USS Enterprise
Excelsior Class Light Cruiser (Refit Variant) NCC-1701-B
Main Bridge
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"Come on Ryhr! It's not that hard. Just link the portside lateral sensor array to your QC transmitter!" Yue shouted, frustrated at the Andorian medic.
Ryhr pounded her fist on the console, "This is completely fucking different than what I trained on. I can't find the sync command button! Just give me a second XO!"
Yue got up from the horrible chair, pushed the switch that controlled the sync command, and next walked over to Staff Sargent Kala, manning the weapons console.
Captain Hathaway had recalled his experienced bridge staff back to Tirpitz, forcing Yue to cope with the Marines.
"Are your torp mags loaded yet, Staff Sarge?" Yue asked the Bajoran.
Kala stared blankly at the console and replied, "Uhh… I think- "
Yue cut him off, violently slapped the forward loader, and in turn slapped Kala over the head, "Do I have to do everything myself?! Jesus, I thought you Sharkies knew what you were doing?!"
Yue sat back at her command chair as Scott's voice interrupted over QC, "Any time you feel like getting into this XO, feel free. Not like we need the help or anything!"
On the main viewer, Yue watched painfully as a Romulan torpedo slammed into Tirpitz's secondary hull, right between the nacelle pylons. The Lonely Queen of the North was – mostly – holding her own, but the Romulans were fighting intelligently for once.
Once a vessel had fired, it would cloak, and another would appear in the opposite direction to attack. Tirpitz was rolling and weaving her way through space, easily outmaneuvering the three older D'Deridex Warbirds, but she was still taking hits, and was barely able to return fire.
"Cyron? Today would be nice!" Yue shouted back into the comm panel.
"Are you guys ready yet or what?! Charging crystals isn't that hard!"
Cyron was practically racing across the engineering bay, trying to bring Black Sheep's systems – out of date and barely running as they were – to life after nearly two centuries of sitting idle. The Wrenchies had done a reasonably decent job of charging the aux batteries, and her own crew did everything else, but the pressure was getting to them.
"What fuck is wrong with old shit? Fucking crystal not take charge!" Alexi shouted from the warp core, practically pounding the unit in frustration.
Ginny walked up behind him, reached over, and set the charger to the correct sequence, and then shoved her Lance Corporal over to the EPS readout, "Focus up Lance, get those taps running now."
From her alcove, Cyron quickly threw more switches and cried out, "Are we ready Ginny?!"
Ginny got a nod from Alexi, and she turned back to Cyron and replied, "We're ready."
Cyron next hit the comm's switch, "Engineering to Bridge. EPS taps are online and start-up sequence is showing Z minus 10 seconds. We're as ready to fight as we can be!"
"Okay Ryhr, you see that neutrino distortion at 1-4-5? That's a cloaked Rommie. The Gen 2's were bad about neutrino wakes. You feed that into the firing solution like this," Yue said, pointing to the indicated console switch.
After the Andorian medic entered the needed command, she next walked over to the weapons console, "Sarge, once this screen turns green," pointing at the target locks, "Your fire three, and exactly three, photons and set for contact fuse. Not proximity detonation. Got it?"
"Not proximity detonation. Aye Commander!" Kala shouted back.
Yue resumed her command seat, while the Starfleet crewman at the helm prepared to bring the impulse drives on line. For a moment, she was excited. Yue had commanded Tirpitz on training exercises, or when Scott Hathaway was absent, but in a very real sense Enterprise-B – cursed Black Sheep of the family that she was – was Yue's ship.
And she was about to take her into battle for the first time.
"Helm, full impulse, all forward. Set course; 2-1-0 mark 0-0-3. Weapons, lock targets and standby to fire." She ordered, feeling the ship come to life with her words.
"Target Locked, Captain." Kala reported, exercising proper Fishie protocol to refer to Yue.
She smiled for a brief moment, and then cried out, "Open fire!"
Black Sheep turned 45° to starboard, traveling in an upward direction, and shot out three MKV photon torpedoes from her forward launchers.
The MK-V warheads were not as advanced as the modern MK-VIII loaded in the Lonely Queen of The North's magazines, but they were still intelligent weapons. The seekers quickly altered their courses to track the neutrino distortions being emitted by their target, a D'Deridex class Romulan Warbird.
Seconds later, each torpedo veered sharply to the left, and then slammed into the pointed rear of the Warbird. Under cloak, D'Deridexs could not raise shields, and the torpedoes battered the exposed Romulan hull. Both the starboard and port nacelles were blown clean off her body, and the final torpedo rocked it's way through her ventral hull plating.
