Gamma Mission

Mark
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Mark »

USS Tigerfish

"Damnit, are you inept or just stupid?" Holmes snapped at one of his impromptu helpers, the attractive blonde of the trio, a Lieutenant Commander Casey, as he yanked away a hypo that she was just about inject a patient with. "Why in the hell would you try and give a man in a coma a pain killer?"

"Because I didn't know that he was in a coma!" She replied with some heat. "I told you before, the only medical training any of us ever got was back at the Academy, and that's been awhile!"

"It's not astronavigation without a computer, honey." Holmes replied snidely "If you read the PADD at the end of the bed, I've left express instructions on what to give to each patient. You CAN read, right?"

"I can read five languages, you bastard" she replied "But these chicken scratch notes of yours are more like a high security code!"

Holmes had moved on to the next patient, a Romulan with an ear missing and serious burns across his face and torso. "He can wait. Give him 50 cc's of tri-ox to help his breathing" he ordered another nearby volunteer, in a surprisingly professional tone. He then turned back to Lt Cmdr Casey and said "I've got to move fast, sweetness. Lives are at stake, and incase it's escaped you, I'm the only medical staff that's here."

Casey looked at Holmes dumbfounded, "Then why in the hell aren't you using the EMH?"

Holmes stopped and looked at Casey, over mangled body of a young human, who was still moaning in pain. "And you're only telling me NOW that this oversized shuttle has an EMH? Don't you think that would have been SLIGHTLY important, or is your bra on so tight that it's cutting off the blood to your brain?"

Casey replied "You no good, rotten, son of a .."

Holmes however had already tuned her out, as he looked down at his patient, with a shadow of pain in his own eyes. "Get this man into surgery NOW. He's up first. Get two units into him, STAT. He's already lost too much blood." Another one of his assistants quickly wheeled the man over into the area that Holmes set up for emergency surgery.

Looking up at the ceiling, Holmes called out "Computer activate the Emergency Medical Hologram!"

With a slight shimmer, a non descript middle age balding man appeared in front of Holmes, saying "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

Holmes looked up at the sky, "A mark 1, I should have figured." Looking back at the archaic hologram he said, "I need you for triage. Some of these men need immediate surgery, and I've got to get started."

With a superior look the hologram announced "I'm a doctor, not a nurse. My efforts would be better used in surgery as well. Where is the rest of the medical staff?"

"We're it." Holmes pointed at the women "We've got some volunteers that took a semester of combat first aid, that are working in engineering, security, and ops."

"Amateurs." The hologram responded with disgust.

"Exactly" Holmes replied with equal disdain. "Make sure they don't kill anyone while we try and save them."

"I'll do my best, Doctor." The hologram deadpanned.

Holmes thought to himself, "Maybe I'll steal his program when this is all done."
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Re: Gamma Mission

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Helev paced outside the Commander's quarters not exactly sure why he was there. He'd beamed over from the Battle Cruiser almost ten minutes ago, and had been standing there since. Finally he walked up to the door, and pushed the button that would sound a chime and let the Commander know someone was outside.

D'Tyra, who had been reading over some report on the tactical systems, looked up. She toyed with the notion of ignoring the door for a second, and then dismissed it. She also considered opening it and throwing a plasma grenade out. Again, she dismissed that quite quickly. She stood up, smoothed her tunic and fluffed her long hair, and then opened the door manually. As soon as she saw who was at the door, she bristled. Every hair on her back stood bolt upright, and a carnal anger coursed through her veins. She controlled it...Just.

Helev looked into the eyes of the Commander, as he predicted, she knew who, and what he was. Even without his training he could tell she was not pleased to see him.

"Hello Commander. I was wondering if we could talk, privately." Helev asked, sure he'd be turned down and told to return to his ship.

D'Tyra was perplexed. "Come, sit. Do not keep me long, Tal Shiar."

Helev was surprised when she invited him into her quarters, stepping past her as she gestured he refrained from sitting, with sure knowledge the invitation wouldn't extend that far.

