LT Tamio K'Wara - Back Into the Fire

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

(( Cockpit of the USS Acheron - Ebers System, Balancar Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))

Tamio watched Luxasi Station’s one airlock open and a stream of debris was jettisoned to be immediately pulled in by the Ebers Rift’s gravitational force.

Vailani: First set of debris heading on a trajectory to the rift. Targeting debris field. 

Cole: Let's get you closer. ::tapping the controls::

Tamio was keeping an eye on the alert level of Luxasi Station, ensuring that they’d be able to react if the defensive upgrades didn’t prog as expected. They weren’t here to actually inflict damage on the station, after all, and the last thing they wanted was for some debris to cause a real hull breach because the station didn’t shoot it in time.

Storm: Let’s start them off easy.

Vailani: Target locked. Over to you Lieutenant. 

Storm: Got it!

As Tamio felt Natasha guide the shuttle in a circular maneuver, lending the tractor beam some more pull, Alex got ahold of the designed piece of debris and flung it towards the station.

K'Wara: =/\= Incoming, Zurah. =/\=

Cole: Nice throw, wonder if it’ll be called a hailstorm maneuver someday. ::offering a coy smile::

The joke made Tamio chuckle.

Storm: Hey! I like it. Feel free to patent it.

Vailani: Stations defenses are activating. 

That was good news at least, though a complication almost immediately followed. It appeared that even thinking ‘that wasn’t so bad’ would prompt the universe to prove them wrong.

Vailani: Defenses have a new target. 

Tamio saw that at the same moment as Lieutenant Vailani and they furrowed their brow in dismay.

K’Wara: =/\= That would be that ‘false positive’ tendency, I guess. =/\=

Swearing under their breath, Zurah disappeared from the screen just as Vailani made an observation.

Vailani: They've targeted the Acheron. 

Cole: ::sigh:: of course they are. ::beat:: Hold onto something.

Natasha engaged in some fancy flying to avoid the incoming phaser beams, and Tamio strapped themself in, ensuring that – in the event that the internal gravity got compromised by an errant shot – they wouldn’t find themself face flat on the ceiling.

Cole: Storm, can you or Vailani project their weapons area of attack and range onto the display? I’d prefer not to have to try running that mental math while flying for our lives.

Tamio made a mental note of Natasha’s failure to observe rank. She must’ve been more challenged by the piloting than they’d anticipated.

Storm: On it.  Here’s where the computer thinks they will likely fire.

Several red areas appeared on the HUD as Alex pulled up her tactical analysis.

Storm:  And here’s the range of its weapons.

A moment later a line appeared surrounding the station overlaying the HUD.

Storm: I suggest calling the station to see what’s going on.

K'Wara: Never hung up. ::looks up as Zurah comes back into the frame:: =/\= Zurah, have you found out how to disable the weapons? =/\=

Researcher Zurah: =/\= We’ve tried disabling the targeting computer, but our system is going haywire! We don’t know why. =/\=

Tamio was willing to bet they had a pretty good idea why, as they saw the edges of the Ebers Rift fluctuate strangely in the distance.

K’Wara: Lieutenant Vailani, what’s the Rift doing?

Vailani: Response

Natasha, who thus far had been busy figuring out how to avoid getting beat up like a metallic pinata, addressed them all.

Cole: Thanks, I can keep us moving, but does anyone have any ideas why they're firing at us?

K’Wara: They’re working on it, but the rift is interfering with their computers. Is there anything we can do from out here, Alex?

Storm: I can target their weapons, but that would leave them defenseless against the rift’s debris.

Vailani: Response

Their deliberations were interrupted as an attack from the station actually clipped the exterior of the Acheron.

Cole: Either their automated defenses are getting smarter, or someone is actively targeting us. ::forcing the Acheron towards the port sharply::

K’Wara: The phasers must be adapting to our movement patterns. We need to get out of their line of fire.

