MSTied: STEPHEN RATLIFF'S "The 7th Fleet." (Marrissa fic!) [(3/6)]

[Tv's Weretorgo]

>
> As the ships moved toward the two stars, they shot passed Jem'Hadar ships.
> A Jem'Hadar Battle cruiser met its doom in the fire of the Armageddon, the
> Virginia, and the Kentucky. The Pike and the Majestic pulled off a
> strategic snip job

SERVO: I sure hope Ratliff knows what he's talking about. Lord knows *I* don't.

> on several Cardassian warships as they flew past to take
> up position behind the Kentucky. The Churchill, Nimitz, and the Sullivans
> made mincemeat of three Jem'Hadar scouts coming up behind the Stargazer.

CROW: Ensign! Set phasers to "chop finely!"

> The flurry of fire caused a momentary halt in the Cardassian-Dominion
> forces.

SERVO: [as Jem'Hadar] Ye gods, they destroyed three of our light fighter
spacecraft! All ships halt so we can study this and plan another method of
assault!

> The Star Fleet vessels took advantage of that brief pause. They
> took up formation. The Stargazer lead the formation, with the Kentucky,
> the Virginia, the Churchill, and the Majestic behind and above, below and
> to the right and left of her.

CROW: Wow, that one ship is just all *over* the place!

> Behind them was the Rabin, the Paris, the
> Pike, and the Hikura, Finally the last row was the Devin, the Nimitz, the
> Sullivans, and the Hermes.

JOEL: And then they all introduced themselves to one another.
SERVO: But who was at Tactical? I must know or the rest of the fanfic won't
make any sense!

>
> On the bridge of the Stargazer, things were busy, but not so busy that
> Marrissa didn't notice one ship's absence.

CROW: For Marrissa sees all! Marrissa hears all! And Marrissa knows all! All bow down to the
almighty Marrissa!

> As she looked for it, her crew
> prepared for the last ditch maneuver. The Flare maneuver was a single ship
> tactic usually done by pirates.

SERVO: The *Pittsburgh* Pirates.
JOEL: [to SERVO] Since when do you know about football?
SERVO: Oh, I pick it up here and there...

> It had never been tried in such a way.
> Usually it sent a solar flare in the wake of the ship, preventing anyone
> from following and totally disrupting the warp trail.

CROW: Sometimes, however, it sent super-heated plasma into the warp core, causing a
catastrophic breech that blew the ship and its inhabitants into their component
sub-atomic particles. But heck, you pays your money, you takes your chances.

> "Shields are matched," Lieutenant Ross Lochard announced. "Metagenic
> configuration confirmed."
> "Warp field generators synchronized," Lieutenant Szustakowski announced.
> "Where is the Armageddon?" Marrissa asked.

SERVO: That's it? That's all we get for technobabble? Come on, let's reverse the field
polarity of the anti-matter induction coils, narrow the warp core's annular confinement
beam, and reconfigure the main deflector dish to send an inverted tachyon beam through
the emitter array!

> "She's harrying the rear of the Cardassian / Jem'Hadar lines," Jay
> announced. "She's got all their attention at the moment.

JOEL: [normally, not sarcastically] Oh, what a brilliant strategy! Ignore the fleet getting in
formation in favor of one crippled ship!

> Sir, we can't
> delay. They are turning back towards us."
> "Open a channel to the Armageddon," Marrissa ordered.
> "Channel open," Jay replied.
> "On screen," Marrissa ordered. A man with gray hair appeared on screen.
> His captain's uniform was streaked with soot and his bridge looked like a
> tornado had hit it. "Captain Sinclair, what do you think you are doing.

SERVO: [as Marrissa] Why won't you give us back our question marks.

> I'm trying to save all of us, and you're ruining it."
> "Commander Picard, you need us to keep their attention more than you need
> us taking power to be towed out of here," Sinclair responded. "I can be
> more help for you distracting them."
> "I'll be the judge of that," Marrissa stated.

JOEL: Judge, jury, *and* executioner.

> "No, I will," Sinclair said.

SERVO: [as Sinclair] I wanna be the martyr!
JOEL: [as Marrissa] No, I wanna be!

> "I am the most senior officer here, and I'm
> ordering you to leave now."

CROW: My God... he actually stood up to Marrissa.

> "Sir," Marrissa began to say.

SERVO: And the battle escalates into a bitter, heated contest of "am not," "are too."

> "Go Lieutenant Commander," Sinclair said. "And take good care of those
> ships. Your are the best chance that they will see home."
> "Understood, Stargazer out," Marrissa ordered,

JOEL: Man, you become God of the ship for three years, and before you know it everything you
say is an *order.*

> moving back to take her
> seat. "Kathy, set a course directly between those stars. Straight line,
> middle of the way, warp eight, engage."
>
> The whole formation of the starships went into warp,

SERVO: And burst into flames.

