Bird of Prey
Through the blackness of space the U.S.S. Raptor traveled cloaked to all forms of detection. Like the bird of prey this ship borrows it name from this ship, is small, fast, quiet and very deadly.
"Captain, long range sensors are picking up a patrol ship at mark 345, at high impulse," the young ensign manning the tactical station nervously said.
"Helm, at our present course and speed is there a chance they will get within weapons range."
"Sir, No, Sir," came the reply from the Helm station
"Good stay on present course."
"Sir, Yes Sir," came the reply and the Captain had to fight the urge to laugh a little.
"Starfleet sure knows how to train them these days. He sounds like he's ready for war. Lets see how well holds up in a couple of hours," the Captain thought to himself
"Helm, ETA to target"
"Sir, 2 Hours, Sir"
"Tactical run a diagnosis on all our weapons. I want to make sure everything is working right."
"Aye Captain"
"Bridge to Sickbay," said the Captain as he tapped his COM badge. "In about two hours we will be at the target. Is everything ready down their Doctor?"
"We have set up cots in the Mess Hall just in case, we need the extra space. We are about as ready as we can be with out going crazy down here Captain."
"That's good to know Doctor. Bridge out."
With that last word the Captain bowed his head and collected his thoughts as the ship got closer to its target. The Tension on the bridge was thick, the Captain noted. Everything was moving like clockwork but you could cut the tension with a phaser.
"Captain we are within weapons range."
"Full Stop"
"Yes sir" said the new Helm Officer, Lt. Davis. She has more experience then the fresh out of boot camp Ensign and served on the Orion during the war.
"Bring up the tactical screen"
"Yes Sir," said the tactical officer and the screen came up. It showed the research facility, and the guard ships.
"Sir, Sensors show 2 Warbirds in immediate orbit around the facility. A 3rd Warbird is patrolling the surrounding space, and a 4th Warbird is approaching the facility. The Whereabouts of the 5th Warbird are unknown at this time."
"I don't like that," said Desiree
"Me neither. Starfleet said the Romulans got hit hard by the Borg. Maybe the 5th Warbird was recalled to patrol another sector," said the Captain to his XO. "Either way we can't hang around much longer. The longer we stay the greater the chance of detection."
"Maybe Today is a Good Day to Die," she said and deepened her voice to sound more Klingon.
"Wrong quote Commander. Every time they say that they end up dying. I have no intention of dying so lets hope Fortune favors the foolish," he said then turned away from her. "Give, each Warbird a numeral designation and Lock the Gemini Projector on Warbird number 4."
"Aye Captain."
"Now lock torpedoes on Warbird number 1, and phasers on number 2. Aim for weapons first then engines. Lets hope that Projector works, because if it does it could provide a big distraction for us and hopefully cause a friendly fire incident. Helm prepare for evasive maneuvers," the Captain said, as all time seemed to slow down on the ship, as the Captain gave the order.
"Fire at will," he said as it seemed to take hours for all the words to come out of his mouth but once they did, time sped up and all hell seemed to break loose.
On the Romulan Warbird, in command it seemed like another boring day. So boring and normal in fact that the bridge was manned by Cadets in need of training. The Romulans thought nobody would be stupid enough to attack a fleet of Warbirds so deep in Romulan space. Maybe the Klingons might think about it because to the Romulans they are uncivilized barbarians, but thanks to the war, even the most blood thirsty Klingon would think twice about an attack. Just then a Federation Soverign Class vessel appeared on the screens. A moment later it took fire from a Warbird, and two moments later both Warbirds took fire, from a previously unseen ship.
Back on the Raptor things were a little less chaotic, as the ship flew in close and started an attack run on Warbird number 1. The Raptor came in close and tight along the Warbird`s engineering deck and strafed it with Phasers and launched torpedoes at another Warbird.
"Sir Warbird 4 took a hit from Warbird 3. Warbird 1`s disrupter banks are burned out and Warbird 2 is closing in on us. Warbird 5 is still no where to be found."
"Looks like the Projector works" said the Captain as the Ship got rocked by a disrupter blast.
The Raptor then turned around and just missed a torpedo but it got rocked by more disrupter fire, the shields held but they were clearly weakened. On board the bridge a control console blew up and the Lieutant manning that console flew backwards from the blast and hit a guardrail on the bridge. A medic rushed in to grab the Lieutant and the Raptor launched a torpedo salvo in response.
"Report," the Captain yelled over the noise of the explosions taking place on the ship.
"Warbird 1`s weapons are down and there engines and communications system is offline. Same with 2. 4 is experiencing engine trouble and 3 just launched a torpedo at us," reported Desiree.
"Lock all weapons on 3. We're taking to many hits. We need to end this fast. Fire everything we got NOW."
The Raptor pulled a full stop in response to the order and spun around to face the Warbird. As soon as the ship stopped it spin, it launched everything it had at the Warbird. The phasers hit first and the Warbird`s shields flashed brightly as they withstood the attack. Then the Torpedoes hit and the shields collapsed, and then a second round of phasers tore the hull to shreds as a torpedo came in and hit the bridge. The Warbird soon exploded and the Raptor flew out of the path of the shockwave.
"Report"
"Warbird 3 is dead. The other 3 got caught in the explosion. 1 and 2 are disabled and 4 are launching escape pods."
"Good. Fire all weapons at the faculty, and lets go home"
"Aye Captain."
The Faculty didn't last long as the Raptor launched torpedo salvo after salvo at it. Soon the research faculty's shields were down and then the Raptor launched a shuttle. The Shuttle was loaded with Quantum torpedoes and it was programmed to fly directly into the Faculty's docking bay. Once it left the Raptor, the Raptor cloaked and went to high warp.
After the Raptor left, the shuttle flew into the Research Faculty at Warp Speed. It went through the Docking bays and then a couple of moments after it entered the Research Faculty, the Quantum torpedoes on the Shuttle blew up and caused an explosion which destroyed the Romulan Research Faculty and the Borg technology inside it.