Break On Through

Posted on Saturday August 2nd, 2025 @ 12:13pm by Commander Cael Maz

1,007 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Chapter 1: Into the Unknown
Location: USS NORMANDY
Timeline: 241207.06

"My God, what have they done?" Cael said as he watched the explosion from his view screen. "Cover that ship!" he said watched the gate absorb the Titan, a Romulan transport ship carrying the last two thousand or so freed beings that refused to join up with the Galactic Alliance.

=()= It's over, surrender now, Cael, and all this can be a thing of the past. =()= came a female voice over the speakers. It was a voice he knew all too well.

=/\= Not on your life, Sis. Don't make me put you down. Not like this. =/\= Cael said in response as he tapped his chairs console.

He turned to Delhashi, "Once we get the fighters through, we need to gate and target the receiving end. They must NOT follow us at any cost." He then stood as the ship rocked from another volley of fire, "I am going to take helm," he said pointing to the seat nearby that had recently lost its helms' woman.

"Aye sir." Del agreed. He had only just inherited this position. Familiar with battle however the situation was easy enough to adapt to.

"If I may make a suggestion, we can drop a few torpedoes on this side with timers and once through drop more on the other side with the same timer. Once we're clear, they go off, destabilizing the event horizon. That should cause a cascading failure in the established wormhole." Thomas said from the tactical station. He had held on tight when the ship had shook with the impacts from the incoming fire. His one handheld tight to the consoles top edge while his other typed commands. "How long will it take to get to the other side, Sir?" He asked.

"That's the problem, we don't know, Mister Zang. I like the idea, but this gate has never been explored until now. How many torpedoes do we have left anyway?" Cael said as he pushed the dead body out of the seat and took over the controls. "Hard left, hang on!" He said as he banked the ship to avoid some cannons from the whatever-you-wanna-call-it hodgepodge of a ship. "Fucking Section Thirty-One bullshit." he said as it glanced their shields, rocking the ship.

Thomas pulled up the torpedo manifest. As the data appeared on his screen, he had to grab the console tightly as the ship lurched. He barely kept his feet and avoided being thrown to the deck and across the bridge. He straightened himself and scanned the information. "We have about 12 normal torpedoes and six transphasic torpedoes Sir.

Delhashi gritted his teeth as the ship jerked violently, his grip on the edge of his console tightening to keep from being thrown. The chaotic alerts from his station blared in tandem with the distant rumble of strained bulkheads. His voice, calm but steely, cut through the din as he quickly assessed the situation and responded to Cael.

"Sir, they don’t intend for us to make it out of this alive," Delhashi said without looking up, his eyes glued to his monitor while his fingers danced across the keys. “Section Thirty-One’s made it personal. That volley was coordinated to herd us—but I’d wager they weren’t expecting a Titan-class to be this hard to kill. If Mister Zang’s plan with the torpedoes fails, I suggest we start looking at alternate options—or get comfortable with the idea of martyrdom.

Delhashi’s hands moved faster than his own thoughts, programming calculations and defensive spreads with precision honed from years in combat. “Fighters are halfway there, sir. I’ve got them running suppression patterns to keep the enemy off their tails—but they’ll need cover once we’re through the gate.”

"Is there any word yet on the tight beams from the Titan?" Cael asked as his fingers danced across the console of the Nova class ship's beautifully updated LCARS. "If we can get anything from that side of the gate as to what to expect then we can prepare for anything on this side."

"Just static so far, I'm trying to adjust the frequency to compensate for the interference of the ionized gate." Delhashi responded.

Cael tapped the console, =/\= Mr. MacArthur, how we looking? =/\= he said reaching out into secured channels to one of his fighter pilots.

Over some music that had been playing in the fighter, Cormac responded=/\= Uhhh, Sir, we are about eighty percent through the gate. We are, uhhh circling the drain sir. =/\=

Cael pushed the limits on the beaten and battered ship as he pulled a quick one eighty in less than seven seconds. =/\= You have two minutes, then we follow. =/\=

=/\= Aye sir. =/\=

=()= Brother, Maz, this is your last chance to operate. Don't make me kill you. =()=

Cael frowned, =/\= You just don't want to have to explain to mom and dad why you betrayed Starfleet. Oh wait, YOU JUST FUCKING KILLED THEM! =/\= he said shouting into the console.

There was silence on the bridge other than the sound of the crackling of the damage the ship was undertaking. A few seconds later, the firing from the lead vessel stopped.

Cael raised his hand, "Now, fire all we got on that ship. Aim to disable." He said pointing to the one that had stopped firing.

Thomas fired all phasers in a sustained stream and a barrage of standard torpedoes at the ship, the phasers targeted at the nacelles while the torpedoes streaked towards the enemy's ship's weapon systems. "I have enough torpedoes left to attempt the tactic I suggested. We can deploy them right before we enter the gate, but I can drop a few a bit further out to act as mines. Just give the word Sir, and we can have them prepped." He said to Cael.

"Make it work, Mister Zang." Cael said as he turned the ship toward the gate and hit full impulse. He didn't care to see what would become of his sister. All he knew is it might have bought them enough time to gate through.

 

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