Alpha Shift USS Sargon Stardate 3199.26

"Bring us into orbit around Starbase 4 Mr. Malachi," the captain said over the intercom.

"Yes sir," Malachi said. "Mr. Leitter, please plot an orbital pattern."

"Plotted Mr. Malachi."

"Engage."

Malachi could feel the power of the ship as the engines maneuvered the Sargon into orbit around the Starbase. Tom Leitter was a natural at navigator. He was able to plot courses in his head — he used the computers only to verify what he already knew.

"We are in orbit, Mr. Malachi," Leitter said.

"Thank you, ensign," Malachi said. He hit the intercom button. "Captain, we are in orbit."

"Very good, Mr. Malachi," Captain Rice said. "Any questions on your orders?"

"Sir, we are the only ship in orbit. I thought this was a sector command meeting?" Malachi said.

"We report where Starfleet tells us," the captain said. "Ours is not to wonder why. Are there any questions about your orders?"

"No, sir, take the Sargon out and test the engine modifications. It should be an interesting exercise."

"This will be a test of your ability to command the ship on your own," the captain said. "You'll remember this for the rest of your life. But don't enjoy it too much. I want a full report when we return. I'm sure Captain Mackenzie will be very interested in what you, Mr. Blattner and Mr. Ramos have to say."

"Malachi, you better take care of my engines!" Captain of Engineering Christopher Mackenzie shouted in the background.

"I'll treat them like they're my own," Malachi said.

"You better," Mackenzie said. "If you don't, I'm telling your wife."

"Don't worry; I'll be sure the engines are in good shape for her return."

"Remember to push the engines, to jump from impulse to warp and from warp to impulse quickly," Mackenzie said. "If these modifications work, it will make the Sargon the most maneuverable ship in the fleet. Just don't break the ship apart while you do it."

"I won't," Malachi said. "Don't worry sir, Mr. Ramos and I will take good care of your engines."

"God help you if you don't" Mackenzie said, "because He will be the only one who can."

"He trusts you, Mr. Malachi," Rice said. "I know because we didn't have to pry his hands off the engines to get him to go. Rice out."

The connection went dead. Malachi opened a connection to the transporter room.

"Transporter. Cifranic here." Stacy Cifranic, in spite of her lack of rank — she was a crewman first class, but was enrolled to start in Starfleet Academy — was the best transporter tech on the ship, even her superiors acknowledged her ability was beyond theirs. She was scheduled to start at the academy in three months.

"Mr. Cifranic, let the bridge know when the captain's party has transported," Malachi said.

"Aye, Mr. Malachi."

"Bridge out."

"Mr. Lloyd, contact the Starbase please," Malachi said.

"Aye, sir," Lloyd said. "On screen."

The bridge viewscreen lit up to reveal Lisa's face.

"Starbase 4, USS Sargon here," Malachi said. "Please inform your transporter control that our party is preparing to beam over."

"Aye, USS Sargon," Lisa said. "And welcome."

"Bridge."

"Bridge. Malachi here."

"Mr. Malachi, the captain's party is ready to transport," Cifranic said.

"Aye. You copy Starbase?"

"Aye. We are opening a communications link between our transporter rooms," Lisa said.

After a few minutes, Cifranic's voice came through the intercom. "Bridge. Transportation was successful."

"Thank you, Mr. Cifranic. You copy Starbase?"

"Aye, Sargon, we have your captain and his party, safe and sound," Lisa said.

"Thank you, Sargon out."

"Hey!" Lisa said. "When are coming over?"

"I have some engine testing to complete and then write the report and then debriefing," Malachi said. "It could be a while." Though he rather be debriefed by his wife, he thought.

"I know, but I was hoping to get an idea so I can be sure I'm off duty," Lisa said.

"I understand, but I can't give you an estimate yet. Maybe after the testing."

"Johnny!" the familiar voice of Jeff Gallatin came was heard. "When are you coming over? The Mrs. misses you something fierce."

"I'll be over as soon as I can, Jeffy." Malachi was pleased that Gallatin was assigned to Starbase 4, so Lisa would have someone she knew who could keep an eye on her and be there since he couldn't be there for her. Gallatin was a good soul who would give you the last shirt off his back if you needed it. Malachi had met Gallatin on his first day at the academy; they rushed together, drilled together and drove each other in their studies. He was Malachi's best friend at the academy.

