USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202006.19 ANNOUNCEMENT: . This is the sixth episode of Lt. Tibris' sim plot to aid the Ivorez. Bridge & Main Engineering: . The Penumbra was again parked in interstellar space recovering from their latest run-in with the Kyrathian Swarm. Power availability was barely holding at 30% and many critical systems were offline, such as Quantum Slipstream, Warp Drive, Shields, MIRAGE, Long-Range Scanners, Transporters, the Bug-Zapper, and Phasers. They could muster enough power to launch perhaps two torpedoes and then those would be offline as well. . Parked alongside the Penumbra was the Cerberus, and while it's Slipstream Drive was in cool-down for an hour, all of its other systems were at full power. . Capt. Zak Taylor and Lt. Col. Patterson, along with Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, Lt. T'Lin, and GnySgt. Khal'Gon were on the Cerberus awaiting transport back home after meeting with the Ivorez, the sentient plant of the non-Swarm Kyrathians. . Aboard the Penumbra, however, Lt. Cmdr. Relok was in command as Acting Captain, with Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter as his Acting First Officer. Relok had just moved from the now darkened Primary Science Console to the Command Chair, while Carter sat at the Helm grunting, trying to get some kind of response out of the ship. Lt. Tabeshk Tibris was at the Operations console, his fingers flying like mad trying to get some kind of power distribution restored, and Lt. Denovan Hawke stood helplessly frustrated at the Tactical Console. . Relok turned to look at Hawke, "OK, so how are we? Den?" . Hawke growled, "Would you like me to curse or just spell it out?" He paused only the briefest of moments before continuing, "Shields are offline, MIRAGE is offline, phasers are offline. We have no long-range sensors. We might can get off two or three torpedoes if necessary." . "OK," Relok said, "we're sitting ducks here."

. Carter chimed in, "All engine cores have spun to zero," he had stressed the word "all", "and inertial dampers are offline. I've got her stable, but ... we're drifting." . Tabby tapped his commbadge, one of few systems actually working correctly, and called Main Engineering, "Bevin, because of the serious strain, things might be broken. Darling, can we try to get those fixed?" . Hawke asked, "Commander Carter, what about thrusters? Use them to at least move us ... some, or stabilize the drifting." . Carter answered, "I'm working on it, Mr. Hawke." He fiddled with the flight control sticks. "I've got the forward, port ventral thruster, the starboard aft thruster, and the aft tail thruster. Everything else is unresponsive. We're lucky I managed to keep the ship from tumbling out of control as it is!" . A call came over the comm system from the Cerberus. It was Capt. Taylor, "Zak to the Penumbra, I'm ready to come home." . Relok answered him, "We're a bit low on power, Captain. Transporters are offline." The Captain cursed as Relok tapped his commbadge changing the channel, "Bevin, looks like you've got your work cut out for you, Commander. I'll put Tabby to work up here, let's get us some power to shields and maneuvering thrusters." . Tabby softly mumbled in a sing-song tone, "Gotta get that power or i'mma lose my mind." . T'Lin's voice came over the comm from the Cerberus, "Penumbra, you can take power from Sickbay, the living quarters and the cafeteria. Any deck not being used can be taken down as well." . Relok answered her, "We did that already just to get here, Lieutenant." . Hawke mused, "I guess ... we could route power from some of the unused sections of the ship for defensive systems. If that's the problem, and it's not a physical one."

. Carter said, "Weapons are probably offline due to the plasma vent, Denovan. It's gonna take a full reset on that. It was either that, or the hull wouldn't have been able to hold the warp field's integrity enough for a jump." . Suddenly another call came from the Captain on the Cerberus, his tone insistent, "We have incoming! The Fighters are in pursuit. Get some damn shields or get some warp drive, quick!" . Unbeknownst to the people on the Bridge, the Away Team that was on the Cerberus, all except Patterson, used the Cerberus' transporter to beam over to the Penumbra. . "Fighters?" Hawke grunted, checking his Tactical board, "I'm still not showing them." He looked up, grunting, "Even if they are reading it right, none of our Flyers are in shape to fly." . Relok tapped his commbadge, "Bevin! Shunt everything we've got left to shields!" He turned back to the front, "Carter, if we've got any Flyers flight-worthy, get them in play." . Tabby cursed, "Freakin' hell! Freakin' frak!" . Bevin responded from Main Engineering, where she'd been working frantically with damage control teams and systems engineers and technicians, her Scottish Brogue thick, "Daein me baist sair!" . Hawke grunted, "Any shape to fly ... the three that are have no crew for them ... unless ... well, I can take one." . Relok turned to Hawke, "With your station completely offline, you might be more effective in a Flyer. Carter, what do you think?" . Carter spun his chair, glancing from Relok and then to Hawke, "We've got two Flyers that are weapons-capable. Sandoval and Hines are on Flyer 2. Flyer 1 needs a crew. Hawke, you're probably the only guy who can shoot as fast as I can fly ... and I'm a lot more maneuverable in a Flyer than at the Helm of a full-fledged starship." . Hawke responded, "I was planning on doing both, which I can do, that would leave you with the other, so we have both out there. More numbers."

