Talliskuh pulls his ship out of range from the Firestorm and Falzon to re-coup shields. He watches as Vila Heavy Bioship Mukoukacdoes the same, while Bioships Ekwade and Telke, fresh from fluidic space, fly in and feed heavy antiprotons into the enemy's forward shields.
"Switch targets," Talliskuh thought-orders the Mukoukac, prompting the both of them to head toward Earth Spacedock.
The Falzon discharges it's energy capacitors at the Porenek, knocking the ship's engines offline.
"Well, I was hoping for a little more, but that will do."
The U.S.S. Sally moves in to hit the Porenek with a blast of the Sally's phaser lance.
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While decloaking mere meters above the U.S.S. Lexington's stern, the meek little Miranda class light cruiser releases a spread of quantum torpedoes from the launch bar above the saucer at the Tenke while also lashing out at the Ekwade with basic phaser beams. The Philadelphia rolls to starboard and utilizes the effectiveness of firing both forward and rear-arcing phasers at the Tenke to the port, causing minor damage to the enemy's shields. An antiproton beam from the Ekwade connected with the belly of the cruiser, draining her ventral shields to under 50% in just one strike.
“Captain, we can't take as much hits as the others!” announced Benson at tactical.
The commanding officer groaned with frustration. “Alright, conduct hit-and-run maneuvers. Archer, evade at will; don't let them get a lock.”
“That's gonna be hard, Sir,” said Crewman Archer at the pilot's console. “Their target-locking technology is far more advanced than ours, and our engines' capacity to evade.”
Suddenly another antiproton beam glanced off the front of the ship. As the vessel quaked, Benson reported that one more hit would take out their shields.
At the engineering station, Centurion M'Konel warned, “Crewman! Get away from your cons--!”
The helm console exploded, putting Archer on his back with a burnt, bleeding face. He shook violently as he went into shock. Elihu went to an auxiliary console near the science console.
“Transferring helm control!” He tapped his badge. “Medical to the bridge immediately!”
Lieutenant M'Konel flew the Philadelphia back toward the spacedock.
“Sir,” Benson reported, “One of the bioships is heading straight for the station!”
M'Konel piloted the ship toward the Mukoukac. “Ensign Benson, do not open fire until I say so, understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
Lydia glanced over at Elihu, and he glanced back. Nobody on the ship but them knew about the devices they planted. He hoped he did not place Earth in danger for nothing...
The Mukoukac continues on toward Earth Spacedock. Sekkugh switches his triangle view screen to glimpse the Porenek falling into a drift in space. With the Porenek's engines offline, the ship was being bombarded by phaser beams from the U.S.S. Sally. With thePorenek losing shields, close to being destroyed, he sees the Porenek return fire and hit the Sally with one of its heavy plasma torpedoes.
"Our attack may be premature, but the defector presents our Faction with no choice," Sekkugh thought-pushes to mostly himself in a reminder of his actions.
He switches views and sees a departing Philadelphia, heading his way, and stationary Lexington hitting the Ekwade and Telke. Both bioships were losing shields as well, but had a chance with at least causing some damage to the protective Federation starship. His brother, commanding the Ekwade showed deep passion against the Humans for the war they took part in. His brother would throw himself at the cause.
"Visual of the portal", he thought-commands his ship. The ship responds and displays that the portal, even further back, is still open. The potential for more of his Faction to come through was still there.
With the Philadelphia approaching weapons range, Sekkugh slowed and turned to fire two plasma torpedoes into the Philadelphia's forward shields, followed by the antiproton beam at its rollbar. Shocked at his blind luck, he reloaded fast, and fired the beam again, knocking out the Philadelphia's weapons. "I didn't expect such a weak vessel."
But time was of the essence. He turned his ship to Spacedock and moved right up to it. Funneling a powerful antiproton beam into the shields of the station, the Mukoukac drained a hole and swiftly moved itself near a Cargo Bay port. He blew a parked workbee and its cargo containers apart and then moved his ship in its place so his crew could board the station.
"Admiral, one of the battleships has broken through spacedock's shields and is in a holding pattern by one of the Cargo Bays. They may be trying to board ESD!"
The admiral orders that the Porenek be destroyed, the Firestorm shooting a volley of quantum torpedoes at the vessel in question, the U.S.S. Sally and C.B.S. Falzon coming about and hitting the other two battleships with a fury of phasers and polaron beams.
"Commander, is that Fluidic rift still open?"
The commander replies "yes sir."
The admiral wonders if there's something available that could close the rift. He thinks.
"Nothing akin to a mass scale Romulan singularity. No specialized Federation anti-rift generator things. Heavy weapons...
...
...all ships with heavy energy weapons, fire at the Undine portal, now! Maintain fire for as long as possible!"
The U.S.S. Sally comes about and begins firing on the rift with it's phaser lance, weakening the rift.
