Incident at Gavara IV

Posted on 06 May 2023 @ 4:30pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Kemm & Commander John Reynolds & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Theodore Marsh III & Lieutenant Commander Kennedy Monroe M.D. & Lieutenant Zayna Ryler & Lieutenant T’Mari Rael

3,034 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Milk Run
Location: Main Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 6 at 1130

Under normal circumstances, the Black Hawk would have made the trip from the wormhole to Gavara IV in just under two days. Once one factored in three Apollo-class cargo ships, two Oberth haulers, and multiple waypoints to throw off any pirates that might have been lurking along the way, it had taken nearly five days to reach the Gavara system. At each of the fourteen waypoints, Harvey had ordered the squadron to launch only two fighters to form a patrol.

Harvey considered that a trap awaited them at every waypoint, despite all best efforts to remain unpredictable. His time in the Gamma Quadrant had told him anything was possible. So far, it seemed that the new security measures were working. No unusual transmissions had left the ship, or the convoy for that matter. Even the decoy probes hadn't been intercepted.

Maybe, Harvey mused, just maybe... the Black Hawk's presence was enough to keep the raiders away. Harvey couldn't allow himself to let down his guard, not with 300 AU's separating the convoy from Gavara IV. Their mission would not end on arrival. The supplies had to be delivered, and the Black Hawk would remain until relieved by the Saratoga, which would remained stationed in the Gavara system until further notice. Starfleet would not give up on the colony, not now. This was their last chance to make all of the prior sacrifice worth it.

The Captain had to up his game now. Four fighters had been deployed, with the remaining eight on standby. He hoped to not keep more than four active at one time, cycling them long enough until the mission was over. No doubt the veteran senior officers would let down their guard either. This crew needed a win desperately, and Harvey was determined to get it.

Harvey leaned forward in his command chair, fighting the urge to stand and pace. He folded his hands in front of his mouth, effectively steepling them. "All stations sound off."

Though it had been quiet, Zayna still didn't like it. Yes, it was nice to have the quiet, but it made her feel uneasy. Hearing what the captain had said, she looked over. "Sensors are...showing nothing exciting." She didn't dare say quiet, that would probably jinx it, right?

Stepping out of the turbolift T’Mari was just in time to hear the order. “The Counselling department is up-to-date Captain. The crew are slightly edgy, I think we’re all more or less wondering if this is the calm before the storm.”

"Sickbay is ready, sir," Kennedy reported, finding it appropriate to chime in after the counseling department update. She wouldn't necessarily describe her team as feeling edgy as much as they were amped. Many of them were still getting to know each other as she was still getting to know them, but Monroe was confident that when push came to shove, they would connect professionally and come together as a team. Naturally, Kennedy could take no credit for that, as the reality was, with so many changes in leadership in Sickbay, those remaining would have no other choice. For the vast majority of new arrivals within the department, what seemed to drive them was a desire to prove themselves. Kennedy had cautioned the entire team not to take chances and cut corners all out of a desire to prove themselves, and regular training scenarios would address those concerns. For now, however, she had to focus on what lay before them.

Joey cast a glance toward T'Mari before she looked back at the display of her console. It didn't take a Betazoid to know the crew was edgy. Most of them had been before the convoy even arrived roughly five days ago, and as the hours ticked by, that edginess grew. Still, she tried to push that aside and focused on the readings, or lack there of, the display was showing. "Intelligence has nothing to report as of yet, Captain, but we're constantly scanning."

"Security reports ready, Sir," Camila said. It had been five days of ship wide drills, getting everyone certified on Type II phasers, making corrections as needed, altering plans and above all...waiting. Waiting for some of the oldest, slowest ships she had ever seen. Well, almost. There were slower, but she didn't want to think about that. They might decide to go slower.

John was listening to the current reports and anticipating the rest. He'd used the last five days to become more familiar with the ship and some old mission reports. If any ship could handle itself on the frontier of the Gamma Quadrant, he'd decided it would be this ship. "Sounds standard so far," he said.

Edgy and standard, my ass... thought Harvey, his eyes still affixed on the viewscreen. "If only," he muttered. Hope wanted him to think the best scenario was unfolding. Experience told him otherwise. It seemed a hair trigger was all that kept this mission from falling into chaos. "Commander Reynolds, let's get our patrol in the air. All stations, keep those sensors running. Joey, see if you can tap into the listening probes deployed in the system. Let's make sure all systems are go."

"Aye, Sir," said John. He sent a message to Lieutenant Kenmore to launch the patrol. "Done."

"On it, Captain," Joey said, moving her fingers over the display of her console. If there was anything to be picked up, she would know about it soon enough.

Camila once again scanned for the convoy communications system that she had been monitoring since they had left the wormhole. Very little of the communication between the ships had been useful and the parts that had been useful were related to what they already knew. In short, if the convoy knew they were being monitored, they were careful not to give anything away. If they didn't know they were being monitored, they were the most boring convoy in history. Images of dry white toast came to her mind and she repressed a sigh and the urge to will some pirates to appear to break the interminable boredom of babysitting the convoy.