. About that time the turbolift doors slid open with T'Lin and Zak aboard. T'Lin immediately rushed out asking, "Where are the eggs, and how many did we recover?" . But Zak stood just inside the turbolift without entering. Instead he asked, "Permission to come aboard, Captain?" He knew that technically, at this moment, because of having officially transferred command to Relok, Zak was merely a visitor and had no right to be on the Bridge. . Relok looked over at him and said simply, "Please!" Then he turned back to Carter, "Carter, Hawke, do it. Flyers 1 and 2 with Cerberus. Hold them off as long as you can." . Carter nodded, "All right. Hawke, take Flyer 2. I'll take Flyer 1. We'll put Hines and Sandoval in Flyer 3 as standby." He stood and signaled a nearby Ensign to take the Helm and started towards the turbolift. . But before the Ensign could take the post, Zak stepped forward, "Do you mind, Commander?" as he indicated he'd like to take the Helm. . Carter tilted his head at Zak, giving him sort of a half nod. "Not much you'll be able to do from the Helm with only 3 thrusters online. I recommend Tactical, unless you know something about power distribution from a dead battery." . Zak smiled, "I was Engineering and Operations before I started the Command Track. I'll jury rig something!" He crawled under the Helm console and ripped the bottom plate off. In seconds he'd started shuffling wiring and iso chips around. . Hawke logged out of the Tactical console and turned it over to GnySgt Khal'Gon, the Nausicaan/Klingon hybrid Marine, to hold the virtually offline post. Hawke joined Carter at the turbolift, "Got it. I'll follow you in Flyer 2. Let's give them hell, Commander. Oh," he called just as the doors slid shut, "if something happens, please tell my sister I love her."

. T'Lin was still glaring at Relok, waiting on an answer about the eggs. Finally, Relok was able to give her his attention, "Oh, we have them in Cargo Bay 1. We only got 34 eggs ... and 3 larvae." . "Larvae?" she raised an eyebrow, "That will be fun. Shall I go to them, or do you need me here instead?" . Meanwhile, Tabby had been muttering and mumbling under his breath, "So much down, so little ability ..." He did a faceplant into his console, "Arggh! So much work!" He finally noticed the Captain wrist deep in the underside of the Helm console and joined him there, "Wait, gimme that!" He gently shoved the Captain aside as he said, "You may have been an engineer but I'm Ops, stand aside, buckaroo." . Khal'Gon glared across the dark Tactical console at the Captain and said, "You were an Engineer, Zak? Then get your ass down to Engineering!" . Zak flinched as the big Nausicaan Gunny barked at him and banged his head on the Helm console he'd been working on. "Ow! Hey, OK, fine, I'll go help Bevin. I know where I'm not wanted." He grinned as he headed for the turbolift. . Tabby nearly burst his gut trying not to laugh at the big Gunny and the Captain rubbing his bumped head. . Relok called Engineering again, "Bevin, what can we do about shields?" . Bevin answered in her heavy Brogue, "I kin gi ye saixty paircint raight naw, bit iffin ye drawp shailds tae hait wairp while vaintin same plaisma tae tha autside, ait mait traik thaim." . Bevin and her teams managed to get the power back up to 45%, which was significant but still critically low. Suddenly, four Kyrathian Fighters dropped out of warp near the Penumbra and maneuver to engage. Relok squirmed in the Command Chair as the Fighters appeared on the main viewscreen.

. Tabby lay on the floor beneath the Ops/Helm central console, rooting around inside trying to bypass any burned out circuits and restore some power to their systems. As he did, he muttered to himself, "Let's see now ... oh, geez, this is a mess of burnt wires ... okay, give me that wire, and this wire ... put that wire there and this can go here ...." Suddenly a spark flashed and Tabby flinched and called out, "Ow! Ah, freakin' hell! I got something, but damn that hurt like a mother!" . Khal'Gon reported from the Tactical console, "I've got the point defense platforms online, but still no power to the phaser arrays." . Tabby's efforts at the console managed to bypass several circuits and hotwire several others. He managed to restore power to the shields! They were only at 25% capacity, but at least they had shields! He started to sing, "I got some shields!" Then he added in a grumble, "But only some, and burnt the piss out of myself." . "Shields?" Relok said, "Good work, Tabby. Khal'Gon, raise our shields!" . Tabby responded, "I'll continue fiddling around. It's really surprising how much stuff is down here!" . Khal'Gon raised shields and then reported, "Shields online. 27% and holding." Suddenly he banged his huge hand against the Tactical console and shouted a curse in Klingon, "HablI' quvHa'! I can't get a lock on anything with these damn fried sensors!" . Tabby grunted from his spot on the floor under the console, "Oh, shut up, kinsman, I'm working on it!" . T'Lin had been trying to work with the nearly dark Science console. Finally she asked again, "Relok, do you need me here or down examining the larvae?" . Relok turned to her, "With all of our sensors offline up here, might was well go check our new ... guests. And T'Lin, be sure to wear a biosuit if you go in there, we have no idea if they have Plant Spores on them."