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The bridge of the little ship was a blazing inferno as smoke poured in from nearly every location smoke could pour in from. Flames and plasma fires had broken out throughout more than half the bridge and most consoles were not responding to crew input. Even Elihu's auxiliary helm console was malfunctioning. That slow motion feel washed over him again. He knew he didn't have to fight like this; he knew it would all be taken care of, and yet he chose to throw himself into the breach anyway, along with his crew.
He looked over as he saw Shran-Vix crying over Archer. They had something in common, but Archer never flaunted it. He was a humble boy, only 18-years-old. He'd told his mother and sister last week that he'd be home for mother's day...
And there she was, the Andorian, sobbing over someone everyone thought she hated. How they were wrong. Sometimes people fight simply to fight, to have something to talk about. The older woman considered him like family, like everyone on the ship did. Doctor Shran-Vix screamed something at Elihu but her words were lost in the void of noise – alarms, falling beams, shaking furniture.
Their weapons were gone, their shields were gone. The Philadelphia might have been able to get off a couple transphasic torpedoes but the acting-captain would have to risk sending someone down to the armory. Everyone was either on the bridge or engineering, trying to keep the ship from flying to pieces. Nobody could be spared.
Elihu closed his eyes, thinking of Uriah Solomon once more...
“Elihu, you were destined to captain this ship. Do you really think she was named after an American city, boy? Live up to your name, let your ship live up to hers.”
“Computer,” Elihu sniffed, wiping blood from his neck. A smudge of black replaced it. “Set auto-destruct. Two minutes. Authorization Alpha-Sierra-Foxtrot-Indigo-zero-zero-one.”
Lydia stepped up beside him. “What are you doing?”
Elihu exhaled shakily. “We need to shut down that portal. You know as well as I do that this one cannot be closed with a few phaser blasts. It'll take an antimatter explosion.”
“I will not allow you to –!” Lydia was interrupted by Benson.
“Sirs! Look!” he shouted.
Everyone turned to the view screen to see the Mukoukac deploying Undine troops into the starbase. This is it, Elihu thought.
Nothing happened for several moments, causing both M'Konels to cringe in intense anxiety. But then...
ESD cargo bays
Undine warriors marched into the spacedock and looked around for victims, but the base had been under attack for some time so anyone in the cargo bays would've departed for their duty stations. The Undine almost made it to the cargo bay doors, leading to the corridors.
There was no grand light display. There was no incredible sound. There was nothing at all. The Undine simply felt themselves being pushed back. They phased through solid matter against their will and floated between every ship and every piece of debris, toward their own portal. It was as if the portal was generating a whirlpool, and it was inhaling all of its vomit. Even the ships were repelled. The Undine commanders tried to maintain their course and position, but it was futile. Every Undine was sent back.
The M'Konels, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
As the bridge crew observed their experiment working, Elihu continued piloting the Philadelphia toward the portal. The self-destruct had to be activated by two command officers, and Lydia was not giving that order, but Elihu could still destroy his own ship at the mouth of the portal, effectively sealing it for good.
He tapped his combadge. “Elihu to Lang. Execute order X-ray-Zulu.”
A sigh, and then, “Aye, sir.”
“This was not part of the plan!” Lydia complained.
Elihu explained, “The devices send them back, they don't close the portal! You told me so yourself! And I told you how stupid that was, and this is why!”
“Lydia to Lang, stop whatever you're doing. I'm relieving the captain of command. Shran, do you concur.”
“I concur,” the doctor said.
“Lydia to any ship within range, lock onto the Philadelphia with a tractor beam!”
Elihu shot her at point blank range, his phaser on high stun...
Aeris lead a security team down the corridors outside the cargo bay. Setting into position surrounding the doors, she nodded to Reeve on its other side as a communication to enter the cargo bay. As the doors swooshed open, her team of security officers flooded into the room with phaser rifles armed. Inside, they found nothing.
The Captain fed herself into the room, following the others and gleaned what they has just seen for themselves. More nothing.
"Is it just me, or are my trips to the cargo bays, procuring nothing, some kind of irony?" she asked.
Reeve looked around. "I don't get it? Sensors said the Undine were here?"
"The ship seems to be gone as well," Aeris said, examining the cargo hatch.
The Commander walked over and scanned with his tricoder. "There's no doubt they were here. It seems someone babied our problems for us."
"The devices?" Aeris asked, making a connection.
Before Reeve could reply, their attention was pulled to the force fielded opening of the cargo hatch to cold space. Through it, they could see the Philadelphia heading straight for the Undine rift in the far distance.
The U.S.S. Sally locks onto the U.S.S. Philadelphia with a tractor beam, and is yet still firing her phaser lance at the rift, continuing to destabilize it.
Admiral Nat has the Firestorm hail the Philadelphia.
"What is going on over there? We received a message saying to lock on a tractor beam, and I could swear you were headed for that Undine rift. Trust me, with the Sally bombarding the rift with a continuous phaser lance beam, you'd be a lot better off not flying into it and getting yourselves killed..."
