Eye Spy III (The Little Guy)
Posted on Mon Jul 5th, 2021 @ 11:47pm by Commander Dean House & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lieutenant Chester "Duo" Maxwell & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant JG Avarak
Edited on on Tue Jul 6th, 2021 @ 1:02am
Mission:
Gamma Quadrant
Location: USS Sunfire
Timeline: Current
"Transporter Room, stand by to retrieve the remaining crew as soon as you have an opening"
There was a little look of concern on his face as the two were hit. He'd deal with that Jem'Hadar in a minute. Dean used the sustained phaser fire at the grid. Which did punch a hole in the shields. At the same time, Betty finally fired. The three didn't account for it needing a warm-up period otherwise it would have fired sooner. They can always work on it later.
Once Betty was off however, the angle was off, and Dean had done that on purpose. So it 'looked' like they had missed and catch the ships off guard. Watching it on screen as well as his console.
Betty suddenly hiked a ninety-degree angle straight for the second ship. Slamming into the shields and drawing power from it, dropping them. Literally 'bouncing' over towards the lead Bug. Picking up speed before slamming into it. An overly exaggerated explosion just from the impact before smaller ones cascaded throughout the ship. The lead Bug then completely exploded as well.
Dean kept the log of that and saved it so Avarak, Bonnie, and himself could review it later.
"Tactical, report" Rhenora watched several explosions rocked the Jem Hadar ships. 'Betty' as it had been nicknamed had done a heck of a job. There was still work to do though.
Dean wiped the smirk off his face, at least he hadn't fist pumped and cried out 'Yes!' when their work had paid off. Internally he did. "The lead Bug is completely destroyed. The second is severely damaged, borderline crippled. However, one thing I don't know about them is their ability to repair systems and get moving again. So I believe we still may be on a timetable, Captain."
"Let's use our time wisely then. Transporter room, beam the remaining Bajoran's aboard. Lieutenant House, once they are aboard, detonate the Bajoran ship's fuel cells." Rhenora instructed, finally releasing the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Detonate it, ma'am?" Raising an eyebrow, Dean looked to Rhenora curiously. "Vulcan's don't joke, I thought that was just a backup. We've got the upper hand now."
"Can we take out the Jem Hadar ship with our weapons?" She was a little unsure if the old Akira's weapons could do what they needed. If they could that would be one less loss for the Bajorans.
"Most of all the systems have been upgraded, I don't see why not. It's not going anywhere, Captain."
Rhenora paused for a moment of moral indecision in the aftermath of the battle. Whilst it was not completely over they had achieved their objective, the Bajoran's were safe, the Jem Hadar were no longer a direct threat. If she destroyed a crippled ship she would be no better than them.
" No... leave it" She said quietly.
"Captain?" Dean left a pause a moment, "Is that particularly wise? They have sensor data on us and the Bajoran ship. They'll get up and running after long enough and report back."
"If we destroy a crippled ship with no means of defending itself and poses no threat we are no better than them" She stood wearily, facing the talented tactical officer. "Let them go, they know we can defeat them, perhaps we should let that information get back"
"I suppose so." Looking down a moment. "Also I guess letting them have the information, they'll know we're not to be trifled with. Besides we.." Dean looked down at an alert warning. "How was there three! Helm! Hard to Starboard, now!"
Betty had done her work. One ship destroyed, a second crippled and a third so badly damaged that their only remaining tactic was to suicide themselves into the Sunfire and her crew. Meanwhile, when the medical team had arrived on the bridge, The First, still under his cloak, had slipped off the bridge and was looking to finish the task. He had overheard them saying they had transported the freighter crew onto the ship, all he had to do was discover where. Then he could finish it, a task of seven years in the making. He would finally have completion.
Back on the bridge the Captain's mind was once again working through their options. The first ship was destroyed, the second wounded, now the third seemed to be pissed and intent on ramming them.
The Sunfire twisted out of the way at the last minute, barely evading the Bug - who rained hell and fury with weapons as it passed.