. "Yes, sir," she said as she headed for the turbolift. A few minutes later, she had put on her Biosuit and finally got the chance to look at the fun little squiggly worms that were Kyrathian Larvae. . Now it was just the three on the Bridge, Relok sitting nervously in the Command Chair, Khal'Gon at a nearly dead Tactical console, and Tabby on the floor ripping the guts out of the Ops/Helm center console. Tabby muttered, "I need to get Bug Zapper at least. Bug Zapper can take out the pods, I don’t know about Fighters." . But Relok could see the Fighters break their formation and accelerate to maximum speeds. They were on a collision course with the Penumbra! He said, "I think I'd rather have phasers ... or maybe point defense system. Let's do that, point defense, lots of little lasers won't take as much power as big phasers." . "We can do that," Tabby said as he moved another wire. Another spark and Tabby flinched, "Ow! Piss!" . Relok and Khal'Gon could do little more than watch as Hawke and Carter in tiny Delta Flyers and Patterson in the slightly larger Cerberus flitted back and forth across the Fighters. A comm signal came through as Patterson addressed all of them, "They're on collision course with the Penumbra. Hope they've got bigger ordnance than we do by now, or we won't have much of a ship to return to!" . Hawke's voice came back, "They're on a kamikaze run! More if you can! Carter, I'm breaking, heading behind them ...." . Relok turned to Khal'Gon, "Khal'Gon, Den said we had one or two torpedoes we could launch. Can you get a bead on one of those fighters bearing down on us and ... blow it out of the sky?" . Tabby commented from where he was buried elbow-deep in circuitry, "Can't we just send one flying into another like playing pinball?" Another flash, "Aw! Piss!" . Relok straightened, "Pin-ball? Can we do that? Khal'Gon, can you hit one hard enough to send it crashing into another? You've got two shots, right?"

. "Can I?" Khal'Gon responded, "What do you take me for, an untrained mutt?" He gestured at the half-Klingon, half-Romulan lying on the floor as he quickly locked onto the lead Kyrathian Fighter, and fired Torpedo 1. . Tabby poked his head out and pointed at Khal'Gon's heavy combat boots. "I'd rather be a mutt than be in those!" . Khal'Gon grunted and rolled his eyes, "Anything thinner than these would be ripped apart by the pads of my feet, Tabeshk." . Tabby giggled, "You have shoe issues apparently!" He continued working under the console. . Just as Khal'Gon launched the torpedo, the combination of Bevin and Zak in Engineering and Tabby under the console managed to get power supply and distribution back to a solid 58%. They even got shields up to 35% capacity. Khal'Gon reported, "Phasers are coming online. And ... Torpedo 2 ... away." . Finally, the combination of the Energy-siphoning field stretched between Hawke and Carter in the Delta Flyers, the pounding of the Cerberus' WAR drivers, Hawke's Borg weapon modifications to Flyer 2, and the two torpedoes and the point defense lasers from the Penumbra, finally managed to destroy all of the Kyrathian Fighter craft. . Suddenly, Tabby crossed two wrong wires and a major spark flew, along with a loud pop and a little puff of smoke. Tabby jumped hard, "Ahhh! Ow! Damn it! Okay, okay, I earned that, but ... damn!" He'd gotten a pretty serious burn that time, one that might need to be looked at. Cargo Bay & Sickbay: . The Penumbra's Cargo Bay was being used as a storage area for the rescued Kyrathian Eggs. They'd managed to retrieve 34 Eggs and got 3 Larvae as a sort of "bonus". The Larvae appeared to be ravenous and were actively seeking a way to feed.

. LtJG. Katarina Hawke, the Penumbra's Head Nurse had been assigned the task of coordinating the disposition of the Eggs. As a former Borg, she was protected by her Borg adaptive shielding from any attacks by the Larvae and from the corrosive Spores of the Kyrathian Plant. . The rest of her team, several Medical Technicians, and a couple of Engineering Technicians, were wearing the upgraded Biosuits, and there was a handful of Marines in their Combat Armor with Phaser Rifles distributed around the perimeter of the Bay. . Kat called out, "There are three wiggly larvae. Try not to let them out of containment or near you." Once she'd assured herself that everyone was safe and the Eggs and Larvae were secure, she turned and left the Cargo Bay, headed for Sickbay. She knew that she would be needed there to take care of any wounded from the fight. As she entered the turbolift, she hoped Shadow got back soon. . Once the turbolift had risen from Deck 11 to Deck 5 and deposited her near Sickbay, she broke into a jog, hoping any injuries sustained weren't too extensive. She'd heard they'd lost two of the Delta Flyers in the fight. That was four lives lost. Who knew how badly the others were hurt? . Arriving at Sickbay, she grabbed two Nurses and set to work on the injured Marines. She hoped again that Dr. K'Trevala would return soon! She called to one of the Nurses, "We need to stabilize them. Equalize the air pressure and normalize their breathing." She called to the ship's computer, "Computer, containment fields around all 6 bio beds." Immediately the containment fields sprang up around the beds. Then she adjusted the pressure within each of the containment fields to stabilize each Marine before their explosive decompression could do irreversible damage to them, and before they could start working on the minor damage that each had suffered. If she didn't stabilize them quickly, they could die!

