Star Trek: Full Speed Ahead

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction' started by Zefram_Cochrane, Jan 30, 2008.

  1. Gibraltar

    Gibraltar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Terrific news! Welcome aboard. :bolian:
     
  2. Mistral

    Mistral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    And how did you pull that little magic trick off?
     
  3. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    There was a review process that would make your hair curl, followed by a three hour grilling of all things Trek, then two slips of latinum to the Nagus and I'm in.

    -- ZC
     
  4. DavidFalkayn

    DavidFalkayn Commodore Commodore

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    You forgot to tell him about the case of single malt scotch, box of Cuban cigars, and hookers dressed as Orion slave girls that all new prospects are required to provide. ;)
     
  5. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    Single malt? Crap. *waves his hand* You didn't see this case of vodka... these aren't the bottles of booze you were looking for.

    Wait, wrong genre...

    -- ZC
     
  6. Mistral

    Mistral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    smart asses:guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:
     
  7. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    Act II, here we go:

    ----------------------------

    Ensign Wilson Nieves walked into the transporter room with his helmet under his arm, and his phaser rifle slung over his back. Potemkin being the first Starfleet assignment since his graduation from the Academy, he had never heard of a boarding protocol such as the ones employed aboard this ship. Thus, this was the first "boarding team" he had ever been a part of.

    According to the ship's security chief, Lieutenant Dawkins, boarding teams were tactical versions of away teams created by the ship's executive officer, Commander Leone. They were used in situations when it was necessary to land security teams in an unknown or hostile environment. The lieutenant explained that the concept was not new; in fact, ancient Earth cutter services used the same concept when they had to board vessels. Though, according to his studies, they called them "hot boardings."

    The order came down as no-atmo, full gear. This meant they would be beaming into an environment with no atmosphere and called for the tactical EVA garments designed by Starfleet Security. They offered full range of movement and reinforced armor to withstand direct phaser impacts of low to moderate power. Full gear implied the use of two hand-held phasers; a type-two mounted in the suit's waist, and the type-three rifle mounted in the magnetic harness located on the back of the suit. Additional power cells were available along the right thigh, while a tricorder could be retrieved from the left thigh. Petty Officer Hilare served as the team's medic, so he carried a medkit with him.

    He, along with seven other persons made up Boarding Team Alpha. Wilson and Lieutenant (jg) Yvette Claiborne served as the boarding and assistant boarding officers. They also had two senior non-comms; a chief and a petty officer second class. The other four were security crewmen of various grades below non-commissioned officer. He had not yet gotten to know everyone, but he knew that if they continued to operate under these protocols, he would become very familiar with them quickly.

    Lieutenant Dawkins arrived. He carried a padd in his hands; it had a larger display and data on it. "Good morning, folks," he said with a nod and a smile. "You're going to be beaming to a Minuteman-class medium cargo transport named the Delilah's Deed; she's Federation flagged with a crew manifest of sixteen. Gather around and let's go over the battle plan."

    All eyes were now on the padd as the lieutenant explained what he wanted. Claiborne made some suggestions of her own, as did the chief petty officer, Peacemaker. Wilson remained quiet, as he was the least experienced person in the group, in spite of his officer's duties. This was his first boarding mission, after all.

    The team would be split into two squads of four, with Claiborne leading first squad, and he would be leading second squad. On the announcement of his responsibility for three others, he felt the anxiety and anticipation of the mission increase tremendously. He pushed those negative feelings to the back of his mind and nodded to acknowledge the orders.

    "Sir," asked Claiborne, "what was her cargo?"

    "Empty holds. She was on a return trip to Galorndan to pick up her next cargo," said Dawkins. "That means that both teams will need to perform a search of all eight holds."

    Claiborne held up four fingers. "We stay in teams of four. No one wanders off on their own. Clear?"

    "Aye, sir!"

    With a wave of her hand, she ordered, "Check your gear!"

    Everyone fitted their helmets on their heads, and the person to his right checked his gear, while he ensured the proper fitting of the person to his left. Once each person was satisfied that no one would be breathing vacuum or carbon dioxide after transport, they counted off by the numbers, from eight to one, until everyone was declared a "go."

    "On the pad, weapons on stun, rifles at the ready," Claiborne said with a nod, through the audio pickup within her helmet. Her voice lost its richness when it was washed through the communications system built into each suit.

