Mission 16: Across Time and Space

[Scott McLean]

Standing besides McLean was the Challenger’s Captain and he could see a visible change in the man as the situation with his Marines played out verbally. He could also see that this Captain cared a great deal for the safety of his crew, but at this moment there was work to be done.

“Sensors register that the cargo bay is all clear Chief.”

“Thank you.” McLean replied automatically as his attention was completely on the console in front of him. It wasn’t a small task to get a ship of the Challenger’s size into the Raven to begin with, but now they needed to push her back out into open space, this time with fighter craft buzzing about.

“McLean to Torek.”

“Go ahead Scott.”

“Give me about three minutes and we’ll have the Challenger clear.”

“That better be a quick three minutes Commander.” Torek’s tone wasn’t one that was meant to be harsh but given the situation it was perfectly normal.

“Awe sir.” McLean replied.

“Hold onto to something, this may feel a bit odd,” McLean told the crew watching from the observation room. With a few keystrokes McLean deactivated the gravity in the cargo bay and with a second stroke he deactivated the cargo bay’s containment field, letting all the air rush into open space while at the same time the rush dislodged the Challenger and it began to float out into space.

“Be strong.” McLean head the Captain say nearly under his breath. It was almost as if he was talking to one of his children going out into the world all by themselves for the first time.

“McLean to Torek, maneuver at will,” McLean said to the bridge before closing the COM quickly to talk with his engineers, “Once Challenger is outside of our shields I want you to remotely activate the battery powered shield generators we placed through out the ship.”

“What?” Kirk questioned the Raven’s Chief Engineer.

“When we couldn’t salvage the Challenger right away we had to prepare for the worst. It was my call.”

“Just because you couldn’t fix her doesn’t mean she wasn’t salvageable.” Kirk interjected.

“I’m sorry sir,” McLean said but not in an apologetic manner, more one that abruptly closed the conversation, “Get those shields online.” McLean pointed to his engineers before leaving the cargo bay’s observation room.

On the bridge McLean rushed first to an Engineering station to double check that Challenger’s ships were indeed working. He had tied the shield generators into the ships hull plating and polarization distribution network, and along with the deflector dish was able to create a sustained bubble around the old workhorse, “Challenger is completely free from the Raven sir.”

<Tag Torek>

[Deleted]

"Telepath?" Sonak asked pointedly, gesturing to the vacant seat on her left. "Sit, before you break any bones. Did Doctor MacGregor receive my patients all right?"

The Vulcan gazed at the young man before her. "You look a little young to be a counselor," she finally pointed out, before gazing back at the main viewscreen. "Morgan, attack pattern Omega, convey orders to Discordia and Mercury."

She tapped a few controls on the console to her right. "Raven, we have observed you jettisoning the Challenger, are you ready to join the battle?"

Turning, she glanced at the young woman that had replaced the injured Thorad at operations. "Any luck contacting them yet?"

The woman shook her head. "They're not responding ma'am, I've tried all known frequencies."

"Then try the unknown ones. Transmit on all frequencies. Alien vessels, this is Commodore Sonak Reckus of the United Federation of Planets. We mean you no harm. We have been thrown here by accident and are looking for a means to repair our vessels and find our way home. Please, respond."

Turning back to the counselor, she regarded him for a while. "One of the injured sent to Raven was a child. Perhaps you could see her father? He should be in his quarters on deck nine. You will be looking for a Vulcan male, approximately 60 standard years old. He is Challenger's chief medical officer."

[vanderhalthor]

Looking at both Captain Kirk and Commander McLean do there work in engineering it was apparent that Halthor might not be needed in this area of the ship but back on his own. But due to the current situation any way of transporting between two vessels like that of the raven and of the Vesuvius was shut off due to shield power powering itself during an alien intrusion and what little hope they had for getting out of this catasphrope of sorts. The andorian watched both kirk’s and McLeans movements but then gave them the nod that he was needed back on the Vesuvius for much needed work. He need not be away from his own.

Replying to both kirk and McLean, “Well as you two are very capable engineering officers at the terminal and in the operation, it would be imperative that I see to my own crew back on the Vesuvius, if you would please, disengage the shield for the duration when I transport from the raven to Vesuvius and then engage your shields, shouldn’t take but thirty seconds at max, if you are proficient you may even be able to power up the shields in five seconds depending on your skill. I wouldn’t think less of it, so I bid you both farewell, Captain Kirk and Commander McLean, and see to it that the raven is put in shape once again, I look forward to working with you again in the future, for now, off to the Vesuvius.” As Halthor bided both of them farewell he made way through engineering out the doors and towards the turbo lift after which proceeding to transporter bay 1.

Arriving, Vander approached the terminal, signaled it to open, which it had, after he walked through he nodded to the transporter officer, got on top of the transporter, and beamed off the Raven, it was accomplished in five seconds. Arriving back on the Vesuvius, Halthor checked the time duration by the officer as he looked at the terminal as it had exactly read 5.03 seconds. “Amazing, Commander McLean and Captain Kirk have quite the potential when it comes to channeling power flow and shield intregity, I’m impressed.” Smiling he walked off the transporter pad and walked through the sliding door, and made his way through the turbo lift and to the bridge.

Walking through the door, he noticed a new member on the bridge, sitting by Commodore Sonak as well as Lt Morgan had initiated a new attack pattern. Then making his way to Sonak and the new guest, he replied to sonak. “Good to see you Commodore, looks like the ravens in quite of a mess but ive managed to get back safe and sound” then looking at the councilor, “ and who do we have here, I don’t believe we have been properly acquainted before, my name is Vander Halthor, First Officer, USS Vesuvius, I hope you’ll find the Vesuvius to your liking, I do need to tidy up a bit, but as the situation calls for it, I guess were all in need for some tidying up.”

[nasty]

“Commander our destroyers are nearing weapons range.” Joq’tel heard through his headset while he piloted his craft away from the fight to regroup his flight of attack fighters.

