No Exit

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:04am by Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Nicholas Boucher & Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Alexandra Alves MD & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson & Ensign Emmanuelle Larose & Emilie Temple
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:44pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Pandora

ON:

With the Away mission in action, the Pandora was doing their part by leaving the area and removing their presence from Paradise. This was the only way to ensure the Federation could not be blamed for the uprising against the Breen on the station. It was likely the Confederacy would point the finger at Starfleet anyway, but just like the destruction of Deep Space 10, no proof of association would be found. The Pandora's recent stay on the Outpost would be merely coincidental.

Before that could happen, however, the Luna Class vessel would have to make it through the exclusion zone and dense traffic that surrounded the station. As they sailed away from Paradise, a Breen warship had slowly begun to follow them.

Having given Fick the order to fly as casually as possible out of the area, the fact that a Breen Warship had begun to follow them gave him the right, or wrong, thought that they knew what was happening on Paradise Station and that they intended to make sure that Luna Class Vessel either remained in their space or would drift out of it as debris.

Standing in the dead centre of the Bridge, Owen could feel the tension in the room. The plan was always tenuous at best and this new challenge didn't help matters. He could tell how Krys was feeling without even looking.

Krysia was sitting quietly, the sheer level of nervousness on the ship given their situation was understandable but it was hard to keep it from getting past her mental defences as time went on. Her hands kept rolling up into nervous fists as her eyes trained onto the viewscreen.

Lieutenant Fick looked back over his shoulder at Owen for a second time, from his position in the navigator's chair, his gaze nervous. He had never been sure if it was possible to tailgate in a starship, but he was sort of coming around to the idea that it was. The Breen warship trailing them was making him super nervous. He didn't like the Breen. They had a rather nasty reputation.

Lieutenant John Sandoval and Ensign Emmanuelle Larose made their way onto the bridge after returning from the Irokari ship. They managed to get briefed on the way up to Deck One and thus understood what was happening.

When they emerged onto the bridge, Emmanuelle noted Griffin's absence and went to stand at Tactical, ready to assist the relief officer there. John meanwhile approached Nash. "Sir. I have an idea."

"Ah John, good to have you back," Owen said with some positivity. "I'm open to ideas and suggestions if you have any, that doesn't require me taking the ship into a firefight unless it's completely unavoidable..." Knowing that John was a skilled diplomat, Owen looked forward to his idea.

Krysia walked around to where John was standing, they’d only worked together briefly so far but she was sure if anyone might have a good suggestion it would be him. She nodded politely as she stood alongside him.

"Over the past few days," John began, "we've made a lot more friends than we realize. The Irokari delegation. The families whose children we just returned. The Fesarian, Terrekal. Anyone loyal to Katya. I think they'd be willing to help. Not necessarily in a firefight, but in the political fight."

Owen nodded as he listened to John. "Go on," he said.

"The Breen are about to lose Paradise," John explained. "We're trying to escape without drawing attention to our role in this uprising, but surely the Pact will want to prevent others from learning that one of their members tried to take over a sovereign port. Other planets and outposts in the Expanse will resist any Pact overtures if word got out about what happened here." He shifted his stance, taking some weight off his bad leg. "Let me make some transmissions. Let's get the Irokari recording that we're being chased away by Breen warship. Have others record what's happening on the station. Have them record these images in an obvious way. They'll either need to admit terrible wrongdoing or slink away peacefully."

Owen stood fast for a moment. "Ok, that sounds like a plan," he agreed. "You make the calls, I'll try and make sure that there is still a starship in one piece for the recordings to view." Moving to the centre seat, Owen decided to start making a show of things.

"Very well, Ensign Larose, keep an eye on the Breen Warship. I'm taking us to Yellow Alert only at this time, however, have the defence systems on standby in case the Breen want to start talking to us. Lt Fick, continue on course out of the system at our current speed, make no change. Let's allow the Breen to bring the show to us if they feel they need to act," he said giving his first orders out.

