The Trap

Posted on Thu Mar 30, 2017 @ 5:15pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire & Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Lieutenant Martha Cusack & Lieutenant Vincent Kramer & Lieutenant T'Lara & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho & Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes & Ensign Terry Walsh
Edited on on Thu Mar 30, 2017 @ 5:21pm

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Orion Nebula
Timeline: Md 4 || 1300 Hours

The Triumphant moved deeper into Orion space until it came to the Orion Nebula where the Captain ordered the massive Odyssey class ship hidden until such time as the away team needed their help or the expected enemy ships showed up. Michael was sitting in his command chair chewing over what he had been told by Lieutenant Rho and looked around at the personnel on the bridge. He was worried about the many things that could go wrong, but he was confident in the officers who served on the ship.

"Full stop," he ordered the helmsman before he came to his feet. "Many people may consider waiting the worst thing to do but right now, we're purely in a support role," the Captain said as he paced to the front of the massive bridge. "Supporting our people, though, is not boredom. We're on red alert right footing right now and I want everyone to be ready in the event that we're called upon."

Michael looked at the Operations officer. "How much protection do we have from sensors here in the nebula?"

"They'll find us if they're looking closely for us," replied Ensign sh'Paveress. "The power output from the tri-core is considerable, and the masking can only hide it from passive scans. If we can afford to reduce our power output, we should become practically invisible."

Martha remained focused on her console after listening to Michael's statement. She never really found waiting around boring - she was happy to do whatever was necessary to help her colleagues - even if that meant Martha sat around not doing very much. It gave her time to think of new ideas or go over her thoughts in more detail without too many distractions.

The Andorian woman, Ensign Evevao Zh'ovhothrir, currently occupying what had been reconfigured as the Intelligence terminal once she entered her codes, had up profiles of the captured captains of the slaver ships, Vigar, Gaalaz, Mizim, and Jazen, as well as the three Orion women, Mara, Neeshka, and Shailaa. Granted, they wouldn't be encountering those individuals, but whoever the Galor would have contact with might know them. So she kept up everything that Starfleet Intelligence had from the capture. One never knew when the Captain would ask about the alien ship or what is known about the commander.

As a junior officer, Nawaji had the good sense to monitor her station, stand at the ready, but otherwise keep her head down. Still, there was enough of the 'classical romantic' in her that she could hope to have her scientific expertise brought into play.

Douglas was standing silently behind his Security console, ready as always. Waiting was not a problem for him; it never had been. First Teleth Norr had taught her recruits that waiting provided an opportunity to ensure that all systems were at optimal, that your body and mind were aligned, and that you and those under your command could quickly and effectively respond in an instant if required to. Starfleet Academy had built upon that foundation, overlaying their methods upon those Teleth Norr had taught. So now, he was waiting, coiled like the weapon around his arm. Ready.

"Captain?" sh'Paveress asked, having not received an answer in regards to her report. "Orders?"


=Starfighters=

The tension Marisa had felt on the hangar deck was alleviated a little, her pilots were a lot more comfortable with a flight stick in their hands when they were waiting for an operation to start rather than sitting around. There was still a little anxiousness in the comms banter, but that was to be expected. They all had their assignments, which mainly boiled down to an opening saturation attack and point defense for the Triumphant. She smiled a little as she caught the tail end of some of the pilot's jokes.

Though of particular concern was the silence from her Tactical Systems Officer in the seat behind her, Ensign Tarah Zh'Shoal, a fresh faced kid straight from the academy on Andoria. Marisa felt the need to take the young officer under her wing and it most assuredly had nothing to do with the fact that the CAG found Andorians utterly adorable.

"Hey kid, how are you doing back there?" Marisa asked on her internals with a friendly inflection as she continued to play around with the channels on her communications panel.

"I'm fine ma'am." The ensign replied with tension in her voice. It was clear that being the CAG's TSO probably didn't help the anxiety of being on her first combat sortie.

With a soft chuckle Marisa opened her comms again "You should relax ensign. For the time being there's nothing for you to do, and when there is just worry about point defense. Getting all worked up before a fight is how mistakes happen."

"Understood ma'am" The ensign replied, this time with a bit of defiance in her tone.

Well she didn't want to be coddled, that was a good sign. "You got a call sign yet Zh'Shoal?" Marisa said shaking her head slightly.

"A callsign? You mean like Victory?"

"Ensign Zh'Shoal is a bit of a mouth full for Terrans, and shouting "Tactical" every time I want your attention is a bit impersonal. You've got your ship callsign that you use with traffic control and other squadrons, but inside the squadron it's common to use a personal callsign." Marisa explained. She unclipped her harness and looked behind her fresh, blue faced TSO with a thoughtful expression "When I say the name "Pixie", that means I'm talking to you, got it? And because you're my back seater, you say Alice when you address me. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am" The Andorian said until Marisa twisted her head at her in a slightly disapproving grimace "Err- I mean Alice."

