Days of Trial II: 0033 Ship’s Time

The ship rocked from another blow and another panel, mercifully unmanned, sparked as it overloaded.

“Damage report!”, Orex shouted.

“Another hull breach on Deck Eight, sir. Dorsal phasers offline.”, T’Prenn replied, her Vulcan calm unbent even now.

“Weapons don’t matter at this point, Lieutenant.”, Orex held on to the arms of his chair while using his third hand to point at Lieutenant Abercrombie at the operations station .

“Mr. Abercrombie, how long until we reach the nebula?”

“Less than a minute, Captain. Getting right close.”, the Australian flashed a grin that Orex suspected the operations officer didn’t actually feel.

Orex turned to the helm station, “Just a little longer, Mr. Ridenour.

“I have this, sir.”, the young helmsman replied, voice tight with strain. Since their two pursuers could easily keep pace with them, it was his maneuvers that had been keeping the San Diego from suffering even worse damage then she already had. 

Orex was silent for a beat, then spoke again, “Bridge to Engineering.”

“Engineering here.”, behind Massaquoi’s voice, Orex could hear shouts as his engineering team worked to keep the San Diego alive.

“Divert all available power to shields, and I mean all of it, Commander.”, Orex ordered. “We just have to hold out a little longer.”

“Understood, sir. We-”, the ship shook again, “We’re on it, we’re on it!”

“Shields down to nineteen percent, we can not take another strike of that magnitude, Captain.”, T’Prenn reported from her tactical station, with the barest hint of tension.

Orex took a bare second to close his eyes. Through the wisps smoke and the alarms warning of various damaged systems he worked to remain calm. He remained ramrod straight and serious. A captain was the focal point of the ship. If he remained calm, so would the crew.

Orex opened his eyes, the bridge’s dark atmosphere of tactical lighting actually comforting and helping him focus somehow.

“All’s well, Mr. T’Prenn. Please set four photon torpedoes to remote detonation, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir.”, T’Prenn said, “I presume we are going to lay some mines, Captain.”, her quick Vulcan mind deducing Orex’s intent.

“Indeed, Mr. T’Prenn.”

T’Prenn gave a nod, “Shield strength recovering, sir.”

“Entering the nebula now, sir.”, Ridenour called.

“It’s a bit troublesome with nebula’s interference but I’m starting to map some of the clouds of thalassite and corvairon, sir.”, Abercrombie said, “We should be very careful, Mr. Ridenour. You could sneeze too close to that stuff and it would explode.”

“I have this, Lieutenant, don’t worry.”, the helmsman replied. His voice was still strained but there was a faintest hint of pleasure to his tone. He was relishing the challenge and showing just how skilled a pilot he was.

“Easy for you to say, mate.”, Abercrombie muttered.

“Now we hunt on equal terms.”, Orex told the bridge crew as the turbolift doors open and the ship’s counselor, Jackson Carstairs, returned to the bridge from taking an injured crewman to Sickbay.

Orex gave him a nod and continued, “They can’t see any better than we can now. Now we give them a surprise of our own”

The incoming fire had ceased as the two Vaadwaur ships lost target lock. They continued on, though much slower as they took stock of their new environment.

“Orex to Lieutenant Rivers.”

“Rivers here, sir”, Jessica Rivers, chief science officer replied, a hint of surprise in her voice.

“Your science team has done fantastic work, Lieutenant and I must prevail upon all of you once again. Lieutenant Abercrombie is working on mapping the volatile clouds here. I would like you to assist.”

“Of course, sir.”, Rivers sounded pleased to be able to do anything besides sit and hope. Having your life in others’ hands isn’t easy.

“And, Lieutenant?”

“Yes. sir?”

“Do your best to calculate explosive yields of the clouds and mark clouds that shouldn’t explode under any circumstances.”

“Y-Yes, sir.”, Rivers replied nervously.

“So this is a case of not having a big enough hammer so find a bigger one?”. Grkovic asked from her seat by the captain’s chair.

“Precisely, XO.”, Orex replied without his usual trace of gentle humor, still ramrod straight in posture.

“Not necessarily a bad plan, provided we don’t get caught in the blast.”, Grkovic continued.

“As long as we don’t get caught in the blast.”, Orex echoed.

The three ships slowly danced through the blues and purples of the nebula, dodging clouds of volatile gasses. The San Diego’s crew using the respite to repair what they could as fast as possible.

In Sickbay, Dr. Kumiko Uchiyama desperately worked to save the life of the woman on the biobed in front of her, thankful the rocking had stopped. The burns were terrible. The woman was part of the engineering team and had been in a Jeffries’ tube when a flash fire had roared through it. It was amazing she had lived this long.

“Sterilizer.”, Uchiyama requested, holding a hand out. The nurse in attendance handed her the requested implement. The doctor began to work it over the burns. There were so many, she almost didn’t know where to begin. 

The buzz of hectic, but controlled, activity raised an octave as two more casualties came into Sickbay carried by their crewmates.

