From: Erik (felldoh_at_voyager.net)
Date: Sun Jul 06 2008 - 00:02:23 PDT
"Disaster" continued from "Upper Hand" Location: EON ALPHA Stardate: 2.80705.2200 Scene: Bridge Time Index: Marathon+5:20 "We're running out of time." Ben said, frustration evident in his voice. He had expected some trouble with the land based installations, but he'd hoped the orbital installations would go smoothly. The first one had, but this one was proving trickier. "Deploy the fighters, and focus our firepower on the Jem'Hadar ships." There were only ten fighters and the COUNTERSTRIKE, a decent amount of firepower, but they wouldn't last long against the five Jem'Hadar ships that remained, so the PATRIOT had to even the odds before they jumped away. "If we use them now we have no back-up plan for the next array." Gorman pointed out, knowing there was no other choice. "We'll skip target four, and move straight to the last ground installation. Begin calculating the new jump, Lt. Corwin." Ben had planned for this eventuality, but it was risky, and he'd hoped to avoid it. "We'll deploy the marines as quickly as we can get a hole in the shields, and hope the extra time is enough that we won't need a back-up plan." "Yes, Sir." Corwin called out, as one of the Jem'Hadar ships exploded on the viewscreen. =/\= Location: Second Array Scene: Corridor Time Index: Marathon+ 5:35 Lt. Morris crept carefully around the corner, rifle first, eyes in constant motion. The corridor was dark, and silent. It had been two and a half minutes since he beamed down with C squad behind him, and only a little less since they'd last encountered the enemy. It seemed their luck would hold for awhile longer. The corridor seemed empty of both soldiers and automated defence. He reached back and waved the rest of the squad forward. Under normal circumstances Morris, as squad leader, shouldn't be running point, but necessity had demanded some changes. Sergeant Richards was unconscious and dying. It wasn't her fault, she'd been unlucky. They'd beamed down almost on top of a squad of Jem'Hadar, and as the closest target she'd been hit three times before any of them knew what was going on. Eton, the medic, didn't think she had much chance, but marines don't leave anyone behind, so Potter, the normal point man and largest of them now carried her. Hawkins had taken a hit in the leg, and might lose it, but he could still work his weapon so he limped along, supported by Eton, whose minor wound had been rendered inconsequential by the new jackets they'd received. Morris was happy for that. They moved slowly down the corridor, Morris stopping to check each room before allowing the squad to move past. Eventually he came to a room where a line of consoles made a natural barricade. It was unlikely they did anything important, or they'd be guarded, but he had to check anyway. He motioned the squad in. Once in the room Potter set down his charge, while Eton helped Hawkins to sit against the wall. Then the three officers who could still move around moved to the consoles. It didn't take much time to confirm Morris's suspicion. "Check on Richards." Morris told Eton, as he motioned for Potter to take up look out. He tapped his combadge and spoke quietly. "Morris to Maverick." [[Stand by.]] The abrupt reply was accompanied by an instant of phaser fire before the channel went dead. Morris held his breath for a long seven seconds before the channel went live again. [[What do you need Lieutenant?]] Morris didn't bother to ask about the delay, he knew it wasn't important. "Colonel, my squad mobility is severely limited, but we've found a highly defensible location. Request permission to set up and defend communications beacon." In the silence that followed Morris could almost see his CO checking the chronometer and considering his own squads progress. [[Roger, Lieutenant. Maverick out.]] Morris nodded to Hawkins, who'd been listening and the wounded pulled off his back, with some difficulty, and began assembling the beacon that would allow the marine teams to alert the PATRIOT when they'd accomplished their mission. Eton walked over to Morris and shook his head. "It doesn't look good." Morris sighed. "Do what you c..." His words were cut off by a blast from Potter's rifle, and a Jem'Hadar beam that struck him in the shoulder. Morris and Eton moved in unison to pull the big man behind the barricade. "I'm fine." He grunted, and positioned himself to fire from cover, as the other two marines followed suit. "There's at least six of them." Morris turned back to Hawkins. "Get that beacon operational before you have any ideas about being a hero." Hawkins nodded. Seconds later the fire fight began. =/\= Location: EON ALPHA Scene: Marine deck Time Index: Marathon +5:45 "There's been a change of plans, boys." Catherine announced. She'd received the new plan from the bridge moments ago. "We could be deploying as soon as a minute from now, and we may not get much notice so I want all three squads in formation and ready for beam out now." The hybrid wasn't entirely comfortable being in command of the second wave of marines, but she understood the necessity. It might as well be marines, anyway. They tended to look on her more favorably than their Navy counterparts, despite the fact that she was technically a Naval officer herself. Part of it was that half of them hadn't even been on board when she defected. She was sure they'd heard about it. People couldn't help but talk. Still, the betrayal was less personal to them, and none of them had been put in danger by it. Even the older marines had a healthy respect for her, though she knew it was based on her combat skills, not her leadership ability. *They are a disciplined fighting force, like the New Order.