=/\= Romulan shuttle =/\= Kirkland's arm might have throbbed, but the residual energy from the disruptor blast prevented any feeling in it at all. There was severe nerve damage and he found himself wondering if it would just spontaneously fell off. He looked at the Romulan Engineering console and called out. "Disruptors are fully powered. I can get you impulse through warp 2, although these power systems won't sustain warp 2 for long ... Shields are at 50% on this shuttle." Kirkland looked to Athena and then to MaiKai. "Lieutenant, you're going to have to fly this thing." She nodded, hesitantly and took the console. "All Right," Mai responded with more confidence then she felt. "What do I do first?" she looked at the engineer expectantly. "You're kidding?" Kirkland replied incredulously. "You have no flying experience whatsoever? ... We have a problem. Here!" He got up and took the pilot's seat, leaving MaiKai at his station. "A button right in front of you controls the pulse cannon. I want you to target the cargo bay door and fire!" "Yeah ... Right ... " Mai paused between speaking giving a confused look at the control panel. {Oh, he's gotta be joking me ... oh, yes I remember Flying 101 while learning how to do surgery with head trauma ... I'm a freakin' genius} was all Mai could think sarcastically to herself. MaiKai pushed the button as instructed and awaited while looking out the main view screen. She had hit Part of the Cargo Bay doors, but not much. She thought of firing again when she turned to Kirkland. Kirkland sighed. "What are we going to do? ... Those weapons didn't even put a scratch in there. I don't want to use too much power. Hmm ... I wonder ... " He climbed back to tactical momentarily and entered a few commands. "Ok, I think I've gotten control of their doors. Can you try to open them, by hitting the button in the center?" "Uh yeah ... sure," MaiKai replied as she wished she could use the term 'I'm a dumb blonde' as an excuse. "Oh ... this button," she giggled as she saw this enormous red button down center of the control panel. After some effort, the cargo bay doors opened and the ship rushed out, only to begin to buckle. "Shit. The Romulans are opening fire .... Lieutenant, can you fire back?" his voice filled with panic as the shields began to collapse. {Oh God ... this is like picking the right candy out of the candy store}, Mai questioned which buttons were part of the firing sequence. "Hmm ... I guess ... so," she replied to Kirkland. { I'll push this one ... and this one ... } She thought gesturally to herself. The disruptor blasts struck the Warbird, but its shields held firm. "This is not going to work," Kirkland sighed as the vessel jerked about. "We're no match for that Warbird." He looked ahead. "Where the hell is the Chimera!?" But no ship appeared to satiate his demand. "I can't find it ... shit!" He called out in panic, as an impulse engine went inoperative. "We'll have to try something. I'll launch us into warp for a fraction of a second, but propagate a subspace wave in the opposite direction ... They'll think we warped forward but we'll warp backward ... maybe we can then cloak and hide behind the Warbird ... yes!" he realized. "Lieutenant, keep firing." "Ah ... yes, of course," she replied as if it was she who conjured up the great idea. She kept firing one at a time waiting to see what would happen after each hit. She watched as more debris fell off. Once and a big piece of debris came flinging off. The crew lurched forward, as the shuttle moved backward, with respect to the crew in a sudden warp burst. The ship appeared directly behind the Warbird. "Lieutenant, the cloaking device ... I think it's the red button on the bottom of your console!" "Yes, Sir," she did as was instructed. He was the same rank as her, but Mai didn't mind it. She watched as a little scan like console on the panel that had bars rising. MaiKai figured it was the cloaking device increasing it's power or so. So far so good, for Kirkland and Mai ... A stray shot from the Romulans barely missed the Chimera. MaiKai turned in her seat to face Kirkland, "Now what? What's going to happen?" =/\= End Log =/\= LtJg. Matthew Kirkland CEO USS Chimera & LtJg. MaiKai Quiocho AMO USS Chimera