AN: Currently a simple oneshot idea I had a year ago and been working on and off since and getting a little feedback on the Spacebattles blog as I've been writing it.
Dominion War Chronicles
Ch1:Mercy Mission
USS Ajax, Captain's Ready Room
Captains personal log; Terran Date 22.08.2373, Captain James Macintyre, Commanding officer USS Ajax.
I really don't know what to make of what's going on, on Cardassia. Gul Dukat making a deal with the Dominion has not only endangered the rest of the Alpha Quadrant, he's practically made his own people slaves under the Dominion. He just doesn't know it yet. I only wish Starfleet didn't take so long to begin upgrading the fleet, especially the Excelsior- and Constitution-class generations.
Unfortunately, though I am loath to admit it, the Ajax while an effective starship in its heyday is still in need of an upgrade, as well as a general refit, but the Ajax isn't scheduled for such a refit until six months from now. Fortunately I've got a damned good crew, and a very inventive chief engineer in Commander Macdougan. Duncan is a veritable wizard in engineering, and his team has done wonders with what we've got. I only wish I could be a hundred percent sure that it's going to be enough against the Jem'Hadar.
My ship has been ordered to Deep Space 9 and I'm to meet with Captain Sisko for new orders. Being assigned to DS9 will probably be interesting, being so close to the Cardassian border, I just wish I felt more confident about the Ajax's chances against the Jem'Hadar in her current condition.
End log.
Captain Macintyre, a man in his mid thirties with short dark brown hair and a lean build, leaned back in his comfortable arm chair as he processed his own words in his ready room. The making of his own personal logs always seemed to help him cope with the stresses of command, particularly since this was only his second command after commanding a smaller Centaur command, a vessel that fulfilled the same role as the old Miranda-class only a generation more advanced.
His own personal musings was interrupted by a call from the bridge. "Captain, we've just entered the Bajoran system. We're ten minutes away from DS9," said a woman's voice.
Mildly irritated Captain Macintyre straightened up in his chair and stood up to his full six foot height. "I'm on my way!" he returned then made the twenty short steps from the ready room, through the short curving corridor to the bridge. The bridge itself still retained the original design of the Flight III Excelsior, except for the updated LCARS displays, though they still had the same blue-green colour scheme of the original displays.
In the captain's chair was a thirty year old woman wearing a red command uniform and had the three rank pips of a commander. Her shoulder length dark auburn hair was braided into a tight bun and she was reading a PADD. As soon as he stepped onto the bridge a young andorian female ensign at the starboard-aft science station noticed his presence on the bridge and before he could do anything the young ensign's voice rang out, "Captain on the bridge."
Immediately everyone stood at attention as protocol demanded. "As you were people. You don't need to stand on protocol with me, especially since we're only a few minutes away from our destination," said the Captain much to the crew's slight embarrassment and relief, except for the woman who used to be sitting in the captain's chair and was now sitting in the XO's chair and she had a slightly annoyed look, but she covered it quickly with a slight smile.
"I was just keeping your seat warm, sir," the XO of his ship said.
"And you warmed it well, Commander Eckland," said Captain Macintyre as he settled into his seat. "I assume that we've contacted Bajor Command?"
"Yes sir, we've been assigned a flight path directly to DS9 and we've also received a summons to meet with both Captain Sisko and Vice-Admiral Nechayev as soon as we've docked," she said to Captain Macintyre's surprise.
"I thought I was only meeting with Captain Sisko. I wonder what the Admiral would want with me?" he mused.
"Maybe it has something to do with the DMZ and the Cardassians. Admiral Nechayev was in charge of reining in the Maquis and the point person for relations with the Cardassians," Commander Eckland supplied.
"Maybe," he agreed. "We'll find out our little role here soon enough I suppose. I just wish the brass could be a little bit more forthcoming," he said in annoyance.
Commander Eckland merely smiled at his annoyance. His conflict with the brass on certain subjects was the stuff of legends in Starfleet. The situation with the Maquis being a case-in-point with his belief that they got a raw deal and Starfleet should have been given the authority by the Federation to protect those colonies and increase their presence along the border. The Cardassians would never have stood a chance against Starfleet, a stance she agreed with.
The Ajax quickly slowed to sub-light speed and began to approach Deep Space 9, a former Cardassian ore processing station that looked like an oversized bicycle wheel with docking pylons that curved inward from above and below the outer docking ring.
Commander Eckland's lips curled slightly in mild disgust. "I never really liked Cardassian design. It's too spartan and the angles are just wrong, to my eyes at least."
The captain could only snort in amusement. "Helm, coordinate with DS9 Ops and begin docking procedures."
"Aye sir," said the young human lieutenant at the helm, a young blond man who expertly handled the helm like a virtuoso. "Locking onto the navigational beacon and sliding into the lane," he reported as he slowly brought the ship closer to one of the upper docking pylons.
As they approached other ships came into view. Mostly Miranda-class starships that were lazily orbiting the station, though most of them lacked the standard roll bar, indicating either science- or cargo-refit vessels, though most likely cargo-refits judging by the small fleet of small cargo shuttles and work bees that were flitting around the small fleet of ships surrounding the station.
Most of the other ships in the small fleet were Excelsior-class heavy cruisers and Centaur-class destroyers, all of them were undergoing field maintenance and resupply operations. Docked to one of the station's lower pylons was a Nebula-class heavy tactical cruiser, most likely Admiral Nechayev's flagship.
"Which airlock will we be using to dock to the station?" he asked the helm officer.
"Port engineering airlock sir," replied the helm officer.
Before they could stand up to leave the communications officer said, "Sir, Captain Sisko requests that you beam directly to Ops."
"Must be pretty important if they can't wait for us to go through the airlock and customs," said the Captain as he stood up. "Commander Tora you have bridge," he quickly commanded his bajoran tactical officer who nodded back and took the captain's chair while the Captain and XO quickly walked off the bridge to the starboard turbolift.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
DS9, Ops.
Minutes later the two of them beamed into Ops which was a hive of activity with multiple Starfleet officers and Bajoran Militia working consoles and entering and leaving every second. At the centre of this hive was a short bajoran woman with red hair wearing a red uniform and had the rank of major, which quickly identified her as Major Kira, the bajoran liaison officer.
"Welcome to Deep Space 9 Captain Macintyre, Commander. The Captain and Admiral are waiting in his office," the major greeted distractedly. "Alright, begin transferring the Mark 12 torpedo casings from the Thalassic to cargo bay 4 for now..." they heard as they headed towards the captain's office. They soon found themselves facing Captain Sisko, a tall, bald man with dark skin and a goatee, and Admiral Nechayev, a blonde human woman in her early forties with a fair complexion.
