The Endgame
Posted on Wed Aug 27th, 2014 @ 8:58am by Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Augustus Deakin & Captain Vahn Drayel & Lieutenant JG Allison Price
Mission:
Fate of the Angels
Location: Main Bridge [USS Seraphim]
[ON]
McIndoe leaned back in her chair. She still hadn't gotten over the idea of some secret group coming aboard her ship and giving orders, but as long as their logic was sound, it was hard to argue. "Mr. Theramin, ETA to the nebula?"
"We're about two minutes out, Captain." Gunning reported, still trying to get to grips with some of the more advanced controls on the helm. He had just about worked out how to make the Seraphim list lazily to the left and hoped that would be enough.
The captain nodded and looked back over her right shoulder. Anto and the one of Theramin's colleagues were huddled over the science station. "Are they still in there, Commander?"
Deakin had his eyes pushed up against the scope at the science station, while Commander Anto was calibrating the Seraphim's scanners to try and give them a detection advantage when the Klingons did eventually de-cloak. He heard the captain's question and turned to look at Anto, giving the first officer a subtle, solemn nod.
"Yes, Captain," Anto replied, interpreting the tall interloper's meaning.
"We anticipate that as soon as we enter the nebula, the Klingons will decloak and attack us from inside." Gunning declared. "You'll need to be quick getting those shields up, Ensign."
"Aye, sir," Allie replied crisply. She had retaken the engineering console and was going over the ship's systems. There was no reason why she couldn't raise shields now, but doing so would most likely tip off the Klingons before the Seraphim could set the trap.
As the Seraphim flew toward the nebula, the only sound that could be heard on the bridge was the gentle pulsing of the impulse engines. Until the collected voice of Captain McIndoe floated across the silence. "Okay, Commander." She said, motioning to Anto and his companion at the science station. "Begin short range scans of the nebula, we don't want them knowing we're on to them."
The sound of the scanning algorithm on the console could even be heard from the helm where Gunning sat poised and ready to bring the Seraphim to bear.
While Anto ran the scan, Deakin kept his eyes fixed on hunting the tachyons and what they hid. The scan ran for a few moments before he saw the telltale spike that they taught him at the Academy, but which the folks around him had no idea existed. "Detecting significant tachyon surges, Captain," he called as he flipped a switch to repeat his view on the main viewscreen. "Three ships decloaking!"
The sudden appearance of the Klingon ships which now hung in the nebula ahead of them had clearly spooked the Captain and Commander Anto, even though they had been expecting it. Gunning aggressively keyed in a series of commands designed to put the Seraphim into evasive manoeuvres. "Now, Allie!"
Price didn't waste any time. Her hand was already hovering over the shield activation button, and when Gunning gave the order, her hand instinctively dropped.
The Constitution-class starship rocked back as the first volleys from the Klingon ships impacted on their shields. Gunning noticed a flash pass behind him as he realised that Deakin must be heading for the weapon console. The Captain was now steadying herself and rising to her feet behind him. "Fire phasers!" She shouted, the hesitancy in her voice was almost tangible.
Deakin all but threw the panicking ensign out of the weapons console and took charge. His hands working the anachronistic console as best he could remember. Fortunately, he had a decent memory for this kind of thing. As the captain issued her order, he had already targeted all three ships with an initial volley and fired.
Three hits, but minimal damage.
He quickly reallocated targeting priorities and had the computer auto-select the ship with the most damage inflicted by the initial volley. He then focused the next volley onto that one as the ship rocked and lurched beneath him.
"Report?!" Captain McIndoe and Gunning both shouted at the same time, leaving Gunning with a sheepish look on his face.
"Shields down to 68%. No significant damage to critical systems," Allie announced from the engineering station. She was frantically going through the status updates coming in throughout the ship. While the ship's actual chief engineer was taking care of the damage control, from her station on the bridge she was still responsible for making sense of the readings.
"Do you have eyes on any energy spikes we can use?" Captain McIndoe asked frantically, trying to remember the bamboozling name that their new colleagues had used to describe their plan. "Can we use them yet?!"
Commander Anto studied the nebula through his scanner. Despite the rocking of the ship, he was able to fully concentrate on the sensor readings. Having discussed the plan in detail with Deakin, he was fairly sure what they were looking for. "I'm detecting a concentrated pocket of Metreon gas about 1400 km away, bearing 023 mark 034."
"Put it between us and the Klingons!" McIndoe shouted over the thuds of the Klingon particle weapons thudding off the Seraphim's shields.
