Star Trek : Wisconsin - Launch

by Mashal Wisconsin

Join the newly formed crew on the new USS Wisconsin- a Constitution II Class otherwise known as an Enterprise Refit ship. Join as Captain Joshua Jeremiah Jacobs as he leads the crew into their first adventure while traveling to Starbase 5. A distress call diverts the crew to track down hostages taken by an old adversary of the Federation.

20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 Phase II

BRIDGE

THE CLAW

Agathon briefly looked at the tactical screen. Fortunately, the route he had chosen back to their starting point had a lot of asteroids to slow the others down. The problem was the Norsicans were more familiar with the system than he, and kept finding shortcuts. Flat out, the Claw was fast, but not as fast as the others. Without the warp core, all the power for the impulse drive was coming from the impulse reactor. If he had the warp core, he could get more speed out of the ship by having some power go to the drive from the warp core. Maybe ejecting the core was not such a good idea after all.

Dietrich asked, "How long until we get to our spot?"

Agathon looked at his display. "An hour, unless you can pull something out of your hat."

Dietrich responded, "I don't wear hats. We do have phasers."

Agathon thought a minute. "There's too many of them. Can you tell if Pirate E is one of them?"

Dietrich shook his head. "I can't tell. We've never had an impulse tracking from this ship. I can tell that a ship of that class is chasing us, but unless he goes to warp, I can't confirm that. There are a couple of frigate class ships."

Agathon looked at the tactical. They would be in range long before they would get to their starting point. "We need to pull them together, concentrate them. Any ideas?"

Reeves pointed to the tactical. "As we keep turning around asteroids, they are getting stretched into a line. All we have to do is slow the front down. And make sure there is an object that they can go only on one side of."

Dietrich pointed to a large asteroid to the left. "If we hang a hard left here and head for this rock, it will not only bring up the front and back together, but also they have to go on the side we want them to."

Agathon thought. "It will also put us in weapons range."

Dietrich answered, "Yes, they will think we are turning to fight, maybe. But if we skim above that asteroid and fire a phaser shot at the surface, we can create a blast that initially, the front ships will slow down to go through."

Agathon observed. "Maybe"

Dietrich admitted, "Maybe."

Agathon said, "I think that is our best bet on maximizing our resources. Robin, prepare our signal. Dietrich, choose your target."

RAGNAR'S OFFICE

BLACKBEARD'S HIDEOUT

Ragnar entered the office mad, "Jameson, you assured me that they wouldn't do this!"

Jameson angry also, "It can't be Starfleet, they wouldn't do this after you threatened my life. They have no choice but to meet your demands."

Ragnar started thinking it was a mistake. He thought the humans would be as weak as this one, and not do anything. All he had to do is threaten the Senator's life, and the blessings would fall to him. "It must be Starfleet. The ship that attacked us was last known to be captured by Starfleet."

"How do you know that?"

Ragnar pushed a couple of buttons. An image came up on his screen showing the Claw flying close to the Starfleet vessel. "This ship captured the Claw and has been pestering one of my ships. They are raiding our trade lines. Since the Claw just attacked us, I must assume that Starfleet is behind the attack."

Jameson looked. He recognized the class of ship. "Can you zoom in on the ship? Particularly the front of the saucer section."

Ragnar did, who knows what kind of intelligence he might develop now? Jameson looked at the screen. The lettering was plain. USS WISCONSIN NCC 1848. That blasted ship. Now Jacobs is trying to kill him by having the pirates kill him.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Hotchner looked up. "Sir, that warp core breach affected their antimatter reactor. It looks like it was damaged a bit, power output has dropped. Also, they should be picking us up soon."

Jacobs looked at the screen, the pirate base looming in front. "Ben, target their shield generators first. Fire at will."

Grimm had the targets already set, and was just waiting for the right time. He was waiting for the ship to get within torpedo range. The first torpedoes would probably be absorbed by the shields, and hopefully by the time they reloaded they would be at optimum range. He fired the torpedoes and phasers, just after firing, Grimm noted that Bragg started to slow the ship so that they would be at optimum range when the torpedoes were ready again.

The torpedoes hit the base's shields and caused them to flare brightly. The shields were drained significantly and along with the phasers, some shock damage came through to the base. Again, the base shook violently and numerous systems were temporarily knocked out.

RAGNAR'S OFFICE

BLACKBEARD'S HIDEOUT

When the torpedoes hit, both Jameson and Ragnar were knocked off their feet. Jameson was rolling around on the floor with the wind knocked out of his lungs. He was trying to get his breath back when Ragnar leaped on him and drug him to his feet. "DO YOU RECOGNIZE THAT SHIP?"

