Episode 6
Of Tears and Battle
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Back to the story
Chapter 1
{U.S.S. Griffin, Bridge}
"Report," Priscilla ordered.
"The ship is on an intercept course," Rinali responded. "It's one of ours.
The U.S.S. Berlin."
Everyone relaxed. The last few days had been tense, it seemed the mood on
the Bridge was hyper-sensitivity.
"Hail them," Priscilla said.
"Frequencies open," Rinali replied. A couple seconds later the Bridge of the
Berlin appeared on the view screen.
"Captain Myst," the Berlin's Captain said with a half nod. "It's good to
see you."
"And you, Captain," Priscilla replied, wondering at his odd greeting. "What
can I do for you?"
"Is everything alright? We've been attempting to contact you for days but
you haven't responded."
"Ah, I see," she replied. "Yes, we haven't been in the galaxy for a few
days. I was just finishing up my report to Starfleet on everything that
happened."
"Not in the *galaxy*? Never mind, maybe I'll read it all later," the
Berlin's Captain replied with a shake of his head.
Priscilla smiled. "That'd probably be best." Then she furrowed her brow
slightly and gave the Captain a questioning look. "We haven't been gone so
long that I would have thought Starfleet would notice so quickly and be so
worried. We weren't due to report in until later today."
"Yes. In fact we probably wouldn't have noticed until then if it wasn't for
your Operations Officer," the other Captain answered.
"We don't have an Operations Officer," Priscilla pointed out.
The other Captain laughed. "You're right. We have your Operations Officer."
He turned towards someone off screen. "And we've all been worried he no
longer had a post to report to!" A brown haired man slightly over 6 feet
tall stepped into view.
"Lieutenant Gordon C. Freeman," he said introducing himself.
"Nice to meet you, Lieutenant," Priscilla said to him. "Beam over and report
to Commander Ivanof for duty whenever you're ready. We have *a lot* for you
to catch us up on." Gordan nodded. Priscilla addressed her counterpart.
"Thank you for bringing him. Might it be possible to get your help with
something else?"
"How can we help?"
"We need a temporary reassignment of medical staff to help with our injured
until I can arrange for permanent replacements from Starfleet..."
{Captain's Ready Room, minutes later}
"Come," Priscilla called out in reply to the door chime. Rinali entered from
the other side.
"May I speak with you, Captain?"
"Sure Lieutenant, what's on your mind?"
"I would like to recommend that both Doctor O'Roarke and Tyl-Rowh-Brawr, the
man who helped her rescue his neighbors, be considered for posthumous honors
for their bravery," Rinali stated.
Priscilla nodded in agreement. "That would be appropriate recognition for
their deeds. I'm trying not to overlook anything. Thank you for
recommending it."
Rinali nodded to say You're Welcome. "Has her family been informed yet?"
"Commander Ivanof and I are still working to compile the list of
notifications," Priscilla replied, meaning 'No.' "Why? Do you want to be
the one who does?"
{Hours later}
"There are only two people on board who know the full extent of what the
Engines can do," Priscilla replied to the Admiral on the screen on her desk
before her. "And one of them is currently unconscious in sickbay for an
undetermined amount of time."
"I'm very interested in the upgrades your crew made, and I'm sure many others
will be too once they read your report or I inform them," he said. "Please
send the schematics and any documentation that has been made on them thus
far, including all logs of their operation."
"As soon as I can get them retrieved for you," Priscilla assured him.
"How long did you say they have been in operation?" he asked, checking a
console to the side of him.
"They were running for nearly a day, but have not been used since we
returned," she answered.
"That's not very much data," he said thoughtfully. After a few moments and a
few tappings of commands into his console he looked back up at her. "Captain,
I'd like you and your crew to stage a set of War Games to test those
Engines," he said. "I'll send a list of things we specifically want to know
as to how they perform once the Engineer Corps compile it for me. Until
then, you and your First Officer begin preparations."
Priscilla nodded in understanding. She thought the decision was a bit
premature, but she understood the interest.
Back to Top
Chapter 2
{Counselor’s office}
Jaquelle had sat at her desk working with the padd for
several hours now.
A warm cup of cider with a cinnamon stick just peeking
over the rim had kept
her going for so long. She was memorializing all she
had seen and learned on
GemNevenan. She wanted to be sure every part of the
report was accurate to
the very last detail.
Jaquelle glanced at the chronometer, laid the padd
down and stood to
stretch before heading to the door. By routine she
started to go to Sick Bay
for her daily consultation with Dr. O’Roarke concerning
the medical happenings
with the crew. Then she stopped. This always had been
more of a friendly
visit then a professional one. From the very
beginning Marina seemed to need
a friend. She could sense from the day Marina had
come on board that there
was a lost love in her life, one that caused her great
pain and anger.
Jaquelle knew only a bit of the story from the
unintentional comments that
Marina would slip and make. It was the reason she
left her last ship, there
were unanswered letters out there somewhere from him
and she refused to
resolve the feelings preferring to try to bury them in
her mind.
Also, Marina had come from such a different background
than most others
on the ship. Jaquelle came to appreciate that fact
most when her family, and
the pig came on board. She understood why Marina liked
to get her hands,
quite literally, into her work, instead of always
using the sleek Starfleet
medical equipment.
