IDF
07-10-2006, 05:02
http://www.trekmania.net/art/constitution05.jpg
ISS Lexington NCC-271
"Captain's log, stardate 5356.3. This is Captain Robert Wesley commanding the Constitution class vessel ISS Lexington on its first mission. Ship and crew have responded well after a tough series of shakedown cruises.
Admiral Leyton has in fact ordered us on our first mission, a 6 month survey of the Gamma Quadrant. It has been a while since Dominion forces have been seen by our observation posts on the Gamma Quadrant side of the wormhole. Starfleet believes it is once again safe for some of the smaller exploratory ships to make the journey that had just recently been restricted to warships like the Defiant class vessels.
We have now spent a week in the Gamma Quadrant and have yet seen any activity. Our Science Officer has reported that his staff is excited to be exploring uncharted space. We have yet found life on any of the systems we have visited yet. We hope to find some signs of civilization soon. With 6 months to go, I believe that we will find something, but we must still remain on guard for the Dominion.
END LOG
"Sir, we are now entering star system 10,506 Delta," reported the navigator
"Slow to warp factor 1 and bring us around the outer-most planets," ordered Wesley. "Then slow to impulse and allow us to scan their surfaces.
The Lexington slowed to 1/4 impulse as she entered orbit of the 8th planet. This planet was a gas giant that was orange in appearance. "Science officer, launch a Class VIII probe," ordered the CO.
"Aye sir," he responded as the probe was launched. "Probe readings show an atmosphere of 80% hydrogen, 15% nitrogen, and..."
"SIR!!!!" interrupted the tactical officer. "We have 3 inbound ships!!!"
"Red alert! Shields up!" ordered the Captain. The tactical officer didn't have to say it, he knew these ships were Dominion vessels and they would be hostile. The Captain yelled out more orders "Helm, evasive maneuver! Ensign, send an emergency message to the relay station near the wormhole."
The crew braced as the inertial dampeners failed to keep up with the maneuvers the ship was making at full impulse.
"Sir, our comms are being jammed," reported the Communications officer.
The Captain realized that there was little chance of success here. 'What would Jim Kirk do?' he thought to himself. He knew the answer. "Tactical, lock photon torpedoes! FIRE!"
The Lexington shot 4 torpedoes out of her lower saucer hull. She was the last Constitution class vessel to be built with the orginal configuration. All of her younger sisters were being built to refit specifications. A back-up at the yard meant that while her older sisters were being refit, she would be going on missions. As a result, she lacked the signature torpedo launchers on other ships of the class like the Enterpise.
The 4 torpedoes struck the lead ship of the Jem Hadar element. The enemy's shields were holding strong even as the Lady Lex fired her phaser banks while her tubes were reloaded.
The Jem Hadar ships then opened fire with phased polaron beams. The shields did little to stop this weapon and the opening volley caused some damage to the ship. Her exterior showed scorch marks on her new duranium white hull. Her interior showed the damage in exploding ODN circuits. Luckily, there were redundant circuits meaning that most systems were still functioning. The Lexington fired another volley of torpedoes at the lead ship. This time, there was some evident damage, but still not enough.
The enemy fired back with a polaron beam on the starboard nacelle. The red forward section of the nacelle collapsed in on itself and a stream of plasma was leaking out of the forward end of it and obscurred the nacelle as the Lexington continued forward with a trail of plasma for all to follow.
"Tactical, how are our shields doing?" asked the Captain.
"Shields aren't even stopping a minimal amount of energy from those polaron beams," responded the TAO.
"Remove main power from shields!" ordered the Captain. "Transfer energy to phasers and put auxiliary power on the impulse engins." This order helped the Lexington, but it wouldn't be enough. Luckily, her next volley had blown out one of the nacelle's on the lead Jem Hadar Attack Ship.
The 3 Jem Hadar ships were still attacking though. They now circled the ship and fired at will on her. One shot targetted her lower saucer and took out all of her forward photon tubes. Even in this case, the ship could still maneuver and fire phasers. Unfortunately, another shot at the ship targetted the side of the forward section of the engineering hull. With no shield protection, the duranium was cut open and the polaron beams gutted main engineering. Most of the engineering crew, including the chief engineer, were killed.
It was quite evident on the bridge what had happened as main power had almost immediately gone off-line. The Captain knew that the mains were hit. That left him with only his impulse fusion reactors, his auxiliary back-ups, and his battery. They produced enough power to sustain a ship, but not enough to keep her in a battle.
The XO was manning the engineering system on the bridge. Even with Main Engineering gone, he was able to transfer power from the auxiliary generators to phasers. They continued to damage the lead ship, but it became apparent that the Lexington would die before she could kill that ship.
She took multiple shots that pierced the duranium hull plates. So many hull breeches had been created that integrity force-fields couldn't be establised over all of them. The Lexingon was a battered wreck as she struggled to keep fighting until the bitter end. That is how Captain Wesley and his crew ended up going down. When the battle had ended, the remains of the ship were a floating burning wreck. There were no survivors, but her crew had all died honorable deaths that even Klingons would envy.
Later that day, it became apparent to Starfleet that something was wrong when the Lexington failed to check in with the relay station. Starfleet would have to find out what happened to NCC-271.
