Xel's view was littered with light and not the good kind. Each flash or streak of light meant a ship being fired upon, being torn open, someone dying, or about to die. Pushing, pulling, and even tilting the stick pointed the Peregrine Class attack fighter in various directions but there was no escaping the chaotic spray of ships, explosions, phaser fire, torpedoes, and debris. There was also a planet, Bajor being battered and evacuated.
This was the battle the Federation had prepared for. With their new found alliance with both Qo'Nos and Romulus, the Dominion was pushing through the Bajoran Wormhole en masse, making its move to obliterate the Federation. Their first objective was control of the Bajoran Wormhole.
Success.
Xel was not there to see it, but the Federation's efforts to seal the wormhole had failed. Deep Space Nine contained more than just members of many races, more than Bajoran and Federation personnel and the enslaved Cardassians, but friends and colleagues. All were quickly considered expendable and, one subspace torpedo later, it was destroyed. The resulting spatial disturbance was inadequate in destabilizing the wormhole.
The battle raged and remaining Federation forces fell back to Bajor where the remaining fleet awaited.
Xel piloted over a Klingon bird of prey, strafing it and lowering what shield percentage it had left. Voices were filling the comms and all argued over what to do next to seal the wormhole. Dominion vessels were still pouring in.
An alarm sprang to life and Xel looked over the console. The Peregrine class fighter was being pursued by two fighters, one being Klingon, the other, Romulan. With a bit of luck as it turned out, the two were clearly arguing over who would get this one. They were still unsettled allies and their bickering gave Xel the opportunity to roll, loop back, punch the throttle, and end up behind them. Both ended up as small debris fields speeding toward the atmosphere of Bajor.
The Federation had its alliances as well. The single element that had kept this war within the confines of Cold War, was their Borg alliance.
The race that befriended no one and assimilated all was eventually overtaken by individuality. The collective was broken and the race returned to their natural ways. Finally, naturally born Borg. Finally, no longer a threat. And they allied themselves with the one force that brought on such a revolution in the Borg; the Federation.
Xel performed another strafe and disabled the weaponry of a Romulan vessel.
Many Borg strove to prove themselves formidable warriors, pilots, and service personnel. More than a millennium of assimilating other races reduced their natural evolutionary advances.
Xel recalled the ridicule as a child on Earth. Now however, many have risen to the occasion to prove themselves both loyal and able.
Xel was one of them. In the arena, in the cockpit, even as Tactical Officer, those skills were seldom matched.
Home was pretty much on the bridge of the Salasusa and at Tactical, but piloting was something that just came natural. Xel had weaknesses and worked hard to overcome them or cover them over.
Looking at the sensors, Xel noticed the DKR (Dominion, Klingon, Romulan) Triad were trying to force Federation forces away from each other, to spread the battle, to take them on one by one. The Triad had caught wind of what the Federation possibly had up its sleeve and decided to throw the battle into all kinds of confusion. All formations broke and the space above Bajor became a massive blob of chaos. Xel made out Captain Kelethan's voice from all the others wrestling to be heard.
"The Triad is trying to spread the battle in all directions. Jam all transmissions. Don't let..." and that voice dropped out.
"Captain Kelethan," Xel pulled on the trigger and sent out a spread of phaser fire. The receiving Dominion vessel started in a series of explosions. "Come in Captain Kelethan."
Xel quickly hoped that the DKR did manage to jam transmissions though it would have meant a full retreat, but that hope was crushed as voices were still heard. A moment later, a chunk of hull with a charred "SAL" with half of the following "A" went floating by.
"All surviving Salasusa personnel." It was the admiral's voice. "You are now under the command of Admiral Bridgers of the Heracles. Focus all fire on the lead Dominion ship."
Xel did not care for orders right then. Her ship, her home was floating all around in burning bits. All that mattered was to bring destruction to those that brought it upon the Salasusa. After all that had happened and all that Captain Kelethan had tried to do, the ship, the captain, and all that Xel considered friends and shipmates were dead. Half of the ship's fighters were still flying. The Salasusa CAW, Dangremon Herschel had to quickly adapt to his new position as he was being given orders from the Heracles' CAW.
"All fighters, attack pattern alpha," he said.
"Belay that," said the Heracles CAW. "Concentrate fire on the dorsal shielding."
Xel only smirked. "Serves him right."
Xel's name was being called over and over again as the Peregrine fighter was the only one under command of the Heracles that was not responding to orders. Xel had not turned to intercept the lead Dominion ship. The promise was still there that the Salasusa was to be avenged and that vengeance was to be taken out on those that brought it.
