LtCmdr Jovenan – Look at what you made me do, all I wanted was to talk!
Jovenan
((Bridge, USS Artemis))
No one was coming.
Rising through the ranks had happened almost by accident. Just a year ago, Jovenan had been a Lieutenant, a respected rank among the crew, the first major step towards leadership; two years ago, a Jay-Gee, a worthy crewmember as well, but one of the dozens on the ship. It had been easy to look up to the commanders and captains, to lull oneself into their command and trust that they knew what they were doing. Not that Jovenan hadn’t made major independent decisions before – the emergency beam-out from Meranuge IV as an Ensign came to her mind first – but almost always, she has had someone to turn to who made the final ruling first. Captain MacKenzie, Genkos, Talos, Vitor, Commander Yalu, Lieutenant Yellir, Commander Niac…
None of them were coming. As if by accident, there were few if any crewmember on the Artemis who even shared the rank with her and could have taken the bridge from her, to send her to her proper place at the Science station. She couldn’t expect the Captain to take command of the ship remotely from the surface of the planet across the system. No, Jovenan had to start acting in accordance with her current seat.
Jovenan: Ensign Tho’Bi, Lieutenant Gnai. Try to establish communications with the away team with the transporter protocol or whichever similar method works. Try to ascertain their status. Maybe we can do something for them without putting ourselves in danger. I’ll try to buy you time.
Gnai: Aye, sir!
Tho’Bi: ::quietly measured:: Aye, Lieutenant Commander.
Turning on the central seat, Jovenan turned to the goldshirt she had assigned to the Tactical station. The Ensign’s bold suggestion to exhaust the shields of the Orion destroyer with their own, supposedly more modern and durable shields had been stuck in Jovenan’s mind. She would have wanted a moment to calculate their odds, but there were no minutes to spare; what would have she done for the opportunity to ask Vitor for advice on the matter.
Jovenan: Ensign Cole. We… We might be going into a battle. Open fire only when I order you to, and to disable, not to destroy. Try to disable first their weapons, then their engines. If and only if I say so, we will try to ram their shields as you suggested. Prepare for that possibility.
Cole: ::small smirk:: Copy that. I’ll aim to be politely disabling, unless things get impolite. Then we’ll see how well their shields hold up. ::fingers already dancing over the tactical console::
For a moment, Jovenan considered correcting the Ensign that she hadn’t given opposing orders for a “things get impolite” situation, but eventually, she just nodded and turned back. Jovenan didn’t want to kill any more Orions, or anyone else for that matter, but she supposed that if needed, she’d rather kill their assailants than see the entire crew dead. She was very conscious of that possibility, and when she stood up from the Captain’s seat and crossed her arms behind her back, eyes raised to the Orion destroyer on the viewscreen, she had to breathe in and out slowly before her racing heart permitted her to compose herself enough to give orders.
Jovenan: Red alert. Battle stations.
The amber of the lights turned crimson, and the alarms drowned the bridge with the dreaded and far too familiar klaxon. As much as she hated the prospect of fighting the massive Orion warship, Jovenan had to give the crew the opportunity to take their stations or to go to their assigned shelters before she’d put her wishes into a test.
Jovenan: Hail the destroyer and the base, try all the methods we have available. =/\= Orion destroyer and the Moric Base. This is the Federation starship Artemis. You are in possession of Starfleet officers. We demand their immediate release and the cease of all hostilities against us. The one of you in charge, please respond. =/\=
Hoping that the bridge crew were full on in their respective tasks, Jovenan kept looking at the Orion ship. It was dawning to her how massive their opponent was. Her understanding of the different classes of ships, especially those of non-Starfleet design, was somewhat lacking, but waiting for the reply, she wondered if this was the same type of ship used in the Detrion system 21 years ago.
Orion Destroyer (D’Kall’s Revenge): =/\= Federation Starship Artemis, you have already demonstrated a gross overreach of your presence in this system, and a callous disregard for life. The D’Kall’s Revenge will not comply, nor will it stand by and let the Galaris system be overtly influenced by the Federation. =/\=
Gnai: This still isn’t able to hail the away team yet, but sensors read an increase in power to their disruptors!
Now they had a name for their opponents. Jovenan didn’t turn to Gnai, but acknowledged the report with a nod.
Tho’Bi: Lieutenant Commander ::beat:: It’s too risky to put the Artemis above the base ::beat:: but a Class VI Probe is designed for Comms Relay ::beat:: might do the job.
Jovenan: Prepare a probe, Ensign. =/\= D’Kall’s Revenge, we have been invited here by the civilisations on Galaris IV. The Federation does not recognise any claim by the Orion government, Syndicate or other faction to the system. The loss of your attacking boarding party is an unfortunate tragedy. Still, your possession of Starfleet personnel is an illegitimate and hostile act against the Federation. Return them, and there is no need for further antagonism. =/\=
Cole: Response
D’Kall’s Revenge: =/\= Federation Starship, we don’t want to fire, but you’re giving us no choice. Retreat from this moon back towards Galaris IV. =/\=
For a moment, Jovenan considered accepting the terms. There were four officers in the moonbase, almost 400 on the Artemis. By insisting the return of the captured officers, Jovenan had placed the entire ship in danger. She could offer her own life in exchange for the prisoners’. Could she do so with hundreds more officers and enlisted? What about the civilian residents of the ship, what about the likes of Kolya Aqila, Doctor Sadar’s nephew, who hadn’t even made a promise to live and to die for Starfleet if needed? Was she so selfish as to sacrifice all those people to save her boyfriend, close friend and other valued colleagues? Utilitarian philosophy demanded that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”, in the terms of Vulcan branch of the school. But there was another saying Jovenan had learnt from the human literature: “one for all, and all for one”. And, despite the shame she felt from the strong urge to listen to her subconscious mind shouting at her, there was the Edo philosophy to sentence these criminals for execution.
