- NINE -
Dual Failures
- December 7th, 2380 -

Captain Picard stared down the barrel of the phaser rifle at point blank range. His life quickly flashed before his eyes in typical near-death fashion. Damn. That was the only thing he could think of, his brain continued to wave around widely, in a vain attempt to grasp something, anything to help preserve his life. But alas, he could muster nothing from the void, and the captain prepared to face his impending doom.

"Don't worry; I'll make this quick and painless." The male soldier said, gently pulling the trigger back. Without warning, Picard heard a loud crash behind him. The unexpected noise startled both the captain and his executioner as the two turned to the source of the disruption.

"What the..." The soldier exclaimed, but the intended curse that was to follow never left his mouth. Picard turned in time to see Lieutenant Alexander Munroe, on one knee, fire off a burst of energy from his phaser pistol, pinning the soldier with a perfect shot to his chest. As the military figure dressed in black collapsed in a heap from the blast, his two subordinates behind him lifted their phaser rifles in reaction. Before they could even establish aim however, two phaser shots appeared from behind, striking them in the back and knocking them out of commission permanently.

Munroe strode towards the fallen warriors, still with his weapon aimed at them as two Enterprise crew members totting phaser rifles emerged from the corridor outside. After ensuring that the intruders were dead, Munroe quickly turned to help his captain, who had dove to the floor to avoid the crossfire, back to his feet.

"Are you alright sir?" Munroe asked as Picard brushed and straightened his uniform, which by now was considerably wrinkled from the large amount of diving he has done in the past several minutes.

"Yes, yes Mr. Munroe. Thank you for your... timely appearance." Picard turned to see where Munroe had come from, and noticed the ventilation grate on the floor. "Good choice." He noted.

"Sorry that we didn't get here sooner sir. We were a bit tied up on the deck below." Munroe said apologetically. Picard waved it off.

"Nonsense... I'm happy that you even showed up at all." Picard paused for a half a second as his brain started to regain full control. "What's the status of the ship?"

"We took the opportunity to escape when the attack begun. We were able to retake the armoury first, and Elite Force is at this moment in the process of repelling the intruders." Munroe reported.

"What about the security officers from the other ships?" Picard asked.

"Most of them were killed in the initial attack..." Munroe was then cut off by his communicator.

"Murphy to Munroe." Came the smooth, female voice from the other end.

"Alex here, we've secured the captain. How are things going on your end Telsia?" Munroe asked back.

"We've secured engineering, Commander LaForge is going over the ship's systems right now." Picard breathed a sign of relief at knowing that his chief engineer was safe.

"And the bridge?" Alex asked immediately.

"Chang says he will have it secured in the next minute or so."

"Good, I'll take the captain there right now. Munroe out." The Lieutenant looked at Picard who nodded his readiness.

"Right." Munroe muttered, turning back to face Ensigns Chell and Sydney Stockman waiting just outside the captain's quarters with phaser rifles at the ready. "Let's go."
- September 20th, 2156 -

Thick, arid smoke begun to flood the bridge of the Enterprise as Captain Jonathon Archer held on to the arm rests of his chair. On the view screen, a pair of Romulan warships made another pass on the beleaguered Starfleet vessel, rocking and shaking it violently.

"Report!" Archer barked out.

"Hull polarization failure is immanent!" Reed replied, still working his console frantically. The lights on the bridge dimmed again as the starship took and suffered another pounding attack. Outside, over two dozen terran vessels danced wildly in space, while over twice as many Romulan ships slowly picked them off one by one.

"Travis! Get us towards the lead Romulan ship!" Archer ordered quickly, "Malcolm, give them everything we've got left!" The Enterprise, with a battered and scarred hull, weaved and ducked through several Romulan warships, taking in more shots in the process as it charged recklessly towards a larger Romulan Warbird hammering away at three converted Starfleet merchant vessels.

"Photonic torpedoes ready sir!"

"Fire!" The Enterprise unleashed a pair of torpedoes from its forward tubes towards the Romulan Warbird. As the two bright red objects screamed towards their target, the Warbird veered from its enemies and activated its cloaking device at the last second, almost as a taunting gesture, throwing the torpedoes into confusion as they desperately tried to locate their vanished victim.

"Damn it!" Archer cursed, watching the two torpedoes fly off and detonated as its fuel ran out. Immediately, the Warbird reappeared left of the Enterprise, returning the favour by slamming it with a massive volley of disruptor fire.

"Hull polarization has failed sir!" Malcolm said while coughing and wheezing from the smoke. On the view screen, three more Starfleet vessels exploded in fiery deaths as their killers altered course to search for new prey.

"Doctor Phlox to the bridge, we're taking massive casualties!" A voice echoed from a speaker on the bridge. Before Archer could react, Trip's desperate voice took over.

