Still Alive and Kicking

Posted on Mon Aug 25th, 2025 @ 4:32pm by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Lieutenant Commander Jack Slattery & Lieutenant Hadir Prenar & Lieutenant Brendan Dernah & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant Aelira Valan’thir & Lieutenant JG Ash Rowe & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse & Lieutenant Magnus Volsung & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson
Edited on on Thu Sep 11th, 2025 @ 12:25pm

5,090 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: A marathon not a sprint
Location: Deck 1- Observation lounge
Timeline: Md08 2000hrs

The adrenaline of the last few hours having long worn off Taliserra was slumped in a chair in the observation lounge, countless thoughts flowed through her head. How did the dead skull privateers know about the Marathon, why were they after the ship, who the masked man Dokken was.

"You look like you could use this Captain." Miranda called out as she approached with a mug of coffee.

"Thank you Miranda." Taliserra took the mug from her yeoman. "I bet most of the crew are running on this right now.

"I told Jessica to put something hearty on for the crew, they'll be needing it, wish I could order you to but make sure you get something." Miranda added knowing the Trills earing habits were all over the place especially when drama happened aboard ship.

Aeryn walked into the observation lounge, getting herself a caffeinated drink she took a seat grateful for the rest.

Hadir ducked his head as he stepped into the Observation Lounge. The events of the past day weighed heavily on his mind. To alleviate some of these thoughts he carried a long necked, spiraled, glass bottle filled with a think black liquid, along with a glass. To those in the know this was kanar, a synthahol version of it, but one that would do the trick nonetheless. He took a seat at the table and poured. The sip that followed was something he relished more than breathing in the moment.

A few minutes after Hadir arrived, Anthony followed with a yawn. He grabbed a Turkish-style coffee from the replicator before he made his way to his. Seeing Summer in the room again made him smile, and his yawning stopped as soon as the coffee passed his lips. "Well that's a quick way to warm yourself up."

O'Sullivan entered the observation lounge, his head buried in his padd. He had been cross-referencing the prisoners with known associates. He walked to the Replicator and ordered a cold glass of water. Furthermore, he didn't really pay much attention to the others as he took his seat. It was a cornucopia of a rogue's gallery, with a few of the prisoners. He still hadn't found a common link between most of them. He also needed to check the weaponry, build, make and origin. Looking up from his padd he noticed Hadir and made a mental note to make a few requests on his own, this would take days.

Ash Rowe entered the lounge already carrying a half-drunk cup of coffee. Her usual energy and vibrant manner was missing. Her concern for Summer was written across her features in the form of tense, hard lines.

The doors to the observation lounge hissed open again, and Dovenice Baka stepped inside with the posture of someone still running on residual momentum. She looked like she'd been on her feet for hours—because she had. Her uniform was wrinkled, collar uneven, and her normally pulled-back hair had begun to come loose from its pins, stray strands clinging to her temple. Fine soot streaked her sleeves and the side of one cheek. Her normally smooth, spotted skin bore faint smudges of carbon scoring.

Her eyes—large, grey, and sharp even through the exhaustion—swept the room automatically. She didn’t smile, not yet. She was still in engineering mode.

"Bridge duty was supposed to be my lighter shift," she muttered aloud to no one in particular, heading for the replicator and ordering a strong Altairian tea—unsweetened. She leaned on the console while it materialized, rubbing her eyes with the heel of one palm.

With drink in hand, she turned and finally acknowledged the room’s mood. Her features softened as she spotted familiar faces. She gave a nod toward Captain Tigran and the senior staff scattered throughout. “Just so you know, we’ve got impulse back to ninety-five percent efficiency, and the secondary coolant lines are holding—for now,” she added with a dry note. “If anyone smells burnt composite, it’s not you. It’s me.”

She took a seat near Ash and Aeryn, slowly, gingerly. It felt good to sit. Her feet needed the break. If she could've, she'd have kicked her boots off right then and there. While setting the tea down carefully, she noticed she wasn't in her typical spot at the table—but she wasn't going to move either.

A long breath escaped her lips as she rested her elbows on the table and finally let her guard down. “I don’t know who planned a chase sequence with pirates and then decided I should fix the consequences, but I want to formally object.”

