USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202003.20 ANNOUNCEMENT: . At the end of this sim, Nine of Twelve was "officially" made part of the crew. Though she technically is not Starfleet and has not been through Starfleet Academy, she was granted the provisional rank and authority of Lieutenant Junior Grade and the appointment as Head Nurse. Bridge & Main Engineering: . The Penumbra was hovering near the nebula where a "friendly" Kyrathian ship had just fired on three of her own kind, while 2 Aslan Battlecruisers and 1 Frigate had arrived to lay into the other Kyrathians, and Patterson on the Cerberus and eight Delta Flyers prepared to engage ... somebody ... at the Captain's direction. And the Captain had ordered them all to defend the friendly Kyrathian, but ... would they fire on their allies, the Aslans? . Down in Main Engineering, Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry was doing her best to keep the shields and weapons as close to maximum as she could manage. . On the Bridge were Capt. Zak Taylor, sitting in the Big Chair but looking like he was ready to jump up at any provocation; Lt. Cmdr. Relok, who had moved over to take the Executive Officer's seat in Patterson's absence; Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, at the Helm with the manual control flight sticks in hand; Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, who'd just recovered from being knocked unconscious by the overwhelming telepathic power of four fully-manned Kyrathian Colony Ships in close proximity; Lt. Tabeshk Tibris, manning the Operations Console and biting his lip; Lt. T'Lin, frantically working to come up with some means of communicating with the Kyrathians that didn't involve risking Shadow's consciousness; LtJG Denovan Hawke at the Tactical Station, extending shields to cover what ordinarily would be an enemy and trying to make sure nothing else threatened the ship; and Nine of Twelve, the recently de-assimilated Borg medical drone, tending to Shadow and wondering just what her place was on this ship.

. Relok scanned the XO's display and reported, "Looks like we're in position, sir." . Carter scanned the main viewer which showed the three enemy Kyrathian Colony Ships (one severely damaged by a WAR Driver blast from the Cerberus), anywhere between 30 and 50 Kyrathian Energy-Siphoning Pods, the Cerberus, 8 Delta Flyers, 2 Aslan Battlecruisers, 1 Aslan Frigate, and dozens of photon torpedoes and phaser beams. He said, "Not gonna be easy to avoid getting hit by SOMETHING this go around." . Hawke grunted, "Not exactly, but it might still work." . The Captain turned and glanced at Hawke, "We have our friendly in our shields?" . Hawke answered, "Yes, shields are extended, and I decreased our yield drain by 12 percent." . Shadow groaned as he regained consciousness. He had a tremendous headache caused by the fierce concentration it had required to facilitate communication with the distraught but friendly Kyrathian Noble, all while trying to shield her from her Swarm sisters. . Nine crouched beside him, scanning him to make sure he was okay. She asked, "How are you feeling, Shadow?" . Shadow sat up slowly, rubbing his forehead. "Like a mountain landed on top of me, but," he levered himself to his feet, "I can continue, if needed." . Nine insisted, "You should not push yourself." She frowned at him as she ushered him into a nearby chair. . Tabby turned and said, "Be careful, Shadow!" . Shadow waved at Tabby, "You're preaching to the choir, Tabby." . Tabby smiled at him and then called Patterson on the Cerberus, "The Kyrathian ship in the nebula is friendly. It's a long story, but help defend her and her eggs." . Patterson answered, "If there's a plan for the Aslans, Captain ... any minute past would've been great."

