The Dragon: Once per episode, at the beginning of combat place an Advantage on the field representing a cunning tactic or strategy devised by Danara Pel.
NAME
USS Voyager
PROF.
MULTIROLE
CLASS
Sovereign Class Heavy Exploration Vessel
CONST
2371
SHIELDS
13/13
RESISTANCE
6
SCALE
6
POWER
13/13
CREW SUPPORT
6
SMALL CRAFT
5
COMMS
ENGINES
STRUCTURE
COMPUTERS
SENSORS
WEAPONS
BREACHES
0/6
0/6
0/6
0/6
0/6
0/6
9
11
10
11
9
10
COMMAND
3
12
14
13
14
12
13
CONNING
2
12
14
13
14
12
13
ENGINEERING
2
11
13
12
13
11
12
SECURITY
3
13
15
14
16
13
14
SCIENCE
2
11
13
12
13
11
12
MEDICINE
2
11
13
12
13
11
12
TALENTS
Command Ship: Can give advantages using Command within range to Away Missions or to supporting ships.
EMH: Has an EMH!
Improved Warp Drive: When going to warp, roll 1cd on an effect, regain the power point.
Quantum Torpedoes: Can use Quantum Torpedoes! (60 total)
Secondary Reactors: +5 to Power
High Resolution Sensors: +1 momentum to out of combat sensor checks.
TRAITS
Federation Starship – A highly sophisticated and advanced vessel, with holodecks, replicators, and similar comforts, primarily designed to handle multiple operations. Highly sensitive and requiring constant maintenance, the vehicle is less rugged than other interstellar craft
Maquis Crew - a good chunk of the crew are former Maquis troublemakers. Expect discipline problems and unorthodox plans.
WEAPONS
Phaser Arrays
Power Cost: 1-3 | Range: Medium | Damage: 9cd [+1 per extra power spent]
Can Use Spread: Hit +1 time at ½ damage per effect OR Area: hit +1 ship per effect within close range.
Versatile 2: Gain 2 bonus momentum with a successful hit
Photon Torpedoes
Power Cost: 0 | Range: Long | Damage: 6cd
High Yield: If it causes 1 breach, it causes +1 breach
Quantum Torpedoes
Power Cost: 0 | Range: Long | Damage: 7cd (Vicious 1 - +1 damage on effects)
High Yield: If it causes 1 breach, it causes +1 breach
Calibrations: Requires 1 minor action to calibrate
Tractor Beam (Strength 5)
Power Cost: 0 | Range: Close | Damage: None
Effect: If successfully established, enemies face a diff 5 check to escape.
SCIENCE: Tuvok (Skilled: Science | Weakness: Emotionless)
COMMS: Lt. Bian T'are (Skilled: Communications | Weakness: Combat)
MEDICAL: The EMH (Skilled: Doctor | Weakness: Kind of a Dick)
ENGINEER: B'lanna Torres (Skilled: Engineering | Weakness: Also a dick)
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Ensign Steve (Useless Security Goon)
Ensign Becky (plural fighter jock)
Petty Officer Third Class Jessie (Hard working engineer)
Crewman Billingsly (Dude, Billingsly!)
Crewman Chandra (Concerned Crewman)
Bifurcate (bidimensional robot girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Princess Lyan Positron (runaway daughter of magician most foul and girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Soria Flyte (Pegasus girl and girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Mirror Universe Trevor (he's fine!)
NAME
MRSS Val Jean
PROF.
TACOPS
CLASS
Keldon Class Heavy Cruiser
CONST
2370
SHIELDS
12/12
RESISTANCE
5
SCALE
4
POWER
7/7
CREW SUPPORT
4
SMALL CRAFT
3
COMMS
ENGINES
STRUCTURE
COMPUTERS
SENSORS
WEAPONS
BREACHES
0/4
0/4
0/4
0/4
0/4
0/4
9
9
9
8
7
10
COMMAND
3
12
12
12
11
10
13
CONNING
2
11
11
11
10
9
12
ENGINEERING
2
11
11
11
10
9
12
SECURITY
3
12
12
12
11
10
13
SCIENCE
1
10
10
10
9
8
11
MEDICINE
2
11
11
11
10
9
12
TALENTS
Electronic Warfare Suite: Whenever making a Jamming or Intercept communications check, can spend 2 momentum to select +1 target (repeatable.)
Fast Targeting Systems: No +1 diff for called shots
Improved Hull Integrity: +1 Resistance
Cloaking Device: Spend 3 power, and make a Control+Engineering + Engines + Security check with a diff of 2. If successful, gain the Cloaked Trait (impossible to detect, cannot attack, shields are down.) It takes a minor action to decloak.
TRAITS
Cardassian Ship – Durable, uncomfortable, close, cramped and cheap. Thinks creature comforts are for other people and technical sophistication is for people who haven't spent decades starving to death. The fact that the starving could have been avoided if the government were less...you know, monstrous doesn't seem to have occurred to that many of them.
Okampan Crew – the crew are bright, perky, cheerful, and incredibly psychically powerful. Individually, they're all better than Vulcans, and as a gestalt? Who knows!
WEAPONS
Phaser Arrays
Power Cost: 1-3 | Range: Medium | Damage: 7-9cd (Spread: Hit +1 time at ½ damage per effect OR Area)
Versatile 2: Gain X bonus momentum with a successful hit
Disruptor Banks
Range: Medium | Damage: 8-10cd (Vicious 1: Each effect adds +1 damage)
Crewman Stadi - Age 23, Betazoid, born Beta Colony-5 to Zani and Talwyn of the House of Riis, survived by her sisters Tari and Batri.