"You know that I am a Tal'shiar agent, by the fact that you know, you can also deduce that my cover has been revealed. My future in the empire is unclear." Helev explained, "The Star Navy no longer wants me, and the Tal'shiar has little use for me outside of the Star Navy, my whole career with them was designed toward successful infiltration of the Navy. I was sent here because they were hoping I would die and their situation would be solved.

"I don't know who my allegiance is to anymore. Before it wasn't a question of who to believe, it was to do what I was told, or be killed or revealed, which is just as bad. Now I don't have that omen over me anymore. I don't know where I should place my trust. Is it to my Commanding Officer, or my fleet, or perhaps my section commander, or is it to my species. I just don't know. I came here to seek your council. You are respected not only among Romulans, but among the Federation, and even the Klingon's respect your honor. You are possibly the only one that can help me."

"And what is it you require for help? Forgive me, but I do not see how I can help you." D'tyra said.

"To whom do you expect your crew to show allegiance to out here, who are loyal to? I know things, but I don't know who to tell, If I should tell anyone. I don't know if what I know was right, or wrong." Helev said looking at the floor thinking again of the transmission.

"I expect the crew to be loyal to the Empire. To their oath to the navy. To their families. And Above all of them, loyal to me. And all of them under my command are faithful beyond doubt to me, I do not question it."

"And what of me, My Commander is Breen, a Federation; do I owe him my allegiance, or more allegiance than I owe Mer'an?" Helev questioned.

"Prioritize. If one jeopardizes the other, then use my loyalty "tiers". Always, your allegiance is first to your commander. It does not matter whom he is affiliated."

"Mer'an doesn't want me loyal to any but him it seems. The malfunctions on the Battle Cruiser, that wasn't the effects of a novice crew, they knew the ship fine. I was ordered to do it, to foil up their plan." Helev said again looking away ashamed.

D'Tyra was incredulous. "He...did..what?" she hissed in pure anger. "Dirty, treacherous b*****d. Disgracing his name, his family and our empire. Disobeying his commander's orders which I know he was given, I was there." She turned in heated disgust. Then quickly turned back. "Helev, you are not to blame for the actions. You acted upon the orders of a superior. And, technically speaking, he has precedence of my orders. I don't know exactly what he has ordered, but now I give you mine. You answer now, to me. You can make it look like you are following Mer'an's orders, I don't care. Everything he tells you, tell to me. Tell me what you know."

"When we first learned of the Plan with the Battle Cruiser, he told me that he wanted me and my skill to represent him and the Romulan Empire on the ship. So I went, not long after that I was instructed to begin delivering regular reports on the workings of the Battle Cruiser, and its command staff, and shortly following that I was instructed to start hampering with systems. It occurred to me then that he was simply trying to get me killed for being a traitor.

However he didn't expect me to have just as much skill as I do. I had everyone on that ship fooled; even their Chief Engineer believed that he must be doing something wrong." Helev began.

"Finally, the last act was when we hailed the station to board, there was an additional transmission code, secrete, the kind of stuff that very few Romulans would know. My assessment of the code says that there are two, Romulans in this Quadrant that know about an encryption like that, me, and Mer'an. It wasn't until last night that I broke the encryption. He warned them. He told the Dominion on the station that it was a trap, and to flee the station as quickly as they could."

"Just like Mer'an, some computer trickery. We can't confront him now, we need evidence. Can you download the computer log of the code?" D'tyra said.

"If I can have access to a computer, I can store them on your memory cores now." Helev said.

D'Tyra gestures toward the desk. "Feel free. The button in front of metallic sculpture. Show me both the code form, and what it translates to.

