Sneak Attack

Posted on Mon Apr 18th, 2011 @ 5:53am by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries & Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts (KIA)

Mission: Renegades
Location: Various
Timeline: Directly after 'Report Interruptus'

Captain Nathan Cowell stormed onto the bridge, his movements interrupted intermittently by the convulsing of the ship as she took on fire. The frequency of the hits was inconsistent with the normal attack and recharge cycle that most single ship combats enjoyed, which told Nathan volumes about the situation even before he demanded a status report from the Tactical station, which was being manned by the ship's Chief of Security. Nathan didn't have time to wonder about the oddity of her being on the bridge, but it was reassuring that she was there.

"Major, report!" Nathan called out as he sank into his chair in between shield barrages.

Looking up from her console with an annoying flare deeply imbedded within her gaze, Stace turned her attention briefly towards the view screen before zeroing back in on the man in question. "Shields are holding but we're taking on significant damage... weapons are online and operational. I suggest we take advantage of them being decloaked while we can."

"By all means, fire at will," Nathan said from his position.

=Space=

Three scout type Romulan vessels swarmed around the slightly larger frame of the Prometheus-class USS Arizona. The fact that the Federation ship had been at a dead stop gave the Romulan ships the temporary advantage of mobility. Even still, the sudden charging and unleashing of the fully primed phaser banks of the Arizona did much to even out the odds, even if only slightly. Given that there were multiple targets, the Arizona had to split her considerable firepower among the three ships, which meant their effectiveness, while still potent, didn't have the kind of stopping power they would normally have.

=Bridge, USS Arizona=

Nathan could see on the main viewer that the Romulan ships were taking a beating, but each resounding strike against the ship's shields was a grave reminder that they were entirely outclassed sitting where they were.

"Helm, initiate evasive maneuvers," Nathan snapped, not entirely sure why the Andorian hadn't done it before. He turned to the Major and was about to say something else when the ship rocked and convulsed more violently than it had up to that point. The shock caused several of the consoles around the bridge to explode with the overload of energy, sending more than one crew member to the floor, injured. Nathan could only imagine the damage to the other sections. Captain Cowell looked forward of his position to catch sight of Lieutenant Roberts, who had moved to the First Officer's chair in the midst of the battle.

"Mister Roberts, I need a damage report!" Nathan bellowed.

"EPS Conduit ruptures on decks thirteen and fourteen. Affected area's have been evacuated, and force fields are holding. Long range sensors are offline, and I'm ordering the dorsal phaser array offline. We'll do more harm to ourselves with a blow out!" Aiden's voice was louder than usual to compensate for the mayhem occurring on the Bridge around him. He paused, as his eyes sorted through the rest of the reports streaming through this screen in front on him. His tone of voice dipped lower as he spoke. "Four confirmed causalities...."

"Shit..." Nathan swore at no one in particular. This entire situation was getting out of hand and fast. They still had the option of going into Multi-Vector Assault Mode, however, if Aiden was pulling phaser banks offline to prevent overloads, it wasn't going to add anything to the battle if they broke the ship up only to have one section virtually useless. Nathan quickly abandoned that idea for a more direct approach to things.

"Helm, lock on to the slowest enemy and keep us on their tail. Major, focus your fire on that craft only and let's see if we can't do some damage to these assholes..." Nathan ordered.

=Space=

The USS Arizona banked sharply and began following closely behind one of the Romulan scout ships. Even with the damage they'd already sustained, the Prometheus-class ship was still more agile than most other craft. The phaser arrays that had once divided their attention among the three craft now lashed out solely on the craft the Arizona was following, scoring hit after crippling hit until finally they punched a hole in the shields. True to the previous history the Arizona had with engaging targets, several tricobalt devices were thrown through the opening in the shield of the Romulan scout, the torpedoes slamming into the hull of the ship with resounding results. The damaged scout ship began cloaking, taking several more phaser hits before the Arizona could no longer track it. She turned about and was greeted by a heavy barrage from the remaining two Romulan vessels.

=Bridge, USS Arizona=

The assault by the two ships in tandem rocked the Arizona hard, throwing several people, Nathan included, out of their seats. Sparks flew once more around the bridge, consoles ruptured, leaving precious few left working. Nathan pulled himself off the floor and yet again demanded a status report.

"Shields down to twenty-eight percent, starboard phaser arrays have been knocked out, port arrays holding at sixty percent power. We're venting plasma from both port nacelles... We're getting casualty reports from all decks, all sections. At least twenty confirmed deaths..." Aiden replied, his console and tactical now the only viable consoles other than the forward station.

"Options?" Nathan solicited the room, and was handed silence in return. He couldn't blame them, really, given what was transpiring. They'd been ambushed and even at their best, three against one wasn't exactly odds that they could easily overcome.

A loud chirp from the Tactical console drew the Captain's attention...

=Space=

The Romulan vessels continued to batter the weakening shields of the Arizona, seemingly ignorant of anything else. This arrogance had worked to the advantage of another Federation ship that had somehow managed to be in the right place at precisely the right time. A hail of photon torpedoes suddenly exploded around the two hostile ships, pummeling their shields into near uselessness. The second wave of torpedoes was on its way was they scrambled to get out of the blast zone. One of the Romulan ships was just a little slow, and got buffeted by the explosive energy of the detonated torpedoes, blowing a couple shards off the scout before it managed to cloak and escape.

=Bridge, USS Arizona=

The second the attack stopped, Nathan was pushing the now dead OPS operator, some Petty Officer who's name he would never know now. He flopped down and did his own scan of the area. The Romulans were suddenly gone, which wasn't half as unusual as the sensor readings he was looking at. The levels of Tachyon Radiation were off the charts...

"What the hell is out there?" Nathan asked out loud as he poured over sensor readings.

"How the hell would I know?" the voice of Major DeVries countered to his open ended question. Captain Cowell didn't have time to retort as the console he was manning chirped with an incoming hail.

"Hello? Who's out there?" Nathan asked, the main viewer having long been burnt out reduced conversations to audio only.

"USS Arizona, this is the USS Casey. I noticed you were in a spot of trouble and I figured you could use the help. How bad is your damage?" the voice on the other end called out over the bridge wide comm.

"Pretty damn bad," Nathan replied as he looked around the bridge. The mentioning of the name Caseyhad caused a noticeable arch in the eyebrow of Major DeVries. He would have to investigate later as to why...

"We'll send over some aid, and I think you and I need to have a conversation..." the voice said before the link died.

"Right to the point..." Nathan muttered, abandoning the OPS console.