"I'm glad you could come so quickly, Captain," said the relatively young admiral. "Unfortunately we don't have time for the usual pleasantries. As you know Gul Dukat just recently promised to make Cardassia whole again, by destroying every Maquis colony and forcibly ejecting every Klingon in Cardassian space. Only a few hours ago our listening posts detected near the Cardassian border an increase in comm. chatter between the Cardassian 2nd and 4th Orders and the Jem'Hadar Fleet," she said as she pointed to a nearby monitor with a map of the sector.
"We believe it's only a matter of time before the colonies in the DMZ are attacked, so we have begun evacuating as many of the colonies as we can. The problem is that with the recent Borg attack Starfleet is stretched thin in this sector."
"And that's why you're bringing in every starship within range, which just so happens to be the 7th Fleet, which you remember sent a good chunk of its forces to intercept the Borg cube in the Typhon sector, so we're severely under strength," said Captain Macintyre, remembering bitterly that he had been unable to join the fight. The Ajax was too far away on a survey mission and just didn't have the speed needed to catch up before it was all over.
The Admiral nodded, and Captain Sisko took over. "Yes, and your ship, along with a couple of other starships, the Centaur-class destroyers Decatur and Revanche, will be assisting in the evacuation of the colonies on Dorvan V. They already have the transports needed to evacuate, but what they don't have is a proper escort."
"And you couldn't have just transmitted these orders over sub-space because?" Commander Eckland asked.
"Because they couldn't risk the Dominion intercepting the orders and sending a much stronger force to wipe them out and the ships they send out to escort them, commander! Basic operational security, remember?" Captain Macintyre gently reprimanded. "When do we leave?" he asked.
"As soon as the Ajax, the Decatur and the Revanche have been resupplied," continued Captain Sisko. "Your also getting a fresh supply of photon torpedoes. I heard about that little skirmish you had with those Klingon raiders a few months ago." Those memories made both the captain and XO wince in unison.
"We'd better get back before the officer I left in charge grants shore leave to half the crew," said Captain Macintyre as both he and his XO began to leave. Before the doors opened the Captain turned back to Captain Sisko and Admiral Nechayev. "I hope that after this war the Federation won't be so quick to compromise with snakes like the Cardassians!" he said in a parting shot to the Admiral before leaving the office.
The admiral's eyes tightened in barely contained anger as the younger captain left.
"I take it that Captain Macintyre is one of the harsher critics of the Federation-Cardassian peace treaty?" Captain Sisko asked after the two officers left his office.
"Yes, much to the detriment of his career," she said in a neutral tone, much to the surprise of Captain Sisko. "Oh, I don't have anything personal against him. I even share some of his opinions about the treaty. I just don't vocalize them as much, and there are some people on the council that have some deep connections in Starfleet that have tried to make sure he doesn't advance any further than he has. Not that he wants to leave his position as Captain of the Ajax anytime soon."
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
USS Ajax
Transporter Room 1
Once again they went through the tingling sensation of being transported, a somewhat disorienting experience the first few times, but it was something that Captain Macintyre had gotten used to during his long years of service. They both nodded to the transporter chief at the controls.
"Commander I suggest you get Commander Tora to get those fresh torpedoes stored. I'll contact the captains of the Revanche and the Decatur and coordinate with them," Captain Macintyre ordered as they entered a nearby turbolift. The ride was swift and they soon emerged from the aft turbolift access, behind the Master System Display wall, and the two split up. The captain headed for his ready room while Commander Eckland walked onto the bridge in search of Tora who was sitting at the tactical station behind the captain's and XO's chair.
"I'm surprised that you did not keep the captain's chair, Commander," she said, announcing her presence on the bridge.
Tora smiled back a little embarrassed. "It didn't feel right to be sitting in the Captain's chair. Besides I prefer the view from back here."
She only managed to force a small smile on her face. "We're getting a fresh supply of photon torpedoes. Tactical systems are your responsibility, make sure they're secured!"
"Aye sir," he answered back neutrally.
She looked around the bridge and continued. "Put me on ship-wide," she requested of the bridge communications officer. "All hands, this is the XO. I'm sorry to say, but we will not be able to allow shore leave for any of the crew while we're here. We're only staying long enough to resupply with fresh deuterium, anti-matter and new photon torpedoes for a mission. Further information will be provided on a need to know basis." With that she cut the ship-wide comm. channel.
Meanwhile in the captain's ready room Captain Macintyre was in conference with his two counterparts via a large monitor in split-screen mode. It usually displayed an artist's rendering of the Ajax with his home colony of New Britannia, and its extensive orbital shipyard complex, in the background. On the left was an andorian male in his early-to-mid fifties with antennae moving subtly with a small smile on his face. On the right a younger human male of Asian descent who looked like he couldn't have been older than thirty three years old and sported a wide ever present grin.
"It's good to see you again, Captain th'Zarath, my old friend," said Captain Macintyre with a smile.
The older andorian chuckled slightly. "Please Captain Macintyre, we're now the same rank. No need for such formality, especially from my former first officer. Call me Shras."
"Then I insist that you call me James. Captain Hyuk, I assume that you're treating my former command with the respect that she deserves," said James in a rather severe tone, which made the younger captain's grin lessen ever so slightly.
"Of course Captain Macintyre. The Revanche may be an older ship, but she has been lovingly maintained for the last thirty years of her impeccable service. She was even outfitted with four brand new type 9 phaser arrays during her last refit," said Captain Shin Hyuk with an even bigger grin. "I can't wait to try them out against the cardassians."
"It's not just the cardassians we have to contend with. I assume you've both been reading up on the cardassians new ally, the Dominion?" Captain Macintyre asked, both nodded back.
Captain th'Zarath's face became grave. "Yes. The Jem'Hadars fanatic loyalty to the Founders has me worried, especially since they destroyed the Odyssey with a suicide run when there was no need for one."
"That was most likely a demonstration of what they are willing to do for victory, and to sow the seeds of fear in their enemies, which just so happens to be us," said Captain Macintyre in agreement.
"We do have an advantage that the Odyssey didn't have. Our shields have been modified and enhanced to resist their weaponry, and our weapons have been adjusted accordingly to be more effective against them. The Jem'Hadar and the Cardassians are tough, but we can handle them," said the younger Captain Hyuk.
