From bullseye@earthlink.net Sun Jun 7 11:32:15 1998 Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 23:22:13 -0600 From: Patrick Schumacher To: "Berg, Kristine" , "Chappelle, Les" , "Denniston, Vicke" , "Denniston, Vicke 2" , "Fianges, Karen" , Gateway , "Hamilton, George" , "Hill, Janis" , "Jenkins, Jeffrey J." , "Reich, Alton 1" , "Reich, Alton 2" , "Schumacher, Patrick J." , "Thompson, Alexs" , "Trock, Jeffrey" , "Young, Josh" Subject: USS YAMATO: "Say Do You Hear the Distant Drums?" SD: 100428.2340 FMD: 5.1130 Scene: Bridge > > "Engineering, what do you think?" Stern called down. > > > > "Its all ready to go Captain." > > "What do you think, XO?" > > Alex shrugged, "It isn't likely to do more than really annoy them, but > it couldn't hurt to fire it." > > "Well, I'm really annoyed that they attacked Tabillin. Bridge to > Engineering." > > [Wolfe, here, Sir.] > > "Get that modified torpedo to the aft torpedo tubes and get it loaded." > > [It'll be there in a few minutes. Wolfe out.] > > "LT Trisx, fire that torpedo when ready. Set it on a course for one of > the other clear tunnles in the nebula," Isaac ordered. He didn't wait > for her reply before asking, "LT M'gan, what's our time to the egress?" > > "At our present speed, we'll enter the tunnel throught the nebula in 15 > minutes." > > "Go to warp as soon as possible, LT. LT D'artgnan, are they pursuing?" > > "Aye, Sir, but between our head start, and greater initial velocity, > they won't be able to catch us before we go to warp." > > "Do we have any idea what those ships are capable of at warp speeds?" > CMDR Connor asked. > > "No, we don't," Isaac answered, "but I'm really hoping we've got a > higher top speed." > > There was tension on the bridge until LT M'gan announced, "We can go to > warp any time, Sir." >From her station, Lieutenant Trisx reported "The torpedo has been loaded and is ready to fire." Alex turned to the captain and whispered a light aside, "I hope we're not giving away too many of the tricks up our sleeve." Isaac grimaced lightly. "I've got quite a few tricks left up *my* sleeve, Commander." he replied. Connor grinned, weakly, as the Zhuik launched the torpedo. > "Engage at warp 2, LT," isaac ordered and the YAMATO shot into the > nebula. Behind them, the torpedo arched slowly around, first away from the YAMATO, in the general direction of Tablin. The MOANDER, being the lead vessel, turned to investigate. CAPT Dowedadan was furious at the escape of the Federation ship. As such, he got a bit too close and careless. The torpedo went active, and arched suddenly--almost directally into the path of the oncomming Dalriadan warship. The torpedo continued on it's looping course of attack, bringing itself wide around, trying to sneak past the gravity shields. XO Thovlak was the first to realize the danger and barked out the order to turn directally into the torpedo's path. His reaction was late, but came in the nick of time. The torpedo impacted on the very end of the forward null gravity well. Most of the blast was effectively "absorbed" by the black hole like effects of the gravity well, but more than a bit of kinetic energy scarred across the relatively unprotected top deck. The damage was mostly superficial, carving only the tiniest of holes into the abalative armor of the ship. The effect, however, was critical as Dowedadan was forced to turn back into the system with egg on his face. Scene: Bridge FMD: 5:1430 > He stood and returned to the bridge. "XO, establish a course for > Burrakis at warp 8 and assemble the senior staff. We have a new > mission." "Aye, Sir." Alex replied to the captain. He turned to the helm. "Set new course bearing 308 mark 216 mark 080. Engage at warp 8." M'Gan's tail twitched once to the right as she replied in the affirmative. She deftly brought the ship around and accelerated to speed. Flipping open the comm channel on the center chair's armrest, Alex taped out a message.. In a matter of minutes he had relayed Stern's orders to the rest of the senior staff. He sat back in the chair. A bitter taste was present on his tongue. Connor hated the idea of turning tail and running...was pretty certain that most of the rest of the crew felt the same way--Stern included. But there was not much that their light cruiser could do against three full sized warships. The thought was not comforting, as Alex reflected on the obvious loss of life on the station. The entire Federation force was obviously wiped out...or now taken captive. But the Dalriada didn't appear to be the prisoner taking type. Alex looked darkly at the viewer, lost in though. FMD: 5.1508 The turbolift doors opened and Dr. Mara and Morgan stepped foot onto the bridge. Alex called them over with a glance. "Did we do any damage before we took off?" Wolfe asked "We went to warp before the torp impacted." Alex replied. "I can *wish* that it had some effect, but I seriously doubt that to be the case." the XO replied. "It was a good idea." Alex continued. "I, too, hate the idea of leaving a fight before even striking once." Lisa said in reply. "No argument from me." said Alex. "Maybe next time we can pack a bigger punch." "What are you suggesting, Commander?" Morgan asked. "I'll ask permission from the captain, but if we sacrifice a shuttlecraft next time...or set it adrift to run into the Dalriada, we could pack in a bit more firepower than one simple torpedo." "Shielded clusters?" the CEO asked "I was thinking more along the lines of quantum plasma detonators or something. We could replicate a pair of them and have enough firepower to take out most of a small moon." "But they are supposed to just go chasing after the shuttle?" Lisa asked. "I figured we rig the shuttle with a communications array. Doesn't matter much *what* it's broadcastig, so long as it put out something. The Dalriada will come investigate it before long." Morgan added "If we add in a decent grade AI into the autopilot, we can avoid trying manual control. We can even program it to run from the Dalriada at first...make it look good." "I like the idea." Connor replied. "I'll ask the CO. If he bites on it, get started." Respectfully Submitted Pat Schumacher-aka Alex Connor First Officer USS Yamato All: Call to staff meeting. I hope everyone is coming with ideas, not just their tails between their legs. (No offense, Vicke, ) TIMELINE: FMD: 5.1145 YAMATO leaves a surprise for the Dalriada Schu FMD: 5.1147 The surprise causes minimal damage. FMD: 5.1510 YAMATO staff meeting on Burrakis