TLR I hope that the next three chapters will blow this one out of the water exciting wise. I'm real glad that the tension came across, and again, I'm hoping that the next 3 chapters will take that and triple it! tenmei Thanks! I know! I have to admit, this Klingon plotline came out of leftfield and has forced a major rethink of my plot. I've basically had to add in a whole new part of the story to deal with the fall out of what is coming up... Diogenes First of all, how was the raktajino?! Calhoun rocks! I really liked that little line from Turner, getting a chance to add in a few of the captains from the past. Turner really is a voice for what this whole story is about - the Federation trying to get back to what it was about at the start. Wow, thanks so much for your words at the end, so glad to see that you were able to draw all of that from the story. As for the kes7-me collaboration... We're talking!
"First of all, how was the raktajino?!" The Raktajino was great. It's not for everyone. First off, I like my coffee (preferably Jamaican Blue Mountain blend) "triple sweet" like Miles Obrien. People like you and Kes7 set high bars for your work. REALLY Looking forward to the dog-fighting Feds and Klingons in the next few chapters.
A great chapter. Battle soon to be joined, and forces on both the small and epic scales are brought to bear. I'm liking even the ancillary characters you've fleshed out in your story, each one of them adding layers of depth and substance to your future Trek-verse. To summarize... I liked it.
Chapter 11 Bridge USS Redemption Starfleet Construction Yards Romulus “Computer, initiate Tactical Projection System,” Kalara ordered as the Redemption began to pull out of spacedock. All around her, the bridge’s walls, floor and ceiling seemed to vanish, replaced instead by a real-time holographic projection of the view outside the ship. It appeared as though all of the bridge crew were sat or stood on nothing, affording them a 360° view of the grey and white ribs of the spacedock around them, and beyond that, space. “Steady as she goes,” Kalara said, trying to imbue her words with confidence. She glanced down at Lieutenants Williams and Q’sar. The young woman’s eyes were glued to the holographic controls in front of her, making minute adjustments with the control thrusters as they slid out of the spider-like structure. As for the Vulcan Navigation officer, he seemed to have inherited the true impertuable Vulcan mindset, despite what had happened to the rest of his people. With the tactical projection activated, Kalara mentally instructed her headset’s viewfinder to provide her with a sensor readout of the tactical situation. A green screen appeared before her left eye, showing the whole Romulus system. She saw a large red icon representing the Dominon battlecruiser split off from the rest of the fleet, and Kalara imagined the ship’s impulse drives flaring as she descended towards the planet, three Birds-of-Prey tight on her rear. The rest of the fleet began to break up as well, with one of the Martok-class cruisers setting course for the starbase. “Commander, that other Martok cruiser is heading straight for us,” Lieutenant L’wynd said, “along with both D’thar-class cruisers and seven of the Birds-of-Prey.” “I see them,” Kalara said through gritted teeth. “Lieutenant Williams, can you get us out of this dock any faster?” “Can do, Commander,” Williams said. Her fingers slid flashing icons from left to right and Redemption leapt forward. Kalara winced slightly as the edge of the saucer section screeched along one of the docking bay’s ribs, then the front of the ship was out into open space, followed moments later by the rest. “Well done, Lieutenant.” Williams nodded. “Course, Commander?” Kalara studied the space before her for a moment, comparing what her eyes could see through the tactical projection with what the sensors were telling her through her viewfinder. She saw it a moment before L’wynd called out. “Both D’thar-class cruisers and four accompanying Birds-of-Prey are changing course.” “They’re heading for the other construction docks,” Kalara said. “They’re going to try and cause as much damage as possible.” “The Martok-class is still on an intercept course, along with three Birds-of-Prey.” Kalara nodded. “Helm, increase speed. Lay in a course towards the closest Bird-of-Prey.” L’wynd turned to look at her. “Cap- I mean Commander, the Martok-class is the more immediate threat.” “I know that, Lieutenant, but we need to play the