Battle Royale

Posted on 12 Apr 2017 @ 3:12pm by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Major S'arila Donovan & Captain Maia Sterling & Lieutenant Commander Sheela Swiftpaws & Lieutenant JG Riabi Pames & Lieutenant Solan Jekkar & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd

4,012 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: S02 Episode 2: Once More Unto the Breach (Main Story)
Location: Hydransz Inner Sector/Various
Timeline: Mission Day 25

[ON]

- Tomcat Bridge -

With orders given to her Marine Officer Jasmine returned her attention back to the battle at hand, she was reading the status screen on her chair's arm, when she saw something.

"Mr Jekkar reinforce our aft right quarter shield and what is the status of our fighter squadrons?" Jasmine asked.

"Way ahead of you Ma'am, rerouting additional power." The Andorian then switched to the secondary display. "All Squadrons are accounted for no casualties as of yet but we've got 4 birds grounded."

"Hmm. Okay *looks up at Sterling* was it this bad when we entered the outer Sector Maia?" she asked her first officer.

"Those were mostly automated systems captain, these are ships with manned crews and they seem pretty desperate, at least that's how they are fighting". Maia stated. "There is a recklessness to their attack patterns".

"That is what I thought, Mr Swiftpaws have Klingon attack wing move up on our left and the Starfleet fifth fleets cruisers drop back and support the Romulan ship's, manoeuvre," she said looking at Sheela.

Swiftpaws gave a head nod in acknowledgement as she relayed the orders to the appropriate ships and had gotten acknowledgements from them. Shipmanoeuvrewith the Klingons being a bit more aggressive.

As this battle royale was going on she opened up a channel to Dodd down in the hangar bay =/\= Somers to Dodd =/\=

- Hangar Bay -

Dodd was in the hanger bay working on the installation of the cloaking device into the systems of the troop transport. He had most of it completed but had to make some modifications to the main power input as it looks like it was hacked off when last used. He as so involved in his task that he got startled when his commbadge chimed.

=/\= How goes the fitting of that cloaking device Lieutenant? =/\= Jasmine asked.

=/\= So far it is going well, but I am working a modification to the primary power relay as the cloaking device appears to have had it cut off. But I should have it all connected and ready to be tested in about thirty minutes. =/\= Dodd replied.

=/\= Excellent, I want you to accompany Major Donovan on the assault team, they will need a dedicated engineer to set up secure landing beacons, so when you are done there, let Ensign Taggert know she is in charge of Engineering and gear up for combat, if you are unsure the unit you will be going down with are my personal guard or as they are now Bravo Unit an Elite squad =/\= she said "or they are now" with a bit of sorrow as High Command had found out that she had a Private bodyguard and told her she had to go without one, so she had until now kept them close but ready to be used should they be needed and now they were.

=/\=Roger, Ma'am. I will give my best to the mission. =/\= Dodd stated in reply with a slight bit of dread as he had not seen that sort of action before but was looking forward to it.

- Bridge -

=/\= Acknowledged El-tee, Somers out =/\= when she closed the link she looked back out at the battle going on outside and hoped that they would all come through this.

Jekkar monitored the progress of the Battle from the Tactical Display. The Andorian was more at home at a Crime Scene than at the Tactical Console but right now he seemed to relish the change of pace. "I'll admit one thing these Pirates certainly have some high-grade tech at their disposal." He commented as he fired Phasers and disabled one of the Ships closing to Port. "Plasma Torpedoes, Regenerative Shields and Polaron Weaponry.....Somebody must be sitting on a lot of Latinum right now."

Jasmine simply nodded in acknowledgement "I hear that Lieutenant" she commented then looked over to the Turbolift doors and saw her Chief Flight Control Officer approach, she smiled "Welcome to the bridge Lieutenant Pames, I am Captain Jasmine Somers commander of this ship and I know you have been with us since we left Starbase 39 Sierra, but until now we have not needed a dedicated Helm Officer. I am about to launch a marine unit down to the planet and until they clear our shield barrier they cannot cloak, so we are going to need some fancy flying, are there any questions?" Jasmine asked.

