Throwdown

Posted on Sun Dec 4th, 2022 @ 3:48pm by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & Commodore Jacob Kane

Mission: Scylla and Charybdis
Location: USS Athena - Bridge
Timeline: Immediately following "Target that explosion"
1461 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

The smell of smoke filling the bridge also burned at Kane's nostrils as he balanced himself firmly against the handrests of his command chair, eyes narrowed in an attempt to get a visual idea of what was going on.

"Direct hit to Deck 5, docking latches..." someone called out. "We're breaking away from the Avalon, Captain!"

It was a reasonably basic idea: separate his people on the Avalon from their reinforcements by destroying the tether, Kane noted. But it was also an act of open aggression against Starfleet by Romulan forces supposedly representing assets of the 'new' Star Empire. And just like that the Rules of Engagement changed on a dime.

"Get Beta and Gamma sections to mount immediate intercept!" was his order, as he lurched up and towards the helm himself. Not normally one to throw his weight about, he had been pushed into action now. And he wasn't going to keep shouting like that. "Get me the Taleth right now."

Not even waiting for the contact to be established, he already snarled his words out. "Taleth, this is Captain Kane of the Federation Starship Athena. You have initiated hostilities against the United Federation of Planets, and we will respond in kind. Surrender now or we will have cause to annihilate you."

===

Wincing, Admiral Teth found herself at the losing end of her gamble. It had been her belief that Captain Kane wouldn’t open fire for the sake of a docking collar in what was a clearly limited tactical move. She looked over to the tactical station and raised her head slightly; her customary way of asking for a report.

“Two of the three Athena sections are closing on us, the section at the Avalon is moving off and closing the rear. All sections are fire ready.” Her officer confirmed.

Addressing her bridge, Teth rose and set out her orders, holding a single raised finger towards the ops officer in standby for opening the incoming hail. “As the channel opens, make immediately 180 mark 0 and run on the command section of the Athena at the Avalon; target all fore weapons on her bridge and fire when in range; bank starboard and bring us around to the second section, full weapons to bear on her warp core ejection external hatches.” She dropped her finger and the channel opened.

“Captain Kane…” she smiled, feeling the subtle lag of the interial dampeners catching up with the sudden about turn of the Valdore Class Warbird. “It is you who will stand down. You have…” - her eyes glanced over to the tactical console and quickly got a read on the closing firing distance - “…twenty seconds to comply”. She wanted to avoid this, and as much as it was evident that the Taleth could obliterate Kane’s section of the Athena on its own, the two far sections were rapidly closing and the greater firing range of phasers of disruptors meant she was seriously lacking the confidence that she had the upper hand here. It was down to fractions of seconds - if she could reach Kane before she was intercepted and cripple the command section, she could get out of this with both the Taleth and the Avalon in tact. If Kane was insufficiently distracted and those other two sections got into firing range first….things would turn out a lot differently.

Another glance as she waiting for the Captain’s response - fifteen seconds.

===

Kane's grimace deepened at the threat. If P'rel was correct, then they were fairly evenly-matched, but the Romulan was more belligerent, and likely wouldn't hold back.

Some more Starfleet reinforcements wouldn't be unhelpful right about now... He mused silently. Then the switch in his head clicked. Unless they already did.

"Commander Shan? Tell me your teams restored main power to the Avalon," he said, turning to the Andorian. She angled her head a little.

"Minimal. The lights are on, but it can't really maneuver," she explained.

"I don't need it to maneuver," he said. "Bring the Avalon's forward phaser banks online. On my mark they're going to target the Taleth's port nacelle." Looming over the helm, he manually input the targeting from Athena's side.

"Firing their phasers...could overload the EPS relays..." Shan noted. He ignored the input, his eyes fixed on the Valdore on the screen.

===

The tactical officer nodded at her, and Teth raised her left hand to customarily bring it down like a hammer to give the fire order, as the word formed on her lips she was thrown forward from her chair. Several relays overloaded around the bridge and the telltale groaning and cracking of a hull breach came shaking through the trembling hull. As her officers scrambled back to their feet, reports began to be shouted across the rushing din of leaking coolants and environmental control gases.

“Avalon and Athena have opened fire!”

“Both nacelles have been hit! Warp power is offline! Main power fluctuating!

“Plasma fires in main engineering!”

“Casualties ship wide!”

Teth looked in disbelief at the view screen and the flickering tactical readouts. Somehow the Avalon had managed to fire off one concentrated overloaded phaser burst, at the same time the command section of Athena had fired from the opposite side and largely obliterated both warp nacelles. “Fire!” She shouted, reiterating her original order. She couldn’t take her eyes off the view screen; her prize, her magnificent prize - the Starship Avalon with its sensor array which would have enabled her to seize the entire sector - was listing and breaking apart. Like a giant egg breaking in space; the intrepid class federation ship slowly ripped itself apart with spreading cracks ripping across the hull, the growing fissures interspersed with plasma explosions and coolant leaks.

The Warbird turned clumsily and fired off the seven of the twelve disruptor banks still operable, but with fluctuating power and damaged tactical systems it was a random chance just how many would hit Kane’s bridge, or the ship at all, and to what degree of ballistic yield. From the tactical display she could see that a handful of the discharges slammed into the Athena, and the Taleth suddenly bucked once again as the two other sections of Athena opened fire. Cracks and bangs reverberated around the bridge, dead or wounded officers lay on the floor at impossible angles with barely a few remaining alive at their posts; orange and green flames danced across the walls as yet another volley of federation weapons came crashing onto her ship. “Fire at will! Escape course now!” She yelled over the background noise of chaos and destruction.

===

"The Taleth is breaking off, Captain!"

"Get us as close to the Avalon as possible. We have people there. Triangulate for emergency transports." Kane ordered, knowing that the other two sections could be relied upon to see the Romulans off.

"But the radiation-"

"I don't are about the radiation!" he barked. "Get. Our. People. Out."

The Ensign at Ops looked pale but just nodded wordlessly and went about his work.

Still hovering over the helm console, Kane just watched on the screen as the Avalon began to break up right before their eyes. A bitterness filled him, as it did whenever he watched another ship destroyed. It could so easily have been his own command going down, he recognised. For this moment there was sadness for the loss. But also a determination to make sure his own people survived.

===

Glaring at the view screen between the raging flames and the collapsed support beams, Teth swore and strode to her comm array as both her targets, Athena and Avalon, both grew smaller on the screen and began to be masked by the nebula gasses. “Activate secure channel to beacon 626, Sol System…” she ordered. A displeased greying Romulan man appeared on the screen, staring past her and to the chaotic damaged bridge behind her.

“You failed…” he stated, rather than asked.

“Captain Kane survives. He is more resourceful and less predictable than your reports indicated…” she winced as something overloaded nearby.

“No matter. Kane will not be an issue for much longer…” the screen went dark, and she wondered what the new plan was. The entire plan, all of it as far as she was aware, was to kill Kane and the Athena crew. The Avalon may have provided a genuine and opportune bait, but they needed Kane out of the picture without simply attacking them in open space. Whatever would come next was far above her station, and she had survival itself to consider - not least what would happen to her when she escaped the nebula.