But Marina was no longer in sick bay. The fact that
she had died wasn’t
what caused Jaquelle overwhelming sorrow. It was the
fact that Jaquelle had
not been there. She had not felt the sense of Marina
leaving this plane of
consciousness. Jaquelle knew she had a deep-rooted
sense of there being
other realms of existence and it gave her comfort to
know that the leaving of
this one was not necessarily an end. It was
disconcerting that in a section
of Jaquelle’s mind, Marina was not here, but not
gone. There was just a
void. There would always be just a void.
Jaquelle stopped, there was no need to go to sick bay.
{Mariposan Colony}
Jeorge was out with Betsy, the sow on the O’Roarke
homestead, when he heard the cries from the house. It
was Margery. He ran to the house to find her crying
on Heath’s shoulder and Nathaniel reading a padd.
“What is it?” Jeorge asked, helping to comfort his
wife.
“It’s Marina. She’s been killed,” said Nathaniel, as
he handed the Padd to Jason who had just come in from
the barn. “Jason, go to town and contact the nearest
Starfleet transport. We’ve got to bring your sister
home.”
{USS Griffin. Captain’s ready room. A day later.}
"Come in, Lieutenant," Priscilla said flatly.
As he entered Commander Ivanof was standing off to his
left side.
Captain Myst was standing behind her desk. Scott
walked in quietly, noticing the Commander but not
giving him the satisfaction of seeing Scott look less
than thrilled.
He stopped before the Captain's desk, a couple of data
pads in hand.
Priscilla eyed the data pads suspiciously, then turned
her attention
back to McInnis.
"You know what this meeting is about," she began in an
edged
tone.
Scott simply nodded.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Scott stood silent for a good deal of time before
responding. "What
sort of response are you expecting Captain?"
"How about... an 'I'm sorry' to start with. Or maybe
simply an explanation of *what* the *heck* you were
thinking!?!"
Scott stood quietly again for a few moments before
responding.
"I will apologize for scarring the reputation of the
ship and it's crew with my decision, but I won't
apologize for my action. My thoughts were rather
simple actually, they were not responsible for what
transpired a couple months ago, so I saw no reason to
not allow them to remain in my confidence."
"First of all," Priscilla began, making it quite
evident she had a
whole lot to say on the subject and was only just
beginning, "I'm not asking for an apology for your
action, since you clearly meant to do it, right or
wrong. The apology you have given is duly noted, but
I'm sure you know that is not enough.
"Secondly," she went on immediately "you have NO right
to solely determine who or what stays on this ship!"
Priscilla paused to let her point hang between them.
Scott didn't flinch, his expression being as if it
were a stone slab of granite. Though he noticed she
was starting to become visibly upset. Yuri didn't
have to turn to know that, he could sense it in her
voice. Scott simply remained quiet until the Captain
was quite through.
"The Chain of Command is *not* something to only be
used when you
*feel* like it. You know procedure, and the
difference between what should be and what may not be
brought to the attention of your superiors. Or you
would not be a commissioned officer, so I'm not going
to lecture you on it now. But I want to know *why*
you thought you had the right to make the decision you
did. It wasn't up to any of us to determine which
Nanites were responsible for the deaths and which
weren't. That was the reason they were all to be sent
to Starfleet Command!"
She stopped for a brief moment, waiting for a reply
before remembering
something he had said. "And what do you mean 'remain
in your confidence?'"
Priscilla asked incredulously. "What are talking
about?"
Scott waited to make sure the Captain was truly
finished and expecting
an answer. Then he spoke. "The Nanites came to me
with evidence of
innocence for a subset of their population..."
{Bridge}
Sable had been placed in command on the bridge while
Myst, Ivanof and McInnis had their conversation. She
imagined she could almost hear the shouts coming from
the other side of the door, even though the room was
soundproof.
“What do you think will happen to Chief McInnis?”
Travin asked.
“I’m not sure. I mean the Nanites were the reason we
made it back in one piece, but it went against the
orders of Starfleet and superior officers. I suppose
he could be court marshaled if someone higher up
requested it. McInnis also could resign if he felt
the need. I hope he doesn’t.” Sable replied.
“Agreed.” Travin said watching the door to the ready
room with anticipation. “It’d be a shame to loose two
senior staff on this ship.”
“Agreed.” Sable said from the command chair.
{Minutes later, Ready Room}
Priscilla sat with her hands steepled and her head
bowed. She couldn't
believe that in front of her stood someone worse than
her sister. They
both seemed to do things that could be justified
within Starfleet
regulations but would be considered blatantly wrong to
any officer with common sense.
The only difference was her sister never understood
why what she did was viewed as such until it was
explained out for her. McInnis clearly knew at the
time what he was doing.
She inhaled deeply. "Lieutenant," she began slowly.
She folded her
hands, placed them on the desk in front of her, and
looked up at him. "The end does not justify the
means. What you did was wrong. A formal reprimand is
going on your record. You are hereby confined to your
quarters when off-duty for one month. And you will
turn over every last Nanite on this ship."
Scott pointed to the larger of the two data pads he
had placed on the
desk when he first walked in. "They are right here."
He paused. "What's going to happened to them?"
Priscilla gently lifted the data pad and looked at it.
"They're
sentient life forms, as far as I'm concerned.
Therefore, pending verification of the evidence they
presented you, they will be released outside of
Federation space. I'll do everything I can to make
sure of it."
Scott nodded then he put his hand on the other data
pad and slid it
towards Priscilla. She glanced at it then looked back
up at him.
"What's this?"
"My resignation."
Priscilla was shocked. "Your resignation?" She
picked it up, scanned it briefly, then stood to face
him and held it out. "I can't accept this."