Gunning guided the ship through the tight passage and into position with the Metreon gas between them and the Klingons. The viewscreen picked up the moment that the concentrated beam of a Klingon disruptor passed through the cloud and ignited it, spiralling blue flame down the vibrant green of the beam and impacting on the Klingon ship's weapons through the shields. The view was quickly replaced by obnoxious orange flame as the ship exploded under the impact.
Gus couldn't help but let out a triumphant hoot and smacked his big palm down on the edge of the console. It was more out of relief that the maneuver actually worked than anything else and his wasn't the only cheer on the bridge. He gave a penitent shrug when he caught the eye of Gunning and then quickly regathered himself to reprioritise the targets in the tactical system. There were still two more Klingons out there and they were going to be mad.
"That's great!" Gunning shouted out above the pitch of the ship and the sounds from the phaser banks. Let's not get cocky. He thought to himself as he brought the Seraphim to bear on its next victim. "This one will be trickier! We're awfully close to that gas pocket!"
"And the Klingons will likely be more cautious. They may be barbaric, but they're also cunning," McIndoe announced from the center chair. "It won't take them long to figure out what happened, and they may try to use that to their advantage. Let them close the gap. If they know that they would be caught in the explosion, they may not be as quick on the trigger."
Following McIndoe's orders, the Constitution-class starship maneuvered as nimbly as she could around the metreon clouds, but at a reduced speed. The Klingons, not recognizing the ruse right away, closed the gap as expected. Luring them into the trap via a gambit, Gunning took the Seraphim through the nearest cloud. Intensifying their aft shields, the ship fired aft phasers and ignited the gas and destroying one of the attacking ships. Debris from the resulting explosion struck the remaining ship, damaging its starboard nacelle.
With the last Klingon ship damaged, the Seraphim accelerated to full impulse. The damage to Klingon ship left it nearly a sitting duck as it was adrift, but that didn't stop the Klingons from firing phasers at the Federation ship. Now far more maneuverable than her Klingon counterparts, the Seraphim came about and locked on torpedoes. Two volleys caused the ship's hull to erupt in a large explosion.
"Woo!" Commander Anto broke his stoic façade as the last Klingon ship exploded under the impact of the torpedoes. "That's what I'm talking about!"
The Seraphim had taken a few hits but there was no sign of any other problems. Gunning brought the ship around to its original course and stood up. "Is the anomaly still visible?" He asked Deakin who was once again crossing the bridge to the Science console.
Deakin tapped at the science console and peered down the scope, hopefully for the last time. He smiled as he laid eyes on the anomaly. "Yes, sir," he said, turning back to Gunning.
Gunning let out a huge sigh of relief and found everyone else doing the same. "Well, I believe it's time for us to take our leave of you, Captain."
McIndoe stared at the space in the viewscreen where three Klingon ships had previously been. "How do you intend to take your leave? We're in the middle of nowhere."
"I'm afraid that's Top Secret," Gunning replied with a smile, "As is everything you saw here. As far as any of you know, Section Thirty One was never here. You took down the Klingons using your own ingenuity. If we find any record of our presence here in any of your logs, Official or otherwise there will be dire consequences."
Gunning's threat seemed to stop most of the Seraphim's bridge crew in their tracks. It was completely hollow, but it seemed to have done the trick. "Lieutenant, Ensign- with me."
The three officers, who only hours before had been standing on the hot sand of Bellatrix II crossed the bridge of the USS Seraphim 130 years in the past and stepped into the turbolift. "So, how the hell do we get home?"
[Bellatrix II Surface, 2391]
Drayel had been tasked with keeping watch over the surrounding area while the Fleeters did their survey of the interior. They had only been gone ten minutes but something was definitely amiss.
His deep blue eyes narrowed sharply. There was a noisome, heavy scent of ozone in the air. It was like the sharp oxidized scent of burnt blood, and his nostrils flared at it. The massive Marine stared at emptiness and felt his left eye twitch. "Well," he said, his voice deep and graveled, "shit."
In the instant that the Seraphim had completely disappeared like a desert mirage, it had been replaced by three crouched figures in old-style Starfleet uniforms. They were completely still for a moment until the figure in the mustard shirt took a tentative look around at the surroundings, squinting in the light. Drayel watched as he rose to his feet and muttered something to his companions.
They began to draw closer and the Marine could make out the faces of his companions, Gunning, Deakin, and Price. As they stomped past him he opened his mouth to speak. Their strange appearance and the much more obvious disappearance of the giant starship which had stood in their stead mere moments before hadn't seemed to phase them.
"We'll explain later." Gunning said flatly.
Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
Lieutenant Augustus Deakin
Chief Operations Officer
Ensign Allison Price
Engineering Officer
Marine Captain Vahn Drayel [NPC: Kamdram]
"Easy" Company Commander
