Chapter 2: The Fall of Vega
As the Umbra and Chimera sped through space to the Pollux system, Kai and his senior staff had changed into official uniforms from the new Odyssey line. Elisa wore a jet black uniform with red trim and grey shoulders with T'vrell and Zarva wearing similar ones with blue and yellow trim respectively, all of them wore a silver bar on their necks marking them as Ensigns. Kai's uniform looked like theirs, but had two silver bars marking him as a Lieutenant. Zarva had long since returned to engineering leaving Kai, T'vrell, and Elisa alone on the bridge.
"We're nearing the Pollux system Captain" T'vrell reported "ETA, six minutes"
"This was one hell of a day huh?" Elisa chuckles as she shivers
"We're in this together" Kai said reassuringly "We'll find out what's going on with the Khitomer and get right back to Earth. Just take a deep breath and do your best."
"Aye, sir" Elisa nodded, returning her attention to her station. A few minutes later the Umbra arrived at the Pollux system and came out of warp alongside the Chimera.
"Our attempts to hail the Khitomer are being hindered by unexplained interference. Fly closer and hail them so that Chimera can have a closer connection to speak to them." Captain Nog instructed
"Aye sir" Kai nodded as he flew Umbra close enough to the Khitomer to contact them.
"This is Captain Yim of the U.S.S. Khitomer" the human captain began "I apologize for being out of contact, we were patrolling this system when we noticed these odd gasses and began to investigate. May I be so bold as to ask about Captain Taggart's whereabouts?" Kai explained their situation and his status as acting Captain
"These Cadet-, sorry, officers" Nog said over communications "have been through quite the ordeal. Once we lost contact with your ship I ordered the survivors of the Umbra to come with me and investigate."
"I'm sorry for your loss Lieutenant, I'll be sure to note your determination and professionalism in my report to Starfleet Command" Captain Yim said "In the meantime, we've deduced that these gas clouds have high amounts of gamma radiation, my science officer has recommended that we utilize tachyon particles to scan them for more information. Lieutenant Eclipse and the Umbra should go to what we've marked as point beta and scan the cloud there, Chimera will take point gamma, and we'll take point alpha"
"We're on it, Captain" Kai nodded before the connection was cut and Kai locked in coordinates and began to fly at full impulse to point beta. Once the Umbra was in position T'vrell began to scan the gas cloud and found
"Captain" T'vrell reported "My sensors show two Borg probes inside the cloud!"
"Red Alert! Full power to weapons, we need to take them down fast" Kai ordered as the standard Borg transmission was transmitted to the small group of ships.
"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own, your cultures will adapt to service ours. Resistance is futile."
"Weapons ready, Captain" Elisa reported
"Fire at will" Kai nodded as the Umbra wasted no time in meeting the probes head on. The first probe was destroyed in about five minutes while the other was more difficult as it had taken note of Umbra's capabilities and was evading in response, even so it only took a short time for it to be destroyed as well.
"Captain" T'vrell said "We are being hailed by the Chimera"
"Onscreen" Kai replied
"Lieutenant Eclipse" Nog began "The Khitomer has detected a transwarp conduit hidden inside the cloud at point alpha and several probes along with two spheres have engaged us. Vega colony is the closest strategic target to here, it is likely that the Borg will send an invasion fleet if they haven't done so already. Your orders are to get to Vega colony asap and begin evacuations."
"Yes, Captain" Kai nodded "We'll leave immediately, good luck with that transwarp conduit"
"You as well" Nog replied "Chimera out" Kai immediately keyed in coordinates for Vega colony and they set off at Warp 5.
Luckily Vega colony was only 20 minutes away from the Pollux systemat Warp 5 so the Umbra arrived quickly.
"Hail the colony governor" Kai ordered
"Communications are jammed, Captain" T'vrell responded "There is a satellite 15 kilometers from here that we can use to boost our signal."
"Make it so" Kai ordered as he piloted the ship towards the satellite after scanning it and connecting communications. "Try hailing the colony again"
"Captain!" Elisa spoke up "Detecting Borg probes closing in, several more are descending into the atmosphere of Vega"
"Red Alert! Power to weapons and shields, fire at will!" Kai instructed, the Umbra engaged the Borg probes and was able to outmaneuver and destroy them without too much trouble, only problem was that due to how many there were it took too long to finish the job.