* she thought. *They will obey without question because that is what will get them home in one piece.* Only they weren't the New Order, and the Jem'Hadar were stronger, tougher, more ruthless, and just as disciplined. And they didn't particularly care if they made it home at all, so long as they won. She joined D squad, and took her position in the center. She took a quick glance around the room to ensure the other squads were in place as well before tapping her combadge. "Sterling-Jade to Bridge. We're ready." =/\= Location: Third Array Scene: WARDOG 1 Time Index: Marathon +5:45 "Watch your back, Bizaar." Jacob Cadfael, known as Cod in the cockpit, was the senior of the PATRIOT's fighter pilots, both Naval and Marine, though the Lieutenant on the COUNTERSTRIKE was in charge of the group today. "You've got a Jem'Hadar ship approaching on your seven." Lily and one of the Marine fighters were also in its path, but they had already seen it coming and altered their path. [[Got it under control, Boss.]] Bizaar replied. as Cod watched him execute an overcomplicated spin to confuse the Jem'Hadar targeting sensors, and then kick up to full speed to leave EON BETA between the Jem'Hadar and him. Cod shook his head. The Andorian was an extremely gifted pilot, and he could take advantage of the Revik's increased maneuverability better than any of the 30 pilots Starfleet had picked to test the new craft before their limited deployment. He'd performed admirably at the Battle of Gateway, and lead the squadron in kills, but he was too casual about battle, and that made Cod nervous. In holonovels the best pilots were reckless, cocky, and they met the opposition with a laugh and a roguish smile. But this wasn't a holonovel, this was real life, and in real life reckless pilots got killed, and it was the slightly less talented, but much more cautious pilots who learned to outthink their opponent who survived long enough to be in Cod's position. "Keep your head about you, Bizaar, that was closer than you think." Cod turned his attention back to the array. The Revik's sensors were limited to basic targeting information, but thanks to the uplink with the PATRIOT he could see that the array's shields were at 38%, where they'd been holding despite a steady stream of fire. The inhabitants of that station weren't Jem'Hadar or Vorta, he guessed, and they had at least one damn good engineer. [[All fighters switch to torpedoes, our phasers aren't doing enough damage.]] It was K'Pec on the COUNTERSTRIKE. [[But make sure you save a couple for when we get the shields down.]] "Roger." Cod joined the chorus of acknowledgements from the other pilots. He came about to target a vital area and out of the corner of his eye he saw the explosion on the PATRIOT. =/\= Location: USS PATRIOT Scene: Bridge Time Index: Marathon +5:50 Ben was thrown from his chair and hit the ground hard. For a moment the bridge was on fire. His side burned with remembered pain, and his friends body lay broken and burned beside him. Only for a moment. Then he returned to reality. "What the hell was that." Ben shouted as he resumed his seat. "I'm not sure, Sir." Vasquez shouted. "Shields are still at 60%. There are no hull breaches. I don't know what caused the impact." "A Torpedo?" Gorman asked. "The Dominion doesn't have a weapon that could have shaken us like that without knocking our shields down." Ben replied. "Sir!" The frantic cry came from the Ensign manning the operations. He had come on board at EARTH, and was as green as they come. "We've lost Transwarp power!" "What?" Gorman cried. Rising to his feet involuntarily. *No! Not That!* Ben's mind screamed. If it was true they were ruined, and Marathon with them, but he forced his voice to stay calm. "How?" "It...I...I'm not sure, Sir." The engineer stammered. "Get sure, Ensign." Ben replied harshly. "We've been sabotaged!" Corwin shouted. "There is no way a founder could be on board." Gorman added. Ben didn't care. It was time to jump now, and they couldn't. "Whatever happened tell Engineering to get it working again. I don't care if they have to reroute power from the shields." Millions of lives depended on this mission, and the other two ships couldn't do it without them. "Mr. Vasquez, focus all firepower back on the Array." This was going to take a miracle. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NRPG: How are we going to get out of this one? Naomi is up next to write the jump, but there is a lot to write about. Don't feel restricted to your own character. If you are stuck for ideas, or just want help with something your working on, send me an NRPG and I'll do what I can to help. Erik Walz Captain Benjamin Kenta Commanding Officer USS PATRIOT 5781-A & Lt. Seloron Junior ACT Instructor Starfleet Academy, Earth From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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