So Many Problems, So Little Time
Posted on Thu Aug 20th, 2020 @ 10:17am by Captain Michael Meezo & Lieutenant Avery Paxton III & Lieutenant Tyvok
Mission:
The Avenger
Location: USS Avenger
Timeline: Present
"Tyvok to Paxton, you should take a look at this." Avery swiveled to look at Tyvok on the upper deck, but before she could ask him what the issue was, another chime came in.
"Wayfarer to Lt. Paxton.” Commander Sito’s voice rang through her combadge.
=/\= Go ahead Commander =/\=
"We have a report of weapon fire on the Avenger, the Captain and Commander Maddox are not responding to hails".
=/\= That's strange sir, we just spoke to Captain Dante on the bridge =/\=
"Head up there with all due haste Lieutenant and check the Captain and Maddox are ok. Report back to me once their safety is confirmed. Wayfarer out!"
Avery reluctantly turned to Davis, “It looks like you’ll have to start on those warp engine repairs on your own. I’ll get back as quickly as I can.” Davis nodded understandingly and sprinted off towards the systems needing repair.
“Tyvok!,” she shouted to the upper deck as she ran to pick up her phaser before heading to the bridge per the XO’s orders, “You have 30 seconds to tell me what’s going on up there!”
Tyvok came over to the railing overlooking Paxton. "While rerouting the network, I came across a transmission being sent on all bands in Romulan. I've shut it down, and locked out communications to prevent further transmissions, but the signal was going for a few minutes before I was able to find it. It is safe to assume the message was sent by a Romulan intruder, and there's no way to know if any Romulan ships picked up the transmission. We should signal the Wayfarer to be ready."
“Paxton to Sito,” Avery announced through her combadge.
=/\= Go ahead Lieutenant =/\=
“I’m headed to the bridge now to check on the Captain & Maddox, but Ensign Tyvok discovered a transmission being sent out by a Romulan intruder. He’s stopped the transmission, but it would probably be best to prepare for some unwanted guests. Paxton out!”
“Good work, Tyvok! Signal me if you find anything else suspicious!” She yelled as she ran out the doors.
Paxton, fix the warp engines. Paxton, come look at this transmission. Paxton, make sure the bridge crew is still alive…Avery mockingly repeated the continuous stream of requests she’d just received. I swear to God if the XO ever hounds me for working too hard again, I’m going to pitch a fit
The bridge was on deck A, four decks up from engineering. Captain Dante had mentioned Romulan intruders, which meant the access tunnels would be a safer route, but Avery didn’t have time for that. She sprinted out of engineering and headed straight for the turbolift.
“Bridge!” She said upon entering the lift. Avery stopped for a moment, a look of confusion drawn on her face as the turbolift remained unresponsive. “Oh yea, you have to press a button,” she said to herself as she corrected her mistake and pressed what she thought was the right control to get to the bridge. In the heat of the moment, she had forgotten they were still on an NX class ship.
The doors opened as the turbolift arrived on deck A and instantly the room lit up as green phaser fire entered. Caught off guard, Avery recoiled in pain as the beam grazed her left shoulder. You have got to be kidding me she thought as she leaned against the turbolift wall and grabbed her phaser from it’s holster. She took a breath, then stepped out with her phaser in hand and took her first shot. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed another beam of light, but this one wasn’t Romulan.
“Damn, I missed! He’s taken cover behind that bulkhead!” Captain Meezo’s voice could be heard cursing from deeper within the bridge. “Paxton? Are you okay?”
Before the Engineer could answer, the Romulan returned fire, causing Mike to duck for cover.
“This really is starting to turn into the day from hell.” The man shook his head, almost disbelievingly. How many more Romulans could be hiding onboard the Avenger? One? Two? Ten? And an unknown amount of reinforcements could arrive at any moment.
“Paxton! Are you hurt?!” He shouted towards the turbolift.
“I’m fine!” She yelled back, irritated that the Romulan had managed to graze her, but ultimately no worse for the wear. “The XO said there was weapons fire. He tried to get a hold of you or Maddox with no response and sent me to make sure you were OK. What happened?!”
“There’s definitely some Romulan intruders onboard the Avenger!” He shouted over the sound of further phaser fire. “We managed to get one into custody in the ready room, but not before he was able to kill Captain Dante.”
After the bridge update, Paxton relayed the latest status from engineering, “Ensign Tyvok has managed to tap into all of the ship’s systems. He discovered a transmission being sent out by a Romulan intruder. He’s stopped the transmission, but it’s likely that some extra Romulan guests will be arriving soon.”
The Romulan took another pot-shot towards Mike and the bulkhead above him sparked in a hail of white sparks. “I’ve had enough of this...” he gritted his teeth. He slapped his comm-badge, Meezo to Tyvok. I understand you’re able to activate the self destruct programme for the Avenger? If you can hear me, I need you to set it for 15 minutes, silent countdown.” He double tapped his comm-badge, “Meezo to Sito; Commander, prepare for mass emergency transport. Bring all of our people back and also whatever is left of the Avenger’s crew. We’re not sticking around.”
=/\= But sir, what about the salvage operation? Starfleet wanted us to bring the Avenger back to DS9 if possible for study =/\=
“We were never meant to find the Avenger, commander.” Mike sighed, “She was lost in 2160 remember? The best we can do now is to at least save her crew. Now carry out my orders in ten minutes, commander. Meezo out.”
Paxton stepped out and took another shot as the captain finished his communication. The Romulan sunk into the ground as he was hit and stunned into unconsciousness.
“Finally,” Avery said, relieved at not having to dodge anymore green flashes of light. “Sir, I think I have an idea.” She said, turning towards the Captain as he stepped out. “Tyvok can route helm control to the Wayfarer. We can drive the Avenger close to any Romulans that arrive before the self-destruct goes off, basically using it as a decoy. Which might just buy us enough time to get back to our own century.”
“Excellent idea, Lieutenant.” The man nodded in agreement. “Hopefully the explosion won’t impact our escape, but it will certainly be a useful distraction.”
He slapped his comm-badge, “Commander Sito, prepare to receive instructions from Lieutenant Paxton, and begin transporting the Avenger crew to the Wayfarer immediately. In fact, transport everyone other than myself, Paxton and Tyvok.”
=/\= Even the Romulans? =/\= Sito questioned.
Mike hesitated and glanced towards Paxton. “Yes commander, even the Romulans.”
:OFF:
Captain Michael Meezo
Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Avery Paxton III
Chief Engineering Officer
Ensign Tyvok
Computer Systems Specialist
