The Enterprise hurtled on through space and the crew continued working on the ship. Every weapon system and shield array was inspected for any sign of damaged components, and these got replaced straight away before they arrived at their stop off point. Geordi and Data worked on the "Upgrade" and they hoped to get it installed before they arrived so they could get extra testing in. Picard, Riker and Worf discussed tactics over the actual rescue. Even in the 24th Century they had to drop the shields in order to activate the transporter, so the three officers had to plan the operation to the second. As a result, Ro actually had the Conn, which made her pleased. Not many Ensigns got to do that after all, and Ro had the ships sensors scan for any Starfleet or Federation ships nearby. Nothing was within range but Ro kept the sensors scanning for anything that might give away their position to ships that might stop them. As she sat in Picard's seat, she thought about the things that had brought her here. Ro Laren decided to do all she could to help repay the trust that Picard had placed in her. The Ensign at helm reported that they had arrived at the system the Captain had ordered them to go to.
"Bridge to Captain Picard" Ro called to the computer.
"Picard here" Picard's voice called out.
"We have arrived at the Shatner System" Ro reported.
"I'm on my way" Picard said and he closed the channel. A few minutes later and he was on the bridge with the most of the senior staff. Ro stood up and took her place at the helm and gave a report to the Captain.
"We are in the systems Oort Cloud but systems are at 100 percent power" she said.
"Very well" Picard said. "Picard to Engineering. Are we ready to proceed, Geordi?" he asked.
"Ready and awaiting your orders, Captain" Geordi answered from the engine room.
"I'm not going to use it at the moment, but have people standing by to activate it when I give the word" Picard said.
"Aye sir" and Geordi closed the link.
"Run a full sensor sweep of the surrounding area up to the Romulan border. I want to know where the Romulan fleet is located at this moment" Picard ordered. Data worked with Worf in order to maximise their efforts and they soon reported that the closest Romulan ship as at least 10 light years away from the border and would take at least an hour to get to the border. Picard was silent for a long time before turning to his chair's console.
"What are you doing, Captain?" Riker asked.
"I'm deactivating the Enterprise's transponder so Starfleet can not detect us" Picard replied.
"A sensible plan" Worf said from behind them. "We should be able to detect any ship coming out of cloak and get a weapons lock before it can attack us" the Klingon added.
"Very well" Picard said. "Open a shipwide channel" he ordered.
"Done" Worf said.
"Attention all hands – this is the Captain speaking. We are about to cross into Romulan space which is a treaty violation. This ship could be heavily damaged if not destroyed and we will be lucky to get away from this at all. The Enterprise will be going directly to the planet where we believe the officer is being held. I want everyone ready to do their duty and to their very best" Picard paused before giving the order. "Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!" and the klaxons sounded over the ship and the shields came on and weapons came up to full power – boosted by the extra power from unused cabins and workspaces. Worf muted the alarms after a minute and reported that all decks where at Battle Stations.
"All systems at full power" Geordi said in a message to Picard's screen.
"Ensign Ro, set course for the Belonday system and engage at maximum warp" the captain ordered.
"Aye sir" Ro said, and she sent the ship hurtling through the system regardless of the possible damage it could do to the planets. In less then ten minutes, they had crossed the border and entered the Neutral Zone and a few minutes entered Romulan space itself.
"Scan for ships" Riker ordered.
"No ships in the immediate area" Data reported. "There is a Romulan freighter but it has not detected us" he said after a moment consulting his board.
"Distance to planetary system" Picard asked.
"Ten light years" Ro said.
"Steady as she goes. Maintain course and speed" Picard said.
"Steady as she goes, aye" Ro said. Half an hour passed as they hurtled through space and towards the Planet where Natasha Yar was being held. All of the bridge crew looked at the viewscreen as if they could detect Romulan warbirds when the sensors could not.
"Captain!" Data suddenly called out, "Four Romulan ships on an intercept course" and Picard swore under his breath.
"Time to intercept?" he asked.
"Five minutes ten seconds" Worf said from tactical.
