Oh,
shoot!
Aaen thought with a bad gut feeling.
The bridge lights were still at 75 percent of optimal and looked as though
they were struggling. The two damage control officers were frantically working
to begin repairs on the half-inch-long list of red damaged systems on the
right-side officer’s screen. And yet another ship-wide security scan revealed
nothing unusual. The security reports were showing all-was-well. . . For now, Aaen mused uncomfortably.
Telepathy wasn’t needed to know the crew’s anxiety level. The captain was
visibly deep-in-thought, leaning into the tallest and most padded chair on the
ship, eyeing the main viewscreen and the lone ship that was in the center-left
of the screen. The name of the ship was displayed as “Unknown” like it’s
accompanying classification reading.
It
looked plain and hideously unmaintained. Maybe that was because it was
actually a Federation ship, but this one was intended to have an unkempt
appearance to more easily pass as a pirate ship? He didn’t care. He was too
focused on the fact and wanted to know why half of the sensor officer’s screen
looked like there was a massive amount of green fuzzy distortion spanning from
nine o’clock to three o’clock. Something
didn’t feel right about the rendezvous point, or the status-quo, as it seemed. Aaen
was silently thinking the same thing, alternating between looking at the
command crew and the viewscreen. The first officer was torn between
recommending increasing the ship’s alert status, and ordering short-range
communications to hail the other ship on a secure channel. No. . .that didn’t feel right either. Aaen was more curious as to why, exactly, the spy would have
specified these coordinates. . .
“Detecting one unknown vessel directly ahead.
. . It’s not transmitting a ship transponder signal,”
“Maybe that’s our spy’s ship?” the deputy
asked.
“Maybe.” the first officer quipped. “Life forms?” he asked directly.
The
sensors officer did a scan, “I’m only detecting. .one.”
Long-range
communications officer rushed a printed message to the first officer and then
returned to her station. He began reading the message immediately.
A
moderately high-pitched trio of ringing sounds filled the bridge. “Captain, someone’s hailing us on a Federation
Priority Frequency—secure line.” the short-range communications officer
announced.
“Shield status?” the first officer asked
the left-wing tactical officer.
He
checked to see if the shield emitters were online, and then replied, “Standing-by,”
The
first officer had a worse gut feeling. He looked at the left-wing tactical officer and ordered, “Raise the shields.”
Tactical
executed the command on their computer. Five seconds later, the six shield
grids gradually appeared as solid curved blue lines around a black-and-white
dorsal view of the ship.
The
hailing sound echoed again through the bridge. The bridge crews’ guts sank in
anticipation—several heads turned and looked at the command crew. The lights
started randomly, subtly flickering.
The
captain adjusted his position in his chair then leaned forward slightly and
said, “Open a channel,”
The
order was carried out quickly, if not tactfully. Another similar sound
confirmed the line was connected—
The
bridge suddenly became almost deathly-silent.
Aaen
and the deputy processed the most recent security report, logging the results,
and then quickly turned around in their seats in anticipation, resting their
respective shooting hand on their particle pistol side arms. . .
Several
seconds of eerie silence passed, and then a very computer-distorted voice discretely
asked, “Hello?. .Hello?” the voice
sounded like it might be male.
Suddenly
the bridge felt very tense.
“This
is the captain of the USS Voyager. State your
identity.”
Whoever
was on the other ship took a couple of deep, anxious breaths and then replied,
“. . .Meridian, captain.”
The
first officer sat upright and looked at Aaen to silently signal him to verify
that’s the correct identity. Aaen checked his Intelligence security records to
verify the name-stated was correct. . . He turned around and nodded.
The
gesture was relayed to the captain, who faced forward sharply and put his
weight on his elbows, “We are standing by to beam aboard the important package.”
The
sensor officer did something on their computer and then turned to the captain,
“Their shields are up. We won’t be able to beam the package through them.”
