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USS Diadem
Main Bridge
“The Acastus is hailing us,” Warrant Officer Zoll said.
“Put them on screen,” Lt. Reeves said tightly. He squeezed the armrests on the command chair, his knuckles white as snow.
Iako glowered at him seconds later. “What is the meaning of this? We are your allies!”
No, the Romulans are our allies, Tom thought, but stopped himself from blurting that out. “Our sensors have detected burn markings consistent with Starfleet energy weapons on your hull. Care to explain that, and why you didn’t inform us of it when you contacted us?”
Iako’s fierce expression took on a grimmer cast. After a few tortured seconds, the Reman admitted, “We…destroyed them.”
There were audible gasps across the bridge, but Tom kept his revulsion in check. “Why?” He asked coldly.
“We weren’t coming to assist you, we were coming to aid the Dominion,” Iako admitted. “We were seeking an alliance with the Founders, and offering this vessel and Romulan prisoners would’ve proved our trustworthiness to the Dominion, but you ruined that by destroying the Breen vessels. Now, we will have to destroy you to prove ourselves.”
Tom sat back in his seat, throttled by the Reman’s cold appraisal of what had really happened to the Alphard and the Romulan crew on the Acastus. His stomach roiled with fear and disgust over the savagery of the Remans and the fight that was to come. He struggled for the appropriate response to Iako’s casual brutality, something that would give making the Reman as afraid as he felt, or at the least give the murdering bastard pause. He searched his memory for something that pithy that Captain Tallis had said when confronted by Dominion forces before, but he found nothing adequate. So, he just went with his gut. “You can try,” he boasted.
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Exarch-Class Cruiser Vyras
Incarceration Chamber
“How many Jem’Hadar soldiers transported onto this ship? Were all they all accounted for among the corpses?” Lady Diellza asked.
Subthot Tonfa, strapped in chair merely laughed, but coughing fits. The man’s armor had been lacerated during the fight and during his interrogation, claw marks scoring deeply into the armor, with patches of flesh torn out of him. Disgustingly enough there wasn’t even the sweet smell of blood to at least compensate for the Breen’s intransigence. “Remove his mask,” the Unguis chief ordered.
Igar, the Paladin assigned to her by Nadfar Renz, the new commander of the elite guard, rushed to obey her orders. Tonfa pulled away, thrashing and bucking against his restraints. Igar latched his large paws on either side of the mask and twisted the mask upward as if were a screw.
“Be careful not to break his neck,” Diellza ordered.
“No, no,” Tonfa said, almost pleading.
“Halt,” Diellza commanded and Igar reluctantly stopped. But he hovered over the Breen, his hands still clamped on the sides of the mask. “Tell us what we want to know and I will not remove your mask.”
“I…will only tell you this,” Tonfa said slowly, barely whispering. Diellza moved forward, leaning down slightly to hear him fully.
“Go on,” she prodded.
“You…you’re all going to die,” Tonfa’s laughter sounded like metal scraping, painful to the Alshains’ sensitive hearing.
Despite her pain, Diellza reached forward, grabbed underneath the edge of the Breen’s mask and ripped it from his head. As he gasped, steam rising from the collar of his suit, the noxious mix of chemicals covering his face, it was now Diellza that had the last laugh.
***************************************************************
USS Diadem
Main Bridge
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over how big warbirds are,” Ensign Baker remarked, her eyes as big as moons as she took in the large, predatory green ship hurtling towards them.
“They’re size isn’t what I’m worried about at the moment,” Lt. Reeves replied.
“Acastus is powering forward disruptor arrays,” Mr. Zoll called out.
“Evasive maneuvers Eloise,” Tom informed the flight controller. The Diadem moved to avoid the shafts of disruptor energy unleashed from the Acastus, but they hadn’t reacted fast enough. To everyone Tom called out, “Brace for incoming!”
Fortunately Diadem missed most of the volley, Ensign Baker jerking the ship hard to starboard. The underside of the ship was clipped however, rattling the bridge so hard that Tom’s teeth clattered. “Damage report!” He ordered.
“We’ve lost the main sensor array,” Daf said, “And the engineering hull launcher.”
“Casualties?”
“I don’t have that information yet,” The Trill replied.
“Okay,” Tom said, turning his focus back to the battle at hand. “Let’s give them a little payback.”
“Aye , aye sir,” Zoll said with relish. Tom felt the thrumming beneath his feet as the Warrant Officer let loose a salvo. Several golden beams smashed into the Acastus’s shields.
“No direct impacts,” the Zaldan griped before Tom could ask, “But there shields have been weakened twenty percent.”
“Hit them again,” Tom commanded before the ship lurched. The lighting dimmed, before returning to normal. “How bad?”
