NRPG: There are few times where I lay down the mask of play and this set of posts is one of those times. The crazy compiler shall return to replace the drunken damsel, who is currently passed out, soon. In the mean time, I raise a glass to our leader and remind us all that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance." To Peace and Freedom. Compile Index: (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 1814) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 1819) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 19.15) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 19.20) (Starbase Valhalla - subsection 14 - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 20:55) RPG: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Mission: The Fires of Heaven, Day 12 Stardate: 2407.07.09 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 1814) =/\= Stolev to bridge. Enemy marines are on their way in your direction. I estimate a total of eight. Additional Boudicca marines and security are en route to assist you. Initiate emergency lockdown. =/\= Archibald frowned for a second then shrugged. "Understood, Commander. Point of entry?" =/\= The turbolift, Sir. =/\= "Alright, leave these to us. Stakes out." Archibald looked around the Bridge and nodded to McLaren. "Lieutenant, time to show them our box of tricks. Initiate lockdown program Alpha, countermand level Admiral." "Yes, Sir." There was a brief crackling sound in the air as level 10 forcefields were erected all over the bridge. The set up consisted of three concentric forcefield rings, the central one covering the command positions and the tactical position, the middle one the CONN and OPS positions and the outer one ended about one meter away from the bridge wall and covered all wall mounted positions. For increased defense, each ring had been subdivided by additional forcefields, arranged like the spokes of a wheel. The inner ring had four walls, the middle ring 7 and the outer ring finally had 10 sections. The set up was designed to protect every area on the bridge and to make it hardest for attackers to reach the inner ring with the command crew and tactical station. Lastly, each of the openings onto the bridge, like the turbolift door and the door to the ready room were sealed by a separate forcefield. That way, where-ever the attack came from, they would have to burn through four force fields at a minimum to reach the center of the Bridge. But it would take them a lot of time to do it in, time which they would not have, as the defenders were no doubt hot on their heels. Archibald smiled as he turned back to face the front. "Mister Sevant, maintain course to intercept the lead ship opposite, full impulse. You'll find it is a Sovereign." "Aye Sir." Archibald was about to nod, when he heard doors swishing open followed by two buzzing sounds, which were followed quickly by the sounds of several heavy bodies falling to the ground. With a charming smile, Archibald turned his chair to face the doorway leading to the turbolift. "Gentlemen," he said with a nod. "How nice of you to drop in. Unfortunately this means that for you, as they say, the war is over." He signaled McLaren to cut all power to the turbolift. "There are at least four level 10 force fields between you and me. I would reckon that if you were good, you'd be able to bring down each force field in about two to two and a half minutes. So we would be able to shake hands in eight till ten minutes." He looked down at his console and keyed in a command. "Unfortunately I have just activated a level seven explosive device, which has been placed on the back wall of the turbolift shaft which will detonate in 3 minutes. There are several trigger wires running from the device to the turbo lift wall so any attempt to burn your way through it to get to the device will lead to a very loud death." Archibald nodded friendly. "But as we are amongst friends I will offer you a way out. Drop your weapons and take off your BDU's and surrender to our forces and you will be humanely and fairly treated. But I would suggest you to make your decision quickly, the clock is ticking. As I said, for you the war is over. Whether it is as a corpse or as a prisoner will be up to you. Gentlemen." He nodded to the leader, who was apparently a Major then turned his chair back to the front. "Time to intercept, Mister Sevant?" he asked routinely. (Reply boarders, any on the Bridge, any) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 1819) "We are in range of the lead ship, Sir." Archibald looked up to the viewscreen where he saw the graceful lines of a Sovereign as it turned to face them. But just like his own old ship, the Star of Samarkand was as lethal as she was beautiful, especially if you were flying a Keltoi, like they were. "Slow down to half impulse. No weapon locks. Maintain present course." "Shall I hail the ship, Sir?" Archibald shook his head. "Not yet." "Sir! The ship is locking weapons on us!" Archibald nodded simply. He had expected that move. Any Keltoi