Chapter 8 The Kuvah'magh
As Lieutenant Commander Maxwell sat in Admiral Quinn's office, they finished debriefing and moved on to his next assignment. "A representative of the Klingon Empire has agreed to meet with Miral Paris on Regulus IV. Lieutenant Paris is believed by some Klingons to be the Kuvah'magh, a savior figure of some kind. Whether it's true or not right now it's our best chance for peace with the Klingons. Rendezvous with the U.S.S. Kirk and the U.S.S. Blackbeard, another Saber-class escort, at Vulcan. The Sentry and the Blackbeard will escort the Kirk to Regulus where you will join Captains Thelin and Sparrow along with Lieutenant Paris" he said
"Sounds like heavy escort for a diplomatic mission." Maxwell commented.
"Let's just say I owed her father a favor and he asked that I guarantee her safety. I'm also assigning an Omega team for her personal protection. While some Klingons think she is a savior, others disagree…violently with that belief. With this meeting having even a slim chance for just a cease-fire we're not taking any chances with a disruption." Quinn replied
"Paris…I know that name from somewhere…Voyager? Her father is Captain Tom Paris? The Pilot?"
"Your memory serves you well."
"Yes sir. My helmsmen, Ensign Potter has studied all his maneuvers."
"Those should come in handy if you run into trouble. Speaking of trouble, I should remind you that protocol for diplomatic missions like this specify that the attending representative should be removed from combat immediately. So if hostilities do break out, one of the ships should immediately beam her up and jump to warp. In this case if possible the Kirk should perform that function. Be aware that intelligence has picked up chatter regarding this meeting and the Orion Syndicate. It's possible the Orions or some rival Klingon faction may disrupt the proceedings."
"Yes sir."
"Good luck Commander. Dismissed."
Maxwell returned to the Sentry to find all battle damage from the last mission repaired and torpedo launchers reloaded. The Sentry departed Spacedock on course for Vulcan. As the ship jumped to warp, Maxwell had a strange sense of Deja vu. The last time he took a ship to Vulcan the Captain died. He only hoped it wouldn't turn out that way.
As luck would have it the journey to Vulcan was uneventful. The Sentry rendezvoused with the Kirk and Blackbeard and then jumped to warp on course for Regulus. It would take a few days to get there so Maxwell spent the time drilling his ship's company in emergency procedures, using the ship's only holodeck.
After three day's journey the small Starfleet group dropped out of warp in orbit of Regulus. A Klingon Vor'cha-class cruiser was also in orbit carrying the Klingon delegation. The three Starfleet ships took up stationary orbit well away from the Klingon ship and Captains Thelin, Sparrow and Maxwell joined Lieutenant Paris on the surface in the Federation Embassy. The talks were seemingly going very well with the details of a cease-fire being hashed out when an explosion rocked the Embassy.
"Maxwell to Sentry, status report!"
"Sir, a bird of prey decloaked in the atmosphere and attacked the Embassy are you okay?" asked a concerned Flores.
"We're ok down here. Find that ship and destroy it immediately." Ordered Maxwell
"It's already left the system sir, but we have a new problem. Four Orion Corvettes, one Brigand cruiser, a Corsair flight-deck cruiser and a Klingon Negh'Var have dropped out of warp. They are demanding we surrender the…Kuvah'magh? They are transporting ground troops. Standby for beam-out…not good. The Orions are jamming our transporters you have to get outside!" replied Flores.
Maxwell pulled a rifle from a nearby arms locker and handed out a phaser pistol to both Captains and the Lieutenant. The Klingon delegation was already armed with their own disruptor pistols; their ship was also having similar difficulties in transport. The Klingon ambassador ordered his ship to help the Starfleet ships as they engaged the Orions and joined Maxwell and his team as they prepared to fight their way out of the embassy.
The Omega team assigned to guard Lieutenant Paris was in the hallway, having felt the attack, moved to engage the ground forces. A mix of Klingons and Orions. Maxwell and the rest of the diplomatic group joined them in fighting the interlopers.
Maxwell moved down a hall in the lead, turned a corner and immediately dropped a Klingon standing in the middle of the hall. A group of Klingons turned a corner and opened fire. Maxwell took cover behind a potted plant as the Omega team and diplomatic group returned fire. Paris brought down two Klingons with her pistol, while the Klingon Ambassador was apparently a master marksman with a disruptor pistol hitting the other three Klingons in the head putting them down instantly.