Jameson nodded. "It's the USS Wisconsin, one of the Enterprise-class heavy cruisers."

The intercom burst with a stressed voice. "Commander Ragnar, we're under attack!"

"NO KIDDING! I'M ON THE WAY." Ragnar pointed to Jameson and said to the guards, "BRING HIM!" The group left the office for the short walk to the command center. The floor heaved again and there was a shower of sparks as another weapon fire hit the base. They scrambled to their feet and ran the rest of the way.

Jameson was scared for his life and incensed that Jacobs was attacking the Pirates. No doubt Jacobs is doing this to just get even for the problems Jameson caused during the building of the Wisconsin. Jacobs probably wanted him dead as well too, and was trying to get the pirates to kill him. Yes, that must be what is happening. If he survives this, Jameson vowed to make Jacobs pay for this.

Entering the room, most of the working displays had some static on them. Ragnar yelled, "SHOW ME A VISUAL OF THE ATTACKER!"

One of the operators responded. "We cannot get a good visual, there is too much interference from the warp core breach still. It will start working soon though."

Ragnar could not believe their stupidity. "GO TO A WINDOW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE!" One of the Norsicans ran up to the balcony overlooking the center.

Jameson was looking at the displays and you could not see much. The displays showed the starfield outside in a severely distorted, fogged out manner. Occasionally you could see something move. Suddenly in front of one of the displays two bright red points of light came out of nowhere and went straight to the sensor. The base shook again. Ragnar yelled, "RETURN FIRE!"

The weapons operator said, "We can't. I cannot target through the interference!"

"THEY SURE ARE, FIRE DOWN THAT INCOMING PATH!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Grimm spoke up, "Incoming!" A phaser blast leaped out from the base to where they were, missing them completely.

Jacobs looked at Hotchner for an explanation. "They are returning fire down the incoming path. I suggest we keep moving."

Jacobs leaned forward. "Keep doing the evasive maneuvers Mr. Bragg. Have us within the torpedo range for each reload. Ben, we got to be damaging them."

Grimm nodded. "We are, but not where we want. The interference is affecting torpedo guidance. They have been hitting, just not where we want. The shields on the backside of the rock are down, and we've dug some good craters over there, but the shields on this side of the asteroid are still up."

"Time until Raptors dock?"

Hornblower checked his clock. "Six minutes."

Leonaidas observed. "We have to bring the shields down now. No time left."

Jacobs thought hard as the ship turned for another salvo. The torpedoes hit the asteroid, one on the base shields, the other on the edge of the asteroid. "Cease Fire, Battlestations EMP, prepare to fire EMP. Start countdown clock one hundered twenty seconds, Mark! JJ tell the Raptors."

The crew was able to get the ship secured fast for EMP, and the phasers were charging nicely. Jacobs told Bragg. "Bring us to pass over the top of the base, inverted, and directly above the EMP sweet spot at EMP time."

"Aye aye, sir." Bragg rolled into the course and slowed to make the time. Hornblower helped him adjust the speed to make sure the time was correct.

Jacobs got up and walked to the periscope for the upper dish and took control from the crewman. Looking through it, he acquired the base and started tracking the base, adjusting magnification as they got closer. "Call out time until EMP firing in ten second intervals."

RAPTOR 1

Carter just received the message from the Wisconsin. "Everybody listen up, base shielding is tougher than planned. The Wisconsin is going to fire the EMP now in," checking the clock, "75 seconds. We will get affected, but at this distance it won't be for long. Your phasers should work by the time we dock. Docking may be under EMP conditions."

Bauer added, "Badgers, check equipment now. Everyone check your mechanical watches. Time will be 17:55:00 in 3, 2, 1, MARK. EMP at 17:56:00 and docking at 18:00:00. That means worse case scenario electronics start working at 18:01:00. As soon electronics work, acknowledge to squad leaders via communicator silent button 1. Got it!"

The Badgers on board said in unison, "Yes Sir!"

COMMAND CENTER

BLACKBEARD'S BASE

Ragnar turned to Jameson. "What do you know about the Wisconsin! TELL ME NOW OR I KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

Jameson started shaking. "Well, I, uh….."

One of the operators pointed to the screen. "It's coming!"

The screen was still distorted and full of static, but you could see the Wisconsin coming head on to the base, rolling to the inverted position. It was already very close. The Norsican up on the balcony yelled, "STARSHIP VERY CLOSE COMING ON TOP OF US!"

Ragnar yelled at Jameson, "WHAT IS HE DOING? WEAPONS, TARGET AND FIRE AT THAT SHIP!"

