Some other ways to enjoy my writing

So I thought I'd mention some less traditional ways to enjoy my writing, both Star Trek fan fiction related to the Save Enterprise campaign at TrekUnited.

The first is something called Enterprise: Interactive Season Five. Lots of places have done virtual S5s for Enterprise, this takes a slightly different road by taking the form of a post-based roleplaying game where the players have a very real impact on where the plot goes. I'll be giving each "episode" a general plot and then the course of it and the ending is determined by the actions of the players. People can also submit their own plots if they want. We'll be starting soon so join up at TU (it's absolutely free), you can find a link on the right hand side of this page.

The other is called Dispatches from the Romulan War. It differs from other fan fictions series in that instead of stories it's a series of news reports from the Romulan war. Anyone can submit an article about pretty much anything related to the war and we are accepting articles not only from the human perspective but from Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite news agencies as well so it is extremely flexible and open-ended. DRW is now open to submissions so start sending 'em in. You need to be a member of TU to submit, send your articles to me via PM (I'm under the name ensign edwards), click here for guidelines relating to submissions.

Some other good writing

So I'm not much for fan fiction believe it or not. My interest in it was zero before I started writing and even now I have little time for it. However once in awhile I will read something, usually just because I like the writer, and sometimes it'll actually be good. So I thought I'd make a mention of two series I have enjoyed despite their occasional flaws.

One is written by Christena of the Sci-fiUnited network of sites, it's called Star Trek: New Era and I've found it quite intriguing. So far I've read up until chapter three and I'm looking forward to chapter four. She's recently gotten a forum set up for it, here's a link.

The other is based on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and is written by boomstick of GalacticaBBS, you can find it in GBBS's fan fiction section. It's called Titan V, it isn't what I'd call great but it has some unique ideas and if you're a NuBSG fan you'll probably find it interesting.

If you're wondering what's next for me expect Mind Over Matter-a story based on the wildly popular computer game Starcraft-soon. I'm also planning two sequels to it.

NX-02: Hunting Grounds

Okay so I know I said Battlestar Perseus was next but the way things have worked out my next trek story is actually ready now. I'm doing things a little ass-backwards.

This one is set onboard the Columbia from Star Trek: Enterprise. Please note that the characters are not intended to be similar to the extras seen on Columbia's bridge. And remember to comment, even if you didn't like it or don't have much to say I want to hear what you think. Now without further adieu...

NX-02: Hunting Grounds

Historical note: This story takes place two days after the events depicted in the Enterprise episode "Divergence."

The sound of the flute filled the room. Commander Marie Lapointe played while sitting on her bed. She had intended to just go to sleep when she reached her quarters but the stress of repairs had left her too wound up to sleep so she had picked up her flute. Losing herself in the subtle intricacies of music never failed to bring about relaxation.

Her stomach growled, reminding her she had not eaten in nearly twelve hours. She put down her flute and sighed. I'd better get something to eat. She went to the mirror in her bathroom and inspected her hair. Finding it extremely messy, she undid her braid and began redoing it. While not particularly vain, there was something she couldn't stand about being seen in public with untidy hair. Her hair was an unusual grayish brown that, coupled with her somewhat long face, often made people mistake her for someone much older than her thirty-seven years.

Once she finished her hair she left her quarters and started walking to the mess hall. This late at night the corridors were mostly empty and very quiet, the only noise being a slight hum in the deck plates caused by the warp drive. Marie cursed the repairs that had kept her occupied for the last two days.

Damn Klingons! They kidnap a Starfleet doctor and when we try and get him back they blow out half the plasma conduits on the ship. She thought back to the harrowing battle of two days ago when Columbia and Enterprise had rescued Doctor Phlox from the Klingon colony. I'll never forget that moment when the weapons went offline. I hope I never have to be in a situation like that again. It had only been through the cleverness of the doctor and the courage of Captain Archer that they had been able to survive. She sighed. If only I'd joined Starfleet sooner I could have served on Enterprise with Captain Archer. Well at least I didn't have to brave the Delphic Expanse.

They weren't expected to leave Klingon space for another few days. Officially the Klingons had granted free passage out of their territory but no one onboard felt like taking their chances by lingering. Marie had suggested they travel with Enterprise out of Klingon space but they were heading for a different sector and Captain Hernandez had felt it would take them too far out of their way.

She entered the mess hall and was surprised to find someone eating at one of the tables: Lieutenant Bao Phan - called Lieutenant Bao because of Vietnamese tradition concerning names - the ship's tactical officer. He was a short man with neat black hair. After selecting a cold and slightly stale sandwich from the serving case she sat down across from the lieutenant.

"Good evening lieutenant."

"Good evening commander. How are you?" he asked politely.

"The same as everyone else on this ship - exhausted."

"Tell me about it. Two days and I'm still repairing what those Klingons did to our weapons," he said.

"How are the repairs on our weapons going?"

"Slow. Most of them are back online but we still have three phase canons and an aft torpedo launcher offline."

"Not how you expected to spend your first mission I'll bet," said Marie.

"No. I've read enough of the reports from Enterprise to realize space exploration isn't a cake-walk but I thought our first mission would be charting an asteroid field or something." She nodded. They ate in silence for a time. Then Bao said, "Where in Canada are you from again?"

"Quebec, just outside of Montreal. Why?"

"My cousin is thinking of moving to Ottawa and he wants to know what it's like. Have you been there?" he asked.

"Yes. I worked as an astrophysicist there for a few years. Why doesn't he just visit there himself?"

"He hates traveling. I don't wish to give you a bad impression of him, but he's a bit lazy truth be told."

Marie swallowed a mouthful of sandwich and said, "Well you can tell him it's a lovely place. Not as busy as some bigger cities, so it's a bit more relaxing." Bao nodded and another moment of silence followed. "You know rumor has it Commander Tucker isn't going to come back from Enterprise," Marie said.

"You think not?" asked the tactical officer.

"He served on that ship for four years and now he's there to 'assist with repairs' - do the math."

"Why would he have transferred if he wanted to stay on Enterprise?" wondered Bao.

"I don't know. Maybe he wanted a change of pace. But whatever the reason half of engineering is betting he's changed his mind and I'm inclined to agree. They say the crew on Enterprise is very tight-knit so I'm guessing he wants to be back with his friends."

"That'll cause some trouble in engineering if we wind up in the middle of deep space with no chief engineer and no replacement within a hundred light-years."

"Probably not as much as you think. The lieutenant commander seems to be doing a pretty decent job of running things right now and I'm sure the engineers won't mind not having Commander Tucker cracking the whip every twenty minutes," said Marie.

Bao shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I haven't spent much time in engineering myself." He finished eating, said goodbye, and left. A few minutes later Marie finished her sandwich and gratefully went to bed.

Marie yawned. It was the next morning and she was attempting to function on less than ten hours of sleep over the past two days. Her sea-green eyes were bloodshot and had puffy bags under them. The turbolift she was in stopped and she exited onto the bridge. Instead of taking her station she walked across to the door to Captain Hernandez's ready-room. As she did so the ship's communications officer, Ensign Jasim Khatami, waved hello to her. She waved back while hitting the doorbell to the ready-room.

"Come in." called the captain. Marie opened the door and stepped in. Captain Hernandez was sitting at her desk surveying some star charts.

"Good morning commander."

"Good morning captain."

"Rough night commander?" asked Captain Hernandez.

"Just a bit overworked because of the repairs sir." The captain gestured for Marie to sit down across from her.

"So what brings you here?" inquired Hernandez.

"Do you remember the nebula we had to avoid when we entered Klingon territory?" The captain nodded and Marie continued. "I've been talking to Lieutenant Magnusson and I think we've come up with a way we can modify the deflector so it doesn't ignite the charged neutrino field in the nebula." She produced a PADD from her uniform and showed the captain the schematics.
"It's quite simple really; all we have to do is make a few small modifications to the subspace field coils." Hernandez studied the plans for a moment while absent-mindedly toying with her ponytail.

"Yes that looks fine commander. It should get us out of Klingon space at least a day quicker. I think we can all agree that's a worthy endeavor," the captain said while smiling. Marie nodded and left the ready-room. She crossed the bridge again and entered the turbolift. After a brief journey the lift opened on E deck and she walked to engineering.

Opening the hatch, she was greeted by the low hum of the warp core. She crossed the large room, passing several engineers who were still occupied with repairs, and came up beside the woman who was running engineering in Commander Tucker's absence. Lieutenant Commander Anju Bhandari was slightly shorter than Marie. She had dark skin and black hair just past her shoulders. As far as Marie knew she was the only member of the crew actively practicing a religion, being of the Buddhist faith.

"Good morning LC." The engineer looked up from the computer she was working at.

"Marie! I didn't hear you coming. You startled me. And I've told you before to call me Anju; I don't like titles."

"Sorry Anju."

"That's all right. Now what are you doing in engineering?" Marie explained about the modifications to the deflector.

Anju nodded and said, "Clever, simple. I'll send some people down to the deflector and we can handle the circuit rerouting from here." She picked two exhausted-looking engineers who gathered their equipment and left. Then Marie and Anju took their positions at a pair of consoles next to the warp core to await the signal to begin their work.

Anju sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Working hard?" asked Marie.

"Who isn't? These repairs don't leave a lot of time for things like sleep or eating," replied the engineer.

"You might want to let people take a little time off now that things are going better. Most systems are running again and in theory the Klingons will leave us alone," Marie suggested.

"No. I would be remiss in my duty if I let things get lax while there was work to do."

"Trying to look good in case Commander Tucker doesn't come back?" said Marie with a sly smile.

Anju laughed, "No; I'm just trying to be a good engineer. But now that you mention it, that's a good reason to keep working hard." She winked and they both chuckled.

In the short time Marie had known Anju she had grown to like her. Her strong work ethic and determination were something to be admired in any Starfleet officer yet it was her charm and openness that were truly endearing. Marie was distracted from her thoughts by a text message on her screen indicating that the other engineers had arrived at the deflector and were ready to begin the modifications. She focused on her work and began to reroute the control circuits.

An hour later Marie was at her station on the bridge running some low level scans; Lieutenant Magnusson wanted to do a paper on the charged neutrino field in the nebula and had asked for some readings of it. The deflector modifications were successful and the Columbia had been traveling through the nebula for over a half-hour now. The view-screen at the front of the bridge showed dark gray clouds illuminated by the occasional flash of electric blue.

"Beautiful isn't it?" said the communications officer. Jasim Khatami was a Palestinian man in his mid-twenties. He was nondescript save for a winning smile that made him seem boyishly innocent.

"I suppose in a grim sort of way," responded the helmsman - one Gunther Muller. He was a young ensign with a broad chest and dark hair.

"It's playing havoc with the sensors. I'm detecting enough warp signatures to constitute a fleet but they're all just reflections of us. I don't like having the sensors impaired while we're still in Klingon space. Free passage out of here or not, I'll sleep easier once we're gone," complained Lieutenant Bao from his station.

"It wouldn't do to disturb Captain Hernandez by crashing into another ship because we can't tell our asses from a Klingon warship," joked Ensign Muller. The captain was spending the remainder of the morning in the ship's gym. She had been complaining that the troubles with the Klingons were keeping her from her workouts.

"If you isolate the resonance frequency you can set the computers to compensate," Marie offered. He hit a few buttons and smiled.

"Thank you commander."

