10-02-2026, 06:01 AM
Morad braced his boots against the deck as the Zephyr violently snapped through another high-G drift, the deck vibrating with the rhythmic thrum of hard-firing RCS thrusters. Krandall’s unconventional handling was pushing the Steamrunner well outside standard Starfleet operational doctrine, but out here against three hunting escorts, unpredictable meant alive.
"Good flying, Tom," Morad said over the roar of the impulse manifolds, his knuckles tightening briefly against the armrest as a slight port-side shudder rattled through the frame. "Compensate for that port nacelle drag on your exit vector. Keep us dancing."
"Incoming message from the Yeager Commander," the Comm officer announced.
Finally, someone is answering us...
"Let's hear it!" Ameen replied as the message was routed to the overhead speakers.
[This is Captain Braggins of the Yeager, I'm taking command of the engagement. Aquila, engage the Battlecruisers marked Contact 2 and 3. Zephyr, engage the Escorts. Do not engage the Dreadnought, do not engage the Dreadnought.]
We are already on it, Jen... But I'm glad we are on the same wavelength at least...
"Signal the Yeager that we acknowledge the new orders," Ameen replied.
His eyes shifted across the bridge displays, processing the flood of tactical and internal data in rapid succession. On the main viewer, the Yeager’s drive signature flared as Captain Braggins swung her scarred ship away from the escorts, burning full impulse on an aggressive intercept vector straight toward the Keldon cruiser.
She is trying to draw their heavy line, Morad thought, his jaw tightening. Which means those three Hidekis are entirely our problem now...
Morad tapped his console, acknowledging the stream of internal routing reports.
"Izzy, Cortez: approved," Ameen ordered cleanly. "Drop atmospheric controls in all evacuated sections to survival minimums. Divert every spare watt into the SIF grid and keep those forward shields bolstered. Baldwin, outstanding work getting triage organized. Keep a close watch on those Deck Three EPS junctions; don't let a secondary surge take out our secondary sensor feeds."
Morad leaned forward, his focus locking onto the tactical and science consoles where Powl and Ra'an were synchronizing targeting solutions.
"Lieutenant Powl, take Krandall's lead," Morad commanded, his voice ringing with steady authority. "Coordinate with his firing arcs. The second he brings that lead Hideki across our nose, hammer her ventral shields with a concentrated phaser spread and follow up with a quantum torpedo strike. Cortez, Keti; keep those ECM probes screaming in their ears and alternate the frequencies. Let's peel these fighters apart before they figure out what hit them."
"Come on baby, you can do it," Ameen mumbled under his breath, hands resting gently on the console as he felt every tremor, hum, and rattle of the aged Steamrunner fighting for her life.
Destroyers were built to hunt down and destroy corvettes, escorts and frigates... the Zephyr would've handled three ships of this class with relative ease in her prime ... now however... it's a whole different ball game...
== Tag Bridge ==
"Good flying, Tom," Morad said over the roar of the impulse manifolds, his knuckles tightening briefly against the armrest as a slight port-side shudder rattled through the frame. "Compensate for that port nacelle drag on your exit vector. Keep us dancing."
"Incoming message from the Yeager Commander," the Comm officer announced.
Finally, someone is answering us...
"Let's hear it!" Ameen replied as the message was routed to the overhead speakers.
[This is Captain Braggins of the Yeager, I'm taking command of the engagement. Aquila, engage the Battlecruisers marked Contact 2 and 3. Zephyr, engage the Escorts. Do not engage the Dreadnought, do not engage the Dreadnought.]
We are already on it, Jen... But I'm glad we are on the same wavelength at least...
"Signal the Yeager that we acknowledge the new orders," Ameen replied.
His eyes shifted across the bridge displays, processing the flood of tactical and internal data in rapid succession. On the main viewer, the Yeager’s drive signature flared as Captain Braggins swung her scarred ship away from the escorts, burning full impulse on an aggressive intercept vector straight toward the Keldon cruiser.
She is trying to draw their heavy line, Morad thought, his jaw tightening. Which means those three Hidekis are entirely our problem now...
Morad tapped his console, acknowledging the stream of internal routing reports.
"Izzy, Cortez: approved," Ameen ordered cleanly. "Drop atmospheric controls in all evacuated sections to survival minimums. Divert every spare watt into the SIF grid and keep those forward shields bolstered. Baldwin, outstanding work getting triage organized. Keep a close watch on those Deck Three EPS junctions; don't let a secondary surge take out our secondary sensor feeds."
Morad leaned forward, his focus locking onto the tactical and science consoles where Powl and Ra'an were synchronizing targeting solutions.
"Lieutenant Powl, take Krandall's lead," Morad commanded, his voice ringing with steady authority. "Coordinate with his firing arcs. The second he brings that lead Hideki across our nose, hammer her ventral shields with a concentrated phaser spread and follow up with a quantum torpedo strike. Cortez, Keti; keep those ECM probes screaming in their ears and alternate the frequencies. Let's peel these fighters apart before they figure out what hit them."
"Come on baby, you can do it," Ameen mumbled under his breath, hands resting gently on the console as he felt every tremor, hum, and rattle of the aged Steamrunner fighting for her life.
Destroyers were built to hunt down and destroy corvettes, escorts and frigates... the Zephyr would've handled three ships of this class with relative ease in her prime ... now however... it's a whole different ball game...
== Tag Bridge ==