Unless You Mean to Shoot

Posted on Wed Mar 11th, 2020 @ 11:57pm by Division Admiral Thomas Lasky & Commander Siaxx Warfield & Commander Moni Nasao PhD & Commander Nathan Duhamel & Lieutenant Commander Marie Hasti-Antilles & Lieutenant Commander Anthony Duval & Lieutenant Commander Kthaara 'Leadfoot' Taavoro & Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Yamaguchi & Petty Officer 2nd Class Cheleya Dvald & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Commodore Neban Hular & 1st Lieutenant Candace "Hoppy" Crowchild & Major Ellen "Viking" Mitchel & Colonel Hadar "Jem" J'Herim

Mission: Mission 85: My Soul's in Arms, and Eager for the Fray
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 0900Hrs - May 12th, 2392

Teval watched the Tactical situation from the main bridge. Most of the combined Fleets Battleships, Battlecruisers, Fleet Carriers and Cruisers were busy running down a large group of Klingon battleships and those new Vo'Quv class fleet carriers. The main fleet was busy kicking the Klingons out of the system for good, chasing them away from the other planets in the system. Roanoke's Task group as well as a dozen other task groups consisting mostly of Destroyers, light carriers, escort carriers and troop transports around Goranar to support the mop up operation around the planet. The only large ships still present with the battle group was the Battlecruiser Ryazar's shield and three Akurian cruisers. Even Dreamcrusher and the rest of the Roanoke group cruisers had gone and joined the hunt, leaving Roanoke, Courageous, Spirit of Winter and the battle groups destroyers as well as Argonne, Lancaster, Tranquility, and Avalon.

Captain Torilla Yamaguchi had all of her starfighters out on combat air patrol around the small battle group remaining around the Gorn homeworld. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid." the tall female commented softly.

Meanwhile over on the USS Roanoke. Commander Tom Lasky regarded the display on the front of the bridge. "They aren't being very subtle on things, are they?" he was referring to the large Klingon fleet that was retreating.

Nasao sniffed softly as she regarded the tactical display. "Nope. I have to wonder why they are retreating so quickly."

Lasky raised an eyebrow as he sighed softly. He was about to say something when Moni Nasao raised her head. "Oh boys, we've been snookered. I've got a second attack force of Klingon warships, coming right at us."

Lasky shook his head. "I feel insulted. The leader of our battleship force fell for the oldest trick ever." he turned. "How long till they are within firing range?"

"About ten seconds," Nasao responded.

"Fabulous" Lasky responded in a dry tone. "If there are any starfighters left in our hangers, launch them all and I mean now!"

Wukari and Cyrin got the orders from the bridge and Wukari quickly briefed her squadron commanders over the Comm," Alright, we have a large Klingon force bearing down on us. Concentrate on taking out the birds of prey, the more guns we take out of the fight the better, and shoot down any enemy fighters if you get the opportunity. Sorry if we can't get you a balanced load of the ordinance, whatever your fighter launches with, that's what you are going to get."

Cyrin didn't have time to fit the fighters with a decent set of weapons, His only option was to load the fighters with whatever missiles he had staged already, which was just little more than a hodgepodge of just about everything.

Senior Pilot Officer Anthony "Polly Rolly" Brunel hurried to his bird. "Alright. Time to kill these bastards!" he yelled as he climbed into his fighter. "Okay... Let's do this."

Meanwhile nearby several other Roanoke pilots raced to their birds. Master Pilot Officer J'Herim "Jem" Hadar was among them as she moved through the sea of people presently moving towards their own birds, she climbed in and quickly got things rolling. "Prophets, guide my weapons and my hand on this, our day of battle," she muttered softly while performing her start-up sequence.

Master Pilot Officer Ellen "Viking" Mitchel raced to her own fighter as she growled softly, she almost ran up the ladder to her bird's cockpit before climbing in and then strapping herself down, she then began her own start-up sequences.

Hadar blinked as she closed the canopy of her fighter before sealing it shut. "Alright," she said quietly. "Squadron Six, Second Wing. respond?"

The responses came back quickly as Hadar nodded. "Get set to launch," she commented.

