What lies ahead Part 3

Posted on Sat Jun 7th, 2025 @ 11:47pm by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Ensign Amanda Turell & Lieutenant Commander Jack Slattery & Lieutenant Hadir Prenar & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant JG Ash Rowe & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse & Civilian Dokken & Lieutenant Magnus Volsung & Lieutenant JG Sol & Ensign Eden Drake & Petty Officer 3rd Class Nakata Akira & Cadet First Class Rusty Oaks
Edited on on Sat Jun 7th, 2025 @ 11:51pm

7,541 words; about a 38 minute read

Mission: A marathon not a sprint
Location: Various

==== USS Wolff Bridge ====

The phase-modulated transport sequence was completed. The emitter array had been recalibrated to synchronize with the shield harmonics of both the Wolff and the Marathon — splitting the carrier wave through the refractive subspace field. The transporter buffer compensated for the molecular phase variance, ensuring a stable re-materialization on the other side. "Beam-in complete," Baka announced. "All patterns are locked and secure." She checked that the phalanx of shields returned to their initial setup "Shields remain intact," she finished her report.

"Good," Taliserra sat forward in her chair slightly, her hands interlocked, though she tried not to show that she was nervous. Her brand new Xo was over there with a mix of new and old, experienced and inexperienced security officers. "Let's make sure these pirates have no home to go back to. Helm bring us about. Target the lead ship, fire at will."

"Aye..." Rowe's tone was distant, focussed on the delicate balance between defence, offence and protecting the Marathon. It was a hell of a task for one ship. She brought the ship around in a predatory, sweeping arc, giving tactical the best opportunity to strike while still blocking the injured Marathon.

Hadir smiled in that predatory way that only Cardassians could when the Captain ordered to fire at will. He targeted the enemy with everything they had. His fingers danced over the console as he input the coordinates into the targeting system. His plan would be to leave them defenseless and dead in the water. "Firing now. All phasers, forward torpedo banks." Lances of red and orange energy shot forward from the Wolff. Followed by a phalanx of red dots. Most of the weapons hit their targets and explosions were visible on the viewscreen. "They now have no engines, no shields and no weapons, Captain. Life support is holding. Another volley from us and the enemy will be destroyed." Hadir believed they had neutralized the threat, and protocol dictated that the enemy not be destroyed. However, he would not hesitate if the Captain gave the order.

Anthony kept a close eye on the officers of the Wolff as they helped defend the Marathon. he was glad to hear the pirates were struggling as Hadir said it, but something still felt off. "Captain something doesn't make sense with this, I mean yeah it is obvious they wanted to capture the Marathon but I get a feeling that something is off."

"Perhaps they weren't expecting the ship to be escorted?" Taliserra suggested, the merc ships were certainly stronger than the ones they'd encountered earlier in the year but still not on the level of defeating a starfleet heavy cruiser.

"Let's hope that is what it is, Captain. I can't say as a military officer how a pirate thinks but the science in me has me trying to formulate ideas, and some of those theories I don't like their outcomes." Anthony said with a smile.

"Captain, Lieutenant Edwards if I may." Hadir spoke up from his console. "It has been my experience that pirates always take the path of least resistance. It is possible that since they see that the Marathon is protected and they are outgunned they are going to attempt to flee with their lives. I believe the old Earth adage that says he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day, applies here."

"Unless they plan to be an old school pirate..." Ash called back, shaking her head, her features set in a grimmer line than was usual for the easy going pilot. "Dump the old boat, all hands swing across to the new one, and then sail off into the sunset with a shiny new ship..."

"I think that is part of it that has me so worried. This seems different to the Dead Skull Privateers and I can't quite get it to the point of understanding, if there is anything else out there it is so deeply hidden our sensors can't see it." Anthony put in and followed that with "There is another human adage that I think is very apt here too and that is that If things seem too good to be true then you can be as sure as eggs they are."

Thinking for a few more moments Taliserra eventually stood from her chair, she looked over at the young cadet that sat at the mission ops station. "Cadet, open a channel to both hostile ships."

Oaks was a bit jittery after everything that had just transpired. Combat simulations were one thing but to be on an actual bridge being fired upon and observing the tactical officer disabling these aggressors was a whole different experience. "Captain, opening a channel" responded the young man.

Taliserra took a deep breath. "Dead skull privateer vessels, this is Captain Tigran of the USS Wolff, your ships are disabled and your boarding parties are contained, I give you two options." She said as she slowly walked around the bridge. "Flee and I will destroy your vessels and kill every last one of you. Or you can surrender and provide me with information about Tikhar Mahan and his associates, then I promise you fair treatment and a fair trial in a federation court."