R'mor - age 182, Vulcan, burn on Romulus to R'tan and Leslali, survived by his twelve nieces and nephews across the Empire
Pretty sure that our attempts to save the two of them are mostly doomed at this point by virtue of them being out of range when they are scheduled to die, but it would feel weird to not keep trying anyway.
Plus there's protecting the two million colonists. It would be out of character if Voyager didn't do everything within their power to at the very least make certain R'mor and R'lash's victory over the Breen with stakes like those.
Should we try to work out if Voyager can beam a shuttle through the wormhole? If we could find a technobabble way to accomplish that then we would be able to send a search and rescue team to retrieve R'mor and R'lash after the battle.
Plus there's protecting the two million colonists. It would be out of character if Voyager didn't do everything within their power to at the very least make certain R'mor and R'lash's victory over the Breen with stakes like those.
Should we try to work out if Voyager can beam a shuttle through the wormhole? If we could find a technobabble way to accomplish that then we would be able to send a search and rescue team to retrieve R'mor and R'lash after the battle.
The simplest way would be to beam a industrial replicator to the Romulan ship and then to just manufacture a shuttle in the past. It's been established that our on-board equipment can make shuttles, so the only question is if we can do so in time.
[X] Plan Tomorrow Never Comes
-[X] Have B'Elanna lead an engineering team over to Eloise and give the old Bird-of-Prey a tune up in the time left before the battle.
--[X] Ensure the Bird Of Prey is fully restocked with torpedoes and other combat consumables. The Empire might have been neglectful with supplying a punishment detail.
-[X] Romulan Bird Of Prey are normally fitted with an oversized powerplant compared to the power output demands of their ships. Get some portable Structural Integrity Field projectors to tap into that grid and make use of that excess power to enhance the durability of the ship.
-[X] See if the BoP Lifepods can be rigged with a transporter enhancer to extend the range of transport, giving better odds of being able to point to point transport into a life pod.
-[X] Try to have Dalana and Harry program some automation to handle some of the more complicated and creative maneuvers into a computer chip that they can beam over with.
-[X] A short ranged point to point transporter with a life support belt. It only lasts six hours after beaming them safely off their dying ship, but if recovery craft arrive in time...
--[X] Launch the Eloise's escape pods during the battle. They may be either ignored or targeted by the Breen but even if they cannot be reached by transporter then the life pod distress beacon should attract some rescue vessels to the conflict zone with haste.
-[X] R'mor gets moderately drunk with Neelix while sharing war stories, and Cat-dora drop in to have the 4 of them compete in one-up-man-ship
-[X] Tom Paris will introduce R'lash to this wonderful hobby called "War Gaming" and drag Seska along, and Seska totally won't get jealous.
Forgive me, I may have stolen a bit from the Gaming The No Win Scenario plan but I hope I did so in the spirit of it. We might not be able to get them to outright cheat death and get them an out, but we can give them the best bet of surviving both the Breen and the Empire itself afterwards. Though, even if they both survive we may never know as they know they would have to have the official story being they died to preserve the timeline.
[x] Plan Assist
-[x] Install 8 quantum torpedoes on their ship. Assist them with calibration/fire control remotely with a relay at the other end of the wormhole. If they don't succeed, the relay can be the black box.
-[x] Share war stories with Neelix
-[x] I mean, she obviously wants to fuck, so...
I think the only way to deal with time travel is to treat it as if nothings guaranteed. If they're going to do this then we should give them every advantage we can. The least we can do is support them. Acknowledge things and accept them, but recognize that nothing has happened until it has. If things turn out as they did to our knowledge, then fine, but we are here with them now, so we should do everything we can.
The simplest way would be to beam a industrial replicator to the Romulan ship and then to just manufacture a shuttle in the past. It's been established that our on-board equipment can make shuttles, so the only question is if we can do so in time.
Canon Voyager managed to do so, but the wormhole they moved was one that naturally shifted around on their end and they were the ones to pull it towards them. The Eloise would have to be the one to tech-tech things and it is an aged Romulan Bird-of-Prey not a top of line Federation exploratory vessel.
The one issue I foresee with a remote setup is that Star Trek has shown time and again that everyone and their grandmother is capable of deploying signal jammers that can stop even the best communications equipment.
I don't think R'mor and R'lash would be comfortable with risking the possibility of their defense of the colony being undone by the flick of a switch.
-[X] See if the BoP Lifepods can be rigged with a transporter enhancer to extend the range of transport, giving better odds of being able to point to point transport into a life pod.
This precaution might prove unnecessary. Star Trek's escape pods are closer to impluse limited shuttlepods than the far more limited craft of other sci-fi franchsies. The escape pods used aboard the Sovereign-class for example could achieve orbit under their own power and return to their ship of origin and the pods used aboard the Miranda-class were almost full on shuttles.
If Romulan escape pods are similar to those in use by Starfleet then it is possible that so long as R'mor or R'lash keep a communicator on them that they will be able to contact and order any surviving pods to come to them.
"She's a modified K'keridex bird of prey," R'lash said. "Bops are just a kind of ship, though - all forward disruptor banks and torpedo tubes, no turreting, maximal speed."
Though I definitely think wargaming should just be the lead in to the Seska, Paris, R'lash OT3.
