Solo Post by Captain Toron Pax
Bridge USS Potemkin
wrds 631

Pax was sat on the bridge; more officers than normal were manning every station and in some cases a pair were manning the same station, often in deep and hashed conversion. They were all busy scanning the moon and the hyper giant and analysing the data pouring in from them. He smiled to himself, and he sipped a cup of tea, this was what he enjoyed, the pure science of it. It had been a long time since he, and this ship, had done any science like this and he intended to take every moment they could to chart, map and scan this entire system.

Seemingly out of no where a predatory shape resolved kilometres off the Potemkin’s starboard side. A dozen bright flashes detached from the quickly resolving shape, it took just seconds for them to strike the Potemkin. With all their sensors directed towards the planet the warnings came too late and the Photonic torpedoes struck the secondary hull directly. The old-style warheads couldn’t penetrate the hull, but they did enough damage that a main power conduit which powered the shields was knocked offline.

Pax ordered the ship to break orbit, they were vulnerable while they remained in the gravity well.

The return fire from the Potemkin struck back; powerful modern Phasers stabbed out and hit the shields of the yet unknown ship which flashed green, absorbing the powerful attack. A return attack volley of another dozen enemy torpedoes was issued. The Potemkin’s Tactical officer shot most of them down, but the two that got through managed to breach the hull, destroying the Potemkin’s ability to raise her shields.

The bridge was filling with smoke from console fires, crew rushing to put them out. “Evasive action” Pax called over the thumps upon the hull. “Target their weapons, use all force” he continued looking over at his tactical chief.

Bright green energy pulses fired from the enemy ship and slammed into the Impulse engines. The high energy pulses forced a shut down of the two inner engines, their inner cherry red light blinked rapidly before going dark, like hot metal clenched in water. Another attack broke open the warp field grid atop of the starboard warp engine. A plasma fire billowed thick black smoke. And rocked from all the damage, the bridge was a disaster scene.

“Come on damn it” said Sattie Krisk, as she pulled the unconscious XO into the escape pod. She should have been in engineering but had managed to pull bridge duty. Now she had to drag the only two people she cold save into a bridge escape pod. The Tactical Chief was already strapped in.

With the help of the launch system the four-person escape pod shot off into space, turning to keep the bulk of the Potemkin between it and the attacking ship while making a beeline back towards the moon. The young engineer had programmed it to land near the away team.

If one were to look out, back at the Potemkin they would see three bright sparks hitting the starboard warp engine in rapid succession. Then, blindingly bright spheres crested the engine. Balls of fire and plasma quickly expanded to engulf the rest of the ship. The three small balls of nuclear fire merged into one, the energy quickly pushing the shock front outwards catching the enemy ship, its warp core exploding replacing the nuclear shock front with the massively powerful blue wave of an anti-matter annihilation. From where the Potemkin’s last position came yet another star bright flash of blue light.

The shock fronts slammed into the escape pod over and again. The young engineer had been trying in vain to strap herself in but was slammed into the hatch and nothing else mattered as the encroaching darkness descended upon Sattie.