"Atta girl" Marisa said with a beaming smile before she sat back down and strapped herself in again.

=A=Triumphant, Garm Alpha.=A= Marisa said, opening a channel to the bridge. =A=Don't forget to expand your warp field to maximum safe. We don't want to get left behind now=A= With the fighters weaker warp drives the wing would need to stay close to the Triumphant and piggy back on it's warp field if they were going to keep up.

=^=Everything will be ready and able when the time comes, Cheshire,=^= a male voice replied. =^=How's it looking out there?=^=

Marisa caster her eyes over her sensors and out of the canopy to the big empty, only the visuals didn't make it seem that way. The blue and purple hues of the stellar debris that made up the Orion nebula were tranquil, almost welcoming, enough to make Marisa forget that the only thing between her and hard vacuum was only a centimeter of transparent aluminum, if only for a moment.

She returned her attention to her instruments with a slight sigh =A=Triumphant, Garm Alpha. We're done falling into formation and are just making sure that each individual ship is linked up with traffic control. It's all on you guys for the moment.=A=

=^=Acknowledged, Cheshire,=^ the voice of the flight controller said.


=Victory-103A=

Lt. Bowman brought his Valkyrie up to the appropriate location, utilizing his stabilizing thrusters to even everything out. He rechecked each of his main systems one more time. He was a little disappointed that the nebula was causing his scanner a pathetic view of everything very far out. He had no problem confirming the location of all the other fighters, 68 in all plus 2, and the Triumphant of course. He just didn't like not seeing where he was going.

Theo recalled the simulated training were everything was done by with limited sensors. That always seemed to put him on edge. Then he recalled the flight sim where he flew with only what he could see with his eyes and no sensor data. He actually preferred flying by sight. He was sure that the 'pilots of old' on Earth really enjoyed that.

Theo activated the internal comm, "Hey Badger, How are things looking back there?"

Ens. Ramirez, the TSO, responded with a relaxed tone, "Everything is looking good back here Fletch. Well, accept for the fact that I can't see anything. Hah!"

Theo knew exactly what he was talking about. "Badger? Tell me how you did on the limited sensor-data sim flights?"

A smile came to Travis' face, but of course no one would see. "Oh, I love them things. Ya see, the trick is to average all the identified data that you do get."

Theo wasn't too sure if he understood what Badger meant, with a slight frown.

When the Lieutenant didn't respond, Travis added, "It's like walking through a thick forest in the dark. You feel all the sticks hitting you. You know you are getting close to the tree when there are more sticks hitting ya."

Theo raised an eyebrow, "That actually makes a bit of sense."

"Ya. But I'd rather be in the woods somewhere, rather than here," Ramirez replied. "No offense."

"None taken," Fletch replied, "None taken."

=A=Garm Alpha, Yellow Bravo.=A= A voice said over the wings communications channel, identifying itself as one of the Early Warning squadron. =A=I've got a bogey at 310, 015. Weight class is something akin to a Battle Ship. Vectoring on our position.=A=

"Pixie, link me the feed from Yellow Bravo." Marisa said over her shoulder to her TSO before looking at her sensor panel.

"Aye Aye sir" the Andorian responded just before a flurry of key taps sent the data to Marisa's sensor display.

=A=Yellow Bravo, Garm Alpha. I'm bringing it up now, standby.=A=she said as the readout on her screen expanded to include the extended range of the early warning ship. There was an additional signature a good 40 AU away, very big but heavily distorted by the nebula.

=A=Yellow Bravo, I can't make heads or tails out of that.=A= Marisa said with a slight frown =A=What does your analysis say?=A=

=A=Garm Alpha, Analysis paints the signature as a Negh'var class Battle Ship, though low fidelity.=A= The warning ship responded.

=A=Roger that Yellow Bravo, will send it up the chain. Garm Alpha out.=A= Marisa said before addressing to her TSO "Pixie, link me to the Triumphant's operations channel"

=A=Triumphant, Lieutenant Cheshire. Message for the captain. Be advised that the Early warning squadron has detected a large ship is in our region. Bogey is painted as a Negh'var and is on a vector towards us, but readings could be false. Would you like a flight to intercept or should we hold formation?=A=

=^=Intercept it the moment it enters the nebula,=^= the Captain's voice came back. =^=If it attacks, we'll be on the way.=^=


=Bridge=

"Yellow alert," Michael ordered the bridge crew.

Martha pressed a couple of buttons on her console which took the Triumphant to yellow alert status. She kept an eye on the scanners to watch the nearby ships which she hoped would come close enough for her to get some more target practice.

