Boarding the Apollo
Posted on Sun Mar 24, 2019 @ 10:45pm by Ensign Jonathan Baker & 2nd Lieutenant Gage Aravan & Warrant Officer William Fontaine & Captain Madelina Weisz & Lieutenant Colonel S'er'in'e & Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Lieutenant JG Logan Hunter & Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes & Major Kasia S'er'in'e & Ensign Kenneth Henderson
Mission:
On Slippery Ground
Location: The Badlands
Timeline: MD 1 || 1400 Hours
Previously on Into the Badlands II
"Captain, phasers only, disable her weapons grid and remain on station." S'er'in'e stood up. "You have command." Then he left for the Transporter Room while en-route gathering a phaser rifle, hand phaser, tricorder and made them ready.
Maddy arched a brow, but said nothing, though if looks could kill, the Colonel would be moon dust.
"Engineering to bridge," Tom's voice called over the comm. "All systems are now entirely stable. I'm shifting power reserves to all defensive systems."
"Acknowledged, Chief," Maddy said since she now found herself in command. Was she happy about it? No. Would she do her job? Hell yes.
Izzy was relieved that the main systems were back online. This made her job a lot easier. She started to track the power consumption, and secondary systems, like replicators and holodecks, started to spring back to life. "secondary systems booting up Captain." Izzy just called out, with excitement in her voice. She was eager for the mission to proceed forward.
In Engineering, an alert sounded near where Tom was stating that the matter/antimatter mix was off and could lead to critical breach if not adjusted.
"Dammit," Tom hissed, sliding his chair over to the console to take a look at the latest addition to the bad news. "Engineering to bridge! Bad news. The virus wasn't contained, and it's found its way into the warp fuel injectors. I'm going to try and put us into manual override, but I advise against any sudden moves, or warp speed until I can sort this out." Oh, what he would give to shut the whole thing down and dock with the Triumphant right now...She
Maddy was thinking along the same lines, but she was also cursing the Caitian Marine CO for putting her in her current position. It wasn't that she didn't want to do it, or even that she couldn't, but more of a situation where a crewmember was abandoning their post. "Acknowledged, Chief. I'll make sure you're covered here," she told the Engineering Chief.
"Covered?" Tom asked, surprised by the comment before he realized that Maddy was the one answering all of his questions. "What's happening out there, anyway?"
"I know about as much as you do, Chief," the redhead replied, which wasn't a whole lot. "The Colonel handed the bridge over to me, then I assume boarded the Apollo."
"Of course," the engineer muttered, working frantically to override the protocols. The virus seemed to have learned from their prior actions and quickly walled off any of Tom's attempts to remove the pesky vermin.
=^=Baker to Barnes=^= came the Ops officer. =^=I found a bug in the intermix protocols and have isolated it. A quick reboot should cover it, Chief.=^=
Tom nearly swore. Thankfully he was able to catch the multitude of curse words and transformed them into a rather agitated growl. "Reboots. I've done more reboots in the last hour than I did in the last year." Slapping his badge, he called back, "Thanks, Baker." Several entries into the command line interface later and the reboot began. This process went rather fast and soon the injectors were reinitializing and calibrating. "Warp power will be ready in ten seconds, bridge."
"Acknowledged, Chief," the redhead said, counting down the seconds in her head.
Tom watched the clock closely and ran a level five diagnostic as soon as the reboot had finished. “Warp power restored, bridge!” He shouted as he started to shift all critical systems into safe mode. It would prevent him from making major modifications, but it would also keep anymore malware at bay.
Maddy would be glad when this was all over, and now they were one step closer. "Thank you, Chief. We're one step closer."
Previously on the Tantamount To the Rescue
Arrda sighed. He hated the idea of firing on another Starfleet ship, but he had been given no choice. "May the Mother Creator forgive me..." he muttered to himself as he locked his weapons onto the fleeing Apollo, targeting its weapons systems, and fired.
