Screaming in the Silence

Posted on Thu May 16th, 2024 @ 5:15pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant Tor Ezzo & Ensign Nusien & Ensign Gianna Djokovic & Petty Officer 1st Class Kipp Lak & Petty Officer 2nd Class Fhiri
Edited on on Sun May 19th, 2024 @ 9:55pm

2,258 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Long Hard Road Ahead
Location: Gamma Quadrant
Timeline: 24 August, 2396- 0200 Hours

[ON]

Malcom had decided to simply wait and observe the massive ship that had attacked the station and the Firebird. After an hour of watching, they'd learned a lot.

"Gia, give me what you've got on the carrier's defenses. I don't plan on attacking but if there is some weakness we can exploit, I want to know about it."

Gia cleared her throat and looked over the analysis as it stood so far. It was like a final exam but with much more serious consequences if she got the answer wrong. She tucked a wayward lock of hair back behind her ear. "Offensively, sir, it out guns us ten to one and that's not counting any fighters it's carrying. Visually, we're counting at least six high-speed launch tubes on either side of the main hull, so high confidence that there are fighter craft or drones aboard."

"Weaknesses..." the newly minted ensign paused a second to double check the specs on the visible propulsion systems and she wished Daw was there to confirm, but she was pretty confident in what she was seeing. "Well, let's say size isn't everything. Firebird has lower targetability, higher maneuverability, and stealth advantages, but we lose a lot of those advantages if we give them an opportunity to launch fighters. Options I see are either disable them before they know we're here -- a solid hit to the right structure might do it if we can force them to divert enough power to maintain structural integrity so that it weakens their defensive shielding and weapons -- or force them to raise shields before they can launch attack craft and then run rings around them while they drain their resources trying to hit us." She felt like she'd been talking for too long and too many eyes were upon her now, but she added awkwardly anyway, "or some combination of the two."

Malcom listened to Gia give her summary. "Good work, Ensign," he said with a smile. "You and Ensign Nusien work together to have our plan ready to go in an instant." Malcom rubbed his face. The day had turned out to be very long and it wasn't over yet. They had to find a way to communicate with their enemy and see if they could de-escilate the situation.

"Kipp, I want you to route our coms through one of the probes so that we can send them messages and not have them trace it back to us."

Kipp nodded. "I can do that, sir. It will take just a moment." The Yeoman was true to his word and minute later he looked at Malcom and nodded.

"This is Captain Malcom Llwyedd attempting to reach the vessel that attacked Deep Space Eighteen. We propose a cease fire so that we can discuss a peaceful resolution to this combat," Malcom said and then wait.

"Sir," Fhiri said. "Their sensors have gone to maximum... but they aren't picking us up. At least I don't think so."

"Thank you, Petty Officer," Malcom replied. He turned to his acting XO. "We still have one shuttle left?" He asked.

Lieutenant Tor Ezzo sat listening to the young bridge crew's outlook of the enemy vessel. "We do sir," Ezzo said thinking about why the captain would be asking that. Did he intent on sending an away team into the ship unnoticed? "What are you thinking sir?"

"I'm thinking that something doesn't add up here," Malcom said and began pacing. "That ship is orders of magnitude larger than we are. It has a clear advantage in firepower and it has smaller ships and possibly fighters. So why is it afraid of us?" He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "In Ensign Djokovic's report she rightly took into account the possible shielding the ship has. But what if those shields aren't meant to stop weapons? What if they were counting on Starfleet to have no ships in the area and focused on offense instead of offense and defense?"

He turned to Gia. "Ensign, redirect your scans to try to pinpoint and shield emitters. I want an analysis of their potential."

"On it, sir," Gia replied, already tapping commands into the console. She paused, lifting her hands from the screen and sounded alarmed. "They've picked up on our scans," she announced uneasily as she watched the incoming readings as the ship powered its weapons. Fortunately, the changing power configurations provided some unique datapoints. "I.. don't know what to make of these shield emitters. The configuration makes no sense in the traditional way. It's almost like they're designed to focus energy away from the ship."

"It makes sense! Those shield emitters aren't what they used to be,"Malcom said. "Fhiri, look at the data of the energy spike we observed when the wormhole was sealed. Did it come from the same direction that the carrier was?"

Fhiri nodded as her hands blurred over her console. "Rotate the energy wave.... calibrate.... remove objects...." Her head came up and a smile creased her face. "It is an exact match, sir!"

"They don't have any shields. The emitters were refitted to power those devices and close the wormhole. They ran away because they might have offense but their defense is non-existant," Malcom said. He turned to Lieutenant Tor. "I'm going to need you to pilot that Runabout. But I don't want it tobe a Runabout."

Ezzo smiled, the Captain had a plan and Ezzo was catching on. "I think I know what you want sir I've been working on something I think that could help." Ezzo pulled something up on his console and drew the captains attention to it. "I've been working on drones with holo-emitters programed to fly in tight formations to simulate other ships for flight training." The screen showed what appeared to be drones flying in tight patterns then transforming in to fighters much like the ones the carrier might have on it. "With enough of these drones and running the runabouts core hot," Ezzo looked over at Fhiri, "We can make our runabout look like anything maybe even a convincible Sovereign Class ship"

Malcom was happy to see that his acting XO was picking up on what he wanted. "I think the Sovereign Class is a fine one but I've always been partial to the Akira Class myself. You and Fhiri get down to the Shuttlebay and get things moving. Let me know when you are set up and ready to launch. And, XO, good luck with your first command," Malcom said with a grin.