"You don't have to," Scott replied emotionless. "I've
already sent it
to Starfleet."
Priscilla looked over at Yuri. He shook his head.
"Mr. McInnis," she began with resolve in her voice.
"You are far too valuable for Starfleet to loose. I'm
not going to let you run away just because you found
yourself in trouble. But I won't deny your right to
choose to leave either. So I propose a compromise.
If in one week you do not find any happiness in your
work and still wish to resign, we'll send this to
Command," she offered, gesturing with the PADD.
Scott thought for a few moments. "Agreed," he said.
"Good," Priscilla said, placing the PADD down.
"Dismissed."
Scott turned smartly on his heel and began to head
out.
"Scott," Priscilla called after him. Finally caught
off guard, he stopped before he reached the door and
turned back to face her with a questioning look. She
picked up the large data pad and held it out to him.
"Please extend my personal thanks to the Nanites for
saving us. And as for you, You did well.”
“Thank you sir.” McInnis said as he took the large
padd from Myst. He keyed in a few comments and then
left.
After McInnis exited the room Ivanof stood waiting to
be addressed.
“Something further Commander?” Myst asked.
“Yes. We’ve received information from Starfleet. The
O’Roarke family is waiting for us at Starbase 523.
They’re joining us for the memorial. I’ve taken the
liberty of giving them Ambassador quarters.”
“Makes sense. Anything else?”
“Two other matters relating. Both Dr. O’Roarke and
Tyl-Rowh-Brawr have both been given the Starfleet
Medal of Honor with Clusters for their actions to save
Brawr’s neighbors. The second is the eulogy. Would
you like to give it or should I?”
“I will. Now I just have to figure out what to say.”
“Well let me know if you want me to handle it
Captain.” Yuri said offering a brief smile of
compassion. He turned to leave.
“Yuri,” Priscilla called as the doors opened. Ivanof
turned around. “Thanks,” she said. Ivanof nodded and
continued onto the bridge.
She then pulled out a padd and a stylus and set to
work.
{Bridge}
“Commander. We are approaching Starbase 523.”
“Good. Ivanof to Captain,” he called.
“Myst here. Go ahead Commander.”
“We’ve arrived Captain.”
“Good. See to the docking procedures.”
“Aye captain,” Ivanof said. He smiled. It had been a
while since his last duty shift. “Conn you are
relieved.” Ivanof said.
“Sir?” Asked the ensign.
“Did I stutter ensign?” Ivanof asked.
“No sir,” the young ensign said standing. Ivanof sat
at the helm controls, adjusted for his liking and then
motioned to Travin to open hailing frequencies.
“Starbase 523, this is the USS Griffin. Commander
Ivanof speaking.”
“This is station Captain Sheridan. Griffin you are
clear to dock. We are opening the outer doors. Dock
at berth 5.”
“Aye. Griffin out,” Ivanof said.
Yuri set the course and speed, full impulse. The
ensign stepped forward.
“Commander. Speeds within Starbase are limited to one
Quarter imp-“
“Ensign. I am aware of regulation and your opinion is
noted and logged. Now take a seat,” Ivanof said.
Travin smiled from the tactical arch. She had known
the commander was a skilled pilot and had not had the
opportunity to view his skills.
Ivanof brought the ship about to a course which lined
up properly with where the doors would be in the
rotation, when they reached it. The doors of the base
opened right on cue and Griffin slid in at full
impulse. A minor course correction swung the nose of
the ship about 180 degrees without losing her forward
momentum. And traveling backwards Ivanof keyed all
stop on the engines and the Griffin’s inertia was just
enough to bring her to station keeping. He then
engaged the mooring beams and set the docking clamps
as the bridge walks clamped onto the sides of Griffin.
“Captain to Ivanof.”
“Ivanof here.”
“Nicely done Commander,” Myst called. Ivanof could
hear the smile in her voice.
“Thank you captain. Griffin is powered down and at
station keeping.”
{Holodeck one, 0730 hours.}
A green field and a Blue sky greeted Ivanof and
Captain Myst as they entered the holodeck for the
memorial service for Marina. In the front row was
Marina’s Family. Myst and Ivanof walked over to
Margery O’Roarke. Pricilla took Ms. O’Roarke’s hands.
“Ms. O’Roarke. I am so sorry for your loss. The Crew
of the Griffin shares your loss. I just hope you and
your family can take solace in the fact that she gave
her life protecting others.”
“Thank you. I understand that another was assisting
her when she died.”
“Yes ma'am. His name was Tyl-Rowh-Brawr. He was
helping to get his neighbors out of an area that had
been flooded with radiation. This is a joint memorial
service for the both of them. The people on the right
side front row are people they both saved that day.
They are going to be acting as honor guard for
Tyl-Rowh-Brawr’s burial in space.”
“Captain. I have a small request. I’d like her
Father Heath and I to be in his guard as well. As
Marina’s body was lost to space, we’d like to help
send her comrade to his rest,” she said. Myst was
surprised as to the amount of composure the woman had.
“I’m sure Tyl-Rowh would be honored. He had no family
on record. The procession will go from here to the
forward torpedo bay where his body will be sent into
space. But now if you will excuse me, It’s time to
begin.” Myst shook the two hands of Margery and then
stepped to the podium. Next to her a coffin with a
UFP flag was draped across it, as befitted a civilian
lost on board a Starfleet vessel. After a moment an
ensign blew a single note on a brass navy whistle as
had been customary on every vessel since her Majesty’s
navy. The assembled quieted and after a moment
Pricilla began.