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Admiral Dareau and his XO Thoreau ran down to the cargo decks upon hearing the alert that the Undine were attempting a breach. As they see Captain Aeris and the security squad rush into Cargo Bay 7, they note a patrolling security guard on his way to Cargo Bay 9.
The patrolling guard snaps off a sloppy salute with a muttered "Good morning, Sir".
As the guard attempt to continue his patrol past the group, Thoreau stops him. "Excuse me..." she makes a concerted effort to stare at his rank insignia... "Lieutenant, but is that how you address one of the ranking members of Command?"
He stares blankly off, seemingly into space...
"You would think that one would 'make an effort' to put a little crispness and..." Thoreau begins to go off, "respect into a salute meant for a Fleet Admiral, whether he is the "hero of Iconia" or just in charge of all things 'extradimensional'."
"Maam, there is an Undine threat..." the security guard begins to stammer out.
"And you don't think I'm aware of this?!?" Thoreau practically yells...
"...and I was saluting the flag colors while attempting to remain vigilant..." the guard continues despite Thoreau's antics.
"A crisis is not a valid ex..."
"...For Undine." The Lieutenant's tone causes Thoreau to stop mid-rant. "And I think I just found one attempting to distract me from their comrades attempt to sabotage the station."
He begins to raise his rifle into position...
Post edited by dareau on
New Forum, new attempt at complaining about ship tiers and the exclusion of two certain "iconic" hero ships from "endgame" in STO.
Being that T5 / Fleet T5 / T5 Upgraded isn't "officially" endgame anymore (that's Fleet T6 now) can we see these excluded ships at T5 / T5.5 / T5U11...
Note, these ships have no letters after the dash in their registry numbers, whether it was 01 or 1701...
"Lexington to Firestorm, how's it looking on your end? We're still kinda turtled up over here with the Dromias, but at least we can target things again."
"Oh, we're doing great. Our M.A.C.O. shielding has left us pretty much undamaged, and even then, the Undine have all been busy shooting at the Sally. However, we're having problems closing the Undine's fluidic gate..."
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“Eli, tell me...do you think you could ever forgive her?”
Lieutenant (JG) Kidna, a female Vorta with short black hair, had left the engineering department under Lieutenant Lang, and taken on the blue uniform of a counselor. The uniform matched her eyes well. At least, that's what Elihu M'Konel believed. Elihu looked at the holo-camera that she set up, recording the therapy session. He blinked, worried that somehow it would get out, and his honest feelings would be shared with the quadrant.
“Don't worry,” Kidna said with a warm smile. She was truly not an average Vorta. “I will not let anyone see these holo-vids. They are just for you and me.”
Elihu cleared his throat and leaned forward on his bunk in the gloomy four-person room. “Of course I'll forgive her for taking my ship. I can forgive her right now. But...it's not that simple, Kid.”
Kidna looked down at her PADD, typing something. “Why not?”
“She didn't just steal my ship; she showed me that...despite all this power I have over emotions, I could not even sense her betrayal. It's as much my fault as it was hers.”
“Didn't you once say that it's harder to read close relatives than anyone else?”
Lydia M'Konel's normally cold demeanor was broken momentarily by a haughty snicker. “He told me himself, Counselor. And from that moment on I know just how to get what I wanted.”
“Don't you feel...guilty...for taking the ship?” asked Lt. Commander Vaughn Vincent, the Philadelphia's new counselor.
Once again, composure shifted and she became uncomfortable. She swallowed and looked away from the holo-camera. “Yes, of course, Vaughn. He's my nephew. I love him. I'd die for him, but he was asking us all to die...for no reason.”
“Nobody knew,” Vaughn said, “that the portal was going to be closed by the devices you planted. The designer specifically told you that they wouldn't do that. So how did you plan to close the portals?”
Lydia shrugged slightly. “We would've figured something out. We always did. Maybe we could've destroyed one of the Undine ships near enough to the portal...”
“Didn't you say the Undine ships had already been pushed through the portal?”
“Are you my counselor, or are you my strategic operations inspector?” snarled Lydia.
Vaughn sighed, “Alright. Do you think he'll ever forgive you?”
Lydia's face turned down and she stared down at her boots. “If I were him, I wouldn't.”
One Week Earlier...
The M'Konels, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
“Sir!” Ensign Benson shouted, pointing his phaser at Elihu from the rear of the bridge. “Drop it! You've been relieved of duty!”
Elihu was shocked. He looked around at his friends. Nel Kestral kept her eyes averted. Science officer Ensign Dolth, a Klingon/Bolian, slowly reached for a small type I phaser under his desk on the port side of the bridge, behind Elihu. He glanced over to Shran-Vix, who was still kneeling over her dead young friend, Matt Archer. She was just glaring at Elihu. At Engineering I, the Tellarite Ensign Garn Pekh, glanced over at Elihu, but kept his fingers plying his console, doing as much damage control as possible. He didn't care what happened to Elihu.
