Against the Blockade

Posted on Tue Jun 6th, 2023 @ 4:47pm by Caeda & Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth & Warrant Officer Ahira Kasamoto & Lieutenant JG Corvin Hartjin & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant JG Andrea Carrington
Edited on on Wed Jun 7th, 2023 @ 5:17pm

Mission: S1 Episode 5: Ex Post Facto
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Date 2371-08-19 at 1000
3268 words - 6.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Bridge
The Bridge of the ISS Vengeance was silent as the Shadow Fleet and her fleet of hirelings barreled toward the system shared by the Baneans and the Numiri. Besides the four ships of the Shadow Fleet, there were three Vidian ships, two Kazon ships, two Haakonian ships, and a ship from the Krowtonian guard all being paid 150,000 Vidiar each. Considering the exchange rate between Imperial and Vidian currencies, Ivan was paying out 900,000 Golden Crowns in order to win this fight. Only half had been paid upfront, but his mind was already circling around the idea of how to get more firepower in their Fleet.

He turned to his Executive Officer, taking note of Andrei’s unusually tense posture. He could tell that his son had been struggling with feelings of guilt and anger now that his beloved was in danger. Though he too was angry, it was nothing like what Andrei was feeling. The boy had always been buttoned up about his tender feelings, so Ivan hadn’t tried to push the issue. He did have doubts about his ability to be objective as a commander, however. He was resolved to release him in ways that would be helpful.

When they had found out that Lyra had been captured, Johnathan was instantly very angry. He preyed that she was not being experimented on. If she was harmed, he would feel no pity for the creatures who had felt they had the right to do so. He knew both the Captain and his son, would give no mercy to them if Lyra was harmed in any way.

Corvin was quiet and focused on the coming conflict. It was the way he had been trained, that the battle was the most important thing and to envision victory and glory. While he despised the Klingon filth for what he had been forced to endure, he could never deny that it had made him a better warrior and survivor. Though he did find his mind wandering to Lyra and what the Baneans had done with her. Even to her, he re-focused his mind from the seething rage inside of him to the consoles, double-checking the status of their tactical systems.

In this moment Corvin was ready to burn everything that the Baneans held dear as vengeance for their audacity in taking a Terran captive.

Sovas was at his station, stoically monitoring the sensors for any signs of a possible Banean ambush, though so far it was quiet. His own thoughts had turned to Lyra and the fact that she was a captive of an alien power, while he was certain that she viewed him as tainted because of his mixed heritage. Though that did not mean he'd ever wish something like this upon her and it would require a lesson to be shown that you do not cross the Terran Empire, nor do you take their people.

Lyra was not Ahira's favorite person, but he respected her. He knew the Empire was far less than perfect, a sentiment that he kept mostly to himself, but he wasn't a rebel. He wasn't necessarily set on revenge like others on this ship did, but she did deserve to be rescued. And if people got in the way of that rescue? Well, actions have consequences.

Andrea was sitting observing all that was going on, she didn’t know Lyra that well but she wasn’t going to see anything happen to her either.

“What’s our ETA?” Andrei asked, impatiently, his nails digging against the hardened leather of his armrests.

Looking over his right shoulder to the XO, Johnathan replied respectfully, though there was a tone of anger in his voice. Not aimed at Andrei, but at their upcoming targets. "At current speed, we will arrive in the target system in four minutes, twenty-two seconds, Sir."

Andrei sighed quietly, his brows knitting together. Impatient didn’t even begin to describe how he was feeling. He was having a hard time keeping the visions of tortured Baneans out of his mind’s eye, but his desire to see that happen helped him to will himself to focus. He looked back at the tactical console and, seeing Corvin there instead of Lyra, his heart sank. He scowled and looked at the screen again.

“Sovas, I’m seeing several ships on sensors but don’t have the details. It seems they have detected the arrival of our fleet. See if you can give me a clearer scan.” Ivan said, looking down at the console shared by the CO and XO.

