The Chase

Posted on Sat Aug 3rd, 2019 @ 11:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Jacob "Jack" Devine

Mission: Preludes
Location: Space; USS Achilles
Timeline: 2376
Tags: Hijack

Yoda couldn't sleep. Grabbing a raktajino from the replicator, he sat down at his desk and reviewed his plans for the new cannons. As he scanned through the relevant data through his half-open eyes, he detected an unauthorised access to system logs. Tracing it through the system, through transporter use details, through science logs, medical records and engineering schedules, he eventually found the replicator logs. A pilot’s uniform. If his guess was right, that would mean one thing...

He arrived to find pilots standing around in their uniforms. Some were at consoles, others sipping coffee as they leant against the wall. Techs swarmed around caring for the crafts. Across the way, he saw a person, slightly shorter than normal, access a console. A quick check at the terminal beside him found his identity, but by the time it had registered, the hangar bay doors were opening and he was gone...

Around Yoda, pilot's scrambled to activate their fighters and get them out and in pursuit. Gamma shift. For some unknown reason, this time was never heavily staffed. "Hey!" Yoda shouted over the noise. "HEY!" he bellowed, his voice resonated by the hollowness of the fighter bay. A few stopped completely, but most continued about their business of preparing for launch. He grunted. "I want all fighter crafts ready to go. Alert the Bridge and Commander Freely and await orders from them. In the meantime, I'll go talk to the kid." He headed into the nearest ship facing towards the exit.

"You been trained in fighter control, Chief?" one said sarcastically. Several others behind him sniggered. "Sure you wouldn't be more comfortable behind a console?"

"Combat flight included fighters, crewman," Yoda stressed. Jumping into the Peregrine, he whacked the helmet on and sealed the cockpit. He sat in the seat and looked around. It had been a while since he had been in a live, working fighter, but he did know how to fly one. Vaguely. The thing jolted, to the hilarity of those outside. He tapped a panel and was pulled into his seat by the inertial dampeners. He watched outside as the vessel rose slightly, before a rush of adrenaline hit as the craft thumped out of the bay. He opened a comm to the Bridge =/\=Lock weapons on the rogue F-180. I do not believe he has hostile intentions, but I want you to disable his warp engines if he powers them up. Yoda out.=/\= His signal closed. He banked the ship cautiously to his starboard. The joystick in front of him was less accurate than a panel, but it was smoother, more natural. Slightly to port he spotted the ship. Pushing it forward, he forced his small vessel forward. He drew level, then slowed to match, and looked over. He wasn't a rogue alien, someone who wanted to destroy the Achilles. Just a normal kid, angry. He was an orphan from 211. He was trying to sort out everything in his head. Yod tapped his panel and drew up his callsign. 'Ghost'. He tagged in a channel to him, to see if he could bring him in.

"Unknown craft, return to the bay or I shall open fire." [Yoda] transmitted sternly.

At that moment, Jacob was seriously trying to figure out how the F180 went to warp speed. He knew it was a matter of minutes before they gave chase. In fact, it seemed somebody already had. As he continued to look over the controls on the console, Jacob considered cutting the comm. *But I need time...* he thought as he replied. "Sorry, mac, no can do."

"OK, Ghost, if you're gonna stay out here, you are gonna have to follow MY rules if you wanna stay. Don't try any funny business, I've got the Achilles targeting you. If you power your warp engines or your weapons, they'll open fire." he replied, maintaining a parallel course. He looked over across the void at the lad. "I understand your situation." he said cautiously.

*His rules? Who was he kidding? Sorry, mac, powering up is exactly what I intend to do once I figure this thing out.* Jacob thought. *And what made him think he understood any of this? Officers... the things they'd say to get what they wanted.* Into the comm Jacob replied. "And what makes you the expert on my situation?"

"I know it better than you think." Yoda answered, his stomach hollow. There was a silence as they drifted over the Achilles' nacelles. "It wouldn't have helped, you know. It would have been the same."

*Ah...almost got it....wouldn't have helped? What was he babbling about?* Jacob sighed. "So, mind telling me who you are?"

"I'm the Chief Tactical officer of that ship. And you may think 'Why...' and 'What if...' for the rest of your life, but it can't be changed. And I know that you're going to carry that anger inside you for a long time." Yoda nudged his controls slightly to change his course, only to have to grab it sharply and steer it away from smashing into someone's quarters. A symbol flashed above. Two wings spreading out from a fighter, with an inscription 'We float only by the wings of an angel.'

