Round 6 - Convergence

[GandalfOfBorg]

Darkan nodded.  "Do it.  Romulan ship, we have detected that your warp core is about to breach.  Abdandon ship and we will retrieve your escape pods."

"Follow the Klingon ship out and prepare to transfer as much power as you can to aft shields if we need it."

[seppun1]

   Pushkin drags his attention away from the damaged Connie, looking back to the Captain. "At what speed, Sir? Proceed on thrusters in case they eject escape pods?" He asks before turning back to his station. He does cast a look to Anderson as he starts to slowly turn the ship in the direction of the Klingon Cruiser. He shifts in the chair, ready to hit the throttle.

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Trail behind the Klingon cruiser, keeping us between it and the Romulan ship.  If escape pods are launched, we may need full impulse in a hurry."  To Stonn, "Have all available personnel and cargo transporters on stand by."

[sdrotar]

"Trail behind the Klingon cruiser, keeping us between it and the Romulan ship.  If escape pods are launched, we may need full impulse in a hurry."  To Stonn, "Have all available personnel and cargo transporters on stand by."

"Aye, sir," came the reply from Stonn. The cargo transporters generally weren't used to transport life forms, but they could be used in an emergency with proper tuning. The tall Vulcan reasoned that the current situation qualified, though Romulans were notable in their resistance to capture.

Generally, Romulan commanders and crew perished with their vessel, often initiating destruct devices to avoid capture and intelligence-gathering when the outcome of a battle was certain... then it hit him.

"Captain," he said with a tone that sounded uncharacteristically startled, "We should consider that the Romulans may destroy their vessel in an effort to not only hide their deception, but to eliminate all witnesses, as well. In fact, sir, I presume that this is their most likely course of action. I recommend that we move away at maximum speed and ensure that the Gr'Toth does the same. Their survival and testimony will be of utmost importance regarding the veracity of our claims.

"Their warp core will explode in any case, but if the Romulans choose to augment their impending destruction, one destroyed vessel could easily become three."

[tomcat]

[OOC:] Shawn! You reading my notes or something? Beat me to the punch! 



It was to soon. She actually was still a bit shocked that it was this way at all. The battle had been going superbly, and for the most part, in her favor. She knew that the Federation vessel had felt the last plasma volley that they had delivered. One more and things may have been different.

The thought of death was also very clear in her mind and though she was willing to give her life for the empire, the fact that her life was at its end also had her in a bit of shock.

She heard Darkan's voice speaking to her along with reports given her by the operations officer aboard her ship. The Constitution was rapidly heading to its fiery destruction - a glorious one.

Korvona shook her head and looked up to the viewscreen, "Captain Darkan... you know that that is not possible. We are warriors. We live by a warrior's code. I applaud yours and your crew's skill - an unexpected turn of events." Her eyes seemed to stare off, then she straightened up, "All is set in motion. The presence of this ship and your own, only furthers our goals. The destruction of this ship only increases your guilt... I believe you Earth folk say, 'the smoking gun?'"

In the Constitution's engine room, the few engineers that were still alive watched as the core superheated and became incandecent. The bulkheads around it were turned to slag in seconds as the FTL drive went critical. The ship's computer core, which still functioned and realized its impending doom, activated a series of networked high-intensity explosives throughout the Romulan vessel . Each were placed along primary seams and bulkheads of the ship to shred it to pieces.

"Soon there shall be pieces of a Federation vessel drifting throughout this sector of space and none will ever know that it was not a Starfleet ship. The Chak-ruth house is making its own move on Qo'nos and soon, if all goes as planned... the Federation and the Klingons will be in a heated war. Forgive me if I do not wish you luck..."

Korvona's screen went black.

The warp core shone like a star and then it burst its bonds. The energy contained was released on all spectrums first as x-rays and gamma rays, then ultra-violet and heat. In moments, the ventral hull was consumed and the upper saucer was blown free. While the warp core overloaded, the nuclear explosives that laced the ship also went off adding to the energy output and even at 50,000 km away, the Columbia and Gr'Toth felt the effects.

Shards of the Constitution mock-up were accelerated to light-speed in milli-seconds and the two starships could not escape the hail of shrapnel that came their way. The Gr'Toth had it worse for they never knew it was coming and even though the Klingon vessel had its deflectors operational, the large fragments penetrated and tore into her already battered hull.

The Columbia fared better.

Pushkin had the ship's engines ready to accelerate if the Romulan vessel exploded. When the white flare burst out from where the Constitution mock-up had been, the helmsman tapped the console command to initiate warp speed. The Columbia's systems reacted in seconds, but in its incredible complexity, the ship's computer was still man-made and was unable react faster than the nuclear reaction at 50,000 km distance.

Like the Gr'Toth, the Columbia's deflectors were overcome by some of the larger fragments and a length of nacelle skittered across the upper hull. It tore through sensor palettes and nicked through the upper rollbar. Second came the electro-magnetic pulse; the already overwhelmed defensive systems diverted most of the seconday effects, but not enough for the ship to have its power winked out.

The Columbia came crashing out of warp and its crewmen were thrown to the deck. All went black.