Tactical Readiness
Posted on 29 Jun 2009 @ 5:30pm by
1,109 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: Current
Phaser fire lanced past the cockpit of the Broadsword fighter. The ship juked and dipped between the fire as it approached the source; eight Breen cruiser's bearing down on the three ship smaller Federation force. Lieutenant DeHavilland held firm to the control stick as he maneuvered the agile fighter around the engagement, his fighter wing holding close in formation as best as was possible considering the incoming fire.
"Reinitialize targeting scanners." CJ called over his shoulder to Petty Officer zh'Bol, who was manning the ships weapons array.
"Aye, sir." she replied.
=^='Jester to Angel Aces, tighten up and let's make our run.'=^= he ordered over the comm to the rest of his flight.
Ahead of them, the Breen cruisers had abandoned fire on them as they were too small and too close to really be effective. Their weapons were now trained on the larger ships behind them, which were firing back with everything they had.
=^='Jester, this is Angel 1, contacts bearing three-three-zero mark three-five-zero. Make that multiple contacts.'=^=
CJ turned immediately to his left and watched as a wing of Breen fighters emerged from the side hatch of one of the ship's and started banking towards them.
=^='Jester to Angel Aces, weapons free. Happy hunting boys!'=^= he ordered, accelerating his fighter before spinning it agilely to the left and down towards the oncoming fighters.
More phaser fire lanced towards them as he continued to juke. Behind him, zh'Bol was manning the console, providing CJ with enough power to continue to keep up his fire.
"Phaser point three is overheated, sir." zh'Bol said as the first pass was completed, the Breen fighters breaking off behind them to try and set up the next run.
CJ glanced over his shoulders to see Aces five and nine on his six.
=^='This is Jester. Aces five and nine, form on me. Tight three.'=^= he ordered, diving his fighter down along the long axis of the Breen cruiser as the two fighters confirmed his order and pulled up along side him, keeping the formation tight as they raced along the ship.
"Picking up an energy spike ahead, one hundred meters." zh'Bol announced. "Look's like a auxiliary shield generator, sir." she added.
=^='Concentrate fire on that contact.'=^= he ordered, adjusting his flight path to put the strange looking protrusion from the Breen ship right in his crosshairs.
No sooner than he had it in his sights, two fighters dove in on them, firing from a high angle across the formation. The fighter to his right exploded in a fiery inferno as CJ and Angel nine both dove or climbed out of the way of the newcomers.
CJ whipped his fighter about, sending both him and zh'Bol up against the sides of the cockpit as the grav plating tried to compensate for his moves. To his satisfaction, his move had worked and he found the Breen fighter dead ahead, trying hard to shake him off his tail. Gotcha he thought to himself as he pulled the trigger - nothing happened. He pulled it again, but nothing.
"Janat, phaser are not responsive." CJ called back, still staying on the fighter's tail.
"Im.. I'm..." she stuttered, her hands moving frantically but fruitlessly over the weapons panels before her, trying to get things in order. "Shields are at sixty-five percent and war-warp drive is at seventy-five." she replied timidly.
"I need weapons power, Janat." CJ ordered, turning back quickly to her. "Now!" he added.
"I--- I don'... I don't have the power." she managed to croak.
"Shut down the Warp core, we don't need it. Run on impulse and divert the power." he ordered, spinning the fighter hard to avoid a portion of the Breen vessel the fighter had been trying to ram him into as well as a well-timed aft torpedo.
"Now Janat!!" CJ cried.
With a hum, the panel before him came to life and he pulled the trigger, orange streaks of fire erupting from the blast points as he did. The Breen fighter's shields absorbed the first blast, but the second sent into a dead spin as its systems shut down.
"No need to kill him, he's done." CJ said, banking away and back towards the engagement at large.
The Breen ship's had been mostly neutralized by the Federation force and only a handful of fighters remained, sweeping in and out cleaning up the remaining Breen fighters and harrying the capital ships still trying to fight.
=^='Angel Aces, this is Angel Command. Well done out there, bring it in.'=^= came the voice of the squadron's commander.
CJ turned the fighter away from the Breen and headed back towards the Sovereign class ship, banking slowly around it towards the shuttlebay. With a gentle hand he slid the fighter through the magnetic screen and set it down gently on the deck. As he engaged the cooldown procedures, he turned back to zh'Bol. She was staring quietly at her hands, hovering just over the panel.
"You allright?" he asked.
She just shook her head, "I panicked." she said. "It wasn't even real and I panicked."
"That's the reason we're doing this." CJ replied, "To get you used to it. To make sure that when it really happens, you don't panic." he said, with a friendly smile.
"Its different for you, sir. You don't panic. That whole battle at DS5, you didn't panic once." she continued quietly.
"Like hell I didn't." he replied with a nervous chuckle. "I panicked the whole damn time." he said, as she turned to face him in disbelief. "Panicking is a natural response, its learning how to muscle past that that's important. You have to learn to use your training and stand firm even though your body and mind want to run like hell." he continued, "I was scared to death that we would die out there, that we'd get sucked out into space. But I pushed past that and did my duty, just like I know you would. Like I know you will." he said.
Janat tried to smile, but ended up just nodding. "I hope so." she said quietly.
"You will." CJ replied, popping the hatch on the cockpit. "And we'll revist this holo just to make sure." he added with a smile, helping her out of the cockpit.
He dusted himself off and smiled, "Same time next week?" he asked.
"Yes, sir." she replied, a bit of her normal self coming back.
"Good. See you then." he replied, looking up. "Computer, end program."
Lieutenant JG Curtiss CJ DeHavilland
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Freedom
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