Captain's Personal Log: Well... she's not the Lexington, but she'll do. Anyways... I just... With everything that's happened so far, I find myself wondering what I'm supposed to do. Outside of Starfleet, I actually control a vast Armada of ships that has existed for who knows how long and spans the Galaxy. And I'm now going to be negotiating with the Dominion regarding their status within this Armada. I still feel I can turn this thing into a serious force for good, to actually help people, but at the same time... I don't know how I'm going to do that or even much of what's out there.
Even with all my friends to help me... I can't help but feel alone.
Krystal sat in the Ready Room going over report after report about this new ship, learning what she could about her capabilities.
A disorienting blur of pain and consciousness accompanied the Captain as he awoke in Spacedock's Infirmary. Across the way, was an older Doctor moving between consoles and a table full of engineering parts. The medic took notice of Elric who was trying to make sense of things.
"What happened?" Elric asked, groggily. "Claire?"
The man walked over. "My name is Doctor Melzine, and you just survived an attack and a mutated form of Mirror Universe assimilation. Honestly, I've never seen someone cut off his own arm before. Well, you're going to be alright now, thanks to some quick thinking. We had you on the Valhalla for a while, but now you're back on Spacedock."
"My arm," Elric realized. He quickly sat up and held up his left arm. What he extended was not what he was expecting. It was an unknown metal; a cybernetic arm with all its gears showing and no skin covering whatsoever. "What did you do??"
The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Some of my best work. Isn't it wonderful? Right, I should explain that I'm a cyberneticist, and a damn good one. I was being escorted home when I came across you and your unfortunate situation. You gave me the opportunity to affix something I'd been working on for some time. That arm isn't like others; it's incredibly strong. Unfortunately, the trade-off on its power is that it burns through synthetic skin coverings. But don't worry, there's a gradual threshold that protects your own body."
"What are you talking about? I never agreed to this!" Elric argued.
Melzine nodded. "Actually you did. You were in a lot of pain at the time, but you were conscious enough to give your consent."
"Are you kidding me?" Elric said before he interrupted his own self to think back to his own actions. There was a haze of confusion when he tried to remember being taken to the Valhalla's sickbay, but he did recall giving permission for a plan to fix him. Was it the arm?
The Doctor walked over. "Well, you did cut your own arm off, which actually saved your life. Those sectionalized, mutated mirror arm-nanoprobes were waiting for communication from the non-existent nanoprobes in the rest of your body. When they didn't get it, their duplication remained and your arm was on the brink of... well... I hate to get graphic, but... your arm was about to explode." He paused. "Sufficed to say, you were destined for an arm replacement anyway."
"Yeah, but this?" the Captain held up his left arm again, looking at the way its futuristic gears and semi-exoskeleton glistened and reflected the Infirmary's lights.
Doctor Melzine smiled. "Oh, you'll like that. It's not like any other. Give it a chance, and you'll get used to it. Any issues, I can be of help. I'll be right here on Spacedock."
As Krystal sat in the ready room reading reports on the Mephiles, the door opened and Sarah came in, evidently worried. "Krystal, we've got another problem. The admiral wants to see us on his "new flagship", the U.S.S. Sally that the changeling so kindly returned to us. He was pretty specific, too; he wants us to go to the main sickbay specifically."
U.S.S. Sally, Main Sickbay, Now
Sarah walked in, noticing the admiral, Scott, the MACOs, and the two Hepizpah officers, sitting on a couple biobeds, having just been awakened. Admiral Nat turned to Sarah. "Just asked them if they enjoyed their little trip around the ship. They don't have any clue about said trip, so they'll be confused. Don't worry, it's just procedure."
Captain Sarah Walker nodded and glanced over at the two officers.
“Uh, trip? What trip?” The Ensign scratched his head. “And why are we in...uh, sickbay?” Poor kid. His eyes drifted over to the Borg drone, and his face went a few shades paler than it normally was. “Admiral, what are *they* doing here? I mean, those are some pretty fancy looking holos, sir.”
