***Sim Log Narrative, SD 201909.27***

Bridge (& Main Engineering & Delta Flight):

The Penumbra was back at the gas giant and its ring system, deep in a massive firefight between their allies, the Aslans, and the Kyrathians. There were six Kyrathian Colony Ships (only two were fully functional), two Kyrathian Stations (only one fully functional), and well over 100 smaller Kyrathian craft. The Stations and Colony Ships had already dumped more than three dozen of the dangerous Energy-Siphoning Pods into the battle.

All of this was opposed by only six Aslan Battlecruisers, the Penumbra itself, and the Penumbra's 8 Delta Flyers.

In addition, the Penumbra had launched a covert operation in which the small runabout affectionately known as the "FedEx" had taken a small team to try to infiltrate a Collection Station where the Kyrathians had been beaming energy and possibly storing materials and supplies. This small craft had managed to land and unload its team without being noticed, but how long that would last was anyone's guess. After all, if just one Kyrathian discovered them, all of them would know in mere seconds.

On the Bridge of the Penumbra, Capt. Zak Taylor sat in the Command Seat sweating bullets; just to his right was Lt. Cmdr. Relok sitting tensely in the Executive Officer's seat, trying to monitor everything he could from the display in front of him; at the Helm was Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter, struggling to be the pinball that didn't hit any bumpers; at the rear of the Bridge, using the Master Systems Display to replace the burned out Operations Console, was LtJG. Tabeshk Tibris, trying to make sure all the necessary systems were properly powered with the limited resources that were available; and standing just starboard of center was Ens. Denovan Hawke at the Tactical Console, picking his targets carefully due to having Delta Flyers and allied Aslans in the battle zone.

Also "on the Bridge" was the Artificial Intelligence in the main computer systems, MAX, who was operating the Point Defense System with computerized reflexes.

Tabeshk glanced over his shoulder at the Captain, noticing the sweat-dampened hair on the older man's head. "Captain," he said, "if you keep sweating like that, that chair is the NEXT thing that will need to be fixed."

The Captain smirked at the Operations Officer's comment, "We need to have Bevin install special air conditioning fans in front of the Command Seat!"

MAX said, "The Bug Zapper has made targeting for the Point Defense systems askew. Adjusting to compensate."

Tabeshk grunted, "Oh shut up, MAX! How the hell was I supposed to know?" He was letting a bit more of his Klingon side slip out with all the tension, and was a bit crankier than usual. He realized he'd snapped and said, "I'm still pissed off about my station, so, I am sorry if my Klingon is too much."

Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry had been listening in from Main Engineering over an open comm-link. Her face was visible on the MSD where Tabeshk was working and she smiled at the half-Klingon albino as she spoke in her strong Brogue, "Dinna werry aiboot ait. I'll faix ait ip ais sane ais we kin gait thase bugs tae baik awff fer a bait." She blew him a kiss.

Tabeshk grinned back at her, "Yeah, I agree, Bevin! What do we need powered back up the most right now my dear?"

She responded, "Just caill awff tha nambirs tae me an shailds aind waipins."

Hawke commented, "Well, this is fun." He had been coordinating with the Aslan tactical officers to try to pinpoint specific targets to fire on. He wanted to make sure which ones were in range to hit with phasers before using torpedoes.

He grumbled, "You know it would have been damn nice to have gotten the refit for that collective armor that Voyager and the Aldrin has."

Relok interrupted, "Hawke, watch that cluster of Pods headed for Delta 7 ...," he trailed off.

Hawke barked back, "Got it, sir." He adjusted his targets.

MAX said, "You mean the Ablative Generator, Ensign Hawke? That sounds counterproductive for a vessel designed for Recon purposes."

Zak replied, "Yeah, the Cerberus has some kind of ablative armor. Why the hell does a tiny Reconn craft have it and a warship like the Penumbra doesn't, huh? Hawke, remind me to file a formal complaint."

