Help Arrives - In Space

Posted on Mon Oct 3rd, 2022 @ 6:50pm by Lieutenant Commander Cor Cordale

Mission: Episode 07: “The Koldaran Encounter”
Location: Orbit
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

“They’re going after the Penn…”

“Helm, bring us about,” Valek barked, doing his best not to let the fear come through in his voice, “put us between those fighters and the Pennsylvania…now! Tactical, let’s see if we can’t get their attention…”

A flurry of verbal responses came back to him as the orders were acknowledge and carried out. On the forward screen, the view blurred and shifted, indicating the Astraea had begun its turn. Amber-gold beams of energy lanced outwards in several directions, striking at the swarms of enemy fighters making their way toward the stricken Nebula-class starship.

…but it all seemed to be happening slowly. Too slowly.

======

On the Pennsylvania, things were looking rough. The Koldaran armada had single the ship out as the weakest link and was looking to take it out of the equation. Weapon impacts rocked the shield and the residual energy from each bean strike shook the ship within.

"Did I mention I... I hate the Koldaran?" Vespa said as she manned the science station on the bridge, monitoring shield strength and trying to help sort through the mess of incoming data. Tactical had their hands full trying to sit through the swarm that was peppering then, when the Astraea made its move. Weaving through the fleet like a knife, trying to cut the swarm in half while burning away some of the Koldaran fighter swarm.

"Much better. This is a bit more.." the tactical office at the station started, but the next blast of Koldaran fire caused their station to pop into a shower of sparks, sending them to the floor.

As the console exploded, Addie's already pale face seemed to pale even more, yet she responded immediately, jumping to her feet and crossing the bridge to the fallen tactical officer, kneeling by his side to check his injuries. "He needs to go to sickbay immediately," she said, looking back at Vespa. Without waiting for a response she tapped the commbadge on his chest. "Emergency transport, one to beam directly to sickbay."

Stepping back so she wouldn't get caught in the transporter beam, Addie watched as the severely injured body shimmered out of sight before turning back to Vespa. "Does the ship have like... automatic shooting things?" she asked hopefully.

Ensign Kline had his blue hands full as the Andorians hands whirled over the controls conducting one evasive maneuver after another. He trained for this in the Academy, but had never had to do it in a real situation before. Luckily the Penn was faster than the simulations he practiced with on the holodeck. "There are somewhere, but I'm just the driver, not the shooter," he replied sarcastically."

“We’re getting incoming communications from the surface,” the call came from somewhere else on the bridge but Addie didn’t look up. Instead her focus remained solely on the console in front of her. “Fire, fire, fire, shoot.. Come on, it shouldn’t be this hard!”

It was only when the voice from the surface spoke that Addie looked up, surprise registering on her face. “Henry? I mean… Lieutenant Castle?”

"Yup. Good to hear your voice, Addie. Listen, we don't have a whole lot of time. Tell your tactical officer to tie the targeting sensors into the pod. It'll boost accuracy - we got a collection of ground targets to eliminate."

Addie’s eyebrow arched as her gaze turned back to the console. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here!” she countered. “And the tactical officer is in sickbay and none of these damned buttons say shoot!”

There was another explosion, the sound of which drowned out the red alert klaxons in the background. The Andorian officer at the helm cursed as the ship rocked violently.

“Many more of those hits and shields are going to fail!” the Andorian called out again. “We need to fire back!”

“I would if I knew how!” Addie countered, her frustration evident in her voice.

There was a pause on the comm, that lasted for two, maybe three seconds. Long enough to be noticed. "Okay." Castle's voice was calm, and even. "Addie, listen to me. You know stress doesn't make for good judgement. Take a breath. Take a second one. You have time to think. Get the Penn making evasive maneuvers. Do not stick to one pattern. Keep changing it up." The voice was confident now, the voice of command. "That will give you a few seconds to think. Use it. You should have a list of targets, and a list of which sensors to use. External Sensor Pod. They will then give you a much greater list of targets." Henry paused, letting Addie follow. "Focus on the planet. You'll find a cluster of Communications Signal Emitters - CSE's - in a packed group. That's your selection. Pick the weapons option - photon torpedo. Which the target and weapon selected, the fire option should come up. Blow those targets to hell, that's an order."

Addie tried to follow along as he explained each step to her. "I think it's locked onto a target... maybe..." she bit her bottom lip. "What if I have the wrong target?" she suddenly asked as her fingers hovered over the flashing light on the console that was indicating that the weapons were ready to fire.

"I believe in you. Fire." The voice carried the smile on the man's lips.

There was another loud explosion behind her and Addie glanced back, noting the concerned expression on Vespa's face. Looking back at the console, she swallowed hard and hit the console, closing her eyes as her hand made contact with the cold glass panel.

Before Addie could respond again the ship lurched violently again, knocking her from her seat.

"Forward shields are failing!" The voice echoed across the bridge.

Addie screamed as she hit the deck hard, a searing pain tearing through her wrist and shoulder, her scream drowned out by another explosion on the bridge.

Ensign Kline felt the shudder of the Penn as she tried to shake off multiple hits like a staggered boxer after a hard blow. The knockout blow was coming soon he thought as he struggled to keep the Penn moving to prevent weapon systems from locking or having an easy shot. Another loud explosion rocked the ship and caused the lights to flicker. The sound of screaming and explosions pounded in his head in time with his rising heart beat, before things faded to black.

