"FALLEN HEROES"
by Alex Lampe
PART I – CHAPTER II
Ever since Station A-12 went to red alert (not that long ago), Captain Stephan Rinckes and his first officer Commander Melanie Simons have been roaming the corridors, dodging the occasional armed Altonoid. By now, Captain Rinckes has come up with a plan. "We must find a communications station because our combadges don't work. Must be the Altonoids' doing."
Commander Simons brushes a few strands of blonde hair away from her eyes. "And we should get some weaponry."
"That won't hurt…" Captain Rinckes says. When he sees that his first officer is raising an eyebrow at him, he continues with a sheepish, "Well, it won't hurt us."
Cmdr. Simons shakes her head.
"There should be a weapons locker up ahead," Captain Rinckes continues. And indeed, soon enough they see one up ahead where the corridor ends in a T-junction. They head for it, but just when they're about to reach it, they see it's being guarded by an Altonoid. This one looks like any other Altonoid soldier: tall, strong, adorned with multiple tattoos and piercings, and equipped with a rather huge hairdo that partially covers his grumpy face. Luckily, he doesn't spot the two Starfleet officers.
Captain Rinckes and Cmdr. Simons quickly hide themselves behind the corner. "All right," Captain Rinckes says calmly. "What do we do now?"
Without replying, Cmdr. Simons plucks one of the three rank pips off her collar and throws it at the bulkhead behind the Altonoid. The pip causes a ticking sound when it bounces off the bulkhead and hits the floor. The Altonoid soldier looks down and inadvertently gives Captain Rinckes all the time he needs to run over to him. The distracted Altonoid looks up too late to prevent himself from being kicked in the stomach; he slams into the bulkhead behind him and collapses.
"We're quite a team, aren't we?" Cmdr. Simons says playfully as she walks over to her captain. The captain replies with a brief hint of a smile, and he opens the weapons locker to grab its contents: a handphaser and a heavy phaser rifle. He gives the handphaser to Cmdr. Simons, who in turn gives him a very punishing look. Captain Rinckes swiftly gives her the phaser rifle and takes back the handphaser. Simons nods approvingly with a teasing smile on her face. "Wise move, Captain."
Rinckes wants to retort, but thinks better of it and walks off. Simons follows, holding her newly gained phaser rifle steady in her hands.
In the station's command center, now completely run by Altonoids:
"A weapons locker near guard DE-47 has been opened," says an Altonoid who has taken the security station.
"Odd. We do not use Starfleet weaponry," says another Altonoid, who has seated himself in the captain's chair. "Contact that guard. Ask him what's going on."
"Yes sir." A few silent seconds pass. "He's not responding."
The commanding Altonoid furrows his brow. "Captain Rinckes and his first officer are still at large?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "I think we've just found them. Send a security team to intercept them."
The two Explory-class and the two Altonoid-class Altonoid vessels close in on the USS Wolf, the USS Kennedy, and the USS Sundance. The two Altonoid-class ships break formation. This class of ships has a very distinctive look, because it consists of two large saucers that are connected to each other via a 'hallway' section. That hallway section contains a very powerful weapon, reminiscent of the plasma weapon the Romulans used over a century ago in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the Enterprise. The Altonoids never mentioned the original name of their weapon, so for the lack of a better term, Starfleet officers began dubbing it the 'spaceblaster.'
One of those vessels now faces the Kennedy and loads its spaceblaster. The USS Kennedy responds by firing a barrage of quantum torpedoes, which hit the loading spaceblaster dead-on, decreasing the shields of that Altonoid ship immensely. The subsequent explosions of more impacting quantum torpedoes knock the spaceblaster offline before it can return fire. The two saucers still contain weaponry, but with its spaceblaster out of the way, the ship is no match for the Kennedy.
Aboard the USS Sundance:
The first weapon strikes coming from the other Altonoid-class vessel rock the bridge. The Bolian Lieutenant Broitz looks nervous as he takes in the sight of the double-saucered enemy ship. He knows the Sundance has one great tactical advantage, and it's about time he put it to good use. "Initiate multi-vector assault mode!"
"Initiating decoupling sequence," the computer replies. The ship goes to blue alert, which is emphasized by the fact that all pillars on the bridge, as well as the bridge dome on the ceiling, start blinking blue light. "Auto-separation in ten seconds."
