A Little of the Top.

Posted on Tue Oct 24th, 2017 @ 4:32am by

1,341 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Unknown Life, Unknown Dangers
Location: Various

Zan's pilots had been briefed on the situation and none of them understandably liked it. Nobody liked to damage the place they called home but everyone knew what was at stake if they didn't. They had been given a plan by the Chief Engineer and each of the fighters had been fitted with two full sized torpedoes. It took just over an hour for all the fighters to be altered and mean while they pilots talked amongst themselves to kill the time. When all was said and done though the fighters took off and slowly and gently exited the hanger one at a time to move into position off the starboard nacelle ready to attack.

=^= Bridge, CAG. We are in position and ready to commence. =^=

*** Bridge ***

From on the Bridge William sat in the centre chair watching the fighters take off on the Viewscreen that had been set to aft view. It seemed bizzare to see what would normally be nimble strike craft loaded down with weapons of that size but if Lt. Bradshaw said they would be needed, they would be needed. =^= CAG, this is Hood, stand by while I check with Engineering.=^=

=^= CAG Aye. =^=

Will tapped his commbadge. "Bridge to Engineering, our fighters are in place, are you ready?"

*** Engineering ***

I was standing by the main table in Engineering as I hoped I'd covered all the bases. We were not just taking a nacelle off here, we were compromising the hull, power systems, life support and more systems then I'd like to consider right now. The section had been evacuated and the surrounding 6 sections too, I wanted to make sure that everyone was safe. Blast doors had been lowered and secured so that the hull breach didn't cause too much damage when explosive decompression hit.

"We are ready down here, sections have been evacuated, integrity field has been lowered to 10% and blast doors are down and secured. " We were ready....I hoped we were ready.

*** Bridge ***

"Thank you Lieutenant." Will replied as he took a breath, this one action would not just cripple the ship but potentially his career too. He opened shipwide comms. "All hands, this is the Commodore. As you are all no doubt away an alien biological organism has infected the ship. Attempts to combat it has proved difficult. A large mass of the organism has been located within our starboard nacelle and threaten to spread throughout the ship."

"After consultation with various officers a plan has been put forward that yields the best chance of success. We will use our fighters to severe the nacelle and let it float into the local sun. However as some of you may have guessed the ship is armoured and we will have to get through that, the hull plating and the internal structure. Everyone should brace themselves for repeated high yield impacts and system outages."

=^= Bridge to Sickbay, standby for casualties.=^=

*** Sickbay ***

Though not technically cleared Xavier was not about to lay down on the job when this was about to go down. =^= Dr Patrovski to Bridge, we are ready. =^=

A look around told him that much, Nurses by beds, medkits all over the place ready to be grabbed at a moments notice and darted out the door to where ever they may be needed.

*** Bridge ***

Will took a breath hoping he was doing the right thing. =^= CAG, execute. =^= Any second now the plan would be actioned, his ship freely attacked and knowingly crippled but it was the only way to safeguard the ship and those within its armoured shell.

*** Outside the ship ***

Zan had positioned his fighters where the Chief Engineer had outlined, it had taken a little while to get into place because of the extra weight the full sized weapons posed on such a small launch platform. "Alright everyone, remember the plan, not above the line marked. Watch you're shots and lets try and keep unnecessary damage to a minimum. Zan knew that nobody would fire unless he did first.

Looking down at his instruments he saw everything was ready, a lock established. He pulled the trigger and the first of his torpedoes hurtled towards the ship, the blue orb of destructive power impacted the ship with all its shaped charge focus in a blossom of yellows, reds and oranges. Then the other fighters opened up as well sending payloads of destructive power towards assigned locations. Phasers, micro-torpedoes, full sized ones all unleashed upon the ship. Some faired better than others, some breached the armour while others did not.

As a result a fresh reload was waiting. Some of James's engineers in EVA suits were in the hanger ready and waiting for the fighters to return, reload and exit again with fresh payloads. A full reload took little over 20 minutes and they were out once again to resume only this time as soon as one craft was in position they opened fire.

36 minutes it took for the wing to break through the armour and the hull plating to expose the internals. =^= Standby Bridge, we are engaging the internals now. =^=

Each fighter formed up, they would have to severe the main brace just right as it was part of the structure that held the ship together, it was tough so the task would not be an easy one. One weapon at a time, Zan didn't want to volley fire it because this stage was the delicate part and though phasers were also used the brace still took a pounding before it buckled.

It was a strange sight at first as the nacelle seemed to twist, flakes of armour and hull plating drifted into space as the structure began to give in. It was saddening in a way, a mighty vessel, cream of the fleet losing such a vital part of itself. More weapons fire sped the process along before the strut finally snapped, there was a slight visible rock to the ship when it happened which Zan expected considering. Most we in a sort of awe as the nacelle seemed to slowly drift, caught by the spacial currents and edies, gravity and such which would lead it towards the star.

=^= CAG to Bridge, mission complete returning to the Hanger. =^=

*** Engineering ***

The ship rocked and shook violently as time went on especially when the armour was chewed through and it got to the guts of the strut. Warning lights lit the table up like a festive tree as they began to register damage, power fluctuations, failures, outages and the like. I knew I'd brought this on myself by suggesting the plan but I could only hope that nobody would be hurt further as a result of what ever that creature was.

"Life supports failed on decks 17, 18 and 20." I heard one report.

"Artificial gravity has failed on deck 15."

"EPS grid is down on deck 19 sections 8 through 17."

It just kept coming like a tide, one report after another but when the strut finally severed thats when things really turned to hell. With most weapon impact its was region located for the most part with some concussion damage. The internals of the strut however acted like a transmission for the shock to sweep through the ship. When it gave lights flickered, consoles shorted, a low groan heard through the ship as it surrendered to the onslaught subjected on it. That I'd subjected it to. I looked up to see some of my team down from a console explosion =^= Engineering to Sickbay, we have wounded down here. =^=

=^= Engineering to Bridge, we have multiple system failures throughout the ship. =^= I relayed the damage report I'd just been given and the picture was not good. "Make sure those bulkheads are in place, route the power through the secondary relays, bring the emergency reactors online." I called to one of my engineers as we scurried around like headless chickens trying to keep the ship from twisting itself in half from the damage sustained to the internal structure of the ship now that it was missing several tens of thousands of tons on one side.

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