Dare the Impossible (Part 3 of 5)

Posted on 25 Jul 2024 @ 3:27pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Lieutenant JG Nusien & Lieutenant JG Vren Vral & Ensign Asha & Senior Chief Petty Officer Goldie Brown & Chief Petty Officer Katja Becker

4,032 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Pleiades Cluster, Sector 189, Block 02
Timeline: MD 06, 1916 hrs

Previously, on Dare the Impossible (Part 2)...

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.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge

The momentary storm of chaos within Galileo-A's bridge soon became more manageable and allowed Tarin a brief respite from the casualty reports to tend to new pressing matters. The starship was still intact and maintaining 94-percent hull integrity, which was better than expected. Several primary power relays were offline, however, reducing the available output the ship needed to effectively fight against the remaining superior enemy. The captain had witnessed the destruction of the K'Vort-class battlecruiser first-hand on the main viewscreen but now the image had shifted to display the trailing Vor'cha-class which was swiftly coming about and seemingly undamaged by the probe mines' detonations.

The short calm, if you could call it that, before the continuing storm. The lull before activity was brief and welcome as the K'Vort ship was now gone but that still left two other dangerous ships out there and Saelihn did still feel the odds were still not in their favour. The sensors chirped and Saelihn looked down with a small crinkle at the top of her nose.

"Captain, K'Vort has been destroyed." she brought up a small holo-display of the Vor'cha changing course. "Vor'cha vessel is on an attack run!"

"Load quantum torpedoes and prepare to fire at will," responded Tarin with a cold resignation in her dry voice. It was time to stand and fight as long as her Galileo was able until their sister ship completed its task of opening the temporal vortex. "Helm, bring us around, attack pattern Alpha Four. Strafe our attack runs and stay out of tractor beam range. Valenis, target a single shield grid and bring it down...let's do some damage to this Klingon petaQ."

"Aye captain." Saelihn responded and her focus became solely fixed on her console and her the enemy they faced.

Rafe responded to the Captain, "On it, Captain!" He then said under his breath, "Let's see how good their tactical officer really is." With that he brought their speed to mid sub-light speed, adjusting their trajectory for an offensive run to direct a strafe attack while staying out of range of their tractor beam. All these things were going through his mind, his increasingly sluggish mind. He forced himself to think! His hands moved and the Nova II-class ship moved to a YZ plane attack stance to pulverize the Klingon's Vor'cha-class XY centerline.

Slow and steady wins the race, Rafe, he said to himself. Sometimes it wasn't about power, but about placement, precision. While lining them up with the correct pitch/roll rate and synchronizing a 45° -Z pitch with a 30° +X axis angle so that maximum ventral arrays would present towards the threat and laying it in the NAV computer, his fingers sometimes slid on the blood on the console. He wiped it again, this time with his right sleeve. By now, the entire front of his chest was covered in blood.

Saelihn waited for the perfect opening. Rafe was a talented flyer that was for sure and it wasn't long before her shot was lined up. "Attack pattern alpha four, firing!" she yelled over the din as the torpedo tubes emptied and the colourful hues flew towards the Vor'cha class vessel. "Down to 3 quantum and 10 photon." she informed anyone that was listening but mostly so the captain could hear.

A sequential pulse-fire salvo of cerulean quantum torpedoes launched from one of Galileo-A's two forward torpedo launchers followed by rapid volleys of scarlet red photon torpedoes. The anti-matter and zero-point warheads silently shrieked through space, their bright flares twisting like miniature pulsars before impacting the Klingon heavy cruiser's green shields. Accompanying sustained bursts of orange phaser fire expertly targeted one of the enemy's single shield facings and the combined barrage was enough firepower to decimate an equivalent contemporary peer of the late 2300s. But the Vor'cha-class from 25 years into the future was no such adversary - its shields shimmered and fluctuated while absorbing the impacts, momentarily collapsing before beginning to regenerate.

"Torpedo tubes empty captain. Phasers had minimal effects on their shields. Looks like their shields are absorbing the phaser fire easily." Saelihn announced as the data came in over her console. "They are charging their disruptors!"

Return fire from the Klingon heavy cruiser struck the Nova-class as it maneuvered to disengage following its attack run, then the Vor'cha-class suddenly performed a swift high-energy impulse turn which rapidly swung its nose around to maneuver directly behind Galileo. Larger in size and possessing more powerful engines, it began to close the distance and unleashed more green disruptor cannon fire. The Starfleet vessel's dorsal shields failed under fire and several Klingon weapon pulses impacted the top of its exposed arrow-esque saucer section.


USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Sickbay

Within deck 3, disruptor fire tore through the ship's protective duranium-triatanium outer hull and breached the walls of the inner hull by molecularly destabilizing the superstructure's composite. The crew quarters compartment and storage locker adjacent to sickbay vanished in a blink of an eye and the resulting energy shockwaves from the blast ripped through the medical chamber. The bulkhead wall across from the biobeds exploded with bright sparks, intense heat and debris, and several LCARS panels blew out while the local power grid momentarily failed and turned the room into a dark, smokey and mangled semblance of its former self.

Nusien had been tending to a crew member that had a head injury. It seemed that this person's duty station had erupted during one of the barrages. He treated the patient's plasma burns when Sick Bay's luck had run out. The medical facility took a direct hit. Instinctively Nusien sprawled himself out over his patient. All three of his arms were extended and his torso covered the patients upper body as best as he could. Nusien took the force of the explosion and obtained plasma burns for his trouble. However, his patient was no worse than they were before the explosion.

When the sparks stopped Nusien stood with the black of his uniform torn. Yellowish liquid oozed down his back and he knew he bled from his wounds. "Our priority are the unstable patients. Make sure they are stabilized before proceeding. Any medical staff that is injured has priority as we need them returned to duty. As the Assistant Chief Medical Officer I am ordering all future patients taken to Holodeck 1 for triage. Computer transfer the EMH to holodeck 1 and bring it online."

Becker, meanwhile, had not been as fortuitously positioned when the blast hit. She had been manning the biobed nearest the supply closet, when the concussion from the hit her like a ton of bricks, quickly followed by the scorching heat from the blast that seared everything it touched.

She ineffectively brought her arms to attempt to protect herself, and felt her jacket burning into her forearms right before the world exploded in blinding pain.

Becker had been flung into the metal bulkhead and slid down the wall leaving a smear of crimson from where the back of her head collided with the tritanium alloy, lacerating her scalp and fracturing her skull and knocking her clean out.

Was it a blessing or a curse that Katja quickly roused to find herself akimbo on the ground? She groggily pushed herself upright just in time to begin vomiting. That...that wasn't good, was it?

The Edosian had arrived at one of those times that all medical officers hated. You had patients that needed treatment and now the doctors had become the patients. He tried to take stock of what went on around him. The ringing of the explosion still in his ear. His eyes fell on a blood smear on a bulkhead wall. You did not have to be a Diagnostician to know what happened there. He grabbed a medkit and made his way through the rubble.

Once there Nusien found Katja unconscious and bleeding from the head. He tried to kneel down but collapsed onto the floor. The pain in his back becoming too much for him. "Stabilize and move on." He told himself all the while wanting to do more. He saw that she had a severe scalp laceration and after a scan a subdural hematoma. The hematoma was drained and the laceration closed. Katja was no longer in danger. Nusien tried to stand to move to the next patient and realized he was in danger when his central leg was no longer working.

It was all a rather surreal experience. She had never had neurosurgery 'on the fly,' as it were. Regaining consciousness as something was getting sucked out of your brain was a helluva thing. "Vielen Dank, Herr Doktor..." She murmured not realizing she has reverted to her native tongue. The Edosian doctor attempted to stand but something was wrong.

"Dein Bein..." (Your leg...)

Nusien nodded in response to Katja. "Yes, I am not sure why. But I cannot feel it. I am going to need help rising. My people are not built to stand on two legs." He spoke through the gritted teeth that accompanied pain.

No rest for the wicked, eh? Katja struggled at first but got herself upright. Everything felt rather odd, but it helped to be able to focus on something, like doing her damnedest to keep her CMO from losing his leg.

She slowly got to her feet fighting back vertigo. Well, lovely. "What would be the best way to do this, sir?"

"We are going to need your hands to tend to patients. Even if it is to get them transferred to the Holodeck. So, if you could act as my third leg and get me to the triage bed. I think I could lean there and be able to perform my duties." Nusien spoke through gritted teeth as the pain was extreme. He also blinked his eyes a couple of times. The slits in the center of them moving. He experienced disorientation without the use of the leg.

All of Katja's perceptions felt like they were coming through molasses. She slowly blinked as she listened to the CMO, but getting everything to respond appropriately was rather...interesting. Severe concussions were a helluva thing.

"Aye sir." It seemed like the appropriate response as she reached out to the large physician and helped him to stand. The vertigo she experienced with the movement almost made her want to vomit again, but Katja fought the urge and helped haul Nusien upright. "Let's get you to the table, Lieutenant. If it's all gonna go tits up, rather do it standing."