Leadfoot formed up his own squadron, making sure to check what weapons loadout his squadron had, and like many others, it was kind of a mixed bag. Most of his squadrons loadout was at least anti-ship missiles, but his squadron still had some weapons that didn't really belong there, such as bombs designed for ground support. Unfortunately, those bombs were too low powered to be of much use against warships, but he had to make do with what he had. His squadron was the third to leave the hangar bay, and he immediately set the squadron to go after several birds of prey that were bearing down on the Lancaster.

Hadar led her merry band of miscreants out of Roanoke's hanger, she checked the sensor displays. "Squad Six. Let's go clear out the four Birds of Prey chasing the Tranquility."

Meanwhile aboard the USS Tranquility. Commander Siaxx Dvald watched the oncoming birds of prey with nervous eyes. "Come on guys... Get those bastards off me," she muttered under her breath.

Hadar noticed she didn't have a lot of ordinances and she was sure many of her guys didn't likewise. "Alright, each flight target one Bird of Prey and throw everything you have at it." Hadar didn't have any other choice as she got a series of clicks in response.

Meanwhile Hoppy followed her own Squadron as they were going after several more Klingon ships chasing the USS Spirit of Winter, which was arguably the best-defended ship present. She was presently screening Avalon and Argonne from the oncoming enemies menacing those ships.

Meanwhile on the Avalon. Captain Neban Hular watched the display with a quiet dispassion, his wife was here with him but their children were back on B Kayor but he focused on the dozen Birds of prey rushing towards his ship. "Marie, start shooting as soon they enter weapons range. don't wait for me."

Lieutenant Marie Hasti nodded. "Aye skipper. Weapons are ready and so am I."

Teval took notice that there were no real flag officers present within the group of ships here so he ordered calmly. "Send a distress call to the main fleet, tell them we need them back here now."

Lasky watched Rykar go to work as he sighed. "Shit," he muttered. "Moni, as soon as they enter range, throw everything that's not nailed down at them."

Nasao nodded her furry head as she almost whimpered.

Siaxx Meanwhile sighed. "What weapons do we have?"

"A set of two phaser emitters where the old photon torpedo launchers used to be. Nothing else." came the half expected response.

"Oh shit. B'onaq, start evasive maneuvers, I don't care. Something, anything to throw them off.."

"Aye skipper." the Klingon woman went to work on her panel, ignoring all else around her, it was then a moment later that all hell broke loose as the Birds of Prey started shooting at everything in sight.

Hadar pulled the trigger on her starfighter as four missiles launched off of their railings, all four smashed into the bird of prey's shields but the other three fighters punched through and killed the first bird of prey, two and three flights did the same to their targets.

"Anyone got any missiles left. Use them on target four." Hadar called out as she broke to port to acquire visual on her new target.

Meanwhile, Candace Crowchild was not so fortunate as she took a glancing blow from one of the Klingon ships attacking the USS Spirit of Winter. She knew her bird was finished so she flew her bird on a suicide ram of one of the Birds of prey. Hoppy smiled as she tapped the display, activating her escape transporter which beamed her out as the fighter collided, a massive fireball ensured.

The rest of her squadron, however, raked the Klingon ships over with phaser fire before one of them exploded thanks to weapons fire from the Spirit of Winter. Lieutenant Gabriel Yamaguchi was in an angry mood and it showed as he was not being subtle with his ordinance. His fingers were flying over the displays before him, unlike many in his position, he did not speak as he focused on the task before him.

Meanwhile over on the Courageous. The scene was repeated as Lt Commander Nathan Duhamel also fired at various Klingon ships attacking his own ship. He was calm as he let loose with weapons fire, watching as Klingon ship after Klingon ship fell prey to his weapons fire and the crossfire that was being established with the other Federation ships present.

Leadfoots Squadron dumped their ordinance on multiple Klingon birds of prey that here bearing down on the battlegroup, netting two kills and a heavily damaged target. Unfortunately, they expended all their ordinance in this task, leaving them with nothing but their phasers. However, Leadfoot knew that going back to rearm while their ships were being shot at wasn't an option, so he had no choice but to try and work the enemies over with phasers.

Suddenly his comm system screeched. "Leadfoot watch out."

Leadfoot barely had time to notice the Klingon fighter running straight at him. He tried to move his fighter out of the way, but the crazy Klingon pilot drove his own fighter right into Leadfoot's port nacelle, taking the nacelle clean off and sending his fighter spiraling out of control, and plummeting to the planet below.

