Surprises - Conclusion

Posted on Sun Aug 9th, 2020 @ 4:39pm by Lieutenant Commander Arianna Sky Kamar & Major Naomi Sylan Griffiths & Lieutenant Commander Deannen Roinu & Lieutenant Shri'Rao Sh'veqan & Lieutenant Commander James Trallos MD & Lieutenant JG Zassia Sh'zyllit & Sera Dega

Mission: Discovery
Location: Bridge

Frank braced in his chair as the ship manoeuvred closer to the star, in a few moments they'd be trying Lieutenant Sh'Veqan's suggestion. He watched the star's size grow, then dim slightly as the viewscreen adjusted the brightness. "Open Hailing frequencies," Frank commanded, "This is Captain Kamar of the USS Pennsylvania, we are currently engaged with three Kazon cruisers, we are about to attempt a high-risk manoeuvre to evade them, any assistance in the area would be much appreciated. " As he finished he said a quiet prayer, for his wife, adopted daughter, and the crew, hoped there would be an answer.

M'Relar was on Security rounds as she heard and felt the rumble of the ship she could think ships in trouble. She sighed a bit and kept walking and wondering if there will be any Intruders on Pennsylvania.

Rouni moved the ship in the direction of the star and its corona. She used a combination of automatic controls and manual controls to keep the ship on course and dialled in on the course set. As we got closer the remaining shields were doing a good job protecting us but the gravitational pull of the star had to be constantly adjusted for. Deep down she hopes this worked.

A reply came over general hailing frequencies, though it was slightly garbled by interference from the nearby star, which meant that at the moment, the reply was audio-only. "This is the DCS Venture's Gain, we have received your call and are on the way with assistance."

Then came a second call through general frequencies. This time, though, there was no interference. Whoever was transmitting, was transmitting on an all-comm frequency. Pennsylvania was receiving it, and indeed, so were the Kazons. There was no signal loss. There was no loss of fidelity. This was a message to be received loud and clear.

"This is Ship Second Vassar of the ICS Accretion's Fall." this voice was a male's voice. Harsh. Direct. This wasn't hailed. It was a declaration. "By the Three Dawn Accord, the USS Pennsylvania is hereby granted our protection. Her aggressors are hereby offered this single chance to stand down."

Help was on the way, it seemed. Sensors would now pick up two new ships entering the field of battle, approaching fast. The Dalacari craft from before, easily recognizable by its form and energy signature. Though it was joined by another ship, a new ship. Powered by an unknown energy source, a sleek craft built with elegance in the form in mind, but with a keen eye for the art for war. Slightly smaller than the ship she was defending, but while the Dalacari craft was built to explore that escort wasn't. Her escort was built for war.

She was a gunship.

“Two vessels entering combat range,” Sh’zyllit reported, tapping away effortlessly at her console. “One Dalacari, the other unknown. Increasing energy sources, assumption of weapon systems. Both vessels in a friendly pattern with each other.”

"Captain all three Kazon vessels are following and with weapons charged. I don't think they care about the newcomers. Distance from the star 65 million kilometres and closing eta to the star for 3 minutes. Current speed warp .5, aft shields on full, hull temperature is four thousand Kelvin and rising, Captain." Shri'Rao advised.

The Penn was hurtling towards the star at 1/10th the speed of light.

The ship rocked from Kazon disruptor fire.

Whoever was in charge of the ICS Accretion's Fall seemed to have waited long enough, and the order to engage was given. Black, inky pulses of energy, wreathed in glowing blue energy, streaked across the emptiness between the allied gunship and the Kazon vessels, slamming into their shields and rocking the ships that it struck. Some of the shots went wide, though more than enough found their mark. From the Dalacari explorer, smaller support craft launched. They started as rings, a few meters in diameter, that quickly essentially unfolded into fighter craft. Powering up their micro-reactors these ring fighters streaked across to harass the Kazon cruisers. Lances of plasma arced out from the fighter craft, keeping the pressure on and keeping their shields from having any rest to recharge.

That's when the ICS Accretion's Fall sent a hail direct to the Pennsylvania.

