There's No Place Like Home Part IV

Posted on Mon Jun 6th, 2022 @ 3:54pm by Captain Ivan Petrov & Commander Cyrus Cain & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant Cael Maz & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant JG Melissa Jones & Callie Marshall & Lieutenant JG Andrea Carrington

Mission: S1 Episode 2: Caretaker, Part II
Location: Bridge - Deck 1
Timeline: Mission Day 7 at 1445
1406 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Continued:

Bridge
The explosives had been set several minutes ago and, though they had been networking with the Array, no solution had been found. Speaking with Margol was no use; the man knew there was no way he was leaving this situation alive. This had been a last-ditch revenge mission.

"Lieutenant Marshall. Destroy that blasted ship immediately." Petrov ordered, watching the lone Kazon ship not allied with Vengeance floating ahead of them.

Troy brought every weapon to bear on the last enemy vessel. It took only a few seconds before all that remained were glowing debris fragments that quickly disappeared into so much space dust. "All enemy vessels destroyed Captain."

Andrea smiled as she looked at the readings. “Confirmed, The ship is completely obliterated Sir.”

Johnathan grinned an satisfied grin. It was always refreshing to watch the enemies of the Empire die.

"Stand down from red alert." the Captain said as he watch the display of fire before him. The lights returned to their normal brightness and the red flashing ceased. Before anything else could be said, a sudden blue shimmering in the center of the Bridge turned into the form of two Starfleet Officers. Cael Maz and Melissa Jones reappeared before their eyes. "What in hells? What are you doing here? Where's Commander Cain?"

"Commander Cain is still on the Array." Melissa noted.

"..eds you." Cael said as if finishing a sentence that was half started. "That son of a bitch! He's staying behind to stop the bombs. The caretaker agreed to send us back with the last of his energy."

Captain Petrov's eyes went wide at their news. His Executive Officer had put himself in a very dangerous position for the good of the crew. He stood up and turned toward the Ops station.

"Andrea, can you get a lock on him?"

Andrea looked at her console, looking up She shook her head. “I’m sorry Captain, there’s a dampener activated on the station. There’s nothing I can do.”

"Damnit, Cyrus!" Captain Petrov exclaimed, turning back to the screen. They weren't close, but he was sick of losing people. "Get him on comms and then keep working on it. Johnathan, back us up a bit just in case this doesn't work. Troy, raise shields."

Andrea nodded. “I’ll try Sir.”

"Aye, Captain," Johnathan replied quietly, getting a bad feeling in his gut suddenly. He activated his bow thrusters and backed the Vengeance away slowly, ensuring she remained within transporter range of the Array.

Troy had put the shields to minimum after the destruction of the last ship. He poured more power into them once the order was given. "Shields at 68% Captain. It's the best I can do."

"Cyrus, lower the dampening field so we can pull you out." Petrov ordered, his eyes steely in the light of the Bridge.

"Sorry, Captain, I can't do that." came Cyrus's voice in reply. "This Array is our only way home and we can't afford to let it blow up without a fight."

"Damnit, Commander, I gave you an order! Lower the field immediately!" Petrov said, his leather-gloved fists balled in frustration.

"You're a better man than I thought you were. At first, I thought you were a traitor to the Empire, a grasping privileged fop who got command of Vengeance over me because you had friends in high places. But after this past month, going through hells with you, I see I was wrong. It was providence that put you in command, sir, and providence will take your crew home." the Executive Officer said over the audio line. "So, I'm taking a risk and doing what I can do. A good engineer, a mighty task, a final chance."

Ivan paused, blinking silently for a while. Far from stoicism, his face was wracked with emotion. His eyes were watery and his fists were still balled and shaking. His mouth opened slowly and hung there.

"I'm....I'm sorry it had to go this way..."

"Me too, sir." Cyrus said through a chuckle. "I'm going to attempt to overload the network and trigger the failsafe now. We only have 45 seconds on the clock. On your mark, sir."

Ivan's eyes lightened, and though tears failed to fall, they were stuck in his eyes. His face, however, hardened, as he was steeling himself for what might come next.

"Mark."

"Activating in 3...2...1....."

Slightly delayed, the somber counting of the Commander was followed by silence, and then a most unwelcome loud sound. On the screen, the Array ignited at several points and the expanded with massive explosive power until the blast wave reached Vengeance's hull and pushed her away with great force, sending her spinning in the opposite direction.

Cursing aloud, Johnathan fought to remain in his seat. As he did so, he strained to reached his controls. Finally, he was able to re-engage the stabilizers and the g-forces on his chest quickly fell away. His fingers then danced over his controls and he brought the Vengeance back under his command, slowing her spin until she finally came to a complete standstill.

Once the Chief Flight Control Officer had wrested control of the helm again, the ship stopped its tailspin and stabilized. Then all was silent on the Bridge.

Andrea stood in silence, there wasn’t anything anybody could say. Not only had they lost Cain, but they’d lost the array as well.

Cael held onto the railing just in time before everything began to spin. That was it, a life lost of a good man, a way home in bits, and a crew without a fine leader. His face turned away from the screen as he began to make his way to the bathroom. He was going to be sick.

Troy was at a loss for words. He stared at the main viewer, too stunned to think, much less speak at the moment. He shifted his gaze to Ivan. Everything was about to change.

Johnathan was speechless as he watched the last bit of the Array disintegrate. How would they get home now??

Callie had felt the emotional peak and had made her way to the bridge, she could still rest sitting in her seat. She had emerged from the lift just in time to see the explosion, she stood open mouthed before looking towards Troy. She took a moment to shake off the shock before moving to her seat and sitting down.

Ivan watched the screen still, a single tear having streamed down his cheek into his large graying beard.

“His sacrifice….will not be in vain.” He said, his voice thick with grief. “We will avenge him…and all those who have died…and then I will get this crew home. Until then, we will burn like fire through this Quadrant, showing them what the Terran Empire is all about.”

He cleared his throat and balled us his fists.

“Tomorrow morning, we will morn our dead.” He continued turning to Troy. “Mr. Marshall, you are my acting XO. See to it. You have the Bridge.”

With that, the Vengenace’s Captain turned and walked quickly into his ready room.

Troy took a deep breath before looking at the rest of the bridge crew. He cleared his throat. "Helm, lay in a course for the Alpha Quadrant, Warp Five. Sensors begin sweeping our course for resource rich planets." He turned to Callie. "You should head back to quarters, try to rest."

Callie looked towards Troy and nodded. “Aye Sir” She offered a brief smile before getting up from her seat and heading for the turbolift to return to their Quarters.

Watching her senior officer go Andrea turned her attention back to Ops. “Scanning for resource rich areas Sir.”

Johnathan nodded as he turned back to his console. "Aye, Sir," he said quietly, still coming to terms that Commander Cain was really gone.

A few beats later, the stars on the viewscreen seemed to pinwheel to the right and rotate upwards slightly. Then they stretched and flashed, signaling that the mighty warship had leapt into warp.

Troy wore a somber expression. He contacted Main Engineering. =/\=Lieutenant Jones, Lieutenant Marshall here. How long can we sustain Warp Five with our current damage situation?=/\=

=/\= Two days, Lieutenant. =/\=

=/\=Roger that. Thank you for the assessment Lieutenant. Marshall out.=/\= Troy frowned. They were going to have to find a safe place to make repairs and gather resources in very short order.

END