Anthology
Fallen Heroes - Part 1
by Alex Lampe
(alex.lampe@wanadoo.nl)
Fallen Heroes - Part 1
CHAPTER I
Cap. Duvivier makes a log entry, sitting in his ready room onboard his ship, the Kennedy-B.
Captain Mathieu Duvivier is a not-too-tall man in his late thirties. His curly brown hair with few grey streaks accents his soft facial features. Though the Captain has a friendly face, his command presence is undeniable.
"Captain's log." Cap. Duvivier says. "Stardate 57485.7. The Altonoids and Lo‹dians have kept their selves in the background for a few months now, after they were caught 'red-handed' by our Security Officer and Q when they attempted to alter history to their favor. Well... At least they never did anything hostile again since then. Not even one conflict... I can't help but feel a bit doubtful about the upcoming diplomatic talk with them. We, and the rest of our small fleet, are to rendezvous with several Altonoids-ships at Station A-12, a station located near the Federation-Altonoid neutral zone."
"We've arrived, Captain." Cmdr. Jansen says as he barges in.
Commander Grad Jansen is notably taller than his Captain, but he lacks the command presence of Captain Duvivier. Partly to blame is his youthful appearance, his completely harmless face and that too perfect hair-cut...
"You could've rang, Grad..." Cap. Duvivier says as he stands up.
"I'm sorry, Captain." Cmdr. Grad Jansen says. "But I am a bit agitated by this whole situation. Sure, it's a diplomatic mission. But I really don't trust those Altonoids..."
"We have no reason to..." Cap. Duvivier sighs. "But we will have to, for now... It's our only way of ever reaching peace."
Cmdr. Jansen sighs and looks the other way.
"Speak freely, Number One." Cap. Duvivier says. Cmdr. Jansen looks back and replies:
"I'm not sure whether the Altonoids want peace... at all... I recommend extreme caution."
"We will soon find out." Cap. Duvivier says. "There is one thing that worries me too, though. Captain Rinckes is also present..."
"You still dislike him for closing the escape pod's door in front of your mother..." Cmdr. Jansen states. "That's over thirteen years ago, isn't it time t..."
"Does time make up for what he did?!" Cap. Duvivier says, fiercer than the calm Captain normally does.
"He had to make the decision." Cmdr. Jansen says. "Close the hatch and don't save your mother, but the occupants of the escape pod. Or risk all the lives of the occupants for your mother's life. A command decision, Mathieu." Cap. Duvivier looks Jansen straight in the eyes, but doesn't say a word...
* * * * *
The three Federation ships (the Wolf, the Kennedy and the Sundance) drop out of warp.
The bridge crew of the USS Wolf (Akira-class) are staring at the viewscreen. They see the rather small (about 500 meters in height), unarmed space station, with two Explory-class Altonoid ships flanked by two Altonoid-class ships aside of it.
Admiral Coen van Aken sits in the middle of the modern bridge, looking at his officers. There's his First Officer, Commander Dennis Levine, who looks like a surfer with his blond hair that's barely short enough to be within regulations, and his omnipresent smile that is destined to melt many alien hearts. There's his Operations Officer, young Lieutenant Stephanie Grant. His Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Leif Anderson, who doesn't look half as Swedish as he is, with his patented worried but dutiful look. There's the Science Officer, Ensign Daniels, just transferred from the Enterprise-E. And of course the Admiral himself. Admiral Coen van Aken looks a lot younger than he actually is. Just the touches of grey in his short, red hair betray that he's fifty years old.
"USS Kennedy and USS Sundance are standing by, Admiral." Lt. Stephanie Grant says, while pressing some buttons on her console.
"Well... It's time to beam down to the st..." Admiral van Aken says, but the ship suddenly goes to red alert.
"Altonoid vessels are arming weapons!" Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson shouts.
"What the hell?!" Adm. van Aken shouts.
"They are hailing us." Lt. Grant says, agitated.
"On screen!" Van Aken says.
An Altonoid appears on the viewscreen. Altonoids are instantly recognizable by their outrageous haircuts and the fact that their heads are covered with multiple rings and piercings. They all have this air of charismatic arrogance surrounding them. Especially this guy.
"You Federation scum! I should've known!" The Altonoid says. "You have no interest in peace! You just want payback for what happened in the past!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Admiral van Aken says. "We have done nothing to provoke your hostile posture."
"Ow no?!" The Altonoid says. "And what about the cloaked USS Sattelite's presence?"
This is a classic example of a trip question. The Sattelite is indeed present and cloaked, but the Altonoids could just be guessing about its presence, meaning an affirmation of this accusation would give away the Federation's back-up plan and force them to admit they violated the treaty of Algeron. Or the Altonoids could have somehow picked up the Sattelite with their sensors. Denying its presence would then mean that the Altonoids know that Coen van Aken is lying, deeming all further negotiations pointless... A tricky one... Van Aken decides to be as diplomatic as possible.
"We are sorry for that..." He sighs. "But we did need a back-up plan."
"You are willing to neglect one of your own treaties in order to do this?" The Altonoid says.
"We are really sorry." Admiral van Aken says. "But we've done this before, and it saved the entire Federation when you invaded our space with a large, cloaked fleet. We had to take our precautions."
The Altonoid is furious.
"You do not trust us!?" The Altonoid shouts indignant.
"Trust is earned." Admiral van Aken says. "I deeply regret this situation. We should've been more fair, despite what happened in the past."
"At least you seem to be honest... However, we must request the immediate departure of the USS Sattelite..." The Altonoid says. "And we will discuss this event later today."
"That is reasonable." Admiral van Aken says.
"Prepare beaming down. But I warn you!" And the Altonoid raises his index finger. "No more surprises! Letor Fune out."
Admiral van Aken sighs.
"That was close... And it even hasn't officially begun yet..." He says.
* * * * *
On the bright bridge of the USS Sundance (Prometheus-class), the present crew can see the USS Sattelite (Defiant-class) uncloak and warp away:
"Altonoid weapons are powering down." Lt. Broitz (Bolian Tactical Officer) says.
"Thank goodness..." The very pretty Cmdr. Melanie Simons says. "Not a good start of our diplomatic meeting, is it?"
"No... But let's hope things will finally be different at the station." Cap. Stephan Rinckes says. He appears to be a bit nervous.
Captain Stephan Rinckes looks very charismatic and militaristic. He's a tall, strong man in his mid forties. His hard face makes anyone follow his orders without a single doubt. He has this constant stare in his narrow eyes which makes him look like there are more things going on inside his mind than anyone is allowed to understand. But this time, the look is different. He looks nervous, more human.
"Beam-down to the station is commencing." Cmdr. Simons says, after pressing some buttons of a station at the side of the bridge. Cap. Rinckes rises up from his Captain's chair.
"You have the bridge, Mr. Broitz. Cmdr. Simons, if you'd please follow me to transporter room 3." Cap. Rinckes says as he walks over to the turbolift. Cmdr. Simons enters the turbolift just after Rinckes has entered it. Cap. Rinckes seems to be more nervous now.
"Good luck, Captain!" Lt. Broitz says.
"Thanks." Cap. Rinckes says, with a slightly higher pitched voice than normal, and he looks at Cmdr. Simons. She just stares at the bridge, not knowing that the Captain is looking at her. The turbolift doors close...
The remainder of the bridge crew all can't suppress a smile.
* * * * *
"You have the bridge, Sivar." Cap. Duvivier says on the bridge of the Sovereign-class USS Kennedy, as he and Cmdr. Jansen enter the turbolift.
"Yes sir." The Vulcan Science Officer Sivar says as he leaves his station [which is taken over immediately by an eager Ensign who will probably die very quickly] and sits down on the Captain's chair.
"There's a first time for everything." Doctor Rose van Oers says when she looks to her right, and sees Sivar sitting on the Captain's chair.
The Doctor is a bit of an enigmatic character, with more change in hairstyle and hair color than your average Risian chameleon bird. She is highly regarded in Starfleet, which is shown by her high rank of Commander. She's a skilled doctor and her patients are very fond of her.
"Although I have commanded this ship before, logic dictates your typical human phrase supports the fact that this is the first time I have commanded a starship during a diplomatic meeting." Lt. Sivar says.
"Bet he can't say that five times in a row." Helm Officer Lt. Malin whispers to OPS Officer Lt. Sven Muntenaar, who grins at the thought.
The young, blonde Trill Lt. Malin and the somewhat older, strong Lieutenant First Class Sven Muntenaar with his pitch-black hair look complete opposites of each other. But they get along just fine behind their stations in front of the bridge.
* * * * *
Cmdr. Jansen and Cap. Duvivier enter transporterroom 2 of the USS Kennedy and step onto the platform.
"This is going to be fun..." Cap. Duvivier says as he looks at Jansen with a meaningful look on his face.
"Energize..." Cap. Duvivier sighs. The transporterroom dissolves around them and is replaced by the quite large transporterroom of the station.
Some nasty looking Altonoids await them.
"This way please." One of them says.
"It looks like the Altonoids have taken over the station." Cmdr. Jansen whispers to Cap. Duvivier as softly as possible, while they follow the Altonoids. Cap. Duvivier grins.
"Already?" He whispers back. "I thought the takeover wasn't scheduled 'till after the buffet."
They both smile.
The Altonoids lead them to the main conference hall of the station. The room is quite large, with two exits. The one they came through, and across the hall there's another one. To the left they see the Federation and Altonoid flags hanging on the wall, with a large viewscreen in between. To the right they see a huge window, and the Altonoid and Federation vessels are visible through it. In the middle of the large room, there's a rather large conference table. Plenty of room for everyone. Besides enough tables and chairs, there are also some buffet carts with tasty food present.
Apart from the six Federation officers, there are about fifteen Altonoids in the room. Not all of them seem to be diplomats. Letor Fune is among them too. They met him earlier today...
Cap. Duvivier and Cmdr. Jansen walk over to Admiral van Aken and his First Officer Cmdr. Dennis Levine.
"This place really gives me the creeps." Cmdr. Levine says to the Admiral.
"Surprising how over a dozen of Altonoids can turn a Federation station into a 'creepy' place, Commander Levine." Cmdr. Jansen says [of course as there are no Altonoids in the near vicinity].
Cap. Rinckes, holding a cup of egg punch in his hand, sees the group from the other side of the room, waves and walks towards the group in order to join them.
"A dozen of Altonoids and Captain Rinckes..." Cap. Duvivier softly says.
"Did you say something, Duvivier?" Adm. van Aken says. Cap. Duvivier shakes his head.
"Anyway. I think we'd better break up." Van Aken continues. "Try to speak with the Altonoids. Show some goodwill."
Cap. Rinckes joins the group. At that moment the group disperses to seek an Altonoid who is willing to talk with, leaving Cap. Rinckes alone.
"Egg punch anyone?" He says to thin air.
* * * * *
The Federation officers attempt to have conversations with the Altonoids. With the following results:
"Do you come here often?" Admiral van Aken asks an Altonoid in an attempt to break the ice. The Altonoid just gazes back like the Admiral is completely retarded.
"And then the monkey told the Bolian..." Cmdr. Levine laughs. The Altonoid looks at his bowl of egg punch, contemplating whether or not he should empty it on Levine's head.
"You don't happen to have a knife on you?" Cap. Duvivier asks another Altonoid while Duvivier attempts to remove a claw of a lobster. The Altonoid looks at Cap. Duvivier, thinking: 'is this a trick question?'
"Or a phaser?" Cmdr. Jansen asks/jokes when he sees his Captain struggling with the lobster.
The Altonoid walks away, shaking his head.
* * * * *
Cmdr. Simons on the other hand doesn't seem to be having problems conversing with the Altonoids. Several Altonoids have formed a group around the pretty, blonde Commander. One might wonder why...
Cap. Rinckes observes it, sitting behind a buffet cart, with a touch of jealousy.
"I wish they'd stop hanging all over her..." He mutters as he stabs his fork in a plate of tuna salad. At least, that's what he intended to do. He is so distracted by the Altonoid-Cmdr. Simons situation that the fork misses the plate and hits an unsuspecting Altonoid -who just wanted to pick up his glass of water from the cart- in the hand.
Cap. Rinckes apologizes and walks over to the Cmdr. Simons-group.
The Altonoid curses and pulls the fork out of his hand...
"Commander. Do you have a moment." Cap. Rinckes says. Cmdr. Simons turns around and smiles at Stephan Rinckes. Cap. Rinckes swallows, nearly chokes and coughs.
"Could you follow me please." Cap. Rinckes continues with a higher pitched voice.
"Sure." Cmdr. Simons says. "Bye guys." They walk away and Simons waves at the Altonoids.
"Those Altonoids are nicer than I thought." She says as they exit the large room.
"Just wait 'till they meet your mother..." Cap. Rinckes softly says.
* * * * *
"Everything seems to be running smoothly." Lieutenant Commander Henry Wilson [commander of the station] says, in the command room of the space station.
The command room looks like the bridge of a starship, and contains five officers at present:
Lt. Cmdr. Wilson, Security Officer Lieutenant First Class Natalie Wyobi, and three no-name Ensigns.
"The security teams should've checked in five minutes ago." Lt. Wyobi says. "Odd..."
"It's probably nothing, Lieutenant." Lt. Cmdr. Wilson says.
"I suppose you're right." Lt. Wyobi says. "They must be very busy maintaining the safety of this station. There are roughly 200 Starfleet Officers plus the Federation-Altonoid delegation to protect. I'll give them some more time."
* * * * *
Cmdr. Simons and Cap. Rinckes walk down the hallway and come to a halt on a quiet spot. There don't seem to be any people in the corridors at all.
"There has been something I've been wanting to tell you all along." Cap. Rinckes says.
"Another poem?" Cmdr. Simons answers and smiles. Cap. Rinckes laughs a forced [and painfully fake] laugh.
"No... I've wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I never got around to it, and..." Cap. Rinckes says.
* * * * *
"Strange..." Lt. Wyobi says. "My internal sensor readings indicate nothing unusual."
"And that is strange?" Lt. Cmdr. Wilson asks.
"Yes it is. Normally, there are some random energy peaks in the sensor swoops. But now they all occur in an exact interval of 4.7 seconds.' Lt. Wyobi says. "Very strange..."
* * * * *
"...after the poem incident I've lost all my confidence..." Cap. Rinckes continues.
* * * * *
"These readings are so consistent," Lt. Wyobi says while reading from her console, "that you would almost say that they are fake."
"Why would anyone create fake sensor readings for the security sca..." Lt. Cmdr. Wilson says. He looks at Lt. Wyobi in terror when he realizes what the answer is. Lt. Wyobi turns to face Wilson and look back. But her terrified look turns into a painful look, after a phaser beam hits her in the chest. She falls off her chair. Dead... Lt. Cmdr. Wilson jumps off his chair and turns around. A group of armed-to-the-teeth Altonoids exit the turbolift. They blast the three no-name Ensigns, who all collapse, leaving only Lt. Cmdr. Wilson alive.
* * * * *
"But what it all comes down to is this:..." Cap. Rinckes says.
* * * * *
Lt. Cmdr. Wilson looks at the dead crewmen and then at the Altonoids.
"RED ALERT!!!" He shouts.
* * * * *
"I love..." Cap. Rinckes says, but suddenly the entire station goes to red alert. The lights dim slightly and red alert panels light up on the bulkheads.
"Hell!" Cap. Rinckes curses.
"You love... hell?" Cmdr. Simons asks.
* * * * *
Lt. Cmdr. Wilson runs over to the Security station in front of the bridge, and presses some buttons, opening a com channel throughout the entire station. The Altonoids don't know what he's doing. One of the Altonoids wants to shoot him nevertheless.
"No!" Another Altonoid says. It can be heard throughout the entire station.
* * * * *
"Did you hear that?" Cap. Rinckes says.
"Yes. You just took me to these corridors to tell me you love hell?" Cmdr. Simons asks.
"No. Listen." Cap. Rinckes says and he points to the roof. The Altonoid voice is clearly audible everywhere on the station:
"Our orders are to only shoot the Security and Engineering Officers, plus all officers below the rank of Lieutenant Commander. The rest we will have to hold hostag... What is this? He opened a com channel, the stupid Federation idiot. Secure him!"
* * * * *
They could also hear it in the conference room. The Altonoids in that room grab a weapon from their uniforms. And an additional eight Altonoids enter the room. Fully armed...
"What the jellybeans?!" Cap. Duvivier shouts.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Admiral van Aken shouts.
The Altonoids are silent. They just point their rifles at the four Starfleet Officers.
"Sit down!" Letor Fune orders.
"Shouldn't there be six of them?" Another Altonoid [with a bandage on his left hand] says, pointing at the Federation quartet.
"Find the other two!" Letor Fune orders again.
"That's really like Captain Rinckes. Running off like that..." Cap. Duvivier says. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's somehow involved with this entire situation..."
"You're saying Captain Rinckes is a traitor?" Adm. van Aken says.
"I'm saying I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be one." Cap. Duvivier says.
"And I'm saying we have bigger concerns here!" Cmdr. Jansen says, pointing at the heavily armed Altonoids who point their guns at the Starfleet officers.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Kennedy:
"Some kind of deflector shield has formed around the station, preventing beaming in or out!" Lt. Muntenaar says.
"Why would they do th..." Lt. Malin asks. But the Chief Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Steven Appels, interrupts her.
"The Altonoid ships are raising their shields!" Lt. Appels shouts.
"I'm no expert in diplomatic meetings..." Dr. Van Oers says with a touch of sarcasm as she looks at the viewscreen. "But I don't think this is supposed to happen..."
"You are correct, Doctor." Lt. Sivar says. "The present occurring events are not enviable."
"What do we do?!" Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman, the Kennedy's Chief Engineer asks.
"We await the decision of the lead ship, which is in this case:" Lt. Sivar says as he frowns. "The USS Wolf."
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Wolf:
"We must act now, Commander!" Lt. Stephanie Grant says.
"Ease off, Stephanie." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says [who is in charge of the Wolf plus the fleet (Kennedy, Sundance, Wolf) now that its flag officers are held captive at the station]. "Hail them..."
"They're already transmitting a message, sir. They're sending it to Starbase 9." Lt. Grant says.
"Put it on screen anyway." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says.
Letor Fune, standing in the conference hall with the four Starfleet Officers behind him, appears on the viewscreen.
"This is Letor Fune representing all Altonoids. We have taken over Station A-12 and are holding this area's most important flag officers hostage, plus the entire crews of the station and the three accompanying Federation ships, including Admiral Coen van Aken and Captain Mathieu Duvivier. We will kill and destroy them all if you do not obey our demands. Our demands are simple: retreat all Federation and S'Prenn activity in this region of space. We demand the dismantling of all your starbases along the Altonoid Neutral Zone and you signing one of OUR treaties that will makes sure you'll never bug us again. Obey these demands, or the hostages will die. We'll give you five hours to decide. Letor Fune out."
* * * * *
The bridge crews of the Sundance and Kennedy also watched the message.
Lt. Sivar stares at the viewscreen from his Captain's chair, aboard the Kennedy.
"Fascinating..." He frowns.
"We have a situation on our hands..." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman sighs.
"We have indeed." Lt. Appels says. "The Altonoid vessels are moving to intercept us and are powering weapons."
CHAPTER II
"We must find a communications station, because our combadges don't work. Must be the Altonoid's doing." Captain Rinckes says, while he and Cmdr. Melanie Simons march through the corridors of the station, dodging the occasional armed Altonoid.
"And we should get some weaponry." Cmdr. Simons replies.
"That won't hurt..." Cap. Rinckes says. Cmdr. Simons looks at him.
"Well, it won't hurt us." Cap. Rinckes continues. Cmdr. Simons shakes her head.
"There should be a weapons locker up ahead." Cap. Rinckes says.
There's a weapons locker up ahead in a section where the corridor intersects with another corridor. They head for it, but just when they want to go around the corner, they see it's guarded by an Altonoid.
Cap. Rinckes and Cmdr. Simons quickly hide themselves behind the corner.
"What do we do now?" Cap. Rinckes asks.
Cmdr. Simons says nothing but plucks one of the three rank pips off her collar and throws it at the bulkhead behind the Altonoid. The pip makes a ticking sound when it bounces off the bulkhead and hits the floor. The Altonoid looks down and is distracted.
Cap. Rinckes immediately runs over to the Altonoid, who looks up too late and Cap. Rinckes kicks him in the stomach. The Altonoid slams into the bulkhead behind him and collapses.
Cap. Rinckes opens the weapons locker, and grabs all the weapons it contains: a handphaser and a heavy phaser rifle.
He hands the handphaser over to Cmdr. Simons, who gives him a very punishing look.
Cap. Rinckes swiftly gives her the phaser rifle and takes back the handphaser.
* * * * *
In the command center of the station, now run completely by Altonoids.
"A weapons locker near guard number 47 has been opened." An Altonoid who has taken the Security station says.
"Odd. We do not use Federation weapons." Another Altonoid says, apparently in command of the station now.
"But how about the missing Captain Rinckes and his First Officer?" The first Altonoid says.
"I don't think they're missing anymore..." The commanding Altonoid says meaningfully. "Send a security team to intercept them."
* * * * *
The two Explory-class and two Altonoid-class Altonoid vessels close in on the USS Wolf, USS Kennedy and USS Sundance, which assume attack formation.
The two Altonoid-class ships break formation. One faces the Kennedy and the other faces the Sundance. Both spaceblasters on the 'hallway'-sections of the Altonoid ships [the section which connects the two saucers with each other] are being loaded and light up green.
The USS Kennedy fires a barrage of quantum torpedoes at that 'hallway'-section of the ship that faces them, and hits the loading spaceblaster dead on, decreasing the shields of that Altonoid ship immensely. The resulting explosions of the impacting torpedoes knocks the spaceblaster off-line.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Sundance:
"Initiate multi-vector assault mode!" Lt. Broitz says, making a colossal mistake.
This buys the other Altonoid-class ship time to load its spaceblaster! Just when the USS Sundance separates into three sections, the Altonoid-class fires its spaceblaster.
The green spaceblast hits the middle section of the Sundance, just when it engages full impulse. The impact is huge, and the middle section loses its shields and gets severely damaged. The blast also weakens the shields of the upper and lower Sundance-sections.
The middle section of the Sundance starts moving around its longitudinal axis, and drifts out of control towards the Altonoid-class ship. The slowly maneuvering Altonoid-class can't avoid the middle section that's hurdling towards them.
The middle section hits the 'hallway-section' and explodes in its shields. That blast shatters the 'hallway' section, turning the one Altonoid ship into two half Altonoid ships!
* * * * *
On the main bridge of the Sundance:
"Woohoo! We've performed an unwanted saucer separation on them, sir!" Lt. Jena Roguez [manning the Tactical station] says. "We've also knocked out the shields of both parts, and blew several of their important systems off-line."
"That makes them easy targets. It's like a shooting gallery." Lt. Broitz says and smiles.
* * * * *
Both remaining sections of the Sundance attack the two Altonoid saucers.
The two Explory-class ships concentrate their fire on the USS Wolf, who dodges it mostly.
* * * * *
In the meanwhile the USS Kennedy has seriously damaged the other Altonoid-class ship, and deals the last blow in the form of a dozen photon torpedoes that rip open the hull of the right saucer of the Altonoid-class and make it explode in a huge blast a few seconds later. The explosion consumes the left saucer too.
The blasts provides enough momentum to send the remains of the ship hurling towards an Explory-class the USS Wolf is trying to deal with. The Explory-class fires its right phaser array in an attempt to destroy the large hulk of the Altonoid-class ship. The huge, burning hulk breaks into two pieces, and slightly changes course, but closes in on the Explory-class nevertheless.
The two pieces smash against the upper and lower side of the Explory-class, smashing through the shields and scraping the hull armor and external devices [weapons, sensors] off those edges. The damaged Explory-class is embraced and consumed by the fire of the remains of the Altonoid-class, and starts drifting into the same direction too.
Into the direction of the second Explory-class...
The second Explory-class initiates full impulse in a futile attempt to escape the lingering destruction. The aft of the Explory-class gets hit by the remains of its colleagues and the Explory-class spins out of control, only to be greeted by a full salvo of photon torpedoes originating from the USS Wolf.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Kennedy:
The destruction of the Altonoid- and two Explory-class ships is visible on the viewscreen.
"That was foolish of them. To attack us while we outgun them." Lt. Malin says.
"The USS Sundance reports the destruction of the last Altonoid-class ship." Lt. Muntenaar says. "We can now focus on the situation aboard the station."
"The shield that prevents beaming is still in place. I don't think there's much we can do..." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says.
"What if we'd locate the shield array and destroy it?" Lt. Appels says.
"First we would need to know where that array is located, Lieutenant." Lt. Sivar says, still sitting on the Captain's chair.
"We're receiving a message from the station." Lt. Muntenaar says. "It's being sent to all ships."
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Wolf:
"Well, put it on screen, Stephanie." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. "We are the lead ship of the fleet. We should deal with the communications of the fleet."
"Yes sir..." Lt. Grant says [like she didn't know that already...].
Captain Rinckes appears on the viewscreen. He looks slightly tired. In the background you can see a corridor of the station.
"Finally!" He says. "We're probably being traced now, so I'll keep things short."
"Captain Rinckes?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says.
"YES! Captain Rinckes. The Altonoids have taken over the station! I've been running from the Altonoids for a while now. I thought you'd like to kn..."
"Captain. The Altonoids have raised some kind of shield to prevent beaming and it also prevents combadge usage." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. "As long as that shield is up, we can't help you."
"We've found the location of the shield emitter." Ensign Daniels says, manning the Science station. "It's located on Deck 54, section Beta 12. But the Altonoids are jamming sensors, so we could be wrong."
"Alright, I got that." Cap. Rinckes says. "That's not far from here. And t..."
"You must destroy or disable that system by any means necessary." Cmdr. Anderson says.
"Say. Who's the Captain her..." Cap. Rinckes says, but he's interrupted by Cmdr. Simons who runs behind him, and starts shooting at something invisible for the bridge crews.
"We've got to leave NOW!" Cmdr. Simons says.
Cap. Rinckes grabs his phaser and starts shooting in the same direction. They run away.
A few Altonoids pursue. One Altonoid halts and looks right into the 'camera', showing his ugly face to the bridge crew.
"Hello...?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says, looking at the ugly Altonoid. "I am Lie..." The Altonoid grabs his phaser and shoots the 'camera'.
The viewscreen shows the Federation logo.
"Well..." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says as he looks around. "It all depends on Captain Rinckes and Commander Simons now..."