The operator yelled back, "PHASER LOCK INOPERATIVE!"

Ragnar yelled, "HE'S SO CLOSE JUST SHOOT, SHOOT NOW, NOW NOW NOW!"

Jameson was horrified, Jacobs is suicidal, and with a new ship. The ship filled the screen that you could see the individual plating on the hull. Even though they were on the first level, the Balcony windows showed the reflection of light as the ship passed close by. Jacobs is going to kill him and commit suicide at the same time!

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Grimm yelled, "Incoming!" and the ship was hit by phaser fire and lurched. Bragg corrected nicely. Hornblower announced. "Shields holding"

Jacobs watched as the base passed overhead, he could hear Leonaidas give the countdown, "3, 2, 1, FIRE"

Santini flipped open a protected cover and pressed the EMP button. In each engine nacelle, at the back end of the nacelle, a hatch popped loose and rockets fired. The rockets pulled loose a small module that fed out a thin, flimsy tube of material. Both nacelles had these tubes extend in virtually a couple of seconds back behind them for three hundred yards. Just as they were timed to get to the full extension, a number of valves in the warp nacelles were actuated. The first was to divert the warp dry plasma from the warp coils to a bypass pipe down the center of the nacelle. The second was to allow that plasma to go down the extended tubes.

The effect was immediate. In a nanosecond, the warp plasma went down the tubes to the end where the module was. Since the tube was closed at this point, the plasma hit the end and rebounded back up the pipe. The effect of the rebounding was to vaporize the material with warp plasma. This material vaporized in a few nanoseconds all the way back to the warp nacelle. The effect of this was startling.

The Wisconsin immediately lost power, totally. Nothing worked, not even flashlight batteries. The warp reactor and impulse reactor were put on a safe, standby mode before the EMP was fired, it would help for a quicker restart. The computer was also in a safe standby mode. Lights and communications all over the ship went out. In critical areas, levers were pulled allowing a chemical mixture to happen and feed into clear tubes. All over the ship, there was an eerie green glow. Artificial gravity also failed, but as part of the preparation, the crew put on slippers that had some old-fashioned Velcro on them. Certain areas of the ship had Velcro patches for people to be able to use their feet. These areas were obvious to the point of easy to overlook. Everywhere on board also had handholds for zero gravity operations.

Up on the bridge, Ensign Bragg had the unique distinction of now being the first to control the ship under a full-EMP burst, not a simulated one. He was looking at his standby instruments, which were rudimentary at best. Jacobs was looking through the periscope and had acquired one of the shield generators. "Target acquired, Mr. Bragg, pitch up 150 degrees." And the ship began a slow flip.

Once the maneuver was done, Jacobs was tracking the shield generator nicely. "Ben, Fire Phasers in 3, 2, 1 NOW!"

Ben Grimm had his hand on a lever beside his console. Yanking that lever tripped a deployable sign down in the forward phaser room. The crewmen immediately pulled a lever which discharged the main capacitor into the phaser system firing the phasers. The lever also removed and reset the signage between the phaser room and bridge. And the Phasers started their only recharge from the protected batteries.

The effect of a phaser on unshielded equipment is startling. The shield generator was immediately turned to slag, then vaporized, as well as the mounts and power lines nearby. The phaser energy continued into the interior of the station through a number of decks before being expended. There was an immediate decompression in those areas.

RAPTOR 1

Bauer was counting down to when the EMP was going to fire. Carter could see the Wisconsin fly over the top of the base inverted. The moment of EMP was actually a non-event. There was a small flash behind the Wisconsin and the systems on the Raptor quit. Looking to his right, TC hand-signaled the same. Carter turned to Bauer, "It just happened."

Bauer looked at his equipment. "As advertised, everything is not working. How long will it be you think?"

Carter was thinking that himself. "We are significantly outside the prime zone for the EMP, at this distance, maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Wow, Wisconsin is firing on the base. Bet they took out one of the shield generators."

COMMAND CENTER

BLACKBEARD'S HIDEOUT

The moment the EMP fired, the entire command center went dark. Jameson felt the nauseating feeling that his feet were coming off the floor. The only light was coming in from the windows on the balcony. The command center was chaos as Ragnar yelled trying to get something done. Nothing could be done. Jacobs was right after all, that EMP thing worked. It was sheet terror inside the command center for Jameson, he didn't know what was going to happen next.

Jameson saw the whole room shake again, however since he was floating, he was spared the shaking. Suddenly he felt a hand grab his ankle. He was yanked and crashed against a console that Ragnar was holding onto. Ragnar yelled at a guard, "Take him to his room."

