Flight of the Serenity

Posted on Mon Jun 17th, 2024 @ 10:07pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Master Sergeant Flarn & Lieutenant Junior Grade Daris Wren & Lieutenant Junior Grade Jordan Spencer & Captain Edmund Merrick & Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhara Rynn
Edited on on Mon Jun 17th, 2024 @ 10:40pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: Serenity Delta Flyer Class Shuttle
Timeline: MD006 0800 hrs

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Serenity, it was something that Merrick felt would be the best thing to take to see about getting Malbrooke off the bridge. Wren was going to be the key person in this one, getting them close to the Pioneer and then someone beaming Tyler onto the Serenity. Lieutenants Spencer and Rynn were also key as well. Then for added security and what Merrick felt would be good to have with them as well, Gunny Sergeant Flarn.

This will be one of the more difficult things to have to do, for all those involved, it had to be done. Merrick looked at those whom he had requested for.

"Wren are you ready to do this?" he asked the helmsmen.

Then he looked at the others. "This is it, no second thoughts." He remarked.

"No. No second thoughts." Zhara agreed. She could think of no better way to get the captain off the bridge and get him the help he needed--plus protect the crew from further harm.

Wren tapped the controls as he finished the preflight sequence. "Ready to go when you are, Captain." He called out over his shoulder.

Merrick moved towards the operational console and looked towards Flarn. "Flarn, take your position. Wren, lets get flying." he glanced towards Spencer and Zhara, "get yourselves settled."

The lumbering Tellarite did not like the idea of a minor mutiny. In his mind that is what this was. He realized that the officers believed this was in the best interest of the ship but he was not convinced. Nevertheless, he would follow orders and state that in court if he had to. "Flarn has the weapons and shields online and ready at your order."

Zhara nodded and took the nearest seat. She was ready for this, she even knew it was vital for the safety of the ship and its crew, but she still had a knot in her stomach. So many things could go wrong and they could all be in a lot of trouble if they failed. She buckled in and took a long, slow breath.

Flarn looked over the readouts on his console and found the first problem with the plan. "Captain Merrick, Ensign Wren, Flarn hates to report that the uplink between Serenity and the Pioneer is discontinued under the authority of Commodore Malbrooke. That means that we cannot open the Shuttle Bay doors."

Edmund flashed a glance towards Wren as well as those in the Serenity with him. "Wren get ready to fly, we've got to get things under control. Flarn, if the door won't open then we are going to have to make our own exit. Oh the engineering staff is going to be so pleased with this." he remarked, "And that is an order Flarn. Make an exit for us." he glanced over towards the Doctor to make certain he was ready. "I will take full responsibility for this." Merrck added. "Once we have an exit make our way towards the Pioneer where Commodore Malbrooke is."

"Recommend we raise shields. The shuttle door is triple reinforced tritanium. It will take a torpedo to blast it open. The minute it is blasted open the bay will depressurize. We should evacuate all personnel and be ready to fly. Weapons at the Ensign's command." Flarn was all business as he input the correct commands into the weapons console.

Edmund keyed in the signal for those in the shuttlebay area sending this message out "This is Captain Edmund Merrick, of the Cure. All personnel, leave this area immediately, I repeat leave this area now!" his tone rather commanding. "This is not a drill." watching as personnel got the message and were leaving. Once the all clear was assured, it was now down to Wren and Flarn for this next part.

"Flarn raise shields be ready to blast when Wren is all set to go." he turned to Wren, "Its now on you, once you are ready, all is set just get us out and about."

Wren waited for the impulse engines to power up as he prepared the thrusters. “On my mark, Sergeant. Three….two….one…mark.” The Trill yelled out to tactical.

Flarn was not keen on the idea of a mutiny, however, if the Sergeant Major was on board then it must be needed. No sooner did Wren give the order then Flarn's finger hit the mark and two blue balls of light shot forth from the serenity. They hit their mark and the shuttle bay door blasted outward into the space beyond. An alarm sounded in the Shuttle Bay as particles of dust and debris was sucked out into the abyss. "If the Commodore did not know he knows now."

Wren didn't think about the ramifications of their decisions, simply on the task at hand. There would be time to deal with the fall out later. As soon as the torpedoes hit the shuttle bay doors did he give a bright grin before tapping the thrusters at full speed. As they whizzed out of the shuttle bay, he brought the Serenity about towards the starship.

Zhara knew they'd face some sort of opposition, but she hadn't expected to have to blow out the shuttle bay doors. She started at the sudden explosion, then closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath. If the captain didn't know what they were doing before, he did now.

