Chapter 12
Skirmish
James Maxwell opened his eyes. He knew there was something wrong. He sat up straight. "Computer, lights." He commanded.
As the lights came on, he saw a stern-looking man with a crew-cut, sitting in a chair, just…looking at him, fingertips touching in front of him. "Good morning Captain. My name is Franklin Drake. I represent a…special branch of Starfleet Intelligence." He said in a baritone voice
"Special branch? Let me guess…Section 31. The Federations analog to the Tal Shiar and the old Cardassian Obsidian Order." Maxwell replied
"Very good Captain. But we're not quite the same. We're not a secret police service. We have a mission for you."
"I get my missions from Admiral Quinn."
"Quinn authorized this mission. We have reports of a True Way fleet entering the Neutral Zone and picking a fight with the Klingons near the Donatu system. While having two of our enemies fighting each other is good for the Federation, I want to know what the True Way is doing in that area of space. We need you to intercept their fleet and disable their flagship, then board it."
"Just like that huh?" Maxwell asked.
"Don't act like it's a suicide mission. We've assigned a task force to help you destroy the fleet. It's composed of both Cardassian and Dominion ships, most likely crewed by Alpha Quadrant Jem'Hadar. You are familiar with them?" Drake asked.
"Yes. They were bred by the Founders during the Dominion War specifically for combat in this quadrant."
"Very good. The fleet itself isn't all that big. A dozen vessels at most."
"Alright. What about the Klingons?" Maxwell asked.
"If you have to engage them then do so. But don't let them destroy the flagship. The information I need is most likely on that ship." Drake replied.
"What exactly am I supposed to be looking- "he stopped as he turned around. Drake was no longer there. He didn't hear the whine of a transporter activating. They must have some other method or perhaps a silent transporter? Maxwell had never heard of one. In any case, he had a job to do. He checked the computer, from their current location it would take them a week to get to the Donatu system. How was he supposed to stop a fleet when he was a week away? Before he left his quarters though, he noticed a PADD on the table. He eyed it suspiciously, then picked it up.
Transwarp corridor to the Donatu system located at the following coordinates. Taskforce will engage True Way and Klingons in two hours.
He quickly headed to the turbo-lift and went to the bridge. A moment later the ship jumped to warp.
It took the ship fifteen minutes to reach the coordinates and another five for T'Vrell to open the transwarp conduit. Amazingly, the jump took just another 60 seconds. Two hours later, the rest of the task force formed up and jumped into the system.
The Galaxy-class U.S.S. Challenger, captained by legendary engineer Geordi LaForge; led the way, along with two Defiant-class escorts, three Centaur-class tactical frigates, a Nebula-class ship acting as a hospital ship, the Sentry and another Sabre-class escort.
"All ships this is LaForge, assume attack formation Alpha-3. Escorts, Target Jem'Hadar fighters, frigates will run interference against the Klingons. Hospital ship, stand by to receive casualties."
The ships gave a string of acknowledgments, then accelerated to attack speed. The task force faced a fleet of a dozen ships. Half of which were Jem'Hadar fighters, three more were Hideki-class ships of Cardassian design, two more were Galor-class cruisers and the flagship was a larger Keldon-class ship. Also, in the system were three modern Birds-of Prey and a Raptor-class escort.
The Sentry, along with the other three escorts took down three Jem'Hadar ships with a single spread of torpedoes.
"Helm, hard to starboard, target: Hideki-class ship to starboard. All weapons fire!" Maxwell yelled.
The ship shuddered with torpedo launches and cannon fire. The targeted vessel quickly blew up. "Jem'Hadar fighter behind us!" Flores reported, and the ship shook with polaron weapons fire and quantum torpedo hits. "Evasive maneuvers, pattern Delta." Maxwell ordered
The Sentry rolled to port then again to starboard to evade the weapons fire. Suddenly the ship behind them exploded in a flurry of disruptor bolts. A Bird of Prey had destroyed it but then began targeting the Sentry.
"Aft Phasers, overload level one. Then torpedoes maximum yield, fire when ready." Maxwell ordered.
"Aye, sir." Flores replied
A thicker more powerful beam hit the Bird of Prey's forward shield draining it heavily. Then three high yield quantum torpedoes finished it off. The Sentry rocked again. "Another Bird of Prey to port!" Flores reported.
"Helm, hard to port." Maxwell ordered.