* * * * *
An Altonoid phaser beam narrowly misses Cap. Rinckes and destroys an LCARS display on a bulkhead. Cap. Rinckes and Cmdr. Simons run through the corridors, in an attempt to shake off the Altonoids. Four armed Altonoids pursue them.
Cap. Rinckes suddenly turns around to face the Altonoids [causing him to evade a phaser beam that would've hit him in the back if he hadn't turned around], aims his phaser, shoots one Altonoid and turns around again, barely missing even more incoming phaser fire. And all of that in one smooth motion.
Phaser beams hit the bulkheads and LCARS-displays around the corridor, and Cmdr. Simons and Cap. Rinckes run as fast as they can. They both enter one of the many computer rooms of the station. Rinckes opens a wall panel and rips out some circuitry, fusing the heavy door behind him shut before the Altonoids could go through it.
They lean against a bulkhead and sigh in relief. There are two doors in front of them now.
"Two ways to go to the shield emitter." Cap. Rinckes says. "Through the left or through the right door. Which one do we choose?"
"We must separate. It'll increase our chance of success." Cmdr. Simons says.
"Easy for you to say..." Cap. Rinckes smiles when he looks at his own handphaser and Melanie Simons's huge phaser rifle. "I'd rather stay with you."
"We don't have time for discussion." Cmdr. Simons says. "They can break through the door any second now."
And she goes through the right door. "I'll meet you there. Okay?" She says as she holds the door with her hand.
Cap. Rinckes is figuratively torn apart from the inside, with his heart shouting 'don't let her go' and his common sense shouting 'it will increase the chance of our success'.
"Okay..." Cap. Rinckes eventually says with great reluctance. Cmdr. Simons leaves and the door closes behind her. Cap. Rinckes stares at the door for a while, and runs trough the left door eventually.
* * * * *
Through the large window of the main conference hall, the hostages plus the Altonoids guarding them can see the Federation ships and the debris of the Altonoid vessels. The four Starfleet officers watched the battle with great satisfaction and can now see the USS Sattelite warping in. More reinforcements!
"Why don't you give up, Letor Fune?" Adm. van Aken asks. "Your fleet has been destroyed, while our fleet has become bigger. Surrender now and we will be able to continue negotiations."
"We have no reason for concern. Our reinforcements will arrive shortly." Letor Fune says.
"Stop this, Fune!" Cmdr. Jansen shouts. "Before we go beyond the point of no return which will result in open warfare!"
Fune just stares at the large window...
* * * * *
Cap. Rinckes marches down a corridor, evades a group of Altonoids and enters a square room. Seven, armed-to-the-teeth Altonoids enter the room.
"What's that!?" One of them shouts, pointing at something.
"Relax, Guz. That's a Jefferies tube..." Another Altonoid says.
"I thought I saw something." Guz says.
"You are seeing ghosts, Guz." Another Altonoid says. "Sure, there are two Starfleet officers on the loose, but they can't be here. They wouldn't have gotten this far."
* * * * *
"Don't underestimate us." Cap. Rinckes softly says while crawling through THE Jefferies tube. Stephan Rinckes managed to dive into that Jefferies tube not a second to soon.
At the end of the tube, the Captain readies his phaser and opens the hatch. Some containers are stacked in front of the exit, so Cap. Rinckes can hide behind them without being seen.
He slowly looks around the corner of a container and sees a large, brown Altonoid device in the middle of the rather large room. That must be the shield array. It is guarded by at least a dozen Altonoids.
Cap. Rinckes looks at his phaser and comes up with a nice idea. He sets the phaser to overload and throws it at the shield array. He quickly jumps back into the Jefferies tube and runs/crawls for his life.
* * * * *
The handphaser hits the shield array, bounces off it and lands on the floor.
An Altonoid who happens to stand close to it, picks it up. He looks at it and scratches his head. The handphaser explodes...
* * * * *
The station rocks and the lights flicker.
Letor Fune was just talking to another Altonoid in the conference room when it happened.
"Bloody Hule!" Fune curses in the Altonoid language. "What's going on?"
"The shield array has been destroyed!" An Altonoid who accesses a wall panel says.
"It must've been Captain Rinckes who did that. Or..." He continues.
"I hate that guy!" Letor Fune shouts in anger.
"Take a number..." Cap. Duvivier sighs.
"At least we still have a shield around THIS section..." The wall Altonoid says. "Good of us to have a back-up plan. I don't think they can find the shield array for this sh..."
"Didn't we know where they are?" Letor Fune shouts. "Didn't we have their location when they opened the weapons locker? Track them and bring them to me if you can!"
"We don't know where they are. We've lost track of them." The wall Altonoid says.
"We outnumber them a zillion to one and you can't find them!?" Letor Fune says outraged. "FIND THEM! FIND THEM AND BRING THEM TO ME!" Fune lifts his index finger. "And if you can NOT find them... Kill them..." Fune says with an ominous voice. He turns and faces the four Starfleet officers.
"You don't happen to know where Cap. Rinckes might be, do you fellows?" Letor Fune says.
"May I make a suggestion?" Cap. Duvivier says. "I think he's headed for the shuttle bay right now, fleeing off the station..."
Admiral van Aken gives Duvivier the most punishing look in human history.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Wolf:
"Captain Rinckes and Commander Simons have made it!" Lt. Grant says.
"Made what?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson asks.
"The shield! It's down!" Lt. Grant says. But her happiness disappears quickly. "Oow... But there's a new shield raised around the conference room. We can't beam them out."
"I can't find the location of that shield array. It's hidden very well." Ensign Daniels says.
"But we can now send troops!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. "Lieutenant Hoper, are your Security officers standing by?"
"Aye, sir." The black, tall marine-prototype Lt. Norbert Hoper says.
"Right. The combadges should work, now the shield is gone." Leif Anderson says and he presses his combadge. "Commander Anderson to Captain Rinckes."
"Yes?" They hear.
"You did it!" Anderson says.
"I know." Cap. Rinckes says. "I assume you will send troops now."
"That's right. But there's a new shield around the hostages. You must find it and destroy it."
"Yes, I wasn't planning on eating it! Of course I should destroy it!"
"Okay... Where's Commander Simons?"
"We've split up. I'm searching for her now."
"Alright, search for her first, and when you find her, help us find that shield array."
"No, I'd thought I'd go to Paris with her first, to see the Arc De Tri..."
"Bye, Captain..." Anderson says. "He sure is cranky..." He says to Lt. Grant. She just shrugs and continues her work.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy-B:
"Lieutenant Appels, prepare our troops to beam over to the station." Lt. Sivar says.
"Already doing it." Lt. Appels says, sending messages throughout the ship via his Tactical station. "We'll give the Altonoids a hell of a warm welcome to our station."
"May I come along, Lieutenant?" Lt. Malin asks.
"We could use all the help we can get." Lt. Appels admits.
"You're needed at the helm station, Ms. Malin." Lt. Sivar says as he frowns.
"I never get to do anything fun..." Lt. Malin says.
"Believe me..." Lt. Appels says as he opens a weapons locker and arms himself. "War is not fun. I can remember the Dominion war all too well..."
"Sorry, Lieutenant..." Lt. Malin apologizes.
Q and Tony Q suddenly pop by! They both look disgruntled.
The self-acclaimed 'god-like' Q, is infamous for his frequent visits to several Starfleet vessels, including this USS Kennedy. He has always been a Q, and always will be.
Tony Q is a completely different story. He used to be a human called Tony Blue, until he was chosen by the Q Continuum to successfully introduce human nature to the powerful but arrogant Continuum. While neither fully Q nor human anymore, he served Starfleet aboard this ship, the USS Kennedy. Due to mysterious circumstances, he rose to the rank of Commander, despite being only 18 years old! He has saved the Federation on several occasions and has become a respectful, if not a bit odd, Starfleet officer. Recently, Tony Q became a full Q and gave up his important role in Starfleet.
With his rather boyish appearance, he may not exactly look like a typical Commander, but he surely doesn't lack the self-confidence.
"I've made up my mind, Q!" Tony says to Q.
"Reconsider! It's not worth it!" Q says back.
"They need my help! They'll never succeed without me." Tony says.
"We've been through this!" Q says. "Let the Federation take care of themselves."
"I've made the decision, Q." Tony Q says as he snaps his fingers. A heavy phaser rifle appears in his hands.
"The Continuum won't allow you!" Q says. "They'll reduce your powers. Or worse..."
Tony doesn't say a word and looks at Q with a determined look on his face.
"Alright! Fine!" Q shouts. "Have it your way, Commander Tony BLUE! But don't come crying to me for help when things get out of hand!"
And Q disappears in a white flash.
Tony Q looks at the bridge crewmembers who all stare at him.
"What!?" He says.
Lt. Sivar stands up from his chair and walks over to Tony.
"It appears you have decided to aid us with recapturing the station." Lt. Sivar says.
"YES! You might say that!" Tony shouts.
"And I assume the Q Continuum isn't pleased with that fact." Lt. Sivar says.
Tony looks at Dr. Van Oers.
"I didn't know Lieutenant Sivar had such well-developed telepathic abilities." Tony says as he nods at Lt. Sivar. Dr. Van Oers smiles.
"Alright, Tony. If you want to help us, resolve the situation by a snap of the fingers." Lt. Appels says.
Tony snaps his fingers, but nothing happens. As expected...
"They took away my powers..." Tony groans. "But I'm undoubtedly still immortal. Thank God Grad Jansen isn't in the neighborhood. He surely would've tried out my immortality by shooting me once again..."
"I'll meet you in transporterroom 1, Commander." Lt. Appels says.
"Scans indicate there are many dead or injured Starfleet officers on the station." Lt. Muntenaar says. "The Altonoids didn't take over the station the nice way..."
"Indeed, Mr. Muntenaar. Their orders are to shoot anyone below the rank of Commander, or anyone who wears a yellow Starfleet uniform." Lt. Sivar says.
"Maybe we should all wear command uniforms with the rank insignia of a Commander?" Some bridge Ensign says.
"No, Ensign Parkin." Cmdr. Tony Q says. "That will result in a change of orders for the Altonoids, making them shoot every Commander they see... Not a good idea..."
"We've wasted enough time. Doctor Van Oers, please join my away team. They'll undoubtedly require medical assistance there." Lt. Appels says.
Lt. Appels, Dr. van Oers and Cmdr. Tony Q exit the bridge...
* * * * *
The trio plus six no-name Security officers materialize in a corridor of the station.
"Multiple troops of our ships are beaming in now. I am our squad leader." Lt. Appels says.
"How do you do?" Cmdr. Tony Q says as he bows. "Enough kiddin' around. I am well informed. We've got to find the shield array that generates the shield around the hostage room." Tony says that last sentence like he has said it a billion times before.
"And I shall attempt to treat every injured Starfleet officer we encounter." Dr. Van Oers says.
"Yes. Alright. Our team will have to search deck 52." Lt. Appels says.
The group leaves the area with phaser rifles ready.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Kennedy-B:
"Away teams have all checked in and are advancing on the station." Ensign Parkin says [who now mans the Tactical station].
"I'm reading a funny..." Lt. Muntenaar says, but looks at Lt. Sivar and corrects himself, "a peculiar signal emerging from right in front of us."
"I see it too." Lt. Malin says, looking at her helm station.
"An Altonoid ship uncloaking right in front of us!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts.
A strange looking variant of the huge Massal-class appears on the screen. It has some kind of yellow wires wrapped around its hull. The yellow wires light up, the lights converge at some points and four strong phaser beams originate from it.
The four beams pound on the shields of the USS Sattelite.
"Fascinating." Lt. Sivar says as he frowns.
CHAPTER III
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy-B:
"The yellow 'wires' around the hull of the vessel seem to intertwine to form one incredibly long phaser array." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says.
"I've never seen such a weapon." Lt. Muntenaar says as he stares at the viewscreen, on which he can see the USS Sattelite attempting to dodge the incoming fire originating from the huge Altonoid vessel.
"Neither have I." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says. "But I'm sure it can pack quite a wallop."
"This is no time for idle communication, Commander." Lt. Sivar says. "Ensign Parkin, open fire at the Massal please."
"Massal?" Lt. Malin says. "I think we should call this one a Uber-Massal, sir."
Lt. Sivar frowns.
Ens. Parkin presses several buttons on his tactical station, and two photon torpedoes get propelled towards the Uber-Massal. The shields of the Uber-Massal consume the two torpedoes completely. As expected... But it did draw the attention of the Altonoids!
The Uber-Massal stops firing for a moment. But after a few seconds of rest, the 'wires' light up again and four phaser beams hit the bow of the Kennedy.
The bridge of the Kennedy starts to rumble and shake.
"Evasive maneuvers." Lt. Sivar says [as calm as only a Vulcan can say it].
"Wow!" Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says. "Our front shields went down 10%! In just one hit!"
"Return fire." Lt. Sivar says as some consoles begin to spark.
* * * * *
The Kennedy fires half a dozen photon torpedoes at the Uber-Massal. The Wolf and both parts of the Sundance join the Kennedy in the attack, and back her up with photons and phaser fire.
The Massal stops firing at the Kennedy. Probably just to reload.
* * * * *
"It seems they're not as tough as they appear." Lt. Muntenaar says.
The Uber-Massal starts firing again and the bridge rumbles and shakes once again.
"It also seems they're pretty damn stubborn..." Lt. Malin says.
"Our forwards shields are down to 75% and falling." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Sattelite:
"I've had enough of this." The tall brunette Captain Suzan Reynolds says. "Initiate attack pattern Blue Theta. Fire whatever we've got."
Lt. Armand Callaway (Tactical Officer) nods and presses some buttons.
"Attack pattern Blue Theta? This is risky, Captain." Lt. Bart Lynnson (Helm/OPS Officer) says.
Captain Reynolds doesn't respond...
* * * * *
The USS Sattelite breaks formation and flies towards the Uber-Massal. The Sattelite fires a barrage of phaser pulses with its rapid fire phaser pulse cannons. The pulses don't have much effect on the actions of the Massal, because the Altonoids continue firing at the Kennedy.
The Sattelite continues their assault on the Uber-Massal nevertheless.
The USS Wolf and the two sections of the Sundance back the Sattelite up by firing what they've got at the Massal. The Massal finally starts to take a little damage to its shields.
* * * * *
"This isn't going very fast." Cap. Reynolds says. "Initiate attack pattern Delta-12."
The USS Sattelite moves closer to the Massal and makes an attack run over the Altonoid vessel. The highly maneuverable Defiant-class USS Sattelite performs a 'nosedive' and gives the Massal six quantum torpedoes to deal with. The Sattelite moves to the rear of the Massal and flies past it, while bombarding the shields of the Altonoid ship with phaser pulses.
The Sattelite turns around and approaches the Massal from the aft, utilizing the time it takes to make that maneuver to cool down the pulse cannons a little, only to let fly with them again once the maneuver is complete.
From the other side [the front side] of the Massal, the remaining Federation ships unleash their weaponry at the Massal:
The USS Wolf fires two dozen photons at the Massal.
Both remaining sections of the Sundance fire full phasers at the Massal.
The USS Kennedy also fires with some of their powerful, dorsal phaser arrays.
That last assault seemed to have a positive effect; the Massal finally stops firing.
The USS Sattelite gets back in formation, alongside her Federation colleagues.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Kennedy, the bridge is moderately damaged, and an unfortunate Ensign is carried away by a medical team.
"The Uber-Massal's shields are down to 65%." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says.
"That means they're quite intact." Lt. Muntenaar says. "So why aren't they firing anymore?"
"Perhaps they have realized they are no match for four Federation vessels." Lt. Sivar says.
"Wait... Their phaser system has gone all funny." Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says.
"Funny?" Lt. Sivar frowns, but then something on the viewscreen catches his eye.
The bridge crew see it too. They see the 'wires' of the Uber-Massal light up in a strange way. They seem to flash on and off, and streaks of light race through the phaser wires like fireflies through a straw.
"Perhaps we damaged them more than we thought." Lt. Malin guesses.
"I don't like the sight of this." Lt. Muntenaar says.
"What is going on, Commander Soeteman?" Lt. Sivar asks. Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman presses some buttons on his Engineering station and looks puzzled.
"I have no idea. Our sensors are having difficulties with this new technology." Andr‚ Soeteman says.
Sivar frowns.
Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman looks at his station once again and his puzzled look changes into a horrified look. He turns around to face Ensign Parkin, waves with his arms and shouts:
"EVASIVE MANEUVRES!!! EVASIV..."
* * * * *
The streaks of lights adjoin and explode into one massive phaser beam, hitting the Kennedy dead on.
The impact is beyond description. The massive phaser beam sears right through the shields of the Kennedy.
* * * * *
The lights on the bridge dim immediately. Consoles explode, and every single person on board the ship gets knocked off their socks.
Sivar gets tossed off his Captain's chair. Lt. Muntenaar topples over his station. A console on the left where an Ensign was working blows up, tossing the Ensign across the bridge.
Ensign Parkin gets chucked over his sparking Tactical station, and lands next to Soeteman -who did manage to hold on to his station.
The right side of the bridge takes the most damage:
The large wall LCARS-display on the right is torn off the bulkhead, along with two red alert pillars. One of those pillars crashes down and lands on the Science Ensign, who dies immediately [as predicted two chapters back]. He's buried immediately by the remains of the nearby wall LCARS-display.
Parts of the ceiling come down as well.
One part crushes the Executive Officer's chair [which was thankfully empty] and the Tactical station behind it. The XO's console falls over.
Finally, the awful noise of crashing and exploding parts of the ship stops.
But it's not over just yet...
A loose part of the ceiling falls down and lands on the floor, barely missing Andr‚ Soeteman and the fallen Ensign Parkin.
Lt. Sivar has landed on the stations in front of the bridge [Lt. Malin's and Lt. Muntenaar's stations], and gets back on his feet. He overlooks the immense damage. And this is just the bridge... Many more sections of this ship must look this awful. Or worse...
Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman accesses his console again and sighs:
"Our shields are down... Engines are off-line. We're drifting. The ship's a complete mess.... I'll go down to Engineering and try to repair whatever I can..."
* * * * *
Captain Duvivier witnessed the sight, along with the others in the conference room, with pain in his heart. To see your ship getting pounded, while you are utterly helpless, is every Captain's worst nightmare.
Admiral van Aken knows what the Captain must be going through, since he's in the same messy situation...
He eyes Letor Fune, who grins at the present desperation.
* * * * *
Two Altonoids get shot almost simultaneously, and land on their backs.
Captain Rinckes passes them, carrying a heavy phaser rifle he snatched from a dead Starfleet officer.
Cap. Rinckes turns around the corner and sees three dead Starfleet officers laying on the floor. One of the officers resembles Cmdr. Simons!
Cap. Rinckes quickly runs over to that dead officer. But when he gets closer, he sees it's not Cmdr. Simons. Rinckes sighs in relief, and he looks up again.
"I've got to find her!" He says determined.
* * * * *
Lt. Norbert Hoper and nine of his colleagues march down the corridors of the station.
Several of these groups of six to ten Starfleet officers search the station in order to find the shield array for the hostage room.
* * * * *
"Well, if this deck 51 turns out to be nothing worth of our interest, we'll continue to deck 52 and join Lieutenant Appels's team." Lt. Hoper says.
Across the corridor three Starfleet officers seems to flee for something. They run into the direction of Lt. Hoper's team.
"Ambush!" One of the fleeing officers shouts just before he gets hit by an Altonoid phaser beam.
Lt. Hoper and his team assume combat position, and watch the two remaining officers in front of them getting shot by two beams that originate from an intersecting corridor.
Lt. Hoper and his team await the Altonoids to reveal themselves. Then Hoper hears one of his officers screaming, and sees the screaming officer landing on the floor next to him with a phaser wound on his back.
"It's a trap!" Lt. Hoper shouts as he turns around and readies his rifle. He spots at least twelve Altonoids. They shoot two more members of his team.
The officer to his right -who has also turned around to face the dozen Altonoids- gets shot in the back! That means the remains of Hoper's team is being attacked on two fronts now!
Another joined team of eighteen Starfleet officers march through a relatively open area on deck 51. A large group of Altonoids catch them dead in their tracks. The Altonoids open fire and one Starfleet officer gets shot after another.
* * * * *
Somewhere else on the station, a Starfleet officer makes the mistake of climbing on a container to give orders to his fellow Starfleet officers. An eager Altonoid vaporizes him before the unfortunate officer could utter a word...
* * * * *
Another united group of surviving Starfleet officers are pinned down by a large ever-growing group of Altonoids in a cargo bay.
Cannon fodder...
* * * * *
Lt. Appels, Cmdr. Tony Q, Dr. Van Oers and their accompanying six Security officers are still searching deck 52 as they suddenly hear something. The group halts immediately and listens carefully.
A hatch on the bulkhead to the left of them suddenly opens. Cmdr. Tony Q is closest to it and points his rifle in a reflex at... Lt. Norbert Hoper. Hoper appears to be injured, and he doesn't look very cheery either. He exits the Jefferies tube and doesn't bother closing the hatch behind him.
"Sorry if I startled you, kid." Lt. Hoper says to Tony Q. "We've got to move off this deck." Hoper says to Lt. Appels.
Dr. Van Oers opens her med-kit and treats Lt. Hopers's wounds.
"And who are you to give us orders?" Tony Q says. Lt. Hoper ignores him.
"The station is swarming with Altonoids." Hoper continues. "Especially decks 51 and up. We can't stay here very long. The Altonoids are advancing. I lost my team and could barely escape myself. I was damn lucky..."
"But what if the shield array is on this deck?" Lt. Appels asks.
"Small chance, according to our most recent scans. We can't stay here. The Altonoids can get here any second now." Hoper replies. "We've got to go!"
Lt. Appels is a bit reluctant, but gives in nevertheless.
"Alright. Then we'll do that. You're the Chief Security Officer of the USS Wolf, right?" Appels says.
Lt. Hoper nods.
"So you know what you're doing." Appels continues. "We'll take the Jefferies tube to go down to...?"
"Deck 56. It should be safe enough to continue our search from there." Hoper says.
"Hello? Does anyone care to know what I think of this whole predicament?" Tony Q says. "I'm a Commander, I outrank you both!"
Hoper sighs and eyes Tony.
"So what do you say?" Lt. Hoper asks.
Tony looks around and replies:
"Let's get the bloody hell out of here!"
Lt. Hoper smiles, and he turns around to re-enter the Jefferies tube.
The group of nine officers follow Lt. Hoper. They climb down two decks, but once they reach deck 54, they are forced to stop. The hatch leading to deck 55 seems to be blocked by something on the other side. So the group has no choice but to enter the hallway...
* * * * *
Cap. Rinckes walks through a door and enters another corridor. He immediately bumps into Commander Tony Q, who is accompanied by nine other officers. Some of them look familiar.
Tony Q is almost shocked to death and reacts appalled:
"Why do you all continuously persist in shocking me to a premature death just the INSTANT I lose my powers!!!" Tony Q shouts.
"Hello, Tony... What brings you here?" Cap. Rinckes asks calmly.
"It's a long story." Cmdr. Tony Q replies as he cools down.
"There's no time for any stories." Lt. Hoper says. "It is time to move on to deck 56."
"Decks 52 and 53 are already overrun by Altonoids." Lt. Appels says. "We are to continue our search for the hostage room shield array a few decks lower to increase our chances of survival... and success."
"Well, good luck." Cap. Rinckes says as he attempts to move past the group. Lt. Hoper blocks his path.
"Where are you going? It would be wiser to come with us." Lt. Hoper says. "Plus, we need your help. We can use any help we can get."
"I've lost my First Officer. I've got to find her." Cap. Rinckes replies.
"Haven't you contacted her yet? The combadges are operational again." Lt. Appels says.
Cap. Rinckes gives Lt. Appels the 'DUH'-look.
"She didn't respond. So I will have to find her." Cap. Rinckes says.
Lt. Appels shakes his head.
"This deck will soon be swarming with heavily armed Altonoids." Appels says. "It's not safe here anymore."
"In other words." Tony adds. "If you stay here, you're toast."
"Besides, Commander Simons should be well capable of taking care of her own." Lt. Appels says. "So, Captain, come with us."
The group looks at Cap. Rinckes with an inquiring look.
Rinckes looks back at them and sighs:
"Good luck."
He readies his phaser rifle, walks past the group and disappears around the corner.
"It's always about a woman, isn't it?" Tony Q says to thin air.
* * * * *
Four continuous phaser beams keep on firing at the Kennedy. Sometimes the USS Sattelite, Wolf, or both remaining sections of the Sundance manage to distract the Uber-Massal for a moment. But the Uber-Massal keeps targeting the USS Kennedy...
At last, the Kennedy stops rotating around its axis. But now the most vulnerable section of the Kennedy is facing the Uber-Massal. The middle ventral section, where the warp core is located: Engineering.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Kennedy:
The bridge is a complete mess. Most of the lights don't even work, and large parts of bulkheads are shattered or severely damaged. The right side of the bridge is so shattered that it can't even be used anymore. Only half of the present LCARS-panels work, and the bridge is shaking heavily due to the Altonoids constantly firing on them.
Lt. Sivar, Lt. Muntenaar, Lt. Malin, Ens. Parkin and another Ensign are the only ones present on the bridge. The only ones who are alive anyway...
Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman [still in Engineering on deck 16, trying to fix the ship] has been saying over the comm. system what went off-line, got damaged or fried.
"The shuttle bay is smashed, our forward phaser arrays are fried, our deflector is severely damaged, just like our sensor system, our shields are down to about four percent, we're having hull breaches everywhere, and our structural integrity is down to a mere 23%. Large parts of the crew are cut off from communication, so I can't be completely accurate.."
"Why don't you tell us what actually DOES work?!" Lieutenant Muntenaar says.
"Well, I somehow managed to fix the thrusters, so we're no longer spinning."
"We have noticed that, Commander." Lt. Sivar says, while he sits calmly in his rocking Captain's chair. "But we do need more than that. It is unlikely we will hold out much longer under these circumstances."
* * * * *
Engineering is just as messy as the bridge [and actually, the entire ship].
Debris is scattered around Engineering. Thankfully the large warp core is still largely intact, but some of the nearby consoles, ladders and wall panels are missing. Well, they're not exactly missing... They're just all over the place... Engineering shakes heavily, like the rest of the ship. Crewmen swarm through the huge room to attempt to repair the ship or their shipmates -depending on what their function is.
Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman is standing next to the computer table [also dubbed 'the pool table'] in Engineering. The four seats that used to surround that table have been knocked away minutes ago. Andr‚ Soeteman attempts to get the forward torpedo launchers back on-line.
"Can't you bypass the secondary binary circuits, Ensign Adler?" He asks the Engineering officer across the table. "We need to get at least the photon launchers back on-line!"
