Chapter Nine - Rescue
Commander Darius Lauren was sweating. Environmental controls had long since failed, which meant the temperature regulation systems were out. The bridge of the Terra Nova was getting hotter than hell. Lauren looked around the bridge at his fallen crew. His helm officer was lying unconscious next to his post, his ops officer had been thrown over his console and was lying in a crumpled heap in the floor near it. He couldn't even locate his tactical officer, for that section of the bridge was completely obliterated, rubble covering the floor. Lauren forced himself up into his seat and started pressing buttons. He winced at his broken leg, but he was going to be damned if this entity destroyed the ship without him dying in the fight. He keyed in a few commands, bringing up a ship status diagram on one side of his screen, and sensor data on the other. The gas had not penetrated the shields yet, but their strength was weakening by the minute. The ship had gone over tremendous pounding ever since the gas first showed up. Suddenly, he saw a blue light out of the corner of his eye. As quickly as he could, he grabbed a phaser and turned. Captain Kim and Doctor Brazil materialized on the bridge.
"Captain!" Lauren yelled with joy, for he thought his captain was long dead. Kim and Brazil ran to him. Brazil had his tricorder ready but Lauren refused.
"Treat them first." He said as he motioned to his fallen crew. Corey nodded, and turned his attention to the helmsman. Kim knelt down beside his first officer.
"Sir, this ship is in shambles. I had to tie in emergency power from every system possible to keep the shields up for this long, but they are failing fast."
"Darius, Corey and I have been tossing ideas around. What if we open the ramscoop, collect part of the gas, infuse it with kelineisum radiation while its in the nacelles, and then release it back into the cloud?" Darius sat there for a moment thinking. Kelineisum radiation broke down all forms of matter, and it had a contagious-like effect. Anything that touched it, contracted it.
"Do we have enough power to use the ramscoop and generate kelineisum radiation?" He finally replied.
"We sure as hell can try." Kim said, as he patted his first officer on the back. For the first time in hours, there was hope.
--
From a outsiders view, it was a magnificent sight. The third, and final Sovereign class starship to be built by Starfleet was battling for its life. The huge gas cloud had completely engulfed the ship, beating it in size by three times. The shields of the mighty starship finally failed, sending a painful flash of blue along the outer rim of the ship. The gas took the opportunity to cling to the hull, trying to find a way in. Suddenly, it found its way in for the nacelle ramscoops suddenly opened. The gas took the advantage, and started pouring in through them.
"Enable the radiation sequence, now!" Kim yelled to his now conscious helm officer. He pressed one single button on his console. One button was all it took, which sent a relay pulse through the ships systems. The pulse converged into engineering, turning on all of the secondary power generators. The ramscoop suddenly locked shut, trapping a small portion of the gas inside, as the inside nacelle lining started generating kelineisum radiation. The gas immediately started reacting, and breaking down. The ensign pressed another button, re-opening the ramscoop, and vacuum emptied the nacelles. The last thing Captain Kim, Commander Lauren, Corey Brazil and the ensign on the bridge remembered was a huge explosion, and the feeling of the bridge of their ship imploding in around them.
--
Captain Thomas Eugene Paris sat in his ready room, staring out the window at open space. The stars were flying by at a high speed of warp 9.9, for the USS Prometheus had been recalled back to earth. He looked around the room, thankful for it. When Starfleet had offered him a command a few years after their return to the Alpha quadrant, he never expected to receive the very ship that the Doctor had been sent to years back. The Prometheus had been declassified, and was now well known for its capabilities. He glanced at the chronograph in the computer terminal mounted in the wall, and stood up. The bridge should be calling him any moment, for they were about to cross into Federation space. The Prometheus had been on a scouting mission in sector 44-A when they got the communiqué to come back to earth. He wondered what the rush was all about, for they had instructed the Prometheus's immediate and hasty return. He walked to door, and it opened revealing his bridge. His senior staff glanced up from their tasks, nodded at his arrival, and went back to work. After he sat down in his chair, he motioned for his first officer to join him.