“Tell General Thron that we need as much support as he can give.”

“I have already done so, he said he’s readying the 16-inch EM canons.”

“Are those the ones with the proximity fuses?” Joq’tel asked mainly because he wasn’t as educated on the Navy’s surface warfare capabilities.

“You are correct sir,” Joq’tel heard over the radio and then it went silent for a moment, “There something else. We’ve been receiving a message from one of the ships, but our best scientists can’t seem to crack the encryption of the foreign language that is being used to mask their distress calls.”

“Can we jam the transmissions?”

“There’s no need to. They aren’t transmitting for long distance, they are just trying to talk to us.”

“Could there be a spy aboard our carrier?”

“Possibly.”

The radio went silent, giving Joq’tel the time to swing his craft around and wait for his bombers to join him the last attack run before they pulled off to let the Navy have a chance to get into the fight.

“To all fighters this is General Thron. My fleet has taken up firing positions and we are preparing to fire our main guns. I highly suggest you evacuate the grid ASAP.”

“General, this is Flight Commander Joq’tel. We could like a chance to have one last pass with our bombers before you open fire. Over.”

“Granted, but once I see that all your missiles have been fired you better run like hell because I’m going to be opening fire.”

“Affirm sir. Joq’tel out.”

Joq’tel maneuver his craft expertly as he weaved back and forth drawing fire from his bombers, “I’ve got one on me!” Shouted one of the bomber pilots, but there was nothing the Rebel Ace could do. They were on the last bombing run and time was not on their side with the General and his itch trigger finger in the grid over.

“Fire!” The Flight Commander shouted over the radio as he pulled away. Instantly space came alive as two large blue streaks raced away from each bomber, each missile with its own target.

The fighting had been going on for the better part of an hour and their entire flight wing was down on weapons and now fighters, as the Vackall’s newest weapons were having their effect on the Rebel fleet. The long flight back to the carrier gave Joq’tel the chance to think about his life, the past battles and most importantly the wife and child he left behind on Vackall Prime to lead this entirely necessary insurrection.

“All weapons have been fired, all craft RTB. All fleet ships open fire!” General Thron called out over the radio.

The EM main guns aboard the massive destroyers opened up causing bright flashes around the grid. More than a dozen heavy rounds from the 16 inch main guns were screaming at faster than light speed down range to the Vackall target.

“Sir we’ve finally decoded the encrypted message, it was much easier than we thought.”

“What does it say?”

“It begins, ‘Alien vessels, this is Commodore Sonak Reckus of the United Federation of Planets. We mean you no harm. We have been thrown here by accident and are looking for a means to repair our vessels and find our way home. Please, respond.’ Stop.”

“A trick?”

“There’s no way to tell sir, but our science department feels very strongly that we may have discovered life outside our own star system.”

“What makes them believe such a blasphemous thing?”

“They believe that it’s because the message wasn’t encoded at all. It appears to simply just be their own language…” Joq’tel’s executive officer onboard the Rebel Carrier Free Vackall Prime voice drifted off and the Flight Commander could tell there was something bothering him.

“What is it old friend?”

“I think they could be right.”

[dukemccalister]

[limegreen] "Commander Fox, report to Discordia bridge!" Again she tapped the combadge. "All hands, prepare for multi vector assault mode. All modules spread out, co-ordinate with Larok's fighters and protect the Raven at all cost!" [/limegreen]

Noticing as many blips began to appear on the astrometrics view screen it was apparent that what Commodore Sonak meant in her message relayed to fox was directly related to scans that showed on the view screen, and what was status the ship was needed for this type of situation. Looking at Commander Fox, Duke began to think for a moment then questioned the commander “so it appears that from conclusive data as per the astrometrics scan, whatever they are, and what status the ship appears to be in, were in some kind of predicament aren’t we, I will head with you to the Bridge and see for myself what these scans turn up to be.”

Walking with Fox, Duke made his way out the door and through the turbo lift back up to the bridge, walking next to commander fox who had just been relayed new orders by the Commodore, whatever they were, Duke walked to the science station, and looked at the results as they appeared on the view screen being relayed from astrometrics.

“Commander Fox, whatever they are, they appear to be alien in origin and are hostile, I don’t know there motives and have yet to get a reading on the hull or engineering data, but I can get back to you on further data as it is relayed to my terminal, for now all I can say is a huge squadron of fighter came this way and attacked both the Vesuvius and the raven.” Duke replied as recalling the data that was being read on the view screen from the raven and Vesuvius logs as well as scanner data. “I will begin a thermal and systematic sensor reading on all vessels in the premises, I believe if I use the power we have available just not using all of it, I can be able to distinguish our hostile foes.”

Taking a moment to look out the view screen, the raven was taking an awful beating from the wave of fighters, and Vesuvius had just split off, and now each ship was ready for an attack sequence, realizing the consequence of both actions, Raven needed to repair and use it defenses to knock off surrounding fighters while the Vesuvius needed to corner off the horde of them through sheer fire power. “it’s a site to see, when your aboard a new vessel but yet you’ve never been in a situation such as this, I will not wonder who will be the victor, but question these hostiles motives.” duke replied motioning to fox.

[Deleted]

"Do you have a minute, I want to ask you something." Sharon said.

Morgan nodded, he was probably meant to go back to the bridge after he had got the Tac officer settled but since he had been ordered to looked after her he could justify the time spent to someone else. Justifying it to himself took no effort at all.

They went inside, the quarters were bigger then what she was used to, boots came running up and jumped into her arms she gave him a kiss and scratched his back.

"This is my cat boots, boots this is Lieutenant Morgan." Sharon said.

Morgan looked at the cat, he had never really spent much time with cats but he liked them well enough.

"Lieutenant, I know you cannot talk about this period of time but what if I wanted to remain here?" Sharon asked.

