I don't own Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
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X
Into the Gamma Quadrant.
Captain Cooper gasped as the Monet opened slowly approached the point in space where the Bajoran wormhole opened up and it was one of the most beautiful sights Cooper had ever seen in his life; from where he was sitting in the Monet's command chair, the Bajoran wormhole was like a blooming flower of pure light. The Monet passed through the threshold of the wormhole, and they were instantly catapulted forwards by a subspace ripple, that moved the Monet forward.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Cooper couldn't help but grin at some of his crew. He had been in command of the Monet crew for the last 15 years and he had shown he was a laidback fellow, but he was not afraid to jump into the fray.
"From what we've heard of the wormhole, it's been here for 10,000 years. Just imagine; we've been looking for a wormhole for decades, and one that is stable and powerful enough to keep itself fixed in the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants," His first officer, Maria Lopez smiled back.
Cooper took a look at his padd. He had transferred his orders to the padd after he had been given them by Starfleet Command. "We'll be travelling to New Bajor first, and then we'll go beyond the planet, and explore the far rim of explored space."
"Sounds good," Maria grinned back, enthusiasm shining in her dark eyes.
"Will we be going far from the last explored reaches, sir?" Ensign Powell asked curiously and the excitement of seeing what was beyond the explored reaches of the Gamma Quadrant was there right in his eyes. Nobody could blame him. Since the Gamma Quadrant had been discovered along with the stable terminus of the Bajoran wormhole, quite some time ago, many Federation and non-Federation members had sent ships, expressing a desire to look at what was on the other side. Without the Bajoran wormhole, it would take a normal ship travelling the galaxy at warp, 70 years or so to cross, but thanks to the wormhole, the trip took the literal blink of an eye.
The Monet's database was full of articles on the news of discoveries within the Gamma Quadrant. New starcharts of this part of space, stretching across dozens of light-years. Reports of surveys of new worlds. Reports of new first contacts, and now it was the turn of the Monet to make new discoveries and he was looking forward to it.
Cooper grinned at the young man. Powell was a relatively new member of his crew. He had arrived on the Monet 6 months ago, fresh from Starfleet Academy. A trip to the Gamma Quadrant on an exploratory mission was just the ticket for him. Even better he was a stellar cartographer, meaning this was going to be even more fun for him, just like it would be fun for the civilian and Starfleet
"I should say so, Ensign," Cooper replied.
"Are you looking forwards to it, Mark?" Lucy Rye asked from the helm console.
"Are you kidding me? I've seen so many reports and starcharts about the Gamma Quadrant recently ever since I received my assignment to the Monet; going there has been my hope for a long time now," Powell smiled.
Cooper was about to say something when the wormhole opened and they left the anomaly. Quickly he sat up straight in his command chair and he looked forward. "Helm, verify our location and once you have, set in a course for New Bajor. Don't go too fast. Let's enjoy the trip," he added with a smile.
Lieutenant Rye chuckled as she checked and verified their location. It was a relatively easy thing to do, and once she was finished she had no problems setting a course for the New Bajor colony. "Position verified," she reported, "course now laid in for New Bajor. Warp….4," she quickly thought of a decent, nice, round number that would get them to the colony in relatively no time, but give them enough time to enjoy the trip and enjoy themselves in this part of space before they got the real work done.
"How much do you know about New Bajor, Captain?" Lopez asked Cooper as they entered the warp field vortex.
"M Class planet discovered and surveyed by the Bajorans after they requested the Federation council's help in setting up a colony on the other side of the wormhole, which the council agreed to out of good diplomatic faith. The Bajorans found and surveyed a dozen worlds and they ultimately picked one out of the bunch, colonised it and they sent a number of their people there, and the Federation has helped give them aid and technology to grow the colony up and turn it into a success," Cooper replied.
"And it's succeeded," Commander Dreyfus commented. "From what I've heard the Bajorans are sending many ships through the wormhole each month in order to grow the colony. I can't say I blame them." Dreyfus sighed and shook his head. "I had a Bajoran friend as a roommate at the Academy, and he showed me pictures of what Bajor looked like at that point; the things the Cardassians did….," he shook his head to exorcise the graphic images, but Cooper didn't need to ask what they were. He knew from his own findings what the Cardassians did not only to Bajor, one of the greatest tragedies in galactic history, but it was hardly the only world occupied in a brutal manner by the Cardassians.
"So many Bajorans saw they had a new fresh start and they took it?" Lopez shook her head. "I'm not surprised; I have a few friends on the first ships sent to give relief efforts to the Bajorans once the Occupation was over with, and I can tell you they were horrified by what the Cardassians left. God alone knows how many of the Bajorans felt when they took in what happened to their world once it was over. It's little wonder they see New Bajor as a hope."
