Chapter 4 of Star Trek Hellstorm (more to come soon)

Chapter 4 Confrontation and Desperation

Commander Darron checked over each of his away teams equipment and inventory which included standard phaser, compound compression rifle, tricorder, med kit, and a hazard helmet since sensors had detected no life support aboard the Pigin. His away team on the other hand consisted of his tactical and operations officers Richoner and Peterman, two security officers and chief enginner Braxon for any repairs that needed to be tended to during the recovery mission. Braxon grunted as he tried to adjust his environmental helmet and cursed to himself, finally he gave up and slipped it over his head with a look of disapproval over his face. “Having a little trouble there chief?” came a cheerful voice over Braxon’s internal comn system which belonged to Lt. Peterman. Braxon looked over towards the cheerful voice with disgust “Unless you want to wear this helmet you better not talk to me right now Im not in the mood.” Peterman looked shocked for a moment but then dismissed the disgruntled chiefs comment. “Alright listen up!” I shouted as I stood in front of the transporter pad. “The Captain wants us to survey the Pigin to find out what we are dealing with here and how exactly the Romulans got their hands on her to begin with. Braxon I want you to run diagnostic checks on all systems and then get down to engineering and see to it the condition of the warp drive and impulse.” “Peterman I want you to go over the computer logs from the time the Pigin was sabotaged and taken.” Richoner I want you to try shutting down the Pigins weapon systems and shields see if we can take the bite out of her and save the ship from further damage.” “Me and the two security officers will survey the rest of the ship and see if there is anything out of the ordinary. Any questions?” No one spoke up or said anything. “Good lets get this show on the road.” The away team then moved onto the transporter padd and took their positions with myself stepping on last. “Set phasers to stun we don’t know what we are up against here.” I ordered, “Ok, Transporter coordinates set.” The transporter operator informed. “Energize.” A soft hum of the transporter started to build up in volume as the away team dematerialized from the padd of the Hellstorm and into the dark bridge of the Pigin.
“Hmmm,” Braxon started with a slight annoyance to his voice as he read the data off his tricorder. “Life support is defiantly offline. So much for taking this bloody helmet off.” Lt. Peterman studied the readouts on his tricorder as well. “Seems that main power is offline just as the sensors reported earlier, but no sign of any major damage that would cause this.” Peterman walked over to the helm and attached a portable power pack onto the face of the console and pushed a few buttons. The console lit up showing the detail information of the damage and the repairs that were being made. “Well according to this it looks like the main EPS junction took a direct hit which caused an overload throughout the ship, But what surprises me is that it’s being currently repaired although I have no idea how.” Peterman informed. Chief Braxon looked around the room which was lit by emergency lights that illuminated each corner of the bridge. He then spotted the engineering console and placed his power pack on the control panel. The panel lit up and revealed that warp drive was out of the question since the warp core was offline as was impulse drive. Braxon pressed a few controls from the main power control panel and the lights suddenly came back online as did every console on the bridge. “Alright main power has been restored I rerouted the main power from the secondary EPS conduits. That should tie us over until the main EPS junction has been repaired. But life support is still offline for some reason I can’t bring the bloody thing back online.” I studied the readouts from the engineering console and noticed that power for life support was constantly being fed into the Pigin’s defensive systems. “Is there some way you can cut off power from weapons and reroute power back to life support?” I asked,
Braxon shook his head “No can do commander. Every time I tried to cut power from weapons and shields the bloody thing overwrites my codes.” I studied the panel more and then looked at Braxon beside him. “Get down to engineering and see if you can get life support working from there, and I want the engines online as soon as possible.” I then stood straight up and looked at the rest of the away team. “According to these reports, repairs will be complete in less than an hour since main power has been brought online. It should make it a lot easier to retake control of the ship and wipe out the program that the romulans have implanted in the Pigin’s systems, but in order to do that we need to find it. Peterman I want you to continue running through the ships program logs and see if you can find that symbol that you recognize as the program’s initiation procedure.” “Mr.Richoner I want you try to find some way to get the weapons offline overload the power grid if you have to.” Mr. Richoner nodded in response as Commander Darron sat down at the captains chair peering in to the viewscreen which was full of static.

