Battle of Hesiod Blue

Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2020 @ 4:34am by Ignatius & Raven Mattel & Lieutenant Nicholas Boucher & Petty Officer 2nd Class Zo & Terrekal
Edited on on Sat Jul 18th, 2020 @ 4:35am

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Hesiod Region

ON:


[Hesiod Space]


The Talarians had wasted no time in spreading out their three fighters to look for the Federation vessels which they had tracked to this region. One ship was in orbit of Hesiod Green, trying to find some answers through that planet's thick, volatile atmosphere; the second ship was attempting to retrace the warp signals they had detected in the hopes of finding a ship in the region; while the third and lead fighter was now en-route directly to Hesiod Blue. Little did they know that the Pandora had established a base camp on Hesiod Blue with four Valkyries of their own, and who were at that very moment scrambling to meet the Talarian threat head-on.



Nick's fighter rose steadily through the atmosphere of Hesiod Blue, Redran's at his wing. Alphas Three and Four held station above Blue waiting for them. They all wasted no time forming up as soon as Nick and Redran hit open space. A quick scan gave Nick a full picture of what was going on. He'd try to play this diplomatically, but if it came to a fight, the Talarians had actually made his job easier by splitting up. As it stood, Alpha was running weapons cold.



"Talarian fighters, " he started over the comm. "This is Alpha Squadron, Starfeet. Please be advised we are currently on a rescue mission and offer no threat. We have a downed shuttle and crew on Hesiod Blue and are currently affecting repairs before we can depart."



[Planet surface]


Terrekal sat on the makeshift bar in the "tentina" with his hands in his lap, sad that the bottle of green Saurian brandy next to him happened to be synthehol, and now bummed the good-looking flyboys, one of whom seemed interested in Terrekal's advances, were now up in the sky while the ragtag group of colorful misfits just stood around with nothing to do but panic, or get drunk.



"What are you doing?" Terrekal said to Petty Officer Zo, the nice blond and unfortunately straight Engineering Officer who looked to be putting metal sticks around the perimeter.



Zo looked up from the nearest stick... staff... whatever. Terrekal had no idea what it was.



"I'm setting a perimeter shield. So in the very highly unlikely event that phaser fire somehow reaches us, it'll just bounce off," said the gorgeously hetero Ba'ku.



"Will it work?" Terrekal asked.



Zo looked up again. He'd been trying to monitor the comms while he set up the shield. "What? Oh, yes... yes, they will. Now hush!" Zo moved along, listening intently to the comm traffic. He only had a small amount of time to set up the shield before he needed to return to the shuttle to monitor any action going on in the sky above.



Terrekal, feeling useless (who brings a martini shaker to a phaser fight?), shrugged and looked over to see what Ignatius and Raven had been doing.



Ignatius was busy grabbing palm leaves off the ground. Raven stood nearby, arms crossed, shaking her head. 



"What do you think that will achieve, Iggy?" She asked with a bemused smirk.



"Camouflage!" Ignatius replied huffily. "We can disguise the tents so the Talarian can't see us!"



"Honey, they'll have sensors." Raven giggled, shaking her head. 



Terrekal shrugged and started picking up palm leaves as well. "Maybe they'll think we're tree people and leave us alone?" Having piloted a ship of his own for a number of years, he knew this was ridiculous. But he approved of Ignatius finding something to do while the racket in the sky went on. Picking up leaves seemed like the best idea.



"Thank you, Terrekal!" Ignatius cried pointedly as the Fesarian started to help. He was starting to appreciate the man's presence, despite initially being hesitant about Terrekal joining the mission. But the former trader was proving to be the circuit breaker between the two old friends. "At least someone is being productive!" 



"Oh I'm working my ass off here." Raven sighed, "I'm using all my energy to send out positive thoughts to the universe. Maybe I can wish the Talarians away?"



Ignatius replied, but it was a low mutter and likely offensive. 



Looking for conversation, Terrekal said, "What do you suppose the Pandora is doing on the other planet?"



"Probably having a grand old time." Ignatius snorted, "They're with their research buddies, getting all scientific, discovering the meaning of the universe and patting themselves on the back for being so smart." He huffed as he lifted up some palm leaves and tried to lay them over the top of the tent. They promptly fell off.