“To the Family of Lieutenant Marina O’Rourke, friends of
Tyl-Rowh-Brawr, and other distinguished crew. We are
here to pay tribute to two members of the Griffin’s
family. The first, Lieutenant Marina O’Roarke, Chief Medical
Officer, who was lost to us amongst a far different
group of stars than most have seen. The second,
Tyl-Rowh-Brawr, was a civilian. But both were heroes
to this crew. Without their bravery and courage eight
people would also have lost their lives that day.
Marina O’Roarke was the first and only choice I could
have made in a CMO. Her compassion, attention to
detail and sense of humor made her well liked among
the entire crew. Born on the Bringloidi colony, and
at the age of twelve moved to the Mariposan colony,
the work ethic of her Irish heritage served her well
as she helped to serve others. Whether it was
repairing broken bones or merely a checkup, she never
failed in giving the proper dosage of advice, support
or love that any in her care needed. Her presence
will be missed.
“Tyl-Rowh-Brawr was a physical education teacher on
board. His students, many of whom I see here today,
were subject to his hard, but fair lessons in many
sports, from ambo-jitsu to Greco-Roman wrestling.
Known as a hard case, he did have a softer side as
many of his friends will tell you. Physically strong,
his body was only the shell of the true strength of
character he displayed on that day.
“When the deck he occupied was flooded with radiation,
he knew he was too far gone when Marina reached him,
but he would not allow people he cared for to perish
if he could do something about it. Together Marina,
and Tyl-Rowh-Brawr rescued eight civilians from what would have
been a very painful death, and it was not because
someone ordered them to. It was because they chose to
do it, knowing they may not survive the ordeal.
“Today we say goodbye to both, and help Tyl-Rowh-Brawr to his
rest. A procession will go to our forward torpedo bay
and his remains will be sent into space where his gods
will greet their comrade home.
“Both Lieutenant Marina O’Roarke and Tyl-Rowh-Brawr have been
given Starfleet’s Medal of honor with Clusters for
their actions on that day.”
With that Ivanof stood
and went to Marina’s mother and placed an open medal
box into her hands. Inside a highly polished Medal of
honor shone brightly under the holographic sunlight.
Myst looked out then and noticed that many of
Tyl-Rowh-Brawr’s students had tears in their eyes. But not
tears of sadness, tears of pride, in their teacher.
She had not known Tyl-Rowh-Brawr that well, and she
regretted not having had the opportunity to know him
better. She then nodded to Ivanof who nodded to the
assembled officers.
“Attention on Deck!” said Ivanof and the officers
snapped to attention. The honor guard, composed of
the eight people Marina and Tyl-Rowh-Brawr saved, and Marina’s
Mother and Father at the head, followed the casket to
the torpedo bay. There it was loaded into the chute.
As the casket entered the chute the two officers on
the end grasped the flag by the corners as it entered
the tube, and folded it.
“Company present arms!” Ivanof ordered.
As one the crew turned to face the coffin and saluted
while simultaneously the coffin was launched into
space via the open space dock doors.
“Company Dismissed,” Ivanof ordered.
The group of assembled crew and civilian members
slowly dispersed. Commander Ivanof turned to Heath
O’Roarke.
“Sir. I would like to bestow my personal condolences
to you. It was an honor to serve with Marina.”
“Thank you Commander.”
Together the crew began to return to normal. The
Griffin had received new orders and unfortunately in
Starfleet, there is not much time for grief.
{First officer’s office. 2 days later.}
Yuri began to finish up what he was working on when he
noticed it was
one minute until his meeting with the Captain.
Three minutes later his door chime rang. "Come," he
called out.
Priscilla walked into Yuri's office with a PADD in
hand and a spring in
her step. "Time to divide up the crew!" she
announced. She moved to
Yuri's side so he could view the PADD with her.
"Since I'm the Captain, I'll choose first," she
informed him with a sly smile.
"I suppose," Yuri sighed.
Priscilla raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"I just figured that since you've got the Griffin’s
new engines I'd get first pick... but so be it... you're
the ranking officer."
Priscilla nodded once. "Good point, you're right, go
ahead."
"I want Sable," he said simply.
"Very well," she replied hesitantly, deciding not to
challenge the choice even though Sable was the only
one who knew how to pilot the new
Engines. "I need McInnis."
"I figured that. I'd also like Travin. I'll need her
battle tactics."
Priscilla thought for a moment before giving into that
choice. "I'll want Freeman and Zosin. Between the
two of them we should be able to keep up with Travin,"
she said with a nod.
Yuri nodded in agreement. He quickly reviewed the
PADD once more
before speaking. "That's all I'll need for crew...
My last request will need to come from Starfleet."
"Oh? That's different," she replied with curiosity
evident in her voice.
"I've put in for a special ship," was all he would
say.
"Interesting. No advance notice for your Captain?"
"You'll just have to wait and find out when the games
begin."
Priscilla shook her head with friendly understanding.
Then she tapped
her comm badge. "Myst to Commander Daem. Report to
my ready room, we have a lot to go over ‘Number One’,"
she said looking at Yuri with a smile. Then she
walked out.
Yuri grinned as he tapped his comm badge and said "Lt.
Commander Sable
and Lt. Travin to my office."
{Rigenian Nebula. The next day.}
The Griffin came to all stop just inside the battle zone.
