Breaking Bad

Posted on Wed May 4th, 2011 @ 7:31pm by Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries & Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts (KIA) & Lieutenant JG Paul Akron

Mission: Renegades
Location: Secondary Hull - Arizona
Timeline: Various

[During the attack]

Emerging from warp shortly after the tertiary and primary hulls the small skeleton crew of the badly damaged secondary hull braced themselves as they entered the already heated battlefield. At the helm Ensign Paul Akron fought to keep the vessel on a steady course as Major Stace DeVries and Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts shared a brief moment before turning their attention back to their respective consoles. For his own part Cadet Cristian Holkings bounced back and forth between the science and engineering stations - not really trained on what to do.

"Status report!" Aiden demanded as they stabilized into normal space.

Bringing the viewscreen online, Stace hammered at the controls in front of her. "Tertiary and primary hulls have sustained minimal damage... the Casey is continuing it's assault run. I recommend we increase power to shields."

"Make it happen!" Aiden agreed as he gripped his chair tightly. Even though the secondary hull was nearly as strong of a hull as the primary, the current damages crippled them quite a bit. They were risking severe danger by diverting power to any non-essential systems.

"Commander, there's a damaged Romulan vessel off the port bow," Cadet Holkings alerted from his station.

"Shit... " Aiden took a look around the small room before glancing at the arm rests of his chair, reading what he already knew. "Helm bring us about, keep them facing our dorsal shields..." It was the only side of their section that hadn't taken a beating, and he wasn't about to waste a good opportunity to hammer a few blows into their wounded foe. "Target their weapon systems, see if we can't remove them from the fight..."

Stace nodded and returned to hammering at the buttons in front of her. "Phasers locked onto target and firing! Quantum torpedoes are online. Locking onto warp core coordinates."

Ensign Akron struggled to keep the ship on a stable course as well as keep their weaker side away from the fighting. With each impact on the shields, Paul became less and less confident that he would be able to pull off the miracle that would be required to keep them alive.

"Commander!" Cadet Holkings called out, "The damaged vessel has just been taken out by the Saucer Section. The Commodore is bringing her..."

The Cadet was cut off in mid-sentence by the sudden, unrelenting bombardment of the remaining vessels as they combined their firepower, sending everything they had toward the Secondary Hull. Even before the shields failed, overloads were being felt throughout the section; consoles, conduits, power relays, anything that drew power to function began to feel the effects of the Romulan onslaught. Cadet Holkings was about to make yet another report when the entire Mission Ops console cluster ruptured and exploded, white hot plasma engulfing the Cadet, throwing him bodily across the small battle bridge to land unceremoniously against the bulkhead, lifeless.

"Increasing all available power to shields!" Stace yelled above the horrendous noise - visions of the past coming back to her. Up until this point in her life she had survived three lost vessels... the Phoenix, the Lancelot and the Mischief. It was the very reason she had volunteered to join this mission. A cat with nine lives. She hoped so anyways. "Arming the last of the quantum torpedoes! I'd recommend us withdrawing from this fight, pronto! The shields will not hold much longer!"

"Ensign Akron, get us out of firing range!" Aiden ordered, his hand tightening around his arm rest.

"Aye!" the Ensign said, his fingers dancing frantically across the glossy console of the Navigation Panel. The ship struggled to comply, even as the Romulans continued to pound them with disruptor and plasma energy assaults. The ship rocked several more times before the shields had taken every ounce of punishment they could...

A huge explosion rocked the Secondary Hull, then another, and another as the torpedoes the Romulans were sending their way flew unimpeded into the hull of the section. Panels and conduits all over the bridge began to burst, raining sparks and plasma embers all around the room. Despite the environmental systems fighting an ever increasingly difficult battle to keep the air breathable on the bridge, the smoke from the flame engulfed components of the ship continued to thicken.

"Report!" Cmdr. Roberts demanded.

Ens. Akron glanced over at his ship systems display and responded, "Our starboard nacelle has been punctured to the point of nearly being cut in half! We're venting drive plasma and there are reports that the EPS conduits leading to it have all but been destroyed..."

"We've lost shields!" Stace announced loudly. "Weapons are offline!"

Aiden stood, moving towards the communications console. With each step, the deck shook and he swayed with the ship. He leaned over the console, debating on trying to muscle their way their way out.