. As she worked, the Away Team materialized in Transporter Room 1, having been beamed over by the Cerberus' system, since the Penumbra's transporters were offline. As soon as he'd materialized, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala received the psychic impressions of the emotions on the ship. He quickly saluted the Transporter Chief and hustled out the door, headed for Sickbay. He knew he had a LOT of work to do and a very short time to do it. . Kat was focused on the job at hand, not thinking about anything other than stabilizing the Marines. Not letting herself think that she might lose them if she miscalculated. Honestly, it was exhausting, but she ignored that. She played to her strengths, her Borg enhancements, quicker reflexes, enhanced eyes. She gave a breath of relief as she watched their vitals stabilize. Then she straightened and looked to the nurses. "All right, let's work on their injuries. It should be safe to lower the force fields now without losing any of them." Her voice was soft and showed her fatigue. She reached for a dermal regenerator and got right back to work. . Finally, Shadow came bursting into Sickbay. Quickly, he made the rounds, checking each pilot and gunner from Delta Flight for their status. Once he'd made a full round, he catalogued their injuries in his head and then went back to each in order of the extent of their injuries and began using his unique empathic healing abilities to supplement what Kat and the other Nurses had done to stabilize the flyboys. . Kat straightened as she received a telepathic message from her brother over their mutual Borg implant. He called, ~This goes wrong, I love you, Sissy.~ . She called back to him, ~Then you better make sure it doesn't go wrong, Bro, because if you die I'll bring you back and kill you myself, I love you, Bro.~ . Having spoken to her brother, Kat moved over to Shadow, "I've stabilized the pilots and gunners. We need to repair their injuries."

. Shadow nodded, and together they began working on the flyboys' injuries. The worked well together in companionable silence. Kat's Borg senses helping to discover any hidden or internal injuries and Shadow's empathic healing abilities restoring each Marine to a stable condition. . Kat was trying to stay focused on her work, even though she was torn between her focus and the thought of her brother doing something crazy enough that he'd tell her he loved her if things went south. She thought to herself, ~The Jerk better come back alive!~ She knew she still needed him. . Even while Kat assisted Shadow going through the Marines in order of severity of their injuries, the other Nurses tended to the other Marines with dermal regenerators or other devices to repair obvious damage and making sure they remained stable. . Shadow was using his special abilities to absorb most of the worst injuries. He was thankful for the skilled Nurses, including Kat, who had made his task much less work. In fact, he knew Kat's tremendous knowledge and skill in medicine had saved more than one life here today. Cerberus & Delta Flight: . The Cerberus held station alongside the Penumbra after they'd all rendezvoused at the designated coordinates. Other than waiting for the Slipstream to go through it's cool-down cycle, the Cerberus was at 100%, though a little crowded. It had been designed to handle five people aboard (or 7 in an emergency), and it was stuffed with a full complement of five people: Capt. Zak Taylor, Lt. Col. Travis Patterson, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, Lt. T'Lin, and Gny. Khal'Gon. . The Captain was tense. He would have been pacing but there simply wasn't enough room. Instead he sat, bouncing one leg nervously.

. Patterson was in the pilot's seat. He turned slightly and looked over his shoulder and said, "Whatever they've done to my ship, they better get her fixed quick." He paused only a moment before asking, "Captain, request permission to remain as escort." . "Agreed," he answered. "And I need to get back to MY ship." He tapped his commbadge, "Zak to the Penumbra, I'm ready to come home." . Relok's voice came back over the commlink, "We're a bit low on power, Captain. Transporters are offline." . "Damn!" Zak cursed. . T'Lin offered, "Penumbra, you can take power from Sickbay, the living quarters and the cafeteria. Any deck not being used can be taken down as well." . Relok answered, "We did that already just to get here, Lieutenant." . Then Zak lifted his head slightly and spoke to Patterson, "AEGIS can beam us over, right? Get him to send me, Shadow, TLin and Khal'Gon back home. You can stay here as escort until we get the Penumbra fixed." . But before Patterson could answer, the on-board Artificial Intelligence, AEGIS, said, "Warning. Kyrathian signatures on long-range scans. Six Fighter-Type, incoming at Warp velocity 4, ETA 4 minutes, 32 seconds." . Patterson nodded to answer Zak but said, "We've got incoming bogeys." . Zak cursed again, "Sheeeit! AEGIS, if you don't mind, send everybody but Patterson to the Penumbra. Pat, you need to engage those fighters. We'll scramble whatever we have left of Delta Flight as quick as we can." He tapped his commbadge, "Penumbra, we have incoming! The Fighters are in pursuit. Get some damn shields or get some warp drive, quick!" . Patterson nodded and barked out, "AEGIS, beam our passengers to the Penumbra and arm the WAR Drivers and pulse cannons." . Seconds later, everyone except Patterson dematerialized from the Cerberus and rematerialized aboard the Penumbra. With his passengers taken care of, Patterson cracked his neck and asked, "AEGIS?"

