The Battle of Chin'toka

Posted on 15 Jul 2020 @ 6:11pm by Commander Amelia Fox

Mission: Mission 4 - Race against the machine
Location: USS Kennedy, Main bridge
Timeline: 2375
1766 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

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Amelia had not slept well, and this was unusual. She had been into battle many times during the Dominion war but something about this one was different. She had a knot in the pit of her stomach since she had learnt the Dominion were on the verge of driving the Federation from the Chin’Toka system. They had lost many good people so far… Too many, she had seen some of the most horrific battles and she had not been affected like this. Something was wrong.

She stepped on the bridge and settled herself into the chair at the ops console, running a quick system check. The Captain suddenly announced “Ok people, Let's do this. Red Alert! All Hands to battle stations!”

Amelia quickly and efficiently monitored the power systems to make sure power was going where it was needed. Weapons, shields, engines. Warp core now at 95%. Shield grid stable and online. All backup and emergency systems on standby. She then turned her attention to her display stats and indicators. Once she was satisfied, she reported “All decks report battle stations. Shield’s at 100%, all weapons fully charged.”

She heard the Captain reply “Than you Lieutenant.”

The combined fleet of Starfleet, Klingon and Romulan ships approached the Chin’Toka system on her sensor display Amelia could see the wall of Dominion ships that was approaching from the other side of the system. With the addition of the Breen to the Dominion forces, things were starting to look bad for the war effort. What was needed was a victory, a big one. But Amelia had the feeling that this wasn’t going to be it.

And then, Battle was joined.

The attack wing the Kennedy had been assigned to was closest to a squad of Galor class cruisers which they immediately engaged. The Cardassians were putting up one hell of a fight. The ship rocked hard as Amelia continued to not only monitor systems but bypass any damaged systems and keep the ship up and running. “Shields are down to 78% and falling.”

“Transfer auxiliary power to the shields!” The Captain called out over the din. “Evasive manoeuvres, delta sequence.

While she transferred the requested power, Amelia was also keeping an eye on the battle and she noticed something strange. She reported, trying to keep an edge of worry out of her voice. “Sir! Over thirty of our ships have lost all power and are under heavy fire! Including the Defiant!

She felt the presence of the Captain appear next to her shoulder as the deck rocked hard again and his hand gripped the back of her chair.

“What! What’s causing that?” He demanded, his concern growing.

“The Breen ships are firing some kind of weapon that is causing complete power failure!” Amelia reported

“Modulate the shield frequencies and rotate the harmonics, see if we can prevent the weapon from penetrating the shields. The Captain called out, his mind working “concentrate our fire on any Breen ship but try and keep us out of their weapons range. Let’s not take any chances….”

Amelia looked at the sensor readout “Sir! We’ve got at least 5 Breen ships approaching on multiple vectors. I don’t think we can evade them all…”

As if in answer to her last statement, the ship rocked hard again, this time all her power system readouts dropped to zero as strange blue energy started arching and dancing over every console. The image on the viewscreen was replaced with static.

From next to her, the conn officer called out “Helm control is offline!”

Amelia’s face fell as she reported. “Sir! Primary power is down and auxiliary power not responding. The main computer is failing, the comm system is down! Weapons are offline! Shield have failed!”

The Captain knew what was coming next. “ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

A massive explosion cut him off as he was flung to the deck. The tactical officer reported through the smoke “Direct Hit! Decks 25, 10 and 1!”

Amelia picked herself up off the floor from where she had been thrown from her seat and saw the Captain lying next to her. She didn’t need a medical degree or even to check his pulse. From the alarming angle his head was snapped back she was certain his neck was broken, and he was dead. She felt the hand of the first officer helping her to her feet.

The bridge lights dimmed, and emergency battery lights struggled to maintain the illumination on the bridge as thick smoke was pouring from helm console where the charred remains of the conn officer sat.

“Damage report! Can we get the shields back up?! The first officer asked, but from his tone, Amelia had the feeling that like herself, he already knew the answer to that question.

“I can’t get power Sir!” The tactical officer, who’s forehead was dripping blood from a nasty wound. The ship rocked hard again to Amelia it felt like they were on a fast falling lift as the deck suddenly dropped away and stopped suddenly.

