Marauder (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on 17 Jul 2022 @ 5:36pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Senior Chief Petty Officer Goldie Brown & Cadet Senior Grade Jemima de la Coeur & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Ensign Mimi & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Oliver Sylver & Chief Petty Officer Afthinam Naime & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin
Edited on on 17 Jul 2022 @ 5:48pm

2,808 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Alcyone Sector, USS Galileo-A
Timeline: MD 10, 1252 hrs

Previously, on Marauder (Part 1)...

The acute hazel irises of Galileo's captain narrowed and focused completely on the DaiMon. Tarin's arms fell to her side and she stepped forward in front of the bridge's helm station to speak to the man as up close and personal as she could through the viewscreen. "If you fire on my vessel, you will destroy decades of peaceful cooperation and trade business between the Ferengi Alliance and the United Federation of Planets. I'm familiar with Grand Nagus Rom's administration and I promise he does not authorize your actions or presence here. Furthermor--"

The Starfleet captain's rebuke was cut off by the Ferengi captain. "Rom." He grinned then laughed with a high-pitched squeal. "You mean the engineer-brother of Quark, who was never born with the lobes for business? The one who allowed his own son to join...Starfleet?!" DaiMon Nok's facial features conveyed disgust at the thought. "We don't recognize his new 'vision' for the Alliance. At least under Zek we could still conduct our regular business. But now? ...All these new rules of acquisition...."

T'Lin swiveled back around just in time. "Captain, power surges to the Ferengi ship's weapons. They are preparing to fire."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

"They're firing, brace!" Aria called out, her hands on the console, bracing herself for the inevitable hit.

The forward scorpion-like nacelle prongs of the D'Kora-class marauder flared then unleashed a salvo of tiger-orange energy weapon pulses directly at the Nova-class' forward hull. Galileo's shields painfully absorbed the impacts and illuminated with cobalt highlights while the hull reverberated beneath the barrage of fire.

Inside the bridge, Tarin was almost knocked from her feet from the intense ship-wide lurches. The deck plating beneath her trembled and she was forced down on to one knee before standing back up and sprinting to the captain's chair.

T'Lin hung onto her console as the ship rocked. "They are recharging captain."

"Oh, no; oh, no; oh, no; oh, no," Jemima kept repeating to herself. She'd been in danger before, but this felt worse. She held tightly to the bar on her console and wondered if it had been put there with this purpose in mind.

"Forward shields are down to 30%, Captain," Aria announced, her fingers itching to do something. To get the order that really would allow her to do something.

Groaning slightly Mimi gripped the Ops console tightly for a moment as the ship shuddered under the Ferengi's fire. She checked the console as the first damage reports began to come in, noticing how damaged the shields were from the first volley she looked around for a little more power she could reroute.

"Return fire! Full torpedo spread!" Tarin yelled back to her XO as she assessed the best escape route for their ship. "Helm, get us out of here, evasive pattern Delta-Five!"

"Returning fire, full spread!" Aria called out, taking a deeper breath as her fingers moved. "Lighting them up..." she whispered to herself, frowning. "...like it's Christmas..."

"Evasive pattern Delta-Five, aye Captain," Sylver said, quickly getting the ship moving. He had shifted so his knee was pressing up under the console to help bracing him, allowing him to use both hands without worrying too much about being thrown out of the chair. Being a tall man had some advantages, and right now he used it. Of course, it meant if the console exploded, he'd be unable to push himself anywhere fast, but no plan was perfect.

In space, the Nova-class starship unleashed a full barrage of quantum ordinance upon its new Ferengi foe. Galileo's two forward torpedo launchers flared and sent six cerulean, zero-point energy warheads downrange with an impressive burst-fire pattern. They sparkled through the cosmos at high velocity then impacted the marauder's forward shields with a bright spectacle, causing its protective energy field to shimmer and momentarily falter. The small science frigate then engaged its impulse engines and started a quick turn to port away from the larger heavy cruiser while also maneuvering to avoid any potential incoming fire.

Tarin thumbed the internal comm system on her console. "All hands, we're engaged defensive. Brace for incoming fire. Engineering, I'm going to need max warp again..." Another volley of fire rocked Galileo and several overhead bulkhead relays burst into sparks.

Aria frowned as she looked over at the readings, a small smile suddenly curling her lips. "Ferengi forward shields are now down," she called out, taking a breath. "They've taken minimum hull damage."

"Auxiliary power relays have been damaged," Goldie reported. "Attempting to compensate." She had to say that or the acting captain would probably ask her to do so. The woman had little faith in anyone on the ship--or so it seemed to the non-com.

"Captain, this is engineering." Naime chimed in over to the bridge "We could have maximum warp ready within the parameters that I have previously laid out." Down in engineering the chief shrugged as the cut off the line and with a sad half smile nodded to Hel, "Max warp it is."

