Mission 6.2 - Into The Fires of Helacaan

[Deleted]

|Sickbay

To Lucy's relief, Admiral Drew was back to being an admiral instead of being Paul. That was proven the minute he started issuing orders. Sarlina and Lucy made their way to the doors of sickbay.

"Burnt retina," Lucy said, "and at 149 years old, Dan will need you help adjusting. Probably thinking he'll be relieved of duty permanently."

<Vise>

"Sure. I've got some counseling sessions under by belt. You take the lead and let me just do some follow up."

<Vise>

"You tell me, counselor."

OFF:

OOC: Just getting us to the commander's bedside, Sarlina

[sarlina]

Sarlina felt relief when the unfamiliar planet background was replaced by the ship. She knew she wasn't safe yet, and the mission was far from over. Still, the sights and sounds of the Nevada were comforting to her.

"Burnt retina," Grey's voice jerked Sarlina out of her thoughts. It took her a moment to realize what the doctor was talking about. "and at 149 years old, Dan will need your help adjusting. Probably thinking he'll be relieved of duty permanently."

"Will he? Be relieved of duty, I mean." Sarlina paused. "I'm not sure if I'd be the best person to talk to. Losing eyesight can be a scary thing, and I don't know him that well." She looked up at Grey. "Could you help me out?"

"Sure. I've got some counseling sessions under by belt. You take the lead and let me just do some follow up."

"Thank you. That would help. A lot. Do you think he'll be able to manage?"

"You tell me, counselor."

Sarlina continued the walk in silence, once again lost in her thoughts.

[Jon Park]

Jon was kinda half listening to the orders when he was told.“Jon, once we are back on the bridge adjust the sensors and then take out all of the Naal ships and bases, Seth stand by to broadcast to the entire planet what has been happening.” To his credit he came right back into the conversation. "All ships and bases Aye sir. " Jon also knew he had to deal with rick and find out if starfleet had found anything with this dad's flight recorders. But orders were orders.

Park headed to the bridge with Drew and he moved to the tactical station fixing the sensors to target to stations and ships. Park had his hand on the console ready for after the message was sent to complete his task.

Lt.Commander Thomas was standing at the secondary tactical station and had a padd waiting for Jon. Jon looked it over it seams his fathers ship hit something and was destroyed but there was still a good chance he was alive the data recorder wasn't that badly damaged. Jon looked at Seth "Targets are locked and i am ready to fire after you inform the people what if going on."

<Tag Seth>

[Deleted]

=/\= Bridge to Captain Updeik =/\=

Updeik tappedhis commbadge. "Go ahead."

=/\= The away team is returning to the ship, along with the Admiral, sir. Transporter Room One. =/\=

"Acknowledged," Updeik. "Forgive me, Number One, but I have to go."

As Dan vaguely saw the Captain leave Sickbay, his heart sank lower. He should have accompanied the Captain. Heck, he said have still been with the Away Team. Everything was going on around him, without him.

A few minutes later, two more figures approached him. Using what he had left of his sight at present, which was mostly peripheral vision, he looked at the two figures, trying to make out ranks. The closer one was a lieutenant commander in a teal uniform. In Sickbay, that could only mean...

"Hello Doctor," he said, looking in the direction that he was pretty sure her face was. He looked to the second person, again attempting to discern rank. A lieutenant, teal uniform. Well that was no help. There were too many lieutenants in medical and sciences.

"You'll have to identify yourself, Lieutenant," Dan said. When there was silence, he said, "Speak up, you don't want to keep your superior waiting. Even if he is nearly blind and useless."

His last sentence was a bit of grim humor, but only partially.

[Deleted]

Entering the bridge with Jon and Captain Updeik, Drew was pleased to see that Seth was already at his station, ready and waiting to carry out his duty. He had gotten the impression down on the planet that Seth had been struggling between his duty as a Starfleet Officer and his duty to his people. Hopefully that struggle might just get a little easier once they finished their job.

While Jon headed for the Tactical station, Drew made his way down to the command deck, this time however, he took the centre chair and not one of the secondary ones. There could be no doubt right now about who had command; the crew had to follow his orders, no one else’s.

While Jon and Seth prepared themselves, Drew pressed the comm control on his chair and opened a channel to sickbay:

“Lucy, how is Dan?” he asked. When the First Officer had been beamed aboard he had seemed in a pretty bad state, that and his age could only spell trouble as far as Drew was concerned.

<Lucy>

“That’s good to hear, tell him not to get too comfortable; we still have a job to do!” Drew said with a smile as he closed the channel.

By the time that was done, both Jon and Seth had reported their readiness. The targets had been located and locked and the transmissions were ready to be broadcast.

“Take out the ship first Commander, then the bases” Drew called out to Tactical, “Seth, I want you to record everything that happens and transmit it down to the planet.”

There was a double response of “aye sir” and then Drew, still sitting in the command chair, gave the order they had all been waiting for.

“Fire!”

[Jon Park]

“Take out the ship first Commander, then the bases”

Jon tapped the console and ruby streaks of phaser energy shot out of the Nevada and struck the Neel ships. Jon disabled two and was working on the larger on had had stronger Shields. Park fired a spread of torpedo's and watched as the ship exploded in a bright light.

Jon turned to Lt.Commander Thomas and had him scan for life signs on the disabled ships as Jon sent phasers fire into the base's watching them explode Jon reported. "One Neel ship destroyed and 2 disabled all station are gone sir."

