The Battle of Sector 189 (Part 4 of 5)

Posted on 02 Apr 2024 @ 6:43pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Serran & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Vren Vral & Ensign Asha & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class John Hollenday & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral

4,720 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Pleiades Cluster, Sector 189, Grid 02
Timeline: MD 03, 2230 hrs

Previously, on The Battle of Sector 189 (Part 3)...

Sera began climbing the utility stairs and looked down to Asha before she disappeared from view. "I apologize, Ensign Asha, but I will not allow my engineer to die without doing everything I can to save him. I accept the odds of finding a successful way forward with this are...less than ideal, but that will not prevent me from an attempt."

"You think I'm not coming with you, that's my father in there," Asha said grabbing a plasma torch before quickly coming to the bottom of the ladder.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

USS Galileo-B - Deck 1, Bridge

Back within Galileo-B's bridge, the Orion rear admiral snapped out an urgent request to the operations stations over the loud sparking of exposed EPS conduits. Electrical smoke was slowly filling the command center and creating a thin layer of haze, which reflected and highlighted the pulsing red alert strobes. "Damage report!"

The station she was using was now nothing but a wreck, Mimi slowly made her way over to the MSD at the back of the bridge, the explosion had left her a little woozy, she wiped the blood slowly trickling down her face with her sleeve before looking at the display. "Aft shields are down..... we have a hull breach on deck 7... section 9, forcefields are failing."

Vren sharply pulled open the small bag that was attached to his thigh, unsealing a dermaline-soaked bandage from a pack then unceremoniously slapping it onto his cheek. He disliked the seconds lost, but the burn would have incapacitated him had he done nothing.

He wiped some char from his console and brought up the latest reports, "EPS power taps, transporters, and replicators are down, sir," his dead tone cut across the chaos of the bridge, "Dispatching repair teams."

The Orion rear admiral attempted to clean herself off, pausing to run her green fingers through her dirty skunked hair to remove debris particles and then wipe her face free of soot which instead smeared across her emerald features. When she looked down at her center console, the priority indicators revealed a pending structural collapse of the secondary hull if the new hull breach wasn't immediately sealed. She quickly tapped the commbadge on her chest with urgency, "Saalm to Engineering. We're detecting a hull breach on your deck, section nine in the vicinity of Jefferies tube 27. The emergency force field generator is damaged and can't sustain power much longer. I need you to close that hatch and seal off the compartment."

Sera blinked as she listened to the Orion's command. "Admiral...Petty Officer Hollenday is trapped in that very compartment." That two officers were currently trying to extract him was irrelevant to the exchange.

A moment of delay ensued while Saalm closed her eyes and reflected on what she was asking the junior officer to do. Perhaps in a different reality - a different era and political landscape where the Federation wasn't on the brink of defeat and its core ideologies were still able to persist - she would have allowed for some leeway. But now? After the countless lives Starfleet had lost and with their only hope for rectifying the present fully committed to changing the past...sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. They weren't optional. They were mandatory.

"Understood. Now close that hatch and seal that compartment," was the rear admiral's cold repeating reply.


USS Galileo-B - Deck 7, Jefferies Tube

Sera stopped her forward crawl and her head dropped. The order had been given. Saalm was the captain of this vessel.

"...Aye Admiral. The hatch will be sealed."

"NO," Asha shouted. "I can get to him." Plasma torch in hand she tried to push past Sera.

Sera put her hand out stopping Asha. "You heard the admiral's order. We have a hatch to close."

Asha pushed Sera's hand away. "I can't let him die, not now. Aita get out of there." She shouted down the Jefferies tube.

The young woman was quite...distraught. Sera looked at Asha's ability to emote such a powerful thing so effortlessly with a sense of longing. Her own 'feelings' about what was happening here were currently being subsumed simply so she could perform her duties. However, the mental disciplines she was relying upon to maintain logical thought didn't quite cover these kinds of scenarios.

"I can see the structural support collapse that Hollenday has commented upon. We cannot get past it, and if we do not seal the hatch when the emergency force field generator fails, we will lose atmosphere in main engineering. All of us will perish, Ensign."

"WARNING," suddenly blared the ship's computer in its distinctive female voice, accompanied by two repeating alert klaxons. "Primary hull containment failure in 68 seconds - deck seven, section zero-nine-two. Begin emergency evacuation procedures." The message then repeated, "WARNING. Primary hull containment failure in 62 seconds - deck seven, section zero-nine-two. Begin emergency evacuation procedures."

