>>37842839
>Hail the Asterius, we're both getting out of here!

>>37842839
>>Hail the Asterius, we're both getting out of here!

>>37842839
Its starting to sound like a retreat is in order. these things fight with the tactic of death by a thousand cuts.

>Hail the Asterius, we're both getting out of here!

Phasers fire at will trying to get the fighters off us as we go for it. If we get clear/outrun the cruisers we can get a damage report and come up with something for the cruisers

If we can't keep lobbing photons in their face from the aft tubes. oughta get the hint eventually or we can turn and fight.

>>37842839
>Reorient towards the light cruisers, get a report, get the shields back up and keep swatting down the fighters.

>>37843343
>>37843334
>>37843282
As a pair of ensigns dump fire suppressant on one of the bridge consoles you stagger over to Ensign Eleen's station.

"Hail the Romulans damn it! Avar, hard to port, get us closer to the Asterius's flank!"

The Obediah lurches to the side and you barely keep your balance. The gravity controls must be damaged. A static filled image of Commander Sela appears on the viewscreen. Their bridge looks even worse than yours. A Romulan bridge officer lays slumped over a console behind Sela, blood dripping over his face. Sela addresses you:

"Captain, our main power is failing. Our engines are disabled and our cloak is offline. Weapons are still firing but we can't take too many more hits. Is your warp drive functional?"

You turn to Commander Cooper, who nods in your direction, and you respond to Sela accordingly. Her face is grim.

"I'm transmitting an emergency admittance code to your computers. Captain we're not getting away from this and neither of us in a position to hold our ground. I. I need to ask you pass the neutral zone and-"

A blast shakes the Asterius and knocks Sela off her feet. Sparks and flame fill their bridge. She crawls back into the viewer's frame.

"Find a patrol. Find a ship, let them know what happened. Tell them there's hostiles on the border. We'll cover your exit."

>Set a course for Federation Space to report to Starfleet.

>Set a course for Romulan Space to report to the Star Empire. Send a comm buoy to report to Starfleet.

>No! Cover the Asterius, we're getting them out.

>The Asterius is doomed, but we're finishing this fight. Engage the Cruisers.

>>37843631
>>No! Cover the Asterius, we're getting them out.
Overcharge our photons and fire as many as we can till they jam up.

>>37843631
Time to pull a fast one. If the transporters are online with both our shields toast we can use them to rescue as much of the Asterius' crew as we can and make the escape.

Save as many as we can going for warp. Send that Comm buoy for starfleet and go to avert a war.

Unless anyone can think of how to kill two cruisers and their fighters in a swift go I think its best we can do.

>>37843631
Hook on a tractor and take them with us to warp.

>>37843761
I think the Asterius is too big to tractor with us into Warp.

Although, we might be able to get a lightyear away, even if the warp field collapses quickly. That would give us a chance to either evac the Asterius, repair it, or at least get our shields up.

>>37843761
>>37843800
I think that may be an option. A brief tractor out of system into deep space. It'd be risky however. The Asterius might not survive it.

>>37843862
I kind of guessed when they said it. Their hull status is shit right now near literal swiss cheese I bet.

Almost wish we had the time to configure a photon torpedo into a scrambler that'd disable their ships sensors leaving them blind firing to help cover something.

>>37843631
Seconding this >>37843761
We can tow the Asterius since they have their engines shut off, and we can use the graviton field to reinforce the hull.

>>37843862
Tractor beams of Federation ships are advanced enough that if you give them enough power, they can act as structural integrity field emitters to reinforce a ship hull.
I just looked it up on Memory Alpha, and it was done in DS9.

>>37843862
>>37843913
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tractor_beam
The episode it references is "Captive Pursuit" from DS9.

>>37843913
Provided that their core isn't already about to explode in which case we're both going down.

But damn if that stops us from trying.

Let's show them some moves!

>>37843913
That would probably demand losing our weapons but in the purpose of fleeing we can let those go offline anyway. If we can pull them along and keep them alive we can get out of system possibly or far enough to survive...