Captain would have smirked and disregarded it, as it was, after all, only a Sovereign. But Archibald knew the danger. "Mister Sevant, perform a slow starboard roll of 100 degrees but maintain course." "Was she...." he heard softly behind him and he looked back at his daughter. "Oh yes," Archibald answered. "She was and still is." He smiled at her encouragingly. It wasn't every day that your own mother locked her weapons on your ship and as it was her mother, there was no doubt that she intended to use them if necessary. And use them to their best effect, as well. She would have the position of every shield generator of the Keltoi in her memory banks. Her phasers had been modified to fire 'punch-through' shots. With narrowed and much concentrated beams the phasers were set to punch through shielding, locally disrupting them. As a drawback, it meant that the phasers were much less effective against hull or armour plating. But they were not designed to cut through the hull, just to create an opening in the shield to allow a barrage of torpedoes to pass through and take out the shield generators. And once the shields were down a second barrage of torpedoes would hit home, destroying the section of the ship that had been targeted. Of course, the phasers were also calibrated to work best against Keltoi shield set ups and it all made it a very dangerous and lethal opponent for a Keltoi if less effective against other ship types. As Archibald himself had commanded a Keltoi killer, he also knew how to counter the effects. For one they had installed a second set of shield generators, ones that wouldn't be in the Star's memory banks. Also he knew that the targeting systems of a phaser were much more precise that those of a torpedo. The torpedo simply didn't have as much computer power behind it once it was fired as the phaser banks of a vessel, as they still were linked to the ship's computers. A simple roll, and therefore shift in target of 90 degrees was sufficient for a torpedo to miss his mark, in this case the precise shield area weakened by the phaser punch and would therefore not be as effective against the shield generators as they should be. "Sir! The ship is locking weapons on us again!" Archibald nodded. Of course, after the roll, all you had to do is re-acquire the target and load the new information into the torpedo before firing it. "Perform a slow port roll of 105 degrees, Mister Sevant." he said then looked over to the OPS-position. "Mister Johnson, send them a message. Tell them just that we can keep this up all day." "Message sent, Sir. No response." Archibald shrugged. If she wanted time... "Mister Sevant, bring us to a full stop and maintain our position with regards to the Star of Samarkand. Inform the group to maintain their position." Archibald accessed his command console. "Mister Johnson, I have a set of ten pictures that I want you to send to all ships on the other side, one after the other. And keep sending them until I say stop." He viewed the pictures as he sent them over to the OPS console. The first one was Archibald's favourite as it showed him, Lydia, Esme and Bill standing in front of the statue of P'klor, an ancient Andorian wargod. It was taken three years ago when the whole family had been able to take holidays at the same time, which they spent in Julirak, a major city on Andoria Prime. It was quickly followed by another picture of Julirak, taken just a few months ago, showing a city that lay in ruin, laid to waste in an attempt to quell the uprisings on Andoria. In the front, like a broken tooth, stood the broken pedestal on which once P'klor's statue had been placed. The third one showed the burning parliamentary buildings on Betazed and a mother in front, cradling the body of a child with clearly visible phaser burn marks across his whole body. The fourth one showed a busy marketplace on Earth with people bustling about in good spirits, which was followed by a picture of the same marketplace but with marines and security details scouring the otherwise empty streets. The fifth one showed a Sovereign in space, the name USS Makimba clearly visible, as it was firing phasers and torpedoes against a group of escape pods. It had a caption underneath. No refuge for traitors. The sixth one showed a group of Starfleet officers standing around a large mound. Only after looking longer would you realise that the mound was in fact a heap of headless bodies, wearing blood soaked starfleet uniforms. The same caption appeared at the bottom. Archibald sighed and closed his eyes. He had seen them often enough to know what would follow next. What had made him really sick was that most of those pictures had come from the higher echelon, Lydia's father inclusive, to quell any possible thoughts of their forces turning sides. They were being told quite plainly what would happen to you if you did not follow the set line. Most pictures would not be questioned by the other side. In fact, many Captains and officers had openly boasted about them being accurate. And it was also