Chapter Text
A small cargo ship was conducting invasion maneuvers, trying to get away from the Cardassions warship. The small ship shakes after getting hit, "Report!" Captain Sekhmet shouted out from her captain's chair in the middle of the ship. Captain Sekhmet is a Kilngon hybrid, wearing a loose shirt and cargo pants. Bulkheads were down behind her, making it a large tripping hazard. But that's just one part of the ship.
The entire Bridge is full of flashing red lights, smoke, and falling pieces from this fight. "Shields are down at fifty percent!" Abyren shouted out. A tall, muscular, burly Andorian male who was holding his station tightly. As the ship rocks and rolls harder.
"They are still not answering our hails!" Essas cries out, before letting out a cough. One of the coolants is leaking on his left. He's a tall, bonded trill man who goes by They/Them. "Weapons are still offline!"
There was a weak cry beside Sekhmet's chair; looking beside her feet was her pet tricolor English Setter/Ra. He hunkers down behind her legs. Sekhmet bends down slightly and petted him, calming the poor pup down. Sparks flew in front of her face; she could feel the heat of them. With a grunt, Sekhmet flipped open her commbutton and flicked the red switch. "Engineering!" she shouted out.
It took a moment, "Thrissas, here, Captain!" Abyren's mate calls out from the commsystem.
"When can we get to wrap?" She shouted out. She grips her chair tightly as Dakota takes a hard right.
There was silence on the other end. "I might be able to get us to wrap three for twenty minutes at maximum."
Sekhmet narrows her dark blue eyes, heavily lined by black makeup. "Dakota, is there any place for us to hide and lick our wounds?" she calls out, as the ship takes another direct hit.
Dakota, a native American, narrows his eyes. The tattoo on the side of his face pulls slightly. "We have the Badlands at starboard side, Coordinates 15, Mark 2-2-3." He calls out.
Sekhmet looks towards their only Vulcan on board. "Sapreris how far?" She calls out when the ship takes another direct hit.
The Vulcan woman gives her a look, "We might have a chance if we take off lights, put life support on low, and no gravity." She told her slowly, holding tight as the ship again took another direct hit. "But it still would be a low chance."
Dakota let's out a groan, "Shouldn't you say it's illogical for us to use life support as a possible energy?" he asked rhetorically.
Sapreris raised her Vulcan eyebrow at the annoying human comment. "I would consider it even more illogical with us being vaporized by the Cardassion war ship," she pointed out.
Abyren grunted. "It's better than waiting for the Cardassians to kill us." They took another hit. "Shields at Thirty percent!"
"Enough!" Sekhmet growls out. "Essas," she looks towards the Trill. "Help Thrissas with whatever she needs to get those wrap engines back online." He gave a sharp nod and quickly abandoned his station and headed out of the Bridge to the wide-open doors.
She turned to her helmsman. "Dakota, we're only going to get one shot of this. When the time comes, punch it." She looks towards Abyren, "Send out a hail all frequencies."
Everyone took their commands, "Aye Captain!" And they get a move on.
"Hailing in all frequencies, Captain!" Abyren calls out.
She stood up from her Captain's chair. The pup pops up his little head and watches her. "This is Captain Sekhmet, of the trading ship Apostle." She paused for a moment, "Cardassian warship, why are you firing at us?" Abyren shakes his head, Sekhmet's lips thin, "If you do not talk to me, you're leaving me with no choice but to go to the Klingon High Council for your treason on the treaty of attacking a peaceful Trading vessel."
She paused for her dramatic ending. "And you should know damn well what the Kilngon Empire does to those who knowingly broke the treaty." She paused as her crew stared at her with barely centent glee. "It's...well, for better words, bloody. Missing limbs, humiliation in front of the entire galaxy."
That got their attention. A Cardassian commander shows his glaring side face. "We are led to believe you are holding criminals on board your ship," he answers. "Lower your shields and be prepared to be boarded."
Sekhmet narrows her eyes, "How could I possibly hold a criminal?" she asked him, mocking. "Better yet, how could you know I'm holding a criminal?"
The Commander's face hardened. "Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded..." he paused. "Or be ready to be destroyed," He threatened her lowly.
Sekhmet sucks in a deep breath through her nose. Her tamper, which is mild compared to most Kilngon flares. "And if I don't?" she antagonizes him. His silence was answer enough, straightening out her form, trying to appear larger than her five-foot frame. "I don't like being attacked without warning, and I don't like being accused of holding criminals." She growls out. "If you're so worried about it, why don't we go to the Empire and have them be our go-between? Or better yet, Station Nine, since it's closer."
The Cardassion did not like her answer, if his lip curl shows anything. "And have you hidden behind your people? No!" He smacked his hand down. "Lower your shields and be prepared to be boarded!"
At the corner of her eye, Sekhmet caught Dakota raising a thumbs-up. "You know what, Commander?" Sekhmet calls out, catching his attention. She tilted her chin up just right, making the lights cast shadows on her ridges. "I don't think I will," she told him.
Dakota, without needing her to command him, punches it. Sending them straight into warp two. Sekhmet almost bumps her head on the ceiling. "Whoa," she mumbles, feeling weightless.
The pup lets out a howl at being in the air, kicking his legs, trying to get back on land. Sapreris glances at the pup, pausing her work, and grabs the pup's middle when it floats close to her and pulls him onto her lap.
Sekhmet grunted and maneuvered herself to her captain's chair and quickly strapped herself in. "Thank Kathless for not being space sick," she moans to herself. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Abyren, who is leaning over his console, looking like death warmed over.
They could hear the engines wheezing as they flew through space, and you could feel the floor bouncing just slightly. Once she regained her energy, she quickly called out orders. "Once we reach the Badlands, find a place for us to hunker down and do some quick repairs before heading towards the Empire." Sekhmet starts relying on orders.