Both Captain th'Zarath and Captain Macintyre had to resist shaking their heads in frustration at the younger captain's attitude. "Attitudes like that is what sinks starships, Captain Hyuk," said Captain th'Zarath sternly.
All Captain Macintyre did was glare at the younger captain, whose grin became more sheepish than shit eating, and continued the meeting.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
USS Ajax
Torpedo storage
Deep within the Ajax' engineering hull was a huge storage bay that held the racks for the ship's complement of guided projectiles, typically photon torpedoes and various types of unmanned probes. At the central inventory console Tora Benke was working with the armoury team on getting his latest toys into their proper place. As the pallets of torpedoes were transported aboard they were immediately moved by mechanical arms onto a series of conveyer belts that ran close to the cargo-transporter pad, and he was in charge of overseeing their delivery and storage, and he was happy for receiving them. These were the latest make of photon torpedo for starship use, the MK 12, which had only finished final combat worthiness testing a year previously.
Now came the fun part of calibrating the Ajax's and the torpedoes targeting systems for optimal targeting, and for that he had drafted in most of the ship's science teams to assist. If they can calibrate a shipboard sensor array to scan various anomalies, they can easily calibrate targeting scanners, especially since he had given them the parameters for the torpedoes targeting systems.
As he was conducting a spot check on one of the new torpedoes a familiar voice made itself known. "I see that you are enjoying yourself." This startled Tora and made him bang his head into a nearby torpedo rack, making his latest visitor to his domain wince in sympathy.
"Commander Macdougan, what brings you up from your beloved engine room?" he asked as he gingerly rubbed his head.
"Just doing a final inspection of the ship before we launch again, and to see how you were doing," said the older Chief Engineer of the Ajax, a man who looked only slightly older than the captain and had a neatly trimmed ginger moustache that matched his equally ginger curly hair and wore a black engineers workman's vest over his duty uniform that had various tools and diagnostic equipment in multiple pockets.
Tora smiled back at the older human. "I'm doing great. We finally got some high quality torpedoes this time. MK 12 photon torpedoes with a range of ten light seconds and a maximum yield of 300 isotons these babies can put a huge dent into any known shield and one-shot a Cardassian Galor-class destroyer."
"Which I'm sure with your expert marksmanship you will get every time," said Commander Macdougan. "Scuttlebutt says that we're heading for the DMZ to evacuate a Maquis colony?"
"I don't really know, but wherever we are going we're going in loaded for bear. This is a full wartime complement we're getting. Five hundred of these beauties are being transported aboard, and the warheads are being shuttled over as we speak," said Tora as he continued to inspect his torpedo.
"I see you put most of the science teams to work on the torpedoes," observed Commander Macdougan. "I hope you cleared it with Commander T'Entreia? You know how she doesn't like having her people pressed into service by either of us."
"She's a Vulcan, how can she have likes and dislikes?" Tora naively asked.
"Youngster, when it comes to Vulcans their logic is not only used to keep their emotions under wraps, it can also be used to drive us emotional species slowly insane," the chief engineer replied. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"
"Don't worry, I cleared it with her before I took them. She said she understood the logic of the request."
"Good. I really didn't want to deal with an insane Bajoran," said Commander Macdougan as he took his leave of the torpedo storage bay, and Tora went back to work.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
USS Ajax
Primary Bridge, five hours later.
After five hours of hard work the small task force of three starships were in formation and underway to the DMZ at their maximum cruising speed, which was warp 8.5, and would arrive at their destination in less than 24 hours. There was tension on the bridge as the crew had heard Gul Dukat's promise broadcasted from Cardassia and rebroadcasted by the Federation News Service, and they were headed in the direction of the fire.
Captain Macintyre took in the feel of his bridge and gave everyone a reassuring smile as he worked his chair's comm. panel and three dulcet whistle tones rang out throughout the entire ship. "Attention all hands, this is the captain. As you all probably know we are on a course that will take us to the DMZ. Most of you have heard of the Maquis, some of us even have sympathy for their plight. Well today, for the first time since the Federation signed that treaty with the Cardassians four years ago, we're going to assist one of those colonies, Dorvan V."
The feelings of shock and surprise went through the ship like a great wave and could be felt like one by every telepathic species onboard. The captain waited a few moments for the news to sink in.
"Our mission is to escort the evacuation transports from Dorvan V into Federation space. Currently there is an undeclared cold war between the Federation and the Dominion, but the Maquis have been bleeding the Cardassian military for some time, and they have asked their new allies to exterminate them, and have already begun ejecting the Klingons from their territory. Will we allow them to exterminate our people?" the Captain asked of his crew and throughout the ship the crew answered with a resounding, "NO!" that echoed across the comm. system.
"I thought not. We will remain at yellow alert until we reach Dorvan V, but once we're there be ready to go to red alert status. Stand to your duties, trust in yourselves and the crewmates next to you. Make your ship proud, make yourselves proud, and make this ship ready for her biggest brawl yet!" With those parting words he closed the channel and the entire bridge crew stood up and saluted him with proud smiles on their faces, except for Commander Eckland who merely saluted him.
"Good speech sir," she said, not a single twitch to her neutral face could be seen to betray her thoughts, much like a Vulcan.
The Captain stood himself and saluted his bridge crew back. "Enough of that now, we've got a job to do. Helm, how long until we reach Dorvan V?"
"At our current speed 22 hours and 47 minutes, sir," replied the helmsman.
"Very well, Commander Eckland see if we have any intelligence assets near Dorvan V, we're going to need a proper layout of the battlefield."
"Battlefield sir?" a surprised Commander Eckland asked. "You believe there is going to be a battle?"
"You heard what Admiral Nechayev said. The Cardassians and their Dominion allies are ready for war, and after they have dealt with the Klingons they'll turn their eye towards the DMZ and the Maquis colonies," said Captain Macintyre.
Commander Eckland nodded in understanding and began to consult her ever present PADD. "There are a number of listening posts along the border with long-range-sensors that cover that entire sector, as well as a number of Class-5 intelligence drones nearby."
"Good. Make contact with those outposts and have them provide a direct sensor-patch into their network, and download the latest logs from the drones," the Captain ordered as he stood up from his chair. "I'll be in my ready room. Transfer a copy of those logs there as soon they come through."
"Aye sir," Commander Eckland answered with a slight tightening around the eyes and mouth.
Captain Macintyre's own eyes tightened in suspicion. "Once those drones and listening posts have been contacted could you join me in my ready room?"
Commander Eckland instantly recognised the request for the order that it was and merely nodded in answer. "Yes sir."
