Star Trek: Wings of the Renaissance

A Star Trek fanfiction by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan-based work of prose. Star Trek is the property of CBS and Paramount. Please support the official release.


Orbit of Veloz Prime

2370


There was silence on the other end of the communications line.

"Andross-Or Bran. It's been a while," Chakotay said, very calmly, as though they were talking in a bar and not facing each other with armed weapons. "How's the Peregrine treating you?"

"Very well," Gottschalk replied. "My engineer, Keiko, is great with them. They're old but you can still do interesting things in them."

"Ah, thanks," Keiko said, a bit awkwardly.

"Bran! This is Chevalier, Flight Lead!" Amati barked over the comms. "You will cease speaking to the enemy and immediately-"

"Sir, wait, please," Andross interrupted. "Let me try. There's no reason this has to escalate into violence, let me talk to him-"

"They are violating the treaty with illegally obtained weapons and they will surrender or-!" Amati shot back.

"A Starfleet officer not seeking a peaceful solution? Immediately resorting to violence?" Chakotay asked dryly. "I can see the standards have slipped since I resigned."

"You're one to talk about being a Starfleet officer, you traitor!" Amati growled. "You will surrender immediately!"

"I don't think so," Chakotay said coolly.

"Sir, please," Andross tried again, the cold sweat pooling on his forehead. "Professor, you don't have to do this. Let's talk this out, please!"

"Chakotay, if you do not surrender in five seconds, I will open fire. And Bran, if you do not shut up I'll have you court martialed!" Amati practically snarled. "Five-"

"Commander, I respectfully disagree with this course of action," Suref broke into the comms. "It is not logical to engage immediately in combat when a peaceful solution-"

"Four, three-"

"I don't think a peaceful solution is really possible here,"

Chakotay observed, his fighters forming up in front of the cargo ship.

"This is the height of stupidity," Keiko groaned.

"Two, one! Chevalier Flight, engage targets, NOW!" Amati shouted, and his fighter charged. Hajar's fighter joined in for cover, while Suref's fighter hung back. Amati's fighter flew right at Chakotay's Raider. The raider charged back, the other fighters flanking him.

"Sir, sir, pull back! Pull back!" Andross warned.

Amati instead… Hit his warp engines and vanished, reappearing behind the Maquis ships. He came out of the warp hop pointed away from the ships, and hastily hit his thrusters to position his nose at them. The time he spent doing this though let Chakotay's group scatter. It didn't seem to phase the lieutenant commander though.

"Microphotons, LAUNCH!" He shouted… And the pods attached to both of his wings promptly exploded, bursting into plasma flames. "Wait, what-?!"

"Mychol!" Keiko shouted at Amati's SIO. "Eject the pods, NOW!"

"I didn't order tha-" Amati tried, but the pods soon shot off the Peregrine, the explosive bolts going off to get them as far away as possible. With good reason: In the next second, their warheads went up in two massive antimatter explosions that knocked Amati's fighter away. Andross checked his sensors.

"Two life signs… But they're not going anywhere for a while," Andross breathed out. The fighter was completely disabled, which was probably for the best.

He got a phaser lock warning, and instinctively hit his impulse engines to full and dove to avoid the phaser blast. The lead Raider was firing on him, wingtip mounted cannons blazing away.
"Suref, Hajar, form up on me!" Andross ordered, pulling up to charge at the belly of the Raider. The other Raider charged in, firing its own phasers and forcing Andross to break off and jink wildly.

"I am unable to comply, Bran," Suref replied. "The two fighters are engaging Hajar and myself. I believe her communications are down."

Andross cursed, and accelerated upwards as the two Raiders continued their phaser attack. They were trying to box him in-Classic Chakotay.

"Hang on... " He hit full reverse and spun the fighter around, screaming right at the nearest Raider. A phaser blast got close, grazing the shields on the port wing, but it didn't deter him. He got close, closer still, and then hit reverse once he saw the belly of the Raider in his sites. The other Raider, attempting to hit him, had to cease fire once he got too close to its partner vessel. Andross kept his course on tight, even as the Raider tried to swoop to the side to open Andross up to Chakotay's fire. He stayed with the Raider, sticking like glue and using him as a shield.