"What is the word?" He asked Commander Jackson, his first officer.
"We crossed into Federation space a few minutes ago, we are still at maximum warp. Our ETA is seven hours."
"Good. I want…" He stopped as a computer panel at Tactical started to beep. His tactical officer leaned over from his console, and pressed a button acknowledging the beep.
"Sir, long range scanners just picked up a ship." The tactical officer said.
"What ship?" Tom asked, intrigued. He didn't think Starfleet had any ships besides them out this far.
"Sir, I think it's the Terra Nova."
"Think?"
"Its extremely damaged…" His panel started to beep once more, and he glanced down to see what it was. "Sir, the ship just started to emit a distress call, Starfleet signature." Tom stood up with concern.
"Helm, change course to intercept that ship, maximum warp."
"What about being called back to earth?" His first officer asked him.
"That will have to wait, we need to take care of our own. If that's one of our ships and it needs help, we'll help it." Harry is in command of the Terra Nova! Tom sat down wondering what could bring a Sovereign class vessel to its knees pleading for help, and he hoped the Prometheus was close enough to render aide. He hoped they were not too late.
--
Tuvok opened his eyes, and groaned slightly at the feeling something was pressing on his chest. He waited for his vision to clear, and then looked around. Part of the ceiling had buckled and fell in, crash landing on him. Struggling, he pushed it off, and looked at the room around him. Doesn't look much better than the Vision. He thought, a little light headed, and sat up. He realized he was in sickbay of the Terra Nova. Emergency power appeared to be failing, the lights in the room were flickering on and off. He stood up, and felt a sharp pain in his chest. Grabbing a medical tricorder, he swiped it over his body a few times. Two broken ribs, but they would have to wait. He tapped his comm. badge, still inspecting the room.
"Tuvok to Kim." No response. "Tuvok to Bridge." Still nothing. "Computer, what is the ships status?" He said finally, giving up on a live person. The computer beeped and replied.
-Shields are at seven percent and holding. Holographic systems are offline. Propulsion is offline. Life support is minimal. The warp core was ejected by automation as a safety measure, due to a containment leak. Nacelle control offline. Sensor network offline. Gravity systems failing. There are four thousand seven hundred and ninety one micro fractures in the outer hull. Three major breaches on decks one, two, and nine. Emergency forcefields are in place and holding at twenty-six percent. Emergency power is failing. Impulse reactors are offline.
"Computer, end report." Tuvok said, thinking. This vessel was extremely damaged, and Tuvok wondered if he was the only one left on board. He kept the tricorder in his hand, and started for the door.
--
"Sir, we are approaching the Terra Nova." Tom's helm officer stated.
"Slow to impulse, and full sensor analysis." Paris requested as he sat down in his chair.
"Good God…" His tactical officer whispered under his breath. Tom stood up.
"What? Onscreen." A button was pressed, and the Terra Nova flashed up into the main viewer. The hull was charred black, both nacelles were completely destroyed, and the warp core was floating a few thousand kilometers away. Tom stared at the crippled vessel for a moment. "Life signs?" He finally managed to say.
"I can't tell sir, what's left of the hull has some form of residue all over it, my scans can't penetrate it."
"Can we transport in?"
"I don't see why not, the targeting scanners seem to be unaffected. Your comm badges should be enough to get a lock for transport back."
"That's all I want to know, Paris to sickbay, send a medical team to transporter room two and wait for me." He pointed to his first officer and tactical officer. "You and you, with me. Moments later, Paris and an away team of five stepped up onto the transporter padd. "Put us on the bridge." He said to his transporter officer, who nodded and inputted the coordinates. "Energize when ready." Tom said, hoping he wasn't too late.
-----
Bad writing. I don't know If I like this chapter or not… so just bare with me. Blah. Tell me what you think please, reviews good or bad appreciated.