The Battle of Latari (Part 6 of 6)

Posted on 06 Jul 2019 @ 11:49am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Captain Hiroshi Tanakata & Commander Teegan Jones
Edited on on 06 Jul 2019 @ 12:03pm

1,554 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari System - Latari A III Orbit
Timeline: MD 01, 0551 hrs

Previously, on The Battle of Latari (Part 5)...

The Trial started to turn and come about. Her list steadied up. Plumeri called, "She's answering her helm Captain. Coming about. GAWD! What I wouldn't give for a couple of DAMN TORPEDOES!" The seconds ticked by as the Trial, the smoking hulk she was, came about and rounded the firing envelope.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

USS Galileo - Bridge

"Luke, get the flight controls back online!" Lirha yelled from her center chair amid the chaos of combat and sparking electrical lines now dangling from overhead bulkhead. She could feel their tiny starship spinning out of control and could see the starfield on the main viewscreen rotating in a counter-clockwise circle. "Evasive pattern Delta-One!" She quickly tapped the commbage on her chest. "Medical teams report!"

The captain set her jaw with determination to now finish what they'd started. "Amaranai, fire at will and keep rotating all weapon frequencies. Don't stop," she ordered with urgency.

Amaranai could hear Lirha's voice - somehow - over the din of the bridge. Warning klaxons, coughing, sparks, small explosions. As she reached for the panel again, she saw a smear of blood on the console. Wiping it off, Amaranai didn't want to know if it was her own or not. She would worry later. Just like she would worry about her sister later.

Pressing the LCARS, she began cycling the phaser frequencies in an attempt to punch through the Tholian shields.

This had better work

Amaranai noticed blood beginning to pool on the LCARS and knew it was from her head.

Later

"Captain, I am receiving a message from the Trial," Ryan said through the cacophony on the bridge. "Its a tactical retreat order. They have coordinates for our retreat, sending them to the helm and your station now." Ryan relayed to the command team.

When Ryan relayed the retreat order, Lirha half-sighed with relief. Not because their engagement had now resulted in defeat, but because Tanakata had just proved himself to be reasonable and measured even in the face of adversity. Unlike other ambitious and inexperienced Starfleet commanders - whose names would remain confidential - he was able to identify the obvious deficiencies in their tactical capabilities and knew enough to not continue a losing battle.

"Luke, get us out of here!" Saalm instructed. "Disengage and set course for the convoy position, warp 1."

Ryan had only just begun to notice the issue with power to the nacelles when the Captain had told Luke to go to warp. The matter-antimatter reactions were holding steady, which was a miracle in and of it self, but Ryan noticed that the EPS power taps or several of the EPS power distribution nodes were not routing power to the nacelles properly. Ryan furrowed his brow as he typed in a series of overrides that bypassed the damaged systems, and utilized the two remaining working lines into the nacelles. He really needed to get down and help repair the power distribution systems, but his workaround should hold for a little while. "Power to the warp nacelles should be stabilized for now captain."

Luke watched the power reading as he flicked between different screens, "Disengage, steady the power as much as we can and set a heading..." A console erupted sending sparks across the bridge. "Set ahead for the convoy warp 1 now!" Holding on to the chair of his seat Luke watched as the bridge crew went into action.


Latari A III Orbit

The two Starfleet vessels now limped their way towards an escape vector while the Tholians maneuvered into optimal firing slots high and tight above their aft quarters. Galileo and Trial both returned phaser fire to the rear to cover their retreat while leaving dual trails of smoke and warp plasma in their wake.

The Nova-class' single impulse engine flared and propelled its occupants with a quick burst of speed to accelerate outside the enemy's weapon range, but Trial was less fortunate. It took the Miranda-class several more seconds for her sublight engines to reach optimal acceleration, during which her propulsion systems were targeted by focused fire from the three trailing Tholians.

