Battlestations!

Posted on Fri 23rd Feb, 2018 @ 7:16pm by

1,046 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: USS Samurai in The Triangle
Timeline: Two Days Ago

Captain Suzuki Hikari was unnaturally pretty. In her case, "unnaturally" was precisely the correct word; in her teens, she'd been the recipient of biosculpting by a truly inspired artist. She was also a caring wife, a doting mother, and Captain of a Sovereign class starship of the United Federation of Planets. She took her seat at the center of the bridge of USS Samurai, and looked to where Lieutenant Junior Grade June Winter had been continuing to try connecting to the free trader Beowulf since the distress call came in. "Anything?" Captain Suzuki asked.

"No, ma'am," the young woman answered, her shaking head making her bunny ears wobble.

Suzuki suppressed a smile. The girl was deaf, and she claimed the plush bunny ears gave her a greater range of hearing than her more sedate prosthesis. Suzuki let her wear them because they were cute... and because they helped her pick June out from her nine identical twin sisters. Speaking of which... "Helm, report."

Lieutenant Junior Grade February Winter, sitting at the helm and navigation station center forward, answered, "We're coming up on the bearing and range of the distress call now, ma'am."

"Riko?" Suzuki asked, swinging toward the science officer. "Have you got the ship? Any life signs?"

Though she had almost desperately searched the sensors, McCord was forced to reply, "No, Ma'am. Even with the sensors fully extended ... wait, there's something ... I don't know how to describe it. Static? It's pretty far out on the edge of reception, but it's within my estimate of the right direction. That's it, and I don't think it qualifies as a life sign." The Chief Science Officer slumped back in her chair. "I'll keep looking, Captain. Maybe when we're closer."

"Static..." Suzuki murmured, almost reminded of something, but unable to quite place what. She shook her head. "I'm sure you'll find whatever's there to be found, Riko."

With a whoosh of the turbolift doors, Chief Engineer Henry Perry walked out and went directly to the engineering terminal. "What do you have there, McCord?" he asked his old friend.

"Not much of anything yet. I wish there were a way to slingshot a communications relay way out ahead of us, but ... we can't," she replied with a sigh. "I only hope we are rushing to a rescue, not a clean-up. "

Henry took a second to think about Riko's idea of a slingshot. "What if we could slingshot a comm relay out ahead of the ship by using the deflector dish as our sling? Captain, I can reconfigure the force beam generator in the delfector dish to sling the relay to a point where it could relay the necessary data.

"File that thought, Commander," Suzuki answered with a slight smile. "For now...."

From the helm, January Winter spoke up, interrupting the Captain. "Real space reversion in four, three, two.." she watched as the preprogrammed routine brought the ship out of warp, one hundred thousand kilometers short of the range determined for the distress call.

On the main viewer, a ship... or what was left of one... hung in space. A sparkling around it told the tale -- its atmosphere had vented and frozen in the depths of interstellar space. What had once been a turret with a pair of phaser cannons was crushed like an eggshell. Though no fire burned, there was still power someplace in the wreck -- sparks appeared here and there, transient phenomenon.

The bridge crew stared with a mixture of fascination and horror at the scene before them. Quickly, Riko dropped her eyes to the sensors, checking for any other ship activity, out to 250,000 kilometers ... there was nothing. But there ... "Captain, I have a life sign!"

Henry pulled up Riko's sensor reading on his panel and compared the life sign to the power fluctuations. "Looks like they might be near what's left of the ship's engineering sections ma'am."

Focusing on what she could do, and not on what she couldn't help, McCord plotted a vector to the section of the ship. "We can transport, Captain. Employ a force field around the transporter pad, in case we bring anything we don't want, as well?" She waited for the captain's order.

"Mr. Sarigar," the Captain said, looking to the Dracaenae woman staffing the Operations console beside the Helm. "Do we have any other vessels in sight? Any idea who caused this?"

"Negative, Captain," the Operations Officer responded, a slight sibilance in her voice due to her pointed teeth and forked tongue. "The damage is consistent with a Romulan Plasma weapon, but current information fails to mention any use of such among nearby galactic forces."

Suzuki nodded thoughtfully. Romulan plasma weapons had once been the terror of the galaxy, but rotating shield harmonics on the defensive side, and the incredible energy it required to project them on the offensive side, had led to their eventual disuse. Still, against a merchant vessel in open space.... "Very well. Riko, make it so."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am," McCord replied, setting up a shielded transport of whatever life had managed to survive the terrible and destructive meeting. The word desecration popped into the scientist's mind. Anything that so completely shattered living and non-living alike was a desecration.

In the moment that their shields were down, disaster struck. "Vessel uncloaking!" Lieutenant Sarigar announced.

"Shields up!" Suzuki ordered.

"I can't!" Lieutenant Brand, the tactical officer, responded. "Transporter safety interlock!" They felt the entire ship shudder, and Brand announced, "Direct hit on the port nacelle! It's... it's being eaten ma'am!"

Static, Suzuki thought; Romulan plasma. They painted a picture, and it wasn't full of happy trees. "Get those shields up, Mr. Brand, or we're all dead."

"Shields up, Captain!" Brand announced.

"Commander Perry, I think you'd better get to Engineering; we're going to need you more there than we do here," Suzuki instructed. "Mr. Sarigar, let's see our foe."

"Aye-aye, Ma'am," Sarigar answered, and a dual-hulled craft appeared in the viewscreen. "It's a Lyran Battlecruiser, ma'am!"

Riko's heart sank when the distinctive red, white, and black markings showed on screen. "But why would a Lyran ship be attacking a transport? It makes no sense!"

"I'll remember to ask them that later, Riko!" Suzuki answered. "Helm, hard to port. Torpedo launchers, Mr. Brand; fire as you bear."

 

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