The Poisoned Challice - Part One

Posted on Thu Jun 24th, 2021 @ 6:49am by Commander Ken Noros & Commander Ryan Saunders & Lieutenant Commander Hesutu M'kresst & Major Harry Stamper & Lieutenant Commander Jerzy Wojcik & Lieutenant Commander Katrina Sisko & Lieutenant Kira Stormrage & Lieutenant Kell Stormrage & Master Chief Petty Officer Horus Yamaguchi & Fleet Captain Marie Yamaguchi & Command Master Chief Petty Officer Tom "Guardian" Carter & Lieutenant Raeven & Brigadier General Krann, Son of Magh'tor & Commander Zheng Jet

Mission: Mission 110: Blue on Blue
Location: Various Locations - USS Stalingrad
Timeline: 1400Hrs - October 23rd, 2393

The USS Stalingrad was now almost four hours into her repairs as the activity across the entire ship was more akin to a beehive rather than an active ship of the line, anyone who could assist with repairs was now doing so. This left one island in the center of an ocean in chaos. Marie Yamaguchi was sitting in her chair as she was holding somewhere between boredom and being scared out of her mind, as she kept one eye on the repairs and the other on the tactical display.

Yamaguchi knew that her crew were professionals and her bugging people, pestering them about repairs would not help matters. On her right, Noros noticed Yamaguchi starting to fret. "You okay skipper?" he asked quietly, so only she would be able to hear him addressing her.

"I'm worried that we've kicked over something really big here," Yamaguchi admitted. "I want some answers."

"Queen Mary has them... If we contact Starfleet, then Queen Mary could jam us... They will also know that we're operational again..." Noros paused before he turned to Zheng Jet. "Jet, what's the best way to contact Starfleet without the Queen Mary trying to screw with us?"

Zheng Jet considered the matter as he checked the options at his pannel. "There are no good options... Other than doing this really old school, sending a ship to physically go get help..." he paused. "Queen Mary might still detect the support ship's launch and then might send the Holland to deal with whomsoever we send."

"Skipper, if you want... I'll go." Kell Stoneheart offered his services.

Yamaguchi was highly tempted to take him up on his offer then and there but her common sense stopped her. "No Kell. If this gets stupid then I need my best pilot at our helm... I am sorry..." Yamaguchi added the last, but she had no wish to separate Kell from his wife, as she needed their best at their posts.

Stoneheart nodded his head. "Understood Captain," he answered quietly.

Zheng Jet turned his head. "Captain... The Queen Mary is breaking orbit... They are charging weapons..." he added.

Stornheart raised an eyebrow. "Wait... We're too far away..." as he quickly glanced at his wife.

"They aren't targeting us..." Kira Stoneheart paused. "They are about to glass that planet..." as she sighed, she hated feeling helpless, unable to prevent an atrocity that was about to take place right in front of her.

"Lieutenant Stoneheart is right Captain. They are targeting the colony." Lt Commander Jerzy Wojcik commented in a quiet tone of voice. As the bridge crew of the USS Stalingrad bore witness to a silent horror, a sudden blast of light lit up the display as a blast of light erased the colony and everything around it, in a ring of fire that expanded ever outwards, racing across the ground at several hundred miles an hour, incinerating everything in its path. It was clear that the USS Queen Mary had used far too much force in their removal of the Klingon colony and now the entire planet was about to pay for it.

Yamaguchi sat in silence, transfixed with what she was seeing on the screen before her. "How much damage was done?" she asked in a soft tone, she was sure she was not going to like the number that she was about to hear, as she almost did not wish to know but her duty required it of her.

"The entire northern continent was cooked in the heat blast... The rest of the planet will die in the nuclear winter..." Kira Stoneheart answered softly, there was real anger in her tone as she had just watched a Federation starship murder an entire planet

"Understood..." Yamaguchi answered softly. "What's the status of the Queen Mary now?" she pressed.

"They are still breaking orbit." Lieutenant Raeven answered quietly. "They are coming for us now."

"Let them come..." Major Stamper answered. "If its a fight they want, we'll give them one," he added. "Once we penetrate their shielding, we can board them and take the ship with force..."

As much as Yamaguchi found the idea tempting, she knew that she had to air on the side of caution, she was alone against one battlecruiser and one destroyer, to make matters worse was that they had unknown reinforcements, their intent was unknown and so was their end goals. "Load all missile tubes, arm weapons..." she paused. "Raise all shields and take us to Battlestations. We might not be at a hundred percent but... We will make a good account of ourselves." she ordered.

The lights dimmed for the second time this day as the Stalingrad went back to war, a place that her crew was finding that they knew intimately well. The alarms screamed for the first half a dozen flashes of the lights before they faded into silence as the crew rushed to their Battlestations.

Hesutu M'kresst smiled. "Skipper. All weapons are ready... All systems charged and ready... The Queen Mary will not get the drop on us a second time..."

Yamaguchi nodded as she turned her head to regard her tactical officer. "As soon as they re within range, throw everything we got at them... Do not concern yourself with pulling your punches... Because they won't be."

"Aye sir." the Caitian officer answered as he went to work at his pannel.