Morgan smiled and then shrugged. "I don't know. You'd have to asked the Commodore." He gave an over dramatic sigh "I am but a humble pilot. Well," He amended "probably no-so-humble"

The talked for a while longer, Morgan made the necessary restrictions to her computer access, and then the red alert klaxon went off. Morgan jumped to his feet. "you stay here. I've gotta get back to the bridge. See you later." He ran.

Morgan made it to the bridge in record time. He caught the look of relief the back-up navigator threw him as he moved away from the console. It took Morgan a moment to see the status of the Ves and her attackers. He also took in the Commander sitting at the CO's side. A very striking pair of blue eyes there...

He rapidly co ordinated with his opposite numbers on the Ves';s other modules as all three came into protective postures around the Raven. This was why MVAM was such fun for a pilot. You got to fly three ships at once.

[jrmacgregor]

Once in his office, he opened a channel to the Vesuvius's sickbay.

=/\=Vesuvius, this is Doctor Jim MacGregor CMO USS Raven. I'm sorry, but I'll have to postpone my visit for now, we just went to Red alert. Commodore Reckas, I understand you're doubling as CMO as well. How are your patients doing over there? Is your EMH down? Shall I send a copy of our program on tight beam to free you up for the bridge? =/\=

in moments the reply came, not from Sonak, but an enlisted medical orderly...

=/\= This is Crewman Dobson... Commodore Sonak is currently on the bridge in communication with your XO. Prepare to receive two patients from our sickbay.=/\=

=/\=Very well. We do have plenty of room left. My compliments oto the commodore. MacGregor out.=/\=

Jim stepped out of his office to wait for the arrival of his new patients. An andorian male materialized on one biobed, and Admiral Mc7 arrived on the other. As for the Mirandan child, he received verification that she had safely arrived with Chief Perren in pediatrics. both the admiral and andorian were immediately flanked by nurses and the bioscanners took their readings.

[fox]

As both men entered the module's bridge Fox walked to the center chair and sat down in it.

"Commander Fox, whatever they are, they appear to be alien in origin and are hostile, I don’t know there motives and have yet to get a reading on the hull or engineering data, but I can get back to you on further data as it is relayed to my terminal"

Looking back at Duke and nodded "Man that station if you like. Glad to have with us for that analasys." He turned back to look at the main viewer. A little while later the ship shook lightly as they were going in to assault mode.

"Docking clambs are released." was shouted over discordia's bridge "We're free from the other modules." Fox nodded to confirm he had heard it "Good." He said to himself.

"Turn to face the alien ships." he ordered "and Full shields." As soon as the shields had been raised a shot was fired across the port bow of discordia. "Hold fire still." Fox ordered as Sonak could be heard over sub-space.

Another shot was directed at dicordia, this time hitting its shields, lighting them up for a little time. "Shields are holding." came from tactical. Fox turned to the helm officer. "Stay between them and the Raven and Challanger as well as you can." he said knowing well that would be hard with such a great fleet against them.

"Acknoledged, sir." the helmsman replied.

[Deleted]

Saryn woke immediately when the ship shuddered and convulsed as the modules disconnected and drifted apart. He'd never felt anything like this before and he moved to the window to witness this event. To his horror he saw his home being ejected from the massive vessel that had first taken in the Challenger.

He rose from his bed, got himself dressed in one of the uniforms the Vulcan commodore had seen to that he was given. He shrugged uncomfortably, tossed the uniform aside then dressed in a black training outfit he also found in the wardrobe. It would suit his purposes for now and he nodded to his reflection in acceptance.

In a few minutes, he had moved all the furniture in the spaceous living room aside, making room for his training routine. Carefully, he drew the razor-sharp red blade from its scabbard and held it up before him, testing it's balance. Subsequently, he entered into a routine consisting of a series of jabs, strikes and swings, before changing it to what would look like a graceful battle dance to any onlooker.

His concentration was disturbed when a call came through, informing him that Numike had been injured and had been transported to the Raven. He knew it would be illogical and futile to request to be transported to Raven as well, thus he didn't. "Thank you ensign," he answered politely, "please keep me updated on her condition and teleport her here as soon as she is released from the medical bay."

Briefly, he wondered why the captain hadn't informed him herself, then realised she was doing him a courtesy to let him know through one of her crewmen. Closing his eyes, he focused on his balance again, before continuing with his battledance. He swung around, the sword stretched in his left arm, before crouching with the sword crossed before him.

From the periphery of his vision, he saw the doors open and close, a human-looking male stepping in. He also took note of the man's uniform colours, placing him in the medical department upon his observations earlier. Pretending not to have noticed, he continued his routine, jumping up and striking out.

The blade came to rest against Biers' throat at the tip, unquivering and not drawing any blood. Over the blade, two dark brown eyes gazed at him, holding a spark that was close to anger. The angled eyebrows were relaxed over a general expression that could be described as non-existant.

Saryn was breathing heavily, staring at the humanoid before him. "You enter my quarters without my permission," he stated calmly, holding his sword in place. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?"

Listening closely, he nodded and withdrew the sword. "I am Saryn," he introduced himself, "Chief medical officer of NX Challenger, but I assume you already knew that. I repeat, what do you want with me? Please be aware that I can strike you down at any given time, if your answer is not to my satisfaction. I was tactical officer before becoming a doctor and you were just witness to my training, thus you know I am skilled to use this."

[Deleted]

[OOC: I will be joining you all for a little while after talking with the good Captain Kirk! I look forward to simming with you all!]

IC:

The shuttle was making good time indeed to Starbase 47. He had left three hours ahead of schedule due to his specific request and after pushing the engines close to the limit they would be arriving just under five hours before they were expected. When time was completely relative it was good to make sure you had some control over it, this was his experience at least.
A small anamoly flashed briefly, the computer alerting the single pilot with a small beep. He checked the sensors but saw nothing of concern, believeing it to just be a computer error he continued on his course.

