The Call to Battle – Part II

Posted on Tue Feb 6th, 2018 @ 1:12pm by Captain Alistar McKeon & Lieutenant JG Zoe Ellija & Lieutenant Commander Akira-Ri Sato & Lieutenant Jera'turak Ros & Lieutenant Kev Walker & Lieutenant T'lon
Edited on on Tue Feb 6th, 2018 @ 1:13pm

1,209 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Memento Mori
Location: USS Endeavour, D-5

~~ D5 ~~

“All hands, combat recall. Return to the Endeavour at once!” The call echoed from every comm badge belonging to the officers and crew from the Endeavour, interrupting any action that those men and women were doing. A recall order such as that meant only one thing, that the ship was preparing to enter battle and all hands were needed.

Akira doubled her efforts to navigate her way through the docking port area of the station. She silently thanked her ancestors that she had started heading back to the ship early. The first hits to the station had sent the civilians on board into a full on panic. As she approached the docking port where the Endeavour was docked, she was even more thankful that she had posted guards at the airlock. A few civilians were trying to get on board, but were being held back by her security people. Shouldering her way through the crowd, Akira managed to make her way to the airlock and past her officers who recognized her and let her by. From there, she broke into a full run as she crossed the threshold and onto the ship. Finding a turbo-lift, she quickly ordered it to the bridge.

Jera’s head snapped up at the recall order and wondered just what the hell was going on this time. Whatever had hit the station had started overloading the power grid, causing power disruptions everywhere. She was trying to stabilize the power grid, if for nothing else than to keep the damned station from falling apart. She muttered and tapped her comm badge. “Ros to Walker, get back to the ship. I’m going to stay here and try to keep the station’s power grid online.”

“This is no time to be a freaking hero, Boss!” Kev shouted above the noise of screaming civilians as he and Kaylyn tried to fight their way back to the ship.

“Who said anything about being a hero? I don’t want this crap pile station to fall apart just when I started figuring out what they’ve done with their power systems. Get back to the ship and keep her in one piece, that’s an order,” Jera snapped as she grabbed an engineering padd and quickly entered a series of commands, bringing up a diagram of the station’s original power lines.

Kev paused in the corridor. He could see the docking port where the Endeavour was docked, but he half turned back towards the station proper. He couldn’t leave Ros behind to work in a dangerous tactical situation by herself. “Kaylyn, get back to the ship and keep engineering together until we get back,” he said, ordering the civilian onwards.

T’lon stopped Walker by holding his hand up. “I will assist Lieutenant Ros. You return to the ship and perform your duty to your crew,” the Vulcan said.

Kev paused and finally nodded, clapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You watch your back,” he said before he turned and hurried towards the ship.

~~ Bridge, USS Endeavour ~~

The minutes seemed to crawl to Alistar as his ship readied for battle. Silently, quietly, he questioned his decision to spread his crew so thin. Granted, no one had known that this might happen, but still, what had been done was done. He would have to take the situation for what it was and do the best he could, no matter how he felt. “Status report,” he called out.

“The Defiant has disabled all civilian ships in the area and is turning back to the station. The other four ships in the ‘convoy’ appear to all be hostile forces as well,” Akira reported. She had managed to return to the bridge and get a brief update from Reynolds moments before, and the situation unfolding was far from a pleasant one. She wondered briefly just how the Endeavour would fare in this fight, since the ship was completely unprepared.

“Five ships in total to deal with,” Alistar muttered. This day was just getting better and better. “What are we dealing with?”

“In addition to the Defiant, I’m reading two Starfleet Miranda class, one Klingon B’rel class, and a Tarterus class transport ship,” Akira reported, slightly confused by the enemy force composition. She guessed that the Miranda class ships had been bought as surplus, and the same could be said of the B’rel, but the other two were confusing to her. Quickly, she forced the thoughts away and tried to focus on her job.

“How many crew are back on board?” Alistar asked.

“Checkpoint guards have confirmed that everyone but Lieutenant Ros and Lieutenant T’lon and a few crew from science have returned,” Akira replied.

“McKeon to Ros, what the hell are you doing?” Alistar called into the commline.

“T’lon and I are going to stay and help keep the station’s power grid online,” Jera said without pausing in her work as she reached into an open maintenance access panel and felt around for a relay. Pulling it out, she studied it and growled as she tossed it away before pulling a replacement from the storage bin on the inside of the hatch and replacing it. “Go on, we’ll be fine,” she said.

“You’d better,” Alistar said. Turning towards Sato, he shook his head. “Seal the hatch and order the checkpoint guards to remain on the station. They’re to assist the station personnel to the best of their abilities. We’ll be back for them.”

“Understood,” Akira said with a nod as she passed the orders along and typed in the commands to seal the boarding hatch. She felt a sharp hesitation in leaving anyone, especially those directly under her command, behind, but she understood the need to do so. “Security away team confirms their orders. All hatches are sealed.”

“Helm, break away from the station and engage full impulse drives,” Alistar ordered.

“Sir, I’m having trouble uncoupling from the station,” Zoe reported from the helm. She had indeed been having trouble, and she was getting aggravated with it.

“Sir, the station is suffering from power fluctuations. It’s possible that the power to the docking systems is down. If that’s so, then the station docking clamps won’t release,” Akira said.

“Arm number five phaser array, target the docking clamps and fire,” Alistar ordered instantly and without hesitation.

“Um, Sir?” Akira asked, giving her captain a worried look.

“Target the station’s docking clamps and fire the phasers!” Alistar snapped.

Akira nodded and did as she had been ordered. Targeting the docking clamps with the specified phaser array, she lowered the capacitor charge and fired. The phaser beam struck the station’s docking clamps, slicing through them with ease and freeing the Endeavour.

“We’re free,” Zoe reported. “Pulling away from the station and going to full impulse power.”

Alistar stared at the view screen as it was set to a forward view. He could see the incoming enemy forces as the Endeavour swept about and faced her foes and he gripped the arms of his command seat. Taking a breath, he issued the last orders any captain ever wanted to give.

“All hands to battlestations!”

 

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