Minutes later Commander Eckland came marching in with an equally high strung gait. "Reporting as ordered Captain."
"Tell me Commander, after only a few weeks of being my first officer do we have a problem?" he asked.
"Sir?" she asked confused.
"I know that you haven't been happy here, ever since the last Borg attack, only two weeks after you became my first officer after being the chief tactical officer aboard the USS Leyte Gulf, a ship you'd served on for a number of years. At first you were an exemplary first officer, but ever since then you've been distant, moody, and downright unsociable."
"Sir, I know I haven't been in the best of moods, but I have been performing my duties to the best of my ability, it's just that..." she bit back the last before she could blurt it out.
"Just what exactly?" the captain pressed.
She turned away from her captain for a moment, seemingly warring with herself about what to do. She turned back to her captain and gave him a beady eye. "I had a number of close friends aboard the Leyte Gulf. She was my first assignment as an ensign, then later as a junior tactical officer and then finally as chief tactical officer." A genuine smile graced her lips, but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
"When I first got the offer of serving as your first officer I thought it was a terrific opportunity for advancement. To serve under a captain with a distinguished, and colourful, record such as yours would prepare me for a command of my own. Maybe even return to the Leyte Gulf as her captain. Now it's impossible!" she said and continued bitterly. "All of my friends on that ship are now either dead or assimilated, while I was here on some stupid patrol along the DMZ when I could have been helping my friends fight off the Borg."
"Sounds like a bad case of survivor's guilt. Have you considered talking to a..."
"To a councillor? No way! They always stick their noses where they're not wanted, and I prefer to keep my personal life private. The only reason I'm talking to you is because you're my superior officer," she retorted.
"Well then, judging by that little outburst I'd say you definitely need to talk to one. I need you right now, but after the mission you will either see the councillor or I will begin looking for a new first officer!" said Captain Macintyre in a clear dismissal and Commander Eckland marched out of his ready room. He quickly punched in the comm. codes for the ship's councillor. Seconds later a visage of a middle-aged betazoid male appeared on the small 15 inch screen. "Doctor Rixa I've got a potential new patient for you."
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
DMZ, Dorvan V
22 hours later
Dorvan V is an M-class planet with a variety of climates similar to Earth, though the surface that's not covered by water looked more like a dust-ball from orbit than green. Usually the traffic around this planet is light, but today it is more hectic than it has been since the founding of the colony. Several bulky Federation colony transports were sitting in orbit landing and launching evacuation shuttles while several modified Maquis Peregrine-class fighters and Condor-class raiders stood guard over them, watching for incoming enemy ships.
In the outer system three flashes signified the arrival of the Starfleet escorts and they immediately made a beeline for Dorvan V at full impulse. On the bridge of the Ajax there had just been a shift change back to Alpha shift after the Gamma shift finished. The captain and XO were sitting in their respective chairs with steaming mugs of coffee in their hands. The captain sipped gingerly at a steaming hot Raktajino while the XO began swallowing down a slightly cooler Black Arabian mix from Earth.
"Commander Tora, run a full sensor scan of the system. We need confirmation of the info that the listening posts and drones sent us," the Captain ordered and the tactical officer nodded in compliance. Immediately faster than light subspace waves emanated from the Ajax's primary sensor arrays which lit up the entire solar system and provided a full real-time picture.
"The evacuation is in full swing. I'm seeing a lot of shuttle traffic and transporter activity from the ten Conestoga-class colony transports. There also seems to be a number of Maquis ships in orbit in a standard patrol pattern." A small alarm sounded from his console. "Looks like a squadron's worth of fighters are moving to intercept us."
"Open a channel to the Maquis fighter squadron, I want to speak to their leader!" the Captain quickly ordered. Seconds later the image of a dark skinned man who looked to be in his fifties, but Captain Macintyre knew to only be 41 years old.
"Well, well, if it isn't my old comrades in arms," said the Maquis squadron leader bitterly. "About time Starfleet was on our side for a change."
"Hello Mister Hudson. Looks like you've had it rough," said the younger captain.
"Yes, well, dodging Cardassian patrols and making life miserable for them doesn't lend itself to a stress free lifestyle," said the now identified Cal Hudson, former Commander in Starfleet. "I'm not really surprised that they sent this many starships here to assist, but three combat vessels as escort seems like a bit much to protect a refugee convoy. Has it begun?"
"What do you think has begun?" the Captain asked.
"That the Cardassians and their Dominion allies are coming to wipe us out?"
"They've already started ejecting the Klingons from their territory. Starfleet believes that it is only a matter of time before they turn their eyes on you. My orders are to protect this colony until it has been evacuated and then escort you back to Federation space," said the Captain and Hudson's face took on a worried look.
"And what of my people? We're still considered terrorists!" said Hudson dejectedly.
"I honestly don't know, but in light of recent events I expect that there will be a full pardon for all Maquis. You could come back to Starfleet if that is your wish."
Hudson could only shake his head. "No, I don't think so. There's been a little too much bad blood between us."
"Well, it's an offer that will stand until you make a final decision. What's the status of your forces in this system?"
"Our forces?" To the surprise of everyone he began chuckling. "Our forces are little more than these few squadrons of Peregrine fighters and Condor-class raiders, plus a couple of surprises. Just don't expect us to be more than a simple annoyance to the Jem'Hadar. We used up most of our remaining photon torpedoes on the last time the Jem'Hadar tried to raid us."
"Raids?" Commander Eckland asked.
"Yes. Both the Cardassians and the Jem'Hadar have been sending raiding parties into the zone. We've lost a lot of good people in the last few days," he said tiredly.
"Maybe we can help you there. Commander Tora, how many MK 8 torpedoes do we have onboard?" the Captain asked, confusing the younger tactical officer.
"Let me check," said Tora as he consulted his console. "We've got a seventy five of them left. We used most of them in that little skirmish with the Klingons."
"I assume you could use seventy five photon torpedoes?" the Captain asked and Hudson smiled.
"Yes, we could. I'll have my Condor-class raiders come pick them up. They're the only ships I have that can use MK 8 torpedoes. Our fighters normally use the much smaller Pygorrian MK 4D photon torpedoes. Hudson out." With that the squadron of Maquis fighters, led by Hudson's Condor, the Huntress, headed back on their patrol while a number of other Condors began to approach the Ajax.
"Commander Tora, have your team begin transferring the torpedoes over to the Maquis raiders," the Captain ordered.
"Aye sir," said Tora as he called up the armoury.