As the computer counts down to zero, Lt. Broitz fails to notice that the Altonoid ship that was attacking them only moments ago has ceased firing. He also fails to notice that its spaceblaster is emitting green light that steadily grows brighter and brighter by the second.
"Separation sequence in progress," the computer announces, moments before the bridge shudders briefly but firmly. The Sundance separates into three battle-ready sections: its saucer (which contains the bridge and most of the crew), the upper secondary hull (the middle section), and the lower secondary hull.
"Initiate attack pattern Alpha," Lt. Broitz says with as much confidence as he can muster.
"Specify target."
When Broitz finally notices that the Altonoid ship is mere seconds away from firing its formidable spaceblaster, he exclaims, "Holy crap!"
"That is not a valid target."
The startled Broitz jumps up from the captain's chair and points a shaking finger at the viewscreen. "The Altonoid ship! Target the Altonoid ship!"
That's all the information the ship's computer needs. The saucer and lower secondary hull maneuver away from the middle section, which engages full impulse and heads straight for the Altonoid vessel. However, that vessel unleashes its spaceblaster and fires what seems like a giant green orb made of devastating energy. The inevitable impact is huge and causes the middle section to lose its shields and sustain heavy damage. However, it has retained enough momentum to keep going, drifting out of control toward its opponent. The slowly maneuvering Altonoid ship tries to move out of the way, but it's too late. The drifting section hits the Altonoid ship at full speed and explodes in its shields. That blast shatters the hallway section, turning the one Altonoid ship into two half Altonoid ships.
"We've performed an unwanted saucer separation on them, sir!" Lt. Jena Roguez, manning the tactical station, says. "We've also knocked out their shields and blew many of their important systems offline."
"That makes them easy targets. It's like a shooting gallery," Lt. Broitz says. He forces a smile, carefully neglecting to dwell on the fact that he has just lost one third of the Sundance.
Lt. Roguez, however, has a casualty report ready. "When we lost the middle section, we lost thirty-eight crew members." There's definitely an accusing tone hidden in her voice.
"I know, Lieutenant," Broitz says as he sits down in the captain's chair. "Let's not think about that for now."
"The captain's not going to like this."
Broitz wipes a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Look, he left me in command. Just keep firing at the Altonoid ship."
Lt. Roguez does just that. She commands both remaining sections of the Sundance to continue their attack on the two Altonoid saucers.
In the meanwhile, the USS Kennedy has seriously damaged the other Altonoid-class ship, and she deals the last blow in the form of a dozen photon torpedoes that rip open the hull of the starboard saucer and make it explode in a huge blast a few seconds later. The resulting explosions are large enough to consume the port saucer as well.
Those combined blasts provide enough momentum to hurl the remains of the port saucer toward an Explory-class ship the USS Wolf is trying to deal with. The large, beam-shaped Explory-class vessel fires its starboard phaser arrays in an attempt to destroy the burning hulk, but only manages to break it in two. Those two large pieces hit the upper and lower side of the Altonoid ship, smash through the shields, and scrape hull armor and external devices (such as weapons and sensors) off their foundations. The damaged Explory-class vessel gets embraced and consumed by the remains of the Altonoid-class vessel, and starts drifting too, into the direction of the second Explory-class ship...
That ship initiates full impulse in a futile attempt to escape imminent destruction. Once again, they can't get out of the way in time, and the aft of the Explory-class vessel gets hit by the remains of its colleagues. The ship careens out of control, only to be greeted by a fatal salvo of photon torpedoes originating from the USS Wolf.
Aboard the USS Kennedy:
The Trill Lieutenant Malin scratches her head. "That was foolish of them. I mean, sure, we outgunned them and all, but this was just… way too easy."
Sven Muntenaar, the black-haired lieutenant who's sitting next to her, tries to ignore the quick victory and stays alert. "The USS Sundance reports the destruction of the last Altonoid-class ship. Now we can focus on the situation aboard the station."
"The shield that prevents beaming is still in place. I don't think there's much we can do from here," the chief engineer, Lt. Cmdr. Soeteman, says.
"We'll have to destroy it somehow," Lt. Appels says. The short but muscular lieutenant rarely loses his cool, but he can appear a bit trigger-happy during times like these.
"First we will have to find out where that shield array is located, Lieutenant," says the Vulcan Lt. Sivar, who's still sitting in the captain's chair.
"We're receiving a message from the station," Lt. Muntenaar says. "It's being sent to all ships."