Nusien felt the jolt of pain through his back as she raised him to his feet. He bore the pain with gritted teeth and when he was finally up he shifted just enough of his weight onto her so he could balance. "Thank you and I agree. It always better to face danger with a smile and on your feet."


USS Galileo-B

The Mark III Nova-class remained motionless in the vacuum of space while its two primary deflector arrays began to illuminate. Four evenly-spaced relay nodes within each dish started to glow then released a combined concentrated burst of chronometric energy beams which extended forward from the ship into a nearby point in space. The eight beams converged and their streams pulsed with sustaining energy from Galileo-B's experimental temporal drive. The blackness of the cosmos began to twist and distort, first shimmering and illuminating with a light blue hue then swirling to manifest a small nebula-esque anomaly which quickly expanded in size until its event horizon was large enough for several large starships to pass through. Both of Galileo-B's deflector arrays continued to generate pulses into the anomaly using every ounce of available power from the Federation starship in order to fulfill its mission. Many long seconds passed after which the defector arrays ceased their local bombardment and became dormant, with all illumination fading from the dishes. The Nova-class' bright warp nacelles, bussard collectors and all internal and external lighting sources flickered then went offline, leaving the starship dark.

EPS power conduits burst throughout the interior of the bridge as main power went offline following the temporal anomaly discharge event. Only emergency power was left which activated two red spotlights to the aft of the command center that illuminated the consoles and surrounding stations.

"The temporal anomaly discharged successfully," Marisa reported. It worked. In spite of everything against them, that worked. "Secondary systems offline."

"Shields and weapons are offline." Ryan reported as he scanned through his remaining LCARS display.

Goldie crawled over to Vren to see if there were any life signs. There were others down, but she would take one person at a time and hope.

Blood poured from the deep wound in Vren's throat, the sapphiric pooling on the deck around him. His watery eyes looked up to Goldie, and he mustered the smallest shake of his head. It was the end, in every possible sense of it.

"It's okay. I'm here," she said softly. "I know it doesn't look good, but I don't think it will be long for any of us." She put a hand over his. "You did well, my friend." There was nothing she could do for him, but she wouldn't leave him. No one should die alone.

Each breath brought fresh blood. His vision blurred but he help a sense of... contentment to not be completely alone at the end. He had always assumed he would be.

Fire continued to spread across the bridge and consume several more electrical conduits. With all major power sources currently offline, the emergency fire suppression systems were inoperable which meant this new growing disaster would be the end of her vessel given enough time. Time which they fortunately had run out of. "Send a coded message on the emergency channel to the -A," ordered Saalm. "Inform them we have opened their return anomaly and to proceed through it immediately. And...tell Commander Tarin it has been a pleasure to fight by her side."

Ryan nodded solemnly, as he transmitted the message through E-band. "Message sent Admiral." Ryan reported as he let out a soft sigh, wanting to tell Lirha more after all they had been through.

"The cruiser is coming around for another attack. They are targeting the bridge." Marisa knew this would likely be the final assault. It was almost a relief.

Saalm shook her head with final defeat and resignation - not at a mission unsuccessfully achieved, but instead from years of fighting this unsalvageable war. Too many times her starship had escaped destruction and her crew their imminent demise; too often had their impossible fortunes be fulfilled only to live another day and witness even more death and destruction. It was finally time to be at peace.

The rear admiral stood from her chair and turned to face the rear of the bridge where the surviving personnel were stationed. Her emerald hand slightly trembled before reaching up to touch her commbadge and initiate an intraship communication - the final one.

"This is Saalm," she firmly announced, her light and accented voice still resounding through all overhead speakers within each compartment within the vessel. "Thanks to all your efforts, we have opened the temporal anomaly for the Galileo-A to pass through and return to its own time...and correct our past mistakes. Our mission here is complete. In our final moments, do not fear the end of our journey or the unknown. Our legacy will forever remain across time...and history will never forget the name 'Galileo'."

The red-collared Orion swallowed a dry lump in her throat and glanced down to her chair's tactical display while inputting her command codes then sending them to engineering. 10 seconds until the Klingons were in firing range again. "It has been an honor serving with all of you. You are the finest crew a captain could have asked for. I will see you all on the other side. Ensign Asha, you know what to do. Saalm out."    

Marisa went over to Luke and held him. They completed their mission and they were together. That was all she asked for--and that their children were far away. Now to hope that they'd done enough to change the past for their future. She felt her husband's arms wrap around her and whispered, "I will love you forever."

