Cleaning Up
Posted on 29 Jul 2016 @ 6:24pm by Captain Harvey Geisler & Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Felix Langston & Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander
1,664 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Risky Business
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 6 || 1125 hours
The battle had been lasting much longer than Harvey would have hoped. He'd left the Chimera in the squadron's capable hands, but it still left the Black Hawk to square off against the Cochrane. Lieutenant Di Pasquale had made short work of several of the Cochrane's phaser banks, but the Intrepid-class ship was still a match for the Black Hawk. For the first time, Harvey found himself displeased with the Black Hawk's defensive capabilities. Three phaser banks on the saucer section was not enough to combat the Cochrane's multiple banks.
If this were any other encounter, Harvey would have asked to be more ruthless. Over a hundred and fifty souls on that ship did not know the orders they followed were false and did not deserve to die.
The Cochrane didn't see it that way. The Black Hawk suffered breach after breach, and already what looked like a computer virus began to wiggle its way into the bridge's systems. Already they'd lost some control, but helm and defensive measures were still operational for now.
Harvey gripped his seat as the Black Hawk shook yet again. "Commander Teixeira! Damage report! Tactical, shut down those phasers!"
Camila grabbed ahold of the console as the battery from the Cochrane continued to assault the Black Hawk. She mentally cursed the Helm for not holding the ship steady and out of harm's way, but in a nebula where they were sensor blind, they were doing what they could. She charged the phaser banks again and fired repeatedly at the phaser arrays on the Cochrane, actually giving a small cheer when she took one of them out. She lined up another burst and began to lay down a full scale assault at the Intrepid class ship in the hopes of giving them some shake-and-bake time as well.
Felix saw the burst of fire ignite the Cochrane's phaser banks. He did a small fist pump motion in his seat as the Black Hawk lined up for another pass.
Terry had noticed how much easier the fighting had gotten all of a sudden. As a matter of fact, it really wasn't even a fight. It was the Black Knights pounding on the Chimera. When Terry finished his last attack run , he eased up and brought his Valkyrie to a stop. He was right, the enemy had stopped firing at them. But it could be at trick. Choosing rather to err on the side of caution, he resumed his attack.
A transmission suddenly filled the bridge's speakers. =/\= "Corwin to Black Hawk! The Chimera has been taken. I need Flight Control and a Security team over here. Now!" =/\=
Harvey closed his eyes and gave a quick sigh of relief. She'd made it, and hopefully unharmed. "Standby, Lieutenant," he called out. "See if you can get to the bridge and stabilize her. I'll get a team over there as soon as I can."
He wants me to stop this? Corwin thought, surveying her surroundings. She had to go up ten decks to get to the bridge, and there was no way she planned to make that journey in a Jeffries tube. Now, she wished at least one individual, preferably someone from Flight Control, would have remained conscious through this ordeal. It would have made things so much easier for her, but then... when was anything ever easy?
Joey made her way to the turbolift, leaping over the four unconscious bodies and tossing the one inside the lift out once the doors opened. What did she know about anything helm related? Her training went as far as shuttles and runabouts compliments of SAR, but she somehow had to figure this out and quickly.
She muttered a curse after requesting the bridge, fighting back a wave of nausea. A drink was definitely going to be in order the second she was back, but right now wasn't the time to even think about it. When the turbolift opened to the bridge, Joey was greeted by the sight of various personnel sprawled out on the floor or slumped over where they sat. Why didn't she think to read up on basic Intrepid flight controls? Those would have some in handy at this moment, but then... she never in a million years would have thought she'd need to know them.
Dodging the fallen forms of the Chimera's crew, Corwin finally made it over to the helm where a Lieutenant was slumped over the console. "Sorry, guy... I need your chair," Joey said as she yanked him from where he was sitting and tossed him to the floor. She looked at the controls in front of her as that nauseous feeling crept up on her again. With another muttered curse, she beat the console
The Captain tapped a button on his armrest. "Alpha One, Actual. Stand down. I repeat, stand down. Standby to escort a shuttlecraft."
