In Pursuit (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 07 Jul 2012 @ 9:42am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA) & Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Scarlet Blake & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Chief Petty Officer Lucalin Mrina Ph.D. & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lawrence Gibbs & Rachel Hardaway Ph.D. & Anthony Hardaway Ph.D. & Justice Abernathy Ph.D. (MIA) & Eric Anderson & Emma Kennedy (MIA)

2,922 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Bridge, Engineering
Timeline: MD 07 - 2050 hrs

Previously...

As Eric picked up the unease the Lucalin behind him, he reached back and gently laid his hand on the alien's arm to try show him some support. Suddenly, the floor beneath them rocked, sending everyone falling to the floor.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Back on the Bridge,

Will listened to everything that transpired with an calm outward appearance. He'd been in a hundred battles and learned the secret; your apprehension doesn't lessen, only how well it shows. That's what made a good officer, in Will's opinion, one with a healthy fear by the strength to hide it. "Captain," Remington began once the captain's all-call was complete, "if you expect we will be boarded... I would have Kilborne and the armory officers distribute phasers."

Kestra glanced at the Chief of Operations. Why was it that everyone on board seemed to think that her job belonged to them? "Kilborne no longer has access to the Armory," she told him. "We reinitiated stringent security protocols after the incident. But Pawlak is down there and prepared to distribute as necessary." She didn't like the idea of a full out distribution of weapons. Many of the crew hadn't been certified for over a year, and probably hadn't touched a phaser for longer. A collection of scared, armed, and inexperienced fighters with weapons sounded like a recipe for self-destruction to her. Those that had been certified for use had their phasers already. And the defensive measures preventing the Klingons from teleporting on board were still in full effect.

A slight frown appeared on Will's features when Kestra told him his quartermaster's security clearance had been revoked. Now was not the time to argue about such things, however, so he kept silent. He looked to the captain, grey eyes fixed on her expectantly.

With the captain so deeply engrossed in perfecting the last few details of their plan, John felt that really, he should be taking some weight off her shoulders in response to the discussion taking place between Ops and Security. It was a difficult position to be in. On the one hand, John wanted every member of the small crew to be able to fight back in defence of their ship if need be, but similarly the last thing he wanted was people shooting themselves or worse, each other, in the middle of a crisis. A compromise looked like it would be the best bet.

"Kestra - have your teams distribute type II's to everyone who knows how to use one - then initiate lockdown procedures - if they arent security personnel, I want them either in quarters or in the Mess Hall - that way if any real fighting starts, our security teams can work without too much of a problem. Worst case, people can defend themselves until help arrives."

Picking himself up from the XO's chair, John moved over to nearer the centre seat and reached behind the bulkhead beside his captain, picking up one of the set of phasers stowed there in case they were ever needed, and quickly secured it to his belt, inspecting the device as he did so and moving the power setting up to maximum stun before putting it away for now.

"The same goes for all of you - if you aren't armed, now's the time to do it"

Returning to his chair, John could feel his heartbeat starting to gather pace, the adrenalin beginning to coarse through his veins at the thought of battle breaking out. Hopefully, with most of the civilians and less combat-orientated crew safely behind locked doors, then if anything were to happen, at least they would be safe from immediate danger. Sighing to himself, he sat back in his chair, and in place of his captain, gave the order.

"Let's see what this ship's made of people....helm, engage."

With inputs from her flight control officer, Galileo's main impulse engine flared bright red and the small silver ship quickly came about and accelerated away from the starbase's gravity well. It was only a matter of seconds before the Nova Class reached minimum warp distance from the large structure, and her glowing blue nacelles quickly flashed bright white as the ship snapped into high warp. Unseen to the crew, the Klingon task element which had been shadowing Galileo's movements quickly came about as well, entering into warp in hot pursuit of the science vessel and her advanced technology.

As the starfield in front of them quickly became distorted, rippling as the science vessel leapt past the light barrier, John knew that there was no way the Klingons would fail to notice their deception. Even with the Nova-class moving at maximum speed, there would only be a few minutes before the Klingons got into weapons range... and they needed much more than that to make it to the nebula. Sure enough, it didn't take long for Holliday's fears to be confirmed.

"The Klingon vessel is pursuing us," Remington announced. "They will be within weapons range in three seconds."

It seemed that the Klingons were indeed ready to try and take Sienna for themselves, regardless of how much the Federation defenders onboard Galileo would prefer that not to happen. With the warship in pursuit, there weren't a huge number of options left for anyone.