"Captain, I'm picking up a small tachyon surge near one of the cargo ships," Joey said.

"On screen!" Harvey demanded. His shoulders tensed, feeling a rush of adrenaline. He never doubted that someone would show, and it only made sense that they'd try in the final stretch of the cargo run.

At his command, Joey transferred what she'd picked up near the cargo ship to the main viewscreen. This had to be the bad feeling that most of them seemed to think was coming, but how bad it was going to be remained to be seen.

Here we go, Teddy thought. All the rumors about the bad juju that seemed to plague this ship were about to get some reinforcements.

The viewscreen shifted, showing two small shimmering shapes near the forwardmost Oberth. The Black Hawk had positioned itself in the rear, with a couple fighters leading the pack. When the shimmers vanished, two small craft remained behind, opening fire on the Oberth, specifically targeting its engines and shields. Before Harvey could issue an order, the sluggish Oberth started to bank left, intent on making a run for it.

"Report!" Harvey ordered, expecting to hear more information about the attackers and the state of the attacked vessel.

"Scanning. Unidentified," Camila said. "Possibly scavenged Romulan ships from their failed assault against the Founders. The Nemo is breaking formation and is taking damage to engines and shields. Targeting ships with forward phasers, Captain."

Harvey shifted forward in his seat but did not stand. "Di Pasquale, target engines and weapons only. Marsh, get the Nemo on comms. Tell them to remain in formation. Reynolds, let's get our squadron running defense."

Camila fired the phasers on a lower setting at the small shimmery craft, unable to pinpoint exactly where the engines and weapons on them were. A shudder and ripple revealed that she had hit one of the smaller craft, but not where. She fired another volley at the second shimmering spot in space, feeling like she should close her eyes and trust her instincts. Which would likely blow the Nemo out of space as well. "Helm, line me up a good shot!"

Marsh, who had maintained dedicated comm lines with each ship in the convoy, activated the channel with the Nemo and toggled on the audio pickup in his console. "Nemo, form back up. Repeat, get back in formation." No response came over the comm system.

"Reynolds to Kenmore! Defend the Nemo!" yelled John.

*** Flight Deck ***

"Understood, Commander," said Michael. "Reynolds out." He re-tapped his combadge, "Reynolds here, defend the Nemo. We're launching to support. Reynolds out." He ran out to his fighter and began a very quick pre-flight. The deck was buzzing with staff getting ready for a hot launch and pilots running for the craft. Once John was seated, he started up and prepared to lead the others in support of the current fallout.

*** Bridge ***

The attackers disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. Harvey spotted a new shimmer on the viewscreen, and before he could share his observation, another Oberth took a volley of torpedoes. "What are they doing?" he remarked aloud, "Trying to destroy their plunder?"

Zayna had been studying the sensor readings for any tiny detail that might explain things, but when the torpedoes went off, she turned her eyes to the viewscreen. "My sensors aren't giving anymore than tactical ones are at this point. If they are after the cargo, they're doing so in a rather stupid way. They'd lose it before they got to it at that rate."

T’Mari had kept her opinion to herself up until now, “It could be they’re trying to lure us away from the convoy. There could be another ship waiting to jump in once we’re out of position.”

Harvey was already thinking the same thing. A single Akira-class vessel with a contingent of fighters was more than enough to defend this convoy. He had no choice but to assume that these pirates would have to be creative if they had any chance of succeeding. "Helm, maintain formation. Tactical, disable those pirate ships on sight. Can anyone give me an analysis on those pirates? And, is there anything on the Nemo that is of unique interest?"

Camila cursed under her breath as she fired another round of phaser fire as she tried to anticipate where they'd be, then fired a volley of photon torpedoes set to detonate near them in an attempt to blind their sensors. One fell to the ploy and she disabled it with a burst of phaser fire but that was only two of however many were out there. "There's nothing on those ships they could want to destroy," she said out loud. "It's supplies."

"But are they wanting to destroy them?" Harvey asked, eyes fixated on the viewscreen. Prior to today's events, pirates simply disabled and raided the convoy ships. "Mister Marsh, see if you can beam aboard the crew of that disabled pirate--" Just then, he saw three new shimmers on the viewscreen. Three small craft decloaked and fired on the Nemo. A small explosion flared on the back of the primary hull, and then its engines went dark. "Get the squadron over there, keep those pirates occupied. Commander Di Pasquale, can we reinforce their security teams?"

Camila fired on the three new decloaked ships and chewed on something in her mind. "Lieutenant Ryler, fire tetryon beams near the other cargo ships. If there's cloaked ships near them, it'll interrupt the cloak for a moment." I hope, she mentally added. "Not without compromising the security of the ship, Captain. I believe the Nemo is a decoy."

Ryler's head snapped over hearing her name, and she gave a quick nod, "On it!" Turning back to the controls, she did a few tweaks and hit the button, "Firing tetryon beams." Once she was sure the firing sequence went through correctly, she turned back to look at the screen to see what, if anything, appeared.