"Captain of Pennsylvania. This is Shipmaster Gui of the ICS Accretion's Fall." audio-only, to not distract from the moment. She had an air of authority to her tone, while the previous voice of her second in command was more harsh and crisp. She knew she was in charge, there was no need to prove it. "Turn to head two seven one mark one, as you measure it. We're preparing a torpedo burst, and any Kazon that follow you will regret it."

Rouni heard the coordinates and entered them but awaited orders to change direction. She continued to concentrate on keeping the Penn under control and work hard to fight all the forces of gravitational pull on the Penn. She was sweating and her tunic was starting to show it. But she did everything she was able to do to keep control of the ship. If she lost control the gravitational pull would pull the Penn and all her crew into it and certain death.

"Make it happen Mr Rouni" Griffiths instructed, "change direction per coordinates as of now!" Naomi added.

Rouni replied, "Aye making it happen now. New course in and The ship is responding now. As the ship changed course the gravitational pull from the star lessened. And soon we were clearing the effects of the star.

Frank kept quiet and allowed his team to handle business and do their job, the ship had taken a beating but was still in the fight, the fight was now two on three as the ship slid closer to an unknown ally. “Security when those ships adjust course to follow us hit them with everything we can.”

"Aye Captain, locking aft torpedoes on target," Shri'Rao stated.

The tiny fighter craft was easy to pick off one at a time by the Kazon cruisers, but taking out one or two at a time didn't seem to bother the swarm. Twelve light fighter craft remained, continuing to harass the cruisers and deny their shields any chance of a reprieve. As they turned to follow Pennsylvania, they lined up nicely for the unknown craft's broadside. The order was given, and a full spread of what looked like torpedoes streaked across the gulf of space. Each wrapped in a dark blue glow, while their pulse weapons added to the barrage. Following Pennsylvania was the biggest mistake the Kazons could have made.

"Firing Torpedoes, Sir". Shri'Rao said.

Each torpedo found there mark, The lead Kazon ship flared up as her shields were overloaded and failed. This close to the star her hull melted quickly. If not for the metaphasic shielding Penn's hull would have been white-hot and melting too.

"Captain, the lead Kazon ship is trying to pull away, her hull is buckling and her engines overloading, the second one is still giving chase. Orders. Sir?" Shri'Rao requested.

”Don’t stop firing at the lead, if we can take one maybe the rest will retreat,” Kamar replied to his Security Chief.

Griffiths was gripping on tight to her seat as the ship was shaking like a drunken Klingon after a victorious battle she was mumbling prayers to the Prophets she was mainly doing this because she had nothing else to do, she was used to having something to do and here she was with the only thing to do was to hang on.

Sir, that last hit took out our aft phaser array and aft tractor beam generator, Also extensive damage to shuttle bay one. Damage control teams are en-route. Fire suppression system offline on the shuttle deck. Shri'Rao stated.

[Engineering]

Arianna had her hands full...as fast as primary systems overloaded, the secondary ones took over trying to do the job of the primaries. Having to maintain shields, weapons, and engines was taxing the systems badly. Power taps blew out and were repaired as fast as she could get to them. Her DC teams were running all over doing their jobs while she worked on the fire suppression systems. Emergency forcefields were holding for the moment but with the hull temperature rising she wasn't sure how long it would be before the system failed. Right now she had all her fusion reactors online shunting much-needed power to key systems but....' was it enough'? =/\= Engineering to Bridge, it's getting hairy down here. I'm doing all I can to keep her in one piece but I don't know how long I can keep her that way. Engineering out=/\=

”Keep her together for a few more minutes, Arianna, help is on the way” he replied to his wife forgetting to address her by her rank.

[Sickbay]

Things seemed to keep taking a turn for the worst. Every sudden jerk the ship made caused a new group of injured to make their way into a crowded Sickbay. Only the most critical was being brought into Sickbay. Everyone else was being diverted to the cargo bays or the ship lounge for triage. His head nurse was doing triage and two techs were running around like crazy trying to keep up. James was in surgery with his other nurse and remaining tech. He was in the middle of removing metal fragments from a wall panel that fragmented out when an EP conduit explosion when the lights flickered then went off.

