The Battle of Latari (Part 3 of 6)

Posted on 06 Jul 2019 @ 11:48am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Ensign Callin Mastrel & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Captain Hiroshi Tanakata & Commander Teegan Jones & Senior Chief Petty Officer Goldie Brown
Edited on on 06 Jul 2019 @ 11:57am

3,077 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari System - Latari A III Orbit
Timeline: MD 01, 0529 hrs

Previously, on The Battle of Latari (Part 2)...

Another report sounded from the bridge's forward-most console. "Captain! Tholain vessels are engaging, moving to intercept and entering weapons range." Chief Darius was a seasoned combat veteran from the Dominion War yet he could feel his heart pounding with more adrenaline than any ground engagement he could recall in recent memory.

Lirha spoke to her senior counterpart aboard the Miranda-class through the open tactical channel. "Tanakata, we're standing by. Awaiting your orders."

"Very good captain, weapons control target their engines and thrusters." Hiroshi could be heard over the comm. Then another voice said, "Fire!"

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

The Latari system's suns glowed brightly in the distance and cast dark shadows across the terrestrial planet's backdrop. In orbit above the habitable world where a Federation colony once prospered, the two Starfleet vessels now moved in tandem at combat impulse toward the inbound formation of Tholian starships.

The two torpedo tubes within USS Trial's rollbar launcher glowed red then flared several times in alternating sequence as the Miranda-class sent a volley of six photon torpedoes streaking towards the Tholians.

Aboard Galileo's bridge, the Orion captain gave her own order to add to the barrage. "Amaranai...fire."

Amaranai was ready for this. She pressed a few buttons on her LCARS and then watched the screen as red streaks flew toward their targets.

"Torpedoes away," she said.

The Nova II-class' torpedo launchers glowed and the deck plating beneath their feet jolted from the pulse-fire launch. Four additional photon torpedoes flared from Galileo's forward tubes and screeched through the vacuum of space, their red lens flares twisting and turning on the way to their targets.

Watching her panel, she noticed the torpedoes headed toward their destination and she adjusted their guidance slightly to ensure they made their mark.

"Five seconds to impact," she said.

Saalm watched the torpedoes on the shared center console which her XO could also view. In typical LCARS format, the small tactical display was divided into grids with the Federation ships denoted by their gold Starfleet icons and the Tholians shown in red. The salvo of ten photon torpedoes was shown as a cluster of blinking blue pulses which quickly moved to their target. Lirha looked up to the forward main viewer with her breath held.

The four Tholian starships maneuvered in loose formation and rapidly approached the incoming group of matter/anti-matter projectiles. The alien frigates suddenly broke formation to perform evasive maneuvers at the last moment...and only a half-second too late.

Consecutive photon torpedoes detonated only hundreds of meters from the hulls of the enemy vessels. Multiple blue Tholian deflector shields flared and collapsed while they absorbed the brunt of the ordinance's shockwaves. The proximity fuses created a frontal screen which now caused the Tholian formation to split into two.

Galileo's bridge tactical display flashed with red rings to indicate the photon torpedo detonations but soon faded away to now reveal the four Tholians still inbound but split into two groups.

"Captain," Amaranai said. "It appears the Tholian ships are still inbound on an intercept course."

"They're maneuvering to flank us," Darius said at the helm as he viewed his navigation data and datalink contacts. He'd studied enough ground warfare during his prior career in the Corps to see the obvious, and though he was barely a seasoned pilot, he could still recognize a pincer technique anywhere.

Lirha looked back to her yeoman once again, this time gripping the Trill woman's forearm to pull her close. "Send another priority message. Tell Starfleet...we have engaged the Tholians."

Jeysa nodded to the captain and quickly pulled her PADD from her belt to enter the urgent message into the transmission logs.

Goldie caught her breath. Never in her wildest dreams would she have expected those words: We have engaged the Tholians. She hoped they would be able to add that they came out of it alive.

Callin's dark eyes flashed up from his console to look at the Captain for a moment. He couldn't hear what had been said, but catching the Orion's eyes for a moment himself he found he could draw strength from her. It was a relief somehow to know their leader was as worried as anyone else. She just had the training and experience to use it to focus. Callin nodded once and returned his attention to the sensors.


USS Trial

Teegan was grim and determined as she watched the tactical reports. "Light damage to the Tholian ships," she reported. They needed something to give themselves an advantage. She glanced to the captain for orders.

"Signal the Galileo to do the best they can and run if needed Number One, we are moving to destroy the pincher on the right." Hiroshi nodded to his first officer. They had come through the first engagement with only minor scuffle.

Jones nodded, then turned back to send the message. So far, their luck was holding. She only hoped it would continue. She informed the Galileo of their intentions and wished them luck. "Message sent."


USS Galileo

"Message from the Trial," Goldie said, turning to the captain. "They report light damage. They're engaging the starboard ship."

At the conn, Lamar confirmed the report from Goldie. "Affirmative, she's turning to intercept the starboard formation." Every second mattered in combat and he hoped for swift orders.