She would receive her response though the message would not be traditional. The signal was intercepted. Scrambled as though someone had hijacked their communications and the response was initially a static for a few moments that permeated throughout the USS Wolff, accessing the starship's ship-wide internal comm channel. A gruff voice cut through the static "How very Starfleet of you, Captain Tigran" spoke the voice that was bordering on electronic. It was certainly synthetic.

Suddenly, a distortion occurred, a ripple in space that mimicked a stone skipping across a pond and a powerful tractor beam grabbed onto one of the disabled Dead Skull vessels propelling the defeated vessel towards its conqueror, the USS Wolff, directly on a collision course with the Luna class starship.

Oaks quickly piped up "Captain!" the young man exclaimed. "They are hurling it right at us!" he quickly added.

Before evasive maneuvers could be ordered, several torpedoes flew from the new heavily armed vessel but the target was not the Wolff. It was the disabled Dead Skull vessel that it had hurled in the Wolff's direction.

"Reinforce forward shields, on screen." Taliserra called out though she knew only one of those orders could possibly be carried out in time, the viewscreen changed to show the ship hurtling their way moments before the torpedoes struck it only a few hundred meters from the Wolff. The privateer vessel exploded in a brilliant but deadly display as first the torpedoes exploded against its hull then its antimatter fuel supply joined the conflagration. A powerful shockwave struck the Wolff's forward shields followed a moment later by what debris had survived, the force sent Taliserra sprawling to the floor hitting with an audible thud.

Baka barely had time to brace before the shockwave hit. The deck shuddered violently beneath her feet, warning lights flickered across her console, and she caught the chiming of an alert chimed from her console. She quickly scanned the damage readouts, her fingers flying over the controls to stabilize power fluctuations. "Damn it, that was close," she muttered, rerouting energy to reinforce critical systems.

Anthony, who had almost been thrown from his seat from the shockwave of the exploding ship was shaking his head as he said, "Well that was to be expected. Their pirate's captain, they don't really care about the equipment they have, they like shiny and new. I expect our captives are already dead to them anyway."

Summer had tried to brace herself, but she found herself deposited on the floor from her seat as the shockwave hit, fortunately it wasn’t a hard landing. Getting back up she straightened her uniform, taking a look around noting before she sat back down in her seat again.

Hadir grabbed the wooden arch of his console when the shockwave hit. In doing so he managed to stay on his feet. He quickly worked to reassemble the shields and check the status of the weapons systems. Hadir knew better than most that there could be an attack following that explosion.

Ash had been trying desperately to manoeuvre the ship until the last second, even with little hope of making much difference at such a short range. Distracted as she was, she hit the deck with a groan, the air knocked out of her for a long moment. She reached up, grabbing her chair to haul herself back up into it, a litany of expletives escaping her as she fell back into her seat.

Slowly Taliserra pulled herself up off the deck, luckily everything felt intact. "Damage report." She called out.

Baka responded first, "Shields are holding at 35%, though the forward emitters took a serious hit. Structural integrity remains stable, with minor hull stress on decks 3 and 4. No major breaches detected. Weapons are online; phaser efficiency has dropped by 15%. Engineering teams are already working on it. Main power remains unaffected. I’m rerouting the EPS grid to handle the critical overloads.

"We also have minor casualties from the impact. No fatalities reported. Sickbay is handling them," she finished.

Anthony finally took his turn, "I expect that whole throw a ship at us and make it explode shockwave was used to blind science Captain..." He took a few seconds as a new ship decloaked just in front of them. "But I don't need sensors to see that. I knew it. That's what I have felt they are underpowered in their attack."

The Crocell had fully decloaked, a vessel that was sleek and had elements in its design that were consistent with Romulan design but had been cobbled together with Klingon elements. There had been an eerily Federation feel to some its weaponry which had caused the explosion. The viewscreen of the USS Wolff went dark. Another trick of the crafty Crocell?

A Phantom spectator soon appeared aboard the bridge of the Luna class starship, but parlor tricks at best were at play. Invaded it had not been, not by this menacing individual with a mask reminiscent of some worlds' demon. It 'sat' seated in Captain Tigran's chair with the darken hollow sockets of the mask beaming upon her as she stood commanding her crew. "I see you have been humbled by mercy but back on your feet no less." A hologram. That was all it was, just photons though the figure looked as solid as any of the bridge crew.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Taliserra. I am Dokken, commander of the Crocell, and you and this...Wolff have been a plague upon our plans for far too long my dear Captain."

Summer remained in her seat, though it was uncomfortably close to the masked invader who had just introduced himself as Dokken. At least she could observe up and close.

Taliserra took in the masked man's appearance for a few moments, his outfit was vaguely Klingon but the mask certainly wasn't. "And we plan on keeping it that way until you and your employer give up. So what are you? chief lackey for Tikhar Mahan? the man who is about to get fired because his attack has failed?"

