Dawn - Part One
Posted on Thu Feb 29th, 2024 @ 6:51pm by Colonel Josiah McEntyre & Sub-Commander T'shir & Lieutenant Commander Travis Paladin & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Coleman & Major Erin Ishikawa & Lieutenant Keelli Reex & Commander Saul Whitford & Lieutenant Jack Peters & Lieutenant JG Elspeth McArthur & Captain Johnathan Reece & Lieutenant Razeen el-Ben & Lieutenant Thisbe P'rar & Ensign Jasleen Chakrabarti
1,548 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
First Deployment
Location: Unicorn - San Fransisco Shipyards
Timeline: Launch Day
0300 hours, most of the senior staff were asleep or off duty, which was how the young Ensign Xander liked it. A young ensign, fresh from the academy into the command program and the Colonel had decided to take the young man under his wing and assign him as the Command Duty Officer for the Middle Watch which was from Midnight to 0400 hours.
He had an hour left of yet another unremarkable shift. Wasn’t much to do, with the Unicorn cradled in drydock until the Forenoon Watch when they would officially launch with a small ceremony.
Xander leans back in the captain’s chair. A perk of being the Officer of the Deck. Sitting in the big chair for a bit. He liked it, and one day, he’d have a chair like this on his own command…someday. For now, the shaky and tepid voice of a young enlisted Armory Officer spoke from the Tactical and Sensor Station.
“Sir? I’m getting some very odd returns from the near orbit scans.” The young crewman reported.
Xander got up, going over to the Tactical station, looking over the crewman.
“Just background gravity waves. With all the orbital traffic, I’m surprised there isn’t more.”
Xander commented, but the crewman was persistent.
“No Sir, I took that into account. These are moving on a steady bearing of 060 mark 012, range CBDR for the Shipyard Complex.”
Xander looked again as several new blips appeared on the screen, making the console shrill and beep loudly.
“Oh my god.”
— — —
In his cabin, Colonel Josiah McEntyre was dead asleep. After Six hours of running the shoot house, reaming the Andorian StratOps officer for failing to mention the Denobulan Capitulation and the stress of the rapidly impending launch, he was sorely in need of rest.
Shifting in his bed, he turned onto his side when the sudden, violent shaking and rocking of the ship threw him out of his bunk. His body slammed onto the cold deck plating as he steadied himself, pulling him up as the squeal of boatswain whistles and the rapid clanging of the ship’s bell came over the main ship intercom with the panicky voice of Xander following soon after.
“General Quarters, General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations! Set material condition 'Zebra' throughout the ship! The route of travel for General Quarters is up and forward to starboard, down and aft to port. The Reason for General Quarters is Confirmed enemy contact close aboard…ALL HANDS BRACE!”
The ship shook violently, several more torpedoes had hit the drydock and Unicorn. Josiah dashes out of his quarters and heads for the bridge. They were under attack!
__ __ __
The violent shaking of the ship tossed Johnathan out of his bunk, spilling him onto the deck below. Cursing, he started to get up, then froze when he message come over the intercom. They were under attack!!
A angry growl escaped his throat as he knew who that enemy was. Jumping up, he quickly got dressed, then bolted out into the corridor. All around him, the crew was reacting. He quickly made his way to the Marine armory. He was going to draw his weapons, in case the Romulans grew even bolder and decided to board the ship.
__ __ __
Groggily lifting himself from the pillow, a bleary-eyed Whitford took a moment to get into gear as he heard the Genreal Quarters klaxon sharply whining in the background. Wiping the drool from his mouth, he pulled his discarded uniform from the day before and pulled the legs on, grabbing an undershirt and pulling his arms into the sleeves.
Elbowing his door release, he set off at a trot to get to the Bridge.
-- -- --
Sub-Commander T'shir was meditating in her quarters, seated cross-legged on the floor when a violent shaking of the ship knocked her sideways and to the ground, breaking her posture and her concentration as the announcement came over the intercom system ordering officers to their battle stations.
T'shir carefully stood up, bracing herself on the nearby bed, wisely anticipating more turbulence. She took off her meditation robes, revealing her standard gray jumpsuit underneath. She then exited her quarters and made her way to the Bridge quickly, lightly touching the walls in the corridors in case of the sudden need to balance herself along the way.
