Target Practice, Part 1

Posted on Tue 18th Jun, 2019 @ 2:18pm by Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs
Edited on on Sun 11th Aug, 2019 @ 12:37am

1,275 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: USS Typhoon and Asteroid Field
Timeline: Backstory

Briggs and his wife had all they needed to turn the asteroid, and more importantly the Breen lab, to dust. Once they reached the shuttle bay, they got into their flight suits. They weren’t just flight suits, but also environmental suits, in case the fighter had to be ditched.

Dallas finished putting on his suit, except for the helmet, and turned to Victoria, “You good or do you need any help?” He wanted to make sure that she was able to get the suit on okay.

"Everything works," she told him. "It's been a while, but I don't think this is a routine a person forgets." She tucked her hair inside the suit and settled the helmet on her head.

"Oh no, you don't get away that easy." Dallas replied and pulled her helmet back off and set in on the floor. He took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly. After the long kiss ended, he breathed. "Now, if I don't return, at least I have that to remember you by." He smiled and picked up her helmet and handed it to her before putting his own on. "I'll drive..." Dallas said before helping Victoria into the front seat of the two-seat fighter. Once she was in her seat and buckled in, he climbed into the back seat of the Valkyrie.

"I don't know what our arrival will bring below, but you certainly know how to show a girl a good send-off. I'm ready to be chauffeured to my next destination, please," she snickered, adjusting the belts to hug her body safely. One nice thing about Dallas was that he had a sense of humor, and he didn't let things fall into a serious state that could undermine the determination and resolve required to do the hard jobs.

Once Dallas was in and all snug, he started up the computer and began his pre-flight checks. "Everything checks out, so its time to depart." The Valkyrie was brought into service during the Dominion war and was one of the stealthiest fighters in Starfleet's inventory. They weren't perfect, but they weren't a slouch ether. The small craft lifted off the deck quietly, then the landing gear retracted. =A=This is Valkyrie One ready for departure.=A= Dallas said into his helmet comms.

=A=This is the Captain, you may depart, from here on you are to remain silent. God speed, lieutenants.=A= Barstow replied. He was worried for his young officers and had no idea what they would encounter or how much experience they had at this sort of work. He hoped they could pull it off and return alive, both of them. One thing was for sure, he couldn't help them. They were on their own.

The Valkyrie quickly left USS Typhoon behind. It became a small dot and then nothingness in the vast space. The fighter jumped to warp for only a minute or two and then jumped out again. Dallas kept the Valkyrie at full impulse until they reached the border. They needed their power signature as low as possible, and the spike from dropping out of warp could have brought attention to them.

Looking at the starfield through the computer screen, Victoria wondered what the captain's religious views were. 'God speed' was nice to hear, but it seemed an odd thing for a man in a Starfleet command position to say. Of course, he was worried about them. He'd made that clear. Perhaps in this situation, he felt it was all the help he could give them, sort of sending them on their way with a tiny prayer. She'd ask Dallas what he thought later, because she didn't want to break coms silence. They needed all the stealth they could find for this mission. She watched the planet grow larger in the small view screen and punched the magnification down a notch.

After they had passed the Federation/Breen border, the asteroid field grew larger quickly. At first the asteroids were small and scattered, but they soon got big and were highly concentrated. Dallas had to slow to half impulse and fly very defensively and aggressively. Thankfully, the inertial dampers were working well and the high G force from the turns was nothing. Soon the largest of the asteroids was in view. "There it is," Dallas said, and he pointed the small ship in that direction.

Victoria felt a frisson of fear as she looked down at their destination. It looked like an ordinary, more or less worthless, piece of rock, yet she knew that it was the most dangerous thing she'd ever seen. She wished they could simply bomb it from up here and fly away again ... but they wouldn't be sure they had put an end to the threat, and that wasn't what Starfleet had ordered. Will this be the one? she wondered, refusing to be more specific in her thoughts.

As they got closer, the panel in front of Dallas lit up, "We've been locked on to. I'm picking up three orbital platforms in range, and ... they're firing!" Dallas began defensive maneuvers to try to trick the incoming missiles by getting close to, and flying around, some of the smaller asteroids, nearly scraping one. He was sure his aggressive flying would allow them to evade at least some of the missiles, and one detonated on an asteroid. There were several that were not fooled and were hot on their trail. "I can't shake them, launch counter measures!"

"Already on it!" Victoria called, no longer worried about keeping quiet. She flashed out a flight of six mini-drones which broadcast a signal imitating their fighter flying in several directions. She watched tensely, hoping the missiles would be fooled. Her finger stayed just above the button to send out more, but all the missiles diverted, and she breathed again.

"Can we hide in among these asteroids, or are they sending ships after us?" she asked when they were behind an asteroid between them and their goal.

"I didn't detect any ship close by, just those orbital platforms. They must be a defensive system for the lab," Dallas said. "If they do send ships, we won't have much time; we have to get in there and blow the place up before that happens." Dallas thought for a moment, "Perhaps another approach vector may give us time to get in closer, before those things pick us up on sensors, but its just a guess. There are no guarantees."

"Go for it. I'm with you all the way. I'd really like to wipe this thing out before it's released on us," Victoria said. "I don't fancy dying by Breen poison." Truthfully, she wouldn't mind kicking a few of them around, but this virus was simply too dangerous to take a chance on not wiping out the whole complex, and hoping none of the stuff had already been sent back to the homeworld.

Dallas punched the throttle and the fighter broke cover, moving away from the defensive platforms, and darted off out of view. He came around from a different direction this time and a platform that wasn't detected before fired upon the small craft. The missiles came in fast this time... "Vick!" Dallas yelled out.

Not being in control of the fighter, there was only one thing Victoria could do to try to avoid their fate. She sent out a lot of chaff, hoping to mis-direct the incoming rounds, and it worked ... almost. "One is through!" she exclaimed, pushing the button again, but there was nothing else to send. A hit was inevitable, unless Dallas pulled off a miracle.

 

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