A Brief Battle
Posted on Sat Apr 19th, 2025 @ 8:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Ukram Gocx & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Captain Lorut Vila & Commander Rylen Lyo & Lieutenant Commander Frasier Greene & Lieutenant Odren Xall & Lieutenant S'Tera & Lieutenant Aurora House of Kor & Lieutenant Commander Chester Ripley & Lieutenant Callan Armidale & Lieutenant Wara Tête & Lieutenant JG William Verhoeven
3,266 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Short Treks
Location: USS Intrepid - Bridge
Timeline: MD-08
En route to New El-Auria - formerly known as Kaitos, Vila was sitting on the bridge, watching the bustle of the crew. She was busy with the console, processing the data as it came it from science, ops, and tactical.
Suddenly, a signal came through, and the ship shook violently. Her head rose.
"What was that?" she asked, and then moved into action.
“Shields up. Red alert,” Commander Lyo said.
"Helm, keep us straight. Lyo, prep the crew. Engineering, ops, everyone...battle stations up," she said. "I need a channel." A moment later, she spoked aloud.
=/\= Intrepid crew =/\= she said. =/\=This is your Captain speaking. Please prepare for battle station procedure Alpha.=/\=
"Sheesh...I was just kidding!" Aurora yelped as the ship shook, sending her dancing across the deck.
"Easy LT," Doctor Greene steadied the woman as she staggered towards him, en-route to sickbay, and gripped her shoulders firmly. "Try not to become an early casualty," he offered a cheeky wink and final squeeze of her shoulder before departing the bridge.
"Thanks, Doc. Hehe, ain't that the truth!" Aurora chuckled softly, winking back before she found a secure spot to observe.
Vila sat back in the command seat, but uprightly, and brought up a panel. From there, she entered a few things into the computer. "Tactical, what are you seeing?" she asked.
“I’m not seeing anything, Captain,” Wara said, tapping the controls on her panel frantically. “If there’s a ship out there, it must be cloaked as well as the Reman Scimitar class.”
"Science, launch a probe, see what is ahead," she said. Suddenly, the power went down around them. She clicked a button. "Engineering...what's up down there?" She asked.
"Don't you mean what's 'down' down there?" Aurora was GLAD the lights were out as she blushed!
"Funny Aurora. can't launch a probe with no power," S'tera said.
"True that!" Aurora giggled sheepishly.
“Captain, we’re definitely being hit by some type of weapon. It’s the best I can make of the signals I’m able to receive. This isn’t a natural phenomenon,” Lieutenant Armidale reported from his station as Chief of Operations now.
“I agree, Captain, it’s definitely a directed attack,” Wara replied. They’ve taken out all but our backup power at the moment. “I’m going to utilize an ancient technique of polarizing the hull plating to deflect any more damage.”
While the bridge scrambling to understand what was happening in engineering and the source of the abnormal violent trembling of the ship, Doctor Greene found himself in his own predicament. With the main power offline the turbo lift had skidded to a halt leaving Frasier in limbo unable to report to sickbay and unable to return to the bridge. Plus to add insult he was plunged into darkness.
"Huh," he sighed at the situation he found himself in.
"Someone get me engineering, please," Vila said.
“Rerouting backup power to communications,” Lyo answered. If nothing else, he could utilize some of his Ops training to assist with the current disaster.
=/\= "Bridge, Xall here." =/\= Odren's voice crackled over the comm, his usual composed tone betraying a hint of annoyance and urgency. =/\= "Main power's taken a hit. We're running diagnostics, but whatever it is, it's not your run-of-the-mill glitch. Backup systems are holding, but I need a few minutes to isolate the fault. Stand by." =/\=
A dull thud echoed through Main Engineering as he slapped the side of a flickering console. The overhead lights wavered before settling into the dim glow of emergency power.
"Come on, girl... don't quit on me now," he muttered under his breath, fingers flying across the interface. The readouts confirmed what he already suspected: a cascading failure in the EPS grid. Whatever had hit them sent a surge straight through critical systems, knocking out power across multiple decks.
Tapping his combadge again, he continued. =/\= "I'll prioritize power to tactical systems first, but I'll need Ops to reroute whatever juice they can spare to help us along." =/\= He exhaled sharply, steadying himself as the situation unfolded. This wasn’t just damage; it was a disaster waiting to get worse.
