Star-Crossed
The APU Dreamscape drops out of warp in the H’atoria Sector, right inside the sensor range of the restored Starbase 234. A ShiKahr-Class, Reliant-Class, and Bozeman-Class Patrol Cruisers are already in position to meet the Delta-quadrant ship.
“Curious Captain, they appear to have been waiting for us.” Reverie reports as the viewscreen lights up showing the Starbase and its escorting craft. “Its fine, they probably picked us up on long-range sensors. Go ahead and hail the station.” Jonas responds, leaning off to the side and ginving a brief heaving cough. Reverie almost seems to hesitate for a moment before responding. “Channel Open Captain.”
“Starbase 234, This is Captain Jonas Mith, Serial Number GL-128-9174 (CLD); Commanding Officer of USS Archangel, NCC-90210. I have been taken from my starship and held against my will…(takes a labored breath) I also require medical attention.”
“That’s clear Captain, standby for verification.”
Jonas slumps back in his chair and closes his eyes. Finally this nightmare will be over, and he can re-unite with his ship and crew. Thoughts of succession cross his mind, as he could see Elisa taking command of the Archangel in his absence. He chuckled at the thought…maybe it was time for him to retire, but he had to see them one last time.
“Sorry for the delay Captain, we seem to be having difficulty pulling you up, can you verify your serial number for us again?”
“Gamma-Lima, One Two Eight, Niner one seven four, Charlie-Lima-Delta.” He Repeated. There was more pause as he watched the three escort vessels change position. “Sir, These Escorts are taking a defensive posture.” Jonas chuckled, “That’s standard protocol, not like we showed up in a Starfleet vessel.” He dismissed.
“That’s clear sir, we are still not registering any officer with that name or serial number, and your vessel has been flagged as Stolen out of the Azah System. I understand you are requiring medical assistance? Our escorts will bring you in to port here and once we get you on base and processed, we can try and sort this all out. Please lower your shields and switch to remote docking controls.”
There was a pit of anxiety and confusion within Jonas, but he shook them off, “Apologies tower, I didn’t realize I still had the shields up. Thank you very much, stand by for docking controls.” Jonas got up from his seat and began to hobble over towards the Navigational Controls when a notification alarm went off.
“Sir, Long Range Communications are back online. I have USS Archangel standing by. The signal is weak, I don’t know how long I can maintain the connection.” Jonas stopped dead in his tracks, forgetting all about the shields or nav controls as he stared at the viewscreen in awe for a moment. “Yes, YES! On Screen!” he commanded.
A photo of a familiar Red-headed woman appears on the screen. Jonas’ face lights up at the sight of her, tears forming in his eyes. Commander Flores likewise looks just as emotional at seeing her C/O for the first time in three years.
“Jonas! Oh my god, Where are you!?” She cried out. Wiping tears from his eyes he replied with a giant smile, “Elisa, ya’ll are safe! Thank the gods. I just made it to Starbase 234, I was looking for you.” Elisa’s face fell solemn at his words. “Sir, we were chasing a lead to your whereabouts deep in the Delta Quadrant. You have to get out of there, you have to avoid the Federation at all costs. Section 31 was behind the sabotage of the Archangel, they are responsible for your abduction! If you turn yourself in now, their just going to come for you again! You need to hide out and lay low until we can come and get you. I’ll…I’ll notify The Enterprise, I’ll see if Shon can reach you before us, but you need to ru—”
The screen cuts black with the words [Connection Terminated] in red appearing before the entire bridge is rocked violently, sending Jonas tumbling to the floor. “REPORT!” He manages to yell. “The Escort Vessels are firing upon us sir. Recommend evasive action.” the computer responds. “Why are they shooting at us?!” He snaps, scrambling to his feet and taking to the Tactical Console instead. “Unknown at this time.”
“Signal the Star-base to stand down, tell them we surrender! Buy us some time to figure out how to get out of this.” The Captain ordered. “Sending our Signal of Surrender…” there is another rock of phaser fire against the ship. “They are not responding well to our signal, Sir.” “No shit…Divert Auxiliary power to shields!” Jonas commands as he quickly reviews his tactical options.
The APU Cruiser he was on was built in an almost like a pyramid with an extending ring platform around the middle. The ship was equipped with 12 Tetryon Beam arrays all spaced evenly around the circumference of the ships profile, as well as two fore and aft Transphasic torpedo launchers. They were certainly outnumbered and currently outflanked. He would have to break their line if he was going to have any chance at escape.
“Reverie, on my command, give me full aft thruster burn for 10 seconds, that should help distance us from the cruisers.” The captain ordered. “Sir, at that velocity, that will bring us within weapons range of the starbase itself in 28 seconds.” “That fine, I don’t plan to stick around that long. Once aft burn is complete, I want you to fire Port Thrusters, and reverse Starboard thrusters at the same time, that will spin us like a top. From there, ill coordinate Beam Arrays 1-12 to fire in quick succession. With any luck, we can rotate arrays arc and cooldown times and keep a steady stream of fire on each ship so their shield grid cant compensate. Ill handle the weapons, you calculate the warp trajectory. If this works, they wont have anyone to follow us with.”
These Star-Base security officers were about to find out the hard way what nearly 20 years of Fighting some of the Galaxy’s most prolific threats did for an officers Tactical Abilities. The APU Rocked forward away from the triple threat cruisers, which scrambled to fall back into formation. At the same time, the Delta-Quadrant ship began to spin clockwise, firing its beam banks at the hostile Starfleet ships. By the time a ship was out of the arc of one array, the spin put the next array into range and resumed fire. By the time the ship had made a full 360 degree turn, the first few arrays were ready to fire again. It did not take long before all three Light Cruisers shields had all but buckled.
