[Galaxy] [SCE] 27.04.2163 - USS Daedalus - Commodore Markus Kravchik

[Mark Berry]

[ECS Adjusted Profit Margin]

"Well Captain," the man said as he walked onto the bridge, rubbing his
hands on a towel as he spoke, "I've got the engines pushed as far as I can.
We're making warp three point zero four right now but we won't be able to
keep it for to terribly long."

"How long Matt?"

"Well, the computers tell me we have to shut down in three days, four
hours. I'd be happier shutting down for engine cooling as soon as we can
though."

"Well, as long as those raiders are on our tail, we can't shut down.
Freddie, how long to Vulcan?" the Captain asked as she spun her chair to
face her helmsman.

"At this speed Lucy we're still three weeks away. And I've got nothing on
our sensors but for those three raiders and...they've matched our speed."

"Bet they're running as hot as we are, but probably got a bit more time on
their engines then we do," piped up Matt.

Adjusted Profit Margin's crew wasn't the largest in the universe. It was
after all a merchantman. Her bridge crew was such a small percentage of the
ship's crew. Right now the 'Alpha' shift, such that it was, was all present
and accounted for, save for Matt, the ship's chief engineer who wasn't part
of the bridge crew.

"Right, Sally, prepare to record a distress call. Let's see if this
Federation we're all citizens of is worth a damn."

[USS Daedalus, en route back to Earth]

"Commodore, we've got a distress signal from an ECS Adjusted Profit Margin."

Looking up, Markus raised an eyebrow in an unspoken 'continue' manner.
Daedalus was on her final leg of her long range 'systems test' and tour and
was running back to the Sol system at her fastest pace. Officially the
ship's top speed was warp seven but some minor tweaking had pushed Daedalus
up to seven point zero zero three, which she was heading for Sol at. Markus
had ordered top speed for one reason - push the ship as hard as possible
when he knew the shipyards were at the far end. Find out just how much
abuse the Daedalus class could take before the next ships finished being
built in just a few short months.

Soon Daedalus would have four new sisters. Four sisters who would form the
vanguard of the Federation. Four from Sol at any rate. Then there would be
the sisters from Tellar, Andoria and even the Vulcan yards in the near
future, despite the Vulcan fleet universally building down to nothing.

"Aye sir," the comm tech said to the unspoken request and played the
repeating message out loud across the bridge.

"This is the ECS Adjusted Profit Margin. We are being pursued by Nausicaan
raiders who have refused communications and can only assume they have
hostile intentions. We are en route to Vulcan at warp three point zero
three but can only maintain our speed for three days. To any Starfleet
ships that receive this message we are in need of immediate assistance.
This is the ECS..."

The comm tech killed the repeating message and looked over his own
monitors. "Sir, USS Lamfhada is within range of the Margin. She can
intercept within two days at maximum speed. She'll be entering the
merchant's long range sensors within a few hours. We're still far, far
outside their sensors but we could be there in..." the man trailed off,
looking to his helmsman counterpart.

"Sixteen hours sir if we change course immediately."

"Right, Lieutenant Kaiser, set course for the Adjusted Profit Margin.
Lieutenant Singh, record for transmission across ECS and Starfleet
frequencies. I want the Margin and the Lamfhada to hear me."

"Recording sir," Singh said from Communications.

"ECS Adjusted Profit Margin, this is Commodore Kravchik aboard the USS
Daedalus. We will intercept you in sixteen hours from the time you first
receive this. Remain on course and at speed. USS Lamfhada, please set
course for intercept with Adjusted Profit Margin as if we weren't answering
their call."

"Transmitting Sir," Singh said as Kravchik finished.

[ECS Adjusted Profit Margin]

"USS Daedalus? Never heard of it."

"Well, the message has all the Starfleet headers on it."

"Don't care, it's not on sensors. Only ships I can think of in the
Federation that could be outside our sensors and get here in sixteen hours
areVulcan and they're all laid up in yards being mothballed."

"Well, Lamfhada is still on course."

"So, real or fake?"

"Don't know."

[USS Lamfhada]

"Set course as if they weren't answering," Captain Hector Solo grumbled
from his command chair. "Bloody brass think they can just swoop in and save
the day with their precious new ships."