Moving quickly over to the computer, it took Helev all of half a minute to access the Battle Cruisers Computers through his backdoor. Finding the transmission code, he pulled up the code, and transferred the file into D'tyra's personal storage files. He also pulled up the decryption file. Pushing the screen so D'tyra could see, the code was on the upper part of the screen with the message below:

This Transmission is a trap. When this Battle Cruiser docks, it will begin offloading troops to take over your mining station. To save yourselves you must limit the flow. Capture those you can, and destroy the Battle Cruiser. Also lying in wait will be a cloaked Romulan War bird, and several fighters giving off Dominion signatures. Act accordingly.

"Bah. Cold, clinical. Brutal, manipulative b*****d. Well...thank you Helev. You have proved most invaluable. Now, I ask you return to your post. You must act as if nothing is unusual; continue to act as you have done. If Mer'an should give you a command, feed it as quickly as you can to me. Use secure links, or deliver it personally. Thank you again. You have proved your worth before my eyes, and you shall prove them before the eyes of the empire." D'tyra said after reading the message.

"Yes ma'am." Helev said standing again and walking toward the door, he stopped however just before leaving. "What are we on to Ma'am? He has sabotaged our fleet and lead to the death and capture of over a hundred men, but you sound as if something else is wrong?"

"Mer'an must have a motive. Mer'an is, and always has been, an opportunist. He serves only who benefits him. I want that reason. I recognize that encrypted code, well I believe I do anyway." She stood up, and promptly slammed her fist into the chair, splitting the cushion clean in half. She turned, angry once more. "He sabotaged my ship, Helev. My ship. Whatever his motives are, I will enact vengeance. Not only for the fallen on the battle cruiser, but for the deaths he has caused upon my ship. My friends. My family, even. He will pay. Understand that, Helev." She turned once more, looking away. "D...Dismissed."

With that Helev left the room, and beamed back over to the Battle Cruiser.
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Lt. Staplic »

James awoke with a start, and was immediately assaulted by pain. A moment later he realized it was coming from his hip. The memories of what happenned slowly came back to him. The poloron beam that glanced off his hip, destroying the communicator. Then the small flash grenade.

Slowly, James tried to sit up, and found his hands and feet had been tied together. He could feel the gag in his mouth that kept him from screaming. James looked around at the men around him. They were all still unconcious, which made it easy for James to get a count. Fifteen. Of an initial invasion force of almost two-hundred men, only fifteen survived.

No Klingon's survived, which didn't surprise him, and he saw three or four men from the other units, the rest were all from his own command.

As more and more of James' own wits came back to him, he started noticing different things about his surroundings. There was no thrum of a warp engine which meant either he was very far away from the engineering section, the warp engine had been shut down, or he was on a planet. The room he was in was rectangular and barren.

Focusing his efforts on hetting free, James maneuvered his bound hands down around his legs, and back up in front of him. Reaching up, he removed the gag from his mouth and dry-swallowed a couple of times. Then he reached out with his teeth to start working on the restraints on his hands; however, the second he bit into the cords he felt an electrical surge through his body. He let out an involuntary moan as he recoiled.

The guards must have heard him because at that moment There was a scuffeling at the door. The door opened and two Jem'Hadar soldiers stepped in followed by a Vorta.

"What is your rank?" the Vorta asked, "Are you in charge."

James stared back at his interrogator, without making a sound.

"Don't feel like talking yet...don't worry, you will." The Vorta said.

Then one of the soldiers walked toward him and smacked him with the end of his riffle, sending him into the blackness once more.
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Mark »

USS Paladin - Main Bridge

The image of Commander Hewer looked quite distressed on the main viewscreen. "McKenzie reported Captain W'Trisk requested backup. As far as we know, the mission was a total disaster. The survivors have temporarily broken free of pursuit, but have multiple rebel ships in pursuit. They are heavily outgunned."

Lieutenant Mark tried not to let his anxiety show through. He knew several of the members of the detachment of officers sent by the Paladin to help man the captured ship. While not having known them for long, he nevertheless considered them friends. His fingers itched for a second chance to engage the enemy. He had PERSONALLY gone down to inspect the lance from top to bottom, and was sure the problem had been corrected. He had taken the weapons previous failure quite personally. Realizing that he was indulging in a cascade of illogical emotion, he quickly employed a calming technique to bring his mind back under control.