The Rigenian a nebula filled with charged anestizine
gas. Quite enough to sufficiently limit any ships
sensors once inside. Ivanof’s “request” was inside.
He had received coordinates of his ship’s main bridge
from Starfleet. They were intrigued by his choice and
agreed to the test. They also allowed him a bit of
drama to keep things interesting.
“Captain,” Yuri said to Capt Myst. “Permission to
disembark.”
“Granted Commander. Good luck.”
Ivanof nodded and motioned Travin and Sable to the
turbolift. They transported over shortly thereafter.
(I wonder what Yuri has up his sleeve?) She thought.
Her answer came in the form of a wedge like hull which
pierced the curtain of red and green gasses from the
nebula and which came about to face the Griffin. The
designation on her hull was NX-59650 U.S.S. Prometheus.
“Captain we are being hailed.” Zosin said.
“On Screen!”
The Face of her first officer appeared before her. He
was grinning ear to ear.
“Surprise!”
“Well chosen Commander. I can understand why you
chose to keep this a secret. But No matter,” she
said respectfully.
“Then shall we?” Ivanof said.
“We shall… En Garde’!”
Back to Top
Chapter 3
Jaquelle was honored yet a bit surprised to be selected as First
Officer.
Although she could have entered Starfleet as a doctor or a
counselor, the
very reason she went to Starfleet Academy and took an assignment
as a crew
member on the original Griffin was to someday be able to truly
qualify for
command, and not just have the title. This was her first chance to
prove
herself. She felt comfortable because she did have to be thrown
into the
position in an emergency.
Although this would be a simulated combat, Jaquelle wanted to be
the best
she could, so she sat in her office reviewing schematics of the Prometheus
and the nebula. She wanted to devise something that might aid in the success
of the Griffin. It was obvious to her why Commander Ivanof selected the
Prometheus, it could easily become three ships. But it's speed could be a
liability. To be successful the Griffin had to be able to counter three
ships...or, it dawned on her, be in three places at once.
The Picard Maneuver, she thought!! A quick short warp jump from one
spot to another would make the Griffin appear to be in two places at once.
But that in and of itself would not be good enough, the Data Counter had
negated the Picard Maneuver.
However, if the Griffin started one step before the maneuver and used
it's holo technology it might work. Through it's deflector dish the Griffin
could first simulate the Picard Maneuver by projecting two warp jumps to
different parts of the nebula. Then the real Griffin could actually jump to
another part of the nebula. Jaquelle knew just the person to help her with a
simulation.
{Deck 15 Science Lab}
Jaquelle handed Anna Krasinski the padd with her idea. Anna looked it
over nodding her head. She then turned to her science panel, entered some
calculations, and smiled.
"Not only can this work," Anna said without a stutter, "but we can make
it better. If each holo ship also projected two new holo ships, then there
would be 6 other Griffins in the nebula. Then they can project two more
each. In the end we could have a nebula full of Griffins. The Prometheus
would not know where we are."
"It would make them have to initially take more of a guess to try and
find us," Jaquelle responded positively. "But those extra Griffins would
show up with no warp signatures. What can we do about that to prolong our
advantage?"
Anna asked the computer some questions, then thought for a while. "I
know just the answer," she said.
{Main Engineering}
McInnis looked over the padd, with a wee bit of a sly smile he said, "We
can make this work. Either we mask the warp drive by blocking that band in
the Prometheus' sensors...or we can generate a warp noise throughout the
nebula to jam their sensors."
"More importantly, when we make our first jump, we can have our weapons
take out the Prometheus' main engine. Then we can make two more warp jumps
and take out the other two engines," McInnis continued. "It will be
stressful on the warp drive, but I can get these engines ready in no time."
{Captain’s Ready Room}
Daem, McInnis, and Krasinski stood around the captain's desk. Captain
Myst was studying the padd that Lt. Commander Daem had handed to her.
"Very nice," she said while still concentrating on the padd. "Quite
exceptional, actually. So who thought up this idea?"
Before Daem could say that it was a joint effort, McInnis piped up.
"Our first officer thought it up and I'm proud to serve as her chief
engineer," he said.
Myst, without moving her head looked up at McInnis. She wasn't sure if
his statement was just a compliment for Daem, or an added criticism of
Ivanof. Regardless, Myst knew it was important for a crew to have confidence
in their first officer, and Lt. Commander Daem had just scored.
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Chapter 4
{U.S.S. Prometheus}
"Travin to Captain Ivanof."
The words came easily to Rinali with only a slight smile
accompanying them.
Some officers, especially those who tended to be almost overly
formal about
rank, got extremely flustered by the temporary changes of
authority in
activities such as war games. But Rinali transitioned with ease.
Many
holodeck adventures over the years had made her accustomed to
calling
familiar faces by new names and titles.
"Ivanof here. What is it?"
"I have completed my research on the ship and I wanted to go over tactics
with you while we still have time."
"Excellent. Report to the bridge and we'll discuss it."
{Bridge}
"The trick with any strategy," began Rinali, "is to be aware of what your
opponent knows about you. They will obviously have access to essentially all
the information we do about the Prometheus, so there is not much sense in
trying to surprise them with our abilities. We cannot simply rely on the
inherent properties of our ship to win the battle. Tactics will be key. I
believe you had some suggestions in that area, Captain?"
"Right." Ivanof took over the conversation, addressing Travin and Sable.
"The Prometheus's main offensive strength is its ability to split into three
independent ships. With our combined piloting abilities, we should be able
to attack the Griffin quite effectively."
