On The Assault - Part 7 - The Red Castle
Posted on Fri Jul 10th, 2026 @ 1:30am by Ensign Syaro Kirimi & Lieutenant Commander Nyxala Valentine & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant Zachary Addams & Petty Officer 1st Class Alexis Aenera
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2026 @ 1:30am
2,338 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Flight Of The Valkyries
Location: Various
Timeline: March 18th, 2397
[USS Akagi]
The blood-red numbers on the countdown to antimatter containment breach continued to fall as Jessica Avali frantically worked in vain to restore main power. As it fell to one hundred and twenty, she finally stopped her efforts and glanced around at the remaining two engineers that were there with her, "All right you two, get out of here."
"We still have time, Commander, we might get lucky." One of them objected, "Damn, Junction 13-bravo-44 is out of the loop, what about 11-Alpha-21?"
"That's enough, Lieutenant." Jessica sighed, moving one console over to where a very simplistic setup had been made. With the bridge and the battle bridge both taken out, she was going to have to pilot this big bird by hand. All attempts to rig an autopilot or even navigation aides had failed and the single camera on the bow would be her only guide.
The Chief Engineer tapped her commbadge, "Ark Royal, one last request, I've got Ensign Richard Maxwell and Lieutenant Harmony Lilliard here with me. Can you get them out and pull back? They're good people and I can fly this bird myself."
There came no response, just the sound of static. The Ark Royal had already pulled away to avoid the explosion of the Akagi's warp core.
"Damn." Jessica sighed, "All right, Harmony, Richard, you two get to an escape pod, no need for all of us to go down with the ship." She gave a weak smile, "You've got just enough time to get to Deck Eighteen and use one of those."
"Commander, I'm staying." Richard said firmly, "Just in case." Harmony nodded in confirmation that she was right alongside him in his feelings.
"No you aren't, you two go, have kids, with each other if you must, but I've got this." Jessica gave a shooing gesture, "What, you think I didn't see you making googly eyes at each other? Go! That's an order!" She laughed as they both gave her a look, the sad eyes of Harmony the last human contact before they were gone.
"Sixty seconds until activation." Jessica told herself, using the manoeuvring thrusters she had access to in order to reorient the ship so that it turned directly at the space station, specifically one of the edges as far from the buzzing fighters as she could. Maybe she couldn't kill the thing, but it would know it had been nudged. "Fifty seconds..."
[Graf Zeppelin]
The Graf Zeppelin's Security Quick Reaction Force was a coordination between Starfleet Security and Starfleet Marines, each individual bringing their own specialty and training to the group. They packed into the transporter bay in tight formation, phaser rifles checked and re-checked, the mood tense but disciplined.
"Listen up," the team leader, a broad-shouldered Tellarite Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), called out over the hum of the transporter systems. "We're splitting into two teams the second we land. Alpha team's with me — straight to the Tokyo's bridge, secure the command crew, hold position. Bravo team beams directly to Main Engineering, same objective — secure it, protect their warp core and engineering staff."
He swept his eyes over the assembled Marines and Starfleet crewman. "Once both objectives are secure, we converge from both ends, sweep the corridors between, and push any Heralds we find toward open space. We are not chasing them through the whole ship — we corner them between two secured chokepoints and finish it there."
A crewman raised a hand. "Sir, IFF on the Tokyo crew?"
"Simple, anything that doesn't match a Starfleet uniform or species profile, you put it down. We are guests over there, but not gentle ones." The Tellarite said in his typical gruff demeanor. He checked his own rifle one final time, then nodded to the transporter chief. "Energize — Alpha to the bridge, Bravo to Main Engineering, on my mark."
The transporter beams shimmered to life, and a moment later the bay stood empty, the QRF already gone, scattered across two decks of a ship under siege.
[USS Tokyo Bridge]
The air still hung thick with smoke and the acrid tang of spent phaser fire when the transporter beams resolved into six armed figures, rifles already up and sweeping the room.
"Graf Zeppelin Security, QRF Alpha!" the Tellarite sergeant shouted over the chaos, his voice cutting through the haze. "Friendlies — stand down, stand down!"