"...Helm... Ramming speed..." he said as he settled back into the center chair, "Everyone... hold on to your asses..."

Ens. Akron looked back at Commander Roberts for a moment before he turned and complied. Internally, Paul was lamenting now ever having joined Starfleet. He inputted the specific commands that would disable to ship's version of a self-preservation instinct and allow them to hurl the section bodily into the nearest vessel. The computer chirped in defiance for several seconds before Paul managed to force it to comply, the view screen bearing witness to that fact. The view of one of the scouts came fully into view, their disruptors lashing out at the section as it stormed toward their hull. It was almost too late for the Romulans to react when the front end of the Secondary hull slammed bodily into the side of the scout, tearing a gash into the side of it while at the same time rocking the entire section.

Explosions rocked the ship as it impacted the Romulan scout. The overrides that Ens. Akron had used hadn't accounted for the aftermath, and the Secondary Hull took it upon itself to back away at full reverse, doing far more damage to itself in the process than had it remained. The ship cleared the bowls of the scout and had only back away just out of lethal damage range when the other two sections ganged up on the now crippled vessel and blew it to hell.

The resulting shockwave sent the Secondary Hull pitching forward violently, the energy having no buffer between it and the hull of the ship. Inside the bridge, panels and consoles, bulkheads and ceiling panels all blew apart in concert, sending debris flying in every imaginable direction. Ensign Akron caught a massive blast of energized plasma in his right arm, the force of his hurling him out of his seat and against the floor, where he slid to a halt just in time for debris from the ceiling to fall on top of him, covering him from his legs up to his waist in shards of metal and other materials.

Despite having had a good grip on the console directly in front of her and bracing for the impending impact, the unexpected whiplash was enough to send the Major flying harshly and ungracefully over the railings and into the air. Accompanied with nothing but the shrieking sounds of tearing metal the next few minutes were nothing but a complete blur to Stace as she was unmercifully attacked by loose shrapnel until she came to a crashing halt somewhere on the floor near the helm.

It was there the marine laid still for what seemed like an eternity.

"Major... Major?!"

Paul. The Ensign. The Red Shirt. "I hear you..." she muttered, her voice sounding far off... detached... as if something inside her head wasn't registering with the rest of her brain. "Are you alright?"

There was a slight moment of labored breathing before a winded reply came to her. "I'm trapped... beneath some wreckage..."

"Hold on," Stace instructed as she forced herself to her feet - a severe and near crippling pain coming over her as she did. Her vision was nearly non-existent - her head pounding with such force she felt her head would roll off her neck. She felt a constant twitch in her side - an almost positive sign that she had some sort of internal injury. Yet, she was on her feet... she was still breathing.

She turned her attention then to what was left of the bridge area. The viewscreen was all but obliterated and though she couldn't swear on it the lack of further attack meant that either they had finished off their enemy or the other hulls had come to their rescue. She couldn't quite make out the other side of the bridge or where Aiden had been mere moments before... she would come to that momentarily. First, she would make sure the Ensign was stable enough to sit tight for just a bit longer.

The smoke and the fog of the devastation stifled both Ens. Akron's breathing and vision as he struggled to look about the now nearly destroyed compartment. He could barely make out the form of Major DeVries, though her uniform and face were covered in blood, as was he most likely. The klaxon had died off, most likely in response to the threat having disappeared... or because the ship simply didn't have the energy to support anything but their lives anymore. Either way...

"Don't struggle," the woman ordered as she made her way closer to the young man. "I can't quite make it out clearly... but I think you're losing a lot of blood... I'm not quite sure your leg is still together." She knelt over him as best she could considering the mass amount of debris between them. She knew perhaps telling him that much was not in his best interest but she also knew sugar coating the situation wouldn't help. "Sit as still as possible... I'm going to go check on the Commander... I'm sure someone will come for us soon. I'll be back."

The Ensign nodded slowly - an unbearable feeling of dread washing over him as the Major stumbled back to her feet and in the opposite direction. Just what the hell was he doing here?

Aiden felt trapped. Closed in. Alone. The smell of burnt flesh and electronics filled his nostrils with each shallow breath. He raised his hand, pushing against the debris in front of him with no avail. He flinched, as a shower of sparks flashed above him.