The Apollo didn't try to dodge, but the phasers of the Tantamount hit the shields without penetrating.
The pilot closed the distance while continuing to maneuver before something caught her eye on the sensors. "There's a plasma tornado spinning up in her path," she said. "Try a torpedo off her nose to get her in that direction."
Arrda growled but not at his pilot. The situation was something no Starfleet officer or Enforcer ever wanted to find themselves in, firing on their own. But what choice did he have really? The answer came back in the neutral, perfectly reasonable tones of Teleth Norr in his mind. None, Arrda. We do what we much, even when that is distasteful. So he did what he had to; he fired a single torpedo across the nose of the Apollo, hoping to force it into the direction that they needed it to go.
The Apollo veered off, but in the opposite direction of the building plasma tornado and fired another torpedo which the pilot evaded.
"The Victorious is coming in!" the helmsman called out as the Aquarius class destroyer came in firing all phasers and torpedoes at the Apollo, battering it until the shields were down.
Kasia looked to her team. "We're going in. Prepare yourselves since we have no idea what's waiting for us on the other side," she ordered, checking her gear once more before she and her team got in position. "Energize."
The pilot checked the coordinates as Gage and the other Marines lined up with the Major, then beamed them over. formation.
Arrda stood and moved to position with his Security team. They were supposed to be interspersed with the Marines, so he was a tiny bit put put that they did not beam in that way, but such was life. Once his team all gave him their ready signal, he looked at the pilot. "Ready for transport."
"Where to, Lieutenant?" The pilot asked.
Arrda thought about that for a moment. Given that what little plan they'd had was apparently not functional now, he needed a new one. "Engineering." he finally told the Bolian. After all, if you could control that part of the ship, you could control the ship. Of course, it was also the first part anyone tried to take back, so...
"Gryphon, fall back and support the Tantamount. Target the nacelles and prevent Apollo from going to warp." Logan got tone indicating he had a good missile lock. "I'll keep these guys busy and join you in two minutes." He cut loose with a pair of missiles on the trailing Corsair.
Logan went after the pair of Orion Corsairs. His first volley of missiles missed the trailing enemy fighter, but did force the Corsair to alter course enough to be out of position to support his leader. Logan pressed the attack, firing several phaser shots at the leader, who deftly avoided Logan's attack.
The trio of fighters engaged in a deadly dance. The Orions unable to get passed Logan, but Logan unable to lock on a killing shot before the quarry's wingman broke the attack. Logan considered the engagement an unqualified success as the Apollo and her pursuers grew more distant.
S'er'in'e materialized behind some huge stacked crates in one of the cargo bays and the sound of furtive voices quickly hushed from someone on the other side when they heard the whine of a transporter.
S'er'in'e found himself in the Cargo Bay, he was greeted with some lights flickering from the damage the ship had taken. Minor, trivial things really but indications a battle had been fought. He'd found his back to some stacked crates, tall, many of them in a neat line. Someone was present, or just left, the scent laced on the air strongly. He stopped, listened, waited. Without footwear S'er'in'e was able to move silently, but he needed to know the lay of the land.
Weapons fire would bring others, alerting the ship to intruders if it had not done so already. He had a choice, kill and in doing so thin the ranks of the opposing force, or incapacitate, these yielded people for questioning and trial.
He saw his first opening, the stacked crates had enough room for him to jump up to and onto, not only giving him height. He couldn't risk a tricorder, that would make a sound once opened.
On top of the crates afforded a view of about a hundred people, all in Starfleet uniforms sitting on the floor with a few Orion guards stationed by the exit with a couple Nausicaan walking among the prisoners.
S'er'in'e could see the gatherings of officers and ratings, quick peeks every now and then showed the guards walking, watching, some mocking the prisoners of their fear. Patience was his tool, surprise his ally right now. He knew he had to risk the tricorder but hoped that the talking, and the sounds of over 100 people would mask it for but a moment.
