[Galaxy] 2161.09.04 - And into the fire

[Ethan Armstrong]

[ Freighter Oregonian ]

= You are our allies. And we are at war with the Romulans now. I've
seen enough here, with recent reports to say we need to shut this
place down. But how.. = Ethan paused over the comm channel to Intrepid
and Yorktown. = You now have a channel open to Engineering = he
received a confirmation nod from Mendez. = Standby Petr = he said, to
his executive officer on Intrepid. He left Ca'daar in touch with
engineering and turned back to the bridge situation.

"Captain Armstrong- I've targeted the two closest ships with the phase
cannon. Or would you rather I aim both cannons at the same ship?"
Bolenski looked at the monitors "I have them on passives with a good
solid lock. It could be argued either way based on their hull
polarization Sir which is better. How do you want this done, Sir?"

-- end snip --

"I am taking us on a reverse course at best speed. We should be able
to hold fire for a few more minutes until they close in. Wait for them
to fire the first shot, let's keep the confusion levels up to maximum.
Once they strike target one ship with both cannons." Ethan replied.
"Arturo, keep sending signals in Romulan or Nausicaan. Greetings,
anything friendly, explain we are suffering heavy damage, sing them a
song, whatever you like. Just try to keep them off guard" he said.

Chanting, as if in a native American rain dance Bolenski spoke out
loud "Is....was,,,,,Is.....was,,,,,Is....was,,,," over and over again
as he kept a positive yet passive firing lock. "C'mon you bastards!
I've got 2 phase cannons vs you're whole fleet! Sounds like equal
odd's to me!" Bolenski thought to himself.

"Yeah, I don't think they're up for small talk, but I'll try my best
to keep them busy", answered Mendez before cursing the Romulans in his
best Nausicaan impersonation. "What do you think you're doing, Romulan
scum? That wasn't part of the deal! Do you want to waste all this
precious dilithium, you fool? We may as well have sold this cargo to
the Orion Syndicate, damn it!".

He turned to the Ensign Chester. "Chester, I think our shuttles are a
lost cause now. We'll never get them back into dock in time so we can
use them against the enemy. Bring them about and prepare to take them
on a kamikaze run. Should do some significant damage to those ships.
But again, hold back until they fire the first shots." he then tapped
a ship wide comm panel. "Everyone... the Andorians, Intrepid and
Yorktown will shortly be moving to assist. I will try and take this
bucket of bolts outward but we'll probably have to sit tight." he
explained. He was gambling that the Romulans wouldn't commit too many
ships to attacking them as they were a minor threat alone.

"Kamikaze run?" Bolenski rapidly slaved the targeting computer- such
primitive beast as it was for being on a 17 year old freighter- well
that changes things! This means new tactics and I may get spanked for
disobeying an order... Calculating the impact trajectory of the
nearest shuttle, Bolenski programmed the cannons to automatically fire
one hundredth of a second after impact of each cannon. "That's why
this is called a "force multiplier" Bolenski lectured as if to a class
on Newtonian physics to himself. "The basic formula is Kinetic Energy
(Ke)= Mass multiplied by velocity squared (Ke=M(v2)" Bolenski paused
"Mass of each freight shuttle is about 350 tons in mass, and the speed
is kilometers per second....and the hull...." Well the bottom line is
its going to hurt a lot and leave a HUGE zarking bruise on their
hull!" "Two shuttles, two cannons, two shots- or do I split one
phase shot into the open holes the shuttles are going to make in each
enemy ship?" Bolenski spoke out loud "If I disobey the order it'll
cost me- if I'm lucky- just a promotion. At worst I'll be
courtmartialed." Whining to himself, Bolenski bit his tongue until it
bled knowing he was making a bad decision to obey Captain Armstrong.
Slewing both phase cannons to fire at the same time at the nearest
hole made by the exploding first shuttle it occurred to Mac that the
second 2 shots could be fired the same way at the second hole made in
the second ship- IF they didn't clue in what they were doing". Tidying
up the computer's orders, Mac waited for the impact.