. Just after this, Tabby picked up the incoming comm signal from the Aslans and put it on the main viewer. The huge, mottled cockroach of the Aslan Commander Yzzkunkcrik appeared on the screen. He buzz-clicked and a second later the Universal Translator gave his speech, "Captain? Why are you protecting our enemy?" . Tabby coughed, "Captain, permission to speak, and uh ... possibly be a ... uh ... butthead?" . The Captain scowled, "Tabby ... now might not be the time, but ... speak your mind ... if it's important!" . Tabby stood, "Thank you, sir." He turned to address the Aslan, "The one we are protecting is friendly, and after reading and translating their glyphs, they have a shortage of food for her eggs." He took a breath and then added, "She has no intention of attacking, it's her sister ships, the Swarm ones, who are the problem, sir. We feel we can learn things from her, but the two Swarm ships are in the way of that." . The Aslan Commander thunked and clicked. "So, one of the Kyrathians isn't part of the Swarm? Shells and shards, are all you soft skins that stupid? It's obviously a ploy!" . Tabby retorted, "It's not a ploy! Otherwise we'd be consumed already! Think for a minute, damn it!" . But Relok glanced at the Captain and muttered, "It could be, you know." . Tabby whirled, "Relok, if it was we'd already be part of them. Come on, don't give me that load of ...," he caught himself and said merely, "Poop." . Zak raised an eyebrow at Relok and said softly, "Better not be, Relok, we're committed now." . Nine studied Shadow a moment as the man sank heavily into the chair. "Anything I can do to help, Shadow?" she asked. . But Shadow was opening his mind to Relok, his Shayana, to relay the entire conversation with the friendly Kyrathian. As he did, Nin sat back and turned her gaze to study the others on the Bridge. She had the feeling she wasn't needed any longer. And then Shadow said, "One of the stronger, non-narcotic analgesics, please."

. She turned back to Shadow, surprised. "Sure," she produced a hypospray from the medkit and dialed in the medicine and held it out for him. But he just nodded for her to proceed, showing he trusted her entirely. . Nine gave a curt nod and carefully administered the proper dose, watching him carefully to make sure there was no adverse reaction. . He sighed and said, "Thank you, Nine." He seemed to relax as the medication took effect. . Then the Captain stood and straightened his shirt. He addressed the Aslan on the main viewer, "Commander, I will take full responsibility for my actions, but we are protecting this one ship. Let's focus on the others for now." . Tabby still stood next to the Captain. He too, straightened and addressed the Aslan, "Commander Yzz, please think. She has not attacked us! She even attacked her sister ships! She's defending her eggs!" . But the Aslan only clicked and thunked even more. "Fine!" came the translation of the noises he'd made, "Protect the enemy. Don't get between us and the others!" And suddenly the comm signal cut out. . Zak glanced at Relok, "Well, that went well, I think." . Hawke answered, "Kind of. Looks like they're moving into a position to attack whomever is in the way." . Tabby returned to his seat and grunted, "Can I say I officially hate roaches?" . The Captain turned to face his Tactical Officer, "Hawke, you and MAX try to get those Pods down to a reasonable number, without moving away from our friendly." He returned to his seat. . Hawke answered, "I can do that. Remember the cascading torpedoes that the Steamrunner class has? I happen to know how to do that." He worked his console, reconfiguring the first volley and then fired. "They should hit one, bounce, hit another, another, another, and not lose much in the way of yield." He watched to see if it worked as planned.

. MAX's face appeared in one corner of the Tactical console, "The Cascade Effect, Mr. Hawke? That could be dangerous to the Delta Flyers if they happen to catch a bad bounce." . "It'll be fine, MAX," Hawke assured him, "They don't last but for a couple of targets and are set to target the pods. 'Sides, I only have two volleys set up. It's not going to hit all of those, so we'll need to work on the others the conventional way." . Then Carter reported, "Delta 5 is hit. Delta 1 and 2 are working to remove it right now. They're doing their jobs so we can do ours." He maneuvered the flight sticks to reposition the Penumbra to align to take them towards the nebula. . The Captain tapped his commbadge, "Colonel, you can help the Aslans with those other 3, then get back over here by the friendly. We need to get her out of this fight." Then he addressed his Flight Control Officer, "Carter, see if they can tow D5 to us, we can't go to him." As if on second thought he said, "Tabby, can we get a Tractor Beam on him?" . Tabby's fingers flew over his console as he said, "On it, sir." In a few seconds he said, "Tractor engaged." He scanned his screen and then reported, "Systems look good, for now, sir." . On the main viewer they saw the tiny Cerberus zipping towards the wounded Kyrathian. His commlink reported, "WAR drivers and torpedoes away." He launched the WAR Drivers at close range, then rolled and dumped a few photon mines over top of them as he streaked past. . Tabby groaned, "Ah, typical Patterson." He opened a commlink to Main Engineering, "Love, see if you can help mind the systems with me. I'm gonna be busy running things here with Bug Zapper and Fly Swatter."

