Fleet Plot Log - ColTowers - "Heat"

Posted on 241403.31 @ 10:21pm by Colonel Adam Towers

Mission: Insurrection [Fleet Plot]
Location: USS Vesuvius

=*= BEGIN LOG =*=

Towers walked onto the bridge as the doors opened. Fischer was in the big chair with his XO beside him and General Taylor in the third seat.

"We're being told to stand down." Fischer said, torn between looking amused and concerned.

"By who?" Towers asked.

"The ship that was docked to Zetari. They undocked about five minutes after we left, and their top warp speed is higher than ours, being a smaller ship." Fischer said.

"Aft viewer, please." Towers said. He had to be more polite when giving orders on a ship that he didn't actually command.

The tactical officer obliged, showing the black ship behind them. It was barely visible in the backdrop of space, but it was clear that they were quickly gaining on Vesuvius.

"I'd rather not have to fire on them." Fischer explained.

"That would be everyone's preference, I'm sure, but they may not leave us a choice." Towers replied.

"They are sending it again, sir. We are to stand down and surrender or they will fire."

Fischer looked to Towers questioningly.

The Colonel shrugged. "If they're stupid enough to carry out that threat, then they fired first. We're allowed to return it. But we also can't let them just tail us forever. We'll never get anything done and they'll be able to coordinate a trap for us."

"Keep in mind, gentlemen, that is an Intelligence rigged ship. They might have some interesting little tricks up their sleeves to deal with a ship that has them clearly outgunned." Taylor said.

"Long range sensor scan. Do they have any friends nearby?" Fischer asked.

After a few seconds the officer responded in the negative. The two ships were alone.

"Your call, Cael. Your ship." Towers said.

The Vesuvius' CO frowned for a moment. "Drop out of warp, bring us about. Have Colonel Blackwell prep for magnum launch on my order."

There was the slightest of lurches as the ship dropped out of warp speed. The Intelligence ship clearly hadn't been expecting it and shot past them, correcting after a few seconds and coming around.

"Keep our bow on them. Bow flight deck doors closed, open aft. Go to Red Alert." Fischer said.

"Incoming signal from the ship."

"On screen."

A scowling Intelligence officer appeared on the front viewer.

"This is Captain Paulsen of the USS Nighthawk. You will stand down and surrender your fugitives immediately."

"We have no fugitives here, Captain. You must be mistaken. I'm only carrying Starfleet officers of clean records and consciences." Fischer responded.

"Lieutenant General Alan Taylor, Colonel Adam Towers, Colonel Zach Colson, Commodore Kassandra Denterius. All are onboard your vessel, Colonel. If you stop this act of treason now your own career might not go into the waste pipe with theirs. Stand down!"

"Or what?" Fischer asked coolly.

"We will open fire and take them by force." Paulsen said.

Fischer raised an eyebrow. "Are you not familiar with the specifications of this class of vessel, Captain? If you open fire on me it will be a race to see who incinerates you first... My weapons emplacements or my fighters. This is a combat vessel that you are threatening."

"So is this." Paulsen said, cutting the connection. There was no other possible response to Fischer's threat. Either Paulsen would back down, which seemed unlikely, or he would bet on being able to knock down Vesuvius' shields, grab at least a few of his targets, and get away.

"They are charging weapons."

Fischer hit a button on his chair that connected him directly with the flight deck controller. "Magnum launch. I say again, magnum launch."

"Full launch for one ship?" Colson asked.

Fischer nodded. "Hopefully the show of force will cause them to rethink their position before I have to destroy them."

A magnum launch order was given when the Captain wanted every fighter on the deck and ready for action. Normally squadrons were rotated for patrol or escort duty to keep the pilots and machines fresh and maintained.

A magnum launch was reserved when things were about to get serious.

Like now.

Vesuvius class carriers did not carry launch tubes. Fighters were rolled onto the deck and tractor beam emitters in the top of the deck assisted them in accelerating quickly out of the bay. They did this now, shooting out two at a time, a squadron of twelve unloading in about ten seconds. It would only take 2-3 minutes for all 144 fighters to launch. The method was slightly slower, but allowed for more versatility in terms of loadout.

Towers grabbed the hand rail as the Vesuvius rocked. The Nighthawk had just fired on them.

"So it begins." He muttered.

Fischer looked grim. The idea of firing on other Federation vessels was very distasteful to him.

"Return fire." He ordered.

Phasers lanced out from Vesuvius, tracking the smaller ship, but nothing hit it.

"Having a bad morning, Tactical?" Fischer asked. The smaller ship was not doing any significant damage to Vesuvius' shields yet, but they were nimble enough to dodge through most of the return fire.

"They've got something deployed that is knocking our targeting sensors out of alignment, sir. This is going to be tough."

"One of those little tricks you alluded to, General." Fischer commented. The senior marine nodded.

The Vesuvius rocked a bit harder as something meaner hit them.

"Torpedo impacts. They're trying to poke a hole in the shields." The tactical officer commented.

"Have PDTs try and pick off the torpedoes before they hit us." Fischer ordered. Vesuvius had the standard complement of phaser arrays, but also was dotted with a large number of point defense turrets, designed to shoot down enemy fighters and pick off missiles and torpedoes.

"Damnit that thing can dance." Towers commented, watching. Indeed the Intelligence ship was rolling, twisting and dancing all over the place. He had no doubt that the ship itself was designed to be so nimble, but whoever was flying it was a master.

By now over 100 fighters had launched and began attack runs on the Nighthawk. The fighters were just as nimble as the Intelligence ship, and they began to score hits on her shields.

This ended the fight quickly. The Nighthawk's port shield dropped and she made a sharp turn to present undamaged shields to the Vesuvius before taking off at high warp.

The whole engagement had lasted less than five minutes.

"Damage report?" Fischer asked.

"No damage, sir. Shields holding at 78 percent and climbing. No fighters lost."

"Issue recall order. Track the Nighthawk until she's out of range."

"Yes, sir."

"What the hell was that? He had to know they couldn't hope to disable us with one ship." Towers said.

Fischer shook his head. "I have no idea."

=*= END LOG =*=

Colonel Adam Towers
Starfleet Marine Corps / Starbase Zetari

Colonel Cael Fischer (NPC)
Commanding Officer, USS Vesuvius