Star Trek: Babylon
Andrew J. Talon
"I fail to recall why we're shooting our way out of the starbase," Marla Gilmore noted to her captain, ducked behind a wall, as the sounds of phaser blasts filled the air. Adam Lee smiled.
"Because they shot first." He shot off several blasts around the corner, before pulling back, narrowly avoiding another barrage. "It's only polite."
"Why can we never just walk out of a starbase? Just once?" The engineer complained. Lee sighed, firing some more shots.
"We'll discuss that later… provided there is a later. Is Firefly in range yet?" Lee asked. Marla turned and dove back into the access panel, quickly running a few tools over the ODN lines and isolinear chips. She grumbled.
"Transport inhibiters just went up… Give me a few seconds."
"Oh no, take your time," Lee muttered, setting his phaser to wide-beam and firing, filling the corridor with deadly nadion bursts. Yellow-collared Starfleet personnel took cover, before coming back out and letting loose return fire. Lee cursed, switching out his spent phaser power pack for a fresh one.
"Marla?"
"Hang on…."
"Marla, you know I hate to rush you, but," Lee pressed, grimacing at the increasing number of security guards firing on their meager cover.
"Got it!" At that moment, the two vanished in transporter beams, the phaser-filled corridor being replaced by a cramped transporter room. Mitena Haro was standing next to the modest transporter control panel, and received a glare from Lee.
"Haro-"
"Captain, sir, I did it as fast as possible!" She protested. "But Twee, well…"
"Well what, Haro?"
"He still had some tuna in the transporter memory," the Bolian nervously answered. Lee groaned, before running out through the hatch and down the central corridor of the small vessel. He was vaguely aware of Haro following him and Marla heading down to the Firefly's engine room.
The "bridge" was little more than an enlarged cockpit, with large forward windows instead of a view screen like on bigger ships. Twee cocked his head slightly from the co-pilot station, head partially out of the forcefield "aquarium" he used to do his duties on the dry parts of the ship.
"Captain, I'm sorry! I completely forgot about the fish and-"
"Save it for when we're not about to die," Lee interrupted, sliding into the pilot's seat and checking the Firefly's status.
"They are closing the main doors." Warned his weapons officer, Wyn, standing at the tactical console on the port bulkhead. Lee nodded fractionally at the cyborg, taking the Firefly to full impulse.
"If I may note, captain: The starbase runabouts are scrambling," Wyn added in her monotone. Lee was starting to wonder why she couldn't have gotten a more interesting sounding voice for her replacement voicebox after the accident that made her into a cyborg, but put this aside as the gigantic doors of the starbase began to close before the tiny Firefly.
"Shields up. Charge weapons. Marla, prepare the smokescreen," Lee ordered.
"Roger, sir," Marla spoke over the intercom, while Wyn switched the weapons console to full power.
"Phasers are ready. Photon torpedoes are as well."
"Good. Do we have warp power?"
"Sir, if I may remind you-" Wyn began, before Lee raised a hand to silence her.
"Yes, yes, warp drive bad in spacedock. I got that."
"Didn't you say 'Warp drive plus spacedock equals boom?'" Queried Haro.
"I thought it was more along the lines of 'Spacedocks are no place for warp drive'," suggested Twee.
"Wasn't it 'Activating the warp drive in space dock is like striking a match on an oil slick?'" Gilmore contributed.
"Computer, pause program," Kes spoke loudly and clearly. She sighed and shook her head, as Haro turned and blinked at her. The former Ocampan had had enough.
"What? What is it this time?" Haro asked anxiously.
"Why do you persist in making the characters outlets for your lame jokes?" Kes asked with a long-suffering tone. Haro shrugged.
"I dunno… I thought it would be funny. I mean, they are supposed to be a rough-and-tumble crew. No Starfleet morals, no stiff regulations, laid back, maybe a little jaded and goofy-"
"Yes, but continuing a joke this long makes it less humorous, not more," Kes pressed. The blonde doctor rubbed her forehead. "I liked everything else… It's very…"
"Swashbuckling?" Asked Haro hopefully. Kes raised an eyebrow.
"It certainly is that." The Bolian looked down, following Kes's gaze. She smiled sheepishly at the breeches, high-leather boots, black, tight jacket, knives and phasers hanging from her utility belt. Didn't she get that in the mail…?
"Er, well… yes. This is what real freighter and smuggler captains wear. It's cool, in a very retro sort of way."
"Cool?" Kes asked, puzzled.
"It's a euphemism for 'wonderful', or 'in style'," Haro explained. Kes nodded, smiling.
"Tom Paris used to say that a lot… It's from the 20th century?"
"Yes. Slang. It's making a comeback," Haro grinned. She shook her head slightly, before turning her eyes to the Captain Lee hologram.
"I'm not sure about how much facial hair to give him. Should I give him more, or less?"
"He looks rugged enough," Kes noted with a small smile. "He'd appreciate looking so…"
"Handsome?" Asked Haro teasingly. Kes glared at her.
"However, Wyn's breasts are not that big," the blonde pointed to the android. Haro shrugged.