"Captain" T'vrell reported "I'm picking up a convoy of civilian freighters on sensors they appear to be attempting to fight a Borg sphere"
"Let's get over there and help them, T'vrell as soon as we get in range order the civilians to evacuate while we handle the sphere. Elisa, prepare a yield of photon torpedoes to fire on the sphere as soon as we're ten kilometers away." Kai ordered
"Aye, sir" the officers responded and went about their orders, as soon as the Umbra entered firing range the torpedoes were fired and T'vrell began transmitting.
"Attention civilian vessels, this is the Federation Starship Umbra disengage immediately and evacuate the system, we'll handle the Borg" T'vrell ordered
"We acknowledge Starfleet, best of luck" the convoy leader responded as they warped out of the system.
"Try hailing the colony again"
"I'm getting even stronger interference, it's possible the Borg have already begun to attack the colony itself." T'vrell responded
"Elisa" Kai sighed "You're with me, have a team of security officers meet us in the transporter room, we're going to beam down to Vega and save as many people as we can. T'vrell the ship is yours, have anyone that can be spared take up posts on the bridge."
"Yes Captain" T'vrell nodded as Kai and Elisa entered the turbolift and went down to the transporter deck. They met 3 security officers inside and stepped on the transporter pad.
"Make sure we're just outside the colony when we land, that way we can get a lay of the land and figure out the best way to get things done." Kai instructed the transporter operator.
"Aye, sir" the operator nodded
"Energize" Kai ordered causing him, Elisa, and the security guards to disappear in a flash of blue light and appear on the side of a hill overlooking a city under attack, smoke rose in the air as the sounds of frantic yelling and phaser fire could be heard in the distance. "No time to waste, you all know what to do if you encounter any colonists or officers that have already been assimilated, we'll enter town quickly and make our way to the governor's estate, with an attack of this scale, it is likely that survivors will gather their where local Starfleet officers can more effectively protect them."
"Aye, sir" the away team replied as they all raised their phaser rifles and made their way to the town's entrance, luckily they didn't run into any Borg on the way so it was a fairly quick walk. Upon entering the town they saw a colonist that was pinned down be injected with Borg nanites, the Borg allowed him to get up and he began walking slowly and methodically towards the away team. Kai and his team began to fire and make their way through the town. They were able to save several of the colonists and have the Umbra beam them aboard. As they reached the governor's estate, they noticed nearly two hundred colonists hiding behind an array of phaser turrets and two Starfleet security officers, one a Saurian and the other a Bajoran. Upon seeing Kai and his team walk up the two lowered their rifles and moved to greet them.
"Good to see some friendly faces, I'm Ensign Kolez and this is Ensign Rico." the Saurian greeted
"I'm Lieutenant Eclipse, this is Ensign Flores and several security crewmembers from our ship, the U.S.S. Umbra" Kai replied as a colonist approached them
"There's a starship in orbit?" she asked
"Yes" Kai nodded "We're going to evacuate all of you. The Umbra can beam up six people at a time, we'll help Kolez and Rico hold the line while you and the other colonists are being beamed up."
"Great" she smiled "I'll let everyone know, thank you"
"Just doing our job" Kai shrugged as Borg began to walk towards them
"Lieutenant!" Kolez warned
"I see them, Elisa get a beacon set up so the Umbra can tag non-Borg life signs in the area and begin beaming them up, the rest of you get to defensive positions"
"Aye, sir" they all replied as the phaser turrets began firing on the Borg. The Borg advance was slow, but continuous, evacuation moved at a steady pace but there were just too many Borg to hold off, within forty minutes two of the turrets had overheated and were inoperable.
"Lieutenant" Rico said "two more of our turrets are overheating and we're running low on power packs for our rifles, we can't keep this up much longer."
"Elisa" Kai began "What's the status of the evacuation?"
"Most of the colonists are safe, about two dozen more still need to be transported, problem is one of the EPS relays in the transporter bay just went out. Zarva is rushing to get the transporter back online. In the meantime we have no way to continue evacuations until the repairs are done, Zarva predicts it will take about twenty minutes to get things operating safely." she replied
"Damn" Kai sighed "we'll just have to keep going I guess"
"Sir" Kolez spoke up "I think I have a solution"
"I'm listening"
"Earlier this morning before we lost our communications capabilities we received a shipment of tactical kits and weapons to be processed before delivery to the front line, if we can get to those supplies we might be able to get enough armaments to keep the Borg from getting to the civilians until we can get them out of here."
