Asteroids Go Boom Boom Boom!

Posted on Friday, 26 March 2021 - 8:52pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Talarn Zilth & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Petty Officer 1st Class Siana Ilian
Edited on on Saturday, 3 April 2021 - 1:32pm

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears
Location: USS Standing Bear | Deck 01 | Bridge
Timeline: MD 10

Captain Stillwater's plan of action to make their way deeper into the dense asteroid field was underway. It was easy enough to navigate through the specs and small chunks of asteroids of a manageable size, things much smaller than the Standing Bear which as a Federation starship was not that large itself. The starship, however, could only get so far until they hit their limitations. Even with as much reserve power, they could reroute to the deflector, it was not going to be enough to make it through the dense portions of the asteroid field with larger chunks.

That would be where Stillwater's plan would have to work. "Helm, full stop!" shouted Stillwater after the starship's shields took a 10% drop after the scraping of a few asteroids. Navigational sensors were being affected and Stillwater was relying heavily on Operations and Engineering to keep shifting power about wherever whenever. "Alright, that's as deep as we are getting for the time being," assessed the Captain who stepped forward to have a look at the Operations and Helm stations.

He turned about to face his husband who was manning the tactical station. "Tal, target those asteroids and start blasting them down to more manageable portions."

Talarn nodded. “Yes, Sir,” he replied. Like kicking rocks. There was something to say for being able to blast the asteroids with the firepower of the Standing Bear. He couldn’t hide the little grin as he watched the screen and lined up his targets. “Three... two... one... and fire.” The asteroids were no match.

Stillwater knew that the deeper they went, the closer they were probably getting to the shattered heart of the Romulan Star Empire: the remains of Romulus and Remus, and arguably where T'Lanna would be most affected. Captain Stillwater knew that his shuttle was out there somewhere, just beyond a dozen or so more of these larger asteroids. It had been a while since their last check-in and he was getting mildly concerned.

"Lieutenant," he said as he approached his chair, taking a seat and reaching over to place a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. He had asked her to the Bridge for her senses, but also out of caution. He was worried about her and wanted her close to keep an eye on her. "Do you sense anything different out there?"

T’Lanna was dong her best to keep herself together, the voices, screams and sheer echoes of the past disaster were pushing her ever closer to an abyss she wasn’t sure she could come back from. She looked at Barret keeping her focus on him as she tried to answer his question. “I... the voices are... louder! Almost... real, not echoes?” She concentrated harder something felt more real now, more tangible. “More... real.”

"Are they Romulan or is it from our away team?" asked Stillwater, concern was definitely on his mind as he worried about the whereabouts and status of the away team that Soral was leading. They had not reported back in some time, and sensors had yet to pick up their shuttle.

“They’re...” T’Lanna shook her head. “I... I can’t...” She sank her head into her hands. What she was feeling was overwhelming and trying to sift through it was painful to say the least.

"Helm, bring us in further," instructed Stillwater. He looked at T'Lanna. "Rest. You've gotten us this far lieutenant." Captain Stillwater hated seeing her in pain. She was a strong woman, but even the strongest had their breaking points.

T’Lanna nodded. “Thank you, Sir.” She relaxed back in her seat and closed he eyes trying to relax, not that there was any getting away from what she was hearing and feeling.

The man could hear the proximity alert from navigational sensors at helm. "Ease us back." They had gotten a bit further, but again another layer of large asteroids.

"I getting tired of this shit," quipped Stillwater. With Eyelaya down in engineering. The Bridge Ops station next to helm was being manned by Petty Officer Illian. "Petty Officer, reroute all reserve power to shields on my mark."

“Aye, Sir,” the woman replied, her amusement clear at their commanding officer’s outburst. Inputting the commands she gave a nod. “Standing by, Sir.”

Stillwater hit the comm open on the panel near his Captain's Chair. "Bridge to Engineering... whatever you can do to strengthen the deflector, do it now, Chief!"

"Yes, Sir!" came Eyelaya's voice as her hands flew over the controls.

"Talarn, target center mass of the asteroids ahead, arm torpedos full volley and maximum yield! Fire when ready."

Talarn actually grinned, something that most didn’t get to see. “Yes, Sir!” His fingers tapped across his console. “Torpedos maximum yield, in three... two... one... fire!” He tapped the console and watched as the asteroids in front of them exploded into millions of pieces, shooting away like fireworks.

"Now, Petty Officer Illian!" Stillwater ordered thunderously.

“Power transfer complete, shields are... holding at ninety percent,” the Operations officer reported.

Quickly, Stillwater stood from his seat to watch the result on the view screen. He turned to Adrianna Baciami. "Petty Officer Baciami, monitor communications. See if you can pick up any chatter from our shuttlecraft."

Adrianna nodded, tapping at her console. “Yes, Sir." The feedback was restless and unearthly, but she would attempt to make head or tail of it.

"Helm, direct course through those bits and pieces ahead, warp tractor two... engage," the Captain said, a hand gesture to match.

T’Lanna was reaching break point, she just wanted the hell away from the area now so she could get rid of everything. She slowly stood up to speak to Stillwater about leaving the bridge when the exertion took its toll. She hit the deck unconscious before she could utter a word.

Stillwater quickly reacted, swooping down like a hawk and lifting the collapsed woman into his arms. He used his strength to hold her up, reaching across his chest to tap his combadge.

"Stillwater to Sickbay, Lieutenant Vali had collapsed on the bridge. I'm on my way to Sickbay with her." He began to make his way to the lift, stopping momentarily when he heard the ops console chittering. He turned. "What's that about?" inquired Stillwater.

"It's the shuttle, Sir," Adrianna replied trying to make the chatter a bit clearer. "They are en route back to us. ETA ten minutes."

Looking at his husband, Talarn, Captain Stillwater nodded. "You have the Bridge, Talarn. Make sure Commander Soral brings that shuttle back in one piece."

Talarn snorted, amused at his husband for being to casual. “Alright, Barret... I’ll get right on that.”