Consecutive blue tetryon beams tore into the outer bulkheads surrounding Trial's impulse reactor room and exhaust nozzles. Both of Trial's red impulse engines flickered then went dark as the light cruiser took hits and lost its primary propulsion system.

Hiroshi felt the ship begin to move. It was sluggish but she was moving. Out the cracked main screen he could see the smaller Galileo already moving away. She was injured but nothing like this ship. He did not trust the Tholians and his worst thought were answered as the ship violently rocked again. Everything went dark and for a moment he floated in his seat as even the gravs went off. Emergency lighting was mostly out now as well. They were in the dark and he was pretty sure that the enviros were off as well.

The three enemy frigates quickly sped forward and overtook USS Trial, ignoring the escaping Nova-class. In another display of supreme maneuvering, each silicon frigate ceased firing then broke off into opposing triangular positions surrounding the disabled Federation light cruiser. Each Tholian ship then activated a bright yellow energy beam behind them which they began to drag in coordinated vectors around the entirety of the Starfleet ship. The Tholians quickly started to spin an energized tractor net around Trial -- a Tholian web.

Jones swore. "Systems failing across the board. All decks reporting life support down. Unless someone's got an ace up their sleeve, we're dead in the water."

Tanakata turned to his first officer and said, "See if they can get anything back on, light a Vulcan meditation candle, anything."

"All hands working on restoring critical systems," the first officer reported. "Power has been rerouted from non-critical systems. Do you want me to evacuate people from the outer areas of the ship and relocate them to safer central areas, then seal off the breached areas?"

Hiroshi thought for a moment. Sealing the breaches would be good but just in case the Tholians came around again having people near already weakened areas would result in more casualties. He shook his head and said, "No evacuate personnel to areas of the ship that are still relatively intact. I do not trust the Tholians to not come chasing after us."

Jones began the evacuation of personnel to the safer, central areas of the ship.

"Lieutenant," he turned his attention to the science officer sitting at the now useless helm. "If I ever get the chance I will let Captain Saalm know how much you helped this ship. For now, though, let me personally thank you for everything."

The CONN was lit up like a Christmas tree favoring only the red lights. No propulsion and hours and hours to even try to repair it. Matthew pushed away the console and sat there a moment stunned. He hated losing. Really. Hated it. "Captain...I'm sorry I wasn't a better science officer for you. We just got our asses handed to us." Slowly, he stood up and looked at the destroyed bridge and the crew that lost their lives. "I can help you gather the bodies up. They deserve that much sir."

After what seemed like minutes, USS Trial's emergency power grid finally activated and restored life support, gravity, basic sensors, and the structural integrity field grid. It was barely enough power to sustain the most fundamental of ship functions, but could give them a three-day emergency supply for critical survival if needed.

Jones relaxed a little, continuing to focus on crew evacuation and damage control. Right now, saving crew was a priority.

There were few people still functioning on the bridge and probably even less stations, but after a point a few lights came on and Hiroshi took a breath. The air seemed a little fresher so perhaps some of the environmentals were working and so was the grav plating. At least mostly it seemed from the way he felt.

The Miranda-class' bridge was now illuminated by only two red backup lights and the environmental system struggled to clear the smoke from the room. Then the internal sensor alarms started to sound off with a distinctive sound which every crew member both recognized and feared.

Teegan's heart began to pound. Just when she thought they might survive. She pulled up the display moments before Plumeri reported. This was not good.

Returning to the CONN, Plumeri read off the sensor data. "Confirmed! four...no...eight new lifeforms being beamed aboard. Sensors are having a hard time identifying who. It has to be Galileo...they must be sending a team of..." He cut himself off as the internal sensors finally made a match. "Oh...crap. We're being boarded. Deck five...and spreading out." The internal sensors made a whine as they locked onto the biosignatures. He looked at Hiroshi, "Captain - - it's the Tholians!"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

All Crew
USS Galileo-A

All Crew
USS Trial

RSS Feed