Location – Romulan Boarder edge, Hydrae Sector
The debris floated gently along the blackness of space, the light from a near by star made the pieces of metal and insulation glitter and sparkle. No one knew about the mysterious destruction of the S'Kiok only a small Nebula Class vessel on the other side of the boarder witnessed the demise of this massive warship.
The surroundings created an ominous glow all around, it was cold and dark in space but only to an extent, here however evil lurked in the shadows and the debris held the secret or did it?
An old Romulan Commander watched and thought all of these things from the bridge of his own Warbird, he watched helplessly as his comrades fall into the hands of destruction. But he knew he must not disclose his secret location, hiding cloaked beside a small moon in the system. He must remain cloaked and monitor the situation, would the Starfleet come closer to investigate or would it scurry back in to Federation strongholds?
The aged but experienced Commander stood up and walked towards the end of the bridge and entered a Turbo Lift the door closed behind him.
The RES Javlek hovered around a lifeless moon in the system watching, waiting, if the Starfleet vessel approached the debris they would soon follow behind, catching the criminals in the act. But one thing troubled the seasoned Commander, who did destroy their sister ship if the Federation did not?
The Romulan Commander stepped off level 4 of his magnificent vessel and slipped into his sleeping quarters equally as magnificent and sat upon a chair. He was deep in thought, troubled thought, he was not sure if he should stay and pursue the Federation vessel or return to Romulus and inform the high command. If he returned he would undoubtedly give up his commission as well as his reputation as a Romulan Commander.
He grimaced at the thought finally breaking off this stalemate of decisions. He will stay and monitor the situation and follow through his actions accordingly. If the Federation indeed destroyed the S'Kiok then they would pay the price, if they did not, then the Javlek would remain and investigate.
The Romulan Commander by the name of S'vok nodded to his mental plans and stood up walked to his plush bed and dropped upon it. He slept better than he ever had from the beginning of his command, he was finally accustomed to making decisions now and he will make the best ones for himself and his underlings aboard this massive bulk of a Warship. He slept more soundly as he ever had in his entire life.
On the bridge of the Eclipse tension was high, Lieutenant Saavon was at her science console, Commander Barton was in the center chair, Sara Chen continued at the helm and Mike Abney at the operations board. The tableaux was the same with one difference, Mr. Barton had the bridge this time. For the first time in his life he was less comfortable in the command seat then at his trusty weapons control. He scanned the main viewer for any distortions that might resemble a cloaked Warbird he found none.
Am I the only one going paranoid around here? Barton thought glancing around the bridge. He was probably the only one, the Vulcan science officer look as impassive as 3 hours ago and Chen and Abney looked just as tired as he did. Max Barton looked down at the armrest and tapped upon it with a light finger, it was 0546. No wonder, its almost 6 in the morning. He mentally mused and looked up.
As he stood up the aft Turbo Lift and a figure with 2 antennas walked out. The Junior Commander nodded to the Chief of Security, Lieutenant Commander Rhofistan, and yawned. The Andorian security officer gave the commander a big grin.
"Grave yard shift went okay?" The tall slim blue skinned man said. Barton gave a slight shrug and nodded.
"Plus a Warbird blew up nearly in our faces if it wasn't for the Neutral zone." The Andorian smirked and nodded. "I've heard. And I take it we're still doing nothing but patrolling for more Warbirds?" The Andorian inquired with a wiggle of his antenna.
"That's what the Captain said. Personally I want to get back to Federation space as fast as possible, its creepy over here." The human shuddered and pointed to the vast emptiness at the main viewer.
The armrest beeped, Commander Barton got his signal. "Gamma shift is relieved and please all, get some rest." The commander yawned as the Andorian gave him a nudge. "This was the Alpha shift sir, we've did a switch with schedule when we saw that Warbird."
The Commander yawned and shrugged. "Okay that's great. Correction, Alpha shift is relieved. Now go sleep for Pete's sake." Upon command, a few of the bridge crew rose and single filed walked towards the turbo lifts just as replacement officers entered the bridge from forward lifts relieving the remaining officers.
Barton nodded to the big Andorian. "The bridge is yours, please keep it in one piece and alert us when we have something to look at. And get the science department on those debris."