The four Altonoid phaser beams seem to be targeting the warp core now, as Engineering starts to shake even more. Soeteman almost gets knocked off his feet.
"I wish they'd stop doing that!" Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman says annoyed.
It seems the Altonoids hit a weak spot in the hull plating, as the shaking increases drastically all of a sudden, making it almost impossible to remain standing.
An unfortunate Ensign gets tossed off the only "balcony" still standing.
"How can I work under these conditions!" Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman shouts.
"This is no time to for a strike, Commander." Ensign Adler says.
Cmdr. Soeteman can't suppress a smile, but his smile disappears quickly when he looks at the 'pool table'.
"Structural integrity down to fifteen percent and falling!" He shouts.
Then the rumbling and shaking stops. Completely...
Soeteman is so preoccupied by that startling fact that he doesn't notice the warp core is hissing and steaming.
"The Altonoids must've stopped firing for a moment." Andr‚ Soeteman mumbles. "But for how long?"
Soeteman sees his fellow shipmates staring at the warp core, and he abruptly looks over his shoulder to see the smoking warp core...
Soeteman runs -tripping over the occasional Ensign- over to the console closest to the warp core, and accesses it.
"Coolant leak!" Commander Soeteman shouts as he views the data on the console. He thinks for a moment and sees no alternative.
"We'll have to eject the core!" Soeteman shouts with a trace of disappointment in his voice.
The blue/red warp core starts smoking and hissing more and more, and Andr‚ presses several buttons on his station. He presses the large red button on the console, and the hissing warp core starts sliding down, until it completely disappears.
Never a nice moment for a Chief Engineer...
* * * * *
The smoking warp core is jettisoned out of the hatch and floats away from the Kennedy.
* * * * *
On the damaged bridge of the Kennedy:
"Acting Captain to the Chief Engineer." Lt. Sivar says, after he pressed his combadge.
"Soeteman here."
"The Altonoids have stopped firing for a moment. The USS Wolf managed to distract them for a while." Lt. Sivar says. "It seems we have finally managed to better our circumstances. We finally had a 'lucky break' as humans would call it. What is your status?"
"I just ejected the warp core."
For the first time in his life, Lt. Sivar doesn't know what to say.
* * * * *
The ejected warp core moves away from the Kennedy, until it finally explodes in a huge blast, producing a wide shockwave. Luckily, that blast doesn't damage the Kennedy any further.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
"The Altonoids still haven't returned fire..." Cmdr. Anderson notes. "Open hailing frequencies to all of our ships."
Lt. Stephanie Grant nods and presses some buttons on her console.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Anderson to all ships. We need to finish off that Massal once and for all. Everybody, perform an Alpha Strike! Give 'em all we've got!"
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy-B:
"Are we able to comply with this order, Ensign Parkin?" Lt. Sivar asks.
"Weapons are still out, sir." Ensign Parkin replies.
"Then we have no choice but to watch our allies obey the order." Sivar concludes.
* * * * *
The Sattelite, Wolf, and both sections of the Sundance are near the crippled Kennedy and face the Uber-Massal. The Uber-Massal still doesn't fire any of its weapons.
But the Federation ships will!
The USS Wolf fires a large quantity of photon torpedoes and phaser strikes.
The USS Sattelite sends out a short, but extremely powerful series of phaser pulses, and fires a dozen quantum torpedoes at the Uber-Massal.
The Sundance-sections launch torpedoes and fire with their powerful Type XII phaser arrays.
The Uber-Massal takes the phaser strikes and suffers moderate damage. But the Massal repels all of the incoming torpedoes by simply shooting them all one by one before they can reach the Altonoid vessel...
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
"That didn't have the desired effect..." Ensign Daniels softly says. "Their shields are down to 35%, but the damage to their systems is minimal..."
"Damn." Cmdr. Anderson says, quite emotionless. "When will our little fleet have their weapons available again?"
"The Alpha Strike took a great amount of power, sir." Lt. Grant says. "We won't be able to fire for several minu..." She stops in the middle of her sentence as she sees the Uber-Massal coming back to life.
All the bridge officers of the fleet see the 'wires' of the Uber-Massal light up in a familiar way. They seem to flash on and off, and streaks of light race through the wires like fireflies through a straw. Once again...
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Kennedy-B:
"They're targeting US, sir!" Ensign Parkin shouts.
"Evasive maneuvers." Lt. Sivar says calmly.
"Engines are still not working!" Lt. Malin shouts desperately.
"I'm no Engineering expert." Lt. Muntenaar says as he turns around in his seat. "But I'd bet my bottom credit that we won't survive another hit like this."
Admiral van Aken, Cap. Duvivier, Cmdr. Jansen and Cmdr. Levine observe it all from the conference room on the station.
Duvivier and Jansen can hardly believe they're about to lose their precious ship. And the lives of their friends... Letor Fune sees their worried faces and smiles.
* * * * *
The bridge crew of the Kennedy look at the mighty sight of the charging Uber-Massal in terror. The light of the phaser wires shine on their faces.
Lt. Sivar looks like it's just any ordinary moment on any ordinary day. He has simply acknowledged the fact that he is going to die soon. He presses his combadge and says:
"All hands. Brace for impact."
Lt. Muntenaar can't resist closing his eyes in terror. He doesn't want to see it...
Ensign Parkin pulls himself together and says:
"It's been an honor serving with you all."
* * * * *
The 'fireflies' become ever more brighter and faster, until they finally meet at a point near the forward bow of the Uber-Massal.
Just before the Massal can fire, the USS Sattelite maneuvers itself directly in the line of fire, eclipsing the sight of the Uber-Massal in the Kennedy's viewscreen.
The streaks of lights adjoin and explode into one massive phaser beam, hitting the USS Sattelite's bridge dead on. The shields of the Sattelite were quite intact before the impact, but are completely nullified by the very powerful Altonoid phaser beam.
* * * * *
The entire bridge of the USS Sattelite goes dark, and large parts of the bridge are torn off and destroyed. Everyone on the bridge gets tossed around.
Cap. Reynolds manages to hold on to her Captain's chair, but suddenly feels that some force is trying to pull her off her chair and into the air. She can barely hold on to the left console of her chair, as she flips up-side-down. It's like the entire bridge has turned around!
She's clinging on to the chair with all her might. She can't breath anymore, because all the air rushes away from her. Into the direction of the ceiling...
The ceiling is smashed! Hull breaches with diameters of at least three feet have formed on the scorched ceiling. And the automatic emergency force fields are not responding.
Lt. Lynnson is able to hold on to his CONN/OPS station in the front of the bridge, but the CONN/OPS station is unable to hold on to the bridge!
Lynnson gets propelled towards one of the breaches in the ceiling, along with his CONN/OPS station. Lt. Lynnson is small enough to go through that breach rather painless, and enters open space. But his station certainly isn't. With an incredibly awful noise, the CONN/OPS station gets squeezed through the hull breach in the ceiling.
Some bridge officers manage to hold on to something. But most of them do not, as they were already flying around the bridge due to the impact. They get blown off the bridge and are flung into space.
Cap. Reynolds still holds on strong, while the debris that is flying towards open space scratches her face and hands.
Then, finally, all the air on the bridge is rushed out and everyone is basically exposed to open space...
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
"Beam the survivors to our ship." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says firmly.
"But, sir." Lt. Grant protests. "Then we'll have to lower our shields. We'll be defenseless for several seconds. It is rather ris..."
"Do it!" Cmdr. Anderson shouts. "We're talking about lives here! We've had enough loss of life for today!"
Lt. Grant hesitates for a moment, and decides that Leif Anderson is right.
"Dropping shields." She says. "Beaming the 28 survivors to sickbay. Captain Reynolds is among them."
"28?" Anderson says. "Out of 50..."
"The Massal will soon begin firing again, sir." Lt. Grant says.
"Status of our weapons?" Anderson asks.
"Still inoperative." Stephanie Grant replies.
"Then we'll need to find a way to stall the Massal a bit longer..." Cmdr. Anderson replies, and he thinks for a moment. Then it hits him:
"Of course! Perform the Bywaard maneuver!"
* * * * *
In the conference room of the station:
"It seems your precious ship hasn't been destroyed yet." Letor Fune says. "I am touched by the sacrifice of the USS Sattelite. You must be glad you brought her along, aren't you?" And Fune smiles at Admiral van Aken.
Admiral van Aken doesn't dignify that sarcastic remark with a response.
Fune's smile disappears as quickly as it appeared.
"Of course it's only a matter of time. I expect a reply from your leaders soon." Fune continues. "But just to let you in on a little secret." And Fune moves his head closer to the Admiral's. "We're not interested in a diplomatic solution."
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
"Tractor the remains of the Sattelite and shove it up the Massal's throat." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says.
"That's one way to put it." Lt. Grant says with a witty smile.
"Well, that basically is the Bywaard maneuver." Cmdr. Anderson says.
"I know what the Bywaard maneuver is, sir. Don't worry." Lt. Grant replies.
And she presses several buttons on her console.
* * * * *
The USS Wolf approaches the remains of the USS Sattelite.
The Sattelite seems to be quite intact, but its structural integrity is negligible, and its hull is full of hull breaches. The Wolf engages a tractor beam and pushes the Sattelite into the direction of the Uber-Massal.
* * * * *
"Override what's left of the Sattelite's computer system, and set her engines to overload." Cmdr. Anderson says. "That should give the Altonoids what they bargained for."
On the viewscreen they can see the hulk of the Sattelite being pushed in front of them by a blue tractor beam. And behind that, they can see the Uber-Massal.
Suddenly something de-cloaks between the Sattelite and the Uber-Massal.
Everyone can see what it is.
* * * * *
It's another Uber-Massal ship! It loads its weapons and destroys the remains of the Sattelite with a single phaser strike! And to make matters worse, the new Uber-Massal is on a direct collision course with the USS Wolf!
* * * * *
"EVASIVE ACTION!" Cmdr. Anderson shouts as he jumps up from his seat.
CHAPTER IV
The Uber-Massal is still on a direct collision course with the USS Wolf and vice versa.
They've approached each other closely, and they will collide soon. There's no way out...
Or is there?
The USS Wolf performs an extremely tight evasive maneuver in order to avoid the Uber-Massal that's approaching them quickly. The Wolf pulls up, makes half a circle, barely misses the oncoming Uber-Massal and flies into the same direction as the Uber-Massal i.e. back to the Federation fleet.
The Wolf is now flying up-side-down from the perspective of the Uber-Massal.
The Wolf rolls 180 degrees to the right in order to compensate for that.
But the Uber-Massal is going faster than the USS Wolf, and is approaching steadily...
* * * * *
"Aft view on." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says.
"They're very close, sir." Ensign Daniels says as the entire viewscreen is filled with the image of the large Uber-Massal.
"I can see that!" Cmdr. Anderson replies agitated.
"The Massal is targeting us!" Ensign Daniels shouts.
"And our weapons are still off-line, sir." Lt. Grant adds.
"All hands, brace for impact!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says firmly as he sits down in his Captain's chair and holds on tight.
The front phaser wires on the Massal light up and flood the bridge of the USS Wolf with light.
Four strong phaser beams originate from those phaser wires and impact on the aft shields of the USS Wolf. It was a short, but powerful burst.
The Uber-Massal comes to a complete halt and stops firing. The other (or first) Uber-Massal has already fallen back and is no doubt busy with repairs.
"I'm reducing speed." Lt. Grant says.
"That wasn't so bad. Return to normal view." Anderson says.
The viewscreen now displays the rest of the Federation fleet.
Anderson finally relaxes a bit and looks at the viewscreen. But it's like his ship is slightly tilting down, into the direction of the USS Kennedy. Leif Anderson can't help but move his head up a bit, as if that helps to correct the tilting. Finally, he says something:
"Is it just me or are we tilting down a bit?"
"I'll correct it, sir." Lt. Grant says. She starts tapping on the buttons of her console. But nothing happens. "Helm control is not responding!" Lt. Grant shouts as she turns around. "Something must've snapped!"
* * * * *
On the damaged bridge of the USS Kennedy:
"The USS Wolf seems to be drifting into our direction at moderate speed." Lt. Muntenaar says.
"Relay a message to them. They should alter their course in order to avoid collision," Lt. Sivar says, "because we are unable to alter our current position at this time."
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
Lt. Grant's console starts bleeping. She reads the message appearing on it.
"We are to adjust our course... DUUH!" She faces her commanding officer again and says: "That last hit from the Altonoids must've knocked Helm control off-line. I'll attempt to repair it." And she opens a panel on the front of her Helm console.
"That's a good idea!" Anderson says. "We're getting awfully close now!"
"I could use some help." Lt. Grant says.
Cmdr. Anderson bounces up from his chair and runs over to the console. He pushes Lt. Grant aside and starts fiddling with the interior of the console.
* * * * *
On the Kennedy:
The small bridge crew watch the USS Wolf tilting towards them.
"Eight kilometers and closing." Lt. Muntenaar says with a worried look on his face.
Lt. Sivar presses a button on his armrest and says:
"Acting Captain Sivar to Engineering. We need our impulse engines back on-line as soon as possible, Commander."
"That won't be possible just yet. But they will probably be partially fixed within a few minutes." They hear Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman reply. "But I did manage to bring the photon tubes back on-line."
Lt. Sivar looks at the USS Wolf getting bigger and bigger on the viewscreen.
"Thank you, Commander. That is of great help to our current situation." Lt. Sivar says, with an unusual amount of sarcasm for a Vulcan.
"Six kilometers and closing." Lt. Muntenaar says.
"Take evasive actions, Ms. Malin. Z minus 1000 meters." Lt. Sivar orders.
* * * * *
The thrusters on the dorsal sections of the Kennedy fire, pushing the ship down slowly.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson is still struggling to get the Helm/OPS console responding again, as they approach the USS Kennedy quickly.
The rest of the bridge crew watch Commander Anderson and the growing USS Kennedy on the viewscreen with an understandable degree of anxiety.
"Fixed!" Cmdr. Anderson shouts as he jumps up to look at the result. "I think..."
The Wolf is still maneuvering towards the USS Kennedy. The Kennedy is slowly descending, but not nearly fast enough.
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson presses several buttons on the Helm console he just fixed, as the crew witness it all in concern.
A brief pause.
"Not fixed yet!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts, as the USS Kennedy starts filling the entire viewscreen. Cmdr. Anderson opens the panel again and tries again.
* * * * *
Onboard the Kennedy:
"Seventeen seconds to impact!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts. "Their current trajectory sends them straight at our warp nacelles!"
"Increase power to thrusters." Lt. Sivar says.
"Do I look like an Engineering officer?" Lt. Muntenaar says as he frowns.
* * * * *
The Kennedy is still moving down on thrusters only, but the USS Wolf will collide with the Kennedy's nacelles within seconds nevertheless. The Wolf is already about to fly over the saucer section of the Kennedy!
* * * * *
"ALL HANDS! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts over the comm. system, after he pressed some buttons on his console.
"Perhaps that will not be necessary." Lt. Sivar says. "Decompress all shuttle bays."
"What?" Lt. Muntenaar replies.
"Now, Lieutenant." Lt. Sivar says with urgency in his voice.
Lt. Muntenaar understands what Sivar is trying to do and does what he says.
* * * * *
The doors of the severely damaged shuttle bays open right when the USS Wolf is about to fly over them.
Air and debris is shoved out of the shuttle bays located in the neck and tail of the Kennedy.
The air and debris reaches the USS Wolf. The debris causes the shields of the Wolf to glow, while the air displacement pushes the Wolf away from the Kennedy.
Just slightly. But enough to make it barely miss the Kennedy...
* * * * *
"That was close..." Lt. Grant says to Lt. Cmdr. Anderson who's still attempting to fix the Helm station.
"Fixed it!" Anderson says as he jumps up and makes way for Lt. Grant.
Lt. Grant presses a few buttons on the fixed console. Then she sees that the previous commands of pulling up drastically is still imprinted in the console's computer, and the ship is about to obey that command!
* * * * *
So the USS Wolf pulls up extremely and makes half a circle. Just like when they tried to outmaneuver the Uber-Massal moments before.
Finally, Lt. Grant manages to command the ship to cease pulling up, and the ship moves into one direction again. Into the direction of the USS Kennedy...
* * * * *
The bridge crew of the USS Kennedy watch the USS Wolf closing in once again.
"This is getting tedious..." Lt. Malin says.
* * * * *
Lt. Grant orders the USS Wolf to roll 90 degrees to the left, so it barely misses the USS Kennedy. Once again...
The USS Wolf finally comes to a complete stop.
* * * * *
Everyone in the conference room of the station could see it happen, and Cap. Duvivier is looking quite flabbergasted.
Admiral van Aken sees Cap. Duvivier's reaction and explains dryly to him:
"Woman at the helm..."
Cap. Duvivier nods with a 'that-explains-everything' look on his face.
"You know." Letor Fune says, standing only a few feet away from the four captured Starfleet officers. "I must admit that I find your subordinates highly amusing."
The Altonoid with the bandage on his hand enters the hostage/conference room and reports to Letor Fune:
"We are taking section by section of this petty station." The Altonoid says to great pleasure of Letor Fune. "We've killed or wounded many Federation officers, but they are still fighting with great motivation."
"Spirit will get them nowhere..." Letor Fune says. "And the starship battle will not be won by them either. They never even realized that the first four Altonoid vessels they fought and destroyed so easily were automated vessels. Just to transport me and many of my colleagues here to assess and break their initial defenses."
The four Starfleet officers are shocked to hear this and they make no effort to hide their astonishment. Letor Fune notices their mouths hanging open.
"Look at those 'officers'." And Fune points at the four, shocked flag officers sitting in a corner. "They actually think they can win this station back. Ow... How they underestimate us... They would give up their hope if they knew what else was coming... So that leaves them with what? False hope!"
"I'd take false hope over despair any day." Cmdr. Levine replies as he sticks his chin up.
* * * * *
"Lieutenant Hoper to squad 4-A. Report in." Lt. Hoper says as he, Tony Q, Dr. Van Oers, Lt. Appels and the six Security officers calm down a bit in a corridor of Station A-12.
"Odell checking in. Still no luck." They hear. "We'll inform you once the situation changes."
"Lieutenant Hoper to squad 4-B. Report in."
"Lohmann checking in. This is not a good time. We're pinned down in computer room 4."
"Lieutenant Hoper to squad 4-C. Report in."
"Lieutenant Hasder checking in. We a... Oh damn! More of them! AAAARGHHH!!" Followed by a lot of phaser fire and screaming...
"This is Lt. Hoper to squad 4-D. Report in?"
Silence.
"This is Lt. Hoper to squad 4-Delta. Please, respond!"
Nothing.
"This is Lt. Hoper to s..."
"Perhaps it would be better if you'd stop asking your squads for a report." Cmdr. Tony Q says. "It doesn't seem to be very helpful, nor morale boosting."
Lt. Hoper sighs and agrees silently.
"Lieutenant Appels." One of the Security officers says. He's holding a tricorder and is pointing it at the nearest door.
"What is it, Ensign Lucas?" Appels replies.
"The next room is perfectly suited for placing a small shield array. I think we should investigate it, sir." Ens. Lucas says.
"I'm reading no life signs behind the door." Dr. Van Oers says as she points her medical tricorder at the door.
"Alright. Lead the way, Mr. Lucas." Lt. Appels says.
Ensign Lucas opens the door to a rectangular maintenance room [about as big as the conference room, but with a much higher ceiling]. Several kinds of engineering equipment are stacked in some crates. The room contains lots of places to hide a small shield array... The room is also quite dark by Federation standards.
The group enters the room and start searching the place.
"This is nice." Cmdr. Tony Q says as he looks around. "So where do you suppose they hid that shield generator?"
Nobody responds. They all wander around the room carefully, in search for anything that might lead them to the shield array.
Lieutenant Clayton [one of the six Security officers] takes a closer look at the door they all just passed through.
"A general locking malfunction occurred. We won't be going back this way." He says, slightly alarmed.
"And it's so quiet here... I've got a bad feeling about this..." Lt. Appels says.
"Relax. My tricorder reads nothing. Nothing...?" Dr. Van Oers says.
"Then there must be a dampening field in pl..." Tony Q calmly says, and then he understands what he is saying...
"Oh dear..." Lt. Hoper sighs. "It's a trap!"
All officers ready their phaser rifles. All but the unarmed Doctor.
"The tricorder is still blank." Dr. Van Oers says, while Tony Q spots an Altonoid -partially hidden behind a crate- behind her. The Altonoid is aiming his phaser rifle at the Doctor!
"LOOK OUT!" Tony Q shouts as he quickly aims and shoots the Altonoid.
Before that Altonoid hits the ground, several more Altonoids jump from out of nowhere and start attacking the Starfleet officers!
The Federation officers attempt to shoot those Altonoids, but they're outnumbered...
One unlucky Ensign gets hit in the chest by a phaser beam and gets thrown into the air, only to land close to the next Ensign that gets shot.
Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels have the most luck in shooting some Altonoids. This is quite logical, because the two are very experienced and capable Security officers.
Commander Tony Q shoots another Altonoid.
Now there are four Altonoids and seven Federation officers left...
One of those Altonoids emerges from behind a crate and knocks a Security officer to the ground with a mighty swing of his phaser rifle. The Altonoid has no time to gloat, as Lt. Clayton [who was close by] shoots the Altonoid immediately.
Another Altonoid and Ensign Lucas have been fighting hand to hand for a while and are both disarmed, with their phaser rifles laying out of their reach. Ensign Lucas managed to give the Altonoid some good punches, and finishes the job with one great blow to the jaw. The Altonoid lands on his back and goes silent...
One of the remaining two Altonoids aims for Lt. Hoper, but Hoper is quicker on the trigger.
The last Altonoid is shot by Ensign Murphy, who hits the Altonoid with her rifle first, only to shoot him down moments later while the Altonoid is still disorientated by the blow.
Doctor Van Oers rushes to the nearest hit Ensign and reaches for his neck as she crouches down. Lt. Appels gives her an inquiring look.
Just as the Doctor wants to shake her head, almost the entire bulkhead across the room starts to open slowly. It's basically one massive door that leads to another similar room.
That room is crowded with armed Altonoids who eagerly point their rifles at the remaining Starfleet officers. Luckily, there's a large number of crates lined up in the room the Starfleet officers are standing in. This forms a buffer between the Altonoids and the Starfleet officers.
The Altonoids start firing.
"Get down!" Lt. Appels shouts as he dives behind one of the crates.
They take cover, but Lt. Clayton doesn't make it in time and gets shot by the enormous barrage of phaser fire...
The six remaining officers are hidden behind four groups of two crates.
There are many, many Altonoids standing on different levels in the other large room. They aim carefully and attempt to sniper all of the Starfleet officers with their Altonoid phaser rifles.
Ensign Murphy hides with her back to the crate she's hiding behind, ready to take down an Altonoid if she's lucky. She collects all her courage and turns around to face the Altonoids.
There's a gap between the two crates, and she utilizes that space to shoot at the Altonoids.
Lt. Appels and Lt. Hoper are hidden behind the next group of two crates. They return fire now and then, but there is just too much enemy fire.
The third pair of crates protect Tony Q and Dr. Van Oers. Tony Q returns fire now and again, but Dr. Van Oers is unarmed and just attempts to make herself as small as possible, as she can hear the deafening sound of buckling metal and phaser fire around her.
Ensign Lucas hides behind the last group of crates.
There are so many Altonoids that it's difficult for the officers to find a relatively safe moment to return fire.
The noise of continuous phaser fire is incredible, but pales in comparison with the utter direness of the situation. There seems to be no way out.
Lt. Hoper quickly looks around the corner and hides behind his crate again.
Hoper turns to face Lt. Appels, who is cocking his phaser rifle.
"I can't even count them." Lt. Hoper says.
"Isn't that the definition of being outnumbered?" Lt. Appels says.
One of the crates Ensign Murphy is hiding behind can't take the beating anymore and blows up. Debris of the crate is hurled away and some of it smashes against Ensign Murphy's head. Ensign Murphy gets knocked off her feet and falls on the floor. She moves no more... 'Luckily', she's covered by debris from the crate, so the Altonoids cease firing at her.
Now the Altonoids focus their efforts on the other five Starfleet officers.
"We ought to surrender." Lt. Appels sighs.
Lt. Hoper gazes back at Lt. Appels. Lt. Appels can see that Hoper is thinking about possible solutions. That creative process is interrupted abruptly when the crate where Dr. Van Oers is hiding behind starts to crumble.
Tony Q notices the crate next to him -where Rose is hiding- is about to explode in the Doctor's face! A group of Altonoids notice it too, and are concentrating their fire on that crate. Dr. Van Oers's situation has become pretty dire!
Tony Q thinks for a second and then pulls Dr. Van Oers behind his own crate. Now the only place for Tony Q to hide is the buckling crate the Doctor just hid behind.
So Tony in fact switches places with the Doctor. Cmdr. Tony Q crouches and makes himself as small as possible. He prepares himself for the worst.
The crate can't take it anymore. The crate is literally being torn apart in a final explosion!
Tony manages to evade most of the debris of the crate and gets up. He aims his rifle carefully and shoots down a couple of Altonoids.
"Get down!" Lt. Hoper shouts on the top of his lungs.
"Don't worry!" Tony Q shouts back while he dodges the incoming phaser fire. "I'm immortal, so..." Tony can't finish his sentence... A phaser beam hits him right above his right hip and flips Tony Q over. Tony lets go off his rifle and twists sideways. He looks up with a look of amazement on his face. His hands grasp nothing but air.
Tony twists a full circle while he descends to the ground, only to land on his back and be silent... He still has that look of incomprehension on his face. His uniform is scorched above his right hip, and a phaser wound is visible.
"Tony!" Dr. Van Oers shouts. She tries to reach him, he's only a meter away, but the Altonoids block her with phaser fire. There's no way...
Luckily, the other Starfleet officers open fire at the Altonoids simultaneously. This diverts the attention of the Altonoids, and Rose is able to appear from behind her cover and pull Tony to safety. But for how long? The crate they're hiding behind isn't going to hold forever...
"Tony?! Can you hear me?" Dr. Van Oers says. There's no response....
The Altonoids never cease their onslaught, and Ensign Lucas, Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels are the only Starfleet officers who can return fire at the moment.
The situation looks very, very dim...
Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels are the main targets of the Altonoids at the moment.
A phaser beam flies through the gap between the two crates they hide behind.
Lieutenant Appels can barely avoid it by tumbling over slightly. He corrects himself within a second and looks at Lt. Hoper. Norbert Hoper looks back at Appels and says:
"We won't make it like this..." His voice forming a great contrast with the enormous sounds of phaser fire and destruction.
