Alea Iacta Est

Posted on Fri Oct 31st, 2025 @ 1:44am by Commodore Jacob Kane

Mission: Aeon's End
Location: USS Athena - Bridge
Timeline: MD-03
758 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Repairs had been painfully slow, even with the support of their counterparts on the future USS Athena. Kane was frustrated that his own lack of engineering expertise was likely hindering rather than helping - leaving Zora to middle-manage the whole thing and try to keep him from getting annoyed. So far that had had mixed success.

His eyes ran down the summary of ship status: Main power was back up and running. The Quantum Slipstream was a lost cause and would need a drydock reinstall. Warp Drive was a few hours away, though impulse had some life in it. Shields were just about there. A few weapons might work in a pinch, but with sensors still proving to be a problem it wasn't like they were going to be accurate against anything smaller than a moon; something to do with the temporal jump scrambling the sensor software and some code that needed to be fixed.

Thankfully, most if not all of the crew were relatively inharmed. No casualties, mostly scrapes.

Admiral Kane's ship had left them an hour ago; not wanting to leave but also being clear that long-range communications were risky with the Final Imperative virtually everywhere, so messages to the rest of their holdouts needed to be done at short range. The promise of reinforcements being on the way was uplifting, but they were temporarily alone, using a small debris cluster from some battle from a few years ago being their only real way of laying low. At least for now.

Drumming his fingers on the armrest of his command chair, Kane's scowl wouldn't shift. Patience. Patience.

"Commodore?" the duty Ops officer's inquiry was tentative, as if sensing the CO's mood. "I think...sensors seem to be coming back online, sir."

"Finally..." He grunted. "Now if we could just fix communications-"

The computer noise from the Ops station stopped him mid-sentence. It was one of those more familiar 'alarms' that told him things were about to get messy.

"Sir, unknown sensor contacts on the edge of range...trying to lock them down."

"Wait, don't switch to active-" Kane's momentary hesitation before giving the word meant the order was too late. He could hear the sensor board lighting up.

"Oh shi-" The Ensign, pretty new and inexperienced from his age and disposition, gasped before regaining composure. "Six contacts on intercept course. They're...they're fast..."

"Final Imperative," Kane noted, pulling the sensor data up and already matching it to what his counterpart had provided. He cursed not having communications available. "Sound battlestations. We might not have internal comms, but people should be able to figure out a red alert." He was gripping his chair again. "Helm, impulse power, try to use some of the debris to shake them."

"Aye sir."

"Weapons status?" Kane looked at tactical.

"Barely power for a few shots, sir."

"Make them. We can't take any chances," he ordered, trying to bring up his counterpart's tactical data to give some insight into strategy or defensive measures. With the ship in the state it was in, however, options were incredibly limited.

Phaser blasts ripped from the forward banks as the Athena danced away from the fast-moving craft. Like darts, they weaved but stayed in close proximity. One of them was struck a glancing blow, staggering almost out of formation before rejoining.

They didn't open fire, however. Kane's reports said nothing about weapon systems.

"Commodore, they're-"

"Going to ram!" Kane finished the helmsman's realisation for him. "Break hard to Starboard!" he added. The ship rolled, the craft disappearing from view for a few seconds, before the entire deck shuddered and screamed beneath their feet. Kane was on his feet already, lurching to the Tactical station to look for himself.

"Five objects embedded in the outer hull. Deck 9B: Lower Shuttle Bay and Secondary Deflector Control," the Lieutenant indicated. "They pierced into the inner hull, without even firing a shot."

"That means they weren't intending to destroy," Kane muttered, already going for the storage locker at the back of the bridge. "They're boarding us. And we need to respond. Get whoever you can on the line and get the word out: all hands to counter intruders." He snapped the compression phaser rifle up over his shoulder.

He'd read the reports from the other Starfleet ships that had encountered the Final Imperative in this strange twisted future. If they were right, they were about to face the fight of their lives to defend the Athena from a force that had decimated the Federation.