"Don't worry Sir all will be taken care of." Rhofistan grinned and sat in the center chair as Commander Barton sheepishly walked into a nearby lift. The exchange of personnel was swift only Mike Abney remained to study the debris with the science officers behind him.
"So what's our next move?" Commander Lewis Wellington said while the Captain stood up and gathered his thoughts. The middle aged Captain rubbed his eyebrows and gave a sigh and paced the ready room's deck plating.
"I don't know Lewis, this is indeed a sticky situation. We go into the Neutral zone the Romulans blame us. If we sit here and do nothing they probably have us all doomed to conspiracy charges. We were the only ones here when that Warbird blew. I don't like this one bit." Wellington nodded.
"And, we're still waiting on our Federation support." He added uncertainly. "We don't know how long before they respond." Captain Sutherland gave a grave nod and walked towards the replicator. "Tea, hot, green herbal bland." The computer chirped and a steamy mug of tea whirred into existence at the base of the replicator. He brought be mug to his couch and sat down still deep in thought Wellington fidgeted under the mental tension.
At last he broke the silence. "So we're waiting another couple of hours. Another Warbird will be on our case soon any way." The Captain sipped his tea and nodded slowly. Then smiled. "And so will another Starfleet ship. Hopefully." His smile vanished. Wellington sighed.
"I'll check with science on that debris analysis, anything else Captain?" The mid-aged man looked up. "No that's fine for now, keep every one posted you hear?"
"That won't be a problem, news travels fast here." Wellington nodded then walked out the door to the bridge."
As Wellington exited, the Captain stood up and placed his tea on the table. The game has begun and they moved the first pieces, when will the Romulans make their move? Frank Sutherland tried imagining all existing routes and outcomes and he knew what they had to do, stay. One way or another they weren't leaving this area in another hour they were staying.
"Commander." The Andorian stood up and greeted the Commander walking out of the ready room. Wellington smiled weakly and held up his hands. "Just passing by, please, carry on." The big Andorian man nodded and turned his attention back to the main viewer. With his back to the other half of the bridge he still heard the swoosh the turbo lift made when Wellington stepped inside.
"Status Ensign Abney?" His booming voice asked. Mike Abney turned and shook his head. "Still unchanged, however I am coordinating with the science department with the debris analysis, I just wish we could have a sample." The Andorian grinned and laughed.
"Perhaps you'll get it, hopefully without being tossed in a Romulan mining camp when you're done playing with ship debris." The Ensign's eyes widen and he nodded. "No sir we don't want that." The grinned "I don't like the smell of those camps anyway."
Rhofistan let out another laugh at the comment then acknowledged. "Understood, thank you Ensign."
The turbo lift moved swiftly through its tunnel downward through the ship sliding past numerous amounts of decks. Lewis Wellington looked at the shimmering lights as the turbo lift went down noticing the lights were not that bad, actually comforting. He didn't know why but the red-ish hue of the passing lights made him at ease with their current situation but it did and he was glad, the least thing the ship needed was an unstable first officer.
The turbo lift opened to deck 16 and the Commander stepped out and strode towards sickbay. The doctor was no doubt busy with his patients and physical examinations but when he was done with them he was quite bored, Wellington continued walking and eventually entering sickbay, no one was there except for a nurse and Doctor John Welch. How surprising. Wellington sarcastically thought then walked into the office.
"Morning Lewis, had your cup of coffee yet?" John Welch mused under his report not looking up at the Commander.
Wellington shrugged. "Actually I haven't slept yet, but I'll get a cup in the mess later. Busy?" The doctor turned to regard his friend and sighed. "Medical science has advanced so much it's just so easy to treat a broken arm here, a cut there and a heart transplant. You hardly get any patients at this time of peace."
"Right, I can't blame you." The Doctor shrugged.
"What can I do for you?" The Doctor turned off his computer and stood up. Wellington backed in to main sickbay as the Doctor walked out of his stuffy office. "I don't know, I'm guessing I'll review some analysis later, join me in the mess for breakfast?"
The Doctor checked off a padd from the nurse regarding a patient lying on a biobed then nodded. "Sure why not, it's not like he's going to get up and walk away right now." The doctor nodded to his assistance then turned to the door then walked out with Wellington in tow behind him.
"How is your patient?" Wellington asked. Welch shrugged. "Oh, he had a quite nasty fall in the cargo bay, he's doing fine, a day of rest is all he needs." Wellington raised an eyebrow at the Doctor the nodded.
