Mission 13: "The Heist"

[Taurik]

The Rivendell continued to take a beating; even with the Gallifreyans dividing their attention, they were a considerable force. Shields were all but gone, the hull was beginning to buckle, and several of the phaser arrays were burnt out.

"Continue firing," the captain said, anxious enough to have risen from his seat. "Even the Gallifreyans would be wary of numbers this slanted, and they will need help."

Unfortunately for them, one of the Rivendell's salvoes attracted the attention of one of the larger destroyers, even if only for a moment. The behemoth vessel loosed three deadly torpedoes at them, and they were approaching extremely fast.

"Sir, they're targeting our bridge!" came the voice of the AI construct.

"Evasive maneuvers! Hard to port! Orpheus, phasers, now!"

The AI responded defensively. "The starboard phasers are gone, there's nothing I can do!"

The captain slammed almost every key on his chair at once, hitting the comm button he was aiming for. "All hands, brace for impact!"

The torpedoes screamed at the listing Rivendell, her engines too damaged to carry them away fast enough. The Heraani torpedoes had very poor maneuverability, and missed their target. However, what they did land on was just as critical... the dorsal starboard nacelle assembly.

One torpedo slammed into the Bussard collector, shattering it completely. The second hit the nacelle pylon, nearly severing the entire nacelle. Were this all, the grim situation would have stayed at that. But the third torpedo struck directly on the nacelle grille, and breached the nacelle itself. This had the unfortunate side-effect of igniting a rather large cache of warp plasma.

The Rivendell reeled harder than Taurik had ever felt her do so before. If there were ever a time to worry, he felt this was it, and the ship's computer then confirmed his every fear.

"Warning: warp core breach in forty-five seconds."

[The Heraan]

(OFF: Heraan is both singular and plural, Heraani is possessive. :P )

The fleet master and his team arrived back onboard the Adjudicator, and met up with a large number of Heraani forces that were gathering to push the Borg off of the ship.

"The demon Borg have dared to set foot on our holy instuments of war!" he projected to the gathering. "We will show them our true mettle! If you should see any of your comrades fall to the Borg, know that their life is forfeit! Cut them down as if they were the demons themselves!"

The fleet master ignited both of his energy blades, and the Heraan behind him charged out, brandishing their plasma rifles or energy bracers. For the most part, they were mopping up the Borg that came near them, possessing greater strength and skill than a Borg drone. However, the Borg's advantage laid in in their sheer numbers. Rarely did a drone make it near the Heraan, but for every drone slain, there was another close behind.

[Orpheus]

"Both internal and external sensors are offline, commander. However, we did receive a garbled transmission moments ago, no doubt garbled by our own communications array, which has taken heavy damage of it's own."

[T'Kar]

"Sir, my report. Engines running within specified parameters.  Minor power fluctuation in environmental control on deck 3, which is now repaired and functioning normally.

  What an honor. We are one of the first to test the jump drive. Wer'e making history. http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/klingon.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':klingon:'>

[Taurik]

Taurik and his team moves silently through the bowels of the station, occasionally ducking behind a bulkhead, while Taurik used his telepathy to distract the passing soldiers' attention from his team. While the Heraan were not aware of his team's presence aboard the station, the enemy's attentions were easy to divert.

It took them longer than Taurik would have liked to locate the datacore. Several times they were nearly discovered, and the captain was grateful that no Heraani elites passed their way, as they would be almost impossible to trick.

The datacore was, to his dismay, in the primary computer control chamber. Taurik ordered the team to advance slowly, with their heads down, in case there were patrols in the area. He silently crept up to the Heraani control console that had been deserted during the attack. Unfortunately, while he could read Heraan, his knowledge of advanced computer systems was insufficient.

"Lieutenant Stevens, please assist me. Beta, keep an eye out for patrols."

It was a clumsy operation, Taurik translating the Heraani characters for Stevens, and the lieutenant working blind from there. Eventually, the lieutenant began to memorize familiar commands by symbol recognition along, and was able to proceed until he decrypted the primary computer core.

"We need a portable storage device," Stevens said. "We'll never transfer this information to the Rivendell or the Virtue without being detected."

