Rendezvous - Part VII - Trick Play

Posted on Sat Feb 15th, 2025 @ 1:18pm by Captain Robert Burke & Commander Vincent 'Vin' Salvatore & Lieutenant Marques Hunt & Lieutenant Ryssa Dari

1,233 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Archanis System - USS Cato - USS Hecate
Timeline: MD029 1340 hours

::ON::

[The Continuation ...]

Immediately, Hunt pulled a hard one eighty at the controls which caused the Hecate to pull hard. For those unprepared found themself shaken up hard. Steadying the ship up, they found themselves on the opposite of end of their attacker.

Vincent walked to the Helm Station and placed a hand on Hunt's shoulder while placing the other on the side of the console. His eyes locked on the Orion ship as a slight smirk formed on his face. He was taken back to his days back home. That time him and is brother stole a car and, instead of driving away from the approaching coppers, he drove toward them. The steely gaze in his brother eyes, while holding onto a devious smirk, mirrored his own. He felt his Old Brooklyn accent slip out as he spoke firmly. "Atta boy, Flyboy. Take us right down their throats. Let's see if these Orion thugs can flinch without their dame's say so."

"With pleasure," Hunt replied as increased the speed.

Retaking the center chair, Burke looked at the telemetry coming, and turned to Tactical, 'lay down weapons fire, pattern Goluc-Delta-Twelve, full spread variation.' He knew that Marques would keep the Hecate true, so wouldn't worry about that for now. The Hecate launched volley after volley of fire at the Orion vessels, concentrating the majority of its fire on the carrier vessel.

As the Hecate arrowed towards the Orions, the heavily armed and armoured vessel disabled on of the raiders and damaged a second sufficiently that it had to break off to make repairs. Burke sighed in relief. The ship bucked and juddered under the returning fire, but it was an order of magnitude less than before.

'Hail the Orion carrier,' he called out to Comms

The view screen switched from the battle to an insignia of the Orion Syndicate. It remained there for a few seconds before jumping to a view of the carriers bridge. As several Orion male officers walked by, seemingly undeterred by the current attack, the Orion woman walked into view. "You're efforts, Captain, may seem valiant to someone from your Federation, are nothing to us. We will have what we came for and you will surrender to us."

"She sounds nervous." Vincent said with a smirk as he walked over to Burke. "Does she sound nervous to you?" He leaned down quickly and whispered in the Captain's ear. "Keep her talking. I have an idea."

'Uh, will do,' Burke responded as Salvatore busied himself about the room.

Vincent made his way to the Ops station again. "Stand aside, Kid."

"Another trick up your sleeve, Sir?" The Ops officer replied.

"You could say that." He said as he pulled out his comm device and flipped it open, whispering into it. "Salvatore to Mallad. Casey, you keeping out of sight or are you dead yet?"

"We're good, Commander. Doing what we can. What do you need?" The response came back

Vincent looked over to the Ops officer before turning back to the console. "I need..." He smiled a bit before continuing. "I need some of that fancy Abracadabra."

There was a moment of silence before Casey, the officer on the Mallard, responded. "We're gonna have to get real close. It's gonna take some time to setup a backdoor connection."

"A com channel has already been opened. Use that." Vincent whispered as he nodded to the Ops officer who began to tap on the console.

"We'll work as fast as we can. May not be pretty. Mallard Out."

Vincent patted the Ops officer on the shoulder and walked away, back to Captain Burke.

Ryssa had to admit to herself that she was impressed, but she kept her attention focused between the viewscreen and her console to keep on top of everything that was going on.

Burke addressed the Orion on the screen while Salvatore went about his business and returned. 'Look, it's nice that you're still full of beans, but the truth is, the Hecate just knocked out two of your support ships, and we're still bearing down on you. One more pass will likely knock out your last support ship, and cripple yours. It would be wiser for you to surrender to us.'

Marques sat at the ready. With a single word from the Captain, he was more than ready to bring the Hecate around for another pass to finish what they started. The Lieutenant was very impressed on how bold the Captain was with the move he just pulled.

The Orion woman looked around the bridge, unbothered by the threat, as she looked off the screen. "Bring the shields up... to their full power." She said firmly as she looked back to Burke, her smile still holding, when she placed her hands back on her console. "You think you've placed us at hour heels and we would surrender to your friendly Starfleet? All you have proven is how easy your and your people can be lured into feeling they are in control, when the truth is, you've done exactly what we needed for me to study your tactics and weapons." She eased back into her chair and smiled again. "You'll find our shields won't be as easy to penetrate now, Captain."

Vincent stood by Captain Burke and observed the woman. This wasn't exactly beneath the Syndicate, to act weak and helpless in order to lure a target in, perhaps to study or kill them. From what he read, and his personal experience, this could be the case. However, he also knew they weren't always honest and despite her bravado, the damage they did to the Orion Dreadnaught was still significant.

It was then he heard a familiar tone coming from his com device. He quickly took it out and opened it to notice a light flicking in a particular pattern. As he closed the com device, Vincent looked over to Captain Burke and whispered. "Plans in motion. Let's see if they notice and if she can keep that poker face of hers going."

Burke nodded imperceptibly as he carried on talking with the Orion. 'I appreciate the bravado,' Burke smiled thinly, 'of course, while we've been talking, you've given our excellent and renowned engineers time to repair our systems, so whatever your two remaining ships can throw at us, Hecate will be able to weather it. Surrender is the only way you're getting out of the Archanis system under your own power.' He was, of course, bluffing. Starfleet Engineers were good, but they weren't miracle workers.

The Orion woman seemed unphased again as she leaned back in her chair. "You know nothing of what we can do. You think we've survived this long on luck? This ship is far stronger than you think, Captain. It is filled with far more tricks than yours." As the woman raised her hand, a large Orion male, walked over to her and began to whisper. The firm stare of the Orion woman began to waiver slightly.

[To be Continued ...]

::OFF::

Captain Robert Burke
Commanding Officer
USS Hecate

Commander Vincent Salvatore
Executive & Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Marques Hunt
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Ryssa Dari
Chief Science Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Commander Dr. James McEntyre, M.D.
USS Hecate
Ship Surgeon

 

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