Whispers From The Dark - Forward Motion
Posted on Mon Apr 3rd, 2023 @ 6:24pm by Lieutenant Is'san & Commander Lillian Carter & Lieutenant Commander Hiro Sommers-Yoshida
814 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Episode 5 - Objects In Motion
Location: USS Cerberus Bridge
ON
The tension on the bridge was palpable, each officer operating on adrenalin and impulse. Is'san, sensing death impending through his ganglia, a sensation he was having to push to one side and disregard. He was tired though. The ship had been fleeing from the shadows for several hours.
"Holding steady at maximum warp. Romulan pursuers are less than six minutes behind us. ETA for the station is... T-minus twenty four minutes!"
Lillian frowned "Bridge to engineering. Can we get any more out of the warp engines?"
"Yoshida here. Captain, we're already at 100%. I can give you more, but it will mean crossing the safety limits."
Lillian sighed. "Push it right to the edge Chief but try and keep us in one piece."
::Romulan Warbird Shr'vista::
Senclar looked at his bridge crew. "How close are we to them?"
"Six minutes sir." was the reply. "We're starting to close the distance."
Senclar can feel his blood racing. Two things he wished to accomplish one of them was to capture the Cerebus and the other, he wished to destroy them. "Keep at it!" he ordered.
::Cerberus Bridge::
Lillian was deep in thought, weighing up her options. She finally spoke. "They're going to have us in weapons range well before we reach the station. XO, I think our best course of action is to take them by surprise with a sudden strike to take out or damage their engines then resume our course back to the station. If we separate the ship and then suddenly decelerate, they'll be past us before they know what's happening and we can use the attack pattern Alpha Five One to target their engines with a spread of torpedoes, then accelerate back into warp.
"Acknowledged but if we separate it will take time to recombine the ship... Time we won't necessarily have!" Is'san clucked his tongue suddenly feeling a tad bitter. "If only Cerberus had been chosen to test flight the new quantum slipstream and not Merlin!"
Lillian thought for a moment. "We won't have to reintegrate right away. The 3 sections can remain in formation at warp till we get back to the station."
"Acknowledged sir. Standby by for your order!" the Kelpian called up the command sequence to commence the multi-vector mode, its activation key by his left hand ready at a split seconds notice.
"Do it!"
::Romulan Warbird Shr'vista::
They were gaining upon the prize he disired, that Cerberus, the gatekeeper to the earthly or unearthly gates to Hades. He wanted that ship, one way or other.
At tactical, the Centurion on duty was watching as the Cerberus was moving ever closer to their weapons range. Soon... soon. Suddenly, the readout changed. There was not one target, but three!
He called out, alarmed "Commander! Something is going on. I'm showing 3 targets ahead, not one!"
As he was reporting, the targets vanished from his screen "What in the name! I've lost... Wait.... They're now behind us! I'm reading a weapons lock on our right warp coils!"
"Evasive manoeuvres now!" he roared out, as the helm answered his orders. He looked over to where the other warbird were at. "You fools get out of their targeting system." a message being sent.
The Centurion responded immediately, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. "Which one? The three ships are targeting us independently."
The ship rocked slightly and he reported again "They're trying to damage our warp coils!"
::Cerberus Bridge::
Gibbs stared at his console sending the information needed to the helm.
Lillian watched the screen intently "This is a hit and run, not a prolonged engagement. I just want to be able to take away their ability to catch us before we make it back to the station."
The ship rocked slightly as the Romulans managed to return fire.
"Engaging evasive pattern Omega three. We will be in position to jump to warp in fifteen seconds sir" Is'san called from the con as the ship was wracked by another barrage.
"That's some nice shooting there," Lillian commented "We should be able to outrun them back to the station now. Get all three sections in formation."
::Romulan Warbird Shr'vista::
"Engineering reports we've sustained damage to the warp coils. Our top speed has been reduced by 20%." The Centurion knew the Commander wasn't going to like his report but there was not much he could do about it. "The three sections of the Cerbeus have resumed their course and speed. We can follow but we will not be able to intercept them before they reach their home base."
Senclar slammed his fist down on the arm rest of the command chair, he sent orders to the other two Romulan warbirds, for them to continue the pursuit. His warbird will continue to follow. Even if it had a slower rate of speed.
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