. The AI responded, "ETA 46 seconds." . Meanwhile, on the Penumbra, Hawke and Carter were quickly headed to the Hangar Bay to launch two of the three remaining Delta Flyers that were still flight-worthy. The third was being held in reserve. Hawke and Carter were in the turbolift as Hawke sent a telepathic message to his sister over their Borg connection, ~This goes wrong, I love you, Sissy.~ . Kat called back to him, ~Then you better make sure it doesn't go wrong, Bro, because if you die I'll bring you back and kill you myself, I love you, Bro.~ . In the turbolift, Carter removed his uniform jacket and tied it around his waist. "We keeping count, Den?" . Hawke smirked, "I suppose we could. Though the only count we really want is zero. Of them. So, I think I'll go with Legolas, you can be Gimli." Then his face straightened as he got serious for a moment. "I'm also sorry if that was condescending on the Bridge, about being able to handle both. As if I didn't need you. You can fly the hell out of a ship. We just need the numbers." . Carter ignored the apology and stepped up to Delta Flyer One. Hawke gave a brief nod and stepped over to Delta Flyer Two. As they prepared to enter their Flyers, Hawke said, "All right, let's bring the hurt, Commander." . Carter strapped into his seat, checked the controls and then opened the commlink, "Hawke, ready to burn?" . Hawke also quickly strapped in and ran through the controls. He replied to Carter's call, "Good to go, bypassing prelim checks."

. Near them, MstGny Derek Hines and Chief Warrant Sandoval had Delta Flyer Three prepped to assist as needed, but both of them, and their Flyer, were grounded except "for emergencies", due to having only just returned from the previous firefight. . Back on the Cerberus, Patterson kicked his tiny ship around to intentionally intercept the "phaser" fire from the six incoming Kyrathian Fighters. The Kyrathian Fighters were firing what certainly appeared to be phased plasma energy beam weapons, so technically they were "phasers", though they weren't like any phasers the Federation had encountered before. Like all Kyrathian technology, these beams were being produced by their Plant, somehow emitted and focused through crystallized secretions of Builder-class Kyrathian insectoids. These beams certainly packed a punch, and would likely burn through standard hull plating, but the ablative coating of the Cerberus' outer hull showed little more than a few scorch marks. Still, this was likely the first time anyone had seen the Cerberus actually hit by live fire (though they'd seen its shields deflect hits). . Patterson quickly countered with the Cerberus' pulse cannons, strafing along the flank of one of the Kyrathian Fighters but not causing enough damage to take it out ... yet. . About that time Deltas One and Two came hurtling out from the Penumbra's launch tubes, catapulted at very near full impulse speed. Carter on Delta One immediately tucked beneath the Penumbra, rolled, and entered the fight opposite the Cerberus. He gave a quick burst of phasers to draw fire and then opened a commlink, "Carter to Patterson. Hawke and I have your back with Flyer 1 and 2." . Hawke followed just behind Carter, ducking under and rolling to come up on Carter's left wing. He called over their open commlink, "Let's frak some Kyrathians up!"

. In response, the Kyrathian Fighters broke formation and accelerated to what was likely their maximum combat speed ... many on a collision course with the Penumbra! . Patterson grumbled under his breath as he locked onto the lead Fighter with his WAR Drivers, the high energy projectiles that launched at very near warp speed to pack an enormous force at impact. He launched a few rounds, ripping open the side of the Fighter craft. But there were still five more. He called to his companions, "Flyers, they're on collision course with the Penumbra. Hope they've got bigger ordnance than we do by now, or we won't have much of a ship to return to!" . Hawke had noted their trajectory as well. He called the Penumbra, "They're on a kamikaze run!" He banked sharply, strafing one of the Fighters before continuing over the open commlink, "More if you can!" He snatched the flight stick again in another direction, "Carter, I'm breaking, heading behind them." Unbeknownst to Carter or Patterson, or anyone else for that matter, as soon as he'd boarded Delta Two, he'd injected Borg nanites into the tiny ship, reconfiguring some of its systems to Borg specifications. He aimed his tiny craft to a point equidistant to three of the remaining five Fighters and opened fire at all three! One of the three he'd hit previously with his strafing attack. It exploded, but the other two, while damaged, survived the phaser blasts. This left four still coming at the Penumbra. . But then, the Penumbra came into the fight! A photon torpedo came flying through space and impacted one of the Fighters. It spun out of control and careened into another Fighter, with both exploding into a shower of sparks. But two still continued, hurtling on their collision course with the Penumbra.

. Carter was thinking fast while flying among the Fighters. Then he had an idea. He called over the commlink, "Tractor Beams! Hawke, lock onto my silhouette, 100 meters front, and engage a wide-band tractor beam! The field may actually destabilize the fighters between us long enough to guide them off-course!" . Hawke responded, "I'm already ahead of you! Let's flip roles and you do it while I fire on the three to distract them." . Carter noted that the Fighter craft were apparently on a suicide run, ignoring the Flyers and their phasers. "I don't think they care about us shooting, Hawke!" . But Hawke called back, "Of course they do, it hurts!" . But then Carter called, "Engaging siphoning field!" A thick band of energy, generated by the Tractor Beams of the two Delta Flyers in synchronization, leapt across space between them. Just as this siphoning field formed, the second torpedo came hurtling out from the Penumbra. . Between the siphoning field, the pounding of the Cerberus' WAR drivers, Hawke's Borg modifications to the weapons of Flyer 2, and the two torpedoes and the point defense lasers from the Penumbra, they finally managed to destroy all of the Kyrathian Fighter craft. . Hawke called from Flyer 2, "Well then, that worked also!"

