by David Smith
The transporters were still operational after a fashion and O’Mara was the first to come up with an “outside the box” idea. She concluded it was possible to replace the current haggis pattern with one containing phosphorous. If they could get close enough to transport inside the Tana vessel the results could be devastating. She did have to admit that getting the ship close enough in the face of the barrage of 50MW lasers, seemed unlikely.
As a second alternative, she suggested coating the Tiger with a variation of haggis containing concentrations of baryons that would make the Tiger near invisible. It would then be possible to drift through the outer reaches of the system without ever being spotted. The downside was that the natural disintegration of the baryons would kill anything within a few metres of the hull.
ASBeau came up with an idea for stealth mines. If they coated the remaining PTNs in haggis and charred it, they could place them at locations on an intercept course between the Tana and the Tiger and hope the Tana vessel passed close enough to be damaged by the blast. This required careful planning and a considerable degree of unthinking duplicity by the Tana, neither of which could be taken for granted.
Crash suggested altering the phasers to make them into an ultra-powerful, but a single shot weapon. Altered in this way, the phaser would definitely be powerful enough to penetrate the Tana vessels shields and hull. However, he was honest enough to admit that this was a daft idea as they had no knowledge of the Tana vessels layout. A blind shot might fail to hit anything of consequence, but would still wreck the phasers, leaving them unable to fight.
Lieutenant-Commander Ozawa was still keen to meet them in single combat, even more so now his arm had come out of its cast.
Dave sat listening to the options and weighing up the pro’s and con’s of each. The list of pro’s was depressingly short, and the list of con’s invariably had fatal consequences. Looking around the table he could see the despondency in the other’s faces and knew that they recognised how much trouble they were in.
Finally, Dave explained the idea that he, Deng and Park had come up with for disabling the Tana vessel.
“Chief Deng and PO Park believe we can disable the Tana vessel by hacking into their computer and getting the PILOCC to shut down critical systems.”
There were nods and murmurs around the table.
Izzy eventually spoke up. “Personally, I think we should go with the computer hack thing. I don’t really understand it, but I do remember that it wasn’t so long ago that Tiger was completely disabled by a computer problem.”
There were nods and murmurs of agreement, and Dave made his decision.
“Ok, thanks team. Here’s how it is. We still have eleven days before the Tana arrive. I want everyone to focus on two main issues. Firstly, I want everybody possible working on repairs to critical systems to get them as ready as possible. That covers drives, weapons and shields.”
“The second focus is to help the Sha T’Al while we still can. I want all the Sha T’Al off this ship. If we go down, there’s no point in taking them with us.
“Chief Deng, carry on your work with PO Park. Co-opt Lieutenant Shearer to assist with comms issues and Lieutenant L’Amour to provide information the Sha T’Al have passed on in respect of Tana computer systems. You have top priority. If you need anything, it’s yours. If you want anybody else to assist you, just let me know.”
“Commander Mengele, when we get back to Jal Doran, you’re in charge of getting the Sha T’Al and as many non-essential personnel off the ship as possible. I want you to carry on the plan to rehabilitate the Sha T’Al as best you can from the surface. Chief Belle and Lieutenant Stavros will assist by flying the shuttles and Chief Carstairs will be assigned to planting large amounts of haggis in the inhabited areas. I want you to save as many of our crew as you can.”
“O’Mara, get one of the probes rigged to fly back to Hole with everything we’ve got about the Tana and Sha T’Al. We’ll leave it to the last possible moment to launch and I’ll send a situation report with the data. If we don’t survive, we need to make sure Command is as well informed as possible.”
“ASBeau, rig your PTNs and haggis them up. If everything else fails, they’ll probably come in handy.”
Dave stood up.
“I’m not going to lie to you. We’re in big trouble here. Our options are limited and so are our chances of survival. I can ask no more than that you do your best. If not for ourselves, then for the Sha T’Al and our families and friends at home. We have a lot to do, so let’s make it happen. Dismissed”
Chapter 15
The next 11 days were chaotic and for all the fear and trepidation of facing the Tana battleship, Dave's most over-whelming emotion during this period was pride.
Although he was only third in command, he'd come to regard them as his crew, and perhaps because he gave them some direction and sense of purpose, the crew had subconsciously come to regard him as their Captain. His orders were never questioned, his word was law, and if they needed to speak to someone, they came to him first.
Lieutenant-Commander Romanov was released from sick-bay after a few days and although clearly still feeling the effects of the coolant poisoning, she was a human dynamo, driving the repair effort forward by sheer force of will.
Within five days, the engineers had managed to get the warp-drive working and Tiger made the short hop back to Jal Doran. The damage to the warp-core restricted their speed and the battered ship took seven hours to limp the distance they'd covered in fifteen minutes while chasing Kennickie's freighter.
Once in orbit, Commander Mengele arranged for Chief Belle and Stavros to clear and secure a landing site while Chief Carstairs saturated the surrounding area with whisky-laced haggis. With a safe landing site available, Mengele sent the Sha T'Al to the surface with a medical and science team and Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor duly represented the Federation in their combined efforts to restore order to the colony.
