" Breakthrough "
(Previous Post was Tiffany's "The Bells of Hell")
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Stardate: 60324.1035
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
The young woman walked out of her Ready Room and onto the bridge… the
pep talk she had received from James still echoing in her head. Had the
exact same situation occurred only a few days ago the redheaded woman would
have assessed the situation and turned to James for a final decision on what
to do… the problem was that this was not a few days ago and James was no
longer the CO… she was.
"Status report!" Rikar demanded of her ExO as she made her way through the flashing red lights to the centre chair without thinking about the past anxieties she had in regards to the seat and the responsibilities that came with it. **Lead like you know what you are doing and the rest will follow.**
"Long-range sensors have picked up a modulated transmission coming from the general area that was reported as the MERCURY's last known coordinates. Lt. Maya has already confirmed that the signal is not from a Federation ship although it is meant to appear as one." The half Human, half Romulan woman reported with an efficiency and directness that had always impressed Rikar. As she young woman took her seat, the CO was confronted with the wisdom that had been bestowed upon her by their former captain… this crew *was* the best in the fleet and all she had to do was to let them do as they had been trained to.
"Sounds like we found a trap… and likely what attracted the MERCURY to where it was last reported to be." The CO announced as she nodded her head and turned her chair to face Ens. Doratheva and the security console.
Eva simply grinned and returned the CO's nod, confirming by the gesture that she believed that the ANUBIS and its crew were heading directly into a trap. As the young woman turned further, this time to look at her ExO, Rikar saw a cautious expression looking back at her. The ANUBIS was by design a much stronger vessel than the GUNDAM-Class could have ever hoped to be, but the ship had onboard its decks 7 times more marines, making it a difficult target to subdue. Whatever trap had been out there waiting for them had to be of serious design and it was clear that the ANUBIS and its crew could not take their tactical advantage for granted.
"Lt. Maya… any more information on the source of that signal?" The young woman inquired, having been spared the initial report of the CSciO.
"At this distance all that I can say for sure is that the modulation frequency does not match that of any current Federation ship… it would need to be over a century old to come anywhere to matching and even then there are discrepancies that cannot be explained this way. The signal is not from any of our ships or that of any other major race." The CSciO reported as she continued her analysis of the signal detected by the sensors.
"The odds are over 96% that this is a trap Captain… given the strength of our sensors they should have picked up this signal almost an hour ago… this can only indicate that its source possesses a proximity trigger meant to attract ships that come within a certain parameter of whatever is out there." The Ops officer announced, the android having easily calculated the variables to come up with the mathematical analysis.
"Helm… what is our ETA to the source of this signal?" Rikar queried, curious to see just how much time they would have to prepare for this trap that had been almost certainly set for them.
"We will reach the target area in just over 50 minutes." The Oltharian replied without looking down at his instrument, obviously having anticipated the CO's question.
"Alright… let's see if we can't set a trap of our own… Activate Ablative Armour and set sensor dampening fields to maximum… I don't want whoever is out there waiting for us to show up to know we are there until it is too late. Bridge to Main Engineering… We need more speed, give us everything you can." The CO ordered in rapid sequence, taking control of the situation as she had been told to by James.
"Engaging Ablative Armour." The ExO announced as she gave the command to the computer which immediately complied covering the entire outer hull of the ship with a pictch black defensive shell that would not only protect the ship but also render the ANUBIS almost invisible to visual scans and most sensors.
"Sensor dampening field generators have been activated and are working at full efficiency." Annie reported almost immediately after, making the CO smile. Despite the CEO's all too often voiced dislike of the ship, he and his staff had done a remarkable job at having the vessel perform as it had been designed to.
=/\= I'll have to divert power from the auxiliary systems and shut down anything non-essential to give you more speed… but you'll have it… even if I have to get out and push. =/\= The CEO announced over the open comm channel making the redheaded woman momentarily grin before she jumped on the next item on her list of things to do in a time of extreme pressure.
"Bridge to 1st Lt. Pravat." The CO called out as she opened a comm channel from her chair.
=/\= Pravat here Sir, what can I do for you? =/\= The MCO acknowledged in a way that hinted that he had been ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.
"Have your men ready to board whatever ship we find out there. I want it disabled and as many prisoners taken… I have a lot of questions and I need someone to answer them." The young woman explained with certainty and authority… coming across as uncertain would not instil the confidence that Rikar needed her crew to have… a confidence that she needed to share in on all aspects.
=/\= We are ready now Captain. =/\= Pravat announced, again sounding anxious to get down to business.
"Helm… what is our new ETA?" Rikar inquired, suspecting that David had already perform his usual miracle and shunted whatever extra power they had into the engines increasing their already break-neck speed to what she expected to be a new record high.
