Deep Space Guardian: Season II-Episode 31

[Valathous]

~ Bridge, USS Magellan ~

Blake smiled. Finally, they had fallen for the bait and were in range of the far superior and vast amounts of weapons of the station. The battle would soon be over, however at a large cost.

"Sir... The Guardian and the Achilles are still taking heavy damage. They can't last much longer," reported the ops officer.

"How are our shields looking, ensign?" Blake asked.

"32%, sir."

"Position ourselves between the Nautolian ships and the Achilles," Blake ordered, "We're not going to let them go down this close to victory..."

"Aye, sir!" the helmsman reported both nervously and courageously, knowing that they would be doing a great deed.

The USS Magellan quickly broke off from its course and flew infront of the Achilles, taking several torpedo shots in the process. Several consoles errupted in sparks and flames. The officer at the science console was completely consumed by flames. Blake fell over and smacked his head, cutting it on a bar as the ship rattled. The commotion stopped and Blake stood up, wiping the blood from his head with his sleeve.

"Report!"

"Shields at 19%, sir. Hull breaches on decks 12-17, 23, 26, they've been contained. Structural integrity at 60%."

"reroute all available power to the shields. Turn off all non-essential systems and send that power to the structural integrity," Blake ordered.

"Aye, sir."

[Founder]

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

Ian, one hand clutching the helm, the other tapping away on it, heard T'Sa's call over the comm. line.

"We're heavily damaged T'Sa," He said, "A few more hits and we're done for. Get clear from the ship and do everything you can to protect the Achilles and Magellan!"

He heard another officer yell something, but it wasn't clear because an explosion rang out at the same time.

[Republican_Man]

--DSG, Ops--
"Then there's only one thing we can do, Mr. Jones," Katran said, the camera closing in on his face. "Target the most heavily damaged ship and fire at will, Lieutenant!"
With that last word his fist closed, in mid-air, as he watched the barrage of weapons fly after the Canundrum, the weakest of the three ships. Next was the Muuktos, then the Thunder. His rationale for targeting the weakest ship first: once the pawns are out of the way, they could check the King. And he was just itching to check the King.

--Canundrum, Bridge--
"Captain Neeta," an officer said, looking up. "We've just done what Captain Tolan told us not to do. We've just fallen into a Federation trap! We're in range of the station!"
"Damn it," the captain said. "Concentrate all your firepower on the Magellan. Don't lose site of it. We're in this trap now, and we'll just have to do what we can. If we die," he said loudly, for all to here, "at least it will have been done in glorious service of the Empire and of our Lord Obsidian, and we will have struck a blow to the Federation, and to Our Lord's nemesis, Captain Xavier!"
"Yavutazed!" the corus rang loudly, powerfully. There was no fear on the bridge. Only strength, will, and perseverence were in existence. Darkness reigned, and it was brutal.
Shields were at 12%, and deflector shields were at 40% capacity, and their generators hadn't even been destroyed!

--Thunder, Bridge--
"Captain Gole!" the first officer shouted. "It's a trap!"
"I can see that, Commander," Gole said. "Tactical, are we in the station's weapons' range?"
"We're slightly outside of it, Captain," the officer replied.
"Good. Don't go any closer. Keep your distance, Helm, but don't look like your keeping your distance." A pause. "Tactical, fire a folly of torpedoes at the Magellan. Do whatever you can from a distance. Then, fire a barrage of phasers at near-by fighters."
"Yes, Lord Gole," the tactical officer replied, and carried out his orders.

[Lord Borg]

-Guardian Squadran 10, Cockpit-

T'Sa suddenly felt distressed at hearing that. She started to panick and yelled into the com at the other fighters.

"Fighter's that are flanking the Guardian! Take a defencive position! escort it out to a safe position!"

T'Sa targeted a nearby fighter and fired her phasers at it and then took a defensive position over Guardian's bridge. She shook her head when she started to feel drowsy, the wound had continued to bleed...

[Founder]

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

The ship shook from more hits by the fighters. The Nautolian pilots were relentless and not letting up on the poor small ship. Ian did his best to dodge, but there was only so much he could do with damaged thrusters. The ship was no longer as fast and manueverable as it had been.

