Evacuation

Posted on 22 Mar 2017 @ 2:43am by Commander Thiago Teixeira & Master Warrant Officer Karyna Fordyce & Chief Petty Officer Tarsa Rogers & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Avery Stuart Ph.D. & Lieutenant Jarith Roshe & Lieutenant JG Felix Langston & Lieutenant JG Dean Winchester & Lieutenant Hannibal Owens & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D. & Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper & Lieutenant JG Ian Beckett & Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael & Lieutenant JG Daniella Blake & Ensign Kelly Khan & Lieutenant JG Shay Mitchell & Ensign Quinn Mackie & Ensign Aidan Crehan & Ensign Elisha Cherno

6,192 words; about a 31 minute read

Mission: Endgame
Location: Various, USS Black Hawk
Timeline: MD17 || 1040 hours

The last hit knocked out every primary system. Emergency lighting remained functional in only select places, though it amounted to less than a quarter of the ship. Fires had broken out everywhere. The ship and crew had fought valiantly, but luck had run out.

In the midst of the darkened chaos and wonder, the internal comm system crackled to life.

=/\= "Teixeira to all hands. Abandon ship." =/\=

Sirens began to sound. Time was of the essence if anyone was to live past the next five minutes.

***

===Medical===

The ship jolted violently, threatening to knock the large man to the ground. Something wasn't right, and that something was confirmed when primary systems were knocked offline and replaced with emergency lighting. It wasn't until Lucas heard the comm system crackle followed by the ship's Executive Officer ordering all hands to abandon ship. What he thought was nothing more than an average day for the ship and her crew turns out to be something dire.

The giant of a man had no idea what was going on outside of Medical, but for an order like that to come through... it was serious... and time was something they wouldn't likely have a lot of.

Lucas sprang into action, looking over all the heads present until he spotted the one he was looking for. While he'd quickly formulated a plan in his mind, it was up to Doctor Kij to execute it as the Chief Medical Officer. He wove his way through the throng of people until he was standing in front of the Trill woman. "Doctor Kij... there's no way we're going to be able to get everyone to the the runabouts or lifeboats in time. We need to do a mass transport evac of sickbay straight to the planet. It's the only chance we all have of making it," he said, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt. Of course, he was failing miserably at it. "With your authority, I can get someone to an evacuation transporter and start the process." The ship had two, which meant forty-four individuals could be transported safely every thirty seconds, and given the number of people in sickbay presently, they'd have the department evacuated in roughly two and a half minutes.

Jayla's heart leaped into her throat. The man she had just condemned to death could be saved! They could take him to a medical facility on New Bajor where there would be more doctors than wounded. He didn't have to die!

This, of course, didn't make having already decided his fate any easier and the realization that she'd had to actually make that decision made her heart fall again. She didn't like this power. She didn't like being able to decide who would live and who would die. It made her wonder if she was really capable of being the Chief Medical Officer after all.

"Do it," she finally replied. "Get us as close to a medical facility as possible. Take all wounded, leave any dead, but get their com-badges. Everyone, prepare all patients for transport. Those who can walk on your own, please proceed to the evacuation transporters. Nurses, medics, prepare those who cannot walk on hover gurneys and let's get out of here, quick!" With that, she hurried to help the ones who were in the worst shape.

T'Lura moved quickly and efficiently. She placed statis field generators on the gurneys of those patients who were in critical condition, activated the antigrav lifts on the gurneys, and prepared to move the patients to the evacuation points. She grabbed fresh and fully stocked medical kits from the dispensory, and dropped them on an unoccupied gurney, which she also moved to the evacuation point.

Meanwhile, Dani was in full blown panic mode, though she kept her outward demeanor as calm as she possibly could. Those who could get up and move, while still injured, were running for the door to abandon ship as ordered. Those who couldn't would have to rely on her and the other medical personnel to get them to safety, which seemed like a much larger feat than any of them could pull off. There just weren't enough of them to make it happen safely. And now, she found herself hoping a plan was in the works.