Greyling stood on the bridge next to Captain Fletcher. "What about the Romulans?" He asked.

"No word, sir." Hewer responded. "Tigerfish didn't report anything about them."

"Very well Commander" Grayling said. "Take the Daystrom and provide cover."

Commander Teaos looked pleadingly at Captain Fletcher, but if the Captain noticed he gave no outward indication. He did however clear his throat to get the Admiral's attention.

"Yes Captain?" Grayling asked.

"Just a thought," Fletcher said in a diffident manner. "Lieutenant Mark has assured me that the all of the Paladin's tactical issues have been corrected." Looking back at Mark he asked "Isn't that right, Mister?"

Mark's heart started beating faster in anticipation. Although appearing completely composed on the outside, he was honest enough with himself to admit he was as eager as a puppy. "That's correct, Captain. All tactical systems are at one hundred percent."

With a wry look at Fletcher, the Admiral nodded slightly. The Captain instantly spun on his heel. "Red Alert! All hands to battlestations. Conn, lay in a course to rendezvous with the Daystrom, maximum warp."

Admiral Grayling looked back at Mark and ordered "Instruct the Valkyrie, the Ravage, and the Klingons to hold position. Let's not ALL get pulled out of position." Then, as if an afterthought he added "Have the fleet maintain a state of yellow alert. Just to be on the safe side."

Mark struggled on to let a grin show on his face as he carried out both sets of orders.
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Lt. Staplic »

==Dominion Planetary Facility==

"What is the location of your base!" The Vorta asked again.

"Just follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole." Corrin replied, before leading over and spitting out a glob of blood from his bleeding cheek.

"You think your funny. You may not care for your own care, but what of the others?" The vorta said leaning close. "Do you care enough for them to tell us, or would you prefer to watch them die slowly from wounds far more painful than yours?"

James looked up at the Vorta interrogator, licked his wound, and spat blood into his face. Immediately the hammer of the Jem'Hadar's fist came across his face sending him and the chair he was tied to completely over.

"Bring me a fresh one." The vorta said looking down at him.

James felt the soldiers rough grip as he pulled James up out of the chair and began to drag him off.

"Done already, I thought we were making serious progress." James called.

The reached the prison room, and James was dropped in an empty space, before the Jem'Hadar grabbed another man. James saw just enough of him to know that he wasn't from his unit, and he was afraid.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked just behind him.

James turned around to see Kyfro sitting with a couple of his other men who had been wounded back at the station.

"I'll be fine...what about them?" James asked

"They're good to go, just some minor scrapes." Kyfro replied.

"Good, we need to get out of here." James said.

"How, they've got the Uber'Hadar guarding the perimeter, even if we were fully armed we couldn't get past them." Kyfro said.

"We're not escaping," Pointing at his other squad leaders to get together, James sat down and quickly explained his plan to them, and dismissed them to get ready.

They would have to move quick if they wanted to go the next time they came in to change prisoners. Judging by how green the last marine looked he wouldn't last long before he passed out or died.

"We're good to go." Kyfro said, after running to check on everyone.

"Alright, now we wait." James said.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen. Finally after twenty minutes James heard the familiar shuffle of the two guards outside moving aside.

The door cracked open, and James quickly made the go signal. As planned the first group of his men charged forward and caught the first soldier by surprise as he opened the door. Several stopped to take him on while the rest of them charged through to get to the two guards outside.

"Alright let's move." James said. They reached the door just as the first wave finished with the two guards, and started down the hallway toward the interrogation rooms, James grabbed the guards guns and tossed one to kyfro.

"Let's go Kyfro, you get down there fast, we'll cover your rear." James said.

With a nod, Kyfro took off down the hallway in the opposite direction. James and the two other men he'd pulled out followed as fast as they could.

