Bat'leths and Warp Cores!

Posted on 25 Jul 2012 @ 3:46am by Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren
Edited on on 30 Jul 2012 @ 9:16am

4,026 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Main Engineering
Timeline: MD07 - 2245 hrs

[ON]

=^=All hands this is the Bridge, secure your stations and prepare to repel boarding parties, repeat, prepare to repel boarding parties! =^=

Engineering had fared just as badly as any other part of the ship so far, having been fighting since the first disruptor blast had been fired to try and keep Galileo in one piece. With Chief Quinn missing, the situation in Engineering was less than cohesive, with system reports of damaged and disabled areas coming in from all across the tiny Nova-class.
Now, adding in the latest message from Galileo's First Officer, it seemed that it was going to get a lot worse. A few seconds were all it took for that exact thought to be proven.

In the centre of the room, the eerie red glow of a Klingon transporter beam bathed the bulkheads in their bloody colour, as the unmistakeable shape of its passengers began to form. Within moments, the warriors had rematerialized with only one mission in mind; to capture Galileo and kill anyone who stood in their way.

Ens. Rhodes looked up from a hurt engineer, dropping the med tool, stepping over him and pulling his phaser from his side. Tapping his comm badge, =^= Intruder alert in Engineering. =^= He began firing as the 6 individuals just beamed in. The first Klingon was struck and went down. Rhodes knew that that was an easy shot and would not happen again in this engagement.

Spreading out quickly, green disruptor blasts began to fly from one side of the room to the other as the Klingons began to target anything they could see in a Starfleet uniform. The battle for Engineering at least, had begun.

Another security crewman fired and missed the intruder, but was struck by return fire and knocked back onto the deck face up no longer moving.

Theron had trained and trained to defend boarding parties. The key was good marksmanship and only giving the opponent a limited and moving target. He continued to fire striking close then dodging.

Hiding behind a large bulkhead, the Klingon warrior J'MoK growled impatiently as he stuck his arm about behind cover and fired several blasts of his disruptor at the closest Starfleet crewman. Green pulses quickly yet inaccurately slammed into metal support beams as the Starfleet man took cover. "Meq'gH cha'DIch!" he yelled at one of his Klingon comrades, giving him the order to try and flank the enemy security officer.

Rhodes could tell that one Klingon was behind a support beam, but could not get a direct shot at him. He saw the relay panel opposite him. He knew it was a chance, but fired at the panel and caused it to explode. The Klingon flinched from the blast, which gave Rhodes the open target and he fired and dropped him where he stood.

A shower of flames and wreckage burst out from the destroyed console, right next to J'MoK. "Aaahhhh!" he yelled violently as shrapnel cut into his body through the exposed areas of his armor. Instinctively, he moved away from the console, yet unknowingly put himself in security crewman's line of fire. An orange phaser blast suddenly slammed into his abdomen, sending him to the floor unconscious.

Theron stood behind a structure beam. From his vantage point he could see the other security crewman, Jackson, was somewhat pinned down by the disruptor fire.

Watching his fallen comrade, another warrior named Ma'lok quickly moved out of cover and began firing his disruptor at Rhodes as he moved to retrieve J'MoK. The shots from his weapon missed their target, but were close enough to provide some sort of cover while Ma'lok grabbed J'MoK and dragged him back behind the bulkhead. Cold and calculating, he looked over at two of his other warriors who were having trouble navigating some type of recently-erected force field.

It took some time and access shaft sliding, but Lilou managed to reach Engineering in a matter of minutes after seeing Quinn's body transported away to the relative safety of Sickbay. There wasn't anything she could do for him right now that was more important than securing the Galileo's warp core. The closer she got to Engineering, the louder the phaser fire grew, echoing up the shaft towards her. Peering down through a ventilation unit, she gleaned the scene. Klingons had taken cover throughout the confines of Main Engineering, pinning down her comrades with phaser fire. She aimed through the vent and took down the one closing in on one of the security officers, then scrambled along the hatchway to the next vent and peered through. Come on, she thought. Come on, you cowards. Ah, what the heck, she yanked her helmet back on, pressed her knees out against the sides of the shaft, and used her spanner to snap the vent out and down onto the head of the Klingon directly beneath her. Dropping the upper half of her body out through the hole, she fired down at the surprised intruder with her best battle call. "Get the hell out of my ship!" she shouted as she twisted and aimed towards the next target.

It had taken Scarlet a few, long moments to drag the wounded Jonathan out of the way of the battle. She laid him out behind a work station, breathing hard with the effort of dragging the deadweight. "I'll be back," she promised him, squeezing his arm before moving out to the fight.

