The Fiery Crucible (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 18 Nov 2024 @ 5:25pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Serran & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Amanda Turell & Petty Officer 3rd Class Yasmin Aquino & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral

3,467 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 5, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD 03, 1821 hrs

Previously, on The Fiery Crucible (Part 1)...

The small silver-hulled Nova-class starship streaked toward the border at rapid warp velocity while swiftly closing the distance between the Kobayashi Maru and surrounding Tholian vessels. Perhaps too swiftly. The high warp factor would make combat targeting more difficult but also reduce the time available for any actionable transporter cycles and recovery operations. It was certainly a gamble...and one which was responded to without delay. Along the other side of the border, the four Tholian frigates' tetrahedral forms detected the incoming intruder and maneuvered into a spread formation to intercept the detected intruder.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

"They're forming an attack formation, phasers are locked on lead ship." Amanda reported, her fingers twitched over the fire button wanting to shoot first.

Allyndra could see Turell wanting to fire. "Not yet Ensign Turell, we don't until they do. As we pass, if they are shooting then drop the shuttle core. Officer Aquino broadcast that we are not hostile but are here to affect a rescue. Lieutenant Caradec as close to the web as possible and then turn. Science and ops you will have one brief chance."

Her right arm twitching to the point of almost shaking Amanda had to use her other arm to steady it and take it off the console screen lest the movement accidentally depress the fire symyabol and open the engagement before the Captain wanted.

Serran looked up from his console. "I am transferring power to our forward shields and weapons. It will give us 5.23 minutes to execute the plan. Let us hope that is enough time to succeed."

Yasmin received her orders and sent out a general broadcast. To her recolection, Tolians are very territorial. She prayed to God that they would receive her broadcast with peaceful intent. Otherwise...

"This is the USS Galileo. We are responding to a Federation ship in distress and are engaging in a rescue. We will leave Tholian space as soon as rescue is complete. Again, this is the USS Galileo, and we are engaging in a rescue of a Federation ship in distress."

In space, the USS Galileo-A entered Tholian space on the silicon-based lifeforms' side of the border. The Federation vessel's high warp speed gave it an initial tactical advantage but it was quickly negated when two of the frigates released tangerine-colored tendrils to predictively snare the Nova-class vessel from its warp bubble when it came into close range. Though a full web couldn't be formed, the energy-damping weapon's initial effects were sufficient enough to unceremoniously drag Galileo out of warp and wreak havoc on its primary systems.

Caradec's eyes were glued to the data being displayed in real time on the LCARS panel before him. His turn had to be precise and within a whisper of the web's distructive power. Closer, closer...NOW! Rafe turned the ship on a dime and then all hell broke loose!

The silver blur which was the Nova-class snapped down to impulse velocity and began to slowly tumble. Inside the starship, primary lighting flickered while several overhead conduits blew and alert klaxons sounded to highlight the new peril the ship faced. Tactical systems began to degrade and the primary propulsion mechanisms failed to produce their necessary intermix reactions to power the ship. Navigational control was reduced to thruster maneuvering only until the impulse reactor could re-initialize, and all the while the Tholian quad moved to surround them.

Sera gripped at the edges of the engineering station as the ship was torn from warp and rapidly decelerated. At least inertial dampeners were still functional in the simulation. Her eyes rapidly scanned over the scrolling data and alarms that were blaring, bringing each one up and in dismissing based on severity and what she wanted to be done with them. "We have lost warp; impulse engines are temporarily off-line. I do not yet have an estimate on repair time."

Amanda barely held onto the tactical console as the ship was pulled from warp. "Weapons are offline." She called out over the sounds of klaxons after checking the readouts on the console. "Shields are holding though."

Rafe went through the list of navigation items that were offline. "We have maneuvering thrusters only! Engineering, I need that warp core! Reinitialize!!! Working on getting impulse engines, Commander!"

Allyndra was surprised that the Tholians could even attempt a partial web at the moment. She heard the reports. "Eject the shuttle warp core and put thrusters on full away. It might be a bumpy ride." An odd memory went through her head as though she had been in something like this once before, but she shook her head as she needed to concentrate on the here and now.

