Turning Tides

Posted on Sat Feb 12th, 2022 @ 7:22pm by Commodore Keiben Haistro & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Lieutenant JG Alena Alessa & Commander Peter Horn & Lieutenant Commander Tiandith 'Tia' Tobru & Lieutenant Commander Junjie Han & Glin Slorir Varin & Lieutenant JG Mirez

1,614 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - The Fires Of Hades
Location: Station operations
Timeline: -584,948 @ 1600 Hours

ON

The screen went dark, the Captain had just finished speaking to Commander Carter on the USS Cerberus. The crimson lights pulsing through the large floor-to-ceiling tubes, the standard lighting dimmed. Keiben found himself considering this a moment, Copernicus had not done this but it did make sense. It allowed one to better see the console's interface.

He pulled himself from his thoughts, they being something he could consider at a later time. Now, he and the crew had other problems.
"We never catch a break. Commander, sound general quarters, Peter can you coordinate the civilian population. Aleena, I know it's not strictly your area but can you monitor communications... Chief, Junjie you know what to do. Sher'ra, if they board they are likely to bottleneck on the promenade. Have your teams standing by!"

"I would recommend confining the civilians to their quarters for safety captain," Peter offered, "and then locking their doors for the time being. This station is too large to control the number of civilians we currently have."

Junjie spoke up. "We don't have the weaponry to fight the T'kon, nor can we defend against its firepower. So for the safety of the crew, station, and civilian population, I suggest we hail them and open a dialog with them. If they know we're peaceful and not someone invading their territory, They'll be far less likely to destroy us or swarm us with combat troops. If we ignore them, they might take it as a sign of hostile intent. "

Alena looked around. It was a dire situation. Aware that she wasn't specialized in communication, she knew that it was all hands on deck. "I'll see what I can do", she said to the Captain. "Just tell me where to go".

Keiben pointed in the direction of the Ops table, directing the young Ensign to where she needed to be while looking at Peter and Junjie in turn.

"Make is so Commander Horn, Junjie, you read my mind and I'm hoping that Commander Carter will handle that while we prepare to defend an unwinnable situation!"

Junjie's fingers were flying across the display. "I'll do what I can Captain! Rerouting power to the deflector shields to maximum levels, I can give you one hundred and twenty-five percent. But against that beast out there it won't last very long. I can try an overloaded Ion pulse against them as a last-ditch effort, it might blow out an emitter or two but it may be primitive enough to catch them by surprise. Or would you rather I help with the weapon systems? I've been tinkering with the idea of an anti-matter particle beam in my spare time, do you want me to give it a try Captain? "

"Just concentrate on the defensive, we need to hold off on the particle beam. Lieutenant Han." Tamaska looking at Junjie.

Tia had made her way through endless corridors of blended color. If it was one thing the Cardassians did not do well it was interior design. However, she had a few run-ins on the way to the station's operations center and it was there she hoped to gain an insight into what was really going on. Everything about her experience so far screamed 'get out'.

"Lieutenant!" Keiben called as he started across to the central Ops table and the tactical display. He didn't even stop to look at the women who had walked into Ops during the chaos. "No time for introductions, I need you on the weapons systems... Half of them are not online yet... do what you can!"

Tia took a double-take as she looked behind her. Who was this man to be shouting at her like he owned the place? Then she saw the rank on his collar and her mind came to the right conclusion that this was the Betazoid in charge. Without wanting to create a scene where she fled suddenly during a crisis she moved to the tactical console. She did think it was rather strange no one else had moved to it yet.

She had to use her little hacking tool to get in, the system doesn't just let anyone activate weapons and start shooting at people, and she was already looking at what she could do. If this was real it served no purpose going down with the station out of spite. "Spinning through the rest of the start-up now," she stated loud enough for him to hear.

The skeletal turbolift car rose into Operations and allowed Glin Slorir Varin access to the command center for the station for the very first time. Since arriving he had made a concerted effort to not step on the toes of any of the Starfleeter's, but the alert had driven him from his ship and into the fray. It was a bit surprising that he had access to Operations though. He thought for sure that the Federation would have limited his movements, yet here he was. Perhaps the computer, knowing it was as Cardassian as he, had known to allow him unfettered access. It was only logical.

"Captain," the Cardassian called out as he stepped over the threshold of the still moving lift, "What is going on?"

Tam looked at the new person who had arrived and was sent to Tactical, then she turned to the Glinn. "We've got a ship coming in of an unknown type. Which is what is happening now." Tamaska turned to look at it. "Anyone have an idea what type of ship this is?"

Mirez was the last one to arrive. It had been kind of a rough journey up towards Ops and she had to come all the way from the habitat ring. She headed for the Operation console and checked the current overall status of the station.

"It is a T'kon dreadnought," Tia stated simply not looking up from her console. She recognized the question as not being directed at anyone in particular but she had seen ships like that before in the databases of her own people back on El Auria. The T'kon had ventured there, as well as her own people as far as their empire.

"What?" Tamaska looking at the ship once more. "Thank you.." looking towards the person at the console. "Lieutenant, what is your name? And keep watch over the ship."

Keiben didn't miss the statement from the unknown Lieutenant manning his strategic ops console. It also raised many questions like how did she know what a T'Kon vessel looked like.

Tia nodded back in her direction. She may be a stranger in somewhat of a foreign land but she wasn't going to end up dying because people were unprepared. "I will watch the ship." she added not wanting to give a name that may catch her out. Instead she gave a tactical appraisal of sorts. "Our conventional weapons will have little effect on T'kon shielding of this type of vessel. They operate with an absorbing oscillator type of defensive shield so that if we throw a weak pulse at them it would counteract it with the same intensity as a high end beam or projectile."

"The station's defensive capabilities are not at optimum, Captain. There's no guarantee we can take even one attack by the T'Kon ship." Mirez was not happy at all to share the bad news. She had no plan to improve their shields in the time they still had before the T'Kon vessel would be in range.

"It cannot be the T'Kon," the Cardassian challenged with his typical arrogance. "Their entire Empire is extinct! Surely you are mistaken."

The Cardassian spoke and it caused a surge of anger in Tia. Their alliance with the Dominion (in her universe) had only strengthened the haste of their defeat. She stared at him for a moment, dismembering him with her eyes before replying. "I am not mistaken," Tia said bringing up an archived file to show similarities. Although she thought it typical a Cardassian would dispute what was in front of them. As was her experience with them as a dominant species power where she had just come from.

Keiben looked from the readout and back to the officer, if that's what she really was. The date stamp on the readout gave him even more pause.

"She's not mistaken at all," Mel said backing up the new comer. There was something different about her. She seemed to immediately know she was El-aurian but it was like she was out of place. "I know you probably want me in sickbay Captain but its in good hands, I'll beam over if there's an emergency and something is screaming in my psyche that you need me here. So Im here," the Trill stated firmly.

Mel went to the weapons display where the El-aurian was. "Can you bring up this section. I seem to think .... know .... something is weak there. Don't ask. No time ......."

Saying the word time out loud seemed to make the air around this alien stand on edge.

"But if we get in a fire fight shoot in this area first. It will likely not be enough to disable them but we might be able to confuse them enough to make them think we might know what we are doing. Buy us some time IF we need it.

"Captain, may I suggest hailing the vessel," Mel added. "The longer you wait the less well she will choose to look on things." Mel stood for a moment wondering where that had come from. She seemed to know that the majority of T'Kon Captains were female. Or did Hal? Maybe her first host was still holding out on information on her.

To Be Continued....

 

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