Incoming (Part 2 of 2)
Posted on 23 Jun 2024 @ 11:05am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Lieutenant JG Nusien & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Mackenzie Laren & Ensign Amanda Turell & Chief Petty Officer Katja Becker & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral
3,735 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Pleiades Cluster - USS Galileo-A, USS Galileo-B
Timeline: MD 05, 2257 hrs
Previously, on Incoming (Part 1)...
From the engineering station on the bridge; a place she didn't frequent that often Asha looked at the viewscreen as the Klingon symbols gradually moved closer to the two Starfleet symbols. She'd tasted Klingon blood before and now knew in less than 24hrs she'd have to do it again.
Vren stared impassively on.
He had been one of only twenty survivors when the USS Challenger was destroyed in an ambush; When thousands had been killed or maimed during the assault on Starbase 91, he had not been amongst them; When the USS Endeavour had collided with a warbird he had survived for days in the ruined husk of her hull.
He had eluded death for too long. The three incoming dots would be the reckoning. What else was there left but to send the other ship back, and finally embrace the blackness of the void.
And Now, the Conclusion...
[ON]
Saalm returned to the center of the bridge and back into view of her fellow captain. "We have matched their warp signatures; they're of Klingon origin," she revealed to Tarin. "Two Vor'cha-class heavy cruisers and one K'Vort-class battlecruiser according to our database. We're sending you their schematics and tactical profiles from our database now, but...these are not the same variants which existed your time. The Klingon Empire has become quite adept at upgrading their ships of the line, and we stand no chance of survival in a direct confrontation with them." The inflection in her light voice possessed a somber hardness likely resulting from many years of quantifiable data.
Within Galileo-A's bridge, Tarin allowed the admiral's words to sink in while she felt an uncomfortable pang of anxiety brew in her abdomen. "Understood," came her reply after a short pause of silence before glancing back over her shoulder to Valenis for the security officer's confirmation of receipt.
The link up with the -B had provided the promised files and data. "Schematics and tactical data on the Klingon vessels received captain. I'll start going over them now." Saelihn responded from the rear of the bridge.
Tarin turned back to Saalm and was about to query the Galileo-B's status before a persisting thought forced her to frown. "Klingon vessels still possess cloaking devices in this time period...if their intent is to destroy us, why are revealing themselves so far out?"
"Because they don't fear us." Saelihn responded as she turned to face the open bridge. "If their intent is to destroy us then why hide and attack from the shadows? That's not the Klingon way, they want us to be scared, they want us to know they are coming. Maybe their arrogance is something we can use against them. Klingon battle lust can give them a rather 'singular' focus."
"Can we get a status of their shields from this far out?" Allyndra asked. "If they are fully up, we need to plan for battle, if not, perhaps they have demands."
All Saelihn could think was is that their demands would be blood. Klingon's back in their time were still honour bound warriors and if they smelled blood in the water then they were more likely to strike. Now, so far in the future and Starfleet's enemy, one that had Starfleet on the backfoot with victory all but assured, Saelihn knew their confidence would know no limits and with three vessels against two science vessels... there really was no contest. Not that she would voice that in an open forum. There was always the go down fighting route.
Even using the sensors from the -B there was no way to tell if the Klingon shields were up, down, or sideways. "No Commander. They are too far out even for the joint sensor power of our two ships. We'll have to wait until they get a bit closer, or we can send out a probe to meet them halfway and maybe catch a glimpse more of what we're dealing with." Saelihn suggested.
"I cannot imagine the will worry too much about shields until they are closer." Vala's tone remained cool. Thoughts were picking at the edge of his mind, attempting to instill despair, but he was resistant to them... for now. "We would do well to be gone prior to their arrival."
Toren sucked air in through his teeth and sat back, looking at the rest of the bridge. Some of 'em were hanging by a thread. There wasn't much more to be said that hadn't already been said - if they were still here when the Klingons showed there were few options, and fewer sensible ones.
The multitude of inputs from the surrounding bridge crew were a combination of competing yet accurate assessments. It was probably true that this incoming Klingon task group's visibility had been orchestrated to instill fear and panic within the two Galileo crews. It was also true the Klingons might have demands, but at what cost? Spare the lives of the crews and doom them to imprisonment and subjugation while they took the starships for themselves then gained all of Starfleet's temporal research...which would prevent the -A from going back in time to prevent this war in the first place? The Romulan science officer's last remark was the one which provided the best solution - avoidance.