The
anxiety level for the ship’s crew jumped,
“Meridian! You need to lower your shields!” None of the
crew wanted to be in this area of space for one
second longer than they needed to be, and for good reason—
“I
was thinkin’ the same thing, cap’.” there were several more seconds more of
silence, and then the distorted voice said, “Cap, for security purposes—” Aaen and the deputy noted a slight
change in the spy’s voice. The spy sounded more curious. .even sly. Aaen suspicion was building, but he
wasn’t sure what conclusion to draw. Aaen gestured for the deputy to keep an
eye on his computer as the spy continued, “I think we should lower our shields
at the same time, and then I’ll beam the package
to you. I’d like to make this go
as fast as possible. No idea if there are any pirates are around that might be
interested in stopping this little effort
of ours, if you know what I mean.” now the spy was speaking almost calmly,
like there was no problem at all. Yes, there was that possibility that the
three ships weren’t alone, but there really wasn’t a way to know for sure. The
captain didn’t seem to care much, or give that possibility any credibility,
much less enough to take any particular action to strictly rule it out. But how
could one be completely sure that all three ships were completely safe under
these circumstances?
The
first officer put the printed message on his small blue and white desk, said
something to the captain, and then looked at the viewscreen with a direct,
concerned look.
“Okay,”
the captain answered, “we’ll lower our shields on the count of three.”
“Actually,
captain, if you don’t mind. . .I’d rather
give you the package, in-person.”
Aaen
snapped—What’s-going-on? he silently
thought, anxiously grasping the cool square metal handrail behind him, waiting
for the captain’s decision.
“Cap’,
I’m standing by to lower my shields and beam aboard with the package for
immediate transfer. On your command.”
The
captain paused for a second, and then said, “Okay. Do it, Left Wing,” the left wing officer was prompt in
carrying out the order. The shields came down in the same amount of time as
they took to raise. “Right wing, transport
the spy on-board immediately once our shields are down,”
“Aye, sir!”
“Security
team to deck two!” the first officer loudly
commanded, gesturing Aaen and the deputy to follow the captain. The captain had
already stepped down from the command platform and was briskly walking to the
top of the spiral staircase. Protocol required Aaen, as the chief of security
for the ship, to be in front of the captain, with the deputy bringing up the
rear.
The
first officer watched curiously and cautiously as the main viewscreen showed
the spy’s ship’s shield percentage rapidly dropping from 100% as Aaen, the
captain, and the deputy marched down the spiral staircase to deck two.
Aaen
pointed toward the sickbay as the CMO pocked their head out of the passageway,
“Did I hear someone say they’re beaming aboard?”
“Something
like—” Aaen responded, before being interrupted by a crew member on the bridge.
“See you soon. .captain,”
“Transport-in-progress!—” the transporter
sound could be heard on both the bridge and deck two, “Wait a minute!. .SOMETHING’S WRONG! SOMEONE OR SOMETHING IS
HIJACKING THE TRANSPORTER BEAM! IT’S
BEING OVERRIDDEN!” Another alarm sounded sharply—
The
bridge engineer shouted, “MULTIPLE
LIFEFORMS ARE BOA—”
The
first officer watched as the spy’s ship’s external lights became brighter to
the point where multiple sharp, bright red projectiles shot from multiple
orifices along the hull, pummeling the Freedom.
One of the torpedoes smashed into and exploded on contact with the Freedom’s port Translight nacelle’s Bussard
ramscoop. The explosion caused a booming cascading chain reaction through the nacelle’s Translight coils. The bridge crew felt the shock from the explosion and snapped and braced against their computer stations as the viewscreen lit up with thick, jagged metallic flaming debris.
“Reading
multiple torpedo impacts on the Freedom!” the right-wing sensors officer
declared.
The
short-range communications officer snapped, “First officer! Freedom’s transmitting a priority distress signal! They’re reporting multiple hull breaches, a direct hit to their port translight nacelle—they’re
leaking drive plasma, they've taken multiple casualties, they’ve lost translight engines, and
they’re losing main power!”
In
other words, they’re dead-in-space, the
first officer concluded, and the other ship’s on the other side of the
bottleneck. . . We’re on our own. A brutally cold realization that made his spine chill and tingle, a sensation that eerily traveled up the back of his neck and into the back of his head. The
first officer watched as the Freedom’s
external lights were flickering violently as the hull drifted lower in the
viewscreen with its port nacelle on fire, sparking sporadically and bleeding a
dense plume of bright blue drive plasma.
Three
more ships soared out of the nebula at high speed behind the spy’s ship.