The group reached the main entryway and found a dozen Klingons and another dozen Orions waiting for them. A massive firefight broke out and the diplomatic team began taking hits. Maxwell's shields nearly failed before he took cover to let them recharge. Then came up and fired at as many targets as he could. Eventually the diplomatic team won out and emerged from the darkened corridors of the Embassy to the bright sunlight.
Waiting for them were half a dozen Klingons clustered around a device of some kind. Maxwell turned to throw a grenade but one of the Omega operators stopped him. "Sir, it's a bomb. A grenade could set it off." He said
"Glad you stopped me. Take out the Klingons then see if you can't disarm it." Maxwell replied
"Yes sir." Replied the operator
He and his team used their armor's active camouflage system to disappear and silently slit the throats of four Klingons. The other two was immediately alerted but had their throats cut as well. As the Klingons bled to death one of the Omega members appeared and began working on the bomb. "Was it red, red, green? Or red, green, red?" he said to himself. Another member spoke up "And he's supposed to be the demolitions expert?"
A moment later the man working the bomb said "Clear." An indication that the bomb had been disarmed.
"Let's move on. Maxwell to Sentry. We're outside but we've detected spaciel charges in the vicinity. We'll have to disarm them before beaming up."
"Understood. But we're taking a beating up here. We're doing what we can but we are heavily outnumbered. We just lost the Klingon shi-." The signal dissolved into static.
Maxwell turned to the Klingon Ambassador. "I'm afraid your ship has been destroyed. Our ships are doing what they can but they are outnumbered. When we're finished you can beam onto any one of our ships."
"Thank you commander."
Maxwell sent the omega team ahead to disarm the other three charges detected. Maxwell had another plan. Moving into a nearby building and fighting past a group of Orions, Maxwell managed to access a subspace comm array and send a distress signal.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Maxwell; we are under attack at Regulus by a Klingon-Orion fleet. Need immediate assistance. We only have three Federation ships and are heavily outnumbered."
Five minutes later the omega team reported all charges disarmed and the Klingon and Orion troops retreated. "Sentry to ground team standby for evacuation."
A four-man omega team, three captains a lieutenant and three Klingons disappeared in blue light.
Captains Thelin and Sparrow were transported to their ships at the earliest opportunity. The Klingon Ambassadors were escorted to quarters. Maxwell went to the bridge and asked for a report.
"Shields are down to 75%. We've taken damage to engines and life support. The Blackbeard and Kirk are damaged in much the same way. We took out two corvettes and the Brigand cruiser. But every time we clear the area of interceptors the other cruiser launches more and the Negh'Var is deploying boarding shuttles like they have unlimited crew. We managed to disengage just long enough to beam you up." Reported Flores.
"Sir, I have orders from the Kirk. We're to form up with them and punch out way through to the edge of the system. There is a device preventing us from forming a stable warp field. If we destroy it, we can escape." Said T'Vrell.
"Hopefully more ships will arrive soon. I managed to send a distress call from a comm array on the surface. It was probably garbled but maybe someone heard it." Replied Maxwell.
U.S.S. Renown – In orbit of Vulcan.
"Repeat the message." Captain Vo'Lok said.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Maxwell; we are under…Regulus by a Kli…on-Or…n fleet. Need…stance…Outnumbered."
"Time to Regulus?"
"Four hours at maximum warp." Replied the helmsman
"Sir, we have a transwarp conduit ending in that system. We can be there instantly." Replied his first officer.
'Very well. Red alert. Standby transwarp drive. Signal any available ships to accompany us."
"Yes sir."
U.S.S. Sentry – Regulus Orbit
"Fire!" yelled Maxwell.
The Sentry fired its forward weapons in a spread to catch multiple targets. The enemy fleet lost the last Corvette and shields on the last two ships were weakened, but interceptors and boarding shuttles were swarming the three ships. A shuttle managed to breach the hull and Klingons swarmed onto the ship.
Another trio of Orion Corvettes dropped out of warp along with six B'rel-class birds of prey. The Kirk engaged the Klingon ships while the Blackbeard attacked the center of three Corvettes. The Sentry took a hit on the port nacelle and began drifting. With Klingons aboard the crew couldn't concentrate on repairs.
The three ships were fighting desperately but when all hope seemed lost, a transwarp conduit appeared. One crewmen aboard the Kirk thought it was the Borg but quickly corrected himself. The U.S.S. Renown and six frigates appeared and immediately engaged. Three frigates hit the swarm of fighters and shuttles. The Renown and remaining ship engaged the Negh'Var. It didn't take long for the ship to be forced to retreat.
With the Negh'Var out of the picture the remaining Orion ships turned and jumped to warp. Captain Vo'Lok spoke with Captain Thelin then beamed a repair and medical team aboard the Kirk and Blackbeard.
