"Alien craft now directly facing us, sir!"
"Hold fire!" said Worf, raising a hand. His Klingon said told him to open fire with maximum power, to be the first to claim a trophy of these Tau, but yet his other side, the side formed by years serving under the Federation and Captain Picard, told him to hold back; perhaps diplomacy remained an option. Perhaps he could even buy time while O'Brien readied the warp drive, or the cloak—in any case, shields were at maximum. If they were going to give him a fight, he was ready for it.
"We're getting a transmission of some kind from the vessel…" said Dax. Worf nodded. Thus far the jamming had been calibrated to only permit communications with the Defiant and the opposing vessel.
"Put it through."
"…you have attempted to infringe Tau space and thus you will be destroyed."
"Fire all weapons." Worf immediately snapped.
The forward phaser cannon banks and torpedo launchers of the Defiant opened fire, as the Tau vessel immediately pulled off evasive manoeuvres, spitting and activating countermeasures. What looked like Gatling pulse weapons of some kind built into her hull swivelled in Defiant's direction and opened fire, peppering her shields intensely. In response, the Defiant managed to land a phaser strike on her hull, burning it, but the enemy vessel continued to weave and turn through the surrounding asteroids, forcing the Federation ship to give chase. If they got too far ahead, Worf knew, they would get ahead of their jamming field, and would be able to call in reinforcements.
"Captain!" shouted Dax as the craft slowed down ahead. "The vessel appears to be releasing…drones of some kind!"
Looking at the screen before him, Worf focused as the sleek craft jettisoned several smaller objects, vaguely resembling saucers with wings and sporting those forward Gatling-type weapons. Impressive, he thought. Already he could tell that these Tau were not going to be a pushover when it came to combat in the cold darkness of space.
"Target and destroy those drones!" he shouted as they immediately flew wildly around nearby asteroids like flies around compost, as if to try and confuse the weapons systems on the Defiant.
"Sir, they appear to be stealth craft of some kind…sensors having difficulty targeting and isolating them…" said O'Brien through gritted teeth as more burst fire struck the Defiant head on.
"Fire all weapons in their direction, maximum spread!" shouted Worf. Firing wildly with phasers and torpedoes, the Defiant blew through the drones, blasting chunks out of the nearby asteroids—but then Worf noticed the main vessel accelerating away in the direction of open space, no doubt so they could properly call for reinforcements. Sowing those drones as a distraction—predictable in hindsight, but it was now he realized just how little they knew of the capabilities of these things. This was foolish, foolish, he thought to himself. He should never have accepted this dishonorable, backstabbing mission.
"Lock on torpedoes and fire!" Worf yelled as the vessel began to near the boundaries of the asteroid belt. "Target their engines!" First sever your opponent's limbs before you go for the final blow. One of the basic rules of Bat'leth combat. Just as easily applicable here.
Spitting forward a stream of torpedoes, the Defiant accelerated as the ship drew towards empty space—Worf sat up as they made confirmed hits on the vessels' aft, sending charred debris bleeding out of it. Greatly slowed, the vessel re-orientated itself to let loose a concentrated barrage of burst fire on the Defiant's hull as she came over it, blasting at the damaged spot with phasers repeatedly. Finally, with power conduits damaged and reactor coolant leaking, the vessel exploded, sending some debris striking against the asteroids around it.
"No sign of communicated transmissions." Announced Dax.
"Mr. O'Brien, are we ready to go to warp?" demanded Worf.
"Affirmative, sir."
"Commander," one of the crewmen looked up. "Detecting another vessel approaching… not ours, not Tau…"
"Whose?"
"Profile matches that of…a Gorn ship."
Worf sighed. There was nothing more he could do here without compromising the Federation or his honor. Time to go.
"Go to warp, now."
The Defiant's engines glowed before she jumped away to warp speed, just as a Gorn destroyer flew overhead, heading directly towards the Tau fleet ahead.