Walking out of the turbo lift, Riabi smiled back to the captain and nodded as she quickly made her way down to the Helm console, "Aye aye, captain, and no questions. I'll keep them alive with fancy distractions until they are through and able to cloak, so I'll be ready for them to launch."

The Trill had been working with her staff to get them up to speed since she came aboard earlier and had been checking in with the Hangar Bay to ensure that everything Flight Control could do to help with the transport was being done. Coming up to the bridge now was due to her wanting to make sure that things went good, but she wouldn't admit that it was a bit of ego. Slipping into it, Riabi scanned through the standard display and rested her right hand on the display, feeling the connection link up via her cybernetic arm. The display quickly reconfigured into the optimum one programmed in for her profile, based on the computer recognising a change of helm officer.

Flashes of calming memories came to her from Pames, along with successful combat flying that she realised was of herself, and she sent back a quick thought, oO Thanks. Got this. Oo

Sometimes, Trill symbionts had weird ways of communication, and she found that it always impressed her. With that, though Riabi shifted into began plotting a course for the Tomcat to ensure that it would be giving the transport the best chances, knowing that as soon as the transport left, it would be targeted. At a bare flick of notice, part of the flight console switched from an unimportant widget to giving a view of the status of how the transport's prep was going.

"Excellent, no questions, Major Donovan will contact us when she is ready to depart, so get yourself acquainted and learn fast and bank hard to port, send," Jasmine said as she looked at the Orion that was firing its torpedoes at the ship.

Riabi nodded, "Aye aye, Captain." She had been already watching for situations in this combat and had plenty of experience in very tight corners before in her career. So far, she was quite impressed with the Tomcat's performance and slammed the ship into a port-side drop away, which caused at least some of the torpedo effect to be mitigated. oO It was probably a good thing that the ship had dampers Oo, she thought.

Jekkar pressed a switch on his console. "If you can swing us around 45 degrees I can get us a firing solution Lieutenant." The Andorian said with a nod to the Trill Officer. "I'd try pattern Sierra 4." The Lieutenant was struggling to get a suitable Phaser lock and he thought their new Flight Controller could help him out.

Without turning back since she was concentrating, Riabi spoke, "Aye aye." Through the console, Riabi sent signals down that to a series of thrusters and the sublight engine, causing the Tomcat to swing around in a tight turn, lining up the phasers in for the requested firing pattern in the frontal arc.

The Andorian Lieutenant watched the Pilot make the adjustments and then fired. "Direct hit I got it." He said as he examined his instruments. "Nice flying Lieutenant." He turned to the Captain. "Ma'am we've taken the Orions out of the fight they won't be troubling us again."

Swivelling her chair to face Jekkar and showing a big smile "excellent Lieutenant, now keep up our guard and rotate our fighters, one Squadron out at all times, the other two on the deck and in their racks four hours minimum, I know it is going to be tough on the Squadron which remains out there. So have Red Squadron fly CAP and bring in Raiders and Rebels Squadrons for some downtime." Jasmine ordered.

"Aye," Jekkar said as he relayed her orders.

Grinning a little, Riabi was pleased and as a pilot, she pretty much had a strong cocky ego anyway so his comment went down pretty well. Even so, she had enough experience to know that things could go bad fast in combat and so Riabi was watching the sensors like a hawk.

Looking over at Sheela "Commander Swiftpaws have all ships stand down to Yellow alert, but be ready, these Orion Pirates and Slavers could call in more ships at any time" Jasmine then looked back at Jekkar "Lieutenant take inventory of out torpedo compliment and work with those disabled ships to transfer their torpedoes over to the surviving ships equally" *looks back to Sheela* "Command call in the tug's they can tow the damaged ships back to safety after torpedo transfer is completed" she finished.

