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<DIV>
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<DIV class=im>
<DIV>~Yorktown Bridge~<BR> <BR> Sweat began to build
on the Andorian's forehead, slowly gathering and running down the side of his
face in a small stream. He would have raised a hand to wipe it away, but he dare
not take his hands from the helm controls. Outside, the viewscreen showed the
Romulans again massing for an attack on the already seriously damaged freighter.
By now, the fleet ships and their Andorian allies had gotten close enough to the
moon shipyard that the base's own defensive gun emplacements now opened fire on
the rag tag grouping.<BR> <BR> "Nat, target those
guns. The Oregonian will never make it past them. Use Bolenski's teacups on them
if you have to, but we have to reduce them."<BR> <BR> Nat
replied, "Right Java." He aimed the pulse cannon and
fired.<BR> <BR> Beams of focused energy lanced out
from the Yorktown, striking the Romulan base. After a few moments, a great flash
and a plume of energy erupted from the impact
sight.<BR> <BR> "Nice shooting Nat. Make sure to
tell Bolenski that he's earned his money."<BR> <BR> Nat
smiled and tapping the comm button, he said, "Good job
Bolenski."<BR> <BR> Suddenly, the ship shuddered and
a shower of white hot sparks erupted from around the command chair causing most
of the bridge crew to shield themselves from the flying
particles.<BR> <BR> "Sir... we have incoming fire
from our five O'clock. I'm sorry sir, I never saw
them."<BR> <BR> "Probably cloaked, it's not your
fault mister." Da'nak said as he flung the Yorktown into a nimble barrel
roll, spiraling downward. In the middle of the maneuver, he hit full
starboard thrusters, turning the Fighting Lady to face her attacker,
catching the Romulan off guard. It was a bird of prey.
The Andorian's face twisted into a deep scowl, his antennae dropping
low as he recognized the markings on the hull. It was the same ship
that they had tailed to Xantia, the one that had stolen the data from his
brother's ship. He opened a channel to the armory.<BR> <BR>
"Mister Cameron, Mister Bolenski...." He said through gritted teeth. "Do
whatever you have to, but I want that ship brought down."<BR> <BR>
Nat let the BOP have a spread of torpedoes. He was rewarded with a
massive explosion.<BR> <BR>~Below decks~<BR> <BR> "Yeah
yeah yeah- shoot the bad guys, then do it again, and again..." Mac typed
in the battle over ride commands on the computer system to shoot down the
irritating pest that refused to die. "With as much ionization and
radiation that's outside the hull no way can anything stay
cloaked..." Yorktown shuddered under the impact of more hits, the vibration
sending shockwaves up from the deck into the soles of his "boondocker" boots
causing pain in the ankles and knees. <BR> <BR> Then a
song from the back of Bolenski's mind caused his mouth to sing. It was a
very very old song, a song sung by Army soldiers for hundreds of years. A
song of deep spiritual significance but only if you're military...it was time to
sing a hymn. "Hymn, hymn, Fu-*coughing and choking on smoke* hymn!"
Bolenski snarled as his fingers danced across the keyboard releasing death and
destruction. "Man, if I had a date and showed her what I was doing?
Now that'd be showing her a good time!" The phase cannons fired straight
up towards the high plane of ecliptic- one of the enemy ship captains had gotten
smart and instead of keeping the battle in a horizontal plane had decided to
attack from above.<BR> <BR> Mac started to sweat blood to add
to the salty tang of his normal fear as he did the mental calculations.
NX's spatial torpedo loadouts is 60 forward and 30 aft for a total of 90
shots. Between the heavy battles up to this point, and turning the
"spacials" into "specials" had lowered their available warshots down to a
dangerous level of 10 forward and 4 in the after launcher. Slamming the
wall mount communicator on Bolenski shouted to Cameron "Sir, we need to get out
of here- we're almost dry on ammo! 10 forward, 4 after- we need to pull
back to a missile collier or continue the battle with cannons- Armory
out"<BR> <BR> Suddenly there was a lull in the battle.
Roaring at the top of his voice Mac shouted the following "LISTEN UP!