From the corner of his vision a symbol appeared, he looked at it and blinked. A few seconds later his vision changed and he could see everyone, through the crates, colour coded blue, red and grey for unknown and Weapons highlighted in gold. He'd not used this feature before, seemed a perfect time as any to do so.
Now he had information, information he could use.
Five guards, two by the door, two walking between the prisoners and one leaning against the crates below him. Making sure both weapons were ready, the tricorder secure once again on his person he was ready. Opting for ranged first, the closer to him the target the easier the hit. A deep breath, a moment of calm and clarity. His eyes showed him all that he needed, all he had to do was act.
Standing up with weapons raised he fired. Two amongst the prisoners to prevent them being used as shields. He stepped off the crates as he trained his weapons on the next two targets by the doors.
The whole ordeal caught the guards off balance and completely by surprise, most of all the one under him. Bracing himself for a landing, knees bent, S'er'in'e landed on the remaining guard whom folded like an accordion. The sickening snap and breaking of bones as over 500lbs of weight landed on him unexpectedly. The resulting blood splatter from the wounds caused by the landing.
S'er'in'e stood and raised a finger requiring silence, thankful his uniform helped alleviate the horrors of what they just saw.
At first, there was a surprised outcry from the prisoners, but when they saw that only their guards were being targeted and had been stunned, they quickly went into action and secured them with strips of ripped uniform and disarmed them.
One young Ensign near where the huge Caitian had came down on the guard looked over in terror, then at the guard. His tan face paled, then he turned and vomited all over the side of a crate.
"Easy, Lorenz," a Lieutenant Commander who looked rather beaten up said as he patted the young man on the shoulder and cautiously approached the giant Marine. "Lieutenant Commander D'orine," he said by way of introduction. "Who do I have to thank for your quick work...Colonel?" he asked as he identified the rank insignia on S'er'in'e's uniform.
"S'er'in'e. Marine Commander of the Triumphant that's close by." He replied. "Any information you can give me would be helpful. How many are there, did you hear them talk about anything?" He asked as he watched the door ready for it to open.
D'orine sighed. "I'm not sure. Everything happened so fast. Our computer went nuts and we were working on fixing it when the Orions and Nausicaans beamed aboard. We were pretty much caught with our pants down. They rounded up most of us and brought us here, but I know there's still personnel in Engineering. I wish I could give you an idea of numbers, but I was in the Science lab when everything went down."
S'er'in'e considered his options, there were many of the crew present and something had to be done about them. He reached up and tapped his commbadge. =^= Victorious this is S'er'in'e. I have secured a large number of the crew that were held in one of the cargo bays.=^=
S'er'in'e was unaware of what was going on outside the doors to the Cargo bay so their safety would come first. =^= They will need extraction. =^=
=^=Say again, Colonel.=^=
"Belay that bullshit, Colonel," D'orine said. "This is my ship and we're going to take her back."
S'er'in'e liked the Commander's zeal, however there were larger pictures to be seen. "Commander, by your own admission you have no count on the amount of intruders on board, aged information as to the location of last sighted and you have a large quantity of crew here. I understand your need to retake the ship but you are under armed against a very likely superior force. An armed assault team from the Triumphant will retake the ship, our priority is to ensure the safety of those here. You are no good to them dead, Commander."
"I'd rather be dead than be accused of not defending my ship," the Science Commander said. Several others nearby echoed his sentiment before going to the crates and began to open them. "We've got weapons and we'll take back this ship, deck by deck."
"And that is exactly what you will be if you go out there fired up Commander as you are not thinking straight. Will you take responsibility for everyone here you leave behind? Will you take responsibility for those that go with you but don't come back?" S'er'in'e explained. "You will stay here and assist me in protecting these members, of your crew and that....is an order."
