A Desperate Bid

[Jorahl 0]

It was a fallback plan, and the most desperate long shot imaginable. Five Warbirds sat just outside the Romulan system awaiting the incoming nova. Assuming the Vulcan called Spock succeeded they would quickly join the task force to deal with the Breen. If Spock failed, they would be giving their lives in a more immediate way. If the nova wave reached their position they were to overload their power cores. The force of five AQS cores exploding would perhaps be enough to disrupt the wave, creating a pinhole for Romulus to sneak through. If it worked the crews of these brave ships would be remembered forever.

 

It had no chance of success, surmised the Commander of the Warbird Tal'Davia. If it had there would be 50 Warbirds lined up beside her's to make sure Romulus was spared. It had become something of a grim science she had begun in calculating the odds of success based on the number of ships assigned to a mission. For the first time however she found herself on the lite end of the scales. That they were waiting on the efforts of one small ship crewed by a sole Vulcan didn't do much for her mood. "Sensor readings," she said calmly.

 

"Still nothing Commander. But," the Ops officer waiting for a mental count to 8, the time he calculated before sensors would detect the wave. "Now Commander, we have it on sensors. Reading it at full force."

 

"Damn, the Vulcan failed." She leaned back in her chair, gripping the armrests and prepared to give her next orders.

 

"We don't know that yet, Commander." He would have explained the whole subspace interaction equations to her if he hadn't served under the Commander for so long. It had been a long and painful learning process for both of the officers but they had come to know how much information the other needed. That all the unspoken bits were accounted for was a trust many officers longed for with their comrades in arms.

 

The Commander eased the grip on her chair slightly. "Then give me a countdown, SubCommander."

 

"We should begin core overload procedures in no less than 300 seconds... mark." With that he started a timer on his display board.

 

Such a shame, she pondered. Her SubCommander was one of the smartest officers she had ever served with. Whatever was left of Romulus after this, they would need people like him. Soldiers like herself were made to give their lives like this but minds like his should have been saved for better ends.

 

In nearly a whisper, "Subspace readings Commander." His voice then shot up a few decibels higher than he was expecting as he confirmed the incoming data. "Subspace matrix is breaking down. It should completely drop out of warp by the time it reaches our position!" A cheer circled around the bridge, ending quickly with the raised arm of the Commander. A few moments passed. The SubCommander turned back and nodded again, "It worked."

 

The sensor alert sounder gave the Commander just enough time to exhale before calling out with it's unnerving tones. The SubCommander's head snapped back towards the panel. "The shock wave is collapsing back into the singularity but we're reading a gamma radiation surge. It's still inbound, 21 minutes before it reaches Romulus."

 

"The plan?"

 

"Useless. At subwarp speeds the wave will just diffuse back around the shadow we were trying to create. Romulus will still take a full blow."

 

From another station, "Commander, the Hydrexa is breaking formation heading towards the wave. They've started their overload procedure."

 

The Commander and SubCommander locked eyes for a second with the SubCommander simply shaking his head.

 

"Damn. What happens when the wave hits the planet?"

 

"Anything unshielded will be irradiated. The major cities will be safe but the planet is dead. Anyone outside the cities is dead, Commander."

 

It was a nearly audible snap as the walls that separated her life as a soldier from everything else broke in two. "PILOT! Reverse course towards Romulus, full impulse!" She was out of her chair and standing next to the Pilot and Ops in a flash. "How long before the wave hits once we reach orbit?"

 

"Thirty seconds, at most."

 

"Sensor display of the planet." The Commander looked quickly to the main viewer as the display switched to that of the surface of Romulus. Large spheres showed where city defense shields had already been raised. Her eyes quickly pinpointed the one spot on the map she was interested in. It lay nearly halfway in between two large doming shields and flat out in the open. "Take us directly over these coordinates." The Commander reached over to the Pilot's console and enters their destination.

 

"Geosynchronous orbit, Commander?" asked the Pilot.

 

"No, directly over top. I want that whole settlement within our shield grid." The Commander's eyes stayed fixed on the view screen.

 

Drawing close and in a whisper, "Commander, you want to take a D'Deridex Warbird into the atmosphere?"

 

Looking to her SubCommander, "That is exactly what I plan to do. No questions asked, understood."

 

"Yes Commander."

 

The Warbird dove dramatically into the atmosphere. It's shields blazed as the friction heated the air into a plasma. Sluggishly the vessel's nose rose up in an attempt at a breaking maneuver. The massive ship wallowed back and forth trying to slow itself as the ground raced upwards.

