The Battle of Lazzaro: The Space Campaign (Part 3)

Posted on Mon Sep 15th, 2025 @ 11:18pm by Captain Patricia Cooke & Lieutenant Charlotte E. "Charlie" Yeager & I-400 & Commander Katrina Chance & Lieutenant Commander Andrew Star & Lieutenant Akira Kogami & Lieutenant Alice Penrose
Edited on on Tue Sep 16th, 2025 @ 1:59am

1,382 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Impending Midnight
Location: Space
Timeline: After Part 2

Previously, on Star Trek: Missouri:

"Icarus' antimatter containment is failing!" Joe reported.

"Are we clear of the blast radius?" Patricia asked.

"Aye, sir." Charlie responded.

On the viewscreen, the USS Icarus suffered a warp core breach as the mighty Vesta class ship's back was broken. The explosion appeared to damage some cubes within close proximity.

And now, the continuation:

"Life signs, Mr. Nixon?" Patricia asked.

"Some escape pods have gotten clear..." Joe reported. "The I-400 cubes seem to be ignoring them for now..."

"Signal the Apollo, tell them to try and double back around for those survivors." Patricia ordered. "ETA for the arrival of the fleet? We could really use the rest of the other 50 ships right now!"

"At least 20 minutes if we order them to increase speed." Joe responded.

"Then send a message to the fleet, and tell them to make for Lazzaro at maximum warp!" Patricia said.

"On it, sir." Joe began to send a message, but was distracted by something incoming: It was Commander Chance from the surface. Without even reporting it, Joe patched the XO through on comms:

"Chance to Missouri:"

At last, word from the surface: Perhaps there would be an explanation for the explosions that Patricia could see on the surface:

"Go ahead, Chance:" Patricia responded. "Please tell me things are going better for you down here than they are up here..."

"Stand by, Captain," Came the response. "I-402 is with her counterpart now. I'm not entirely sure what her plan is, but my sense is if this is going to resolve itself, it will happen within the next few minutes."

"Understood; do what you can for the civilians on the ground." Patricia responded. "I can see an awful lot of explosions from up here. Cooke out."

"Sir:" Joe suddenly piped up. "The planet! It's-!"

Patricia didn't need an explanation. Suddenly, huge patches of planetoid's surface were glowing like warp engines, some where settlements used to be:

"Don't you see... The beauty of it?" I-400's voice suddenly came over the Missouri's comms.

"Shut it down, Commander:" Patricia ordered as I-400 continued to speak:

"I can't!" Joe responded. "I-400 is penetrating our firewalls at a rate I can't keep up with!"

"You, Starfleet: You are my meteor:" I-400 continued. "My swift and terrible sword, and the galaxy will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, raise your cyber defenses. It means nothing. Because when the dust settles, the only thing living in this galaxy... Will be me."

Patricia sighed.

"Get me through to the away team:" She ordered. "Let's see if we can clean up this mess: Yeager, pursuit course! Keep us in transporter range if possible."

"Aye, sir." Charlie responded.

"Comms channel to the away team open:" Joe added. "For how long, I'm not sure."

"Cooke to Away Team:" Patricia spoke. "The planetoid's breaking orbit, tell me we've got a plan."

=A="I'm afraid I do have a last ditch measure in mind, Captain,"=A= Katrina responded, her voice measured. =A="I am, however, reluctant to discuss it openly. Requesting direct transport to the bridge."=A=

The channel was then muted. The Missouri began to shake as the Bellerophon class starship struggled to keep up with the accelerating planetoid.

"Mister Nixon; keep sending updated coordinates to the rest of the fleet! The sooner they get here, the better." Patricia ordered. "Yeager, what's it taking to stay in transporter range?"

"The planetoid's speed is increasing, Captain:" Charlie responded. "We'll be at Warp One soon."

"Understood. Keep us in transporter range as long as you can." Patricia ordered. "Mister Nixon, priority unmute the channel to Commander Chance's combadge."