odds.” “Yes sir.” Again, Kalara felt the Redemption surge beneath her, rolling slightly to starboard as Williams guided her towards the flanking Bird-of-Prey. “How long until we’re in range?” “55 seconds.” “And the cruiser?” “78.” “Lieutenant L’wynd, fire a spread of subspace disruption torpedoes at the front of the Bird-of-Prey on my mark. Then follow that up with a full burst of our forward phaser banks. Target the phasers at the Bird-of-Prey’s left wing, right where it meets the hull.” “With all due respect, sir, subspace disruption torpedoes will be unable to penetrate the…” “Lieutenant, I am in command. If you question my orders one more time, I will have you removed from your post. Is that understood?” A mass of crystaline flesh rippled across L’wynd’s body, turning it into a solid mass of diamond-like facets. A moment later, the effect disappeared. The Crystat’s head bobbed. “Aye, sir.” I know you don’t trust me yet, Kalara thought. You’re just going to have obey my orders anyway. The oncoming ships grew larger and larger in the forward view. Kalara realised she was gripping the railing so hard that her knuckles were turning white. She forced herself to relax. This will work, I know it will. “In range in ten seconds,” Dax spoke up from his post. “Wait for it,” Kalara whispered. “Wait for it.” After exactly eleven seconds, Kalara shouted, “Now, Lieutenant. Fire.” The spread of torpedoes volleyed from the Redemption’s forward launchers like miniature stars. They impacted against the Bird-of-Prey’s forward shields, illuminating them but not doing any damage. “Now. The phasers,” Kalara snarled. L’wynd did as she was ordered, firing all banks. From the bridge’s secure location deep within the ship, Kalara couldn’t hear anything, but she imagined the whining moan of the phased energy beams as they leapt from their coils. As she had known it would, the torpedo spread had forced the Bird-of-Prey’s commander to recalibrate his forward shields to counterbalance the subspace disturbances that they had created or risk them tearing his ship apart. The phasers cut straight through the unbalanced shields, shearing the port wing off at the base. The Bird-of-Prey began to spin out of control, explosions wracking its tortured form. Then it exploded in a glorious fireball that filled the screen. “Target destroyed,” L’wynd said, her voice surprised. Before Kalara could say anything, Dax shouted, “Incoming.” The ship was rocked as a full spread of quantum torpedoes struck their shields. Kalara shouted, “Evasive manoeuvers,” but it was already too late. Battle had been joined. She just prayed they would be as lucky with the cruiser as they had been with the Bird-of-Prey. Hornet-Class Starfighter Above Ki’Baratan Romulus The moment they had cleared the launch tunnel, Ba’el moved in behind the two trailing fighters, slotting into a larger diamond position that had him as the lowest point. They were flying almost directly upwards, the planetary shield a constant blaze of green light above them. The constant battering from the Dominion Battlecruiser’s phaser banks did not seem to be visibly weakening the shield, despite the odd phaser beam breaking through to strike the city below. Seeing the insect-like form hanging in orbit brought back unpleasant memories for Ba’el. “What is it doing?” he heard someone say through his ear piece. “Surely it knows that it can’t get through the shields with brute force.” “Stow it, airman,” Turner snapped. “Concentrate on your job.” Silence fell over the radio, each pilot left with his own thoughts. Ba’el stared at the waiting ship. The last time he had flown a fighter against one of these, the end of the Occupation had still been five years away. Laurentia, he realised. I was flying with three Hegemony fighter wings. The irony wasn’t lost on him. Now the question was whether he would be able to do the same thing today as he had done then. There seemed to be only one way to find out. Flipping a switch on the controls in front of him, he opened a secure, private channel to Turner. “Commander? I may have an idea how to take out that Battlecruiser.” “Good because I’m all out.” “Are Hornets equipped with warp cores?” Turner didn’t respond straight away and he could imagine her mind racing as she tried to work out why he was asking. “Yes,” she said finally, the word drawn out. “Why?” “Just a little something I pulled off during the Occupation.” “Captain, I don’t think…” “What did I tell you, Commander? For this mission, call me Joker.” Before she