Task Force: Gamma

ArjimCalodan · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:47 am Post subject: Sacrifice of Angels - USS Hood

Stardate 51191.58
USS Hood
Bajor System

The ship rocked with another massive hit. Lieutenant Commander Calodan brushed some debris off of his console and gave the damage report his Captain had asked for.

"Sir, main engines are down. Thrusters are at 50%. Shields are offline, torpedoes are offline, phasers are barely there. We're venting atmosphere from multiple breaches. It looks like Engineering managed to lock down the core breach."

The Captain grunted his acknowledgement. His ship was in bad shape and he wasn't happy. Another hit filled the Bridge with more sparks as the tactical console exploded, killing the tactical officer.

"HELM, get us out of here. Best possible speed!" The Captain's orders were heard over all of the noise, even though he barely raised his voice. Captain DeSoto had that effect on his bridge. "Commander Calodan, take over tactical. I want those phasers hitting anything that we can hit."

"Yes sir," Calodan replied as he reconfigured some of his controls to give him control of tactical systems. The targeting scanners were offline so he had to manually aim the phasers. Manipulating the controls, he scored two quick hits on a JemHadar Attack ship that was in as bad shape as the Hood. He was rewarded with a satisfying explosion and the ship spiraled off out of control. He quickly retargeted the phasers and let loose on a Galor that was making an attack run on another group of ships. Just a glancing blow, but it was still satisfying to be fighting back.

The Captain had moved to an auxiliary station and was doing what he could to keep the Hood fighting. He opened a comm channel "All hands, brace for impact. Torpedoes in 15 seconds!" Calodan grabbed his console and held a breath as the ship was rocked with three hits. He refreshed his damage reports and gasped.

"Sir...the port nacelle...its gone.." Before he could finish his report to his Captain the ship was rocked with more torpedo hits and he was thrown over his console. The last thing he remembered was the sickening crunch as his nose hit the deck...

OOC: Just how I think the DS9 Episode "Sacrifice of Angels" would have gone aboard another ship. The Hood made it out alright, according to canon established by ST: Nemesis. I'll post the rest of the story later, how the Hood survived.
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ArjimCalodan · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:06 am Post subject: Part 2

Calodan came to consciousness slowly. At first, he was only aware of the pain in his nose and his head spinning. Slowly, he became aware of someone calling out. "Commander. COMMANDER! Snap out of it Calodan, I need your help!"

He shook his head and some of the cobwebs cleared. He looked through the smoke of the bridge and saw Captain DeSoto standing at an auxilliary station that seemed to have been reconfigured to control most of the ship.

"I'm glad you're still with us Commander. I could use some help. Get on your feet. That's an order Commander!"

Calodan slowly stood himself up, using the remains of the ruined ops console to get to his feet. "Sir..." he began but the smoke overcame him and he began coughing, putting stars and sparks across his eyes.

"Lieutenant Commander, you're not allowed to die on me. That is an ORDER!" The Captain was yelling at him...that is what dragged Calodan out of the fog. Captain DeSoto never yelled.

"I won't die on you, sir. You have my word on it. What do you need me to do?" Calodan said, still grasping his ruined Ops station. He surveyed the Bridge. Almost every station was a ruined smoking, sparking wreck. The air was full of smoke and dust, debris littered the floor. It looked like the only two people left alive were the Captain and himself.

The Captain looked up from his hastily patched together console. "Get down to Engineering Commander. I can't get through to Chief Engineer Zaoudie. Get my shields back online and get me engines. It looks like it is up to us to get this ship out of here."

"Yes sir," Calodan said heading for the turbolift before he realized they were offline. He walked to the left to the access panel for he jefferies tube that would take him to Engineering. He input the sequence to release the locks on the panel and was greeted with the familiar buzz of a sequence failing. He pulled his holster from his belt and set it to the appropriate level and began cutting away the panel. He quickly sliced the locks and grabbed the hot panel and shoved it aside. After cursing at the burning hot metal, he slid into the access shaft and began the 9 deck climb down. As he went, he could hear the ship groaning around him and several explosions which he couldn't tell if they were attacks our just systems finally giving way under the strain.

