Storm Warning

Posted on Tue Mar 11th, 2025 @ 1:33pm by Colonel Ashaan Vhau & Lieutenant Alph & Commander Alex Flynn & Lieutenant Rune Thul & Ensign Nimah & Senior Chief Petty Officer Gaz & Ensign Irik Sul & Warrant Officer Birsom Aznaj & Petty Officer 1st Class Linda Chau
Edited on on Tue Mar 11th, 2025 @ 1:39pm

1,611 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Serpent's Tooth [3]
Location: CIC, Deep Space 13
Timeline: 2355 - MD06 (Parallel to 'Doors of the Horizon')

People had expected more excitement from this crossing. So far it was one planet with an interesting mineral, but it was too dangerous to go down there in case they accidentally blew it up. The mission had basically boiled down to a mining venture, which had already come back a handful of times. “Commander, I’m receiving a message from the Excalibur, text-only.” PO Chau said, turning in her seat to face Flynn, who was seated behind her on the taller central command chair.

“What does it say?” Alex asked, looking towards the science station. Ensign Sul was on duty, he didn’t look especially busy. “Sul, give us a refresh.” Alex requested, seeing that their image of the system was now fifteen minutes old.

“From the Captain: Go to yellow alert and prepare for incursion.” Chau read out.

“Sul?” Flynn asked the Ensign again, with added urgency.

“Sorry ma’am. The comms satellite has unpaired. Something in the subspace link is going screwy. Alright, it’s back.” As Sul said so, the image rapidly updated to show the five new ships in the system, all heading directly towards the anomaly.

“Jesus Christ.” Alex said under her breath. “Red alert,” She ordered loudly. “Launch fighters.” Rovak could suggest caution all he wanted, she was in command until he stepped off the Excalibur.

"Alph, how are we looking?" She asked, tapping a comm-line to the engine room.

"Upper sphere and Alpha and Delta dock reactors are operational, I can arrange for spillover power into bravo and echo dock reactor systems also." Alph explained.

"Alright. Give us everything you've got, things are about to get hot." Alex told the android. "Colonel Vhau, please get your people where they can be of the most use in case this gets ugly."

"Roger ma'am, we're on our way to damage control and first response leaders now." Vhau's voice responded. It sounded like he was running.

"Mr Sul, take the secondary science station. I want to know everything we can about anyone who might be aboard. Nimah, take over at primary." Alex told the Betazoid biologist within arm's reach, then the Cardassian who was further down the platform of the CIC.

"Understood." Nimah maneuvred over to the science station and sat.

"Mr Thul, arm photon torpedoes." Alex ordered, confident that a bloody nose was a wise alternative 'hello'.

Rune’s eyes danced over the tactical console as he dug through its myriad commands and specifications. A quick scan revealed the station’s array of 40 rapid-fire launchers, artfully distributed along the exterior—each one a silent promise of destructive potential. A broad grin crept across his face; as Chief Tactical Officer, he had taken an earlier dive into the offensive systems, and so far, the arsenal exceeded his expectations. His console indicated that only the weapons at Alpha and Delta docks were operational at the moment, while Bravo and Echo docks were in need of power—as confirmed by Alph’s earlier report.

He appreciated the design of the torpedoes—each one homing in on its target regardless of its launch position. Their programmed trajectories might not allow for rapid course corrections, but they were reliable enough to reach their mark unless actively intercepted. With a swift command, Rune responded, "Arming photon torpedoes, Commander." Immediately, an automated announcement cascaded across all launcher bays, instructing them to prepare as many torpedoes as possible for immediate deployment.

Without pause, he dispatched a series of messages: first to Ordnance Chief Cassius, ordering an expedited manufacturing of additional photon torpedoes to replenish their stock; then to Gunnery Chief Azlav Aitrell, directing him to prime the targeting systems and lock them onto anything that approached from the rift. His fingers danced over the console as he keyed in another message to Overwatch Chief V'Lia, requesting that she alert any spacewalking officers that a battle was imminent. The directive was clear—finish current tasks immediately or embark the station post-haste.

Rune then dispatched a message addressed to the Tactical Chiefs, it read: 'You have at least two minutes before engagement begins, give or take. Stay alert and be ready for rapid adjustments.' Then, pausing to evaluate the next tactical option, Rune’s gaze shifted to the display showing energy reserves and weapon readiness. A moment later, his voice carried curiosity, “Should I charge phasers, Commander?”

