"I don't believe that will be necessary," T'Nia countered as she squinted at her tactical display. As the brilliance fo the explosion faded, everyone returned their gaze to the front viewscreen, which was showing the now visible Cardassian warship behind them.
"Oh, my god," Richards exclaimed as he looked at his sensor panel. Stephen looked questioningly at Kenyon, but his eyes never left the readouts. Slowly, he turned his gaze at the viewscreen. As the sparks and fires died down, they could see that the entire front half of the cruiser was missing. The crew gasped.
After several seconds of staring incredulously at the screen, Stephen shook his head. "There's no way one torpedo did that. We must have hit something... ignited some fuel... set off their weapons array... something." He turned expectantly to Richards, who was already scanning the debris.
After an eternity of moments, Kenyon shook his head and turned around. "I'm not seeing any residual signs of secondary explosions. It looks like that was all us, Sir." He said grimly.
"Wow," Kirk said quietly as he sat back down. His desire was to disable the ship, not destroy it.
"Actually, Sir," T'Nia began cautiously, "it is." She turned around to face him. "A standard quantum torpedo has a little over twice the yield of a typical photon torpedo. We, however, employ high-yield quantum torpedoes, which are twice the size of a standard quantum torpedo, but five times the yield. In essense, we struck an unshielded Cardassian ship with the equivalent of twelve photon torpedoes in one location, which would, quite reasonably, cause that kind of damage."
Kirk sat there stunned. They had been so used to engaging larger vessels, he wasn't expecting that kind of devastation. "Are there any lifesigns?"
Kenyon quickly spun back around and began scanning. Several more moments passed with Commander Richards slowly turning back around and shaking his head. "The emergency bulkheads never even had a chance to close."
Lieutenant Moreau whistled. "Kind of like taking a cannon to a mosquito," Kirk and Bristol chuckled.
Elaine shot him a dirty glance. How could he be so callous? There were at least five hundred lives on that ship. They all died within seconds, having done nothing... and Tony was making a JOKE of it? She felt horrible inside... and guilty.
Stephen, on the other hand, was thinking of something else as he stared as the remains of the Cardassian ship. "What if they didn't see us coming?" He asked aloud.
T'Nia raised an eyebrow as she stared at the screen. That idea had merit. Kirk turned to Richards. "I don't suppose their cloaking device survived..."
"Let me check," Richards interjected with entheusiasm. He spun back around and began pressing buttons. Stephen walked over to Kenyon's station.
Richards' finger snap and disappointed look was enough for Stephen. He turned around as Stephen approached. "It must have been near the middle of the ship." He pointed to a display above the console that showed a wireframe depiction of what was left of the Cardassian ship. A faint and diffused blue halo appeared in front of the wreckage. Commander Richards pointed to the halo. "That's what's left of the damping field. The device must have been blown to pieces." Kirk pursed his lips. "Sorry," Kenyon offered.
Tony snapped his fingers. "Well, what if they didn't see US coming?" The bridge crew turned to him curiously as he pointed his thumb at the Cardassian ship.
Kirk smiled and nodded. "You mean use our sensor mask to look like that ship." Tony lit up and smiled.
T'Nia nodded. "They certainly wouldn't know it was us approaching."
"Especially if you banged us up a little," Kirk added.
Tony nodded while scratching his head. "I could do that." Moreau was quite proud of himself for coming up with the idea, especially since Steve was running with it.
Kenyon still looked skeptical. "Okay, that gets us to Cardassia... but then what?"
Stephen began pacing along the back of the bridge. "I'm working on it." Kirk scratched his chin as he walked. There was an idea coming... he just needed to flesh it out. All he was truly interested in was getting the diplomats out. As long as he could accomplish that, he had no qualms about blowing everything else apart. He spun around back to Kenyon. "Your scans didn't reveal any humans near the council chambers, right?"
Richards nodded. "Nothing within line-of-sight."
"They have to be in that government building across the street." Stephen concluded, still pacing.
"I was able to scan two floors underground. There weren't any humans there, but I know it went further down. With the shields up, I couldn't scan any more."
"Okay," he started, "let's assume they're in there. We need to get those shields down... and quickly. T'Nia, exactly what would it take from us to knock those shields down?"
"One moment, Sir," She turned around and quickly brought up the tactical display of the sensor readings for the government building.
Kirk turned back to Richards. "I'm thinking if we hit the building hard and fast enough, we can transport the delegates up in the confusion."
"That would leave our shields down while we were shooting at a government building. I doubt anyone in orbit would just let us do that." Kenyon countered.
"We'd only be hanging out butts out there for a few seconds," Kirk offered.
"Against polaron cannons... that'll hurt."
T'Nia turned back towards the conversation. "Commander, it will require either one torpedo and three pulse phasers or two torpedoes. Two torpedoes would be faster, but would also cause minor structural damage to the upper level of the building."
Kirk nodded. "That could add to the confusion... anything to buy our people time for us to get them out. We'll go with the two torpedoes." Although he was pleased that a plan was finally forming, something was nagging at him. It was his conscience. As much as he didn't want to care about what happened to the Cardassians, he felt compelled to. Whatever grip the Dominion had, it obviously wasn't complete considering the number of Cardassians who were imprisoned with the peace delegation.
"This is a case where you have to look at the bigger picture," he remembered Captain Bolerov telling him once, when dealing with the Romulans. Perhaps this was another one of those cases. They were obviously not sent to commit genocide against the entire Cardassian race, but future relations with the remainder of the Union would depend on how this crisis was handled.
Tony interrupted his train of thought. "I've got your image, Commander." Calling Steve by title was still a little awkward. Calling him 'Sir' was even worse. "And I can beat us up pretty good, too. If you'd like, I can even knock out our communciations relay so we don't have to talk to anyone."
"That's a good idea," Stephen admitted. "Do it." Tony spun around in his chair and began making the alterations to the masking program.
With one final button press, he turned back around. "Alright, everyone... we are now officially the Cardassian cruiser Aldara.
"Good work, Tone." Kirk slipped. He should have called Tony by a more official name. It was the respectful, officially sanctioned thing to do. Stephen turned back to Commander Richards. "Commander, does that ship have any power left to its systems?"
Kenyon took a quick look at his panel and shrugged. "The batteries kicked in, but they're draining awfully fast."
Kirk nodded. "Can you tell if the computer system is up at all?"
Kenyon took another glance. "Well, SOMETHING is up, but it's probably a mess. I mean, there are major system shutdowns all over what's left of it."
"Well, it's something," Stephen said to himself. "Tony, I've got another job for you. See if you can crack into what's left of their computer. I need some kind of plans or blueprints for the lower levels of that government building."
Tony's eyes bugged. "Nothing like a challenge," he commented. Spinnign back around to his console, he began the arduous task of connecting with a foreign computer and rummaging through its memory looking for the specifications for one building before the battery power died. Tony sincerely hoped Steve didn't expect anything out of this.
"What are you hoping to learn, Commander?" Kenyon asked cautiously.
"I need to know what it will take to get everyone out of there," Stephen replied, returning to the captain's seat.
"You mean the Federation delegates?"
Kirk sat forward in the seat and stared intently at the remains of the ship on the viewscreen. "No... I mean all of them. We're going to get them all out of there. Ensign Bristol, set a course for Cardassia Prime, warp five."
Richards gave Kirk a concerned look. "That's not exactly part of the mission parameter, Sir," he said slowly.
Kirk nodded. "We'll take care of our primary mission, Commander... but sometimes, you have to look at the big picture."
"Course laid in, Sir." Bristol announced.
"Engage."