Meanwhile on the USS Roanoke's bridge. Moni Nasao watched as Leadfoot's fighter fell out of the skies over Goranar, she sighed before she turned her attention back to the fighting at hand, her resolve hardening by the second. "I will kill you all." as she went to work on doing exactly that.

Meanwhile, the Avalon was starting to feel the effects of the fighting, as was the Tranquility, the small medical ship was losing her shields and since she couldn't fight back, she was helpless. While she would normally be seen as an unhonorable foe, today the Klingons were fighting for keeps and not honor.

Siaxx remained in her chair as the ship shook around her. "Damage?"

"Shields are almost gone. I have major systems failures across four decks. I'm losing main power." came the response. "Skipper we can't keep taking hits like this."

Siaxx nodded. "I know," she commented as several fighters flashed in front of her bow, being chased by several Klingon fighters, then a series of missiles followed by more Federation fighters.

On the bridge of the Avalon, this freighter variant of the Galaxy was not well armed but Lieutenant Marie Hasti smiled as she swatted aside a Bird of Prey, the small Klingon ship tumbled away, wreathed in fire as it did so. "There are a lot of those birds of prey..."

"They are wearing us down.." Neban responded in a dry tone of voice. "So their large fleet units can finish us off later."

Leadfoot wrestled with his burning fighter but to no avail, this bird was determined to nose dive straight into Goronar. So with no options left and thankful the latest flight suits contained parachutes, he blew the canopy of his fighter open and jumped out, several thousand meters above the ground. Less than 20 seconds later the fighter slammed into the forests below, exploding in a spectacular fireball as he pulled on his chute and then floated to the ground. Unfortunately, there was nothing but forest around and no clearings for him to land on, so naturally, he ended up falling into a tree. After a rather painful ride through the tree branches, Leadfoot found himself hanging upside down by the cords of his parachute, his fight suit was completely torn up, his body covered in cuts and bruises and he hung there contemplating his life decisions. With no one around to hear him, he said to himself, "That's it, I'm done with fighters."

Meanwhile, the Tranquility was getting banged around rather good with her shields being fully depleted. "That's it. Shields have failed."

"Evacuate all outer sections of the hull," Dvald responded as she watched one of the two birds of prey pestering her to get shot down by some of Roanoke's fighters while the last was coming at her, almost bow on. "Fire!" Siaxx yelled.

Chief Petty Officer Jason Ryan did as he was told, firing the ships forward mounted phasers, right into the face of the onrushing Klingon ship which exploded, however, the debris continued ballistically, crashing into the Tranquility. Due to the fact that this medical frigate lacked any sort of armor, the shattered remnants of the Bird of prey more or less tore the hull of the Tranquility apart as the debris swept over the ship's hull, causing major structural damage as it went.

Dvald closed her eyes as the explosions raged around her, fortunately, she came through unscathed as did her bridge crew her ship, however, was not anywhere near so fortunate.

Meanwhile, over on the USS Roanoke, three birds of prey were making an attack run when one of them took a direct strike from a warhead launched from one of the Federation ships, the Roanoke, unfortunately, was too slow to maneuver out of the way and the Bird of prey exploded upon impact with Roanoke's shields.

This effect caused explosions on the Roanoke hull. Petty Officer Cheleya Dvald was just in the one place where she didn't need to be, as there was a massive explosion right on top of her before the hull disintegrated, blowing the young Bolian woman out into space. She flew away with a loud scream as the air was sucked away from the compartment that vented explosively into space. A moment later she suffered an impact from a piece of debris that ended her suffering, a moment before the Tranquility's transporter retrieved her.

Meanwhile, the Exocomp known as Copper sealed off a hallway nearby, saving his damage control party but sacrificing himself in the process, he quickly began downloading himself into Roanoke's computer core before the blast wave caught up to him, in the final nanoseconds of his existance, he transmitted a farewell to the Roanoke and her crew before he was incinerated by the heat blast from the explosion.

Lasky felt the ship shudder around him. "Report?" he asked the Engineering officer on the bridge.

Hakaya looked at the incoming damage reports and the ship's internal sensors. "Shields are down, we have multiple hull breaches, a big one on the engineering section and several more in the lower saucer."

