Star Trek: Starbase 777

It was a bit of a dangerous arrival for the Eventide, as Listone-3 is surrounded by an asteroid belt, but the ship managed to push through the rocks and the abandoned mining equipment to reach orbit around the planet. The equipment left floating out among the asteroids alight some feeling of...loss, the derelict machines clearly built for usage but no longer. It's almost enough to spur feelings of submechanophobia, except you all are in space.

The ACOS, currently stood at the Security console, gave a sparing glance out the viewscreen at the asteroid belt and let out a huff. He didn't like how obvious the sudden abandonment of this colony by the company was, but maybe he was being too kind expecting civility from a corporation.

The tactical officer sat at her bridge console with a crack of her neck, sitting there humming a small Bajoran hymn to herself. “Tactical systems are green.”

"Security standing firm," Maxson reported, nodding toward Kya before returning his gaze to his console. He'd seen enough of the wonderful view surrounding this planet.

Shinji, meanwhile, was just very awkwardly standing in the corner of the Bridge, somewhat nearby all the engineering consoles. He looked very much like a fish out of water (which he was), this was the first time he had stepped foot on a Bridge in his life. He did not know what to do, and so he was trying to attract as little attention as humanly possible.

Near the Engineering consoles, much like Shinji, was one of the Operations consoles. There was a small red light that had begun blinking on that console at...some point.

Shinji, who had been looking around at the nearby consoles because he was kind of bored, noticed a red light blinking at one of the Operations consoles. Now, Shinji, an Engineering cadet, had basically no clue about what Operations stuff was supposed to look like. But, in his experience, red lights didn’t usually mean anything good. He wasn’t sure how long this red light had been blinking.. but maybe someone around here knew about what it did. “Uh.. is that light supposed to be on?” He spoke up, gesturing to the blinking red light on the console.

She stood up and moved over and look at the console. “Likely not.”

Blink, blink, blink…this is a warning light. There’s something blocking comms to and from Eventide.

7

“Oh… comms are blocked. Both ways. That’s not good.” He said blankly, realizing what the light was for. This was bad, and Shinji was honestly regretting his life choices right about now.

She muttered a curse in Bajoran that won’t be translated since she was right in front of a wee cadet before getting back to her station. “No, not good.”

“Brilliant…” The ACOS said with another huff, folding his arms over his chest, “What the hell is going on out here…”

“I mean.. uh.. two options, either it’s some kind of natural interference or someone’s out there blocking our comms. I like option one better.” He said, still staring at the console. He had nothing better to do, after all.

Could always investigate!

She looked at Shinji. “You’re the engineer cadet, you could look into it.” She suggested nicely.

Comms were still down, but sensors weren't. Something, a ship of some kind, was coming up on Eventide, coming in too close to be coincidental, but managing to maintain polite-ish distance.

“We have incoming.” She said as her hands moved like a maestro as she powered up shields. “They aren’t aggressive yet.”

Sideon was very focused on the helm and navigation, being prepped for the hazardous environment of the asteroid field. With the approaching ship detected and plotted on his navigation console, he prepares early manoeuvres should things escalate, recalling the last time he was at the helm of the eventide very vividly.

A comm ping went off! The other ship was hailing Eventide.

Shinji reached to answer the hail, since he was closest to the respective console.

"Hey, y'all," came a slow drawl from the other side of the comm. "I appreciate the reinforcements, really, I do. Ever the helpful type, y'all Federation folks. But I promise we've got the situation here under control, and I'd appreciate if y'all could skedaddle, before the situation gets... ugly." It sounded like a promise.

5

She stood up from her console and looked to the screen. “We wouldn’t be able to do that until the return of our away team, whom we cannot contact at the moment.”

"Tch," the voice sounded, clearly displeased and clicking her tongue against her teeth about it. "Well, they can be returned to ya when we're done. What's left of 'em, anyway, since you've got no idea what you're stickin' your little powdered noses into." What a pleasant individual!

