[Galaxy] 2159.05.09 - DJL - Capt Cole, SubCmdr T'Pren, LtCmdr Stingley, Cmdr Hanley

[naschell at comcast.net]

~~ Challenger, Bridge ~~ 
=/\= "Nelson-Samad to the Bridge. What is our status? We have micro fractures in the reactor. We have maybe two hours before we are on thrusters only." =/\= 

T'Pren froze as the voice of Commander Nelson-Samad rang through the bridge, right on the heels of the Admiral's command to open fire and destroy, Chris' speaker settings set to full to counter the ambient noise on station. Thrusters only? It would be the kiss of death for the Challenger. She glanced over at Chris with her good eye, to see his face set in a determined mask. Looking at the Captain, she saw that his face echoed Chris'. Very well then. Thrusters it would be. She took the '2 hours' estimate with a grain of salt -- with this battle and level of damage, the impulse engines could go down at any time. 

The blood was in her eye again. T'Pren stopped as the Challenger made another turn (accompanied by the shuddering of the ship as the gees were strained and the torpedo launchers boomed in tandem), ripped her left sleeve off and wrapped it around her head, headband-style. It would keep the blood off for a while, at least. She looked back down at her monitors. "Hull plating equalizing to 40%, ship-wide, Captain. I'll adjust the different levels to counter attacks as they occur." Checking yet another sensor, "the last Klingon battle cruiser in this wave is coming about, sir, heading 180 mark 35." She knew Vic could hear her in the Armory, too. 

Vic listened and thought thrusters only in two hours? He just shook his head and tapped the comm button. Vic said, "Cap'n what are your orders?" 



“Fire all weapons on the Klingon battle cruiser.” Corad said as he stood up. As he made his way to the Science and Communications stations he said, “Where are you, you Romulan bastards.” As he steadied himself between the stations he asked Stingley, “Anything on the Romulans?” 



Vic replied, "Aye Cap'n." He began tapping the necessary buttons at his station. He felt the torpedoes launch and hoped they hit. 



T'Pren tried to wipe the blood from her face, but left streaks. She hung onto the SCI console, watching the main viewscreen where the torpedoes streaked toward the Klingon vessel. Her vision doubled. She had a bad moment where she clenched her eyes shut, feeling slightly faint, then she re-opened them. 

How much blood had she lost? She touched her scalp, felt the laceration ... a 6 centimeter cut slashed from the top of her head down towards her left temple, and it was still bleeding. Was that her skull she could feel there? Surely not. The blood ran in a swath down her face and neck, onto her shoulder. Her uniform was soaked almost to her waist. So. Probably about 500 mls. Maybe more. 



Chris' suddenly looked dumbstruck at comms as a ship-to-ship communication came through. A grin slowly crossed his face. "News from Meridian Captain. Their COM officer has cracked the Romulan code! Scanning for transmissions now." 



“About time, see if you can detect any in our close proximity.” Corad said as he pulled an emergency med kit from underneath the science console. He flipped it open and applied a bandage to T’Pren’s wound and used the hypo spray to stop the bleeding. He was no doctor but it should help keep her from bleeding out. He turned back to Stingley, “Where in the blazes is that medical team!” He barked. 



T'Pren could feel the Captain's ministrations, sort-of. ~Nerve damage, too~ she thought. Great. Just great. The blood flow slowed to a trickle that dripped off the knot of her 'headband' onto her left arm. She felt slow and sleepy, strange sensations to a Vulcan, but she kept working. Sensor readings were flying fast and furious. "Mr. Bingham, bank to port. Now starboard. Yaw 20 degrees to port. There is now a Klingon fighter triad directly forward. Commander Hanley -- fire." 



Down in the Armory Vic could see the triad on his sensors. He tapped the firing button and said, "Firing phase cannon and torpedoes now." 



T'Pren's calm voice was lost in the furor that was Vic launching torpedoes and firing phased cannons. "Two fighters disabled. Incoming." The Challenger was buffeted by disruptor fire ... sparks flew from the port-side SCI station, behind T'Pren. She hung on and instinctively ducked as the sparks hit her back. 



The doors were pried open by three pairs of hands. Jason Davis, Rahn Hashad, and Samantha Williams entered as soon as the doors were open enough to admit them. All had fire extinguishers and damage control gear. They looked around and disbursed, Davis and Hashad heading for the small fires that were the Ops area and the TAC console, and Samantha turned to SCI. "T'Pren!" she gasped, seeing her 'boss' slathered in green blood. 



