Dare the Impossible (Part 4 of 5)
Posted on 25 Jul 2024 @ 3:47pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander (La) Kuran & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Lieutenant JG Nusien & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Mackenzie Laren & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Commander (La) Torn & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral & Petty Officer 3rd Class Lucrete
3,996 words; about a 20 minute read
Mission:
Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Pleiades Cluster, Sector 189, Block 02
Timeline: MD 06, 1921 hrs
Previously, on Dare the Impossible (Part 3)...
In space, the Mark III Nova-class USS Galileo-B's arrow-shaped primary hull began to blow apart from within as explosive charges embedded into the ship's bulkheads erupted with flaming ferocity. Multiple rippling detonations blasted the vessel's sleek hull into sparking and fiery pieces of debris before a final simultaneously-timed explosion blew apart the entire front portion of the saucer section with spectacular yet sorrowful glory. Self-destruct charges within the secondary hull were next to activate. The primary deflector array blew out then the heart of the ship violently shattered into multiple pieces, sending each dormant nacelle pylon flying away from the vessel before they too exploded. The entire sequence took less than five seconds and the bright, dire spectacle within the cosmos quickly began to abate. Where Galileo-B and its crew once existed, now its broken and torched remnants permanently marked the stars.
And Now, the Continuation...
[ON]
USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge
USS Galileo-A continued to maneuver at combat impulse within the constraints of her designated attack pattern against the Vor'cha-class heavy cruiser. Yet the Mark II Nova-class' alpha strike containing its entire torpedo complement and additional phaser fire had done pitiful damage to the Klingon warship which had only resulted in the downing of a single shield facing that was now recharging. Larger, more technologically advanced and capable of generating sufficiently more internal systems power, the small science vessel was completely outclassed against its opponent.
"I have a message from Admiral Saalm on the emergency channel Captain." Mimi reported as the message began to be decoded and translated on her screen. "The temporal anomaly is open, we are to get through it as quickly as possible." She paused as the last line of the message came through. "She says it has been a pleasure to fight by your side."
Tarin's eyes privately brightened upon hearing the Orion rear admiral's message and confirmation of their sister ship's completed objective. Finally. The moment she and her crew had been awaiting for many days was now upon them...albeit not at the most opportune moment considering the present Klingon engagement. "Send our acknowledgement and thank the admiral for her diligence. Inform them we'll be at the designated coordinates momentarily to assist them."
Vala grasped his console with one hand and his head with the other. The pain of the wound gave him some much needed clarity as data erratically scrolled on the screen. It didn't take much interpretation.
"C-Commander the B has began a s-self destruct sequence." His voice was ethereal and felt distant.
"Not more than a couple o' seconds remaining, either, sah." Toren chipped in, also following the data stream, "Putting her on screen."
Allyndra watched as the Galileo-B disappeared in a mighty explosion. "Farewell, Admiral, in this time line or another, you were always a friend to me."
Mimi looked up at just the wrong moment as the Galileo-B exploded, she screwed her eyes shut not wanting to see it. "...Asha.." She said quietly.
Vala forced his eyes to the screen. He had never approved of their methods, but they had been convinced their mission was one worth doing. He balled his hand into a fist and placed it over his heart in a traditional salute.
Toren shoved himself to his feet, standing to attention as the ship disintegrated, a pang of awful, existential pain crossing his heart as his son was wiped away.
The previously-optimistic features of Commander Tarin quickly turned severe and the color drained from her pale freckled cheeks. Witnessing the destruction in real-time of another Nova-class starship - even one from the future - was a sobering reminder of her own crew's fragility; and witnessing Rear Admiral Saalm and her crew sacrifice their lives in the fiery explosion intimately reinforced the dire mission both Galileos needed to complete. Now, only one remained.
The end of things is inevitable. No-one lives forever, not really. Even El Aurians have an expiry date but there was something about going out on your own terms that made Saelihn respect the auto-destruct. She hadn't known the people on board the other Galileo, but it was still saddening to see a loss of life on any scale. Stoically she watched as the ship brightened the galaxy's horizon.
