Saturday August 28 2021
Lieutenant Commander Carl Hedley Executive Officer
Lieutenant Commander Ezekiel “Zeke” Pride Flight Controller
Lieutenant Elli-Navine Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Alexander Artopolis Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant Scott McIntyre Chief Tactical/Security Officer
Lieutenant Reeza Ral Chief Operations Officer
Podcast: To Boldly Roll The (Mis)Adventures of the USS Potemkin
(this report 998 words)
TBR#018 = 88 mins ~5,280 wds eqiv
The away team, having discovered a bomb left behind when the Romulan’s fled begin the process of defusing it. There was not way the Potemkin could pull them out in time, and there was no saying the whole in the jamming field that had allowed them to transport from the Atlanta would even still be there. The timer on the bomb counted down, with no time left Elli and Scott worked together to break through the bombs programming, they succeed, maybe quicker than the GM… *coughs* Romulans would have liked. The bomb disarmed their computers were copied and there was only one more place to go, the hanger bay on the topmost level. If their scans were correct this hanger would be as large as that aboard the Potemkin.
As they entered the bay via a turbolift they quickly took in the scene, a Romulan runabout was parked along side a small Borg scout ship. It was clear that the Romulan ship had been modified using Borg technology, but the scout ship appeared intact. There was no movement but there were two holding cells. An ad hoc set up, within were two Starfleet officers, Command Hedley and Lieutenant Ral, both had been taken captive by the Romulans when their civilian transport had been attacked, but as to why they were here and none of the others aboard remain unknown. Even as the away team lower the force fields and check the two officers over the massive hanger doors start to grind open, dusty soil pours through the rapidly expanding fissure.
Meanwhile, aboard the USS Potemkin the duty Science Officer reports “The start is going to go nova” she is wide eyed and clear fear upon her features. Like the others she knew that the Atlanta would never get ahead of a shock front like that. With no warp drive they would be caught by the immensely powerful plasma shock a star of this size would emit as it exploded. “Get us there” Pax ordered, the pilot was ready, she had been well trained by Pride and had the course already plotted. It had taken the Atlanta a few hours coasting at warp, it would take the Potemkin, with her enhanced warp drive just minutes. Even that would be cutting it fine. They had to hope that the away team was already in, or near an orbital plane otherwise they would lose the small alien ship Pride was so fond of.
The away team had beamed back to the Atlanta and were already waiting for the Potemkin in orbit. As soon as they were through the shuttlebay doors the large ship gracefully banked and accelerated into high warp, but long enough to reach a safe distance. Pax wanted to know what had happened. He had an idea but it was only a suspicion right now.
No sooner had the away team taken their stations did the proximity sensors bark their warnings. With a burst of tachyons, a Romulan warbird dropped its cloak and fired upon the Potemkin. Scott had their shields up in time and the disruptor blots washed over them with little damage, their shields were holding at 70 per cent. The Romulan ship, it was different. A departure from their normal designs, most likely due to the Borg technology; when merged in the methods the Romulans had used it produced… well forward pointing spikes.
Returning fire, their phasers overloaded the Romulan shields, their communications taking a hit, but they returned fire, nonetheless. The battle raged on, the Potemkin had the edge, she was bigger and packed a larger punch. They would easily win this fight; they might even be able to take the ship and question their crew. The second decloaking ship tipped the odds, the third one spelt the doom for the Potemkin, even with the best crew in the fleet, and the up grades the Protectorate had given them they were too far outnumbered by the Borg enhanced warbirds. Pax wasn’t about to stop him though and he ordered fire be focused upon the first ship if they could cut the odds a little.
The USS Manticore was near, their slipstream drive was being pushed as far and as fast as his pilot to manage. minutes out, they could see the fight, at this distance it looked almost as though time had slowed. Captain Marcus Williams sat on the edge of his chair, leaning forward; almost as though doing s would make the ship fly faster. An eternity later, or maybe it was 3 minutes it was hard to tell, and they returned to normal space with a flash of exotic radiations. The ships warp four nacelles folded and pivoted down as the ship entered battle mode. Two arrays of doors opened, and the Phaser lotus extended up through the space. They had been charging it for the last 10 minutes, they would have two good shots with the powerful weapon before the super conductors would been to be recharged.
“Fire”
A single powerful, solid crimson beam launched itself across the black void and struck one of the warbirds, where the beams struck, a bright green barrier flared. For a second it looked like the Romulan ship would tank the shot; then it didn’t. The beam collapsed the shields and punched a hole through the entire ship and slicing the ship in two. A moment later it exploded.
The battle was quickly ended, the Potemkin and Manticore making quick work of the remaining ships. Rather than risk being captured the disabled ship overloaded their core and destroyed themselves. The only saving grace was the signal that the Potemkin had picked up during the battle. They had a course and astrometrics told Pax that there was only one star on that course, and even a world that would intersect with the signal. The Manticore would set sail at once, they would scout the system from a distance, and wait for the Potemkin to catch up.