"Commander!" Ensign Bristol yelled. "That ship was still cloaked when it fired!"
Stephen tried to remain calm. "I noticed that, too... an interesting, new trick. Davies, report." He said as he stood up.
"I'm getting it now, Commander." Elaine replied while tapping some controls on her console. "One of the torpedos missed entirely. Another bounced off the hull. The other two impacted the exterior hull, but no interior penetration."
"Commander," T'Nia interrupted, "those torpedos were only at half strength. It would seem they wanted us alive."
"I'm sure that's changed." Kirk replied with a smirk. "T'Nia, how are the cannons coming?"
"They have charged to twenty percent, Sir." she replied.
"Those things take forever." Kirk retorted. "How about our shields?"
"Primary shields at full strength, secondary shields offline, Commander." She almost sounded robotic in her response.
"Alright," Stephen concluded, taking in all his options. "Keep the tacheon burst going. Start firing on them with our secondary weapons while the cannons are charging. Let's see if their shields work while cloaked." Kirk turned quickly to his helmsman. "Bristol, stay on their tail for now."
As the Warlord slowly obeyed Tyler's commands, T'Nia saw an opportunity to shoot. After linking the torpedo targetting system to the tacheon burst output, she fired three torpedos. All three torpedos fired behind their target. "Commander," she said calmly, "I cannot use the automatic weapons systems with our computer in its current condition. I shall target and fire manually."
"Good idea...blast this stupid computer!" Kirk exclaimed. He had moved forward to the shared front console where Bristol and T'Nia were stationed.
Tyler tried following the vessel around as it made its turns and dives, but the computer latency proved more of a factor than anyone wanted to admit. The Rapier was slowly making its way behind Warlord. "Commander, I just can't keep up with her. She's moving around...incoming!"
Kirk looked up from the navigation console to see eight torpedos heading for the ship. "Brace for impact!" He said quickly. The crew grabbed their respective consoles. Kirk even dropped to a crouch. On other vessels, even with shields up, there would be a corresponding jolt as the torpedos impacted. There would even be minor amounts of collateral damage. The Warlord never moved. Kirk stood up and stared at T'Nia. "What happened?" He asked, somewhat astonished.
T'Nia, almost looking surprised herself, looked at the shield display. "Our dispersion shields absorbed the full impact of the torpedos. They are down to eighty-six percent. Our cannons are powered to eighty percent now." She added with a nod.
"T'Nia...line up cannon one and fire. She's almost out of range, so make it count." Kirk was leaning on the console now, his face deeply intent.
She moved a few controls on her console. "Firing." She said simply. The entire ship shuddered with the firing of the neutron cannon. A parade of large, green globes flew from the bottom left of the viewscreen into what looked like empty space. Although several of the globes continued into deep space, many struck their prey. The Rapier's cloak dropped. The giant vessel was still larger than Warlord, but not by much. It was black, and in the rough shape of a 'W' on its side. It was sleek, almost graceful in a way. And...now it was missing part of its rear right side.
"Tony," Kirk turned around and spoke quickly, "Start scanning that thing. I want to know everything about it."
"Aye, aye." Leiutenant Moreaux replied. He spun around in his chair began pressing buttons like mad. The computer struggled to keep up with his commands.
"They're firing again." T'Nia said flatly. Kirk turned around just in time to see a full volley of beams of light and shimmering torpedos, like small suns, come at the bottom of the viewscreen. Stephen winced slightly waiting for this impact. Again, the ship never budged. "Shields holding at fifty-two percent, Commander."
Kirk opened his eyes. "Now that's what I call a set of shields." He looked to T'Nia. "Can you reset cannon one?"
She looked at her console. The numerous red, blinking lights said everything. "No, Sir. It is offline. It has also moved out of range of the forward weapons."
Kirk nodded. "Let him have it with the aft weapons until we get more information." She nodded compliance and began firing.
"Commander, I have some information," Tony started.
Kirk turned around. "Let's have it." He said. Stephen didn't want anyone to know, but he was starting to get nervous. There was a lot of firepower coming from that enemy ship and he was starting to lose options.
"It's roughly thirty percent larger than Warlord. It's power comes from a typical Romulan singularity drive, although it's larger. It utilizes a dual shield grid similar to ours, but they are basically standard Romulan shields. I count eighteen disruptor banks; ten fire forward, eight are in three-sixty firing arrays. I count twenty-four torpedo tubes; twelve firing forward, four fire port and aft, four fire directly aft, and four fire starboard aft. Their primary shields are down to sixty-one percent. I can get crew information shortly."
"Don't worry about it, Tony. Are the aft torpedos above or below?" Kirk asked quickly.
"They're mounted below, Commander."
Kirk turned to Bristol. "Tyler, try to stay above her and behind. We can withstand the disruptors longer than the torpedos."
"Aye, aye." Ensign Bristol replied. "But, Commander, they're almost directly behind us."