"Shuttle Mire to Starbase 47. Clearance code 44621A, requesting permission to dock." He waited a few seconds and then the clear response came over the comm.

"Shuttle Mire you are cleared to dock in Hanger 7, please prepare for immediate transport to Ops."

"Aknowledged, ready for transport and handing over conn control to automated systems."

He keyed in a few commands, rose to his feet and readied himself for the familar feeling of transport. Although it was not that sensation that he felt. Instead all the air felt like it was being drained from his lungs and a great weight was pressing down on him from above.
Moments after this had started it ended and he was immediately blinded by a bright light which he could not determine a source for, nor could he figure out where he exactly he was.

*

Back on 47 a number of confused Officers were staring at something on the floor.

"What do you mean he's not in them?!" Someone barked from a turbolift that had just arrived on deck.

"Well they're, just there Sir. He's not in them."

The Senior Officer walked over to where everyone else was crowded round and worked his way through, and there, sure enough, were a pile of clothes, neatly folded with a small note attached written on perfectly made paper with perfect penmanship, saying;

Apologies, he will be returned in good time.
Q.

*

An advantage that he had discovered of this bright light was that he could not see himself, for he knew that he was no longer wearing any clothes.
However, almost in response to his thought the light immediately went out to be replaced with a much dimmer light in which it took some time for his eyes to get used to.
When he had regained some form of focus he looked around and saw himself standing in a vast open wooded area with two people standing directly opposite him. They too were naked.

"Where the heck am I?!" He demanded angrily.

The two looked at him, frowned and shook their heads before walking off hand in hand.

"I wouldn't bother." A voice said from behind him. "They have yet to master what you call 'Federation Standard', I'm sure they will in time though."

He spun round and stood face to face with a man in a Starfleet Uniform from hundreds of years ago. He would guess at least as old the first Warp 5 Starships, perhaps older, he was never very good at history, ironically enough.

"And who are they?" He stopped, thought and then continued. "And who are you?" Although he could probably already guess, stories of such a man were very popular and the logs of previous Captain's who had encountered this species were not exactly private.

"They, are Adam and Eve. I am Q. And we are in what you Humans refer to as the Garden of Eden."

He laughed, very loudly. As such disturbing a group of small birds from their refuge in an oddly solitary tree close to where they stood.

"I believe, wholeheartedly that you are indeed Q." He replied. "As to where we are, that's not a problem as I am sure that we will not be here for much longer."

Q smiled. "Indeed." He paused moved a few steps and then spoke again without turning round. "Walk with me." He said.

He complied and began to walk alongside Q, trying not to consider the fact that he was still very much not wearing any clothes.

"Ah yes." Q said, as if reading his thoughts. "Here." He said with a snap of his fingers.
Instantly clothes sprang from nowhere, a design that was not familiar to him.

"What are we doing here Q?"

"You are to be held accountable Captain." Q replied.

He flinched at hearing his previous rank. A title of which he did not deserve, abandoning your crew for some forsaken mission did not deem you worthy of such a rank.
"For what?" He replied.

"Your actions within the timeline. We thought you had calmed down after your most recent stint of switching places with your past self but this would appear not to be the case."

"What are you talking about?" He retorted, angrily.

"You know full well." Q replied. "Why was it that we found you en route to Starbase 47 with no official orders, no rank and for all intensive purposes, no identity?"

He frowned. What was the point in even answering?

"Exactly" Q continued. "You were once again about to embark on yet another mission concerning altering the timeline. We cannot allow that."

"Now hang on a minute." He spoke up this time. "What right do you have to tell us what we can and can't do, especially when all you lot ever do is manipulate time, people, everything to suit your needs?!"

Q sneered. "We do no such thing. Since the Civil War we are far more behaved, we police, if you will, time these days. Make sure the likes of yourself and those who you receive orders from don't end up making a total mess of this Universe in which we all reside together in." He paused, stopped walking and turned around so that they were once again facing each other. "And you are a prime candidate for causing a mess, one that I would end up having to clean away. To save time, no pun intended, I am going to prevent you from ever doing such a thing ever again and hopefully teach you a lesson in the process.
You will be sent back to a period in time of our choosing, to a region of space of our choosing and live out the rest of your days there, not getting in the way of time."

He was beyond frustrated right now. "You have no right to do so! You say to me that I am not allowed to meddle with time yet you are going to send me to one where I don't belong!"!

Q grinned. "Do you belong in 2394?" He asked.

Q had him there.

"Well then I would stop arguing, the decision is final." He paused, rolled up his sleeves and cleared his throat melodramatically.
"Lex "Luke" Petra "Peter" Drago "Dowding"." He said, reading from a scroll that had appeared, like them, out of nowhere. "I hearby condemn you to live out the rest of your human days back 300 years. You will live by the name of Keul Gorad and not speak of this to anyone, for we are watching."
He rolled the scroll closed and clicked his fingers before he could say any more.

*

He opened his eyes to find himself lying down on a cold metalic surface. A surface that he could feel all to well.

"Not again." He muttered, not daring to look down.

"Oi oi! What have we got here then?" A rough voice a few feet away said. "Serg, I'd get over here if I were you. We've got a visitor, one that seems to refrain from wearing clothes..."

[vanderhalthor]

After talking with both Sonak and Biers, Biers had some things to attend to as well and himself. Looking at the Counselor, he noticed he was rather busy noting some things on his padd then putting it to his side and walking out of the bridge then through the turbo lift. Halthor took a moment to speak with Sonak. “Where do you think he is heading off to, our new guest doesn’t know a thing about the ship, even though he seems to be level headed about where he’s going and hows he doing it. Mind letting me in on the area in its entirety.” Halthor replied. As she had reached over and talked halthor heard information about the Counselor making runs around the ship making level checks something which wasn’t that ordinary for a standard Starfleet officer.