"Shields off-line!" The tactical officer yelled.

Ian cringed from another explosion, looking behind him. His chair was ripped from it's normal position on the center of the bridge and covered with part of the internal roofing. Wires hung from the ceiling, dangling over the dead bodies.

"Hang on!" He yelled.

Just as the fighters were about to finish him off, Guardian Squadron fighters flew in and destroyed the Nautolian pilots, surprising them. The Guardian was clear of all enemies, but they weren't in the fight anymore. The lights outside of the ship flickered and parts of the hull flew off.

"Main power is off-line." Ian announced.

That included life support. They would run out of air within the hour. The fight had to end then or they would all die...

-DSG, OPS-

Jones stopped the ship's thrusters and fired on the Nautolian vessels. Immediatly, heavy damage followed from the barrage of phasers and torpedoes. The station had the latest in weaponry and was armed to the teeth. One of the large Nautolian vessels were out of the fight, unable to withstand the might of the station. The other vessels were still in, fighting for their lives. The station shook, taking a direct hit.

"Shields down to 95%." He announced to the major.

[Republican_Man]

--Canundrum, Bridge--
The ship rocked with the attacks laid onto it, and some explosions happened on the bridge. One console exploded, causing one Cardassian officer to fly back.
"Shields are down, Captain," the tactical officer of the ship reported. "We've taken too many hits to sustain our deflector shield. It is inoperative due to the barrage we've encountered. Weapons are nearly offline. Save for one disruptor bank, we're dead in the water."
Neeta shook his head, astounded at the might of the station. No wonder they had lost it.
"Fire the disruptors as much as possible," he ordered. "Target the nearest weapons bay and fire. I want to help out the Muuktos as much as possible."
"Aye."
The tactical officer did as he was told.

--Thunder, Bridge--
"Sir," the first officer of the ship reported. "The Canundrum is inoperative, save for one disruptor bank. It will be destroyed any moment now."
"Have the ship launch its last wave of fighters. When the Muuktos loses its shields, have it do the same. I want as much damage done to these vurulas as possible!"
"Yes sir!"
And with that message came the launch of 10 more Koinian fighters and two Nautolian fighters, flooding into battle.
The Thunder kept its distance, but it knew it wouldn't last long. Soon the Muuktos would be destroyed, and the Thunder would have no choice but to take action.

((Gotta go for a bit; please don't finish this without me. Later.))

[Valathous]

~ Bridge, USS Magellan ~

The Magellan was unfortunately unable to move for the moment without sacrificing the Achilles, which Blake made a point of wishing to protect. The shields were now at 30% and the structural integrity at 75% due to the added power that was diverted. That, however, would not last long.

The ship rattled from a volley coming from the closest ship. The tactical console went up in a fireball, severely injuring the very talented tactical officer. Blake yelled out in frustration, then rushed over to the extra console and redirected tactical controls to it.

"Sir, a volley of torpedos is coming at us from the Warship. Oddly enough it's firing long pot-shots at us..."

Blake quickly took note of this. It would take the torpedos slightly longer to reach them due to the distance. Blake armed the phasers and locked on. He waited... waited.. waited... then fired the volley of all 14 phasers, knocking out most of the torpedos. One got through and the ship shook.

"Shields at 15%! Damage to most decks. Warp offline. Impulse damage."

Blake grimaced and fired another volley of torpedos at the closest Nautolian ship after seeing the other weaker Nautolian ship taken out by the station. This battle would not last much longer for anyone, it seemed.

[La Forge]

Lady Luck, Bridge

Caroline sighed, in disbelief, after she saw her barrage of torpedoes go on to do nothing against the Thunder. How? The two torpedoes collided with the deflector shield generator perfectly. The El-Aurian woman, along with the rest of the Bridge crew had seen the torpedoes hit their mark. Nothing? Unbelievable.