made clear that that kind of behaviour would be rewarded as the former CO of the Makimba was now one of the admirals in Doenitz's general staff. Archibald bit his lips as he wondered if it would make any difference but shrugged as he looked up. "Mr. Johnson. How long?" "The pictures have been sent for two minutes and twenty seconds, Sir." "OK, stop sending them. If they haven't had an impact so far, they never will. Send another message to the opposing group. Message reads: If this is really what you believe Starfleet should represent..." "Message sent, Sir." Archibald sighed and stood up. "Mister Johnson, contact the group and tell them to target the other ships as we are engaging the lead ship." His face impassive, Archibald looked over at the tactical console. "Mr. Laroon, lock all forward weapons on the enemy flagship, target the bridge and warp core primarily. Fire on my command only. Mister Sevant, quarter impulse. Same heading as before. Mr. al-Sharif, keep the shields up as best as you can. Their energy needs are prioritised over everything, including weaponry." As the ship picked up speed messages rang out. "Sir! Incoming message from the lead ship!" "Sir! Quarter impulse, continuing on our heading." "Sir! We are being targeted by four vessels!" "Sir! Sickbay has just reported that they are back to 100% status." Archibald shook his head. "The time for talking is over, Mister Johnson. Ignore their hails. Mister Laroon, on my mark. Is the lead ship targeting us?" "No, Sir," it came after a second, which made Archibald frown. ~Could it be?~ Then the viewscreen showed the Sovereign manoeuvering, baring her side to the oncoming Boudicca as it slowly picked up speed. "All stop!" He got up from his chair as he watched the Star of Samarkand on the screen. The Sovereign's best chance had been to face the Boudicca head on, with her forward torpedo rapid burst turret and frontal phasers in line. He wondered if she would veer back when he saw how she continued on her heading, the distance between the two ships increased steadily. "Where are they heading?" he asked the CONN-officer. "Present course would indicate ...... the hole in the MDP, Sir." "Sir! Three of the four ships have released their lock on us. I read six, no seven ships heading off on the same course as the lead ship!" Archibald slumped down in his chair. He wasn't sure if they had deserved the lifeline that they had been handed. In a one on one the Boudicca would have succumbed to the Star, there was no question about that. But it would have taken the Star all their resources and concentration, allowing the meager rest of the B-group to create holes in the line of defenders and overrun their positions as the lead ship was engaged otherwise. When Archibald looked back up, he noticed that another three vessels were now moving out of their way. "Was there any communication between the lead ship and the other vessels?" he asked. "No, Sir, we intercepted no messages." Archibald shook his head but then remembered what they were there for. "Mister Sevant, plot a new course. Destination: Valhalla starbase, one quarter impulse. Mister Johnson, inform the group that we will take the marine ships to Valhalla. Tell them to clear away the remaining ships then follow us if they can." (reply all) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 19.15) The ship shuddered as the Starbase was starting to fire on the Boudicca as she approached it. "How are the shields holding up, Mister al-Sharif?" "Shields are fine, Sir. 85 % and climbing." "And how much impact do you think our weapons will make on the shields of a starbase?" "On our own? Not much, knowing the energy reserves a starbase has. But if we concentrated our fire on one section and kept the barrage going, I guess we could make part of the shields come down in about ten to fifteen minutes." Archibald nodded, it was similar to his calculations. It had seemed so simple once they had been given the 'go-ahead' by Lydia and her Black Watch group. But then halfway the rest of the B-group, as they were trying to meet up with the Boudicca after having dealt with the remaining defenders, had suddenly been attacked by a small group of Doenitz loyal ships. Not as heavy as the ships in Lydia's Black Watch had been but still heavy enough to seriously delay them. "When can we expect the remainder of B-group to be here?" "At present course and speed, about fifteen minutes, Sir." Archibald grabbed the armrest as the ship rocked under another wave of attacks. "By which time we and the marine ships will have been dealt with." Archibald said matter of factly. "Ok, there are more ways open to us. Mister al-Shariff, new orders. I want you to beef up both forward shields and bring the auxiliary shield closer to the first one. I intend to fly towards the base and bring down at least one section of the shields with our owns. Although they have more power than us, if we pick the right spot, they will have only one shield generator providing the power to the shield against all of our forward