USS Erigone – Bridge – 1420

“We are 45 minutes from the station. and five minutes from intercepting with the Romulan ship,” William Prentice announced from the helm station.  Next to him sat Ensign Roger Allen the freshly recruited and promoted Tactical and Security Chief.

Commander Harris rose from the center chair, “Mr. Allen – what do we know about our new Romulan friend?”

Roger began another detailed scan. There was a tense silence on the bridge while the others waited.

“The ship is still of an unknown design. It’s 15% larger than the Erigone.” Roger paused. “Standard disruptor arrays and one torpedo tube. Their shields are up. Nothing we can’t handle, sir.”

The former CEO felt the urge to frown.  The standard Romulan ship types were fairly well known but the smaller ships were a challenge to keep track of and now they were facing an unknown variable.  “Doc?”

Reid’s hands coaxed details from her science console, “I concur with Mr. Allen – she’s a little larger than us so we might have some challenges there but sensor reports are coming back with a similar read – they’re not coming into this with an advantage.”  She turned in her chair, “I think I found somewhat they’re wanting.” Harris turned on his heels to face her and gave a nod.  She tapped at her console and the view screen changed, “It looks like our friends on the Pentax were doing some deep-cover work within the Romulan Star Empire and the Navy.  Besides the work they did in sharing what they knew as double agents, they were working on getting data, communications, and more showing the plans that eventually led to the murder of the Senate – they name names and had gathered significant evidence of cooperation with the Romulan government and beyond.”

Harris raised his eyebrows, “Beyond…?”  He heard Prentice swear under his breath but didn’t correct him.  Whatever Reid was alluding to suggested something larger and evolving.

Jordan shrugged, “I’m still working through the data but there’s the suggestion of cooperation with some of the larger pirate groups, a syndicate or two plus a couple of extremist groups on the fringe of Klingon politics and even Vulcan.  It’s all very convoluted and makes very little sense.”

Pirates. Roger strongly disliked people like that. Selfish. Violent. Uncaring. He had no qualms taking down some of them if given the chance.

Ambrose grumbled, “It very rarely does.  So we’ve got a data treasure trove that gives details and light to the things they’ve been doing in the darkness…and they want it back.”  He paused, shaking his head, “That’ll be the day.  Reid, transmit to Starfleet the details you’ve uncovered so far…and the raw data files.  Encrypt them.”

She turned to her station and felt her breath catch in her throat, “Commander, communications are being jammed, and pretty heavily.  Looks like our new friends don’t want us talking.”

“Confirmed,” said Roger. “We’re jammed on all frequencies.”

It was the CO’s turn to swear under his breath and he caught his helm officer smile quietly at his station.  Harris returned to his chair, “Well, we’re in it now.  Red Alert.  Mr. Allen, coordinate with Mr. Prentice to your left.  I’ll handle our engineering teams.  Doc – ”

She stood from her station as the lights faded to red and the klaxons rang again,  “Sickbay, yes.”  She tapped her badge, “Sickbay response team, report to stations.”

Roger allowed himself to have a quick smile before putting on his game face. If it came to it, he was up for whatever the Romulans had.

Prentice felt his heart rate pick up speed.  He’d completed his holographic training and he’d done his share of hot shot flying with shuttles and the like, but this…this was different.  This was the real thing and what he did could put them out of range of a blast or two…or it could put them face-first into a wild torpedo shot.  He mapped out a few quick keys for evasive maneuvers he’d studied in his academy days.

Roger could sense Prentice’s nervousness. He leaned toward him and spoke so only the helm officer could hear. “You’ll be fine, Will.”  Prentice glanced at the man and returned his compliment with a nod and a quiet, “Thank you, Roger.”

Harris tapped at the consoles attached to the center chair, “Helm, drop us out of warp and get us on a quarter impulse course to intercept.

William nodded and tapped the command to bring the ship to a stop and then quickly pointed the Raven Class starship at the unknown Romulan vessel.  “Intercept course engaged.”