Commander Eckland however looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Sir, wouldn't giving the Maquis seventy five photon torpedoes be grounds to charge us with aiding and abetting terrorists?"
"Maybe a few days ago, but not today," said the Captain, smiling slightly at his XO's discomfort, then turned serious once again. "I want a round the clock watch for any Cardassian and Dominion forces and full tachyon sensor sweeps of the system, just in case the Dominion might have cloaked ships."
At the primary science console, located at the starboard-aft of the bridge, a severe looking Vulcan woman, whom by human standards looked to be in her late twenties, nodded and began the tachyon scans. "Captain, I recommend we deploy our full complement of sensor probes to enhance the tachyon scans and extend the range. They will give us more warning and give us a better image of what we will be facing. Better than the long range sensors from the listening posts."
"Do it!" said the captain and immediately she began coordinating the probe launches and scans with Tora.
Hours passed and the evacuation continued apace, but there were a number of oddities that kept cropping up in the tachyon scans, and T'Entreia didn't like unexplained anomalies, especially when battle was expected, but thanks to the enhanced sensor resolution provided by the probes launched earlier she was closer to an answer.
She decided to call up the XO to her station. "Commander, I believe I have something you should see."
Commander Eckland's interest was piqued. Their Vulcan science officer rarely called either of the senior officers without a damned good reason. She studied the sensor readouts, but she was barely able to grasp what she was seeing on the science console's monitors. "Okay, what am I looking at?"
"What you are seeing on the monitor is a small number of subspace anomalies that we have been detecting with the makeshift tachyon sensor net being generated by twenty of our class-7 sensor probes. Anomalies that are consistent with cloaking devices," replied T'Entreia to the shock and surprise of Commander Eckland.
"Have you been able to determine if they are cloaked Dominion ships?" she asked.
"I do not believe that they are. Their characteristics are more in line with Klingon cloaking devices than a Romulan one, which if you remember is what they would have had access to from the failed joint Tal'shiar, Obsidian Order attack on the Founders home-world," said T'Entreia.
"Klingons?" Commander Eckland exclaimed in surprise, barely above a whisper, but it was enough to pique the Captain's interest.
"What about the Klingons?" he asked.
"Well, Commander T'Entreia just told me about some anomalies that she believes to be generated by Klingon cloaking devices," Commander Eckland replied nervously.
This confused the captain slightly. "I thought the Klingons were several light years away, being forcefully ejected from Cardassian space?"
"They are, or at least according to the latest reports from our listening posts on the border," replied Commander Eckland as she took a quick glance at the ever present PADD in her hands.
"I do not believe that these are Klingon ships either," continued T'Entreia. "I think that they may be Maquis ships, modified with Klingon cloaking devices. The anomalies are a lot smaller than those generated by even a B'rel-class bird-of-prey, which indicates possibly smaller ships, like Condor-class Maquis raiders."
A thoughtful look crossed both Commander Eckland and Captain Macintyre's faces. "Well, Mister Hudson did say that they had a few surprises hidden away. Keep an eye on them, but don't forget that the Dominion is what we should be looking out for. Good catch T'Entreia," said Captain Macintyre and Commander Eckland nodded in agreement, and even let a small smile grace her face.
Another hour went by without incident and the final evacuation shuttles were finally leaving Dorvan V, but trouble was brewing. The first sign of trouble was when the comm. officer called out, "Captain, reports coming in from our listening posts along the border. Two groups of Dominion warships are approaching the system. The first is a small group of approximately four Jem'Hadar warships that are less than five minutes out, followed by a much larger group. They've identified two Cardassian warships and approximately eight, possibly ten, Jem'Hadar warships. No specifics."
"Red alert, all hands to battle stations!" Commander Eckland quickly ordered and the lights dimmed noticeably and the yellow bands of light turned red and began flashing for a few seconds, followed by three rapid tones from the comm. system that repeated every few seconds for two minutes.
"Commander T'Entreia, focus the long range scanners on that vector. We need to know exactly what we're facing," the Captain ordered curtly.
Within seconds, with the same Vulcan efficiency as she did everything else, T'Entreia quickly worked her console and soon got an even more detailed view of their opposition. "Confirmed. Four Jem'Hadar fighters are approaching the system, with a much larger force of two Cardassian Keldon-class cruisers and eight more Jem'Hadar fighters following twenty minutes after the first group arrives."
"Helm, move to intercept those fighters, tell the Decatur and Revanche to form up on our flanks," the captain ordered.
Immediately the three Federation vessels broke orbit from Dorvan V and out of its gravity well. Like a trio of well trained peregrine falcons they moved together in a delta pattern formation and began routing power to shields and weapons and opened up their torpedo ports. On the bridge the atmosphere was tense as the view-screen displayed a three dimensional tactical overlay of the battle area and showed the four Jem'Hadar fighters positions and their projected course, which was a straight line towards Dorvan V and the evacuation transports.
Intersecting the Jem'Hadar's course were three delta shaped Starfleet icons that represented his ship and the ships that were flanking him, and Macintyre knew time was running out, but some things had to be done first.
"Hail those Jem'Hadar fighters, and standby all phaser banks. Lock on as soon as they are in effective firing range!" he ordered tensely, his jaw set and his muscles unconsciously readied themselves for a fight.
"No answer, sir," replied the comm. officer.
"Open a channel!" he ordered, and noted the time to engagement, one minute and forty five seconds. The comm. officer indicated with a sharp nod and a comment. "You're on Captain!"
"This is Captain James Macintyre of the Federation starship Ajax. We are here to evacuate Federation civilians from this system and I have been ordered to protect them. Any attack on my ships or the civilian transports will be responded to with deadly force. End!" With that the comm. channel was closed.
There was no response to his warning, and if he was being honest with himself he didn't expect one. The minute passed and the seconds began ticking down, slower and slower, until finally the clock ticked down to zero and the battle was joined.
The first to fire was the Jem'Hadar. Short powerful blasts of blue phased polaron beams lanced out at extreme range and scored hits, mostly on the Ajax being the primary target, rocking the ship.
"Return fire. Overcharge the forward phaser banks," the captain barked and Tora gladly complied.
From the forward phaser banks twin beams of gold lanced out at one of the Jem'Hadar fighters. The beams lasted for only two seconds, but in those two seconds its shields collapsed and compressed nadion particles accelerated to light speed tore through the armour and impacted the warp matrix, causing it to explode.
The two closest fighters were rocked by their comrade's destruction and their shields were strained. At the same time both the Decatur and Revanche opened up with their own phasers.