“Warp calculations complete, 5 seconds until we enter Star-base 234’s weapons range” “Acknowledged, standby for warp on my command.” Jonas ordered. Switching from a wide targeting range, he specifically aimed for the engines of all three vessels, and the beams pierced through each of what remained of their shields and struck their warp nacelles. “FLOOR IT!” He shouted, as he followed up his tactical commands with firing a full spread of Transphasic Torpedo’s.
The APU’s Warp Field engaged, stopping the ships spin on a dime as a volley of 10 Fore Torpedoes were fired towards the helpless Starfleet Cruisers and another 8 aft torpedoes towards the starbase. The torpedoes were not meant to reach their target, and instead detonated 3km away from the ships, and a good 8km from the base itself, but the resulting explosion was just enough of a distraction to cover them jumping to warp and fleeing the system.
99123.1
@Maikull
Drozana Station, Donatu Sector
[Daimon] Garlianto: Ahh, Commander Stern, a pleasant surprise.
The Ferengi addressed the bridge of the Alexander. Jessie sat in the captains chair smiling at her old acquaintance
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Its Commander Barron-Stern now. I got Married.
[Daimon] Garlianto: And I wasn’t sent a wedding invite?! I’m hurt! But Barron…your captain? Damn girl, you know how to pick them.
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: (She giggles and blushes at his comment) It was just after the Klingon Civil war, we eloped on a brief shore-leave. Don’t worry, when the renewal comes up we will be sending out proper invites.
[Daimon] Garlianto: Well what brings my favorite Betazed back to Drozana? Your not planning to send your Andorian back over to bleed our Dabo Tables again are you? And don’t think my cousin has forgotten about that Swindler of an Engineer you have aboard either!
[LCDR] Zach Brannigan: (Turns sideways and snorts, attempting to maintain his composure and keep from laughing)
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Actually, I came by because we need a small favor.
[Daimon] Garlianto: Most Ferengi don’t like dealing in favors my dear, we prefer cold hard Latinum. Thankfully you’re a proven customer, so I can lend you some credit. What is it your after now? There’s not another war brewing I need to know about?
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Oh heavens no, at least, I hope not.(She giggles again) No, were actually looking for an old Delta Quadrant APU Cruiser. You haven’t seen or heard of one in the sector recently, have you?
[Daimon] Garlianto: An APU? Oh, I’ve only seen them in vids. Nothing that special has floated its way down here. And if it did, it would be quite the spectacle. Why the interest?
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Oh, we heard some Malon was coming down looking to trade one. Starfleet would love to get there hands on it for clandestine operations in the Delta Quadrant.
[Daimon] Garlianto: Well if their looking to sell, this would definitely be the right place for them! Ill keep my ears open and send you a ping if one shows up. Appreciate the tip, I could use this to get a leg up on Vendor Rights! I may even forgo the finders fee, but note I won’t show you leniency during the auction! (He grinned with jagged teeth)
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Always a pleasure Garlianto! Alexander Out.
As the Viewscreen cut out, Jessies shoulders slouched and she exhaled deeply
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Even the respectable ones are a hassle to deal with…(She confessed aloud.)
[LCDR] Zach Brannigan: (The Andorian Tactical Officer chuckled at his First Officer, but was cut off by a trilling at his station. His face went from amused to stoic very quickly, looking up and meeting the Betazeds eye) Ma’am, you need to see this…
[CMDR] Roptojmey: I’m just saying, this is fishier than Azati Prime! Where the hell is the kid’s parent or guardians, where is his medical records? You want me to bring him aboard with a terminal disease!? Is it communicable?! I need to know what kind of risk this poses to the ship!
[CAPT] Maikull Barron: I understand your concerns, and trust me, if I had the answers, YOU would have them, but this is all the information we have been given to work with. My hope is that his medical records will be aboard the ship when/if we can locate it.
[LCDR] V’era:: Still say that Vulcan Yyaio is hiding something…
[LCDR] Mark-0: I need to speak with him about this ‘high end’ security system the ship allegedly has, in case we need to breach.
[CAPT] Maikull Barron: (Motions to Doctor Roptojmey) We are going to get aboard one way or another, and see if we can find medical records. Barring that, keep him in a level 10 quarantine field until you can figure it out. (Motions to Mark-0) Go ahead and sit down with Administrator Pruvis and get a security plan in place. (Motions to V’era) Elaborate?
[LCDR] V’era:: Well think about it. He went on and on about this Dreamscape that uses REM Sleep…and there JUST so happens to be a comatose patient onboard?
[CAPT] Maikull Barron: You think their using the kid to experiment with?
[LCDR] V’era:: Possibly.
[LCDR] Mark-0: That’s a pretty serious crime though, not one I see someone like the Administrator would openly admit too if he was complicit.
[CAPT] Maikull Barron: (places his head in his palm) That is a headache I’m hoping we don’t have to deal wi—
[Klaxon alarms ring out, as the ships automated systems switch to Red Alert. Outside the officers can see the Alexander has gone to warp]
[CAPT] Maikull Barron: What the hell?!
The four officers exit the captains ready room and enter the bridge, where Commander Stern is waiting.
[CAPT] Maikull Barron: Report?
[CMDR] Jessie Stern: Zach got a hit on the BOLO, we think we know where the ship is.
[CMDR] Roptojmey: Well that’s good, why Red alert?
[LCDR] Zach Brannigan: Because it just attacked Starbase 234…