Tempest
Hammerhead Class Frigate (NC-114)
Bridge, Deck A
The Tempest leapt.
Leapt away from the terrible NX-class flagship snarling around to grab them and rip them to bloody pieces.
Because they'd been dumb enough to scratch the paint job.
The cannon fire announcing the Enterprise's intentions to do that now striking, just as the Tempest turned and her impulse thrusters kicked in. Lancing all across the length of her, as she'd just presented them the most open profile to incoming attack that a starship could.
At point blank range.
The Tempest shook. And she shook hard.
"Impact." Benning announced, teeth gritted. "Shields 52%, Hull 88%. Targeting degraded."
"Sensor systems damaged." Eckerd reported. "I'm on it."
And those two brilliant blue torpedoes coming right behind to take advantage of their weakened shield status…
…missed.
They missed pretty impressively, in fact.
"Incoming torpedoes!" Eckerd reported, immediately.
So, of course, here come two more. And though it was otherwise absolutely impossible for the Enterprise to have adjusted fire that quickly…Reed was on Tactical over there…
And he had a bit of a reputation.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Song ordered. "Continue departure, disengage!"
The bridge main door cycled open. And Song turned sharply, hand slapping to the phase pistol on her belt.
Because, yes, she really did expect to find Archer had somehow transported a security team aboard in the middle of all this madness…
It was Trip. And the Vulcan.
And that was a relief in more ways than one.
"Ship status!" Trip snapped, dodging through the door before they were even fully open.
Song didn't waste time sighing in relief.
"We're on departure, full impulse." She said. "Enterprise coming around to pursue."
"Shields 52%, Hull 88%." Benning reported, not taking his eyes off his console. "Incoming torpedoes…ranged off. No impact."
"Our sensors took a hit, sir. Down 20%." Eckerd said.
"Sato's still hacking us." Crewshaw announced. "She's got our warp engines offline and she's trying to hack Alice."
Trip ignored that for now.
Even if that was pretty startling.
"Target report!"
"They're on manual secondary thrusters." Song said. "Alice and T'Lea have still got most of their ops and engineering under control. Damage to their warp nacelles, no warp capability. Echo's up and they can't lock on."
"Target hull at 60%, rear cannons disabled." Benning said.
The Enterprise fired again. And Trip saw, on the tactical display hovering in the middle of the bridge…
Somehow they shimmied in the process of pursuing on nothing but secondary thrusters…operated manually, by whoever they had down there at the thrusters doing that…
Shimmying in order to bring six cannons into play.
Damn, Trip thought. Should have kidnapped Malcolm instead…
Or maybe Travis…
The Tempest shook. Again.
"Multiple hits port side. Shields 32%, no penetration."
"We're full departure, full impulse." Steel reported. "Disengaging."
Oh, yes. Because it was definitely time to get the hell out of Dodge…
But that meant shutting Hoshi out so they could go to warp.
Trip reached for his comm…
"Captain!" Song exclaimed. "If you cut the link Alice'll go offline and we lose our hack on the Enterprise."
Well, crap then!
"How the hell is Hoshi hacking our ops, anyway?" Trip demanded.
"I'm afraid we gave her the idea." Song frowned. "And you gave Alice conflicting orders. She's maintaining that secure link and ops control, like you said."
Trip cursed. Quietly, under his breath.
Hoshi was hacking his ship through Sisco?!
Are you kidding me?!
"Continue evasive." He said, begrudgingly. "Get us the clear of them, Steel."
Trip tapped the comm.
"Alice." He said. "Priority override."
"Hello, Trip. We are currently engaged in combat with the Enterprise. Would you like a detailed systems report?"
"No, Alice. Maintain systems control of both Tempest and Enterprise and kill the secure comm link between myself and the bridge."
"Secure link closed. Maintaining control of Tempest operations as well as partial control of Enterprise operations and engineering. I'm sorry, Trip, but I have exceeded optimal processing capacity. My current tasking will result in degraded performance at an estimated cumulative rate of fifteen to twenty percent…"
Trip stopped listening. Alice had overextended herself…again…so she'd have to go offline soon.
Real soon.
Which meant…there wasn't much they could do here. Enterprise would have full control in just a few seconds, since they'd killed the link. Because Hoshi wouldn't be busy trying to hack the Tempest anymore, she'd be correcting everything Alice and T'Lea had done to their systems instead.
Which…yeah, that'd take her about five seconds. And maybe a couple more to undo what T'Pol had done to their sensors.
Then Enterprise would have full maneuverability and full sensor capability. And Echo system aside, they'd start beating the Tempest to bits. Maybe they couldn't lock on to her but that wouldn't stop Reed from hitting with every other shot anyway…
"Situation?" Trip said.