"I need you on that panel," T'Pren answered, pointing with her chin over her shoulder to the smoldering SCI station. "The fumes are becoming toxic ... deal with the fire and then fix what you can. Contact Engineering for assistance if necessary, we cannot lose sensors." 



"Yes, ma'am!" 



"Incoming." T'Pren's voice was weaker than before, but still calm and audible over the noisy bridge. 



Vic continued firing. He hoped that he was doing some good. Vic wondered about the Tricobalt warheads. 



Corad saw that T’Pren was looking … drowsy, well what he was guessing what drowsy looked like for a Vulcan. He reached into the med kit and pulled out an adrenaline epi pen. “Sorry T’Pren, this is gonna suck.” He said as he slammed the pen into her chest and pressed the trigger. “I need you alert.” 



T'Pren couldn't help it -- she gasped and sucked in air as the epi pen injected its dose into her chest. Too bad the Captain forgot his Vulcan physiology and did not recall that her heart was where a Human's liver would be. It would work, just not as quickly as if he'd dosed her heart with it. T'Pren's inner eyelids slid over her eyes as she shuddered. Her heart rate went up from it's usual 300 beats per minute to 400, and was climbing. "Th-thank you Captain," she gasped. The nictating membranes retracted from her eyes, and she looked down at her sensor readings, hands shaking only slightly as she worked the controls. 



Chris watched the Captain inject T'Pren. There was a quick burst of anger on his part. ‘She's injured! Let her rest!’ he wanted to shout. He was quickly distracted, though, by a flash of activity on the Romulan channels. He listened intently for a moment. "Captain, it sounds like the Romulans are organizing. It sounds like I'm picking up an order to assume formation." He glanced over at T'Pren. 



"I'm reading an anomaly ..." she began, and then stopped, swiping her hand over her eyes. The stress to her system was intense. She reckoned she could continue functioning for another 2-3 hours at the most, without further medical attention, and then she was likely to crash. Or die, she thought dispassionately. 



Williams stepped up beside T'Pren and viewed the monitor. "...bearing 78 mark 216, Sir." she finished. 



"Onscreen!" Chris shouted as he looked up. There was a faint shimmer of green light as the enemy War Bird gained visibility. It was also increasing in size in the process. 



"It's charging, Captain. Weapon's charging!" Williams called out. T'Pren grabbed hold of the edges of the console and got a grip on herself. Her heart had to be whamming away at 500bpm. "Three more Romulan War Birds materializing," she said, blinking with her inner eyelids only. "Captain, they will be ready to fire in 7.6 seconds." 



Corad turned to face the main viewscreen. He left out what could be best described as a growl. “Vic! Let’s unchain those Tricobalt warheads and see what they do.” He looked to Lt Bingham. “Bingham as close as we are, I’m gonna need you to bank away as soon as Vic fire’s those warheads.” 



“Aye Sir,” Bingham said from the helm. 



Vic smiled and thought, at last. He tapped the comm button and said, "Aye sir." He ordered his people to put the Tricobalt warheads on. Once he had confirmation that they were ready, he tapped the fire button. "Tricobalts away sir." 



“Banking Now!” Bingham shouted as he turned the ship hard to port. 



The ship shuddered as Lt. Bingham swung the ship. The two Tricobalt warheads streaked towards the leading Romulan War Bird. It felt like an eternity till the connected and erupted in an amazing light show. The two Romulan War Birds that flanked the lead cloaked as they banked away just before the warheads connected while the rear War Bird inclined and flew towards the rest of the fleet. The hull of the War Bird buckled as gashes appeared where the warheads hit. They weren’t kill shots but they definitely got the message the Challenger wasn’t going down with out a fight. The shock wave hit the ship but only managed to rattle the crew a little due to the gee’s they where experiencing. 



<To Be Continued> 

=================== 

Capt Corad Cole 

CO 

NX-04 Challenger 

& 

Cmdr. Vic Hanley 

CAO 

NX-04 Challenger 

& 

LtCmdr Chris Stingley 

COM 

NX-04 Challenger 

& 

SubCmdr T'Pren 

XO/CSO 

NX-04 Challenger 

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