Since the crew knew the Klingons were closing in, Rafe had the feeling all along that there would be only two outcomes, the demise of both Starfleet vessels and the failure of the mission, or the Galileo-B being destroyed while buying time, in the ultimate and highest display of Starfleet ideals, for her older sister ship to make it back to her own time. Usually, Rafe was able to compartmentalize. However, this moment had such finality, even if they were able to get back to their time. He would never see this version of these people he talked to and fought beside in this brief span of time...time...if only they had had more. He bowed his head and closed his eyes and said a secret prayer for them and their families, if they still existed.
Rafe raised his head, fury in his eyes. "Bring it you filthy animals!!!", he said under his breath as his hands started moving over the console in attempts to save the gallant crew.
Another volley of disruptor fire closely missed the tiny Nova-class and momentarily illuminated the dark combat environment of the bridge with lime green flashes. Urgency abounded yet Tarin's determined hazel eyes had floated down to the deck plating. The rear admiral was dead, along with her entire crew...the crew of those who'd served her both past and present, and their future biological legacies. It was hard to focus in the moment of processing but the New York City-born captain steeled her resolve and finally issued an order. "Helm, disengage from the Klingon warship immediately and set course for the anomaly. Full impulse! Ops, take weapons offline and divert their power to the aft shiel--" She didn't make it through her second order before she was unceremoniously flung forward out of her chair and on to the command deck following another severe impact to the ship's hull.
Outside the confines of Galileo-A's cramped interior, the Nova-class struggled to shake the larger Vor'cha warship which had expertly maneuvered to maintain an ideal firing position above and behind the small Starfleet vessel at medium range. And fire again, it had. A full volley from its forward disruptor cannons tore through the black cosmos and again slammed into the exposed dorsal hull of the science ship just above the auxiliary cargo bay along the vessel's spine. A second repeating volley followed suit after automatic targeting adjustments and directly impacted the large, red-glowing impulse engine of the Federation ship. The vectored exhaust director shattered and exploded then was followed by several direct hits to the housing of the driver coil assembly which compromised the impulse reaction chamber and took it offline.
Galileo's silver outer hull suddenly crawled with cascading blue energy arcs which propagated across the entirety of the starship like the fingers of an adept pianist. Primary and secondary systems began to fail and the vessel's red Bussard collectors momentarily fluctuated before going offline. External running lights ceased their illumination along with internal lighting throughout many decks, leaving the Nova-class now disabled and running only on emergency power.
Allyndra grabbed the console she was standing by as the ship bucked under the weight of the energy blasts before the blue of something else crawled over the outside. "Reports!"
The display on Mimi's console flickered and died from the sudden change in power supply, it came back online for only a few moments but long enough for her sharp eyes to pick out the most important points. "Our impulse driver coil is gone, main and secondary power is offline. Hull breaches on multiple decks, forcefields are offline." She reported as she moved to another console.
As the impact of the Klingons weapon fire hit the ship Saelihn's console had exploded forcing her backwards and down onto the ground. Her face was not littered with remnants of the console and a large shard had penetrated her body just beneath her left shoulder and collarbone. "Weapons systems offline, shields inoperable." was all she could muster as that was the readout just before it disintegrated before her eyes.
"Impulse is offline, Captain. We are running on emergency battery power only.", Rafe stated. He knew they were up a creek. And they had just ran out of paddles.
Vala grasped the cracked console as the fire rained in. He could feel a trickle of blood running down his face. Best not to draw too much attention to it. The pain acted as a salve for the psychosis.
The screen in front of him dimmed, then lost most of the incoming data.
"Primary sensors o-ffline, C-Commander." He stammered, his fingers already tapping out lines of code into the weakening console. "Secondary systems at... well... n-negligible efficacy. For now."