She glanced around.

“Has anyone eaten something that wasn’t caffeinated yet?” Her stomach let out a growl loud enough for all in the room to hear. She winced and added, "I should have grabbed a sandwich too. Too late now—my feet are staging a mutiny."

"You're not the only hungry one, though I'm not going to complain about it, because I've spent the whole of that fight blind but comfortable. It is good to know that you are an Engineer of the quality of Captain Montgomery Scott and brought us back close to power levels, which will make the rest of the repairs go faster." Anthony smiled as his stomach let off and a competitive growl to Lt Baka's.

Baka blinked at him, slow and bleary-eyed, as if replaying his addition to the conversation in her head.

“Blind but comfortable?” she repeated, the words dragging with fatigue. “Is that like… metaphysical comfort? Or just a really good chair?”

She squinted over her tea, then added with a faint smile, “I’m too tired to know if that was a compliment or a cry for help.”

Anthony chuckled to himself and then said, "Scotty is a hero in Scotland; that was a compliment to your abilities as an engineer. As for comfort, I meant that a bridge chair is more comfortable than being on your feet all day.

Slattery and Volsung entered together, both in what sounded like a friendly but somewhat spirited discussion. Slattery shook his head, a small smile on his lips. "Nothing will ever convince me that an axe is better than a sword," he finished before he gave a nod to the Captain. He moved over and went to sit down without anything to drink.

Volsung got himself some water before he too took a seat, taking a slow and deep breath that betrayed how bone tired he felt.

Taliserra took a long sip of her coffee then licked her lips slightly. "Okay, lets go around the table. "Anthony, any sign of the Crocell or Lieutenant Wyse? analysis of his cloaking tech?"

"Nothing, Captain! As I said to Lt Baka, we're still working on getting the sensors working again." Anthony replied to his captain's request.

"Greetings and Salutationisms to you all. Pardon me for interrupting but I'm Lieutenant Brendan Dernah and I've just beamed over from the Tigris and I believe I'm slated to fill you vacant Ops post," Brendan said as he peered into the Observation Lounge at the assembled senior staff.

"Ship status?" Taliserra asked turning her attention to Lieutenants Rowe and Baka.

"Could have been worse," Ash shrugged slowly as she tried to gather some optimism, but struggled. "Repairs are already underway both here and on the Marathon. Looks like we'd be safe to go to warp so long as we don't go higher than factor 5, but the Marathon is another story. Their engines took more punishment than ours...not helped by a full scale riot breaking out in their engineering...they're not going anywhere for the next couple of hours..." she looked across to Baka for confirmation.

Baka gave a faint snort at Ash’s comment, then exhaled and straightened in her seat, setting her tea down with a clink of ceramic on glass. The tiredness still clung to her features, but it was tempered now by the steel of focus that had seen her through the last few hours of chaos.

“Confirmed,” she said, her voice weary from exhaustion and effort. “Marathon’s engineering is a mess. They’ll be lucky to have auxiliary back online by the time we’re ready to go.”

She paused, tapping a few notes on the PADD in front of her before continuing.

“As for the Wolff…” Baka’s tone shifted, more precise. “The primary shield grid is toast—completely fried during the second barrage. We were able to stabilize using emergency emitters, but they’re running on borrowed time. I had to cannibalize secondary power from non-essential systems—holodecks, environmental luxuries, even some internal lighting—to prop them up. That got us back to eight percent.”

A glance toward Taliserra, then back to the group.

“I used auxiliary warp power to force-feed the emitter grid. Risky as hell, but it worked—for now. Any more strain and we could see feedback surges across the structural integrity network. I’ve got my people reinforcing key nodes and isolating redundant relays to keep the core from overloading.”

She leaned back slightly, rubbing the bridge of her nose, accidentally clearing a streak of soot.

“Propulsion is stable within limited parameters. Warp five max until I can get in and replace the burnt-out relays near the port EPS grid. Portside impulse is sluggish, but functional. Structural damage on decks eleven through thirteen—localized breaches sealed, damage control teams already on rotation.”

She paused, looking over her notes.