"We have a name for red alert without phasers Mr Thul, it's called yellow alert." Alex responded curtly, before turning elsewhere. "Mr Gaz, make any necessary adjustments to power consumption to keep defensive systems operational." Alex told the Tellarite at Ops.

"I can give you the lion's share of four docks and the upper sphere systems, ma'am. We'll have to start turning lights off everywhere else if this takes very long." Gaz said, less optimistic than Alph about their ability to keep everything running at once, particularly shields and phasers.

"Phaser banks charging..." Rune announced as he trained the emitter targeting array at the rift in preparation for something to come through, he glanced toward the viewscreen and waited, his face bathed in crimson from the alert klaxons.

"Put the feed from the communications buoy on screen." Flynn ordered.

As the image on screen switched over, they saw a sixth ship arrive, a longer, more utilitarian design quite unlike the five pyramids. Almost immediately it began to open fire on the other ships.

"Where's the Excalibur?" Alex asked, her heart skipping a beat as she realised it was neither in view or appearing on their displays.

"Boosting power to buoy sensor gain." Gaz announced proactively. The buoy had a better chance of finding the ship than DS13 did without getting any closer to the anomaly.

"It's possible they're out of range, ma'am. Either within an atmosphere or behind a planet." Ensign Sul suggested.

All they could do was watch as the vessels exchanged fire. They only had the limited data from the comms buoy to go on, but it was obvious that the newcomer was punching holes in the pyramids, while their weapons seemed totally ineffective against the newcomer's shields.

"Do these match anything in our databases?" Alex asked nobody in particular.

After he took a sensor shot of the industrious sleek vessel, along with a shot of one pyramid surrounded by latticework. The computer was quick, but it did feel like it wasn't quick enough as it ran the two designs through the known ships' database. Rune ventured a guess, as they were from an alternate universe. A negative sound confirmed it. "No Commander," he replied.

Alex considered her options as they continued to watch. The aggressor ship had caught up with the two pyramids that had arrived damaged. They peppered the aggressor with energy blasts, but without affect. Suddenly, one of the two lagging pyramids veered off course and into the path of the aggressor.

The pyramid seemed to be destroyed against the aggressor's shields without harming it, but once the explosion had dissipated the aggressor seemed to have lost all bearings, and flew straight into the second of the slower pyramids. An explosion annihilated them both.

Gaz swore under his breath in Tellaran as he saw the ships go up. How many lives were lost in that brilliant fire, he wondered?

An alert triggered on the Tactical station, Rune had one of his relief officers man Security, and Rune looked at it. "Excalibur de-cloaking!" He called out and was baffled in mid-sentence.

Alph wanted to say something about how that didn't make sense, and that was impossible, but he could not deny the data. His processing slowed for a moment as a correction was forced through his systems. He appeared to shudder momentarily.

What the hell are they up to over there? Gaz asked himself silently.

"They're coming right at us." Alex observed of the surviving three pyramids' path. "Broadcast universal linguacode instructions telling them to stop and letting them know they're entering restricted space." Alex ordered.

"Messages broadcasting, ma'am. Cycling every few seconds." Warrant Officer Aznaj reported.

"If they don't stop once they cross over, lock tractor beams on them. If they try to break free, disable their propulsion systems." Alex instructed.

"Tractor beams ready ma'am, but I can't make any promises about what'll happen if try to tractor anything the size of those pyramids that doesn't wanna be tractored." Gaz said as he examined the system.

"Lead ship will cross the threshold in five, four, three.." Aznaj continued until the pyramids burst visibly through the anomaly, slowing quickly. The Excalibur was mere moments behind, banking around them, preparing to stare them down.

"Something is powering up in all three ships, ma'am." Alph reported. "No, wait. Their power systems are failing." Alph observed a moment later, as all three ships visibly lost power on screen, beginning to list in the direction they were heading.

"Looks like a cascade failure. Between the damage and whatever they tried to just do, their central grid can't take it." Gaz elaborated.

Rune was checking his console's readings as well. He wondered what they wanted to do, they were on the run from what it looked like as they came through the rift. He'd have to give the readings more consideration before he could offer a theory. Interestingly enough, according to his latest sensor analysis, he sighed in relief. "Commander, even though their power grid has failed, it appears that life-support systems are unaffected. Perhaps on a different grid, much like our own." He reported.

"Lock tractors on each, keep them in place." Alex said, as a handful of the lights started to come back on on each of the pyramids. "Open a channel to the Excalibur."

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