"Merde" Picard said. "How long until we reach the system?" he asked Ro.
"Sixty seconds to the edge of the system" the Bajoran said back to him.
"Bring us out of warp directly next to the planet" Picard ordered, then he turned to his first officer. "Get your team together Will" he said, "And good luck" and Riker nodded before sprinting to the turbolift with Data on his heels. Ro brought the ship to a stop directly above the planet and Worf lowered the shields just enough for O'Brian to transport the away team down to the surface. Once the shields where back up, Picard had Ro move the Enterprise into the sun's radiation zone to mask them from the sensors of the Romulan ships. It also meant that the shields went down so they had no defence if weapons went down.
#
"Got that bastard!" said a security man as a Romulan guard went down to Phaser fire.
"Lets go" Riker called, and they progressed down the dark, damp and dismal corridors of the prison where they believed their objective was located. They had just turned a corner when they where pinned down by Disrupter fire by newly arrived guards. Riker and Data tried to pick them off, and succeeded in parts, but couldn't do that all the time as there was simply too many of them. Splitting into two teams, Data and two security man crossed over to the over side of the corridor and they two groups commenced cross fire shooting and took all the guards down. Two of the Starfleet officers had been hit by fire, but neither was seriously injured. In a display of human like anger, Data simply blew the lock off and the door to the cell opened. Inside was a haggard, dirty, broken woman who they all certainly knew.
"Tasha?" Riker whispered as they saw Yar crouched against the far wall. "It's us from the Enterprise…" his voice trailed off as he saw just how badly the Romulans had treated her. "Get people watching the corridors for Romulans coming here. Use Tricorders to scan for them, and don't bother to stun them… Just get them bastards" and Data nodded and moved off to take care of it. Riker put a hand on Tasha Yar's shoulder but the woman just flinched away as much as she could. Riker couldn't understand what she had gone through over the years, and he hoped that whoever had helped do this would end up on the end of a Federation weapon system.
"We have secured the area, Commander" Data called into the cell. "I am now sending the signal to the Enterprise" and he pressed one particular button on his Tricorder several times.
#
"Send to Enterprise. We stand ready to assist you. Captain Sulu, USS Excelsior" said the oriental female captain.
#
"Captain!" Worf's voice seemed loud over the silence of the Bridge. "We are receiving the signal from Commander Riker and Commander Data" and Picard could detect with certainty that Worf was relieved – though the Klingon wouldn't admit that to most people.
"Helm set the direct course to Dagga II Maximum Velocity. Picard to Engineering. Geordi? Activate the upgrade – We're going in" he said over the comm link.
"Device activated" Geordi said, and the lights dimmed for a split second. The Enterprise had just activated a Cloaking Device that was based on the one Captain Kirk had stolen from a Romulan ships decades before. It might not be the same type the Romulans now used, but Picard hoped it would do the job.
"Helm, engage warp drive. Mr Worf. The moment we drop out of Warp and de-cloak, prepare to fire on my command" Picard said. The ship jumped from a standing stop to Warp 9.999. This was more then the designers had intended Enterprise to ever do, but they had reached this speed on their first mission. It only took less then 30 seconds for the Galaxy Class Starship to arrive at Dagga II, and O'Brian beamed the away team and Tasha Yar up as soon as he could. The moment the shields where up though, the vessel rocked from weapons fire from the Romulan Warbirds coming at them.
"Orders, Captain?" Work asked.
"Return fire!" Picard said.
"With pleasure, Captain" Worf said eagerly. His fingers danced over the console built into the horseshoe behind the command seats, and phasers lanced out and hit the nearest warbird. This was followed by several torpedoes as Ro brought the ship about. The ship shuddered under the impact of Romulan disrupter and phaser fire.
"Report" Picard ordered.
"Shields down to 92 percent" Worf said. "The lead Romulan ship's forward shields are down to 50 percent – recharging though" he added reading the sensor readings.
"Switch to another ship and fire at will" Picard said, as a turbolift's doors opened and out came Riker and Data.
"Glad you could make the party, Will" Picard said.