"Hopefully, you two can get some time to meet Gloria and me for dinner," Gallatin said, who was now visible, standing next to Lisa. "Scuttlebutt is that you are moving on to bigger and better things. Congratulations."

"Where did you hear that?" Malachi said.

"Commander Cable," Lisa said. "He let it slip when he called over to get the meeting agendas."

"We'll see," Malachi said. "I don't know how much time I'll have."

"I understand," Gallatin said. "I was hoping to show you what I've taught the Big Furry, or at least talk about our football days."

"Football days?" Malachi said. "We played on the Tau Kappa Epsilon intramural football team. That's hardly football days. And what have you taught that fat cat now? How to go on a diet?"

"Yeah," Lisa said. "Johnny's position was left out."

"You're wrong Lisa," Gallatin said. "He was definitely a drawback."

With that comment, most of the bridge crew was chuckling.

"I would love to sit here and be the butt of your humor, but I actually have some work to do," Malachi said. "I'll call when I now when I'm coming over."

"OK," Lisa said. "Love you."

"Love you, too. Sargon out."

The viewscreen went dark.

Malachi opened the comm link to engineering.

"Mr. Ramos, are we ready to proceed?"

"No, but by the time we at our starting position, we'll be prepared."

"Very well," Malachi said. "Mr. Leitter, plot a course to outside of the planetary system." Starbase 4 was located outside the asteroid belt in the Leinen system. Moving the ship outside the system's Oort cloud reduced the chances of a collision with any objects.

No matter how often he felt the power surge a starship experienced when it was powering up before switching over to warp speed, Malachi never tired of the feeling. The ship was like a cat ready to pounce, exploding into space. But this time it was not to be since impulse power was all that was needed to move the Sargon to the position.

"Mr. Leitter, come to all stop when we are clear of the Oort cloud," Malachi said.

"Aye, sir," Leitter said.

A few minutes later, Leitter fired the navigation thrusters to bring the massive ship to a complete stop.

"We're at all stop sir," Leitter said.

"Thank you," Malachi said, opening a communications link. "Engineering, are you ready?"

"All our ducks are in a row," Ramos said. "Just give the word and we'll be off."

"Aye," Malachi said, switching to all ship communications. "Attention all hands. We are about to start engine testing. Please report any problems immediately. Bridge out.

"Mr. Leitter, have you entered the course?"

"Yes, sir."

"Any last questions?"

"No, sir! I'm going to go easy at first, trimming a bit off the maneuvers, starts and stops. We'll take a bit more time off each until we reach the limit set by Captain Mackenzie. The time saved initially is only a fraction of a second."

"True, but if it works, we'll be a bit faster than anyone else and that's an advantage," said Chin. "I'll take any advantage we can get in a fight."

"Amen to that Mr. Chin," Malachi said. "Whenever you are ready Mr. Leitter."

Malachi could feel the slight vibrations from the warp engines as the ship started to move forward as Leitter engaged the impulse engines. The vibration became stronger until the ship leapt forward into warp speed.

Leitter put the ship through its paces, the ship moving like a cat as Leitter banked, turned and spun the Sargon in every imaginable direction to test every possible scenario. Malachi was thankful for artificial gravity.

Scott Blattner coordinated and downloaded the data coming in from various departments, his fingers flying over his console.

After a few minutes, Leitter brought the Sargon to a full stop.

"First test completed Mr. Malachi," Leitter said.

"Thank you, Mr. Leitter," Malachi said. "Engineering. Mr. Ramos, how are things at your end?"

"We are great," Ramos said, the glee in his voice coming through loud and clear. "That was great. I can't wait to see the data. The engineering crew reports they are ready for another run."

"Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Mr. Blattner, any problems?"

"No, sir," Blattner said. "All ship systems report there were no problems."

"OK, let's go again," Malachi said.

And so it went, seemingly for hours. The tests times were reduced with every run.

While it was important, it also was boring. The same maneuvers over and over again only quicker each time. It was very dull.

At least it was.

"Ships!" Blattner shouted. "Four Klingon ships!"

"Are you sure?" Malachi asked.

"Yes, sir! Four dreadnought class Klingon warships."

"What the hell are they doing here?" Chin asked. "We're at least 20 parsecs from the neutral zone."

"I don't know," Malachi said. "Have they seen us?"