Hearing this Vander spoke up. “Well if he is heading off, I will follow him and keep a close eye, I don’t want this ship to be in danger, a new person on this vessel as well as the crew of this ship are my top priority and concern at this moment, I will get back to you when I know the latest.” Vander replied then made his way into his quarters. Dropping his padd on the desk then sitting in his chair he took a moment to breath, then look through logs and data entries made by Starfleet on personnel over the years, he was interested as many were about the intricacies of new crew. Finding everything about them before actually speaking to them was beneficial to being in his first officer role.

After gathering his required information, Halthor made his way out of his quarters, with padd in hand, next to his right hand side, then nodding to sonak, he walked up the walk way towards the turbo lift, inside he touched the terminal and watched as the beams of light stroked the sides as the turbo lift continued to flow down the decks towards its destination, arriving, Halthor walked out, clearly making his way to Saryn’s new crew quarters. Looking at the Terminal he touched it, and chimed for the door to open, waiting for a ring on the other side, but nothing come through, he thought he was imagining something, but he wanted to try again. This time he heard a shudder inside the room, but the door still had not come on. “Is everyone alright in there” Halthor replied, then looking at the terminal taking a moment to open the manual override compartment, he switched the door panel to its open position as well as triggered as the key switch to the left, which caused the door to slowly slide open. Looking through the door, he saw what he thought wasn’t possible, Saryn had his blade at the throat of Commander Biers.

Jumping through the door and pulling out his phaser that was securely fastened to his side, halthor motioned to Saryn “Doctor Saryn, drop the blade now, what ever happened we can resolve this without fighting, I wish you no harm as well as Commander Biers, I will even put away my phaser the same time you secure your weapon.” Halthor replied watching the old age vulcan.

[dukemccalister]

“Understood Commander Fox, I like how these systems are working, better than that of the challenger from my analysis.” Duke replied as he looked at Commander fox motioning to the Helmsman.

Using the view screen on the terminal some more, it had showed more detail about the alien presence according to data, there was a vast number of hostile ships and there firepower was intense, with super heated phaser fire, the shields would take the brunt of the attack, and with ample shielding on all levels, engineering needed to work fast. “I am noticing are enemies are attacking just through forward position and not that of the defensive stance, I would believe, that if we were to target a mass number of there vessel we might incur them to surrender, as they hoard with numbers.” McCalister replied to Fox, then looking back at the view screen on the terminal he looked over the data again. “The blasts from the ships also appears to have traces of EM, with that we may be able to redirect a simultaneous charge back at them through a reverse pulse if this ship has the necessary firepower, its definitely worth a try.” Duke noted.

“I will even be able to see what kind of power there generating from there shields and engineering that way we can see it as a strength, from there we might weaken there shuttle integrity and push them away from us momentarily. It will take some time but I believe I can check there ship board abilities with ours and see what we might have that we can hope to stand up to them.” Duke replied

Looking out the viewport, another shot came from the enemy shuttle, this time, it shot at the shields, on the port side, giving Duke a chance to analyze the information. “Gathering data now, Commander Fox, what it appears to be, if im correct, there EM charges, with displacements on either side, we can shoot a phase burst at the very same time, causing this to dissipate, while using the photon torpedoes aboard to launch at the vessel ahead of us nearby causing massive hull ruptures and shipwide damage. This is all with the data provided of course and not tested.” Duke replied.

Commander Fox nodded to Duke then relayed the information to the tactical officer and to all nearby Starfleet vessels, including Vesuvius modules and the raven. It was in that hope the hostiles were to break off there attack.

[Scott McLean]

McLean was tossed to the floor by a sudden and heavy impact against the shields. The engineer was quickly picked up the Challenger’s Captain and former chief engineer, “Are you all right?” Kirk questioned.

“I’m fine,” McLean replied sharply. The fact of the matter was that he wasn’t fine. He knew deep down inside that things were going from bad to worst, especially with a heavy impact such as the one they just had felt, “What’s the status on our shields?”

“They’re holding at 73 percent right now.” Replied the specialist at his station.

“What were they before the impact?”

“79 percent.”

It wasn’t the answer McLean was looking for. With each passing second smaller blasts kept causing the ship to quiver but not shake as violently as it just had. The only logical explanation was that they had been hit by something big.

“McLean to the bridge, our shields are going to take a beating if we keep receiving blows like that.”

“We are well aware of that Commander,” Torek replied and by the sound of his voice he was holding rather steadily to the arms of his chair, “But their ships are well out of our weapons range.”

Just as Torek finished speaking another hard hit smashed into the shields of the Raven, sending crew to the deck. McLean this time kept himself on his feet as he wasn’t going to let go of a hand raise even if his life depended on it.

Despite the work he had to do and the fact that his mind had transitioned into warrior mode, he couldn’t fight the father within him, as he knew Vanessa would be scared out of her mind at this point. She was a strong girl, like her mother but this was something she had never experienced. He wanted to rush to her side to comfort her, tell her everything was going to be all right, but he couldn’t he had a job to do, and if he was successful then he would be protecting her more so than just being there. That was at least how he justified it in his mind.

“Captain I could use your help.” McLean said to the Challenger’s CO.

“Name it.”

“I’ve read your file,”

“My file?” Kirk asked under his breath.

“It says that you used to have a knack for long range communications.”

“I dabbled in that field for some time before moving onto warp engines.”

“Good, because we need to set up a link between our targeting computer, a probe, and a torpedo.”

“Sounds challenging.”

“It will be,” McLean replied, “Lets go.”

[Deleted]

Eyes narrowing, Saryn firmly held the sword at his side when he saw the Androrian enter. "Sir, the commander is not hurt. He intruded on my practice and into my quarters." He had to fight for control as every fibre of him wanted to attack the blue-skinned intruder.

