Last Chapter/Epilogue

Posted on 05 Dec 2023 @ 1:56pm by Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Somers & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant Leland Hawksley & Lieutenant JG Tosrol Ze & Lieutenant JG Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant JG Shoniara T’ghann Dex & Lieutenant JG Thyra Sh'shraaqir & Lieutenant JG Ted Silver & Lieutenant Paul Winchester & Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Nelson

2,990 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: S3 Episode 5: Diplomatic Incident/Hydaransz Again (Main)
Location: Various
Timeline: MD: 100

[ON]

- Bridge -

The Tomcat was holding position just out of range of the Station's defences as she prepared for combat by now the enemy had noticed their arrival "RED ALERT!" Somers ordered she tapped her Commbadge =/\= Bridge to CAG, launch squadron, main target the enemy fighters, launch when ready =/\= Somers ordered.

=/\=Copy that Greyhound One=/\= replied Paul over the com channel as he pushed his throttle to full throttle and shot out of the hanger followed by the rest of his team, he opened his com and said=/\= Right boys let's go to work and gain the high ground,=/\= as he targeted his first target.

As the fighters launched, she turned to Ze who was currently on the bridge handing over to Armitage and quickly bringing her up to date "Lieutenant Ze, get your team together and down to the Venture class scout ship you are to head to the starbase dock with her and bring back the Ambassador regardless of status, you have permission to use live-fire protocols, at a point split your team into two and have one go for the Security data, there is always data that is protected from hacking, just data dump things onto a storage unit and get back here with the Ambassador, if any get in your way take them out, if they surrender accept it, get to it Lieutenant the enemy fighters are busy without fighters and we are about to be fired on by some Romulan ships" Somers said as the first Plasma beam hit the ships shields, it was just outside effective distance for a D'Dredex class.

Ze had been waiting for Armitage, luckily he had all of his handover written on a pad, the time he had spent with Thrya had really been informative for him so being able to lead his own team this was go time " Armatige nice to see you" He spoke as he grabbed the padd "Ive written most of the tactical information down on this padd what ever isen in there you can thankfully pull up on the tactical station were deaing with Rouge Section 31 and The Tal'Shiar so anything is possible at this point" He said handingover the padd "Ive left the tactical specs and operations arrangements for engagement on the tactical console the specs for the Deredax and Scorpion fighters are already pulled up aswell" He said with a wide smile "Treat tactical with love and it'll treat you well God Speed armatige see you on the flipside" He said straightening out his uniform "Illl report in once we've landed captain see you on the flip side" He said tipping hi head as he left the bridge heading straight for where he needed to be.

With the CoS now having left the bridge "Okay Chief fire at will, you know the targets" Somers said to Armitage as the Tomcat advanced on the enemy ships"

"Aye Captain" Lucy responded, her nerves forgotten as with some confusion of the console in a stressed situation, she managed to fire weapons "Captain might I ask what Will ever do to us that has us firing at him?" She jokingly asked, the fun was genuine.

Somers looked at the Master Chief "Very funny, Chief" she said smiling, then returning her attention to the battle "Helm use your judgment on attack or defensive patterns Chief Armitage keep up with any changes" she said.

"Aye Captain," both Lucy and the Helm officer said as one.

Alex sat back down she pressed the Communications button =/\= Bridge to Engineering =/\=

=/\= Engineering here. =/\= The pensive voice was heard over the com systems, Leland already apprised of the Romulan threat.

=/\= We are about to go into battle, expect battle damage and exploded conduits, and please give me all the power you can to SIF and Shields that do not interfere with the weapons =/\=

Leland had considered the orders as he already was prepared, yet the real thing was here.

- Engineering -

=/\= Understood Captain. =/\= Hawksley watched the systems display, they would take a beating, but he was trained to expect the unexpected.

“Nelson.” Leland turned to his very capable long-time engineering officer. “Expect the gamma radiation to prompt the emergency field insulators on the SIF. That will be a ghost symptom, ignore it when/if we are attacked.” Leland reminded Nelson, but he knew Nelson would already have that information.

"Gotcha, Sir. I am on it and will apply all countermeasures to protect all those in the exposure area. I also have my modified tricorder to monitor the ghosts in the machine." replied Nelson who then jumped right into the heart of the action.

“Thex. Expect to transfer power from science labs, reclamation systems, main lighting, and conference rooms. Anything you can think of to ensure a steady flow to shields.” Hawksley ordered Thex.

" Will do boss. The shields won't miss a volt. "They replied her figures pushing in the commands to be ready to bring most of the ship's power into the shield's power cells.

- Bridge -

Pressing the communications =/\= Bridge to Fighters, combat launch, go, go, go =/\= Somers ordered.

=/\= Copy that Grayhound One=/\= replied Paul as he heard the order to go out into the void, He switched the Com channel =/\= Vipers Launch,=/\= he repeated =/\= All Vipers Launch=/\= as he pushed the throttle forward.

