Return to Alvatar

Posted on Fri Sep 4th, 2020 @ 10:11pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Sakura Kano & Ensign Mikko Ishigami & Commander Jennifer Daxer & Lieutenant Hamlyn Ambrose & Lieutenant Soren Dillinger 'Speedy' & Lieutenant Takeshi Nakazato 'Zack' & Lieutenant Shingo Shoji & Lieutenant JG Anne Teaque
Edited on on Fri Sep 4th, 2020 @ 10:14pm

1,845 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Elachi Return

With The Prowler launched and underway, the Tokyo slowly crept around the otherside of the small planetoid. This way they could monitor from a safe distance the Prowlers approach and jump in at the last minute if they needed assistance.

"Bringing us around now" Mikko said as the Tokyo glided through space. "We should be able to pick the enemy ship and Prowler up on sensors any second".

"Anything?" Taiga asked.

"Nothing," Teak replied.

Taiga pulled herself up from the command chair. "Are you sure? A ship like that doesn't just disappear. What about the Prowler?"

"No sign of any ships, ma'am. The Prowler's gone, too."

The bridge fell silent. "Could they have gone to warp? Can you find a warp trail?" Taiga asked, the obvious frustration and concern leaking through into her tone of voice.

"They jumped somewhere, but it wasn't to warp. I'm getting some odd readings, but nothing to indicate what happened."

"Prepare a set of probes. Launch them when ready, we might have damaged sensors. That should give us a better view of the area" Taiga ordered. She looked down towards the helm. "Set course back to the colony Ensign. But keep an eye out, if you see that ship we'll need another quick hiding spot. Right now we have to see if we can aid the colony in any form"

"Aye Captain" Mikko replied.

"I suggest we leave a buoy in case either of the ships returns," Teak said.

"If I may suggest scanning for a cloaking device." Takeshi suggested. "Though it seems unlikely with the information I have compiled, there is a possibility that the alien ship may have simply cloaked."

"Its possible" Taiga replied. "However, we'll have hard time looking for a cloaked ship" she explained. "Launch the buoy"

"Launching," Anne said. "Ma'am, if I may, you can scan for emissions from a cloaked ship. If they're sitting in one place it may be more difficult unless they've been there long enough to build up the amount of emissions, but it can be done."

"Lets see what/if we can pick up anything" Taiga responded.

[Jeffries Tube]

Hobb was crawling quickly down a maintenance tube. Though he was the Assistant Chief, and had been for a while, their repair teams were stretched thin, and all hands were needed. He huffed an muttered to himself as he went, complaining under his breath about the people who would put his ship in danger.

Reaching the junction he was looking for, he popped a charred panel and reached for a hydrospanner off his utility belt and got to work loosening a defunct gelpack. Tossing the burnt mess on the deck, he pulled out a fresh pack. It took a few practised minutes to install the new pack and pop the panel back on.

Consulting his diagnostic tool, he began crawling to the next issue further down the tube. Never rains but it pours, he thought to himself as he went.

[A Little While Later]

The Tokyo returned back to the Alvatar Colony and entered into orbit. The Armitage class starship, looked small compared to the huge size of the M Class Planet. It however looked beat up, with noticeable scorch marks and scuffs on the once shiny paint from the battle. Down below on the surface, the remains of the colony could be seen. Huge bellows of smoke that stretched across the planets atmosphere, craters from weapons fire visible from orbit. The buildings of the colony inked black by the fire and bombardment. It was a sight not of an attack, but that of a massacre.

On the bridge, Taiga studied the remains of the colony closely. "Lifesigns?" she asked simply.

"None," science reported. "Whoever attacked was pretty thorough."

"Amazing..." Takeshi marveled. "This mystery just gets more and more complex with every new bit of information..."

Taiga sighed. The colony was obviously completely destroyed. It showed signs of bombardment and signs of attack from ground vehicles and equipment as well. She didn't like this one bit.

"Can you identify the type of weapon signature from the wreckage? Maybe that will give us a clue as to who that enemy ship belonged to. At the very least it should give us some readings on how to adapt to them should they attack again" Taiga said looking over at the Science and then the Tactical consoles.

"According to sensors, the colony was destroyed by Starfleet weapons." Daxer said, looking at her tactical readings. "Odd, considering that wasn't a Starfleet ship."

"That... can't be right..." Taiga said. There was no way the ship firing on the colony used the same weapon signature as Starfleet.

Suddenly, without warning a Romulan Valdore Class warbird decloaked directly aft of the Tokyo. It didn't hail, it didn't scan or attempt to determine the situation. It just opened fire, its bright green plasma cannons striking the Tokyo's shields.

"What the..." Taiga was taken by surprise by the Romulan ship. "Whats shooting at us now?!"

"Romulans." Daxer said simply, her fingers flying over the console, as she brought up the tactical sensors. "It's a Valdore Class warbird."

The Tokyo shook, the ship as already badly damaged, the last thing it needed now was another pounding. "Can we return fire?" Taiga asked. She knew that the Tokyo's tactical systems were overworked and also badly damaged from the encounter from the alien vessel.

