Lt. Cmdr. Kirsty Carpenter - Tie-In Issue
9 views
Skip to first unread message
Justin Partridge
Aug 3, 2024, 4:51:10 PM8/3/24
to sb118...@googlegroups.com
((Bridge, Deck 3, U.S.S. Ronin, Outside the J-0922A System.))
Kirsty allowed herself a small smirk at The Chief's customarily pointed tone. That usually meant she was at the peak of her powers.
Niac: =/\= Once we get inside the system we'll need you to build up a picture of priority targets as quickly as you can, especially any S-Wave generators. The faster you can pass that information up to us, the quicker we can be in and out of the system. =/\=
Alieth: =/\= We are ready for it, sir, my terminal is directly connected to the main screen, to the tactical console and to the one in your chair. You will receive real-time feedback as soon as we have something to report. =/\=
Niac: =/\= Very well. Mr. Raedai is there to coordinate any sudden resource needs or probe operations and I believe he'll have a good eye for finding the things we want to eliminate. Give his insights weight, Commander. =/\=
Alieth: =/\= I will take your suggestion into account, Captain. =/\=
Kirsty masked an unexpected bark of laughter as a cough, but thought she did a pretty poor go at it.
Niac: =/\= Very well, standby. I suspect it'll be any time now. Niac out. =/\=
He drummed his hands once more across the haptics of the Big Chair.
Niac: =/\= Bridge to Sickbay...how are you doing on those arithrazine inoculations, Doctor? If we get hit by one of those S-Wave weapons I want to have more than enough prepared for the entire crew. =/\=
Beck: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Cap Niac swept his eyes up and toward his own nearest chronometer, turning back into the open comm when he was (seemingly) satisfied.
Niac: =/\= I realize it's not ideal but it's the only protective measure we have at the moment. Make whatever final preparations you can, I expect things will get busy up here in the very near future. =/\=
Beck: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Finally, the dam broke. A single sensor ping echoed through the tense Bridge like an ancient gunshot. She felt more than just the Captain's eyes on her and she angled her head up to meet as many as she could. Nodding calmly, but tersely with the shared realization. The words from one of her favorite literary wizards pondered portentously through her mind and chest.
Tucker: Alright, flyboy. Hit that button on your console that is flashing green when ready, and it’ll bring the Ronin to bear with full power at your disposal.
Kirsty once again hammered her nervous fingers across the top of her terminal in rich, but heavy anticipation. Just less than 6 hours ago she was standing stoically toward the back of the room, a captive audience of a meeting of many minds. The entire Command structure of two active starships and a Deep Space station stood glowering over a holo-display of the very system they were now "falling" through. Word was that that L.A. troop force that her and Commander Ash McKenna had been twigged to was on the move. Using the chaos of Frontier Day and bottlenecking of whatever-the-hell was happening back at Starbase 1 in it's incommunicative wake.
Whatever they were doing, they would do it alone and with little hope for substantial support in the aftermath.
Luckily, when you gather that many stellar officers, supplemented by the sound tactical mind of "Snowball" Singh, in one space plans got made. Plans they were currently, as Kirsty checked her wrist chronometer for about the thousandth time since they have gotten underway, just about an hour into executing. Their objective stood as the bait. Feigning ship inoperability, they would draw the L.A. ships into (hopefully) crossfire from the Khitomer, holding the line for DS33, where the remainder of the force (along with most of the Ronin's fighter squadrons) would defend the station from whatever might be left from her and Kitty's engagement.
Adding a bit better odds in their favor were the great strides all three crews had made on the detection and neutralization of the L.A.'s Sencha weaponry. And the awaiting "gift" of a handful of jury rigged dummy escape pods. From the Intel and after-action reports of most L.A. engagements, they seemed to take a special glee in either sweeping up escape pods and life-raft crafts or just destroying them outright.
The thought had appalled Kirsty at once, but having her own meeting with the Science and Engineering department, they had devised quite the response to this barbarity. Namely an assortment of heavy-duty metreon gas containers buoyed by a collection of sensor probes that would extend their sensor range before and after the phasers started flying. But the containers nestled in the dummy escape pods were the real main attraction. Primed with short range blasting cap detonator (in case they were swept up) and steadily leaking into the interior compartment of the pods (in case they were shot; Kirsty really, really hoped they were shot).