"No problem. I'm not exactly comfortable staying in those brutes' territory either. I joined Starfleet to explore, not risk my life getting shot at by seven-foot tall, sword-wielding thugs. I'll be glad to be able to start our real mission." Most of the bridge crew nodded in agreement.

"Any idea where we'll be going first?" asked Ensign Muller.

"I don't know if we're going there but I hear there's a planet not far from here with an orbit so extreme in its range that it's nearly as hot as Vulcan in the summer and colder than Antarctica in the winter," said Marie.

"Amazing," Jasim said.

"That's not the best part. Rumor has it the planet is inhabited by intelligent life forms. Imagine what they would be like!" she said excitedly.

Ensign Muller gave a whistle and said, "That'd be a sight."

"It's amazing the infinite wonders that can be found on one world. Then consider the millions of worlds in this galaxy alone. There's a lot to see out there," said Jasim.

Bao spoke, "Yes, and let's hope it's friendly. Has anyone ever read the reports from Enterprise? Suliban, Klingons, Xindi, Romulans, Tholians, they certainly found a lot of unfriendly sorts."

"They didn't often loose anyone at least. Not outside of the Delphic Expanse anyway," Marie countered. For a moment Bao grimaced; Marie couldn't tell if he was angry or sad but it seemed to pass as quickly as it came. "Are you alright? You seemed a bit out of sorts for a minute there," she said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't like hearing about the Expanse. My older brother was on the MACO team that fought the Xindi and, well, he didn't make it back." He almost muttered the last part.

There was an awkward moment of silence on the bridge until Marie said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know." Bao shrugged.

"That's alright. How could you have known?" The conversation died off after that. The only sound was the pulsing of the plasma conduits at the rear of the bridge. Marie passed the time observing the sensor readings on the nebula as the others went about their duties.
A loud beeping sounded from Jasim's panel.

"What is it?" Marie inquired.

"I'm receiving a transmission. It looks like some kind of automated distress signal."

"Hmm, we'd better investigate. Try and respond; tell them we're coming. Ensign Muller set an intercept course." She hit her button for the intercom. "Captain Hernandez to the bridge please." Within a few minutes the captain arrived still in her exercise gear.

"Report." she ordered.

"Ensign Khatami has detected a distress signal. We're moving to intercept," Marie answered.

Captain Hernandez sat in her chair and asked, "Any idea who it is?"

"No. I can't raise them on any channel," said Jasim.

"Captain I - wait. That's odd," said Bao.


"What is it?" asked Hernandez.

"For a moment I thought I detected a faint warp signature but it's gone."

"Sensor glitch?" suggested the captain.

"Maybe. But I thought I had the all the sensors working properly."

Marie looked up from her console and said, "I'm detecting something up ahead. Possibly a ship, I can't tell. It's about the same size as us whatever it is."

"Drop to impulse," Hernandez ordered.

"Captain, the distress signal is no longer transmitting," reported Jasim.

"Look," said Bao, indicating the view-screen. The ship was passing through a particularly dense cloud and on the other side appeared the looming form of what Marie had detected. It consisted of a huge round globe from which projected four long tentacle-like protrusions. The entire thing was covered in a glossy reddish skin marked with the occasional streak of pink, orange, or purple. It looks like a jellyfish. Or maybe a squid.

The entire bridge crew gaped at its bizarre countenance until the captain regained her composure and asked, "Is it a ship?"

Marie ran over all her sensors readings and said, "I can't tell, the sensors don't seem to be penetrating its outer covering. I'm not detecting any warp signature or bio-signs but I am detecting faint power readings and it does register as metallic."

"Could this have been what sent the distress signal?" pondered Captain Hernandez. Marie shrugged.

"Ensign Khatami, tie in the universal translator and hail it on all frequencies," Hernandez commanded.

"Aye captain." Marie continued to examine the sensor data coming in.

"The skin - hull - whatever this thing has, is registering as a liquid metal," she said. Captain Hernandez turned to her.

"A liquid metal? How is that possible?"

"I don't know. I'm going to need more time to study the data."

"Look!" said Ensign Muller. The thing had begun to move towards them with its tentacles outstretched.

"Should I polarize the hull plating?" asked Bao. Hernandez shook her head.

"It may simply be as curious about us as we are of it Lieutenant."

"I can't raise this thing on any channel," said Jasim. Marie's console began to beep.

"I'm detecting a massive energy surge coming from that thing." All eyes turned on the view-screen as a bolt of red energy burst from the tip of one of the alien ship's tentacles. The Columbia shook from the impact and sparks flew from a computer screen behind Marie's head.

"Tactical alert! All hands to battle stations!" yelled the captain. Clarions sounded throughout the ship as it entered combat mode. "Damage report," ordered Captain Hernandez.

"Hit to the forward port section. Some structural damage but nothing we need to worry about," responded Lieutenant Bao.

"Fire phase canons on it. Low yield; we just want to get its attention. Ensign Khatami, tell them that if they continue hostilities we will destroy them." Marie wondered if them was the proper word, considering they didn't even know if it had a crew. The view-screen showed a bolt of brilliant orange strike the alien ship as the Columbia returned fire. The target area rippled for a moment like the struck surface of a pond then returned to normal. Marie detected another energy build up.

"It's getting ready to fire again." A second bolt of energy struck the Columbia causing the lights to flicker. Captain Hernandez began barking orders.

"That tears it. Return fire! All forward phase canons, maximum yield. Ensign Muller, get us out of here. Resume previous course at warp four-point-five."

"Wait there's still a few things I can try with the UT!" said Jasim.

"I don't think it wants to talk! Carry out my orders," said Hernandez.

"It's pursuing, matching our course and speed." Bao said.

"I thought you said that thing didn't have a warp signature," said the captain to Marie.

"It doesn't. I have no explanation. I can't detect any warp field, any engines, any sign of propulsion." The bridge lurched from another hit.

"Fire aft torpedoes. Ensign Muller increase speed," instructed Captain Hernandez.

"I'll try but the engines are still strained from when we transferred Commander Tucker to Enterprise," said Ensign Muller. The view-screen showed a blast of orange energy from the alien ship and a boom like thunder rocked the Columbia.

"Hull plating down to sixty-two percent. There's damage to our port impulse reactor," said Bao.

"Fire all weapons," said the captain. Multiple hits from phase canons and torpedoes caused the skin of the alien ship to ripple violently, but it showed no sign of damage. God save us. What does it take to destroy that thing? Captain Hernandez rotated her chair to face Marie.

"Is anything we do actually affecting that thing?"

Marie shrugged and said, "Your guess is as good as mine." Marie clutched her console to avoid falling as another impact rocked the ship.

"It's closing the gap," warned Bao.

"The warp engines are at their limit," said Ensign Muller. Marie looked at the view-screen. With the Columbia's weapons still pounding at it, the enemy ship extended a tentacle and wrapped it around a nacelle.

"It's locked on to the port warp engine! I'm reading multiple small hull breaches," reported Bao. Oh no. Oh no.

"Are they trying to board?" asked the captain.

"I don't think so. The breaches are too small," replied Lieutenant Bao.

"Target the dorsal phase canons and blow that thing off my ship," ordered Captain Hernandez. A flare of orange illuminated the rear half of the Columbia. After a long few seconds the tentacle began to peel off. The moment it released the captain shouted, "Fire a photonic torpedo at that thing. Maximum yield." The impact of the torpedo light up the view-screen and rattled the Columbia. Marie noticed a tiny drop in power readings from the alien ship.

"I think we may have hurt it that time," she said.

"I think she's right captain. It's starting to lose speed," added Lieutenant Bao.

"Let's see if we can turn that to our advantage. Ensign Muller, set a course for the densest cloud you can find."

"Yes sir. Setting course zero-four-seven mark three-three-eight." The ship swerved down and to the right into a black mass of clouds. Shortly the view-screen showed nothing but darkness and the sensors lost much of their range. A tense minute followed and the bridge crew held their breath.

They emerged into a less dense section of the nebula and the sensors came back up.

"Any sign of pursuit?" Hernandez asked hesitantly. Bao shook his head. Things seemed about to settle down when Marie saw a new signature on her sensors.

"There's something coming out of the clouds!" The view-screen showed the alien ship gliding out of the blackness tentacles first. Captain Hernandez seemed in shock for a second, then she returned to her role as captain.

"Keep moving. Fire photonic torpedoes full spread!" A quartet of torpedoes soared towards their target and exploded with a great blinding flash. When the light dimmed the alien ship had ceased moving forward and its skin was rippling and bulging severely. Marie detected what, considering the difficulty of scanning the ship's interior, must be a dramatic power-drain.

"There. I think we hurt it that time," she said. The captain needed no urging.

"Get us out of here, full speed." The Columbia sped away into the inky depths of the nebula as the alien ship twitched its tentacles like some injured octopus.

After a few minutes at high warp with the deck plates groaning from the stress caused by their speed Bao said, "No sign of pursuit. I think we lost them."

"You're probably right but let's not take chances. Maintain this course and speed for another ten minutes then resume our course out of the nebula at warp three-point-seven. Stand down from tactical alert but keep vigilant in case they come back. You have the bridge Commander Lapointe," said Captain Hernandez.

She then added, "I'm going to clean myself up," in reference to her sweaty exercise clothing.
When the captain left Marie rested her head in her hands and sighed Thank god that's over.

Later Marie stood in the armory watching visual records of the battle.

"That thing can sure take a lot of punishment. The beating we gave it was enough to level a good sized town," observed Lieutenant Bao.

"At least." Marie replied. Captain Hernandez had ordered her and the tactical officer to analyze the battle and formulate a defense should the alien ship - dubbed "Squidy" by the crew - return. Marie had also asked the Columbia's chief physicist Lieutenant JG Petur Magnusson to join them. While tactical was not his specialty, the Icelander had a brilliant mind she had come to rely on. "It's that damn liquid hull. When something hits our hull eventually it breaks but this thing just ripples and bounces back," said Marie with irritation.

"How can a ship even have a liquid hull? It doesn't make sense," Bao said.

"I'm guessing it's held in place with some kind of magnetic field," thought Lieutenant Magnusson while stroking his blonde beard.

"That's a good theory," said Marie. She pulled up a set of sensor logs. "There is a faint EM signature. It's hard to tell for sure but I'd be willing to bet that's what's keeping the hull in place."

"Whoever is crewing this ship certainly values their privacy. Scanning the interior of that thing is like trying to shine a flashlight through a brick wall," Bao said.

"If there even is anyone on that ship," said Marie. The door to the armory opened and Marie turned to see Anju enter carrying a square chunk of metal. She walked over and put it down on one of the torpedo launch tracks with a sigh of effort. On closer inspection the metal was riddled with small holes.

"Ugh that's heavy. Per your request Marie: one section of hull from the port nacelle."

"Thank you Anju." Marie stepped to the hull section and ran over it with a hand scanner. "This is showing signs of corrosion," she said.

"Severe corrosion. It looks like it was exposed to some kind of acid similar to what some life-forms use for digestion but much stronger," said Anju. Lieutenant Magnusson began scanning it as well.

"I'm reading a seventeen percent drop in mass from standard," he said.

"A drop in mass? That's odd," said Bao.

"What did that thing do? Better yet why?" pondered Anju.

Marie sighed and said, "God, I don't know. They didn't have any courses on giant space squids at Starfleet Academy. I'm not prepared for this."

"I don't think any of us can be prepared for every possible thing we might face out here," said Lieutenant Magnusson.

