Sneaking By

Spending days locked in any vessel was hard, but it was especially hard for the crew and passengers of the Firefly. Whilst the crew were acclimatised to the cramped conditions, their current passengers weren’t. The fact that there had been only a few days earlier a major confrontation between Captain Stryker and Klaas Carmicheal hadn’t made the trip any easier.

The Firefly had been prepared and ready in record time and they had now crossed the nebula expanse known as the Briar patch and were heading towards the central systems of the Federation. So far they hadn’t run into any patrols, but they knew sooner or later that the vessel was going to be inspected.

There was no way a Klingon vessel, even one “flying under a Federation flag” would be allowed into the central systems under the current situation. The Federation council had passed several laws, one of which was that only official Federation vessels would be allowed access to the space around the major planets. This meant that unless you were a Starfleet vessel or had the right authorisation you could no longer visit planets such as Vulcan and Andoria. Of all the UFP planets however, Earth being the centre of the Federation was under even greater restrictions and only specific vessel could enter or leave the Sol system.

The Firefly’s destination was an asteroid field where they would rendezvous with another vessel belonging to one of Klaas’s contacts. Klaas had been assured by his contact that the vessel and its Captain could get them to Earth safely.

Suddenly the small vessel was rocked by an explosion from behind.

“What was that ?” Stryker enquired.

“Looks like we were fired upon.” Trance announced from the tactical console.

“Raise shields, prepare to drop us out of warp.” Stryker ordered. “Dylan, find us somewhere to hide, Bridge to Engineering.”

<What can I do for you boss ?> The voice of Harper asked. <Because I’m kind of busy trying to stop the ship exploding.>

“What’s our situation ?” Jack enquired.

<That jolt was pretty heavy.> Harper reported. <We’ll hold together for now, but another shot like that could take the back of the ship off.>

“Hopefully our shields will hold.” Jack remarked. “Will we be able to use the “Harper” afterburner ?”

<In out current state…..I don’t know.> Harper replied. <Just how long would we need to be using it.>

The “Harper” afterburner was another of Harper’s brilliant additions to the Firefly. A set of auxiliary anti-matter injectors which increase the power output of the ship’s power core, which in turn gave an increase in warp speed. It gave the ship a huge increase in speed, but was only sustainable for a few minutes.

Jack looked down at Dylan Hunt, the vessel’s pilot who was busy checking the navigational charts.

“About two minutes.” Dylan replied, without turning around. “If we can sustain warp nine, we should make a system in the Federation database which has a large asteroid field where we can hide. It’s filled with metaphasic radiation and metreon gas, which will confuse whoever’s attacking us.”

“Did you get that ?” Jack enquired.

<Sure……just give me thirty seconds to lock down the warp core interlocks.> Harper requested. <Then we’ll be good to go.>

“Captain, I’ve got the vessel on visual.” T’Pek announced.

“On screen.” Jack ordered.

The viewscreen in front of them changed. At first all they could make out was the rear of the Firefly and then slowly an image started to appear in front of their eyes. The vessel was hard to make out, not because of its size, but because it was almost totally black in colour.

“The vessel appears to be a Federation Akira class, but I’m having a hard time getting any sort of sensor lock on the vessel, it’s as if it’s not there.” T’Pek announced.

“But we can see it.” Beka Valentine stated.

“The only reason I picked it up was due to me tracing the phaser blast back along the line of attack.” T’Pek answered.

“I don’t believe it.” Quinn remarked as he entered the Bridge, accompanied by Klaas.

“What ?” Jack exclaimed. “Do you recognise that vessel ?”

“Not by sights no.” Quinn admitted. “But I know of a top secret project that was being carried out by Starfleet called Black Akira. At the time I just thought it was some codename, but seeing this makes me think that the project name was literally that, to create a Black vessel.”

“A black vessel ?” Jack exclaimed.

“A vessel that is virtually invisible without the need for advanced sensor jamming technologies or cloaking devices.” Quinn continued. “It’s more commonly known as a stealth vessel, an old 21 st century Earth idea.”

“We’re ready to use the afterburner.” Dylan announced from the Helm.

“Do it.” Jack remarked. “Everyone, hold on this could be rough.”

The Firefly started to increase speed at a rapid rate as the afterburner kicked in.

“Vessel is firing.” Trance announced.

“Helm, take evasive action.” Jack ordered. “Transfer as much power to the rear shields as we can spare.”