Hawke responded, "I mean the Aldrin, with the Borg tech, she has it, and refit to a Galaxy-X - Whoa!" He cried. There were two of the Aslan Battlecruisers hammering the Kyrathian Station with high-yield torpedoes. It was taking a heavy beating but had responded with its own torpedoes.

A call came through from Delta 7, "Penumbra, we're getting a LOT of heat over here! Any more activity and we're gonna have to disengage!"

The Captain called, "Carter, Hawke, let's help out Seven ... MAX, how far can the PD turrets shoot?"

MAX answered, "With the targeting systems being inaccurate, I can predict 80% accuracy out to 2.5 kilometers on rapid bursts."

Zak replied, "Good, MAX. Carter, get us within 2 KM of that cluster and let MAX do his magic."

But Hawke grunted out, "Hold on." He glanced at his console, retargeting a few things then said, "Helm, bring us around to bearing 23 mark 68, half impulse, on my mark."

Carter responded, "Heading 023 mark 068, dump to half impulse, standby ... what do you see, Hawke?"

Hawke answered, "An opening ... hold it ... hold it ... now!"

Carter did the maneuver, calling it out as he did so, "Executing port roll, 023 mark 068. Dumping speed. Bringing the nose about ...," he trailed off.

As soon as the ship had turned, Hawke let off a full spread of Quantum torpedoes at the ones accosting Delta. Zak tensed, "Hawke, make sure none of those torpedoes hit our Flyers ... one of those things might take out a tiny Delta Flyer."

Hawke smirked as his Quantum torpedoes flew past the Delta Flyer and destroyed the incoming torpedoes from the Kyrathian Station. "You know I don't miss, Captain."

Zak flicked a glance at Hawke and gave him a smirk, "Hawke, I don't expect perfection, just efficiency. Taking out that cluster on Delta 7 was good shooting. Now ... can we get us out of the fray a little?"

At the MSD, Bevin's face asked Tabeshk, "Haw's tha pawir an tha shailds an phaisirs?"

Tabeshk answered, "I'm looking at it, dear, give me a while. This temporary layout is gonna drive me insane." His fingers flew across the interim Operations Menu on the unfamiliar board and then answered, "Power's at 85% right now."

Bevin scowled slightly and starting working on boosting power as best she could. "Ailraight I'm werkin an ait."

Suddenly a Kyrathian torpedo made it past the Penumbra's phasers and Point Defense System and hit the shields. The ship shook slightly from the impact as Tabeshk cursed, "Ah, f--- for Frick's sake!"

Relok said, "OK, one getting through is all right, I guess, considering ...," he trailed off.

Tabeshk reported to Bevin, "We got hit by a stray torpedo, shields are at 90%."

Bevin started working on adding a "repulsor ray" into the shield systems, hoping to keep pods and torpedoes off the shields. She called Tabeshk back, "Ailraight kaip me ainfarmd o tha nambirs ais ye kin."

Tabeshk responded, "That's what I'm good at, love. Hey, if things get worse, which is likely, I just wanted to say my mom would have loved you, dad would've too."

MAX snipped at Tabeshk, "Awww ... I love you too, half-breed."

Tabeshk sighed, "That ... wasn't meant for you, MAX, but sure, whatever, love you too, pain in the arse."

Just then Carter cursed under his breath and said, "Full impulse ... coming about hard right, 050 mark 218." He tapped the commlink, "Delta Flight, surgical strike. I need ordnance on those torpedo launchers."

One of the Delta pilots, maybe Delta 5, replied, "You are clear. We've got the stragglers." He paused a moment, "Oh, okay, I missed that one."

The pilot of Delta 1 called in, "Penumbra, Copy. Forming Delta Echelon. Strike package on the way."

On the main viewer, and on Tabeshk's MSD display (since he had his back to the main viewer but wanted to see what was going on), they could see that one of the Aslan Battlecruisers had attracted the attention of at least 10 Energy-Siphoning Pods! They were quickly closing on the massive starship. Tabeshk groaned, "Oh lovely, more pods! I don't think I can use Bug Zapper twice."

