Starbase 1194
"What groups are available?" Captain McDonald asked in the center of operations of the starbase.
"Groups one and two can be ready in ten minutes."
"How soon will those Romulans get here?"
"Oh, not for at least fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. They were still a ways out there when we detected them."
"Good. Order the crews to prepare groups one and two, and have them launch as soon as they are ready."
"Yes, sir."
The Egret Hangar, Starbase 1194
"All fighter scramble. We have enemy vessels inbound," said the comm system inside the hangar.
"You heard the order," the officer charge said to the crews. "Get these birds ready for action. All pilots meet in the briefing room." The hangar sprung to life. The crews ran around gathering tools and tricorders, inspecting each Egret carefully and quickly, and fixing any problems they may have discovered.
"Okay," the commander said as he addressed the small group of Egret pilots. "There is a small Romulan transport approaching the base, and it is accompanied by a number of smaller ships. These smaller fighters may attack the base, or they may just be escorting the transport. The real problem is that a short time ago security detected intruders in section 103. These intruders have managed to escape from the base after stealing a number of upsilon devices. Security teams are searching the area, but have not yet captured the thieves. Your mission is to keep the incoming enemy vessels outside of transport range of the planet. If they manage to beam up the thieves, you must capture the ship that beamed them up. If this happens, we'll tell which ship to capture. The enemy fighters are likely to engage you when they realize that you intend to keep them away from the base. Destroy them if necessary, but do not allow the thieves to escape. We cannot let anyone get an upsilon device. I realize that many of you have never flown an Egret in actual combat before. Just remember your training and do your best out there. Okay, to your fighters and launch immediately."
Some of the pilots were excited and ready to defend the Federation; others were right out of Starfleet Academy and were somewhat reluctant to go into combat. This was different than serving on a starship that was going into combat. They would not have a huge number of other crew members to rely on for help, just the other Egrets, who had to look out for themselves as well. It was combat on a much more individual basis. They would be just pushing a button on an LCARS control panel to shoot torpedoes at a ship a few million kilometers away, either. They would be flying right up to the enemy, confronting them face to face. Then they had to complete their mission on top of it all. A few of them worried about how many faces they would see upon returning to the hangar, or if they would even return at all. How many Egrets would they see destroyed right before their eyes? Hopefully none, of course, but there was no way to know. Anything could go wrong in an instant that would make an Egret not return to its nest.
The pilots went out to their Egrets just as the crews were finishing their inspections. A group of three pilots approached their fighters.
"You guys ready for this?" a pilot named John asked his two friends form the Academy. He had always wanted to join Starfleet, and when the Egret came out, he decided that being an Egret pilot would be the coolest position in Starfleet. He met Sylvia and Fred on his first day of classes at the Academy, and has stayed with them ever since. John was the first to take a liking to Egrets, and his two friends quickly followed.
"I knew it'd come eventually," Cil said. Both John and Fred usually called her Cil. She was born on Mars, and her father was one of the designers of the famous Galaxy-class starship.
"Let's go shoot some Romulans," Fred said, and climbed into his Egret. Fred was always the adventurous one of the group. The other two followed suit and climbed into their fighters. The Egrets began launching. The three of them made up Alpha Squadron. Since the Egrets were very new, there weren't many Starfleet officers qualified to be squadron leaders, so Starfleet gave the majority of these positions who had demonstrated superior leadership and piloting abilities at the Academy. This position in Alpha Squadron went John. Both Cil and Fred were glad that their squadron leader would be somebody that they knew very well and who had always shown a high amount of caring and friendship to them. Sylvia pushed the throttle to full and followed John out of the hangar with Fred right behind her.
"Nova lead to Alpha lead. We'll go after the fighters. You guys can just take the transport," John heard through the Egret's comm system.
"Thanks Nova. We copy," John said back. "Okay, guys, we get the transport and Nova will get the fighters," he said to his group.