"Captain! We can't take much more of this... all our power sources are failing and the warp engine's going be out of commission if we don't get out of here now!" Damn! Enterprise turned, with some struggle to face the Warbird and opened fire with her phase cannons but failed to penetrate her opponent's shields.

"What's the status of the fleet?" Archer yelled, throwing the question up in the air and hoping someone will answer it.

"We've only got eleven ships left sir!" Hoshi reported, reading off from her console. "They're all reporting heavy damage and extreme casualties..." Another explosion on the view screen interrupted Hoshi's report. "Make that ten!"

The Enterprise threw itself into a roll, just barely avoiding half a dozen disruptor shots from its pursuers. An ally vessel then attempted to assist its besieged flagship by slicing through the Romulan formation chasing Enterprise. Unfortunately, her helmsman miscalculated as the ship clipped a Romulan vessel causing it to spin out of control. Another Romulan ship then promptly decloaked beside it and finished off the wounded starship. Archer then gritted his teeth for his next order.

"Hoshi, sound a general retreat." The communications officer did not reply verbally but instead set out to carry her captain's orders as quickly as possible. On the view screen, the surviving Starfleet vessels engaged their warp drives one by one.

"Alright Travis, it's our turn..." Archer continued as another hit rocked the Enterprise, causing some sparks to fly on the bridge. "Get us out of here!" Mayweather didn't need to be told twice as he smoothly operated a sequence of buttons and the Enterprise disappeared in a flash of warp speed.
- December 7th, 2380 -

"Status report." Picard ordered as he settled back into his chair. Behind him, several members of Elite Force were busily cleaning out the bridge and removing the bodies of the dead intruders. Lieutenant Kimberly Perry, the operations officer, was the first to speak up.

"All sensors functional sir, computers and navigational systems are undamaged." Picard then turned to Alex Munroe.

"All weapons systems are online sir."

"Leave the shields down; I don't think the Armia Krajowa realizes we've taken the ship back yet." Munroe turned to face the captain, giving him a puzzled look.

"Sir?"

"Trust me, it's them. I'll explain it to you at a more appropriate time." Munroe nodded and turned back to face his console and the view screen. "How's the Titan doing?" Munroe worked his console, activating the view screen and focusing on an outnumbered Federation vessel being hounded by half a dozen hostile ships.

"The Titan's the only surviving ship left sir. It looks like our 'escorts' have all been destroyed."

Damn! As much as Picard wanted to protect Enterprise's cover, he simply could not sit and watch the Titan get destroyed. He had no choice but to throw his ship into combat and help out his friend.

"Red alert! Mr. Munroe, get us into the fight. Ms. Perry, hail the Titan and get Captain Riker on the line!" The two officers obeyed their orders and moments later the view screen flickered, switching from the Titan to Captain Riker on a smoke filled bridge.

"I see you were able to take care of things on your end Jean-Luc!" Riker half-yelled, half spoke, with some amusement in his voice despite the situation. Before Picard could answer, the Enterprise shook as it started to take some hits.

"Mr. Munroe, return fire! Glad to see you were able to hold up."

"Barely." Riker was cut off by the eruption of a small fire behind him. "Those are Federation starships, what the hell are they shooting at us for?"

"That's the much-vaunted Armia Krajowa." Riker's eyes flared for a brief moment, signalling his shock. "I'll explain it to you later, how's your warp drive?"

"Ticking like clock-work... I didn't want to leave you alone with those guys."

"Your loyalty is much appreciated Will, but I think it's time we took our leave."

"I concur whole-heartedly!" Seconds later, with their pursuers throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them, the two ships engaged their warp drives with the Enterprise escaping an untimely demise yet again.
- December 7th, 2380 -

Several systems away from the heated battle, a Prometheus class starship sits quietly as it orbited a large blue-green gas giant planet. Printed on the front of the saucer section were the words U.S.S. Concordia, lit by well-placed lights for all to see against the darkness of space. On the bridge of the rogue starship sat Captain Lauren Dougherty, busily distracting herself with a datapad in her hands. Her attention however, was soon diverted by her communications officer.

"Captain?" It was almost a cough. Dougherty waited a full second before lifting her head and reveal her stunningly attractive and youthful face.

"Yes?" She said, sounding neither annoyed nor happy.

"Ma'am, the Vanquish reports that they have failed. Captain Picard is still alive." Dougherty's expression remained unchanged. "And the Enterprise, as well as the Titan has escaped." Although this news should have infuriated her, Dougherty showed no signs emotion. Instead she let another second drift by before issuing her next command.

"Very well, and Lieutenant..." She paused to let out a short, but quiet sigh before continuing. "Contact Third Jerusalem... I will apologize to the Covenant personally."

To Be Continued...