"We're at yellow alert Captain" Martha confirmed.

There was no way sh'Paveress could cut power now. If anything, she began to shut down non-essential systems to keep that power on standby for defensive systems.

Kramer monitored the power output of the Tri-Core warp engines as they went to 'Yellow Alert'. He was glad there was no sign of issue in the cooling system that they had corrected. He Chief Engineer noticed at the power draw had been diminished and glanced over to the Andorian at Ops, and shook his head with uncertainty. Kramer was curious, Hm, I wonder if he knows just how much power that the tri-core engine can produce. He seems to be responding as if this is an Intrepid Class ship or something. Kramer knew that this was neither the time nor place for such a discussion.

Douglas had already been personally at a heightened alert status. Now, he sent orders to his security people to raise theirs and shift the patrol patterns, putting more boots on deck, as it were. He received immediate ready signals. "Security ready at Yellow," he reported.

=Fighters=

=A=Sending a couple of flights for intercept. Garm Alpha.=A= Marisa said as she looked down at the flight PADD on her knee, tapping in her log. =A=Victory-103-Alpha, Garm Alpha. =A=

=A=Garm Alpha, Victory-103-Alpha. Go ahead.=A= Bowman replied back and tapped his internal com, "Badger standby for instructions." Fletch readied the device on his lap.

=A= Fletch, take some notes. Take two flights to intercept the unknown contact at 310/015. Comms are spotty, so disperse the second flight at intervals of 10 AU to relay transmissions back to base. You are only to advise the contact that they are wandering in to a Star Fleet operations zone and that remaining in the nebula will be considered a hostile act at this time. Remain outside weapons range, remain in the nebula and only hail them if they enter the nebula. If they fire upon you or fail to comply report and RTB, we'll organise a strike mission. We really don't want to get bogged down here if we can help it, so you are to avoid antagonising them if you can.=A= Which was a fleeting goal with Klingons Marisa thought with a slight sigh, but it had been known to happen. =A=Garm-Bravo and Yellow-Bravo will be joining you to assist. You get all that?=A=

Theo had received the message and had taken notes. He then activated his comm, =A= Garm Alpha, Victory-103-Alpha. Confirmed flights 103-1 and 103-2 for maneuver. Location 310/015. Flight 103-2 will extend range, each at 10 AU for flight 103. Confirmed to communicate and inform contact that Ops in this zone by Starfleet. To alter course, non-comply to be hostile-act. Do not engage, per delimit. Keep weapons cold. =A=

=A=Good read Victory-103-Alpha. Cleared to break formation. Come back in one piece. Garm-Alpha out.=A=

Theo took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he focused his mind on what he did next. Bowman activated his comm with the fighters, =A=Victory 103-1 and 103-2, 103 Alpha. mission instructions being sent at this time. Stay tight and follow me. See data for details. =A=

The two angled together and moved down and away from the other fighters still in formation. The 8 fights pulled away and full impulse as the swept slightly to the right of the current field of fire. After 10 AU a fighter dropped back, banking to port. Each of the 4 fights followed the same pattern creating the extended range for communication through the nebula. The four fighters in flight 103 moved now in unison with the extended line of fighters. Bowman waited for the appropriate time to contact the unconfirmed vessel.


Bridge

"Bring us closer to the edge of the Nebula," Michael told the helmsman. "Take us to red alert, Lieutenant Cusack. Weapons online and raise shields." He looked at sh'Pavaress. "Negative. I have a feeling they'll be busy with the fighters."

The helmsman brought the massive ship closer, meter by meter and watched the sensors.

Having already familiarised herself with her new console - a totally different one to the one she had on the Vindex - Martha managed to bring the weapons online without having to look at her console.

"Weapons are now online Captain. Standing by for further orders" Martha confirmed.

sh'Paveress nodded at the Captain, completely understanding. "Shields online and holding steady at ninety-seven percent. The portions of the nebula inside our shields is interfering with the emitters, and I'm attempting to compensate."

The Negh'Var warship crept closer to the Orion Nebula before opening fire with a barrage of disruptor cannons.

Suddenly a D'deridex Class Romulan ship shimmered into view as it decloaked roughly half a million kilometers from the fighters and appeared to be taking heavy fire from the Negh'Var while it maneuvered away from the spot in the nebula where it had been hiding and cloaked.


Fighters

Bowman observed the warship just outside the nebula began to fire. He wasn't quite sure who or what they were firing at. Fighter shields were intensified to maximum, but he did not alter course. He confirmed that they were not firing at the Triumphant, nor toward their fighters. Sensors then activated identifying a Romulan ship decloaking, above and to starboard of their trajectory.