Jekkar nodded. "Acknowledged." He said as he went through the inventory with fine detail. The Photons had whittled down to a few but still enough to last until he needed to use the Quantum torpedoes. He relayed the coordinates for the beaming of the torpedoes and informed tactical to await their arrival.

Sheela continued to listen in on the communications, relaying orders and listening for more information as she listened to the airwaves to glean what information the federation fleet needed.

With a smile Jasmine looked at Riabi "Lieutenant while we have a quiet moment do a diagnostic of the flight control systems if you will, we took a beating and from experience, the Orion's will not give up that easy"

Nodding, the Trill responded, "Yes, Captain." She had already started on doing a minor one as soon as the sensors started showing retreat and from following the conversation, but quickly stopped the minor automated one & shifted to a higher automated standard of diagnosis.

As part of this diagnosis, she sent a message down to Engineering to signal what had been requested out of courtesy.

- Medical -

Dr Cahill was watching hat was going on, she was proud of how her teams were working. She was able to step back and command due to the fact they were doing such a great job. She always knew what they could do when given the chance and now they were proving it to her. She knew if she needed to do an away mission they could handle everything here with no problems.

She found herself touching her phaser and making sure it was where she preferred it to be. She was itching for some action but knew she had to continue her duties here in Sick Bay. She was tired of having to stand by and not be able to fight back. She kept her phaser rifle close by in case it was needed. So far only 2 crew members needed to stay in Sick Bay and the others were able to return to duty. So she was happy it was going so good for everyone else.

The door swished open, as the young ensign, Lauren Julianna Southern walked on in. She had some torn fabric around her left arm, blood-soaked. Her face had ash dirtying it, her hair askew out of the long ponytail, and other abrasions and lacerations on her arms, legs, and torso.

"Hey, what's up, Doc?" she said with a chuckle, as she coughed up a bit, trying to clear her lungs from some of the smoke inhalation. She had been repairing the impulse engines, and unfortunately, there were a few overloaded plasma conduits and a few fires she literally put out with Thompson, the tall black man from Tennessee, who had become one of her close friends over the past few weeks of working with on the Tomcat.

Looking up at what she was doing Cahill smiled "seeing to patients" she said and looked in concern at the Ensign's arm "what happened to you, Ensign?" Cahill asked.

"Nothing too bad, just a few burns, electrical and actual fire, some smoke inhalation, and a few small cuts and bruises, then, huh?" she replied from the biobed the Doctor had her get up on. "How soon can I get back to work? Thompson's got a bet going, how long I'm going to try to get off of work. And I'm going to prove him wrong."

Cahill picked up a medical tricorder and scanned the wound, then she picked up a tool that would clean the wound and then used a dermal regenerator on the arm "oh I think you will be back working sooner than you think Ensign" Cahill announced with a friendly smile.

She took in the report from the doctor as she waved his tricorder around her, and was surprised at what else he found wrong with her that she was still walking around. That would explain the aching when breathing after getting knocked into the bulkheads.

After finishing her scans Cahill looked up "I can give you something to help with your smoke inhalation but I cannot sign you off as being too sick to work, but you do need to take it easy and avoid the engine room for a spell, but I want you to get four hours of rest, this is non-negotiable and it is doctors orders" Cahill intoned.

"Seriously, Doc, I have a lot of work to do, and I need to get back," she protested. Back on Earth, her looks made the other kids make fun of her as an airhead and not take her seriously. Despite her having an IQ over 180, being #1 in class at math, and breezing through sciences, they picked on her for also being a cheerleader; but her love of Tae Kwon Do, Krav Maga, and Jiu Jitsu meant she could handle herself when the jocks got a little too personal.