Neither Teval nor Lasky had time to issue any orders before the other two birds of prey took advantage of Roanoke's vulnerability and they threw a full volley of disruptor and torpedo fire into the damaged carrier. And if it weren't for the intervention of two dozen 200 cm railgun rounds from the Ryazar's shield, the birds of prey would have had the chance to fire a second volley and finish off the carrier. Most of the torpedoes and disruptor shots hit the pod and the engineering section, however one torpedo impacted near the bridge, and though the warhead didn't penetrate the bridge, it did cause spalling, spraying the bridge with shrapnel.

Lasky winced. "Shit!" he yelled as the shrapnel flew through the bridge, Moni Nasao ducked behind her post as several others were not so fortunate, the sounds of people screaming as they were wounded echoed around the bridge.

Lasky opened his eyes, he looked around to find himself unhurt. "Teval!" Lasky turned to his skipper who was wounded.

Teval picked himself up off the ground, not noticing that a piece of shrapnel had gone into his stomach and out the other end, causing him to bleed profusely. He looked around the bridge, assessing the damage. The helmsman was incapacitated along with many other Crewmembers, but the worst was Rykar. The Arakor female was pinned to the wall, a large piece of debris impaling her just under her ribcage. Rykar, barely conscious, was unable to feel her lower body at all.

Teval realized what had to be done. Looking at Lasky he said. "We have to get the ship away from here, take operations, I'll take the helm."

Lasky nodded, stepping into the seat that was slick with Rykar's blood. He sighed. "Okay. This ship is a right mess. If she wasn't going to the scrap heap after this assignment, she is now." he added.

Moni Nasao rose back to her full height as she went over to where the medkits were located, she pulled out one of them as she began tending to the injured, quickly going to Rykar. "Damn, she's dead." and then she moved onto someone else.

Hakaya had her own issues, She had a piece of shrapnel go into her leg, which left her sitting on the ground. Little did the kurokuri realize, the shrapnel piece stopped only millimeters short of severing her femoral artery.

Nasao came over to check on her. "Hey. How ya feeling?" she asked the small being before her. "Don't touch that. Let me check you okay first k?" she ran her tricorder over the smaller beings frame. "Crap. You touch that, you die," she commented. "It's right up against your femoral artery," she commented. "Let me handle things for you." and with that, the large Caitian went to work.

Lasky turned to Teval. "Shields are out, most of the systems are down all over the ship. We got hull breaches all over the place, it's a right mess skipper.." Lasky paused. "The Akurian warships are moving into screen us from the enemy."

With some difficulty, Teval pulled himself into the helm position and replied. "I'm taking the ship away from the combat area. If we have to, get ready to evacuate the ship."

Lasky nodded. "Comms are down. Engineering is working on it," he commented in a dry tone before the comm system beeped. "Coms are online," he commented. "Lasky to all hands, prepare to abandon ship. I say again, prepare to abandon ship."

Fortunately, no further Klingon ships chased the Roanoke as they were all busy attacking other ships in the battle group or trying to fight off the counter attacking Akurian vessels.

After some 10 minutes of maneuvering, Teval successfully got the ship maneuvered clear of the major combat area, just as the first wave of fighters from the main battle fleet passed by to assist the beleaguered battlegroup. It was at that point that Teval allowed himself the luxury of passing out.

Lasky smiled. "The fleet is returning, we won!" he called out. "Teval, we won. Goranar is ours!" he turned as he didn't hear anything from the small being over at the conn station, the turbolift doors opened and several new crew members appeared. Lasky tapped his combadge. "Medical assistance to the bridge." he paused as he tapped the operations panel before sending an emergency signal to any ships nearby, requesting urgent assistance.

Lasky then went to check on Teval, finding him passed out. "Shit.."

In mere moments, the Spirit of Winter Hailed the Roanoke. "Roanoke, this is Spirit of Winter, What assistance do you need."

Lasky sighed. "We need medical personnel and every single engineer not nailed down. I have a lot of wounded and... A lot of dead too." he sighed. "The Roanoke has been very badly damaged." he paused. "I'm going to boot my non-essential crew off of this ship, save those who can operate tools and can help in Engineering," Lasky explained.

Akaris acknowledged and sent the relevant people.