"Better," Chakotay's voice broke over the communications, as Andross mirrored the Raider's movements. "But I hope you haven't forgotten-"

The Raider bucked sharply, spinning on its axis to try and spit phaser shots right into his face. Andross, anticipating this, hit full ventral thrusters to dodge and fired his own phasers in a barrage. The Raider, not anticipating this, was hit multiple times on its shields and engines, shields flickering under the assault and then fading. Four phaser hits struck home, right on the dorsal side near the engines.

"Their main power and engines are disabled," Keiko read in satisfaction. "Good shooting!"

"You did the targeting," Andross complimented, even now boosting away to avoid Chakotay's fire.

"Looks like you didn't forget that lesson," Chakotay said over the comms. He broke from Andross's fighter and shot for Suref and Hajar, who were locked in a tight contest with their smaller counterparts. Andross hit the impulse drive to full, chasing after him.

"You don't have to do this," Andross tried again. "You don't have to keep doing this. Professor, please-"

"It's not going to work, son," Chakotay said quietly. "My decision was made for me when the Cardassians took Trebus and killed my father."

"There's always a choice!" Andross argued. Chakotay's Raider spun around on its axis to fire phasers again, and Andross dodged the shots. "You taught me that!"

"Life has a way of teaching us new things," Chakotay stated, almost sadly. His Raider swung around Andross' return fire, and pointed its nose at Suref's fighter. The Vulcan was quickly evading the phaser shots from the Maquis Peregrine, trying to return the fire but locked in a tight dogfight. Andross grit his teeth.

"Suref! Break to 247! And launch one of your torpedoes behind you! Yield level five!" Andross ordered.

"That won't do any-" Keiko protested. Andross ignored her.

"Do it!" He shouted.

The Vulcan offered no comment, but obeyed: His ship turned and narrowly evaded Chakotay's phaser blast. The Maquis Peregrine behind him accelerated, phasers charged and locked.

"Papa 2," Suref stated, and a photon torpedo shot from underneath his wing behind him. Andross locked his phasers and fired… On the torpedo, making it detonate into a large, bright plasma flash. The Maquis Peregrine, eyes and sensors blinded, broke off-Right into Andross's phaser barrage. His shots took off one wing, the next hit the impulse engines and sent the ship spinning out of control, helpless.

"Oh my," Keiko murmured. Andross could tell she was smiling. The phaser lock alarm went off, too late-A shot hit Andross's wing dead on even as he was breaking port, his shields down to almost nothing. The little fighter shook and rattled hard, and Andross struggled to keep her on course.

"That's a new one, I'll admit," Chakotay said. "I'll have to remember it."

"Suref, help out Hajar," Andross ordered, banking hard. The Raider filled the space around him with phaser blasts.

"Professor, please," Andross called again,"stop this! Acting out of revenge-"

"Acting out of revenge implies I want all Cardassians dead. That's not true," Chakotay argued back. "I want to defend my home and keep what happened to my father from ever happening again."

"As a renegade? You keep this up, you won't have any support in the Federation!" Andross insisted, flipping back around to pump a barrage of phaser fire back. They hit where Chakotay's ship was only a moment before, the Maquis Raider having broke just in time. "The treaty is bad, but there are better ways to fix it than this!"

"Evil prevails while good men do nothing,"

Chakotay argued back, his own phaser fire coming uncomfortably close to Andross' cockpit. "Selling out innocent people for a treaty the Cardassians are already violating is not what I signed up for!"

"You said it yourself: Nothing is perfect! But we have a better chance to make it work or find a better way together! Not fighting one another!" Andross tried. He rolled too late-A phaser blast hit the nose of the fighter. "Gah! Keiko!"

"We lost our main sensors! I'm switching to back ups on the pods!" Keiko cried. "Also, while this conversation is very interesting and kind of hot-"

"Kind of what?" Andross muttered in disbelief.

