All at once he awoke and sat up in his bed. Still in his nightclothes he bolted out of his quarters and ran to the nearest turbolift. "Captain's quarters."
Upon arrival, he buzzed repeatedly at the captain's door, until the drowsy man barked angrily from behind it, "Who the hell is it?"
"Sir, it's Reiv. Falinn is in trouble."
The door slid open and the captain rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "What are you saying Lieutenant?" Reiv was about to respond, when suddenly the ship's lights changed color to a deep crimson, and the alert klaxon went off.
Freeman groggily touched a nearby comm panel. "Freeman here, what is it?"
"Captain, we've received a distress signal from the Drexler; they're under attack by a Cardassian warship," Lieutenant Zaras, the third shift Bridge duty officer reported.
Freeman shot Reiv a startled glance for his foresight. "Lieutenant Zaras, plot an intercept course with the Drexler; warp factor nine point seven five."
"Aye Captain," she replied.
"C'mon Lieutenant," Freeman said to Reiv as the two rushed off toward a turbolift to take them to the Bridge. "We have a chance to catch up to her; the Drexler was only going warp three when she left yesterday, so she won't be too far away."
Yilaan and Ivanovna arrived at nearly the same time as Freeman and Reiv, and the four relieved the duty officers present and took their posts. The ship was vibrating slightly under the high rate of speed. "Status," Freeman said as he sat down, still in his pajamas.
Ensign Carlon, the young man currently on duty at the navigations console replied, "Eleven minutes to intercept, sir." Ensign Gates then arrived on the Bridge via the forward-starboard turbolift and relieved Ensign Carlon.
"No longer receiving the distress call, Captain," Lieutenant Ivanovna reported. "Transmission is jammed at the source."
"Coming to within visual range," Gates commented.
"On screen Ensign," Freeman ordered. The image on the screen showed only stars, so far as the naked eye could see. "Magnify." His order was carried out, and the screen revealed two vessels, one Bajoran, one Cardassian, firing on each other.
"The Bajoran ship is trying to disengage, but the Cardassian is pursuing," Ivanovna said.
"Engineering this is Freeman; can we get any more speed out of our engines?"
"We'll try sir, though we're already at maximum," Commander Jevor reported.
"Speed increasing sir," Reiv reported, his voice becoming more nervous. "Now steady at warp nine point eight eight five." The Bristol began to shudder in complaint. "Seven minutes now," Reiv continued anxiously.
"Captain," Ivanovna called out anxiously, "the Drexler's shields just fell. If they . . ." Her sentence was interrupted by a bright flash of light. "The Drexler just exploded Captain," she continued in a low voice. Reiv caught his breath sharply, causing Commander Yilaan to look his way. "Captain," Ivanovna reported after a moment of silence, "the Cardassians are now coming after us. One Brelek class battle cruiser; they've increased speed to warp five."
"Helm, match speeds for combat. Navigations, prepare to initiate evasive maneuver sequence Gamma; let's come around to their starboard side once conflict is engaged," the captain ordered. His officers acknowledged; Reiv's voice was choked and his hands shook terribly as he carried out the instructions. "Ensign Hammond, relieve Lieutenant Reiv; Ensign Carlon, please escort Reiv to Sickbay."
"No, dammit!" Reiv shouted, swivelling angrily around in his chair to face Captain Freeman. "I'm fine! Captain, please, I have to do this."
"Very well Lieutenant," Freeman replied simply, nodding at Ensigns Hammond and Carlon to leave him be. "Lieutenant Ivanovna, raise the shields. Time to intercept?"
"Two minutes; coming within weapons range," Ivanovna reported.
"On my mark, Gates, initiate maneuver; Ivanovna, continual fire all weapons on the battle cruiser," the captain said, pausing. "Now!"
The maneuver was engaged, and Ivanovna fired the fore and starboard phasers, and the forward torpedo banks, while the Cardassian vessel greeted the Bristol with several disruptor blasts, and a few torpedoes of its own. The Bristol was hit solidly, and the ship shook violently, as the two combatants raced past each other in space, much as in a medieval jousting match. Science Station Two's panel exploded in the face of the young female Vulcan Lieutenant working at it; she cried out as the blast lifted her off her feet and threw her back into the Tactical Station next to Lieutenant Ivanovna. The Vulcan was clearly dead.