    After he pulled his rifle from the holster, he checked the power setting on his rifle to satisfy her order. Wilson and his squad moved up first and took up the pads to the rear of the transporter pad, while the other squad took the front. A single verbal command issued to the chief petty officer standing behind the transporter console activated the pre-programmed sequence that resulted in the transformation of the eight from matter, to energy, and then back into matter again.

    The familiar surroundings of Farragut's transporter room disappeared, and the dark corridor of the Delilah's Deed replaced it. Wilson's hand moved along the barrel of his rifle and activated the beacon built into the barrel, moving it around to provide better illumination beyond the blue glow coming from the inside of their helmets.

    Claiborne's voice called out, "First squad, to me. Switch to frequency Foxtrot-Beta-One."

    "Second squad, to me," ordered Wilson. "Frequency will be Foxtrot-Beta-Two." He knew that if he needed to speak with Claiborne in private, they would use another secure frequency to speak on, out of the eavesdropping security personnel under their command.

    Wilson felt gratitude at having Chief Peacemaker with his squad. A veteran of the Cardassian War, Peacemaker proved herself to be one of the toughest non-comms serving on the ship. "Chief, deuce 'em up. Proceed aft to the engineering compartment."

    "Aye, Ensign," replied the chief. Wilson grinned as the older woman could not bring herself to call him "sir." "Baldwin, Kayek, take point. The ensign and I will bring up the rear."

    ---- SCENE CHANGE ----

    Ariel reported, "As far as I can tell, the fighters and the hauler made a beeline in the general direction of Turkana IV. It's possible they might've done so to throw us off the scent, but I can't believe that the colony would have interplanetary travel still available after all these years."

    Captain T'Cirya maintained a watchful eye on the multi-view of the freighter, with the boarding team's lifesigns showing up as blue dots within the corridor section they progressed through. Four moved toward the freighter's bridge, while the others moved toward the cramped engineering compartment. "Commander Elannis," she said, "prepare a class one probe to monitor all inbound traffic to Turkana IV."

    "May I recommend a class two probe, Captain?" offered Leone. "It should provide sufficient cover to prevent immediate detection, if they should have the capability to scan orbital visitors."

    T'Cirya inclined her head. "Very well, Commander. See to it."

    Leone grinned. "Aye, sir. Ariel, make it a class two."

    "You guys need to make up your minds," muttered Ariel, as she unloaded the class one on one launcher and loaded the class two on the other. "Class two probe ready for launch, sirs."

    "Launch," ordered T'Cirya.

    On the viewscreen, the tiny probe moved into view from the bottom half as it cleared the immediate vicinity of the ship.

    "Probe is away." A few moments later, she reported that the probe was sending telemetry.

    "How long until it's on station?" asked Leone.

    "Forty minutes, give or take twenty seconds."

    Leone opened her mouth to reply, but Dawkins interrupted her, "Boarding team transmitting."

    "On speakers, Lieutenant," replied T'Cirya.

    "Foxtrot-Base, this is Bravo-One-Actual," said Lieutenant Claiborne. "We've completed our sweep of the bridge and engineering compartments. So far, we've been able to locate seven of the sixteen on the manifest."

    T'Cirya nodded her understanding of the report. "We will transport the remains aboard for transport."

    Dawkins replied, "Aye, sir." He called into the link, "Yvette, your orders are to tag bodies for transport to base. If you can, start recording for posterity."

    "Aye, aye, sir," replied Claiborne. "Wait one."

    After a few moments passed, Ariel announced, "I'm reading seven new tags on sensors."

    "We're recording, Foxtrot."

    T'Cirya lifted herself from the center seat and walked to stand behind Dawkins. "Commander, I would like an engineering team to follow, once the freighter is secured."

    Leone replied, "Aye, sir." She touched her communicator and called down the chief engineer to pass the order.

    "Heads' up, sports fans," said Ariel as she manipulated her console. "We've got incoming. I'm reading twenty fighters on fast inbound, thanks to the probe's extension of our sensor range."

    "Twenty?!" asked the executive and chief tactical officers, at the same time.

    The captain, on the other hand, requested their estimated time of arrival.

    "At their present speed, fifteen minutes. Give or take thirty seconds," replied Ariel. She hid her smile from the stereophonic response.

    T'Cirya returned to her seat. "Commander."

    "Aye, sir. Dawk, recall Bravo One," ordered Leone, without hesitation.

    Dawkins did not respond, instead moving to do it.

    "Helm, come right to relative course two-two-zero Mark zero."