@everyone A little late, but last week's Sim Narrative is posted!

USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202006.26 ANNOUNCEMENT: . We continue the plot idea of the Ivorez and saving the Wild Growth introduced by Lt. Tabeshk Tibris, though his direct guidance of the sim is beginning to diminish and Captain Taylor is taking over. This is effectively the seventh installment of Tabby's plot. Bridge: . The Penumbra was parked in interstellar space, recovering from its latest bout with Kyrathian Colony Ships and their Fighters. Everyone was finally back on board and they could try to start thinking about the next phase of their mission. . The ship was still under the command of Acting Captain Relok and Acting First Officer Jason Carter, since they hadn't had the chance yet to return command to Captain Zak Taylor or Lt. Col. Travis Patterson. . Zak had just made his way back to the Bridge from where he'd been assisting Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry in Main Engineering. As the turbolift doors slid open, he paused and called, "Permission to come aboard, Captain?" He did this because, technically, until he'd been restored to command, he would be considered a "visitor" aboard the Penumbra, and would have no access to the Bridge. . Relok looked up at the call, "Captain? Oh, yeah, right. Please, Mr. Taylor." . As Zak stepped out of the turbolift, Lt. Tabeshk Tibris stepped over to Relok, holding one hand in the other, "Uh, Relok," he began, "I need to go to Sickbay ... like, now." He presented his hand, "I got fried ... very badly." Sure enough, two fingers of his left hand were blackened. "Can't feel a damn thing in my fingers." . Relok looked up at the half-Klingon, "Granted. But get back here as quick as you can." . Zak moved down to relieve Tabby at the Operations Station. "I'll hold your station for you, Tabby."

. "Don't screw it up," Tabby said. "You may be Captain, but that's MY Ops, remember that, sir." He left for Sickbay, apparently very frustrated. . Down in the Hangar Bay, Patterson, Carter, and Hawke had disembarked from their various craft and secured them, turning them over to the maintenance teams for some much-needed repair and refit. Patterson glanced around, muttering, "Home sweet home." . Hawke gave a little stretch and he and Carter entered a turbolift headed for the Bridge. Patterson lingered a bit to supervise the care of the Cerberus (he was like that). . A few minutes later and the turbolift doors slid open onto the Bridge. Carter stepped out and said, "Outta my chair, Ensign Filler!" Filler quickly jumped up and moved over to one of the Auxiliary Stations as Carter slid into the seat. . Hawke stepped over and relived Khal'Gon at the Tactical Console. The big Nausicaan-Klingon Gunny stepped over to the Recon Station without a word. . Relok asked, "Um, where's Patterson? He ought to be back by now, right?" . Zak answered from the Ops Station, "You know Patterson, he's probably polishing the Cerberus before he leaves." . Relok mused, "Hmm ... he just might be doing that." . Hawke muttered, "If it were a woman he'd sleep with it." . Zak smirked, "Den, he probably has!" . Just as Hawke said this, the turbolift doors slid open and Patterson stood there. He said, "I heard that." . Zak ducked, "Oops, there he is!" . "And?" Hawke asked, as he pointed, "See?" . Relok glanced at Patterson, standing in the turbolift. "Come aboard, Mr. Patterson." Patterson stepped out of the turbolift and stepped to the center of the bridge, hands folded behind his back as he gazed at the main viewer. . Relok then asked, "Carter, can you dig up the coordinates of the Kyrathian Homeworld from the Maverick's old logs?"

. Carter skimmed through the archaic logs of the USS Maverick. He said, "Not an easy feat, I gotta admit, but I think I've got the coordinates, Relok." . Relok nodded then stood and said, "Mr. Carter, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Taylor, join me at the MSD please." . Carter raised an eyebrow as he stood and moved towards the aft portion of the Bridge. Zak stood and joined him and the four men stepped over near the Master Systems Display. . Relok spoke first, "Computer, recognize voice print Lt. Cmdr. Relok." . The Computer twittered and responded, "Voice print recognized. Lt. Cmdr. Relok, Acting Captain, USS Penumbra." . Relok nodded and then said, "Computer, transfer command codes from Acting Captain Relok and Acting First Officer Carter to Captain Zak Taylor and Lt. Col. Travis Patterson." . The Computer gave a buzz and said, "Command Code transfer requires consent of Acting First Officer." . Carter nodded and said, "Computer, recognize voice print, Lieutenant Commander Jason Carter." . Again, the Computer twittered and said, "Recognized Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, Acting First Officer, USS Penumbra." . Carter then said, "Transfer executive command codes, in concurrence with Lieutenant Commander Relok, to Captain Zak Taylor, and Lieutenant Colonel Travis Patterson." . The Computer beeped a couple of times and then said, "Command Codes transferred. USS Penumbra now under command of Captain Zak Taylor and First Officer Lt. Col. Travis Patterson." . Zak turned to Relok, "I relieve you, sir." . Relok saluted as he said, "I stand relieved."