It was gratifying for all to see that this colony was much more intact than Todot Hahn. The tunnels that protected the society from the vicious solar radiation of the system had proved much easier to isolate and protect than the open spaces in the other systems they'd seen. As a result a far greater proportion of the population had survived and most of the infected Sha T'Al had died off when isolated from others.
With the infected Sha T'Al under control, Commander Mengele began evacuating non-essential staff from Tiger, and it wasn't long before she needed to contact Dave.
He'd been dreading the evacuation. As Commanding Officer, he’d have to decide who was essential for the up-coming confrontation with the Tana and who wasn't, putting him the horrific position of selecting who lived and who was likely to die.
At the Academy, one of the scenarios command candidates faced was a mission to rescue a stranded ship in enemy territory. Dave had sat the test three times before he realised that it wasn't a test of his tactical abilities, but a lesson in life and death. There was a chance that any Commander might one day be in a situation with no solution, where death was inevitable.
All of the cadets who took the test came away knowing two things. Firstly, they knew that at some stage they might face a no-win scenario. Secondly, they found out if they truly had what it takes to command a Starship.
As with most young people, Dave blithely assumed it would never happen to him in reality. When Commander Mengele’s call came his finger hesitated momentarily over the reply button. It was time to make the really hard decisions.
"How can I help you Commander?" he asked.
"We have an issue with evacuating non-essential personnel to the surface, ExO" replied the Doctor.
"Only to be expected given the circumstances" sighed Dave. "Who wants out?"
"Actually, sir, nobody. That's the problem."
"Sorry??"
"We posted the list of non-essential personnel to be evacuated and the vast majority have refused to leave the ship."
"I'm sorry, could you run
that by me again!??" asked Dave, completely non-plussed.
"We have identified two-hundred and sixty members of the ship's company who will not be required when we face the Tana battleship. Of them, two-hundred and eight have refused to leave the ship. The fifty-two that have left are invariably those who have a function in helping the Sha T'Al re-establish this colony."
Dave was genuinely surprised and equally touched by the unexpected show of loyalty. It proved beyond doubt that although Starfleet may have given up on them, the crew hadn’t given up the guiding principles of Starfleet.
“Thank you Commander, I won’t force anyone to leave the ship if they’re set on staying. Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor will be in command of the personnel we leave behind…….”
“Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor was the first of the non-essential personnel who refused to leave.”
“What??”
“She feels that in the unlikely event of communication from the Tana, she should remain on board Tiger” explained Mengele.
“I’ll see if I can change her mind. In the meantime, you will have to be in command…..”
“I’m not leaving either,” interrupted the Doctor “it would be unwise for Tiger to go into combat without the ship’s Doctor aboard.”
“Commander, there is nothing you will be able to do to save the crew who stay with the ship” Dave reminded her gently.
She paused, then added “In the words of Lieutenant-Commander Beauregard, “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.””
“Very well, Commander, but I must insist on at least one medic….”
“I’ve already ordered Lieutenant Chen to go with the next shuttle. He’ll be taking the nursing staff recruited by Chief Money, although they’ll be of limited use, medically speaking. I suppose they might relieve the boredom…..” she mused.
“Thank you Commander”
“Just doing my duty ExO.”
--------------------
On D-day, Dave held a final meeting with the ships senior staff. Chief Deng was present along with Lieutenant-Commander Romanov to report on progress with the planned “hack-attack”.
“We’ve tested the code as best we can against simulated computer protection systems. We’ve worked out a lot of bugs, but we really have no idea if this will work.”
“Ah’ve bin back thru al tha comms tween uzan the Tana scout. Ahm positiv we’ve got al the comms protocawls doon pat saw its awnly an issue wi Susan naw” added Lieutenant Shearer.
There was a slight pause and Dave guessed that she’d finished.
“Thanks, Lieutenant” said Dave, “Lieutenant-Commander Romanov, how are the general repairs coming?”
“Relays are still our main problem” she began “We’ve spread the good high-power relays out as best we can, including the navigational deflector, forward phaser and forward shields. We’ve also put good relays in the thrusters, impulse drive and main transporter. Port and starboard phasers and rear shields are equipped with the repaired relays that I don’t think will hold up.”
“The warp core is functional due to Chief Deng’s efforts, but it won’t hold. If we stress it, something will give, quite possibly with fatal consequences. We’re trying some more unconventional repair strategies, but even if we have any success, I suspect we’ll just create problems elsewhere in the system. The whole warp drive needs a complete overhaul, and we can’t do that in Sha T’Al space or even in sector 244. We need to get Tiger to a fleet repair base” she finished.
“If we survive, I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen” said Dave.
“ASBeau, how’re the PTNs shaping up?”
“They’re done sir. They mass less than thirty kilos even with the charred haggis camouflage. If we spray anti-matter in the space between the PTNs and the Tana to create some interference on their sensors, they’ll be near impossible to see” said the Tactical Officer.
