DAM the torpedoes

Posted on Fri Oct 24th, 2025 @ 10:29pm by Captain Sean Loewen {Meji} & Lieutenant Commander Sheyla {MD} & Lieutenant Griffon Resch & Lieutenant JG Ken Kudo {Meji} & Lieutenant JG T'Pri

Mission: The Inner Flame
Location: USS Capernum
Timeline: Current

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Captain Loewen sat in his chair, his eyes looking out the front window even though he was not really seeing anything out there as he was thinking a mile a minute during battle.

T'Pri spoke up from SCI. "Captain, The station has stable. Heavy damage across most systems but she is sound. Emergency forcefields are in place in breach sections with evacuations underway for all non-essential personnel."

That meant civilians, Loewen thought to himself before sitting up a little straighter. "Thank you, T'Pri. Keep tabs on it. Mister Resch?" Griffon acknowledged. "Are we in transporter range?"

After checking a monitor Resch turned back to his CO. "Aye, Captain. Well within."

"Good," Sean said as he got to his feet and ascended to the upper Bridge next to Griffon. "Send a hail on an open channel that Capernum is available for anyone seeking sanctuary away from the base. Have Security teams in all four transporter rooms. Number One, make sure Sickbay is ready for guests, and tell them we'll need EMT teams in each transporter room, or in the corridors outside of them." Both officers acknowledged the orders and got to work. With that portion of orders given, Loewen walked over to stand over Kudo at the Bridge engineering station. "Station SITREP, Lt. Kudo."

Kudo gave a nod. "Yes, Sir." Tapping a few keys he brought up a holographic screen on the bulkhead above the wall portion of his console, standing up to point and talk to his CO eye-to-eye. "As Lt. T'Pri stated, Captain, M-69 is in bad shape but not totally lost. She'll need a bunch of band-aids for a while but she can be restored. "Here, here, and here are the major catastrophe areas. That last plasma ball that impacted tore into the living quarters for the station, mainly the civilian section. I can only hope my suite is still intact since we live fairly close to where the Starfleet and Civilian sections meet."

"Sorry to hear that, Ken." Loewen said, empathizing with his officer. "At least your family wasn't there. Anything else can be replaced. Continue, please."

"Thank you, Sir," Kudo said in response to his Captain's words. Even in the middle of battle the man had the wherewithal as a commanding officer to hear what his people had to say and to see to their needs as best he could. "They've shut down the warp core, Sir, to prevent a breach. A wise move what with all the damage to the machinery in-between. They're running on auxiliary power, with the fusion reactors cranking out at full power. Like our EJo, the Ejo over their knows their stuff. They've taken the main power routes offline and switched to the backups. The Remans are firing at their main power grid, damaging superstructure and machinery as they try to shut down the station for easy boarding. So far, they're not doing well in that effort."

Sean's eyes were looking at the data. He could see power fluctuations across M-69's power grid, but not enough of a disruption to actually cause a complete shutdown. "What about their shield grid? Are the emitters still viable?"

"It's hit and miss, Sir." Kudo admitted. "Some emitters haven't been hit, others are damaged, but many of them are damaged beyond operation. This whole section here," Ken lifted his arm and used his stylus to point to and draw an imaginary circle around a particular area. A large area. "Has no shield grid left. Anything that gets passed weapons and hits there will cause significant damage since, as you can see, a goodly portion of the section is open to space since the hull has been battered."

Loewen reached out and tapped keys on the lower console, his eyes going up and down from damage screen to the smaller monitor he was now using. He sent a data stream to Helm even as he spun around. "Mister Borelli. I just sent you coordinates. Maneuver us into a position to cover that area then all stop. You may indulge yourself, Tom, as to how you get us there."

Borelli gave a crooked grin. "You got it, Sir." The man's hands began to float over his controls and the ship started moving, turning sharply to port.

"Thank you, Mister Kudo. Carry on." Captain Loewen turned away from engineering and stepped over a station to Griffon. "Griffon, is there any way we can tie in with their shield emitters in such a way as to be able to energize them with our power?"

