A clash in the vacuum (Part 7 - alternate timeline)
Note: This is an alternate ending to this particular story of the USS Fortitude. It is meant to continue after A clash in the vacuum (Part 6) and replace A clash in the vacuum (Part 7).
LOCATION: USS Fortitude, somewhere inside the Nos Asteroid Field
The USS Fortitude lifted off from the asteroid with its navigational thrusters.
"Let's get this over with. Take us out Helmsman, best speed".
Its engines spewed out subatomic particles to generate forward movement, and she slowly edged out of the shadow of the asteroid. The light brown saucer section of the IV Fortitude was visible in the distance, coming towards them like a bird of prey about to pounce on its victim. Both ships now accelerated towards each other, towards their clash in the vacuum of space.
Captain Stephanes rang out a list of orders as the IV Fortitude sent out yet another string of torpedoes and pulse cannons blazing towards them. Already their shields were below 50% and barely holding against the onslaught let loose onto them.
"Keep our starboard shields above 40%! Helmsman, execute evasive pattern delta 3!"
The ship tilted in such a way that the torpedoes and energy bolts hit several shield sections simultaneously to spread their impact. But right behind them was another barrage of torpedoes, hidden behind the first wave.
Explosions tossed the crew around the bridge and the ship swerved off its course as an entire side deck of the ship burst into a thousand pieces of flaming debris.
"We've lost the starboard sections of Decks 14 and 15! Emergency force-fields in place and holding!" reported Chief Engineer Hamidi, directing what little power remained to keep those 2 decks from suffering catastrophic decompression. "Total hull integrity is at 65%! Captain, she can't hold for much longer!".
"We have no weapons left on our starboard side; the explosion must have fried their firing control stations!" moaned Tactical Officer Travis. He re-routed firing control and power supply to the forward and portside weapons batteries. Their curtain of defensive fire had to be kept up to stay alive. They only had abit more distance to cover to reach optimum ramming distance of the IV Fortitude.
"Stay sharp, everyone! Keep her together!" called Captain Stephanes as they tried to out-turn a burst of incoming energy bolts.
The bridge's viewscreen showed the IV Fortitude suddenly turning away and jumping to warp.
Everyone tensed, waiting to see what new trap or weapon they were about to get into. But sensors faithfully showed the enemy vessel exiting their vicinity at maximum speed.
"Where did they go?" whispered First Officer Tellis, afraid to jinx the unexpected turn of events.
Not waiting to see what was happening, Hamidi rushed out of the Bridge to his Engineering Deck to personally take over damage control efforts.
A flashing blue light appeared on the computer console of Tactical Officer Travis. He checked what it meant and his mouth fell open.
"Captain; we're receiving a broad-spectrum transmission. It's from ... our 76th Fleet" spoke Travis, hardly believing what he was saying.
The bridge became as silent as a cemetery, all eyes turned upon the Captain. His face became like the weathered bark of an ancient tree, struggling to make up his mind.
"Receive transmission. Put it on the viewscreen" came his softly given order.
On the viewscreen came a familiar face and voice.
"This is Captain Fredinand of the USS Trent to the USS Fortitude, please respond. We have received alarming text messages from your ship and have come to investigate. Please respond if you are picking this transmission up. I repeat, please respond".
"Captain ... sir?" prodded First Officer Tellis as the Captain sat paralysed in his chair, hands shivering and cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He realised that the proximity of the USS Trent must have frightened off the enemy IV Fortitude. Amidst the glare of red-tinted emergency illumination and the flashing of warning lights, his mind froze for an instant, a second which seemed to drag on for an eternity. He had clung on to his pride and self-worth for so long, endlessly worried about his image and the perception of his peers; the other Captains and Commanders of Fleet Command. But maintaining a good solid image that hid the truth of their dilapidated state was not worth dying for.
"Travis, open a coms channel to the USS Trent"
First Officer Tellis had to kick a stunned Tactical Officer Travis to activate a real-time video feed between the ships. "Channel open, sir".
Captain Stephanes stood up and arranged his uniform to look a tad more presentable.
"USS Trent, this is Captain Stephanes of the USS Fortitude" began the Captain, his mouth feeling like it was full of iron wool.
The look of relief on Captain Fredinand's face upon contacting his friend turned into one of concern. "Captain, thank God, we've been looking for you. Are you and your ship alright?". The sight of the battered bridge, disheveled command crew and half-lit smoke-filled atmosphere gave away their true condition.
Stephanes had to breath deeply two times before speaking a sentence that caused him to blush with shame. "Mayday ... I repeat, mayday. We require ... immediate emergency assistance"
Every word came out of his mouth like boulders, overly large and burdensome. But the other command staff of the Bridge broke into tears of relief and gave whops of joy; for their lonely ordeal had an end in sight.