As tactical and damage reports were relayed and engineering confirmed their warp readiness, Tarin secretly admired the Nova-class' resilience. The older Oberth-class predecessors would never have been able to withstand this initial barrage. Starfleet's modern technology gave the new commander a semblance of confidence in an otherwise difficult situation. "Transfer shield power to our aft quarters. Target their weapon ports and fire, full phasers." Tarin knew their best hope was to escape from the larger, faster and more heavily armed adversary. If Galileo could put enough separation between their two vessels to establish a warp bubble... "Divert all remaining auxiliary power to impulse. Get us out of here and standby for warp!"

Aria moved her fingers quickly, frowning as she followed the order, transferring the shield power. She targeted the Ferengi's weapons ports, frowning. "Power transferred to aft quarters, phasers locked on their weapons ports, firing!" she called out, breathing slowly as she worked.

'Retreat and then reassess the situation, the Nekomi way' Mimi thought as she moved the ship's auxiliary power around again bringing more to the ship's blazing impulse engines.

Within the cosmos surrounding Cold Station 31's asteroid field, a fury of orange phased energy released itself from the Federation vessel onto the Ferengi adversary. Galileo's dorsal, rear and lateral phaser arrays charged then fired several consecutive bursts into the D'Kora-class' exposed forward hull. The phaser beams struck their pinpointed targets and created several secondary explosions -- but not without retaliation.

The Ferengi heavy cruiser responded in kind to the smaller frigate despite its subsystem damage. Another volley of tiger-orange weapon pulses ripped into the Nova-class' rear shields and penetrated them. Two concentrated bolts slammed into Galileo's starboard nacelle, shattering the warp coils' protective housing. Another bolt impacted the secondary hull directly above main engineering. The Starfleet vessel started to list to starboard while one of its nacelles flickered and vented large amounts of warp plasma in its wake.

Within Galileo's bridge, overhead relays burst open with sparking debris and produced thick smoke. The small vessel was violently rocked from the impacts and the inertial dampers struggled to compensate. One of the engineering consoles overloaded from the power surges and exploded, sending rocky electrical debris across the rear of the command center.

"Damage report!" yelled Tarin across the cacophony.

Aria moved a hand to push a stray hair from her face, frowning. "Aft shield's gone, we did minimal damage to the Ferengi weapons," she said, her ears ringing slightly from the explosion. She made quick visual confirmation that nothing was on fire, although she coughed slightly at the smoke.

"We're losing impulse power!" Sylver called out, shaking his head as he let out a breath. They'd be dead in the water soon, unless something changed.

Goldie watched damage reports and power levels scroll across her screen. This was not looking good. "Warp core and starboard nacelle are offline," she reported. She was running out of ways to work around the damage.

Mimi was also watching the reports of damage across the ship flooding into her console, the warp core being off line was the hardest blow, without that their chances weren't good. "We have hull breaches, starboard nacelle and....." She hesitated for a moment. "Deck 5 near engineering."

"Captain, ship is closing and by indications preparing a tractor beam." T'Lin was gripping the panel so hard that she was putting small dents in the metal.

We're slow, damaged, and being overrun. The grim assessment consumed Commander Tarin's thoughts for several seconds. As if looking to be proven wrong by those who knew best, she glanced down at the command console to her left which showed real-time information of all Galileo's primary and secondary systems. Instead of displaying its usual green and blue hues, it was inundated with flashing red warnings and priority alerts. There was no way they were going to escape their current predicament.

"Helm, bring us about and keep our shields between them befor--"

Five yellow transporter beams suddenly manifested on the bridge. They shimmered with circular motions before fading away and depositing a Ferengi boarding party in their wake. Short in stature, the wrinkled-lobed adversaries donned traditional gray garments with black tactical belts holstering specialized energy whips. They quickly took in their new surroundings and scanned from side to side before hissing and aiming their disruptors at Galileo's bridge crew.

"This vessel belongs to us now!" declared one of them, who then aimed and fired a warning shot just above Tarin's head and into the rear engineering console.

The acting captain's eyes were wide now with the new reality they were facing. She instinctively slapped the ship's internal comm channel button on her console to relay a dire warning. "All hands, intruder alert! Deploy security teams and defend your stat--"

A Ferengi disruptor bolt slammed into Tarin's upper torso which crippled her arm and caused her to fall forward from her chair.

Aria reached for her phaser, firing at the Ferengi even as she took cover. She tapped her comm badge, breathing harder. "Rice to Stark. We've got intruders on the bridge. We're holding them off." There wasn't much he could do, he was the lone Security officer. And she trusted him. Stars around them, she trusted Gabriel Stark to do what he needed to do. She shifted, firing again, her phaser set to maximum stun.