The tactical officer continued to report as Amelia managed to get back to her console, which was still functioning. “Sir Hull breaches on decks 6 through 10. Emergency forcefields are offline. Emergency bulkheads are on manual but sections 10 through 29 on those decks have completely decompressed. The antimatter containment system is starting to fail!

“Eject the warp core!” Was the First Officers automatic response, even if it was futile.

“Sir, the ejection system is offline!”

Amelia turned to the XO “Sir! We’re finished! If their weapons don’t tear us apart, an antimatter containment breach certainly will!”

The first officer locked eyes with her for a moment, then nodded “All hands abandon ship!”

The evacuation alarm started to sound as Amelia and the other officers that were left started to make their way to the Jefferies tube hatch as the turbolifts were offline. The XO, tactical officer, Amelia and two others from the bridge had to climb down two decks to get to the nearest escape pods. The XO was leading the way with the tactical officer bringing up the rear. They emerged into a corridor on deck 3 and started running. Amalia estimated that they had less than 3 minutes before the ship was going to explode… Less if the weapons fire continued. They were almost there when the ship rocked hard again, and part of the corridor collapsed on to the tactical officer pinning him to the deck. Amelia stopped and went back to check. She could hear the XO shot “NO!” and he came back to stand beside her. He then bent down and started trying to move the debris. “Help me!” he called out.

Amelia looked at the scene. The support beam had crushed his chest and Amelia could tell Lieutenant Davis was gone. She put her hand on the XO shoulder “Sir there is no time! We must go Now!! The other two bridge crew had frozen in place when the Xo called out. “We can’t save him Sir! He’s gone”

“Take the others and get to the escape pod. That’s an order Fox!” The XO continued to work, ignoring her. Seemingly determined to get to the fallen officer.

The other two still hadn’t moved, paralysed with indecision. Amelia had to do something.

She balled up her fist and turning the XO toward her, knocked him out with a right hook to the face.”
She then yelled out “You two help me carry him. MOVE!”
The tone of her yelled command galvanised the pair and they rushed over to her and between them, they picked up the XO and carried him to the escape pod as the deck vibrations continued to get worse and worse.

Amelia sat in the command chair and once she was sure they were all secured, initiated launce sequence. “HANG ON! THIS AINT GOING TO BE SUBTLE!” She called out as the inner hatch closed and locked.

The escape pod rocketed away from the ship and Amelia turned to look as they started to move away. “Come on…. Come on!” she muttered to herself. If they were still too close when the containment system failed….

A moan from the chair next to her made her look to see the First Officer, Commander Stephens coming around with a very nasty black eye. He looked back at her for a moment before speaking “You were right to do that. I don’t know what came over me… that’s why I’m not going to court-martial you.” He managed a small smile. But winced at the same time. “Did you have to go for the face?”

Despite herself, she let out a small chuckle “You didn’t leave me much choice. I think it will heal in time….”

The pod was suddenly thrown forward violently and there was an enormous explosion that filled the window which silenced everyone onboard. Amelia hung on for dear life. Eventually, the pod stopped shaking. Commander Stevens managed to regain some of his composure “Report.” He asked quietly.

“Anti-matter explosion. Looks like the containment system went before they finished us off.” Fox replied, somewhat numbly trying to focus on her job. The Kennedy’s gone.”

“What’s our condition?”

“We were just outside the blast radius. There’s some minor structural damage, but we’re in one piece. Main power looks OK, life support is holding.
Amelia sank back in her chair also. From here there was very little they could do now and there was a high probability that they about to get blown up themselves. From out of their window Amelia could see a vast graveyard of Federation, Klingon and Romulan ships. Here and there escape pods floated in the debris. Slowly, all the escape pods started to come together, retreating towards Federation space.

“The Dominion ships seems to be fortifying their position. Looks like we just lost our foothold in Dominion territory.” The XO spoke like he was giving the weather report.

Amelia altered their course to match the other escape pods. Then she realised something. “The Dominion ships have stopped firing; they’re letting the escape pods leave.”

Stevens humped “Look like we’re not worth wasting the disruptor fire on.”

Amelia picked up the bitter tone in his voice, but she was just glad to be still alive. “Looks like we live to fight another day.”

Stevens looked at her for a moment and her comment seemed to lift his spirits slightly. “I suppose you’re right Fox… I suppose you’re right.”


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