A Promise is a Promise (Final battle with the Unholy Trinity)

Posted on Mon Jul 31st, 2023 @ 11:06pm by Captain David Hawkins & Commander Raiden Kosugi & Lieutenant Commander Timia Svidi & Lieutenant Obav th’Villos & Lieutenant Josey Wales & Cadet First Class Pallas & Captain Vanora Steele (Pallas)

Mission: The Goddess
5895 words - 11.8 OF Standard Post Measure

As the crew on the bridge sat silently awaiting the next move to take, David walked onto the bridge and took his position in the center of the command center of the Sovereign class starship, their home and their tool to protect those unable to protect themselves. But most of all, fight when called upon.

"Open communications and broadcast on all channels. Broadcast to all decks as well," the commanding officer ordered as he stood before his chair and looked out the large view port with the holographic display over it. The planet was before them and they were moving slowly closer after they had dropped out of warp.

"You are on, sir."

With that, David's head lowered slightly and glared out at the target before them. "This is Captain David Hawkins, commanding officer of the U.S.S. Gladiator. To the radial religious group calling themselves the Unholy Trinity and their followers. Your attacks are unwarranted and a violation of Federation law. You will stand down and turn yourselves in. From here on out, your work is done, no questions, no compromise, only surrender.”

The anger over the mindless threats, hatred, mindless attacks on civilian and starfleet ships, and the countless lives lost. It was almost too much for even him, a seasoned marine and commanding officer, to hold back the desire to rip their heads right off of their shoulders. To see them tortured the very same way they had done to every single person, family member, friends, and comrads. But it was the years of control he had learned and perfected over all the years that was keeping that flood of destruction at bay behind that barrier.

“Let me be clear, we will not be intimidated. We will not back down. We have seen war. We do not want war. But if you want war with Starfleet, the Federation, and her allies, there is one thing I can promise you, so help me god. Someone else will raise your sons and daughters,” Captain Hawkins stated simply and clearly. “You are ordered to surrender now. You have five minutes to comply, or you will see our promise come true. Gladiator out.”

“Captain… sensor’s are picking up a fleet of ships coming around the planet. Looks like a mix of civilian and captured Starfleet ships. They will be able to have their blockade up in time to intercept us.”

“Guess that is our answer,” David replied as he sat down in his chair and called out the infimis orders. “All hands, battle stations.”

"Shields up go to Red Alert" Raiden's voice rang out. He stood up to stand beside Hawkins, just taking in the view. "Battle Stations"

With that, the bridge’s lighting darkened and the red klaxon lights started to flash. For the first fifteen seconds, the klaxon alarm went off as the bridge atmosphere intensified. They were used to battles with Hawkins as their commander, who had a cool and clear head in the heat of battle. The group was still feeling the rush of adrenaline, preparing to deal with what they knew wasn't going to be the expected outcome.

“Captain, we have additional ships coming in from behind us!” yelled out one of the operations officers before looking down at his controls and smirked.

It was certainly a month for being the Calvary in Ledeya’s opinion but who was she to judge when she had a lot more on her plate than was possible. “Open a channel to the Gladiator… this is Commodore Ehestri of the USS Cosmos you requested assistance Captain.” She asked as she spotted Agrax out of the corner of her eye already scanning the area and the challenges that they faced.

“Commodore, you are a site for sore eyes. Good to have ya here. Hope you are ready for a battle,” Captain Hawkins replied as he looked at the readouts showing more coming in.

Oliver Lancaster shifted uncomfortably in the centre seat on the Bridge of the Hood. Gunning the Inquiry-Class ship at high warp hadn’t been a pleasant experience, and was certainly something he’d be having a chat with the boys and girls at Spacedock about getting looked into upon his return. He pressed the control on the arm of his chair, the view screen springing into life and revealing the other Federation ship’s bridges.