Sylvia looked at her sensor display and saw the fighters approaching rapidly with the transport a short distance behind them. "Here they come," she said.
Nova squadron engaged the Romulan fighters, but there were not enough Egrets from Nova to take all the Romulans. While most of the enemy ships were occupied with Nova, two of them moved in to attack group Alpha.
"Alpha lead, you have permission to attack the transport and disable its shields and engines. Do not destroy it," John was told, but Sylvia and Fred could hear it too since all of the fighters, including Nova squadron, were on the same channel. "Let's go," he said. He approached the transport and fired his phasers into its shield grid. That was the first time he had ever fired at something that was not a training target. He watched the orange beams from his Egret get absorbed into the shields of the Romulan ship.
"Hey, there's two fighters coming in at us," Fred said. The other two checked their sensors and confirmed Fred's observation.
"We'll get the fighters, John, and you get the ship," Sylvia said. The transport had begun firing at John, but his shields stopped all the shots that he didn't manage to evade. Alpha 2 and 3 broke off and engaged the two fighters. Sylvia fired her phasers at the Romulan fighter as it maneuvered away from her. She then turned around to face it again and fired three quantum torpedoes and watched them close in on the target for a few seconds before going off to help Fred. The quantum torpedoes did their job and the fighter was destroyed. Fred and Sylvia pelted the remaining fighter with their phasers until it blew up.
"Guys, I can't stop this thing. It's entering transporter range of the base."
"Can't we get it when its shields go down for transport?"
"By then it's too late. They'll have the intruders. Alpha lead to Nova lead. We need some help with this transport."
"Sorry, Alpha lead," Nova lead told John, "we have our hands full." The three Egrets of Alpha squadron unleashed everything they had on the transport, seriously damaging its hull, but it wasn't enough. The transport soon reactivated its shield grid and Alpha squadron was out of torpedoes. They attacked with their phasers, still taking fire from the transport. The shields were almost gone on all three Egrets, but they continued their attack anyway. Right up to the point when the transport went to warp.
"What groups are available?" Captain McDonald asked in the center of operations of the starbase.
"Groups one and two can be ready in ten minutes."
"How soon will those Romulans get here?"
"Oh, not for at least fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. They were still a ways out there when we detected them."
"Good. Order the crews to prepare groups one and two, and have them launch as soon as they are ready."
"Yes, sir."
The Egret Hangar, Starbase 1194
"All fighter scramble. We have enemy vessels inbound," said the comm system inside the hangar.
"You heard the order," the officer charge said to the crews. "Get these birds ready for action. All pilots meet in the briefing room." The hangar sprung to life. The crews ran around gathering tools and tricorders, inspecting each Egret carefully and quickly, and fixing any problems they may have discovered.
"Okay," the commander said as he addressed the small group of Egret pilots. "There is a small Romulan transport approaching the base, and it is accompanied by a number of smaller ships. These smaller fighters may attack the base, or they may just be escorting the transport. The real problem is that a short time ago security detected intruders in section 103. These intruders have managed to escape from the base after stealing a number of upsilon devices. Security teams are searching the area, but have not yet captured the thieves. Your mission is to keep the incoming enemy vessels outside of transport range of the planet. If they manage to beam up the thieves, you must capture the ship that beamed them up. If this happens, we'll tell which ship to capture. The enemy fighters are likely to engage you when they realize that you intend to keep them away from the base. Destroy them if necessary, but do not allow the thieves to escape. We cannot let anyone get an upsilon device. I realize that many of you have never flown an Egret in actual combat before. Just remember your training and do your best out there. Okay, to your fighters and launch immediately."
