The Monroe was initially between the Romulans and the Bristol, and so she was the target of the first barrage of attacks. The Monroe took several hits on the primary hull, and engaged evasive maneuvers, while the Bristol came around to one side and attempted to flank the attackers.
A torpedo hit threw the bridge officers of the U.S.S. Bristol forward as Lt. Katrina Ivanovna attempted to keep her captain abreast of the tactical situation. "Minor damage to forward shield grids!" she was shouting over the din of comm-traffic, explosions, and weapons fire. "Captain, they're coming around to 278, mark 218. They're attempting to draw us away from the Monroe."
"Keep us within one hundred thousand kilometers of the Monroe!" the captain ordered. "Continual fire, concentrate on the port Romulan ship."
Reiv and Ivanovna moved quickly to carry out the captain's orders, as the Bristol lurched to starboard under a volley of phaser fire.
"Status of the Monroe, Lt.!" the captain called out.
Ivanovna read the scans of the Monroe in the same thought as she triggered the Bristol's phasers against the Romulan ship to port. "Their power is minimal; they can barely return fire, and their shields are almost gone. It appears that their warp drive is out also. They've taken multiple hits on their primary hull; I'm detecting multiple fires on board."
A fierce volley was launched against the Romulan ship they'd been concentrating on, resulting in its satisfying explosion. The other Romulan vessel launched a withering barrage of phaser fire into the Monroe, striking it solidly amidships and causing her to list out of control. The Romulan ship then cloaked itself and fled the area.
"Hail the Monroe," the captain ordered urgently.
The signal came through, somewhat fuzzy, but readable. "Wu here; we've got trouble Mark!"
"What kind?"
"Our power levels are fluctuating wildly, and our anti-matter containment is deteriorating. Permission to beam non-essential crew aboard the Bristol," Wu said quickly.
Freeman nodded, turning to face Lt. Ivanovna. "Drop shields and have the transporters standing by for signals from the Monroe." He then turned back to Lt. Commander Wu, "Whenever you're ready."
Wu nodded and discontinued the transmission. Soon, many of his crewmen were beaming aboard; a few had minor injuries, but most were just tired and covered with soot. They all had side-arms, in addition to a few tricorders and the like. Hand phasers were often issued on patrol ships, or in times of battle, to the whole crew, as opposed to just security personnel.
A half hour later, Wu hailed the Bristol. "Captain, we've got the anti-matter containment stabilized, but at a dangerously low level. Life support continues to fluctuate. I'd like my people to stay aboard your ship for awhile; they can even help in repairs, if you'd like. Once we get things safer here, we'll beam them back and get to work on our own repairs. Right now though, it's a bit too dangerous for all but the most essential personnel."
Captain Freeman nodded. "Do you require assistance to expedite the repairs?"
"No," Wu shook his head. "We have the personnel we need, we just need the time to do it."
"On the Romulan border, time is of the essence, Commander," the captain replied. "Are there any other members of your crew you'd like to off-load to the Bristol at this time."
Wu turned and looked at his first officer, who nodded in return. "My first officer, Lt. Gillian Haywood, will beam over to be a liaison to the Monroe."
"Very well; we will make arrangements to receive her. Freeman out." The captain then turned to Ivanovna, "Summary of our damage, Lt."
"Damage to forward shield generators and photon torpedo banks. An unlucky hit near Engineering has severed the power feeds from the impulse drive. Two turbolifts are out, and the cargo transporters are non-functional. The tractor beam is off-line. Computer access is fluctuating on some of the lower decks," she replied. "Overall, fairly minor."
The captain gave her a look, then nodded, "Direct your damage control teams to repair the power feeds, the shields, and the photons first, and send someone to receive our guest at one of the personnel transporter rooms."
A couple hours later, as repairs were progressing with the help of the Monroe's crew, the captain and Lt. Haywood were having a discussion in Freeman's Ready Room, off of the main bridge.
Freeman had just handed Haywood a cup of coffee from his food dispenser, and was proceeding to place an order himself. "Computer, apple juice, 3 degrees Celsius." The computer made several noises of complaint, but finally generated the beverage requested by the captain.
Haywood, the first officer of the U.S.S. Bristol, was telling the captain about some strange encounters they'd recently had along the Neutral Zone. "We've had twelve encounters with 'shadows' in all, over the past three months. Sensor blips of Romulan ships, only to prove to be nothing at all upon investigation. Of course during that time were all the peculiar ship maneuvers that our captain mentioned earlier. It kept us on our toes; we investigated all of them, shadow and ship alike. This attack today was a surprise, though. I really didn't think they'd cross the border."
"If they think that we're going to take this lying down, they've got another thing coming, too," Freeman replied smiling at the young Lieutenant. "If we can ever punch through the damn long-range communications interference, Starfleet will send several squadrons of ships. We might not have the fleet strength we did a year ago, thanks to the Borg, but we can still defend ourselves."
Captain Freeman's veneer of confidence was completely fake; more for the Lieutenant's sake, and the sake of the crew than anything else. Last week, he had read a report about the sorry state of Starfleet, even several months after the encounter with the Borg; several sectors lacked the presence of capital ships. Many of those frigates and cruisers that there were, were generally understaffed, or staffed with 'green' officers whose previous assignments had been behind a desk. The report, written by a Vice Admiral in Starfleet, was obviously kept very quiet. It had expressed a wish that the Romulans and Cardassians would not try to take advantage of the weakness in fleet strength. The attack by the two Romulan ships suggested that that wish had not been granted.
Haywood suspected nothing out of the ordinary however, and smiled at Captain Freeman as she sipped her coffee. They went on to chat for awhile about small things; what she thought of Lt. Commander Wu as a captain, what the Bristol's role had been in the Borg incident, and so on. Fifteen minutes of this went by before both officers were jerked back to attention by the red alert klaxon.
Captain Freeman tapped his comm-badge, "Bridge, this is the captain. What's going on?"
"We're detecting energy surges, bearing 210, mark 21, sir," Ivanovna's accented voice replied. "Estimated time to intercept, one minute, twelve seconds."
"Let's go!" Freeman said abruptly to Lt. Haywood, and the two officers walked quickly out of the captain's Ready Room and onto the Bridge. "Get me Wu's ship," the captain ordered, and Ivanovna hailed the Monroe.
"Harry, we've got to get your people off the Monroe! More energy surges are coming, and we can't defend your ship; we've got to abandon her," Freeman pleaded to the form of Harry Wu that had replaced the shimmering of stars on the viewscreen.
"Captain," Wu said, smiling, "that's hardly necessary. I appreciate the concern, truly I do. However, my people aren't going anywhere."
Freeman allowed himself at moment to gape at his friend; he couldn't believe what Wu was suggesting. "Harry, that's suicide for you to stay! The Romulans will cut you to pieces!"
Wu paused, apparently thinking the matter over, his face expressing an odd serenity. After a couple seconds, which seemed like an eternity, he replied, "Somehow, I don't think we have to worry about that Captain."
"But....," Freeman started to say. He stopped mid-sentence as he felt a cold touch against his neck; Lt. Haywood had a phaser pointed at his head.
"Computer, this is the captain," Freeman said quickly. "Transfer command protocols to....." He was interrupted as the phaser was used like a club on the back of his head. Freeman's last memory before he lost consciousness, was of someone yelling and another phaser, somewhere near, being discharged.
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