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Messages - {EE} William Angel
1
« on: April 23, 2014, 10:21:35 am »
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1654 Hours
"Sir, all personnel are back on board," the security officer reported.
"Thank you, Ensign," Will said. Reverse the polarity of the magnetic field on the outer hull."
"Reversing polarity, aye, sir."
Will watched with some measure of satisfaction as the entire contingent of Xindi was repulsed from the ship's surface. He felt their fear and anger, but closed his mind to it.
"Good work. Where's Archer?"
"Um... he's on his way to the bridge, sir."
Will turned to look at the turbolift just at the moment it opened to reveal the exhausted-looking officer propped against the wall for balance.
"Mr Archer," he called out. "You should understand I currently hold the Starfleet record for the most occasions exposed to vacuum without an oxygen supply. If you're trying to match me, you have a long way to go. Report, please. In your own time. Catch your breath."
Archer retained his position. After a few seconds an ensign gave up her chair for him. He nodded to her thankfully and slumped down. It was a few minutes before the pain in his muscles started to subside ane he started breathing more normaly. He must have damaged his lungs as every beesth led to a sharp pain. He hoped his vocal chords were alright. He chanced speaking and found that between breaths his speach wad alright. "I don't plan too sir", this was worse than Fargo. Fargo made him sweat allot but there were no Xindi and plenty of oxygen... He took a deep breath before speaking. "Tell the...escort to... Come down lightly... To port. I... Repaired one... Clamp but... The other will need a slow approach... I'll control... Our clamps... From here. I can give the escort... Directions." He was managing to breath more easily now. He made it. He was alive.
"Make that happen. Get Mr Archer some oxygen," Will instructed, and the ensign at Security peeled a mask away from under his station. He applied it to Archer's face and the engineer's breathing seemed to improve immediately.
Will took a more leisurely path to where the stricken man sat.
"Good work, Ensign," he said. "Now, when you're fit again, you can control the reintegration from the aft station. Then you can report to sick bay and get checked over."
The oxygen mask was well received. His breathing cleared up and the last of the lactic acid drained away. He continued taking the oxygen. There was still the pain in his lungs but he was pretty sure this was as good as he was going to get... He stood and moved to the aft console. He was feeling much better now. He set the clamps to pre docking sequence. Clamp 4 was still coming up as red but if it held together the force of the dock should force it into position. If it broke then the dock should be fine. Clamp 14 seemed fine. His repair seemed to be working so far. If that broke as well, there were 12 to compensate. He was ready. He waited for the Commanders orders. Where was the Admiral? He must have done something or someone had as all the clamps were online. "Ready sir."
Will nodded his acknowledgment.
=/\= All hands prepare for reintegration. All hands prepare for reintegration. All standby stations coordinate with Ensign Archer on the Command section bridge. =/\=
After giving his orders shipwide he turned back to the engineering station.
"Mr Archer, this is your show. Call it."
Callum materialised on the transporter pad located in the aft section of the Bridge. He stepped of the pad as he tightened his Admirals belt.
"Mr. Archer, please don't blow a hole in my ship again, but good work out there. My COMMS failed, but I got the carrier section docking ports on the ventral side working, just." Callum lied, an Operations officer had done most of the work out there.
Callum smiled, it seemed only fitting to repeat what he had done many years ago on the Majesty "Ensign Archer, like the Commander just said, the show is yours" he started
=/\=Escort, Carrier, & Command Sections will transfer helm control to the engineering station on the command bridge=/\= he continued, but this time transmitting to the relevant sections.
"Mr. Archer, I want you to reintegrate all three sections, manually."
Archer nodded. He quickly worked the console in front of him. He could see the ship approaching , or rather the other half of this ship approaching. He signalled the officer doing his job on the other ship. He adjusted the starboard controls and engaged the clamps. All of them registered good. a message came on the console, *locks secure.* Now for the hard bit... He ran his fingers along the console *magnetic locks secured.* Ok, now the port side... =/\= "Ok, slowly bring your port side down." =/\= He engaged the clamps. 5 metres, 4, 3. The damaged clamp should now engage. The last 2.5 metres were covered in miliseconds. The other ship engaged their clamps too soon! It had happened much too quickly. Alarms started screaming everywhere. *"warning magnetic interlock failure! routing power. Warning EPS systems overload, Deck 4,5,6,7, 8, 9. Overload imminent, 30 seconds."* Alarms were screaming everywhere, the lighting flickered off; replaced by the blood red emergency lighting. Archer turned to the engineering console...
=/\=Abort reintegration, I repeat, Abort reintegration=/\= Callum announced to the sections.
"Mr. Archer, would cutting all power stop the overload?" Callum asked as he asked the power grid controls standing by to perform a full shutdown of the Command Section.
*Twenty Seconds Until Overload* The computer announced.
"We are reintegrated! Do it. It might relieve the pressure on decks 4 through 6 but there's too much redundant power still in the systems." He thought, there was only one option, he didn't like it and he was sure the Admiral wouldn't... *"15 seconds until overload!"* "we have to dump the redundant power in the systems somewhere, the only place I can think of that's currently evenly marginally safe to dump it is the main computer core. It will fry it but we have redundant systems... Admiral?" *"10 seconds until overload!"* "in the time we have, it's all I can think of. Permission to proceed?" *"8, 7..."*
The emergency lighting on the Bridge went out as did 90% of the consoles, the gentle hum of the life support systems that were feeding air around the command section faded out, other than the redundant power still running through the systems, the Enterprises command sections was offline.
The remaining consoles were pressure sensitive, lower power consoles. These were a new design only implemented on the Enterprise to date. These consoles were linked to several critical systems around the Command Section, these systems and consoles were powered by their own, limited, power supply and using these consoles the section commander could do one of very few tasks, transfer power, send a distress call, or in an emergency situation, destroy the section by activating a 10 second fuse on a devastating emergency auto destruct sequence. This sequence wasn't like the traditional one, yes it would destroy the section in an extreme situation where no other option was viable, but it required only one command from the section commander, one palm print and there would be no going back. Each section of the Enterprise was fitted with it's own emergency system. There was only one draw back with the system, once the primary, backup, & reserve power options failed, the system could only remain online for fifteen minutes and if the destruct sequence was needed, the decision to activate it would need to be made in the first eight seconds of activating the system or there wouldn't be enough power to fuel the explosives.
"Do It!" Callum barked as he isolated the Command section computer core to prevent damage to the other sections.
*6...5...4...3...*
The Admrial was too late. Archer had already done it. Unfortunately with all the conduits already down all the power wasn't going to make it... *" 2,1"* An explosion distant in the bowels of the ship sent sparks flying up on the bridge. The consoles that hadn't gone out yet all now flickered out. Boom! This time the explosion was closer but was quieter than the previous one. Not all of the power made it to the core, but judging from the fact that Enterprise wasn't falling apart around them, no decks had been blown up... Archer had managed to hang onto his console but both explosions had sent large shock waves through the ship, most of the bridge staff had collapsed on the floor. His knuckles going white Archer let go of the console and calmly walked to a hidden panel under the bridge floor that was just behind his console and in front of the MSD (not that that was still visible.) He pulled the panel up from the floor and pulled a lever inside. Some consoles flickered back on, the computer with a distorted voice announced, *"bridge emergency computer override active."* He helped a fallen Lieutenant up and made his way back to his console. Half the ship's internal sensors were down so getting a damage report was tricky. "87% of the computer core is burnt out. It'll take months to replace all the data nodes... Two conduits on deck 7 exploded, minor structual damage. We are reintegrated the best I can tell. Sickbay reports 26 casulties, 4 serious. I'm using the back up core in engineering and the main core in the escort section to try and get our systems back up. It'll take a while. I can get you a damage report when I'm done although I would recommend a deck by deck, full damage report." Archer turned to his console. He'd done the best he could. Half his console was failing, it could take a while...
"At least we're still in one piece" Callum commented "Mr. Archer, before proceeding please confirm the ship is at a full stop, then secure the engines, I don't want this ship moving a micron until I say otherwise" Callum ordered as he straightened his uniform after picking himself up from the deck.
=/\=Med Team Three to the bridge=/\=
=/\=Go ahead=/\= Callum replied
=/\=We've found the senior engineering officers, including the chief=/\= reported one of the medics
=/\=Good, is the chief in any condition to come up to the Bridge??=/\= Callum asked
=/\=Negative Sir, all eight senior engineers were in a meeting at the time, none of them made it Sir. We've reported in to Sickbay, everyone else is accounted for. We have many injured, but only eight fatalities.=/\= reported the medic
=/\=Understood=/\= Callum closed the COMM Link.
"Ensign Archer, it is with regret I must inform you that as of now you are no longer acting chief. I am granting a permanent promotion to Chief Engineer, it will be up to you who you assign as your deputies". Callum said
"Will, send a message to the Saucer section, inform them of our situation and have them return to us as soon as possible, we need all the help we can get" Callum said as he worked on a console "Archer, would it be possible to activate the emergency crew subroutine, using the holographic crew we could assess the ship deck by deck much faster??" Callum asked.
"Aye, sir," Will said, and turned to the comm panel on the captain's chair.
=/\= Enterprise to saucer section. =/\=
=/\= Saucer section, Copeland here. =/\=
=/\= Mr Copeland, be advised we're unable to make the rendezvous due to the damage we've recently sustained. Please make best time to our current coordinates. =/\=
=/\= Understood. Is everything ok, Will? =/\=
=/\= I'm afraid not. I'll brief you when you get back. You need to know we've taken some casualties. Enterprise out. =/\=
What just happened? He was less than 24 hours into his first proper mission aboard the flagship and he was suddenly a senior officer... "I only wish it was under better circumstances."
Archer checked the holographic controls. "They're active on deck 1, 4, 11 and 12. However I can't confirm how intact their programming is and if I activate them I will have no control over their matrices." He paused for a second. "Permission to promote chief second class Doyle to Chief first class?" He quickly racked his brain, who else was there? "Why am I CE sir? Not that I'm ungrateful. Us there are other ensigns in engineering?"
"Might be better if we conduct the assessments ourselves then" Callum started "Permission to promote Doyle granted. And to answer your question, I don't know those officers, I don't know their capabilities, you on the other hand, I have witnessed first hand how capable you are within Engineering and keeping my ship running. You will learn that I don't always look at rank, if I feel you are capable I will offer you the job. There are indeed other Ensigns, Lieutenants, even Commanders within the Engineering department, but none of which I am willing to hand over responsibility of the maintenance of this ship to." Callum paused as officers from the escort section were making their way back to their original stations.
Scott maintained his post a while longer. "Sir, maybe your right. This wasn't my fault. According to these readings, my repairs held and are all intact." He carried on tapping away at the console. "I'll get you that damage report then I'll get to engineering."
Will returned to the aft of the bridge to join Callum and Scott.
"Admiral, I've informed Commander Copeland that we're not meeting as planned. They're heading back here. Mr Archer, a Starfleet Chief Engineer is endowed with many qualities. Self-doubt isn't one of them. Your actions have probably just saved the ship. I think you've just lost the right to question your suitability for the position."
Archer nodded. "Thank you sir. I'm converting the ships major controls to binary over multitronics because what's left of the computer should be able to process it more easily. I have transfered 23% of primary systems to binary and I've set Lieutenant Stevens to carry on with the rest, I have a basic damage report if you want sir?"
"Yes, please, Ensign," Will answered. "But more importantly, how soon do you estimate until we're ready to head back to Earth?"
TAG: Callum, Scott
OOC: I've corrected the error, my bad... it was a late night!
2
« on: April 22, 2014, 10:26:48 pm »
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1654 Hours
"Sir, all personnel are back on board," the security officer reported.
"Thank you, Ensign," Will said. Reverse the polarity of the magnetic field on the outer hull."
"Reversing polarity, aye, sir."
Will watched with some measure of satisfaction as the entire contingent of Xindi was repulsed from the ship's surface. He felt their fear and anger, but closed his mind to it.
"Good work. Where's Archer?"
"Um... he's on his way to the bridge, sir."
Will turned to look at the turbolift just at the moment it opened to reveal the exhausted-looking officer propped against the wall for balance.
"Mr Archer," he called out. "You should understand I currently hold the Starfleet record for the most occasions exposed to vacuum without an oxygen supply. If you're trying to match me, you have a long way to go. Report, please. In your own time. Catch your breath."
Archer retained his position. After a few seconds an ensign gave up her chair for him. He nodded to her thankfully and slumped down. It was a few minutes before the pain in his muscles started to subside ane he started breathing more normaly. He must have damaged his lungs as every beesth led to a sharp pain. He hoped his vocal chords were alright. He chanced speaking and found that between breaths his speach wad alright. "I don't plan too sir", this was worse than Fargo. Fargo made him sweat allot but there were no Xindi and plenty of oxygen... He took a deep breath before speaking. "Tell the...escort to... Come down lightly... To port. I... Repaired one... Clamp but... The other will need a slow approach... I'll control... Our clamps... From here. I can give the escort... Directions." He was managing to breath more easily now. He made it. He was alive.
"Make that happen. Get Mr Archer some oxygen," Will instructed, and the ensign at Security peeled a mask away from under his station. He applied it to Archer's face and the engineer's breathing seemed to improve immediately.
Will took a more leisurely path to where the stricken man sat.
"Good work, Ensign," he said. "Now, when you're fit again, you can control the reintegration from the aft station. Then you can report to sick bay and get checked over."
The oxygen mask was well received. His breathing cleared up and the last of the lactic acid drained away. He continued taking the oxygen. There was still the pain in his lungs but he was pretty sure this was as good as he was going to get... He stood and moved to the aft console. He was feeling much better now. He set the clamps to pre docking sequence. Clamp 4 was still coming up as red but if it held together the force of the dock should force it into position. If it broke then the dock should be fine. Clamp 14 seemed fine. His repair seemed to be working so far. If that broke as well, there were 12 to compensate. He was ready. He waited for the Commanders orders. Where was the Admiral? He must have done something or someone had as all the clamps were online. "Ready sir."
Will nodded his acknowledgment.
=/\= All hands prepare for reintegration. All hands prepare for reintegration. All standby stations coordinate with Ensign Archer on the Command section bridge. =/\=
After giving his orders shipwide he turned back to the engineering station.
"Mr Archer, this is your show. Call it."
Callum materialised on the transporter pad located in the aft section of the Bridge. He stepped of the pad as he tightened his Admirals belt.
"Mr. Archer, please don't blow a hole in my ship again, but good work out there. My COMMS failed, but I got the carrier section docking ports on the ventral side working, just." Callum lied, an Operations officer had done most of the work out there.
Callum smiled, it seemed only fitting to repeat what he had done many years ago on the Majesty "Ensign Archer, like the Commander just said, the show is yours" he started
=/\=Escort, Carrier, & Command Sections will transfer helm control to the engineering station on the command bridge=/\= he continued, but this time transmitting to the relevant sections.
"Mr. Archer, I want you to reintegrate all three sections, manually."
Archer nodded. He quickly worked the console in front of him. He could see the ship approaching , or rather the other half of this ship approaching. He signalled the officer doing his job on the other ship. He adjusted the starboard controls and engaged the clamps. All of them registered good. a message came on the console, *locks secure.* Now for the hard bit... He ran his fingers along the console *magnetic locks secured.* Ok, now the port side... =/\= "Ok, slowly bring your port side down." =/\= He engaged the clamps. 5 metres, 4, 3. The damaged clamp should now engage. The last 2.5 metres were covered in miliseconds. The other ship engaged their clamps too soon! It had happened much too quickly. Alarms started screaming everywhere. *"warning magnetic interlock failure! routing power. Warning EPS systems overload, Deck 4,5,6,7, 8, 9. Overload imminent, 30 seconds."* Alarms were screaming everywhere, the lighting flickered off; replaced by the blood red emergency lighting. Archer turned to the engineering console...
=/\=Abort reintegration, I repeat, Abort reintegration=/\= Callum announced to the sections.
"Mr. Archer, would cutting all power stop the overload?" Callum asked as he asked the power grid controls standing by to perform a full shutdown of the Command Section.
*Twenty Seconds Until Overload* The computer announced.
"We are reintegrated! Do it. It might relieve the pressure on decks 4 through 6 but there's too much redundant power still in the systems." He thought, there was only one option, he didn't like it and he was sure the Admiral wouldn't... *"15 seconds until overload!"* "we have to dump the redundant power in the systems somewhere, the only place I can think of that's currently evenly marginally safe to dump it is the main computer core. It will fry it but we have redundant systems... Admiral?" *"10 seconds until overload!"* "in the time we have, it's all I can think of. Permission to proceed?" *"8, 7..."*
The emergency lighting on the Bridge went out as did 90% of the consoles, the gentle hum of the life support systems that were feeding air around the command section faded out, other than the redundant power still running through the systems, the Enterprises command sections was offline.
The remaining consoles were pressure sensitive, lower power consoles. These were a new design only implemented on the Enterprise to date. These consoles were linked to several critical systems around the Command Section, these systems and consoles were powered by their own, limited, power supply and using these consoles the section commander could do one of very few tasks, transfer power, send a distress call, or in an emergency situation, destroy the section by activating a 10 second fuse on a devastating emergency auto destruct sequence. This sequence wasn't like the traditional one, yes it would destroy the section in an extreme situation where no other option was viable, but it required only one command from the section commander, one palm print and there would be no going back. Each section of the Enterprise was fitted with it's own emergency system. There was only one draw back with the system, once the primary, backup, & reserve power options failed, the system could only remain online for fifteen minutes and if the destruct sequence was needed, the decision to activate it would need to be made in the first eight seconds of activating the system or there wouldn't be enough power to fuel the explosives.