=A=Garm Alpha, Victory 103 Alpha. We are observing fire onto a Romulan vessel in the Nebula. Request instructions!=A= There were too many uncertainties about them.

=^=Continue observing for the moment=^= responded a voice from the Triumphant.

=A=Victory-103-Alpha, Garm-Alpha. Continue observation from stand off range. Retreat if they fire on you.=A= Marisa said with a professional inflection, though she had a set of raised eyebrows as she observed the telemetry on her scanner. It was a bit of a weird place for a fight between a Romulan and Klingon ship. Weirder things had happened, but she'd put money on one or both of them being syndicate.

=A=Garm-Alpha, Victory-103-Alpha. Understood.=A= Bowman replied. He then changed his frequency over to the fighters in his flight, =A=Alright boys. We got some crazy shit going on here. We're gonna stay true to our course and fly below that ship out there being hit. Be at the ready and standby.=A=


Bridge

Michael looked at the helm. "Full stop."

"Full stop," the helmsman responded.

The Captain looked over to Operations. "Is there any com traffic between them?" he asked.

sh'Paveress nodded after putting in her earpiece. "Just the usual threats back in forth in Klingon and Romulan. The Klingons are demanding the Romulans stand down. The Romulans are insisting the Klingons are trespassing. Doesn't sound like anything unusual."

"Open a channel on their frequencies," Michael told the young Andorian.

The Andorian Ensign nodded, making some adjustments to her console, batch selecting all known Romulan and Klingon frequencies, at least the commonly used ones. There was no need to raise any suspicion that the Federation knew of a few encrypted channels. "Hailing frequencies open, Captain."

"This is Captain Michael Aravan of the USS Triumphant," Michael stated as the channel opened. "Please cease and desist your actions. You are not authorized to be in this sector."

A flurry of Klingon and Romulan answered him, translated roughly to "Begone, Federation scum!" followed by both ships coming about as they attempted to triangulate the position of the Federation ship.

"Captain Aravan to Alice. Fire at will," Michael ordered as the two ships suddenly decided the Triumphant was a better target than each other.

There was a flurry of movement in the cockpit of Garm-alpha as Marisa entered in her override code into the navigational computer, freeing her fighter from the Triumphant control. =A=Attention all fighters, Garm-Alpha. Angels, you're on point defense, Victorys, Kings and Kestrels, on me.=A= she said before sliding her throttle all the way forward, scoring about 3gs even with the inertial dampener's compensation.

Streaks of blue trailed from the Triumphant as the fighters that were in formation with her maneuvered into an attack formation. 16 small ships came to a stop some distance in front of the triumphant and matched her vector, ready to intercept any torpedoes heading towards their carrier while the rest formed into diamond formations with the rest of their flights and approached the Romulan and Klingon ships.

=A=Victory one-alpha, rejoin your flight. All fighters, fire at will. Prioritise weapons and shields.=A= Marisa said as they got close.

=A=Garm-Alpha, Victory-103-Alpha. Moving to intercept.=A= Bowman tapped his comm from his fighters, =A=All right flight 103. We will invert, dive down, strafe, pull up and back toward the other fighters.=A= Flight 103 did just that. They flipped their birds, so the Romulan vessel was now below them and they dove in at full impulse. At the precise distance fired their weapons and pulled up strafing across the underside of the Romulan defenses. Flight 103 then made a tactical withdrawal to rejoin the other fighters.

The second they came into weapons range the fighters began firing, sending a large wall of phaser bolts at the pair of ships along with some torpedoes for good measure. Marisa turned her flight assist off and let her ship drift under it's momentum, making slight adjustments to her vector to avoid the Klingon's point defense, firing on the ship all the while. As she and her formation reached point blank range they all kept their noses pointing at the large battleship as they drifted underneath her, their attacks causing her shields to ripple like a lake being assaulted by a monsoon.

The Negh'Var's shields held and it turned it's disruptor cannons on the smaller fighters and began a steady barrage in the Klingon style of overwhelming firepower before it started to move towards them.

The D'Deridex fired a spread of torpedoes at the approaching fighters, but seemed intent on staying further back than the Klingon ship.

The slow moving projectiles weren't particularly effective against the fighters, with the infrequent hits, as powerful as they were, were at least able to be mitigated by the small ship's shields. The Klingon ship was able to score 4 or 5 hits at most in the few seconds it took the formations to dive out of it's field of fire, and the torpedoes were deftly intercepted by the point defense phaser operated by their TSOs.

From her point blank position however, it was a bit of a different story for Marisa as the point defense systems created a beam network similar to that of a security system in a 20th century spy movie. To any outsider watching her formation's maneuvers it would seem like they were tumbling out of control.

=^=Lock, 090-45-45.=^= Pixie called out.