"Affirmative Captain," The half-blooded officer replied while his fingers nimbly danced over the controls before he was able to provide a more detailed scan. "There are approximately twenty ships matching the configurations of Numiri vessel profiles, scans indict their shields and weapons systems are online."

"It appears they are eager for a fight, sir."

Ivan grinned darkly and stood from his seat. The large man was strikingly tall in the moment and stood up ramrod straight.

“Open Fleetwide Comms,” he ordered, and when Sovas indicated the deed was done, he turned toward the streaming stars on the viewscreen.

“This is Captain Ivan Petrov to all ships in our fleet. If you look closely at your sensors, you will see that the Numiri Blockade is in full force. They have larger numbers, but we have technological superiority on our side. Some of you are members of the Shadow Fleet, and some of you are here at my hire, but we will fight together as a cohesive unit. Then, when the Numiri have tasted battle with a Terran, the Vengeance will cloak and leave the remainder of the battle to you. Fight well, and the spoils of this conflict will be shared with you on top of our agreed upon amount. Desert this fleet, and I will hunt you down and destroy your ship. It’s that simple. Raise shields, are your weapons, and wait for my command. Petrov out.”

Once the statement was finished, the Captain returned to his seat. When the Fleet dropped out of warp, the other ships immediately fell into a line formation as ordered with Vengeance in the center. There was only a few hundred kilometers between the fleet and the Numiri blockade.

“Hail the lead vessel,” Ivan ordered again and then furrowed his brow when the Numiri man appeared on the screen.

“This is Captain Ivan Petrov of the ISS Vengeance. Our quarrel is not with you, Numiri. We are here to have a little chat with your Banean brothers. Simply move aside and allow my Shadow Fleet to pass into your system and you have nothing to fear.” Ivan said, his voice like a slow growl. “In fact, if the present situation is any indication to me, we might be your best friends very very soon.”

Staring back at Ivan was the rather off-putting reptilian face of the Numiri commander, his burnt orange skin was a mess of ridges and plates that was wholly unattractive to Terran standards. Out of the species they had encountered in a more than passing fashion in the Delta Quadrant thus far, this was truly the most alien. He was silent for a long moment and simply stared at Ivan with his beady black eyes. Finally, he spoke,

"What is your business with the Baneans?" His voice was deep and reverberated with each syllable.

“They are holding one of my officers hostage. If you’ve heard of us before, you know we don’t take too kindly to that sort of behavior.” Ivan said with a grimace. He was even of temperament, like a man who wasn’t afraid of a fight. “What’s it to be, Numiri? Will you stand aside and make a valuable ally or will you stand in our way? Keep in mind…I have an exceptionally long memory.”

“You will power down your weapons and shields,” was the only response the Numiri man gave. His ships were ready for a fight, but he didn’t seem to rush toward it. “Your dealings with the Baneans will be monitored.”

Ivan shook his head at that response. It was a typical demand, but one he would never follow.

“I’m afraid that won’t work for us. We are very…protective of our assets and it would be unwise to make ourselves so vulnerable. And, of course, you know, we could always power up our shields and weapons anyway, so there is really no point. Just permit our entry. We won’t be long.”

“If you attempt to enter this space while your weapons and shields are activated, you will be fired upon.” The Numiri commander replied, his voice now taking on a harder edge as he stared at Ivan through the view screen.

Ivan rolled his eyes then and reached over toward the comm button on the console between him and Andrei. He pressed it, and the Numiri commander disappeared, replaced by the image of their home system and the line of ships that separated it from the Shadow Fleet.

“A fight it is then,” Ivan said with a sigh.

“Good. Andrie said, seeming to lean forward in anticipation. He reached over to the comm himself and pressed the key. “Shadow Fleet, you heard the news. Prepare for battle. Target all of your fire on the lead ship. Don’t stop until it's gone, then defend yourself and await further orders.”

Ivan lifted his head, his eyes on his son as he spoke, Then he turned his gaze back to the viewscreen.

“Fire.”