Fick nodded. "Aye, Sir... they can just bring it to us." His fingers tapped out their movement on his console. Even though he was essentially in control of a giant starship, his calculations still had to be precise, not that it was hard to fly casually in a straight line away from the enemy. The trick was to not do anything that seemed unusual. The nerve-wracking part was who really knew what seemed unusual to a Breen.

“Aye, sir,” Emmanuelle answered. “Yellow alert. Weapons on standby. Will advise on any change in the Breen’s posture.”

Meanwhile, John moved to a console in the aft of the bridge and began searching sensor and subspace transceiver logs for the Irokari and anyone else who might be friendly.

Heading over to the Operations station where Chief McKay had taken up station, Owen pressed the comm button.

"Nash to Engineering, Lt Robinson, I'll need some fancy work from you and your team. We're about to be engaged by the Breen, but at the same time we have an away team that's going to need a fully functioning ship to return to," he explained.

Tag Robinson.

Owen selected a new channel to Sickbay before continuing. "Nash to Dr Alves, we're about to encounter a Breen Vessel, prepare for a potential casualty influx. I suspect they will want to disable us first and may wish to board us."

"Acknowledged, Commander." the doctor tapped her combadge and replied. "You heard it." she turned to the medical staff. "We should get sickbay ready as fast as possible." Another hectic day in the life of a Starfleet surgeon, she grinned. Hopefully, casualties will be minimal, but one wouldn't exactly except that case when dealing with the Breen. Sickbay suddenly came alive, with doctors and nurses buzzing around everywhere.

Finally, Owen tapped his combadge. "Nash to Lt Boucher, its time. Launch your fighters...discreetly and have them form a protective patrol around the Pandora as we leave the area. Nothing fancy, however, standby for some unfriendliness from our Breen neighbours..."

"Roger that, sir," Nick replied. He switched comms over to the squad. "Alpha, we are a go. Follow my lead and form up in a standard escort formation around the Pandora."

As he spoke, his hands flew over the controls, his Valkyrie lifting off smoothly from the deck as the others followed suit around him. The deck chief waved him forward and he slowly accelerated out of the shuttle bay and glided to a position that out him in between the Breen ship and the Pandora. The rest of his squad fanned out around the Luna-class vessel.

He opened comms back to the Pandora. "Alpha Lead to Pandora, Alpha Squad is in position."

With his orders given, Owen went back to the centre of the Bridge where he kept his view on the viewscreen, remaining steadfast as the ship prepared for the next move.

“Commander,” John called from the aft station, “I have Chief Rivain of the Irokari and Captain Loa of the freighter Kaliya, the uncle of those kids. Request to put them on screen.”

"Of course, go ahead," Owen agreed. He watched as the aft view showing the Breen Warship was replaced by Chief Rivain and Captain Loa.

Krysia had the urge to ask Loa how the children were, her own hormones were in motherly overdrive thanks to her pregnancy but she remained silent knowing now wasn’t the time to be asking.

"Chief Rivain, Captain Loa, I'm Commander Owen Nash of the USS Pandora, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with us," Owen began. "I also want to thank you for speaking with us once more, I'm fully aware that you have spent some time speaking with our Chief Diplomatic Officer, Mr Sandoval."

Chief Rivain nodded her feathered head, while Captain Loa, a large, orange-skinned and scaled individual, stared intently at John and Owen.

“I won’t mince words,” John began. “We need your help. The Breen threaten our ship. They’re not taking kindly to our exposing their secret takeover of Paradise.”

“We cannot fight the Breen for you,” Rivain said pointedly, “and we’ve given you much assistance already.”

Another being, one of a different species to Loa, stepped into the frame of the viewscreen, standing beside the Captain, whom John understood to be telepathic. “I speak for the Captain. We appreciate all you have done. You kept our children safe before bringing them to us. But we are not equipped to fight the Breen and live.”

“We’re not asking you to fight,” John assured them. “We would not ask that of you. Even more powerful than phasers in this fight are sensors. We ask that you point them at us and the Breen. At the situation inside Paradise. The Breen will soon be exposed for having tried to take over the station. Word will get out of what happened here. The more images of Breen soldiers and ships doing bad things to locals in the Expanse, the worse it will be for them.”

