Hey there everyone. Not many of you know me but my name is William Teagarden and I'm typically seen running around the Sci-Fi and General TV Forums. For about seven years I've been writing in a group called Star Trek: Continuing Voyages. Recently I wrote this as a part of my game's story, but a lot of our players have said it's one of my best posts so I thought that I'd share it. This takes place in early 2409.
I hope you enjoy it. Opinions are welcome.
Commodore William Teagarden
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F
<Main Bridge, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F>
The Federation Starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F was nearly fifteen years old when William Teagarden took command of her in 2407 and, despite her age, he couldn’t imagine a more perfect Starship. Ever since he was a fresh faced cadet he’d wanted to be the Captain of the famous ship and William made a point of having a career that would lead to greatness to bring him here. Strategically positioning himself he moved through the ranks quickly. In less than seven years he was a Commander and a first officer. At ten he was Captain of the Galaxy. Then his father decided to retire and made arrangements for William to command the Enterprise. He’d arrived but used familiar connections to do it. Now less than three years later he’d pulled the impossible yet again. Beating out nearly half the people on the list he was now a flag officer – a Commodore – and commanding his own task force. Over half the Captain’s in Starfleet hated William; the majority thinking he was some wet behind the ears youngster who relied on daddy to get where he was.
William was intent on proving them wrong. It wasn’t all from connections. There were the occasional bouts of heroism and, to be honest, just plain stupid luck that helped him to get where he was today. Then there was the big deal: the Pennsylvania. The next generation explorer, Pennsylvania was almost three times the size of a Galaxy Class ship and more capable than anything else the Federation had to offer. Since he’d designed her, William was going to have the honor of piloting her on her first shakedown cruise around the Sol System then back to spacedock. The Enterprise would be providing escort to the ship that would replace her as Federation Flagship, but William was happy with giving up that title. Secretly he’d been offered the Pennsylvania by those same people that others charged him with being in collusion with for his promotions, but he turned them down. Commodore Teagarden opted to remain at home aboard the Enterprise. As designer he did get a say in who replaced him though and, after much consideration, the Commodore selected Captain Winston English for the post. He was more than capable of it and would make a good leader. That had been evidenced to William early in his schooling. Winston was constantly overlooked because – to put it mildly – there was no one else at Starfleet Academy with the mathematical talents of the Commodore. They need a good teacher so he was relegated to that task permanently. Commodore Teagarden was more than happy to be the one to give him this command, to pull him away from the desk and allow him to have his dream.
“We’re approaching position,” said Ensign Morty Griffin from the helm. A recent academy graduate, William selected him for Enterprise because he was Valedictorian of his Academy Class. His predecessor, Commander Andrew Darling, was being assigned as Pennsylvania’s XO at William’s recommendation.
Commodore Teagarden yawned and nodded, “Thank you, Ensign. Lieutenant Le’Vra, open a channel to the Pennsylvania and inform them that we’re coming aboard for the launching.” He took another long drink of the Raktajino, but the potent Klingon coffee wasn’t hitting the spot. It’d been so long since the last drink that the coffee had gone to ice.
“Aye Sir,” the Breen (first in Starfleet) said. “Sending now.” The beeps and growls of the vocorder in the helmet grated in the background and even overwhelmed the Universal Translator at times. That was one of the hazards of being here. Le’Vra was an outcast on the Breen Homeworld. Son of a pacifist, he saw his parents murdered when he was still a child. Somehow he’d escaped and snuck aboard a transport for Bajor where he lived on the streets until an older Bajoran woman found him and nursed him to health and wellness.
Looking at his Executive Officer across from him William smiled and nodded, “Well Captain, it looks like the Enterprise is all yours. Amarante, keep a close eye on the port impulse drive because it’s been acting up a bit. I don’t expect any trouble though while we’re in the home system of the Federation. Just make sure Enterprise keeps up though. I don’t want the youngster outpacing us.”