"Take one of my security crewmen and get whatever you can carry back here, we'll keep the people safe" Kai ordered
"Understood" Kolez nodded before leaving with a crewmember to get the supplies. Kai and the others spread out to make up for the loss of two officers and continued their best to hold them off. Five minutes passed and a larger Borg approached Kai in his blindspot, it was about to assimilate Kai when Rico ran up and pulled Kai out of the way of the Borg. As Kai stumbled backwards and noticed the tactical drone his crest glowed a violet hue and he instinctively slashed his arm in an arc causing a massive slice of umbral energy to cut through the tactical drone as well as destroying two advancing lines of drones as well as crippling a third. The crest stopped glowing and Rico and Kai could only look in shock as the turrets finished the third advancing line. Getting back to defensive positions Rico spoke up.
"How did you do that, sir?" he asked
"I don't know Ensign," Kai replied as he looked down to his chest where he kept his crest concealed. Kai and the others continued to fire on the ocean's worth of Borg when Kolez and the security crewman who accompanied him came back with belts holding photon grenades, a portable shield generator, fifteen power packs for the rifles, and an additional phaser turret. Putting the equipment to work they held the line for an additional half an hour before Elisa reported that Zarva had completed the repairs and six more colonists were beamed up. Ten minutes later the evacuations were complete and Elisa beamed up with Rico, Kolez, and the security crewmen. Kai took one last look at the Borg and flipped them off as he was beamed back to the Umbra.
As Kai exited the transporter room and made his way to the bridge with Elisa, he noticed Rico and Kolez moving about and helping Vega's refugees who were clogging the corridors of the deck.
"It's like this all over the ship Captain" Elisa said "We're loaded to the brim with both crew members that survived the Klingon ambush and refugees from Vega."
"Was that ambush really only a few hours ago?" Kai asked "It feels like a lifetime has passed."
"First the Klingons, now the Borg. What's next, an Undine infiltration?" Elisa chuckled
"Don't tempt fate" Kai shook his head with a smile "The Borg won't let us go that easily, we need to be ready." They entered the turbolift and went to the Bridge. T'vrell got out of the Captain's chair and went back to the communications station dismissing the crewmen that had been taking her place as well as the one who was covering for Elisa at tactical. "I need a status update"
"No sign of the Khitomer or the Chimera, Captain" T'vrell reported "No civilian traffic in the system either, however multiple Borg probes are en route to our location."
"Move to Red Alert, all hands to battle stations" Kai ordered as the alarms sounded and the shields and weapons were charged to full. Two probes opened fire and the Umbra nimbly maneuvered around them and were able to destroy them with their weapons before they went on the offensive and targeted the remaining three probes. Two of the probes succeeded in hitting the Umbra reducing them to seventy five percent strength. The Umbra was able to destroy the remaining probes quickly after, however a Borg cube cornered them and began to attack.
"Captain, shields are down to twenty percent" Elisa reported
"Overcharge the phaser arrays and prepare a yield of photon torpedoes. T'vrell utilize a tachyon beam to weaken the shields on our side of the Cube." Kai ordered
"Beam fired and enemy shields weakening, Captain" T'vrell responded
"Weapons ready" Elisa nodded
"Fire at will!" the Umbra fired everything it had at the Cube
"Minimal damage to the Cube Captain, their shields are recharging" Elisa said as the ship was hit with torpedoes and disruptor beams from the cube. The ops console on the bridge exploded sending the crewman manning it flying across the room.