Uchiyama grimaced, then caught the nurse’s eye and jerked her head towards the newcomers.

“Go.”, she said simply and the man hurried off. 

The medical staff were overstretched, but they had a job to do. As she turned her attention to the burns on the patient in front of her, the crewman’s life signs began to grow erratic. Uchiyama quickly grabbed a hypo and slammed it into the woman’s chest. The woman began to jerk and cough as Uchiyama struggled to hold her down.

The doctor looked at the biobed readings as she worked grabbing different implements as the situation changed. Nothing helped as she watched her patient slowly, painfully die in front of her. The crewman finally grew still and the biobed reported no life signs.

Uchiyama bowed her head in momentary pain and regret, the tense actions, occasional shouts and quick movements of her staff fading for just a moment. She then remembered herself and grabbed a passing nurse’s arm.

“She’s gone. Clear the bed, please.”

“As soon as I can, Doctor.”, the harried nurse nodded.

Uchiyama returned the nod and moved to the next bed where a Denobulan chief petty officer from the security team lay with a bloody leg and more blood running down the left side of his face, tracing the raised ridge running down the side of his face.

“Looks like, ya’ll are a touch busy, Doc.”, the enlisted man made a smile that was more of a pained grimace.

Despite the seriousness of the situation Uchiyama actually paused for a moment.

“Strange accent for a Denobulan.”, Uchiyama said in her quiet voice as she began to close the head wound, instrument hissing in her hand as it worked.

“Yeah, I reckon I get that a lot.”, the man laughed, the laugh rough from pain.

“If I may ask, chief, where are you from?”. Uchiyama moved down to leg and never quite looked up as she spoke.

“Well I was born on Denobula, but I was raised in Alabama.”

“North America?”, came the surprised reply.

“Mmmhmmm…awe damn that hurts.”

“Almost done with the painful part, chief. One has to ask, how does a Denobulan end up being raised in Alabama.”

“It seems to happen-oww when the Denobulan’s parents-oww die in a accident when he was a toddler and no family is available-oww. I thought you said the painful part was almost done, Doc-oww and so his parent’s closest friends who happen to be from Mobile, Alabama take him in-oww.”

“That must’ve been a fascinating childhood.”, Uchiyama grabbed another instrument.

“Wasn’t bad, I’ll tell ya, my foster parents are some of the best folks you could ever meet. Though it was hell on them poor folks when I hit puberty.”, another rough laugh.

Despite herself, despite the horrible situation, Doctor Uchiyama gave a little laugh as she shook her head at the irascible Denobulan senior chief. In Starfleet you met all kinds.

Day of Trial II: 0141 Ship’s Time

The bridge was dark and tense, the predominant lighting was blue and purple from the nebula on the viewscreen.

The slow dance continued between the San Diego and her two stubborn hunters. Each knew the other was there, just not exactly where.The blue and purple expanse of the nebula occasionally flashed. The viewscreen skewed often with distortion and static. The sensors worked only half the time, though by this point that was a familiar situation.

Grkovic was tapping away at her chair’s small arm console as Orex sat in his captain’s chair, a stoic, brooding figure. He was thinking ahead. If this worked, they’d have to leave the system immediately. He began to tap at his own console, searching for the next waypoint on their journey, when Grkovic’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“I think I found a suitable one, sir.”

Captain Orex slowly turned his head towards his executive officer, “Show me.”

Grkovic nodded and the commander stood and led him to a bulkhead mounted auxiliary console.

“Mr. T’Prenn, Mr. Abercrombie, over here for a moment.”

The four officers looked at the display showing a map of various clouds, their projected explosive yields displayed on them. Rivers and her science team had done a fantastic job despite the limitations imposed by the nebula itself.

Grkovic zoomed in on two clouds, “These two right here, they’ll have the power we need and won’t set off half the nebula when it goes off. Confirmed it with Lieutenant Rivers. Of course sensors aren’t at their best but…”, the executive officer let it hang.

“Well if Rivers and her team confirmed it, I feel confident about it myself, sir.”, Abercrombie was eyeing the display with careful consideration. 

Orex nodded, “Mr. T’Prenn?”

“I see no fault in the commander or science team’s assessment, sir.”, the tactical/security officer was studying the display intently.

“Nor I.”, Orex stated, “The challenge will be not having the clouds do to us what we want it to do to our attackers. Mr. T’Prenn, I assume those four torpedoes have been modified?

“Yes, sir.”,  T’Prenn gave a short nod.

“Good. Well, I see no reason to delay throwing the javelin.”, Orex raised his voice. “All hands this is the captain, we will be trying a bit of a gambit shortly and it could very well get rough. All non-essential crew to their quarters and prepare to brace for impact.”

Everyone returned to their stations and as he took his seat he looked at his executive officer, whose face was a mix of blue light and shadow from the dark atmosphere of the bridge.

“Good work, XO.”

“Thank you, sir. Your plan is unique, but the logic is sound.”

“If you can’t fight a foe directly, cleverness is sometimes all one has.”, Orex replied.