. Bevin's thick Scottish Brogue came back, "Ailraight, thainks fer tha haid's ip." She quickly went to work pulling power from non-occupied areas to augment the power grid they had going. As she added the gathered power to the Swatter and the Zapper, she called back, "Gae fer ait, mo croidhe." . Tabby grinned, "That's why I love you!" . Now that Shadow seemed better, Nine simply stood quietly watching and listening to what was going on around her. She glanced up at her brother at the Tactical Station. . He noticed her uncomfortable glance and smiled back at her and said softly with a nod, "You're doing fine." . She gave him back a soft smile and nodded back. Shadow noticed the exchange and added, "See if anyone else needs attention." . Nine gave him a nod and logged into a console to bring up the Medical database to the Bridge to see if anyone had reported any injuries or casualties that needing looking into. . Relok was trying to keep up with all aspects of the fight from the XO's console. He asked, "Hawke, Carter, where's Delta 5? Has he made it back yet?" . Delta 5 had become completely immobilized and drained of power, but it managed to get one last burst of its thrusters to make it drift towards the Penumbra's hangar. Batteries were draining rapidly and life support was failing. . Hawke's fingers moved across his console as he panned around the combat zone. "Yes! Got them, heading for the hangar." . Just as he said this the leader of Delta Flight called, "Delta Flight to Penumbra. Delta 5 is out of commission. Should be drifting into your hangar in 45 seconds, just keep her steady!" . Hawke said, "I've got an idea. Why don't we get our friend to fire on them again, this time where the Aslans can see it, prove why we're protecting her and that she is on our side. They didn't see her attacking her own before they got here."

. But before anyone could respond to him, Patterson's War Drive punched another gaping hole through the Kyrathian ship but ... now the Cerberus had 3 Energy-Siphoning Pods tracking it and closing fast! Patterson re-opened the comm to the Penumbra, "Tabby, get that Bug Zapper ready to go. I'm coming in fast with a trail of 3!" . Nine's eyes shot to the main viewer at the Colonel's situation. . Tabby answered, "Gotcha! Oh, and I got an idea for your arse! What if I could transfer the plans of Bug Zapper to the Cerberus?" . Patterson responded, "Not sure how it'd work with the power supply. This thing doesn't use typical shields, or a Warp Core, Tabby." There was a brief pause and then he said, "Inbound, 10 seconds." . As Patterson streaked towards the Penumbra, one of the Aslan Battlecruisers went all-out crazy on the damaged Kyrathian ship. Tons of photon torpedoes hammered the ship and it exploded in a cloud of vaporized particles. That left 2 enemy Kyrathian ships facing two Aslan Battlecruisers and a Frigate, with the Cerberus, 8 Delta Flyers, and the Penumbra guarding the friendly Kyrathian. . Tabby called him back, "Bug Zapper ready to engage! I'm ready whenever you are! Let's do this!" . Relok had picked up Delta 5 on short range sensors. With a quick scan he discovered their predicament. He reported, "Captain, life support is failing on Delta 5! Tabby, beam him to Sickbay! Nine, Thel, Shadow, time to go to work!" Quickly Nine and Shadow headed for the Turbolift. . Tabby barked back, "Can't use transporters, shields are up!" . Carter was watching the Cerberus headed straight for the Penumbra. It was practically on a collision course. He began to squirm in his seat, "Uh ... Captain?!" . Zak was watching the main viewer. As Patterson got closer and closer he stood up and said, "Pull up, Colonel, pull up!" When it didn't seem he was doing so fast enough he barked, "Hawke! Boost forward shields!"