"Extended range. 106,000 kilometers, increasing." Steel reported.
Benning was still waiting, though. Waiting for the order to return fire.
"Orders, sir?"
Trip grimaced. "Lock on. But hold fire, Benning."
It was less than three seconds.
"Enterprise increasing speed! They're up and running." Eckerd reported. "Closing fast, now 80,000 kay."
Damn, that was quick…
"Sir, they're coming up pretty fast." Steel said. "Closing 45,000 kay."
Wait, what? How they were they moving that fast…?
Unless they were bleeding plasma right into the…
Oh.
Oh, hell.
"Hard to port, evasive!" Trip snapped.
The Tempest banked hard.
Just as the Enterprise flew by behind them, out less than 10,000 kilometers, tossing everything she had their way as she passed…
Three crimson beams lancing out. All three striking true.
Then something screamed somewhere…
…and the engineering console exploded, sending Downing spinning out of his chair like he'd suddenly decided to take up ballet.
"Incoming torpedoes!"
"Song, check Downing!" Trip yelled, sparing nothing beyond that but a vague gesture in that direction.
Eyes focused on the tactical display while Song rushed to tend to the engineer.
Because, damn that was intimidating. They only just got control back and danged if Archer hadn't pulled a 'fast attack' on him, while the Tempest was at full impulse…
The Tempest shook.
Those torpedoes hadn't ranged off at all this time. At least one had struck.
"Shields 5%!" Benning exclaimed. "Hull 30%. Breach, deck C rear."
Oh, God. The cargo bay.
Please, God. Don't let us lose the cargo bay…
"Life support's offline!" Eckerd reported.
"Alice, priority override!" Trip ordered, slapping at his comm. "Secure our engineering systems, maintain life support."
"Securing systems. Attempting life support corrections. I'm sorry, Trip, but I am currently exceeding processing capacity and my performance is very unsatisfactory."
"Enterprise out 20,000 kay, down 45 degrees." Eckerd reported. "Matching speed with…"
"They're locked on, Captain!" Benning yelled.
Wha…?!
How the hell were they locked on…?!
"Enterprise matching speed, down 45 degrees, off port rear."
Trip hesitated.
He hated it and it was the absolute worse thing to do at the moment.
You never, ever hesitate in battle. You did something, anything, always. No matter what.
But…
They were hurt. Badly.
No structural damage worth mentioning, other than the breach in the cargo bay, but their current defenses barely qualified as such.
The Enterprise had them cold.
It was as simple as that.
"Echo system offline." He ordered. "Full stop. Stand down combat."
Everyone else hesitated now.
"…sir?" Benning asked.
"You heard me." He said, firmly. "Stand down. Full stop. Kill the Echo."
Trip tapped his comm.
"Alice, priority override. Reconfigure coils for warp, top priority."
"Reconfiguring coils for warp, Trip. I'm sorry, my current performance is extremely unsatisfactory. I predict a general systems crash at any moment. Would you like me to relinquish control of engineering systems to Lieutenant Shran prior to general systems crash?"
Trip closed his eyes.
And sighed.
"No, Alice." He said, reluctantly. "Go ahead and relinquish control of all systems, then offline."
"Understood, Trip. Have fun stormin' the castle."
Trip tapped his comm again. "Bridge to Shran."
Three seconds passed.
He almost reached to tap it again…
"What?! I'm busy!"
"I need warp and I need it right now."
"Ten minutes!"
"I need it now, Shran."
"Five minutes!"
Trip nodded at that. That'd have to do.
He turned back to the tactical display. Watching the Enterprise match speed…coming around now, circling…
And he prayed silently.
Prayed for whatever God decided should happen here. Because…frankly, he was stumped. No idea. So he'd have to just trust and be willing to take whatever happened in stride.
His will be done, after all…
"They're locked on to engineering." Benning reported.
And…there it was. The thing he hadn't realized he'd been waiting for.
They were prepared to disable warp drive. One shot and he wouldn't be going anywhere. But Reed was focused on that lock now, because that had just become crucial.
He turned to T'Pol as he worked furiously on the plan that was going to get them out of this. He had no idea what it was but it'd come to him any second now. Because there was something about her…
His brain just seemed to work more efficiently around her. Even if that still didn't leave him any hope of keeping up with her.
He hadn't really been thinking when he told her to come along, actually. There wasn't anything for her to do on the bridge. No way for her to help here. In fact, she still technically wasn't cleared to be up here.
He'd just…wanted her with him for this. Taking on the Enterprise…that was kinda like slapping your mom around. It was the absolute last thing he'd ever thought he'd do.
