The Adventures of Jean-Luc Picard
The Battle of Maxia
by Jasjit Singh
(jasjit@uranium.dashmail.net)

The Battle of Maxia

New Federation Journal of Studies
Issue 375, Volume IX
New Federation Institute of Historical Preservation,
San Francisco, Old Federation Headquarters, Earth.

Dear Reader,

Being a professor of antiquity, I have dedicated my life to the study of history and archeology. These studies often included the histories of celebrated persons, both in military and civilian life. It is, after all, these people who shape the course of human history. I have been especially interested in the history of the Old Federation, and of the particular men and women who served in Starfleet. They were dedicated individuals who sacrificed their lives for the beliefs and principles of the Federation. I found this record from an old abandoned database, which contained log entries of one such man. A Captain. He, among many others, were the pioneers of the freedom we now enjoy. I hereby reproduce the following account from his memoirs. I do this, so that we may know and appreciate his sacrifice.

Jared Enzo,
Professor of History,
New Federation Institute of Studies

The Maxia Zeta Incident
Being a reprint from the logs and memoirs of Jean Luc Picard

Now that my retirement is almost complete, I find myself compelled to tell what happened. I am recording, in my personal journal, the events that transpired on board the U.S.S Stargazer. We had just escaped from the Nensi phenomenon, and had lost several members of our crew. I had taken command of the ship after the Captain, and my friend, Walker Keel, had been killed in an encounter with the Romulans. After escaping from the Romulans, we were caught in the Nensi phenomenon, which claimed the life of Jack Crusher. I was then burdened with the unenviable duty of giving the sorrowful news to his wife, Beverly. We still had several days before our scheduled rendez-vous with the space station where Beverly was stationed. I wanted to give her the news in person, when we delivered the body. I felt that it was my repsonsibility. Jack had died while carrying out orders under my command. Therefore I took personal responsibility for his untimely passing. And it weighed upon me heavily.

We were travelling through the Maxia Zeta star system at Warp two because our warp nacelle's were still at low efficiency after being exposed to the Nensi phenomenon for so long.

That was when the unidentified starship appeared. Our sensors had not shown anything, so it came as a surprise to us. It must have been lying in some deep moon crater -- that is probably why we were not able to detect it before.

It was of an unknown configuration, we had nothing like it in Starfeelt databases. For one moment, I thought that here was an opportunity for First Contact. But that hope quickly perished.

I had opened a communications channel to the unidentified ship, and was identifying us to the ship, when they opened fire on us, at point blank range. The first attack hit our shields.

Our shields were severely weakened. The vessel refused to identify itself, and we had to defend ourselves. My weapons officer, Vego, reported that it was preparing to come in for a second attack. If we lost sheilds, we would be destroyed. I had little choice. My starship was disabled, and shields were almost gone.

I remember vehemence at this unprovoked attack. I did not want any more members of my crew to die. There had been enough deaths on this mission. I was determined not to let the unidentified starship destroy us. I remember shouting over the open comm channel. I warned them not to attack again. I said that we were on a peaceful mission, and demanded that they give their identity.

But they did not. They continued on their attack vector.

I asked for a damage report. The fusion generator was under surge control, and power systems were failing. There was a fire on the bridge, all around. I remember the thick, black, stinging smoke. It was like a blanket that obscured everything.

I had to think, and act quickly. I asked Vego if he could get a sensor bearing on the attacking ship. He could. The enemy vessel was now coming into the return arc.

That was when I executed the maneuver which has come to be known as the "Picard maneuver", although I fail to see why it has been so popularized. At the time, it was the only option left open to me. Granted, it had never been attempted before, and it was a risky maneuver, but we were dead otherwise.

I had taken the helm of the Stargazer, and what I did in those next few seconds as the enemy vessel came in for the kill was crucial. I dropped into high warp, stopped right off the enemy vessels bow, and fired with everything I had. I remember those tense seconds as clearly as I remember the morning sun. I ordered Vego to set mean bearing on the hostile ship. Vego reported that it was seven parts nineteen. I had to consider. I had to consider.

I vaguely remember one of my crew asking if she should arm phasors. I was non-responsive. I had to consider. She asked me again. This time, I had it. I ordered phasors ready, and lock. Stand by on Warp nine, I had ordered, heading seven seven mark twenty. Engage. Steady. Now reverse and stop. Phasors fire! Torpedoes away!

The effect of the Picard maneuver was that the Stargazer, for just a fraction of a second, appeared in two places at once, and the enemy had to decide which one was the real Stargazer, and which one was the residual image from the warp jump. At least it increased our chances of survival by fifty percent.

As it so happened, the enemy vessel chose the wrong Stargazer to fire upon.

We did destroy the enemy, thus neutralizing the threat to the Stargazer. But I have often wondered at what cost. I felt a certain sense of remorse at destroying an entire vessel, an entire crew. Even if they were firing upon us. I could not help but feel that there might have been another way, a peaceful solution, if I had acted differently, more lives might have been saved.

On fire, we had to abandon ship. We limped through Space in emergency shuttlecrafts for weeks before we were located and picked up by Starfleet.

And the matter of the incident at the Maxia Zeta Star system did not end there. You can well imagine my surprise when, nine years later, a Ferengi ship came into contact with me aboard my new command, the U.S.S Enterprise. The Ferengi, I had since learned, were of the unidentified vessel that had attacked the Stargazer so many years before. The commander of this vessel which approached the Enterprise was a certain Daimon Bok, and it was his son that had been commanding the Ferengi vessel that attacked the Stargazer and my crew.

As it so happened, Daimon Bok, and his First Officer, Kazhago, had somehow recovered the derelict Stargazer, and presented it to me as a gift, seemingly as a token of goodwill. They also referred to me as "the hero of Maxia", which was puzzling. As it turned out, goodwill gestures were the last thing on Bok's mind; he instead wanted to avenge his sons death at "the battle of Maxia". Ah, but then that is quite another story altogether.

And so I leave you now, with the last log entry that I made as Captain of the Stargazer, with a wistful sadness, for the only ship I ever lost in battle, was the one that I shall have the fondest memories of:

"Captain's Log, final entry. After an unprovoked attack by an unidentified hostile vessel, we are forced to abandon our starship. She has been our protection in times of turmoil, and has carried us in safety through death's dark door. She is a fine ship. May she find her way without us."

The End

"The Battle Of Maxia"
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© Jasjit Singh, January 2000