It's also. Very amusing that we, as a thread, seem to be completely abandoning the primary objective of "get word to the Federation that we are here" in favor of saving 2 people. We really can't resist trying to add more friends to the crew and I love it.
It's also. Very amusing that we, as a thread, seem to be completely abandoning the primary objective of "get word to the Federation that we are here" in favor of saving 2 people. We really can't resist trying to add more friends to the crew and I love it.
I just don't see anyway to get a message to the federation without the romulans getting a hold of it.
If we could save these guys then maybe we could trust them to pass something on but by all accounts them surviving on their side of the wormhole isn't possible.
[X] Plan Green Blooded Hobgoblins
-[X] A short ranged point to point transporter with a life support belt. It only lasts six hours after beaming them safely off their dying ship, but if recovery craft arrive in time...
--[X] Plus a set of transporter repeaters, one use, that they can daisy chain from the wormhole to the battle, with the last one at the mouth of the Wormhole letting them transport right back to Voyager. Each set with self-destruct charges so they blow into atoms after the transport completes, preventing any timeline disruption.
-[X] Share war stories with Neelix
-[X] Introduce her to a wonderful new hobby called "wargaming." (There's plenty of time for the Cardassian-Paris-Romulan OT3 later if we save them)
See, if we remove them from the timeline by teleporting them to us, and the ship still stops the Breen, we have a complete stable time loop. We can even argue that we were required to do so if DTI gets involved!
Do you mind including my write in where we send people over to fix up the Eloise or at least something like it?
The ship is legitimately falling apart, to the point where R'mor and R'lash show genuine skepticism at the sensor readings it gave back of Voyager, and it seems like a cheap way to increase the odds of the crew surviving the coming battle.
It's also. Very amusing that we, as a thread, seem to be completely abandoning the primary objective of "get word to the Federation that we are here" in favor of saving 2 people. We really can't resist trying to add more friends to the crew and I love it.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Jun 16, 2022 at 11:31 PM, finished with 33 posts and 10 votes.
11
[X] Plan Green Blooded Hobgoblins
-[X] A short ranged point to point transporter with a life support belt. It only lasts six hours after beaming them safely off their dying ship, but if recovery craft arrive in time...
--[X] Plus a set of transporter repeaters, one use, that they can daisy chain from the wormhole to the battle, with the last one at the mouth of the Wormhole letting them transport right back to Voyager. Each set with self-destruct charges so they blow into atoms after the transport completes, preventing any timeline disruption.
-[X] Share war stories with Neelix
-[X] Introduce her to a wonderful new hobby called "wargaming." (There's plenty of time for the Cardassian-Paris-Romulan OT3 later if we save them)
[X] Plan Gaming The No Win Scenario
-[X] A short ranged point to point transporter with a life support belt. It only lasts six hours after beaming them safely off their dying ship, but if recovery craft arrive in time...
--[X] Launch the Eloise's escape pods before the battle or if that is not possible without dropping the cloak near the start of it. Hopefully one of them will survive for R'mor and R'lash to reach and use to return to the wormhole.
-[X] Have B'Elanna lead an engineering team over to Eloise and give the old Bird-of-Prey a tune up in the time left before the battle.
-[X] Investigate the wormhole and figure out how long it is going to last. Look for ways to stabilize it if it looks like it will collapse before the end of the battle.
-[X] Share war stories with Neelix
-[X] Introduce her to a wonderful new hobby called "wargaming."
--[X] with Seska
[X] Plan Tomorrow Never Comes
-[X] Have B'Elanna lead an engineering team over to Eloise and give the old Bird-of-Prey a tune up in the time left before the battle.
--[X] Ensure the Bird Of Prey is fully restocked with torpedoes and other combat consumables. The Empire might have been neglectful with supplying a punishment detail.
-[X] Romulan Bird Of Prey are normally fitted with an oversized powerplant compared to the power output demands of their ships. Get some portable Structural Integrity Field projectors to tap into that grid and make use of that excess power to enhance the durability of the ship.
-[X] See if the BoP Lifepods can be rigged with a transporter enhancer to extend the range of transport, giving better odds of being able to point to point transport into a life pod.
-[X] Try to have Dalana and Harry program some automation to handle some of the more complicated and creative maneuvers into a computer chip that they can beam over with.
-[X] A short ranged point to point transporter with a life support belt. It only lasts six hours after beaming them safely off their dying ship, but if recovery craft arrive in time...
--[X] Launch the Eloise's escape pods during the battle. They may be either ignored or targeted by the Breen but even if they cannot be reached by transporter then the life pod distress beacon should attract some rescue vessels to the conflict zone with haste.
-[X] R'mor gets moderately drunk with Neelix while sharing war stories, and Cat-dora drop in to have the 4 of them compete in one-up-man-ship
-[X] Tom Paris will introduce R'lash to this wonderful hobby called "War Gaming" and drag Seska along, and Seska totally won't get jealous.
[x] Plan Assist
-[x] Install 8 quantum torpedoes on their ship. Assist them with calibration/fire control remotely with a relay at the other end of the wormhole. If they don't succeed, the relay can be the black box.
-[X] Share war stories with Neelix
-[x] I mean, she obviously wants to fuck, so...
"What the flying fuck is a fucking spoonie doing here!?" R'lash exclaimed, thrusting her finger at Seska, who was scowling down at the map of forest and trees and ruined buildings. She lifted her head, opening her mouth in shock.
"The universal translator has THAT in it?" she asked.
