By Kadh2000
This one was done from an SFC series of games and after spending a night watching some camp Anime. I really like these and am planning on finishing through the end of the storyline I set up for it. There are copious pages of notes. The universal rules it follows are those of SFC with some comedy, etc, thrown in by me.
Commander Biko Daitokuji strode purposefully through the corridors of the USS Graviton City, a Bismarck-class heavy battlecruiser. The speed of her passage made her lavender hair stream out behind her in a self-made breeze. In her wake reappeared those crewmembers who had seen her coming and stepped aside. Others, less fortunate, were nearly bowled over as the ship's executive officer passed through the space they occupied. As was usual when Biko was upset, engineering was her goal.
If not for her total interest in command, Biko would have found easy recognition as the best engineer that Starfleet Academy had ever graduated. It was joked aboard the Graviton City that the captain deliberately provoked Biko just to get her to tweak the engineering systems. Engineering functions aboard the battlecruiser averaged ten percent better than Fleet norms across the board.
Today, her particular goal was the chamber that housed the ship's dilithium crystals. Ignoring the engineering crew, Biko stopped in front of the chamber and set down the collection of equipment and diagrams she had brought with her. This gave Lieutenant Commander Yuki time to shunt vital ship's functions to the impulse and auxiliary reactors. After he had saved the ship, Kei came to observe what Biko was doing.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Kei asked what Biko was doing. Intent both on her work, and her anger at the presence of Admiral Magami, Biko continued without response. It isn't fair, Biko fumed silently. After months alone with Shiko, helping her the entire way, the captain comes down with Lepton fever and rushes to the nearest Federation outpost. Instead of me being able to sit at her side, Admiral Magami makes a personal visit, usurping my rightful place of supporting my friend. Then the Admiral sends the ship away, making sure the Graviton City will be taking her back to Starbase 13. In her frustration, she wished Eiko Magami would just die, die, die!
When, due to the intensity of her thoughts, she physically snapped the tool she was using, Biko barely noticed. She looked down at her hand vacantly, where a slight trickle of blood ran past her thumb and onto the pommel of the tool. "I'm hurt," she said absently. The words snapped her back to reality. "I'm implementing a way to re-crystallize the dilithium right in the chamber. It will increase warp engine output by 12.5 percent," she said, answering Kei's question.
"Let me fix that," he said, taking her hand with a dramatic flourish. His blue eyes, Biko noted, usually bearing a far-away look, were fixed intently on her.
She ignored his ministrations and considered her personal predicament until he pronounced her hand done. Barely noticing it, she said, "Thank you," and slipped her hand out of his. Then she returned her attention to the crystals. For such a radical idea, she worked quickly. Within a matter of hours, the process had been tested and the warp engines were back online.
To Biko, the operation proved unsatisfying as she sat rigidly in the captain's chair. The main viewer was fixed on Base Station K-20 and Biko stared at the station unceasingly. Despite the base's position within a secure area of the Federation, the starship was required to keep a full bridge watch. Biko was distracted from her musings by the beep of an incoming message and a gasp from the man at the communications post. "Commander," he said, "the base reports three sensor contacts at long range. Configuration is Klingon. They are not responding to hails."
Biko didn't waste a moment. Nearly two thirds of the crew was currently on the station. "Red Alert. Prepare a scatterpack and wild weasel. Proximity fuse the photons. Get as many people back on here as possible." Quick replies showed her orders were being carried out. "Let me know as soon as we get identifications on those ships."
"Coming in now," the crewman at communications said. "Three cruisers. A D7 battlecruiser, a D6 cruiser, and a D5 war cruiser." Biko quickly calculated the odds. The Klingons had probably been expecting only a frigate to be defending the base. If it hadn't been for the captain's illness, there probably would not have been even that much. Even with the Graviton City, however, the chances still favored the Klingons.
"Switch photons to overloads. Target the nearest cruiser and give me maximum speed."
"Commander, I was just having a little drinkie," whined Lieutenant Commander Napolipolita, raising a blue glass and shaking it's liquid contents. Napolipolita was the weapons officer and had now replaced the junior man at her station. "Most of the crew are still on the base."
Biko resisted the urge to scream. Her voice was muted when she said, "We have no time. Engage."
The ship leapt to high speed. Biko blessed the new power curve and that only the four photon torpedoes were still arming.
"I don't want them to hurt us before we get there," Biko said.