Deck 7, Main Engineering
Power relay overloads resulting from the destruction of the impulse reactor's critical components rippled throughout many sections of Galileo but primarily targeted the essential power control and distribution hubs down in the bowls of the vessel. Within main engineering, cobalt energy tendrils audibly sizzled across every console before discharging their charged energy into the terminals and the poor occupants who were close by.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Lucrete's dark blue eyes went wide when his fingers suddenly fused to the console he was presently manipulating. His mouth opened as if to scream but only silence ensued while he convulsed from electrocution. Then, his station overloaded and exploded, sending ejected debris directly into his face and torso along with a blast which blew him backwards with a loud thud when the back of his torso impacted the floor.
The massive discharge of energy came at a crackling frequency that caused Sera to clamp her hands over her sensitive ears. Blue eyes watched glowing blue skittering ropes of current as it whipped through a number of critical consoles, frying everything in it's path.
The smell of fried circuitry and ozone began to permeate main engineering, and additional pops and sparking eruptions intermittently ignited as additional tech succumbed to the overload unleashed from the Klingon's latest volley.
Time slowed down in that moment, her thrumming heartbeat decelerated to audible thumps, vaguely reminiscent of the slow metronome of Lamar's human cardiac pump. Hands moved from her ears, and her head swept across the haze of the space to see Lucrete being blown backwards to land like a broken doll upon the floor.
Thud...thud...thud... Sera stood statue still until as if a band snapped and everything sped back up...time again seemed to be playing tricks on her mind.
"Lucrete!" She called as whatever spell was broken and rushed over to her subordinate and fell to her knees to assess him.
"Damage report!" She yelled out as she reached down to touch his neck to check for a pulse.
The young non-commissioned engineer's burnt uniform jacket was littered with console debris embedded in his chest and abdomen. The fair skin of his hands and wrists was torched deep charcoal with third degree burns and his collar bone, neck and one side of his face also displayed similar injuries of varying scale. Red blood poured from his neck and swollen eye and he coughed before slightly squirming with intense pain. "...Ensign...'Era..." he whispered in a croaked voice, "...am I dying...?"
"The deuterium reactor is offline." Mack coughed. The pain in her ribs was making it difficult to breathe. Either that, or blood was entering her lungs. "Restart checklist!"
Sera nodded silently to Mac's response but her focus was on Lucrete. She was unsure of how to answer the petty officer's question...she wasn't a healer. Slowly, hesitantly, Sera reached out her fingers to the side of his face not a ruin of electrical burns. It was a feather-light touch, and it gave her a lot of immediate data...but it was confusing. Human physiological functions operated at different speeds, temperatures...etc. She did feel that his life-force was failing, however.
"Ensign Sera to sickbay - we have a medical emergency and need immediate assistance."
Looking over to her shoulder, she saw MacKenzie's pained posture and her normally relaxed mouth pulled down into an outright frown.
"Acknowledged Ensign. Triage teams are enroute to Engineering now." Nusien replied over comms. He made sure to get his plasma burn treatment kit at the ready.
Sitting on her heels, Sera's normally ordered mind reeled. No warp core...now no deuterium reactor - cause of failure, undetermined?
The last threads of rationality whispered that perhaps the captain should be told?
Laughter bubbled up from her throat, and Sera indulged, even as she kept her fingers on Lucrete's face in an attempt to stabilize him - using her own vitality to do it. The last thing she wanted to do was to write another letter.
Still chuckling with a sort of gallous humor, Sera tapped her commbadge again and in a tone that was entirely incongruous with the message, began speaking. "Ensign Sera to Captain Tarin...we've lost the reactor and have sustained casualties."
A static-laden intership comm reply broke through the interference and sounded back to the acting chief engineer. "Ensign, we've--ost primary and secon--ry power and maneuver--. Get us back on--ne immediately!" There was a rare and intrinsic sense of urgency in Tarin's animated inflection which conveyed Galileo's dire straits.