Aboard the USS Wolf:
"Well, put it on screen, Stephanie," Lt. Cmdr. Leif Anderson says. He sits in the captain's chair of the Akira-class Wolf with the ease of someone who's been sitting there all his life. "The lead ship of the fleet should deal with all communications."
"Yes sir," Lt. Stephanie Grant says. No need to recite Starfleet regulations to me, she adds in thought.
Captain Rinckes appears on the viewscreen, with a corridor of Station A-12 in the background. The captain of the Sundance looks ruffled. "Finally!" he exclaims. "We're probably being tracked down as we speak, so I'll keep things short."
"Captain Rinckes, I presume?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson asks.
"Yes. Captain Rinckes." The captain makes no effort to hide his impatience. "The Altonoids have taken over the station. We've been running from them for a while now. I thought you'd like to be inform—"
"Captain, the Altonoids have raised some kind of shield that prevents beaming and combadge usage," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says. "As long as that shield is up, we can't help you."
"We've found the location of the shield emitter," Ensign Daniels says, manning the science station. "It's located on deck 54, near section Beta 12."
"Okay, I got that," Rinckes says. "That's not far from here. And t—"
"You must destroy or disable that system by any means necessary," Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says urgently.
"Say, who's the captain here?" Captain Rinckes says. Before he can continue asking rhetorical questions, he is interrupted by Commander Simons, who runs past him. She's shooting at something that's invisible for the bridge crew.
"We've got to leave now!" they hear Cmdr. Simons shout.
Captain Rinckes grabs his phaser and starts shooting in the same direction. "You heard the lady," he says gruffly, right before he runs away too. Only a few seconds later, several Altonoids run past view. One Altonoid halts and looks right into the screen's camera, showing his unpleasant face to the bridge crew.
"Hello…?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says, looking at the ugly Altonoid. "I am Lieu—"
The Altonoid grabs his phaser and shoots the camera.
Now that the connection has been terminated, the viewscreen shows the Federation logo in peaceful silence. "Well…" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says as he looks around for a brief, awkward moment. "Now it all depends on Captain Rinckes and Commander Simons."
An Altonoid phaser beam narrowly misses Captain Rinckes and destroys an LCARS display on a nearby bulkhead, as he and Cmdr. Melanie Simons run through the corridors in an attempt to shake off the four Altonoids that are pursuing them.
Suddenly, Captain Rinckes turns around to face the Altonoids, causing him to evade a phaser beam that would've hit him in the back if he hadn't turned around. He aims his phaser, shoots one Altonoid, and turns around again, barely missing even more incoming phaser fire.
They're both running as fast as they can. Despite that, the Altonoids keep gaining on them. Just when they're about to run out of options, Rinckes spots an open entrance to one of this station's many computer rooms. He guides himself and his first officer inside, opens a wall panel near the doorway, and rips out some circuitry, fusing the heavy door behind them shut.
After a quick sigh of relief, they notice that there are two doors ahead of them now. "Two ways to get to the shield emitter," Captain Rinckes says. "Door number one or door number two. Which one do we choose?"
"We must separate. It'll increase our chances of success," Cmdr. Simons says.
Captain Rinckes looks at his own handphaser and Melanie Simons' somewhat more impressive phaser rifle. "Easy for you to say," he says with a smile. When he looks his first officer in the eyes, he instantly regains his seriousness. "I'd rather stay with you."
She doesn't pick up on his sudden caring attitude. "We don't have time for a discussion. They can break through the door any second now." And with that, she walks toward the right door. "I'll meet you there, okay?"
Captain Rinckes doesn't like this situation one bit. He doesn't want to let her out of his sight, not under these dangerous conditions. However, he knows that the mission should come first. "Okay," he says, with reluctance.
Cmdr. Simons goes through the right door, which closes behind her, leaving Rinckes to stare at the closed door for a brief while. A series of loud clangs made by the Altonoids in an attempt to break through the heavy door makes him realize he has to get out of here quickly. Without further hesitation, he goes through the left door and carries on with his mission. He's got to find that shield array before it's too late.
Through the large window of the main conference hall, the hostages plus the Altonoids guarding them can see the triumphant Federation starships facing the debris of the Altonoid vessels. The four captured Starfleet officers (Admiral Van Aken, Commander Levine, Captain Duvivier, and Commander Jansen) witnessed the entire battle and can now see the USS Satellite warping in.
