Battle for the Badlands IV - The Fallout Continues
Posted on Sun Aug 16th, 2026 @ 3:16am by Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Lieutenant Leo Da'Cinci & Remal Kajun & 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 Jacob Rosen & Lieutenant JG Micheal Stevens & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Lieutenant JG Olivia Voight & Lieutenant Sarah Wilson & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell
3,020 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Pirates!
Location: Badlands
USS Sunfire - Bridge
Jenna stirred, the pain arriving before awareness, spreading through her ribs with every breath and pulsing sharply behind her right eye. Her fingers twitched against the helm. The familiar shape beneath them gave her the first piece of certainty she could find. She was still on the bridge.
She opened her eyes. Her world refused to settle, like a night of binge drinking gone wrong. Emergency lighting flickered through smoke and drifting dust. The forward bulkhead had become a jagged opening sealed only by a trembling forcefield. The main viewscreen was gone. Somewhere nearby, something sparked and hissed before falling silent.
Jenna swallowed and tried to breathe deeply. Her ribs objected immediately. She winced and brought one hand toward her side before stopping halfway, disorientation pulling her attention back toward the helm. She looked down at her bloodied fingers, then slowly raised her eyes toward the wreckage surrounding her.
Her memories continued arriving in fragments. The pod. The explosion. The turn. Forty kilometers. Her hands had held on. Somehow, through all of it, she had kept hold some small piece of the ship. Jenna stared at the ruined helm for several seconds before her breathing steadied enough for her to understand the most important thing. She was alive and the Sunfire was still here, at least her small portion of it.
USS Sunfire - Bridge
It was the noise that brought Bonnie back. Something shrieked nearby, a sharp metallic sound followed by the deep groan of stressed hull plating. Bonnie's eyes opened without understanding what she was seeing. Emergency lights flickered across the bridge in uneven pulses, turning smoke and drifting debris into fragments of a room she recognized.
Then the pain arrived, beginning in her shoulder and spreading through her chest in a hot, nauseating wave. Bonnie sucked in a breath and immediately regretted it. Her left arm lay at an angle that made no sense, cradled against her body as though it belonged to someone else.
She tried to move. Pain answered. Her eyes squeezed shut as she fought to keep consciousness. Memory returned in pieces. The weapons pod. The explosion. The bridge becoming weightless. Dean's hand around her arm.
She remembered him catching her. She remembered the sound her shoulder had made. Bonnie swallowed hard and opened her eyes again. The bridge remained around her, battered and dark, but still there. Sorta.
USS Sunfire - Engineering
For several moments there was nothing. Then Leo's hand moved. His fingers curled against the deck plating, searching for purchase that gave him no useful information. His breathing came shallow and uneven, each breath carrying a dull ache through his ribs. Somewhere beneath the pain, his body began assembling the facts in the only order it knew how.
Cold deck. Dark room. Head hurts. Warp core silent. Ship still exists. That last thought brought a faint, almost imperceptible movement to his brow. Leo swallowed, tried to move his arm, and discovered that the darkness had already made the simple task considerably more difficult than it had any right to be. "Ahh..." he rasped, voice barely audible in the ruined Engineering compartment. "That was... expensive."
His eyes opened. Nothing answered them. The darkness remained absolute, broken only by the occasional dying spark somewhere beyond his reach. Leo lay there for another breath, listening to the wounded ship around him. Somewhere beyond the darkness, metal groaned beneath stresses it had been built to withstand but never meant to carry all at once. A ruptured conduit hissed and died. The warp core gave one faint, uneven pulse before falling silent again, and that silence reached him more deeply than the pain in his skull.
His hand dragged weakly across the deck until his palm settled against the plating, as though he could somehow feel the ship through it. His fingers curled there, trembling. “Ah, lass...” The words came out barely above a whisper, stripped of his usual irritation and rough humor. He swallowed against the ache in his throat and listened to the distant ticking of cooling metal. “What’ve they done t’ye?”
USS Sunfire - Crew Quarters
The silence lasted only a few seconds before Patina began to cry. Remal heard the sound in the darkness and immediately turned toward her. He had been braced against the side of the bed, one hand gripping the edge of the mattress to keep himself anchored as the last tremors passed through the ship. The emergency lighting had failed completely in their quarters, leaving only the faintest glow from a damaged status panel somewhere near the door.
"Patina?"
"Scared." Her voice was small beneath the distant groan of the ship.
Remal moved toward her carefully, finding her by touch rather than sight. He lowered himself beside her and drew her against him, one arm wrapping securely around her shoulders. "I know," he murmured. "I've got you."
Another shudder passed through the deck. Somewhere beyond the bulkhead, metal complained under a strain it had never been designed to bear. Patina tightened her grip on him. "Ship break?"
Remal listened to the silence that followed the question. He could hear no engines. No ventilation. No familiar background vibration beneath the deck. The Sunfire had always spoken to him in those little ways, even when he had not consciously listened. "We're still here," he said. "That's what matters right now."
He kept his arm around her and waited until her breathing began to slow. Only then did his eyes adjust enough to make out the room around them.