The two men turned a corner and walked into a turbo lift. "Deck 10." Wellington ordered then the turbo lift began its accent to the destination. Wellington couldn't help but noticing Welch's expression, he seemed weak willed for an unexplained reason as if his energy was sapped. He turned to look at his friend. "Hm, you look tired John."
John Welch shrugged. "I'm sure it's the low morale around here, tension is rising Lewis, these people don't like being here near the neutral zone, you should notice it."
"It eludes me John. I can't be as empathic as you right now, I'm quite drained." Wellington explained, but can't help but wonder how the topic was directed at him instead of the impassive doctor standing next to him but his thoughts were cut short as the turbo lift opened. Both of them exited and proceeded directly to the mess hall.
"I've got something Commander." The impassive voice spoke from Lieutenant Saavon on the science station. Commander Rhofistan stood up and walked slow to the science station. Once there he took a peek at the Vulcan's console and nodded for the lieutenant to go on.
"It's a subspace distortion, minor, very weak and very incoherent, It might be cloaked vessel with a very inefficient nullifier core." The Andorian twitched his antenna and the nodded. "Keep an eye on it Lieutenant, where is it exactly?"
The Vulcan's elegant fingers swooped by the buttons. "It's on the federation side. It may be a Romulan attempt." The science officer stopped to let it sink in. "Or it may be Klingon."
"Understood Lieutenant, if it cross the Neutral zone I want it tracked." Rhofistan nodded and returned to his seat.
"Yes sir." The Vulcan complied and continued to work on her station. Rhofistan however wasn't convinced that it was Klingon, there were too many variables already at work and this new found discovery might to an active Romulan plot to invade Federation space, or Klingon and other Federation worlds. But it was too early to tell right now.
Rhofistan tapped on the center chair's armrest, activating a communications line to the Captain. "Bridge to Captain Sutherland, please come in Captain." There was a wait then the COM buzzed. "Yes bridge, Sutherland here. Anything new?"
"Yes sir, science has discovered a possible cloaked vessel lingering in the area. It maybe Romulan, or Klingon." There was another pause. "Interesting, bring us to yellow alert and monitor that blip, report if something happens that is significant."
Rhofistan nodded. "Yes sir." And closed the com. "All right, Mr. Abney, yellow alert." The yellow uniformed ensign turned and nodded then pressed a button on his console. The commander confirmed the alert status change with a silent beep, the bridge yellow alert lights started blinking as well as the lights all over the ship. "We're at yellow alert sir." The Ensign reported.
Rhofistan nodded and sat back into his chair and stared at the main viewer. "I hope this doesn't take long." He mused.
"What happened John?" The Doctor looked at his friend then frowned.
"Isn't that obvious?" The Doctor's quiet voice spoke back.
"I'm not following, what's eating you?" Wellington sipped his synthale while waiting for his friend to spill his guts in front of him.
"Nothing." Doctor Welch said swiftly.
"I'm not buying it. Something is bothering you."
"You're right, but I'm sure yet and I am not going discuss it right now with you and the other people."
Wellington was taken aback but he recovered with another sip of his drink. He frowned himself and furrowed his left brow. He respected the Doctor's wishes but he was too curious. "May I ask why you're keeping this secret?"
John Welch lifted his head and nodded. "Patient-Doctor confidentiality Lewis, I know you'll understand and if my suspicions are correct then you'll know it soon. Don't it take the wrong way."
Wellington drained his cup and nodded. "I understand. Anything else that I should know about?" Wellington tried to say the words as non-intrusive as possible but he couldn't help fight back the curiosity in his voice. The impassive Doctor shook his head and sighed.
"Well, as you noticed, some of the crew are very agitated, it's like a ticking bomb down there." That Wellington understood perfectly, he simply nodded and shrugged his broad shoulders.
"It'll be over soon, I hope but you know these missions, they do take time to resolve. Especially when the Romulans lost a Warbird. They likely to blame us because we were the closest." John nodded.
"I see and now to prove our innocence we're sitting out here doing nothing." Wellington smirked. "Not nothing John, we're waiting for another Warbird or at least we find a way to find some cloaked ships around here."
"Why?"
"I think the Captain would like some of that debris to analyze." John cocked a brow.