It was almost a surreal scene, and as a pair of Birds-of-Prey decloaked behind Galileo, the blackness of space shimmered as their green and menacing forms materialized several hundred thousand kilometers to stern. With a series of bright green flashes from their wing tips, deadly disruptor fire blurred through space as it began to pelt Galileo's rear shield grid. Additional disruptor pulses missed their mark, and flew by the small ship, visible through the main viewscreen and bathing the bridge in a green hue.

Before the XO had chance to even think of his next order, the pursuing warship gave it's response; the Galileo being shaken violently as the first disruptor blasts made contact with their aft shields. John had to grab onto the arms of his chair to avoid being thrown from it.

Kestra gripped the console and sank into her stance to maintain her balance. "Two Klingon Birds of Prey, both to starboard aft, just decloaked and are firing," she reported quickly. "Aft shields are holding at seventy percent, but another few solid bursts... we need to put more distance between us."

So it seemed the die had been cast, and battle was indeed going to be the only way to settle this debate. The Klingons seemed intent on nothing more than starting a war with the Federation, and this was where the battlelines were going to be drawn. Looking into the eyes of his Captain, John knew that every bit of tactical training he had ever been given, every lecture he had ever presented, and ever fight he had ever been in were going to come into play right here, and right now.

"Dammit... Lieutenant return fire - target their propulsion systems we need to get them off our tail!"

Lirha shook her head in disagreement after hearing her XO issue hasty orders to return fire. In her opinion, it would do absolutely no good to waste the small Nova Class' limited power resources on a few potentially-futile phaser and torpedo strikes. Judging from the frequency of jolts and disruptor blasts impacting Galileo's shields, she knew that there was more than one enemy vessel behind them, and her ship was no match for them. Their goal was to get to the nebula and hide, not to exchange fire with larger and heavier warships. "Belay that order!" she called out loudly on the bridge, her voice rising above the crashes of disruptor fire as she was jolted hard to the side in her chair.

"Divert primary power from weapons to engines, and keep reinforcing our aft shields with auxiliary power." she ordered to the operations console behind her, then tapped her commbadge. "Bridge to Quinn, I'm diverting power to the engines... I need every bit of warp speed you can squeeze out of the nacelles."

She turned her eyes towards her XO, offering him a brief explanation. "We need to get into that nebula, Commander, and fast. We can't maneuver at warp, and we can't outgun them with our aft weapons." she said.

Orexil nodded, routing all the incoming diverted power into the shields.

Having his order overruled wasn't something that John was yet to experience on the Galileo, and as expected, the taste it left in his mouth was no less sour than it had been on his earlier postings. The Klingons were like attack dogs, chasing and hounding their prey, and as long as Galileo did nothing but run, they would do nothing but chase.

A wave of frustration washed over the Commander as he tried to control his temper towards his captain, afterall, she was in charge, not him. Quietly, he leaned over and in a low voice offered his own analysis.

"Ma'am with all due respect... you're wrong. The Klingons aren't going to just stop... a few quantum torpedoes would make them think twice... instead we're showing nothing but weakness and cowardice to them by running... you should reconsider."

The captain looked at her XO as he spoke, and listened as he made his case. He had several valid points, and she too was aware of the persistence of Klingons. And perhaps, a torpedo strike would in fact momentarily deter them, however with multiple vessels in pursuit and a very small torpedo compliment on her ship, she didn't feel that she could afford to potentially waste the ordinance, nor the power requirements. With a polite nod, Lirha responded curtly. "Your objection is noted, Commander. I don't expect them to stop chasing us, just for us to get into the nebula where the engagement parameters put us on a more even playing field." she said, using an old Earth adage.

Realising the XO was going to get nowhere with his captain, at least for now, John resigned himself to the fact that Galileo would be doing nothing more than running like a scared animal into the safety of the nebula. Turning back in his chair, he continued to survey the tactical data coming in to his console.

"Yes ma'am" He acknowledged, as expected by a superior officer.

"I'm diverting more power," Remington announced, "but it won't get us far."


Engineering

Ens. Rhodes had been amazed by the warp core when they had jumped to light-speed. He had never been in Engineering when that had taken place before. But that curiosity soon disappeared when the ship began to be shudder under the strikes by Klingon attack. Rhodes watched as the Engineers dashed about doing their task. He glanced down at his PADD to get the latest Tactical situation on the ship. In some ways he felt helpless, just standing there against a wall in Engineering. But, the truth was that everyone had their task to preform, and his at that moment was to stay there until called upon.