. Carter was watching the situation on his navigational console. He saw the drifting Flyer with no directional control aiming at their hangar and the Cerberus barreling towards their forward shields with at least 3 Pods trailing behind it. He nearly shouted, "No time!" . Just then the Cerberus reached the Penumbra and literally skimmed their shields off one another! Patterson cried out, "Now, Tabby!" The 3 Pods trailing the Cerberus impacted the energy field of Bug Zapper and lit up like Christmas Tree lights! Bevin struggled to provide Tabby as much power as she could find for shields, weapons, Bug Zapper, and Fly Swatter if needed. . Tabby energetically cheered, " ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAApper!" He opened a commlink to Engineering, "Thank you, dear!" then switched it to Patterson, "You good, bro?" . Patterson flipped the Cerberus upside down over the Penumbra and ducked underneath, spinning a flat 180 and firing his recharged WAR Driver at a second Kyrathian vessel. He called Tabby, "Yep, thanks for the lightning bath." WAR Driver rounds and pulse cannons began making their own light show from beneath the Penumbra as the Cerberus went all out. . The Captain called, "Tabby, Tractor Delta 5 into the Hangar. Once he's inside, you can transport to Sickbay." . "Aye, sir," Tabby acknowledged as his fingers flew across his board. . But more Pods were headed at the Penumbra now, and the second firing of the Bug Zapper, while frying 4 more Pods, caused the ship's shields to buckle and power to fluctuate for a moment. Tabby called, "Patterson, stay under us as extra firepower and less risk for Pods. Not sure how often I can pull a stunt like that, you arse." . Zak turned to his Tactical Officer, "Hawke, we need to take our friend to calmer waters. Can we tow her out of here?" . Hawke checked his readings and said, "I don't see why not, as long as we're moving at the same speed, the extended shields will hold."

. Tabby added, "Shields at 85%, sir." . Hawke repeated his previous suggestion, "Sir? Have our friend fire, to prove to the Aslans she's friendly first so they still stop bothering with destroying it?" . The Captain responded, "How the hell do we tell our friend to shoot? We can't talk to them without Shadow, and he's not ship-shape at the moment!" . Tabby suggested, "The glyphs?" . Relok continued the thought, "Captain, I can try T'Lin's code, a 'text message', if you will." . Hawke said, "A simple message: Kyrath fire on." . Zak nodded, "Keep it simple ... and get it right!" . Carter announced, "Adjusting course to 147 mark 215. Warming warp drive." He turned to Relok, "May want to tell them to put on a seatbelt, too!" . Tabby muttered, "Hopefully this works." . Relok nodded grimly and started typing, muttering as he did so, "Friend hit bad sisters now." He looked up as he finished, "Well, I hope that's what I'm saying!" . Zak gave a slight nod and then said, "Hawke, Tabby, get our friend in a Tractor Beam and bring them with us, whether they want to go or not. We have to get out of here before the Aslans turn to finish the job!" . Tabby said, "Relok, add that in a message, that we're towing them with us." . Relok barked back, "I don't know how to tell them we're towing them with a tractor beam! I had enough trouble with 'hit bad sister'!" . Hawke suggested, "Try, 'help go home', Relok." . Tabby agreed, "Just tell them we'll help." . Relok looked up at Hawke and said, "Huh, maybe ... 'Us help go safe.'" He typed. . And then the two Aslan Battlecruisers converged on the other Kyrathian enemy, but left their Frigate exposed! It was quickly engulfed with Pods and went dark in seconds. . Tabby said, "Tractor in 3 ... 2 ... This is gonna be a pain in the arse! ... 1 ... now!"

