STAR TREK:
THE NO-WIN SCENARIO
By Darrin Colbourne
Silas was too stunned to react at first. One minute, Enterprise was saving her and Rider Two's asses, and the next the starship was being shot up by a Kahless cruiser. "Where the hell did he come from?!" Silas yelled at the universe.
"I don't know," Shanahan said, "but we sure know where he's going!"
Silas growled and keyed her external comms. "Rider Two, Rider One, you still have your Mk 18s?"
"That's affirmative, Rider One," the pilot of Two radioed back. "I'm locked and cocked!"
"Follow me in!" Silas gunned the engines and took off in pursuit of the Klingon ship.
"We doin' what I think?" Shanahan asked.
"We sure are!" Silas said. "Nobody trashes my air base!"
"The Cavaliers are pursuing us!" The Sensor officer called out.
Kor held his tongue, but only just, complaining only in his own mind that if his incompetent Raptor pilots had been doing their jobs this wouldn't be a problem. That Silas had to be a witch, he concluded, or unreasonably lucky. "How are they armed?" He called back.
"The lead ship is armed only with a laser weapon. The trailing ship seems to be armed with their Mark Eighteen anti-shipping torpedoes!"
"Of course it is," Kor grumbled. He weighed his options. Since the main objective of the mission was to kill Silas, he just needed to turn around, swat the Cavaliers out of the sky and declare victory. The problem was there was no way to be sure of killing the secondary objective - Montoya - without killing Enterprise, a much more difficult prospect, even with all the damage the starship had taken to this point. Kor was the type of man who hated leaving anything half-finished, so he decided then and there that he would do what was necessary to kill both targets. That meant his real choice was whether to turn and attack the Cavaliers first or maintain course and speed and destroy Enterprise first. Either course of action would leave a potential threat in his wake, one that might prevent him from achieving total victory. What he really needed was a way to get all the Human ships in his ship's kill zone…
And then it hit him, and he smiled as he realized the Humans' lives were almost at an end. "Helm! Prepare to jump to the following coordinates on my mark…!"
Meanwhile, ahead of Gowron and running fast, there was pandemonium in Enterprise's Engineering Watch Section as the Power/Propulsion Officer had to practically shout to be heard over the various alarms sounding in the space. "We've got major disruptions in nearly thirty percent of the distribution system, and they're causing 'low power' situations in the Fire Control, Life Support and Flight Operations subsystems!"
Commander Adams thought fast. "Okay, bring up the auxiliaries and shut down both engines!"
The Officer complied. The lighting in the Control and Engineering spaces changed from red to blue when auxiliary power kicked in. The bad news came when he tried to shut down the Warp engines. "Engine Two is down, but I can't lock down Engine One!"
Adams checked the status board. "We're gonna have to dump it! Get ready, on my signal!" He took a step toward Control. "Captain! I'm gonna need you to make a clearing turn down and right on my signal! We're dumping the Number One Warp engine!"
"You heard him, Number One?" Pike said.
"I heard him!" McDonald said. "Down and right, on his mark!"
As they spoke, Adams watched carefully as the Power/Propulsion Officer tested the mechanisms that would detach the engine nacelle from its support strut. "We're good to go!" He said.
"Dump the nacelle!" Adams ordered, then he turned to Control. "Make the turn, now, now, now!"
A series of explosive bolts separated the portside engine nacelle from its strut just as Number One gave Enterprise ten degrees of down-angle and hard right yaw. The damaged engine continued on Enterprise's base course with about a degree of up-angle. Adams watched closely as the two objects retreated from each other in space, hoping that the ship would put enough void between itself and its sick engine before…
"Everybody brace yourselves!" Adams called out. "We're gonna feel this one!"
At that moment, the engine nacelle exploded in a brilliant flash of white light! The shockwave slammed into Enterprise a few seconds later. As the ship rattled and slewed right, McDonald fought to turn her head-on into the effect. She managed it just a second before the turbulence subsided.
"That explosion!" Kor exclaimed. "Was it Enterprise? Was she destroyed??"
"Negative," Sensors said. "It jettisoned one of its power units! The ship itself is still intact!"
Kor pounded an armrest with his fist. "Not for long! Make the jump now!"
"Almost there…" Silas announced to no one in particular. She wanted to get Rider Two within point blank range of the target so that when he launched his torpedoes it would be a two-second run and bye-bye Mister Klingon. To that end she was jinking back and forth in Rider Two's path to give the Kahless's close-in defenses something to shoot at besides Rider Two. She expected to get shot up in the process, but if it meant a clean kill on the bad guy, it would be worth it.