Sending a warning down the the shuttlebay Amanda began to drop the shields around the rear of the ship. "Lowering aft shields, opening shuttlebay doors." A small gap in the forcefield opened too and out of it the jury rigged explosive shuttle warp core was sent through. "Warp core is outside the ship

The Tholian ships had followed the small ship, when the ejected warp core from the shuttle went off almost literally in their silicone faces. More alarms went off on the Galileo as the impact slammed into the rear shields but the burst pushed the vessel which was already moving via thrusters away. "Whatever, it takes, I need the warp engines back, set a course for the border shortest distance. Can we get a scan of damage to the Tholian vessels." Allyndra knew that the blast meant the end of the freighter.

"Impulse engines will be back up within a minute; regarding warp...at least we are not at cold-start...however, it's going to take sometime to get the temperature and pressure up to functional status, and the antimatter streams into alignment...at least 4.5 minutes at current trajectory, Commander." Oh how Sera found it most disagreeable to be the harbinger of 'bad news.'

Galileo's small shuttecraft warp core detonations were anything but tiny; their collective matter/anti-matter explosions momentarily confounded their mothership's sensors and produced a blinding bright white light and an accompanying spherical shockwave which impacted three of the swarming Tholian vessels and annihilated their hulls. SS Kobayashi Maru - her shields down and hull integrity already failing - stood no chance. The energy wave tore through the Federation vessel and disintegrated it like a torch to paper. Over the ship-to-ship comm channel, final cries of the civilian crew's imminent and ensuing death reverberated through the Nova-class' bridge then became silent when they ceased to exist.

Ullswater didn't let the silence linger. She knew it needed breaking, else the crew would dwell on those last sounds of death. They needed to be back in action, their ship wasn't out of the woods yet. "Sensors confirm four ships destroyed, three of them Tholian. The last one is still on us, sir." Though her report was to the captain her eyes were on tactical as she delivered the last sentence.

"The Tholians won't have them to torture," Allyndra said grim faced. She knew that sometimes you had to make decisions on patients when there were many and who to save. Her goal now was try to get the Galileo away if possible.

"Impulse at full. What is the status of weapons?"

Rafe piped in, "Impulse at full, aye, Commander!" acknowledging her command.

The Nova-class attempted to flee but the delay in its fusion reactor run-up wasted precious seconds which allowed its adversary to enter weapons range and begin firing. Galileo's aft shield grids pulsed and shimmered from consecutive sapphire tetryon beam impacts which shook the interior of the vessel and produced several conduit overloads within the bridge. Eruptions of sparks descended from the overhead relays before an electrically-charged sizzling of the auxiliary console danced across its LCARS surface then exploded in the yellow-collared-operator's face.

"Come on you damm thing....." Amanda almost shouted at the console as she tried to get the weapons systems working again moments before the explosion caught her. She hit the deck with a thud bleeding heavily from numerous wounds in her chest and face, her breathing got shallower as the seconds passed until her long awaited peaceful embrace of death took her.

The Tholian frigate continued firing with pinpoint accuracy. Another volley of beam fire impacted the Nova-class' rear then collapsed its aft shields.

"Turn the ship to present working shields. Then if we still have them, fire anything we have. Back away aft full power!" Allyndra stood patting at sparks that singed at her skin and hair.

Rafe turned the ship to face the Tholian barrage, quickly retreating at full power, yet so slow compared to the Tholian ship. "Retreating, but not fast enough, Com...", Rafe stopped mid-sentence, seeing the dead Ensign on the floor. Turning back to his station, he started rerouting anything that could help give them any speed at all.

USS Galileo-A completed its maneuver to come about-face to its adversary, then slowly began to reverse its acceleration. On the main viewscreen, the silicon-hulled trapezoidal frigate continued to purse and fire, growing larger and larger as it approached to point blank range. Repeated bursts of its tetryon weapons struck the Nova-class' weakened shields and started to penetrate, one after another striking critical components of the vessel before a final one directly sliced into the forward section of the bridge and disintegrated every crew member within the command center.

