Vadia part II

Posted on Mon Mar 9th, 2026 @ 1:55pm by Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant JG Micheal Stevens & Lieutenant JG Jacob Rosen & Lieutenant JG Rowan Hale & Lieutenant JG Olivia Voight & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Commander Jennifer Baldric & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell

2,484 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Beholder
Location: Vadia IX / Skygowen
Timeline: Current

Vadia IX - Prison

The first sensation came through the boots. A vibration rose from the stone beneath the security officer’s stance, faint at first, then gathering weight until the ground itself seemed to breathe. The containment well answered with a low resonance that rolled through the prison basin like distant thunder trapped underground. Dust lifted in slow spirals along the interior walls as something immense stirred below.

Then the surface of the well fractured with light, a swelling column of dark radiance that carried motion inside it, shapes folding through one another like shadows in deep water. The officer tightened his grip on the rifle as the first of them rose free, a form composed of luminous geometry and drifting mass, vast enough to turn the prison wall into a small thing.

Back in the prison the screeching increased a notch, causing Batel to wince as she channeled her energy. It was harder this time, taking energy she didn't have to keep them in the box.

"I can't...." she struggled, grasping her head.

"Kaylen to ET2...we're out of time!"

At that moment the Vezda streamed from the well, surrounding and circling their first hosts in millennia. They were almost frenzied with need.

Batel projected a bubble around the team, just enough to protect them as the team drew their weapons. Rhenora stepped closer, one hand on her phaser, the other on Batel as though she could provide the strength the other needed. She looked towards Dean.

More followed. They poured from the well in deliberate silence, bodies stretching and coiling through the air as though gravity itself served them. Each one traced a slow orbit along the interior circumference of the prison basin, gliding above the ramparts with patient precision.

Their passage drew faint distortions across the air, lines of force bending toward them like iron filings around a magnet. The officer watched one sweep overhead, its immense form blotting the sun for a heartbeat, light rippling across the prison stone in shifting patterns that felt ancient and deliberate.

The rifle in his hands held weight, training, purpose. The beings circling the walls carried the presence of something far older than any prison, something that regarded the fortress below with quiet curiosity.

The prison had been designed for occurrences such as this. The secondary gateway was shut, limiting the way the Vezda could leave the planet. They swirled, starting to attack the bubble Batel had thrown around them, each impact causing the Captain to wince in pain. Rhenora squeezed her arm in silent reassurance, noting that Dean was doing the same.

"Just a few more moments!" Kaylen encouraged as the bubble began for form cracks, weak points as Batel's fragile energy began to wane. "Doc!" Rhenora called as they supported more of Marie's weight.

Rowan was already moving as Rhenora called to him, tricorder raised as he stepped in beside Batel. The device chirped sharply as it processed the surge of neural activity.

“Her cortical load is beyond sustainable limits,” he said evenly. His hand steadied Batel’s shoulder as another impact rattled the weakening barrier.

“She’s burning through what little reserve she has left.” His gaze flicked briefly toward Kaylen. “At this rate, Captain… she has less than two minutes.”

Rhenora took a second to process the new information. "If she falters, we all die, and the rest of this sector will soon follow. Do what you have to" it wasn't an order she liked giving, but it was one that she had.

Rowan’s tricorder chirped again as the neural readings climbed into dangerous territory. "She’s taking direct feedback from whatever they are,” he said evenly. “If that continues, she’ll lose consciousness before the engineering window closes.”

He pulled a hypospray from his kit and pressed it gently against Batel’s neck. “This will blunt the neural overload. It may buy her seconds.” His hand steadied her as another impact rippled through the failing barrier.

“Captain Batel,” he said quietly, “I need you conscious just a little longer.”

Batel nodded mutely, her entire attention on keeping the bubble in tact as much as she could. Rhenora willed the engineering team to shave seconds off the estimate, and willed the drugs to keep Batel conscious enough to hold the Vezda at bay. She felt powerless in this epic struggle.

The Vezda were relentless, attacking the bubble relentlessly. One managed a hole, Rhenora picked it off with a phaser. They sensed their victory was at hand.

Seconds ticked by at an excruciating pace.

ET2

"Commander if we activate too early, and the other team fails to activate on time, we could inadvertently destroy the subspace flow in this entire region of space." Bonnie pleaded to Commander Baldric. "We need... two minutes and 33 seconds." She quickly calculated.