ones. I intend to burn out that generator, which should enable the marines to use their dropships and transports to enter the base. To bring them closest to the command center of Valhalla, we will have to pick a spot on the top saucer. Inform the marine ships and tell them to prepare their dropships. Mister Laroon, bring up a holographic image of the starbase." Archibald made his way over to the tactical console. He looked at the image for a second, then pointed towards an area on the top. "Unless they have completely rebuilt the whole top structure there should be only one generator for that section.... there!" Working on his memory, Archibald pointed to an area near the ring on the top saucer. "Send a picture of the base with the point that I marked to all three ships. Tell them to be ready to breach the gap there in five minutes and be close enough to use their transporters for the first drop." Archibald walked over to the CONN position, nearly losing his footing as the ship rocked once again under fire. "Mister Sevant, bring us in at a quarter impulse. You know the spot. Final movement must be done by manoeuvering thrusters only and you must compensate for the repelling force of the base shields once we made contact. We must maintain shield to shield contact until the enemy shield section is brought down." Archibald made his way over to the Engineering console. "Can you do it, Mister al-Sharif," he asked, then he lowered his voice. "I understand you understand quite a few of Klingon ways of life and language. If we succeed, we will be left almost completely defenseless at the mercy of the gunners on the base. I believe the correct Klingon phrase would be: It is a good day to die, right? But is any good day to die, if you die with a lie on your lips?" Archibald suddenly straightened his back and walked back to his chair. "I'll be in my chair, if there is something that you wish to discuss with me, Lieutenant," he said at normal level. (reply all, any) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 19.20) "Brace for impact!" The ship shook heavily as it's shield collided with the base shield. A luminescent glow was briefly visible on the viewscreen until the base shield repelled the ship. Luckily as they were now closer to the base, only a portion of the weaponry of the base could fire on them. "Once more, Mister Sevant." Again the ship moved slowly forward until the shields connected and the glow re-appeared and this time for longer but again the ship was repelled. "The manoeuvering thrusters are too weak, Sir. I can't maintain position against the repulsion with just them. Request permission to use the impulse engines." "Permission granted, but remember that once the base shields are down we will be flying straight into the base hull, so keep your wits about." "Yes, Sir!" "How are we doing, Mr. al-Sharif?" "Not good. Our primary shield is down by 20 percent, the base shield is down by just 5. Their regeneration rate is much higher than ours. Unless we can maintain the assault for a prolonged period, we are going to run out of shields whilst they still have 40 percent left." "You heard the Lieutenant, Mister Sevant, once more, please. And make it last." Again the ship came forward but this time the glow was there for several minutes, whilst the ship buzzed and groaned under the strain. "We lost primary shields! Generators are gone. Auxiliary shields are still active and at 66%. Base shields are at 31%. It is going to be close." Archibald licked his lips and suddenly realised that his mouth was dry. Suddenly the bridge lights went out for a few seconds. "Power drop on all decks. Two major central conduits have been fried. Re-routing power but it is going to get worse. Backups are not meant to maintain this power flow. Also we are losing structural integrity. Forward sections are being starved of power. Structural failure expected in three minutes." Archibald narrowed his eyes. It was clear that the ship could not withstand the strain much longer. "Mr. Laroon, what is the status of the aft torpedo launchers?" "Both are loaded and ready to fire, Sir." Archibald nodded. "Shields status?" "Base shields 14% and falling. Our shields 29% and falling. Faster than theirs." "Mister Sevant, new orders. Maintain present position until the base shields are below 4%. Mr. al-Sharif will tell you when. Then cut the impulse engines. As the base shield pushes us away, turn the vessel around so that Mr. Laroon can fire the aft torpedoes. A full spread from the aft torpedoes should then suffice to bring down the remainder of the shields." "Base shields 10%. 9%. 8%, 7% ..... 