Trials by Fire

Posted on Fri May 8th, 2026 @ 3:17pm by Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant Imik S'Niohun & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger & Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes

1,592 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Shuttle Incident
Location: USS Washington/Planet

"...they are preparing to fire" said Kuzma at Ops.


And Now the Continuation...


Kapowski and Lawrence looked at the Chief as he exited the Jeffries tube looking like he just did something he knew would get him in trouble. "Sorry to tell you Chief, but we can't beam down the supplies for a new reason now. The shields are up" Kapowski said dejected, the flashing red light and klaxon sounding providing the Chief with all the explanation he needed as to the situation.

"So it begins." Jon said quietly. before addressing Imik. "Fire phasers and torpedoes. target their engines and bridge. We need to help our people on the surface."

"Phasers and Torpedo's away sir, target impact in two minutes. Enemy vessel has fired impact incoming, brace for impact." Imik once again listed her check sheet as she spoke, then looking at Jon she continued. "Impact on enemy vessel in, 5, 4, 3. 2, 1." The alien ship's engines erupted in flame as the phasers hit, at the same time Washington herself rocked as she took a hit. "Starboard nacelle hit minor damage sustained." Then a brighter light illuminated the bridge as the torpedo's hit the alien vessels bridge, "Direct hit on the enemy bridge, minor damage caused no hull breaches detected. But their shielding has dropped, and it appears they are powering down their weapons. I would stand by for another attack; they have not been damaged sufficiently to warrant this response." Imik was already targeting the alien ship with another volley of torpedoes and phaser fire, "Target locked awaiting orders to fire again sir."

"Multiple subsystems are going down. Main power is faltering, shields beginning to show signs of breaches. Lateral sensors are malfunctioning, and we have lost environmental control on Deck 7, sections 5-9" Kuzma added.

Jon looked over his shoulder at Imik. "Give them a reminder of who they are dealing with." To Kuzma he said, "Have repair teams to begin repairs. With shields and environmental control taking priority.""

Pressing the firing button again, both phasers and torpedo's slammed into the alien ship. Their bridge protection finally breached and weapons systems damaged, Imik reported to Jon, "Several weapon arrays have been hit on the enemy vessel and damaged, their bridge has been breached and is showing a lot of battle damage also." As she spoke her hands moved swiftly over her console, by the time she had given her report Washington was ready to fire once again. "Weapons locked and ready to fire again Commander, by your command." Almost without thinking Imik had responded as an Ojnas Officer would, would her Federation comrades notice?

"Maintain weapons lock." Jon ordered. he had heard Imik's reply but made no comment. He would say something later. "Kuzma, find out about the transporter. We need to get the medication and security personnel down to Sam and Deanna."

"Damage control underway" Kuzma responded. "Transporters are online, but we cannot beam anything down until we lower the shields." She noted something from her controls, "Sir, detecting a power build up on the enemy vessel. I believe they are going to self-destruct."

Imik heard what had been reported, and also did a scan. "Commander I can confirm the report, the alien vessel has implemented a self destruct protocol. I would urge the Washington to be moved to lessen the effect, if we remain here we will suffer major damage."

Jon took the latest news in stride, he looked to L'Rissa, "Move us a safe distance away from the alien ship but keep us in orbit. We need to get those supplies and security personnel to Sam and Deanna."

"Aye sir" L'Rissa purred. She hit the controls, but nothing happened. She looked over things, "Impulse engines aren't responding. Attempting thrusters."

Jon nodded his head as way of reply to L'Rissa. He had absolute faith in the crew and their abilities and he let them do their jobs without interference from him.

Callie gave her husband a nod of her head and a smile, more as a gesture of support than anything else.

Jon responded with a wink and a smile of his own for Callie.

***************

In Engineering, Aidan was barking out orders. "Put a tap on that EPS feed. Regulate that coolant pressure before we have a breach. Damage control team to the nacelle control room and patch things up now!" He turned around and saw the Chief with Kapowski and Lawrence looking like the preverbal cat that ate the canary. "Oi, idgits, you think I don't know what you did. You three are going to rebuild every subsystem for every transporter pad once this crisis is over. For now though, Lawrence, environmental controls are going haywire, get to work. Kapowski, you and Chief rebalance the matter antimatter streams before it blows us all to kingdom come."