"I...am guessing it's more insulting in the Romulan. Or Cardassian," Tom Paris said. "Come on, R'lash. Apologize."
"I...sorry, just..." R'lash shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "I thought the Cardassians hated you almost as much as we did."
"I'm not here by choice," Seska said, her voice dry.
"Yeah, we torture her every day," Tom said, rolling his eyes.
"It's highly ineffective torture if it is," Seska said, her voice even drier.
"...is it actual torture?" R'lash asked.
"No," Tom said, laughing, at the same time Seska said 'yes.' Tom shot her a wounded look, his hand going to his heart. He turned back to R'lash. "Here's where we pass our time. We play wargames. Have you...no, you wouldn't have. We have a wargame that's called Bolt Action."
"It's quite mentally engaging," Seska said. "It is based on a Terran internecine conflict in the late 8th century."
"She's using the Cardassian calendar," Tom murmured. "Its our 20th."
"Ah, so you mean the 11th century?" R'lash asked, grinning wickedly.
"Yeah," Tom said, nodding. "So, in it, you take control of one of the factions. Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the British Empire, the United States-"
"They were all fighting at once?" R'lash asked. "Sounds complicated."
"They were arranged into two alliances," Seska said, seriously as she stood up straight. "Imperial Japan, the Kingdom of Italy, and Nazi Germany were the first such alliance, named the Axis Powers. They were opposed by another alliance of the Soviet Union, the United States of America, the British Empire, and several lesser states of note. Over approximately seven years, they waged war on every single continent, ending after the near total destruction of Germany, Italy and Japan and the detonation of two crude fission warheads."
"Gods!" R'lash exclaimed.
"And that's not even the worst war we had," Tom said, placidly.
"And you make a game out of it?" R'lash asked.
"Yup!" Tom said.
"For fun?" R'lash asked.
"Yup!" Tom said.
"...how do you play?" R'lash asked.
***
"So, then, the bastards left us there," Neelix said.
"No," R'mor said, shaking his head.
"They did! Three goddamn weeks on that moon, in vac suits, with the Haaks dropping plasma shells on us for fun. Course, by then, we'd jerry rigged up a little photon launcher to send shells right back at them. It kinda became a little game for us - cause, like, the Haaks weren't crossing three clicks of semi-molten glass shards to try and take a piddling little fucking listening post."
R'mor shook his head again. "Gods, that...remind me, never join the infantry."
"Never join the infantry?" Neelix huffed. "Never join...never join the infantry!?" He threw up his hands.
"What?" R'mor asked.
"At least the infantry never have to worry about their own tools killing them. Do you know how dangerous these ships are?" Neelix poked at R'mor's sleeve. "What's that! A dosimeter patch!"
"Infantry have to face radiation too," R'mor said, seriously. "It's not just navy men who get irradiated."
"Yes, but when WE get irradiated, its by the enemy, or by the planet we're not, not by own our bloody flack vests!"
R'mor snorted. "Bah, you want to hear about radiation? Let me tell YOU about radiation." He leaned forward. "It was during shore leave, and some fejakta idiot had left down the warning signs for a baryon sweep going on in one of the biolabs. And me and my idiot friend, T'lom, were breaking in."
"Why?"
"We were ensigns. What do you think we were doing, breaking into a biolab. We were trying to get drunk after the bars kicked us out. Now, the sweep..." He knocked back another hit of whisky.
***
R'mor was still popping rejuvenation pills when he and R'lash were shown the thingies. Torres and Harry practically looked like they were over the moon. "This is the first part of the plan," Torres said, holding up a pair of sleek belts. "These are life support belts - escaping a ship takes time, and donning a spacesuit takes time. Best case scenario, you have time to don suits. Worst case scenario, you have the belts. They'll keep you alive because each of them has a point to point transporter that can beam you off the ship and then keep you alive. So you can still do the ramming thing. You know. If you absolutely have to use your spaceship as a glorified football hooligan."
R'mor nodded, his headache fading almost instantly as he swallowed the last of the pill. "And that thing?"
"You drop these on the way to the battle," Harry said, slapping the bunged together masses of cable, wire and glowing power packs. "They'll act as a kind of piggy back signal for the transporter. They'll let us beam you back to the ship."
"...huh," R'mor said. "So...'
"We're gonna live?" R'lash asked.
"You have to survive the battle fi-" Tuvock started.
"YEAHHHHHHHH!" R'lash sprang to her feet. "Gonna live!" She pumped her fist.
Tuvok sighed.
"What about your messages home?" R'mor asked.
Janeway smiled. "When the reinforcement fleet comes through to help check on the colony, we can figure out how to send them messages. Maybe even send you home as a token of goodwill." She nodded. "Maybe we'll all end up getting home after this."
"All I have to do is...win an unwinnable battle," R'mor said.
There was silence in the room.
R'mor nodded. "Lets make history then."
***
Thran Kohk watched through his viewscreen as his Bes Ghant class attack frigate swept around the Romulan starbase. The four or five knife ears aboard were fighting bravely - but they were simply outnumbered and outfoxed. A glancing disruptor shot off his prow caused the whole ship to rock faintly, the liquid almost-water that filled the bridge sloshing around him. His conning officer's voice thrummed through the liquid. "Shields at fifty percent, captain."
"Lock a barrage on their warp core. Finish this." Kohk gurgled.