But that had been hours ago. And still they weren't taking the bait. At least not yet. Even with the added theatrics of laying out a false signal trail and the further gilded lily of the plasma bleeds from the warp nacelles and Mr. O'Connor's "injured" piloting, which looked far harder than she could have anticipated. She told herself that they were ready this time. They had drilled until their feet bled. Snowball had put her own pilots through the paces until they were honed to a razor's edge. This time THEY were the ones laying a trap...
oO Then why are you still so nervous? Oo came the voice that sounded like Ma's. She tamped it down, laser refocusing on her scopes and her wrist chronometer. Patience was never the strongest of virtues for our Kirsty. Thankfully, voices finally sliced the tension, keeping her from going completely stir crazy.
Niac: Apologies, I realize a tumble like this is offensive to your instincts as a pilot Mr. O'Connor.
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Kirsty could feel The Captain's sunniness even from her station. She wondered carefully just how he could be this calm in the face of so many unknowns, but then decided quickly after that was probably why he was holding the pips in the first place. You didn't get the Big Chair by mincing through missions and holding back from your crew.
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Kirsty could feel The Captain's sunniness even from her station. She wondered carefully just how he could be this calm in the face of so many unknowns, but then decided quickly after that was probably why he was holding the pips in the first place. You didn't get the Big Chair by mincing through missions and holding back from your crew.
There was nothing anything like that in the air around Captain Niac. It made Kirsty feel ready-for-anything even in the face of the dispassionate carnage they have faced in the weeks before.
Niac: How long will it take to get the impulse engines online once the Alliance forces show up?
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Karrod nodded his understanding and smiled.
Niac: I wouldn't have anyone else as my wheelman for this particular getaway.
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Cap crossed authoritatively over to Marty at his station.
Niac: How are we looking, Chief? Any indication we're anything other than a crippled shift drifting through the void?
Tucker: ::he smiled.:: So far, so good, captain; right now, just playing possum...
Chuckling now, Karrod Niac lilted his burly head back towards the helm.
Niac: The plasma scorching on the nacelles was definitely a nice touch but you'll have to explain to the dockmaster at DS33 why we need those repairs...again.
Tucker: Trying to get the old gal into character. And as far as the dockmaster goes, I can’t get in any deeper with him than I already am. ::he ran a hand along his neck:: And still hearing about you blowing the moorings on our shakedown cruise…::a devilish grin slithered across his features::
Karrod Niac chuckled once more, giving Marty an affectionate pat on the shoulders, even when he didn't have to. Kirsty once more was struck at just how naturally personable this CO was above all her others. Save for maybe...one. But just like Captain Faraday, Captain Niac had no problem working side-by-side with his subordinates and junior officers. It did a lot more for Kirsty than she could really say.
Niac: Just try to keep the nacelles connected to the ship, I'm pretty confident we'll need both of them before the day is over. As you were, Chief.
Taking a step back in sync with her CO, Kirsty felt his collected and clear eyes sweep her direction. Her knuckles ached slightly from the effort of her nervous movement, but she couldn't help herself, allowing one last crone-like hunch over the scopes and sensor readings, squinting down into what wasn't there as if trying to will them onto the "field".
Niac: Commander Carpenter, I think you're making that display uncomfortable. Anything to report yet?
Niac: How long will it take to get the impulse engines online once the Alliance forces show up?
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Karrod nodded his understanding and smiled.
Niac: I wouldn't have anyone else as my wheelman for this particular getaway.
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Cap crossed authoritatively over to Marty at his station.
Niac: How are we looking, Chief? Any indication we're anything other than a crippled shift drifting through the void?
Tucker: ::he smiled.:: So far, so good, captain; right now, just playing possum...
Chuckling now, Karrod Niac lilted his burly head back towards the helm.
Niac: The plasma scorching on the nacelles was definitely a nice touch but you'll have to explain to the dockmaster at DS33 why we need those repairs...again.
Tucker: Trying to get the old gal into character. And as far as the dockmaster goes, I can’t get in any deeper with him than I already am. ::he ran a hand along his neck:: And still hearing about you blowing the moorings on our shakedown cruise…::a devilish grin slithered across his features::
Karrod Niac chuckled once more, giving Marty an affectionate pat on the shoulders, even when he didn't have to. Kirsty once more was struck at just how naturally personable this CO was above all her others. Save for maybe...one. But just like Captain Faraday, Captain Niac had no problem working side-by-side with his subordinates and junior officers. It did a lot more for Kirsty than she could really say.
