A Cloud of Darkness, Part II

Posted on Mon May 30th, 2022 @ 7:55pm by Lieutenant Commander Andromeda Lightfeather & Captain Temperance Harding & Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine & Lieutenant Xavon Starkweather & Lieutenant Rose Kersey & Lieutenant Sarok & Lieutenant Scott Mitchell "Ghost"
Edited on on Thu Jun 2nd, 2022 @ 1:13pm

Mission: Mission 2: Chasing Shadows
Location: Lambetta Nebula

ON

Previously ...


That was when all hell broke loose. The object seemed to settle on a course, straight for his craft. Cub rolled along the long axis, the wings spiralling as he tried to shake a target lock. His display screen was starting to turn fuzzy the closer the object got, controls were getting sluggish. His craft wasn't responding quite as nimbly as it should. "Cub to CAG. This thing is putting out some sort of interference, I repeat-- Oh Shit!"

That was when it hit, a three-hooked projectile unfurled itself even as it was launched from the object. Cub saw it and had just enough response in the craft to tilt a wing.


And now ...

Two of the three prongs were impacted, and he watched in horror as systems started shutting down. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Lost sensors, lost engines, lost..." That was when his comm system died as well.

The object - the 'hostile' object skittered, seemingly unhappy with the result, and seemed to line up for a more solid shot.

Phaser fire erupted in the direction of the object as Scott screamed in distracting the object. The object quickly turned its attention on Scott's fighter as he began to go into erratic evasive manoeuvres. "Ghost to Delta flight, I'm plugging the last known coordinates for Cub. I've engaged a hostile and need back up ASAP!"

Scott continued to evade the target lock of the object pushing his craft beyond the warning limits and alarms started to scream at him. "Come on you bastard stay with me," he spoke to himself as he jerked the stick. Finally seeing an opportunity he popped the nose up, cut engines and flipped end over end. Just as his fighter locked his weapons he realized his mistake. The object has already been locked on and fired and there was nothing Scott could do. "Mother..." Was the last thing to come from his comm.

Harding's face had gone pale, a fine tremor now running through her body, and her voice. It had been a long time since he had lost a pilot in anything like a combat operation. The pilot in her was screaming orders, desperate to be let loose.

Her hand came in a trembling pointed finger at the general direction of the Bridge's rear. "Tractor Beam!" Her voice wavered.

Nyx had been silent from her station the entire time, always best to be seen but not heard, especially when engineering was involved. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, when an engineer spoke up, they had something bad to say about what part of the ship was broken. She activated the tractor beam controls, using the passive sensors to guide the energy grapple, but… Nope, not the one per cent this time either, “Tractor beam isn’t engaging, ma’am. The hardware is fine, emitting and all, but I can’t get the beam to extend and lock onto the target. Science? What’s the nebula made of precisely?”

Looking back at the Engineer "You tried modulating the tractor beam Commander to see if that works?" Lightfeather asked the Chief Engineer.

"No, I thought I'd be boring and unimaginative." Nyx gave her a flat look for about half a second, "I ran through a few of the standard options, but there's something in the nebula that's interfering with the beam. Once we know what it is, I might be able to come up with a workaround. Might, call it sixty-forty."


Nodding, "okay, just thought I would try to help, but glad to see you are on top of things Chief, but it would be nice if you could find a way through the chop," Lightfeather said before returning her attention back to the viewscreen.

Delta Flight swept in after their Squadron CO but a minute after the call was made, a line of craft came up into perfect formation, to protect the two damaged fighters. "All right, double-check sensors, and watch your target locks. We don't want any friendly fire out here." The Flight Leader called to their pilots. "Spade and Bear, take your wingmen, get those two crafts back to the Endurance."

The four craft peeled off, splitting in opposite directions from the flight lead, and returning course back to the CAG's bird, and Cub.

Spade turned on the powerful light housed on the undercarriage. The almost spot-light played over the disabled craft. First Cub, who was conscious, waved at the rescue craft. Spade flipped his craft in a tight barrel roll to bring it in line with the CAG. "Oh my God." He said as the beam illuminated inside the cockpit. "Spade to Quarterback. Code Red, Code Red. Total system failure on the CAG's bird. I say again, a total system failure. Can you beam him to Sickbay?"