"Intruders also on deck 5," Stark's voice was calm over the comm, but held the strain of physicality. Deploy Security teams, the call had said...that was him. He was the security teams. Although it sounded like Aria was a team up on the bridge. "Need me to get to you?"

"Negative," Aria said, her eyes narrowing as she fired. "We got it handled here. Lock up what you can, and do what you can to contain the Ferengi." She paused, firing again. "Prioritise and adapt, Stark. And keep me posted if you can."

Sylver had found himself facing two Ferengi when they materialised, and it took him a second untangling his legs from his console. He went with the momentum though, throwing himself onto the ground, barely avoiding some disruptor fire. He pulled his own phaser, sneering, firing at the Ferengi closest to him.

The closest Ferengi to the conn ducked and Sylver's shot went over his short head. His marauder counterpart, however, flanked the conn officer while unholstering the energy whip from his belt then forward-snapped the weapon towards the helmsman. A blue pulse of energy emanated then impacted the tall man on the floor, stunning him into submission.

Sylver couldn't even cry out, his muscles locked with the flash of pain before he lost consciousness, well and truly stunned.

T'Lin pounced and grabbed one short form throwing it with Vulcan strength at a few others. As she did so, she begin to say out loud, "Let my emotions fill my heart, let my rage power my limbs. Let my anger overcome my logic." She had been trained in the deadliest of Vulcan martial arts and the chant she knew would strip away the logical veneer that most cultivated over a long life time.

Aria glanced towards the Vulcan, with awe at how she moved. She looked at the Ferengi closest to her, firing so he flinched to the side. He was getting distracted. Good. She always wanted to fight someone her own size. She secured her phaser, because she would need it once she had taken him down. She pushed herself forward, running when keeping low before she got close and hit, aiming for his ears. Now what did she remember about the Ferengi? Oh. Ears were sensitive, and upper and lower lungs. That meant lower ribs. She followed up her hit with a harsh kick to the knee, then to his arm to disarm him.

"Ahhhh...Hoo-mon..!" exclaimed the intruder who fell under the security officer's assault. He grappled at the similar-sized Starfleet officer and used his upper body strength to roll her over on the deck and crawl on top of her. He hissed, baring a set of crooked and sharp pointed teeth at her.

Aria shifted her body, using her grip to roll the Ferengi over, before driving her elbow into his face. It hurt, but the sound the man under her made was oddly satisfying. She grabbed her phaser from her belt, pressing it against him before she squeezed the button. Maximum stun at point blank range. It would hurt him more than it hurt her. She pulled herself up, blowing some hair that had escaped and stuck to her sweaty face before turning towards the next Ferengi.

T'Lin dodged and jumped and rage twisted her pale features. Her hands moved in deadly precision with not just Vulcan strength but enhanced by the emotion she had unleashed. All there was in her vision were targets.

Hesitating for a few second as the horrible scent of Ferengi filled her nostrils Mimi was out of the chair and flying over the ops station landing both feet into the face of the Ferengi that had stunned Chief Sylver sending him sprawling to the ground. landing deftly on her feet, she pounced on him and grabbed his arms to pin him down and try to disarm him.

A battle of hands began between the Nekomi and her adversary. The Ferengi twisted his wrists under her grip and broke one arm free. He swiped at the officer's face with sharp nails which cut through her fur. "..aaAHHH!" he yelled with vigor in an attempt to turn the tide on his foe.

Mimi hissed sharply at the Ferengi as its nails scraped at her face, she drew out the claws in her right hand and went to scratch him right back but kept her cool. Keeping hold of the arm she already had she swung her body around and managed to position herself into an armbar.

Temporarily immobilized and without control of his upper body, the shorter foe reached out with his opposite arm in a futile attempt to grab the ensign. Instead he scratched at air while his wrinkled facial features turned even more sullen.

Using what strength she had Mimi pulled harder at the Ferengi's arm, within moments the already strained joints would become hyper extended and muscles would begin to tear from bone.

Another furious cry emanated from the Ferengi, this one of pure pain. "Kzinti female...!! I will buy and sell you and your whole family to the Syndicate...!..."

Tal-shya was an old temple technique that was derived from making a quick execution as thus was thought to be something merciful. The rage was in her now, she had stripped off most of the veneer of calmness. She dodged the wild attempts at bringing her down and threw off the hurts. With a swift move one Ferengi went down with a broken neck, the look of surprise that he was dead still plain on his face.

"Commander Tarin!" T'Lin bellowed. "We need to escape and regroup!"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

LT Aria Rice
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO1 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

CWO2 Oliver Sylver
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

CDT(SR) Jemima de la Coeur
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

PO1 Goldie Brown
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

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