His eyes swept the wreckage of the bridge — bodies down, consoles sparking, a Cardassian officer on his feet near the helm station with blood that wasn't his own soaking his tunic, a dagger still in hand. The sergeant's rifle tracked past him without lingering, recognizing the uniform, the species, the Captain's briefing matching the man in front of him.
Three Heralds turned at the sound of new arrivals, staves swinging up in unison.
"Contact, three hostiles!" one of the Marines shouted, already diving behind a downed console as the first staff discharged. The bolt caught Private Senna square in the chest before she'd cleared cover. There wasn't even time for a scream — one instant she was there, mid-stride, and the next she simply wasn't, the air where she'd stood still shimmering faintly with disintegrated particulate.
"Senna's down — she's gone!" the Marine beside her shouted, voice cracking with fury more than grief, already returning fire. "Spread out, don't bunch up!"
The sergeant snarled an order, splitting his remaining team in a wide arc, rifles converging from three angles on the Heralds. "Sergeant Vrenn, take the left! Tovak, with me!" Concentrated phaser fire lit up the smoke-filled bridge, beams crossing and catching the nearest Herald mid-stride, dropping it in a smoking heap.
The second turned its staff toward Yuvek's position near the helm — the sergeant deftly fired his phaser rifle into the back of the Herald before it had the chance to pull the trigger or whatever mechanism was used to ruin someone's day.
The third tried to break for the turbolift. It didn't make it three steps before two more shots converged and dropped it where it stood.
The Tellarite Sergeant lowered his rifle, breathing hard, glancing at the empty space where PFC Senna had been standing seconds before. He tapped his combadge He switched channels. =/\= "Alpha to Bravo, what's your status down in Engineering? Talk to me." he said as he looked back around the bridge for whomever was still alive and in Command.
[USS Tokyo Main Engineering]
The transporter beams resolved in a tight cluster near the entrance, six more members of the Graf Zeppelin security QRF team materialized with rifles already up, sweeping the wreckage of Engineering — sparking consoles, the warp core sealed behind its emergency forcefield, bodies scattered across the deck.
The team's lead, a stocky human Petty Officer, shouted over the noise. "Friendlies, hold fire!" His eyes swept the room and caught movement near the far consoles — two Heralds still upright, staff weapons raised toward a pair of engineers backed against a bulkhead. "Contact, two hostiles!" he barked, already bringing his rifle to bear.
His team fanned out without waiting for the order twice, rifles converging. The nearest Herald turned toward the new threat a half-second too late — concentrated fire cut it down before it could track onto the security team. The second tried to break toward the open Jefferies tube hatch, and two more shots dropped it mid-stride, the staff clattering uselessly to the deck.
The Petty Officer straightened, scanning the room again for any others, counting bodies — Herald and otherwise. Whoever was fighting before we got here did a number on them already. He spotted Zach and Alexis, both bloodied but on their feet.
"Lieutenant Addams?" he called, recognizing the name from the briefing. "We're from the USS Graf Zeppelin, here to secure this section. Looks like you two already thinned the herd considerably." he said as he keyed his combadge. =/\= "Bravo to Alpha — Engineering clear, two hostiles eliminated on arrival, looks like several more were already down before we got here. Warp core's secure."
He glanced back at Zach. "What's your casualty count down here, Lieutenant, and is there anywhere else in this section we need eyes on?"
Zach raised an eyebrow and took a breath. "I believe we lost three in the initial attack. Those two were the third round of Heralds to arrive. I ordered Engineering evacuated, so the majority of my people are elsewhere repairing the ship." He tapped his combadge. "Addams to all Engineering crew: Engineering is now secure. Team Epsilon please return, all others continue repairs." He closed the channel and nodded to the security man in front of him. "If you will stand watch, we will resume our duties."
The Petty Officer nodded, already repositioning two of his team toward the entrances. "We'll hold here." He glanced at the sealed forcefield around the warp core, then back to Zach. "Before you get buried in repairs — two things I need from you, sir."