The cloak failed instantly, and the Romulan Warbird fell to below sub-light velocity, on fire and burning atmosphere through the coldness of space.
"Nice shooting XO!" Scott cried out triumphantly, turning to his weapons station next, "Let's see about returning the favour now, LC."
Dean winced on the inside, but kept face. He had to keep at least one Romulan ship alive for his ride out, but he also had to appear as though he was doing his job.
Tirpitz rolled over the smaller Enterprise-B and fired a dozen phaser bursts from her dorsal hull in a zero-elevation pattern. The tactic dated back to the days of Jim Kirk, used to bracket a cloaked target with outgoing fire to generate a positive target lock.
Three beams found a target – bouncing harmlessly off the ventral hull plate of another Warbird thanks to a brief command he entered – and Dean realized that if he was going to have a chance, it was now.
After quickly entering a simulated damage report that would keep up his cover, he slammed his hand against the console in equally simulated frustration, "Shit! I'm losing power on our dorsal phaser strips. I think an EPS tap burned out!"
He quickly turned and ran for the turbolift, shouting back, "I'll get this fixed Skipper, back in a minute!"
"What the hell are you doing?! Get back to your post, Lieutenant Commander!" Scott shouted back, but when he turned around, he saw that Dean was already gone.
Great fucking timing, he said under his breath as he rose from his chair, "Kath, take over weapons. SC, new course, 1-1-9 mark 0-8-2, accelerate to full impulse and bring us about, 13° on the zed axis!"
Kath quickly ran past her Captain and assumed control of the weapons console.
After loading her personal LCARS layout into the console, the sensors beeped a grave report, "Target decloaking at 2-2-8. She's locking on Enterprise, Captain!"
Scott tried to issue an intercept course, but he wasn't fast enough.
The D'Deridex unloaded a volley of three plasma torpedoes on old Black Sheep, and Scott could only pray that his Chief Engy remembered to save some power for her shields.
The plasma torpedoes rapidly crossed space and slammed into Black Sheep at the port edge of her saucer section.
Her shields managed to absorb the worst of the impact, but her out of date Heisenberg Compensators couldn't make up the difference. Yue was violently thrown out of the command seat and slammed the back of her neck into a guard rail.
Ryhr's medical training took over instantly, and she ran to the XO's side and quickly started a scan, "Commander, can you hear me? Are you alright?!"
Yue groaned in agony, but she was still conscious and alive.
She tried to raise herself up, but couldn't get the strength necessary to do so, "Fuck, I can't feel anything below my waist. Help me into the seat LT!"
Ryhr gently lifted the light pink skin into the centre seat and strapped her legs into the centre pole with repliplastic zip ties, "You have a hairline fracture down six of your vertebrae Commander. Try not to move too much or you could do some severe damage to your spinal cord."
Yue ignored the pain and cried out, "Kala, damage report!"
The Bajoran Staff Sargent hit his console and reported back quickly, "Shields are down to 30%. I've lost portside phaser emitters and we're losing power to our impulse drives."
"Helm, turn us to starboard and keep us behind Tirpitz. Kala, set your phasers to 80% power, that'll give you an increased azimuth angle to fire on. How are the torpedo magazines doing?" Yue asked in pain.
Before he could answer, the second remaining Warbird decloaked behind Black Sheep and landed a burst of disruptor fire on her elongated secondary hull. Several consoles blew out on the opposite wall, and a Fishie crewman was badly scorched.
Ryhr ran over and immediately applied a cryo-solution to the burns, while Kala cried out, "Aft shields are down! We've got exposed hull on deck—"
The harsh-sounding computer of Black Sheep cut him off, "Intruder Alert, Main Engineering. Security Teams, report to Main Engineering."
"Yeah, thanks, we don't have any of those," Yue replied as she hit her comm switch, "Bridge to Engineering, you're about to have company down there, get ready!"
Ginny forcibly shoved Cyron underneath a console for cover and moved to a crouching position to cover the little Bajoran. Across from her, Alexi and the Wrenchies armoured up and took up positions around the warp core to wait for the inevitable beam-in assault.
Ginny reached above her head and darkened the lighting in the Engineering Bay, cursing herself for the one time she didn't bring her amour.
Five Romulans beamed in moments later, directly between Ginny and Alexi towards the auxiliary control "billiards table." They weren't wearing the haphazard jackets of the Dhabe Karansu, but the ridiculously broad-shouldered silver coats of the Imperial Navy. They also neglected to bring any NODs or armour of their own, and instead made themselves perfect targets as they raised wrist-mounted flashlights.
They wouldn't live long enough to regret their mistake.
