S1-M10 A Race Against Time

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Battle Bridge]

Maybe she was just tired, confused, but the numbers rattled off by the flight lieutenant meant nothing to her. T'Ra rubbed her side, trying to think. Shields were down to 22% and the Sovereign ships were still on their tail. The situation was grim.

"I know things don't look very good right now," T'Ra said, addressing the bridge in general, "and you all have performed exceptionally. I could not ask for more. But, I find I must. We need to push it as far as it will go to buy Captain Hawke and the others on the saucer section as much time as we possibly can. They're counting on us."

[Elsewhere on the Stardrive Section - NPC Evan Buehler]

"Was zum Teufel??" A sudden pitching motion sent Evan, as well as a number of the cadets tumbling down the corridor. Once he rolled to a stop, he sat up, taking a moment to rub a wrist that felt like it got an indian burn. But thankfully, everything else felt alright. "You all ok?" The cadets mostly grumbled in reply.

Now that that was settled, Evan tapped his commbadge. =^=Buehler to battle bridge, everyone still alive up there?=^=

=^=Yes, Doctor,=^= came a stern reply, but Evan couldn't help but smile. He knew that voice. It was T'Ra. =^=But Lieutenant Jaeger could use some attention. She received a laceration from the helm console.=^=

=^=On my way, Sch--Sir.=^= He almost said "Schatz", but he doubt she would have approved of being addressed by this term of endearment given the situation. A wincing gasp caught his attention. He turned his head to find one of the cadets tenderly test their weight on a sore ankle. "You," Evan said, addressing the blonde cadet, "do you know how to treat a sprain?" She nodded. "Good. Take care of him."

[Battle Bridge]

Ardyn nodded gravely as she listened to T'Ra speak, all trace of levity gone. Making sure the ship was still headed the way she wanted to, she sighed, the realization of what just happened finally settling in for her. She wasn't a stranger with being on the other end of the law, but she had tried to change that, start over. Actually be on the side that didn't have to constantly be running. Apparently, that wasn't in the plan now.

Her head throbbed now,  the numbing adrenaline of the moment fading fast. Gingerly touching it, she noticed Dr. Buehler coming up on the bridge. Pretending she didn't see him, she began looking at the surrounding area for good hiding places, hoping that this visit was just nothing.

[Fala Awen]

[Battle Bridge]

Caelene's fingers tapped quickly on the console before her, cycling through the various engineering, shields, and weapons screens. Damage control teams had been deployed, but the Sovereigns would catch up to them at any moment... After what they had attempted, the Trill seriously doubted the ships would come after them without firing. Things were going to get worse.

"I know things don't look very good right now," T'Ra said, addressing the bridge in general, "and you all have performed exceptionally. I could not ask for more. But, I find I must. We need to push it as far as it will go to buy Captain Hawke and the others on the saucer section as much time as we possibly can. They're counting on us."

Looking over at T'Ra as the Executive Officer spoke, Caelene nodded grimly. This was the path given to them and they had to see it through. As she was about to check on the team's progress with the shields, the ship was slammed by another hit. Caelene was thrown from her chair as the Shran dropped out of warp.

Wincing and shaking her head to clear it, the Trill crawled back over to her station and gripped the console, climbing back into her chair. Hands trembling slightly, she brought up the damage control overview, "Commander! They've taken out our warp drive! Shields are down to fifteen percent! Both ships are gaining on us. Best I can do right now is impulse power..."

This was bad. Two ships versus one and the Shran was practically a sitting duck. Without warp drive, their options were severely limited. Caelene desperately tapped at the engineering console, trying to think of something, but the truth was that the stardrive section wouldn't last long if they kept losing systems.

"I'm going to try rerouting power to the warp drive and damage control teams are working on it right now, but I don't think we'll get it back in time," she announced. Quickly, she did what she could to temporarily boost the shields, and then began returning fire.

Caelene's eyes went wide as she saw the latest barrage on its way. "Incoming! Hold onto something!" The Shran was rocked again by an explosion - even bigger than before; it took all of her strength to not get tossed about the bridge again. Both ships were firing at the same spot now...