“This is Captain Oliver Lancaster of the USS Hood, standing ready to assist, Gladiator.” He said, flashing a small smirk “I hope we didn’t miss all the fun, Captain.”

“Not yet, but let’s see what that shiny new ship has in it,” David smirked as he looked at Oliver. “Don’t go ruining the paint.”

Flashing out of Quantum Slipstream, the angular form of the USS Athena flashed into normal space alongside her brethren. Calmly poised in his command chair, Captain Kane punched into the fleet comms.

“Captain Hawkins. I believe I said I owed you a favor after that business in the Rondac system.” He smirked. “Let’s call this even, shall we?”

“Noted, but let’s not make it a last round of I.O.U.s. Besides, this could be a recurring thing,” David smirked as more ships fell into place. “Prepare the line, let's finish this.”

The Resolute dropped out of warp, they were a little late to the party, but it was better late than never. The intrepid class ship was sleek, decently armed for a ship of it's class and she was ready for a fight.

The Andorian in the command chair took a moment to study the field of battle before he opened a channel.

"The party is starting with out me?" Khelev asked. "I'm disappointing David."

Another ship dropped out of warp, and a hail came through. "USS Starlight, on loan from Memphis Island." A familiar voice called out over the com as the video connected. "Captain Mercia Kavi in command." she stated with a stern voice. "Yeah, I thought we got rid of these ass holes a few years ago." she said, arching her brows at her former Captain, David Hawkins.

Captain Hawkins looked between the two before him and smirked slightly. It was as though it was like he was looking into the past. The group had started off together on the Gladiator and they had gone their own ways over the years. But still they were family. Still, he couldn’t help but to feel like a proud father to some of them. But then that made him question his age.

To the momentary dismay of some of the bridge crew's monitoring sensors, a non-Federation ship materialized out of nothing, right in the midst of Starfleet’s finest. A T’varo-class light warbird, much smaller than the rest of the vessels, was nonetheless a frightening apparition, coming out of nowhere the way it did. The more astute of junior officers watching their monitors, however, just as quickly recognized the pitch black and gray paint job as not of any Romulan faction, but rather the distinctive colors of Starfleet Intelligence. The otherwise two-toned livery was slightly disturbed by an out-of-place X-shaped scar on each wing, but being also in Intel gray, there was no immediate reason to question the minor discrepancy.

“Wanted to wait to see if any of these Trinity vampires tried to flank you, but it looks like your six is pretty well covered.” The familiar voice of Vanora Samsoe Stele joined an image of her on the viewscreen. She looked more or less the same as the last time any of the Gladiator crew, past and present, had seen her, save for the new black uniform and four matted gray Intel pips sitting on her color. “‘All roads lead to Rome,’ my father used to say. Looks like we’re hunting the same prey, Captain Hawkins. Can’t say I’m surprised to see you here, though. Or Mercia and Khelev. Good to see you two. Glad you could make it. Let’s make sure this clown show of a cult stays down this time, shall we?”

“Huh…” David looked at the female before them. “Talk about a ghost from Christmas Past. We will need to play catch up later. For now, take defensive positions and prepare to engage the enemy. Stele, You are going to have to explain yourself with that command of yours some time after all this is done.”

Vanora smirked. "Always up for a drink and a story, but as you said, time for that later." She waved at an officer off-screen and dropped off of the viewscreen. With that, the Intel ship shimmered away into empty space, reactivating its cloak.

Looking over at his Executive officer, who looked slightly out of place. “Ease up, Commander. You are my first officer, so keep your cool head in the game,” the captain spoke to him between just the two. "Let's see what you got."

Raiden had been caught up in the spectacle of all the ships showing up to form the final line against the Trinity. His eyes had also taken in Obav at the helm of the Gladiator. Raiden did feel out of place, his hands itched to be there at the helm instead of in the XO's position. The cards had been dealt, he had accepted hand and he wasn't going to renege on what he had agreed upon.