"Yes sir," Blattner said. "Two are turning towards us."

"Lloyd, send a call to Starbase 4. Leitter, set a course for the base. Raise shields! Go to red alert!" Malachi shouted. The computer started its call "Red Alert! This is no drill!" throughout the ship as departments called in to the bridge to state their readiness.

"Sir, communications are jammed," Lloyd said.

"Those ships are bearing down on us!" Blattner said.

"Leitter, can you jump us immediately to warp?" Malachi asked.

"Not without putting a strain on the engines," Leitter said.

Malachi contacted engineering. "Tony, I need instant warp."

"What? Do you know how much power that would take not to mention the stress it would put on every structure on the ship?"

"Divert all power you can spare to the engines Tony or power problems will be the least of our troubles. If those dreadnoughts get us, the ship's structure will come apart in a different way." Malachi cut communication link to engineering.

"Mr. Malachi, those ships will be in firing range in about a minute," Chin said.

"Go Mr. Leitter!"

The Sargon jumped, throwing the crew backwards, knocking those unfortunate enough to be standing to the deck.

"Mr. Lloyd, I want you to keep sending messages to Starfleet and Starbase 4 about our situation. Continue to do so until we are sure someone knows about the Klingons," Malachi said. "Mr. Leitter, we are going to stop the same way we started — quickly! I want you to bring us to an immediate stop."

"We'll have to put more power to the artificial gravity so everyone doesn't fly across the ship," Leitter said.

"Only for as long as needed, then the power goes back to the engines," Malachi said. "Chin, dreadnoughts can't stop as quickly as us, I want you to have them in your sights and hit them with everything. Do it quickly after the ships drop out of warp.

"Mr. Leitter, have a new course laid in and go immediately after the shots have been fired."

"You're hoping the shots will hit the dreadnoughts before they have the chance to pull up shields?" Blattner asked. A ship dropping out of warp is helpless for a moment until the engines can provide power to the shields. It was a fluke of physics, but it was a weakness Malachi hoped to take advantage of; however it was slim window of opportunity, ships, particularly starships, were only without shields for a few moments, if that long, when dropping out of warp.

"Yes and before the dreadnoughts have the chance to get us in their sights," Malachi said. "I don't think we can hold out in a sustained fight with two dreadnoughts." Had he more experience, he might have stood and fought, but he had never been in an actual battle since he joined Starfleet. To make matters worse, the officers on board were just as green has he was. The chance that the Sargon would need to go into battle 20 parsecs from the Neutral Zone was so slim that Captain Rice didn't worry that the officers he left in charge of the ship weren't battle-tested. That the Klingons would be able to send ships, particularly state-of-the-art battle dreadnoughts, this far into Federation space without being detected was something bordering on unbelievable.

"But the dreadnoughts are probably faster than us," Blattner pointed out.

"True, but I'm hoping our immediate jump to and from warp will help even it out a bit. Wait until they are about a minute behind us before you hit the brakes, Mr. Leitter."

"Yes, sir. Should be soon….OK, everyone get ready. NOW!"

Leitter ordered the engines to stop, threw the engines into reverse momentarily, hit every thruster he could and brought the Sargon to a nearly instantaneous stop. Bodies were thrown forward. Leitter almost went over his console, Blattner flipped over the rail, Malachi managed to hold on the captain's chair, straining his shoulder and sending burning, sharp pains down his arm and back.

The dreadnoughts attempted to stop, but, as Malachi had hoped, they passed the Sargon and were in front, facing away from the ship.

"Fire!" Malachi shouted to Chin. Chin hit her console, firing all the phaser banks and all four photon tubes.

Every one of them missed.

Before anyone had the chance to say anything — or the Klingons had the opportunity to fire — Tom Leitter had the Sargon jumping from a near standstill to warp speed and speeding in another direction. Crew members were thrown asunder as the ship's metal creaked and groaned with the strain.

"I hope she holds together," Blattner said, a little louder than he intended.

"Bridge!" Ramos shouted into the intercom. "We're taking a beating down here. Can you cut down on the sudden starts and stops?"

"Report!" Malachi shouted.

"We have blown circuits, three Jeffrey tubes are shorted out, at least two bulkheads are in danger of collapse and three members of the engineering staff have been injured thanks to your maneuvers," Ramos shouted, a bit upset.