Quietly, ignoring the phaser that was trained on him, the Vulcan walked over to the couch and slid the sword back into its scabbard. His expression was stony, his tone acid as he spoke again. "I was obeying your captain's orders," he continued, "remaining in my quarters as she requested. Since there is nothing I can do, and apparently I am not allowed to perform my usual duties in her sickbay, as she called it, there is nothing I can do besides tending to my own physical well-being."

Now, he nodded over to Biers, who had yet to speak and answer the original query of what he wanted. "Your commander entered my quarters without my authorisation, and just now, so did you. I do not recall calling you in." The skin on his right hand turned a pale shade of yellow/green as his grip tightened around the scabbard, an indication he was fighting his anger.

"I feel I am being treated like a prisoner instead of a guest," he added coldly, walking up to the Andorian until they were nearly nose to nose. "I am a doctor, and it is my ship that is in danger too. And only now I was informed that my daughter was injured. Tell me commanders, what was my young daughter doing on your bridge, when she was told to remain in sickbay? Captain Kirk will hear of this."

Saryn took a few steps back, out of Halthor's personal space, then whirled back to Biers. "You have yet to answer my question. What did you want with me? Question me? Go ahead, there is nothing to tell you that you likely would not already know. Your mighty computers know more about my time than I ever shall."

His gaze shot back to Halthor, who had put down his phaser as he said he would. He wouldn't trust Andorians, not in his time and certainly not one from the future. "Tell me Andorian," he drawled, "how did Andor join this Federation of yours? Andorians cannot be trusted."

~Raven sickbay~

Numike bolted upright, screaming as she woke from her state of unconsciousness. "Dad!" she cried, looking about herself, visibly bewildered and scared. She jumped from the bed and grabbed hold of the arm of the nearest nurse, baring her fangs. "Where's my father," she screamed, "I want my father! I want to go home!"

[Deleted]

*As Rj headed for security with the Raven's Marine XO he heard a familiar scream, come through the sick bay door as a nurse entered from the hall. Following the Nurse through the door RJ saw the Doctors Daughter .*

Numike: "Where's my father," she screamed, "I want my father! I want to go home!"

*Approaching the scared little girl James tried to diffuse the situation. Bending down on one knee to look her in the eye.

James: Numike, your father is on the Vesuvius, I will see if I can get ahold of him and let him know you are ok. But we can not go home just now there are some people that are trying to hurt our ships. Doctor is she well enough to leave? She might be more comfortable with members of my crew.

Sharad: Sir we need to get to Security as ordered.

James: Lt this girl is a member of the Challengers crew and in the absance of her father she is my responsibility.

*Taking out his communicator RJ opened it and tried to contact the Doctor.*

James: James to Saryn.

<tag Saryn

modification: I've corrected the ship name and Saryn's name. Do please spell names correctly. - Sonak-

[Deleted]

*Larok and his wingman had survived the fighter attacks with only minor damage. When the first heavy shots started finding the Vesuvius Larok shoved the power to the engines and headed toward the source of the incoming fire.*

Larok: Shadow put more distance between us I want to find out where those heavy shots are coming from.

*As the two fighters from the Vesuvius got within sensor range to the incoming fleet; Larok's fighter took a glancing blow to his shields. The impact overloaded his main power systems and caused a cascade failure in his warp engine.*

Shadow: Sir are you OK?

Larok: I am in better shape than my ship, I am 2 minutes from a warp core breach. Get the sensor data back to the Commodore and Admiral. I am going to eject after I set up a crash coerce for the ship.

*Shadow considered several options but knew that her Co was right their ships needed this Intel.*

Shadow: Aye Aye sir, Simper Fi.

Larok: Hu Ra.

*Larok set up the program, then ejected from the fighter. As he floated he watched the telemetry from his ship then witnessed a small nova followed by three other explosions.*

Larok: Personal log: I have ejected from my fighter and sent it on a Kamikaze attack on the main fleet. I have witnessed the core breach of my ship followed by three secondary explosions but I can not tell how many ships were damaged by the fighters explosion if any.

[Deleted]

Vesuvius' main module swerved through the attacking cluster of small armoured vessels, her shields glowing a bright sparkling blue as enemy fire struck relentlessly. Red streaks erupted from the top of the module, equally mercilessly striking at the attacking vessels, occasionally erupting a photon torpedo from the forward launchers.

She banked hard to port, narrowly missing a volley of fire, then swerved starbord again to return to the Raven. Elsewhere, the other two modules bravely engaged the small maneuverable vessels with equal might and firepower. In three parts, the USS Vesuvius was highly mobile and thrice as deadly.

"Target their weapons array!" Sonak ordered, holding on tightly to her seat as Minerva took another sharp turn, turning almost on her side entirely.

"Would that I could, if I could find them!" the officer at tactical shouted back, ducking when the console behind her sparked brightly. "Shields are at 80%," she reported, "Cloaking device is off-line, so we won't be hiding anytime soon."

The Vulcan in the center seat nodded in acknowledgement of the report, squinting as a bright ball of fire erupted on the main screen. "Who was that!" she called.

"Larok's shuttle. Scanning for lifesigns. One lifesign, Vulcan, found adrift."

"Raven, lock onto my SMO and transport him to your sickbay!" Sonak called, hoping Torek would acknowledge. News of the admiral's injury had received her and for now she'd promoted Torek to acting captain until his CO recovered enough to resume command.

She sighed. "And give Challenger crew a combadge. I want to be able to catch them in the transporter to get them to safety if we need to. And I want to talk to Captain Kirk. Challenger needs to be defended but are her weapons systems online? We could use the extra firepower."

Her fingers dug into the armrest of her seat as Minerva took what appeared to be a dive to avoid enemy fire. "Tractor that craft!" she ordered, then tapped her combadge. "Halthor, wherever you are, report to cloaking control. I want my cloaking device back! Recruit whoever you need. Biers, report to the bridge, we may have a prisoner for you to talk to!"

