Captain Bolerov was on the bridge now. Though his thoughts were still a bit disoriented, he did his best to hide the fact. The flashing red lights of the red alert continued blink. Beside him, Colonel Prichard continued observing everything that was happening. Lieutenant Commander T'Nia had also been brought to the bridge to assume her tactical position. "Commander Richards," Bolerov began authoritatively, "how far behind us is the Manta Ray?"
After a few button presses, Richards replied, "About eleven minutes, Captain."
Bolerov nodded. This was all too simliar, he thought. He felt nervous; cold. He grasped the arms of his seat tightly to avoid anyone seeing them shake. He wasn't about to lose another crew. "Can you see the Dominion ship?" Bolerov squinted to make out details on the viewscreen.
Richards shook his head. "No, Sir. There's too much interference from the asteroids. If they're still in there, we're going to have to go in after them."
A lump formed in Andrei's throat. "Helm, ahead one half impulse power."
"Aye, aye, Sir." Ensign Bristol replied. Moving the slider, he urged the ship straight ahead. Secretly, he was hoping for a fight. He had just started the Academy when the Dominion attacked. He was still in his dorm room when the Breen attacked San Francisco. It had been all over the news. By the time his floor was ready to transport to the attack site, it was all over.
The vessel closed in on the edge of the asteroid field. For a moment, Bolerov was back on the bridge of the Valiant, the image of the great battle of Cardassia before him. The image of the back of the USS Hood filled most of the right side of the screen. He shook his head violently to remove the image. "Mr. Richards, can you find them or not?" He asked angrilly.
He continued looking at his sensor readouts. "Nothing yet, Sir. We have to get further in."
"Captain," Bristol interrupted, "this area is getting a little cozy for a ship this size. Is there any way to help clear the path?"
Annoyed, Bolerov let out a sigh. "Mr. T'Nia, target anything that comes within a thousand kilometers and put a phaser into it."
"Aye, Sir," she replied with a raised eyebrow. To her, it seemed like a reasonable request... certainly one that didn't deserve such a condescending response.
He turned back to the helmsman. "Will that help?" He asked sarcastically.
Sheepishly, Tyler replied, "Yes, Sir... thank you, Sir." He turned back around to his navigation console. The ship continued further in... red bursts of light firing from the red bands around the saucer section of the ship streaking towards anything nearby.
After three more minutes, Richards yelled, "I have a contact... bearing zero one nine mark zero two one!"
"What is it?" Bolerov yelled in reply.
"It's the Sting Ray, Sir!" He yelled back. "It just flew behind a large chunk of debris."
"Can you put it on screen?" Bolerov asked nervously. Part of him wanted to see what was ahead, part of him didn't.
"Aye, aye, Sir," Davies replied. With a few button presses, the image on the front viewscreen changed to center around a large chunk of rock. Upon closer observation, one could make out the remains of several tall buildings. Apparently, this was part of the upper crust of Orias III. As the crew focused in on the buildings, the gray image of the Sting Ray came up from the bottom of the asteroid. It flew up behind the rock, then came to a complete stop.
There was a collective sigh of relief from the crew, especially Colonel Prichard. "Lieutenant Bristol, set an intercept course and engage at best possible speed."
"Aye, aye, Sir." Tyler replied.
Bolerov continued barking orders. "Lieutenant Davies, can you make contact with the Sting Ray?"
She shook her head, having already tried for the past several minutes. "No, Sir. The jamming field is still up." For some reason, she just wasn't nervous about going into a battle situation. She could recall the very first engagement the Warlord was in. She had been so terrified that she had fallen to the floor, but was too frightened to even get up. Her friend, Tony, had helped give her the strength to go on, even after the power had gone out. Now, she knew... this vessel and its crew would keep her safe. "We'll keep everyone safe," she said to herself.
"Contact with the bandit!" Richards announced. "It's on the other side of that rock."
Everyone took a deep breath.