Six, on the other hand, didn’t share the same drastic reaction as her fellow officer did, simply smiling and noting their presence. The Borg could be considered family, in a way. “Liberated Borg. Interesting,” she said, in the same matter-of-fact voice she’d used just a short while ago. “I do not recall traveling around your ship, Admiral. Is there a reason why we are in the sickbay of this vessel?"
Admiral Nat nodded. "You were in temporal stasis the entire time, actually. It's practically standard procedure for anyone coming back from anything or anywhere involving the Infamous or any of his people."
Sarah raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Nat continued. "Safe to say, what I said earlier about the unavailability of anyone to help you guys was just a lie to throw off the Infamous, since he's known to tag people with virtually undetectable, irremovable nanites that can read your every thought, and we wanted to make sure that if he had tagged you, he wouldn't know we were coming for him, at least, not yet. I read over the report, and safe to say, I plan to do something about it."
Sarah turned to Nat. "...so that's why you called me and Krystal, er, Captain Jade over here?"
"Exactly. You and Captain Jade have experience with the Infamous, obviously, it's a good idea to have you around, at least for now," the admiral replied. "Although I know Captain Jade will need to start heading for DS9 soon... where is she, anyway?"
Sarah shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she's coming."
Scott facepalmed. Nat sighed and deadpanned Sarah.
Admiral Nat passed Krystal a PADD. "Another D'ren has taken over the U.S.S. Hepizbah, and these two officers from their ship came looking for help."
Sarah sighed and glanced over at the PADD for herself. "Oh no."
Nat replied. "Yeah... that bad."
Nat shrugged. "Considering your mission to the Gamma Quadrant, I don't think we'll be able to take you with us without jeopardizing everything, but it'd be a good idea for Sarah to come with us, given her experience with D'ren's previous incarnations. Regardless, I'd like your thoughts on it, and any advice before we leave."
Sarah turned to Nat. "Leave? When?"
Nat sighed. "As soon as possible. Don't worry, I'll leave Captain Nat behind to keep an eye on things on ESD."
Sarah nodded in agreement. "Can't argue with that one, actually. That said, I did get an unnervingly close look inside the Zipporah; safe to say, we've actually got a pretty well equipped crew here on the Sally."
Nat turned to Sarah. "Compared to any other crew of the best? How so?"
Sarah laughed. "Cuz you're all guys, actually. I mean, that's totally sexist, but let's just say that the Infamous is... well, he seems to have a way with the females, you know? He's hard to resist sometimes, and most usually break down and give in."
Scott deadpanned. "You didn't?"
Sarah nodded. "Managed not to, thankfully. I doubt anyone else on that ship managed, though."
Nat sighed. "Another reason not to bring Krystal, I guess." Nat glanced at Six. "Probably helps to explain a couple things."
"So what are we going to do then?" Sarah asked.
The admiral replied. "I already got our guys preparing some... things for when we go there, but generally, we're going for the obvious approach. Bring a fleet, surround them, and get the situation under control. Rescue the Hepizbah, deal with those ships that D'ren brought with him, and capture D'ren and figure out what to do with him from there."
Scott facepalmed again. "You really expect that to work...?"
Nat chuckled. "No. I've ordered in some things for plans B, C, D, E, F, G, and every plan after that."
Six smiled politely. "Thank you for your assistance, sir. Our visit wasn't mean to take up your time. However, if the D'ren entity is still on the Hepzibah, it would be an opportunity to remove him from power entirely." She frowned. "What is troubling is that, if Captain Rosette is compromised, she could rally the rest of the crew to D'ren's cause. I do not want to have to face her in battle. I don't think any of us do."
Elric got out of bed to leave the Infirmary when the on-duty nurses suddenly ran over to Elihu. The human Captain looked quizzically over to the situation. He walked over. "I know what that feels like."
A nurse gave Elric a hard look. He was clearly standing where she wanted to stand. "Yeah, I should probably let you handle this. Last time I did anything outside my department, this happened."