What she never expected was to see the Kahless suddenly jump to Warp, creating turbulence that tossed Rider One and Two aside. "Hey! No fair!" Silas complained when she recovered.
Shanahan checked his readings. "It didn't go far! That was barely enough subspace displacement for an emergency jump! We'll find it with a long-range sweep!"
Aboard Enterprise, the Control Room crew was recovering as Adams made his report. "Obviously the port main engine's a total loss. Starboard engine is shut down. We have enough of a charge in the auxiliary units to give us full maneuverability and weapons for about two days, assuming nothing heinous happens to them in the meantime."
Pike put a hand to his forehead and knitted his considerable brow as he listened. When Adams was finished, the Captain of the Enterprise gritted his teeth and growled, "Okay…now I'm pissed!"
The Sensor Officer spoke up then. "Warp contact! King Four just jumped! He's on our starboard quarter now, ten light-minutes out! He's turning toward us!"
"Why waste the warp power?" Number One said. "He could just as easily have closed on us from his last position."
"I think I know, Number One," Sensors said. "Last time we had a good look Riders One and Two were trailing King Four. Now that the Klingon's jumped and turned the way he has…"
"…he's got us all in his boresight!" Pike finished. "Nice and neat!"
"Shall I reposition the Riders, Captain?" The Communicator asked.
"No," Pike said. "Tell them to stay on station where they are and prepare to track King Four after we make our run." He straightened up in the chair and settled himself in. "Number One, I'm tired of playing nice with this bastard. Put us in his face!"
McDonald grinned as she turned the ship. "In his face, Aye, Sir!" When Enterprise was bow-on to the Klingon, she gunned the sub-light engines. "Answers Ahead Flank! Deflectors Full Intensity!"
"Take him down the right side, Number One," Pike said, "but don't give him an indication of what you're doing till the last possible moment!"
"I love a good game of chicken…" Adams muttered as he retreated to the Watch Section.
"Cannons to anti-ship mode!" Pike toggled his Intercraft switch. "This is the Captain! Prepare for particle bombardment! Seal all compartments! Anyone not in a blast-shielded area of the ship, get to one right now!" He signed off and watched as the Landers guarding the port and starboard passages stepped in just a second before those passages were closed off by emergency bulkheads. "Fire when you have the range, Weapons!" He called out.
McDonald hated to do it, but she had to ask. "And if he decides to launch missiles instead?"
Pike checked the countermeasures status on his control panel. "We've still got enough drones to deal with one Kahless's rate of missile fire. We'll be fine. Besides, this is just as personal for him as it is for me. This is a gunfight right now."
"Enterprise is closing to attack!" Sensors called out. "Her particle cannons are deployed and all targeted on us! She's at full military speed and is on a collision course!"
"You sound frightened, Man!" Kor said.
"Not frightened, Captain, just…astonished. I never thought the Earthers had it in them!"
Kor grinned. "But aren't you glad they do?? Now this is a battle! Match bearings and speed! Full power to the forward cannon! Fire as soon as we're in range!"
"Should I launch a salvo of missiles?" Weapons asked.
Kor dismissed him with a wave. "If they have the stomach for a proper duel, then we won't disappoint them!" He raised his fist high. "For The Emperor! K'plah!"
"K'plah!" The other Klingon officers called back, and suddenly the atmosphere in Gowron's control room was a lot more jovial.
"Are you seeing this?" Silas breathed as she watched the big ships close with each other on one of her screens.
"Man, I am so glad I ain't in the ship right now," Shanahan said. "You just know half the crew's crapping a fat brick!"
Silas barely heard him. She was transfixed by the sight of Enterprise running in hot with guns, just like the in the old Air Corps movies. "Go baby go…" she whispered, "go baby go…"
The Enterprise and the Gowron opened fire simultaneously, showering each other's command sections with millions of high energy particles! Both ships shook as the blasts bounced off armor at first and then began to penetrate! The internal noise was deafening as the blasts that made it through impacted on blast-shielded spaces! Both ships kept up their volume of fire as they closed within "kissin' distance!"