That was funny coming from him. Captain Amarante Lebel was the long standing Executive Officer of the Enterprise and had served aboard the ship since she was first launched. In the beginning she was Daniel Teagarden’s Chief Engineer, but he saw the promise in her. He made her Executive Officer in 2400 and she’d served in that role ever since. Little did anyone know what connections she’d had in the Federation. Her Uncle was Jean-Luc Picard, but very few people knew that. She wanted to be known for her own merits and nothing else. William felt bad at times for taking Enterprise from her. Amarante graduated from Starfleet Academy on the same day that the Breen attacked Earth in the Dominion War. By all rights she should be in the Enterprise’s big chair not him.
She was still as bright and cheerful as ever, “Of course, Sir. We old timer’s have to show the youngsters every once and a while how good we are. Like when I beat you in springball a few weeks ago. I’m what 22 years your senior?”
“Don’t remind me,” he said as he walked to the turbolift. While Amarante was defending the Federation, William was being born inside Starbase 1’s depowered Sickbay. “Keep things together until I get back, “Captain Niece.” He added that in as a jab. Jean-Luc Picard had once told him Amarante had called him ‘Captain Uncle’ in correspondence. Since then he always replied to her as her rank and niece. It was a nice tradition and showed friendship. That’s what they were. They were friends. Hard to believe (had some kid come in and taken his job Will knew he’d have been upset). Harder still to believe was that Amarante’s best friend aboard the ship was the Breen Tactical Officer. Opposites did attract after all.
<Main Bridge, USS Pennsylvania, Two Hours Later>
Everything had gone smoothly ever since Commodore Teagarden had reported aboard the Pennsylvania. There had been the standard stupid questions that were always asked. “How did you come up with the design?” “What was your inspiration?” “Are you upset you’re not commanding Pennsylvania full time?” They were all the standard questions and he was used to them having been a designer for several months. Answering quickly and succinctly he gave his best then went on to the next. Now the various journalists were all over the bridge in different positions watching. Captain English was nearby and sitting in the chair to the Captain’s left. They had been joking a bit about all of this and how Winston owed everything about this new future to him. William didn’t envy him this position. By becoming the flagship, Pennsylvania would take some of the heat off of him and Enterprise as well as, God willing, some of the criticism. After another twenty minutes of the stupid question the time came to launch the Pennsylvania on her first mission.
Despite being in command, Commodore Teagarden deflected it to Captain English. This was his boat after all so it should be him issuing the orders. Why should Commodore Teagarden have all the fun when all he did was design it? It took only a couple of moments and they were off and heading out into deep space for the first time. Pennsylvania was responding well and – pleasing William to no end – Enterprise was keeping up and outpacing her every couple of seconds. The Allegiance Class was losing some of its grandeur with the Pennsylvania coming into her own, but it was still more than ready and capable. As they were approaching Uranus’ orbit though something went wrong. An urgent message came through.
On the viewscreen appeared Captain Lebel sitting in William’s chair. He was about to tease her not to get comfortable, but her eyes gave away that something was wrong. He’d seen that look more than once in their long time serving together. It was the look that told him something terrible had happened. Commodore Teagarden’s heart sank. Was something wrong with Enterprise? Too bad that neural interface didn’t work. Standing he approached the forward consoles for a better view of the viewscreen.
“What is it, Captain?”
“Have your sensors been detecting increases in tachyon radiation?” Asked the Acting Enterprise Captain over subspace. “Our sensors are going crazy over here reporting increases in the background radiation. We can’t explain it.”
William looked over at Science Officer Anderson, “Report, Lieutenant.”
“Our sensors aren’t fine tuned yet, Commodore. We’re still conducting calibrations.” Science Officer Anderson was a transfer from the Seattle if William’s memory served. “I’m setting the system now and running my scans. It should take about…”
They didn’t have to do any recalibrations to see what was coming or know that it was bad. The ship started to shake violently as if it were trapped in an old Earth earthquake. Around the bridge people grabbed hold of anything firmly attached to the bulkheads. PADDs and video equipment skittered and fell to the deck. William grabbed the side of his chair and activated the restraint system as he stared at Lieutenant Anderson. “REPORT! AND YOU BETTER GIVE ME AN ANSWER OTHER THAN I DON’T KNOW!”