. Zak returned the salute, then turned to Carter, "So, can you find the Kyrathian Homeworld or not? Why are we all just standing around?" . Tabby returned to the Bridge about that time, wrapping some electrical tap over the bandages on his fingers, as extra protection, just in case. He grabbed the flashlight he'd left near the Ops console as he crawled back under it, "Okay, Round Two," and began once more routing power through the system, but ... this time taking more care to test the wiring for which ones were live and which were dead! . Suddenly, Tabby barked out, "Ahh! No ... I saw that sparky-spark. Not gonna happen again, not today." He paused and then muttered, "Sometimes I hate my job." . Hearing him, Hawke responded, "I don't have anything to blow up and Security is doing rounds or helping with repairs where necessary." . Zak returned to his chair and settled himself into it. "Don't worry, Mr. Hawke. You should have gotten your exercise these last few hours." . Patterson quipped, "I'm gonna have to check the logs while we were away. Sounds like you all had fun!" . Zak remarked, "Yeah, we got to talk to a sentient plant and they have not one but TWO battles! (I was chatting with folks down in Engineering.)" . Carter smirked, nodding at Patterson then moving to the Helm, "I had the coordinates ready to go. Might take us a few days at best speed." He took his seat then adjusted himself a bit. . Suddenly Tabby cried from beneath the Ops/Helm console, "Ahh! Carter, watch those big feet of yours!" . Relok settled into the Primary Science Station, sighing as he did, "Ah, home." . Patterson moved to the XO's chair, then paused, surprised to see nobody had sat in it. He gestured at it and asked, "Not your cup of tea, Mr. Carter?" . Carter looked over his shoulder, seeing Patterson's expression and his unused chair. He said, "I'm a pilot, sir. Doesn't feel natural back there."

. From under the console Tabby continued working, muttering to himself, "Let's see here ... oh, yeah, that's dead and burnt to a crisp. Time for you to go." He tossed a burnt circuit board to the side. "That one is zappy-zap ... maybe it can connect ... uh ... there? Right? Lemme double check ... yeah ... please don't zap me again." . Then there was a call from Lt. T'Lin in the Cargo Bay with the Kyrathian Eggs and Larvae. "Captain, the larvae have a small amount of spores on them, not enough to contaminate the whole ship, but enough to be dangerous." . Zak tapped his commbadge and responded, "Well, that's reasonably good news, I guess. Do we have any way of knowing their condition? Are they Swarm yet? Any way to tell?" . She answered, "As far as I can tell, they have the same chemical make up as the Pure Kyrathians." . Relok added, "I couldn't be certain, sir, but I would assume that larvae are little more than 'toddlers'. I would think it unlikely they've developed any specific personality or traits." . T'Lin continued, "Getting them back to the Noble Mother as quickly as possible is our highest priority before they TURN Swarm." . Zak flinched, suddenly remembering, "Oh, crap! That's right! Carter, hold off on setting a course to the Kyrathian Homeworld! We have a delivery to make first." . Carter shook his head. "Did you arrange a rendezvous?" . Patterson smirked as he plugged his armPADD into the arm of the XO's chair to upload data files. Zak answered, "The Ivorez said they were returning to the Water World where we found the Noble Mother." He rubbed his forehead, "Sheesh, a few hours away from command and I forget what the heck I'm doing!"

. Tabby continued working and muttering, "More burnt wires. Get that crud outta there." Then he crawled out from underneath and logged into the station. Grinning he turned and announced, "Hey, look at that! Power distribution is at 85% now! It's the best I can do with my injury." He waved his bandaged hand. . Zak smiled. "Good work, Tabby. I was afraid you were taking a nap down there!" . "Nah," he answered, "not exactly my cup of tea. But that's the best I can do is get 85%. And no fire hazards or loose wires, might I add." He grinned proudly. . Relok mumbled, "Everyone is talking about cups of tea ... did I miss something?" . Hawke muttered back, "Yes, Relok. Everything, it seems." . Relok gave Hawke an icy glare but said nothing. Suddenly, another call came from T'Lin, "Relok, you will want to see this. I believe another egg is hatching." . Relok tapped his commbadge, "An egg is hatching?" He looked over at Zak, a pleading expression on his face. "Captain, permission to ..." . Zak grinned, "Just go, Relok! Hurry!" The Vulcan quickly jumped up and rushed to the turbolift headed for the Cargo Bay. . Tabby turned his chair to face the Captain and waved his bandaged hand. "Hey Captain, what do you think about my taped sleeve I rigged up on my bandages?" . Zak smiled at him, "Yes, Tabby, you got a boo-boo and put on a pretty band-aid. I guess you want a Purple Heart or something?" . Tabby scowled at him with a "Not in the mood" face and turned back to his station. . Patterson addressed the Helmsman, "Carter, set a course for the Class M water planet. Maximum Warp." . Carter nodded, setting the new course for their rendezvous. "Course set, sir." . Then Tabby said, his voice more serious, "Patterson, I'd take it easy on the Penumbra. Limit the amount of power usage. I did what I could but we are still damaged pretty roughly down there."

