To Start A War

Posted on Fri Mar 2nd, 2018 @ 1:35pm by Lieutenant Commander Rann & Commodore Leon `Lee` Pike & Lieutenant JG Frank Doyle & Lieutenant JG Dye Heron & Lieutenant JG Victor Clayton & Ensign Manuel Vega

2,529 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 95 - Helping Old Friends
Location: USS Yorktown
Timeline: MD4 2240 Hrs, Following 'Heating Up'

ON:

The Yorktown dropped out of the slipstream tunnel on the edge of the Neutral Zone. K'Temoc tapped in commands on his right panel. There were debris from two Federation ships within the zone. The Kearsarge and Vanguard were both destroyed.

"Does that look like Romulan disruptor energy signatures to you Lieutenant?" K'Temoc asked Fintel.

"I'm detecting Romulan energy signatures, but they aren't the typical signatures from a Romulan disruptor," Fintel said, looking over his shoulder at K'Temoc.

"Admiral, the blast pattern from the Vanguard. It looks like something exploded from within the ship, possibly from its main shuttle bay." Rann commended from the rear station.

"Lieutenant Lorjeen, divert additional power to the shields. Pike, keep an eye out for possible cloak..." Before K'Temoc could continue, beeps came from Tactical, Science, Rear stations, as well as his own panel.

"There's a Romulan Science vessel in the middle of the debris trying to free the quantum slipstream drive systems from the Kearsarge and Vanguard." Rann reported.

"I'm also picking up escape pods from both the Vanguard and Kearsarge Admiral." Clayton reported from the Engineering position.

"Mister Pike, but a phaser pulse across it's bow." K'Temoc ordered.

Lee nodded "Aye sir." His hands flew across the controls as he fired the phaser.

A moment later, two Romulan ships decloaked. A d'Deridex Type Warbird and a Valdore Type Warbird. "Open a channel to the lead ship." K'Temoc said as he took a breath.

"Sir, it looks like they're coming prepared. I'm reading upgraded weaponry on all the Romulan ships. A mix of different weaponry from the various factions in the Typhon Pact," Fintel said, looking over his display, attempting to make heads or tails of what he was looking over.

"There's something else." Rann added, "The d'Deridex, their shields are only at ten percent and their weapons are offline. I'm picking up residue from Starfleet phasers, photon torpedoes, and quantum torpedoes on both ships."

K'Temoc thought for a moment, then tapped a button on his left panel to open a channel. "Romulan vessels, this is Vice Admiral K'Temoc of the Federation Starship Yorktown. We're responding to a distress call from two missing Starfleet vessels. Withdraw your science ship from the wreckage and leave the area."

K'Temoc then looked over at Pike, "Start beaming survivors aboard. Fintel, see if you can jam that science ship's communications."

Fintel nodded and made quick work of jamming communications. Using a trick he learned back when he was growing up, Fintel was able to stop the Romulus from calling in any sort of reinforcements.

“Sir, I’ve set up a rotating jamming frequency to stop the Romulans from calling for reinforcements. But, it’s only going to stop them for so long. So, we are going to have to get the stolen QSD because I don’t know if my communication blackout is going to hold until I can setup a full EM scramble,” Fintel said, his hands gliding across his station.

Lee nodded "Aye sir." He sent orders to have security escort the survivors to sickbay after they where beamed aboard.

Over the comm, the reply finally came, "Federation ship, you're in violation of the Romulan Neutral Zone treaty. You're comrades were guilty of that infraction and were dealt with. You and your cute little ship will return to Federation space, of you'll meet the same fate."

"So you admit to destroying two Federation Starships? And just what were you doing in the Neutral Zone anyway? Both are acts of war." K'Temoc replied to the Romulan.

"The Valdor type warbird is locking weapons on us, and the science ship is trying to withdraw, they have part of the Vanguard's QSD core, and they've closed the comm channel." Rann reported.

K'Temoc knew they couldn't let the Romulans get that QSD core section, Starfleet was very protective of QSD technology, and couldn't let the Typhon Pact get it. "Doyle, attack pattern Beta-Four. Pike, target the science ship's engines, fire to disable and neutralize. Rann, as soon as the science ship's shields are down, beam out any Federation tech they have aboard out into space with a wide dispersion pattern so it's salvageable. Lorjeen, rotate the aux power to the shield grid facing the Valdore. Clayton, as we pass escape pods, quickly lower the facing shield, and beam the survivors aboard as quick as you can. The Romulans will quickly catch on, so keep an eye on. Fintel, set up a rotating EM pulse to jam all Romulan communications, we don't need them calling for help." 'Hopefully they hadn't already' K'Temoc thought to himself.