The guard had a lot of trouble opening the door. He finally did and shoved Jameson through it.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Grimm saw the READY sign pop back into place. "Phasers Ready"

Jacobs was lining up the second shot. "Are we at full thrusters back to the station?"

Hornblower nodded. "Aye Sir, about another minute before relative motion is stopped.

Jacobs was watching the distance still separate. "Very well, stop forward thrusters." He would love to have that EMP-proof impulse drive right now. He had a good shot now at the second shield generator. "Fire Phasers." And the phasers fired, demolishing the second shield generator. "Hard to port ninety degrees, full thrusters when on heading. Time until EMP effect dissipates?"

Hornblower looked at the clock. "Two minutes four seconds."

"Be ready to reengage when powered up. Mr. Bragg, in one minute thirty seconds pitch over 180 degrees. Mr. Hornblower, keep us moving away from the station."

Both Hornblower and Bragg answered "Aye Aye, sir."

BRIDGE

THE CLAW

The turn to the large asteroid went well, except that now the pirates were able to close the distance. The pirates started firing at extreme distance. The phasers energy dissipated, but not before draining some of the Claw's shields. Since all the power the Claw could generate was going into speed, the shields were not regenerating. It was a battle of attrition for the Claw, one that it was losing.

Agathon turned to Dietrich. "Have you picked your spot yet?"

Dietrich yelled back, "Yes Sir, it is on your screen now. I need you to face backwards as I fire."

Agathon nodded. As they approached the surface of the asteroid, the point of closest approach got closer. Dietrich needed minimum distance to shoot and maximize their weak phasers. The Pirates were getting closer by the second. Agathon brought the engines to idle and started pitching over to keep the target spot in front of the ship. As the ship passed over, it was pointing straight down but traveled almost parallel to the surface. Dietrich waited a few seconds to make sure they were not going to be in the spray, then fired.

The phaser beam lanced out and superheated the rock into a small explosion, a few tons of debris were ejected up into the path of the pirates. Agathon finished the flip and reengaged the engines to extend the escape. The lead pirates did slow slightly, then went back to full throttle. Dietrich noted this. "They closed up slightly, this is the best it's going to be!"

Agathon yelled back to Reeves, "Now Robin!" Reeves pushed the transmit button.

On Pirate E, in the warp nacelles, there was some dry warp plasma flowing through them. It's normal even for a ship that isn't using the warp engines to have a little bit of dry plasma flowing, engineers call it 'engaged'. The warp reactor provides power for numerous systems besides the warp engines, and the plasma needs to be vented somewhere. The plasma went through the warp coils, and collected in the funnel that the Wisconsin placed to augment the warp trail for tracking purposes before being vented outside. The signal that the Claw sent started a reaction that nobody on Pirate E could have foreseen.

First, a receiver on the cone sent a signal to several small charges. This had the effect of collapsing the cone and blocking the path of the plasma. The pressure wave rebounded and went forward through the coils back into the reactor. There were safeguards to prevent a catastrophic event from happening, but some of the charges the Badgers left earlier either blew the safeguards out, or destroyed the systems that sensed that there was a problem. Either way, the wave went into the warp reactor all the way back to the dilithium chamber, shattering the dilithium crystals. Without the crystals to control and regulate the matter- antimatter reaction, the reaction ran away. Within seconds, Pirate E had a warp core breach in progress that it could not sense.

Pirate E disintegrated in a fireball of white light and energy. It took out the two nearest ships completely, and severely damaged the five behind it in the line chasing the Claw. Only the front ships escaped unscathed, but the shockwave knocked them off their course. Getting back on a pursuit course took a little time, allowing the Claw to extend its escape.

Dietrich announced, "It worked!"

Agathon asked, "How long until they intercept us?"

Dietrich ran some numbers. "Fifteen minutes. How long until we get to our spot?"

Agathon answered glumly, "Twenty-five, we have a short time to come up with a plan C. Let's start thinking."

RAPTOR 2

TC found his target hatch and looked at the timer. 17:59:12. The power on the Raptor came on and the computers snapped back to life. TC's heads up display showed the path toward the hatch. He rolled into position and pressed the transmit button. "Raptor 2 force dock in thirty seconds."

Carter clicked his radio as well. "Raptor 1 force dock in thirty seconds."

TC in Raptor 2 slowed his approach and armed the docking system. It was so much easier with all the gizmos on. He stopped just below the hatch, translated up, and on contact the latching system fired, securing the Raptor to the hatch of the station. TC clicked his microphone. "Raptor 2 force docked." A few seconds later he heard Carter do the same. TC turned to Teal'c and said, "It's your show now baby."

Teal'c responded. "Indeed."