Sera tapped her commbadge, "Petty Officer Hollenday...John." It was an unusual thing for her to use someone's first name. She wanted to put the onus on Saalm, but that was merely an irrational attempt to skirt her own obligations as an officer. When one is forced to give the order that would lead to another's death, ensure that their lives are 'spent' well.

"Your assessments are correct. The emergency force field is failing. I have to seal the hatch or we will lose main engineering. It is necessary. I...I will share the proffered sentiments to Ensign Mimi per your request."

"You do what is necessary. You lose engineering, we've lost the whole ship. Hey, for what's it worth. A pleasure serving with you all. Now fuckin' get that hatch sealed and cut the power, you need it elsewhere," John replied before closing his eyes. "Country roads take me home...."

Sera listened to Hollenday's recitation on the open commlink feeling helpless and useless. She turned and looked back to Ensign Asha.

"We do not have a lot of time to egress before the field fails."

Asha took one last look down the Jefferies tube, tears were already forming in her eyes especially now she could hear John singing what had been her favourite song to hear from him as a child. She took a deep breath and set off down the tube back towards engineering.

Sera turned herself around and began rushing down the tube with Asha now leading the way. There was not a lot of time to get out and seal the hatch.

"WARNING. Primary hull containment failure in 42 seconds," again sounded the computer's audible and critical alert.

The warning klaxon sounded again as Sera reached the exit of the Jefferies tube. Once out of the tube, she loosely gripped the angled ladder and positioned her feet on the outsides of the rungs and loosened her grip, and slid down.

Crossing the bulkhead that separated main engineering from section 9, and Sera reached up and began pulling the hatch closed. With the last volley of torpedoes, the bulkhead had gone off plumb. Getting it closed was now becoming more of an issue.

"Asha..." Sera said in a slightly breathless tone, "I require your assistance!"

Not wanting to look at the scene behind her anymore Asha didn't respond for a few moments before turning and grabbing hold of the hatch. It took a few seconds but eventually with a clunk and whirr of machinery and a hiss of pressure, the hatch closed. Almost instantly afterward Asha slumped to the floor, leant against the bulkhead, and began to sob.

Sera looked down at Asha as tears of grief ran down her cheeks. She crouched down to look Asha more fully in the face. Her voice was calm, serene even, as she uttered the ritual words--translated into Federation Standard--given for loss. "I grieve with thee, Asha."

And she did. She really did. Sera was not unsympathetic...she was just Vulcan.

"That was my father," Asha said with anger even through her sobbing. "Now I won't ever be born."

Sera blinked. She had not considered that aspect. This woman had saved her life...and in return, Sera was following orders that would effectively end hers. Unfortunate.

"Ensign. We do not have the luxury of grief right now. Shields must be restored or everything you and your crew have worked for will be for naught."

Asha remained still, her ears dropped low and her tail lifeless as she held her head in her hands sobbing.

Sera raised a brow as Asha continued to produce excessive lacrimation in a grief response. "Get up, Ensign," Sera ordered forcefully. "Might I remind you that your mother is also on this vessel?" It was cold, and something twisted in Sera's gut to say it, but survival was all that mattered in the moment. Let the dead bury the dead. It was logical.

Asha looked up, somewhat surprised at the force in the Vulcan's words. Her thoughts instantly went to Mimi, she really wanted her there at that moment, to feel her mother's arms around her. "I don't want her to die too." She eventually said.

Sera dipped her head once in a forceful manner. "Then let our continued survival be adequate revenge against our 'enemies,'...for now."


USS Galileo-B - Deck 1, Bridge

The command station's small center console cleared its most critical warning, and where there was once a bright pulsing red highlight on the starship's exposed engineering section, it suddenly turned blue to indicate a full pressure seal. Leaning back momentarily into the backrest of her chair, Saalm closed her eyes knowing another soul had been lost in this long and hopeless war. This time it hadn't been one of her crew, but she remembered Hollenday from the brief period they served together almost two decades ago. And she was fully aware that one of her young present-day engineers was the product of his coupling with another officer from her past...currently stationed on the bridge less than thirty feet from her.

Vren's watery eyes monitored the situation as it unfolded. He'd lost so many people to this war that it had become difficult to muster even the most token of emotions when it came to another's impending death. In fact a certain part of him felt a twisted sense of satisfaction that the crew of the ship that had started it all, the Galileo-A, was finally seeing a real consequence of their hubris. He glanced for a moment to Mimi next to him - there were no happy endings.

"Hull breach has been successfully sealed," his impassive tone called out, "thirty seconds to containment failure."

Marisa closed her eyes to fight back tears. She'd lost so many friends over the years to this war, but John's death cut deep. He and Mimi had so much to look forward to... And Asha... She shook her head. There would hopefully be time later to grieve.