> rushing between the
> stars. The massive warp field passed between the stars in milliseconds,
> creating a reaction that no ship in the system had time to escape.

CROW: Could it be?
JOEL: Yes, I think it just said that.
SERVO: Do we dare hope that...?

> A flare
> shot out in the direction the ships had went, then back the way they had
> come.

JOEL: Crow, you may be tempted to offer alternatives to Ratliffs unstandard usage of the word
"come..." but don't.

> The stars collapsed, then expanded into supernovas. In an instant
> the Armageddon and all the Jem'Hadar and Cardassian ships in the system
> were reduced to their component atoms.

JOEL: [excitedly] Does this mean that...
SERVO: [same] I believe it does!

> The base, which the forth fleet had
> come to destroy, was vaporized.

SERVO: Woo-hoo! Bye bye Marrissa!

> The Seventh Fleet's mission had been
> accomplished at the price of two stars, and the starship Armageddon.

SERVO: And most, if not all, the planets in the system.
JOEL: On that cheery note...

[JOEL picks SERVO up and they leave]

[1...2...3...4...5...6... SOL]

[CROW is center, looking depressed. JOEL and SERVO are screen right and left, respectfully.]

CROW: I just can't believe it. All those planets, all those inhabitants, just gone. And you
know, I thought I felt a tremendous disturbance in the force. Did you guys feel a
disturbance in the force?

[SERVO blows a strawberry out of his dome at JOEL. JOEL catches it in a cup that already has
some strawberries, milk, and ice cream in it.]

CROW: All those innocent lives . . .
JOEL: Come on, Crow, who says they were innocent anyway? I mean, maybe they got what they
deserved.
CROW: What?
SERVO: Yeah, Crow. Suppose the fourth planet of one star contained a civilization of Pol Pots,
Stalins, and Hitlers? Aren't you glad they're gone?
CROW: Well, I guess I never really thought about... [SERVO launches another strawberry. JOEL
catches this in his cup also.]
JOEL: [mostly trying to pacifate CROW] Of course you didn't. The third planet of the other star
was populated by Robert James Waller, the people who write those Chicken Soup for the
Soul books, the entire cast of Touched by an Angel, and everyone who thinks Family
Circus is funny.
CROW: [shudders] Wow, that's scary. So, you're saying maybe their destruction was a
good thing? [straightens up and looks a little more cheerful]
SERVO: Oh, absolutely. We haven't even discussed the fifth planet. I don't know if we
want to go there. [SERVO shoots another strawberry, JOEL catches this and puts the cup
onto a blender, turning it on to make a strawberry shake.]
CROW: No, come on guys, this is working. Let's hear about planet number five.
JOEL: Okay, if you must. Planet number five contained Robert McElwaine, Kathie Lee
Gifford, O.J. Simpson, Joe Eszterhaus, Pat Buchanan, Coleman Francis, Hal P. Warren,
Ludwig Plutonium, Martha Stewart, John _-_ Winston, Ed Wood Jr., John Tesh, Alexander
Abian, and every known recording of that Celine Dion Titanic song.
CROW: [Now looking positively perky] Wow! And Marrissa destroyed all that evil!
Thanks, Marrissa! [SERVO launches another strawberry at JOEL, not realizing that JOEL
no longer has the cup. It hits JOEL on the cheek.]
JOEL: Ouch. [rubs cheek where it hit] Servo, you're getting a little carried away. [yellow
light flashes] [to camera] We have commercial sign, we'll be right back.
CROW: [breaking mood] Hey, since when did you take up drinking strawberry shakes?
JOEL: Marrissa just makes them look *so* good. [Smacks light]

[Commercials]

>
>
> Chapter Two

[they enter and take their normal seats.]

JOEL: Actually, I have decided that this strawberry shake is as evil tasting as Hamdingers.

>
> The twilight of the night shift had descended on the Enterprise.

JOEL: How could it be twilight in space?

> Once
> again Captain Picard found himself walking towards the aft observation
> lounge.

CROW: NOO! It's starting over!

> He was not surprised to find Clara sitting there for the second
> night in a row.

SERVO: [as Picard] Don't you have work to do?

> The Seventh Fleet had been due in earlier in the day. The
> only news they had gotten was that their target had been destroyed in a
> supernova.

JOEL: Along with two stars, eleven planets, 27 moons, 3 sentient civilizations, and one
very scenic asteroid belt.
SERVO: And two hard boiled eggs.

> Of the Seventh Fleet there was no word.