As James had hoped, most of the Jem'Hadar were absent on their selected rout, having been pulled from their usual watch to try and put down their diversion. He'd hoped between the distance and Kyfro's amazing speed, they'd be able to get some kind of message off to the fleet, before they were recaptured.

The three of them finally reached the control room, and James sent them to guard the other two entrances. Kyfro was already at work at the communication station. The on duty officer was lying at his feet.

"How are you coming?" James asked

"Almost there, just one more protocol to override." Kyfro answered.

A gun shot broke the silence as one of the other marines fired at an approaching Jem'Hadar.

"Get into the room, they'll try and sneak up on us with their showd on, shoot everything if the doors open." James called, and all three of them backed about five feet up into the room.

The next few minutes passed slowly as several Jem'Hadar attempted to make their way into the room, only to be shot down by James or one of the other two. Kyfro continued to work on the security protocol.

"I'm through." Kyfro suddenly announced.

"Send them a message, with our coordinates, Marines captured by Dominion faction, impossible to escape, rescue improbable, but important target. Send them the base stats. Verify code Corrin Echo Echo Charlie 5." Corrin said quickly as Kyfro tapped it out.

"It's away." Kyfro said.

"Good," James replied.

The four of them stayed put shooting at incoming Jem'Hadar until they started overwhelming their firing ability. As one slipped through the central door, James turned to shoot him but was a second late, a bolt hit him square knocking him over. Putting him down before he hit the floor.
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Reliant121 »

"Hull breach on the rear aft quarter has been sealed, commander," A centurion said, anxiously stabbing at the command console below him. D'Tyra stood upward and leaped over a chunk of debris on the floor below her. The helm console in front of her flickered every time the Centurion on duty entered a command. The power conduits around the ship were beginning to fail, showing the signs of stress in battle. Yet, the hull had held up relatively well and the main weapon systems had also remained active. D'Tyra looked around the room.

Tired. All of them she pondered.

"Engineering, this is bridge. Any luck on those warp engines?"

"We're still venting, at 75% now. We need to be at about 55% before we can make a jump, even then that's a risky limit." D'Tyra's hand twitched into an exasperated fist, but she schooled her expression enough to respond calmly.

"Understood, do anything you can to speed up the process," The intercom went dead. "Tactical, how many ships are we dealing with?"

"10 bugs...make that 9, Commander W'Trisk's task force has disable another fighter. I'm picking up some energy signatures approaching at low warp, it could be very well be rebel reinforcements. They are coming in from the outer edges of the system." D'Tyra thought for a moment, before sitting down in her chair. As she sat down, a panel bleeped with more contacts approaching. "Commander....I am picking up Federation hull signatures. It's the Daystrome...And the Paladin!" In that instant, the atmosphere changed. There was a glimmer of hope, and...strangely as it seemed, pride. Especially from the Commander herself. Who would ever have thought that Romulan's would develop any sort of connection to Starfleeters.

"Finally...what is the status of the Trojan horse?"

"They appear to be clear of hostile pursuit, the Dominion fighters are too busy with W'Tri...wait..." Mi'serna stabbed frantically at his panel. "Two bugs have broken from the main force. They have powered down weapons and transferred power to their engines. What are they doing?" D"Tyra realized at the same moment as he did, their proverbial light-bulbs flickering into life in unison.

"Signal the Trojan, warning of possible ramming tactics. Get an emergency signal to the Paladin and Daystrome, the starfleet leviathan is particularly susceptible to ramming," The bridge exploded once again into frantic motion. The crew knew just as well as Mi'serna and D'Tyra, the Trojan horse wouldn't survive a collision impact. Nor would it be able to fend off both of them, most of the Trojan's rear weaponry had been disabled or destroyed. "Bring us about, full impulse. Shunt all power to the forward weapons and fire at will, Take those two ships down." The tactical officer scrambled to fire the available weapons at the bugs. The space between the Romulan cruiser and the two suicidal ships erupted with bright green disruptor fire as the Lacron desperately let loose every weapon system at of her arsenal. One bug crumbled under the assault, but the second maneuvered out of the way, each time evading the Lacron's fire by mere meters. The tactical officer shook his head at D'Tyra. There was little he could do. Only two things could save the Trojan horse now: A lucky shot or...