Alexi and Ginny raised their rifles simultaneously and shredded the group of five with tritanium wedges. The muzzle flash of the rifles lit up the rest of the dark Engineering bay, and Ginny felt that sickening mixture of pleasure and warmness spread through her body as she watched green Romulan blood stain the billiards table behind what was left of the group.
Another Romulan squad beamed in ten feet behind the first group, and they were sharp enough to fire their disruptors towards Alexi's position. His armour deflected the green beams, which shot up into the roof and almost hit the anti-matter injectors.
Cyron shouted to Ginny, "Don't let them hit the warp core! It's not shielded like Tirpitz! If they punch the coolant tanks or the Dilithium chamber—"
"I got it!" Ginny shouted back.
She pivoted out of her cover spot and towards the aft end of the bay, and fired the remainder of her magazine towards the new group of Romulans. Successfully supressing her targets, she pivoted back as Alexi rose and advanced in for the kill.
Alexi walked and fired, while Ginny crouched to reload her rifle. Behind her, another transporter beam formed, and a Romulan aimed his disruptor directly at her head.
Cyron jumped to her feet and cried, "Ginny, look out!"
She tried to push down the taller – and heavier – Romulan soldier, but he instead turned and prepared to fire his disruptor into her stomach.
Ginny quickly rose and drew her combat knife, using her left hand to force the Romulan into the bulkhead and her right to bury her knife into his throat. He died in seconds, but not fast enough to prevent his trigger finger from twitching and firing a beam towards Cyron.
Cyron's new TAV managed to absorb the worst of the beam, but the plasma still scorched across her stomach, and she collapsed to the deck in pain while grasping her abdomen with both hands.
To Ginny's left, another group of Romulans beamed in on the upper deck above the alcove. The Wrenchies turned and quickly fired bursts to supress the enemy, but it was clear to Ginny that their position was compromised.
She tossed the dead Romulan's corpse aside and grabbed Cyron's rescue strap. Her right hand drew her assault phaser and fired a series of beams towards the upper group while she cried out, "Fall back! Regroup in the corridor!"
The Sharkies circled around their Major and formed a diamond covering formation, as Ginny tried her best to gently drag Cyron and herself out of the Engineering Bay. They traded shots with the Romulans all the way out to the exit, and took cover in an empty side room which might once have been a break room for Black Sheep's Engineers.
Alexi quickly sealed the door, and the remaining Wrenchies took up covering positions as Ginny tended to Cyron.
"This really hurts." She said weakly as Ginny tried to snap her awake.
"Hey, you're gonna be alright Cyron! I've seen a lot of guys not as tough as you survive worse hits than this!" Ginny shouted, shaking Cyron's shoulders.
She looked at Alexi next, "Lance, get her back to the bridge and get Ryhr to look after her wounds. I'll circle to the end of this corridor and try to find a Jefferies tube to get around the back of the warp core. Send two of your shooters down the portside tube and get in through the aux relays. The rest of you, hold this section no matter what. If we lose engineering, we lose the ship!"
"Aye Major!" the Wrenchies replied.
Alexi lifted Cyron up in a princess carry to turn for the door, but she stopped the Russian Lance by grabbing Ginny's free left hand.
"Hey! If I don't die, you gotta make me one promise, kay? And not just because I wanna prove Anjar wrong." She said, weakly.
"What's that Cyron?"
"You're going on a date with me. Ima get Yue to pick me out the prettiest dress she has, you're gonna wear that blue Qipao she got you, and we're going on a date when this is all over. And you have to promise to at least pretend to like it. Promise?"
Ginny sighed, but offered her a smile, "Alright, you gotta deal. And maybe I won't even have to pretend. But you stay alive!"
As Alexi carried her out to the turbolift while Ginny began advancing down the corridor with her weapon up, she allowed herself a smile.
God, she's fucking adorable.
But before she could think about the upcoming date any further, a hot, sharp, impact struck the back of her neck, and Ginny collapsed on the deck while struggling to remain conscious.
The Marine trained part of her mind reminded her – in a spine-chilling way – that the noise was that of a Starfleet Phaser beam.
Dean slowly walked towards his fallen partner's body, taking care to make sure no one saw him. Satisfied, he leaned down and rolled her body onto her back, before reaching into her left pants pocket and retrieving Star's Caller.
"Hey, for what's worth, this was nothing personal. Just business," he said, delicately placing his hand over her TAV covered breast, "And I was being honest when I said you're the best piece of ass I ever had, Ginny. Look me up when this is all done, I wouldn't mind doing it again."
She couldn't move at all, but she made sure her eyes were white with fury, and that he knew what she was thinking in her head.