"I've got locks on the crew from that disabled ship, Captain," Teddy stated. "Still want me to bring them over?"

Harvey nodded. "Di Pasquale, drop the shields long enough for transport and have those new point-defense cannons ready just in case. Mister Marsh, make sure they go straight to the brig."

Meanwhile, Ryler's tetryon beams did the trick, revealing two cloaked vessels, each one no bigger than a Maquis raider.

Camila fired a few more photon torpedoes and a spread of phaser fire at the new targets and slapped her combadge "01, 10, boarding protocol ten," she said before a burst of high pitched static confirming her order. Drones shipwide went on immediate defense mode and their patterns became increasingly fast and erratic as they headed for all critical areas. "Shields down, Captain," she said and hoped it wasn't a bad idea.

Looking behind him at the Operations Chief, "Your go, Mister Marsh."

Teddy nodded and activated the transporter. He monitored the process, making sure to filter out any weapons the pirates might have had on them. He sent a message to Sickbay requesting a medical team to the brig to tend to injuries identified by the transporter's bioscans. "They're all set up in luxury suites in Hotel Black Hawk. Complete with medical attention."

"Shields up!" Harvey ordered.

***Sickbay***

Monitoring the feed from the bridge, Kennedy had to keep one eye on her people and the other eye are the battle being waged. So far, there weren't any serious injuries amongst the crew, but she knew that could change at any moment. Controlling her breathing, Monroe knew she had to trust her staff to do what they were trained to do. She'd had little time to get to know them, but that couldn't be helped right now. Gods willing, there would be time for that later.

When the request for medical team came, Kennedy briefly considered going. It was her nature to do what needed to be done, but her leadership experience told her it would be better to delegate the task. As upsetting as the battle was, Kennedy was not avoiding her current potential patients out of hatred, but out of practicality. Starfleet medical personnel were taught early on not to pass judgment on any potential patients.

As upsetting as it was to see vessels attacked, Kennedy would not as a matter of professional ethics, and could not, as a matter of who she was personally, refuse anyone ill or injured medical care. That didn't mean, however, she had to immediately render care herself.

It didn't take her long to put together the team and send them on their way. She had decided she needed to stay right where she was in case the battle intensified. Sayng a silent prayer for the Nemo, she announced clearly to the room, "Continue red alert medical prep protocols. If things escalate, I want triage and emergency response teams to be rolling."


*** Space ***

Michael's Valkyrie rolled and dipped to dodge phaser fire. "C'mon!" he yelled. He formed back up on his wingman. "Cloaks! Of all the pirate-y things to do.

Close to Michael's fighter, the poor Nemo lost its shields. A different vessel decloaked next to the Nemo and pulled up along side it.

*** Black Hawk ***

"Di Pasquale!" Harvey called out, knowing that his security chief would know exactly what to do.

Camila had just brought the Black Hawk's shields up when she saw yet another vessel decloak next to the Nemo. She fired a volley of phaser fires towards their engines and weapons the moment she saw activity of transporter signals coming from the ship and knew their shields were down.

Just before any of the weapons volley could hit, the newest vessel jumped to warp. The small pirate crafts that hadn't been disabled, fired upon their derelict comrade before jumping to warp themselves. Harvey watched the fireball consume the smaller vessel, leaving very little behind.

The Captain grunted, leaning back in his chair. "Stand down from red alert, and have the squadron form a defensive perimeter." Harvey doubted the pirates would be back, and he doubted that they'd been able to steal much from the Nemo. "Mister Marsh, prepare a damage control team and let's get it over to the Nemo. Miss Di Pasquale, secure the ship. You and Miss Geisler can see that our guests are comfortable."

"Aye, Captain," Camila all but growled at the blatant destruction of the disabled ships and any evidence of cloaking technology that may have been on them. She secured the shields and stood down the weapons but kept the phasers ready. "I'll make certain they'll be as comfortable as Starfleet allows. Sir." She nodded to a secondary Tactical officer to take her place, then waited for Joey to join her before leaving the bridge.

At the Captain's new order, Joey summoned another Intelligence officer to take over on the bridge and rose to her feet. She couldn't recall the last time she'd been involved in an interrogation, and would be lying if she didn't admit to herself that she was a little excited to step into her former role of Security. "On it, Captain," she said as she caught up to Camila and left the bridge.

Zayna let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and sat back. Her eyes were glued to the viewscreen for a moment before turning back to the sensors, reviewing them on one panel while the current were on another. Why pirates?

"If you don't mind, Captain," Teddy said after sending messages to a handful of junior techs and engineers, "I'd like to lead the damage control team myself."

Harvey looked to Teddy, offered a confirming nod, and then returned to the viewscreen. He felt correct in assuming that the worst was now over. The pirates made their play, however limited it was. All they had to do now was complete the delivery, and wait for the Saratoga.

Not bad for a milk run, Harvey thought. Not bad indeed.

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