Dare the Impossible (Part 2 of 5)

Posted on 25 Jul 2024 @ 3:05pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Lieutenant JG Nusien & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Mackenzie Laren & Lieutenant JG Vren Vral & Ensign Amanda Turell & Ensign Asha & Senior Chief Petty Officer Goldie Brown & Chief Petty Officer Katja Becker & Chief Petty Officer Lysander Octavio & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral & Petty Officer 3rd Class Lucrete

4,924 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Pleiades Cluster, Sector 189, Block 02
Timeline: MD 06, 1910 hrs

Previously, on Dare the Impossible (Part 1)...

Too close and too soon, the Orion rear admiral shook her head to herself. If her Galileo was fortunate enough to survive the initial alpha strike from the Klingon heavy cruiser, it wouldn't take more than another half minute before it came about and finished the job it started. "Ops, divert primary, secondary and auxiliary power from all non-essential systems to the shields. Take everything not related to the temporal displacement drive offline - including weapons and life support. We need to survive the next minute of this battle."

Ryan's hands flew across his console as he moved to comply with Lirha's orders. Ryan moved power from across the ship, taking power from secondary systems and diverting it to shields. "Ma'am rerouting secondary power to shields." Ryan reported.

"Admiral, the Galileo-A is engaging the Klingons." Marisa looked at the time still needed to activate the temporal portal. She wasn't sure what would happen if the Galileo-A was destroyed in their timeline.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge

The Galileo-A shook as the weapons fire rippled their shields. "Captain, Vor'cha and one K'Vort class ship firing on us. The other Vor'cha has engaged the Galileo-B." Saelihn reported as she fired phasers back at the closest ship, that being the K'Vort at the moment, then quickly changing fire and hitting the Vor'cha with a rear torpedo hit. Laser focused on the task she watch as another volley of torpedoes hit the Galileo-A she shouted, "Vor'cha is powering their forward disruptor cannon captain." their more powerful and damaging disruptor. The image on the viewscreen looking much like a predator bearing down on its prey.

The antiquated Mark II Nova-class was a small and vulnerable starship during combat engagements within its hull classification, and even more so fragile against larger warships possessing superior firepower. Klingon heavy cruisers from the future? The ship would be lucky to survive the combined assault for more than 30 seconds. The lime green disruptor pulses slammed against Galileo-A's shields from various angles and quickly overloaded several shield grids, sending feedback pulses throughout the interior of the vessel.

Two overhead EPS relays within the bridge loudly exploded and sent a barrage of shrapnel and sparks flying throughout the chamber. Tarin instinctively ducked her head down and tightened her grip on her chair's armrests while the ship violently shook under enemy fire. "Helm, evasive maneuvers! Draw us away from the -B," she called out before slapping her commbadge. "Bridge to cargo bay, arm the probes' fuses and prepare for transport. Valenis, cease fire and lock in transport coordinates then energize!" It was time to spring the trap.

Rafe directed the ship at 3/4 impulse directly toward the K'Vort-class ship, with the intent to go underneath and rotate 90 degrees to show a minimal profile for a target. While getting close he prepared to swing drastically underneath to force them to protect their underbelly and the weak parts of the ship. Even though they were setting up for another run, their firing arc would have to be changed more drastically as the Galileo-A got closer. Rafe hoped this would create an opportunity not only for them to miss, but to increase the chances of the probes to hit point blank for increased damage.

Lysander ripped off the guard with some relish and tapped in to the arming sequence. It felt like... some kind of epic quip was needed at this exact moment. He fixed Turell with a winning smile, winked and said, "Well, well, well… It appears our Klingon friends are about to receive a little 'gift from the Gal'. I guess they’ll be saying, ‘Qapla’ to that!"

"I hope this works," Amanda said as she opened up the other improvised bomb. "We're definitely going to be in trouble if it doesn't." She programmed the arming sequence and closed the cover. =/\= Bombs armed and ready in all respects Captain. =/\= She reported to the bridge.

