"Beyond the Veil"

[Voyager]

Lieutenant Dolan - Troop Bay, Pelican Dropship Charlie 0-2-2

Dolan did not question Master Techerakh's course change, though he called out, "So where are we headed now?"

The Pelican began to make unusual manuevers as it dodged weapons fire from the surface as they approached Antioch and at the same time attempting to maintain stability since the troop bay doors were locked in an open position, leaving anyone there struggling to maintain their footing while defending against any weapons fire that made it into the troop bay.  While Dolan and the Council members found it easier to adjust, the marines and the Admirals experienced some difficulty staying upright.

Suddenly, as the Pelican entered Antioch's perimeter, it shook violently, almost throwing one of the marines out of the ship.  A piercing beeping noise rang throughout the Pelican.

The pilot yelled out, "We've been hit!  We'll be able to make it to the center of the city, but the trip is going to be one way!  Get ready to jump on my command!"

The Pelican began a slow, thankfully somewhat stable, descent toward the city.  Suddenly, it tipped into a nose-dive as it neared the city's center.

"NOW!"  Everyone in the doomed Pelican leaped from the ship as it crashed into the city, distracting fighters nearby.  Dolan took a quick head count and was satisfied that everyone had survived the jump.  Everyone then gathered near the remains of the Pelican, in order to determine what to do next.

[Taurik]

Master Taurik - Outer Courtyard, Citadel of Adun

Taurik and the strike team made their way unhindered to the very base of the majestic Citadel. The captain had expected more resistance to their approach, considering the amount of enemy infantry that had entered the city. However, as he had expected, Taurik saw four elite guards at the entrance to the Citadel itself, and all of them had their eyes trained on the Gallifreyans.

Taurik and the other psionics began approaching the Heraan, weapons at the ready, when the Heraan surprised them by leaving their weapons deactivated. The sentinel thought it was surely a ruse, until the lead guard spoke directly into the minds of all of them. "Lower your weapons," it demanded. "The warmaster wishes to see you."

When the four guards stood aside, framing the entrance to the Citadel with two to a side, Taurik deactivated his weapons reluctantly and led the team into the Citadel itself.

[Tara Lollock]

Capt. Lollock aboard the Iroquois, bridge

**She walks onto the bridge and leans over Commander Dals shoulder and whispers.**

"Commander, prep our weapons systems and defense systems for battle. But do not tell the crew that we are prepareing for battle yet, just give the orders. I have a feeling that we will need to be very well prepared." **She looks toward Dal with a sense of pride.** "Commander, today is a good day to die." **She recomposes herself.** "I'll be in my readyroom, i need an update in thirty minutes."

**Tara heads into her readyroom and begins analyzing battle tactics.**

[Taurik]

Acting Commodore Taurik - Bridge, Flagship Radiant Thunder

Taurik pressed a comm-button on the hovering console next to his command seat. "All ships, this is Captain Taurik. Plot your courses; heading 348 by 016. Engage at maximum cohesive speed."

Taurik was slightly annoyed to be slowed down by some of the slower ships in the fleet, knowing that to maintain that cohesive speed he mentioned, the faster ships like the Thunder would need to keep pace with the lesser ships. The Radiant Thunder could outrun any ship in Starfleet pretty easily, as could the Gallifreyan cruisers, but leaving them behind would leave them vulnerable to Heraani flank attacks.

Taurik spun to face the viewer. "Helm," he said, "set course to the aforementioned heading and adjust slipspeed to match the fleet."

[Taurik]

Lieutenant Jeff Stevens - Bridge, Flagship Radiant Thunder

Stevens plied the helm controls of the Gallifreyan/Starfleet hybrid vessel, still amazed at the efficiency and complexity of her systems. Even the most rudimentary quantum slipstream drive was decades beyond Starfleet, and this ship had the most efficient and well-tuned drive core he could imagine. The ship was a joy to pilot.

Therefore, he was almost disappointed when the captain yielded the bridge to him. He would enjoy commanding the ship for a while, sure, but there was something about flying a ship himself that he always loved. Stevens stood from the helm seat, and moved aft to occupy the command seat, as the captain entered the lift. Which, he mused, was a bad name for them, as the "turbolifts" aboard the Thunder were actually site-to-site teleporters, which transported one or more crewmen to a corresponding unit on another deck. As the captain entered it, Stevens could make out the word "transporter room". Apparently, the captain was going somewhere...