Terrekal stooped down and picked up the leaves and tried to toss them over the tent. They fell down the other side. "What do you think the meaning of the universe is, Ig?" he asked.



"Good clothes and cocktails." Ignatius replied, only half joking. He was starting to wonder if they could bind the leaves together somehow. "What if we interlaced the palms, made like a blanket instead?" He held the leaves in his hand, testing its flexibility. "I've worked with better materials. And worse."



Raven sighed and looked up to the dark sky. There wasn't much to see except a few stars in the distance, and the purple hue of a dark matter storm. She wondered if they'd even see an attack coming. 


She looked to the two men messing about with palm leaves. The next sentence fell out of her mouth all too easily, but she meant every word.

"I think we should make a run for it." Raven stated. 



[Hesiod Space]


The Talarian fighters separated and started to pursue the Federation warp signatures they had detected. Captain Gavar had taken his shuttle directly towards the first of the region's two planets. They were quickly on the path of a Federation Luna Class vessel, that much was clear, but where that ship was presently, they couldn't answer. But the Hesiod region was small and Gavar believed the hunt would not take long. 



As he stared out of the cockpit window at the planet they were approaching, Gavar's top lip curled up, "It is so... bleak." 



Before them came Hesiod Green, with it's swirling, dark green atmosphere. 



"This is where the vessel was last detected." Nirden explained, as he too looked out to the planet with disgust and amazement. 



"No other signs?" Gavar asked in disbelief. 



"Those signatures are older." Nirden shrugged to his superior, "The ship stopped here." 



Gavar let out a snarl, "Typical human foolishness. No Talarian would be stupid enough to come to this revolting world." 



"We can't detect anything from the surface." Nirden added, "We cannot tell if they are down there." 



"Down there?!" Gavar scoffed loudly, "While it would be no loss to the universe if they had perished, no Captain would knowingly send their crew to such a certain death. This must be a trick." Nirden could only nod in agreement. "Take the ship to the other planet, the Federation must be there!" 



The fighter made a sharp turn and headed off towards Hesiod Blue. 



[Planet surface]



Terrekal looked up in shock. "Oh no, honey, we need to stay here! Officer Zo will protect us! Besides, why would they want to attack us down here? Talarians may be dumb but they're not stupid!"



Raven shrugged defensively, "We can take the shuttle." She said, pointing towards the runabout nearby, "While they're distracted, we fly out of here. Try to get back to Paradise. Or Federation space?"



"It would take you forever to get out of the Expanse," said Zo, who had overheard the conversation. "Plus, you'd never find your way through all that dark matter everywhere. And trust me, you don't want to go back to Paradise in a Starfleet runabout."



Terrekal nodded. "And what about the Talarians? They could shoot us down if we try to escape." He took Raven's hand, "Raven, you know I love you girl. But you're talking crazy talk. Let's go have a drink."



Raven gave a deep sigh, "I didn't sign up for this! I wanted to wear roller-skates and mini skirts and lip sync to hot synth tracks. This - " She indicated around to the farce of a situation as Ignatius was attempting to weave palm leaves together, "- Is the opposite of that."



"Too late now, girl," Ignatius said plainly, his focus on trying to wrap to throngs around each other. "We're here, we're stuck, we've got nowhere to go. Zo and Terrekal are right, taking the shuttle is a death wish waiting to happen." 



"So is sitting here!" She replied, "At least we have weapons on the shuttle, right? We can fight back?" She looked to Terrekal, her hand still in his, "What if Boucher's ships can't handle them?"



Zo smiled. "If Boucher and his fighters can't handle them, we don't stand a chance in a dinky shuttle," he said. "But if you want to monitor the battle, I can hook us up to the shuttle's comm links and we can listen in on what's happening. Will that make you feel better?"



Raven sighed heavily, nodding, "Yes please." 



[Hesiod Space]


Nick let the silence sit for a few moments before switching to his encrypted intrasquad comm channel. "Shields up, weapons hot but do not target the enemy."



He got three clicks in the affirmative from the rest of Alpha and switched back to his open channel. "Talarian fighters, I repeat, we are on a rescue operation. Please stand down, we are not hostile."