Raiden's dark eyes turned towards David, leaning towards the captain, then quietly quipped, "Trial by fire? And glad it is here on the bridge of the Gladiator, Sir. More fitting, feels like home, doesn't it Captain."

The commander's words leaked into his mind causing David to take a deep breath as he ran his hands on the arm rest of his old chair. It was the same as he had left it. He wondered why Tayla hadn't upgraded the command chair, but then again why would she? The chair was very comfortable, dispite the fact that it wasn't a more modern and updated 'captain's chair'.

"Feels very much so like home. But it feels empty without all of our family here," he remarked as he shifted in the chair. He was about to continue to talk but was cut off from the sound of a familar grunt. He smirked as he sat back. "Raiden, you are in for a hell of a treat."

Khelev let out a grunt, he was pretty sure it was picked up over the comm and it was all he needed to say to the two new arrivals. After a few seconds he looked over at his helmsmen, "Take us in, straight at the lead ship. They're disorganized and won't be expecting it and we'll disrupt their lines. Might piss some of them off enough to chase us. The rest of you better be ready."

"Vanora, sight for sore eyes! and Khelev... Nice to see you too darling." Mercia smirked before she turned to her own helmsmen, "Get in line and be ready for a fight. Hawkins, I have two teams on stand by for the landing."

Even though the Starfleet Intelligence ship was cloaked, she wasn't radio silent just yet. "Back at you," she came over the comm to Mercia. "You too, Khelev. Drinks on me after we finish this. You won't be surprised to hear that this ship came with a nice vintage of Romulan Ale. See you on the other side." She turned to her comms officer, "Keep us dark until the shooting starts. Flight," she said to the woman sitting in front of her, "shadow the Resolute until we're halfway to the front line, then break us off, attack pattern Stele Gamma One." Her crew vocally acknowledged the orders, and Vanora leaned forward in her chair. "For the ones still standing," she said grimly.

Raiden was getting a unique perspective of Captain Hawkins, and those that arrived. He noted that these people had connection to Hawkins from sometime way back. In some way Raiden was feeling like the new kid on the block trying to pick his way through the neighborhood.

Raiden looked again towards helm once more, at Ensign Ralen Koges, remembering meeting him as well as the other pilots, before Obav arrived on the ship. Raiden thought him a good man and then his mind went out towards the away team down on the planet below. His thoughts were interrupted as he noticed the movement of the Trinity ships starting to make their move towards the fleet that had been gathered to go against them.

An answering hail came from the lead of the opposing ships, replying to Hawkin's hail. A slight gesture for comms to be opened.

"You will not succeed against us as we have our Goddess supporting us. You will surrender to the most high and holy ones, shut down your shields, be prepared to lay down your weapons and come to us in peace other wise we will deal you a deadly blow of which you will not recover from. Unlike you, the heathens and sinners who support the mixing of blood, we have the power and glory of our heavenly goddess. Her might is glorious, and her wrath one cannot withstand. Do you surrender or do you wish to die."

Raiden gave out a growl as what the man said angered him. "We of this Ship the USS Gladiator do not recognize your Goddess. You do not promise peace, you only offer subservience, our ship stands for what is right. I do not know if you are familiar with the term Gladiator, it is a combatant that traditionally fights for a just cause, such as freedom, and the right to live. The USS Gladiator is the embodiment of those ideals of Justice, Retribution and Freedom. We fight for those who cannot fight. And we will rain down retribution upon your heads, you should have listened and paid heed to what our leader had said to you. You will now reap what you have sown and it will be a most bitter harvest." another gesture and the communications was cut.

"Sirs, they are continuing to move and heading towards us!" came the call. Raiden looked towards Hawkins at that announcement.

Ensign Thomas Payne manned his station at the tactical station and stood by awaiting orders. " Captain, the shields are at full and all offensive and defensive systems are ready and awaiting your command. " He analyzed which ship would offer the biggest threat to the safety of the Gladiator and stood by with a passive target lock and ready to unleash the full fury that the ship could offer the fanatics that were closing distance with them.

