In Distress, Redux

Posted on 05 Jun 2014 @ 6:39pm by Captain Harvey Geisler & Commander C. Kos & Lieutenant JG Harold Sherman & Lieutenant JG Noxa & Lieutenant Hictus Dicon & Lieutenant JG Ivan Dash

2,937 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Pursuit
Location: USS Black Hawk
Timeline: February 1, 2388 || 1510 hours

"Shields are failing!" shouted the Karemma at the rear of the cockpit.

"Weapons have no effect!" shouted the gunner from the tactical station. He'd been firing every laser battery (all three of them) at the ships bombarding the freighter with weapons fire. Each blast either bounced off their shields or were absorbed. "Their shields have to be in tune with our frequencies!"

"Keep trying!" shouted the Karemma captain, doing his best to rewire the transmitter. Since the attack began, all of the frequencies were jammed by random signals. He had to get the transmitter tuned to a completely different range if they were to survive.

The wires sparked and the transmitter came back to life. Not sure if it was working, he began to speak into the microphone...

====[USS Black Hawk]====

Harvey stood in front of the bridge, his gaze fixed on the freighter and the Ferengi vessel that was slowly creeping towards it. His hour was not yet up, in fact it had only been fifteen minutes since he spoke with Damon Zeel. That didn't stop them from trying to get closer.

=/\= "Kos to Black Hawk, bring us home." =/\= came the XO's voice over the comm.

Harvey tapped his badge, eyes still fixed on the freighter. He hated having to leave it behind. "Bridge to Transporter Room, bring them home."

Warrant Officer Jessica Jenerou was monitoring the the away team, as they were transported back aboard the Black Hawk, making sure everything they had tagged as evidence had made it aboard too.

Kos felt the familiar tingle of the transporter energy beam grabbing hold of her, about to convert her into a matter stream. Moments later, she, along with the rest of the away team, rematerialized on the Black Hawk. She quickly shucked her EV suit, leaving it on the Transporter Room floor, before heading to the Bridge.

Lt(jg) Sherman had been busy monitoring many systems as well as working with WO Jenerou were working to recover the away team there was another distress call. With only partially listen to it he spoke up, "Captain we seem to be intercepting another distress call!" As the last of of the away team had been beamed aboard.

"Let's hear it!" he ordered.

Instantly, the speakers came alive with an alien's speech. It took a moment for the universal translator to perform its task. "To any vessel, this is the Freighter Dw'alli. We are under attack. Please help us! They mean to kill--!"

Sherman turned off the transmission, and relayed the coordinates to Tactical, CAG, and to Helm. They would all need this information in the immediate future. As well stored the entire transmission for so it could be listen by others who might be able to get some more information out of it.

Vex moved back across the bridge to his station and was logging back in when the distress signal came in, he punched a few buttons on his screen and quickly determined the origin of the signal.

“Sir, the transmission is coming from a vessel just on the edge of our long range sensors, it’s too far to get any accurate readings but it would appear there is at least three vessels at the source of the transmission, and sir I doubt it is a coincidence but the transmission is coming from slightly off of the trajectory of the ion trail we recorded leaving this attack.”

"Red alert!" Harvey ordered, instantly moving back to the center chair. "Recall all fighters. Ensign Dash, lay in a course."

==[CAG Flight Deck]==

Lt Commander Sheldon let out sigh, as the CAG-Flight Controller informed the Squadron they were finally being recalled. By the numbers all twelve birds of the 325th Fighter Squadron landed back on the Black Hawk. As Sheldon 'parked' his aircraft he notice the last pilots of the 555th Squadron were making their way to the pilots ready room. He waited for the bay doors to close so he and his pilots could exit their aircrafts. Once on the flight deck the Maintenance and Support elements of the CAG took over the fighters to move them where they could be checked over and repairs made.

Sheldon checked with the CAG-First Officer and heard about reports new distressed signal that the Black Hawk was going to be responding too. Sheldon sighed and pat his First Officer on the back. "Looks as if the 555th will be up next." Then he asked if a copy of the distress signal had been shared with CAG. He needed to go for debriefing, but he wanted to make sure that First Officer and others part of the planning group had what they needed to go forward. He would have to catch up after the 325th debriefing.

==[Bridge]==

Harvey hated leaving this other freighter behind, but with the Ferengi there was nothing more he could do. Hopefully, if his crew moved quickly enough, no one else would die today.

Ivan fingers moved quickly over his controls "Aye Commander, course ready on your mark. I have take the liberty of saving the two other headings for the future sir."

The turbolift doors opened, and Kos stepped onto the Bridge. She made her way to her chair while Geisler gave orders to the helm.

"Maximum warp, Mr. Dash. Punch it!" Harvey ordered, sitting in his chair.

"Aye Commander, maximum warp." Ivan pressed his finger onto the engage button and off they went. The Ensign had tapped into reserve power to push the ship into emergency warp and he could feel the engine's roaring.