Marisa deciphered the Andorian's meaning and tapped her ventral thrusters, forcing her ship out of alignment. She then rolled and pitched towards a new vector and hit her afterburner, before having to repeat the maneuver. All the while the heat syncs on her phaser arrays were sitting just shy of critical as she would unleash a volley every moment her recital landed on the battleship.

At this point, there were only 2 battleships without fighter escort. There was no need to go all out and Marisa was quite happy to whittle away their shields, take out their weapons and force a surrender. Though an eye was constantly darting towards her scanner, ready to up the ante if re-enforcement arrived.

By this time, Bowman's 2 flights had reunited, working in unison with the other fighters. The last maneuver for these 8 fighters had been to peel away and come up on the Romulan's port side. They straifed that side as the other fighters had done a great job to the underside.

Theo was beginning to worry. Several indicators before him were in the 'yellow' and a couple in the 'red'. He was quite experienced with firing phasers, but the practices had never gone this long nor this intense before. Calling back to his 'rear', "Badger, send me functional stats on the fighters in my flights." The details Theo received were not good, but everyone was holding their own. Only one bird had a moderately dangerous cooling issue.

As the battle was joined, a Vor'cha attack cruiser, a Ferengi D'Kora Class Troopship and twenty four Hideki fighters appeared on the Triumphant's sensors coming in a low warp moments later.

Alarms sounded all across sh'Paveress's console. "Captain!" she cried out. "I'm picking up more than two dozen new warp signatures. More Klingons, Ferengi and Cardassians. All coming in at warp speed!"

"Bring us out of the nebula," Michael ordered as he went back to his seat. "Helm, Beta Three! Security, keep our shields at maximum! Tactical, fire at will. Intel, full scrambling on their frequencies. If they can't communicate with each other, it may give us a chance."

The helmsman brought the ship out in a broad arc set to match the trajectory of the incoming ships.

Eve's antennae twitched as they entered battle. "As you wish, Captain." Her blue fingers flew over, or rather through, the holographic displays. She had found several frequencies that their enemies were using. She smiled as she locked each one out, knowing that they were attempting to communicate on another one. Scrambling their frequencies was one thing, using multiple algorithms to create a series of rotating Intel encryptions on top of the scrambling...that was just plain old fun. "Subspace frequencies scrambled, Captain."

"Alice, Yellow-bravo reports additional contacts, 2 cruisers and 24 fast movers on a vector towards us. Coming in quick. Pixie said in the back of Marisa's fighter.

Marisa looked at her telemetry instinctively for an instant before refocusing her attention on dodging the Klingon's counter fire. Pulling back on the stick she pulled 180 away from the warship and hit her after burner, quickly escaping the range of the point defense systems.

The situation had changed now, she could no longer take her time and keep her wing safe. Now the best course of action would be to remove the current threat before possible re-enforcement arrived.

=A=All Squadrons, Garm-Alpha.=A= Marisa said as she took a holding pattern around the Klingon ship =A=Yellow, Prepare flight paths for a multi-vector saturation attack against the Klingon warship and distribute them to all fighters. Angels, join strike and top cover operations. Launch all reserve fighters, Diamond Backs will take over goalkeeping duties.=A=

Her HUD filled with additional information, a small number next her speed indicator telling her what velocity she should be traveling at along with holographic, glowing blue triangular gates that she would need to fly through. She obeyed while never releasing control to the computer. A hard turn was up ahead, along with the instruction to punch it. After coming to the bearing, the Klingon battleship was right on her crosshair. She fired, as did her wing men, and shortly after the entire wing. A shrinking sphere of orange and blue death pounded relentlessly on the Klingon ships shields to the point where it was almost completely obscured by phaser fire. They blasted past it and each other in a maneuver more daring than most demonstration squads would attempt, quickly escaping to stand off ranges again, only to look back and witness the damage that they had wrought.

Bowman was in awe of the damage that they had just put upon that Klingon vessel. She was banking away now and checking to see if all of his fighters made it to his point. A slight sigh came over him. The engagement had been successful and he was feeling very good at the moment, but knowing that they all came through was a relief.

Martha could see the vessels and decided it was time to give the Triumphant's weapons a proper workout and to give the fighters some cover. At least if she could take out the shields the fighters would have a better chance to inflict some serious damage.

"Drawing extra power from reserves...and firing" Martha said.

Targeting the closest ship - a Klingon Negh'Var-class starship - Martha charged up the phasers to maximum before a single but extremely powerful bolt of phaser fire struck the closest Klingon ship and critically damaged its shields.

Martha spoke. "Recharging phasers...targeting the next one"

The next hit was also successful - although after watching the D'Kora-class starship's shields start to fail Martha decided to ease off on using the phasers above their maximum setting to avoid overloading them. She was sure the Captain wouldn't be too happy with her if she blew out all of the phaser relays.