When she heard Saalm's words, Goldie just stared ahead. She wasn't sure how she felt. Happy they'd done their jobs, sad it was over, angry at the choices that made this necessary, and strangely, calm. Maybe that was the best way to react to this final moment. Calm amidst the storm. After all, that was how they'd lived most of their lives in the past few years. "Thank you, admiral," she said, knowing she was the reason they were still here now.

The Admiral's words washed over Vren as an already distant memory. His mind was slowly leeched of air and thought as every second began to drag into eternity. Had he done his duty? As his father would have wished? The last morsels of brain activity found themselves hoping that the other Vren. The one who would come to exist in his place, would have a better existence than he.

In Ryan's last moments he could only think that he never told Lirha how much he truly appreciated her friendship throughout the years. They had been through so much, and escaped certain death a dozen times. His last thought was that he hoped their mission would be a success.

The menacing Klingon heavy cruiser bore down on its disabled prey like a targ who'd discovered a wounded tribble in the open fields of Qo'noS. Yet rather than eliminate the undesirable, a more prudent objective was now being pursued. Much like a biologist who would dissect its prey and study it, so too did the Vor'cha-class attempt to permanently cripple Galileo-B and retrieve its experimental temporal displacement drive. The warship's attack run continued and it entered optimal firing range with no tactical response from the Starfleet vessel possible. Its forward heavy disruptors flared then fired, sending two large bursts of neon green energy directly into the Nova-class' exposed bridge housing. Where Rear Admiral Saalm presently stood alongside her officers, the protective shell of the primary command center shattered and the large disruptor pulses impacted and dematerialized every living organism present microseconds before explosions burst through the bridge and exploded outward in space. Galileo-B's bridge was obliterated and the vessel now slowly began to list and roll to starboard under no control.

Emergency lighting flickered in engineering, occasionally bathing the room in red light that contrasted against the flickering blue of a few remaining working consoles and screens. The Admiral’s final words were the last thing many of the crew there heard as a massive explosion rocked the ship rupturing consoles, conduits and plasma manifolds even this deep into the ship. Asha lay in a small pool of blood having been hit in the head by a piece of debris, stunned but still conscious she watched as Ensign Talos and Commander Alexander were incinerated when plasma burst from a ruptured conduit beside them and moments later Petty Officer Yalim joined them, his body punctured with shrapnel from the console he worked at exploding in his face.

Slowly she sat up holding her hand to her head for a moment, it came back covered in blood, she tried to stand only to feel intense pain from her tail. Looking back she saw why; her tail was all mangled and crushed underneath a pile of debris, pulling at it she yelled with pain and effort but made no progress. Stopping before the pain overwhelmed her she looked around for anyone to help but only mangled bodies remained, as the ship rolled around again something clattered against her leg. She reached for the item and found it was a plasma cutter. An idea albeit a horrifying one came to mind but it was the only idea she had. Almost hyperventilating as she steadied herself the plasma cutter flared into life and with a scream of pain ran its cutting beam across her tail and promptly passed out.

Only a minute later she groggily woke up again and slowly got to her feet, blood still pouring from her head and badly amputated tail as she stumbled over debris towards the only console she could see still active; by the warp core. The cores bright blue hue and vigorous thrum were long gone, the heart of the ship was dead, Holding on to the safety barrier around the core she tapped at the console. “Computer, begin auto-destruct sequence omega. Authorization Asha echo seven delta five four xray.” She called out hoping the computer would hear her and the command sub processors that handled the auto-destruct weren’t too damaged.

“Auto-dest….t onlin..e.” The computer replied haphazardly.

“10 second countdown. Final authorisation, zero zero zero, destruct zero.”

“10….9…”

“Country roads…take me home.” Asha’s legs wobbled slightly, her body feeling weak from the pain and loss of blood.

“5…..4…”

“To the place……. I belong…” She slumped to the floor.

“2…1…”

In space, the Mark III Nova-class USS Galileo-B's arrow-shaped primary hull began to blow apart from within as explosive charges embedded into the ship's bulkheads erupted with flaming ferocity. Multiple rippling detonations blasted the vessel's sleek hull into sparking and fiery pieces of debris before a final simultaneously-timed explosion blew apart the entire front portion of the saucer section with spectacular yet sorrowful glory. Self-destruct charges within the secondary hull were next to activate. The primary deflector array blew out then the heart of the ship violently shattered into multiple pieces, sending each dormant nacelle pylon flying away from the vessel before they too exploded. The entire sequence took less than five seconds and the bright, dire spectacle within the cosmos quickly began to abate. Where Galileo-B and its crew once existed, now its broken and torched remnants permanently marked the stars.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

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

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 Nusien
Deputy Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

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

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

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

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

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