In his cockpit, Gavar snorted. He pressed his comms button to reply, "This is Commodore Gavar of the Talarian Republic! You are in violation of Alrakis sovereignty. Your actions are inherently hostile." 



Nick was starting to get the distinct feeling that his attempts at a ruse were not going to work here, but he owed it to everyone else to at least keep trying the diplomatic route first.



"Commodore Gavar, sir, our shuttle was downed trying to withdraw from the Expanse," he stated. "We are currently affecting repairs and will be on our way shortly. We have no desire to start an interstellar incident here. Surely a diplomatic solution would be best in this situation?"



The Talarians huffed. Gavar paused the transmission and looked to Nirden. "Scans?"



"Federation personnel on planet's surface, Commodore. A base with temporary structures. No signs of a ship crash or impact crater on surface. No debris detected." Nirden explained. "They are lying."



"Indeed. These small craft could not have travelled here alone. The larger vessel must be around." Gavar replied. He re-instated comms to the lead Starfleet ship. "You are lying to us, human. You have disembarked from a Luna Class ship, we have tracked your warp signatures to this location. I believe you are attempting to stage a surprise attack."



Nick grinned and shrugged, even though he knew the Talarian couldn't see him as their connection was audio only. He wasn't a very deceptive person, as he'd reached the limits of his skills. "To be honest, I was more trying to stall you than anything else."



"Enough!" Gavar cried, slamming his fist onto his arm rest and ending the transmission suddenly. He started angrily stabbing his finger at his console. "Raise shields and target the lead vessel. We will force them to reveal their treachery!"



Nick's instruments lit up with a target lock from the Talarian vessel. "Alpha, break and engage."



He snaprolled to port, pulled the nose of his fighter up and punched the impulse engines in a sudden move to try to break the target lock. The entire time, he spoke to his squad. "They're tougher than us, but they've spread themselves out nicely. Focus on the lead vessel, maybe we can scare them off."



The three other Valkyries in Alpha Squadron opened up on the Talarian fighter.



Gavar chuckled as the first few rounds impacted on his shields, shaking his ship. He gleefully tapped away at his control panel, "Send a message to High Command. We have engaged the Federation in battle!"



The Talarian fighters quickly fell into a single line formation, Gavar's ship up front. They weren't particularly aerodynamic ships; they couldn't glide through space like the Starfleet fighters, but they could pack a punch. Gavar barrelled straight towards Boucher's vessel, unloading a barrage of phaser fire from his twin cannons. No sooner had his ship passed over, than the second Talarian followed through with the same tactic, unleashing full weapons onto the Valkyrie. 



Nick was jarred as his fighter was rocked by several shots that glanced off his shields. He made a quick note of his remaining shield strength and shuddered to think what a direct hit would have done. He kept juking and rolling, trying to keep his fighter out of their sights.



"Three, four, try and draw fire from the second fighter," he ordered. "Two, as long as they're focused on me, keep hitting them and I'll try to come around."



He got affirmatives from everyone in the squad. Two of the Valkyries cut across the second Talarian fighter, trying to pull its focus away. Redran, in Alpha Two, continued to hammer away at the lead Talarian fighter, while Nick diverted power into rear shields and tried to create some separation between himself and the Talarians.



"Swarming insects!" Gavar cried from his cockpit. "Show them what our friends in the Pact have given us." 



As the two Talarian fighters came around again, the second ship accelerated slightly and fell into position in front of Gavar. They unleashed another round of phaser fire at first, however as the two ships approached, a compartment underneath the lead ship opened up. From within came a heavy canon, Tzenkethi in design. Immediately, it fired a blazing protomatter beam at one of the Valkyries, the kinetic and radiating energy scorching the space it was cutting across. 



[Planet Surface]



The gang crowded into the small shuttle, everyone letting Officer Zo to take the lead with the computer. Raven stood pensively nearby, her body tense as it expected something bad to happen at any moment.
Ignatius was still holding a palm leaf for some unknown reason, as camouflaging the shuttle was his only good idea and he was sticking to it. 



Raven looked to him and frowned, "At least the shuttle has shields, right?" 



Ignatius smiled slightly, "It does. I'm sorry for bringing you here, Raven. I shouldn't have forced you to come." 