Jordan observed the tense atmosphere in the shuttle bay, his expression unreadable as he took in the unfolding situation. As Flarn reported the discontinuation of the uplink between Serenity and the Pioneer, he couldn't help but feel a surge of apprehension.

"Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting," he remarked dryly, his gaze flickering between Merrick and the others. "Looks like we're improvising our exit strategy. Always fun."

He checked his medical equipment, ensuring everything was secured for the journey ahead. "I hope you all packed your sense of adventure," he quipped, a wry smirk playing on his lips. "Because it seems like we're in for quite the ride. Unless you would like me to take the joystick and fly us about."

As the Serenity turned to face the Pioneer Flarn's eyes widened. His console had lit up and caught the Tellarite off guard. "We have incoming. The Pioneer is firing all phasers and forward torpedoes. Impacts in eight seconds. Shields are raised."

Of course the Pioneer was firing, Zhara thought, bracing for potential impact. The captain was on the bridge and knew the Serenity shot its way out of the shuttle bay. She hoped the other part of the plan happened quickly enough to keep them all from becoming space debris. At the same time, she couldn't help looking around the shuttle and assessing the mental condition of the others.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a welcoming committee," Jordan remarked, his tone laced with a mix of sarcasm and concern as he heard Flarn's report.

He quickly checked the medical supplies once more, ensuring everything was secured for any potential injuries. "Well, isn't this just lovely," he muttered under his breath, his mind racing with contingency plans. "You got it up there or do we need another pilot?"

Wren dove and weaved the shuttle around the phaser fire with ease. He smiled to himself, having to hold back his glee as he accelerated to stay ahead of the starship's targeting sensors.

Merrick had turned to watch the dance the Serenity was performing, with the larger Pioneer shooting out its lances of phaser fire. The light from the phaser fire was reflecting inside the ship, a fearsome beautiful, deadly light show, to behold. Edmund hoped that the phaser fire wouldn't hit. All they needed to do was to keep from being destroyed, to await the signal from Lachlan and capture the Commodore.

"Should we get closer to the hull to avoid the phaser fire?" Zhara didn't have many opportunities to fly, but she knew enough to know that most starships couldn't fire at a target that close to themselves.

With a sudden tap of the console, Wren dove the small ship out of the way of oncoming phaser fire so that it missed the Serenity and instead impacted with a torpedo that he had already navigated past, a large explosion being generated. "No need," He offered over his shoulder to Zhara. "Granted I can't keep doing this forever. Someone get had better get a lock for once the shields are down."

No sooner did Wren speak then a series of phaser fire and torpedoes strike the Serenity. Flarn's console lit up. "Direct hits. Shields down to fifty percent. Torpedoes are offline, but we do have sensors..." He snorted as he saw the rest of the damage report. "Ensign Wren it seems that the navigational array took a direct hit. Navigation is off line. You are going to have to fly manually."

"That's fantastic," The ensign said as acknowledgement for Flarn. Wren furrowed his brow in concentration as his fingertips danced along the console. He did his best to predict where the phaser volleys and torpedoes would land. His mind racing through the geometric calculations as he continued to have the shuttle bob and weave from the assault. "Now would be a good time to initiate transport." He offered in a sarcastic tone.

The blast from that torpedo jostled the Serenity a wee bit, Merrick giving out a slight grunt. He was watching the scanners he was operating, waiting for something... waiting.. Bam! There it was the activation of a transporter signal, shields were down! Merrick pressed the button to engage the transporter beam, then watched as Malbrooke shimmered into view caged inside a forcefield upon the biobed.

"Zhara, Spencer, he's all yours..." Edmund called out.

The counselor met Jordan's eyes and nodded that she was ready. Then she stood and went over to the captain to ascertain his mental health. She smiled politely and watched his reaction, giving the doctor time to do what he needed first as she could learn a lot by simply observing.

"...TINYYYYYYYYY" The ending of Tyler's sentence to Lachlan was shouted as he materialized on the biobed. He knew the betrayal that his crew had done was now complete. As Zhara leaned over the bio bed Tylar attempted to spit in her face. The expectoration bounced off the field and landed on his chest, he seemed to make no acknowledgement of it. "Well now I see how Barr pulled this off he had help none of you will get away with this. You will all hang, hang I tell you..." He attempted to rise from the bed and collided with the field. Foam formed at the corners of his mouth with anger.

Zhara continued to observe the captain for several seconds, then turned to Jordan. "On the surface, there are clear signs of paranoid schizophrenia and acute stress disorder. However, I can sense more. It's the captain, but it's not. There's a darkness inside him that seems to be in control and feels...alien. It's filled with hate and rage."

