Nighthawk
Posted on Wed May 13th, 2026 @ 5:08pm by Lieutenant JG Arlan Norak & Petty Officer 1st Class Celes Fara & Captain Adrian Kellan & Commander Colton Rogers & Commander Kara Sorenson & Lieutenant Commander Casey Virel & Lieutenant JG Zaire Byrne-Solwick & Lieutenant JG Aurora Winters & Lieutenant JG Nathaniel Wolffe & Ensign Kalina Solwick & Lieutenant JG Kaayu Shir & Eliana Kellan & Paislee Kellan & Lieutenant JG Sienna Brooks & Ensign Sebastian Roydon & Ensign Emily Bowman & Ensign Zoey Armstrong
3,252 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Episode 1: Shadows of Diplomacy
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Various
Location: Pirate Ship Nighthawk Bridge
The benefit of a tourist trap was the ability to blend in with the crowd. Hundreds of ships, shuttles and transporters were docked in Risa’s orbital parking facilities, and even more were in orbit. Others were approaching the planet, and still more were leaving, heading back to their less luxurious lives. In essence, it was the perfect place to hide a small starship that didn’t want to be noticed as it scanned the planet.
Eddie Brisco sat in the center chair of his latest acquisition and drummed his fingers on the arm of the command chair. “Anything yet?” he asked impatiently.
“Nothing yet,” the woman at the sensor station said. She’d been trying to scan the planet’s tourist districts surreptitiously so as not to alert the authorities. Unfortunately, finding a Risian among a planet of Risians was a bit of a challenge. They were trying to make things easier by scanning for her dog, but so far they hadn’t found what they were looking for. “I don’t see why we’re wasting all this time on one child, anyway,” she muttered to herself.
Eddie’s face darkened and he stood up quickly. Before the last syllable of ‘anyway’ had gotten out of her mouth, he had his disruptor pistol and pressed against her temple. “Because that ‘one child’ is mine,” he growled. “And no one takes from me what is mine.”
The woman at the sensors didn’t dare move. She swallowed and stared at the console, then finally gave a weak, “yes, Sir.”
Eddie gave her head a small shove with the nose of his pistol and went back to his chair. He leaped back to his feet, however, when he heard the sensor alarm go off. “You found them?” he said.
“No, Sir, there’s a starship approaching,” the same woman said, tapping her board and bringing up the ship on the main screen. “Sensors were set to identify any potential threats.”
“What ship is it?” Brisco said, watching the viewscreen. He couldn’t see the ship appear, which meant it was at the edge of their sensors, keeping away from the tourist parking. Someone who doesn’t want to be seen, he thought.
“Registery ID….USS Scharnhorst,” the woman said.
“Figures,” Brisco said.
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Bridge
Adrian sat in the command chair of his ship as they ship dropped out of warp far enough to scan for the shuttle, but out of range of the civilian ships. "Helm, all stop. Also Miss Shir, start tracking all ships in the area."
Given they were at one of the most popular tourist spots in the Federation, that was no small task. Ships were parked in the large docking facilities around the planet, smaller support craft were transporting guests, and others were arriving and departing constantly. Finding one needle in a moving haystack was going to be a challenge, and they knew as well as Brisco that he barely had to hide; he could just blend in.
Kalina brought them to a stop far outside of the normal traffic space, but positioned to push forward at a moment’s notice. It was a little different than in the simulations, but she managed to navigate the Scharnhorst into position.
Kaayu did what she was told, looking for other ships in the area. "Scanning now, Sir."
Location: Pirate Ship Nighthawk, Bridge
Brisco’s helmsman turned to look at him. “Do we hide?” he said.
Eddie stared at the screen a moment, then looked behind him. “Are they scanning us?” he said.
“They’ve scanned the general area,” the sensor monitor said. “But that’s all.”
“Then hold our position,” he said. “Are their shields up?”
“No, Sir.”
“All right,” Eddie said, his mind racing. “We have an element of surprise; let’s use it.”
“To do what?” the helmsman said.
