The fleet did drop out in staggered formation, each successive wave consisting of smaller ships capable of making the drop out of warp into more and more restrictive spaces. Each time another wave of the Dominion fleet appeared, Riker felt his heart sink a little more, along with his expectations of survival. For around half a minute the two fleets sat within spitting distance of each other, mere seconds out of weapons range.

"Right," Riker said suddenly. "Charge of the Light Brigade. Let's make sure the Enterprise leads the way. Helm, full tactical impulse." There was a confirmatory 'aye, sir' from the helm officer, and the Enterprise's powerful impulse engines rumbled to life, the dull red glow intensifying to a bright red. The sleek Sovereign-class vessel eased out of the Federation formation, the first ship to break the line and begin the headlong rush towards the Dominion line.

Behind her, five Galaxy-class starships began to move as well, the powerful central engines bursting to life. After a short moment their escorts of Excelsior-class ships and the occasional Nebula started to accelerate forward as well, and it was the cue for the entire Federation line to push up their impulse engines to maximum. They entered weapon range, and contrary to all expectations, they fired first.

It was a storm of red as photon torpedoes spat from the forward tubes of every Federation ship entering range, even a few old Constitution class ships sending off a pair of the antimatter warheads towards the fringe of the Dominion line. The Dominion front line immediately buckled under the fire, dozens of bugships crewed by the Jem'Hadar being incinerated in bright flashes. The staggered drop out intended to intimidate was suddenly working against them – while the sudden barrage would have destroyed a few cruisers, it wouldn't have inflicted nearly as many casualties if the weakest and most fragile ships were not positioned at the front of the line.

The Enterprise fired a salvo of quantum torpedoes from the forward launcher, the dedicated weapons platform sending a string of three brilliant sapphire projectiles stitching along the midline of a Jem'Hadar bugship and simply blowing the small vessel apart, while the other forward launchers sent an arc of smaller but effective photon torpedoes across under Worf's guiding hand, the bracketing spread detonating between two other bugships and knocking them off position and forcing them to present their exposed dorsal and ventral seconds. Moments one of the smaller Excelsior-class ships in the Enterprise's wing took the opportunity, sending a pair of torpedoes into each ship and blowing them to pieces.

"Pick your targets!" Riker yelled as the ship suddenly shook under return fire. "Stop for nothing!" The Enterprise would have slowed to at least half tactical impulse to allow manoeuvring under normal conditions, but she instead hit the Dominion front lines at the maximum safe speed – any faster and it simply wouldn't be possible for the helmsman to avoid obstacles. Phasers lashed out, mainly focusing on the small bugships as they vectored towards the Federation starships, the war had taught the lesson that the Jem'Hadar wouldn't hesitate to make a suicide attack on capital ships.

The heavy phasers that consisted of the entire Enterprise beam armament sliced through the approaching ships like a hot knife through butter, the tiny Jem'Hadar ships simply unable to mount shields powerful enough to withstand the weapons of the Federation flagship, let alone when they were putting out phaser power well in excess of standard safety limits. With the rest of the Heavy Cruiser wing supporting her, the Enterprise breached the initial Dominion line with almost no difficulty. But just beyond them were the heavy Jem'Hadar cruisers and Cardassian Galors – the Cardassian ships were no match one-on-one for Federation starships of equivalent mass, but it was hardly one-on-one, especially with the support of the well-armed Jem'Hadar cruisers.

The initial Federation push didn't slow or lose momentum, but it had lost the advantage of surprise, and blue and orange beam weapons criss-crossed the small spaces between the Federation and Dominion ships. The heavy cruisers remained stationary as Federation ships swarmed them, their heavy weapons firing without pause. Even as Riker watched one of the two dual forward beams on a Jem'Hadar cruiser lashed out and gutted the saucer of an Excelsior, disintegrating the bridge and most of the inner decks.

"Mr Worf," Riker began.

"I see it," Worf growled, the Enterprise's fire suddenly shifting and the main saucer whipping the growing charge round the strip then lashing out in an intense beam of yellow-orange, the phaser beam battering against the shields of the cruiser. There was a loud whine as the ventral array charged and fired as well, a second beam taking over just as the first ceased. Moments later the blue glow of the Jem'Hadar shields vanished, and the phaser beam carved an angry scar across the cruiser as the Enterprise banked to starboard and moved to gracefully bypass the Dominion ship.

The Galaxy-class closest behind the Enterprise didn't pass up the opportunity, sending a salvo of photon torpedoes into the central area of the Jam'Hadar cruiser, obliterating most of the central mass in a brilliant explosion. Riker didn't get any time to savour the minor victory, however, as the entire ship shook and loud alarms went off.

"Ventral shields are failing!" Hansen announced. "There is a Dominion Dreadnought firing on us from below!"