Raven bowed her head, and replied gently, "You didn't." Ignatius nodded at that as he reached out, the two friends holding hands for a moment.



Terrekal turned to look at Raven. While the fighting was still out in space, the tension and high emotion in the small shuttle was getting to him as well. He stood and moved to the other side of Raven. "I'm glad you wanted me to come along, Raven. I'd rather be here with all of you than alone in those cramped quarters they put me in."


Raven took in the words with a faint smile. "Whatever happens. We have each other now." She reached out and put a warm hand on Terrekal's shoulder. "Thank you for not letting my fear get the best of me, Terrekal. You're a good friend."


"I'm glad you're here too," said Zo, looking up from his console. "But things haven't turned hopeless yet."


An alarming beeping noise came from the shuttle's computer, breaking into the moment with sharp intention.


“Look!” Raven cried, pointing to the screen. 



[Hesiod Space]



The Talarian deploy its weapon against the Starfleet fighter, the deadly beam cutting through space and burning into the Valkyrie. It was a critical hit, sending the ship careening out of formation with shields offline.
The pilot managed to stabilise enough to get out of firing range, and thankfully was able to prevent their craft from sustaining a lethal blow. However, they were out of the fight for now. 



“One down!” Gavar cried, pumping his fist. 
"Fire it up for another hit!"

The Talarian ships manoeuvred around again, repeating the same attack pattern as before. The Valkyries were ready this time, splitting their formation into rotating orbits, each firing off a volley of phasers at the Talarians. Their strikes were true and managed to cause the enemy ships to break off from their run.

"Come around again!" Gavar ordered into his comms system. "They will not be so lucky this time."

The Talarians made a gliding turn in unison, swinging their crafts around quickly and managing to get behind Boucher's lead ship. Gavar's warrior heart beat rapidly with anticipation as he could see his prey before him and he was ready to deal out the lethal blow. The fighters stayed tight on the Valkyries, trailing behind them and maintaining a weapons lock on the rear of Boucher's craft. Gavar smiled at the thought of impending victory.

"FIRE!" Gavar cried out.

Next to him, the Protomatter Cannon on the modified Talarian fighter glowed with energy, building in size as it prepared to fire. However, that glow only continued to get brighter and hotter. Soon sparks were firing from the canon, the energy building and building without release. It was overloading to a lethal level. In a matter of moments, the cannon exploded - sending a bawl of matter energy ripping through the Talarian fighter and causing it to explode into a blue fireball. The ship was immediately engulfed, killing those onboard. Gavar and the other Talarians felt the shockwave of energy hit their own ships, as they were forced to suddenly evade the explosion. They received critical damage to their own shields and hull in the disaster.

"Cursed Tzenkethi technology!" Gavar screamed, pounding his fist into his console. "We should never have trusted those damn reptiles! Sevros was right."

Nirden managed to stable their ship as he read the damage report. "We have taken considerable damage, sir. We are at a disadvantage now."

Gavar sank a little into his chair. One moment ago he was on the precipice of victory, but now they were broken and couldn't fight on. He had long wanted to take on the Federation and win, he felt for sure this would have been his day of glory. He would have to return to the Republic - as a failure. He growled his response to his second, "Break off attack and return to our territory."

Nirden didn't waste any time giving the orders to the other Talarian ships and they quickly responded, powering down their weapons and making a clear manoeuvre away from Hesiod Blue.

Gavar hailed Boucher one last time, "We will be back, Starfleet." He threatened, before turning off his comms. The fighters streamed away.

[Hesiod Blue]

On the surface, the people watching the battle erupted into cheers and celebrations as it was announced the Talarians were retreating. Raven screamed the loudest, feeling the anxiety and fear wash away as the enemy disappeared off the scanners. Ignatius waved his palm fronds in the air with enthusiasm, waving them around like some kind of fan dance, while there were hugs and happy tears from the rest of the crew.

"This calls for a party!" Ignatius cried out, looking eagerly to Terrekal and Raven. "As soon as those flyboys land, we're having a blow out!"

The team on Hesiod Blue could celebrate, for now. The Valkyries had repelled the Talarian threat and the ground crew had managed to support each other to see it through. It didn't mean they were entirely safe, of course, but for now the danger had passed.

OFF