"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." – Sun Tzu, the Art of War
[USS Charon]
Lamont was nearly thrown from the open turbolift onto the bridge as several salvos of weapons fire rocked the Charon. He stumbled against a rear computer station regaining his balance as another punishing wave of fire assaulted the beleaguered starship outnumbered and outgunned by the Romulan warships outside.
A thunderous clamor shook the bridge as the shields neared critical levels. Shiarrael dug her nails into the armrest as fires began to dot consume consoles. 'We are at a disadvantage here' She hated to give the order but there was little alternative "M'Riarr! Take us deep into the nebula!" She could see several eyes lock on her but even they understood this logic. Certainly her second officer would applaud her decision- not that she needed such a thing from a people ruled by the unsympathetic nature of logic. She gritted her teeth and cursed her own name. She would just have to trust them to find some way to survive.
With a flash of light Quentin was blown away from his console as sparks flew and the console fizzed. As time seemed to slow and the noise around him became muted Quentin couldn't help feel the intense pain travelling through his entire body. He groaned as he picked himself up slowly and without thinking reached for the painkillers. He noticed the bodies of Crewman Jenkins and Crewman tr'Nola laying on the floor. "Dammit!" he called out as he slapped his combadge "Medical emergency in engineering!" he shouted over the increased noise as the room and his senses returned. He could feel the dark red blood trickle down his dirty, sweaty face but he had to ignore it – they needed to keep this ship intact.
"Aye, Captain." The Caitian responded grudgingly, ducking under a warbird that had just released another volley of torpedoes. Her fur still bristling with anger, she looked at the planet and frowned.
As Charon rolled away from the green and blue globe, M'Riarr's whiskers twitched and she fought very hard not to roar a battle cry for their comrades they were leaving behind. But the low rumble in her throat made very clear she expected her shipmates to sell themselves dearly. When a Klingon's growl joined hers in a beautiful harmony, M'Riarr's ears twitched in approval.
"They're launching some kind of weapon towards the planet! Ch'tan growled as he put the image on the view screen and continued to fire on the pursuing ships.
"What?" Shiarrael dug her nails deeper into the armrest. Her reputation had been predicated on the fact that many believed she was a cold, heartless, and uncaring bitch. The latter was true but the two former were not. She looked at science hoping for answer "what are they up to?"
As Ch'tan identified the situation Thomas focused on attempting to analyze what exactly that weapon was. Unfortunately the data left a lot to speculation however now was not the time for pondering or being frustrated by the conditions as he looked up as he was addressed "Captain it's a biological agent being delivered into the atmosphere." Pausing as some additional information was received to his console. "It is being distributed as a Mutagenic. It could interact with any unprotected biological life it is exposed to Captain."Anything else would be speculation from his station at this time, however while he had nothing yet he went back to his console getting what data he could and redirecting it to the science lab to analyze.
The answer momentarily shook her breath from her. 'Elements will I shall kill every one of them' Shiarrael cursed them and their ancestors but she still knew there was nothing the Charon could do except seek cover in the nebula. Behind the Charon, realizing her course, the other ships broke off pursuit and returned towards the IRW Knvuk.
[IRW Knvuk]
Furious Terrh almost randomly fired at the bridge personnel- but knowing that he could not run the ship on his own he spared them for the moment "what are they doing?! Tell them to go after the Charon!"
"They do not wish to enter the nebula- they say the Charon is as good as dead in there."
"Tell them if they don't go finish her off they are as good as dead out here!" Terrh sneered and almost started to froth at the mouth like a rabid animal losing its sensibilities. His hand inched towards the disruptor at his belt but he kept reminding himself that he couldn't run the ship on his own.
[USS Charon, Bridge]
"The Romulan ships have broken pursuit and are forming up alongside the one that fired the weapon," Ch'tan said as he ran his hands over the console, there were a few cracks along its edge, but it was still working, the consoles behind him however, were gone, dull and black.
The immediate threat was gone but the tension still remained. Swirling clouds of gas parted in the Charon's wake but the view screen had since diminished into a light fizzle of a picture. Shiarrael stood up and stretched the tension out of her muscles before pressing her commbadge "engineering report?"
Leaning on a pillar the exhausted Quentin Calhoun slapped his combadge in response. "The ship is in a bad way, hull breaches on decks 8, 10 and 12, warp containment field down to 25%, backup power generator completely offline, warp engines offline, sensors offline and phaser emitter power down to 40%" he said reeling off the initial damage report. "I've held her together as best as I can, but if they come back… we haven't got a chance" he said gravely looking around the virtually destroyed main engineering and the hole in the side of the main engineering wall that now had a force field between them and the vast oblivion of space.
The news was bleak. Shiarrael smiled through her frustration and pressed her commbadge "understood Commander. Do your best to get the ship back together- we will be moving deeper into the nebula to avoid our pursuers." And that option had its own dangers.
"I need to know what class of nebula we're dealing with, if I can't calibrate the hull polarization to compensate for the lack of shield protection we'll be ripped in half" Quentin said gravely.
Shiarrael stepped over to her chair and brought up the technical data of the nebula on the armrests' console and pressed her commbadge "the Nebula is referred to as Mutara class commander." She slid a finger across the console deactivating it and took a step back to study the bridge.
With the battle seemingly at an end for the moment with the Charon taking refuge inside the nebula, Lamont made his way toward the center of the bridge. To his mild shock, the first officer was missing as were many of the bridge's senior officers. It was likely they were on away teams on the planet which now seemed to be in severe peril as did the Charon itself. His eyes made contact with the captain's who tacitly expressed her displeasure at seeing him, but she made no outward comment and instead continued to issue orders in the wake of the recent firefight.
[To be continued…]
Captain Shiarrael Rehu
Commanding Officer
USS Charon
Commander Ian Lamont
Ambassador
USS Charon
Lieutenant Commander Ch'Tan Foster
Chief Tactical Officer
USS Charon
Lieutenant Commander Quentin Calhoun
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Charon
EnArrain Rhiana t'Khellian
Chief Communications Officer
USS Charon
Lieutenant D'Vana Xavier
Assistant Engineering Officer
USS Charon
Ensign Thomas J Clipper
Assistant Science Officer
USS Charon
Ensign M'Riarr
Assistant Helmsman (NPC)
USS Charon