 

"Divert all power from the warp coils to shields," called out the Commander over the roar of noises that seemed to come from everywhere. "Weapons offline, life support, everything we don't need turn it off."

 

"Ten seconds to target." Looking to another panel, "Thirty-three before wave impact."

 

"We're slowing," alerted the Pilot.

 

"Shields ready," added the SubCommander from Ops.

 

"Extend shields!"

 

The protective shell blinked visible in a flash of static as they reformed into a dome down to the planet's surface. The Warbird Tal'Davia hung in the sky like an overripe fruit waiting for the breeze to send it crashing down. It fought the pull of gravity with thrusters and stabilizers and sheer willpower.

 

"Wave impact in Three, Two, One!"

 

It started as just a whisper on the wind. The breezes at ground level shifted slightly. Then high in the atmosphere aurora lights began to rain downward. The colors spread and became richer as the wavering specters of light dove deeper towards the surface. All of a sudden the beauty of the scene was replaced with the reality. Like a large book falling flat on the floor everything changed. The sky turned to a burnt orange. The air snapped. The grass and trees curled and twisted. In unison the forests and fields burst into flames. Aurora and flames reached towards each other and playfully intertwined their fingers.

 

"Shield status!" The Commander was back in her chair and holding tightly to stay in place.

 

"Holding. But this is the easy part. Interaction with the atmosphere is going to start creating magnetic flares." The SubCommander grabbed firmly to the Ops station as the ship was jarred harshly. "Just like that."

 

"Put the settlement on the viewer." said the Commander.

 

In a blazing circle stood the town with it's green fields unmolested by the firestorms forming outside. The Commander rose up in her seat. "That is what we are now protecting. We are all that stand between this small remnant of our home and a fiery death. Put all of your heart into this one duty, to serve and protect that home below us."

 

The Pilot's voice matched the intensity and alarm of the alerts sounding across his board. "We're drifting from our position. Wind sheers are increasing exponentially."

 

"Decrease altitude." The Commander watched the viewscreen as the settlement shifted from the center of the screen. "Keep the shields in place."

 

As if struck with a mighty pole a magnetic flare wracked across the Warbird. Voices overlapped on the bridge, "Stabilizers out. Loosing propulsion. Shields at 50%."

 

One clear voice shouted out, that of the Commander. "Put her on the ground!"

 

The Warbird swayed from left to right then began to drop. The already panicking civilians on the ground began to scream as the shadow of the vessel grew. It began to twist and spin in a fight to control it's descent. Gravity began to dominate the large ship. It looked like it was about to smash into the heart of the town before sliding north. Just thirty meters above the city it gave one last pause against the pull of the planet before crashing downward. Several small buildings were instantly flattened. One warp nacelle struck first digging a massive hole in the ground. The lower decks of the Tal'Davia collapsed and broke apart until both nacelles came to a rest on the ground. The mighty beak of the ship drove into the soft ground of a riverbed, sending it's water overflowing the banks. A sickening sound echoed as metal twisted and slowly settled into place.

 

Now on the floor herself the Commander asked, "Shield status."

 

The SubCommander pulled himself up quickly, wiping blood from his eyes. "Shields at 30%. Diverting remaining power. 35. Now holding at 45%. Ship has taken a lot of damage but power is stable." He turned and looked down at the Commander.

 

She lay there with one hand firmly holding onto her knee which was broken. The other arm reached out to the edge of the command chair in an attempt to pull herself up. With a series of tugs she was upright again and looking back at the SubCommander. "Send out away teams to gather all the civilians to the ship. Pull the shields in as we clear the outer perimeter.

 

"Yes Commander." After a few moments of relaying orders the SubCommander stepped over and sat down beside his Commander. She gave him a curious look but said nothing. "What was so important about this place?"

 

Looking away, displeased at the question, "I was born here."

 

"I understand."

 

"No, no you don't. I despised this place. I left it long ago with no plans to return. I joined the fleet with the sole purpose of getting away from it. I hated it so much I removed it from consideration when they placed a bid for a military base when I stood on the planning board."

 

The SubCommander sighed. "If you hadn't of done that, they would have gotten that base wouldn't they."

 

She simply nodded.

 

"And they would have had shielding."

 

"I've prided myself on my service to the Empire. I've put that above a lot in my life. That choice was the one time I put my feelings above that service. Well, besides crashing my ship in a reckless fit of guilt."

 

The SubCommander smiled. "Here we sit, on a wrecked ship on a wrecked world. But we've proven what is good about this world. Despite all the faults of where we call home you have proven it's merits. That is enough to rebuild on."

 

The Commander turned towards him, with a small half smile. "Sentimental fool. How about shutting up and getting me the doctor."