On the Endurance Bridge, Harding looked to Ops and got a shake of the head. "Sorry, ma'am. Whatever is fucking with our Tractor targeting, and our sensors are also screwing with transporter locks. I 'could' make a transport, but I'd be bringing him back in bits."

Harding's glare at the viewscreen darkened even more. If looks could kill, the Nebula would have vaporised itself. "Negative, Spade. Can you commence recovery? We are en route to you." She pointed at the Helm officer, who nodded and laid in the course at impulse.

Spade made an unhappy noise as a response and sighed. "I could maybe use the landing gear as a mag lock. Unsure if it'd work, or if the craft will just break." The underside of the landing pads on the fighter craft each had a magnetic plate, to help lock the vehicles in place during a ship-wide emergency that the inertial dampeners could not compensate for.

Spade moved his craft in over the CAG's bird. "Three meters. One meter. Thirty centimetres..." He called out the proximity reading. "Contact!" The mag plate latched into the bird, and damn near tore a wing off. There was no sound, but the rending of metal was visible. Eerie, without the noise, Spade thought.

He disengaged the lock and pulled away. "Damn. Spaniel, slave your nav computer to mine. We're each gonna take a wing." His wingman - now a literal meaning to the term - took position on the other side of the bird, and they each closed the gap.

The contact was felt, rather than heard. Spade's onboard system registered the unusual configuration, and the isolinear processor made quick work, issuing commands to both the working craft, as they slowly. So freaking slowly turned towards the Endurance, and began the approach.

"How are we gonna handle the landing?" Spaniel asked over the comm.

"We'll have to let the landing bay tractors guide her down. The aim, let go, and pray." Spade answered. He could now see the Endurance, a behemoth compared to their three craft. "Quarterback, hold the position. Lockdown roll and pitch. We can't afford a screw-up." He knew time was of the essence as well. Every second mattered. "Come on." He muttered to himself. The open mouth of the Flight Deck was ahead, a welcome sight for any pilot. "Get ready to de-mag."

He pulled up the maglock controls for both crafts, letting the computer handle the aim. Drift was an issue, in the void of space, but he hoped that Isaac Newton actually knew what he was on about. "Mark!"

Both crafts let go of their cargo, which drifted under its inertia towards the ship. The moments stretched on forever, and Spade found himself holding his breath, waiting, waiting, waiting.

The Flight Deck's emergency response team was ready, and as soon as the broken craft passed through the forcefield, it was immediately gripped by three mini tractor beams before it could fall. The bird was set gently on the deck plating, and the crew moved in. Two with tolls to prise the canopy off manually, while a third was on hand to unstrap the CAG from his harness.

On the Bridge, Harding was already moving, even before the craft was within the Flight Deck.

"Commander Valentine. Get up there with a repair team. I want a damage assessment, ASAP! Ops! The second they call for transport, energise, and don't even wait for an order. Doctor, you're with me. XO, get us the 'hell' out of this Nebula, the Bridge is yours." She was moving for the turbolift even as she spoke, holding the doors open for those to come along.

Rose got up from her seat following the Captain to the turbolift. One way or another she intended to speak with Harding, but right now she was going to be there as support. “Captain...” Rose looked at Harding as she stepped into the lift. “We need to talk when you have a moment.”

Nyx didn't even acknowledge the command, moving from her station towards the turbolift, then changing her path to the other one as the Captain was making for the same one. If she needed to use a tube and climb, she'd do it, but this was why there were multiple lifts.

"Yes Captain" Andi said as she stood and walked closer to the helm station as the Captain left the bridge "Helm, plot us a direct course out of the Nebula set for full impulse and warp 4 when it is safe to do so," she said.

"Aye, Aye Captain," the helm officer said and carried out her orders.

She looked over at the now-closed lift doors and tapped her Commbadge =/\= Lightfeather to Harding, ship is ready to leave the nebula the moment our people are on the ship safely =/\= she said.

"Copy, Commander. Hold position about 5 minutes' response time from the Nebula. We need to reassess our approach."

"Acknowledged Captain, will do" Lightfeather responded in response to the Captain's instructions.

OFF