"Do It!" Callum barked as he isolated the Command section computer core to prevent damage to the other sections.
*6...5...4...3...*
The Admrial was too late. Archer had already done it. Unfortunately with all the conduits already down all the power wasn't going to make it... *" 2,1"* An explosion distant in the bowels of the ship sent sparks flying up on the bridge. The consoles that hadn't gone out yet all now flickered out. Boom! This time the explosion was closer but was quieter than the previous one. Not all of the power made it to the core, but judging from the fact that Enterprise wasn't falling apart around them, no decks had been blown up... Archer had managed to hang onto his console but both explosions had sent large shock waves through the ship, most of the bridge staff had collapsed on the floor. His knuckles going white Archer let go of the console and calmly walked to a hidden panel under the bridge floor that was just behind his console and in front of the MSD (not that that was still visible.) He pulled the panel up from the floor and pulled a lever inside. Some consoles flickered back on, the computer with a distorted voice announced, *"bridge emergency computer override active."* He helped a fallen Lieutenant up and made his way back to his console. Half the ship's internal sensors were down so getting a damage report was tricky. "87% of the computer core is burnt out. It'll take months to replace all the data nodes... Two conduits on deck 7 exploded, minor structual damage. We are reintegrated the best I can tell. Sickbay reports 26 casulties, 4 serious. I'm using the back up core in engineering and the main core in the escort section to try and get our systems back up. It'll take a while. I can get you a damage report when I'm done although I would recommend a deck by deck, full damage report." Archer turned to his console. He'd done the best he could. Half his console was failing, it could take a while...
"At least we're still in one piece" Callum commented "Mr. Archer, before proceeding please confirm the ship is at a full stop, then secure the engines, I don't want this ship moving a micron until I say otherwise" Callum ordered as he straightened his uniform after picking himself up from the deck.
=/\=Med Team Three to the bridge=/\=
=/\=Go ahead=/\= Callum replied
=/\=We've found the senior engineering officers, including the chief=/\= reported one of the medics
=/\=Good, is the chief in any condition to come up to the Bridge??=/\= Callum asked
=/\=Negative Sir, all eight senior engineers were in a meeting at the time, none of them made it Sir. We've reported in to Sickbay, everyone else is accounted for. We have many injured, but only eight fatalities.=/\= reported the medic
=/\=Understood=/\= Callum closed the COMM Link.
"Ensign Archer, it is with regret I must inform you that as of now you are no longer acting chief. I am granting a permanent promotion to Chief Engineer, it will be up to you who you assign as your deputies". Callum said
"Will, send a message to the Saucer section, inform them of our situation and have them return to us as soon as possible, we need all the help we can get" Callum said as he worked on a console "Archer, would it be possible to activate the emergency crew subroutine, using the holographic crew we could assess the ship deck by deck much faster??" Callum asked.
"Aye, sir," Will said, and turned to the comm panel on the captain's chair.
=/\= Enterprise to saucer section. =/\=
=/\= Saucer section, Copeland here. =/\=
=/\= Mr Copeland, be advised we're delaying our rendezvous until we assess the damage we've recently sustained. Please make best time to Earth, we'll catch up en route. =/\=
=/\= Understood. Is everything ok, Will? =/\=
=/\= I'm afraid not. I'll send a message packet to you as soon as I can. You need to know we've taken some casualties. Enterprise out. =/\=
What just happened? He was less than 24 hours into his first proper mission aboard the flagship and he was suddenly a senior officer... "I only wish it was under better circumstances."
Archer checked the holographic controls. "They're active on deck 1, 4, 11 and 12. However I can't confirm how intact their programming is and if I activate them I will have no control over their matrices." He paused for a second. "Permission to promote chief second class Doyle to Chief first class?" He quickly racked his brain, who else was there? "Why am I CE sir? Not that I'm ungrateful. Us there are other ensigns in engineering?"
"Might be better if we conduct the assessments ourselves then" Callum started "Permission to promote Doyle granted. And to answer your question, I don't know those officers, I don't know their capabilities, you on the other hand, I have witnessed first hand how capable you are within Engineering and keeping my ship running. You will learn that I don't always look at rank, if I feel you are capable I will offer you the job. There are indeed other Ensigns, Lieutenants, even Commanders within the Engineering department, but none of which I am willing to hand over responsibility of the maintenance of this ship to." Callum paused as officers from the escort section were making their way back to their original stations.
Scott maintained his post a while longer. "Sir, maybe your right. This wasn't my fault. According to these readings, my repairs held and are all intact." He carried on tapping away at the console. "I'll get you that damage report then I'll get to engineering."
Will returned to the aft of the bridge to join Callum and Scott.
"Admiral, I've informed Commander Copeland that we're not meeting as planned. They're heading for Earth, we'll pick them up on the way once we're fit to run. Mr Archer, a Starfleet Chief Engineer is endowed with many qualities. Self-doubt isn't one of them. Your actions have probably just saved the ship. I think you've just lost the right to question your suitability for the position."
TAG: Callum, Scott
3
« on: April 21, 2014, 05:15:25 pm »
OOC: Part three
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1654 Hours
"Sir, all personnel are back on board," the security officer reported.
"Thank you, Ensign," Will said. Reverse the polarity of the magnetic field on the outer hull."
"Reversing polarity, aye, sir."
Will watched with some measure of satisfaction as the entire contingent of Xindi was repulsed from the ship's surface. He felt their fear and anger, but closed his mind to it.
"Good work. Where's Archer?"
"Um... he's on his way to the bridge, sir."
Will turned to look at the turbolift just at the moment it opened to reveal the exhausted-looking officer propped against the wall for balance.
"Mr Archer," he called out. "You should understand I currently hold the Starfleet record for the most occasions exposed to vacuum without an oxygen supply. If you're trying to match me, you have a long way to go. Report, please. In your own time. Catch your breath."
Archer retained his position. After a few seconds an ensign gave up her chair for him. He nodded to her thankfully and slumped down. It was a few minutes before the pain in his muscles started to subside ane he started breathing more normaly. He must have damaged his lungs as every beesth led to a sharp pain. He hoped his vocal chords were alright. He chanced speaking and found that between breaths his speach wad alright. "I don't plan too sir", this was worse than Fargo. Fargo made him sweat allot but there were no Xindi and plenty of oxygen... He took a deep breath before speaking. "Tell the...escort to... Come down lightly... To port. I... Repaired one... Clamp but... The other will need a slow approach... I'll control... Our clamps... From here. I can give the escort... Directions." He was managing to breath more easily now. He made it. He was alive.
"Make that happen. Get Mr Archer some oxygen," Will instructed, and the ensign at Security peeled a mask away from under his station. He applied it to Archer's face and the engineer's breathing seemed to improve immediately.
Will took a more leisurely path to where the stricken man sat.
"Good work, Ensign," he said. "Now, when you're fit again, you can control the reintegration from the aft station. Then you can report to sick bay and get checked over."
The oxygen mask was well received. His breathing cleared up and the last of the lactic acid drained away. He continued taking the oxygen. There was still the pain in his lungs but he was pretty sure this was as good as he was going to get... He stood and moved to the aft console. He was feeling much better now. He set the clamps to pre docking sequence. Clamp 4 was still coming up as red but if it held together the force of the dock should force it into position. If it broke then the dock should be fine. Clamp 14 seemed fine. His repair seemed to be working so far. If that broke as well, there were 12 to compensate. He was ready. He waited for the Commanders orders. Where was the Admiral? He must have done something or someone had as all the clamps were online. "Ready sir."
Will nodded his acknowledgment.
=/\= All hands prepare for reintegration. All hands prepare for reintegration. All standby stations coordinate with Ensign Archer on the Command section bridge. =/\=
After giving his orders shipwide he turned back to the engineering station.
"Mr Archer, this is your show. Call it."
TAG: Callum/Scott
4
« on: April 21, 2014, 01:47:15 pm »
OOC: Part whatever...
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1654 Hours
"Sir, all personnel are back on board," the security officer reported.
"Thank you, Ensign," Will said. Reverse the polarity of the magnetic field on the outer hull."
"Reversing polarity, aye, sir."
Will watched with some measure of satisfaction as the entire contingent of Xindi was repulsed from the ship's surface. He felt their fear and anger, but closed his mind to it.
"Good work. Where's Archer?"
"Um... he's on his way to the bridge, sir."
Will turned to look at the turbolift just at the moment it opened to reveal the exhausted-looking officer propped against the wall for balance.
"Mr Archer," he called out. "You should understand I currently hold the Starfleet record for the most occasions exposed to vacuum without an oxygen supply. If you're trying to match me, you have a long way to go. Report, please. In your own time. Catch your breath."
Archer retained his position. After a few seconds an ensign gave up her chair for him. He nodded to her thankfully and slumped down. It was a few minutes before the pain in his muscles started to subside ane he started breathing more normaly. He must have damaged his lungs as every beesth led to a sharp pain. He hoped his vocal chords were alright. He chanced speaking and found that between breaths his speach wad alright. "I don't plan too sir", this was worse than Fargo. Fargo made him sweat allot but there were no Xindi and plenty of oxygen... He took a deep breath before speaking. "Tell the...escort to... Come down lightly... To port. I... Repaired one... Clamp but... The other will need a slow approach... I'll control... Our clamps... From here. I can give the escort... Directions." He was managing to breath more easily now. He made it. He was alive.
"Make that happen. Get Mr Archer some oxygen," Will instructed, and the ensign at Security peeled a mask away from under his station. He applied it to Archer's face and the engineer's breathing seemed to improve immediately.
Will took a more leisurely path to where the stricken man sat.
"Good work, Ensign," he said. "Now, when you're fit again, you can control the reintegration from the aft station. Then you can report to sick bay and get checked over."
TAG: Callum/Scott
5
« on: April 21, 2014, 02:51:26 am »
USS Enterprise
Exterior
1630 hrs
Finally he could get on and do his job, he turned to the Admiral. "Thank you for the offer sir. If you still want to then come to airlock 3 in 10 minutes. Chief Doyle will help you get suited up. I might already be out by then." Foreseeing a protest from the Commander, Archer turned away and disappeared into the turbo-lift. "Deck 12, airlock 3." The maglock car rushed down the twelve decks. It had barely taken a second for the lift to reach it's destination. 'This is not Fargo, this is not Fargo.' he continually repeated in his mind. There were no large unstable stars 30km away this time, he didn't have to worry about moving a single micron out of a shadow this time. He arrived at the airlock after a relatively short trip down the corridor and turning to his left. There was a gleaming white EVA suit stood against the wall. Chief Doyle was stood there, she was just putting her tricorder away after scanning the suit to make sure it in good enough condition to be used. "I thought you weren't coming?" She said cheekily, he'd known her long enough for a friendship, not that I'm a very good friend if I can't even remember her name half the time! He didn't have time for those sorts of thoughts. Commander Hargroves word's after the meteorite had hit Fargo rang though his head. "Cadet! You wouldn't know how to fix a subspace transmitter if the instructions for how to do so slapped you in the face! We do not need a man like you." With a little help from a fellow cadet and Lieutenant Williams he had fixed the transmitter and proven Hargroves wrong. Stop thinking about Fargo! He yelled at himself mentally. This is different, you know what you're doing. Your Acting Chief Engineer. Pull yourself together. "It took some time to convince the Commander that just two of us can do this." The Chief looked at him shocked. "We can't do this with two of us!" Archer smiled mischievously, "that's why the Admiral is helping. He'll be along in a few minutes, ready to suit me up?" As the Chief fitted the EVA suit on around him those words kept reverberating around in his skull. He wanted to scream, he wanted to run, the only thing he didn't want to do was go out there and face the stars. 'Fear is just an emotion, it's how you react that is of consequence.' The words of his third year Vulcan room mate replaced those of the Commander in his mind. I'm scared but my ship needs me. I need to react like a mature adult Starfleet, Acting Chief Engineer not a scared science cadet. He walked into the first chamber, the door closed behind him. No sign of the Admiral yet. Had he chickened out? "See ya Doyle." he commented over the communications channel. She gave him a thumbs up signal before opening the second door. He stepped out into space. Onto the small ledge in front the second door. "I'm out." The second door closed behind him. He stood rooted, images of Fargo running around in his mind. He remembered the feeling now, not that of a scared cadet or the victim of suspicious superior officers.
The feeling of being at one with the stars. Looking on a view screen or out a viewport was one thing but with a thin sheet of transparent aluminium, all that stood between him and the universe, the awe was unimaginable. The sight again brought about the memories of the happier parts of the Fargo mission. If it wasn't for Fargo he wouldn't be stood here right now. The nightmare turned into his best dream- serving on the Enterprise and now his actions would determine how could a chief engineer he was... He turned to his left and reached for a ladder. He connected his safety line to a port on the bottom of this. He gave it a tug, it was secure. He grabbed the bottom rung and slowly pulled himself up the ladder step by step. It took three minutes for him to reach the top. He assumed the Admiral would be out by now. Eventually he reached the top and walked along the flat parts of Enterprise's hull.
He was about twenty metres from his target when his fear came back, the fear of burning. Not from a star this, time but from a large armed Xindi party on the hull. They hadn't spotted him yet. He quietly sank to his knees and moved down the sloped hull. He moved down and then across towards the Xindi. There was a large bulkhead here that he could use for cover.
He didn't have any weapons. There was nothing his engineering kit could do for him here. He silently placed it on the hull and secured it with a magnetic clamp. A message coming through from the chief started to sound on his communications system. It startled him and scared him half to death! He quickly taped the button on his arm that disengaged communications. If the Xindi heard anything then he would die. What could he do? The best option seemed to be to get out of range of the Xindi and make a distress signal. He was just about to turn and do that when it hit him. He could use the ship itself and the deactivated hull armour as a weapon. He didn't have much time.
Bridge
Will was aware of the emotional turmoil, the doubt and fear coursing through Archer's mind, although he didn't know the particulars. But when Archer's communication line went dead, he whipped his head round to the science station.
"Is he still alive? Is he moving?"
"Yes, sir," the science officer replied. "His readouts are raised, but he's otherwise ok."
"Fine. Keep monitoring him."
Exterior
Using his tricorder, he worked out that all the Xindi on the other side of the bulkhead were on one piece of hull plating. This plating was connected to the ship's super-structure by two magnetic servo locks on either side. There was no way he could reach the starboard servo but he was right next to the left. He gently pulled the cover up from the console and laid it against the bulkhead, hopefully the ship's gravity was enough to hold it there but if he lost it then there was no big issue. He flicked on the pressure sensitive controls. A few motions of his hand along the plate was enough to trick the computer into thinking the starboard servo was malfunctioning and transfer all control to the port side. Bingo! He thought, he pulled out an isolinear board and swapped it's place with another. He typed in a series of commands before repeating this process with different isolinear chips. It had been what, five or ten minutes since he'd seen the Xindi. He had to hurry. Someone might come looking for him after they lost contact, probably the Admiral and they would probably be shot by the Xindi. Could he remember the final sequence? He pulled out chip 12 and replaced it with chip 17. He moved chip 30 where 17 had been. Finally he placed 12 in chip 30's slot. The console flickered as he typed in the final transfer codes. 11A2BGF16. The panel he'd been typing into was replaced with the words, 'manual control active', he smiled to himself and almost cheered before he remembered why he was doing what he was doing.
17 minutes out on the hull and no progress with the docking clamps! He wondered what kind of panic was going on throughout the communications system. Did they think he was dead? Doubtfully. His transponder was still online and working perfectly. A circular panel next to the chips slid open revealing a handle set into the deck. Scott pulled out the handle as far as it would go and twisted it clockwise before he pushed the handle back down into the deck. The manual control active message was replaced with a new one in red lettering. 'Warning. Adjacent hull plate unsecured.' Ignoring the message, Archer thumbed the console off before the computer started setting off alarms. Now for the tricky bit.
He reached for his engineering kit and removed an external power pack module. He used his tricorder to find his target. An autonomous auxiliary access port! He removed a few pieces of covering from the deck. He found the port, it was exactly where his tricorder said it would be. He plugged the pack into the port, triggered it's remote subroutines and replaced some of the covering. In the part he left exposed he reached in and pulled a red level labelled diode cut off valve. He yanked the lever across. He laid the final covering back down. He retrieved his padd from the engineering case and fitted it to the deck just over where he'd left the power pack. The Xindi had chosen the wrong place to board the ship. Right over an EPS conduit. Just as he was about to activate the pack his conscious caught up with him. What if there were Starfleet officer's down there? What if he killed someone or hurt them? Would he cope knowing he'd done something like that? Would it matter? Logically the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. What a senseless phrase, it was logical but it certainly wasn't always moral. More people would benefit from the Xindi's death then would be hindered because of it. He needed to make sure he convinced himself. Instead of setting the EPS conduit to blow up, he would rig it to create a high pitched squeal for five seconds first. That should be enough to move anyone below him and the conduit out of the way. Besides he thought, I might not live to find out... He set the correct protocols on the padd, he was about to transmit to the power pack when a voice came. "Step away from the console. What do you think you're doing?" Archer turned away to turn to the Xindi reptilian who had found him, he was at the receiving end of a plasma rifle... The situation was remarkably similar to what Jonathan Archer had faced. He was about to blow up some Xindi and one came and found him just before he managed his task...