Jordan watched as Commodore Malbrooke materialized inside the forcefield, his ranting confirming Zhara’s assessment. He stepped closer, examining the captain’s vitals on his tricorder, then looking up to meet Zhara’s eyes.

"Definitely not standard behavior," Jordan muttered, then spoke louder, "Commodore, we're here to help you. There's something influencing you, and we need to find out what."

Turning his attention back to Zhara, he nodded in agreement. "The symptoms you're describing align with what I’m seeing. We need to sedate him to run a deeper diagnostic... or a seance. This alien influence could be a neurological parasite or some form of psychic attack. We won't know until we get a full scan."

He moved quickly, preparing a hypospray. "Wren, maintain evasive maneuvers. We need to buy some time." He injected the sedative through the forcefield. "Nothing like trying to drug your new commanding officer..."

An evil grin crawled across Tyler's face. The being within him found a piece of information that could turn the tables on this situation. It was something that Tyler was not sure Lachlan would know to do. He tapped his comm badge. "Malbrooke to Pioneer. Computer, reverse transport authorization Malbrooke-Tango-3-5-5." There was a pause that was an instant but seemed to be an eternity. Then the computer replied. "Your command code is unauthorized." Tyler's face turned red with anger and yet the expression on his face was one of fear and uncertainty.

Zhara looked at Jordan and raised an eyebrow. "His fear is for more than just losing command," she said. "He's more enraged about that than afraid. This is something...more, but I don't know what."

"Let's get ourselves back to the Pioneer." Edmund giving the order. He also moved from where he sat to take a look at Tyler, "This was necessary for the safety of the ship, Commodore Malbrooke. I know you are in there still, being held hostage. "

The Serenity rocked from another volley of fire from the Pioneer. This was an exceptional volley, as the the small craft took the brunt of all of the Pioneer's phasers and two torpedo strikes simultaneously. Flarn snorted in anger as the ship rocked. "Shields failing. If we take another hit we are going to be done for. Navigational is down. It seems that when we blasted our way out of the shuttle bay the guide beams that bring shuttles in was taken out. Ensign it looks like you are going to have to bring us in entirely on manual. I am going to have to agree with the Doctor we should get back to the Pioneer." Flarn turned toward Edmund as he spoke his recommendation.

Edmund turned to Flarn with a firm nod, "Thank you, Flarn." The Tellerite had pulled him back to focus. Looking sharply at the pounding the Serenity was taking. "Wren, get us back to the Pioneer."

"I'm already on it." The Trill called out as his hands flew over the controls, trying to reroute power from the failed navigation system to propulsion while getting his barring's on where the Pioneer was.

Tyler began to laugh maniacally. "You think you know but you have no idea. Once I am back on my ship you will all pay. Pity Starfleet does not accept summary executions anymore. You are going to have to lower this field to get me off this ship, and when you do..." His voice trailed off as he began to thrash about on the bed.

"Computer, restrain Tyler Malbrooke. Authorization Rynn 12779 Alpha." She couldn't let him hurt himself--or anyone else.

"It's no longer your ship. You've been relieved of command pending a full medical and psychological evaluation," Zhara replied calmly. She was not going to provoke him or make him think his threats held any sway with them. He was compromised and needed help before he could get his command back. As for his current threat, if Jordan didn't sedate him, she'd suggest it. That restraint might not hold long if whatever was possessing him was in control.

Jordan stepped forward with a mixture of sarcasm and mock solemnity. "Well, looks like we're going to have to resort to unconventional methods. Maybe an exorcism is in order?" He raised his hands dramatically, as if calling on higher powers. "By the power vested in me by Starfleet Medical, I command you, dark spirit, to depart from this vessel!"

Pausing his theatrics, he quickly reloaded the hypospray. "Let's try a different type of sedation, shall we?" He injected the sedative through the forcefield, his demeanor switching back to serious. "Once this takes effect and he is stabilized, we need to move him to Sick Bay for a thorough examination. I can only do so much with what we have on this boat."

"We are all going to diiiiiiiiii....." Tyler shouted as the sedative took effect. Now he lay there silent a shell of the man he is. As disheveled and peaceful as his body may have looked the battle raged inside his head. There was not much time for Tyler to win that battle.

As the sedative took effect, Jordan turned back to Merrick. "You think we will get hazard pay for this?"

