Fear no evil.

Posted on Fri Nov 3rd, 2017 @ 1:21am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Lieutenant Valeria Mordin & Lieutenant Tarlee

Mission: When the Sinful strike back
Location: Bridge, USS Fearless

"Captain, I've got numerous Jennarri readings from all over the system." Tarlee called from Ops. "They've dug in rather well." The Bolian pulled up on the view screen. "Wow those are those big."

A voice sounded over internal comms. "Samedi to bridge. Primary and secondary systems operational. Everything green across the board. Sensors, shields, weapons available. Power output at 103% and steady."

"Red alert!" Bertrand called.

"Helm, Assume fleet Position Michaels Alpha 1."

"Aye Captain Alpha 1 confirmed." The young Helmswoman called.

"Mc Carver, Weapons at 60%. Let them under estimate us. Our first run is a feint only, we are not expecting to do damage."

"Aye Captain. Weapons at 60%" Jamie called as she fiddled with some brightly coloured switches.

"Opps, keep an eye on the Ground forces. When they are in position we need to break off and open their hole."

"Already on it Sir." Tarlee commented.

"All hands to battle stations!"

Once more into the breach, once more. We will fill this hole with our dead.

"Engineering, Tell me you have a plan to return power if we get hit? Can we take redundancies off line to isolate them?"

"These pregnant shuttlecraft aren't exactly a cornucopia of redundancies to begin with, but I've got a few potential reroutes on standby." Came Hel's reply. "I'm keeping non-essential systems isolated until we need them to route power to essentials through."

"Science, what can you tell me about conditions on the surface?"

"The Planets surface is looking clear, no signs of bad weather or natural phenomena affecting the atmosphere." The Science Officer called. "It'll be clear skies."

"Signal the attack wings. We are making our pass to draw fire and give the ground troops their run for the surface. Helm, take us in."

"Sir we've got incoming." The Science Officer called. "They've got a Fighter Wing heading from the Surface at 234 mark 315.
They must have used the upper atmosphere to hide their location."

"Exactly the sort of thing I was hoping Science would be warning us of," Bertrand muttered to himself, fully aware of how difficult what he wanted was to achieve. "Fleet positions, Foxtrot Mamma Lima. Let's get between those fighters and the intrepid. Mc Carver, keep them busy, but don't worry about kills just yet. They are not our goal."

"Akira Class Ships San Antonio, Dundee and the Shanghai are intercepting those Fighters and launching their own birds." Tarlee reported. "Captain Reynolds says stick close to Pioneer he has our back."

"Then keep us moving but ready to shift. Let us not play our cards until we have to." Bertrand responded.

The ship shook.

"Well, we have their attention," Bertrand muttered again. He flipped the comms to the assault ships.

"Cordale. How long till insertion?"

Cordale's response came through a bit of static, "Three minutes, two if we rush. That'll make us a nicer target though."

"Don't push it, Cor," Bertrand countered. "We aren't winning this one by a show of force."

"Priority message from Victory, they've gone to assist the USS Juno we've been ordered to stick close to the Pioneer and see her through." Tarlee said to Bertrand.

The bridge shook again, a spray of sparks erupted above on station.

"The Juno is abandoning ship. The Victory is isolated and loosing power to shields."

"We anticipated this happening," Bertrand countered. "Stay with the landing force."

"Three Intrepid have breached the line but they are being harried by a dozen of so fighters. The ships are not agile enough to target all of them."

Bertand watched the Tactical report. "Fortunately, we are designed for exactly this sort of combat. McCarver, give us full power to pulse phasers! Helm, execute maneuver Foxtrot Oscar Oscar Bravo Alpha; let's clear the path and get back to the battle!"

The ship did what she did best and fought off the Fighters pursuing the landing craft. A barrel roll and a few fancy adjustments allowed the Fearless to counter attack with ease.

"Bertrand to Cor, you are clear to land," Bertrand called over comms.

"Much appreciations for the assist, and give them hell." came the Thux's reply over the comm.

"Helm bring us about;120 mark 60. Signal the Defiant wing we are making a run at the Capitol ship. This is it folks; bluff and double bluff. They see our weapons beef up prior to our attack and think we are bluffing them with the planet run and our real objective is the command ship. It distracts from the ground team and gives our big guns some space to breath. But we are going to bring a lot of heat on ourselves."