"Estimated time of arrival to general area is now 18 minutes." The Oltharian promptly reported, having kept track of the progress of the engineers' work from his station.
"Well… all that's left to do is wait… Ens. Eva, Lt. Maya, keep your eyes peeled, this is going to go down fast and I want to make sure we keep the element of surprise for as long as possible."
"Aye aye Sir." The 2 women replied almost at the same time leaving the CO to gaze at the rapidly moving stars on the view screen while thinking that maybe her fears about being in command had been somewhat exaggerated.
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Stardate: 60324.1055
Setting: USS ANUBIS, ILO's Office
The blonde haired woman had carefully observed the events unfold from
her office overlooking the IGC with mixed feelings… Sabrina seemed to be
doing just well and the rest of the crew appeared as ready as ever to follow
her orders, but strangely enough this dedication had failed to make her
feel comfortable with what was about to take place. Something had not sat
well with the ILO, but Enaii had been unable to find anything that would
warrant her voicing her concerns to her life-mate and ship's CO.
So without being able to offer more than what had already been said by those on the bridge, the ILO sat in her chair while she watched the rest of the crew prepare. All that Enaii could do was wait… something that she would not have to do for very long as the blonde hair woman noticed the stars on the largest view screen stop their frantic rush. The viewer had been directly tied-in to the on one the bridge and clearly showed that the ANUBIS had dropped out of warp.
"Sir… lateral sensors are picking up 1... no make that 3 sub-space anomalies forming to our starboard." One of the IGC's techs reported in a distinct mixture of pure calmness and odd surprise.
"Sir… picking up 3 more to our portside." Another officer announced sending the ILO to her feet. Enaii had known that there had been something wrong with this, and now she knew what… but it was already too late.
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Stardate: 60324.1058
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
"Sensors have picked up over 15 sub-space apertures all around the
ship… and by the looks of things they are closing in on us. Estimated time to
contact with the outer hull… 4 seconds." The CSciO announced, obviously not
having had the time to figure out what had been happening nor even speculate
as to what would happen next.
Faced with little else to do, the young woman grabbed the armrest of her chair and braced for what she had been sure would be something that she would not enjoy in the least. As the unspoken countdown reached zero, the ship was violently rocked and the lights began to cut in and out before everything went black for a few seconds. When the lights returned, the CO turned to her ExO with a quizzical expression engraved on her face.
"External sensors are no longer picking up any sub-space distortions… but I am detecting 2 GALOR-Class destroyer heading this way." The half Human, half Romulan hybrid announced, but before she could continue with her report of the ship, Ens. Doratheva cut in.
"Captain… I am picking up those sub-space distortions."
"Where?" Rikar demanded, certain that Serenna could not have made such an enormous tactical error.
"*Inside the ship!* Those things went through our Ablative Armour and outer hull as if they had not been there."
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Stardate: 60324.1100
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Piercing the defences of the GUNDAM-Class ship had been a lot easier
than doing the same to this vessel although none of the crew of the ANUBIS
would ever be aware of this. The sub-space disturbances were meant to create
a passageway between their dimension and this one, allowing for the
creatures to board the ship without any problems. Their task had been a simple one as it had been before… to neutralize the crew by whatever mean necessary, but this time the achieving of their objective might prove to be a little more difficult. The additional armour found on the SCARAB-Class ship had made the dimensional transition much more difficult and had not disabled the internal lighting system as it had been supposed to.
Because of this, the creatures stepped through the portals not to find themselves surrounded by the comfort of their native darkness, but momentarily disoriented by the lights that they had not expected to be active.
"Do you see what I see?" Susan gasped as she pointed to one of the creatures that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and which now just stood there in the middle of the room as if someone stunned.
"No… I am not seeing what appears to be a nightmare with legs." Lea countered with as she stumbled backwards trying to get as far away from the creature as she could. Maybe denying the creature having been there right in front of her would make it go away and make the CMO realise that she had been daydreaming. If this thing was a daydream, Ens. Summers would most certainly need to spent a few hours on Susan's couch, but when the creature turned to face the 2 women it was clear that this was no dream… but a true to life nightmare.
Everyone found themselves falling to their knees and desperately reaching to cover their ears when the creature unleashed an ear-piercing scream. So loud and painful had the sound been that both Susan and Lea believed that their heads would explode from the pressure building up in their skulls.
The continuous sound was followed by the sound of several pulse riffles firing, sending the creature back through the invisible opening that it had come from, Lea looking up through teary eyes to see a grinning Marine 1st Lieutenant and the rest of his team standing in the doorway.
"Did someone call for the cavalry?" Pravat jokingly inquired as he sent his men into the medical department to make sure that there had been no other of these nightmarish creatures around.
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Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2005 post #283
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
