The Final Frontier 8

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ The Final Frontier 8 / Final Frontier 8 (Disk 3 of 4).adf / LCARS / TextFile / Fiction / The_Hunter_Part_4.pp / The_Hunter_Part_4

Wrap

Text File | 1995-02-23 | 12.9 KB | 331 lines

TF01 3,The Hunter - Part 4 4,by Stuart Mackaness The Vanguard Chronicles - "The Hunter" ---------------------------------------- by Stuart Mackaness --------------------- PART FOUR Warner glanced around the table. The small observation room was crowded with his senior officers. Each was either examining a padd or desktop display, the meeting was about to get underway. Li sat next to him carefully checking his figures on casualties and other statistics needed for his report. At the far end of the rectangular table Gart was running a simulation on the small television sized viewscreen on the back wall with Hermandez and Dean. Halk was discussing personel distribution with Karma. All his staff had something to do except him. He would receive all of the compiled figures once his department heads had compiled them all. For now he just stared into the void of deep space through the single huge window which filled the side wall. "Okay people, what have we got?" he asked, informally beginning the meeting. Halk turned to him."Commander Karma and I have revised both the crew placements and their efficiency over the past day, and we can find no area where they could improve noticably." she turned to face Gart, "Especially the engineering teams who've kept this ship operational even though she's taken enough damage to put her in drydock for a month." Warner nodded almost imperceptibly to his Chief Engineer. "Thank you number one." He turned to face Li. "What do you have doctor?" The Bajoran looked up from his padd. "Fourteen dead, thirty minor injuries." he paused for effect, "Medical is completly wrecked, I can't get a completly sterile environment in the jury rigged sickbay in hanger two because one of the shuttles is badly damaged and until an hour ago, was burning fiercly." "What about shuttlebay one?" Warner asked. "Decompressed at the moment, I'm working on it but when I've finished I'll need it for the weapon." Gart replied. "What about the people who are injured?" Warner asked "I can heal them in shuttlebay two whithout too much of a problem, but the shuttle needs to be cleared." Li conceeded. "See to it Number one." Warner ordered Halk. "Now what about this weapon?" Gart took his cue and activated the viewer again. A small wire-frame model of the Vanguard appeared with the hunter on the opposite side. "By outfitting a type seven shuttle with a device I am constructing, it should be possible to affect the hunters shields in such a way that we would gain an advantage." Warner considered this for a moment. "What kind of device are you suggesting Chief?" "Commander Karma is compiling the data at the moment, when she's finished I will be able to tell you more." The room lapsed into silece for a moment until Halk spoke up. "How are you sending the shuttle over there? Remote?" "The hunter may be able to disable the shuttle if it's remotly controled. Lieutenant Dean has volunteered to pilot the ship and then we'll beam him back before detonating the shuttle." Gart explained. Warner looked up sharply. "Out of the question, I'm not risking lives in that way." "Sir, I'm willing to go!" Dean exclaimed. "The shuttle will be piloted by remote, my desicion is made." Warner countered, "Besides, I need you to get the Vanguard out of the way if things get too sticky." Dean nodded reluctantly."Yes sir." "Standard weapons?" Warner asked Hermandez. She smiled slightly at this, the discussion had come into territory she was sure of. "With information already supplied by Karma and Chief Gart I've adapted both the ship's phasers and the hand units to frequencies and settings which should be more effective than before." "Hand phasers?" Li commented. "Just incase boarding action is required." She replied casually. "I see you've taken every contingency into hand Lieutenant." he retorted, hints of anger tainting his words. They weren't lost on her. "If we are boarded or we need to beam over, then I want my people to be as well equipped as possible." "Very comendable Lieutenant, but have you considered the bloodbath we're in for if the hunter's crew beam across. Their ship tried to annihilate us in the last battle, I don't expect them to be any more forgiving." Waqrner could see the tensions rising. He stood up slowly and crossed over to the viewer. He looked at Karma. "Number two, would you kindly display the simulation I asked you to develop for me." Karma flew across to the padd on the table and hit a sequence of buttons. The static image of the Vanguard and the hunter suddenly animated. The Vanguard aproaching and the hunter twisting round to bring it's guns to bear. "At this stage we are considering that Chief Gart's weapon isn't ready just yet." Warner announced. The Vanguard began to fire small circles and lines, which the computer anounced as photon torpedoes and phasers. They struck the hunter in several places, then it returned fire. The Vanguard flickered and a small cluster of numbers appeared. "What are those?" Li asked. "Shield status, hull damage and casualties." Karma replied. "But that says we've lost our shields!" Hermandez exclaimed. Gart explained. "I've repaired the power couplings with the materials to hand. The replicator can't create the whole unit, just the main components and they will take the best part of two days to assemble." "So the power system can't take the demand from the phasers and shields." Hermandez continued. The scenario was continuing to unfold. The Vanguard was being assaulted with barage after barage of fire from the hunter. "With the medical precautions you've taken, we have still lost sevent-five percent of the crew to burns and other injuries which wouldn't prove fatal under normal circumstances." Warner said to Li. The doctor looked down at his padd and slowly shook his head. "With insufficient crew to repair damage or contain fires the Vanguard..." Karma began her conclusion. As she spoke the wire-frame Vanguard broke apart. The viewer darkened. "Let's hope the real ship fares better." Warner declared. "We've all got a lot of work to do." * * * Several hours later, the bridge was alive with officers detailing the new strategies