Weapons Hot

Posted on Thu Oct 20th, 2016 @ 3:30am by Commander Elliot Drake & Captain Julius Whitlam & Lieutenant Commander Kiaon Solomon ,Mr & Ensign S'ryaa Tiriaq & Lieutenant JG Omar Saeed
Edited on on Thu Oct 20th, 2016 @ 3:31am

Mission: The Ties That Bind
Location: Faidon System
Timeline: Immediately following "The CAP"

"Weapons free! Engage, engage, engage!" Keller barked and his fighter was the first to open fire with a barrage of pulse phasers and micro-torpedoes.

S'rya banked his fighter with his squadron leader, and lined their weapons up for a run on the Jem'Hadar ship. He and Gabe aimed their weapons at the ship's warp nacelles, planning on taking out the ship's ability to jump back to warp and escape. the much smaller craft's weapons failed to get through the shields on the first pass, and the caitian pilot was forced to bank away from his flight leader to avoid crashing into the hull of the enemy ship, regrouping for another pass on the other side. "How much damage did we inflict?" he asked his TSO.

"Port-side shields down by 19 percent," Gabe answered, checking his readouts. "If we keep peppering him like this, we'll eventually get through. But we need to do it quickly if we're going to stop him warping out of here."

"Problem, Commander," zh'Gathan said to Keller as the squadron leader manoeuvred his fighter to begin another pass. "Two of the Jem'Hadar are moving to engage us. Looks like they're going to provide cover while this one makes a run for it."

"Dammit!" Keller cursed as he checked his tactical display and confirmed with his own eyes what his TSO had told him. Manoora was still a couple of minutes from weapons range and even when she was in range her weapons would only be in range of the two Jem'Hadar staying behind to cover the third's retreat. He made a quick decision and toggled his squadron-wide comm. "Gold Flight, stay on my six. Everyone else, keep those other two off our asses! Manoora, any help you can give in that department would be appreciated, too."

"Copy, Gold Leader," Tiriaq responded. He couldn't help but glance up through the viewport canopy at the two other ships moving in on them. "Keep your eye on the target lock alerts," he told his TSO. "If they manage to get a lock on us, I am going to need to move fast to break it."

"Understood, Gold Leader," Drake replied from the bridge of the Manoora. "Solomon, keep me posted on what's going on with the fighters. Helm, give us everything we've got to make that intercept. We can't let them escape."

"Enemy lead is approaching SPTW (Safe Point To Warp), Osprey's fire is ineffective." Kiaon updated the Bridge verbally with clipped professional speed. "Gold Leader, suggestion, Over" he said hoping Keller was able to listen to his idea.

"Make it fast, Vedek," Keller replied, gritting his teeth as he inched his fighter closer to its target. "And make it good."

"Full shields, Scrape their Nacelles" Kiaon hurriedly communicated his risky idea, to utilise the tactic of Shield scraping in the hope that it would destabilise the enemy ships warp field and but them the extra time they needed.

"You want my job that bad, huh?" Keller joked even as he decided to make the attempt. "I'll give anything a go at this point."

Kiaon smiled grimly, holding back a witty retort, there wasn't enough time.
"Good Luck, Vedek out"

Gold One swooped in close alongside the scout's port nacelle and sideswiped it. The two vessels' shields crackled and sparked as they each contacted the other and bounced their ships off in opposite directions. Keller was able to stabilise his fighter as zh'Gathan scanned the scout. He looked over at Keller and shook his head with a frustrated snarl.

"Nice thinking, Vedek," Keller said, "but no effect. We have to keep pounding them."

Solomon didn't reply, he had nothing of tactical value to add. Instead he clenched his fists and leaned harder against the bulkhead willing the fighters shots to penetrate and for his screen to show enemy debris instead of ships.

The sparkling starscape out of Keller's viewport was disrupted by the chilling blue flashes of Jem'Hadar weapons fire as he pushed his fighter's acceleration hard to keep up with the nimble scout. The three fighters of Gold Flight were throwing everything they had at the ship, but it was stubbornly refusing to die. It had teeth, too. It's stern weapons lashing out at the three fighters pursuing it. One shot got lucky and tore right through the fuselage of Gold Two.