“Ok. We’ll take the long-shot with them and try and guess where the Tana vessel will drop out of warp and get them in place before they see what we’re up to. Lieutenant-Commander O’Mara, do we have a probe ready to go?”
“Aye sir, locked and loaded, just waiting for your final status report then we can launch” replied the Science Officer.
“Good. Commander Mengele, how are things going on Jal Doran?”
“Better than we could have hoped. The Sha T’Al are almost free of infection. There are odd pockets near the largest settlement that are still out of our control, but they’re well isolated and give us no cause for concern. Chief Carstairs is ready to seed these areas with haggis as soon as the Sha T’Al confirm they are sufficiently prepared to go into those areas and reclaim them. That’s unlikely to happen before the Tana arrive.”
Dave smiled, “I hope we’ll be around to carry on the good work.”
Commander Mengele continued: “We’ve evacuated all non-essential personnel that are willing to go, but there are still a number of issues. There are several members of the crew including the Captain and Commander Cassini who are sedated, and the crew members in isolation who we can’t transfer to the surface as we don’t have a suitable medical facilities to treat them. Also I would remind you that there are seven members of the crew still in the brig, plus Mr Kennickie. Again, there is no suitable holding facility on Jal Doran, and none of the security team have volunteered to go down to the colony.”
“Well, not a lot we can do either way. I think we’ll offer everyone except Kennickie the chance to evacuate.”
“Even Chief Money?!?” asked ASBeau.
“The Chief has been a very naughty boy, and he’s broken more rules than I’ve had hot dinners, but nothing that deserves a death sentence. That’s what we might be committing him to if we don’t offer him the chance to go. Kennickie on the other hand is a murderous scum-bag who will face trial for his actions or go down with us. He leaves this ship over my cold dead body.”
Dave paused. “Ok, thanks team. I guess we’re as ready as we’ll ever be. Whatever happens I’d like to thank you all for your dedication to the best principles of the Federation, the Fleet and humanity. You’ve all done everything that could possibly be expected of you, and more. My last status report will includes accounts of all your efforts along with my personal commendations. I will also be issuing commendations for a number of the crew who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. You’ve upheld the finest traditions of the fleet, and I believe your actions will go on to form part of the folk-lore of the service. Dismissed.”
--------------------
The waiting was still the hardest part. The engineers kept busy, carrying on with repairs to a seemingly endless list of malfunctions, but they were essentially just passing the time. The rest of the crew studied their status panels and twiddled their thumbs.
The Bridge was particularly crowded. As well as the usual crew, Lieutenant L’Amour was at the Science station with Lieutenant-Commander O’Mara, and Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor was hovering near the comm station, still hoping that the Tana would choose to talk rather than fight.
Dave lost count of how many times he checked the status of the drive systems, shields and phasers. He was beginning to wonder if somehow the Tana had lost Tiger’s trail or been forced to retreat with some malfunction or problem, when he heard a beep from ASBeau’s tactical console.
“Sensors are picking up a sub-space disturbance bearing 044 mark 018. It’s biiiig! Looks like the Tana battlewagon is on its way, sir.”
Dave pressed a button on the arm of the Captain’s chair. A warning klaxon sounded and the Red Alert signs began flashing throughout the ship. Dave pressed the general broadcast button, carrying his voice everywhere on board: “Red Alert: Battle stations!”
--------------------
Tiger executed a carefully planned manoeuvre. Crash set her on an intercept course for the sub-space disturbance and they took a series of readings to plot the course of the approaching vessel. Once this was determined they had to ascertain
where the Tana would most likely drop out of warp.
"If I was them, I'd get in as close as I could to give any ship in the system the least time to respond" said ASBeau.
O'Mara added "I would agree, but the scout made a point of dropping out well clear of the planets gravitational field. I'm guessing that's probably part of their standing navigational orders."
"True, but they’ve come here on our trail, so they must be expecting to find us here. From their perspective, we're an unknown enemy vessel that has already destroyed one of their ships" countered ASBeau.
"But then, their psychological profile seems to indicate a distinct lack of imagination or flexibility. It simply might not occur to them to try and surprise us" said Dave.
ASBeau tapped some controls on his console and the plot of the Tana ships trajectory on the view screen changed as ASBeau marked two points: "Somewhere between here and .....here then?" he said.
Dave studied the plot and made his decision.
"Ok, we need to err on the side of caution. If we drop them too far out and the Tana don't play ball, the PTNs are out of the equation. We drop them here, try to distract the Tana and hope they don't spot them."
He tapped a couple of buttons on the arm rest, contacting the shuttle some distance away in a concentric orbit with them. "Stavros, I've just sent you the co-ords and headings we've settled on. Deploy the PTN's, discharge the anti-matter as discussed and get the hell out of there."
"Aye, sir!" came the reply.
“O’Mara, I’ve just down-loaded my status report and log to the probe. Please launch it immediately” said Dave.