Like everyone else, Avery didn't allow herself to think about the people they wouldn't be able to save, she just focused on each person in her path. Since she'd arrived on the Black Hawk, she'd been through several battles, and even so, the experience of treating the wounded always felt different every time. Still, as anxious as she had been all of those previous times, the adrenaline coursing through her body making her more alert, nothing compared to this experience. As hard as she worked to keep the panic away, it rolled over her like a wave. Stuart refused to give in, even as she tried to steady her shaking hands.

Lucas began aiding patients that couldn't move on their own as he tapped his combadge. =^=Abrams to Burke... we're ready to start evacuating sickbay as soon as possible.=^=

"Stand by," replied Burke.

Lieutenant Jarith Roshe had been collecting the Commbadges of the dead and fatally wounded when he came upon Darill. He didn't know if they could save him or not, but be damned if he wouldn't try. Sliding him onto a gourney, Jarith placed it at one of the evacuation points. That was the best he could do.

Hannibal Owens rushed along the rest of the medical personnel, helping an injured patient by carrying him over his shoulder. Hannibal's training kicked in as the man over his shoulder hung limply; he focused on keeping the patients and medical personnel moving down the corridor. Just keep moving, he thought, just keep moving.

===Deck Two/Flight Deck===

Senior Chief Petty Officer Mila Rasputin struggled to get into the Captain's Quarters as the Black Hawk took another hit. Finally, she was able to key in the correct authorization code and gave a sharp whistle. "Rico! Pequeno! Come!" she said, but the little puppy was already at the door wagging his tail like crazy. Rico, on the hand, was ready to bolt out the door to find his mistress, but Mila managed to get one hand on his collar before he escaped completely. "Nyet! You are to be coming with me!" she said.

With Chow on her shoulder hooting and creeling, she scooped up the bundle of black fur that was Pequeno and headed for the flight deck. It was rough going and she stumbled out of the turbolift and looked around just as the order to abandon ship was given and the sirens went off. There were people everywhere packing themselves into the shuttles and runabouts and she struggled to find Aidan. Finally, she tapped her combadge. =^=Aidan! I am being on flight deck. Be getting here now!=^= She yelled over the noise as she headed for a shuttle with her three charges.

Abandon ship. This would be a Cadet Cruise for the history books. When Aidan's combadge chirped, he was surprised to hear that it was Mila. If anything, he expected the Science Chief. The labs were pretty well destroyed as were many of the things that everyone was working on. His job as of recent was to simply stay alive. He tapped his combadge in reply, =^=Understood, Mila! I will meet you there!=^= He rushed back into the lab to check the last person. Dead. There was no time for the El Aurian to shake his head or even think. He quickly turned and headed to the flight deck as Mila had told him.

The minutes that passed seemed like hours as he had made his way to the flight deck, bruised and somewhat bloody. "Mila!" he screamed into the crowd of panicking people. "Mila! Where are you?!" He started waving his hands above his head, just in case.

The Russian Yeoman heard the voice, but didn't see him; however she felt a tug on her ear and turned to see Chow pulling on it and pointing to where Aidan was. "Over here!" she called while Chow jumped up in the air and gave a hoot.

Aidan looked over to where he heard the sound of a Russian accent. He could see Chow hopping up and down. Pushing through the crowd, Aidan made his way to Mila. Even in the midst of the commotion, he stopped to kiss her. "I am glad I found you," he said, looking at her. She looked a little worse for wear, but so did everyone at this point. "Now," he said, reaching to take the largest of the dogs off the hands of his petite girlfriend, "let's get aboard."

Mila returned the kiss quickly and smiled gratefully at him. "Da," she said as she moved for the shuttle and boarded. "Let us blow this dog and pony show as they are saying for some strange reason."

Even in the midst of complete and utter chaos, he found himself smiling at her accent and usage of human colloquialisms. "Indeed," he said, "And that is one that I will never understand." He boarded behind her and took a seat next to her. He looked down at Rico, told him to sit, and then nodded. "Very obedient."

Mila strapped herself in and adjusted Pequeno on her lap and Chow on her shoulder as the shuttle powered up. "It is being eleven years of service and this is first ship I have been on to give order," she said quietly. "I am hoping to never hear that again."

