Fighting Fire

Posted on Tue Oct 10th, 2023 @ 4:54am by Captain Ryhl th'Zeles & Commander Chalan Kendri & Lieutenant Sava

2,008 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: USS Holana
Timeline: MD C4 1300 hours After Klingon Hospital

Kas entered the shuttle, "Veers fire up the engines!"

Kas jumped into the pilot's seat, "Veers man the transporter station, Sava take the tactical station."

Kas assumed Kendri would take the copilot seat and focused on getting the Holana in the air.

Sava sat in the co-pilot's seat and strapped herself in. "I'll get the emergency fire suppressors. Will you be manning the transporter, sir?"

"I'll be flying 'my lady," Kas said dryly. "Veers will be on the transporter and someone should man the science station."

"Lt. Sava, move to the tactical station," Kendri ordered, waiting for the security officer to take the position that Commander Razka had directed her to in the first place so that she could take the co-pilot's seat. "This is Commander Razka's ship, and you are our security officer," Kendri reminded her gently.

Okay then. Keep to her post and don't say anything, Sava thought to herself with some irritation. She settled down in the seat indicated to her in silence. Anything to get this fire-quenching operation of theirs moving.

Kendri took her seat next to Kas. "Alright, Commander, this is your ship. Tell us what we need to do."

"Standard fire suppressors would work. The fuel Klingons have used is easy to produce in this sector, It contains Dicyanoacetylene, which burns at 4,990 Celsius. We need liquid nitrogen and lots of it," Kas said. He pressed the COMM. "Holana to Columbia I need you to transport as many tanks of liquid nitrogen as will fit the cargo bay."

=/\= Aye Holana stand by =/\=

"Lt. Sava scan for the center of that blaze," Kas ordered as flew closer to the fire.

"Kas, there are a dozen people trapped by how the fire has spread," Kendri announced.

"I've found the center of the fire. It's the wreckage of the shuttle - if I were to guess it's an electrical fire gone out of proportion," Sava added. "Maybe we should pick up some sand to smother the flame? Or water - though we'll need to find somewhere to hold it,"

"Liquid Nitrogen should do it," Kas said without looking away from his console. He pressed the COMM. "Veers lock on to these life signs and transport them into the crew quarters."

=/\= Aye Sir =/\=

=/\= Columbia to Holana; we have one hundred tanks of Liquid Nitrogen ready for transport =/\=

"Copy that, stand by." Kas answered. "Veers do we have them?"

=/\= Yes sir they're onboard =/\=

Kas flew the Holana high above the flames. "Alright let's get those canisters onboard."

=/\= Aye Sir =/\=

Two large Klingon warriors burst into the cockpit, "What is going on!?"

From the noise coming from the doorway it was clear most of the Klingons were disoriented and not happy about being onboard.

"Lieutenant Sava, please take our guests out of the cockpit and explain the situation," Kas said.

"Here, gentlemen-" Sava shepherded the two Klingons out of the cockpit and into the waiting area beyond. "A fighter has crashed, unfortunately - we are assisting to put out the resulting fire. Do any of you require medical attention?" She asked. Sava half expected at least one of them to act tough and try to power through a singed belly or something, which was why she took care to inspect them visually for injuries."

Kas turned to Kendri, "I'm going to fly closer to the fire, I need you to give Veers the coordinates of the center of the fire. We're going to beam liquid nitrogen into it, it will neutralize the fuel, but we can't predict the shock wave. we'll just have to ride it out."

"Understood, I'm sure we've all been through worse," Kendri responded. "Ok, Ensign, here's the first round of coordinates," Kendri announced. "I'll keep an eye on things, and keep them coming. Kas, just keep bringing us around."

=/\=Aye ma'am

"Aye Commander," Kas said, still focused on the controls.

=====

The Klingons had been hunting when they'd been trapped by the blaze, they'd been transported in the nick of time. The leader glared at the tall outsider ordering him around.

"Kormak of the house of Toq, I will not be ordered around by you!" The large Klingon. "I demand to be a part of this operation."

"You can be part of this operation by telling me if there's anyone else down there that needs saving," Sava replied coolly. She'd dealt with rowdy, boisterous men before. Some of those had been Klingons. A few of them, all non-Klingons, had tempers worse than that of Kormak, funnily enough. To her, this man's bluster was but dandruff on her shoulders - figuratively, of course, since she didn't have hair on her head. "People we can't see, or people our scanners haven't picked up,"

"You have to keep the fire from spreading south!" Kormak demanded.

"If you'll give me a moment. In the meantime, please do have a seat." Sava smiled and poked her head back into the cockpit. "Sirs. The two Klingon gentlemen in the back have informed me that we need to stop the fire from spreading south. Why, they did not say."

Kas cursed, he didn't have time for this, "bring one of them up here."

Kormak moved like he was going to push past Sava, but seemed to think better of it. He moved past the Kelpien and into the cockpit.

"There's a weapons cache in a bunker south of the fire, if the fire ignites it, it could take out half the settlement."

"That's more than two thousand people," Kas said. Now he was wondering how much of this was an accident. He cursed under his breath again.

"South of the fire?" Kendri shouted. She scanned for a building or storage unit matching what they were talking about. "Okay Ensign Veers, here's your next set of coordinates. I guess we're working from the south."

As the first transport of liquid nitrogen went into blaze Kas tried to maneuver out of the impending shock wave.

