A Short Drop and a Sudden Stop - Part One

Posted on Fri Jan 1st, 2021 @ 2:26pm by Captain Kayden Nell & Captain Sarah Horner & Commander Tressa Brislan-Antilles & Commander Victoria 'Enyo' Yamaguchi & Fleet Captain Heather Walking Bear & Commander Alyssa Temetti & Commander Kolar, Son of Magh'tor & Commander Morae Stormstout & Commander Ethan "Hardcase" Duval & Commander Jackson Antilles & Commander Shaalari Zh'Terran & Lieutenant Commander Meslina Amakawa & Lieutenant Sapata M'Herris & Lieutenant Commander Ouros Yamaguchi & Commodore T'Shaamet 'Runt' Antilles & Command Master Chief Petty Officer Elizabeth Smithson & Colonel James "Gryphon" McTaggert

Mission: Mission 105: The Mirror, Shattered
Location: Various Locations - USS Infinity
Timeline: 1330Hrs - October 7th, 2393

Commander Ethan Duval had the conn as T'Shaamet was off of the bridge, seeing to the wounded and a large number of liberated prisoners. Commander Horner was presently in Engineering, assisting with repairs and the like while many of the senior staff were elsewhere at present, like the lounge to eat a meal or elsewhere assisting with efforts around the ship. Duval smiled as he was enjoying the moment, being in command of this large ship. In fact, he could say that this was the largest ship he had ever commanded in his entire life. This did not bother him in the least. "Lieutenant Ameen. Whats our present status please?" he inquired of the Caitian female presently seated at operations. She had an almost exotic looking fur pattern of one part molten bronze or a Burgandy brown meets sky blue. Her eyes were a safe shade of jade while her fur was long and rather fluffy looking, he suddenly understood why his nephew was mated to a Caitian female.

"We're almost finished loading the wounded and personnel from the surface sir, it'll be another ten minutes." the young woman reported. "The transporter rooms are bringing them up quickly, all of the equipment has been sorted and stored in cargo bays two and three," she added.

"Excellent. I'd like to be gone before the relief force arrives..." Duval explained. "Do we know where they are at present?" he inquired.

"They are almost a third of a light-year away, closing extremely fast... The estimated time of their arrival is... fifteen minutes..." she commented as she tapped at her display a few times. "I'm alerting the transporter rooms to step it up with the evacuation."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Duval answered. He knew that any chances of the Infinity getting away had just gone to hell. "Helm." Duval addressed the young Bajoran at Conn. "Put us on an escape vector and warp up the slipstream drive. I would rather not fight..." he commented with a soft sigh. "But if its a fight they want... Well then, I hope they wish it t be short and memorable." he turned. "Tactical analysis. Lieutenant Reed?" he asked the young human female standing at tactical.

Lieutenant Anita Reed was a young woman she could count her descent all of the way back to Earth's second world war. She wore her hair long, it cascaded half-way down her back in a rather angry tangle of curls, it was also a shade of light grey as she tapped her panel. "One Excelsior, Two dozen Peregrine class starfighters. A Nebula carrier variant and two Defiant-class ships. All in all, a good strong strike package." she explained.

"Lovely," Duval answered, his baritone, rich with sarcasm. "What else... That can't be all of them?"

"It's not I'm reading five other ships. Four are freighters and the last is a Steamrunner class starship and they will arrive about thirty seconds ahead of the relief force..." The young woman explained, but there was something off in her tone.

"What's wrong El-Tee..." Duval noticed she seemed uneasy.

"Four freighters are a little much to resupply an out of the way prison colony," Reed commented. "There were only twenty-one hundred people at home... One freighter could do it..." she regarded Duval as she spoke.

"You think someone's toying with us?" Duval inquired in a soft tone of voice.

"Maybe I'm being paranoid sir," Reed admitted. "This uniform is not helping my mindset, it reveals way too much for my liking... and I've had time to think about the nation-state that requires its females to dress this way." she paused. "Which isn't relevant at this time," she admitted.

"On the contrary, Anita." Duval addressed her by name rather than by rank. "You'll find that it's always relevant to tell your skipper whenever you think something is wrong. I might not agree with it or be able to use it but the infomation is helpful."

Reed nodded her head, she felt her cheeks colour as the praise did its work on her. "Thank you, sir," she commented sheepishly. Clearly, she was not used to compliments of any kind. "One of these freighters could be a converted warship..." she added. "I'll be able to tell you more as they get closer... Now eta is five minutes for the relief force," she added.

The Caitian female seated at Operations turned her head. "Sir, we still have sixty people planetside," she reported. "They will arrive about fifteen seconds before we finish our evacuation," she reported.

"Very well," Duval answered evenly. "I guess we're fighting after all..." as he slowly smiled.

The Infinity floated over the planet, almost motionless as suddenly there were four warp flashes as the Freighters emerged from warp speed, then the Steamrunner emerged a moment later. The Freighters began turning to head for the planet while the Streamrunner moved slowly to challenge the Infinity for control of the orbital space. As soon as she was within range, the Streamrunner opened fire with her missile tubes from the maximum range.