Saelihn could almost feel the surges of power cascade through the ship. The lights got a little brighter, the consoles felt a little hotter to touch and all this led the eruption of the conduits above. Covering her face her arm took some of the shrapnel it gifted the bridge but her adrenaline too high to notice coupled with the order the captain had given.

She had been watching the Klingon ships anyway, trying to figure out patterns that would lure the two Vor'cha together but it just wasn't happening, wasn't aligning the way the Gods would have done so. Initiative needed to be taken.

Being unable to capture many she would settle for one. There was certainty in one. Saelihn would far rather make sure one ship was disabled than miss two and then have all three still firing on them and with that she targeted the K'Vort. It's path not so erratic she predicted its path as it came up for another run, bearing down on the Galileo-A. "Energising." was all she said as the probes materialised within the path of the K'Vort too quickly for any manoeuvres to be had even if they detected what was on board.

USS Galileo-A continued its unpredictable pattern of maneuvering which saw several volleys of Klingon disruptor fire errantly pass alongside both flanks of the vessel's silver hull. Unseen to the naked eye against the backdrop of the spacial void, two small class 9 probe casings shimmered into existence directly along either side of the trailing K'Vort-class Bird of Prey's flight path. It took less than a two seconds until the large battlecruiser triggered their sensitive proximity fuses and the installed detonators blew apart the dilithium crystal articulation frame, allowing deuterium to directly collide with anti-matter.

With the release of the probes, Rafe immediately curved under the K'Vort beast and crossed the ship's horizontal plane, going behind the Klingons and shoved the engines into full impulse to protect themselves while maintaining their low profile towards their adversary.

Two blinding flashes of light silently bloomed and illuminated the depths of space on the main viewscreen. The small warp core breaches rapidly expanded into powerful and enlarging circular shockwaves which ripped apart each of the K'Vort-class' angular wings. The Klingon battlecruiser's center hull now tumbled out of control while secondary explosions rippled through its green superstructure and burst from their confines out into space. The shockwaves continued their expansion and collided with the trailing Vor'cha-class' shields before continuing outward on an imminent collision trajectory with Galileo.

Allyndra watched as the planned subterfuge went off. It was almost precisely placed as one warship was torn apart. They overcame the second ship headed their way and continued. "Brace!" she shouted. "This is going to be another rough one!"


USS Galileo-B - Deck 1, Bridge

"The Klingon ship is entering weapons range." Marisa didn't need to raise her voice. Everyone was keenly aware of the ship's approach. Still, she felt it necessary to continue. "Firing."

The chronometer within the future Galileo's bridge slowly advanced with each tenth of a second which passed. Outside the confines of the compact scout vessel, a much larger Vor'cha-class heavy cruiser bared down on its smaller prey. Its forward disruptor banks flared then unleashed a heavy salvo of neon green disruptor bolts directly against its targets, followed by a volley of sequential crimson photon torpedoes which twisted and screamed through the cold depths of space.

"Brace for impact." Marisa looked at her husband for a moment and mouthed the words "I love you." Then she held on to her station.

The Orion captain squinted her eyes at the Klingon warship on the main viewscreen then placed her emerald hands along each of her chair's armrests where they clutched the bodily supports. She said a silent prayer to the greater cosmos and her own peoples' gods, before turning over their past and future fates to the universe at large.

Goldie took one look around the bridge at everyone to be sure they were prepared, then grabbed hold of her own station and closed her eyes. If she was about to die, she didn't want to see it coming.

Vren didn't bother reacting. The end was nigh either way. He focused his eyes dead ahead.

Ryan grabbed onto his console, his stance practiced and set as he waited for the inevitable.