"Get us clear!" Riker snapped, the entire bridge shaking as the impulse engines that had been propelling the Enterprise forward suddenly went into overtime trying to force the ship further up into the Dominion line where other ships would shield it from the fire of the Dreadnought. The Dominion ship lashed out again, unable to move from its position without colliding with other vessels but more than capable of inflicting severe damage with its all-around weapons coverage.

Enterprise shuddered as a heavy polaron beam fired by the Dreadnought hit the underside of the saucer section, battering through the weakened shield and impacting the hull. The ablative armour the protected the Sovereign class almost instantly boiled off under the destructive energy, providing just enough obstacle to the heavy beam to save the Enterprise from a hull breach as a desperate roll by the helmsman didn't let the beam linger on one point too long. When the beam shut off Riker almost thought they had escaped for a moment, then the Jem'Hadar cruiser protecting them from the Dreadnought with its own bulk buckled and went up in a brilliant explosion, a storm of heavy disruptor bolts tearing through the space the Enterprise had occupied moments earlier.

The Dreadnought recognised they were the flagship of the Federation fleet, and was determined to destroy them, even at the cost of its own ships. The heavy polaron beam that the Enterprise was currently within the firing arc of lashed out again, the blue spear hitting the port nacelle pylon. The ablative armor there was thin, and it didn't last long enough to stop what happened next. The entire ship seemed to judder as the beam burst through the other side of the pylon, ripping open the conduit for the warp plasma and doing severe structural damage.

The nacelle went dark immediately as power and the warp plasma supply from the warp core was cut off, the brilliant blue plasma venting out of the breach and into open space. The Dreadnought prepared to fire again, but then suddenly shifted its fire to a nearby heavily damaged Galaxy class that had suddenly shifted course. The Dauntless had long, glowing gashes along both the saucer and engineering section, and a substantial part of the port saucer section disintegrated under the withering fire. But it was too late. The capital ship collided with the fore dorsal hull of the Dreadnought, breaching the shields and ripping through the hull, the Dauntless crumpling and breaking apart. The Dreadnought seemed for a moment that it might be salvageable, then the Dauntless' warp core went up, one of the largest in Starfleet detonating and sending a shockwave straight through the Dreadnought and surrounding Jem'Hadar and Cardassian ships, all of them propelled away from the centre of the detonation. The Dreadnought itself broke into pieces, secondary explosions rippling across the hull.

Riker was speechless for a second, then the Enterprise was rocked again. There was a Jem'Hadar battleship right in front of her, firing all their forward weapons, including the disruptor bolts that were just beginning to cross the intervening space. Riker hated disruptor bolts. "All hands, brace for impact!" Riker shouted, trusting the internal communications to automatically broadcast his warning. The polaron beams were blunted by the forward shields, but the disruptor bolts were like sledgehammers, the shields flaring in blue washes of energy across the hull as they redirected, refracted and absorbed all the punishment they could...then they failed.

The remaining bolts rained across the upper saucer, explosions blossoming as the ablative armour boiled off and the bolts breached the hull. One tightly spaced trio from the same weapon emitter slipped beneath the saucer and impacted the side of the engineering section, blowing open a long gash along several desks. The Enterprise was dying. Riker could feel it.

"EPS overload in progress, Deck 5!" Hansen announced. It took a moment for the report to filter through Riker's perception, which was currently swamped with other damage reports from the crewmembers manning the control consoles round the circumference of the bridge.

"Evacuate that deck, seal it off!" Riker snapped, body so tense it was vibrating.

"EPS conduits rupturing in five, four, three, two-"

"Forcefields!" Riker yelled, trying to not think of how many crewman he just left to die.

"One." The entire Enterprise shuddered as Deck 5 was suddenly flooded by superheated plasma, forcefields containing the explosion from spreading to other decks. It had only one way to go. The hull plating over Deck 5 didn't last more than few seconds before it was shattered open from the inside, the violent spray of plasma venting into space, joining what the Sovereign-class ship was already venting from the damaged pylon.

Riker turned in his chair and looked at the Master Display at the back of the bridge. Practically everything was blinking bright red, with Deck 5 highlighted like an angry sore. Even the impulse engines were on the verge of failure, and the Enterprise was only around two thirds of the way through the Dominion line. Her escorts had all fallen away, drawn into battles for their own survival, and Riker couldn't even see most of them.

"Helm!" he shouted. "Full impulse, collision course! Computer, arm self destruct!" The Enterprise began to accelerate as the damaged impulse engines gave all they had, propelling her towards the Dominion battleship which was moving into optimal position for an alpha strike on the heavily damaged Enterprise. Suddenly spotting what was happening, they opened fire. The main polaron beams raked across the dorsal saucer, burning through the ablative armour and searing a scar into the main hull that went all the way back to the secondary hull.