He patted her knee and left his hand laying there, comforting. "It is the first ship I have been on that has been ordered, but not the first to be destroyed. The ship becomes your home. Losing it isn't something that you easily get over. You simply learn how to better deal with it. But this time, we have each other to lean on for that." He looked over at his war torn, brown haired, hazel eyed girl and smiled.

Mila thought of the ship that he and the other surviving El Aurians had been on and the plaque that she had made for him of it. A frown crossed her lips and she unconsciously brought a hand up to rub gently at her throat where Jackson had wrapped his hands around her neck. "Da, it does," she said. "Now to make it safely somewhere."

He noticed her rubbing her throat, but put it in the back of his mind for the moment. Right now, they were about to leave their home and have it go down. Aidan patted Rico on the head and looked over to Mila. "Indeed, someplace. I don't expect there's too much left down there after a battle such as this. But hopefully it will also be someplace safe."

Mila took a moment to calm the whimpering puppy in her lap before Chow jumped down in her lap to begin petting and grooming Pequeno while hooting softly. "I am not knowing, but there has to be something there," she said. "Is being a very big planet."

"That it is. And lots of places this shuttle could land." He moved his arm from her knee and put it around her shoulders. "We will be okay," he said, hugging her close. "Plus, we have an advantage...a monkey that can climb trees and see which way to go and a trained Security K9 that can sniff his way around."

"Da, he is good K9, but he is only listening to commands of Joey," Mila said. "As for Chow, I am thinking that he may get taste of wild and leave, so he is to be staying with us as well."

"Oh, you have a good point, then, in keeping them close by," said Aidan. "Either way, we'll find where we need to be." Aidan snuggled as close to Mila as he could in the cramped shuttle. "We will make it, sweetheart," he whispered.

Once the shuttle was full, the pilot took them out of the shaking, critically damaged ship and headed for New Bajor while evading the chaos that was outside of it.

===Flight Deck===

I'm cursed Ensign Kelly Khan thought when she heard the call to abandon ship. While the Chimera had a broken back and couldn't be left for potential enemies to be scavenged which led to the auto destruct being set, the Tigris had been used to create a warp core breach to seal the rift leading to the alternate universe, but now the Black Hawk was in danger. I'm just on my senior cruise! Stop it! she shouted at the galaxy that seemed determined to undermine her career goals.

She wanted to run in a dozen different directions to save a dozen different people, but she had no idea where any of them were, including her boyfriend Quinn. She decided the best place to be would be on a runabout and headed for the flight deck only to find it full of people scrambling for transportation. "Clear the way!" the diminutive brunette yelled as she bulled her way through the bodies. "I'm a pilot! Clear the way!"

It seemed like an eternity, but somehow, Kelly found herself at the helm of the Mississippi and powered the Danube class runabout up. It already had twenty people in it, but she knew it could hold nineteen more and she wanted to make sure that no more than eighteen got onboard. It was selfish of her, but she had to get Quinn onboard before the ship went down.

Shay was already inside the runabout, watching as Kelly settled at the helm. It was nice to see a familiar face, but all the could seem to focus on at the moment was... what would happen to them next? They were about to fly out into a war zone, but staying on the ship would be even worse. While there was a slim chance of surviving, she didn't plan to take it.

She'd practically run to her quarters to get her beloved cat that seemed to spook people with his appearance, but he was her world out here in space. Shay wasn't leaving him behind. So now, along with the others settled inside with her, it was about to become a journey into the unknown.

Once the Tigris neared its capacity, she sealed the door and took the runabout out and away from the Black Hawk and into hell. There were ships and debris everywhere, not to mention the phaser fire filling almost every area of space and it was all she could do as a pilot to avoid it all as she tapped her combadge. =^=Khan to Mackie. Prepare for transport!=^=

When she didn't get a reason, Kelly tried to reach Quinn once more as she veered away from a Dominion battleship that was going after a squad of Javelins.

===Computer Control===

Quinn slowly opened his eyes, suddenly coughing. Where am I? he wondered as he tried to move.

Very quickly, he learned that he was pinned to the floor. As his vision returned, the only illumination from the room came from a few fires that had broken out. A morbid ring dominated his hearing as his other senses returned. Quinn lifted his head to learn that the reason he couldn't move was due to the master console falling on him.