Powerful and consecutive volleys of green disruptor fire slammed into Galileo-B's port shield grids with brilliant white and sapphire glows from the Federation vessel's protective and conformal hull deflector field. The reinforced shields held as long as they could before shimmering and collapsing under the barrage, and the three torpedoes which followed burst through the exposed openings in the defense grid and impacted the side of the primary hull. The Nova-class' port RCS thruster quad was blown clean off along with its lateral sensor relays and several adjacent crew quarters and science laboratories.

Inside the bridge, consoles exploded and bulkheads erupted in a cacophony of damage. Saalm shielded her eyes while feeling her vessel's hull plating trembling from the SIF attempting to compensate for an obvious hull breach. "Report!" she yelled, craning her head behind her to observe the bridge's aft station alcoves. Several of her personnel laid on the floor unmoving while licks of electrical flames manifested and expanded across the walls. "Marisa, activate the temporal drive! And get those fires out!"

"Aye, ma'am." Marisa brought up the temporal drive controls and double checked that everything was set. They only had one shot at this, and she wanted to be sure it was good.

Goldie wasn't sure if her arm was broken or not, but she used her other arm to start putting out fires around her. If she was going to die, she didn't want to burn to death.

Vren felt a searing pain in his neck, bright blue blood splashed across the console in front of him. His hand reached up to grasp the wound, but he slid from his chair and landed on the deck before he could apply any pressure. The fires. The lights. All began to fade away as his vision weakened and finally gave out.

Ryan had nearly fallen when they had taken damage. His LCARS flashed numerous warnings. "Ma'am, Hull breaches on Deck 3 and 4. Shields are at 26%." Ryan reported, before reaching for a fire extinguisher and moving to help Goldie with putting out the fires.

=/\= Engineering to bridge, if we're going to do this better do it quick, I can't guarantee I can keep main power for long, the warp core is running too hot.=/\= Asha's voice came over the comm system.

This was the moment they'd worked for. The moment where all their futures hung in the balance. "For the children," Marisa whispered. Then she pushed the button to activate the temporal displacement drive to create the anomaly that would send the Galileo-A home. Now it was up to them.


USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge

The combined dual-shuttlecraft-warp-core breaches' shockwaves rapidly approached Galileo-A and slammed into the small science vessel, one consecutively after the other with only a minuscule 0.2-second delay. The powerful energy waves impacted the Federation starship's protective shields which fortunately held under the energy stress, yet the sheer force of the collision knocked the Nova-class off its present course and primary longitudinal axis, sending it slowly tumbling in a half-rotation to starboard.

Within the bridge, Commander Morgan Tarin was almost flung from her seat and held on to one of her chair's armrests with an intense clutch while the rest of her body freely dangled in a temporary state before the inertial damper field compensated and restored relative gravity.

Saelihn had braced herself as best she could. She had always thought the seats on starships were of poor design and led to too many time a person being flung from them. Still as this thought went through her mind the impact his the Galileo-A and she was rocked around like a loose penny in a tin can before stabilising herself and looking at the aftermath of the once proud K'Vort now neutered.

Toren rode the wave as he always did, grasping the edge of his console and remaining stoic, his antennae flexing as the ship shuddered.

Vala gave up watching his console as the wave approached, his mouth forming into an uncanny grin as the temporal energy approached. The sweet inevitability of time, physically manifest.

As the shockwave struck the ship, in that moment, he could not help but appreciate the... poetry of it all. The universal constant bending and breaking, pushing them back to... where? Some other time, some other place. Or to oblivion.

His head cracked into his console as the moment passed, sending slivers of cracks across its surface.

Pain. Pain was clarity. He blinked. Lucidity. He tasted copper and smiled a livid green smile. It all hinged on this.

As the shockwaves hit and tumbled the ship, Allyndra's impulse was to fly. It was built in but she knew that wouldn't help and simply braced herself in her chair the best she could. "Report, who is hurt here on the bridge!"