He turned to his team, who were scrambling to stabilize failing subsystems. =/\= "Stand by, Captain. We'll get her back on her feet." =/\=
=/\=Ops is reporting we've been hit. Can you confirm?"=/\=
Vila asked. =/\=Thank you for keeping me updated, Lieutenant. I appreciate you. =/\=
Still trapped in the stationary lift car, Greene had been waiting for the back up systems to engage, however as time seemed to stretch it was becoming apparent they too had failed.
Stumbling in the darkness he eventually located and levered open a small panel on the wall and overrode the door release. Feeling his way around the circular space he then prised the sliding doors open and cautionary took stock of his new surroundings.
It did little to aid his plight as the lift shaft was dark, dormant and deadly quiet. Yet, in the inkiness Frasier was able to see a thin strip of light just above his head that indicated the outer door of the lift shaft to a deck. He had no idea which one however, but it was better than being trapped in limbo.
Carefully with tentative movements not to endanger himself Frasier hulled himself onto the level above and again fumbled with the override switch to open the sealed door.
Relieved it hissed open and deposited the Doctor onto the deck into the dazzling light of deck six and the blaring sounds of Quarks-To-Go dabo tables spinning widely.
Dazed Frasier shielded his eyes before finding his bearings and climbed to his feet. Odd, he thought as he resumed his journey to sickbay with a steady jog that this area in particular would remain functioning. Something he'd inform Xall later to investigate.
"So...does ANYONE know what the heck hit us?" Aurora asked, a sick feeling growing in her stomach. This was NOT a normal thing...and Aurora wasn't looking forward to whatever result showed up.
Vila chuckled. "Seems to be a plasma laser," she said. At that time, the alert klaxons sounded from CetOPs. "Please head down and check on the whales," Vila said, her tone slightly exasperated.
"Are you finkidding me!? On my way! CetOPs!" Aurora hissed, mostly out of frustration...but a bit of fear was starting to wiggle it's way up her spine.
"Report!" Aurora usually didn't bark, but she was at her 'I have had it!' point, and EVERYONE jumped to attention.
"Everything's fine, but the whales are a bit restless. I told them they can't go out," came the reply from Petty Officer Jones. "Maybe when we've docked. The planet we're headed to has a large, open ocean."
"Sigh...I see. E creel mars halsop lel vespret (It's ok, guys. You'll get some deep water soon.)," Aurora calmed before soothing the whales, stroking both as she continued to coo to them in Aquadian.
"Alright everyone, we got all shook up, so we need to clean up and finish shifting things in preparation for a full red alert. Move out!" Aurora clapped her hands to get her team going, making sure to give all the animals a reassuring stroke, pat, or scratch.
Back on the bridge, Vila made some adjustments to the course they'd set. She then raised her head, and spoke to the crew.
"Damage reports, please," she said, aloud, but urgently.
“We’re now running on partial power, Captain. Engineering reports that the lasers were somehow attuned to our shield frequency and the enemy ship seemed to know exactly where to hit up to inflict maximum damage,” Commander Lyo reported. “Shield harmonics are on manual rotation at the moment, so they can’t be affected again unless we have a saboteur.”
Vila nodded. "Thank you. Hopefully, the reports are correct and it's an outside force, and not an inside one," she said. Wouldn't it be just her luck?!
“I’ve got enough power for six full phaser shots, but no target yet, ma’am. Whoever they are, we haven’t seen a camouflage system this undetectable in decades. If I were to guess, I would say it’s Romulan Free State, but they would have to have huge genitals to come this far into Federation territory and initiate an attack,” Wara added.
Vila fought the urge to giggle, and instead, she nodded once. "I agree. Get the scoops on it. Launch some probes. Save the phasers," she said. She turned around.
"Lt. S'tera. Launch your probes, please. Route the data to my screen."
Tags: Lyo, S'Tera.
Odren wiped sweat from his brow as he leaned over the console, the emergency lights casting eerie shadows over his focused expression. Sparks sizzled from a half-sealed conduit behind him, and the low hum of strained power filled the air.
He tapped his combadge again. =/\= Bridge, this is Xall. Comms dropped down here for a hot minute. Whatever hit us scrambled half the relays and took internal communications with it. We're back online now. =/\=
=/\=Thank you. Bring up the lights when you can.=/\= Vila replied.
He glanced toward the source of a loud clang! and frowned.
"Kezla! Did you just punch that relay box again?"
The short Ferengi engineer emerged from behind a scorched console, hands smudged with coolant and grease. “It responded better the last time I hit it,” she snapped in frustration. “Honestly, Chief, this whole setup’s got less reliability than a Rigellian slot machine!”
