= USS Manticore - Bridge =
"Cover those lifepods!" Captain Stewart ordered her helmsman as the large shape of the Manticore sped ahead towards a group of escaped pods from the destroyed USS Oppenheimer that were the target of two Romulan fighter craft, one of whom had already taken out two lifepods.
"Captain, I don't think they'll make it," Commander Ahn, her XO, said from her right-hand side.
"Damnit," Stewart muttered under her breath. The escape pods were heading down to Aeren III but it was becoming clear they wouldn't make it before the Romulans got to them first. "Liu, adjust the shield frequency and beam those pods to a cargo bay."
"Yes, Captain," the lieutenant at the Ops station replied, his fingers tapping briskly over his console.
The large shape of the Chimera class ship swept over the escape pods between the two Romulan fighters on their tail. As the fighters quickly changed their trajectory, the Manticore adjusted her shield frequency to match their transporters and beamed the five escape pods onboard.
"Five escape pods beamed safely to Cargo Bay 9," Ops reported.
"Captain, a Romulan ship is decloaking directly ahead," Soval, the Chief Tactical Officer, reported as the bridge crew watched the shape of a small ship shimmer into view.
"Helm, evasive maneuvers," Stewart ordered, but her words were scarcely cold when they were hit by a volley of plasma torpedoes, causing the ship to shake slightly as it veered to starboard.
"Norexan and D'deridex off the port bow," Ahn said as the ship shook again, hit by another trio of plasma torpedos. This time the lights flickered as the ODN relays were affected.
"Aft shields down to 51%," Lieutenant Liu reported.
"Reroute power to the -" Stewarted started to say, but didn't have time to finish her sentence when the Manticore was hit by the mysterious Romulan ship's inversion beam, which took advantage of her weakened aft shields. The ship shook violently as the cascade caused the shields to invert their frequency and collapse all around the ship.
"Shields are down!" Liu called out as his eyes tried to keep up with the information streaming across his console. "Aft shield emitters J56-64 have overloaded. I'm picking up transporter signals on Decks 10, 19, 26, 34, 42, 49..."
"Bridge to all hands!" Stewart said as she forcefully pressed the ship-wide comm button. "Intrude alert. Repeat: Intruder alert!"
The ship shook violently as two seperate disruptor beams targeted the exposed hull, causing several EPS conduits to rupture throughout the ship and the lights to flicker again.
"Captain, a squadron of Romulan fighters are heading towards us," Soval reported steadily.
"Fire at will, Commander," Stewart replied in a deadly tone of voice as she inwardly cursed the day SSF Command turned her ship into a mobile office block.
= End Log =
Captain Miranda Stewart
Commanding Officer
USS Manticore NCC 97900
[NPC by Bren]