. Hawke noticed the Aslan's attack and said, "That's gonna make things a little more difficult. Tabby, transfer some power from the shields to the tractor beam. Cause you're right, this is gonna suck." . Tabby grunted, "Aye, on it." . Patterson slipped through a few remaining Pods and then noticed the tractor beam between the Penumbra and the friendly Kyrathian ship. He called, "Time to dip?" . Tabby answered him, "Yes! Time to go, you're escort." . The Captain also answered, "Aye, you and Delta Flight need to be right on our tails. Hopefully without an Aslan escort!" . Hawke popped off a few phaser blasts at the last Kyrathian, for good measure. . Zak tapped his commbadge, "Bevin, we're about to strain your system pretty hard. Shields, tractor beam, bug zapper, and warp drive all at once. Keep things together, OK?" . Hawke said, "Could take power from weapons before hitting warp." . Zak turned to his Tactical Officer, "Do it, on your mark, Lt." . Carter added, "Gonna need the inertial dampers at max first!" . Zak smirked, "Tabby, give Carter his inertial dampers ... I'd rather not go through MAX in the MSD at the back of the Bridge." . Tabby grunted, "Yeah, yeah, here you go." He pressed a few buttons and transferred the power. . Hawke fired off last photon torpedo and then transferred that power to the inertial dampeners. Then he reduced phasers to 25%, just in case they needed some weapons. He said, "Now." . Then the Captain said, "Tabby, let's be nice allies. Send the Aslans a message that we're withdrawing with our friend ... but don't tell them where we're headed." . Tabby opened the intership comm and said to the Aslans, "We're taking our new friend and leaving. Thank you for the help." Then he closed the comm and turned to the Captain, "Was that nice enough, Captain?" . Zak smirked at the half-Klingon, "I'm going to make a diplomat out of you yet!"

. Carter acknowledged the readings, "Inertial Dampers to maximum. Hawke... thanks for the power boost. Going to warp ... Now!" . The Penumbra began moving off, pulling the friendly Kyrathian ship behind them, and jumped to warp. Tabby waved at the main viewer, "Ha ha! Bye, Aslans!" . But almost immediately the engines began running hot. Power supply was greatly restricted and all the weapon systems went offline. Shields started to buckle. Warning lights started flashing all over the Operations console. Tabby's fingers flew here and there as he muttered, "Shut up, ship, we're fine." . Carter mumbled as he struggled with the sluggish ship towing a Kyrathian Colony Ship at warp speed, "I sure hope the Kyrathian babe we're towing is worth it, Captain!" . Tabby reached over and gave Carter a "Gibb's slap" in the back of his head. . And then the ship's main computer started complaining, "Warning! Power dropping to dangerous levels. Life support failure in ten minutes." . Tabby cursed, "Frig! That's a problem! MAX!" . Sparks flew from the Tactical console as systems overloaded. Hawke flinched and transferred to auxiliary circuits and worked to restore some of the systems. He called out, "Take from the non-essential systems and decks for more power." . As the engines overloaded and the ship dropped out of warp, anyone with any empathic or telepathic abilities heard a voice in their head, the friendly Kyrathian noble saying, ~NO! My children! We must go back, we must go back, now! They'll take them, they'll become the Swarm!~ . At this, Carter suddenly grabbed his head. Relok called out, "Captain! The friendly! Her eggs!" . The Captain had not heard the telepathic cry. He turned to his Acting First Officer, "What? What about them? We couldn't be in two places at once, Relok? We need to talk to this friendly, get information. What makes her special? Why isn't she with the Swarm? Why are they swarming? We need that intel, Commander!"

