An Old Foe

Posted on Mon Aug 30th, 2021 @ 8:13pm by Lieutenant Aiko Kato

Mission: Breen in Paradise
Location: USS Washington - Bridge
Timeline: Several Hours After Departing DS9

The USS Washington had been on course for Casperia Prime for several hours retaining a normal cruising speed of warp eight. There was little for Aiko to do while the ship was in warp except monitor the navigational computer, including the slight correction it needed to make every so often.

Aiko was currently reviewing the navigational chart displaying the course the Washington would be taking to get to Casperia. The cartographers and flight control operators had not flagged anything unusual along the path – no spatial anomalies and no known hostile activity.

For her part, Aiko had never been to Casperia Prime, which like Risa was well known across the Federation as a popular holiday destination. She had heard nothing but good things and was excited to be going there. She suspected that there might be time for some shore leave, which she had not had for far too long.

Her reminiscing of a relaxing vacation was quickly shattered when the long range sensors flagged unusual traffic activity at their destination, prompting Aiko to sit up. She was about to analyze the updated information when she heard, “Captain, we are getting a distress signal from Casperia Prime.”

“On screen,” the Andorian Captain instructed, his voice measured.

On the viewscreen, Aiko saw the image of a humanoid who proceeded to provide a priority alert warning that Casperia Prime was under attack and requested immediate assistance.

"Red alert,” the Captain ordered and instantly the red klaxons resounded on the bridge and the lighting shifted to the intermittent red lights. Her console layout automatically shifted to tactical mode as she had pre-programmed it to, given her a more comfortable layout with which to execute combat maneuvers as needed.

“Increase speed to maximum,” the Captain’s orders continued. “Drop us out of warp as close to the planet as possible. What is on sensors?"

Aiko nodded at the instruction as she keyed in the command to push the ship’s engines to Warp 9.99 and watched the ship update their estimated time of arrival to eight minutes. She read the sensor information she was getting back from active scans of their destination and was shocked to see what it showed.

"I am detecting several vessels in high orbit of the planet" said Celes. "Ships are identified as Breen frigates."

The mention of Breen frigates instantly caused Aiko's chest to tighten as she felt a heaviness settle upon her. She felt each breath become heavier as she struggled to breathe. Mentally, she was sent back in time to a dark few days near the end of the Dominion War when she had been captured and tortured by the Breen. She remembered everything so vividly – the poor lighting, the freezing cold that somehow made the acrid and decaying smell of death barely tolerable...and then there was the pain...

The emotion threatened to overcome her, but Aiko quickly reasserted her training, perfected from several months of intense therapy in the aftermath of that war. She visualized the emotion being put a box around it and parked it in the deepest recess of her mind with a promise to come back to it later. But for now, she needed to focus on the now. Lives were depending on her.

There were some communications back and forth that Aiko passively listened to, but her attention was mostly dedicated to the task at hand. She watched the countdown of their arrival intensely as the seconds started ticking down and then the time came. She dropped the ship out of warp as close to the ringed planet as she dared – a few hundred kilometers more and the Washington would have been pulled into the planet’s atmosphere.

“Fire torpedoes,” came the order of the Captain.

In space, to the casual observer, the Washington arrived in a brilliant flash of blue, which was followed in short order by bluish streaks of the ship’s torpedoes as they traversed the short distance between the Federation starship and the Breen frigate. The latter had very little chance to manuever out of the path of the torpedoes and Aiko watched with silent satisfaction as the torpedoes slammed into the shields and then successively into the bulkhead ending in a massive explosion that consumed the entirety of the freighter.

She brought the ship about, making a strafing run for one of the three remaining Breen Frigates.

"Breen vessels, you are engaged in hostile actions against a Federation world. This is a violation of the Treaty of Bajor and an act of war. Disengage and surrender now or you will be destroyed."

The closest Breen ship fired on the ship, giving what was unquestionably their answer – there would be no surrender or even running away. It was what Aiko would have expected, knowing the Breen.

That meant the Washington would give no quarter, which was well and fine with Aiko. She edged the ship’s forward section in the direction of the Breen ship that fired which gave tactical a good firing solution for the ship’s forward phasers torpedoes.

"Target that ship and fire," the Captain ordered.

A few well-placed phaser shots later and the Breen vessel was quickly disabled.

“Come to 139 mark 55, half impulse,” instructed Shran.

Aiko obeyed maneuvering the ship upwards to 139 degrees and 55 degrees to starboard, which put it on a direct course to the remaining two Breen ships firing on the planet. One of the ships was quickly destroyed, clearly outclassed by the Washington and her formidable weapons. In the aftermath of this destruction, the last Breen ship jumped into warp as if suddenly realizing how outmatched it was to go against the Washington.

She shook her head in disappointment, stifling the impulse to yell 'coward'. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the long-range sensors, tracking its escape route which seemed to put it on course for Breen space.

She also took the moment to begin to consider what the ramification of this engagement were. Was this the beginning salvo of another war with the Breen?

Strange as it was, a part of her craved such a possibility, even as a part of her recoiled from the horror of such a possibility.

She was wondering what the casualty was on the planet when her relief came in the form of Lieutenant L'Rissa, her Caitian colleague, who was also the ship's lead pilot. At first Aiko was confused about her presence but quickly realized that she had been nearing her shift when they had received the distress signal. Furthermore, it was always best to have the ship's lead pilot at the helm in combat situations.

Aiko nodded to L'Rissa as she logged off the helm console and vacated it for the Caitian who quickly took over. The human female headed for the turbolift leading off the Bridge and entere. She took one last glance at the Bridge before the doors slid shut and started its descent.

Realizing she had not entered her destination, she quickly punched her destination into the keypad. She may not be able to stay on the Bridge to enjoy the action, but the next best thing for a pilot was the shuttle bay, and it was there she headed.

 

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