“No sign of successful system intrusion yet, but we’re not taking chances. I’ve locked down external comm protocols, firewalled primary ops, and put the whole damn core on an encrypted isolation loop until I can finish the security diagnostic. If Dokken did leave us a digital souvenir, it’s going to be buried deep.”

Her tone grew harder.

“I don’t like being compromised. If someone was inside our systems, I want to know how, and I want to know now. I’ve got a forensics team on it.”
She reached for her tea again but didn’t drink—just held it, fingers wrapped tight and absorbing the heat from the cup.

“We’re flying, we’re breathing, and the ship is still ours. That’s the best I can give you right now, Captain.”

Slattery looked over at Taliserra at the words, giving a small nod. It was a lot to go through and he could tell that Baka felt strongly about this. His own thoughts reflected that some things would be as they were, but he liked the idea of finding the weakness in the ship's computer system.

Taliserra gave a small smile, the Wolff had survived and that was enough for her, as expected the Marathon had come out of the engagement in much worse condition even though the attack had been aimed at capturing the vessel. "Keep working with the engineering teams from the London, get the Marathon's engines up and running again." She took a sip of her coffee before turning to the three security officers present at the debriefing but addressed no one in particular. "Security?"

Hadir turned to face the Captain. "There are no signs of any physical intrusion into the ship. However the prospect is still there. I am going to assign Lieutenant O'Sullivan to assist in the investigation. I would also recommend that we digitally follow the enemy as best as we can."

Anthony smiled and cleared his throat, and then said, "Which means we need to get the sensors working as soon as possible and then break through whatever sensor-dampening effect that ship is running, and I repeat, am still technically blinder than a bat because at least a bat has echolocation to see at night."

O'Sullivan looked up from his padd. " Well past two hours I have been researching our guests, mainly guns for hire.. following them I think a waste of time. But I need a day or two hunting down that avenue. " he looked around shook his head and then placed a disruptor on the table.

"I think our best bet is to research the weapons they used which usually leads to a nice trail of several producers, arms dealers etc. Which will take a week or two at least, but usually it gives you more information. Because why sell a disruptor when you can sell a deflector array or shield emitter. Which will bring me closer to a transponder code for their ship or energy signature. It's research work and having the right connections so I think I need some help. I got the link up at SFI and some sources I will keep to myself, but the more resources and knowledge the merrier. " He bit his lip. " So good old detective work. I'm a bit rusty, but I have closed a few cases in my time. "

"How does any of this help us get Summer back?" Ash asked with simmering frustration born from worry. She pressed a fingertip onto the table for emphasis before sitting back. "She's a vulnerable officer, we need to find her."

Anthony smiled at Ash, "I agree Ash, Summer is at the moment very vulnerable, officer, but at this time until we get the sensors working there is very little to do. Something seems different with this pirate. I can't put my finger on it, except to say we have nothing on that ship, I couldn't get a read on that ship, now admittedly, Science sensors were just about blind before that ship arrived, and I have the feeling that rather that just taking Summer it could have ended us all." He knew that ended on a problem more than an uplift, but science was science, and often hard facts, while painful, were more easily taken in.

"The London and Tigris have been searching for any sign of the ship and Summer, Dokken took her for a reason even if it's just to send a message, he seems very interested in sending us a message." Taliserra replied, then turned to a potential bearer of even more bad news. "Lieutenant Jameson, casualty report?"

Aeryn looked across at Taliserra. “We were lucky Captain, a few serious injuries but apart from that mostly minor I’m glad to say. The medical staff worked admirably under pressure in my opinion.”

A gentle rustle of fabric preceded the soft footfalls as the doors opened again, and Lieutenant Aelira Valan’thir entered the observation lounge. There was a calm, unhurried grace to her movements, the subtle flow of her teal-trimmed coat marking her as medical — but unlike the clipped steps of someone rushing to report, Aelira’s presence was centered, intentional.

She carried a slim PADD in one hand, the other loosely at her side, her expression composed but kind as her dark eyes swept over the room and its worn officers. “Apologies for the delay,” she said quietly, her voice warm and melodic, “I remained in Sickbay until the last of the stabilisations were complete.”