WE'RE ALMOST DRY ON TORP LOADOUTS! TORPEDO CREWS BREAK OUT YOUR
TOOL KITS- ASSIST PHASE CANNON CREWS ON REPAIRS AS REQUIRED WHEN WE'RE
DRY! CARRY ON!' <BR> <BR>~Bridge~<BR><BR> Da'nak
simply nodded and spun out of range of the fireball as the Romulan ship
exploded, engulfing a smaller vessel that had moved in beside it to render
assistance.<BR> <BR> "Mister Mendez, contact the
Oregonian and get an ETA. We're not going to be able to stay here much
longer."<BR><BR> "Aye, sir.", replied the comm officer, trying to
focus on what was coming through his earpiece. "I... cannot get a reply from the
Oregonian. Their communications are down, no doubt about it, sir.", he said out
loud, so Da'nak could hear him. Next to him, one crewman was trying to put out a
fire with a lousy fire extinguisher. "Hold on! Commander Quirra from the
Andorians is hailing us. They are in a pretty bad shape: another ship down, and
they are reporting heavy damage. Requesting instructions..."<BR><BR>
"Tell them to get clear. There's nothing more they can do here. This
whole sector is going to be one big fireball in about fifteen
seconds."<BR></DIV>
<DIV> A few seconds passed as Mendez exchange words with the
Andorian comm officer. "Sir, Quirra doesn't seem pleased to leave the
battlefield, but acknowledged. They are retreating now...". Mendez was then
interrupted by another officer's report. <BR></DIV>
<DIV> "Sir! Scanners report impact of the Oregonian! She's starting
to break up sir!"<BR> <BR> "They're still going to need a
minute. What is Intrepid's position?"<BR> <BR> "She's moving
into transporter range now sir... Sir! There's a Romulan battleship closing on
her position!"<BR> <BR> "When she transports Yearly and
Armstrong aboard she'll be a sitting duck!" Da'nak's face took on a look of
determination. "We're moving to intercept, Nat be prepared to hit that thing
with whatever we've got." He looked down at the helm controls, remembering Dax'
promise of a power boost.<BR> <BR> Nat replied, "You got it
Java." He started checking for the numbers of torpedoes left and power supply to
the pulse cannons.<BR> <BR> "Let's hope engineering can follow
through on it's magic promises." He said as he keyed the thrusters, dumping the
extra power into them. The Yorktown surged forward just as twin beams of green
energy knifed from the Romulan ship toward the Intrepid. Da'nak rolled the
Fighting Lady directly into the line of fire, absorbing the damage meant for her
sister ship. Sparks rained down all around the bridge. One console exploded,
sending the poor crewman manning it flying back over the command chair. Debris
flew everywhere.<BR> <BR> "Commander!" Came the hurried call
from sciences. "Hull plating has been completely lost. We're reading breaches on
decks E,F, and G! Sickbay reporting multiple emergencies."<BR> <BR>
Da'nak nodded. There was little he could do until he got them out of
danger. "Mr. Mendez, tell them to do the best they can." He looked at the helm
board again, there was a flashing red light over the warp drive. "Nat, keep them
busy. Mister Mendez, patch me through to engineering."</DIV>
<DIV><BR> "There you go, Commander..." replied Mendez. As soon as he
established the internal link as ordered, he tried to reach his ship, the
Intrepid. No response came in. "Intrepid, do you copy? We'll hold the bandits
until you get our people. We're engaging the rommies, pick up our guys and get
the hell out of here!"<BR></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN></SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV class=im> "Engineering, this is Commander Ca'daar.
Is anyone there?"<BR> <BR>Waving off the very annoying hand of a medic
trying to assess Dax's now bleeding head wound she hit the comm button to open
the channel. "Barely here commander, but none the less we are!". Taking a moment
to glance around her battered engine room, fires had erupted near the
anti-matter injectors which was being determinately combated by two crewman with
fire extinguishers.<BR> <BR> "I'm reading a disruption in the
warp drive. I don't think I need to tell you that we've overstayed our welcome
here. What are our options?" On the screen, he could see the Intrepid moving
off. His mind flashed to Yearly. He hoped they had managed to get everybody
off.<BR> <BR>Getting a brief damage readout from her shattered console Dax
evaluated the situation, determining that the core and the EPS and plasma
networks were still functioning. "Commander I've diverted warp plasma into the
EPS grid to boost power to key system's that should shore up our defenses for a
few more seconds. As far as getting out of here, I got a couple of options. You
want the slow and safe or the fast and dangerous?"<BR><BR></DIV>"Ensign, in
approximately thirty seconds half this sector is going to be reduced to
smoldering ash, more or less. I think slow and safe is out the proverbial
window."
