Abduction
Posted on Sun Dec 18th, 2022 @ 10:52pm by Captain Alex Shepard
Mission:
The Fluidic Web
Location: Federation-Tholain Border, Federation Side
Timeline: Current
OFF: First post of the new mission. Sorry for the delay folks!
ON:
[Federation-Tholian Border, Federation Side]
A streak of light flew within 3 meters of the bridge of the Normandy. It was so close that the crew on the bridge could audibly hear it. The volley of energy weapon fire that missed the bridge clipped the port nacelle of the Defiant class ship. Since the Normandy was a small ship, the hit caused the bridge to rock aggressively and jolt the bridge crew.
“Damage!” the Normandy’s Captain, Commander Thompson barked.
“Hull integrity is at 68 percent, shields are at 25!” the Lieutenant Commander at the tactical station yelled out.
Commander Thompson looked back. “Return the favor, full phasers, offensive pattern Shepard three” he faced the helm. "Take evasive action, pattern Thompson two!”
“Aye Captain!” The two officers answered in sync and worked their magic.
The Normandy came about and seconds later fired her phasers as she came about and took evasive action, just as the Undine vessel launched another barrage of weapons on the Normandy, which some missed the ship, while others hit. The Undine vessel got rocked with hard phaser fire from the Normandy. The Normandy persisted and flew under the enemy firing more phasers before the Undine ship launched another attack. This struck the ship head on.
Everyone was thrown to the deck. Power was fading. Steam was emitting from failing conduits and consoles. The Commander forced himself up from the deck.
Before he could respond people began yelling out reports.
“Main power is gone, emergency power is weak” the ops officer called.
“Structural integrity is at 25 percent!” the tactical officer yelled. “Shields are completely gone. Weapons are offline.”
The conn officer reported, “Helm controls are frozen. It appears propulsion is gone. We’re dead in the water Captain!”
“If we get hit one more time, they’ll destroy us!” the tactical officer yelled among the chaos.
The Normandy’s nacelles were fading in and out for a few seconds before their red color went dark. Lights were going out everywhere and the Normandy fell adrift.
Commander Thompson weighed his options. If they abandoned ship they would still run the risk of being obliterated in the escape pods. If they remained they would essentially be doing nothing before the eventual destruction of the ship and the death of the entire crew. He needed a third option. But the chances of that were almost 1 percent to none for what they could do on their own.
That was until the Undine ship stopped firing its weapons and made a full stop above the Normandy.
“What the hell?” the tactical officer spoke. “They stopped firing their weapons and made a full stop above us. Why?-” the Lieutenant Commander stopped dead when the console beeped. “Captain, I'm picking up four more Undine ships exiting the gateway that the original attacker came through! And I’m picking up transporter signals on the Normandy!”
Thompson sprung to his chair and smashed down the comm button. “All hands intruder alert. I repeat, we have taken on intruders. You folks know the drill. Defend yourselves. Drive them out. Stay frosty.”
He released the button and turned to face tactical. “Seal the bridge doors. Make it so only authorized Starfleet personnel can access them.”
However that wouldn’t exactly work. The enemies transported onto the bridge firing on everyone.
“Take cover!” Commander Thompson bellowed as he ducked behind his chair. One drawback of a Defiant class was the fact that there wasn’t really much cover on the bridge.
The Tactical Officer of the Normandy fired on one of the Undine twice, which downed the being. The one of the other two Undine that were not dead retaliated on the Tactical Officer, rendering her unconscious with some sort of mental block that could do that. They used that same weapon on everyone else on the bridge including the Captain. The enemy moved over to the now unconscious Commander Thompson and picked him up, stepped into formation and transported out. Every one of the intruders across the Normandy did the same thing. The small armada of ships that were around the Normandy, including the attacking vessel, entered the gateway they came through. The portal was closed behind them.
Everyone on the bridge regained their consciousness and found the Undine to be gone. “Where’s the Captain?” the Tactical Officer questioned out loud to nobody in particular. Seeing he wasn’t there she called out. “Computer, located Commander Thompson.”
The emotionless computer spoke. “Commander Thompson is no longer aboard the Normandy.”
“Shit, they must’ve taken him” she moved to her console. “8472 appears to be gone. They’re not even aboard according to what is left of our internal sensors. Who’s the next ranking officer?”
The helmsman spoke up. “That would be you ma'am. Commander Thompson had yet to find a replacement XO.”
“That’s right'' the Commander spoke. “Is our distress call still transmitted?”
“Affirm” the Ensign at operations said out loud without looking up. “But it’s weak. I’ll increase the output of whatever leftover power we have that isn’t being used for repairs.”