She was slow... methodical... in her approach to the other side of the bridge area. Certain that she had suffered a nasty concussion at best, Stace anxiously fought against the lack of vision she seemed to possess. Relying mostly on instinct and her photographic memory of the layout pre-explosion, she continued in the direction she last believed the Commander to be in. "Aiden? Can you hear me?" She paused in between each step, trying to focus her gaze... straining her ears to hear something... anything.

His ears perked up, hearing his name in the midst of the turmoil that was once the Bridge around him. He went to yell, but he could barely speak. The Commander grabbed his throat, feeling the front that was covered in a liquid. Blood? He reached his hand further around the back of his neck, and felt an object piercing into the side of his neck. Shock. Confusion. He could wiggle his fingers, but couldn't feel his toes or anything from his chest down now that he thought about it. Instead, he took his hands from his neck, and pounded against the metal plate in front of him.

A few feet away Stace almost missed the banging sound, nearly confusing it for more falling rubble until something convinced her to seek out the noise and determine just what it was. Stumbling and tripping over the mess covering the floor around her, the red head soon came across a large pile of debris, the banging sound growing louder and louder from within. "I'm here! Hang on," she stuttered as she forced the words from her mouth. Biting down hard on her bottom lip, she fought through the screaming pain in her side as she took to lifting the pieces of metal one by one until she brushed against the feel of flesh. "Almost there..."

It was excruciating... the amount of time it took to unbury the trapped man enough for her to see his face. He was pale around the eyes - bloodshot and droopy. The look of someone who's blood had run far too thin far too fast. It was enough to make her double her efforts. She continued to drag the debris away until at last most of his upper torso was free and she was able to get closer to him. He was in bad shape though the darkness concealed much of it. If only she were able to focus more clearer. "Aiden... hang on. I'm going to get you out of here."

There was no response save the sound of a high pitched gurgling. Realizing the situation was far worse than she originally thought, the Major reached out for the Commander only to find her hands soaked in lukewarm blood - an object deeply imbedded within the side of his throat. Shit. Even if she were able to move him out from underneath the remaining wreckage, there was no way she would be able to replenish his blood loss or offer him the immediate medical attention he needed. "Listen... it's bad. Real bad. I think you know that... but I'm still going to get you out of here. Do you understand?"

Aiden waved his hands, trying his best to convey a no. He instead pointed to the Major herself. "Did we ..... get 'em?"

"We sure did," Stace answered forcefully as she debated her next move. "You did good."

"I'd call that .... winning..." Aiden said with a smile, before closing his eyes....

"Don't! Don't you dare give up!" she countered immediately - the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach rising as she leaned down and attempted to cradle his head in her hands. She knew it was hopeless. Knew the man didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of surviving... not with a wound like that... but the thought of him just dying in front of her fueled her anger at the entire situation. When no response came yet again, the marine lowered his head back against the floor and took a deep breath before forcing herself to remove what was left of the debris trapping him. One way or another she would get them all out of this death trap.

Seconds turned into minutes... minutes into longer minutes. It seemed never ending as the woman worked beyond her own physical means to retrieve both bodies of Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts and Cadet Cristian Holkings before returning to the position she had left the wounded Ensign Paul Akron. "Ensign... Paul..."

"I'm still here... is... is everything okay?" the red shirt mumbled as he fought to wake himself.

There was a long pause and a sharp intake of breath. "Holkings... Roberts... they didn't make it... it's just us for now."

Paul forced his eyes open at the sound of her voice. It was weak... frazzled... broken. Was she... crying? Did she cry? Squinting, he strained his gaze to focus on her... and then his own went wide. For the first time since the attack he was finally able to get a good... a decent look... at the woman. He hadn't been able to see the damage before... not when the blood was still flowing free... but now... with it caked and slowing... it was all too clear. Her right eye was completely gone - an empty socket now where her eyeball had once been. Above that her skull appeared to be split, held on by either sheer luck or gravity... he wasn't sure which.

"Maj... Major..."

She struggled with the words - the blinding pain in her head growing faster and faster. "Ens..." She stumbled again, slumping to the floor near the bodies of their fallen crewmates. Exhaustion was taking hold... the inability to stay conscious. She had done what she could. It just hadn't been enough.