“THREE ORION RAIDER-CLASS WARSHIPS
APPROACHING AT HIGH-IMPULSE! THEY’RE
SURROUNDING US AND THE FREEDOM!”
“—INTRUDER-ALERT!” the main computer droned as a darkly-dressed figure sharply reached a dark particle rifle around the corner
as Aaen snapped to jump in front of the captain to protect him. The rifle lit up a bright red
as a booming particle bolt hammered Aaen in the chest as he fired back. Aaen crumbled
into the wall adjacent to the deck two sickbay.
“OFFICER-DOWN!” the CMO declared in shock
as Aaen felt a burning electrical shock sensation in his chest, a feeling that
rapidly circulated throughout his torso, neck, arms, and legs.
“THE ORION SHIPS ARE LOCKING WEAPONS ON US!”
the right-wing sensors officer declared.
Aaen was barely conscious, listening as the deputy
shoved the captain left towards the sickbay and fired back, taking cover at the
corner next to where Aaen went down.
Multiple
other violent particle bolts narrowly missed Aaen and the deputy. Aaen's ears rang with what sounded like muffled booms as he was still dazed from being hit by the particle bolt. Several more particle bolts fired from cautious shooters' particle rifles sparked against the
metal walls, others sparked against the bunk linings throughout the deck. The CMO
ducked and retreated into sickbay as the captain took cover behind the deputy,
who grabbed Aaen’s left wrist and pulled him towards sickbay while the deputy
continued firing back at the mouth of decontamination.
“UNDER
FIRE! UNDER-FIRE!” the deputy shouted
at the top of his lungs at the bridge. “SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL-ONE! WE’RE PINNED-DOWN DOWN HERE!”
The
intruder alert echoed throughout the ship. Aaen could barely open his left eye.
He watched as the deputy continued dragging him around the corner as the deputy
laid down suppression fire at the top of decontamination. . .and Aaen could
tell the deputy was seriously out-gunned.
. . The CMO, the deputy, and Aaen heard multiple footsteps stampeding down the
staircase from decontamination. Aaen wanted to get up, but could barely feel
his arms or legs, much less like he could stand up and put up a firefight.
Aaen’s head was under the edge of the countertop in the mess hall. The deputy
picked up his sidearm and fired dual-wielding style. Aaen’s ears were ringing
from the shock of the particle bolt.
“COMPUTER:
SEAL OFF THE BRIDGE! ACTIVATE EMERGENCY SECURITY FORCEFIELDS, NOW!” the first
officer commanded. The computer didn’t acknowledge
the order or carry it out. “COMPUTER!. .COMPUTER!”
“Un, un, unable-to-comply. Primary computer
servo pathways are-are-are being disrupted.” the computer sounded like a
recording on a scratched media storage device.
“Captain,
what-in-da-livin’-daylights is going on?
We’ve got a buncha people comin’ in ‘ere—!”
Watson was interrupted by an abrupt boom in
the background. The comm line to engineering filled with static and then cut
out with three flat beeps.
The
first officer realized the crew just lost
engineering.
Aaen
watched the deputy fire back several times, and then take cover, dodging
several shots back—and then he reached out to fire again as a bolt struck him
in his right shoulder. He instantly dropped his particle pistol as he tossed
violently backward, tumbled then landed on his back, motionless a few feet
away.
“OFFICER-DOWN!” the CMO declared.
Aaen
saw the captain taking cover around the corner of the countertop, silently
counting in his head as he snapped to make a run for it back to the bridge. A
shot from around the corner hit the captain squarely in the back and he
crumbled down the last two steps of the staircase to the floor, motionless.
“OFFICER-DOWN!” two more shots sparked
against the staircase. “I CAN’T GET TO
HIM!”
Worse,
Aaen realized, both sidaerms were now
on the other side of the deck. Aaen
noted the footsteps around the corner
were getting louder! Aaen could move his head a little, enough to barely
turn his head to see the CMO around the adjacent corner in sickbay, ducking
with his arms and hands up and in front of him out of fear of being shot.