. But Tabby, with his Romulan heritage, had heard the Kyrathian's cry, and slammed his fists into the sides of his console and stood, turning to glare at the Captain. "The whole point was the eggs! We just took a mother from her CHILDREN! . Hawke commented, "Even so, how are we supposed to ... oh, crap! The Aslans! They'll kill them! I think I get it. We've got to go back, right now!" . Tabby collapsed back into his seat. "Now what do we do?" he said. Suddenly, he had an epiphany, "Wait!" He spun back to his console and quickly opened a commlink, "Patterson! Are you still there?" . There was no answer to Tabby's call. He called again, louder and more insistent, "PATTERSON!" . Zak glared at the half-Klingon, "Tabby, we collected our prime intel source. The mission priorities must come first." He turned to Hawke, "We can't go back. We need our intel and we need time to get it." . But Hawke responded, "Prime directive overrides that. We're in the middle of this already, Captain." He made a sour face then added, "I can take one of the delta flyers to help Patterson, the ship can stay here. 'Sides, I can modify it with my Borg nanites." . Carter stood and turned to leave the Bridge, clutching his head. Relok noticed his odd behavior and called, "Carter?" . Carter stopped and turned to look at Relok. "I can hear them," he said softly. . Tabby turned to the Captain, ignoring Carter and Relok, his face hot with suppressed anger, "For once, I don't care about my rank, Captain. Screw you! I've got a plan and he's my only pawn!" He turned back to the commlink, "Patterson, please, if you're there and can hear me ... SAVE THE EGGS! BRING THEM WITH YOU!" . Zak studied Tabby a moment and then sighed, "At ease, Lt. I actually like your plan. Tabby, tell Patterson, I said to collect the eggs and bring them with him ... since I don't see him anywhere here and I can guess he lingered behind."

. Tabby stared at the Captain a moment as he realized his emotions had overwhelmed him. Then he said softly, "I've gotten personal with this, haven't I, sir?" Then with a smile he turned back to the commlink and called Patterson again, "New orders: collect the eggs at all costs and bring them with you!" . Patterson had already picked up the Kyrathian signature of the submersible in the ocean. He locked on with his transporter and beamed the whole craft into his cargo hold. It was a tight fit, but ... it fit. He opened his comm, "Cerberus to Penumbra, precious cargo onboard. ETA to rendezvous imminent. Have the labs set for hyperbaric conditions." . Tabby grinned as he opened a commlink to Sickbay, "Shadow, prepare Sickbay for hundreds of Kyrathian eggs!" Cerberus & Delta Flight: . Lt. Col. Travis Patterson was aboard the Cerberus, turning to make another run on the enemy Kyrathians and hoping he wouldn't have to turn his guns on the Aslans. . Eight Delta Flyers were also arrayed around the combat zone, but they were in tight quarters with several dozen of the dangerous Kyrathian Energy-Siphoning Pods all around them. They were dodging and weaving, but ... it wasn't easy. . Delta 5 and Delta 6 were flying dangerously close to incoming pods, in an effort to force them to divert from the friendly Kyrathian ship. Deltas 1 through 4 were flying behind them to shoot the pods down once they diverted. Deltas 7 and 8 were targeting any Aslans torpedoes that were headed towards the friendly Kyrathian. . Patterson maneuvered the Cerberus in a manner to align it with the damaged Kyrathian vessel again, and started warming up the WAR Drivers for another shot. While he waited he unleashed a two of his overloaded quantum torpedoes towards the Kyrathian ship's belly. He opened his commlink to call the Penumbra, "If there's a plan for the Aslans, Captain ... any minute past would've been great."

. As he made the call, Delta 5 was contacted by one of the Pods. Almost instantly the tiny craft's power failed. Delta 1 and 2 quickly targeted the Pod with their phasers in an effort to burn it off while Delta 4 maneuvered to extend its shields over 5. . In the Cerberus Patterson heard the voice of Lt. Tabeshk Tibris at Operations on the Penumbra, "The Kyrathian ship in the nebula is friendly. It's a long story, but ... help defend her and her eggs." . Immediately following was the voice of Capt. Zak Taylor, "Colonel, you can help the Aslans with those other 3, then get back over here by the friendly. We need to get her out of this fight." . Delta 5 called the Penumbra, "We've lost shields and weapons. Purging the hull ... may need to bail!" . Patterson responded to the Captain's orders, "Aye, aye. WAR drivers and torpedoes away." He zipped towards the wounded Kyrathian and launched the WAR Drivers at close range, then rolled and dumped a few photon mines over top of them as he streaked past. . The War Drive punched another gaping hole through the Kyrathian ship but ... now the Cerberus had 3 Energy-Siphoning Pods tracking it and closing fast! AEGIS, the Cerberus' on-board Artificial Intelligence, reported, "Proximity Alert. 3 Pods closing fast. Mines took out the other 3." . Patterson re-opened the comm to the Penumbra, "Tabby, get that Bug Zapper ready to go. I'm coming in fast with a trail of 3!" . Tabby answered, "Gotcha! Oh, and I got an idea for your arse! What if I could transfer the plans of Bug Zapper to the Cerberus?" . Patterson responded, "Not sure how it'd work with the power supply. This thing doesn't use typical shields, or a Warp Core, Tabby." He glanced at his Heads-Up-Display and then said, "Inbound, 10 seconds." He was practically on a collision course with the Penumbra.

