AN: A second chapter that I hope garners some attention and feedback.
Dominion War Chronicles
Ch2: Run to Britannica
Location: USS Ajax, Captain's quarters
Captain's personal log; Terran Date 05.09.2373. We've completed our escort duty and I'm pleased to report that both the convoy and my ship and the Decatur returned to DS9 without incident. We spent only a couple of days at DS9 to make some critical hull repairs before we set off for the Britannica System.
Doctor Retzu Zar has discharged the majority of the wounded from sickbay, but we lost almost all of the Revanche survivors on the way to DS9. All due to extreme radiation exposure. I almost suggested euthanasia to end their suffering, but I know she would most likely disembowel me with one of those antique scalpels she keeps on her office wall. I swear, that woman may be a joined trill with five lifetimes worth of experience and a brilliant doctor, but she scares me half to death sometimes.
On another note I never thought I would say this, but now I owe Admiral Nechayev one for speeding along the timetable for our scheduled refit. However I now have to suffer the 'honour' of her company as she uses my ship as a taxi service to the Britannica System.
End personal log.
The captain leaned back in his comfy chair as he ended his log which was automatically transcribed and saved in the ship's databanks. He looked about his cabin and took comfort in the solid bulkheads all around him. Unlike the officer's quarters on a Galaxy- or Nebula-class starship there were no windows that looked out at the great expanse of space on a ship of an Excelsior-class starship's lineage. What he did have was a large painting of his ship in flight on one of his bulkheads. He never felt comfortable having large windows in his quarters, especially when he was assigned to the Phoenix, a Nebula-class explorer.
A chime sounded from his door. "Enter!"
In came Commander Macdougan with a tall saurian brandy flask in his hand. "I thought you could use a nightcap after dealing with the lady admiral."
James snorted as he sat up and picked up a couple of small glasses from a nearby cabinet. "Admiral Nechayev is certainly a difficult woman to deal with. Fortunately she can be polite company when we're off the clock."
Duncan smirked a little. "And she's not a bad looking lady." All he got in response was a deadpan look from his old friend.
"I'll try to forget you said that," said James as Duncan poured the saurian brandy into the two glasses, which to James' surprise wasn't the usual dark brown, but light blue. "Romulan Ale? I see you've managed to raid our good doctor's liquor cabinet again."
Duncan chuckled as he finished pouring. "She knows her spirits, plus this stuff is high quality Romulan Ale. A gift from a previous host I think." He then resealed the flask and offered up one of the glasses, which James accepted with a smile.
"Just don't come screaming to me when she comes at you with one of those antique scalpels of hers." He took a small sip and instantly felt the ale burn down his throat. "Ah!"
Duncan smiled at his old friend's exclamation. "It's been a rough few days for both the ship and this crew, but I've got to say I've never felt more alive."
James chuckled back. "Yes, almost like the bad old days during the Border Wars, only we didn't have as much trouble with the cardassians as we have today with the Dominion."
The chime to the captain's quarters chose to ring at that moment. "Come?!" said James and in came a woman, roughly five foot three with auburn red hair tied back into a braided ponytail halfway down her back, and wearing a standard grey and black uniform with green undershirt and a blue medical coat. She also had the signature markings of a trill going down both side of her body from her forehead and down her neck, and he knew exactly where and how far the spots of this particular trill went. "Hey doc, what brings you to my quarters?"
"I've come to reclaim my property, but I see you have already opened it. That makes it damaged goods in my book, so pour me a glass of that, would you James?" said the good Doctor Retzu Zar, and James Macintyre, master and commander of the Ajax leapt to obey his CMO who promptly occupied his own comfy chair.
She sighed in contentment as she made herself comfortable. "I see being the captain has some perks," said Retzu as she accepted a glass from the captain who reluctantly sat down in another seat, one not so comfortable.
"And I see you've made yourself comfortable. How's your work in sickbay going?" the captain asked.
A dark cloud seemed to darken Retzu's usually vibrant blue eyes. "I wish I could have saved more of the Revanche's crew before we got back to DS9. Unfortunately I just got word back from Doctor Bashir. Captain Hyuk died a couple of hours ago on the operating table. Complications due to extreme radiation exposure."
Both the chief engineer and captain shifted on the couch as the mood quickly changed, as quick as the wind, from light hearted to dark and depressing.
James idly stroked his short bit of stubble growing on his chin. "I didn't know Captain Hyuk that well. My former XO on that ship took command of another Excelsior-class cruiser, the Duquesne, not long after I got promoted to full captain. Still, he was much too young to die."
His two houseguests nodded. "Unfortunately we're going to see a lot more death in this war. My third host, Aami, was a part of the Four Years War, before the launch of the Constitution-class," said Retzu as she stroked her ponytail. "Since then we've pretty much had relative peace for over a century, with only a few border skirmishes here and there by comparison."
The ship's intercom sounded. "Bridge to Captain Macintyre?!" came Commander Eckland's voice.
Jolted out of the conversation the captain answered. "Go ahead."
"Sir, we've detected four ships closing in on us. By their drive profiles they're definitely Dominion warships."
With that statement all three senior officers jumped out of their seats and headed out of the captain's quarters, the Romulan Ale completely forgotten.
"Duncan, Retzu, I suggest you get back down to your domains," said the captain as they strode down the corridor to the closest turbolift. His two subordinates nodded and headed for the next closest turbolift. This left the captain alone for a few moments in the turbolift, a million thoughts going through his head as he considered why the Dominion was gunning for his ship. "Damn it admiral, why did you have to pick my ship?!"