He held up a finger. "First — shields. How long until you can get them back up? Every minute they're down is another minute the Heralds can keep beaming reinforcements aboard." A second finger. "Second — can your sensors give us anything? A headcount on how many more of them are still aboard, and where? Bridge and Engineering are secure now, but if there's a dozen more scattered through the corridors, I'd rather hunt them down with a map than wait for them to find us."
His eyebrow twitched a bit higher up as Zach contemplated the obviousness of the first request and the logic of the second. "Petty Officer Aenera, please check the status of the shields and coordinate with teams for repair estimates," Zach said.
"Yes sir," Alexis gave another glance around to make sure there were no more Heralds coming, then stepped over to one of the consoles, clearing it to bring a schematic of the shields up and leaned in close, keeping her voice low "DC Eight, I need half your team to junction 8-5-7 for a power relay fix, it's..." She focused on the new job of coordination.
Syaro had returned to her post from her cover spot. The Master Systems Display of the Tokyo was flashing red in various areas. She frowned as she looked over the damage. "We took quite a hit." she called out to Zach. "We aren't fixing this out here, we're going to need a drydock for this sort of damage." she said with a sigh.
Zach walked over to one of the still functioning consoles and sat down, bringing up the internal sensors, such as they were. "Internal sensors are down completely on decks ten through fourteen," he said. "They are semi-functional on all other decks, however...." he paused and changed scans, bringing up a tactical grid, "security sensors are still functioning. I am detecting a distinct weapons power surge on Deck 8. It's power signature is similar to a phaser, however there are no registered phasers active on that deck." He looked at their guest. "I believe I can track the weapons."
The Petty Officer studied the overlay for half a second, jaw working. Sickbay and computer control. Of course. "Two on deck eight, three on deck four." He straightened, already moving toward his team. "The Tokyo's laid out close enough to the Graf that I can find both without a map."
He turned to Crewman Bol and Crewman Thessik. "You two — stay here, help hold Engineering. Nobody gets near that warp core." He pointed to his remaining three. "You're with me — deck four, straight to Sickbay. They've got wounded down there and if the Heralds reach them—" He didn't finish the sentence. They all knew what it meant.
Zach pulled up the ship overlay. "Two signatures on deck eight, three on deck four. I would surmise they are after computer control and Sickbay as those are the likely tactical targets for those decks."
Petty Officer Calder keyed his combadge as he moved toward the exit. =/\= "Bravo to Alpha — we've got sensor contacts, two on deck eight, three on deck four. I'm taking a small team down to secure Sickbay before those three get there. I need you to peel off whoever you can spare from the bridge and push down toward deck eight from above. We squeeze them from both ends, same as the plan."
USS Akagi
The timer on her screen counted down, thirty-five seconds before the containment system gave way. Once she went to warp, the power required would cut that down to two seconds, maybe three, but that would be enough time.
Jessica set her feet and hit the transmit button. The comm laser would transmit the message to the rest of the Fleet and she spoke the message from memory as she had set it up. "Godspeed and Don't ever fuck with the Red Castle." And at thirty seconds left, she hit the button that would be the last thing she ever did.
For a fraction of a moment, Akagi appeared to extend as her warp nacelles burned to sudden life, then she was gone.
Lieutenant Commander Jessica Avali watched to make sure her course was true, then something caught her eye and she looked up at the warp core, there was a white flash, then darkness. She never felt the impact.
It began as a pinprick of light on the surface of the planetoid-sized space station but it grew rapidly as first the impact, then the tri-cobalt torpedoes along with every other torpedo aboard simultaneously exploded, finally beginning to overload the Iconian defenses. The failure of the antimatter containment was the icing on the cake and the dying act of USS Akagi began to eat away at the mass of the station.
Posting by:
Petty Officer 1st Class Alexis Aenera
Engineer
USS Tokyo
Lieutenant Zachary Addams
Chief Engineer
USS Tokyo
Ensign Syaro Kirimi
Engineering Officer
USS Tokyo
Lieutenant Commander Jessica Avali
Chief Engineer
USS Akagi
(Played by Nyxala Valentine)
USS Graf Zepplin Security Forces
(Played by Lt Jased Yuvek)
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