Lt. JG. Gnai - Decoys on Decoys on Decoys...
Lich
(( Bridge – Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))
Some of the smaller ships zipped to close the distance between the two larger ships, spiraling across space and darting around like over-excited minnows, while a trio of slightly larger, blockier shuttle-like transports trundled on behind them. Gnai’s sensor readings made little sense to it… somehow it seemed that the entire crew of the D’Kall’s Revenge was now divided between the three transports and the small squad of fighters approaching the Artemis.
Gnai: There are no more lifesigns on the D’Kall’s Revenge… This thinks they mean to try and board the ship!
The bridge shook as the airlock doors on the lower decks were opened to space, rolling the Artemis heavily to her side, as the air acted almost as a thruster. The laws of physics were cruel, even in the vacuum of space.
Jovenan: Return fire!
Cole: On it, setting phaser banks for a wide dispersal and short bursts. That should force them into pockets we can target with torpedos.
((OOC: Removing a few tags that Gnai isn’t overhearing.))
Elsewhere on the bridge, there was some sort of conversation about… cats? But Gnai had no capacity to pay attention to that at the moment, not while there were fighters spiraling in and menacing them, and all sorts of other alerts flashing on its console’s screen.
Something… about heightened tachyon emissions detected all of a sudden in their vicinity. Gnai couldn’t pinpoint it, not with all the noise from the disruptors and engines cluttering up the readings. Not yet, at least. But that at least gave it a tangible goal to focus on, in the middle of this chaos, where it felt supremely un-useful as a science officer.
Tho’Bi: Uh oh. ::to Jovenan:: Lieutenant Commander, we have a problem ::beat:: there are gaps appearing in our shields… and those fighters are small enough to take advantage.
Jovenan: Security to General Quarters 3, prepare to raise to General Quarters 4. Dispatch security team even to the vented areas, with appropriate protective equipment. Tactical… Shoot to destroy.
Cole: ::pivoting to the security consol:: Dispatching two manned teams across the ship, doubling those on deck 5. ::turning back to tactical:: Let’s steer this storm.
Behind them all, the turbolift doors opened, letting in the pair of security officers assigned to guard the bridge while on GQ3. A brief glance from Gnai’s tank (it allowed itself that minor distraction, just in case they were somehow Orions coming to storm the bridge) revealed to it that it had never met the Vulcan nor the Bajoran, but they were armed and on alert. Before it returned its attention fully to its console it caught the Vulcan shooting a dark glance at the cat sitting in the XOs seat, before they let out a quiet but very un-Vulcan (and un-security officer) sneeze. The Bajoran standing to their side gave a slight chuckle, before what sounded like an elbow caught him in his gut.
On the viewscreen ahead of them, Gnai caught sight of a few fighters careening into each other, stopping their assault, but still a good and dangerous number of them made it close by to the ship, strafing with their disruptors and needling away at the Artemis. And then there were two very large explosions as the Artemis’ phasers targeted and destroyed two of the transports. The noise from the “booms” masked the strange tachyon signal that it had just managed to get a better bead on, much to its frustration, as its filaments swished around tensely.
The anomalous lifesign readings dropped, now reading 32. Two lifesigns in the remaining fighters, and a remaining 30 on the final transport, down from the original 130-odd that it had originally noted down. Even if they were pirates trying to come and destroy them and their ship, it did sink in to Gnai how abruptly their lives had ended. If it hadn’t been able to get back to the Artemis in time… that might have been how it had gone, targeted with a few well-placed hits and blown into nothing.
Cole: ::frustrated:: One transport made it through, their approaching an airlock on deck 5.
Gnai: This reads thirty boarders on the remaining transport!
Tho’Bi: Response
Jovenan: Phasers, everyone. Heavy stun. Please, if you have any ideas how to stop them…
With the duo of security officers on the bridge with them, and the rest of the bridge crew armed, Gnai felt… marginally safe. Of course, if it needed to, it had a phaser… somewhere. But it wasn’t going to pull it out yet. Not when it still had strange signals flashing on its console, alerting it to what was going on outside of their ship.
Cole: Could we use the EPS to overload the lighting where their boarding to go off like a flash bang? The disorientation might make it easier to contain them.
Gnai: That would also disorient and blind the security teams fighting them off…
With a thunk, the transport attached to the ship’s airlock, and Gnai could feel the slight vibration as it traveled up to where they sat on the bridge. This all felt even more real now, with the Orions actively swarming onto the ship (it presumed), potentially overwhelming their security staff, then running up to the bridge, trying to kill them all… And for what? Stumbling upon some marginally profitable arrangement with a bunch of barely-warp-capable aliens?
Tho’Bi/Jovenan/Cole: Response
Braga: =/\= Security team to Bridge… Sir, I.. I don’t know what to make of this. =/\=
That wasn’t what Gnai had been expecting. He sounded confused, but not like he was actively being cut down by the 30-odd disruptors a transport of that size had to be armed with.
Tho’Bi/Jovenan/Cole: Response
As the others conversed with the security officer, trying to figure out what was going on, Gnai returned to its console, with the space around it now cleared of most of the noise-causing entities (the fighters having peeled back to the destroyer, preparing for another run while protected behind the hull of the other ship), trying to figure out what was going on exactly. The tachyon emissions it had detected had been so slight, most would have assumed it was just baseline noise from the sensors…
Braga: =/\= We’ve managed to subdue the Orions. There were only a handful of them that were armed… Commander, I can’t exactly understand what’s being said, they’re all talking too fast… but most of these “boarders” aren’t even Orion! =/\=
Tho’Bi/Jovenan/Cole: Response
Braga: =/\= ::background noise on comms:: Oh… Oh no. Commander, one of the aliens speaks Klingon… They’re not here to attack us at all, but prisoners that they had aboard the D’Kall’s Revenge. This is just a distraction! =/\=
As soon as he said that, there was a massive spike in tachyon emissions. A spike that big only meant one thing, at least in a situation like this. Something was decloaking, something massive. Not just a small spy vessel, like Gnai had assumed they might be transporting to earlier when they had dropped their shields, but a real, proper ship.
Gnai: He’s right, sir!
Space wobbled and warped in front of them as another Orion ship appeared on the viewscreen. This one bristled with weapons already aimed at the Artemis, its hull clean of any of the marring and phaser burns that the older destroyer had been marked up with. Whatever this ship was, she was decades newer and meaner than the destroyer that they had already faced.
Shotiri: =/\= Federation Starship Artemis, once again, you demonstrate an extraordinarily callous disregard for the lives of non-Federation individuals as you eradicated transports that were fleeing from the wanton destruction of their ship at your hands. Is this show of force supposed to intimidate the inhabitants of this system into joining your ranks, lest they suffer the same fate? ::scoff:: As defenders of neutrality, we Orions will not stand for it. The Shotiri demands you power down your phasers, and retreat from this moon. =/\=
The same voice rang out that they had heard earlier, clearer. It was as if there had been another link in the comm-chain that had been adding in a slight bit of noise, only to be removed now that they were face to face with the real threat.
Tho’Bi/Jovenan/Cole: Response
Tags/TBC :)