When the damage report came up, Caelene didn't want to believe it. Swallowing hard, she turned to T'Ra, "Ma'am...our shields are down and warp drive is still offline. My teams are doing what they can, but..."

She didn't even have to finish the sentence; surely everyone there knew what that meant. This would be the moment of truth. Either the other ships had orders to take them into custody, which would at least save their lives...or they had orders to destroy the Shran and this would be the end...

OFF: Tag Torngate & battle bridge

[Dylan Torngate]

[Bridge- USS Inquisitor]

Dylan watched as the ship grew larger in his viewscreen. His engines were being pushed to the max, and he knew it. The damage to the systems was one thing, but Dylan had orders to stop the ship, damage notwithstanding.

He saw them drop out of warp, his own two ships streaking out of warp behind and crossing over each other, weapons still blazing forth, sunbeam orange beams of phased energy streaking across space toward the Shran.

Dylan heard as his Tactical officer called out the shields of the Shran had been disabled. Dylan stood, and nodded to the Commander at his left to take over. He then gave orders to his crew.

"Excalibur, get a tractor beam on them. Cover pattern theta, boarding option." he said, as the Inquisitor moved into position directly behind the profile of the other sovereign, as Dylan exited the bridge, heading to a transporter room.

Dylan entered the transporter room, where a heavily armed Starfleet tactical team was waiting. The team consisted of five armed crew, who handed Dylan a compression phaser rifle and a phaser pistol with holster and strap, which Dylan put on and slung across his shoulder.

This team was one of around five others, for a total of 30 boarders, all heavily trained and armed, ready to attack the crew of seemingly mostly cadets. Dylan crouched, as he prepped his rifle, on a pad.

Seconds later, the Inquisitor's shields dropped momentarily as she crossed behind the profile of the Excalibur. Dylan inhaled as he disappeared...

[Shuttlebay- USS Shran- Deck 10]

Dylan materialized on the deck of the Shran, next to the standby shuttle. Surrounding him were two of the teams, for a total of twelve boarders in this area, all armed and ready to fire. Instead of the regular starfleet uniform, most of the boarders had black helmets, and thick vests, only the starfleet insignia on their arm and chest indicating who they were. They prepared to see who else appeared, as Dylan also looked to see who was around.

Elsewhere on the ship, two teams appeared on deck 32, in a cargo bay, and two teams on deck 24 in the mess hall, three groups of 12 boarders, all working toward objectives.

Where Dylan was, the commander of the team wasted no time in finding the nearest crew and yelling for them to get on the ground, the rest of the crew beginning to move out and secure the immediate area, weapons ready.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Battle Bridge]

When the damage report came up, Caelene didn't want to believe it. Swallowing hard, she turned to T'Ra, "Ma'am...our shields are down and warp drive is still offline. My teams are doing what they can, but..."

She didn't even have to finish the sentence; surely everyone there knew what that meant. This would be the moment of truth. Either the other ships had orders to take them into custody, which would at least save their lives...or they had orders to destroy the Shran and this would be the end...

[Shuttlebay- USS Shran- Deck 10]

Dylan materialized on the deck of the Shran, next to the standby shuttle. Surrounding him were two of the teams, for a total of twelve boarders in this area, all armed and ready to fire. Instead of the regular starfleet uniform, most of the boarders had black helmets, and thick vests, only the starfleet insignia on their arm and chest indicating who they were. They prepared to see who else appeared, as Dylan also looked to see who was around.

Elsewhere on the ship, two teams appeared on deck 32, in a cargo bay, and two teams on deck 24 in the mess hall, three groups of 12 boarders, all working toward objectives.

Where Dylan was, the commander of the team wasted no time in finding the nearest crew and yelling for them to get on the ground, the rest of the crew beginning to move out and secure the immediate area, weapons ready.