The starship's Approach Angle imager was blown out within the first few seconds of the exchange, so Number One had to rely on the information she was getting from Sensors on the ships' positions. At what she thought was the right moment she gave the ship ninety degrees of right roll and a degree of down angle, hoping against hope that she wouldn't hear the sound of alloy scraping against alloy. Fortunately the Klingon helmsman was just as skilled. He matched the maneuver at just the right instant. Of course, both ships maintained fire as they passed.
When the rattling was done and noise had ceased, Pike called out, "Check Fire! Damage Control, all Sections! Maintain course and speed! Fire Control, Off-boresight Snapshots on both tubes! Communicator, can we talk to the Riders?"
The Communicator checked her station. "Yes, Sir! We took some damage but we've still got short range comms!"
"Have the Riders illuminate King Four as soon as it makes its turn and relay its exact position to us!"
"They're not turning?" Kor said as Gowron turned for another strafing run.
"No, Sir." Sensors said. "Enterprise is now holding course away from us and maintaining full military speed."
"No stomach for another pass then," Kor said. He sounded disappointed. "Oh, well. Prepare a salvo of missiles. Fire when ready and reload until…"
A warning alarm sounded. "Captain! The Cavaliers are illuminating us with their targeting systems!"
"Ahh! They leave us to their pygmies! Very well, we shall dispatch them as…!"
"Pardon me, Captain, but the Cavalier armed with torpedoes has not released them yet."
Kor thought about that for a moment, then blanched as he asked, "Has Enterprise fired?"
"I can't tell," Sensors said. "With the starship turned away from us, it's difficult…"
"Don't give me technicalities! Just tell me if there are any Warp indicators near the ship's forward end! Hurry, fool, before…"
At that moment, two Mk 24 torpedoes re-entered normal space in the Klingon cruiser's center of mass, and the Imperial Klingon Ship Gowron disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light.
"King Four, sunk!" Enterprise's Sensor Officer called out. "All targets sunk, Splash all Bandits, Splash all inbound Vampires!"
Cheers erupted in the Control Room and Engineering section and persisted as the Control Room crew of the starship Enterprise celebrated their amazing victory. Pike let the cheering go on until he decided it was time to share the good news with the rest of the ship. He sent a discreet signal to McDonald. She nodded and called out, "All right, everyone! Quiet down! Quiet down, now!"
Pike waited for the cheers to die down, then got on Intercraft. "This is the Captain! We entered this region of space with the intention of lending assistance to a spacecraft in trouble. We were met instead by ten of the Klingon Emperor's finest ships. Final report: We're here, they're not. Outstanding work, people!"
The cheering started again, and this time there were only three people in the ship not joining in. McDonald just looked around, grinning at her shipmates. Pike smiled a satisfied smile, pride for his ship and crew supremely evident on his face.
Then, of course, there was Isabel Montoya.
Pike spotted her after a minute or two. She wasn't cheering, and she was deliberately avoiding looking around Control. She simply sat with her arms folded and her head bowed, and with an expression on her face that was not quite disgust, or disappointment, but a little of both.
Pike didn't want her bringing down the rest of the crew, so he decided to handle it before anyone else noticed. "Science Officer! Let's get some estimates on how long it will take to clear the excess radiation from the damaged spaces!"
The barked command was just enough to snap Montoya out of her malaise. "Aye, Sir," she said before she turned to her controls.
The Control Room quieted down when people realized Pike was getting back to work. "Number One, slow to Ahead Creep! Weapons, stow all cannons and secure off-board countermeasures! ChEng, I want an assessment of our current Space Warp capability, ASAP! Communicator, recall Rider One and Two. Do we have clear subspace channels yet?"
"Sorry, Sir," The Communicator said. "I couldn't tell you. Both high gain subspace transceivers are down."
Pike chuckled. "Of course. Well, it should be safe to launch a comms relay. ChEng, get on those transceivers!"
"On 'em now, Captain!" Adams called back.
"Communicator, have the Flight Bay launch a relay, and as soon as it's up send the following to group: 'From Commander, USS Enterprise to Commander, Deep Recon Group One. Encountered units of the Klingon Armada while answering a distress call. Klingon units commenced full-scale attack on this ship. Status: Enterprise is down one engine and heavily damaged. All enemy units destroyed. No sign of ship in distress. Request instructions and assistance. Message ends.' Add the usual stamps and signature."
"Aye, Sir," the Communicator said.
As the officer got to work, McDonald got on Intercraft. "Damage and Casualty reports, All Sections!"
And with that, life aboard the starship, slowly, happily, returned to normal.