"I know you are taking a beating, but we have a couple of dreadnoughts on our tails," Malachi said. "We have to outrun them, try to get back to defend the Starbase and hopefully pick up the captain, and get a message to Starfleet about the ships. If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

"I'm going to try to put some shielding on the bulkheads," Ramos said. "If we fall apart, the Klingons will win without firing a shot. You better hit them soon."

"You can just kiss my…" Chin shouted.

"Mr. Ramos, just give me the power I need," Malachi shouted, cutting Chin off before closing the link with engineering.

"Sorry, sir, I'll do better next time," Chin said.

"You're going to get your chance soon," Leitter said. "Hold on everyone!"

The Sargon lurched to a stop, but the bridge crew having gone through it before, were able to keep their positions somewhat better than before. The dreadnoughts again pulled up in front of the Sargon. These time, Chin didn't miss, hitting the nearest ship with one phaser shot and a photon torpedo. The mighty ship shuttered and drifted to one side as atmosphere and equipment was sucked out of the hole created in its side. Leitter ordered the engines to jump to warp speed again.

"Alright!" Malachi shouted. "Finally a bit of good news! Great shooting Amy! Mr. Blattner, what is the status of the dreadnought."

"She is no longer moving," Blattner said. "But I have a bit of bad news. The other dreadnoughts are coming to join us."

"Crap!" Malachi said. "You better have something in your bag of tricks Mr. Leitter to keep us out of the way of all three."

Leitter turned around.

"It is a bit risky, but how about we fire as we are stopping?" Leitter asked. "Perhaps we can get them sooner and give us a bit more time."

"The only problem is the dreadnoughts would have their shields still up if they are in warp," Blattner said.

"True, but what if we pre-program where they are going to be?" Leitter asked. "I can plot their courses, feed the data to Chin, she can use it to aim where the ships are going to be."

"It's doable Mr. Malachi," Chin said. "It would give me a better idea where the Klingons will be."

"OK, do it," Malachi said. "Mr. Blattner, what is the status of those ships?"

"We are about two and a half minutes ahead, but all three remaining ships are paying us a visit," Blattner said. He knew what that meant for the fate of the Starbase and their fellow crewmembers on the base.

Malachi knew too, but he didn't have the time to think about it. "Mr. Leitter, wait a little longer before you stop. Is it possible to stop quicker? I don't want the Klingons to be able to guess when we are going to stop."

"I probably can," Leitter said. "Give me a minute."

"A minute is all you have," Blattner said.

Leitter's fingers flew over his console, while N'hoj, the young Andorian navigator assisted.

"There you go Mr. Chin," Leitter said, as he transferred the data to tactical. "Hold on!"

The ship lurched to a stop harder than previously, sending crew members asunder. The Klingon ships stopped almost exactly where Leitter had predicted, giving Chin a clear shot at two, the third being hidden by its sister ship. Chin hit the firing controls.

The ship nearest to the Sargon was struck with the full fury of her weapons while the other ship received a glancing phaser blow.

"The anti-matter core of the first ship was hit!" Blattner said. "She's a goner! The other ship wasn't seriously damaged." The closest dreadnought shuddered and exploded as anti-matter met matter in an incredibly powerful reaction, but the Sargon was already gone when it exploded.

Leitter had the Sargon into warp when a shudder was felt throughout the ship.

"What was that?" Malachi asked.

"The third dreadnought hit us with a phaser shot," Chin said.

"Engineering!" Malachi shouted at the comm link on the captain's chair. "Status!"

"The phaser hit was on our starboard side," Ramos said. "No major systems were affected, but we have a hole in the side. The stress from our maneuvers weakened the bulkheads. We are attempting to secure. We are going to need to drop out of warp for a complete repair." It wouldn't have happened had Malachi allowed more power to the shields, Ramos thought. But he kept his thoughts to himself for the time being.

"No time now, Mr. Ramos," Malachi said.

"Johnny, if we don't repair it soon, we could be facing a major bulkhead collapse on five decks," Ramos said. "This is something we need to handle. We don't have a choice. It's being held together by shielding, duct tape and prayers. If it collapses, I'm not sure we could stop the decompression."

"Give me everything you got, Tony," Malachi said. "We'll try to end it the next time we stop. Chin, you better make this one count."

"Aye, sir," Chin answered.