Quinn ripped open a panel that exposed a ladder to a small access room over the Warp Core. As he grabbed his equipment, Quinn tapped his combadge. =^=Quinn to Peers, I about to enter the reserve Warp Control Conduit. After I open up the emergency Quantum interface you will have a big red colored alert go off on your console. Count to six, then reroute the quantum interface through the ships battery control. That should give us a big, and very temporary boost in propulsion, so tell every one to hang on.=^=

Quinn climbed up the access tube and then entered his personal code to gain access to the Reserve Warp Control Conduit. After a few seconds the Chief had made the proper crosswires and jury rigs that a loud whining noise could be heard from the Warp Core. He counted down until the switchover would be available..."C'mon Peers, stay sharp." Quinn whispered to himself. The alert indicator blinked.


Bridge

The turbolift doors swished open and sent Doctor Anthony Hardaway stumbling onto the bridge as the disruptor fire hit the ship.

Aria was running and fell, grimacing as she hit the deck. She pushed herself up, the skin taken from the heel of her hands...but she shook it off and moved forward, opening her mouth to apologise.

"Captain!" The doctor announced boldly. "I think I have a right to know what's going on here! Why are we being attacked? Sienna is not fully transferred." He gripped the railing behind the captain's chair and leaned over as if that would make the commanding officers more likely to notice him amidst the chaos.

Having braced herself tightly against her console Kiri was extremely focused on what was in front of her. Some black hairs had escaped from her ponytail onto her forehead, a clammy sweat all of her body. Then that voice was on the bridge, that man that had been rude and mean for no reason. She saw him as aggressive, unpredictable, and in a combat situation, there was also a standing order on her part. Lieutenant Coleman had said if he attempted to delay their mission again, feel free to stun him. Turning on the spot her phaser was already in her hand, her finger twitching very slightly. He was not allowed on the bridge, he was a risk and a distraction, he needed to be removed. Aiming from the hip she would fire as soon as she felt there was no other choice.

The last thing that John wanted was the sudden appearance of an academic with a mouth big enough to shout over the entire Bridge crew. With a Klingon warship bearing down on them the last thing that he wanted to have to deal with was a Q&A session in the middle of a firefight.

Turning in his chair to catch a glimpse of who he could only assume was one of the senior scientists from the mission briefing, John saw the figure of one of their security officers emerging from the turbolift.

"Doctor this is hardly the time or the place!" John stood up, steadying himself on the railings as he brought himself up to his full height to retort against the unauthorised presence.

"Ensign Rice, get this man off the Bridge before I shoot him myself - Doctor if you want an explanation, you wait until I'm done keeping us from being space dust do I make myself clear?"

Although her attention had been focused on her chair's arm console, she quickly turned around as she felt a presence uncomfortably close to her, and noticed Doctor Hardaway leaning over her chair and demanding answers from her. With an incredulous shake of her head, her dark hair bobbed across her shoulders as she spoke with annoyance in her voice. "We have transferred everything from Sienna that we could given our limited time frame, and we destroyed the rest of the materials and files." she said, giving him as much of an explanation as he would get from her at the moment. "Now, return to your designated station, Doctor." she ordered firmly.

The ship was a dizzying chaos of barely controlled panic and roiling fear and fury, but Kestra kept her gaze on the console, trying to block out the thoughts ricocheting through her open mind and focus on the situation. She'd been doing it, too, focusing on the distance between the Klingons and the Galileo and keeping them safe. That is, until the doctor came rampaging onto the bridge. Kestra caught Rice's gaze and jerked her chin up, before shifting her gaze to Hardaway. You're done now. Go back to the cargo bay. You want to go there. You are in control there, she drove the thoughts into his mind as though they were his own, then turned back to the console. "Trouble down there, Rice. Ten twenty-nine H. Something... something's... not right." She shook her head, refocusing on the console. "I can't. Go check."

"Destroyed?!" The words came out as a splutter as the doctor grimaced. "I did not authorize that. My work is vital to the Federation." He did not have time to continue, however.

"Yeah, yeah," Aria moved to him and grabbed his arm. "Cap'n told you to take a hike..." she said and looked over at Kestra, giving a nod to the order.

"Captain, incoming torpedoes to portside aft. Brace for impact!" She punched up the shields in the impact zone seconds before they were hit and the Galileo felt the impact without the damage. "Shields at sixty percent, but they're holding." She eyed the scans, "Permission to fire a narrow-band EM pulse and aim it at their power matrix. They're readying their next torpedo; a well timed blast could backfire their next attempt, destabilize their warp field, and give us more of a lead."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

All Player Characters
All Positions
USS Galileo

Rachel Hardaway, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Tarishiana Barel

Anthony Hardaway, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Chauncey Remington III

Justice Abernathy Ph.D.
Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Lilou Peers

Eric Anderson
Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Pola Ni Dhuinn

Emma Kennedy
Dr. Hardaway's Secretary
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Pola Ni Dhuinn

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