Storm: Any chance we could actually land on the space station, where they couldn’t shoot us?  I could grab some of the debris with the tractor beam and toss them ahead of us, so as to keep us out of their direct fire as we approach.

Tamio looked over the schematics with a discerning eye.

K’Wara: There’s phasers lined up all along the exterior rim, so giving us persistent coverage will be difficult, but not impossible.

Cole: Vailani, is airlock A9 still open?

Vailani: Response

Storm: I’m going to begin grabbing other pieces of debris and flinging it in their direction to hopefully keep them busy.

Tamio sent pings to the helm console to indicate the phasers that were furthest from the Airlock, and thus had a clearer image of the Acheron as it approached the airlock.

K’Wara: Natasha, mind our tail once you start our approach. I don’t want to have to explain engine failure when we get back.

Vailani: Response

Tamio watched as Alex used the tractor beam to do a large scoop of debris, sending the entire contents of the pocket flying towards Luxasi.

Storm:  Three large pieces of debris away.

Vailani: Response

Storm: Cole, as it targets the second-to-last piece of debris, we may be able to make a break for it.

Cole: It’s like you read my mind.

The Acheron was positioned behind the second closest chunk of debris, the smaller piece of debris barely covering the sizable shuttle as it was, but once it had been blown to smithereens the resulting cloud should cover their approach well enough.

K’Wara: Westmost phasers are getting a target lock.

Vailani: Response

The debris immediately in front of them exploded, rocking the Acheron, even as Natasha went to full impulse streaking through the resulting cloud in a passable imitation of a piloting showcase. For a brief moment, Tamio was back in the Academy, piloting the Shakastë for the championship match, and then they were back in the Acheron as it made a maneuver around the last large piece of debris, enticing the phaser fire, and with that diversion, managed to gain the time necessary to make it to the airlock.

The shuttle didn’t slow down until they’d cleared the airlock opening, and Tamio felt more than they heard the scraping as one side of the shuttle struggled to get inside. It was clear that the airlock had never been intended to house something as big as a shuttle, and the Acheron barely fit in there, but it was cover. For now.

Storm/Vailani: Response

Cole: That’s one problem solved.

K’Wara: Good flying, Natasha. Take a breath. ::turns to the communications panel:: =/\= Zurah, have the phasers powered down? =/\=

Researcher Zurah: =/\= No, but they aren’t firing at anything. They keep repeating the warning messages though. =/\=

Storm/Cole/Vailani: Response

K’Wara: It’s clear that there’s something about that rift that’s interacting with the defensive sensors in a way the engineers didn’t anticipate. Question is, how do we solve the issue? ::looks around the group:: Ideas, everyone?

Storm/Cole/Vailani: Response

It was certainly true that the problem was twofold: one was the Rift itself – why was it growing, and why was the odd fluctuations they had registered interfering with the sensors? – and the other was the extreme sensitivity that the defense sensors had to those fluctuations.

K’Wara: Mmh... Alex, what’s the risk assessment for getting closer to the Rift?

Storm: Response

Tamio considered their options. Calibrating the defense computer to ignore these particular rift fluctuations would be far easier and safer for the crew assigned to their command, but it would only solve half the issue... There was no knowing how long these fluctuations would persist, and if they ended before the data was collected, how long until the next fluctuation and if there’d be another team at hand ready and prepared to collect the data.

The conclusion was obvious.

K’Wara: We’re the only ones who can do it. Luxasi’s engineers can do the computer calibrations, but they aren’t outfitted to handle a close-up examination of the Rift. ::nods with conviction:: Alex, I want you to collaborate with the station engineers. See if you can work together to find a way to disrupt the phasers from the inside. Natasha, Lieutenant Vailani, we’re going to that Rift and getting as much data as we can before those fluctuations cease. Plot the safest route to the other side of that thing, get us some cover behind it.

Cole/Storm/Vailani: Response

TAG/TBC

LT Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Operations

USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1