Cannons To The Left of Them

Posted on Thu Feb 22nd, 2024 @ 12:09pm by Ensign Tobias "Toby" Dienstag & Lieutenant Commander Marc Kitchner M.D. & Lieutenant T'kara & Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous & Lieutenant JG Marcel Knowles & Chief Petty Officer Meredith Corden
Edited on on Thu Feb 22nd, 2024 @ 12:13pm

885 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 4: Through a Glass, Darkly
Location: Deck 1: Bridge
Timeline: M4 MD06 (2268.07.15) 1315-1330

Explosions rocked the bridge of the Midway as the battle with the Defiant ensued. The rogue signal from the two Terran officers was more than enough to blow the Midway's radio silence and the element of surprise. The two ships were evenly matched and exchanging fire like two ships of the line of the age of sail exchanging cannon fire.

In Lieutenant Vox's absence, Meredith was manning communications. Given how much her own role dealt with missives and reports, it was an area in which she was well-trained. She turned from her console as she listened, trying to ignore the way everything was shaking around her. "The Away Team is aboard the Defiant, sir," she said to the captain.

"No evidence the Defiant noticed, looks like we did more damage to their sensors than we thought," Toby commented from the science console. Another explosion rocked the bridge, "Suggest we raise our shields," he added.

Marcel could not agree more with that suggestion and pipped up a resounding endorsement "Toby has the right idea," noted the lieutenant. "I concur, we should raise shields while we still have the ability to" he added.

Darrod was sitting in the Captain's chair, and for a moment wondered if every CO felt this helpless to actually get in and help get things done. He had to grip the arms of the seat and force himself to sit back rather than leap up and take the Engineering board himself. It was a strange feeling, having the power of a starship at your beck and call, but knowing just how limited you really were. Command was, at least for Darrod, an exercise in feeling small, and trusting the people around him. "No kidding! Shields up! Engineering - auxiliary power to front arcs! Get weapons online and get that weasel shuttle launched; turn off ship's FoF, maybe it'll take some heat off us. We're leaving here with two Constitutions, not zero! Mer - uh, Chief Corden, see if you can't tune in the frequency those other ships are using to communicate their attack plans. I want to know what they're trying to do if you can, so that we can act accordingly. Tactical, as long as our people are aboard our older sister, we need her in one piece - phasers only on the Defiant, take out their nacelles - I have two spare coils in storage, we can tow her if we can't refit at space. Feel free to set proximity-burst photon torpedoes on the other ships if they look like they're going to try boarding either of us. Science, get a lock on the Captain's team, throw it up on a schematic in a corner of the viewscreen. We've got a lot to do, and very little time to do it. Let's move, people."

"Yes, sir," Meredith said promptly. She tried not to smile when Darrod almost used her first name. Part of her did like seeing him up there in that chair, but she forced it to the side for now. They had a job to do. She furiously worked her panel.

An explosion rocked the bridge and then another one. The engineering console exploded, knocking the ensign who was manning the console to the deck, a long with the Burke chair he was sitting in. "Direct torpedo hit, main energizer sir," Toby reported from the science console, he looked up from the viewer and saw the charred face of the ensign about his age lying on the deck. The Defiant is coming around for another pass," he finished.

T’kara did her best to maneuver the Midway - not only to keep her out of the line of fire but also to give Tactical the best shots when they came up. Her fingers furiously punched in string command after string command with the ship’s computer keeping up. But the Defiant was evenly matched when it came to weapons. Where the Midway would shine - where she had to shine - was in the crew. Everyone on the Midway had been trained to fight their ship to the utmost. The crew on the Defiant was dealing with technology they’d never seen before; this gave Midway the edge, T’kara thought to herself as she dipped the Midway down, around and back into a firing position.

"I've got their communications, sir," Meredith added. "They intend to take us as a prize as well." She continued listening. The enemy's intentions were certainly important but detailed tactical information more useful to Darrod. So far, these Terrans had not put it on any channel she could tap into, but she was hoping.

When the young man was about hit the deck from the exploding panel, Darrod burst from the command chair to grab him and let him down easy. "Medic needed on the Bridge! Now!" He didn't know if the kid would survive, but Dar wasn't going to let the legacy of his first command be a fight with needless casualties.

He straightened up, hoping that it wasn't his imagination that the young man was breathing shallowly. It wasn't a great sign, but it was better than nothing. He heard the damage report and nodded. "Engineering, direct Bravo to deck eleven for the energizer repair."

He hoped they'd hold out the fight.

 

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