Lirha looked to the main viewscreen which showed a real-time feed of the Miranda-class breaking to the right and accelerating to intercept. "Follow Tanakata!" she replied to the helm, adhering to command protocol. "Attack pattern Beta Four. Engage."

Lamar felt a surge of adrenaline coarse through his veins and quickly tapped at his console to select the optimal course and angle of attack parameters. He finished his computations within six seconds then pressed the large yellow LCARS button on the top-right of his console to engage the new course plot.

With the link established between the Galileo and Trial Luke continually monitored his small monitor and with both ships co-ordinated hard-point targets with focused fire from the two federation vessels.

Ullswater, still doing her best to swallow the fear she felt inside her, continued to work the countermeasure suite to combat the Tholians' actions. Just as she kept trying to keep their scans out they continued to find new ways around the walls they were putting up. It was almost like a dance or a game, a game she felt she was slowly losing.

The Galileo and Trial quickly closed on the two Tholian frigates and entered phaser range. The cosmos suddenly lit up with a terrifying exchange of mutual fire between the two opposing sides. The incoming Tholian vessels fired on both the Nova and Miranda-class while the two Federation starships' forward phasers pulsed and returned bursts of orange beam fire.

Blue tetryon energy beams emanated from the Tholian spacecraft but their targeting computers couldn't resolve the range to the Starfleet targets. The incoming fire soared wide to the left and right of the Federation formation while Galileo's secondary deflector array emitted electronic countermeasures.

As another tetryon beam soared past the viewscreen Ullswater allowed herself a small grin. So long as they kept missing she could be confident that she was doing something right. She turned back to her console and out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the nearby Trial - she really wished that Plumeri was here instead of her.

Amaranai heard the command and pressed a new set of commands on her console. The phasers began a single target concentration in an effort to lower the shields of one of the Tholian vessels. She would keep going until they fell or she had a different command.

Her thoughts went wider than the moment, though, and Amaranai couldn't help but think of her sister. What had she brought the girl into? Did she really want Charlotte to live this life of possible mortal danger almost every day, or at least on any mission that was given her? Amaranai almost had a liking for the danger but Charlotte, despite her years of putting herself in danger, still had a chance to change herself completely. She would have to have a talk with her about that soon.

The security officer pressed a few more buttons and continued to fire on the Tholians, hoping that the captain could convince them to stand down.

Luke need not respond through words his action spoke a thousand of them as he continued to coordinate the attack. Lirha knew what she was doing trying to isolate a singular enemy ship, hitting sensitive yet highly valuable hardpoints such as the enemy shield grids and against a race like the Tholians taking out one ship at a time was probably the best option. He took a moment to look up from his display to the viewscreen to see the exchange of Phaser beams and Tetryon beams crisscrossing the space between them.


USS Trial

"Mister Plumeri, see if you can pinpoint the hits on the right hand ships and let's hit them again. If we can hit them same spot might collapse shields." He gave the directions but he still did not feel confident that the chances of either Federation ship coming out of this without some major damage. All he could hope was to inflict enough damage that the Tholians would back off or open communication again. While he knew the Galileo had signeled the rest of the convoy, he wondered if the Tholians knew that as well. It was likely and it would not take much for them to realize that more Federation ships were not far away and they themselves were quite away from their own territory. Well, he thought, the damage was done but he doubted the Tholians would want to risk a major engagement with the Federation and certainly they had to know that the message would be being relayed along. Hopefully whatever passed from a command structure for them a cooler head would prevail and figure talking and sharing information was better than more lives being put in peril.

His eyes locked on the Captain, Matt worked quickly, "Aye sir!" Looking at the data streaming in, Plumeri realized that the Tholian ships were cycling through their shield grid. Probably an automated defense protocol. By doing so, the shields were regenerated each cycle with a new shield harmonic. This would in turn strengthen and resolve their shield geometry with every regenerative phase. So simply looking for a "hot spot" of where the last attack on the shields was would now be insufficient. He cocked his head slightly to the right as he looked at the data stream. "Captain, the Tholian vessels are refreshing their shield grid rapidly. The reason to do that is not clear to me but it is making a fix very difficult. Captain, to do this must come at a price. Speed or ship power...if we can get in a few more hits then...maybe...we can get a definite reading." He almost didn't say the next part, "If we could get closer sir!"

Jones turned to the captain. "Ready on your command, sir." In her opinion, the only chance they had of getting out alive was to attack quickly, and keep attacking, changing their strategy so the Tholians couldn't keep up.

"Very good Number one, let's go on a quick strafing run and isolate one of the ships with as much as possible. We will roll to present as much maximum number of ventral arrays to our primary selected target. Attack pattern beta four. Signal the Galileo and let's go." Hiroshi gave the orders.