Appels nods silently.
"The Altonoids had trouble opening that big door." Hoper continues with a raised voice. "Or they would've opened it sooner. Anyhow, It must be closed again."
Lt. Appels frowns.
"Too risky." Appels says. "We better stay put. Or find a way out."
But Lt. Hoper has made up his mind.
"There is no quick way out. The Altonoids locked the only exit." Norbert Hoper says. "If we don't get that door closed... We'll all die... here."
Appels remains silent and stares at the buckling crate in front of him.
Hoper presses his combadge.
"Lieutenant Hoper to Ensign Lucas. We need a diversion. Understood?"
A few crates away, past the Doctor and the wounded Tony Q, they see Ensign Lucas nodding at them. Lucas moves up and opens fire at the Altonoids.
The Altonoids concentrate their fire on Ensign Lucas, and Lucas is forced to hide again. But as soon as the firing mellows a bit, the valiant Ensign reappears and begins shooting again.
Hoper suddenly moves to the side of his crate and mouths: "Cover me!" to Lt. Appels.
Hoper escapes the cover of his crate and runs towards the left side of the room. Lt. Appels leaves his cover too and starts shooting the Altonoids before they can start shooting back. Some Altonoids get hit by Lt. Appels's and Ens. Lucas's fire.
Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels reach a small LCARS display to the left of the large doorway. The two Security officers are protected by the narrow left bulkhead that wasn't part of the big door. Both officers are out of visual range of the Altonoids. At least until armed Altonoids start peeking around the doorway... Then they'll have no place to hide...
Lt. Hoper is manically trying to get the LCARS display on the bulkhead to close the big door, but to no avail...
"I'm locked out, dammit!" Hoper swears. And when he turns to face Lt. Appels, he sees Ensign Lucas's crate gets blown up by Altonoid phaser fire. This leaves Ensign Lucas very vulnerable.
"There's another door control on the other side of this bulkhead." Hoper says.
"But that room is swarming with Altonoids!" Appels replies.
Lt. Hoper raises his phaser rifle and walks past Lt. Appels with a determined look on his face.
Hoper calmly walks into the big gap of the open door, holding his rifle in front of him, and shoots several Altonoids in cold blood.
Lt. Appels understands the plan and follows the other brave Lieutenant to provide back-up.
Ensign Lucas has hidden behind the crate Lt. Hoper used to hide behind, and is also providing helpful back-up.
Lt. Hoper and Lt. Appels dodge incoming fire and return the favor to the Altonoids.
Lt. Hoper manages to reach the LCARS display in the Altonoid room and accesses it.
He smiles when he sees this door control is functioning as it should. He presses a big red button on the LCARS display and the big door starts coming down.
Lt. Hoper moves towards the slowly closing door and gestures Lt. Appels to do the same.
The Altonoids have stopped firing at them. Odd...
They exit the Altonoid room and re-enter the room where Ensign Lucas, Dr. Van Oers and the wounded Tony Q are.
The door is closing behind them and is almost entirely closed.
"That was a close call." Lt. Appels says while he smiles in relief.
Lt. Hoper smiles too and gives Appels a friendly pat on the shoulder.
At that exact moment, the door halts, and moves up again...
"That ain't good." Dr. Van Oers says as she looks up for a moment.
Lt. Appels and Hoper turn around and see the door open again.
"It seems the Altonoids are smarter than we thought." Lt. Appels says wryly. "We must lock them out this time."
"Or better yet. Lock them IN." Lt. Hoper says. "We must seal all doors in their room and encrypt the door control and communication systems of that chamber."
"Agreed." Appels says as they see the big door opening, revealing the Altonoids behind it.
The two officers ready their rifles and enter the Altonoid room again, only to meet heavy resistance. They return fire and run for the LCARS display once again.
Lt. Hoper accesses the LCARS display, while Appels fires incessantly at the Altonoids. Ensign Lucas's back-up is also much appreciated. It draws away a great portion of the Altonoid fire.
"First the door must be closed. Only then can the Altonoids be locked in." Hoper says.
Lt. Appels remains silent for a short while, but ultimately sighs:
"I did assume this was a one way trip."
"What do you mean?" Hoper responds. "I'll do it. I'll stay here. You get back to the others."
"No way. Our success is very important. If we fail, we're all done for." Appels responds while he shoots an Altonoid.
Lt. Hoper presses the big red button and the door starts coming down again.
"Go! That's an order! The others need you. We can't let an Ensign lead the security team."
"I'm staying here to provide back-up! Ensign Marc Lucas is a very capable officer! And you can't order me around. We have the same rank, Lieutenant!" Lt. Appels says, and he turns to face Lt. Hoper.
The punch in his face came as a complete surprise for Lt. Appels. Lt. Appels stands perplexed and can barely remain standing after that blow.
Lt. Hoper shakes off the pain of his right fist and pushes Lt. Appels towards the closing door. Phaser fire of the Altonoids gets very, very close and impacts on the closing door. Lieutenant Appels tries to resist, but Lt. Hoper is stronger. Appels is pushed out of the Altonoid room, and into the room with the other Starfleet officers.
Lt. Appels immediately turns around once Lt. Hoper's grasp releases him.
He faces the big door coming down and Lt. Hoper standing behind it.
The eyes of both Security officers meet one last time before the door prohibits their view of each other.
Lt. Hoper looked determined though saddened...
"One day..." Hoper whispers before the door masks him.
The door closes with a rumbling sound...
Lt. Appels stares at the closed door and doesn't move a muscle. He frankly doesn't know what to do or say...
Then, he hears a large 'clunk', as if the door is being locked.
He can still hear the phaser fire in the room behind the door.
After a handful of seconds that seem like an eternity, the phaser fire stops...
* * * * *
The big door doesn't open...
* * * * *
Ensign Lucas walks over to Lieutenant Appels.
"What the hell happened?" Ensign Lucas asks.
"Bravery." Lt. Appels says as he stares at the door. Then he awakes from his trance and turns to face the young Ensign.
"Or stupidity. That doesn't matter in the end. The facts and the outcome remain: He saved our lives, at the cost of his own."
Tony Q is still laying on the ground, near the crate he used to hide behind, with Dr. Van Oers by his side to take care of his phaser wounds.
Tony moans and whines because of the agony.
"What's his status?" Lt. Appels asks as he joins the little 'party'.
"They didn't hit any vital organs. He was lucky." Dr. Van Oers says as she picks up some equipment from her medkit.
"Lucky?!" Tony Q asks.
"He has suffered severe phaser burns and some bruises, but I've managed to stabilize him." Rose says. "It could've been worse. Perhaps you're still immortal, Tony."
"I don't think so." Tony says and he coughs. "If I were immortal I shouldn't have been injured by a phaser beam. If that Altonoid had shot any higher, I would've been dead."
"If that Altonoid had shot any lower, you would've had a high voice." Lt. Appels replies dryly.
Tony gives him the evil eye.
"Anyhow, it is proven that I'm no longer immortal..." Tony sighs.
"I thought the Altonoids wouldn't shoot Commanders." Ensign Lucas says, changing the subject.
"Great. I just encountered the one near-sighted Altonoid on the entire station." Tony Q says.
"I don't think they mind anymore." Lt. Appels says. "They just shoot at whatever wears a Starfleet uniform. I can't help but wonder what drives the Altonoids to behave like they do. Their motivations seem so unclear..."
"As happens too often in war." Ens. Lucas says. "Or is it just that war happens too often?"
Dr. Van Oers takes the dermal regenerator and moves it over Tony's phaser wound. The wound is healed considerably, displaying the hole of at least 3 inches in diameter in Tony's shirt profoundly, showing Tony's semi-healed skin. Tony lifts his head to see the tear in his uniform and says:
"Oh great... One minute of battle and I've already managed to tear my shirt. Captain Kirk would've been proud of me..."
Lt. Appels disregards that remark and asks the Doctor:
"Can he walk?"
"Well, he is out of immediate danger, but walking will be extremely difficult for now. I'll need to perform surgery." The Doctor replies.
"I'm feeling better already." Tony says, a bit afraid of surgery.
"So he'll only hold us up if we're to take him with us?" Lt. Appels asks.
Dr. Van Oers nods reluctantly.
"This room is the most secure location on this station right now, in my opinion." Lt. Appels says. "So he can stay here until help arrives."
Tony witnessed that last piece of dialogue, lifts his index finger and says:
"Erm... Isn't this the part where I beg you to go on without me?"
"Sorry, Commander. But time is of the essence right now." Lt. Appels says.
"Alright." Dr. Van Oers says while she bends over to Tony. "You'll have to stay here. We'll come back for you."
"Please do." Tony says.
"We must be on our way again." Lt. Appels says. "We're searching for the hostage room shield emitter, remember? Doctor, please pick up a weapon and follow us."
Dr. Van Oers looks hesitant.
"What? Got a problem with that?" Lt. Appels says.
"I'm a doctor, not a mercenary." Dr. Van Oers says. "I'd rather not use weaponry."
"Dammit, Rose. We need you to aid us. The clock is ticking!" Appels says.
"I didn't say I didn't want to help you. I said I'd prefer not to use weaponry." Dr. Van Oers says as she raises her voice slightly.
"Preferences work nicely when you're safe on board your own ship, when the worst thing that can happen is that some Ensign gets the flu! But that doesn't work when you're out here! We're in a war! You're a Starfleet officer for crying out loud!"
"Don't make me come over there." The wounded Tony Q softly says.
Lt. Appels ignores Tony and continues his speech directed at the Doctor.
"You may be a Commander, but I'm the leader of this away team. And I order you to pick up a weapon and assist us. This is your duty!" Lt. Appels continues.
Dr. Van Oers looks around the room and sees the possibly dead bodies that belonged to Altonoids and Starfleet officers.
"Look! Look at what weapons and violence have brought us! Only pain and misery. And what is it good for? We kill them, they kill us and vice versa." She says. "So let me just help you by doing what I'm best at. Let me help you SAVE lives..."
A moment of silence passes.
"But you CAN save lives! BILLIONS of lives depend on our actions today, and the same goes for the entire future of the Federation as well." Lt. Appels says. "The Altonoids have invaded us with violence. The only way to repel them is violence... We have no choice. We have fought for our ideals so many times before. Against Romulans, the Dominion, the Borg... And we will fight for the ideals we have cherished all of our lives. We will fight for the ideals of the Federation. Again! Today! And whether we succeed or not. At least we can say: WE'VE FOUGHT!"
Another moment of silence...
"That's what's frightening me." Dr. Van Oers says as she sticks her chin up. "The Altonoids also think that they're fighting for the right cause. That's what always happens in war. There are never real 'bad guys'. Never winners. Only losers."
"You are right, Doctor." Lt. Appels says. "However, the fact remains that the Altonoids are the aggressors, and they've invaded our peace and safety, and they are going to do a lot more killing if we'd let them have their way. Do you think they'll stop after they've taken over this station?"
"No..." The Doctor admits.
"They will no doubt try to undermine the entire Federation and perhaps even conquer it.
They will enslave the few survivors and send them to the dilithium mines... If we're lucky...
So, you have vowed to serve Starfleet and to protect its citizens. This is your chance. No... This is your duty!" Lt. Appels says. "You know what to do."
Dr. Van Oers remains silent and walks over to the motionless Lt. Clayton, who's laying on the floor. She takes the phaser rifle that escaped Lt. Clayton's grasp.
Lt. Appels and Ensign Lucas are trying to find a way out of the big room, when Dr. Van Oers walks over to Tony Q one last time. Tony looks at her phaser rifle.
"Good luck, G.I. Jane." Tony says as he smiles.
"Thanks." The Doctor replies. "Don't go anywhere. You're relatively safe here."
"For now." Tony replies as his smile dissipates.
Dr. Van Oers frowns and turns around. She sees that Lt. Appels has managed to open the door they used to enter the room.
The three Starfleet officers leave the room, leaving Tony Q and a lot of still Altonoids and Starfleet officers behind...
* * * * *
The USS Kennedy, Wolf and the two remaining parts of the Sundance are fighting the second Uber-Massal. The other, damaged Uber-Massal has fallen back for repairs. The engines of the USS Kennedy seem to be working again.
* * * * *
As always, Letor Fune is witnessing the battle with appropriate pleasure -at least in his book- from the safe confines of the conference room.
The bandage Altonoid was accessing an LCARS display on the wall and calls Letor Fune:
"Fune! I'm getting a message from Admiral Owen Paris. He says the Federation is willing to negotiate."
Letor Fune diverts his attention from the space battle for a moment and says:
"Tell them we're having problems with our communications array. We'll get back to them."
Letor Fune looks at the flag officers and says with a wry grin:
"We'll get back to them once we've completely taken over this station."
* * * * *
On the partially fried bridge of the USS Kennedy:
"The Altonoids are sending a message back to the Federation." Lt. Muntenaar says.
"What are they saying?" Lt. Malin asks.
"It appears they want to fight this out before they'll even open negotiations. And I wonder if they are willing to commence negotiations in the first place..." Lt. Muntenaar replies.
"Speculation will not help us at this time. Keep evading the incoming fire." Lt. Sivar.
"You bet!" Lt. Malin replies.
The bridge rocks as it is hit by another phaser strike. One of the few consoles that has remained operative sparks.
"Structural integrity is down to 10%. But I've managed to divert a bit more power to the structural integrity field." They hear Cmdr. Soeteman say.
"Thank you, Commander." Lt. Sivar says. "It is imperative that we keep the ship together. However, I feel it is of vital importance to fire at the upgraded Massal-class Altonoid ship as much and as frequently as we can."
"I'll take that as an order." Ensign Parkin says and he starts pressing some buttons on his Tactical station.
* * * * *
The USS Kennedy flies past the large Uber-Massal, rolling to the left to evade four Altonoid phaser beams targeting the tertiary section of the USS Sundance, and fires its ventral phasers.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Sundance:
"The hull of our tertiary section is buckling, sir." The Science officer of the USS Sundance says. "The Altonoids have been targeting it for quite a while now... She can't keep up!"
Lieutenant Broitz doesn't react and stares at the viewscreen which displays the tertiary section getting pounded on by four strong Altonoid phaser beams. The shields of that section can't stop the phaser fire anymore.
"The shields are failing!" The Science officer shouts.
Broitz continues to stare at the viewscreen and witnesses the phaser beams slowly cutting the hull plating of the tertiary section open...
* * * * *
It is obvious that the USS Wolf has also sustained damage, as the bridge isn't in shipshape condition anymore. The bridge crew witness the imminent destruction of the tertiary Sundance too.
"Dammit, we've got to do something!" Cmdr. Anderson swears.
"I've heard those words before." The Commander hears. He looks to his left and sees the tall Cap. Reynolds standing next to him. She's all messed up, but the fire in her eyes burns so strongly that she looks like nothing could ever happen to her.
"Captain?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says, slightly amazed. It would seem that Captain Reynolds didn't like the idea of waiting out the battle from sickbay.
"Thanks for warming up the chair for me." Cap. Reynolds says.
Leif Anderson understands. He stands up and makes way for the new Captain.
Lt. Stephanie Grant can't suppress a smile as Cap. Suzan Reynolds sits down in the Captain's chair of the USS Wolf.
The Captain presses a button on the side of her new chair and says:
"This is Captain Reynolds. As of this moment, I'm taking command of the fleet and the USS Wolf."
* * * * *
They can also hear this message on the bridges of the Sundance and Kennedy.
"I'm not sure if we'll make it. But I'm sure we can and WILL give the Altonoids hell!"
CHAPTER V
The tertiary Sundance hangs motionless in space, its structural integrity failing.
The bridge crews of the Kennedy, Wolf and the saucer of the Sundance watch the tertiary Sundance burst into flames. They see her hull tearing itself apart and the interior of the ship decompressing deck by deck, until she has to give in to the laws of physics and blows up to form an impressive, but meaningless shockwave.
* * * * *
Onboard the USS Wolf:
"Three bottles are hanging on the wall..." Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson softly sings with an eerie tone in his voice. He has taken his Tactical station again.
"Damn! What is taking them so long?" Cap. Suzan Reynolds says.
"Excuse me?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson inquires.
"That information is classified for anyone below the rank of Commander." Cap. Reynolds says.
The lead Uber-Massal directs its four phaser beams to the USS Wolf, and the bridge starts to shake. The impact causes a console to explode in an Ensign's face.
"But I'll tell you anyway, because you all have the right to know and I don't think I'll be facing a court martial." Cap. Reynolds says, with her usual wit.
"We won't tell anyone." Ensign Daniels says with a subtle smile.
"We had a rather nice fleet just out of sensor range in case the diplomatic meeting went wrong." Cap. Reynolds says. "You don't think my late USS Sattelite was our only back-up plan, now do you?"
Another console gives up the struggle and dims as the bridge shakes continuously.
"Figures. But where the hell are they then?" Lt. Stephanie Grant asks as she holds on to her station in front of the bridge.
"That's what I'm wondering too." Cap. Reynolds says. "When the Altonoids sent out their first message, it should have alerted the fleet. This is taking way too long..."
"So much for the pending Deus Ex Machina..." Lt. Grant sighs.
"I hate to interrupt this little intermezzo." Ensign Daniels says while he interrupts this little intermezzo. "But I though you'd be interested in hearing our troop reports."
"Another time, Ensign." Cap. Reynolds says. "We're quite busy here."
"Let's hear it anyway, Daniels." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. "It might be important."
Captain Reynolds gives Leif Anderson the evil eye, but allows Ensign Daniels to proceed.
"The remains of our troops still haven't found the shield array, and are constantly fighting the Altonoids." Ensign Daniels states. "They've also encountered many dead Starfleet officers and identified some of them as crewmembers of Station A-12. They doubt they will be able to secure the station or find the shield array before it's too late, but they will not give up..."
The bridge rocks violently as the phaser beams keep impacting on the Wolf's shields.
Everyone is silent for a moment, despite the hammering the Wolf gets.
Everyone watches Cap. Reynolds to await her next move.
"Initiate attack pattern Worf 4-Gamma." She finally says.
* * * * *
Captain Stephan Rinckes crawls through a Jefferies tube of the station, until he reaches the end of that tube. He holds on tight to his phaser rifle with his right hand, and presses a small LCARS panel with his free hand to open the Jefferies tube exit.
He immediately spots three Altonoids standing in the corridor behind the exit. The sound of the opening hatch also makes sure that the three Altonoids immediately spot Cap. Rinckes...
Cap. Rinckes doesn't hesitate for one second and fires his phaser rifle at the closest Altonoid.
Before that Altonoid can even hit the ground, Cap. Rinckes leaps out of the Jefferies tube. He absorbs the impact with the floor by rolling forward. In order to do this, he has to let go off his rifle, but he picks up the rifle immediately after he has safely landed on his behind.
Captain Rinckes kicks the left Altonoid off his feet by quickly rotating counter-clockwise on his hands. A nice display of martial arts... Once the Captain has finished that rotation, he stands up without losing his momentum and shoots the last remaining Altonoid without even looking at him.
Cap. Rinckes is breathing rather heavily after this nice maneuver, but he is all but relieved. His uniform is scorched and torn in places -revealing that he has fought many more Altonoids today- and his dark blond hair is somewhat of a mess.
But that look on his face...
It shows both agony and sheer determination...
He looks around a bit, deciding whether to go left or right.
In front of him lays a dead, female Starfleet officer. It's not Commander Simons, but someone else. Someone he doesn't know...
It might've very well been Cmdr. Simons... At least that's how Cap. Rinckes feels it.
Saddened by this unnecessary loss of life, the accompanying agony is immediately added to his anger and determination. He IS going to find Melanie Simons, even if it is the last thing he will ever do.
He spots the Altonoid he just kicked off his feet. The Altonoid is laying on the floor, holding on to his hit and painful shins. The Captain grabs the Altonoid by the collar and lifts him up.
"Tell me..." Cap. Rinckes says. "Have you seen a blonde female Commander passing through this area?"
"You won't get far..." The Altonoid coughs. "These decks are swarming with us."
"That was not what I asked!" Cap. Rinckes shouts as he shakes the Altonoid around.
"I asked:" And he holds the Altonoid even closer and firmer. "Have you seen a blonde female Commander passing through this area?!" The tone of Stephan's voice is surprisingly ominous and threatening.
The Altonoid can barely breathe and he coughs. He manages to say: "I saw HER." And he looks over to the dead officer Cap. Rinckes just felt sad about. "And I shot her!" The pride in the Altonoid's voice is equaled only by its challenging tone.
"THAT'S NOT HER!" Cap. Rinckes cries and he shoves the Altonoid against the bulkhead without letting go.
"Alright, alright." The Altonoid shrills. "We're tracking your precious Commander down right now. We've got orders to do so..."
"Go on!" Cap. Rinckes shouts, as he loosens his grip slightly.
"She was last seen in the observation lounge of this deck." The Altonoid says. "But you're too late anyway. I already called for back-up."
Cap. Rinckes's face is filled with hatred again as he releases the Altonoid with such a force that the Altonoid smashes against the bulkhead and passes out.
Captain Rinckes readies his rifle again and heads for the observation lounge...
* * * * *
The wounded Tony Q is the only one alive or at least conscious in the large room he's in. Dead or unconscious Altonoids and Starfleet officers are laying on the floor throughout the entire room. The big door behind Tony never opened again since Lt. Hoper shut it, so Tony is relatively safe. Though he doesn't feel that way...
He touches the phaser wound above his right hip and cringes with pain. He's laying on his back, and he notices the rather large gaps in the ceiling. It looks like there's some kind of maintenance room above the room Tony is in. But he doesn't care about that right now.
With a great deal of effort, Tony sits up slowly and leans with his back against a crate that has had its share of phaser fire.
He looks at the Starfleet officers laying around him.
"Poor souls." Tony mutters. "Poor, mortal souls. Why did I have to become like you?"
"All I did was help the Federation. Help my friends in need. And what do I get in return? The Q Continuum strip me of my powers." Tony continues with a pained look on his face.
"Tell me, Q!" He says to thin air, while he raises his voice as much as the pain allows him to. "Why didn't you do anything?!" His words echo into nothingness.
"Sure, you tried to stop me... But what if my cause was worth fighting for? Do I really deserve laying here? Wounded! Defeated! Overcome... Human again!"
Silence...
"I didn't know what it was like to be human, fragile again..." Tony says as he looks down his arms and at his phaser wound.
"Why didn't you help me?! Why did you let them shoot me?! Why didn't you stand up for me when the Q Continuum kicked me out?! WHY DON'T YOU ANSWER ME?!" Tony shouts, until the pain wins the battle against his lungs again.
Tony grabs his phaser wound and continues to sob.
At that moment, Tony spots a shadow moving across the room.
Tony narrows his eyes and sees that it's an Altonoid who has regained consciousness! The Altonoid is aiming his rifle at Tony!
The startled Tony rolls to the right with a lot of effort and gets stabbed by pieces of debris. An Altonoid phaser blast barely misses him. Tony has completed his painful evasive maneuver and his left hand searches for his Type II phaser. He grabs it from its holster, aims it and fires.
The Altonoid is silenced again.
Tony doesn't move for a few seconds. He's still holding up his phaser with his wrong hand.
"Alright, that's it!" Tony decides. "I'm getting out of here."
He plucks a piece of crate out of his leg and starts crawling towards the exit. He's holding his phaser in his right hand now, and he crawls around the Altonoid he just stunned. Just to be safe...
He crawls over a rather large chunk of debris that belonged to a crate. Just when he shifts his weight on to that chunk of debris, Tony hears a moan.
Tony is really on edge right now and he immediately jumps/crawls back a bit. He stays silent for a moment.
Then, carefully, he presses against the debris with his left hand. Nothing...
Tony slowly lifts up the chunk of debris and points his phaser at whatever may be under it.
He's pointing his phaser at Ensign Murphy's face! She's got scratches and bruises on her face, but it looks as though she has regained consciousness.
Tony utilizes the little strength he still has to lift the remains of the crate off of the unfortunate Ensign. Ensign Murphy sits up. Her uniform is stained and scratched, and her long, brown hair is a mess. She coughs and greets Tony formally:
"Commander..."
"Are you alright?" Tony asks as he crawls closer to her. "Ensign... Ensign Murphy, right?"
"Ensign Emily Murphy, sir." She replies. She looks around. "Did I miss anything?"
"You can say that." Tony Q says.
"Are we the only survivors?" Ens. Murphy asks while she looks around again.
"No. Lieutenant Appels, Doctor Van Oers and Ensign Lucas are still running around the station... But we better get out of here. Some Altonoids might just wake up again."
"You've got to love those stun settings." Ens. Murphy says with a faint smile.
"I must apologize for my lack of medical skills, but I assume you can walk?" Tony asks.
"I can walk." Ens. Murphy says as she stands up. She attempts to wipe her uniform clean.
When she sees that Tony makes no effort to stand up, she asks:
"But can you? You're wounded!"
"No kidding?" Tony replies with his usual wittiness.
"I don't understand. Aren't you a Q?" Ens. Murphy asks as she reaches for Tony.
"No. I am human..." Tony Q says with regret in his voice. "Let's just get out of here, shall we? There's more I should tell you." And Tony accepts Ens. Murphy's hand.
* * * * *
Four massive phaser beams glide over the hull of the USS Wolf, inflicting some serious damage on the top of the saucer section of that Akira-class starship. The four phaser beams cease attacking the Wolf quickly enough and find a new target in the last remaining part of the USS Sundance: its saucer section.
* * * * *
The bridge of the USS Wolf is still shaking from the last attack, and some of the lights go down. This makes the eerie light coming from the red alert panels stand out even more. The bridge is damaged, but still largely operational.
"That last hit almost breached through our hull. Lining up port torpedoes." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says as he regains his balance.
"Divert more power to the shields." Cap. Suzan Reynolds says. "We've got to get those shields up again, or we're no match for their weaponry."
"Our casualties are still light, thus far." Lt. Stephanie Grant says. "Decks four and f... We're being hailed by the USS Kennedy."
"Well, put them on screen." Cap. Reynolds says as she stands up.
Lt. Sivar and a severely battered bridge around him appear on the viewscreen. The bridge of the USS Kennedy is by no means brighter than the bridge of the USS Wolf...
"Can you still keep the ship together, Lieutenant?" Cap. Reynolds asks.
"Hardly, Captain. As you may have observed by examining my immediate surroundings..." Lt. Sivar says, while Ensign Parkin almost topples over his Tactical station in the background.
The last sparks fly off a damaged wall panel due to a weapon strike, and Lt. Sivar can barely hold on to his Captain's chair.
