[Taskforce Situation Room – USS Chimera-B]
"Sir," A red collared Ensign hollered, looking up from their console. "The Oppenheimer has self-destructed! Three warbirds were caught in the radius, two more are damaged"
Chisulo immediately found the spot on the three-dimensional display in its continuous evolution before him. He stared momentarily at the blinking blue dot that signified the sacrificial vessel. He said a silent prayer, and hoped that the ejected lifeboats would find their ways to safety in the ensuing battle.
The Captain was about to divert a vessel to the ventral side of the station to counter a raid from three small Romulan destroyers when the Chimera was shaken violently.
"What the hell was that?" Chisulo asked. "Report!"
"Sir, shields are down! But not by disruptor fire!" A science officer replied from their console at the table. "They're tinkering with our shield frequencies and overloaded the projectors."
Chisulo didn't reply. Instead he fixed his stony gaze back on the holo-table before him. No doubt, Rojac and his team would be endeavoring to fix the problem on their end, and Chisulo had to focus on the battle as a whole and trust the Chimera's young CO. But this changed things.
Chisulo remembered reading a report on his desk from Harbright detailing suspect Romulan technology. SFI knew that the Romulans were experimenting with inversion beam technology, but had found no prototypes or existing models. It seems they weren't looking hard enough.
"Sir, the Chimera has been boarded!" A security officer reported.
"Seal of the Taskforce decks. Put all of our systems on independent status." For situations like these, the Taskforce decks were specifically designed to go into an isolation mode for protection. The TF decks had their own sickbay, computer core, energy supply, shield generators, transporter inhibitors and other essential systems. And at this moment Chisulo was glad they did.
The security officer went about his orders, closing the blast doors on all Jeffries tubes and turbo-lifts that gave access to the Taskforce decks, he then backed them up with level V force fields and transporter inhibitors to prevent intruders. He switched all I power to the battery supply, which would allow them independent operation for up to a week at full capacity. If push came to shove, Chisulo doubted they would need it that long.
"The Manticore reports they've been hit by the weapon as well!" A Lieutenant reported.
Chisulo wiped the sweat off his forehead. The Romulans had stepped things up a notch, and for the first time since the Dominion war, with so many lives depending on his decisive actions, Chisulo felt unsure of what to do.
[End Log]
Captain Tedros Chisulo
Deputy Commanding Officer
SSF First Taskforce