"Transfer power to forward shields. Standby collision course, full impulse. All hands brace for impact." She settled into her chair, taking firm hold of the arm rest. "Helm...Engage."
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Lt. Staplic »

Helev braced himself as the ship rocked again under the incoming fire. Then went back to work. The bugs were just too fast for the targeting scanners to lock on, the ship wasn't made to fight them, so instead he'd switched over to manual targeting...he'd managed to take out several of them, but not near enough.

"Status report." The Breen said slowly.

"Aft, Ventral, Port and Starboard shields are gone, forward shields are down to 10%, dorsal shields are still at 60%. All Aft and ventral weapons are gone, the rest are minimal, we have one forward facing torpedo tube left. Warp Drive is still down, impulse engines are failing. We have less than a fourth of our necessairy crew left. Medical centers are reporting 80% casualty rates." Helev answered, the former operations officer was lying across his console a shard of metal sticking out of his skull.

"Enemy status?" The Breen asked, seemingly unphased by their bleak situation.

"nine bugs, make that eight sir, the Lacron just took one out......there's another on an intercept course, from our rear sir, I can't do anything." Helev answered.

"This is Commander Monroe, evacuate the aft sections, brace for impact." He said.

"Sir the Lacron has set a collision course....their closing.....closing....they made contact, the bug's going to miss." Helev answered.

Prepping the forward weapons, the bug slowly slid by under the ship, tumbling around out of control, until it came into sight of a forward cannon. With two quick shots, Helev sent the ship crumbling to it's demise.

"Signal Captain W'trisk, we need cover until these bugs are taken care of." Munroe ordered.
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Mikey »

"Incoming message from Captain Munro," McKenzie said. "Requesting cover, limited capabilities. Daystrom and Paladin signatures inbound. and the Lacron -"

"I see it," Mikey answered grimly, and opened his communal comm channel. "All fighters, break pursuit and cover the Trojan Horse. Screen her until she's in range of the big boys." After receiving confirmation from all the remaining fighters, Mikey turned back to McKenzie. "Get me the Lacron's status, and see if she needs evac." Half to himself, he added, "Dammit, woman. We need live soldiers more than we need martyred heroes."

"Daystrom signals in range, sir," Mckenzie called.

Mikey punched a channel up on his console. "Daystrom, this is Captain W'trisk. We've got cap ship signatures approaching from the system corridor. Screen the Trojan Horse and prep a flight to relieve this one in escort of the Lacron. And stay with the 'Horse - she's your priority." Switching channels, he announced to his flight, "Time to go home. Embark, and 6 hours downtime for every one of you. That's an order. Good job, guys."

Almost as an afterthought, he opened a third channel to the Tigerfish. "Jon, go on home. You've got plenty of wounded aboard, and I want to get them on board a starship. The big guns are here to cover now. And no heroics, OK? I'll be along presently."

Static hissed for a second, then Hewer's voice came back, "I'd prefer you to be on your way back, but I understand. Tigerfish out."

Closing the channel, Mikey snapped around to face McKenzie. "Status on the Lacron?"

"No reply yet," was McKenzie's desultory answer.

"Send a new message," Mikey said. "Tell them I've got a fully-powered core and a perfectly good docking ring and umbilical. I'd be happy to lend some juice and other assistance."
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Mark »

USS Paladin - Main Bridge

Mark stood anxiously at his station willing his range indicator to move faster. The numbers seemed to tick by much to slowly, and in the back of his mind, he wondered if his chronometer may not be malfuntioning.

"Time until weapons range, Lieutenant?" Captain Fletcher asked.