Bevin spoke to Tabeshk, "I'm trayin a laittil traik o me awn, aiddin ain tha raipulsir ray tae tha shailds. See iffin tha will haelp."

Relok pointed out, "Tabby, those Pods are going for an Aslan ... they don't have Bug Zapper!"

Tabeshk replied, "Yeah, I know that, Relok! But what if they bounce off? You know those things are like flying rocks!"

Relok grunted, "Rocks that suck out power like a vampire!"

Tabeshk grumbled softly, "I think that duel sounded really good." He was referring to a brief interaction he and Relok had had earlier about having a duel in the holodeck.

Tabeshk turned his attention back to Bevin on the MSD, "At this point, what do we have to lose? Try your trick."

Bevin checked the numbers as she added the Repulsor Ray to the shields and saw the power readings drop below 75%. She called back, "Tabby, I canna dae ait fer lang, ait ats ip tae mich pawir. Bit ait mait werk fer shairt bairsts, ance we gait thaings baik tae nairmil."

Zak asked, "Hawke, Carter, anything we can do about those Pods on the Aslan?"

Carter answered, "Can't send Delta to deal with them if they're carrying out a strike mission. Breaking their formation would put them at excessive risk."

MAX suggested, "Ensign Hawke, set Plasma Torpedoes for high-yield, proximity detonation 500m ahead of the pods. Patterson and I discussed the use of a plasmetic wall to disrupt the pods ... best opportunity to test the theory."

Hawke replied, "Well I could, but I really don't recommend it. We're too close."

Just then the combined assault of two Battlecruisers on the Kyrathian Station finally caused a catastrophic explosion. It went up in an enormous fireball!

Hawke blurted out, "Oh, crap! Incoming shockwave!"

Zak barked out, "Carter! Hard about!"

Carter cursed, "Sh--! We're gonna catch it! MAX, emergency stabilizers!"

Bevin saw what was happening and said, "Tabby, gait thaim tae tairn tha baw aintae tha shawkwaive an sairf tha danged thaing!"

MAX said, "Rerouting power to forward, ventral shield facings. Point Defense offline and secure. Impact in seconds!"

The shockwave and fireball from the exploding Station enveloped Delta 8. It was completely destroyed. Fiery shrapnel pings off the Penumbra's shields, dropping them to only 75% strength.

Hawke reported that he was transferring phaser power to support the shields as Carter said, "Captain, we've lost Delta 8 with all hands. The Aslans don't seem to care about the proximity of Delta Flight to their targets!"

Tabeshk whirled from the MSD and cried out, "Captain, quit being an idiot! We need to leave here, really soon!"

Zak turned his chair and through gritted teeth replied, "No, Tabby, we have Delta Flyers and the FedEx out there! We're not leaving them!"

Tabeshk seemed to deflate, "Aww, shhhh. Captain, I know, we need to get them back."

Relok observed, "Like the Kyrathians themselves, the Aslans are insectoid with a kind of hive mentality ... they probably consider some 'drones' to be expendable."

Zak scowled at the Vulcan Science Officer, "Our Delta Flight is not expendable!"

Tabeshk turned to face Relok, "Relok, if I wasn't over here, I'd punch you."

A voice came over the comm system. It was AEGIS, the Artificial Intelligence of Patterson's recon ship, the Cerberus, undergoing repairs down in the Hangar Bay. He said, "MAX, uplink established. Transferring power."

MAX then reported, "Captain, structural integrity just jumped to 110%."

But, riding the shockwave of the exploding Station came four Energy-Siphoning Pods! They were getting dangerously close to the Penumbra and just might make it through.

Over the commlink to Delta Flight they heard the pilot of Delta 5 calling their team leader on Delta 1, "Delta 1, angle of approach is too steep! I can't pull her out!"

Delta 1 responded, "Harrison? Dammit! Delta Flight to Penumbra. We've just lost uplink to Delta 5, and Delta 8 is nothing but debris!"

Tabeshk groaned, "We have 4 pods too close for comfort, and I don't think I can use Bug Zapper again!"