Resch gave a wincing, uncertain expression. "I can try, Captain. There is a lot of damage over there. Even if we are able to tie in I can't say how affective that would be."

"Damn," Loewen said softly, his eyes going to the viewport as he saw they were quickly approaching their coordinates, and M-69 was growing larger. "What about expanding our own shield bubble to defend the station? Is that possible?"

Resch gave a nod and grin. "Now that we can do. However, Skipper, the more we stretch the shield bubble the weaker it becomes. Still better than what that section has left, but it's as risky as it is needed."

"I want you two, Resch and Borelli, to work together to get us precisely where we need to be to cover that big damn hole, and maintain our own shield integrity at full power. I don't care how close we have to get or how it may affect our maneuvering. Protecting M-69 is our job and we will not fail."

Sheyla piped in as she stood up from what had become the XO's station more often than not. As XO, she had even designated the station as Station #1 on the Bridge. "Captain, I have an idea."

"I hope so, Number One, I'm running out," Sean quipped, trying to reduce anxiety and stress for his people by maintaining a positive outlook. Humor was often good for that. He saw her partially confused expression, as if she was trying to determine if he was insulting her, or not. Loewen gave an off-hand wave away. "Sorry, Sheyla, Trying to be flippant for morale. What have you got, Commander?"

Sheyla gave a nod to his apology, not sure why she needed one, but she decided to drop it and move on to her idea. "We still have the USS Euphrates aboard, Sir. Captain Kudo's private runabout. It is a personal vessel, but is also still listed as a viable Starfleet vessel. She's a Danube class, but with all the tweaks the Captain and Cosmo have done to it, I say we use it."

"Use it how?" Sean asked. "I take it you have that figured out?"

"Allow myself and Lt. T'Pri to board Euphrates and take command." Sheyla explained. "I'll need four people from the crew, officers with somewhat more experience than others, to man two Delta Flyers as an addition to the runabout. You park Capernum broadside to the station, starboard side facing out since the port side has a bit of damage. The three small ships go out and form a scrimmage line facing out towards the enemy. Any incoming missile fire we may be able to disrupt, and we can provide another element of shield protection if need be."

Loewen contemplated the success rate of such an operation, his experience telling him it could make a difference when least expected. But, just to make sure, and to rely on his department heads as he should, Sean looked to Resch. "Griffon, you have any input on the matter? Any warnings, cautions, misgivings...?"

Having listened to it all, Griffon had no qualms with the plan. Any distractions aimed at disrupting the enemy was fine by him. Plus, small ships or not, that would make four targets to deal with instead of just one. Not to mention that the USS Capernum still had one X-wing aboard. Loewen's X-wing, which he had yet to use. But, he did not have one of those droids like the others, so maybe that was why. "I like it, Sir. More targets for the enemy to get through may deter any further runs at this location. And, according to the sensors, Wallace and O'Connell are handling the enemy quite well. They don't seem to have time to worry about what is going on over here, right now."

Sean gave a grin. "Fair enough." His eyes went back to Sheyla. "Gather your people, Number One, and launch when ready. Lieutenant T'Pri, you are free to join Commander Sheyla on this mission. Carry on, you two. Dismissed." Once he said that, Loewen then looked towards the engineering console, his gaze meeting Ken's as he gave the proud Samurai a slight nod. "Mister Kudo, you are Acting Number One while Commander Sheyla is away from the Bridge." The Vulcan and Andorian had already left the command deck.

"Aye, Sir," Kudo responded, perfectly fine with it. Why him and not Resch had him curious, but who was he to argue with his Captain.

Borelli spoke up. "We are at the designated coordinates, Captain. Bringing us to all stop."

"Excellent," Loewen said as he crossed the Bridge back to his chair and sat down. "Mister Resch, implement defensive shield bubble. Shunt power from the torpedo system to enhance the performance and distance."

"On it, Skipper," Resch acknowledged. The USS Capernum did as she had planned, using an extended shield bubble to protect a damaged section of M-69, and launching support craft to help defend that hole from incoming missile fire.

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