"Activating countermeasures," Napolipolita said. The tall woman's free left hand flew expertly across the complex weapons panel; her right still held the drink. "Reinforcing forward shield to resist two disruptor blasts."
"Which is the nearest Klingon cruiser?" Biko asked.
"The D5," Lieutenant Ayumi Sensei was now at the science officer's position. Biko noted with pleasure that then entire primary bridge crew had made it back aboard the Graviton City in time. "It appears to be an escort configuration. The D6 in the middle is a carrier! The D7 is a command cruiser, "W" variant."
"Keep on the D5. Let me know as soon as the carrier launches fighters." She began revising her attack plan. With only a minute before they made contact, there wasn't much time. "Prepare for a high-energy turn. We'll drop the scatterpack just as we fire, then turn and release a mine after we pass the shuttle. Target the carrier with the scatterpack. Then cut every ounce of power you can spare. I want us back to the base at maximum speed."
"Commander, the base is hailing us again," said Asa. " They want to know what you think you're doing?"
"What am I doing?" Biko was incredulous. "Taking the odds down a bit."
"The carrier is launching," Napolipolita interjected. "Range to D5 is ten marks."
"Drones and plasma at three marks. Photons at two. Phasers at minimum."
The two ships headed rapidly toward each other. There wasn't time to change her orders if Biko wanted to. The gentle quiver of drone launch was quickly followed by the stronger shudder of plasma torpedo launch. The engines began to whine in preparation for the sharp turn that they were about to make.
"Target is ignoring the seeking weapons. They're saving it all for us," squeaked Napolipolita, getting a firmer grip on her beverage.
It all seemed to happen at once. The heavy shudder of four overloaded photon torpedoes was followed in rapid succession by the impact of phasers on the Graviton City's forward shields. Most of the bridge crew was able to remain in their seats. Then the battlecruiser's own phasers fired. The Klingon war cruiser exploded in a fireball that bounced everyone all over the bridge and sent off alarm klaxons all over the ship.
Biko found herself lying face up behind the command chair. Napolipolita was straddling her; the blue glass, now mostly empty, was still in her hands. She quickly got off of Biko and both returned quickly to their stations.
Reports covering the missing few seconds began to pour in. The forward shield had withstood the fire of the Klingon ship but not its explosion. Several systems had been knocked out and there were light casualty reports. The high energy turn had been successfully completed and the ship was now on course for the base station.
Knowing it was most important, before checking on anything else, Biko raised engineering. "Lieutenant Commander Yuki," was the immediate reply.
"Kei, I need major damage control right away."
"On it," he drawled.
Biko dropped the link and focused again on the battle. "Scatterpack?" she asked.
"Launching now," said Ayumi. "The carrier and battlecruiser are firing," came from Napolipolita. Disruptor bolts and phaser fire slammed into the rear shield of the Graviton City. "Rear shields at ten percent. Fighters are launching drones."
"Deploy the first mine. Prepare more as needed. Speed at max, then ECM, then shields, then weapons."
The mine caught the first wave of drones. Two more mines caught the second and third. Disruptor fire from the Klingon pursuit continued to gnaw away at the reinforced rear shield. Although the Graviton City was able to pull away from the pursuing cruisers, the Klingon fighters began to flank the battlecruiser. The Anti-Missile Defenses began to fire at the next drones launched and point defense phasers began to fire. If she had to use a tractor to stop a missile, the Graviton City would be forced to reduce speed. Suddenly a wave of fighters from the base swept up and it was Hawks vs. Swifts in the space around Space Station K-20.
A flash of white light showed that they were within phaser range of the base. The Klingons continued to close, firing at the Graviton City all the way. The rear shield collapsed twenty marks from the base. Fortunately the recycle time for the Klingon disruptors was longer than the time it would take to cover the distance. The Graviton City shot past the base and immediately Biko ordered reduction to the minimum speed that would still allow any kind of maneuverability. All excess power was diverted to the weapons.
The Klingons turned their attention from the battlecruiser to the base station. They began circling it, timing their speed to match its rotation. Helpless until the weapons recycled, Biko could only watch the battle. The Klingons circled and dipped inward as their weapons recharged and then jerked out from the base. Return fire was split between the two attackers. Multiple shields on both Klingon ships glowed red from hits as they neared their absorption limit. The base was in similar circumstances. Suddenly the bright green flare of overloaded disruptors touched the base shields. They glowed dimly red and collapsed; sudden fire within the station showed on the Graviton City's scanners.