"Here we go. Amber, press my com, please. Jake, get us some headlamps please." He said as they did as they were told.

=/\=Sickbay to engineering. Commander Kamar, I know I'm behind in my power payment but if you turn the lights back on ill get you the Latium after I'm done in surgery.=/\=

=/\= Hang in there Doc, the engineers are doing their best=/\= Captain Kamar replied, admiring his friends humour during the crisis.

Griffiths looked at the Captain incredulously "How in the name of the Prophets can you remain so calm, Captain?! I am wishing I was in a ground battle at this moment in time as it would be a lot safer" she said with a steely tone with a hint of grim humour.

“We have to be a duck Major, calm on the surface and kicking like hell below,” Frank said as he began to chew on an unlit cigar. The tension on the bridge was getting to him and he was doing his best to hide and shield his team.

[Engineering]

"Chief! We got EPS conduits blowing out on several decks. Oh and sickbay just had a blowout!" Kevin McGriff hollered.

"Feklar!!! Ok Kevin get two guys and go see what you can do for the doctor. I know sickbay is busy now and needs power. Hurry son gets a move on" Arianna said shaking her head. Things were getting worse and she knew it. oO Hope we don't get towed into space dock. That will kill me!Oo

[Bridge]

"Captain the port nacelle just went offline. I recommend, we get out of here, warp field is fluctuating wildly, we still have Impulse engine power but its down by 25 percent". Shrirao stated.

On the bridge the lights dimmed by about half. Shri'rao activated emergency lighting.

Frank watched another the phaser banks empty again into the damaged lead ship, the Penn bucked and wasn’t running as smoothly as normal but she was still in this fight. The torpedoes fires again as Sh’veqan continued firing at a brisk space. All at once, the viewscreen flashed white. As the screen adjusted focus Frank could see the debris field where the cruiser was at moments before. “All stations report, where are the other two and what kind of help do we have?” Frank said beginning to grow concerned.

=/\=Engineering here, we're going to lose a lot of speed here. I got ODN lines blowing along with plasma relays. 3ach time we get hit I lose more power taps and some of my warp coils are getting damaged. How long till we get out here?=/\= Arianna said trying not to lose her cool.

=/\=Sick.ay hear. Lights ...and on. It's standing....only. Casualties from....through 18. Cargo....triage. Anytime you want......be great....drink later....pressure on that. Sooner rather than...Captain.=/\= The doctor spoke through a broken com. His voice was tight with stress, the usual humour that he tried to maintain that was there earlier had now left.

Naomi was getting tired of sitting in her seat doing nothing and feeling like a third wheel, with the ship shaking around her she stood up and went over to the auxiliary communications station to see if she could help clear up internal ships communications.


The new arrival, the gunship ICS Accretion's Fall, fired the next salvo of torpedoes into the Kazon ranks. The destruction of the first cruiser just fueled the resolve of that crew to action. The Dalacari ship DCS Venture's Gain had taken a position behind their allied gunship. All the while, small fighter-class craft harassed the Kazons with beams of plasma fire and the occasional micro-torpedo. Never once did any of their shields have the chance to rest, to recharge. The smaller craft was picked off one by one, with replacement craft being launched by the Dalacari cruiser at a steady, but slowing pace.

"Captain fires are reported on decks 7, 8 and 9 sections 9 a through 14B, dangerously close to the computer core. Fire suppression systems not responding." Shri'Rao added.

“Evacuate those decks, and drop the shields in that area for a minute the lack of oxygen will put out,” Frank replied quickly.

"Captain the Lead Kazon ship has exploded, a new Dalycari gunship is fighting the second one. It's a pitched battle the Kazon is bigger but heavily damaged many of her primary systems are out and she moving like she's crippled. She is no longer giving chase to us. Distance from the star is only 5 million Km, Her shields cant take the pounding. The Kazon's outer hull is at 30000 Kelvin and rising fast. Her power grid is fluctuating. She is trying to veer off, but the Dalycari is targeting her engines and power systems. I don't think she can pull away from the star. Now she's stuck in the gravity well. Captain, she's getting pulled into the star." Shri'Rao stated.

A few seconds later the second Kazon battlecruiser flared up like a match head.