Zak glanced over at his Tactical Officer, "Hawke, what's the tactical situation with the Aslans ... are they able to handle this fight if we pull back?"

Just as the Captain said this the Aslan Battlecruiser that had been attracting 10 Pods was swarmed. Six of the ten managed to make contact with its shields and began spewing energy into space in a dazzling display of harmless sparks.

Hawke responded to the Captain's question, "This is going to take a collaboration. These pods are not joking. They're down but not out ... yet. But they're not going to be ..," he trailed off as a warning flashed on his console. The tone of his voice changed. "Warp core breach imminent on one of the Battlecruisers!" He launched a spread of Quantum torpedoes to try to help them out, along with several well placed phased-plasma shots.

Carter did his thing as well. Without a word of warning, he dropped all of the ship's inertial dampeners and had the ship do a power-slide sideways against the still expanding shockwave from the Station's explosion. He opened the Hangar Bay doors as he tapped the commlink with the Delta Flyers, "Doors are open, boys! You've got a small target ... make it count!"

With the ship bucking from the wild flying, Tabeshk was hanging on to one of the pedestals at the MSD when the Captain barked, "Tabby, get Patterson on a secured comm-link. Let him know the clock is ticking before we have to withdraw."

The half-Klingon righted himself with a mumbled, "Right, sir."

MAX called to Carter, "Carter! You are tearing at our shields!"

Carter grunted through clenched teeth, "Then make sure they hold together, MAX."

And then, the swarmed Battlecruiser erupted in yet another huge fireball, sending another shockwave through the system. At almost the same instant, one of the other Battlecruisers launched a huge volley of torpedoes at one of the Colony Ships and it goes ... BOOM!

Patterson's voice came briefly over the commlink, "I can hear the ruckus from in here. How long do we have?"

But Tabeshk interrupted any response. He said, "Captain, I'm sorry but I must do this. I can't see any more die! I'm beaming Delta Flight 5 in. Bevin, you handle the power, okay, dear?" Delta 5 was the furthest out, being pursued by several Pods and a couple of Kyrathian fighters. It had also taken quite a rumble from the Station's shockwave.

Bevin gave Tabeshk a quick nod, "Ye gat ait, Tabby."

But MAX reminded them, "We cannot beam them out through two sets of shields." He referred to the fact that the Delta Flyer would be using shields as well as the Penumbra itself.

Tabeshk gritted his teeth, "We have to try, MAX!"

Hawke added his viewpoint, "Yes ... actually we can. If we match the modulation and the timing when shields cycle, just like any ship. It has to be a perfect timing." He didn't mention how disastrous imperfect timing might be - they'd lose everyone as the particle beam scattered against the shields.

MAX said, "Trying in this case is inevitable failure, and would put the entire crew of the Penumbra at confirmed casualty rates of 60%."

Relok confirmed, "MAX is right, Tabby, we can't beam through shields, but ...," he trailed off, thinking a moment then said, ". the Aslans can! Captain, have the Aslans beam Delta 5 on one of their ships!"

Zak snapped his head to stare at Relok, "What? Aslans can beam ... through shields! That's right! Tabby, call the nearest Aslan ship, have them do the transport!"

Tabeshk grinned, "Relok, you're a genius!"

Hawke gave a small shrug, "Or that," he mumbled.

Zak smiled at his Tac Officer, "Hawke, I don't want to risk perfect timing. You're good, but ... I'd like to keep our shields as high as we can right now."

Just then, a call came from Delta 1, "Penumbra, inbound! Let the Hangar Bay know to expect collision repairs!"

As the ship slid sideways, riding the shockwave of the Aslan Battlecruiser's explosion, exposing itself to the powerful forces in order to allow easier access for the Delta Flyers trying to make it home, the main computer trilled out, "Warning. Ventral Hull fracture, port side, Deck 9, Section 14. Hull Integrity at 62%. Exterior pressure exceeding maximum capacity."

Tabeshk called to Bevin, "Bevin, we've got a tear on Deck 9, dear, get on it."