"Weapons are recharged," said Napolipolita.
Greatly relieved, Biko ordered, "Take us in. Target the command cruiser. Try to get a weakened shield."
They timed their attack carefully, charging in as the Klingons were on the far side of the base from the Graviton City. Every weapon on the battlecruiser fired. The drones were destroyed by the AMD systems. The Klingon shields collapsed as the phaser burst hit them. Then the photon torpedoes tore into the downed shields. Finally two balls of plasma struck the damaged ship. A blast of energy from the base's heavy phasers finished the job and the Klingon ship exploded.
The carrier took one last shot at the base, punching through the weakly repaired shield and doing more damage. Turning away, it began to flee. "Standard loads on the photons." Biko ordered. "Chase it down." Unfortunately for the Klingon, his flight brought him under fire from the heavy phasers on the other side of the base. His rear shields collapsed and his ship suffered heavy damage. Biko was about to order DC to send his marines aboard in an effort to capture the carrier when it exploded. Confused, she looked around for answers.
"Self destruction," said Lieutenant Sensei from the sensor controls.
Biko slumped back into the command chair. "Stand down from red alert. Get me a complete damage report and somebody hail the base. Find out how the captain is." Sudden concern for Captain Kotobuki filled Biko, driving out almost all else.
"Hailing the base," said Asa. "I have the commander online."
"Thanks for your assist, Graviton City," he said. "We would have been gone without you."
As patiently as she could muster, Biko asked, "How is my captain?"
He glanced sideways briefly to get a report, then replied. "Sickbay was undamaged. She's fine. Admiral Magami was there and is also uninjured."
Biko was enraged to hear that Eiko was once again between her and Shiko. She barely listened to the commander provide her with his damage report. The base had been lucky. Most damage had been in non-critical systems. Her sickbay was able to handle the casualties. He finally finished and Biko said, "Thank you Captain. I will beam over as soon as I have seen to my ship."
After getting her own damage and casualty reports, Biko was still fuming. She headed off to engineering. She had an idea about improved damage control…
Halfway to the engine room, Biko’s mind had finished processing the casualty report she had just picked up in sickbay. It brought her to such a sudden halt that the crewman walking behind her smacked into her back.
Cringing, the man said, “I’m sorry, Commander.”
Biko absently said, “It’s okay,” and began to wander slowly back the way she had come. On realizing his unexpected good fortune, the stunned crewman hurried away.
She reached sickbay without further incident. “Dr. Z?” she asked the diminutive fat man who was the chief medical officer on the Graviton City. The doctor and his robot assistant were looking over a computer, heatedly discussing a case file. The doctor’s mouth and arms moved wildly as he spoke, giving him a cartoonish look. “There is a line in your medical report I wish to discuss.”
Seeming reluctant to be drawn away from his conversation, he joined her. Not before making a last statement and shutting off the computer with a flourish. “I win!” he said. “What is it, Commander?”
“I see that you listed ten people with various injuries,” Biko said. Her voice was unusually soft for her. “There is also this listing of eight casualties. What does it mean?”
“I’m sorry to bring you such bad news, Commander. It means that eight people died protecting the base from the Klingons.”
It hurt Biko to the core. I was in command of the ship when those people died, were her thoughts. It was an effort to speak. “Why have I not seen such reports before?”
“This is the first time we have ever been in combat.”
Her entire stay aboard the Graviton City had felt like combat to Biko. She reviewed it, chewing on her lip as she thought. The doctor was right. The Graviton City had avoided conflict very studiously. The only fighting that had occurred was between her and various crewmembers. Her normally excellent mind could not hold onto the thought and she found herself asking, “Who were the casualties?”
Dr. Z called the robot over, which provided her with the names of the crewmen. Unlike her previous thoughts, the names clearly called up faces and personalities. Half of them she knew quite well: the ones in engineering. The phaser crew that was the other half she could only bring up as a vague recollection. She felt empty inside and turned away from the doctor. Her feet put her on course for engineering but much more slowly than before.
Behind her, Dr. Z stared at Biko’s retreating back. “Poor kid,” he said to the robot. “It looks like she has finally had to grow up.”
“Commander Daitokuji is thirty-six standard years old, Doctor,” said the robot. “More than enough to be an adult.”