The ship was rocked once more, but the majority of the energy was absorbed or deflected off the shields as the vessel turned slightly.

“How long till we can drop out of warp ?” Jack requested.

“Sixty seconds.” Dylan replied.

“ Hull stresses are reaching maximum.” T’Pek announced.

“Vessel is firing again.” Trance stated. “Shields are at fifty percent.”

Jack didn’t need to give the order to take more evasive action, but this time the blast was much stronger and several systems started to spark.

“We’ll be dropping out of warp in ten seconds. “Dylan announced. “Let’s just hope we hold together long enough.”

“T’Pek, bring the cloaking device online as soon as we are back in normal space, Dylan get us to the asteroid field.” Jack ordered. “But don’t take the direct route, hopefully we can remain cloaked long enough to reach the field.

The Firefly dropped out of warp seconds later and disappeared under the cloak. Seconds later the Akira vessel appeared behind them and immediately turned to follow the Firefly.

“Looks like they’re tracking us.” T’Pek announced.

“Dylan, alter course.” Jack suggested. “Let’s make sure.”

The Firefly turned and the Akira followed suit. They turned again and the vessel followed once more.

“Looks like they can see through our cloak.” Jack remarked. “T’Pek, drop the cloak, we’re just wasting energy. Dylan change of plans, head straight for the asteroid field, maybe we can evade them in there. Trance, transfer all the power we can spare to the shields and the engines.”

“Vessel in increasing speed, they’re catching up.” T’Pek announced. “We may not reach the asteroid field in time.”

“Harper, we need more speed to the impulse engines.” Jack ordered over the intercom.

<Working on it.> Harper announced.

All the time the image of the chasing vessel had been on the screen, suddenly T’Pek noticed something.

“Captain, take a look at this.” T’Pek announced, magnifying the dorsal hull.

Emblazoned across the top of the vessel was something that had not been seen on any Starfleet vessel before. Across the upper hull was a huge silver sword running almost the entire length of the hull and in the centre as an image of Earth’s American continent. Down each side of the hull was a pair of golden flames making the vessel look very fierce.

“What the hell is that ?” Stryker remarked.

“No idea.” T’Pek replied. “I’ve not seen any Starfleet vessel with those markings on the hull before.”

“Could it be a replica vessel, someone who’s copied the design of the Akira class ?” Stryker asked.

“It’s possible….” T’Pek admitted. “….but highly unlikely. The Akira is a pretty complex vessel to build…..I’d go with Quinn’s remarks and say that it’s this Black Akira project.”

By now the Firefly had reached the asteroid field and Dylan was manoeuvring the vessel deeper inside.

“At least they can’t follow us in here.” Klaas remarked. “And the metaphasic radiation should hide us from their sensors, however advanced they maybe.”

Suddenly the ship was rocked by an explosion.

“What was that ?” Stryker enquired.

“A pocket of metreon gas exploding.” Trance announced from the tactical station. “Our “friends” are firing into the field, most likely hoping we’ll either be destroyed by one of the explosions or be forced to flee the field.”

<Boss…...> The voice of Harper announced over the intercom. <…please tell me we’re not going to suffer too many of those explosions.>

“What’s the situation Harper ?” Stryker asked.

<Well the warp core is overheated, it will take a couple of hours to cool down enough so we can jump back to warp.> Harper reported. <The impulse engines haven’t faired much better, I’ll need to do some maintenance on them once we reach a friendly port. We also lost one of the shield generators in that last explosion.>

“So what’s the good news ?” Stryker enquired.

<Well the ship’s still in one piece and the cloaking device is undamaged.> Harper continued.

Just then there was another explosion and then the sound of something hitting the hull could be heard throughout the ship.

“ Hull breach on deck two, aft section thirty.” T’Pek announced. “Looks like that last explosion destroyed one of the larger asteroids and some of the bits have hit us hard.”

“Emergency forcefield !” Stryker asked.

“Are none functioning, that area is covered by the damaged shield generator.” T’Pek replied. “I’m sealing off that section, but we’ll need an atmosphere to make repairs.”

“Time to get out of here.” Stryker remarked.

“And go where ?” Quinn asked. “As soon as we leave this field, that vessel will be on our backs.”

“Harper, how much can we get out of the impulse engines ?” Stryker enquired.

