The Breaching at Boreth (Part I)

Posted on Tue Feb 27th, 2018 @ 6:49am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa & Commander Christopher Samuels MDiv, PhD & Admiral Ke'gak

Mission: S01E02 D-8 With the Devil
Location: USS Musashi | Bridge

Captain Donatella Figueroa had risen from her Captain's chair with the USS Musashi quickly en route to the Boreth system with the USS Perry traveling with them, matching course and following at an acceptable warp speed. They would be arriving at the system within moments of one another, dropping out of warp at the Klingon shipyard and laying into the shipyard with torpedoes and phasers. The Perry was going to be the one dealing the heaviest blow with their tough exterior and high yield torpedoes. If there was a such thing as an artillery starship or a 'tank' in space, it was the Hoover class. The Musashi would help for a few moments, but she was primarily there for cover fire and to do what she was designed to do... make Swiss cheese out of the Klingon D5s and D6s that were likely patrolling the system.

Fig would be joining her boarding team in the transporter room. From here on out, the USS Musashi was going to be in the capable hands of Commander Christopher Samuels, Fig's Number One. "Is it just me or do you miss the days when we were scientist and explorers?" she said with a shaking of her head. "This is getting all too familiar too," she added. What she meant was handing the Captain's chair over to her Executive Officer. "You know what you are doing, Commander. You have your orders and I have complete trust in you to accomplish your objectives, and keep this starship in the stars."

Commander Christopher Samuels had left the science station in the capable hands of his replacement, and moved the few steps to the captain's chair. Fig had been correct sitting in the center seat had become all too familiar. Over the past few weeks, he had occupied it far more frequently than he ever expected. "Eventually we will get back to science and exploration," he began, "but not today, today we have other plans." He looked to his CO, he wouldn't say she was a friend, but they understood each other and they understood what their positions on this ship meant. They were the top two on the Musashi there was isolation in that, and in a way that meant they only had each other. "I'll be sure to keep Musashi afloat, believe me when I say, she has come to mean as much to me as she does to you." He placed a large hand on the command chair to add to the meaning of his words.

"Oh do not go getting any crazy ideas," she said with a smirk. "This starship and I have been through a lot together. I have no plans on vacating my command, and if they try to promote me... well, then they will just have to keep me out here in space aboard my starship," she added. "Godspeed and all that jazz," she said lastly before she took one last look around, preparing to depart from the Bridge.

Godspeed and all that jazz, to you as well, captain, Christopher thought. Instead of speaking, he just gave a firm nod and then eased into the center seat to take command.

.................................
Several Minutes Later
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Crewmen Mulholland had slid into the helmsman's seat on the Bridge. It was not a place he was all too familiar with, but he had the training needed to perform satisfactory. Though, he was incredibly nervous about having to perform under this sort of pressure. It was likely going to be a 'dog fight' amid the stars with Klingon battlecruisers. This was not what I signed up for, he thought as he took a deep breath. It was, however, now or never as they were mere moments from reaching their destination and Mulholland would have to drop them out of warp right at the Klingon's doorstep.

"Here we go!" he shouted as he practically was white knuckling the helmsman's console. There it was right on the main viewer. The Klingon design was uncanny and unmistakable. They had arrived, and no sooner than they dropped out of warp, they felt their arrival being detected. The starship was getting pounded right on the bow. "Turning us hard about, Commander," he announced trying to make the starship less vulnerable.

Here we go, Christopher echoed... in his head, as his right hand toggled the ship wide comm to open it, "Red alert, all hands to battlestations, sickbay prepare for casualties." His hazel eyes stayed on the view screen as his gaze fell onto the unmistakable Klingon design. He swallowed hard. The bow was hit immediately and Christopher gripped the arm rests of the center seat to keep himself from being jilted. When the starship went hard about, the artificial gravity had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the suddenness of the maneuver and it caused his stomach to leap up into his throat. "Keep it steady, Mister Mulholland," Christopher called out.

La'Quentin Cartwright manned a station declared tactical. There, he was in charge of the starship weapons with his temporary clearance raised for the duration of this mission. "Those are coming from the Shipyard's automated defenses," he stated. "Scanning the shipyard... It is dated, Commander. We can take this pounding for a little while, but not indefinitely," he explained.

"Sorry to interrupt," Jakku broke in, "but we have a welcoming party inbound. Several Klingon D5 and D6 battlecruisers, ETA five minutes tops."

Christopher took in the information as a battle plan started to form in his head. "Mulholland, evasive maneuver delta beta nine make sure we draw the fire away from the Perry," he said to the young crewman and then looked to his right to Cartwright. "Cartwright, arm all phasers and fire when the D-5 and D-6s are in range." A couple of more minutes had gone by and the Musashi continued to get hit by the station, but shields were holding and there was no damage... as the ship evaded and engineer had threw up on the deck, but that was really as bad as it could be.