“Read her profile, you idiot. She has the emotional maturity of a teenager.” The two medics let the door to sickbay close behind them as they headed toward the computer terminal. Each of them was dredging up arguments for the coming debate.
For her part, Biko had never felt she had the emotional support of the crew. The engineers seemed to recognize sincerity, even from her. Her sudden appearance with heart-felt memorial words had generated sympathetic responses from the people around her. It was a good feeling. She hated herself for it, for what had caused it.
Somehow her duties aboard the ship kept Biko from returning to the base until the next day. It wasn’t that she did not want to see the captain, or was avoiding the admiral. The crew and ship had become precious to her and she had to assure herself that both were all right before she could leave.
Admiral Magami haunted her dreams. The battle with the Klingons was going on around them, except Shiko was in command. The admiral kept looking over her shoulder and repudiating every suggestion Biko made to the captain. As a result, the battle kept getting worse and worse for the Graviton City. Finally Biko had demanded a showdown and Eiko had granted it. Shiko had tried to protest, but the two ignored her.
Somehow Biko’s uniform had become her Akagiyama 23 Power Biosuit and the admiral’s uniform had become that of a schoolgirl. The two had made short work of the bridge; destroying every station. The fight was interrupted by the Klingons and between the Eiko’s phenomenal strength and Biko’s superweapons, the enemy cruisers were easily destroyed. It wasn’t until they had destroyed all of the Graviton City that the rivals had ended their battle, exhausted. And of course Captain Shiko had gone running to Eiko for comfort. Biko was left to wander through the ruined hulk and see the dead bodies lying throughout. There were many of them, but surprisingly there were only eight distinct faces among them.
Biko awoke, sweat-covered. She thanked the stars for water showers. She made her way to the base and visited the captain. Admiral Magami was also there. Good, Biko thought. I can say this to both of them.
“Sirs,” she began, but the captain interrupted her.
“Tell me about the ship.”
“The ship itself will be fully repaired very soon. The facilities here are sufficient for the damage we sustained. Among the crew are ten injured and eight dead.”
“Ok.” The captain nodded and if she had suffered any special concern over the dead, Biko could not see it.
The captain and the admiral glanced at each other. The admiral spoke. “Biko, you did a good job commanding the ship in a tough situation.” Eiko always spoke familiarly to her. Previously it had galled Biko greatly. “I’m going to promote you to captain. The Graviton City is yours.”
Biko was speechless. “What about the captain?” she finally said.
“Well, that’s what I came here for in the first place. I’m giving her a dreadnought.”
Only yesterday Biko would have flown into a rage and accused the admiral of trying to take Shiko from her. Now she merely nodded. “We’re all going to be working together,” the admiral continued. “The Klingons have built a starbase near the Romulan border. We don’t want them able to easily communicate with each other. One of the main weaknesses of the Klingon-Romulan Alliance has been their physical separation. This base, which the Klingons are calling Hyperion, has to be destroyed. The Graviton City will be part of the fleet we’re assembling to do the job. I’ll be commanding the fleet from Shiko’s dreadnought.”
“I understand,” Biko said. “When will the assault take place?”
“We need some time rehearsing the operation with the ships involved. The doctors here tell me that Shiko can travel again in three days. Then we will head back to Starbase 13 to rendezvous with the fleet.”
She had never gotten the chance to apologize to both of them for the petty behavior that had kept her at Eiko's throat for all these years, but that was all right. Another time would come. And who knows, maybe she would be mad at the admiral again before then.
Biko sat by the captain’s bed across from the admiral. The two women shared their vigil until duty called them both away. Shiko merely slept.
The Graviton City, a kitchen sink ship if there ever was one, was on its way to the rendezvous to prepare for the attack on a Klingon starbase when the distress signal came.
Captain Biko was in her dressing room… well, dressing. She rolled the phrase over in her head again and again, "Captain Biko… Captain Biko." It sounded good, but there was something missing. "Captain Daitokuji." That was it.
Biko had finished donning her uniform, the mustard color of command. It did not suit her face and hair at all. The only good thing was that the skirt was absurdly short. She flipped it up one last time to make sure. It would work just fine. If the ship ever was hit by a weapon and the crew was tossed about the bridge, she would give a good panty shot.
Then the alarm sounded and an unfamiliar voice said "Captain to the bridge." Amazing that someone had gotten around the difficulty of saying her name.
