No Grave But The Stars Part 1

Posted on Fri Feb 25th, 2022 @ 3:17am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani
Edited on on Tue Jan 3rd, 2023 @ 1:23am

Mission: WHAT IF?
Location: The Romulan Neutral Zone
Timeline: Another lifetime
Tags: #challenge mission
1022 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Mal Garrison stared past his outstretched, desperate, fingertips, and watched his life, the security of his friends, the safety of his sister, fall away. The crate of Romulan disruptors was tumbling the several thousand feet to the ground.

"We have to go back," he shouted over the screaming air, the open cargo doors letting in the buffetting wind of lower atmosphere.

"And have the Myriad catch us?" Zh'erim, his longest closest friend pulled him back. "That's suicide!"

"So is turning up short of goods to the Syndicate," Mal shouted back. "Mij, turn us around! Z, go help Ilon get the shields up."

Which was when two small shuttles burst up through the fog, and opened fire. Zh'erim lunged for the door controls to get the cargo bay doors shut, and Mal scrambled to reach the bridge of his small ship. Someone had to get to the phasers.

Mij turned as he burst into the bridge, a cockpit really, big enough only for three people. "They're shooting at us! Why are they shooting at us?"

"Not now." The Stranger Tides was rocked by a sudden blow, and Miraj fought the helm to get them back on course for upper atmosphere and the freedom to go to warp. "Just don't get us shot down or we'll be in a lot of trouble." he managed to get a target lock on the one trying to shoot up their left nacelle, and then swore. "The stern chaser's gone. Fly backwards?."

Sitting in the helm cradle, Miraj hauled on one stick, pushed on the other, spinning the ship on its central axis, so the two ships were now directly ahead of them, then she slammed both forward, on a collision course with the one now on her right, and Mal opened fire with the forward phaser banks.

Miraj pulled up, heading for open sky and hoping their pursuers couldn't maneuver as fast as she could. swinging them back and forth and the Myriad's vessels peppered the sky with disruptor shots. And then there as a clunking noise from under Miraj's bare feet.

"What the fuck?" Mal swore

"The deflector shield." Miraj realised just as there was an angry bellow form the engine room when Zh'erim and Ilon had the precious deflector shield blow up in their face.

"How long till space?" Mal shouted

"Three minutes." They were at maximum speed for atmosphere, and it wouldn't take long to cross the last few kilometers.

"Keep flying, and get ready for warp." He pushed away from the tacital panel and rushed for the engine room.

"With no deflector!?" Miraj squeaked. "We'll be sand blasted to shrimp food."

"Just fly!" he snarled and disappeared.

Miraj settled back into the pilots seat and watched the two ships come about, and start firing. She didn't know what had gone wrong, but these people seemed seriously pissed at them. They closed hard, and then both opened fire, forcing her to jerk the controls of the Stranger Tides back and forth frantically as she weaved between the blasts. And the sky before her was getting less blue and more black.

"I'm running out of atmosphere!" She called out, watching the altimeter tick up tot he edge of space, even as she cstill couldn't feel the very nescasry whistle in the general rumble of the ship that told they could fly at any significatn portion ofthe speed of light without getting shredded by space dust. At this point warp was utterly impossible.

"Jump as soon as we hit space!" Mal shouted up.

"Fuck no!" Miraj shouted back, throwing herself, and the ship sharply left, sending them in a spin out of reach of one set of guns., and then back across before they could reeastablish target lock. "We. Will. Die!"

And then one of them started to blacket the whole field in front with photon torpedoes. "We. are. going to die. if we don't! Mij!" Mal screamed back. "Fly!"

"Fuck!" She said again and heaved back on the stick, trying to get away, and up, up, up. The glow of the last of the atosphere filled the screen. but she had no shields. "Hold fast!" She yelled out, and pitched The Stranger TIides into a near vertical descent. Artifical gravity shuddered and she could feel herself lifting out of the helm cradle.

The helm pinged wildly and she risked a glance at it, "More bogies, coming right at us!" And there were, three more small patrol type shuttles powering towards them. TheTides was now facing them dead on, at way past ramming speed, "Shields! I need shields!"

"Hold on!" three male voiced bellowed back

"You're all arseholes!" she shouted back, dodging the incoming phasers. And the ones behind. The original two ships were in pursuit. "Shit, shit, shit," she muttered. But held her downward course. Time to play chicken. Swooping in and out of shots being taken, she kept her eyes on the lead ship, a stupid little escort frigate barely big enough to dignify the name. Whoever was at its helm wasn't flinching yet. And the pursuing ships hadn't figured it out.

She was fewer than 500m from the frigate. "Shields now please." She didn't know how she kept her voice so calm. " Right now." 400m. 300m. 200m

100m

"Bwak bwak" she muttered, and heaved on the sticks again. The Stranger tides flashed over the top of the frigate and pulled to near vertical that the inertial dampers screamed in protest. Something scraped against the tides stomach and they hurtled up, right in the sights of the little frigate.

Which was when the original pursuing ships smashed into it. Even half a kilometer away, the blast of the two warp cores detonating in the collision rocked them, knocked the thrusters and sent the conn bleeping wildly whilst Miraj wrestled it back under control.

Then there was a sharp static burst, a shout from the engine room and the deflector shields came up. Miraj didn't have to be told twice to punch it; the Stranger Tides burst out into space, and vanished into warp.