Needle In A Haystack
Posted on Fri Mar 21st, 2025 @ 8:35pm by Captain Tristan Faust & Commander Lucy Heartfilia & Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & Lieutenant JG Marcel Knowles & Ensign Jason Reece & Arianna D'Tal
1,931 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Mission 5: The Price of Paradise
Location: Deck 1: Bridge
Timeline: M5 MD09 (2268.08.1) 1830
Three tense hours had passed since the Midway had escaped D'Tal and her trap. Captain Faust was sitting in his chair on the bridge, staring at the astroids floating in front of them... Waiting... A metal tumbler of coffee sat on te left control pod which extended beyond the walnut armrests of the chair. After the coffee mishap with Cadet Koppelman a new regulation had come from both Personnel and Damage Control: No Open Containers At Duty Stations. He peeked down at it and smirked. That all seemed like a lifetime ago...
During that three hours, one of the two remaining Orion ships had been scouting around the asteroid field for the Midway, while Arianna's sat near the freighter debris. The wait had been absolutely boring as she sat reading a book she'd picked up a few raids ago.
Orion ship
Finally, she set the book down and looked up at the view screen. "Anything yet?"
"No Mistress." Came the call from behind her. "If they're here, they're hiding."
"Screw this." Arianna replied with a heavy sigh. "Pick a random asteroid, and start destroying them. If they're hiding, they won't be for long."
Space
Without any warning, two torpedoes launched from the Orion ship in rapid succession. They quickly moved to their target, destroying a random asteroid. After another moment, two more torpedoes destroyed another one.
Bridge, USS Midway
"Well, I think we've outstayed our welcome," Tristan said, straightening up in the Captain's chair. "Ready phasers and get us out of here Mr. Knowles... Mr. Reece, arm torpedoes."
The helmsman nodded as the ship quickly moved from behind the astroid heading towards the edge of the field and open space beyond.
Jason worked his controls, then glanced back at Tristan. "Torpedoes armed and ready, Captain!" He then turned his eyes back to the main viewer, as he awaited further orders.
Main Engineering, USS Midway
Darrod had returned from the Science Labs with more questions than answers, but right now his focus had to be on the ship. Sensors told him about the detonation of a torpedo, and the orders from the Bridge to arm phasers and torpedoes. Checking the two main tactical systems quickly, he sent up the all-clear to do so from Engineering, and ensured that the shields were ready for reinforcement. His movements were precise, measured, but resembled nothing so much as a caged tiger, watching, and waiting for the inevitable moment to strike.
The arming of the weapons seemed to be that moment. "Lieutenant Itami! You're heading Repair Team Two. Move to position for support on the port-side mid. Page is still down, I'll take Team One and handle Starboard. If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll have."
"Got it Chief!" Itami replied as he grabbed a nearby toolkit and headed towards the port mid side.
He pressed the comm panel button and called the Bridge station. "Lemaire, Repair Teams One and Two are moving into combat positions. Lieutenant Itami will handle Team Two. I'll be leading Team One while Ensign Page is in Sickbay. Call out any damage by deck and section as usual."
Georgette quickly responded. "Understood," was the simple message.
With that, Darrod looked at his crew. "Alright folks, we're on. Get your tools and communicators. Let's get into our positions. Vox and Lemaire will call back priority repairs. We've drilled this. I don't care what Scott says about the Enterprise - this is the best crew of engineers in all of Starfleet. Move out."
Orion ship
"Sensors are picking up movement." Came the call from tactical.
"Put it on screen." Arianna ordered.
As soon as the Midway appeared on screen from behind the asteroid where she'd been hiding, Arianna sat forward in her chair with a strong determination.
"Pursuit course!" She barked, feeling a sense of satisfaction that her target was still within her reach. Wanting to end this chase quickly, she gave a sobering order. "Target their bridge, and fire everything we've got!"
Torpedoes and disruptor blasts whizzed past the Midway as the ship flew around astroids and other debris. The entire astroid field was destabilized from the battle making it twice as dangerous.
"Mr. Reece plot us a course out of here, as soon as we're clear of the field, we need to go to warp as soon as we clear," Captain Faust said from the command chair, his hands were bone white due to the deathgrip on the armrests.
As she relayed important communications throughout the ship, Aze couldn't help but be somewhat on edge as the Midway was fired at. This certainly would not be something she would mention in her next letter home. Her mother would freak out and, quite possibly, demand she came home.
"Aye, Captain!" Jason replied as he remained focused on his console. As Marcel flew the massive starship through the growing debris, Jason worked without blinking, as he found one flight path after another, one course after another, sending them to the Hrlm station next to him.
Seeing their exit point from the asteroid field, Jason spoke out again. "I've got an exit course laid on, Captain! Bearing 184 by 97 from our current location, distance, three kilometers! At current speed and maneuvering, we will exit the field in approximately fifteen seconds!"