*Why? What if?* The words cut like daggers punched deep. Jacob turned to look at the fighter flying off his port side. "Look, I know what muck they give you guys to toss out on the angry and deranged. That's pretty standard counseling crap you're dishing out...trust me, I know from experience. First order, strike a common bond...make sure they feel like you understand or at least care...then..." Jacob let the words hang there for a moment as he brought up the shields. He'd finally figured out how to put the F180 in warp, but he wasn't sure about the navigational aspects. Would the computer do it for him? He glanced out the window. "By the way, Chief Tactical...you neglected rule number one of the close bond scenario...you failed to give me your name."

This kid was a lot angrier than Yoda had thought. He obviously thought Yoda was a counsellor of some sort. In truth, he hated going to counselling as much as the kid. He signalled the Achilles to stop the kid powering up, Yoda dodged his fighter to try and block him, but before he could, the rogue fighter disappeared in a blue flash.

Holding his breath, Jacob's hand found the central stick throttle, with a multitude of controls littering the upper shaft. His hand seemed to rest perfectly around a speed indicator, and a set of emergency buttons. One of them indicated computer control, and warp speed velocity. He quickly thumbed the knob, and a bright blue light came to life, a pleasant computer voice telling him to settle back in his seat.

Feeling his rib cage shudder from a sudden thrust backward, he clenched his eyes closed as hard as he could, his heart lurching to leave his body. His first instinct told him they had fired on him! Fired on an innocent person! But after he opened his left eye a crack, he noticed the stars were whizzing by at incredible speeds, and he couldn't help but let his breath out, just so he could gasp at what he saw. Warp speed, stars streaking... the void. It was so beautiful out here. "Dad..." He whispered, unable to say more for the emotions ripping at his heart. Without a doubt it was the closest he'd felt to his father since 211's explosion had engulfed him in a living nightmare.

Jacob relaxed, letting his body sag comfortably in the seat, his hand not releasing nor clenching at the stick. He didn't think he'd ever get enough of the raining stars, when suddenly a light on the console flashed. Jacob tensed expectantly as the same pleasant computer voice broke into his thoughts.

"Warning: Fighter craft is accelerating at warp 8. Structural integrity will fail in approximately six hours."

"What?!" Nothing like this had ever happened on any simulator Jacob had ever flown. And couldn't they have had the decency to at least make the fool thing sound upset? *Big smile...hey kid, enjoy the next six hours cause they'll be your last.* Panicking? No, he wasn't panicking....he couldn't be panicking. He was.... *Gee, Jake, six hours...don't lose your cool.* His first instinct was to immediately drop out of warp, but that was pushed aside by several things, the least of which was the knowledge that they'd 'hang 'im high' if they ever caught up with him. And besides, what was behind him held no appeal. They were going to place him in an orphanage after all and forget he even existed. *I'd rather die.*The truth of that thought alone was enough to calm him.

Jacob glanced up at the sensors on the console and watched as an unknown fighter appeared on the screen. A slow and easy smile spread across his face. Eyes narrowed on that small blip, he murmured, "Catch me if you can...."

***

There was going to be hell to pay now. The boy had just gone and taken an experimental fighter out into warp. If the structural integrity didn't fail and kill him, Freely surely would. There was no chance Yoda could chase him in a Peregrine. He jolted the stick back and flipped over to head back into the bay. He felt more at ease now with a bit of practice. Flying 'upside down' was slightly disorientating, so distancing himself from the Achilles, he flipped his ship around and swung round to land in the bay. The scraping of metal tore through the hangar before the ship stopped abruptly. Sparks flew as his rough landing took its toll. Yoda jumped out of the fighter, and dodged Commander Freely to head into the corridor. Commander Yates wasn't on the Bridge, he probably didn't know about the thing yet. Yoda tapped his commbadge as he entered a turbolift heading straight for the Bridge. =/\=Lay an intercept course to follow the fighter, warp 8.1.=/\= He ordered to the Helm station.

***

Sprinting over, and climbing up the ladder, Freely didn’t wait for the hatch to completely close before he ignited the engines of his F180. He didn’t even bother to clear his launch with the quartermaster before he was out in space. Slamming on the impulse drive, he veered his craft in an expert dive towards where his men were located, and indicated on the computer terminal to highlight Donovan’s fighter with sensor scans constantly. If any weapons became active, the computer would warn him.

“Blue bird to Papa Bear, we’ve taken vectors on all angles of the rogue fighter. Donovan is talking with him right now. I’ll patch him through,” Leon said quickly, a garbled noise following just afterward as the channels changed to match the conversation.