"I hope he doesn't." Wellington nodded in agreement. "If I was a Vulcan I'd say 'logic dictates that we leave slowly and maturely since we did not commit the crime therefore we're free to leave.'" John Welch's eyes widen.
"I do agree with that but 1500 people lost their lives. We should have a shred of comment decency to investigate it." Wellington laughed.
"As soon as we cross that neutral zone Starfleet and Romulan Empire will be on our case." He stopped then realized what the Doctor really meant. "Hm, I agree with that John, we should leave immediately. Excuse me." John smiled weakly as his friend stood up. "No problem Commander." He teased as Wellington exited the mess.
"I am detecting a localized distortion, three distinct signatures, no wait, 4. They're 4 Romulan Warbirds decloaking sir." Rhofistan was blank faced and stared as the main viewer adjusted to the angle to their port as 4 gigantic green massive bulks appeared out of thin air, or space in this case.
"Open a channel to their lead ship." Rhofistan ordered quickly, Abney hastily opened a channel to them. "This is Lieutenant Commander Rhofistan of the Federation Vessel Eclipse, you have violated treaty agreement by crossing the neutral zone I demand your explanation immediate or you will face charges." Rhofistan's booming voice flowed through the comline from the Eclipse to the Romulan Flagship. A split second later a response came through.
"Federation Vessel this is Command S'Vok of the Romulan Warbird Javlek I am ordered to investigate an explosion and the destruction of our sister ship the S'Kiok. You were in the vicinity and you must be questioned as well. Comply and you will not be harmed, any attempts to leave this system will be taken as an act of war." Rhofistan stood by Mike Abney and switched the screen to mute.
"Okay..." The bridge crew was silent.
"Well put Commander." Ensign Abney commented. Rhofistan tapped on his combadge. "Bridge to ready room, Captain please come to the bridge please. There's someone you should see."
"Understood," There was a pause then the door to the ready room opened and out came Captain Sutherland he walked towards the Andorian Commander and sighed when he sawed the Romulan Commander's face. "Put him on!" He ordered.
"This is Captain Sutherland of the Eclipse, what do you want?" Commander S'Vok was not pleased and he repeated.
"We lost our sister ship the S'Kiok, you were in the vicinity when it occurred, we like to question you, if you attempt to leave the system it will be interpreted as an act of war and you will be destroyed." The Captain was bewildered.
"Commander, we had nothing to do with the destruction of the Warbird I assure you that, but if you board this ship I will have no choice but to resist and remind me who broken treaties first. And correct me if I'm wrong but do you Romulans always threaten people fi-"
"Captain, I'm reading a massive distortion in the Neutral Zone, it looks like a subspace explosion." Lieutenant Saavon's voice interrupted the heated word battle between one commanding officer and the other. Commander S'Vok was temporary distracted when his science officer walked over and reported something.
"What?!" The Romulan exclaimed and signaled his hand to his front. The main viewer flickered back to the four Romulan Warbirds in position to destroy the Eclipse if necessary. A second later the green bulks shifted and moved towards the neutral zone. Still frowning, Captain Sutherland diverted all his attention to Saavon.
"Okay, what about that distortion reading?" The Vulcan nodded and tapped a few commands on her console. The main viewer shifted to the Neutral Zone, a small glowing sphere was pulsating and growing exponentially as the four Warbirds approached.
"It's sending out dampening fields, the Warbirds are losing power. At current expansion it will reach critical mass in 20 seconds and explode. We have to leave." The Captain rubbed his brow and nodded.
"Helm, bring us about set course for Starbase 174, 1/3 third impulse, engage maximum warp when that thing has run its course. We don't want Romulans on us yet." The pilot nodded and tapped on her console.
"Course laid in." Captain Sutherland glanced back at Saavon. "Something is happening, the Warbird identified as the Javlek is pulling out, and engaging warp, the other Warbird, the Dhivael has also engaged its warp engines. However the other two Warbirds are both disabled. It's going to explode in 10 seconds." Captain Sutherland nodded.
"Okay Helm maximum warp, engage!" The helmsman's lifted finger touched down on a final command sequence and the Eclipse jolted into warp. Moments after the pulsating sphere flashed and exploded. As it flashed and pulsated it sent out massive amounts of radiation, energy and debris as it engulfed the two lifeless Warbirds.
