Wil Ukinix Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago In a future 2442, with a war raging in the Alpha Quadrant against the Lattice Alliance that threatens to bring the Federation to its knees, Robin Hopper's and Nathan Richard's daughter Alexis (written by the fantastic @Niev Galanis) has to instead deal with a pirate ship! I've merged two of their fantastic Disco titled sims together to highlight how well they've done bringing that dark atmosphere to a starship bridge during wartime Federation stories we see on Trek. Not only that, the characterisation of the child of two characters the Amity crew know and love is a joy to read. Fantastic stuff @Niev Galanis! ((Bridge, USS Resilience - Near a Planetary Nebula, Gamma Quadrant)) An Adamant-class starship. One of Starfleet’s best. Agile, durable enough to withstand at least a few shots from a Sencha wave weapon, and armed to the teeth. The USS Resilience was a ship worthy of its name, and it should have been out on the front lines saving lives. Instead, it was out here in the middle of the Gamma Quadrant chasing a madman. Drumming her fingers on the arm of her captain’s chair, Alexis Hopper was calm and collected on the outside. She filled out the chair well, as the ship deftly maneuvered to keep up with the ship full of pirates they’d been redirected to pursue, the pulse phasers cannons spitting angry bursts of orange after it. Pirates. Because there wasn’t already enough to keep up with in the galaxy today. Part of her wished she’d never sighted that damned Phoenix-class in the first place. At least Lex was lucky enough to have a fully staffed bridge, even if she’d had to improvise. It was an increasing rarity these days to field a full complement of crew - there just weren’t enough officers left. The Commanding Officer took a few moments to take in the state of those under her command, long blonde hair shifting around with the motion of her head. The Resilience’s bridge wasn’t all that different from its ancestor, the Defiant-class. It was tight compared to a starship, but efficient - and well-lit, like most starships in the modern era. To her left, Lieutenant Commander Natalia Moonsong-Orrey manned the engineering console. Lieutenant Sienna Monroe, a medical officer, was at the tactical station next to him. With how quickly things could go south when up against the Lattice Alliance it wasn’t strange to see a medical officer posted full time on the bridge. Their gaze moved back to the pirates on the viewscreen and the woman at the helm - Lieutenant Commander Amara Reade. oO Some of Starfleet’s finest, and we’re out here chasing our own tails… Oo No. Lex wasn’t going to let herself do that. Complaining about orders wasn’t going to get her anywhere. When she’d accepted her command, she vowed to herself to do it the right way. The Starfleet way. That meant leading her crew like a real CO would. Most of them had served varying lengths on the Resilience, but none longer than six months. That was the last time Starfleet had come knocking for transfers to one of the larger battleships. There was one person who stood out as the freshest face of all… her First Officer, promoted and assigned only days before their pursuit was ordered. She’d hardly had time to do more than shake his hand so far. The Trill was furthest to her right, at the science station. Eying the looming nearby nebula on the screen dubiously, Lex directed her attention toward Caliban. A. Hopper: That looks like bad news. Any good news for me? C. Ylvor: ::Wrly:: You’ll be pleased to know, Captain, that our sensor suite is operating at peak efficiency – providing a crystal clear report of precisely how blind we shall be if we’re forced to follow them into that Mutara Nebula... We’ll be reliant on short-range scans and manual targeting once we cross the threshold. But, therein lies the good news; They’ll be just as impotent in there as we shall be, Sir. The blonde commander’s shoulders visibly but subtly slumped as she knit her brow together. Steering your ship into a planetary nebula was a crazy move… and as far as Lex could tell, crazy moves were exactly this pirate’s MO. She’d recognized the name in the orders from Starfleet - It had taken her a few moments to place just where she’d heard it before. Her father had more than one story about an old Klingon doctor he’d been stationed with. To Lex, it was hard to imagine a Starfleet doctor committing the unique kind of cruelty Ikaia Wong inflicted on the galaxy today. A. Hopper: Status report, all stations. What are their shields looking like? C. Ylvor: I’ve ordered our flight wing to the bay. Commander Sh'kanan reports ready status – though I’d recommend against scrambling them in the nebula unless we find ourselves in a bad way, Sir. Fighters won’t hold up well in there. She looked at her notes before swivelling the chair towards the Captain to give her the status update. Reade: We are holding off the bow of the enemy vessel. Ready to close the gap whenever you want, Captain. Moonsong-Orrey: Engineering shows green across the board. Monroe: Ah, holding. Shields