"Ten minutes, sir." Mark replied.

Mark heard his own impatience echoed in the Captain's voice as he ordered the ships Ops Officer "Unacceptable. This could be over in 2 minutes. Tie everything you have into the engines and squeeze every last drop out you can. Tap into life support if you must."

Commander Teaos monitored the science station with an intensity. The man had seemed markedly different to Mark, not that he claimed to know him all that well. So it was with no little surprise that Mark heard the man mutter under his breath,

"Would it help if I got out an pushed?"

Mark was sure that he was the only one to hear the Commander's comment until to his surprise, Fletcher replied "It might."

With an audibal groan the Paladin put on an additional notch of speed, however not without cost. The ship started to shake violently, and one of the overhead lights burst, showering the bridge in harmless if nerve wracking sparks.

Mark presssed the appropriate keys on his console to recalculate their time to target as the young Conn officer nerviously announced

"We're now 5% OVER our maximum rated speed, Sir! Hull stress climbing and the engines are redlining!"

"Steady as she goes, Mister." Fletcher replied calmly.

"But sir, she's flying apart!" the young man cried in something approaching a panic, not a trait to be admired in a Starfleet Officer.

"Fly her apart then!" Fletcher snapped. Mark wondered if the Captain had consiously imitated the famous quote, as his calculations were complete.

"Captain," Mark reported "We are now four minutes and 22 seconds from extreme torpedeo range. We will be in nominal weapons range in five minutes."

Commander Rochey's head swiveled to look at the young lieutenant. The Tholian first officer canted his head to the side before asking

"Lieutenant, can you HIT a target at extreme torpedeo range with the ship at this speed and shaking? Now is not the time to boast."

Mark simply tilted his head slightly to the right and raised his eyebrow in typical vulcan fashion. After a moment, the Tholian nodded and turned back to the viewscreen as Teaos picked up the countdown "Four minutes."
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Reliant121 »

"Damage report!? I want repair teams to every damaged section, concentrate on the starboard wing!" D'Tyra screamed over the deafening warning klaxon. The Dominion fighter had torn into the Starboard side, almost wrenching the entire starboard side (and her warp nacelle) clean away from the ship. Via some miracle of Structural integrity fields, the wing had remained attached. Now, the hull panels we're slowly being consumed by a ravenous plasma fire which threatened the lives of every crewman onboard.

"Starboard side has been almost completely destroyed. Somehow the hull has remained in one piece, and I am registering warp power from the nacelle, however a large scale plasma fire is working its way through the hull. If it reaches the nacelle, we're as good as dead," Mi'Serna croaked. He had taken a large dose of carbon dioxide into his lungs, and was struggling to breath. However, he had refused the order to go to sickbay. Stubborn old warhorse is going to get himself killed.

"Put all fire crews on the starboard side. Where is centurion Aeh'va?" Mi'serna glanced toward a heap of charred flesh, immobile on the floor near the operations station. A wave of both pain and guilt struck D'Tyra. The corpse of one of the most promising officers on the ship lay before her, purely because of her reckless move to save the battlecruiser. it had little tactical worth now. But the human cost had taken over her thought. But at what cost?

"Lieutenant Grr'Lek, you have inherited temporary position as operation officer, and a Field commission of lower centurion. Welcome to the Romulan star Navy." A wry smile played across Mi'Serna's lips as the federation officer's face became agape. He schooled it moments later and took over the operations station.

"The fighter wings are moving into position to cover us, Commander," He said calmly. "Starships Daystrome and Paladin are inbound, nearing attack range. Sensors are beginning to get composite images of the incoming signals....I believe its a strike force of rebel vessels. I cannot discern what classes they fall into at this time."

"Best speed to formate with the Trojan Horse. Tactical, fire on anything that comes into active weapons range. We're still powerful, even if crippled." The intercom beside her chirped, and she responded. "Bridge here."