"Wouldn't miss it for anything, captain" Riker said as he and Data took their rightful places. The ship shuddered under the strain from 3 plasma Torpedoes, and Worf fired on the offending ship with all forward facing weapons. The shields went down and one torpedo went directly into the starboard warp nacelle. The entire nacelle broke apart in a hail of fire and debris.
"Take that" Worf muttered darkly. The Enterprise traded blow for blow with the Romulan warbirds but it was 5 versus 1 and the ship was losing the fight.
"Shields down to 37 percent. Hull breaches on Decks 4, 7, 8 and 21" Data reported.
"Seal those sections and raise emergency forcefields" Riker shouted over the noise of another impact.
"Aft shields down to 15 percent" Worf said.
"Keep our bows to the Romulans" Picard said.
"You better believe it, Captain" Ro said. The Bajoran was now sporting a small cut to her head from when she had been thrown against the bulkhead, but she was perfectly alright all the same. Another hit caused several of the rear workstations to blow out and one crew members was thrown over the horseshoe, and Riker and Troi tended to him.
"Medical team to the bridge" Troi said, tapping her comm badge.
"We have lost aft torpedoes and aft shields" Data said. "Hull integrity is at 68 percent" he said after another impact from Romulan weapons.
"We have to cut the odds down" Picard said. "Mr Worf. Target the warp disabled warbird and fire a full spread of torpedoes at the core itself. Keep our aft quarter away from Romulan targeting solutions" he ordered.
"Hull breach on Decks 15 through 19" Data said, "sections 34 and 35".
"Seal off those areas and vent them to space" Riker ordered as the medical team removed the crew member from the bridge.
"Done Commander" Data said.
"Weapons locked on target" Worf said.
"Fire!" Picard shouted and phasers and torpedoes lanced out hit the ship that the Enterprise first hit, and hit their targets. With a sudden white, blinding light the ship was gone in a massive explosion that rocked the Enterprise. It knocked most members of the bridge off their feet or out of their seats. The exceptions being Picard, Data and Worf who held onto something solid in time. "Report" Picard said, as new alarms went off from consoles.
"The explosion has destroyed the two flanking warbirds" Data said. "One of the other warbirds has lost main power and is no longer a threat at this time" he said after a moments pause.
"Forwards shields are at 25 percent" Worf said. "We have lost our dorsal phaser banks" he added.
"LaForge to Bridge. We can't take another round of plasma torpedoes or we will suffer serious damage" Geordi sounded a bit horse, and Picard wondered if his Chief Engineer was alright.
"Do what you can to get our shields back up to at least 50 percent" Picard ordered.
"Aye Aye, sir. LaForge out" and the link was gone. Smoke was beginning to fill the bridge and Picard had the ventilation grid set to full.
"Captain!" Ro called out from helm. "I'm picking up three more ships coming in at high warp speeds" and Picard swore very fluently. Worf was impressed to say the least – the Captain had just done a few ancient Klingon obscenities while swearing.
"What type?" he asked her while looking at the flickering viewscreen.
"I can't say at the moment" Ro replied, "I have lost some long range sensor capability".
"Prepare to fire on the new arrivals" Picard ordered.
"We are being hailed" Worf said, "It is the Romulan ship to starboard" he added quickly.
"Put it on screen" Picard said. The image of a Romulan Commander came onto the screen and stared at him.
"You are the Enterprise?" asked the Commander.
"We are" Picard said, "I am Captain Jean Luc Picard" he continued.
"You are ordered to lower you shields and prepare to be boarded by order of the Romulan Empire" the Commander said.
"You mean to board us?" Picard asked.
"You have broken the treaty regulations. You will now be tried for your crimes against the empire" the Romulan said, looking at Picard fixedly.
"Before I do that, I have a message for you" Picard said.
"And what is that?" asked the Commander with a hint of amusement.
"Go to hell!" and Picard cut the channel off. "Divert all power to the forward shields and prepare to fire all weapons on my command. If we have to go down, then let's take them sons of bitches down with us"
"Weapons ready to fire on your command" Worf said – eager to kill more Romulans.
