From: neale@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Neale Davidson)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: STTRR 17/20
Date: 15 Aug 92 14:46:27 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center


 
  - STAR TREK        -------------------------------------------------
  - THE RAVEN'S ROAR -------------------------------------------------
 
  Part Seventeen of Twenty
 
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
 
        Riley assumed the Captain's chair again, noticably worn 
  and extremely tired. He was up to four days no without sleep, 
  and it was beginning to show. "Visual," he commanded, hoping to 
  catch a glance at the newest of the many enemies he had faced 
  in his life.
        The viewscreen shifted views to show a tiny bright spot, 
  a distant starship approaching at her best speed. "Magnify," 
  Riley ordered. The image expanded, revealing the broken hull of 
  the Romulan battleship the FIERY RAVEN.
        It was all beginning again, Riley thought to himself. His 
  third battle as Captain of the ENTERPRISE was about to start, 
  and he hardly felt capable. "Is Grissom ready with the 
  countermeasures, Saavik?"
        "Affirmative, Captain," Saavik responded distantly, not 
  even looking at him. "Anti-matter flares are available at your 
  command." 
        Riley barely remembered Grissom's request. He'd been 
  mostly dazed when he recieved the message concerning it. It was 
  all hypothetical, a flare to prematurely detonate incoming 
  torpedoes. At the time, Riley considered, it must have sounded 
  like a good idea.
 
        ~ENTERPRISE is fifty thousand clicks and closing,~ Tonin 
  announced to Sunak's battle-weary gaze. ~From the looks of 
  things, she's got shields up and weapons armed. I am also ready 
  some usual anti-matter signatures in their secondary hull, from 
  their torpedo bays.~
        Sunak grimaced, again the ENTERPRISE was experimenting 
  with their tactics, and their Captain had yet another trick up 
  his sleeve. ~They've modified their torpedoes, then?~ Sunak 
  pondered grimly. ~Interesting. It appears that their carrier 
  was more of a benefit than I considered.~
        Tonin brought the sensor analysis up on display. ~She's 
  in better shape than we left her, but I would still say that we 
  are evenly matched.~
        ~Excellent,~ Sunak smiled, ~A more fitting challenge for 
  my last command.~
 
        "FIERY RAVEN range now fourty-thousand kilometers, and 
  closing awfully fast," Tiber announced with a bit of dread. 
  "She'll be in firing range in five seconds, three, two, one, 
  now." Tiber braced himself for the shot, "Incoming."
        As expected, the RAVEN launched a torpedo as soon 
  as she entered range and instantly set about recharging 
  another. "Launch counter-measures, fire phasers," Riley 
  commanded as the adrenaline start to course through his veins.
        The ENTERPRISE repsonded with minute streams of 
  anti-matter glistening toward the huge torpedo, like 
  fire-crackers chasing the sun. The torpedo detonated when the 
  streamers slammed into it, clearing a route for the Federation 
  starship's phasers to the heart of the FIERY RAVEN.
        Tonin cried out as some of the auxillary bridge panels 
  exploded around him. System after system began failing. ~Fire 
  phasers and bring us back,~ Sunak ordered, though there wasn't 
  a reply.
        ~Damn,~ the giant Romulan cursed, rushing to the 
  helmsman's station and effortlessly throwing him off of the 
  chair. ~Karana, plot a course away from ENTERPRISE,~ he barked 
  as he took the helmsman's station.
 
        The jolt was serious enough to send ornaments from 
  Sunak's room falling from their places. Rela herself was jerked 
  around, despite the doctor's attempts at stabilizing her. Her 
  last flinch, coming as the next phaser bolt struck, was so 
  violent that there was an audible crack coming from one of her 
  bones in her back.
        ~Doctor to Commander,~ he tried, knowing full well that 
  the injuries were already likely to be fatal, even if the Sick 
  bay had been operational. ~I can't care for my patient if we're 
  getting knocked across the stars,~  he complained, leaving his 
  fear of his Commander to the four winds.
 
        "Their shields have collapsed," Tiber announced 
  thankfully. "Grissom's counter-measures appear to have worked," 
  he admitted.
        "She's peeling away," O'Neil noted. "Recommend pursuit, 
  Captain."
        But the FIERY RAVEN was far from spent, sending another 
  massive torpedo into space and following it up with a phaser 
  barrage. Instinctively Tiber launched the counter-measures 
  again, obliterating the torpedo.
        But the phasers were enough, striking the rear 
  starboard side of the ship. While the outer hull was scorched, 
  cooridors and rooms were suddenly exposed to open space. 
  Fortunately, the rooms had been cleared out before the battle 
  commenced.
        "Bring us about and lay down heavy phaser fire," Riley 
  commanded, his heart finally into the battle once more. 
  "R'Ress, raise the UNION and tell them to get the fighters over 
  here. O'Neil, lock on them with the tractor beam after the 
  phaser fire, keep that torpedo bay pointed away from us."
        The ENTERPRISE fired again, sending wave after wave of 
  hot death into the RAVEN's hull. Finally, the phasers struck 
  the exposed torpedo bay, destroying a large chunk of the 
  forward boom section.
        When that was complete, the ENTERPRISE sent forth the 
  bright blue tractor beam, pulling the Romulan ship closer and 
  forcing it into a bad firing arc.
        The ENTERPRISE pressed on, launching phaser blast after 
  phaser blast into the RAVEN's helpless hull. The final warp 
  engine blew, then the impulse engines.
 
        The impulse engines exploded into nothingness, causing 
  the entire ships to reverbate with the shock. The doctor was 
  thrown to the floor, and Rela was thrown off the makeshift 
  medical bed. Her blood spilling on the floor.
        It was all too clear that she wouldn't survive the hour, 
  even if she survived the battle. ~Doctor to Commander,~ he 
  tried again. ~Rela is dying.~
 
        "FIERY RAVEN's main weapon system is permanently 
  off-line," Tiber beamed as the new readings came across. "They 
  still have phaser power, but the tractor beam has placed them 
  in a bad firing arc. Their shields are destroyed, and all their 
  drive systems are nonexistant."
        "It's over, then," Riley smiled. "Back us to ninety 
  -thousand kilometers," he ordered, remembering the eariler 
  battle. "R'Ress, patch me through."
        "You're on, Captain," the Catian answered.
        "FIERY RAVEN," Riley began, the edge returning to his 
  voice. "This is the USS ENTERPRISE, Captain Riley speaking. You 
  have commited numerous acts of war against the United 
  Federation of Planets. Your ship has been bettered, and we call 
  upon you to surrender."
 
        ~Commander, it's ENTERPRISE,~ Tonin replied with regret.
  ~They are calling upon us to surrender.~
        Sunak paused for a moment, giving deep concern to Rela's
  condition, and knowing that the Humans would at least care for
  her. ~Agreed, Tonin. Patch me through.~
        The viewer cut in, revealing Riley's impressive visage 
  for the first time. Sunak regarded his better with respect, and 
  even a slight sense of awe. "This is the USS ENTERPRISE calling 
  upon you to surrender."
        Sunak grimaced, knowing that he was violating even this, 
  most sacred duty. "This is the FIERY RAVEN," he began in 
  stilted Federation Standard. "I am Commander Sunak. I agree to 
  surrender, and wait for discussion of terms."
 
Xref: sparky alt.startrek.creative:1792 rec.arts.poems:8167