"Captain." He begins. "I must advise you to order the remainder of the fleet to withdraw."
Cap. Reynolds is somewhat surprised.
"You mean we should give up?" She says.
"You could formulate my statement in that manner." Sivar replies. "Logic dictates that if there is no possible way to win this battle, we should not risk the lives of our crews in a last attempt to win that battle."
"There's another battle being fought right now, Lieutenant." Cap. Reynolds sharply replies. "The battle on that station we're defending. Hundreds of Starfleet officers are fighting there for us. We won't abandon them." Cap. Reynolds continues. "Furthermore, more lives are at stake here than yours and mine."
"Captain. I did not mea..."
"I think I've made it quite clear, Lieutenant." Cap. Reynolds looks away for a moment as she sits down in her chair. "The only way we're going to lose this battle is by giving up. And I'm not going to do that. The odds may be against us. But that's never been a good reason to give up..."
"As you wish, Captain." Lt. Sivar says with no apparent emotion. He ends the transmission, and the viewscreen is filled with the fierce battle again.
* * * * *
On the severely damaged bridge of the also severely damaged USS Kennedy:
A Starfleet engineer is desperately attempting to fix the dark, and quite shattered bridge for at least a slight bit. Lt. Malin and Lt. Muntenaar are working hard on their stations in front of the bridge, while Ensign Parkin is attempting every evasive maneuver he has ever learned at the Academy (not too long ago...). Lt. Sivar is sitting on his chair as if it was any ordinary day, even though the bridge is in shambles and it's rocking hard enough to make even the most experienced hovercoaster tester feel sick.
"That first Uber-Massal sure is giving us a run for our money." Ensign Parkin says. "As if the second Uber-Massal isn't giving us enough trouble..."
"Direct your attention to your station, Ensign." Lt. Sivar says as he turns in his chair to face Ens. Parkin. "Use whatever weaponry we have left to attack that first upgraded Massal-class Altonoid craft." Lt. Sivar turns around again. "Lieutenant Muntenaar, what is the status of the Altonoid vessel we are currently targeting?"
"It seems more like they're targeting us." Lt. Muntenaar replies, while a well aimed phaser strike causes his console to spark. Sven Muntenaar bounces back and continues: "But their shields are down to below 50%. I guess. Our sensor array could use a little refit..."
* * * * *
The USS Kennedy lines up its forward torpedo launchers with the Uber-Massal they're targeting. Four elliptic photon torpedoes fly at the Altonoid vessel that was responsible for most of the Kennedy's damage.
The USS Wolf joins in on the attack. Several photon torpedoes leave the Wolf's weapon pod and race towards the Uber-Massal. The Wolf supports the barrage of torpedoes with sufficient phaser fire.
The Uber-Massal ceases firing at the Kennedy when all this weaponry hits the Altonoid ship. They're hanging silently in space.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy (which is still shaking after the last phaser hit):
"They've stopped firing and their shields are almost down!" Lt. Muntenaar exclaims.
Before Lt. Sivar can give further orders, Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman contacts the bridge again.
"That last phaser hit took our shields off-line. It will take a while to fix. Sorry, sir..." They hear Soeteman's tired voice on the bridge. "Our hull integrity is down to 12%. We are slowly losing power throughout the ship. Emergency force fields are going down one by one."
"Evacuate those sections." Lt. Sivar says.
"That's the problem. We can't reach those sections. The comm. system is down in some of the more damaged areas. Oh yeah, aft torpedo launchers have gone a bit awry. I recommend not to use them."
Lt. Sivar stares at the viewscreen, just like the rest of the bridge crew.
"Sir?"
Nobody responds. They're all staring at the Uber-Massal on the viewscreen. Its phaser wires are flashing on and off again. Streaks of light are racing through them...
Lt. Sivar is the first to break the silence, keeping his professionalism.
"It would be wiser to get the shields back on-line, Commander." He says. "All hands, brace for impact."
They can hear Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman sigh before he says: "I understand. The Uber-Massal is preparing its impressive phaser trick again..."
"Indeed." Lt. Sivar says and he frowns. He turns to face Ensign Parkin again.
"Fire everything we've got, Ensign. Focus the attack on one point of their phaser array." Lt. Sivar orders.
Ensign. Parkin hesitates for a brief moment, and then he complies.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, the USS Wolf is still attacking the Uber-Massal. They have noticed that the enemy's phaser wires are preparing for another colossal beating.
The Wolf keeps firing torpedoes at the Uber-Massal nevertheless.
"Their hull integrity has dropped to below 50%." Ensign Daniels declares. "No change in their weapon status."
"I can see that." Cap. Reynolds says as she witnesses the streaks of light racing through the phaser wires of the immense Altonoid ship.
The onslaught of photon torpedoes from the Wolf decreases in intensity and finally stops.
"Keep firing those torpedoes, Commander Anderson." Cap. Reynolds calmly orders.
"Forward torpedo launchers on our weapon pod are completely empty now." Commander Anderson replies. "The torpedo launcher on the bow of our ship has ten torpedoes left, but is too damaged to be operational..."
Cap. Reynolds turns around to face Lt. Cmdr. Anderson. She didn't anticipate this...
* * * * *
On the damaged bridge of the USS Kennedy:
"Sir..." Lt. Muntenaar says as he looks troubled. "Though our sensors still aren't very accurate, I believe the Uber-Massal is targeting us..."
"Needless to say we won't make that, Sivar." Lt. Malin says as she turns to face her commanding officer. "With our hull integrity being down to ten percent..."
"Keep firing at the Altonoid craft." Lt. Sivar says. "You all heard what Captain Reynolds said. We will not give up."
* * * * *
The USS Kennedy is rotating and twisting to let every phaser array that's still working have their way on the Uber-Massal. The phaser strikes do damage the Uber-Massal, but the wires just keep on flashing!
* * * * *
"Turn us to port. Line up starboard torpedoes." Cap. Reynolds says, while she has stood up on the dark bridge of the USS Wolf.
"Torpedoes lined up!" Cmdr. Anderson says, with agitation in his voice.
"Fire!" Cap. Reynolds shouts fiercely.
* * * * *
The two starboard torpedo launchers of the USS Wolf spit out four flaming torpedoes each. The torpedoes impact on the weakened hull of the Uber-Massal with great explosions.
* * * * *
"Their hull integrity is down to 28 percent!" Ensign Daniels shouts.
"Good. Line up aft torpedoes. Fire when ready." Cap. Reynolds says with apparent fighting spirit.
"They're targeting US now!" Ensign Daniels shouts even louder this time.
"I don't know whether I should laugh or cry." Cap. Reynolds says swiftly, beneath her breath. "Divert all power to the aft shields!"
"Aft torpedoes lined up!" Cmdr. Anderson shouts.
"Altonoid vessel is firing!" Ensign Daniels shouts.
"FIRE!" Cap. Reynolds shouts with all her might.
* * * * *
The streaks of light, which are racing through the phaser wires of the severely damaged Uber-Massal, adjoin to form one great phaser burst.
At that same moment, the aft launchers on the weapon pod of the USS Wolf unleash a salvo of photon torpedoes at the firing Uber-Massal.
The Altonoid phaser strike reaches the USS Wolf in less than a second, and passes the photon torpedoes that are headed into the opposite direction.
One torpedo does graze the phaser strike. The torpedo's guidance system goes awry after this incident, causing the torpedo to make a few odd turns and explode harmlessly in open space.
* * * * *
However, The phaser beam slashes right through the aft shields of the USS Wolf as if they aren't there, and it pounds on the Wolf's roll bar weapon pod that's still spitting out torpedoes.
The phaser strike also hits a photon torpedo that just left the pod, and the torpedo detonates. That explosion is added to the enormous power of the devastating phaser strike...
Needless to say that the weapon pod can't handle this... The weapon pod is consumed by the resulting explosion. What is not vaporized, is blown into countless pieces.
* * * * *
Everyone on the ship is thrown off their feet and fly through the corridors, bridge, or wherever they are.
* * * * *
The fire of the exploding weapon pod is extinguished rather quickly by the vacuum of space.
As the debris clears away, the severity of the damage is obvious.
The weapon pod is just... gone. A very odd sight, since the missing pod changes the appearance of the catamaran-like hull drastically. This is also not very positive for the structural integrity of the Wolf...
* * * * *
Nine photon torpedoes did make it to the Uber-Massal, however. Torpedoes travel slower than a phaser strike, and thus the photons hit the Uber-Massal several seconds after the massive phaser attack struck the USS Wolf.
The nine photon torpedoes carve straight through the already damaged hull of the Uber-Massal and practically explode from inside the enormous Altonoid vessel.
The Uber-Massal can't take all these torpedoes exploding from the inside. Its structural integrity fails completely. The explosions from the detonating torpedoes are backed up by new explosions coming from within the ship. The explosions spread across the entire ship, and pieces of the outer hull are starting to tear off. The phaser 'wires' go dark, are torn off, or are consumed by the flames.
Within seconds, the entire Uber-Massal disappears inside the sum of all the cascading explosions.
* * * * *
In other words: the whole damn ship blows up!
* * * * *
Relatively small pieces of debris that manage to ride the shockwave escape the explosions and smash into the nearby ships and Station A-12, causing little damage.
Then, when the flames drown into nothingness, of the once proud experimental Altonoid warship, there is nothing left but pieces of spreading debris and some dark stains on the surrounding ships...
* * * * *
"Bloody hell!" Letor Fune shouts in the conference/hostage room, while he witnesses the debris and dust impacting on the large window.
"It seems there is no such thing as false hope." Cmdr. Levine says as he stands up.
Letor Fune takes a few mighty steps towards the Commander and forces him to sit down by pushing him over.
Cmdr. Dennis Levine lands uncomfortably on the conference table.
Commander Jansen sees if he's alright, while Letor Fune turns to face the fleet outside again.
"This changes nothing!" Letor Fune snarls.
"He still feels bad though..." Admiral van Aken softly says to Captain Duvivier, making him grin slightly.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy:
"Yes! That's one menace down!" Lt. Malin shouts cheerfully - a great contrast with the dark and moody bridge.
"There's still one left, unfortunately..." Lt. Muntenaar says, but he can't suppress a modest smile.
"You are both correct." Lt. Sivar says. "Though it is agreeable that one of the Altonoid vessels has been neutralized..."
"You mean blown to bits, sir." Ensign Parkin smiles, and the rest of the small bridge crew excluding Sivar smiles too.
"...we must now focus on the second upgraded Massal-class vessel." Sivar continues.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Soeteman calling the bridge."
"You may proceed, Commander." Lt. Sivar says.
"We're sure glad we got those Altonoids off our backs. We're ready for shore leave down here!"
"We all are, Commander." Lt. Muntenaar smiles.
"However, I advise to keep this ship out of battle for a while. We can't take much more right now. We're going to lose many crewmembers if those emergency force fields keep failing in damaged sections of the ship that haven't been evacuated yet."
Everyone listens carefully.
"And our main battery is still draining. We're sure missing that warp core over here..."
"Alright, Commander." Lt. Sivar says. "Please continue to find means to contact crewmembers who are in hazardous areas and order them to repair the ship as much as they can. In the meantime, utilize all back-up power we have available. I plan to take us into combat again as soon as possible. We will exploit this time we have been given to cool down our weapon systems."
"Yes sir. I'll do the best I can here."
"Indeed. Time is of the essence." Lt. Sivar says. He looks to his right and sees the engineering Ensign trying to pick up a heavy piece of debris.
"Let me help you with that, Ensign." Lt. Sivar says as he stands up.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Wolf:
Though the last massive phaser strike hit the weapon pod, it is clear that the bridge also took the necessary damage. Most officers have retaken their stations now and damage reports are flooding in on the workstations. The bridge is dark and partially shattered. Alerts go on and off. The crew are still a bit too stumped to do or say much of anything. The first person to break the relative silence is the Captain.
Cap. Reynolds hangs in her chair and says:
"That's it... It's official... My hair is a mess now..."
She sits up and requests a damage report, even though she doesn't really want to know...
"Our weapon pod is completely gone. Port and starboard torpedo launchers are the last launchers that are still operative." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says as a wall console sends sparks at him. "Our shields are down and our hull integrity is down to 18%."
"Casualty reports are coming in. Multiple decks are severely damaged, especially the aft sections." Lt. Stephanie Grant says, as agitated as everyone else on the bridge. "That phaser impact didn't only take your hair out, Captain."
Cap. Reynolds smiles.
"Engines are off-line. We're drifting." Lt. Grant continues.
"Send every engineer to fix whatever they can." Cap. Reynolds orders. "And tell everyone on the ship that we've destroyed one of those Altonoid ships. A little morale boost won't hurt us."
Lt. Grant nods, but her console starts bleeping.
"The Kennedy is hailing us. Text only." Lt. Grant declares. "They are 'forced to discontinue the current battle, and have fallen back for repairs'. They will 'offer assistance to combat the current predicament as soon as the status of the USS Kennedy improves sufficiently to be of valuabl..."
"I get the main idea, Lieutenant." Cap. Reynolds interrupts. "That does sound like Lieutenant Sivar alright... Anyway, we must repair our thrusters so we'll stop drifting. That's our number one priority right now."
Lt. Grant directs her full attention to her station again, but Cmdr. Anderson looks worried.
"But what about the Sundance?" He asks.
"They're on their own for now..." Cap. Reynolds says.
* * * * *
The saucer (and last remaining) section of the USS Sundance swoops past the Uber-Massal in a direct attacking maneuver. The hull of the Sundance is scorched in places, and visible hull breaches are beginning to form at vital areas.
The four Altonoid phaser beams create another hull breach in the belly of the Sundance, and knocks the Sundance out of control for a brief moment.
The Sundance recovers quickly and lines up its bow to face the Uber-Massal.
The Sundance fires four photon torpedoes, but it is a futile attempt. The four phaser beams keep pounding on the failing Sundance's shields.
Then, the forward shields go down entirely and the four phaser beams sear through the hull.
The single torpedo launcher on the bow of the ship is blown to bits...
* * * * *
On the bridge of the Sundance:
Lieutenant Broitz has nothing to sit on anymore, since the Captain's chair lays broken on the floor. As a matter of fact, there are no chairs left standing on the entire bridge!
The normal bridge lights have gone off-line. The bridge is lit by a strange mixture of the light coming from the few working LCARS panels and the blue Multi Vector Assault Mode (MVAM) indicators. The light is turning Lt. Broitz's blue skin grey.
The dark bridge is quite in shambles, just like the bridges of the Wolf and Kennedy. Several bridge officers are still laying on the floor or are hanging silently on one of the bridge railings.
"Deflectors, shields and torpedo launchers are off-line!" Lt. Jena Roguez shouts over a hissing conduit.
"Hull integrity?" Lt. Broitz shouts as he looks to his right, where the Engineering officer should be. But he's not at his workstation. He's laying besides the broken Captain's chair in an unnatural position. Lt. Broitz also sees that the Engineering wall panel isn't working anymore. It just... sparks a lot...
"What should we do?" The Helm Ensign shouts.
Lt. Broitz has no idea, frankly. He never had to face a situation this dire in real life. Those simulations at the Academy weren't this stressful!
His mind works like crazy for a moment, as he looks around and sees the havoc on the bridge.
Then he finally says:
"Bring us about. Evasive maneuvers. Keep firing any working phaser array in range. Single bursts. Give them some coolant time." Lt. Broitz says as he turns around to pick up the Captain's chair. He attempts to set it straight.
"Sir?" Lt. Roguez says as she sees the Bolian struggling with the chair.
"A commanding officer needs his chair." Broitz says. Sweat drips down from his forehead.
* * * * *
The saucer [and last remaining] section of the USS Sundance has turned around, firing an occasional phaser burst at the Uber-Massal, and attempts to avoid the four massive phaser beams by flying away in an erratic pattern. It's no use, the Altonoids have already breached through their shields and the already weakened hull gets pounded on severely by the never-ceasing fire.
Then the arch-shaped aft lower hull plating collapses, and the four massive phaser beams slice right through the lowest few decks!
The Sundance attempts to divert the attack by moving from left to right, but it's no use anymore.
The little warp engine on the somewhat extending decks at the bottom of the vessel can't hold out long against the four phaser beams. The lights on the Sundance flicker as that warp engine explodes, and debris speeds away from the once proud Starfleet vessel.
The ship appears to be largely intact, but that's only because the most damage is obscured from view by the sides of the ship.
* * * * *
Everyone, conscious or not, gets tossed around on the bridge of the Sundance.
The bridge looks even worse now.
Lt. Broitz lays on top of his chair. Now he stands up carefully. He looks around, sees a lot of sparkling consoles and few crewmates who return to their stations -or what's left of it. The bridge is still dark as hell, with those ominous MVAM indicators lighting the bridge.
Lt. Broitz looks around, wondering how he's going to clean up this mess they've gotten into. He sees Lt. Roguez reaching for her wall panel workstation.
"They've stopped firing at us!" She shouts over the ever-hissing conduit.
"Good." Lt. Broitz says as he starts wrestling his chair again. "So why is the bridge still shaking?"
"I'm getting incomplete damage reports now." Lt. Roguez says as she accesses the Tactical wall panel in front of her.
"Sir, we're drifting and our lower decks have been blown off!" She shouts as she interprets her workstation.
"Oh dear..." Broitz says as he lifts his chair to where it should be.
"Hull breaches are tearing through the ship! The decks are decompressing one by one!" She shouts.
"Oh dear..." Broitz says as he fastens the chair. The bridge shakes more and more and an ever-growing rumbling sound is audible.
"Emergency force fields can't keep up!"
The Captain's chair is now quite satisfactory repaired.
"The hull breaches are tearing the ship apart! Soon the hull breaches will reach the bridge! What should we do?!" Lt. Roguez screams.
The hull breaches come closer, causing the rumbling to increase dramatically.
Lt. Broitz turns around to face the viewscreen with a determined look on his face. Somehow he has found new strength, while wall panels and pillars on the bridge are starting to show minor cracks.
Lieutenant Broitz sits down -clutching both armrests of the white Captain's chair-, sighs and begins giving his orders:
"Alright..." The rest we'll never hear, because just when he inhales to complete his sentence, the floor underneath his chair gives away, and he and his newly repaired Captain's chair sink right through it...
* * * * *
The USS Sundance drifts away from the Uber-Massal and the two Federation vessels.
All air, debris and the occasional crewmember are shoved out of the growing number of hull breaches that are spreading throughout the ship.
The lights on and in the ship go out one by one as the surrounding sections start to buckle. Small explosions are beginning to occur all over the ship.
* * * * *
Captain Stephan Rinckes, who looks even worse than he did minutes ago, opens a door that leads to a side room with a plain view of the stars outside.
No battling starships in sight.
"Stars..." He sighs. "I must be getting close."
He holds up his rifle and checks if the room is occupied. No Commander Simons, no Altonoids, no nothing. In fact, the room is entirely empty.
Just an empty room with a nice view of the stars.
Then, from the left corner of the window, Cap. Rinckes sees something moving. It's the saucer of the USS Sundance, drifting and tilting forward! Rinckes sees the hull buckling -some chunks of hull have already broken off in volatile explosions- and the explosions are getting bigger and more destructive.
* * * * *
The explosions spread further and further throughout the entire ship, until the ship can't take it anymore. The top little warp nacelle is the last part to break off visibly before the entire ship is torn to pieces by a final, big explosion. The USS Sundance is no more...
* * * * *
Captain Rinckes witnesses the remains of his ship spreading outwards in a bright cloud.
CHAPTER VI
Captain Rinckes had to briefly close his eyes to protect them from the bright light coming from the final explosion that ripped the last section of the USS Sundance apart.
There goes his ship. His own command. That strong Prometheus-class warship he was so proud of. And now it's gone... Blown to dust in a hopeless battle...
He moves closer to the window and looks to the left through it.
He sees the huge prototype Altonoid vessel fighting the severely damaged USS Kennedy and USS Wolf. Or what's left of them... They're in pretty bad shape. Are those FOUR phaser beams pounding on the weakened shields of the Kennedy?
Cap. Rinckes looks back into the room again.
"We'll never win this battle." He realizes. He stares for a moment, thinking. Then he remembers his most important goal:
"Melanie..."
He turns around. But before he can start walking, he hears footsteps coming from behind the door he used to enter this room. He can hear voices, largely muted by the bulkheads and the door itself:
"He's in here! We've got him!"
Cap. Rinckes sets his phaser rifle to the highest power setting (the setting indicators on the top of the rifle turn red) and he points the rifle at the door.
Then he sees another door to his right, as the footsteps close in rapidly.
He doesn't hesitate for one second and he makes a run for that door, as the first door opens to reveal a group of armed Altonoids.
Cap. Rinckes runs as fast as he can, even though he must be very tired. The look on his face hardens, however, while he's still running for the door and his only escape.
The Altonoids close in on the Captain of the late USS Sundance and try to get a target lock on him. All Altonoids have entered the room by now, as the door (and his only hope of salvation) starts to open in front of Cap. Rinckes.
But it won't open quickly enough. He'll smash into the sides of the opening door with his current speed.
Cap. Rinckes therefore turns his body to the right to make himself as narrow as possible. He's still running for the door, but now sideways. This enables him to aim his rifle at the Altonoids with his stretched right arm.
Well, he tries to aim at the Altonoids. But due to the running he's forced to aim at the window! He'll never break off the attack like this...
Some Altonoids have started firing their weapons at the Captain, but they can't get a clear shot at the running target.
Captain Rinckes fires three phaser bursts, but they head straight for the window...
And they smash right through it! The phaser rifle was set on the highest setting, and that is too much to handle even for strong exterior windows! The window vaporizes for a considerable part, and the rest of the window is shattered and blown out by the sudden air displacement.
All the air gets shoved out of the room through the gaping hole, just as Captain Rinckes races out of the room through the still opening door.
Every single Altonoid is taken completely by surprise and is dragged out of the room, flung through the broken window and propelled into space by the rushing air.
Cap. Rinckes is being pulled towards open space too. He loses speed dramatically. He reaches the bulkhead on the other side of the corridor, but he has nothing to hold on to. Rinckes is pulled back to the room and to the broken window...
He gasps for air, with little success. All the air is rushing into space.
His feet don't touch the ground anymore, and the Captain starts flying back to where he came from, waving his arms around for something to hold on to.
The door has now completely opened, and Captain Rinckes manages to clasp the right side of the doorway with his left hand. His arm is stretched to the max as the air forces his feet to point at the window...
Then, suddenly (and finally!), the emergency force fields kick in and seal off the window.
Rinckes falls to the floor face-first.
The room is being filled with atmosphere again, and it's getting easier and easier to breathe.
Cap. Rinckes is still laying on the floor, deeply breathing in and out for a while.
Rinckes crawls up and sees that he has somehow managed to hold on to his phaser rifle. A bit too tightly, because his right hand is practically glued to the chrome of the rifle.
He looks through the invisible force field that replaced the window and sees the sprawling Altonoids flying away in the distance. Then he looks around in the empty room he's in once again.
For a moment, it looks as if Rinckes wants to smile in relief. But that urge is suppressed immediately by the realization that Melanie is still missing and could very well be in danger.
He changes the power setting of the phaser rifle to medium, wipes the dust from his uniform jacket and exits the room once again.
* * * * *
"There isn't more I can do here." Dr. Van Oers says while she closes her med-kit.
Ensign Marc Lucas is laying on his back with signs of a phaser wound on his left leg. There's a hole in his uniform there, but the skin underneath it seems to be healthy now. The skin simply has a slightly darker tan there.
"Your injuries will heal. You were relatively lucky." Dr. Van Oers says as she straps her med-kit around her shoulder.
Lt. Appels looks around the corner to see if there are any Altonoids coming. He sees nobody, but he's still on edge.
"We should move on." Lt. Appels says as he turns around to face the doctor and patient.
Ensign Lucas attempts to stand up, and he succeeds with a little help from Dr. Van Oers. But the young Ensign can't shift his weight to the injured leg, and he falls to the floor again.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant. That might be more difficult than you'd hope." He sighs.
"We can't leave you behind in the middle of a corridor. Then we might as well shoot you right away." Lt. Appels says, with a trace of seriousness in his voice that makes Ensign Lucas look slightly scared at the Lieutenant, and makes the Doctor take a protective stance over her patient.
Steven Appels notices that, but he continues anyway:
"Maybe if you'd act dead, the Altonoids won't shoot you." Lt. Appels says.
Ensign Lucas clearly doesn't like that idea.
"No there's a comforting thought!" Dr. Van Oers says.
A beat of silence.
"When I served as nurse onboard the USS Righteous, some years ago, our ship was suddenly invaded by Orion pirates." Dr. Van Oers tells. "They were looking for women to sell on one of their slave markets. Not every Starfleet officer's dream..."
"Please get to the point, Chakotay..." Lt. Appels says before watching out for Altonoids again.
Dr. Van Oers continues her story.
"When the pirates boarded the ship, and their intentions became clear, I got the idea to have every woman in sickbay hide in the empty morgue. We each entered a separate cryo-chamber and used a medical tricorder to mask our bio-signs. It never even occurred to the pirates that we would be hiding there... We were the only female officers on that ship who weren't kidnapped by the Orion Syndicate that day."
"I don't believe the Altonoids want to kidnap me to paint me green and sell me as a slave..." The sitting Ensign Lucas remarks.
"The point is," the Doctor continues while she rolls her eyes, "we should hide you in a place where the Altonoids will never expect you."
"You mean we should hide him in the ladies room?" Lt. Appels says dryly.
Dr. Van Oers gives Lt. Appels the evil eye.
* * * * *
Ensign Marc Lucas gets lifted headfirst into a Jefferies tube very close to where the previous conversation was held. Dr. Van Oers hands the young Ensign her medical tricorder.
"It's set to mask your bio-signs." Dr. Van Oers says as she nearly crawls into the tube herself. Lt. Appels is standing in the corridor behind her in an impatient stance. He's still looking out for any Altonoids.
"All you have to do is wait here. If we're not back in twelve hours, make your way to the nearest escape pod and get out of here." Lt. Appels says without looking at the Ensign in the maintenance tube.
"Aye, sir." Ensign Lucas confirms.
"Try to relax a bit." The Doctor says. She smiles and exits the tube completely as Ensign Lucas adds:
"Good luck. To the both of you."
The Jefferies tube hatch closes and is locked shut.
Ensign Lucas is laying there on his back, with a phaser wound on his leg and a medical tricorder next to it.
He tries to relax a bit, and he hums softly. The humming stops immediately when he realizes:
"I've got to go to the bathroom..."
* * * * *
Captain Rinckes has obviously met more resistance. His uniform is torn in places. There are marks on his face and hands, and his knuckles are red from all of the fighting.
