Battling the Tal Shiar Pt 3

Posted on Tue Jul 21st, 2026 @ 7:17pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant Imik S'Niohun & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

1,498 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Sins of the Empire
Location: USS Washington

"Message sent" Deanna replied. "The Chief is on his way to handle the EPS relays."

"Full spread of photon torpedoes launched, attack pattern Gamma 2 instigated." Imik repeated Shran's order to ensure both she and the rest of the bridge crew knew what was happening, "Full phaser barrage, targeting their weapons and engines by your command Sinkahue." As the torpedoes hit the phaser fire followed instantly, the warbirds seemed to disappear in an almost blinding light as they were hit with salvo after salvo from the Washington. "Two warbirds now without power, weapons or shields. The third is attempting to turn and escape, it is damaged but not sufficiently to put it out of action. Re-engaging target." Imik now used both the computer and her skill as a pilot to directly target the fleeing warbirds remaining vulnerable systems, another brief bright light and then. "Warbird fully inactive, I show no power, no weapons, no shields and no life support. I believe they may now have other priorities rather than attacking the Washington Sinkahue." Her report was short but precise, but as she gave it Imik continued to scan for other threats.

Shran looked to Deanna, "Hail the Romulans. Inform them they are to surrender or they will be destroyed."

Deanna nodded as she sent the message.

***********

Reaching the damaged deck, the fire control system had put out the plasma fires, but the damage was extensive. Lawrence looked at the Chief, "We are going to need to put into a dry dock after this is battle is done. Going to need at least 12 hours to repair the hull damage and then to get the environmental systems back to normal here. I leave it to you to tell us what to do about patching up the EPS grid here."

Aaron nodded as he began to shift pieces of wrecked duranium panels, attempting to get through to the conduit access. He groaned, looking at the burnt-out control relay, the smell of ozone and carbon filling the air. "Ma'am this is shot. Rodriguez, Dye. We're going to reroute the EPS system to the next control junction. What do we say?"

"Every Engineer a cable tech Chief." The two crewmen replied in an exasperated monotone groan as they began to cut away the broken panel and patch the conduit.

Aaron ripped up the heavy cable and started the replacement process so that the rerouting would work. "Ma'am give us an hour for rudimentary EPS functionality. It won't be pretty and the CHENG will certainly give me his unfiltered opinions, but it'll work for now."

"I'll inform the bridge and Engineering and then begin my own work here" Lawrence replied, shaking her head as she saw the destruction and knowing how much work she was going to have to do.

The Damage Control Team methodically patched the heavy conduit, allowing the data and power to flow to the next junctions auxiliary panel. Aaron temporarily secured the large cable to the side of the passageway, to keep it from waving about in the event of inertial control failure. Even without environmental controls on, and the cold vacuum of space flooding the department, Aaron felt hot within his helmet as his hair was wicked with sweat from exertion.

Lawrence began working on the environmental controls. Systems were fried all over the deck. Gravity plating was barely functioning. Despite the armor being deployed, the cold vacuum of space was still putting a chill in the air, what air was present that is. She looked at the engineering team coming in, "Mitchell, Chel, get that tritanium in place. We can't do anything until that breach is sealed."

"Continuity test shows green Chief."

"Good job Dye." Aaron said, clapping the crewman on the shoulder as he made his way over to the panel. "Powering on." Within a few seconds the EPS control panel came to life, connecting the deck to the main power. "Police this up, I'll rotate to the ma'am to see where we're looking with the seal. Join us when you're done."

"Aye Chief."

"Aye Chief."

The repair tasks had begun to wear on Aaron, the Sovereign class was a heavyweight, but she was big. There were so many opportunities to take jabs even with her capable counter punches. As he made his way up to the Ensign and her team Aaron immediately jumped in to help seat a patch panel so that they could seal it into place.

"Great weld. That'll hold." Aaron said, smiling within his helmet before turning to Lawrence. "EPS is back up ma'am, you can tap into power whenever you're ready."

Lawrence nodded in affirmation. "With this breach properly sealed we can start getting environmental systems back online. Gravity paneling is a simple replacement, but life support will require quite a bit of work. I could use some help with the air recyclers Chief."

Aaron joined her at the main oxygen distribution point, frowning as he took off the panel and examining the coils. "My suggestion Ma'am." He grunted as he pulled off an overloaded coil. "We scrap coils 1 and 5, completely remove them and it should still function enough on 2-4, and 6-10. It might just be a bit warmer on this deck, but the air will be breathable."

"It would be a stopgap measure only" Lawrence replied thoughtfully. "But getting things working is the main thing. Then we can work out of these suits at least. By the time we get those coils out, they should have the gravity plating replaced."

Aaron yanked the second coil loose, finding the release malfunctioning. The housing blinking red at every attempt he made to remove it. Squaring himself up and taking a deep breath, Aaron heaved the coil upward, forcing it out of the housing. A sharp hiss emanated from his upper arm as a jagged piece of ripped metal tore through his suit and slashed at him.

"Sonuva." Aaron exhaled through clenched teeth as he tossed the coil aside. The suit immediately sealed around the wound but the stinging pain remained for a few moments as the anesthetic was automatically deployed. "Minor, let's keep going ma'am. It'll hold until we're up and running. I'll swing by sickbay later."

Ens Lawrence scanned the Chief and his suit. "I don't think so Chief. That breach is still leaking air. If the lack of air doesn't get you in a few minutes, the following hypothermia will. We got to get you off the deck and deal with that suit. No arguments Chief. Lt. O'Connor would freak if we didn't follow procedure, and I don't want to think about what the captain would say."

***********

In sickbay, patients rolled in from all over, but mostly engineers. With the plasma fires, exploding panels, and hull breaches, the injuries were severe and the injured were piling up.

"Start sending them to the auxiliary sickbay, stand up the secondary triage teams" Sam ordered as she moved from bed to bed, rapidly triaging the injured as they came in. This was going to be a battle on several fronts.

“Understood, I’ll start sending patients over.” Callie added from where she was standing by the door helping to triage the flow coming in.

"Thanks..." her words were cut off as they were plunged into darkness, the power failing along with their main medical equipment.

"Bridge, we've lost power, switch us to emergency backup" Sam slapped her comm badge and didn't wait for an answer, groping in her pocket for her tricorder that she could use as an emergency light.

“That’s not what we needed!” Callie called out as she turned on her tricorder to act as a light as well.

Sam moved quickly to the emergency locker and handed out the palm beacons. She had no idea if comms were working or what was happening outside of sickbay.

"We've trained for this, everyone knows procedures" Sam reassured as her team smoothly began to work as two up, one with the light and the other working with the patient.

Suddenly the room lit up again as power kicked in. No word came from anyone, but it was obvious that power had been rerouted by either the bridge or Engineering. The question now was what damage had been caused to force these events, and how many injuries would soon be streaming into sickbay.

Callie was having similar thoughts, sickbay was already busy enough without more people streaming in and making it busier.

"Seconday sickbay is approaching capacity" a voice came from the ajoining room where the connecting door was open. There was a tinge of concern in the voice.

"Cargo bay 2 then, and recall anyone with medical training to help" Sam pulled a sheet over the patient she had been working on who had died during the power outage. The body was removed by an orderly to free up the biobed and moved to the morgue. Sam knew the next few hours would be brutal, but the tide would ebb eventually.


TBC

 

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