She nodded, "Shuir thaing, Taibby, we're an ait."

Then a couple of Energy-Siphoning Pods landed on Delta 5 just as the shockwave jolted it. The tiny craft trembled and then exploded! As everyone stared in shock a message came through from the Aslan Battlecruiser Hissing Beetle, they had the Flyer's team beamed on board their ship. The remaining 6 Flyers came barreling into the Hangar Bay, with the only thing stopping them from slamming into the interior bulkhead being the "catch-net" at the back of the bay!

As the Hangar Bay doors closed, two of the four Pods that had been chasing the Penumbra caught up, latching onto the shields and siphoning power out into space. The ship's power supply immediately dropped to only 60% capacity. Carter confirmed Delta Flight was safely aboard and then turned the ship back with the shockwave and engaged full impulse speed.

Tabeshk reported, "Captain, we have 2 Pods in contact. I don't think I can use Bug Zapper again."

MAX reported, "Carter, Point Defenses are offline, and we have approaching shockwaves from both sides."

On Tabeshk's MSD Bevin could be seen frantically trying to get her Repulsor Ray back online to try to get the Pods off, but . there wasn't enough power left for it!

Zak scowled at the situation. He turned his chair slightly, "Tabby, tell Patterson the Penumbra is bugging out. He's on his own for his escape!" He turned back to the front, "Carter, get us the hell out of here!"

Tabeshk protested, "But . he'll die out there, Captain!"

It was Relok who answered him, "Tabby, Patterson has withstood numerous close calls with death. He'll be fine."

Tabeshk lowered his head and mumbled, "Relok, I know that, but he's not the only one out there."

Hawke said, "What did I say about the shield timing cycle? Give me a minute!" He tried to get a transporter lock on their Covert Ops team. A second later he slammed his hand on the console, "Dammit! It didn't work, too deep down."

Tabeshk made the call, "Penumbra to Patterson, we have to go. You're on your own."

Carter called Bevin, "Carter to MacArdry. What's the extent of damage and contamination risk for the fracture on Deck 9, Section 14?"

Bevin answered, "Mainimil raisk, jist stawrije fer tha auxilurry craift baes." But, the hull breach on Deck 9 happened to be near to where one of the Energy-Siphoning Pods had made contact. Deadly Plant Spores were spewed through the gap, pouring into the ship's interior.

Tabeshk asked, "Captain, what do we do about those pods? If we don't get rid of them, we'll become a sitting duck!"

But the Captain just gritted his teeth. "We'll deal with the Pods when we're out of here. Carter, go!"

Covert Ops Team:

Lt. Col. Travis Patterson led a small team of the Marine Pathfinders, MGny. Derek Hines, Gny. Khalgon, and SSgt. Davies; along with a small team of Starfleet Officers, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, LtJG T'Lin, and LtJG Lea Kalawai'a; infiltrating the Kyrathian Collection Station on a small moon of the gas giant. They'd left the small runabout affectionately known as FedEx with its pilot parked just outside the entryway. All of them wore sealed EVA Biosuits, though the Marines' versions were enhanced Combat Armor while the regular Starfleet officers had standard-issue suits.

When they'd breached the entrance, they'd been forced to kill a Kyrathian Soldier in order to preserve the covert nature of their mission. They knew that if any single Kyrathian insectoid detected them, all of the others in the Station, and indeed throughout the entire star system, would know where they were in mere seconds through their telepathic connection.

Dr. K'Trevala and the Penumbra's Science staff had prepared a dozen each of three types of "grenades" for this mission. Each had been given a "code name" by the Marines based on their usages.

First were the Purifiers that emitted a cloud of herbicides meant to kill Plant Spores that might be in the air. They might actually work on Plant Fibers if they weren't too thick, but they hoped it wouldn't deaden the dense Nodes that acted like computer terminals and interface units.