6%, 5%,... NOW!" The ship suddenly lurched as it was forced to swivel and Archibald found out that the deck was quite hard for the second time that day. But he heard the TAC/aSC cry out: "Torpedoes away!" Archibald made it to his knees when he was violently thrown forward. Some of the blast waves of the torpedoes hitting home had been reflected towards space and the Boudicca was caught in the resulting shock wave pushing them farther away from the base. This time Archibald didn't bother trying to get up as he watched the view screen showing the base shields, almost sickly yellow in colour, trying to cope with the additional energy, until they flickered, once, twice and then died. He was about to shout to Johnson to let the marines know, when he suddenly saw streams of light pass them towards the base. It took him a second to realise that the steams of light were the engines of the dropships as they hungry leapt towards their target. "Sir! The marines have signaled. The eagles have landed! First transporter waves are on board and have made contact with enemy units. Resistance is fierce but manageable." Archibald sighed then made it to his knees. He grimaced for a second then accepted the help of Esme, who helped him onto his feet. "Of course they have," he said with a sigh as he dropped himself into his chair. "Failure was never an option. Status?" "Heavy damage on all decks, hull breeches on decks 10 till 14. Only minimal secondary shielding available." The starbase defenses seemed to want to stress that point, as the ship rocked from side to side under withering fire. "Sir! Starboard nacelle took a direct hit! Warp engines off line." Suddenly more and more reports came in from all decks as the defensive fire was reducing the proud ship to rubble quickly. Archibald took a look at the engineering status screen showing red colours all over the ship. "Sir! The remainder of the B-group is approaching. They will be with us in five minutes." ~Yeah, but we won't be here anymore in five minutes.~ Archibald realised As the ship continued to rock under the fire, Archibald flipped a switch on his armrest. "All hands, this is the Captain speaking. Abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship. This is an order. Abandon ship. We will rendezvous at the starbase, make for the openings created by the marine dropships. All hands, abandon ship." (reply all, any) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) (Starbase Valhalla - subsection 14 - aCO Commander Archibald Stakes - 20:55) Archibald looked around and watched the crew around him. "OK, I know it hasn't been a rose garden so far, but we must maintain our position here. Remember that every marine that we face here, will be one less that is facing our marines en route to the command centre. So bind them as long as you can." Archibald saw someone waving at him. After another reassuring nod he made his way to the man. "Uhh, Sir? You know that we have found an access into the starbase communications network?" Archibald nodded, wondering what they had picked up this time. Last time they had reported that Doenitz himself had arrived on the base heading two brigades of his own personal bodyguards. "Yes, Mister Randolph, wasn't it?" "Oh, yes, Sir. Louis Randolph, Sir. With an s. Most people think that you shouldn't pronounce the s at the end of Louis, making it Louie, but I'm not French, Sir, so it should definitely be pronounced LouiS, Sir." "Thank you, Mister Randolph. I will make a note of that. But I take it that you picked up another message?" "Oh? Oh yes, Sir. Yes, we did. And this one was all over all channels and repeated all the time. The war is over, Sir! It's official! They said it over all channels. Everybody is to lay down their weapons and surrender themselves." "I'd rather not," Archibald said dryly. "My phaser has still 40% charge and my aim is still as bad or good as it used to be. So I'm not planning to lay down just yet, if you don't mind." "You, Sir?" The botanist looked bewildered for a moment. they his face lighted up and he started laughing. "Ohhh! I see, You thought that I.... whilst... now that is funny, Sir. pardon me, but that is the best joke I heard all day. No, Sir. It's them. THEY are to surrender, not us." Archibald inwardly sighed but kept the smile stuck to his lips. "So, you are saying that the Doenitz forces are to surrender themselves to us. Just like that. And we are to leave our positions to accept their surrender, only to be shot on sight, for falling for this trick?" Archibald shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mister Randolph with an S, but I'm not falling for it." "But it was on all the channels, Sir. And it was him himself." "Him? I'm sorry, but even if it was the president of the Federation himself saying it, I still would not believe it. Now I suggest you go back to your listening post and warn me when something important is broadcast." Archibald turned around and walked back to the motley crew of Boudicca personnel as they maintained their defensive positions to defend the large group of Boudicca survivors further back in the section. He thus missed Louis with an S looking dejected as he mumbled. "But it was him, I heard him. As clear as can be. We all did. It was him, no doubt about it. It was Admiral Sevant. I'm sure it was. We all were." (Reply by all) (Posted by Adrie Geuken) NRPG: Peace and Freedom -USS Boudicca, NCC 49901 Star Trek: Freedom - http://www.startrekfreedom.com