"I do not work for Tikhar Mahan," stated Dokken. He turned his head as though looking at Summer although he himself was not physically on the Wolff. Then he returned his focus to Captain Tigran. "Consider me an independent contractor. You took something my client wants, and I am here giving you an opportunity to turn it over to me. If not, I may have to convince you."

"You're going to have to be more specific, my ship has taken quite a number of your employer's assets over the last few months." Taliserra replied with a slight smirk, every engagement so far had turned out in the Wolff's favour, though only just at times. "At least 6 of your ships and their crews, and a staging post you had in the Kimeni asteroid field."

Dokken gave out a menacing laughter. "You have been so concerned with your ship and crew, Captain Tigran. On your bridge focused on defeating 'my ships' but they mean nothing to me. I keep what is important to me near, can you say the same? How is Lashell?"

Taliserra tried her hardest not to flinch but couldn't stop it, how did he know about her daughter. Positioning herself between the forward stations she looked past Dokken briefly to Anthony, Hadir and Baka in turn, hoping one of them would check that her daughter was safe. "She is well." She said hoping those words were true, with the shields up they wouldn't be able to beam her away but with the technology the privateers had displayed anything could happen.

"Potentially a fatal flaw," commented Dokken. "As though a mother wouldn't immediately check on their own flesh and blood? Just a flinch, a glance, or a nod. Someone would have checked on your precious daughter even if you didn't cue them to. Be at ease, Captain, I'm not a monster."

Dokken spoke deliberately. "You've been so foolish. Do you really think I would just show up here not prepared? The months of studying you, your ship, your crew, tracking your every move. Those split seconds of an internal scan to check on Lashell... maybe they were all I needed to find a kink in your shielding, one that was placed there long before we gaze upon each other's vessels."

Dovenice Baka’s hands tightened into fists at her console, knuckles briefly going white before she forced them to relax. Her jaw clenched, the only outward sign of the anger that flared within her. Without looking up, her fingers moved with sharp precision over her controls, initiating a deep diagnostic scan of the ship’s shielding systems, searching for any unexpected fluctuations—any sign that Dokken wasn’t just bluffing.

Her grey eyes flicked up, meeting Taliserra’s for the briefest second. No words, no unnecessary movement, but the message was clear: I’m already on it.

Then, with deliberate calm, she shifted her stance and cast a long, assessing look at Dokken’s transmission. A subtle tilt of her head, as if weighing his words, but in reality, she was already thinking two steps ahead. If there was a breach, she would find it. And if there wasn’t, she’d be damn sure he never got the chance to make one.

"Why take something when I could gift you something?" Dokken riddled. "So many questions known and unknown much like your own child's father."

Summer looked towards Taliserra, she could feel the unease at the personal information that Dokken was rolling off at her. Without him being actually present she couldn’t read his emotions, but she could study his body language and mannerisms.

Anthony was also running diagnostics trying to either block Dokken's transmission and at the same time clear up his external sensors, the sensors cleared, but he quickly realised there was little to do to remove the hologram from the bridge as he seemed to be tied into the EMH holographic emitters. Anthony almost immeasurably frowned and gently shook his head to indicate he couldn't stop it without full healthy shields.

Dokken gestured with a sweeping arm. Dokken spoke with firmness. "It is fascinating how much a Captain shares with those closest to her, those that are her right hand, and amusing how much information one can bleed out of them including deceptions." He had gestured to the direction of Tigran's Ready Room.

"Your gift awaits you," he added.

"What makes you think I would accept a gift from you," Taliserra said though the slightest hint of curiosity crept into her mind she'd not give him the satisfaction. "You're more interested in stealing and killing innocent people than being benevolent."

Dokken was quick to retaliate, lashing with a response "I DO NOT," his mechanical sounding voice clearly raised in intensity but soon evened. "The Dead Skull kill, take lives without thinking. Benevolent beings are not my targets. You do not need to accept what I've left you though it may be of interest to you to know."

"Turn over what Tikhar Mahan wants, Captain Tigran. If you are so concerned about innocent lives, don't be responsible for the blood he will shed to take what he wants" Dokken said.

"What does he want the Marathon for?" Taliserra asked, virtually everything in the Marathon's data banks was available on any federation ship, even something much easier to capture like a shuttle or a runabout. All the technology onboard was commonplace; except for the transwarp core. Did they know it wasn't even installed? "A working transwarp core would be a very big score for a pirate, I bet there would be dozens of black market buyers willing to buy a considerable amount of latinum for something like that."

"They would be willing to pay an exorbitant amount for a transwarp drive," Dokken replied. He spoke as though he had contemplated that himself. Perhaps, he had. Though he was showing no indication he was there for anything other than what he was paid to do.