He raised his hands. The same fears as Fargo running in his mind, except this time the shadow of a station couldn't save him. The burning hot plasma beam would kill him, quickly or make him wallow in a world of pain as the oxygen drained from his suit. What could he do? A thought came to him. Padds couldn't usually be used by gloves... or boots, but this one was specially designed for that purpose. Maybe if he stamped on it hard enough then it would still work? Only one way to find out... His capturer was still on the edge of the loose plate. He stepped backwards with his right foot, using it to find the padd. The Xindi thought he was just backing away and smiled devilishly. "Well I need an answer to my question?" He lifted his left boot from the floor and stepped back. He stamped down as hard as he could. It worked! A high pitched squeal rose up in the deck and it screamed deafeningly. "Sending you to hell!" He yelled at the Xindi in response to the Reptilian's question over the hight pitched scream. Boom! The EPS relay exploded. Archer was sent flying over on his right side. He managed to grab hold of the deck. His plan worked! By some miracle it worked! The deck plate with all the Xindi on it had been thrown off the ship.
Bridge
1647 Hours
"Commander, sensors are detecting a piece of hull plating becoming detached," the ensign at Security announced. "There's someone on it."
Will turned to look at him.
"Archer?" he asked.
"No, sir... it's... Xindi!"
Will stared at him. There were Xindi on the outer hull!
"Vapourise it. And scan for others. Make sure Archer and his team are alive."
"Aye, sir."
Exterior
After a few seconds Enterprise had scanned the plate, discovered what was on it and vaporised it with a phaser beam. He tried to bring the suit's comm system back online. *"Warning communications damaged."* It wasn't the only dire news he had. *"Warning, oxygen supply leak. Oxygen for 7 minutes left."* He still had a job to do... He crawled along the deck until he reached the first damaged docking latch, latch 4. The main issue he could see here was that it was being jammed by a damaged component. Archer kicked it. It didn't budge. He kicked it again. Still nothing. Activating the magboots on the leg he had bee using to kick, he attached his boot to the component and pushed. The component broke free in an array of sparks and fell into space. It was an important part but only in the separation sequence. They could reintegrate without it. The clamp still wasn't working. He pulled the cover off the control mechanism consoles and placed it down on the deck, it floated off but not fast enough for him not to catch it when he needed it back. He examined the flickering console. He had shot himself in the foot. As he thought about method to fix the issue he corrected himself. He had shot himself in the foot twice.
The EPS conduit had been the one that fed this port, the one had just blown. The only way that was immediately obvious of rectifying the power shortage was to use a power pack, which he had also just blown up! He thought quickly. He pulled the tricorder from his engineering kit (which he had moved with him) and smashed it against the hull. It cracked slightly he repeated this action again. *"Warning. Oxygen depletion in five minutes."* Could he do this in five minutes? He doubted it. It wasn't a matter of could, it was a matter of must. He just needed the tricorder to break. He flung the scanning device down against the deck again. The back splintered. Just what he needed. He ripped out the small black power pack that was running the device. He removed a smaller magnetic clamp and attached it next to the console. Shoving his fingers in the now empty gap, he managed to crack the casing further. It was hard in the suits gloves, especially with the ever present fear that he might breach them and lose oxygen even more quickly!" Finally the case split in two and he could reach the small wires he desperately needed. He pulled out as many as he could and coiled them together. They would be lose connections but it would have to do. He tightly coiled the ends of the wires to form an even tighter bunch. He shoved that end in the tricorder's power pack. He made the other end of the wires more spread out so he could shove it in the external power port on the console. By some miracle it worked and the console worked. He readied the clamp for docking. He got it half way through the cycle, the force of the escort section docking should force the clamp into position. *"Warning two minutes before oxygen depletion."* He rushed across the deck to clamp 14. Half the thing was missing! Two minutes. He focused his mind. You can do it, so let's get on with it!" The panel cover from port 4 was floating a couple of metre's away from him. He grabbed it and pulled it over. He'd left his engineering kit over at port 4! He rushed over. He didn't have time to move the whole kit. He grabbed his laser saw and returned to port 14. He was going to die. He wondered how he'd be remembered. No, he couldn't think like that! I am going to die, but not today and not here. The missing half of this clamp should be virtually symmetrical with what was left. He activated the saw and cut. It took him a minute and a half. His last thirty seconds was spent using the saw to weld the piece in place. *"Warning oxygen depletion imminent."* The human brain can survive three minutes without oxygen, he wasn't sure where he'd pulled the fact from or if it was even a fact. With his last breaths he re-activated the clamp and it retreated into the hull. At least something hadn't been effected by him blowing that EPS conduit up! His brain was screaming for oxygen. There was no way he could make it back to the air lock. Maybe he had saved himself yet again by blowing out the EPS conduit. He had a large amount of lactic acid build up in all his muscles. Every step, every heartbeat was pure solid pain. His throat closed in on itself, he wanted to scream but it was a physical impossibility. He was going to have a heart attack and then he was going to suffocate... He stumbled past the point where he had first seen the Xindi. He had left his tool case, oh well there was no time. After a minute that seemed like hours he reached his destination, had the detonation been big enough to cause a hull breach? He peered over the edge of the small crater. Thankfully it had! Unfortunately containment fields were back up. As his hope drained away he fell forwards and landed on the field. It wasn't that strong and he fell straight through it. He caught on the edge of the deck as he fell. He stared into the eyes of a wide eyed Lieutenant. He looked more like a bolian than a human now, the colour his skin had gone. He couldn't think anymore. He fell, he fell down into the pits of hell...
Suddenly he stopped. He vaguely noticed that the containment field around the breach was back up and that the force field locking it off from the corridor was down. With some effort and no help what so ever from Archer the Lieutenant managed to pull the man into the corridor. Archer felt the bump as he fell against the deck. He thought he was dead. But did people didn't feel themselves being pulled onto decks. With the no strength he had left and pulled his helmet off and took long deep breaths of the air around him. It stank and tasted of burnt out consoles and other fire damage but to Archer it was sweeter than any air he had ever tasted before. Black dots swam across his eyes but he was alive, he had somehow survived two minutes and seven seconds without air. He almost laughed in the joy of being alive but his body wouldn't allow him to expel any precious air. He had to report! He had to get to the bridge. With tiny amounts of his strength restored his moved his flat palm up to his mouth and then pointed it towards the Lieutenant to say thank you or not. He had no idea wether she under stood him. He half crawled half limped into the nearest turbolift. Bracing himself he against the turbo-lift wall he used the console on the lift wall to travel to the bridge...
Bridge
"Sir, all personnel are back on board," the security officer reported.
"Thank you, Ensign," Will said. Reverse the polarity of the magnetic field on the outer hull."
"Reversing polarity, aye, sir."
Will watched with some measure of satisfaction as the entire contingent of Xindi was repulsed from the ship's surface. He felt their fear and anger, but closed his mind to it.
"Good work. Where's Archer?"
"Um... he's on his way to the bridge, sir."
Will turned to look at the turbolift just at the moment it opened to reveal the exhausted-looking officer propped against the wall for balance.
"Mr Archer," he called out. "You should understand I currently hold the Starfleet record for the most occasions exposed to vacuum without an oxygen supply. If you're trying to match me, you have a long way to go. Report, please. In your own time. Catch your breath."
OCC: Callum, feel free to talk about your EVA experiences simultaneous to this. Sorry I haven't posted much today. My wifi can't seem to find the website's server but my phone can on 3G. Any ideas? (It's worked before.)
TAG: Callum, Scott
6
« on: April 20, 2014, 08:25:07 pm »
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1626 hrs "Mr Archer, follow me," Will said, forestalling any response they didn't have time for. They arrived at the engineering panel aft of the bridge. "The docking ports here and here are damaged, and we can't reintegrate while they remain so. I need you out there fixing them. How many people do you need for this?" The Commander was straight to the point. At least they had something in common! The man seemed to stumble over his name, he assumed it was because of his relation to his great, great, great, great grandfather Jonathan Archer and that man's relation to the Enterprise. Allot had changed in 6 generations. The family had since moved to Britain. He followed the man without hesitation to the back of the bridge. "The docking ports here and here are damaged, and we can't reintegrate while they remain so. I need you out there fixing them. How many people do you need for this?" How many people? An engineering team, possibly two but that simply wasn't practical. Every engineering hand was stretched trying to cover the extensive damage to the command section. He assumed reintegration was high on the Commander and the Admiral's list of things to do. He assumed they wanted to get Enterprise back to a starbase, well that's fine by me! Thought Archer. Unfortunately, neither task was high on Archer's list. He mentally sighed, these command types often hadn't a clue. His mind drifted through the endless possibilities. He couldn't pull out anyone from engineering. If those containment fields failed for even a second, even a millisecond then they would be dead. Power conduits were more important as well. There were only two spare officers he could think of, himself and the chief (who really should have been helping with repairs) who he'd sent to the airlock. Perhaps he could get the Commander to help? No he doubted it and he didn't want to negate the man to holding his tool kit or hanging onto his rope. He suddenly realised that it had been a long time since he said anything. He conceded. "two. I could do it with two people. I'll do the repairs and I already have someone down there to hold onto my safety line." What had he just said? Was the Commander going to believe him? Would he challenge Archer if he didn't. Archer half hoped he would and would somehow magic up the personnel he really needed. "Two." He confirmed, more to himself than the Commander... Admiral Jackson was in the ready room forward starboard of Bridge, the ready room was three times larger than that of the Majesty's, the Admirals favorite ship. He was sat awkwardly in the chair behind the desk "I miss this" he said aloud to himself as he tapped the computer terminal. "Computer, display time until reintegration" *Reintegration not possible, Command Section docking ports damaged* the computer reported Callum brought up the schematics, studied them for a minute and closed them "Forty years on and I still don't know anything useful in the engineering side of things" Callum commented to himself as he stood up and went to exit the ready room. Will studied the ensign for a moment. Then he sighed. "Listen, kid," he said, quietly. "I'm half-Betazoid, so you're not fooling me. Besides, I got the damage reports from Engineering and I know it's bad down there. I know you'd rather be down there, but you have to trust your guys to do their jobs. But you also need to know I was once a newly-qualified ensign thrust into a department head's role earlier than I wanted to be. You're acting Chief Engineer now, so step up to the plate. Assign your people and fix those docking ports." Will held the younger man's gaze a moment longer. "Welcome aboard, Mr Archer. Sorry your introduction couldn't have been under more pleasant circumstances." Callum had stood listening to the conversation, luckily no officer had decided to announce his return to the Bridge, so slowly he made his way up to the two officers, still un-noticed he spoke "I have EVA training if I can be of any use?" he asked Archer turned on his heel to face the Admiral. If he didn't want the Commander holding his equipment case then he certainly didnt want the Admiral doing the same job. He mumbled before he managed to speak to the senior officer. "The Commander is right. There should be a full engineering detail out there but three of us will do. I'm not sure that Chief Second Class..." He trailed off, what was her name? He had probably never asked... Then it hit him. "Doyle has EVA training. She could run the saftey line from the air lock, you could attach it to the saftey port outside the airlock and then head over to the portside docking clamps. If you don't know." Archer stopped himself of course he knew! He could sense another protest coming from Commander Angel. "We can't afford anyone else. Not unless you want to lose shields, the deflector, the containment grid. He stopped sensing the other man was tired of his excuses. I can do it. He promised the Admiral turning to the man to his right. As erm." What had the man said? Acting Chief Engineer? He was a new ensign! There had to be other people! Better people! There wasn't. "As acting Chief Engineer I do decide maintenance teams do I not?" Half betazoid. Only he could wind up as Chief Engineer, trying to convince a half betazoid Commander not to blow the ship up. A sudden thought came to him. It wasn't a pleasant thought but it might just sway the Commander, and the Admiral. 2 years ago, he was on the level of pretty much being kicked out of the academy. He was told if he didn't convince the teachers he was up to the job of being an officer on this mission then he would be forced to leave the Academy and follow another career of become enlisted personnel. On the remote training station, something had gone wrong and an incoming meteorite had knocked the station out of orbit and sent it flying towards the star in the system. The small thrusters on the station couldn't disable the thrust from the meteorite and it had knocked out subspace communications as well. He was the only one brave enough to get out of the station and EVA the hull until he got the communications back up. He'd had to repair the docking clamps and modify them so they could take the strain of a runabout moving the station. Tractor beams had been useless because they were disrupted by the plasma coming from the star, that's how close it had been. He had been awarded multiple commendations for his efforts. He started to enjoy the academy from that point and had done well enough to be assigned to Enterprise. "I've done it before Commander. The Science Station at Fargo." Hopefully the reference was enough... Will frowned. He dredged the records up from memory, and realised that had been why Archer's name had stood out. "That was you, huh? Well, I guess you're more than qualified to do this. Very well, Mr Archer, get your team together and get out there ASAP. Admiral, you're not seriously considering going out there yourself...?" "Why not?" Callum replied "Do you not think I'm up to a little space walk Commander?" Callum continued "Airlock Three is closest" Callum said "Yeoman, please could you have my EVA equipment sent to airlock three". Callum accessed the engineering console and inputted his command code "Computer, deactivate external hull armour surrounding the MVAM docking ports". The engineering console now showed the now vulnerable areas in grey. Will threw his hands up in the air in a decidedly non-regulation manner. He knew better than to try arguing with his old friend, even if he hadn't outranked him. "I'll log my usual protest, then, shall I, sir?" he asked, rhetorically. This was a hangover from the old days on the Majesty, when they were both younger men. Age clearly hadn't mellowed Callum. And I'm becoming quite cantankerous in my old age, he thought. "Fine. I'll be monitoring you from here. Mr Archer, you and the admiral may be on opposite ends of Starfleet's pay scale, but this is your show. Take charge. He's helping you, not the other way round, ok? Good luck to you both." TAG: Callum, Scott
7
« on: April 20, 2014, 12:02:13 pm »
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1626 hrs "Mr Archer, follow me," Will said, forestalling any response they didn't have time for. They arrived at the engineering panel aft of the bridge. "The docking ports here and here are damaged, and we can't reintegrate while they remain so. I need you out there fixing them. How many people do you need for this?" The Commander was straight to the point. At least they had something in common! The man seemed to stumble over his name, he assumed it was because of his relation to his great, great, great, great grandfather Jonathan Archer and that man's relation to the Enterprise. Allot had changed in 6 generations. The family had since moved to Britain. He followed the man without hesitation to the back of the bridge. "The docking ports here and here are damaged, and we can't reintegrate while they remain so. I need you out there fixing them. How many people do you need for this?" How many people? An engineering team, possibly two but that simply wasn't practical. Every engineering hand was stretched trying to cover the extensive damage to the command section. He assumed reintegration was high on the Commander and the Admiral's list of things to do. He assumed they wanted to get Enterprise back to a starbase, well that's fine by me! Thought Archer. Unfortunately, neither task was high on Archer's list. He mentally sighed, these command types often hadn't a clue. His mind drifted through the endless possibilities. He couldn't pull out anyone from engineering. If those containment fields failed for even a second, even a millisecond then they would be dead. Power conduits were more important as well. There were only two spare officers he could think of, himself and the chief (who really should have been helping with repairs) who he'd sent to the airlock. Perhaps he could get the Commander to help? No he doubted it and he didn't want to negate the man to holding his tool kit or hanging onto his rope. He suddenly realised that it had been a long time since he said anything. He conceded. "two. I could do it with two people. I'll do the repairs and I already have someone down there to hold onto my safety line." What had he just said? Was the Commander going to believe him? Would he challenge Archer if he didn't. Archer half hoped he would and would somehow magic up the personnel he really needed. "Two." He confirmed, more to himself than the Commander... Admiral Jackson was in the ready room forward starboard of Bridge, the ready room was three times larger than that of the Majesty's, the Admirals favorite ship. He was sat awkwardly in the chair behind the desk "I miss this" he said aloud to himself as he tapped the computer terminal. "Computer, display time until reintegration" *Reintegration not possible, Command Section docking ports damaged* the computer reported Callum brought up the schematics, studied them for a minute and closed them "Forty years on and I still don't know anything useful in the engineering side of things" Callum commented to himself as he stood up and went to exit the ready room. Will studied the ensign for a moment. Then he sighed. "Listen, kid," he said, quietly. "I'm half-Betazoid, so you're not fooling me. Besides, I got the damage reports from Engineering and I know it's bad down there. I know you'd rather be down there, but you have to trust your guys to do their jobs. But you also need to know I was once a newly-qualified ensign thrust into a department head's role earlier than I wanted to be. You're acting Chief Engineer now, so step up to the plate. Assign your people and fix those docking ports." Will held the younger man's gaze a moment longer. "Welcome aboard, Mr Archer. Sorry your introduction couldn't have been under more pleasant circumstances." Callum had stood listening to the conversation, luckily no officer had decided to announce his return to the Bridge, so slowly he made his way up to the two officers, still un-noticed he spoke "I have EVA training if I can be of any use?" he asked Archer turned on his heel to face the Admiral. If he didn't want the Commander holding his equipment case then he certainly didnt want the Admiral doing the same job. He mumbled before he managed to speak to the senior officer. "The Commander is right. There should be a full engineering detail out there but three of us will do. I'm not sure that Chief Second Class..." He trailed off, what was her name? He had probably never asked... Then it hit him. "Doyle has EVA training. She could run the saftey line from the air lock, you could attach it to the saftey port outside the airlock and then head over to the portside docking clamps. If you don't know." Archer stopped himself of course he knew! He could sense another protest coming from Commander Angel. "We can't afford anyone else. Not unless you want to lose shields, the deflector, the containment grid. He stopped sensing the other man was tired of his excuses. I can do it. He promised the Admiral turning to the man to his right. As erm." What had the man said? Acting Chief Engineer? He was a new ensign! There had to be other people! Better people! There wasn't. "As acting Chief Engineer I do decide maintenance teams do I not?" Half betazoid. Only he could wind up as Chief Engineer, trying to convince a half betazoid Commander not to blow the ship up. A sudden thought came to him. It wasn't a pleasant thought but it might just sway the Commander, and the Admiral. 2 years ago, he was on the level of pretty much being kicked out of the academy. He was told if he didn't convince the teachers he was up to the job of being an officer on this mission then he would be forced to leave the Academy and follow another career of become enlisted personnel. On the remote training station, something had gone wrong and an incoming meteorite had knocked the station out of orbit and sent it flying towards the star in the system. The small thrusters on the station couldn't disable the thrust from the meteorite and it had knocked out subspace communications as well. He was the only one brave enough to get out of the station and EVA the hull until he got the communications back up. He'd had to repair the docking clamps and modify them so they could take the strain of a runabout moving the station. Tractor beams had been useless because they were disrupted by the plasma coming from the star, that's how close it had been. He had been awarded multiple commendations for his efforts. He started to enjoy the academy from that point and had done well enough to be assigned to Enterprise. "I've done it before Commander. The Science Station at Fargo." Hopefully the reference was enough... Will frowned. He dredged the records up from memory, and realised that had been why Archer's name had stood out. "That was you, huh? Well, I guess you're more than qualified to do this. Very well, Mr Archer, get your team together and get out there ASAP. Admiral, you're not seriously considering going out there yourself...?" TAG: Callum, Scott
8
« on: April 19, 2014, 11:17:16 pm »
USS Enterprise
Bridge
1626 hrs "Mr Archer, follow me," Will said, forestalling any response they didn't have time for. They arrived at the engineering panel aft of the bridge. "The docking ports here and here are damaged, and we can't reintegrate while they remain so. I need you out there fixing them. How many people do you need for this?" The Commander was straight to the point. At least they had something in common! The man seemed to stumble over his name, he assumed it was because of his relation to his great, great, great, great grandfather Jonathan Archer and that man's relation to the Enterprise. Allot had changed in 6 generations. The family had since moved to Britain. He followed the man without hesitation to the back of the bridge. "The docking ports here and here are damaged, and we can't reintegrate while they remain so. I need you out there fixing them. How many people do you need for this?" How many people? An engineering team, possibly two but that simply wasn't practical. Every engineering hand was stretched trying to cover the extensive damage to the command section. He assumed reintegration was high on the Commander and the Admiral's list of things to do. He assumed they wanted to get Enterprise back to a starbase, well that's fine by me! Thought Archer. Unfortunately, neither task was high on Archer's list. He mentally sighed, these command types often hadn't a clue. His mind drifted through the endless possibilities. He couldn't pull out anyone from engineering. If those containment fields failed for even a second, even a millisecond then they would be dead. Power conduits were more important as well. There were only two spare officers he could think of, himself and the chief (who really should have been helping with repairs) who he'd sent to the airlock. Perhaps he could get the Commander to help? No he doubted it and he didn't want to negate the man to holding his tool kit or hanging onto his rope. He suddenly realised that it had been a long time since he said anything. He conceded. "two. I could do it with two people. I'll do the repairs and I already have someone down there to hold onto my safety line." What had he just said? Was the Commander going to believe him? Would he challenge Archer if he didn't. Archer half hoped he would and would somehow magic up the personnel he really needed. "Two." He confirmed, more to himself than the Commander... Will studied the ensign for a moment. Then he sighed. "Listen, kid," he said, quietly. "I'm half-Betazoid, so you're not fooling me. Besides, I got the damage reports from Engineering and I know it's bad down there. I know you'd rather be down there, but you have to trust your guys to do their jobs. But you also need to know I was once a newly-qualified ensign thrust into a department head's role earlier than I wanted to be. You're acting Chief Engineer now, so step up to the plate. Assign your people and fix those docking ports." Will held the younger man's gaze a moment longer. "Welcome aboard, Mr Archer. Sorry your introduction couldn't have been under more pleasant circumstances." TAG: Scott
9
« on: April 18, 2014, 05:30:51 pm »
--PART TWO--
"Sir!" Called an officer who was pulling herself up to the helm station "Starboard impulse engine is stuck at full ahead, you can't pull out of this"
Callum pulled a lever just below the starboard controls and the whining of the engine stopped. With both hands Callum took the port warp control in his left hand and starboard control in his right.
