S1E3 United We Stand

[LK Reede]

Gul Vanar - Bridge

Lizzie turned and looked at Reede.

"It certainly needs looking into, but we need to co-ordinate with the others. Let's check the rest of the deck." She said.

She then added a remote interface to the console so she could stay connected and they headed towards the door a the back.

"Alright, doctor. We'll wait and co-ordinate." LK took a deep breath then let it slowly out. She wasn't used to sitting back, not taking action as soon as she saw a way to do it. Probably that security training kicking in.

Lt. Reede followed Dr. Vaughn, one step behind. As they got close to the door, a chime sounded. LK sidled to her left, pulling her phaser as she did. Checking the settings, she set it to light stun. Maybe what was in there wasn't too much of a threat. I hope.

[Kirok]

"Leave it to Utopia Planitia to update a 23rd Century cruiser, spend ages combining her computers together, and then fail to update her phaser arrays..." Rhymus muttered to himself. Tapping away at the Tactical Console, an idea suddenly formed.

"Sir!" The crewman called out as the Captain moved away. "With the lead vessel out of action, we may be able to take some risks with the other vessels. Low yield photon torpedos, aimed correctly, may be able to disable the other ships much more effectively than our phasers can, however, they are photon torpedos. The risk of destruction is..." He thought for a moment. "Possibly significant. Your choice, Sir."

[Bridge]

Zex turned around to face the new guy.  "I think it is a great idea.  I would prepare the attack" she said.

Then she swiveled back around.  She smiled to herself.  She was finally getting it.

[Martin Jackson]

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Lek swore viciously as he saw dilithium matrix begin to depole.

"Blessed Exchequer! Jackson! The core has taken too much damage! I can't shut it down, but maybe we can save the ship! Eject the core NOW!!"

"Like a warp core breech is somehow better than fourth degree plasma burns! If the core will separate, we'll be sublight only, but it's better than the other option."=

By the time Lek had made his exclamation, Jackson had found the correct procedure.  There was a verbal command component, normally, but Jackson knew that there was no time for it.  He had quickly sought a way to use the ejection system from his current position. Fortunately for all, there was emergency access to the system from engineering.  He activated it the moment Lek gave him the signal, and braced himself for whatever might come after. 

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Bridge]

Zex turned around to face the new guy.  "I think it is a great idea.  I would prepare the attack" she said.

Then she swiveled back around.  She smiled to herself.  She was finally getting it.

"Loading photon torpedoes into fore tubes... We're ready to fire if you so command, Sir. Let's hope we don't star the Second Dominion War."

[Dylan Torngate]

"Loading photon torpedoes into fore tubes... We're ready to fire if you so command, Sir. Let's hope we don't star the Second Dominion War."

[Bridge]

Dylan heard the comment and chucked to himself. "Don't worry Crewman. If a war is started it won't be on us."

Despite his calm demeanor, he was nervous. The ship was taking a pounding, but she was taking it well. Hell was keeping her wounds hidden and tactical was already credited with one mark.

"Target the lead ship, but be selective. Ready... FIRE!" he said, as he waited to see the little orange-red sphere flying to it's doom.

"Mrs Rhymus and Zex... Ever hear the expression, "Thread the needle?""

As he spoke, an awful and terrible idea began to form in his head.

[Lek]

By the time Lek had made his exclamation, Jackson had found the correct procedure.  There was a verbal command component, normally, but Jackson knew that there was no time for it.  He had quickly sought a way to use the ejection system from his current position. Fortunately for all, there was emergency access to the system from engineering.  He activated it the moment Lek gave him the signal, and braced himself for whatever might come after.

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Lek saw Jackson moving and nodded as he saw the Hyumon knew his craft.

"Naive he might be, but at least he knows his way around a warp drive." He thought as the plasma flow indicator dropped 45%. "This is going to be be close."

"Ninety seconds to warp core breech!" He shouted to make certain Jackson understood his timeline.

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Bridge]

Dylan heard the comment and chucked to himself. "Don't worry Crewman. If a war is started it won't be on us."