"Why don't you give up, Letor Fune?" Admiral Van Aken asks. "Your fleet has been destroyed, while our fleet has grown even bigger. Surrender now; we're still willing to continue negotiations."
"We have no reason for concern. Our reinforcements will arrive shortly," Letor Fune says.
Commander Levine can no longer remain silent. "Stop this, Fune! Before we go beyond the point of no return, which will result in open warfare!"
Fune just keeps staring at the large window.
Captain Rinckes marches down a corridor, evades a group of Altonoids, and enters a square room. Seven armed-to-the-teeth Altonoids enter the room from the opposite side!
"What's that?" one of them shouts, pointing ahead.
"Relax, Guz. That's what humans call a Jefferies tube…" another Altonoid says. "You know, we have crawlways on our ships and stations too." This makes the other Altonoids laugh.
"I really thought I saw something."
"You are seeing ghosts, Guz. Those two Starfleet officers Fune 'misplaced' can't be here. They wouldn't have gotten this far."
"Don't underestimate us," Captain Rinckes whispers to himself. He managed to dive into that Jefferies tube not a second too soon, and now he's crawling his way forward.
At the end of the tube, the captain readies his phaser and opens the hatch. There are a few containers stacked close to the exit, so Rinckes can hide behind them without being seen. He carefully peeks out from behind one of the containers and sees a rather bulky Altonoid device sitting in the center of what appears to be a small cargo bay. That must be the shield array. Though at least a dozen Altonoids are guarding it, the captain is happy to have found the shield emitter relatively quickly. "That science ensign from the Wolf really knows his stuff," Rinckes whispers to himself. "Now, how do I destroy that shield array?"
Captain Rinckes looks at his phaser and comes up with a nice idea. He sets the phaser to overload and throws it at the shield array. Quickly, he jumps back into the Jefferies tube, carefully closes its hatch, and crawls away at a breakneck pace. The handphaser hits the shield array, bounces off it, and lands on the floor, all the while emitting an increasingly high-pitched sound. A nearby Altonoid walks over to the dropped phaser and picks it up. Before he realizes what's going on, the handphaser explodes.
The station rocks and the lights flicker, distracting Letor Fune from a conversation with another Altonoid in the conference room. Fune rattles off a series of curses in the Altonoid language. Luckily, the universal translator is unfamiliar with most of these new terms… Once Fune has regained some of his composure, he asks, "What's going on?!"
The Altonoid that Letor Fune was talking to runs over to a nearby wall panel. "The shield array has been destroyed! It must be Captain Rinckes' doing. Or m—"
"Rinckes again? I hate that guy," Letor Fune grunts.
"Take a number…" Captain Duvivier sighs. Nobody hears him.
"At least this area is still shielded," says the Altonoid near the wall panel. "I don't think they'll be able to find that second generator. We made sure it's hidden very well."
"Didn't we know where they were?" Letor Fune is obviously displeased. "Didn't we have their location when they opened the weapons locker? And when they sent a message to the USS Wolf?"
"We don't know where they are now. We've lost track of them."
"We outnumber them a million to one and you can't find them?!" Letor Fune shouts. "Find them! Find them and bring them to me!" Fune lifts an index finger and his voice turns ominous. "And if you cannot capture them alive, kill them." He turns and faces the four Starfleet officers. "You don't happen to know where Captain Rinckes might be, do you, fellows?" he asks with feigned kindness.
"May I make a suggestion?" Captain Duvivier asks calmly. "I think he's headed for the shuttle bay right now with his tail tucked between his legs."
Admiral Van Aken gives Duvivier the most punishing look in human history.
Aboard the USS Wolf:
"Captain Rinckes and Commander Simons have made it!" Lt. Stephanie Grant cheers.
"Made what?" Lt. Cmdr. Anderson says, without looking up from a PADD that a junior officer handed to him moments ago. The Wolf suffered only minor damage during the surprisingly short skirmish with the Altonoids, and the repairs are coming along nicely.
"The shield! It's down!" Lt. Grant says. Her happiness disappears quickly. "Oh… The Altonoids have raised a shield around the conference room. We still can't beam the hostages out."
Ensign Daniels shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I can't find the location of this second shield array. I think they've jammed its power source."
"But we can now send troops," Lt. Grant says, her enthusiasm building up again.