=/\=All hands, brace for emergency stop=/\= Callum announced as he used the warp engines to bring the Enterprise to a dead stop causing the crack to extend a few metres.
The lighting on the bridge flashed and died, replaced several seconds later by a deep red glow. "Lieutenant" Callum said looking to the officer who had assumed the ops station "Signal the fleet, we're out. We'll coordinate from a safe distance" Callum said reluctantly as he released his restraints "Helm, the helm is yours again, RCS thrusters only, get us out" Callum said as he stood up.
"Will" Callum turned to look at the tactical station then looking around he noticed the officer on the floor over in a corner, Callum moved over as quickly as he could in the low light "Commander, are you alright??" he asked.
Will looked up at Callum, briefly seeing a blurred image before his vision cleared. He could sense the admiral's concern.
"I'm ok, sir," he grunted, accepting his friend's hand to help him up. How are they?" He indicated the other officers who had been on the upper deck and flung about. They were starting to come to, and despite the cuts and bruises on show, nobody seemed too badly damaged.
Will wiped his brow and his hand came away sticky with his own blood.
"Oh," he noted. "Right. Did we win?"
A medic appeared on the bridge, she quickly moved over to Will and began scanning him.
"Not yet" Callum replied "But we will....Well, they will" Callum said looking over to the view screen which showed battle that was going on behind them as the Command section was withdrawing "Unfortunately the command section can't continue."
Will accepted the steriliser being applied to his cut head.
"Thank you, nurse," he acknowledged with a nod.
"You're welcome, sir," the medic said. "You'll need to report to Sick Bay as soon as your shift ends, Commander."
"Noted," he responded, Starfleet code for "Yeah, right..."
Satisfied, the medic left the bridge.
Will looked back at the screen.
"Well, I think we did all the hard work. Everyone else gets a chance to mop up after us, I suppose. I wouldn't mind getting a look at that wormhole tech, though. And some answers. Why the Xindi? Why now?"
"I'm sure we'll find all of that out in time" Callum said "Think you can stand??" he asked.
Will pushed away from the science station that had been supporting him while the medic attended to him.
"I think so. No real damage done. I'm 72 years old... still in my prime!"
Callum smiled, for some reason Will had just reminded him of his days back on the USS Majesty. The view screen behind the Admiral flashed into life.
=/\=Starfleet Vessel Enterprise, please respond=/\= a voice called from behind Callum.
Callum slowly turned around, on the screen was a Xindi Primate =/\=I'm Admiral Jackson, representing the United Federation of Planets, to whom am I speaking?=/\= the Admiral asked.
=/\=My name is not important, we haven't much time, I fear history is about to repeat itself. Search the classified files regarding the temporal cold war, specifically the NX-01 logs=/\= the view screen flickered and the man was gone.
"We need to regroup" Callum announced as the last Xindi vessel took a quantum torpedo and blew up. "Will, signal all Enterprise sections, we're going to reintegrate the ship" Callum ordered.
=/\=Echo Fleet, set course for Earth Spacedock, maximum warp. Our long range COMMS are down, signal spacedock that we're heading home and will require immediate assistance=/\= Callum ordered over the ship to ship COMMS.
"Will, as soon as the sections are reintegrated, take us to warp 9, no faster also please inform Vice Admiral Locker that the Bridge is his, and then meet me in my ready room. Until his return from the escort section, the bridge is yours" Callum said as he brushed off some dust from his uniform.
"Aye, sir," Will acknowledged. "Helm, come about and prepare for reintegration."
"Aye, Commander."
=/\= All hands, this is the Executive Officer. Prepare stations for reintegration. =/\=
"Commander, the saucer section is signalling," the Ops officer reported. "They want to know if they should come back."
"No. Tell them to hold position, we'll integrate when we reach them. No point bringing them all the way back just to take them to Earth."
"Aye, Commander."
Satisfied that the crew were doing their jobs, Will took a long look around the bridge. This was going to be a good crew. This had been the first test, but he figured there would other, sterner, tests to come.
"Good work, people," he said, and sat in the centre seat.
TAG: Callum
10
« on: April 12, 2014, 06:11:48 pm »
USS Enterprise
Command Section - Bridge
1613 Hours
"Manual targeting, aye, sir," Will responded, his hands dancing on the panel in front of him. If he was bothered by Callum's admission, he didn't show it. He'd served with the admiral for decades in one capacity or another, virtually all his Starfleet career, and knew if any man was worthy of his trust, it was him. "All weapons online, Admiral," he confirmed. "Ready when you are." Callum lifted his left hand and placed it on the throttle controls to his left, with his right hand is tapped a button *RCS Thrusters online* the computer announced. Callum tapped the one to it's right *Rotation* the computer announced. Callum tested the thrusters by rotating the ship side to side slightly. In one swift movement Callum pushed the far left lever forward fully, engaging full thrusters ahead, there were two others, one for impulse and one for warp drive. Though the computer would take over if the warp drive was engaged, the option was always there for the Admiral to point the ship in a direction and get it out of there as quickly as possible. The Enterprise was now breaking formation slowly "Let's get going" Callum said, secretly enjoying the chance to pilot the Enterprise. With a firm grip his pushed the joystick fully forward and to the right, sending the Enterprise into a nose dive towards a Xindi vessel. Callum felt himself fall forward slightly as the inertial dampeners couldn't keep up with the sudden movement. With his left hand he gripped the impulse throttle control and pushed it forward halfway. "Commander, we're going to stick with this ship, where ever they move we'll follow, we will be just out of torpedo blast range" Callum announced as his gaze remained fixed on the view screen. Before Callum knew it a swarm of torpedoes and phaser fire were heading right and the Enterprise's Command Section. "Grab hold of something" Callum barked as he weaved between the weapons, hitting only two "Coming into firing range, fire at will....Will" Callum said with a slight pause as he dived towards the Xindi vessel, the ship must have realised what the Enterprise was going to try and began erratically trying to evade them "no you don't" Callum said through gritted teeth as he tried his best at mimicking the ships movements as well as catching up with them "full impulse power" Callum announced as the Enterprise sped up. The smart settings on the tactical panel recognised Will's preferences and subtly altered to match them, making things far easier for the former Chief Security Officer to readjust to the role. This was a new innovation, and Will had to agree it had been worth R&D investing in it. The holographic targeting system allowed him to launch torpedoes much faster and more accurately than before, and it showed. As Callum weaved a path through the enemy barrage to keep up with the ship he'd picked out, Will was able to easily take out the majority of incoming fire while, at the same time, firing at the enemy. The tactic he'd used before to fool the enemy sensors was now working well, and the Xindi smart shields were losing their effectiveness in the face of Will's tactical advantage. A couple of shots hit a Xindi nacelle, and the ship slowed noticeably. Then a phaser barrage took out its weapon ports. "Sir, the Xindi ship is effectively unarmed," he reported. "Speed is 86% of maximum. We should be able to overtake in... 29 seconds!" Callum smiled "Nice shooting Commander, lock onto their core and fire" he ordered as he came along side the Xindi vessel. "Aye, sir," Will acknowledged, preparing to fire. An alarm suddenly sounded on panel. Will glanced at it, interpreting the data. "Admiral, evasive! They've overloaded the core... if it blows, we'll go up with it!" Callum forced the throttle lever as far forward as it would go and banked hard to starboard "Full power to port shielding" Callum barked just as the Xindi vessel exploded, the Command Section flipped, but luckily the shields held.....just. "Damage report" Callum said looking back at Will quickly before looking back to the view screen. Will looked at the reports coming. "Minimal, sir," he relayed the information to Callum. "Decks 17 to 21 took the brunt of it, but shields are holding. Casualties reported so far are minor injuries, no losses, but we haven't got the full picture yet." He glanced away for a second, at another section of his panel. "We have two more Xindi vessels closing in. Their weapons are primed and locked." Callum altered the Enterprises heading so they were now heading directly for the vessels "this one should be fun, let's see if we can take out both of them" Callum said weaving through the weapons fire. Will remained impressed at Callum's flying. The admiral clearly had lost none of his skills in that department. For his part, Will had always kept up to date with his old department, and was glad of it. He'd always preferred to think of Starfleet Security as "prevention" rather than "reaction". But for now, he was forced to concede that this occasion was more "prevention of the ship being destroyed by destroying the attackers first". Targeting the oncoming vessels with a combination of sensor-blinding torpedoes and devastating phaser blasts, he waited until Callum had steered the ship into the optimum position. Then he fired. The Xindi ships vanished behind the torpedo flash, only to reappear as shattered shells. "Targets neutralised, Admiral. No additional damage or casualties reported aboard Enterprise. We're good to continue." Callum pointed the Enterprise towards the rest of the Xindi fleet, they all seemed to be sticking together now. =/\=Ticonderoga to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Ticonderoga's CO announced =/\=Eagle to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Eagle's CO announced just like the CO before. Over the course of the next fifteen seconds four more ships reported in and set about engaging the Xindi fleet. "Let's get this over with" Callum said as he pushed the command section into a dive towards the attacking fleet. "With pleasure, Admiral," Will answered, then patched communications to the new arrivals. =/\= Enterprise to fleet, Xindi vessels are operating a smart shield system. Detonating torpedoes in front of them blinds their predictive sensors long enough for effective phaser fire. =/\= A chorus of acknowledgments sounded from the other ships, and Will set about continuing the destruction of the Xindi fleet. "Computer magnify three alpha" Callum said as he noticed something heading towards them, he noticed a ship that seemed to be glowing purplish in colour "Voki, what do you make of that??" Callum asked "Automated Xindi Vessel, no life signs, interrogating it's systems, stand by........................Sensors have determined that the vessel has locked onto our section, she's loaded with matter and antimatter warheads rigged to explode on impact, collision imminent, thirty seconds" Voki reported. "Anyone ever seen a sub orbital aircraft skim the water with the tips of it's wings??" Callum asked rhetorically, ever wanted to see a starship attempt it, but instead of water skim another ship??" Callum asked rhetorically again as he sped up to full impulse power. "Will, continue targeting the other Xindi vessels, I can deal with this one" Callum said. =/\=Engineering, vent all the plasma from our port nacelle and secure it for an impact=/\= Callum ordered =/\=An impact, Sir??=/\= the Engineer asked questioningly =/\=Yes, I'm going to set off a ships proximity sensors by hitting the ship, slightly, with our nacelle=/\= =/\=Uhmmm, I would like to put it on the record that I don't advise this=/\= =/\=Objections noted, impact in ten seconds=/\= "Rotating 90 degrees to port" Callum announced as he his right hand twitched slightly in different directions as he kept making slight adjustments "impact in three, two..." Callum didn't get a chance to get to one, the nacelle hit the ship leaving the Enterprise's paint on the other ship. Instead of traversing the length of the Xindi drone Callum pulled up sharp, "locking heading" Callum announced "prepare for the worst warp jump in your lives". Callum clicked the warp speed throttle control into the first notch, as the ship accelerated Callum was pinned back in his seat, the force of the acceleration was that immense that Callum was barely able to to pull back on the throttle when they were at a safe distance. *Manual control re-engaged* the computer announced before an alarm sounded *WARNING! this vessel is on a direct collision course with the USS Ticonderoga* The Odyssey class carrier was in the process of separating the saucer section =/\=Ticonderoga, remain stationary=/\= Callum barked as he knew it would be too late to attempt to turn the ship at this speed, instead he altered the rotation of the Enterprise at .9 warp speed the Enterprise slipped through the narrow gap between the Ticonderoga's star drive section and saucer section. Callum breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead "let's not try any of those moves again" Callum said as he turned the ship to head back to the fight. Will raised an eyebrow and mock-sternly looked at the admiral. "I'll have a repair team on standby to do a touch-up on the paintwork after we've finished here. I'm pretty sure I heard some scraping just now." Throughout the maneuver, Will had his work cut out firing at the most convenient Xindi vessels he could find. Avoiding shooting the Ticonderoga into atoms was a challenge. Will was glad he'd opted to keep up to date with his erstwhile shipboard position. He glanced at the young man standing by in case he was needed and saw the frank fear and admiration in his face. That was when Will noticed something. =/\= Angel to transporter rooms, have we got all the Defiant survivors? =/\= =/\= Aye, sir. All aboard and in sickbay. =/\= =/\= Thank you, Chief. Angel out. =/\= "Admiral, Defiant has drifted among the Xindi cluster. If we target their warp core, it'll cause significant damage to any ships close enough. Permission to destroy a Starfleet vessel, sir?" Callum nodded "Permission granted" he said as he piloted the Enterprise away from one torpedo only to impact with another that would have missed them. The Ticonderoga's saucer had sped off and her stardrive was now engaging the enemy. The Xindi only had 15 vessels remaining. "Will, scan the area, can you determine how the Xindi brought in their reinforcements and how we can stop them doing so again??" Callum asked moments before the Defiant met it's end. "Aye, sir," Will responded, watching for the right moment to open fire. As the Defiant drifted innocuous and unnoticed amid the Xindi aggressors, Will shifted the focus of the sensors. He frowned at the appearance of an anomaly. Then the Defiant found herself at her final destination. "Sorry," Will whispered, loath to do this to a Starfleet vessel, but knowing it was necessary. He'd never been superstitious, but he was always sensitive to how great a loss one's ship could be. A good ship was more than just your place of work; it was home. Many crewmembers, commissioned and enlisted, considered their ship to have a personality of its own. Of course, with the advent of Voki, this might become a reality... And with that thought, he fired. The single concentrated phaser burst hit the Defiant perfectly, immediately detonating her warp core. The ship blossomed in a white flare that momentarily lit the Enterprise bridge like daylight before the filters cut in and brought the glare under manageable levels. When the flare died down, the Defiant was gone. As were six Xindi ships. Will made a quick check. "Six enemy vessels destroyed, a further four disabled, sir. Also scanning an anomaly at coordinates 15, mark 62, mark 33, local. It looks like... it IS! There's a wormhole visible in the ultraviolet spectrum. Looks like they might be using it. Putting it onscreen." The chromatic field shifted slightly, and a swirling mass of some shade that hurt Will's eyes became clear. "I can't even begin to guess what colour that is," he said. Then it pulsed. "Admiral, sensors indicate a ship is coming through... scans suggest it's at least eight time the size of Enterprise!" "See if you can find a way to close their wormhole" Callum started as he applied full thrust towards a medium sized Xindi vessel. "Computer, lock all tractor beams onto the vessel dead ahead, transfer tractor firing control to the manual helm" Callum commanded as he moved his right hand so he could reach the trigger. As the Enterprise reached the Xindi vessel Callum squeezed the trigger and held it down, firing the tractor beams which locked onto the other vessel. The Enterprise slowed down to one half impulse speed sharply. Callum tapped a command into the throttle control area and pushed the impulse engines passed the red line causing the engines to emit a whining sound as they struggled. The Xindi vessel was trying to pull away, but Enterprise was clearly to powerful for the vessel to break free and too close for them to get a positive lock to fire. *Warning, collision imminent, pull away* the computer warned as the Enterprise headed straight for the larger ship. Will turned to the science station. "Lieutenant, scan that wormhole. Is it natural?" The science officer turned to his station and began scanning while Will scanned the incoming vessel for any signs of weakness. "No, sir, sensors say it's artificial," the science officer reported. "Great... if it's artificial, there must be a controller somewhere. Find it." "Aye, sir." While he waited, Will readied several torpedoes. "Commander!" the science officer called, coming to the security panel. "Controllers are here, here and here," he said, pointing at the relevant locations. "Good work, Lieutenant." Will laid in the coordinates. "Admiral, on my mark, you need to switch to repulsor beam and get us away from this area. If I've done this right, we don't want to be here when the torpedoes blow." Then he fired, three torpedoes for each controller.. The torpedoes shot away to the coordinates he'd been given. Even destroying two of the three controllers would close the wormhole, but he wanted to leave nothing to chance. The Xindi vessel realised what was happening too, and changed its focus from the Enterprise to the torpedoes. They cleared two torpedoes from one controller, and another from the second, but all three were suddenly obliterated. The immediate effect was obvious, as the wormhole snapped shut, slicing and cauterising the front end of the Xindi vessel. Even as the Enterprise reversed at maximum impulse, the section that remained on this side of the wormhole was double the size of the Starfleet vessel. Then the shockwave hit, and the Enterprise was sent spinning. The lights failed, and Will found himself hurtling in open space before smashing into a wall and lying in a heap, the wind knocked out of him. The restraints holding Callum into his seat dug into him, but held him tight. The Xindi vessel the Enterprise was towing had been propelled into the larger vessel, but didn't do much damage. The computer was now five or six thruster changes behind. Callum was changing from Rotation to Translation that fast that the computer couldn't keep up. The Engines at this point were screaming as one was in full reverse the