Tiriaq cursed under his breath in Caitian as he fought to keep control of his craft, the debris from his flight-mate making his shields flare. "Damage report?" he asked hurriedly.

"Minimal," was the single word response of Gabe, as his fingers flew across consoles ensuring that none of the little ships systems had been affected by the sudden barrage of projectiles.

"Power's spiking in their warp nacelles, sir!" zh'Gathan called as Keller unleashed another volley at the starboard nacelle. "They'll go to warp in about five seconds!"

The scout was tougher than anything that small had a right to be, in Keller's considered opinion. They had re-routed all of their power to the shielding around the nacelles, to the point where they'd even stopped firing their weapons. Other areas of the hull were breached, but nowhere significant enough to slow down their escape.

Now time was up; their weapons weren't going to cut it. Keller turned to his TSO with an expression of regret. "I'm sorry, Shel," he said. "I gotta stop this bastard." Before the Andorian could respond, Keller thumbed the emergency transport for the TSO's seat and zh'Gathan vanished to rematerialise a couple of thousand kilometres away safely in his enviro suit and his emergency beacon blaring.

Alone now in the cockpit, Keller diverted power to the engines and pushed the throttle forward. He didn't even think, wouldn't allow his mind to dwell as he got on with his duty. He manoeuvred the fighter up and over the top of the scout then sent it into a perfectly timed dive right across its line of trajectory at the precise moment that the scout went to warp.

Tiriaq had to pull up fast to avoid the explosion, and as he arced around, he struggled to make out amongst the cloud of metal fragments whether either ship was intact. "Gabriel, can you detect the commander's ship? Or the scout?"

Gabe shook his head as he checked and re-checked the sensors. "There's no way a Peregrine would have survived that collision," he said. "I can't tell about the scout, though... there's too much interference from the debris. But I'm getting an emergency beacon signal... it's zh'Gathan!"

"Emergency transport!" the Caitian pilot instructed, manoeuvring close enough to give Gabe a secure lock.

The surrounding space lit up by phaser fire as the Manoora reached weapons range. Her powerful phaser arrays dealt heavy damage to the remaining two scout ships. A well placed quantum torpedo destroyed one scout ship, with the other disabled and adrift; easy pickings for the Ospreys. On the bridge, Drake opened up the comm. "Manoora to Gold Leader. Sorry we're late. Did we get them?"

"Gold Leader is down, Manoora," Tiriaq responded over the comm. He looked over to Gabe for confirmation from the sensors as he returned to his seat from making usre that zh'Gathan was okay. "This is Gold Three, Ensign Tiriaq. Commander Keller collided with the scout's warp nacelle. It looks like they may have both been destroyed."

Kiaon starred at his screen not quite taking in its readings, destroyed or damaged?... It didn't matter.
"Vedek to All fighters. I am control. Follow S.O.Ps, Ignore the drifter and report in."

Solomon crisply punched out his orders clearly and sternly before he turned towards the Captains chair.
"We need to capture the drifter Sir and get a handle on any any advances they've made."

"Agreed," Drake replied. "Prepare tractor beams to bring in that scout. Security, prepare a team. We will likely face resistance from the Jem'Hadar."

"We should beam a boarding team to secure the ship, Asap, Sir.
I can lead it." Kiaon said quickly, looking coldly alert.

Drake considered the offer for a moment. "Alright, Commander, take a team over. Stay on an active comm. Secure the scout before we bring it aboard. Tiriaq, set a perimeter and watch for any more patrols. If they got a signal out, we may not have much time."

Kiaon nodded "I'll form a boarding team" and quickly left the bridge heading towards the armoury where he'd see what marines and trained security personnel where aboard to be called upon.

"Copy that, Manoora," Tiriaq responded, banking his fighter around. "We have Commander Keller's TSO onboard. I recommend he be beamed to the Manoora's sickbay for treatment."

Drake nodded. "Understood, Gold Three. We'll prepare the sickbay. Mr. Solomon, prepare your team to board the scout. I'm going to keep a transporter lock on all of you, if things get rough, I'm bringing you back."

To be continued...