"But the Griffin has the speed advantage," noted Ryan. "Especially with the
new engines."
"I had considered that," Rinali said. "They will most likely try to
undermine our three ship advantage by using their speed to give us multiple
false targets. And with the additional speed, the Griffin could effectively
counter attacks from three ships."
"My thought," Ivanof interjected, "was to use the nebula for a hit and fade
attack. It should mask the Griffin's sensors."
"It may deter us from detecting the Griffin though," Rinali said. "Not much
of an advantage."
Ivanof shook his head. "Normally, that might be the case. But the new
engines are so powerful that we'll almost certainly be able to detect them
even from inside the nebula."
Rinali's eyes widened and she nodded in approval. "Excellent strategy,
Captain."
Ivanof looked pleased. "Did you want to add anything further, Travin?"
Rinali nodded. "The multiple Griffins could pose a serious problem if we get
sidetracked attacking false targets. Communication will be essential. Once
we know where the real Griffin is, all three of us need to be firing on it.
"I also worked out a strategy to maximize our simulated firepower while we
split the
ship. Essentially, we will pick strategic moments, when we are certain that
we are targeting the correct Griffin, and concentrate all of our firepower on
key areas, such as the engines."
For a moment, Rinali looked slightly less confident than she had for most of
the presentation.
"With your permission, Captain, I would like to refer to it as the GodFire
attack?"
"Certainly," Ivanof smiled. "Very fitting."
Sable looked slightly confused.
"Human Grecian mythology," Rinali said easily. "Prometheus was responsible
for the creation of humans and later brought them fire to help them survive."
"Anything else?" asked Ivanof.
"Yes sir," Rinali said. "The EMH. The Griffin has the slight advantage of
crew numbers with both Zosin and Edward on their team. If we need the extra
hand or eyes, activating the EMH might even things out. It may not be
necessary, or even helpful, but it is something to keep in mind."
"Thank you, Travin," said Ivanof. "You're both dismissed. Prepare
yourselves. We should be starting very soon."
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Chapter 5
{Operation Officer's Quarters}
Freeman was sitting in his quarters reading a briefing. He had NO
idea that
they were going to be doing exercises with the Prometheus until
now.
"Hmmm...," he thought aloud, reading the report. (Gonna be hard in
a
Galaxy... not so bad in a Sovereign, but in a Galaxy... I don't
know...) "Hell
with it... we'll win," he said, grinning. Gordon Freeman liked a
challenge. He
was happy to see that he was posted to the Griffin on this
exercise, and he
thought it would be an excellent time to try and fit in with the
crew.
Looking at his chronometer, seeing that he had an hour until he was scheduled
to report for duty, he began toying with some advanced tactics to fight a
starship with a multi-vectored combat capability.
(The Picard maneuver is useless, but the modification might work, but we have
to assume that they will anticipate that. The smaller components of the
Prometheus can fly rings around us, but can't outrun us. We hold the advantage
in a straight run, and our ship makes far more power. What can we do?...) He
thought, staring at the technical readouts of both ships.
He got up and retrieved a cold Coca Cola from the replicator, deep in thought.
Taking a sip, he sat back down.
(It appears... that the exact capabilities of the Prometheus have been kept
from us to make the simulation all that more real. Maybe... if we refit one of
the shuttles as a Wild Weasel, we can jam their sensors enough to pummel a
separate component at a time, then run like hell... or we could use some of the
massive amount of surplus power to convert the main deflector from a passive
scanning device to a powerful active jamming one....)
He shook his head. It would take too much time to reconfigure a shuttle, unless
the engineer was fast. However, the deflector could be modified with a
keystroke.
(Maybe if we keep it simple... hard hit and run attacks on individual
components. An old proverb notes that a single man operating alone, can think
faster an coordinate better than a group of men. If we simply think faster than
they do, and rely less on the technical side of things, and more on the human
side of things, we can carry the fight... plus we'll be jamming the hell out of
them so they can't get a clear shot.)
He began jotting notes quickly on a PADD, thinking of individual maneuvers as
they appeared in his head.
(Unorthodox and fast... that's the key.)
When he was finished, he rose to his feet, tucking the PADD in his jacket.
Exiting his quarters, he took the lift to the bridge, approaching the nearest
higher ranking officer.
{Bridge}
"Captain Myst... I thought I would present my angle on possible tactics against
the Prometheus sir. She's heavier armed than we are, but she doesn't have the
brains, sir," he said cheerfully, hoping he didn't look out of line.
"Thank you Lieutenant. I'll give them a look over. Please take your station,"
the Captain ordered.
"Yes sir," he replied, taking his position at the OPS console. Looking
everything over, and finding it to his satisfaction, he began preparing for the
upcoming exercise.
"All departments, submit your reports before we begin the drill," Captain Myst
ordered.
A short time later they began pouring into his Operations functions on his
console. The same data was being forwarded to the XO and Captains consoles.
Freeman was impressed with how fast the orders were carried out.
Everything came up ready, and officially the ship was cleared for combat. It
would be difficult with several of her officers away on the Prometheus, but not
impossible.
"Go to Yellow Alert and begin diagnostics on all tactical and critical
systems," Myst ordered from her seat behind him.
He nodded, flipping the master alarm and setting the ship to Yellow Alert,
looking over the diagnostic reports as they began flowing over his screens. All
was in order - main systems and their backups.
Switching to a sensor readout, he sat back in his seat and waited with everyone
else for the next phase of the operation to begin.