<DIV class=im><BR><BR>Struggling to maintain her balance with the ship rumbling
beneath her feet as the fighting lady takes another hit and battling her own
dizzying concussion.<BR><BR>"Right then, hope you got your piano gloves on cos
your gonna burn your fingertips on this one! I can shunt the plasma output from
the EPS grid back to the nacelles, however, the core is at warp 1 output. That
much energy being pumped into the nacelles which are still semi charged with
throw the ship to warp one in 1 or 2 seconds. The problem is the computer wont
have time to adjust the inertial dampeners to compensate fast enough as well as
disengage the impulse engines to prevent disruption to the warp field. Those
functions will rest on you" Dax heard the crewman indicate the fire on the
injectors was out, and she held her forehead in an attempt to stave off another
dizzy spell.<BR><BR>"I can keep shunting power to the thrusters and hull plating
till you give me the word to go to warp, but at that exact time you need to
disengage the impulse engines and shunt the power from the impulse reactors to
the inertial dampeners at full forward projection. Else wise we will all end up
as paste on the bulkheads! No pressure, promise!"<BR> <BR></DIV>"Frak!"
Da'nak said as another round of fire from the Battleship rocked the Yorktown.
More alarms and warning lights began to flash."Nat, give that thing everything
we have. Try and target it's propulsion. If </DIV>
<DIV>we can knock it out, the freighter should do the rest.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nat said, "Right Java." He let them have it with the pulse cannons</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Acknowledged engineering, but when this is over... somebody owes me a damn
cup of coffee!" Da'nak </DIV>
<DIV>wiped the sweat from his brow. He had always considered himself a hotshot
pilot. Now was the time to fins out. On the screen he could see Intrepid
peeling away. They must have them.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"On my mark Ensign... three, two, one... engage warp!"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Da'nak's hands played over the console as the entire ship began vibrating
violently. The crewman who had been manning the science console was tossed
roughly to the deck as everyone else clung on for their lives. Da'nak felt his
teeth might well rattle out of his head as the vibration built... then suddenly,
it was gone. He looked down at his instruments. They read warp one.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"We did it!" He yelled, spinning around in the helm chair. "We're clear.
Ensign Valorum, to hell with the coffee, I owe you and the
engineering team a shot of Andorian Ale!"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>Dax was standing on the core platform, 'was' being the
operative word. The force feedback of plasma through the grid had shorted out
more than a few relays in engineering, threatening the magnetic containment.
Working frantically through the rattle and flame of the ships sudden burst of
energy Dax and crewman Foster managed to keep a steady energy flow to the
containment field thanks in no small part to the spare batteries she had laying
around engineering in case the time should call for them. Which of course it
did. <BR><BR>However after stabilizing the field the console ignited in one
final furry and protest from the core as if to say 'Don't you ever do that
again!'. The resulting explosion sent her flailing over the side rail and onto
the deck, fortunately for the most part landing on her legs. Using the rails to
lift herself up as the vibrations stopped as the ship cleared the warp barrier
she took a glance around her poorly engine room and the brave crew that still
manned there posts, noticing a couple on the ground wounded. Fortunately that
medic was still around from earlier and was tending their wounds.
<BR><BR>Over the comm came commander Da'nak's voice "We're clear.