“Sir, I’m detecting a launch from the Romulan Science Vessel. It looks like a probe that has been modified to serve as a communication booster. It’s not completely operational, but they should have it up and running in the next 60 seconds and it’ll break through any EM pulse we send out,” Fintel said, bringing up the EM pulses to block communications.

Lee's hands flew over the controls as he targeted the ship's engines disabling them after a few shots "I'm targeting the probe." He then fired a few more shots destroying the probe.

The Yorktown shook.

"The Valdore is targeting us." Rann reported.

"Lee, hellfire torpedoes, target the d'Deridex's shields and knock them out. Doyle, once they're down, take us inside the d'Deridex, between their primary and secondary hulls. If the Valdore wants to shoot us, they'll have to risk hitting their own comrades. Fintel, while we're in there, take over transporter controls and beam aboard any survivors." K'Temoc ordered.

"Aye, sir. I'm detecting at least a half dozen survivors. I'm beaming them all straight to the medical bay," Fintel said, taking over transporter control from his station.

A moment later, the port egress door opened and Ensign Vega walked onto the Bridge. He was clearly injured.

"Ensign, you alright?" K'Temoc asked as he looked back. "Weren't you aboard the Kearsarge?"

"Yes sir. I beamed aboard from an escape pod just a few moments ago." Vega replied.

"What happened?" K'Temoc asked as the ship shook.

"We were being shadowed by the Romulans when we stumbled upon that science ship trying to hack into one of our border monitoring stations. We hailed them, fired a warning shot, and they fled into the Neutral Zone. Commander McKeever ordered us to purse. We were jumped within the zone by the two ships out there now. The ships that had been shadowing us moved out of sensor range." Vega explained as the Yorktown shook again.

"How long until we have all survivors aboard?" K'Temoc asked.

"It should be just a few more minutes, sir. I want to make sure I don't leave any survivors behind, but there's a sizable amount of radiation coming from the debris, as well as the damaged QSD we have in the cargo bay," said Fintel, working as quickly and efficiently as he could to bring the survivors aboard.

"The d'Deridex is powering back up." Clayton reported.

Rann walked over behind Pike, "If you target phasers here" he pointed to a spot on the rear of the warbird's head where the upper neck met it "there's a power distribution node there that's dedicated to tactical systems."

It was a nice spot, usually hidden or very hard to target in ship to ship combat, but with the Yorktown 'inside' the Warbird, between the upper and lower hulls, it was in a perfect position to hit it.

"Hit it Lee!" K'Temoc said with a smirk.

Lee's hands darted over the controls targeting where the officer suggested then fired.

The Yorktown's pulse phaser ripped into the Romulan ship, fully disabling it.

"We're going to need to move soon." K'Temoc said looking back at his science officer.

“I’m finishing up with transporting the survivors from the wreckage. It should be less than sixty seconds to completion,” Fintel said looking over his shoulder to K’Temoc.

"Lee, ready quantum torpedoes, once we clear the Romulan ship, destroy anything left of the Kearsarge and Vanguard. I don't want the Romulans even recovering an iso-chip." K'Temoc ordered.

Lee nodded "Aye sir." He had the torpedoes ready.

The starboard egress door now opened, and another wounded Starfleet officer stepped onto the Bridge. It was Commander Parks, he'd been in command of the Vanguard.

K'Temoc looked over and saw the Commander, then looked back at the viewer while speaking to him. "What happened Commander?"

"We arrived on scene. The Kearsarge was all but gone. A Romulan science ship was combing the wreckage. We ordered it away, but that d'Deridex declocked. We were able to temporary neutralize it. We scanned for survivors and started to beam the pods into our cargo bays, but one had been rigged by the Romulans and carried an anti-matter bomb. It exploded in our bay, disabled the ship, then that Valdore decloaked. We got a few shots off at it, but they fully disabled us and started to board. They were trying to get information on our QSD. I ordered the ship abandoned and tried to set the self destruct, but that system was offline. I.." The Commander became dizzy and Rann helped him into a seat by the aft bridge display. “It’s only through God’s grace that any of us survived.”

"Damn the Romulans." Clayton said aloud to no one particular.

"Doyle, be ready." K'Temoc said. The Yorktown was about to move.

"Yes sir." Doyle made the necessary changes, readying the ship for a quick getaway.

“Sir, I’m reading an energy buildup on the lead Romulan Ship, sir. It’s similar to what I found in the wreckage of our ships,” Fintel said, analyzing the readings coming from the Romulan ship.

Doyle watched K'Temoc for the affirmative to take off.