"Captain I've got a level 5 shock wave approaching. Impact in 13 seconds!" Even in these conditions the Vulcan's voice continued to stay cold and impassive.
The captain nodded to his chief of security and sat down and tapped on the armrest. "Bridge to all decks, brace for impact. Sickbay, prepare for wounded. Engineering all power to shields." The commands were swift but effective, as the Captain finished his last commands an incredible force from the aft struck the ship.
"Shields are down to 47%! Inertial Dampening Fields are failing, Structural stress is 164% of tolerance, Warp engines are out so is impulse, hull breaches – " Mike Abney was cut short as a beam from the ceiling of the bridge collided on him as well as sparks flew every where on the bridge. It was chaos all over the ship.
The wave ripped through the Eclipse's shields as it made its past, flicking off some parts of the hull along with it. Minutes later, the wave dissipated, leaving The Eclipse disabled and adrift. Its running lights had been blown off the starboard nacelle was leaking plasma fumes the port was lifeless. Several areas on the ventral side on the saucer section were venting atmosphere. There were also several internal explosions as the primary power grid on deck 8 exploded in a cascade reaction. Now all lights aboard the vessel were off. The Eclipse was essentially a floating graveyard where people were buried alive.
Some where on deck 8, people trapped under bulkheads and overhead beams burned alive, no one heard their muffled cries for help. Somewhere in main engineering, an officer was disintegrated when the plasma coolant tank was ruptured; he or she never had a chance to scream. Somewhere on deck 23 an open circuit fatally electrocuted some one, when the panel from it fell loose during the impact. Somewhere on that ship, some one waited patiently for help not knowing if he or she would be rescued at all.
Commander S'Vok cursed under his breath as two ships from his taskforce were instantly destroyed right in front of him. He wanted to open fire on that pulsating sphere if it wasn't draining power from their weapon systems and shields. The crew aboard the Javlek and Dhivael were both very lucky, if he waited a second sooner even a fraction of a second it would have been a third or even complete destruction of this taskforce. If that happened then S'Vok would be held in shame in life a well as death. For he would not be a true Romulan and his family would hold the shame for him.
The Commander drooped his head and grimaced at the possibility. Then the belayed idea struck him. What if he captured the Federation vessel and dragged it back to Ch'Rihan? It would be a glorious ceremony as another Federation trophy will be brought back with them and the interrogations.
He grinned and looked up. "Erein Helev! Set course for last known location of USS Eclipse, warp 6 khre'Arrain Avark bring the cloak online. Execute." The two Romulan officers nodded and carried out their orders.
The Javlek banked to its port then its two massive warp nacelles flashed a green light then the green bulk propelled it self into warp then it shimmered and disappeared, without a trace.
Commander Wellington was unconscious. The good Doctor by his side gathered with a frown on his face. Welch stood up and looked around the dinning hall, it was a mess indeed. The chairs were all thrown to one side of the room, several overhead beams had fallen and some bulkheads collapsed. A plasma fire was burning in a corner beside the replicator. People were wounded everywhere only a few were in critical condition, Doctor Welch searched around for an emergency medkit and found one behind the bar counter. Wielding the kit the Doctor sat beside a young woman who wore 2 golden pips, a lieutenant, she was unconscious blood oozed out from the back of her head.
Hairline fracture, possible skull microfracture and brain damage. The Doctor thought and took out the medical tricorder and quickly scanned. The results were quick and the Doctor finished the diagnosis and quickly got to work. The medical kit was crude since it was an emergency one. It wasn't equipped with other chemicals but it had the basic ones. Doctor Welch fumbled through the kit and found a hypospray. "Ah, goody." He said and placing a vile of chemical into the bottom of the hypospray. He held the stick shaped hypospray to the lieutenant's neck and pressed, it made a slight hiss sound as the chemical was injected into the patient via sub-dermal transfer.
John Welch wiped his forehead then scanned his patient again, she was okay for now but she would require an orthnogenic regenerator to repair the skull fracture soon or else she would die. Quickly suppressing his fear he began working on the other patients.
"What does that mean?!" Captain Sutherland yelled across the bridge to an auxiliary engineering station. He was frustrated with all the systems going down and running on emergency power and lights. The yellow uniformed engineer at the console yelled back.