Corvin didn't hesitate to target the lead vessels of the Numiri fleet as bright lances of orange phasers and the shimmering blue and red shards of quantum and photon torpedoes streaked through the darkness of the space between the vessels. Shields snapped into place each time the phaser hit, being fired in a pulsed burst before two of the torpedoes slipped past the protective screen, striking the hull of the alien ship with a fiery impact that sheered away whole sections and left more exposed to space.

"First blood!" Corvin declared while continuing to strike out at targets as they wove through the nascent battle, the ship shuddering as it was struck by weapons fire from the Numiri ships in retaliation for the blow they'd landed. "Direct hit to port side of the lead enemy vessel, Captain."

As the powerful weapons of the Vengeance opened up on the lead vessel, Johnathan worked his controls rapidly. Outside, the mighty Terran warship dove and moved through the battle like a great white shark in the oceans. Johnathan kept them moving, avoiding the various fields of enemy fire easily.

As the Vengeance, the Fleet, and their hired mercenaries moved in, the Numiri retaliated in rather impressive fashion. Their regenerative shielding was more advanced than what the majority of the fleet had and was possibly even greater than the Vengeance's own shields. It seemed perhaps the ship that had been so easily damaged may have had a shield malfunction as the others certainly weren't falling as fast. The Vengeance rocked suddenly as weapons impacted their shields and sparks flew from some of the auxiliary stations but there didn't seem to be any severe damage.

Andrei was out for blood, as anyone would suspect, and the resistance they met from the Numiri ships annoyed him immediately. He wanted all out success, but these ugly fuckers were putting up a fight. He leaned in to the command console and input a coordinate, broadcasting it through the fleet.

“There lead vessel us an open wound. Let’s take what victory we can early. Fire into that space.”

"Copy Commander." Corvin declared as he focused fire on the already damaged vessel, the shields snapping into the place and holding for several moments before flickering as more the weapons fire from the Vengeance melted away the hull and bored into the decks before finally hitting something vital.

Though strong, the lead vessel suffered a massive explosion and then, arching slightly as if reeling from a punch, cracked like an egg and released all its contents into space. One down, nineteen more to go.

“Excellent.” Andrei said, his chiseled jaw tight as he looked at the viewscreen. The Vengeance bucked with the impact of weapons fire as the Numiri gave back what they got. They started to compensate for the Shadow Fleet’s strategy of picking off one ship at a time by concentrating themselves more tightly together. Andrei seethed silently.

“Sovas, monitor their comms traffic. With their lead ship gone, I want to know who is in charge now.”

Sensors highlighted a single vessel in dark, angry red. "There is some infighting as to whom should be taking command, but the marked vessel has provided more cohesive command and control functions to the rest of the fleet." The half-Vulcan replied while continuing to monitor the enemy comms traffic.

“Shadow Fleet. Target fire on that ship and give it everything you’ve got.”

"They are ordering incoming weapons fire to be targeted against the mercenary vessels and the Krowtonians." The Ops Chief offered up as the Numiri ships began to shift their fire to the alien vessels.

"Good." Ivan said, his voice and tone dry. He wasn't particularly interested in protecting them, though he would like to avoid a reputation for getting allies killed. He reached over to the comms unit and input a message for the merc ships to hold the line and defend themselves as needed. Whenever they weren't being directly targeted, they were to join the rest of the fleet in destroying one ship at a time.

Corvin turned the powerful weapons arrays of the Vengeance onto the Numiri ship as its shields had snapped into place, blocking multiple arcs of incoming weapons fire. While it was holding, eventually even the best defenses had to break as several lances of phaser fire from the Terran ship pierced through the battered bulwark as the beams began shearing away the hull of the alien vessel, streaking across the bridge of the ship followed by a stream of bodies being ejected out into space.

As the they attacked another of the Numiri vessels, the Numiri themselves suddenly shifted tactics and began to mirror what the Vengeance was doing to their own ships. The Vengeance rocked as multiple enemy vessels began to target their starboard nacelle with focused fire. Conduits on the bridge began to rupture as the shields began to rapidly buckle under the concentrated firepower of the remaining Numiri. There were however just enough ships not concentrating their fire to keep the bulk of the rest of their fleet distracted from directly aiding the Vengeance itself.