"Alright, people!" Caroline announced, after clearing her throat, to the entire surviving Bridge crew--Shi'Vang, her Klingon tactical officer, Sakonna, her Vulcan First Officer, Kazago, her Ferengi helm officer, and Harrad-Sar, her communications officer. "We're gonna try Sakonna's plan, once more time, on that weakened warship-" Caroline shouted, her tone brimming with confidence, despite the recent failure of their last attack, pointing to the Canundrum on the viewscreen. "-alright?" Caroline looked to Shi'Vang. "I want you to load two photon torpedoes, seeing as we're out of quantums. Same plan as last time. Fire them at the deflector shield generators." Caroline ordered the Klingon, sternly.

The tired and beaten Klingon slowly nodded, as he went about doing the tasks he was given. While he did that, Caroline ordered Kazago to bring the Lady Luck closer towards the Canundrum, in order to minimize the chance of failure, as was the cast the last time she attempted destroying the Nautolian's deflector shield generators.

"Ready." Shi'Vang said, at last, moments later. Caroline cracked a faint smile and nodded to the Klingon warrior.

"Excellent...." Caroline replied, her tone of voice heavy. She and the rest of her crew were tired. The battle had dragged on for what seemed like hours. Plus, the crew hadn't been ready for the fight. Even Shi'Vang, a Klingon warrior, was tired and beaten. "Fire!" Caroline ordered, at length, as the Lady Luck came into weapons range of the Canundrum. The Klingon pressed the orange button and the two photon torpedoes rocketed towards the deflector shield generator of the Canundrum, destroying it instantly. After the shield generator was down, Caroline ordered for the Lady Luck to let loose a barrage of disruptor blasts at the Canundrum. Moments later, as the Lady Luck came around for another pass at the Canundrum, Shi'Vang launched another pair of freshly loaded photon torpedoes at the Bridge of the Canundrum...

[Founder]

(No! don't leave RM! Just kill your people off! We want to end the episode soon! )

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

Ian remained in the helm officer's seat, leaning back in the chair in exaustion. His uniform was torn and he was drenched in sweat. Enviornmental controls were obviously off-line. Blood dripped down the side of his head from debris slamming into it earlier...

[Spellbinder Marik]

Romulan Science Ship A�dal

The ships was shaking and the Transwarp tunnel could be seen on the viewscreen. Sparks and fires were starting all over the bridge. L�Tarin was thrown from the helm and hit his head on a piece of debris. He felt the blood run down his face.
�Shut that damned infernal thing off!!!.� The ops officer tried.
�The Controls are fused.� L�Tarin tapped the com.
�L�Tarin to engineering, shut that coil off, I don�t care how.�
A few moments later the ship shuttered out of Transwarp.
�Engineering to bridge, severe damage, core breach in 1 minute 45 seconds.� L�Tarin hit the come again.
�All hands, this is Commander L�Tarin, abandon ship. I repeat abandon ship.�
Hatches opened along the hull and pods began to leave.

Romulan Warbird M�istal

An alert sounded.
�Sub-Commander, the A�dal has appeared 5 light years behind us. They�re losing containment, 45 seconds to core breach.�
�Engineering, prepare for a short jump at warp 1.� Engineer responded.
�Aye sir, ready.� T�Rell looked at the helmsman.
�Punch it.�

The M�istal disappeared and reappeared just off the A�dal. The pods were beamed onboard.

�There is one life form left on the A�dal, transporting him off.�

[Ziona]

USS Achilles, Bridge

Ziona's heart gave a lurch as an officer reported that shields were down to about 2% and that weapons were at a stand still. The Achilles was still being chased unrelentlessly by the Nautolian fighters as the engines seemd to wind down to nothing, leaving them sitting, hanging over the bright sphere which was Elerra Prime. Ziona turned her eyes to the viewscreen, looking out over the random boughts of fighting and skirmishes down to the pristine surface of Elerra Prime.

A moment later, the ship pitched forward, most of the lights went out on the bridge, leaving the crew in a cast of crimson, and Ziona was lurched backwards, saved only by the fact that artificial gravity was still hanging in there. The view of Elerra Prime loomed larger in view on the view screen and Ziona suddenly realized they were falling... rapidly... towards the planet.

"Oh dear god." She hissed under her breath. She didn't know what to say. Brace for impact seemed a little bit out of sorts at this point in time. Anyone who wasn't bracing for impact was either unconcious or dead. "If you believe in a god," Ziona raised her voice instead, over the screaming of the haul against atmosphere as the ship fell into Elerra Prime's grasp.