Mike replied, "Aye sir." He tapped the controls that would guide the
pods on a suicide run towards the Rommies. Mike then waited for the
final order to send them on their way.

Mendez screamed one more time over the comm. "What? Where do you think
we're going, Romulan? This is a evasive maneuver, yes... how are we
supposed to deliver the cargo if you are ordering us to stand down?".
He then looked at Armstrong, his expression clearly saying something
like 'this is not working, AT ALL'.

Suddenly the palpable tension on the bridge was broken by the ship's intercom.

=Captain Armstrong, this is Yearly in engineering.=

"Armstrong here. Report?" Ethan acknowledged.

=Lt. Mathews and I have just finished talking with Commander Ca'daar
and we've come up with what we think is a plan... but I gotta warn
you. Risky doesn't even begin to cover it.=

"We are in too deep to start worrying about the risks Chief." Ethan
smiled grimly. "Let's hear your plan"

=Well Captain, we're carrying all this Dilithium... what would happen
if we were to start a cascade fission reaction in this piece of junk's
warp core, utilizing the remaining Dilithium cargo to fuel the
reaction? Well... from what I understand, it should produce an
explosion large enough to take out that moon, uh and a goodly chunk of
the planet as well.=

The magnitude of what the Chief was suggesting played out in Ethan's
head. The explosion of their cargo if performed correctly would rip a
giant hole in anything that stood in its way. Enough to take out the
moon, the shipyard and tens of ships in the area. They could even out
the odds significantly. "How close will we need to get?" was his next
question, while in the back of his mind he became aware that presently
the crew and himself had no means of escaping the ensuing explosion.

=The problem is though Captain... There's no way to accurately gauge
the range of such an explosion. I'm afraid the best result will be
from a ground zero explosion. The best chance of success is going to
require somebody to pilot the freighter right up to the shipyard and
knock on her door. Commander Ca'daar has told me that Yorktown and the
Andorians should be able to give us some protection... but the whole
thing is going to be risky as hell.=

He paused and looked from the console back to the view screen. "This
is going to be one hell of a knock" he replied and as he said "knock"
the freighter shook under fire. The Romulan's had played their game
and run out of patience. "Mr Bolenski, return fire!" Ethan said and
went back to the comm channel. "Get to work Chief. Use anyone you need
to help you. Let's get this thing rigged up and ready to pop" he
replied. "Once we are set, I will bring us about and take us in. By
then the Yorktown, Intrepid of the Andorians should be in range to
beam everyone off. Then I will make a final run at the facility...
myself and, one other person will need to stay behind to trigger the
explosives." he replied, raising the final question to everyone. He
couldn't order anyone to stay aboard when the odds of survival were
less than 50/50 and that assumed someone was in range and able to
transport him off at the last second. He realized he was probably
asking for a volunteer to die. The cargo ship rocked again under fire.

Pressing the firing keys on the computer board, blue lances of
destruction reached out to the nearest ship, weakening the area and
hull plating right before the first shuttles impact. Order the phase
cannons to slew around for their second broadside, Mac waited until
the second shuttle impacted, then more lances of raw blue power
savagely ripped huge holes in the second ship. Both ships were
venting blood, plasma and bodies- "Well screw'em if they can't take a
joke" Bolenski thought to himself. "Time to earn that princely
paycheck they give us". Mac gave the instructions for the computer to
shift to auto cannon fire- aiming at the closest enemy ships first.
Then blood began draining from his face. Turning white as a sheet,
Mac silently typed in the commands to the shuttles for fueling,
pre launch instructions. "Easier to get forgiveness than permission-
if we survive the skipper can write me up later". "Using dilithium as
a fissionable item is theoretically possible" he considered
"Fortunately we don't have any treaties with anyone that would forbid
the use of such a weapon". Mac turned to his board watching the
sensors feedback on the phase cannons heat signatures. Green is good,
yellow not so good, red means they're over heating as the monitor gave
the readout- the cannons having gone to autofire and autolocate were
in little danger of overheating as the indictor line rode on the
green/yellow line. Nibbling his lip, scratching his nose and fearing
for his life Mac's fear response of singing/humming songs went into
overdrive the more he considered using the dilithium as a weapon.
Mac reviewed his knowledge of chemical explosives, and his knowledge
of "special" weapons.