ISS Lexington NCC-271
"Captain's log, stardate 5356.3. This is Captain Robert Wesley commanding the Constitution class vessel ISS Lexington on its first mission. Ship and crew have responded well after a tough series of shakedown cruises.
Admiral Leyton has in fact ordered us on our first mission, a 6 month survey of the Gamma Quadrant. It has been a while since Dominion forces have been seen by our observation posts on the Gamma Quadrant side of the wormhole. Starfleet believes it is once again safe for some of the smaller exploratory ships to make the journey that had just recently been restricted to warships like the Defiant class vessels.
We have now spent a week in the Gamma Quadrant and have yet seen any activity. Our Science Officer has reported that his staff is excited to be exploring uncharted space. We have yet found life on any of the systems we have visited yet. We hope to find some signs of civilization soon. With 6 months to go, I believe that we will find something, but we must still remain on guard for the Dominion.
END LOG
"Sir, we are now entering star system 10,506 Delta," reported the navigator
"Slow to warp factor 1 and bring us around the outer-most planets," ordered Wesley. "Then slow to impulse and allow us to scan their surfaces.
The Lexington slowed to 1/4 impulse as she entered orbit of the 8th planet. This planet was a gas giant that was orange in appearance. "Science officer, launch a Class VIII probe," ordered the CO.
"Aye sir," he responded as the probe was launched. "Probe readings show an atmosphere of 80% hydrogen, 15% nitrogen, and..."
"SIR!!!!" interrupted the tactical officer. "We have 3 inbound ships!!!"
"Red alert! Shields up!" ordered the Captain. The tactical officer didn't have to say it, he knew these ships were Dominion vessels and they would be hostile. The Captain yelled out more orders "Helm, evasive maneuver! Ensign, send an emergency message to the relay station near the wormhole."
The crew braced as the inertial dampeners failed to keep up with the maneuvers the ship was making at full impulse.
"Sir, our comms are being jammed," reported the Communications officer.
The Captain realized that there was little chance of success here. 'What would Jim Kirk do?' he thought to himself. He knew the answer. "Tactical, lock photon torpedoes! FIRE!"
The Lexington shot 4 torpedoes out of her lower saucer hull. She was the last Constitution class vessel to be built with the orginal configuration. All of her younger sisters were being built to refit specifications. A back-up at the yard meant that while her older sisters were being refit, she would be going on missions. As a result, she lacked the signature torpedo launchers on other ships of the class like the Enterpise.
The 4 torpedoes struck the lead ship of the Jem Hadar element. The enemy's shields were holding strong even as the Lady Lex fired her phaser banks while her tubes were reloaded.
The Jem Hadar ships then opened fire with phased polaron beams. The shields did little to stop this weapon and the opening volley caused some damage to the ship. Her exterior showed scorch marks on her new duranium white hull. Her interior showed the damage in exploding ODN circuits. Luckily, there were redundant circuits meaning that most systems were still functioning. The Lexington fired another volley of torpedoes at the lead ship. This time, there was some evident damage, but still not enough.
The enemy fired back with a polaron beam on the starboard nacelle. The red forward section of the nacelle collapsed in on itself and a stream of plasma was leaking out of the forward end of it and obscurred the nacelle as the Lexington continued forward with a trail of plasma for all to follow.
"Tactical, how are our shields doing?" asked the Captain.
"Shields aren't even stopping a minimal amount of energy from those polaron beams," responded the TAO.
"Remove main power from shields!" ordered the Captain. "Transfer energy to phasers and put auxiliary power on the impulse engins." This order helped the Lexington, but it wouldn't be enough. Luckily, her next volley had blown out one of the nacelle's on the lead Jem Hadar Attack Ship.
The 3 Jem Hadar ships were still attacking though. They now circled the ship and fired at will on her. One shot targetted her lower saucer and took out all of her forward photon tubes. Even in this case, the ship could still maneuver and fire phasers. Unfortunately, another shot at the ship targetted the side of the forward section of the engineering hull. With no shield protection, the duranium was cut open and the polaron beams gutted main engineering. Most of the engineering crew, including the chief engineer, were killed.
It was quite evident on the bridge what had happened as main power had almost immediately gone off-line. The Captain knew that the mains were hit. That left him with only his impulse fusion reactors, his auxiliary back-ups, and his battery. They produced enough power to sustain a ship, but not enough to keep her in a battle.
The XO was manning the engineering system on the bridge. Even with Main Engineering gone, he was able to transfer power from the auxiliary generators to phasers. They continued to damage the lead ship, but it became apparent that the Lexington would die before she could kill that ship.
She took multiple shots that pierced the duranium hull plates. So many hull breeches had been created that integrity force-fields couldn't be establised over all of them. The Lexingon was a battered wreck as she struggled to keep fighting until the bitter end. That is how Captain Wesley and his crew ended up going down. When the battle had ended, the remains of the ship were a floating burning wreck. There were no survivors, but her crew had all died honorable deaths that even Klingons would envy.
Later that day, it became apparent to Starfleet that something was wrong when the Lexington failed to check in with the relay station. Starfleet would have to find out what happened to NCC-271.