Eddie looked at the ship on the sensor screen. “They’re here because they know where she is,” he said, finally. “They’re either bringing her in now, and they’re looking for us, or they already have her and they’re looking for us.” He stared at the screen a moment more, then made his decision. “Helm, prepare to jump to warp at a moment’s notice. Send word to the crew, I need four infiltration teams. Depending on how far along they are, we’ll see if we can catch them in the chaos.”
“What chaos?” the woman at sensors said.
“The chaos we’re about to create,” Eddie said, grinning. “Ready the dart.”
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Bridge
An unidentified ship broke away from the crowd around the planet and angled towards the Scharnhorst’s direction. Kara Sorenson was sitting in the Second Officer's chair. "An Elia-class starship is heading right towards us, and they're coming in hot." Before Adrian could respond, the ship opened fire.
The viewscreen whitened as the sensors overloaded, the smaller ship’s weapons doing little damage as they splashed broadly across the stronger starship.
“No damage to the hull,” Shir said.
Adrian looked over to Colton. He was at the executive officer station, sitting to the Captain's right.
“They can’t hurt us like that, they know they can’t,” Colton said. “What’s their plan? Tickle us to death?”
A moment later, the computer let out a warning as the phasers went from wide dispersion to focused attack. Now, they were vulnerable.
"Red alert! All hands to battle stations. Miss Shir, raise those shields,” Adrian said. The klaxons started to blare in the background.
Kaayu said, "raising shields sir," as she tapped the right controls for shields.
“Damage report, Number One.” Right now Adrian didn't know how bad it was. We took a little bit of damage, but consoles and stations aren't blowing up all around us, so it couldn't have been that bad, he thought to himself.
"Captain!" Colton called quickly, checking internal sensors. "We have been boarded!”
“What?” Adrian said. “How? That other ship never got close enough before our shields were up.”
The question was cut short as the ship shook from another barrage of phaser fire.
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Main Engineering
The sound of a transporter turned into a five-man team who beamed into engineering and immediately opened fire. Several crewmen were hit as the rest of Zaire's team took cover and looked at him to see how he would respond to this and to guide them.
Zaire immediately moved into action, going for a weapon from the locker behind one of the consoles. He yelled at his crew, "phasers at hand and return fire!" He would not let them take engineering. He fired at the intruders as he pressed his combadge. "Engineering to the bridge!!" Zaire said as he returned fire. "We have intruders!”
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Main Shuttlebay
Another three-man team beamed into the shuttlebay and immediately opened fire at the operation center, blasting through the transparent aluminum window, causing the crewman inside to duck under the console.
As the intruders turned to take aim at those in the bay, the center gunman’s head snapped back, a torque wrench making high-speed contact with his nose. Unconscious before he could register what happened, he dropped to the floor.
The other two swung their weapons around to see where the tool had come from and saw Celes moving quickly, diving behind a shuttle as they fired at her, missing her by centimeters.
She felt the heat of the blast behind her and kept running, using the ship as cover, hoping she’d bought the rest of the pilots and repair crew enough time to hide and arm themselves. Unfortunately, she wasn’t near a phaser locker. “Fara to Security, intruder alert in the shuttlebay,’ she said with a quick tap of her combadge. She regretted only taking one of them off the board. They could easily come around either side of the shuttle now and pin her. She looked around quickly and grabbed a box of supplies, dragging it over and hopping on.
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Sickbay
A two-person team beamed into sickbay, but unlike the others, they weren’t there to make noise. They started to walk towards the doctor's office, trying to avoid being noticed by anybody in there. "Where the hell is their doctor?" one of the two guards grumbled, seeing the office empty.
They walked back into the main part of Sickbay, leveled their weapons at the medical staff and the center gunman stepped forward, as people noticed them and gasped. “Everyone stay where you are, remain calm, don’t sound the alarm, and no one will be hurt,” he said, an edge in his voice.
Aurora was in sickbay when the gunmen entered and started barking out orders. One of the gunmen saw her and her rank and pointed his weapon at her.
"Who are you? You the doctor?" a gunman asked Aurora as he leveled his phase rifle at her.
"I'm the ship's counselor," Aurora said. "What is it you need or want? Are you hurt?"