Niac: Just try to keep the nacelles connected to the ship, I'm pretty confident we'll need both of them before the day is over. As you were, Chief.
Taking a step back in sync with her CO, Kirsty felt his collected and clear eyes sweep her direction. Her knuckles ached slightly from the effort of her nervous movement, but she couldn't help herself, allowing one last crone-like hunch over the scopes and sensor readings, squinting down into what wasn't there as if trying to will them onto the "field".
Niac: Commander Carpenter, I think you're making that display uncomfortable. Anything to report yet?
She looked up to her Captain with a furrowed brow.
Carpenter: Nothin' on sensors just yet. Countermeasures and the decoy pods still primed in the mine line and reserves waiting in the pipe, but they haven't gotten any closer for the moment.
The Captain nodded, his own brow standing annoyingly un-furrowed, but Kirsty tried to connect with as much of his confidence as she could. Looking with him from behind into the Main Viewer and the myriad of information that was spooling across it even in their "lamed" state.
Niac: They'll show, I'm sure of it. They've had enough time by now to see us and realize the easy picking we represent. Then they spent a few minutes arguing with one another about what to do and who gets the privilege of coming to kill us. They'll have the particulars worked out soon enough and then it's time for our little surprise. Tell me, how's our little present in escape pod sigma-two six doing?
Carpenter: Nothin' on sensors just yet. Countermeasures and the decoy pods still primed in the mine line and reserves waiting in the pipe, but they haven't gotten any closer for the moment.
The Captain nodded, his own brow standing annoyingly un-furrowed, but Kirsty tried to connect with as much of his confidence as she could. Looking with him from behind into the Main Viewer and the myriad of information that was spooling across it even in their "lamed" state.
Niac: They'll show, I'm sure of it. They've had enough time by now to see us and realize the easy picking we represent. Then they spent a few minutes arguing with one another about what to do and who gets the privilege of coming to kill us. They'll have the particulars worked out soon enough and then it's time for our little surprise. Tell me, how's our little present in escape pod sigma-two six doing?
Her own smile widened to reveal more of her teeth.
Carpenter: Just waitin' to be unwrapped, Captain. Alieth and Marty's people knocked out 600 cubic feet of meteron, ready to turn those dummy pods into about a metric ton of plasteel, diuranium, and silicate grapeshot. Unconventional, sure, but it's gonna be one helluva first volley.
They looked once more to the Main Viewer, Kirsty's breath quickening and turning now molten in anticipation. She knew she had to maintain decorum on the Bridge, but the thought of blooding the Lattice Alliances nose just like how they had done to them with the star pulsar and the RoLFs...it brought up words like "horribly satisfying" and " morbidly anxious for" across Kirsty's mind.
Niac: I'm leaving the timing of the detonation to you - we'll have some empty escape pods out there to cause a distraction...the Alliance doesn't take prisoners so they'll start picking them off. As soon as their ships are in the blast zone...you're authorized to press the big red button.
Carpenter: Aye freakin' Aye, Captain. We'll get 'em, sir.
Cap Niac almost sauntered back to his Big Chair.
Niac: I'm sure everyone has confidence in your judgment, Commander. Just try to make sure we leave a few for the Khitomer or Captain Shayne will be disappointed.
Tucker: As long as Commander Carpenter doesn’t get too trigger-happy, I’m sure she’ll leave some scraps for the Khitomer. She wouldn’t want them to scratch that new paint job.
Carpenter: I'm not promisin' nothing.
Carpenter: Just waitin' to be unwrapped, Captain. Alieth and Marty's people knocked out 600 cubic feet of meteron, ready to turn those dummy pods into about a metric ton of plasteel, diuranium, and silicate grapeshot. Unconventional, sure, but it's gonna be one helluva first volley.
They looked once more to the Main Viewer, Kirsty's breath quickening and turning now molten in anticipation. She knew she had to maintain decorum on the Bridge, but the thought of blooding the Lattice Alliances nose just like how they had done to them with the star pulsar and the RoLFs...it brought up words like "horribly satisfying" and " morbidly anxious for" across Kirsty's mind.