"Damage report!" Kai demanded
"Casualty reports coming from multiple decks several crewmen dead and seventeen refugees are deceased as well with dozens more injured" T'vrell responded
"Shields are at less than ten percent strength, hull integrity down to eighty percent. Captain, the Umbra isn't capable of crippling a Cube let alone destroying one." Elisa said
"I agree, if we stay and fight we'll just get ourselves killed but we can't get out of the system yet. Think about it Elisa, no one but us and that small flotilla of cargo vessels knows about what's going on, the Fall of Vega may well be dismissed as rumors and more people will come and be assimilated. If we can reprogram the comms satellite to send a warning about the Borg invasion on all frequencies it will legitimize the story those cargo ships are undoubtedly spreading. Even if the Borg destroy the satellite or try to shut down the warning it won't change anything. Starfleet will have quarantined the system, Admiral Janeway's anti-Borg taskforce will have begun the arduous task of eliminating the Borg's invasion path into Federation space, and a major crisis that could bring the Federation to the brink of collapse will be averted. Helm, set course for the communications satellite." Kai said
"Aye sir" the crewman operating the helm acknowledged as they began flying away from the Cube. The Cube began to pursue them but the Umbra's small size and powerful speed allowed it to outmaneuver and evade the attacks coming from the Cube. As they neared the satellite T'vrell reported that she had the emergency message prepared and Kai ordered that emergency thrusters be used to continue maneuvering in close proximity to the satellite so they could avoid getting hit again by the Cube while sending the message. As they had sent the message and began avoiding fire from the Cube once more a stray torpedo hit the back of the Umbra causing even more damage to the ship.
"Captain, Hull integrity is down to twenty percent and power to the engines has been cut off, Zarva is moving to repair them as quickly as possible but-" Elis was cut off as Kai held up a hand
"I get it, we're finished, we won't survive another hit from that cube. If nothing else, we were able to ensure the failure of the Borg's invasion. At least now the Federation will have a chance. Our careers may have been brief, but I'm proud to have served alongside all of you." Kai sighed
"Multiple warp signatures entering the system Captain, all Federation. Identities are coming through: Khitomer, Chimera, Rhode Island, Lexington, Pathfinder, and Enterprise." T'vrell reported causing everyone to sigh in relief
"On the other hand, I think we aren't dead just yet" Kai laughed as the reinforcements began using their weapons to attack the Cube
"Zarva to bridge" the chief engineer began over a call to the bridge
"Go ahead" Kai replied
"Damages to the engine and hull are irreparable, we can get a tow back to Earth, but in a functional capacity the Umbra is finished." Zarva reported
"That's a shame" Kai sighed "Although I'm grateful we still have our lives along with those refugees. Excellent work Zarva"
"Thank you Captain" Zarva replied as she cut the line
"That goes for all of you" Kai said to the bridge crew "Today was our graduation day, the training cruise for the Class of 2409. There's no way in hell we should've pulled this off. But we did it, we survived the Klingon ambush, we avenged Captain Taggart's death, we coordinated with the Khitomer and Chimera and discovered an attempt by the Borg to invade the heart of Federation space, we came to Vega, we fought hard on the ground and in orbit to save the lives of nearly two hundred colonists, and we held out against a Cube long enough to transmit an emergency message on all frequencies and for Starfleet reinforcements to arrive. We've lost friends, several refugees were killed by the Cube, we will remember them and we will continue to serve Starfleet in remembrance of all that was taken from us today. Well done." Kai smiled the bridge officers all stood and saluted him a gesture which he happily returned as a beeping came from the communications console
"Captain" T'vrell reported "We're being hailed by the Chimera and the Enterprise"
"Put them on screen" Kai nodded as the image of Captain Nog and another captain Kai was familiar with appeared onscreen "Captain Nog and Captain Shon I'm glad to see the two of you."
"You've done well Lieutenant" Captain Nog said with approval "Enterprise is going to tow you back to Earth while the rest of us keep the system on lockdown until the task force Admiral Janeway sent arrives to relieve us."
"Speaking of which" Captain Shon began "Both Admiral Janeway and the C.I.C., Admiral Quinn, want to speak with you once we get back to Earth."
"I'll report to them as soon as I arrive" Kai nodded
"You best be on your way" Nog said "I hope I work with you again sometime Lieutenant"
"Likewise, Captain" Nog logged off after that leaving Shon and Kai alone on the line.
"Lieutenant" Shon began "Beam aboard Enterprise and meet me in my ready room, I'd like to have a word with you"
"I'll be right there Captain" Kai acknowledged earning a nod of approval from Shon as he cut the line "Elisa is in charge until I return" Kai ordered before using the turbolift to get to the transporter deck, beaming aboard the Enterprise he was escorted by a Tellarite security guard to the ready room "Thank you crewman" Kai said as he rang the doorbell to the ready room.