*Looks at the helm officer* "Okay helm, use your judgment on combat manoeuvres, but do not make it easy for them" Somers instructed.

"Aye, aye Captain" the Helm Officer replied and banked faster than the Inertial dampeners could keep up, forcing the air out of the lungs of some of those on the bridge.

"Lucy, fire at the nearest targets, if it helps imagine each enemy ship is one of your worst enemies," she said, Alex knew the Master Chief was nervous so she was finding ways to give the woman confidence.

Lucy felt a little better and did as suggested and found targeting to be a little easier, after five minutes she had gotten into the swing and rhythm of firing the weapons, and she managed to work in concert with the helm officer. Despite the dodging at attack and defensive patterns the Tomcat still got hit, initially, the shields held things off, but agility aside the Akira Class was not a battleship.

She looked over to Silver, "Mr Silver has Lieutenant Ze's team reached the Starbase, yet?" she asked the DCSO who was currently manning the sensor station.

Ted ran his hands over the science console. The scanners were having problems picking up the away Ze’s team and Silver was not sure why for now. Finally, the data started to come through.

“ Picking them up now, yes they have arrived at the Starbase,” Silver said.

"Good, keep them on Scanners" she said and a fi,nal torpedoes struck the nearest Valdore class ship and took it out, but there was a cost, the Tomcat took a serious hit.

Silver gave a nod.

“ Yes ma’am.”

"Thanks" she added and tapped her Commbadge =/\= Bridge to Engineering =/\=

=/\= Hawksley here =/\= Leland spoke with a bit of stress in his voice.

=/\= We just got a bad hit, if the readings on the bridge are anything to go by we are about to have a breach on the Starboard side of the saucer and a damage cont,rol team would be needed =/\= She said not going into detail then the ship shook again and the readouts indicated an exploded conduit and the sensors showed one dead again tapping her Commbadge.

=/\= EPS mains are at 87% and holding. Stepdown RCS thrusters are transferring effluent discharges to auxiliary phaser banks, Captain. =/\=

Leland digested the starboard breach. His forehead creased as he tapped furiously at the LCARs on the main display readouts. Red alerts flashed in the room, and the shaking of the bulkheads sent several staff, holding white knuckles to bulkheads.

=/\= Starboard breach is being sealed, and re-pressurization is in progress! Emergency Team B is assigned to repairs on decks 12 and 14. Conduit failure in Section G4-990 is exhausting to emergency CNS vent ports 9-12. =/\=

=/\= Bridge to Medical, officers down on Deck six, looks like we have some losses, get a medical team there asap =/\= She instructed.

=/\= Aye Bridge medical team is on its way!=/\= Dex pointed, close-lipped to the members of her chosen team and beckoned them, to follow her. She grabbed her bag and was soon running down the corridor followed by her team. The ship rocked and she stumbled and nearly fell. A strong arm pulled her back to her feet and she momentarily smiled. “Thank you,” she said. It seems like hours before they had the wounded in sight. “Remember triage!” she called above the din. “Remember it’s the quiet ones that need our help first.”

The team fanned out towards the wounded as Dex’s expert eye took in the scene. She breathed a quick sigh of relief seeing movement amongst the wounded, then her eyes noted legs lying still nearest where the conduit blew. She moved over the remains of the ruined conduit removing what she could from the still torso. For a moment as she knelt, she thought she saw chest movement. As she pulled a piece of the conduit from the face she took a sharp intake of breath “Ensign Drevas?” His eyes were open and the look on his face was the look of death. “Oh no you don’t Ensign!” Dex whispered as she went to work.

An hour later in sickbay, she was still working on the Ensign the surgical clamshell containing him like a cocoon of pregnant life. However, as fast as she worked each system she supported began to break down. An arm touched her on the shoulder.

“He’s gone Doc, time to let him go.”

“Not yet!” Dex barked as she cardioverted once more. The lifeless body jumped as she injected more lifesaving drugs. Then she looked at him, really looked at him as she waited for any bio signs. She knew the damage was too extensive but she didn’t want to let him go. She stood back and patted the hand on her shoulder nodding. “It’s time!” She whispered to herself as she released the surgical clamshell and silenced the strident alarms of the biobed. There seemed to be an area of silence around the body that cut them off from the rest of the sickbay busy with the walking wounded. She walked toward Drevas and touched his ruined face. “What a waste” She pulled the cover up over his face not wanting to see her failure. She turned and walked away as the sounds of sickbay began to cut through the final silence of death.

She took a long drink of water taking in the saved lives of the other victims of the ruptured conduit. She sighed and tapped her comm. =/\= Dex to Bridge =/\=

Tapping her Commbadge =/\= Somers here, what is the status of those downed crew, how many have we lost? =/\= the Colonel asked, the sensors she had on the bridge had little information, so she did not know the full details...

