A stop along the way - Part 1

Posted on 29 Aug 2012 @ 9:46pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Lieutenant Sara'Marbela Har'tar

1,555 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: Multiple

[Kzinti Armada]

While to all around him High Admiral Grel-Tagr was a picture confidence and calm, but inside he felt like a young cub waiting to make his first kill. The anticipation he felt made the elder warrior feel younger than he'd felt in a long time. "Time to arrival."

"20 minutes, Admiral," his second grinned. The excitement in the command center was palpable.

"Let’s let the Humans taste the fear of the inevitable. Give the order; transmit the attack code to our Caitian brothers. Charge all weapons and initiate the deployment. All vessels are to open fire the moment we enter normal space. Once the Talons are in position, they are to destroy that station."

The command center exploded into activity. The word had been given.


[SB 517]

Admiral Amber L'Berr and Commodore Soran had been observing the questioning of a Caitian engineer. His activities had been tracked and the evidence against him was staggering. Had Hezrk-Jal not warned them the entire station could have been rendered defenseless at a single command. Charges had been placed to cut all primary and auxiliary power and control circuits between Ops as well as Engineering from the rest of the station. Not only would the station be without command and control but the space doors sealed, and all offensive and defensive systems would have been taken offline. They had the detonator and had removed the devices and security had also found a kind of communications device.

The questioning had gone nowhere and all that they had gotten was extremist bravado about how the Federation was decadent and decaying and how the Kzinti were strong and destined to reclaim their place as one of the great powers of the galaxy.

As distasteful as she knew Vulcan’s to find force melds to be they needed the information inside the Caitian's mind. Amber looked to the Vulcan Commodore to have him do that very thing when everything stopped.

The security officer's head darted to the device. Amber blotted to her feet, and the Caitian laughed. "Your end has come!! Even without my help you don't stand a chance against what is coming!!"

"Lock him up!"

The Amber and Soran bolted for the nearest lift and head straight for Operations. Even though the starbase was officially Soran's she 'was' the ranking officer. "RED ALERT, ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS, LAUNCH ALL STARSHIPS AND FIGHTER WINGS! All nonessential personnel are to evacuate the station immediately!"

The channel closed and the lift continued to speed towards Ops. "How soon can the Qualor Fleet be under way and get here?!"

[Elsewhere on the station]

There was panic in the promenade as people ran for the evacuation transports, bodies pushed against one another with whatever they could grab from their quarters or shops that they valued. There was some control but the sheer number of people made it difficult for the shouting security officers to herd them effectively. Not everyone panicked; some hurried but kept their heads. It was a mish mash, those who were trying to push and those just trying to get where the security was trying to guide them, members of many races, people carried their small children. Religious and civic leaders on the station tried to help those having trouble. It was barely controlled chaos, the security officers throwing themselves into the routine. Their only goal to get these people away even if they couldn't leave themselves.

[USS Achilles – 5hrs away]

Da`nal sat in his command chair as if he could will his ship go faster. They were traveling at warp 9.8, and while they could go even faster; the Klingon ship could not. The information Charg had recovered had revealed a great deal and even though it had been a violation of his orders he had broken radio silence and sent a transmission to SB 517...warning them of the pending attack. However given the distance there was no tell if their warning, or if they, would get there in time.

Sara stepped out of her office, cracking her knuckles. As she did so, she was barking orders, like it was going out fashion to her appointed medical and fellow doctors. The doctor wanted sickbay to be ready for all types of injuries that were going to be excepting in the upcoming battle. The Andorian Klingon was about to state something, when she snapped her fingers on the right hand.

"Computer; Activate EMH" she stated

When the man appeared and greeted her with "Please state the nature of the Medical Emergency?"

Sara smiles at the hologram "I want you to maintain an open channel here in sickbay and I don't want you to miss a beat for we're going into battle and I'm going to need all hands on the bounce, doctor"

"Of course, doctor. But, I do have one question" returned the doctor

"Shoot" returned Sara

The EMH gave the woman a puzzled look upon hearing her say Shot.

"It's an old earth term, doctor. It means 'go ahead'" she said with a little bit of a laugh

"What if everyone is kill or no one is alive to active my program?" informed the EMH

"Well, pray that won't come to pass, doctor. But, this is why I want you on open channel. But, in the meantime, I need you to lend a hand to Doctor Feirday and help her out" Sara stated with a smile

With a nod the Doctor, took off to lend a hand. Sara, nodded her head as she watched her new staff busy themselves with their task, giving the Achilles CMO, time to send up an status report to the bridge and inform the captain, that his sickbay stands ready.

[IKC VaQbach]

Somehow Kre had a bad feeling about the Starbase. His instincts told him that they would be too late. They were travelling at warp 9.8, emergency velocity, but that was as fast as they could go. The atmosphere on the bridge was tense, less so from the Klingon crew, they were looking forward to another battle and to display the firepower the Negh'Var class had. "ETA to the starbase?" he asked, as if knowing how long it would take would make any difference.

"Just under 5 hours," came the answer.

The engines had not been tested, but now even .75 of warp could make a difference. "Go to warp 9.875 and inform the Achilles," he said. It was not recommended, but they had to do what they could.

[USS Achilles]

As the call came in from the VaQbach, Da`nal looked to the helm. "Increase speed to match!" While it wasn't their top speed...it would have to do.

[IKC VaQbach]

=^= Kretorg to K'tala, we are going to increase warp speed to 9.875, so keep a check on the engines,"=^= Kre said.

=^=" Understood, if we pull out the LNR Safeties, (Line of No Return Safeties) we can go to 9.9 but may slag some circuits. And we can only maintain for 6 hours before we have to peel back or lose engines." She asked her eyes locked onto the readouts in engineering as she waited for what the Captain wanted to do next. Engineers rushed around her, checking systems, piling spare parts in certain areas, even pulling out the first aid kits just in case. Everyone moved with experience and assured, personnel stood by in vital areas ready to conduct repairs or beam over if they got to the Starbase in time and it needed repairs. In short K'tala was trying to keep them ready for anything as they flew through space.

"Do it," Kre said. The ship was new and should not be pushed this hard, but they had no choice.

=/=â€Understood sir. You will have 9.9 in 5 minutes. K'tala out.†She yelled, “Pull the LNR's and prep the replacement parts. We may need to replace circuits on the fly, we're going for broke!†Everyone hurried. What they were going to do was very dangerous, bit like taking the safety valve off a steam engine. Sure it'll help things to go faster but only until the hardwire gives out. Technically what they were doing shouldn't be possible but K'tala well knew Engineers built safety margins into their designs. So technically one could 'ride the red line' and be ok but its not something that could be maintained indefinitely.

With a hiss, the door opened to revile the VaQbach's Chief Medical officer. Her head looked left and right, as she approached the captain's chair. She listened as the K'tala and her friend talk to one another and when they were finished; the warrior doctor would wait until spoken to by her friend and captain. But, until then, her sole eye was fixed upon the main view screen as the warp effect raced passed them.

"Is sickbay ready for casualties?" Kre asked, pleased to see Bel was at her post.

Her eye shifted over to her friend and captain and smirked "Oh were ready, captain, but, I rather be here at the head of the spear. Besides, you can always order me and my staff to get into EVA suits and help push us to victory."

"Medical staff in EVA suits, I'd rather not," Kre smiled. "Of course you can ask for a transfer to engineering, but I might have to appoint K'tala in medical.... that would be rather disastrous..." he said.


TBC

 

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