Ensign Valorum, to hell with the coffee, I owe you and the
engineering team a shot of Andorian Ale!"<BR><BR>In response "Sounds great
commander but right now some pain killers and bed rest sound tid bit more
appealing, Yorktown says she could use a day off to by the way, she told me that
by way of a free flying lesson, it'll be in my report, engineering out" Looking
around she noticed everyone's face being slightly a blur, not due to her new
found flight skills and still deserving landing ability but simply because she
lost her glasses. <I>There's always something! </I>"Great job everyone. Her crew
responded with smiles and nods.<BR>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As the crew began to breath a sigh of relief, behind them the counter on
the bomb slowly ticked down to zero. There was a nanosecond pause, and then the
freighter exploded in a great rainbow flash of light. The reaction spread to the
dilithium, smashing everything around it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chaos spread throughout the remaining Romulan ships. Those that could
engaged their warp drives and ran, many more reacted too slowly and were
absorbed by the spreading outflux of energy. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When the explosion had finished, the moon and the shipyard were gone, and
the Xantia sector lay a graveyard... strewn with the broken remains of
war...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>****Armory, Yorktown****</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The flash of 100,000 tons of weapons grade dilithium almost flashblinded
Ensign Bolenski- fortunately the auto brightness dampeners kicked in and reduced
the expanding ball of gaseous flame from "Incredibly blinding light" to "camera
flashbulb intensity". Manually turning down the intensity to "merely
irritatingly bright" Mac turned to Petty Officer Tsung. "Tell me, PO,
do you remember what the second person said after Dr. Oppenheimer somewhat
misquoted "I have become death, the destroyer of worlds" after he observed the
first atomic bomb going off?" Tsung looked for a few moments "No,
can't say I do". Mac quoted softly "Ken Bainbridge, the test director at
the first atomic bombsite told Oppenheimer, "Now we're all sons of
bitches." Pausing "There's going to be some very hard questions asked in
an inquiry- if we're lucky the Captain can deflect most of them, especially with
Dan'nak to back her up. The Head Shed, aka Star Fleet Headquarters also
known as "Hind Quarters" is going to want to know why we didn't offload 50,000
tons of weapons grade for our own Fleet use. The astronomers are going to
want the Officer in Charges' head on a pike for display to other Ensigns"
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly "It'll take a few months but
people are going to ask about the universes largest man made explosion. I
hope I have some answers for them by then"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tsung looked at him questioningly "So whatcha gonna do?" Mac poured
another cup of coffee and looked down into it thoughtfully "I just discovered
two things PO. One, I have no idea why I drink gallons of coffee when I
don't like the taste, the aroma or how often it makes me use the bathroom.
The second is I have no idea other than copy all sensor data, box it up, send it
to my attorneys and see if I can get this quashed politically in the back door
with a few gallons of whitewash."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sick Berth Attendant Patterson came trotting on up "MAC! You made
it!" Pssst! Of the hypo on Macs neck. Glaring at him "Patt, please
tell me there's a REASON why you did that?" Patt grinned evilly "Oh
its just a mix of vitamins, minerals and stuff to make your new skin grow better
and faster. I could have given it to you orally but I like it when you
feel pain" Mac just glared at him "And you call yourself a
doctor...I've done better doc-"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"ATTENTION YORKTOWN! STAND DOWN FROM BATTLESTATIONS, RESUME STANDARD
WATCHES, EFFECT REPAIRS- CARRY ON!" the overhead loudspeaker
bellowed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Turning to Tsung "Petty Officer Tsung, please resume watches for
operations, stand down the rest of the division as required for personal hygiene
requirements" Sniffing his own armpit and grimacing "Tsung, you have the
watch- I'll be back after I shower to answer the tough difficult
questions" Glaring at Patterson "And YOU! I'll deal with you
later,,,,I think its about time for Sickbay Personnel to brush up on their hand
to hand combat- make sure you bring a first aid kit for bruises!"</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Andorian Commander Da'nak Ca'daar</DIV>
<DIV>Executive and Chief Helm Officer</DIV>
<DIV>NX-05 Yorktown</DIV>
<DIV><EM>The Fighting Lady</EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM> </DIV>
<DIV> &</DIV>
<DIV>Lt. Commander Nat Cameron</DIV>
<DIV>Chief Armory Officer</DIV>
<DIV>NX-05 Yorktown</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> &</DIV>
<DIV><BR>LtJg. Arturo Mendez<BR>Comm Officer<BR>ESS Intrepid</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> &</DIV>
<DIV>Ensign Mc Bolenski</DIV>
<DIV>Armory Officer</DIV>
<DIV>NX-05 Yorktown</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> &<BR><BR>Ensign
Dax Valorum<BR>Engineering Officer<BR>NX-05 Yorktown</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face="Franklin Gothic Demi" FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face="Times New Roman"
FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10"><I>You ever dance with the devil in the pale moon
light?<BR>I always ask that of all my prey...<BR>I just like the sound of
it.....<BR><BR></I>Jack Nicholson- Batman</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>