Hostilities Commence

Posted on Wed May 19th, 2010 @ 11:00pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Lieutenant Commander Abigail Valera & Lieutenant JG James Riller & Lieutenant JG Jourdan Abbott & Lieutenant JG Lucas Jameson & Lieutenant Bradley Openhouse & Lieutenant JG Christopher Rogan & Commander Jordan Gunning

Mission: Borderline Diplomacy
Location: USS Iapetus Bridge - Orbit of Bevrud
Timeline: MD08 - 0758hrs

"Commander. The Elyshan ship is hailing us" Jourdan reported from her station. She looked up at the viewscreen waiting for instructions.

Acle raised an eyebrow, then schooled his face and mentally ran through a checklist on his appearance. He even glanced down to check his fly, having learned to do that the hard way. "On screen Lieutenant." he said, his deep voice steady and without emotion.

"Aye sir" Jourdan said tapping her console.

As the Lieutenant tapped at her controls, the image of a tall, powerful Elyshan appeared on the screen. By the view behind him, he was clearly standing in the centre of the bridge of the ship, and by his clothes, it could easily be discerned that he was not a member of the Elyshan Guard. That meant only one possibility was left; it was an Elyshan Faction ship - one of the many independent pirate groups in the Elyshan territories.

"Starfleet," the man said, using the term to address Commander Walex directly, as the man in the centre of the bridge. "You will stand down and prepare to be boarded. Your ship is forfeit; your crew is forfeit; you will answer to us, or you will die."

Abigail muttered, "Like hell we will." The Chief Science Officer turned to Acle with a look of disgust and hissed, "You won't seriously consider this will you?" Abigail didn't want to live her life on an Elyshan Pirate ship until the end of her days. Or worse die as soon as the ship was forfeit. She waited for Acle to reply.

Gunning had prepared Cathcart (NPC) for this moment. Her hand ran across the surface of her console as she picked out the areas she knew she'd be firing on in a few seconds. She gritted her teeth as the targetting scanners identified potential ranges of fire. Bring it on.

James looked up and viewscreen and raised his eyebrow as his went back back, "I don't think so"

Acle's face tightened almost imperceptibly. He did not allow himself to glance at Abigail although he sorely wanted to. "I am Commander Acle Walex, commanding the USS Iapetus." Acle neglected to mention the fact that he was not the captain however. Strong fronts must be maintained. "You are interrupting a sanctioned mission of the United Federation of Planet's Council. Be advised, any further hostile acts on your account will not be tolerated and will, in fact, result in sever penalties. I will urge you to leave the system at once."

Acle paused then and considered his next words carefully. "This is a Starfleet Vessel. We do not surrender to pirates." he said, his tone level, his face emotionless. Only his eyes betrayed any emotion at all. He'd be damned if he let some pirate capture the Iapetus. He flicked his gaze towards the monitor to one side of the bridge, which indicated the ship's energy readiness. It'd be close...

"Then you will be destroyed," Lissek responded, nodding to someone off-screen; the signal to begin charging the subspace field generators.

Allison took one glance at her sensor screen before bolting her head up and blurting out, "I'm detecting sub-space weapons signatures, sir! They're charging weapons!"

"We have no defense against subspace weapons sir. I can reinforce the shields and structural integrity, but it will only give us a slim chance" Jourdan explained from across the bridge.

Acle pressed his lips together, then did the unexpected. He smiled. He locked eyes with the other commander and felt his lips almost curl into a snarl. "Cut Channel." he said, never breaking the others gaze until the screen flickered to a picture of outer space, the hostile ship center in it.

"Red Alert!" Acle barked, his voice steady although loud. "Helm, full impulse. Break away from the planet. Once you have gained sufficient distance from the planet, engage in evasive maneuvers. Keep us away from the planet to minimize civilian threat." Acle turned to look towards the back of the bridge, then spoke again. "Tactical, weapons free. Engage at will, all phaser banks. Await my order to fire torpedoes. Ms. Abbott, inform sickbay to expect casualties and do what you can with defenses. Abigail," Acle began, slipping and calling her by her first name. "Try to get a better reading on what type of weapon they are throwing at us."

Acle paused for a brief moment to take a breath as he tapped his combadge.