You fucking son of a bitch! You run, and don't ever stop running, because if I ever see you again, I'll rip you apart with my bare. Fucking. Hands.
"Yep, I can just imagine what's going through your mind," Dean said as he reached for his QC transmitter, "Black calling Green. Asset India Serria is secure. Get me the fuck out of here."
The transmission was sent, and Dean nervously counted down the seconds until his extraction could take place.
While waiting, he made another choice, "Guess I can't really let you live. Not after hearing that. Sorry Doll. This'll only take a second. And again, it's not personal. Just business."
He rested his MK8 hand phaser against her temple, and slowly lowered his thumb to the firing button.
But he was stopped by another Marine, who shouted, "What the fuck are you doing?! Get away from the Major you fucking bastard!" before firing a burst of tritanium towards the LC, who just barely managed to get away in time.
Dean rose and looked in horror as the armoured Marine charged at him from the other end of the corridor. He knew his hand phaser would do little good against a Molotok, and instead turned and ran, knowing that he had just compromised himself and would now be a target throughout the Federation.
As the green transporter beamed Dean into relative safety, he cursed himself that Black Sheep's bad luck had finally rubbed off on him.
"Enterprise is heavily damaged, Captain. Her impulse drives are failing, and she has barely any coverage on her shield emitters." Kath reported from the weapons console.
Scott winced. He knew what his sealed orders package said, and knew that what Demora Sulu had discovered was important, but protecting the old ship would mean making himself an easy target.
But he made the choice anyway, "SC, go inverted and position us one hundred meters above her hull. Kath, ready CIWS and fire a 360° burst for twelve seconds, then fire every last photon from the fore and aft magazines on a free seeking course. Then extend our shields around Black Sheep, and get ready for a beating."
"I am a Klingon sir. There is nothing a Romulan can do to hurt me!" Kath shouted back as she entered commands.
Scott felt the ship gently rolling over, as the dark space around her lit up red with the anti-proton bursts of her CIWS system. Once positioned over Black Sheep, the Lonely Queen of The North shot out her entire photon magazine as dozens of torpedoes criss-crossed through space, seeking out any targets their warheads could find.
Twelve torpedoes found the nose of a Warbird to port, and the explosions once again turned the darkness of space bright as Scott claimed his second kill of the battle.
But the final Warbird decloaked to starboard and began to relentlessly pound on the two Federation starships with disruptor fire.
With her shields extended to protect her older cousin, Tirpitz was in an extremely vulnerable position, and Scott felt his ship crying in pain as the bridge violently rocked.
He turned to ask Kath for a status update, but she beat him to the punch, "New sensor contacts. Seven Alehal class Romulan battlecruisers, decloaking and closing in from aft!"
Scott felt his blood run cold.
The modern Alehal was more than a match for the Sovereign class Tirpitz, and his wounded ship would do little good to protect Black Sheep in her vulnerable position.
"Computer," he said, solemnly, "Prepare auto-destruct sequence on flash detonation. Authorization Hathaway 2-4 –"
Kath cut him off again, "Sir! The Alehals are firing on the D'Deridex, and they're transmitting Republic IFF codes!"
The warmth returned to Scott's blood as the RRW Battlecruisers savagely bracketed the IRW Warbird. Withering under the green disruptor fire, the D'Deridex had no choice but to turn and jump into warp.
The main battle was over, but Scott couldn't relax. There was still the matter of Red Ball Express, and each of the Alehals found a perfect range around the two vulnerable Starships.
"We are being hailed," Kath said flatly, as she transferred what power she could to the weapons systems.
"On screen," Scott replied, sitting down, and trying to look confident.
The image of space left the viewer, and an older – but far more competent looking – Romulan Admiral appeared before his eyes.
"Federation Starship, this is the RRW Alehal. I am Admiral Bragg, Khre-Enriov of the Dhabe Karansu. My intentions are not hostile. Please power down your defensive systems." Bragg said.
Scott had heard of Bragg. The man's victories against the Dominion were famous, even in the Federation.
But Scott still intended to not let any Romulan see him bleed.
"RRW Alehal, this is the USS Tirpitz. I am Riov Scott Hathaway. And with all due respect, two days ago an RRW destroyed a Federation Exploration Project, to say nothing of the four hundred and twenty Federation personnel that your men murdered, Rekhai. So forgive me if I don't immediately power down my weaponry."
Scott was bluffing his way through the threat, but one look from Kath, and another at his own readout, confirmed that it was only a bluff.
