[Bridge, RFZ t'Rakla]
"They are gaining on us, Strategist." Soto Koldok called out from the
helm chair in front of the large viewscreen on the stolen Warbird's
Bridge. He put a lot of emphasis on the word Strategist, a point
Sirnar Klimpah did not fail to notice.
He looked up at the viewscreen itself, showing the four Romulan ships
bearing down on his own. Klimpah thought they had lost the squadron
by flying in close to a nebula but the emanations radiating from it
were not strong enough to mask the signature of the t'Rakla.
"Darwin, drop the mines. Soto, you know what to do." he ordered,
hearing the acknowledgments almost instantly.
The ship dropped out of warp suddenly, continuing to fly at full
impulse. Klimpah new the Romulans would catch him now, in fact he
banked on it. Twenty phased mines dropping from the rear of the
Warbird one after another as Soto swung the ship in a slow arc hard
to port.
"The Romulans are following." Darwin Kleedabhlu informed the others
on the Bridge, "The left flanking destroyer is moving to intercept."
Klimpah smiled slightly as Darwin changed the viewscreen to show a
K'Sejnik class ship, the SRR Terha, flying in at an acute angle,
firing its Disruptors as it came. The other two ships continued
following the same arc as the Warbird, trying to position themselves
behind the ship.
The t'Rakla juddered as the first of the disruptor fire hit her
shields, but the damaging fire quickly stopped as the Terha hit the
first of the mines, now being phased back into normal space by Darwin
one at a time.
"Now Soto!" he shouted as the pilot turned the ship through a
manouevere which strained the very foundations of it's structural
integrity. Then he blasted them back into warp.
"Tactical, report." came Klimpah's request.
"Strategist, six of the mines were detonated by the Romulan ship.
Estimates would suggest she is still warp capable, but her shields
are severely weakened. They will be the weak link now if battle is
engaged," Darwin said as he hit buttons on his console, "On the
downside, Structural Integrity is down 27%. There are hull breaches
on several of the unused decks, where the plates and armour were just
ripped away in Soto's last turn."
Klimpah nodded, acceptable damage, to both ships. But now the
Romulans were closer than before, and still faster. Soon it would be
time to turn and fight, he knew this, but the possibility of survive
was not high, even for a Zakdorn Strategist it did not seem likely.
He winced as he heard the next comment from Darwin.
"The Romulans are coming into range to use their weapons."
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