[Battle Bridge]

T'Ra blinked, and in that moment, it felt as if the entirety of the universe was caving in on them. Ach, es ist so dunkel in des Todes Kammer. Sparks flew like shooting stars across the battle bridge as the Shran continued to take one hit after another, the hull groaning in agony. TÁƒ¶nt so traurig als er sich bewegt. She listened as her Chief Engineer rattled off statistics, nodding grimly. The situation was not sustainable; they were fighting a losing battle. Und nun aufhebt seinen schweren Hammer. Their shields were down, the hammer had fallen.

Und die Stunde schlÁƒgt.

"Intruder alert!" cried Ensign Cooper from the Sec/Tac console, her voice ringing like a bell in the Vulcan's ears. "Unauthorized entries on decks 10, 24, and 32!"

T'Ra pushed herself back up from her seat. "Bring us to red alert!"

[Battle Bridge]

Ardyn nodded gravely as she listened to T'Ra speak, all trace of levity gone. Making sure the ship was still headed the way she wanted to, she sighed, the realization of what just happened finally settling in for her. She wasn't a stranger with being on the other end of the law, but she had tried to change that, start over. Actually be on the side that didn't have to constantly be running. Apparently, that wasn't in the plan now.

Her head throbbed now,  the numbing adrenaline of the moment fading fast. Gingerly touching it, she noticed Dr. Buehler coming up on the bridge. Pretending she didn't see him, she began looking at the surrounding area for good hiding places, hoping that this visit was just nothing.

[Battle Bridge - NPC Evan Buehler]

Evan walked onto the bridge amidst a sea of chaos. And to think sickbay was bad, he mused as he worked his way over towards the front of the battle bridge, where a flight officer sat rubbing her temple in pain. Evan knelt, opening his medkit to find the right tool. "Don't worry, Lieutenant," he said quietly. "I'm not going to bite you. I'm not a--" But he stopped short. He was about to say, I'm not a velociraptor.

[Dylan Torngate]

[USS Shran- Shuttlebay]

Dylan looked around the room as the team finished wrapping up their sweep. They'd come under fire in a matter of seconds from one overzealous and cocky Security crewman, who had found himself on the receiving end of several phaser stun blasts. Setting seven would kill, setting six would make the subject wish they were dead, and below that was varying levels of hurt.

Dylan's crew was using a heavy, heavy stun setting. The crewman in question was hit by three blasts- and was sufficiently disabled. The crew also rounded up a few cadets, and secured them with binders. The cadets were obviously terrified, but, per protocol, they were reminded of their rights as arrested persons and cuffed to a pipe, left as Dylan and the crew moved on.

Such was the process all over the ship, following a logical progression of steps. The person was warned, ordered to get down, and arrested. If they resisted, they were shot with stun blasts. Rinse, repeat, continue.

Dylan and his crew moved swiftly, encountering little resistance of merit. The half-cadet crew was mostly either unwilling or unable to fully engage the boarding parties, or at least had fallen back significantly. The biggest problem was the turbolifts- they couldn't use them, and had to rely on crawlspaces to not be diverted into an ambush.

Minutes later, they had fought their way to the battle bridge's corridor. It was here that they began to run into more significant resistance, the sealed doors guarded and fortified by more hardened security forces. The sound of phaser blasts and yelled orders echoed down the corridors as the teams fought, Dylan's dozen slowly gaining ground, bulkhead by bulkhead, fighting ferociously as the air grew hot from the energy blasts shooting all around. Two of Dylan's black armored crew went down from the fire, as the rest continued to push, dragging the injured and hit men behind cover. Now, only five of Shran's crew and a reinforced door stood between Dylan and the Battle Bridge.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Battle Bridge]

It wasn't long before Ensign Cooper's voice shrilly announced, "They've forced their way all the way up. They're just outside the door!"

Well then. So this was it. T'Ra turned to face the door, her back now facing the view screen.

"Enter!" she barked.