She sighed as she stepped to the middle of the bridge. “Charming. Should we assume you’re hostile now or when you start shooting at us?” She said with a practiced yawn to tick off the person on the line. “I don’t take kindly to threats on my coworkers lives.”

"I ain't threatening no-one, ma'am, and I resent the insinuation to boot. I'm just sayin' y'all have stuck your noses where they don't belong, and now someone's payin' for it." She had a point. To be fair to her. "I'm even offerin' to return your people to y'all, once we've had the chance to deal with this situation on our terms. By no means am I the one bein' hostile, here." The implication was clear. In this woman's eyes, Eventide were the aggressors, butting in where they weren't wanted and posturing when she made an, in her view, reasonable request.

“I resent the “what’s left of em.” implication.” She said with a roll of her eyes. “We lost contact with Highsplint, a colony petitioning for Federation membership, which makes it our business. Our away team losing contact makes it even more our business.” She said with a breath. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about either of those incidents would you?”

Cassius made his way to the bridge, he was late for sure but it was out of his hand. He reported for the bridge quickly hearing the conversation. "Cassius reporting for the bridge, I apologize for the delay. May I ask about the current situation?"

The woman laughed, genuinely laughed, but in a weirdly condescending way. "Bless yer hearts," she said, barely recovered from her bout of laughter. "Y'all really have no idea what you've got yourselves into. Let me give y'all a little warning."

8

The comms cut off at that point, though, and no verbal warning followed. The sensors weren't though, and started pinging loudly in a clear attempt to raise an alarm.

“Stupid sexy southern bitch.” She muttered to herself. “We’ve lost contact with the away team and colony, and I would suggest we prepare for battle. All hands to battle stations!”

2

"Lieutenant, may I ask you who contacted us? I can tell that something's off about her. If she were really a part of the Federation, she'd be providing more details. Although she's acting suspiciously which raises questions about her intentions ..."

“Yes, Sir!” Shinji, still the only representative of the Engineering division online, scurried over to the engineering consoles, ready to watch for any incoming damage, or repair anything that may arise on the Bridge.

“Commander.” She lightly corrected. “And we don’t know much about her I suppose. Still, she clearly wants to be a threat. So let’s be on guard.”

"I see, well, in that case, I suggest we prepare ourselves for what's coming. " He said,, checking his board. "Sorry, commander, I'm new around. I apologize for the mistake." He didn't know that she was the commander which was embarrassing.

Enough yapping. The cruiser raising shields was all the warning Eventide got, before two shots from their phaser banks were aimed at the engines, clearly intended to put Eventide dead in the water.

“Fuck. RED ALERT.” She yelled out, thank the prophets she had already put up shields. “Give em a shot at the engines. Evasive manoeuvres as well.”

"Ay ay captain, targeting the enemy ship's engines! Lock in successful. " Cassius said, locking on the engines and shooting them. However, he wondered if they could use the environment to their advantage. "Captain, may I ask about the current system we're in? We might be able to use the environment to our advantage!"

The cruiser's shields seemed to be holding steady, also starting evasive maneuvres, while delivering another two aimed blows to the shields, seeking to pierce them specifically where they were protecting the engines. While the ship itself was nothing too impressive, clearly the people in it knew a thing or two about how to subdue an enemy.

She growled slightly as she looked at the enemy ship. “They want our engines? Do the same, keep focusing on their shields around the engines.”

"Roger that, all weapons are locked on their engines! Evasive maneuvers are on." He'd add while focusing heavy fire on the enemy ship's engines. "We should be able to dodge their fire, although we should probably keep our engines shielded too, right, Captain? Losing an engine in such a battle will be devastating."

“Shields are at 90%” The security officer reported, holding tight to the console he was now stood at as Eventide swerved through the asteroid belt.

"90%? Well, we should try to lure them in while navigating through the asteroid belt. That way, their chances of shooting our engines will decrease. What do you think, Captain? Should we try this maneuver? It's like trying to make them hit something while focusing on our ship"

“Do it, we might as well.” Kya said as she sat in the captains chair. “And commander, I’m not a captain yet.”