“Several portside hull breaches, on Decks Seven through Twelve,” Lt. Daf said. “Emergency measures have already been enacted.”
“Hit them Mr. Zoll,” Tom ordered, “And try striking blood this time.”
“I will,” the Zaldan promised. A fusillade of phaser blasts pummeled the Acastus. The bubble around the ship wavered and then disappeared. The next round stitched across the warbird’s bow.
“Direct hits to the main hull, weapons and propulsion systems,” Zoll said with obvious satisfaction.
“But not enough to make those systems inoperative,” Daf noted.
“I was getting to that,” the Zaldan groused.
“Why aren’t they moving?” Baker asked.
“Why aren’t we?” Tom snapped. The human woman quickly put in a new course and the ship dipped just before the Acastus returned fire. The Diadem came up behind the warbird and began firing at its aft section. “Damn I wish we had photon or quantum torpedoes.”
“Yeah, these Remans aren’t very astute when it comes to starship combat,” Zoll remarked. “I wonder how they got the jump on the Alphard?”
“I really don’t want to find out,” Tom said. “Take out their aft shields and then their engines.” Zoll responded, unloosing a quiver of phaser bolts at the backside of the warbird. Before they hit pay dirt, the Remans began firing back, with a ferocious mix of disruptor beams and photon torpedoes. “Break off, break off!” Tom ordered.
The Diadem pulled back, out of the range of fire. “Hail them,” Tom ordered.
“Hailing frequencies are open, though the Remans have not established a visual link,” Lt. Daf said.
“All right,” Tom muttered, before saying more loudly, “Iako, this is getting us nowhere. We are pretty evenly matched. Even if you somehow succeed in destroying our vessel yours will be so crippled that you won’t make it to Dominion territory before you encounter another Starfleet ship or a fleet of them. Surrender now and I will consider granting any asylum requests you might wish propose.”
“Acastus is coming about,” Lt. Daf said.
“But they are powering down their weapons,” Zoll said, disappointed. The main viewer shifted to an image of Iako.
“You would do such a thing?” The Reman asked, with obvious skepticism. “How can I trust you?”
Good point, Tom thought. He looked around the bridge, seeing if anyone else had an idea. All right, he decided after a few moments, after an insane idea popped into his head. “Okay, how about I request your asylum from the bridge of your ship?”
“You would do that?” A shocked Iako asked.
“Yeah, you would do that?” Zoll muttered.
“Sir, I protest,” Daf said.
“So do I,” Tom whispered, “But it’s the best way we can prevent more bloodshed.”
“If you lower your shields I’ll be aboard,” Tom began. Iako chuckled.
“I see your aim now, an almost brilliant ruse,” the Reman said. “But we will not give you an opening to land a death blow.”
“Acastus is powering weapons again,” Zoll said tightly.
“Damn,” Tom muttered. “Fire now! Hit them before they can get a shot off at us!” Zoll was quicker on the draw. The Diadem’s volley smashed into the Acastus’s still weakened shields, demolishing large sections of the warbird. “Move,” Tom ordered, “Stick and move, we’ve still got maneuverability on our side.” The Diadem danced around the warbird, firing and moving on, striking on all sides. Eloise’s moves made Tom dizzy, but as long as it was keeping them alive he wasn’t complaining. The Remans tried to compensate against the pinwheel assault, but Tom guessed their lack of space combat worked against them the longer the battle progressed.
“The Acastus’s shields are down!” Zoll shouted in triumph.
“Hail them again,” Tom commanded. A bloodied Iako reappeared, his features distorted by a static filled screen.
“You will not defeat us,” he rasped. “We would rather die free than live enslaved…either as vassals of the Star Empire…or the Federation.”
“Detecting a buildup in the warbird’s singularity drive,” Daf said. “Oh gods, they are overcharging their propulsion system!”
“Beam off as many as you can!” Tom said.
“What?” Zoll asked.
“You heard me!” Tom snapped. “Do it, now!”
“Aye sir,” Lt. Daf replied.
“Put them in the cargo bays, behind forcefields,” Tom said, “And alert security to take position at the entrance to each beam-in site.”
“Yes sir,” The Trill responded.
“No, don’t deny us an honorable death!” Iako thundered before he disappeared in a shaft of light.
“The Acastus will reach critical mass in ten seconds,” Lt. Daf said. “We have to get out of here, now.”
“How many people are still on the warbird?” Tom asked.
“You really don’t want to know,” The Trill said with an empathetic look.
“You’re probably right,” Tom admitted. “Eloise, get us out of here.” Ensign Baker had just taken the Diadem to full impulse when the Acastus exploded, catching them in the shockwave.
Not again, Tom thought as he was thrown from his seat, consoles exploding around him.