Rafe had held on by gripping the underside of his console and holding his face on top of it. That was the wrong approach!!! His face was flung away from the console and then slammed back into it. His nose shattering and the blood spattered everywhere, into his eyes and all over the NAV console. "Hurt, Captain but still functioning!", Rafe yelled and then coughed through the blood streaming into his mouth. There was so much blood he knew it wasn't just from his nose. He felt his head and some part of a conduit found its way and stuck into his head. He started to wrench it free but almost lost consciousness when he touched it. "I'm okay for now but I don't think we can take another one like that!" He focused on the remaining ships, while swiping the blood off of his station with his left hand.

Being nimble and flexible by birth, adept at keeping her balance through the countless acrobatic manoeuvres of the Nekomi combat style and countless hours of gymnastics Mimi shifted her stance to on her toes and rode out the shockwave with only a few steadying steps.

Jeysa faired a little worse, holding the console beside her as the ship tumbled, her grip held for several seconds before her fingers slipped over the smooth surfaces and she tumbled down towards the centre of the bridge landing short of the command chairs. Pulling herself up a little sluggishly she called out "I'm okay." Heading back to where she had been stood she pulled out the medical kit she had been eyeing up earlier and looked where she could be useful.

Allyndra went to Jeysa first as she was the closest. "Let me check."

"I'm alright Sir." Jeysa told the chief medical officer. "A few bruises maybe." In truth her hand felt kinda weird but a sprain or small fracture wasn't going to stop her, she offered her the medical kit she'd pulled from under the console.

Allyndra double checked and nodded. "Cracked but still functional. Keep up the good work. Let me tend to the others."

"I need a medic, Captain. I'm loosing blood. It's slowing, but I'm getting sluggish!", Rafe stated while keeping his eyes glued to the console. His eyes watched the trajectories of both ships, the course changes, trying to keep them out of danger for the moment."

"Coming!" Allyndra replied. "I can only staunch what is going on, but have no replacement unless we send you to sickbay. Do you think you can still function properly, otherwise I can take over."

"Just stop the bleeding and give me a stimulant! I'll be okay. In fact, give me two." yelled Rafe. "I've got to get us through!"


USS Galileo-A - Deck 7, Main Engineering

"Brace! Brace! Heads down! Stay Down!" Mack shouted to the other engineers as the Doctor's orders came down. She knew that similar instructions used to be given on Earth shortly before aircraft crashed thanks to an old Earth documentary series she used to watch called Air Crash Investigation.

Of course, Mack doubted that assuming a brace position would do any good, especially given how differently inertial dampeners on a starship worked, but if it kept a few guys from getting knocked unconscious, then it was worth the effort to shout the instructions.

"Not another shockwave." Donald remarked, he made a dash for the inertial dampener controls and quickly cranked up the field strength before taking cover.

Sera heard the deputy engineer, Mac, call out her warning as she perched down in the tubing that Donald got a little crispy in earlier; but it had been a point of contention for the whole team; the deuterium leak was holding for now. However, between that and the amperage issues from the holodeck generator splicing - her team was being pulled in more directions than what was prudent.

She grabbed one of the bars just in time for the wave to hit the ship, and she was lifted into the air. Her long limbs were able to brace against the opposite wall of the jeffries tube. The inertial dampeners worked...this time, but they wouldn't be able to handle much more in the way of weapons' fire.

Releasing her grip, Sera eyed up Donald's repairs, satisfied in the moment and scrambled back up to the main engineering deck. She would go and inspect the generator cabling next.

"How is the power usage?! Are we still green?!" She called up laddering ahead of her arrival back into Main engineering.

Evidently, Sera had fared better when the shockwave hit than her Bajoran deputy, for despite doing her hardest to assume an effective brace position against an engineering console, when the shockwave hit, Mack was sent flying across main engineering like a ragdoll. She wasn't sure what she hit during her flight, but whatever she did sure hurt, as the only response Mack could manage were labored groans and grunts as she struggled to get up after coming to rest.