For a moment she couldn't think beyond the pain of that loss, of how she would feel if Luke were killed and she survived. She looked over to her husband, grateful they were both alive and together. She wanted to hug Mimi, then hug Lluke, but she had a responsibility to the ship and crew. Tonight--if they had a tonight--she'd tell him again that she loved him, that the past twenty-five years with him was worth everything. She rubbed her hands across her face to wipe away her tears, took a deep breath, with a slightly shaky hand, went back to her console.

Luke surveyed the somber faces on the bridge, each one bearing the weight of loss and grief. As he glanced down at his console, he realized with a pang of detachment that he felt... nothing. Over the years, Luke had become hardened, his emotions numbed by the countless tragedies and sacrifices he had witnessed. The death of Hollenday, once a close comrade, barely registered in his consciousness.

In the silence of his own thoughts, Luke grappled with the emptiness that seemed to consume him. He had become adept at burying his emotions deep within, a survival mechanism honed through years of adversity. The demise of the Federation, while devastating on a grand scale, felt distant and inconsequential compared to the personal losses he had endured. Lost in introspection, Luke wrestled with the conflicting currents of grief and apathy that surged within him. On one hand, he mourned the loss of his former comrades and the ideals they had fought for. On the other, he struggled to reconcile his own numbness with the magnitude of the tragedy unfolding around him.

As he pondered the question of what truly mattered in a universe torn apart by conflict and chaos, Luke found himself grappling with the essence of his own humanity. In a world where death and destruction had become commonplace, he wondered if he had lost touch with his soul, if anything remained within him beyond the hardened shell he had become. In that moment of introspection, amidst the turmoil of his own internal battle, Luke couldn't help but question his place in a universe that seemed to have lost its way. He turned to Lirha, "This is far from over Admiral."

Mimi’s fingers gripped the panel below the ship's Msd, her claws lightly digging scratches into the metal, her tail was dropped to the ground, tears welled in her eyes and she tried hard to focus on giving out damage reports and monitoring the tactical link between the two Galileo’s but there was no way she could focus on her work when her fiance was locked in a inescapable compartment with nothing but a hopefully quick death in his immediate future. She thought back to the conversation they’d had with Tarin barely a week ago where she had been asked if John was trapped somewhere and she could save the ship at the cost of him would she do it….. That exact situation had just played out but without her having a choice in the matter.

”Jebati dampris” she said somewhat quietly and headed for the turbolift.

The Orion rear admiral hardened her eyes, unable to outwardly express any feelings of grief or remorse. Those had all been used up over the past decade upon countless others who had similarly perished under her command...and those closest to her who had died far away and outside of her control. Saalm was a shell of her former self and there was little illusion of that to those who knew best. Yet in this moment, reflecting upon this current tragedy, she was able to sympathize with the Nekomi ensign and didn't protest when the young woman abruptly left her station. Lirha would have given everything to have had at least one final glimpse of her sister Nesh and the rest of their family before they'd been killed - there was no way she could deny that to Mimi.

"Saalm to Carlisle, report to deck 7, section nine immediately. Your counseling services are required," she spoke into her commbadge after giving it a firm tap. It was the only course of action Saalm could think of to keep the ensign from becoming catatonic from such a devastating loss.

At first, Delainey wasn't sure she heard correctly in the chaos. Hair amiss and struggling to be contained by a clip that had seen better days and a uniform top stained with various fluids despite her efforts to properly gown up, she realized she wasn't hallucinating. The woman she had had such a mixed history with, or at least one embodiment of her was requesting her counseling skills. Pride in her work aside, images of violins playing on the Titanic sprang to mind, but all she offered was a simple, "Acknowledged," as she scrambled to reach for a thick clean scrub top and make her way to deck 7.


USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge

By comparison to the future Mark III Nova-class, the antiquated Mark II remained in relatively good condition as the engagement progressed. Most likely due to a lack of perceived threat from the Romulan warbirds, but also due to the -B's more advanced weaponry and secretive time travel technology installed. Yet while Captain Morgan Tarin had been focusing her vessel's full offensive firepower on the enemy lead vessel, she'd inadvertently disobeyed the rear admiral's order to cover Galileo-B's aft quarter...and the Romulans had made her pay for the mistake.

"Commander," Toren's gravelly tone danced across the bridge, "The B, she's taken a direct hit to engineering. Her aft shields are tatters."

Tarin cursed to herself under her breath and punched her thigh with a closed fist. "Damage report on the -B?" was her immediate query. Without their sister ship, their mission - Saalm's mission would fail, and they would never return to their own time.

Serran was multi-tasking, keeping his eye on several consoles at the same time.