"Well, hate to break it to you Sir, but Kravchik can. We're an uprated
Neptune. He's got the results of Project Daedalus at his beck and call. He
wants to make an intercept in sixteen hours, he can."

"I didn't ask your opinion Lieutenant Klink. Simply receipt Daedalus'
communication."

"Acknowledgement of it sir?"

"No, just a receipt. What's Kravchik going to do huh? He's SCE, not
Operations."

[USS Daedalus - sixteen hours later]

By now there was no way the Nausciaans could have missed Daedalus on their
sensors. She was the fastest, most energetic thing they could possibly see.
Yet still they chased after the Adjusted Profit Margin in the vain hope the
freighters engines could fail, they could quickly raid her and be off,
leaving Daedalus to humanitarian efforts instead of chasing them down.

Or so thought Commodore Kravchik.

"Singh, inform Margin I would like them to drop to impulse momentarily so
we can get the Nausicaans sublight as well."

"They understand Sir and will be going sublight in twenty."

"Sublight in thirty seconds Sir," Kaiser said from Helm, preempting Markus'
order.

"Ship is reporting clear for action Sir," Lieutenant Merrin at Tactical
said. Daedalus' tactical division was woefully understaffed for this, but
it was all that was at hand, so they'd have to make do. It wasn't intended
for the ship to enter combat while on her systems test, but self defense
was always a priority in Starfleet.

Even understaffed, the computers could take a good load of the work and
Daedalus was technically, on paper at least, the single most powerful ship
in the Federation.

"Merrin, target only their warp engines. I want them pinned in space.
Singh, tell Margin to jump back to warp as soon as we engage the raiders.
Inform Lamfhada to intercept the Margin and provide escort all the way to
Vulcan."

[Space - roughly two weeks from Vulcan at warp 3]

The large J class freighter that was the ECS Adjusted Profit Margin
returned to Einsteinian physics with a flash of light just long enough for
her pursuers to follow suit. A single green tinted lance of particle beam
energy jumped across the gulf of space and traced across the freighters
hull before it jumped away with another flash of light to warp speed.

Then, just as suddenly another flash of light signaled the arrival of the
USS Daedalus, as her rounded bulbous fore-hull struck out at all three
raiders with orange, angry beams. There was no time between arrival and
attack, her weapons having been deployed before her arrival.

Ships unprepared for the fury and power of Daedalus' weapons shook and
wavered under the fire. Engine nacelles fluttered and sputtered and died as
the raiders spun on their counter-ambusher, responding to the attack with
their own lances of contained energy.

Those green beams splashed upon the shields of Daedalus', invoking the
normally invisible shields into blue ephemeral existance. Then Daedalus
lashed out once more, her beams striking out on only two raiders as
torpedoes raced from her hull, giving chase to the third.

The fight only lasted for a few minutes as ships speed past each other,
dived around each other, spun around and launched against the other. The
dance was intricate, but one sided. One side was build for attacking
freighters, the other for war and speed and persistence in battle.

As Daedalus came to a stop, the three raiders hung in front of her, their
engines smashed, their weapons ruined, their defenses, such as they were,
gone.

[USS Daedalus]

"Shields holding at forty seven percent Commodore."

"All three raiders have given their unconditional surrender Sir. I think
one of them had a small mutiny in order to do it though."

"Adjusted Profit Margin thanks us for our efforts Commodore and wishes to
inform you that damage is minimal and they will be billing Starfleet."

Commodore Kravchik had been essentially a passenger on his own ship during
the fight, letting his officers do their jobs as he merely directed their
efforts with his orders of 'focus on this ship' or 'target this system'.

As he sat there, in the command chair, he let the reports flow over him,
letting his engineer's mind get to the task of solving this problem.

"Singh, fire up the long range comms and get me the nearest subspace
repeater. Contact Starfleet Command. I believe I need to speak with
Commodore Sheppard."

----------

Commodore Markus Kravchik
Commander, Starfleet Corps of Engineers
Plank Owner, USS Daedalus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.firstera.net/pipermail/galaxy-firstera.net/attachments/20130427/6a9f3a38/attachment-0001.htm>