The Rescuers - Part Two

Posted on Wed Apr 3rd, 2013 @ 6:10pm by Vic & Major Patrick Smith & Lieutenant Eric Edwards

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: The Blackbird

The chime of the computer intruded on Vic’s sleep, at first a mild annoyance. He mumbled a curse but the chime refused to stop and finally, he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Acknowledged computer.”

=^= ETA twenty minutes. Please report to the bridge =^=

“Okay, mom. I’m up I swear.”

=^= Please restate request =^=

“Never mind. Hey, you two, I’m up,” Vic called out. “Mostly. I so need coffee...straight to the vein.”

He rolled out of bed and began to dress.

* * *

Waking up from his own seat Pat groaned, “Who the hell changed my alarm message! Damned engineers. Resetting everything in a mans ship,” he moaned as he stood up and stretched and walked to the replicator. “Coffee black and a coca cola. Lieutenant?” he asked the waking man.

“Raktajino, double strength,” Vic answered. “And a whack to the ass, maybe it’ll get me moving.”

Eric shifted and woke silently, glancing to his side where he half-expected to see Norval. When it was Patrick instead, he jolted upright in his seat. “...Are we there yet?” he asked after a moment.

“Just about,” Pat replied as he ordered Vic’s coffee. “About 15mins out now. Something to get you started Eric?”

Being able to smell the raktajino, Eric couldn’t help but continue to think of his Trill partner, but he ordered his usual. “Black coffee,” he replied evenly, rubbing his face. He really needed to get into the habit of being instantly ready for a mission, but he’d never been a morning person.

“And another black coffee,” Smith instructed the replicator before handing them to Vic and Eric and taking his own back to his seat. “So what’s the plan then?”

“You’ve both seen the ship’s schematics. We can scan once in range and if all goes well, pinpoint Iggy’s location. If luck is with us, they won’t have shields up and we can beam over.” Vic paused to sip from his mug and sighed happily. “It would be too much to hope for to be able to beam her out. Even if they aren’t shielded, I’m betting she would be. Once there, and this is why none of us are in uniform, we do what’s necessary to retrieve her and get the hell out.”

’What’s necessary, Eric repeated in his mind. He was glad Iggy was clearly sentient, or this was a degree of overkill he was uncomfortable with. Quite literally overkill, he knew, if he had to use either of the very special weapons he had brought with him. Maybe his phaser would serve.

“If her... habitat,” he decided was the most diplomatic word that could be used for cage, “is shielded, then this collector likely shields a good deal of his ship. We may not be able to get very close.”

“That’s my concern too. If you can get us a window onto that ship, I can sense where the dangers lie on our way to Iggy. I’d rather not have this turn into a blood bath if there’s any other possible way to do it.” Vic lowered his mug. “Can this ship be set to auto-transport when we’re done?”

“Sort of. It can be standing by but we will still need to give the instruction unless of course someone stays here... which I doubt will be possible,” Pat replied. “The other alternative is if when in range they haven’t picked us up is to dock.”

“Docking is risky. Easier to blow an airlock that override a transporter protocol. Of course, if none of us are here, what’s to stop them from blowing our ride out of space?” Eric wondered.

“A fair point and I’d rather not lose this thing,” Pat said thinking. “What if we tricked them into thinking it was a spaceborne attack. With the confusion of an engagement it’ll make things easier for you two to move about.”

Eric looked to Vic and nodded, knowing that was certainly true. An exterior threat would make extraction far simpler. “Still, since we’re going into an unknown, weapons concerns may not be realized. How are your long range sensors? Maybe we can plan ahead.”
“Not as good as a Valkyrie sensor package but good enough. Should be able to do some good scans outside of his range.”

“Well, then that should be our first effort,” Eric said, starting to work the sensor scans from his station. Thankfully, he’d picked up more than a few tricks from Norval. “Reducing power to avoid detection,” he reported.

“It would make sense if Pat kept them distracted. They won’t be looking for us. And if things go bad, at least there’s someone on the outside to carry the news home.” Vic moved over to watch the scan info as it began to come in and gave a low whistle. “That’s one hell of a ship he’s got there.”

“Keeping him distracted is something I can surely do. What’s he packing?” he asked Eric.

“Three phaser banks, one photon torpedo launcher, and a maximum effective range of 300,000 kilometers,” he reported. “She’d give a starship a run for her money,” he added with a whistle, “but mobility is definitely on our side. And I doubt she has a trained tactical officer at the console.”

Patrick sat back and thought. “Well I’m not making any bets on that one. I’ll stay close once I’m in and that will reduce accuracy and remove the photon from the combination.” He pulled up the schematics for the ship again. “As long as I avoid hitting anywhere near the habitat areas and focus solely on disabling you guys should be safe. That being said if I can get their shields down a photon can clear out a corridor quite nicely.”

Vic rubbed his eyes, then downed the last of his raktajino. “No time like the present then. Shields Eric? Can we beam over or will we have to do this the hard way?”

“She’s got ‘em, but they’re not up. At least, the exterior shields aren’t up. I can’t tell you anything about interior shielding from this distance. We’ll need to transport over swiftly.”

“Understood.” Vic rose from his seat and moved over to arm himself, weapons slipped into pockets and holsters and waistbands. A small Klingon disruptor kept in his left hand was the only one visible. “Let’s do this.”

Nodding, Eric stood from the console and checked his loadout. The small metal tube that would expand into a kar’takin was on his left wrist, the polaron pistol was on his hip and the phaser rifle was slung over his shoulder. He hoped it was enough... actually, he hoped they didn’t need any of it, but he wasn’t that much of an optimist.

“Ready,” he said.

Vic led the way to the transporter pad and once they were both on it, he nodded to Patrick. “Energize.” Moments later, they vanished in a swirl of blue.

“Good luck,” the Irishman said to the now lonelier craft as he started burning towards the ship.

****************
Vic
Armed And Ready

Pat
Bait

Eric
Off to save a spider... the wonderful spider of Oz