He held up his arm still in shock of his circumstances and then walked off to put his Odyssey uniform back on. To his surprise the uniform sleeve went over his new arm just fine. He then picked up a PADD with a generalized overview of the new appendage and left the Infirmary to study it.
The admiral's combadge chirped. He tapped it in reply. "What is it?"
An unknown officer called in. "ESD here. We just wanted to let you know that an unknown agent had sabotaged some of the environmental systems, and... well..."
"Well, speak up," said the admiral. "We've got stuff to do here."
"The Infamous, at least, the one the changeling brought, is dead. Death by suffocation, only mere minutes ago."
Nat's eyes widened. "Guess the armada didn't want him running around doing stuff. That's great... Nat out."
Sarah sighed. "So somebody killed him. That's wonderful..." she said sarcastically.
Krystal facepalmed.
"Guess that means I'm gonna have to somehow start taking an active role so I know what the hell is going on..." she sighed. "Wish I knew how."
Sarah turned to Krystal. "Get back in the Mephiles and head for the wormhole. Go with the changeling when they signal you. You'll encounter the Infamous armada eventually; take control from there."
Admiral Nat sighed, then noticed a medallion materializing on an empty biobed. He picked it up and examined it.
Scott and Sarah walked over and looked at it closely. Sarah spoke up. "The Infamous'es anti-Q medallion. What's it doing here?"
Nat's combadge chirped. He tapped it. "Jim here. I've already got a couple of our guys helping with the investigation, so we figured we'd send the medallion to you, so we can keep it safe."
Nat raised an eyebrow. "Why me specifically?"
Jim replied over the comms. "Wear it, and don't let it disappear. Sarah mentioned that the Infamous has had Q working for him, right?"
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," the admiral replied, sighing. "Well, we better get moving once the fleet gets here, so be ready to move out. Don't worry about whatever guys you assigned to the investigation, they'll be fine on ESD."
Jim replied. "Understood, and believe me, we're ready. The fleet should arrive shortly. Jim out."
Nat looked over the medallion, put it on under his uniform, but over his undershirt, effectively hiding the medallion from plain sight. He then turned back to Six. "You ready?"
Elric walked along the Main Concourse, stopping at a railing to look out at the area. He regretted and blamed himself for what had happened in Engineering. It was just like the Na'khul attack he had endured in the past, only this time, the entire Earth could have been at risk. And then there was the arm; the reminder of his failure in the present, and, feasibly, his past. If he was to redeem himself, he would have to do it through duty. Unfortunately, Claire was still missing. As he stared out, he noticed three civilian Saurian men talking and one of them with a metallic box in his hands. Upon further squinting, Elric realized the civilian was holding Zeta.
"Uh, hi, excuse me," the Captain said, approaching them. "But you have my spider."
Brot, interrupted, looked at Elric in disgust. "You have no claim here, Starfleet. Why don't you go fight a Klingon or something?"
"You know, I have not had a great couple of days. I thought many things were happening beyond my control, but now I think I should have exercised a little bit more of my own actions. Today seems like a good day to start. Therefore, give me that spider," Elric demanded.
The lead Saurian smirked. "Finders keepers. What are you going to do? Fight me? I'm a 5 time anbo-jytsu champion."
"You're something alright," Elric replied as he reached for Zeta, who appeared to be offline. But one of the other Saurians threw out their own arm and deflected Elric's.
Another Saurian shot a fist for Elric's face, but Elric brought up his right arm and blocked it. He then shot out his left, cybernetic arm and force-palmed the Saurian off his feet. "Ugh!"
"I'll be arresting you now," Elric said before the lead Saurian flew a kick for his head. Elric caught the foot, but Brot just leapt off his last leg and spun his body around to kick Elric with the other foot.
The Captain dropped the first leg, but used his left forearm to stop the force of the speeding, second kick, cold in its tracks. Elric then used his grip of Brot's other foot to push the Saurian in mid-air, away, and into his other standing friend. The two Saurians hit the floor, losing grasp of Zeta, which Elric swiped out of mid-flight, effortlessly. "I'm telling my father about you! He's an Admiral, you know!" Brot whined before he and his group scrambled to their feet and ran off.