The Eventide rocketed forward, ducking beneath some of the derelict mining equipment and heading into the asteroid belt!

“Target the mining equipment as they fly in close.” She said as she stood up. “Then Mr Maxson, could we wire a probe to work as a mine?”

“We could try…” Maxson hummed, “I’m unsure how long we could set a timer, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Yes. I was thinking we could draw them in close, set a small timer and try to have it blow over their engines.” She said with a hum.

“I’ll get to work on it,” And Maxson went off to start rewiring some torpedos!

“Good man.” She said with a smile.

It took a little while, as if a decision was being made on what to do, but in the end, the cruiser followed Eventide into the asteroid field. They weren't about to come in very close, though, continuing to shoot from a distance, slowly chipping away at Eventide's shields and muddling the battlefield with chunks of exploded asteroids.

"Roger that!" With that, the weapons locked on the nearest mining equipment. Only waiting for her confirmation to shoot. "But ma'am what if they managed to dodge our attack? That woman earlier ,might be smarter than we think." Upon his remark, Cassius noticed how the enemy ship was trying to fill their path with chunks. "They're shooting asteroids from afar on purpose so that we take damage ... we should dodge ..."

One of the space mining rigs erupted, shrapnel and debris blasting across the asteroid belt and raining down on the enemy cruiser’s shields.

Meanwhile, Shinji was still at his console, watching for any damage to the Eventide itself. This was his first space battle, so forgive him for being a tad bit nervous. This was in fact his first rodeo.

Eventide’s shields were now at 80%

The cruiser didn't particularly seem bothered by the explosion or the shrapnel, barely even moving out of its way. It shields seemed to be holding up very well and it only really made moves to dodge direct attacks, so these indirect explosions allowed it to simply continue its calm pursuit.

“Maxson! That torp being ready would be nice about now!” She yelled out.

“Couple more minutes!!” The security officer shouted back, sweat beading on his forehead as he worked.

As another blast impacted Eventide, one of the consoles near Kya exploded!

“On it!” About as soon as the console exploded, Shinji left up, blasting the exploded console with a nearby fire extinguisher to put out any resulting fire, before looking it over to assess the damage and see if it could be fixed with what he had on hand.

"I'm trying my best to shoot the asteroids near their ship. But it isn't affecting them that much. " He said while his finger danced over the keyboard.

She gasped out as she was sent flying against a wall, but got to her feet with a hand on her head, a deep burn along her face. “Prophets.” Well, Via could kiss it better when they got home. “I’m fine, keep it up everyone. Shinji, go help Maxson. We need that torpedo ready.”

"Commander!" The ACMO was quick to jump into action, surveying what damage had been done to Kya as best they could. "Are you alright?"

As well as he could given all the swerving going on, he ran over to Maxson, making himself useful as an extra hand to rewrite the torpedos.

Shinji’s leap into action was able to prevent any fire from spreading, yay!

“Cadet,” The commander said with a nod, handing him some tools and hefting the torpedo up, “A few more twisted wires, and we’ll be ready to fire.”

This cruiser was not letting up, smashing through asteroids that Eventide had had to swerve around as it pursued them, targeting their shields relentlessly.

5

“Oh for prophets sake.” She swore quietly, then looked at Iviaan. “Sorry, didn’t mean that for you. You know how it is LT.” She said with a sigh. “Maxson, Shinji please hurry it up!” She nice-yelled.

Maxson loaded up the torpedo and turned to Shinji, “Cadet! Get to the console! FIRE!”

"Over here, I've got you..." Regenerator to the rescue! Given the severity, who knew how much it'd actually do, but he needed to be here in case anything else happened. Helth (edited)

2

Shinji practically dove to the console, tripping a little before he managed to hit the button to fire it on the way down.

"Yep this doesn't help, their ship is way better than ours ... however .." He he murmured to himself, for a while he thought about the possibility of making Eventide move behind the enemy ship. "Perhaps if Eventide could actually move somehow behind the enemy ship and focus its fire on their blind spot, then maybe things will swing our way." But he wouldn't suggest such thing, not at this situation.