Finally reaching Deck 9, he phasered his way through another access panel and into a solid mass of smoke and noise. If the damage on the Bridge had seemed bad, this was catastrophic. Coughing, he made his way through the debris to Main Engineering. He almost walked right into the doors as they refused to open more then an inch or so. Managing to wedge his fingers into the gap, he wrenched the door open and walked into hell.

OOC: Part 3 will come later.
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ArjimCalodan · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:19 am Post subject: Part 3

Engineering was a disaster. The air was thick with smoke and fumes; the environmental systems had simply given up on trying to clear the muck out of the air. Fires raged in several areas, many without any crewmen fighting them. A whole section of the upper deck had succumbed to damage and collapsed, covering several stations in wreckage.

The warp core was blessedly offline, but its casing was cracked. It was sitting slightly skewed, showing the amount of structural damage Hood had taken. She wouldn't be going to warp again without some time in spacedock.

Calodan yelled at the top of his lungs: "REPORT!" and was completely ignored. Between the din and the shellshock present in the engineering crew, no one even noticed he was there. Finally, Calodan grabbed the nearest crewman, an Ensign from the pips on his singed and dirty collar and demanded a report.

"Sir...sir..we're in bad shape." the young Ensign replied. He had a cut across his forehead that was dripping blood down the side of his face.

"I can see that Ensign. The Captain sent me down here to asses the situation. Where's the Chief?"

The Ensign finally seemed to grasp who he was. "Commander Calodan, Chief Zaoudie is dead. He was under the collapsed section. Sir...the captain is still alive?"

"Yes Ensign, he is. He is on the bridge trying to get us out of here. We need to get the impulse engines online and try and get some shields. I'm in command, you're my second. Get whoever's left organized to put those fires out. I'm going to find a working station and see what is left." With that, Calodan gave the Ensign a gentle shove in the direction of a group of engineers. He walked over towards one of the few working consoles and wiped the soot off of it. "Shit," he thought to himself, "We're in bad shape. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do." He began trying to reroute power around affected systems and deck to get some power to the shields.

Just as he was starting to have some success, the ship was rocked with a series of concussive blows. "Those weren't phaser hits...what the hell is going on?" he thought. He quickly initiated a voice link to the station the Captain was last at on the Bridge. "Sir, this is Calodan. I've reached engineering. We're in bad shape down here but I think I can get you some shields if we avoid taking much more damage. What's hitting us sir?"

The reply was staticy, but informative. "Calodan, get me shields and deflectors NOW. We're being struck by debris from the battle. I'm doing everything I can to avoid this mess on thrusters, but with all the structural damage the ship is not exactly nimble right now."

"Yes sir. Shields are my first priority, then engines. I won't make you any promises but I'm trying my best down here." With that, the Captain closed the comm link and he heard the structure of the ship groan as it went through some hard banking.

"Alright, shields then engines. I can do this." the thought while his fingers flew over the console in front of him. "The entire EPS grid leading from the fusion reactors to the shield generators is shot. I'll have to reroute through secondary systems. There has to be power somewhere." He began manipulating systems, rerouting power from failed systems. Slowly, the shield generator capacitors began to build a charge. One percent at a time, the power feed began to grow. Slowly, a deflector field began to fizzle into life...growing in strength as Calodan routed power around damaged and destroyed systems.
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uvek · Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:07 am Post subject:

well done. Good writing style. I like the thread..

If you go to the Hartington Homepage, I was putting threads down before i knew this was where to do it. It might give you a better feel of what I'm about as well.

I look forward to this collaboration.\\

Uvek

ArjimCalodan · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:06 pm Post subject:

Calodan had managed to get minimal shielding online, almost 10% of normal. He decided that was all he could do without burning out the secondary systems he was using to route power to the shield generators.

Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed that the Ensign he had nominated as his assistant had gotten the remaining Engineers together and they were fighting the fires. Slowly but surely, they were beginning to win the battle. Someone had even managed to get an atmospheric purifier online and the air was beginning to clear.

Clearer air wasn't necessarily a blessing. He could now clearly see the amount of damage that had been taken. Most of the consoles in Engineering, consoles designed never to go offline, were dark or sparking. The warp core was sitting askew, knocked out of its moorings. Blessedly, Chief Zaoudie had managed to lock down the core before it had breached, apparently manually. The ODN relays leading to the core's upper controls were completely severed.