"Roger, unmuting sir..." Joe responded.

"Chance, we're about to reach Warp One. It's now or never!" Patricia called out. She was hoping that they wouldn't have to resort to attempting a Transwarp beam out.

=A="Missouri, beam me to the bridge directly."=A= Came Katrina's response.

"Initiating beam out." Patricia confirmed, muting the channel on her end. "Bring her up."

"Initiating transport of Commander Chance to the bridge..." Joe said.

Within seconds, the new Executive Officer rematerialized in front of the viewscreen, having come from the violent motion of the planetoid below to the inertial dampeners in the deckplates.

"We are now at Warp One." Charlie called out to confirm just how close it had been, and that the rest of the away team were now trapped on the planet's surface below unless they wanted to risk conducting transwarp beaming.

"Welcome back, Commander:" Patricia greeted. "I hope this plan of yours doesn't involve blowing up the planetoid. Not with people still on it."

Transporting from a planetoid that was constantly shaking in unpredictable ways to a ship that was shaking somewhat less, but in more predictable ways, still came as something of a shock to the XO. She stumbled slightly, but easily righted herself, and looked around. "I'm afraid you're... half right, sir," Katrina started. "Destroying the planetoid is out of the question. However, given the massive mass they're tugging, I suspect the acceleration curve of those ships may be heavily strained. If we were able to attain a greater velocity..."

Katrina didn't finish that sentence. She didn't need to. What she was suggesting was crystal clear. Use the Missouri, itself, as a projectile. Warp into one of the tractoring cubes as fast as they could, and the damage just might break the lock. Or at least make it significantly harder to get an entire planetoid through the galactic barrier.

"Are you kidding me?" Patricia responded. "This ship was built for many things, but not a warp speed Kamikaze run: You'll kill us all!"

"I suspect the Commander is fully aware of that," Alice Penrose observed flatly, her eyes cool as she watched Katrina carefully. The Counsellor could see it easily enough; the micro tension in her features, the way she couldn't finish speaking her plan out loud.

Katrina gave Patricia a sympathetic look and let out a quiet sigh, nodding her head. "I'm well aware of that. But at this point, we have to assume that, whatever I-402's plan was going into this encounter, it failed. We can't attack I-400's network directly, and we can't fend off an armada like this forever. We'd be just as dead that way. If I had another alternative, I'd present it without hesitation. But from what I've read and seen in this short time, I-400 has outclassed us in every way. Which suggests to me an irrational act may be the only course."

Patricia shook her head.

"No. Absolutely not." Patricia refused. "It's my responsibility as Captain of this ship to ensure that we survive this in one piece, not the victim of some stupid ass warp speed kamikaze that might not actually work! So, give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you in the brig right now. Because what you're suggesting is treason talk!"

Kat was silent for a moment, seemingly completely unphased by Patricia's outburst. Slowly, she stepped towards the woman who was very clearly shaken by her distasteful suggestion. When she spoke next, her voice was calm, composed, and took on a much quieter, but still firm tone, so only Patricia could hear her. "Because, sir. We have an objective to achieve. To stop I-400. We need everyone focused on their duties. We came here to do a job, and however it ends, we need to see it through. As a team. A unit. We can't afford to fracture now."

Patricia stared intently back at Katrina.

"Then you understand that my orders stand." She said. "The Missouri will not be lost. Not today."

Katrina didn't move. She met Patricia's stare with a calm, understanding gaze, then dipped her head easily in acknowledgement. "You're the Captain," Katrina pointed out. "You always had the final say."

"Then it's settled." Patricia resumed her seat.

To be continued...

A Mission Post By

Captain Patricia Cooke
Commanding Officer

Commander Katrina Chance
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Nixon
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Commander Andrew Star
Chief Science Officer/Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Akira Kogami
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Alice Penrose
Chief Counselor

I-400
Antagonist

Lieutenant Charlotte E. "Charlie" Yeager
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer

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