Chief Braxon walked cautiously along with two other officers on deck 10 towards engineering as he made way through dimly lit lights that ran down the corridor. Braxon could barely make out the words on the doors that lined down the path as him and the other two made their way. “Looks like main power has been severed here.” Braxon said out loud. The two officers behind him only remained quiet as they approached the engineering door. Braxon tapped the control panel next to the door and noticed that the door didn’t open. “Hey one of you hand me that door prying tool over there.” Braxon said as he pointed to the tool far from his left. One of the officers grabbed it and handed it to Braxon. “Stand back I don’t know what could be behind these doors.” Braxon warned as he struggled to open the door. The door hissed as it slowly opened and revealed yet another dark room. Braxon took a few steps in and switched on his palm light and scanned the room. The light revealed the warp core still intact but lifeless just as much as every console within room. Braxon walked over to the central control panel and placed his mobile power pack on the console. The station lit up and displayed the current status of warp and impulse. Braxon shook his head and tapped his comn. device on his wrist. “Braxon to Commander Darron, Sir, we entered engineering and ran over a complete system check and as disappointing as it is to say the antimatter containment locks have fused together or so it would appear. I’m going take a closer look and see for myself. But if it is as it says then we won’t be going anywhere fast.” Up on the bridge I listened closely to what the Chief have found and frowned at the news I was hearing. “Acknowledged Chief see what you can do and keep me informed.” I glanced over towards Peterman who was still busy with the ships program logs. “Any luck Lieutenant? I asked. Mr. Peterman frowned and slumped in his chair. “No sir I can’t bring up the programs symbol anywhere in the logs its as if it wasn’t there to begin with.” I looked over the console which Peterman was working on and frowned at the report. “Keep at it Lieutenant Let me know when you find something.”

Captain Kenneth tapped on his armrest as he sat at his command chair starring into the view screen directly at the Pigin which still drifted lifelessly. ‘What’s taking them so long.’ He thought to himself, Soon he couldn’t take it anymore as he rose from his chair and walked over to the helm. “Ensign, open a hailing frequency to the away team.” A few moments later Commander Darron’s appearance replaced the image of the Pigin. “Commander status report.” Kenneth barked, “Sir, we have restored power to 50% of the ship. Life support is still offline attempts to reroute power to it has failed It seems to be feeding into weapons and shields but we can’t shut it down either. I have Peterman accessing the ships logs trying to find the Romulan program but I have to say that has been rather difficult as well since it appears that there's no trace of the symbol anywhere in the logs at all." Braxon report that the main antimatter contaimment locks has been fused he estimates another hour before he can fully restore warp drive." Kenneth frowned at the report and paced the floor while listening "Understood Commander, keep me informed on the progress I want to get out of here in one hour if the Pigin isnt ready by then beam you and your away team back to the Hellstorm and we will tractor Pigin back to Starbase 224." Commander Darron nodded "Understood, Darron out." the screen switched back to reveal the Pigin once again. "Lets hope we can get her online before then." Kenneth thought to himself as he sat back down in his chair.
I walked over to the tactical console where Richoner was working the controls in an attempt to shut down the defensive systems. I was shocked when Richoner burst out in anger and slammed his fist into the console suddenly. "Lieutenant!!" I barked as I came up next to him. Richoner turned and faced me still leaning on the tactical console. "Sorry sir, I just dont understand why my codes are being denied. and overwritten every time I try to access the defensive systems." I looked at Richoner carefully as he spoke. Richoner was clearly stressed over the whole situation. This wasnt supposed to be a mission to recover a stolen vessel by the hands of the enemy and he understood where the away team stood in this perdicurment. "Is there a way some how to create a feedback loop of the security perimeters that way we can access the vital ship systems with our codes?" Richoner looked quizzical for a moment then looked straight at me. "It is possible, Im not sure why I didnt think of that before, but Im not sure the chances are of it working." I looked over the tactical console which kept blinking "ACCESS DENIED" and made my mind up. "Proceed with feedback loop its the only thing we got to use at the moment." Richoner straightened up from his post and nodded. " Aye sir." Richoner started working the console as I walked back over to Lt. Peterman's station at Ops. "I look over the console he was working on and tapped my comnbadge. "Bridge to Braxon." Braxon so