The bridge was quiet as the alert lights thrummed on and the beeps from the various stations filled the void.  Harris sat forward and muttered, “What are the chances we can hail them and sort this out like grown-ups?”

“No way to know, sir,” said Roger. “At this range, we should be able to punch a comm signal through the interference.”

The CO tapped the console on the arm of his chair, “Might as well try.”  The ubiquitous sound of an open channel whistled on the bridge, and Harris spoke, “This is Commander Harris of the USS Erigone.  We’re here to…”  The Romulan ship let loose a sequence of disruptor fire and the shields held but the ship rumbled a little.  He stabbed the channel closed, “Boring conversation anyway.  Let’s get evasive, helm.  Mr. Allen, we’ve only got 15 torpedoes so let’s make it count. See how our phasers do against that thing.”

Prentice slammed the ship into a dive and swerved out of the way of the next barrage of disruptor fire.  The inertial dampeners grumbled but held.

Roger had trained for a long time for a moment like this. Studying tactics in a classroom and doing holo simulations had increased his skills and honed his abilities, but there never was the danger of injury, or worse. Now that he was in the real deal, the feelings going through him went from fear to being nervous, to the most amazing adrenaline rush ever. He wondered if it would always be like this.

While Prentice moved the ship in an evasive maneuver, Roger waited for the optimal chance to do some damage. When the Erigone was aligned, he fired phasers.

The helm officer swerved the Erigone just as the Romulan attacker blasted with disruptor fire with half of the shots hitting home.  The thundering sound of the blasters echoed over the bridge as Harris pulled up the shield’s report, “Shields are holding, but I think they’re gonna get tired of swinging their hands at us.  Mr. Allen, let’s see if we can concentrate our fire on those two mysterious pieces that we spotted earlier.  Helm, get us in range.”

Ensign Prentice gave a nod to his orders and set them on a direct course for the ship as the Romulans let lose a barrage of disruptor fire, causing some of the consoles to flicker.  He quietly whispered to the Erigone, “Hold together, girl.”

Roger’s mouth was dry, his palms were sweating, and his stomach felt like he was in zero-g training, but he maintained his focus. Targeting the spots on the other ship the CO mentioned, Roger fired a full phaser volley.

“Direct hit!” Roger’s reaction was louder than he wanted.

Harris allowed a small smile to cross his lips.  Allen was turning out to be a good choice.  He gave a gentle warning, “Don’t get cocky, Ensign.  Nice work.  Let’s keep the pressure…”  The bridge shuddered and a console sparked at the impact of torpedo fire.  

Philips spoke up from the back of the bridge at OPS, “Two torpedoes, direct impact.  Shields at 80%.  They’re targeting our shield systems, Commander…” Another shake of the bridge, “Another torpedo impact. Shields at 70%.  Dispatching damage control teams to address shield generators.”

Harris gripped the arms of the center chair.  Time to fight fair.  “Mr. Allen, let’s play the game.  Target their shield systems with torpedoes and fire up to four right at ’em.  Prentice…”

The young pilot grinned, “Evasive and Aggressive, aye sir.”  The Erigone went to full impulse and climbed up and over the Romulan ship with ease and strained dampeners.  Prentice scrambled the ship in a zig-zag pattern to avoid the impending disruptor fire and then slammed the Erigone into a hard right turn, facing the Romulan ship.

Roger waited, waited, waited… Now! “Torpedoes away.” Roger made sure to maintain a calmer demeanor.

The first two shots slammed into the Romulans, and the shields sparkled.  They attempted to evade the next two, but Allen’s aim had been true, together with Prentice’s precarious flight patterns.  The second pair splashed into the enemy ship and the shields reacted again, only this time there wasn’t as much power behind them.