Glancing toward Taliserra and then Aeryn, she inclined her head. “Lieutenant Jameson has already given a precise summary of our situation. I only wished to add — the wounded are stable. We’ve cleared triage, and we are past the danger window.” Her eyes flicked toward Summer momentarily, her expression gentling. “Including those recently returned to us.”

She didn’t elaborate — not yet — instead offering the PADD toward the Captain. “I’ve included projected recovery times and resource requirements. I’ll remain available for further evaluations as needed. And...” Her voice lowered slightly, tinged with sincere gravity. “Should any officer require more than physical tending — my door remains open.”

Then, just as quietly, she stepped aside, not imposing herself at the table but taking a seat near the end, folding her hands in her lap and allowing the conversation to flow forward.

Volsung watched them all, hands folded on the table. He thought of Zize, of her face and her light hearted laugh hiding the seriousness she took her role. And then he said it. "We lost Petty Officer Kayra Smith and Petty Officer Jaarre Zize on the Marathon," he said, his voice steady but carrying a weight that was hard to ignore. Names to go with it. Acknowledged loss.

Slattery looked at him before he gave a nod, his features still. Not cold, but reflective. "I'll deal with notifying their families," he said quietly, glancing at Taliserra. He'd let her approve with what he sent, but someone had to sort out the communication. It was part of the duties of the XO to make it as smooth as possible.

O'Sullivan looked at Volsung then back at Slattery.... He didn't hear about Smith and Zize. Hemade a small note on his padd.

"How is Ensign Turell?" Taliserra asked, she'd heard that the woman; a long standing member of the Wolff's security team had been critically injured in the fighting and had been transported to the Wolff's sickbay earlier.

Aeryn checked her PaDD. “Ensign Turell’s injuries were severe, The internal bleeding has been stopped, breaks and fractures healed and most of her muscle damage has been seen to thanks to Ensign Arundel. “There are still minor injuries but she’s recovering slowly.”

"That's good to know." Taliserra flashed a small smile, she took a small sip of her coffee and was about to speak again when the speakers of the observation room came to life.

=/\= Bridge to Observation lounge =/\= Came the voice of Lieutenant Binea.

=/\= Go ahead Bridge =/\= Taliserra replied.

=/\= We're being hailed by the London =/\=

=/\= Put them through =/\=

=/\= Good news Captain, we have your missing officer, there's evidence of sedatives in her system but otherwise she's ok. She's itching to talk to you though. =/\=

Anthony thought, and thankfully, he did, occasionally, he had a nervous reaction to stress. This situation was often exactly what set it off, and with an open channel to the Bridge of the Kizlite in the observation lounge, it was not the time for that. "I, for one, am glad she's okay."

O'Sullivan nodded in agreement. Still holding his padd.

Ash held her breath tightly in her chest, both to stop from demanding more information on Summer's wellbeing, and to stop herself from getting out of her chair in her eagerness to get her back home.

Magnus closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled. Slowly. Offered a quick prayer of thanks.

=/\= I'm debriefing my staff in our observation lounge, beam her straight to here. =/\=

=/\= She's on her way, Kizlite out =/\=

Moments later Summer materialised in the briefing room her smile and relieved sigh saying it all as she looked towards Taliserra. “It’s good to be back Captain, but we need to talk.”

"Lieutenant Wyse, I would like a word with you as soon as possible. You might have heard, smelt, seen something which would further the Security investigation into your abductor. Sorry, it comes with the job to jump on these things quickly, due to stuff fouling up the average humanoid memory." O'Sullivan said as he looked at her faking a small smile, but he did feel uncomfortable asking it. Normally it would be a Security officer and a Counselor asking questions about an abduction in this case the abductee was the counselor.

“I understand” Summer nodded. “I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have.”

Taliserra looked over first at Michael then at Summer. the security officer was a little out of line but he was right too, the sooner she was debriefed the better. "We are all ears Summer, tell us everything you can."

Summer nodded. "He told me that you need to stop Tikhar Mahan at all costs, failure to do so would be detrimental to the Federation, and the entire galaxy as we know it.” She paused. “Dokken may seem loyal to them Captain, but he’s just doing what he has to do. As for your so called gift it was a Tal’shiar spy known to you as Commander Radak, though from Dokken’s response Radak is no longer around to worry about anymore.”