could say anything, he heard a sharp intake of breath and a warning shout over the comm system. He looked up just in time to see a glowing, whirling, spitting ball of energy pass through the planetary shield. He acted on instinct, jinking the fighter to the left with a sharp tug on his joystick. The phased energy weapon – a torpedo of some kind – charged the air as it passed, creating shock waves that tossed his fighter about in the air. With sheer force of will and strength of muscle, he managed to hold her steady, but he saw two of the other fighters above him collide in the air, vanishing in a burst of light and fury and static over the comm system. He swerved out of the way of the falling debris, avoiding all but what looked like a burning helmet, which clipped his wing as it fell. “What happened?” “Allah-Yahwe.” “What just happened?” “How did that penetrate the shield?” “Flight Commander Turner to Starfleet Command. What the hell is going on down there?” There was a moment of static then they heard a voice shouting over the sounds of vigorous explosions. “Oh my God, they’ve destroyed the shield generators. We’re defenceless. We have four ships, I repeat, four ships in attack positions over the planet’s surface. They hit all four shield generators at once. The planetary shield is down, I repeat the planetary shield is…” The voice vanished in a burst of static amid the sound of tortured screams. A series of curses sounded through the comm system until Turner’s voice cut through them. “That’s enough, Starburst Squadron. Look alive, we’ve got incoming.” With the shields down, the Battlecruiser had begun to bombard the surface again, laser beams streaking down through the atmosphere. All those people. Ba’el felt sick. This wasn’t supposed to happen again. Not again. “Captain, if you have an idea, I’m all ears,” Turner’s voice came over the comm system. Ba’el narrowly avoided a phaser beam that dropped like a shooting star from the ship above. He glanced down at the readouts on his console to confirm that they were on a secure line before he spoke, his eyes snapping back upwards to keep an eye out for another phaser beam. He told her what he had planned. Her response was almost immediate. “No way. It’s too risky.” “That’s the job, Commander. You know that.” “Fine. Then let me do it.” “No way. You don’t have the reflexes or the training. You’d blow up on impact. I practiced this a hundred times before doing it for real.” “And that was how many years ago? Sir.” “You let me worry about that.” By this time, they had reached the atmosphere. The Battlecruiser’s short range phaser banks began to target them as well, forcing the squadron to break formation and scatter. Ba’el sent his fighter through a tight curve, stars giving way to planet giving way to stars in his cockpit window. He jinked to avoid the incoming phaser beams, spinning and jukeing like an old boxer. Suddenly, a new voice came over the comm. “To all ships, this is Admiral Qwert.” The Ferengi! “The Klingons have brought down the planetary defence grids. We have three, repeat, three Birds-of-Prey in the lower atmosphere, firing on Ra’tleihfi, Val’danadex Trel and Dinalla. Ki Baratan is being bombarded by a Dominion Battlecruiser. If anyone can provide assistance, please respond. Repeat, to all ships, this is Admiral Qwert. The Klingons have…” Qwert’s voice was replaced by Turner’s. “Alright Starbursters, you heard the man. We have four bogies strafing the planet. We’re going to take them out.” “What about the other squadrons?” “How the hell are we supposed to take out a Dominion Battlecruiser?” “Captain Sarine has an idea on that, don’t you Captain?” Turner said, ignoring the first question. Ba’el keyed his own comm. “I can do it. I just need a couple of pilots to watch my back.” “Starburst 11, 12 and 13, you just volunteered. Form up on Captain Sarine and do whatever the hell he asks you to do.” Ba’el could almost hear the ‘no matter how crazy’ that she left unsaid. Ba’el led the three Hornets out of range of the Battlecruiser’s phaser banks. They flew into a triangle formation and dropped in behind him. All four of them watched as the rest of the squadron broke into three separate wings, then flared their thrusters. Each group headed in a different direction. Ba’el said a silent prayer for their success before he opened a channel to all three of his own wingmen. “What do you need us to do, Captain?” Again he explained his plan. There was a moment of silence then one of them spoke. “You’re