A Solution

The patrol had been long and uneventful so far.  They had flown a defensive pattern between the Washington and the Klingon task force.  Salkonna had been quiet, working on her assignment.  Flying in tight formation on autopilot while working the calculations with the Washington.  Ash hoped she would have something soon.

Just as the next turn back towards the Washington, Chief Sterling chimed in “Sir, we are getting a communication from the Washington, secure channel.  sounds like Ensign Celes.”

He shifted in his chair, and tussled his hair.  “Put her through chief.”

“Aye”

The image popped in the corner, Ash turned to face her.  “whats up Dianna?”

“We just got back from the Klingon ship, be careful out there okay?” She said, obviously scared.

Ash grinned and gave her a look. “Hey, its me!”

“That's why I’m scared Ash, its the Na’Kuhl involved this time.”

“The who?”

“The Na’Kuhl, they were involved in manipulating time...I don’t know much else yet.”

Ash was suddenly very concerned, “So what are you saying?

“I’m saying that every time they show up, trouble is to follow.”

“Alright, remeber, I have 5 other pilots that will watch my back, and I’ll watch mine.  We’ll all come home together alright?” Celes nodded. “So why is this the first time we’ve talked since we left the star base Dianna?”  He didn’t know why he asked the question, he just needed to know.

“Its complicated Ash.  I can’t talk now.  After this we’ll talk, okay?”

Ashram sighed, “Alright.”  Ashram sighed again, and stared at the blank monitor for a minute.  Salkonna popped on, startling him.  

“We’ve worked something out sir.  The simulations give us a success rate of 38% on neutralizing the weapon.”

“I hope thats the bad news Ensign.”

“The bad news sir, in half of the simulations we lose one or two fighters.

Ash bit his lip.  “Let me see it, and send the data to Commander Scantillla.”

The simulation appeared on the screen where Salkonna’s face was.  Three large ships. were shown.  The Washington and the Negh’var were the logical targets.  The third ship was the ship they faced earlier with the isokinetic weapon.  Directly opposite to the line of the two target ships were two groups of three fighters each.  Ash started the simulation.  Just before the enemy ship fired, both groups of fighters went to warp directly at the target ships.  When the ship fired toward one of the ship the fighter group would surround the shell and destroy it before it reached the target vessel.  After the destruction of the shell the three ships would perform a Yeager loop and reform on the opposite side again to intercept the next shell.


Ash checked the time indicator, each shot would take less than two seconds to complete.  “So there is no margin for error then,” he said to himself, not realizing his channel was open.

“Aye sir.” Salkonna answered.

Startled, he quickly composed himself “Lets practice this then, we need to get it right.”

“One more thing sir.”

There was always one more thing he thought, annoyed “Yes?”

“The way this works, as you saw, we have to commit before the shot is fired, and once we commit there is no way to disengage until we are almost on the target.”

“An extremely vulnerable place to be, I’m liking this plan less and less.”

“It’s the best we have sir.”

“Great.”  Ashram sighed, and watched the simulation again, this time at full speed. “Lets get started.”