Second were the Pacifiers. These released a cloud of aerosolized Merasha that should render a Kyrathian insectoid cut off from their telepathic bond with others of their kind. Obviously these had not been fully tested since they'd not had access to any live Kyrathians, but a recent Bug Bomb torpedo on a Colony Ship had been quite effective, but that was a higher concentration.

And third were the ___. These were powerful insecticides mean to kill Kyrathian insectoids.

And of course they had conventional Flash-Bangs and Frag Grenades if needed.

They had used a Purifier in the entry corridor to ensure no Spores would be present. Patterson squatted by the downed Kyrathian, checking for lifesigns. Finding none he stood and said, "Which way, T'Lin?" Their voices were captured inside their suits and communicated through a secure commlink between their suits.

The Vulcan Science Officer consulted her PADD with its sketchy blueprint of the Station from their initial passes. She pointed to the left, "That way."

Patterson turned to his left then gestured to Davies, "Davies, let's try to keep the Kyrathians away from us by nonlethal means whenever possible. We aren't here to fight fair."

Davies patted his pack, "Dr. Shadow gave us about a dozen canisters each we can deploy as needed, but supplies will run out quickly."

Outside the small Collection Station and throughout the gas giant's ring system and inner moons, a great battle was taking place. They could feel some of the concussive blasts through the walls of the tiny Station. Lea, from the back of the pack, muttered, "Can we tell them to stop firing? We're busy here!"

Patterson started to creep forward. "T'Lin, how far down this hallway?" As he moved he glanced around, "Hines?"

The big man answered, "On your right, Pat."

Lea glanced behind them to make sure no one came from that direction as T'Lin gestured ahead, "There should be a door on the right down there that leads to a bigger Node - a computer essentially. I will need a few minutes to sort through it."

But as they crept stealthily down the corridor, they detected four Kyrathians of the Builder Class, the small, spider-like insectoids were working on the hallway up ahead. It didn't appear the Kyrathians were aware of the team.

Lea, at the back of the party, was watching Patterson carefully for orders. The Colonel signaled them to hold up and he dropped to one knee. He gestured to Davies, indicating the four Builders ahead. Davies reached for a Pacifier grenade and whispered over their internal commlink, "Shadow, I hope we got the mixture right on these to disable. But, if it kills them, I won't complain either." He rolled the canister carefully up to Patterson.

T'Lin crouched down herself, all the while taking detailed scans of the Builders for later study. Patterson caught the grenade as it rolled up to him, adjusted the settings for it to detonate on impact, nodded briefly at Hines and Khalgon to either side, and tossed the grenade towards the Builders down the hall.

When the grenade hit the floor it erupted into a vaporous cloud, filling the corridor and then expanding several paces in both directions. As it dissipated it left behind four unconscious Builders, incapacitated but alive.

They advanced a bit further, looking for the door to the "computer room" T'Lin had identified. A call came from Lt. Tibris, the Operations Officer on the Bridge of the Penumbra, "Captain says 'clock is ticking', Colonel. We're gonna have to be leaving soon."

Patterson responded, "Penumbra, I can hear the ruckus from in here. How long do we have?" He didn't get an actual answer from the Penumbra, but he did get one from T'Lin.

She said, "The door is right over there, I need three minutes."

They found the door and T'Lin plugged the thin fiber-optic cable from her tricorder into the Plant Node next to the door and began working to get it open. But before the door actually opened, another call came from the ship, "Penumbra to Patterson, we have to go. You're on your own."

In Attendance:

Capt. Z. Taylor, Dr. K'Trevala, Ens. Denovan Hawke, Lt. (JG) Lea Kalawai'a, Lt. (JG) Tabeshk Tibris, Lt. (JG) T'Lin, LtCmdr. J. Carter, LtCmdr. MacArdry, LtCmdr. Relok, LtCol. T. Patterson, MGySgt Hines

NPCs:

AEGIS (played by Patterson), SSgt_Davies (played by Patterson), MAX (played by Hines), GySgt Khalgon (played by Hines), Delta_Pilot_1 (played by Carter), Delta_Pilot_5 (played by Carter), Delta_Pilot_7 (played by Carter)

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