Back in The Saddle: Subspace Race (Part 2)
Stardate:
98533.1
Directed by:
@Maikull
Location:
TK 401 Sector
A half hour passes as the crews wrap up their business on the station, and beam back to their respective vessels. Commander Barron stands on the bridge, looking out into the view screen, while his crew hold fast at their stations eagerly awaiting the order. Lt.Cmdr Vera emerges from one of the rear terminals on the bridge, “Sir, the program is ready for upload.” Stern turned from her seat to face the Science Officer, “And the Failsafe Code?”
“Also loaded, I’ll send a coded message to the Endeavour the same time we kick start the Satellite, hopefully whoever or whatever is out their wont notice. But I still have to remind you this is based off the Iconian Virus, even with the failsafe we could suffer temporary system malfunction if its transmitted back to us over a hail.” She stated, giving Stern a nod. “Understood, please take your station.” Barron ordered, not looking away from the screen.
The air on the bridge was tense, not only was this a potential engagement; of which they usually took seriously, but now the pride of the ship was on the line. Though they did not explain why, Barron and Stern shared their opinions that the Endeavour was probably there to evaluate the Commander, on behest of Admiral Bishop.
“Alright everyone, poker faces on. Pi, open channel, unrestricted.” He stated, changing his posture to be a more relaxed and welcoming. As the comms hummed on, half the view screen showed the Bridge of the Endeavour Crew, while the other showed the station before them.
“On behalf of the Crew of the Sun-Tzu, I would like to thank everyone aboard the Endeavour for your assistance in getting this relay station back up and running. Without the extra help, we would still be out here tinkering away for lord knows how long. Now that all systems are fully operational and it is well stocked, I am told we will be sending a service-crew to help maintain it on a more permanent basis. But until then, it is time to see the fruits of our labor.” Barron paused a moment, nodding to Captain Mirazuni before turning to Vera. “Lt. Commander, if you would do the honors and re-activate the listening post? I want to make sure this thing is still capable of sending and receiving before we head back.”
Vera began to key in at her terminal. “Taking stations systems out of Maintenance Mode…transmitting restart code in three…two…one…”
Ayesha did not respond, her face unreadable as always. However, mustered up as much mental power as she could and tried to find what she could with her telepathy as soon as the code was transmitted.
Ayesha hmms slightly. There’s nothing they can do but wait. Still, she doesn’t like where this was heading. Her right hand moves to cover the alert buttons on her hand rest, a move that is inconspicuous and unnoticeable.
The few moments that pass in silence feel almost like an eternity. Then the trill at the Ops station rings for a moment across the bridge. “Sir…as you predicted. The ‘station’ is transmitting.” Lt.Cmdr Pi stated. “Let’s pop out the Champaign then for a job well done!” Barron said with a smile, motioning for his Ops Officer to cut transmission. “Heads on a swivel, folks.” He directed, adjusting his uniform and taking his seat. He turned to Cmdr. Stern, “Anything?” She returned his look and shook her head.
“Sir, we have something on sensors.” V’era stated, as the screen changed views. Opposite the Federation Ships on the other side of the station an electrical distortion was forming, as the hull of a ship flickered in and out of view before fully appearing. “Yellow Alert!” Stern ordered as the bridge’s lights changed automatically. “Shields?” Brannigan asked. “Not yet. Give me details, I want something I can identify this thing with.” Barron explained.
“Quark Class Heavy Marauder, Weapons, Shields…a lot of her subsystems are offline or haywire.” Brannigan stated, performing a quick scan of the vessel. In truth the ship itself did seem to somewhat be drifting a little, losing navigational support. “Ahh…poor thing. Must have caught a bug from somewhere.” Barron smirked, causing the general consensus of the ship to chuckle under the breath. “Welp, time to play humanitarian. Pi, Open a channel, let’s see if they need help out of their predicament.”
Ayesha merely watched, her hand moving away from the yellow alert button.
The chime of the open comms rings through the bridge once more. “Unidentified Vessel, this is the USS Sun Tzu. Your sudden appearance, though somewhat alarming, indicates that you may be experiencing some…technical issues? Though we have some questions as to the nature of your purpose here, we would like to offer our assistance on getting you back on your feet. Just blink your headlights if you can understand this message.” Barron declared.