“Form two squads, alpha lead by runabout tango bravo charlie, over?” Freely ordered, before the communication could cut in. On his screen, he could see the Danube class runabout move its bulky frame towards the front of a circle formation, three other fighters falling in behind him to complete the full circle. The other four fighters became his designated wingmen, forming on his six and eight without a second thought. He moved his fighter gently forward, and brought his shields online. Everyone in his Squadron followed suit.

“Rogue fighter, this is Donovan Alpha Squadron Leader. Whom shall I say I am pursuing?” Donovan’s gruff voice said over the communications network towards the young pilot.

Freely tapped into the sensor sweeps his wingmen were providing him, and grimaced as he noticed a minor damage report fill the screen. Because the Achilles had fired a phaser blast into the warp field of “Ghost”, it had stopped abruptly, no doubt causing the young man inside a minor injury. When unprepared for sudden lapses in speed, a pilot would undergo considerable stress, especially to the shoulder blades and upper chest. The seat belts were designed to absorb the rest of the impact, if the boy even knew how to put those on in the first place. The sensor report continued to outline the shield impact damage, which quickly became regenerated once the fighter had stopped. In theory, this boy could jump back into warp again.

Tapping a button on his HUD, he brought the spacescap-view to bear. He selected Alpha Squadron, led by the runabout, and informed them by way of text message to be ready for an emergency warp jump, and to open fire should Donovan become trigger happy. The pilot gave him a thumbs up from across the void.

Even had Jacob intended to respond, he was given no time as a shot from the Achilles cut through space and forcefully knocked him out of warp. Stars exploded in a blinding flash with a force that left Jacob gasping. Lurching out of warp, the F180 body slammed the boy against the harness. Something cracked. Vaguely the sound reached Jacob's ears as a faint echo among the sudden darkness. Gone were the brilliant streaks of bluish light.

He'd hit something! Wait, no, something had hit him. Leaning forward, Jacob cried out as the restraining harness punished his upper body. He bit his lower lip against the pain as he thumbed through the systems report. Studying the display on the console, he searched for the cause of this sudden stop. He had no doubt that they'd done something, but was it permanent? Could he get back to warp? Jacob glanced out the canopy at the fighters on either side. If they caught him, if they took him back, if...

“Hey, you don’t have to respond, but tell me this: Where do you think you’re going, not to mention, what do you think you’re gonna do when you get there?” Donovan called over the comm channel.

Jacob smirked. Talk about your paradoxes. *I don't have to respond but I'm supposed to tell you something?* What happened to adult brains at times like this? They wanted to give and take all at once. "My plans are not your concern." he muttered over the comm as he continued to search for the reason of his sudden stop.

Freely listened intently, bringing his fighter closer to get a better view of the injured boy. Even a hundred feet away, he could see that “Ghost’s” pilot wasn’t at all happy. The boy was running his fingers over the displays in front of him, no doubt frantically trying to figure out what happened, and why.

Tapping silently away, Freely told his own wingmen to prepare a high velocity warp jump the instant “Ghost” took off. They replied with nods.

“Okay, I just wanna know this. Let’s say if by chance you did come across these...”Donovan paused, his voice changing with a sort of angry edge to it, “...things, what do you think you’re gonna do with only one fighter? You saw what they did to an entire station.”

Freely moved a finger towards his weapons key, and ignited the manual locking systems, so that Donovan didn’t know he was targeting him. He was ready to fire, if this wasn’t going the way it was supposed to. A single shot could take Donovan’s weapons offline, right now.

"You say that like I care." Jacob growled.

On the console, Jacob finally found the source of impact. Someone behind him had taken his fighter out of warp with a single shot. The reality was almost too much to take. They shot him! How could they?! All he wanted was one ship and to be left alone. Who asked them to be his moral judges? They had enough ships sitting in that hangar bay, couldn't they spare one? Just one? There was no real damage to his fighter and from what Jacob could tell the impacted shields were slowly starting to regenerate. Time, he needed more time.

“If you really wanna take a fighter on a suicide run, why don’t you just become a fighter pilot, the right way, and have an entire attack force with you so you can really do some damage? It’s the only way to bring honor to your family name,” Donovan told him.

"You don't know me --

“HEY, I DON’T NEED TO KNOW YOU; YOU DON’T HAVE A CLUE WHO I AM. THOSE BASTARDS DESTROYED MY ENTIRE PLANET IN THE MOST HORRIBLE WAY POSSIBLE,” Donovan yelled, a battle-rage filling the comm channels.

“Freely to Donovan, refrain from yelling at the child and stand down. Repeat, stand down. You’ve been ordered by the bridge to dock your fighter. This is our bogy, and we appreciate your involvement in this, with your quick response time. But please, stand down.” Freely tapped the button to have the runabout make a circle run around Donovan’s position, making sure that its weapons pods were perfectly aligned, but not targeted.