"Really?" Elric said, deadpanned and disappointed at the change in tone. He then nudged Zeta, taking the spider out of its trance.
Zeta extended its legs and perked up in Elric's palms. *Click!?*
"Sorry I got a little crazy back there in Engineering. I was compromised, and later definitely paid for it," Elric apologized. "You still on my team? There's plenty of more payback to disseminate."
The spider hopped and then climbed himself up onto Elric's right shoulder, where he usually regenerated. *Click, click, chirp! Team.*
Six nodded. "As ready as I will ever be, Admiral." She nodded to the Ensign, who was still a bit nervous about the situation. "Let us hope that Captain Rosette can be brought to her senses."
A fleet of the vessels gathered at ESD, including a mix of Defiant, Valiant, Phantom, Scryer, Eclipse, Galaxy-X, and Yamato class vessels all cloaked, seemingly simultaneously, evidently turning to follow another fleet of vessels setting course out of the system, evidently escorting a now phase-cloaked Galaxy-X class U.S.S. Sally, all heading for the U.S.S. Hepzibah's last known location.
Well... she's not the Lexington, but she'll do. Anyways... I just... With everything that's happened so far, I find myself wondering what I'm supposed to do. Outside of Starfleet, I actually control a vast Armada of ships that has existed for who knows how long and spans the Galaxy. And I'm now going to be negotiating with the Dominion regarding their status within this Armada. I still feel I can turn this thing into a serious force for good, to actually help people, but at the same time... I don't know how I'm going to do that or even much of what's out there.
Even with all my friends to help me... I can't help but feel alone.
Krystal sat in the Ready Room going over report after report about this new ship, learning what she could about her capabilities.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
A disorienting blur of pain and consciousness accompanied the Captain as he awoke in Spacedock's Infirmary. Across the way, was an older Doctor moving between consoles and a table full of engineering parts. The medic took notice of Elric who was trying to make sense of things.
"What happened?" Elric asked, groggily. "Claire?"
The man walked over. "My name is Doctor Melzine, and you just survived an attack and a mutated form of Mirror Universe assimilation. Honestly, I've never seen someone cut off his own arm before. Well, you're going to be alright now, thanks to some quick thinking. We had you on the Valhalla for a while, but now you're back on Spacedock."
"My arm," Elric realized. He quickly sat up and held up his left arm. What he extended was not what he was expecting. It was an unknown metal; a cybernetic arm with all its gears showing and no skin covering whatsoever. "What did you do??"
The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Some of my best work. Isn't it wonderful? Right, I should explain that I'm a cyberneticist, and a damn good one. I was being escorted home when I came across you and your unfortunate situation. You gave me the opportunity to affix something I'd been working on for some time. That arm isn't like others; it's incredibly strong. Unfortunately, the trade-off on its power is that it burns through synthetic skin coverings. But don't worry, there's a gradual threshold that protects your own body."
"What are you talking about? I never agreed to this!" Elric argued.
Melzine nodded. "Actually you did. You were in a lot of pain at the time, but you were conscious enough to give your consent."
"Are you kidding me?" Elric said before he interrupted his own self to think back to his own actions. There was a haze of confusion when he tried to remember being taken to the Valhalla's sickbay, but he did recall giving permission for a plan to fix him. Was it the arm?
The Doctor walked over. "Well, you did cut your own arm off, which actually saved your life. Those sectionalized, mutated mirror arm-nanoprobes were waiting for communication from the non-existent nanoprobes in the rest of your body. When they didn't get it, their duplication remained and your arm was on the brink of... well... I hate to get graphic, but... your arm was about to explode." He paused. "Sufficed to say, you were destined for an arm replacement anyway."
"Yeah, but this?" the Captain held up his left arm again, looking at the way its futuristic gears and semi-exoskeleton glistened and reflected the Infirmary's lights.