Multiple
dark figures dressed in dark green, brown and black camouflage fatigues, black
helmets covering their heads and faces, and black pants and boots rushed around
the corner sharply with particle rifles and pistols held firmly in front of
them and stepped around the corner. There were five dark figures. The five dark
figures varied in height and build. The tallest figure was about six feet tall
and looked like they had the most muscle; the dark figure who was median in
height was about five-foot-ten inches tall, looked comparable in build to the
smaller two figures; the smaller dark figures were each about five feet tall. The
taller and the two shorter dark figures split up: the tallest dark figured walked
around the countertop and sharply checked the rooms in the far corner of the
deck, gesturing for the two smaller two to stand at the bottom the spiral
staircase. They did, and they immediately trained their particle rifles at the
top of the staircase, shifting at the slightest indication of movement.
Aaen
realized nobody was getting down here to
help with security, and immediately doubted anyone would be coming up, either,
as he hadn’t issued that order to a security team on a lower deck. SHOOT!
The
tallest of the dark figures came back and gestured for the dark figure who was
median in height to go into the sickbay. The figure walked over Aaen and ducked
under the passageway as it rushed into the sickbay and turned to the CMO. The
dark figured snapped at the sight of the CMO.
“GET
OUT HERE, FEDERATION SCUM!” the figure sounded male, had a grizzly voice, and
grabbed the CMO by their collar and sharply jerked him into the mess hall area,
tossing him so hard he tumbled almost over the countertop. “ARE YOU AFRAID?” the figure held its
sidearm pistol over the CMO’s head.
“DON’T SHOOT ME! PLEASE!”
The
taller figure gestured to hold their fire. “We can use another doctor.” the taller figure sounded male, also, and
had a darker and grizzlier voice than the first dark figure.
“TAKE
THE BRIDGE!” the tallest dark figure
barked.
The
other four figures rushed up the staircase. Seconds later, particle fire lit up
the bridge. Aaen’s gut churned at the sound of the bridge crew members yelling
and groaning as they collapsed in a thundering mass.
“CLEAR!” the second tallest of the dark
figures shouted.
The
tallest dark figure walked towards the base of the spiral stairs. “YOU must be the captain!” he forcefully
picked the captain up by the arm. The captain was just barely able to stand. “WALK UP-TO-YOUR-BRIDGE!—MOVE!”
After
they arrived, the taller one began to speak, “GOOD WORK, you four! Mad Dog will reward us richly for taking the Federation’s precious Voyager!” he turned sharply and pointed at the two smaller
figures, “You-and-you! Make sure things
stay QUIET DOWN THERE! As a matter of fact, bring the crew members down there, up here. Now. CREW! UP! NOW! HANDS-ON-YOUR-HEADS!”
Aaen,
the deputy, and the CMO quickly found themselves up the staircase on the
bridge. The rest of the crew were dazed with their hands on their heads, but
the dark figures were forcing them to stay upright or making it clear to them
that they would be shot.
“Get your hands on
your heads, now,” one of the shorter figures growled. Aaen, the deputy, and
the CMO complied. Burn marks from particle bolt impacts scored every wall of
the bridge. Another hailing alert echoed on the bridge. The viewscreen showed a
crippled Freedom with burning holes
in its hull.
The
taller dark figure stood between the security computers and the science station
and held their particle rifle over their shoulder as the figure faced the crew,
“You are all now prisoners of the Orion Pirates.
This ship is now our property. Cooperate,
and we might let you live. But if you even think of trying to fight back, you
will be punished.” he looked to one of the smaller figures. “One of you
answer that hail! Tell them we’ve taken
the ship!”
The
figure complied. “The other team has taken
the Freedom!”
“Good. Now, net these scum out of my sight!
Take them to the brig—no!—Take them to cargo bay two!”
“Right now!” the median dark figure
shouted, waving his particle rifle in the air to intimidate the crew into
cooperating.
“And tell the other teams on decks twelve,
thirteen, and fifteen to report-in!”
The
median dark figured acknowledged with an abrupt nod.
As
the other four smaller figures were forcing the crew to walk off the bridge,
the taller figure looked at the captain, “Your ship will be a more effective
weapon for what is to come, captain,”
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
DANIEL STORM, a Jordan Foutin eBook, is available for $8.99 at any of these fine online retailers:
Make sure to buy your copy today, and like and share!
Make sure to like the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest, including when DANIEL STORM will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle eBook and softcover! Coming soon!
