The Rigors Of Command [Part 2]
Posted on Fri Apr 12th, 2024 @ 6:48am by Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Chrirhc Chihc
Edited on on Sat Apr 13th, 2024 @ 9:59pm
2,257 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Starship Graveyard
Location: USS Tokyo (NCC-91101), Holodeck 3, Deck 9
Timeline: Immediately After Part 1
Previously on Star Trek: Tokyo:
"Computer pause" Taiga said. She tapped on her PADD as the holograms became frozen in time. "Interesting." she said simply to Chisato as she continued to tap on her PADD, logging something down.
"Are you ready for test two?" she asked.
And now... the continuation!
Chisato furrowed her brow in confusion. "No comments about how I did? We're just going to dive headlong into the second scenario?"
"I can only provide feedback once all of the simulations have concluded." Taiga said simply.
"Computer. Second scenerio." Taiga said. The room around them was instantly replaced with a holographic recreation of the Tokyo's bridge. Several crew members were at their stations. Once again a PADD had been created and now sat on the Captains chair. Taiga picked it up and handed it to Chisato.
"The Tokyo has been ordered to escort a civilian medical convoy. The convoy is carrying several containers of Bio-mimetic gel to Starbase Three Six Nine. The gel will then be transported from the starbase to help cure an epidemic of Rudellian plague on Theta VII." Taiga told her. "Your job is to ensure that the convoy reaches the starbase safely."
"This is starting to feel like I'm being groomed for the center chair," Chisato chuckled nervously as she took the PADD and skimmed over its contents. "Not sure how to feel about this..."
The program started and the officers at their stations began to work. Taiga stood to the portside of the viewscreen, standing out of the way as she tapped on her PADD.
A man dressed in red, sporting the rank of commander stepped off the turbolift. He smiled as he held out a PADD to Chisato. "Here are the reports you asked for Captain." He said simply flashing her a smile.
"Thank you, Commander," Chisato nodded as she took the PADD and sat down in the Captain's chair to read it over. "How's our convoy doing?"
"All good Captain," he said as he lowered himself into the executive officer's seat. "No signs of raiders, and we're on schedule."
At that time an alert began to sound at the tactical console. A young female lieutenant was manning the station. It was obvious from her rank and station that she held the position of Chief Security/Tactical Officer. "Captain, I have a proximity alert." she said as she tapped at the console.
Chisato perked up. "On screen, Lieutenant," she ordered.
The screen switched to a tactical view. The Tokyo was represented by a Starfleet Comm badge with the ships registry number and name under it. The convoy of three ships were represented by red cross symbols. Incoming from all four corners of the screen were four red dots, moving fast on their position.
"What the hell?" Chisato muttered, realizing immediately that something was off.
She turned. "Raise shields, Lieutenant; instruct the rest of the convoy to do so."
"Raising shields," the lieutenant replied.
Chisato then turned her attention to the Ops console. "See if you can get us an ID on this ships; if they're hostiles I want to know about it!"
The Boilian man who was sat at Operations began tapping on the console infront of him. "Identity confirmed." he said. "I'm reading four Orion Battlecruisers. They are on an intercept course, their power signature suggests that they have weapons and shields armed."
His console began to beep. "The lead ship is hailing Captain."
Chisato was already five steps ahead of them in anticipating what they were up against. Having dealt with the Orion Syndicate during her time on the Lycoris, and the closest ship she could think of that fit the description of a "Battlecruiser" was the Marauder-Class; much like the Tokyo on paper, Marauders were designed to serve as a hybrid cruiser/carrier that allowed for the versatility while also carrying extra manpower for fighter deployment. The Lycoris had a run-in with at least one such Marauder, and it wasn't very pretty to say the least; after archiving everything they had learned from that encounter, they ran a few scenarios pitting various Federation ships against growing numbers of Marauders, and found that while medium-sized craft such as the Tokyo were pretty evenly matched against one, sometimes even two such craft, they began to struggle against three Marauders working in tandem. Four was simply going to be too much, so rather than attempting to destroy them, she realized right away that she was going to have to find some way to hold the Orions at bay just long enough to get the convoy to safety.
"On screen," she instructed. "And prepare to send out a distress signal on my command."
The Bolian nodded. The viewscreen switched from the tactical view to show a rather attractive looking Orion woman. "Starfleet Ship. Listen closely. I'm going to be taking that Bio-mimetic gel those ships are carrying." She said simply. "But, I'm no murderer. So simply hand it over and no one gets hurt. However, should you decide to put up a fight, your ship will make a fantastic addition to my war fleet, and your crew will be well trained and treated as slaves." she said seductively.
"Orion craft, this is..." Chisato began, but quickly stopped herself when she realized that she was about to refer to herself under the Lieutenant Commander pretense that she had become so accustomed to now. "...Captain Chisato Nishikigi of the United Star Ship Tokyo. This bio-memetic gel is destined for Theta VII, where it is urgently needed to combat a strain of Rudellian plague. We suggest you reconsider and divert course; any attack on our convoy will be met with swift action."
She already knew what the Orion woman's response was going be; you didn't make a threat that brazen against a Federation convoy without following through on it, so a firefight was practically inevitable. Without saying a word, she turned her attention to the Bolian and gave him a silent nod of approval.
"No response..." The Bolian said simply as the viewscreen cut off.
The four ships closed in towards the Tokyo. Without warning the Tokyo shook as a torpedo bounced off the ships shields. "I don't think they are going down without a fight..." The lieutenant at Tactical said just as the ship shook again. "Your orders Captain?"
"Go to red alert," Chisato instructed. "All hands to battle stations!"
The bridge went dark, the screens and consoles switching to hues of red and white. A klaxon wailed for a few seconds as the bridge lights bathed them in red.
