High Admiral N'Gar T'Liu entered the command dome, immediately heading for the large table located in the centre of the expansive room surrounded by high-ranking officials. All stood laughing and drinking, their voices echoing throughout the chamber. T'Liu swallowed hard, wiping the moisture around her eyes that collected there when the lizard-like Zardanians grew stressed. T'Liu brought news that she would rather a subordinate deliver, but T'Gar Ana'Wor ordered T'Liu to bring him the report. This was, after all, her assignment. T'Liu stepped up to Ana'Wor and saluted her superior.
"Supreme Fleet Commander Ana'Wor, I bring news from the diplomatic envoy."
"Ah, High Admiral T'Liu, I have been expecting you. We all have been. Our 'diplomacy' with the Federation has been the talk of the hour. Please, inform us how your assignment carried out."
"I remind the Fleet Commander that I was against this turn of events with the Federation and stressed my reluctance with this assignment."
"Your personal feelings are well known, High Admiral. However, you had your orders. I trust your counterpart on board the Empress of Zardan, High Admiral Gulum M'rkess was able to complete his mission? When can we expect the Starfleet vessels delivered to the Markala VII Shipyards?"
T'Liu swallowed and said, "High Admiral Gulum M'rkess is dead, sir."
Ana'Wor blinked slowly. He placed his drink down and said simply, "What?"
"High Admiral Gulum M'rkess, Ambassador G'quell Mo'quet..."
"How can this be?" Ana'Wor shouted.
"Something happened at the rendezvous point. At this time we are unsure exactly what that is, but it appears that two of the Starfleet vessels suffered a Warp Core detonation. Our fleet was destroyed in the resulting massive explosion."
"All of them?"
"Yes sir."
Ana'Wor lashed his arm out, sending his drink and plates of food crashing to the floor. The brown scales on his face flushed deep crimson, his eyes narrowing dangerously to little more than slits.
"The flagship of our fleet destroyed? This should have been a simple mission, Admiral!"
"Preliminary evidence indicates that one of the Federation vessels anticipated our move with the transported Baryon charges and was able to disrupt the beams. The ship was then damaged during a brief firefight, but how badly we cannot say. Somehow it managed to destroy the remaining Starfleet vessels and escape. At first our scout ships thought is was destroyed as well but they have detected a faint warp trail leading away from the system, back to Federation space."
"Then order our fleet to overtake that ship and annihilate it!"
"They...lost the trail, sir. The Federation ship somehow masked their warp trail. We cannot find them."
Ana'Wor stared at T'Liu for a long moment, breathing deeply. A sliver of yellow spittle ran out of his mouth and dripped down his uniform. "What do you suggest now, High Admiral?" he hissed.
"Sir, the Federation vessel was last seen headed for their border. They were moving at a slow rate of speed so we suspect their warp nacelles were damaged in the firefight or the explosion. I have mobilized the border fleets and our Listening Posts are now active."
"Their weapons are ready?"
"Yes sir. Assault phasers and plasma torpedoes are fully installed and ready. The Federation vessel will not be able to get by them. Additionally, we've deployed communication dampeners as well. They will be unable to transmit a signal to their superiors. The only way they can get back to friendly space is through Dominion held space and that would be suicide."
"What does our intelligence know about that ship?"
"The last report from the Empress indicated that it was the USS Spector that had some sort of field in place that disrupted the targeting beams. A Captain Patterson commands it. Our profile shows Patterson is a somewhat timid officer even by human standards and avoids conflict despite his promotion to an Akira class vessel. He normally is on escort duty. He is a typical Starfleet officer – a diplomat at heart. The actions so far are outside his normal operations but we suspect it was desperation on his part. We predict he will head straight for friendly space, not being a particularly well-versed combat officer. We've had conflicting reports that the senior staff of the Spector were killed in the attack but that has not been verified."
"Find that ship, High Admiral. For your lack of preparation in this matter I demote you to Admiral effective immediately. Corresponding reports will be followed through as soon as I return to Fleet Command. This should have been prepared for, T'Liu. You made us look foolish in the eyes of our enemies."
"The Federation were not our enemies until you attack them, sir."
Ana'Wor held a clawed hand up, "Watch your tongues, T'Liu. You tread dangerous ground."
"I apologize, sir."
"Admiral T'Liu, you are to take command of the border patrols in that sector and find that Federation vessel and annihilate it. Use whatever resources you deem necessary but find that ship. One damaged ship should not be that hard to locate."
"I shall leave at once, sir."
USS Spector – Sick Bay
Commander Dent sat upright on the sick bay bed, his head held steady as the doctor ran a dermal regenerator over his injury. The throbbing in his head was finally starting to dissipate, something he viewed with a great deal of quiet gratitude.
"That should just about do it, Commander," Doctor Samantha Reeves said, putting down the device and examining her handiwork.
"Thank you, Doctor," he said, putting on a new uniform jacket, "how are the injuries?"
"Nothing too major. Most of the wounded were on the upper decks as you can imagine."
Dent nodded, "How is the crew holding up?"
"They were all quite close to the Captain, sir. The loss of so many of the senior staff hit them quite hard."
"I can imagine. The Zardanians were never trustworthy but this..." he shook his head, "we'll schedule a memorial service as soon as we make a friendly port. For now we best get clear of their territory as soon as possible. At least, if we can."
"Understandable, sir."
"Keep me apprised Doctor," Dent asked, just as the doors behind him opened. Venax, Chief Engineer Lambs and Acting Science Officer Haro entered Sick Bay. Dent looked them over and asked for their reports.
"The port nacelle took some damage," Lambs said, "the best speed we can manage is Warp 5. We'll have to stop the ship for us to make repairs on it if you want better."
"Not just yet."
"Zardanian sensors are inferior to our own, so I was able to mask our Warp signature. They shouldn't be able to follow us."
"But at Warp 5," Haro added, "it will take some time for us to reach the border."
"The Zardanians are already mobilizing their fleet, Commander," Venax said, "As Mr. Lambs said, their technology is inferior to our own. One-on-one their ships are no match for us, but we may face the entire Zardanian Border Patrol by the time we reach the perimeter."
"Not to mention those so-called 'Listening Posts' on the border," Dent said, "I'm betting this attack was well planned out and they'll be armed to the teeth."
Additionally," Haro said, "our long range scans indicate some kind of communications dampening field has been activated by those devices. We can't get a message out without giving away our location. Even then, it would be unlikely it would penetrate the fields."
"Then we need to find another way to get a message to Starfleet, Mr. Haro."
"Yes, sir. Jeffery Lambs and I were discussing it and I believe we have a solution. There is the JX105 Pulsar about a days travel from here. If we project a narrow band beam into the pulsar I believe we can 'bounce' a transmission into Federation space. With the correct calculations, we should be able to send a resonance beam to the Argus Array through subspace, and carry a message to Starfleet. The only way the Zardanians would detect it is if they actually crossed through the beam."
"Make it so, Mr. Haro."
"Sir, the only problem is that the Pulsar is deeper into Zardanian space."
Dent stood up and straightened his shoulders, smiling at the Bolian, "Well then, that should lessen the chances of the Border patrols finding us, eh? Get to work, Mr. Haro, and make us proud."