The Sentry turned to port, evading a burst of disruptor fire. "Lock weapons and return fire…never mind." Maxwell said. A frigate had engaged the Klingon ship and was pummeling it with phasers and torpedoes.
"Challenger to Sentry, we're getting ready to assault the command ship. Form up on the Challenger. I understand you have orders to board the ship." Maxwell heard Laforge's orders over the comm.
He nodded to the helm. "Do it." Then to the comm. "Yes sir. The orders come from Starfleet Intelligence."
"I see. Standby." He replied.
The Sentry came in on the Challenger's port side. Precision strikes disable the main ship's weapons, engines, and shields, while the Sentry concentrated an alpha strike on one of the escorting Galor-class ships. The escort's warp core went critical then exploded damaging the Sentry and Challenger's shields. But both ships were otherwise unharmed.
Maxwell stood. "Flores, you're with me. Have an assault team meet us in the transporter room."
A chorus of acknowledgments and the crew switched stations. Flores followed Maxwell into the turbo-lift. "Did this Franklin Drake mention what sort of information we're supposed to be looking for?" she asked.
"No. I assume it's one of those 'I'll know it when I see it' type things." Maxwell replied.
"Yes sir." She replied
A squad of six men met Maxwell and Flores in the transporter room. Maxwell put on a vest of poly-alloy weave armor. The vest is a similar concept to the old kevlar vests worn by the Earth's militaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. The rest of the team wore similar armor but also had shoulder and leg parts. Flores took a split beam rifle while Maxwell took a full-auto rifle and standard sidearm.
"Let's go." He ordered
The team got on the transporter pad and readied their weapons. "Energize."
Eight people disappeared from the pad and rematerialized on the Cardassian ship. Seeing no immediate threat, Flores traded her rifle for her tricorder and scanned the area. "Sir, I'm detecting multiple Cardassian life signs headed in our direction, probably a security team." She reported, then traded her tricorder for her rifle.
"Ready weapons. Move out." Maxwell ordered.
One of the assault team officers took point and led the way to the first intersection. Cardassian security was quick alright. As the team rounded the corner, three beams of phaser energy shot in their direction. One beam hit the lead officer and he stumbled but his shields took the brunt of the impact. The officer returned fire while Maxwell suppressed the Cardassian team with a full-auto sweep from his rifle. The rest of the team returned fire and quickly defeated the four-man security team. Before they could move on however two more Cardassians opened fire from behind striking two officers, but they quickly spun and showered the two enemies in phaser fire. A quick tricorder scan indicated no further security teams en route. Maxwell took point and led the team down the corridor, then turned right. The next room appeared to be an engineering lab of some kind. The boarding party swept through the room taking down several Cardassians. But before they could move on they disabled the force field generators that would have prevented them from getting to the bridge.
Flores worked a console then reported, "There, that should take care of any security measures between here and the bridge, unless they send more security teams we should have a clear run."
"Good work. Let's move on. Stay alert." Maxwell ordered.
The team exited the engineering room and went down a few corridors and found themselves in the mess hall when something…happened.
"What in blazes?" Maxwell asked
The room flickered a dark bluish color and he thought he saw figures, floating in the air. They appeared to be attacking two Cardassians who quickly fired back but their shots had no effect. A moment later both Cardassians collapsed while the figures floated away. The room flickered again then returned to its normal lighting.
"What were those things?" asked one officer.
"I don't know. Let's take a look at that Cardassian officer." Maxwell said pointing to a body on the floor. The combat medic of the team knelt next to the body and scanned it with a medical tricorder.
"There is a great deal of interference sir. I recommend we beam the body to sickbay so our doctor can perform an autopsy." He said
"Agreed." Maxwell tapped his combadge. "Maxwell to Sentry, we just had something strange happen over here. I don't even know how to explain it. A dead Cardassian officer is laying right next to me. Beam it to sickbay and have T'Vrell conduct an autopsy."
A moment's hesitation then "Aye sir."
The body disappeared in blue light and the team moved out of the mess hall. They encountered another security team and tore right through them. The team moved into the ship's sickbay and the strange flickering lights happened again. Maxwell called a halt. "We have to find out what's going on here. Sgt., where is the nearest science lab?" he asked the team leader.
"On this ship, there should be one down that hallway sir." He replied
"Let's go."
While the team moved down the hallway, T'Vrell called with the autopsy results.
"The officer died from a radical decrease in neural energy. Like he was drained from an outside source. All brain activity suddenly ceased as the energy was drained." She reported.