Taurik located a portable datacore across the room, and reached out with his telekinesis to bring it to him, but as soon as it left it's resting position, it was intercepted by a plasma bolt. Instantly, a second bolt flew from the same location, and struck Stevens square in the heart, dropping him instantly. Taurik drew his khala and deflected the third bolt harmlessly into the wall.

The Heraan, now located, was holding a single plasma rifle in his left hand. He leaped down from the upper terrace, landing gracefully. He tried to fire a few more shots at Taurik, but they were all deflected by the khala. The soldier, realizing he had fired at a Gallifreyan Sentinel, activated the bracer on his other arm, a weapon Taurik had failed to notice. The captain drew his second khala, and prayed that his recent training with Master Techerakh proved sufficient.

The Heraan, now obviously an elite of some sort, fired a few more shots as a distraction, while reeling back to swing his blade hard. Taurik blocked the plasma with one khala, and sturdied himself to catch the bracer with the other khala.

Realizing his advantage, holding off the elite's right-hand blade with his own left, he pushed both weapons away and kicked the Heraan in the chest. The alien lost grip of his rifle, and Taurik used his power to pull it away from the fight. Now at a severe disadvantage, the elite began to attack with a furious series of quick, glancing blows, but Taurik's twin khalai made it much easier to defend against.

In a moment of weakness, the Heraan let his guard down, and Taurik took the opportunity to throw the alien against the wall with a psionic pulse. Bruised, the alien tried to regain his stance, but was forced back to the ground after his arm, bracer and all, was quickly severed from his body with the end of Taurik's blade.

Taurik returned one khala to his belt, grabbed the weakened alien by the throat and lifted him, slamming his body to the wall. He pointed his weapon right into the alien's chest.

"I will give you one chance to repent, mongrel," were Taurik's only words, spoken directly into the Heraan's mind.

"You and all your kind will fall before the--"

The alien's words were cut off by the searing blade of energy that Taurik had forced through his chest.

[Chaya Sar]

"They call them Transporters, which is a colloquial name for Quantum Teleportation. The same thing is available in our galaxy, but no sentient actually uses it. Due in part to the fact we have Ion Engines that can take a vessel from land to orbit in thirty galactic standard seconds."

Chaya Sar started eating her sandwich and sipping her drink, half an our she had finished and placed the dishes back in the Autochef.

Going back to the lounge, she sat back, easing into the corner and brought her legs up onto the lounge.

Chaya brushed her hair away from her face and looked at her Apprentice, wondering if he was ready for his trials soon or not. She thought so, but was concerned about his patience and his inability to 'feel' a situation with the force. But in time, Chaya Sar had no doubt he would make a good Jedi.

[T'lana]

<Main Engineering>

T'lana was at the Jump Drive station when the computer announced the Warp Core Breach. Several control panels, EPS conduits and optronic relays could no longer cope with the constant power surges, power losses and electromagnetic pulses that the Rivendell was constantly bombarded with. The newly repaired Jump Drive, exploded sending white hot shrapnel flying everywhere. One such shrapnel flew through the air slicing through T'lana's right arm severing it completely as it collided with the Jump Drive Console.

She was luckier than some of the engineering staff, who were killed immediately. Even T'lana's superior Vulcan brain could not control the pain that she felt in that instant, screaming out at the top of her lungs. Until suddenly she could feel no more pain, she knew logically that that was due to the severed nerves and loss of blood, which pooled in a green puddle on the deck.

T'lana fought every moment to remain conscious and use her brain to control her blood flow and to cause an excess of clotting agent in her blood.

There was no hope of saving the Warp Core, so T'lana went over to the Main Engineering Console pressing the Warp Core injection system. Thankfully it worked, well mostly.

The Main Warp Core and the two Secondary Warp Cores did eject, but the airlock system, nor the shield that was supposed to go into place when there was no Warp Core present, failed. Atmosphere began escaping out through the hole, like a hurricane.

"Evacuate Main Engineering NOW!" Exclaimed T'lana, trying to maintain her composer through the pain and blood dripping down her face from various contusions, her uniform in taters. But no time for modesty, as she made sure the able crew made there way out before the Bulkhead Door closed shut.

