Forced into Exile (Part 4)

ORIGINAL WRITING This page was originally published elsewhere as part of a joint sim or fleet effort. It has been duplicated here for posterity.

Characters:	Captain Pavel Androvich
Location:	USS Freedom
Date:	July 2388
Author:	Greenfelt22
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Captain Pavel Androvich sat behind the helm of his Sovereign-class Starship. For the last two months, his ship had been cut off from Starfleet forces. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. He still refused to believe the accurate statement, which was he was being hunted by those called the Consortium.

That dastardly organization had somehow acquired command of the Tiananmen and the Brazil, Excalibur and Galaxy classes respectively. Pavel had served with the Deltan Captain of the Brazil for years, and had recommended the man for command. It was a sick twist, being hunted by one he trained. One who knew just about every trick in his book.

The damage both ships had done to the Freedom was not yet extreme, but the casualties were high. He had to be down to five hundred souls, a far cry from the seven hundred plus he should be commanding.

Still, being separated from the fleet and branded a traitor hadn’t helped the Captain. He knew he was on the right side, especially since he’d quelled a Consortium uprising on his own vessel. What he didn’t know was how many others had shared his fate. Hiding in this nebula now only gave him a temporary haven. The Brazil and Tiananmen hadn’t entered the nebula, but rather fired torpedoes blindly into it. Several had detonated close to it, and with no shields or warp drive, he wasn’t going anywhere.

The old Russian looked around his darkened bridge. It wasn’t even moderately staffed, save for his remaining senior officers. “Is this how it ends?” he muttered with his thick accent. “Hiding like cowards…”

He was no coward, but when one didn’t know the face of his enemy, what more could he do? He’d seen five people try to disable, destroy and otherwise assume command of his ship. If the other ships had seen the same fate, how could he kill thousands of people for his own freedom. He shook his head. No, they had to have been convinced to follow the Consortium. No one could blindly follow an organization like that for months.

Pavel considered his situation once more. He might be able to take out on the ships by ramming right into it. With no warp drive, and angling the ship so a well aimed weapons shot wouldn’t hit the antimatter pods would ensure his success. Two more torpedoes detonated near the Sovereign-class starship. The next volley would come for him.

Quickly, he calculated where the Tiananmen and Brazil would be. Surely they both weren’t together any more. One would have entered the nebula trying to find him while the other waited for him to attempt an escape.

An escape which was impossible without warp drive.

He made his decision. His best chance was to ram whoever was bombarding him. He was about to tap his combadge to inform the crew when suddenly the lights sprung back to life. He looked down at the helm and instantly noted the error messages were gone.

“Engineering to bridge! We have warp drive!”

Pavel smiled. The miracle workers below just earned them another day of Freedom. He tapped his badge and informed engineering to prepare for warp speed. Punching the throttle to full impulse, he shot out of the nebula and warped past the Brazil, the only ship pelting the nebula.

The Captain leaned back in the chair while holding onto the edges of the console. “One more day…” he muttered. “One more day.”

Read the Next Part

Accreditation

This post was originally written by Greenfelt22 for Bravo Fleet and posted on the Bravo Fleet forums. Use of Bravo Fleet's Forced into Exile (Part 4) is permitted under the Creative Commons 4.0 License and has been modified to suit the story and purposes of the USS Black Hawk Star Trek Role-Playing Simulation.