Commander Yilaan ducked into the base's Sickbay as she passed the facility in between assignments. Amongst the wounded sat an exhausted Doctor Giovanni on a small hard chair. On top of her uniform she wore a dirty surgical gown and she sat with her head back against the wall, her eyes closed. Two other other medical personnel stood over a patient to one side, performing what appeared to be a series of routine tasks.
Yilaan entered the room quietly and looked about, trying to find the bed on which Captain Freeman lay. As she took a few steps, a voice called out to her. "Hello Commander," Giovanni said.
Startled, Yilaan turned her head back to look at Doctor Giovanni. "I thought you were asleep," Yilaan told her as she walked over to stand at the doctor's side.
Giovanni rocked her head from side to side. "No such luck I'm afraid. You'd think after the way we've all slept lately, I'd be able to get some sleep after performing a hundred operations," she replied.
"You performed a hundred operations today?" Yilaan asked incredulously.
Giovanni smiled at her. "Maybe I exaggerated a little, but it felt like a hundred, let me tell you."
"How's the Captain?" Yilaan asked, getting to the point of her visit to Sickbay. "How's Mark?"
"He'll be fine, he just needs time to recover now," Giovanni replied, getting up and walking Yilaan over to Freeman's bed, where the man appeared to be asleep. "I repaired his damaged organs and the healing process, aided by our medical supplies, is proceeding well. Another life saved by masterful Starfleet training and our modern technology," she told Yilaan somewhat sardonically in her tired voice. "If he'd lived in that time of swords and spirits he likes to think about, he'd have been dead twelve times over."
Yilaan nodded and patted Giovanni on the shoulder. "Thank you. You've done an excellent job here; why not take a few hours off? It seems to me you could really use it."
"And do what? I told you I can't sleep; I might as well monitor my charges," Giovanni responded.
"Would you say you're the type of officer that follows orders?" Yilaan inquired.
"Of course I am, Commander. You know that," Giovanni replied, her eyes narrowing.
"Good. I order you to take a few hours off and get some sleep. Prescribe something for yourself if you have to. There are people here that can attend to the patients," Yilaan ordered.
Giovanni smiled ruefully at her superior officer. "Very well Commander," she said simply. Giovanni slowly walked over to where her assistants were working. While the Doctor made arrangements with them to keep an eye on things in her absence, Yilaan quietly toured about some of the other tables.
"Commander Yilaan," a quiet voice called out to her from a patient a couple of tables away.
Yilaan strode quickly toward the source of the voice, forcing a smile to cover the anguish of seeing the grave wounds to yet another friend. "Hello Lieutenant," she said simply to the Bristol's Chief of Security. "How are you feeling?"
Lieutenant Ivanovna, obviously severely injured, forced a half-smile before being overtaken by a fit of coughing. "Remember that time the Captain and I and a couple others found that Klingon-Human colony in Klingon space?" Ivanovna asked her. Yilaan nodded, so she continued, "Remember how I was stabbed through the side with that knife that tore out my insides, and then I was hit over the head? Right now I wish I'd been through that again instead."
Yilaan took her hand and squeezed it. "You're going to be okay, Katrina. You're in good hands here," she told her, trying to comfort her, wishing that there was something else she could do. At that point she felt a light tug on her arm; Giovanni had approached unobtrusively from behind and returned Yilaan's look with a meaningful stare of her own. "Rest now Katrina," Yilaan told her gently. "I'll be back to visit you again." With that she allowed Giovanni to lead her out of the station's Sickbay and into the corridor beyond.
"What is it Doctor?" Yilaan asked when the doors had closed behind them and they had taken a few steps down the hallway.
Giovanni stopped and pulled Yilaan to one side. "I'm not entirely sure my ministrations will be enough in her particular case."
Yilaan stared at the Doctor mutely for several moments. "What are you saying?" she finally asked.
"She's not responding to treatment as well as I'd hoped. The night will tell the tale one way or the other. She's strong, though, so she may yet pull through."
Yilaan ran her hands over her face and stared off down the corridor. "Well, I'm sure you're doing all you can," she said in a weary voice.
Giovanni appraised her First Officer with interest. "Well I'm off to that rest you assigned me. A little bit wouldn't hurt you either, you know." With that, Doctor Giovanni proceeded down the hallway and disappeared around a corner.
Yilaan grumbled under her breath as the Doctor left and then departed in the opposite direction. She was about to make her rounds, checking on the progress of some of the repairs, when her attention was caught by the sound of the station's alert klaxon. She froze in her tracks and her face blanched slightly even as she was being hailed by Commander Gerard, the officer she had put in command after the death of the Commodore. "Commander Yilaan, please join us in Auxiliary Control immediately," Gerard called out to her, with just the faintest hint of nervousness piercing his deep accented voice.
