Shockwave (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 28 Jun 2020 @ 1:28pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin
Edited on on 28 Jun 2020 @ 1:32pm

1,854 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari System
Timeline: MD 04, 2319 hrs

Previously, on Shockwave (Part 2)...

Luke had finished putting out the console fire and helping any of the bridge crew who couldn't help themselves had returned to his seat, the warning honestly didn't come as a shock to Luke as he tapped away at his arm console before saying. "Find me something to reinforce the structural integrity field generator now!" He barked.

"I cannot Sir, the system is not responding." Mimi replied, the whole power transfer system was going haywire.

"If you can't do it from here, Ensign Mimi," Commander Kohl ordered, "Order damage crew to the source." Kohl had slammed himself back in his chair, gripping the armwrests for his literal life. "Sylver, you're a superstar," Kohl insisted, "Keep us aimed for sky!"

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Latari B III, Waverider-class atmospheric shuttle Vincenzo

The escape from the dark moon had not been an easy one, but it had been worth every minute.

To finally be on the move, on the offensive, on the way to their people, no matter how high the risk might be...it had strengthened Blake's resolve. The strain on the battered shuttle was undeniable, but the patchwork repairs from the colonists were holding up better than Blake had hoped or expected. Thankfully.

At some point, Scarlet had pushed herself up from her seat, hand gripping the back of Shizn's chair as she looked over his shoulder, her body tight as if ready to move. "Do we know what we're heading into yet?"

Tris heard the question, but wasn’t sure that he wanted to hear the answer.

T'Lin was straining the sensors yet again. The circuits complaining, but she picked up something, a very high energy burst. She quickly compensated. "Commander, I am detecting a massive wave front emanating from the planet." She turned toward the commander after checking and re-checking. "Tricobalt explosion from analysis."

Marisa's heart sank. There was so much they needed to learn still... She began to scan the planet to gather as much data on the explosion and its aftermath as she could, trying not to think about what else might be going on.

T'Lin could not get much through the background of the explosion, so she pulled the scans out further. "Commander I am detecting two Federation ships and at least three Tholian ships. They appear to be engaged in battle. The tricobalt blast radiation is interfering with the finer details, but there appears to be secondary explosions as well." Her panel began to beep and she shook her head. "Lieutenant Sandoval, I am turning sensors over to you. I am getting a coolant leak and loss of power in propulsion pod one. I will attempt to fix it, but will need to use engineering functions in order to do so."

Shizn glanced over at the propulsion readings on his console. He wanted to help with that issue, but had his hands full at the moment guiding the shuttle out of harm’s way.

Marisa entered the command to switch sensor control to her station. "Got it. Good luck with the repairs." She tried to pick up what she could on the secondary explosions.

Aria frowned as she looked at the readings. "We have one Tholian frigate taking heavy damage," she announced, taking in all that was happening with the long-range battle analysis. She recognised one of the ship's signatures and a quick glance told her the worst. "USS Lagrange is taking damage, shields are failing."

T'Lin called out, "We have full engines again. Though coolant is still leaking."

"It'll do," Scarlet pushed away from Shizn's chair with slightly narrowed eyes, her jaw tight as she made her way back to her seat. "It'll have to...Shizn, get us over there, let's see if we can give the Lagrange some breathing space."

“Yes Ma’am”, Shizn replied and vectored the Vincenzo towards the battle. He would have preferred to having the systems at full strength, but they had to deal with what they had, and survive. He increased velocity and reported, “Arrival expected in 20 seconds.” He glanced back in the corners of his eyes, hoping everyone was strapped in. This could get bumpy. “Do we have any additional power for the inertial dampeners?”

"Save it for the fight," Blake motioned to the viewscreen, her head tilting to the side as she stretched the muscles in her neck, her eyes a colder shade of blue with the focus of a battle on the horizon. They had virtually everything going against them...a battered shuttle, make do and mend repairs, power levels down in the doldrums and a warning blinking on every console. Yet, she felt more in control and more alive on the cusp of what was ahead of them than she had ever felt stuck in that barren hiding place left behind them. "We're going to need it..."


Latari A III, The Second Battle of Latari

In high orbit above the green-blue world of Latari A III, the two Federation heavy cruisers continued to exchange fire against their silicon enemies and finally merged into CQB range. Smaller and more maneuverable, the three Tholian frigates initiated point-blank strafing against their larger and clumsier counterparts.