======

Valek watched, helpless, as the Pennsylvania took round after round of enemy fire. The ship's shields glowed brightly, and in places failed completely, allowing many of the shots to impact directly against the already broken hull. "Come on," the Bandi muttered under his breath, willing the Astraea to go faster.

The helmsman on duty tried to squeeze a little more speed from the ship, "Sir, she'll fly apart at this rate."

"Fly her apart then." Valek responded, more of a snap than a reply. Out of the corner of his eye, Valek saw what had drawn their attention. One of the Koldaran battleships was turning towards the Penn. Their superior batteries, combined with the already overwhelming swarm of fighters, would most certainly do the job. The realization made Valek's blood run cold. They were not going to make it in time. They were not going to...

KABOOOOM!

In that instant, a massive explosion filled the forward viewscreen with brilliant light, so bright that the filters were overwhelmed. All those present were forced to shield their eyes or risk going blind. Silence fell upon the room. Hearts sank. Time seemed to stop. And everyone, Valek included, waited for their worst fears to be confirmed.

...but to everyone's surprise, when the light faded away, the Pennsylvania was still there. The hull was intact and the shields were still crackling around it. Instead, it was the Koldaran battleship that was no longer whole.

======

[UNKNOWN VESSEL]

A sleek black and blue craft slid through the darkness of subspace, a silent predator on its way to the killing field. Soft violet glows from its extended nacelles as it navigated the infinite darkness of the realm around it. No markings, no identifying tags or names. Just a sleek ship of an imposing design, slipping through the quiet darkness. The infinite layers of Subspace above, the infinite depths of swallowing bleak below, the craft hurried along on its course. Its destination before it, but still out of reach.

Within, the craft was held in an eerie silence as bars of blue lights flickered across hallways and doors. Even at maximum velocity, the ship was quiet. The ship was still. No humming, no thrumming, nothing. Behind a massive iris of a doorway there was the bridge of the craft, slightly angled towards what would be agreed upon to be the front of the craft. At the lowest section, helm controls and navigational controls. Further up, possibly sensors and propulsion. Further up still rested tactical, and a few other observational stations.

Further up, at the top of the curve, sat a single figure. A single man. With lengthy ears atop his head. Next to him was another son of Ts'usu.

"CONN! Sensors!" one of the station handlers called up. "Multiple contacts at destination. Three identified as Koldaran world invasion forces. Three unknowns."

The one in the big chair stood and assessed the situation, "Bring us to heading two three one. Maintain depth. Signal the others our intent to flank." and the Ship Second next to the captain gave a nod, and then gave the orders. "HELM! Set your heading to Two Three One." a pause, "DIVE OFFICER! Maintain depth. COMMS OFFICER, Signal readiness to the fleet."

And the orders came back. "CONN! Aye, my heading is Two Three One, adjusting trajectory now. Currently Two Two Seven. Two Two Niner. Two Three Zero. My heading is Two Three One. Steady."

"CONN! Aye, depth level. We are at Depth Eight and steady."

"CONN! Aye, signaling the fleet. IDS Western Dawn moving to engage."

Once that was handled, the ship second turned to the shipmaster and nodded, "We are on course and ready sir. Orders?" and the shipmaster gave a nod. "Load all negatron warheads, torpedo chassis. Two scatter-pack. The rest full detonation. Precharge pulse bolters. Get an engine lock on the Koldaran, but I want eyes on the... the others." and again, the ship second gave a nod. "Aye sir. TACTICAL!" he turned to the assembled bridge, "Load all tubes torpedo chassis. Set Three and Seven to Scatterpack. Precharge all Pulse Bolters, maximum charge." and the order was confirmed, "AYE! Prepping weapons as ordered. My weapons will be ready in.."

"CONN! SENSORS!" someone interrupted, "Change in readings, sir!"

======

Sure enough, on the viewscreen in front of them, the image of another starship...a Federation starship...appeared. It flew straight into the middle of the fray, weapons firing, catching the Koldarans completely unawares.

"Attention, all ships," a voice said, crackling to life over the communications channel, "This is Captain Drell of the USS Vesta. As senior officer, I am taking command of the fleet. Reinforcements are on their way and should be here momentarily. Until then...we will hold the line."

======

On the bridge of the Vesta, Drell reached over and closed the channel with a touch of the control panel to his right. It was clear they had managed to leverage the element of surprise well enough, but now the Koldarans were aware of their presence, and the work was only going to get harder.

"Alright," he said aloud to his own people, "Now, we've given them something else to shoot at..." No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than they felt the entire ship shudder under a barrage of enemy fire. The crew, however, did not even flinch. They braced themselves and kept to task, clearing a path to their allies.

"Hot Damn," Frank said around the chewed up cigar in his mouth. "That's my old ship, and they're shooting the hell out of her." His fingers whirled at his station. "Captain, moving auxiliary power to augment forward shields."

======

[UNKNOWN VESSEL]


"Report." the Ts'usugi shipmaster called, "Conn. Sensors." the operator at the panel replied. "Enemy contacts updated. I read two remaining Koldaran invasion carriers."

The shipmaster smiled and turned to his second, "Looks like these Federation types have some teeth. Signal readiness to the rest of the convoy. I want a channel to the lead ship of their fleet the moment we break dark. And Togoshi?"

"Yes, Shipmaster?" his ship second replied.

"Get me a phrasebook. We'll need to use their words."