Giving Chase

Posted on Mon Jun 3rd, 2024 @ 6:29pm by Commander Patricia Cooke & Lieutenant Charlotte E. "Charlie" Yeager & I-400 & Lieutenant Commander Tsukasa Izumi & Lieutenant Commander Drauc ie-Jia'anKahr & Lieutenant Raazym & Lieutenant JG Eradaar Ezazzan & Lieutenant JG Julia Araala
Edited on on Mon Jun 3rd, 2024 @ 6:30pm

1,451 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: I-402
Timeline: Immediately after 'Evolution'

The Missouri dropped out of warp in the Mutara sector. Due to the work being conducted by the Daystrom Institute, the restrictions on travel in and out remained in place from when the Genesis Device was first detonated over a century prior. However, as the Missouri was a Starfleet ship, passage into the sector was easier to secure.

Charlie was at the controls as the Missouri slowed to impulse speeds. If she had laid in their course correctly, they should have dropped out of warp just outside visual range of the station:

"Daystrom Outpost Zeta should be entering visual range shortly:" Charlie reported before noticing something else on her sensors: "I'm also detecting a vessel of Borg origin within transporter range of the station:"

"On screen:" Patricia responded.

The image on the viewscreen changed to that of Daystrom Outpost Zeta, and a large cube shape eclipsing the station:

"That's I-400 alright:" Patricia said. "Red alert: Shields up; Tactical, stand by on phasers and torpedoes!"

As the red alert klaxons began to sound, the junior officer manning Tactical in Akira's absence began powering up their weapons systems:

"Phasers coming online:" He reported. "Photon torpedoes at your command:"

Drauc looked up from his console, a slight frown of annoyance flickering across his face at the sound of the red alert klaxon. He tapped his combadge and in a calm voice he projected out to his engineering crew =/\= All engineers report to battle stations. Crew leaders report when all assigned staff are at their stations. =/\= He then looked about the engine room and then the status board, everything was in the green. Tapping his combadge again he reported to the bridge =/\=Bridge, engineering. Status is green, engineering staff reporting to assigned stations. =/\=

"Our cyber security upgrades are online, Captain," Raazym reported from his position at Ops. "I'm also monitoring all access points to our ships systems. If I-400 manages to find a way around the secondary encryption protocols, I'll still be able to detect unauthorized entry and shut it down."

Drauc took his time as he worked the Engineer department reports. Once all stations reported in, he commanded the damage control teams to begin implementing the Faraday cage procedures around all critical equipment. It was an old technology deterrent, and he was curious how I-400 would manage it.

"The Cube is breaking off from the station:" Charlie reported. "They're preparing to cut a retreat:"

"Not this time, you don't:" Patricia said. "Take us in on an intercept course."

"Aye, ma'am:" Charlie said.

With the cradle on board, I-400 had little time to lay waste to the pathetic Federation outpost before one of their ships dropped out of warp. Sparing Daystrom Outpost Zeta was an act of mercy... For now...

However, as I-400 laid in a course back to Planetoid Lazzaro, the enemy Bellerophon class starship closed to attack range.

"No, no, no..." I-400 groaned. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The cube shot a blast at the Missouri, and the whole ship rocked as it was hit.

"Damage report!" Patricia demanded.

"Shields are holding:" Charlie responded. "That's a lot of firepower for an ex-Borg cube!"

Drauc looked up from the main engineering station, checking the engineers on duty there. Satisfied with their status he hit the engineer com-button, =/\=All engineering crews and damage repair teams report.=/\= With that he went back to watching the various energy outputs of the ship. He was concerned, there was an energy flux in the shielding. Hitting the com-button for the bridge he stated =/\=Captain, engineering here. Recommend you go to a hull polarization as well as shield modulation, hold on deploying the Ablative hull armor, seems the shot we took burned some of the circuits used by the Ablative hull armor. I will require ten point eight minutes to repair the situation.=/\\=

=A="Understood, bridge out."=A= Patricia responded, tapping her combadge.

Patricia immediately turned towards the ops side of the CONN station.

