To the Rescue... Sort of
Posted on Sat Sep 4th, 2010 @ 5:00pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Alessandro Reynaldi & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant JG Lucy Carter & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper
1,910 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Stealth
Location: USS Ranger and the QAR Vessel
Timeline: Current
ON:
The USS Ranger
____________________
Halliwell arrived on the bridge, striding quickly around the rail and back down to her seat next to Lieutenant Carter. Looking out before her, T’kaarch was still at the helm, pushing the Ranger through the edges of the nebula smoothly. The viewscreen was once again puffing through the awkward and oppressive purple matter.
“Commander Michaels and Lieutenant Reynaldi are still stranded on that damned QAR vessel,� she said, as she took her seat, activating the small control panel to Lucy’s right. She looked forward and spoke to the Ensign. “Take us in carefully, Mr. T’kaarch,� she asked, her face now lined with visible concern, “but don’t sacrifice speed.�
"Rrrogerrr," the cat purred as he adjusted the speed to half impulse and engaged it, and without visible or feelable confirmation the Ranger slid in deeper into the nebula once more.
Turning now back to Lieutenant Blake, she arched her neck to face him fully. “Once we have located the vessel, Mr. Blake, I want you to lock transporters on the two officers at first opportunity, but don’t initiate. Try hailing them, first. I don’t want to pull them away from anything if they’re in the middle of completing this.�
"Aye, Captain," Blake nodded with understanding.
"We'rrre apprrroacing the co-orrrdinates... Orrrderrrs, ma'am?" T'kaarch slowed down to quarter impulse while a slight black outlook became visible on the viewscreen.
“Get us as close as you can to the QAR vessel and switch to thrusters,� she replied, looking intently at the lone vessel before them. “This close to the weapon, I don’t want to chance a molecular reaction.� Continuing to talk, she turned to Ensign Cauldfield and then said, “Continuous scans, Ensign. If those drone ships come back, I want to know before they do.�
He nodded and trained his eye onto his readout. “Aye, Sir.�
Without as much as a nod, T'kaarch slowly moved the Ranger closer to the black outline on the viewscreen, which slowly transformed into a ship.
"Captain, I've locked onto the away team." Blake called from the Operations station. "I'm attempting to hail them, but so far with no response."
The Ranger banked quickly upward, pulling up along side the QAR ship and stopping so close that the ship almost grazed hulls.
“Pull us back, Mr. T’kaarch,� she ordered, now standing in the centre of the bridge.
The QAR Vessel
_______________________
Another message came through the comm system. T'mpest tried to answer, but the signal was still garbled. It appeared to be from the Ranger, but beyond that she had no idea. "How long until the ship blows itself up?" she asked Reynaldi.
"Four minutes, 23 seconds.... Not a lot of time." He said with a frown. "Ma'am...I've been running more tests...and there’s a 22% chance our plan won't work...."
"22% is far too high," T'mpest said. "We need to make sure this works -- and that it looks like a flaw in the design." She turned back to her console. "I want the members of the Queen Anne's Revenge to go back to the drawing board. I don't want them to suspect sabotage."
She went back into the core program and found the command structure and set it to loop on itself. "Not pretty, but when the weapon fires, it won't be able to shut off. With everything else we've done to it, it will overload and explode, taking most of the ship with it."
Alessandro nodded but said nothing. There were so many plans floating around he didn't know which way was up.
T'mpest smiled at the Lieutenant. "At least we have done all we can."
The USS Ranger
____________________
Back on the Ranger, and moments later, a screech filled the comm system and everyone's ears. The viewscreen changed from purple instantly to white.
"Brrra..." Before T'kaarch could finish his sentence the ship was hurled away from the subspace explosion triggered by the weapon and T'mpest's changes, throwing everyone off their stations.
If the assault on his ears and eyes wasn't enough, then unceremonious hurtling to the floor seemed to bruise more than just Blake's senses. Sounds were slightly muffled, there was a metallic twang both in his mouth and in the air along with the haze of smoke and mutters of injured crew members. Blake, himself, was becoming aware of thick red liquid trailing down his chin, his deformed nose having since smashed it upon the console as he fell. A quick flick of his tongue and spit of mucus confirmed that he had at least broken a tooth also. However this was not the time to worry about such minor injuries, so wiping his face he stood shaky once more and surveyed the scene around him.
As T'kaarch crawled up on one of the walls he was smacked into, he looked around and saw that the bridge was mostly intact, which was strange for the apparent magnitude of the explosion. He also noticed that the viewscreen now showed stars. Either the blast threw them off beyond the boundaries of the nebula, or perhaps it destroyed the nebula altogether somehow.
Anyway, all that was for later concern as T'kaarch got back on the helm.
Halliwell righted herself in her chair and quickly surveyed the bridge. “Damage report,� she ordered loudly.