    The helmsman replied, "Coming about, aye, sir." The freighter on the viewscreen remained in place as the ship turned about on its axis until it faced away from them.

    "Ariel, put a tractor beam on the freighter and rig for warp towing."

    Ariel wrinkled her nose as she turned to look at her friend. "We're leaving?"

    "Twenty fighters armed with the same punch? You bet your ass we're out of here. We can gather data on the freighter, later."

    "Boarding team is back aboard, Commander," announced Dawkins.

    "Tractor beam locked on." Ariel sighed. "I can't believe we're leaving."

    "Discretion, Commander Elannis," said the captain, loudly.

    Ariel turned around, the confusion written within her expression. "What, sir?"

    "It's the better part of valor," finished Leone, her face a thin mask of concealed frustration. "Helm, warp three. Get us the hell out of here."

    -------------------------

    Act III to follow.

    -- ZC
     
  8. CeJay

    CeJay Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Looks like Potemkin is really not very welcome here. Good thing they have a cool headed command crew which knows when to fight and when to avoid one.

    I know you're going for the more 'realistic' feel of Starfleet but I found the boarding party a tad too militaristic for my personal liking. It's something I would have certainly expected after the Dominion War but not so much in the nice and happy pre-TNG era. But that's just me.

    It was a nice piece of writing in any case.
     
  9. Mistral

    Mistral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Good bit but frustrating-I wanted to learn more about the freighter. I share Leone's feelings.
     
  10. DavidFalkayn

    DavidFalkayn Commodore Commodore

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    I'm liking T'Cirya--she knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em. I'm also curious as to who those fighters belong to...
     
  11. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    Heh, thanks. And pre-TNG wasn't always happy. By TNG's own definition, there was the Cardassian war, and the Talarian and Tholian raids. Since it's 2361, I doubt the lessons of the past would cause an organization like Starfleet to embrace such a ignorant new procedure.

    The boarding teams concept is actually a procedure put in place by Leone and Dawkins. I even counter that with Ensign Nieves impressions, by stating that it was the first time he had ever been a part of such a structure. And to be perfectly honest, putting three senior officers in harm's way all the time may have satisfied screen time requirements for the actors playing those roles, but to value only the commanding officer's life is nonsense. I modeled the boarding teams straight from the United States Coast Guard, and I always thought it made sense that they would have people who trained and specialized in hot boardings to get that job done. But having the ship's most senior officers (XO, COps, CSec, CSci) always do hot boardings is just plain insane.

    -- ZC
     
  12. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    Whatever it takes to get you to turn the page, man. ;)

    -- ZC
     
  13. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    This is one of two episodes where we get to see T'Cirya shine. She's a very dynamic character that got maybe a few seconds of screen time in Milk Run. I didn't really get a good chance to illuminate the relationship that she, Leone, and Ariel have... why Leone and Ariel felt so familiar with her to address her casually in spite of her rank in Milk Run. There's a reason for it and I wanted to present that. Plus, Turkana IV and Potemkin ties this with at least one TNG character.

    Act III will present a little more information.

    -- ZC
     
  14. Gibraltar

    Gibraltar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Fantastic stuff! Great teamwork and professionalism by the boarding team. You get the impression that they’d have brought the hammer down on anyone foolish enough to jump out at them aboard the freighter.

    As David stated, T’Cirya knows when to get the hell out of Dodge. After the bruise-fest with the earlier squadron of fighters, there’s clearly no reason to stick around just to become a target. There’s more than one way to skin a... um... Turkanian.
     
  15. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    Thanks for reading, man. :)

    Who said they were Turkanian? ;)

    -- ZC
     
  16. Mistral

    Mistral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    They might not be Turkanian-but if we're skinnin' them who gives a shi-crap what they are? Jus' so long as we can skin 'em! Cause burnin's too good for them. Hangin's too good for them(Crap, time to go to bed.)
     
  17. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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    I've not been writing FSA, due to a wiki project I've been trying to work on for United Trek's writers. So, please forgive the delay. I know I should've been done with the episode by now, but... oh well. :)

    Patience is a virtue.

    -- ZC
     
  18. Zefram_Cochrane

    Zefram_Cochrane First Faster Than Light Premium Member

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  19. Mistral

    Mistral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I see why Act 3 was offsite. I reviewed it at HOPESTATION.NET.
     
  20. DavidFalkayn

    DavidFalkayn Commodore Commodore

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    That was definitely a steamy part--I can see why you posted it off-site. However, it is very important in defining Ariel's character.