"Igniter. We need some source to ignite it,,,," Mac thought and sang
while in fear for his life:

Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones.
They're the modern stone age family.
>From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.

Let's ride with the family down the street.
Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet.

When you're with the Flintstones
you'll have a yabba dabba doo time.
A dabba doo time.
You'll have a gay old time.

Mac opened up a comm line to the Chief and explained both hurriedly
and loudly "-so you can use the captains gig's power plant as an
ignition system! Skipper of a boat this big is going to have their
own personal warp drive craft to impress investors! I've ordered the
computer system to pre warm the 4 shuttles so we can get off this ship
but the Captains Gig is fair game". Shaking his head in wonderment
that they still might make it out alive, Mac quipped a quote from an
old 2D movie "I've picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!"

= Roger that Ensign. I'd say 'we're gonna need a bigger boat' , but
we'll have to make due with what we have. Give us fifteen minutes prep
time and we should be able to give the Rommies a surprise party
they'll never forget.=

Yearly thought for a long second, worrying her bottom lip with her
teeth as she did so. A familiar blue face hovered ethereally before
her as she pondered the ramifications of what she was about to do. She
closed her eyes, tracing the outline of his features in her mind...
the cut of his jaw, the curves of his antennae. Without opening her
eyes she hit the comm button.

=Captain, this is Yearly.=

"What's happening Chief?" Ethan replied thinking something might be
wrong with their plans. He was concentrating on piloting the hulk to
avoid Romulan fire as best they could be it was a near impossible
task. He just tried to protect the engines but if the Romulans bought
in the heavy guns they'd be disabled. For now, they appeared unaware
of the level of danger.

=Captain...= She said, opening her eyes now, her lips taut. =I'd like
to volunteer to stay behind. Somebody that knows what she's doing is
going to need to be here.=

Before replying he executed another turn, hoping to give Bolenski some
clear shots with the cannons. "I accept that offer Chief and if
something goes wrong having an engineer around is the best I could ask
for"

= Thank you Captain, lets hope you're right.=

"CAPTAIN ARMSTRONG!" Mac shouted hurriedly "The cannons are set to
autofire- they'll run indefinitely unless we're hit or run out of
power. Respectfully suggest two things- see if someone can reprogram
the deflector shield to assist in making the dilithium go up, and
suggest I wag tail down and give Yearly a hand?" I'm such a rat Mac
thought to himself I'm the first one trying to lead the way out of the
sinking ship! How does that old quote from the Academy go? Oh yeah
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" That's the one! Well, not today if I can do
anything about it.

"Go for it Ensign, Yearly and Matthews could probably use an extra
pair of hands. Ensign Chester take over from Mr. Bolenski." Ethan
motioned to the other armory officer.

In the engine room, Michelle smiled in spite of herself. =Thanks Bolenski, grab
a wrench and double-time it. You're the frakkin bomb expert. Yearly out.=

Mike responded, "Aye sir." He moved to take over for Bolenski. Bolenski exited.

[ Engineering ]

Running as fast as he could, Ensign Mac Bolenski cursed the size of
the Bison Class Freighter.  I should have been a track rat at the
academy- trying to sprint 298 meters flying through several decks is
exhausting.  A few minutes later and panting hard Mac caught up with
Cheif Yearly.

