U.S.S. Corsair - NX-011979
Nebula II Prototype
“Sic Parvis Magna”
(Greatness From Small Beginnings)
“Teeth of the Chimera – Part I”
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Ramius, carried on the shoulder of Dr. Durandal, stepped off the turbolift onto a chaotic bridge. Klaxons blared, officers scurried about like angry ants, and tension flowed like a open water main. Taverain, assisted by the doctor made his way to his chair where Commander Novada suddenly stood in shock at the captain’s sudden appearance.
“Doctor! What is he doing here”, she asked as Ramius took a seat the pain on his face clearly evident.
“Ask him”, Durandal replied his tone laced with annoyance. “I advised him to remain in sickbay, but his monumental stubbornness knows no bounds.”
“Captain, you shouldn’t be here”, Novada protested.
“And where should I be Commander when the ship is under attack”, Ramius replied not bothering to look at his first officer.
“In sickbay sir. You are not…”
The Corsair suddenly shook as weapons fire from an unknown location again pelted her shields.
“You were saying something Commander”, Ramius asked holding on to his chair’s arms. “Tactical, report. What are we up against?”
“Unknown sir. We are under torpedo attack however I am unable to pinpoint its source. My guess is a cloaked ship”, Lt. Redstone shouted from his station.
“Scan for low level plasma emissions. The technology to fire while under cloak is not new. The ship and weapons still exhaust gas and energy which can be traced back to their source.”
“I would agree sir, but the entire system is flooded with background radiation. The supernova that ruined this system saturated the entire system and the system’s sun, a white dwarf, is prone to frequent bursts of gamma radiation. If this were empty space I could get a lock, but there’s too much noise.”
“What is the status of the shields”, Ramius quickly asked.
“Fair. We’ve only restored them to 55 percent.”
Ramius said nothing upon hearing the report. His entire body was screaming and now he was on the bridge back in combat with an unknown enemy he couldn’t see.
“Do you think it is the Klingons or Romulans sir?”
“No”, Ramius answered. “They wouldn’t be stupid enough to show up here without a good reason and even if they did they would want to capture us to make a political statement, not destroy us. No, this has to be NeoDyne.”
“A NeoDyne ship? With a cloaking device?”
“Don’t look so shocked Commander”, Ramius chided her. “Look at what they’ve accomplished here and on the Astate colony? Do you think obtaining a simple cloak is beyond their grasp?”
With the captain’s point well taken, Novada took a seat frustrated both by their attacker and the captain’s appearance on the bridge. The man was the ultimate glutton for punishment. She often wondered if he actually enjoyed the pain he put himself through time and time again.
The Corsair shuddered from another unseen attack. The tough starship had been through hell and back and somehow below decks engineering was keeping the ship held together despite having suffered significant damage. Ramius was all too aware that if he couldn’t disable or destroy their attacker quickly the Corsair would not survive given the substantial damage she had already incurred. He had to devise a way to neutralize the ship’s advantage and do so quickly before it was too late.
“Helm, take us to within 20 kilometers of the asteroid field. Full impulse. I want you to make it look like we are attempting to locate an opening in the field and are attempting to escape. Tactical, once we are in position, divert power to the rear shields. We’ll take a few shots aft to lure them in. Once we are sure they are in pursuit, we will fire a volley of phasers and torpedoes into the edge of the asteroid belt behind the Corsair. The resulting explosion of rocks and debris should create a heavy debris field making them detectable long enough for us to achieve a solid weapons lock.”
“Captain, the shields are not back at maximum power. Moving closer to the asteroid belt after the beating we already endured is not advisable”, Novada quietly stated.
“You cannot catch a fish without bait number one. If we remain here out in the open we’re finished. If you have a better suggestion, now is the time.”
“No suggestions sir.”
“Helm?”
“Approaching out edge of asteroid belt in thirty seconds.”
A pair of twin phasers cut across the blackness of space as the Corsair narrowly dodged another attack from their invisible foe.
“Tactical, load the aft torpedo launchers and standby all phaser banks. You will need to deliver a sizeable attack on the asteroids to generate a large enough debris field and reload the weapons fast enough to catch our opponent while he is temporarily visible. Timing will be crucial.”
Ramius coughed as he braced himself on the armrest of his command chair. His insides felt as though they were on fire and every breath was a new experience in pain.
“Captain, are you alright”, Doctor Durandal asked leaning over with a tricorder.
“I’ll survive as long as required to get the Corsair out of danger”, he replied. “Until then, I will endure.”
The doctor continued to wave his tricorder about much to Ramius’s chagrin.
Several moments passed as the Corsair continued to receive punishment on her aft sections. After an eternity, Ramius finally felt sure the unknown ship was indeed in full pursuit.
“Mr. Redstone, Fire!”
[To Be Continued…]
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Captain Taverain Ramius
Commanding Officer, USS Corsair
Commander Alanis Novada
Executive Officer
Commander Keith Durandal
Chief Medical Officer