kidding, right? He’s kidding, right?” “No Starburst 12, I’m not kidding. You keep those phasers off me, I’ll take care of the rest. You got me?” “Loud and clear, Captain. I just hope you know what you’re doing.” So do I, Ba’el thought as he began to make the necessary adjustements to his shields. So do I. Bridge USS Redemption “Repeat, to all ships, this is Admiral Qwert. The Klingons have brought down the…” “Shut that off,” Commander Kalara ordered. Jasto sliced a finger through the communication’s grid on his left, the broken holographic projection effectively severing the line. The Admiral’s voice was replaced by the sound of explosions as another volley from the Martok-class cruiser rocked the ship. Jasto spun his chair round to see the cruiser gaining on them. The Redemption was running, trying to lead the cruiser and its escorts away from the undefended construction yard. The plan seemed to be working, only too well. He turned round again and glanced over at Williams on the helm – she seemed totally concentrated on what she was doing, almost not blinking. The light of another volley striking the shields illuminated the bridge, catching her scars. He turned away, feeling sick. Thank the Caves that I just had my injection. At least he didn’t have to deal with Haebron’s screams. One of the Birds-of-Prey fired at them, a direct hit on the rear shields. L’wynd spoke up from her place at tactical. “Rear shields down to sixty percent.” Jasto was quite impressed at how well the shields were holding up, actually. One of Ezri Dax’s memories popped up, a memory of the Defiant during the Battle of Bajor, taking the same kind of pounding. He dismissed it, but a thought lingered. She was a good ship too, until that battle. He hoped the Redemption would have a kinder fate. A warning light on his display caught his attention. He slid the projection through the air with his palm, bringing the sensor readings to the fore. The strange readings seemed to be coming from Starbase 2. He glanced at them once, twice, a third time before he was sure of what he was seeing. “Commander, I’m picking up some strange readings coming from the starbase.” “I’m kind of busy right now, Lieutenant Dax.” “I know, sir, but I think you’re going to want to see these.” He crumpled the sensor readings off his readout into a ball of light in his palm, then threw it towards the Commander. She caught it, bringing her hand up to her headset to download the information. Moments later, he heard her gasp. “Turn us around.” “But Commander,” Astrid Williams began. “Turn us around, Lieutenant. Prepare to fire phasers.” The starfield in front of Jasto spun as Williams fired the thrusters, swinging the Redemption around to face the oncoming ships. The Klingon cruiser bore down upon them, flanked by three Birds-of-Prey. Kalara ordered L’wynd to fire all phasers, but Jasto knew before the tactical officer spoke that the damage would be minimal. Still, the barrage got them past the ships and kept the Klingons from inflicting any major damage of their own. The problem is, we just lost whatever lead we had over them. The construction yard reappeared in front of them now, with Starbase 2 hanging behind it. At least twenty-five percent of the construction docks – seven or eight of the spider-like bays – had been destroyed, along with the ships that had been under construction there. Jasto felt sick to the stomach at the thought of all of those engineers who must have died. Then his attention turned to the starbase. The other Martok-class cruiser was pounding her with everything she had – transphasic torpedoes, quantum torpedoes, phaser banks… As Jasto watched, he saw a phaser blast cut right through the shields, slicing into the station’s main hull, tearing off another few layers of her ablative armor. “But how are they firing through their shields?” “The Klingons must have the shield frequency harmonics.” “Why isn’t the station changing frequencies?” “Cut the chatter people,” Jasto ordered his Helm and Navigation officers. “Stay focused on…” Before he could say any more, a series of torpedoes struck the Starbase’s core. They must have hit a main energy relay, he thought. A vast explosion burst out of the side of the Starbase, extinguished almost immediately by the cold vacuum of space. Moments later, though, another cloud of fire and debris vented into space. Before Jasto could order them to increase speed, a pointless gesture anyway, Starbase 2 blew apart, scattering metal, fire and dead bodies in every direction.
Oh, my. Starbase 2 destroyed. That can't be good. Another excellent installment - intrigued by the character of L'wynd, looking forward to some more exposure for her and, I hope, an eventual visit to her homeworld at some point in the future.
This is a riveting battle sequence with well paced action. One wonders how this new fragile Federation will handle the destruction of one of it's most significant outposts and the presumed destruction of much of the surface of Romulus? Keep it coming!
Diogenes ROFL! Thanks! More tonight, I promise. FCF I take it you liked it then? Can't wait to see how you like the next two installments tenmei No, not good at all! Glad you liked L'wynd, we'll be seeing more of her as we go. Probably not going to be visiting her homeworld in the near future as I already have everything planned for Books 1 and 2. But for Book 3... Gibraltar Funny you should mention about how the Federation will handle it... That is exactly where I'm going with the next part of the story... Kes7 Ooh, naughty Klingons! Someone will pay. You'll see... Well, thanks again to all of you for your comments. Part 2 of this three-part special event coming tonight!
Loved the reference to the Vulcans, the description of the crystal being morphing, the battle and the death of the Defiant. Wonderful, exciting battle-edge of seat indeed! Damn you tell a good tale.
Good night! That was intense. Great job of writing the battle sequence - as others said, I was on the edge of my seat! Things are looking grim with Starbase 2 destroyed and the Klingons with the apparent upper-hand. I hope whatever plan Captain Ba'el has in mind can help turn the tide. He mentioned that it involved the warp core, so I'm expecting a lot of pyro-technics.
Mistral Wow! Thanks so much. I'm glad you picked up the reference to the Vulcans! and the death of the Defiant. Hope you enjoy tonight's installment TLR So glad to have so many people almost falling on the floor! As for Ba'el's plan... Not sure if it will be as pyrotechnic as you think but I'm hoping it will be cool! And as for turning the tide, Redemption is still out there remember! Next part coming soon!
I just read part one of your story.. I liked it a lot. I can't wait to see what Kovat wants to talk about...good teaser!!! Rob Scorpio
Look out for a special announcement on the future of Star Trek: Restoration tomorrow after Chapter 13. Chapter 12 Hornet-Class Fighter Romulus System “Captain, you may want to look at this.” Ba'el glanced up from his control board, irritated at the interruption. His anger was forgotten moments later when he saw Starbase 2 vanish in a vast explosion of white fire. The sight struck him like a punch to the gut, took his breath away. He had thought he had put all of this behind him – the death and destruction, the fear and the fury. Now, here he was again, watching who knew how many hundreds extinguished in a moment. "All those people," he heard one of the pilot's whisper over the intercom, echoing his own thoughts. We can’t mourn those people now. He forced himself to push his own feelings aside, infusing his next words with cold, calculated fury. "Stay focused, airman." "But they killed all those people..." "And they're going to kill a hell of a lot more unless we take out that Battlecruiser, you got me?" He waited for the chorus of 'Aye sirs’ to echo over the comm before he looked back down at his controls. The warp core pre-initialisation sequence was complete. Slowly, he brought the core online, playing with the flow matrix until he had a steady pulse. Then, taking a deep breath, he activated the core, creating a static warp bubble around the ship. He quietly thanked his former chief engineer. You see, Kane, I did learn something. He began to play with the bubble, realigning the flow regulators some more and reshaping it into a wedge-like shape that extended out in front of his ship. The bubble held for about ten seconds in this new configuration before collapsing. Ten seconds. More than enough time. As long as nothing goes wrong. He keyed the intership comm line. Time to do this. "Alright Starbursts, form up." Following his instructions, the three pilots used their guidance thrusters to move their Hornets into a triangle pattern in front of him, one above and two below. Moments later, their shields began to expand, invisible until they met in a sparking, spitting confluence of energy. All three fields merged just in front of Ba'el's fighter. "Captain, our shields are being severely weakened by this expansion. I don't know how protected we'll be going in there." A hell of a lot more than I will be, Ba'el thought. For this to work, he