Menacing Shores
Posted on Thu May 7th, 2026 @ 9:44pm by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Lieutenant JG Mishka Ru'fallo & Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Katya Davi & Ensign Nyx Calder & Colonel Galen
1,726 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Operation Kakori
Location: Bridge, USS Valiant approaching Breyet Nor. The Bad Lands.
Timeline: Twenty hours after Into the Badlands
“Captain to the Bridge,” the computer intoned in Rhu’s ear. He blinked in rapid succession, pausing the training material, then pushed off his holo-specs and gave himself a dozen heartbeats to re-orientate himself. He was still lying in the spare bunk of Richard’s quarters aboard the Valiant. Unable to sleep, he’d climbed into a holo-biography, letting his mind synchronize with the first person account of a Federation scientists narrative recalling First Contact with the T’llalalbee.
The account wasn’t bad and it WAS on the reading list for the First Contact refresher course. But the author was a little too impressed with themselves as they recounted the experience, Rhu thought. Rubbing at his eyes, he shifted to a sitting position then to his feet and checked his image in the wall mirror.
Straightening his uniform, he exited and headed for the bridge.
Stepping onto the bridge, he took in the kaleidoscope of colors on the main viewer and stepped up next to Mishka, who was on duty at the tactical station. The Bear nodded in deference and gestured toward the screen where a shape was starting to take shape as Valiant sifted through the plasma waves and energy patterns.
He didn’t need Dayna’s standing and telling him that they were approaching what must be Breyet Nor, but protocols demanded such things.
Nodding, he said, “Thank you number one. I have the bridge. Lieutenant Ru’fallo, take us to General Quarters: Condition Two.”
The yellow condition light switched to a dim light as the Bear announced the change in ships status to the crew. Rhu stepped over to the Captains seat and, as much as he didn’t want to sit at this point, he assumed the position and said. “Right. Status.”
"Our guests are ready and eager for our arrival," Kat said. In fact, they'd practically arrived ready. But that was to be expected for Marines. The same could be said for the intelligence team, but they mostly kept to themselves.
Nyx sat at the helm with the kind of loose, easy posture that only happened when she was wound tight enough to hum. Twenty hours in the Badlands had put a charge in her blood she hadn’t quite spent yet, and now the shape on the viewer was finally resolving into something real.
Breyet Nor.
Cardassian right down to the bones.
Even half-veiled by plasma glare and storm shimmer, the station had that same ugly, deliberate grandeur to it. Arms like claws. Central core like a spine. All those hard angles and dark metal curves that looked less like architecture and more like something built to make you feel small the second you laid eyes on it.
“Well,” Nyx said, eyes flicking between the viewer and her helm readouts, “That’s friendly.”
Rhu could feel the anxiety in his crew. Traversing the Badlands wasn't a pleasure cruise. The place was hard on equipment and people. As far as he could tell, everything was normal though. From the anxious, yet anticipatory emotions leaking from the crew to the thrumming he felt from Valiant herself through the decking, Rhu thought everyone was ready.
But you had to paint by the numbers.
After perhaps thirty seconds he said, "Number one? Any concerns number one before we commit?" As XO, Dayna would be the one to tell him if the ship was ready and he wasn't going to deny her that bit.
"No sir. We are as ready as we will ever be. The away teams are in the shuttle bay and standing by for your orders to launch." Daynah gave that part of her report officially. This next part however, had a softer tone to it. "Once the shuttle launches we are going to have to fire upon it. In order for their plan to succeed we are going to have to be seen firing upon it. Have to make it look like they escaped. However, we cannot allow the station to get a full scan of us."
Galen turned from his station. His posture was Vulcanesque, perhaps this was due to the shared heritage of Romulans and Vulcans. Then again it could be simply that he knew more than he let on. "Commanders. Recommend we launch that shuttle now, decloak and fire everything we have. If the Ensign can manage we would need to time an impulse jump with a plasma flare. That would disturb their sensors enough to not know where we are, and we can re engage the cloak. If all goes well their sensors will see us fire and then we will be gone. Additionally, if it is quick enough they will know that we did not get a scan of them, so their would be no need to look for us."
Daynah turned to the Romulan and smirked. All at once she realized that he revealed something about his people without saying such. This was a tactic that she encountered when in a conflict with Romulan vessels. It confused the hell out of sensors. She looked at Rhu and nodded toward the Romulan with a smirk.