"Brace yourselves!"

"Sir, if you'll kindly have a seat-" Sava politely ushered the other Klingon into his seat and strapped herself into hers.

The Klingon strapped begrudgingly, cursing under his breath.

Kendri held on to the top of the control panel with her left hand, bracing her arm against the edge of the panel to catch her weight if she needed to, using her right hand she refreshed the sensors and the impact the nitrogen had on the fire. "Second set of coordinates, Ensign," she shouted.

=/\=Aye Ma'am

Veers sounded stressed as he answered, this was bad and Kas knew it. He honestly didn't know how they were going to get out of this in one piece. He couldn't endanger so many lives. He knew the Klingons wouldn't leave...

"I don't have time to get us clear! So hold on!" Kas said. "Commander you, Sava and Veers should beam out, we don't need to risk so many lives. Automate the last two Liquid Nitrogen transports and GO!"

"Ensign, keep going with the coordinates I'm sending," Kendri shouted.

"I'm not leaving you out here, Commander. Lt. Sava, set up your tactical station to access transporter controls. You and Veers are going to work in tandem grabbing alternate coordinates as I send them," Kendri ordered. "We don't have time to beam anyone off this vessel. We need to work faster. Starfleet doesn't back down, and I know the Klingon warriors back there don't either, so let's do this."

"Sava are you ready?" Kendri sent coordinates to her station, then sent a set over to Veers.

"Done." Sava tapped on the control panel in front of her. "Just give me the word, Commander." She locked on to the coordinates given to her and waited with her finger hovering at the ready above the screen.

Kas looked at the Commander and cursed in Bajoran, he couldn't argue so he focused on his console. He didn't think the shield would hold against the next shock wave even if he got the shields up fast enough.

"Commander, the second those transports complete you will have to get our shields up! We'll be in the wake of the shock wave."Kas didn't look at her. "I'm going to try to keep us in one piece."

"That Cardassian mutt has more grit than I'd expect!" Kormak shouted.

"Understood, here we go!" Kendri said, fingers flying across the control panel sending coordinates first to Edwin then to Sava, once the second round of nitrogen was beamed out, kendri put the shields in place. "Shields up, get us out, maybe we can ride the wave," Kendri said, already watching the fire and preparing the next round of coordinates.

"You guys have a fire crew coming out to help us or what?" Kendri asked shouting back to the Klingons.

"Our COMMs are down!" Karmak spat.

"Brace for imppp....." Kas shouted. The shuttle rocked and began to spin. Kormak cursed in Klingon as his head hit the bulkhead. Kas was desperately trying to regain control of the craft.

"Shields still at 70%, redirecting power to aft shields. We're good, just a little bumpy," Kendri called out. "Kas, do we need to call the Columbia for reinforcements?" Kendri asked.

"Yes," Kas said as he tried to pull the vessel out of the spin. "We've lost our aft stabilizers!"

=/\= Commander Kendri to Captain Th'Zeles, we need activate one of our support unit's we have a large Dicyanoacetylene, burning at 4,990 Celsius, the Holana is the only vessel out here fighting this thing off. Half a dozen fighter ships loaded with liquid nitrogen should make quick work of this thing. =/\=

The severity of the moment struck Ryhl on the bridge. =/\= Understood.. Stay safe. We'll send the science shuttle alongside them. It has the largest tank in the shuttlebay... Stay safe! =/\=

Kas pressed the COMM. "Veers can you work on repairs?!"

There was silence from the other end... Kas didn't have time to process what that might mean other than repairs weren't an option and his young command would need aid when it was possible...

=/\= Captain Th'Zeles, actually we can belay that order. It looks like help has arrived. =/\=

=/\= Acknowledged.. Sending the response flight to standby. Keep us updated, Commander. =/\=

In orbit, Ryhl gave the orders to move the ship into a close orbit over the position of the fire. The Columbia would monitor the situation closely. A myriad of resources were a quick comm call away.

The shuttle jerked and righted itself. Kas look confused, then smiled. "We're in a tractor beam."

=/\= Qapla'=/\=

Lt. Koth's face appeared on the COMM screen, the warrior flashed his sharp teeth and continued speaking in Klingon.

=/\=We can't have the Federation talking all glory!=/\=

Sava suppressed a smile as she shook her head, amused. Most other Starfleet crews would've had their skin crawl if caught in the tractor beam of a Klingon vessel - seeing Kas' excitement at this normally hair-raising situation was quite something else. "We're pleased to have you helping us, lieutenant." She called out.

Koth grinned and nodded to Sava, as he spoke they could four B'rel class vessels flying through the smoke. Now that liquid nitrogen had neutralized the dicyanoacetylene the birds of prey were putting out the fire easily.

=/\=I can't allow you to perish before I've had a chance to look him in the eye on solid ground.=/\=

Kas was relieved as watched the Klingons dosing the fire, it was always better to see a community handling their own issues. Especially a community as proud as this one. He looked at his console and then back at Koth.

"We are in your debt Koth, I believe I can the vessel without further assistance." Kas said in a sincere tone. "I look forward to toasting our victory with bloodwine."

=/\= Qapla'=/\=

"Lt. Sava," Kas said, "Go check on Ensign Veers."

The Kelpien nodded and moved to check on the human. The poor guy must've been so relieved, now that the crisis was over.

Kas brought the Holana in for a landing.

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