"I figured we'd end up in one or two tough situations but we haven't even been out here a month and already we've been attacked by Klingons, stressed the engines to their limit transferring Commander Tucker, and had our hull perforated by some ship for no apparent reason. At this rate I'm not sure I want to know what's out there," said Marie.

Bao said, "No one said this was going to be easy. I know better than most the risks that lie in the depths of space but I still chose to be on this mission. No one can deny that space travel is essential to the future of humanity and we will be the ones to lead the way. There is danger inherent in that but we must face it so that later generations can enjoy the fruits of our labors. Now let's focus and figure out what we can do if this thing comes back." Marie nodded.

"You're right." Focus Lapointe focus.

"All right, so we have a hostile ship covered in a liquid skin that can dissolve our hull. What do we do about it? I wonder if we figure out what it wants if we might be able to attempt communication or at least dissuade it from further assaults," she said.

Anju spoke, "I have a theory. This thing seems to acting like some kind of predator. It ambushes us and then gives chase but when we start being more trouble than we're worth it stops. Maybe it's trying to harvest the metals from our hull."

"Interesting theory. If that's true it may not come back now that we've proven we can fight back. But why would someone go to all this trouble to get metal?" Marie said. Anju shrugged and said,

"Maybe their world is lacking in metals? It could even be some kind of self-sustaining machine that needs our ship to replenish its stores. Though that seems unlikely."

"Well I don't see any way to spoil its appetite if it's trying to eat us, so what about a defense? How can we foil this liquid hull of theirs?" said Lieutenant Bao. Nobody said anything for a few minutes as they considered.

"Well… If we reverse polarity on the Bussard collectors and increase power, we might be able to create an electro-magnetic beam that would peal their hull off. We'd have to do it at pretty close range to work though," offered Marie.

"Better yet, we could modify one of the phase canons to fire a focused EM pulse that would completely fry any magnets they have over there," added Lieutenant Bao.

"That would be more effective but by the time we finished the modifications we'll be days away from here. The Bussard collectors we can do much quicker," said Lieutenant Magnusson. They continued to debate different ideas for some time but made little progress. Captain Hernandez' voice came over the intercom.

"Senior officers report to your stations."

Marie stepped from the turbolift onto the bridge with Bao a step behind.

"What's going on?" she asked the captain while taking her station.

"We're detecting an intermittent warp signature."

"It come and goes. As soon as I think I'm getting a sensor lock on it, it vanishes," added Ensign Muller. Marie activated a sensor display on her console. Nothing showed immediately; then a faint warp signature appeared a few thousand kilometers from the Columbia. She attempted to lock on with a more intense scanning beam when it vanished.

"Huh, that's odd," she said. She sustained her efforts to scan the warp signature for the next ten minutes as it disappeared and reappeared in a parallel course to Columbia's. Then after it had disappeared yet again she detected something else. "I'm detecting a massive energy surge in the nebula. It's growing." She rotated her chair and peered into her viewer to perform a detailed scan. What she saw alarmed her and she turned to face the captain. "I think something has ignited the neutrino field."

"Could the deflector modifications have failed?" asked Captain Hernandez. Marie shook her head.

"No it's in the wrong place. But it is heading towards us." The captain did not need to hear more.

"Helm, get us out of here at best possible speed." Marie continued to observe the wave of energy heading towards them.

"I don't think that will do it captain. It's still gaining on us. Fifteen seconds to impact. Ten. Seven!" she warned.

"Polarize the hull plating! All hands, this is Captain Hernandez; brace for impact!" Everything seemed to stand still for a moment. Then with a terrible groaning from the hull the wave hit.
The floor wrenched and shook as if some mad giant was twisting it. People were thrown from their seats and blown circuits sparked. The view-screen showed a wave of blinding, scintillating blue before the power went and the bridge was plunged into darkness. When the ship finally stopped shuddering and her dizziness passed Marie was surprised to find herself on the floor. She didn't remember falling. She tried to sit up but it caused her head to ache terribly. Judging from the groans coming from the other crewmembers she was not alone in her discomfort. With a slight hum, a handful of lights came back online. Marie managed to stand up and check on the condition of her colleagues despite the throbbing of her head. Captain Hernandez was sprawled unceremoniously on the floor next to Ensign Muller. Jasim was leaning against the base of Marie's console and appeared to be fighting an uneasy stomach. The only officer still at their station was Bao.

"Report," said the captain as she regained her feet.

"The wave has disrupted our EPS grid. Main power is down and auxiliary is barely functioning. Weapons, hull plating, and targeting sensors are offline," responded Bao. Marie began checking her scanners.

"Most of the sensors are down. I'm getting intermittent readings from the lateral array but that's about it," she said. Further inspection showed that nearly all critical systems were crippled. The next half-hour was spent attempting to repair the damage but little was accomplished save slightly increasing the amount of power garnered from the auxiliary generators. Marie detected a power signature.

"I'm detecting something."

"On screen," ordered Captain Hernandez. The view-screen showed a blurry and barely visible image of a red-skinned form with four long tentacles. Marie's heart jumped into her throat and the colour drained from Captain Hernandez' face.

"Do we have any weapons?" the captain asked Lieutenant Bao.

"No sir."

"What about hull plating?"

"No sir," he said quietly.

"Ensign Muller do we have any engines? Thrusters? Anything?"

"No captain." The faces of the bridge crew mirrored the hopelessness Marie felt. This is bad. Very bad. The alien ship began to wrap its limbs around the primary hull of the Columbia. Captain Hernandez rose from her chair and spoke.

"There must be something we can do. Commander Lapointe, did you come up with any defense plans with Bao?"

"We had a preliminary plan but we would need to modify the Bussard collectors, which we haven't done, and restore main power."

The captain seemed indecisive as Bao said, "I'm reading small hull breaches throughout the saucer section." He then added, "Foreign power readings detected in the corridors; they might be trying to board us." The crew was growing increasingly anxious, Captain Hernandez included.

"Assuming we get main power working do you think your plan could succeed?" she asked.

"Yes I believe so," Marie said.

"Then get to one of the nacelles and make your modifications and I'll see what I can do about the power. I'll get Major Moretti and a squad of MACOs to accompany you in case they send a boarding party," commanded Captain Hernandez.

"With your permission I'd like to go with her too." said Bao. The captain nodded. As Marie and the lieutenant entered the turbolift she tried not to think about what might require the presence of the military assault command team.

Marie and Bao proceeded to a weapons locker on E deck where they armed themselves with phase pistols. Marie was still checking that her weapon was working properly when the MACOs arrived. The squad of elite soldiers assigned to Columbia was led by Major Salvatore Moretti. He was a tall man with olive skin and curly, well-trimmed hair. At his back were four tough-looking MACOs armed with pulse rifles. He gave a military style salute and said, "MACOs reporting for duty commander."

Marie tried to keep the quiver from her voice as she said, "You're to escort myself and Lieutenant Bao to the port nacelle so I can modify it and blow the alien ship off our hull." Major Moretti nodded and assumed the front position as they headed towards the nacelle. The ship was quiet as they moved forward. The threat of a boarding party had cleared the halls of any crewmembers and the only sounds were their footsteps and a faint and unnerving groan coming from the outer hull. Marie motioned form them to stop.

"We're coming up on where the enemy ship has wrapped itself around the back half of the saucer section. If they have anyone onboard we're likely to meet them soon," she said. The MACOs raised their weapons in readiness and she checked to make sure her phase pistol was ready to draw. They resumed walking. They came around a curve in the corridor and stopped dead in their tracks. Ahead the corridor was choked with what at first reminded Marie of vines. On closer inspection they were revealed to be mechanical limbs like tentacles or serpents that came in from the outer hull and imbedded themselves in the floor.

"What the hell?" said Major Moretti. Marie pulled a scanner from her pocked and cautiously stepped forward.

"They seem to be transporting metals from the ship's super-structure. I'm guessing this is what the sensors detected penetrating and dissolving the outer hull," said Marie.

"Well I don't feel much like trying to get through there," said the Major.

"Stun grenade?" suggested Bao. Moretti nodded. Marie backed up and one of the MACOs tossed a grenade into the tangle of arms. A vivid flash dazzled Marie's eyes. She blinked them clear and saw no change among the invading mechanisms. With a dull thud another tentacle burst from the ceiling above her head. The end split open and a cluster of smaller tentacles burst forth. It lunged at her and she dove to her left avoid it. It thudded into the floor where she had been. Where the tiny forelimbs touched they melted small grooves into the deck. It was blasted by a volley of rifle fire from the MACOs but seemed unaffected. "Stun doesn't work!" yelled Bao. He set his phase pistol to kill and fired at the tentacle. Sparks flew and a notch appeared where he hit it. Despite the damage it hurled itself at a MACO. The man who was its target dodged out of its way and Major Moretti blew off the end of it. Now more of the mechanized limbs were bursting from the ceiling and springing at them. Marie pocketed her scanner, pulled her phase pistol, set it to kill, and fired. She missed but her target was taken out by one of the MACOs.

"Run!" she screamed on the verge of panic. They bolted through the corridor avoiding attempts by their assailants to stop them. Marie fired a long burst at a tentacle that attempted to claw at her face. The tip was blown off and it drooped limply. Now the first tendrils they had encountered were pulling out of the floor and moving to block their path. They were surrounded. The sounds of particle weapons filled the passage and the tentacles were destroyed by the dozen. Still they came at the officers. For every one that fell two seemed to take its place. Marie sliced through the tangle with her pistol, hitting the walls as much as her targets. One of the limbs grazed her braid and the scent of burning hair filled her nostrils. She wheeled on it and fired. Unfortunately the damage she inflicted was negligible. It sprang at her leg and she dodged. She shot at it again but missed. It went for her throat but she acted fast and severed its front half. She tried to advance down the corridor but was blocked by a pair of metallic serpents. She crippled one with her pistol and fired at the other. Her shot went high as it swooped forward to latch onto her right arm. The acidic coating on its forelimbs quickly seared through her uniform and she yelped at the burning sensation that followed. Her eyes watered from the pain that shot through her arm as flesh seared and blistered. A bright beam of orange cut through the tentacle and it dropped from her arm. Marie fell to her knees in relief. "Thank you," she said to Bao, who had fired the shot. He nodded and picked a new target. Marie had no time to survey the damage to her arm as two more limbs lunged at her. Her phase pistol cut through them. Another made for her head but it was disabled by a MACO. The floor was now cluttered with debris from the alien appendages and their numbers were thinning; nevertheless there were still more than enough to pose a threat. Marie regained her feet and shot at a tentacle that went by her. She missed and it slammed into the shoulder of a MACO knocking him to the floor and leaving a many-pointed burn mark on his uniform. She fired again and this time blew the tip off it.

"Look out!" shouted Major Moretti. She ducked and felt a sting as the limb that would have struck her neck grazed her right ear. Bao fired at it and missed. Major Moretti bashed the tentacle with his gun, which sidetracked it enough for Bao to finish it off. Marie turned around and blew the tip off a tentacle as it pushed through the ceiling. The battle shifted in their favor as the numbers of technological intruders thinned. Without warning all the tentacles ceased their attacks and removed themselves from the corridor. An alarm blared through the hall, drowning out a subtler hiss of air escaping.

"Decompression alarm!" shouted Bao.