"The cargo ship is launching torpedoes!" Keiko finished.

Chakotay's voice was surprised.

"What?! I didn't order a launch! Paris, Seska, do you read me-?"

Andross swung the fighter around, spotting the cargo ship easily. It was a silver gray brick, spitting out bright orange photon torpedoes like a flower ejecting pollen. Twenty, thirty, fifty of them…

"At us?" Andross asked Keiko. Keiko hissed.

"They're targeted at the colony," she said. "All of them."

The torpedoes shot past. Andross grit his teeth.

"Suref, can you assist?"

"This last fighter is extremely difficult,"

Suref replied. "We can't get there in time!"

Andross swung his ship around and activated the warp drive. Without the main sensors, he had to guess as to where to navigate to. He really hoped he was right. He tapped the key on the throttle… The stars stretched out and blurred around them. He tweaked the warpfield geometry and hit the thrusters, spinning them around on their axis. He cut the warp drive and the universe returned to normal…

With a starfield full of photon torpedoes screaming right at him.

"Do the targeting sensors on the pods still work?" Andross asked.

"Hang on," Keiko said. "They should… I need to get them back online…!"

"Keiko," Andross said warningly, as the torpedoes got bigger, and bigger…

"Almost there…!" Keiko insisted. "Be patient!"

"Keiko," Andross stated, his heart pounding in his ears. He was amazed he sounded so calm.

"Got it!" Keiko cried, and the targeting cursor appeared in his vision. He hit full reverse on the impulse drive, sorting through the nearest torpedoes and opening up on them with the microphotons. First one went up, then another, and another, the microphotons screaming at their larger brothers and taking both of them out in mutual destruction.

"Also, good news!" Keiko cried. "They're not targeting the colony anymore: They're after us!"

"Great!" Andross returned sarcastically.

One torpedo shot for them at full speed, and Andross broke upwards. He launched a microphoton and the torpedo went up, the shockwave shaking the fighter so hard he almost felt his teeth rattle. Andross pressed on, locking onto another torpedo and firing, and another, and another… Until the pods were spent.

"Twenty torpedoes still on course!" Keiko cried. Despite being cheap ones, they were swarming all around the Peregrine. Andross's phaser trigger finger stayed down hard, one torpedo after another glowing up in a burst of gamma rays and energy. Without the targeting sensors, he had to eyeball every shot: And that meant getting close.

He barely avoided another one, this skimming within proximity detonation range. For a moment, as it passed by, he thought he could see his life flash before his eyes.

The torpedo flew by, still intact. Andross swung around and hit full reverse, his phaser blast striking true. The Peregrine drifted, surrounded by the remnants of multiple antimatter warheads behind forcibly detonated. Its crew panting for breath.

"That… That's all of them," Keiko gasped in relief. "Chakotay's incoming!"

Andross was already tired, and stressed, and on the edge. But he still hit the throttle and turned to avoid another shot from the Raider. He swung around and flew right at the Raider, phasers blazing.

The Raider deftly avoided the barrage, and returned one of its own. Andross dodged that one too, and pulled hard into a turning fight with the Raider. Given the Peregrine's smaller mass and size, the Raider was at a disadvantage. This Chakotay knew, so he powered up and broke off, Andross still right with him.

"Suref, how are you?" Andross called.

"Last fighter has been disabled. However, both our fighters are in no better shape," Suref replied. "We are heading towards you at impulse."

"You've gotten a lot better," Chakotay broke the radio silence at last, "you really have."

"Professor… Chakotay, please," Andross tried again. "What's the point of continuing this fight? You know we have reinforcements coming. The mission is a failure. Save your people: Surrender."

"Knowing your fight is hopeless doesn't deter a lot of people. In fact, it encourages them," Chakotay replied. He broke suddenly, full reverse thrust. "If you get knocked down again… You just get back up."

Andross broke starboard, rising, and avoided Chakotay's phaser shot. He returned one of his own, a hit the larger Raider took on its shields.