With his primary shield grid smashed through, his secondary holding at barely 6% power, his entire photon magazine shot out, his quantum magazine holding all of four warheads left, his phaser grid barely holding itself together – to say nothing of the sheer exhaustion both he and his crew were feeling – Scott might as well have tossed spitballs at the fresh and well armed Alehal class battlecruisers.
Bragg stared at him for a long moment, with Scott struggling to keep his poker face straight.
But Bragg blinked first, and sighed, "Captain Hathaway, I give you my word as a illaisnen, we had no hand in the attack you speak of. And I realise that you have no reason to trust my word, so I am now ordering my squadron to move out of weapons range of your vessel. If you allow it, we are preparing shuttles with medical supplies, doctors, and technical specialists to assist you, and I will beam aboard your ship, alone and unarmed, and explain the details in person."
Scott sighed in turn. Clearly his bluff had been called, not that he had a strong hand to begin with.
"Agreed. Our shuttle bays are open. I'll see you aboard Tirpitz shortly."
He rose from the centre seat and was about to turn for the turbolift, when the comm's system stopped him, "Sickbay to bridge, urgent!"
"Go for Hathaway," Scott replied, hitting his comm badge with less force than he expected.
"I need you in sickbay immediately, Captain. We have an incident down here that will require your attention." Selar's voice said, flatly.
"Doc, I've got the CNC of the Republican Navy beaming aboard shortly, how important is this?"
The sound of an XR-118 charging handle snapping into battery answered before Selar could add, "Important enough that I may have a firefight in my surgical bay. Get down here. Now."
"I won't tell you again! Back the fuck off!" Kala shouted, aiming his rifle square at the Doctor's chest.
It wasn't the first time Selar had a weapon pointed at her, not even by a Bajoran.
Besides, fear was an illogical emotion.
"Staff Sargent Anjar, Major Tatum requires medical attention, and Leftenant Th'ichysris does not have the training or necessary experience to perform the required treatments. I will ask you only once more to step aside and allow me to work, or I will have security remove you from my sickbay." Selar replied.
Behind the doctor, fifteen S.O's armed with phaser compression rifles spread out, but were careful to keep their rifles at low ready.
Kala, Alexi and three of his Wrenchies covered the surgical bed, while Ryhr worked madly to stabilize the life-threatening phaser wound that Ginny had taken to her neck.
As the senior combat Marine on the deck, Kala had ordered that only Ryhr touch the Major, after a Private brought her to the bridge of Black Sheep and reported witnessing LC Dean Bowers shoot her in the back of the neck.
An S.O stepped beside the doctor, "Sarge, the doc isn't going to hurt the Major. You're outnumbered here, so put your weapons down and—"
Kala dropped to a knee, adjusted his aim, and shouted back, "I'm dead fucking serious. I'll ventilate the next Starfleet uniform that takes another step. LT, permission to engage?"
"You heard him," Ryhr replied sharply as she focused all her training on keeping her Major alive.
Selar was about to speak again, when Captain Hathaway – loudly – took over, "What the hell is going on here?! You lower that fucking weapon right now, Staff Sargent!"
Kala shifted his aim at the Captain, "Not until you get the tac officer down here and clap him in irons, Captain Sir! I've got an eyewitness that saw him try to murder the Major in the middle of all this shit!"
"Is that true Leftenant?" Scott asked sharply, ignoring the rifle pointed at his chest.
Ryhr only nodded, too focused on her work.
"Hathaway to Bowers, report to sickbay on the double," Scott ordered, but the response never came.
He hit his comm badge once more, "Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Dean Bowers."
The Computer responded much more quickly, "Lieutenant Commander Dean Bowers is not aboard Tirpitz."
"He isn't aboard Enterprise either, Captain. I've already tried to raise him." Selar added.
Scott turned to the security officers, "I want a phase one search on both ships. I don't care if it takes every last man we have, but I want Bowers found and confined to quarters until I say otherwise. Move!"
The Security Officers immediately left sickbay, and Scott dared to walk closer to Kala, still aiming his rifle, "We'll find him and get to the bottom of this. Now, lower your fucking weapon and let the doc do her job. That is an order, Staff Sargent."
Kala was about to protest again when Ryhr shouted, "Get over here Vulcan, she's going negative on EKG!"
Selar ran past Kala and slapped cortical stimulators on Ginny's forehead. Her body shook violently at the electric shocks, while both the Andorian and Vulcan women raced to stabilize her.
Scott looked at Selar and asked, "Is she going to make it?"
"We're doing all we can Captain, but the prognosis is poor," Selar replied, not looking up.
Ginny was about to die. And Scott knew that her death would only be the first of many more to come, unless Selar could pull off a miracle.