His ship shuddered as dozens of small, fast torpedoes - packed with crude fission warheads rather than the standard antimatter charge of most empires - shot forward. They made up for in power with speed...and with numbers. Dozens of brilliant pinprick flares exploded along the Romulan starbase - and it came to pieces with a strobing pulse of white energy.
"Starbase destroyed," his tactical officer said - then a warning trill rang through the liquid. "Sir! A bird of prey is decloaking - right on the Tes Ghant's tail!"
The first in his formation barely had time to react before the stooping Bird of Prey swept past it, its nose mounted disruptor banks stuttering with the most shockingly accurate disruptor fire that Kohk had ever seen. The shields, already weakened by the starbase, puckered, distended, and then ripped in a shatter of blue white sparks. The remaining disruptor blasts cored into hull plating, vaporizing huge clouds of liquid nitrogen, and then burst out the other end, narrowly missing the matter/antimatter reactor in the core of the ship. The Romulan warbird banked hard to the side, whipping to put the starbase's expanding wreckage between them and the rest of Kohk's formation.
"The Tes Ghant's engines are down - they're running on batteries, sir!" his tactical officer snapped.
"Damn them! All ships, fire!"
The Les Ghant took the order in stride. It swept to follow the Romulan ship, which corkscrewed through the wreckage...and came right back at the Tes Ghant. The Les Ghant's dorsal mounted cannons banked and fired a withering broadside directly at the Romulan warbird...which...
No one had ever seen a Breen gape in shock before.
It didn't happen often.
"...sir, uh..." his conning officer said. "...I..."
"...have the Les Ghant's captain killed," Kohk growled.
***
"I told you! I told you it'd work!" R'lash laughed as her lovely little Eloise shot past the belly of the first Breen ship - having used it to soak every single shot from the second, the explosions of killing energy flung downrange by the turrets peppering along her disabled hull, gouging huge chunks from it with flaring pulses of light.
"Remind me to promote you, R'lash," R'mor said.
"Promote me, hell! You should name me fucking Empress!" R'lash laughed.
The third of the Breen ships was dead ahead. Her dorsal guns were already stuttering. R'mor's grin was wolfish. "Torpedoes armed and primed, plasma fields at fifty percent."
R'lash hunched forward over her console, her fingers gripping the two yokes that were used for this kind of manuvering. The Eloise rocked and shuddered as blasts of green-white energy exploded around them - disuptors fired coherent bursts of high energy particles, contained in a quasi-stable magnetic field. By adjusting the strength of the field, they could be designed to 'splatter' on impact or, as it was in this case, explode at a specific distance. The Breen were trying to hem them in with a bracketed field of disruptor bolts. Instead of waiving off, though, R'lash just kicked their whining impulse engines even hotter and harder.
The Eloise shot towards the Breen ship.
And the Breen blinked first. They began to turn aside, clearly thinking that they were coming in for a ram attack or a disruptor strafing run. Instead, R'lash thumbed down the button that no one ever pressed.
The inertial dampener cut off.
Inertia, once more, held sway on the Eloise.
R'lash twisted the yoke.
The Eloise swung around - while still continuing on the same trajectory. She was jerked forward against her restraint. Her vision turned green as blood rushed into her head. But the end result was the keel mounted torpedo tubes were aimed, precisely, at the curved, flat edge of the Breen ship's flank.
R'lash had enough brain to pull back on the trigger and grin as half their torpedo racks emptied themselves into the Breen ship's shields and hull.
***
"The Ras Ghant is burning!" Kokh's tactical officer called out.
"I can see that!" Kokh snarled as the ship blazed with greenish flames - enveloped utterly by a full barrage of point blank plasma warheads. The hideous green light of it outlined the ship and he knew that the liquid nitrogen had to already be boiling in there. That ship was dead, dead, dead. He thrust out his finger at the main screen. "Destroy that little ship! It's ONE piddling little warbird!"
The dorsal guns fired with suttering pulses - but before they had even cleared the space between where they were and the Romulan ship was, the Romulan ship had warbled and vanished into nothingness.
"Any wreckage?" Kokh asked.
"...some!" his tactical officer said. "We hit them! Hurt them!"
***
R'lash groaned as she leaned her head against her shoulder. She heard a buzzing. And felt a crackling. She opened one eye and saw her cheek was resting against a shimmering green forcefield. She jerked her head away from it and saw that the bridge was quartered by glowing fields - and one of them was up around a jagged, dull red hole blown in the side of the bridge. She gaped at it, then swung her head back to R'mor, who was sitting in his chair, looking placid and calm.
"What?" he asked, his voice coming over her console. "You never seen a close hit from a disruptor before? Are we cloaked?"
"Yeah...they're launching neutron buoys," R'lash said. She paused, looking at her sleeve dosimeter. It was yellow - one step below red, which meant immediate medical attention required, and two steps below black, which was...like...write your will in a hurry. Okay. She could deal with some anti-rad meds. She nodded to herself. "I'm going to be putting us near the first of the Breen ships - their power signatures will fuck up their buoys."
"Really?" R'mor asked, his voice tight. "Clever idea."
"Yeah, that Dragon lady had the idea," R'lash said. "But actually that's a lie, I had it, no one else."
R'mor chuckled.
And while R'lash was distracted, he casually ripped the midnight black dosimeter patch off his sleeve and tucked it into his pocket before she could notice it.
The Breen ship was going dark and already in a decaying orbit. As they settled in next to it, the two still active Breen ships began to do a search pattern, while the burning one detonated in the background, flaring and breaking apart into tiny chunks. R'mor settled down in his seat, then asked: "This ship's not going to hit anywhere habited, right?"