other full ahead and all port thrusters burning at full power attempting to stop the rotation. "Computer, overlay master situation display over the main viewer" the view screen changed slightly, it was now showing the status of the Enterprise's command section. A message popped up on the port side of the screen, flashing red with a new alert siren Port Impulse Engine Reaching Critical Limits A cracking sound echoed through the bridge Callum looked up to see a crack forming in the ceiling and starting to run down the bulk head. Shortly after an explosion shook the ship, the warning message now changed to Port Impulse Engine Offline "Sir!" Called an officer who was pulling herself up to the helm station "Starboard impulse engine is stuck at full ahead, you can't pull out of this" Callum pulled a lever just below the starboard controls and the whining of the engine stopped. With both hands Callum took the port warp control in his left hand and starboard control in his right. =/\=All hands, brace for emergency stop=/\= Callum announced as he used the warp engines to bring the Enterprise to a dead stop causing the crack to extend a few metres. The lighting on the bridge flashed and died, replaced several seconds later by a deep red glow. "Lieutenant" Callum said looking to the officer who had assumed the ops station "Signal the fleet, we're out. We'll coordinate from a safe distance" Callum said reluctantly as he released his restraints "Helm, the helm is yours again, RCS thrusters only, get us out" Callum said as he stood up. "Will" Callum turned to look at the tactical station then looking around he noticed the officer on the floor over in a corner, Callum moved over as quickly as he could in the low light "Commander, are you alright??" he asked. Will looked up at Callum, briefly seeing a blurred image before his vision cleared. He could sense the admiral's concern. "I'm ok, sir," he grunted, accepting his friend's hand to help him up. How are they?" He indicated the other officers who had been on the upper deck and flung about. They were starting to come to, and despite the cuts and bruises on show, nobody seemed too badly damaged. Will wiped his brow and his hand came away sticky with his own blood. "Oh," he noted. "Right. Did we win?" A medic appeared on the bridge, she quickly moved over to Will and began scanning him. "Not yet" Callum replied "But we will....Well, they will" Callum said looking over to the view screen which showed battle that was going on behind them as the Command section was withdrawing "Unfortunately the command section can't continue." Will accepted the steriliser being applied to his cut head. "Thank you, nurse," he acknowledged with a nod. "You're welcome, sir," the medic said. "You'll need to report to Sick Bay as soon as your shift ends, Commander." "Noted," he responded, Starfleet code for "Yeah, right..." Satisfied, the medic left the bridge. Will looked back at the screen. "Well, I think we did all the hard work. Everyone else gets a chance to mop up after us, I suppose. I wouldn't mind getting a look at that wormhole tech, though. And some answers. Why the Xindi? Why now?" "I'm sure we'll find all of that out in time" Callum said "Think you can stand??" he asked. Will pushed away from the science station that had been supporting him while the medic attended to him. "I think so. No real damage done. I'm 72 years old... still in my prime!" TAG: Callum
11
« on: April 07, 2014, 06:28:09 pm »
USS Enterprise
Command Section - Bridge
1613 Hours
"Manual targeting, aye, sir," Will responded, his hands dancing on the panel in front of him. If he was bothered by Callum's admission, he didn't show it. He'd served with the admiral for decades in one capacity or another, virtually all his Starfleet career, and knew if any man was worthy of his trust, it was him. "All weapons online, Admiral," he confirmed. "Ready when you are." Callum lifted his left hand and placed it on the throttle controls to his left, with his right hand is tapped a button *RCS Thrusters online* the computer announced. Callum tapped the one to it's right *Rotation* the computer announced. Callum tested the thrusters by rotating the ship side to side slightly. In one swift movement Callum pushed the far left lever forward fully, engaging full thrusters ahead, there were two others, one for impulse and one for warp drive. Though the computer would take over if the warp drive was engaged, the option was always there for the Admiral to point the ship in a direction and get it out of there as quickly as possible. The Enterprise was now breaking formation slowly "Let's get going" Callum said, secretly enjoying the chance to pilot the Enterprise. With a firm grip his pushed the joystick fully forward and to the right, sending the Enterprise into a nose dive towards a Xindi vessel. Callum felt himself fall forward slightly as the inertial dampeners couldn't keep up with the sudden movement. With his left hand he gripped the impulse throttle control and pushed it forward halfway. "Commander, we're going to stick with this ship, where ever they move we'll follow, we will be just out of torpedo blast range" Callum announced as his gaze remained fixed on the view screen. Before Callum knew it a swarm of torpedoes and phaser fire were heading right and the Enterprise's Command Section. "Grab hold of something" Callum barked as he weaved between the weapons, hitting only two "Coming into firing range, fire at will....Will" Callum said with a slight pause as he dived towards the Xindi vessel, the ship must have realised what the Enterprise was going to try and began erratically trying to evade them "no you don't" Callum said through gritted teeth as he tried his best at mimicking the ships movements as well as catching up with them "full impulse power" Callum announced as the Enterprise sped up. The smart settings on the tactical panel recognised Will's preferences and subtly altered to match them, making things far easier for the former Chief Security Officer to readjust to the role. This was a new innovation, and Will had to agree it had been worth R&D investing in it. The holographic targeting system allowed him to launch torpedoes much faster and more accurately than before, and it showed. As Callum weaved a path through the enemy barrage to keep up with the ship he'd picked out, Will was able to easily take out the majority of incoming fire while, at the same time, firing at the enemy. The tactic he'd used before to fool the enemy sensors was now working well, and the Xindi smart shields were losing their effectiveness in the face of Will's tactical advantage. A couple of shots hit a Xindi nacelle, and the ship slowed noticeably. Then a phaser barrage took out its weapon ports. "Sir, the Xindi ship is effectively unarmed," he reported. "Speed is 86% of maximum. We should be able to overtake in... 29 seconds!" Callum smiled "Nice shooting Commander, lock onto their core and fire" he ordered as he came along side the Xindi vessel. "Aye, sir," Will acknowledged, preparing to fire. An alarm suddenly sounded on panel. Will glanced at it, interpreting the data. "Admiral, evasive! They've overloaded the core... if it blows, we'll go up with it!" Callum forced the throttle lever as far forward as it would go and banked hard to starboard "Full power to port shielding" Callum barked just as the Xindi vessel exploded, the Command Section flipped, but luckily the shields held.....just. "Damage report" Callum said looking back at Will quickly before looking back to the view screen. Will looked at the reports coming. "Minimal, sir," he relayed the information to Callum. "Decks 17 to 21 took the brunt of it, but shields are holding. Casualties reported so far are minor injuries, no losses, but we haven't got the full picture yet." He glanced away for a second, at another section of his panel. "We have two more Xindi vessels closing in. Their weapons are primed and locked." Callum altered the Enterprises heading so they were now heading directly for the vessels "this one should be fun, let's see if we can take out both of them" Callum said weaving through the weapons fire. Will remained impressed at Callum's flying. The admiral clearly had lost none of his skills in that department. For his part, Will had always kept up to date with his old department, and was glad of it. He'd always preferred to think of Starfleet Security as "prevention" rather than "reaction". But for now, he was forced to concede that this occasion was more "prevention of the ship being destroyed by destroying the attackers first". Targeting the oncoming vessels with a combination of sensor-blinding torpedoes and devastating phaser blasts, he waited until Callum had steered the ship into the optimum position. Then he fired. The Xindi ships vanished behind the torpedo flash, only to reappear as shattered shells. "Targets neutralised, Admiral. No additional damage or casualties reported aboard Enterprise. We're good to continue." Callum pointed the Enterprise towards the rest of the Xindi fleet, they all seemed to be sticking together now. =/\=Ticonderoga to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Ticonderoga's CO announced =/\=Eagle to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Eagle's CO announced just like the CO before. Over the course of the next fifteen seconds four more ships reported in and set about engaging the Xindi fleet. "Let's get this over with" Callum said as he pushed the command section into a dive towards the attacking fleet. "With pleasure, Admiral," Will answered, then patched communications to the new arrivals. =/\= Enterprise to fleet, Xindi vessels are operating a smart shield system. Detonating torpedoes in front of them blinds their predictive sensors long enough for effective phaser fire. =/\= A chorus of acknowledgments sounded from the other ships, and Will set about continuing the destruction of the Xindi fleet. "Computer magnify three alpha" Callum said as he noticed something heading towards them, he noticed a ship that seemed to be glowing purplish in colour "Voki, what do you make of that??" Callum asked "Automated Xindi Vessel, no life signs, interrogating it's systems, stand by........................Sensors have determined that the vessel has locked onto our section, she's loaded with matter and antimatter warheads rigged to explode on impact, collision imminent, thirty seconds" Voki reported. "Anyone ever seen a sub orbital aircraft skim the water with the tips of it's wings??" Callum asked rhetorically, ever wanted to see a starship attempt it, but instead of water skim another ship??" Callum asked rhetorically again as he sped up to full impulse power. "Will, continue targeting the other Xindi vessels, I can deal with this one" Callum said. =/\=Engineering, vent all the plasma from our port nacelle and secure it for an impact=/\= Callum ordered =/\=An impact, Sir??=/\= the Engineer asked questioningly =/\=Yes, I'm going to set off a ships proximity sensors by hitting the ship, slightly, with our nacelle=/\= =/\=Uhmmm, I would like to put it on the record that I don't advise this=/\= =/\=Objections noted, impact in ten seconds=/\= "Rotating 90 degrees to port" Callum announced as he his right hand twitched slightly in different directions as he kept making slight adjustments "impact in three, two..." Callum didn't get a chance to get to one, the nacelle hit the ship leaving the Enterprise's paint on the other ship. Instead of traversing the length of the Xindi drone Callum pulled up sharp, "locking heading" Callum announced "prepare for the worst warp jump in your lives". Callum clicked the warp speed throttle control into the first notch, as the ship accelerated Callum was pinned back in his seat, the force of the acceleration was that immense that Callum was barely able to to pull back on the throttle when they were at a safe distance. *Manual control re-engaged* the computer announced before an alarm sounded *WARNING! this vessel is on a direct collision course with the USS Ticonderoga* The Odyssey class carrier was in the process of separating the saucer section =/\=Ticonderoga, remain stationary=/\= Callum barked as he knew it would be too late to attempt to turn the ship at this speed, instead he altered the rotation of the Enterprise at .9 warp speed the Enterprise slipped through the narrow gap between the Ticonderoga's star drive section and saucer section. Callum breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead "let's not try any of those moves again" Callum said as he turned the ship to head back to the fight. Will raised an eyebrow and mock-sternly looked at the admiral. "I'll have a repair team on standby to do a touch-up on the paintwork after we've finished here. I'm pretty sure I heard some scraping just now." Throughout the maneuver, Will had his work cut out firing at the most convenient Xindi vessels he could find. Avoiding shooting the Ticonderoga into atoms was a challenge. Will was glad he'd opted to keep up to date with his erstwhile shipboard position. He glanced at the young man standing by in case he was needed and saw the frank fear and admiration in his face. That was when Will noticed something. =/\= Angel to transporter rooms, have we got all the Defiant survivors? =/\= =/\= Aye, sir. All aboard and in sickbay. =/\= =/\= Thank you, Chief. Angel out. =/\= "Admiral, Defiant has drifted among the Xindi cluster. If we target their warp core, it'll cause significant damage to any ships close enough. Permission to destroy a Starfleet vessel, sir?" Callum nodded "Permission granted" he said as he piloted the Enterprise away from one torpedo only to impact with another that would have missed them. The Ticonderoga's saucer had sped off and her stardrive was now engaging the enemy. The Xindi only had 15 vessels remaining. "Will, scan the area, can you determine how the Xindi brought in their reinforcements and how we can stop them doing so again??" Callum asked moments before the Defiant met it's end. "Aye, sir," Will responded, watching for the right moment to open fire. As the Defiant drifted innocuous and unnoticed amid the Xindi aggressors, Will shifted the focus of the sensors. He frowned at the appearance of an anomaly. Then the Defiant found herself at her final destination. "Sorry," Will whispered, loath to do this to a Starfleet vessel, but knowing it was necessary. He'd never been superstitious, but he was always sensitive to how great a loss one's ship could be. A good ship was more than just your place of work; it was home. Many crewmembers, commissioned and enlisted, considered their ship to have a personality of its own. Of course, with the advent of Voki, this might become a reality... And with that thought, he fired. The single concentrated phaser burst hit the Defiant perfectly, immediately detonating her warp core. The ship blossomed in a white flare that momentarily lit the Enterprise bridge like daylight before the filters cut in and brought the glare under manageable levels. When the flare died down, the Defiant was gone. As were six Xindi ships. Will made a quick check. "Six enemy vessels destroyed, a further four disabled, sir. Also scanning an anomaly at coordinates 15, mark 62, mark 33, local. It looks like... it IS! There's a wormhole visible in the ultraviolet spectrum. Looks like they might be using it. Putting it onscreen." The chromatic field shifted slightly, and a swirling mass of some shade that hurt Will's eyes became clear. "I can't even begin to guess what colour that is," he said. Then it pulsed. "Admiral, sensors indicate a ship is coming through... scans suggest it's at least eight time the size of Enterprise!" "See if you can find a way to close their wormhole" Callum started as he applied full thrust towards a medium sized Xindi vessel. "Computer, lock all tractor beams onto the vessel dead ahead, transfer tractor firing control to the manual helm" Callum commanded as he moved his right hand so he could reach the trigger. As the Enterprise reached the Xindi vessel Callum squeezed the trigger and held it down, firing the tractor beams which locked onto the other vessel. The Enterprise slowed down to one half impulse speed sharply. Callum tapped a command into the throttle control area and pushed the impulse engines passed the red line causing the engines to emit a whining sound as they struggled. The Xindi vessel was trying to pull away, but Enterprise was clearly to powerful for the vessel to break free and too close for them to get a positive lock to fire. *Warning, collision imminent, pull away* the computer warned as the Enterprise headed straight for the larger ship. Will turned to the science station. "Lieutenant, scan that wormhole. Is it natural?" The science officer turned to his station and began scanning while Will scanned the incoming vessel for any signs of weakness. "No, sir, sensors say it's artificial," the science officer reported. "Great... if it's artificial, there must be a controller somewhere. Find it." "Aye, sir." While he waited, Will readied several torpedoes. "Commander!" the science officer called, coming to the security panel. "Controllers are here, here and here," he said, pointing at the relevant locations. "Good work, Lieutenant." Will laid in the coordinates. "Admiral, on my mark, you need to switch to repulsor beam and get us away from this area. If I've done this right, we don't want to be here when the torpedoes blow." Then he fired, three torpedoes for each controller.. The torpedoes shot away to the coordinates he'd been given. Even destroying two of the three controllers would close the wormhole, but he wanted to leave nothing to chance. The Xindi vessel realised what was happening too, and changed its focus from the Enterprise to the torpedoes. They cleared two torpedoes from one controller, and another from the second, but all three were suddenly obliterated. The immediate effect was obvious, as the wormhole snapped shut, slicing and cauterising the front end of the Xindi vessel. Even as the Enterprise reversed at maximum impulse, the section that remained on this side of the wormhole was double the size of the Starfleet vessel. Then the shockwave hit, and the Enterprise was sent spinning. The lights failed, and Will found himself hurtling in open space before smashing into a wall and lying in a heap, the wind knocked out of him. The restraints holding Callum into his seat dug into him, but held him tight. The Xindi vessel the Enterprise was towing had been propelled into the larger vessel, but didn't do much damage. The computer was now five or six thruster changes behind. Callum was changing from Rotation to Translation that fast that the computer couldn't keep up. The Engines at this point were screaming as one was in full reverse the other full ahead and all port thrusters burning at full power attempting to stop the rotation. "Computer, overlay master situation display over the main viewer" the view screen changed slightly, it was now showing the status of the Enterprise's command section. A message popped up on the port side of the screen, flashing red with a new alert siren Port Impulse Engine Reaching Critical Limits A cracking sound echoed through the bridge Callum looked up to see a crack forming in the ceiling and starting to run down the bulk head. Shortly after an explosion shook the ship, the warning message now changed to Port Impulse Engine Offline "Sir!" Called an officer who was pulling herself up to the helm station "Starboard impulse engine is stuck at full ahead, you can't pull out of this" Callum pulled a lever just below the starboard controls and the whining of the engine stopped. With both hands Callum took the port warp control in his left hand and starboard control in his right. =/\=All hands, brace for emergency stop=/\= Callum announced as he used the warp engines to bring the Enterprise to a dead stop causing the crack to extend a few metres. The lighting on the bridge flashed and died, replaced several seconds later by a deep red glow. "Lieutenant" Callum said looking to the officer who had assumed the ops station "Signal the fleet, we're out. We'll coordinate from a safe distance" Callum said reluctantly as he released his restraints "Helm, the helm is yours again, RCS thrusters only, get us out" Callum said as he stood up. "Will" Callum turned to look at the tactical station then looking around he noticed the officer on the floor over in a corner, Callum moved over as quickly as he could in the low light "Commander, are you alright??" he asked. Will looked up at Callum, briefly seeing a blurred image before his vision cleared. He could sense the admiral's concern. "I'm ok, sir," he grunted, accepting his friend's hand to help him up. How are they?" He indicated the other officers who had been on the upper deck and flung about. They were starting to come to, and despite the cuts and bruises on show, nobody seemed too badly damaged. Will wiped his brow and his hand came away sticky with his own blood. "Oh," he noted. "Right. Did we win?" A medic appeared on the bridge, she quickly moved over to Will and began scanning him. "Not yet" Callum replied "But we will....Well, they will" Callum said looking over to the view screen which showed battle that was going on behind them as the Command section was withdrawing "Unfortunately the command section can't continue." Will accepted the steriliser being applied to his cut head. "Thank you, nurse," he acknowledged with a nod. "You're welcome, sir," the medic said. "You'll need to report to Sick Bay as soon as your shift ends, Commander." "Noted," he responded, Starfleet code for "Yeah, right..." Satisfied, the medic left the bridge. Will looked back at the screen. "Well, I think we did all the hard work. Everyone else gets a chance to mop up after us, I suppose. I wouldn't mind getting a look at that wormhole tech, though. And some answers. Why the Xindi? Why now?" TAG: Callum