caught up in his work on repairing the plasma flow regulators jumped at the sound of my voice over the comn and slammed his head into the overhanging support beams of the jefferies tube. "YES!! What is it Commander!" Braxon hissed. I was shocked by the sudden outburst from the chief that I calmly asked. "Chief are you alright?" There was a slight pause then a more irritated response. "Would you be alright if you were working and suddenly someone screams your name in your ear!' "I bout knocked myself out cold just now over your call." Lt. Peterman failed to hold back a chuckle on the response Braxon had made which made the irritated Chief even more hot. "Peterman that laugh better be not about me." Peterman's face went from all cheerful to back to seriousness as he continued working." I shook my head in disbelief as I continued "Chief, I want to inform you that we might have found a way to get through the security protocols. We are gonna send a feedback loop of continueous assignment information to the computer. Hopefully if it all goes as planned it will overload the computer network and grant access." All that came back was a irritated grunt from the chief as he continued working on the plasma flow regulators. I cut the com line and looked at everyone on the bridge. Peterman shook his head and smiled as he continued to work. Richoner on the other hand had no expression from the event and continued to create the feedback loop in the ship's computer. "How's it coming Lieutenant?" I asked as I walked up beside Richoner. "I am about ready to initiate the feedback loop approximately in one minute," Richoner informed, I nodded as I headed back to the command chair and sat down. "Wait till my mark Mr. Richoner." "Mr. Peterman open a channel to the Hellstorm." Peterman worked the controls and the screen switched from the view of the mighty galaxy class to Captain Kenneth's stern face expression. "Report Commander." barked Kenneth as soon the connection was established. I stood from the command chair and took a step toward the screen. " Sir, We are attempting to bypass the security protocols of the ships systems by overloading it with contineous work assignments and ship diagnostics. If all goes as plan it will overlaod the computer and allow access to vital ship systems such as life support." I inform. Kenneth nodded in approval "Very well commander We are standing by with the tractor beam to tow the Pigin to Starbase 224 when you get the systems online. Kenneth out." The screen once again switched back to view the Hellstorm as I turned toward Richoner. "Are we ready?" I asked as I had a sense of dread for some unknown reason. "Yes Sir." replied Richoner. " All it needs is your access code to begin the feedback loop." I walked up towards tatical and read the message on the console. "INITIATING FEEDBACK LOOP, COMMAND AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED." I punch in my access code and there was a moment of silence that made everyone look at one another. " Did it work?" Richoner asked quietly. It wasnt a moment too soon that the whole ship shuddered out of control which threw everyone onto the deck. Consoles blinked off and on as most of the internal lighting went out. "WARNING PRIMARY PROCESSORS HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED SECURITY THREAT PROTOCOL INITIATED ENGAGING SECONDARY PROCESSORS." the computer warned loudly.

Senator Tomalok jumped to the sound of the alarm that blared loudly as most of the Remen researchers and crew jumped to their posts. "What is it now!!" Tomalok hissed. "The Pigin seems to have been boarded by a starfleet crew that has attempted to bypass our security protocols. They have initiated some time of contineous feedback loop of information. Its disrupting computer control." a Remen crewman informed. Tomalok shoved his way to the console and read the report. "GET THE SECONDARY SECURITY PROTOCOLS ONLINE NOW AND INITIATE A DOWNLOAD LINK FROM THE COMMAND CODES THAT COMMANDER DARRON ENTERED!! I WANT FULL CONTROL OF THE HELLSTORM!!!" shouted Tomalok in anger. First Commander F'osk worked the console frantically as the computer announced in a deep romulan tone. "SECONDARY SECURITY PROTOCOLS ONLINE DOWNLOAD LINK ESTABLISHED." Tomalok moved to the central ops station and looked over the readouts. "We got Hellstorm's access codes good now get the remote pilot ready for combat its time we bring the Pigin back online and do a little damage of our own." Three Remen researchers surrounded the central hub that contained the Pigin's pilot. They worked frantically as they prepped the pilot for combat. " "Initiating remote computer control and relaying Pigins telemetry to the central hub!" Tomalok shouted. "Pilot has confirmed Pigin's telemetry and is ready to proceed control." Commander F'osk informed from the central ops station. "Engaging manual control of the Pigin to the central hub now!" The center of the room glowed with intensity as the outer walls of the hub that surround the pilot started to close all around. the hub started to rotate in all directions signaling to the ones outside of the hub that their pilot was once again in full control of the Pigin.