"Creative license. She'd probably appreciate it."
"She wouldn't appreciate how cold you made her. She gets enough Vulcan jokes as it is," Kes sighed, crossing her arms at the younger woman. Haro fidgeted.
"Well… Okay… I guess I wanted her to be a bit of a parody."
"Of…?" Prompted Kes.
"… Seven of nine," muttered Haro. Kes groaned, feeling a headache coming on.
"Please… No more about her. I've had enough trouble being near her as of late…"
"Tell me about it."
Huh… Is that a speck on the viewscreen?
"… in addition to your inefficient management of the EPS junction, which has now rendered all my upgrades useless thanks to your incompetence…"
This chair is lumpy. Wonder if it's the same one we've had since Sojourner was launched. Oh, look at that, the carpet patterns… They look like a sehlat…
"… Your captain's list is also inefficient. He continues to follow obsolete protocols for no other reason that self gratification. His entire command has fallen prey to his own inadequacies and deficiencies…"
What's that buzzing sound? It's annoying…
"-aptain? Captain? Are you allright?" Lee blinked, and shook his head to clear the cobwebs.
"Hm? Yes? What is it, ensign?" The young Bajoran woman looked pleadingly at her from the ops console, while Seven of Nine raised an inquiring eyebrow. Cortical node implant thingy, whatever.
"Er, sir, Miss Seven… Nine… Miss Seven of Nine was, er-"
"I was asking you a question, Captain," Seven emphasized by speaking in a somewhat more monotone monotone. Lee waved a hand.
"Yes?"
"Why is it you persist in having your first officer also act as flight controller? It is most inefficient," the former drone repeated. Lee shrugged, then turned to Twee, who was whistling a happy tune at the conn station in front of the viewscreen.
"Twee, why do I persist in making you do two jobs?"
"Because I asked! And I enjoy both activities!" Twee chirped gleefully, waving his tail in a circular motion at Seven, as his cybernetic gloves flew over the console screen. Lee smothered a smile as Seven merely raised an eyebrow. Cortical node. Whatever.
"I do not suckle my mother as an adult, Commander," Seven stated. Lee grimaced. So she's familiar with dolphin body language…
"Well, stop acting like it!" Growled the commander. "Your job is to help us find the Borg! Not grade all of our departments! Isn't that right Captain?"
"Perfectly, though I would have left out the last part," Lee noted dryly. Twee's tail fins drooped slightly.
"Sorry. Bit of a bad habit. I need to keep my tail language cleaner."
"I do not appreciate being talked to in that fashion, Commander," Seven ground out icily. "It will be in my final report to Starfleet Command."
"Lovely," Lee sighed. "He then turned to his chair console. "Hm… This is odd. A thoron leak in the Astrometrics lab? Ops, are you getting this as well?"
"Yes sir. It's very unusual," the ensign replied, frowning. Seven sighed.
"It seems I must repair another mistake made by your crew, captain," the former drone stated, turning and heading off the bridge to the turbolift. The ensign blinked at the new readings she now received.
"Captain? The thoron leak is gone. I don't know how, but…" She trailed off at the laughter coming from the first officer and the captain. Her eyes lit up in realization.
"Captain, really…"
"Of course, ensign, you have every right to note this in the log," Lee spoke in an official voice once he'd gotten his laughter under control. "As a perfect example of the commanding officers acting in a most unbecoming fashion for Starfleet officers."
"Indeed. It is a most grievous breach of discipline," added Twee in an equally serious tone. Well, as serious as a dolphin's voice can get.
"What incident, Captain? Commander? All I saw was a thoron leak come and go," the ensign replied, in an entirely too-innocent manner. The first officer and captain grinned at eachother before beginning to laugh again.
"Ah, Ensign Saffron-You'll go far," Lee declared. The young woman blushed slightly.
"Thank you sir."
"Really now, Captain. You do not need to commit your pranks while I'm off the bridge," came a hardened, female voice. Lee turned in his chair and smiled at the tall woman who had just emerged from the turbolift. Her pale skin, scarlet irises, slightly raised ears, and hostile bearing identified her as a former Angosian super soldier. The lieutenant's eyes swept over the bridge, missing nothing, as she assumed her traditional station at tactical/security.
"Lieutenant Wyn, you seem to take all the fun out of our pranks when you're around," Lee noted dryly. "Mainly because they involve training." Lee shuddered, as though training was a worse fate than assimilation. Wyn sniffed.
"Practical jokes have much in common with covert operations. I merely felt it would be more effective to burn both bridges with one torch."
"At ease, Lieutenant. Your idea is brilliant. I just doubt that the crew would get as much of a laugh out of killing victims of practical jokes as simply humiliating them," Lee opined. Wyn's brow wrinkled.
"I do not think they would mind one death, provided the victim was the right person," she murmured darkly. Lee sighed.
"I know, I know-Seven of Nine's presence is hard on all of us, Wyn. But we need to bear the spears if we're to accomplish our mission." Wyn nodded approvingly.
"You would have made a good Angosian soldier, sir," the tactical/security officer observed. Lee smiled and shrugged modestly.