Andrei balled his fists tightly. Now that he was so near to Lyra, his heart raced faster and faster and his anxiety mounted. The fact these Numiri stood in his way only made it worse.

“We need to get away from this distraction.” He said with gritted teeth, looking to the Captain.

“I agree.” Ivan said with a furrowed brow as he touched the console between them. “All ships, this is Vengeance. We are going to disengage under cloak and proceed further into the system. I’m placing Commander Marshall aboard the Rynall in command of the fleet. Put up a good fight, knock some heads in, and then disengage to await further orders. Petrov out.”

He clicked the button again, silencing the comms, then he turned to Sovas with a nod.

“Engage the cloak. Helm, take us in.”

"Cloaking device engaged." Sovas relayed as the lighting on the bridge dimmed lower, everything bathed in red light as beams from energy weapons streaked by, some coming close to hitting the Vengeance but none did. He monitored the ship systems while waiting for further orders.

As the Vengeance backed away from the fight and shimmered out of existence, the Numiri who had been attacking her paused to scan in confusion before simply moving on to other targets. Meanwhile, Vengeance turned and moved past the space battle, entering Numiri and Banean space uninvited and unnoticed. They moved slowly toward Banea and entered a high orbit when they arrived.

“Tactical, get me a target list of their major cities outside the capital. I want to bombard them with phaser fire, and I want to know where we can do the most damage in the least amount of time..”

"Copy Captain," Corvin replied as he looked to Sovas, who was working in tandem with him to help identify targets and give priority to targeting power plants, manufacturing centers, military installations, and population areas. They had arrived on the night side of the planet as it was moving in its orbit towards daytime and they would be able to see the lights of numerous cities and population centers below them, unaware of the terror about to be raining down upon them. The view screen switched to a tactical display highlighting the high-value targets they could strike with their weapons in their current position. "Targeting solutions ready captain."

“Decloak now. Fire as soon as you can.”

With a tap of a few buttons, the Vengeance had dropped her cloak and orange phaser beams were streaking through the alien atmosphere, followed by a series of explosions as the targets on screen turned red and lights began to flicker and falter. Again and again the weapons of the Vengeance rained down on the unsuspecting Baneans, thousands died either being incinerated by explosions or the destructive high-energy phaser beams as they gouged the surface of the planet like the fingers of an angry god scouring the surface clean.

Domes of fire leaped from the surface as about a dozen Banean cities were laid to waist. The exact number of dead wasn't clear to the crew of the Vengeance, nor did they particularly care. Ivan looked soberly at the screen while Andrei leveled a gaze of anticipatory excitement. With every Banean death, he felt closer and closer to his goal of finding Lyra and making this rebellious people pay for what they had done to them.

"Johnathan, grab Doctor Brasken and meet me in Transporter Room 1. Andrea, Ahira, your with me as well." Ivan said before turning around. "Corvin, get four security crew and meet me down there as well. It's time me and the Banean leadership had a little chat."

Anderi shot up out of his seat, his bulky frame making a presence which was almost as imposing as his fathers. The glint in his eye said it all. The frown said what might be left.

"I know, son." Ivan said, clapping a hand on the younger Petrov's shoulder. "Your time will come here. But I need to set foot on the planet first. They need to see my face; know I'm here."

Without waiting for approval or any indication of understanding, Ivan turned and made his way for the turbolift with his selected away team. Ivan watched him, his patch picking up the signs of anticipation most obvious in the human bodies of those around him. Then turning, he grumbled quietly and sat back down in his chair. He wouldn't sulk. He would simply listen in on comms and be ready to go when it was time.

"Copy that Captain," Corvin paid little mind to the exchange between father and son tapping his commbadge to summon a team together and get them kitted out as he considered that they would finally be laying eyes on the alien scum and they would learn what true terror was.

OFF