Elihu nodded. “Very well.” He lowered his weapon to his side. He noticed Benson do the same. Then Elihu said, “But I do know who I can trust.”
Raising the phaser again, Elihu fired at Ensign Benson and dove behind the science console. Dolth spun around and fired at the security officer as well, but was shot by Nel Kestral from Ops. Shran-Vix simply threw herself over Archer's body, protecting him for some reason; she continued crying. Elihu shot Kestral and took off for the exit between Ops and the science station.
Elihu M'Konel, U.S.S. Philadelphia, turbo lift 2
As the turbo lift hummed down the shaft, Elihu kept his phaser pointed toward the door. His face was unmoving, but his eyes were welling up with tears. As the seconds ticked away, his clenched jaw began to shift and his lips quivered. He pinched his lips together tighter and blinked the pain away. He shielded himself against the intense emotions flowing not only from his own crew, but also from those on the other ships; the terror, the confusion, the anger, the sadness.
God, help me. God, forgive me.
The sobbing came forth abruptly and he collapsed to his knees, dropping his phaser. Elihu screamed as the floodgates of everyone's emotions were broken. He leaned against the double doors of the turbo lift and cried in anguish. He punched the doors. A few seconds later, he didn't notice the lift come to a halt outside engineering. He fell through the opening doors and was greeted by Ensign Kidna, his female Vorta engineer. She knelt by him, putting her hands on his shoulders. Somehow, she absorbed much of his agony.
“How?” he rasped, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked at her.
She answered, “Vorta have limited telepathic abilities. We never really advertise it. Vorta females are particularly empathic, which is why we are rarely used in military operations.”
Elihu nodded, both in understanding and gratitude. He clutched her arm. “Lydia's taken the ship. We need to get outta here.”
Lydia M'Konel, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
Lydia M'Konel responded to Admiral Nat, “I appreciate your assistance, Admiral. There has been a...situation. I have assumed command of the Phili and I am moving her away from the rift. You may release the tractor beam now. Oh, and one more thing: let the rest of the fleet know that if anyone locates Lieutenant Elihu M'Konel, he is to be detained in isolation immediately and charged with mutiny and high treason.”
"I would question the details of your "situation" now, but I simply don't have the time here and now. Return to ESD, and stay there. I'm going to want a full report about your... situation, when we've got the Undine situation taken care of. U.S.S. Sally, release the tractor beam. All ships, if you locate Lieutenant Elihu M'Konel, detain him in isolation and report to me immediately. He's to be considered highly dangerous."
The Sally releases her tractor beam, and continues trying to close the fluidic rift, to no avail. Seems like we'll need a few more heavy weapons firing on it to actually close it. The admiral doesn't believe there are enough of such vessels in range, but he calls out to every ship in the system anyway.
"Any and all ships with heavy weaponry of any kind, respond and meet up with the U.S.S. Firestorm at Earth Spacedock immediately. Top priority."
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The rift closed once all of the Undine bioships were sucked back through it. Once released, the Philadelphia moved to dock with the space station; however, due to the intense damage the small cruiser took, it's maneuverability was extremely slow.
"That's odd. U.S.S. Sally, you might as well stop firing your lance if you haven't already. That said, I want you to patrol the area, and keep me advised of anything that might resemble the Undine."
He turns to look at the Firestorm's helm officer.
"Helm, bring us about, and try hailing the Dromias again."
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"This is Firestorm. The Undine, Dromias aside, are evidently gone, the Philadelphia had some sort of problem with a traitor or something, and I'm trying to get in contact with the pilot of the Undine Dromias cruiser."
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"I guess somebody should beam over. That somebody might as well be--"
Captain Jim, the admiral's first officer on the Firestorm, interrupts him.
"Do not say "me". You've broken the rules enough. I'll take care of it."
"Fine then. Be sure to take a few MACOs with you, and keep the comms open so I know exactly what's going on down there."
In a matter of moments, the captain suited up in his MACO gear, grabbed a few MACOs as escort, went to the transporter room, and beamed down to the Dromias cruiser, directly to the closest thing resembling a bridge.
The admiral talks over the comms to the Lexington again.
"Well, my first officer has it covered. He just beamed down."
The captain, in the Dromias's bridge, looked at the pilot.
"So I take it you're looking for asylum with us?"
Post edited by admiralnat on
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The Lexington lowers her shields before the team beams over to the Dromias.
Krystal sighs and slumps down in her chair... just before a console blows up.
"What now?" she sighed.
"The stress of extending our shields must have blown out a few EPS Conduits. Its possible that because we left spacedock before repairs were complete..."
"They didn't ahve time to run a diagnostic to make sure we were back at 100%..." she groaned. "Firestorm... we might have to miss your raid on the sphere... need to run a check on the EPS grid."