"We need to do something to even the score a bit." Kirk thought momentarily.
Bristol yelled, "They're firing again! Full spread!"
Kirk looked at T'Nia's tactical display on her console. Sure enough, a number of small torpedos and yellow lines of light were coming at the rear of the Warlord. They all struck. "Shields down to twenty-one percent, Commander." She said calmly.
"T'Nia," Stephen said finally, "Charge cannon two to full. Fire on my mark." He tried to sound calm, but this Reman ship seemed like too much for their crippled ship to take.
"Aye, aye." She answered. She moved the charge to full. Slowly, the guage went up. T'Nia was genuinely curious about this tactic.
"Tyler, when I give the word, I want you to put the port impulse engine to one half reverse and the starboard engine to one half forward."
"Commander, that'll tear the engines apart, won't it?" Tyler asked. The thoughts of heroism had fled him. He was just hoping to survive to see tomorrow. Fear was actually starting to enter his young mind.
"It's a double hull, Ensign," Kirk replied with a wink. "We'll be fine." In his thoughts, he added "I hope".
"T'Nia, when our ship alters course, the Rapier should fly directly in front of us. You should have a clean shot with cannon two. Make it count."
"Understood, Sir." She replied. She braced for what would be a rather tumultous turn.
Kirk watched through the tactical display as the Rapier finished its turn behind the Warlord. "Now!" He yelled.
The great ship lurched violently from the drastic displacement of engine power. Tony was knocked to the ground. Kirk fell behind T'Nia. Alarms sounded from the sudden movement. T'Nia, having held on, remained in her position. Once she saw the Rapier exactly where Stephen said it would be, she fired the starboard cannon. The long trail of green lights all struck the front and side of the warship as it went past. Moments later, the Warlord shuddered violently again. More alarms went off.
Kirk got to all fours. "Bristol, get back behind it and climb on top! Davies, damage report...what happened?"
Tony climbed back into his chair. Elaine started pressing buttons again. Before she could answer, T'Nia answered him. "The starboard cannon system exploded, Commander."
Elaine added, "Commander, there is a large hole through both hulls on the starboard side. The starboard nacell appears to have been damaged, too. The damage control shields eventually sealed the hole... but we lost four people before it sealed."
Kirk's heart sunk.
"T'Nia, keep firing on the warship before it gets behind us again." He said quietly.
"Aye, aye." She responded. Her limited telepathy could easily sense his sorrow and depression. She needed to do something to refocus his thoughts. "Surely the Reman vessel suffered from that last volley." She added.
Tony looked at his panel. "Oh, yes they did!" He said excitedly. "Their primary shields are down, the secondary shields are down to forty-two percent. Their primary shield generator is down, intertial dampeners are offline, at least three decks are exposed to space...hey! All four of their starboard torpedo launchers are down, too!"
"Commander," Bristol started, "they're turning to port in order to get around us this time."
"Figures...there goes THAT advantage." Kirk said. He stood up the rest of the way and tried to consider his options. His eyes brightened. "Bristol, get out of that seat. I have an idea." Tyler did as expected. He should have been disappointed that in such a critical time, the commander wanted him out. BUT...considering they're losing, he'd rather someone with more experience take the controls anyway. Kirk sat in the navigation seat quickly and started pressing buttons. "T'Nia, I'm going to loop us down. I'm guessing the Rapier will swing down and try to beat us to the bottom of the loop. I'm going to pull up short. That'll put them in our forward firing arc. Unload on them."
"Commander," she replied, "that will put us in their forward firing arc as well."
"Yes," he said simply, "it will. Get ready. Here we go." He commanded the vessel to move down. After several moments, it responded. "Boy," he remarked, "this really IS slow. Tyler, have a seat in the captain's chair. This may get bumpy."
Tyler gulped and sat down. The Warlord slowly started its descent. As he predicted, the tactical screen showed the Rapier starting a downward arc as well, but its arc was tighter. If, in fact, both ships continued their present course, the Rapier would reach the bottom of its arc much faster and be in a perfect firing position.
"Get ready." Kirk told T'Nia. As the Warlord started to swing back, Stephen threw the impulse engines into reverse. The crew was jolted in their seats. Many were thrown onto the floor or into their consoles. The adjustment left the Rapier slightly below them. "Fire!" Kirk yelled.
Red pulsating beams and brilliant purple globes of light flew from Warlord's many secondary weapons ports just as the Rapier fired its volley of ordinance in return. The Warlord's bridge crew looked with eyes wide as the weapons close on their vessel. What was left of the shields quickly collapsed. Sparks flew and the ship rocked from the various impacts against the ship. Stephen and Tyler were thrown across the bridge. Elaine and Tony were knocked down. The console T'Nia was at exploded in a shower of sparks. At the last moment, she covered her face with her arm as she tipped over. The bridge became dark, save the flames from T'Nia's console.