He reaches a wall panel and accesses it. Then his eye catches the upper right corner of the LCARS panel. It reads: THURSDAY 2045 HOURS
"Has it only been that long?" Cap. Rinckes ponders. "It seems decades ago the Altonoids took over the station. It seems decades ago I was with Melanie..."
His pondering look changes into the hardened, determined look again as he focuses on the wall panel. He taps in several commands and the panel shows him the lay-out of the section he's in. His index finger scrolls across the cold tripolymer interface, from the corridor he's in now to a square chamber that has "OBSERVATION LOUNGE" written inside of it. His fingers tap on the display of the room a few times.
"That's it..." Cap. Rinckes almost whispers. He remembers what the Altonoid had said to him, and he softly echoes his words:
"She was last seen in the observation lounge of this deck. But you're too late anyway. I already called for back-up."
Cap. Rinckes doesn't waste a second as he follows the direction that the arrows of the LCARS panel point him to. His eyes narrow and his grip around the phaser rifle tightens...
* * * * *
Commander Tony Q and Ensign Emily Murphy are walking through the corridors.
Tony Q can barely walk, and a large portion of his weight is carried by the attractive young Ensign. Despite the direness of the situation, they talk in reasonably light-hearted fashion.
"So aren't you a bit young to be a Commander?" Ens. Murphy asks.
Tony takes a wrong step, groans in pain and shifts a bit more of his weight onto her shoulder.
"Well... Q certainly had some influence there." Tony says as he sets up his most winning smile through the pain. "From Cadet to Commander in roughly one year. Even someone as charming as you can't do that."
Ens. Murphy smiles but doesn't respond to Tony's sudden outbreak of hormones...
"And now I'm back from a Q to a vulnerable, fragile human being..." Tony says, with a bitter sound in his voice.
Ensign Murphy decides to change subjects.
"I haven't seen any other Starfleet officers yet. Where are they?" She says.
"I have no idea. I'm honestly more concerned about any Altonoid officers..." Tony smirks and he looks into the deep brown eyes of Emily Murphy long enough for her to look away in shyness. Tony coughs apologetically and looks ahead again.
They look back at each other simultaneously and they smile.
"So, what cl..." Tony says, but he can't finish his sentence because Ensign Murphy sees a shadow moving across the corridor, and she pushes Tony Q away to grab her phaser rifle.
Cmdr. Tony Q can't stand on his own feet, and he smashes against the bulkhead next to him.
Ensign Murphy sees that the shadow was just the shadow of a broken conduit and she lowers her rifle.
"Oooooooh..." Tony moans as he falls from the bulkhead to the floor.
Ens. Murphy realizes what she has done and she bends over to get Tony back on his feet.
Tony's head is still swimming because of the unfortunate encounter with the bulkhead.
Tony snaps out it and suddenly stands straight again with a clearer look in his eyes.
"Heeeeere's Tony!" He says somewhat cheerfully before he falls to the floor again with a loud "bang".
"Ow. I'm terribly sorry! But you see, I had to knock you away. Because I tho... Sorry." Ens. Murphy apologizes while she attempts to put Tony back on his feet, without much success.
"Show's over. Moving on." Tony says as he stares at Ensign Murphy with a dazzled look on his face. The whole corridor seems to revolve around him.
"I'm really sorry!" Ens. Murphy keeps apologizing while she holds her arms under Tony Q's armpits, trying to get him back on his feet. A rather awkward and funny sight...
Emily manages to put Tony's arm around her neck and Tony comes back to his senses as he leans on her again.
"Suddenly I'm beginning to understand why you're still an Ensign..." Tony sighs.
There's that heart-melting smile of Emily again... Tony can't help but smile too.
* * * * *
"We're sure lucky not to have encountered any Altonoids in these corridors." Tony Q says after some silence.
A shadow streaks across the corridor once again. Definitely humanoid-shaped this time!
"Our luck has just run out!" Ensign Murphy says, as she sets Tony Q down on the ground a lot gentler than the last time! Fast but gentle.
She points her rifle at the end of the corridor.
She is greeted by the barrel of a similar rifle. It's held by a Starfleet Security officer! He looks in the same bad shape as everyone does after they've spent some time on this station...
Ensign Murphy puts down her rifle and sighs in relief as the Security Lieutenant approaches.
"You spooked me there... Lieutenant?" Ens. Murphy asks.
"Lieutenant First Class Jarod Moore. USS Sundance. Leader of Squad Beta-2. Or at least I was..." He says swiftly, as if he has said it too many times already.
"And I am Ensign Emily C. Murphy. USS Kennedy." Ens. Murphy says.
Lt. Moore points at Cmdr. Tony Q, who lays there tucked away in a corner.
"Is that kid in need of medical attention?" Jarod asks.
"Kid? I happen to outrank you, Lieutenant." Cmdr. Tony Q says.
"Whoo. Cranky." Lt. Jarod Moore says to Ensign Murphy. Murphy rolls her eyes.
"You have no idea." She smiles.
Tony shakes his head.
"This is a dangerous section of the station. In your condition, I suggest you leave." Lt. Moore says while he crouches down next to Tony Q and starts examining his wound superficially.
"Lieutenant, don't worry about us. We were already heading for the shuttle bay." Tony Q says.
"Good. There isn't much more I can do about that phaser wound." Jarod says, and he stands up. "And our starships aren't in the luxury of transporting the wounded..."
"Yep. They're still fighting those Altonoids, no doubt." Tony Q says. "Well, we've got some good ships. You're from the Sundance, you said? I bet your ship is packing quite a wallop out there." Tony forces a smile.
Lt. Moore doesn't smile at all, for obvious reasons.
"Didn't you know? The USS Sundance has been lost with all hands." He sighs.
Tony is stumped for a moment, and Ensign Murphy's jaw almost hits the floor.
"Just like the Sattelite."
"And the USS Kennedy?" Tony asks, though he doesn't really want to know.
"She's been crippled. Severely damaged. From the Sundance's last report, I heard that she's still fighting." Jarod says. "As is the USS Wolf."
Emily and especially Tony need some time to absorb this information.
"What about the Altonoids?" Ens. Murphy asks.
"The way things stand now, the Altonoids have a good chance of winning the space battle outside. And I don't have exact numbers, but this station is swarming with Altonoids." Lt. Jarod says.
"I had hoped we were on the winning side..." Tony says after a short silence.
"We won't give up, that's for sure. These Altonoids killed many men and women today, and who knows what they'll do after this. They must be stopped." Lt. Jarod states.
"You bet." Emily Murphy says.
"My entire team..." Jarod says, with more emotion than he has shown before. "Wiped out. I was responsible for them, but I couldn't help but watch them perish one by one."
He chuckles joylessly.
"War. You always lose more than you can possibly gain... But I was responsible for those fine, brave officers. And I tried so hard to save them... But I couldn't..." He shakes his head.
"I'm sure you did the best you could." Emily says comfortingly.
"Alright. I won't lie to you." Jarod says with determination flooding back into his heart. "The situation is bad. Both here on the station and outside the station. But I swear to you: we won't give up! We will have to end all of this. Or many other innocent people will die too."
A short silence...
"I'm afraid I won't be much of help..." Tony sighs as he points at his phaser wound. The young Commander is still sitting on the floor.
"But you are a Q, right? You can make things right!" Lt. Moore says.
"I'm sorry. I can't..." Tony sighs. "I wanted to help the Federation, but I had to give up my powers in the process. That is what happened." He points at his phaser wound again. "That is why I'm here... I'm afraid I won't be much of help..."
"It seems like you've already helped us more than we could've asked of you." Lt. Jarod says.
"Go." He says after a short silence. "Get out of this place. Your battle is over for now."
The silent Ensign Emily Murphy lifts Tony back on his feet again.
Jarod can see the pain reflecting in Tony's eyes. Not only the pain of the wound. But the fact that Tony IS wounded. The fact that he once was a Q, but now he's nothing more than a 'mere' human.
Tony's arm hangs around Emily's shoulder and she supports most of his weight again.
"What about you, Lieutenant?" Emily asks Jarod Moore.
"Go... Just go..." He replies.
Lt. Jarod Moore readies his rifle and walks the other way without looking back.
Ensign Emily Murphy and Commander Tony Q continue their journey to the shuttle bay.
They're silent...
* * * * *
A few decks away, the silence there is broken by the sound of Captain Rinckes walking through the corridors, past the wall panels that point him to the observation lounge.
There it is... The door that leads to the observation lounge of this deck.
Cap. Rinckes rushes towards it, forgetting all the combat tactics he has learned over the years.
He's so tired, but his hopes of finding Commander Melanie Simons are increasing every step of the way.
The doors open and he runs into the room. The first thing he sees is the raging battle outside when he looks through the windows. His eyes search the room for a brief moment and then he sees her...
She lays there in the shattered glass of a cupboard that held many golden starship models.
Now most models lay scattered over the floor.
Melanie Simons lays there on the floor, facing the empty cupboard with its shattered glass doors.
The space battle rages on behind her, unaware of what has happened in this room. But Captain Rinckes couldn't care less about the battle now. He rushes over to the motionless Commander and halts just a few feet away from her.
He stopped running towards her because he saw the huge phaser wound covering most of her upper body.
The Captain realizes that this phaser wound is so big that it just has to be fatal...
Finally, he truly realizes what's going on.
"Melanie!" He shouts in distress.
Captain Rinckes drops his rifle and rushes towards her again.
He crouches down beside her. In the glass, but he couldn't give a damn.
"No..." He almost whispers. He touches her blonde hair gently and when he pushes it aside, it reveals multiple marks and wounds.
The touch causes Melanie Simons to open her eyes a little. Her eyes look glazy as they search for something to focus on.
"Melanie!" Captain Rinckes gasps in a strange mixture of despair and relief.
"Captain..." She whispers softly.
"My God. What happened?" Captain Rinckes asks but he doesn't wait for a response. "I'll get you to sickbay. Don't worry. Everything will be fine." But when he sees the look in the eyes of the woman he loves, he sees his own lies reflecting back at him.
Melanie slowly shakes her head, still looking her Captain vaguely in the eyes.
"No, Captain." She whispers.
Stephan Rinckes doesn't know what to do or say, so he lifts her up slightly and holds her in his arms.
"Don't you give up on me. We'll get you back to the Su... nd... to the ship." He says with growing desperation in his voice, realizing midway that he lost his ship already.
"Take good care of the Sundance for me, will you?" Melanie whispers as she weakens again.
Captain Rinckes searches for words. He HAS to tell her he loves her.
"Melanie... I l..." He halts midway. He can't say it. He can't say he loves her. Every fiber of his being forces him to say it, but he can't. His face starts trembling in pain as he forces a weak smile on it.
"I will..." He promises.
A false promise already broken instead of those three simple words that he wanted to say for so many years. And now he's losing her...
He watches the life drain from Melanie's blue eyes as she weakens. Her head tilts back and she is put back to the floor gently by her Captain.
Stephan Rinckes is shattered. There's nothing he can do. He can't even tell her he loves her anymore. That time has come and gone...
The woman he loved is gone. Forever...
He wants to cry so hard, he wants to lay down next to her and cry until his own death.
His face crumbles with agony and his eyes get watery.
Then... His face hardens. The tears are pushed away and his expression goes blank. Just completely blank. An emotional void...
Captain Rinckes takes off his uniform jacket, revealing his red Captain's shirt. He gently covers Melanie's face and phaser wound with the jacket and he stands up. He picks up his phaser rifle he dropped earlier, and he walks away from the woman he once loved.
No expression at all on his face...
* * * * *
The once so sterile bridge of the USS Wolf is dark and quite messy. Multiple workstations are no longer functioning, and not every bridge crew member is conscious anymore.
Captain Reynolds tries to walk over the continuously shaking floor to stand near Lt. Cmdr. Anderson at his Tactical station. This way she can actually hear what he's saying with all those rumbling of ship components going on. And that hissing EPS conduit next to her Captain's chair doesn't help much either...
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson's Tactical station isn't exactly working anymore, but he has rerouted most functions to one LCARS panel that does work. He can also read engineering reports from there, because the Engineering workstation on the other side of the bridge is on fire...
"Our engines are back to 22% efficiency." Anderson's reply to the inquiring look of the Captain. "Whenever we restore a part of the shields, it is depleted immediately by an attack from those Altonoids... They're not as stupid as they look... Hull integrity is down to 11%, but I've rerouted power from the empty torpedo bays to the structural integrity field. Phasers and structur..." But he can't finish this elaborate damage report, because the four Altonoid phaser beams hit a weak spot (one of many by now) and the ship is rocked violently.
Lieutenant Stephanie Grant tries every evasive maneuver in the book, and some extra she made up on the spot, as she keeps directing her attention to her workstation and the view-screen. Despite her brilliant evasive actions, the phaser beams just keep pounding on the hull of the USS Wolf.
For a moment, the USS Kennedy is visible on the viewscreen. She looks in pretty bad shape!
Captain Reynolds moves to the front of the shaking, dark bridge again and she sees that the proud, but wounded Kennedy has hull breaches that are clearly visible from this distance.
"Divert more power to the phaser arrays and keep firing at the Massal with everything we've got! " She orders Commander Anderson. "We might buy the Kennedy a bit more repair time..." She continues, while she realizes that that may not make much of a difference. But she sure as hell won't give up!
"We can't keep them off their backs forever!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts.
Cap. Reynolds just nods quickly and directs her attention to the viewscreen again.
* * * * *
The four phaser beams hammer on the impulse engines of the USS Wolf, right until Lt. Grant moves the engines out of the devastating reach of those phaser beams.
The Uber-Massal immediately directs its attention to the USS Kennedy, which is basically hanging in space...
* * * * *
The bridge of the USS Kennedy would be darker than it ever was, if the right side of the bridge wasn't partially on fire... The wounded engineering Ensign, who was busy repairing the bridge earlier, is now busy trying to extinguish the flames!
Not a single part of the bridge is undamaged now. The other four bridge crew members (Lt. Sivar on the Captain's chair, Ensign Parkin behind the Tactical station that almost topples over when a part of the ceiling decides to come down, and Lieutenants Malin and Muntenaar in front of the bridge), they all have slight scratches and marks.
The Uber-Massal has directed its phaser beams to the Kennedy again, and with the absence of shielding, the phaser beams inflict serious damage in little time.
The bridge rocks violently and the OPS console blows up in Lieutenant Muntenaar's face!
Lieutenant Muntenaar is tossed backwards and lands on the floor five feet away, dangerously close to the fire on the bridge...
Lt. Malin managed to hold on to her station, despite the close proximity blast.
"Are you alright?!" She screams while she looks back.
Lieutenant Muntenaar has severe burn marks on his face and hands, but he stands up.
He says something, but the rumbling of the ship and bridge make it impossible to hear him.
The Uber-Massal stops firing and hangs motionlessly in space again.
The bridge is still shaking, mildly, but the awful noise of phasers versus hull plating is gone.
But now more ominous sounds from the failing integrity of the hull become audible...
"Ms. Malin. Are the engines still inoperable?" Lt. Sivar asks, while Lieutenant Muntenaar stands up carefully with the help of the engineering Ensign.
"Yes, sir..." Malin replies. "Even thrusters are down..."
"Status of weapons, Ensign?" Sivar asks Ensign Parkin.
"Still no luck, Cap... Lieutenant." The young Ensign replies.
Lieutenant Sivar turns to ask the engineering Ensign about the status of repairs, but he decides not to ask him anything when he sees the Ensign is still struggling with the fire that seems to be the only light source on the bridge -apart from the few LCARS displays that still work.
Besides, his Vulcan eyes are drawn to the viewscreen...
The Uber-Massal's phaser wires start flickering again, and light races through the wires like fireflie... exactly...
The engineering Ensign has just put out the fire as he sees it too...
Everyone looks at the viewscreen, not with amazement or fear. But with acknowledgement...
* * * * *
The bridge crew of the Wolf, however, see it too, but with more anxiety visible on their faces. For a moment, everyone stops with what they're doing.
Cap. Reynolds wants to say something but nobody can hear her, due to the broken, hissing EPS conduit next to her.
She gets fed up with it, stands up, rips out the remains of the conduit, crushes it, stuffs it back to where it came from- effectively stopping the hissing- and sits down with a bang.
"Right..." She says as she pushes some hair from her face.
Through the flickering light of the Altonoid phaser wires that shine on their faces via the viewscreen, most of the bridge crew members have to smile, if just for a moment.
"Who's being targeted this time?" Cap. Reynolds asks.
"The Kennedy, ma'am." Ensign Daniels replies.
"She ain't going anywhere?" The Captain asks.
"Her engines are still down." Ensign Daniels replies again.
A short silence. Cap. Reynolds thinks as everyone on the bridge is holding their breath.
The silence is broken abruptly by Captain Reynolds's definitive order.
"Lieutenant Grant. Position our ship between the Massal and the USS Kennedy."
"We will not survive another phaser hit like that..." Cmdr. Anderson says.
"Neither will they." Lt. Grant says as she looks at the viewscreen showing the severely damaged Sovereign-class USS Kennedy. "I understand, Captain. We might buy the Kennedy some time. It's our only hope."
"Divert more power to the engines. Move us into position." Cap. Reynolds orders.
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson doesn't protest anymore.
"I never thought I'd be doing this more than once a day..." Cap. Reynolds says while she braces herself, and the Wolf starts moving.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy-B:
"The USS Wolf is forming a buffer between us and the Altonoid vessel." Lt. Malin says with a touch of pride in her voice.
"That is exceptionally clever and courageous of Captain Reynolds." Lt. Sivar says. "I see what she is attempting to accomplish by performing this maneuver. She is buying us some time."
"We must prioritize repairs." Lt. Muntenaar -who has taken over and rerouted the Engineering station to operate as a Science station- says. "Especially to the engines."
"Exactly." Sivar says. He opens a comm. channel. "This is acting Captain Sivar to Commander Soete..." Lt. Sivar can't finish his sentence.
"The Uber-Massal is engaging tractor beam!" Lt. Muntenaar shouts.
Lt. Sivar frowns.
* * * * *
The brown tractor beam originating from the Uber-Massal (its phaser wires have stopped flickering) sears through space and locks on to the saucer of the USS Wolf.
* * * * *
The bridge of the Wolf shakes and Captain Reynolds stands up.
* * * * *
The tractor beam starts moving the Wolf to the right with tremendous force.
* * * * *
The bridge is shaking extremely, it feels like a city-shattering earthquake. Some consoles and wall panels explode, and parts of the bridge just rupture...
"All power to the structural integrity field!" Cap. Reynolds shouts.
* * * * *
The Wolf spins out of control, and is simply shoved away from the Kennedy when the powerful tractor beam releases the Akira-class vessel.
* * * * *
"Compensate! All power to the engines!" Reynolds shouts. But the momentum is too great.
"The ship is moving too fast, and the engines aren't in the condition to counteract!" Cmdr. Anderson shouts.
"Reroute power from whatever you can for repairs on those cursed engines!" Reynolds shouts. She looks at the Kennedy.
"Good luck, Sivar."
* * * * *
The Wolf spins away from the Kennedy and the Uber-Massal. The phasers of the Altonoids are powering up again. Lights begin to race through the wires again.
* * * * *
The wires light the bridge of the Kennedy again.
"The Wolf text-messages us that they're sorry..." Lt. Muntenaar says after he swallows.
"Helm is still not responding." Lt. Malin says with growing agitation in her voice.
The bridge crew watch the lights race through the phaser wires of the Uber-Massal.
Lieutenant Sivar presses the comm. button on his chair.
"This is acting Captain Sivar to Engineering. Boost all power to the engines..."
No response. The lights of the phaser wires are racing faster and faster.
"How long do we have left?" Lt. Sivar asks Lt. Muntenaar.
"I can't tell. Sensors are still as good as down. But little time is left." Lt. Muntenaar responds as he looks at the viewscreen.
Sivar presses the comm. button again.
"Sivar to Soeteman. It is imperative that we get our engines operational again." He says.
"Engineering, report." Sivar's voice becomes urgent.
No response. The lights of the phaser wires start connecting with each other.
"Engineering?"
Sivar looks up at the viewscreen and sees all the streaks of light adjoining to form one huge phaser beam.
"Damn." Sivar curses for the first time in his life.
* * * * *
The massive phaser beam races towards the Kennedy and hits her right in the 'belly'. That part of the ship is already severely damaged -just like the rest of the ship- and the phaser beam slices right through it, rams its way through several decks and comes out on the other side!
The devastation it leaves behind is immeasurable.
The ship is ripped in two by the sheer power of the phaser beam, the resulting explosions and the failing hull integrity. The saucer and a bit of the stardrive section get separated from the part of the stardrive section that holds the warp engines.
All lights on both parts of the ship dim, as the two parts (each is still several hundred meters in length) start rotating away from each other.
The stardrive section -still containing enough structural integrity to hold both warp engines together - ventures away from the saucer of the Kennedy, rotating backwards.
One look at that stardrive section makes it clear that nobody in there could've survived...
Hundreds of broken corridors, Jefferies tubes and conduits are suddenly exposed to open space, and the hull is buckling. A seemingly small turbolift, that was moving through the ship, gets sucked right into space along with an enormous load of debris.
It is well visible how damaged the ship was before it was cracked in two. Many corridors and pieces that are suddenly exposed now look as if they already had a lot to endure.
The saucer part, however, took the most damage... The crumbling of the hull and the massive explosions spread from those exposed sections to the rims of the saucer, destroying everything in its wake. The huge saucer rotates dramatically as all decks are either collapsing or on fire. Entire chunks of hull are simply blown off the saucer.
* * * * *
Admiral van Aken, Commander Levine, and especially Commander Jansen and Captain Duvivier have to watch this horrendous spectacle from the conference room.
Despite a warning from an Altonoid, Captain Duvivier stands up to have a better look at the last thing he ever wanted to see: the USS Kennedy, defeated. Destroyed.
* * * * *
The dark, scorched saucer (or what's left of it) rotates forward in silence.
Suddenly, lights begin to race throughout the entire saucer.
These are explosions...
The explosions fight their way out of the remains of the USS Kennedy, taking the outer hull along with them.
The saucer of the USS Kennedy blows up from the inside out in one final, gigantic explosion. All debris is scattered away by one big shockwave...
* * * * *
The USS Kennedy-B is no more.
* * * * *
It's very silent in the conference room of Station A-12.
Captain Duvivier looks at the remains of what used to be one of the Federation's flagships.
One of the most beautiful and most powerful ships ever built for Starfleet.
His ship.
The ship that held over 700 crewmembers.
"My God." He gasps, while he stumbles towards the large window.
He looks at Letor Fune, while pointing at the debris.
"My ship. My crewmembers."
Letor Fune just smiles.
"Oh, the pain of losing one's vessel." Fune sneers dramatically.
Captain Duvivier manages to maintain his calm posture, and, with a great deal of effort, he filters his emotions through his face like he is wearing a mask.
"It always relaxes me to see a Federation starship destroyed. A lot less Starfleet officers to worry about." Fune continues.
That last remark hits hard, and Duvivier can't keep his feelings of hatred back anymore.
"You loathsome bastard!" Duvivier shouts and he turns around altogether. "You slimy, sickening night crawler!" And he slowly moves towards the smirking Fune.
Admiral van Aken shakes his head at Captain Duvivier. 'It's no use'.
Captain Duvivier hesitates. He looks from Admiral van Aken to the proud Altonoid in front of him. When Duvivier looks to his left and right, he sees that several armed guards have closed in on him.
"Perhaps it would be better if you'd sit down." Letor Fune says. "The battle will soon be over anyway, so we'll be able to continue with somewhat more usual business."
"You call taking innocent lives 'usual business'?" Cap. Duvivier asks. He's still standing in an aggressive stance, despite the guards surrounding him.
Letor Fune laughs a short, fake laugh.
"Sit down." He summons.
The Captain sighs, wipes some sweat off his face and walks over to the other three Starfleet officers. He sits down next to his First Officer: Commander Jansen.
Commander Jansen looks at his Captain, but he doesn't look back. Captain Duvivier just stares at the floor.
"We are reading no life signs on the wreckages." The Altonoid near the wall display says. "The USS Wolf has gained control over her engines again. She is not moving to intercept our warship, though. Nor is she fleeing the scene." He continues.
"They can't escape anyway." Letor Fune says. "Nor can all of you." He addresses the four officers directly.
"How about Commander Simons and Captain Rinckes? You still can't find them." Cmdr. Levine says.
"All those officers who served on this station, and many of their family members who were also living on this station couldn't find us either." Letor Fune says. "But we certainly found them!" He laughs. The only one laughing in the large room.
"Fune." Admiral van Aken says, calmly. "Since we aren't going anywhere, why don't you tell us what you've done to them? Have you killed them too? Are they being imprisoned somewhere?"
"Why should I tell you? You aren't in the position to ask any questions, 'Admiral'." Fune replies. "I can tell you that it took some great planning, but everything turned out alright... For us..."
A short silence.
"You really fell flat on your faces, didn't you?" Letor Fune says playfully as he walks closer to the four. "'The Altonoids want another diplomatic meeting with us. Sure, let's go there with a few ships. And let's meet on our own home ground'." The irony drips from his voice. "'Of course the Altonoids would never do anything nasty to us again, now would they?' You are so predictable! I can't believe it really." And he pauses to think a little.
"For the Federation this will be the first defeat of many. For us it's just a way to test two different kinds of prototypes during this small battle outside the station and against your so-called mighty 'fleet' just out of sensor range."
He sees four inquiring looks in front of him.
"Yes, that's right. The back-up fleet. Another display of your mistrust and deviousness."
"We don't know what you're talking about." Admiral van Aken says.
"Then you wouldn't be interested in knowing that your fleet isn't faring any better than you are here. Right? And what's holding them up so long?" Letor Fune continues his speech and he turns to face the window again. "You invaded our space several years ago. Now... you will have to pay the price. The Alto Empire won't be pushed away again." He puts it simply.
"We didn't invade your space." Admiral van Aken says. "We are explorers. We were exploring. We were hoping to meet a new race and learn from them. Learn from you. That's our primary goal: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations."
"We've heard that many times before." Fune replies. The Altonoid sighs and he thinks for a while. Then he turns to face the four officers and he says what he wants to say:
"Forty years ago, the Romulans pretended to be just like you."
"Letor Fune, we aren't allowed to discuss this with outsiders." The Altonoid with the bandage around his hand says.
"I determine what's allowed and what's not!" Fune snaps at him. "It's time we confront them with the truth!"
The bandage Altonoid swallows his words.