Dokken took a deep breath. "Something beyond your wildest nightmares, Taliserra. Something cataclysmic and truly diabolical." Dokken's holographic projection flickered.

"Hand over the Marathon, Taliserra. It's the only way" Dokken said crispy, again using the woman's first name. "Do not put your crew...your child's life in danger. Tikhar Mahan will not stop until he gets what he wants."

"Oh he will stop, and the Wolf will be right there when he and your entire group are brought to justice." Taliserra told him.

"THIS is not my group" quipped Dokken.

Oaks was uncertain if he should interrupt the exchange between his Captain and the theatre reject, but the information seemed crucial. "Marathon reporting secure, Captain."

"It seems you will not be getting your prize this day." Taliserra said, stepping closer to her holographic foe. "Lieutenant Prenar, load quantum torpedoes."

The wolfish smile that Cardassians had become known for crawled across Hadir's phase. He keyed in the commands to load all torpedo tubes with quantum torpedoes and locked on target. "Torpedoes loaded and await your command Captain."

Taliserra closed to only a single pace away from Dokken. "Now, I give you the same offer I gave to your ships, surrender and give me information on Tikhar Mahan, or be destroyed."

"Fire on this ship, Captain, and we all die," Dokken replied. "There are warheads aboard. Unless you want to tear the fabric of subspace, I would not recommend firing." Dokken's hologram was gone.

Instead, the Wolff's viewscreen revealed slightly more. Dokken seated on his bridge. "You are not a fool. A career Operations Officer, past lives in the technical field. I do not need to lecture you on isolytic warheads."

He knew there was barely a way for her to determine what the Crocell's capabilities were or were not.

Taliserra quickly turned to face the viewscreen before slipping into her now vacant chair. "Get him off my screen." She ordered then added. "Analysis?" Knowing that all the time she had been talking with Dokken they should have been doing their best to gather as much information as possible.

Anthony had started working on analysing the Crocell's capabilities during the conversation between the Captain and the pirate. What he had gotten so far showed that the Wolff would have a strength edge with full shields, but with her shields currently as low as they were, the Crocell may have the upper hand with the weapons and shields he could see, though there was a lot of the ship that he couldn't tell anything beyond weapons and shield. "Shields and weapons that would rival ours with full shields, Captain. Now they could even have an edge even without the threat of Isolytic weapons. That said, I can't penetrate their hull with enough power to even get a crew complement for their ship or any clue about the threat."

Hadir thought about the situation that had been presented. In a moment or so an idea took shape. "It is possible that the enemy has employed a scattering field of sorts to prevent in depth scans and our ability to confirm or deny the presence of isolytic weapons. However, I wonder if their field would prevent us from scanning for basic minerals. Isolytic weapons employ the use of the mineral isolynium. If we can scan for the mineral and it is present then we have our confirmation."

Summer looked towards Taliserra. “I obviously couldn’t read him, but from his body language and gestures I’d say he was sincere in what he was saying, though whether he was telling the truth about the warheads is another thing.

It was Cadet Oaks at the station controlling helm that spoke up. "I'm not ruling out Lieutenant Prenar's astute hypothesis. This machiavellian menace is a piece of work, but I took Hadir's suspicions and found something potentially interesting. The problem we're facing could be with the hull of that ship itself. Certain areas of it are giving off indeterminate readings, but I can see there are traces of starithium composites within the duranium hull. It may not be technology per se that's giving us a run for our money, Captain, but geology. I'm sure Doctor Edwards would be more enlightening than I am."

Anthony was annoyed at the blindness of the sensors, it was aggravating, and then it struck him, and he had a lightbulb moment as Cadet Oaks spoke. He smiled and said "Thank you, Cadet Oaks, there is a technology that will improve our ability to see what is out there. Captain, we are almost blind with our sensors, but we still have scientific probes that would make it much easier to see what the sensors can't. I mean, I still can't guarantee that we will see anything that will confirm those Warheads, but it would still give us more than we have at the moment."

"Either way, we need to make our mind up quickly," Ash interrupted, her tone of voice holding an undeniable note of warning. "The Crocell is closing on the Marathon, and fast..."

"Open fire." Taliserra ordered. "Ash get us between them and the Marathon again."

"Firing..." Hadir replied as he keyed in the orders into his console. A spread of blue dots surged forward from the Wolff. This was followed by a number of red lances of phaser fire. "All weapons have hit their targets. Damage is negligible."

"What!?" Taliserra exclaimed, almost no ship could take the impact from multiple quantum torpedoes like that, especially ones similar sized to the Crocell. "Keep firing, attack pattern beta four, full impulse."

The Crocell did not immediately return fire on the USS Wolff, instead opening fire on the Marathon. It was an action that undoubtedly would throw Captain Tigran for a loop albeit momentarily. The Marathon was supposedly what Dokken was here for and yet he was firing upon it.