Shaking off the sight of all the damage in Engineering, Calodan began working on routing some power to the impulse drives. He quickly discovered this was a futile effort and drove his fist down onto the console. He pulled up the comm link to the Bridge again. "Captain, this is Calodan. Impulse engines are shot. The IPS system is destroyed."

"Calodan, I can't stress to you enough how much I need those engines." He was interrupted as the ship was rocked by several phaser hits. "The Cardassians are moving in and soon we're going to be a very tasty target. As much as I appreciate the shields you got running, they won't hold up to a fight. We HAVE to get out of here NOW. I don't want any excuses, I want impulse engines. I have confidence that you can give me something. DeSoto out." As the Comm channel closed, the ship was rocked with several more phaser hits. Calodan's board showed that the ship's renewed shielding was down to 8%...barely more then wet tissue paper.

"No IPS...and I have to get the engines running." he thought to himself, "That is like trying to run a body without a brain. But wait..."

OOC: The finale will come soon. This will explain why Calodan is only a Lieutenant now and how he almost destroyed the Hood by going against Starfleet regulations.
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ArjimCalodan · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:18 pm Post subject:

Calodan sprinted across Engineering to the Impulse Reactor controls. On the way, he snagged the young Ensign that was assisting him. "Come with me."

The Ensign followed and Calodan directed him to the controls for the port driver coil assembly. "Ensign, I want you to activate the driver coil assembly on my mark."

"But sir," the Ensign said, "Without the IPS system, we have no way of regulating the...

"Deuterium flow. I know. We're not going to use the impulse reactors. I'm going to dump the impulse capacitance banks directly into the driver coil. That should give us enough power for a 20, maybe 30 second burn. It's not alot, but it should give us some propulsion." As he explained himself, he made the necessary modifications to carry out his plan. "Ensign, start the driver coil now. Wait 10 seconds and then initiate a low power antimatter injection. Should give us about 50% power to that coil."

He initiated a comm link to the Bridge. "Captain, this is Engineering. You have some power to the port impulse engine. Not much, but it is the best I can do. "

"Good work Calodan. Just hold her together for a little longer for me while I get us out of here." The Captain closed the comm link.

OOC: Ok, I fibbed. This isn't gonna be the final part. I got lazy and didnt feel like finishing it. There will be more at a later date.
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uvek

love the work, I don't think I can get that technical. At least I don't think Tactical has to worry too much about that.....shields up, FIRE! That's about it....hahaha

Captain David Brennon · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:31 pm Post subject:

Very nice work Mr. Calodan. I can't wait to see the end!
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ArjimCalodan · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:50 pm Post subject:

"SIR," the young Ensign yelled over the din of Engineering, "Inertial Dampeners are failing. Without the IPS to manage the inertial dampeners, they're shutting down. If they fail, the ship will be torn apart."

"Understood Ensign. I'll handle it." Calodan's calm voice didn't betray the fear he felt. He began running the pumps harder to push more deuterium slush into the reactors to try and force more power into the inertial dampeners. His efforts were rewarded as the inertial dampeners started to respond.

"SHIT!" he exclaimed. The impulse reactor temperatures spiked into the red and stayed there. "I'm losing fusion core containment. Reactore core 1 going critical!" As he cursed his stupidity, automated alarms went off all around the ship.

"This is an automated evacuation alert. All hands, abandon ship. Fusion reactor explosion in two minutes. Repeat, this is an automated evacuation alert. All hands abandon ship."

Simultaneously with the computer's announcement, consoles all over engineering began to glow brighter and then explode. The young ensign he had selected had just enough time to turn to try and run before his console exploded and caught him in a shower of sparks and twisted plasteel. Calodan ran to him...but it was too late. A large, twisted piece of charred console was embedded in the young man's throat.

"This is the Captain to all hands. In case the computer's warning wasn't enough to get you moving...abandon ship. Proceed to the nearest lifeboats and get to a safe distance from the Hood. Captain DeSoto out."