"The holes from those damn things! We need to get out of here before emergency bulkheads seal the comprised area!" Marie screamed. They ran as fast as their legs would take them towards the heavy door descending into the corridor a few meters ahead. Marie began to fall behind the more athletic MACOs and the dogged strides of Bao. Her lungs burned almost as much as her arm but fear goaded her to keep moving. By the time Bao ducked underneath the lowering bulkhead it was two-thirds of the way to the floor. Marie leapt and slid along the floor; gritting her teeth against the pain it caused her arm. She emerged on the other side of the bulkhead and pulled her feet out from under it mere moments before it sealed the corridor.

"Are you all right Commander?" asked Bao.

"Yeah. More or less," she said. He offered his hand and pulled her up. She looked and her arm and saw it blistered and badly burned but it didn't look like it needed immediate attention.
Marie's communicator chirped. She grabbed it from her pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?" The captain's voice came over the line.

"We detected weapons fire and then a hull breach. Are you all right?"

"The alien ship has penetrated our hull with some kind of small mechanized tentacles designed to harvest metals from the ship's structure. They attacked us but we're okay. I'll give you a full report once we're out of danger."

"Understood." Marie put away her communicator and gestured for them to get moving. Just as they started walking they heard a thud and spun around. Another of the tentacles had punctured the hull. This one looked slightly different, thicker and less mobile, and instead of lunging at them it launched a small sphere that hovered in mid-air for a moment; extended four of the tiny, acid coated forelimbs they had seen before; and flew at Major Moretti. He blew it out of the air but before it hit the floor more of the new tentacles were shooting through the hull and launching spheres of their own.

"Run!" yelled Moretti. Marie forced her tired legs to keep going as more and more of the metallic globes pursued them. She fired her phase pistol repeatedly but mostly missed. The MACOs had more success but it did not thin the herd much. A sphere spun around Marie's head to come at her face. She barely shot it down before it could attack her eyes. The dash for the nacelle continued for some time but no matter how many spheres they destroyed there always seemed to be more. By the time they rounded the corner into the corridor that led to the ladder to the port nacelle Marie's uniform was covered with small scorch marks and the others were no better off.

"Duck!" Marie responded reflexively to the command without realizing who had given it. Bolts of energy soared over her head and cut down the drones chasing them. Free from the confusion of panic, Marie looked up and saw Anju with a pair of MACOs.

"Lieutenant commander? What are you doing here?" asked a confused Lieutenant Bao.

"I restored main power a few minutes ago and I came here to help with the modifications. When Captain Hernandez heard you'd come under attack she ordered I take some MACOs with me."

"Thank God you're here," said Marie, out of breath.

"Good work boys," said Major Moretti. He added to Marie and Anju, "We'll hold the line here. You focus on making the modifications. Lieutenant Bao can go with you in case any slip by us." The need for this was stressed by the low hum indicating another wave of spheres were approaching. Marie, Anju, and Bao climbed the ladder into the nacelle while the sounds of fighting echoed from below. Once they entered the catwalk that ran along the nacelle they jogged into the Bussard collector control room - which resembled a large closet more than a room - and began the modifications. Bao activated a sensor display of the alien ship wrapped around the Columbia, Marie began altering control circuits, and Anju boosted power to Bussard collectors. One of the MACOs below gave a shout of pain.

"We need to hurry," said Marie.

"I'm almost ready to increase the power… There it's done," said Anju.

"Get ready to reset the magnetic coils once I reverse polarity," Marie told her.

"The power grid adjustments are causing micro-variations in the coil's magnetic field," warned Anju.

Bao said, "I get that problem with the electromagnets in the phase canons sometimes. Try rebooting the regulators."

"That's got it. Thanks."

"Okay I'm done. Reset the coils," ordered Marie.

"Coils reset." Marie hit the intercom.

"Lapointe to bridge; modifications online. Prepare to go to warp." She hit a button. The magnetic coils gave off a high-pitched whine as they activated. Damn that's loud.

"Look!" exclaimed Bao. They joined him at the sensor display and saw the surface of the alien ship rippled like the ocean in a gale. The skin began to peel off revealing a segmented arm that crackled with energy. The ship removed its limbs from the Columbia and began to fly backwards. It reminded Marie of someone dropping too hot a piece of food. Anju deactivated the modifications at the same time as a loud pulsing signified that warp power had been restored to the nacelles. "Let's get out of here," said Bao. The plasma going to the nacelles began to heat up the catwalk as they left. Marie's communicator chirped.

"Commander Lapointe here."

"The ship is giving chase. I want you and Lieutenant Bao to get to the bridge ASAP."

"Yes Captain."

Enemy fire caused the deck to quake when Marie stepped onto the bridge and took her station. Captain Hernandez looked at her and said, "You're wounded," referring to her arm.

"It's fine," Marie assured her.

"No it's not. You need medical attention," said Captain Hernandez. She called the doctor to the bridge. The ceiling spewed sparks and Marie lurched forward in her seat as another enemy hit struck them. "Return fire!" commanded Captain Hernandez.

"With pleasure," responded Bao. A spray of phase canon fire struck the tentacle that had lost its skin, ripping it from the body. The hull moved to cover the stump and the pursuit continued.
Doctor Donaldson-a New Zealander with graying blonde hair-arrived and began to work on Marie's arm, which made it difficult to run her station.

"Fire photonic torpedoes, full spread," said the captain. Four orange flares appeared on the view-screen but the enemy ship swerved to the side and avoided them. It fired several bursts of energy in quick succession. The ship was rocked and a number of displays shut down on the bridge.

"Aft plating down to fifty-three percent." said Lieutenant Bao. It's determined this time.

"Evasive maneuvers! Fire all weapons!" ordered Hernandez. Ensign Muller began to dive erratically between dense clouds of nebula-dust and Bao hit the alien ship with a punishing volley of torpedoes and phase canon fire. Their opponent responded with a searing blast of orange energy that struck the Columbia just shy of the bridge.

"Hull breach on B deck. Emergency bulkheads in place," reported Bao. Marie had an idea. She ran a quick simulation to be sure - the doctor had given up on her sitting still long enough to finish treatment - and said, "Bao, set the phase canon's electromagnetic coils to a resonance of three-point-three-eight-zero." He looked to Captain Hernandez for confirmation and she nodded. Bao made the adjustment and resumed firing. This time the phase canons caused more dramatic ripples in the enemy hull and it seemed to hesitate before it resumed firing.

"What did you do?" asked Captain Hernandez.

"That resonance is disruptive to our friend's power grid; especially the magnets keeping their hull in place. It's not a big difference but it helps," said Marie. A prodigious boom rocked the ship. Sparks flew from damaged conduits and lights exploded. Doctor Donaldson was knocked off his feet and struck his head on Marie's console. He was knocked out cold.

"Hull plating is offline! Main power down to fifty-one percent!" yelled Lieutenant Bao.

When the shaking stopped the captain asked, "What the hell was that?"

"There was an explosion on E deck, port section; right where one of the tentacles was locked on. I'm guessing that thing planted some kind of small explosive on us," Bao answered as the ship was hit by more enemy fire.

"I think he's right. Just before it happened I detected some kind of signal coming from the other ship," said Jasim. Further impacts smashed the Columbia.

"Fire photonic torpedoes!" shouted the captain. The torpedoes struck the alien ship but it did not seem to be slowed much.

"Why doesn't anything we do seem to hurt that thing?!" said Ensign Muller.

"I don't know. I think we are damaging it in some way," said Marie.

"It's sending the activation signal again!" warned Jasim.

"Block it!" shouted Hernandez.

"I'm trying but it keeps switching frequencies!"

"Can you see where the transmission is coming from?" the captain asked Bao.

"Yes."

"Then target its source with all aft phase canons and fire!"

"Yes sir!" Four beams of fiery orange converged on a spot on the main body of the enemy ship. After long seconds of sustained fire an explosion ripped across the surface of the pursuing ship.

"The signal has stopped," informed Jasim. After another shattering blast from the enemy weapons Anju's voice came over the intercom.

"Bhandari to bridge! That last hit damaged the coolant systems! Impulse engine one is overheating." The ships continued to trade fire for long minutes. Each became increasingly damaged but slowly the alien ship began to take the advantage.

"Fires reported on F deck," said Lieutenant Bao.

"Captain, the nebula is starting to dissipate. I think we're nearing the edge," said Marie.

Captain Hernandez hit the button for the comm. and said, "I want all the warp engines can give me, Ms. Bhandari." To Bao she said, "Do whatever you can to slow that thing down. I have an idea, but we need to exit the nebula before it does." The alien ship lit up from the bombardment of phase canon fire and photonic torpedoes. By driving the weapons to their limits the tactical officer was able to slow down their pursuer somewhat. At the same time the engines were pushed to the maximum causing the deck to shiver violently. Bit by bit the Columbia was able to pull ahead of the alien ship. Ensign Muller read off the warp factors as they passed them.

"Now at warp four-point-five, four-point-six, four-point-eight. Leveling out at four-pint-nine-three. We can't keep this speed up much longer."

"Don't worry Ensign, we won't have to," said Hernandez. Suddenly the view-screen showed clear open space instead of the ominous clouds of the nebula.

"We're out," said Marie. Captain Hernandez sprang from her seat and began giving orders.

"Come about. Point us at the nebula. Prepare to disengage the deflector modifications, Commander Lapointe."

"Yes Captain." Marie was confused by the order until it dawned on her what the captain was planning. "Ready captain," she said.

"Wait a moment." Everything became perfectly still as the crew waited. Only the tactical alert alarms broke the silence.

"It's emerging from the nebula Captain," said Bao.

"Disengage the modifications! All power to the main deflector!" The edge of the nebula exploded into a vast wave of energy that swept away the alien ship like a cork on the tide. "Try to eat my ship will you," said Captain Hernandez. "Get us out of here," she added. Marie breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief and bent down to check on the condition of Doctor Donaldson.

That evening Marie stood in the situation room just off the bridge. There had been no further attacks by the alien ship and life on the Columbia was almost normal again. Doctor Donaldson was expected to be back on his feet within a day and no major injuries had been reported. Captain Hernandez came up to her.

"You wanted to see me about something?"

"Yes Captain. I was too busy at the time to notice it but we when left the nebula sensors detected a faint warp signature at the edge of our sensor range. It disappeared almost immediately so we were only able to take a faint visual reading." She hit a button on the display table and a picture appeared. It was very blurry but showed what looked like a ship with a bright blue flash coming from what Marie assumed were its engines.

"What's the significance?" asked Hernandez.

"Here is an analysis of its warp signature. Now here is the warp signature Bao detected just before we encountered the alien and here is the warp signature we detected just before something set off the neutrino field and crippled us." The screen showed three identical warp signatures.

"You think it was following us?"

"Yes. But I don't think that's all it did. I asked Ensign Khatami to do a harmonic analysis of the distress signal we detected and he found it could not have come from alien ship's communications array. Furthermore - though this is only a theory - I didn't detect any deflectors, warp engines, or other subspace related systems coming from the ship that attacked us, so I have trouble believing it was capable of igniting the neutrino field. I may not have any conclusive proof but I don't think whoever that third ship is wanted us leaving the nebula in one piece." Captain Hernandez weighed the ramifications of this.

"Who would want to destroy us? I may not know a lot about Klingons, but sneaking around in the dark is not their style," she said.

Marie shrugged and said, "I have no idea."

Vengeance From The Ice

Set in the Romulan war this is the first Trek story I've done. Remember to tell me what you think, I don't care if your comment is short or long, good or bad. As long as it's intended to be helpful I will welcome it. Even a simple thumbs up or thumbs down helps me.

