EXETERRPG: (16 - 1012) 2O/CEO - Lieutenant Keira Merek

[Todd Holladay]

Mission: The Flames of Purity
Day: 16  
Stardate: 2445.09.16
 
(Shuttle Michelangelo, Cockpit – 2O/CEO – Lieutenant Keira Merek – 1009)

The Michelangelo drifted further behind the Leonardo as Ravok further accelerated into the atmosphere of the planet. Keira was about to pass to the port side, and the lead shuttle accelerated to less of a cruising speed and more of an attack speed.

~What the hell?~

In the blink of an eye the Leonardo fired a salvo of weapons making a large crater in the mountainside. An alarm sounded on the console warning of the weapons fire.

"Lieutenant?"

“Weapons, Ravok fired weapons!”

"The other shuttle has taken out the target. The main power supply at  coordinates 522548.72N-015557.00W has been destroyed…." Erin paused, a look of concern flitted onto her features.

“I am capable of taking out my own targets…” Keira said. It was clear she was not pleased.

"They have taken out the main power but I'm reading a back up coming on line." Erin reported.

“Can you do anything about that from here?” Keira asked. It’s not the way she had planned on doing it. ~The best laid plans…~

"I… " Erin's fingers danced lightly over her console as she spoke, "....can't disable it from here. We're going to have to go in and take it out. However, I might be able to get into their computer system. "

“Ok, do that.” Keira said while maintaining their course and speed and scouting out a nearby landing area.

"There's not much I can do but I might be able to cause some much needed confusion." Erin offered.

“Confusion is good, keep them guessing.” Keira said still scanning for a landing sight near enough to the crater to not have to walk a few kilometers, but far enough to not have a hot L-Z.

Keira wasn’t looking at her friend but she could hear the amusement in her voice, "I'm in their comms. I can scatter the signals with something a little special. Make it really difficult for them to communicate. "

“All good stuff, keep it coming.” Keira said just as she found a spot to land and began her decent into the atmosphere.

"This is something that will distract them and let Lieutenant Bracken know we're coming." Erin said as she pumped one of the more famous works of Gustav Holst, through all the non-federation frequencies.

“Interesting take on signal jamming.” Keira said. 

It was probably a coincidence but once Erin nodded the systems on the shuttle started losing power one by one.

Keira turned her attention back to the controls which weren’t responding.

" Lieutenant Merek," Zot yelled. "Someone hacked our systems "

“Yah think?” Keira said, the more she got stressed the more her emotional control slipped and sarcasm and yelling ruled the day.

" Whomever hacked the system isn't in it anymore. " Zot answered.

“That’s good news, you got any more good news?” Keira said while she tried to regain control of the shuttle, and she just lost helm control.

" I have access to the system, but they backdoored and circumvented various programs, causing startup sequences to be out of sync. I can restore power to the emergency transporters and that's about it. As time isn't on our side."

“Shut everything down, and disconnect from the computer.” Keira said. She wished she could run to the back compartment, restart it herself, and run back and pilot, there wasn’t enough time. She needed to trust her team, the experts she brought with her.  “Only way to be sure they’re out of our system and didn’t leave us any surprises is a hard restart before we fall to our death.”

(Reply Zot)

“VOSI, HARD RESTART, THAT’S AN ORDER!” Her voice was loud but the tone more urgent than harsh.

(Reply Vosi, IYW)

“Panel SEVEN!” Keira yelled back a reminder of where to start. She wasn’t sure how far along he was, but with in a couple very long seconds that seemed like an eternity all the instruments were dark. 

The shuttle continued to plummet like a stone. An orange glow started issuing from the bottom edges of the craft that could now be seen from the front view screen.

In what seemed like an infinite span of time as the orange glow got brighter, Keira wondered if she made the right decision, was her attempt to save everything and not just transport out to save themselves about to kill them all.

In that moment the power came on and the panel came back to life. Keira shifted power to the impulse drive and maneuvering thrusters and “pulled up” on the controls in an attempt to arrest their fall and pull out of the dive. The altimeter indicator continued to plummet, though not as quickly. The heat glow along the hull began to dissipate as further systems came back on-line.

“By Freya hold together…” Keira muttered as she put in further commands adjusting the thrusters and impulse drive. 

Their decent finally leveled off the altimeter showing a single “5” on the display, and now Keira was dodging trees manually, not entirely succeeding clearing the canopy. She pointed the nose toward a clearing the shuttle’s forward air speed was just passing three hundred meters per second. The clearing lead to a mountain and a certain newly made crater on the side. With a grin she pushed the accelerator and headed toward the mountain.

 “Time to give the universal greeting,” she said and as she angled the nose up the speed indicator showed 350 m/s. The air around the shuttle issued a deafening KABOOM! That could be heard for many kilometers. Inside they barely felt a rumble in the deck plates.  As she climbed the shuttle followed the contour of the mountain and lost considerable speed which Keira maneuvered into a wingover and came right back down the mountain and headed toward her original landing site.

“Everyone OK back there?” Keira asked as their speed rapidly decelerated for landing.

(Reply All)

“I’m setting us down about half a kilometer from the crater. Get your gear ready landing in two.” She announced and began landing procedures.

(Reply All)
(posted by Todd)


“The only way to defeat fear is to tell it 'No'." No - we will not take shortcuts on the path to righteousness. No - we will not break the rules that protect us from our basest instincts. No - we will not allow desperation to destroy moral authority.” - Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery

“No, I’m from Iowa, I only work in outer space.” – Adm. James T. Kirk, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”

Todd Holladay
SGT, IA ARNG (Retired)

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