Aelira, seated quietly but attentive, let the ripple of tension settle before speaking. “Psychological manipulation often thrives on fear and urgency,” she said calmly, her voice not challenging, but framing. “It’s important we hold space for what Summer experienced — and also allow ourselves time to verify what’s truth, and what might have been seeded for effect.”
She gave Summer a steady look, offering reassurance without undercutting her. “That doesn’t diminish your experience, Lieutenant. Only reminds us that trauma is as much about confusion as it is clarity.”

Volsung stood. Glanced at Summer before he moved to the replicator. He replicated tea for Summer. Sweetened, to help with the shock. He carried it over and put it in front of her without a word before taking his seat again.

Summer offered Magnus a warm smile, she hadn’t even bothered taking a seat before making her report. Taking one now she picked up her tea, with somewhat shaky hands, before cupping it in both and sipping it. She was running on pure adrenaline, but now she was back that adrenaline rush was wearing off.

Aeryn had taken notice offering Summer a warm smile. “Lieutenant I think a trip to Sickbay for a full check-up is in order. I’ve no doubt you’ve already been looked over once when you were picked up, but I like to be thorough.”

Summer nodded. “I’ll head there as soon as the briefing is over I promise.” She offered a smile as she relaxed back in her seat sipping more of her tea.

Anthony was shocked by what Lt. Wyse had said, right at first, when the words came out about Commander Radak. He had been the Chief Science Officer on the Wolff when Radak came aboard. He knew not to trust what the Dead Skull Privateers said either. But the more he thought about it, the more it became clear that Radak, being a Romulan spy, actually covered many of the Vulcan inconsistencies that would occasionally arise. "Captain, by not being there when Lt. Wyse spoke with Dokken, I obviously can't attest to it, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that through the observation, that is a scientist's occupational expectation, it makes more and more sense that Commander Radak wasn't as Vulcan as he portrayed."

Summer put down her tea and looked towards Taliserra. “In the time he was aboard Radak had access to whatever Intel he needed, Dokken said if I didn’t convince you the outcome would be catastrophic.”

O'Sullivan kept quiet and just made a few notes. He had no idea who Radak was or understood the whole picture yet. Now he was just filling in a few blanks and adding to the case file.

Summer paused sipping. “Actually I need to re-phrase that, he said you need to stop the Tikhar Mahan at all costs, failure to do so would be detrimental to more than just the Federation. It would put the entire galaxy at risk"

There was a name that Anthony had heard before today. He knew the Doctor as Lt Wyse's official department head, though she had only recently arrived and hadn't yet met Lt Wyse before today, and LT Commander Slattery and the Captain were where this question should come from one of them. He looked at the Captain to see if she was okay with him asking.

Looking Lt Wyse in the eyes with a smile on his face, "Lt Wyse, do you have any information of who this Tikhar Mahan is or how we can find them, because I certainly don't have a clue?"

Summer shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t. All I remember is Dokken saying that the Wolff and the Captain were a thorn in the side of Tikhar Mahan, I think he is Dokken’s boss, of sorts, at least until Dokken gets the chance he needs to act. Whether that would be good or bad for us I’m not sure.”

"He is," Taliserra announced. "Or at least seems to be, according to fleet intel Tikhar Mahan is the one currently contracting the dead skull privateers. All the recent attacks have been at his instruction. The Apollo..." She paused realising several of the assembled officers weren't there at the first encounter with the privateers. "A transport ship they attacked several months ago, the Kappa-4 research station and now this attack on the Marathon, probably several more attacks we've not been informed about."

"That puts him squarely in our business as well Captain, because I suspect all our encounters were at his behest. Including the ambush we were caught in." Anthony said, now slightly less confused by who Tikhar Mahan was. "Do we have species data on them at least? We can assume because they are hiring the dead skull privateers, he or whoever he is working for is well off."

"Starfleet intel do have him under investigation, he runs a crime family on Saelon 2 and seems to have taken over pretty much the entire planets organised crime. They're not 100?rtain he is currently contracting the privateers but is does appear to be the case." Taliserra paused for a moment. "We have free reign of stop the privateers activities but going after Tikhar himself is off limits for the time being."