T'lana felt so weak and disoriented that she was working on adrenalin only. Miraculously she found the Jeffrey's Tube, making her way to find Morgan. Strange that at that moment all she could think of was that she had no children, no offspring for history to remember her by. The only child and husband she did have were killed.

Using her phaser at Level 12, the wreckage that was blocking her path to commander Freeman was reduced to its constituent particles. Morgan was conscious, thankfully, because T'lana new she had no hope of carrying him with only one arm.

T'lana's breathing was labored and raspy, as she laid down and tapped her comlink.

"Kelata, two to beam to the bridge of the Rivendell."

The Kelata obeyed, beaming them directly to the bridge.

"Sugges...suggest evacuating the Rivendell captain. Use the Shuttles an..and other shi...ships, escape pods non func...function...fuc...."

T'lana lost consciousness, barely breathing as she collapsed on the bridge deck.

[THE BORG COLLECTIVE]

The six other Borg Cubes moved into position around the Heraani Cruisers and all locked on to the cruisers with tractor beams.

CENTRAL PLEXUS: "ASSESS BIOLOGICAL STRUCTURES FOR ASSIMILATION. ASSESS TECHNOLOGY FOR ASSIMILATION."

Three drones materialized onto the bridge of the lead ship and prepared to grab several of the crew. Two more drones materialized in the engineering room, to assess the technology and to download the Heraani database from the main computer.

CENTRAL PLEXUS: "ASSESS TACTICAL ABILITIES. TACTICAL ASSESSMENT COMPLETE. PRIMARY WEAPONS OF ALIEN VESSELS PLASMA BASED. INFERIOR TO BORG TECHNOLOGY."

The two drones in engineering went straight to a computer console and accessed the ships data banks. The data transfer nodes attached to the cybernetic replacements that used to be arms of the drones, bypassed the computer's security system and began transferring the data back to their cubes Central Plexus.

One of the drones on the bridge was not so lucky, being dispatched by a Heraani Plasma Sword. It's transport node implant registered the drone's offline status and beamed it back to it's cube.

Another drone had actually caught one of the Heraani Officers by surprise and before he could react, assimilation tubules were stuck in his neck. With Borg nanoprobes coursing through his bloodstream, the first stage assimilation process had already begun. The drone then touched the stricken Heraani and beamed both of them back to its cube.

CENTRAL PLEXUS: "TACTICAL ASSESSMENT OF PERSONNEL. ELECTROMAGNETICALLY ENVELOPED HIGH ENERGY PLASMA BLADE. ADAPTING DRONE SHIELD NODES. COMPUTER DATA BANKS OF ALIEN VESSEL INDICATE SPECIES NAME. PLURAL: HERAAN. SINGULAR: HERAAN. POSSESSIVE: HERAANI. NO VOCAL CHORDS DETECTED. ENLARGED PITUITARY GLAND INDICATES TELEPATHIC ABILITIES."

[Morgan Freeman]

Morgan felt cold metal on his face as he started to regain consciousness.  He heard a voice, which it took a moment to realize the voice of Orpheus "You know, we need to program a softer voice for you" he said to the AI as his head stopped spinning.

Standing up his vision came back into focus of the Rivendell's bridge "I was kinda hoping it wasn't this bad" he said to no one in particular.  Walking back to the engineering station he noticed minimal power still existed on board the USS Rivendell.  Communications both long and short range where out of the question as the grid arrays where smashed to hell, weapons were pretty much out of the question without a space dock and he didn't even bother to look at the drive systems.

"Orpheus, are there any ships in the surrounding area that you can see?"

[Chaya Sar]

@@Viper to Kelata@@

"No problems T'lana."

@@Viper Out@@

T'lana pulled the Viper up and angled it towards the station. Keeping the weapons hot, but not firing anymore, Chaya brought the Viper to a halt five thousand meters from the Station.

What fascinated Chaya was the fact that, yes the station was in the outer reaches of the the Hera Star System, but they should have sent back up by now. But the Viper's sensors were clear.

[Taurik]

Taurik could only stare into the static-ridden image that was his main viewer, for but a moment, at the battle between the Heraan and the Gallifreyans. He knew this ship would no longer support it's crew, but this was an order he had never given, and never wished to.