On the bridge of the Pigin things were getting desperate as the ship shuddered out of control as the away team were tossed off their feet and thrown to the floor. "REPORT!!" I shouted over the loud shrieking of the red alert klaxons. Mr. Peterman struggled to his feet as he read the sensor data on the ops console. "The computer has gone completely offline commander!" ' all major systems are shutting down!" Peterman shouted. "Bridge to Engineering, Get those plasma regulators online now!!" I screamed over the com. Static was all that came back in response. Mr. Richoner, Signal the entire away team to meet back at the transporter coordinates lets get the hell out of here!!" I ordered. Mr. Richoner worked the controls but a sharp buzzing sound came over the console as he looked back up at me. "I'm sorry sir. All communications are offline now." I looked at the view screen which revealed a swirling mass of stars that spun constantly around as the ship once again was out of control. "Which means we have no way to contact the Hellstorm for assistance." I thought to myself.

Kenneth jumped out of his seat and rushed forward toward the view screen as he watched the Pigin spinning out of control severely. "Mr. Kevin, open hailing frequencies to the Pigin." There was a slight pause which was immediately interrupted by a hard buzzing sound from the tactical console. "I dont understand sir, For some reason communications are offline. I cant raise the Pigin sir." Kenneth turned and rushed to Mr. Kevin's side. "Try sending an audio see if you can reach them there." Mr Kevin worked the controls once which was again greeted by the sharp buzzing sound. "No use Captain I can't get through." Kevin said disappointed, Kenneth rushed back to the Ops station "Mr. Chang, Lock onto the Pigin with a tractor beam see if we can slow their motion to a stop." Chang inputed the command into the ops station as a sharp buzzing sound came back over the station a second later. "Tractor beam not responding captain." Just then the lights totally went out as all major consoles went offline and dark. The red alert lights were the only source that illuminated the bridge in a reddish hue. "Captain! All vital ship systems are going completely offline one by one. Shields, Weapons. Warp Drive, Deflector.." Kenneth ran to the tactical console and immediately read over the damage report. "Its like someone is using our access codes to make us completely immobile." Mr. Kevin, See if you can lock out the main computer!!" Kenneth barked. Just as Kevin started to lock out the main computer main power completely went offline as well as auxiliary. "I'm sorry sir." I was unable to access computer control before main power went offline." Kevin said slowly. Kenneth looked at him with an expression of worry as he turned and starred at the Pigin through the view screen. "Damn they caught on to us." he thought to himself angerily.

On the Pigin things were getting desperate as all systems that were restored by the away team were shutting down one by one. Consoles went dark as well as the lighting. I started to feel myself get weightless as I slowly rose off the floor. "The Anti-Gravity has been compromised!" 'Switching to magnetic boots." There was a slight hum as my feet latched on to the deck plating as well as everyone else on the bridge. "Sir," started Peterman. "Main EPS junction has been repaired. all major defensive systems are coming online as well as warp drive and impulse!!" I jumped to his side over the shuddering of the ship. "Can we regain control now?" I asked hoping the answer would be a yes. I was disappointed when Peterman shook his head. "I cant access the main computer we are totally locked out from ships systems." Suddenly the ship stopped shuddering as everything went still. I looked around the room and saw Mr. Richoner looking puzzled as he was still clinging on to his post. I then turned my attention back to the Ops station which had came back online as it seemed to be the only working console on the bridge. I looked over the readouts as my jaw dropped I then shot a glance at the view screen to confirm the report. "Oh Shit!!" was all escaped my mouth as I saw Hellstorm drifting lifelessly her engines dark as well as her interior lighting. and realized what the feeling of dread I had earlier was about to happen. "Mr. Peterman Please tell me we can get off this ship by using the escape pods?!" I asked in a very worried tone. Peterman worked the controls that contantly buzzed back at him. He then looked at me and shook his head. There was a slight rumble within the belly of the ship as I jumped to the sound as well as everyone else. "Sir. That was an explosion that came from jefferies tube deck 10 section 12." Peterman said with worry clearly in his voice. I slammed my fist into the dead helm console as I realized that was the section Chief Braxon was working on the plasma regulators. "Dammit,!!!" I said out loud as the ship came to life and the hum of the ships engines vibrated through the floor. "We are moving sir." ' Weapons are coming online Quantum torpedoes and a load of Transphasics are being primed targeting sensors have locked on.." "The Hellstorm.."I finished for him as everyone suddenly caught onto what I already knew what happened.