The quarters had been spared the worst of the explosion, but the room he knew so well had been changed. The kitchenette had partially torn free from its fittings. A cabinets hung open, their contents scattered across the floor. The small table had shifted several inches and one of the chairs lay on its side.
Then he saw the shrine. The small alcove dedicated to the Prophets had taken a hit from something thrown loose during the impact. One of the devotional candles had broken. The cloth beneath them had been pulled crooked, and several of the objects that had once rested there with quiet familiarity now lay scattered across the deck.
Remal stared at it for a moment. It was such a small thing. The ship had lost weapons, engines, entire sections of its structure. Somewhere outside, hundreds of meters of starship had been turned into wreckage. People were undoubtedly injured. Some might already be dead. And yet the sight of that little shrine lying broken in the darkness struck him with an unexpected ache.
It had been part of their lives without demanding anything from them. A place to pause. A place to remember. A few simple objects kept because they mattered. Now even that had been shaken loose.
Remal reached out and found one of the devotional pieces by touch. He closed his fingers around it and held it carefully in his palm.
Patina was still crying against his shoulder. "We'll put it back," he told her.
She sniffed. "Shrine?"
"The shrine. The kitchen. The chairs." A faint smile touched his voice. "Perhaps even make things better."
A small, broken laugh escaped her.
Remal held her a little tighter. "We'll put all of it back like it was."
He looked once more toward the darkened room. The Sunfire had carried them through battles, long journeys, quiet evenings, arguments, laughter, meals prepared badly and meals prepared well. Their lives had accumulated here in ways that had nothing to do with the ship's specifications or its mission profile. A photograph. A child's drawing. A cup left where it should not have been. A shrine kept in quiet reverence. A kitchenette that had become familiar through countless ordinary mornings.
The ship had not simply been damaged. Their little corner of it had been wounded too. Remal lowered his eyes to the small object in his hand and then carefully set it beside him. "Come here," he whispered.
Patina buried her face against him again and he kissed her tiny nose ridges. For the moment, there was nothing else to do. So Remal held his daughter in the darkness and listened to the wounded ship groan around them, grateful for the simple fact that they were still here to hear it.
USS Sunfire - Bridge
Aurora was back in her seat her biggest fear was the unknown right now, she had faith that the ship’s nursery staff would be taking care of N’vea but her fears remained. The ship was a mess, they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Savar looked about the destroyed bridge with flickering emergency lights casting the bridge on a dim light. Some consoles had power, some sorted and sparked or some simply had no power. "What works?" He asked to no one in particular.
Aurora moved around to one of the engineering consoles. “Uncertain right now, we have a failure of the main computer! I can’t access engineering from so let’s hope they’re good down there, and have it in hand.” She tapped the comms. “Comms are down too we’re on our own for now.”
"Then we need to work on restoring comms so we can communicate with the rest of the ship and begin to effect repairs." Savar replied.
Ronson moved to one of the consoles at the rear of the bridge, intact but flickering wildly. He brought up what should have been showing on the viewscreen.
"Ahh... the bad Sunfire's busted, and it looks like the Dreadnought has taken heavy damage." He advised, catching glimpses between the static. "Our other ships - looks like they took damage but are probably better off than us - which wouldn't exactly be hard"
USS Sunfire - Engineering
Thriss had tried everything, as did the rest of the engineering team. The Sunfire was dead in the water.
The Andorian glanced at everyone on the ground. He tapped his badge. "Kla'ren to sickbay" Static. Damnit. There wasn't anything else he could try at the moment that could be effective. Thriss began helping to treat the wounded seeing as there was a lack of medics.
Thriss called out to anyone still up and about. "I need options people!"
USS Sunfire - Bridge
Back on the bridge, the EMH flickered with a queasy frequency as he appeared, disappeared, then seemed to stabalise on the carnage that the bridge had become.
"Please state the... don't bother." He started before looking to see who was conscious with the highest rank.
"Commander Savar - priorities?" He looked around at the various wounded, tricorder already in hand and medkit in the other.
Savar didn't hesitate. "The Captain needs to be transferred to Sickbay and treated." He replied crisply as he looked about the wrecked bridge and the various injured. "Then I leave it in your capable hands on how to proceed in treating the rest of the injured."
"Commander the Bristol reports they are going to slowly stop our tumble with their tractor beam, then begin to pull us back out of the Badlands." Jacob read off from the flickering console. His gaze rested on T'Lar, eyes softening in relief barely believing she was here. She was alive. They were alive. He could push through.
T'Lar looked at Commander Dean House. He was right, they needed to get the beam off of the Captain before anything else could happen.
"Commander House is right, we need to get this beam off of the Captain. I believe that Commander Savar and I and Commander House possess enough strength to do it." She said taking a position grasping the beam and starting to lift.
"I would think so as well, T'Lar, Dean gave a nod to her and Savar. Giving a look along the beam and it's positioning. He moved to the middle where the heaviest of the weight would be. Feeling his fingers around for the best grip.
