Chapter 90
Guarding the Gateway to Heaven
Space around Deep Space Nine space station
April 17, 2378
The Tholians, Breen, Jem'Hadar, and Ragendora attacked in full force and it seemed to General Kira that they were very close to overrunning the station. They were ignoring Bajor this time around, instead making attack run after attack run on the station. Their shields were holding, thanks to the Legendora and their technology, but even their advanced shields were not invincible.
"Shields down to 84, General and falling. Wildstar is trying to pull some of the ships away, but the enemy isn't buying into it. The fighters we got from the Hercules are trying to join up with the Whitestars, but they're not having luck breaking through.," said Commander Fuyizuki, her executive officer.
"Tell them to keep trying. Maybe if we can hold on until reinforcements arrive, we can still win this fight. How's our supply of torpedoes holding out?"
"We've still got enough to last for another day, but not much longer. Besides, our shields will go before we run out of torpedoes at this rate," Fuyizuki said as the station was rocked by successive blasts.
On board the Wildstar, Captain Ashcroft was leading an assault on the next wave of ships. Try as his crew might, they couldn't take out as many ships as they wanted, as most of them moved to avoid the massive starship instead of firing on the ship.
His executive officer, Commander Litinova, turned to him with a suggestion, "Sir, I have an idea. Why don't we concentrate on the Breen and Tholian ships and let the station handle the Jem'Hadar and Ragendora? If we go after their weak link, perhaps they'll have to turn around and pay attention to us."
Ashcroft thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. "It's worth a shot. Trying to go head-to-head with the Ragendoran and Jem'Hadar isn't working. The Breen and Tholians are mainly acting as flank support, so if we take that away from them..." He turned to his tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Montgomery, and said, "Peel away from the main force and go after the flanking ships. Tell the Whitestars to stay on the Jem'Hadar attack cruisers though. Maybe if we knock more of them out, they'll have to pay attention to us!"
"Aye, sir," said Montgomery. She directed their forces to head off to attack the Breen and the Tholians, and the tactic seemed to be working, as the Breen vessels began to break formation and engage Ashcroft's ships. The Tholians resisted at first, but the swift attacks from the Whitestars began to turn them towards his forces.
Then came a very bad piece of bad news: Jem'Hadar heavy cruisers were within range of the station, and they began to bombard the station's shields with their heavy weapons. The Klingon and Romulan ships tried to get at them, but the quicker Jem'Hadar attack cruisers did whatever they had to do to keep them off, even sacrificing themselves by ramming their ships into the Klingon and Romulan forces.
Montgomery shouted down a report to Ashcroft as the ship came under fire from the Breen and the Tholians. "Sir, the Jem'Hadar are starting to severely weaken the station's shields! They're down to 55 percent and dropping fast! Orders?"
"We have to do something about those attack cruisers! Pick a group of them, Montgomery, and let's see how many we can take out. Send our Defiant-class ships after them as well!"
"Yes, sir!"
Back on the station, General Kira was ordering her security forces to prepare for an invasion when one of the pylons suddenly blew up, and the pylon was perilously close to buckling. Kira sent emergency repair teams to deal with it and started focusing on what she could do to boost power to the shields.
"Sir, from what I observe of the enemy, I don't think they are trying to breach the station.," said Fuyuzuki.
"What makes you say that, Commander," asked Kira.
"Look! They've moved their attack cruisers away from us to deal with Ashcroft and his forces, but their battle cruisers are still firing at us from long range. If we concentrate our fire on them, maybe we can take some of them out and give Ashcroft some help."
Kira nodded and said, "Do it. Launch quantum torpedoes at them and back it up with heavy phaser fire."
"Aye sir," said Fuyuzuki and she went to go about doing that.
Despite the effectiveness of the maneuver, they were still taking heavy fire from the remaining cruisers. Shields fell down to under 40 percent and Kira began to run though when she would have to activate the self-destruct sequence. She had worked with Fuyuzuki to come up with a way to blow up the station and take out as many ships just in case of a scenario like this, and, much to her chagrin, it seemed like she would have to use it.
Ashcroft was unaware of what Kira was contemplating, as he had to deal with own ship's problems. "Captain! Our lower bow torpedo launchers are out, and our phasers nearby them are only operating at half-efficiency! Our shields are holding, but they are down to 75 percent."
Just as she was about to scan for the status of enemy forces, her
console alerted her to something happening in orbit over Bajor. "Sir!
Picking up a disturbance near Bajor! It's roughly around the same area
where Babylon 4 appeared!"
"Thank goodness! Put it on the monitor," said Ashcroft. A bright light was forming above Bajor, and it solidified into Babylon 4, as well as a plethora of ships. He expected to see Legendoran and Minbari ships, but he was shocked to see other ships with them.
"Montgomery, tell me if I am crazy, but are those Shadow and Vorlon ships around Babylon 4?"
"You're not crazy, sir! That's what they are, and they are heading towards us," said Montgomery.
"Do you think that Babylon 4 has been taken over by those races," Litinova asked Ashcroft.
"If that's the case, Commander, then we're sunk. Let's see what they do.," said Ashcroft, who quickly grabbed Litinova's hand and squeezed it. Montgomery saw the gesture and she whispered a quiet prayer that the alien ships would avoid them.
"Vorlon and Shadow vessels approaching. They'll be on us in 5...4..3..2..1...," said Montgomery.