USS Raider - NCC 42558
Back To Business (21/07/02 to 26/01/2003)
The Raider, under the command of new CO Captain Tony Ljaskic has been dispatched to the planet Besiltas Nine (Class Y) upon which there is a hidden research facility which does weapons research, terraforming method evaluation and Marine training.
The Hostile Environment Research Facility (HERF) had been out of communications with Starfleet for a while so they dispatched a starship to investigate. The Raider, being a light cruiser with a new CO was perfectly suited to the task.
When the Raider arrived in the system and scanned the planet from orbit, no hostile activity was detected through the bands and bands of thick radiation that prevented both accurate sensor scans and use of the transporter. An away team, via the Valencia Island and the two Razor class fighters as escorts flew down to the planet to discover that the biggest problem the facility was encountering was a completely blown communications system. Tamara Fox, Assistant Chief Engineer of the Raider and member of the away team and Jamieson Moore, Chief Helm Officer, worked together in shuttling parts back and forth from the Raider and getting the system back online.
However before their work was complete a notorious Orion pirate ship carrying an Orion known as Seflan Dane attacked the Raider with purpose built "anti shield" weapons. Causing the Raider's shields to fall the Orion vessel was able to cripple the Raider so that another 4 Orion vessels, these ones troop carriers, could descend on the planet. In the damage sustained by the Raider, a rogue electricity burst from a blown light panel struck Captain Tony Ljaskic square in the back and was seriously injured. With himself being the highest rank at the time, Chief Engineer Yearling had to assume command of the stricken vessel.
The red alert was sounded and the Marine and Security detachments at the facility began preperations to defend the base as the attackers swarmed the facility.
After bitter fighting, an act of desperation carried out by Lt Cmdr Nitai (XO and leader of the away team) instructed Ensign Jamieson Moore to take two marines (pilot Staff Sergeant Janson Horn and grunt Lance Corporal Ker Narr) and make their way to the Valencia Island which was sitting in the shuttlebay of the facility.
Suceeding in their task but taking almost fatal damage the Island was rescued by the Nova class USS Athomenac which was in a nearby system researching a stellar phenomon. With a more up to date set of weaponry and more modern design it was able to cope with the odds Federation forces faced. However, Ensign Moore was overly aggressive when "rescued" and found himself in the more modern brig on the newer vessel.
Meanwhile the Raider was barely holding together. With Lieutenant Jalin firing manually without the aid of targeting systems, the Raider managed to destroy one vessel through the use of tricobalt torpedos. The other vessels were hiding behind the HERF's projected shielding system and despite the Raider crew's best efforts to force their way into the HERF computer the system locked them out.
The Athomenac arrived into the system and promptly unloaded volleys of quantumn torpedoes onto the 2 remaining troop carriers and damaged Dane's ship. Refusing to negotiate terms of surrender, the Orion pirate triggered an overload in his matter / anti matter reactor which caused the