12
« on: March 25, 2014, 03:50:09 pm »
USS Enterprise
Command Section - Bridge
1613 Hours
"Manual targeting, aye, sir," Will responded, his hands dancing on the panel in front of him. If he was bothered by Callum's admission, he didn't show it. He'd served with the admiral for decades in one capacity or another, virtually all his Starfleet career, and knew if any man was worthy of his trust, it was him. "All weapons online, Admiral," he confirmed. "Ready when you are." Callum lifted his left hand and placed it on the throttle controls to his left, with his right hand is tapped a button *RCS Thrusters online* the computer announced. Callum tapped the one to it's right *Rotation* the computer announced. Callum tested the thrusters by rotating the ship side to side slightly. In one swift movement Callum pushed the far left lever forward fully, engaging full thrusters ahead, there were two others, one for impulse and one for warp drive. Though the computer would take over if the warp drive was engaged, the option was always there for the Admiral to point the ship in a direction and get it out of there as quickly as possible. The Enterprise was now breaking formation slowly "Let's get going" Callum said, secretly enjoying the chance to pilot the Enterprise. With a firm grip his pushed the joystick fully forward and to the right, sending the Enterprise into a nose dive towards a Xindi vessel. Callum felt himself fall forward slightly as the inertial dampeners couldn't keep up with the sudden movement. With his left hand he gripped the impulse throttle control and pushed it forward halfway. "Commander, we're going to stick with this ship, where ever they move we'll follow, we will be just out of torpedo blast range" Callum announced as his gaze remained fixed on the view screen. Before Callum knew it a swarm of torpedoes and phaser fire were heading right and the Enterprise's Command Section. "Grab hold of something" Callum barked as he weaved between the weapons, hitting only two "Coming into firing range, fire at will....Will" Callum said with a slight pause as he dived towards the Xindi vessel, the ship must have realised what the Enterprise was going to try and began erratically trying to evade them "no you don't" Callum said through gritted teeth as he tried his best at mimicking the ships movements as well as catching up with them "full impulse power" Callum announced as the Enterprise sped up. The smart settings on the tactical panel recognised Will's preferences and subtly altered to match them, making things far easier for the former Chief Security Officer to readjust to the role. This was a new innovation, and Will had to agree it had been worth R&D investing in it. The holographic targeting system allowed him to launch torpedoes much faster and more accurately than before, and it showed. As Callum weaved a path through the enemy barrage to keep up with the ship he'd picked out, Will was able to easily take out the majority of incoming fire while, at the same time, firing at the enemy. The tactic he'd used before to fool the enemy sensors was now working well, and the Xindi smart shields were losing their effectiveness in the face of Will's tactical advantage. A couple of shots hit a Xindi nacelle, and the ship slowed noticeably. Then a phaser barrage took out its weapon ports. "Sir, the Xindi ship is effectively unarmed," he reported. "Speed is 86% of maximum. We should be able to overtake in... 29 seconds!" Callum smiled "Nice shooting Commander, lock onto their core and fire" he ordered as he came along side the Xindi vessel. "Aye, sir," Will acknowledged, preparing to fire. An alarm suddenly sounded on panel. Will glanced at it, interpreting the data. "Admiral, evasive! They've overloaded the core... if it blows, we'll go up with it!" Callum forced the throttle lever as far forward as it would go and banked hard to starboard "Full power to port shielding" Callum barked just as the Xindi vessel exploded, the Command Section flipped, but luckily the shields held.....just. "Damage report" Callum said looking back at Will quickly before looking back to the view screen. Will looked at the reports coming. "Minimal, sir," he relayed the information to Callum. "Decks 17 to 21 took the brunt of it, but shields are holding. Casualties reported so far are minor injuries, no losses, but we haven't got the full picture yet." He glanced away for a second, at another section of his panel. "We have two more Xindi vessels closing in. Their weapons are primed and locked." Callum altered the Enterprises heading so they were now heading directly for the vessels "this one should be fun, let's see if we can take out both of them" Callum said weaving through the weapons fire. Will remained impressed at Callum's flying. The admiral clearly had lost none of his skills in that department. For his part, Will had always kept up to date with his old department, and was glad of it. He'd always preferred to think of Starfleet Security as "prevention" rather than "reaction". But for now, he was forced to concede that this occasion was more "prevention of the ship being destroyed by destroying the attackers first". Targeting the oncoming vessels with a combination of sensor-blinding torpedoes and devastating phaser blasts, he waited until Callum had steered the ship into the optimum position. Then he fired. The Xindi ships vanished behind the torpedo flash, only to reappear as shattered shells. "Targets neutralised, Admiral. No additional damage or casualties reported aboard Enterprise. We're good to continue." Callum pointed the Enterprise towards the rest of the Xindi fleet, they all seemed to be sticking together now. =/\=Ticonderoga to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Ticonderoga's CO announced =/\=Eagle to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Eagle's CO announced just like the CO before. Over the course of the next fifteen seconds four more ships reported in and set about engaging the Xindi fleet. "Let's get this over with" Callum said as he pushed the command section into a dive towards the attacking fleet. "With pleasure, Admiral," Will answered, then patched communications to the new arrivals. =/\= Enterprise to fleet, Xindi vessels are operating a smart shield system. Detonating torpedoes in front of them blinds their predictive sensors long enough for effective phaser fire. =/\= A chorus of acknowledgments sounded from the other ships, and Will set about continuing the destruction of the Xindi fleet. "Computer magnify three alpha" Callum said as he noticed something heading towards them, he noticed a ship that seemed to be glowing purplish in colour "Voki, what do you make of that??" Callum asked "Automated Xindi Vessel, no life signs, interrogating it's systems, stand by........................Sensors have determined that the vessel has locked onto our section, she's loaded with matter and antimatter warheads rigged to explode on impact, collision imminent, thirty seconds" Voki reported. "Anyone ever seen a sub orbital aircraft skim the water with the tips of it's wings??" Callum asked rhetorically, ever wanted to see a starship attempt it, but instead of water skim another ship??" Callum asked rhetorically again as he sped up to full impulse power. "Will, continue targeting the other Xindi vessels, I can deal with this one" Callum said. =/\=Engineering, vent all the plasma from our port nacelle and secure it for an impact=/\= Callum ordered =/\=An impact, Sir??=/\= the Engineer asked questioningly =/\=Yes, I'm going to set off a ships proximity sensors by hitting the ship, slightly, with our nacelle=/\= =/\=Uhmmm, I would like to put it on the record that I don't advise this=/\= =/\=Objections noted, impact in ten seconds=/\= "Rotating 90 degrees to port" Callum announced as he his right hand twitched slightly in different directions as he kept making slight adjustments "impact in three, two..." Callum didn't get a chance to get to one, the nacelle hit the ship leaving the Enterprise's paint on the other ship. Instead of traversing the length of the Xindi drone Callum pulled up sharp, "locking heading" Callum announced "prepare for the worst warp jump in your lives". Callum clicked the warp speed throttle control into the first notch, as the ship accelerated Callum was pinned back in his seat, the force of the acceleration was that immense that Callum was barely able to to pull back on the throttle when they were at a safe distance. *Manual control re-engaged* the computer announced before an alarm sounded *WARNING! this vessel is on a direct collision course with the USS Ticonderoga* The Odyssey class carrier was in the process of separating the saucer section =/\=Ticonderoga, remain stationary=/\= Callum barked as he knew it would be too late to attempt to turn the ship at this speed, instead he altered the rotation of the Enterprise at .9 warp speed the Enterprise slipped through the narrow gap between the Ticonderoga's star drive section and saucer section. Callum breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead "let's not try any of those moves again" Callum said as he turned the ship to head back to the fight. Will raised an eyebrow and mock-sternly looked at the admiral. "I'll have a repair team on standby to do a touch-up on the paintwork after we've finished here. I'm pretty sure I heard some scraping just now." Throughout the maneuver, Will had his work cut out firing at the most convenient Xindi vessels he could find. Avoiding shooting the Ticonderoga into atoms was a challenge. Will was glad he'd opted to keep up to date with his erstwhile shipboard position. He glanced at the young man standing by in case he was needed and saw the frank fear and admiration in his face. That was when Will noticed something. =/\= Angel to transporter rooms, have we got all the Defiant survivors? =/\= =/\= Aye, sir. All aboard and in sickbay. =/\= =/\= Thank you, Chief. Angel out. =/\= "Admiral, Defiant has drifted among the Xindi cluster. If we target their warp core, it'll cause significant damage to any ships close enough. Permission to destroy a Starfleet vessel, sir?" Callum nodded "Permission granted" he said as he piloted the Enterprise away from one torpedo only to impact with another that would have missed them. The Ticonderoga's saucer had sped off and her stardrive was now engaging the enemy. The Xindi only had 15 vessels remaining. "Will, scan the area, can you determine how the Xindi brought in their reinforcements and how we can stop them doing so again??" Callum asked moments before the Defiant met it's end. "Aye, sir," Will responded, watching for the right moment to open fire. As the Defiant drifted innocuous and unnoticed amid the Xindi aggressors, Will shifted the focus of the sensors. He frowned at the appearance of an anomaly. Then the Defiant found herself at her final destination. "Sorry," Will whispered, loath to do this to a Starfleet vessel, but knowing it was necessary. He'd never been superstitious, but he was always sensitive to how great a loss one's ship could be. A good ship was more than just your place of work; it was home. Many crewmembers, commissioned and enlisted, considered their ship to have a personality of its own. Of course, with the advent of Voki, this might become a reality... And with that thought, he fired. The single concentrated phaser burst hit the Defiant perfectly, immediately detonating her warp core. The ship blossomed in a white flare that momentarily lit the Enterprise bridge like daylight before the filters cut in and brought the glare under manageable levels. When the flare died down, the Defiant was gone. As were six Xindi ships. Will made a quick check. "Six enemy vessels destroyed, a further four disabled, sir. Also scanning an anomaly at coordinates 15, mark 62, mark 33, local. It looks like... it IS! There's a wormhole visible in the ultraviolet spectrum. Looks like they might be using it. Putting it onscreen." The chromatic field shifted slightly, and a swirling mass of some shade that hurt Will's eyes became clear. "I can't even begin to guess what colour that is," he said. Then it pulsed. "Admiral, sensors indicate a ship is coming through... scans suggest it's at least eight time the size of Enterprise!" "See if you can find a way to close their wormhole" Callum started as he applied full thrust towards a medium sized Xindi vessel. "Computer, lock all tractor beams onto the vessel dead ahead, transfer tractor firing control to the manual helm" Callum commanded as he moved his right hand so he could reach the trigger. As the Enterprise reached the Xindi vessel Callum squeezed the trigger and held it down, firing the tractor beams which locked onto the other vessel. The Enterprise slowed down to one half impulse speed sharply. Callum tapped a command into the throttle control area and pushed the impulse engines passed the red line causing the engines to emit a whining sound as they struggled. The Xindi vessel was trying to pull away, but Enterprise was clearly to powerful for the vessel to break free and too close for them to get a positive lock to fire. *Warning, collision imminent, pull away* the computer warned as the Enterprise headed straight for the larger ship. Will turned to the science station. "Lieutenant, scan that wormhole. Is it natural?" The science officer turned to his station and began scanning while Will scanned the incoming vessel for any signs of weakness. "No, sir, sensors say it's artificial," the science officer reported. "Great... if it's artificial, there must be a controller somewhere. Find it." "Aye, sir." While he waited, Will readied several torpedoes. "Commander!" the science officer called, coming to the security panel. "Controllers are here, here and here," he said, pointing at the relevant locations. "Good work, Lieutenant." Will laid in the coordinates. "Admiral, on my mark, you need to switch to repulsor beam and get us away from this area. If I've done this right, we don't want to be here when the torpedoes blow." Then he fired, three torpedoes for each controller.. The torpedoes shot away to the coordinates he'd been given. Even destroying two of the three controllers would close the wormhole, but he wanted to leave nothing to chance. The Xindi vessel realised what was happening too, and changed its focus from the Enterprise to the torpedoes. They cleared two torpedoes from one controller, and another from the second, but all three were suddenly obliterated. The immediate effect was obvious, as the wormhole snapped shut, slicing and cauterising the front end of the Xindi vessel. Even as the Enterprise reversed at maximum impulse, the section that remained on this side of the wormhole was double the size of the Starfleet vessel. Then the shockwave hit, and the Enterprise was sent spinning. The lights failed, and Will found himself hurtling in open space before smashing into a wall and lying in a heap, the wind knocked out of him. The restraints holding Callum into his seat dug into him, but held him tight. The Xindi vessel the Enterprise was towing had been propelled into the larger vessel, but didn't do much damage. The computer was now five or six thruster changes behind. Callum was changing from Rotation to Translation that fast that the computer couldn't keep up. The Engines at this point were screaming as one was in full reverse the other full ahead and all port thrusters burning at full power attempting to stop the rotation. "Computer, overlay master situation display over the main viewer" the view screen changed slightly, it was now showing the status of the Enterprise's command section. A message popped up on the port side of the screen, flashing red with a new alert siren Port Impulse Engine Reaching Critical Limits A cracking sound echoed through the bridge Callum looked up to see a crack forming in the ceiling and starting to run down the bulk head. Shortly after an explosion shook the ship, the warning message now changed to Port Impulse Engine Offline "Sir!" Called an officer who was pulling herself up to the helm station "Starboard impulse engine is stuck at full ahead, you can't pull out of this" Callum pulled a lever just below the starboard controls and the whining of the engine stopped. With both hands Callum took the port warp control in his left hand and starboard control in his right. =/\=All hands, brace for emergency stop=/\= Callum announced as he used the warp engines to bring the Enterprise to a dead stop causing the crack to extend a few metres. The lighting on the bridge flashed and died, replaced several seconds later by a deep red glow. "Lieutenant" Callum said looking to the officer who had assumed the ops station "Signal the fleet, we're out. We'll coordinate from a safe distance" Callum said reluctantly as he released his restraints "Helm, the helm is yours again, RCS thrusters only, get us out" Callum said as he stood up. "Will" Callum turned to look at the tactical station then looking around he noticed the officer on the floor over in a corner, Callum moved over as quickly as he could in the low light "Commander, are you alright??" he asked. Will looked up at Callum, briefly seeing a blurred image before his vision cleared. He could sense the admiral's concern. "I'm ok, sir," he grunted, accepting his friend's hand to help him up. How are they?" He indicated the other officers who had been on the upper deck and flung about. They were starting to come to, and despite the cuts and bruises on show, nobody seemed too badly damaged. Will wiped his brow and his hand came away sticky with his own blood. "Oh," he noted. "Right. Did we win?" TAG: Callum
13
« on: March 24, 2014, 10:43:01 pm »
USS Enterprise
Command Section - Bridge
1613 Hours
"Manual targeting, aye, sir," Will responded, his hands dancing on the panel in front of him.