are holding. A. Hopper: ::with a faint smirk:: They want to run? Not a chance. Strap yourselves in - we’re about to show them what an Adamant-class can do. Mooonsong-Orrey: Orders, sir? Reade: Understood, ma’am. I am ready whenever. She tapped her hands near the helm controls, stating she was ready. C. Ylvor: ::With some urgency:: Our window to close distance and keep them out of the nebula is swiftly shutting, Captain. A. Hopper: We’re not going to give these pirates a chance to slip away this time. Lieutenant Commander Moonsong-Orrey, push those engines as hard as you can. Lieutenant Monroe, target the engines - aim to cripple, not destroy. Make sure they don’t get comfy. Lieutenant Commander Amara? …Get in their business and make it ours. Monroe: Engines. Engines. Yes Sir… Moonsong-Orrey: Pushing us to outpace them. Watching a shot land on one of the nacelles of the Pele’s Revenge, Lex did her best to not let her impatience get the better of her. These days, it truly felt like every second counted. They should have been out there making a difference, not cleaning up their own messes. But she wasn’t about to make a hasty decision and doom her crew to being stranded on a planet to helplessly await the inevitable. That was a fate crueler than death. They’d do this the right way. C. Ylvor: Fine shooting, Lieutenant. They’re feeling it – but I’m not detecting any damage beyond the nacelles. ::To Helm:: Reade, mind your speed. If they stop suddenly, we might fly right into them. Reade: Yes, ma’am, thank you for the reminder. There was a small, amused smirk on Lex’s face again at the thought. The Phoenix-class may have been nimble, but she knew which ship she’d rather be on if it came to a collision. oO This isn’t the time to be fantasizing about ramming speeds. …But still. Maybe he’d surrender if he thought… Oo She imagined the crunching metal and shuddering impact of hulls. Wong, trapped and finished. Her fingers tightened on the arms of her chair. No. That wasn't Starfleet. That wasn't her. Too many had given up on what Starfleet stood for already. A. Hopper: Keep firing. We want to knock those engines out, not tickle them. As the Pele’s Revenge crept closer to the edge of the nebula, still under fire, Lex didn’t let herself get comfortable. There had to be a way to resolve all of this without following a maniac into a Mutara nebula. Anyone who knew Starfleet as well as Alexis did knew that never ended well. Monroe: Is that enough, Captain? I— The nebula isn't going to be very kind on weapons or shields… Moonsong-Orrey: I think we should be able to compensate for the power drain on the weapons but the shields will have too much interference to form the field. C. Ylvor: We’ll have to rely on hull plating and the SIFs. Good thing we just got a clean bill of health from Spacedock. Reade: Just be aware, Commander, once we are in the nebula, I will have reduced movement controls due to interference. A. Hopper: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. Stay on target and keep the heat up. C. Ylvor: ::A slightly chiding tone:: Lieutenant, need I remind you, the Phoenix Class has two nacelles. Monroe: Sorry! Sorry! Very sorry! Yes, of course. Raising her right eyebrow slightly, Lex also looked over toward Sienna when she sputtered out her rapidfire apologies. The Commander couldn’t help but pity the poor medical officer. Lex hated putting people on the front line who didn’t want to be there. It was just another sign of the desperate times. Moonsong-Orrey: You’ve got to keep working on them until your display shows them going cold. Reade: We are approaching the nebula, Captain. As her First Officer silenced the warnings from the console, Lex opened her mouth to issue the orders to keep up the pursuit… but there was something bothering her about all of this. Wong may have been a madman, but even he had to have some sort of a plan. Desperately limping into the nebula where the Resilience could just keep firing on them seemed too simple. Too straightforward. It was Natalia who gave voice to the Commander’s suspicions. Moonsong-Orrey: Does anyone else have an issue with how little they are fighting back? Reade: To be honest, they are running an odd flight path. Something seems off; I cannot pin it. Does anyone else have anything? Monroe: Response Moonsong-Orrey: I mean I know they can’t take us in a one-on-one but this is closer to flat running. Looking to each of her crew in turn, Lex’s attention landed back on her first officer as he crossed his arms and spoke. C. Ylvor: That’s Captain Wong’s M.O., Captain. I’ve known the man many years – in a manner of speaking. He’s not a fighter, but he’s crafty, and he’s not one to quit either. If he escapes into that nebula, we could be chasing them through the soup for days. Lex had tried hard not to think about the connection between the crew more than she absolutely needed to. The stakes only felt higher knowing how many familiar names she was responsible for keeping alive. That little stunt Command had pulled assembling this crew over the past few months hadn’t gone