was going to have to go in completely shieldless, or the protective energy barrier would interfere with the warp bubble. Before he could say anything, though, another of the pilots gasped. "Oh my God, look at that." Ba'el twisted his head around and saw both Martok-class cruisers pursuing the Redemption through the construction yard. The beautiful ship had already taken a hell of a pounding, her hull pitted and scoured by the Klingons’ phaser banks. Even without sensors, Ba'el could tell that the ship - his ship - wasn't going to hold out much longer. Still, she was giving as good as she got. The pilot twisted the ship past a dock, so close she must have scratched the paint work. The ship’s rear phasers struck a direct hit on the nearest cruiser’s forward shields. He forced himself to turn away. "Alright, enough chit-chat, people. Looks like we're out of time. Set course 293 mark 42 and engage impulse drives at full on my mark. Stay on target until I give the word, then break as fast as you can. And be ready to blow that son of a bitch to the Seven Hells when her shields come down." Once the three pilots had confirmed their orders, Ba’el checked his own systems one last time. Once he was sure he was ready, he allowed his hand to hover over the impulse drive controls. He gazed out the window at the Battlecruiser, her weapon’s array blazing. Here goes nothing. “Engage,” he ordered, his hand activating the impulse drive a few seconds later. All four ships surged forward at almost the same moment, managing to maintain a steady distance one from the other. Ba’el checked his systems again - at full impulse, they would reach the leading edge of the Battlecruiser’s shields in about 95 seconds. With the cruiser’s full phaser banks firing at them, though, those 95 seconds were going to seem like hours. After a few seconds of calm and quiet, phased energy splashed across green shielding with rare fury. The shields sparked and expanded, but they seemed to be holding. For now. Ba’el glanced at the chrono. 75 seconds left. “Stay on target,” he ordered as one of the fighters was hit by a more powerful blast and almost fell out of formation. The man quickly compensated, his fighter coming back into line with the others. 60 seconds. “My shields are weakening,” Starbust 12 yelled over the comm. Ba’el realized that he didn’t know any of their names. They were risking their lives for him and he hadn’t even asked them their names. 50 seconds. “I’ve got buckling in my impulse drive,” Starburst 11 shouted in turn. Ba’el glanced at his sensor readings and saw that the drive was having trouble compensating for the incoming barrage. “Maintain your course and speed,” Ba’el snapped. 45 seconds. A torpedo struck the shield, then another, the impact rocking the three fighters back. Somehow they stayed in formation. Ba’el swerved, sending his own fighter through a loop in space to avoid them, before dropping back into formation behind. All three fighters were wavering and Ba’el could see Starburst 12’s impulse engines begin to spark. 30 seconds. “I can’t hold it,” Starburst 12 screamed. “I’m going to lose it.” “Stay your course, airman. You hear me? Stay your course!” “But my drive is going to blow!” “If you drop out of formation, I’ll shoot you myself,” he snapped. 15 seconds. “My shields are failing. I’m out of power.” “Power down your life support and shunt the power to shields,” Ba’el ordered. “Your mask will keep you breathing for the next few minutes.” Before she could follow his advice, one of the phaser blasts tore through her weakened shields. Her fighter exploded in a maelstrom of metal and fire. Bael swerved out of the way, taking refuge behind the two remaining fighters. He glanced at the chrono. 5 seconds. 4. 3. 2. “Pull out, pull out, pull out!” Both remaining ships disengaged, scrambling away from impact with the shield. Ba’el didn’t have time to check whether they got away. He waited until the last possible moment, then brought his warp core online. With a scream of highly charged particles, the static warp bubble appeared around his fighter. The tip of the wedge intersected perfectly with the very edge of the Battlecruiser’s shield. Acting as a bridge through subspace, the bubble split through the shield and carried Ba’el and his fighter through to the other side. Bridge USS Redemption Between Romulus and Remus With both Martok-class cruisers in hot pursuit, Redemption raced towards the angry red globe of Remus, leading the enemy ships away from the construction yards again. Every hit sent shudders through the invisible deck plating, every burst from the phaser banks bringing the shields that much