The lights suddenly went out. "We've lost main power, secondary batteries are not responding!" Hansen announced, tapping at his dark console. It was an exercise in futility. But the momentum of the Enterprise couldn't be stopped by a mere power failure, and the battleship loomed large in the viewscreen. Riker kept his eyes open through force of will, determined to see things through until the end. Then the world turned silver white.

Orilla

"-I'm not asking you to get involved in our war," Picard said, speaking to the hall. "I'm asking you to have some compassion. So many are about to die that I can barely fathom it. These men and women, these brave souls, have done nothing to deserve their fate. They took an oath to protect, to defend. They aren't just soldiers, but explorers! There is no benefit in their deaths, only loss."

There was silence, and Picard felt despair crystallise in his gut. He didn't know enough about them to read body language, and none of them so much as tilted their heads! They just...blinked. They didn't say anything, either, they just waited, as if expecting him to say more. "I don't know what more to say," Picard admitted, his throat feeling sore from making his case for the last ten minutes at the top of his voice. He was, after all, addressing the entire council, and had to project.

"You say you do not wish the Asgard to become involved in your war," one of the Asgard that Picard had tentatively identified as either the de facto speaker or spokesman. "Yet you ask us to intervene in what may be a critical battle of your conflict."

"It may be a critical battle," Picard rebutted, "but not because of the conflict itself. The one hundred thousand men and women are sacrificial, giving their lives not because they have any hope of victory but because the Dominion is there, and there is no escape. There is absolutely no point to the death of so many."

There was a long silence, and again Picard had the impression that he was being judged. There was a little annoyance and desperation churning inside him as well. Why did they have to be so slow? The battle was probably already joined and every second...Picard barely wanted to think about it. "Perhaps," the same Asgard said, "it is time the Asgard became what we once were again. The High Council will vote." There was a barely audible hum as a cylindrical forcefield descended to enclose the Starfleet captain, cutting him off from hearing any debate. Oh, he wished Data had been allowed in with him. Perhaps the android would have had some insight that would have allowed Picard to sway them...

Dominion Dreadnought

"Yes!" Dukat smacked his fist into the tactical display, a feral grin on his features. He and Damar, as well as Weyoun and the Founder, were standing around the circular table display. It had only been a few minutes since they had been beamed out of the DS9 holding cells by a strike force against the station, but they had wasted no time in moving to the command center of the Dreadnought which battered the station into submission so they could oversee the massacre.

"What?" The Founder asked, her eyes flicking across the display as she tried to find the source of Dukat's sudden glee.

"The Enterprise has been destroyed," Weyoun commented, his lips parted slightly in a genuine smile. "The Federation flagship, burning. We must see if the hulk is salvageable – it will make an excellent propaganda piece."

"Propaganda?" Dukat asked, his delight momentarily dimming, and a sneer twisting his lips. "Weyoun, think of the moment! The star crew and ship of Starfleet, gone. That is a cause for celebration!"

"While you stand here celebrating," the Founder said coldly, "The Federation and Klingons are pushing through our lines. Finish destroying this rabble so we can move onto more important matters."

Weyoun smirked, Damar looked away for a moment so his face could not be seen, and Dukat grimaced. "Of course, Founder," he ground out, a patently false but ingratiatingly subservient expression replacing his sneer. "I'm sure that we will be done within the next few minutes, then we can beat back these ultimately pointless attacks."

Damar jerked suddenly, and Dukat looked up. "What?"

"There is a massive power buildup on the station!" Damar shouted, pushing a Jem'Hadar soldier out of the way in his haste to reach a sensor panel. "They must have activated the self destruct before they evacuated!"

"Then stop it," Weyoun said coolly, but there was a subtle edge of panic to his voice. "You built that place!"

"I can't!" Damar snapped, "not from here!"

"Then get on that station and defuse that self destruct," the Founder said coldly. Damar paled as much as a Cardassian could, but was saved from certain death by every single light going out. "What now?" The Founder growled, her voice sounding exasperated and impatient.

"Every system has lost power, and the warp core is no longer active," the First reported. "Emergency backups are not responding."

"How is that possible?" Damar asked, then instantly regretted speaking up as the Founder turned her attention to him, but he was again saved as the whole ship shuddered.

"No..." Dukat whispered, wrenching the eyepiece from the First and pulling it on, turning in the direction of the station. It allowed him to see through the hull of the Dreadnought, and he only saw an expanding cloud of debris. "No!" he screamed, tearing off the headpiece and throwing it to the ground in a fury as yet another obstacle obstructed his plans. "No! No! No!"

Battlefield

The burning hulks of Starfleet ships drifted past the Dominion ships, scars from weapons fire glowing bright orange as the heat bled off into the vacuum of space. Some unlucky cruisers, Cardassian and Dominion alike, buckled as the hulks drifted into the powerless ships, crippling them without firing a shot. In all the destruction, there were occasional flashes of white light as the barely-intact Federation ships vanished as though they had never been.