View from the Top

Posted on Wed Apr 27th, 2011 @ 10:59am by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Marion

Mission: Renegades
Location: Various

=Commodore's Ready Room, USS Arizona=

Commodore Nathan Cowell had finally received confirmation from Lieutenant Marion, who was sitting in at the Main OPS console while Lieutenant Commander Roberts was attending to the duties of First Officer, that the ship had reached a state of repair sufficient enough to allow for both the ship's transition to MVAM as well as the fight that would swiftly follow. Nathan brought up the communications protocol and sent a message to the USS Casey, alerting Commodore Pike that the ship was ready to put their plan into action. A curt reply came through with a timetable, the Casey would depart in ten minutes and the Arizona would follow briefly thereafter. That was all Nathan needed to know...

=Bridge, USS Arizona=

Commodore Cowell walked on to the bridge and wasted no time motivating the masses. He moved expeditiously to his chair and sat down, pressing the all call command that would broadcast his conversation to the entire crew, all sections, all decks.

"All hands, this is Commodore Cowell... report to your designated areas and prepare for Multi-Vector Assault Mode separation. We will be heading for the asteroid belt where the Romulans are hiding out at in ten minutes. The ship will be separated in five. Make it happen... Cowell out!"

Nathan hit the command once more and closed the channel before surveying the crew before him, "You heard me... move out!"

=Security Office, USS Arizona=

Ensign Schenk charged through the ship as the order was given. He was grateful that this time it was expected. The Arizona was going into Multi-Vector Attack Mode for the first time that he had been on it and he was torn between how he felt about being on such a vessel at such a time, and the desire to be somewhere else. The Arizona was still hurting from the vicious attack that the Romulan ships had put on it less than seven hours ago and he hoped that Engineering had done their best to put her to rights again.

=Bridge, USS Arizona=

Assigned to the top section of the Arizona, Marc reached his area and settled into the tactical chair, reaching out to pull up the information as it came in from the sensors before he fully sat down; three Romulan vessels, one assumed to be badly wounded. He was really starting to get a foul taste in his mouth when it came to those bastards and he hoped that he had a chance to get a few licks in on them. Ensign Tuscadaro's face flashed through his mind and he gritted his teeth in grim determination, vowing to kill at least one Romulan to avenge her. He felt he could wipe out half of Romulus and her death wouldn't be avenged, but he shoved those thoughts aside and focused on the data flowing into his console.

Lieutenant Marion, who had taken the role of Operations Officer for the upper most section of the ship, turned around to face the Commodore, "All hands report being at their designated stations, all sections report a go for Multi-Vector Assault Mode on your orders."

Nathan glanced down at the small chronometric display and took note that the crew, given five minutes, had taken less than three. The old man nodded and glanced back at the Ensign... oh what was his name? Shemp, Shark... Shrek? Shrek! That was the one.

"Mister Shrek, begin separation sequence on my mark..." Nathan ordered.

"Mark!" Nathan said when the chronometer ticked off four minutes after his original order.

Marc twitched when the Commodore called him Shrek, but he was too busy at his station. Fingers flying and his mind operating in hypertime, he launched the sequence which would fulfill the Commodore's orders. Entering the proper sequence, he rattled off statistics as the computer acknowledged his commands. "Separation in five... four... three... two... one. Multi-Vector Assault Mode engaged, Commodore!" He felt the Arizona shudder as the computer began to physically do what he had ordered it to do, his breath held as countless fears popped into his mind. What if their repairs weren't good enough and the ship tore itself apart? What if the Romulans showed up to finish them while they were helpless? What if MVAM failed in mid-separation?

The ship bucked a few times gently as the docking clamps released their iron grip upon the individual sections of the ship. As the seconds ticked off, the ship went through the motions, retracting the clamps, engaging the maneuvering thrusters to push the Arizona sections away from one another until finally there were three distinct and fully autonomous vessels floating only meters apart.

"Separation complete, sir," Lieutenant Marion reported proudly.

"Good. Helm, take us up just far enough to clear the secondary hull. Tactical, once we're clear of the other hull, raise shields and prime all weapons. All hands... Red Alert!" Cowell ordered. The young Petty Officer manning the helm nodded at the mention of the Helm and made the Arizona comply with his wishes. It only took a minute for the ship to drift up far enough away from her companion hull before it was safe to engage their shield matrix.

"We're cleared of the secondary hull," the Petty Officer announced for the benefit of Ensign Schenk.

Checking the Multi-Layered Shielding System, he brought them up to full power and switched to weapons. The eighteen Type-XII Phaser arrays were all online and operational and so were the four Fore Torpedo Tubes. He checked on the status of the Quantum, Photon, and Tri-Cobalt torpedoes and verified that the Arizona was ready to rock and roll. Rattling off statistics as they came to him, he punched commands into the computer while bringing up the sensor data of the Romulan vessels that the Arizona had recorded during the surprise attack.

"Everything is green, Commodore," Marcus answered after he doubled-checked all the systems. One of the bastards had been injured severely during the attack, mainly due to the U.S.S. Casey showing up in the nick of time and Marc made a mental note to personally thank the person who was in charge of the ship. Odds were good that if the Steamrunner-class vessel hadn't shown up, the Arizona would be a goner. Studying the reports, he punched in more commands for specific areas that he wished to target if he had a chance to take a shot - namely the engines, weapons, and main bridge of the much-smaller scout ships. Reminding himself that smaller did not mean less deadly given the fact that twenty-two people had died in the attack, he scanned the sensors for any trace of the radiation that the one which had taken the most damage would likely be giving off.

"Once we jump to warp speed, we'll have less than an hour to make any last minute adjustments. Use your time wisely. After we drop out of warp," Nathan said, turning to the tactical console, "Designate a target and pursue it once the Casey has finished their torpedo bombardment. Until your target is nothing but dust, do not stop firing, understood?"

"Acknowledged, Commodore!" Marc said as he turned his view back to the console. Studying the reports, he punched in more commands for specific areas that he wished to target if he had a chance to take a shot - namely the engines, weapons, and main bridge of the much-smaller scout ships. Reminding himself that smaller did not mean less deadly given the fact that twenty-two people had died in the attack, he scanned the sensors for any trace of the radiation that the one which had taken the most damage would likely be giving off. Going over the data again from what they had gathered, he selected a mix of photon and tri-cobalt torpedoes and made double sure that no systems were offline. Soon, he reminded himself, he would give the Romulans a taste of their own medicine.