"I'm reducing the power to the phasers to just below their maximum setting. Another shot like that risks blowing out the phaser coils...but the fighters should have an easier time with those two ships" Martha said.

The Negh'Var ship veered off to come around so its starboard shields were protecting it while it continued to fire at the fighters, but its movements were sluggish and it seemed the hit from the Triumphant and the fighters had done more damage than it appeared.

The Ferengi transport ship shuddered and fired an electromagnetic pulse which the Triumphant shrugged off and unleashed a barrage of torpedoes at the Odyssey class.

The Vor'cha attack cruiser fired it's disruptor cannon and a series of torpedoes as it circled to the port side of the Triumphant to put itself away from the swarm of fighters.

The Hideki fighters now entered the fray against the Starfleet fighters and a dogfight, however one sided began as each of them fired their disruptors and veered off before coming for another attack.

"Status of the shields!" Michael called as the ship rocked and shook from the blows it was taken.

"They're holding for now...diverting some of reserve power into the shields. Launching two spreads of torpedoes at the D'Kora-class...timed two seconds apart. Firing the first spread now" Martha said.

The first spread hit their target just as Martha launched the second.

Douglas watched the indicators on his board, making adjustments as necessary. The attack was taking its toll on the shield systems, but he could divert some power from nonessential systems to compensate... at least for a time. The problem was that Cusack was also diverting power to push the Phasers beyond their normal optimum capacity.

He was relieved when she dropped the Phasers back to just below their highest power levels. This freed up the energy she was diverting to them for his use. He quickly slid his fingers over his own holographic display to redirect that excess energy to the shields. So far, they were holding.

"Engineering, more power to the shields and phasers," Michael called out.

"Aye Sir," Kramer called back over the comm. He pointed his fingers toward the Ensign and the controls for the power management. The Ensign increased the power output for all 3 Warp cores to 105%.

In space, the Negh'Var and the Vor'cha Klingon ships formed up side by side and began a run for the fighters, firing their disruptor cannons as they approached on what seemed like a ramming trajectory.

The Ferengi ship listed to the side and turned before it started to make a run from the battle while pouring out every bit of weaponry it had behind it in a random pattern.

The formation of the enemy fighters concentrated on a few flights that had found themselves out of position following the strike mission. They managed to score a few hits on the Federation fighters who were distracted by the large battleship they had just wounded. Marisa ordered them to withdraw while the rest of her wing engaged.

With the addition of the Syndicate fighters the wing's strike mission had quickly devolved into a fur ball some distance away from the now heavily damaged Negh'Var ship. 64 professionally trained star fleet pilots against 24 criminals in fighters from the dominion war, it was practically a suicide mission for the syndicate, but they would tie her wing up long enough for the Klingon to withdraw. Contrary to popular belief, the wrinkle heads weren't all tactless apes.

"Hideki vessel on our six!" Pixie called out from the back seat as lock on warnings flashed upon Marisa's HUD.

The Adorian was able to catch the torpedoes of the syndicate fighters with the backward facing array moments before Marisa pulled back on the stick. Turning off her main engine, diverted all the extra power to her weapons and disabling her flight assist, she traveled back down the column of ships that was following her with her crosshair over her pursuers. The overcharged phasers quickly forced the system to over temperature, causing Marisa to pulse her shots, firing a torpedo while they cooled off. Each ship succumbed with a silent detonation, one, then two, then three. Though with the final ship in her crosshair, all hopes of the 2500 lives aboard Negh'Var being spared were dashed. A massive green bolt from the warship's forward disruptor array hit the fighter in front of her, vaporizing it with a detonation that emitted a shock wave that shook the Valkyrie around.

Firing blindly into a fur ball that had allied ships; well, if you didn't care about your allies then it was a sound strategy. Marisa thought as she quickly pulled out of the ship's field of fire.

"Alice, Yellow reports that the Negh'Var and the Vor'cha are on a direct vector for the furball, gaining speed." Pixie said with a incredulous tone. "Predicts Collision?"

Okay, attempting to ram a formation of agile fighters with a four-and-a-half million ton battleship. You just graduated from 'calculating tactician' to 'to stupid to live'. The captain of the Vor'cha wasn't much better, in close formation with a vessel in critical condition. Stupid or have a death wish, one or the other.

=A=All squadrons, ignore enemy fighters and follow my vector. Prepare for a head on run with the Negh'Var ship. Target their bridge until I'm 100 meters from collision and then target their warp core and be ready to hit warp 1 once she pops.=A=

Bowman knew that what she was attempting was a dangerous move, but if done properly, it could be very effective. Fletch brought his fighter and wings in with her formation.