Doctor Melzine smiled. "Oh, you'll like that. It's not like any other. Give it a chance, and you'll get used to it. Any issues, I can be of help. I'll be right here on Spacedock."
As Krystal sat in the ready room reading reports on the Mephiles, the door opened and Sarah came in, evidently worried. "Krystal, we've got another problem. The admiral wants to see us on his "new flagship", the U.S.S. Sally that the changeling so kindly returned to us. He was pretty specific, too; he wants us to go to the main sickbay specifically."
U.S.S. Sally, Main Sickbay, Now
Sarah walked in, noticing the admiral, Scott, the MACOs, and the two Hepizpah officers, sitting on a couple biobeds, having just been awakened. Admiral Nat turned to Sarah. "Just asked them if they enjoyed their little trip around the ship. They don't have any clue about said trip, so they'll be confused. Don't worry, it's just procedure."
Captain Sarah Walker nodded and glanced over at the two officers.
Winning.
“Uh, trip? What trip?” The Ensign scratched his head. “And why are we in...uh, sickbay?” Poor kid. His eyes drifted over to the Borg drone, and his face went a few shades paler than it normally was. “Admiral, what are *they* doing here? I mean, those are some pretty fancy looking holos, sir.”
Six, on the other hand, didn’t share the same drastic reaction as her fellow officer did, simply smiling and noting their presence. The Borg could be considered family, in a way. “Liberated Borg. Interesting,” she said, in the same matter-of-fact voice she’d used just a short while ago. “I do not recall traveling around your ship, Admiral. Is there a reason why we are in the sickbay of this vessel?"
Admiral Nat nodded. "You were in temporal stasis the entire time, actually. It's practically standard procedure for anyone coming back from anything or anywhere involving the Infamous or any of his people."
Sarah raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Nat continued. "Safe to say, what I said earlier about the unavailability of anyone to help you guys was just a lie to throw off the Infamous, since he's known to tag people with virtually undetectable, irremovable nanites that can read your every thought, and we wanted to make sure that if he had tagged you, he wouldn't know we were coming for him, at least, not yet. I read over the report, and safe to say, I plan to do something about it."
Sarah turned to Nat. "...so that's why you called me and Krystal, er, Captain Jade over here?"
"Exactly. You and Captain Jade have experience with the Infamous, obviously, it's a good idea to have you around, at least for now," the admiral replied. "Although I know Captain Jade will need to start heading for DS9 soon... where is she, anyway?"
Sarah shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she's coming."
Scott facepalmed. Nat sighed and deadpanned Sarah.
Winning.
"Ok... whats going... on..." she trailed off.
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Sarah sighed and glanced over at the PADD for herself. "Oh no."
Nat replied. "Yeah... that bad."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Sarah turned to Nat. "Leave? When?"
Nat sighed. "As soon as possible. Don't worry, I'll leave Captain Nat behind to keep an eye on things on ESD."
Winning.
"I honestly don't know," she said. "D'ren always seemed to be... different each time I met him. Be ready for anything."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Nat turned to Sarah. "Compared to any other crew of the best? How so?"
Sarah laughed. "Cuz you're all guys, actually. I mean, that's totally sexist, but let's just say that the Infamous is... well, he seems to have a way with the females, you know? He's hard to resist sometimes, and most usually break down and give in."
Scott deadpanned. "You didn't?"
Sarah nodded. "Managed not to, thankfully. I doubt anyone else on that ship managed, though."
Nat sighed. "Another reason not to bring Krystal, I guess." Nat glanced at Six. "Probably helps to explain a couple things."
"So what are we going to do then?" Sarah asked.
The admiral replied. "I already got our guys preparing some... things for when we go there, but generally, we're going for the obvious approach. Bring a fleet, surround them, and get the situation under control. Rescue the Hepizbah, deal with those ships that D'ren brought with him, and capture D'ren and figure out what to do with him from there."
Scott facepalmed again. "You really expect that to work...?"