Baldric nodded and relayed, getting no response other than the screeching of Vezda. "I hope you can shave a little off that Bonnie, sounds like it's getting hectic back there"

"I canna' change the laws of physics Commander." Bonnie retorted, "but I will try." She then tapped her badge, "Engineering Team Two to Sunfire, I need a focused particle stream of negatively charged Chronotrons ready to fire on my mark, coordinates will be relayed momentarily." The screeching noise from inside the prison grew louder and the hairs on Bonnies neck stood tall.

"Engineering Team Two, this is Sunfire." Jacob responded crossing to assist with the crew member at the tactical console. "Solid copy, preparing stream on your mark, standing by for coordinates." He said tapping in commands for the ordered parameters.

She fed the coordinates into the panel and sent them to the ship. When they fired it would hit the prison and surrounding area. Upon impact she would release the first injection from the inverter into the Ley Lines creating a wave effect towards Skygowen. Then it would be up to ET1 to send the wave back, inverting the energy into a loop. The alarm on the tricorder sounded. She tapped her badge, "Sunfire, fire the Chronotron stream."

Vadia IX - Prison

The vibration climbed through the officer’s legs and into his spine until his balance slipped from him. His knees struck the stone hard and the rifle clattered from his hands, skidding across the dust. Overhead, one of the circling Vezda shifted its path and descended in a slow, terrible grace, its vast form narrowing as it fell, folding into a column of dark sludge that poured over him like liquid glass.

The air tightened around his body. His breath locked in his chest as the sludge pressed through skin, through muscle, through every nerve with searing precision. His back arched violently, fingers clawing at the ground as veins of cold brilliance spread beneath the surface of his flesh. For a moment his eyes held terror, wide and human. Then the sludge reached them. The color in his face drained away, replaced by a steady dark inner glow as his body rose unsteadily to its feet, head turning toward the prison walls with a new and patient awareness.

Captain Kaylen had her attention on Batel for a split second, but felt somwghing very wrong withing their little bubble of crisis. They had brought two security officers with them, one of which was now acting very diffefently to before. His weapon lay on the ground and he lunged towards Batel, black goop swirling around his hands.

"You will finally die Beholder!" His dark mutant voice threatened as he moved. Rhenora stepped in front with her weapon raised, not quick enough to get a shot off but enough to physically block Marie with her body.

Rowan reacted before the thought had fully formed.

“Captain!”

The warning came sharp as the officer lunged. Rowan shifted beside them, one hand steadying Batel as the other reached down for the fallen rifle skidding across the ground.

He brought the weapon up and fired once, the phaser blast striking center mass and throwing the host backward across the prison floor. He didn’t watch where the body fell. His attention was already back on Batel,

“Her neural activity is holding,” he said quickly, raising his tricorder again. “But only just.”

Rhenora coughed up black gunk as the security officer come Vezda from from Rowan's phaser fire. Her lungs burned with the foul energy discharged from the spiralling beings.

Batel and Dean stood side by side, working together to keep the team alive. Buying them all desperate minutes until the Engineering teams were ready.

Rhenora coughed again "Anytime now" the sarcasm was strong though the situation was perilous. The Vezda continued pounding the bubble relentlessly, smelling their hosts through the veil of energy.

"Hold your tits Nora! We're trying!" Dean called out. Closing his eyes a moment and pushing forward past Batel's own control. That was going to hurt, but he should be able to get it through and hold things back a bit more, because of his genetic make up. Jenn is going to kill him if this didn't. "NOW!"

The bubble expanded and solidified, becoming slightly opaque as fresh energy bolstered it. Rhenora could see the strain on Dean's face, coupled with fatigue on Batel's. She knelt, still coughing black goup but focused her phaser on the Vezda outside, now clearly pissed their hosts were fighting back.

"Tell Jennifer I love her." Dean shoved Batel out of the lock they were in. Pushing all he had outward. Closing his eyes and looking upward. He could take this.

Enemy Bridge

"They are emitting some kind of energy beam" the weapons officer on the enemy bridge announced.

"Good, ready our weapons. Helm, come about. Let us strike while they are vulnerable!"

USS Sunfire Bridge

No sooner had the chronoton beam begun to be emitted there came a beeping from tactical.

"Sir, we have a ship emerging from that spacial anomaly on a direct bearing for our location. They are charging weapons!"