Primary and secondary power out? With the electrical feedback loop here? Sweet Surak...did the Klingon weapon strike the impulse reactor? A direct hit could have potentiated a critical power surge...and they had already primed the entire system for overload with all of the splicing to squeeze every last drop of power out of every aspect of the ship.
If Sera's theory was correct the rather spectacular 'light show' they all just witnessed was the power discharge caused by the rupture of every EPS conduit on the ship.
I can't fix this...
"Aye sir." Was what she responded with. Looking down to Lucrete - there was nothing more she could do for him; someone from sickbay was coming.
Eyes softening, Sera removed her fingers from his face with a soft caress and stood.
"MacKenzie; I'm going to inspect the reactor...see if there is anything that can be done. When medical gets here...go with them, Ensign. Get patched up and back here as soon as you can."
"Understood, Ensign." Came Mack's sighed response. She was evidently relieved that she was finally being let off the hook so that she may be returned to full operating capacity. "Thank you, sir."
Donald moved quickly around engineering trying his best to keep the ship running, his usual pattern of getting injured quickly as soon as the phasers began flying had been broken so far. Debris missed him by inches, an electrical discharge split the air only a second after he passed that section. He saw both Lucrete and Mack get injured pretty badly as the ship he helped build began to come apart beneath him. "I'm coming with you boss, it's going to be a long climb though, don't know if we'll even get there in time to do anything useful."
"I have no objection, petty officer. I am aware of distances involved in this particular trek. More challenging than the height, however, is the likelihood that it will not be a straight ascent."
"You're not wrong there, if we've lost everything but the batteries the turbolifts will be offline." Donald ran to the closest Jefferies tube access point and pulled the hatch open. "This way, across two sections then up as far as we can."
Deck 1, Bridge
Saelihn blinked as she tried to focus on the console she'd managed to commandeer after her own became a rather large charred hole in the bridges wall. Her face screaming with the shards of console she dare not touch, and her shoulder she was pretty sure the shard in there had cut something as she found her mobility in her left arm sluggish and difficult. "Klingon ship approaching for another run captain." she yelled for the bridge crew to hear.
Commander Tarin tightened her hazel eyes and dug her short fingernails into the palms of her hands with begrudging fortitude. It had been a battle well fought during which her starship had achieved its own personal victory. But now, without power to the shields, weapons and auxiliary systems - and with a disabled impulse engine - she could hardly foresee victory. Only their certain demise at the hands of the Klingon heavy cruiser about to enter weapons range and fire on her defenseless vessel. Anger, remorse, trepidation and morbid humour combined and threatened to overwhelm her senses. She stood from her chair and stepped into the center of the bridge with practiced formal posture and hard stoicism. Was this what Admiral Saalm's final moment's had been like as well? She slapped her commbadge.
"All hands, this is the captain. We're currently disabled and defenseless. Until Engineering restores our impulse reactor, we have no way of reaching the temporal anomaly and returning to our time." she curtly explained with haste in her inflection. "Prepare for incoming fire and remember your duties to your shipmates." Another strong slap against her breast closed the ship-wide communication then opened a new one to engineering. "Tarin to M'Lyr'Zor, it's time to go. Do your job and get our impulse reactor back online!"
Rafe was thinking, he had to make them smaller. He used the maneuvering thrusters to turn the ship directly away from the Vor'cha-class warship to provide a smaller cross section for the Klingons to shoot at. He waited for them to fire again and he would do what he could. Aside from that, they were dead in the water.
Vala continued to aggressively tap out lines of code and algorithms into his console. The cracks where his head had struck the panel minutes earlier were beginning to spread like a spiders web with each impact.
Secondary sensors were not particularly responsive but as moments passed he began to paint a picture of the void outside.
Things slowly slid into place. Neutrino emissions. Unusual particles were spreading from a previously unoccupied part of the voice. No. Not... not ideal.
"C-Commander," his head was splitting, swimming, "A ship d-decloaking. A-Aft of the Vor'cha."