******************************************************************
USS Diadem
Main Bridge
“The Acastus is hailing us,” Warrant Officer Zoll said.
“Put them on screen,” Lt. Reeves said tightly. He squeezed the armrests on the command chair, his knuckles white as snow.
Iako glowered at him seconds later. “What is the meaning of this? We are your allies!”
No, the Romulans are our allies, Tom thought, but stopped himself from blurting that out. “Our sensors have detected burn markings consistent with Starfleet energy weapons on your hull. Care to explain that, and why you didn’t inform us of it when you contacted us?”
Iako’s fierce expression took on a grimmer cast. After a few tortured seconds, the Reman admitted, “We…destroyed them.”
There were audible gasps across the bridge, but Tom kept his revulsion in check. “Why?” He asked coldly.
“We weren’t coming to assist you, we were coming to aid the Dominion,” Iako admitted. “We were seeking an alliance with the Founders, and offering this vessel and Romulan prisoners would’ve proved our trustworthiness to the Dominion, but you ruined that by destroying the Breen vessels. Now, we will have to destroy you to prove ourselves.”
Tom sat back in his seat, throttled by the Reman’s cold appraisal of what had really happened to the Alphard and the Romulan crew on the Acastus. His stomach roiled with fear and disgust over the savagery of the Remans and the fight that was to come. He struggled for the appropriate response to Iako’s casual brutality, something that would give making the Reman as afraid as he felt, or at the least give the murdering bastard pause. He searched his memory for something that pithy that Captain Tallis had said when confronted by Dominion forces before, but he found nothing adequate. So, he just went with his gut. “You can try,” he boasted.
*******************************************************************
Exarch-Class Cruiser Vyras
Incarceration Chamber
“How many Jem’Hadar soldiers transported onto this ship? Were all they all accounted for among the corpses?” Lady Diellza asked.
Subthot Tonfa, strapped in chair merely laughed, but coughing fits. The man’s armor had been lacerated during the fight and during his interrogation, claw marks scoring deeply into the armor, with patches of flesh torn out of him. Disgustingly enough there wasn’t even the sweet smell of blood to at least compensate for the Breen’s intransigence. “Remove his mask,” the Unguis chief ordered.
Igar, the Paladin assigned to her by Nadfar Renz, the new commander of the elite guard, rushed to obey her orders. Tonfa pulled away, thrashing and bucking against his restraints. Igar latched his large paws on either side of the mask and twisted the mask upward as if were a screw.
“Be careful not to break his neck,” Diellza ordered.
“No, no,” Tonfa said, almost pleading.
“Halt,” Diellza commanded and Igar reluctantly stopped. But he hovered over the Breen, his hands still clamped on the sides of the mask. “Tell us what we want to know and I will not remove your mask.”
“I…will only tell you this,” Tonfa said slowly, barely whispering. Diellza moved forward, leaning down slightly to hear him fully.
“Go on,” she prodded.
“You…you’re all going to die,” Tonfa’s laughter sounded like metal scraping, painful to the Alshains’ sensitive hearing.
Despite her pain, Diellza reached forward, grabbed underneath the edge of the Breen’s mask and ripped it from his head. As he gasped, steam rising from the collar of his suit, the noxious mix of chemicals covering his face, it was now Diellza that had the last laugh.
***************************************************************
USS Diadem
Main Bridge
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over how big warbirds are,” Ensign Baker remarked, her eyes as big as moons as she took in the large, predatory green ship hurtling towards them.
“They’re size isn’t what I’m worried about at the moment,” Lt. Reeves replied.
“Acastus is powering forward disruptor arrays,” Mr. Zoll called out.
“Evasive maneuvers Eloise,” Tom informed the flight controller. The Diadem moved to avoid the shafts of disruptor energy unleashed from the Acastus, but they hadn’t reacted fast enough. To everyone Tom called out, “Brace for incoming!”
Fortunately Diadem missed most of the volley, Ensign Baker jerking the ship hard to starboard. The underside of the ship was clipped however, rattling the bridge so hard that Tom’s teeth clattered. “Damage report!” He ordered.
“We’ve lost the main sensor array,” Daf said, “And the engineering hull launcher.”
“Casualties?”
“I don’t have that information yet,” The Trill replied.
“Okay,” Tom said, turning his focus back to the battle at hand. “Let’s give them a little payback.”
“Aye , aye sir,” Zoll said with relish. Tom felt the thrumming beneath his feet as the Warrant Officer let loose a salvo. Several golden beams smashed into the Acastus’s shields.
“No direct impacts,” the Zaldan griped before Tom could ask, “But there shields have been weakened twenty percent.”
“Hit them again,” Tom commanded before the ship lurched. The lighting dimmed, before returning to normal. “How bad?”
“Several portside hull breaches, on Decks Seven through Twelve,” Lt. Daf said. “Emergency measures have already been enacted.”
“Hit them Mr. Zoll,” Tom ordered, “And try striking blood this time.”
“I will,” the Zaldan promised. A fusillade of phaser blasts pummeled the Acastus. The bubble around the ship wavered and then disappeared. The next round stitched across the warbird’s bow.
“Direct hits to the main hull, weapons and propulsion systems,” Zoll said with obvious satisfaction.
“But not enough to make those systems inoperative,” Daf noted.
“I was getting to that,” the Zaldan groused.
“Why aren’t they moving?” Baker asked.
“Why aren’t we?” Tom snapped. The human woman quickly put in a new course and the ship dipped just before the Acastus returned fire. The Diadem came up behind the warbird and began firing at its aft section. “Damn I wish we had photon or quantum torpedoes.”
“Yeah, these Remans aren’t very astute when it comes to starship combat,” Zoll remarked. “I wonder how they got the jump on the Alphard?”
“I really don’t want to find out,” Tom said. “Take out their aft shields and then their engines.” Zoll responded, unloosing a quiver of phaser bolts at the backside of the warbird. Before they hit pay dirt, the Remans began firing back, with a ferocious mix of disruptor beams and photon torpedoes. “Break off, break off!” Tom ordered.
The Diadem pulled back, out of the range of fire. “Hail them,” Tom ordered.
“Hailing frequencies are open, though the Remans have not established a visual link,” Lt. Daf said.
“All right,” Tom muttered, before saying more loudly, “Iako, this is getting us nowhere. We are pretty evenly matched. Even if you somehow succeed in destroying our vessel yours will be so crippled that you won’t make it to Dominion territory before you encounter another Starfleet ship or a fleet of them. Surrender now and I will consider granting any asylum requests you might wish propose.”
“Acastus is coming about,” Lt. Daf said.
“But they are powering down their weapons,” Zoll said, disappointed. The main viewer shifted to an image of Iako.
“You would do such a thing?” The Reman asked, with obvious skepticism. “How can I trust you?”
Good point, Tom thought. He looked around the bridge, seeing if anyone else had an idea. All right, he decided after a few moments, after an insane idea popped into his head. “Okay, how about I request your asylum from the bridge of your ship?”
“You would do that?” A shocked Iako asked.
“Yeah, you would do that?” Zoll muttered.
“Sir, I protest,” Daf said.
“So do I,” Tom whispered, “But it’s the best way we can prevent more bloodshed.”
“If you lower your shields I’ll be aboard,” Tom began. Iako chuckled.
“I see your aim now, an almost brilliant ruse,” the Reman said. “But we will not give you an opening to land a death blow.”
“Acastus is powering weapons again,” Zoll said tightly.
“Damn,” Tom muttered. “Fire now! Hit them before they can get a shot off at us!” Zoll was quicker on the draw. The Diadem’s volley smashed into the Acastus’s still weakened shields, demolishing large sections of the warbird. “Move,” Tom ordered, “Stick and move, we’ve still got maneuverability on our side.” The Diadem danced around the warbird, firing and moving on, striking on all sides. Eloise’s moves made Tom dizzy, but as long as it was keeping them alive he wasn’t complaining. The Remans tried to compensate against the pinwheel assault, but Tom guessed their lack of space combat worked against them the longer the battle progressed.
“The Acastus’s shields are down!” Zoll shouted in triumph.
“Hail them again,” Tom commanded. A bloodied Iako reappeared, his features distorted by a static filled screen.
“You will not defeat us,” he rasped. “We would rather die free than live enslaved…either as vassals of the Star Empire…or the Federation.”
“Detecting a buildup in the warbird’s singularity drive,” Daf said. “Oh gods, they are overcharging their propulsion system!”
“Beam off as many as you can!” Tom said.
“What?” Zoll asked.
“You heard me!” Tom snapped. “Do it, now!”
“Aye sir,” Lt. Daf replied.
“Put them in the cargo bays, behind forcefields,” Tom said, “And alert security to take position at the entrance to each beam-in site.”
“Yes sir,” The Trill responded.
“No, don’t deny us an honorable death!” Iako thundered before he disappeared in a shaft of light.
“The Acastus will reach critical mass in ten seconds,” Lt. Daf said. “We have to get out of here, now.”
“How many people are still on the warbird?” Tom asked.
“You really don’t want to know,” The Trill said with an empathetic look.
“You’re probably right,” Tom admitted. “Eloise, get us out of here.” Ensign Baker had just taken the Diadem to full impulse when the Acastus exploded, catching them in the shockwave.
Not again, Tom thought as he was thrown from his seat, consoles exploding around him.
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