"Yes, we do have minimal weapons." Daxer said. She was about to tell her that the shields were nearly gone, when Taiga spoke again.

"Shoot to disable them. Or at least get them off our backs" Taiga ordered. "Get us out of orbit Ensign"

"Firing." Daxer said, as she fired 1 torpedo, and phasers, watching as they bounced off the other ship's shields. "Their shields are holding."

"Aye Captain. Breaking orbit" Mikko said from the helm. The ship shook again as the Romulan weapons fire wracked against the shields and the hull in the failed parts.

Without warning the Tokyo shok violently, even more violently than before. Consoles blew out on the bridge, the lights sparked and flickered; several of them blowing out showering the crew in glass. The engines flickered as the Tokyo began to slowly drift to a stop.

"Report!" Taiga barked holding an arm up to protect her face from the shards of glass that had rained down upon them.

"Huge explosion in Engineering Captain" the officer from the Operations console reported. "Several of the main EPS conduits blew out, we're losing main power. Reports of casualities are coming in."

[Tactical Information Center]

Takeshi had been in the middle of his research when the ship suddenly lurched violently. The unexpected motion of the ship threw Takeshi to the floor, knocking him unconscious.

When the ship lurched, Shingo braced himself against the nearest console and held on, using all his strength to stay upright even as the console he was bracing himself against blew out. All Shingo could do to protect his eyes from the debris showing him in seemingly all directions was to shut his eyes tight.

When Shingo could at last open his eyes, he found the TIC in a state of devastation: Ceiling panels had fallen out and wiring dangled through the holes, several consoles sparked and were in flames, chatter over the radio was utter chaos, and smoke was beginning to gather at the ceiling.

As Shingo looked around and saw the slumped forms of the TIC staff on the floor, he knew he was their only immediate shot at survival, and didn't have time to jump on the radio and report to the bridge what was going on at the TIC.

As Shingo went to help the nearest person to safety, he gave his com badge a smack:

=A= "Bridge, this is the TIC!" =A= He reported. =A= "We've got multiple TIC personnel down, including the Air Boss! I'm going to get as many out of here as I can before we can sort through the dead: The TIC is on fire, I repeat, the TIC is on fire!" =A=

=A= "Acknowledged" =A= Came the reply from Daxer at Tactical. =A= "Fire suppression teams are en route" =A=

As Shingo dragged Takeshi out of the TIC, the latter came to slightly.

"What the hell happened?" Takeshi muttered.

"Save your breath, Takeshi:" Shingo responded. "We're not out of the woods just yet!"

[Engineering]

The Engine room was a mess. The main EPS conduit that ran through the main section had blown from the constant stress. The room was filled with smoke and plasma fires. Consoles were smashed and in flames. Several engineers laid around on the deck, blown away from their consoles.

Lieutenant Sakura Kano was one of them, the chief engineer had been manning one of the main power distribution consoles when the EPS conduit had exploded. She had taken the forward brunt of the explosion, it had knocked the young woman several feet away from the console. She now laid on the deck, her eyes staring up at the ceiling, not moving, not responding, no longer did her heart beat or her lungs take breath.

Patting down a singed section of his overalls. Hobb dragged himself to his feet, and stumbled over to his superior. Seeing her prone on the floor, eyes open, he wiped a hand over his face, 'oh no...'

He pulled himself back together, heart beating a tattoo. The Engineer looked about him, and saw Main Engineering in disarray. Hobb got to his feet, barking orders, dispatching Engineers to do the best they could to keep their ship flying.

[Sickbay]

As the Red Alert klaxons blared, the Tokyo's Sickbay was a hive of activity, nurses, orderlies and doctors bustling to and fro as they prepped for the casualties that were already trickling in. The CMO spoke calmly and authoritatively, ordering their subordinates in their work.

The trickle became a flood, and the noise levels within the bay jumped. Now-harried nurses ran about, attending to the casualties.

[Bridge]

"Casualty reports are coming in from all over the ship." Jen said, looking at her console. As part of the Command Crew, her console also included critical reports. "There are also fires being reported in the TIC, as well as decks 9 and 15."

"Have damage response teams report to those sections. Anyone who is available and has medical training are to assist the medical staff" Taiga ordered.

"Captain, I seriously suggest that we surrender." Jen told Taiga, without hesitation. "We can't take anymore damage, and we cannot fight back. If we don't surrender, they will likely destroy us."

"Open a channel"

Jen tapped a few buttons on her console, and was rewarded with the familiar hailing tone. "Channel open."

"Romulan vessel. This is Captain Taiga Aisaka of the Federation Starship Tokyo. We... surrender..."

To be continued

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Daxer
Second Officer
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant JG Anne Teaque
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Tokyo

Lieutenant Hamlyn 'Hobb' Ambrose
Chief Engineering Officer

Lieutenant Takeshi Nakazato
Air Boss

Lieutenant Shingo Shoji
Deputy Air Boss

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