"The Romulans." Fune continues. "'We come in peace'. Sure... We welcomed them with our open arms. But soon their real intentions became clear... They harvested our planet and resources, enslaving many Altonoids. But we learned our lesson well... We fought back so hard, that they offered technology in trade of a treaty that made us never bug each other again. But the damage was done. We, as a people, were devastated. So was our home planet. If you'd see Alto Prime, you'd still see the scars on her surface. You didn't know about all this, did you, Admiral?"
Admiral van Aken remains silent.
"Even Commander Soeteman didn't tell us this. And he actually was an Altonoid." Cmdr. Jansen whispers softly to Cap. Duvivier. But loud enough to be heard by Cmdr. Levine.
"It does explain why the Romulans never wanted to have anything to do with our negotiations with the Altonoids." Dennis Levine whispers.
Letor Fune doesn't hear them.
"We won't allow this to happen again. We know the likes of you. You're not explorers. You're just like the Romulans." Fune sneers. He awaits the Admiral's response.
"WE welcomed you with our open arms. We arranged so many diplomatic meetings, so many leaps of faith. And every single time you attacked us. All we want is peace or at the very least a non-aggression or non-interference pact." Admiral van Aken says.
"But we know better!" Fune shouts. "All those diplomatic meetings were just desperate attempts to make us believe in your 'peaceful Federation of Planets'. We're not stupid! We know better! We won't let ANYONE take advantage of us AGAIN!"
The loud words echo through the room for a few seconds.
"We've turned the tables." Fune smiles.
"Yes. You have. Now you are the Romulans." Admiral van Aken calmly says.
A brief, painful silence.
"You're just too stubborn to accept the fact that we know exactly how you're thinking!" Fune says. "The 'righteous' Federation. Please... I'm on to you... We all are."
Fune carries on with his monologue:
"You're just as stubborn as your troops. I mean... This battle being fought today. Hopeless... Your men are seriously outnumbered and every report we get gives us more and more reason to believe we will win this battle. And yet you persist in fighting us. What's the point? You will all lose everything, a lot more than the Romulans did... First we'll take this station and every other starbase, station and outpost we come across. We will exterminate all life on your planets. We'll make sure you'll never unleash your evil plans upon us. There's nothing that can stop us now. The Alto Empire will never be messed with again! It's the only way we can finally live in peace and happiness!"
The dignified Fune walks over to Admiral van Aken and kneels down beside him.
"So now you tell me, Admiral. How does it feel?" Letor Fune says. "How does it feel to see everything you stand for, everything you believe in, crashing down upon you?"
Admiral van Aken shakes his head and doesn't respond.
CHAPTER VII
Lieutenant Steven Appels and Doctor Rose van Oers rush into the nearest turbolift to escape the ever-growing number of attacking Altonoids.
Lt. Appels immediately concentrates on getting the turbolift to the right section of the station, although he hasn't got a clue where that 'right section' may be exactly.
Dr. Van Oers watches the turbolift doors close in front of her and the brave Chief Security Officer of a ship that does no longer exist. They're leaving some very disappointed Altonoids behind...
"Alright." Lt. Appels says, while he studies the turbolift LCARS display in front of him. "There's no way we can communicate with the few remaining Federation officers without letting the Altonoids know what we're saying. I guess we're on our own." Lt. Appels speaks more to himself than to the Doctor. "Now, according to the specifications of this type of station, a possible hiding place for a shield array could be located on the lower decks. It is probable that most surviving crewmembers would have headed there to regroup. That would mean that going to deck..." His index finger scrolls down the station schematic displayed on the back wall of the turbolift. "...97 would be a tactically sound decision. Don't you agree?" And he finally turns to face Doctor Van Oers. For a brief moment. Then he turns to the schematic again. "But what section holds the least Altonoids? To start our search again for the shield emi..."
"Steven?" Rose van Oers asks politely.
"What?"
"I'm not saying we should give up. But..." She says. "Didn't we just see a display of the battle outside?"
Lt. Appels nods.
"Shame about our ship..." He sighs.
"If we'd disable the shield array of the hostage room -which is unlikely because the entire station is completely swarming with Altonoids-, to what ship should we beam the flag officers? And if the Wolf still exists by then, can the flag officers really make a difference? This is a losing battle." Rose declares.
"You think I haven't thought about that yet?" Lt. Appels asks. But before he can continue his speech, the Doctor interrupts him:
"I understand completely." She reassures him. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere without you."
Lt. Appels smiles.
"After all." He says. "I'm your last remaining patient."
Dr. Van Oers returns a faint smile, and she looks around in the turbolift. This is all that's left of their security squad. And most other Federation squads probably didn't fare any better...
The turbolift comes to a halt and awakens Doctor Van Oers from her thoughts.
The turbolift doors open and reveal a completely empty corridor. The corridor is darker than most corridors of the station, because it's located on one of the lowest decks of the station. These lower decks are mainly designated for station maintenance and engineering, resulting in a less comfortable look. For example: the bulkhead plating is darker grey and the corridors are narrower.
All in all, it doesn't look very welcoming.
Lt. Appels readies his rifle, even though the corridor is empty. He and Dr. Van Oers slowly exit the turbolift. But they won't get far...
Suddenly, from the left, an Altonoid jumps in front of Dr. Van Oers and knocks her phaser rifle out of her hands! Dr. Van Oers has not been thoroughly combat-trained and raises her arms in a reflex to protect her head.
Lt. Appels immediately shoots the Altonoid from close to point-blank range. The Altonoid gets blown back and lands on the floor, as the sound of footsteps suddenly becomes apparent.
Lt. Appels doesn't hesitate for one second and he drags Dr. Van Oers along with him, while he starts running for the door at the end of the corridor.
Dr. Van Oers isn't even given the chance to pick up her phaser rifle.
They won't get very far before they hear voices say:
"Kuret's been shot!"
"There are still some Starfleet officers left then!"
The footsteps are getting very close now.
Lt. Appels has let go of Dr. Van Oers, and they're still running for the door.
A group of three Altonoids appear near the turbolift and notice the two fleeing officers.
Appels and Dr. Van Oers have already traveled half the corridor. The two outer Altonoids crouch down and aim. The middle Altonoid remains standing and aims for them too.
It's a straight corridor. There's no hiding for the two senior officers of the late USS Kennedy. There's no turning back, no looking back.
Lt. Appels shoots the LCARS display next to the door. Quite some precision shooting, considering he's running like hell... It does slow him down a bit, but the door in front of them opens.
They're only forty feet away from the open door.
Thirty... The Altonoids open fire.
Twenty feet... Phaser blasts start tearing off pieces of bulkhead plating and LCARS wall panels around them.
Just ten feet to go...
There!
Dr. Van Oers immediately hides behind the piece of bulkhead to the left of the doorway. She knows the door has to be closed as soon as possible; she can hear the footsteps closing in. The Altonoids are coming to get them. But it's alright. They'll have to deal with Lt. Appels, and he'll probably have the door closed soon or come up some other 'tactically sound' idea... She sighs and looks at the other side of the doorway, where Appels is no doubt hiding.
But he's laying on the floor with a smoking phaser wound on his back!
"Steven!" Dr. Van Oers shouts.
Lt. Appels doesn't respond, but he is still breathing.
The voice of an Altonoid breaks the silence.
"Good. One down. We've got to find that female." The closing in voice says.
She hesitates for a second. She sees Steven's phaser rifle laying next to him.
Then she collects her strength and makes a dash for the rifle. She moves into plain view of the Altonoids. She picks up the rifle, jumps/trips over Lt. Appels and crashes into the bulkhead on the other side. At least she's got the rifle. And the Altonoids can't see her for now, because she's now hiding behind the piece of bulkhead to the right of the doorway.
"There she is!" She hears another voice say, but a lot closer this time. She stands up straight and lifts her rifle.
She waits for just a few moments, and then she moves around the corner and away from her only protection against phaser fire...
She opens fire at the three Altonoids, while she stand in the doorway. The three running Altonoids are literally stunned by the many phaser shots. They fall to the floor one by one. Well, if you shoot often enough you're bound to hit something eventually...
Dr. Van Oers is rather pleased with herself, but she directs her attention to Lt. Appels. She crouches down beside the wounded officer who's laying face-down on the ground.
She opens her med-kit. But her medical tricorder is gone. She had given it to Ensign Lucas...
"Lieutenant Appels, can you hear me?" She asks.
"Yes I can." Appels replies softly. "Some nice shooting, Doctor." And Appels manages to smile.
"So this is the safest place to be?" Dr. Van Oers asks, gesturing at the four unconscious Altonoids.
"It must be like this everywhere on the station." Lt. Appels says.
Across the corridor, another door opens to reveal several Altonoids.
"They're still here!" One of them shouts.
Dr. Van Oers doesn't waste any more time. She quickly packs her med-kit and straps it around her shoulder. She picks up the rifle and starts shooting at the Altonoids. The Altonoids quickly find cover in several corners and doorways of the corridor. Dr. Van Oers stops shooting to grab Lt. Appels, and she starts carrying him away.
"No, no." Appels says, though he can't resist with his current injuries.
Dr. Van Oers is planning to take Appels with her anyway. She tries to move him as carefully as the surrounding Altonoids allow. She fires some more shots at the possible whereabouts of the Altonoids. Plenty of hiding places in this corridor...
"No. I'll only hold you up. Go on withou..." Appels protests.
"Oh shut up." Dr. Van Oers says as she carries him away from the Altonoids.
The Altonoids appear from their hiding places and commence pursuit.
* * * * *
An explosion on the bridge of the USS Wolf knocks out the Science station in a violent blast.
Science officer Ensign Daniels doesn't try to evade the explosion, because he's unconscious.
"Structural integrity down to..." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts, but he doesn't get very far.
The four Altonoid phaser beams strike one of the many weak spots on the hull of the Wolf, and the bridge rocks even more violently for a moment. Another wall LCARS panel gives up, darkening the bridge even more.
"Keep performing evasive maneuvers!" Captain Suzan Reynolds shouts.
Lt. Grant's Helm station is burning partially, but the wounded Lieutenant keeps performing her duty and attempts to make the ship dodge the incoming phaser fire.
"Practically all systems are failing, Captain!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts. "Or they will soon!" A piece of ceiling comes down in front of him. Anderson doesn't seem to care. He wasn't hit, so he continues with his work. It's like he's getting used to the bridge falling apart around him.
Captain Reynolds notices that the viewscreen is starting to scramble. It's always a bad sign when the viewscreen starts breaking down...
"Status of the Massal!" She shouts.
The wounded Ensign Daniels doesn't respond.
"Status of the Massal!" She shouts louder this time.
Leif Anderson manages to get one of the few remaining phaser arrays to fire a phaser beam at the Massal. It's a direct hit, but it doesn't do much damage.
"I haven't got a clue, Captain." Anderson says. "But I'd say their paintwork is down to about... 90 percent?"
Captain Reynolds smiles.
That smile disappears quickly when another phaser strike rocks the bridge.
* * * * *
Dr. Rose van Oers has dragged Lt. Appels to an empty maintenance corridor and has been trying to take care of his wounds.
Dr. Van Oers gives him a sedative.
"This should take away some of the pain. It's all I can do for now." She closes her med-kit.
"I have to say our security squad isn't quite as successful as I had hoped..." Lt. Appels says, while he slowly and painfully sits up.
"So, are you thinking up a new tactical plan?" Dr. Van Oers asks after a brief pause.
"It's quite a lost cause, isn't it?" Lt. Appels replies. Dr. Van Oers doesn't respond.
"There's one tactical plan I can come up with." Appels says, and he looks the Doctor straight in her eyes. "Get the hell out of here."
Dr. Van Oers shakes her head.
"Naah. I've already abandoned every other patient today. You're the last one left. Won't look good on my record." She smiles.
"Seriously." Lt. Appels says. "Get out of here. I know when a battle is lost. It's only a matter of time. Get to the escape pods while you still can. It's your only shot."
"I think I'll take my chances here." Rose van Oers replies.
"Dammit, Rose... The Altonoids can barge in any second now. They were and probably still are right on our trail." Appels says.
"You're in no condition to be left behind without medical attention." Dr. Van Oers says.
"Bull. There's nothing you can do for me anymore, you said it yourself." Appels says.
"I won't leave you behind." She says, after a short hesitation.
"I used to be the Chief Tactical Officer of a Sovereign-class starship. I'm sure I'll do fine on my own."
"You'll do better with me."
"Yes. Until we both get shot by the first Altonoid to come across us. There's no hiding anymore. I thought we would be safe on these lower decks. Well I was wrong!" Appels says.
A brief pause. Dr. Van Oers isn't going anywhere.
"Rose. I'm ordering you to get the hell out of here! Why don't you?!" Appels bursts out.
The Doctor looks away.
"It's not safe here or anywhere else on this godforsaken station!" Appels shouts. "Why don't you leave?! For me?! Don't! I'll manage fine without you or anyone else! I'm just as much a lost cause as this entire damned war!" Through the pain of his wound he grabs the Doctor by her arm. But his angry look turns into a pleading look.
"Get off this doomed station." He pleads. His entire presentation turns from anger to desperation. "Please. We've lost so much today. I'VE lost so much today. Don't you see? It's over! You CAN'T save any more lives! You can only save your own..."
A beat of silence.
"Why won't you leave?" Appels asks softly.
"I've got nowhere to go, okay?" Dr. Van Oers replies as tears dwell up in her eyes. "Not by myself."
Appels doesn't know exactly how to respond. He's a Security officer, not a counselor.
"You're right." Dr. Van Oers says. "The Altonoids are everywhere. I could try and make a run for an escape pod. I could do it... But I'm scared."
"Well I'm scared too." Lt. Appels dares to admit. "I'm scared shiftless by this whole situation. Losing an entire squad. Losing the Kennedy. Altonoids lurking around every corner. Our peace being threatened for no apparent reason. Yes, I'm scared."
"The great Lieutenant Appels... Scared?" Dr. Van Oers smiles through the tears.
"Yes." Steven Appels admits.
"Man, we must be in trouble for you to admit THAT." Dr. Van Oers says.
"You bet..." Appels says.
"Listen." Dr. Van Oers says. "The Altonoids will eventually find you here. You're not going anywhere. They will shoot you on sight."
"No doubt..." Appels sighs.
"If I'd run around the corridors in search for an escape pod, the chances of me actually reaching one is slim at best."
"Yes. But you have a chance of making it."
"I know. But there's probably no Federation ship left to flee to."
"Still, you have a chance!" Appels says with more force.
"No..." Dr. Van Oers shakes her head. "And take your last chance with me? No way."
"They'll kill me anyway..."
"They might. But they'll have to get past me first." Dr. Van Oers says and she lifts her rifle.
"I'm not leaving you." She says defiantly.
Lt. Appels wants to protest, but he smiles instead.
"You'd make a damn fine Security officer, you know that?" He says.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Dr. Van Oers replies.
* * * * *
The four Federation flag officers watch the space battle alongside the Altonoids in the conference room. With each enemy phaser strike, their hope disintegrates...
When the USS Wolf is critically hit at one of the warp nacelle pylons and the right warp nacelle is simply broken off (!) in a fiery display of destruction, the flag officers can't help but gasp and murmur.
"So... Still believing things might turn to your favour?" Letor Fune says. "Don't."
"We're still fighting." Admiral van Aken says a bit softer than he wanted to.
"Operation report!" Letor Fune orders as he turns around and faces the Altonoid nearest to the wall panel. The 'wall Altonoid' has his report ready immediately:
"We've taken almost every deck by now. All critical systems are in our hands. The prisoners are still all accounted for. We don't know exactly how many loose Starfleet officers are still at large, but reports indicate there are not many left."
"You see." Letor Fune says, as he faces the flag officers after briefly looking at the practically crippled Wolf. "I wouldn't exactly call this fighting anymore."
"No. I believe this is called slaughtering innocent people." Admiral van Aken says.
Letor Fune is eager to continue this discussion, but he is interrupted by the 'wall Altonoid'.
"Sir. Commander Melanie Simons has been found and identified. Observation Lounge 54-6. She's dead, sir..."
The last shred of hope melts from the faces of Commander Levine, Commander Jansen, Captain Duvivier and Admiral Coen van Aken.
Seconds of silence flow through the room.
Captain Duvivier hesitates slightly before saying something.
"And what about Captain Rinckes?" He asks calmly.
"We haven't captured him yet. He's still at large." Letor Fune says.
"Then there still is hope." Captain Duvivier almost whispers.
Commander Jansen frowns and looks at his Captain.
"If there's one officer capable of stopping all of this. It's him..." Cap. Duvivier speaks softly.
"You actually mean that?" Cmdr. Jansen asks.
Captain Duvivier stares in the distance and he nods.
Letor Fune is just as surprised as Commander Jansen.
"Sir." The 'wall Altonoid' says. "Commander Simons's body was covered by a Starfleet uniform jacket with a Captain's rank insignia on it..."
Cap. Duvivier smiles subtly. "That's what I mean."
* * * * *
Doctor Van Oers hears footsteps closing in on her and Lieutenant Appels.
Appels can barely move nor react, as his injuries are starting to take its toll on his energy.
* * * * *
"Do you actually think that one officer can make a difference?" Fune asks Captain Duvivier in the conference room.
* * * * *
The worst kind of fear starts to rule Doctor Rose van Oers as she points her rifle into the direction of the footsteps: the end of the maintenance corridor. The footsteps get louder.
* * * * *
"You know there comes a time... when you realize you've passed the point of no return." Fune says.
* * * * *
Multiple shadows rise on the bulkhead across the corridor, and Dr. Van Oers's finger tenses around the trigger. She feels her heart beating faster each second.
* * * * *
"There comes a time when motivation and dedication make way for recognition."
* * * * *
Countless Altonoids replace the shadows and march in, weapons firing. An inferno of phaser fire streaks through the air.
* * * * *
"A time when you have to give in to the powers that outnumber you."
* * * * *
One Altonoid gets hit by the one phaser burst originating from the Doctor's rifle, and falls. The rest doesn't stop firing and continues towards Dr. Van Oers and Lt. Appels.
* * * * *
"That time... when the curtain falls..."
* * * * *
The Altonoids cease fire...
* * * * *
Ensign Emily Murphy is exhausted. The wounded Tony Q seems to be getting heavier every step of the way. They haven't spoken to each other for a while now. They've just continued their journey to the shuttle bay, encountering many war victims along the way.
And they both know the situation is bad, you can tell it from their faces...
Tony Q can barely walk along anymore, meaning that Ensign Murphy has to carry almost his entire weight.
She wants to say something about it, but she sees his pale face. He's still breathing and all, but his body temperature is dropping. He's obviously in need of medical attention. Fortunately, they encounter no Altonoids on the way. No conscious ones, that is.
There are the doors leading to the shuttle bay. Emily sighs in relief.
The doors are guarded by several dead or unconscious Altonoids. No problem to pass them.
"Look." Ensign Murphy says. Tony awakens a bit and does what she says.
He sees the large shuttle bay. He oversees a very large room, with four Type 11 shuttles stored in direct sight and enough space to park a few more shuttles on top of them. This shuttle bay must be three or four decks tall and a lot more shuttles must be stored underneath this bay. To the right there's an elevated plateau with the shuttle bay controls. On the other side of the shuttle bay, there are two large shuttle bay doors. And above each of those doors is a large window. Those two large windows provide an excellent view of the stars outside.
"Finally." Tony whispers. "Let's get out of here. That's an order." He says as he regains a bit more strength.
They come down the stairs near the outer right shuttlecraft and they carefully proceed to that closest shuttle. No Altonoids in sight...
"Hmm... Shuttle bay controls are over there." Murphy says and she points to the platform.
"You go ahead and start the pre-launch procedures. I'll go start up the shuttle." Tony Q says.
Ensign Murphy looks at his pale face.
"You sure?" She says with a worried tone.
"Yeah. Believe me, it contains a comfy shuttle seat with my name on it." Tony says.
"You're right." Emily smiles. "Besides, the sooner we get out of here, the better." She says.
She carefully lets Tony stand on his own feet. It costs him a great deal of effort, and it looks as though he's about to fall over, but somehow he manages to walk to the shuttle door.
"Open Sesame!" Tony declares and he spreads his arms. In his present condition, with him barely being able to stand, it looks very amusing. Though that movement did cause him pain, he noticed that he made Ensign Murphy smile. That was worth a bit of pain.
He presses a small access panel between the aft shuttle door and the left warp nacelle. He types in his identification codes and the shuttle door opens. Well, practically the whole aft of the shuttle opens and lowers to form a ramp.
"Welcome, Commander Tony Blue." The shuttle computer says as the wounded Tony limps up the ramp. Tony Blue. A painful reminder of his regained humanity and mortality.
He enters the shuttle's command centre. Alright, that's a big word. It's basically the size of a large shed with a U-shaped console-layout, two wall panels on each side, four seats and a set of modern-looking windows in front. And don't forget the small transporter in the back of the 'command centre'.
Tony slowly moves to the right-front seat, clasping on to his phaser wound. He halts in front of the chair and then -with a deep sigh of relief- sits down on that great, soft chair...
* * * * *
Captain Suzan Reynolds gets tossed off her chair and into the darkness, when the Altonoids score another direct hit on the USS Wolf.
To call the bridge a bridge would be an overstatement. You've probably read before in how bad a shape the bridge was, and now it's even worse. Even the emergency lights are beginning to fail...
Only Lt. Cmdr. Anderson and Captain Reynolds are still conscious, despite their injuries. Of course, there are many other crewmembers still conscious throughout the large starship, but every room on the ship must be in a very bad condition, judging by the shape of the bridge.
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson has rerouted every possible type of ship operations to his damaged console. OPS, Helm, Science, Engineering, and of course Tactical.
Captain Reynolds sits down on the Captain's chair again. Amazing how she manages to keep her commanding presence, even though she's in almost the same bad shape as the ship.
"Status report!" Cap. Reynolds has to raise her voice to make her order audible for Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson.
"Uhm..." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson looks at the last (flickering) display he's left to work with.
"Every primary, secondary and tertiary system on the ship is either fried, smashed or damaged! Many crewmembers are dead, missing or wounded!" He replies.
"I know our condition! What about them?!" Captain Reynolds shouts.
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson reroutes his console to display sensor information. Even an untrained eye can see that the sensors are in bad shape, as the information they provide is garbled at best.
"I can only see that we managed to knock their tractor beam system off-line!"
"Alright." Cap. Reynolds says, apparently not willing to see how dim their situation is.
"I'm reading something that looks like increased power output around their phaser ar..." Leif Anderson can't even finish his sentence.
"Return fire! Everything we've got!" Captain Reynolds shouts immediately.
Anderson attempts to reconfigure his console back to Tactical. To no avail...
"Commander?!" Captain Reynolds shouts as she turns around to face Anderson. That air of perseverance that is so typical for her is starting to be replaced by anxiety. The Uber-Massal's weapons are powering up behind her on the viewscreen. The Captain looks back and sees it.
"Evasive maneuvers!" She shouts as a part of the ceiling crashes down next to her.
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson frantically tries to reroute his console back to Helm.
But it's too late. The Uber-Massal's phaser wires are now fully loaded. It fires four phaser beams at the Wolf.
A direct hit...
The Wolf's saucer buckles, and her structural integrity fails. The impact of the phaser beams (which blow right through multiple decks, only to come out at the other side) knocks the ship off its course and forces it to face Station A-12.
* * * * *
The Altonoids in the conference room start cheering. Letor Fune remains silent though, but looks at his men with pride. An inevitable victory they have all worked very hard for...
But his men stop cheering unexpectedly early. He sees why:
The crippled USS Wolf has tilted to face them and is slowly moving towards the station!
It's practically heading straight for the conference room!
"Scanners indicate that their propulsion system is off-line. They can't change their current trajectory." The 'wall Altonoid' says as he explains why the Wolf is drifting towards them. "The UEX Burel reports that they can't stop the Wolf, because their tractor beam system is off-line."
"What?!" Letor Fune shouts. "Raise shields!" But then he realizes that this station has no shields. And the shield around the hostage room only prevents people from beaming in or out, not stopping starships of nearly 500 meters in length from crashing into it!
Letor Fune is running through all the options in his mind, while he sees the Wolf on collision course.
* * * * *
"Captain!" Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson shouts as he frantically works on his dimmed console. "I can't bring thruster control back on-line. All the circuits are fried. I need to..."
"Warning. Collision is imminent." The crackling computer voice says. Leif Anderson waits for the computer to finish her sentence.
"I need you to open the OPS/Helm console and manually work your way through the standard rerouting procedures while I attempt to input new commands into the system." He asks the Captain. "I can't do it all from here."
Captain Reynolds doesn't respond.
"Captain? Captain?!" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson shouts with growing desperation.
The Captain doesn't respond.
Lt. Cmdr. Anderson sighs. She must be unconscious... Or worse...
She just sits there, staring at the garbled viewscreen that displays the station they had to protect growing larger and larger. The ship is headed straight for the conference room windows. But the ship is a LOT bigger than those windows, and it will hit way more than just the conference room.
For example, it would also hit the shuttle bay located beneath the conference room...
* * * * *
Commander Tony Q can see the USS Wolf through the large shuttle bay windows.
No doubt about it. Collision course... He saw what a blow she was left to deal with by the large Massal-prototype. The sight of the starship closing in on him hypnotizes Tony for a few seconds.
Don't forget, the Wolf is an Akira-class starship. That means it's 19 decks tall and has a total mass of over three million metric tons! This shuttle bay alone is only three decks tall...
Tony knows it's time for action. They've got to get out of here. And fast!
He looks through the right shuttle windows and sees Ensign Murphy operating the controls on the platform, unaware of the inevitable collision.
Tony looks around, deciding what to do. Tony looks to the left and sees the vague outlines of a man sitting in the cockpit of a nearby shuttle. There's no time for Tony to react, though...
The left shuttle bay door starts to open! Air rushes out of the shuttle bay and into open space with an extreme pace.
"WHAT THE?!" Tony shouts, immediately punished by his painful wound.
Even his heavy shuttlecraft slides a foot or so towards the open bay door due to the rushing air, resulting in an awful scraping noise.
Ensign Murphy -who weighs considerably less than a shuttlecraft, lucky her- is taken completely by surprise and is knocked off her feet by the sudden air displacement. She can barely hold on to the nearest platform railing.
Tony Q's fingers race over the console in front of him. He accesses transporter control and a moment later Ensign Murphy materializes behind him in a bright transporter beam. Every muscle of her body is tensed, until she realizes she is safe.
"What on earth were you thinking?!" Ensign Murphy shouts at Tony. "Opening the shuttle bay door like that! I could've been killed!"