"Get his attention on us, extend our shields around the Marathon if you need to." Taliserra said though she knew the Wolff's own shield strength was low.

Good thought Dokken the Wolff was responding. "Lock dampening weapons onto the Wolff and fire, target their shielding, deck twelve." Dokken was going to hit the Wolff exactly where it would inflict the necessary damage.

"Initiate transport once you have an opening!" Dokken demanded. The attack on the Marathon was a diversion, a lure to bring the Wolff into position. Once hit, their shields would be down temporarily. Enough to lock onto bio signatures and take his captives.

A crackling ball of energy impacted against the shields of the Wolff eliciting a vast shimmer across almost the entire grid as they struggled to contain it, a few moments later a second struck in virtually the same location slipping through the weakened shielding striking the hull.

Baka’s eyes darted across the damage reports streaming in on her console, but she barely needed them to confirm what her gut already told her—this was a fight they weren’t ready to take head-on, not without securing their systems first.

She took a steadying breath, forcing her pulse to slow. “Captain, with all due respect, if this bastard's been digging into our ship, I need to be in Engineering.” Her voice was firm, but controlled. “If there’s even a chance he’s found a way to compromise our shields or systems, I have to run a full diagnostic at the source.” Her fingers danced across her controls, isolating the critical systems from any external intrusion as a stopgap measure.

She glanced toward Taliserra, her expression unreadable. “I can keep us in the fight, but not from here. Either he’s bluffing, or he’s holding all the cards—we need to find out which, fast.”

Her hands hovered over the controls for a beat, then clenched into fists. "If you want me to stay put, tell me now. Otherwise, I'm heading down there."

"Go lieutenant." Taliserra instructed, her fellow Trill was right. While the bridge engineering station was useful, there was better access in engineering.

Baka didn't wait for further confirmation. She was already on the move, weaving through the organized chaos of the bridge with practiced efficiency. The turbolift doors slid open before her, and she stepped inside, bracing herself against the slight jolt as it descended.

"Deck twelve, main engineering," she ordered.

=== Engineering ===

The ride felt longer than it should have, her mind racing through possible vulnerabilities. If Dokken's people had managed to breach their systems even partially, there was no telling how deep the intrusion went. Containment was her priority—without stable shields and propulsion, they were dead in the water.

The doors hissed open, revealing the heart of the Wolff’s power systems. Engineering was already a storm of activity. Crew members darted between consoles, their faces etched with concentration. Warning lights flashed across multiple readouts, a grim symphony of damage reports and system failures.

"Status?" Baka called out as she strode toward the master systems display.

A junior officer snapped to attention. "We've taken a direct hit near the port EPS grid—power fluctuations are spreading, but containment fields are holding for now. Shields are down to five percent, and the secondary emitters are struggling to compensate."

Baka cursed under her breath. "What about intrusion attempts? Any signs of system tampering?"

"Nothing obvious, but we've had erratic sensor feedback since the last hit. Could be interference, or..." The officer hesitated.

"Or it could be a deliberate attempt to blind us." Baka finished for him. "Get me a full diagnostic on all critical subsystems. If there's a ghost in our machine, I want it found."

She moved to the primary console, fingers flying over the controls. If Dokken had targeted deck twelve specifically, he either knew their vulnerabilities or was testing for them. That meant one thing—securing the ship had to be her next move.

Baka exhaled, pushing down the weight of responsibility. Their best shot at survival was keeping the ship intact and out of enemy hands. With her team working at full capacity, she turned back to the diagnostic reports, eyes scanning for any sign of sabotage.

If Dokken thought he could break the Wolff from the inside, he was about to be sorely disappointed.


=== Bridge ===

The Wolff rocked with multiple weapon impacts. Hadir's console lit up like the holiday trees of old. "Multiple weapon impacts. Deck 12 sections nine through fourteen. No major casualties reported however, our shields are down. I am attempting to reconfigure." Hadir worked furiously. Cardassians rarely sweat as they are cold blooded and metabolize heat to keep their internal temperatures up. However, in this moment Hadir's usually tidy hair was out of place and matted down in some places with sweat.

Anthony was now under his panel, only wishing he could hide under it because he needed to get it working. He was covered in a cascade of sparks each time they were hit. He finally got something working but the next shot knocked them out completely. "Captain Science can't get you anything anymore unless we use probes?"

"Can probes cut us a break?" Ash murmured under her breath, the acerbic words keeping the threatening curse at bay as she was thrown around at helm. She gritted her teeth against a gasp as the ship sent her body jerking sideways, her bolted together hips and back complaining at the treatment.