Anderson nods and presses a button on his chair's armrest. "This is the bridge to Lieutenant Hoper. Are your security officers standing by?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Hoper replies in his dark and raspy voice.
"Are we going to release the hostages by force?" Lt. Grant asks loudly enough to be heard by Lt. Hoper.
"Negative. That would put the flag officers at too much risk. We must take that second shield generator down so we can simply beam them to safety."
"Agreed," Cmdr. Anderson replies. "Assemble your troops and commence beam-down. Bridge out." He looks around for a brief moment. Though he's relieved that they've gained the upper hand, there is still a lot of work to do. "We should be able to contact Rinckes now that the first shield is gone." He presses his combadge. "Commander Anderson to Captain Rinckes."
"Yes?" they hear.
"You did it," Anderson says. "Congratulations, sir."
"I know," Captain Rinckes replies. "I assume you will send in troops now."
"That's right. But they've raised a new shield around the hostage room. You must find its generator and destroy it. We don't know where it is. Frankly, it could be anywhere."
"Hmm…" There's an awkward pause, lasting for a few seconds. "I'll look for it."
"Okay… Is Commander Simons still with you?"
"We've split up. I'm searching for her now."
"All right, but if I may be so bold, the conference room shielding is our top priority."
"Thank you for reminding me..." Sarcasm drips from his voice. "Rinckes out."
"Bye, Captain," Anderson says. "Good luck." He turns to Lt. Grant after the comm channel has closed. "He's not exactly the cheery type, is he?"
Grant just shrugs and continues her work.
On the bridge of the USS Kennedy:
"Lieutenant Appels, have your troops ready to beam down to the station," Lt. Sivar says.
"Already doing it," Lt. Appels says, sending messages throughout the ship via his tactical station. "We'll give the Altonoids a hell of a warm welcome."
"Permission to come along, Lieutenant," Lt. Malin asks.
"We could use all the help we can get," Lt. Appels admits.
Lieutenant Sivar raises a disapproving eyebrow. "You're needed at the helm, Ms. Malin."
"I never get to do anything fun," Lt. Malin says half-jokingly.
"Believe me…" Lt. Appels says, as he opens a weapons locker and arms himself. "War is not fun. I can remember the Dominion War all too well… I think we all can." Nobody is paying attention to him, because everybody is looking at the center of the bridge. None other than Q and Tony Q have appeared on the bridge, apparently from out of nowhere. They both look disgruntled.
The self-acclaimed 'god-like' Q is infamous for his frequent visits to several Starfleet vessels, including this one. Except for one very brief stint as a human, he has always been a Q, and he always will be. Tony Q, though, is a completely different story. He used to be a human called Tony Blue, until he was chosen by the Q Continuum to successfully introduce human nature to the powerful but arrogant Continuum. While neither fully Q nor human anymore, he served Starfleet aboard this ship, the USS Kennedy. Due to mysterious circumstances (being sponsored by a race of omnipotent beings can be beneficial sometimes), he rose to the rank of commander, despite being only eighteen years old. He has used his powers to save the Federation on several occasions and has become a respectable—if not a bit odd—Starfleet officer.
Recently, Tony Q became a full Q and gave up his role in Starfleet. With his rather youthful age, he may not exactly look like a typical commander, but he surely doesn't lack the self-confidence—or arrogance, if you prefer. Now he stands in the middle of the bridge, with his arms crossed. "I've made up my mind, Q!"
"Reconsider! It's not worth it!" Q retorts. "Let the Federation take care of themselves."
"They need my help! They'll never succeed without me." Tony can't help but sound more like a spoiled teenager than the robust, brave war hero he's trying to be.
"Look, we've been through this! Enough is enough. You're a Q now. You have responsibilities to the Continuum. I know these humans are an important part of your history, but if the Continuum tells you to back off…" Q uncharacteristically drops his melodramatic demeanor and appears almost frightened when he says, "…you back off!"
"I've made the decision, Q." Tony Q snaps his fingers. A heavy phaser rifle appears in his hands.
"The Continuum won't allow this disobedience. They'll reduce your powers, or worse."
Tony doesn't say a word and looks at Q with a determined expression on his face.
"All right! Fine!" Q shouts. "Have it your way, Commander Tony Blue! But don't come crying to me for help when things get out of hand!" And with that, Q disappears in a white flash.
Tony Q looks at the bridge crew, who all stare at him in stunned silence. "What?!"