"Several primary power couplings have overloaded...attempting to reroute!" called back Lucrete to the acting CHENG with urgency and determination in his young Ardanan voice.

"Forget them!" Sera yelled with a growl to her throat as she got in front of a working console. "Reroute everything through the secondary couplings, and before you question me, I understand we are going to burn out the secondary relays...however that will take...more than 11 minutes. We will either be victorious or dead. So do it!"

Blood shots eyes then turned and evaluated the room filled with the aroma of singed wiring already. Upon seeing her deputy on the ground looking rather dazed, Sera ordered, "Ensign Mackenzie. Get up. You do not have my permission to die. We have critical repairs to engage in."

Lucrete's hands continued to manipulate his console while a heavy sheen of sweat enveloped his forehead. Managing all the power couplings under duress was beyond his training and he soon became flustered when he misaligned several of the reroutes which produced new critical cautions within the LCARS system. "I...there's too many!" he called back while turning to face his department head. His eyes suddenly fell on the downed deputy engineer who lay on the deck barely moving. "Is...is Mackenzie dying..?!"

Slowly, one hand made contact with the deck, then the other, as Mack let out an awful grunt as she pushed herself up. She knew something was wrong, as pain radiated outwards from her ribcage. She must have broken something when she hit... Whatever it was she hit.

Slowly, Mack raised herself to her feet, bracing against a nearby console to do so. She didn't know how long she had before she blacked out from the pain, but right now, it was critical that they get the power rerouted. Mack struggled over to the Ardanan engineer's console.

"Let me..." Mack grunted, indicating for Lucrete to step aside. She could see from the amount of critical cautions on the console's display that multiple reroutes weren't done properly, and there was only one way Mack knew of to quickly correct the issue.

Lucrete wiped sweat and grime from his forehead with the back of his hand then awkwardly stepped to the side just a few paces to remain at his station while allowing access to the deputy engineer. His fear and trepidation aside, observing this Bajoran under duress and seemingly back on her feet while woozy would be an interesting experience he could learn from by watching.

Gaining access to the console, Mack's fingers began to dance across its smooth surface as she worked to correct the misalignments, all without backfeeding the power, which would overload the secondary couplings faster. Several error messages popped up on the console, alerting Mack that the diversion of power would overload the couplings and asking if she wanted to proceed. Mack cleared the errors as they came until she finally received confirmation that the power had been successfully diverted.

"If my calculations are correct, we've got eleven minutes before these couplings are overloaded..." Mack shouted, pain shooting through her ribs as she did so. "Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it fast!"


USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Sickbay

Katja heard the warning, but it was too little, too late. It was almost effortless how easily her body was lifted up from the ground, but the feeling of flying was fleeting as she was thrown liked a ragdoll into the side of the biobed. The snaps of cracking ribs as her side came into contact with bed was a rather interesting sound - kind of like the sounds of plastic silverware being snapped in half. However, it was the sensation of burning pain that Katja found fare more interesting in the moment.

Somehow, she managed to keep herself upright. Pushing away from the biobed as the ship corrected its attitude, Katja found herself back on her feet, but now she had a new problem. Reaching up to her chest, she took a deep breath - it brought stars to her eyes, but she didn't feel flail chest. That was something.

Nusien had heard the warning and managed to keep two of his three feet on the ground. The third kicked out and he lost balance but remained standing. There was something to be said for Edosian dexterity. He looked around and took stock of the situation. A number of his staff had been tossed around and were getting to their feet. Thus far they looked as if there were no serious injuries. However, he had to make sure everyone was ready for the inevitable. "Report!"

"On my feet..." Katja wheezed in a pained voice. She was hurting, sure, but so far her breathing was stable...hopefully it was nothing more than some cracked ribs. "Think I got some cracked ribs...but breathing is stable." She reached over for one of the medical tricorders and flipped it open and scanned herself. "I'll live." Limping over to one of the supply caches between the biobeds, Katja opened a drawer and pulled out a hypospray primed with an analgesic and depressed it against her neck. The hiss and relief was all but palpable.