"Begging your pardon, Colonel," D'orine said with a sneer. "But I don't answer to you." He turned to his men as a group of gold collared officers approached with phaser rifles taken from a crate. "Georgio, you take a group of six and head to the Armory. Lopez, you take a group and get Engineering, The rest of you, get in the Jeffjries tubes and report on what you see." He paused and picked out three other officers and an enlisted. "You five are coming with me to the bridge."
He turned to the Marine. "You? Thanks for your help, but if you aren't going to stay here and help us, you can go back to your ship."
"If, you survive, you will submit yourself to me for arrest aboard the Triumphant." S'er'in'e remarked.
"With all due respect, go fuck yourself," D'orine said before he motioned to his people and they all began to move out.
=^= Triumphant this is S'er'in'e. A number of the crew have taken it upon themselves to retake the ship. Request instructions. =^=
=^=It's their ship, Colonel,=^= Michael's voice came back. =^=Assist as needed.=^=
=^=Understood.=^= Came S'er'in'e's reply
"Would you care to join me, Colonel?" D'orine asked.
"Indeed." S'er'in'e answered picking up his two weapons again.
Lieutenant Arrda and his personnel found themselves in a sheltered alcove outside of Main Engineering with intruder alarms sounding already and personnel running to and fro, most of them escorted and watched by four Orions and a burly Nausicaan who stood near the warp core with a massive energy weapon.
Arrda took in the situation quickly, assessing the four guards and the Nausican with the weapon. The weapon itself was only important in the sense that it existed and could be used. Of more importance, of course, was the being holding it. Nausicans were known the Federation over for being ill-tempered at the best of times. This was most definitely not the best of times. Therefore, that one was the biggest threat. However, four Orions could also pose a problem.
His Enforcer training told him some of what could be done. His Starfleet training gave him other options. Something he had learned from watching Malcolm play video games back in the late 1900s and early 2000s, however, gave him another idea. If they could silently remove the Orions, maybe even one by one, then there would be more of them against the one Nausican. The trick there was drawing the Orions away without alerting the Nausican. He studied the creature to see whom and what it was watching.
After a couple of moments, which felt much longer to his people he was sure, he made subtle motions to one of his men to indicate what he wanted the man to do. The others he waved to position themselves to be ready to take down the Orions when they came around the edges of the door to Main Engineering and out of sight of the Nausican. He knew that the sound of phaser fire would attract the Nausican, but that would be fine since that phaser fire would have removed the creature's backup.
The first man motioned to then waited for several of the Apollo's crew to move where the Nausicaan and Orions couldn't see them in order to perform some task. He then called out, "Hey! Someone give me a hand here!" He put a good bit of urgency into his voice but only enough to imply that he needed help with whatever task he was meant to be doing. The idea was to make the Orions think he was one of the Apollo's crew whom they had lost visual contact with and move to help him.
One of the Orions turned to two of the Apollo crew. "You and you. Come with me," he said after he heard the call. He pulled his blaster and raised the settings as he headed toward where the call had came from. "Try anything funny and one of you will end up dead and the other will wish for death," he threatened.
The two hapless Engineers glanced at each other, each wondering who had called when all of the personnel had supposedly been accounted for. As they rounded the corner, their eyes went wide when they saw the armed Starfleet personnel, but acted normal. "What do you need?" the lead Engineer asked as they kept moving forward. The second one moved his hands sideways in front of him and pointed one finger towards his midsection.
Damn... Arrda thought to himself as only one Orion came with the two Apollo crew members. His eyes flicked to a couple of his people then to where he knew the Orion was, indicating that they should take him down as quietly as was possible. Meanwhile, he looked at the two crew of the Apollo while his man who had 'called' them shrugged. "Not sure. I was told to get someone from Engineering. They didn't say what, and I don't ask."