"Two Kazon battleships destroyed one crippled in orbit," Shri'Rao stated.

"Thank you Lieutenant," Frank said as he began to breath easier, now that there was only one ship left and he was damaged.

From her position, she looked up "Captain internal communications is damaged, I have notified engineering of this!" she said leaving the station and returning to her seat feeling a little dejected.

The Yeager was a Saber Class ship though small the carry a lot of punch in armaments. They had left Iota Station on routine patrol near Tabula. as the patrol was routine till the Communications officer spoke up. "Captain we are receiving a distress call from the Pennsylvania. They are under attack from 3 Kazon vessels and request all available assistance."

Captain Jamison turned, Red Alert, helm lay in coordinates and engage Maximum warp. Open a channel, This is Captain Jamison of the Saber Class ship Yeager, we are responding to you and will be there in 15 minutes Captain."

The ship came in just i time to see the first Kazan ship explode, and the damage being done to the second. " Tactical lock on the the 3 ship. I want a full spread of Photon torpedoes on the ship Lock phasers and fire at will.

All hands prepare to repel boarders if necessary.

The 3rd ship was hit severely in the rear shields and they weakened enough for the Yeager to slam one of the warp nacelles. It was forced to withdraw or be destroyed. As it left the battle under impulse power the Yeager kept up the pounding to make sure it did not come back.

Open a channel to the Pennsylvania, "Captain sorry for being late to the party. I am Captain Jamison of the Yeager. "

"Nice timing Captain Jamison, thank you for the assistance." Frank replied as he stood behind the security console and watched the third ship limp away. "I wish I could chat more Captain but we sustained some serious damage and we need to handle some damage control," he said concerned about his ship and crew.

I can send an engineering team over to assist your engineers. Also we heard about the refugees on the planet. My ship has been ordered to stay here and help them out on the surface to build a colony there. I have a lot of supplies and extra personnel to assit them in setting up the colony and planetary defeses as well. Also the Yeager is to provide defenses to them till they are set up and able to defend themselves.

“Thank you for offering your engineers Captain, but I’d like to give my crew a chance to see what we’re dealing with first. As far as the survivors below, maintaining a patrol would be ideal.”

As soon as Frank finished his conversation with Captain Jamison he spoke, "Contact the Venture's Gain, I need to thank their Captain he said as he sat back into his chair.

The engineering console on the bridg started sparking and arcing with statis and then went dark, on the other side of the bridge the science console did the same thing.

"Sir, we just lost long and short rancge sensors, transporters and life support on the bridge", Shri'rao stated, We've also lost access to the LCARS system. Backups not responding. Recommend we evacuate the bridge and take control from the battle bridge." Shri'Rao suggested.

The Chief of Security knew they were damaged a lot worse than any of them knew. Shri'Rao realized there was something about the Kazon torpedoes that was able to damage optical systems in the same way that phasers caused a cascading damage effect on electrical systems. Shri'Rao would have to develop some sort of defense against that.

”Ok let’s get life support handled first, we will begin dealing with things in a minute, I need to make sure we are secured externally.” Frank said as he looked at the viewscreen.

The remaining fighter craft were already back on their way to the DCS Venture's Gain, folding back up to a more compact, ring-like shape as they made their final approach. Those that were too damaged to finish the trip were towed back by other craft, and vanished in a bright swirl of light when they were at close range. As the comm went out to the DCS Venture's Gain, the familiar sight of their alien bridge layout came to view.

"This is Overseer Dega. Is everyone over there alright?" concern was the first thing on her mind.

Moments later as the viewscreen changed and the bridge of the Venture's Gain appeared, Frank spoke, "Captain thank you for your timely assistance."

"It was a team effort. You should hail the ICS Accretion's Fall and let their shipmaster know that. I could do it for you, but I assure you, it will..."

"... mean a lot more coming from you. Though, on behalf of all of us here on the DCS Venture's Gain, I'm just glad we all could help." she said, her focus shifting between her two forms.

”I will contact them Overseer, we sustained a good bit of damage and I believe we have some casualties as well. My crew has begun assessing the damages and we will know where we stand shortly.” Frank replied beginning to tire as the adrenaline from the fight began to wear thin.

