LtJG Jovenan – Final acts of desperation
Jovenan
((Bridge, USS Artemis))
MacKenzie: Another round, Lieutenant!
Yalu: Response
And she fired. A barrage of bright orange beams sliced through the empty space, most of them hitting against the glimmering shields of the Suliban vessel. Each beam, powerful and destructive, weakened the shields a little. Soon, the protective bubble around the ship would collapse and expose the composite-metallic hull to her direct wrath.
She wanted to destroy them. Crush them. Execute them.
They would never hurt her friends again.
Beep. Jovenan shook her head. A quiet sound had broken her concentration. She seized the firing for a moment as she turned her head, looking for the source of the sound on the oddly configured tactical interface. It indicated that another ship, the Berlin, was powering up their weapons. Jovenan hadn’t even noticed the other Starfleet vessel had used the cover Artemis had provided them to move further out and prepared to fire.
Jovenan: The Berlin is firing as well! The enemy shields are weakening!
Sadar: The Berlin is readying photon torpedoes, Captain! Recommend we divert power from phasers temporarily to boost shields, in case there’s feedback from the nebula.
MacKenzie: Agreed. Do it, Ensign.
Yalu: Response
The Berlin was going to ignite the plasma around the Suliban ship? That made sense considering the weakened status of the Sulibans’ shields, but it also put them all to danger.
Sadar: Yes sir. Standing by to boost shields.
Jovenan: Powering down phasers.
Sadar managed to enforce their shields just in time as two torpedoes fired by the Berlin reached their targets. One of them missed the Suliban ship, but that was evidently in purpose as it exploded in proximity of a gas cloud, igniting it, and engulfing the Suliban ship on flames. The other torpedo found the way to the Suliban ship’s phaser array.
MacKenzie: Do we have external comms yet?
Jovenan accessed the communications. They had taken damage earlier today – it felt like an eternity since they had been thinking this was just a regular drill – and due to the shortage of conscious engineers and technicians, they only had been fixed to small extent. Some other, hopefully more vital systems had been given priority, but right now, it felt like the comms should be closer to the top of the list.
Jovenan: Minimally, sir. Not enough to hail either ship.
Yalu/Sadar: Response
The Captain didn’t seem to like their answers. She rolled her eyes and threw her hands in expression of her frustration… to them?
MacKenzie: Do we have anything working? Ensign, if we don’t have life support control, get your teams dispatched as soon as they’re ready.
Sadar: Response
MacKenzie: Is there a way to get a message to the Suliban ship? I’d prefer to not blow them out of the sky if we don’t have to, but something a bit more efficient than Morse code would be preferable…
Jovenan thought for a moment before voicing her suggestion.
Jovenan: We could launch a couple of probes to boost our signal, but there’s nothing preventing the Suliban from destr… Wait.
She interrupted herself and turned to read the figures on her console. The sensors, as limited as they were, were warning them of something. Something was going on onboard the Suliban ship.
MacKenzie/Yalu/Sadar: Response?
Jovenan: An energy build-up within the enemy ship, a chain reaction of some kind. They’re severely damaged, the ship’s warp core might breach if they can’t stabilise it.
Mere minutes ago, she had felt rage against the Sulibans, but now, her head clearer, she wished they wouldn’t have to witness the destruction of their opponent’s vessel. She stared at the vessel, hoping they could stabilise their core or evacuate in time. Her feelings had changed much. Now, the one feeling closest to the surface was pity.
MacKenzie/Yalu/Sadar: Response
Transporters? It turned out some of them did leave the ship, just not the way she had expected.
She turned back to the console. The other officers had detected the transporter beam, but the internal sensors weren’t detecting anything new on that regard. Sure, they were damaged and not on full capacity, so the new boarders, if any, could still have made it to the ship without them noticing.
Jovenan: I’m not detecting new intruders onboard. Either they managed to slip in or they’re on the Berlin.
MacKenzie/Yalu/Sadar: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Jovenan
Science officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11