Niac: I'm leaving the timing of the detonation to you - we'll have some empty escape pods out there to cause a distraction...the Alliance doesn't take prisoners so they'll start picking them off. As soon as their ships are in the blast zone...you're authorized to press the big red button.
Carpenter: Aye freakin' Aye, Captain. We'll get 'em, sir.
Cap Niac almost sauntered back to his Big Chair.
Niac: I'm sure everyone has confidence in your judgment, Commander. Just try to make sure we leave a few for the Khitomer or Captain Shayne will be disappointed.
Tucker: As long as Commander Carpenter doesn’t get too trigger-happy, I’m sure she’ll leave some scraps for the Khitomer. She wouldn’t want them to scratch that new paint job.
Carpenter: I'm not promisin' nothing.
Kirsty heard the sounds of buttons being pressed in the center platform ahead of her.
Niac: =/\= Bridge to Stellar Cartography...what's your status, Lt. Cmdr. Alieth? =/\=
Alieth: =/\= Unchanged from the last half hour, Sencha radiation fluctuations are still consistent with the occlusion field generator we found in Olidra system, but we have not detected any Sencha radiation surges or radiation derived from the use of the Alliance's weapons. We will need to go past the cloaking threshold in order to gather more information, sir. =/\=
Niac: =/\= Bridge to Stellar Cartography...what's your status, Lt. Cmdr. Alieth? =/\=
Alieth: =/\= Unchanged from the last half hour, Sencha radiation fluctuations are still consistent with the occlusion field generator we found in Olidra system, but we have not detected any Sencha radiation surges or radiation derived from the use of the Alliance's weapons. We will need to go past the cloaking threshold in order to gather more information, sir. =/\=
Kirsty allowed herself a small smirk at The Chief's customarily pointed tone. That usually meant she was at the peak of her powers.
Niac: =/\= Once we get inside the system we'll need you to build up a picture of priority targets as quickly as you can, especially any S-Wave generators. The faster you can pass that information up to us, the quicker we can be in and out of the system. =/\=
Alieth: =/\= We are ready for it, sir, my terminal is directly connected to the main screen, to the tactical console and to the one in your chair. You will receive real-time feedback as soon as we have something to report. =/\=
Kirsty knew it to be true, but she checked the data-feed anyway. Tossing a terse, but acknowledging nod to the Center Chair, confirming the Chief's assessment. They were seeing everything they could see at the moment. And would likely see a whole lot more once those Alliance ships realized what a prize was sitting right under their noses.
Niac: =/\= Very well. Mr. Raedai is there to coordinate any sudden resource needs or probe operations and I believe he'll have a good eye for finding the things we want to eliminate. Give his insights weight, Commander. =/\=
Alieth: =/\= I will take your suggestion into account, Captain. =/\=
Kirsty masked an unexpected bark of laughter as a cough, but thought she did a pretty poor go at it.
Niac: =/\= Very well, standby. I suspect it'll be any time now. Niac out. =/\=
He drummed his hands once more across the haptics of the Big Chair.
Niac: =/\= Bridge to Sickbay...how are you doing on those arithrazine inoculations, Doctor? If we get hit by one of those S-Wave weapons I want to have more than enough prepared for the entire crew. =/\=
Beck: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Cap Niac swept his eyes up and toward his own nearest chronometer, turning back into the open comm when he was (seemingly) satisfied.
Niac: =/\= I realize it's not ideal but it's the only protective measure we have at the moment. Make whatever final preparations you can, I expect things will get busy up here in the very near future. =/\=
Beck: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=
Finally, the dam broke. A single sensor ping echoed through the tense Bridge like an ancient gunshot. She felt more than just the Captain's eyes on her and she angled her head up to meet as many as she could. Nodding calmly, but tersely with the shared realization. The words from one of her favorite literary wizards pondered portentously through her mind and chest.
"They are coming. Drums in the dark. They are coming."
Niac: =/\= Standby for action, Doctor. Bridge out. =/\=
More contacts and warp signatures were humming across the probe-supplemented sensor net. Nothing nearly as big as profiles of the Juggernaut or the Persecutor, but we were getting to the sabre rattling for sure. She turned to her Captain expectantly and with a meaty report to boot.
Niac: Well Commander...what's the word?
Niac: =/\= Standby for action, Doctor. Bridge out. =/\=
More contacts and warp signatures were humming across the probe-supplemented sensor net. Nothing nearly as big as profiles of the Juggernaut or the Persecutor, but we were getting to the sabre rattling for sure. She turned to her Captain expectantly and with a meaty report to boot.