Tarin returned her attention to Saalm across the still-open comm channel and posited an urgent question. "How long until your ship finishes its repairs to your impulse drive? How long until you can send us back?"
The Orion from the other side of the main viewscreen briefly glanced down to her PADD. Her jet black and gray-striped ponytail lightly bobbed waved across the back of her shoulders while she shook her head with disappointing news. "Current projections estimate 22.5 hours," she answered after looking back up with fatigued light-green eyes. "But we will pull all emergency resources to see that it's completed before then. If we fail to return you back to your time, then we will fail our mission...and that failure will lead to the end of the Federation as we both know it."
Galileo-A's Human captain hardened her gaze at the revelation. The admiral hadn't provided any promises or false hope - it was a brutally honest assessment, and even Tarin understood that shaving multiple hours off a critical repair task was borderline impossible. "Understood. We're standing by if you need any assistance. Tarin out."
The large holographic main viewscreen terminated its transmission then shimmered to display a solid bulkhead. Tarin quickly located her blonde Trill-spotted yeoman then gave her an urgent task. "Make a note in the ship's log: 'Stardate 94383.4; three Klingon warships detected on an intercept course to our current position. Assumed hostile. ETA approximately 20 hours. No warp drive or means of escape possible. Awaiting Galileo-B's completion of repairs to initiate temporal return. Repair timeline approximately 22.5 hours. Admiral Saalm is attempting to expedite. End.'"
"Aye Captain." Jeysa began to type out the log entry, she looked at the officers assembled on the bridge and wondered how many of them would survive to return to their own time, if Lirha's plan would even succeed.
Commander Tarin returned to her chair within the command well and gave Warraquim a subtle shake of her head to silently express her grave concerns. One of her slender fingers tapped the internal comm relay button which opened a ship-wide broadcast.
"All hands, this is the captain," her voice sounded across all decks and compartments. "We've detected three Klingon warships en route to our current position. Estimated time to arrival is approximately 20 hours. We'll remain at Yellow Alert as long as necessary but all power-saving measures will remain in place. Admiral Saalm and I intend to send us back in time through a temporal anomaly before then but we'll be cutting it close. Further updates will follow. This is the captain." Her finger released from the comm button on her chair's small yet robust LCARS interface.
Deck 7, Main Engineering
"Well I guess we're truly screwed now," Donald said to no one in particular. "We barely held off two Romulan scout ships when we were at full power."
"No shit." Mack responded. "I haven't been in a bind like this since the Resistance- and I was a kid back then!"
It was all Mack could do to try and keep the mood light in the current situation. Though given what little time they had left, there wasn't a doubt in the engineer's mind that they would be finished off for sure.
"Oh this ship and its predecessor have been in a jam like this more than once from the stories the crew told me," Donald told Mack.
"Oh, I don't doubt it." Mack replied. "When you serve in Starfleet long enough, you see some crazy shit."
Deck 3, Sickbay
Nusien had been tending to an engineer who took a slip on a ladder. No major injury just a sprained ankle, easily mended. The voice of the Captain caused him to pause in his ministrations. The idea that the ship may be going into battle while in the path stuck him on two sides. First there was the idea of the amount of life that could be lost, then there was the idea that how the lives lost would effect time. As the Chief Medical Officer was not present he decided for the time being he would take charge, after all emergency medicine was one of his specialties.
Nusien turned toward the staff present. "We should take this time to prepare Sick Bay for the incoming wounded. Chief Becker when the fighting starts I would like you to take charge of Triage. Red tags, the most critical patients go through to me. The rest get sent to the appropriate stations. Lieutenant Carlisle if I remember correctly you are a trained emergency physician. We could use the extra set of hands when the fighting starts."
Now that was an order. Katja's spine straightened and her expression turned 'all-business' as the new CMO barked out directives to his staff. "Aye, sir. I'll get em tagged and where they need to go; all Red tags through you." Closed loop communication. Clear, concise. Scheiße, it took the imminent specter of death to feel utterly alive.
It was not the news she wanted to hear, but Delainey knew it could've been a lot worse. They had time to prepare, and although the best made plans went out the window as soon as the first punch was thrown, or so the saying went, that didn't mean they were completely helpless or not going to try their absolute best. "On it," Carlisle replied with a firm nod.