Cecilia Yilaan acknowledged the hail, and by using a clever combination of working turbolifts and service ladders, she arrived at Auxiliary Control in no time. "What is it Commander?" she asked of Gerard; he merely pointed grimly at the viewing screen. Two decloaked Romulan Warbirds had positioned themselves on two sides of the station. Sensors soon picked up two more of the craft, the Romulan Empire's finest warships, taking up other positions to surround the station.
Yilaan set her jaw. "Defenses?"
Gerard shook his head, "We have minimal firepower restored and thirty percent to seventy percent shield strength. Not enough against four Warbirds, Commander. And once those shields go, this station will be exploding shortly thereafter. The core is somewhat unstable as it is."
"Sir, they're responding to our hails finally," a male Human officer at one of the other control stations reported.
"On screen, Mr. Jetto," Gerard replied. He and Commander Yilaan focused their attention on the screen as the image of stars and Warbirds was replaced by that of two evil looking Romulan officers and part of their Bridge.
"Greetings from the Romulan Empire," one of the two men on the screen said, grinning even as he did so. "I am Commander L'Nayan and we are responding to your distress call."
"You are?" Gerard replied incredulously. He and Yilaan exchanged glances; Yilaan's was a flat stare and a slight shaking of her head indicating the other shoe was about to drop.
"Of course! We'd be happy to help you," the Romulan replied. His smile then faded and he sat back somewhat in his chair, folding his hands in front of him as he did so. "Of course since there are no formal treaties of friendship between our governments, our help must necessarily be restricted to those stations and people that are subjects of the Romulan Empire."
"We'll pass, thanks all the same," Gerard replied, quickly comprehending what L'Nayan was insinuating.
The Romulan's expression grew stern. "Think of the lives that you're responsible for; the lives that will be lost on your station this day. Think carefully; there's still time for you to change your mind," L'Nayan said with a faint note of feigned regret in his voice.
Gerard hesitated for a moment and glanced at Yilaan again. "We'll pass, thanks all the same," he reiterated. "Now I would ask you to leave Federation space, Commander."
L'Nayan scoffed. "The Romulan Empire doesn't recognize your claim on this space. This is uncharted territory. I must admit though, that your station, despite its apparent condition, would make a fine base for exploration. Unfortunately, it would not be prudent for us to permit you to enjoy this same luxury." He flashed a quick, vicious grin as he make a brief motion to one side with one hand.
"Commander, the Romulans are powering their weapons and raising their shields," Jetto reported.
"Are you trying to start a war?" Gerard accused, but the communication was severed by the Romulans half way through. He then spun on his heel and addressed the other Bridge officers. "I want shields to maximum; give them as much power as they can handle. Bring as many weapons to bear on the Romulans as you can. Target weapons arrays and power systems and fire with discretion; we'll want to save as much power as we can."
"You're good," Yilaan murmured under her breath as she sat down next to the command chair occupied by Gerard.
Several quick blasts were then exchanged by Federation and Romulan weapons arrays; the station shook violently and the familiar sound of metal struts tearing and falling away could be heard through the increasing din of comm traffic.
"Damage report!" Gerard called out.
"Commander, our shields are down to forty-two percent; our starboard-aft shield is down to twelve percent. Moderate damage on Decks 55 through 71. Damage control teams are responding. Power core shielding has fallen to thirty-three percent."
One of the base's torpedoes managed to find its mark, destroying a Romulan ship's weapons array and a good part of several decks, after other weapons fire eroded the shields in that area. The ensuing fireworks were most pleasing to watch as the ship hastily withdrew.
The victory, however, was short-lived as another fierce volley of Romulan disruptor blasts and torpedoes ripped into the station. The lights flickered and power to control consoles also experienced interruptions. Three separate fires started in the Auxiliary Control room from control circuit overloads and console sparks; when the automatic fire suppression systems failed to rectify the situation, some of the crew moved quickly to break out the hand-held fire suppressors located behind panels in the port wall of the room.
"Commander!" Jetto called out over the chaos. "We've lost power to phasers. Our shields are down to seventeen percent; starboard-aft shields are gone. There are hull breaches on Decks 18, 19, 27, 54, 56, and 57 through 75. Sensor activity is intermittent and our anti-matter containment field is down to twenty-two percent." After a brief pause, he added, "The Albuquerque is destroyed also, Commander."
At that moment a side panel exploded, sending a crewman sprawling to the floor in front of Yilaan and Gerard. Gerard half raised from his chair as Yilaan quickly moved to the crewman, kneeling next to him and rapidly running a tricorder over him. "The man is dead," Yilaan reported to Gerard before moving off to help the other crewmen at their posts.
"Commander, I can't be sure, but it would appear sensors are picking up several more energy surges to starboard; similar to those used by a cloaking device," Jetto reported as Gerard stood and turned to face his tactical officer. Yilaan glanced up quickly from her post; she would never forget the look in the eyes of those two men, that of trained soldiers who were realizing their time to die had finally come.
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