=/=Walex to Engineering. Chief, I need all she has and more right now. We are engaging in a full pitched battle.==

=/=Jameson here. I'm giving you everything I've got right now. I'll be up to monitor things from the Engineering console on the Bridge in a couple of minutes. Don't let them wreck my engine before that!=/=

"I'm boosting power from secondary systems to Weapons and Shields" Jourdan said from ops. Her hands flew over the console as power from holodecks, replicators and secondary power systems boosted the Iapetus's weapons and shields.

Abigail tapped her console and did every scan she could think of, but so far there was no luck in identifying the weapon being used against them.

"Okay then, let's see what's happened in the time it took me to get up here." Luc said as he stepped out of the turbo lift and moved to the Engineering console "Good, no changes that I'm spotting skim reading it."

Abigail gave a low hiss of excitement, "Sir I think I have it. The weapon is something that any Faction can get a hold of, but according to my readings they seemed to have it charged, but they are not firing." She turned and said, "They seem to be waiting for something."

"Agreed, its charged and ready to fire. However I can't determine what it'll do to the ship Sir" Jourdan explained from the ops console.

Allison acknowledged the Commander's order by firing every available phaser arc that the Luna class vessel had. She waited for Riller to place the Iapetus in a position where she could lock the torpedo launchers on the enemy vessel.

James nodded as his hands darted over the console, "Aye sir, full impulse", as the Iapetus left the planet and engaged towards them. He did not only have to prepare to perform evasive maneuvers but also had to prepare to do what he could to keep the Iapetus safe from the subspace weapon they were using.

Acle watched as the ship maneuvered in space, gaining distance and speed. He looked towards the monitor detailing the ship's energy output and sent a silent prayer into space. The red glow from the consoles turned everything into an almost sinister look as phasers stabbed out from the Iapetus into the other ship.

"Keep firing Miss Cathcart. Standby torpedoes." Acle said, eyes studying the tactical readout. "Mr. Riller, on my command, bring her to course 187 and hold her in line for a strafing run." Acle ordered, calculating the course number required to bring the Iapetus directly in line with the ship that was beginning to pursue her.

"Understood", James replied as he prepared to set the Iapetus on course 187 as ordered.

Allie's hand dropped to the torpedo-load mechanism. "Quantum torpedoes standing ready, sir! They've taken a direct hit to their forward shields."

As the Iapetus manoeuvred to evade fire whilst still returning fire, she was moving further away from Bevrud. Lissek's ship, however, stopped its forward momentum upon reaching the outer reach of what would be considered in orbit of the planet, firing its phasers and torpedoes at ever-increasing range.

"We're taking damage! Shields down to seventy-three percent!" Allie called out to the Commander while her hands flew across her console. They dropped down a level as she launched a volley of Quantum Torpedoes at the opposing vessel. She checked her sensors. "I'm returning fire but it's barely scratching the surface! Their forward shields are draining but far slower than ours!"

She turned to the Engineering officer as sparks flew and consoles bleeped and hissed all around the bridge of the Federation ship. The noise was deafening but she needed to make herself heard. "Can you give me any more power to the phasers, Chief?!"

"A little, but not a lot unless you want us dead in the water." Luc said, playing with the controls "Try it now."

As the ship continued to move further away from the planet, the weapons hits on her hull diminished, until finally the Elyshan weapons fire ceased, the Iapetus too far out of range for the now-stationary ship to hit.

"They're trying to drive us away from the planet," Acle said in realisation. Tapping a few commands into the command chair's armrest computer, he double-checked to confirm that they were indeed out of the faction's weapon's range. "All stop, Mister Riller. Apply thrusters to station keeping. Mister Jameson, I want damage reports, and I want work underway to commence repairs. Miss Cathcart, start an analysis on their attack patterns, why they didn't use the subspace weapon we detected - anything. Just give me something to go off."

As the various members of crew moved to see to their assigned tasks, Acle leant forwards in the captain's chair. "What are you up to, Sovereign?" he muttered to himself, low enough to prevent any curious eyes diverting to him.

----------------------------
Commander Acle Walex
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Abigail Valera
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Allison Cathcart (NPC)
Played by: Lt Gunning

Lieutenant JG James Riller
Chief Helmsman

Lieutenant JG Jourdan Abbott
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant JG Lucas Jameson
Chief Engineering Officer

Ensign Christopher Rogan
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Iapetus

&

Elyshan Faction NPCs
Played by: Capt. Krace