The Decatur fired a rippling barrage of phaser pulse blasts from its phaser banks on the fighter furthest from the explosion. The pulse blasts, similar to those created by the Defiant's phaser cannons, quickly tore down its target's shields and started ravaging the fighter's hull. Layers of armour flaked off until the inner workings were exposed, and soon after they hit something vital, as the fighter immolated itself from internal explosions.
The Revanche meanwhile opened up with its own type 9 phaser arrays upon the two fighters closest to the explosions. One fighter lost its shields and took a hit to its starboard nacelle, which began leaking warp plasma, but returned fire with a pair of torpedoes as it passed. Both hit along the dorsal shields of the Centaur class destroyer and shook the ship to its bones. In retaliation the Revanche launched a photon torpedo set to maximum yield from its rear launcher. The torpedo had only a short flight and hit the unshielded fighter right up its tail. The duranium armoured nose of the torpedo ripped through the thick armour into the very guts of the fighter, then moments later detonated, vaporizing the fighter in a blast as bright as the sun.
The second fighter, the last one, banked hard to starboard and launched a spread of its own torpedoes, all aimed for the Revanche. One after the other they impacted, straining the Revanche's shields to breaking point, until the last one hit. Most of the energy from the detonation broke over the shields, but in the last few milliseconds they failed and the energy, a mix of high energy plasma and hard gamma radiation, bit deeply into the forward port quarter of the ship's saucer and sent it tumbling forward end over end.
The fighter then began an attack run on the Ajax, coming in from her starboard aft quarter, firing multiple phased polaron beams, which shook the ship once again and bled through the shields, evidenced by the long burn marks left by the Dominion weapons, but did not penetrate the tough Federation/Klingon Cold War-era armoured hull.
On the bridge of the Ajax it was barely controlled chaos, and adding to the chaos was the shaking of the ship which knocked everyone who was standing and not holding onto something down to the deck.
"Damage report?" the Captain demanded.
A young lieutenant at the engineering console just to the left of the viewscreen dutifully reported, even though he was scared out of his wits. "Shields are down to sixty percent, and we've got bleed-through along the starboard side of the engineering hull, but no hull breaches, yet."
Captain Macintyre took in the report and made a decision. "Commander Tora, launch torpedoes, I want that ship out of my sky!"
"Aye sir," he replied, but before he could launch his torpedoes the Decatur beat him to the punch with a pair of its own torpedoes. One punched straight through the port nacelle strut and kept on going and sent the fighter spinning, while the second impacted the belly, penetrated deeply within the guts of the fighter and blew it up from within, reducing the offending scarab shaped fighter to its constituent atoms.
A sense of euphoria and relief flooded the bridge, but this was not the end.
"Status report, what happened to the Revanche?" the captain requested, and Tora brought up an image of a stabilizing Centaur with a good chunk of its hull bitten off and multiple black scars crisscrossed the hull, erasing most of its name from the hull, and the dorsal type-9 phaser array that Captain Hyuk had been so happy to receive had been badly torn apart.
"Sir, the Revanche is hailing us, it's Captain Hyuk," reported the comm. officer.
"Put him through," said the captain tiredly.
Moments later a badly dishevelled Captain Hyuk appeared on the viewscreen, nursing a nasty cut to his forehead, and his traditional grin was nowhere in sight. "It seems that you were right. These bastards are a lot tougher than I thought."
"What's your status, Captain?" Captain Macintyre asked.
A PADD appeared in Captain Hyuk's hands. "We've lost a good chunk of our forward port quarter. The shield grid in that section has been destroyed so we've only got partial forward shielding, and we lost our dorsal phaser array. It's a real big mess over here sir, but we're still combat capable."
"Maybe, but you're not staying. The last evacuation shuttles have landed and the transports are ready to leave. I need you to escort those ships to safety," said Captain Macintyre to the surprise of Captain Hyuk.
"But Captain..."
"With a compromised hull you'd be lucky to be able to make warp six, the top speed of the Conestoga-class transports, and we'll need to be able to make better than warp 9.6 if we're going to be able to outrun the Cardassians and the Jem'Hadar. Besides, I've got a feeling we're going to need every ship and good crew, and you've just gotten some very hard earned experience," said Captain Macintyre.
"Sir we can still fight. We still have our torpedo launchers and an almost full complement, besides I just got a report from my chief engineer. We can't jump to warp. The structural damage is just far too extensive. If we exceed warp 2 we'd tear ourselves apart," said Captain Hyuk dejectedly. His first command, and he was about to lose it.
"Captain, enemy ships have just entered the system. They'll be within effective firing range in five minutes," reported Commander T'Entreia.
"Let's muddy the waters a bit, shall we? Set the probes to maximum jamming mode. I want them to be both blind and deaf in this system, and tie our targeting scanners into their jamming frequencies," Captain Macintyre ordered with a devious smile of his own. "Tell the evacuation ships and the Maquis to clear out. We'll hold the Dominion here!"
He turned back to Captain Hyuk. "Captain, I want you to begin evacuating all non-essential personnel from your ship to mine and the Decatur. I'll have our transporter rooms ready to beam out the rest of your crew out the moment your unable to fight."
Captain Hyuk's grin returned slightly. "Don't worry sir. We'll make her last fight one worthy of a Klingon Opera!" With those parting words the channel was cut and the non-essential crew began beaming over in the little time they had left.
Not far away the small convoy of transports left under the cover of intense jamming with several Maquis Peregrine-class fighters flying close escort, though there were no Condors with them. They had all vanished from sight and sensors and Captain Macintyre became a little more hopeful. Time however was running short and the Jem'Hadar were closing fast, with the Cardassians not far behind.
"I guess it's time we really show them what this old workhorse can really do! Commander Tora, begin launching photon torpedoes the moment they are in range. I want as many of those fighters destroyed as possible before they close to phaser range," the Captain ordered in a clipped tone.
"Aye sir, torpedoes standing by," said Tora eagerly. He had been cheated of using his new toys in the first round. Now he was getting his chance.
"Commander T'Entreia, have they detected us?" Commander Eckland asked.
"They know we're here, but they have to close the distance if they're going to hit us with torpedoes thanks to the sensor probes putting out so much sub-space interference," she reported. "The decoys that we left in orbit are transmitting the false warp signatures. They should be reading as ten Conestoga-class transports to their sensors."
Captain Macintyre grinned at his science officer. "Good. Keep an eye on those decoys, and instruct them to begin an evasive course towards the local asteroid belt. Make it look like they're trying to get into cover." T'Entreia nodded and began transmitting the instructions.