Something exploded overhead, showering the bridge crew in a rain of smoke, sparks, and debris.
"House - return fire!"
"You sons a bitches." Dean growled a little bit. They were way too close for another Betty... though they only had three left at the moment anyway. Also too close for torpedoes. So just phasers it was. "Minimal damage. Our shields are at 83 percent. Damage to the secondary sensor array. Tertiary aft thrusters."
"Evasive Maneuvers! Get us back out to optimal weapons range" Rhenora ordered as the Sunfire shook again.
The Bug hunted them, refusing to give them the space they needed for a fair fight.
The Sunfire took a direct sharp 45-degree turn trying to get out of the way and at least the Bug off of them, or behind it. While Dean continued to fire back on it. "79%. Bug at 76% shields. Those things are mean. They're after our sensors. More damage to the secondary, Ma'am." Calling it and setting up a proximity torpedo. Dropping it right behind them on a two-second timer.
Meanwhile, Kla'ren was at his workstation trying to keep the warp drive online. Suddenly, there was an explosion, causing some of his staff to be thrown from their positions.
"We need medics down in engineering stat!" The Andorian called out over comms.
Soon after medics and more officers poured into engineering to begin the appropriate tasks.
"We need to secure the transwarp research, to prevent it from being damaged." He called out. He and three other officers began to stabilize the research so it wouldn't be destroyed.
Her defensive position in the CORE had her working furiously to keep everything operating smoothly up until this point. So far her communication patch had held as the communications device Avarak was designing was not yet in place. The ship was strong and had so far taken quite a pounding.
As she focused on the control board though, her targeting orb chirped strangely, alerting her that something was wrong. She no sooner looked up at it when she thought she heard, breathing. Standing, the red lights of the red alert illuminating the surroundings, she called out, "Hello? Is someone there?"
There was nothing, no response, no noise, and no warning. Suddenly she was launched ten feet backwards into the air, landing solidly against the CORE itself. She felt the brunt of the impact in her back, and as she slid down to the floor, she could hear the crunch of dozens of isolinear chips. Sparks lashed out, mixing with the blood that trickled from her head. Before she closed her eyes from the pain, she saw several blasts lash out both from whatever hit her and her targeting orb as it attempted to strike back. Bonnie down.
Back on the bridge, the red alert lighting was replaced by darker emergency lighting, several critical systems dropping offline.
"Engineering reports damage to the computer core... repair, security and medical crews are on route" Ops announced.
"Switch to backup processors" Rhenora ordered as the Sunfire lost navigational control until the secondary processors came online. What else had they lost at this critical time?
Kla'ren moved to another console. He noticed the computer core's damage continued to get worse until it stopped. He moved back to the console near the core when he felt something press against his back.
"Eject the core. Now." Ordered a mysterious voice.
Thriss had a good idea who it was. "And if I don't?"
"Then you shall perish and I will find one of your lessers who will." He was both forceful, yet determined in his orders.
"For a Jem'Hadar, the stakes are rather low. You would only kill me and eject the core?" Thriss tapped at his console to begin the sequence to eject the core, as well as send a message to the bridge. He had no intention of ejecting the core. It was risky, but it was the best option he had.
The First pressed harder into Thriss' back, his head on a swivel as he monitored his surroundings. The core wasn't his goal, merely a secondary. He had to get this ship and her crew out of his way so that he could complete his task. "No tricks Federation." He needed to find the Bajorans.
"No tricks, it just takes a while, which authorization codes and secure ways to get in." Thriss said as he continued setting up a core eject sequence. There were much faster ways, but he was buying himself time so he could get his message sent. "Though, why not destroy the core? You are obviously trying to get rid of us." Thriss said as he typed the following encrypted message into his console, hoping that the First would not see: Bridge, intruder alert in main engineering:
Thriss continued the sequence. "Just one more authorization sequence, and then I can eject the core."
"We are not here for you. We just want the freighter crew. We have a task to complete. A task given to a soldier must be obeyed." The First repsonded simply.