Calodan ignored the Captain's orders and continued to work at his console trying to stabilize the reactor. Several members of the Engineering crew tried to approach him and he simply looked at them with a look that said "Get out." On the way out, one of them tapped his commbadge and mumbled a few words. Soon, his commbadge was chirping.

"Calodan, this is the Captain. What the hell are you doing Commander? I ordered an evacuation."

"Sir, Im trying to lock down the core. This is my fault sir. I can fix it."

"No Commander. Get out, that is an order." Calodan reached up and removed his commbadge and tossed it across the room. "No sir!"

He began punching commands into the one working console in Engineering, listening to the computer refuse to accept them. Every time he failed, he would drive the flat of his palm down into the console, harder each time, until he finally cracked the control panel. At that second, he was hit with a phaser blast from behind and blacked out.

***3 Months Later***
Ward Room
DS9
Bajoran Sector

"This tribunal will come to order. Lieutenant Commander Arjim Calodan, please stand and prepare to hear your verdict."

Calodan was dressed in his dress uniform, sitting at a metal table in the Ward Room. Seated next to him was Captain Sisko. Across the room was a Comm screen, showing a Starfleet tribunal back in San Fransisco. A panel of Admirals were staring back at him. He stood, straightened his uniform, and faced the Admirals.

"Lieutenant Commander Calodan, due to your actions on the USS Hood on Stardate 51191.58, a fusion reactor went critical and exploded. In that explosion, 29 crew members lost their lives. You were charged with disregard for Starfleet safety protocols and disobeying a direct order from your superior officer. We've heard your testimony, and the testimony of Captain DeSoto as well as the testimony of several of the crew members that were in Engineering with you. Is there anything else you would like to add to your statement Commander?"

"No sir," Calodan replied sharply.

"Then Commander Calodan, this tribunal is in agreement. We have come to a verdict."

Calodan imperceptibly held his breath, waiting to know his fate. This entire hearing had been a trial. He felt Starfleet was making an example of himself, but hearing how they had laid the case against him...made his ability to sleep even less.

"On the charge of disregard for Starfleet safety protocols resulting in loss of life, we find you not guilty. The testimony of Captain DeSoto shows he ordered you to get impulse engines online and you were simply following orders."

Calodan relaxed his stance a little. Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as he...

"On the charge of disobeying a direct order from your superior...we find you guilty as charged. You disregarded an order from your Captain to abandon ship and had to be stunned and dragged off the ship. Your sentencing on this charge is to be summarily reduced in rank and privilege immediately to that of Lieutenant and a punitive letter of reprimand will be placed in your file."

At that declaration, Calodan visibly slumped. "A reduction in rank and a punitive letter of reprimand? What will this do to my career?" he thought to himself. His reverie was interrupted by the Admirals again...

"Lieutenant Calodan, you may have avoided some of the charges, but know that this tribunal is not impressed with your record of 'improvisation'. We still need you in Starfleet and involved in protecting the Federation against the Dominion, but you will no longer serve in Engineering. We have put notice in your records that you are to serve as an Operations officer, on the Bridge, where you can't be allowed to 'improvise'. Also, our records show that you have 3 months of leave time coming to you. We STRONGLY suggest you take them, immediately. Consider it, a strong request that you take some time away from duty to reflect on what has happened. Do you have any questions Lieutenant?"

"No sir, I do not. I will take my 3 months leave to Trill, effective immediately."

"That is a good idea Lieutenant. Captain Sisko, please assist the Lieutenant in getting to Trill for his leave time. Starfleet Command out." With that, the comm panel went dark.

Captain Sisko turned to him. He was quite an imposing man, but had a gentle soul. His eyes were kind, and in light of this current series of developments, Calodan appreciated. "Well Lieutenant, it's not as bad as it could have been. I'll see that a runabout is tasked to taking you to Trill." He turned to leave the Ward Room, but before he walked out he said over his shoulder "And Lieutenant...you're out of uniform."

Calodan reached up to his collar and removed his third pip and placed it on the table in front of him. "So that's the end of that." With that thought, he walked out of the Ward Room.
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uvek · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:01 am Post subject:

I like a character that is ready and able to see himself as imperfect. You did a good job wrapping this up.

nice work.

uvek