T'Lar had never been in the Number One chair before, but she knew what was expected of her at this moment. Fortunately the shields were already up due to the yellow alert, but the ship's weapons had yet to be brought online.

"Red Alert!"

Jacob whirled around immediately, his jovial demeanor dropping. "Open a channel." He ordered to the communications station. "Unidentified vessel, this is Lieutenant Jacob Rosen of the Federation Starship Sunfire. Power down your weapons or we will open fire." Jacob motioned to cut the channel with a curt motion of his arm. "Guns." He said to the tactical officer. "Charge phasers and show we have teeth. Helm, offensive pattern Jem'hadar Alpha three." It felt like an old pair of boots, this part of himself. He would not freeze this time, Jacob would not lose another ship. Jacob looked to T'Lar and addressed her.

"They get one chance to back off, then we burn 'em out of the sky. Do you concur?"

"I conc..." T'Lar attempted to answer

The enemy ship charged weapons and fired without answering the hail, letting their phasers do the talking.

The Sunfire rocked as the enemy fire impacted the Akira class' shields. T'Lar found herself holding on for dear life to the arms of the Number One chair, gritting her teeth as she got her first taste of ship to ship combat.

"Shields holding at 80 percent, Sir!" came Tactical

"Return fire!", exclaimed T'Lar.

As Jacob rocked with the ship in his seat he breathed slowly, letting the situation play over in his mind. He looked to T'Lar, resolute and ready. "We're not gonna be able to slug it out with them conventionally for very long. I've got an idea but you'll need to trust me."

"You are in command. We follow your orders, Captain." T'Lar answered calmly; her demeanor not betraying the knot of fear in her stomach.

"Helm, prepare to cut propulsion on my mark. Gonzo, when we cut engines, I want you to vent a percentage of our ionized plasma." Jacob continued, standing over the tactical readout. "We're about to play possum."

Hangar Bay - USS Sunfire

Rosa had already felt the tension building across the flight deck the moment the first impact rattled through the hull. She pivoted from the tactical repeater and keyed the squadron channel, voice steady despite the tremor in the deck plates. “Flight Control to all wings, stand by for scramble. Condition Crimson.” The Akira-class carrier architecture beneath her feet came alive as technicians cleared the launch lanes and the ready craft powered their reactors. Three squadrons sat armed and fueled in the launch cradles, fifteen Peregrine interceptors in total, the sort of small-craft complement ships like the Akira were designed to deploy in combat support roles.

“Sunfire Control to Red Squadron. Call signs Red One through Red Five, prepare for immediate launch. Blue Squadron, Blue One through Five, stand ready on secondary rails. Gold Squadron hold position in reserve.” Her hands moved quickly across the console, pushing targeting telemetry from the bridge down into the fighter control network. “Load micro-photon packages and pulse phasers to hot standby. Helm alignment vectors uploading now. Red Squadron you will form attack screen forward of the bow, pattern Kestrel. Blue Squadron hold as intercept net off port quarter. Gold Squadron remain in bay until command authorization.”

The deck shuddered again as enemy fire struck the shields somewhere above them, a distant thunder rolling through the hull. Rosa’s eyes stayed on the launch indicators while the squadron pilots checked in one by one. “Red One ready.” “Red Two ready.” “Blue Squadron standing by.” She let the cadence settle for a breath, disciplined, controlled, then keyed the channel again. “All wings hold launch. Repeat, hold launch. Awaiting bridge authorization. The moment that order comes down, we move.”

=^= "Bridge to Flight Control. Commander we're about to vent some ionized plasma to look like we're dead in the water." Jacob's voice came through the channel with the slightest tilt of amusement. "That should mask your launch as well as your drive signatures. They can hit like a truck so I imagine they'll be over confident and come in for the kill." =^=

She glanced over the flight controls, fingers already moving across the console as she brought the launch sequence to a quiet, ready state. =^= “Make it convincing, Bridge. If they think we’re dead in the water, I’d rather they commit to their funeral.” =^=

A flicker of anticipation curled through the back of her mind. Bold, Coy, mostly Handzon, murmured, its presence like a cool ripple through her thoughts. Predators often mistake stillness for weakness.

Good, Rosa replied silently in her head. Let them. She eased the fighter’s power levels down even further, burying the drive signature beneath the background noise of the ship.

TBC

 

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