"Attempting to reroute power to shields," Nakata Akira tried to sound calm at the Ops station, but failed. His heart was pounding as he tried to find power that could be spared or rationed from systems, but they were so overwhelmed, he struggled to find any legitimate sources left. You could only borrow from Peter to pay Paul so many times.

One minute Summer was in her seat, next moment she was gone as she was transported across to Dokken’s ship.

At the tell-tale whine of a transporter beam, Ash looked back just in time to see Summer disappear from the bridge. It took all her willpower not to stand and move for her, her eyes wide and chest tight with a heady mixture of anger and fear for her friend, especially knowing the condition she was in. She had to force her attention back to the helm controls, her heart racing as she tried to refocus.

"Summer..." Taliserra exclaimed as her chief counsellor disappeared in a flash of blue, now both seats beside her were empty, both advisors and confidants gone. =/\= Bridge to Engineering, I need our shields back up Lieutenant.=/\=


=== Engineering ===

Baka barely had time to process the last diagnostic results when the call from the bridge came through. Shields were down. And from the urgency in the Captain’s voice, something bad had just happened.

“I’m on it, Captain! But I need time—damage is extensive.” Her fingers flew across the controls, her mind racing ahead of her hands.

The primary shield grid was fried—those last hits had destabilized the power relays, and with the EPS grid damage, rerouting was going to be a nightmare. But she wasn’t about to tell the Captain no.

“Dammit!” She slammed a fist against the console. Think. Think. She’d been in this situation before… a lifetime ago, maybe more. How had she pulled up the shields then?

“Give me a status on emergency emitters!” She called to her team.

“Still trying to compensate, but they’re barely holding at two percent efficiency—”

The ship shuddered under another phaser impact. Crew members braced themselves, but somewhere in the distance, she heard retching. The sour smell hit her a second later, churning her own stomach. Mind over smell. She swallowed hard, suppressing the urge.

“Then we push them past their limit,” Baka snapped, already pulling up secondary power conduits. “Reroute non-essential systems to the emitter grid. Environmental controls, holodecks—anything that isn’t keeping us breathing or fighting—shunt it into shields.”

The engineering crew sprang into action. The hum of redirected energy filled the space, but it wasn’t enough.

“Come on…” Baka muttered, scanning for anything else she could use. Then she saw it. The warp field stabilizers—still operational, still drawing power. Risky. Very risky.

She didn’t hesitate.

“Shunt auxiliary warp power into the shield grid.”

The officer nearest to her froze. “That could cause—”

“—a feedback cascade if we’re off by even a millisecond. I know. That’s why I’m doing it myself.” She locked eyes with him, her grey gaze steely. “Reinforce structural integrity. This is gonna hurt.”

Her fingers danced over the controls, threading warp power directly into the fractured shield emitters.

One shot. That’s all she had.

“Come on, girl,” she whispered to the ship. “Hold together.”

She watched the shifting numbers on the console to her right. Her pulse matched the erratic flicker of readouts. Now.

With a final keystroke, she executed the transfer.

The lights in engineering flickered. Consoles dimmed as power funneled into the shields. The ship shuddered, metal groaning under the strain.

Baka barely breathed.

A hiss of steam escaped from a cooling conduit to her left. The readouts shifted from red to orange.

“Captain, shields are coming back online—eight percent and climbing!”

She didn’t wait for a response. “Keep reinforcing! We need at least thirty percent, or the next volley rips us apart!”

The Wolff was still in the fight—but for how long, Baka didn’t know. All she could do was keep it running.


==== Bridge ====

The Wolff shuddered as another blast of energy impacted against the barely active shield grid. "Hadir, route everything to forward and dorsal shields. Helm get us in as close as possible, attack pattern delta two, full impulse." Taliserra ordered. She read the damage readouts as she spoke, they were far from promising.

"Aye, Captain..." Rowe acknowledged, her jaw setting grimly with the order. She had always been a risk taker and thrill seeker, but what the Captain wanted was enough to make the hairs raise on the back of her neck. "Full impulse....now!"

Hadir did as ordered and routed the power to the areas indicated. With his other hand he prepped the weapons for attack. His thoughts wandered to the reasoning behind the enemy. It seemed that no matter what the Captain ordered the enemy had an answer, a way to survive. Something in the back of Hadir's mind thought that odd. "Captain shield strength increased by 40 percent. All weapons online and at your command."

"Keep those shields towards them as best you can Ash, fire at will."

"Captain, the weapons are hitting as targetted. However, there is only minor damage to their shields." Hadir attempted a different firing pattern and achieved the same results.

The Crocell was rocked but still had a fight left in it, and if the Wolff kept pushing, Dokken would have to do whatever was necessary to humble them.

"Sensor Contact Captain!" Anthony called, not turning from his station, as the blips had shocked him. "They're close, and I expect our sensor issues are the reason I haven't seen them approaching well before now!"