"Carlisle, you okay?" Katja asked as she looked about for the counselor.

Nusien gracefully pivoted on his feet and tossed a small square device to Katja. "Chief put this on your ribs, Osteoregenerator. At the very least it will start the bones to knit and keep you on your feet long enough to get through the casualties."

Katja caught it and looked at the 'bone box.' "Aye sir. Thanks." Quickly she unzipped her uniformed coat and pulled up blue undershirt to expose the section of ribs in question. Already vivid ecchymosis was making itself visible over where her body met the biobed. She turned the device on and slapped it against her chest wall and hissed as the sharp stinging sensation indicated the device was doing its work. Putting it out of her mind, she focused instead on the job at hand.

It was a ridiculous thought, of course, but even as she watched Katja fly through the air and felt herself lose her footing, Delainey couldn't believe Sickbay had been hit so violently. Logically, she knew no one was safe, not even themselves, but emotionally, she realized belatedly that her mind wouldn't even consider the possibility any of the medical staff could get hurt or even die. Now that it was happening, she felt more than a bit of rage and shock - almost like a toddler who can't conceive the cruelties of the universe could touch him or her. It wasn't logical, but then again, trauma reactions rarely were about logic.

Carlisle fell hard, not quite able to keep herself upright or to scramble well enough to grab hold of anything. She tried to reach for a biobed on the way down but only managed to hit her head and sprain (she hoped it wasn't broken), her wrist.

Tears of pain sprang to her eyes as blood dripped down the side of her head, but she was bouyed by seeing others spring to action. She was touched and amazed that Katja managed to ask after her. In response, she offered, "That was a badass move, there, Becker. You good? I'm just leaking a bit."

Becker's head swiveled over to Carlisle's voice. The woman was injured. "More broke ass, maybe. Ribs are a bear..." She bantered, perhaps a little breathlessly, but the head lac on Delaney's head needed to be glued shut otherwise she'd make a holy mess. She put her arm out. "Up, up, Lieutenant. Gotta plug the leak, sir. Can't have you bleeding all over the carpet."

Delainey managed to right herself without grabbing Katja's arm, but offered her thanks as her vision cleared. "I was just trying to add a bit of color," she managed to utter. The counselor was not used to being the one in need and after what Katja had been through, she was not about to complain. "I'll just dip myself in glue and be good as new." She realized she'd made a rhyme and hoped she hadn't sustained a concussion. The counselor wanted to tend to anyone else, but she knew she would ddo no good if she bled everywhere, so she went in search of her medkit.

Nusien had just heard that the next wave of casualties were on their way. There would be no time for him or his staff to recover from this. "Folks, I hate to do this to you all but we have incoming wounded. Standby for triage. I know we are walking wounded ourselves but our family is still counting on us. If you cannot perform your duties let me know and you will be relieved." It wasn't much and Nusien knew it. He just hoped that it would serve as some sort of pep talk.

There wasn't a chance in hell Delainey was going to bow out and leave others to bear the workload. The words were enough to help her gather her resolve. Exhaling slowly, she gingerly felt her head wound and guided the dermal knitter to close the wound. Wrapping her wrist, she was grateful her vision had stabilized and she wasn't nauseated. Delainey must have had a harder head than she knew.

"All good to go, ma'am," was offered simply.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC Tarin]

CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Marisa Wyatt
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-B

LCDR Ryan Alexander
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-B

LTJG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Saelihn Valenis
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Delainey Carlisle
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Nusien
Deputy Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Deputy Engineer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mackenzie Laren
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Vren Vral
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC Vala]

ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

ENS Asha
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC Mimi]

MCPO Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]

SCPO Goldie Brown
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC M. Wyatt]

CPO Katja Becker
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC M'Lyr'Zor]

PO1 Lysander Octavio
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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