Chistato then turned her attention to the Chief Flight Control Officer. "Can we outrun them?"
At the helm, the Andorian looked over his shoulder. "The Tokyo can Captain. But the transports are limited to warp four. Usually they can go upto warp seven, but their speed is limited due to the Bio-mimetic gel having specific transportation requirements," he said.
A human woman looked up from the Science console. "He's right Captain. The Bio-mimetic gel can be very volatile, so the ships are limited for safety." she explained.
"Do we know if there's any spatial anomalies nearby that we could potentially use to evade them?" Chisato asked. "Nebulae, rifts, anything of the sort?"
The ship shook again, this time more violently. "Shields are down to eighty five per cent." The lieutenant at Tactical reported.
The science officer turned around. "Nothing around us Captain. The nearest Nebula is fourteen light years away, and we're eight lightyears from the nearest star system." she reported.
The two Orion ships from behind began firing their bright green disruptors at the Tokyo's aft shields. Focusing their fire towards the Tokyo's starboard nacelle. "They're focusing fire on the shields around the starboard nacelle." The tactical officer reported.
Meanwhile, the lead ship seemed to be hanging back, whilst the third made a beeline towards the convoy.
Chisato was quick to realize this, and formulated her response accordingly.
"Bring her around!" she ordered. "Arm phasers and prepare to fire on the craft that's targeting the convoy!"
"Bringing us around," the Andorian helm officer reported as his fingers danced across the helm console. The Tokyo turned in space, heading towards the convoy.
"I have a target lock on the Orion vessel." The lieutenant at tactical reported. She seemed hyper focused on her console as she tapped away at the surface. "They're loading torpedoes."
"Redirect power to forward shields!" Chisato ordered. "Fire!"
The Tokyo shook again. "Firing phasers," The lieutenant from Tactical replied quickly. The forward quad phaser cannons on the Tokyo opened fire, sending phaser bursts towards the Orion ship. The intense phaser fire ripped through the Orions ship's shields and struck the hull.
The nacelle of the Orion ship exploded as it began to barrell off to port, rolling over itself as it spun away. "Orion ship disabled Captain. One of their nacelle's has been destroyed," tactical reported. The two Orion ships that were behind overtook them and circled around, placing themselves between the convoy and the Tokyo. Meanwhile the lead ship began to creep closer towards the convoy.
"Get a bearing on the lead ship!" Chisato ordered. "Prepare to initiate a Picard Maneuver!"
"I've got a bearing on the lead ship Captain but..." the Andorian turned in his chair for a moment. "What exactly is a 'Picard Maneuver'?" he asked curiously before turning back to the helm.
"Oh, Goddamn-!" Chisato pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled. "Prepare to go to Warp 1.1 for a split second, then disengage and hit them with everything we've got!"
The Andorian's antennae seemed to visibly twitch for a moment. "Aye Captain, ready to engage..." he said in a rather reluctant tone.
"Ready the Torpedo Point Defense System," Chisato instructed the Chief of Security; prepare to fire as soon as we drop out of warp!"
"Point defence system armed and ready," Tactical replied.
"NOW!" Chisato commanded.
The Tokyo jumped to warp for a brief second. The illusion created made it seem like the Tokyo was in two places at the same time, one fore of the two Orion ships and the other just behind them. As the Tokyo darted forward the Two Orion vessels opened fire, but only hit the illusion of the Tokyo when she jumped to warp.
"Firing!" Tactical replied. Torpedoes flew from the rotational launcher located in the Tokyo's weapons pod, striking the two Orion vessels on their weaker aft shields. Their aft engines took direct hits and they began to drift in space, slowly drifting away from the convoy.
"No, no, those weren't the ones we were supposed to hit!" Chisato exclaimed frantically.
At this time the lead ship turned to face them. It began a relentless assault on the Tokyo's shields. This time with disruptor cannons over beams. "Shields down to twenty per cent!" Tactical reported. "Their weapons are more powerful than the other ships!"
Chisato sucked in her breath. "Can the engines handle another short burst at warp?"
The Tokyo took another direct hit. "Warp drive has been hit," the Andorian at the helm replied. "Engineering reports that it's offline."
"Damn..." Chisato hissed under breath. "Order the convoy to cut a full retreat! We need to get that gel out of harm's way!"
"The Orions are jamming communications Captain," The Bolian an Operations responded. "Its common tactic to stop convoys under attack to call for help." He said.
The Tokyo shook again. Several of the consoles exploded on the bridge, showeing the bridge crew in debris. "Shields are down!" The lieutenant at Tactical shouted over the noise. The science console then exploded as a torpedo struck the Tokyo, blasting the science officer away from it. She hit the deck with a thud motionless, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Captain!" The lieutenant at tactical said. "That Orion ship will destroy us if we don't deal with it!"
"Then we're going to have to make this next hit count," Chisato muttered, realizing that her next decision could very well be a do-or-die situation. "I want you to fire everything we've still got; phasers, torpedoes, tricobalt devices- if we've still got it, fire it."
"Locking on weapons," Tactical responded. "I have a positive lock Captain..."
"FIRE!" Chisato shouted.
The Tokyo unleashed its firepower on the Orion ship. The intense firepower was more than enough to cut through the ships shields, and blasting several chunks out of the ships hull. In a few short seconds the Orion vessel exploded into a ball of flames.
"Target destroyed..."
The simulation froze once again. Taiga looked up from her PADD. "Interesting." Was all she said as she tapped on her PADD. "Interesting..." she repeated again. "Well, your ready for your final test?" she asked.
"Not like I was ready for the second one, if I'm being honest..." Chisato lamented. "I barely got through that one on the seat of my pants..."
"This is one timed. I will also not be able to provide you with a brief." Taiga said simply.
"Computer, final scenario." Taiga said.
To Be Continued...
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