Unknown Adversary

Posted on Sun Nov 8th, 2020 @ 2:14pm by Commodore Keiben Haistro
Edited on on Sun Nov 22nd, 2020 @ 1:57pm

908 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 1 - Phoenix From The Ashes
Location: Stellar Cartography Lab - Deck 5
Timeline: Prologue Mission Day -5 @ 0836 Hours

The day had started as with many others. Routine. Inspect the different science divisions under his command starting with Stella Cartography and ending with Astrometrics. Then on to the mess hall to enjoy breakfast with his good and dear friend who ran sickbay before heading to the bridge to report to the Captain. It was a relaxed atmosphere on the ship given its size the Captain wanted it run in that manner. Everyone was in everyone’s pockets most of the time so it kept tensions as low as possible.
This was something Keiben had appreciated about the Captain, the women who had taken him under her wing and started to train him for bigger things within Starfleet that he thought would never have been on his plan. Captain Davies had other plans and he couldn’t disagree that they did appeal to him. Very quickly into his tour of duty on her little Nova Class science vessel she had given him the second officer position on top of his Chief Science duties. He had always assumed it would be several years before any real movement happened in regards to progression to First Officer or even his own command so for the time being he was relaxed and enjoying his time back in active duty.

On this particular day however the routine and relaxation had been shattered very abruptly for everyone on the ship. The haze was starting to life as the heat from a fire very close by started to rouse him, the prickling of it on his cheek starting to become unbearable.

His eyes flickered open and instantly focused on his left side, the console was ablaze, chunks of molten debris scattered like sand on the carpet around him, a moan in the gloom let him know that at least one of the two other officers in here had survived, but what about the other two.

“Sound off” he bellowed over the straining of the hull, the screeching of metal from someplace above them.

“Ensign Miller, I’m fine… T’Sarn is dead. I can’t see Lieutenant Moya”.

Moya was the Senior officer assigned to the Stella Sciences section. The Benzite women had become a good colleague and friend over the years and his panic began to build at the prospect of her death.. He had to fight that down however. He was the Second Officer and he needed to report to the bridge.
With that thought it mind Keiben pulled himself to his feet, a struggle in and of itself given the fallen beams, fires, blaring klaxons and his own impressive sized stature.

He gripped the side of the holo-table at the centre of the room and it was this point he saw his friend, her torso separated from her legs, a fallen support bean having caused her no pain but an instant death. “Moya’s gone… Ensign I need you to get to engineering and…”

And do what exactly? “And do what you can to help”.

Both men stumbled on towards the door as the ship took another round of explosions, this time below decks.
“Commander Haistro to bridge… Whats going on?”

…

He was met by silence. “Bridge, report!”

Still silence.

“Computer damage report”.

“Ship operating on emergency power. Life support at minimum on all habitable decks. EPS conduits have over loaded on decks two through four. Warp core is offline, communications are offline, all tactical systems are offline. Hull breach on decks four, three, two and one”

He interrupted the computers dispassionate clinical report. “Are there any life signs on the bridge?”

“Negative”
“Oh my god!” he whispered, feeling even more sick than he was before. He locked eyes with Miller and could see the young man was starting to loose control of himself with fear. Keiben resolved himself, as far as he knew the Captain and First Officer were dead. “Change of plans Miller, get to sickbay, help the doctor, I’ll head for engineering”.

The younger man nodded, his fear still pulsing from him in waves that almost over powered Keibens Betazoid senses and it wasn’t just Miller he could read now. His senses had started to return and he could feel pain, hurt, panic coming from all corners of the ship but instead of the entire compliment he could feel only a handful. Again he pushed it aside, he needed to focus on the now.

Thankfully for him the little Nova class was so small that it took no time at all to reach engineering. The devastation here was much the same as in the lab and the corridors he had traversed to get here. Three people moved around, one frantically trying to put out a fire the other two trying to raise force-fields in critical areas to contain what little air they had left.
“Report” he called.

“The chief dead, main power offline. Chief Fren has gone into the tubes to try and bring Main power back online… we’ve not heard from her in a while. We are trying to raise force-fields to stop our atmosphere seeping away into space, just the bridge left to cover”

“Keep at it” Keiben didn’t stop moving. He went directly to the nearest console and pulled up the sensor grid… They showed a blip moving away slowly… perhaps the attacker had lost interest? Perhaps they wanted someone left alive to tell the tale… His main question… who were they?

 

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