I posted this on the Nova board earlier today. No one really seemed to care. So, I'm shuffling it over to here in the hopes that someone may read it and like it. Expect the next scene sometime in the future--my schedule changes a lot so I can promise no dates.
Oh, and this thing needs a title. Currently, I have come up with 'Lost Colonies' and 'Rogue Courier'. Vote your choice or give me something better.
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"Dammit! Shields down to 50%!" yelled Commander Lars Nifker from his engineering station. The Federation Destroyer Courier shook as a Hellhound Missile exploded off the starboard bow, and Captain William Aserno bit back a curse. He glanced at the small console built into his command chair, and noted that they had somehow escaped that blast unscathed.
"Transfer five percent power from the engines to the shield buffers! Fire Control, concentrate on those damned Hellhounds!" he ordered. Chasing the Courier were several pirate ships, either hired by or directly working for the Bureau. Normally, any Federation Naval ship would turn and engage them, calling for reinforcements if necessary. But not the Courier. She had no allies, and there was no way that William was going to let the Bureau have her cargo back. "Navigation, how long before we reach the hyperlimit?" he inquired.
"About three and a half minutes, give or take," answered Lieutenant Commander Silva Taimura from across the bridge. Nodding, he looked at the main view screen, which was set on a view directly aft. Behind the ship were three large, bright specks. Emanating from them were dozens of small yet equally bright dots, which grew with increasing rapidity. As they gained definition, one could see that they were missiles, long spears of destruction riding fiery tails of thrust towards their target--the Courier. When they seemed no more than an arms length away, bright streams of fire would rain down on them from the Destroyer's three Quad Light Blaster Turrets.
Unfortunately, not all of the missiles were stopped. As William watched, three Hellhounds arced in at his ship. One of the turrets unleashed a torrent of fire on them, but it wasn't enough. As the second one disintegrated under the fire, the third one raced in and slammed itself against the rear shield. The screen coldly displayed the flames as they engorged the rear of the ship, and William heard his Sensors Officer give off a vicious swear. "Captain! We've lost aft sensors!"
"Fire Control, go to visual targeting. Engineering, I want sensors back online now!" he called across the bridge. He heard affirmations from the two officers, and they quickly started to carry out his orders. A few seconds later the ship shook as another missile snuck through the Destroyer's weakened defenses and impacted on the shields.
"Shields at 40%! Captain, we can't feed any more power into the shield or we'll overload the buffers," cried Commander Nifker. William nodded absently, and concentrated on what they were going to do to survive. At this rate, they would be disabled before they were safely in hyperspace. He brought up a tactical plot on the screen built into his command chair's arm and studied his opponents quickly.
In the center of the formation was a large dot that CIC had tentatively identified as a Manticore. Flanking it were two much smaller dots, ships that CIC had identified as Pirate-modified Valkyries. Their sensor profiles matched that of Class V's, but they quite simply weren't putting up enough missiles to be called Class V Pirate Valkyries. They could easily overwhelm the Courier's point-defense with the fire from the the Valk's and the Manticore, but for some reason they were sticking with salvoes of three missiles. William guessed that the Bureau hadn't had time to get one of their commanders out to this Pirate fleet and that it was under the command of its usual commander.
"Engineering, I want full emergency power on the engines. Remove the safety interlocks on the inertial compensator and the engines. Navigation, let's see how many gravities the crew can take." William depressed a small stud on his command chair and spoke. "All hands, brace for high-g maneuvers." A klaxon started going off beyond the doors of the bridge, and William quickly fastened his safety harness and gripped the armrests on his chair.
He felt the pull of gravity drawing him back into his chair, and soon his vision started to blacken. He fought unconsciousness, and felt the ship shudder as it was hit by another Hellhound. Half a minute went by, and he started to think that the tactic had worked, that the missiles had quite simply been out-accelerated, when the ship shuddered violently. A high-pitched warbling filled the air, and William swore under his breath as he remembered what it meant--Complete Engine Failure.
"Captain, we've gone ballistic!" reported Taimura from her console. "Safeties are cutting in! We're decelerating!" she cried in horror.
"Engineering, shut down the emergency braking thrusters!" The ship shook violently as another Hellhound smashed into her rear shield. "And get the engines back online while we still have them!"
"I'm working on it, sir!" called out the commander from his station. A few seconds later he cried out in triumph. "Captain, we are holding steady at 105% rated maximum!"
William nodded and stared blankly at the Tactical Plot. Until the engines came back online there was nothing he could do. Launching missiles would only decrease their speed, and the main batteries were out of range. The bridge was almost silent, the only sounds being the muffled klaxons outside and the quiet mumbling of Commander Lars Nifker. The Courier shuddered three more times as more missiles gouged her shields.
"Captain, we've cleared the hyperlimit!" Taimura exclaimed. "Plotting course for SPC-089."
"Very good! Engineering, we're waiting on you," he said impatiently. He glanced at his console and noted rather apprehensively that the shields were down to five percent.
"Sir! Engines are back online!" shouted Nifker.
Nodding his head in approval at his engineer's quick work, William smiled. "Engage hyperdrive."
"Yes, sir!" replied Taimura gleefully. "Entering hyper in five...four...three..." We're free, we've made it, we've survi...Oh, God! We're hit! he thought. The ship rocked violently as a Hellhound blew down their shields and exploded against the hull. "Two...one..."
"Captain, we're losing power!" bellowed Nifker as the Courier disappeared from real space in a flash of light.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 12-02-2002).)
