Acting Captain's Log Stardate 53171.2 We have been forced to drop down to Warp 6 and the Dominion Ship is closing. We are almost to Deep Space 9. Lieutenant Taylor almost has our long distance communications array back online.
"Captain, the Dominion ship has matched our speed and is closing rapidly. They are almost in weapons range," Taylor reported. She looked over at Thomas. His face was expressionless.
"They are firing," Peles said. The ship shook.
"We are dropping out of warp, sir," Ryan said, his fingers nimbly running across the controls, trying to keep the ship away from their phasers.
"Helm, pattern alpha omega. Tactical, fire back. Operations, status on the communications array?" Thomas ordered.
"Sir, they have taken out one of our phaser banks and we are unable to load one of our torpedo tubes," Peles shouted.
"Communications array is still not functional, sir. I will need a couple more minutes to get it up and running," Taylor said.
A bulk head exploded above Taylor, shooting her away from her station. Blood trickled down her face and she felt dizzy. Ensign Merra ran down from the back of the bridge and took her station. Taylor pulled herself to the side, pain shooting through her head.
Thomas turned to her, concern all over his face. He mouthed, are you okay? She gave him a quick nod.
"Our shields are gone!" Peles shouted. "Hull breach on Deck 4."
"Seal the breach!"
"Emergency force fields are now in place."
"Engineering reports that we are able to go to warp, sir," Ryan shouted.
"Take us to warp, Lieutenant. Peles continue firing," Thomas responded.
Merra almost jumped up with glee. "Sir, our communications array is online!"
"Send a priority one distress call."
Merra opened a channel. "This is the USS Astra. We are being attacked by a Dominion warship and are on our way to Deep Space 9. We cannot maintain warp much longer. Please send aide."
"Sir, we have managed to get ahead of them again. We are out of weapons range," Peles reported.
Everyone visibly relaxed slightly. They would last a little longer.
A crewman lifted the debris that was hanging over Merra and shoved it to the side. She was still shaking slightly since that last attack. It was her first battle and it was not going too well.
Lieutenant Taylor was still laying against that wall. She had torn a piece of her uniform off and was pressing it to her head wound. She was still conscious and did not warrant Sickbay's immediate attention so she had decided to stay where she was. She was giving Merra promising looks.
Merra's face scrunched in confusion. "Captain, they are backing off."
Thomas's head whipped over in her direction. "Why?"
A small smile came across Merra's lips. "It's the Defiant, sir. She must have picked us up on sensors. She is dropping out of warp and engaging the enemy vessel."
Relief rushed through Thomas. "Drop us out of warp as well. Signal the Defiant. We will take their lead."
The Astra maneuvered around the Jem'Hadar vessel, their phasers firing at the Dominion's shield generator. The Defiant targeted their engines, preventing them from running. With the combined fire power of the two ships, the enemy did not stand a chance.
Commander Schaefer, the captain of the Defiant, hailed them and his face appeared on the viewscreen. "We will take them into custody and scan the area for any other Dominion ships. Head to Deep Space 9; we will rendezvous with you there."
"Helm, limp us back to Deep Space 9." Thomas stood up abruptly. "Mr. Peles, you have the Conn. I will be in Sickbay."
Thomas walked over to Taylor and helped her up. She appeared grateful and smiled up at Thomas. Merra thought for a moment that maybe all those rumors about them were in fact true.
Luaran 2 lifted herself off of the floor, blood soaking her shirt. "First!" She called out.
There was no response.
Defeated, Luaran lowered herself to the deck and pulled out her weapon. She set it to kill and pointed it at her chest. Luaran knew that she could trigger the kill sequence in her own body but she did not want to leave a trace of herself for the Federation to find.
"May the Founders guide me."
She pressed the trigger and she vaporized.
Dr. T'Meni quickly ran a tricorder over an injured crewman. "Damage is minimal. You will have to wait."