David leaned over to his executive officer and kept the conversation between the two. "In situations like this, I'm Fleet Commander, so my focus will be the fleet as a whole. Your basic focus is to command the Gladiator. Our orders my overlap from time to time, but this is what we were all trained to do. Don't question yourself, but go with what you know and feel is the right call." With that he sat back up straight in his chair and called out orders. "All ships, Close open comsexcept to the task force. Watch your six and one another. Tactical officers work with each other's counterpartsand call out the targets we can emobilize. Resolute, take us in. All other ships, fall in line and give them cover fire. Engage!"

Raiden listened to David, as he gave instructions on what was needing to be done. Raiden's mouth went slightly dry at what was going to be involved, his lips going into a thin line of determination. "I'll do my best captain." Raiden stated, then turned his attention towards the incoming ships. This was going to take some getting used to as he had to re-align his way of thinking. He wasn't a helmsman anymore he was an XO. Though he mentally mused, he could use some of the tactics that he had used when flying for the diplomats to their various meetings into hot spots.

(Have fun, be creative and no primary ships are lost. Heavy damage is fine, but only enemy ships are lost or random ships we didn't call out, are open to being blown up. Only the fleet ships are showing actual tactical skills. The enemy has some, but not enough to overturn the fleet. About half way through the battle, we have a twist or two. At the same time we will call out ground status's. This is critical to a key twist coming. - Hawkins)

Vanora shook her head 'no' as her tactical officer looked at her after Hawkins' order came in. "Don't open fire yet, kid. The big guns out there have shielding we can't keep up with." She watched as Khelev's command crossed an unmarked line in space that she had mentally marked for herself. "Helm, you have your orders. Break off now, follow my lead. We'll sow some chaos gifts in here, see if we can't get them so confused they don't know which way is up." Unseen, the cloaked light warbird fell away from the Resolute's six and moved into a flanking position, toward a cluster of less agile platforms that were preparing to launch long range barrages into the Fleet.

Ensign Payne fingers played across the control console as he input targeting data. " Multiple targets locked onto Captain! Targeting weapons and engines to disable the enemy, Standing by for your command, Sir."

"Engage the enemy at will. Let's break the enemy line," David called out from his command chair.

Phaser fire lit up the darkness of space as the Gladiator and her allies made their way towards the enemy line. The enemy fleet had their shields up, but the impact of the phaser fire managed to weaken them. Suddenly, the Gladiator broke through the enemy line, plunging into the midst of the opposing ships. Her shields took a pounding as enemy fire rained down on her, but the the Gladiator was built to take the beating With their captain barking out rapid-fire orders, Gladiator and her crew sprang into action making the ship's movements almost seamless, providing cover fire for the other ships in the fleet.

"Helm, bring as about and keep the enemy focused on us. Tactical, bring down hell fire on those bastards," the captain barked as he felt his blood start to pump and boil in his veins. Their enemy were strong, but not compared to the might of what he had gathered before them.

Ensign Payne's face was grim and focused on his task. " Aye Sir!! Bringing them Hellfire as ordered. " Phaser fire lanced out from the ship and streaked towards the enemy ships as they either passed them or dared approach them. The photon launchers were active as well spitting out death and destruction from both forward and aft launchers as soon as a enemy ship was identified.

::Trinity Ship Purity::

The lead Trinity ship was focusing upon the lead ship, the Gladiator, trying to pick away at the ship that had defied their call to power down their weapons. How dare they go against the will of the goddess. The name of the opposing ship was in essence, 'Purity' for they believed that all should be pure. He signalled his helm to go after the Gladiator, all weapons firing. He will bring down the heathens who dared to oppose them.