The dreadnoughts were to catch up to the Sargon in a matter of minutes, but the time seemed to drag on forever.

Blattner checked for ways to increase shield strength when they dropped out of warp. Chin checked the data sent by Leitter, planning how to get off another round as soon as possible in the event the first shots didn't finish the job.

Malachi just sweated and wondered what else he could do to save the ship and his crewmates.

He really wished the captain was on board.

"Steady, steady," Malachi said. "Wait for it."

Leitter kept an eye on his screen, waiting until the dreadnoughts are close enough to be near the Sargon when it stops, but not so near that they could fire on her. When the dreadnoughts were 50 seconds behind the Sargon, Leitter brought the massive ship to another sudden stop. "Hold on!" he shouted.

But the Klingons were expecting it. One dreadnought stopped too soon and one stopped too late, but the third was able to time its stop with the Sargon.

Chin fired all her weapons, hitting the ship.

"We have a bulkhead collapse on decks 12 thru 19," Blattner shouted.

"Tony!" Malachi shouted. "Can you seal the damage?"
"We'll try," Ramos said. "Engineering out."

While the first shots did massive damage to the dreadnought that was hit, it wasn't completely disabled and the other two dreadnoughts were now circling the Sargon like wolves looking for a weakness in their prey. Chin kept firing at all three ships.

Unfortunately, the dreadnoughts returned the fire and having a gaping hole in the side being held together with force fields and prayers made the Sargon a limping prey. "Make sure you keep our shields up, Mr. Blattner," Malachi said.

"I'll try sir, but the force fields are draining power to shields, weapons and engines," Blattner said.

"Transfer all unnecessary power to those systems," Malachi said. "Cut back life support to minimum. Take all power from any systems not directly involved in the fight." The force of the weapons that were being discharged against the Sargon's shields was beginning to be felt by the crew, a sign of the shields weakening strength.

Blattner cut back the temperature throughout the ship, turned off the ventilation fans, shut down the carbon dioxide scrubbers, shut down all food replicators, shut down the lights in all areas of the ships not involved in the battle and cut the artificial gravity back, giving the crew the feeling of super strength now that everything weighed less. The extra power has provided more strength to the shields.

Blattner hoped it would be enough.

Meanwhile Leitter and N'hoj worked to keep the Sargon from becoming the center of attention. "Mr. Malachi, we can plot a looping course and attempt to come behind the damaged dreadnoughts, using them as a shield from the undamaged ship," Leitter said.

"That's probably a good idea," Blattner added. "The damaged dreadnoughts have weakened shields and their weapons aren't at the strength of the remaining ship."

"Do it," Malachi said. "Chin, when we get around those ships, fire a full spread of torpedoes. Let's try to get these two off the dance floor."

"Yes, sir!" Chin answered.

Leitter sent the Sargon into its course, making tight turns, quickly jumping to warp to get away from the undamaged attacking dreadnought. The ship creaked and groaned as the stresses on the ship increased.

"Bridge," Ramos shouted. "What the hell are you doing? We are being held together with dental floss."

"I don't have time for this," Malachi said.

"Could you at least let me know what's coming? So I can be ready and perhaps help you out?" Ramos said, not bothering to disguise his irritation. "We really need to limit our movements until we stabilize the situation."

"Mr. N'hoj, be sure to contact engineering when we attempt to move," Mr. Blattner said.

The Sargon moved behind one of the damaged dreadnoughts, taking fire while firing back. Leitter attempted to keep the damaged ships between the Sargon and their undamaged predator. Chin, in an attempt to keep the Sargon safe, targeted the weapon systems on one of the damaged dreadnoughts so they didn't have to worry about one ship. Leitter, in turn, attempted to keep the Sargon close to that ship.

But the remaining two dreadnoughts were focusing their fire, especially on the damaged areas of the ship.

"Bridge, is it possible to keep our damaged side from becoming a target?" Ramos asked over the intercom. "I'm sure we could get done a lot sooner if we didn't have to worry about getting hit with phasers or photon torpedoes."

"I'll try to keep the damaged side away from the dreadnoughts, but it isn't entirely possible," Leitter said.

"Do what you can," Malachi said. "Chin, how's our torpedoes?"

"We have a few left."

"Let's target the damaged dreadnought," Malachi said. "If we can get her out of commission, the odds will be more even."

Before Chin had a chance to comply, the ship shook violently.