If he was bothered by Callum's admission, he didn't show it. He'd served with the admiral for decades in one capacity or another, virtually all his Starfleet career, and knew if any man was worthy of his trust, it was him.
"All weapons online, Admiral," he confirmed. "Ready when you are."
Callum lifted his left hand and placed it on the throttle controls to his left, with his right hand is tapped a button *RCS Thrusters online* the computer announced. Callum tapped the one to it's right *Rotation* the computer announced.
Callum tested the thrusters by rotating the ship side to side slightly. In one swift movement Callum pushed the far left lever forward fully, engaging full thrusters ahead, there were two others, one for impulse and one for warp drive. Though the computer would take over if the warp drive was engaged, the option was always there for the Admiral to point the ship in a direction and get it out of there as quickly as possible.
The Enterprise was now breaking formation slowly "Let's get going" Callum said, secretly enjoying the chance to pilot the Enterprise. With a firm grip his pushed the joystick fully forward and to the right, sending the Enterprise into a nose dive towards a Xindi vessel. Callum felt himself fall forward slightly as the inertial dampeners couldn't keep up with the sudden movement. With his left hand he gripped the impulse throttle control and pushed it forward halfway.
"Commander, we're going to stick with this ship, where ever they move we'll follow, we will be just out of torpedo blast range" Callum announced as his gaze remained fixed on the view screen.
Before Callum knew it a swarm of torpedoes and phaser fire were heading right and the Enterprise's Command Section.
"Grab hold of something" Callum barked as he weaved between the weapons, hitting only two "Coming into firing range, fire at will....Will" Callum said with a slight pause as he dived towards the Xindi vessel, the ship must have realised what the Enterprise was going to try and began erratically trying to evade them "no you don't" Callum said through gritted teeth as he tried his best at mimicking the ships movements as well as catching up with them "full impulse power" Callum announced as the Enterprise sped up.
The smart settings on the tactical panel recognised Will's preferences and subtly altered to match them, making things far easier for the former Chief Security Officer to readjust to the role. This was a new innovation, and Will had to agree it had been worth R&D investing in it. The holographic targeting system allowed him to launch torpedoes much faster and more accurately than before, and it showed. As Callum weaved a path through the enemy barrage to keep up with the ship he'd picked out, Will was able to easily take out the majority of incoming fire while, at the same time, firing at the enemy. The tactic he'd used before to fool the enemy sensors was now working well, and the Xindi smart shields were losing their effectiveness in the face of Will's tactical advantage.
A couple of shots hit a Xindi nacelle, and the ship slowed noticeably. Then a phaser barrage took out its weapon ports.
"Sir, the Xindi ship is effectively unarmed," he reported. "Speed is 86% of maximum. We should be able to overtake in... 29 seconds!"
Callum smiled "Nice shooting Commander, lock onto their core and fire" he ordered as he came along side the Xindi vessel.
"Aye, sir," Will acknowledged, preparing to fire.
An alarm suddenly sounded on panel. Will glanced at it, interpreting the data.
"Admiral, evasive! They've overloaded the core... if it blows, we'll go up with it!"
Callum forced the throttle lever as far forward as it would go and banked hard to starboard "Full power to port shielding" Callum barked just as the Xindi vessel exploded, the Command Section flipped, but luckily the shields held.....just.
"Damage report" Callum said looking back at Will quickly before looking back to the view screen.
Will looked at the reports coming.
"Minimal, sir," he relayed the information to Callum. "Decks 17 to 21 took the brunt of it, but shields are holding. Casualties reported so far are minor injuries, no losses, but we haven't got the full picture yet."
He glanced away for a second, at another section of his panel.
"We have two more Xindi vessels closing in. Their weapons are primed and locked."
Callum altered the Enterprises heading so they were now heading directly for the vessels "this one should be fun, let's see if we can take out both of them" Callum said weaving through the weapons fire.
Will remained impressed at Callum's flying. The admiral clearly had lost none of his skills in that department. For his part, Will had always kept up to date with his old department, and was glad of it. He'd always preferred to think of Starfleet Security as "prevention" rather than "reaction". But for now, he was forced to concede that this occasion was more "prevention of the ship being destroyed by destroying the attackers first".
Targeting the oncoming vessels with a combination of sensor-blinding torpedoes and devastating phaser blasts, he waited until Callum had steered the ship into the optimum position.
Then he fired.
The Xindi ships vanished behind the torpedo flash, only to reappear as shattered shells.
"Targets neutralised, Admiral. No additional damage or casualties reported aboard Enterprise. We're good to continue."
Callum pointed the Enterprise towards the rest of the Xindi fleet, they all seemed to be sticking together now.
=/\=Ticonderoga to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Ticonderoga's CO announced
=/\=Eagle to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Eagle's CO announced just like the CO before.
Over the course of the next fifteen seconds four more ships reported in and set about engaging the Xindi fleet.
"Let's get this over with" Callum said as he pushed the command section into a dive towards the attacking fleet.
"With pleasure, Admiral," Will answered, then patched communications to the new arrivals.
=/\= Enterprise to fleet, Xindi vessels are operating a smart shield system. Detonating torpedoes in front of them blinds their predictive sensors long enough for effective phaser fire. =/\=
A chorus of acknowledgments sounded from the other ships, and Will set about continuing the destruction of the Xindi fleet.
"Computer magnify three alpha" Callum said as he noticed something heading towards them, he noticed a ship that seemed to be glowing purplish in colour "Voki, what do you make of that??" Callum asked
"Automated Xindi Vessel, no life signs, interrogating it's systems, stand by........................Sensors have determined that the vessel has locked onto our section, she's loaded with matter and antimatter warheads rigged to explode on impact, collision imminent, thirty seconds" Voki reported.
"Anyone ever seen a sub orbital aircraft skim the water with the tips of it's wings??" Callum asked rhetorically, ever wanted to see a starship attempt it, but instead of water skim another ship??" Callum asked rhetorically again as he sped up to full impulse power.
"Will, continue targeting the other Xindi vessels, I can deal with this one" Callum said.
=/\=Engineering, vent all the plasma from our port nacelle and secure it for an impact=/\= Callum ordered
=/\=An impact, Sir??=/\= the Engineer asked questioningly
=/\=Yes, I'm going to set off a ships proximity sensors by hitting the ship, slightly, with our nacelle=/\=
=/\=Uhmmm, I would like to put it on the record that I don't advise this=/\=
=/\=Objections noted, impact in ten seconds=/\=
"Rotating 90 degrees to port" Callum announced as he his right hand twitched slightly in different directions as he kept making slight adjustments "impact in three, two..." Callum didn't get a chance to get to one, the nacelle hit the ship leaving the Enterprise's paint on the other ship.
Instead of traversing the length of the Xindi drone Callum pulled up sharp, "locking heading" Callum announced "prepare for the worst warp jump in your lives". Callum clicked the warp speed throttle control into the first notch, as the ship accelerated Callum was pinned back in his seat, the force of the acceleration was that immense that Callum was barely able to to pull back on the throttle when they were at a safe distance.
*Manual control re-engaged* the computer announced before an alarm sounded *WARNING! this vessel is on a direct collision course with the USS Ticonderoga*
The Odyssey class carrier was in the process of separating the saucer section =/\=Ticonderoga, remain stationary=/\= Callum barked as he knew it would be too late to attempt to turn the ship at this speed, instead he altered the rotation of the Enterprise at .9 warp speed the Enterprise slipped through the narrow gap between the Ticonderoga's star drive section and saucer section.
Callum breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead "let's not try any of those moves again" Callum said as he turned the ship to head back to the fight.
Will raised an eyebrow and mock-sternly looked at the admiral.
"I'll have a repair team on standby to do a touch-up on the paintwork after we've finished here. I'm pretty sure I heard some scraping just now."
Throughout the maneuver, Will had his work cut out firing at the most convenient Xindi vessels he could find. Avoiding shooting the Ticonderoga into atoms was a challenge. Will was glad he'd opted to keep up to date with his erstwhile shipboard position. He glanced at the young man standing by in case he was needed and saw the frank fear and admiration in his face.
That was when Will noticed something.
=/\= Angel to transporter rooms, have we got all the Defiant survivors? =/\=
=/\= Aye, sir. All aboard and in sickbay. =/\=
=/\= Thank you, Chief. Angel out. =/\=
"Admiral, Defiant has drifted among the Xindi cluster. If we target their warp core, it'll cause significant damage to any ships close enough. Permission to destroy a Starfleet vessel, sir?"
Callum nodded "Permission granted" he said as he piloted the Enterprise away from one torpedo only to impact with another that would have missed them.
The Ticonderoga's saucer had sped off and her stardrive was now engaging the enemy. The Xindi only had 15 vessels remaining.
"Will, scan the area, can you determine how the Xindi brought in their reinforcements and how we can stop them doing so again??" Callum asked moments before the Defiant met it's end.
"Aye, sir," Will responded, watching for the right moment to open fire.
As the Defiant drifted innocuous and unnoticed amid the Xindi aggressors, Will shifted the focus of the sensors. He frowned at the appearance of an anomaly.
Then the Defiant found herself at her final destination.
"Sorry," Will whispered, loath to do this to a Starfleet vessel, but knowing it was necessary. He'd never been superstitious, but he was always sensitive to how great a loss one's ship could be. A good ship was more than just your place of work; it was home. Many crewmembers, commissioned and enlisted, considered their ship to have a personality of its own. Of course, with the advent of Voki, this might become a reality...
And with that thought, he fired. The single concentrated phaser burst hit the Defiant perfectly, immediately detonating her warp core. The ship blossomed in a white flare that momentarily lit the Enterprise bridge like daylight before the filters cut in and brought the glare under manageable levels. When the flare died down, the Defiant was gone.
As were six Xindi ships.
Will made a quick check.
"Six enemy vessels destroyed, a further four disabled, sir. Also scanning an anomaly at coordinates 15, mark 62, mark 33, local. It looks like... it IS! There's a wormhole visible in the ultraviolet spectrum. Looks like they might be using it. Putting it onscreen."
The chromatic field shifted slightly, and a swirling mass of some shade that hurt Will's eyes became clear.
"I can't even begin to guess what colour that is," he said.
Then it pulsed.
"Admiral, sensors indicate a ship is coming through... scans suggest it's at least eight time the size of Enterprise!"
"See if you can find a way to close their wormhole" Callum started as he applied full thrust towards a medium sized Xindi vessel.
"Computer, lock all tractor beams onto the vessel dead ahead, transfer tractor firing control to the manual helm" Callum commanded as he moved his right hand so he could reach the trigger.
As the Enterprise reached the Xindi vessel Callum squeezed the trigger and held it down, firing the tractor beams which locked onto the other vessel. The Enterprise slowed down to one half impulse speed sharply. Callum tapped a command into the throttle control area and pushed the impulse engines passed the red line causing the engines to emit a whining sound as they struggled.
The Xindi vessel was trying to pull away, but Enterprise was clearly to powerful for the vessel to break free and too close for them to get a positive lock to fire.
*Warning, collision imminent, pull away* the computer warned as the Enterprise headed straight for the larger ship.
Will turned to the science station.
"Lieutenant, scan that wormhole. Is it natural?"
The science officer turned to his station and began scanning while Will scanned the incoming vessel for any signs of weakness.
"No, sir, sensors say it's artificial," the science officer reported.
"Great... if it's artificial, there must be a controller somewhere. Find it."
"Aye, sir."
While he waited, Will readied several torpedoes.
"Commander!" the science officer called, coming to the security panel. "Controllers are here, here and here," he said, pointing at the relevant locations.
"Good work, Lieutenant."
Will laid in the coordinates.
"Admiral, on my mark, you need to switch to repulsor beam and get us away from this area. If I've done this right, we don't want to be here when the torpedoes blow."
Then he fired, three torpedoes for each controller.. The torpedoes shot away to the coordinates he'd been given. Even destroying two of the three controllers would close the wormhole, but he wanted to leave nothing to chance.
The Xindi vessel realised what was happening too, and changed its focus from the Enterprise to the torpedoes. They cleared two torpedoes from one controller, and another from the second, but all three were suddenly obliterated. The immediate effect was obvious, as the wormhole snapped shut, slicing and cauterising the front end of the Xindi vessel. Even as the Enterprise reversed at maximum impulse, the section that remained on this side of the wormhole was double the size of the Starfleet vessel.
Then the shockwave hit, and the Enterprise was sent spinning. The lights failed, and Will found himself hurtling in open space before smashing into a wall and lying in a heap, the wind knocked out of him.
TAG: Callum
OOC: Feel free to insert anything into the latest section.
14
« on: March 19, 2014, 11:08:28 pm »
USS Enterprise
Command Section - Bridge
1613 Hours
"Manual targeting, aye, sir," Will responded, his hands dancing on the panel in front of him.
If he was bothered by Callum's admission, he didn't show it. He'd served with the admiral for decades in one capacity or another, virtually all his Starfleet career, and knew if any man was worthy of his trust, it was him.
"All weapons online, Admiral," he confirmed. "Ready when you are."
Callum lifted his left hand and placed it on the throttle controls to his left, with his right hand is tapped a button *RCS Thrusters online* the computer announced. Callum tapped the one to it's right *Rotation* the computer announced.
Callum tested the thrusters by rotating the ship side to side slightly. In one swift movement Callum pushed the far left lever forward fully, engaging full thrusters ahead, there were two others, one for impulse and one for warp drive. Though the computer would take over if the warp drive was engaged, the option was always there for the Admiral to point the ship in a direction and get it out of there as quickly as possible.
The Enterprise was now breaking formation slowly "Let's get going" Callum said, secretly enjoying the chance to pilot the Enterprise. With a firm grip his pushed the joystick fully forward and to the right, sending the Enterprise into a nose dive towards a Xindi vessel. Callum felt himself fall forward slightly as the inertial dampeners couldn't keep up with the sudden movement. With his left hand he gripped the impulse throttle control and pushed it forward halfway.
"Commander, we're going to stick with this ship, where ever they move we'll follow, we will be just out of torpedo blast range" Callum announced as his gaze remained fixed on the view screen.
Before Callum knew it a swarm of torpedoes and phaser fire were heading right and the Enterprise's Command Section.
"Grab hold of something" Callum barked as he weaved between the weapons, hitting only two "Coming into firing range, fire at will....Will" Callum said with a slight pause as he dived towards the Xindi vessel, the ship must have realised what the Enterprise was going to try and began erratically trying to evade them "no you don't" Callum said through gritted teeth as he tried his best at mimicking the ships movements as well as catching up with them "full impulse power" Callum announced as the Enterprise sped up.