Niac: Well Commander...what's the word?
She darted her eyes between her superior and her station.
Carpenter: Buzzards circlin', Captain. One of 'em is even painting us with passive scans. It's workin'. For now.
The Captain leaned back into his chair and Kirsty leaned FORWARD on her station, laser focusing now on the Main Viewer as their own scans and scopes honed in danger close to the incoming Sheliak and Tholian cruisers. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. No heavy guns just yet, but the L.A. were looking hungrily at the snare they had spooled out. Just a little bit closer now...
Carpenter: Buzzards circlin', Captain. One of 'em is even painting us with passive scans. It's workin'. For now.
The Captain leaned back into his chair and Kirsty leaned FORWARD on her station, laser focusing now on the Main Viewer as their own scans and scopes honed in danger close to the incoming Sheliak and Tholian cruisers. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. No heavy guns just yet, but the L.A. were looking hungrily at the snare they had spooled out. Just a little bit closer now...
Just a little. Bit. Closer. Even before he said it, the Bridge plunged into blood.
Niac: Red Alert. Wait another few seconds and begin a staggered launch of the starboard escape pods. Chief Tucker, standby to get us back to full power. Mr. O'Connor, use the RCS thrusters, lets make a show of trying to get away.
Niac: Red Alert. Wait another few seconds and begin a staggered launch of the starboard escape pods. Chief Tucker, standby to get us back to full power. Mr. O'Connor, use the RCS thrusters, lets make a show of trying to get away.
Tucker: Alright, flyboy. Hit that button on your console that is flashing green when ready, and it’ll bring the Ronin to bear with full power at your disposal.
Niac: RESPONSE
A blocky, ghoulishly blinking brick of a ship blinked into reality in the Main Viewer as the ship "listed" like a stuck pig. Waiting until they were well and truly settled, Kirsty danced her thumbs up and through the launch controls. Like a row of swollen honeybees, the dummy pods (interspersed with maybe a few extra metreon tanks, per Kirsty's orders) detached and spurted themselves lazily into a very visual impression of escape velocity.
Carpenter: Second decoy wave deployed. They are still movin' to bear.
Carpenter: Second decoy wave deployed. They are still movin' to bear.
O'Connor: RESPONSE
More shrill alerts from the whole of the "injured" Bridge. Marty's voice started to call out what the terminals were telling them just half a second before.
Tucker: Uh, sir. They didn’t come alone. Another Alliance frigate, bearing 156 by 25. Its shields are raised, and I can detect a build-up of Sencha radiation. ::he gulped at the last words::
Niac: RESPONSE
She did fast, bad math on her Tactical display. The necklace of decoys and depth charges widened into a deadly string of tourmaline coffins. The Sheliak block was accompanied now by a Tholian chandelier. Kirsty once more was shocked at the eldritch beauty and impossibly of the Tholian craft.
But now was time for a different sort of artful. She "checked" her calculations with the Computer Core assessments of the deployment arrangement now in relation to the two enemy ships. Close...but not close enough.
Carpenter: Hold.
O'Connor: RESPONSE
Niac/Tucker: RESPONSE
Carpenter: Not yet...
The two ships continued their approach, now both ships washing the exterior of the still-turning ship with all sorts of scans. But now close enough for the Ronin to get plenty of her own in return. And what they were now yelling to Kirsty's wide, astonished eyes...
They were now almost completely flush with the decoys and charges...
Carpenter: N-
But the idiots saved her the trouble. Or at least a Sheliak one did. Biting out petulantly from their ugly, brutalist ship to the escape pods with a plasmic beam from one of the trapezoid points...which immediately triggered one of the primed pods right next to it. Buffeting both ships with debris and scorched space, instantly putting a bulwark of damage and shattered equipment between them and their quarry.
She stood back sheepishly.
Carpenter: Well, nobody said bullies were smart...
Niac/Tucker/O'Connor: RESPONSE
--
TAG/TBC
--
Lieutenant Commander
Kirsty L. Carpenter
//\\
Chief of Security & Tactical
Starfleet SAR
(Marine Rank: Major)
//\\
U.S.S. RONIN
NCC-34523
ID: E239512QC0
//\\
F.N.S. Contributor
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages