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Part of USS Sausalito: Face the Darkness and Bravo Fleet: Nightfall

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CH 5 – Friends in Low Places

USS Bell Rock
April of 2402
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Captain Bernard McCauldy was an interesting character. He sat up against the wall scowling at everyone. His white hair and large beard made him look like an old fisherman. LtCo Sili had been speaking with him while Lt Redrol attended to the wound in his abdomen. He appeared to be just fine and his attitude showed it.

“What do you mean you are not the Captain?” McCauldy managed to grunt out to LtCo Sili while wincing as Lt Redrol cleaned around his wound. “Damnit man, must you do that? I am just fine. Let me get up so I can see to my ship and my crew.”

“I’m sorry, but you are in no shape to be up and moving around. You need to rest for a few minutes before even attempting to stand, sir.” Redrol spoke firmly to him. He could tell that McCauldy was the sort of man that you had to speak sternly with or he would walk all over you.

“Ugh….fine. Just get on with it then.” McCauldy retorted.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m the First Officer aboard the USS Sausalito. Captain Harper is my Captain and she is still aboard the ship. She will want to speak with you as soon as possible, sir.” Sili was finally able to get a word in.

“The Sausalito? That’s a new one.” McCauldy replied.

“Yes, sir. We had only just arrived in TF 47 space when the blackout hit. We picked your ship up on our scans. Your vessel is the only one we have come across other than the unidentified vessel we found when we arrived.” Sili provided. 

Captain Bernard McCauldy became deadly serious in that moment. His eyes narrowed and he spoke through gritted teeth. “That’s right. I had forgotten. We were attacked. We fought back valiantly but we were no match for the three vessels that ambushed us.”

“Do you know who attacked you?” LtCo Sili inquired. “We have not been able to identify the ship that attacked you. I find that to be strange.”

“I never thought I’d actually see one of their kind. Of course I have read about them in the Academy but I never thought….” he trailed off while speaking and looked to his right. He appeared to be lost in thought. 

“Never thought you’d see what, Captain?” Sili was trying not to press but she needed to know what had happened.

“The…the….the Vaadwaur…” he spoke hauntingly. “The ships came out of nowhere. We hailed them and only got an order to surrender in response. They attacked and we held up the best we could. The Bell Rock can last with the best of them but we aren’t meant for combat. We held out the best we could. I think the Vaadwaur thought we were done for because the other two shifts left but the one you found remained. They boarded us and we had to fight back. We gave them a good old Starfleet welcome. There were only a few of them and we managed to injure one but not before they took my diplomatic officer, Grollana Tosh. I tried to stop them but I was injured and they just left with her. They took her aboard the other ship and I knew we had to do something.” He stopped talking for a few moments to catch his breath and wipe sweat from his brow. 

“I mentioned they thought we were done for…Well, that was their mistake. They weren’t expecting it and I was able to shoot a photon torpedo at their engines.” He laughed. “Now, they are dead in the water just like us,” he continued laughing until it turned into a coughing fit.

The Vaadwaur? LtCo Sili thought to herself. She’d heard that name but she couldn’t recall much. She knew that the Voyager had encountered the species but she had not read much. She was frustrated with herself and berated herself for not studying more about little known species. 

“Lt Redrol, is Captain McCauldy able to be moved yet?” Sili turned toward the Chief Medical Officer.

“I believe so, but please be gentle Captain McCauldy. Trying to do too much will make things harder for yourself.” Redrol spoke directly to Captain McCauldy.

“Oh, shut up young man. I’ve had much worse than this and lived to talk about it. Just help me up, would ya?” McCauldy replied at a near scream.

Lt Redrol grabbed Captain McCauldy underneath his left arm and helped him to his feet. “Alright, let’s go old man,” he said with a wink at Captain McCauldy. This only got a grunt in response from McCauldy.

“Alright, let’s get back to the Sausalito. We will update the Captain on the status of the Bell Rock and inform the Captain of what we have just learned. I’m sure Captain McCauldy has lots he would like to say to the Captain.”

Sili pulled up her tricorder. “Captain, away team alpha reporting. We are on are way back with a new passenger. You are not going to believe this.”

Comments

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    Varen Wyll

    You've captured the vision of McCauldy perfectly! I've always seen him in my head as a gruff old no-nonsense fisherman and you've written his characterisation really well in a short space of time. Some well-written exposition here in this chapter as well and you've given us lots of information without letting it turn into an overt listing of events. A really well-written chapter, I look forward to seeing how the crew bring everyone to safety!

    May 4, 2025

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