The intruder took a step forward, pointing the barrel of his weapon at the counselor’s face. ”You don’t ask questions. I do. Where’s the Doctor, and where are the people you rescued from the planet?”
"I have no idea where the Doctor is let alone anyone from the planet," Aurora responded.
"Well then, you'll have to be useful in another way," he said, gesturing with his weapon for her to move to the center of the room.
Aurora walked to the center of the room, keeping not only an eye on the gunman but also the medical staff.
"No one sound an alarm, or the counselor, here, will be out of office for good," the gunman said, keeping his weapon on Aurora. He leveled a gaze at one of the nurses who'd been inching towards a console.
Aurora had seen one of the nurses head slowly to the console and winked hoping she'd pick up on what Aurora wanted her to do.
Emily paused from her approach to the console as the gunmen looked around the room. She'd wanted to alert the bridge, or at least seal the doors, but with their attention now on the room, she had to come up with another plan.
"We're looking for the ship's Chief Medical Officer," he said. "Whoever tells us where she is has a very good chance of coming out of his unharmed."
"Don't turn around," Emily said under her breath to one of her nurses who was standing in front of her. She reached up and very subtly removed a pip from the other nurse's collar, leaving it bare. She quickly affixed it to her own collar and put her hands up, stepping around to put herself out front. "I'm Lieutenant Kennings," she said.
"You brought three people back from the planet," the intruder said. "Where are they?"
"In guest quarters. They weren't injured so they were released," Emily said. "I can take you there."
The gunmen exchanged a glance, debating if it was worth reaching their objective but leaving Sickbay unmanned. it would take both of them to hold the doctor hostage and grab their target. They reached an unspoken agreement and nodded. "Keep your hands where we can see them," one intruder said, gesturing towards the Sickbay exit.
Emily nodded and walked towards Sickbay's exit, glancing at Aurora as she passed. Both gunmen stepped behind her, one prodding her in the shoulder to get her moving faster. She led them back through the main doors and into the corridor.
Once Emily and the gunmen left sick bay Aurora bolted for the controls and secured the sick bay doors. "Sick Bay is locked down. I don't know who they're after."
Emily counted the steps away from Sickbay, trying to time how long Doctor Winters would need to lock the room down. She allowed a few extra seconds for any possible indecision and then let out a sigh of relief. She wished she could subtly watch the men behind her to see how attentive they were. As they stepped into the turbolift vestibule, they fidgeted impatiently. "What's taking it so long?" one of them said.
"Clearly it's a busy day," Emily said. "Do you want me to override it?"
"Yes," he said, angrily, his patience wearing thin.
She sighed and tapped her combadge. "Computer, medical override, Brown-Gamma-seven--"
"Brown?" the other intruder said, frowning in confusion.
"Emergency medical recall!" she said quickly. The computer beeped and the transporter took her as their phaser beams passed harmlessly through her and hit the opposite wall.
The transporter sounded in Sickbay and Emily appeared. She let out a breath she'd held and her knees buckled as the adrenaline rush she'd been on crashed and she sank to the floor, just happy to be alive.
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Computer Core
Two armed men stood outside the computer core. One was keeping lookout, the other was attempting to gain entry. The sound of bootsteps caused the lookout to raise his weapon and aim it at the head of the officer coming around the corner. "Stop where you are," he said. "Can you access this room?"
Casey Virel, ever the picture of calm, did not react outwardly to the pair despite the fact that they were brandishing particle weapons. “I can,” he responded.
"Then step over here and open the doors," the intruder said. "You sound an alarm or refuse, and you'll be shot."
“Thank you, I choose option one,” quipped the Ops chief with an undertone of sarcasm. Although these intruders has brute force on their side, Casey knew this computer like he knew his own body. Advantage: Virel. He keyed the six-character alphanumeric sequence to disable the lock of the computer core access door, and said door swished open with a pneumatic hiss.
Both intruders had their weapons pointed, holding steady, and when the door to the computer core opened, they gave a smirk of victory. They followed him in, one of them quickly sitting down at an access console and pulling up schematics of the ship, the other keeping an eye on the Starfleet officer.
Keeping both eyes on the intruders, Casey backed slowly against the secondary interface console. One of them was watching him closely.