Once the first D5 was in range, it laid down a direct hit of phaser fire and the Musashi pitched forward upon impact. Christopher's knuckles went white from gripping the armrests of the center seat, but he ignored the pain it caused in the muscles of his forearm. "Orson, try not to let that happen again," he said to the young helmsman. Again another round of phaser fire lit up their shields and sparks began to fly across the bridge. The science station blew and Christopher could hear a scream come from the ensign who manned the console. "Medical emergency to the bridge!" he called out. "Cartwright, make waste of that Klingon vessel NOW!"

Jakku was startled by the console explosion that had injured the science officer. It was only a matter of a few minutes, but two corpsmen had arrived on the Bridge with medical kits and were tending to the woman's wounds which looked pretty nasty from the quick glimpse that the young Trill got to see. He took his communications earpiece with him as he quickly rushed over to the science station. Though it had exploded, it was still semi usable. He could make a few simple repairs to improve its performance. "Shields are down by thirty five percent, Commander. USS Perry reporting shields down by fifteen percent," he reported. Fortunately, the Perry had better equipped shields and the Musashi was drawing most of the fire.

Mulholland was doing the best that he could with evasive maneuvers but, the Musashi was still taking hits. That was rather unavoidable at this point.

Cartwright focused his attention on the D-6 battlecruisers. There were less of them, but they packed more of a wallop. However, it seemed like that first D-5 was an ankle biter of annoyance. "Taking out that D-5 to make a statement, Commander," said Cartwright who shot a high intensity and focused phaser blasé straight up the bow of the battlecruiser. Their shields buckled and the phaser blast left a hole through the battlecruiser... it was out of commission for the time being at least, if not benched from the skirmish. "They may have us outnumbered, but if I can get any more shots like that, we will be putting these Klingons to rest soon enough," added Cartwright.

"Great to hear, but how do we compare to a D-7 battlecruiser? Because, we have one coming in hot!" shouted the Trill with a report.

Cartwright did not turn pale, but his hands trembled a bit as he searched for that D-7 to get a lock. "D-7 battlecruisers were designed to eradicate Ares class starships, Mister Jakku. We're still standing. So, we have a chance," he said with a deep breath. The D-7 was coming into weapons range of the USS Musashi and Cartwright was itching to lay into it with everything the Musashi had.

"WAIT!" shouted Jakku. "Two more D-5 battlecruisers destroyed... a D-6 destroyed... That D-7 is taking out it's own?" reported the Trill, turning his seat to report to Commander Samuels. "I scanned the battlecruiser. It's consistent with Commander Ke'gak's D-7 battlecruiser, Commander," added Jakku.

After several hits to Musashi's shields, the Ares-class vessel finally righted itself, only to be faced with a new threat. He watched the battle unfold on the view screen, he watched in astonishment and wondered what was happening. When it was announced the configuration matched a certain Klingon's, Christopher felt his jaw clench and every muscle in his body tense. "What's he doing?" he growled under his breath, as he slowly stood from the captain's chair and raised to his full height. He clasped his hands at the small of his back and squared his shoulders. He needed to look formidable for what he was about to do next. "Mister Jakku, hail Commander Ke'gak, I want to know what in the hell is going on here and why a Klingon is solving our Klingon problem!"

Jakku quickly went to work. "Aye Captain," he replied respectfully to Commander Samuels who was in command of the USS Musashi. "Does not seem like I need to Sir... he's hailing us," replied Jakku. "I'm putting him through now, Captain," added the Trill at the station.

"WOMAN!" The roar of the Klingon's voice came strongly though the open communication channel. "What are you doing?!" he demanded, without waiting for a response. "Now you've gone and got us both in trouble." He muttered something about houses he didn't give a Targ's ass about. "You think it's going to be that easy to die Donatella Figueroa! Think again!" The D7 battlecruiser pulled casually alongside the Musashi. "STAND DOWN!" It was hard to tell if he was yelling at them or yelling at his own people to stand down. He growled, a frustrated noise, and fell silent.

La'Quentin could not believe his eyes nor his ears. Did this Klingon scum just come to their aid? Did he just condem the Empire and prevent a war with his actions? Cartwright did not know what to say or do. This was not supposed to be happening like this. Commander Ke'gak had thrown a wrent into the plans in the favor of Captain Figueroa and her suicide squads mission tactics. His console alerted him that sheild strength to the shipyard was about to buckle. "Jakku silence that abomination" said Cartwright.

The Trill was not sure Cartwright had the authority to issue such order, but he followed the order hoping Cartwright had a good reason.

"Commander, the shipyard's shields are falling fast... they will be down at any moment." Just as he said that, the console confirmed that the shields were down, but it would only be a brief window of opportunity. "Boarding parties are ready. Shall I give them the greenlight, Commander?" asked Cartwright.

Christopher didn't flinch one bit when Ke'gak went on his tirade. In fact, he just stood there and stared at the view screen, teeth grinding, his strong, square jaw clenched tightly. His first instinct was to bite back, raise his voice as loud as the Klingon thug on the view screen, but Cartwright, bless that man, had interrupted. He wasn't too fond of the idea of the man giving Specialist Jakku an order, but he let it slide--this time, tensions and confusion was quite high at the moment. "Get them over there," Christopher replied, the order simple.