Master Taurik - Hangar Deck, Gallifreyan flagship Prodigal Son

Taurik materialized within the cavernous hangar of the Gallifreyan capital ship, already aware of the crisis on the planet's surface. He had heard the Chronicler's plea for help as well as Techerakh, or the others gathered there.

"I assume you all heard the message as well?" Techerakh asked. "In the panic of their thoughts, I was able to glean from the historians an idea of who we're against down there. I saw the Heraani warmaster, Ar'Krakh. He is leading an assault on Antioch itself, one that seems to be succeeding. I needn't remind you of the threat we face. Both the Spire and the Citadel are under siege, and all reports say that Ar'Krakh will seize Antioch within the hour, given his current pace."

Taurik spoke up. "I assume you have a plan, Techerakh?" The master Templar nodded. "I do. I have already signaled Admiral Karelia. His vessel will be our ingress method. In the chaos of this battle, none of us could center ourselves, to teleport ourselves there, and our ships are caught in battle. Only his ship, the Cardinal Virtue, stands a chance of making it to the surface alive if the Heraan detect it."

[Will Karelia]

Admiral Karelia - Cockpit, Cardinal Virtue

Karelia swerved the flight sticks of the blockade runner frantically, trying to dodge plasma bolts and torpedoes. Unfortunately, he'd only done a marginal job, and the shields were beginning to weaken, with several fighters still on their tail yet.

Suddenly, a torpedo from one of the larger interceptors slammed into the tail of the Cardinal Virtue, and knocked both thorium engines offline. "Damn!" came Karelia's curse at the loss of the engines. "We're in freefall. I've got almost no control. Hang on everyone, I'm going to try to bring us down, but it won't be pretty!"

The Virtue's pursuers, confident with their kill, veered off, and the small ship fell into the planet's atmosphere. The form of the city of Antioch was becoming visible as the ship penetrated the upper clouds, a mix of black and faint green smoke trailing behind. Will pulled up hard on the sticks, but the ship barely responded, only able to nose up slightly. By the time the ship started coming near the ground, it was sufficiently level, but still traveling far too quickly, and the ship wasn't designed for unpowered atmospheric descent, and had no airbrake of any kind.

"Hold on, everyone!" Will said, gritting his teeth, as the ship started hitting the upper jungle canopy. The trees fell easily before the Virtue's sharp leading edges, but the vessel finally hit the ground, and the entire occupancy was thrown violently to the floor. By the time the ship ground to a halt, it was buried a full twelve feet into the planet, only the upper half and rear of the ship exposed.

Will pulled himself to his knees, and helped Julia do the same. "Are you alright?" he asked, and after getting a weak nod from her, he looked around with sorrow at his ship. Soil and earth was already piling in through the ruined cockpit, and a quick inspection of the ship revealed damage in every room. He thumbed the control to drop the rear ramp, and the hatch thankfully complied. As beautiful as the sun looked and felt on Will's shaken body, it was nothing that helped ease the loss of his vessel.

[Julia Rellek]

Admiral Rellek - Pelican Dropship

"Will, i'm so glad your by my side through this. Are you sure your going to be okay. That looks nasty Will?

[Taurik]

(OFF: Sorry for my apparent absence. I've been here, just never quite enough time to finish a post.)

Master Taurik - Primary Antechamber, Citadel of Adun

While each of his companions engaged one of the Heraani elites, Taurik and Ar'Krakh stared one another down for a few moments. Ar'Krakh's tattered cloak waved slowly in the subtle breeze making it's way through the Citadel. The leader of the entire Heraani armada was a tall, lithe figure, his eyes glowing a hot blue with his rage and zealotry. Taurik regarded his talent with respect, and somehow, he knew Ar'Krakh held the same respect, despite their animosity.

"I must admit," Taurik projected, his khala glowing with nearly the same blue as that of Ar'Krakh's eyes, "it will bring me great honor to battle the leader of our most hated enemy." Ar'Krakh would have cracked a devious grin, had he a mouth to grin with. "And it will bring me great pleasure to kill the leader of ours," he replied.

At nearly the exact same moment, the two warriors leaped into one another, their blades raised and their attentions focused. Ar'Krakh was a legendary psionic, infamous for both his psychic power and his skill with an energy blade. Taurik was aware of his own power, but never having faced a Heraan of such ability, he was taken a bit off guard.