Leaning towards Geisler, Kos asked quietly, "What's the situation Captain?"

"New distress call," Harvey said, turning to face his XO. "Actual transmission this time. I think we have a chance to save them."

"Let's hope so," she replied. "It would be unfortunate to lose two crews in one day."

Mac glanced back at her console readouts and then back to the Captain. "Maybe its good the Ferengi had valid claim to the last ship," she suggested. "Nothing back there but corpses and a damaged ship in need of major repair work."

"You'll have to tell me how things went on your end soon," Harvey pressed, wanting to know more. He knew this wasn't the time as he needed to prepare for whatever waited for them.

"Over dinner maybe. I haven't had a chance to cook in a while. Perhaps we'll have a little down time after this distress call," she offered. As soon as she stopped talking, she realized that what she had said could be seen as something other what she intended. She had always been a little awkward when it came to relationships and tended to inadvertently flirt with people. Particularly her senior officers. She hoped that Geisler didn't get the wrong idea.

Vex took a deep breath and readied himself, his sensors told him they would be arriving at their destination soon and he knew it would be a combat situation, it would be his first since the Dominion war and hoped he was ready for it.

==[CAG Flight Deck]==

After the debriefing and brief shower in his quarters he made his way back to the Pilots Ready Room. He needed to find out what plans they had formulated, and go over with them with Flight Boss, Flight Controllers, and Division Leaders of the 555th Fighter Squadron. This would be their initial mission and didn't want anyone to jump the gun. The planning had gone well, and they had pretty much followed the pre-planning that the 325th had used. His only hope it was the First Officer idea, and not pushed on to him. He wanted the 555th Squadron to have as much freedom to exercise their own missions as possible. He would review the logs of the meeting and make recommendation later if any were needed.

With that both Sheldon and his First Officer/Commander of the 555th went to Sheldon's Ready Room to discuss the options that his First Officer may face. Sheldon trusted that he would make the right decisions, but it was still up to him to guide him how he expected him to react. He was sure things will fall in place.

====[Freighter X'annon]====

"Shields are gone!" shouted the gunner as the indicator lights for one of his laser batteries were extinguished. "They're going for our weapons and engines!"

The captain looked out the forward window. He spied one of the attacking vessels had ceased its fire and was moving towards the X'annon, likely into transporter range. Ever since accepting this job, ferrying the precious cargo aboard across the sector, he knew it didn't pay enough. His family was poor, on the brink of poverty and about to lose everything they had. This job was their last chance at survival. He wished he had the money for the right escorts, but desperation made men do foolish things.

Today he would die. And his family would pay the price.

His ears ignored the negative reports and explosions happening behind him. In fact, the captain barely noticed the arrival of a new vessel behind the attackers, it's slate gray hull contrasting against the rusted red color of the three attacking vessels...

====[USS Black Hawk]====

"This is the USS Black Hawk!" Harvey announced, launching his body back to his feet. "Stand down immediately, or we will open fire."

No response came over the open channel, only static.

Without moving his eyes, Harvey began to issue orders. "Mr. Dash, get us over that freighter. Mr. Sherman, see if you can extend our shields to protect it once we're there. Tactical, open fire, target weapon systems only. CAG, launch your fighters. Defend that freighter."

Mac looked at her small console. She had previously arranged it to provide department alerts and status reports, and it currently showed a flurry of activity as the crew went to work complying with Geisler's orders. Touching a few controls, Mac accessed the sensor readouts so she could also monitor the status of the other ships.

Lieutenant Noxa took her tactical station, ascending up the small ramp that was installed for her. "Targeting weapons systems only, Captain" interrupted the Ferengi woman.

Ensign Dash moved the ship at full impulse over to the heavily damaged ship and placed them in between the majority of the attacking ships and the freighter. They would have to shoot around the Black Hawk now. Ivan also made sure that the two ships were close enough so the Black Hawk's shields could protect both vessels.

Vex’s didn’t bother looking at the view screen when they dropped out of warp and engaged the attacking vessels, his sensors showed him more than the screen ever could. He micro adjusted the sensor array to account for the minor discrepancy caused by phaser fire then scanned the three vessels.

Each hull was different but oddly the same as if they all started out as one class of ship and were modified individually after production, their weapons were different as well. The lead ship was firings a type of disrupter, the other was firing a type of phaser and the third a modified version of a Jem’hadar cannon. He also noted the affect the Hawk's phasers were having on the enemy ships shields, which was minimal.

He relayed his sensor readings to the tactical station then scanned the freighter, it was in bad shape but still functioning, he noted that the energy signature at the impact sites on the hull where the lead attackers weapons had hit matched the signature on the other freighter, the lead vessel must have been the one that attacked the freighter.

His thoughts were interrupted when a light flashed in the lower right hand corner of his screen, he detected life forms aboard. He turned in his seat and relayed his findings to the captain.