Taliserra turned to her lead science officer. "Can you identify it?"

Working as quickly as he could with the still intermittent sensors, which were giving him quick flashes of information. Eventually, he got the information that was useful. Federation transponder codes, Captain! A Sovereign and an Akira class! ETA two minutes." He worked his console a little more and said the Sovereign class is the USS London, and the USS Tigris is our Akira Class friend."

'Reinforcements...' Taliserra thought and almost let out a sigh of relief but then another thought came to her, the dead skull privateer ships were displaying federation transponder codes. "Check their warp signature, can you confirm they're Starfleet?"

Anthony worked hard with the sensors, as they hadn't improved any, and warp core signatures and trails were more tricky than transponder codes, so it took up most of the two minutes they had left before he could respond. "Affirmative, Captain, they are USS London and USS Tirgris, transponder codes and warp signatures match."

That was enough, the Crocell had to make a tactical retreat. Though Dokken was not going to leave empty handed. His starship took an offensive posture and hit the Wolff hard and fast, dampening their shields more before going to warp with their consultation prize secured.

After a final flash of weapons on the Wolff's shields and another crackle over the sensors, and as the Sensors cleared, the Crocell was nowhere to be seen. Anthony slapped the side of his console in frustration, where the contact point wouldn't do any damage, as he made the final report. "And as stealthily as she came, the Crocell also leaves, Captain. Now we have to work out how to get our bounty back."

"Is there any sign of it at all?" Taliserra asked.

"None, Captain. I expect the Crocell probably engaged her cloak as soon as our sensors were blinded for the last time, and finally left once she was." Anthony responded.

In space a pair of flashes heralded the arrival of the long sleek form of a Sovereign class starship and the more stubby Akira class starship emerging from warp. Both ships came towards the Wolff in a slow arc before settling either side of the explorer vessel.

"Captain USS London is hailing!" Anthony said as the flash lit his console.

Taliserra finally let out a sigh of relief she'd been dying to since the ship's identities had been confirmed, slowly she stood up. "On screen."

"You look awful, Captain." Captain Kizlite appeared on screen. His bridge was clean and orderly in the background. "What aid can we give you?"

"We're a little bloody but we will survive." Taliserra replied to her fellow Captain, one of few Benzites to reach that rank. "Our sensor readings are unreliable, scan for any ion or warp trails leading away from here, cloaking signatures too."

Kizlite nodded, going silent while he referred to his crew. Time slowed as they waited for answers. Finally, he replied, "Our sensors were upgraded recently, Captain, but we're not finding any cloaking or warp signatures other than yours." There was a tone of Incredulity in his voice as he mentally worked out the scene.

"Damm." Taliserra groaned. "We were attacked by a group of mercenaries that we've had several encounters with in the past, they boarded the Marathon but they're under control, their.... flagship kidnapped my chief counsellor. Then fled after you got close." She looked away from the viewscreen for a moment. "I want a full status report on the ship." She told her bridge crew.

Captain Kizlite’s expression hardened slightly, the weight of the situation registering fully. “Understood, Captain. We’ll begin a wide-area sweep with our long-range sensors—if there's a trail to follow, we’ll find it.” He paused, then added with quiet determination, “We won’t let them get far. Just say the word, and the London is with you.”

He paused, his tone shifting slightly, more personal. “In the meantime, the London has engineering and medical teams ready to beam over if you need assistance.

"I'm sure my crew would say we can handle it ourselves but I would appreciate the help, likewise with the Marathon." Taliserra told him. "Send my thanks to the Captain of the Tigris."

Kizlite gave a curt nod. “You’ll have it. Good hunting, Captain.”

The transmission ended, and as the viewscreen shifted back to the starfield, the USS London adjusted course with a graceful arc. She paused long enough for transporters to send teams of helpers. Then her sleek form angled upward slightly as her impulse engines flared, beginning a slow sweep of the surrounding space. Moments later, the Tigris followed suit, flanking the area from the opposite side—both ships moving in tandem, scanning for any hint of a cloaked vessel's trail.

Taliserra slumped back down into her chair. "Nakata, hail the Marathon."

"Aye Captain," Akira replied, a note or two quieter than even his usual soft tone. He moved numbly, clearly still shell shocked from what had just unfolded...and the abduction that had occurred on their own bridge. "Marathon, this is Wolff, please respond."

"This is the Marathon," Munro's voice was clear, although he sounded weary and tired. "How are you holding up, Wolff?"

"All things considered we're going ok," Taliserra replied though the status report was still being compiled. "What's your status?"

Munro let out a soft breath, one that could also be heard on the bridge of the Wolff. "The Marathon is secure, we do have some hull damage though. We have forcefield ops for now. We have prisoners, and dead. Unfortunately...we lost two of your security officers. One is critically wounded and in our sickbay, but I recommend that we transfer her to your ship. You have better equipment and it is right that she'd recover on her own ship."