Dex grimaced she still felt the loss of Drevas like a physical pain.

=/\= We just have one fatality, Colonel, I am afraid Ensign Drevas didn’t make it. His injuries were too much. Everyone else will recover. Dex out=/\= She no longer trusted herself to keep the connection without betraying her feelings. Knowing that she had yet to perform an autopsy she decided to pump herself full of caffeine. Sitting in the office she sipped her coffee. She was glancing repeatedly over to the still figure behind the screen. After what seemed like an age she began to cry.

The Colonel slumped back in her seat and looked over at Dodd "So young!" she said as the ship shook with hits just as quick as the fighting began it was over the few combat ships of the Tal'Shiar that had survived were badly damaged and warped out after the transports had left, the S31 fighters did not escape and those who survived sacrificed themselves to escape capture, now floating in space was the destroyed hulk of a Valdore class ship and lots of pieces of Gryphon and Scorpion class fighters, the battle was over, the Tomcat had survived, but only just as she had taken serious hits and a lot of damage again looking at Dodd "the Captain is going to be less than happy on the state of her ship, heh!" She said with a grim smile.

"My goodness," Dodd replied with a tear in the corner of his eye. "Drevas was a fine crewmember and will be missed immensely, ma'am. We need to get to a safe harbour and secure ourselves and the ship, then we can let our emotions get the better of us and mourn the loss." Dodd was attempting to maintain a stoic composure for their state of mind.

With a nod in response, "We will honour the dead Commander when the time is right" Alex said and then she pressed the communications button on her chair arm =/\=Tomcat to Fighters return to base, Shuttlebay begins recovery of any damage fighters Lieutenant Winchester, bring your pilots home, the battle is over =/\= she said and heard Armitage sigh in relief, the young Yeoman had her trial by fire and had survived.

=/\=Copy that Grayhound one,=/\=replied Paul as he looked out at the broken species of what were enemy ships, he flipped open the com and spoke =/\= All fighters, return to base, I say again all fighters, return to base,=/\= as he turned his fighter around to face the tomcat, he heard the response from those that had survived the conflict and Paul had to write the letters, but they will be remembered.

She again turned to Dodd "Mr Dodd go down and lend help Engineering out in repairs, that will see us through to Starbase 51" she said.

"Not a problem, ma'am. I would be more than happy to assist.' Dodd replied. "I miss hanging out down there and this will help me with my thoughts about Drevas."

When the XO had left she looked over the Sh'shraaqir "Lieutenant contact Lieutenant Ze and see if you can get an SITREP from him" she said to the Chief Intelligence Officer.

"Understood, Colonel," Thyra opened a frequency. =/\= Ze. This is Sh'shraaqir, what is your status and situation?=/\=

Ze had pressed his comm badge "We pinned down but were making headway, unfortunately, I think we have a few dead bodies down here so as soon as I can punch hole I'm getting me and my team outta here pronto" he said as he fired off a few shots "Falling that I need some backup and stat"

Then she looks at Silver "Lieutenant, there is not much left to do on the bridge for Science, we have had a lot of casualties, go down to Medical and help them out will you?" She asked.

Silver had wanted to download the data about the Nebula to the Science computer. But that would have to wait.

“ On my way ma’am.” He said

In Engineering, Leland ripped out of the bulkhead a compartment of 144 burnt-out Isolinear optical storage chips. The system had tripped a series of redundant nanopulse matrices of 2.15 kiloquads of damaged subroutines.
Cursing every swear word in Human, Klingon, and Romulan,
Hawksley tapped over his tricorder tri-attending optical connections to alternate main core processors. This would be needed in case the Captain had requested that the Tomcat go to warp.

Taping the top of the control unit, Hawksley took a drink of his coffee and then closed the burnt compartment. “Ready to go.” He acknowledged the rest of the Engineers nearby.

- Bridge -

"Captain, I am detecting an energy build-up in the Starbases power core" Armitage said looking at her console.

*Grumbles* and taps her Commbadge =/\= somers to Assault Team, Lieutenant Ze if you managed to get any information pack it and get all your team back here, the station power core had begun to Overload, I want your team back on the Tomcat ASAP! =/\= She said.

Ze looked to Zellers and the rest of the team as he pressed the comm badge =/\=On it now captain "Everybody pack it up and move out grab the ambassador's body and let's ship out where pinned down Zellers punch a hole and get us back to that damn shuttle" Ze spoke as he fired off a few rounds =/\= Captain ill see you inside of half an hour"=/\=

She looked at the Helm officer "When the team is safely on the deck pull back to a safe distance and set a heading for SB51's best speed" she said.

"Aye Captain " the helm officer responded.

"I am going to get some after-action reports, Commander Dodd, you have the Con," the Colonel said and stood up.

"Roger, Ma'am." Dodd replied as she stood up out of respect for the CO.

[OFF]

 

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