Entering the wolf's den

Posted on Tue Apr 15th, 2025 @ 6:11pm by Lieutenant Commander Ryan Price

Mission: Those who are left behind
Location: Various
Timeline: 6 hours before the battle Wolf 359 - Spacedock (2367)

On:

There was a perceivable level of panic as Ryan stepped off the transporter pad, he pause seeing a master chief standing at the entry way, "Name?" he growled.

"Ensign Ash Nolan, tactical" Ryan replied. He'd been given that identity purely not to arise suspicion while making his way from Starfleet headquarters too the USS Lancaster, "Oh yeah...the tactical wizkid, your needed on the bridge, lift three."

Ryan exited too the left and started down the corridor, technicians and engineering teams were racing to put the ship back together as reports of battles with the approaching Bog cube grew and fueled fears, he entered the lift he paused for a half second as a pair of engineers exited, Ryan stepped in and said "Main bridge." his words were followed by a series of chirps and warbles.

The low hum of the lift whipping through the ship were the only noise, Ryan made sure he had the ensign pip on his collar, a rank he wasn't, The real Ash Nolan didn't exist, it was a name created by Starfleet Intelligence for use by Ryan, he had to remind himself that he was an ensign for this assignment a fresh out of the academy grad who had a high level aptitude for tactics, as the lift slowed Ryan's eyes shifted up too the turbolift doors opening.

The bridge of the older Excelsior class ship was a buzz with the technical staff, trying to reassemble weeks of work that wasn't even remotely completed let alone ready for a ship to go into battle especially with the juggernaut of a borg cube, "Ensign Nolan, come here." an older gentleman motioned.

Walking over "Commander this is Ensign Ash Nolan, possibly one of the next top guns of tactics in starfleet." the older man said making introductions

"Thank you sir." Ryan said

"You look a little young too be such a tactical genius but right now we need every bright mind we can find." The Commander said "I'm Ethan Wright the acting XO, Captain Raines is on his way back from earth right now."

Ryan smiled politely, his cover said he was twenty-one, in reality he's older, a genetic defect had actually slowed his aging since he was seventeen, so he was able to slip in and out of undercover roles and jobs for several years, but even a crisis couldn't keep him from wanting too do what was needed, protect the federation.

"Well gentlemen I'll let you get ready you don't need some old man getting in the way, good luck and stay safe out there." The elder officer said as he made his way too the turbolift.

==Six hours later - Wolf 359==

The ship shook violently "Direct hit deck seven, hull breach!" Ryan called out as a station exploded a meter away, "Main power out on deck eight and nine, auxiliary is not coming on line, shields at sixty percent!"

Another violent jolt "Shields below forty percent!" Ryan called out "Auxiliary fusion reactor is offline, main power is out on Deck forteen, fires on several other decks, main power is out to aft torpedo launcher, bypass efforts failed." Ryan reached into his pants pocket feeling the small thin box "Main impulse drive had failed, warp drive is totalled, orders!?"

Commander Wright called out "Abandon ship, everyone too escape pods, helm try to roll the ship so the escape pods aren't easily seen, Let's go!"

The surviving bridge crew including Ryan made their way too the auxiliary stairwells to get too the escape pods, Ryan stood in line as he waited his turn. He rubbed his face feeling the blood from a facial cut on his face. Ryan stepped into the pod along with the two remaining officers behind him the thump of the pod ejecting and floating out into space ryan paused looking out the small viewport he watched at the Tolstoy exploded, "Hang on, let's play dead for a few more seconds." he said to the crewman operating the maneuvering controls, seconds passed the massive cube turned and left the battle as the broken wrecks of a dozen starships floated in space.

===USS Resolution - Present day: Ryans quarters===

He rolled over is the bed as the computer again made a series of electronic noises, Ryan's hand slapped the keypad. Sitting up "Price here."

"An Admiral Conroy on subspace for you sir." a nervous ensign said.

"Pipe it to my quarters." he said as he pulled a grey tank top over his head and started to walk too the small desk taking a seat, "Admiral Conroy."

"Report!" the older man asked

"It's about what we expected, if this is what a Dominion defeat looks like I don't know if I want too see the repeat performance if they try to retake the system." Ryan said

"There's an off chance of the counter attack you figured might happen, but there seems to be a focus on punting the Klingons out and pounding the rest of our fleet in to scrap, we're trying to get more ships moved to the front but time is not on our side, but we're at best it will be another ten days." The Admiral said "I've made the case to start activating reserve officers to fill the gaps but it's again a time thing."

"That's expected, what do you want me to relay to the CO of this ship?" Ryan asked wanting to end the meeting.

"I'll forward some new tactical data to you, plus some enemy fleet movement data to chew on, good luck Ryan, Conroy out."

The screen went blank and Ryan just sat there for a moment, Here we go.

End