The Dauntless. Galaxy Class. Fought in the Dominion War. Of course at this time, I was only a lowly Lieutenant serving in the Armoury. Every battle the 'Mighty D' was in, I was probably in the armoury, absolutely terrified. I transferred off just prior to the Kessock crisis. The moment that stands out in my mind? Responding to the distress call of the Cairo...
"Captain to Lieutenant Davenport." I look up from the phaser rifle I'm cleaning and look around, before I tap my combadge and respond.
"Yes Captain?"
"We're coming up on the Cairo. I want you to take a rescue team over and see if anyone is still on board. The ship should have exploded by now. Check Engineering."
"Aye Captain."
I grab the Phaser rifle and head out to transporter room 3, which is on the same deck I am. I get there and find another Lieutenant, Leto I think her name was, and couple of Ensign's I'd never seen before. So we beam over and the smell...it was like a wall. The stench of death. The Jem'Hadar didn't even give them a chance. I led two of the Ensigns to Engineering while Lieutenant Leto went to the bridge.
So I get into Engineering, and there's this woman stood at the warp core, literally glowing purple, and there was a purple glow around the core. No matter what I did, she wouldn't respond.
Do I know the woman? Of course. She is Captain Annica Solvust, of the Borealis. And a bloody good friend of mine. Hang on. Davenport to Solvust, a reporter wants to know about the Dauntless. You got some time?
Annica wasn't exactly working. In fact, she was on the holodeck. She had just lost a game of Velocity to one Commander Saren, but only because she was going easy on him. But he didn't need to know that.
"Solvust to Davenport. Yes, I am free. A reporter? Well, send him to the holodeck."
Wiping the sweat from her face, she had hoped that the interview wouldn't include a video component. It is a little hard to look impressive wearing athletic shorts and a tank top, but alas, getting changed into her uniform would be an unnecessary and lengthy act. If they wanted her in uniform, the least they could have done is warned her a day in advance.
Captain Davenport stood, tugging his uniform jacketdown. "Come on, you heard the woman. I'll walk you down."
Both captain and the reporter stepped toward the turbolift, which would take them from the CIC deck to the Holodeck. "So, Captain. What happened after you found Solvust at the core?"
"Well, Dauntless had picked up 3 wings of incoming Jem'Hadar attack ships, and considering what happened to the Odyssey, the Captain wanted to get the hell out of dodge. So I did the only thing I could. I-"
The Captain stopped as the turbolift came to a stop, and they found Annica dressed in athletic shorts and a tank top.
"Oh, if I was 30 years younger, Annica. Here's the reporter. I figure we can both give an interview from our different perspectives?"
The reporter stood facing Captain Solvust. "Well, Captain. Tell what happened on the Cairo, from wherever you like until Captain Davenport arrived."
Annica laughs at Marcus, saying "Marcus, I met you when you were thirty years younger." She grins.
Turning to the reporter, she offers "It was a routine patrol. Jem'Hadar ships were sighted in the area, and we had heard a distress call from a vessel, the S.S. Goldberg, I believe. Little did we know, it was a Jem'Hadar ambush. They set us up. Everyone on the ship was dead."
She paused with a sigh.
"They attacked us, and boarded us, quickly. They breached our warp core, and left us to die. It was rather unorthodox, what I tried next. My captain was dead. I was the last surviving member of the bridge crew. We only had a handful of survivors, but with the breach happening, we didn't have time to evacuate. Except I was in engineering at the time. Telekinesis. I used my powers to contain the warp core breach. Everyone else had time to escape, but foolishly, they didn't want to leave without me. The interference from the warp core was inhibiting the transporter fields, but Marcus and squad beamed on board. They tried to take me, at first, until they realized I was what was keeping the core from going critical. One minute and thirty two seconds. I held that core in place for that long. With the transport pattern enhancers in place, they were able to take me off the ship, and away from the wreckage of the Cairo. I watched the core breach as I was transported away."
She pauses to wipe some sweat from her forehead, allowing time for Marcus to fill in some more details, or for the reporter to ask more questions.
Listens to Solvust as she talks. As she finishes, he laughs.
"So you did, Annica. Maybe I should have married you instead! What she forgets to state is that she had to be stunned and hauled into the enhancers. As I took her to sickbay, the ship was rocked by a huge explosion, which was the Cairo. Unfortunately, I tripped and was knocked unconscious. When I woke, my head was in Annica's lap. I felt like a little kid again. Well after that, the Dauntless got the hell outta dodge. It was about a month later or so, that Dauntless was assigned to the 7th fleet. I'm sure we don't have to tell you about that, do we?"
