Book of Engagements

[Guest aramike01]

I was thinking that we could all post a brief story of our conquests within the BC universe, real or fiction. So, everyone's invited (GALCOM or Insurgent), and let's see what tales our war scars have to tell! Slowly, he climbed out of bed, silently hoping to have a slow day. His ship, the Intrepid, was in the middle of a rough patrol. Everyday this week the crew found themselves fighting off GALCOM patrols. Hell, one of the Galcommies had gotten in a few good licks, so much as to force the Intrepid's crew to have to play ball manually. Not only was the TACOPS computer destroyed, but so was the Logistix computer, forcing the ship's engineers to go places that no human was supposed to go.

Kristophers reached the bridge in good time. He found his crew busily attending to their stations, as each one had just reported for the first duty shift of the day. He could hear his chief engineer in the backround, muttering many a profane word at the computer console before him. Kristophers decided to ignore him, lest he be forced to hear the officer's daily complaint ritual, and he edged into his command chair.

It didn't take long, this morning. Within minutes he heard a junior officer calmly report a contact coming through the nearest wormhole, about 10,000,000 kilometers ahead of the Intrepid's position. "Sir, looks to be a GALCOM cruiser, but I can't be sure of that. 'puter's too fried."

"Okay, then. More of the same," Kristophers spoke aloud, thinking that too much of the same when it comes to GALCOM cruisers, will get an Insurgent ship VERY dead. "Adjust course to intercept. I think we should take the initiative on this one, before they find us and give chase across the galaxy." It was almost as though he were explaining his actions to his crew, which was unnecessary. But, with three of his crew dead, and fifteen wounded, Kristophers felt his crew deserved an explanation.

"Sir!" the junior officer began, with a bit of excitement and too much false-drama, "Incoming fighters! We have incoming!"

"Launch interceptors!" the combat officer called, not waiting for Kristophers' approval. She watched her monitor as each green interceptor bay status lamp turned red. "Interceptors launched, en route to target."

The Intrepid's commander nodded an affirmative, watching the large viewer at the forefront of the bridge. Suddenly, out of nowhere, large flashes of flame and smoke engulfed each of his fighters.

"What the hell!? What the hell happened? Report!"

"All fighters destroy, I don't know why! They weren't even within range. Wait, wait..."

Just as she spoke, a large Gammulan transport decloaked, just meters away from the Insurgent cruiser. It decloaked, then it died.

"Open fire, kill that piece!" Kristophers demanded. His crew needed no prodding as the IOD cannon tore the transport into small molecules.

"Uhhh, jump anamoly forming to port! Incoming GALCOM cruiser!"

Kristophers jumped. Damn, that was fast, he thought, as his ship began rocking under the impact of the cruiser's IOD charges.

"Designate target, FATAL. Set rails to Vagrants, and bring us to bear."

The crew responded instantly, the Intrepid turning as fast as a damaged Battlecruiser could. They listened as three Vagrant missiles left their launch rails with a loud "whoosh" sound.

"Two impacts, sir. Third missed. That Galcommie activated his E-jammer," said a calm combat officer. "Damn! Two missiles incoming, Vagrant-type. They got us, sir!"

The Intrepid rolled heavily under the impact. A fireball ripped through S-Deck, killing six crew members instantly. Almost all systems went offline; all sensors, the main viewer, weapons control, reactor, pretty much everything.

A young crew member on the bridge, barely 17 years old, began sobbing as the realization that they couldn't fight hit him. The Intrepid was effectively dead.

"Damage report!" Kristophers ordered.

"Sir," the engineer began, "I can't give you one. All diagnostics systems are down. I do know that we've lost weapons and the reactor. I can't give specifics, heading to engineering now."

Kristophers thought silently for what seemed like minutes. In reality, it was only a few seconds. "Anna," he began, calling to his combat officer. "Can we eject a Vagrant out of the missile tubes?"

"Sure, but we'd have to do it manually. Not sure how...wait! We can compress the tubes then crank open the outer doors!"

"Okay, arm three Vagrants and standby. Also, compress all starboard missile rail tubes, and standby to open the outer doors."

"Understood!"

The combat officer when to work, issuing the orders as fast as she had received them. "Ready, sir!"

"Standby to open outer doors of empty missile tubes in three...two...one...NOW!"

The compressed air rocketed away from the ship, forcing the Intrepid to turn hard to port.

"Arm missiles!"

"Vagrants armed," the combat officer shouted.

"Open doors...NOW!"

The missiles exited the tube quickly, but not with much speed. They were armed to explode on impact, but the engines would not fire as the crew were unable to activate the missiles' computers. Kristophers hoped he had judged the position of his enemy accurately.

A minute passed, and nothing happened. The crew was getting worried. The officers knew better, though. The Galcommies were preparing to board the obviously disabled Insurgent vessel.

Another small moment, and...

The Interpid quite literally did a back flip, forcing the crew first to the ceiling, and then the floor. "We got him!" an unknown crewman yelped.

"Maybe," Kristophers replied. "Standby to launch a shuttle for confirmation. That is, if we can."

Several minutes later, the shuttle confirmed the destruction of their foe. Now, the Intrepid just had to make it home.

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Cmdr. Michael Kristophers

Spectre Fleet

Commanding Officer, Spectre StarStation

ICV-Intrepid

"You won't get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole!"