Nusien watched as the Sick Bay staff set about their tasks. Consummate professionals. Impressive... he thought. Nusien turned toward the surgical beds and emergency treatment beds that he would soon have to use. This was indeed the calm before the storm in Sick Bay.
Deck 3, Security Office/Brig
Down in the Galileo's armoury Amanda sat at a workbench, her beloved type 3b phaser rifle lay partially disassembled on the bench as she methodically cleaned and tinkered with the weapon making sure every part was ready to perform flawlessly. If the Klingons made it onto the ship the last thing a lot of them would see would be the orange glare of its emitter crystal as a beam struck them.
Deck 3, Multi-purpose Lab
T'Lin heard the announcement and then the follow up one. "That is the most logical order I have heard." She put her mind to thinking about what might help slow the incoming ships.
Deck 1, Bridge
Rafe's emotions were one. Singleness of focus. They HAD to survive. He had to think. They had to make use of ever- "Captain!", Rafe motioned for Tarin to join him by the NAV console. She left her chair and joined him. He stood up and drew close to her and whispered in her ear. "Forgive me if this is a crazy thought, Captain. Although we are in a different timeline, we are in the same region of space as Cold Station 31. Do you think there may be something salvageable that we might be able to use? We never looked to see what was left. All we wanted to do was leave and survive. We have the shuttles. Do you think we could take a look?!?" The Lieutenant stepped back and gave her some space, looking, hoping.
"Negative," answered Tarin with a swift shake of her head. "There's nothing left of that station - you along with Galileo's away teams made sure of that during your departure. All subsequent scans showed the facility's asteroid completely disintegrated...along with everything it contained." And for good reason, the captain privately concurred. "And don't you dare suggest we go looking for any possible remnants of the cold station's technology to attempt some form of 'alternate' escape," she sternly cautioned.
"Same region of space." The phrase resonated with Allyndra. The quantum black hole had to have disturbed things in space-time. "Captain, this region has experience quite a bit of disturbance. The Romulan quantum hole, our exploding warp core. It is possible that just a little push extra might cause a sub-space rupture if not a full temporal rupture."
Tarin returned to her chair in the command well then looked over to the winged blue-collared second officer. Warraquim was correct that this small pocket of space had been subject to much volatility recently. Compounded with the prospect of now engaging in combat again and the multitude of matter-antimatter explosions which would punctuate the area if such an event took place, there was a very real risk of tearing through the fabric of space-time. "If we tear into subspace...there's no way back for us," she quietly admitted out-loud. "And another temporal anomaly without being singularly focused could send us millions of years into the past. Or the future." She didn't want to consider the consequences of such a fate and so pushed those thoughts away with mental haste.
"Galileo-B is our ticket back home. We're not going to entertain any other ideas right now." Tarin's voice had become sharp yet she slightly softened it before speaking again. "I understand the trepidation any of you might have but we need to stay the course. Trust in each other; trust in our mission; and trust in our sister ship. You're all officers aboard this ship and I expect the best from each of you. More now than ever. Contact your departments' personnel below decks and brief them. We've come this far and there's no turning back now. Understood?"
"Understood captain. However," Allyndra finished. "It might help them with the weakened space-time to speed up what they have planned and give a few minutes ahead of the inbound ships."
"I suspect they could shave off some repair time if they were willing to allow the energies that are generated to create a temporal anomaly to destroy their ship," Vala said in a slightly ethereal tone, "If we succeed when we return then they will cease to exist regardless, thus their sacrifice would be purely... tactical in nature..."
Rafe turned in his chair and recorded a brief to his Conn officers and sent it to them to assist wherever they could, but not to impede, as every second counted. He continued to intermittently monitor the incoming Klingon ships, but also for anything around them, a nebula, any unusual gravity wells within close proximity, that they could use for escape or for tactical advantage. Other than the possible temporal anomaly mentioned, there was nothing, nothing at all. Oh, if only Corbomite was real.
Allyndra was not about to wait, but she would not, in this situation, get into an argument on the bridge. "We are the finest science ship in the fleet. We have a few hours yet to put our collective minds together. The Klingons are headed straight for us. What if we mine a region of space? Use torpedoes, and when they are close enough, set them off. Considering the damage to space-time, it could open a section that they would have to make a detour around or even engulf them. A bit out with the shuttles to place everything and then run back."