"All available power has been diverted to forward shields" Data said. "Shields are now at 56 percent" he reported.
"That'll do" Picard said darkly. "Helm? Lay in a course bearing 000 mark 000 by 0. Full Impulse power" and Ro hesitated before complying with the order.
"Collision course set" she said quietly.
"Engage" Picard said. The battered and damaged ship surged forward on one last mission to ram the Romulan warbird. The other ship started firing everything at the Enterprise and the forward shields went down and the hull started to buckle badly and breached in some places.
"Captain" Data said over the klaxons and alarms. "The Calvary has arrived" he said as he read the ID tags on the three incoming ships.
"What?" Picard yelled.
"The ships are the USS Calvary, USS Victorious and USS Excelsior" the android said.
"Ro!" Picard shouted at her, not bothering about the fact he hadn't said Ensign before her name. "Take us 500 meters down quickly!" and the Helm officer did as she was told.
The ship tilted forward and flew under the warbird as she got out of the way of a barrage of torpedoes and phaser blasts. Worf fired everything that came to bear and even beamed the torpedoes from the aft launcher next to the Romulan vessel and then detonated them like mines. The ship exploded and was utterly destroyed with debris spinning away from the blossoming cloud of what had been several hundred people. The shock wave threw everyone off their feet all over the ship, and consoles and parts of the ship started to smoke as systems overloaded themselves. The intercom was filled with damage reports and Picard had Worf turn it down to a low hum.
"Report" Picard croaked.
"The following systems are offline" Data said. "Shields, weapons, life support on some decks, centre impulse drive unit, fire suppression system on decks 6 to 18" he listed. "We also have hull breaches on multiple decks and sections all over the ship" the android listed.
"Do we have warp?" asked Picard, not believing that they had got away from this with the ship still together – more or less.
"Our warp drive is damaged, but we can managed Warp 3" Ro said, tapping the Helm console.
"Casualties?" Picard asked, dreading the answer.
"Multiple injuries, but no crew members have died" Data said, consulting a report sent to him by Sickbay.
"We where damned lucky" Riker said.
"There is one critical injury however" Data went on. "Lt Barclay has sustained serious burns and multiple internal injuries. Sickbay reports he got crewmen out of a damaged section before it collapsed on him" and from his side at Helm, Ro gasped in shock and gripped her console very hard indeed.
"Ensign Ro. I take it you are in a relationship with Lt Barclay?" Picard asked.
"Yes, sir" Ro said.
"You better get down there" Picard said.
"Aye, sir" Ro said, "Thank you sir" and she bounded to the turbolift near Picard's ready room.
"Just a minute, Ensign" Picard said, and Ro spun on her heel to face him. "Data, beam her directly to sickbay" and Ro looked grateful at the captain before she was beamed directly to sickbay.
"Shall I take her place?" Riker asked, but Picard shook his head.
"I'll take it, Number One" he said, slipping into the recently vacated seat. "It is not often I get to take the Helm myself" and he looked round at Worf. "Any messages from the three Starfleet ships?" he asked, and Worf nodded his head.
"The Captain of the Excelsior says that it will cover our withdrawal from Romulan space" Worf passed on the message.
"Signal the ships that we are moving now" Picard said, and he set course for the border and engaged at Warp 3. By the time they has got to the boarder, Geordi had managed to get another Warp factor out of the damaged engines. Once safely on the Federation side of the border, Picard gave the Helm to Riker and ordered a course set directly to Earth – as fast as the Enterprise could manage. The three Starships followed them like guard dogs and escorted them all the way to Sector 001. Picard meanwhile had gone down to Sickbay to see Tasha Yar for himself. As he passed, he saw Ensign Ro holding the hand of Lt Barclay and made a note to deal with that when he had the time. All that mattered now was the fact he got his ship back home and ensured his crew was safe. The waiting Court Martial could be damned all the way to hell. Jean Luc Picard would rather break a hundred regulations before damning his soul. He just hoped he could make a good defence at his trial at Starfleet Command.