“Gravimetric distortion,” said the Science Officer as he was holding on for dear life. “I’m reading metallic signatures also. Traces of… oh my gods! Commodore, it’s a Borg Cube!”
Going to stand – and snagging himself in the restraints – William was instantly filled with fear and pain. “Red Alert. All hands battle stations. Helm, evasive maneuvers pattern theta. Tactical, shields and weapons online prepare to fire at my command.” Another alarm sounded and the ship began to shake again as the skies seemed to open up before them.
A chorus of agreements sounded throughout the bridge as the Pennsylvania altered her course. The IDF shifted the gravity to support their rapid jink to the left and then their dive. The groaning of the structural integrity field rang through their ears. It was sickening. The Pennsylvania was top of the line, but apparently she still had her problems. As they were going into the next stage of the pattern theta the Security Chief’s voice sounded.
“Commodore,” this was the Chief of Security Lieutenant Queg, “two more Borg vessels have been detected and are closing fast. One matches the Voyager records as being the Queen’s Diamond. The other two are Class 5 Tactical Cubes.” The Bolian was working quickly on the large tactical railing. “Their weapons are powered and they’ve begun painting us.”
He could do this and he knew that he could. The words of the critics at Starfleet Command returned to his head eating away at him like a dragon in the back of his head, telling him that he was going to fail. Taking a deep breath and remembering his training from the Academy he began to formulate a strategy in his mind. They needed a divide and conquer long enough to keep the Borg at bay so that others could get there. Chances were they’d all die, but at least the Federation would have some form of defense. Three ships this close to Earth meant only one thing: invasion. They wanted Earth and this time they were going to take it.
“We are the Borg,” came over the loudspeakers. “We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture and ships will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Now it was time for his orders. The dragon was laughing at him as fire licked its lips. “Helm, offensive pattern beta two. Tactical, begin firing phasers on a rotating modulation targeting their primary shield junction. Top priority is the Queen’s ship. Engineering, we need whatever power you can spare, and I mean whatever power you can spare, sent to the weapons and shields. Every other system is secondary.”
“Starfleet is reporting that the Endeavor, the Lexington, and the Saratoga are coming to assist. The Excalibur, Kyoto, Legacy, Predator, and Republic are being called into Earth defense positions. The First Fleet is underway to join us but they won’t be here for fifteen minutes.” That was Izia Ver of Ops. Her fingers raced over the controls. “They’ve opened fire!”
A direct hit to the Pennsylvania’s forward shields made the ship shake violently. William quickly checked his display screens seeing what they were saying. So far he was far from impressed. That little hit had taken their shields down by almost fifty percent on the first volley. That may not have been the fault of the Pennsylvania’s systems, but for the moment he needed something to excuse the poor performance of his own strategy with; especially as the Pennsylvania rocked from yet another impact. On the screens images of the Endeavor, the Lexington, and the Saratoga dropping out of warp brought him some comfort, though it was little. This was going to be bad and William knew that. The Pennsylvania dove.
<Main Bridge, USS Pennsylvania, 45 minutes later>
Despite his earlier criticisms of what was happening his Pennsylvania Class Starship had held up better than he had ever expected she’d be able to. Even though the opening battle had been problematic, the Engineering staff had managed to restore her shields before the Borg were able to destroy this new ship. They had taken some hull damage and lost a few systems, but the Pennsylvania was proving herself as a strong leader for the future. The rest of the fleet was doing the same and they were holding the Borg back.
Since the battle had begun the Enterprise, Pennsylvania, and Yorktown had been joined in their battle against the Borg by almost three dozen ships and more were on the way. Their fighting had been rapid, it had been fierce, and many good Starfleet Officers had already been lost in this costly war. Borg torpedoes and phaser beams were ripping through Federation ship’s shields even now as he watched on the viewscreen. Of the ships that had joined the fight there were many casualties already. They had been proving themselves – that was true – but it was starting to look bleak (especially as the Borg seemed to only be increasing their numbers). Two additional Borg ships – the smaller spheres – had dropped out of transwarp in Earth orbit. The Earth defenders were responding but there had already been losses there too. Predator and Kyoto were destroyed in minutes with the Republic listing and on fire. This battle was becoming more and more one sided. Starfleet’s reinforcements were too far away.
His daring maneuver had failed too. William had tried to bring the Pennsylvania in between the Borg ships to increase the risks of friendly fire damaging the other Borg ships. It was working, for a time, but had failed to prove itself as the Borg altered their tactics faster than anticipated. The Borg were taking massive damage but not enough to disable them, despite the Pennsylvania quickly approaching deactivation. Then there was another failure. He’d ordered that the Pennsylvania’s saucer warp core (it was disabled anyway) be brought online and ejected toward the Queen’s Diamond. If they could take down the Queen’s ship it would cause the Borg, briefly, to enter into a regeneration mode as they rerouted control to a new processing drone. They’d ejected the core and detonated it, but missed the Queen’s ship and only managed to take out one of their own in the process. And now Pennsylvania was far worse than ever.
On the viewscreen two more ships exploded and Pennsylvania was about to die. An explosion rocked the ship and a shower of sparks rained from the bridge ceiling. One of his officers screamed in pain as his uniform erupted in flame. A medic ran up to him to help, but he wasn’t the only casualty so far on the Pennsylvania. 78 people were already crowding the sickbay with more probably on their way. Crashing his head into the headrest, William issued a daring order. “Helm, lay in an intercept course with the Borg Diamond. Signal evacuation and collision. You have five minutes to get to escape pods. Clear out!”
The alarms began sounding and William ordered them all off the bridge. He took the helm himself and began preparing his course as the attack continued. The Pennsylvania took more and more impacts. Her shields failed, her weapons failed, and then the warp engines. All he had left was impulse when those five minutes came to an end. As he said there were no more choices. Slamming his fist against the activation control the Pennsylvania sped forward and toward the Borg Cube. They couldn’t keep up with the Queen, but they’d take a Cube out at least when the core of the Pennsylvania collided with it. As the saucer impacted the warm tingle of a transporter beam grabbing him filled his body and he found himself back aboard the Enterprise falling against the chamber. His ship rocked to the right either from an impact, the destruction of Pennsylvania, or both.
I hope you enjoy it. Opinions are welcome.
Commodore William Teagarden
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F
<Main Bridge, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F>
The Federation Starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F was nearly fifteen years old when William Teagarden took command of her in 2407 and, despite her age, he couldn’t imagine a more perfect Starship. Ever since he was a fresh faced cadet he’d wanted to be the Captain of the famous ship and William made a point of having a career that would lead to greatness to bring him here. Strategically positioning himself he moved through the ranks quickly. In less than seven years he was a Commander and a first officer. At ten he was Captain of the Galaxy. Then his father decided to retire and made arrangements for William to command the Enterprise. He’d arrived but used familiar connections to do it. Now less than three years later he’d pulled the impossible yet again. Beating out nearly half the people on the list he was now a flag officer – a Commodore – and commanding his own task force. Over half the Captain’s in Starfleet hated William; the majority thinking he was some wet behind the ears youngster who relied on daddy to get where he was.
William was intent on proving them wrong. It wasn’t all from connections. There were the occasional bouts of heroism and, to be honest, just plain stupid luck that helped him to get where he was today. Then there was the big deal: the Pennsylvania. The next generation explorer, Pennsylvania was almost three times the size of a Galaxy Class ship and more capable than anything else the Federation had to offer. Since he’d designed her, William was going to have the honor of piloting her on her first shakedown cruise around the Sol System then back to spacedock. The Enterprise would be providing escort to the ship that would replace her as Federation Flagship, but William was happy with giving up that title. Secretly he’d been offered the Pennsylvania by those same people that others charged him with being in collusion with for his promotions, but he turned them down. Commodore Teagarden opted to remain at home aboard the Enterprise. As designer he did get a say in who replaced him though and, after much consideration, the Commodore selected Captain Winston English for the post. He was more than capable of it and would make a good leader. That had been evidenced to William early in his schooling. Winston was constantly overlooked because – to put it mildly – there was no one else at Starfleet Academy with the mathematical talents of the Commodore. They need a good teacher so he was relegated to that task permanently. Commodore Teagarden was more than happy to be the one to give him this command, to pull him away from the desk and allow him to have his dream.
“We’re approaching position,” said Ensign Morty Griffin from the helm. A recent academy graduate, William selected him for Enterprise because he was Valedictorian of his Academy Class. His predecessor, Commander Andrew Darling, was being assigned as Pennsylvania’s XO at William’s recommendation.
Commodore Teagarden yawned and nodded, “Thank you, Ensign. Lieutenant Le’Vra, open a channel to the Pennsylvania and inform them that we’re coming aboard for the launching.” He took another long drink of the Raktajino, but the potent Klingon coffee wasn’t hitting the spot. It’d been so long since the last drink that the coffee had gone to ice.
“Aye Sir,” the Breen (first in Starfleet) said. “Sending now.” The beeps and growls of the vocorder in the helmet grated in the background and even overwhelmed the Universal Translator at times. That was one of the hazards of being here. Le’Vra was an outcast on the Breen Homeworld. Son of a pacifist, he saw his parents murdered when he was still a child. Somehow he’d escaped and snuck aboard a transport for Bajor where he lived on the streets until an older Bajoran woman found him and nursed him to health and wellness.
Looking at his Executive Officer across from him William smiled and nodded, “Well Captain, it looks like the Enterprise is all yours. Amarante, keep a close eye on the port impulse drive because it’s been acting up a bit. I don’t expect any trouble though while we’re in the home system of the Federation. Just make sure Enterprise keeps up though. I don’t want the youngster outpacing us.”
That was funny coming from him. Captain Amarante Lebel was the long standing Executive Officer of the Enterprise and had served aboard the ship since she was first launched. In the beginning she was Daniel Teagarden’s Chief Engineer, but he saw the promise in her. He made her Executive Officer in 2400 and she’d served in that role ever since. Little did anyone know what connections she’d had in the Federation. Her Uncle was Jean-Luc Picard, but very few people knew that. She wanted to be known for her own merits and nothing else. William felt bad at times for taking Enterprise from her. Amarante graduated from Starfleet Academy on the same day that the Breen attacked Earth in the Dominion War. By all rights she should be in the Enterprise’s big chair not him.
She was still as bright and cheerful as ever, “Of course, Sir. We old timer’s have to show the youngsters every once and a while how good we are. Like when I beat you in springball a few weeks ago. I’m what 22 years your senior?”
“Don’t remind me,” he said as he walked to the turbolift. While Amarante was defending the Federation, William was being born inside Starbase 1’s depowered Sickbay. “Keep things together until I get back, “Captain Niece.” He added that in as a jab. Jean-Luc Picard had once told him Amarante had called him ‘Captain Uncle’ in correspondence. Since then he always replied to her as her rank and niece. It was a nice tradition and showed friendship. That’s what they were. They were friends. Hard to believe (had some kid come in and taken his job Will knew he’d have been upset). Harder still to believe was that Amarante’s best friend aboard the ship was the Breen Tactical Officer. Opposites did attract after all.
<Main Bridge, USS Pennsylvania, Two Hours Later>
Everything had gone smoothly ever since Commodore Teagarden had reported aboard the Pennsylvania. There had been the standard stupid questions that were always asked. “How did you come up with the design?” “What was your inspiration?” “Are you upset you’re not commanding Pennsylvania full time?” They were all the standard questions and he was used to them having been a designer for several months. Answering quickly and succinctly he gave his best then went on to the next. Now the various journalists were all over the bridge in different positions watching. Captain English was nearby and sitting in the chair to the Captain’s left. They had been joking a bit about all of this and how Winston owed everything about this new future to him. William didn’t envy him this position. By becoming the flagship, Pennsylvania would take some of the heat off of him and Enterprise as well as, God willing, some of the criticism. After another twenty minutes of the stupid question the time came to launch the Pennsylvania on her first mission.
Despite being in command, Commodore Teagarden deflected it to Captain English. This was his boat after all so it should be him issuing the orders. Why should Commodore Teagarden have all the fun when all he did was design it? It took only a couple of moments and they were off and heading out into deep space for the first time. Pennsylvania was responding well and – pleasing William to no end – Enterprise was keeping up and outpacing her every couple of seconds. The Allegiance Class was losing some of its grandeur with the Pennsylvania coming into her own, but it was still more than ready and capable. As they were approaching Uranus’ orbit though something went wrong. An urgent message came through.
On the viewscreen appeared Captain Lebel sitting in William’s chair. He was about to tease her not to get comfortable, but her eyes gave away that something was wrong. He’d seen that look more than once in their long time serving together. It was the look that told him something terrible had happened. Commodore Teagarden’s heart sank. Was something wrong with Enterprise? Too bad that neural interface didn’t work. Standing he approached the forward consoles for a better view of the viewscreen.
“What is it, Captain?”
“Have your sensors been detecting increases in tachyon radiation?” Asked the Acting Enterprise Captain over subspace. “Our sensors are going crazy over here reporting increases in the background radiation. We can’t explain it.”
William looked over at Science Officer Anderson, “Report, Lieutenant.”
“Our sensors aren’t fine tuned yet, Commodore. We’re still conducting calibrations.” Science Officer Anderson was a transfer from the Seattle if William’s memory served. “I’m setting the system now and running my scans. It should take about…”
They didn’t have to do any recalibrations to see what was coming or know that it was bad. The ship started to shake violently as if it were trapped in an old Earth earthquake. Around the bridge people grabbed hold of anything firmly attached to the bulkheads. PADDs and video equipment skittered and fell to the deck. William grabbed the side of his chair and activated the restraint system as he stared at Lieutenant Anderson. “REPORT! AND YOU BETTER GIVE ME AN ANSWER OTHER THAN I DON’T KNOW!”
“Gravimetric distortion,” said the Science Officer as he was holding on for dear life. “I’m reading metallic signatures also. Traces of… oh my gods! Commodore, it’s a Borg Cube!”
Going to stand – and snagging himself in the restraints – William was instantly filled with fear and pain. “Red Alert. All hands battle stations. Helm, evasive maneuvers pattern theta. Tactical, shields and weapons online prepare to fire at my command.” Another alarm sounded and the ship began to shake again as the skies seemed to open up before them.
A chorus of agreements sounded throughout the bridge as the Pennsylvania altered her course. The IDF shifted the gravity to support their rapid jink to the left and then their dive. The groaning of the structural integrity field rang through their ears. It was sickening. The Pennsylvania was top of the line, but apparently she still had her problems. As they were going into the next stage of the pattern theta the Security Chief’s voice sounded.
“Commodore,” this was the Chief of Security Lieutenant Queg, “two more Borg vessels have been detected and are closing fast. One matches the Voyager records as being the Queen’s Diamond. The other two are Class 5 Tactical Cubes.” The Bolian was working quickly on the large tactical railing. “Their weapons are powered and they’ve begun painting us.”
He could do this and he knew that he could. The words of the critics at Starfleet Command returned to his head eating away at him like a dragon in the back of his head, telling him that he was going to fail. Taking a deep breath and remembering his training from the Academy he began to formulate a strategy in his mind. They needed a divide and conquer long enough to keep the Borg at bay so that others could get there. Chances were they’d all die, but at least the Federation would have some form of defense. Three ships this close to Earth meant only one thing: invasion. They wanted Earth and this time they were going to take it.
“We are the Borg,” came over the loudspeakers. “We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture and ships will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Now it was time for his orders. The dragon was laughing at him as fire licked its lips. “Helm, offensive pattern beta two. Tactical, begin firing phasers on a rotating modulation targeting their primary shield junction. Top priority is the Queen’s ship. Engineering, we need whatever power you can spare, and I mean whatever power you can spare, sent to the weapons and shields. Every other system is secondary.”
“Starfleet is reporting that the Endeavor, the Lexington, and the Saratoga are coming to assist. The Excalibur, Kyoto, Legacy, Predator, and Republic are being called into Earth defense positions. The First Fleet is underway to join us but they won’t be here for fifteen minutes.” That was Izia Ver of Ops. Her fingers raced over the controls. “They’ve opened fire!”
A direct hit to the Pennsylvania’s forward shields made the ship shake violently. William quickly checked his display screens seeing what they were saying. So far he was far from impressed. That little hit had taken their shields down by almost fifty percent on the first volley. That may not have been the fault of the Pennsylvania’s systems, but for the moment he needed something to excuse the poor performance of his own strategy with; especially as the Pennsylvania rocked from yet another impact. On the screens images of the Endeavor, the Lexington, and the Saratoga dropping out of warp brought him some comfort, though it was little. This was going to be bad and William knew that. The Pennsylvania dove.
<Main Bridge, USS Pennsylvania, 45 minutes later>
Despite his earlier criticisms of what was happening his Pennsylvania Class Starship had held up better than he had ever expected she’d be able to. Even though the opening battle had been problematic, the Engineering staff had managed to restore her shields before the Borg were able to destroy this new ship. They had taken some hull damage and lost a few systems, but the Pennsylvania was proving herself as a strong leader for the future. The rest of the fleet was doing the same and they were holding the Borg back.
Since the battle had begun the Enterprise, Pennsylvania, and Yorktown had been joined in their battle against the Borg by almost three dozen ships and more were on the way. Their fighting had been rapid, it had been fierce, and many good Starfleet Officers had already been lost in this costly war. Borg torpedoes and phaser beams were ripping through Federation ship’s shields even now as he watched on the viewscreen. Of the ships that had joined the fight there were many casualties already. They had been proving themselves – that was true – but it was starting to look bleak (especially as the Borg seemed to only be increasing their numbers). Two additional Borg ships – the smaller spheres – had dropped out of transwarp in Earth orbit. The Earth defenders were responding but there had already been losses there too. Predator and Kyoto were destroyed in minutes with the Republic listing and on fire. This battle was becoming more and more one sided. Starfleet’s reinforcements were too far away.
His daring maneuver had failed too. William had tried to bring the Pennsylvania in between the Borg ships to increase the risks of friendly fire damaging the other Borg ships. It was working, for a time, but had failed to prove itself as the Borg altered their tactics faster than anticipated. The Borg were taking massive damage but not enough to disable them, despite the Pennsylvania quickly approaching deactivation. Then there was another failure. He’d ordered that the Pennsylvania’s saucer warp core (it was disabled anyway) be brought online and ejected toward the Queen’s Diamond. If they could take down the Queen’s ship it would cause the Borg, briefly, to enter into a regeneration mode as they rerouted control to a new processing drone. They’d ejected the core and detonated it, but missed the Queen’s ship and only managed to take out one of their own in the process. And now Pennsylvania was far worse than ever.
On the viewscreen two more ships exploded and Pennsylvania was about to die. An explosion rocked the ship and a shower of sparks rained from the bridge ceiling. One of his officers screamed in pain as his uniform erupted in flame. A medic ran up to him to help, but he wasn’t the only casualty so far on the Pennsylvania. 78 people were already crowding the sickbay with more probably on their way. Crashing his head into the headrest, William issued a daring order. “Helm, lay in an intercept course with the Borg Diamond. Signal evacuation and collision. You have five minutes to get to escape pods. Clear out!”
The alarms began sounding and William ordered them all off the bridge. He took the helm himself and began preparing his course as the attack continued. The Pennsylvania took more and more impacts. Her shields failed, her weapons failed, and then the warp engines. All he had left was impulse when those five minutes came to an end. As he said there were no more choices. Slamming his fist against the activation control the Pennsylvania sped forward and toward the Borg Cube. They couldn’t keep up with the Queen, but they’d take a Cube out at least when the core of the Pennsylvania collided with it. As the saucer impacted the warm tingle of a transporter beam grabbing him filled his body and he found himself back aboard the Enterprise falling against the chamber. His ship rocked to the right either from an impact, the destruction of Pennsylvania, or both.
Last edited:
)