"Don't worry Lexington, with us busy dealing with the Undine and the issue with the Philadelphia, we'll be here for quite a while, so we probably won't be ready for that mission until you are, assuming we don't pass the mission on to another admiral entirely."
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"Lieutenant Elihu M'Konel apparently escaped and is to be found and tried for mutiny and high treason, and Lydia M'Konel took command of the Phili. I've asked them to wait at ESD, so I can find out the details later."
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"That's exactly who he is. That said, I'll take care of it later. Feel free to track down Elihu in the meanwhile."
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"Well then, track him down. Place him in isolation. Question him. Just make sure to let me know if you find him, when you find him."
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Talliskuh pulls his ship out of range from the Firestorm and Falzon to re-coup shields. He watches as Vila Heavy Bioship Mukoukacdoes the same, while Bioships Ekwade and Telke, fresh from fluidic space, fly in and feed heavy antiprotons into the enemy's forward shields.
"Switch targets," Talliskuh thought-orders the Mukoukac, prompting the both of them to head toward Earth Spacedock.
"We got any Bio-Molecular Photons?" Krystal asked.
"Yes sir. "
"Target the new enemy ships. Full Spread. Fire."
The Lexington fires a spread of green torpedoes at the oncoming Undine ships.
The Falzon discharges it's energy capacitors at the Porenek, knocking the ship's engines offline.
"Well, I was hoping for a little more, but that will do."
The U.S.S. Sally moves in to hit the Porenek with a blast of the Sally's phaser lance.
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While decloaking mere meters above the U.S.S. Lexington's stern, the meek little Miranda class light cruiser releases a spread of quantum torpedoes from the launch bar above the saucer at the Tenke while also lashing out at the Ekwade with basic phaser beams. The Philadelphia rolls to starboard and utilizes the effectiveness of firing both forward and rear-arcing phasers at the Tenke to the port, causing minor damage to the enemy's shields. An antiproton beam from the Ekwade connected with the belly of the cruiser, draining her ventral shields to under 50% in just one strike.
“Captain, we can't take as much hits as the others!” announced Benson at tactical.
The commanding officer groaned with frustration. “Alright, conduct hit-and-run maneuvers. Archer, evade at will; don't let them get a lock.”
“That's gonna be hard, Sir,” said Crewman Archer at the pilot's console. “Their target-locking technology is far more advanced than ours, and our engines' capacity to evade.”
Suddenly another antiproton beam glanced off the front of the ship. As the vessel quaked, Benson reported that one more hit would take out their shields.
At the engineering station, Centurion M'Konel warned, “Crewman! Get away from your cons--!”
The helm console exploded, putting Archer on his back with a burnt, bleeding face. He shook violently as he went into shock. Elihu went to an auxiliary console near the science console.
“Transferring helm control!” He tapped his badge. “Medical to the bridge immediately!”
Lieutenant M'Konel flew the Philadelphia back toward the spacedock.
“Sir,” Benson reported, “One of the bioships is heading straight for the station!”
M'Konel piloted the ship toward the Mukoukac. “Ensign Benson, do not open fire until I say so, understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
Lydia glanced over at Elihu, and he glanced back. Nobody on the ship but them knew about the devices they planted. He hoped he did not place Earth in danger for nothing...
The Mukoukac continues on toward Earth Spacedock. Sekkugh switches his triangle view screen to glimpse the Porenek falling into a drift in space. With the Porenek's engines offline, the ship was being bombarded by phaser beams from the U.S.S. Sally. With thePorenek losing shields, close to being destroyed, he sees the Porenek return fire and hit the Sally with one of its heavy plasma torpedoes.
"Our attack may be premature, but the defector presents our Faction with no choice," Sekkugh thought-pushes to mostly himself in a reminder of his actions.
He switches views and sees a departing Philadelphia, heading his way, and stationary Lexington hitting the Ekwade and Telke. Both bioships were losing shields as well, but had a chance with at least causing some damage to the protective Federation starship. His brother, commanding the Ekwade showed deep passion against the Humans for the war they took part in. His brother would throw himself at the cause.
"Visual of the portal", he thought-commands his ship. The ship responds and displays that the portal, even further back, is still open. The potential for more of his Faction to come through was still there.
With the Philadelphia approaching weapons range, Sekkugh slowed and turned to fire two plasma torpedoes into the Philadelphia's forward shields, followed by the antiproton beam at its rollbar. Shocked at his blind luck, he reloaded fast, and fired the beam again, knocking out the Philadelphia's weapons. "I didn't expect such a weak vessel."
But time was of the essence. He turned his ship to Spacedock and moved right up to it. Funneling a powerful antiproton beam into the shields of the station, the Mukoukac drained a hole and swiftly moved itself near a Cargo Bay port. He blew a parked workbee and its cargo containers apart and then moved his ship in its place so his crew could board the station.
The admiral orders that the Porenek be destroyed, the Firestorm shooting a volley of quantum torpedoes at the vessel in question, the U.S.S. Sally and C.B.S. Falzon coming about and hitting the other two battleships with a fury of phasers and polaron beams.