. Zak turned to look at Patterson, then tilted his head towards Tabby. "He's probably right." He turned back towards the Helm. "Carter, Warp 7 should be fine." . Carter answered, "Aye, sir, Warp 7." He punched it into his readouts and then said, "Well ... Warp 6 if we don't want to fry anything else." . Zak considered, "Hmm ... I guess Warp 6 will have to do." . The ship jumped to warp and flew for several minutes before Patterson leaned over to the Captain, "Sir, the Noble Mother hasn't made the rendezvous yet. I took the liberty of tagging their ship before we departed on the Cerberus." Cargo Bay: . Lt. T'Lin had taken charge of the thirty-four Kyrathian Eggs and three Larvae they'd beamed from the Nursery Moon into Cargo Bay One. They were being kept behind a containment force field to minimize any potential exposure to the Kyrathian Plant Spores, and to prevent the ravenous Larvae from attacking anyone! . She called the Bridge to make her report, "Captain, the larvae have a small amount of spores on them, not enough to contaminate the whole ship, but enough to be dangerous." . Zak's voice came back over the commlink, "Well, that's reasonably good news, I guess. Do we have any way of knowing their condition? Are they Swarm yet? Any way to tell?" . She answered, "As far as I can tell, they have the same chemical make up as the Pure Kyrathians." . She heard Relok's voice over the commlink as he added, "I couldn't be certain, sir, but I would assume that larvae are little more than 'toddlers'. I would think it unlikely they've developed any specific personality or traits." . T'Lin continued, "Getting them back to the Noble Mother as quickly as possible is our highest priority before they TURN Swarm." . She could hear the tension in the Captain's voice as he responded, "Oh, crap! That's right!" The commlink closed and T'Lin returned to scanning the Larvae and the Eggs.

. Suddenly, one of the eggs began shaking violently. T'Lin again tapped her commbadge, "Relok, you will want to see this. I believe another egg is hatching." . Relok responded, "An egg is hatching? Captain, permission to ..." . Zak's voice interrupted, "Just go, Relok! Hurry!" . A few moments later, Relok was entering the Cargo Bay where he quickly donned one of the protective BioSuits and rushed over next to T'Lin. The Egg changed from shaking to something like convulsions, ripples or waves passing through the shell. . "Look!" T'Lin pointed, growing excited almost to the point of giddy. . "Fascinating!" Relok gasped as he too watched with excitement. Suddenly he remembered and pulled out a tricorder to record the event. Then, he turned to T'Lin and asked, "Would this make us step-parents or god-parents? Or ... foster parents, perhaps?" . T'Lin turned to Relok, an almost horrified look on her face, coupled with profound confusion. "I ... I am not sure!" She considered for a moment and then said, "I am not familiar with those terms. Perhaps we would be Jo'Telk to them?" She used a Vulcan word specific to her own culture that meant "grandparent". . Relok recognized the roots of the word. "Jo'Telk? Past ... father? Your dialect is ...." . He was cut off as T'Lin grunted, "Huh?" as the Egg suddenly grew very still. . Relok noticed the irregularities on his own scanner. "Wait, something is wrong!" . T'Lin checked her own tricorder and said, "It is in distress. This is not right." She tapped her commbadge, "Shadow, can you contact the Mother? One of the eggs was going to hatch but it is in distress now." Sickbay: . Lt. Tabeshk Tibris left his Operations Console on the Bridge and went down to Sickbay cradling his burned hand.

. Dr. Shadow K'Trevala was taking some much-needed time off after the recent Away Mission and the mental strain of exposure to so many telepathic Kyrathians, and even the Head Nurse, LtJG. Katarina Hawke, was indisposed, taking a short break after overseeing the arrival of the Kyrathian Eggs and Larvae in Cargo Bay One. . But, there are always medical staff in Sickbay, and as Tabby entered, swearing up a storm, a helpful nurse approached to assess the problem. "Mr. Tibris," she said after examining the burned fingers, "You should know better than stick your fingers in a live circuit!" She quickly grabbed a dermal regenerator and started waving it over the injured fingers. . "I know, I know," Tabby grunted, "But I had to know if it worked. Apparently it did." . "Apparently so!" the nurse agreed. "Well, it looks much better now. How's it feel?" . "Feels like I just got super glued! But, it'll work right?" He wriggled his fingers just to check. . "Oh, that?" the nurse said. "It's just the burn gel. You can remove the bandage and wipe off the gel when you get back to your station, it should be fine by then." . "I still need to mess with the wires though," Tabby complained. "To clean out the dead ones mainly. Don't want a fire hazard, and somebody's gotta do it. Just so happens I'm the best qualified." He wriggled the bandaged fingers. "The irony." . With the nurse done, Tabby hopped off the biobed. He chuckled, "Heh, not bad for a half-breed! Anyway, thank you for the help. I'll get back to it." . As Tabby exited Sickbay, the Nurse muttered, "Wonder how long until he's back for something else?" . Tabby quickly made his way back to the Bridge and back to his beloved Ops.