Scarlet moved forward with a steady pace, her eyes on the intruders, her body oddly relaxed as she readied herself to fight. For the ex-marine, this was something that she felt more useful doing during emergencies. She preferred a rifle over the hand phaser she'd been given, but it would do.

It didn't matter either way as the Klingon advanced on her with a near growl, clearly fixed on close combat in mind, and Scarlet watched him in return with a steady gaze, just running her eyes over him and how he moved. She ducked the first sweep of the large, wicked looking blade, using his exposed size to slam her elbow up into his side and under his arm, using the full weight of her body to make him reel and weaken his favoured arm's grip, just for a moment.

In the moment of weakness, she slammed her palm up into his face, making his head snap back, but he recovered quickly, and Scarlet could have sworn she saw a smile curl on his lips as he smacked her hard across the face with the back of his hand.

She let the hit take her rather than fight it, slamming forward into the bulkhead, but bringing her arms up to cover her face and head so it wouldn't hit it. Scarlet shook her head with a gasp to shake the cloudiness away, just in time to sense the bulky body of the Klingon close against her and reaching out for her.

Scarlet slammed her head back into his face, pushing herself hard off of the wall with both her arms and legs, using all her strength and weight, letting herself half slam, half fall into him, sending them both down in a heavy fall on the floor.

Scarlet cried out at the slice of a blade on her side, but made a grab for his other blade. They grappled together, the Klingon far stronger than her, but Scarlet quicker and finding it easier to slip from his grasp, but she took a number of hits, returning them quickly with anger but not as much strength. When he rolled on top of her to grab her hair, she managed to sink down under his body, being slighter than him. Tightening her grip on the knife at his belt, she pulled it out before plunging it hard into his side.

Scarlet took the chance of the reeling Klingon crying out in pain to kick him hard off her, straddling him as she pulled the knife out and plunged it hard back into him. She sat back, taking a moment to catch her breath before grabbing hold of his bat'leth, tugging it firmly away from his prone body before walking away, stepping over him without care as she weighed the large weapon in her hands, bringing it up just in time to greet another intruder, not messing around as she let out an almost controlled cry of effort as she slashed the bat'leth straight for his throat.

The Klingon however, saw the attack coming and was able to throw his head back quickly enough to avoid Scarlet's swing, which found nothing to cut except thin air. Smiling for a second, and looking down at the defeated bodies of his former comrades, the warrior reached behind him and drew a shorter bladed weapon from within his uniform, intent on doing some damage to the now-wounded Starfleet officer in front of him.

"Oh come on," Scarlet murmured to herself, having to catch her breath as she settled back on her heals, trying to regain herself as she shored up her grip on the large, curved weapon she held. She stumbled back a step, feeling decidedly not at the top of her game from her injuries. Her eyes were on the approaching Klingon's knife. It was too short to fight like this with. She threw her bat'leth down to the ground behind her and hopped back to the fallen Klingon she'd fought. She grabbed the knife that was still in his chest where she'd downed him with it, ripping it firmly out of him. She'd rather go head on with a similar weapon.

Scarlet remained low to avoid the first sweep of his weapon before standing, smashing her arms into the joint of his, trying to cripple his grip on his blade, but knowing it would take a lot to do it. Keeping one arm pressed down against the joint of his elbow to try and keep his arm at safe distance from her, she aimed her knife straight for him. She was too tired to dance around, stabbing her blade straight for his throat in a simple, sharp attack while their arms were locked together, but knowing it was a gamble because if he was quick enough he could unbalance them both with his strength and weight.

Speed was of course, not a Klingon's greatest skill. Although his first attack had been based purely on power and strength, it had not been thought of that his opponent might actually avoid the attack and counter with one of her own. Of course the Klingon would never get the chance to figure out how he had gone wrong, as the Starfleet knife buried itself in his throat, and his life ended in a single move.

Rhodes was at a standstill. They had been trading phaser and disrupter fire from two directions. Now, he heard a loud monstrous roar and heard the pounding of boots on the deck. When Theron peeked his head around the side he saw a Klingon with his mighty sword bearing down on him. Theron ducked, jumped, and rolled out of the way just in time as the metal of his blade struck the beam where Theron had just stood.

Without delay the Klingon brought the bat'leth around for another strike.

Rhodes attacked in response with kicks to the mid-section attempting to get in close so the intruder could not use his blade.

A Klingon warrior however, knew what to expect from his opposition, and of course, unlike the standard Starfleet uniforms, wore an armoured outfit that protected him from most kinetic attacks, and a kick from a human was exactly that category. Not even flinching from the attack, the Klingon grabbed the leg of his opponent and threw him across the deck, watching him sprawl as he recovered from the attack.
Reaffirming his grip on his bat'leth, the warrior ignored the obvious choice of his disruptor for the more visceral choice of a bladed weapon. Watching as the human managed to recover in time for him to throw a swing.