Lt. Sivar stands up from his chair and walks over to Tony. "It appears you have decided to provide assistance in our attempt to recapture the station."
Tony Q sighs dramatically. "Well yes! You might say that!"
"And I assume the Q Continuum is not pleased with that," Lt. Sivar says.
Tony looks at Dr. Rose van Oers. "I didn't know Lieutenant Sivar had such well-developed telepathic abilities," he says, making the doctor smile.
Lieutenant Appels decides to join the conversation. "All right, Tony. If you want to help us, resolve the situation with a snap of the fingers."
Tony snaps his fingers, but nothing happens—as expected. "They took away my powers," he groans. "But I'm undoubtedly still immortal. The Continuum can't afford to lose me."
"All right, you can come along, Commander," Appels says with slight reluctance. "One thing needs to be absolutely clear: once we're down there, I'm in command of the squad. Understood?"
"Yeah, sure." Tony's lackluster reply doesn't really ease Lt. Appels' mind.
"Now that their primary shield is gone, the scanners indicate there are many dead or injured Starfleet officers on the station," Lt. Muntenaar says. "The Altonoids didn't take over the station the nice way…"
"Indeed, Mr. Muntenaar. Their orders are to shoot anyone below the rank of lieutenant commander, or anyone who wears a security or engineering uniform," Lt. Sivar says.
"Maybe we should all wear command uniforms with the rank insignia of a commander?" a nearby ensign says.
Lt. Appels lets out an annoyed sigh. "No, Ensign Parkin. That will result in a change of orders for the Altonoids, making them shoot every commander in sight." He takes a long look at Commander Tony Q, who gives him a haughty look in return. "Actually, it might be worth a try," Appels sighs.
"Very funny, Lieutenant," Tony replies. "I'd expected a bit more sympathy, even from you. I'm risking a lot by just being here trying to help you. The least you could do is try to appear grateful."
Lt. Appels is not impressed and replies with a stern, "I'll thank you once this situation is resolved." Tony wants to retort, but Appels cuts him short by saying, "We've wasted enough time."
"Very well…" Tony mutters.
Lt. Appels doesn't hear him. Instead, he faces the doctor and says, "Doctor Van Oers, please join my away team. They'll undoubtedly require medical assistance at the station."
"Now, that's not a very optimistic of you, Appels," Tony says. "Do you always take such poor care of your away teams? Things have really changed since I left."
Lieutenant Appels sighs. "I was talking about the crew of Statio—"
"I know, I know," Tony says. "Let's go now. We've wasted enough time."
Lt. Appels wants to say something impolite, but Dr. Van Oers gently coerces him to the turbolift. Commander Tony Q follows.
A few minutes later, the trio plus six security officers materialize in a corridor of the station.
"Right now, multiple troops are beaming in from our ships. I am our squad leader," Lt. Appels says.
"How do you do?" Cmdr. Tony Q says as he takes a bow. "Enough kidding around, I am well informed. We've got to find the shield array that generates the shield around the hostage room." Tony says that last sentence as if he has repeated it a billion times before.
"And I shall attempt to patch up every injured Starfleet officer we encounter," Dr. Van Oers says, genuinely optimistic as always.
"Yes. Okay, listen up. Our team will have to search deck 52," Lt. Appels says. "Commander? Are you listening?"
Tony Q breaks off his exchange of smiles with an attractive, brown-haired, female security ensign that's part of their team. "Sorry. You were saying?"
Lt. Appels grumbles. "Let's go find that array." The group leaves the area with phaser rifles ready.
Aboard the USS Kennedy:
"Away teams have all checked in and have begun their search," says Ensign Parkin, who now mans the tactical station.
"I'm reading a funny si—" Lt. Muntenaar says, but after a quizzical look from Lt. Sivar he corrects himself, "a peculiar signal emerging from right in front of us."
"I see it too," Lt. Malin adds.
Muntenaar's look quickly changes from quizzical to alarmed. "It's an Altonoid ship uncloaking directly ahead!"
A strange-looking variant of the huge, rectangular Massal-class appears on the screen. Its entire surface seems to be covered by yellow wiring. The wiring lights up at random points until they converge to form four strong phaser beams that immediately start pounding on the shields of the USS Satellite.
"Fascinating," Lt. Sivar says with a raised eyebrow. "Ensign Parkin, ready weapons."