Jovenan: =/\= We don’t want to fire, either. I’m willing to power down our weapons if you are as well. But we will not retreat without our officers. =/\=
Cole: Response
Jovenan didn’t know what would happen next, if the Orions would accept the proposal to power down weapons or if the Artemis would be rocked by a disruptor beam or by torpedoes. However, neither of those options happened, and instead a bright green flash lit up a portion of the destroyer’s hull. Jovenan lowered her arms, instinctively preparing to balance herself. The Artemis hadn’t fired a shot. Had the Orions done that to themselves?
Tho’Bi: ::urgency:: Lieutenant Commander ::beat:: recommend we launch the probe now, before their weapons come back up.
Jovenan turned on her spot to look at Ensign Tho’Bi. The Orions would see launching a probe as aggression, although at this point, it didn’t matter. An attempted boarding and a failed firing of their weapons at them, the Orions had by all accounts started the fight. It was Jovenan who was still resisting returning fire with fire.
Jovenan: ::nods:: Do it.
As Jovenan returned to the central seat, a probe became briefly visible on the screen as it departed the pod and veered towards the moon. Green sparks were still emerging from the damaged systems of the Orion ship. Perhaps this was the tactical advantage that would save them all.
Tho’Bi: ::to Jovenan:: twenty seconds.
Waiting patiently for either the probe’s result or the Orions’ next move, Jovenan kept staring at the main screen. It was Gnai who first issued a report.
Gnai: Sir, it looks like the D’Kall’s Revenge has gone to full impulse? They… they may be trying to ram the Artemis’ shields!
Tho’Bi: Lieutenant Commander ::beat:: Something hit the probe ::shakes head:: It crashed into the moonbase.
A frown emerged on Jovenan’s face. They had failed with the attempt to communicate with or even locate the away team, and now the destroyer was coming at them with high speed. The massive hull of their enemy ship grew larger on the screen as it come closer, and soon, if they did nothing, it would crash with their shields and with the ship itself, enough to render them an unrecognisable pile of scrap metal by inertia alone.
Jovenan: Prepare the shields for contact!
Cole/Gnai: Response
Tho’Bi: ::dry swallow:: We've lost the Probe Signal ::beat:: and I'm reading a violent decompression on the Moonbase.
The news reached Jovenan’s heart before she could understand the meaning of the words properly. It hurt her, like a burning band had been tied around her chest. The Moonbase was dead, she had killed them. She had killed possibly hundreds of people, including her friends. The pain, the sorrow, the anger all twisted her face into an ugly grimace. She had killed Vitor.
The bridge grew darker and blurry in her eyes. The Captain had made a mistake in letting her keep going after the disaster at Rakantha; had this been an Edo vessel, one of the Divine Fleet’s ships that roamed the timeline that had produced her sister-across-the-universes, Jovenan would have faced an appropriate punishment that wouldn’t have permitted her to fail the Captain’s and the crew’s faith in her. But she was still there, she had brought this fate to her friends and to her crew, and if she were to somehow survive this day, it was her duty – for Starfleet, for the crew, for Vitor – to see that she wouldn’t suffer her punishment in vain.
oO I wish I could hear your advice now, my love. Because there’s only one move I can think of. Oo
Jovenan: Turn to bearing 038, Mark 019. Three second burst at the highest warp you can get, on my mark. Brace yourselves.
Cole/Gnai/Tho’Bi: Response
Jovenan kept her eyes firmly in the spot that she believed her given bearing indicated. The ship turned towards it with the aid of their thrusters. The manoeuvre would place them to the side of the destroyer or would see them pulverised by the enemy ship. All she could hope for was that she had given the crew enough time to activate the warp engines. Just before the Orion destroyer’s dark frame covered the spot, she shouted.
Jovenan: Execute!
Resisting the urge to close her eyes, Jovenan held tight of the armrests, as if they would do anything. Instead of the seconds of dreadful screeching of metal meeting metal before everything going dark, the space around them warped and hurled the ship across it all for a few seconds. The Orion ship vanished from the screen, and Jovenan still felt her heart beating and blood rushing in the veins past her ears.
Jovenan: Fire!
Cole/Gnai/Tho’Bi: Response
The sounds of weapons fire filled Jovenan’s ears. She wanted to vomit.
Jovenan: Disable or destroy their engines. ::pause, to Gnai and Tho’Bi:: Are there any signs of survivors at the Moonbase we could try to rescue?
Cole/Gnai/Tho’Bi: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11