Posted by Lieutenant Duncan Rhodes (Chief Science Officer) in Runabout Fenrir - “Scattered Memories”

Posted by Lieutenant Duncan Rhodes (Chief Science Officer) in Runabout Fenrir - “Scattered Memories”

Snip

It took minutes but finally the two were back in the Runabout, airlock closed and Duncan removed his helmet. “Get that safely secured, I’ll get us headed out of here.” He told the woman and turned for the pilots seat.

Sitting down he began to check the systems off for damage, and then noted the flashing blips on his sensor screen. Touching the LCARS display he brought up the image on screen, they were still too far away through the debris field for a visual. The clear image of two Romulan fighter craft heading towards them stared back at them.

“Well, that is a problem.” His tone was calm and matter of fact as he flicked the autopilot off. “Toveka, we have company and I do not think they want to comment on the weather.” He called out behind him, then hit the impulse engines into life and got the Runabout moving.

Lt Duncan Rhodes, CSO

“The Romulan ships are within range,” the Khazad’hea’s Weapons Officer stated and looked at Khain, still sitting calmly in his seat. “The Starfleet ship will soon be under attack, I have weapons lock on them,” the Officer said with his own lack of emotion. It was little concern of his if the Federation ship got destroyed, he even had a lock on them if Khain decided to destroy them instead.

“Hold your fire,” Khain told the Officer, and looked at the knuckles of one hand in thought. “It is, after all, none of our business.”

Duncan brought the Runabout around just as one of the asteroids beside them exploded into fragments as Romulan disruptor fire hit it from the lead fighter, it was close, but he rolled the Runabout and hit the thrusters to let the larger ship slide behind another Asteroid as it gained speed in the field of debris and energy eddies.

On his screen he saw the two fighters split in different directions, trying to cut off his escape so they could come at him from different angles he couldn’t hope to hide from. “Where the heck did they come from,” he muttered under his breath as he angled the Runabout away from them and towards another clump of asteroids. He knew his shields were stronger than the fighters, and his own weapons were more powerful but they had him in thrust and maneuverability. He had to keep them moving and dodging hazards if he wanted to keep his own ship together long enough to jump to warp when clear of the debris.

Another asteroid exploded beneath him as he turned, then one to his starboard as the second fighter opened fire. “Dammit!” A shot hit the runabout but the shields held, only surface damage resulting that wasn’t going to cause a problem yet. Twisting the larger craft Duncan pulled it into a hard turn around a big rock, almost skimming the surface and praying he had the drift worked out right as the big asteroid blocked both him and the smaller ships from each others sensors. Ahead of him he noted the dark silhouette of one of the fighters boost past as it tried to cut him off, and he rolled again so that the bigger Runabout’s nose turned towards it as it drifted past searching for him, the pilot had underestimated the tightness of Duncan’s turn.

Watching the screen, Khain grunted. It had been a good move, aggressive and clever. It had put the Starfleet ship in a position to even the odds a little, despite the little fighters having a clear advantage in the debris field. “Touche, Starfleet. You get to live for another few moments.” Khain grinned, and it was wide and genuine but behind it was a lethal demeanour that few people who met it walked away from.

Duncans fingers moved over the controls as his eyes followed the small Romulan fighter, and not a second later the familiar beam of a Starfleet Phaser cut through the distance between them, multiple pulses from the beam weapon finding their mark on the lightly shielded craft which exploded in a bright flash that quickly vanished, only brightly glowing plasma from the wreckage drifting in it’s place that would cool in minutes.

Nodding, Khain grunted again. “If he had missed that shot I would have been worried at what kind of Officers Starfleet was sending out these days. Well done, you earn your place in the hall of the warrior today.”

“One down, one left. Hold on to something!” Duncan called back to Toveka, hoping the device they found was secure at least. He twisted the big ship again, looking to place as many asteroids between them and the last fighter as he could until he found another break. It never came as the first fighter appeared to take more care than the second, it held off and scored hits on the Runabout that brought its shields dangerously low and resulted in loss of power to a series of thrusters that meant Duncan had to resort to the same maneuvers to avoid it, and these finally meant the Romulan fighter caught onto the pattern.

“They have been hit,” the Khazad’hea’s Operations Officer announced. “Port thrusters are offline and their shields are low, they have a plasma leak and structural integrity is compromised.” She began listing the damage to the Starfleet ship as the little Romulan fighter pounded it with Disruptor cannon. “Keep an eye on their shields,” Khain stated in no rush. “When they drop, they have seconds left.”

Duncan threw the Runabout into another turn as the fighter came at them again, more rocks exploding near where they would have been as Duncan hit the thrusters and pushed the Runabout into a last ditch slide, feeling the Disruptors of the smaller craft reaching out and finding their mark on his hull. Duncan knew what that meant at this point, and he swore, loudly and viciously as he opened fire with his own Phasers, determined to take this last Romulan down with him as his thoughts turned to Lily and what might have been. He could see her face, hear her laugh as around him consoles exploded, the computer declared that his own weapons were offline and told him of hull breaches as the disruptors tore the Fenrir apart. Duncans world seemed to drop into slow motion as his eyes watched the fighter and it’s weapons reaching out to him with an odd feeling of sadness. He wasn’t afraid, or angry. He was going to leave Lily, and in his heart he felt as if somehow that was betraying her and the feelings of love that he had found he had. It was guilt he felt, that she would never know he loved her. He had never said the words.

“Their shields have gone,” the Klingon Operations Officer declared as she looked up at Khain in the Captains seat. “Very well,” Khain said, and pushed himself to his feet, raised his hand and clenched his fist. “Fire.” From the cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey, a single flash of light appeared and streaked towards the battle as the torpedo took fewer seconds than a sneeze to reach its mark.

The console he was sitting at exploded in front of Duncan, and he felt an odd sense of disconnection as he was thrown backwards out of the pilots seat. He could feel the burn on his skin as the Plasma took hold, felt his chest tighten as metal in his lungs made it hard to breathe. Duncan could feel the warmth of his own blood as it filled his mouth and the flames licked at his legs and arms while the Romulan fighter kept shooting at him. Yet he could see only Lily’s face as a bright light filled his vision and the air around him suddenly went cold, the breath sucked from his collapsed lungs.

Lt Duncan Rhodes, CSO

On the scrren of the Khazad’hea, Khain watched as first the Romulan fighter in front of the Runabout dissolved in the blast of the torpedo he had launched, then the shockwave from it engulfed the Runabout itself and tore the remains of the Starfleet ship apart, spreading them throughout this part of the debris field as the ships own reactor exploded in response to the damage sustained. In short seconds, Khain and the crew of the Bird of Prey felt their own ship rock slightly as the shockwaves reached and passed it.

The bright bloom of the explosions subsided, and the Khazad’hea’s viewscreen returned to normal once more. The field was calm, although many asteroids now drifted away from the explosion site and collided off in the distance. Sensors indicated many shards of the remains of the Romulan and Federation ships, and in the distance the large dead bulk of the Romulan Warbird that the Starfleet people had visited. Turning to his crew, Khain looked into the eyes of his Operations Officer. She looked back at him, her eyes expressionless. She had done her job.

Captain Khain, Captain of the I.K.S Khazad’hea