“Full impulse Mister Doyle, once we’re clear imitate evasive maneuvers, gamma sequence. Lee, fire torpedoes and obliterate anything remaining of the Vanguard and Kearsarge.” K’Temoc said as he glanced at this left panel.

Doyle did as he was told. He glanced over at Lee for a quick moment then back to his board.

Lee looked at Doyle then gave a nod.

After the remains of the two Federation ships were completely destroyed, the Yorktown juked and turned to avoid any incoming Romulan fire.

“Lee, target the Valdore’s weapons.”

Pulse phasers burst out and ripped into the Romulan ship, damaging it. The Yorktown turned away but was suddenly grabbed by a tractor beam from another d'Deridex type warbird as it declocked.

Lee nodded as he worked "Aye sir, targeting their weapons."

“Where the hell did that ship come from?” K’Temoc said aloud as he looked around the Bridge.

“Sensor gave us no fore warning of a decloaking ship.” Clayton reported.

“Lee, target their tractor emitter, use torpedoes, the tractor beam will throw off phaser targeting. Fintel prepare a resonance pulse in case the torpedoes don’t do it. Doyle…” K’Temoc was cut off by the beep of the comm system.

“We’re being hailed by the warbird.” Rann announced from the aft station.

“K’Temoc took a breath.” On screen.

The smirking face of Romulan Admiral Tomalak appeared. “Well, look what we’ve caught today.”

“Tomalak. Release my ship.” K’Temoc replied with a tone of authority.

“Vice Admiral now. Congratulations. And to think I met you when you were just a Lieutenant.” Tomalak continued to smirk.

“Tomalak, this is already an aggressive action by the Romulan Empire against the Federation. Violating the neutral zone, attempting to access one of our border sensor arrays, the destruction of two Federation ships and scavenging through their debris. Are you trying to start a war today?” K’Temoc replied.

Tomalak’s smirk faded. “If a war is what we wanted, you wouldn’t be talking right now. The destruction of your ships was not authorized, and the commander responsible will be dealt with, however your ships instigated the battle by firing on our science ship…”

“A warning shot to warn off a ship that was accessing Federation property!” K’Temoc stood. “That never should have led to the destruction of any ship. Romulan or Federation. Now, we can go on posturing. We can launch our hellfire torpedoes that are targeted on your ship right now, and you might destroy us in the process, but our lives won’t be the last ones lost if we do start a war here.”

Tomalak paused a moment, then nodded to someone to his right. A moment later the tractor beam released.

“They’ve powered down their weapons, but their shields are still up.” Rann reported.

“Lee, power down the weapons, after we make sure all traces of those ships are vaporized.” K’Temoc stared at the screen as he spoke to Lee, daring Tomalak to rebut, but the Romulan Admiral didn’t. “Fintel, do a final sweep, make sure we have all survivors. Lorjeen, boost power to the sensors, let make sure we can look under all rocks, I don’t want to leave anyone behind. Doyle, set a course to take us out of here.” K’Temoc ordered, then he took his seat again.

Lee's hands flew over the controls "Aye sir, powering down now."

"Aye, sir. Running final sensor sweeps to make sure we didn't miss any survivors," Fintel said, running his hands over his controls and making sure that nobody was left behind.

Doyle nodded, "Course set."

“I will have our ships leave the neutral zone. There will be no war, today.” Tomalak finally said, then the channel closed as the Romulans moved off, uncloaked.

K'Temoc looked over at Fintel, "I want to know why we didn't detect a decloaking ship before they caught us in their tractor beam."

"Actually, as I've been scanning for survivors, I've been analyzing sensors data we've gotten since we've exited slipstream to the point where the warbird showed up and tractored us. The probe the Romulan science vessel sent out actually two purposes. One, as the communication device, but two, as a way to block out sensors. Right before Commodore Pike destroyed it, it sent out an EM pulse that knocked out sensors out for just long enough for a Romulan Warbird to decloak. Once the warbird decloaked, it hid behind some debris long enough to come after us and tractor us in. With the damaged QSD, it made it harder to detect ships out in the debris field, especially since sensors were forced to reset themselves," Fintel said, transferring the information to a PADD and handing it over to K'Temoc.

K'Temoc shook his head. "Good work. I'll send this to all ships in the area as well as Starfleet Command with my full report of the incident."

One the view screen, the last remaining debris of the Vanguard and Kearsarge burned away under phaser fire. "Pike, send a message to the Starships Drexler, Firefly, and Wolverine . Tell them to adjust their patrol routes to fill in the gaps from the Vanguard and Kearsarge. Also request the USS London make repairs to the sensor array the Romulans tried to access and make sure it's secured. Mister Doyle, take us back to Starbase 400. Warp eight."


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