Confrontations

Posted on Sun Feb 23rd, 2020 @ 10:23pm by Admiral Jake Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 5: Skyfall
Location: Main Bridge - USS Courageous
Timeline: 1200Hrs - Janurary 18th, 2389

"It Never rains until it pours," Jake thought as he regarded
the Typhoon Pact Freighter on his viewscreen and as he expected,
there was trouble aplenty to be had.

Several hours earlier, the USS Courageous had stopped one freighter
which was carrying crates of supplies marked as 'foodstuff's but
in actuality it was carrying weapons, more specifically it was all
ground-based weapons like body armor and various handheld weapons,
someone was preparing for a ground attack somewhere and from
the amount of them that had been recovered, it was going to be a
very large operation.

Jake and his crew were naturally concerned but his Task Group was a
a mixed bag of Federation and Klingon ships had effectively blocked all transit through their sector, Green Five but the Typhon Pact had reacted by deploying Warships along this area of the Federation border.

This was what had led to this confrontation as two Mogai class Warbirds
appeared from out of the astral mists of space as they disengaged their cloaks, they settled into a protective embrace of their wounded companion, the freighter itself powered up their engines and slowly
began moving off, as if to flee the coming fight.

Jake was expecting this. "Hail the Freighter and tell them to stand down
or we will make them stand down."

"Sir, they have locked weapons onto us."

Jake had been expecting that too. "Someone is in a frisky mood today..."
he quipped. "Lock weapons on everyone and prepare to fire at my command but... let them fire first..."

"Aye sir... going to Red Alert..." replied Commander Fred Noonan who was at the tactical console.

"Bear, what're the freighters distance to us and have they stood down.?"

Commander Otis Kurleenbear who was nicknamed 'Bear' for two reasons. The first was his sheer size and mass which was second only to Commander Hulur as he was larger then everyone else on the bridge and the second was because of his personality, he was rather stoic in how he operated and talked to people, he knew he was intimidating so he controlled his emotions and his manners around others.

"Negative sir... the distance is now at ten kilometers and slowly opening," he commented, the massive figure of a man who was sitting at the conn station which looked almost to be too small for his size as his wife, one Commander Elizabeth Kurleenbear smiled. "Sir... the Freighter Captain is signaling, he's standing down sir...."

"Well... they were easy...."

"Too Easy." came the voice of reason on Jake's right side, one Commander Neben Hular, a Capellian make who easily out massed Jake himself by almost fifty percent, this was saying a lot as Jake himself was six foot and change and weighed in at almost two hundred and fifty pounds, Neban massed almost four hundred pounds of muscle and stood in at six foot and eight inches, in short, he was a powerhouse of a man.

"Sir, the Typhon Pact warships are Hailing us, demanding we stand down and stop hassling innocent trade in this area."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Idiots, clearly can't read a map as this is Federation space. Hail them please?"

Commander Elizabeth Kurleenbear smiled. "A Commander Raknis would like to speak with you."

"Indeed." Jake paused as Neban raised an eyebrow. "You going to let him or her stew Jake?"

"Yep..." Jake's response was as Beth added. "He's getting annoyed."

Jake's smile only grew as several moments passed as he added as the bridge crew looked around at each other, clearly bemused by their Captain's actions. "Put the commander on the screen."

The interview was replaced by an angry-looking Romulan female as Jake almost laughed at her, it took every ouch of self-control but he was able to stop from laughing. "Commander Raknis, I am Captain Jake Yamaguchi of the Federation Starship Courageous, I'm going to assume that you've lost but this is Federation space and your ships are trespassing, the Freighter will be impounded but its crew, however, are free to leave."

"Unacceptable Captain, you stand there and provoke us at every turn. You will allow our craft to leave unmolested or we will open fire." the angry woman replied.

"No," Jake responded bluntly. "Perhaps you are hard of hearing Commander,"
he commented evenly. "This is Federation space and the Freighter has been caught carrying weapons," Jake explained. "It is you who shall stand down..." he looked left and then right, then he turned his attention back to the Romulan female.

"Do not mock me, Captain Yamaguchi. I will open fire."

"Do not toy with me Commander, I take threats to my ship, crew, and person very seriously," Jake replied bluntly, yet he kept his tone mild. "I don't think you understand just how seriously."

The Romulan woman growled at him. "Enough, stand down and we will leave with the Freighter intact."

"After... you leave her cargo with me," Jake responded bluntly.

"This is an attempt at Piracy Captain, it's beneath you," Raknis replied in a derisive tone.

"Not really as your Freighter was caught inside Federation space, carrying weapons to the Krazzle, now as an act of good faith... I will let the crew leave with you rather than have them arrested," he commented. "But Commander.... either way, you are leaving without the Freighter."

"You try my patience Captain."

"You are testing mine Commander.. Take your people and depart at once...."

The screen flicked back to the starfield as the Freighter remained motionless. "Captain, they are beaming off the Freighter crew and-"
as Beth explained, the Freighter was suddenly bisected by a massive explosion that quickly consumed both halves of the Freighter like a rapacious beast consuming its prey.

"They were never going to let us keep the Freighter but either way, we still win," Jake commented as the two Romulan Warbirds turned and slipped away back into the darkness of eternal night as they engaged their cloaks.
"Helm, resume our patrol route. Stand down Red Alert."

"Aye Captain."

Jake sighed as he sat back in his chair. "Same speed as before, engage when ready Bear."