Lauren flexed her fingers over her console, feeling the
anticipation surging across the bridge. The slim blonde double checked
the course she laid in one more time, then ran through the alternate
paths she had preprogrammed into the helm.
"All right, ladies, battlestations," Captain Gail's calm voice
came from behind her, and Lauren could almost feel the ship shiver with
that command. Lauren wanted to look back at the beautiful redhead in the
captain's chair, but she forced herself not to.
"Helm is ready," Lauren replied crisply as she had been trained
to, keeping any trace of nervousness out of her voice.
"Tactical ready," Lieutenant Danielle reported from her position
beside Lauren, her station directly in front of the main viewscreen. The
black haired woman was good looking, Lauren had to admit, but it was a
beauty like a sword blade. Nice to look at, not so good to touch.
Catty's soft voice, over to one side reported, "Communication
systems are ready, full silence is still being maintained." Lauren found
herself shivering slightly at the sound of her voice. The communications
officer was odd, in her opinion. She thought the girl was cute, and
wanted to get to know her better, but.. nothing.
Lauren could almost feel Commander Allaine's disdainful glance
rest on her back, and fought back a surge of resentment. Just because
the brown haired woman disapproved of the fling that she had with the
Captain, she was always riding her.. "Ready, Captain," Allaine voice
rang out calmly from her secondary command position.
"Catty, internal links to engineering and the fighter bays,
please," Captain Gail requested, and in a moment the bridge was linked
to both centers of the ship. "Go."
"Taking ECM off-line," Lieutenant Danielle reported, "full
sensor sweeps on."
Lauren keyed in the activation, the ship gliding into motion,
the debris field shifting around them. "Moving out," she said, feeling
just a bit of excitement.
Lieutenant-Commander Karin's voice came over the communication
systems to report, "The engines are operating with full efficiency,
ma'am. Davies has her drive modifications in place, too, so we can
activate as needed."
"Keep your finger on the switch," Allaine ordered her, "but
don't bring the modifications on line unless we ask."
"Got it," Karin logged off.
"Movement!" Danielle barked from her position, "I've got
movement from the Paranoid ships!" She paused, checking her scans, "They
aren't moving well, I don't think they knew we were out here until we
moved."
"We've got a short lead," Gail said crisply, "let's not waste
it. Maximum speed to the transit point if you please."
"Right." Lauren smiled as she brought the sublight engines up to
full power.
The transit to hyperspace would normally be a relatively simple
matter, but there was the warp residue from the other Solenoid ship to
consider. If they wanted to keep the Paranoid from detecting it, they
were going to have to blot it out with a more powerful energy signature.
'Which means we have to transit at just the right place,' Lauren
thought as she worked, keeping an eye on her tactical screen.
"Fighters are ready to deploy," Major Tanya reported from the
fighter bays, her voice having that odd ring of coming from within a
fighter, "just give the word."
"Not just yet," Allaine ordered, "we've got a window of
opportunity to pull this off clear of enemy opposition."
"Spoke too soon," Danielle said, "the three Paranoid vessels are
approaching firing range."
"Prepare the main guns," Gail's voice was calm as she gave the
orders, "damage control teams, medics be ready."
'Medics,' Lauren thought grimly, nudging the sublight drives for
a bit more speed, 'that means Meris. I wonder if those stories I heard
about her are true.'
"They're firing!"
The ship rocked underneath them, Lauren fiercely holding onto
the navigation console in front of her. She quickly adjusted their
course, trying to compensate for the effects of the hit even as the
bridge bustled around her.
"Returning fire," Danielle barked.
Lauren could easily imagine it as she focused on her controls,
the outer edges of the Lady Grace's hull shifting aside, revealing the
weapons batteries that lined the powerful craft. A switch was thrown,
and a wave of devastating energy beams was thrown out, cutting across
the darkness of space towards the enemy ships.
"One target disabled!" Allaine cried.
"That still leave two more Paranoid ships," Gail quickly
reminded then. "Time to transit point?" she demanded.
"Less than a minute to go," Lauren said as she worked, "I've had
to partially recalculate our course there."
"Should we launch?" Major Tanya demanded.
"Hold off," Danielle said crisply, throwing another wave of fire
at the Paranoid ships. On the screen the bolts fanned outwards, a wave
of power intended to slow the enemy force.
"Twenty seconds to transit point," Lauren said, angling the ship
to dodge return fire as they went. "Engineering, is the drive ready?"
"Give the signal," Karin said confidently, "we're all ready for
transit down here."
"Fifteen," Lauren said, the viewscreen showing them the point
they wanted to transit from just ahead of them.
The ship rocked again under enemy fire, and the ship shuddered
as something exploded. The helm was a bit stiff under her fingers as
Lauren continued, "Ten!"
"Fire!" Danielle threw another burst of firepower out, trying to
turn the enemy ships to the wrong vector to try to pursue them once they
jumped.
".. three.. two.. one!" Lauren engaged the vessel's stardrive
and the Lady Grace transited to hyperspace, moving far, far beyond the
speed of light. Space disappeared on the viewscreen, an odd, distended
view appearing there.
"We made it," Karin's relieved voice came from Engineering.
Quietly she continued, "I've got repair teams out looking into the
damage those hits did, but we could use any free hands."
"This is medical," Meris' voice came through, "so far, no
casualty reports. But I'm still waiting to hear from the areas that were
worst hit."
"Good job, people," Gail's voice was warm as she activated the
shipwide communication system, and Lauren shivered slightly, remembering
when the captain had used that tone with her. She looked attentive as
Gail continued, "But the job's not done yet. Damage reports, please, and
all available crews assist with damage control, please."
"I'm having some difficulties with the helm," Lauren noted,
frowning as she ran a check on her console, "it could be we're having
navigation difficulties."
"Lauren, could you go down to assist the repair teams?" Allaine
spoke up, "You're expertise could be useful in pinpointing the problem."
Lauren opened her mouth to protest that, then closed it with a
snap. It was a reasonable request, really, and her station could always
be watched by another one of the bridge officers. "Yes, ma'am," she said
formally.
As Lauren passed Commander Allaine the dark brown haired second
in command gave her a surprising smile. "Good job," she said quietly.
"Thank you," Lauren felt herself blushing. She left the bridge
quickly, feeling that oddly pleasant sensation of being praised by such
a normally tough officer. 'Maybe she really doesn't dislike me?' she
thought as she headed down to join the repair crews.
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