Orex turned his head towards the helm, “Mr. Ridenour, I need you to fly us between the two clouds at the coordinates I am sending you. It’s a tight fit, so is it doable?”

“Easily, sir.”, Ridenour replied almost jauntily.

Grkovic raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth but then closed it, considered her words and tried again.

“You’ve done a fantastic job thus far, ensign, but let’s try not to get too cocky shall we…verstehst du?

“Ich verstehe, sir.”, the ensign nodded, suitably chastened, but not broken.

She’s learning, Orex thought to himself, pleased.

“Alright, helm….take us through.”, Orex ordered.

“Aye, sir.”, Ridenour’s hands began to move over the controls.

As the San Diego moved, the two hunters, flying in loose formation, searched behind them.

The entire bridge crew held their breaths as the San Diego moved through the area between the two large clouds of corvairon gas. The sensors hadn’t been entirely accurate and the space was a fair amount tighter than originally reported but Ridenour was up to the task. The gas was truly volatile and being this close was nerve wracking.

“Drop our presents, Mr. T’Prenn. Carefully.”

“Of course, sir.”, T’Prenn hit a button on her console and four torpedoes were released. They didn’t glow and they scattered close to the ship. In reality only one was needed, but Orex’s reasoning was that with all the nebula’s background interference and radiation, redundancy was called for. The signal should get to at least one of them. Hopefully.

“And here’s the part that’s the gamble.”, Orex said. “Mr. T’Prenn, you may start the distress signal.”

“Aye, sir.”, T’Prenn hit a button on her panel and the San Diego became a screamer.

“Mr. Ridenour, get us to a safe distance, please.”

“Aye, sir.”, the ensign began to get the ship moving.

“I think they bought it, sir.”, Abercrombie reported, “the contact’s intermittent, but they are definitely headed this way.”, the operations officer gave strained but wry smile and held up crossed fingers.

Orex gave the Australian a sidelong look and crossed two of the fingers of one of his three fingered hands in return.

“Approaching safe distance, sir.”, Ridenour reported.

“Very good, Mr. Abercrombie?”

“Sorry, sir, I lost them. Headed this way just like we wanted last I saw. Trying to reacquire now, but those damned corvairon clouds are making the interference worse.”

“Keep at it, Mr. Abercrombie.”, Orex replied.

“Yes, sir.”

Orex looked at his armrest console and began to punch in some calculations. His eyes narrowed.

“Mr. T’Prenn, prepare to detonate on my mark.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Anything, Mr. Abercrombie?”

“Negative, sir, not yet.”

Well have to rely on my calculations, Orex thought grimly.

He sent Grkovic’s eye and pointed at her own armrest console and shot her his calculations.

Grkovic nodded and looked, frowning in concentration. She then looked up and confirmed, “Looks good to me, Captain.”

“Never hurts to get another pair of eyes on a problem if you’re able XO, thank you.”, Orex then took a deep breath, exhaled and said, “Mr. Ridenour, keep us moving but plot the quickest way out of this nebula.”

“Understood, sir.”, the ensign replied.

Orex then turned his head slightly towards his tactical/security officer.

“Mr. T’Prenn……now!”

A small acknowledgement alarm rang from T’Prenn’s console. In the end, redundancy won out and two of the four torpedoes turned mines exploded in a mildly impressive display of pyrotechnics. Then the clouds went up. The blinding flash of the gargantuan explosions lit up half of the nebula.

Following the signal like a hound, one of the Vaadwaur ships had begun moving through the narrow gap, though much slower than the San Diego had. This ship simply vaporized, gone in an instant.

The other ship had a more cautious commander who didn’t rush in, this spared the second enemy ship from destruction, but the ship suffered extensive damage and wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“Status?”, Orex barked.

“One moment, sir.”, Abercrombie replied tersely as he punched at his controls.

After several seconds the operations officer spoke again.

“I got one, looks to be drifting. I think I detect plasma leakage. The other one….I do believe….they’re gone, sir. Disintegrated….ah, dammit. Lost it again, sir.”

“Good, enough for me, Mr. Abercrombie. Mr. Ridenour, get us back to Ramilles VI, best speed.”

“Aye, Captain.”, Ridenour acknowledged.

“We have to get back quickly, as soon as we get clear of the nebula I’ll need to to send a wideband message via text, Mr. T’Prenn.”

The Vaudwaar would be coming to investigate as he was sure, eventually, the surviving Vaadwaur ship would get a distress signal out. This system would be crawling with hostile ships and soon.

“Yes, sir. What are the contents of the message?”

Orex sighed heavily, “Tell all ships on their way to the Ramilles system that it is no longer safe and to avoid it at all costs. Tell them to hide and listen. Tell them that the San Diego is unable to help them at this time but we will set up a new rendezvous point if we are able. If they don’t hear from us in seventy two hours, they’re on their own and to make their way to Starbase Ninety-Three as best they can.”

The words tasted as ashes in Orex’s mouth.