Tarin's head swiveled around to look at the science officer just in case she was hallucinating from stress. Another enemy vessel. Her ship was already crippled and now the Klingons were attempting to gloat - to prove they possessed superior numbers and stealth which the Federation, or what was left of it, could never match. "On screen!" she commanded through her tightened jaw while balling her fists in primal anger.
Galileo's large main holographic viewscreen blinked and magnified a shimmering object in the near distance slightly above and behind the Vor'cha-class heavy cruiser. Transparent and fluid visual waveforms rippled as the vessel approached at seemingly high velocity while an olive green primary hull quickly materialized into existence along with a set of downswept ventral nacelle pylons and glowing red and green nacelles. A bulbous forward structural component was joined to a robust aft engineering section reminiscent of older K't'inga-class heavy cruisers, yet there was no mistaking the larger size and modernization of this ship design. Its silhouette against the backdrop of space was unmistakable to Tarin: a D8-class battlecruiser. A chance? A hope.
Allyndra was still tending to some of the wounded as she looked up at the screen. There was dread at first, wondering if another Klingon vessel was simply wanting the glory of destroying the crippled science ship. "Soon, my husband, we shall dance with the Twins together." There was nothing more that could be done. The probes as mines had been the last roll of the dice as the Earthers would call it.
"Captain, its the Praxis!" Saelihn almost cheered if there wasn't a small grimace at the pain her involuntary action caused her.
In space, the D8-class warship swiftly ambushed its target...which was not Galileo but the Vor'cha-class imminently preparing to fire again against the small science vessel. Praxis' large forward torpedo launcher glowed bright green then flared, sending two consecutive heavy photon torpedoes quickly guiding toward the center of their target. A simultaneous, furious volley of disruptor cannon and beam fire unleashed from Praxis against its enemy's weak rear shields just before the two twisting antimatter warheads punched through then impacted the Vor'cha's exposed secondary hull. The precision alpha strike broke the back of the ship resulting in two glorious explosions which tore its aft spaceframe nearly in half along its centerline. Secondary explosions rippled throughout the ship while it listed out of control and past the Nova-class, no longer a threat to any starship.
IKS Praxis
Unseen within the D8-class' bridge, a pair of half-leather-gloved hands released the side handles of the command station's large targeting periscope then slapped them upward. The weapons control platform automatically retracted into the ceiling's bulkhead with a soft mechanical whine, revealing the face and body of Commander Kuran. The Klingon captain's large and prominent cranial ridges, upturned bushy eyebrows, dark eyes and powerful braided Fu Manchu reflected the focused and intense aura of battle which permeated the hardness of his features yet were momentarily broken by a satisfied sharp-toothed grin.
At the Tactical console, Torn turned to look at the Captain. The hair of his pony tail, the only hair on the Klingon officer's head, swung quickly with his movement. His one good eye sought out his Commanding Officer, before giving his report. "A direct hit!" He called out. "Their weapons and engines are destroyed, and they have no power! They are no threat!"
"Those Ha'DIbaH will never find the gates of Sto-vo-kor..." Kuran lifted his chin with pride at his vessel's first tactical victory against a worthy opponent from this time period. But combat was fluid and such accomplishments were often fleeting. "Range to the next target?" he barked.
"The other ship has turned this way." Came Torn's reply as he watched the sensors of his console. "It is a Vor'cha class battleship. Distance, 50 kilogams. They will be in firing range in 35 seconds!"
Kuran's features scrutinized the current tactical situation and his eyes narrowed. Time. The enemy of all and never discerning. "Contact Galileo immediately. It is time they know of these other 'Klingons' treachery."
To Be Continued...
[OFF]
--
CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
Commander Kuran
Commanding Officer
IKS Praxis
[PNPC Tarin]
Commander Torn
Weapons Master
IKS Praxis
[PNPC Jasoncollege24]
CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Saelihn Valenis
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Nusien
Deputy Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A
ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Deputy Engineer
USS Galileo-A
ENS Mackenzie Laren
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
MCPO Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]
PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]
PO3 Lucrete
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[NPC Tarin]