Now then I give you:

Vengeance From The Ice


The shaking stopped. Saruun assumed the Romulans must be preparing for another volley but nothing happened. Cautiously he pushed the debris off him and shakily stood up. The bridge looked like a vision of the pink-skin's hell from what he could see, which wasn't much, as most of lights had been blown out when the plasma conduit burst. He checked himself for injury; his head felt like someone had taken an ice pick to it and his antennae had the strangest buzzing feeling in them but there didn't appear to be any serious harm done. He began to search for other survivors. "Anybody left?" He asked. No answer. He began to walk unsteadily around. He noticed a charred something at the base of what was left of the commander's chair and realized with a wave of nausea that it must have been commander Chetlim. He told himself he was a soldier and this was no different then the other dead he'd seen but it was heard to see the seemingly indomitable commander Chetlim killed in such a gruesome (if mercifully quick) fashion. He continued his search and found the still and badly burned form of intelligence officer Talin. Though not as unrecognizably burned as commander Chetlim it was clear he was dead. Saruun moved over to the front of the bridge where the helmsman and weapons officers sat. He quickly discovered the weapons officer, lieutenant Shret lying on the floor; he was burned but not as badly as the others. Saruun bent to check his pulse. Tha-tha-thump, tha-tha-thump - he was alive. Saruun breathed a sigh of relief and went to look at the helmsman. The odd angle his back was at and the scent of charred flesh told Saruun all he needed to know. Poor Poshon, he thought, you'll never get that command you wanted now. Saruun found a console that still worked and activated internal communications. "Saruun to medical bay, send medics to the bridge immediately." "Saruun to medical bay - report." "Saruun to engineering - report." "Saruun to anyone receiving this message." "Damn, comm. must be down." Saruun left the bridge to try and get to the medical bay.

How could the Romulans have done so much damage so fast? He wondered. The Inshonya had been returning from a refit that had been ordered for all Kumari class battle cruisers on Andoria with two other ships fresh from refits, the Tachet and the Newon, when the Romulans had come out of an asteroid field and attacked them. Da'vroun class ships, capable of holograhpically simulating any ship or stellar body of comparable size. The Da'vroun class was based on the drone ships used in the Babel incident. They were larger and better armored, as well as having enhanced stealth systems and small crews, but were otherwise nearly identical to the original drone ships. They had taken out the shields on all three ships in the first volley, the second had ruptured the Tachet's warp core and not long after that a plasma conduit had burst on the Inshonya's bridge killing the commander, helmsman and intelligence officer. Saruun had been spared burns by the "luck" of having the ceiling cave in on top of him moments earlier. Thankfully someone in engineering had shut off the plasma before it completely destroyed the bridge. Saruun stopped walking as he realized his path to the lift was blocked by an emergency bulkhead reading: "Do not open, explosive decompression." He swore, and then turned to try finding a new route. His head still hurt. The ship's corridors looked like Klingons had ransacked them; wires hanging out, small fires and the occasional fallen bulkhead support made it seem like the obstacle course at the imperial military academy. Saruun didn't see anyone in the corridors and wondered how many had died. Eventually he found a working turbo-lift and used it to get to deck four where the medical bay was located. When he stepped off the turbo lift he finally found someone living; he appeared to be repairing a computer conduit that had once been protected by a bulkhead. "What are you doing there?" Saruun asked. The guardsman didn't bother to salute.

"Repairing the computer access systems on this deck, after she lost contact with the bridge, assistant chief engineer Kai ordered out repair teams." Saruun breathed a sigh of relief and his shoulders and antennae relaxed. At least Kai was alive, trust her to keep things running no matter how bad they got.

"Keep at it ensign." The guardsman looked up briefly and nodded. Only then did he realize whom he was talking to. His eyes widened and his antennae shot up.

"Lieutenant Saruun! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

"Don't worry soldier, I doubt I'd recognize myself in this condition. Get back to your work." The soldier nodded and got back to work as Saruun continued to the medical bay. Finally he arrived. As he expected it was at best a scene of barely controlled chaos, medics rushing in all directions, wounded lying on beds and the floor in some cases. Screams and shouts filled the air. Saruun clapped his hands to get someone's attention. A doctor came over, his hair was disheveled and he looked exhausted. "We have wounded on the bridge, we need a medical team." Saruun told him.

"We'll find someone to do it. Is the commander hurt?" Saruun's antennae drooped.

"The commander's dead." The doctor's face fell and his antennae curled up.

"I see, congratulations commander." He said in a half-whisper. Saruun was taken aback. He had been in shock since the attack and it hadn't occurred to him that as first officer he was in charge.

"Thank you." He muttered as the doctor went to organize a medical team for the bridge. Saruun left the medical bay and was pleased to do so. He was under enough stress without being in that whirlwind of activity. He found an empty corridor and let out the breath he had been holding. What to do now? He wondered. He hadn't expected a command for several years and wasn't sure what to do. But his training kicked in and he remembered what his instructors had taught him: "If the bridge is compromised the best thing to do is to set up a temporary command center in engineering because it is the control center for most ships' systems." Yes that's what I'll do. He began walking in the direction of engineering. The route to engineering wasn't in very many pieces so he was able to get there in a relatively short amount of time. Engineering was a large circular room near the back of the ship. It consisted of a large pit where the warp core was kept surrounded by a raised area where the personnel worked. There were two doors opposite each other, the one leading to the main corridors that Saruun came through and the one leading into the bowels of the ship, which was used for repairs and modifying systems. Engineering looked about as bad as the rest of the ship; there were engineers running everywhere putting fires out and repairing systems. There was a large hole in the wall on Saruun's right, and debris littered much of the floor. Saruun saw a short woman with long hair braded in the style of the northern wastes leaning over a console. "Kai!" He called out. She looked up and came over.

"Saruun! It's good to see you, what happened?"

"Romulans ambushed us, Da'vroun class ships hiding in an asteroid field. I don't know how they did this much damage so fast though. What's the situation here? Where's the chief engineer, where's Marim?"

"He's dead, I'm in charge here." She paused. "The situation isn't good, the power grid is down and as a result very little works on this ship." They walked over to the console she had been working at. "We've lost weapons, external sensors, communications both off and on ship, the deflector, warp drive and shields. Although a lot of that will come back up once we get the power grid working."

"What is working?" Saruun asked. Kai peered at the screen.

"Not much. Transporters, life support, the tractor beam, some internal sensors, minimal thrusters and that's about it. How are things on the bridge? We registered a plasma conduit explosion there; I was worried you'd been killed."

"I'm okay but things are pretty bad there. Everyone was killed except me and Lieutenant Shret, and it's so badly damaged we can't use it."

"The commander's dead?" Kai asked.

"Yes. Burned beyond recognition." Kai lowered her antennae in mourning. Commander Chetlim was an old veteran who had been respected by the entire crew. "I want to turn engineering into a temporary command center, can you route command functions here?" He asked her.

"Yes. Give me a minute." She hurried off to follow his orders. Saruun felt better knowing Kai was taking care of things. They had served together for seven non-consecutive years and he trusted her completely. She was his friend as well as his comrade in the imperial guard. Kai returned and showed him to a desk with a computer workstation and chair. "I've routed all command functions here, it's a little crude but it will do for now."

"Thank you Kai." He said. "I want you to start sending out people to survey the ship, anyone you can spare. Tell them to send everyone who can work here and everyone who can't to the medical bay. Get them to take an inventory of the damage too."

"Alright but I'm under manned as it is." She said reluctantly.

"Just do your best." He told her. As Kai left to find someone to search the ship Saruun got down to work. He told the computer to display external sensor scan. "Unable to comply, external sensors are not operational." Saruun sighed. Right. The power grid. He thought. "Computer, display internal sensor scan." A cross section of the Inshonya appeared on screen, large sections were missing due to the lack of functioning sensors but it currently showed thirty-one life signs scattered throughout the ship. 'I hope this means we haven't lost that many,' he thought. The Inshonya had a standard complement of eighty. "Computer, display report on weapons systems." A list of the ships weapons appeared on screen. All were listed as inactive, however eight of the eleven particle-canons and the newly installed atomic torpedo launchers were simply unpowered rather then destroyed. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the ship's R.V.A.P, which had also been installed with the refit. R.V.A.P.s (rapid, vector adjustable particle-canons) were a recently created weapon that was designed to adjust its angle with great speed and accuracy; they were designed to counter the highly maneuverable Da'vroun class of warbird. Curse the Romulans! He thought. The war had been going on for eight months now and Andorian casualties already numbered in the thousands. Like everyone in the alliance of planets he remembered where he was when he heard about the attack on Station Salem One that had started the war. He had been in his quarters on deck three playing a game of Tire'un with himself when Talin had announced the news to the ship. Attacks on Proxima colony and Pon'oshel had followed within hours. They had been fighting ever since. So far the Andorians had not had any of their planets attacked but it was only a matter of time. Saruun had hoped this alliance of planets the pink-skins (he corrected himself, they didn't like to be called that) the humans - had dreamed up would mean an end to wars for Andoria, at least for the near future. But the Romulans had seen it as a threat and had done everything they could to stop it, and when numerous assassination attempts and other tricks hadn't worked they turned to all out war. Ironically, the war had only served to cement the alliance and bury the old prejudices.

He shook himself out of his reflections and got up to do something useful. He walked over to an engineer who was repairing a matter/anti-matter control computer. "Anything I can do to help?" He asked.

"You can help with this micro-fuser," he said. Saruun got down to help. He spent the next half an hour doing odd jobs for Kai's engineers, he wasn't the best with machines but he could hold lights and do other inglorious but necessary bits of work. After a while people started coming in, having been sent by Kai's search teams. Suddenly there came a dull revving sound and a cheer from Kai.

"The power grid's back up!" she called.

"At last," said Saruun. He went to the command station Kai had set up for him and called up a list of ships systems. Deflectors, external sensors and six particle canons were now online. Saruun activated a sensor display. It showed a field of debris where the Tachet had been, and the Newon, which seemed to be in even worse shape then the Inshonya. No sign of Romulans. "Kai! I need an engineers opinion on this." She came over. "Do you think the Newon is salvageable?"

She looked over the scans for a minute and said: "No. Most of the sections are decompressed, including the bridge, the nacelles are fractured, the hulls buckling in places and pretty much every system is offline." "Wait, it's reading life signs in the engineering section. That's incredible."

"Life signs?" said Saruun. His antennae perked up in curiosity. "You're right, looks like twenty-five or so. We'll have to get them off there. What about here, are we salvageable?"

"I think so, we should be able to go to warp in under twenty-five hours, our weapons systems should be back to full power soon. But we won't be in any shape for combat, shields are a lost cause, they blew the generator right out of it's housing with the first shot."

"When did Romulans become such good shots? I wonder what happened to them. Computer show sensor logs for the thirty seconds leading up to when they went down." A grainy video began playing on screen; it showed the Romulan ships firing on the Inshonya and the Newon. The ships then moved off and started flying along the course the Andorians had been following. What it showed next made Saruun and Kai's antennae shoot up. The Romulan ships activated their holographic systems and took the form of the Andorian ships they just destroyed. "They're going to masquerade as us and destroy the fleet!" exclaimed Saruun. The Inshonya and its companions had been traveling to reinforce an alliance assault fleet consisting of the T'pren, the Intrepid, the Geshel and the Dibrekk. "How long to get communications up Kai?"

"Damn, the comm.'s destroyed, completely destroyed. It will take us weeks to fabricate the parts."