Alright. Time to tempt fate lets do it Q I'm down for this if they are. Star Fleet if nothing else is known for reckless heroics at times.

>>37843985
Oh and tell the transporter crew to get some locks on just in case anyway

>>37844012
I can tell the medbay is going to be VERY busy very soon. Its been a rough start. Then again I don't think we expected a cameo appearance from Hive Queen Quest like this in the opening act.

>>37844059
It'll be very packed if we have to do that, the Miranda only has about 6 or 7 decks and a max crew of 35.

>>37843893
>>37843913
>>37843958
Mmmm very good. Well played.


Your brow furrows in frustration till an idea comes to the forefront of your mind.

"Commander, hold on. Divert all your power to your structural integrity fields."

You cut comms and order Lieutenant Kara to lock a tractor on the Asterius. You order all weapons powered down and the energy shunted into the tractor array. Kara nods to you when the tractor kicks in and you turn to Avar.

"Lieutenant Commander, plot a course out of this system towards Federation space, the highest warp we can push the engines to NOW!"

Avar punches in the command and the ship shudders. Sparks dance across the bridge and the lights dim dramatically. The stars on the viewer stretch into long light lines. After a few moments the ship lurches and drops out of warp. The tractor beam disengages almost immediately as power levels drop to dangerously low levels. You order Comms to immediately raise the nearest Federation ships and ask for assistance. Lieutenant Samat appears extremely stressed as he attempts to organize repairs.

>Order medical and repair teams to the Asterius. Maintain Red Alert in event of pursuit.

>Attempt to move deeper into Federation space with the Asterius.

>The Asterius is out of the fight. Turn about and warp back to re-engage.

>>37844289
>Raise the Asterius immediately to talk to Commander Sela about the state of her singularity core.
>Order medical and repair teams to the Asterius. Maintain Red Alert in event of pursuit.

>>37844289
Triage time. we're not in any condition to fight. we try and fix up both ships best possible and get Commander Sela on the space horn. we need to work together if help doesn't arrive in time.

This is sound>>37844341

If we can't get their ship stabilized we can at least shuffle the survivors out of it and give one hell of a send off to the Asterius using its core if they come after us. Desperate but we're fucking hurting right now.

>>37844341
Second.

We might want to keep some technicians to ourselves though. We still need to patch our systems up. Time for those scotty wannabees to shine.

>>37844289
>>37844341
Fourthed

Also have mr Avar (I'm assuming he's the comms guy?) compile sensor data on the alien ships and send it to the Starfleet

>>37844341
>>37844379
>>37844381
>>37844394
You hail the Asterius. Sela looks shaken. Her hair is in disarray, and the scene behind her is one of terrible disaster. She speaks first:

"Captain, thank you for the quick thinking. I owe you the life of my crew, my ship. My life. I'm indebted to you. If you ever need anything within my grasp to provide... Feel free to ask."

She appears visibly uncomfortable saying it, but you file the offer away in your mind. Brushing aside the statement you get down to business. Her ship's singularity core is stable, but it was borderline critical during the fight. Her engines, shields and cloak are offline, and her weapons are only partially powered. Life support is stable for the time. You offer to send over medical and engineering support staff and she agrees, so long as you maintain enough staff to effect solid repairs on the Obediah. After a short time both ships are receiving a fair amount of attention. Your shields are back up after a few minutes and general systems are online. The holodecks are pretty much shot after taking a torpedo hit, but nothing else is too damaged. Within 15 minutes a task group from the 10th Fleet arrives. The USS New Orleans (New Orleans Class), the USS Boston (Steamrunner class) and the USS Disney (Nebula Class) arrive and begin relief efforts.

Commander Sela transmits a long range message back to the Star Empire explaining the situation and offers the two of you share a bottle of Romulan Ale later on the Asterius to celebrate the survival of the battle. The Obediah isn't in need of drydock repairs, and you have orders to finish effecting repairs before reporting to Starbase 311 to debrief on the events of the operation. Do you:

>Take the Commander up on her offer. Prioritize your political image with the Romulans for the time being. You'll talk to your Senior staff for less time.