Fredinand nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Captain, I've contacted Fleet Command for assistance upon receiving your latest text transmission. Please hold on, we're patching this transmission in to a Commodore in our 76th Fleet Command"
The viewscreen blanked out and was replaced with the visage of Commodore Vertrouwen.
"Stephanes ... what happened?" came Vertrouwen's calm inquiry.
"Commodore, we require immediate emergency assistance ... we've suffered ... extensive battle damage and have many casualties. We are ... unable to maneuver on our own ... and need help to return to space dock". Though the words came out of his mouth, the Captain felt like he was watching from a distance a stranger speaking. With a few more sentences, he described in brief what had happened and discussed with the Commodore what needed to be done.
The extent of his failure as Captain of his starship now crushed heavily upon him like a huge black mountain. He had gotten the crew and the ship entrusted to him into a dead end crisis and nearly destroyed them in an unnecessary and mad suicide run. But admitting his failure and formally requesting for aid was like a burden slowly lifting off his shoulders; his mistakes were just as real and just as serious as before, but others were now coming alongside to help him and his ship deal with a situation which they couldn't handle any further by their own selves. It wasn't easy, but definitely better than ending up as scrap metal drifting in space.
The Commodore took awhile to discuss several details with others in Fleet Command before returning to the viewscreen.
"We acknowledge your call for help, Captain. The USS Trent and a few other ships are coming in at best speed and will rendezvous at your position in 3 standard hours. The fleet's on their way for you. 76th Fleet Command out".
Captain Fredinand's face reappeared on the viewscreen. Stephanes had something to say and he said it. "Fredinand, thank you for making that command decision to specifically come after us and contact our Fleet Command, even though you didn't have to"
A reserved grin stretched across the face on the viewscreen. "It's what a friend does, Captain. You should have told us earlier what was happening. Hang on Stephanes, we're coming for you at maximum achievable warp. USS Trent out".
Amidst the rejoicing making it's rounds onboard the still-half-lit bridge, Captain Stephanes had one call to make.
"This is the Captain to the ship's brig. I am ordering the release of Gewissen and reinstating him as First Officer of the USS Fortitude; effective immediately"
COPYRIGHT of MICHAEL LIM (26.9.2009)
p.s. acknowledgement of ideas gleaned from the Star Trek series of books. Characters and ships are not related in anyway, intentional or unintentional, to those inside the official Trek Universe.
LOCATION: USS Fortitude, somewhere inside the Nos Asteroid Field
The USS Fortitude lifted off from the asteroid with its navigational thrusters.
"Let's get this over with. Take us out Helmsman, best speed".
Its engines spewed out subatomic particles to generate forward movement, and she slowly edged out of the shadow of the asteroid. The light brown saucer section of the IV Fortitude was visible in the distance, coming towards them like a bird of prey about to pounce on its victim. Both ships now accelerated towards each other, towards their clash in the vacuum of space.
Captain Stephanes rang out a list of orders as the IV Fortitude sent out yet another string of torpedoes and pulse cannons blazing towards them. Already their shields were below 50% and barely holding against the onslaught let loose onto them.
"Keep our starboard shields above 40%! Helmsman, execute evasive pattern delta 3!"
The ship tilted in such a way that the torpedoes and energy bolts hit several shield sections simultaneously to spread their impact. But right behind them was another barrage of torpedoes, hidden behind the first wave.
Explosions tossed the crew around the bridge and the ship swerved off its course as an entire side deck of the ship burst into a thousand pieces of flaming debris.
"We've lost the starboard sections of Decks 14 and 15! Emergency force-fields in place and holding!" reported Chief Engineer Hamidi, directing what little power remained to keep those 2 decks from suffering catastrophic decompression. "Total hull integrity is at 65%! Captain, she can't hold for much longer!".
"We have no weapons left on our starboard side; the explosion must have fried their firing control stations!" moaned Tactical Officer Travis. He re-routed firing control and power supply to the forward and portside weapons batteries. Their curtain of defensive fire had to be kept up to stay alive. They only had abit more distance to cover to reach optimum ramming distance of the IV Fortitude.
"Stay sharp, everyone! Keep her together!" called Captain Stephanes as they tried to out-turn a burst of incoming energy bolts.
The bridge's viewscreen showed the IV Fortitude suddenly turning away and jumping to warp.
Everyone tensed, waiting to see what new trap or weapon they were about to get into. But sensors faithfully showed the enemy vessel exiting their vicinity at maximum speed.
"Where did they go?" whispered First Officer Tellis, afraid to jinx the unexpected turn of events.
Not waiting to see what was happening, Hamidi rushed out of the Bridge to his Engineering Deck to personally take over damage control efforts.