"Seriously, get four hours downtime then report back to work, I have made a note in your file and my report that I am putting together, I will also send your senior officer notification on what I have prescribed. You are fit to return to your quarters Ensign" Cahill said and watched the Ensign leave Medical shoulders slumped, now Cahill returned to checking her other patients and made a mental note to put in her report.

- Engineering -

Nelson and Pril were still working to keep the shields fully intact and fully operational. They had made their way together to the aft right quarter of the ship to repair the damage that Mr Jekker had mentioned so they could keep the new security feature active to keep the crew onboard.

Nelson was attracted to Pril but he never let that interfere with his duties to the ship. He was not sure if Pril knew of his feelings but he knew Dodd knew this. Nelson looked up to Dodd and if Dodd felt that he and Pril could work together, then he knew he had to keep his personal feelings out of the mix for now.

Pril is an independent woman and she was also stubborn. She performed her duties without hesitation and did her best to never let anyone know what she was thinking or feeling. However, she knew Dodd was telepathic and empathic, so she knew he could tell. She sort of liked that because she has learned that Dodd uses what he senses to help keep his staff calm and focused. She knew that Dodd had faith in her abilities and that if he assigned her to the shields it was for a reason. She also enjoyed working with Nelson, but could not figure out why.

The rest of the Engineering staff were all hard at work maintaining the ship and keeping her functional. Dodd was sensing all the camaraderie amongst his crew. He knew the ship would be in good hands once he departed the ship to be a part of the mission at hand. He went back to Engineering to gather a few thing he decided he might need on the mission and he just needed to coordinate with Taggert about his departure and turn over the reigns until his return.

"Ah, Taggert, I am glad I found you," Dodd stated as he approached the ensign. "I have to prep you for what to expect as I turn Engineering over to you, while I am part of a mission to the surface."

The young ensign brushed a sweat-soaked strand of hair behind her ear as she stood up from the open panel where she was fixing a plasma conduit with Tjaansz, who was passing tools to her as she called out for them, reaching from under the wall.

"Lieutenant! How can I help, sir?" she asked as she wiped some sweat from her brow with a rag, an old habit she picked up back in Montezuma, Georgia, where she lived for a few summers on her cousins' peach farm.

"So Ensign, I really just want you to keep the flow going. I am really impressed with your work and how you have managed things. I have Nelson and Pril working primarily to keep the shields up to par and operational no matter what. I want you to make reports to be sent to Commander Sterling every two hours unless she requests something different. Engineering is working like a well-oiled machine and we just need to keep this baby purring like a kitten. All will be fine in my opinion. All engineering staff should be available by now. There have been some minor injuries but all staff have been treated and are at their stations." Dodd stated to Taggert's reply but he could sense she was exhausted. "I don't want to overload you. The warp reactor has not been stabilised lately and it needs it. Shields were damaged but Nelson and Pril along with a damage control team got them fixed in no time and the modifications are still in place and active."

"The vent's in the main engineering are really needing to be fixed to regulate the temperature for the staff, but I have allowed them all to work in as minimal clothing as necessary while I know it is a far cry from regulations, the ship needs to keep working. Lt Jekkar will likely call to you if he needs to report any conditions needing an engineer's touch. I depart in about 30 minutes so please use my office as yours until I return and I do need to order you to be sure to take a break and get some rest. I don't want my assistant to get overworked. Tjaansz can act as your assistant while I am out. Split the load with her and take care of this ship. Once I get a communications station established on the surface, I will check in just to set the system but my commbadge will be linked once it is up and running. Any questions or concerns?"

Dodd knew Taggert would be able to hold things together while he was off the ship. He knew it could be overwhelming but she is a talented engineer and has the ability to do the task he is leaving her with. Dodd only took the mission on because he has faith in Taggert's abilities.

"Alright, Ensign. I must be departing before Major Donovan sends a search party after me." Dodd said as he reached out to shake Taggert's hand as he departed Engineering.