Rubbing at his jaw, Rhu said, "Tactical. Stand by ventral and dorsal phaser strips. Full safety on the pulse phasers. Seventy five percent power puts us in the vicinity of a Saber Class's standard array." Turning, Rhu slipped into his seat and said, "Number one, lets get this done."
Katya stood quietly at her station, keeping an eye on the viewscreen and her controls. Ruby was helping the Marines, allowing her to focus on the ship itself--and on keeping out of people's way. Right now, she was making sure power was properly balanced--something that needed a lot of attention in the Badlands.
"Aye Captain." Daynah stood next to the command chair for the moment. This was a posture that in the days of ancient Navies was held for the officer of the deck. "Ensign Calder stand by full impulse jump to anywhere on my mark. Lieutenant Davi inform the shuttle that it is time to bug out and do it fast." Daynah stood her hair pulled in that neat pony tail and her hands clasped behind her back. This posture was as if nothing in the galaxy phased her. Her eyes held steady on the view screen as the plasma storm raged. She timed the bursts. There was only one shot at this.
"Aye, ma'am." Kat immediately sent a message to the team to go. Now. She'd seen and heard enough this trip to know they wouldn't need more that that. She was almost as eager as they were to finally get the green light.
Daynah could see the shuttle on the screen and she counted in her head as she timed the plasma bursts. "Disengage cloak."
Galen responded with no lag this was the kind of tactics that he trained for, that he lived for. His hands taped the controls and without turning he reported. "Cloak disengaged we are now visible." In space the USS Valiant appeared in what could be described as a mirage. Daynah wasted no time. "Tactical fire. Ensign engage." The order to fire was something that she never thought she would give, that is an order to fire on an Starfleet vessel. However, that question of conscience would have to wait.
At the primary tactical console, Mishka had calibrated to specifications and prudently double checked the safeties on the pulse phaser batteries.
Twice.
It wouldn't do to vaporize the shuttle, afterall.
At the command to fire, the Bear tapped the input key and a pair of amber lances flicked out, washing over the shuttle's hull and rocking the Type X (modified).
Nyx’s hands settled on the helm the instant Daynah gave the order, all the restless energy in her burning down into something cleaner, sharper. This was the bit she was good at. Not the waiting. Not the guessing. The doing.
The Valiant shimmered into sight, and a second later the ventral and dorsal phaser strips lit the dark with hard, beautiful lines of energy that sliced across the storm. Even knowing it was staged, even knowing the power had been tuned and the shuttle had its window, Nyx couldn’t help the quick grin that flashed across her face.
“Okay,” she muttered, almost fondly, “that is pretty.”
Her eyes tracked the plasma bursts, the shuttle, the station, the timing of it all. Every nerve in her was singing now. She fed in the power, held them right on the edge, and waited for Daynah’s count like a sprinter waiting on the gun.
The moment it came, Nyx shoved the Valiant forward.
Not wild. Not sloppy. Just fast enough to feel the ship lurch into her bones as full impulse bit hard and the stars, plasma, and weapons glow all blurred together into one violent smear of colour. She caught the flare when it opened, knifed them through it, and let the storm wrap around them like a curtain.
“Jumping,” she said, voice bright and steady all at once. “Hang on, sweetheart.”
Then, lower, mostly to herself as her fingers danced over the helm and the Badlands tried to chew on them again, “C’mon, girl. Let’s make ‘em give up on us.”
Picking up from the tactical readings, Mishka said. "Minimal damage to the shuttle's hull, Commander. Scoring and we likely fried some of the deflector shields. That's all I could get before we jumped."
Daynah watched the events unfold. She was impressed with which the speed and accuracy this crew went about their duties. When the dust began to settle she looked toward the Romulan Galen. For his part Galen had not even flinched. He tapped a number of commands into the console. The lights dimmed and the power of the ship shifted. "Cloak reestablished. From what I can tell our ruse had held."
Daynah breathed a sigh of relief. "Good work everyone. The ball is in their court now."
END
Commander Daynah Ral
Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Valiant
Colonel Galen
Cloaking Device Operator
USS Valiant
Ensign Nyx Calder
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Valiant
Commander Rhupert Tyree
Master and Commander
USS Valiant
Lieutenant JG Mishka Ru'fallo
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant Katya Davi
Chief Operations Officer
USS Valiant
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