The news of the estimated extend of the damage shocked her. "I'll have an ACR team on standby if you need any extra hands. Just give the word. You'll have escorts to wherever you need to head to for repairs." she offered, "Dega out." and the screen cleared.

The viewscreen cleared and Frank stood and looked around his bridge, this crew had just survived a battle outnumbered, and outgunned, but through their grit and determination they persevered. He was proud of his crew and his ship. The next few days would be trying as they pieced the Penn back together to keep it operational.


“”Hail the ICS Accretion's Fall please” Frank asked, he wanted to thank the ships crew that saved the Penn personally.”

The screen changed from the view of space to the view of the interior of a starship, specifically the bridge. Two recessed seats sat in the very front, possibly helm stations. Behind them and slightly elevated were other stations, potentially tactical or ops. Other stations were off to the side, just within the field of view, but impossible to really see. Behind them, elevated slightly as well, was a single seat. One seat above them all, and in that seat sat a single being. The Ts'usugi, allies of the Dalacari, held a striking resemblance to the Earth creatures known as rabbits. Fur, long ears, big feet, animalistic faces. The female in the center most chair rose as the screen connected, and as she stood, so did everyone else.

“Greetings Captain and crew of the ICS Accretion's Fall I am Captain Kamar of the USS Pennsylvania. Your fine ship and her crew helped save our ship today. I do not have long but I wanted to make sure I thanked all of you on your valiant efforts today.”

"Shipmaster Kamar, this is Shipmaster Kasui Gui. On behalf of the ICS Accretion's Fall, always willing to come to the aid of a friend of a friend. You'll be under our protection until you get back to your port of call or anyplace else that you call safe." there was a bit of a notion to her voice, like this was just something that was a truth. The Pennsylvania was safe, but would continue to be so until they were home. With that proclamation, the Captain of the ICS Accretion's Fall took her seat, and then all the crew of the bridge returned to their seats.

Frank was surprised to see the appearance of the Ts’usugi, he had heard rumors of their existence but it was another to meet them He kept the surprise from his face, he had assumed that it was going to be Dalacari. Either way it did not change the feelings of gratitude that he held for them.

“Thank you for your protection Shipmaster Kasui,” he began by using the Captain’s title that she had given, “We are going to orbit the nearby planet Tabula Rasa, while we evaluate our damages and begin repairs. I would like to speak further with you but I must get back to attending my ship and her crew. I pray you do not see this as ingratitude or ill will, but I need to see to the needs of my crew. Would it be possible for me to contact you within 24 earth hours?”

"Quite the opposite. It's the mark of a good shipmaster. Contact me when you can, not before you see to your crew." she remarked with a nod. "Until you make safe dock, you need only concern yourself with what is before you. The rest is our watch. Ship Second, take us to condition blue." and the bridge on that side of the screen took on a blue hue. Perhaps a mark of heightened combat awareness? The parallel to yellow alert?

"Yes Shipmaster." came the voice of Ship Second Vassar, a familiar voice from before. Perhaps their version of an XO. He set in motion her orders.

“Thank you Shipmaster, we will be in touch soon,” Frank ended the transmission and began chewing on an unlit cigar to hide the tension he felt.

Rouni breathe a sign of relief as the first ship explode and took out all onboard. The the ship got one of them. But she was caught off guard when the 3rd ship appeared and slammed the 3rd Kazan ship. As it limped away they continued to follow and slam them some more. Once they felt they had enough they returned to assist the Penn.

The crippled Pennsylvania limped back to the planet at one third impulse power. The journey took the better part of a week. While the fires were under control and the damage control teams had stablized life support, there were a lot of casualties 214, most of which had to be transferred to the Jeager for proper care. Though engineering worked double shifts the best they could do was keep the Pennsylvania space worthy. Truth was that the Pennsylvania would need a complete overhaul at a Federation dock yard. On the plus side the Human captives on the Kazon ship were returned to their families on the planet. The Kazon Ogla were imprisioned for piracy, destruction of private property and trafficking in slaves, something the Dalacari deeply frowned upon. The remaining Kazon vessel was dismantled and its supplies and materials used to improve the colony.


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