"Beginning torpedo barrage in ten seconds," reported Tora, his finger hovering over the launch button in anticipation.
"Five seconds."
The tension ratcheted up as he counted down. This time everyone knew that this was no longer a defensive game. This was offense.
"Launching torpedoes," Tora called out and immediately several processes began happening in rapid succession as he pressed down the launch button.
The first torpedo in the launch tube got magnetically accelerated out and as it travelled down the tube it had a warp field imparted upon it and a warp sustainer coil kept it running. As soon as it was out of the launch tube it fired its own impulse thrusters and began its 9 light second journey to its target. Micro-seconds later the next torpedo in the launcher was dropped into the tube and launched, then a third, then a fourth, before it had to reload and recharge. Two seconds later the process began again.
The torpedoes began with an initial speed of 0.7c then as their sub-light thrusters kicked in their speed increased to 0.95c and engaged an erratic attack pattern. Within half a minute they reached their first two targets. Two Jem'Hadar fighters that were on point got the full brunt of the first eight torpedoes. They were hit from multiple vectors, which overpowered their shields and were destroyed by the last torpedoes punching through their armour and detonated from within.
Three Jem'Hadar fighters peeled off for the local asteroid field while the remaining fighters stayed close to the two Cardassian cruisers. The next torpedo barrage was launched by both the Ajax and its two escorts, now that their targets had entered range of the Decatur and Revanche's torpedoes, for a barrage of sixteen torpedoes.
This time they were ready. Laser thin beams of Jem'Hadar polaron and Cardassian phaser beams lanced out to engage the incoming torpedoes, attempting to detonate them before they could reach their targets. Jamming was heavy, which distorted the Cardassians and Jem'Hadar's targeting systems, but one by one the advanced scanners on the Keldon-class cruisers picked them out and a beam of energy intercepted and destroyed the torpedoes. All but six were destroyed and they sought out their targets. The Jem'Hadar. One by one the torpedoes hit, all with their warheads set to maximum yield, and took down their shields and crippled two of the fighters, while the last only lost its shields, but they had finally closed the distance.
In retaliation the Cardassian cruisers launched their own barrage of plasma torpedoes. The torpedoes were launched from vertical launch tubes mounted in the humped back of the cruisers. Six in all were launched from each cruiser for a total of twelve before they went into a reload cycle. Each one travelled along its own course in the general direction of the three Federation ships.
On the bridge of the Ajax tension continued to mount as the second and third barrages were launched, and the tension continued to mount as T'Entreia announced, "Incoming plasma torpedoes, impact in approximately forty seconds."
"Resetting phasers to point defence mode," replied Tora.
"Hold fire as long as possible, fire only if necessary. T'Entreia, keep trying to spoof those torpedoes before they can lock onto us," the Captain ordered. "Where are those last three Jem'Hadar fighters?" he asked.
"They're seconds away from entering the asteroid belt. They seem to be limited to short range sensors, but they should still be picking up on our decoys," T'Entreia replied.
The Captain smiled a little. "Good. That should limit their manoeuvrability in there," he said as he turned back to the viewscreen that was still showing a tactical view of the battlefield. Lines that represented the incoming plasma torpedoes path showed that they would pass only a few dozen kilometres away from his three ships, and the five remaining Dominion warships were still closing in on his position.
"What's the status of those two Jem'Hadar fighters we hit?" the Captain asked.
"Their shields are down and they seem to have taken some heavy damage, but they're still closing, albeit struggling to keep up with their remaining compatriots," reported Tora, then he began to furiously type in commands into his console. "Plasma torpedoes have locked on. Firing phasers!"
Instantly rapid fire phaser beams lanced out from the Ajax's Type 8 phaser banks, reaching out to destroy the incoming enemy ordinance. Unfortunately it also gave the other torpedoes something to triangulate the position of the Ajax and they went after the Excelsior-class cruiser with a vengeance. Every phaser bank on the Ajax, as well as the Decatur and Revanche lit up with thin beams of golden-orange phaser fire, destroying all but two plasma torpedoes that managed slip through and impact heavily against the Ajax's shields protecting their dorsal and ventral flanks, and some of the plasma energy managed to bleed through the shields, leaving dark scorch marks on the dorsal primary hull and ventral secondary hull.
The bridge shook heavily from the dual impacts, but this time everyone held on and kept their posts.
"Shields are down to 75%, minor damage to both the primary and secondary hulls, no hull breaches to report. Sickbay reports minor injuries," reported the ops officer.
"Enemy vessels have closed to phaser range," Tora reported.
"Target the crippled Jem'Hadar fighters first. Destroy them before they use their own ships for suicide runs on us," the Captain ordered promptly.
"Phasers locked on and firing," said Tora as the phasers fired again, this time in pulse mode. Powerful bolts of phaser energy pounded the two crippled fighters and quickly reduced them to flaming wrecks, then he shifted his phaser fire on the remaining Jem'Hadar fighter, tearing through its weakened shields and pummelled the tough armoured carapace and managed to breach its anti-matter fuel pods, destroying the fighter in a flash of matter/anti-matter mutual annihilation, but before it died it managed to launch a pair of torpedoes.
"Incoming," was all Tora could say in warning before one of the torpedoes impacted the forward shields of the Ajax and the other continued on towards the Revanche.
The Revanche rolled hard to port to present its stronger starboard shields and took the hit like a prize fighter taking it on the chin. The Cardassian cruisers surged forward, charging between the Ajax and its escorts with all of their heavy forward phaser banks firing yellow phaser beams. For a few precious seconds the Revanche's shields were overwhelmed and a Cardassian phaser beam burned through the armour protecting the torpedo pod, vaporizing everything in its path.
By happenstance the Revanche's torpedo launchers had just gone through a reload cycle and four torpedoes were armed and in the tubes and when the phaser beam hit them all of the enriched anti-matter in the warheads interacted with the matter surrounding it and reacted. Violently! The Revanche's torpedo pod exploded and took with it most of the impulse engine assembly and a significant chunk of the saucer, sending the remains careening forwards and the warp nacelles went flying.
One nacelle headed in a relatively harmless tumble into space, but the other was propelled into the side of the passing Cardassian cruiser. Spinning in space it crashed into the cruiser's shields and quickly overwhelmed them with both sheer mass and speed. The highly energetic warp plasma contained within the nacelles spilled out into space and also with the nacelles impacted directly into the cruiser's hull, burning through its outer hull and proceeded to incinerate everything in its path. The cruiser began to list as they lost attitude control.