Crewman th'Daze! Quinn's mind shouted, wondering about the status of the individual who accompanied him to inspect and stabilize the damage done to the computer by a brig escapee. Groggily, he turned to see the Andoran laying beside him. His eyes were open, but no life could be seen behind them.

Barely hearing Kelly's voice from his combadge, Quinn tried to move his arms, finding that they too were pinned. He could make out the evacuation alarms now. "Kelly," he whispered. "I'm... I'm sorry."

Quinn laid his head back as tears welled up behind closed eyelids. He couldn't reach his badge. He couldn't call for help. He did not like that this was how he was going to die. At least fate could have waited until he was an Ensign.

The cadet began to sob, trying to focus on memories until the end. The Bajoran holoprogram, kayaking on New Risa, even the massage in his quarters.

"Cadet!" shouted a voice as a couple slaps hit his face.

Quinn's eyes opened, only to be met with blinding light, amplified by his wet eyes. The room was different, not the computer control room he had resigned to die in. It was a transporter room, a design that was clearly not the Black Hawk's. Could it be? Had someone found him?

"You'll be fine, kid," said the nurse as she and a yellow-collared Deltan, one Petty Officer Jonas, lifted Quinn onto a stretcher. "You're safe on the Cochrane now."

=^=Quinn!=^= came from his combadge again, the voice of Kelly almost frantic. =^=Answer me!=^=

Quinn wanted to answer the call, but he found himself emotionally overwhelmed. His brush with death was too much for him to reach up to the badge.

The nurse, however, tapped it for him. "Cadet Quinn is safe," she said.

A sigh of relief came over his combadge. =^=Stay strong, Tiger=^= Kelly said. =^=See you on the ground=^=

===Science===

Lieutenant JG Angela Delorean was in Science when the call to abandon ship was issued and she fought to get to a life boat. A section of the bulkhead ahead of her suddenly caved in and the emergency force fields flickered into life before fizzling out again. The young half Betazoid Science officer screamed and desperately lunged to grab ahold of something as she felt the air being sucked out of the corridor. Her hand fastened onto something and she breathed a sigh of relief before she felt herself still moving towards the rip in the side of the ship. The thing she had grabbed onto wasn't secured to anything else and before she could scream again, she was sucked into the merciless vacuum of space.

===Operations===

Burke grabbed hold of a railing as the ship was again violently rocked, just as the First Officer's call to evacuate the ship suddenly came over the speakers.

Burke looked at the assembled officers. "You heard the man, get to the escape pods," he ordered.

Bob the Efrosian looked at burke, his white whiskers bristling under the tension. Without saying a word, he vacated his seat, and led the way for the other members of the Operations team to head for the nearest pod.

Burke took Bob's seat, and punched up the diagnostics panel for the emergency escape pods release system. With all the damage they'd sustained, he at least needed to make sure the crew could escape that way. He also checked if Lieutenant Beckett, the transporter chief, was also at his station, ready to beam out those who made it to the transporter room.

Ian was standing by, waiting for the indicator to show that one of the transoprter rooms was ready. Seconds. Only seconds passed before he saw that several were ready, including the cargo transporters in the cargo bays... Very smart, he thought. Ian began activating the transporters and sending people to the surface as fast as he could. As soon as one group disappeared, another one was already set. He could only imagine the chaos in those rooms. "Personnel are on their way out," he said.

It was then that the call from Sickbay came. =^=Abrams to Burke... we're ready to start evacuating sickbay as soon as possible.=^=

"Stand by," replied Burke.

He accessed the controls for the transporter. He locked on to the coordinates of the pre-established evacuation sites in Sickbay. The patients on antigrav gurneys would be transported directly fron there with designated medical personnel - Abrams, T'Lura, and a few other nurses. The others, the patients who were ambulatory, would make their way to the transporter room or the escape pods, as per established evacuation protocols.

He scanned the planet below. The Federation compound was ablaze, utterly destroyed - there was nowhere safe to beam the crew. He selected a clearing in the forest about fifty kilometers from the compound. They'd be isolated, but they'd be safe. He energized the transporter, beaming the medical team to safety.