[Dylan Torngate]

[Corridor outside Bridge]

The attacking forces had just finished their assault on the corridor when the door swished open. The stunned crewmen on the ground were restrained, as two men stood guard outside while the remaining seven stormed onto the bridge, weapons drawn and orders being shouted to either get down on the floor or put their hands up... usually a combination of both. Due to the cramped size of the bridge, many of the party had switched to their type-two phasers, and Dylan was no exception as he walked through the doors.

[Bridge]

He looked around and walked toward the center chair, toward the insubordinate Vulcan.

"Commander T'Ra Jones, by the power vested in me by Starfleet command you are relieved of duty and under arrest," he said calmly, his face impassive but a little twitch in his stance. Despite all his outward appearances, he was nervous. For the Vulcan's perceptive eyes, it more than likely showed. He raised his phaser and pointed it at the Commander. The indicator was on "kill".

"Surrender," he said plainly, his eyes locked toward T'ra.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Corridor outside Bridge]

The attacking forces had just finished their assault on the corridor when the door swished open. The stunned crewmen on the ground were restrained, as two men stood guard outside while the remaining seven stormed onto the bridge, weapons drawn and orders being shouted to either get down on the floor or put their hands up... usually a combination of both. Due to the cramped size of the bridge, many of the party had switched to their type-two phasers, and Dylan was no exception as he walked through the doors.

[Bridge]

He looked around and walked toward the center chair, toward the insubordinate Vulcan.

"Commander T'Ra Jones, by the power vested in me by Starfleet command you are relieved of duty and under arrest," he said calmly, his face impassive but a little twitch in his stance. Despite all his outward appearances, he was nervous. For the Vulcan's perceptive eyes, it more than likely showed. He raised his phaser and pointed it at the Commander. The indicator was on "kill".

"Surrender," he said plainly, his eyes locked toward T'Ra.

[Battle Bridge]

The doors parted, allowing the boarding party to flood into the battle bridge, much as the water had rushed over the Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and charioteers. T'Ra released a heavy sigh. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. She had defied the will of Starfleet, breaking an oath that she had sworn to uphold, and there was little that mattered more to her than her word.

And now she was to be judged. T'Ra remained standing, defiant as the Starfleet captain approached, phaser in hand. He walked with an air of confidence, a cocky spring to his step. But she could see the flicker of unease in his eyes. Perhaps it was desperation, some sort of fear that she would still not comply. There was no telling how far such a man would go.

She could hear Evan rustling behind her, before another of the boarding party tackled him as he tried to bolt from the helm towards the center of the bridge. "Nein--nicht---meine---Frau---du schmutzige---Schwein..." he gasped between breaths.

Overcome by an uncontrollable wave of emotion and nausea, T'Ra fell to her knees. "Please," she begged, desperate to hold the tears back. Her Vulcan mask was shattering, and she could no longer keep from choking on the effort. "Do what you will with me. But spare my crew. Spare my unborn child. I beg of you. Please."

[Fala Awen]

[Battle Bridge]

As she heard the call of an intruder alert, Caelene's heart raced. It wasn't unexpected, of course, and it was better than simply being blown up. Still, the idea of being boarded was unnerving. Would the crew be hurt? What would happen when they got to the bridge?

The Trill tapped at her console and sent a coded message to Arol (NPC), telling him that the Shran had been boarded and that they should comply with orders. There was no need for someone to try some act of heroic stupidity that got people hurt or killed. It wasn't a message she enjoyed sending, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to her crewmates.

Not long after, Caelene heard the boarding party closing in. Her eyes glanced around the battle bridge; most looked either nervous or defiant. As Dylan and his team burst in, weapons drawn, she looked from him to Ardyn. Catching Ardyn's eye, the Trill shook her head in an effort to discourage the Chief Flight Control Officer from some kind of outburst.

"Commander T'Ra Jones, by the power vested in me by Starfleet command you are relieved of duty and under arrest," he said calmly, his face impassive but a little twitch in his stance. Despite all his outward appearances, he was nervous. For the Vulcan's perceptive eyes, it more than likely showed. He raised his phaser and pointed it at the Commander. The indicator was on "kill".