Hmm, come to think of it, the voice wasn't that unfamiliar. It was now-Commander Napolipolita, the ship's new executive officer. Biko gave it no more thought, and rushed to the bridge.
Upon arriving and carefully seating herself in the command chair in order to give the most stylish appearance, Biko asked for a situation report. Asa reported that they had received a distress signal from the Cod's Luck, a small freighter.
Unfortunately the freighter had Federation registry, so Napolipolita had ordered them to check it out.
"Inform Admiral Magami that there will be a delay in our arrival," Biko said, "and let me hear the distress signal. "
A moment later, the voice of a distressed freighter captain came over the bridge speakers. "To any Federation vessel, we are under attack by some sort of monster. Help. Help. Help!" Then it began to repeat itself. In the background Biko thought she could hear another voice but it wasn't clear.
"Can you tell what the other signal is?" she asked.
"Negative, captain. Someone is speaking, but we can't get a clear fix on it."
"Where is that ship anyway?"
Ume answered from the helm. "I'm displaying it now. It is in Federation space, barely. It is in the Kokola system, in orbit of the outermost planet. Long range scans are unable to pick it up so far."
"How long until we intercept?"
"Twelve minutes now, Captain."
Hmm, another avoidance of using my name. Then she noticed that Napolipolita was wearing pants. It was a perfectly appropriate Star Fleet uniform, for a man. The Signans were all female, but the butchest women Biko had ever seen.
"Commander, I want you in your proper uniform the next time you are on the bridge."
"But captain," the woman whined. "I can't wear that unless I have a little drinkie… and drinkies on duty are forbidden. Unless you care to make an exception?"
"No, and you may continue to wear that uniform." Biko sighed. The last time the combination had been tried, Napolipolita had sprayed the entire bridge with blasts from a heavy phaser rifle for several minutes. Fortunately she was a terrible shot when intoxicated and had hit no one. The damage had been considerable, however. Biko had had to write the report and it had taxed her creative ability to the limits.
"We're in the Kokola system," said Ayumi from the science station. "I've found the freighter. Its shields are down and it is showing light internal damage. I'm getting life readings, so some of the crew has survived. There is a Jindarian mining asteroid near the fourth planet. Also, there is a space monster, sunglider type, coming at us at high speed."
"Hail the freighter. Tell them we're on our way. Red alert." The ship slowed as much of her power was diverted to the weapons systems. Knowing how dangerous sungliders were, Biko added, "Overload photons and prep a wild weasel just in case the asteroid miner decides to join the party."
Asa bent over the comm station, then sat back in surprise. "We're being hailed by the sunglider!"
"They can talk?" Biko said in shock. She looked at Lieutenant Sensei.
The science officer shrugged. "There are no recorded encounters with a sunglider where it spoke."
"Onscreen, then."
The massive golden figure filled the main viewer. "My name is Bob," it said.
"This is Captain Biko Daitokuji of the Federation Starship Graviton City. What have you done to the freighter?"
"Dye-tow..." began the alien.
"Daitokuji."
"Die too...?"
"Daitokuji."
"Die ee...?"
Biko sighed. "Biko."
"Biko, let's play Lyran and Mirak. I'll be the Mirak."
Then it fired. The beam was as strong as a phaser four and ripped into the shield of the battlecruiser. "Alpha strike! Get that thing," Biko had time to say before the impact sent the bridge crew flying. Yep, Biko noted with satisfaction, a perfect panty shot. A pity the entire bridge crew was female. She would have to fix that.
"The sunglider, er Bob, is hailing us."
"Woah, Nellie," Bob began. "Let's take a break. I need to rest a while."
"First tell me what you did to the other ship."
"You mean Kadh's Luck?" Bob asked.
"Cod's lu… oh never mind. Yes. I mean them."
"We started to play, but they weren't very good. You're way better. Better than me. It was fun, but I'm going home now. Thanks, bye."
With that, the creature headed toward the edge of the system. <.p>
"Shall we pursue?" asked Napolipolita.
"No," said Biko. "Let's go check on that freighter." To herself she mumbled, "Why do I always get the weird ones?"
Bob the Sunglider was as good as his word, and had stopped playing with, er, attacking the freighter as soon as a shot had penetrated its shields. There were no casualties, but the Graviton City would have to tow it back to a base. In the meantime they were able to take advantage of the freighter's stores to make lots of sushi. Biko hated sushi. She considered it to be the Federation equivalent of gagh.