"Commander, is that Fluidic rift still open?"
The commander replies "yes sir."
The admiral wonders if there's something available that could close the rift. He thinks.
"Nothing akin to a mass scale Romulan singularity. No specialized Federation anti-rift generator things. Heavy weapons...
...
...all ships with heavy energy weapons, fire at the Undine portal, now! Maintain fire for as long as possible!"
The U.S.S. Sally comes about and begins firing on the rift with it's phaser lance, weakening the rift.
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"Earth Spacedock is under attack Captain!"
Swearing under her breath, Krystal tries to think of some way to help. But as long as they're protecting the Dromias they're powerless to do anything.
The M'Konels, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
The bridge of the little ship was a blazing inferno as smoke poured in from nearly every location smoke could pour in from. Flames and plasma fires had broken out throughout more than half the bridge and most consoles were not responding to crew input. Even Elihu's auxiliary helm console was malfunctioning. That slow motion feel washed over him again. He knew he didn't have to fight like this; he knew it would all be taken care of, and yet he chose to throw himself into the breach anyway, along with his crew.
He looked over as he saw Shran-Vix crying over Archer. They had something in common, but Archer never flaunted it. He was a humble boy, only 18-years-old. He'd told his mother and sister last week that he'd be home for mother's day...
And there she was, the Andorian, sobbing over someone everyone thought she hated. How they were wrong. Sometimes people fight simply to fight, to have something to talk about. The older woman considered him like family, like everyone on the ship did. Doctor Shran-Vix screamed something at Elihu but her words were lost in the void of noise – alarms, falling beams, shaking furniture.
Their weapons were gone, their shields were gone. The Philadelphia might have been able to get off a couple transphasic torpedoes but the acting-captain would have to risk sending someone down to the armory. Everyone was either on the bridge or engineering, trying to keep the ship from flying to pieces. Nobody could be spared.
Elihu closed his eyes, thinking of Uriah Solomon once more...
“Elihu, you were destined to captain this ship. Do you really think she was named after an American city, boy? Live up to your name, let your ship live up to hers.”
“Computer,” Elihu sniffed, wiping blood from his neck. A smudge of black replaced it. “Set auto-destruct. Two minutes. Authorization Alpha-Sierra-Foxtrot-Indigo-zero-zero-one.”
Lydia stepped up beside him. “What are you doing?”
Elihu exhaled shakily. “We need to shut down that portal. You know as well as I do that this one cannot be closed with a few phaser blasts. It'll take an antimatter explosion.”
“I will not allow you to –!” Lydia was interrupted by Benson.
“Sirs! Look!” he shouted.
Everyone turned to the view screen to see the Mukoukac deploying Undine troops into the starbase. This is it, Elihu thought.
Nothing happened for several moments, causing both M'Konels to cringe in intense anxiety. But then...
ESD cargo bays
Undine warriors marched into the spacedock and looked around for victims, but the base had been under attack for some time so anyone in the cargo bays would've departed for their duty stations. The Undine almost made it to the cargo bay doors, leading to the corridors.
There was no grand light display. There was no incredible sound. There was nothing at all. The Undine simply felt themselves being pushed back. They phased through solid matter against their will and floated between every ship and every piece of debris, toward their own portal. It was as if the portal was generating a whirlpool, and it was inhaling all of its vomit. Even the ships were repelled. The Undine commanders tried to maintain their course and position, but it was futile. Every Undine was sent back.
The M'Konels, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
As the bridge crew observed their experiment working, Elihu continued piloting the Philadelphia toward the portal. The self-destruct had to be activated by two command officers, and Lydia was not giving that order, but Elihu could still destroy his own ship at the mouth of the portal, effectively sealing it for good.
He tapped his combadge. “Elihu to Lang. Execute order X-ray-Zulu.”
A sigh, and then, “Aye, sir.”
“This was not part of the plan!” Lydia complained.
Elihu explained, “The devices send them back, they don't close the portal! You told me so yourself! And I told you how stupid that was, and this is why!”
“Lydia to Lang, stop whatever you're doing. I'm relieving the captain of command. Shran, do you concur.”
“I concur,” the doctor said.
“Lydia to any ship within range, lock onto the Philadelphia with a tractor beam!”
Elihu shot her at point blank range, his phaser on high stun...
Aeris lead a security team down the corridors outside the cargo bay. Setting into position surrounding the doors, she nodded to Reeve on its other side as a communication to enter the cargo bay. As the doors swooshed open, her team of security officers flooded into the room with phaser rifles armed. Inside, they found nothing.
The Captain fed herself into the room, following the others and gleaned what they has just seen for themselves. More nothing.
"Is it just me, or are my trips to the cargo bays, procuring nothing, some kind of irony?" she asked.
Reeve looked around. "I don't get it? Sensors said the Undine were here?"