"Captain, logic establishes that heading to Deep Space Nine would have been more productive," Sapreris commented.
Sekhmet looks up at her paint-chip ceiling. "Why did I have a feeling you would speak out your opinions?" she looks towards Sapreris.
Sapreris gives her a deep knowing look. "Because you know your logic is flawed," she pointed out.
The ship went through another lurch. Sekhmet looks worried when the engines go to an even higher sound. "How much further?" she calls out. Pulling her control station on her chair to see the distance.
"Two minutes!" Dakota shouted out. Holding on tightly to the sharp U-curved conn.
"Hall pressures are rising!" Abyren shouted in worry. It was four hard, tense moments in warp before the small trading vessel slipped out and shot towards the Badlands. "The Cardassions are blocking the entrance!" Sekhmet scooted up in her chair, looking at her viewscreen.
"They are powering weapons, Captain!" Abyren shouted out.
With narrowed eyes, "Dakota, if there is any time to do your crazy stunts...now would be the time." Sekhmet told him.
Dakota's lips curl into a smirk. "Hold on," he calls out and has the ship dip as the Cardassions let out fire. Dakota turned the small ship onto its side to squeeze between the two firing phasers. The warship was too large to move fast enough, while their ship went under the warship. And slips under the ship and into the Badlands.
Abyren looks over to Dakota with a grunt. "It's a good thing the Cardassions are too thick to put weapons under the belly of the ship," he told Dakota in a disgruntled tone.
"I have to concur with Abyren." Sapreris looks towards Dakota with a thick Vulcan logic look. "That move could have destroyed our ship and cost us our lives."
Dakota grunted as he piloted the ship. "Everyone is a critic," he grumbles. Sehkmet covers her mouth to hide her smile; it wouldn't do if two of the three Bridge officers see her. After she is a pilot at heart.
The Badlands is quite beautiful in itself... as long as you ignore the plasma twisters. The small ship can make a hard right and then straighten itself out without touching the plasma storms. The Cardassions follow right behind them, but the little ship completely ignores them, looking for a place to stop.
For the first time in almost two hours, Sekhmet felt her shoulders relax slightly. "Find any place to make repairs?" she called out.
"Yes, Captain," Sapreris calls out. "Coordinates 17 Mark 76-9-11. The spot appears to be calm."
Sehkmet kept her eyes on the viewscreen, watching the plasma storms. "Let's hope it stays that way for our repairs," she mumbles.
"Heading..." Dakota calls out. The small ship made a few more sharp turns before an evening out to squeeze between two plasma storms.
The Cardassions try to follow them. But both of their wings took a direct hit. Forcing them to send out a distress call. They couldn't walk home with all the plasma storms surrounding to close to comfort. "They've been hit on their wings," Abyren calls out. Looking towards his captain with a smirk. "They've sent a distress call."
Sekhmet allowed a smile to appear, "I always love to hear that." She said, looking around. "Alright, just get the repairs on their way. And make sure none of our goods are damaged."
"Gravity is back online," Essas calls out, exiting the small hall where their turbo-life stood on standby. Sapreris quickly put the pup on the floor. Trying to wipe the dog hair off her dark pants, wrinkle her nose in disgust.
Now that the ship is much calmer for him. He did his inspection on the Bridge. Sniffing around, before lying down on his doggy bed behind the conn.
Sekhmet sighs and unbuckles her belt, pushing her screen away. "Alright, crew, let's get this ship back on schedule." She calls out, "Dakota, you have the Bridge." She gets up and out with the rest of the Bridge crew when flashing lights pop, stopping everyone in their place. They turned to face the viewscreen. "What was that?"
They all rush to their stations. "It's some kind of coherent tetryon beam," Sapreris calls out.
Sekhmet looks towards Essas. "Tell me you have good news on our engines?" she almost pleads to them.
Their face is covered in a grease stain, but still, you could see how pale they were behind their spots. "It took everything we have to get to the Badlands." They look towards the view screen and swallow heavily. "We got nothing left."
"How about weapons?" she asked next. "We could use weapons instead of warp?"
Essas shakes their head. Their dark, dirty hair flying. "We don't even have full shields. Must less weapons."
Sapreris looks towards Sekhmet. "There's a massive displacement wave moving towards us," she calls out.
"Another storm?" Sekhmet asked, tapping her fingers on her chair, hoping for it to be true.
Abyren shakes his head. "It's not a plasma phenomenon," he paused. "At its current speeds, it will intercept us in less than thirty seconds." He looks at his small viewscreen on his console, showing the back end of the ship. Of what looks like a tidal wave heading towards them.
"Dakota pushes the ship gently into impulse 2.1," Sekhmet calls out. "Essas go help Thrissaa down in Engineering."
"It's still exceeding our speed," Abyren calls out, sweat dotted on his forehead from the stress.
"Dakota used the plasma to block it," Sekhmet commanded. The ship carefully maneuvers around the plasma storm, trying to use it as the ship's shield while not getting too close to it. But they wave just bully their way through the plasma storm.
Sapreris is pushing the ship's sensors as far as they go. "Wave is still continuing to accelerate," she faced Captain Sekhmet. "It will intercept us in eight seconds," She paused. There is a massive amount of energy radiating off the wave. Making the scanners and scanners going haywire. "Five," she counted down. "Four."
Sekhmet swallows back a lump, holding on hair chair tightly, staring at the bright wave heading towards them. Abyren and Essas worked double time trying to bring up the shield to full. As Dakota duck, taking sharp turns that would get him scolded on a normal day to try and get away with it.
"This thing is massive!" Dakota shouted out. Just when the wave hits them full force.
{Credits}