"Admiral Kor'O, we have detected two faster-than-light drive activation signatures within very short space of each other, in the fourth sector…"
Aboard the command deck of the Gal'leath class battleship Hand of Enlightment, senior Tau fleet commander Kor'O Falshia Kais Myr analysed the readouts of the approaching vessel coming at high sublight speed towards them. He had expected such blatant intrustions into the territory of the Tau Empire from beings who did not comprehend what they were dealing with. Nonetheless, he would ask questions first and shoot later—for now, it was not in the interests of the Ethereals to go to war with Gue'la they knew hardly anything about.
"I represent the Kor'vattra of the Tau Empire." He declared, speaking on all channels. "We hereby demand you announce yourself and your intentions immediately."
"Admiral," a nearby crewman, wearing a visor plugged into one of the sleek consoles lining the white, brightly-lit bridge, "we have lost contact with one of our patrol craft in the vicinity of the asteroid cluster."
Kor'O tensed himself. Losing contact with a patrol craft just as these people intruded into their system. Perhaps it was just coincidence.
"Vrrr…." A distorted, blurry hologram of what looked like a humanoid, lizard-like creature flickered into view before him, staring with empty eyes—the Ethereals taught never to judge Gue'la by appearance, but the repulsiveness of this thing tempted Kor'O to let loose with all weaponry on their ship, now very close to their perimeter.
"I am Sssshahr, representing the Gorn Hegemony." He growled. "This space was previously agreed by treaty to be in the possession of the Gorn."
"That is no longer the case." Said Kor'O. "This space belongs to the benevolent Tau Empire now. If you wish to make use of it, you may embrace our Greater Good and our banner, and you will be elevated to far beyond what you are now."
"We have no interest in surrendering ourselves to heathen outsiders like you!" snarled the Gorn. "You will leave this space now, or you shall suffer our wrath!"
Pathetic, thought Kor'O. They honestly thought they could challenge at Tau Kor'Vettra wing with that puny, insignificant little vessel? Like so many Gue'la, these people were all bluster and no strength. And like those same Gue'la, they would have to be educated forcibly to understand that all prosper under the Greater Good. As the saying went, if words do not enlighten a Gue'la, railguns and ion cannons should do the trick.
"It is you who will leave." Said Ko'O. "Leave now, lest you provoke a war you cannot win. The Tau Empire has faced graver threats than you."
"You take our space! You try and intimidate us with your meaningless rhetoric! You look down upon us with your smugness and self-superiority!" ranted the Gorn. "Take this as a warning!"
From thousands of kilometres away, the Gorn vessel opened fire, sending forward primitive missile weapons. Kor'O chuckled, before nodding to the gunnery ops station.
"Target those warheads, and bring to bear all firepower on that vessel."
ECM and point defence lasers went into effect, vaporizing the missiles one by one. Moments later, as the little ship turned around on the spot, dozens of hyperaccelerated massive railgun rounds slammed into it, overwhelming its shields and atomizing it.
"Let all Gue'la who would defy the Greater Good beware." Declared Kor'O on all frequencies. "Never trifle with the Tau, lest you want the Tau to trifle with you."
"Commander, our agents within the main Septs have delivered this."
Sitting and meditating within his living chambers on the primary world of the Farsight Enclave, on the verge of space known by the Tau, Commander O'Shovah, better known as Commander Farsight, looked up at the messenger before him. Not so long ago, his loyal warriors had been thrown into distress as the stars altered their positions and all presence of the Imperium vanished—some had claimed that all signs pointed to them being thrown back almost 40 millennia into the past. He did not know what to make of this, and like any wise leader, he had resolved to digest further information before proceeding.
"Let me see." He mused, taking and opening the data capsules presented to him. He analysed the information projected via hologram before him—the Ethereals had made contact with an all-new human domain, a 'Federation', that claimed, like the Ethereals themselves, to be one devoted to harmony and enlightenment. And like the Ethereals, he soberly thought, they were no doubt trying to take those who interacted with them for fools.
More information. Warlike races, such as the Klingons. Scheming races, the Romulans. Some of them, it seemed, very ripe for conquest, or 'forced acceptance' to the Greater Good that Aun'va and the others spewed forward.
"One thing is evident." Announced Farsight.
"What is that?"
"Our Enclaves are no longer restricted by the Gue'la across the Gulf. While the Ethereals busy themselves with bullying others, we shall discreetly bring others into our own fold…and from there, like a pincer, we can make our move."