"Computer, end simulation," loudly projected a distinctively dry and annoyed voice from the rear of the holographic bridge in a hidden observation room behind the engineering station. The smokey interior replica of Galileo suddenly shimmered and reverted to a bright and pristine version with a blank star field devoid of any Tholian vessels. Commander Morgan Tarin slowly walked forward into the center of the room with both the COB and yeoman in tow while glancing around to the various officers present. "Excellent performance, Ensign Turell," she casually complimented along the way.

"Thank you Captain." Amanda said and somewhat slowly sat up and shuffled along the deck to rest against the now intact again auxiliary station glad she hadn't managed to dislocate her shoulder again in her exuberant death. "I just hope it's so peaceful when it finally happens for real."

"Let's hope it never happens, yes?" Tarin abhorred the thought of any harm coming to Galileo despite her personal and somewhat trivial disdain for the small science vessel. Privately, however, she was becoming somewhat enamored by the ship's 'uniqueness' and fragility.

Approaching the winged XO and the science chief, Tarin stopped several paces short then turned her head to the COB. "A spectacular failure if I've ever seen one - would you agree, master chief?"

Allyndra waited patiently. *Here comes the inevitable tongue lashing for a scenario that no matter what you do is going to result in failure* She thought to herself.

Toren nodded, his gaze drifting around the now pristine bridge where the Galileo's simulated wreckage had disappeared in a flicker. "Spectacular failure? Aye, sah, you could call it that," he replied, a wry glint in his eyes. "But truth is, there's no grit in a crew that's never faced a wall with no doors and had to find the mettle to keep hammerin'. You don't learn your steel on the wins." He tipped his head toward Allyndra and Ullswater. "What we've got here is a team that can think on their feet - and that'll keep us alive a damn sight longer than any tac manual will."

"It was very good sir, I liked the bit with the shuttle explosion." Sofie's tone was irreverent, she believed this simulation undeserving of reverence, but she also did want to reassure the commander. "Couldn't have gone any better anyway."

Allyndra continued to keep silence. This was to learn not to argue. She had to agree the crew, especially Ullswater had done a fantastic job given what they had been given.

Subtle creases formed at the edges of Tarin's hazel eyes which narrowed with a mixture of perplexity and demurral. "I see." Ullswater was the first who she addressed, walking closer to the second officer. "You 'liked the bit' where you violated Tholian territory then decided the best course of action once Galileo became disabled was to destroy several of their vessels before a single shot had been fired at you? That's how existential wars begin, Number Two. Especially involving xenophobic species such as the Tholians," she briefly lectured with extra-dry and unamused inflection.

The captain then turned to face the tall winged-Akkadian first officer before firmly shaking her head. "And Number One...if you ever take this ship into combat again against a superior force in open space while possessing no tactical advantage, I'll do you the favor of setting the auto-destruct myself. You should know better and you're lucky you died here with the rest of your crew. That way you wouldn't have to write to their families explaining why your gross negligence killed their children."

"No sir, I said I liked the bit with the shuttle explosion, I thought the computer rendered it quite prettily." Ullswater could only assume this was all part of some scheme of the captain, that the test had in fact not ended yet. Why else would she be so hounding of Warraquim for what everyone in the room knew was a test with no good outcomes. "Perhaps you could start with what you see as the important points of this simulation. We might then be able to offer some more interesting commentary aside from discussion of holography."

"Aye, captain," Allyndra responded. She knew that like the medical exam for chief medical officers, it was to learn from what they did, not argue. "Duly noted. I will only add that the crew did an exemplary job in a no-win situation. Any fault in what was done was mine alone."

Tarin's hands clasped behind her waist while she professionally adjusted her stance to place both senior officers in front of her. "The crew executed your orders as instructed; I can't find any fault in their performance," she agreed with the first officer's assessment of the other department heads and junior officers in the holodeck. "The purpose of this simulation isn't to test competency, however." That important revelation was directed primarily to Ullswater. "It's to evaluate your command styles and rapid critical thinking abilities. I care less how you failed and whether or not a task was performed properly versus why you failed... What considerations were running through your minds when issuing orders? Would you violate Starfleet protocols to accomplish the mission? Place more emphasis on the Kobayashi Maru's crew's survival than your own, or vice versa?" She paused for a short moment to hold Warraquim's compound sapphire blue eyes. "These are the intangibles Starfleet tests for, the ones not taught in class or in textbooks."

