The two ships had a deep bond: the hunter, and the hunted. The Munificent plowed through a thick asteroid field at .95c, smashing the asteroids in its path into microscopic particles. The Bountiful did likewise in pursuit of its prey. Both were like angry gods who were too deeply focused upon one another to care for their surroundings. Starfleet regulations usually limited ships to .25c in normal situations to avoid relativistic effects when communicating with other ships. (even in this age, Einstein still had a part to play). But this was hardly a normal situation. Besides, both ships had little need to communicate (the Munificent, even less so).
"How many torpedoes will it take to bring down one of their shield facings?" Stone inquired of the tactical officer.
Inserting some values into her console, she replied, "About twenty-nine. The twenty ninth one has to be reduced in yield, though."
"Please prepare the torpedoes and make the necessary adjustments. I also want an additional torpedo that has just enough power to damage their ship. By the way, do this for two shield facings."
"The torpedoes have been prepared, sir."
"Good, launch the torpedoes at warp, and have them trail the Munificent until all the torpedoes have been launched. Then have 58 of them impact its shields simultaneously, split between the port and starboard last two torpedoes should hit them just after the others. Target non-essential areas."
The captain wanted to deploy just enough firepower to deal some damage to the Munificent, just enough to warn the other captain that he was stepping past the line, but not enough to cripple or destroy his ship. Now that they were at a knife-fighting range, the Munificent's advantages had been nullified, and that gave Captain Stone some leeway to be more magnanimous with his opponent.
Quantum torpedoes shot out from the Bountiful's launchers, and passed through the warp field generated by their mothership. Although they did not have a warp drive to generate a warp field, they were able to sustain a warp field, and could even vary their warp factor. 60 of them lined up in subspace and accelerated towards the Munificent.
With this, Captain Stone presented a dilemma to his counterpart: go to warp, and try to shoot down the torpedoes he had positioned behind it, or continue his current course, and attempt to bear the brunt of the assault. The first option gave the Munificent a fraction of a second to target and take out 60 heavily shielded torpedoes, and in the process lose precious energy by jumping to warp; the second option almost certainly lead to significant damage for the Munificent. The Munificent decided that expending energy to have a chance at destroying a few torpedoes was not worth the effort, and continued on its present course.
Ahead, the Munificent transferred power to its fore and aft shields, anticipating an attack from the rear or the front. Then 60 quantum torpedoes exited warp on its port and starboard; 30 on either side, slamming into the its port and starboard shields simultaneously at .997c. The Munificent attempted to reinforce both weakened shield arcs, but they collapsed by the time the 29th torpedo struck home. The 30th torpedo smashed into bare hull, blowing massive craters in both sides of the Munificent's Saucer section. Surprised by the unexpected attack vector, the Munificent engaged in evasive manoeuvres, attempting to present a stronger shield facing to its opponent.
