Pick up Sticks, Lay them Straight - Part 2

Posted on Fri Dec 28th, 2012 @ 6:47am by Lieutenant Jonathan "Jack" Mantell

Mission: Funzone
Location: Mark 7 Shuttlecraft
Timeline: Following "Pick up Sticks, Lay them Straight - Part 1"

The sky was a fiery concoction of action. Starships danced, sending lancing beams out to greet each other. Torpedoes flit through the ranks like fireflies, and then vanished in violent explosions of color. Debris and smaller pieces of orbital equipment littered the battlescape, a damaging inconvenience to a capital ship, but a fatal misstep for any number of the smaller crafts that held their own roles in the battle.

Jack's craft was one of those, and he tore his eyes away from the vista before his screen. It was simulated, he knew, but the level of detail in the recreation was stunning, and terrifying. His assignments had taken him far from the Tenth Fleet's engagement with the Dominion at Betazed, but from what he had heard from those who'd flown and fought in it, this was the real deal. Part of him was silently congratulating Petty Officer Macy for the scenario, while the other was almost regretting the idea in the first place.

A Cardassian Hideki class ship sped across the viewscreen window, just shy of the shuttle's nose. Jack reacted by guiding the controls to form up tighter within the convoy to which his shuttle belonged. A Parthian shot by the Hideki split the space where Jack's shuttle had been moments before, causing the child to exhale in relief. He blinked and retightened his grip on the shuttle's manual controls, which he had activated as soon as the shuttle left the Arizona's shuttlebay.

Though he had done so just a day prior by his arrival to the ship, Jack felt at home once more at the helm of this shuttle. The stars offered a boundless horizon for him, and they seemed to beckon. Later, he told them. The feel of the shuttle as it reacted to the touch and direction of his hands spelled out the authority he had in this shuttle, the power over its turns and speed, the ability to make it do whatever he wanted it to. That power meant life or death in this scenario, but it also meant freedom in this and almost every other situation. Carefully respected, that freedom could serve Jack well, and their work together was legendary.

An explosion blossomed in front of the convoy, and the chain shifted as a school of fish would. Darting away to escape the debris and explosions, it snaked its way back to the path towards their ultimate destination; the Federation Base in this sector, and the planet below. If they got through, the Betazoids would have crucial supplies that could hold them even if the Federation lost. When the Federation lost, Jack corrected himself, already having knowledge of the battle's conclusion, as well as its aftermath. He wasn't sure if the history books ever mentioned whether this particular convoy, if it existed, was successful or not, but by hell or high warp, Jack was going to make it a success this time.

Glancing at his scanners, the boy had a better view of the ensuing battle. Dominion and Cardassian cruisers loomed ahead, but their focus was on the Federation starships, not a small convoy of shuttles. That was the task of the Jem'Hadar attack ships and the Cardassian Hideki, to harass and destroy any extraneous Starfleet forces. From what Jack could see on his sensors, they were doing a pretty good job of it so far. Almost half of the Starfleet fighter corps vessels were destroyed or out of commission, and the rest were in little shape to bring a cohesive offensive to the Dominion forces. It wasn't looking too great for the rest of the Tenth Fleet, either.

A Galor-class vessel suddenly broke formation and began heading towards the convoy. Unsure if anyone had noticed it yet, the boy activated the linked communications system the convoy was using for secure comms. "Shuttle Five to Convoy, the Kravaack is on a course to intercept."

[Copy, Shuttle Five. All vessels, initiate Evasive Pattern Lambda.]

Too late! A golden beam sliced through the hull of Shuttle Nine, the capital ship beam leaving little behind its wake of destruction. The convoy flexed and reshuffled as it made adjustments for the absence of a single ship, though the formation looked less like a snake now and more like an evolved form of the finger-four squadron. The sturdier crafts took positions near the outside, while the older, less hardy vessels sought the inner sanctum, closed off from all but the most cunning attack.

A litany of warning lights and alarms penetrated the cabin of Jack's shuttle, and he looked to the sensors to find out why. Deadly and accurate, a Cardassian torpedo had been launched toward the group, aiming for the dead center of their convoy. Several phaser beams lashed out against the fiery weapon, but fizzled when they encountered only empty space. As the torpedo passed over Jack's shuttle, poised to enter the convoy itself, he tapped a few, fast commands into the console, and jammed the fire button. Two beams shot out from the side of his shuttle, and intersected the torpedo as they crossed.

The shockwave of the detonating torpedo blew Jack's shuttle into a devastating spin. Alarms blared and warning lights flashed, but the boy ignored them as he worked to stabilize the shuttle. It wasn't a few seconds before he realized that the port maneuvering thruster was gone. The computer wasn't responding to commands properly, and his course was likely to take him straight into a cloud of debris floating a ways off. Jack worked frantically at the controls, but he wasn't sure it would be enough. Or in time.