Despite his calm demeanor, he was nervous. The ship was taking a pounding, but she was taking it well. Hell was keeping her wounds hidden and tactical was already credited with one mark.

"Target the lead ship, but be selective. Ready... FIRE!" he said, as he waited to see the little orange-red sphere flying to it's doom.

"Firing torpedo... Torpedo away, Captain!"

The reddish orange orb shot from the bottom of the viewscreen, lazily curving untill it slammed into one of the remaining Jem'hadar attack fighters already wracked by phaser fire. This ship immediately lost speed, lazily spinning off it's intended course.

"Direct hit, Sir! Enemy vessel is losing power to all major systems, she's not going anywhere."

"Mrs Rhymus and Zex... Ever hear the expression, "Thread the needle?""

As he spoke, an awful and terrible idea began to form in his head.

"With all due respect, Sir, I don't like what you're thinking." Rhymus glanced at the Captain worriedly as he turned the phaser arrays on the last attack-fighter.

[Martin Jackson]

[Gul Vanar Engineering]
"Ninety seconds to warp core breech!" He shouted to make certain Jackson understood his timeline.

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

The deadline did not set Jackson's mind at ease... but, any course of action Jackson could think of would put enough of a load on the system that it would endanger the ejection protocol, given how unstable the core was.  He could only wait for the thing to drop.  "Understood, Mr Lek!  That doesn't give us a lot of distance...  The shockwave is going to hit us pretty hard.  What kind of shield strength do you think we can get on auxiliary power?"

[Lek]

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Lek smiled as he heard Jackson's question and checked the Cardassian ship's shield grid, which made him hiss viciously.

"Shields are offline! I'll see what I can do, but getting hit by a shockwave is going to be better than a breech!"

Lek entered commands quickly and breathed a small sigh of relief as the shields responded, but it wasn't going to be much.

"Shields are at 22% and that's all we're going to get! Plasma flow has shut down! You are clear for ejection! We have forty-five seconds to breech, you have got to get the core ejected now or we'll be too close!"

Knowing how close the situation was to complete failure, he tapped his commbadge again.

"Lek to away team, this will be my last update, we have forty seconds to warp core breech! It is your discretion on when to evacuate, but I recommend leaving yourselves at least ten seconds to escape! Jackson and I will stay with the core until that mark. Lek out!"

[Martin Jackson]

"Shields are at 22% and that's all we're going to

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Lek smiled as he heard Jackson's question and checked the Cardassian ship's shield grid, which made him hiss viciously.

"Shields are offline! I'll see what I can do, but getting hit by a shockwave is going to be better than a breech!"

"Shields are at 22% and that's all we're going to get! Plasma flow has shut down! You are clear for ejection! We have forty-five seconds to breech, you have got to get the core ejected now or we'll be too close!"

Jackson hit the control at the word "now."  Now, it was a matter of seeing how close the shave with the shields would be.  "It's done, sir!"

[Lek]

"Shields are at 22% and that's all we're going to
Jackson hit the control at the word "now."  Now, it was a matter of seeing how close the shave with the shields would be.  "It's done, sir!"

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Lek both felt and saw the core eject and transferred as much power to shields as was available, then tapped his commbadge.

"The core is away! All hands brace for shockwave impact! In four. Three. Two. One!"

The Gul Vanar rocked violently as the shields collapsed and, in engineering, several klaxons sounded as various systems failed. Lek had braced and that did keep him from being thrown across the compartment, but he tasted blood as hit bit his tongue from the powerful impact. When the room, and his head, stopped spinning, he called out.

"JACKSON! JACKSON! REPORT!"

[Kirok]

[Bridge]

Dylan heard the comment and chucked to himself. "Don't worry Crewman. If a war is started it won't be on us."

Despite his calm demeanor, he was nervous. The ship was taking a pounding, but she was taking it well. Hell was keeping her wounds hidden and tactical was already credited with one mark.

"Target the lead ship, but be selective. Ready... FIRE!" he said, as he waited to see the little orange-red sphere flying to it's doom.

"Mrs Rhymus and Zex... Ever hear the expression, "Thread the needle?""

As he spoke, an awful and terrible idea began to form in his head.

