The Final Battle : The End

USS Leviathan-A : Engineering

Captain Taybar and Lieutenant Commander Taline stood in the Chief Engineers officer. Taline had asked the Captain to come down to Engineering because he wanted her to see something.

"So what do you have for me ?" Aki asked.

"Bad news I'm afraid." Taline replied. "We don't have enough power to maintain all the systems."

"What about the quantum slipstream drive ?" Aki asked. "Surely that will give us all the power we need."

"The drive is becoming unstable." Taline stated. "In a couple of hours, we're going to be forced to shut it down and I don't think we can repair it here. It's effectively gone and we don't have enough reserve power to maintain orbit and power the remaining systems."

Aki was very quiet as she took in the news. With a failing power supply her options were limited.

"What if we shut-down all the non-essential systems, moved all the staff into one area and cut off those areas no longer occupied." Aki asked.

"We'll never manage it." Taline replied. "The amount of food and water we'll need to replicate will swallow up all our power reserves. Adding light, heat and air and we have a severe shortage."

"Then we have only one choice." Aki suggested. "An evacuation to the surface."

"That's going to put a strain on our resources." Taline suggested. "We've lost three of the six personnel transporter and all but one cargo transporter. We'd have to transport most of the cargo by shuttle. Plus we have a lot of injured, we'd have to move them first and set up a medical area on the surface."

"What would be our changes of surviving a controlled crash landing ?" Aki asked.

Taline was stunned by the Captain's suggestion. "You want to land the whole ship on the surface."

"Precisely." Aki replied. "Can we do it ?"

The Akira class was never designed to land on a planetary surface, its size would mean installing numerous supports. However, the ship was perfect capable of entering a planet's atmosphere and with the shields they could make a landing of sorts.

"We could land the ship, provided we had a flat area to land on." Taline remarked. "But I wouldn't like the odds of the ship surviving in one piece."

"What about surviving at all ?" Aki asked.

"With the hull in the state it's in, I'd expect at least one if not both warp nacelles to break somewhere along the arms." Taline suggested. "The main hull should survive fairly intact."

"See if you can increase the odds of us surviving." Aki ordered. "We'll start looking for a suitable landing site and start evacuating as many of the crew to the surface as we can."

"Understood Captain." Taline confirmed. "I'll do my best."

Aki rose from her seat and left Engineering.

*Next stop, Sickbay.* She thought.

USS Leviathan-A : Sickbay

She walked in to sickbay to find it full of injured. Every available member of the crew with any medical training was here, working on those crew still suffering from the aftermath of the battle. Eventually she spotted Doctor Katts in the far corner and headed towards her.

"Doctor, I need to speak with you." Aki announced.

"I'll be with you in a minute." Katts replied. "If you'd like to wait in my office."

A few minutes later, the Doctor arrived in the office and took her seat.

"What can I do or you Doctor ?" FyeLynn asked.

"How are we doing with the injured ?" Aki enquired.

"We've lost seventy three crew, plus we have one hundred and thirty injured." The Doctor reported. "We've got three very critical and a dozen more who are borderline critical. The rest have various levels of injuries, and those who are not fit enough to return to their quarters are in cargo bay two."

"How long will the most critical cases survive ?" Aki asked.

"We can keep them all fit and well here in sickbay." FyeLynn answered. "But I'd like to get them to a Federation medical centre as soon as possible."

"I have some bad news." Aki said calmly. "We need to evacuate as many of the crew to the surface as we can. We're losing power and we'll not be able to remain in orbit and feed and water the crew. I'd like you to arrange for an evacuation of sickbay as soon as possible."

"Captain, many of these patients will die without proper medical attention." The Doctor replied, panicking at the news.

"Once we've got the majority of the crew on the surface, I intend to make a controlled crash landing on the surface." We should have enough power left, provided the ship survives to maintain our remaining systems."

"What about my critical patients ?" FyeLynn asked.

"Once the Hellcat returned, we'll transfer them to their sickbay." Aki suggested. "Once we know what our situation is, we can send the Hellcat back to Federation space and start a planned evacuation."

"Then I guess we should get started." Doctor Katts announced. "We'll be ready."

"Thank you Doctor." Aki replied. "If you need anything, I'll be on the Bridge."

USS Leviathan-A : Bridge

Six hours later, the USS Leviathan-A was ready to take her final journey. Nearly four hundred member of the crew had been transferred to the surface, along with all the shuttles and enough supplies to keep them alive for a week without further supplies from the ship. The Hellcat had returned and reported the success of the mission, before leaving once more with twenty of the most seriously injured onboard, along with the Doctor and the crew that were onboard. There were only two area of the ship fully manned the Bridge and Engineering. Every system or piece of equipment that could be secured or safely stored had been.

"Bridge to Engineering. We are ready to enter the atmosphere." Aki announced.

[Understood.] The voice of Lieutenant Commander Taline replied. [All systems are ready.]

The Captain had picked an area of the planet close to water. Her plan was to fly the ship over the ocean, using the spray that the ship would create to both cool the hull and reduce their speed. If they had got their sums right, then they would end up 'crashing' the vessel into the shallow water or run it up onto the beach.

"All hands this is the Captain." Aki announced over the ships intercom. "We are ready to enter the atmosphere. Brace for impact. Helm, take us down."

The Akira class vessel dropped from her orbit and the hull started to heat up as the friction between the ship's hull and the air increased. The ship reached the lower atmosphere and headed over the ocean. Suddenly the ship suffered a severe jolt.

"The spray is more than we anticipated." Brayden announced for the Helm. "I'm adjusting the shields and increasing power to the thrusters, I'll try and take us up a little."

Suddenly the nose dropped and the Leviathan hit the water.

"I've lost all thruster control, we've hit the water." Brayden announced.

"Any damage ?" Aki asked.

"We're slowing down faster that expected, we may not reach the beach. "Brayden replied. "But so long as the shields hold, we'll survive."

"The beach is twenty kilometres, straight ahead." Junora Loris announced. "Speed three hundred metres per second and falling."

Minutes later, the Leviathan came to a halt.

"Report." Aki ordered.

"We've made it." Brayden announced. "We've managed to land on the beach."

"Bridge to Engineering. What's our status ?" Aki asked.

[We appear to be in one piece.] Taline reported. [It looks like we've survived intact.]

"Captain Taybar to all crew." Aki announced. "We're safe for now, prepare to make camp."

[Hellcat to Captain Taybar.] The voice of Commander Rashad announced. [We're preparing to return to Federation space with our cargo. See you in about four weeks.]

"Good luck Commander." Aki replied.

[And to you Captain.] Rashad replied. [Hellcat out.]