"Can we detect that energy?" he asked
"There may be energy residue that you could track using the ship's internal sensors."
"Good. We're on our way to the closest science lab." Maxwell replied
"Here it is sir. Looks pretty cramped in there. We'll stay out here and keep an eye out." Reported the team leader.
"Very well. Flores with me." Maxwell ordered.
He approached the nearest console, tapped a few controls, and found the internal sensors. Unfortunately, they were damaged so only a few options were available. "Let's see, electro-plasma, that won't help, the ship runs on EPS conduits and Cardassian ships have poor shielding for them…. Nuclear fission? No, I think we would notice that…. Omega…. none found. Polaric Ions? None of those either. Wait…blue flashes, figures floating in the air…. could it be?" Maxwell asked and quickly ran a scan on the last option.
The computer beeped an affirmative and displayed a schematic of the Axon, the name of the ship which they had boarded. The bridge and several other areas showed contamination.
"Triolic waves. I should have guessed. Probably Devidians, let's get to the bridge." He said
"Sir, Triolic waves are harmful to humanoids. We shouldn't stay there long." Flores replied.
"Agreed. Hopefully, we'll only be there long enough to download the ship's data core."
Maxwell stepped out of the lab and the hallway flickered again. "Sir. Look." Said one of the officers, pointing to a figure floating in the air headed down the corridor. "It's headed for the bridge."
"Let's go." Maxwell ordered.
The team went after the floating figure and found the door to the bridge. A quick tap on a local control panel and the door swished open and the team rushed in. They found several of the floating beings hovering over now dead Cardassian troops and appeared to be drawing energy from the bodies. The 'ghosts' turned and Maxwell heard a harsh voice in his head.
WE HUNGERRRRRRRR.
The figures turned to the team and moved in their direction. Maxwell was the first to open fire. To his surprise, the burst of phaser fire hit the creature dead center causing it to fall back. Maxwell fired twice more, then the creature appeared to vaporize. The rest of the team quickly opened fire and defeated the creatures. They thought the room was secure but before they could access any consoles a large creature appeared in the middle with a…cane?
Maxwell and the team quickly opened fire and the creature shook then used the cane to draw energy from the team. One officer was held in midair while his energy began to drain. Maxwell tossed a photon grenade which made the creature howl and dropped the officer it had been draining. A few more shots and the creature again appeared to vaporize. A quick check of the officer confirmed he was unharmed but Maxwell ordered him to sickbay upon their return.
"Flores, download the ship's logs. Then we beam out."
"Yes sir." She replied, opening her tricorder and setting the download.
The combat medic spoke up, "Sir, our exposure to Triolic waves is cumulative. We should leave as soon as possible."
"We leave when the download is complete. Flores?"
"Just another minute sir…I've got the logs. I can set up a data link from the ship and we can download all their intel." She replied
"Good. Maxwell to Sentry, eight to beam up."
"Aye, sir."
A few hours later, after a medical examination to check for Triolic contamination the away team was cleared. Maxwell dismissed the assault team back to their regular posts and had Flores transfer the logs to his ready room and set up the data link from the bridge.
"Bridge to Maxwell." Flores' voice came over the comm.
"Yes?" he replied
"Sir, sensors indicate a large force of Klingon ships inbound. The taskforce is getting ready to jump out."
"What about the datalink?"
"I got 75% of the database. Including their most recent intelligence reports. The remainder is fairly normal maintenance and repair logs."
"Good. Lock weapons and destroy the ship then we'll jump out with the rest of the fleet. After that set course for Earth."
Maxwell returned his attention to the logs. The Gul in charge of the ship and fleet seemed preoccupied with visions of glory and a return to the old Cardassian government. The Engineering log showed the ship was almost constantly in combat. The chief engineer knew the ship needed an overhaul but their schedule didn't allow for it. The science and medical logs showed multiple unexplained deaths among the crew.
Maxwell felt the ship shudder a few times as photon torpedoes launched. Then he felt and saw the ship jump to warp outside his window. A week later they arrived at Earth.
Maxwell stepped into Quinn's office and sat in the chair in front of the Admiral's desk.
"Excellent work on the Cardassian ship . I have intelligence pouring over the logs and tactical data. These 'ghosts' you saw are confirmed as Devidians. We're trying to figure out what their motivation is for being in the area. The Temporal Investigations Department is looking into the presence of the chroniton particles found there as well. We'll get back to you soon. In the meantime, I'm giving you and your crew a 48-hour liberty pass."
"Thank you, sir."