The First Trap

Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 2:36pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Imik S'Niohun

1,187 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Sins of the Empire
Location: USS Washington

The Washington made its way towards the planet. Shran waited for Toral to attempt to spring his trap. He fully expected an ambush, but he was more than prepared. "Imik, have quantum torpedoes at the ready."

"Torpedo's ready Shinkahue, also phasers. Shields are at full capacity when needed, but as yet I cannot detect any movement of any vessel, cloaked or otherwise." Imik worked her sensors to almost full capacity, but still only empty space was recorded, "This Klingon is good at hiding, I wonder how good he is at fighting and dying?" Looking at Shran she could see him straining to sense his enemy, were all Andorian's like this when the foe wouldn't show themselves?

"Klingons are fierce warriors Imik, and particularly dangerous when they are as treacherous as Toral. And then we have to see what the Romulans will do. The Tal Shiar has kept a relationship with the Duras family for generations, they won't simply desert him when an opportunity like this is present" Shran replied.

Jon was splitting time looking at his own instrument display as well as glancing at the main view screen. he stared at it for a few seconds, "Imik. direct the sensors to the upper left quadrant of the viewscreen, the image there is blurry, distorted. Might be hiding something." he suggested.

The Washington likely looked formidable at this time. Weapons armed, shields up, Toral wasn't likely to attack unless they had a perceived advantage. "Notify Cmdr Smith to prepare for beam down. When we are in range, drop the shields to beam them down. That is when Toral's forces will attempt to attack."

Jon tapped his comm badge, "Commander Smith, get your team ready to beam down. We're approaching our destination."

=^= We are in position =^= Smith replied.

"We are in transporter range" Deanna informed from Ops.

"Imik, hot standby on weapons. They will almost certainly show up and attack the moment we drop our shields" Shran noted.

"Sucker bet." Jon replied, "They are waiting to fire as soon as we drop the shields. We'll need to transport Smith and his team lighning fast." he observed,

"Weapons and shields are ready and waiting, I have linked our targeting system to the sensors. If any Romulan or Klingon vessel is detected the weapons will lock automatically, but we will still have fire control. I am hopeful this will reduce our response time and give us a possible edge, as they will not expect such a rapid response." Imik's hands moved quickly, "Shields will remain on manual but any station will be able to activate them, but only once the away team is secure." Glancing at the screen she could see nothing, and yet the tension was palatable. Sensors still showed nothing, but even Imik could see how perfect a trap this location was.

"Imik, fire phasers the moment they decloak. That will give us time to cycle through the transport and get the shields up" Shran ordered. He checked the readouts, "Drop shields. Initiate transport."

Just as predicted as the Washington's shields dropped, three Klingon birds of prey decloaked.

"Fire phasers" Shran ordered.

Without responding, Imik fired the phasers. The computer had targeted all three Klingon ships. Almost imperceptibly the phasers switched between targets as the computer calculated the hit damage on each vessel, suddenly one of the Klingon ships exploded. "Damage on the remaining vessels is nearing critical Sinkahue, do I continue?" Imik looked towards Shran, somehow in this first encounter the Washington just might have won a quick victory. But she knew it wasn't over yet, so until ordered she kept firing.

Shran looked at all the data coming in. The transporter cycle was complete, putting a team on the planet that he hoped would be able to grab Toral without any further issue. He knew they would be sending another team down, but Smith's team had a knack for these sorts of assignments. "Shields up, keep firing phasers, but limit fire to disabling them, target weapons and engines only. Keep torpedoes at the ready, I expect a battlecruiser to show itself soon enough." He looked to Jon, "We'll be done with this first wave soon enough. Are you ready to beam down?"

Jon gave a quick and easy smile, "I'm ready sir. Who do I get to accompany me on this little excursion?"

"Phoenix and Kate should be ready to go. Viviana will be your medical officer, no need to put Sam or Shon in harm's way this time. You can have Deanna or Ibarra, your choice, and your choice of an engineer. You can have additional muscle if you think you'll need it. I'm sure the Wyatt's would be happy to lend a hand" Shran replied.

"Klingon Vorcha class battlecruiser decloaking. Also detecting cloaked ships crossing the border, small battlegroup, 6 ships" Deanna announced.

"Imik, torpedo volley at the battlecruiser. That'll eliminate the immediate Klingon threat. Toral will need time to get other ships here, and that will force the Romulan's hand" Shran ordered.

Jon considered his choices. "Phoenix, Kate, Viviana, Both Wyatt and Vienna. Deanna needs to stay with you, so Ibarra gets to come on the field trip."

Before Imik could respond the second Klingon ship exploded, she now quickly disconnected the computer from the targeting system. "My apologies Shinkahue, the remaining vessel is retiring from the action or appears to be. Torpedo's away and on target." The large Klingon ship now caught half uncloaked and without shields rocked violently as the torpedo's hit, "Battlecruiser disabled, weapons and shields inoperative artificial gravity no longer in operation." She now turned her attention to the area of the cloaked vessels, "Sinkahue, if I remember correctly. Did not a Federation vessel expose cloaked Romulan vessels by a large Tachyon burst then exploding torpedoes at setting six?"

"Sounds good. Grab anyone of status down there that you think might be worth interrogating further, and then link up with Smith and his team once they grab Toral" Shran replied to Jon.

Ibarra heard her name and made her way to the turbolift at the rear of the bridge and waited for Jon to join her. As she did, the battlecruiser exploded in the view of the viewscreen.

Shran looked to Imik, "You refer to the Sutherland incident, when Cmdr Data exposed the last Romulan collaboration with the Duras family. Deanna, what do you think?"

"A useful ploy should we need it, but we are still close enough to the tachyon detection grid that I can still detect the Romulan vessels. They are crossing into Klingon space now at impulse. Appears to be 4 warbirds and 2 smaller support craft, likely scout vessels, or perhaps raptor class strikers" Deanna replied.

"Imik, link your tactical systems with Deanna's readouts. Make shield augmentations for the possibility of dealing with tricobalt torpedoes, as well as Romulan plasma torpedoes." Shran looked back to Jon, "Good luck, and good hunting."

Jon smiled. "Thank you sir. Ibarra, grab a phaser." He tapped his combadge, James, Kate. Wyatt. Vienna and Viviana. Grab phasers, James you and Wyatt also get a pulse rife each. We're not going down without proper weapons.

 

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