The Battle in Space
Posted on Thu Aug 29th, 2024 @ 6:08pm by Sub-Commander T'shir & Colonel Josiah McEntyre & Commander Saul Whitford & Commander Gunnar Magnusson & Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Calhoun & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Coleman & Lieutenant Kayoko Himeji
Edited on on Sat Aug 31st, 2024 @ 6:56am
1,676 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
The Landings
Location: Coridan Orbit
Timeline: MD: 1
[ON]
Whitford sat in the center chair, watching the dropships fall away from the Unicorn. Clenching his hands in to fists, he felt helpless as his comrades blasted their way through the atmosphere into danger. Scowling, he watched the lights of the dropship engines dwindle as they hit atmo.
Tearing himself away from the viewer - he'd do the crew no good if he was not focused on his own duties - he pulled up a tactical readout of the fleet's disposition as they orbited Coridan. Looking at the data he concluded that the Unicorn would have to move into a higher position earlier than anticipated.
'Helm, move us to Coridan's upper orbit,' he ordered curtly. 'Sub-Commander T'shir, kindly inform the fleet we're moving to our second position. As per the plan, they're to route any telemetry on Romulan vessels to our position so that we can disperse that information throughout the fleet. Give our StratOps something to do,' he said with a wry smile.
"Aye, Commander. Sending an encrypted message updating our position," T'lenn responded.
Dr. Coleman was down in sickbay and could hear the groan of the ship moving around a bit faster than she normally would. With the newness of the ship, the alloys in the hull had been tested to the extremes. But, nothing compares to actual runs across space and especially within battle. Coleman knew that they were in for the time of their lives.
-----
"Sirs, Three Romulan Warbirds have broken off and are on an intercept with us. ETA, 3.3 minutes"
The navigator called from his station, looking concerned at the Admiral and Commander Whitford.
Kayoko looked over her shoulder. "We can outrun them since we have a head start..." she said simply. "Your orders sir?" Her hand rested on the power controls to the engine, ready to send the Unicorn to top speed.
She had missed most of the action after being injured and confined in the ship's sickbay. However she was glad to be back at the helm, at least now she could do her job again. She watched as the Romulan ships closed the gap between them.
"The new tactical systems are fully integrated," said Gunnar from the Sciences station. "They have not been tested in battle, though. If we could get a frequency reading on their weapons, I could modulate the shields to better protect us." Or better yet, just get us some information on Romulan technology in general...since we know next to nothing about them."Shield prototype coming online. Fifteen seconds to full coverage."
"Are you suggesting using the communications systems to attempt to obtain a frequency on their energy weapons, Commander Magnusson?" T'shir asked. She was busy at her console, with her assistant communications officer accompanying the MACO officers. She raised an eyebrow in concentration. "I am recording their outputs now, sir. It will take a minute or so to run a full analysis."
A resounding boom struck the ship, shaking the Bridge. T'shir braced herself against her console.
"That is precisely what I was suggesting, Sub-Commander," said Gunnar with a small smile. The tall Icelander was very pleased to see that Vulcans were seemingly more forthcoming and cooperative when all of their collective asses are on the line. "Shield bubble formation in progress," he said. There was a distinctive vibration that one could almost feel in the back of one's teeth.
"Commander, I have something," T'shir responded, looking over her shoulder. "Does this help you?"
Gunnar examined the data packet that T'shir had sent to his station. He had theorized that, like every star faring culture Starfleet had encountered thus far, the Romulans would favor using a comparatively narrow frequency range for most of their systems. This meant that there would be a likely correlation between communication frequencies and tactical systems. "This prototype has only limited ability to be adjusted," he said, shaking his head. "They cannot be adjusted further without taking them offline. But...it does give us something for future encounters. Nice work, Sub-Commander."
"Perhaps we can modify our deflector array to compromise the frequency. We've had recent success obtain control over Romulan computer commands. With a narrow range of frequency outputs to work with, the deflector array could provide enough of a delay for us to run our own signal back to the Romulan vessels and redirect their targets," T'shir suggested. "With Lieutenant McArthur out with the landing party, I recommend bringing Commander Calhoun in to assist. He demonstrated competency in this area."
'Do it,' Whitford ordered from the Chair his voice firm. 'Any advantage against these bogeys is welcome. Let's try and keep their fire away from the planet - remember, there's no telling what damage they could do to it with an accidental hit.'
"Aye, Sir," T'shir responded. From her communication control board, she patched in a line to engineering. "Bridge to Commander Calhoun. Please report as soon as possible."