The feedback screeched on the Bridge, those beings with extra-sensitive hearing doubled over in pain, the other beings noticeably winced. "Bridge to all pilots, if you attempt diplomacy, please refrain from shouting. The last thing we need is the kid bricking it and taking off somewhere." He noticed movement on Donovan's fighter. Shame, his experience could be useful. "Bridge to Donovan, request that you maintain position. Attempt to make contact with the boy, but do not startle him and do not shout."

Kynan tapped a panel, and patched into the fighter. "This is Achilles Bridge to Ghost."

Ghost? Such a perfect call sign. There was nothing to tie Jacob to this life anymore and his presence in it could only be called ghostly. Not much longer. If he could put up with all the unwanted counseling he ought to be able to achieve warp again. Only this time he didn't plan on being a sitting duck for whomever the crack shot was.

"I know that your father was a fighter pilot. But those people...whoever they were, they wiped out a whole fleet. He would have still died, and you would be angry for them letting him out. I didn't know your parents, but I can guess that they wouldn't want you to always run from your problems. They always catch up with you." Yoda spoke the words gently then nodded to Kynan to take over.

"Who says I'm running?" Jacob watched the regeneration of his warp field with eager eyes. Did they have to talk so much?

Kynan glanced at Yoda then after taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the young petty officer said into the comm, "Look, I'm no counselor and I wouldn't even know where to begin when it comes to reasoning with you. How about straight facts? We're not going to let you go. Call us misguided fools, busy bodies, but it's quite obvious Jacob that your life is too precious to waste. You can hit warp again, most likely, and those men and women out there on your wings will make the jump with you. The Achilles will follow. Eventually, Jacob, you'll simply run out of fuel and we'll reel you in. There is NO escape."

Fuel? FUEL?! Jacob gaped at the console. His brain locked up over that one fact. With one hand pressed against his chest, Jacob fell back against the seat and looked up at the roof of his canopy. "Computer, how much fuel do I have left?"

"Deuterium levels are at ninety-eight percent of total capacity. Supplies will be depleted, at current consumption levels, in two days, forty-four minutes, twelve seconds."

Two days and change if he moved at this pace. Jacob leaned forward, his lower lip clamped between his teeth as he searched the navigational charts for the closest space port. As he suspected there was nothing close enough with the current fuel level. He swore under his breath. If he made a run for it, he'd just run out of fuel and they'd have him. But if he went back? He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. There simply was no way out of this catch-22.

Bringing his fighter along side Jacob's, Freely could see the child's face, and the steam against the window frame from his deep breathing. He looked much like his younger brother did once; trying to hold pride against the exterior of anger and rage. Jacob seemed fragile beyond that, and through the sensor nets that allowed Freely a better close-up view, he could almost sense fear trying to escape those eyes.

"Must have done a number on you, huh?" Freely whispered to himself, listening to what Donovan was saying, and the boy.

Why couldn't they all just SHUT UP! With his thumbnail, Jacob flicked the weapon's cap open. He brought the F180 around, locking on the first available target. His thumb hovered over the trigger, his heart racing. Swallowing hard, Jacob's thumb slowly descended, then froze....


***

Looking for a position not to far from the rogue fighter Donovan lined himself up behind Freely's fighter.*Damn it if your gonna try something you're going to hell with me.* Donovan thought to himself as he flipped the safety glass for the dumbfire missiles that were equipped on his fighter.

As the conversation continued Donovan sat growing impatient.

*Blah, blah blah* he thought to himself when a blip on his console caught his attention. As Donovan glanced over his jaw dropped as he laid eyes on two large orbs slowly stopping their approach.

"Donovan to Achilles..." cut off mid sentence by a brilliant flash of light Donovan eyes were blinded and when they readjusted all he could see where two unfamiliar style of Destroyers in a holding pattern before them.

"I could have sworn that was..." he uttered as he felt a sense of relief when all of a sudden his eyes widened with shock at what he saw next. Heart pounding from the sight, he laid eyes on an all too familiar and horrific view of dozens upon dozens of tiny diamond shaped fighters pouring out of the new class of destroyer he had never seen before.

"Enemy Attack!" Donovan yelled as he pulled his fighter outta the formation and began firing at the fighters as they came outta the docks.Watching 3 enemy fighter's go into flames the adrenaline was starting to kick in.

=*=

LtCmdr Jacob Devine
Squadron Leader
USS Andromeda

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Note: This post is actual character history pre-written. Contributions made by Jason, Patrick, and Jasvinder from Thunderfleet back in 2004.