Taking Command

Posted on Dec 07, 2015 @ 12:51am by Brigadier General Alexander Towers
Edited on on Dec 07, 2015 @ 12:52am

Mission: Civil War

= Taking Command =

(Cont'd from "Behind The Scenes")

LOCATION: USS DEMETER

SCENE: Brig

STARDATE: [2.15] 1206.2144



Alex Towers clawed his way through a syrupy darkness, back towards consciousness. As his mind started to piece itself back together, one word kept repeating in his head:



**Stupid,** Towers thought. It hurt to think, but if his options were pain or oblivion, Towers decided he could live with some discomfort. **Stupid. Stupid.**



His eye fluttered open. He was staring up at the featureless gunmetal grey ceiling of the Demeter's brig. His face felt wet, and he realized he'd been drooling. That Vulcan witch had left him drooling. He wanted to wipe it away, to salvage some dignity, but he hadn't regained any feeling in his arms yet.



**Stupid,** Towers thought again. He pushed harder, managed to add some more words to his mental repertoire. **Dropped your guard. Let her get behind you. Stupid.**



His fingers twitched. Selyara could have wiped his mind clean like a chalkboard if she wanted to, and still he'd been stupid enough to turn his back on her. He knew what she was capable of. Even this relatively light touch had been enough to scramble Towers' brain, leave him flat on his back and drooling down his cheek. He shouldn't have taken his eyes off her. He shouldn't have *trusted* her.



**Stupid,** Towers thought, and he managed to slowly roll to his side. His hands and arms tingled as feeling returned to them. He blinked several times, trying to get his blurry vision to clear. Eventually it did. Towers rose on shaky legs. Selyara was loose. For all he knew, she was working with the Neo-Essentialists. He had to warn the bridge. He raised a hand to slap at his comm-badge, and wound up only hitting himself in the chest. He looked down. His comm-badge was gone.



**Have to get to the bridge,** Towers thought. He moved on wobbly legs towards to doors. They parted, and Towers steadied himself against the frame for a moment, giving his head a final shake. The effects of Selyara's thinkstrike had started to ebb, but Towers still resolved to never again drop his guard around her. One taste of her abilities had been more than enough.



=[/\]=



LOCATION: USS PHOENIX

SCENE: Main Engineering



"Battle stations!" Jake Crichton called out from the Master Systems Display. The holographic schematic of the PHOENIX hovered over the console, outline in blue as the ship's deflector arrays powered up. Jake looked down the console at Lt. Rochemonte, who stood with Chaucer near deflector grid control. "What's the status on that shield upgrade, Specs?"



"Standing by," Rochemonte reported. "On captain's order, we can initiate a shield boost of 9.89%. Even with the modified shield grid, the additional power output is going to take a toll on the physical components. We will have 120, maybe 180 seconds of extra power before the grids fail."



"And then we lose all shields," Maynell said darkly. "For at least 30 seconds until we can reroute to auxiliary power."



"Three minutes of boosted shields might be worth it," Jake said. "We have it as an option. Rochemonte, Chaucer, you're monitoring the shields. Be ready to deploy the boost on my command. Ensign Elgin?"



Jake turned, to see Asta Elgin standing at attention near a power distribution relay.



"Sir!" Asta said, snapping to attention.



"I want you monitoring power output to vital systems," Jake said. "Pour as much juice as you can spare into the phasers, we're going to need them if we have any shot at staying in this fight. Pull from every nonessential system you can, I don't care if you have to leave a bunch of lab jockeys floating around in the dark on Deck 16 to do it."



"Can do, chief," the young officer nodded.



"Maynell," Jake said. "Do what you can to disrupt the enemy fleet's sensors. Hit as many of them as you can, but focus on the CENTURY. I want that ship blind and deaf, to cover Operation Gambit's approach. Fill this sector with whatever junk transmissions and energy emissions as you can."



"We still have the plans for the graviton pulse we planned to use against the Amaterasu," Maynell said. "It should be enough to disrupt the sensors of any ship within its detonation radius, but it will knock out navigational computers too."



"BaShen doesn't need them," Jake said. "Keep that card ready. I don't want that shuttle getting blasted out of the sky before they get a chance to deliver the package."



"Or after," Elgin put in.



"True, but let's not get greedy," Jake said. "Okay, people. Countdown's started. Stay focused."



=[/\]=



LOCATION: USS DEMETER

SCENE: Bridge



A moment after Thoris P'Trell transported away, the turbolift doors parted to admit Alex Towers. He looked unsteady, but his gaze was determined.



"Report," he demanded.



Sardak turned, arching an eyebrow at him. "Colonel Towers," the Vulcan said. "Are you hurt?"



"Nevermind," Towers said, moving towards the center of the bridge as quickly as he could manage. "Report!"



"P'trell has transported to the CENTURY," Martine said. "He's taken the chronoton artifact with him."



"The PHOENIX is still on an intercept course," Lt. Fanail reported. "The CENTURY is powering her shields."



"P'trell's betrayed us," Towers said, scowling grimly at the image of the CENTURY on the main viewer. "We can't leave that artifact in the hands of Edgerton. Target the CENTURY."


"Colonel Towers," Martine said, stepping in to block the marine's view of the main viewscreen. "We are hopelessly outnumbered, and out of formation. We can't turn this into a fight."



"If we don't, it will be a massacre," Towers said. He looked over Martine's shoulder at Fanail. "Target the Neo-Essentialist flagship, lieutenant. We're not letting them go without a fight."



"Belay that order," Martine said, her eyes locked on Towers. "I won't let you provoke a war, colonel."



"The war's already started," Towers said. He turned, moving quickly towards the captain's chair and lowering himself into the seat. He thumbed one of the controls built into the armrest. "Attention all hands: this is Lt. Colonel Alexander Towers. Thoris P'Trell has betrayed our cause and fled to the enemy fleet, and he has taken a vital strategic asset with him. As Marine Commandant, I am hereby taking command of this vessel and ordering her to engage the enemy. All hands to your stations. This is not a drill."



Towers cut the communication, then stood again. Now it was Sardak who stepped into his path.



"I remind you, colonel, that I am next in the line of succession," Sardak said sternly. "You will stand down, that is an--"



"An order?" Towers finished for him. "You don't get it, do you? That fleet isn't going to let any one of us leave this system alive. We can't let Edgerton walk away with his hands on that artifact. I'll see it destroyed before I see it in the hands of the Neo-Essentialists."



"Those people on those ships," Martine said. "They're Starfleet, like us. They don't know they're on the wrong side. You're not just going to get us killed... you'll be killing them, too. Simply for the crime of standing across from you on the battlefield."



"And if we do nothing, they kill us at their convenience," Towers said. "Assuming Edgerton doesn't use that artifact to wipe us all out before we're born."



Now Towers let his eyes drift over the faces of the assembled bridge crew.



"We can't let that happen," Towers said. "Red Alert. All hands to battle stations."



=[/\]=



NRPG: Not very long, doesn't move much along as we're still teetering on that knife's edge, but a post is a post!



Shawn Putnam

a.k.a.

Jake Crichton

Chief Engineering Officer

USS PHOENIX