So…she was moral support or something. Except maybe he had a job for her now.
He smirked then. Because there it was.
"You up for some sneakin' and lyin', Commander?" He asked.
He got the eyebrow for that.
Enterprise
NX-Class (NX-01)
Archer dashed to the bridge emergency environmental panel, snatching the cover open and yanking the red handle there.
The air whooshed loudly. And powerfully.
Yanking the smoke out of the air, hard and fast enough that his hair moved and his jumpsuit actually fluttered.
But the bridge crew was only a second or two from choking to death around here. Something was on fire behind the engineering panel and the Ensign there was busy trying to find it and put it out.
"Malcolm," Archer croaked.
"Thrusters are critical, Captain!" Reed reporting, struggling to speak clearly. "Approaching…*cough*…close range…firing!"
On the main viewing screen, only just becoming visible through the smoke, three consecutive phase cannon beams lanced out.
All three struck, flaring against the Tempest's shields as she banked hard trying to avoid exactly that. Not splashing through at all but at least softening up those shields…
For the two blue flares leaping out as torpedoes sped on their way…
…one of them even impacting.
"Impact!" Reed reported. "Hull breach."
Archer winced.
Damn it. He wasn't trying to kill the ship…
"Their cargo bay, Captain." Malcolm added, intuiting his concerns.
"Their life support's fluctuating." Kerry reported, from Science. "Their shields…almost gone. Hull 30%."
So that'd divide their attention a little. Archer was almost relieved.
Almost.
He had to stop Trip and that meant disabling that ship.
But the Tempest was a frigate. A gunboat. She was small and had maybe six pulsed phase cannons, with as many torpedo bays…but the Enterprise had only just managed to cut through their defenses. And they had a lot of guns for a ship nearly half their size.
The Tempest had yet to even put any real effort into hitting them back. Archer did not want to go toe to toe with that ship. Even now.
"Passing outward, 15,000 kilometers." Travis said. "Thrusters critical, captain…"
"Cut the plasma bleed, Travis." Archer ordered. "Match speed with them and come around low. Malcolm?"
"I'm locked on." Reed said, tightly.
Archer spared him a surprised glance.
And Malcolm smirked. "That fancy Echo system doesn't handle holes in the hull very well, apparently."
Now Archer was relieved.
"Target their nacelles." He said. "We can't let them go to warp, Malcolm. Hoshi, did you lose everything?"
Hoshi nodded. "Yes, sir. They did too, though. And I've got operations and engineering back now."
"I've got Helm control, Captain." Travis confirmed.
"Full tactical." Malcolm reported. "As long as we can keep them in front of us…"
Archer considered the situation.
They'd taken a risk venting plasma to try to hit Tempest hard like that. It had been worth the risk, since that would have…should have…knocked their shield system out completely. And that would have put the Enterprise on top right off the bat.
But that risk hadn't paid off. And now they couldn't go to warp, so they couldn't let Trip do so either.
Hull integrity was at about 60%. And they still had weapons, with the exception of two cannons to the rear. So they could take the Tempest in a stand up fight now, considering they'd finally knocked out their shields. Mostly knocked them out.
But the Tempest had seemed to be pulling their punches so far.
And that was…intimidating.
"Captain…they've come full stop." Malcolm said, surprised. "Shields offline and they've shut down that Echo system…"
"Hull depolarizing." Kelly reported.
"Weapons offline too, Captain." Malcolm continued, still surprised. "I think they're standing down…"
Archer's eyes narrowed, eyeing the Tempest on the main screen.
Just sitting there now. Defenseless.
"Half impulse. Keep us moving, Travis." Archer ordered. "Stay at close range."
He turned to Malcolm. "Forget the nacelles. Lock on to their warp engine."
A harder lock and a harder shot, but they were just sitting there now.
"Locked on, Captain." Reed said, grimly.
"Hoshi, hail them…"
"They're hailing us, sir." She said.
Archer nodded.
Well, okay then.
"Onscreen."
The main viewing screen lit up.
And…that wasn't quite what he was expecting…
He'd expected to find Trip facing him, ready to argue some more.
To surrender, even better. Though not without at least some arguing.
The Vulcan Intelligence Officer, with a phase pistol pointed at Trip…while he had his hands behind his head looking both resigned and generally unhappy with the situation…
A little unexpected.
"Enterprise." T'Pol said, calmly. "I have Captain Tucker in custody and two security teams are currently in pursuit of Commander Song…"
"What…" Archer said, suddenly confused. "What's going on over there?"
T'Pol arched an eyebrow at him. So he knew he apparently wasn't reacting to things with the expediency Vulcans tended to assume.
