay, gotta rig somethin' special for the Romulans. Need yer big, sexy green muscles though!"

"Well, if you put it that way", Mona grinned. "Lead on." She leaned in towards Sami's ear and whispered, "See, all we're good for is the manual labour. Officers."

"Nah, Gallia's a pervert." Sami joked, "She just wants to watch your ass while you're lifting stuff."

Mona laughed. "I've had worse. Let's give her a good show then." She started picking up what needed moving.

They managed to make it to the torpedo room in just a space under five minutes, greeted by Marine Squads two and three, who immediately stepped between them and the torpedo room, "Sir, this area is off limits, sir." Lance Corporal Darwin announced.

Gallia fought the urge to say 'Move it, ya dumb bugger.' and politely introduced herself, "Begin' yer pardon, Corporal, but I'm Lt. Norris an' I'm here for Cdr. Brett. I'll be needin' in there now."

"I'm going to need to see some ID, Lieutenant." He stated.

"Mona, ya speak this imbecile's language doncha?" Gallia sighed, "Explain ta him that we're goin' in there for work purposes an' we dinnae have time far his idiocy."

"Darwin, if I didn't know better, I could swear you got your name simply to mock the idea of the survival of the fittest", Mona said, annoyed. "Get out of the way, we haven't got time to show you our documentation. It's not like you haven't seen us around dozens of times, no?" She started shoving him out the way.

"Oh, shit, Mona, sorry." Darwin said, moving out of the way, "You should've just said they were with you."

"She just did, dumbass." Dorso sighed, deciding nobody had better ever make fun of him for not being that smart again, not with Darwin around.

Sami just shook her head, slinging a bag of tools over her shoulder and following Mona and Gallia into the torpedo bay. As she did though, her eyes did drift to Mona and a slight giggle escaped her lips as she whispered, "Okay, that was hot."

"You should hang with us marines more often", Mona said. "Your tongue would get twice as much exercise as the rest of your body." She placed the heavy toolbox on the floor between the two racks of torpedo cases. "And from here on out, best I can do is work as instructed, if you speak in simple terms." Engineering was not her strong suit, not at all.

"Then I'll keep it super simple fer ya." Gallia said, "All three a ya go to rack 13 Bravo, there's some sensor equipment for trackin' gaseous anomalies, Sami will point ya in the right direction. I need all a ya to bring me back one to install in these torpedoes."

"She's talking about an X-6i, y'all." Sami said as she motioned them to follow her, her Floridian accent peeking out, "They weigh about fifty pounds each, but they'll do the job."

"Right." Dorso nodded, he was still so new to this job, having Sami around was such a benefit.

Gallia, for her part, had her eyes on something else. There, on rack 7 Delta, was a frequency modulation probe. They were, for the most part, used in buoys to broadcast SOS signals, but if this worked the way she thought, there was a chance the torpedo could hit the right frequency for the Romulan ships' shields and go right through. Taking two fmps off of the rack, she reset them to scan and lock onto a frequency in front of them when they got within two hundred klicks.

Sami led the others back with X-6is in their arms, ready to perform surgery on these torpedoes, "Okay, so what are you doing, Lieutenant?"

"Well, if it works, these bad boys just got the key to the Romulans' front door." Gallia said, tightening in the probes to the torpedoes, "All right, let's all crack a torpedo, shall we? Dorso, Sami, once you got yours open, start installing the sensors. I'll do the other one. Mona, all you gotta do now is keep the Romulans or yer buddy Darwin from shootin' us."

Mona nodded as she put the heavy equipment down. "No problem. Darwin is slow but he's a good shot. They won't easily get past him and his team." Mona decided to stay in the room rather than go out and join them, just in case someone decided to beam right in here.

It took them a few minutes, but working quickly and with purpose the team got the sensors into their respective torpedoes, which were now ready for firing, =^=Norris to Brett, your order is ready.=^=

=^=Thank you, Lt. Norris!=^= Anje replied, studying the schematics of the torpedoes quickly, "That brilliant little ginger. She's made a torpedo that will go through their shields." She walked quickly to Morris, "Okay, Jason, here's what I need..." She began, realizing in the fray her hair had come loose and was now partially in his face as she leaned over to talk to him, "Sorry." She smiled sheepishly, pulling her hair back from his face, "We've got two torpedoes per vessel. The first is a dumbfire, but it will, if everything works according to plan, go right through the shields. The second are rigged as heatseekers, and they're going to fly right up their singularity. I've got them loaded dumbfire, seeker, dumbfire, seeker, I just need you to do a couple of quick double taps." She had decided to save the third heatseeker in case she needed it later.

Jason nodded and prepared the weapons to give to massive knocks to the enemies head. "Double taps ready and waiting for your go." Jason said.

