Separation (Battle Bridge)

The Captain emerged from the auxiliary turbolift and stepped onto the Battle Bridge of her vessel for only the third time. It was a lot smaller than the Main Bridge, but was similar in design to the Main Bridge of an Intrepid class vessel.

The turbolift was dead centre against the back wall, with stations to each side of the doors. To the left was the secondary Tactical station, dedicated to the operation of the weapons turret which was currently unmanned. To the right was the main Operations station and Lieutenant Marco Borealiou was already manning his post and checking all the ships systems.

In front of the two stations against the back wall was a third station, the main tactical station with Lieutenant Garrett Loh already checking over the weapons systems. The upper area of the Bridge was linked to the lower by a single ramp to the right.

The Captain's station was directly below the main Tactical station and Aki walked down and took her seat behind the large semicircle console. Ahead of her was the Helm console and she smiled when she saw Lieutenant Barker trying to familiarise herself with the Helm console. Off to the left side of the Lower Bridge area were the Engineering and Security stations.

Aki ran her hands over the console controls and checked all the systems. From behind her, she heard the sound of additional crew arriving on the Bridge and looked around to see Ensign Walker take over the secondary weapons systems. Although he was an Operations officer, he had volunteered to man the secondary Tactical station.

Along with him came Lieutenant Stelv N'akae, the Andorian Slipstream expert, who stepped down the ramp and took over the Engineering console. Aki hadn't had much time to speak with the Andorian, nor his Engineering colleague Lieutenant Heim. But she was glad that they were both onboard and working to perfect the Slipstream drive.

She'd heard of a few disagreements between the two officers, but their roles had been clearly defined. N'akae was assigned to perfect and improve the drive systems, whilst Heim's was assigned to keep the drive functioning. There were areas of overlap however, which had been the cause of the arguments the two officers trying to outdo each other in finding ways to get more speed and power from the drive.

"Status report." Aki ordered.

"Weapons and shields are at one hundred percent." Lieutenant Loh reported.

"All Operations systems are online." Borealiou added. "Sensors are online and the Hellcat has reported that they are ready to launch."

"All flight systems are ready." Lily Barker announced from ahead of the Captain. "We're ready for separation on your command."

"Bridge to Engineering." Aki announced tapping her comm badge.

[Engineering here Captain.] The voice of Lieutenant Luwall announced. [All power systems are online and ready. The Saucer has switched to internal power and is ready for separation.]

"Slipstream status ?" Aki enquired, looking over to the Andorian.

N'akae appeared to be ignoring the Captain, working intensely at his station.

"Slipstream status ?" Aki repeated, raising her voice.

This time the Andorian could have help but here her. He looked up from his station towards the Captain.

"Sorry Captain." He apologised. "The Slipstream drive is operational, you can have T-Warp 12 immediately, but I wouldn't push the drive too hard, too fast."

Aki sighed slightly. She'd been given the same advice from Lieutenant Heim earlier. T-Warp 12 was faster than most vessels could reach, but she knew that the rogue Jem'Hadar vessel could reach that speed as well. She would have liked to have been able to push the drive upto T-Warp 14, something which most trans-warp vessels couldn't even achieve, but the drive was still being calibrated for the new vessel and she knew it was going to take time.

"Mister Borealiou, what's the status of the incoming vessel ?" Aki enquired.

"Still on course for the planet." Marco Borealiou replied. "ETA to sensor range five minutes."

"Open channels to the Saucer section, the Hellcat and the two Jem'Hadar transports." Aki ordered.

The viewscreen, which until now had been black sparked into life and the image of Lieutenant Commander J'ross appeared on the screen. Moments later, the image split into two as Commander Rashad appeared next to the Lieutenant. It took a little longer for Lieutenant Borealiou to get in contact with the two Jem'Hadar vessel, but their images appeared on the screen, splitting it into four separate images.

"Everything is ready. Commander Rashad, you have permission to launch. Greta'n, Jerzak (The two Jem'Hadar Captains) you will follow the saucer section as soon as it separates from the main hull and head to Bopak III. We'll cover your escape and follow as soon as we can. J'ross, are you ready ?"

[Affirmative.] The young Lieutenant Commander replied.

"The Hellcat has launched." Lieutenant Borealiou announced. "Vessel cloaking now."

"Then prepare for separation." Aki ordered. "Close all channels and sound the alarm. Put the saucer section on the main screen."

The Battle Bridge was filled with the separation alarm as the lights dimmed.

"Mister Borealiou activate the separation process." Aki ordered. "Helm prepare an intercept course."

"Process is activated." Marco Borealiou replied. "Separation in thirty seconds."

Thirty second later, there was a jolt on the Battle Bridge as the two section of the Leviathan broke away from each other. On the viewscreen, the crew saw the saucer section move slowly away from the main hull and followed by the two Jem'Hadar transports jump to warp.

"Helm, intercept course." Aki ordered.