Here again Rhode's agility was his best advantage. He moved in again and jumped with a kick to the Klingon's head, then dropped to the deck and swept his legs from the back causing the warrior to fall back.

Enraged as his balance was thrown off, the aggressive dark haired soldier had no choice but to let gravity run its course and throw him to the deck. This human it seemed was going to be more trouble than he was worth. Unsheathing his disruptor, the Klingon looked ahead of him and steadied his aim at the human security officer, before pulling the trigger, aimed squarely at his chest.

Theron found himself in a position as never before. Here he was on a Starship in deep space, fighting hand to hand with a Klingon warrior. With the Klingon on his back before him and he on one knee and one foot with a disruptor pointed directly at his chest. There were so few options in the second for all this to go through his mind. His phaser had been lost in all the mayhem. And no hand weapon in sight, but the Klingon's own bat'leth on the other side of him. If Theron had one of the bladed weapons from quarters that he had collected over the last couple years, then the odds would be just a touch more in his favour. But, facing the disruptor held by this angry warrior, there seemed no hope at all.

From the left a phaser beam struck the shoulder and chest of the Klingon. The arm and disruptor fell limp to the floor. Just as this happened, from behind Ens. Rhodes came Roar and pounding of boots. Knowing it was another Klingon, Rhodes jumped over the dead Klingon, grabbing his bat'leth, and coming up just in time to block the mighty blade that would have crashed through him.

Rhodes had some training with hand weapon, but very little with a two handed bat'leth. His training with the katana would have to come into play for him. The best he could do was keep the opponent's blade deflected and wait for an opening.

The warriors aboard Galileo however were an entirely different story. Having been educated around the martial arts and the combative ways of the empire, weapons such as the bat'leth became more like an extension of an arm rather than a tool to be used. Blood thirst simply wasn't the word to describe the present situation; to the Klingon staring down the ensign in front of him, this was just another opportunity to add to his own personal kill count. Turning the bat'leth to its horizontal position, the Klingon let fly with a couple of quick yet heavy swings, testing the resolve of his opponent, waiting to see whether or not they had made the wrong decision trying to go hand to hand....

One of the Klingon's powerful attacks was blocked, but the tip did find its mark stabbing into the Ensign's left shoulder probably only 2 cm. Rhodes yelled in pain. He realized that could no longer hold the bat'leth as he had. Dropping it out of his left hand, he then did a side roll to the left, while at the same time spinning the weapon around, so that when he came up on one foot the bat'leth struck the back side of the warriors knee, slicing through to the bone.

Howling in pain as he found his prey to have been less than cooperative when it came to dying, the Klingon fell to one knee as he recovered from the sweeping blow to the back of his leg. No matter, a Klingon warrior would fight until there was nothing left in him. Picking himself up, without bearing his weight too heavily on his now-injured leg, the Klingon aimed another swing towards his opponent, with the intention to end this quickly, and move onto the next unfortunate soul.

A fire burned deeply in Rhodes' shoulder sapping his strength. His well-executed strike did not keep the Klingon down for long. Rhodes watched as the monstrous form of a warrior climbed to his feet and raised his weapon. There was a possibility. Even though he only had maybe half the strength in his left hand, he grabbed the bat'leth with both hands. He lunged forward and down on one knee, thrusting up with his weapon into the raised unprotected armpit. The middle blade of Theron's bat'leth was thrust deep into the side of its chest.

Looking down at the blade that had somehow gotten through his defences, the Klingon could do nothing but grunt as the life was taken from his body, and collapsed under its own weight, defeated.

Rhodes stood up over the crumpled bulk of the Klingon Warrior at his feet. The bat'leth held tightly in his right hand at his side as Rhodes' left arm hung with blood dripping from his fingers. So many emotions ran through his mind, from aggressive laughter and jokes to sympathy for a life lost to the universe. Rhodes flicked the excess blood from his hand and turned determine what to do next, saying aloud, "Now, where is that phaser I lost?"

Willis ducked out of the Chief's office, securing a highly encrypted algorithm to stop any possible of transferring bridge control, down to Main Engineering. He caught sight of a Klingon about to administer a death blow to a stunned engineer. Without hesitation, Willis levelled his phaser and let loose a shot that landed squarely between the Klingon's shoulders. The blast threw the enemy combatant into a nearby power coupling, causing a few thousand amps to assault the, and explode the Klingon. Willis looked for Lilou. Then he spotted her, and fired another shot at a Klingon near her. "Peers!" bellowed Willis, and he pointed towards the gravity relay. "Trip it, and hang onto something." Willis then tapped his combadge, =^=Deck Seven, grab something!=^=