"I have the location of his quarters," the intruder at the console said. "Killing internal sensors."
The second intruder looked away from Casey at his cohort's efforts. "Good. We need to get moving."
The momentum of the situation shifted in Casey’s favor the moment the intruders took an eye off of him: discreetly, he began to use the console behind him to input override Operations Override Code Five. That code would lock out the main computer and could only be released by Ops, Engineering or Command personnel with clearance level of six or higher.
The console the intruder had been working on suddenly went black as the lockout engaged. He pounded a first on the controls and spun around grabbing his weapon. The one who'd foolishly taken his eyes off their prisoner growled and reached behind him, grabbing Virel and yanking him away from the console he'd been touching. Get away from there," he snarled.
"It doesn't matter. We have what we need," the first man said.
"Well, in that case," the second man said, firing his rifle, hitting Virel square in the chest.
As the heavily stunned officer dropped to the deck, the two men turned and ran out of the room, heading down the corridor towards a jeffries tube. They had a few decks to climb.
Location: USS Scharnhorst, Bridge
"Engineering to the bridge!" Zaire said over the sound of phaser fire.
"Go ahead," Adrian said, already knowing what he'd say.
"We have intruders! We are holding our own against them at the moment, Captain,” Zaire said. "There are also boarding parties in the shuttle bay."
"Sending reinforcements to engineering, try to hold your position." Adrian called out.
"Security, we need teams to intercept those boarding parties." Adrian called as he looked over to his Bajoran chief of security officer. He felt bad because she was so young and now her first assignment was repelling borders.
Kaayu stayed at Tactical and pressed the right buttons. She activated the comm and called out, "security teams, report to main engineering, computer core control and main shuttlebay." She got up, nodding to another officer to take her place and she took off to confront the borders on the ship.
"Ensign Roydon secure all essential stations, activate force fields in the surrounding areas. I want you to coordinate with Commander Virel and security. No one comes on or off the bridge until further notice; I want level ten containment fields in place.
"I would advise against that Captain. Sensors are down; we would have to lock down every section and potentially trap our crew with the armed invaders." Sebastian said from operations.
"Good point, focus on getting the sensors back up." Adrian said, slightly annoyed. "We need to track the enemies.
"Ensign Armstrong, before sensors went down did we have any other other ships on long range sensors?" Adrian asked wondering if this is the only ship they had to worry about.
"There were a lot of ships in orbit, and ships coming and going. Hard to know with sensors being down." Zoey called out, she hated being blinded at the moment.
Sebastian started to work on getting the sensors back online, he was re-routing the power supply to the sensor grid. He needed a few minutes to get them back online.
A short time later, the Nighthawk opened fire again, but this time the shields were up, and there was no damage to the Scharnhorst. "Tactical, return fire. Helm, let's give the fight to them," Adrian said.
Ensign Angel "Yes, sir," she tapped the tactical buttons and fired away as she was ordered to.
"Altering our course now, Captain," Kalina said, as the engines thrusted forward. The Nighthawk immediately ducked underneath, dodging their attempt to get a bead on the smaller ship. The Nighthawk may have been weaker, but it was quicker in tight corners, and it was doing its best to stay out of the Scharnhorst’s main phaser sights.
"Hail the Nighthawk!" Adrian demanded.
"She's not answering sir." Sebastian said, as he tried several times to reach out to the Nighthawk. It was clear that Eddie Brisko was not going to respond. He didn’t need to.
"Keep trying." Adrian assisted as he noticed the bridge lockouts began. He looked over to his first officer. "Please tell me that was us." He was concerned that the invaders triggered auto lockdown procedures. He wondered how many boarders they were dealing with. As he walked over to the operations station, and looked over to Colton. "How many intruders beamed over?" Adrain asked, as he entered his command codes to unlock the bridge control systems.
"Internal sensors are still down at the moment." Colton replied. "I can give you an estimate but an exact number won't be until we can get them back online, Captain."
"We need to get those sensors back up as soon as possible, number one I want you to help them get those sensors up." Adrian called out, as he could tell that Sebastian and Zoey were trying hard.
TBC
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