What was left of the shields held most of the friction as the ship fell but gave up just a mile or two above the planet's surface leaving the ship exposed as it crashed to the ground, throwing dirt and trees and any unfortunate life beings that managed to get in the way up into the sky, leaving a gaping gash across the planet's surface.

Ziona didn't stumble towards her chair as they fell to what appeared to be their doom. She simply stood, watching as Elerra Prime loomed closer and closer to them. She had almost died on that planet before... if she died now, it was her time to go. Before impact, she looked around the bridge, looking at the horrified and confused looks on the crew's faces... some of them seemed to be locked in prayer or meditation of some sort.

The Achilles impacted hard, sending Ziona flying forward. She hit the ground and remembered nothing.

[La Forge]

(Sorry, RM.)

Lady Luck, Bridge

Caroline and crew watched in awe as the Nautolian warship, the Canundrum, exploded in a shower of sparks before them, after their last attack run. She could only imagine what was going on inside of the Nautolian warship, as it blew apart, in a flaming ball of light.

After the spectacle was over, Caroline and the rest of her crew rose from their seats and cheered the destruction of the Canundrum. The crew of the Lady Luck had prevailed over the Nautolian warship, knocking out their shields and destroying the warship's Bridge.

"We did it! We actually did it!" Kazago, the Ferengi helmsman shouted, gleefully, his expression that of shock and awe. Caroline nodded to her helmsman, before she looked back at the wreckage of the Canundrum.

However, her moment of glory was cut short, as a group of Nautolian fighters appeared out of nowhere, firing upon the Lady Luck.

"Battle stations!" Caroline ordered, abruptly, as she sat back into her seat, ready for anything.

U.S.S. Achilles, Bridge

Juliana, who had done her best as a tactical officer, despite her being a science officer, during the battle, sat, motionlessly, struck numb by fear, as the Achilles, which was powerless, began to make its descent towards the planet of Elerra Prime.

Moments later, the Achilles plunged through the atmosphere of the planet, on a crash-course to the surface of the planet, with flames erupting on the hull of the Prometheus-class vessel as it rocketed through the atmosphere.

Juliana braced for the impact, by holding onto the tactical console, before her, with all of her might. All the while, she had followed the Captain's advice, as she muttered a prayer under her breath.

Suddenly, the Achilles hit the surface, throwing up a shower of earth and vegetation, uprooting trees in the progress. Captain Andreas, who had been standing, stumbled forward and fell to the floor, hitting her head in the progress. She was unconscious. Juliana only suffered a bump to the head, as she banged her head against her tactical console, causing a bloody gash to appear on her sweat-covered forehead. The young woman rubbed her head for a moment, to relieve the pain of her wound.

"Hello...?" Juliana groaned, as she rubbed her head with a bloody hand.

After all was said and done, Juliana looked around the dark Bridge, as the crimson red alert light blinked on and off, ominiously. She couldn't see anyone else, however, she could hear people groaning and moaning, herself among them. She glanced over to the helm position. The Trill helm officer appeared to be unconsious. Juliana slid out of her seat and slowly made her way to the Trill, shaking her shoulder, to get her attention.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, softly. The Trill didn't respond. Juliana tried once more to no avail. With a sigh of frustration, Juliana gave up on the Trill.

With a shrug, Juliana began to look around the Bridge, in search of other survivors. Moments later, she stumbled upon the Captain, lying on the floor, unconscious. Juliana knelt beside her, shaking her, as to wake her.

"Captain? Are you alright?" Juliana asked, softly.

[Lord Borg]

-Guardian Squadran 10, Cockpit-

T'Sa was about to contact the Guardian when she saw the Achilles angle towards the planet and slam in to the atmosphere. The blood drained from her face.

"Ziona..."

T'Sa turned her craft and slammed it into full speed towards the planet firing on any enemy vessel she passed. She attempted to lock onto the Achilles with her tractor beam to slow their decent and angel into a safer distance when her fighter was hit by weapons fire, the engines going off line. The planets gravity pulled on to fighter and the fighter started a similar decent that the Achilles had done. She gipped the sides of her seat as her eyes widdened in shock. She closed them to not pay attention to the craft continued to spiral downwards.