closer to total collapse. A few of the smaller localized generators had been destroyed already, leaving the armoured hull plating to take the brunt of the attacks, but even that was peeling away or burning off, leaving nothing but bulkheads between the crew of the Restoration-class vessel and the cold harsh death of vacuum. “Commander, we can’t take much more of this!” Dax called from Ops as L’wynd returned fire. Kalara gritted her teeth, gripping the railing and trying to stay on her feet. One Martok-class cruiser might have been a decent match for the ship. Two… She needed to even the odds. Her father had served aboard a Martok-class cruiser during the last days of the Resistance. He had died on one. What had he told her about them? She had to think of something before these p’tagh blew her ship and her crew out from under her feet. “Can we lose them in the atmosphere?” “Negative sir. I doubt we’d be able to hold out until we reach the planet, and even if we did, they could follow us down.” Kalara growled. She had known that. What was the matter with her? She had been in battles before. What was so different about this one? Even as she asked herself the question, she realized what the answer was. The difference was Damien. He was down there somewhere, locked in their quarters by the red alert order, feeling every impact and hearing every explosion, waiting for her to save them all. She was worried about protecting him and it was affecting her ability to make decisions. What would my father have done? What would Kovoth do? She wracked her brains, trying to dredge up the slightest hint, the tiniest story, that would give her an edge. Then, with a flash of insight, she had it. Not even bothering to run around the railing, she simply vaulted over the top, landing in the middle of the Pit. L’wynd looked up at her in surprise, but she ignored the tactical officer, racing over to Dax instead. “We’re about twenty seconds away from losing aft shields completely, Captain,” the Crystat shouted after her. “Forward shields are…” “Not now,” Kalara snapped over her shoulder. She dropped into a crouch beside Dax. “Lieutenant, I need you to prepare a subspace pulse, modulated to this exact frequency,” she typed the numbers into the ops station, “and targeted at these coordinates.” When Dax saw the place Kalara was pointing, he looked as if he was going to object, but one glance at Kalara’s face convinced him to simply obey the order. She stood over his shoulder as he prepared the pulse, realigning the subspace emitter and rerouting power through the relays. Once it was done, he looked back at her and nodded. Kalara turned to Williams at the helm. “Lieutenant Williams, bring us around to face the nearest cruiser.” The words had barely left her mouth before the ship had already begun spinning on its axis, only the artificial gravity keeping them all from being hurled through the nearest bulkhead. The ‘cruiser filled the screen, already unleashing another holocaust of phased energy at the now oncoming Redemption. The bridge erupted in fire and smoke. Flames clawed at work stations and half the holographic emitters failed, revealing the blackened plating of the bridge’s walls. One of the security officers was thrown over the railing – Kalara glimpsed Doctor Molak rushing down the steps, tricorder in hand. She turned back to the forward view and snarled. “Fire the pulse.” The Klingon cruisers bore down on them, weapons blazing. Kalara knew that this was their only chance. She clenched her hand into a fist, her fingernails biting into her flesh. A red electric pulse leapt from beneath the saucer section, striking at the exact coordinates she had indicated, just below the nearest cruiser’s bridge. “Sir,” L’wynd exclaimed, obviously astonished. “Their shields. They’re down.” Thank you Father. Kalara smiled. “Fire at will.” As Williams tried to evade the other ship’s fire, L’wynd fired everything they had. Phaser banks cast lances of red fury, torpedo launchers hurled power that defied quantum physics, all aimed at the oncoming ship. Every shot counted and every shot drilled into the Klingon ship. She spun out of control, dropping out of the pursuit, dead in the water. “That”s one down,” Dax shouted out. He paused, a strange look on his face, then he shook his head. “We did it, Captain.” Kalara allowed herself a tight smile, deciding not to correct him for her rank. “One being the operative word, Lieutenant. There’s another one to go.” As if in response, the other ‘cruiser, K’mpak’s cruiser, fired a volley of torpedoes that caught the Redemption as she attempted to spin out of the way. The ship seemed as if