"Surrender," he said plainly, his eyes locked toward T'ra.

Caelene's eyes went wide as she watched Dylan. She'd served under him on the Challenger, but he'd never acted this way. He had always seemed reasonable. Perhaps Dylan felt like he was simply following orders. Maybe he was upset that the Shran had fired on him. Either way, the man before her didn't seem to be the same one she had known.

Overcome by an uncontrollable wave of emotion and nausea, T'Ra fell to her knees. "Please," she begged, desperate to hold the tears back. Her Vulcan mask was shattering, and she could no longer keep from choking on the effort. "Do what you will with me. But spare my crew. Spare my unborn child. I beg of you. Please."

Her confusion about Dylan slipped away as she saw T'Ra melt before her. Seeing the logical, strong half-Vulcan on her knees begging was nearly too much for Caelene to bear. She felt her eyes watering and her heart overflow with concern for her superior officer, for her friend. It was disconcerting to watch.

Before she even knew what she was doing, Caelene held up her hands to show she was unarmed and not a threat while moving stepping sideways slowly to stand next to T'Ra. Placing a comforting hand on the half-Vulcan's shoulder, she looked at Dylan, "Captain, surely there's no need for further violence. We aren't putting up a fight against you here. I realize you have your own orders, but we received information that the Federation President was going to be assassinated... Captain Hawke was afraid you would either stop or delay us and it would be too late to save the president, so he ordered us to try to keep you busy."

"I would hope that you could try to look at this from our perspective. What would you have done if you found out about an assassination plot and people were trying to stop you from preventing it? By now, the President has either been saved or killed. You've taken the ship and we're not putting up a fight. Do what you must, but surely there's no need to fire on anyone," Caelene said as she stepped in front of T'Ra, blocking Dylan's line of sight. The Trill hoped she might be able to get through to him and get him to understand - or at least not hurt anyone else.

She was nervous and scared, but somehow almost calm. Normally she would have avoided confrontations or stepping in harm's way. If anything, it was more akin to something Milara would have done...but perhaps that wasn't entirely true. The old Caelene would have been far too nervous and timid to do this, but she would have wanted to step in and try to help her friend. Perhaps having Milara with her had simply given her the extra courage she needed to do so.

OFF: Tag Ardy, T'Ra, Dylan....soft tag battle bridge

[Dylan Torngate]

[Battle Bridge]

The doors parted, allowing the boarding party to flood into the battle bridge, much as the water had rushed over the Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and charioteers. T'Ra released a heavy sigh. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. She had defied the will of Starfleet, breaking an oath that she had sworn to uphold, and there was little that mattered more to her than her word.

And now she was to be judged. T'Ra remained standing, defiant as the Starfleet captain approached, phaser in hand. He walked with an air of confidence, a cocky spring to his step. But she could see the flicker of unease in his eyes. Perhaps it was desperation, some sort of fear that she would still not comply. There was no telling how far such a man would go.

She could hear Evan rustling behind her, before another of the boarding party tackled him as he tried to bolt from the helm towards the center of the bridge. "Nein--nicht---meine---Frau---du schmutzige---Schwein..." he gasped between breaths.

Overcome by an uncontrollable wave of emotion and nausea, T'Ra fell to her knees. "Please," she begged, desperate to hold the tears back. Her Vulcan mask was shattering, and she could no longer keep from choking on the effort. "Do what you will with me. But spare my crew. Spare my unborn child. I beg of you. Please."

[Bridge- USS Shran]

Dylan's phaser wavered ever so slightly as she stood, seemingly impassive. He saw sudden movement, but as soon as it started it had been stopped, and something he didn't understand yelled at him. He'd understood only two words of it, "nein" and "Frau", but it didn't make much sense. Plus, he was too concerned with the matter at hand before he would deal with that.

As T'Ra fell to the floor, Dylan's poor mask broke, confusion all across his face as he turned to one of the crew, whose solid black uniform had an ever-so-faint white and blue stripe down one side. He jerked his head over, and the man came, medical tricorder in hand already.