There was a bit of a gutteral growl given, "He got away, has to be. We haven't taken that much damage. Permission to head to Engineering and deal with the pest, Captain." Dean didn't move yet from his station.
"Granted, take Maxwell with you. Commander Savar - take the tactical station" Rhenora's gut clenched as she heard more explosions elsewhere in the ship. The Jem Hadar ship was being relentless - taking advantage of the Sunfire's internal damage.
"Savar - fire all weapons, try to protect our core"
"Aye Captain." Savar said while moving to the tactical station, his hands gliding over the console as he activated and fired first the phasers targeting key areas of the Jem'Hadar ship. Then followed up with two salvos of torpedoes focusing on the engines.
"Yes, Ma'am." Dean checked to make sure he still had the mini-transporter pouch on his hip with the bow and quiver in it. Yup. Not using it yet. Just heading to the Turbolift and calling for Engineering.
Once the doors opened Dean only slipped out and then to the side. Giving a look around. Crouching to lower the chance of his presence being noticed. Any Engineers could point him to where, and he held up a finger for them to be quiet.
Sneaky fraker.. .then again, he kind of banked on it. Since Thriss had the First occupied. Dean could first move over and check on Bonnie. Shaking his head a bit. She was alive. Reaching up to tap on the console to tell Med to wait before coming down there. Turning his attention over to creep towards Thriss and the First.
Meanwhile, Sarah and her team were getting rather busy in sickbay, they had a small team on the bridge keeping that lot in one piece, and now had been paged to Engineering a few minutes after. "Sanchez, you're it till I get back" She shouted as she hoisted her medkit and took off to Engineering.
The ship rocked, a reminder there was one or more ships still out there hunting them. Rhenora hit the deck as one of the EPS conduits ruptured on the bridge from the weapon's impact, sending most of the crew flying. 'Not one of my finest days' she thought to herself as she picked herself up and hauled ass back to the safety of her command chair.
"Savar, return fire with whatever works at the moment, Helm, try and get us into a better position"
Finally coming out of hiding, since Thriss was being held, the silent approach wasn't going to work. So...the blunt approach. Standing up and walking out. Hands were not up. "Hey," Dean nodded his head up quickly. "Pick on someone you can actually fight, big boy." That may or may not be a mistake.
The First turned and looked at Dean. With the First distracted, Thriss decked the Jem'Hadar commander on the head.
Sarah had hot-footed to Engineering, finding chaos there when she finally skidded there. There were people everywhere, fixing things, bleeding, yelling things. She pulled out her tricorder and worked out where the original call came from - then headed to the computer core - still smoking from various locations. There she found Bonnie bleeding from a head wound but alive.
"Bonnie!" She shouted over the din of klaxons and fire suppression systems, noting the severity of the injury. It looked worse than it actually was, but head wounds always bled like nobody's business. A dermal regenerator and a hypo later and the young tech would be fine.
"I'm okay, really." Bonnie said coming to. "mild concussion maybe, but I'm stronger than I look." She smiled up at Sarah.
Now onto the next patient. Poking her head out into the main Engineering room she looked around to see who needed her next.
Thriss looked at the unconscious Jem'Hadar, and then at Dean. "Thank you for the assistance Lieutenant. Might I suggest taking our unconscious intruder into custody?"
"Eep!" Sarah nearly tripped over the downed Jem Hadar as the ship rocked again, reminding everyone they still had problems to deal with.
"He's not staying do.." Just what Dean was about to say happened. The First wasn't actually out and swept Thriss' legs out from under him.
Dean didn't say anything about being right. Shoving Thriss out of the way in Sarah's direction with his foot and turning to the First that was getting up.
Whom reached up and re-upped his Ketracel White pump. Pulling the injection tube out. "This isn't going to end well for you," looking over his shoulder slightly. "Get everyone to a safe spot and Bonnie out of here." Looking back to catch a double-fisted uppercut to the chin. Dean staggered back a little.
TBC
