Attack on Antero

Posted on Mon 25th Oct, 2021 @ 9:49am by Captain Jason Harrington & Exo-Comp EXQT
Edited on on Mon 25th Oct, 2021 @ 9:54am

1,120 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Good Day to Hunt
Location: In the Shadows Belt
Timeline: MD 1, 1745

Previously in the battle ...

Three Klingon warriors began a materialization sequence on board the Antero. Holes in the shields had allowed small parties to begin beaming through, this had been a third attempt to send but now they blinked in a dark storage bay. What they didn't realize was how scattered the teams were. Fifteen boarders, divided into groups of three and separated in the final moments fooling the Suv’wi transporter circuits.


<{[PEGGY]*[ZOMBIE]=(“Divide and Conquer”)&(Happy Hunting)}>

The message was cold confirmation that sealed those poor souls’ fate. Zombie didn't realize how proud it should be that overcoming biological safety parameters meant its willpower was stronger than code. It just really hated being in danger, and chose “fight” much more often than “flight.” The lights had been lowered, and other countermeasures had been set in place for the boarding action and Zombie reviewed all of it.

<{[ZOMBIE]*[PEGGY]= (“There will be blood.”)}>

The plan was to shoot, disable, and gas the three in that order. Without a proper phaser, Zombie had to create the parts and assemble them into a rudimentary plasma accelerator. Their preparations earlier had allowed the study of such devices, but what Zombie hadn't planned for was an emotional state adding impetus to the actions of self-defense far beyond the normal metrics.

One of the Klingons had activated an ocular visor for vision in the dark, the others listened closely. The lightning bolt Zombie fired created such light the eyeball under the visor shrank back into the eye socket. What should have been a high-energy electrical discharge was instead a deeply felt expression of rage and retribution discharging nearly its entire capacitor bank in a single shot.

The first Klingon simply exploded into vapor and was atomized, the other two fared worse. Blinded, and now electrocuted and covered in burning plasma fire, they stripped off their armor in a vain attempt to escape the heat. They collapsed in agony, tangled in their clothes.

Zombie lost power to most of the systems, repulsors included. Dropping to the ground didn't hurt it, but speed was important. It sourced the nearest power port, twelve meters away. It would take several minutes for the treads to work their way over.

***

Meanwhile, Banshee changed the target coordinates for another group, adjusting a decimal place to cause the speed of the Antero to be miscalculated. Three warriors bounced off the hull never having stood a chance. It was the arrival of a powerful confinement beam, one meant to arrive where it wanted, that announced something worse had come aboard. Accessing Suv’wi’s systems revealed the name “Anslo Tol.” Though they had never met, Banshee knew of Anslo. It was bad news, and without delay, they sent this data to Peggy.

***

Nessy and Peggy called to Miarau, locations of boarders, status of the battle, it was tense but they were keeping ahead of their pursuers and the boarders were not gaining ground. If only they could get out a distress call, rescue could potentially happen. Incoming messages from Banshee caused a momentary panic as Peggy realized who was on board.

<{[PEGGY]*[MIARAUMEREL]=(Focus intention>THREAT=[ANSLO-TOL])(cmd*imp: Repel boarders)([ANSLO-TOL] Principle Boarder!)]>

***
{Ancillary Chamber-Bridge}

Anslo charged the personnel field on his belt. Good for a shot or two at least, maybe more if they had stuns enabled. K’or placed the breaching charge on the bulkhead, the bridge consoles, and command seats on the other side. When all guns are pointed to the one entrance/exit, it was always nice to create a second one and use that.

K’or was a shock trooper wearing shuttle armor casually. Anslo was a deadly shot, Stikk was also tough as hell, known to dive into battle coming out unscathed. Each of them wore a belt to counter electronic countermeasures and armor to take on the vacuums of space, radiation, even mag boots to defy gravity intervention. The others were a distraction, this fire team was the one who went for the jugular.

{Bridge}

"Peggy! Boarders trying to access the bridge! Sending shock waves through - not working! We have to bring that team down and right now!" Mia rocked the ship, hoping to at least cause disorientation to the warriors attacking there. All the bots would be magnetized to the hull, and she and Harrington were strapped in. Only the attacking parties would be affected.

Jason continued to scan, hoping that he would get a clue when it was a good time to try and send out the SOS, then he got it. He began transmitting without hesitation. =A=This is the freighter Antero; we are under attack from a Klingon Bird of Prey more than likely Pirates. We request immediate assistance. We are in the Shadows Belt and I am including our coordinates and current course in this transmission. =A= He was reasonably sure that he got a message out, but was someone listening and how far away were they? Time was of the essence.

Somewhere else in the Shadows Belt.

Four years ago, the USS Venture, a Galaxy-class starship was assigned to the Starfleet academy and was used for the Cadet Cruise. Two years in, it was pulled along with several other ships that were severely undermanned to participate in The Battle for Kanara. After the battle, she was refitted and received a regular crew. She had been tasked regularly for diplomatic and courier missions as well as some scientific missions. At the moment she was tasked with taking much-needed medical supplies to Resilin 4 where an outbreak of Tagaon flu had occurred.

"Captain, I'm picking up a distress signal. A freighter is under attack from a Klingon Bird of Prey here in the Shadows Belt." She swiveled in her seat to face the captain, "They think that it's a Pirate ship."

Captain Mitchell Calhoun had been the captain of the Venture for about a year now. The crew had grown to respect him for the captain that he had turned out to be, demanding, yet respectful, firm, but fair. "Are there any other ships nearby?" He knew that the medical supplies that they carried were time-sensitive. Any delay could cost lives, hundreds or even thousands.

"None, Captain." She said grimly. "We're it."

"Okay, hail them."

Ops shook her head, "Sorry Captain, there is too much interference in their area"

"Cause?" He asked.

"It's hard to say at this distance. Could be the rocks, could be weapons fire and torpedo explosions in conjunction with the rocks. Won't know until we get much closer."

Mitch nodded, "Set an intercept course and give it our best possible speed and enforce the shields with whatever you need, engage."

***

TBC...

 

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