The makeshift torpedo mine raced toward the cruiser!

She smiled as she looked at it fire. “As soon as the timer goes, I want everything hitting that stupid southern asshole.” She said with a cough as Iviaan did what they were paid for. What’s that? We don’t pay them? Sure we do! In experience!

4

The cruiser did make some sort of effort to move out of the torpedo's way, clearly recognising it for what it was. It was a larger ship, though, better at bigger movements than it was at dodging singular torpedoes. It continued firing at Eventide, unhindered by the uneven terrain of their playing field, but it was clearly wary of Eventide.

Tick…tick…tick…BOOM! Just before the torpedo cleared the area of the cruiser, it exploded right at the back of their engines!

"Right, I'm locking on all the weapons on their engines, our torpedo didn't miss its target." And just like that, Cassius opened heavy fire on their ship, focusing on their engines.

“Rip their engines off if you have to.” She yelled out.

1

While the explosion wasn't enough to fully breach the shields, it clearly rattled the cruiser, which sustained some damage. While under fire, they stopped firing themselves, turning away and instead putting their energy into recovering shield power, so they could make it out of there.

“…they’re running!” The security officer said in disbelief, still catching his breath after the rather stressful situation of making a time bomb.

"Do we have more torpedoes? I'm firing everything we have on them. But they're trying to recover their shield power. Which we cannot allow! "

A comms message rings out in the Eventide!

Shinji pressed the button to answer the comms, having gotten off the floor with little injury except for a sore forehead that would probably bruise later from where he hit it on the console. He was clumsy normally, the tilting and swerving of the ship had not helped him.

"Here, Cadet..." Regenerator for you. You cannot escape it. Iviaan offered a weary, but reassuring, sharp-toothed smile. Helth x2. "Very well done. I'm no engineer, but taking a moment to lick our wounds rather than pursuit would be preferable, no?" (edited)

2

Having heard the comms message, Shinji instead ran to a console to beam up the injured local mentioned in the comms- with a little nod of thanks for the heal on that bruise, Shinji enjoyed not being in pain. (edited)

She groaned as she looked at the ship flying away. “Pursue the ship, we can’t let them come around for another pass with shields.”

The beam goes through! Lorne is now in the med bay!

Another comms message, though it wasn't trying to establish a connection. It was just the captain's voice, loud and full of rage. "Y'all ain't seen the last of me, Starfleet! This ain't over!" Then, the cruiser breached the edge of the asteroid field, and immediately went into warp, buzzing off out of reach.

5

6

“Asshat.” She said as she stood up. “Good work everyone. Shinji, Maxson, you saved our asses.” She said with a smile to them. “Let’s get to repairs and stay in orbit. I’ll reply to the away team.”

Shinji gave a little smile, proud of himself. Wanting to make himself at least somewhat useful, he grabbed whatever tools he could find and tried to set about fixing the console that had blown up in Kya’s face.

Iviaan took his spot, exhaling a soft breath. "I don't exactly envy the away team, if the colony has similar manners," the TTS rang out, his hands a little shaky on the holo-keyboard.

Shinji nodded from his place bent over the broken console, hoping similarly that the away team was alright. “I hope they’re okay..” He said quietly.

"Is everyone else doing alright?" Iviaan decided to take the moment they had to breathe to check up on everyone on the bridge, especially those who'd been around the console, and those who'd been out of sight when it all happened.

“No injuries on my end…” He said with a huff, quietly contemplating their next move.

“I’m fine.” She said as she raised a hand.

She sat in the captains chair with a sigh. “Good work everyone. We did good out there. Consider this earning your shore leave next month, hm?” She said with a smile.

“Believe me…it will be well earned,” He said with a chuckle, leaning back in his seat.

Shinji, who had just gotten done fixing the console, looked up, residue from the fire extinguisher and from some burnt materials still on his hands and wrists (he had rolled up his sleeves). “Yeah… I guess we have.”