>Decline the Commander's offer. Focus on your senior staff. Organize a meeting the ships replimat with them.

>>37844710
>Take the Commander up on her offer. Prioritize your political image with the Romulans for the time being. You'll talk to your Senior staff for less time.
Should we bring our XO, or have him on the bridge?
We should consult the computer's files on Romulan protocol.

>>37844710

>Politely decline, for now
Let's finish what we started before celebrating. These aliens have something to explain to both our nations.

>>37844710
Heh. I really like the idea of that drink but it feels like we haven't earned it yet.

Those damn space bugs are still at large. They'll go to ground again soon. Plus our staff and crew are rattled. It might be worth having a nice long sit down with them. We had alot of trouble here and some our officers are cracking.

>>37844831
I'll back it. I think Sela will be okay with it. I'm of the mind you finish your work before celebrating. That includes in the fine art of killing things and stopping a pack of crazy spacebugs from causing more damage.

>>37844863
These are Starfleet officers that fought and survived the Dominion War. The only one that might be rattled is Watts, and he seems to be holding up fine. While stressed, I don't think they're rattled.

>>37844992
Aren't the crew rookies? The ship itself went through dominion war but the crew did not I think. Unless our ship is haunted anyway.

>>37844992
Maybe. Eitherway I'd rather go over our data from the fight. maybe find a way to track the alien bugs of doom down. It ought to be somewhat more even if the task group from 10th is on support.

Hell giving star fleet command an update might be in order finally. We just had hostile contact with previously unknown aliens. Breathing room and a chance to think is useful.

At least we kept the Asterius intact. And possibly gotten a favor with a romulan officer. that could be a powerful thing later at the right moment.

>>37844863
>>37844831
You thank Sela for her offer, but inform her that you have matters you must attend to. You slyly suggest you'll owe her a bottle the next chance the two of you get.

After you both converse, you order a meeting of the senior staff in the replimat in a few hours. After pouring over the damage and injury reports for a while something just doesn't sit right. The sensor data on the ships read that in those numbers, they should've been able to cut the Obediah to ribbons way faster than they were. Pinching the bridge of your nose, you consider you should just be happy you and your crew are alive. Less than a day in command and you had to tactfully avert a war with the Romulans and were nearly destroyed by unknown hostiles, likely sparking a huge kerfuffle in Starfleet Intelligence.

The time for the replimat meeting has come and you head down. Your senior staff seems well in order with the exception of Chief Engineer Samet, who looks positively exhausted and is partially covered in soot stains. He wearily rises to attention and apologizes for his appearance. You excuse it and order everyone at ease. Bringing a tray of coffee to the table, you start pouring over all the events of the past day. Commending officers where it's due and giving suggestions where you can, you seem to relieve the strain on your officers. They seem markedly more relaxed and calm now. After the time passes, you receive a report that the ship is prepared to travel to Starbase 311.

>Pour over the logs, start preparing your report

>Try to get some sleep. It's been a stressful day.

>>37845162
>Pour over the logs, start preparing your report

Punctuality is key to success in military endeavors. Or something.

>>37845162
>>Pour over the logs, start preparing your report
WWPD?

>>37845162
>Go over the logs and begin preparing a report.
>get Mr. Wells and the science team on analyzing the weapon discharges from the fighters, and the scans of the hostile ships for weapon, shield, and engine technologies.

>>37845193
>>37845223
>>37845285
sounds good

>>37845193
>>37845223
>>37845285
You return to your ready room and replicate a mug of extra strong coffee and sit down at your desk with a sigh. Opening up the various data reports and logs you start preparing your report for Starfleet. After a few hours you've developed a new kind of respect for Captain Harding and the profession in general. There's so much detail that needs to be committed to such a report, especially a hostile first contact, that it's a wonder your previous command hadn't gone gray by the time you left.