He stepped closer to the viewscreen. “They are already destabilizing Irokar, Chief Rivain. Captain Loa, if they get away with this, how much longer until your home planet is secretly taken over? Please. The more ships capture good sensor imagery of what’s happening, the sooner the Breen will leave peacefully, and the harder it will be for them to do this again.”

Owen joined John at his position in front of the viewscreen to further enhance their plea.

"Trust me when I say that Evidence will always speak louder than words. People have always seen moving images as more believable than the spoken word. Your sensor data, Your images that you capture can have a resounding effect on this area of space," he explained.

Pausing for a moment, Owen continued. "Think of it, you could drive the Breen out, deal them a crippling blow...without firing a shot..."

Captain Loa considered the words of these beings who had helped his family. He nodded and gave pointed looks to various crewmembers on his bridge. “We will do as you ask. If anything, the children would not forgive us if we did nothing to help the one called Krysia.”

Krysia couldn’t help but smile as she looked across at Owen. It was nice to know the children had mentioned her.

Rivain considered as well. “We owe you nothing. Balance has been served. But your plan has merit and can help our world, too. Captain!” she called to the Tellarite CO, “focus sensors on the Pandora and the Breen ships. Maximum resolution. I’ll pay for the records.”

Both images came off the viewscreen. “Commander,” called Emmanuelle from the tactical station, “I am reading power being diverted to sensors on both ships.”

Owen nodded as he heard the confirmation from Larose. Turning to John, Owen smiled. "Nice plan, now that we have their sensors focusing on us, they'll pick up all of the actions that the Breen take.

As the Pandora increased her range from Paradise station, a second Breen Warship began to alter course and slowly, almost labouringly, make its way towards the Luna Class Starship. Chief McKay looked up from the Ops Station. "Captain, sensors have picked up a second Breen Warship breaking off from its original position," he reported. "It's headed towards us at very low impulse."

Owen walked over to the Ops station and checked the sensors. McKay's report was correct and made things more difficult for them. Owen pressed the comm button and secured it to the Fighter Squadron. "Pandora to Alpha Lead, we've picked up a second unfriendly, be aware," Owen explained.

"Roger that, sir" Nick replied having seen the ship breaking off its orbit. He switched comms to the squad frequency. "Alpha, loosen formation a bit. We have a second unfriendly incoming. Keep weapons powered down, but be ready to engage."

Aboard the Breen Warship that was closest to the Pandora, the Commanding Officer ordered helm to close to within firing range of the Luna Class starship, making its intentions clear. To make its intentions even clearer, the Warship powered up its forward disruptor array and locked targets on the Starfleet vessel.

"HEY! Hey!" Fick yelped. "That Breen ship is hot!"

Owen spun around and issues his orders to Larose. "Raise Shields Ensign, bring weapons to Standby," he said before pausing. "Hold your fire until the Breen fire the first shot. If they want a firefight then they can start it."

“Shields up, aye,” Emmanuelle answered. “Phasers and torpedo launchers on standby.”

As if on cue, The lead Breen Warship opened fire on the Pandora, sending several shots across the bow of the Luna Class Starship. various alarms and warnings sounded out across the Bridge as the sensors detected the incoming fire from the lead vessel. Owen managed to get to the Command chair and get seated before things got too bumpy.

Krysia stumbled as the ride got bumpy. She was grateful she had been standing near Sandoval as he offered a stabilising hand to stop her falling. She wasn't expecting the ship to come under fire, not that anyone else was either! The question was what was going to happen now?

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Nick shouted over the comms to the rest of the squad. They all scrambled to avoid the enemy fire and he switched comms to the Pandora. "This is Alpha, are we weapons hot? We can hit the second Breen ship to keep them busy."

“Same question, Commander,” Emmanuelle added. “Are we weapons-free?”

“Commander,” John said to the XO, “wait another moment. Wait until we’re in serious trouble. If we need to fire, we need for the images the other ships are capturing to see us as defending ourselves. A strafing run by fighters doesn’t look like that until we’re really obviously in danger.”