While this byplay was going on, the two Arrda had silently signaled moved quickly... once the Orion was out of view of his compatriots. The bigger of the two hit him over the head with the butt of his phaser rifle while the other one made sure that he didn't make any noise and alert his buddies and more importantly the Nausicaan. They then dragged him into one of the side rooms where oe stunned him to make sure he didn't wake too soon. The walls and doors between their room and Engineering would muffle the sound of the phaser, hopefully preventing overhearing by the wrong individuals.
The Orion went down quietly and the two Apollo crewmen stepped closer. "What the hell are you guys doing?" the leading one asked. "They're going to check on Rasrak in a minute if he doesn't use his comm to report in. They're never out of contact for more than a minute or two at a time."
Daniels, one of the Security officers with Arrda, looked to the two members of the Apollo's crew. They'd wasted enough time, and many lives were at stake including their own. "Can you get me into a hatch closest to the Nausicaan? He has to be taken care of first, then we can handle the others," he explained. "Not that they all aren't a threat, but he's our biggest one."
He knew taking the initiative would likely get him a dressing down, but he'd worry about that later. There were far more pressing matters that he needed to see to now.
"There's no really a hatch near him, but come with me," the lead Engineer said as he glanced around quickly, then headed to a nearby hatch, opened it, and proceeded to climb up towards the second level of Engineering. When he exited, it provided a clear overhead view of the area below them, including the Nausicaan and Orions who weren't looking up.
The Security officer looked down at their current foes, then at his present surroundings. The second he fired, he would be opening himself up to a living nightmare, but it that's what it took to save the many, that's what he would do. He looked toward the Engineer. "Get out of here," he said barely above a whisper. "And... thank you."
The Engineer gave a nod of thanks and headed back to the access hatch.
When the coast was clear, he leveled his phaser in front of him and fixed it on the Nausicaan nearest to the warp core. There was no time to hesitate. Daniels thumbed the setting to the heaviest stun and pulled back on the trigger.
The Nausicaan went down without a grunt and that's when all hell broke loose. The moment his gun hit the floor, a Lieutenant Commander who looked like he was in charge of the other Engineers grabbed it and rolled behind a console. "Attack!" he shouted as he opened fire at the closet Orion.
The setting was anything but stun and the Orion virtually exploded in a gory mess of green blood and raw meat that showered down on the Engineers nearby. One Ensign got violently sick while others scrambled for whatever cover they could find.
The other two Orions looked around for the source of the phaser fire, but when the Nausicaan dropped and the Starfleet Engineer in possession of his weapon, they turned their disruptors to the other Engineers and began to fire.
Daniels saw his chance with all the chaos down below. His location hadn't been compromised, and from up above, he saw the two Orions. The Fates had smiled upon him, and he'd live to see another day as well as those down below, especially when he took aim and picked the two remaining Orions off one right after the other. There was a reason some of the Triumphant crew was handpicked.
With the other Orions taken down and very few Starfleet Engineers injured, the crew once more were in control of the Apollo. All that remained was taking full control of the ship once more and continuing the mission.
Logan found it increasingly difficult to handle his engagement with the pair of Orion fighters. Things turned worse when sensors indicated the Apollo was now being boarded by the joint strike team.
The fighters turned their interest on him to extract a measure of revenge for their botched mission. Instead of playing hit and switch to keep the Orions at bay, he now found himself going full evasive. Help was at least two minutes away at best and increasing by the second.
Logan spotted a gas cloud to Port and dove into it, the Orions in a dogged pursuit. He had one trick, but would have to clear the far side of the gas cloud for it to work. He programmed a detonation delay on one of the anti hip torpedoes and jettisoned it. He slammed the impulse engines to the redline and beyond and prayed.
Seconds ticked off and the torpedo blew, igniting the gases in the cloud. Logan reached the edge as the super-heated plasma shock wave reached him. The Orions never made it clear.
A transmission came in a minute later announcing the the Apollo was secured and the crew of the Triumphant who had boarded would be returning shortly. With that, the mission continued.