“Very good” she moved over to the chair and pressed a button. “Bridge to engineering, this is Commander Whitford, what is your status?”
“Lieutenant Morris here. Engineering is in shambles. The Chief is dead as well as half of our personnel down here. We are beginning repairs as we speak. We’ll give a proper estimate once we have established what we need to repair, but it's going to be at least a week dead in the water if we can’t get aid from anyone else.”
“Very well. Keep me posted. Whitford out” she closed the channel. It was going to be a long week with the nearest starbase being a few days away at maximum warp. Especially with the fact that the Tholian border was so close. As the acting Captain, Commander Whitford felt she had two priorities: get the Normandy up and running and find Commander Thompson.
[Three Days Later, USS Eminence]
Reports were everywhere on Alex’s desk. It was either an engineering status update, medical recovery update, or a new personnel manifest. For the past two and a half weeks the Eminence had been docked at Starbase 295 undergoing repairs. Many things had taken a toll on the crew, including the incident at Dantari Three and the fact that the Federation Council had been considering going into an active state of war. One of the first times since the beginning of the Dominion War. The Captain had a deep feeling that the Eminence’s first mission after her repairs was going to be a patrol or something that would involve combat. Granted, that was one of the mission profiles of a Saber class ship, but Alex felt that in the near future those would be more likely.
Alex was on cup three of her coffee and it wasn’t helping her at all. She was tired. Quite literally. She was nearly falling asleep. A few minutes later she finally did.
The CO was jolted awake a few minutes later when she heard the watch officer’s voice come in over the comm. “Captain, we are receiving a transmission from Starfleet Command, priority Alpha.”
She rubbed her eyes. “Understood. Patch them through to my ready room.”
The comm from the bridge was closed and her computer screen rose up out of her desk and opened to reveal a man with Vice Admiral pips in an admiralty uniform on the other end.
Alex sipped her coffee and looked at the screen. “Vice Admiral Garrison, it's been a while sir.”
“Likewise Captain. However there is no time for pleasantries I’m afraid” the Flag Officer spoke.
“I take it this has to do with Species 8472?”
“I’m afraid so and the situation is not good. To cut to the chase, in the past few weeks since the Eminence was attacked, there have been three other attacks on Federation vessels all in different areas. All by Undine ships.Today the Federation Council declared that the United Federation of Planets is now in an active state of war as they have confirmed this as an invasion. Starfleet is now on a fleet-wide red alert with anything regarding the Undine. We are at war Alex.”
Captain Shepard froze in her place for a few moments. War? That concept hadn’t really been thought of happening ever again after the events of the Dominion War. She brought herself back to reality.
The Admiral continued, “I’m not just contacting you about the news from the Council. One of the attacks was against the USS Normandy on the Federation-Tholian border on the Federation side about three weeks away at maximum warp. Relay Station Andor picked up the signal and relayed it to us.”
The Normandy? “Sir, what is Normandy's status?”
“They fared similar to your own ship when you folks were attacked. The initial assault was from one ship. However a later message confirmed that four more vessels arrived. However those extra vessels didn’t assault the Normandy.”
“What do you mean?”
The Admiral sighed, “They weren’t there to destroy the ship. They took the Normandy’s Captain.”
“Commander Thompson?”
“Yes. And it seems that they wanted Commander Thompson for something, given the extra 8472 vessels.”
Alex grew silent again. She had known the Normandy’s CO when he was her XO on the Normandy. Abducted? She shook off the emotions for now. She had more important responsibilities. More so now than ever.
“What are your orders sir?”
“If I’m correct, the Eminence is almost complete with her repairs?”
“You are correct Admiral” Alex reported.
“Good. Then given your connection to the Normandy and the fact that the Eminence one of the closest ships, once your repairs are complete, then the Eminence and the Horizon are to travel to the Normandy’s last known location and assist with any repairs, though I suspect they might be almost finished with those. After that you will help in the search for Commander Thompson. The Horizon will receive similar orders.”
“I understand Admiral. Is there anything else?”
“Yes Captain. I cannot express how careful you must be given the close proximity from the distress call location to the Tholain border. We aren’t enemies with them but we aren’t exactly friends either. We can’t risk a conflict with them, Alex.”
“Understood Admiral. I’ll try to get the Eminence out of the dock as fast as possible.”
“Good. I’ll be relaying similar information and orders to the Horizon as well. I’ll leave you to get your ship ready. Garrison out.”
The screen went dark and the computer retracted back into the desk. So many things were going through Alex’s mind. Her friend and former XO was abducted. The Federation was now at war. She regrouped herself again. She needed to focus. The next few days were going to be very busy.
OFF:
Captain Alex Shepard
Commanding Officer
USS Eminence NCC-90008
