[Galaxy] 2161.09.18 - Fight and Flight

[Ethan Armstrong]

[ Oregonian ]

Ethan kept focused on steering the Oregonian through the mass of enemy
and friendly fire which lay between them and the shipyard. He tried to
ignore the fact life support was failing and hoped Yearly was firstly,
still alive, and secondly trying to buy them more time down below. As
the drew closer to their target the intensity of the fighting
increased. The Romulans had been taken completely by surprise, but as
more and more seconds passed they rectified their error and assigned
more ships to stop the attacking forces. And so with every new ship
they committed, the odds became even more uneven.

Fighting upon arrival had been fast and furious, with the freighter,
Intrepid and Yorktown already showing battle scars. But that was only
the beginning and now the battle began to bite. Over an open comm
channel the Interplanetary Enforcement Unit announced they were
pulling back from the fight due to taking severe damage. They couldn't
risk getting caught in the explosion if they lost all propulsion.

The hulk shook again and Ethan feared the worst. Sure enough the helm
console no longer responded to speed adjustments. The hit had taken
out his control of the engines. Their course was now set, even if he
wanted to pull out they had no choice but to head unstoppingly into
the shipyard. He got up, there was nothing more he could do from the
bridge, so with one last look around he went to find Yearly.

[ Intrepid ]

"Sensor lab here, the Oregonian just took a bad hit. She's starting to
drift. Assuming no further course changes, she should just hit the
shipyard in ten minutes give or take."

Case nodded and stared at the burning hulk intently. "Comms, get
Commander Armstrong on the line." He checked his chrony. "Lt. Merrick!
How are our warp nacelles holding up, and how much time do we need to
get to a safe distance from the explosion assuming maximum likely
yield?"

"Assuming we get to keep the warp drive from the firefight, we'll need
a whole five seconds to jump to warp. If we loose the warp drive..."
Katrina paused momentarily to look down at her console and do the math
real quickly..."We best hope Yorktown can beam us off the ship before
the warp core goes critical."

The Intrepid rumbled slightly as Ensign Wun fired off another salvo of
torpedoes at the Romulans attacking Oregonian. A small patrol craft
nicked one of the bruising projectiles and careened off into space,
trailing debris from its shattered hull. "Ensign Wun, I want you to
hold the next salvo of torpedoes. Lock them onto the Oregonian's cargo
bay. Don't use them for anything else unless we are in imminent threat
of destruction."

Katrina then looked down, a look on her face that some might have
recognized as her 'idea face'. A few taps of keys and she was sending
orders to the ship's computer and to Engineering. "Warp two will do to
get us out of the combat zone," she muttered to herself before looking
up. "Permission to make sure we get the hell out of this?"

[ Yorktown ]

Da'nak swerved in and out amid the teeming mass of Romulan ships. They
reminded him of the schools of bore worms that he and K'den used to
track back on Andoria. A couple of times they had gotten turned around
and been caught under a swarm when it broke the ice surface, dousing
the pair in a hot bio chemical rain. They had been lucky, the brothers
had known others who had been caught that way and perished. K'den had
always said that they had escaped serious injury because they could
"think thin." Right now, the big Andorian helmsman was thinking as
thin as he possibly could. "I hope you're right K'den, wherever you
are."

The inertial damper warning sirens blared almost continuously as
Da'nak pushed the NX class vessel to it's limits. Yorktown was faring
better than some of the other ships thanks to his aggressive
maneuvering. He was simply flying too close to some of the Romulans.
If they fired on the Yorktown, they would be firing upon themselves.

"Nat, keep pouring it on. Keep them off balance, and find out if any
of Bolenski's "teacups" are functional... and won't blow out the
remaining systems."

Nat replied, "Right Java." Tapping the comm button, he said,
"Bolenski, are your teacups ready?" He then, continued to fire the
pulse cannon.

The Yorktown rocked as a group of smaller vessels dropped in behind
her and began raking her astern. "Frag it! I didn't see the little
buggers. Nat what have you got?"

Nat grimaced and regretted not seeing them sooner. He said, "I'll fire
some more pulse cannon at them." He then opened fire on the craft
tailing them.

The blue commander instituted another series of aggressive turns
trying to shake the Fighting Lady's new pursuers. "Hull plating at 50%
Commander, came the call from the science station as the ship rocked
yet again.

"Engineering, this is Ca'daar. I need all the power you can throw at
the thrusters NOW."

Dax managed to brace herself against the core railing as the ship
rocked under her feet almost sending her flying over the rail. The
port side bulkheads burst into a flurry of sparks and flame "Get that
fire under control... NOW!" she commanded as she descended the core
platform, running to the engineering console and tapping the comm
button while engineers scrambled to keep vital systems online.

"I'm giving her all she's got commander!, but I am sure I can find you
a little more" Dax smiled slightly as she turned to the main systems
screen and began the power shunting procedure. The fire on the port
side now extinguished. Her fingers nimbly dancing over the controls
Dax shutdown non-essential systems, protein re-sequencers, deck
lighting and life support to non-essential areas. Locking down those
areas Dax now initiated the bypass protocols to transfer to the power
to the thruster grid, and with the tap of a button initiated the
transfer.