"We've been hit by the nearest dreadnought," Blattner said. "Shields are down, weapons are down."

"I thought that ship was disabled," Malachi said in a fury.

"They must have gotten their weapons back online," Blattner said. "Engineering reports that we have decompression on three decks. They believe that they will have the situation stable shortly."

Malachi punched the intercom to engineering. "WE NEED SHIELDS!" Malachi shouted.

"Weapons back online," Chin shouted as she fired phasers and torpedoes into the two nearest ships. The nearest ship was disabled and was venting its atmosphere, along with many of the crew. "Serves the bastards right," Chin thought to herself. The other ship was hit, but the damage was minimal.

"Bridge, shield generator is out," said a voice from Engineering.

"What do you mean out? Who is this? Where is Mr. Ramos," Malachi shouted.

"Mr.Leiser, here. Sir, the shield generator is severely damaged. It would take at least four hours to repair," Ensign Jim Leiser said. "Mr. Ramos was injured and was taken to sickbay." He didn't add that Ramos was taken kicking and screaming, but he was bleeding so severely that Leiser was sure he would bleed to death if he didn't leave.

"INCOMING!" Blattner shouted as a full spread of Klingon photon torpedoes came directly at the Sargon.

"Crap!" Malachi said. Chin kept firing at the Klingons even though the photon torpedoes would end the battle. She refused to go down without fighting to the bitter end.

Suddenly a fiery sensation came from the captain's chair, so hot that Malachi thought the chair was on fire; the rest of the bridge personnel jumped up from their seats and releasing their controls.

Malachi looked at the screen and the torpedoes were gone, but the Klingons were still there. At first he thought he had died and was now a ghost.

But the screen soon dissolved from the scene of the battle to show a trio of elderly men.

"We are the Organians," the man in the middle said. "We are imposing a peace treaty between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. All ships for both parties involved in the current war have been disabled. All ships that are capable shall return to their home space."

The image faded back to the surrounding space. The two operational Klingon dreadnoughts turned and started the journey back to Klingon space. The Sargon was in no condition to follow them to insure they made their way out of Federation space.

Only one thought was on Malachi's mind.

"Let's get back to Starbase 4," he said.

Blattner looked at him and then turned to Chin. The look on her face said what he was thinking; Malachi either didn't realize or couldn't face the fact that Starbase 4 probably wasn't there.

"Johnny," Blattner said. "We have to get repaired before we get underway."

"I…we have to get back to Starbase 4 as soon as possible," Malachi said.

Blattner came down to Malachi, grabbing him by the arm. "We better go see Mr. Ramos about getting underway," Blattner said. "Let's go see him in sickbay. Besides, Doctor Ghazoul should look at your shoulder. Mr. Chin, see that repairs are started immediately. You have the conn." He escorted his commanding officer into the turbolift.

As soon as the doors shut, Blattner turned to Malachi, looked him in the eye and said, "John, Starbase 4 has been destroyed." Malachi just stared at him. "John, we need you," Blattner said. "We need to get repaired. There are hundreds of people counting on you."

Malachi just stared blankly ahead.

"John, I'm sorry, but she's dead," Blattner said.

Malachi didn't say anything, he only nodded his head.

The turbolift doors opened on Deck 15, Blattner escorted Malachi, half leading, half pulling, into sickbay.

Sickbay was madness.

There were injured crewmembers lying on beds, sitting on chairs and standing waiting for the attention of the medical staff, which was running amok, or so it seemed. What appeared to unorganized chaos to Blattner was actually an incredibly efficient sickbay being pushed to its limits. Blattner and Malachi stood by the door, scanning the room for Ramos.

Commander Debbie Ghazoul found them first.

"What's the problem?" she asked.

"He hurt his shoulder," Blattner said.

"He'll have to wait," she said.

"He's in command of the ship, he needs to be seen," Blattner said.

"We need to find Ramos," Malachi said. "We need to get to Starbase 4."

"He's in bed 15," Ghazoul said. "I'll have someone over to look at that shoulder as soon as someone is free."

"You better come along," Malachi said as they walked to Ramos' bed. "You're the ranking officer on this ship."

Ghazoul showed them to Ramos, who was laying on a bed with a doctor and a nurse standing over him. He was naked except for his underwear. He had suffered numerous burns, which were being treated, gashes and several broken bones.

