A Long Journey Starts with a Single Step...

[Sam_SemaJ 0]

<<Captain’s Log. USS Half Moon Bay. Beta Quadrant. Cpt Alice Delise>>

 

Tactical has detected a cloaked ship trailing us. Cloaking technology is old, it didn’t take us long to suss out the anomaly. They must have gotten up close when we stopped for diagnostics on on the experimental computer core. Tactical advantage is ours, after repeated hails we’re engaging. Expect investigation of occupants after we apprehend.

 

<<log ends>>

 

 

There were few things Shindoe hated more than an EVA suit. All humanoids are NOT created equal, and his Caitian body fit awkwardly into the one he wore.

 

“Tail attachment my…tail”. He muttered absently.

 

A small beep from his suit’s computer diverted him from this frustration. He looked down at the device in his hands. The compound was primed, it had worked as promised, so far. And good thing too, it had cost a pretty penny. Of course he and Bud had good support on this little quest of theirs, so he wasn’t necessarily on the hook. Turns out a lot of people with a lot of latinum felt the same way their group did.

 

Shindoe carefully reached around the edge of the panel he had just torched mostly off the hull of the ship. He checked his gear in paranoia, exhaling slightly as he confirmed the damper was still knocking out local sensors. Bracing himself against a hull strut, he took the panel firmly and wrenched it from the ship. He could feel the scrape of metal vibrating through the panel, though no sound eeked out into the quiet dead of space. Still, years of experience coerced him into checking over his shoulder to see if someone had heard.

 

He groaned in frustration again trying to handle all of his equipment while wedged into this tiny corner. This Norway Class ship was blasted small…barely a show of force; but a long journey starts with a single step. Gingerly holding the primed compound in his hands he slowly reached up into the wound he had torn in the ship’s skin. The angle was infuriatingly awkward and he had to be careful not to tear his suit on the cauterized edge, but eventually he felt it. A solid, cylindrical structure, pulsing with energy…he could feel the ship’s life as he touched it.

 

He sneered as he considered this inane fuel delivery system as proof positive that the Federation had become weak and foolish. This might be the easiest ship ever to be destroyed, though certainly not the cheapest. He carefully pushed the container of volatile compound against the antimatter delivery tube until he was sure it was secure, relaxing and exhaling fully as he eased back out of the hole.

 

Raising his wrist up to his faceplate, Shindoe’s slitted eyes went wide as he saw the blinking alarm there. Comms with his ship were severely compromised.

 

“Blast it all!” He slapped the comm on, “Fellas where are you, what’s going on?”

 

“___etected ____ iring on us . __Los___tenna. ____ com ___ around ___dezvous point”

 

Well it wasn’t much, but it was enough to know what was next. The rendezvous point was 500 meters straight down from the ship…in other words, backwards from where he was positioned on the hull. If those dullards on his ship, having got themselves caught, were going to buzz to the rendezvous and then try to bug out…there was only one thing to do.

 

Shindoe pushed off firmly from the small underside of the Norway class and prepared to slow himself again with suit thrusters. 500 meters isn’t all that far in the vacuum of space. He looked sideways and saw the glint of his ship speeding toward him in a tight evasive arc around the Federation ship. But suddenly something was following it. Burning hot pure energy cutting through the emptiness…far faster than a ship could ever fly. Shindoe flung his arms up in front of his faceplate in shock and against the blinding flash of the small craft exploding in a fiery ball of fuel and interior atmosphere. His arms blocked the bright flash, but not the hunk of debris that tore through the side of his suit a millisecond later.

 

His mind was fuzzy, pardon the Caitian joke, and was having trouble with numbers. How long did the compound take to start a chain reaction with the warp core? It was certainly south of a half hour, right?

 

They’ll never find it in time.

 

He only hoped Bud and his team would be so lucky with their decidedly larger target.

 

Shindoe wasn’t sure if the bright white light he saw next was his brain asphyxiating or the brilliant flash of a warp core detonation.

 

The federation wasn’t prepared for this…they’re not prepared for anything…we’ll show them.

 

 

 

 

<<DS17 Intership Black Box System>>

 

…anomaly logged. Registry NCC-58291 Half Moon Bay.

…lifeline check in signal cut. sending diagnostic ping.

…ping failed. Critical logs retrieved.

…alerting station commander, forwarding logs…

 

<<anomaly ends>>

Edited June 9, 2015 by Sam_SemaJ