After several seconds the craft slammed onto the ground lurching T'Sa foward into the consol. T'Sa yelped as her body slamed into the consol, when the figher had slammed into the ground.

When it had stoped T'Sa was barly awake. She made a move and screamed out in pain again. She looked down and realized her arm had been bent in an odd angel. Broken.

Damn it to hell!

T'Sa moved her other arm and slowly moved to sit up...

[Founder]

-DSG, OPS-

Jones watched the battle on the view screen as he remained at tactical. He stared at the screen, frustrated with the events that were occuring. While they were winning the battle, the ships were doing terrible. The USS Guardian was dead in space, the USS Achilles had plunged to the planet below, and several fighters had been destroyed. The USS Magellen was the onyl starship still hanging in there, but it was getting hit hard. Jones fired at the smaller capitol ships, throwing everything possible at them. They were not able to withstand the fury of the station's weaponry...

[Lord Borg]

-Guardian Squadran 10, Cockpit-

T'Sa sat up and slowly stood using the consol as a support to stand. The nature of the fighter's design had cuased it to sit even when it had finaly stopped and fell completly to the ground. She groaned and looked around. Amazingly enough the fighter still had power. She could tell from the flickering consols. She slowly limped over towards the back of the cabin, feeling pain in her legs. No wonder, between the crash landing and the lost of blood, it's amazing she's still alive. She groaned as she looked down and saw her arm. She'd have to fix that at some point... T'Sa reached the transporter, it had the power for a transport. She reached down and got a Medkit sitting on the shelf and set it on the transport pad. T'Sa gasped as she worked on the consol setting the cordnates for the bridge of the ship Ziona was on. T'Sa set it on a delay so she could hobble over to the pad, which she collasped on when she reached it. The beam took her away and matarilized her to the bridge of the Achilles...

[Spellbinder Marik]

Romulan Warbird M�istal

The A�dal exploded in the firiey mass. They felt the shockwave.

S�stil sighed.
�Get us back there before the Federation sends a pursuit force.�
The M�istal jumped back. There was debris floating in the area all around.
�Sub-Commander, there�s one ship out there. It�s dead in space.� S�atil had an idea.
�If we rescue them they may not destroy us for breaking our word about leaving. Do we have power to the tractor emitters?� Ops looked down.
�Aye sir.�
�Take us in and lock on a tractor beam.�

The M�istal pulled in close. A green beam locked onto the hull and began to pull the ship away.
�Hail them.�
�Their systems are damaged. No communications are possible.� S�atil thought about it. Admiral Ditex would offer to help.
�Prepare a boarding party, bring 2 medics and one guard, I�ll lead them myself.� The ops officer nodded.

A moment later they beamed onboard.

U.s.s. Guardian, Bridge

S�atil went to the center and lifted a man up, he�d passed out.
�Wake up human. Are you the captain?�

[Founder]

(Ian was sitting at the helm. )

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

Ian groaned when he felt an arm grab him. He looked around in and saw Romulans on the bridge.

"How long have I been out?" He thought to himself.

He slowly nodded his head, groaning just from the movement.

"Yeah...," He muttered, "I am the captain..."

[Spellbinder Marik]

U.s.s. Guardian, Bridge

�Your life support systems have failed. You can stay here and die or accept our help and come to our ship until we can get you back to a federation ship with life support.�

((Sorry about that. I didn�t know.))

[Ziona]

USS Achilles, Bridge

Ziona groaned heavily as she began to awaken from her trama-induced-sleep. She couldn't see straight yet and the room seemed to dance in an array of colors before her. Her neck hurt, her back hurt, her head hurt... hell, her entire body hurt.

She groaned again and managed to roll over, spitting what tasted like blood out of her mouth. Her hand hit something soft... something that felt like flesh and she recoiled, lurching backwards and hitting a panel nearby, coming to rest on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Hello?" She called out, her words slurred slightly. "Is anyone alive?" She felt stupid asking that. "Juliana?" She asked. "Anyone?"

[Founder]

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

Ian looked around, seeing Romulans helping his officers.

