Lt. (j.g.) Ian O'Connor - C. Y. A.
rob mahardy
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((Main Bridge, Deck 3, USS Ronin, Outside the J-0922A System.))
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.
Ian engaged thrusters continuing the erratic motions of a severely wounded vessel trying to crawl away, keeping the illusion going just a bit longer.
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.
Ian counted out the seconds as Ronin tumbled.
Niac: Launch pods Commander Carpenter. Mr. O'Conner, put us on escape heading bravo and begin the rapid power up sequence.
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.
O'Connor: 31 seconds to full power.
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:
Recalculate pod spread pattern, we need to blind or cripple
any that aren't destroyed immediately.
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: 23 seconds to full power. About a second less for those ships to get in weapons range.
Niac: Standby. Mr. Tucker I'm going to want as much power in the shields as you can give us.
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...
O'Connor: Huh, well that worked out better than I thought. ::glances back toward Kristy:: Not that I didn’t have faith in you.
Karrod
chuckled and looked back towards the screen. The Tholian vessel had been
obliterated, its perfect geometry shattered into a thousand burning chunks of
metallic slag. The Sheliak vessel, only slightly further from the focal
point of the explosion, was burning in space and listing badly.
Niac: What's the status of the Sheliak vessel? I'm still
seeing s-wave readings building up.
Tucker: RESPONSE
O’Connor: Full power restored. First enemy vessel appears completely disabled. Coming around to bear on the second Sheliak vessel. Their shields are down as well but registering a plasma build up in weapons systems.
Niac: Their s-wave generator must be damaged, that's an overload
in progress. Helm, full impulse, put us on an escape heading.
Maximum power to aft shields. Tactical, advise the Khitomer to break off
their run and get clear.
O'Connor:
Turning tail, Captain. Full impulse.
Ian veered the Ronin and accelerated away.
Carpenter/Tucker: Response
Ian watched on the monitor their sister ship swung in and began lancing the
damaged Sheliak vessel with phaser fire even as the Ronin pivoted away.
Time seemed to slow down as the Sheliak vessel rippled under the
withering fire, mangled hull panels blowing apart as phaser blasts slashed away
at engines and weapons. The burning frigate seemed to fold in on itself
at the last moment, some strange visual impossibility as the ships s-wave
weapons finally detonated, a shimmering subspace shockwave erupting like a tiny
supernova.
oO
Not gonna outrun…Oo
Niac: Brace for impact!
Even with their engines at maximum the leading edge of the detonation reached
them in seconds and Karrod felt that strange sense of unmaking that he'd
experienced in the presence of the Sencha wave back in the Olidra system.
A second later the shockwave hit and Karrod was thrown forward out of his
chair, tumbling to the deck and rolling towards the helm station. Around
him overloaded EPS conduits ruptured, showering the bridge in sparks and
detonating with enough force to launch panel covers. Consoles erupted as
the lights on the bridge flickered wildly. Rolling to his feet Karrod
fought his way back towards his chair while his crew did the same, desperately
clinging to or returning to their stations.
Niac: Damage Report!
Tucker: We’ve got fires on decks seven, ten, and eleven caused by EPS conduit damage. The structural integrity is down to sixty-five percent. Aft shield emitters are offline, and shields, though holding at sixty percent, are online. We have several reports of crew injuries, but nothing life-threatening.
O'Connor:
Helm, still responsive.
Carpenter: Shields holding at 63%. Beam weapons operational still,
but we've lost 2 launch tubes. One fore, one aft. Because the universe loves
symmetry, I guess..
Karrod rubbed at one eyebrow and his hand came away bloody. He scowled at
the blood, more annoyed than injured.
Niac: What's the Khitomer's status? They still in one piece?
Carpenter: Still on our six, Captain, but it looks like general comms
are down.
Tucker: ::smirking:: Scans indicate that we took more of the brunt of the shockwave. The Khitomer will need a few dents pounded out in that shiny new hull of theirs.
Ian continued to scan while maneuvering about toward the Khitomer.
Niac: Very well, advise me when you can raise them on subspace. We need to link up before we make our run into the system. Mr. O'Connor, reciprocal course, bring us into formation with the Khitomer. How bad's the damage Mr. Tucker?
Carpenter: Aye, sir. I'll keep on it.
Tucker: There is nothing we can’t handle on the way. The big one is the aft shield emitters. They’re offline, and I don’t want to send a crew out in EVA suits while we’re still on red alert. For now, I can compensate for the rear by expanding the rest of the shields to cover the aft, though it’ll be a thin layer of protection. The fires are all but out; they’re having trouble with the fire on deck ten.
O”Connor: Aye, sir. Already circling back around.
Niac: RESPONSE
Tucker: Mister O’Connor, I’d suggest that you keep our tail away from the fight when we engage at deep space thirty-three. With the way I'm covering the aft, it can’t take but a few direct hits before it fails.
O'Connor: ::turning toward Tuck:: Can do. We’ll just have to go nose to nose if anything else comes along.
Niac: RESPONSE
Tuck knew it was tough to keep the Ronin’s rear out of a firefight, but there was no way they could repair the emitters without sending crews onto the hull. So they would have to make due.
Tucker: Fire crews are confirming that the fire on deck ten is out. It took two fire teams to put it out.
Kristy’s terminal bleeped under her hands. The Chief's probe feed was back up. And it was reading the profile of something large and something generating power out there. She retrained every scope and sensor they had on the space where she saw the ripples, praying to whoever was out there that the Chief's probe feeds held up with the effort.
She felt eyes on her once more.
Niac: RESPONSE
Carpenter: Y'all didn't see that? The S-Wave it...it broke against something out there. Chief's probes are picking up something too. The profile of a mobile deployment platform. Or maybe, hell, maybe a whole station.
Niac/Tucker: RESPONSE
O’Connor: I see it and something else. Actually something elses. It’s splitting apart. Or launching
More proximity alerts started to buzz through multiple bridge consoles at once. Light fighter craft on an intercept course.
O’Connor: I see dozen or so small craft. Can’t confirm exact number as they are overlapping, and sensors are not anywhere near optimal.
.
Niac/Tucker/Carpenter: RESPONSE
O’Connor: They’re approaching fast and maneuvering in behind. They’re going right for our weak spot.
Niac/Tucker/Carpenter: RESPONSE
No matter what Ian tried. The small and much more maneuverable craft were able to readjust and continue to get behind the Ronin.
O’Connor: Captain. Got an idea. Gonna drop us in backwards right behind Khitomer. Tush to tush.
Niac/Tucker/Carpenter: RESPONSE
Tags/TBC
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Lieutenant (j.g.) Ian O’Connor
HCO
USS Ronin NCC-34523
R240009IO4