"Learned from the best."
"Captain, flirting is not allowed on the bridge!" Twee squawked, raising a single cybernetic glove to point at a sign attached to the side of the viewscreen. It had been intended as a joke by members of the crew, a list of dos and do-nots for the bridge, where anyone could contribute a new rule that could be disobeyed. Right under "NO WHISTLING" was written "NO FLIRTING". Lee shook his head.
"Angosians don't flirt, Commander," the captain corrected. "Therefore, I could not possibly be flirting with the Lieutenant, correct Wyn?"
"Correct, sir," Wyn deadpanned, going back to her work.
The USS Archangel was one of the few, but growing number of, Sovereign-class starships in use by the Federation Starfleet. They were easily the most advanced, most powerful, and fastest vessels ever created by Starfleet, the newest flagship of the Federation, the Enterprise-E herself, a member of the class.
Which led to the question posed by her captain: How the hell did a tactical fighter squadron leader get command of one of these ships?
Captain, now Commodore,William Koroshiya, a human born in Chicago, had asked that question a number of times: To his superiors, to his subordinates, and to himself, all when he first came aboard. On that same day, however, he had stared back into the ebony reflection in the porthole of his ready room. And the answer came as clear as day.
The Soveriegn, while designed for exploration, was also meant to fight. And he was a fighting man. And it was fighting men the Federation had needed when he was given command of this dreadnought.
"Enemy fighter closing! His shields are at twenty-one percent! Collision course!" Warned his tactical officer. Koroshiya's gaze burned into the viewscreen, showing the kamikaze attacker screaming for them.
"Bring us down 20 degrees! All dorsal phasers fire on my mark!" The Archangel seemed to bow, presenting her back to the kamikaze.
"MARK!"
At once, eight deadly beams of light burst from the Archangel, converging on the lone fighter and blowing it apart in an instant. A pair of it's fellows, coming in to attack the belly of the starship, met the Archangel's ventral phaser arrays, and ended their lives in bursts of plasma and flame.
"Dominion battleship is firing weapons!" The bridge shook, the red alert klaxons blaring. Koroshiya coolly regarded the massive warship, closing in on his much smaller Sovereign.
"Helm, collision course. Stand by all phasers and quantum torpedoes. Full power to forward shields!" The great starship deftly maneuvered to charge the massive battleship, polaron blasts striking her protective shield skin in a constant barrage. Koroshiya maintained his calm, even as his operations officer warned of the ship's increasingly dire condition.
"Shields at fifty percent… Thirty-five… Twenty-eight…"
"Adjust deflector to match enemy weapon's frequency," Koroshiya ordered. "Prepare a full deflector burst… Fire." The Archangel's forward deflector glowed bright blue, with an answering blue energy burst surrounding the Dominion warship.
"Their shields are disrupted!"
"FIRE! ALL WEAPONS!"
The Archangel never resembled her namesake more than in this moment, her dozens of phaser banks lashing out with bolts of destructive energy, her photon and quantum torpedo launchers spitting blue and gold stars of death that blasted through the massive battleship's armor like cardboard. As the Archangel pulled off, the last torpedo they fired impacted the enemy ship's core, and it exploded in a huge fireball, quickly snuffed by the vacuum of space.
"All right… End combat simulation. Secure from red alert," Koroshiya ordered. Like magic, the bridge changed from a damaged, smoke-filled ruin to its original, pristine condition. The commodore looked around at his bridge crew with a smile.
"Nicely done, Ensign Kusanagi. Your suggestion to present a broadside to our enemies worked very well, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Osborne?" The security chief nodded behind the weapons console, while the helmsman blushed in the praise.
"Ah, th-thankyou, Commodore!"
"The deflector pulse idea wasn't bad, Lieutenant Hatsuo, but we got kind of singed in it's execution," Koroshiya then told the engineering officer at her station on the bridge. The tall, purple-haired woman harrumphed and crossed her arms.
"If we'd followed through with the shield modifications I'd suggested, it wouldn't have been a problem… Sir," Hatsuo Kazami added as an afterthought. Koroshiya nodded, hiding his amusement, before sitting back down in his chair.
"Miss Mizuho… Fleet status?" The lovely pink-haired woman at the operations console smiled cheerfully, while the ensign next to her blushed even more.
"The Eagle, Nadia, Mustang, Zero, Spitfire, and Challenger all report nominal status. However, the Sojourner, Voyager, and Mizayaki have yet to arrive." Koroshiya harrumphed.
"Fastest class of cruisers in the fleet, indeed. Alert me when they arrive, lieutenant. Until then, Mr. Marik? You have the bridge."
"Very good, sir," the Vulcan first officer nodded with a blank expression, moving up from his chair at the side of the captain, to the center chair itself. Koroshiya turned and walked to his ready room, while Captain Marik began issuing some orders that William chose not to listen to.
He was off duty now-Better to make the most of it in resting up for the next crisis than wasting it, he thought.
To be continued...
A/N: Mwahahahaha! Fear the rampant anime and scifi references!