"All hands," he said sullenly, "proceed to the hangar bay or any functional escape pod. We are abandoning the Rivendell."

Taurik gently knelt over and scooped up T'lana, who was being cared for by Morgan and one other medic. The captain noted protest in the commander's eyes as he made for the turbolift, and looked him directly in the eye. "She will not survive unless she comes with me. This is a wound no doctor can mend in time. I promise you, I will take care of her."

He began toward the turbolift again, but stopped, without turning around. "Take the Kelata," he said. "Take as many with you as possible. I will do the same. May Adun smile upon you, Mr. Freeman."

Using all of his concentration, Taurik translocated himself, as well as his first officer, to the hangar deck. The loading ramp of the http://www.expansionfleet.com/cgi-bin/fleet/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=22;t=4;&#top" target="_blank">Cardinal Virtue had already been extended, and Taurik stepped up the ramp, down the hall, and into the crew quarters, where he laid the commander on one of the cots there. He tried his best to keep her stabilized, to continue breathing psionic life into her, but she was fading fast.

(OFF: I thought I'd plug the article I wrote on the Virtue while I was at it.)

[T'lana]

OOC: Completely up to you Tigerlead. There are several shuttles, some working Escape Pods, T'lana's Kelata, Taurik's Cardinal Virtue and Chaya Sar's Blue Harvest to choose from.

[The Heraan]

"Fleet Master!" came the frantic communication of the lead frigate's temporary commander. "The Borg have arrived, and are holding the Adjudicator in a tractor beam!"

The fleet master halted his search through a Starfleet cargo container. "Open all plasma banks, destroy them!" came his stern reply.

"They are seven vessels strong, fleet master! We are no match!"

"Seven cubes! By the Gods!" The elite warrior calculated for a moment. "Do not engage them in a space battle," he ordered. "Repel their attacks, but do not counter-attack. Draw them into a hand-to-hand conflict, where we have the advantage! Whether it is on the Borg vessel or our own makes no difference. We will be returning immediately."

The Fleet Master and his team quickly made their way through the dark corridors of the Rivendell, and boarded their transport vessel. Engaging stealth measures, they made haste for the Adjudicator at once.

[T'lana]

OOC: Because I am bored, I am going to do a "did you know?"
Did you know that Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien. So much so that the Vulcans and subsequently the Romulans were based on the Quendi (Elves) from "The Lord of the Rings" hence their appearance.
Because I am really bored, here is another one:
Did you know that Star Trek was based on the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet, this was stated in Gene Roddenberry's autobiography Star Trek Creator. Forbidden Planet itself was loosely based on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, probably why Star Trek contains many references to the works of William Shakespeare.
Because I am really really bored, here is another one.
Did you know, Gene Roddenberry was also a fan of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. A nod to "Hitchhikers" was made in Star Trek: The Next Generation on the Bridge's Engineering Console, there is an LCARS button tagged "Infinite Improbability Drive", a type of FTL in the books aboard the Heart of Gold.

[Chaya Sar]

Chaya Sar smiled again, both at Taurik's attempt to make her feel better and the whole situation.

"To a point. No Jedi has exactly the same level of abilities in using the force, but we are all taught specific types of abilities. Jedi are peace keepers, so the abilities we train with are towards that end. In truth, once the force is unleashed, there is nothing a Jedi or unfortunately, a Sith, can't do. I apparently have the highest level of power in the force recorded in 5000 years, what ever that means. My apprentice is quite good at using the force, but like all apprentices he has more to learn. I believe Aeryn Kae is quite proficient as well. Sometimes force-users develop an extra ability in the force, for instance, a Jedi Knight that existed about 4000 years ago developed an ability called Battle Meditation, this allowed her to control the outcome of any battle. I myself, found out by accident, that I too have developed a few special abilities. One of them the council nicknamed half jokingly, Force-Shockwave. Luckily no one was hurt, apart from a few buildings. As the name suggests, I seem to have the ability to generate a radial explosion of force energy. I always consider it a last resort though, because nothing survives. Only one in one million Jedi develop special abilities, that doesn't make the majority any less powerful or important. We have no idea why this occurs and put it down to the will of the force."