A Crazy Idea

Before leaving the bridge Lieutenant Estelo shot a quick glance at the Ops station. He hadn’t really talked to Celes since the night in port. He was disturbed not seeing her at her station; he had no clue where she was. He entered the turbolift and headed back down to the flight deck. He ran his fingers through his hair, still damp from the sweat. He was tired, but he had to head back out there.
Ashram played out the last sortie in his mind, and the quick briefing with Commander Scintilla had given him something to think about. He needed to find away to negate the power of that cannon. He had one crazy idea, he just wanted to run it by Sakonna first, see if it was even possible. He steped onto the flight deck, three of the fighters had already headed out, his wing was waiting for him, all the fighters were prepped and ready for launch. Talas and Syldra were waiting for him.
“Let’s go, we need to meet up with Sakonna and the rest.”
“Aye sir” They both saw the tension; they knew that the situation was as serious as they thought.
The three fighters launched in formation and met up with the existing wing in a defensive posture near the Washington. “Estelo to Sakonna, I have a question for you”
“Sir” she said coldly
“Switch to single comm., I need to ask you something privately”
“Aye Sir, ready”
“Is there a way we detonate a round from a kinetic cannon?”
“….Sir?” If he didn’t know better, he heard a bit of hesitation in that response.
“I need to know if it is possible.”
“Yes, but..”
He cut her off, “Yeah It’ll be dangerous, I know, but if we can’t nullify that cannon, then I doubt that we or anyone else will survive another sortie.”
“Understood, I’ll need to get into contact with tactical on the Washington.’
“Let me know, I’ll need to contact these Klingons…introduce myself..”
“Aye sir” She
“Negh’Var tactical this is Lieutenant Estelo of the Washington; we’ve come to render support.”
After a few moments a gruff looking (aren’t they all?) Klingon appeared on the screen. “Your gall is impressive human, but what do we need with little gnats like you?”
“The more we bite, eventually we will sting, distracting your enemy…allowing you and your brothers more glory.” Ashram said with as much confidence as he could.
The Klingon laughed a good sign. “Perhaps it is a good day to die, we welcome you, but do not sting too hard, Klingons are known to exterminate pests.”
“Aye I’ve heard about the great victory against the tribbles, I hope songs will be sung about this battle one day…Qapla!”
“Qapla!”
The transmission closed, “Team, we need to set up in a defensive posture between us and the Klingon Fleet…Sakonna, let me know when you’ve worked out something.”

Ashram:Eat Drink and Be Merry

The forward lounge was full of the sounds of laughter and conversation. The tone was quite different from hours before. It was the sound of the ship releasing the tension as it passed back into Federation space and towards the starbase. A party sat at one of the longer tables. At the head was newly minted Lieutenant Ashram Estelo, still wearing the dress uniform from the ceremony earlier. To his right was Ensign Celes. The two were holding hands under the table, giving each other quick squeezes and glances at each other throughout the celebration.

Ashram looked down the table and saw his flight team. They had performed excellent, finally getting a chance to showcase their skills. Ensign Salkonna sat at the foot of the table, back in her uniform grays. Chief Sterling was to her right. Both watched the rest of the team enjoy the dinner and drinks. Joran had already lifted many a toast to the team, to the Lieutenant, to Chief Sterling, to Salkonna. When he was about to lift another glass for a toast Talas grabbed his arm to sit him back down.

Syldra lead most of the conversation, as she usually did. Mostly with gossip of course. When the question of the Chief staying aboard. She seemed to avoid the question. Ashram hoped that she would stay. She offset Salkonna's coldness nicely, and if his new rank kept him away from the flight deck too often, then the chief would stay in her role of Executive Officer.

He didn't want to dwell too much on personnel moves tonight. Tonight was a celebration, tonight was about a job well done. Ashram thought back to the old saying, “Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we may die.” When the thought crossed him mind he felt the pressure on his hand from Celes' hand. They hadn't had a chance to talk about the kiss in the corridor, the bridge wasn't the best setting for that conversation.

The night wound down, as did the drinks. Joran had his fill and was starting to pass out. Salkonna and Talas carried him off to his bunk to have him sleep it off. Chief Sterling looked like she was about to fall asleep as well. Syldra continued going, Ashram had no idea where her energy came from. Ashram stood and stretched, the rest followed his lead. Ashram walked over to the Chief and shook her hand.

“Thank you,” said Ash
“For, sir?” she replied
“It's still Ash, for Keeping them together, doing what you did. I want you to stay with us, we could use you.”
The Chief nodded and smiled, and glanced at Celes behind him. “Have a good night sir, see you in the morning.”