and rostas that the briefing had sparked. "Captain, we are entering the Bajoran system." Hermandez announced. Warner looked at the main viewer as the blue and green globe swung into view. "Bajor." Li breathed. He was standing behind Warner's chair, captivated by the sight of his homeworld. "How long's it been Li?" Halk asked from her position at Mission Ops. "Eleven years." He replied. There was a deliberate pause as they all took this in. "Where's this wormhole?" Warner asked Halk in an attempt to break the silence. "The Deep Space Nine station is near the mouth of it." She answered. "Where's DS9?" Warner persisted. Li turned to face Hermandez at tactical. "Enhance area J-Twenty Nine... please Lieutenant." He said. A portion of the viewscreen enlarged to cover the previous image. One of the 'stars' on the original image had now become a very small image of the redesignated Cardassian ore refining station. After it was given over to the Bajorans at the end of their occupation by the Cardassian Union, the Provisional government had invited Starfleet to man it in order that the Bajoran people wouldn't feel threatened with Cardassian space at their doorstep. Later on the first stable wormhole was discovered. It allowed access to the Gamma Quadrant in a few minutes instead of a seventy year journey by the normal routes. Many new species were encountered by the mixed Bajoran and Starfleet crew on the station as new races came through the wormhole. Many more left this quadrent to explore the mysteries of the other side. One such exchange was happening right now. A blimp shaped vessel with podules scattered across it's surface suddenly dissappeared through the explosion of light and energy which occured whenever any ship entered the wormhole. The swirling entrance suddenly collapsed, leaving the station alone again. "Lay in course away from the planet Bajor. Set course towards the demilitarised zone, that's where the Cardassian Central Command have projected it will emerge from. Warp six." Warner ordered. The deck vibrated slightly as the ship shot forward. "ETA fourty five minutes." Dean announced. Li turned to go, as he reached the threshhold of the turbolift, he called back to Warner. "Thanks for the detour Jonathan, I owe you one." "Don't mention it old timer, I thought I might let you see home before your age-ridden body turns to dust." Warner chuckled. Li smiled. Since the Acadamy they had been joking about their ages. Warner was a few years younger than Levitt but graduated at the same time due to his aptitude and career choice. Going into medical ment hundreds of lectures and exams which Li could have done without. As the 'lift doors parted, Lieutenant Commander Karma flew through them. Li was only mildly surprised at this. Now that the ship was away from Bajor, Karma probably felt more at ease. It had been a Bajoran vessel which had saved her in her dilapidated shuttle when her homeworld's sun went nova, killing the normally isolationist race known as the Farenoids. Only Karma had survived the disaster in 2293. She now felt a twinge of resentment towards the Bajoran people, a twinge she fully explained to Li every time they held a conversation. "Hello Karma." He said quietly. "I'm fine, get off my case doc!" Karma shouted. Li shrugged his shoulders and left the bridge. "Nice to see you're feeling normal commander." Warner smiled. Karma sat down at her station after death-staring the previous occupant out of it. She turned round and locked Warner in a steely glare. "This must be that fabled Terran wit I've heard your kind has." She said sarcastically. Not wanting to be drawn into an argument, Warner gave her a hollow smile and changed the subject slighty. "So how's your research on the hunter going?" "Fine thank you captain." Karma said briskly. Warner let the pause last for several beats. "You want to expand on that?" "We haven't got much to go on yet." She replied. Warner rose from his seat. "It's nearly one o'clock, I'm going to the galley. Let me know of any major developments." Making her way to the left of the bridge, Karma sat down at the science station. During the battle, it was one of the few auxiliary consoles which survived the various fires and explosions of the last day. "Computer, make a database link with records from Starbase Jarened and the USS Draken." She ordered. "Unable to comply. Both sources have been terminated at source." The computer responded. "Are there any stored records of the databases?" "Affirmative." "Where are they located ?" The computer paused for half a second. "There are fifteen thousand sources with various portions of data from the listed directories." Karma took this all in, it was going to be a long night. * * * The Secatur dropped out of warp, in it's path a battered freighter lay derelict. On the bridge, Ocett was furious. "Who ever did this will pay dearly." She cursed. Murvek called to her from Sensors."Gul Ocett, I am picking up a warp trail unlike any I've seen before. It could be the hunter." Ocett turned on him, her eyes blazing dangerously. "Fool, obviously it's the hunter!" She hissed. "My apologies Gul." "Lay in course!" She called. The ship launched into warp again, her captain was determined to arrive on time at the next encounter. * * * Warner took a mouthful of his Plomeek soup, the strong taste stunning his senses for a moment. The Vulcans weren't renowned for bland dishes. Looking across the galley he saw Hermandez and Dean in deep discussion. He was much like Dean himself twenty years ago, doing similar things with a pretty technician from geology. Warner glanced at his bowl, it was empty. Losing track of things! He scolded himself. Rising he made his way over to the replicator. Placing his dish in the cavity, he watched as it disassembled in a blue glow. He had always enjoyed the time he spent in the ship's geology department, it wasn't just the technician he was interested in. He was fascinated by the various forms of planets and their cores. "Sir?" A voice broke his revire. He looked up and saw Dean's concerned face staring at him from where he was seated next to Hermandez. Then he realised he had been looking at Dean all the while he was thinking of the geology department. He coughed embarassedly and made his apologies. As he made his way out he saw Dean in the corner of his eye, he has resumed his conversation with his date.