// Bridge, ESS Aurora //<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
"They're targeting us..." Science reported.<br>
<br>
"We're..." The Comms. officer began.<br>
<br>
"Not now." Knight snapped. The rest of the fleet wasn't his problem. He
could see off in the distance on the view-screen the plight of his
fellow Starfleet officers, but there was little that he or the Aurora
could do to help. Their actions wouldn't change the tide of the battle.<br>
<br>
"Keep us steady helm." Knight's voice was calm again, disconnected. The
Bird of Prey was like them, a destroyer; it would have limited
munitions. It seemed a waste to dodge shots that hadn't been fired yet.
"Don't evade until they commit."<br>
<br>
"Aye Captain," Lt Sunny Day said, concentrating on her sensor readings
and keeping an eye on open avenues of evasive action when the time came.<br>
<br>
The Chief Helmsman on the ESS Aurora was very familiar with the ship.
Lt Sunny Day had been piloting the Sol-class destroyer from the time
she was commissioned. The ship and her helmsman knew each other well
enough to share autopilot and Sunny liked it that way. She had no
desire to move from Aurora, and so far, the Fleet had managed to ignore
any opportunity to part the two.<br>
<br>
When Day sat in the familiar seat at the helm console, it was like
docking clamps secured the ship to the pilot and vice versa. Sunny
could feel the deep space wind peel off the front edge of the saucer
and curl around the nacelles as the ship slipped through space, sleek
and silent.<br>
<br>
The Comms officer spoke up, "Sir, we have a break in the Rommie code.
>From Meridian. I'm feeding it into the system. We'll know their plans."<br>
<br>
"I think they are playing with us, Sir," Science complained.<br>
<br>
The Comms officer continued. "No, the Rommie's are telling them to hold
their heavy weapons to use on the NX's. The Klingons are arguing, but
switching to phase weapons instead of torpedoes. We are still a target."<br>
<br>
"Their target is locked and fir...<br>
<br>
Before the Science officer could finish, Lt Day had turned the Aurora
on her port side and head down. The slice from the Bird of Prey slipped
between the starboard nacelle and the ship's body. The Armoury officer
on the bridge was sharp on the mark and his torpedo careened into the
underside of the wing of the bird, destroying a sensor array and at
least one phase fire port on the leading edge of the wing. Aurora
shuddered with the stress, but recovered quickly as though simply
shaking the dust from her wings.<br>
<br>
"Glancing fire. Starboard saucer plating recovering."<br>
<br>
A phase cannon blast from the underside of Aurora ripped into an
already damaged Bird of Prey moving too slowly across the space beneath
her.<br>
<br>
"Direct hit, their shielding is down. Here comes Seawolf on our six. She's got 'em, she's got 'em." The Science officer roared.<br>
<br>
Amaratsu swam into view between Aurora and a dark Bird that had a
torpedo aimed at Constitution. Fire shot from the emitters on Amaratsu
and the torpedo exploded before ever threatening the big NX.<br>
<br>
"Incoming aft port dors ...." The Aurora's intertial dampeners stayed
some of the concussion, but the entire bridge crew, the entire ship,
quaked as a the hull polarization fought to distribute the shock of the
torpedo. The Comm officer began to sound off damage reports, "Fire on E
deck. Supression systems operative. Plasma relays offline connecting on
E deck. Loosing pressure on Cargobay One. Emergency Crews on it.
Relays coming online. Officer down on E deck. Medic team responding.
Incoming incoming."<br>
<br>
"Got it, got it," cried the Armoury officer. Helmsman Day threw the
ship into a tight barrel roll for half a twist then swung upward.
Alarms sounded and an emergency generated computer announcement relayed
automatic damage control activations.<br>
<br>
Amaratsu curved over the top of Aurora and took out 3 Klingon torpedos bound for Meridian.<br>
<br>
"Got cha, will follow through at your 3 and cover," Day confirmed with the Amaratsu.<br>
<br>
"I'm ready with cover, Sunny," Armoury assured her.<br>
<br>
The two sol-class ships wove an elegant net around Meridian as she
recovered from a hit, both making judicious and effective use of phase
fire to eliminate a torrent of torpedoes launched from various Klingon
ships.<br>
<br>
They were not the only smaller fleet ships pairing up, breaking off,
rejoining in triplets, curling and laying fire to cover the NX ships.
Tactical officers aboard Endeavor, on the outskirts of the battlefield,
were skillfully anticipating the fire of both Klingon and Romulan
weapons as a result of the intercepted Romulan transmission codes, and
relaying orders to the rest of the fleet.<br>
<br>
Those orders were urgent, immediate, but required a certain subtlety to
avoid the appearance of obvious pre-knowledge of weapons fire. The
resulting choreography of helm, tactical and weapons on the smaller
ships were effectively clearing the surrounding space of significant
threat to the larger ships. With their significant firepower, Meridian,
Constitution, Freedom and Challenger were working their way through the
enemy fleet, including the predicted appearance of Romulans decloaking.<br>
<br>
~~<br>
Cmdr Anthony Knight<br>
Acting Capt of ESS Aurora<br>
<br>&<br>
<br>
Lt Sunny Day<br>
Chief Helm Officer<br>
ESS Aurora<br>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>RM<br><br>"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."<br>-Calvin & Hobbes<br>