"Damm..." Taliserra said quietly, losses were expected in any action but each one would still be keenly felt amongst their friends, family and herself. "We'll send additional hands to assist, we'll take any prisoners aboard the Wolff. Commander Slattery?" She couldn't see the man on the viewscreen but knew he was likely to be around the bridge somewhere.

"Captain," Slattery acknowledged, stepping into the frame of the viewscreen, meeting her eyes. His hair was a bit untidy, there was a smear of blood drying on his cheek, but otherwise he looked composed as he watched her with calm eyes.

Though she kept her professional detachment, Taliserra was glad her new Xo had survived his first dramatic assignment of his new second in command role. "You and your away team have permission to remain on the Marathon till the prisoners are secured aboard the Wolff and the damage is made good, report back to the Wolff by 2000hrs."

"Yes, Captain," Slattery gave her a small nod as he took the orders easily, watching her. "We may need to be a bit creative with the repairs though, especially if we aren't getting any engineers over." He was itching to ask how the Wolff had fared, but didn't dare to.

"We'll send all the hands you need Commander, don't worry." Taliserra said and let out a somewhat relieved chuckle. "We'll get the Marathon to Mazar, even if I have to get out and push it myself."

Slattery chuckled at that, unable to stop it. He could even see that. "You wouldn't be alone on that, Captain. I think all hands here are eager to get to Mazar."

Munro gave a small nod of agreement before he turned serious. "We will work as fast as we can, and transfer your security officer over."

"Sickbay will be ready for her, contact us if there's anything else you need."

"Of course, thank you. Marathon out."

Taliserra closed the channel "Hadir, send another security team over to the Marathon, secure the prisoners and get them transferred over here. Nakata, coordinate with engineering and the London about what repairs we and the Marathon need."

"Understood, Captain," Nakata assured, already pulling up the initial reports from both of their ships to start analysing the damage. Considering the punishment both ships had taken, he had a feeling it was going to be a case of technological triage for the next hour.

"Aye Captain." Hadir replied and sent the appropriate orders through the comm channels. "Captain, with your permission I will leave the bridge and supervise the transfer of the prisoners to the Brig as well as questioning."

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Taliserra said after a few moments, with the other ships patrolling around she decided she could spare another one of her senior officers.

Hadir nodded and took his leave from the Bridge. There was a lot to learn and he would make sure that these prisoners told their entire stories.

"Anthony, you have the bridge." Taliserra told her chief science officer. "I want all senior officers plus the away team from the Marathon to the observation lounge at 2000hrs, full status report on the ship." She got up from her chair and headed for the ready room, her mind quickly brought up what Dokken had said about a 'gift' waiting for her inside.

"Aye Captain." Anthony said as he started running a Diagnostic on the bridge's Science sensors so he could pass that information onto the Engineers who would need to fix them. After he started that, he made his way to the centre chair and sent the message to the other senior officers and the away team officers about the staff meeting in the observation lounge.

The doors to her ready room opened and Taliserra stepped inside, before the doors had even begun to shut she saw the 'gift in question. Atop her desk in a display stand sat a long slender blade that gently curved upwards to an extremely fine point, its leading edge was smeared with green blood that gently dripped onto the glossy black top. She took a few moments to examine the blade before tapping her combadge. =/\= Tigran to bridge, bring me a stasis container.=/\=

END:


Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Ensign Amanda Turell
Security Officer [Pnpc Tigran]

Lt Commander Jack Slattery
Executive Officer

Command Dario Munro
Commanding Officer
USS Marathon [Pnpc Slattery]

Lieutenant Magnus Volsung
Security Officer [Pnpc Slattery]

Lieutenant Dovenice Baka
Chief Engineer
(and guest appearance of Captain Kizlite)

LtJG Brendan O'Sullivan
Security/Tactical Officer

Lt Anthony Edwards
Chief Science Officer

Crewman Matthew Cronauner
Engineering Crewman
USS Marathon (Pnpc Edwards)

Lt JG Ash Rowe
Chief of Helm
USS Wolff

PO3 Nakata Akira
Operations
USS Wolff
(PNPC Rowe)

Ensign Eden Drake
Security
USS Wolff
(PNPC Rowe)

Dr. Sol
Medical
USS Wolff
(PNPC Rowe)

Lt JG Ethan Winters
Chief of Helm
USS Marathon
(PNPC Rowe)

Ensign Leo Carter
Chief of Security
USS Marathon
(PNPC Rowe)

Cadet Rusty Oaks
USS Wolff

Dokken
(PNPC Oaks)

Lieutenant Hadir Prenar
Chief Security & Tactical Officer
USS Wolff

 

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