The ops chief called out, “Target’s shields are at 70%.  Showing there is an unusual power surge in their phaser banks…”, the bridge actually shook this time as the overcharged phaser blasts impacted on the Erigone, sending the officers gripping their consoles.  Philips shook his head in concern, “Our shields are at 60% – damage control teams report the shield generators aren’t the problem – they’re targeting the emitter banks on the hull.”

Ambrose grumbled, “It’s what I would do.  Their captain must be an engineer like me.  Mr. Allen, let’s not play it safe.  Push the range on overcharging our phasers and follow up your fire with two torpedoes. See what you can dig into on their ship to bloody their nose a bit.”  He motioned to Prentice, “Get us in range and position.”  The helm officer struggled to avoid the rapid phaser fire from the attacking ship and was halfway successful.  The bridge shook again as the high-powered and targeted phaser fire rippled across the shields and into the power system.  The ops officer announced the shields were at 50%.

Roger was thrilled to be in the middle of the action, but he was starting to get annoyed. He was hitting the other ship, but they were hitting back. It was time to finish this. Targeting the enemy weapons array, he let loose with the fury of everything their tough little ship could muster.

The Erigone’s remaining nine torpedoes let loose across the blackness of space as the Romulans did the same.  

Prentice sucked in a deep breath as his hands jumped to his console and threw the ship into a pitch and roll in an attempt to escape as much damage as possible.  The disrupters splattered across the shields, thunder echoing throughout the ship.  An empty console in the back sparked while the bridge shook…which was nothing until Prentice’s fancy footwork wasn’t enough to dodge three Romulan torpedoes and they plunged into the weakened shields.  The rear consoles exploded, sending Phillips to the ground with a shout and a grunt.  The main bridge lights flickered as a conduit vent exploded and poured steam over the viewscreen.

The floor rattled underneath their feet while Harris tapped his badge, “Sickbay to bridge!”  The environmental fans kicked on as smoke filled the bridge.  Two engineers sprang through the doors with fire extinguishers followed by Doctor Reid and an assistant.  Ambrose leaned forward, “Damage report!”

Prentice tapped his hands on the console, “Shields are at 20%, and phaser banks are offline.  We have some hull damage…but no decks have buckled.”  He tapped the console again, “The Romulans aren’t much better.  Shields are at 30%, but we took out their weapons systems, so all they can do is throw stuff at us.”

Harris swung his chair.  Reid was checking out Phillips and the fire from the console was finally out, leaving the bridge to be filled with Reid’s soft questions to the Ops chief.  She looked up and gave a nod, “He got a face full of fire and bounced off the ground, but we’ve stabilized him.  I’ll follow up from sickbay.”  

“Thank you, Doc.  Keep him safe.”  The CO spun in his chair, looking at the viewscreen.  “Mr. Allen, it looks like our friends…are leaving?”  One of the engineers had a ladder and was working to secure the conduit.

“Yes, sir. They’re veering off,” said Roger. He was disappointed they didn’t get a victory, but they did live for another day. That’s what mattered.

Ambrose motioned to Prentice, “Track them as best as you can, ensign.  I want to know as much as I can about where they’re headed.”  The engineer had secured the conduit over the viewscreen and returned to the rear of the bridge to assist in repairing the consoles that had exploded.  The air still held the acrid smell of smoke and burnt flesh. The CO left the center chair and stood beside Prentice, “Continue our course to the station.  Send a report of this…incident to Starfleet and update them on our intentions to resume the mission.”  He paused and glanced around the bridge, “Let the station know we’re going to need some repair help while we help them.”  The helm officer nodded, the feelings of the battle were slowly fading.  He’d just survived his first encounter with an enemy starship.  He was quietly thankful for the skills of their new tactical officer – Prentice was starting to like the guy.

The CO returned to the center chair and tapped the shipwide communication channel, “Commander Harris to all crew…you performed incredibly well today.  We’re alive because of each of you and your talents.  The Erigone is better with you onboard…and I thank you for what you did for us today.  We’ll be arriving at the station in an hour or less.  Harris out.”  Pulling out a PADD, he began to compose his mission log.