Fick's fingers were flying over his console as he tried to avoid incoming fire from the Breen ship. He was calculating in his head so fast that he wasn't having much luck communicating, the computations sucking up his verbal skills. He kept the Pandora moving as much as possible. It was much harder to hit a moving target, even if the enemy did have energy dissipators. It could be disastrous if they actually managed to hit the ship with one, they would be dead in the proverbial water.

Owen looked at John for a moment and nodded. "Agreed, the better the show, the better the evidence," Owen said. Pressing the secure channel to Boucher, Owen gave his orders. "Pandora to Alpha Lead, remain on weapons standby. Do not engage, continue on evasive manoeuvres under ordered otherwise," he responded.

Looking over at Larose, Owen made himself clear. "Ensign, all weapons to remain on standby. Divert Shield power where necessary, Ops can make sure that the Shield can be shored up with Auxiliary power where needed," he explained. It was imperative that the Breen showed as the dominant power in this skirmish.

In sickbay, the staff felt the whole deck shaking as the Breen took the first shot at the Pandora. Soon afterwards, the first injured started to arrive. Alexandra handled the department like a good conductor would handle an orchestra. "Doctor, take these two to the exam room in the back." she ordered. "Nurse, we need a full cranial scan at biobed 3." Veronica must be at school at this hour, she thought. She decided to give them a call, to make sure she's alright, whenever she'll have a minute. However, the situation didn't exactly look like that.

Aeryn was busy with her duties in Sickbay too, helping to triage some of the incoming patients as they slowly started trickling into Sickbay. It was easier to keep her mind on the job rather than worrying about what was going on outside.

As The lead Breen Warship intensified its weapons fire on the Pandora, the second Breen Warship started to close in as well. As the Luna Class starship was trying to evade the fire from its sister ship, the secondary Warship opened fire on the aft section, scoring a direct hit on the secondary hull. The Commander on board the second Warship started to see a gap opening up in the evasive manoeuvres that both the starship and its support fighters were using. It fired a second shot that managed to score a hit just above the huge clamshell shuttle bay doors.

The lead Warship continued to try and urge the Pandora back towards Paradise Station where there were more ships in the area. The Commander was looking to try and use the surrounding queues to the Station as a way to get Pandora to mark other vessels and possibly damage them. His ship managed to score two hits on the main hull of the Luna Class, causing it to lurch under the impacts.

Owen held on as the Pandora took several hits, feeling the Bridge shake in several patterns as the Breen continued their assault. "Everyone hold on, its going to be rocky for a little while longer. Divert Aux power to Shields as necessary!" he yelled above the din.

"Commander," Emmanuelle said from Tactical, "someone is transmitting something across all frequencies. It's being bounced around so neither we nor the Breen can trace its origins. But it appears to be...a recording of the Pandora being fired upon."

Owen looked over at John and smiled as he realised that his colleague's plan had worked. Now the various ships in the vicinity were seeing a Federation Starship being fired upon by two different Breen Warships, with the Pandora trying to make a run for it. Owen moved over to the Tactical Station, trying to hold on to something secure as he made his way there during the further barrages from both Breen ships.

"Status of Shields, Ensign?" he asked Larose.

"Holding at 61%," she replied.

"Very well, we'll hold off for two more minutes and then we're going to have to start returning fire, or there won't be a ship left for the Away Team to return to," Owen explained. Looking over at the Helm, he could see Fick working hard to try and stay out of the Breen's fire arcs.

"Mr Fick, keep up the good work, do everything you can to stay out of the way of those Breen ships," he ordered. "We'll be fighting back soon."

Fick was trying his hardest to keep out of the way of the Breen weapons, but the Pandora was a large ship, she took a moment to move. Not that she couldn't be fast, but small, subtle, quick movements with her were out of the question. He did his best, not able to respond verbally, but he nodded.

Nick and Alpha Squad Jules and banked frantically. The Pandora could soak up a few shots, the Valkyries they were flying significantly less so. They kept up a screen to help make targetting the Pandora more difficult, but we're careful to avoid the fire themselves.