Nat chuckled. "No. I've ordered in some things for plans B, C, D, E, F, G, and every plan after that."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
Elihu M'Konel woke up.
Talitha...
He held up his arm still in shock of his circumstances and then walked off to put his Odyssey uniform back on. To his surprise the uniform sleeve went over his new arm just fine. He then picked up a PADD with a generalized overview of the new appendage and left the Infirmary to study it.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
The admiral's combadge chirped. He tapped it in reply. "What is it?"
An unknown officer called in. "ESD here. We just wanted to let you know that an unknown agent had sabotaged some of the environmental systems, and... well..."
"Well, speak up," said the admiral. "We've got stuff to do here."
"The Infamous, at least, the one the changeling brought, is dead. Death by suffocation, only mere minutes ago."
Nat's eyes widened. "Guess the armada didn't want him running around doing stuff. That's great... Nat out."
Sarah sighed. "So somebody killed him. That's wonderful..." she said sarcastically.
Winning.
"Guess that means I'm gonna have to somehow start taking an active role so I know what the hell is going on..." she sighed. "Wish I knew how."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Scott and Sarah walked over and looked at it closely. Sarah spoke up. "The Infamous'es anti-Q medallion. What's it doing here?"
Nat's combadge chirped. He tapped it. "Jim here. I've already got a couple of our guys helping with the investigation, so we figured we'd send the medallion to you, so we can keep it safe."
Nat raised an eyebrow. "Why me specifically?"
Jim replied over the comms. "Wear it, and don't let it disappear. Sarah mentioned that the Infamous has had Q working for him, right?"
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," the admiral replied, sighing. "Well, we better get moving once the fleet gets here, so be ready to move out. Don't worry about whatever guys you assigned to the investigation, they'll be fine on ESD."
Jim replied. "Understood, and believe me, we're ready. The fleet should arrive shortly. Jim out."
Nat looked over the medallion, put it on under his uniform, but over his undershirt, effectively hiding the medallion from plain sight. He then turned back to Six. "You ready?"
Winning.
"Uh, hi, excuse me," the Captain said, approaching them. "But you have my spider."
Brot, interrupted, looked at Elric in disgust. "You have no claim here, Starfleet. Why don't you go fight a Klingon or something?"
"You know, I have not had a great couple of days. I thought many things were happening beyond my control, but now I think I should have exercised a little bit more of my own actions. Today seems like a good day to start. Therefore, give me that spider," Elric demanded.
The lead Saurian smirked. "Finders keepers. What are you going to do? Fight me? I'm a 5 time anbo-jytsu champion."
"You're something alright," Elric replied as he reached for Zeta, who appeared to be offline. But one of the other Saurians threw out their own arm and deflected Elric's.
Another Saurian shot a fist for Elric's face, but Elric brought up his right arm and blocked it. He then shot out his left, cybernetic arm and force-palmed the Saurian off his feet. "Ugh!"
"I'll be arresting you now," Elric said before the lead Saurian flew a kick for his head. Elric caught the foot, but Brot just leapt off his last leg and spun his body around to kick Elric with the other foot.
The Captain dropped the first leg, but used his left forearm to stop the force of the speeding, second kick, cold in its tracks. Elric then used his grip of Brot's other foot to push the Saurian in mid-air, away, and into his other standing friend. The two Saurians hit the floor, losing grasp of Zeta, which Elric swiped out of mid-flight, effortlessly. "I'm telling my father about you! He's an Admiral, you know!" Brot whined before he and his group scrambled to their feet and ran off.
"Really?" Elric said, deadpanned and disappointed at the change in tone. He then nudged Zeta, taking the spider out of its trance.
Zeta extended its legs and perked up in Elric's palms. *Click!?*
"Sorry I got a little crazy back there in Engineering. I was compromised, and later definitely paid for it," Elric apologized. "You still on my team? There's plenty of more payback to disseminate."
The spider hopped and then climbed himself up onto Elric's right shoulder, where he usually regenerated. *Click, click, chirp! Team.*
Winning.
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Winning.