. As Patterson streaked towards the Penumbra, one of the Aslan Battlecruisers went all-out crazy on the damaged Kyrathian ship. Tons of photon torpedoes hammered the ship and it exploded in a cloud of vaporized particles. That left 2 enemy Kyrathian ships facing two Aslan Battlecruisers and a Frigate, with the Cerberus, 8 Delta Flyers, and the Penumbra guarding the friendly Kyrathian. . Tabby called him back, "Bug Zapper ready to engage! I'm ready whenever you are! Let's do this!" . Meanwhile, Delta 5 had become completely immobilized and drained of power, but it managed to get one last burst of its thrusters to make it drift towards the Penumbra's hangar. Batteries were draining rapidly and life support was failing. The leader of Delta Flight called, "Delta Flight to Penumbra. Delta 5 is out of commission. Should be drifting into your hangar in 45 seconds, just keep her steady!" . Just then the Cerberus reached the Penumbra and literally skimmed their shields off one another! Patterson cried out, "Now, Tabby!" The 3 Pods trailing the Cerberus impacted the energy field of Bug Zapper and lit up like Christmas Tree lights! . Tabby's voice came over his commlink, "You good, bro?" . Patterson flipped the Cerberus upside down over the Penumbra and ducked underneath, spinning a flat 180 and firing his recharged WAR Driver at a second Kyrathian vessel. He called Tabby, "Yep, thanks for the lightning bath." WAR Driver rounds and pulse cannons began making their own light show from beneath the Penumbra as the Cerberus went all out.

. But more Pods were headed at the Penumbra now, and the second firing of the Bug Zapper, while frying 4 more Pods, caused the ship's shields to buckle and power to fluctuate for a moment. Tabby called, "Patterson, stay under us as extra firepower and less risk for Pods. Not sure how often I can pull a stunt like that, you arse." . But Patterson being Patterson didn't stay put. He punched the throttle and hurtled towards his target, opening up with two more torpedoes and then dumping the remainder of his photon mines on it as he strafed its hull. . Meanwhile the two Aslan Battlecruisers converged on the other Kyrathian enemy, but left their Frigate exposed! It was quickly engulfed with Pods and went dark in seconds. . Patterson slipped through a few remaining Pods and then noticed a tractor beam between the Penumbra and the friendly Kyrathian ship. He called, "Time to dip?" . Tabby answered him, "Yes! Time to go, you're escort." . The Captain also answered, "Aye, you and Delta Flight need to be right on our tails. Hopefully without an Aslan escort!" . The Penumbra began moving off, pulling the friendly Kyrathian ship behind them, and jumped to warp. . Patterson pressed a couple of buttons and then said, "AEGIS, fire the warp coils and cloak, then come about. I want to keep an eye on the Aslans, and whatever's on that planet." They pretended to jump to warp and then instantly disappeared, moving off towards the watery planet to hide and watch. . His comm chirped as Tabby called, "Patterson! Are you still there?" He didn't answer. Tabby called again, louder and more insistent, "PATTERSON! Patterson, please, if you're there and can hear me ... SAVE THE EGGS! BRING THEM WITH YOU!" He paused and then said, almost pleading, "New orders: collect the eggs at all costs and bring them with you!"