One dart-shaped ship approached the Starfleet command & control vessel from behind and opened fire on its rear shields. A second frigate rolled in behind the first and accelerated over the dorsal shield grid. A bright spider web of tetryon energy sizzled against the Lagrange's deflectors, then both energy shields fizzled from existence.

Aboard the bridge of the Akira-class USS Kali, comm chatter on the linked tactical frequency was a blur.

"-orsal shields offline!"

"Hull breach! Deck thr--"

"Return fire! Roll z-axis 180!"

Sofie tried her best to block out the sounds as more data poured in from the sensor banks. The last couple of minutes had been unkind to Kali and her crew. As the range of the battle had closed to a vicious knife fight the Tholians used their advantage to seemingly to do much more damage to the Federation ships than they were able to send back. Kali's bridge had taken further serious damage, sparks were still erupting from some of the damaged consoles, a medical team had taken the first officer away on a stretcher and Sofie herself was vaguely aware of the fact she was bleeding from somewhere.

Despite the collapsing surroundings the rest of the crew remained seemingly unmoved, trusting in their captain. The whole terror of the situation was keeping Sofie eyes glued to her screens - it felt like they were fighting with their lives hanging in the balance. "That last volley managed to penetrate their defences." Sofie called out as she relayed the information to the tactical station. "We must have had the right configuration."

She couldn't see it but a hungry grin came over the face of the tactical officer "Acknowledged, this next round will maintain those settings."

The captain looked over the tactical display of the ongoing battle. "They have Lagrange cornered." She stated, her voice betraying an emotion other than confidence "There's two of them focused on her, we've got a moment to make a move. What's the status of our shields?"

The Vulcan at ops responded quickly "They're holding well for now, but another concerted effort like that will have similar consequences."

Similar consequences. The bridge had already lost two of its senior officers and the perpetually terrified Sofie did not want to find herself as the next casualty on that list. She tried to block out the rest of the report: hull breaches, casualties, decompressions, evacuations. It was horrible.

"Helm turn us to face Lagrange." The captain ordered and turned to the Tactical officer behind her "Lieutenant Pärt, target our torpedoes on the that ship." She indicated the intended target on the tactical display. "Make this one count Lagrange is counting on us."

"Aye sir," came the responses from helm and tactical.

The powerful warship pulled itself into a turn, its phasers danced with the pursuing Tholian ship in a deadly display of manoeuvrability as it continued its harassment. In front of Kali lay the beleaguered Lagrange doing its best to fight off the two smaller ships. It looked like a lumbering beast being slowly worn down by a pair of organised predators. Smaller and less powerful maybe, but agile and deadly all the same.

"Torpedoes locked on target." reported Lieutenant Pärt. At least she knew his name now "Ready to fire.."

"Go for it." replied the captain with an affirmative wave of her hand.

A plume of photon torpedoes erupted from the launchers mounted on Kali's back and they went streaming towards the Tholian ship. Sofie tracked their path with the intensity of a hawk as they hurtled through space. Despite the chatter of the comms, buzzing of consoles and fizzing of Kali's wounds the bridge felt silent for a moment.

Then came impact. On the visual display the explosion burst outward in an orange bloom. Eyes turned to Sofie as the sensor data came back in.

"Significant damage." She reported, reading the display quickly "They've stopped moving." You couldn't hear the communal exhaling of the held breath but you could feel it - tension switched to relief and then to excitement. "I don't know enough about Tholian shipbuilding to say for sure but it seem they are out of this fight."

The Tellarite captain was beaming "Good job everyone." there was a moment of elation from all before she continued "Now that may have just been a lucky shot, prepare for the next strike, we aren't out of this yet."

From all corners of the bridge came "Aye sir." The fear Sofie had been gripped by momentarily loosened. Maybe they would all make it through this.

The data from the successful strike could hold the key to the engagement so Sofie was over it looking for something to indicate the cause of such a success when another signal came onto the Sensor field. "Another ship approaching." She called out "Its moving quickly, it'll be here in less than a minute."

"Tholian?" Asked the captain.

The Vulcan operation officer responded "Its a Federation signal sir."

The signal was definitely a smaller Federation ship, but it took a moment for Sofie to correctly identify it. "Its Vincenzo one of Galileo's support craft." She may have sounded slightly bemused - she had hardly thought about that team in days, part of her had assumed they had been lost as well.

"Arrival in 20 seconds sir." Reported the Vulcan.

"So this support craft, its has some weapons right?" The captain wryly joked as the small shuttle faded onto the tactical display.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

All Crew, USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Diego
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Kali

RSS Feed