"Maybe mix them in with debris from the Romulan scout ships or from our own? We could also minimize their signature with interference of some kind. I'm not sure what. That's Montgomery's area.", Rafe said. Nothing was off the table at this point. He could only hope any idea would help.
The ideation of new tactical solutions relevant to their current predicament was a proactive and welcome occurrence within the bridge. Tarin silently listened to the doctor and the conn officer while musing on the practicality of such a plan. "Our torpedo complement is already low - three quantum warheads and 16 photon. We'll need those for the fight," she shook her head in the negative before raising a pointed finger with a new idea. "However...we still have 30 probes on board, including several Class 7, 8 and 9 casings. Along with two additional warp cores in shuttles Virginia and Livia."
"I wondered about that also. Sorry, I am not sufficiently good enough to figure what a yield from them would do. Still, we make the Klingons veer, turn, pause, or fall into a tear in space gives us extra minutes," Allyndra replied. "And we might if luck is with us even do some significant damage to one or more of them."
"Two overloading warp cores, even shuttle size ones would be quite the explosion." Mimi replied to Allyndra's yield question. "The key would be keeping the Klingons from noticing them until we are ready to detonate them. And getting them in position in time.
"Maybe we could give them some battle damage. Make them look like we used them to fight. Transport? Captain's shuttle?" Allyndra offered.
Vala looked up from his console, having quietly been running various projections and calculations since the idea had been aired. "It is possible. It would be u-unprofessional for me to describe the region of space as I would wish. Suffice to say subspace damage is extensive and further meddling will cause..." He cleared his throat. "... issues. If we can get some distance from it, it may prove to be an effective response to the Klingons..."
"It's risky," remarked Tarin while biting her bottom lip in deep thought. "We'll need sufficient standoff distance from the detonations to avoid damaging both us and the -A and we'll need to avoid attracting premature attention to the delivery devices. That means a shuttle run's out of the question." The logistics of the plan were starting to unfold by way of self-selecting elimination. "We can use our cargo transporter to beam them into position; that should give us both the element of surprise and enough flexibility to adapt to whatever maneuvering strategy the Klingon task group employs. It's not as if they will be ambushing us under cloak," her eyes tightened with a subtle yet devious smirk.
Tarin's attention quickly diverted to her chair's armrest console where she tapped the small LCARS display several times to authorize a new work order. "Valenis and Mimi, get to the torpedo room and retrieve two Class 9 probes then bring them to the shuttlebay. Sera and Vala, send a person from each of your departments to meet them there and begin assembling our new 'mines'."
Vala cocked his head as the Commander's words washed over him. They took a few moments to absorb. It was getting worse. "Of course, Commander, I will have Officer T'Lin report as soon as is practicable."
"Yes, captain." Saelihn responded after Vala. Turning back to her console she logged herself off as the console itself turned back to auxiliary readouts. She then rose from her chair and looked over at Ensign Mimi so they could leave the bridge together.
Securing her auxiliary station Mimi turned and fell in behind Saelihn as she headed for the turbolift.
"Aye sir..." She responded to Tarin's orders. Sera tapped on her commbadge, "Sera to MacKenzie. Please report to the shuttlebay. Bring your toolkit. There will be probes to modify." As if that was an inducement for compliance.
"Aye, sir:" Came Mack's response. "Can we spare four extra sets of hands?"
Sera looked down to her hands and looked confused for a moment. She only had two hands. Perhaps the new doctor? But that was only three extra hands...ah. Two people. He needed two more people. Why not just say that?
"I will endeavor to find you the additional sets of hands you seek, Ensign." There. That sounded like she had everything together.
"Understood." Mack sighed. There was evidence in the deputy engineer's voice that the Bajoran was disappointed with the Vulcan's answer, but she would make do regardless.
[OFF]
--
CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]
Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
Ensign Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A
PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]
PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]
Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Galileo-A
PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]
Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Acting Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
Lieutenant Junior Grade Nusien
Deputy Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
Ensign Mackenzie Laren
Deputy Engineer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
MCPO Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]
CPO Katja Becker
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sera]
LTJG Delainey Carlisle
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A
ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]
LTJG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A