When the Breen started to engage the Pandora and the Irokari began broadcasting the event, the thick band of traffic which had surrounded Paradise quickly dispersed. Scared by the battle nearby and the events unfolding on the Outpost, many ships started peeling off and retreating to a safer distance. Few were brave enough to stick around when the Federation and the Confederacy went to war.

However, there was one small ship, no bigger than a scout, which headed towards the Pandora and Warships. The small craft started buzzing around the second Breen ship like a petulant pest. At first, the Breen tried to ignore the ship but soon was given no choice but to break off their pursuit of the Pandora and try to engage the scout. As they fired upon the interloper, this information was likewise broadcast throughout the region to every ship within frequency distance. The scout exploded in a brief fireball as the Breen delivered a fatal blow.

"Alpha, that's our cue, break into pairs, strafing run on that cruiser," Nick barked over the comms. The plan and non-interventionism aside, seeing a civilian ship go up in flames was where he drew the line- better to ask forgiveness in this situation than permission. He banked toward the cruise that had fired the fatal shit, Redran on his starboard wing, the rest of the squad fanning out for their own attack runs. He sighted on the Breen's port shields and opened fire.

The attack on one of their own was enough to call the others into action. One by one, more of the ships turned around and headed towards the Breen. They were traders, travellers, civilians from all around the Expanse. Their ships were not made to fight the Breen. But through their sheer numbers and small size, they were able to disrupt both Warships, continuing to swirl around them like a nest of angry hornets stirred up by the Confederacy’s aggression. The rebellion had spread.

Owen watched on the viewscreen as the civilian ships started to attack the Breen Warships. He could already see that the fighter squadron were starting to go on the offensive and he decided to let Boucher have his moment. Looking over at Larose, Owen nodded.

"Ensign, feel free to go weapons hot and hand out some defensive fire, nothing fancy," Owen ordered. "It looks like we started a Rebellion."

“Indeed,” John observed.

“Phasers are online,” Emmanuelle reported. “Targeting Breen shields and weapons systems. Firing now.” On the viewscreen, the crew saw multiple phaser beams lance from the Pandora and strike the shields of one of the enemy ships. “Direct hit. They’re shields are weakening.”

Alpha Squad danced among the civilian ships who had taken up arms against the Breen. For the most part, the freighters were a mere nuisance, but the Valkyries were able to hit that much harder as they concentrated their fire on the Breen's port side. Sensors were indicating the shields were weakening when the cruisers began to peel off.

Finally, the two warships were forced from the area, calling off their attack on the Pandora and retreating from Paradise.

Alpha Squad reformed on the Pandora.

John Sandoval smiled widely as the Breen were driven off. Though a ship was tragically destroyed, the Breen had been driven off by the civilian population of Paradise coming together in defiance of those who wanted to rule them. That the imagery of the Breen firing on a Starfleet vessel and destroying innocent civilians, with Starfleet fighters only engaging defensively after civilians had been killed. Though he was concerned for the future of the Irokari, he was glad that Rivain stood up to the Breen today. Hopefully, that meant her people would stand up to them again. "Looks like it's over, Commander," he said to the XO.

Owen sat back for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief. "It certainly does," Owen agreed. Standing up and doing a slow 360-degree turn, he looked around the Bridge. "Good job everyone, bloody fine job. Now, Mr Fick lets head to the rendezvous point and meet up with the Away Team."

Looking over at John, Owen smiled. "Could you convey our gratification to Chief Rivain and Captain Loa for their assistance?" he asked carefully. Without their help, the civilian ships would not have joined in and there would not be clear evidence now of Civilian ships being able to on Breen Warships.

"Yes, sir." John slowly walked to the aft bridge station where he'd sat before. On his way, he smiled at Emmanuelle and pointed to his station, which she correctly interpreted as an order to reacquire Rivain and Loa and send them to his monitor.

Krysia breathed a sigh of relief as she smiled at Owen. Moving around to take a free seat she couldn’t wait to have them away team back on board so she could see her husband-to-be again, it felt like forever since she’d seen him. Now she just wanted to know he was safe.

OFF