Tapping the comm "Dax to bridge, I've given you as much as I got at
the moment, I am having crewmen on E Deck connect some of those spare
power cells I told you about to the nearest thruster power relays,
that will give you one hell of a boost but only for about 10 minutes"
and with that she gave a nod to a crewman standing by with a tool box
to go do the job she had just described.

"Acknowledged Engineering, keep up the good work."

At that point the bridge doors slid open revealing Lt. Mendez, the
communication officer from Intrepid, and as of late, from the
Oregonian. Mendez practically jumped from out the turbolift as the
ship took another hit.

He looked around and identified the commander - they didn't know each
other, but Mendez knew from the mission briefing the Andorian was
Yorktown's acting commanding officer. "Lieutenant Mendez reporting for
duty, sir", he raised his voice. "Anything I can do to help?" The
Fighting Lady rocked a bit with yet another hit.

"Lieutenant, you are Intrepid's comm officer yes?" Da'nak said as he
cut the ship hard to starboard to avoid an incoming projectile. Behind
them Nat was able to finish off the last of their pursuers.

"Yes, sir...", said Mendez stepping forward.

"Excellent, take over communications from Mister Trask. He's on loan
to us from the science department. While he does an admirable job, I'd
feel better if we had someone who's speciality is communications on
the job."

"Alright. Let's see what's going on...". As Mendez approached the comm
station, Trask handled him the earpiece and they traded places. Within
seconds, Mendez confirmed that the console configuration was the same
as Intrepid's, and started to swept the frequencies.

"See if you can get a status report from the Andorians, I haven't seen
them since the whole fracas started."

The inertial dampers screamed again as Da'nak shifted the Yorktown
into a steep dive and transitioned into a smooth roll, bringing her
guns to bear on a large Romulan vessel heading towards the freighter.

"Give her everything you've got Nat, don't let that 'bitch' reach the
Oregonian."

Nat replied, "You betcha." He let the Rommie have a spread of
torpedoes and was pleased to see several strike home.

"Well done! My compliments to you and Bolenski!" Da'nak said, smiling
for the first time since they had entered the system.

"Sir, the Andorians are reporting. It seems they are in trouble - they
have lost two of their ships, and the remaining are taking severe
damage. They report one ship is leaking plasma and soon won't be able
to engage the warp drive."

"Frak!" Da'nak exclaimed as he spun the Yorktown one hundred-eighty
degrees. He could just see the forms of the two remaining Andorian
vessels. One trailed an ominous oily-black cloud behind it, and the
other looked little better. Another large Romulan vessel seemed to be
moving in for the kill. Tiny fighters swarming around it like gnats.

"We have to help them. Mister Mendez, inform them that we are on the way."

"This is the...", Mendez paused a while. "...Yorktown, we're coming to
assist you. Repeat: Yorktown coming in for assistance."

"Nat, get their attention."

Nat let another torpedo salva go. He said, "That should get their
attention Java."

In the wake of Nat's salvo, the Yorktown's azure helmsman flew
directly through the swarm of fighters, smashing some against the hull
and scattering the rest. Suddenly the bridge was awash with blinking
indicators.

"Hull plating down to 20% Commander. We have hull breach indication on deck C."

"Seal it off and scramble an engineering team, this is going to get a
lot worse before it gets better."

Outside, the Andorians had managed to turn to face their attacker.
White disruptor beams knifed through the blackness, connecting with
the carrier. After a long moment, the Romulan ship erupted in a blast
of intense light which filled the viewscreen. The shockwave struck the
Yorktown full on, pushing her back like a paper boat in a choppy pond.

All the time, the Oregonian drew nearer to it's destination.

The shockwave have almost thrown Mendez from his place. He was still
grabbing the console in the best way he could when he got a message
from the Andorians coming through. "Sir, the Andorians are thanking us
for the help. But they are still worried about the Oregonian."

"Great." Da'nak said, keying the thrusters. "Let's get back to the
freighter." Around him he could see the Romulan's massing again for a
coordinated attack. The combined ships had made a dent, but he knew
that they couldn't be expected to hold off the whole yard for too much
longer. "I sure hope that bomb works."

Andorian Commander Da'nak Ca'daar
Executive and Chief Helm Officer
NX-05 Yorktown'
The Fighting Lady

Cmdr Ethan Armstrong
Commanding Officer
ESS Intrepid

Lt. Cmdr Petr Case
XO/Science Officer
ESS Intrepid

Lt. Commander Nat Cameron
Chief Armory Officer
NX-05 Yorktown

Lieutenant Katrina Merrick
Chief Engineering Officer
NX-07 Intrepid

LtJg. Arturo Mendez
Comm Officer
ESS Intrepid

Ensign Dax Valorum
Engineering Officer
ESS Yorktown