Merrick flashed a brief smile at Spencer's quip then it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "I don't think so. I agree though that we need to get Malbrooke to sickbay as soon as possible. I hope the ship doesn't continue to fire upon us. I'd like to check on the rest of the ship and the engineers aren't going to like the fact that an order was given to blast the shuttle bay doors open." He looked towards Wren and outside. They were in a pickle right now.

"You know this is hard enough to do manually without all the chatter," Wren called out to the others in the shuttle as he saw main power was failing.

With a frustrated sigh, Wren realized they were facing the wrong way. Unsure of how much power they had left, he knew their decisions had to be precise to make it back to the Pioneer. Daris called out to the Tellarite. "Flarn, reroute all power to impulse engines," he barked out over his shoulder.

"Yes Ensign. All power save life support now routed to the engines. Engines are now returned to maximum efficiency." Flarn's digits may have been stubby but the moved fairly quick over the controls. He was not an Operations Sergeant for nothing. The Tellarite knew exactly how to keep a ship moving. Now he hoped that Ensign Wren was equally good at what he did.

Feeling the soft hum of the increased power to the engines under his fingers, Wren focused. "Everyone, sit down, shut up and brace for impact." Daris added curtly before increasing speed as fast as he dared. His own stomach in his throat as he was pinned back in his seat for a moment from the abrupt change before the inertial dampners caught up with the movements of the ship.

Zhara checked to be sure Malbrooke was still restrained before retaking her seat and securing her belt. She didn't want them getting back to the ship with an injured captain.


"Hang on!" The ensign called out as he brought the Serenity into the beginnings of a loop, righting the shuttle at the halfway point as they raced back towards the Intrepid class ship.

Taking a deep breath, Wren focused himself on the wreckage of what was the shuttlebay in the distance that they were fast approaching. "Flarn, when we are within one-thousand meters, signal for the Pioneer to drop the emergency forcefield to the shuttlebay," He called out to the Sergeant at the Ops. "On my mark reroute all power to the aft and docking thrusters. Three...two...one..Mark!"

Flarn was not sure why Wren would want to send all power to the thrusters. But then again he was not a pilot, and orders were orders. He watched the distance to Pioneer carefully and when it hit one thousand meters he spoke. "Sergeant Major Barr this is Flarn. Drop emergency shuttle bay forcefield. I repeat drop the forcefield immediately." He gazed out the front of the ship and still saw the blue shimmer of a forcefield, that image was met with a snort. Wren called mark and Flarn tapped in the command and the power redirected to the docking thrusters as ordered. When he finished he saw that the shuttle edged closer to the Pioneer and the field was still engaged. The Tellarite opened his mouth to say something about the field and no sooner had he done that then the shield went down.

Constantly correcting his navigation, Wren's hands were slow and as steady as he could make them. He tapped the controls to take the inertial dampeners offline so he could get a feel of the ship as he brought it in. Even with all his intense focus, the Trill couldn't completely ignore the fear he felt clawing at his belly.

A power surge in the console caused sparks to fly, briefly obscuring the pilot's view. They were listing to the left far more than he could compensate on his own. "Drop power to the port thrusters. Keep us even! We are almost there."

When the shimmer of the forcefield went down, Wren cut all power to the thrusts, letting their momentum take them the rest of the way. Moments later, he found himself picking himself up off the floor when the bottom of the shuttle made contact and scraped along the shuttlebay's floor. A slow drag eventually led them to creak to a full stop. The paint job on the shuttle was no doubt ruined.

Once the shuttle was at a dead stop, Daris spun around in his chair. "Everyone alright?"

"Fine," the counselor said, going back to Malbrooke to see how he was doing. Nodding her approval when she saw that he was uninjured, she moved back for the doctor to take charge of his patient.

As Flarn stepped out of Serenity he turned toward Wren and snorted. "Flarn has never seen flying like that. Flarn would fight with you again." It was the closest a Tellarite would come to giving a compliment.

"Good job, we made it back to the Pioneer." Merrick commented, feeling vastly relieved. He figured that Lachlan would know that they were back onboard relatively safe despite some bumps and bruises. He stepped out of the Serenity, patted its hull. "You made it ." he said to the runabout. "We made it."

Wren simply gave the Tellarite a broad grin and nodded in agreement before going about running diagnostics and getting a full damage report on the shuttle.

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A Joinit Post By

Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer


Gunnery Sergeant Sergeant Flarn
Operations Sergeant, The Cure
USS Pioneer


Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhara Rynn
Counselor, USS Pioneer

Captain Edmund Merrick
The Cure Executive Officer, USS Pioneer


Ensign Daris Wren
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Pioneer


Lieutenant Junior Grade Jordan Spencer
Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer

 

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