Kenneth watched helplessly as the Pigin powered up and and slowed to a stop directly in front of the Hellstorm. He needed to do something and fast but with all systems offline they were a sitting duck. Mr. Kevin tried in vain to gain access to the ship's computer but was denied everytime. Kenneth looked at him "Can we at least initiate saucer separation and get everyone away from the Pigin." Mr. Kevin looked at Kenneth then replied "I think so but why do we need to evacuate?" Kenneth looked at the screen which showed Pigin closing in slowly. "Because if we dont do something soon there's going to be alot of people getting hurt." Kevin looked at Kenneth in shock and awe at first as he followed his gaze to the view screen. "You think the Romulans took control again with our away team aboard?" Kenneth broke his gaze from the screen and back at Kevin. "I don't believe, I know they did. I just hope the away team can get out of there in time." Begin with the evac..." Before he could finish his sentence the deck exploded in a fireball of showers and sparks. An exploding console near Kenneth knocked him completely over the tactical console into the command chairs below. Lt. Chang ran from his post at Ops to assist Kenneth. "GET BACK TO YOUR STATION!!!" Kenneth yelled, "DAMAGE REPORT!!!!" Kevin worked his console and shouted "WE SUSTAINED A DIRECT HIT ON OUR SECONDARY HULL MAIN EPS JUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED!!!!"
The hard rumbling of the ship was so loud and intense that it was hard for everyone to keep on their feet. The Pigin soared overhead then veered hard to port for an attack run unleashing a storm of quantum torpedoes directly on Hellstorms primary hull. The quantum's slammed into the saucer section ripping it to shreds as the interior decks were becoming exposed to the vacuum of space. "WE HAVE MASSIVE HULL BREECHES CAPTAIN DECKS 10-34 ARE COMPLETLY OPEN TO SPACE FORCEFIELDS ARE NOT RESPONDING!!!" Kevin reported. Kenneth felt a sense of anger plus desperation as the Pigin kept firing relentlessly at the Hellstorm. The ship screamed as the bulkheads collapsed fire erupted on the bridge which engulfed the area in a bright orange light. Kenneth shielded his face as he quickly moved in to put out the flames. "MR. KEVIN!! I WANT THE HELLSTORM MOVING INSTEAD OF BEING A SITTING TARGET. FIND A WAY TO DECOMPRESS THE MAIN SHUTTLE BAY!!!" Mr, Kevin worked the controls and was greeted was a confirmation tone. "I HAVE ACCESS TO THE SHUTTLE BAY CAPTAIN!!! OPENING SHUTTLE BAY DOORS DECOMPRESSING AIR!!"
There was a slight jump as everyone on the bridge felt the ship start to move forward. The Pigin flew under the Hellstorm just as she slowly passed by and came hard to port again and was now directly behind Hellstorm. A spread of quantum torpedoes from the Pigin slammed into Hellstorms dorsal ventral side sending the Hellstorm into a uncontrollable spiral. The Pigin in hot pursuit unleashed a storm of pulse phasers and quantum torpedoes toward Hellstorms warp nacelle pylons. The resulting explosion broke one naccell completely free while severely damaging the other. Helltorm was now swirling out of control venting drive plasma and bleeding fire from ruptured hull breeches. The Pigin flew over the mangled fiery wreck of the Hellstorm and unleashed a mad fury of pulse phasers directly at the bridge module. The bridge erupted in a titanic explosion that sent everyone flying. "WARNING STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY HAS BEEN COMPROMISED DECK ONE." the computer warned. Kenneth slowly got to his feet as blood spilled heavily from his head and arm. He looked over at Chang which laid beside him his neck bent in a odd way his eyes wide and lifeless. Kenneth closed his eyes and hopped to his feet as a sharp pain jabbed into the side of his chest. "Damn.. My ribs are broke" He thought to himself. Mr. Kevin picked himself up off the deck floor and made his way to Kenneth his head also bleeding and smoldered by black suit he struggled to lift Kenneth up on his feet as fire burned freely around the bridge consoles unleashing showers of sparks. Mr. Kevin made his way through a vine of overhanging power conduits to the main turbo lift were he was greeted by the rest of the bridge crew. They all piled into the turbo lift and exited the bridge just as the deck gave away sending the turbolift to a free fall down to deck five. The Pigin soared over the spiraling fireball of the Hellstorm and went to warp.