He spoke to the Vulcan, his own emotional mask nowhere near Vulcan standards as he tried to think. "Damnit, Commander. I don't want to Kill you. If you seriously think I took pleasure in, or wanted, ANY of this, you are sadly mistaken," he said, yelling the one word, his own emotional mask now gone as what he truly felt came on display. Anger. Sadness. Disgust. Fear. Hurt.

[Battle Bridge]

Caelene's eyes went wide as she watched Dylan. She'd served under him on the Challenger, but he'd never acted this way. He had always seemed reasonable. Perhaps Dylan felt like he was simply following orders. Maybe he was upset that the Shran had fired on him. Either way, the man before her didn't seem to be the same one she had known.

Her confusion about Dylan slipped away as she saw T'Ra melt before her. Seeing the logical, strong half-Vulcan on her knees begging was nearly too much for Caelene to bear. She felt her eyes watering and her heart overflow with concern for her superior officer, for her friend. It was disconcerting to watch.

Before she even knew what she was doing, Caelene held up her hands to show she was unarmed and not a threat while moving stepping sideways slowly to stand next to T'Ra. Placing a comforting hand on the half-Vulcan's shoulder, she looked at Dylan, "Captain, surely there's no need for further violence. We aren't putting up a fight against you here. I realize you have your own orders, but we received information that the Federation President was going to be assassinated... Captain Hawke was afraid you would either stop or delay us and it would be too late to save the president, so he ordered us to try to keep you busy."

"I would hope that you could try to look at this from our perspective. What would you have done if you found out about an assassination plot and people were trying to stop you from preventing it? By now, the President has either been saved or killed. You've taken the ship and we're not putting up a fight. Do what you must, but surely there's no need to fire on anyone," Caelene said as she stepped in front of T'Ra, blocking Dylan's line of sight. The Trill hoped she might be able to get through to him and get him to understand - or at least not hurt anyone else.

She was nervous and scared, but somehow almost calm. Normally she would have avoided confrontations or stepping in harm's way. If anything, it was more akin to something Milara would have done...but perhaps that wasn't entirely true. The old Caelene would have been far too nervous and timid to do this, but she would have wanted to step in and try to help her friend. Perhaps having Milara with her had simply given her the extra courage she needed to do so.

Dylan watched as a familiar face entered his line of sight, moving between himself and the Vulcan. By this point, Dylan's phaser had already been lowered to his side, the indicator off of Kill. It had been a bluff. He didn't have it in him to take a life face-to-face today, and especially not a Starfleet officer, or at least a former one.

"Commander Tam." He said, his voice wavering. "I expected so much more out of you." His tone was chastising, as he heard what the Trill had to say. His voice and face contorted into an angry form when he heard the first set of rationalizing. "Captian Hawke received intelligence which he passed to Starfleet intelligence. Intelligence determined that there was a significant probably himself or someone on his ship- this ship- was the threat. Captain Hawke gave me his word we could come aboard and investigate, and then have you on your way. And the word of a Starfleet Captain used to mean something."

He took a breath before his tirade continued. "Instead, you have allowed a risk to pass through to Earth, you have disobeyed direct orders, you have broken every rule of engagement we have," he said, his voice low now, dangerously accusatory, with his eyes more showing hurt than anything else.

"I have in my mourge six dead Starfleet officers and over a dozen wounded. Their blood is on your hands, and mine, just the same. You have betrayed your uniform, your oath, and your duty." He said, before his face grew stony again, an attempt to recover his demeanor. "Keep that in mind, Lieutenant Commander."

He turned away and shoved his own phaser in it's holster, as many of the boarding team lowered their own weapons, but stayed on guard. "I'll ask you again, Commander Jones. Order your crew to stand down. The time has come to end this."

[Inzjana]

SAN FRANCISCO - STARFLEET ACADEMY - ADMINISTRATION HUB - EARTH

After a short ride to the top floor, Inzjana gingerly and quietly stepped out of the car and headed in to the hallway making sure that no one was around first.