"Enter" Shon called from inside prompting Kai to enter "It's been quite some time Kai"
"Indeed Captain" Kai nodded
"Drop the formalities, what you and your crew did, you've earned my respect" Shon smiled
"Thank you, sir"
"Would you like a drink?"
"I wouldn't say no to a root beer" Kai replied causing Shon to move to a replicator and grabbing a drink for both him and Kai
"I had a scan run on the Umbra" Shon sighed as he gave Kai his root beer "It's a shame"
"We were finished" Kai shrugged "If you and the others hadn't arrived when you did my classmates and I would all be dead."
"True, but you survived long enough not only to save as many colonists as possible but send an emergency message to keep people away from Vega as well."
"Bridge to Captain Shon"
"Go ahead"
"We've secured a tractor beam on the Umbra and were ready to move back to Earth, we'll need to limit ourselves to Warp 8 for the journey though it should take about an hour"
"Excellent, proceed"
"Yes sir" the line dropped as Shon went behind his desk
"It's been nine years since we first met on the Titan. I was a security chief, you were eleven and displaced, Riker was still active in Starfleet. Now I'm the captain of the new Enterprise, one of only six Odyssey class ships in service at the moment and you pulled off the impossible. Umbra may be broken and irreparable but the fact that an old Miranda class frigate could survive a Klingon ambush and a Borg incursion within hours of each other speaks volumes to your skills and ingenuity as an officer. I'd offer you a place on the Enterprise in a heartbeat if I could, but from what I understand Janeway and Quinn have their own plans for you." Shon said
"What is that?" Kai asked
"I wasn't informed" Shon replied "Just that you need to report to them on Earth Spacedock as soon as possible. You should probably get back to the Umbra. We'll let you guys know when we enter the Sol system."
"Sounds good" Kai nodded as began going for the door
"Kai"
"Yes, Captain?"
"For what it's worth, I'm glad you dropped in on the Titan that day"
"Thank you" Kai replied as he left the ready room and made his way back to the Umbra.
About an hour later, Kai had beamed aboard Earth Spacedock and was met by a security officer who escorted him to Admiral Quinn's office where he and Admiral Janeway were waiting for Kai. As soon as Kai arrived they dismissed the security officer and had Kai take a seat.
"Lieutenant Eclipse" Janeway began "Can you tell us in your words what happened today?" Kai nodded and told them about everything from the beginning of the cruise to the timely arrival of reinforcements above Vega.
"Quite a story" Quinn mused
"It's all true sir" Kai replied
"We know it's true" Janeway smiled "We have reports from Ensign Rico, Ensign Kolez, Captain Yim, and Captain Nog confirming everything you've told us. And of course the surviving colonists are in awe of how you led an impressive defense while they were evacuated."
"You and the others in your command staff exceeded expectations today." Quinn began "Nog made the right choice with those battlefield promotions. You have earned the right to sit in the Captain's seat"
"Sir?" Kai asked
"Normally it takes years of hard work and experience to receive command of a starship, however in these perilous times were losing officers and Captains left and right meaning we need the best and brightest to be put in command regardless of experience." Quinn said
"The Umbra as you know it is gone, however while you were being towed here Admiral Quinn and I pulled some strings and we've got a new ship." Janeway began as she pulled out a data pad and handed it to Kai before continuing "We've reactivated a Crossfield class science spearhead from the first Klingon-Federation war and upgraded it with modern technology and a modern layout with everything except engineering. It's construction was complete but it was never launched on a mission and simply has been sitting in dry dock collecting dust for over a hundred years now. We were originally going to retire the Umbra and give this shop to Captain Taggart, but with recent events we decided it would be best to give it to someone like you. A new Umbra."
"Umbra A" Kai nodded as he read through the data pad "There seems to be information about an area near engineering that's been redacted"
"We saw that too" Quinn sighed "We have no idea what it is, it's your ship now, feel free to take a look at it later. In the meantime while upgrades are being complete I'm ordering temporary leave for you and your command staff and have taken the liberty of lending you access to an estate just outside of Paris for you to use for r and r. I'll need you to report to Earth Spacedock in two weeks time so Admiral Janeway can coordinate with you on crew assignment to the new Umbra as well as take an inspection of it. Any questions?"
"No sir" Kai replied with a smile
"You're dismissed Lieutenant" Janeway told him "I'll see you in two weeks