The announcement blared over the comms that Bajor was finally evacuated. Everything of value was off or leaving, though an estimated hundred thousand people were still on the surface. Regardless, the Federation decided to play its card of doom.
An immediate bombardment of Bajor with anti-matter bombs was ordered. All ships were to fully dispense their load upon the planet. Flash after flash was visible from space and it took only minutes before the entire surface was laid to waste. Energy readings went off the scale, spiked, then plummeted, only to spike again. Xel did not take notice, but did after a bright flash seemed to fill existence. Banking and looking out, Bajor was flying apart.
If only sound could travel through space, Xel could have heard and felt the tremendous price the Federation decided it could pay. Xel wanted to get a glimpse of what it was like to destroy something so big and important. Afterall, it was what the Borg had done for so long. And now the Federation seemed no different.
Their objective was achieved however. The Bajoran wormhole, effected by the distortions sent from the destruction of the planet, flashed once and was gone. It closed only to reopen elsewhere. A ship disappeared, then it was gone again.
Xel returned to the promise of revenge. All that was thought on was what Captain Kelethan tried to achieve. Peace could have been attained, Bajor could have been saved, and trade between the two quadrants of space could have continued had it not been for the Federation and its deaf ears.
Finally, after avoiding more fire, debris, and another enemy ship, the vessel ultimately responsible for the destruction of the Salasusa did appear before Xel's craft. A finger hovered above the launch trigger. It hesitated, then flexed and a subspace torpedo was fired from one of the launch tubes on the fighter.
"Lt. Arrackis, what the hell are you doing?" There was a pause and the voice returned. "Lt. Arrackis. Come in. We've won."
After another short spanse of silence, "All personnel, Lt. Arrackis has fired upon the Heracles. Target and destroy the Peregrine class fighter of Lt. Arrackis."
Nothing else mattered. The recent discoveries on board the Salasusa, despite its destruction was already known. Information would surely leak out and Xel's name would certainly surface. It was All-or-Nothing time and it was all Xel could do to not launch the remaining torpedoes at the Heracles.
All ships that were not being pummeled by chunks of Bajor were falling back and the DKR Triad commenced a full retreat.
Several fighters formed on Xel's six. The lead turned out to be Dangremon Herschel himself. As he was following orders to dispatch the ship that had fired on the Heracles, he locked on, but was himself fired upon by another Salasusa craft.
Looking at the console, Xel saw one craft disappear as an explosion was registered from behind. Could have been Herschel. Death was suddenly desirable and the Peregrine fighter continued a straight line toward the Heracles. Anyone that fired would have had to try hard to miss, but the sudden skirmish from behind caused even more confusion and chaos.
All was drowned out, however.
Bajor's core finally became exposed to the vacuum of space. That and the standing anti-matter that remained behind caused another explosion, a bright flash from behind and, mysteriously, one from the front.
There was only enough time to recognize the event directly ahead, not enough time to veer away. It was a wormhole. Xel was certainly going to find out where it went.
Almost as soon as it appeared, it sucked in Xel's ship and was gone.
There was nothing else but a beautiful tunnel of water. It was the only way Xel could think to describe it. Not like flying through a glass tube underwater, but as if the water's surface was all around. It waved and folded, bent and curved this way and that. Xel simply released the stick and those hands hovered above the console. Mistakes were not desirable when traveling through a wormhole, especially on one's first time. Looking ahead, Xel made out the small dot of the subspace torpedo that was meant for the Heracles. It was not getting any further away or getting any closer. It was just there and keeping itself in the center of the watery tunnel. That or the tunnel held it in the center, like it held Xel's ship. It turned on its own to compensate for the turning and folding of the wormhole.
The console was of no use. Readings were jumping back and forth from all extremes, then they started overloading and, bit by bit, the ship started shutting down.
The watery tunnel ended after another bright flash. The ship stopped rocking every which way and Xel was quick to crank up the manual polarization. Despite the lack of power, there was no need in being completely vulnerable.
Attempting the console for further systems was a waste of time. Everything was offline. Eyesight was still fine and beyond the glass of the cockpit, those eyes caught the sign of that subspace torpedo still looming forward. Where the Heracles used to be was replaced by an allied vessel.
"Sphere. No!"
Borg Spheres were unmistakable. Xel did not want to fire on an allied vessel, that also wasn't Federation.
All attempts to hail the friendly vessel failed as did the sequence to terminate the torpedo. The console proved utterly useless. The pretty lights and musical bleeps that all Federation personnel grew accustomed to were dark and silent. Only the dull tap of fingers on a nonresponsive board was heard.
And Xel could only watch as the torpedo, which was intended for one friendly vessel, was heading toward another.