The smart settings on the tactical panel recognised Will's preferences and subtly altered to match them, making things far easier for the former Chief Security Officer to readjust to the role. This was a new innovation, and Will had to agree it had been worth R&D investing in it. The holographic targeting system allowed him to launch torpedoes much faster and more accurately than before, and it showed. As Callum weaved a path through the enemy barrage to keep up with the ship he'd picked out, Will was able to easily take out the majority of incoming fire while, at the same time, firing at the enemy. The tactic he'd used before to fool the enemy sensors was now working well, and the Xindi smart shields were losing their effectiveness in the face of Will's tactical advantage.
A couple of shots hit a Xindi nacelle, and the ship slowed noticeably. Then a phaser barrage took out its weapon ports.
"Sir, the Xindi ship is effectively unarmed," he reported. "Speed is 86% of maximum. We should be able to overtake in... 29 seconds!"
Callum smiled "Nice shooting Commander, lock onto their core and fire" he ordered as he came along side the Xindi vessel.
"Aye, sir," Will acknowledged, preparing to fire.
An alarm suddenly sounded on panel. Will glanced at it, interpreting the data.
"Admiral, evasive! They've overloaded the core... if it blows, we'll go up with it!"
Callum forced the throttle lever as far forward as it would go and banked hard to starboard "Full power to port shielding" Callum barked just as the Xindi vessel exploded, the Command Section flipped, but luckily the shields held.....just.
"Damage report" Callum said looking back at Will quickly before looking back to the view screen.
Will looked at the reports coming.
"Minimal, sir," he relayed the information to Callum. "Decks 17 to 21 took the brunt of it, but shields are holding. Casualties reported so far are minor injuries, no losses, but we haven't got the full picture yet."
He glanced away for a second, at another section of his panel.
"We have two more Xindi vessels closing in. Their weapons are primed and locked."
Callum altered the Enterprises heading so they were now heading directly for the vessels "this one should be fun, let's see if we can take out both of them" Callum said weaving through the weapons fire.
Will remained impressed at Callum's flying. The admiral clearly had lost none of his skills in that department. For his part, Will had always kept up to date with his old department, and was glad of it. He'd always preferred to think of Starfleet Security as "prevention" rather than "reaction". But for now, he was forced to concede that this occasion was more "prevention of the ship being destroyed by destroying the attackers first".
Targeting the oncoming vessels with a combination of sensor-blinding torpedoes and devastating phaser blasts, he waited until Callum had steered the ship into the optimum position.
Then he fired.
The Xindi ships vanished behind the torpedo flash, only to reappear as shattered shells.
"Targets neutralised, Admiral. No additional damage or casualties reported aboard Enterprise. We're good to continue."
Callum pointed the Enterprise towards the rest of the Xindi fleet, they all seemed to be sticking together now.
=/\=Ticonderoga to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Ticonderoga's CO announced
=/\=Eagle to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Eagle's CO announced just like the CO before.
Over the course of the next fifteen seconds four more ships reported in and set about engaging the Xindi fleet.
"Let's get this over with" Callum said as he pushed the command section into a dive towards the attacking fleet.
"With pleasure, Admiral," Will answered, then patched communications to the new arrivals.
=/\= Enterprise to fleet, Xindi vessels are operating a smart shield system. Detonating torpedoes in front of them blinds their predictive sensors long enough for effective phaser fire. =/\=
A chorus of acknowledgments sounded from the other ships, and Will set about continuing the destruction of the Xindi fleet.
"Computer magnify three alpha" Callum said as he noticed something heading towards them, he noticed a ship that seemed to be glowing purplish in colour "Voki, what do you make of that??" Callum asked
"Automated Xindi Vessel, no life signs, interrogating it's systems, stand by........................Sensors have determined that the vessel has locked onto our section, she's loaded with matter and antimatter warheads rigged to explode on impact, collision imminent, thirty seconds" Voki reported.
"Anyone ever seen a sub orbital aircraft skim the water with the tips of it's wings??" Callum asked rhetorically, ever wanted to see a starship attempt it, but instead of water skim another ship??" Callum asked rhetorically again as he sped up to full impulse power.
"Will, continue targeting the other Xindi vessels, I can deal with this one" Callum said.
=/\=Engineering, vent all the plasma from our port nacelle and secure it for an impact=/\= Callum ordered
=/\=An impact, Sir??=/\= the Engineer asked questioningly
=/\=Yes, I'm going to set off a ships proximity sensors by hitting the ship, slightly, with our nacelle=/\=
=/\=Uhmmm, I would like to put it on the record that I don't advise this=/\=
=/\=Objections noted, impact in ten seconds=/\=
"Rotating 90 degrees to port" Callum announced as he his right hand twitched slightly in different directions as he kept making slight adjustments "impact in three, two..." Callum didn't get a chance to get to one, the nacelle hit the ship leaving the Enterprise's paint on the other ship.
Instead of traversing the length of the Xindi drone Callum pulled up sharp, "locking heading" Callum announced "prepare for the worst warp jump in your lives". Callum clicked the warp speed throttle control into the first notch, as the ship accelerated Callum was pinned back in his seat, the force of the acceleration was that immense that Callum was barely able to to pull back on the throttle when they were at a safe distance.
*Manual control re-engaged* the computer announced before an alarm sounded *WARNING! this vessel is on a direct collision course with the USS Ticonderoga*
The Odyssey class carrier was in the process of separating the saucer section =/\=Ticonderoga, remain stationary=/\= Callum barked as he knew it would be too late to attempt to turn the ship at this speed, instead he altered the rotation of the Enterprise at .9 warp speed the Enterprise slipped through the narrow gap between the Ticonderoga's star drive section and saucer section.
Callum breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead "let's not try any of those moves again" Callum said as he turned the ship to head back to the fight.
Will raised an eyebrow and mock-sternly looked at the admiral.
"I'll have a repair team on standby to do a touch-up on the paintwork after we've finished here. I'm pretty sure I heard some scraping just now."
Throughout the maneuver, Will had his work cut out firing at the most convenient Xindi vessels he could find. Avoiding shooting the Ticonderoga into atoms was a challenge. Will was glad he'd opted to keep up to date with his erstwhile shipboard position. He glanced at the young man standing by in case he was needed and saw the frank fear and admiration in his face.
That was when Will noticed something.
=/\= Angel to transporter rooms, have we got all the Defiant survivors? =/\=
=/\= Aye, sir. All aboard and in sickbay. =/\=
=/\= Thank you, Chief. Angel out. =/\=
"Admiral, Defiant has drifted among the Xindi cluster. If we target their warp core, it'll cause significant damage to any ships close enough. Permission to destroy a Starfleet vessel, sir?"
Callum nodded "Permission granted" he said as he piloted the Enterprise away from one torpedo only to impact with another that would have missed them.
The Ticonderoga's saucer had sped off and her stardrive was now engaging the enemy. The Xindi only had 15 vessels remaining.
"Will, scan the area, can you determine how the Xindi brought in their reinforcements and how we can stop them doing so again??" Callum asked moments before the Defiant met it's end.
"Aye, sir," Will responded, watching for the right moment to open fire.
As the Defiant drifted innocuous and unnoticed amid the Xindi aggressors, Will shifted the focus of the sensors. He frowned at the appearance of an anomaly.
Then the Defiant found herself at her final destination.
"Sorry," Will whispered, loath to do this to a Starfleet vessel, but knowing it was necessary. He'd never been superstitious, but he was always sensitive to how great a loss one's ship could be. A good ship was more than just your place of work; it was home. Many crewmembers, commissioned and enlisted, considered their ship to have a personality of its own. Of course, with the advent of Voki, this might become a reality...
And with that thought, he fired. The single concentrated phaser burst hit the Defiant perfectly, immediately detonating her warp core. The ship blossomed in a white flare that momentarily lit the Enterprise bridge like daylight before the filters cut in and brought the glare under manageable levels. When the flare died down, the Defiant was gone.
As were six Xindi ships.
Will made a quick check.
"Six enemy vessels destroyed, a further four disabled, sir. Also scanning an anomaly at coordinates 15, mark 62, mark 33, local. It looks like... it IS! There's a wormhole visible in the ultraviolet spectrum. Looks like they might be using it. Putting it onscreen."
The chromatic field shifted slightly, and a swirling mass of some shade that hurt Will's eyes became clear.
"I can't even begin to guess what colour that is," he said.
Then it pulsed.
"Admiral, sensors indicate a ship is coming through... scans suggest it's at least eight time the size of Enterprise!"
TAG: Callum
15
« on: March 18, 2014, 03:59:52 pm »
USS Enterprise
Command Section - Bridge
1613 Hours
"Manual targeting, aye, sir," Will responded, his hands dancing on the panel in front of him.
If he was bothered by Callum's admission, he didn't show it. He'd served with the admiral for decades in one capacity or another, virtually all his Starfleet career, and knew if any man was worthy of his trust, it was him.
"All weapons online, Admiral," he confirmed. "Ready when you are."
Callum lifted his left hand and placed it on the throttle controls to his left, with his right hand is tapped a button *RCS Thrusters online* the computer announced. Callum tapped the one to it's right *Rotation* the computer announced.
Callum tested the thrusters by rotating the ship side to side slightly. In one swift movement Callum pushed the far left lever forward fully, engaging full thrusters ahead, there were two others, one for impulse and one for warp drive. Though the computer would take over if the warp drive was engaged, the option was always there for the Admiral to point the ship in a direction and get it out of there as quickly as possible.
The Enterprise was now breaking formation slowly "Let's get going" Callum said, secretly enjoying the chance to pilot the Enterprise. With a firm grip his pushed the joystick fully forward and to the right, sending the Enterprise into a nose dive towards a Xindi vessel. Callum felt himself fall forward slightly as the inertial dampeners couldn't keep up with the sudden movement. With his left hand he gripped the impulse throttle control and pushed it forward halfway.
"Commander, we're going to stick with this ship, where ever they move we'll follow, we will be just out of torpedo blast range" Callum announced as his gaze remained fixed on the view screen.
Before Callum knew it a swarm of torpedoes and phaser fire were heading right and the Enterprise's Command Section.
"Grab hold of something" Callum barked as he weaved between the weapons, hitting only two "Coming into firing range, fire at will....Will" Callum said with a slight pause as he dived towards the Xindi vessel, the ship must have realised what the Enterprise was going to try and began erratically trying to evade them "no you don't" Callum said through gritted teeth as he tried his best at mimicking the ships movements as well as catching up with them "full impulse power" Callum announced as the Enterprise sped up.
The smart settings on the tactical panel recognised Will's preferences and subtly altered to match them, making things far easier for the former Chief Security Officer to readjust to the role. This was a new innovation, and Will had to agree it had been worth R&D investing in it. The holographic targeting system allowed him to launch torpedoes much faster and more accurately than before, and it showed. As Callum weaved a path through the enemy barrage to keep up with the ship he'd picked out, Will was able to easily take out the majority of incoming fire while, at the same time, firing at the enemy. The tactic he'd used before to fool the enemy sensors was now working well, and the Xindi smart shields were losing their effectiveness in the face of Will's tactical advantage.
A couple of shots hit a Xindi nacelle, and the ship slowed noticeably. Then a phaser barrage took out its weapon ports.
"Sir, the Xindi ship is effectively unarmed," he reported. "Speed is 86% of maximum. We should be able to overtake in... 29 seconds!"
Callum smiled "Nice shooting Commander, lock onto their core and fire" he ordered as he came along side the Xindi vessel.
"Aye, sir," Will acknowledged, preparing to fire.
An alarm suddenly sounded on panel. Will glanced at it, interpreting the data.
"Admiral, evasive! They've overloaded the core... if it blows, we'll go up with it!"
Callum forced the throttle lever as far forward as it would go and banked hard to starboard "Full power to port shielding" Callum barked just as the Xindi vessel exploded, the Command Section flipped, but luckily the shields held.....just.
"Damage report" Callum said looking back at Will quickly before looking back to the view screen.
Will looked at the reports coming.
"Minimal, sir," he relayed the information to Callum. "Decks 17 to 21 took the brunt of it, but shields are holding. Casualties reported so far are minor injuries, no losses, but we haven't got the full picture yet."
He glanced away for a second, at another section of his panel.
"We have two more Xindi vessels closing in. Their weapons are primed and locked."
Callum altered the Enterprises heading so they were now heading directly for the vessels "this one should be fun, let's see if we can take out both of them" Callum said weaving through the weapons fire.
Will remained impressed at Callum's flying. The admiral clearly had lost none of his skills in that department. For his part, Will had always kept up to date with his old department, and was glad of it. He'd always preferred to think of Starfleet Security as "prevention" rather than "reaction". But for now, he was forced to concede that this occasion was more "prevention of the ship being destroyed by destroying the attackers first".
Targeting the oncoming vessels with a combination of sensor-blinding torpedoes and devastating phaser blasts, he waited until Callum had steered the ship into the optimum position.
Then he fired.
The Xindi ships vanished behind the torpedo flash, only to reappear as shattered shells.
"Targets neutralised, Admiral. No additional damage or casualties reported aboard Enterprise. We're good to continue."
Callum pointed the Enterprise towards the rest of the Xindi fleet, they all seemed to be sticking together now.
=/\=Ticonderoga to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Ticonderoga's CO announced
=/\=Eagle to fleet, we've arrived at our destination, engaging to destroy=/\= the Eagle's CO announced just like the CO before.
Over the course of the next fifteen seconds four more ships reported in and set about engaging the Xindi fleet.
"Let's get this over with" Callum said as he pushed the command section into a dive towards the attacking fleet.
"With pleasure, Admiral," Will answered, then patched communications to the new arrivals.
=/\= Enterprise to fleet, Xindi vessels are operating a smart shield system. Detonating torpedoes in front of them blinds their predictive sensors long enough for effective phaser fire. =/\=
A chorus of acknowledgments sounded from the other ships, and Will set about continuing the destruction of the Xindi fleet.
"Computer magnify three alpha" Callum said as he noticed something heading towards them, he noticed a ship that seemed to be glowing purplish in colour "Voki, what do you make of that??" Callum asked
"Automated Xindi Vessel, no life signs, interrogating it's systems, stand by........................Sensors have determined that the vessel has locked onto our section, she's loaded with matter and antimatter warheads rigged to explode on impact, collision imminent, thirty seconds" Voki reported.
"Anyone ever seen a sub orbital aircraft skim the water with the tips of it's wings??" Callum asked rhetorically, ever wanted to see a starship attempt it, but instead of water skim another ship??" Callum asked rhetorically again as he sped up to full impulse power.
"Will, continue targeting the other Xindi vessels, I can deal with this one" Callum said.
=/\=Engineering, vent all the plasma from our port nacelle and secure it for an impact=/\= Callum ordered
=/\=An impact, Sir??=/\= the Engineer asked questioningly
=/\=Yes, I'm going to set off a ships proximity sensors by hitting the ship, slightly, with our nacelle=/\=
=/\=Uhmmm, I would like to put it on the record that I don't advise this=/\=
=/\=Objections noted, impact in ten seconds=/\=
"Rotating 90 degrees to port" Callum announced as he his right hand twitched slightly in different directions as he kept making slight adjustments "impact in three, two..." Callum didn't get a chance to get to one, the nacelle hit the ship leaving the Enterprise's paint on the other ship.
Instead of traversing the length of the Xindi drone Callum pulled up sharp, "locking heading" Callum announced "prepare for the worst warp jump in your lives". Callum clicked the warp speed throttle control into the first notch, as the ship accelerated Callum was pinned back in his seat, the force of the acceleration was that immense that Callum was barely able to to pull back on the throttle when they were at a safe distance.
*Manual control re-engaged* the computer announced before an alarm sounded *WARNING! this vessel is on a direct collision course with the USS Ticonderoga*
The Odyssey class carrier was in the process of separating the saucer section =/\=Ticonderoga, remain stationary=/\= Callum barked as he knew it would be too late to attempt to turn the ship at this speed, instead he altered the rotation of the Enterprise at .9 warp speed the Enterprise slipped through the narrow gap between the Ticonderoga's star drive section and saucer section.
Callum breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead "let's not try any of those moves again" Callum said as he turned the ship to head back to the fight.
Will raised an eyebrow and mock-sternly looked at the admiral.
"I'll have a repair team on standby to do a touch-up on the paintwork after we've finished here. I'm pretty sure I heard some scraping just now."
Throughout the maneuver, Will had his work cut out firing at the most convenient Xindi vessels he could find. Avoiding shooting the Ticonderoga into atoms was a challenge. Will was glad he'd opted to keep up to date with his erstwhile shipboard position. He glanced at the young man standing by in case he was needed and saw the frank fear and admiration in his face.
That was when Will noticed something.
=/\= Angel to transporter rooms, have we got all the Defiant survivors? =/\=
=/\= Aye, sir. All aboard and in sickbay. =/\=
=/\= Thank you, Chief. Angel out. =/\=
"Admiral, Defiant has drifted among the Xindi cluster. If we target their warp core, it'll cause significant damage to any ships close enough. Permission to destroy a Starfleet vessel, sir?"
TAG: Callum
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