CROW: Let's try to keep it that way.

> "Good Evening, Clara," Jean-Luc Picard greeted.
> "Captain," Clara responded, staring at the stars. The time passed for a
> while in silence. The two just looking at the stars, their thoughts with a
> young teenage girl light-years away.

SERVO: [as Clara] Well. [pause] I'm glad we're having this moment.

> "When I was little, I use to go out into the vineyard

JOEL: It belonged to my neighbor, Martha.

> and stare up at the
> stars," Jean-Luc Picard commented. "They seemed to beckon to me. They
> told me

CROW: [as Picard] To kill my parents and worship Satan.

> of adventures and people to meet. They were figures of permanence
> that were waiting for me to explore, unchanging though the ages."

JOEL: [as Picard] They taunted me with their impudent twinkling, until I cleverly fashioned
a hat of Reynolds Wrap. Taunt me now, you stupid stars!

> "They don't seem so unchanging now," Clara commented. "Not when two of
> them has blown up so unexpectantly."

SERVO: [as Picard] Yes, two of them has blown up. How were your day today?

> "Star Fleet Science is looking into it," Picard said. "I'm really
> regretting approving her transfer. That girl has a habit of

JOEL: ...overthrowing her far more capable commanding officers and mysteriously beating idiotic
opponents using stupid command techniques.

> running into
> trouble."
> "And coming up smelling of roses," Clara commented.

CROW: Well, "smelling," at least.

> "She does have the best luck," Picard said.

SERVO: [as Picard] It's almost as if, somewhere, some powerful being had control of all the
forces in the universe, and manipulated them just for . . . nah, what am I *thinking?*

> "Yeah, but sometime that has to run out," Clara said, pulling her hair
> back behind her shoulders.

JOEL: [as Picard] Just keep telling yourself that, honey.

> "Nonsense, Marrissa can get out of any situation she gets into," Picard
> said. "She's First Officer on the Stargazer, doing the impossible is part
> of the job description. Don't worry, she'll be back."
> "I guess," Clara said. "What brought you here?"

SERVO: [as Picard] Ratliff's need for Exposition and Character Development.

> "I'm worried about Marrissa," Jean-Luc Picard responded, staring at the
> stars.
> "Oh."

CROW: This makes "2001: A Space Odyssey" seem like a snappy series of one-liners.

>
> It didn't take long for the fleet to pass by the two stars.

SERVO: And it took even less time to vaporize them.
JOEL: Let's let it go, guys. These things happen.

> Even so,
> keeping the combined warp field of the dozen ships balanced was a tough
> job. It wasn't easy on the engines either. "Commander, we've got to pull
> out of this warp field joining," the Chief Engineer said. "I'm not sure
> how much longer the engines can take it.

SERVO: [as Scotty] I dinna thenk-
JOEL: No.
SERVO: But-
JOEL: No!

> They won't make it back to the
> border."
> "Disengage link up," Marrissa ordered.

CROW: [as Marrissa] Ignite cigarettes! Activate glowing post-coital chatter!

> "We need some place quite to make
> repairs. "How far is the Garrison Nebula?"
> "3 light years," Kathy said from the helm.
> "Have the fleet change course to the Nebula," Marrissa ordered. "We'll
> lay low there for a day or so. Inform the fleet that once we are in the
> nebula, we will be under radio silence. Messages will be passed by fighter
> craft patrols.

JOEL: [as Marrissa] All hands to my deck for a game of Telephone.

> All ships should be spread just outside of visual range of
> each other once we enter the nebula. Jay, set up a patrol rotation.

CROW: That actually makes sense.

> Fighter Bay, prep Sweet Success for use."

CROW: *That* didn't.

> "You're not considering going out there?" Jay stated.
> "Jay, forget about the objections, and just provide her with an escort,"
> Ross advised. "It works better that way."

CROW: I think the phrase you're looking for is "submit graciously," Ross.

> Marrissa ignored the conversation as the entered the Nebula.
>

JOEL: She had her headset on, and the Hanson was cranked up.

> Marrissa had just checked on her Captain. The half-Vulcan was still in a
> Vulcan healing trance.

SERVO: When the hell was this established??
CROW: In the now-famous "coherant" scene, missing since the first draft.

> Doctor Johnson did not expect her to need to leave
> it for at least 72 hours. With that established, Marrissa was on her way
> to the fighter bay.

SERVO: [singing] On her way to the fighter bay, all her troubles seem so far away...

> She intended to meet with all the Captains of the
> other starships in the Seventh Fleet and make a plan to get back to the
> Federation lines.

JOEL: Easy. Find someone who's opposed her recently and send him out in a shuttlecraft to draw
the Jem'Hadar's fire.