The corridor was unfortunately well lit, so Inzjana had no place to hide even if someone came along, but given that the President of the United Federation of Planets was apparently about to take the podium given the din of cheers and a voice welcoming and introducing the President could be heard by Inzjana's Vulcan hearing even on the top floor.

Taking the Tactical Eye Display out of her pocket, she put them on and paired them with her tricorder, which stayed in her pocket. Tactical Eye Display or TED for short had been around for some time now and was a form of augmented reality, displaying what the tricoder sensors were picking up in a user friendly interface. Invented by Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, the TED was first a monocle like design which quickly developed in to bifocals akin to safety glasses of the 21st century of Earth but made of aluminium oxynitride - transparent aluminium - instead of poly carbonate.

The TED or Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance [VISR] as it is mostly known by now, showed her that all offices were clear, so whether there was indeed a sniper or he/she was using a jammer was unknown and Inzjana being a logical being, although at present she didn't feel mu h like one, as all she really wanted to do at present was take a long deserved and overdue nap, decided check every office separately starting with the closest one to the turbolift.

The first office was empty was empty and like all the other offices had a desk with a clear computer screen that was currently off and a replicator in set in to a wall. All the offices were pretty much the same, the only thing different in each as Inzjana went a long, was personal effects and decorations. It was until the fifth office that Inzjana came across a door that was locked and obviously occupied, so pulling out her Phaser; Inzjana primed it and set it for kill not willing to take a chance. Her VISR began to decode the door automatically as she stared at the keypad, numbers and algorithms flitting by her vision faster than even a Vulcan could keep up, and a slight chime was emitted after a few seconds as it found the proper code and displayed the sequence in front of her visual field of the keypad.

Inzjana was about to press the entry button when she heard a weapon fire, quickly opening the door with her Phaser ready to fire, she rushed in to the room. Just before pressing the trigger, Inzjana recognized who had just killed the President of the Federation with a Starfleet Security designed and built TR-116 sniper rifle, the weapon still aimed at the widow that had no damage done to it, it was her aunt on her father's side.
Turning to face her niece, the female Romulan Tal Shi'ar operative, shook her head with a shocked then sad expression on her face.

"I am so sorry my little Starchild," she said, putting the TR-116 back in its case and removing the eyepiece.

"You are under arrest for murder, aunt Matrusa," Inzjana said stoically, but despite her practiced Vulcan composure, tears welled up in Inzjana's eyes. "Why? Why did you do it?"

"I was ordered to Inzjana, is that not reason enough," Her aunt stated nonchalantly putting her hands behind her back and moved away from her position, still keeping her distance from her niece.

Inzjana swayed from her target slightly, not noticing that her aunt was slowly raising her right hand, holding a Disruptor pistol. Inzjana finally noticed with a disbelieving look on her face, as her aunt fired toe pistol, hitting Inzjana in the left shoulder, causing it to go limp and useless but before she realised what she was doing, Inzjana raised her Phaser and fired it, hitting her aunt in the chest, her aunt died as she slumped to the floor clutching her wound.

Inzjana dropped her Phaser, partly to do with what she just did and partly due to the sudden shooting pain in her left shoulder, she flailed and slump to her knees, trying desperately to hang on the memories of her aunt when Inzjana was a little girl still living on Romulus with her parents. It wasn't until Inzjana's father was killed, that her mother returned to Vulcan with a nine year old in tow.

Collapsing to the floor Inzjana wept before her body could no longer control the pain and guilt, she closed her eyes and fell unconscious.

[T'Ra Jones]

[Battle Bridge]

T'Ra felt the warmth of a hand gently placed on her shoulder. But it wasn't Evan. Either he had stopped struggling or had been subdued. She couldn't bring herself to raise her head to see who it was, but she didn't need to, recognizing Tam's voice as she spoke.

