A Hero Falls: The Last Light Fails

Posted on Thu Mar 12th, 2020 @ 3:06am by Captain Javier Morales & Commander Rachel Haig. The Eighteenth Lady of Haig & Commander Rachael Falanner & Master Chief Petty Officer Fred Ellsworth & Commodore Edward Antilles & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Command Master Chief Petty Officer James Mandala & Sergeant Major Frederick Bishop

Mission: Mission 86: A Hero Falls
Location: Various Locations - USS Courageous
Timeline: 1400Hrs - May 17th, 2392

Commander Javier Morales was tired and sore, he had assumed command of the Courageous and of the mission that she was responsible for. The Courageous had no engines left so she was not moving under her own power, the Noble class heavy escort cruiser, USS Exeter along with two Kelvin class large destroyer leaders USS Cleveland and the USS Oakland. All of which was ironically enough was being commanded by an old friend of his. The two were presently sitting in Captain Yamaguchi's ready room, except now it belonged to Javier Morales and there were items of Torilla's all over the place, he didn't yet have the heart to pack all of her things up. He knew he had to so there were several boxes present so he could start.

Captain Edward Antilles regarded his old friend with a frown. "I'm sorry I didn't get here in time Javier."

"You got here, that's the main thing, Ed. At least you came." Morales sighed softly. "How many wounded did you and your guys take?"

"As many of them as we could, Your people are overwhelmed as it is," Antilles responded lightly. "How are your people doing?"

"Not well. Torilla was liked and respected by everyone, commanding will be a hard act to follow." Morales sighed softly.

"I don't envy you in the least," Antilles responded. "I'm going to take over your escort mission since. Well, your ship got trashed."

"It wasn't our fault. We got rammed by three separate Klingon ships." Morales explained as he frowned.

"Ramming.." Antilles paused. "That's not a Klingon tactic. I should know, I am part Klingon and I was raised among them." he narrowed his eyes. "Okay. I assume your guys are writing reports on it?"

"As we speak Ed. yes." Morales responded. "They rammed us from behind the cloak Ed, it bears thinking about." he sighed softly.

Antilles looked annoyed and concerned at the same time. "Yeah, old buddy. It does warrant consideration. " he paused. "I'd like to have a look at the sensor records from the battle. They will aid us in developing counters to this new ramming tactics from behind the cloak."

"I'll have Nathan send them to you," Morales responded evenly.

"No. I want to collect them myself, no need to bug your people to sate my curiosity." Antilles smiled. "Besides, all my engineers and medics are busy helping with your ship and crew, respectively." Antilles response was simple.

Morales sighed as the comm system beeped at him. "Sickbay to Morales." Javier raised an eyebrow as he recognized the tone in his wife's voice. "Yeah, Rachael. What's up?" he paused a moment.

"The final casualty report for you. I have the hard numbers now." Haig's voice sounded strained.

Morales took a moment to steady himself, to harden his heart and brace himself for the bad news to come. "Go ahead?"

"We lost seventy-six dead with over four hundred wounded, of those, sixty are criticals," Haig explained. "Rachael Falanner, however, is out of danger and she's going to be alright."

"Alright. Thanks, Rachael. I'll come down shortly to collect the report." Morales explained before he shifted his attention to Antilles as Rachael made her goodbyes and cut the comm transmission. Antilles sighed. "I'll have Cleveland take you in tow as I'm not leaving you here, old friend."

"I wouldn't expect you to. I was prepared to have one of my destroyers tow me." Morales explained

"No. I'll see to it. Besides, your starfighters are crammed into my starships hangers as it is. Many of the pilots are being pressed into use with repairs or so I hear." Antilles smiled.

"That's true. Those with medical experience are assisting there and those with engineering experience are helping there. But Ed... I think Courageous is finished as an active ship of the line." Morales sighed softly as he shook his head. "Like her Captain."

"You think it's that bad?" Antilles inquired gently.

"I do," Morales answered with a sigh when suddenly the doorbell beeped at both men.

"Come," Morales answered, the door opened and in walked two men, both looked about the same age which was their mid-forties but one of them wore a gold shirt and the second wore marine green. "Skipper." Sergeant Major Frederick Bishop was the acting Marine CO aboard the Courageous since Lt Colonel John Burgoyne had been killed in action recently on Goranar itself. "I'm gonna have some of my people deploy to assist with repairs. If that's alright, the rest are already in medical, assisting."

"Thanks, Sergeant Major," Morales responded. "I hear it's a right mess down there."

"Oh yes, it is," Bishop responded. "Anyone not helping is going deck by deck, looking for wounded. If they are alive skipper, we'll find them."

"I know the crew will appreciate your efforts on their behalf. I know I do Sergent Major."

Antilles smiled but he said nothing as Master Chief Petty Officer Fred Ellsworth, who was now the Chief Engineer since Lt Commander Rachael Falannar had been wounded with a dozen broken ribs and both lungs had been punctured, leaving her unable to breathe, much less do anything else, someone nearby had saved her life by having her beamed directly to sickbay.

"Skipper, the final report you've been dreading." Ellsworth handed Morales a PADD.

"Yeah." Morales leafed through the report, it more or less confirmed what he already suspected. "So.. That it then hmm?"

"Yeah. The structural damage is extensive and I've already given my guys the go ahead to start packing up their gear and the like." he turned to Antilles. "The aid your people have given us will be invaluable in letting us evacuate this flying scrapheap, we can pack everything and then we can abandon the Courageous. She's not worth saving."

"Ouch," Antilles commented quietly.

"Yeah." Morales nodded. "Alright, let's proceed with the evacuation. Pack out everything, including the possessions of our dead crewmates, also save their bodies so we can take them home with us."

Ellsworth nodded. "Okay. I'll pass it along."

"Alright. Sergent Major. Go ahead and have your guys finish their sweep and then have them go pack out everything, anything of value comes with, we're not throwing things out because we don't have space."

Bishop nodded. "Aye skipper."

"Alright, off with you all." before Morales turned and went back onto the bridge, where he was met by Master Chief Petty Officer James Mandala who was acting Executive Officer in addition to the Chief of the Boat. "Skipper."

"Master Chief. Anything new?" Morales inquired

"No," Mandala answered lightly. "We'll be arriving at Gornar in a little under an hour." he commented lightly. "the ship's hull can't handle anything over warp six so we're presently traveling at warp five. The Cleveland is towing us but it's just the two of us, as the convoy proceeded ahead of us with everyone else."

Morales nodded his head. "The Courageous is finished as a ship of the line," Morales spoke to the bridge crew, many were junior officers. "Send personnel to pack out everyone's quarters, empty everything into boxes and send them home to Starbase Twelve. Those who own them can claim them there, those that don't, well the boxes can go onto their families." he paused. "When we arrive. I imagine that Admiral Kumirae will pass sentence."

There were various looks around the bridge crew. "Upon arrival, I'm going to send everyone home to pack out your quarters, those of you who wish to assist can help us with packing out the quarters of the wounded and the dead," Morales explained. "Please keep your departments informed, I want all of this done as soon as possible but I will not rush it. Courageous will never move under her own power again and it's likely that her next stop after today will be the breakers yard." Morales paused a moment. "I want this ship emptied of anything of value, sentimental or otherwise and I want it done right... Any questions?"

The bridge crew looked around the bridge at each other as silence reigned.

"Alright then. Let's get this over with so we can put this sad affair to rest and this proud ship out of her misery." Morales then sat down in the command chair before letting out a sigh.