Combat Drills, Part 5

Posted on Thu Jul 31st, 2025 @ 1:49pm by Captain T’Kal & Lieutenant Commander David Erickson & Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis & Lieutenant Commander Clay McEntyre & Lieutenant Karane Inda & Lieutenant CASTIEL 'Cas' Johnson MD & Lieutenant JG Renata Novotná & Captain Philip Rothschild
Edited on on Thu Oct 9th, 2025 @ 7:51pm

1,204 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X02: Simulated Pressure
Location: Deep Space
Timeline: Stardate 8957.3 (28 July 2290, 19:00)

Last time on Star Trek: Ark Royal

The party heading for life support was briefly pinned down by two overzealous ensigns who were laying down suppression fire, but not able to advance. However, they found an opening and picked them off, advancing again, their destination in sight.

Clay took lead of several security officers, moving like a tight unit, checking corners and stunning any intruders that they came across. Not a large stun but enough to simulate them going down.

And now the conclusion...


[Bridge]

“Ms. Novis, put that ship out of commission,” T’Kal ordered, perhaps more forcefully than was necessary. “Get a tractor beam on them and fire torpedoes until their systems are down.”

"Aye, ma'am." Valerie was watching her targeting sensors and the fuzziness that they were showing. Engines were still about thirty seconds or more away and momentum was keeping them flying through space. Four shuttles were only vague plots on her screen, but the Trill had those locations and most importantly the elevations. She stopped all weapons fire as she programmed the new target vectors, "Helm, on my mark fire port attitude thrusters for seven seconds and dorsal thrusters for two seconds." The pulse phaser turrets adjusted their aims to her commands as she also reconfigured the deflector dish's emitter settings, "In three, two, one," On 'one' she activated the deflector dish's program, sending out an EMP pulse attuned to Starfleet shield settings, the pulse not powerful enough to actually take down the electronics on the shuttles, but simulated it, sending the small craft a message that they would be disabled while their systems reset after a twelve-second timer.

The shuttles obediently slowed, their phasers ceasing as the remote guidance put them into standby. However, enough time had been bought for the Stalwart to have moved out of its original vector and begin strafing along the underside of their hull, the computer registering multiple hits as they drifted. As it reached the aft of the Ark Royal, it came about for another pass.

Valerie then pressed the firing button flat simultaneous with the word, "Mark." The attitude thrusters did nothing to change Ark Royal's course, but she turned and began to adjust attitude as well as the pulse phaser turrets opened fire once more. The shuttles, 'disabled' and hanging in space began taking the hits on their shields, turning them from 'disabled' to 'dead' and their screens updated with a death's head image, jaw moving up and down in laughter. As the thrusters cut off, the targeting sensors began to clear up and she speared the smaller ship with the tractor beam, "Steady with counter thrusters." She snapped as she set specific targets for phasers and torpedoes across the hull of Stalwart, a stream of torpedoes already firing as she queued up a time-on-target volley that would bring six torpedoes in a simultaneous impact on the center of the disk of the Miranda-class ship.

A slight smirk formed on T'Kal's face. She opened intra-ship comms on her armrest. "Security, Sickbay, this is the bridge. Report."

“Intruders are being mopped up, moving towards sickbay. Should have them contained in a moment, Captain.” Clay reported.

"Johnson to bridge, casualties coming in, two fatal, three serious, dozens more injured, I'm patching those I can, then I will ship them back out." Castiel replied.

[Stalwart Bridge]

"They have us in a tractor beam," Regina said.

"Photon torpedoes incoming," Lieutenant Groon said. "Confirming hits on the saucer. Registering damage. Shields are down, extensive damage to all decks. Weapons offline."

"Engines?" the Captain said, sitting back.

"Warp drive down, impulse engines at eighty percent."

"Well then," Philip said. "Only one thing for it. Aim for the tractor emitter. Ramming speed."

"Sir?" Lieutenant Groon said, looking shocked.

Philip paused for a dramatic moment then smiled. "And stop three quarters of the way there, then hail the Ark Royale," he said to the helm.

[Ark Royal Bridge]

T'Kal watched as the 'enemy' ship forced itself closer and closer to hers. The inevitable destruction of both ships. Not necessarily a tactic to be used by Starfleet, and never one to be used lightly, but from what she knew of Klingons, it was indeed a possibility. A likeliness, even. One to be taken immensely seriously.

One which T'Kal would need to learn to respect.

"Incoming transmission from the Stalwart," reported Jin-Ah.

"On screen," the Captain ordered through teeth she did not realize she was gritting.

The viewscreen came to life with Captain Rothschild and his bridge staff once again. "Captain," he said, solemnly. "My condolences on your untimely demise." His eyes twinkled as he broke into a smile. "You put up an excellent fight."

Settle. Calm. This was a learning opportunity. A lesson that you still have much to learn about starship command. T'Kal's demeanour returned to normal as she relaxed into her seat. "Thank you for the challenge, Captain. Your boarding parties will be returned momentarily. I am informed they fought well." A report flashed on her screen which, had she been human, would have merited a smirk. "Although, I am also informed that some have learned that it is not wise to threaten an engineer's warp core."

Rothschild raised an eyebrow. "I look forward to their report," he said. "Hopefully they didn't cause too much of a scuffle. We'll have an analysis of your tactics and a summary of recommendations for you sent over. Hopefully you will never need to use them."

"That is...appreciated," T'Kal allowed. "Stand by to receive your crew. Ark Royal out."

When she screen went blank, the Captain let out a long exhale. It is over. It is a lesson best learned among friends. "Condition Green. Ms. Novis, you have the conn. Oversee the return of the Stalwart's crew. Once that is finished, Mr. Sung, resume course for Station Delta IV, warp seven. I will be in my Ready Room."

"Yes, ma'am.. Sorry ma'am, I'll do better next time." Valerie said quietly as the smarmy remark from the Stalwart's Captain hit her and her tactical ability in a tender spot. A few ideas on how to avoid a ramming attack began to form in her head. She'd be ready for that the next time.

Silently running through the lessons in her head, T'Kal vacated her seat and headed for the turbolift, to head to her office on deck 6, where she could meditate in silence and consider what went wrong.

One report in particular went through her mind. Casualties coming in, two fatal, three serious, dozens more injured. Pretend, of course. Simulated casualties. But the next time they wouldn't be.

The lesson was hard learned, but she knew it could have been much harder.

END

Captain T'Kal
Commanding Officer, USS Ark Royal

Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis
Executive Officer/Chief Tactical Officer, USS Ark Royal

Lieutenant Commander David Erickson
Chief Navigator

Lieutenant Commander Clay McEntyre
Chief of Security

Lieutenant Karane Inda
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Castiel Johnson
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant jg Renata Novotná
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant jg Sung Jin-Woo
Chief Helm Officer

Ensign Sung Jin-Ah
Communications Officer

Captain Philip Rothschild
Commanding Officer, USS Stalwart

 

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