"Nope," R'lash said.
"Good."
The two surviving Breen ships began to fire pulses from their dorsal turrets. Space flared. The detonations were comfortably distant from them - after all, who'd risk firing near their own ship, even if the ship was doomed.
"So, how was Tom Paris?" R'mor asked, chuckling. "He treated you like a gentleman, right?"
"Whaaat?" R'lash asked, snapping her head to look around at him. R'mor grinned at her, impish. "Fuck you old man! He...we...played...boardgames." She shook her head. "How was that...Nelox guy. Neelix. Whatever."
"Remarkably good in bed," R'mor said, dryly.
"Oh oh oh!" R'lash said. "...hold on."
The two Breen ships were approaching their area of space. They started to fire that bracketing grid pattern again, systemically sweeping - careless if they hit their own buddy now. R'lash stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, targeting, while R'mor murmured. "One Vulcan, two Vulcan, bad Vulcan..." He thumbed in the power routing and R'lash targeted. "Dead Vulcan."
The cloaking field dropped and their forward disruptor hit the belly of the left Breen ship, punching through the shield, the armor, and the other end of the armor. The ship heeled, pouring plasma-exhaust into space and glittering nitrogen from their boiling off aquatic chambers. R'mor shouted: "PUNCH IT!"
R'lash flung the ship forward, but the other Breen ship was already opening fire.
***
"Four direct hits!" Kokh growled. "Got you!"
"Their disruptor is down, life support offline!" his tactical officer shouted.
"They're still coming!" his conn officer added.
The blazing Romulan ship filled the screen.
Thran Kokh realized, then...that he was never going to be a Thot.
He was, in fact, never going to be anything at all. He thought about all the final words he might say, to comfort his crew. But nothing came to mind.
***
R'lash groaned. Blood dripped down her forehead. SHe lifted her head, then laughed. "F-Fucking Eloise..." She said, blinking as she looked at the forward viewscreen. The view was filled with mangled wreckage, hissing nitrogen gas, and alert signals. Red lights along the entire hull diagram in the left hand corner of the screen. But despite being mangled and smashed, the bridge was...mostly intact. Hell, the hole in the wall was still the only real damage she could see. She grinned, then looked back over her head at R'mor, laughing.
He laughed too, then cough, then sniffled. His nose was bleeding - green blood dripping down his face.
"Busted your nose, huh?" R'lash asked.
"Not...not quite..." R'mor said, then coughed, then coughed, then vomited. He groaned.
"Commander?" R'lash asked, her voice suddenly worried.
"It's okay, Lash," R'mor said. "It's okay."
"What's wrong? ...shit, radiation, where's your dosimeter patch?" R'lash asked.
"It's okay," R'mor said, quietly. "The...the breen ship...can still operate. Most of the crew's still alive. The guns still work." He chuckled. "They make them tough."
"But-" R'lash started.
"You're a good kid, R'lash. You don't deserve to die with...an old failed senator who...never amounted much to anything," R'mor said, his voice ragged. his teeth felt loose. He coughed again. "Tell...Tell Janeway..." He panted. Getting enough air was hard. So hard. "Tell Janeway...sometimes..." He chuckled. That act of laughter...took...almost everything out of him. He closed his eyes, hanging his head forward. "Tell her...whatever." He thumbed a button.
"Commander!" R'lash screamed - but it was to the stars.
She drifted, surrounded by the pale orange glow of a life support belt.
"Commander..." she whispered.
***
R'mor's head hung forward. Breathing was hard. He had thrown up again, and that had almost knocked him out. He looked at his control panel through bleary eyes.
Oh, right, he thought. Sometimes...you can't beat destiny. You try. BUt you can't. Things...are sometimes the way they are. Got it, Janeway. You...Starfleeters...you always think...you always think you can get outta something if you think fast enough. Fight hard enough. Sometimes, you don't.
He lifted his head. The Breen ship shuddered and began to jet their impulse engines. They were trying to pull back.
"Sometimes, you don't," he whispered.
He thumbed down the fire control.
There were still six plasma torpedoes in the keel tubes.
***
The flare of light was so brilliant it eclipsed the local star and moon and planet. It was visible in the cities full of terrified Romulans, looking up at the space battle - rushing towards bunkers that would not protect them. It was recorded by the tachyon sensors of the three D'deridex class warbirds that were scrambling towards the colony but would not arrive for twelve hours.
It was seen by a sobbing Romulan woman, drifting through space.
"...the Eloise is gone," Harry said from his post in the transporter room, while Janeway and several nurses waited, medical equipment at the ready for emergency medical response. "I'm picking up one of the life signs on the beacon - but...hell, the repeaters are failing."
"Can you bring them in?" Janeway asked, her voice grim.
"Boosting the gain," Harry said, tapping at his console. "Locking onto the energy signature of their life support belt...I...shit. Shit!"
"What is it?"
"The energy it'd take to bring them in...Captain..." Harry paused. "It'll close the wormhole."
Janeway frowned.
"If...we leave it open...there are other Romulan ships..." Harry said.
Janeway closed her eyes. "...do it," she said, softly. She couldn't...
She couldn't let them just die out there.
The transporter whirred to life...and then there was a flash...
And R'lash appeared, slamming onto her back. She wheezed, her eyes half closed. She coughed out. "F-Fuck...fuck! FUck! Fuck!" She punched the deck, and Janeway knelt beside her.