Lilou had been keeping herself occupied keeping a steady stream of phaser fire aimed towards the door to keep the intruders she'd managed to herd out staying out, her mind a mess of anger and fear for Quinn and of the Klingon invasion into the one place she'd managed to feel safe since... No time for thoughts like that now. She dropped down from the ceiling and barrelled across the room, taking phaser fire to the EV suit, but remaining unharmed beneath its armor. She tripped the gravity relay, hooking her suit's relay line to one of the clamps on the wall, and a moment later the whole level lost its footing. =^=Engineering to Bridge, warning to incoming traffic, we are off grav.=^= She pushed off from the wall, unlatching herself, and made it to the engineering console while shouts and slurs in Klingon echoed from the corridor. Quickly, she entered her access codes and locked down Main Engineering. No more coming in, she thought, then caught a glimpse of one of the remaining Klingons in the reflection of the console. She grabbed hold, and kicked back, sending the Klingon and his nasty looking sword floating off aimlessly towards the other end of the room.

Ens. Rhodes holding on to the framing half way up to deck 6 with his feet on the wall, watched as the Klingon floated past him. The Klingon growled angrily as he lashed out trying to grab something, anything. Theron was very proficient at zero gravity combat, but with the state of his bleeding shoulder, he needed to pick his battles.

It was at that moment that the Klingon opponents, both defeated and still active were dematerialised by the appearance of a Federation transporter beam. It seemed that someone, somewhere, had managed to save the day with some clever power distribution.

"Keskoff!" Rhodes said the expletive from his home world. "I was wanting a piece of that one." Theron kicked off slightly in the direction of the deck of main engineering with the appropriated bat'leth still gripped in his right hand. He called out, "Someone bring me a phaser."

"Damn good job, Miss Peers!" exclaimed Willis. "I can see why the Chief made you his assistant. I'll serve under you, anytime." He then pushed off towards Rhodes. Once by him, Willis handed over his phaser. "He ya go Ensign."

Rhodes accepted the phaser and put it on his side where it stayed as he held himself in place with his bleeding left hand while still clutching the dead Klingon's bat'leth. He then asked, "Do you think they are coming again?"

Lilou shook her head, "Not if we can help it." She looked around the room at the other floating gold-collared officers. "Right, people, it's up to us to get this boat churning enough power out to keep our transporter shields up and life support at full function. Boss gave us some more time fixing that nacelle. Let's pay him back by keeping this ship out of enemy hands. Got it? We're leaving grav off for now, that'll save us some power and give us an advantage should they get another transport in. I need volunteers to go babysit the Impulse Engine and someone on the Core at all times from here on out. Full system checks in the downtime. Anything you can fix with a med kit, get to it. Anyone who needs Sickbay, you go on up now, get yourselves in fighting shape, and get back to work. No time to waste. Anyone with some creative ideas about juggling our current levels into more productive power distributions, you come to me." She wanted tools in her hand and things to fix. Anything to keep her mind off the sight of Quinn's missing arm and the smell of cooking flesh. She met Willis' gaze and swallowed slightly, nodding towards the Chief's office, and pushing off towards it.

Willis followed behind Peers as she lead him to the Chief's office. Once he had a firm hold onto the door frame, he looked about and then back to Peers. "What's up, Miss Peers? Oh, I locked out the ability to transfer Bridge controls, down to here. Just in case that was their plan...and they were to succeed."

"Good thinking," she said, dragging her gaze back from Quinn's desk. "He's in Sickbay. I don't..." She shook her head, turning back to Willis, "You've known him longest. You're friends. If you need to go and see him, you should. He's..." She cleared her throat. "Just keep on your comm in case we need you. You did a great job. Far and above the call of duty. I'll make sure the Captain hears about it. When she's back." She shuddered. She couldn't afford to break down. Not now. Not until they were safe and away.

It had taken some moments for Scarlet to recover after the last attack, breathing hard as she half bent over, just letting her injured body adjust as she took all the air she could in, running a hand over her face. She finally straightened up, stretching her body out, almost testing it for the pulls. "Jonathan," she said softly with a frown, moving slowly and a little awkwardly across to where she'd half hidden him. He was still in bad shape, but she was relieved to see he had been ignored during the fighting. "Hey," she moved to kneel next to him, taking a new reading of him, but gripping his hand tightly. "I told you I'd be back."

"Yeah, but do you think they will be?" he said quietly through laboured and pained breathing, his chest lifting slowly with the effort it seemed to take for him to breathe through his coldness.

Scarlet searched his eyes for a long moment, holding her breath before reaching to squeeze his arm firmly. "Not if they have any sense."

[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Additional Klingon NPC's
played by Jonathan Holliday

MWO Lilou Peers
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Ens. Theron Rhodes
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo

Ens. Scarlet Blake
Counsellor
USS Galileo

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