::Gladiator::

The unnamed Romulan warbird uncloaked in the midst of the cluster of heavy weapons platforms far to the Gladiator's starboard flank. Just as the platforms warmed up their photon torpedo launchers, ready to launch a devastating barrage into the flagship, the Intelligence ship's flat gray blinked into existence, paired with carefully planned phaser bursts that set off cloaked antimatter charges that Vanora's crew had scattered all around the Trinity guns like a malevolent Johnny Appleseed. In a glorious fireworks display, the half dozen platforms were rendered harmless floating brigs, its occupants ready for later collection and transport to a Federation rehabilitation center. "Six down... a lot of them to go. Get us cloaked again and then back in there," Captain Stele barked out, though a satisfied grin was plastered on her face as the warbird dove through the fireballs it had wrought and back toward the heart of the fight.

On the Bridge of the Gladiator, Raiden's eyes went rather wide seeing the Romulan warbird decloak, making an impressive attack upon the weapon platform. He glanced over towards Captain Hawkins, feeling slightly in awe. The man had a few more layers he had no clue about. Just the fact of a Romulan warbird in the battle against the Trinity? The Captain had connections!

A communication came through, and Raiden spoke to Hawkins, "Captain those who have gone down to get our people have landed, there were some losses, but a good majority have made it." He leaned in to say quietly,

"Wales and Walken's team have also made their destination. A coded message came through. Their plan is, taking down the security network. And they have gone radio silent afterwards."

"Sounds like they may have their hands busy dealing with possible counter measures," David thought openly to his executive officer. He sat back up in his chair and spoke up again. "Helm bring us about and head back in. What is our status of our shields?"


"Gladiator to the fleet, we are going in. Cover us, and hold the line. Fighter squadron, prepare to intercept and begin escort protocols," Captain Hawkins called out as he saw some of the responses of his bridge crew. This was highly unexpected. "All hands, blue alert, I repeat, blue alert."

The ship rocked violently as one of the trinity ships detonated after being destroyed before it finish it's suicide run on the port warp nacelle. "Sorry about that sir! " Called out Ensign Payne. It seems they seem to have some kind of idea that they can stop us." Red phaser light lanced it's way into the darkness giving an eerie glow and ended in sudden orange balls of flame that suddenly flicked out and died in silence. "Most of these ships are small enough that they are gone after one or two hits, yet they keep coming. " He shook his head in disbelief but kept up the rate of fire. "Any sane person would have turned and ran by now. " He muttered. A volley of five photon torpedoes fired at a group of eight trinity ships and did a high yield explosion in the midst of them. The ships were drifting without power and exploded one by one as the other ships targeted them and winked out of existence as if they were never there to begin with.

"I thought we were going to get an actual fight," Vanora belted out. Her crew gave a rowdy "huzzah" in response. A grin was plastered on Vanora's face as she stood behind her captain's chair at a secondary tactical terminal. She may have been command, now, but the thrill of combat was always too much to resist, and her leaving her station to join the fray was not surprising to any of her bridge crew. The Romulan warbird was cloaking and decloaking frequently, now, as it weaved its way down the main line of the Trinity ships toward the Gladiator's flank, taking pot shots at weapons and propulsion systems as it buzzed around like an angry, invisible wasp. The maneuvers would have been much too dangerous against a trained opponent, but for all of their zeal, it had become clear to Captain Steele quickly that the enemy couldn't keep up with Starfleet.

"Well keep us covered, Vanora," David called out just before one of the suicide ships slammed into the Gladiator, sending surges across the ship, causing the helm officer to drop and hit her shoulder, causing it to pop out of its socket. She rolled and gripped the pain as she growled and moaned. Both Hawkins and Raiden jumped to check on her, before shoving Raiden back to the Command chair as another enlisted came up to assist in the injury.

"I'll fly us in, you call out the threats," David said as he pointed at his chair before jumping up and taking the helm seat. He was a little rusty, but he knew what he was doing. "Transferring power and priming atmospheric thrusters. Adjusting our angle," As he did so, he looked over and nodded to his helm office. "Get to sick bay and get fixed up."