<Two maybe three minutes top speed.> Harper reported. <But that would probably burn them out completely, we’d need a dry-dock or at least somewhere with an atmosphere to make repairs.>

“Get as much speed out of those engines as you can.” Stryker requested. “Dylan, you said this system we’re in was in the Federation database, that must mean it’s been surveyed at least once, any suitable planets we could make a landing on.”

“There are two planets, one class L which is basically a desert world.” Dylan remarked. “The other is class M and is inhabited according to the database. The planet’s atmosphere appears to be filled with a heavy concentration of Kelbonite particles, which would make it very hard for anyone to scan the planet’s surface from orbit.”

“Pre-warp ?” Stryker asked.

“Actually no.” Dylan replied. “From the database records, first contact was made in 2340 and from the records it looks like they were only about a century behind Earth in their technology.”

“When was the last survey done ?” Stryker enquired.

“2360.” Dylan reported. “There are no records of any Federation vessel returning since.”

“Well a planet with warp-capable inhabitants is good enough for me.” Stryker stated. “Infact it sounds like we maybe able to find not only raw materials, but maybe some ready-made parts that we can trade for.”

“This leaves us with just one problem….” Quinn remarked. “…our “friend” out there.”

“Trance, prepare to drop one of Harper’s little surprises from the rear cargo bay will you.” Stryker requested.

“Ready.” Trance replied.

“Mister Harper are we ready ?” Jack asked.

<Ready as we ever will be.> Harper replied.

“Dylan, set a course for the planet…” Stryker ordered. “…Trance you know what to do.”

The Firefly started to move out of the asteroid field and as soon as they had a clear run at the planet, Dylan hit the impulse engines full power. At the same moment, Trance ejected a large cargo container which seconds later exploded, igniting the metreon gas in the asteroid field.

As they fled the asteroid field, things looked to be going well until suddenly the Firefly was shook violently by something. Almost immediately the vessel started to slow down as the impulse engines started to die.

“Harper what’s wrong ?” Stryker asked, but got no answer.

Jack turned to look across at T’Pek, but she was already heading out of the door, saying “Engineering’s been hit.”

“Dylan, can you get us any forward motion ?” Jack enquired.

“We don’t have enough power to jump to warp for any period of time, but we could try a warp jump.” Dylan suggested. “It will probably tear the ship apart, but if we can keep together long enough after we drop out of warp, we should make the planet.”

“Do it.” Jack ordered.

Dylan prepared the warp engines for the warp pulse manoeuvre. Whilst the theory was sound, activate the warp engines for just a few seconds, the physics were not on their side. Warp pulse manoeuvres had only been tried on small vessel which had specially constructed space frames. The Firefly was not one of these vessels and in all likelihood they would be torn apart.

Dylan activated the warp engines for five seconds and then shut them down again. On the viewscreen, the stars strung out in a line for a moment then settle back to normal dots. All over the vessel, systems were exploding.

“Report !” Stryker demanded.

“We’re a hundred thousand klicks from the planet’s upper atmosphere at a speed of ten thousand K per second.” Dylan replied. “All flight systems are down, we’re heading straight for the surface.”

“Try to regain some control, let’s at least land in one piece.” Jack suggested. “What’s our damage status.”

“We’ve for several hull breaches.” Beka reported from the operations console. “SIF is down to thirty percent, impulse and warp engines are offline, but I think I can get some power back into the thrusters.”

On the viewscreen the planet grew bigger by the second.

“Restoring power to thrusters.” Beka announced.

As she did so, the image of the planet started to move as the Firefly stated to manoeuvre. It was too late to make orbit, but Dylan managed to level off the vessel’s descent.

“Look or somewhere to land.” Jack stated.

The Firefly finally landed on the planet’s surface with a thud.

“Not a perfect landing !” Jack remarked.

“Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.” Dylan replied as he shut down the helm console.

T’Pek returned to the Bridge and Jack looked at her.

“Harper’s fine.” She stated, knowing exactly what the Captain was thinking. “He’s in sickbay sedated for now, but he should be OK in the morning.”

“Fine.” Jack replied. “Right, Beka is the cloaking device still operational.”

“Yes…” She confirmed. ”….it’s about the only thing that is though.”

“Let’s get it up and running, we don’t want our “friends” to find us from orbit.” Jack remarked. “Then we’ll all make a detailed survey of the ship, see what needs doing to get us back into space.”