She knew she had sent him to talk to the old-time doctor. No, present time, she corrected herself. They were after all the odd ones out, not them. "Take Doctor Saryn with you, we have wounded!" She listened to the counselor's response. "Drag him if you have to."

Turning back to screen, she once more tapped her combadge. "All modules, fighters and shuttlecraft, attack pattern gamma. Take those vessels out, disable them do NOT destroy them!"

At that moment, Mark Harper came walking back onto the bridge, holding a scruffy looking alien by the arm. To her amazement, the alien was completely naked. "Get him some clothes," she ordered, as she rose to her feet. "Who are you and what are you doing on my vessel?"

[Scott McLean]

It hadn’t taken McLean and Captain Kirk long to rig up a communication link between the Raven’s targeting system and a Quantum torpedoes tracking system. The plan was for a probe to be launched in the direction of the attackers main battle fleet, the large ships firing the high energy projectiles, then just a few brief moments later a volley of torpedoes are launched in the same direction. With any luck the probe will continue to keep a lock on all the main targets for the torpedoes.

“How’s it going down there Scott?” Torek called over the COM.

“We’re all ready down here sir. Fire at will!” McLean replied as he slammed the probes casing shut.

Standing back the launcher closed around the probe and all they could do now was wait for the results of their quick work.

“Cross your fingers.” McLean said to the Challenger’s Captain.

<Tag Torek>

[Andrew Kirk]

“Captain,” Andy heard a voice from behind him. When he turned it was a future version of a MACO soldier, “Commodore Sonak requested you are your crew wear these.” The soldier handed Kirk what appeared to be a small shirt pin. Looking confused he took the small pin and held it in his hand.

“It’s a communicator,” McLean broke in, “You wear it on your uniform.” He finished with a finger pointing directly at the badge on his duty tunic.

“Thank you.” Kirk replied to the soldier, “How does it work?” Andy asked the Raven’s Chief Engineer.

“Simple, all you have to do is tap the badge. Once a COM channel is open the badge recognizes your voice and the words you speak. So if you tap the badge and call out your name and the location you want to speak it will connect you to the person working that station. Just as I did with Commander Torek on the bridge.”

“I understand.” Kirk replied, recalling the quick communication McLean had with his ships executive officer.

“Also your entire crew should be on the list as well. So you can use that badge to contact anybody at any time.”

“Sonak to Captain Kirk.” Kirk heard his first call over the COM system. McLean pointed at the badge and Kirk, following the engineer’s instructions, tapped the badge.

“Go ahead.”

“What is the status of your ship? Can she fight?”

“We were just talking about the Commodore, and she might be able to fight, but only for a limited time. She’s running completely off of battery power at this moment.”

“If she can fight we need her in the battle. I’ll contact Commander Torek, you get your and a skeleton crew to the ship.”

“Aye ma’am.” Kirk replied.

Andy looked at McLean with a curious look on his face, “What?” McLean asked.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this a while ago. We have some smaller anti-matter generators that we could hook up to some of the key systems. We could get propulsion, weapons and life support to run off these generators.”

“And the one we installed on your ship could continue to power the shields.” McLean finished the Captain’s sentence, “We need to get aboard your ship.”

After a daring maneuver, Kirk, McLean, Sharon Wolf, Jack Logan, Col. James, and a hand full of engineers both present and future versions were aboard the Challenger. Challenger received no damage or attacks since she appeared to be a derelict ship in the fight.

“How are things coming along?” Kirk called through the future COM system.

“We’re ready to power up.”

“Do it.”

Suddenly the sounds of the ion engines firing up were everywhere. It was a sound that was taken for granted, but now in this moment was the sounds of life. Stations on the bridge began to lite up with the sudden introduction of power. Kirk had to do what he could to conserve power; so non-essential systems were shut down for the fight.

Sharon Wolf manned her tactical station and readied the ship to fire its first shots of the battle. For the first time in a long time Kirk manned the helm of his own ship, with the need for key personnel only he thought it would be best if he pilot his ship and moved her as he needed her moved with out having to relay orders to a helmsman.

He banked the ship as hard as she would go, “Target as many small ships as you can and fire at will!” Kirk shouted.

<Tag Sharon>

[nasty]

Joq’Tel was back aboard his flagship when news of the disabled ship coming to life reached him, “They appear to have deceived us.” Open fire on that new ship, and launch a second wave of fighters. Tell General Thron that we’re heading in for a second wave.

“What about the message we decrypted?”

“Do you have the frequency they broadcasted on?” Joq’Tel asked.

“We do sir.”

“Open a frequency then, we’ll see what these traitors to Vackall Prime have to say.”

“We have an established frequency Joq’Tel.”

“As you can tell we have launched another wave of fighter craft and our destroyers and battleships have you in range. I would suggest you surrender now for the day will only end in your demise.”

<Tag Sonak>

[Deleted]

* A security officer walked into sick bay and handed James a commbadge. Before the Ensign could explain the operation to James he had attached it to his shirt and tapped it.*

James: Col James to Captain Kirk .

Kirk: Yes Col I see you have a commbadge, meet me in transporter room one, we are going to get our ship into the fight.

James: Aye Aye sir on my way.

*James having received no reply from the doctor changing his communicator to the MACO channel;*

James: James to CPL Carr, report.

Carr: Sir I am in the Ravens rec room with our crew.

James: I need you to come to the Raven's sick bay to take charge of Numike; Numike I have to go back to our ship for a while I will have Lyndia stay with you, she has helped your father before she is my medic. Please sit over here until she comes for you.

<tag Saryn>

* After arriving on the Challenger; James went to the armory stopping to disarm the anti tampering device attached to his personal locker. Taking out a rectangular device that appeared to the Challenger crew as a black and chrome box. The only souvenir from his former life a 23rd century tricorder. The only person aboard the ship at this time that might recognize it would be the Raven's chief engineer, but James would deal with that if they survived and the time came. With a skeleton crew on the Challenger James took the science station and hooked the 23rd century tricorder into the Challengers sensor system to help coordinate the combat.*

Kirk: Target as many small ships as you can and fire at will.