===STELLAR CARTOGRAPHY===

"See the universe, they said," muttered Lieutenant Carmichael as he fought the shut doors of the Stellar Cartography lab. The ship may have been on red alert, but in a battle, what else was there for a couple scientists to do but sit and wait for it all to end. A phaser was holstered to his waist in the event they were boarded and they had to fight off intruders. But who would come to Stellar Cartography?

"It'll be great, they said," he muttered again, trying the manual release one more time. Charles had been one of the few who had been on the ship as long as the Captain. He'd seen the plight against the Golden Stars, and every minute of the battle with the Consortium.

And now it was going to end with him trapped in Stellar Cartography.

Charles screamed and punched the door. What was he going to say to Cadet Cherno, whom he'd decided to try and tutor during this crisis as to give them both something to do?

Elisha had run to find her personal PaDD as soon as she'd heard the call to abandon ship. She was not going to leave it behind. It had everything on it- all her pictures, her journals, everything! It was all she had left of Xavi, since she didn't even have memories.

But, she returned to find Carmichael still trying to open the door. "Did you try the manual release?" she asked, going to it and finding it already in the release position. Panic set in for a couple seconds when her eyes lit on a phaser. "Just blow a hole in it!" she said, pointing to the phaser, which was on his hip.

"Phaser?" he asked before his memory caught up to reality. "Right!" He took a step back and withdrew the phaser from his belt. "Let's see. Setting eight? No, let's turn it up to eleven." As soon as he thumbed it that high, Charles aimed it at the door and fired.

The door didn't stand a chance, and within a moment, the two scientists were freed. "Come!" he told Elisha. "The escape pods are this way!" With that, he dashed out of the room and took a left. Hopefully there was still a pod left to jump into.

Elisha had turned and covered her head as he turned his phaser on the door. "Eleven!" she complained as she followed him out of the room and towards the escape pods. She couldn't believe this was happening. She half expected to wake up any moment in a cold sweat. Yeah, this had to be a nightmare. "What if there aren't any left?" she asked, suddenly terrified at the thought.

"We still have transporters and the flight deck," assured Carmichael. At least he hoped there were two options.

A few moments later, they turned the corner to arrive at the escape pods. It was a cluster of four. Two of the indicator lights showed that two pods had been launched. The door to the third had just closed, followed by launch indicators. The fourth pod... Charles saw two crewmen running up the ramp. "Hey!" Charles shouted at them. "Is there room for two more?"

One of the crewmen turned and waved them aboard. The pod could hold six, but only four seats were taken. The two crewmen quickly worked to buckle themselves in. "Buckle up," Charles told Elisha as he started to work the only console aboard the pod.

Elisha strapped herself into her seat quickly, still wondering when she was finally going to wake up. "I hope this is different than simulations," she moaned. "They always gave me motion sickness."

"We'll find out," Charles said. He looked back out into the corridor and looked to see if anyone else was coming.

"Lieutenant!" cried out one of the crewmen. "We can't wait any longer!"

"Right, right." Charles ducked back inside and tapped a button to close the entrance. Instantly, a ten-second countdown was triggered. He frantically tried to fasten his harness before the pod was ejected and set on its course. Charles did his best to hold onto to his seat as the pod flew up and and away. The pod took a little bit to settle before entering the atmosphere, heat shield pointed towards the planet. They'd launched too close to the planet to escape its gravitational pull.

===Flight Deck===

Cooper, thanking every god she knew that the commbadges still worked, was aiding the security and tactical teams in making sure as making people got off as possible. Reports were coming in Operations was stepping up to ensure transporters were in full use, medical was evac'ing and pilots were making their way to the shuttle bays. It was chaos but a kind of controlled chaos, even in time of dire need they were Starfleet through and through. She was aiming for the flight bay and, using a tricorder was skimming what she could along the way trying to make sure no one got missed. She intended to be one of the last people off if she could manage it.

She nudged, helped and otherwise shepherded anyone who needed it. She passed by an partly stuck open door, but paused as her tricorder told her there was a lifesign in there. She pushed her way in and blinked through the smoke to see an unconscious Bajoran petty officer with burns on her face and shoulder. She quickly checked for injuries then put her tricorder away, hefting the other woman in a fireman's carry before making all speed to the flight deck. She found the nearest shuttle and made sure others took the petty officer to see to her before stepping back to help the flight crews get these shuttles filled and gone.