He cocked his head slightly, then shook his head. In a cool monotone, he said. "There was a hull breach on our sister ship. Deck 7, section 9. One KIA PO3 John Hollenday. Three injuries one appears to be critical, Ensign Dupont."

The red-collared captain listened to the report then closed her eyes. Hollenday. One of her most skilled engineers...and Ensign Mimi's fiance. In some ways, it was a shock, for he was the first crew member she'd lost under this new command. He wasn't the first to have perished in the line of duty across Tarin's previous assignments and away team missions but this hurt, as every death did.

Rafe knew that one hurt the Captain. He didn't turn to look, but he heard the slap of her fist against her thigh. And that wasn't characteristic of her. She needed to be snapped out of it. "Captain! I'm ready and the parameters are set. Let me at them!", Rafe said forcefully, hoping his voice would bring her out of the grief.

Serran had never met the dead man, but it was obvious that others had. "I'm sorry for your loss," he intoned. "But with all due respect everyone should hold their grief for now and deal with our current situation, or we may be dealing with a lot more casualties."

Toren betrayed no emotion. It was his job to remain impassive in the face of death and destruction, to appear as a rock in the storm. There was a time to raise a glass to the fallen and this was not, could not be, the time.

Even still... he'd not been aboard long and already one of his NCOs had met their demise. He'd have to look into it when time allowed - was protocol followed? Was everything practical done? Or was an officer throwing a faceless into the void...

Tarin inhaled a sharp breath then opened her eyes and refocused on the damaged Romulan warbird visible across the main viewscreen. One of her fists clenched before she forcefully slapped the commbadge on her breast. "Blake, Bridge, I need those torpedoes. Now," she demanded with a sharp edge to her voice. "We're running out of time."

"One second, Captain..." Blake's voice was tight and tense across the comm. A string of muffled murmurings that may have been expletives followed before she caught her breath, and this time, she spoke with renewed vigor. "They're all yours!"

The captain leaned forward in her chair now, anticipating the final strike against this most stubborn Romulan scout vessel. "Master Chief, verify then prepare to fire from tubes one and two; sequential, 0.5-second delay. Send your lead calculations to the conn." Tarin then focused her attention on the mastermind of this potentially catastrophic idea. "Mister Caradec...you're up. Close our distance and tighten our turn radius. Coordinate with tactical then fire on your mark. We only have one chance at this."

"Rafe to Vral, confirm they are armed and ready to fire on my mark!", this may be redundant, Rafe thought to himself, but he couldn't take any chances with the maneuvers he was going to take.

Toren squinted, his antennae standing rigidly as he scrutinised the targeting parameters, "Aye," his gravelly voice carried across the bridge, moments passing as he carefully tapped in the trajectories, "the lead's a bugger L'tenant, but there's a window. Armed and ready on my side."

"It's now or never, conn - call your shot," ordered the captain with the utmost sense of urgency before looking over her shoulder to the Operations alcove. "Divert all auxiliary power to forward shields, Mister Serran. We'll be firing almost point-blank." Too close, Tarin silently admitted to herself deep down inside. It would be a miracle if they survived.

Serran nodded as he followed the Captain's orders, but without asking, he added a twist. "I'm reversing the polarity of the shields. It might increase our survivability or at least reduce the stress on our shields.

Rafe had already fed the computer the desired destination and orientation of the Galileo-A with respect to the Romulan warbird wingman. His next touch of the helm would execute the maneuver. Hearing Serran complete the shield reinforcement, his finger touched the panel and the ship launched in a sharp downward tight turn to port, coming directly port-side and upside down adjacent to the warbird. For a brief second the Gal-A and the warbird were only 500 meters apart, their shield envelopes practically pushing on each other. Then Caradec said with an "eat-this" expression on his face, "Fire!!!"

Toren's antennae twitched as he activated the launch command, gritting his teeth as he watched the console, hoping to his core that they'd progress along the right trajectory.

USS Galileo-A's two forward torpedo launchers glowed then flared as they sequentially fired, sending a pair of twisting cerulean quantum warheads directly into the heart of the Romulan scout vessel. With its lateral port shield grids already collapsed from concentrated phaser fire, the two torpedoes slammed into the green outer hull and then briefly penetrated before detonating. Two massive explosions ripped through the warbird and tore its inner hull apart, causing flaming debris and plasma to erupt from within the enemy vessel and catastrophically break its delicate spaceframe into several large and barely recognizable pieces.

The nearby colorful aura of the Pleiades Cluster's stellar nurseries was punctuated by the Romulan vessel's destruction as secondary explosions rippled through the warbird and reduced its broken hull into little more than fine pieces of duranium and tritanium composite. But then suddenly, a bright, repeating pulse of light emanated from the remains of the ship's aft quarter.