"I mean that when the wave clobbered us it knocked out several EPS grids on decks 8, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20 and 27, we have a scattered communications grid. And even with all the power I've got I still can't get them up, I think the communications regulator systems has been knocked off-line as well."
Captain Sutherland knocked then sighed. "Grab a few people with you and head to main engineering, make sure we get contact from main engineering, at least a com channel to main engineering." The engineer hastily nodded and got up. Two red uniformed officers nodded to the engineer and followed his lead into a Jeffery's' tube. The three men disappeared into the tube.
Mike Abney, at operations was working mad over reports from all over the ship. He took a moment and looked up. "Captain, we've got microfractures forming all over the ship, structural integrity is holding for now, main warp nacelle power lines has been ruptured, engineering did a forced emergency shut-off. Warp is out of the question. Our subspace communications array is left unpowered due to ruptured EPS conduits." The Captain nodded and turned to the Andorian standing next to him.
"Suggestions?" Rhofistan thought for a minute then shook his head. "Our priority should be communications, we have to get a message to Starbase 174, Admiral Dayton would dispatch a tug to get us and perhaps several fighters to escort us."
"I agree. Make it so Commander." Sutherland nodded and turned his attention back to Abney's console. The Andorian disappeared in a heartbeat into a Jeffery's' tube. "Ensign, scan the conduit frame work on deck 5 to deck 2, how much of a EPS grid is left?"
Mike Abney worked his console for a moment then turned. "44% of total capacity, I'm rerouting power to the subspace communications array sir."
The Captain smiled and nodded to the Ensign's eagerness. "Tie in the main deflector and send that distress signal." Ensign Abney grinned and busily keyed in a sequence of commands, the diagram appeared at his display and he tied in both components. A minute later he was finished. "Sending distress signal." The transmission was sent.
"I commend you on your effort Ensign, good work, keep up with out diagnostics and reports." The Captain said and walked towards the science console. "How are sensors holding up?"
Lieutenant Saavon rapidly tapped her station and reported. "Sensor resolution is down to 58%, we're operating on auxiliary power and emergency batteries and several sensor emitters on our hull has been ripped off clean." Sutherland nodded. "Keep at it lieutenant, I'll try to contact main engineering." The Vulcan didn't bother to look up but continued to work at her station.
Sutherland tapped on the flickering display and rerouted several damaged areas of the ship and found a suitable place for the energy to be channeled to. He tapped on his combadge. "Bridge to Main Engineering, respond." There was a pause then static. Sutherland frowned then rerouted the processing command program into a secondary computer core and tried again. "Bridge to Main engineering, respond." Again there was static then an unmistakable sound of an explosion.
Sutherland was shocked. "Come on Main engineering! Stiles! Jack! Anyone!" He shouted but all he got in return was more static.
Main Engineering was chaotic as it is all over the ship, the wounded all around them and sparks flew from almost all consoles, the plasma coolant tank was ruptured and teams in environmental suites had began sealing it off. Chief Engineer Jack Stiles was lying unconscious in a corner by the primary systems console beside him was another unconscious engineer. The medical team arrived some time ago and started treating the most injured but in the dimmed light it was a hard environment to work in.
On one of the Warp Core controller consoles the diagram displayed a miniature sized picture of the Warp Core its first segment was in green, the second was in orange red. To the side of the diagram, lines of data were outputted as the computer assessed the damage.
Several lines were beginning to blink one of them was "Core pressure 1670 KP, Core temperature at critical levels, Magnetic containment is below 17% Core breach imminent." As they were blinking the computer announced it on ship-wide communications.
"Oh great, some one check the primary magnetic interlock!" One of the engineers shouted. "Magnetic interlock has been breached!" Another yelled back. "I'm reinitializing the whole magnetic grid some one lock that interlock fast!" Another shouted. The medics were oblivious to the ship's predicament.
"Got it! Magnetic interlock locked and sealed. Activate the constrictors!"
"Done, magnetic constrictors online, magnetic containment is at 27%"
"Okay that's good keep it right there I'm bringing the reaction level down to 10%, then we'll shunt the energy directly into the secondary EPS grids that should get us some systems back. On my mark now."
"Ready!"
The engineer at the main warp core controllers tapped a few commands and ran to another console and tapped another set of commands. The other 3 engineers pulled out and took position around other consoles. The warp core groaned and its pulsating sound began to slow to a low frequency hum.