"Ops, configure the hull for-!" She began before the ship rocked again mid order.

The CONN station suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks, sending Charlie and Raazym flying. Both officers hit the deck with a thud. But while Charlie was able to climb back up and get back on the helm, the same could not be said for the Orion:

"Goddamnit;" Patricia groaned, tapping her combadge. =A="Medical to the bridge! Man down!"=A=

"On the way." Was the response as JJ glanced about at the currently empty medical bay. This was the first casualty of the battle and by the tone of voice of the Captain, wasn't going to be good. She pointed at her Assistant even while she herself shot out the door towards the turbolift right outside. She stepped onto the bridge and spotted her patient instantly, dropping to her knees next to the Orion, one hand reaching out to take the pulse physically while her other drew and opened the medical tricorder. He was alive, for now. "Two to beam direct to OR1." She whispered into her commbadge, and in a whirl of particles, the two vanished from the bridge.

Tsukasa was sat in her seat, using the center console to look over the scans of the Borg cube. "I think if we aim for these co-ordinates, we might be able to disable its engines," she suggested to Patricia. "At least that will stop it from running away again."

"Then make it so;" Patricia said. "I say if they want to give us a pounding, let's give them a pounding back! Target the indicated coordinates and fire phasers!"

Nodding, the officer manning tactical entered the coordinates indicated by Tsukasa.

"Firing:" He reported.

The Missouri unleashed a barrage of phaser fire upon the cube, blasting away pieces of its outer hull to make way for the torpedo strikes that would follow.

"Ready photon torpedoes!" Patricia ordered.

"Captain; the cube is hailing us:" Charlie said.

"On screen." Patricia responded.

"You want to know what's in that cradle?" I-400 asked as soon as the image of her appeared on the viewscreen. "The power to make real change, and that terrifies you!"

"I wouldn't necessarily call it a comfort..." Patricia responded, terminating the connection. "Fire photon torpedoes!" She ordered.

"Firing..." Tactical responded.

"Helm, stand by for a crash stop:" Patricia ordered.

"Aye, captain:" Charlie responded.

The torpedoes fired at the coordinates indicated by Tsukasa; holes already blown into the cube by the phasers had cleared a path for the torpedoes to land hits: The cube then began decelerating rapidly through lower and lower warp speeds, the Missouri needing to slow down even more to avoid colliding with the cube.

"I think we did it..." Patricia said.

Down below, Eradaar was assisting with Medical. She felt the tremors and tumbles of the ship decrease until ... finally ... it felt like it was over. However, the wounded kept coming, so she kept focused on providing medical aid.

As the cube slowed to low warp, where the going would be slow; Patricia couldn't help but notice something peculiar about their adversary.

"They've stopped firing on us." She said, turning to Tsukasa. "Did us crippling their propulsion have that much of an effect?"

"Most Borg systems are interlinked. If you damage one enough, you damage them all," Tsukasa explained.

Engineering was a controlled chaotic mess. There was a smoky haze all about, several stations were sparking, In the midst of all the chaos stood Druac, calmly giving directions to his engineers. He knew the Missouri would need its weapons, shields and drives functioning, thus he allocated resources strickly to those areas. He was patient as his crew worked to follow their instructions.

"Well, in any case, I'm willing to bet the cradle's on board that cube as much as they were in a hurry to leave." Patricia said, turning to Tsukasa. "Commander, I want you to assemble an away team to board that cube and locate the cradle. I don't know how quickly their repair capability is, so I want boots on the cube in the next 30 minutes."

"Aye Commander," Tsukasa said. With that said she gave Patricia a polite nod before heading to the turbolift. Before she reached the turbolift she tapped her comm badge. "Security, send a team of officers to Transporter Room Two foe an away mission."

Posting by

Commander Patricia Cooke
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Tsukasa Izumi
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Drauc ie'Jia'anKahr
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Raazym
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Charlotte E. Yeager
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant JG Julia Araala
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Eradaar Ezazzan
Chief Counselor

I-400
Antagonist

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