"Then let us not tally." Savar replied and nodded and moved into position opposite House. His hands going around the beam, making sure he had a secure grip. "When you are ready Mr. House."
T'Lar turned to Jacob.
"Lieutenant Rosen, would it be possible for the Bristol to transport the Captain to the Bristol and then from the Bristol to our sickbay?" T'Lar inquired. "Or even better, transfer her to theirs?"
Jacob stared for a moment at the flickering readouts. "Our shields are barely there at best, there should be no issue with beam outs, and that might be the safest for the Captain." He looked back to T'Lar. "I can minimize our subspace comm traffic to limit interference too."
The bulkhead shifted with the combined efforts of T'Lar, Savar and Dean, allowing the EMH to treat the Captain as best he could. Ronson attempted to coax the bridge systems into giving up more data. The minute the Bristol's tractor beam latched on, everyone upright stumbled, followed by a breath of relief. Help was here.
Powerful beams of light washed across the bridge. The light moved through the ruined interior. Light flooded the bridge interior from a shuttle just beyond where the viewscreen once was. Rosa reached for her comm badge and pressed her fingers against it. “Commander Coy to Sunfire.”
Her voice carried through the shuttle, steady despite everything still moving inside her. She looked directly at Jenna through the open bridge. “This is the Flyer Redbird.” She took in a breath, “We stand ready to assist.”
Jenna lifted her head toward the shuttle, one hand still braced against the ruined console as the blood from her temple traced another slow path down her cheek. The illumination caught the exhaustion in her face, along with the faint, crooked smile that managed to survive it. She touched her comm badge with trembling fingers. "Good to hear your voice, Commander." Her breath caught as her bruised ribs protested the effort, and she glanced across the shattered bridge before looking back toward the Redbird. "We're alive, mostly."
She straightened as much as her battered body allowed, instinctively reclaiming the posture of the flight officer she had been before the explosion. "Stand by, Redbird. We're going to need transportation services." Her gaze lingered on Rosa and the shuttle for one heartbeat longer than necessary, relief passing quietly between them. Then she turned to the crew. "We can use the... Firebird's transporter."
Jacob nodded, keying commands into the Operations Console. "Roger, Commander. Notifying Bristol so they can focus on tractor beam recovery." He looked back to Jenna a few minutes later. "We also have the Defiant reporting they can take on the more immediate injured as well." He flashed an exhausted yet hopeful smile past Jenna and towards T'Lar for a brief moment. "Looks like all our friends want to help us limp home."
The EMH stood, flickered on and off a few times with the unsteady power, and commented: "I've stabilised the Captain enough for transport. I recommend the Bristol; they have the largest, most equipped sickbay." He flickered again before disappearing completely.
"Liaising with the Bristol, they advise they can take 30-40 wounded. The Defiant can take maybe 10 max, the others 20 or 30 each. They are all standing by for transports," Ronson advised, glancing towards Savar.
"Mr. Ronson, begin transferring the injured to the other Federation ships, with the captain and the most severely injured to be transferred to the Bristol. I will stay here aboard the Sunfire as we make our way home and repair what we can. Any others who wish to stay may do so as well." Savar answered with Vulcan calm.
“I’m staying with you,” Aurora added. “But I need to be sure N’vea and the other children get off the ship safely.”
Savar nodded at Aurora's statement. " Very good. Then he added, "Of course, make the necessary arrangements and see that all children are accounted for." Savar replied.
Jenna glanced toward Savar, then down at the battered bridge around them. "I'll go. I can help make sure the Captain is tended to." She pushed herself upright, immediately wincing as her ribs protested the movement, and steadied herself against the console until the pain subsided. "I'd stay, but..." She gestured weakly toward the ruined helm. "Seeing as the ship can't really fly at the moment..."
Bonnie raised her working arm, the gesture immediately followed by a small wince as the movement tugged at her injured shoulder. "I'll go too." She looked toward the others, then back at the ruined bridge. "I mean, I'd like to stay. I want to stay. If I wasn't hurt, I'd stay." Her expression shifted through the possibilities as though she were trying to decide while speaking it aloud in real time.
She lowered her arm carefully and glanced toward Savar. "I can help with the Captain and get checked out myself." Her voice softened as she looked once more around the battered bridge, already sounding reluctant to leave it. "Then I'll come back as soon as they say I'm fit."
"Commander Ramthorne, Commander Durnell." Savar replied formally, "You have no need to explain. You are injured and should have your injuries tended to. In addition, as you have mentioned, you can assist the captain, look out for her, and make sure she gets the medical care she needs. We will all reunite again." Savar replied.
"Making the necessary arrangements' Ronson advised, working the panel before him until it started to fritz and a tendril of smoke wafted upwards, the surface now dark. "Uhh...using the shuttles and the ships, we are down about 100 wounded....my panel kinda died so I can't keep track anymore," the Yoeman advised after several transporter beams whisked through the bridge.
"Thank you, Mr. Ronson," Savar replied. "I know of your loyalty to the captain, and she is fortunate to have it. If you wish to depart as well, you may do so."
TBC
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