She pulled her ship directly through the furball, and her wing quickly followed suit. Without the assistance from their Electronic Warfare and Control squadron the formation was a lot less static and more fluid compared to the last strike run. A swarm that flowed around fields of fire like water around a stone. A long trail filled with blue streaks that redirected itself towards the large vessel and their completely ineffective fire. If you're going to target a small, fast moving object with a projectile, you better have brought a lot of projectiles.

The wing's fire from their forward pulse phasers was so intense that it seemed to merge into a single thick beam, which splashed upon the waning shields of the Klingon battleship, causing them to flicker out and buckle. The barrage didn't let up though, and the forward section was quickly reduced to molten slag. A few hundred meters before a collision the fighters stopped and Marisa pulled up and over the vessel before pointing her fighters nose at her target. Soon the Negh'var's hull was potted with hundreds of marks from the phasers and torpedoes of over 50 small ships as they aligned with the engineering section. Soon secondary explosions dotted the larger ship as the integrity fields keeping her together were automatically being sacrificed to keep the containment field going. The Federation fighters warped away, unwilling to suffer the consequences of their onslaught.

From minimum safe distance Marisa rolled her ship back to watch the fireworks. The secondary explosions continued until the a larger, more definitive one cracked the ship in two. A flash of light brought a shock wave that disintegrated what was left of the husk at the speed of light before washing over the before now untouched cruiser. The Federation fighters also shuddered, though a lot less violently at the detonation, as they watched.

=A=All Squadrons, mop up the fighters and then work on disabling the Vor'cha. I will confer with base.=A=

Bowman confirmed the operational status of his wings and found them still able to fight. There had been no loses or major damage. He really hoped to keep things that way. =A=Flights Victory 103, Victory 103-Alpha. Follow me. We are going to take the Nebula side.=A=

"Damage reports!" Michael called out.

The voice of Doctor T'Lara promptly responded via the ship's internal communications. It was eerily calm given the circumstances in a way only a Vulcan would be.

=^= Fourteen injuries reported at this time Captain, one serious. =^=

Douglas glanced up from his console. "Shields are holding at 95%." He was drawing power from everywhere he could without impairing necessary systems, but he could not get it back to 100%. Frustration tugged at the fringes of his awareness, but he shut it out and kept his neutrality in place.

"Detecting fluctuations in the primary EPS manifolds," sh'Paveress reported, a bit annoyed that security was fiddling with systems that she was trying to juggle at the moment. "I'm shifting phaser power to the secondary generator until I can get that sorted out."

Tag Science

The helmsman attempted to keep the Triumphant on an even course as he dodged another barrage of disruptor fire, but a direct hit from several torpedoes rocked the ship and for a moment the internal power flickered before it came back on.

With the Vor'cha damaged by the explosion of the Negh'Var, it still came on firing all eighteen disruptor cannons and launching volleys of torpedoes at the Triumphant.

Michael nearly fell out of his chair before the seatbelts engaged as the ship took damage and he glanced at the holographic display in the arm of his chair. "Delta Two, fire all weapons!" he called out.

The Helm swooped the ship over the Vor'cha from starboard to port, then back from port to starboard after diving underneath it on the second pass.

Martha targeted the Vor'cha-class' shield and weapons generators with a mix of phaser and torpedo fire. Once they were in the optimum position the Tactical Chief opened fire on their enemy. Her intense study of Klingon ships over the past four years had certainly paid off here.

Meanwhile, the Ferengi transport ship gave up the fight and engaged warp before it took more damage from the fighters, but the Romulan ship turned it's six disruptor cannons on the swarm of enemy fighters and maintained a distance when they tried to close in.

=A=They're fighting pretty hard for a bunch of criminals=A= Mobius said over the command flight's channel as the wing dove out of the Romulan's line of fire. =A=Though you'd think they would have learned from watching what happened to the Klingons.=A=

"Makes you think there's a big pay day at the end of all this, or the syndicate has something on them. But their tactics for engaging fighters are laughable." Marisa said with an exasperated sigh as she looked over towards the Vor'cha, adrift and on fire but still firing, taking pot shots at the Triumphant like a dying dog trying to get one more bite in as it bled out.

They were fighting too hard, especially for a criminal organisation. If their mission was to destroy the Triumphant at this stage it was clear that all they would manage to do is give her a black eye. If they were looking to rescue or kill the Triumphants prisoners, well the troopship just withdrew. They should all be withdrawing, even if they were complete novices.

=A=King Squadron, put that Vor'cha out of it's misery.=A= Marisa said with an emotionless tone =A=Yellow Squadron, prepare short range warp instructions to put Kestrel, Angel and Victory behind the Romulan vessel. Be ready to make the jump on my signal.=A=

The blonde haired commander then gave an instruction to her back seater to open a channel to the Triumphant.