"Help the officers first," He said, "Then I'll go with you."

[Lord Borg]

USS Achilles, Bridge

T'Sa winced as she looked to Ziona. She moved her body towards Ziona's position and wimpered slightly from the pain.

"Ziona...."

[Spellbinder Marik]

U.s.s. Guardian, Bridge

�Help the officers first.� The captain had said. S�atil sighed.
�Your crew will need a symbol of strength. You should be treated as well.�

U.s.s. Magellan, Engineering

A lot had happened in a short time. Massive damage had befallen the engineering section. No threat of core breach yet. Kiris tapped his combadge.
�Lt. Ditex to bridge, we have severe damage. Nothing so bad as a core breach but it won�t be long at this rate.�

[Ziona]

USS Achilles, Bridge

Ziona turned to look towards T'Sa.

"T'Sa?" She breathed, whispering gently. "How did you get here?" She asked. "Oh my god, you're hurt." She moved towards T'Sa, touching her shoulder gently. "We... we need to get you out of here." Ziona stumbled to her feet, helping T'Sa get up. "Use me for support." She spoke gently, glancing around for the first time through cleared eyes at the bridge. It was destruction but Ziona made her way out of the bridge, noticing that there were few bodies. The crew must have gotten out.

T'Sa and Ziona stepped out of the Achilles, Ziona squinting in the bright Elerra Prime light. The ground around the Achilles was smoldering with heat but Ziona trudged forward, getting T'Sa to a safe location near shade. She let T'Sa sit down on the cool ground and looked around, noticing a few crewmembers limping or running to help others.

A wave of emotion rolled over Ziona and she dropped to her knees on the ground, burying her face in her hands and choking back sobs.

She had failed... and had failed miserably.

[Lord Borg]

-Elerra Prime-

T'Sa looked to Ziona and frowned. She reached out with her right arm, the good one and touched her. T'Sa surprised her self and made a very human sound.

"Shhh..."

[Founder]

(Sorry RM, but you took a long time and Ziona has a time limit. If you want to take it up with anyone, take it up with me. I chose to end it...)

-Thunder, Bridge-

The Thunder was the last ship to survive the barrage of phaser and torpedo fire from the station. The Muuktos was exploding in a fiery fashion and slowly "falling" in space. The Canundrum had been destroyed by the efforts of the civilian ship, led by Caroline. The battle had taken a turn for the worst...for the Nautolians at least. Captain Gole watched the battle from a holographic simulator that was displayed on top of a console. The fighters were being picked off, one by one, by the station. The ship shook hard and Gole watched in the small simulator. The Soveriegn class vessel swooped past, firing on them.

"Your orders?" An officer asked.

Gole weighed in his options, trying to think of what to do next. Going up against the station alone was suicide. He could finish off the Soveriegn class ship, but then what? Destroy the colony?

"Target the colony." He ordered.

A Cardassian officer shook his head, "I can do that sir, but it will take hours of firing on them to destroy them. They've just erected some type of...shielding."

Gole cursed in Nautolian and clenched his fist in anger. Three ships destroyed, not including the many fighters, for the criminal. Now it would be impossible to get him. Who knows what damage he could do. Gole knew one thing: DSG was becoming too much of a threat to Fito to be allowed to remain intact. Fito had always wanted the station, since the beginning. It was an elusive prize that Xavier would not give him. The station's time was at hand. Soon...it would fall to Fito...

"We have to report back to emperor Obsidian," He said, "He will want to know of these events. Get us out of here."

-DSG, OPS-

Jones stared at his readings and gave a sigh of relief. The large vessel was breaking off and fleeing the battle. It was over. They had one, but for how long? He turned his head to looked at Katran, the man who had close ties to the Nautolians. They would come for his friend....but when?

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

Ian slowly nodded in agreement. He pulled himself up with great difficulty and went with the Romulan. His eyes darted around the damaged bridge. Four dead officers were in plain view, sprawled out with blood on them. He had to stumble over debris on the bridge, while following the Romulan. His bridge, completely destroyed. The Guardian was adrift, but salvagable. His mind immediatly went to Ziona. He wondered what had happened to her and the Achilles...

-END EPISODE-