Just one more relay, she frantically thought to herself. Just one more and then I can flip the manual override to eject the fusion core. I think I'm going to make it. I think we're going to be okay...
Commander Kymberli Rzepka's hands flew over the control panel like rockets as she concentrated on the ejector system. Determination dripped from her fingers, begging to expedite a mostly doomed mission. Deep Space Nine was in the middle of a total evacuation after the discovery of several bombs around the fusion core, but she knew everyone wouldn't be able to get off the station when the reactor went critical in four minutes.
Four minutes left, she thought again. Four minutes to live... or die.
"Dax to Commander Rzepka, I'm getting you out of there. Prepare to transport."
"NO!" Rzepka practically screamed back at the voice of her best friend and continued to work. "Three more minutes! Keep evacuating the civilians!"
"You have two."
I can't let the station go like this. She deserves so much more from us. From me.
The young commander was the only one left in the engine room. Everyone else had been evacuated over five minutes ago. When the security team had discovered the reactor had been sabotaged, they all knew there wasn't much hope to save it. Kym was convinced she could disassemble the reactor ejection system, then she could eject the overloading core manually.
"Warning. Reactor breech imminent. Core temperature reaching critical levels."
The computer had no idea what was about to happen. It's calm, female voice was as monotone as it had been the day she arrived on this station. The station she once hated. Now, the station she was risking her life to save.
"Warning. Reactor breech imminent. Core temperature reaching critical levels."
"I KNOW! SHUT UP!"
Her scream released a tiny bit of tension in her hands as she continued to work. The engineer's temper flared as her heart rate sped up.
Palms clammy.
Hands unsteady.
Stomach knotted.
She knew she had to hurry. Every second counted. "Warning, sixty seconds to reactor breech."
Hands flew faster.
Breath picked up.
Heart beat frantic.
One more second...
She flipped the tool she was using and suddenly was filled with immeasurable joy. The override worked. She stood and practically ran to the opposite side of the room, reaching for the lever to pull and manually activate the ejector system. Her hand never touched the lever.
Suddenly, a bright light filled her eyes. Is this it? Did the station explode? Am I dead?
A few moments filled her with a panicked wonder until she materialized on the bridge of the USS Aventine. As soon as the transporter materialized her body, she immediately stumbled off the transporter pad and Captain Ezri Dax's loud, commanding voice filled her ears.
"Shields up! Helm, full reverse, NOW!"
As soon as the commander picked up her head, she saw her station – her home – explode into a mass fiery blast. Suddenly, the Breen and Tzenkethi ships surrounding them didn't seem so important. Aventine shuddered under Rzepka's feet as she watched the debris of the station scatter out into space.
The captain continued to give order to fire upon the enemy ships – the Breen and Tzenkethi – even though most of them were in retreat. Commander Rzepka couldn't move. She could barely breathe. She lowered herself into a chair nearby as she tried to process what had just happened. Deep Space Nine was gone.
"Captain, the Breen fighter is moving in for another pass at Defiant."
"Head them off. Fire phasers, target their weapon system."
"Captain, a Romulan ship is decloaking off Defiant's port."
"Hit them before they get their shields up! Quantum torpedoes!"
Captain Dax wielded her power as a starship captain like a double-edged sword. She was relentless in fighting the ships who were still attacking the federation vessels. She'd had enough. And she was angry.
"Romulan target destroyed, sir. The other ships are breaking their formation and moving out. Should we pursue?"
"No," Dax begrudgingly replied, watching the Breen ship appear smaller and smaller in the view screen at the front of her bridge. She hated what she was doing. She wanted to follow them and destroy every single one. "Let them go. We have other fish to fry."
After what seemed like forever, but was only a few minutes, the enemy ships dispersed, leaving Defiant, Aventine, the runabout Rio Grande, and a few other Federation ships sitting around quietly, licking their wounds and wondering what happened.
Captain Dax's face appeared in front of Rzepka's, who was still seated toward the back of the bridge. She looked at her friend with sympathy in her eyes.
"Kym..." Dax breathed. The commander seemed to be in a state of shock, not looking up and not saying anything. "Are you injured?"
Rzepka shook her head. She still didn't look up at her friend, but muttered the only thing she could think about. "I almost had it."
"It almost had you. Even if you had activated the ejectors right when we beamed you out, the core wouldn't have been far enough away. It would have destroyed most of the station anyway. You did the best you could." The captain's voice was soft as she knelt on the floor in front of Rzepka. The commander finally looked up at her friend and sensed nothing but understanding and sympathy.
"Captain," a young ensign said loudly. "The Rutledge is hailing us."
"On screen," Dax said with a sigh, standing and making her way back down to the front of the bridge. Captain Benjamin Sisko's face filled the screen, looking grim.
"Dax," he started. "The fleet is going to rendezvous... personnel and civilians accounted... headcount and recovery operations..."
Commander Rzepka couldn't understand what the captain was saying. She was drifting somewhere between real time and perceived time, going back to the station and trying to will herself to move faster, even though the moment was over. She barely understood why she was stilling on Aventine's bridge, along with several other crew members that were evacuated from the station.