"We've got to warn the fleet! If we lose that fleet it could destabilize all our defenses in the sector. What about on the Newon?"

Kai called up the scans again. "No. Their subspace array is completely destroyed."

Saruun swore. "Can we outrun them?"

Kai thought for a moment. "Not without going through them; we could catch up once we get warp working again but there isn't time to go around."

Saruun slumped in his chair, his antennae drooping to either side. "Well we have to think of something. For now let's try and get this ship working. I want to try and salvage what we can from the Newon." He stood up and called out: "I need a volunteer to organize a salvage and rescue operation of the Newon."

After a few moments a tall women with skin the dark blue of the northwestern sea stepped forward. "I volunteer," she said. Saruun didn't recognize her but she wore the insignia of an ensign.

"What's your name ensign? I don't know you."

"My name is Temles, this is my first assignment sir." Saruun would have preferred someone with more experience but he didn't have a lot of options.

"Alright, I want you to use the shuttles and transporters to get as much people and equipment off the Newon as possible. Send the people here for their assignments and put the equipment in cargo bay three."

"Cargo bay three has decompressed," said Kai.

"Bakik!" swore Saruun. "Alright cargo bay two then."

"Aye sir," said Temles. She left to start preparations.

Saruun spent the next two hours recalibrating the targeting sensors. He hadn't done technical work like that in some time but his experience as weapons officer of the Kumikas served him well. Eventually Kai or someone else must have sent somebody to the galley because food started to be handed out. It was all-cold and had clearly been salvaged from the rubble but it was edible. Saruun ended up with some congealed fish soup with spicy nung root. It wasn't the best meal but he had hadn't eaten in hours and devoured it rabidly. Not long after Temles arrived with the survivors from the Newon. Saruun walked up to Temles, "Report."

"Twenty-seven survivors, twenty-three of which are capable of working. We also reclaimed several pieces of equipment, including a shield generator that is damaged but useable with a few repairs."

Saruun's antennae curled inward with happiness at that, "Excellent, with a shield generator we might stand a chance of getting back to Andoria in one piece." Temles appeared pleased with herself. Saruun was turning away to get back to the targeting sensors when he noticed a familiar face in among the survivors.

"Sethik? Is that you?"

A dour looking man with a broad chest detached himself from the crowd, "Saruun! Fancy meeting you here." Saruun and Sethik had served together for several months aboard the Kumikas. They hadn't known each other long enough to become friends but they had been on friendly terms.

"I didn't know you were serving aboard the Newon."

"I am - that is, I was the chief engineer."

"If you're feeling up to it maybe you could take over here, we lost our chief engineer. Poor drunk bastard was a good engineer."

I'd be happy to, I'm not hurt," Sethik replied.

"Alright go over and talk to Kai, she's been running things. She'll get you acquainted with the situation." Saruun pointed to where Kai was working on the warp field controllers. Sethik left to get working and Saruun went to finish with the targeting sensors. He was feeling a bit better; with a shield generator and a chief engineer they might have a chance.

Saruun stopped outside the door to his new quarters. Up until this morning they had belonged to commander Chetlim. It didn't feel right that they now belonged to him. He might have even disregarded protocol if it weren't for the fact that his old quarters were exposed to space. Thankfully he had few belongings. He sighed and opened the door. The commander's quarters had faired better then the rest of the ship. It was the Andorian way to put the quarters of commanders near the center of the ship where they were safest. Unfortunately that meant no windows. The quarters consisted of three rooms, Saruun stood in the main room, which held a table and chairs (currently in disarray), a desk with computer and shelves behind the desk for personal items. The others were a small bedchamber and a bathing room beyond that. Saruun picked up the table and righted it then did the same for the chairs. He then went to the shelves to survey the belongings of commander Chetlim. There was a plaque made of blue steel proclaiming him as commander of the Inshonya. Chetlim had once told Saruun Inshonya meant "Vengeance from the Ice" in an ancient dialect native to his homeland. He had enjoyed linguistics and history, especially when it came to his own people. The only other prominent thing was Chetlim's ya'lon, a type of broad single bladed sword similar to a human machete that had been used for ice mining and battle for centuries in the southern canyons where Chetlim was raised. It had a blade that got wider farther from the grip, no hand guard and a forked tip used to catch and block other blades. Saruun sat down at the desk and got to work doing what he had came here to do: crew reassignments. He had been working on that for nearly an hour when there was a beep from his door, "Come in." The door opened and there, covered in bandages and dermal regeneration packs, was his weapons officer, "Shret! I didn't expect to see you up so soon."

"Neither did the doctor, they said I should rest for another day at least. But I look worse then I feel, so I figured I'd come and see how you were holding up - some big shoes for you to fill."

Saruun sighed and gestured for Shret to sit, "I can never replace commander Chetlim. I'm just hoping I can get us back to Andoria without anyone else dying."

"Well said sir," said Shret as he sat down, visibly in pain from his burns. Shret had a very long face that made him look like he was grimacing even when he was in a good mood but Saruun had known him long enough to know when he hurt. Saruun was amazed he could function given the extent of his injuries but then Shret had been a soldier forever near as anyone on the Inshonya could tell. Some of the ensigns joked he had been born with a plasma rifle in his hand. He would be used to injuries. At last count he had served on four different ships, fought on six worlds and killed members of at least four species.

"Perhaps you can help me," said Saruun, "I'm having trouble deciding who to put in as replacement bridge officers."

"Whatever you wish sir," responded Shret.

"I'm keeping you as weapons officer; I think I will also make you first officer for now." Shret nodded. "I'm having trouble with the helmsman and the intelligence officer positions though. We have numerous soldiers with experience at the helm but none that are particularly distinguished and I can't decide between two candidates for intelligence officer."

"Who are the two sir?" asked Shret.

"An ensign Temles, who has combat experience measured in hours, not weeks and an under-lieutenant Ja'lin who is bright and has lots of experience but no training for intelligence officer."

"Doesn't sound that hard to me commander, I go with experience where I can."

"I would too, but it says in Temles's file that she was second in her graduating class at the Tenbar military academy - that's a very prestigious honor - and she trained as an intelligence officer."

Shret grunted, "Let's go back to the helmsman, I recommend under-lieutenant Bon'tu. He's a very dedicated soldier from what I've seen, trains constantly and did serve as helmsman aboard the Chyantara for nearly a year." Seeing Saruun didn't know whom he meant he added: "That's the big man with the tattoos on his hands that's always sitting alone in the mess hall eating cabbage soup." Saruun remembered now, he was from the Ki'tan clan. A very isolated group even today, they rarely left the Ooloren Mountains. He had a heavy accent and his hands were covered in tattoos customary for warriors of his people.

"Well I trust you Shret, and since none of the other options stand out I'll make him the helmsman, and I think I'll make Temles the intelligence officer; I was impressed that a raw ensign could run the salvage of the Newon so well."

"Very good sir," said Shret, a man of few words as always.

An hour later Saruun had finished the reassignments and informed everyone of his decisions. Temles had been caught between nervousness and excitement about being made a senior officer within a week of her arrival on the Inshonya and Bon'tu had simply said, "Ah wull serve you well koommunder." Now he was wondering what to do next. He needed to decide where to take the ship when warp came back online. Reason said to go back to Andoria and take the blood of the fallen to home ice but duty said to go forward and try and stop or at least delay the Romulan attack. The alliance was holding it's own only by the slimmest thread; this attack could turn the tide for the Romulans. He wiggled his antennae in frustration. He hit the comm. and said: "Senior officers to the tactics room in twenty minutes." He left his chair and headed for the tactics room on deck one. When he arrived he was pleasantly surprised to find the tactics room was relatively untouched by the attack. The room was oval in shape and was empty except for an oval table outfitted with holographic generators used to formulate attack plans and two computer interfaces located at the walls in the center of the room. There were two doors, each at the thin points at either end of the room. No one else had arrived yet. Saruun went to the table and activated a map showing their location, the fleets and the expected location of the Romulan attack force. Not long after Bon'tu arrived, merely nodding and saying nothing. If it weren't for an almost uncanny ability to fade into the background Bon'tu would be very recognizable; he was very tall and broad-shouldered. Saruun's antennae barely made it to Bon'tu's forehead. He also had intricate abstract designs tattooed across his hands in black and dark violet. Not long after, Shret limped in and gave a shaky salute. Over the next few minutes Sethik and Temles filtered in and they were just left to wait for Kai.

Eventually an ash covered and fatigued Kai entered, "I apologize, I was working on a warp transfer conduit in one of the access tubes."

Saruun nodded to her and then spoke, "We have a predicament everyone, as you know a group of Romulan ships posing as us will soon ambush the assault fleet patrolling this sector and most likely cause the alliance to lose control of the area. Duty states that we have to stop them but reason states that we are badly damaged and in no condition to fight three Da'vroun class warbirds. Opinions?"

Sethik spoke, "We are in no condition to fight anything more powerful then a shuttlecraft. It's suicide."

"Yes, but if we don't, many more Vulcans, Tellarites and humans will die," Saruun countered. "Is there any way we can get communications working or go around the Romulans to warn the fleet?" he asked.

Kai shook her head and Sethik said:
, "There's no chance, comm.'s beyond repair and we can't go around the Romulans and reach the fleet in time."

Bon'tu spoke, "Ah say we faht, we uh soldiers, we faht and soomtams we die. Aht az our duty."

"I agree, we must try to save our comrades. What say you Shret? Do we have a chance?"

Shret considered, "It would take much guile and effort but more hopeless battles have been won in the past. I never expected to be an old man; if this is what you want to do commander, I will follow you."

"What about you Kai?" asked Saruun.

"I don't wish to throw my life away but I do not want those lives on my conscience. I am willing to try."

Temles spoke, "You know this might not be as hopeless as it seems, even in our condition we still have superior armaments to the Da'vroun class; if we make our shots count and make good use of our atomic torpedoes we might have a chance. At the very least we may be able to cripple their holographic systems so they can't sneak up on the fleet."

Sethik spoke again, "I will reiterate: This is suicide, we are barely in one piece as it is. We will give our lives for nothing."

"I am willing to take the risk. We will engage the Romulans and attempt to stop them. But don't worry, I have no intention of dying. How can we survive this?"

Shret gestured to the map, "If we detonate a cluster of atomic torpedoes in their midst, the electro magnetic shockwave might blind their sensors."

"No, Da'vroun ships are so fast they would probably just fly out of the way," responded Temles.

Kai moved forward, "I had an idea recently. We outfit an atomic torpedo with a network of holographic generators, like those used for rifle practice. We set the holographic generators to simulate a piece of the ships hull and wait for them to hit our ventral hull to launch it. It will look like debris. Then we lure the Romulans into its range and set it off. Eliminates the advantage of the Da'vroun's maneuverability."

"Clever," said Shret.

"Excellent idea under-lieutenant," said Saruun. "Here's what we'll do, we warp in here," he pointed to a location just behind the Romulans, "…and engage them. We will launch Kai's weapon at the earliest opportunity and then lure the ships to it. Hopefully we will be able to destroy at least two. Then we will take our chances with whatever's left."

Everyone except Sethik seemed to like the idea; he had moved to the wall and was brooding with his antennae lowered angrily.

"Maht Ah just add that we shoodn't poosh our luck, we shood bolt for the fleet at the earliest oopportunity. Just tra and cripple them or drive them ooff, " said Bon'tu.