she was going to shake apart. This is far from over, she thought. She looked down at Dax. “Lieutenant. Prepare another subspace pulse.” Looking back up at the ship, she hoped that the trick would work just as well a second time. Hornet-Class Starfighter Dominion Battlecruiser Romulus Orbit Ba'el flew so close to the Battlecruiser's ventral hull that he could almost see through her viewports. He kept a tight hold on the controls - a single deviation up or down would send him crashing into the shield or the hull. Neither option seemed particularly inviting. At least not before he had finished what he had started. He jinked to the left to avoid one of the phaser cannons, increasing his aft shield strength just in case it managed to get off a lucky shot. One thing he had learned during the Occupation was that a Dominion Battlecruiser's short range sensors were pitiful. If one of the Klingons wanted to pick him off, they were going to have to do it by line of sight. As soon as he was out of range, he shunted the power back to the forward shields in anticipation of the next cannon. Swinging up and around the side of the 'cruiser, he caught a glimpse of his target - the shield generators surrounding the ship's engineering section. He juked to the left, then dove down even closer to the hull, raking the hull plates with phaser fire. With a quick twist of the controls, he brought the nose up until he could see the mushroom like generators. Squeezing the trigger, he launched one, two, three torpedoes at the generators, twisting away at the last second to avoid a pot-shot from a nearby cannon. His controls lit up green. He pulled the fighter's nose around again to see both generators reduced to nothing more than smoking ruins. Gripping the controls, Ba'el sent his fighter spinning through a hail of debris, allowing his sensors to guide him up and out of the breach in the shields. Stars whirled in the cockpit viewer. He had done it! As he went to toggle on the intership comm, he felt something hit him from behind, throwing him forward in his restraints. Electricity raced across his console and the smell of ozone filled the cabin. He looked down at his readouts. He'd lost everything but propulsion and basic helm control. No weapons, no shields. One more lucky shot and he was dead. "That's it," he shouted, finally turning the comm system on. "Fire." Nothing happened. He glanced out at the view, then down at his sensors. Nothing. All three of the fighters were gone. They had all been destroyed. The hole was there, but there was no one to take advantage of it. No one but me. He realised what he had to do. Strangely, he felt at peace with the idea. Flipping over, he brought the nose of the fighter back towards the 'cruiser. If he struck the engineering section at full impulse, he should burst straight through the hull. The explosion would take out the core. Before he could engage the drive, though, a volley of torpedoes flashed by his cockpit. He glanced back at his sensor screen and saw a single fighter coming in hot. "Thought you might need some help, Joker," Commander Turner's voice came over the com system. Ba'el did not think he had ever heard a more welcome sound. “Thanks.” The torpedoes burst through the hole in the shields, piercing the hull and exploding in a vast plume of fire. As Ba’el had hoped, the explosion of the core caused a chain reaction. Fire erupted all over the ship’s hull, plumes reaching out into space like solar flares. The ship was tearing herself apart from the inside. Ba’el did not wait to see the result. He turned his fighter around, engaging the impulse drive to carry him away from the dying ship as quickly as possible. In his rear sensor feed, he saw Turner fall in behind him. She hailed him. “What now?” Ba’el searched the stars for Redemption. He saw her, speeding away from the blackened hull of a Klingon cruiser. She got one, he thought proudly. The other ‘cruiser was in pursuit. Turning his fighter towards them, he shunted as much power as he could from the dead systems towards the impulse drive. “Now, we save my ship.”
*Whew* That was a nail-biter, and it's not even close to being over yet. Turner's timing is spot-on, and Ba'el has proven to have nerves of neutronium. I very much appreciated Kalara's moment of self-analysis when she discovers the thing hampering her instincts in battle is her feelings for her husband and her concern for his safety. Nice to see that gives even a Klingon warrior pause. Pray continue, sir!
Part 2 Loved the dialog between Kalara and Damien..AND..the 'aftermath' sex scene..anyway, love the story because you are making 3-d characters... Rob