T'kaarch's eyes became bigger as he was looking at the damage console of the helm. "Errr... this has to be some kind of errrrorrrr. It says that we... 'lost' a nacelle... cut clean off. "
"I'm afraid that's not an error ma'am. We have indeed suffered server damage to the port nacelle severing it from the ship completely." Blake blinked at the flashing console is dismay. "Structural integrity steady at eighty five percent and moderate casualties coming in. Transport of the away team successful, Captain."
The QAR Vessel
_______________________
The computer room within the QAR vessel illuminated dramatically, a blinding light covering every surface. Alex was certain that his life, one filled with duty to Starfleet, was now over, but beyond the blinding light and defining shrieks of bending metals was the calm of the transporter room. He looked around with a raised eyebrow, making eye contact with Commander Michaels.
T'mpest felt the power flood through the ship as the deflector dish received the signal from the starbase. It was fascinating to see on the computer console how every bit of power was used to channel the pulse to the particle accelerator and through it out to the nebula. The goo from the larvae amplified the beam fourfold as it coalesced into a beam of energy and shot harmlessly into the nebula.
The effect, however, was not harmless to the ship. The various changes to the formula combined with the phaser rifle and the power loop had a deleterious effect on the ship itself.
Just as it seemed as if they would not escape, the distinct sensation of a transporter beam caught her as the room disappeared and she found herself in the Ranger's transporter room. "That was most unexpected," T'mpest said, one eyebrow raised. "I don't think we could have cut it any closer." She stepped off the pad and headed for the door. "Let's get to the bridge and see what we can do to help."
The USS Ranger
____________________
"Well," T'kaarch turned around from the helm, "I could prrropably adjust the deflectorrr dish to give us warrrp drrrive with the one nacelle we have left... But I don't think that's gonna be morrre then Warrrp Two."
Halliwell nodded but then stood as both T’mpest and Alex stepped out of the turbolift. Glad to see both her crewmembers alive, she looked over at them. Raising an eyebrow, she nodded again, silently asking of their mission status.
The nebula will recover, Captain. The QAR weapon... was not so lucky," T'mpest told her, one side of her mouth quirked up in a half-smile.
“Well done,� Elsie replied, the sheer look of relief spreading widely across her face. “To both of you, I mean.� She then turned to T’kaarch and locked eyes with him. “Set a course for the starbase, Ensign. Maximum speed she can manage on my command.�
"Aye aye, Capt'n," T'kaarch purred as he laid in the course, and set the speed for Warp One for now. He didn't engage yet though. "Courrrse laid in to Starrrbase 97, will take... two days on Warrrp One, sixteen hourrrs on Warrrp Two."
“Maximum speed available,� she reiterated.
"Naturrrally." The cat reconfirmed.
Halliwell then turned her attention to all the bridge officers and remained standing in the centre of deck one. “Listen up,� she began, turning and regarding each officer as they came into her line of vision, “it’s going to take all of us working together to get us there in one piece. Mr. Reynaldi, I think that you should return to Engineering and see what you can manage with your finger on the pulse of the Ranger.� Her face softened as she spoke to him, conveying a gratitude that she was not yet ready to openly admit to the insubordinate officer.
Alex still resented the Captain a great deal for the way she'd behaved in Engineering. He knew that after his work was done, he would be applying for a transfer, but in truth he didn't want to go. He liked the Ranger so far... "Aye..." He nodded to the woman, but waited to leave.
“Mr. Blake,� she said as she turned to him. “I’m going to need all of your power distribution skills to hold this ship together during the flight. And Ms. Michaels, assist him in monitoring the subspace field. The slightest bump and with one nacelle, it could tear this ship apart so fast we’d never recover in time.�
"Aye, ma'am," T'mpest said, heading to a vacant station to begin the monitoring.
"Aye, captain," Blake nodded sensing this will be the longest day of his life.
Then turning to Ensign Cauldfield, she nodded. “Maintain long-range scans on the activity of the starbase. I don’t want to head in blind. I just hope that Commander Drake and his away-team are still there to rescue.�
“Aye, ma’am,� he replied, looking over to her.
Then turning to face the front of the bridge, she nodded to T’kaarch. “When Lieutenant Reynaldi reports ready, engage, Ensign.�
T'kaarch purred "Rrrogerrr, wheneverrr you'rrre rrready, Lieutenant..." as he sat back and started working on whatever he could do from helm to make the Ranger as fast as she could go on one nacelle.
Alex turned on his heal and quickly entered the turbolift, rather grumpy now with his new set of thoughts and concerns.
OFF:
A nacelle-losing post by:
Elsie Halliwell
Commanding Officer
USS Ranger
T’mpest Michaels
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Ranger
Alessandro Reynaldi
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Ranger
Dylan Blake
Chief Operations Officer
USS Ranger
T’kaarch
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Ranger
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