"The ship seems to be gone as well," Aeris said, examining the cargo hatch.
The Commander walked over and scanned with his tricoder. "There's no doubt they were here. It seems someone babied our problems for us."
"The devices?" Aeris asked, making a connection.
Before Reeve could reply, their attention was pulled to the force fielded opening of the cargo hatch to cold space. Through it, they could see the Philadelphia heading straight for the Undine rift in the far distance.
Admiral Nat has the Firestorm hail the Philadelphia.
"What is going on over there? We received a message saying to lock on a tractor beam, and I could swear you were headed for that Undine rift. Trust me, with the Sally bombarding the rift with a continuous phaser lance beam, you'd be a lot better off not flying into it and getting yourselves killed..."
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Admiral Dareau and his XO Thoreau ran down to the cargo decks upon hearing the alert that the Undine were attempting a breach. As they see Captain Aeris and the security squad rush into Cargo Bay 7, they note a patrolling security guard on his way to Cargo Bay 9.
The patrolling guard snaps off a sloppy salute with a muttered "Good morning, Sir".
As the guard attempt to continue his patrol past the group, Thoreau stops him. "Excuse me..." she makes a concerted effort to stare at his rank insignia... "Lieutenant, but is that how you address one of the ranking members of Command?"
He stares blankly off, seemingly into space...
"You would think that one would 'make an effort' to put a little crispness and..." Thoreau begins to go off, "respect into a salute meant for a Fleet Admiral, whether he is the "hero of Iconia" or just in charge of all things 'extradimensional'."
"Maam, there is an Undine threat..." the security guard begins to stammer out.
"And you don't think I'm aware of this?!?" Thoreau practically yells...
"...and I was saluting the flag colors while attempting to remain vigilant..." the guard continues despite Thoreau's antics.
"A crisis is not a valid ex..."
"...For Undine." The Lieutenant's tone causes Thoreau to stop mid-rant. "And I think I just found one attempting to distract me from their comrades attempt to sabotage the station."
He begins to raise his rifle into position...
Being that T5 / Fleet T5 / T5 Upgraded isn't "officially" endgame anymore (that's Fleet T6 now) can we see these excluded ships at T5 / T5.5 / T5U11...
Note, these ships have no letters after the dash in their registry numbers, whether it was 01 or 1701...
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“A Question of Loyalty”
Elihu M'Konel, Lunar Colony, Mining Barracks
A Week Later...
“Eli, tell me...do you think you could ever forgive her?”
Lieutenant (JG) Kidna, a female Vorta with short black hair, had left the engineering department under Lieutenant Lang, and taken on the blue uniform of a counselor. The uniform matched her eyes well. At least, that's what Elihu M'Konel believed. Elihu looked at the holo-camera that she set up, recording the therapy session. He blinked, worried that somehow it would get out, and his honest feelings would be shared with the quadrant.
“Don't worry,” Kidna said with a warm smile. She was truly not an average Vorta. “I will not let anyone see these holo-vids. They are just for you and me.”
Elihu cleared his throat and leaned forward on his bunk in the gloomy four-person room. “Of course I'll forgive her for taking my ship. I can forgive her right now. But...it's not that simple, Kid.”
Kidna looked down at her PADD, typing something. “Why not?”
“She didn't just steal my ship; she showed me that...despite all this power I have over emotions, I could not even sense her betrayal. It's as much my fault as it was hers.”
“Didn't you once say that it's harder to read close relatives than anyone else?”
Sub-Commander Lydia M'Konel, U.S.S. Philadelphia, Counselor's Office
Lydia M'Konel's normally cold demeanor was broken momentarily by a haughty snicker. “He told me himself, Counselor. And from that moment on I know just how to get what I wanted.”
“Don't you feel...guilty...for taking the ship?” asked Lt. Commander Vaughn Vincent, the Philadelphia's new counselor.
Once again, composure shifted and she became uncomfortable. She swallowed and looked away from the holo-camera. “Yes, of course, Vaughn. He's my nephew. I love him. I'd die for him, but he was asking us all to die...for no reason.”
“Nobody knew,” Vaughn said, “that the portal was going to be closed by the devices you planted. The designer specifically told you that they wouldn't do that. So how did you plan to close the portals?”
Lydia shrugged slightly. “We would've figured something out. We always did. Maybe we could've destroyed one of the Undine ships near enough to the portal...”
“Didn't you say the Undine ships had already been pushed through the portal?”
“Are you my counselor, or are you my strategic operations inspector?” snarled Lydia.
Vaughn sighed, “Alright. Do you think he'll ever forgive you?”
Lydia's face turned down and she stared down at her boots. “If I were him, I wouldn't.”
One Week Earlier...
The M'Konels, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
“Sir!” Ensign Benson shouted, pointing his phaser at Elihu from the rear of the bridge. “Drop it! You've been relieved of duty!”