"I didn't do it!" Tony says, as he sits up again... Before he can explain the situation, it is already explained by a shuttle leaving the shuttle bay through the open bay door. The shuttle that seemed to contain that mysterious man...
"How did he open the door from his shuttle?" Ensign Murphy asks.
But her anger is quickly replaced with fear as she finally notices the large Wolf closing in quite rapidly. She's already beginning to see the hull plating signatures. Way too close...
* * * * *
"Diverting power to inertial dampeners. Firing all braking thrusters." Lt. Cmdr. Anderson tries his very best to somehow improve their situation with that small LCARS panel in front of him (seemingly the only working panel on the entire bridge). He knows there's little point in trying to stop the ship, but it's his duty to try at the very least. He glances at the motionless Captain Reynolds, who is still staring at the viewscreen.
The bridge rocks. Another braking thruster must've failed and blown up.
Leif Anderson looks back at his console, only to see it flooding with alerts. Its system is crashing. The panel dims and leaves him with a completely dark workstation.
The viewscreen has become the only light source. It shines bright light, coming from the garbled image of the white space station, in Anderson's face.
Is his mind playing tricks on him, or does he really see Captain Reynolds bracing herself for impact?
* * * * *
The Wolf starts filling the entire conference room window. All Altonoid officers except Letor Fune run out of the room in a desperate and instinctive reaction. Pointless really, escaping a huge starship on collision course by just exiting the room you're in... But because of the conference room shielding, there is no way to beam in or out. So running away is probably the best chance you have. A very small chance, that is...
Only Letor Fune and the four Federation flag officers remain in the conference room. Admiral van Aken gets up and prepares to make a run for it too.
"You stay here!" Letor Fune shouts as he draws his weapon and aims it at the four officers. Admiral van Aken, Cmdr. Levine, Cap. Duvivier and Cmdr. Jansen know it is pointless to run away, so they don't resist.
Fune is not half as self-confident as he was a minute ago. He thought he had won the battle, and he did. But he didn't expect it to happen this way. At the cost of his own life...
The only thing left for him to do is to make absolutely sure that the flag officers die with him.
* * * * *
Ensign Murphy has seated herself to the left of Tony Q and is working the controls to try and get the shuttle bay door open. The Wolf must be 100 yards away at most; it looks colossal. She can point out every phaser burn mark on its hull. At this range it is painfully obvious how much damage this ship had to endure. Like the missing weapon pod and right warp engine for instance... And its hull is scorched and torn... practically everywhere.
The point of no return is drawing closer. Sure, the left bay door is wide open, but it would require almost impossible maneuvering to get the shuttle there. They have to get the right bay door in front of them open if they want to get out of here...
"Only Starfleet personnel ranking Captain or higher are cleared to open these shuttle bay doors from within the shuttle." Ensign Murphy remarks.
"Wanna bet?" Cmdr. Tony Q says as he spurs to action.
There's no more time to do things by the book.
Tony Q accesses Helm control and orders a short burst of the ventral thrusters, making the shuttle lift up a bit. He commands the impulse engines to fire and the shuttle speeds forward towards the closed shuttle bay door. The distance to the bay door is covered very quickly with the current acceleration. Just before they will hit the bay door, Tony Q unleashes the shuttle's firepower (i.e. one phaser beam that does the job) at it, and the bay door blows up. They move through the field of smoke and darkness, and hope for the best.
The shuttle leaves the station along with the scorched remains of the bay door. The debris and dust disperses into open space, replacing the view with the crippled Akira-class starship heading straight for the two young officers!
Tony orders the shuttle to roll down as fast as it can.
The devastated USS Wolf rolls from view to continue her path of imminent destruction.
* * * * *
The Wolf obscures all the stars from view for the few people remaining in the deserted conference room. Letor Fune holds the Admiral, Captain and two Commanders at gunpoint, amidst the abandoned seats, tables and half-empty buffet carts.
There is no escape... For none of them. The atmosphere is tensed to say the least, and for good reasons too. They're all stuck in that room. The Starfleet officers will get shot if they attempt to leave, and Letor Fune wants to prevent the officers from leaving, even though it is now completely pointless to run.
The end is near. Sweat drips down Letor Fune's face. Nobody is moving a muscle.
Suddenly, Admiral van Aken walks over to the window. He sure has everyone's attention, but Letor Fune does not fire his weapon.
The Admiral turns around to face Letor Fune, points at the 3 million metric tons of approaching starship filling the window and says:
"This! This is how it feels to have everything you believe in crashing down upon you!"
The resulting amazed look on Letor Fune's face is hard to describe...
Parts of the saucer of the Wolf are obscured from view by the lack of a big enough window. It's THAT close. The forward sections of the saucer are simply moving out of view, and it becomes clear that the Wolf will hit the area three, four decks below the conference room first.
* * * * *
It was inevitable. It had to happen.
The speed of the Wolf decreases drastically as it impacts on the station.
The conference room (and no doubt the entire station) rocks excessively, throwing Admiral van Aken and the four others in the conference room off their feet.
The lights flicker and go dark as the floor and bulkheads begin losing their structure. While the floor and bulkheads are made out of a dense Duranium/Tritanium alloy, it feels as though they were made out of cardboard...
The impacting Wolf is still moving forward, accompanied by the awful noise of metal scraping against metal, of ship and station systems exploding, of decks crumbling.
Of havoc...
Admiral van Aken has landed on his back and is facing the window.
He can see the debris speeding by the window. The same window shows that the higher decks of the Wolf are heading straight for the conference room...
But well before those decks can hit the room, the floor near the window starts coming up, crushing the window along with it! Yard by yard, the floor is crushed against the ceiling by the bulk of the USS Wolf moving underneath it. The entire floor rises in a steep angle, causing destruction to wave through the conference room.
The steep angle causes Admiral van Aken to tumble backward into the room, towards the falling Letor Fune, Captain Duvivier, Commander Jansen and Levine.
Tables, chairs and buffet carts are crushed, mingled with the rest of the debris or tossed to the back of the room by the moving floor.
The Altonoid and Federation flag, which were mounted on the wall, come down together to cover the five humanoids.
Only the feel of debris hitting the canvas that covers them, the floor beneath them moving towards the ceiling. The muffled sounds of crushing metal everywhere.
Until suddenly, they can't feel the canvas and movement anymore. Until suddenly, they can't hear the sounds of destruction anymore.
Until suddenly, everything is gone...
* * * * *
In the big chaos of melding Duranium/Tritanium, it is unclear to what extent the station and the Wolf are damaging each other.
The impacting Wolf is causing extreme damage to the station, crushing many of its decks, but the ship's already weakened structural integrity is as brittle as an egg shell, making its own scorched hull crumble like tinfoil. Its speed is decreasing quickly, as the structural integrity of the much and much heavier station tears the hulk of the Wolf apart, mutilating the saucer of the starship beyond recognition.
Debris and explosions obscure most damage for a while, until the station's structure finally forces the remains of the starship to come to a complete stop. But the destruction isn't over just yet.
The missing weapon pod and the extensive damage on practically every single piece of hull cause the two weakened warp nacelle pylons to bend forward.
Like giant arms clutching on to the station, the crumbling pylons move forward and away from each other. The left pylon still contains a dimmed warp nacelle.
That left warp nacelle is launched into the side of the station by the bending pylon and causes a final scene of destruction as it completely disintegrates against the side of Station A-12.
* * * * *
The dead, unrecognizable Wolf, clasping on to the station with its empty nacelle pylons, is defeated. Not a single light is left shining on the scorched ship.
Station A-12 on the other hand is also severely damaged, but still holds its ground. Although everyone on the station must be severely shaken, many areas were not that badly hit.
Station A-12 has withstood the immense crash, suffered a considerable amount of damage that can probably never be repaired again, not to mention the inevitable casualties, but it's still largely operational. It is obvious: the Altonoids have won this battle...
* * * * *
That image is displayed on one of the central displays in the shuttle cockpit.
Ensign Emily Murphy saw the whole crash happening and is simply speechless.
Tony Q didn't look at the display; he's just staring out the window.
Ensign Murphy concentrates herself on shuttle operations again. There is nothing she can do about the current situation the Federation is in. Situation... A euphemism for loss...
"The Altonoid vessel doesn't seem to mind us. It's heading for Station A-12 to offer assistance, no doubt." She reads from the console in front of her. "Station A-12 is severely damaged, but she's powering up again. I suggest we head out of here and..."
She sees that Tony is still staring out of the window. She looks at what Tony is staring at.
The remains of the stardrive section of the USS Kennedy-B majestically flow through view. The two sleek warp nacelles make it clear. This is what's left of a Sovereign-class vessel.
The Kennedy. The ship Tony Q served on as First Officer in his Starfleet days. The ship that once contained most, if not all, of his real friends...
"Scan for escape pods." Tony silently orders as his eyes gently search the debris.
"None that I can detect." He hears. He still looks through the barely recognizable debris.
"No life signs?" Tony asks.
A short silence.
"None. I'm sorry..."
He wants to say something comforting for Ensign Murphy, but can't make himself say anything. He gives the remains of the USS Kennedy-B one last look. Then he looks at the display showing the crashed USS Wolf partially inside the once Federation station.
He takes a deep breath.
"Let's get the bloody hell out of here." He says in a very tired voice that sounds too mature for someone who's only 18 years old.
Ensign Murphy silently taps in commands on her console.
* * * * *
The shuttlecraft warps out. Away from the station...
* * * * *
Stardust streaks across the windows of the shuttlecraft as the Ensign and the Commander travel at almost 300 times the speed of light.
"Holding steady at warp 5.5." Ensign Murphy declares.
"Current heading?" Tony softly asks.
"We're headed straight for Starbase 9." Ens. Murphy says.
"Alter course to the Nedron system and increase velocity to warp 6." Cmdr. Tony Q says.
"T... Sir?" Ensign Murphy asks, almost calling her commanding officer by his first name.
"You don't know this, but there should've been a large Federation fleet standing by in the Nedron system to assist us if things went awry at the station. As a back-up." Tony explains.
"So where were they then?"
"Something must've kept them busy. I fear for the worst..." Tony sighs. "However, if they're still there, they're much closer to us than Starbase 9 is. They can bring us to Starbase 9 faster than this shuttlecraft can... And we must inform the fleet of what has happened at the station."
A brief silence.
"And you want someone to look at your phaser wound as soon as possible." Ensign Murphy says without looking up.
"Yeah!" Cmdr. Tony Q says, and he smiles subtly.
Tony can't remember much of what happened after that. He must've fallen asleep.
He is pulled out of his 'trance' by a bleeping sound emanating from the console in front of Ensign Emily Murphy.
"Sensors are picking up a shuttle in front of us, also headed for the Nedron system." Ensign Murphy says dutifully. "It's hull has a Federation signature. Confirming... Yes, it's another Type 11 Federation shuttlecraft."
Tony is still a bit drowsy, and the pain of his wound floods back into his body as the sleep dissipates.
"Great..." He mumbles.
"That shuttle's traveling a bit slower than we are. Cross-referencing current trajectory, speed and shuttlecraft data..." Ensign Murphy continues. "Yep. That shuttle must be coming from Station A-12. Its pilot must be the one who almost got me killed in the shuttle bay!"
Emily Murphy starts sounding angry again. She presses a few buttons, says:
"Hailing frequencies open." And she looks at Tony Q, urging him to say something.
Tony looks back, not too eager to actually have to do something in his current condition. But he's even less eager to argue with Ensign Murphy. So what the heck...
He sighs and tries to sound a bit more intact than he is...
"This is Commander Tony Q of the shuttlecraft... whatever this bloody thing is called. Requesting information regarding your current status."
A moment of silence passes. Just when Tony Q wants to repeat his message, they hear the other shuttlecraft responding. Audio only...
"Hello Tony." A rasped, tired voice slowly says. "This is Captain Stephan Rinckes."
The tone of his voice makes it difficult to ascertain any emotions.
"Captain Rinckes? So you made it out in one piece. I suppose you're also headed for the back-up fleet?"
"Yes." Cap. Rinckes practically whispers.
"I regret the loss of your ship. The Kennedy was also lost with all hands."
"I know."
Silence. Tony looks at Ensign Murphy. This is a bit awkward...
"I'm here with an Ensign called Emily Murphy. She served on the Kennedy. It appears we are the only survivors... We've lost a lot of good people back there..."
Too much time, though it can't be more than a few seconds, passes.
"Yes."
Tony hesitates for a second. This is a rather awkward conversation.
"We almost lost Ensign Murphy too," Tony continues. "when you opened the shuttle bay door, decompressing the shuttle bay with her in it. I could barely save her."
Ensign Murphy eagerly awaits Captain Rinckes's response.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was there."
"Alright. But a standard sweep of the immediate area before decompressing a shuttle bay would be advisable and is part of Starfleet pr..."
"I'm sorry. Please follow me to the Nedron system."
And the Captain ends communication.
"Is Captain Rinckes always like this?" Ensign Murphy asks.
"Yeah." Cmdr. Tony Q smiles. "A capable officer. But a bit on the cranky side..."
But still, he seemed more pre-occupied than cranky. And the way he spoke... Tony never heard him speak like that before. He sounded... empty.
"I'm relieved to hear the shuttle bay incident was just a mistake." Ensign Murphy says.
Cmdr. Tony Q shakes his thoughts.
"Yes. Even Captains make mistakes." Tony says. "That's why we have Commanders."
He gives the pretty Ensign one of his best smiles.
After an uncertain amount of time, Tony sees the streaks of space dust fading into a normal view of the stars. They've dropped out of warp. The shuttle of Captain Rinckes is just slightly ahead of them, as it has been for the entire journey.
The Garcon Nebula in front of them -a giant dust cloud that combines the colors lilac and blue in the most stunning way possible- is an enthralling sight. And so is the graveyard of ships in front of it...
Emily Murphy's console starts bleeping.
"We've received a text message from Captain Rinckes." She says. "He orders us to investigate the nebula and its surroundings and come back for a report once we're done." She reads from her console.
"Alright. Captain's orders." Tony Q says. It's been a while since he had to follow those kind of orders. Though those orders were usually not text-messaged ones...
"Take us in closer, Ensign." Cmdr. Tony Q says, and the nebula and graveyard get closer as the shuttle starts moving again.
They overtake Captain Rinckes's shuttle and leave him behind.
* * * * *
The outlines of the destroyed ships become clear. A few Altonoid ship hulks are visible, but they are largely outnumbered by the remains of Federation ships.
"Sensors are picking up 39 destroyed vessels." Ensign Murphy says, trying not to show any emotion in her voice. "31 Federation vessels, and eight Altonoid vessels."
A silence follows. Thirty-one ships lost...
"Commander." Ensign Murphy breaks the silence. "There's no way eight Altonoid vessels could've done that. There must've been more."
Tony Q nods, without looking away from the broken starships.
"What if they're still here?" Emily Murphy says, worriedly.
"Scan for Altonoid vessels." Tony says softly.
A few uneasy seconds filled with sounds of sensor bleeps pass.
"None within sensor range." Ensign Murphy says.
"We'll scout the area for any survivors and additional information, and then we'll head straight back, alright?" Tony Q says, and he looks at Emily for the first time in this conversation.
"Alright." Ensign Murphy smiles.
* * * * *
The small shuttle enters the graveyard of 39 huge ship hulks.
The shuttle, already the size of a 21st century truck, is dwarfed in comparison with the ship hulks as it flies through the maze of debris.
Billions of tons of torn hull form silent witnesses of the tragedy that took place here.
The defeated starships have surrounded the shuttlecraft.
An old Miranda-class ship hangs in space in full view, its saucer cut in half, showing many eaten away decks. The USS Yeager was also destroyed by Altonoid forces, and has crashed into the remains of an up-rated Excelsior-class vessel.
Practically every ship class, new or old, has a few dead ships representing them here in this graveyard reminiscent of the graveyard left by the battle of Wolf 359, over thirteen years ago.
The wreck of the Galaxy-class USS Trinculo becomes visible through the hull breaches of an Akira-class ship lost today. Even a line of ships as formidable and highly regarded as the Galaxy-class couldn't evade destruction in this battle... That ship alone must've held over one thousand Starfleet crewmembers and civilians. Now it is hanging in space, dark and silent, with its saucer section bended downwards on its crushed neck supports.
The cloud of defeated starships starts getting less dense. They've passed through the biggest part of the graveyard.
The shuttle's sensors are scanning non-stop.
"I'm picking up no life signs." Ensign Murphy says.
"Well..." Tony sighs. And he halts his speech for a moment as they pass the crippled Ambassador-class USS Sylvester. "It's time we start back."
But Tony can't even gasp for air to say the next sentence, because suddenly the view of the Garcon Nebula gets severely blurred, as if they're suddenly passing through a giant soap bubble. Various warnings go off in the shuttle. Ensign Murphy immediately starts studying the incoming data to find out what the hell is going on!
But quickly, the view outside stabilizes, the warning sounds are silenced and the same beautiful Garcon Nebula becomes clear to see.
Although... There are even more ships in front of the nebula now.
Altonoid ships!
"We seem to have passed through a subspace rupture. We've entered some sort of subspace well. Space within space basically." Ensign Murphy interprets the data displayed on her console.
"Yeah... Well... Look!" Tony says, and he gestures at the dozens of Altonoid ships in front of them. They don't move an inch however.
"Sensors are reading 70 Altonoid vessels scattered around the area." Ensign Murphy calmly says. "Total power output is zero. No life signs. They're completely disabled."
Tony stares at the sight. Altonoid vessels are generally even larger than Federation starships. To see them all motionless is a somewhat chilling sight, though a welcome change from all the destroyed Federation vessels.
"How?" He asks.
Ensign Murphy needs some time to work that out on her console.
"It appears that every single power source aboard their ships have been neutralized by this subspace well." She says.
Tony opens his mouth to say something, but doesn't get very far.
"Now you mention it." Ensign Murphy says immediately. "The sensors say this subspace well contained an awful lot of Boronite particles combined with Tirubon radiation. That's very damaging to all starship systems." Ensign Murphy says.
"Yes. So why aren't we affected?" Tony asks, and at the same time he wonders about the many things they teach the Cadets at the Academy these days.
"Like I said. It 'contained' the combination of particles and radiation. Combined with Boronite particles, Tirubon radiation has a very short half-life. Right now it is safe enough for us to pass through the well. We shouldn't have come here say... five minutes ago, or we would've been in trouble." Ensign Murphy says.
"If I hadn't brought you along I would've been in trouble too." Tony s smiles. "You know an awful lot about science for a..."
"Security Ensign, yes." Ens. Murphy agrees. "Well, I can do a lot more than wield a phaser and look dangerous."
They both laugh. For a moment, Cmdr. Tony Q forgets all about his phaser wound, even though he is looking unhealthier by degrees.
Tony looks out of the windows, at the 70 dead Altonoid ships hanging in front of one of the most beautiful nebulae the Milky Way is rich of.
"A stunning sight, don't you agree?" Tony says as he looks Ensign Murphy in her eyes a bit too long to mistake it for a short glance.
Ensign Murphy looks at the nebula and agrees.
"It's like an oasis after what happened earlier today." She says.
Silence, sweet silence. The shuttle is still moving forward.
After some time they pass the 70 huge, dark Altonoid vessels that are all facing the nebula in silence. Their dark brown hulls are glowing in the shimmering lights of the nebula.
"Well. Let's head back..." Tony sighs. "We've seen enough here. Odd place, this. I mean... Of all the places, this subspace well has formed near a battle, destroying only the Altonoid vessels. And dozens of them!"
They come to a full stop approximately five kilometers from the nebula.
"Well, I can't help it. It's what the sensors say." Ens. Murphy says. "Besides, I have reasons to believe this well was created artificially."
"This just can't get any vaguer." Tony says, raising his voice a little. "What are we supposed to report to Captain Rinckes once we get back?" He starts talking to thin air. "Yes, hello. First we saw what was left of the Federation back-up fleet. Then we entered a subspace well. Yes, a subspace well, which contained not contains the rare mixture of Boredknight particles and Tiedribbon radiation, or something, which happened to destroy the vessels inside that -by the way artificially created- subspace well, which happened to be SEVENTY Altonoid vessels. And then..."
An alert goes off, and Tony stops his theatrical performance for a moment. The phaser wound above his right hip starts to declare its presence again.
Ensign Murphy leans forward to access the console.
"We're being hailed by the nebula." She says calmly.
Tony stares at her for a brief moment.
"Of course we're being hailed by the nebula! What else did you expect?!" Tony says theatrically, to the amusement of the pretty Ensign next to him.
"Hello, nebula. How are we feeling today?" Tony Q says as he replies the hail.
"Relaying communications to the screen." Ensign Murphy says, as she types in commands on her console.
Cmdr. Tony Q wants to look at the windows in front of him, remembers that this is just a shuttle with no viewscreen, and looks down at the built-in monitor.
A slender man in his early fifties appears on the monitor. He's clearly a Starfleet Captain and the bridge around him looks state-of-the-art. In fact, it looks like nothing Cmdr. Tony Q nor Ensign Murphy have ever seen before.
"This is Captain Keith Harriman of the USS Achilles." The Captain says. "I'm surprised to see you here."
"Well... I can't say I expected you here either." Cmdr. Tony Q says. "I am Commander Tony Q."
"I was aware of that." Cap. Harriman says. "What are you doing here? You look awful."
"Thanks... Well, it's a rather lengthy story." Tony says. "I take it you are part of what remains of the back-up fleet?"
Captain Harriman sighs.
"Yes, we and ten other ships. We're all hiding inside this nebula."
"Ah... Why?" Tony asks.
"Until a few minutes ago, the Tirubon radiation inside the subspace well was still too powerful for our ships to handle. You can see what it did to the Altonoid ships." Cap. Harriman replies.
"Yes. We are a bit puzzled about that one. In fact, practically everything here is a bit puzzling." Tony says.
"Moments after we heard the message from Letor Fune about Station A-12 being taken over by Altonoids, we were attacked by a fleet of 78 Altonoid vessels. We barely had the time to go to red alert." Cap. Harriman starts explaining. "We lost 31 of our ships in the subsequent battle, and things were definitely not looking good for us. But then, suddenly, a mysterious message sent to the remaining Federation ships told us to fly into the nebula and stand-by."
Cmdr. Tony Q and Ensign Murphy are listening carefully.
"Normally we wouldn't simply follow loose orders from unknown origin... But this was not the kind of situation that encouraged holding conferences about possible alien influences... So we headed into the nebula. And as soon as our last ship entered it, the mysterious subspace well formed and disabled... destroyed all Altonoid vessels. The nebula's composition shielded us from the harmful effects of the subspace well. We've been in here for hours now, waiting for the right moment to leave the nebula."
"Well, consider it safe." Tony Q remarks.
"Well, consider us lucky." Ensign Murphy says wittingly.
The slender Captain smiles.
"What happened at Station A-12?" Captain Harriman asks as he becomes more serious.
Tony's face hardens.
"I'm afraid that I, Ensign Murphy here and Captain Rinckes are the only survivors. Captain Rinckes is waiting outside of the well in his shuttle." Tony sighs.
"So few survivors?" Cap. Harriman sighs. "But aren't you a Q? How come you are injured?"
"It's all a very, very long story, Captain. We request permission to dock." Tony sighs.
Captain Harriman nods.
"Yes. Proceed to shuttle bay 3 as soon as we've cleared the nebula. We'll pick up Captain Rinckes and head back to Starbase 9 for repairs and additional orders. On route, you can tell us everything about what happened at Station A-12. And I'll have sickbay prepared to take care of your wounds."
"Thank you." Tony says.
Captain Harriman nods at what should be the OPS officer, in front of the bridge, out of view for Tony and Emily.
"This is Captain Keith Harriman to all ships. Take us out."
Ensign Murphy ends communication, and she and Tony look at the nebula in front of them.
* * * * *
A faint shadow forms and grows within the nebula. The outlines are becoming clearer through the clouds of blue and lilac shapes. Red lights begin to grow visible through the mist. The lights of what have to be two, modernly designed warp nacelles. And between those two lights is a very wide, yet flat red light. The outlines become more and more visible as the ship approaches the perimeter of the nebula.
And then the Achilles breaks through the nebula, stirring pockets of colorful dust in its wake.
The USS Achilles is a completely new ship for Commander Tony Q and Ensign Murphy. The Achilles is the first of its class. A modern-looking, state-of-the-art starship almost the size of a Sovereign-class vessel, but even sleeker. The ship only appears to be 11, 12 decks tall, but it looks muscular, as if it's constantly ready to pick a fight.
From the shuttle, Cmdr. Tony Q and Ensign Murphy have a clear view of the newest deflector technology and scientific research combined to form a wide, flat deflector dish glowing with red light.
Its saucer follows the latest design trend of triangular shaped saucers perfectly, with the forward edge seemingly cut off. The two warp nacelles of unique design run exactly parallel to the ship's long secondary hull.
It is definitely an awe-inspiring ship. It has suffered minor battle damage, though. But it still looks as if it can move moons with a single sigh.
The ship moves past the line of sight of the shuttle's windows.
Multiple shadows start forming inside the nebula. Five, six, eight. More than that. Each shadow grows in detail independently to eventually form a starship.
As if looking at the ships through a blue and lilac stained glass, the shapes grow inevitably larger and more detailed.
Yet, somehow, when they break through the walls of the nebula it seems completely unanticipated. As if a distant dream suddenly turns out to be a tangible truth.
Ten large Federation starships appear from the nebula. From a small, yet powerful Defiant-class vessel, to two of the immensely majestic Galaxy-class starships. They're all creating different fountains of bright dust destined to flounder into open space, only to dissipate shortly after its creation.
* * * * *
The seventy empty Altonoid vessels silently witness the eleven surviving Federation starships exiting the nebula. And all that the remains of this mighty Altonoid fleet can do is watch helplessly.
* * * * *
The windows of the shuttle are filled with combat-ready Federation starships.
Commander Tony Q witnesses it all with mixed feelings. He's glad to finally see that what he has sacrificed so much for, may actually still be worth fighting for. Yet he is disappointed that he couldn't make much of a difference with those great sacrifices.
The Federation has lost so much today. HE has lost so much...
No more life as a higher being. No more living outside the confines of the space-time continuum. Now he's back to the life form he used to be. And in pretty bad shape too.
He remembers the time when he was still human or at least mostly human. The time he spent serving for Starfleet. Having been the First Officer of the USS Kennedy will always rank very high in his memories. But the Kennedy is no more...
He looks at Ensign Emily Murphy, who has been looking at him.
Tony brings up a smile.
"It's time to go home."
TO BE CONCLUDED
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