A flashing blue light appeared on the computer console of Tactical Officer Travis. He checked what it meant and his mouth fell open.
"Captain; we're receiving a broad-spectrum transmission. It's from ... our 76th Fleet" spoke Travis, hardly believing what he was saying.
The bridge became as silent as a cemetery, all eyes turned upon the Captain. His face became like the weathered bark of an ancient tree, struggling to make up his mind.
"Receive transmission. Put it on the viewscreen" came his softly given order.
On the viewscreen came a familiar face and voice.
"This is Captain Fredinand of the USS Trent to the USS Fortitude, please respond. We have received alarming text messages from your ship and have come to investigate. Please respond if you are picking this transmission up. I repeat, please respond".
"Captain ... sir?" prodded First Officer Tellis as the Captain sat paralysed in his chair, hands shivering and cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He realised that the proximity of the USS Trent must have frightened off the enemy IV Fortitude. Amidst the glare of red-tinted emergency illumination and the flashing of warning lights, his mind froze for an instant, a second which seemed to drag on for an eternity. He had clung on to his pride and self-worth for so long, endlessly worried about his image and the perception of his peers; the other Captains and Commanders of Fleet Command. But maintaining a good solid image that hid the truth of their dilapidated state was not worth dying for.
"Travis, open a coms channel to the USS Trent"
First Officer Tellis had to kick a stunned Tactical Officer Travis to activate a real-time video feed between the ships. "Channel open, sir".
Captain Stephanes stood up and arranged his uniform to look a tad more presentable.
"USS Trent, this is Captain Stephanes of the USS Fortitude" began the Captain, his mouth feeling like it was full of iron wool.
The look of relief on Captain Fredinand's face upon contacting his friend turned into one of concern. "Captain, thank God, we've been looking for you. Are you and your ship alright?". The sight of the battered bridge, disheveled command crew and half-lit smoke-filled atmosphere gave away their true condition.
Stephanes had to breath deeply two times before speaking a sentence that caused him to blush with shame. "Mayday ... I repeat, mayday. We require ... immediate emergency assistance"
Every word came out of his mouth like boulders, overly large and burdensome. But the other command staff of the Bridge broke into tears of relief and gave whops of joy; for their lonely ordeal had an end in sight.
Fredinand nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Captain, I've contacted Fleet Command for assistance upon receiving your latest text transmission. Please hold on, we're patching this transmission in to a Commodore in our 76th Fleet Command"
The viewscreen blanked out and was replaced with the visage of Commodore Vertrouwen.
"Stephanes ... what happened?" came Vertrouwen's calm inquiry.
"Commodore, we require immediate emergency assistance ... we've suffered ... extensive battle damage and have many casualties. We are ... unable to maneuver on our own ... and need help to return to space dock". Though the words came out of his mouth, the Captain felt like he was watching from a distance a stranger speaking. With a few more sentences, he described in brief what had happened and discussed with the Commodore what needed to be done.
The extent of his failure as Captain of his starship now crushed heavily upon him like a huge black mountain. He had gotten the crew and the ship entrusted to him into a dead end crisis and nearly destroyed them in an unnecessary and mad suicide run. But admitting his failure and formally requesting for aid was like a burden slowly lifting off his shoulders; his mistakes were just as real and just as serious as before, but others were now coming alongside to help him and his ship deal with a situation which they couldn't handle any further by their own selves. It wasn't easy, but definitely better than ending up as scrap metal drifting in space.
The Commodore took awhile to discuss several details with others in Fleet Command before returning to the viewscreen.
"We acknowledge your call for help, Captain. The USS Trent and a few other ships are coming in at best speed and will rendezvous at your position in 3 standard hours. The fleet's on their way for you. 76th Fleet Command out".
Captain Fredinand's face reappeared on the viewscreen. Stephanes had something to say and he said it. "Fredinand, thank you for making that command decision to specifically come after us and contact our Fleet Command, even though you didn't have to"
A reserved grin stretched across the face on the viewscreen. "It's what a friend does, Captain. You should have told us earlier what was happening. Hang on Stephanes, we're coming for you at maximum achievable warp. USS Trent out".
Amidst the rejoicing making it's rounds onboard the still-half-lit bridge, Captain Stephanes had one call to make.
"This is the Captain to the ship's brig. I am ordering the release of Gewissen and reinstating him as First Officer of the USS Fortitude; effective immediately"
COPYRIGHT of MICHAEL LIM (26.9.2009)
p.s. acknowledgement of ideas gleaned from the Star Trek series of books. Characters and ships are not related in anyway, intentional or unintentional, to those inside the official Trek Universe.
posted by mad_scientist @ 1:55 AM
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