The Obediah exits warp and docks with Starbase 311 after a few hours and you're directed straight to an Admiral Lofton's office. You sit waiting for almost an hour and a half when a wrinkled, grandfatherly looking man enters the room. Introducing himself as Lofton, you begin the debriefing. After you deliver all the details of your well done report, he asks a few questions and leaves to confer with Starfleet Command. After a short time, he comes back in:

"Well Captain, Starfleet appreciated your thorough report. You and your crew are being commended for acts of valor during your assignment. Congratulations, you just broke a record a commendation as a new CO. I've been given operational discretion on how to handle the matter you've brought before me. I have a few ideas, but I need to ask you something first. I know this was a stressful first mission for you. I understand if you want away from this. We can assign you to survey a system near the Tholian territory if you want. But if you're willing, I'd like to offer to appoint you head of a newly minted task force looking into these new hostiles with the Romulans. It's up to you son."

>You've seen enough. This needs to be handled. You'll do it.

>Your crew was just through hell. They need an easy assignment for a bit. Survey the system.

>>37845541
>>You've seen enough. This needs to be handled. You'll do it.

>>37845541
>>You've seen enough. This needs to be handled. You'll do it.

Duty, always.

>>37845541

>let's continue on this job. Would hate to leave the mess right now, and we owe a certain captain a bottle too (don't say this).
We should check with science officer too whether they managed to figure anything out in the meantime.

>>37845541
>You've seen enough. This needs to be handled. You'll do it.
Crew who don't want to go back to the front line can put in their transfer requests.
We will approve it as a simple personnel transfer.

>>37845541
>You've seen enough. This needs to be handled. You'll do it.

>>37845541
Like we're gonna say no to this? I don't think any of us would turn away after what happened.

That said once we're done with this one we could definitely use some survey duty. I don't want to have to blow up things all the time.

We're totally going to blow up some more bugs though. Those guys kinda need to be brought to heel and I bet they'll remember us.

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18 KB JPG

>>37845588
>>37845651
>>37845655
>>37845677
>>37845678
Steeping your fingers, you stare hard into the Admiral's eyes.

"I'm not about to walk away from this sir. I'd be happy to handle this."

He grins somewhat and taps on a padd a bit.

"Alright then. Good. You'll be in command of Task Force Katar starting at 0600 tomorrow. You'll find a padd with details and your orders in your ready room when you leave. Good luck son. And do me a favor; handle this. No one wants another war."

Nodding, you stand up and start to leave.

"Oh and Captain?" You pause. "Sir?"

"Give them hell for me."

"Yes sir."

End Act 1.

>>37845942
Th-that's not the end for today, is it?

I'd like to thank you all for a fun time running this. I know I'm not the best writer, but I do enjoy leading a story. Now, we can continue into Act 2 now, but I won't be around for too much longer tonight. It's up to you folks.

>>37845985
Let's do it baby.

>>37845985
Start Act 2 next time.

>>37845985
Do what you feel is right. In any case thanks for the thread OP!

>>37845999
>>37846022
Damn ties. I also made a throwaway twitter if anyone's interested, so as to inform of quest happenings. I'll probably also use it to post a few universe tie ins. Things like news runner headlines. "Cardassia applies to join Federation." etc etc.
https://twitter.com/QtheQuestGiver

>>37845985
your call Q.

>>37846110
>>37846060
I thank you very much. I think I'll hold off for now for qualities sake. I hope to have a third thread sometime soon, perhaps Saturday. Also, I've archived this with the first thread.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/37842839/

Feel free to use the thread to discuss the quest or other Star Trek goodness. I'll probably pop back in if it's still up and talk if anyone's interested. Thanks again everyone!

>>37846180
I hope we run into some sort of Dominion remnant. That shit's always fun...

>>37846370
There's still the Tholians and the Gorn, who were not affected by the Dominion War or the peace treaty, and could try to take advantage of the other weakened Alpha and Beta Quadrant races.