On the Sentry the fight for the ship had reached a draw with Klingons controlling the center and Starfleet still controlling the bridge and engineering. Maxwell was leading a security team to clear the ship when he heard transporters. He rushed around the corner, weapon raised…and immediately lowered it. "Captain Vo'Lok."
"Lieutenant Commander Maxwell. It is agreeable to see you again." Replied Vo'Lok
"And you, Captain. But we're not done here, there are two dozen Klingons aboard. I could use your help to clear them out." Replied Maxwell
"Very well. We will accompany your team." He replied
Maxwell and Vo'Lok along with nearly a dozen security officers moved through what used to be crew quarters. The Klingons had taken all of deck three, most of which were crew quarters. Internal sensors were down so the crew had been conducting a deck by deck search when they ran into Vo'Lok on deck 2. Moving down a corridor a group of six Klingons charged but were almost instantly cut down from a dozen phaser rifles hitting them at once. They turned a corner and found seven bodies in Starfleet uniforms.
Maxwell knelt next to an ensign with severe disruptor burns, he felt for a pulse but found none. "Check and see if any of them are alive." He ordered.
A security officer pulled out a tricorder and scanned the immediate area. Finding no life signs, he slowly closed the device and shook his head. "I'm sorry sir. They're gone."
Maxwell sighed heavily, then stood and readied his weapon again. "There could be more Klingons. Let's keep searching but keep an eye out for more casualties."
Vo'Lok raised an eyebrow in a typical Vulcan fashion then moved up beside Maxwell. A sudden call over the comm interrupted their search.
"Zarva to Security, we're under attack, requesting immediate assistance."
"Maxwell to Zarva, we're on our way. Hold tight." He replied
"Captain, I managed to get the internal sensors back online. From what I can tell, there are two dozen Klingons left and they all decided to come here." She said, phaser and disruptor fire sounded off in the background. "Please hurry! AAARRRGGG"
"Zarva? Zarva! Report!" Maxwell looked at Vo'Lok then moved to a system display panel. "Captain, we'll use a sight-to-sight transport to get to engineering faster than a turbolift. Your team will transport here, mine here." He said pointing to corridors leading to engineering. "We breach from both sides and catch the Klingons in a cross fire."
"A sound tactical plan."
The transporter room was right around the corner and thankfully under Starfleet control. Maxwell set the controls for a sight to sight transport and both teams dissolved in blue light only to reappear a moment later in separate corridors. Maxwell checked his position on a nearby display and smiled. "Right where we're supposed to be. Maxwell to Vo'Lok, transport successful, advancing on target."
"Understood. We are moving that way as well."
The entrance to Engineering was set at a T-junction, with the Klingons having to defend three separate approaches. Luckily there were only six of them outside the doors, they were dropped by fire from both sides. Both assault teams stacked up next to the large doors. "Before we go in there, remember to watch your fire. Try not to hit the warp core." Every member nodded. "Captain, the manual release if you will." Maxwell asked
Vo'Lok nodded, turned and opened a small hatch with a pump. With his Vulcan strength he pumped the handed five times then hit a button and the door swished open. Disruptor fire immediately assailed both teams but they were all equipped with personal shields which allowed them to rush in under fire. Maxwell ran in and took cover near a console and returned fire. There were two dozen Klingons in engineering, the firefight that broke out was intense. Although they were all equipped with full auto rifles they dare not use the full auto sweep function lest a stray bolt hit the warp core and destroy the ship. So it was a slow, intense and bloody process to dislodge the Klingons and when it was over Vo'Lok himself required medical attention, along with several assault team members. Maxwell crouched over Zarva, his tricorder showed massive internal bleeding and multiple disruptor wounds
"I need a medic over here now!"
Her eyes opened, recognizing him she tried to speak.
"The ship….out of danger?" she asked weakly.
"Yes. We've retaken the ship." He replied
She nodded slowly as a medic quickly arrived to ascertain her condition. He took one look at his tricorder, looked at Maxwell and shook his head then gave her something for pain.
The Renown took the Sentry in tow and brought it to Starbase K-7 for repairs which were extensive. The crew held a memorial service with full military honors. Since firing phasers on a space station was prohibited by regulations, seven shuttlecraft took position outside the windows. They fired a single phaser pulse past the window three times. A twenty-one-gun salute for the fallen.
Once the ship was repaired they went back to Earth Spacedock to receive new crewmembers. Maxwell had to choose from a list of candidates for Chief Engineer, he finally settled on a Vulcan female named T'Pring.