Finally there was only one shuttle left and no one in the bay. There was smoke everywhere, it was getting harder and harder to breathe or even see. Cooper had given her mask away and now held her hand over mouth as she ran for the transport, sparking consoles and fire licking at the walls and spreading. As soon as her feet hit the deck of the shuttle the door that she was just in front started to close and the shuttle rose even as the door was still in the process of closing. It slammed shut just before the shuttle cleared the Black Hawk that was flaming toward the planet like some kind of Viking Funeral. Cooper couldn't see it she was busy hacking up a lung in the back as a tired but efficient medic trained officer tried to help. It felt to Cooper in that moment that it wasn't just the smoke choking her but the weight of the guilt she felt over her failure to protect the Black Hawk or even for surviving.

===Muster Area 16===

Karyna had hobbled to her assigned muster area as fast as she could, what with her leg in an immobilizer still. When she got there, she found a group of people staring at the escape pod hatch, which was fused shut. There was a smell of smoke in the air. It wasn't a new smell to her. "The circuitry is fried," she informed her muster-mates. Before she could try to organize everyone into moving to the another muster area, she felt the tingle of the transporter.

When she materialized, she recognized her surroundings instantly. She was back on the Cochrane.

===Main Engineering===

When the call to evacuate came, Tarsa rounded up the junior engineers in the engine room and sent them to the nearest escape pods. Then she returned to her console to try to keep the ship functional as long as she could. This wasn't the first time she'd had to abandon a ship, but it wasn't something you ever got used to.

After a few minutes, it was clear that it was time to go. The ship was falling. Pieces of the ship had been ripped off already. She headed for an escape pod, but as she approached it, the bulkhead opened up, the hull sheered off from the stress of atmospheric entry. As she was sucked out of the ship she'd called home for years, she blacked out.

She was unaware that a skilled transporter operator on the Cochrane managed to lock onto her and beam her directly to the Intrepid-class starship's Sickbay.

===Medical Lab===

Anya Bergman grabbed on to a work bench to steady herself even as glassware fell around her, breaking on the ground and spilling their content. This was getting to be a bit more than what she'd signed up for. She was getting close to the end of her Starfleet career, and she definitely did not want to end her career on that note. As she rushed to an escape pod, she made a decision to apply for a position on a starbase back in the Alpha Quadrant as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

As she ran past the ship's kennel, she heard barking from inside. She doubled back, and saw a lone German shepherd sitting in a cage.

"Now who left you in here all alone?" she asked in a soothing voice as she opened the cage. The display on top of the cage read "Rex - Lieutenant Winchester". She clipped a leash to the dog's collar, and led the way to the escape pods.

===Selah's Quarters===

Selah cuddled the little part Vulcan child to her chest, comforting him as the ship was bombarded. Both boys as well as Selah and Jessa were terrified, but the adults were trying to keep it together for the kids. "Where's the nearest escape pod?" she asked Jessa.

"I have no idea," answered the Trill, arms around Neville's shoulders. "But, we can't sit here and wait for someone to find us. Come on, Neville. Feel up to running?"

"I don't know if I can keep up," replied Neville, looking up at his teacher with huge eyes. He couldn't remember being so scared in his life.

"I know," said Jessa, turning and getting her legs under her. "Climb on my back. I'll piggy back you." Once Neville was in place, Jessa put all the power she had in her legs and hefted both of them up. "Okay," she said. "Ready?"

"Wait!" said Neville suddenly. "We need to find our parents!"

"Don't worry about that right now, sweetie, okay?" said Selah, standing and hefting Serran to her hip. "We'll find them. We just have to trust that they'll get themselves off the ship."

"And we won't let anything happen to you," Jessa promised. "We'll take care of you until we find your parents, okay?"

"Okay," said Neville bravely. Serran, taking his cue from the older boy, nodded gravely.

So, the four of them set out to find an escape pod.

===Evacuation Transporters===

They didn't find an escape pod, but, what they found was the evacuation transporters where Dr. Road already stood, seeing the patients off the ship. "Serran!" she cried when she spotted them.