As the Midway moved towards the exit coordinates, the second Orion ship moved directly in their path and stopped. Standing their ground against the oncoming starship, the second enemy vessel fired.
Two torpedoes barely missed the Constitution class as she dodged out of the way, but they didn't get away unscathed. Multiple disruptor burst slammed into the Midway, repeatedly blasting the port side of the Star Drive section as they moved by. Scorch marks, and hull breaches were visible on the side of the ship as she moved onwards towards her new exit point.
Up on the bridge, consoles were sparking and smoking as the Orion weapons hit their marks. Jason climbed back into his seat, after being tossed during a particularly large explosion. "Hull breaches, Captain! Stardrive section! Decks seventeen, eighteen and nineteen, sections four through eight! Reports of numerous injuries and casualties!" He worked his controls as he fought to regain control of his fear. I have a new escape heading plated! Bearing three-four-zero-mark-one-one-five, range to exit from asteroid field, five kilometers!"
"Sending Repair Teams to damaged sections!" Georgette announced from the Engineering station. "Engineering reports loss of warp power at the moment."
Lucy stepped out of the smoke, brushing a few strands of now loose hair out of her eyes. The science console like many on the bridge was a smouldering mess. She didn't hesitate to rush towards the environmental console which was usually unmanned. "I'm activating emergency fire and smoke suppression systems." She said as she toggled several switches and buttons.
"Captain, your orders?" She asked as she began making her way towards the center of the bridge.
The Captain looked at the viewscreen and thought for a moment. His face was covered in sweat, "Commander, full power to the tractor beam pull that asteroid to port out of its orbit. Mr. Reece, fire a volley of torpedoes towards the asteroid to starboard... Mr. Knowles, be ready to dodge the flack." Their best chance was to create enough chaos and escape in the confusion.
"Locking on tractor beam." Lucy replied as she rushed to pull the asteroid as ordered. She wasn't quite sure what Faust was up to, but it looked like he was going to use these asteroids to create some sort of screen between them and the Orions.
"Aye, Captain!" Jason replied energetically. He worked his controls, then three seperate photon torpedoes launched from the ship, tracking straight to their target.
In a blinding flash, the massive asteroid erupted into uncounted smaller rocks. Some of those slammed into another of the Orion vessels, crippling it.
The communication console was still smouldering from the slight blow out from earlier. Aze was underneath trying her best with her basic training on engineering maintenance to get some of the console's functions working again.
"Shit" she exclaimed as she got a slight shock from one of the wiring modules. She held a tool between her teeth as she did what she could. Plugging two connectors in, she heard bleeping from the console. She took the tool from her mouth. "Yes." she exclaimed with a smile. She clambered to her feet and got back onto her seat.
She tried the console and she had managed to restore 90% of its systems. The few still not working properly she could get by without until it could be properly sorted out when the danger had passed.
She caught her reflection in a dark monitor and noted her hair looks frizzy from that short, sharp shock. Tilting her heard, "Could be worse I suppose, it could be on fire." She got back to her job the best she could.
Port Side, Deck 8
As the damage came in, the Engineering division was in control of the situation. Sure, there was no shortage of tension and worry as disruptor fire rained down on the Midway, but there was no doubt in the Chief Engineer's mind but that they would get through it, and win. He tapped the wall comm button with one hand while holding a fire extinguisher in the other. "Repair team to Bridge! We're holding here, but only just. Just had a runner come and report to me, the core got knocked out of alignment - no danger of a leak, but I'll be moving my team back there to get you power as soon as I can. In the meantime, the batteries are still charged for now. We're working on restoring full function, the linkage between the tactical systems was damaged across multiple decks from that last shot. We're cooling it down and replacing as fast as we can. Suggest we use radio comms to coordinate firing patterns for the moment."
Darrod turned to the others on his team. "Okay, folks. Split up into pairs. I want a pair covering everything between Deck 3 and Deck 11 on our side, coordinate with Starboard to confirm until tactical control says we're online. I want that ODN net back online, yesterday! As soon as you get that done, we'll be splitting off differently. I'll need the plasma specialists with me, we've got a warp core to knock back into shape, and we'll have to pour on the coal, because the batteries are draining. Data specialists, I want you to keep those internal comms up, come hell or high water."
The efficiency they all showed was a testament to the constant drilling and training that this team did. It wasn't enough to know procedure, it had become automatic. Each Engineer knew their place in the plans, and superior Starfleet training along with superior equipment had a geometric effect on their overall effectiveness, compared to the slovenly way most pirate brigs were run.
The ship continued to rock from disruptor fire as the Midway neared the edge of the astroid field. The Captain sat in the center of the bridge, his blue eyes fixated upon the view screen as he pressed the pads of his fingers tighter together.
"We are clear," the helmsman declared.
"Engage," Captain Faust ordered in a calm, stern tone. The stars streaked past as the Midway made another narrow escape from Captain D'Tal and her Orion pirates. This would not be their last meeting, that Tristan was sure of.
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