Taggert was trying to process the task ahead of her. Starfleet was really trying to test her now, making her a real assistant chief right out of the bat.

"So, Chief, what's first?" Tjaansz asked with a smile on her purple-skinned face, as she leant against the bulkhead, her tail swishing behind her.

Taggert took a deep breath, as she began trying to arrange everything Dodd gave her to do.

- Bridge -

Sheela suddenly straightened up and looked at Captain Somers. "Squeak!" Loud enough to draw attention to herself. "Theyz are bringing in another fleet of ships to throw at us! Theirz arrival will be in several minutes. It seemed wez sprung the trap on ourzself...."

Jasmine cursed a blue streak in her native tongue, so fast that the Computer did not try to translate "RED ALERT, notify all ships to launch fighters and conserve torpedoes, Sheela notify the other ships that we have incoming"

Sheela and her partner at the Communications console relayed the orders from Captain Somers to the ships in the fleet. She and her partner made sure they got a receipt of the warning message. When done, Sheela spoke again to be heard, but not distracting anyone from their assigned jobs. "Warning and message have been sent and received, Captain."

Riabi shifted in her seat a little as her view of the local region around the ship changed based on the sensors that she had been watching via her connection, and she began planning possible vectors that would be useful to allow the ship's hull and weapons to cover the transport.

"Here we go again," Jekkar said as the blue-skinned Andorian checked the fleets configuration on his instruments. "I'm reading Corvettes, several Medium Cruiser types and something that resembles an older style K'tinga Class Cruiser." He said as he readied weapons for the engagement. "Lieutenant I'll need Evasive Manoeuvres once they're in firing range, diverting what little power I can to forward Shields."

Riabi nodded, "Yes, Lieutenant. Ready when you are." She had flown against K'Tingas before and knew that she would need to be quite careful. But she knew how the Tomcat flew from practising, and she was confident that it would be able to handle what would be needed.

Jekkar watched his console closely as they moved within range. "Firing.....Now!" Jekkar relayed as he fired Phasers at the K'tinga. He could feel the Ship make its attempt to evade and responded accordingly. "Direct hits, enemy shields down to 68% on their ventral side."

Deciding to take this moment to launch the troop's shuttle she opened a channel to the troop's shuttle =/\= Bridge to Major Donovan, I hope you are ready to go, we have a new wave of hostiles on route and you need to launch now =/\=

=/\= Acknowledged Captain, launching now, will cloak the moment we clear Tomcat's shield, Donovan out =/\= and like that the Communications went silent.

Looking at the Helm Officer "Lieutenant Riabi I hope you remember all your attack patterns as we are going to need your skills" Jasmine said as eight Orion ships dropped from warp "damn they really do not want to give this system up do they?!" Jasmine said.

Nodding, Riabi smiled, "Aye, I do, Captain." Her mind was racing through different strategies as she kept an eye on the troop ship's status. The Trill was glad that she had combat flying experience as she knew she would need right now.

"Captain shuttle has cleared the shields and is cloaked, four more Corvettes on an intercept course with us at 210 mark 3. I'm scanning large amounts of ultritium on those ships, they may be trying to ram us. The explosive yield on those ships could knock out have the fleet, recommend we go to full impulse and try to draw them away from the fleet..." Maia warned.

Looking concerned at Sterling "Understood, Pames make it so" Jasmine said and the helm officer obeyed.

[OFF]

Captain Jasmine Somers
Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

Commander Maia Sterling
1st Officer/CSO
USS Tomcat

Lt. Cmdr Sheela Swiftpaws
Chief Intelligence Officer/Communications
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Alexanderia Cahill MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Solan Jekkar
Chief of Security/Tactical
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Remington Dodd
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Riabi Pames
Chief Helm Officer
USS Tomcat

Ensign Nicole Taggert
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Tomcat

Major S'arila Donovan [PNPC: Somers]
Bravo Unit Commander/Acting MCO
USS Tomcat

 

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