James: Targeting computer slaved to sensors, weapons at full power it's all yours Sharon.

modified to again correct the spelling of a name

[Carl Torek]

OOC:

Someone mind telling me why we had to rip the Raven to pieces if all you needed for a 'quick fix' was to use these anti-matter generators !

IC:

=^= How is it going down there Scott ? =^=

=^= We’re all ready down here Sir .. Fire at will ! =^= McLean replied as he slammed the probes casing shut.

Carl watched as the probe arrowed toward the enemy fleet.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Sir there's a transport in progress."

"What !" Torek said, shocked.

"A second transport is in progress." the Ops Officer said.

"Who the HELL ...... Shut down all transporters .. Find out who has left the Raven." Carl said.

He was handed a PADD with a list of names, which to his utter dismay, included the Ravens' Chief Engineer, all of who were now on the abandoned NX vessel. he ordered a channel opened.

=^= Raven to ...... =^=

"Sir i have just received a message from the Commodore, she has given permission for Officers to beam to the Challenger."

Carl was struck dumb. He couldn't imagine even someone of Sonak's rank taking action without first informing those directly involved. He would make sure that it was investigated by the Admiral as soon as he was able, but for now, he had a ship to defend.

"Close the Comm ... Re-enforce all shields aft saucer section. Bring structural integrity fields to one hundred and fifty percent."

=^= ...... can tell we have launched another wave of fighter craft and our destroyers and battleships have you in range. I would suggest you surrender now for the day will only end in your demise =^=

"Shut that off !" he ordered, tapping his Comm badge.

=^= Engineering .. We will be making some maneuvers that will put strain on the ships' integrity. Keep an eye on it .. Out =^=

"What about the Challenger Sir." the Tactical Officer said.

"What about her." Torek said, stunned at Sonak's action, "Set course for the first wave of attack vessels. If Sonak wants the Challenger up and running, she can stay behind and defend her. We need to make a dent in these ship's or we'll be over-run in hours."

"Course layed-in Commander." Navigation said.

"Full impulse .. All weapons fire as soon as we're in range. One full volley, then bring us around to course ... Two seven five mark two zero. Take us away from the main battle fleet. They will send a number of ships after us and we'll pick them off more easily." Carl finished, watching the ship begin to move forward ...... Into the lions mouth ..........

[Carl Torek]

The Raven began to move forward, sensors locked onto the probe set up by Commander McLean .. Carl could see the Challenger begin a slow turn before surging forward.

The detonation, when it happened, was devastating to the enemy vessels. The quantum torpedoes, did so much damage to ships that hadn't been vaporized instantly, that almost twenty now drifted, either dead in space, or so damaged they would take no further part in the attacks.

The Vackall ships scattered in all directions to escape the carnage before them, but soon began to re-group. Carl could see several now heading in Challengers' direction, but knew that one or more sections of the Vesuvius would assist her. He needed to get as close as possible to what looked likely to be a second attack group.

Firing all phasers simultaneously, the Raven inflicted more damage to the Vackall ships, before her inventive Helm Officer pitched the ship vertical, rotating through a one hundred and eighty degrees yaw and leveling out facing their new heading. This maneuver, Torek noticed, kept the enemy ships directly astern as the Raven seemingly fled ..

Sensing a swift, easy victory over the massive ship, the Vackall ships spread out, encompassing the Raven, but Carl was expecting this and implemented his idea ..

The Raven suddenly came to a complete stop, opening fire on the much smaller ships chasing them .. They had no chance .. What the phasers didn't destroy, the photon torpedoes launched in their wake, did ..

"Shields are down to sixty four percent Commander, but holding." Tactical informed him.

"Try to get them up fully." Carl said, almost on the edge of his seat, "Helm ! .. Bring us about. Head back to Challenger. She hasn't got our weaponry and may need help."

He watched as the stars seemed to spin crazily for a few seconds, before coming to rest once more as the Raven arrowed toward the battle ..........

[Deleted]

*Traks entered the bridge just as the XO was being informed of Sonak's decision. Moving to the XO's seat .*

Traks: Sir I do not know if this is the best time but Sonak has transmitted the coordinates of Major Larok's last known position before he punched out and sent his fighter on a collision coerce with the enemy's fleet. Now that the Challenger is no longer blocking the shuttle bay we can launch our Runabout , It is still configured with a sensor and weapons pod. I am requesting permission to re con the enemy, and try to rescue the Major.

<tag Torek>

[Carl Torek]

"Full impulse .. All weapons fire as soon as we're in range. One full volley, then bring us around to course ... Two seven five mark two zero. Take us away from the main battle fleet. They will send a number of ships after us and we'll pick them off more easily."

Colonel Traks sat down next to Carl as he gave the orders ..

"Sir. I do not know if this is the best time, but Sonak has transmitted the coordinates of Major Larok's last known position before he punched out and sent his fighter on a collision course with the enemy's fleet. Now that the Challenger is no longer blocking the shuttle bay we can launch our Runabout, It is still configured with a sensor and weapons pod ......" Traks said, watching the view-screen for a second, as the stars begin to move as Raven accelerated, "I am requesting permission to re-con, the enemy, and try to rescue the Major ......"

"You think you can get through and pick him up ?"

"I'd like the chance to try Commander. He's out there."

Carl gave it less than a seconds' thought before replying.

"Go get him Colonel .. You will need to launch before we make our run, so you have less than three minutes." Carl said, Traks jumping from his chair in mid sentence, "James ... Keep an open Comm link to the Raven, we'll try to cover you on the way out ... Computer ... Lock on to Colonel Traks ... Emergency site-to-site transport shuttle-bay."

Seconds later, the Marine vanished from the Bridge, and Raven began her attack ..........



< tag : Col Traks >