unnoticed. She’d been telling herself it was because Starfleet needed their best working together. Or that the ranks had gotten so thin that the legacy enlistees were starting to outnumber the new ones. But ever since the orders to capture Ikaia Wong had come in, the possibility had floated around in her mind. Her fingers began their rapid, impatient drumming on the chair again as the Pele’s Revenge approached the threshold of the colorful nebula. They weren’t going to be able to disable the engines before the Phoenix-class vanished within. A. Hopper: If he tries to run around in a nebula for days in that condition, we’ll be the least of his worries. This is so… ::looking briefly agitated before biting back her words and restarting the thought:: …Is there any way this doesn’t end with a ship being destroyed? C. Ylvor: It may be worth hailing him again, see if he answers this time now that we’ve got him cornered. Show him our faces; Friendly faces. Friendly faces. Right. Lex knew what he really meant. They could all trace it back to Amity Outpost. The Delta Quadrant station that had loomed over Lex’s life like a ghost from a past she only knew in stories. Her mother had never really seemed comfortable with the topic, and while her father shared the good times, even at a young age Lex could always see that sad look in his eyes behind the smile. He told stories about Wong too. It wasn’t just Starfleet ideals that had kept her from ordering her crew to destroy the Pele’s Revenge. By all legal means, Lex would’ve been completely justified. But having to tell her father she’d ordered the death of that friendly, wacky Klingon doctor she used to hear all about as a kid wasn’t something she wanted on her conscience if she could help it. Moonsong-Orrey: Response Reade: Hmm, that could work, but we run the risk of him not answering our hail. Monroe: Response C. Ylvor: It’s a tool we have at our disposal he may not be expecting. At least it ought to catch him off guard. A. Hopper: As long as he’s still sane enough to listen to reason. The first time they’d tried to hail the Pele’s Revenge, the chase across the sector had begun. Lex couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at the time. The Commander wanted to know just what was going through this pirate’s head. How he justified the suffering he caused in his own mind. If she had to be away from the front line, the least she could do was prevent any more of that. Reade: Commander, may I add something else? Lex gave a short nod of her head toward the helm, looking toward Amara again. A. Hopper: Go ahead, Lieutenant Commander. Reade: What if we turn off our sensors and radar, keep them at the following distance, and track them like ghosts through the nebula? Brow knitting together thoughtfully for a few moments, Lex considered the possibility. A. Hopper: It would definitely cut down on their maneuverability advantage… Monroe/C. Ylvor/Moonsong-Orrey: Response Reade: Yes, I was thinking the same thing. A. Hopper: But that’s only if they make it into the nebula in the first place. Keep your eyes on your stations. We’re not going to let them catch us with our pants down. Monroe/C. Ylvor/Moonsong-Orrey: Response A plan had been decided on. Lex had read through Ikaia Wong’s file. His propensity for insisting everything could be talked through. The Commander was about to put that to the test. A. Hopper: Slow the ship and cease fire, but keep weapons locked and your hands on the helm. Divert power to the shields in case they try anything… ::a small side glance at Caliban:: …crafty. Monroe/C. Ylvor/Reade/Moonsong-Orrey: Response A. Hopper: Lieutenant Commander Ylvor… we’re going to give your old friend another call. Hail the Pele’s Revenge. C. Ylvor: Response A. Hopper: All right, everyone. Smiling faces. Monroe/C. Ylvor/Reade/Moonsong-Orrey: Response Lex took a moment to adjust herself in her seat, brushing her bangs back behind her ears. Diplomacy was rare in the galaxy these days, and her wartime career had called for precious little of it so far. It had always made her feel uncomfortable - the stoic expression, the choice words, the emotional control… But that only made trying to get this pirate to see sense and turn himself in more important. The Lattice Alliance had never been interested in talking things out - that was what Starfleet did. There weren’t two points of view to debate over in this war. Lex had to believe she could win him over instead of solving this with weapons. Even if it was going to be hard to not let the madman have it for what he’d done. Taking a deep breath, she firmed up her shoulders and looked into the viewscreen before speaking. A. Hopper: =/\= ::voice somewhat strained, choosing her words carefully:: This is Commander Alexis Hopper of the USS Resilience to the Pele’s Revenge. We both know why we’re here, Wong. =/\= Wong: =/\= Response? =/\= Any Pirates: =/\= Response? =/\= Monroe/C. Ylvor/Reade/Moonsong-Orrey: Response TAG!/TBC… Commander Alexis Hopper Commanding Officer USS Resilience A240106NG2 1 1 Quote
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