"It's working! Pressure is leveling off and temperature is in the light yellow!" An engineer said.
"Initiating mass energy allocation, stand by." Said the engineer at the power transmission grid. "Main power is online, 40%, I'm shunting all emergency power to the auxiliary EPS grids."
As the engineer at the energy distribution console worked the lights began to return to normal and the alarms began to fade.
"I've got communications back sir I'm hailing the Starbase." Said a busy Ensign Abney.
"Good, good, on screen." An exhausted Captain Sutherland stood by Operations. A moment later a familiar face appeared on the main view screen.
"Oh god, Captain Sutherland are you okay? Is the ship okay? What happened?" Sutherland's left eye sheepishly twitched at the questions. He held up his hand. "Please Admiral, send us a support tug and a few fighters, our encounter will be in my report, all of it."
"Good to hear Captain," Admiral Dayton looked left and nodded. "Captain, the Bessarion, Farragut and Sitak are dispatched towards your location. I hope you safely arrive at Starbase 174 captain there we can repair your ship." Sutherland nodded.
"I'll try coming home in one piece Admiral." Sutherland nodded with a smirk. The view screen flickered and the image of space was reverted back.
"Lieutenant Saavon, full sensor sweep what is out here with us?" The Vulcan raised an eyebrow and worked her boards. A moment later she lifted her head to report. "Three Federation vessels are on a intercept course with us, and a similar distortion is forming around the debris of two Romulan Warbirds."
"Distortion again? What sort of energy patterns?" The Vulcan tapped around her console. "Sensor resolution is limited, at this range it's registering the same disturbance a faulty Cloaking device. However I am not detecting something that looks like a ship. Perhaps a Klingon ship." The Captain sagged another breath and nodded.
"So noted lieutenant. Ensign Abney what's the ETA on those Federation ships?" The Ensign looked up. "5 minutes. Sir."
"Great, after this we all need shoreleave." A round of cheer came from every one except Saavon who still worked her console. The light on the bridge flickered again. "Stand down yellow alert." The yellow lights turned off and the bridge looked brighter. The captain walked back and took a seat in the center chair.
"Bridge to Engineering." A pause then a man responded. "Yes Captain?" Sutherland twitched his lip and continued. "Good work, continue on repairs."
"No need to ask twice sir." The engineer closed the communications before the captain could say anything.
So it is turning out to be a happy ending after all. The Captain mentally mused and let out a calm breath just as three Federation ships drop out of warp. One, USS Farragut also a Nebula vessel locked a tractor beam upon the Eclipse and began towing while the Bessarion, a sleek intrepid class and the Sitak a stocky Miranda class flanked the salvaging operation.
"Enarrain!" The Romulan first officer yelled from his post. "The Lloann'Na ship is being towed by another vessel of its kind flanked by another two other ships!" The once smirking with pride Romulan commander was now a depressed old man. He stood up and checked his first officer's scans, they were correct the prize has been snatched away.
"Alter course for Ch'Rihan warp 6." He said lifelessly. Now his sprit has truly been crushed, his burning fire now extinguished. He knew he had to return to Ch'Rihan to await his further instructions and trial when he had lost 2 Warbirds in the process of an investigation. He would be likely dismissed and striped of rank. He would no longer be a Romulan Commander but a disgrace to the Romulan Empire for a defeat today in the neutral zones. His disgrace would be laid on his family as well. He knew he was as good as dead.
Another Idea struck him and sat up again. "Helm, drop out of warp. Communications, Contact the Dhivael and tell them to meet with us right here, cloaked." The Romulan officer nodded and began typing in a command and sending out an encrypted message to another Warbird lurking closely.
Commander S'Vok was convinced that he could bring back the prize the one Nebula class ship that was out near the Neutral boarders but now there were 4 prizes near the boarder. With one Warbird it may no be enough, but with two. His ideas and plans became clearer he was now nearly convinced that his plans would succeed. He smirked once again and held his head high, he was a Romulan again. A full blood with two Warbirds under his control, he was determined to bring the 4 ships to the Empire.
"The Dhivael has responded, they will be here in 10 minutes." The operations officer reported. "Most excellent, Erein." He said, adding his grin after it. The plan was now in effect.