"My first impulse, captain, was to let the Maru go. There was such a short time window. As indicated, to cross the border would be a violation. It's not like I have not had to let patients go realizing that not much could be done. My second thought was to do such a thing would have looked like weakness to the crew. Thus we had to do something. I believe, captain, that we had a very good chance to make a quick sweep and transport. I certainly gave the Tholians more than enough to respond to our request. I will say that while dangerous, I did believe we had a chance to get in and get out." Allyndra took a deep breath. "From what I know of Tholian web usage, this was beyound the ordinary technical ability and is an artifice of the programme."

Sacrificing the Kobayashi Maru. Sacrificing patients for the greater good. That burden and its connection Tarin could sympathize with but not empathize, for she'd never personally encountered such a situation during her specialized career track. Then there was the mention of weakness which disturbed her more than anything else the XO explained. "The crew takes orders from you for a reason - because you're their commanding officer. The second you place their approval of your actions above your own prerogative is when you become an ineffective captain. As for the Tholian tactical systems replicated here? Starfleet went almost four decades without contact with them until this ship, under Captain Saalm, encountered them in the Latari system." Tarin pursed her lips and slowly paced around Warraquim's lithe form. "They almost achieved a decisive victory against a Starfleet task group and we still lack intelligence of their full capabilities. Many starship captains and their crews have been lost because they didn't understand their adversaries' capabilities... The Battle of Wolf 359; the Second Battle of Chin'toka. Critical failures of intelligence which cost the lives of thousands. It's not your fault for not knowing but it's your error in not knowing what you don't know."

Allyndra listened without comment. This was a learning experience. She waited until Tarin appeared to be finished. "Understood. There is much to transition yet from running a sickbay to a scenario like this. All I can offer, captain, is to work at more simulations and learn."

The words just spoken by Galileo's new first officer produced a curt nod from the captain. They demonstrated both maturity, composure and a willingness to grow as an officer. "I'll hold you to that. For what it's worth, your performance today was better than my entire series at the Academy. Repetition will create familiarity and grow your confidence. I expect you to be a sponge and absorb as much information as you can over the next several months," She turned to face Ullswater as well, "- both of you. We'll re-run this simulation next week. In the meantime, grab some food and meet me in the ready room in a half-hour for a detailed debrief."

Allyndra came to attention and saluted. "Yes, Captain Tarin." She knew like practicing a tricky procedure, that practice improved one's skill, so this was not going to be anything different, just a different skill.

"Another piece of advice? Don't salute me or our fellow officers in the future," Tarin advised "We're not the old disbanded Starfleet Marine Corps. I like to believe we're professional enough that obeisance is the standard." Her then eyes surveyed the holographic bridge one final time. "The rest of you are dismissed. Good work here today."

Allyndra relaxed. She noted that the rest were dismissed, not her.

"Number One, come with the master chief and I to the aft terminal. We're going to review your maneuvering orders while under fire."

"Yes captain," Allyndra replied. She said it without sounding like she was tired. It so reminded her of medical school going over a procedure.

Ullswater waited for a few seconds, letting the command group move off to their analysis before giving a little shooing hand gesture and addressing the remaining officers "You heard the captain: time to scarper. I'm sure you've all got important things to be doing. We'll go again in a fortnight, get ready for it."

Sera did not need to be ordered twice. She dipped her head at Ullswater in silent acknowledgement of her directive. A two week reprieve...and then another unwinnable simulation. She wondered just how this might impact morale to continue to run scenarios with no possibility of success. Was this mean to be some sort of obscure metaphor that she did not understand?

It appeared somewhat futile to prepare in order to fail. Wait, why was she even questioning any of this? Sera's brows visibly furrowed in outward demonstration of inward turmoil as she pushed away from the engineering station to return to her duties.

"Aye Sir." Amanda said then headed in the direction of the exit.

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Yasmin Aquino
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Kov]

MCPO Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]

LTJG Serran
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

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