The sickbay doors opened and she expected more wounded. Lieutenant Commander Thomas waltzed through the doors with Lieutenant Taylor who was injured with what appeared to be a serious head laceration. Thomas looked worn himself.
"Crewman, lead Lieutenant Taylor over to that biobed. She may have a serious concussion," T'Meni ordered. She moved onto her next patient, an Engineer with severe burns.
"Dr. T'Meni. Casualty report," Thomas said, coming over to where she was standing.
"Luckily, only three crewmembers have been pronounced dead. We have about forty wounded. Three are seriously and will need immediate surgery."
Thomas sighed. This wasn't nearly as bad as their last battle, when the Jem'Hadar had boarded and massacred most of the crew. "Send a medic to the bridge. There are multiple injured crewman. I also need Lieutenant Taylor taken care of immediately. I want her at her post as soon as possible in case we run into more trouble."
T'Meni turned her head and started to protest about how there were crewman who needed more medical attention other than Lieutenant Taylor, but he was nowhere in sight. As quickly as he had entered, he was gone.
Lieutenant Commander Soral raised an eyebrow at Thomas. "We are running on impulse power. We are starting to form a damage report. Warp coils are fine but there is damage to both nacelles. The breach on Deck 4 was not in an essential area and force fields are holding in place."
"So the Astra is repairable?"
"Yes, Captain," Soral replied.
Thomas's face filled with relief. The ship had made it through another battle with the Jem'Hadar and had survived. His face hardened. He still had a problem aboard ship and he could be facing a court marshall. He turned to Lieutenant Rogers.
"Please have one of your men escort Commander Soral back to the brig once any necessary repairs are complete. Rogers, you are with me," Thomas said, heading to the door. He clicked his combadge. "Lieutenant Peles, please report to Deck 7. We need to enter that compartment."
Peles, Rogers and Thomas stood in a circle around the device, waiting for the tricorder to confirm their suspicions.
Peles's antenna twitched and he snapped the tricorder shut. "Well, we are not going to go to lose our commission for causing a mutiny without cause. This is definitely a cloaking device."
"Can we determine what kind of cloaking device?" Rogers asked eagerly.
"The scans weren't conclusive but from what I can tell, they were experimenting with a cloak that would work with the shields up. They were using the shields as a projection matrix," Peles explained. He walked over to a computer console and brought up the simulation data. "Commander Soral was successful in his simulations. Apparently the cloak does work."
"Alright, we need to write up reports of our accounts. Tell Nikki to as well. We need to have our facts straight for when we are debriefed," Thomas said.
Rogers looked kind of green. "Do you think we are going to be severely punished for this? I don't know if I can handle a court martial."
"I hope not, Cody. Let's just hope that this isn't too embedded in Starfleet."
Ayane Hara was shocked to see Thomas standing before her. She was almost angry. She had, after all, trusted him to be her number one. "Well, I can't say that I wasn't expecting you to come visit."
Thomas just stared at her.
"I suppose you want to know how a respected Starfleet Captain who played everything by the book broke one of the Federation's most important treaties."
"That would be a good start."
"Commander, once you get to my point, you start feeling comfortable with where you are. I served on the Gemini for years. I wanted her to be my final ship. But then, the Dominion War happened and we weren't just patrolling the Neutral Zone. We were sent to the front lines. We started losing people and we lost the ship. Everything around me was falling apart."
"How does this affect your decision making? Breaking a treaty with one of our most powerful neighbors isn't something that happens over one split-second decision."
Hara sat down on the cell bench and clasped her hands together. "I was falling apart and I knew I needed Starfleet to keep me sane. I knew this mission was wrong but I was worried that they would never give me another command like the Gemini."
"You could have told me. We don't know each other very well but you could have told me. I would have helped you think of something else."
"But, I didn't and we can't change that. I am through with Starfleet. They won't give me another ship now regardless. However, I think I can help you."