Back to Top
Chapter 6
"Begin the GodFire attack," the computers on each ship announced.
{Griffin, Engineering}
Scott looked up from his station at the announcement. He sighed
and turned
back to setting things up so he could all but sleep with the new
engines.
Something was pulling at the back of his mind. Though he couldn't
put his
finger on it, he was definitely getting a bad feeling from back
there. He
wanted to be ready for whatever it might turn out to be.
{Griffin, Bridge}
"Begin reproductions," Myst ordered. "Ensign Zosin, do you have a way of
detecting the Prometheus?"
"Yes Captain," he replied. "I'm told the holographic reproductions will not
hold up when near their engines. Therefore by monitoring our distractions for
them we can get a semi-accurate estimate of their location. Or locations."
"Excellent. Ensign McClain?"
"If I tie into the tactical station I can increase our response time to
detection of the Prometheus," the officer at the helm reported.
"Good thinking. Do it," she replied. Then she went and sat in her chair. To
her right Daem was sitting in the Executive Officer's chair. Priscilla looked
to her. "Are we ready?"
"Yes, Captain," Jaquelle replied. "Both helm and tactical have been set with
the several tactics that will best test the new engines' power, efficiency,
maneuverability, and endurance. Lieutenant Freeman will be monitoring the
engines and the tests, offering changes in what's going on as needed. I'll be
monitoring the war games and effectiveness based on the scales Starfleet has
given us."
{Prometheus, Bridge}
"Multiple targets detected," Rinali reported.
"As expected," Yuri replied. "Good call Lieutenant. Initiate the scan for
their engines. Prepare for multi-vector attack."
{Nebula}
Griffins filled the part of the nebula the games began in as the Prometheus
separated. The Griffin made several successful hit and run attacks on each of
the other ship's sections, ever moving right from one to another, until the
Prometheus managed to trace the movement of the holographic ships. At first
all the Griffins moved exactly the same as each other, which quickly gave away
the true Griffin's position. Realizing the true Griffin was constantly headed
for one of the three sections, Travin was able to program the computer to
determine which target was the real one based on the current positions of the
Prometheus and the tangent of movement of the Griffins. She would have done
the determinations manually herself, but no humanoid had the ability to keep up
with the Griffin's current maneuvers.
The course of the battle changed as the Prometheus began scoring against the
Griffin. Despite its new speed, the Griffin was still larger and therefore
slower in close combat, and the Prometheus outnumbered the Griffin.
Soon the Griffin updated its technique and the holographic reproductions
stopped moving. Now only the true ship moved, but within the nebula it
couldn't be detected until it was already on top of one of the Prometheus's
sections. And by the time any section could begin to head to help the one
under attack, the Griffin was gone, moved on to the next target.
Once it was realized the Prometheus was loosing out by giving the Griffin
multiple targets to constantly move between, Ivanof ordered the ship back
together, an hour after the games had begun.
{Prometheus, Bridge, ten minutes later}
Rinali stood with brows furrowed and Sable at her side. They had gone back to
their original plan for finding the Griffin, but it wasn't working. They had
spent the last ten plus minutes being rained upon by the Griffin while scoring
too few shots in return.
"I'm sure that's the appropriate signature for their engines," Ryan insisted.
"We just can't find it."
"They must be jamming our sensors somehow. But I'm not detecting the
blanketing field, and without being able to detect that I can't try to break
through it," Rinali replied.
"That's a strong sensor blanket if we can't even detect it," Ryan said.
Rinali nodded and continued to stare at the screens. Suddenly she had an idea.
"Unless they're not jamming our sensors, but just masking their own engines."
She rapidly keyed in a bunch of commands, different screens flying by too fast
for Sable to understand.
"What are you looking for?" Ryan asked.
"Instead of trying to find the Griffin's engines amongst all the false ships,
if they have a common holographic signature of some kind we can use that to
find the Griffin."
"Because the Griffin won't have it," Ryan said as she nodded at the
effectiveness of the idea.
"Of course we'll still have to be somewhat close to find the Griffin, but we
should still have enough time to separate the ship if you and I beam over to
the other Bridges," Travin said, working the plan out aloud as she continued to
watch the screens changing before her.
"I'll let the Captain know," Ryan said.
{Griffin, Bridge, fifteen minutes later}
"Holographic reproductions are failing," Zosin suddenly announced from the
Tactical station. "We've lost three. Five... seven..."
"Power from the engines is dropping off exponentially," Freeman reported from
Ops. His hands danced over his consoles for a moment before he spoke again.
"I can't find a cause. No relays are burnt out, there doesn't appear to be
anything hindering... anything," he said with a small amount of confusion.
"Bridge to Engineering," Myst called out just as the reverse was heard.
"Engineering to Bridge. We need to talk," McInnis said over the comm.
"Alright, staff meeting in the conference room," Myst announced, and stood to
head over to the conference room door.
"With all due respect, I'm not leaving Engineering, Captain," McInnis replied.
Priscilla looked at Jaquelle, and didn't hide the exasperation she was feeling
towards him from the Counselor. "You have the Bridge, Commander." Jaquelle
nodded and stood to take the Captain's chair as Priscilla left.
"Lieutenant Freeman," Priscilla said on her way past Ops. He immediately
relinquished his station and followed the Captain into a turbolift.
{Griffin, Main Engineering, 2 minutes later}
"They're running too hot!" McInnis insisted at the impromptu meeting around the
Main Engineering table.