Odren grunted. “Yeah, well, keep hitting it and you’ll get us all blown to Tellar Prime.”
From across the room, Lieutenant Dutton ducked beneath a sparking conduit, eyes locked on her padd. “Xall, I’m seeing feedback signatures that match an EPS relay cascade. Classic failure pattern, but it’s coming from the tertiary node. That shouldn't be possible unless...”
“It was triggered,” Odren finished grimly.
Dutton nodded, the mass of strawberry blonde curls that framed her face bobbing with the motion. “Someone knew exactly where to hit us.”
He exhaled sharply, fingers flying across the console interface. The readouts confirmed what he already suspected: a surge had ripped through the EPS grid with surgical precision, knocking out power to multiple decks.
Tapping his badge again, Odren continued. =/\= Captain, we've traced the surge to a feedback loop in the secondary EPS relay. It wasn’t just bad luck, this was intentional. Backup systems are holding, but the grid’s unstable. Recommend staying on auxiliary power until I give the go-ahead. =/=
Behind him, Kezla muttered, “Figures. First week I stop carrying my lucky latinum toothpick and this happens.”
=/\= Tactical should have partial power rerouted within the next 90 seconds. I'll prioritize life support and propulsion next. We can limp, but I recommend we don’t push her until I give the all clear. =/\= He paused, voice dropping slightly. =/\= And Captain… this wasn’t random. That shot? It was aimed. Someone knew exactly where to strike us. =/\=
Vila nodded. =/\=Understood. I'll get security on it. Thank you.=/\=
He closed the channel momentarily and turned back to his team.
“Alright, people! Get me control of those EPS conduits and prep an isolation bypass. I want primary systems back in five. If anyone finds another surprise in the grid, don’t touch it... call me first.”
Kezla raised a hand. “What if I accidentally touch it with a spanner?”
“Then I accidentally write you up and make you run diagnostics on every junction box on this deck,” he replied dryly.
Dutton smirked. “Better grab your checklist, Kez.”
Feeling unpleasantly sweaty from his detour, Doctor Greene arrived in sickbay at last. Immediately he noted they too were running on reduced power which may limit their ability to treat those in need of complicated surgery. Fortunately as he caught snatches of broken conversation weaving his way through the throng of staff in the half light the injured had been relatively light.
"Gocx," finding the bulking Klingon hadn't been too challenging. "Report."
The Klingon nodded once.
"Sir, we have only had three people report with minor injuries. We're operating on seventy percent power, but so far, we can maintain at that provided no one needs major surgery...or worse. After that, we can use the auxiliary power, but that will only hold for two hours." A warrior's fight.
Greene nodded as Gocx continued, he was a touch relieved the situation was for now under control.
"Over here, Petty Officer T'Ven fell and bumped her head. I am monitoring her, but she should be fine to return to duty in fifteen minutes. Over here is Ensign Jynaral. He, too, had a fall, but sprained his arm. Would you like to continue his exam?" Gocx asked the other man.
"Sure," Greene agreed. "Good work, Ukram," he praised the Klingon with a pat on the upper arm as they passed another.
"Thank you," the gruff Klingon replied as he left to attend to other patients.
"Hello Ensign," Greene addressed the you man on the bio. "How do you feel? Any pain?"
"No, just a little woozy. Dr. Gocx said it was a concussion."
"Do you remember what happened?" Greene asked passing the scanner over the injured officer.
"I fell out of one of the Jefferies Tubes, doing some work on the Panels, and hit my head and landed on my arm," he said. "I feel ok now but I was dizzy earlier."
Greene nodded before twisting to reach for the Osteogenic stimulator on the table close by along with a loaded hypo. "I'm still going to administrate a analgesic as a precaution while I reset your elbow. It took the brunt of your fall and has a small fracture - you either have a high pay threshold or adrenaline has come into play. It's normally rather painful to most - you can see the bruising already showing."
{tag}
S'tera muttered an oath in Caitian. "So anybody have any idea what in K'tal's name is going on? A plasma laser? Really? some people!"
"S'tera, calm down," Vila said. "What is going on is that we're under attack. Please move the Science Department into red alert," she said.
Lyo opened a channel. “All departments should have moved to Red Alert. I repeat, all stations to Red Alert. Ops, sound General Quarters. We have a saboteur aboard and I want them found five minutes ago,” he said, his tone was cold but efficient; bartering no arguments.