" Three more incoming suicide ships!! " Ensign Payne called out. " One targeting impulse engines, the second targeting Engineering and the third aimed right at the bridge. Rapid fire at all targets! "

Torpedoes from the rear launched from the sovereign class starship as its shields started to rub up against the invisible atmosphere of the planet. One of the three torpedoes hit its targets. Another volley of torpedoes launched while phaser fire lit up while the shields glowed. But this did not stop the hall from heating up. It dissipated after breaking through. As the clouds came forth around the ship, more fighters came near but this did not last as phaser fire took out the annoying flies. But soon after a hand full of the fighters were taken out, the Gladiator rolled, hard left, slamming into one of the fighters with the shields over the saucer section, causing the ship to shake a little.

"Oops, sorry about that," David called out from the helm station. "Bringing us to a hovering position over the main outpost. Take out the ground threats, tactical and prepare for multiple threats."

Raiden had been quiet for a moment or two whilst he studied what was on hand, then he noticed something, "We've got incoming on our six." He called out, "That main Trinity ship is still after us, evasive maneuvers Hawkins! " As the Purity was coming in for another run after the Gladiator! Its guns were a blazing, it wanting righteous vengeance. With the Purity came other fighters.

"Payne get ready to take it out!" Raiden commanded. "Hawkins, get your magic rolling."

"Rocking the boat, hang on!" David called out as he was already planning ahead seeing the same information on his screen. A couple codes into the console and the ship started to rotate aggressively as the ship lifted from its hovering position. As it rolled the thrusters engaged full blast as the ship's shield came to lift from multiple impacts. Soon, weapons fire from enemy weapons fire, started to hit the ground below as one by one, shuttles and runabouts started to take off from the surface.

"Transferring emergency power to atmospheric thrusters for a little boost. Ops may want to increase artificial gravity. We may need it," Hawkins called out as the ship was now moving towards the threat itself.

Upon the bridge of the Purity, stood the captain proud and strong. He felt more successful and to his ship he quoted these words from William Shakespeare.

"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever livèd in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy—
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue—
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men.
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy.
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of war,
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds,
And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial."

He looked towards his tactical officers and over the communications to those people who were on the ship with him.

"For the Goddess whom will greet us with open arms as we do battle for her wisdom and purifying state! Bring down the devil dogs who profane the stars with their half breed and impure state. Let a new age come into play, let us be victorious!!" as an anthem in praise of the Goddess rose through out the Trinity ship, The Purity.

The Intelligence warbird came in hard toward the clashing flagships, its disruptors dancing in all directions like a monotone lightshow, taking out its fair share of the swarm of fighters that belched out from the misnamed Purity. "You've got a pest problem, Captain Hawkins?" the momentarily uncloaked light ship's captain teased the Gladiator's CO over audio-only. "Let's see if we can give these Trinity nuts a taste of their own plan and do some quick 'purging' of our own," Vanora called out to her bridge crew. "Keep those fighters off of the Gladiator. Weapons free, full spread all torpedo bays!" Her crew roared in another battle cry, and all aboard gritted their teeth and the now uncloaked and vulnerable ship dove into the fray.

The Purity thinking that it could take on the Gladiator head on seemed to ignore the ship that took on the fighters, hellbent to do a kamikaze run. Raiden saw the signs, he knew the score.

"Captain, Ensign Payne, the Purity is on a suicide run!" Raiden uttered, moving forward in the command chair practically on the edge of the seat.

