In Enemy's Hands II
Posted on Sun Sep 13th, 2020 @ 8:39am by Lieutenant JG Kevin Lance & Lieutenant Ares Curillo & Ensign Lucas Miles
Mission:
Distress Call
Location: USS Independence
Timeline: Current
It had been several hours since the Captain and Executive Officer had stepped through the alien portal. Further attempts to contact the aliens had been ignored. As acting captain, Lieutenant Maida, had tried to close with the enemy, but they had stubbornly kept their distance. The alien’s cloaking technology interfered with attempt to lock on to the Captain’s comm badge and Lieutenant Maida was loathed to attack the aliens while they still had the Captain. Still, the time had allowed the crew to repair most of the ship’s systems.
Suddenly, Lieutenant Lance at the tactical console announced, “Enemy firing torpedoes…away from us.”
Lieutenant Maida turned in the Captain’s chair in surprise “They what?”
“Two torpedoes, heading in-system,” Kevin replied, equally confused, “Getting warp readings from one of the enemy ships,”
“We are being hailed,” called out the communications officer.
“Helm, follow the enemy ship,” Maida order Ensign Miles at the flight controls, “Activate viewscreen.”
"Aye ma'am," Lucas responded as he laid in an intercept course to pursue the enemy ship.
An alien other than the commander appeared on the view screen, “Federation, you have a choice. Chase us or save your Commander.”
“What do you mean?” Maida asked.
“Your Commander and Second are in the torpedoes that we have fired at this system’s star.”
“Curillo, confirm,” Maida ordered.
What?? Lucas wanted to scream. He quickly pulled up the trajectories of the torpedoes, assessing their speed and heading to surmise how the Independence might intercept but before he took any action, he would wait for Maida's orders.
More importantly, he glanced at Curillo waiting for the Chief Science Officer's verdict on whether the aliens were bluffing or had actually been telling the truth.
"Confirmed...two humanoid life form readings." Curillo reported.
Madia cursed under her breath. "Break off pursuit and plot an intercept course for the Captain," Maida ordered.
Lucas nodded, his fingers flying almost autonomously across his console as he laid in an intercept course. The navigational computer used the trajectories of the torpedoes to suggest the fastest route to them, which Lucas selected.
In space, the ship dropped out of warp. The bow of the ship 'dipped down' as it banked to its starboard side implementing a sharp 180 degree turn to face a new heading that was directly on an intercept course for the torpedo casings.
"Now on an intercept course for the torpedoes ma'am" Lucas responded as he took the ship to high warp. "We'll reach transporter range in six minutes and thirty-three seconds."
"Can we get a transporter lock?" Maida asked the officer at the operations console
"Not at this speed. Anyone we beam aboard would be crushed by the sudden change in inertia," was the replie
"Close the range and prepare to tractor the torpedoes," Maida order, then she activated the comm panel in the Captain's chair, "Medical, be prepared for the Captain and Executive Officer to be beamed to sick bay."
The six-and-a-half minutes that it took the Independence to close the distance with the torpedoes speeding toward the system’s star were almost unendurable. Kevin check, rechecked, and checked again the readiness of the ship’s tractor beam. The system reported nominal but Kevin feared a last minute error or residual issue from the effect of the alien radiation.
As the ship neared max effective range of the tractor beam, Kevin called out, “Conn, match speed with the torpedoes.”
Maida acknowledged the order to the helm and the ship slowed as Kevin locked in on the torpedoes. With a silent call to Cochrane, Kevin activated the tractor beam.
The ship’s tractor beam grabbed the two torpedoes, holding their relative distance from the Independence. “Helm, slow to one-tenth impulse,” Maida ordered.
“One-tenth impulse, aye,” Ensign Miles responded.
“Operations, lock on and transport the Captain and XO to the medical bay,” Maida ordered the officer at the operations console.
“Aye, ma’am,” the operations officer responded, then after a moment, “Lock achieved. Energizing.”
After a moment, Lieutenant Commander Relor reported over the comms, “Bridge, Medical. We have the Captain and XO. They are unconscious but appear to be otherwise unharmed.”
The release of tension from the bridge crew was almost palpable.