"Gates, bring us about; get me some shots at their aft quarter," Freeman ordered.
"Continuing fire, all weapons; several hits," Ivanovna reported, just as the ship was hit with another volley from the Cardassians. The lights flickered briefly.
"Damage report!" the captain shouted.
"Shields are down to forty five percent, Captain," Ivanovna reported. "Navigational deflector is down. Life support is fluctuating on decks five through twenty six. Shield generator number four is off line."
The ships exchanged another fierce volley of fire as each jockeyed for position. The Bristol's Bridge crew was violently thrown about as part of the ceiling caved in and a mess of wires and circuits were exposed. "Captain, the Cardassians have sustained heavy damage; their warp drive is off line, they're slowing to impulse."
"Match speeds for combat, Lieutenant Reiv. Ivanovna, concentrate fire on the Cardassian's weapons systems," Freeman ordered as the Bristol was hit again.
"Captain, our shields are down to twelve percent. I don't know if we can take another direct hit," Ivanovna reported.
"Helm, give us warp three, bearing two one three, mark twenty nine. Engage," the captain ordered. "We'll let Maxwell's fleet handle this from here." Reiv, however, was slumped over his helm console.
"Aye sir, warp three," Ensign Gates said from her navigations console as she overrode Reiv's inactivity to carry out the captain's order. The Bristol sped off.
Ensign Carlon helped a seemingly semi-conscious Reiv to Sickbay, where he was examined by Lieutenant Junior Grade Lofton, an assistant to Doctor Giovanni. "Well, Lieutenant, it appears you may have fainted; I can't discern any other medical reasons for your collapse." Lofton put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm very sorry for your loss."
Reiv nodded numbly, "At least we finished off the bastards."
"Uh, well, we didn't actually. Our ship was too damaged to continue; at least that's what some of the other crew have said," Lofton said tentatively.
Reiv's expression became one of dead calm; an expression that greatly unnerved Lofton considering the circumstances. "You're free to go, Lieutenant. You're in good shape. If you experience headaches or dizziness, come back to Sickbay, alright?" Without a word, Reiv left, with Lofton staring after him.
Meanwhile, things were not all well on the Bridge. Three crewmen were dead, including Ensign Hammond and fire had destroyed the Science and Engineering Bridge stations, and damaged part of the Tactical station before it had been brought under control. The ship's fire suppression systems were off line on the Bridge, so the fire had to be brought under control manually.
"Commander Jevor, what is our engine status?" Freeman signaled him.
Over the intercom, Jevor replied, "Tenuous, Captain. The starboard nacelle sustained a hit; it has developed a slow leak of drive plasma. We should drop out of warp and effect repair."
"How long will that take, Commander?" Freeman asked.
"No more than four hours, though I'll have to take the engines off line to do it. I won't be able to bring them back up in the middle of the operation either. However, if we don't do it within the next six to eight hours, the engine could become unstable and explode."
"Sounds to me like we should drop out of warp then. Ensign Gates, give me another ten minutes at present speed, then drop out of warp. That should put some distance between us and that Cardassian ship. With their warp drive off line, they're not too likely to catch up to us before we're back up and running again."
"Sickbay, this is Commander Yilaan," she called out, via her comm badge. "Casualty report."
"So far, twelve dead and twenty nine with injuries," replied the harried voice of Doctor Marisa Giovanni. Yilaan shook her head and frowned.
"Captain, I'm getting a report of a coolant leak in Phaser Control, down on deck twelve. Some of the casualties came from there; damage control is responding," Ivanovna reported.
"Very well. Lieutenant, send a sub-space message to Captain Maxwell, and advise him of our status," Freeman ordered.
"Aye Captain," Ivanovna replied.
Freeman sighed and glanced at his first officer. "It could've been a lot worse."
Yilaan nodded and glanced at the helm console, where Lieutenant Zaras had replaced Lieutenant Reiv. "For some of us it was, Captain."
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