"Hey," she said, softly.
"He's gone," R'lash snarled. "Stupid fucking Imperialist dipshit asshole patriot...going straight to fucking hell!" She sobbed, then coughed, then vomited onto the transporter pad. Janeway calmly helped her to her feet, and the faint hiss of a hypospray announced the antiradiation meds. R'lash groaned, then sagged, as she was helped away.
***
"You're kidding."
"No, Commander Tomalak, that's exactly what happened, we have recordings from surface stations and the surviving Breen hull," Subcommander Halaka said. He and Tomalak were both Easterlings - lacking the apostrophe in their names and the subtly different facial structures had once been a mark of some ill repute in Romulan society. Now that the Romulan empire spanned star systems and had found the Remans, that kind of subtle difference had been easily forgotten to all but a few die hard bigots. Tomalak, if he had been asked, would have proudly declaimed he was above such kind of insular, ethnic thinking.
...his ship was still mostly crewed by Easterlings and Eastern descendants.
He pursed his lips, then looked down at the data, scrolling by.
"...you're telling me..." he said, slowly. "That that...drunkard useless ass of a senator R'mor and his layabout halfwit smuggler-spawn pilot...took on FOUR, repeat, FOUR Bes Ghant class Breen fast attack frigates in a fifteen year old warbird so BADLY in need of maintenance and overhaul that it was assigned to patrolling the LEAST IMPORTANT colonial sector? And not only did this fifteen year old warbird do such a foolhardy thing, but ALSO! ALSO!" He thrust his finger up, then pointed it right at Halaka. "It then DEFEATED each one!"
"Yes," Halaka said.
Tomalak threw up his hands. "I shall retire and join the bloody Qowat Milat"
"They only take women, sir," Halaka said.
"I know what I said, Hal!" Tomalak snapped, then sighed quietly. "They're going to make that man an admiral for this." He groaned, then put his hands over his face. "I always hated R'mor, you know."
"Yes, sir."
"The only consolation I have is that he, at least, is dead," Tomalak said, putting his hands down on the table, frowning. "Any idea on why the...Eloise..." His nose wrinkled at the bizarre name R'mor had given his ship. "...spent three hours floating between solar systems?"
"None, sir," Halaka said.
Tomolak frowned. "I think I'll look into this," he said, standing up. "We can spare some scout ships to examine what's going on."
"Yes, sir," Halaka said.
Tomalak strode past his subcommander and towards the bridge, waggling his finger at him.
"I don't care if I have to turn over every atom from here to Galorndon Core, I'll figure out what that bastard was up too."
"Yes sir."
"See if I don't!"
"Yes sir."
***
R'lash was laying on her back in the medical bay, doped to the gills on antiradiation meds, and thinking about airlocks, phasers, and other relatively painless ways to kill herself.
"And how are you today?" The Doctor asked, stepping over to her.
"Nauseous and wishing for death," R'lash muttered.
"The nausea medication can be adjusted...however...suicidal thoughts are a touch more important," the Doctor said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Yeah, to a person, though," R'lash snapped, flaring. "Like, maybe, the people who fucking decided to strand me on the far side of the galaxy, ten fucking years in the fucking future, when my best friend was turned to fucking subatomic particles!"
The Doctor sighed, quietly. "I'll see about finding the person to talk to."
R'lash gave him an extremely rude gesture - the kind normally used to start duels on Romulus, and thumped herself back into her bed. She was furious.
She was furious because it was better than being sad.
And guilty.
--- Who visits R'lash!
[ ] Choose a crew!
All you can do is watch...
Going in, they have the following Advantages
Dragon Tactics (-1 to most combat, +1 to most diffs for the enemy)
For Hearth and Home (-1 to most combat checks)
Short Ranged Teleports + Life Support Beacons (this makes it possible for them to be beamed up)
They LACK the other advantage, so you're facing the diff of 2, +1 for the wormhole, +1 for targeting people not on a transporter pad, +1 for the range, -1 for the fact the transporter chief is in the transporter room for a total of 4!
Now, for the battle. They're starting with 1 momentum banked!
ROMULANS
R'mor and R'lash enter into the battle cloaked. They drop it as a minor action and immediately start with a called shot to the Bes Ghant I, using their disruptor banks, costing them 3/10 power. Diff is 2+1 for called shot, -1 for the Dragon's Tactics, -1 for hearth and home! They roll 3s: that's a success with 2 momentum! They get 9 damage, reduced to 6. The Bes Ghant I has only 5 shields left after it engaged and destroyed the starbase, so they hit 0 shields (1 breach) and took 5+ damage (1 breach) and they spend 2 momentum to get a secondary hit, doing 5 damage (dropped to 2 damage, which is still 1 breach.) The first 2 breaches are to the engines and the last is... also to the engines! The Bes Ghant I cannot use their engines and loses 2 power per turn!
BREEN
Bes Ghant II goes up. They try and bring their disruptor cannons to bear, spending 3/7 power (they normally have 11, but remember, they've been fighting the station) to add +2 damage dice. They get 1s + 1 complication versus a diff of 2+1. I say, quite callously, they accidentally hit Bes Ghant I. They do 7 damage, reduced to 4. One breach to the ...structure! Man...it'd have been SO fucking funny if it had been to the Bes Ghant I's engine. I'd have laughed so fucking hard.