[Bridge]

"Sir?" Zex asked.  She had heard the term.  But this was her first time at the helm.

So she wanted to be sure of the Captain's idea.  "No.  But I'm a quick study.  How does it work?" she asked.

[Martin Jackson]

[Gul Vanar Engineering]
"JACKSON! JACKSON! REPORT!"

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Given his largely non-physical post, many would be surprised at Martin's focus on physical strength and preparedness.  It came in handy, sometimes; through the massive quake, Jackson managed to stay on his feet, standing firmly with hands gripping the terminal.  As the shaking subsided, he found his recently-broken nose aching hard, but he was none the worse for wear otherwise.  He had recovered and had started checking the terminal even before Lek's question.

"There's been massive damage, sir," Martin replied almost as soon as he heard Lek's demand.  "The drive system's shot, the weapons systems are down... it'll be a miracle if the shields come up again.  On the bright side, life support's holding steady, so I guess we got pretty lucky."  He turned and flashed a bright smile to the officer.

[Lek]

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Given his largely non-physical post, many would be surprised at Martin's focus on physical strength and preparedness.  It came in handy, sometimes; through the massive quake, Jackson managed to stay on his feet, standing firmly with hands gripping the terminal.  As the shaking subsided, he found his recently-broken nose aching hard, but he was none the worse for wear otherwise.  He had recovered and had started checking the terminal even before Lek's question.

"There's been massive damage, sir," Martin replied almost as soon as he heard Lek's demand.  "The drive system's shot, the weapons systems are down... it'll be a miracle if the shields come up again.  On the bright side, life support's holding steady, so I guess we got pretty lucky."  He turned and flashed a bright smile to the officer.

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

Lek took in the bad news, but still relaxed slightly as Jackson was okay. He wobbled over to the crewman and managed a small smile.

"There is a Hyumon saying, 'it is better to be lucky than good,' and in this case, we were both. Our job was to save this ship in any way we could. It would have been optimal to have stopped the warp core breech, but thanks to these dunsels, that wasn't an option, so avoiding becoming rapidly cooling plasma was an acceptable alternate plan.

"Honestly, with Cardassians, I don't see it as a loss that the weapons or shields are down, and without a warp core, she's sublight anyway, so the loss of mobility isn't that bad either. The only thing we truly need is some sort of hull integrity and life support, which we have, so I am calling this a win. Now, if the Challenger is doing as well, we only have to sit tight and wait for a tractor."

Lek rubbed his chin in thought and continued.

"Since 'some sort' of hull integrity is all we do have, I'm going to need you to route all remaining power not going to life support to the structural integrity field. This ship is likely a total loss, but I don't want it coming apart on us until the Captain can make that decision. Good work Jackson, we'll make a spacer out of you yet."

Lek then turned and tapped his commbadge.

"Lek to away team, please report your status. I'm sorry about the rough ride, but things were in far worse shape than stated."

[Martin Jackson]

[Gul Vanar Engineering]

"There is a Hyumon saying, 'it is better to be lucky than good,' and in this case, we were both. Our job was to save this ship in any way we could. It would have been optimal to have stopped the warp core breech, but thanks to these dunsels, that wasn't an option, so avoiding becoming rapidly cooling plasma was an acceptable alternate plan.

"Honestly, with Cardassians, I don't see it as a loss that the weapons or shields are down, and without a warp core, she's sublight anyway, so the loss of mobility isn't that bad either. The only thing we truly need is some sort of hull integrity and life support, which we have, so I am calling this a win. Now, if the Challenger is doing as well, we only have to sit tight and wait for a tractor."

"Since 'some sort' of hull integrity is all we do have, I'm going to need you to route all remaining power not going to life support to the structural integrity field. This ship is likely a total loss, but I don't want it coming apart on us until the Captain can make that decision. Good work Jackson, we'll make a spacer out of you yet."

Lek then turned and tapped his commbadge.

"Lek to away team, please report your status. I'm sorry about the rough ride, but things were in far worse shape than stated."

Jackson nodded gratefully and got to work.  It was nice to get approval, despite the desperate situation.