Within the Mark II Nova-class' bridge, the helmsman's skilled maneuvering had allowed the small science vessel to avoid the majority of the blast fragmentation and escape along a tail trajectory, but the sudden alert from the ship's computer and multiple warning cautions flashing along LCARS stations revealed a much more dire situation about to immediately unfold.

"WARNING," blared the computer's voice accompanied by an urgent klaxon. "Gravitational anomaly detected. WARNING. Event horizon detected."

Commander Tarin had originally narrowed her hazel eyes with satisfaction upon seeing the total destruction of the enemy vessel on the main viewscreen, but the new alert sent the deepest chill down possible throughout her body. Slowly, she rose from her chair and then took two steps forward. "...Dear god...their quantum singularity core is going critical." Too close.

Bloody Romulans, Toren cursed inwardly, what was wrong with a warp core? He'd seen a couple of green ships go down during the Dominion War and nothing pretty had happened to anything caught in that wake.

No one had to tell Rafe what to do. All he had to hear was 'Event horizon detected'. Horror fell over him and he didn't care whether a command was given or not! He slammed the throttle forward for maximum warp!!! Every nanosecond counted! "We are at maximum warp, Captain!" But the view screen belied their speed. It barely showed any movement in relation to the stars charted around them. In fact, the stars started to take an elongated look on the screen. He turned around to look at her. "I tried, Captain, as soon as I heard. I tried!!!", the look of desperation was on his face!

The sensors Serran had access to weren't as powerful as some of the other bridge positions, but they were good enough. "Our torpedoes worked, the Romulan ship is leaking plasma. Hull breech imminent."

Then the Captain's words hit him and he diverted all available power to the forward shields and braced for impact.

Tarin observed the main viewscreen and the slightly elongated star field which would normally be an indicator of warp travel. However, her starship was now caught in a much more powerful anomaly, one whose intense gravitational forces far superseded Galileo's ability to escape them through conventional means. Her sharp hazel eyes focused on her helmsman and the look of despair setting in across his features. Those same intrusive thoughts of hopelessness began to permeate her mind while she rapidly analyzed the options available to her...and the consequences of losing the ship and everyone onboard within this future timeline. The bridge's deck plating started to tremble under the competing forward strain of the nacelles and the reverse-pull from the singularity.

"Engineering, bridge - prepare to eject our warp core!" came the captain's frantic order over the intra-ship comm. "Commander Warraquim, get down there to assist immediately!" The process required at least two consenting crew members (and at least one senior officer) when the core itself was not inherently damaged, and the ship's second officer was the closest in proximity to deck 7.

=/\= Aye Captain =/\= Donald's somewhat out of breath and exasperated voice responded over the com channel

Down in sickbay, Allyndra was trying to handle the injured, who were piling up in the halls. The holodecks were offline and thus not of use when the captain's call came in.

"Great." She started running for the turbo-lift hoping it was still working. =^=On my way!=^=

"Master Chief," continued Tarin, "ready aft phasers and prepare to target our reactor once it's away - we'll need at least 30 kilometers of separation before we detonate it, but that artificial black hole should suck it in and do the work for us." Tarin stood from her chair again, this time quickly addressing her entire bridge crew. "We can't outrun this and we need a push. I'd rather take our chances riding a matter/anti-matter shockwave than be pulled into a gravitational singularity and disintegrated. Once our warp core goes critical, we're going to full impulse and ride that blast wave as best we can. We're going to need all emergency, auxiliary, and primary power diverted to the fusion drive, aft shields, and the structural integrity field. Standby to execute on my mark. Understood?"

Caradec readied the NAV system to switch to full impulse once the warp core was ejected. He could ride a wave, but riding a blast wave was unpredictable at best. Thankfully, the Galileo-A as well as the B were aerodynamically built, to some degree. That would help...but would it be enough? Would the blast be enough?

Toren tapped the console a few times, preparing a target lock and a set of parameters to keep the distances within requirements. "Aye, sir, ready an' waitin'," his voice growled. He'd been aboard a vessel attempting this manoeuvre decades ago... it had not gone well. But needs must when a black hole is involved.

~Like surfing~ Serran thought to himself, ~with a kick~

"Our forward shields are at 20%, I've diverted their power to the aft shields. I took the liberty of diverting the structural integrity field as well. Standing by to execute the rest of your order on your command."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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Primary and Secondary Characters
Various Positions
USS Galileo-A

Primary and Secondary Characters
Various Positions
USS Galileo-B

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