"This is engineering. I've managed to restore minimal warp flight capability. We're good to go home."
Mikey
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Re: Gamma Mission

Post by Mikey »

"I - I've got the status report from the 'Horse, Captain." W'trisk heard McKenzie's tone and felt the young human's elevated heart rate, and steeled himself for the bad news to follow. "Bulk of the marine contingent is MIA, considered captured or..."

Despite the fair warning, Mikey closed his eyes and felt his antennae droop. The top ships, the top people, of three different superpowers - not to mention his own break with the intent of his orders, if not the letter - and all they realized from the venture was worse than failure. Mikey hadn't any real idea of the numbers of marines lost, but he really wasn't concerned with the length of the roll. "Watch the comms and monitor the positions of our ships," he said absently, closing his eyes again and allowing his mind to roam away from the control console before him.

Less than a minute later, McKenzie's voice interrupted his meditation, but it had been enough. "Alpha flight is home, sir. Beta is picketing the squadron, but all are within cover range of the Paladin and Daystrom."

"Good," W'trisk replied coldly. "You are going to check the camo field, and then get back to the Daystrom. You've done well here, McKenzie, and I'll see that your efforts are recognized."

McKenzie turned to look at the Andorian. "You're going back for those men, sir? Then, permission requested to remain at my post. I can-"

"The prospects for coming back this time are... less than optimum, McKenzie. I want you back home."

"With all due respect, sir... balls to that. If there were no chance to come back, you wouldn't bother. Besides, I didn't end up in Starfleet by accident. What kind of officer would I be if I left you out here at the sharp end just when it's getting to the hard part?"

"Oh, we're just now getting to the hard part?" Mikey retorted acidly, but he smiled warmly. He didn't allow himself to suffer the notion that McKenzie's loyalty was directed toward himself personally, but it was appreciated nonetheless. "Just so we're clear - we're going right past foolhardy and deep into 'insane' territory. We are going to be assaulting a renegade Dominion installation with zero support... in a runabout."

"Aye sir," McKenzie grinned, "but where's the fun if we make it too easy?"

Mikey rolled his eyes and began to key the instruction comm for Hewer to keep the Daystrom with the returning members of the assault squadron and get her back to base.

************************************************************************************

Despite himself, Mikey grinned. McKenzie had rather ingeniously whipped up a dummy plasma leak to go along with their fake Jem'hadar signature, and hadn't been challenged when they began to travel back toward the facility instead of in pursuit of the allied task force. "Notify me when we're in comms range of the facility," he said, "and try to raise the Lacron again."

McKenzie scowled. "We have no guaranteed comm point on the installation, sir."

"I know," Mikey replied. "Just let me know when we're in range."

"Aye, sir. I have the Lacron, audio only."

"Metedeconk, this is the Lacron, come back," purred the familiar Caitian growl.

"Lieutenant!" shouted W'trisk, genuinely pleased. "Good to hear your voice."

"Actually, it's 'centurion' now, sir," said Grr'lek evenly. At Mikey's silence, he went on, "Long story... dead guy, empty console. No, I guess it's not that long after all."

Mikey chuckled to himself, reminiscing over the Caitian's dry sense of humor and unflappable attitude. "What's your status, and the squadron's?"

"Limping home, on both counts. All vessels made it to covering range of the Paladin and Daystrom. That seemed to be enough to discourage further pursuit... at least, aggressive action."

"Good to hear. Get that bird home safe, and convey my... regards to your skipper."

"Why - what are you going to do, you cr-"

"Metedeconk out." As Mikey closed the channel, an indicator chirped.

"Comms range," added McKenzie. "So now what?"

"Can you send a simple EM pulse cde? Something that'll just tap outa dot-dash message on any media device? I don't care if it comes through as static, playback, or whatever. Just get something to make some noise in that place."

McKenzie smiled slightly and nodded. "Short message only, before it gets canned."

"OK... send the Daystrom's identifier, and then 'secure a ship and drag your wounded. Get things hot; we'll fly it out.'"
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
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