Some of the pilots were excited and ready to defend the Federation; others were right out of Starfleet Academy and were somewhat reluctant to go into combat. This was different than serving on a starship that was going into combat. They would not have a huge number of other crew members to rely on for help, just the other Egrets, who had to look out for themselves as well. It was combat on a much more individual basis. They would be just pushing a button on an LCARS control panel to shoot torpedoes at a ship a few million kilometers away, either. They would be flying right up to the enemy, confronting them face to face. Then they had to complete their mission on top of it all. A few of them worried about how many faces they would see upon returning to the hangar, or if they would even return at all. How many Egrets would they see destroyed right before their eyes? Hopefully none, of course, but there was no way to know. Anything could go wrong in an instant that would make an Egret not return to its nest.
The pilots went out to their Egrets just as the crews were finishing their inspections. A group of three pilots approached their fighters.
"You guys ready for this?" a pilot named John asked his two friends form the Academy. He had always wanted to join Starfleet, and when the Egret came out, he decided that being an Egret pilot would be the coolest position in Starfleet. He met Sylvia and Fred on his first day of classes at the Academy, and has stayed with them ever since. John was the first to take a liking to Egrets, and his two friends quickly followed.
"I knew it'd come eventually," Cil said. Both John and Fred usually called her Cil. She was born on Mars, and her father was one of the designers of the famous Galaxy-class starship.
"Let's go shoot some Romulans," Fred said, and climbed into his Egret. Fred was always the adventurous one of the group. The other two followed suit and climbed into their fighters. The Egrets began launching. The three of them made up Alpha Squadron. Since the Egrets were very new, there weren't many Starfleet officers qualified to be squadron leaders, so Starfleet gave the majority of these positions who had demonstrated superior leadership and piloting abilities at the Academy. This position in Alpha Squadron went John. Both Cil and Fred were glad that their squadron leader would be somebody that they knew very well and who had always shown a high amount of caring and friendship to them. Sylvia pushed the throttle to full and followed John out of the hangar with Fred right behind her.
"Nova lead to Alpha lead. We'll go after the fighters. You guys can just take the transport," John heard through the Egret's comm system.
"Thanks Nova. We copy," John said back. "Okay, guys, we get the transport and Nova will get the fighters," he said to his group.
Sylvia looked at her sensor display and saw the fighters approaching rapidly with the transport a short distance behind them. "Here they come," she said.
Nova squadron engaged the Romulan fighters, but there were not enough Egrets from Nova to take all the Romulans. While most of the enemy ships were occupied with Nova, two of them moved in to attack group Alpha.
"Alpha lead, you have permission to attack the transport and disable its shields and engines. Do not destroy it," John was told, but Sylvia and Fred could hear it too since all of the fighters, including Nova squadron, were on the same channel. "Let's go," he said. He approached the transport and fired his phasers into its shield grid. That was the first time he had ever fired at something that was not a training target. He watched the orange beams from his Egret get absorbed into the shields of the Romulan ship.
"Hey, there's two fighters coming in at us," Fred said. The other two checked their sensors and confirmed Fred's observation.
"We'll get the fighters, John, and you get the ship," Sylvia said. The transport had begun firing at John, but his shields stopped all the shots that he didn't manage to evade. Alpha 2 and 3 broke off and engaged the two fighters. Sylvia fired her phasers at the Romulan fighter as it maneuvered away from her. She then turned around to face it again and fired three quantum torpedoes and watched them close in on the target for a few seconds before going off to help Fred. The quantum torpedoes did their job and the fighter was destroyed. Fred and Sylvia pelted the remaining fighter with their phasers until it blew up.
"Guys, I can't stop this thing. It's entering transporter range of the base."
"Can't we get it when its shields go down for transport?"
"By then it's too late. They'll have the intruders. Alpha lead to Nova lead. We need some help with this transport."
"Sorry, Alpha lead," Nova lead told John, "we have our hands full." The three Egrets of Alpha squadron unleashed everything they had on the transport, seriously damaging its hull, but it wasn't enough. The transport soon reactivated its shield grid and Alpha squadron was out of torpedoes. They attacked with their phasers, still taking fire from the transport. The shields were almost gone on all three Egrets, but they continued their attack anyway. Right up to the point when the transport went to warp.