LtCmdr Jovenan – Let’s not ever do that again, part 1
Jovenan
((Bridge, USS Artemis))
Cole: =/\= Braga, Hit it! =/\=
Jovenan: Send out the shuttle. Eject the shuttle core when at safe distance from us.
Tho’Bi: ::to Jovenan - quiet and measured:: Shuttle Away.
A small craft appeared to the viewscreen as it departed from the Artemis’ hull and flew off into the distance. Jovenan followed its final journey silently for a moment. If they had managed to destroy it when it had first come towards them, they wouldn’t now be facing the danger of a warp core reaching the breaching point. On the other hand, if they had done so, they had killed a number of innocent(ish) Klingon prisoners – except that they might have never learnt of the prisoners’ presence and ultimate fate. Would the ignorance of an unwilling atrocity justify action that later saved people from a dangerous situation? That was a philosophical question that had never come up in the Academy ethics lectures. Besides, the shuttle had served a purpose for Ensign Tho’Bi’s engineering projects, although Jovenan wasn’t sure how – the downside of taking the central seat was that she was at times only vaguely aware of what the bridge were doing, but she had to trust that they were doing what she had ordered them to do and what they told her. Eventually, she had to speak again; they weren’t yet out of the danger, and she had to continue trusting the bridge crew with the details.
Jovenan: Do we have the inter-ship communications? We should warn the… ::sigh:: warn all ships in the proximity. Some of them may be our enemies, but they all deserve a chance to dodge.
Gnai: The Orion ship wouldn't receive it, not with their communications array disabled!
Jovenan bit her lip. She wanted to give the Orions a fair chance of survival, even if she was fully aware that they wouldn’t give the courtesy to them if their roles were swapped. Would it be that bad if they couldn’t rescue the people that had tried to kill them? They had tried their best, after all… Before Jovenan could come to any conclusion, the ship rocked violently. The shuttle nor its warp core had yet exploded, nor had the Orions started firing again; Jovenan looked around, trying to figure out what had caused the shake.
Tho’Bi: ::softly to the cat:: We’re alright.
Tho’Bi: ::swallowed almost to himself:: Oh no ::looks up at Jovenan - thin and breathless voice:: It’s the moon ::voice thinning out:: it’s breaking apart.
The moon was breaking apart… The moon. It was breaking apart. Jovenan knew the meaning of each of those words – obviously – but it still took her a good moment to grasp the meaning they had together. She switched the viewscreen to show the image of the moon. Large cracks had appeared to its surface, with each newly separated continent crashing to each other. She had to restrict the planetary scientist side of her; excitement was hardly the appropriate reaction to such destructive force.
Gnai: It seems that the base was located on a particularly unstable part of the moon… otherwise it shouldn’t have been able to create such destruction.
Jovenan: Agreed. With forces like that, we can expect debris escaping the gravity of the moon. We should clear its proximity. Helm, do we have impulse?
Xaff: ::to Jovenan:: Impulse Engines stand ready ::beat:: more than enough to get us out of here.
Had the circumstances been anything else, she would have insisted in taking every possible scan of the collapsing moon. The opportunity to witness something of this scale was rare, but the need of the ship and the crew demanded to set aside the Chief Science Officer’s desires. She had already raised her hand to give the order when Ensign Tho’Bi spoke out.
Tho’Bi: ::looks up at Jovenan:: Lieutenant Commander, the Orions are dead in space ::shakes head:: they can’t escape the debris.
Cole: Confirmed, they took extensive damage from that first shockwave.
Jovenan frowned. It had been one thing to consider warning their opponents – their enemies – of a danger, but it was harder to justify actively helping them in a way that they could take advantage of if they so chose. The Orions had tricked them before, taunted them with the false claims of inhumane brutality. Who was she to say that this wasn’t just another move in the game that they had been playing together for a while? After what the Orion ship had done to them, it was not unlikely that the destroyer struck against the Artemis the moment she showed her vulnerable side.
Jovenan: We need more than that to trust them. Have they yet figured out our ruse?
Cole: ::looking at her console:: I am reading our backup’s message has been scanned by the Orion Destroyer.
Mm-hmm. The Orions might have already learnt that there weren’t really other Starfleet ships incoming. Jovenan realised how harsh she was being, but given the evidence she was seeing, this was merely a move by the criminal side in their duel of fakery. The ship shook again as gases, dust and small debris escaped the gravity of the moon and the planet.
Tho’Bi: ::quietly to the cat:: Nice intercept.
The cat meowed, and soon later, the Engineer held up a PADD for Jovenan to see.
Tho’Bi: ::quiet:: I think we should crash the shuttle into the gas giant ::dry swallow:: the matter/antimatter detonation will cause a mass ejection of ignited hydrogen ::voice becomes breathless:: It’ll burn through the moon and all the debris.
The plan certainly got a raised eyebrow from the CSO. They were playing with planetary scale levels of power here, and the Artemis was little more than a speck in all of it. That said, the proposal was not unviable; the M/A detonation could cause a mass ejection that could burn away everything in the area of effect. The concern was just that the ship itself was in that area. She turned to look at the Tactical.
Cole: In our current state we’re going to have to divert everything to shields, or we’re going to go up like kindling along with the debris.
Gnai: ::bobbing in agreement:: The Orions… they won’t have the shielding to protect against it, and they’ll be even closer!
A frown rose to Jovenan’s face. Not trusting the Orions to lower their shields – literally or metaphorically – was something she could argue as justified, but she couldn’t see herself cause a major calamity and let it scorch the Orions. It would be her fault if they were to die through her decision.
Jovenan: ::sigh:: Move us between the planet and the Orion ship. We might just save them by acting as a wedge to the ejection. When in position, move all power to the shields, including life-support we can do without for a few minutes. Prepare to crash the shuttle.
Xaff: ::tilts head:: Alright. Let’s crash a shuttle ::glances back at Tho’Bi:: Heads up Blue!
Tho’Bi: ::nods at Jovenan:: Ready.
Jovenan gave everyone a moment longer to prepare. When everything was in their positions, she gave the Engineer a mark.
Jovenan: Execute.
The Orion transport grew smaller as it glided across the vacuum, away from the two previously battling vessels, past the clouds of dust and debris spewn by the moon undergoing geological reformation of massive scale. Soon, it disappeared entirely, faded into the background of the gas giant’s cover of hydrogen and other gases. For what felt like hours, Jovenan waited, impatiently and anxiously rechecking their mathematics in her head. The flash from the detonation was not even visible on the main viewscreen, but it was enough to raise a large pillar from the planet and towards them. Like a whip, the gaseous ejection emerged as a broken arch, engulfing them. The emotions in Jovenan’s mind were like the storm she witnessed: fear, anxiety, worry, but also excitement, seeing something so rare and magnificent, powerful and beautiful.
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11