"You look ghastly," Malachi said.

"So do you, but I had to get burned to look like this," Ramos said.

"We have a problem," Malachi said. "We need to get underway as soon as possible to get to Starbase 4."

"John," Blattner said. "I scanned Starbase 4, there is nothing left. There's no one alive, I checked and rechecked. I'm sorry John."

"The captain, all the department heads, everyone is dead?" Ghazoul said.

"I'm afraid so," Blattner said.

"Holy shit," Ramos said.

"So is my wife," Malachi said, his voice beginning to crack.

"I am so sorry John," Ghazoul said, putting her hand on Malachi's shoulder. He felt like his had been hit in the stomach. When he was in high school, he caught his girlfriend half-naked with someone he thought was a friend. That feeling was nothing compared to the feeling he had when he realized his wife and child were dead. He wanted to crawl away and just die, or at least be alone for a very long time.

But it wasn't possible since every command officer, except the three gathered in sickbay with the doctor, was dead.

"You're the senior officer, Commander Ghazoul," Malachi said. "Any suggestions?"

"I'm a doctor, I might be a few ranks ahead of you, but the only thing I command is sickbay," Ghazoul said. "You need to contact Starfleet. Maybe they can hook us up with someone."

"But we need to be repaired," Ramos said. "The sooner I can get freed from Ghazoul's Medical Gulag, the sooner we can get going."

"You sit still," said Lt. Commander Michael Williamson, the doctor working on Ramos, "or we will never be done."

"He's right," Blattner said. "We need to be repaired before anything."

"I need him out of sickbay as soon as possible," Malachi said. "Release him quickly."

"Yeah," Ramos said. "Don't worry about scars; I can get that taken care of later."

"We'll get him out soon," Ghazoul said, leaving to care for other patients. Malachi moved to a communications terminal.

"Lloyd," he said. "Contact Starfleet and patch it down here."

"Aye, sir," he said.

"How long will repairs take?"

"I'm hoping for less than two weeks to get the ship completely repaired," Ramos said. "If you just want quick bandage, I might be able to get things together in six, maybe four days if everything goes our way. We have sustained major damage. It would be best if we were in drydock, but that isn't possible."

"It would be better if we were totally repaired," Blattner said.

"Agreed," Malachi said. "Let's get the job done right since we aren't going anywhere until we get shields." Even a ship running without shields has some shielding to protect against any objects in space. Without shields running, the Sargon was liable to have more damage from any stray space debris or rocks.

"What's wrong with the shields?" Ramos asked.

"That must have happened after you left engineering," Blattner said. "The last shot fried it."

"Left engineering?" Williamson said. "He was kicking and screaming when he was dragged in here. See that trail of blood? That's Ramos. I knew sailors could curse, but Mr. Ramos would embarrass a teamster."

"I wasn't that bad," Ramos said as Lloyd called for Malachi.

"Malachi here."

"You almost died," Williamson said.

"You're exaggerate," Ramos said.

"I have Starfleet for you, Mr. Malachi," Lloyd said.

"Patch them down here."

Lloyd's face faded, being replaced by a handsome man in his 50s.

"Sargon, this is Admiral Larry Kwolek. Who am I addressing?"

"Lt. John Malachi, sir. I was left in command when Captain Rice and the rest of the command officers and department heads went over to Starbase 4 for a sector command meeting."

"Why isn't Bob Rice on board now?"

"Starbase 4 was destroyed by the Klingons. Our scans show no survivors."

"I'm sorry," Kwolek said. "For the entire crew of the Sargon, this is a difficult time. Well, for now, make your repairs and act as a communications relay. We will dispatch the USS Murdoch to the area to act as a communications relay, so you can get on your way. They should be able to assist you in repairs. In the meantime, get your repairs started and when Starfleet knows where it wants the Sargon, we will contact you. It will probably be within the next few days or so. Send us a status report on your ship and a report on the battle as soon as you are able. Kwolek out."

Malachi turned towards Ramos and Blattner. "Well, let's get the ship repaired and try to get underway to Starbase 4."

Debbie Ghazoul was motioning him over. He turned and left to have his shoulder examined.

"I hope he'll be alright," Blattner said.

"He will be," Ramos said. "Lisa's death will be difficult for a while; we will just need to cut him some slack. He'll be alright."

"He better be. He's all we got."