Deven frowned looking at the viewer. The thought of further loss of life was quite troubling. He glanced around the bridge. He couldn't help but notice the expression that flickered across Vex’s face. He knew that was likely a very bad thing. The crew was already stressed and slightly demoralized due to the inability to help the previous ship. That mean't the crew would fight that much harder to protect the freighter and its crew. An entirely normal response particularly in light of the hazard these vessels also present to the Black Hawk.

He made a mental note to send a general introduction to everyone's mailbox to let them know he was available should they need to talk.

Noxa had targeted the weapons systems as ordered and placed some well hit marks with Black Hawk's weapons. Time to put you in time out she thought to herself as she increased phaser strength and knocked out the target ship's weapons.

"I'm knocking their Weapons systems out, Captain" announced Lieutenant Noxa.

"Keep it up," Harvey replied. With his eyes still locked on the screen, he watched Noxa's phasers lance out and break through the attacker's shields. He spotted a small explosion, and one of the two engines sputter. The ship sputtered to a stop, only to go completely dark.

Kos quickly scanned the newly disabled ship to verify that the crew was not in danger. The Captain just wanted to stop the ships, not destroy them, not kill the crew. She caught Geisler's eye and nodded, signifying that the attacking ship was indeed disabled, but not at risk.

==[Engineering]==

Chief Engineer Dicon swept his hands across his console, issuing orders to the engineering team as he did so. "Engineering to the bridge, shield coverage over the freighter is complete, shields working at seventy percent efficiency."

"Blasted enemies" thought Dicon "They would have to attack before I have fully toured the warp core" He irritably stabbed at the buttons, shifting the energy through the system.

==[Bridge]==

Harvey almost didn't recognize the voice of his new Chief Engineer. "Good work, Dicon!" he called through the comm system as he stood next to the helm. Pointing a finger to Operations, but not turning around, Harvey ordered, "See if you can get it up to eighty, Mr. Sherman!"

Lt(jg) Shreman worked at his station, it was time to rob from Peter to pay for Paul. As he worked at his station,"Shielding at 75 percent." Working some more magic, "Shielding is now 77 percent,... 78 percent,... 79 percent,... we finally are at 80 percent, Sir!" with that he continued working on keeping all system working.

Harvey noticed on the viewscreen that one of the ships were moving to the other side of the freighter, hoping to find a weak point in the Black Hawk's shields. "Actual to CAG," Harvey ordered, "we have an attack vessel on the move. Have the 325th disable that ship."

==[325th Squadron]==

Lt Commander Sheldon seen the ship in question, "325th Squadron we have new orders, 555th continue with your attack!" He spoke into the All Hands Channels before switching his over to the 325th Channel, "We have someone trying to crash the party elsewhere." Sending to all 12 fighter view of the ship they were to attack, "Captain wants us to disable this ship! Red Division will attack first, followed by Blue and Gold Divisions. Division Leaders you know what to do!" With that he change his talking channel down to the Gold Division knowing everyone had been through the drills enough. It was times like this when training had to take over.

==[Bridge]==

Kos watched on her console as the fighter wing raced towards one of the attacking ships. She hadn't yet met the CAG, Commander Sheldon. She had previously served on another Akira, the Susquehanna , but that ship hadn't had a fighter wing. Rather it boasted a sizable fleet of shuttles, runabouts, and scout ships. These small craft were used frequently to perform science and survey missions, something that had not been in mind when the Advanced Starship Design Bureau had initiated the Perimeter Defense Directive, the program that had yielded the Akira, Steamrunner, Saber, and Norway class starships. ASDB had combat in mind with PDD ships. PDD ships had proven their meddle during the Dominion War and other conflicts. But they were not as well equipped as other vessels for scientific missions.

After combat continued for another minute, the captain received a notification that a transmission was incoming. "On screen," Harvey ordered.

Static instantly filled the viewscreen, only to be replaced by a full screen graphic bearing the Starfleet logo. The speakers filled the bridge with static, though there seemed to be some sort of unnatural clicking and hissing embedded in the sounds, almost insect-like.

"This is Harvey Geisler, commanding the Federation Starship Black Hawk."

"Federation Black Hawk..." came the insect-like reply. "You have offended us."

Harvey frowned. "We don't take kindly to seeing the innocent and defenseless under attack. I'm sorry if that offends."

"These Karemma are not innocent."

"But they are at least defenseless," Harvey countered immediately.

There was silence on the line, save for the muffled explosions, presumably minor. "You can have the Karemma, Federation Black Hawk. The Golden Stars will make you pay for their sins."

The transmission instantly cut out. One of the attackers caught the disabled ship in a tractor beam and all three ships warped out.

Harvey stared at the viewscreen for a few moments, not sure what to make of the threats. Finally, he ordered. "Stand down from Red Alert. XO, take an Away Team over to stabilize that vessel. Let's find out what's going on here."

~To Be Continued...~

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