"Yes that would be prudent. Now Sethik, I want you to make sure we're ready for this battle, focus on getting shields, warp, weapons and the bridge running. Pull whoever you need. Kai, set up that weapon of yours. Shret get some rest, you look like death. Temles, make sure everyone's organized and if you have the time look through our files on the Da'vroun class and see if there are any weaknesses we missed. Bon'tu, assist Sethik."

"Yes sir," they responded.

Everyone left to carry out his orders except Kai who walked up to him and said, "I could use some help with the torpedo."

"Sure, I'll help," Saruun answered.

A few minutes later they were in the weapons bay. It was a large rectangular room used as half control center and half storage area for the ship's weapons. A raised area with several computer terminals ran along the walls. The better part of the lower area was filled with atomic torpedoes, spare particle canon parts and hand weapons. Saruun helped Kai take out an atomic torpedo and place it on a worktable, Kai then got the tools and other pieces of equipment they needed. After they very carefully removed the warhead they set to work. "Now the tricky part is going to be adding these new holographic generators and without significantly changing the profile of the torpedo so it can still fit in the launch tubes," explained Kai, "We'll have to remove a fair bit of the outer shell. But not too much, it needs to maintain structural integrity."

"I'm glad I never became an engineer," said Saruun. They got to work filing down the outer shell and making holes to secure the new equipment to. "How's Sethik doing in engineering?" asked Saruun.

"Fine. A bit of a slave driver, but he knows what he's doing and does a lot of the work himself. How are you liking being in charge?"

"I'm not, I wanted a command but not like this. The pressure is huge and I feel lost with all the bridge crew other then Shret dead."

"If it makes you feel any better you're not alone, the crew's taking the commanders death pretty bad. Hand me the plasma torch."

"Here. Do you think the crew will be up to the coming battle if morale is so low?"

Kai looked up, "We are soldiers of the imperial guard, we are ready to fight whenever and wherever the commander orders it. Right, I think we're done with the shell. Now we need to attach the transmitter to the nose cone. I'll hold it on while you feed the wires through the holes we prepared and attach them to the detonation computer."

"Transmitter?" asked Saruun.

"To tell it when to detonate."

"Right. How do I know which wires go in which ports?"

"They're colour coded." Saruun nodded and set to work. "Did I tell you I got a correspondence from my mother this morning?" Kai inquired.

"No. What did she say?"

"My brother's getting engaged. Just to one not three, she's from Gamaru Island. Her name is Quin'ya."

"Well that's good news, have you met her before?"

"No. But he talks about her a lot; she's an artist. She sounds very nice. There, now we need to attach the holographic generators. This is easy, just put them in the slots we made and weld them in. Just don't let the welding flame touch the tops." Saruun did as she said.

"Any other news from your mother?"

"No not really. She says the winter was unusually bad, but she says that every year. If she didn't like the harsh winters she shouldn't have moved to the northern wastes." They finished attaching the holographic generators and Kai said, "I can take it from here."

"Okay." Saruun noticed he was very hungry, so he went to the galley to find some food. When he got there he found it was a disaster but he had expected as much. Eventually he found an unbroken jar of pickled and spiced meats and ate them like a starving Gi'sho boar. He figured Kai must be hungry too so he found a tray of relatively intact Kalanurn loafs and brought them to her. After that he went to assist the crew repairing the bridge. By the time he made it back to his quarters it was late enough to be considered early and he collapsed into his bed without taking off his uniform.

He was awoken three hours later by the comm.. "Jesson to Saruun, the bridge is operational."

"Ugh. Thank you ensign." Saruun looked at his chronometer, just past o-seven-hundred. He pulled himself out of bed. His antennae drooped in exhaustion. He went to his bathing room and splashed icy water on his face in an attempt to wake up. He then went to survey the bridge. When he got there he found all of its systems were working but that was about the only positive thing he could say about it. It still looked terrible. There was still a great deal of debris. A crate of valve sealant had replaced the commander's chair. But it worked and that was what mattered. The bridge felt strange without the officers that had been killed. It lacked the silent strength of commander Chetlim, the enthusiasm of under-lieutenant Poshon and the professionalism of Lieutenant Talin.

"Sethik to Saruun."

"Go ahead."

"Warp and shields are back online, I should have weapons fully ready within the hour."

Saruun was pleased, "Excellent work, what conditions are the shields in?"

"We have forty-eight percent shields, but I should be able to get that closer to seventy percent by the time we engage the Romulans."

"Good work." Saruun sat down on his "chair". "Bridge officers report to your stations," he ordered. Shret, Bon'tu and Temles filed in shortly and took their positions. Bon'tu and Shret were at a split console in front of Saruun and Temles had a station just to Saruun's left. "Helmsman, set a course for our doppelgangers at the best possible speed."

"Yes sir, setting course one, fav nan mark seven at warp six."

Saruun gave the order, "Engage." It gave Saruun some comfort to feel the deck plates humming from the warp engines again. Some normalcy had returned. "What is our E.T.A. at this speed?" he asked Temles.

"Eight hours. More if they detect us and decide to speed up."

Saruun activated the comm., "Senior officers report to the tactics room." They left the bridge and were replaced by the secondary bridge crew. They arrived at the tactics room and awaited Kai and Sethik. It didn't take them long to arrive. Saruun spoke, "We will rendezvous with the Romulans in eight hours, I want this ship as ready for combat as possible. Sethik, focus on repairing on shields and weapons. Temles, you and Kai figure out how the Romulans were able to defeat our ships so easily. Analyze the sensor logs; see if there were malfunctions or if the Romulans have upgraded their weapons. Bon'tu, man your station. Shret, you stay here with me and help me figure out strategies and analyze tactical permutations."

"Aye sir."

Kai felt exhausted, she hadn't had any sleep in over twenty-five hours. She tried not to let it impact her concentration as she went over the sensor logs with Temles. They had already ruled out the possibility of the Romulans upgrading their weapons. Now they were checking for any malfunctions aboard the ships. Kai was searching the internal sensor logs from the Inshonya and Temles was looking over the scans taken of the Tachet before it was destroyed. "Anything?" Kai asked.

"No," responded Temles, "Nothing here either. Let me check the scans of the Newon."

She looked over them, "No, nothing aside from a slight fluctuation in their warp field just before the attack." She leaned back in her chair and pointed her antennae forward in frustration. They were working in the intelligence lab on deck five because engineering was far too hectic at the moment. It was a square room filled with computer interfaces and some scanning equipment. "It seems the Romulans just got really lucky. I can't find any explanation."

"I don't believe in luck," responded Temles.

"Let me check the records again." She brought up the sensors logs of the battle. "Look, they hit the shield generators of every ship right away. After that they deftly destroy communications and R.V.A.P.s on all three ships. Every hit counted. Virtually every time they fired it brought down a critical system. That's not luck."

Kai looked at the logs, "You're right, I've never seen anything like that. Could they have improved their sensors?"

Temles checked the scans, "No."

Kai thought for a moment, "Maybe they've just been fighting us long enough they've learned where to hit."

"But this is a refit, a lot of the systems are changed. The refits have only been in operation for five months."

"Could they have captured one of the refits?" Kai wondered, "I've never heard of one going missing but I suppose it's possible. I'll do an inquiry in the ships logs and check." She entered the request into her computer terminal and sat back to wait while it worked. "They say you were second in your class at the Tenbar academy - you really that good?" Kai asked.

"I worked hard. They said I had a natural talent for strategy and analysis so I suppose the answer is yes. Where did you train?"

"The Loe'chee military school. But I had already been certified as an engineer. I trained for engineering at Eyun University."

"Northern wastes, I bet wilderness training was fun."

"It was brutal. If you think you know what it's like to be cold you should try sleeping out in the open on the Firo'ya ice fields." The computer beeped and Temles looked up.

"Here we go. No missing Kumari class refits reported. Damn."

"What if someone leaked the plans of the refit?" Kai suggested.

"Why would a guardsman betray his people to the Romulans?" said Temles.

"I admit it's unlikely, but the only way someone could get info this detailed about our ships is to have been involved in the design or spent a few days crawling around the access tunnels."

"But if one of the designers was a traitor couldn't they have built a few flaws into the design? Couldn't they have sabotaged the ships?"

"That would be more effective. Perhaps one of the ships had a spy onboard. Were there any covert transmissions from the ships during our journey?"

Temles checked the logs, "No suspicious transmissions or abnormal subspace emissions during the journey. However if they were really good they could have found a way to erase the logs or send the transmission without any sensors picking it up."

Kai pondered for a minute, "Maybe they were really good. Bring up the resonance pattern of the fluctuation in the Newon's warp field." Temles accessed the file. It showed a repeating pattern of peaks and valleys in the field's resonance.

"Look at that! That's too regular to be random, run it through the decryption database." The computer scanned for a minute and then displayed a match.

"It's tallatin, a Romulan code similar to earth Morse code or Vulcan P'lis. There was a spy aboard the Newon!" Temles exclaimed.

"Bring up what the message was," said Kai. Temles ordered the computer to decrypt, and it showed detailed schematics of the refitted Kumari class and it's weak points.

"Who could have done this?" asked Temles.

"Only one person has enough control over the ships systems to pull something like this off without being caught - the chief engineer."

"Sethik," said Temles, "Computer locate chief engineer Sethik."

"Sethik is in the commander's quarters." Kai's heart missed a beat.

She hit the comm., "Kai to Saruun. Saruun come in. Damn the comm.'s still down in that section. Kai to security, send a team to the commander's quarters on the double."

After he finished discussing tactics with Shret Saruun headed for his quarters to read the report Temles had prepared the day before on the weak points of the Da'vroun class. There wasn't much useful in it unfortunately, the ships impulse engines tended to explode when hit in a certain place but it was a very small target and it was unlikely they would be able to hit it considering how maneuverable the Da'vroun class is. His stomach growled reminding him that he hadn't eaten yet today. His door beeped. "Come in." Sethik entered. "Hello Sethik, have a seat will you." Sethik sat down across the desk from Saruun. "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about your plans; as an engineer I must tell you we are in no condition to fight one warbird, let alone three. I understand you want to do the right thing but it's not worth all our lives."

"Isn't it though? If they are allowed to attack the fleet it will be destroyed, hundreds of humans, Vulcans and Tellarites will die in that battle alone, not to mention the deaths that will come as a result of the hole it will make in our lines."

"Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?"

Saruun dipped his antennae slightly in regret, "No there isn't; I'm sorry Sethik."

Sethik sighed, "I'm sorry too." Sethik pulled a hypospray from his belt and leapt over the desk onto Saruun. Saruun was knocked onto the floor; he caught Sethik's hand as he tried to put the hypospray to Saruun's neck.

"What are you doing Sethik?" growled Saruun.

"You will not stop the Romulans," said Sethik. He had a murderous look in his eyes. Saruun flung Sethik off himself, then reached up and grabbed the ya'lon from the shelf it was on and jumped over the desk at Sethik. Sethik was up by then and kicked the ya'lon out of Saruun's hand. He punched Sethik across the jaw; Saruun responded by kicking Sethik at the top of his left leg. Sethik backed off slightly and they began to circle each other. "I can't believe you would do this Saruun, I thought you were one of the good ones. But now you are going to sacrifice all our lives for a bunch of Vulcans, pink-skins and Tellarites." He said the name of each species as if it were the vilest, most disgusting thing he could imagine. He charged Saruun with the hypospray. Saruun dodged t the last minute and grabbed Sethik by the waist; he then threw Sethik into the wall.

