Encounter at Vandor

Posted on 09 Jan 2022 @ 4:29am by Captain Gabriel Barron M.D. & Lieutenant Colonel Cassandra Blackburn & Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl & Lieutenant Sarah Graesyn & Petty Officer 1st Class Lia McCarthy

1,470 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Empty Creche
Location: En Route Vandor Station
Timeline: ED 6

ON:

Barron sat on the bridge, the Redemption had strained her warp engines to get to Vandor Station before the kidnapper's ship arrived. They were thirty minutes from the heliopause of the system Vandor Station was located in. Barron looked down at the display on the command chair and pressed a button.

"Barron to Colonel Blackburn, once we drop out of warp and I want the fighter wing scrambled and the rescue bird in vacuum."

"Yes, Captain" Blackburn said, speaking into a standing console on the flight deck as she adjusted her combat equipment, surrounded by activity as the craft were readied. She clicked her fingers and pointed at the nearby deck chief. "Spool 'em up!" she ordered.

"Tactical, when the kidnapper's ship arrives target it's engines, then weapons."

"Aye, sir." After the stress of tracking down the kidnappers, Maggie was eager to not only have something concrete to do, but to have the opportunity to surprise them and get the children back safely. They would have a very small window before the shields went up and she planned to be ready.

"Barron to Engineering, set up the inverse gravity burst to pull the ship out of warp. Then give us as much power to the shields and weapons as possible."

“Aye. Inverse gravity burst will be ready to go; I am swapping LOKI over to power management to allow PALLAS to focus on other areas during the encounter, we will ensure that Redemption sings Captain. With your permission I would like to shunt R&D transformer power to experimental upgrades so they can be brought online should you decide you want to do a test run of anything without risking main power.”

"There will be time for test runs later Lieutenant." Barron said before looking back up to the display. "Bridge out."

Sarah merely nodded in Engineering, setting the the inverse gravity burst to begin charging; shunting the R&D power core instead into a secondary battery to reinforce defensive systems and then sent a signal to the bridge which would green light Engineering on the bridge. Her communications line was open but she knew all too well how important it was to restrict non-vital comms,

"Barron to McCarthy, when the kidnapper's ship is within range coordinate with PALLAS to infiltrate their computer systems I want all the data from that ship."

"Aye, sir!" Mccarthy barked back. She began preloading everything in her arsenal. It was going to end up being a brute force hack, but she was counting on the enemy being distracted while she made herself at home in their systems.

The minutes passed by as the ship sat at yellow alert, waiting for the warp signature of the kidnapper's ship to get within range of the inverse gravity burst. The soft beeping and whirring of the bridge's instruments filled the silence before a voice from the back of the bridge broke the silence.

"Warp signature within range," Maggie said, her voice quiet, but loud enough to be heard by everyone. "Computer identifies it as the ship we're waiting for."

"Thank you Commander, please trigger the burst to pull the ship out of warp and disable the ship. Red Alert." He tapped out a quick message to Blackburn to make ready as the target would be in range soon. The ships interior lights dimmed and the automated alarms began blaring.

"PALLAS, please disable the klaxon we are quite aware of the situation." Barron said softly.

“Initiating Inverse gravity burst now; give it a three count once she’s out of warp before opening fire so we don’t get a rebound effect” Sarah’s voice was steady and calm, betraying none of the nervousness or excitement she felt. It was far from her first combat situation but this one was something she took a little too personal since it involved kids.

Maggie raised an eyebrow at the engineer, but said nothing. She fired on the engines, then again on the weapons before the ship could raise shields.

As soon as Lia heard the first full salvo being fired, she initiated her connection to the enemy ship and let loose her own array of various viruses, worms, and hacks to overload and break their systems. The download began as soon as she connected to their main drive.

"McCarthy to bridge, connection has been established and beginning assault on their computers. Download initiated."

Blackburn stood on the flight deck, helmet hanging from one hand, looking over the shoulder of the combat analysis officer as the feed came down from the ship’s tactical systems.
“As I feared Ma’am, I think it’s some kind of transporter scrambler.” he said.

“Fine. Never easy, is it?” Blackburn raised her voice of the noise of the spacecraft engines powering up behind her. She lifted her helmet to her face to speak into the microphone. “Blackburn to Captain. Transporter assault too risky. We’re going in the old-fashioned way, request tactical to penetrate the target’s external cargo bay doors.”

Whilst waiting for the reply, she caught the attention of one of the platoon leaders waiting in front of two small squads of marines. “Two sections” She barked, waving two fingers at her to emphasise the number. “One section per assault craft. Standby zero-atmosphere CQB”.

The young Lieutenant nodded as she led her troops, some carrying equipment, all heavily armed, to the waiting assault shuttles. The marines brought down the visors on their helmets and pressurised their suits as they moved.

"Barron to McCarthy while your in the computer system get those shuttle bay doors open for the landing craft." Barron turned his head to address Doyl, "If McCarty can't get the bay doors open slice them off the ship." Barron pressed the button to reopen the link to the Blackburn "The doors will be open one way or another. Get your teams in the black Colonel I want those kids on this ship within ten minutes."

"Crack the door. We'll be back, one way or another." Blackburn said, climbing into the front craft as she did so. The crew chief closed the door behind her as she secured her helmet. She made her way between the rows of seating troops, using her hands on the seating frames to balance herself against the movement of the spaceframe as the craft left the launch bay. She climbed to the flight deck and stuck her head between the pilot and navigator just in time to see the starfighter squadron form up in front as they passed the ship's enormous warp nacelles.

"Jump time 60 seconds, Colonel" The pilot said flatly. Blackburn nodded in acknowledgement and headed back down into the troop compartment.

Maggie targeted the shuttle bay doors and waited for the order from the Captain. She hoped McCarthy would be able to get in. It would be quieter than the phasers, but one way or another, she'd make sure the Marines were able to board.

McCarthy acknowledged the order by rooting the door commands with an override. "Knock knock...anyone home?" She muttered quietly under her breath. The doors opened without much resistance from the system. She knew port commands were one of the easier things she was juggling at the moment, and went back to her assault on the central server while managing to start the process of disabling their weapons and shields.

Barron watched the readout from the sensor feed as the shuttlebay doors opened on the other ship. He nodded to himself as he watched the fighter escorts of the marine fighter wing form up on the shuttles that had been converted to be troop transports. He had wanted Blackburn to have the transports in the vacuum of space when they dropped out of warp but he would take that up with her when they were back on board. Now it was a waiting game, waiting for the children to be brought aboard the Redemption. If the marines were able to drop the scattering field that kept transporters from being used they would be able to retrieve the captive and the marines quicker.

Maggie kept a weapons lock on the other ship, just in case. But she trusted the Marines and she trusted PALLAS.

Sarah cleared her throat before piping up. “Petty Officer McCarthy; break through and get me a steady connection for transporter locks; I’ve been working on a project that will aid the Lieutenant Colonel in her rescue; it might give us an edge in the long run as well.

OFF

Gabriel Barron
Captain
Commanding Officer
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Redemption

&

Chief Petty Officer First Class Lia McCarthy
Encryption Specialist
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Sarah Graesyn
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Colonel Cassandra Blackburn
Marine Detachment Commander
USS Redemption

 

RSS Feed