Vila looked up and pressed her comms.
=/\=Raise the shields again. Lt. Xall, please prep the arrays for return fire. =/\=
“All decks and all crew to battle stations. Every deck needs to be swept for additional sabotage devices, Operations and Science divisions will be responsible for that.
“Security teams are being dispatched across every deck, implementing Dominion One sweeps,” he advised. This meant that all decks would be swept with low level phaser energy to detect Founders, if there were any. “Dominion One sweeps will be done in conjunction with the active hunt for our saboteur.
“No place is safe if you’ve harmed this ship or its crew,” he finished, his tone icy and menacing.
Lyo moved to relieve Lieutenant Tête from Tactical so she could lead the security forces.
"Thank you," Vila responded. "I think that's a wise course of action," she said. She was grateful that Lyo had more comportment than she did in things like this-her first instinct was to fire back and talk later.
"And there goes the day. Crank it up, people!" Aurora shifted into full on Red Alert mode.
Once the shields were raised, Vila issued a series of commands.
"Lieutenant Verhoeven, keep us steady. Lieutenant Armidale, cloak us, please. Commander Lyo, prep the arrays. Fire on my command."
"All science personnel, move to red alert! Repeat, red alert all science personnel! Beta and Gamma divisions begin the ordered sweeps for additional devices as ordered," S'tera announced.
"As I said, there goes the day. Actually Red Alert stations, people! Get the lead out, Manchester!" Aurora whistled sharply at the Ensign.
"Aye, Ma'am!" Manchester yelped.
[Hate it when they call me 'Ma'am',] Aurora mentally huffed.
On the bridge, the temperature was getting warmer as the life support systems rebounded from the delay of power loss. A bead of sweat rolled down Lyo’s forehead.
Perhaps by miracle, or just sheer luck, Rylen caught the silouhette of something dark against the light of the stars. “I think I have target, Captain.” He wasn’t sure, but he hoped this dark thing was their enemy.
"Lyo. Fire," Vila instructed.
Lyo pushed the button, unleashing three of the four phaser turrets full power against the dark blip in space. A blossom of bluish light exploded in the darkness. It revealed a small ship, barely bigger than a scout.
“Got it, Captain. Definitely a ship, but very small and apparently painted black to blend with the void of space. If they hadn’t move in front of that star, I might never have seen them,” he reported.
“The ship is damaged, but still has partial power. They may be more open to a conversation now, mama,” Lyo finished his report before wiping the sweat from his brow.
Vila nodded. "Do it," she said.
“Lieutenant Tête, report on the operation to route out our saboteur,” Lyo asked.
=/\= We’ve got two people. An ensign that transferred from Starbase 210 and a civilian botany specialist. I suspect neither is who they appear to be. Both claim there are no additional saboteurs, but I will begin a special investigation and interrogate both detainees until I am satisfied we know the truth.
“Additionally, we have a device that has not yet been placed. Perhaps Engineering and Operations can study the device to determine if we have any more before we move anywhere. =/\=
Lorut nodded. "Good idea," she said, and tapped her comms.
=/\= Engineering, Security and Ops, report to the bridge, please. =/\=
“Shall we stand down the red alert and simulation, Captain?” Lyo asked. The purpose of the simulation had been served. All that was required now was the boring debrief and discussing how they might improve their next drill. “If that’s what we’re doing, we may want to recall all department heads, sir,” he reminded her diplomatically.
"Yes, Commander, I think this is a good place to end it. The crew seems prepared. I am pleased, how about you?" She said. She pressed a button on her console, and the ship returned to normal. "Please open a channel." She paused before continuing.
=/\=Good work, everyone. I am pleased by the simulation and how quickly we responded. Department heads, report to the Ready Room in twenty minutes. =/\=
"That was a DRILL!?" Aurora plunged her head underwater, swearing in Aquadian for a solid three minutes before resurfacing.
"Everyone ok down here?" Aurora asked as she dried off. Everyone nodded, and after stroking her crewmates, Aurora headed up to the briefing.
(We will hand wave off the staff meeting and such, unless you all want to).
In sickbay the room grew suddenly brighter and the patients shimmered away as they'd too had been part of the simulation.
Downing tools Greene looked around the remaining personnel whom much like himself appeared revealed no real danger had come to pass. "Well done everyone," he addressed the room. "A testing simulation for all and I'm very proud of your performances."
Vila sat back, smiling. They were going to be alright.
END.
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