Grinning evily "You realize that by doing this we're going to be going
to jail forever and some change right?" Mac giggled.  Yearly cocked
her head and inquired "How so?"  Mac laughed psychotically "Theres
enough dilithium in this ship to turn the black space of the universe
will look like a bright white sheet of plastic thats backlit!"
giggling between stress and what they were about to do Mac continued
"Every night time species within 200 light years is going to be flash
blinded for months.  Starships uses a few pounds of dilithium- and
we've got a 450,000 ton freighter thats loaded up with about 100,000
tons of the stuff- and its all WEAPONS GRADE!  This is going to be the
biggest man made explosion in history by far!  They're going to put a
bounty out on our heads the size of Texas and the wanted "dead or
alive" is going to mean "mostly dead"

Cheif Yearlys face blanched at the premediated evil they were about
ready to perform.  Then a look of horror crossed her face "You're
really enjoying this?"  Mac looked at her puzzled then grinned "Oh
heck yeah!  Right on Cru-ton!  This is going to be awesome!  Theres a
Sheriff back on earth where I was growing up who used to get really
angry because I'd set up explosives- home made- but he could never
catch me.  I just considered calling "Organic chemestry at its
finest".  Mac paused and grinned again "When or if he reads this in
the paper he just KNOWS is going to be me that set it off!"

Yearly adjusted the individual squib loads to set off each pallet of
dilithium, Mac started the programming sequence so they'd all go off
together- the Captains Gig, the Oregonians engines, the last shot of
the Deflector Shield all converging within a few hundreths of a
second.

Finally they were finished, Yearly called the bridge to report they
were ready for their final attack run.  Mac grabbed a cup of coffee
for Yearly and himself  "We need to drink this- it'll give us
something to piss out in fear in a few minutes when this thing goes
up".  In spite of the horrific blast they were doing and the damage
involved Yearly giggle.  "You really get off on this don't you?"
Grinning Mac responded  "Well you know "bomb" is such a lovely word,
and really should be used more often than not.   After all, a gun and
a smile gets far more cooperation than just the smile alone" taking a
breath "There was an old General on the North American Contentent
named General George Patton and allegedly said "most of the worlds
problems could be solved with the correct application of plastic
explosives" or words to that effect.

"Well, we've done our part- all we need to do now is wait for the
Captain to give the order to abandon ship, run into the shuttles, make
sure they're launched"  Mac looked up horrified "I just realized I
screwed up!  I wanted to be down here to be the first to escape now
I'm going to be one of the last to leave!  Aw man! Thats certainly the
wrong answer!"

[ Control Bridge ]

The main viewer switched to an angle on the arrival of help. Yorktown,
Intrepid and four Andorian ships dropped out of warp. Seconds later two
more ships also appeared. Ethan instantly recognized the first one as
the cruiser "Justicar" of the Interplanetary Enforcement Unit.

= "Captain Hatca here Commander, we have gained intelligence which
means we have no choice but to assist you in this venture." =

"Mr Mendez, send our thanks to the Captain" Ethan said as some relief
came over him. But he resisted too much elation, the road ahead for
him still looked like it might be short. He hoped when word got back
to Lunar One Colony they'd understand. The arrival of help will have
stirred up the hornets nest so he brought the freighter about and
prepared for a final run at the shipyard.

"Sir, Interplanetary Enforcement acknowledged, and says they are going
to assign one ship to side us in our run. These are their bearings...
and, sir, we better coordinate thinks quickly, 'cause it seems like
the Romulans are trying to jam our communications! ¡Coños!", said
Mendez grabbing in the comm console as the ship took another hit.

"Our plan has been relayed to the Andorians." Ethan
acknowledged. "Everyone except myself and Yearly prepare to
beam out once Yorktown or Intrepid is in range. Now we just
have to hold them off long enough to make this happen."

Outside their allies began to move into positions to cover the lone
freighter and engage the enemy. The battle had begun.

Cmdr Ethan Armstrong
Commanding Officer
ESS Intrepid, NX-07
           &
LtJg. Arturo Mendez
Comm Officer
ESS Intrepid
            &
Ens. Mike Chester
Armory Officer
NX-05 Yorktown
apb
Lt.Cmdr. Nat Cameron
CAO
NX-05 Yorktown
The Fighting Lady
             &
Ensign Mac Bolenski (and Patterson)
Armory Officer
NX-05 Yorktown
            &
CPO Michelle "Firecracker" Yearly (apb Leo)
Warp Core Reactor Chief
NX-05 Yorktown
The Fighting Lady


You ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light?
I always ask that of all my prey...
I just like the sound of it.....

Jack Nicholson- Batman