Cooper wanted to change this depressing topic. "New Bajor is going to be something to look at and visit," he said, breaking the melancholy spell on his bridge quickly before it became as hard to fight as a plague, "we're going to be there on the planet for the best part of 3 weeks. That'll give us plenty of time to see how they're coping, and give them some of the supplies we have in the cargo bays. But remember, we're going to be spending the next 10 months in the Gamma Quadrant. Who knows what we'll find?"
X
7 months later…
The bridge rocked as the enemy vessel's weapons struck the Monet's barely functional shields. Cooper flinched as he felt the impact and how several of the consoles around him exploded into sparks. He couldn't believe just how much damage his ship had taken within only a few minutes, everything was happening so fast that it was impossible for him to process it all. The Monet had been exploring a fairly remote region that their long-range sensors and stellar cartography labs had indicated the presence of several supernova remnants, and the presence of rare minerals and stellar phenomena that had only been rarely discovered by Starfleet in the past. They had only spent a week studying the region when during their study of a remnant, four unknown ships had appeared out of nowhere, and they had opened fire without provocation. Cooper's first impression of them was how their broad front section reminded him of a cobra with the hood extended, giving it a frowning, sinister look.
It was just strange to imagine they had only been fighting for a few moments; they had come in so quickly and opened fire with some kind of weapon which caused terrifying levels of damage within the first few minutes before they could get the shields up, but thanks to some quick action from Dreyfus and the engineering staff, they'd managed to get the shields up. But the damage was still coming. The hull was taking serious breaches, several compartments had been vented to space, and the casualty reports were coming in.
"Dreyfus, what the hell are they hitting us with, the shields aren't doing any good?" Maria shouted.
"The enemy ships are using some kind of phased polaron beam, I've been trying to retune the shields, but none of the frequencies is having any effect," Dreyfus shouted back.
Phased polaron beam weapons?
Cooper had heard of many weapons in his time, but he had never heard of anything this exotic or advanced; he knew how dangerous small polaron beam weapons could be, but nobody had ever been able to make something bigger and powerful enough to be used onboard a starship or a warship.
What kind of mind would fit something onboard a ship and then send them to attack a ship on a peaceful mission of exploration? Cooper didn't have a clue.
"Can you try hailing them again?" Cooper called, but even as he gave the order, he knew it was futile.
"They're not responding."
Cooper scowled. "Mr Dreyfus, fire at will, but make sure they are close enough."
"Launching torpedoes and phasers now, sir. The enemy shields have taken some moderate damage."
"Moderate's good. It means we can hurt them," Cooper smiled, pleased that they had something to work with. "See if you can do anything more."
"Aye, sir."
"They're coming around for another assault," Lucy called, but it was too late. The Monet lurched violently and more consoles exploded. Cooper coughed a little, and his eyes watered as smoke from the fires on the bridge made his eyes water. "The enemy ships have crippled our port nacelle, sir," Lucy's voice was full of alarm. "One of their ships opened fire on the nacelle repeatedly and it overloaded several warp nacelles. The plasma conduits have exploded."
Cooper's eyes widened in horror at the ease with which their new enemy had taken down the nacelle. Quickly he took a look at the small computer station next to his command chair and checked the damage for himself. Fortunately, there was not enough damage to the space frame itself, but as the seconds had passed since Lucy had dropped the bombshell, the main computer had the time needed to see what else was damaged. The power transfer conduits were crippled in the overload, which had knocked out or outright destroyed three warp coils. There was no way the Monet engineering team could repair the damage quickly, and it was looking doubtful they would have it. Something told him the enemy ships wouldn't give them that time.
But Cooper couldn't see a way out of this. "Helm lay in a course and take us deeper into the expanse," he ordered. "Try to generate a nice little warp field, but let's see if we can test this bunch and see if they will follow us close to a supernova remnant. We need to even the gaps between us now."
Maria sent him a questioning look. "Do you think we'd make it considering the state we're in?"
"We have to risk it. One of Starfleet's answers to the no-win scenario is to run, assess and come up with a new solution. This is one of those moments. Our shields are virtually gone, the hull has been crippled, members of the crew are dead or wounded, and the port nacelle has been crippled; it will take a while to get it working and when it is we can stand a better chance of dealing with this problem and return to the Alpha Quadrant. Starfleet needs to be informed of this race and take precautions against the polaron weapon," Cooper explained.
Lucy had just entered the command into the Monet's computer to take them to warp when Dreyfus shouted urgently, "Captain, one of the enemy ships is making a direct run at the main deflector. They're gonna ram us!"
What?
Cooper shouted at Lucy, "Engage warp drive."
It was too late, and as the bridge exploded all around him, Captain Cooper was left wondering why anyone would do this when they hadn't even done anything.