[Shuttlebay]

"I'm an engineer, not a shuttle pilot," Fhiri said with a huff as she continued to work the console to adapt the probes as Lieutenant Tor had indicated on the bridge. They were both ensconced in the Runabout, with the Lieutenant in the main pilot seat, of course.

"Lucky for you I am a pilot Fhiri," Ezzo said with a smile on face. "I've programmed the probes to hover around us as we move but I'll have to stay at one half impulse or we'll lose them once we are in full view. How is the warp field? Do you think you can make her run hot long enough to pull it off?" Ezzo knew running the warp core on the small runabout above recommended specifications would be unreliable, but if they could scan the ship at all they would know something was wrong. They had to make a warp signature for a much larger ship just in case the enemy's sensors could scan through the holo-wall being erupted around them.

Fhiri didn't respond immediately. She split her screen in two. On one she had the output overlay from the warp core. The Runabout had an impressive power output for a ship so small. But the Lieutenant was right, they would have to push it to create a warp field big enough. She tapped the screen, simulating possible outcomes.

"It looks like it is possible, sir," she finally said. "I've created a data feed between the probes and our main drive. It should help sync their outputs and give us a better holographic display. I estimate that we can maintain the drive for approximately twenty-seven minutes before it starts to degrade slowly. I could increase that time but it would involve doing some pretty risky things."

"Well it's either going to work or it's not," said Ezzo with a smile. "Twenty-seven minutes should be enough. No use in hanging around are you ready?"

Fhiri sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

"Let's give them a show," Ezzo said before tapping the comms panel. "Captain Llwyed project Naginata underway." As he tapped the panel in front of him hundreds of probes launched from the runabout floating around the small shuttle weaving and in a matter of minutes the USS Naginata appeared by the Firebird with a warp trail and all. Ezzo was especially proud of that final touch. "Now lets see if they buy it."

The reaction was immediate. The carrier, which had been stationary, veered to the right, trying to move away from the USS Naginata which had just appeared.

Fhiri let out a whoop. "It looks like they are buying it, sir!" She said. "Power is stable for now but the Nagus knows how long that will last."

[Firebird Bridge]

"Sir, we have a new Starfleet ship on our sensors. Akira class USS Naginata," Kipp said.

Malcom clenched his fist. "Yes!" He said and jumped up. "Ensign Nusien, I want you to plot a course that will move us opposite of our new friend. Ensign Djokovic, I want you to target the engines and phaser arrays on that carrier. I think it is time to do some negotiating from a position of power for a change."

"Aye sir!" Nusien replied and laid in a course at half impulse. The Firebird ducked and weaved through some phaser fire and in about a minute or so the ship was in position. "We are now in position opposite the Naginata sir."

"Targets locked, sir," Gia piped up after locking in the engines and what she determined to be the main emitters for the phaser arrays. "Ready to begin those negotiations?"

"Kipp, open a hailing frequency," Malcom said. The main viewscreen came to life, revealing two aliens that, to his eyes, looked like the jellyfish he sometimes found off the coast at home.

"Greetings. I am Commodore Malcom Llwyedd of the USS Firebird and the USS Naginata. I would like to negotiate a cease-fire to the current hostilities so that we can come to a permanent agreement of peace," he said.

The aliens' tentacles fluttered. Behind them, Malcom could see at least four other, different, species of aliens working. "I am Alliesh, the current head of the Federation of Cooperation. Commodore, your protestations of peace come at the end of weaponry."

Malcom nodded. " Alliesh, I understand your statement, but to be fair, your cooperative attacked our space station. Responding with a robust defense is appropriate."

Alliesh made a garbled sound that the translator couldn't process and then spoke. "Your Federation ignored our protests many times! We did not consent to your intrusion into our space."

Malcom looked over at Gia and held up a hand. "This misunderstanding is why we should halt hostilities and see if an arrangement can be made that satisfies all of us."

One of the other aliens, a being that was as dark as the moonless sky, with two mouths, stepped up to Alliesh and said something. Both mouths moved at the same time and Malcom felt himself unnerved at the sight. Finally, the alien leader made a gesture and the interaction ended.

"Very well, Commodore. We will withdraw in the face of your might and your argument. Many of us turned to violence out of desperation. Perhaps there is another way forward. A delegation will come to you. Please take care with those we leave behind... as we will do with those of yours who are our guests." The screen went dark.

"Sir," Kipp said. "The alien carrier and smaller craft are moving away from our position. I think they're departing at their best speed."

Malcom let out a sigh. Could it really be so easy? "Stand at ease, Ensign Djokovik. I think we dodged the bullet. When they are out of sensor range, let's get the XO and Fhiri back over here."

Malcom sat back down, suddenly exhausted from the long day. He sat and watched the ship's images grow smaller and smaller.

[OFF]

Captain Malcom Llwyedd
Commanding Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Lieutenant Tor Ezzo
Acting Executive Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Ensign Nusien (NPC by Rees)
Flight Control Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Petty Officer 1st Class Kipp Lak (NPC by Llwyedd)
Yeoman
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Petty Officer 2nd Class Fhiri (NPC by Llwyedd)
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Acting Ensign Gianna Djokovic (NPC by Woodhouse)
Tactical Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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