The Irish engineer stomped off, barking at others. Kapowski looked to the Chief, "Somehow I expected things to go much worse. Going to stay close to you moving forward Chief. The lieutenant never seems to want to really punish you." The ship rocked as weapons fire hit the shields, causing more damage across multiple decks and systems. She looked at the Chief wide eyed, "Maybe I should start working on our task, save the compliments for a beer later."

Aaron watched as his boss stormed off and turned towards the antimatter console, flattening some of his hair back down against his head. "The OIC tends not to punish his Enlisted counterpart in public Ma'am." He said to Kapowski. "Bad for morale, what you see is what he and I allow you to see. It's a balance, and we need each other." Aaron began to punch commands into the console, stabilizing antimatter flow and ensuring the dilithium remained at safe temperatures. "Lessons for another time Ma'am. Can you take a look at the antimatter exchange matrix and make sure we're within tolerance? I'm going to start frequency rotation to compensate for the stress we have on the power load."

Kapowski nodded and made her way to the console. "Politics. I swore I would avoid it at all costs."

Aidan looked over engine status and took note that the engines were down a half second before a call from the bridge came in. "Working on it bridge."

"L.T. I've got Impulse back up in 90 seconds. Warp..." Aaron flipped several switches, producing a whining mechanical hiss followed by sparks. "Three minutes!" Aaron yelled toward Aidan as he ran towards the main reactor console. One thing was for sure, his maintenance log was going to be lengthy after this one.

*******

Deanna stood at the door, phaser drawn. "I hope they get those reinforcements down here soon, otherwise I may have to create new patients for you for an entirely new reason" she said, her voice echoing both the comical aspect of the situation, and the grave seriousness of it.

"I hear you Commander" Sam replied sagely, attempting to reason with the angry hoard.

"Our ship is sending more medicine. You will all be treated, but we need to maintain order!" She shouted, only to have her words swallowed by the din.

"We may need to get out of here. Regroup and come up with a different plan" Sam started to say when someone screamed out "They have the cure!! Get them!"

Deanna fired her phaser at three of the stampeding mob, stopping the whole group in their tracks. "That is the stun setting. You keep up this insanity, and I'll show you the higher settings, and I assure you, you will need medical attention then. Now, I understand your fear, but order will be kept or I will wrangle your chaos into something manageable."

The mob cowered, which was at least better than the attempted riot they were trying moments before. Deanna looked to Sam, "You can work Sam. I will keep things under control."

**********

The Washington shook violently as the shockwave from the exploding alien vessel impacted the shields. Sparks flew as relays blew all over the bridge. The science station where Lt Ibarra was working exploded, throwing her back and to the ground with severe injuries.

"We have multiple blown relays throughout the ship. Hull breach, Deck 4 section 22, emergency force fields are holding. We have damage control teams dispatched, and medical teams are underway" Kuzma informed.

"We have been pushed out of orbit. Engines are down, including thrusters. We are adrift" L'Rissa informed.

Jon looked over at Callie she looked shaken but otherwise alright. the ship was in one piece, damaged but still intact. "Get the engines back online, impulse, thrusters anything to stabilize us and keep us in orbit. Get medical up here to treat and look after Kuzma as well as as anyone else who may need it.".

Standing back up, Imik looked around. Her arm hurt but other than that she was fine, her first instinct was to run a diagnostic on her console and scanners. They both checked out fine but she had limited use of the portside forward scanners, that would be reported once she had finished her checks. Next she checked out weapons, nothing. A quick reset and another system check, still nothing. "Commander, all weapon systems are down. Phasers are off line and our torpedo launching system is inoperative." She now ran a scan on the orbital situation, "Our orbit is decaying, we have three Earth hours before it becomes critical.

"Thank you Imik. Engineering and damage control teams are are aware of the problem and are working to affect repairs." Jon answered then added, "Are you alright?"

TBC.....

 

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