"If the cause is just and necessary," Andross said. "The treaty may be unjust, but you just launched fifty torpedoes at a civilian colony. How is that going to help your cause? Your people?!"

"Mistakes were made," Chakotay admitted. "But there is no choice here, Andross."

"There's always a choice. It's always yours to make. Please, Chakotay," Andross pleaded, his voice breaking just a little. "I didn't have a choice to be an orphan. You didn't have a choice to lose your father. But you chose to teach me, chose to help me. Chose to do the right thing. Please… Choose it now."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Are you sure this isn't the right thing?" Chakotay asked, brittle now.

"Are you?" Andross countered.

The Raider abruptly engaged its warp engines and vanished in front of them. Andross grit his teeth: The sensors were down, he had nothing to go on for targeting…

Save one thing.

He tilted up and to starboard, and squeezed the trigger. And just as he did, the Raider reappeared, its own phasers locked on and firing. The Peregrine was hit in its main engines, and only an emergency plasma vent by Keiko kept the vessel from going up into a fireball. The Raider took a shot right in its own sensors and power distribution systems, and its lights went dark.

The two ships hung in space, both crippled. Andross was breathing hard, dripping in sweat, as he tried to keep the ship steady. The master alarm was shrieking in his helmet, so he turned it off.

"... I was hoping you'd fall for that trick again,"

Chakotay said at last, a faint note of pride in his tight voice.

"I didn't," Andross retorted.

"No," Chakotay said, a sad chuckle on his lips. "However: Your weapons and engines are down."

"Your shields and weapons are gone," Andross stated back. "And I've got friends coming."

"I'm glad you do," Chakotay said. "I'm glad you take such good care of them. As for me… I need to take care of mine."

"Professor," Andross said, "please. Just-"

"It doesn't matter how many times you ask, Andross. I won't do it. We're beyond words now," Chakotay stated harshly. "I'm not your teacher anymore. If you're going to keep enforcing this treaty, you're my enemy. But you don't have to be. Join us. You saved this colony: You can keep us from going too far. We need men like you, to remind us of things other than hate and loss."

Andross was silent for a time. He had to admit, there was a brief temptation.

"Every man has a choice," he finally said. "This is mine… No matter the consequences."

He could almost see Chakotay's slow nod. "I understand."

Andross supposed he really did.

The Raider turned and flew off, managing a limping warp jump out to the other Raider. It jumped to the two fighters, before one last jump took it to the cargo ship. Then, having finished its task, it jumped to warp, heading out of the system. Andross let out a breath: Long and deflating, as he felt like he'd just melt.

Then...

"This is USS Bradbury to Chevalier Flight, do you read?" A starship captain announced over the communications. Andross hit the receive button.

"This is Bran, of Chevalier Flight. Our lead has been disabled, the rest of us aren't in much better shape. Would appreciate assistance."

"Acknowledged. We were able to monitor the fight from outside the system," the captain said. He let out a low whistle. "That was some scrap… You did great."

"Thank you," Andross replied. He leaned back in his chair, staring up at the stars. He felt Keiko's hand rest on his shoulder.

"You did all you could," Keiko consoled. Andross slowly nodded.

"Maybe I did," he said. He sighed. "It wasn't enough."

"No," Keiko said, "but it's like you both said: It's your choice to make."

"But who made the wrong one?" Andross asked softly, staring out into the stars. Keiko squeezed his shoulder.

"We'll just have to see, won't we?" She asked. Andross managed a nod. "But personally, I'm glad you didn't choose him."

"Oh? Why?" Andross asked, craning his neck to look into Keiko's face. She was smiling pleasantly.

"Because then I'd have to shoot you with my phaser," she said cheerfully. "I'd hate to lose my favorite test pilot."

Andross managed a chuckle at that. Keiko kept smiling. His chuckled slowly died.

"... Please tell me that was a joke," Andross asked. Keiko tilted her head, beaming like a sun.

"I guess we'll never know: Will we?"


More to come. And no, Tom Paris was not killed.