With Jon's task done he said "Permission to leave the bridge for a security matter Sir." when he saw Drew look at Updeik and Park informed him "We had a security issues on-route to our present location and we have the person in the brig. I need to go deal with him."

<Tag Drew>

[Seth Helacaan]

"Targets locked and I am ready to fire after you inform the people what is going on."

Seth looked across to the tactical station on the other side of the bridge to where Jon Park had took his station. He nodded in reply and pressed a few buttons on his console, getting ready. Admiral Drew who was now in the Captain's chair, told Seth to record everything and send it to the surface of Wezea, which meant to all extraplanetary comm transceivers on the planet, of which there were only a handful. They were at least evenly distributed, which meant that Seth's message would reach all quarters of the planet.

Commander Park began firing the Nevada's weapons; the phaser beams lashed out at the two cloaked Naal ships which the Nevada had spent the last ten minutes catching up with in their orbit. Caught with their shields down due to their cloaks, the behemoth vessels were disabled in short order thanks to the efficiency of the Nevada's Tactical officer. They continued in their orbits, unshifted by the bombardment, yet would not be attacking anything anytime soon.

As Seth watched this unfold, on the sensors as well as the viewscreen, he hit the transmit button on the Ops console to begin sending his message to Wezea. "People of Ascension-" he began, but the words were stuck in his throat. Seth gulped, swallowing down the tension his vocal chords were feeling.

"People of Ascension," he began again. "This is Seth Helacaan, aboard the Federation vessel USS Nevada in orbit. I know some, many of you, will not be pleased to hear from one bearing my surname, but you should know that I have important information.

"It appears that we have all been deceived, by the Naal Conglomerate While the mention of their name will not come as a surprise where our world is concerned, their influence runs deeper than we ever thought. For the last year a small group of Starfleet Intelligence agents have been on Wezea, resisting that influence and attempting to dispel it. Right now I am transmitting data providing evidence of 'cloaked' Naal capital ships in orbit of Ascension, the Nevada has disabled them."

It was at that moment that Park turned the Nevada's weaponry on the Naal on the planet itself. From the ground looking up, a piercing orange beam cut through the increasing cloud-cover and impacted on the once invisible structure entrenched within the "Ridges". The cloak of the landed Naal capital ship failed instantly, and with no shields the phasers cut home, causing a massive internal explosion which were followed by subsequently smaller explosions. Before long the whole ship was aflame, burning away just like the white-hot sun beginning to sink to the horizon, gradually growing darker and redder as the heat over the land dissipated, the embers of the fire dying.

"Hopefully this revelation has shown to you, my fellow colonists, what it has shown me." Seth spoke solemnly from the safety of orbit, "That the interference of Starfleet Intelligence was necessary for the security of Ascension. We can trust them now, we should not feel resentful for their covert methods involved in repelling the Naal. To return to this world the Federation could not have operated in any other way... Farewell for now all, it will not be long I hope, before I return once more."

[Deleted]

|Sickbay

"Hello Doctor," Dantrek said, looking vaguely in Dr. Grey's direction. Lucy was certain she knew what he was seeing: outlines of teal blue and possibly her Lt.Cmdr. pips. They were probably reflecting the light enough for him to know who she was.

"You'll have to identify yourself, Lieutenant," Dan said, turning his eyes toward the counselor. When there was silence, he said, "Speak up, you don't want to keep your superior waiting. Even if he is nearly blind and useless."

<Vise>

Lucy listened to the counselor with half of her attention. Reaching over and picking up the optican's charted diagnosis at the end of the bed, Lucy tapped in the CMO's access codes. She'd been right. Retinal burn.

“Lucy, how is Dan?” Admiral Drew's voice asked over the comm system.

Tapping a button to open a channel, Lucy read from the padd then said, "He'll be alright, sir. There's going to be a couple weeks of restricted duty and I'm placing him in Counselor Vise's care during that time. But... he's going to be okay, sir."

“That’s good to hear, tell him not to get too comfortable; we still have a job to do!” Drew said.

"There was a smile in those words, Dan," Lucy said as she closed the comm link.

<Vise>

"That's a good idea. After I chart his after mission physical, though. I would think that being in his own quarters will be more conducive to healing than being woke up all night in a hospital unit."

<Vise/Dantrek>

[Deleted]

Drew watched the display of phaser fire on the viewscreen and felt a deep sense of regret as the lead Naal ship was engulfed in flames. Once again he had been forced to order the destruction of another ship, the death of another crew. But, his job was to protect the Federation and her worlds, even those colonies that may not always wish for that protection.

As Seth began his message to the people below, Drew watched his situation monitor. The message was being picked up by all the major news outlets and communication systems, the entire population would now be aware of what was happening and why. Hopefully they would take heed of Seth’s message and understand that the Federation was not their enemy, but their own people, something to be proud to be apart of, not something to be feared and hated.

Giving his consent for Jon to leave the bridge to deal with whatever his security problem was, Drew continued to watch the monitor before him. Messages of gratitude from government officials were already starting to arrive, as well as reports of Naal spies being captured and turned over to the authorities. The people of Ascension were once again working alongside the Federation.

“Well done everyone,” Drew said standing from his chair and walking around the bridge, “today you all played apart in saving a Federation colony, preventing civil war and bringing to justice those who tried to destroy all that we have worked for.”

“Now, I believe that our job here is done, bring us out of orbit and set course for Starbase 47, warp five.”

His speech finished, Drew returned to the centre chair, while the rest of the bridge crew carried out their duties. Despite its difficulties the mission had been a success and now all of them would be able to return home.