. Patterson had already picked up the Kyrathian signature of the submersible in the ocean. He locked on with his transporter and beamed the whole craft into his cargo hold. It was a tight fit, but ... it fit. He opened his comm, "Cerberus to Penumbra, precious cargo onboard. ETA to rendezvous imminent. Have the labs set for hyperbaric conditions." Sickbay: . The Andorian Ensign and Nurse, Thelthaa th'Rone was alone in Sickbay checking over the equipment as the fighting began outside. . Some time later, Nine of Twelve and Dr. Shadow K'Trevala arrived from the Bridge. Shadow stepped off past Nine as the former Borg stood just inside the doorway. . Thel stepped over to them with a medical tricorder in hand and said, "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." . Nine blinked a moment and then asked, "When did we get an emergency medical hologram?" . Shadow answered without turning around, "Don't ask me." . But Thel said, "You did not. I'm the acting head nurse." . Nine waved a hand and said, "Well, we're Medical also, so you don't need to worry about our medical issues. Has anyone been beamed into Sickbay?" She moved to step past Thel. . "Nope," Thel said, then moved to stay in front of Nine and said, "Madam?" . Nine answered, "It's 'Nine', I don't know who 'Madam' is." She looked across at Shadow, obviously confused. . Thel snorted, "If you need me, don't call me, I'll call you." He stepped past her into a corridor and disappeared. . Nine followed Thel with her eyes a moment and then turned to Shadow and mumbled, "Rude much?" . A voice came from down the hall as Thel answered, "I heard that!" . Shadow shook his head, also looking confused. . Just then, MstGny Derek Hines and man wearing a Security uniform materialized in Sickbay. Hines dropped his combat helmet and turned to the other man, "Sandoval? You good?" . Sandoval took to one knee and rubbed the back of his neck. "Y-yeah," he stuttered, "that got ... sketchy."

. Nine moved over to the injured man, "Are you OK?" But the man didn't respond right away. Nine glanced over at Shadow and arched an eyebrow. . Hines craned his neck and then gave Sandoval a pat on the shoulder. "On the biobed, Chief ... we know protocol." He helped the injured man up and over to one of the beds. . Sandoval got to his feet, stumbled slightly and spit blood from his mouth. He muttered, "Got jostled around when we went into a spin." . Nine moved to assist Sandoval, "Let's get you taken care of then." . Hines left Sandoval on the bed and then moved over to one himself. Thel re-entered Sickbay and addressed Hines' back, "Marine, report," he ordered as he waved a tricorder over him. . Shadow was checking a few others who'd found Sickbay, shaken up as the ship was in the fighting. Suddenly, he clutched his head and bent over. . Thel called to Nine, "Borg, leave him, you're risking more injuries!" . Nine whirled on him, "My name is 'Nine', not 'Borg'." She picked up a hypospray and dialed in an analgesic for Sandoval's pain and applied it to his neck. . Thel waved imperialistically, "Whatever, just be gone." . Hines bristled at the Andorian's attitude, "Hey! That's enough, Ensign!" He sat up and dropped his feet down to the floor. . Nine scowled at Thel, "I work here, too, so, no, I won't just 'be gone'!" . Shadow intervened, "Ensign, leave, she's helped a LOT more than you." . Sandoval sat up slightly on the bed, raising an eyebrow and looking to the doctor and his medical staff. . Thel barked out, "That can be arranged!" He dropped the tricorder and stormed out of Sickbay. . Nine took a deep calming breath then turned and gave both Sandoval and Shadow a smile for the kind words, then picked up the tricorder and scanned Sandoval. . As Shadow returned to seeing to the other wounded, a call came from the Bridge. It was Lt. Tabeshk Tibris, "Shadow, prepare Sickbay for hundreds of Kyrathian eggs!"

@everyone Last Week's Sim Narrative is up.