Ash and Celes left the lounge and started walking. They were quiet, their hands intertwined as they walked down the corridor. They reached the turbolift and after the door closed, he couldn't wait anymore. He looked over to Celes, and she looked back. They kissed long and hard. When they stopped, they noticed the door was open, and they were on their deck. They had no clue how long they were there.

They composed themselves as best they could. They went to his quarters, and as soon as the door closed behind them they resumed the kiss from the turbolift. The two thew themselves into the passion and to the moment. There were no words, there were no need for words.

Ashram: Lower Decks Revisited

On:

Bridge:
Ashram stood on the bridge, some of the pressure was off. Jacob and the Captain were back on board, tensions with the Romulans were at a point where he could keep an eye on things. The klaxons were off, but the red alert still was in effect.

Flight Deck:

Nicole Sterling was sitting watch on the flight deck. The bridge had called for the fighters to ready again, only to be cleared shortly after. The response time of the team was excellent, just as she expected, but the team however was starting to lose moral. They milled around their fighters making sure they were ready to go again. It was twice that they have been called to alert this mission without being unleashed. The old fable of the boy who cried wolf started to run in her head.

“If we weren’t in Romulan space I would call the Lieutenant to have us chase some asteroids or junk or something.” She said to the Bajoran on watch with her.

“Aye, I’m sick of being bottled up, I’m about to explode” replied Rez.

Nicole liked Joran. He reminded her of her deceased husband Oscar in a way, headstrong and direct. She was on watch when the scramble sounded and Joran was due on next. Not that it mattered at this point. With red alert still in effect, they were required to be at their duty stations. Eventually Syldra and Talas walked over to the duty station as Joran relived the chief of the duty watch.

If Nicole was going to stay at her post as required, she needed coffee. She walked over to the replicator and ordered her usual. “Coffee, double strong, double cream.” When the order arrived she tapped her access code on the panel. “Computer, any personal messages?”

“No messages at this time.” The cold computer voice responded.

She was disappointed, but really she didn’t expect any. This side of the Neutral Zone she doubted that any transmissions were coming in or off the ship. Still she missed hearing from her daughters. She thought about them as she took a sip of her coffee. When she walked back to the duty station, she could hear Syldra do what she does best, talk.

“....and the Captain is dead, and the Klingon ship that...” She stopped when she saw the Cheif walk by. Nicole grinned at the young Bolian girl.

“Don’t stop on my account.” Chief Sterling said.

Talas piped in, “There is no way the Captain is dead, Andorians are stronger than that.”
“Either way with the Lieutenant in command, who knows what is going to happen.” Joren added.

Cheif Sterling snapped her head to Joran. “What? Ash is in command?”

Joran looked down at the panel again. “That's what it says here. He just made a log entry, looks like a prisoner transfer of some sort.”

“That makes sense then,” Syldra said. “I hear that the Romulans captured Ambassador Spock, and we are here to rescue him. I wondered why we were here. Why else would we be on Romulus.”

The three other pilots rolled their eyes at the Bolian. Nicole wasn’t sure where Syldra got her information, or if she just made it up herself and spread it as gossip. The news that Ash was in command shook the Chief. She liked Ashram as an officer just fine, she did think he was brash and quick to decision though. That and like all 20 year olds he know, thought with other parts of his anatomy than he really should.

“We are getting fresh orders Chief.” Joran piped up over the chatter between Syldra and whomever would listen. “Looks like we are to ready two fighters, just in case.”

“Talas, get ready, Syldra, stay with Joran until you get new orders. Lets get moving.” Chief and Talas moved to their ships. Syldra and Joran stayed behind and got the deck ready. Nicole pushed all her doubt out of her mind, duty was calling.

BRIDGE:

“Flight deck reports ready sir.” An officer called out.

“K’boom is in position and standing by” Ensign Celes said, turning to Ashram. Her eyes were full of the tension of the moment. Ash could tell she was looking to him for support.

Ashram took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Prepare for transport...drop shields”