The ship rocked upon being hit.
"veQ!" Sekar cursed in Klingon, one of the skills he obtained.
He pushed crew members out of the way to both man the phaser banks, torpedoes, and maneuver the ship at the same time. This was made easy by Klingon instinct, but tough nonetheless.
The New Jersey shot a photon torpedo, evaded phasers, got closer, and repeated. The warbird was shocked by this sudden comeback, and cloaked to warp out.
Sekar fell to his knees in exhaustion. He then looked at the damages. Only a few broken sensor consoles, as well as a few bruised bridge crew.
- SICK BAY -
Smith and Odan lay in the sickbay beds. They had only been knocked unconscious by the explosion, as well as minor second-degree burns.
Doctor Nevill administered the basic treatment, and the two soon awoke.
Nevill was an Andorian. Due to their long lifespans, he had been alive for a century already, and was in the prime of his youth. Because of this, many people consult him for his wisdom.
Smith woke up first. He pulled his phaser, expecting to have been taken prisoner. Odan then awoke, and quickly calmed the captain. They headed up the turbolift to the bridge.
- BRIDGE -
Broken console parts and scorch marks scattered the room. With a press of his combadge, Smith called Dewitt. Whiten a minute, the engineer was on the bridge. He joked about how the bridge was his darling before giving Smith an estimate.
"It'll take four hours. But we don't have that, so I'll get it done for you in one." Dewitt said. "Do you always multiply your estimations by four?" the Captain asked. "You learn a thing or two from Scotty." Dewitt responded.
The captain chuckled. "The rest of you, meet me in the ready room." he commanded.
- READY ROOM -
Sekar, Odan, and Elsie met in the ready room, and sat down. After a minute, Captain Arron and Ambassador Dia entered and sat down.
"Ambassador, this is my First Officer, Odan." Smith said, introducing the two.
"Greetings, mam." Dia said to Odan. Elsie furrowed her brow at the use of pronoun. Odan lightly blushed.
Paying no mind to it, Smith continued. "This is my Helmsman, Elsie, and my Tactical Officer, Sekar. I believe you two are... already acquainted..." he said.
"When the Romulans attacked, they took out our warp nacelles and communications. Our only source of transportation is our impulse engines, which will run out of fuel in an estimated 30 minutes. What's even worse is that this mission will define the fate of the federation. If Dia does not show up for this conference, another war could break out. A three-way war between the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans. This would be devastating for the entire quadrant. Do we have any ideas?" the Captain spoke.
A minute passed, and just before Smith could sigh, Elsie spoke up.
"What about the Danube-classes?" she spoke. "We are fitted with five Danube-class runabouts, each able to obtain warp five. Even better, they are fitted with tractor beams. If we could convert those tractor beams to repulsar beams, and have each runabout hit warp five, the runabouts could act as warp nacelles!" she proposed.
The captain agreed. He ordered the engineering team to reverse the polarity of the tractor beams. After 45 minutes the job was done. Sekar was ordered to the USS Hudson to command the other four.
- USS HUDSON -
Sekar looked around. Danube-class runabouts were quite advanced for such small ships. These specially-configured versions came equipped with advanced tractor/repulsar beams, along with the standard weapons and systems.
The 5 ships got in formation. The Tigris and Amazon took the left nacelle, while the Huang Hu and Mississippi took the right nacelle, leaving the Hudson inbetween to command.
Sekar gave the command to engage repulsar beams. The NJ started moving, ever so slowly. "Engage warp 1." he then ordered. As the ships hit warp, they pushed the NJ farther and faster. "Warp 2." he said. The ships increased their speed. "Warp 3" he said. But their efforts were suddenly paused. A Romulan warbird decloaked, and fired upon the New Jersey. "WARP 4!" he barked. The ships went faster, but it was no use. "WARP 5!" he shouted. Once this was achieved, he pulled back. He fired all the Hudson could handle, while making constant manuvers. He then realized it was no use. He located the bridge of the warbird. If he could hit it, the warbird would go down with him. He dropped out of warp and lowered his shields. There were only ten seconds before the hit.
"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!" he screamed. Just before the crash, Sekar was beamed out. He appeared in the New Jersey's transporter room. He then looked to see the man at the transporter console: the crewman that caused his drink to spill. The crewman smiled. The attack worked, and the New Jersey was going to complete it's mission.
- IRRA COLONY -
Once they arrived at the Irra Colony, the New Jersey was repaired by a team of Klingon engineers lead by Dewitt. Ambassador Dia arrived on the planet's surface by shuttlecraft, along with the bridge crew of the New Jersey. After all the formalities were finished, Captain Smith told the crew and the Klingons of Sekar's bravery. The crew would never ignore him after this. The crew headed back to the shuttle.
- BRIDGE -
"Captain, we have an incoming transmission from Starfleet Command." Elsie said.
"Onscreen" Smith replied.
The admiral spoke to the crew. "New Jersey, report to Earth Spacedock for new orders. Admiral out."
Captain Smith nodded. "Elsie, set a course for Earth Spacedock, warp 7. Engage."
NEXT TIME ON STAR TREK - A NEW ERA: Strange things are happening aboard the USS New Jersey. Crew members are getting scorch marks for no apparent reason. Odan is going insane, thinking that the ship is haunted. Strange captain's logs are appearing in the New Jersey's computer, dated in the future. See it all in ST:ANE Episode 3: "Ghost of Starships Future".