ROMULANS
R'mor and R'lash are on their 2nd of three actions. They give the Breen 3 threat to open up with a spread of plasma torpedoes on the Bes Ghant III. They get 3s against a diff of 1! They bank the 2 momentum, for now. They spend 1 to reduce Bes Ghant III's resistance from 3 to 1, then spend 1 to re-roll dice and get 8 damage (nice!) and 3 effects. So, that's 8/4/4/4 damage, reduced to 7/3/3/3! That's 2 breaches, then 3 breaches! 4 breaches to structure, 1 to sensors...and for the next 3 rounds, they take 8 damage from the plasma field enveloping them!
BREEN
Bes Ghant III is up! ...it takes 8 damage to the structure, which rolls over to the engine. They lose 2 power from that impact. Desperately, they spend a minor action to reconfigure their sensors breach, then fire their disruptor cannons, spending 3/5 power. They get 3s - just BARELY hitting the Eloise! 13 damage, reduced to 10, dropping their shields from 13 to 3, and a breach to their sensors.
ROMULANS
With only one action left, R'mor spends 6/10 power to cloak. They get 1s against a diff of 3-1-1 (hearth and home and the dragon's tactics apply) but one complication exists. I will be capricious and say that R'mor is exposed to a lethal dose of gamma radiation from the near disruptor miss. Because I'm a dick.
BREEN
The Bes Ghant I, II and III have acted once, and the Bes Ghant IV has acted 0 times - they, in total, have 9 actions (2, 2, 2, 3) to take while the Romulans have none! Bes Ghant I drops to 0 power and...cannot actually repair! It starts limping away at impulse. Bes Ghant II attempts to sensor sweep for the cloaked ship They get 2s versus the base diff of 2+1 for the dragon's tactics (she thought of some ways to fool cloak scanners.) No luck. They get 3s on their second attempt! The Bes Ghant III takes 8 damage, then 8 damage on their two actions, to their engines both times. Their engines are disabled and they're out of the fight! Bes Ghant IV, though?
It starts trying to kill the everloving shit out of the Eloise: They get 2s+Complication (miss and the complication will be that they lose the lock.) That's 2 actions left. They try to restablish the lock, getting 3s to do it! WIth their last action, they fire again and get 2s - a miss!
ROUND TWO
ROMULANS
Two ships down. Decloak as a minor action, and they spend the crew determination point (which is a mechanic I've used ONCE and have forgotten!) they get 4s on their disruptor attack, spending 9/10 power to hit the Bes Ghant II...hard. That's diff 2-1 for 3 momentum, doing 8 damage! They will spend 1 momentum to reduce the resistance to 1, then 2 momentum to hit a second time. That's 2 breaches for the first hit (5+, reducing shields to 0), then 1 breach for the second hit (hitting a 0 shield ship.) All THREE hit the engines! (to be fair, that's just a d20 rolling a 4-6 twice, since the first two are from the same hit.) The Bes Ghant II is going to start losing power at 2 per turn. Since it was at 1 power, this means its outta the fight. Then they give 1 threat to bring their shields up, because I forgot they didn't use a minor action to do that!
BREEN
Bes Ghant II is out of power. but Bes Ghant IV is up! They spend their 3 threat to fire a barrage of breen torpedoes. They get 2s - diff 3! But they have 1 more threat...they spend it...and get +1 success! 3s! They do 6 damage, with 2 effect, doing 6/3/3, reduced to 3/0/0! That's still enough to drop the Eloise to 0 shields, which is 1 breach, +1 breach for the high caliber quality of the photon. That's 2 breaches to... the structure! Their structure is damaged!
ROMULANS
"Time to settle history," R'mor says. He rolls...and gets a staggering 5s on his ramming attack. The base diff is 2-1 for hearth and home, so that's 4 momentum. I've upgraded ramming attacks to include piercing (because no shit they should have piercing I, Jesus game, lacking piercing makes it so ships just bounce off one another, it's fucking stupid.) So, their base damage is 6/3 damage, with 1 piercing. They spend 1 momentum to ignore all 3 of the resistance (1 from piercing, 2 from momentum), so that's 3 breaches (1 for dropping a ship to 0 shields, 1 for doing 5+ damage, 1 for for the 3 damage.) That's 2 breaches to structure, 1 to weapons. He spends the other 3 momentum to fire a torpedo spread as he advances (he's out of power, so might as well. This gives them 3 more threat.)
So, technically, the plasma torpedoes hit first, doing 9/5/5 damage to the structure, structure and engines, for a total of 4 to the structure, 1 to the engines. The over the next 2 rounds, the plasma field is going to do 2 breaches each time, which are ALL going to the engines. The ship is dead.
Now, the Eloise takes 1 damage and 1 pierce. It's...actually intact, though it will then take 8 damage from the plasma field, which destroys the structure.
BREEN
The breen cannot act because they've been turbofucked.
ROMULANS
R'lash beams away, tearful goodbye.
VOYAGER
Beaming time! They get 3s...not enough...but I shall allow you to succeed at cost.
He didn't spend much time on Voyager, but he spent enough for his name to go on the wall.
Godspeed commander. Godspeed.
Edit:
I think I'm going to swap my vote for Janeway. She also spent time with R'mor, not as much time as Neelix sure, but she's also a commanding officer. She's the one who can best convey the kind of feelings R'mor had as a commander sacrificing to save his subordinate and she's the one R'lash can vent at.
Plus it gives her the opportunity to give her own little speech complementing R'mor's own last thoughts.