Jack frowned slightly as he listened and looked at Taliserra. "Is that our...mission now, Captain? Going after the privateers in this sector? Excluding Tikhar."

"Perhaps, after we destroyed a supply post of there's I'd hoped that'd be it but they seem to have recovered quickly." Taliserra replied. "For now our job is still to accompany the Marathon to Dakala, as soon as both ships are capable of safely travelling at warp speed we'll resume course."

Slattery nodded, looking at her for a moment before he sat back. He was glad that at least that part wasn't changing...because the Marathon needed to get to its destination.

At the far end of the table, Aelira sat with her hands gently folded, silent amid the churn of voices and decisions. She hadn’t spoken — not out of disinterest, but because there was nothing yet that called for her voice.

Still, she listened. Not just to the words, but to the cadence of breathing, the tension behind certain tones, the weariness tucked beneath carefully chosen phrases. These things mattered too.

Her gaze lingered briefly on Summer — not assessing, just… attuned. The kind of attention born of a healer who didn’t need to ask what hurt in order to feel it.

Then, her eyes found Taliserra.

Aelira watched the way the Captain carried the weight. Not as a burden, but as a responsibility — tight across her shoulders, even when she tried to relax. She thought of the old Toan’ta parables, the ones that said true leadership wasn’t loud — it was weathering, it was knowing when not to yield even as the winds howled. In Taliserra, she saw that shape: a woman bent by care, but not broken by it.

She let her breath slow. The room held threads of grief, anger, uncertainty — and she held them too, quietly. Not to solve, but to carry, as her people did. Until it was time.

Brendan looked over to the Captain and then across the room. Trying to glean anything from their faces as to the current stress levels of the crew, but then he noticed something when he looked at Lieutenant Summer Wyse. She looked haggered and damaged, in the psychological sense. He could feel her anguish without using his Betazoid abilities. He then discerned that this crew was totally stressed and even a little less than at their best. But he was very much looking forward to becoming a member of their crew.

Taliserra looked at her assembled officers. "I can't make the assumption this Dokken won't make another attempt on us, we still have another 4 days travel time to Dakala, that's if the Marathon can make its full speed, which is unlikely." She paused to sip the coffee that was lukewarm at best. "I'm going to ask Captain Nagano aboard the Tigris to accompany us for at least the next dozen light years, that should deter him from making another attempt. For now focus on the repairs to us and the Marathon priority is getting us underway again." She stopped again reaching forwards to grab one of the many Padds on the table. "Any questions?"

"Captain, I assume that you'll need everyone working on the sensors, correct? If so, I can have a team down to sensor control as soon as the meeting us over," Brendan said with a genuine will to help his new shipmates.

Aelira offered a subtle shake of her head at the Captain’s question, indicating she had no queries to raise. Her eyes remained steady on Taliserra for a moment longer than most — not with urgency, but with quiet intent.

Once the murmurs of final acknowledgements began to ripple through the room, Aelira leaned in just slightly, her voice low and even, meant only for the Captain’s ear. “When you have a moment after this, Captain, I’d like a brief word — nothing urgent.”

She didn’t press the matter, simply gave a small nod and leaned back once more, her presence returning to stillness.

Taliserra nodded slightly. "Come to the ready room after we're finished here."

Aelira nodded lightly, "Yes, captain." she said.

"Thank you everyone, keep up the good work and keep an eye on your staff." Taliserra looked across the wide expansive table full of her senior officers. "Dismissed."

"Lieutenant Wyse, could you stay here for a few minutes." O"Sullivan whispered to her as other people where leaving. He needed to ask her a few questions.

“Of course” Summer offered a smile as she looked towards O’Sullivan.

OFF:



Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Jack Slattery
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Brendan Dernah
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant JG Ash Rowe
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant Edwards
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Hadir Prenar
Chief Sec/Tac Officer

Lieutenant JG Michael O'Sullivan
Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Aelira Valan'thir
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Jg Summer Syse
Chief Counsellor

Lieutenant Jg Aeryn Jameson
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
[Pnpc Wyse]

Lieutenant Mangus Volsung
Assistant Chief Sec/Tac
[Pnpc Slattery]

 

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