"Traitorous swine!" Saruun shouted at him.

"Swine? Isn't that what you used to call the Tellarites? Swine that should be slaughtered, wasn't it?"

"I was young and foolish then!" Sethik picked himself up and charged Saruun again. Saruun tried to kick him but Sethik caught his foot and threw him into a chair. Saruun felt the skin above his right eye tear and blood trickle down his face.

"The alliance of planets will die, Saruun. The Romulans will defeat it sooner or later. Our leaders are the real traitors for selling us out to the pink-skins and their retched allies." Saruun tried to get up and received a kick to the chest. Sethik again tried to bring his hypospray to Saruun's neck. Saruun tried to grab it but Sethik put his foot down on his left arm and grabbed the other arm with his spare hand. Just then the door to his quarters opened and Sethik was hit by a blast of rifle fire. He fell to the ground dead.

"Are you alright Saruun?" asked Kai as she, Temles and two guardsmen armed with pulse rifles entered the room.

"More or less. What are you doing here?"

Temles answered, "We followed your orders and attempted to discover why the Romulan attack was so effective. We eventually discovered that Sethik had used the Newon's warp field to send a transmission containing the schematics of our ships to the Romulans. We then found out he was here and thought you might be in danger. What was he trying to do?"

Saruun picked up the hypospray, "Inject me with this." Kai walked over and examined the hypospray with a hand scanner.

"It's sinopyrolide, it's used to line plasma conduits and it's also highly toxic. If he'd injected you with this it would have looked like you died from a delayed reaction to the fumes from the explosion on the bridge."

"It's a good thing you got here when you did. Guards, haul this treacherous carcass out of here." The guardsmen hauled Sethik out. "Good work you two. Kai, I want you to go over everything that bastard did and check for sabotage. Temles, report to your station."

"Aye sir," they said.

After they left Saruun headed for the medical bay to get his eye bandaged up. He had to hold the wound to stop the blood flowing into his eye. It made him sick; all those soldiers killed by one disloyal engineer. Oh the Romulans may have done the shooting but Sethik had been the one that doomed them. He was now all the more determined to stop the Romulans and make some good come from this senseless act.

"They're coming about and dropping out of warp. They're getting ready to engage us," said Shret.

"Shields up, load torpedo tubes and charge particle canons," ordered Saruun. He hit the comm., "All hands, battle stations. This is not a drill." It was just over six hours from when Sethik had attacked Saruun. After the attack Kai had examined all the ships systems Sethik had worked on determined that the shield generator had been rigged to overload when activated. Thankfully she had fixed it easily. They were now as ready for battle as possible, with all remaining weapons functioning and shields at seventy-four percent. The Inshonya had needed to push her engines to the limit to catch the Romulans, but they did not have the energy to run their holographic arrays and travel at faster then warp four at the same time. Now they seemed to have decided to stand and fight the Inshonya.

"They are deactivating their holographic arrays," said Shret.

"E.T.A.?" asked Saruun.

"Two minutes," responded Temles.

Saruun stood up and spoke, "Alright everyone, I won't lie to you - we are in a grave situation. But we are soldiers and it is our duty to try and prevent the destruction of the assault fleet. Keep focused; don't let them target our shields or our starboard side. Launch Kai's weapon as soon as possible and keep firing. For Andoria!"

"For Andoria!" they echoed. Everyone looked to their positions and prepared for battle. The ship came out of warp and the Romulans moved to attack.

"They're taking a standard formation to surround and swarm us," said Shret, "Don't let them - evasive maneuvers. Try and separate them." The Romulan ships broke up and tried to surround the ship from above and below. The ship shook as the Romulans fired particle canons. "Shields holding," said Shret, "Return fire, target the ship above us."

"I can't get a target lock, they're too quick."

The ships flew past the ship. "They're coming about; they're going to attack us from aft!" shouted Temles. One ship strafed the bottom of the Inshonya and the other two flew over and hit its dorsal.

"Kai to bridge! They're still hitting our shield generator."

"What are the shields at?" asked Saruun.

"Sixty-one percent," said Shret.

"Fire at will!" ordered Saruun. The Inshonya moved forward and began firing. The Romulans dodged most of the shots.

"They're coming about and firing; brace for impact!" Shret stated. The ship was rocked by multiple impacts. Sparks flew from a damaged computer terminal in the rear of the bridge. The Inshonya fired back. "Direct hit to the ship on the starboard side, they're holographic array is damaged. "

"Keep firing on that one!" Saruun ordered. The Inshonya fired again; despite its quick flying, the ship was hit several times. "Their shields are down to seventy percent. Fire an atomic torpedo at that one." Shret obeyed and the torpedo was launched but the ship spun off at great speed and was able to avoid it. "That's broken their formation a bit, turn to the one on the port side and fire all particle canons!" Beams of deadly blue energy tore through space all around the Romulan ship; though few connected.

"The center one is preparing to strafe our underside, this might be a good time to launch Kai's weapon," announced Temles.

"Do it Shret!" said Saruun. The Romulan ship hit at numerous places along the underside of the Inshonya.

"Shields down to forty-three percent! Launching the weapon. Its disguise is functioning," said Temles.

"Bon'tu set course seven zero mark two three. Try and lure them towards the weapon." The ship turned and the Romulans gave pursuit. The ship rattled from enemy fire.

"A ship has entered range of the weapon, but the others are taking different trajectories, should detonate it sir?" asked Shret.

"Damn, do it!"

Shret pressed a button and what looked liked like a tiny sun erupted next to the Romulan ship. Its shields were stripped away and its hull was shattered. "One down," said Saruun.

"Our starboard side is being targeted," warned Temles, "Don't let them hit it. Adjust roll angle." The Romulans fired another round.

"Shields down to thirty five percent! Let's stop acting like prey. Come about sharp and fire all canons on the ships." The Romulans had been flying in pursuit of the Inshonya so when they turned they were able to quickly end up behind the Romulans. "Turn and target the impulse engines on the ship to our starboard side." The Romulans had been caught off guard and were slow to react. The ship received a punishing volley on its aft section. "Their aft shields are down! Fire!" The Inshonya fired another blast just as the ships started to turn and fight. The ship's impulse engines received a direct hit and exploded.

"They've lost impulse engines," said Shret.

"Set new course - two one nine mark three four seven." The ship turned and headed in the new direction forcing the Romulan ship that still had impulse to abandon its fellow ship.

"They're firing, brace for impact!" The ships engineering section was hit by multiple impacts.

"Our aft shields are down," reported Shret.

"Come about and don't let them target aft," commanded Saruun. The Romulans fired again, this time hitting the top of the ship. The Inshonya responded with a volley of her own.

"Our shields are almost gone," said Shret, "Keep firing and don't let them draw us back to the other ship." Shret managed to get four hits in as the enemy ship soared over the Inshonya and turned to shoot at the side. The Romulans got in multiple hits to the port side of the ship. "Shields down," Reported Shret.

"Evasive maneuvers. Keep them guessing!" Saruun ordered. Bon'tu did his best to avoid them but no known ships can match the Da'vroun class in maneuverability and the ship received multiple hits.

"Hull breach on deck two, we're getting casualty reports from all over the ship!" Temles yelled, "Return fire!" The Romulan ship increased speed and put itself alongside the Inshonya.

"They're targeting our damaged starboard sections," Shret warned, "Don't let them get a shot."

"Ah'm trying koommunder but they are too fost," said Bon'tu. The Romulans fired. The ship shook like the earth after an icefall on one of the great glaciers. A lighting unit exploded from a power surge.

Temles was knocked off her feet; when she got up she began to list the damage, "Two new breaches on the starboard side! The hull supports are starting to buckle. A few more hits like that and the primary hull will decompress."

"Come about and make them face our front then fire all particle canons," Saruun commanded. The Romulans were at close range and were hit multiple times. "Their shields are at thirty-nine percent. They're firing." Once again the bridge was rocked by enemy fire. "We've lost canons four, two and seven." The ship was hit by another volley and returned fire to little effect. Saruun got up and walked to Bon'tu. "I want you to set a course for the fleet and engage at maximum warp when I give the order. In the meantime I want you to make sure we stay close, say within two-thousand kilometers of the Romulan ship." He turned to Shret as the ship was hit again. "Load atomic torpedoes and fire when I give the order."

Shret's antennae jumped up, "We can't fire atomic weapons so close, we'll be destroyed by the blast as well."

"Hopefully if we jump to warp right away we can avoid that. It's the only way to destroy them."

"Aye sir." The Inshonya fired particle canons again. Only one beam connected. The Romulans turned and made to strafe the top of the ship again.

'Wait for it, wait for it," Saruun said. The Romulans started to turn upward for the strafing run. "Now! Fire and then jump to warp!" The ship launched torpedoes that slammed into the underside of the Romulan warbird. The Inshonya was barely able to avoid the shockwave as it jumped into high warp. For a few moments it was only a couple dozen meters ahead. The ship groaned from the stress on its damaged frame. "Is the other ship pursuing?" asked Saruun cautiously.

Shret checked sensors, "No. They're retreating towards Romulan space." The bridge erupted in cheering and shouting. Saruun received a hardy slap on the back from Temles.

She then seemed to realize what she had just done and said, "Sorry commander."

Saruun smiled and hit the comm., "Attention all hands, we have defeated the Romulans and are going to rendezvous with the fleet." Saruun let out a sigh of relief.

Epilogue

The general stepped up to the podium. It had been three weeks since the attack on the Inshonya and its companions. The ship had been in no condition to help when it returned to the fleet, so it had quickly been sent back to Andoria for repairs. It now sat in dry-dock at the orbital Gishiyon shipyards. It wasn't expected to be back up and running for at least four months. The remainder of the crew and the survivors of the Newon were now at fleet headquarters in the city of Arun awaiting reassignment. Today they had been called into the parade hall for a ceremony to honor them. The hall was a huge triangular structure attached to the headquarters used for drills and ceremonies. General Kintaya was about to make a speech.

"We are here today to honor a group whose phenomenal courage and strength under pressure are an inspiration to all those in uniform. You will all receive commendations for going above and beyond the call of duty in your permanent records, as well as the ability to choose your next assignment for some of the senior officers. But there is one among you heroes who shines above all the rest, whose name has become instantly respected on all the worlds in the alliance: I give you commander Saruun of the clan Qi'yet!" The assembled soldiers cheered and stamped their feet in respect as Saruun went to join the general. "Saruun of Qi'yet, for your bravery and skill I present you with the imperial medal of valor and command of the battle cruiser We'san." The crowd cheered as the general pinned the medal on Saruun's chest. General Kintaya stepped aside for Saruun to make a speech.

"I thank you general for this honor. I also thank the brave crews of the Inshonya and the Newon; if you had not trusted me none of this would have been possible. Though I am happy to receive this medal and command I am also very saddened by the circumstance of it. Nearly two hundred of the imperial guard has been killed. Did they die in battle like proper soldiers? No! They were slaughtered like animals before they had a chance to defend themselves. All because of one hate filled traitor. We may have turned tragedy to victory but it is still a tragedy. I did not want to get a command at the expense of so many good men and women. I promise to use this command to avenge my murdered comrades. They will not be forgotten."

The End

I encourage all who enjoyed this story to go to www.trekunited.com and help with their efforts to bring back Star Trek: Enterprise so that we may one day see the Romulan war. It is only hopeless when we give up hope. I.D.I.C.