"Cool them off!" Priscilla ordered.
"I can't, not if we're going to keep this level of performance," he replied.
"These tests aren't to push the engines beyond their max, but to determine the
full range of their capabilities," Freeman stated. "Running hot isn't going to
give the performance or data Starfleet wants, even if it does give us higher
returns right now."
"I don't particularly care what Starfleet wants right now!" McInnis snapped
back. He immediately forced himself to calm down, reminding himself that only
the ship and engines mattered right now, not his personal feelings. He turned
to address the Captain. "If we change anything we'll be dead in the water. If
we keep running as we are, the engines will burn themselves out."
"So you're saying there's nothing we can do?" she inquired.
"The ship simply wasn't designed for these engines. Sure they'll work
relatively well on long straight runs, but only with no maneuvers or excess
power usage. In my opinion we're lucky to have gotten as far as we have,"
McInnis replied.
Priscilla nodded thoughtfully. Then she looked across the table to Gordon.
"We're going to have to end the games."
He seemed a bit aggravated, probably over McInnis's attitude, but kept his
professional composure. He nodded in agreement with Priscilla's statement.
The two of them turned in unison towards the exit and left together. On their
way Priscilla tapped her comm badge.
"Myst to Bridge. Hail the Prometheus and suspend the games," she ordered.
"Yes Captain," Jaquelle's voice replied.
"Myst out."
Just as they made it past the threshold of Engineering, alarms begin sounding
from behind them. Priscilla turned to see McInnis hunched over the railing
next to the engines working feverishly. She could hear him barking out orders
but couldn't understand a word of what he said. But it seemed the Engineering
staff did as they were running every which way and actually getting things
done. Priscilla waited a minute so she could get a report from McInnis when he
had a spare moment. Gordon hesitated next to her. He didn't particularly want
to be standing where they were. It seemed to him that the middle of the
entrance to Engineering during an emergency was a precarious position.
Then an ear-piercingly high whistle began echoing through Engineering. McInnis
stood straight up and yelled for everyone to get out. No one made it more than
three steps before the ship rocked violently to its side and consoles burst all
over Main Engineering.
At McInnis's orders, Gordon had moved to grab his Captain and pull her around
the corner to safety, only to find she had quicker reflexes and was already
beside him and pushing him in the same direction. They successfully made it
into the corridor just before they went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
That saved them from serious injury when the ship rocked, as they only received
some nasty bruises as they rolled into the wall.
{Prometheus, Bridge, two minutes before}
"I've got a definite target," Travin announced from tactical. "Bearing 043,
Mark 280."
"Bring us in, Commander," Ivanof said to Sable. "Multi-vector attack," he
ordered. The ship became a hustle of activity for the half minute they had to
get everything set. Sable and Travin each stepped away from their stations to
prepare for the site to site transport that would place each of them on a
different Bridge.
"The Griffin is hailing us," someone announced. Ivanof turned with a look of
interest.
"I thought we were observing communications silence," he mused aloud to himself.
Just then something on the console in front of her caught Rinali's eye, and she
moved back to take a better look. Immediately she cancelled the transport and
called up a better analysis. "Captain," she called for his attention.
"Something's wrong with the Griffin's engines. They're-"
In lieu of a description from Travin, the viewscreen explained. The initial
bright white flash of light was filtered by the screen's safety mechanisms.
When it had cleared, everyone could see the other ship was drifting at a
drastically different angle it had been on. All around the Griffin a halo of
popping light or fire was slowing expanding.
"Report!" Yuri ordered.
"A few gas ribbons in the nebula have been ignited," Travin replied as Sable
jumped back to the Conn. "The Griffin is in one piece, no hull breeches,
definite life signs..."
"I can't get much closer to them," Sable replied. "The nebula is very unstable
around their position. It's hindering any kind of standard movement."
"Will it settle?" Yuri asked.
"Unknown at this time."
"Hail them."
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Chapter 7
{Bridge}
"Engineering," Commander Daem called out.
"McInnis, here," responded the voice.
"Is the captain still there?" Daem queried.
"No, she is on her way back to the bridge," McInnis answered.
"What's our status?" she continued.
"The new engines are blown, we only have impulse," McInnis
explained.
"Well, how long before you can get the old engines on line?" Daem
asked.
"If I had the Nanites, less than an hour," McInnis remarked.
"Okay, we're not going there with the Captain," Daem countered.
"Six hours, plus time to repair the nacelles," McInnis acceded.
Turbo lift doors open:
"Well, our fun didn't last long." Captain Myst sighed.
"Captain, an incoming message from the Prometheus," Lt. Freeman
interrupted.
"On screen," Myst ordered.
"Captain, is everyone all right there?" Ivanof inquired.
"No causalities, but we've lost those new engines," Myst replied.
"We stand ready to tow the Griffin back to the space station," Ivanof
stated.
"I don't think so," Daem intervened.
"Commander?" Myst questioned.
"Captain, I am still acting First Officer, am I not?" Daem submitted.
"Yes," acknowledged Myst.
"Then on my watch, the Griffin will not be towed anywhere," Daem
challenged.
"Agreed," Myst declared.
"Commander, I can put together repair teams for the nacelles," Freeman
interjected.
"All right, Mr. McInnis, Mr. Freeman I need warp two in four hours." Daem
asserted.
"Yes, Ma'am," McInnis and Freeman affirmed simultaneously.
"Captain, we will arrive at the space station for repairs in 36 hours,"
Daem reported.
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