“Are we even sure there are life signs aboard?” Stern asked, looking to the science station. “Sensors indicate…20 life signs, all Ferengi Ma’am.” The half-vulcan explained. “That’s some skeleton crew for a ship that size” Pi pointed out. “Probably all scrambling for repairs. Most of the ships systems are probably automated.” Brannigan added. “Well let me know if they try to hail us, or send Morris code—”
“Sir, there is a power build up in the ships forward deflector.” V’era reported. “Hostile?” Barron inquired, ready to call for shields to be raised. “No sir, but I’m having trouble discerning what it is their trying to do, the sensors are all over the place. Let me try to —”
There was an explosion at the mid-point of space between the two Federation Ships as a shockwave enveloped the two vessels momentarily. Rocking the crewmen inside, catching them off-guard.
On the Endeavour, the bridge crew began to report data as soon as they arrived it, with the Intelligence Officer, CMDR Dedoz, who was acting as the XO, tried to organize the data. Ayesha however, had other orders. “Commander Dix, simulate a blackout,” she said to her chief of operations. “If they want to ambush us, let them believe they’ve done it,” she states. “Mister Grumblinbag, go to the Bark, and commence pattern…” she paused for a heartbeat and sighed. “Pattern sneaky ship make boom,” she finished, quietly.
The Pakled grinned. “Yes ma’am,” he said and marched over to the turbolift.
“Commander Dedoz, I will require you on tactical,” she finished. “Get ready to push the shields up as soon as the first shots come our way,”
Ayesha sat back in her seat as the dark and now useless viewscreen slid downwards to the floor, giving her and the rest of the bridge crew a visual view from the large glass windows at the front. “He wanted a fight, I hope he was prepared for one,” she mutters quietly to herself.
The klaxon alarms were ringing on the Sun Tzu bridge. “Visual shows the Endeavour has not powered back up from the EMP Blast sir.” V’era called out over the alarm. “Get those sensors back online and tell me why.” “MAIKULL!” Stern shouted from her seat, pointing at the view screen ahead. There was a silent pause on the bridge as the crew processed not one or two, but Four Ferengi Marauder Class Vessels sitting before them.
“Helm, Heading 1-4-0, Mark 23, put us between the Endeavour and the Ferengi! Engineering, Divert all power to Starboard Shield! Zach, Power all Broadside —” Barron began fire off before Pi called out for his attention.
“Sir, their breaking off!” The Operations Officer noted, seeing on the view screen the four Marauder Battlecruisers turn to veer off in opposite directions. The two end ships fired twice on the Sun Tzu doing minimal damage to the shields before engaging their impulse drives and speeding off in four separate directions.
Seeing the changing variables, Barron took a second before altering his previous orders. “Engineering, belay that order, give me all you got on Impulse.” He commanded, “V’era?” “Working on it sir, it’s like scrubbing slime off the pattern buffer.” She replied to his inquiry. Barron nodded, knowing he didn’t have to drive in the point any further. He turned to Stern at his left, “The Endeavour?” Stern shook her head, “I think their ok.” ‘Good send a message, if they need help tell us, otherwise pick a target and run it down. I want answers.” He stated firmly taking his seat. “Zach, once were in weapons range, Fire manually if you have too, I want one of those ships disabled.”
“Aye Sir!” the bridge echoed.
Ayesha didn’t even need telling. As soon as the ships began to withdraw, the Endeavour lit up like a tree on Christmas. Like a ball out of a cannon, the Bark shot out and began to open fire, laying down a unending barrage of phaser fire at the second Ferengi ship.
The Endeavour was a bit slower to get moving, but Kannys wasn’t. A slew of phaser fire came from the Endeavour’s phaser banks, aimed to cripple the third Ferengi ship.
Data came streaming towards the Sun Tzu; almost real time targeting data and precise ship movements, all courtesy of the Endeavour state of the art computer systems. Maikull now had access to all the information he needed to issue directives to all three ships and coordinate a strike.