"I have taken control of the Tempest." She explained. "Several senior officers have aided me in that endeavor, although it is expected that the others will adjust themselves to the situation quickly. I recommend…"
"Commander," Archer interrupted, scowling. "You shot and stunned my Tactical Officer. Do you expect me to believe you're on our side now?"
T'Pol gave him the eyebrow again.
"I am not, of course. I am on the side of Vulcan High Command. The attack on the Enterprise and the resulting loss of her warp capability does not serve those interests."
Archer glared at the screen. And he considered that.
But he wasn't about to fall for it.
"Then you won't mind if we come alongside and transport a security detail over there." He said.
"Of course, Captain." She said. "I will retain control of the bridge until you are able to do so."
Archer's eyes narrowed all the more.
"So why did you cooperate with Tucker before?" He demanded. "Did that serve the interests of High Command?"
"It did, in fact. Captain Tucker has so far indicated he intends to scout and relay intelligence on the approaching Romulan fleet. That of course serves Vulcan interests. Especially if the force approaching Centauri is the main fleet, as intelligence suggests."
Archer chew on that for a second or two.
"Travis." He said, over his shoulder. "Bring us in. Malcolm, assemble a boarding party."
And to Archer's surprise…
"You Vulcan bitch." Trip suddenly seethed.
"I recommend you remain silent, Captain." T'Pol warned, looking down the sights of the phase pistol at him.
Trip was clearly furious. And that was the only time so far that Archer has seen that famous Tucker temper flare up.
"When I'm done with you," Trip snarled. "The rest of the pointy-eared, green-blooded freaks won't even recognize…"
T'Pol shot him.
And he collapsed to the deck of the bridge.
Archer startled. And there were a few exclamations of surprise on the bridge around him.
"Commander…!" He objected.
"Excuse me, Captain." T'Pol said, calmly replacing the pistol at her hip. "Tucker was at risk of becoming…combative."
"You just shot a Starfleet officer!" Archer snapped.
"I merely stunned him." T'Pol denied. "He will recover eventually. In the ship's brig, of course. You may retrieve him there once you've boarded, if you wish. Following that, however, I will retain command of the Tempest and proceed with our mission."
"Retain…? Commander, you're not taking that ship."
"Unfortunately, I must. The situation demands it."
"You have no jurisdiction…in fact, I'm not wasting my breath. I'm not going to let a Vulcan take command of a Starfleet vessel."
"Under Article fourteen, subsection twenty-one, part 2B, of the Starfleet command authority provision, I am able to avail myself of all authority…"
"Absolutely not, Commander. I won't even discuss it."
"You are not required to discuss it, Captain. You are required to check the provision cited and acknowledge my authority in this matter."
"Forget it." Archer barked. "Travis, bring us in…"
"Very well, Captain." T'Pol said. And spoke over her shoulder. "Polarize hull, charge weapons. Prepare to engage."
Archer snapped back around again.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Commander?!"
T'Pol cocked an eyebrow, indicating that was perhaps not a very intelligent question.
"I am forcing you into the position of either engaging in combat, risking the ship, or checking the cited provision in order to acknowledge my authority."
Archer fumed.
And whirled on the Communications station. Where Hoshi sat, looking a little wide-eyed.
"Hoshi." He snapped. "Pull up that provision."
Hoshi tapped hesitantly at her console.
For nearly half a minute.
"There's…article fourteen, subsection twenty-one?" She asked, confused.
"That is correct." T'Pol acknowledged.
"I don't see…there is no subsection twenty-one." Hoshi frowned. "And article fourteen deals with…interspecies medical exchange…"
"Interesting." T'Pol said. With the eyebrow again. "Perhaps I should familiarize myself with the provision. I have clearly misidentified the particular subsection…"
Kelly suddenly interrupted the proceedings.
"Sir…they…their warp engine just spiked!" She exclaimed. "I think…"
"Shran to the bridge!" The comm announced.
Over there, on the other side of the view screen.
"Ready on your mark!"
"Very well." T'Pol responded. "Activate Echo system."
Archer's attention jerked, from Communications to Science. Then back to the view screen again.
"We've lost the lock!" Reed said. "Reacquiring…"
"Disengage when ready, Helm." T'Pol said, over her shoulder again. "Max warp."
She turned back to the view screen then.
With the eyebrow.
"My apologies, Captain Archer." She said.
And reached to kill the link.
The screen went dark.
So...
Archer stared it for a moment. He knew what had just happened, of course...he just couldn't quite believe it.
"Malcolm…!" Archer demanded furiously, turning on him for answers.
"Sir, they…" Malcolm stuttered. "They just went to warp."