[FINALE] Captain Roshanara Rahman: System Shut Down (Part 1)

[richyulin]

((Main Bridge, USS Veritas))

::Far away from the Menthar ruins on the planet's surface, the Veritas continued its battle against the Sentinel-controlled Starfleet and Tholian vessels. Alarms sounded from nearly every console on the bridge as warning lights flashed on the damage report readouts.::

Rahman: Prepare another full spread of torpedoes.

G’var:::prepping the launcher::-Targeting the Minerva...full spread...firing!

::But before the tactical officer could engage the launcher, the Defiant class USS Stalwart arrived into weapons range, unleashing a heavy punishment of phaser cannon fire and its own load of quantum torpedoes. The Veritas' hull armor groaned from the impact as sparks flew from across the bridge, throwing Roshanara and the rest of the bridge crew forward. The captain was knocked out of her chair and fell down to the deck. Fortunately, she caught herself from slamming her head into the floor.::

::Up front, Counselor Orrey wasn't so lucky, smashing his head into the ops console. Maravosh, who'd also been thrown to the deck, grabbed a hold of the man to make sure he was all right, but he was already calling out the extent of the damage from his display.::

Orrey: Shields at 20%, upper engineering workshops are locked down with hull breaches. Lower starboard Nacelle operating at 5%, deck three reports transporter room one and the upper portion of holodeck one are offline as well as most of the auxiliary shield generators

::Pulling herself up back into her chair, she looked over G’var.::

Rahman: Return the favor!

G'var:::growling::-Captain it would be my absolute pleasure!

::The Klingon woman snarled in frustration when the controls didn't respond.::

G’var:::scowling::-Captain Launchers are jammed and Phaser efficiency is down to 10%

::In the dim glow of the blue overhead emergency lighting, the captain looked around the battered bridge. A small fire had started near the edge of the viewscreen, although it was quickly confined by an emergency forcefield. Some of the other officers showed bruises and cuts of their own.::

Rahman: I need options, people.

::The counselor held the side of his bleeding face as he looked back at her.::

Orrey: One good part about this is with the ship being locked off I can draw that power away and put it where we need it.

G’var:::raising her brow::-I've got an idea, something we kicked around the locker room after practice. This will sound crazy, but if we polarize the upper nacelles and reverse the plasma flow through the magnetic constrictors, we can generate a gravity field between the nacelles. We could then use the tractor been to place one of the derelict Tholian ships into the gravity field, we then run a graviton charge along the nacelles, and the resulting change in gravity would project the ship forward and a high velocity. In essence it would be a gravity crossbow.

Orrey: The upper nacelles wouldn’t hold out to that; that would leave us with two functional ones still though.

G'var:::wiping blood from her eye::-the risk to the nacelles would be substantial, we could only try it two or three times without risking the loss of both nacelles. We would also lose Warp capability until we depolarize the nacelles.

Orrey: ::shaking his head turning from his console:: We would be lucky to get two of them out. But that would handle the Minerva and Stalwart.

Rahman: Well, it's a good thing we brought a four-nacelled ship to this fight, didn't we? How sure are we this would take out those ships?

G'var: Force does equal mass times acceleration, there's no way the Franks could withstand the impact, the Force should be enough to completely destroyed them in one shot, it's a risk, but by Kahless the Bold Survive.

Orrey: It is possible to do sir. I can get the power routed for two shots anything beyond that risks the whole of the ship. But it is the best option we have.

::Looking back up at the viewscreen, the captain wiped a few hairs that had gotten loose in front of her face.::

Rahman: Lieutenant, get ready to arm our "crossbow."

Orrey: I can point out some of the debris that have no value to the Tholians given our earlier researches.

G'var: Response

::Once a potential derelict had been sighted, Maravosh brought the ship on an intercept course. Veritas slipped into range, and the tractor beam activated, pulling the potential projectile between the upper warp nacelles.::

::Meanwhile, Minerva, Stalwart, and Solaris took up position to face off against Veritas.::

Maravosh: What are they doing?

Rahman: Probably trying to figure out what we're doing.

::Roshanara looked over at G'var.::

Rahman: Two shots. Two ships.

G'var: Response

Orrey: Response

::As G'var and Orrey prepared to fire their makeshift crossbow, Maravosh called out from her station.::

Maravosh: USS Stalwart is accelerating at full thrust with another load of quantum torpedoes arming. Evasive maneuvers, captain?

Rahman: No, we've only got one shot at this! We have to stay lined up. Are we ready, lieutenants?

Orrey: Response

Maravosh: Enemy torpedoes have fired! Impact in six seconds.

::The captain turned to tactical, impatient.::

Rahman: Lieutenant G'var?!

G'var: Response

::Roshanara looked back at the viewscreen and held onto her arm rests, her voice steady but ice cold.::

Rahman: Blow that son of a bitch out of the sky.

G'var: Response

::There was a loud shudder as the dead carcass of the Tholian ship was sent hurtling towards the Stalwart. The four quantum torpedoes the Defiant class ship had fired flew right past the projected "arrow," which continued on its path right into the smaller warship. Like an axe splitting a piece of firewood, the Stalwart was ripped in half, its makeshift sutures torn apart. Whatever alien power source had been created aboard the ship destabilized from the hit, and the rest of the ship was engulfed in an explosion.::

::As soon as Veritas had fired the projectile, the captain quickly yelled to the helm.::

Rahman: Evasive maneuvers! Ascend!

::The RCS thrusters kicked into overdrive, pushing the ship into a high climb to dodge the torpedoes. The first two missed their target as phaser fire from Veritas shot out as countermeasures. The last two however adjusted their course in time to ascend as well, slamming into the ventral side of the ship with a horrific fireball, totally collapsing the remaining shields and leaving a deep gash along the hull.::

::Back on the bridge, more alarms rang out. A support beam overhead had fallen into the science station, which fortunately was unoccupied.::

Rahman: Can we load another "arrow?"

G'var: Response

Orrey: Response

Maravosh: We can't get there even if we wanted to. That last hit took out thruster control. We're limping badly, captain.

::On screen, Veritas' sister Minerva along with Solaris began closing in on them like a pair of lionnesses about to make their final strike against a wounded gazelle.::

Rahman: All available power to the phaser cannons -- including life support. We're going to fire whatever we have left to give the away teams as much time as we can.If they can shut this down, then there's still a chance for the rest of the fleet to get here and save them.

Orrey: Response

G'var: Response

::As the Minerva drew closer, though, new beams of light could be seen streaking past before hitting the other ship. It was the Tholians. They'd taken care of the other Sentinel-controlled Tholian ships and made it back to assist Veritas.::

::Minerva's own support, the Solaris, abruptly turned, but rather than go after the Tholians, it veered away from Minerva to place itself between Veritas and the other ship before it began firing as well.::

Rahman: Finally...

TBC...

Captain Roshanara Rahman

CO, USS Veritas

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