USS Trial rolled 180 degrees to port to flip on its horizontal axis. Its ventral phasers targeted the closest Tholian vessel and two of her forward banks unleashed a salvo of concentrated fire quickly joined by Galileo's. The forward shields of the enemy starship flared then collapsed from the coordinated impacts, then its exposed crystalline hull took several direct hits. Its warp nacelles flickered then went dark followed by small secondary explosions from within the hull. The second Tholian ship continued its attack run and kept firing as it closed distance. More blue incoming fire now started to streak closer and closer to the Federation ships.


USS Galileo

As more and more information flowed on Luke display he allowed himself a small grin "One of the Tholian ships have been disabled, major hull breaches on all decks with most major systems failing" he said looking to the view screen to see their work pay off. "They're on minimal power with secondary explosions within the ship itself." And as if on queue another explosion ripped a hole in its hull.

"Captain, the second ship is merging!" Darius reported from the conn. The nav sensors showed what the viewscreen confirmed, that the second enemy frigate was moving to engage at point-blank distance.

"Targeting the second ships shield grid and relaying to the Trial... They've received" He followed the movement of the ship, noticing how evasive it was. "They're coming in close, trying to make it harder to continuously lock on," Luke said relaying to both Lirha but mainly Amaranai, even though he was finding the targets she was the one having to continuously keep them locked. "Minimal damage to the second ship."

Noting the same result that had been reported, Amaranai turned her attention to the second Tholian vessel and continued the barrage on its shields. This one seemed faster, but Amaranai's targeting skills were up to the task. Phasers stayed locked on her single target to disable the second Tholian ship.

The single enemy starship quickly closed on the Miranda-class and ignored Galileo to initiate its own isolation of the larger and slower Federation light cruiser. USS Trial fired again on the second incoming ship but the entirety of its salvo was absorbed by the Tholian deflector shields with little effect.

The smile that Ensign Ullswater had allowed herself earlier quickly vanished as the Tholian ships passed through the effective range that she was able to use the sensor countermeasures to continue to jam them. "They have broken through our jamming range, sensor countermeasures are no longer going to be effective." the ensign declared switching her efforts elsewhere.

"Captain, I've noticed something," Callin spoke up loudly to be sure he could be heard over the sound of phasers and torpedoes. "Phaser effectiveness is going down not up, with every hit. That's not normal. It's as if they are adapting their shields to an opposing frequency."

The incoming Tholian starship broke wide to starboard as it approached then turned tight to descend on the Y axis below the Starfleet ships before breaking up and into Trial. The triangular vessel fired multiple sustained beams into the Miranda-class' ventral deflector grid which penetrated straight through the shields and into the outer hull with no resistance. USS Trial's starboard nacelle took the brunt of the impact and flickered with pulsing electrical overloads that sizzled across the warp coils.

Galileo rapidly returned phaser fire on the Tholain ship but despite several direct hits, the orange energy beams couldn't penetrate the alien shields. The enemy vessel quickly passed between the Federation ships and began to turn back for a second run, now rejoining the two trailing Tholians from the other end of the pincer.

Luke watched the readout as it dropped for a moment before reappearing "The Trial has sustained heavy damage, their starboard nacelle appears to have overloaded due to the attack communications are sketchy and the tactical link is intermittent." Luke reported.


USS Trial

Within the Miranda-class' bridge, chaos erupted. The ship jolted hard from the incoming fire and several sections of bridge circuitry overloaded. Explosions and sparks flew from the overhead EPS relays and one of the vacant science stations exploded in flames. The large starship slowly listed to the right.

His eyes wide in disbelief - having been so close to that science station - Matthew tried to get back to his feet. He crawled back into the chair at Science I and realized his hands were shaking. His training kicked in on autopilot and he took a breath and steeled himself. ~Just get through the next minute and the next and the next. One minute at a time~ he thought to himself. An alarm sounded on his science panel and he forced himself back into the now. He read the data and there was only one conclusion. The Tholians had the Trial's defensive shield frequency. They were matching it and cutting right through it. "Captain!" Plumeri yelled, "Shield frequencies are being probed and matched. That's how they're energy weapons and making it through!"

A groaning sound was heard that sent a shudder through the entire hull of the Trial. It was a horrible sound. A groan of weakening structures. A popping sound as bulkheads, weakened by the energy weapons, could no longer hold back the vacuum of space. Plumeri looked to his science colleague, "We're listing to starboard - - we need to polarize the hull - - create a feedback loop before the shields collapse!"

Jones saw how the Tholian weapons were continuing to penetrate the shield frequencies. As Plumeri said, if they didn't do something immediately, they'd be destroyed. "Receiving reports of multiple hull breaches. Starboard nacelle is offline." She looked at the captain. "Picking up more inbound ships, sir."

Hiroshi was still in his chair but gripping the side arms tightly as the ship rocked. Reports were coming in everyplace and the ship was in trouble. They had lost the the starboard nacelle and already had hull breaches. Even worse the ship was returning and with friends. It did not look good but he would be damned if they went down without a fight.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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All Crew
USS Galileo-A

All Crew
USS Trial

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