[Julia Rellek]

Admiral Rellek SS Avalon wardroom

** She looked at Will with a sense of panic.**

"Will, i love you and i want to face danger by your side. I will stay behind and maintain things here, if ordered, but i don't want you to shield me. You know i've gone into dozens of battles through my career. I love you Will, whatever happens promise me i'll be in your arms when everything is said and done."

[Voyager]

Lieutenant Dolan - Bridge, USS Normandy

Dolan rolled his eyes at the Admiral's message.  Telling people they were going to die for a purpose doesn't change the fact that they're going to die.

~But if that makes people feel better about death, then so be it~ Dolan thought to himself.  In any case, the fleet was preparing to go to warp at Fleet Commodore Taurik's command.

[Voyager]

Lieutenant Dolan - Bridge, USS Normandy

"Understood," replied Dolan, "But may I suggest that the fleet's ships deploy their shuttle craft?  They may not be designed for battle, but it seems we will need every phaser blast we can get."

The ship arrived at the planet's surface shortly after breaking formation and the marines were deployed.  They were going to be on their own for the duration of the battle and possibly after that.  As the Normandy rejoined the fleet, its phasers began to fire at several Heraani fighters that were concentrating on a Gallifreyan battlecrusier.  Before the fighters could react, one of their number was destroyed and two others badly damaged.  Two dozen Heraani fighters changed their direction and headed directly for the Normandy.

"Fighters inbound!" exclaimed Dolan, in an unnecessary warning to the rest of the bridge crew.

[Voyager]

Lieutenant Dolan - Escape Pod Landing Zone, Gallifrey

The Normandy crew managed to hold off the Heraan long enough for the Pelicans' to arrive and clear the hill of most of the charging Heraan.  The remaining Heraan appeared to be regrouping, which would hopefully give the crew enough time to board the Pelicans and leave.  As the Pelicans' landed, small groups of the crew pulled back from the front lines, retreating into the Pelicans, with the injured going in first, with increasing numbers retreating as the battle entered a period of silence.  After a few minutes, the entire crew had manage to enter the Pelicans and the Pelicans lifted off, leaving an group of Heraan that were probably not very happy with their prey getting away.

After a rather brief trip, the Pelicans began to descend.  As Dolan got off the Pelican, he realized they had arrived at the marines' landing zone.  He contacted Colonel Balkazar for further orders.

=/\= Lt. Dolan to Col. Balkazar.  The Normandy crew has safely arrived at the marines' landing zone.  What are your orders for us here?  Dolan out. =/\=

[Tara Lollock]

(OFF: Sorry, i've been working 60 hr work wks... things are slowing down now and now both of my characters are back in at 100%)

**The ship began to spin wildly out of control.**

Helm- "Ma'am, we've lost our stabalizers"

=/\=Engineering, get those stabalizers back online quickly=/\=

"Reserve those prototypes commander. Lieutenant, switch back to traditional weapons until we can get a better shot."

[Tigerlead]

OOC: Sorry guys i had some problems with connection to internet and i had some exams http://www.expansionfleet.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>
Tigerlead, Bridge, The Radiant Thunder
=^= Tigerlead to Security Teams. Report to Engineering and all key locations, escort medical personnel to Enginnering, report all unusual activities! =^=
"Helm. Move us between the Heraani and the USS Iroquois, let's see if we can draw their fire away"
=^= Tigerlead to T'kar. Security teams are on-route, i need more power to weapons and shields, i'll try to overload the phaser arrays also. Tigerlead out. =^=
The Radiant Thunder moved into position shielding the USS Iroquois as best as possible... a torpedo salvo hit the middle of the ship and the alarm sounded...
"We're losing the port side shields... hull breach on deck 3, we are venting atmosphere... security force fields engaged and holding... Helm! Turn us around, 180 degrees turn... firing all weapons!"

[Julian]

Admiral Julian, His Office, Station Avalon.

*the second Julian dismissed the Iroquois crew, he raced into the conference room only to hear the words "meeting adjurned" from the Vulcan Feet Admiral's mouth. Although he was not physically at the meeting, he still felt he was part of it because he had been reading it the whole way through. As the Gallifreyan's left the conference room, Julian insisted that the rest of the Starfleet command, and the new fleet commodore Taurik - were to be seated again for some more news.*

Im sorry i am taking you away from neccesary arrangements but we have a new tool way may be able to take advantage of against the Heraan.

*Julian then sits down and waits for the rest to also do so and react to the news of this possible tool.*