"Mommy!" cried Serran, struggling to get down.

Selah let him go and he ran directly to his mother as she knelt, and wrapped his arms around her neck. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad you're safe, but I need you to stay with Miss Meri, okay?" Abbey told her son.

"No!" insisted Serran, sounding terrified.

"Serran," said Abbey sternly, holding him at arm's length. "That's enough. I'll see you on the planet. Now go with Miss Meri. Go on!"

Dutifully, but sadly, Serran returned to Selah and gripped her hand.

"Right, you lot, on the pad, now," said Abbey and the four of them stepped up with the group of patients. In short order, they were all sent to the surface, directly in front of a hospital.

Jayla arrived just then, with the last of the patients. "Okay," she said. "That's everyone from Medical everyone on the platform and get ready for the last transport.

Lieutenant Roshe stepped ver to Dr. Kij and said, "I do posses some skills as a trained Emergency Medical Technician. If you recall, I assisted you with the removal of the Adan symbiant. I could assist you now."

"Absolutely," replied Jayla. "On the platform, quickly!"

Hannibal Owens found himself on the surface of New Bajor, doing a check to make sure every patient and medical officer had made it to the surface safely. Once everyone was safely accounted for, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked up to see if he could make out any sign of the Black Hawk in orbit.

T'Lura bent down over one of the gurneys. The bright sun was warming her face, and it felt good. After the chaos of the last few hours, the silence of the forest was almost deafening. She could hear a few birds, and the low whispers of a nearby stream.

They had ended up beaming down with twenty patients on antigrav gurneys. She was going from patient to patient with her tricorder, scanning their vital signs and seeing if there was any degradation of their condition after transport.

The whine of the transporter beam suddenly filled the air, and she looked up to see the rest of the medical team, along with the ambulatory patients, materializing.

Jayla glanced around, wondering where they were for a moment before several mobile medical units came into view. Were they from the capital? She had no idea, but hopefully, they would have a good facility where the patients could be treated. "Prepare the critical patients first!" she ordered as the units landed nearby.

As it turned out, they were not from the capital- in fact the medics informed them that the capital was on fire- but were from a nearby suburb, which was almost entirely untouched. Jayla started giving the medics orders for each patient, but they just smiled gently and reminded her that they had tricorders, so she thanked them with a weary grin and went to help load the patients.

===Bridge===

Felix Langston tried to maintain course as much as he could while the ship was falling apart all around him. The Commander had given the order only moments ago and he was trying to hold the ship steady in order to give everyone a chance to escape. "Dammit, old girl!" he shouted. "Why can't you just hold course?!"

"You too, Mister Langston!" Teixeira shouted. "Get out of here!"

Felix knew that there was no being a hero in this moment. He laid in a final course and ran to one of the escape pods off the bridge. "This just doesn't feel right," he said to himself while climbing into the pod's lone seat. "A pilot shouldn't have to ride in one of these boxes." He fastened his restraints and punched a couple commands into the console next to his chair.

The hatch to the escape pod closed with a hiss. Felix braced himself as the pod shot from the Black Hawk like a bullet from a gun. From the window, he surveyed all the damage that the old ship took. HIs eyes went wide with shock. "Oh no," Felix softly said as he saw the numerous wounds the Black Hawk had taken. He closed his eyes and looked away as the pod's autopilot kicked in and laid in a course for New Bajor below.

===Operations Office===

The last escape pods were away, except for two on the Bridge, for the Captain and First Officer. Burke made a final systems check to see if they would be operational, before activating a site-to-site transport, beaming himself away to the same location as the medical team.

Ian stumbled around the corner from having activated the last of the mass transports from the Cargo Bays and found the office empty. "What. The. Hell." He ran as quick as he could to where Burke had been working and found the last transporter coordinates. Without a moment to lose, Ian activated a site-to-site transport using the last known coordinates. The transporter fizzled and sparks flew, causing Ian to stumble back. He stood there, staring. Then a transporter wave engulfed him.

"Welcome to USS Cochrane, Lieutenant. And not a moment too soon," said a nurse standing in front of him.

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