The second cruiser got treated to a violent frenzy of broadsides from both the Ajax and the Decatur's phasers. Powerful blasts of nadion infused energy bolts impacted into the passing Keldon's shields and were promptly torn down, exposing the much weaker armoured hull. Within seconds the Cardassian cruiser's hull was heavily pockmarked with impact craters, and brief gouts of flame ejected from multiple hull breaches, the oxygen rich atmosphere having been ignited by weapons fire.
In an attempt to get away from the murderous phaser broadsides the Keldon increased its acceleration to full impulse, which only gave Tora an opening to use one of his favourite toys. Once the Keldon was at a slightly safer distance he launched a pair of photon torpedoes from the Ajax's aft launchers. The first destroyed what was left of its aft shields. The second punched its way through its double pronged tail and detonated from within, ending its career.
The tension on the bridge drained noticeably as everyone sagged in their seats in relief, and Captain Macintyre felt the adrenaline high he had been on slowly come down and threatened to crush him.
"Begin damage assessment, and prepare to send in search and rescue teams to the Revanche," ordered Captain Macintyre, but Commander Eckland wasn't relaxing.
"What about those Jem'Hadar fighters in the asteroid belt?" she asked.
"I think the Maquis have a few surprises for them. T'Entreia, begin scanning the asteroid belt," the captain ordered.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
Dorvan system asteroid belt
Maquis Raiders
Cal Hudson and his Maquis had watched and waited patiently as the Ajax and its two escorts battled the main force. Now he was smirking with anticipation as three Jem'Hadar fighters entered the asteroid field. Expecting to find only poorly armed refugee transports they came in with an arrogance that bordered on the insane, but Hudson didn't mind it when the enemy made mistakes.
With a simple sub-space micro-burst transmission all hell began to break loose as four Condor-class raiders decloaked and launched a pair of torpedoes each into the rearmost fighter and then cloaked again in seconds. Torpedo after torpedo impacted the fighter's shields which collapsed after the fifth torpedo struck, then from three different directions the last three torpedoes hit and detonated upon impact. They tore three huge holes in the hull and detonated the ship's anti-matter stores, immolating the fighter in a massive explosion.
The resulting explosion sent debris everywhere and hit several asteroids whose course was altered, something the other two fighters weren't ready for as they got pelted with debris. Moments later two more raiders decloaked and made a strafing run with phasers blazing, weakening their shields. As they accelerated deeper into the asteroid field one of the raiders launched a torpedo that strained their shields to near breaking point.
Like a pack of wolves the raiders decloaked and cloaked in groups of two's and fours at random. Another pack of four raiders decloaked and strafed the weakened fighter, finally breaking through its shields and stripped away multiple layers of armour before they cloaked again, though not without losing a pound of their own of flesh. Its aft cannons spoke with a spread of phased polaron beams. One beam struck one of the raider's starboard wing which sent it careening into an asteroid, destroying it in a brief explosion.
Hudson piloted his own ship into a another attack run with three others, this time his target was the stronger vessel. With a snap roll around a smaller asteroid his gunner launched a pair of torpedoes and fired phasers at maximum firepower along with the other three attackers. Multiple phaser blasts rocked the fighter as it hovered over its damaged comrade and returned fire with multiple polaron beams. One beam struck the trailing raider in the cockpit and punched through the shields and out the other end, leading to its death.
Another double tap of torpedoes launched from the three surviving raiders as the first eight struck. Half went for the crippled fighter while the other half went after the stronger one. The weakened vessel lost its shields after being hit by the first three. The final torpedo penetrated the fighter's dorsal armour and detonated from within, pushing away it brethren in death and consequently saved it from instant destruction as the first two of the four torpedoes heading its way missed and instead detonated after passing them.
The photonic shockwaves buffeted every ship in the asteroid field and forced a number of cloaked vessels to decloak and raise their shields to full power. Like a pack of angry wolves after a bear the Maquis ships went after the last remaining fighter with phaser blazing, stabbing again and again until they broke through the shields and began carving ugly black scars into its armour.
Hudson took his raider into a tight roll around a large asteroid and approached the fighters underbelly. "Fire all phasers," he commanded and his crew complied. Rapid fire phaser pulses ripped into the armour, leaving large impact craters and eventually blasted through the armour. Spying an opportunity a Maquis fighter launched its last torpedo into the breach and watched as it exploded in satisfaction.
With a tired sigh Hudson leaned back in his pilot's chair. "Call up the Ajax. Tell them that the Jem'Hadar have been dealt with."
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
USS Ajax; Captain's Ready Room
An hour later
A tired Captain Macintyre looked over the casualty lists for his little combat group. It hadn't taken long to recover the survivors from the Revanche, though that was mostly due to the ship being evacuated earlier, leaving behind only a skeleton crew aboard her. Unfortunately most of her lower decks had either been destroyed or heavily irradiated, killing the majority of the skeleton crew, including Captain Hyuk. The poor bastard's first command and he died before the real war could begin.
The Captain put the PADD down with a thunderous crack on his desk, almost hard enough to crack it's display. The casualties had been quite heavy, both for the enemy as well as for both Starfleet and the Maquis. He felt lucky that there were no fatalities among his crew, but those people aboard the Revanche were still under his command.
A moment later the door chime sounded. "Come!" the Captain answered and in came Commander Eckland with another PADD.
"Ship's damage reports, sir," Commander Eckland reported. "Commander Macdougan says quite a few of the repairs can be done en route back to DS9, but we've taken a significant amount of damage to our hull armour. One more hit to the starboard side of the engineering hull and the torpedo bay would have suffered an inner hull breach. Luckily the warp drive and EPS system suffered only minimal damage and we're already underway at warp eight. We'll overtake the convoy within another half hour."
The Captain smiled at his XO. "Very good Commander." He quickly noticed her shifting in her seat. "Anything else Stephaney?"
"Sir, I've been in battle before, but it was usually against enemies I've been trained to fight, such as Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, but the Jem'Hadar..." She shuddered. "I've never seen a race be willing to sacrifice themselves so readily for a cause. Their attacks seem reckless, almost insane."
The Captain shook his head. "No. Their 'recklessness' and insanity has purpose, at least in their minds. They are no different than a fanatic who has been blinded by a cause. I won't even pretend to understand it completely, but we must face it with strength and determination!"
"Aye sir," said Commander Eckland with a small smile before she stood up again. "I think I'll get back to the bridge."
He nodded back. "Dismissed Commander."