"Attack pattern Yankee Oscar Lima Oscar. Engage!"

=/\= Engineering to bridge! We're running a bit hot here! Opening bypass, dialing core down to one-oh-one percent! =/\=

Tarlee looked at Bertrand. "The Pioneer and the Squadron have made it to the Planet, they're all clear."

The Jenari were taken by surprise at the change in ferocity and vector of attack. The fighter wings were pulled back to try and cover the exposed flank of the main cruisers, but the Starfleet craft were faster.

Bertrand leaned forward in his chair. He pointed to the screen. "Helm, you see that gap in their formation there? You know what would look good in that gap? Us."

"Aye, sir"

The ship bucked as a the cruiser became aware it was undefended and refocused it's attacks on the smaller ships. A sizzling light stabbed at an area the Fearless had occupied only moments before.

"The Torres has lost power. Banksia is still with us."

"Stand by for a full payload release! Arm all weapons!"

The bulk of the cruiser was in front of them. Bertrand could feel the crew inside panicking, and desperately trying to re-power their weapon.

"Target their bridge. On my mark!"

And then everything went wrong. There was a moment of flame and smoke, then darkness and more smoke.

Slowly emergency lighting came back to the bridge, but the main viewer was down and most of the consoles flickered with intermittent power.

"All stations, REPORT!"

"Helm unresponsive. Sensors off line," Helm chimed.

Valeria fielded the console, "We're losing power across the entire grid. Same projections and dispersal pattern as the last contact with the Jennarri weaponry. Lighting and environmental down to fifty percent. Internal systems losing emergency power." the Ts'usugi turned to look at Bertrand, "At this point, I'd doubt that the life support will hold out another two hours, nevermind the ejection systems for the escape pods."

The Jennarri weapon turned the Fearless into a sarcophagus.

Tarlee got up to his feet and checked on Ops. "Shields are down, severe to moderate damage to all decks and we don't have enough power for the Autodestruct either."

Some more flickering of the lights, crackling of the comm, before a fractured voice came over the comms. =/\= This is Ainsl .... n engineering. Prim ... wer is down, we'r ... rgency power. Outwa .. omms are down. Weapo ... own, shields down. Navigati ... own. Life sup ... olding. We ha ... wo minutes of quar ... pulse - any more an ... tart draini ... ower for life support. =/\= Then a pause. =/\= Sen ... dical. There wa ... plosion - it's bad. Blood every ... nd I'm look ... t an arm. =/\=

Bertrand didn't need to understand the words; he recognised the tone, "Medical team to Engineering!"

He glanced at Val, "For once I am grateful this ship is small enough to not rely on turbo lifts.

He sighed heavily, "All right. Kill all power to non essential rooms. Keep medical going. Tarlee... behind every second wall panel is an emergency kit. It includes a phaser, hand torch and , most importantly a EVA space suit with its own oxygen for one hour. Start handing them out. McCarver... McCarver?"

Bertrand looked around the darkened bridge. The crumpled form of the young security officer lay against the console. He didn't need to cross to her to know there was no one left inside that form. McCarver was gone.

"Vickers..."

"With comms out, we need a way to get communication to and from Engineering. You just became our information runner. Get down there and stay close to Hel. WAIT!" Bertrand suddenly stopped him. "That wasn't Hel on the comms before, which means she is probably among the injured. Val..."

The rabbitess turned when addressed. She had been following the conversation and knew what was going to be asked of her. Oversee. She handed over control of the science station to the next operator, and turned to Bertrand.

"Go with him. Be an officer in charge of engineering. Let the Engineers do their job, just let them know they are not on their own. Go!"

At his command, she gave a nod before turning to Vickers, "Run. You won't lose me."

Bertrand moved down next to the helm officer, "All right. Engineering says we have two minutes of impulse, but no sensors to tell where we are going, and we are in the middle of a fire fight. I am going to try and guide us out on guess work alone."

He closed his eyes but the space around him was awash with fear and anger. It was hard to get a clear sense of direction.

"RCSD Directional thrust only. Three bursts port thrusters, one on the dorsal and then let her drift...."