The Trill placed herself in front of T'Ra, who no longer had the energy to prevent this, nor the energy to react as an unknown officer in black approached. He knelt beside her without a word, silently popping open what must've been a medkit. His tricorder made more noise than he did, emitting soft beeps as it ran its course. He paused, shifting gears to load a hypospray. "To help balance out the stress and hormones," he said.

Her eyes closed a moment when the hypospray hissed, waiting for its contents to take affect. T'Ra was still exhausted, but she was once again able to don her "Vulcan mask" and face her fellow officer.

"There will be no more deaths," T'Ra spoke at last. "This charade has gone on long enough." And she could only pray that they had bought the others enough time, looking to Ops with an inquisitive look.

[Kyle Bytes]

[Battle bridge]

The Ensign was enduring the cut was bleeding down his head which he smacked from the bumpy ride. Then soon enough then other side came blazing in with their phasers. Some dialogue was exchange by the leaders.

Kyle rolled his eyes in his head.

"This seem to be s holo story. Underage Captain stops a under staff battle ship with a bunch low trained Cadets with over emotion Vulcan...so-sorr-sorry sssir," he stuttered. Not now! "Great story for grand kids to remember too"

"Fu-funny....so-sounds like a poor made conspiracy story," he added. Man he was way out of line. "Heck. I can be a Admiral in disguise as a Ensign.." he shrugged his shoulders and gave a funny charm laugh. "Or maybe I am....you want to test me...shoot me you get court martial.." That was so going to give him a air lock.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Battle Bridge]
The door burst open, more than a dozen troops spilling in, guns locked and loaded. Ardyn clenched her fists, ready at any given moment to grab a nearby phaser and show Torngate a piece of her mind when it came to her ship. Glancing at Caelene, however, she kept herself at bay as the black ops troops kept her  and the others restrained.   She definitely did not want a stupid decision on her part to be the reason anyone got hurt on her watch.

Her heart was pounding as Torngate leveled the phaser at T'Ra, set to kill. Was he bluffing? She wasn't sure. She could read enough of his emotions to get the feeling he wasn't sure himself. Fear, anger, duty, all barely kept in before watching T'Ra break down in tears.

It was a new facet Ardy had never seen before in her friend, who even through the worst of times, kept everyone grounded, despite things falling apart. It tore at Ardyn like a knife, not knowing how to help. For being partially empathetic, it didn't do much good to help her now.

[As Steve]
Steve manifested himself in the shadows now, staying out of his humans' way while the ship rocked and pitched during the battle. He was scared. This wasn't a place for a Velociraptor, but his mommy needed him, so he stayed out of the way.
A big bang shook the room, as the door blew off with a plume of smoke. With a squeak, Steve hid behind the helm, his tail twitching in fear. There were a lot of strangers here, and all of them looked angry.
He would have stayed hidden, when he saw the stranger captain point his weapon at one of his humans. He was going to hurt her and the little one!  He thought. This had gone too far. Bolting out of his hiding place, he darted towards the nearest stranger in black.

[As Ardy]
Ardy saw the familiar flash of brown streak past her, leaping up and slicing through the body armor with his sickle-like claws and biting the arm of an unsuspecting guard with his sharp teeth. In defense, a guard stunned the little dinosaur, causing Steve to yelp in pain before being shook off aside. Steve flickered a little, his form limp as he was rebooting.

Ardy felt her stomach drop as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. "Steve!" she cried out, as she was held back. Spitting out strings of scathing comments, Ardy jerked out of the grips of the officers and elbowed the nearest one in the ribs. "Get off of me!" No one messed with her raptor and would get away with it.

[Michael Ferdinand]

[Earth]
Alyssa had stayed quiet since the time of the crash, mostly from her head pounding and partially due to not being able to retain her short term memory of the events that were going on. She reached for her head, as if the exterior force of her hand would somehow dull the thud she was experiencing.

She requested one of the cadet uniforms when it was her turn, though given her age, she felt like she was drawing more attention to herself, not less. When she heard the Russian woman's suggestion, Alyssa nodded. "Agreed." she said. "Otherwise we can always go in guns blazing..."