This sin't long at all, and has nothing to do with my other projects. But, enjoy...
Random Encounter
The IKS Gro’mokh slid silently through the cold black. Her engines were nearly dead, her exterior systems disabled. She was drifting along as stealthily as a D-7 battlecruiser could hope to do so.
Captain Dath’mar bent, practically crouched, over the back of his science officer’s chair as the both watched the readouts before them. The bridge’s air conditioning had been off line for hours. Both he and Commander Li’hoela sweated as if in an oven. The red tinted battle lamps made their flesh glisten in the half-light. The captain’s keen eyes narrowed on a series of energy spikes.
“There…that.” He said to the science officer, pointing at the flux.
“The subspace energy field around her is lessening. She is coming out of warp speed, my lord.”
“Distance?”
“Two million kelicams, closing.”
Dath’mar turned aside, focusing on his gunners.
“Prepare to target! Passive systems only!”
The chief gunnery officer nodded.
“Understood, my lord.”
Gro’mokh’s weaponry rested idle, no active power. In moments, when the attack began, they would be flash-armed from the battery. The batteries were heavily shielded, and with a little luck, would not be detected before it was too late for the enemy starship to form a defense.
“Enemy vessel now receiving a communication from Starfleet Command.” Informed the ship’s comm officer.
Dath’mar nodded, looking back to the sensor images of the Constitution-Class battlecruiser in his sights. Likely they warn this ship of the eminent war between them and our Empire, the captain thought.
“Range?”
Li’hoela glanced over, then back to her scopes.
“One point four million kelicams.”
Dath’mar stepped away from the science console, halting between the gunnery consoles. The Starfleet ship, a mighty Constitution-Class starship, was barely a dot on his viewer. His own ship would’ve been the same…if the human’s had known where to look. Their lack reaction told him they did not.
The thrill of this hunt…stalking and attacking…hoping to slay an unawares enemy. It made the Klingon captain feel as if he was out on the plain…spear in hand, stalking the sabercat. Some might say such a battle was not a true example of a warrior’s metal… Dath’mar however, thought is boasted well of his guile. And his commanders at Gas’kovan had ordered his squadron to make what surprise attacks they could.
Honor was satisfied, today.
Perhaps glory would be as well.
“Closing to weapons range.” Li’hoela told him.
Should he open fire at long range? Or should he close in further? Get in so close that he could bring his entire weapon’s array to bear? Dath’mar was reasonably sure only his entire weapons array would guarantee a sure kill.
“Stand by.” He told his gunners. The looked back up to him, sweaty and nervous.
And so they closed in. The minutes stretched on like hours. Time crawled, became a standstill. Dath’mar’s nails bit into his palms.
“Closing on disruptor range, Captain!” Li’hoela called out, triumph sounding in her voice.
“Arm weapons—“
Li’hoela broke off Dath’mar’s next order. The triumph was gone from her voice.
“They’re deflector beam has locked onto us! They detect us!”
“Shields!”
Dath’mar knew his order was fruitless. There was no power for shields. He’d gambled everything on the stealth approach. Now they were caught unshielded before the guns of a Starfleet monster. He had only one other recourse.
“Fire!”
Though well within disruptor range, Gro’mokh’s primary weapons were never the less without power. The chief gunnery officer jabbed in the commands that would power the one other weapon system at his disposal. The fore torpedo launcher. The deck shuddered with the launch of the first, then the second shot. Bluish-purple bolts of energy rushed out at the far away Federation cruiser. More and more shots rained forth, sluggishly slow as the weapon system drained the battery. Main power was only now trying to come online…
Impacts flared on the main viewer. Bright bursts of star fire blossomed ahead, so bright that Dath’mar knew it heralded only one thing. The enemy had raised their shields.
His preparations and guile had been wasted.
Then, blue bolts of return fire rained in.
The phaser blasts pelted the unshielded Gro’mokh, pounding her hull relentlessly. The thunder of the hull shook the entire ship, forcing it’s captain staggering into his command chair. The hits sounded dull, however, without the sharp crack of impacts.
Proximity detonations. The enemy has not yet centered on us!
“Maintain fire!”
More torpedoes rushed out, exchanged almost one for one with Starfleet phaser blasts. The shots closed in closer and closer to the D-7’s hull. “Get those shields up! Evasive!”
The first direct impact scored home.
Gro’mokh pitched over to port with the hit. The lighting failed, fluttering before it died. Men were tossed to the decks as sparks rained down from the overheads. Dath’mar had to cling to the armrests of his throne-like chair to keep from falling forth. The engineer tossed his shaggy head back toward the captain.
“Direct hit to engineering! Main power has failed!”
I have failed…
Dath’mar cursed, slamming heavy fists down on his armrests in futile exertion. Two more direct strikes found Gro’mokh before the enemy’s firing pattern passed over her battered hull.
“Report!”
“Weapons offline, shields non-functional!”
“Main tactical scanners dead! No power!”
“Hull breaches, engineering decks!”
Dath’mar had gone from commanding a fine cruiser of war to a scrap heap in a matter of seconds. And the enemy had yet to concentrate her fire…
They bracketed us with proximity fire, he thought. They do not have a definite lock. Now they will scan…
“Full impulse thrusters! Emergency turn to port, full power!” He shouted aft to the helmsman, one of the few who retained some control of this ship. “Return all systems to stealth status! Engineer! Vent the cargo and parts store compartments!”
USS Enterprise
2266 AD
Kirk came away from the red railing of his bridge, only now regaining his balance from the initial attack. The bursts on the viewer had faded. Sulu was looking into his sensor screens, scanning.
“We hit him, Captain!” Spock was reporting from the science console. “He’s hurt.”
Kirk stepped hesitantly toward the center of the bridge’s command center. He still eyed the main screen, waiting for another torpedo volley. None had appeared…yet.
“He registers as nothing but debris.” Lieutenant Sulu reported. “We got him.”
Command had told them to expect a surprise attack. Kirk was relatively sure this very nearly qualified. He turned to his officers and went through the business of returning his ship to normal operations and dealing with the damage incurred. He wondered what kind of a Captain he’d just killed…
END
The idea for this scene occured to me after watching the remastered DVD for the first time. The whole idea of a D-7 being wiped out with about 8 proxy phaser blasts at long range...kinda made me wretch. The original presentation left some room for doubt, since they didn't show you a ship at all. Adding in the CGI D-7 just made Klingon ships seem really wimpy. Hope y'all liked!
--thu guv!
Topic: A tiny taste... (Read 5289 times)