The three Federation vessels tore after their respective targets, as the Ferengi Marauders all bolted to opposite ends of the system, almost in a scrambled dash to escape the fire from the two Battleships. Both the Endeavour and Bark began closing the gap on their respective targets, while their sensors began to slowly come back online. The Sun Tzu however, between its speed and its targets ‘lack-there-of’ managed to close the gap, and under manual targeting controls fired her forward phaser arrays, missing the enemy ship as it bobbed and weaved in a defensive pattern.
The Endeavour was hot on the heels of her target.
“The Sun Tzu is closing on target alpha,” Kuris read from her console. “The Bark is also closing down on target beta,”
“Fire to disable,” Ayesha says. “Get those sensors up quickly,”
The three federation vessels keep up the pressure, with Endeavour entering in weapons range and firing at her target, just missing the port side nacelle of the designated Delta Marauder. Determined to redeem himself, Lt.Cmdr Brannigan on the Sun Tzu fired once more at the Alpha Marauder, which just managed to pitch up on the Z-Axis in time to dodge the hit. The Bark however overtook her opponent, but did not compensate in her targeting, giving the Beta Target a warning shot in the form of stream of Phaser Fire just ahead of it.
“Grumblinbag make Bark go faster than β,” comes the Pakeld’s voice over the comms. “β given phaser warning,”
“Okay Miss Bonzi, follow the Bark’s lead and reign the target in,” Ayesha says. “I think that should give you a broadside?” she asks Kannys.
“I will try, ma’am,” comes the response of the Bajoran.
The combined focus and determination of all three starships were radiating. Sun Tzu’s speed would not relent on its target, as the Endeavour receded only to reposition itself to the side of its opponent. The Bark matched the enemy ships speed and position point for point as the three ships readied their weapons. Discarding phase banks, the Sun Tzu instead focused on positioning itself directly behind its target and powering her forward cannons. Both the Endeavour and Bark lined up broadside emitters to strike at their own opponents. Almost in unison, the three officers called out their orders at the same time.
Commander Barron on the Sun Tzu: “FIRE!”
Captain Mirazuni on the Endeavour: “FIRE!”
Grumblinbag on the Bark: “Grumblingbag FIRE!”
“DIRECT HI—“
As the Cannon Fire from the Sun Tzu ripped through the rear of the Marauder, the crew began to cheer but immediately stopped when they witnessed the fire go –through- the vessel. The Exterior of the Marauder shimmered, revealing a small Na’Far Shuttlecraft before the visage reformed. Simultaneously, the Endeavors Starboard arrays struck true to her target, cutting through the decoy and striking the shuttlecraft within, disabling it immediately. The Bark on the other hand, being a smaller vessel against a much larger one, did not skimp on the weapons power, and with a full force broadside strike hit and destroyed the shuttlecraft projecting the image of a Marauder it was chasing.
“Sensors back online.” V’era reported from the Sun Tzu, “No life signs aboard sir, its running on automation.”
“Where is the last one!?” Barron barked as the view screen data came through. Piggybacking off the Tactical Data from the Endeavour, Pi was able to throw up a Sector Diagram on both view-screens. Both the Sun Tzu and Endeavour were close to equal in distance from the final, the REAL Enemy. “Sir, scans indicating the Enemy Vessel has restored 62% Warp Capability!”
All three ships came about, disregarding the decoys they had been perusing and focusing all their power to catch up to the true Ferengi Marauder that had used the ploy to get a head start. Sun-Tzu and The Endeavour poured all their extra power into the Engines to cut the distance.
113km…98km….82km…76km…58km…
The two Federation Battlecruisers were near side by side at this point, with Sun Tzu pulling head by 12km closer to their target.
“Weapons Range in 25km Sir!” Brannigan reported, but just as soon as he said it, the crews of both vessels could see the charging lights coming from the Marauder. It had finally restored its warp power, and as a going away present, left behind an Isolytic Tricobalt Torpedo before warping away. “All stop, Full power to shields!” Barron ordered as the Torpedo exploded, still a safe distance away, but just enough to stop them from perusing as a localized subspace tear began to form where the Ferengi Vessel once was.
“Damn it…” Barron muttered under his breath.
“Scan that warp trail, if their torpedoes haven’t erased it all,” Ayesha says, with a hint of annoyance
OOC Part 2: The Exciting Conclusion to the Discord RP between me and @Sam