Calhoun tapped the nearest intercom upon hearing the call come in. “Calhoun here. Be right there, Sub-Commander!”
“Carmichael, you’re in charge ‘til I get back. Keep everything together,” said the engineer.
Commander Calhoun got to the bridge a few short moments later and headed directly to the engineering station. “Whaddya got, Commander?” Calhoun said as he addressed Magnusson.
Sub-Commander T'shir transferred the energy weapons frequencies to the engineering station. "We've obtained the frequencies of their energy weapons. We are unable to adjust the variance on our shields without taking them offline, but we were hoping to use the deflector array to target a signal back on the same frequency - to see if the signal can be hijacked to redirect from their intended targets," T'shir explained.
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I think I have some ideas. It won’t be but 10 minutes or so,” Calhoun said. He punched up the deflector grid at his station and examined the relays and the redundant feeds. The relays could be attenuated to emit a magnetronic pulse toward the Romulan ships.
“Sub-Commander, Commander….I’ve hit on something. I’ve modified the deflector to send a magnetronic pulse. We can use it to disrupt the Romulan weapons. Not only will it generate false sensor readings, but it will also throw off their targeting systems. Should buy us some time.”
'Good job Calhoun,' Whitford replied from the Tactical station to which he had moved, allowing Hunter to take the Chair. The XO hungered for his time in the Command Chair, but he knew better than to let his ego get in the way of his duty. Plenty of time to brood when the fighting was done.
Alarms blared as the navigator turned back his head.
“INCOMING ORDINANCE!”
On the viewscreen the rush of Romulan plasma torpedos slammed into the shield which crackled with energy as the ship lurched and rocked hard from the impact. Hunter turned in the command chair, looking towards Whitfield at the tactical station.
“Mr. Whitford, phase cannons, return fire!”
Obliging, Whitford flipped a volley of switches and answered the barrage of torpedoes with lancing phase-cannon fire. He watched as it raked the lead Romulan vessel, impacting against their defences. He whipped his head towards Science.
'Any damage?'
"The Unicorn has reports of minor casualties from Decks 4, 7 and 10," T'shir announced. "No major casualties reported, sensor monitoring station on Deck 7 was damaged. We do not have an accurate reading yet on our shield integrity, but it is estimated between 60-80%. They are rerouting through EPS to Deck Four. We will have more information shortly."
'Calhoun, you got that solution?' Whitford asked, making his way over to the Engineering console, 'send out that pulse - we can't fight our way out of this one just yet.'
“Got it, Commander!” The engineer promptly tapped controls on his console. “Configuring emitters….stand by….ok! Pulse away!” shouted Calhoun.
It took just two seconds for the emitters to fire and both Calhoun and Whitford waited for the outcome.
“Reading fluctuations in the Romulan weapon signatures. It’s working….I can fire another burst, but it takes at least 15 seconds for the emitters to recharge, Commander,” said Calhoun.
The impact of the next blast had the crew scrambling to brace themselves as sparks flew from several of the terminals and the lights in the back corner of the Bridge burned out.
"Commander Calhoun, synchronize the broadband communications array with targeting interface from the deflector array," T'shir announced. "If this is successful, when we send the next burst, for the next 15 seconds every Romulan vessel that is in range that fires an energy weapon will experience a boomerang effect and be hit with their own strikes. Hopefully this is be enough to encourage the Romulans to fall back."
“Following along, T’Shir. That’s perfect, Sub-Commander,” Calhoun said. He waited a beat to check the status on the monitors. “Hot damn! Boomerang? Makes the job easier for us, at least, in part. Make them retreat with their tails between their legs.”
Watching as the Romulan vessels advanced on the Unicorn, Whitford surreptitiously crossed his fingers as he hoped the plan worked. Swooping in, the Romulans unleashed hell on the dreadnought, only to be caught with their pants down as their own weaponry was turned against them.
The numbers flashed across the screens, three Romulan vessels outright destroyed, a few crippled beyond repair, and the rest retreating from the battle. Whitford let out a sigh of relief. 'Good job,' he said loudly, looking at both Calhoun and T'Shir. 'Set us to condition yellow. We'll get repair teams out ASAP - it won't be long before the Romulans come back around for another swipe.
'We'll be ready for them though,' the Executive Officer said firmly.
[Off]
Commander Saul Whitford
Executive Officer/Chief Armory Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Sub-Commander T'shir
Officer of the Watch, Chief Comms Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Commander Gunnar Magnussan
Chief Science Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Calhoun
Chief Engineer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Lieutenant Commander Alexander Coleman, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Unicorn NX-151
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