=A=Triumphant, this is Alice. I'm worried about the infiltration team. Have they reported since the battle began?=A= she said as she lazily avoided the fire from the Romulan.

sh'Paveress, who was monitoring all of the comm traffic, chose not to reply to that request. In fact, she purposely introduced a bit of static into all of the Starfleet frequencies in hope that it would muddy the traffic enough and hide any further attempts to ask about things that needed to stay under the radar.

"Set course for the Romulan ship," the Captain ordered.

With the Vor'Cha disabled, the helmsman steadied the Triumphant and headed towards the area where the fighters were going after the Hideki and the D'Deridex.

Michael looked over at the Andorian and disengaged the safety belts before he came to his feet and walked over to where the young Shen was. "Is something wrong, Ensign?" he asked.

The Ensign nodded her head. "Lieutenant Cheshire requested an update on infiltration team. With all of the comm... Stand by. I'm getting a new call from the Lieutenant." Ensign sh'Paveress routed it through the bridge's speakers so the Captain could hear. While the Ensign was not fully in the know, her knowledge of communication protocol was enough to caution her in how to proceed. Still, she wasn't the Captain and would defer to him.

Marisa clicked her tongue with indignation as the static increased on the channel. There was a slight pause while she flicked through her notes on the PADD on her lap for the priority key =A=Triumphant. Romeo-Tango-Sienna-Seven-One-Four. Advise the Captain that the enemy is over committing to a lost battle with no strategic value and that he should be concerned about the other operation. Cheshire out.=A= She had no idea whether or not the message got through with the static now on their secure coms channels.

Shortly after the warp jump calculations came through from her support squadron, with half the data corrupted. She sent a message via tight beam to her flight, which then dispersed to relay it to the other squadrons. Regroup to tight beam range and disengage while the comms error is being corrected. She didn't know who was buzzing her, but it could be a bad omen.

"Acknowledged, Cheshire," Michael responded once the authentication had been given. "The situation appears hot. Remain alert and prepare for warp to Stameris on my mark."

=A=Give us a minute to get into formation.=A= Marisa responded. With the interference lifted it was easy enough. The fighters began to fall in with the Triumphant, hanging off the ship like a cloak.

Bowman had received the recall signal and confirmed it with the members of his flights. He was currently tucked up next to the Triumphant in formation. He and his rear began to confirm damage and status. He was beginning to receive similar data from his two flights and forwarded it onto the Squadron Commander.

On the Triumphant, Michael looked to the Ops station. "Have we gotten anything back from the away team yet?" he asked.

"Lischka to Triumphant." came over a secured burst subspace message.

"Just got word from the Galor," replied sh'Paveress, wondering how the Captain had such wonderful timing. She routed the call through the bridge's speakers and replayed Lischka's hail.

"Report, Lieutenant," Michael said.

"We have an enemy ship and fighters closing in on us. Ground troops were in need of assistance, so our cover has officially been blown. We're in need of some assistance," the German woman stated.

"We're on our way," the Captain said before he nodded to the helmsman. "Set maximum warp of the fighters for Stameris." He closed the channel and opened another to the fighter group.

"Cheshire, we're on our way to Stameris. The away team is in need of assistance. Engage maximum warp."

=A=Triumphant, Standby=A= Marisa responded, looking down at one of her console for the last fighter to confirm it was slaved to the network. Not even a moment later all the icon's were green =A=Okay, we're synced up and waiting on you. Garm Alpha=A=

The helmsman engaged the ship and headed to their destination.

Bowman seemed to breathe easier once the Triumphant went to warp. His fighter, as well as all the others, were linked and moving through sub-space together as if they were all one big vessel. For some reason he found this comforting. He knew his would not last for too long before they were needed. But until then, he knew all the fighters would make any repairs or switch over to bypass systems so that hey would be fully functional and ready for he Task when called upon.

"Operations, what's the status of the shields?" Michael asked.

"Holding together rather well, Captain," sh'Paveress replied. "They got at as low as eighty percent, but we are regenerating and damage is minimal this time around."

Douglas hated That his shields got as low as 80%, but it was not a reflection on his abilities. They had taken quite a pounding. The fact that they'd stayed that high was impressive. Still, he scanned over his panel for ways to maximize them, to improve the efficiency, to gather more power. Nothing made itself visible. Besides, he reminded himself mentally, that's Operations' job, not yours. Let her do her job. He let it go and watched the numbers rise as the systems regenerated and shield strength improved.

Kramer was pleased that there were no issues with the warp cores. There had been some stress on them, but had come through quite well. Current status was that the engines were fine and providing operational power at 110% of the amount needed.