______
Travis and Ben were, as usual, in Engineering doing more routine upgrades to the Manifold. Being as it was a quiet third shift, they hadn't intended to encounter any issues and had both planned the time to conduct their upgrades in peace. The shaking of the vessel and the alarm changed everything. Both the Chief and Assistant Chief Engineer went to work closing the panel to the Manifold they had opened.
"Get her active! Cold Start! You have thirty seconds!" Travis ordered to Ben, who responded with quick actions as he went straight to the Manifold control panel.
Travis rushed to the comms panel on the wall, pressing a button.
"Bridge this is Engineering! We'll have the Manifold up and running in the next thirty seconds. It'll be a cold start, but you'll have power!"
He then rushed to the armory panel, sliding it open and revealing hand phasers. He grabbed the nearest Engineering Officer as slammed the phaser in his hand.
"I want you posted at the entrance to Engineering! Anything Romulan is to be shot!" ordered Travis, who pushed the wide-eyed Ensign away. He then grabbed two more, repeating the same, and taking the last two phasers for himself as he rushed back over to Ben.
"Here!" Travis called out as he tossed Ben a phaser pistol. The Assistant Chief quickly took it, resuming his work. The Manifold began to hum to life as it throbbed in protest at the cold start. It began to shake violently, then hum, then gently shake.
"She's waking up!" Ben announced.
----------
Josiah enters the bridge, as the ship lurched under another volley of torpedoes and plasma fire. Outside it was chaos as smaller ships of Delta and Intrepid classes attempted to break from their cradles and gain open space to engage with the enemy.
"REPORT!"
Josiah calls out to the tactical station.
"Multiple ship's-err Romulan ships on attack vectors!" Jas called back from the science station, her hands slipping over the controls and she tried to feed more information from the sensors into the tactical systems. "Un-unable to determine classification... they're jamming us!" She wasn't ready for this... she was a scientist, not a soldier! Where was Commander Magnusson!?
T'shir jogged to her station as Colonel McEntyre was calling out for a tactical report. She put an earpiece in her ear, and opened all channels. One ear open to the Colonel she waited for orders and incoming information.
"T'shir, get on the Comms, any ship that can get out of dock or are already out of dock, tell them to form on Unicorn."
Josiah tells the Vulcan as he leans over the sensor station.
"I got Columbia and Endeavour out there, Get me Captain Stiles on Endeavour!"
"Right Away, Colonel," T'shir answered calmly. After a brief second that seemed to take much longer T'shir announced, "I have a channel open, Colonel. Private or do you want it on the Bridge comm?" She asked, an earpiece ready and extended just in case.
"Bridge Comm"
Josiah looks up as he feeds information to the tactical station for Saul.
'Plenty of bogies, but no power to cannons, or torpedoes,' Whitford informed calmly, ignoring the bucking of the ship as he stood in a wide stance.' Wairing calmly, he set in targeting patterns as he waited for the ship's power to come online. A thrum crept up his feet through the deck and red lights flipped over to green. 'Weapons coming online. Cannons charging!' he called with evident pleasure.
He threw a look over to Jas at the science station and threw her a thumbs up.
"Sir, the channel is open for Captain Stiles," T'shir reminded the Colonel coolly.
"Stiles? This is Mack, swing around, link up with Columbia and form on my wing"
"Copy that, Mack, right behind ya. Erica's coming up on your port."
----------
Colonel Josiah McEntyre
Commanding Officer/MACO Commanding Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Commander Gunnar Magnussan
Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Sub Commander T’shir
Chief Communications Officer/Officer of the Watch
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Kayoko Himeji
Chief Helm Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Blake Weston
Chief Navigator
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Keelli Reex
Helm Officer/Shuttle Pilot
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Saul Whitford
Chief Armoury Officer
Unicord NX-151
&
Ensign Shor ch'Zeles
Armory Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Dr. Alexander Coleman
Chief Medical Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Dr. Jack Peters
Chief Surgeon
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Commander Travis Paladin
Chief Engineer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Razeen el-Ben
Assistant Chief Engineer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Thisbe P'rar
Damage Control Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Major Arjut'Pelan sh'Kohlaka
Chief Strategic Intelligence Officer/MACO Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Ensign Jasleen Chakrabarti
Science Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant JG Elspeth McArthur
Communications Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Major Erin Ishikawa
MACO Executive Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Master Sergeant Johnathan Reece
MACO Raider
Unicorn NX-151
&
Gunnery Sergeant Bjorn Magnusson
MACO Raider
Unicorn NX-151
&
Captain Vilhelmina Nimitz
Military Dog Handler/MACO Officer
Unicorn NX-151
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