Elihu was shocked. He looked around at his friends. Nel Kestral kept her eyes averted. Science officer Ensign Dolth, a Klingon/Bolian, slowly reached for a small type I phaser under his desk on the port side of the bridge, behind Elihu. He glanced over to Shran-Vix, who was still kneeling over her dead young friend, Matt Archer. She was just glaring at Elihu. At Engineering I, the Tellarite Ensign Garn Pekh, glanced over at Elihu, but kept his fingers plying his console, doing as much damage control as possible. He didn't care what happened to Elihu.
Elihu nodded. “Very well.” He lowered his weapon to his side. He noticed Benson do the same. Then Elihu said, “But I do know who I can trust.”
Raising the phaser again, Elihu fired at Ensign Benson and dove behind the science console. Dolth spun around and fired at the security officer as well, but was shot by Nel Kestral from Ops. Shran-Vix simply threw herself over Archer's body, protecting him for some reason; she continued crying. Elihu shot Kestral and took off for the exit between Ops and the science station.
Elihu M'Konel, U.S.S. Philadelphia, turbo lift 2
As the turbo lift hummed down the shaft, Elihu kept his phaser pointed toward the door. His face was unmoving, but his eyes were welling up with tears. As the seconds ticked away, his clenched jaw began to shift and his lips quivered. He pinched his lips together tighter and blinked the pain away. He shielded himself against the intense emotions flowing not only from his own crew, but also from those on the other ships; the terror, the confusion, the anger, the sadness.
God, help me. God, forgive me.
The sobbing came forth abruptly and he collapsed to his knees, dropping his phaser. Elihu screamed as the floodgates of everyone's emotions were broken. He leaned against the double doors of the turbo lift and cried in anguish. He punched the doors. A few seconds later, he didn't notice the lift come to a halt outside engineering. He fell through the opening doors and was greeted by Ensign Kidna, his female Vorta engineer. She knelt by him, putting her hands on his shoulders. Somehow, she absorbed much of his agony.
“How?” he rasped, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked at her.
She answered, “Vorta have limited telepathic abilities. We never really advertise it. Vorta females are particularly empathic, which is why we are rarely used in military operations.”
Elihu nodded, both in understanding and gratitude. He clutched her arm. “Lydia's taken the ship. We need to get outta here.”
Lydia M'Konel, U.S.S. Philadelphia, the bridge
Lydia M'Konel responded to Admiral Nat, “I appreciate your assistance, Admiral. There has been a...situation. I have assumed command of the Phili and I am moving her away from the rift. You may release the tractor beam now. Oh, and one more thing: let the rest of the fleet know that if anyone locates Lieutenant Elihu M'Konel, he is to be detained in isolation immediately and charged with mutiny and high treason.”
"I would question the details of your "situation" now, but I simply don't have the time here and now. Return to ESD, and stay there. I'm going to want a full report about your... situation, when we've got the Undine situation taken care of. U.S.S. Sally, release the tractor beam. All ships, if you locate Lieutenant Elihu M'Konel, detain him in isolation and report to me immediately. He's to be considered highly dangerous."
The Sally releases her tractor beam, and continues trying to close the fluidic rift, to no avail. Seems like we'll need a few more heavy weapons firing on it to actually close it. The admiral doesn't believe there are enough of such vessels in range, but he calls out to every ship in the system anyway.
"Any and all ships with heavy weaponry of any kind, respond and meet up with the U.S.S. Firestorm at Earth Spacedock immediately. Top priority."
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"That's odd. U.S.S. Sally, you might as well stop firing your lance if you haven't already. That said, I want you to patrol the area, and keep me advised of anything that might resemble the Undine."
He turns to look at the Firestorm's helm officer.
"Helm, bring us about, and try hailing the Dromias again."
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"This is Lexington... someone want to explain to me what the hell is going on around here?"
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Captain Jim, the admiral's first officer on the Firestorm, interrupts him.
"Do not say "me". You've broken the rules enough. I'll take care of it."
"Fine then. Be sure to take a few MACOs with you, and keep the comms open so I know exactly what's going on down there."
In a matter of moments, the captain suited up in his MACO gear, grabbed a few MACOs as escort, went to the transporter room, and beamed down to the Dromias cruiser, directly to the closest thing resembling a bridge.
The admiral talks over the comms to the Lexington again.
"Well, my first officer has it covered. He just beamed down."
The captain, in the Dromias's bridge, looked at the pilot.
"So I take it you're looking for asylum with us?"
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Krystal sighs and slumps down in her chair... just before a console blows up.
"What now?" she sighed.
"The stress of extending our shields must have blown out a few EPS Conduits. Its possible that because we left spacedock before repairs were complete..."
"They didn't ahve time to run a diagnostic to make sure we were back at 100%..." she groaned. "Firestorm... we might have to miss your raid on the sphere... need to run a check on the EPS grid."
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"I think I'm gonna head over to the Phili myself. This lieutenant was the guy who had a run in with ESD Security right?"
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