Jessica kept formation with the Elysium. "Gamma and Delta. Land on the Elysium and reload your torpedoes. I want Beta on Fighter screen for the Elysium. Alpha, you're with me. We need to figure out what's in this area. No one just attacks a Federation Starship for no reason." Jess noted. "Vaii to Brett, we're coordinating our sensors with the Elysium's main sensor array. I have a feeling what we're looking for is here."

"Right, show me what you've got." Anje replied, hoping yet another weakness would be exposed.

Arrianna spoke. "I've looked up the warbird's were fighting in the Starfleet Databanks. The Warbird we destroyed is the IRW Varrix. The other two are the IRW Keras and the IRW A'Var. These particular warbirds fought with the Alliance fleet during the Dominion War, they were all disabled by the Breen, and towed to Starbase 357." Arri mentioned. "All three vessels had to have a complete EPS refit but it was never throughly completed, so the ships were then towed to Koros II for decomissioning. When the war ended, the Star Empire decided these three vessels weren't worth the trouble. Lt. Brett, their power systems are not completely operational. We might be able to overload them again with some kind of EM discharge."

"Okay, I'll work on that in case our torpedoes fail." Anje nodded towards the acting second officer. A wicked smile suddenly crossed her lips, "You know, if we could disable one of these vessels, it would make one hell of a Trojan Horse." She motioned Arrianna over to show what she meant, "If we can disable the vessel, I can hack their computer system, find out where they came from. Then, we reverse our tractor beam to push the vessel instead of pulling it in, make it look like they're towing us. Hack their comms, contact their base, tell them we have prisoners, the USS Elysium. Soon as they start talking about where to take us, we push the warbird away, unleash Hell on them. Thoughts?"

Jason looked at Anje with a somewhat comical look that said are you really thinking about this?. "Ready to fire when you are, and although it sounds like workable plan I must remind you, this isn't just a Starfleet vessel, its also an academy ship with family's. Should something happen its not just us but our family's you put at risk so make a wise choice." Jason said after listening to their plan, it had merit but there was too much to chance and risk for him.

"I'm aware of this vessel's mission and my responsibilities, Lieutenant." Anje replied, she understood why he was worried, though she was working to keep that from being an issue if he would cooperate, "And I'm not inviting the Romulans in for tea, they're merely going to be a prop if either ship survives. Fire at will, Mr. Morris."

"Aye sir, just thought I would mention it." Jason said as he opened fire with everything he could find.

Arrianna spoke. "It may be a bit of a stretch to say that three under-powered Romulan Warbirds were any match for a Federation Starship, but that may be all we need if we say that the other two warbirds sacrificed themselves. They were willing to fight and die for whatever cause they believe in. This may be our best opportunity to retrieve the Captain and her companions alive, but we must move quickly. Find out who their Captain is, Commander and I can program the communications system to project an overlay of the captain onto your person. All that will be needed is for you to become a convincing Romulan." She noted. "If all goes well, we could get their leader to beam aboard our vessel to inspect the spoils of victory, and in my experience with Romulan passions, it is easy to manipulate their egos."

"This is why passion has to be governed with logic." Anje replied, thinking to herself that she'd never sounded so Vulcan in her life. The records proved to be spotty at best, but she found the name of the last listed Captain of the Keras, Riov Paran D'Liin, the current heir to the lesser House of Tyrannus, "Looks like we've got Romulan nobility on the Keras..."

"Interesting... Why would Romulan Elites sacrifice themselves in outdated warbirds?"

"They're from one of the lesser houses, makes me think whoever this is fancies themselves as the next Romulan strongman." Anje reported, "They've probably thrown with him in hopes of a big payout if he wins."

Suddenly there was the shudder of a cloak fading and a large Warbird appeared. It turned its weapons on the attacking vessels.

Anje turned to Arianna and raised an eyebrow, "Were you expecting company?"

"No...." Arrianna mentioned as she walked towards the screen. "Commodore, I suspect the Star Empire is purging whomever may be holding our crewmembers. If that is the case, we are wasting time by fighting."

"Advise we offer assistance from aft torpedoes on the fly by, we can track the paths these Warbirds took here to find their base." Anje offered, she knew from the scans of the Warbirds that they would be putting down a very heavy trail.

Evelyn listened and then hit the comm. "Commander McKinley to the bridge." She looked at Anje. "Hail the New vessel."

=^=Commander Romulan Vessel, this is the USS Elysium..=^= Anje opened, hoping like Hell that she didn't get the same result she got the last time she was hailing a Romulan vessel.

This time, she got a response. An older looking Romulan male appeared on the view screen. "Elysium. This is 'Enriov tr'Noramei of the Romulan Star Empire. We are not here for you. We are here to destroy these traitors to the Romulan way of life."

Evelyn studied the man on the screen. "And by doing so you will most likely destroy any link they have to people we are searching for."

"I am aware of your hunt Commodore Mountbatten. I am very much aware of everything. My role here is to bring these traitors a dishonorable death." His hand waved and his ship fired again and again and one of the three attackers lost shields.

TBC...

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