Payne's fingers danced across the console as the ship responded to his input. Five quantum torpedoes streaked across the void and slammed into the Purity's shields one after another. The first torpedo violently rocked the ship, the second almost killed it's forward momentum. The third torpedo dropped the Purity's forward shield. The forth torpedo breached the forward section of the hull a few decks below the bridge, and the final torpedo ripped off the port warp nacelle. During the torpedo attack the forward phasers were also hard at work tearing apart that once was a proud and beautiful ship and turning it into to nothing more then space debris. " Captain!! That last hit struck their engineering area. The warp core is going critical, Suggesting hard to starboard to avoid getting close enough to take damage from it's explosion. " Payne reported.

"Copy, engaging tractor beam!" David called out from the helm station as the Gladiator rolled and went under the the Purity. The Gladiator's tractor beam locked on and jolted the ship away from the planet, still grazing the atmosphere. Once it was on a different trajectory, the tractor beam deactivated and the Sovereign class starship's impulse engines lit up and launched away. All around the Purity ships and shuttles of all kinds spread out like flies as secondary explosions came to life before the massive warp core breach lit the space over the planet sending a massive shock wave through space and hitting the planet's atmosphere.

On the bridge, there were several sighs of relief before the shock wave hit the ship's shields, only rocking the ship by now. As the captain rotated the Gladiator to head back to the planet, an alert went over the computer of a possible ship impact.

"What the..." David spoke up before looking at the sensors, before seeing before the bridge. An intrepid class starship barely missed the Gladiator, as it flew right by them, straight to the planet.

"Shields are down!" an ops officer called out as the command staff looked over at the voice. "I'm picking up several transports across the ship!"

With that, a couple star fleet members were transported directly onto the bridge of the Gladiator. Weapons quickly were drawn but were soon lowered.

"ch'Koro?" David questioned as he looked at the andorian, the acting Captain of the Resolute. "What the hell are you doing here? Was the Resolute about to explode?"

"No," Was the simple answer that the Andorian replied with. His antenna lashed at the air a few times before he headed for an empty engineering console.

" Captain, the shields have been re established, I didn't drop our shields. Not in the middle of combat, And then we have people transport to several points across the ship without the Captain's permission or an explanation. " Stated Payne. His hand that was hovering was now firmly on his phaser and ready for use.

Raiden barked out, "Ensign Payne, at ease they are friendlies!" he was feeling his heart racing at what was happening.

"Bringing us about!" David called out from the helm station as the ship jerked hard and pointed back in the proper direction to the target at hand. But as the ship relined its trajectory, coms started to come alive with multiple chatter. He looked down at his navigational controls to see smaller blips come alive. Like gnats and flies that get disturbed from their resting location, so were the shuttles and fighters that had been sent down to the planets surface as they launched away from the temple.

"Getting reports of multiple warnings that we need to pull away from the planet. Scanners are picking up multiple chain reactions of overloads. We need to get out of here," called one of the operations officers from a secondary station on the bridge.

"Sounds good to me, readjusting out heading and banking right. All hands, hold on to your cookies," Captain Hawkins called out as he piloted the starship up and away from the planet.

As they banked around Raiden called out for the viewscreen to put into view of the planet "On screen for view of the planet!" And he watched, his hands gripping the arm rests of the command chair, feeling the inertia of the ship flying out of harms way like a bat out of hell. At first there was the mini explosions, shooting up small eruption of flames, one after another then, the earth trembled where the temple was, it quaked it shook then a blast much like the eruption of a volcano not being able to stand the inner pressure and having to release it.

A roaring blaze shot into the sky along with pieces of the building that once housed the infernal machine that was to cause even more of vast and terrible pain and agony. Ripples ran along the surface, above the catacombs of that diabolical fetid pit of despair. Down, down, down the ground collapsed leaving a sinkhole to one day be filled with water or whatever else would possibly grow in that unholy place. Or it would be a stark reminder of, if anyone were to visit, of what happens when evil decides to come together and is stopped.

Raiden then looked at Captain Hawkins and said, "Shall we go home Captain? It is time to go home."

There was a long pause as David looked at the view port and took a deep breath before nodding. "Setting a course. Once we have all our shuttles, we go home. Good work people."