Activating the comm link, he said, "Actual, Alpha One, understood. Rocco to Black Knights, stand down and cease fire!" He pulled his Valkyrie to a stop. It wasn't a trick after all. Then he remembered Actual's orders about a shuttle craft. He spun his bird around and saw that the Black Hawk was still under attack. Activating the comm again, Alpha One gave out orders, "Charlie Flight, give us a defensive perimeter between the Black Hawk and the Chimera's shuttle bay. Bravo Flight, I want a defensive line between both ships. If something that isn't Black Hawk starts firing on us, shoot it. Alpha Flight, form up on me and Archer, we've got a shuttlecraft to escort."
"Galahad acknowledges." Said the big Bajoran as he manuevered his craft.
Sometimes Discord wished his Bajoran shipmate could be a little less prompt in the cockpit and a little more prompt out of it. He'd just finished lining up another firing line on the enemy bridge when Galahad acknowledged the order from Rocco and his fingers twitched for the trigger.
Growling in frustration, the Vulcan banked his craft to follow Galahad. "Discord, acknowledged." He sighed, forming up as he looked longingly towards the Cochrane.
"Time to babysit..." Archer said, relieved so many of the Black Hawks Pilots survived. Death was quick but no less final for pilots who flew these small but agile craft.
Glacier had pulled back and ceased fire as soon as Rocco had given the order. He formed up on Discord and Galahad, "Glacier copies. Entering formation." Apparently things were going pretty well for everyone, as least he hoped so.
The Black Hawk shook again from a new impact. "Dammit," Harvey muttered. Tapping his combadge, he called out, "Geisler to Cadet Khan. Assemble a medical and security team and take the Tigris to the Chimera."
Kelly was utterly surprised to get a message from the Captain over her combadge, but she responded immediately. =^=On my way, Captain=^= she said as she headed for the flight deck. She tapped her combadge again. =^=Ensign Sutherland, Warrant Gutierrez, Ensign Hollingsworth, Warrant Barns, report to the Tigris immediately. Medical personnel to the Tigris.=^= she called out as she stumbled into a turbolift and headed for the Flight Deck.
There, she opened the hatch on the Danube class runabout and began to run down the pre-flight checklist, her mind firmly on the task and not the nightmare raging outside the ship at the moment while she waited for the others to arrive for her flight to the Chimera
=/\= "Cooper to Black Hawk, Do you read?" =/\= Lieutenant Cooper's voice suddenly came over the comm.
"This is the Black Hawk," replied Captain Geisler. "Tell me you have good news, Cooper."
=/\= "Device deployed Sir, I have visual evidence it has worked..." =/\= There was a slight pause and then, =/\= "Slight glitch I seem to be trapped in a force field, it's going to take me a bit of time to get out..."
Harvey sighed again with relief, though it also meant that the Cochrane was going to need just as much help as the Chimera. "Do it quickly, Lieutenant. Help is on the way to secure the Cochrane. Get to the bridge."
=/\= "Aye Sir, Immediately Sir." =/\=
Harvey indicated for the channel to be closed. "Stand down red alert!" he called out, rising from his chair. "Let's get damage assessment going," he told Commander Teixeira. To Lieutenant Di Pasquale, he added, "Lieutenant, take Mister Langston. Secure the Cochrane and standby for orders."
Camila heard Cooper and closed her eyes for a moment before the Captain issued his orders. She got up and turned her station over to a junior Security officer while a part of her mind worried about the other intruders still on the ship. "Lieutenant Langston," she said with a nod at the Chief of Flight before she headed for the turbolift.
"Aye, sir, Lieutenant," Felix said as he spun his chair to the left side of the helm. He looked down at a small compartment on the far left side and entered his access code on the panel next to it. The compartment doors opened to reveal three type-2 hand phasers. He took one, holstered it, closed and locked the compartment door again, and got up from the helm. See you soon, old girl, he thought as he walked nervously toward the turbo lift. His hands shook as he walked. He balled his hands into fists and released them seven times, his old pre-ring hand routine. "Let's do this," he said under his breath as he entered the lift.
Harvey turned to watch the turbolift doors close. As soon as both the Chimera and Cochrane were secured, it would be time to see if there was any truth to the Valdore rumors. Looking back to the viewscreen, he secretly hoped this mission would be over.
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