Ensign Mi'shune sh'Sonora - Can't Start a Fire Without a Spark
d.reinhart
Willow: While true to being non confrontational in nature, I have reservations on being in such extreme proximity to the other vessel. The risks to our own person are greatly increased.
sh’Sonora: Huh… hey…. HEY! ::Mi’shune dashed to her duffel back, digging in fiercely until she found what she was looking for, a PADD. She began to tap furiously at the controls.::
Willow: Care to illuminate us with your insight Ensign?
Wethern: All I'm saying is we would have some power for a coffee and if we decided to take an EVA walk for some shaped ship charges it might be a good change of scenery.
sh’Sonora: We may not have to! Okay, a dry fire of the ion mine launchers can propel the mines a. ::beep beep beeeeep:: And we have a distance of… :: She eyeballed the looming pirate vessel, then turned to her PADD to rapidly enter in more numbers.:: Carry the four… ::beep beep beeeeeeep:: And their estimated response time between being hit by the EMP and rebooting their systems to full functionality… ::Beep beep beep…. DING!:: Hmmmm… a little close for my liking. Does anyone want to check my math? It’s not my strong suite.
She tossed her PADD over to Wethern to inspect, waiting for him to pass it onto Willow.
Wethern: ?
Willow: Slow down, explain it one more time?
sh’Sonora: ::Excitedly:: Can’t you see? The ion mines. They aren’t just proximity explosives. They’re magnetic too! If we can EMP the pirate vessel, that might give us enough time for the ion mine to drift and clamp onto their hull. Then we don’t have to close combat them. They have to do what we say or we disable their vessel. Nobody has to fight, nobody has to die, unless those pirates aren't the post-capitalist freebooters we think they are and have serious self-preservation issues. All we need to do is buy some time, hope to the gods my calculations are right, and make them stay still before they realize we’ve mined them. How’s that for a negotiating position?
Willow: You truly are a wonder sh’Sonora.
Mi’shune prayed Willow wasn’t being sarcastic.
Wethern: ?
sh'Sonora: Oh, and we only have three ion mines left, so we can't frell this up.
Willow: However, if I understood you correctly, you are suggesting our remaining ion mines to magnetically attach them to the pirate vessels hull, remotely activating an EMP, all while maintaining a safe distance in order to attempt communication?
sh’Sonora: Well, it'd have to be EMP first, or else they'll see the mines coming, or they'll bounce off the navigational deflectors. It's like a dom-jot trick shot with two cueballs hitting the same bumper, at the same time, at two different speeds, in the dark, all while chatting up your opponent who'll flip the table once they see what we’re doing. Tall order, I know, but that sums it up, Sir.
Wethern: ?
Willow: That does suggest significant compromise. I’m willing to give it a go. Yet if after two strikes you have not been able to make contact, we will have to readvise, before launching our remaining ion mine.
sh’Sonora: ::Nods.:: Understood, Sir. I know a lot still has to go right, but I’ve mitigated as much risk as I can. Hey, look on the positive side. ::Mi’shune shrugged, flashing an optimistic smile.:: Didn’t a great admiral once say that risk was all part of the game?
Wethern: ?
Willow: I’ll continue to monitor the radar. Any other warnings or preparations before we begin? It was your brilliant plan after all, you are the expert.
It was her plan. A crazy, complex, desperate plan. A plan whose failures meant their lives, the future lives of anyone crossing the path of the looming cutthroat brigands hovering over their tiny craft, the future of an entire sentient-populated world, and the geopolitical fallout and positioning of the United Federation of Planets in former Romulan Star Empire Space.
All rested on the five foot frame of a little Andorian ensign from the Equilatorial Coast of the home moon, on her first assignment. Even her deep well of confidence wasn’t enough to fight off the thought that she was in way over her head.
If Mi’shune’s bowels could turn to liquid, they would.
sh’Sonora’s Inner Dialogue: oO No pressure, right? Oo
Mi’shune pointed her antennae forward, and smirked slyly.
sh’Sonora: No pressure, Sir. oO Because if we fail we’ll be too dead to feel any. Oo ::Mi’shune adjusted her mirrored shades, then rested one hand on the flight controls, and the other on the ion mine launching button.:: Ready when you all are.
Wethern: ?
Willow: ? (Order to execute?)
sh’Sonora: Prepare to launch first mine in three… two… one…
sh’Sonora’s Inner Dialogue: oO Unless you somehow survive to be dragged to a board of inquiry to explain what the frell happened… Oo
sh’Sonora: oO What? Oo
The facade of confidence dropped far too late. A shrill beep cut the silence. The first mine shot out of the launcher in a puff of air, propelling upwards towards the Orion ship. Its slow trajectory appeared to go straight and true, but as it got closer to its destination its path wasn’t close enough for the magnetic field to draw it closer to the ship. The ion mine sailed past the Orion vessel into the endless black.
sh’Sonora: ::hisses:: Damn! Adjusting… launch again in three… two… one…
The second ion mine streaked upwards, avoiding spinning debris in its blind dash of magnetic attraction. Its course bent and altered as it found purchase, spinning like a dk’tahg thrown by a drunken Klingon, until its weaving arc ended in clamping the ion mine on the Orion ship’s engineering section, close to the impulse engines.
A blast would slow down the Wanderer’s ability to maneuver in sunlight, but it wouldn’t be a total mobility kill, not without taking out the warp drive.
The Andorian pilot knew they needed their last mine to hit something vital, or it was all over.
sh’Sonora: ::Turns to Willow.:: Not good enough. I have it zeroed in. Please Sir, I know I can do this, but they’ll have heard the impact. It’s now or never.
Any: ?
sh’Sonora: Three… two… one… send the fish, Wethern!
The last ion mine launched, carrying a multi-yield warhead and the hopes of the Theirr’s crew.
Leaning forward to watch its ballistic trajectory, Mi’shune thought the lazy, spinning path was straighter than before, but it could have been her hyperfocused bias and wishful thinking. Like the second mine, it floated upwards, twisting towards the Wanderer once the magnets engaged, locked on course while the ensign forgot to breathe.
Arcing forward, turning, and turning sharply.
Until it fixed in what she imagined was a really loud ‘clong’ audible from several sections of the ship.
sh’Sonora: FRELL YES! RIGHT ON THE KEEL! ::She jumped out of her chair and whooped for joy.:: One command and we can snap them in two, Sirs! Think they want to talk now?
Any: ?
–
Ensign Mi’shune sh’Sonora
Helm Officer
Starbase 118 - Ops Department
O240208MS1