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
Location: Deck 18, Main Engineering
A stern Commander Macdougan took off at a run as soon as the turbolift doors swished open. The yellow alert siren had sounded only moments before, and he could feel the ship being pushed to its top speed, but she was beginning to shake a little. A bad sign. It only took him seconds to arrive at main engineering and it was barely organized chaos.
He sought after the officer in charge and immediately walked over. "Watch the damned intermix ratio, we need to keep it in balance or she'll go up like a roman candle!" said the tellarite engineer as she snarled at the half-scared crewmen who were at the warp-core controls.
"Lieutenant Racliss, what's our status?" Macdougan demanded.
Racliss immediately spun on her heel and stood at attention. "Sir, we're pushing the engines to full power, but we're only managing warp 9.2 sir. We overworked the nacelles when we ran from the Cardassian border. The warp coils are beginning to ablate."
Macdougan narrowed his eyes as he pushed passed his tellarite second to look at the status display. "That's because your running the warp plasma too hot and the warp field isn't properly configured."
Macdougan began manipulating the controls, adjusting various settings as the warp field took on a slightly narrower configuration while at the same time lessening the energy slightly running through the warp plasma. He smiled as the ship's speed increased to warp 9.6 and continued to climb further into the red until the ship began to shake as the Ajax hit warp 9.8.
"There," sighed the Chief Engineer. "That should buy us a bit more time."
Suddenly red alert klaxons began sounding. "Red alert, all hands man your battle stations, I repeat all hands man your battle stations, this is not a drill!" came Commander Eckland's voice over the intercom.
"Or maybe not. Check on the aft shield generators, make sure that they're fully operational. Last time we went against the Jem'Hadar we had energy bleed through because the shields weren't properly configured," said Macdougan.
"Aye sir," replied Lieutenant Racliss.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
Location: Deck 1, Main Bridge, Same Time
Captain Macintyre could feel his ship begin to shake as his ship hit warp 9.8. "Good work Duncan," he said quietly. "How long until the enemy intercepts us?"
"Dominion warships are closing at warp 9.9. Time to intercept approximately fifteen minutes," reported T'Entreia with the exacting, logical voice of her Vulcan heritage.
"Are their weapons armed?" Commander Eckland asked.
T'Entreia reported. "Yes sir, but only their torpedoes. It seems that the fighters are running their engines beyond maximum output. Their shields and polaron cannons are operating at minimal power. However the battle cruiser has the necessary power generating capacity to overtake and maintain a healthy energy reserve for their shields and weapons."
"Alright, I need tactical options people," said the captain.
Tora looked down at his tactical display. "I suggest a long range torpedo barrage, destroy as many of those Jem'Hadar fighters as we can before we're forced out of warp and direct as much power to our aft shields."
"Only problem with that is the aft shields might play havoc with our warp field," said Commander Eckland.
"That would be most unlikely," said T'Entreia. "In this situation I believe the tactical officer's suggestion is the best tactic."
Macintyre nodded. "Agreed. As soon as they're within effective firing range launch as many torpedoes at them as you can. How close are we to the nearest Starfleet formation or outpost?"
Without even looking down at her ever present PADD Commander Eckland answered. "The closest Starfleet presence is our destination, the Britannica system, just one hour away. As soon as we detected the enemy following us we sent out a distress call, but I don't know if it got through."
"Well, hopefully it did get through and the cavalry is on its way, but to be on the safe side we should operate on the assumption that they might not be coming," said the captain as he thumbed the comm. panel on his chair's armrest. "Duncan, I assume that you've been listening, as usual?"
"Of course I have, how else am I to know how to prepare the ship for combat when I've got so much to do down here. And before you ask, no I cannot give you anymore speed, unless you want me to completely burn out both of our warp nacelles. Which we might just succeed in doing if we maintain this speed all the way to Britannica," replied Duncan.
"Can't be helped. Just keep my ship in one piece for a little while longer, and stop listening in on the bridge, Macintyre out." With that the captain cut the channel.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
Location: Deck 7, Marine Barracks
At the start of the yellow alert the ship's marine company had immediately returned to their barracks to collect their weapons and don their armour. Unlike the ship's security force who wore gold the marines wore dark green undershirts under their dark grey uniforms and were now donning their armour.
Standing in his MK-II SFMC armoured combat suit Major Kyle Johnson, a dark skinned man with a thin moustache and crew cut hair, studied his men as they finished donning their airtight helmets and a short lived shimmer of personal shields energizing.
"Well boys, looks like the Jem'Hadar isn't going to give us a break. As you know we have a VIP aboard ship, and they seem to have a hard on for her right now. Well we're not going to let 'em have her or this ship. What we will let them have is a belly full of plasma and pool of their own Ketracel White to drown in. Am I right marines?"
"Sir, yes sir," chorused his boys and girls of various species in his platoon.
The Major smiled back at his people. "That's what I thought. Now move out. Double time it!" He donned his own helmet and it's HUD activated as he grabbed both a type 2 phaser and a type 3 phaser rifle and headed out of the barracks, followed by his three best people while the rest of the fire-teams scattered across the ship, securing vital areas of the ship such as the bridge and engineering. In the meantime he had the honour of guarding the VIP.
Outside the door to the admiral's suite a pair of security officers stood guard in basic armour. Both stiffened to attention as the Major and his men approached. At the same time the doors opened and Admiral Nechayev stepped out. "Major, report!" she demanded.
"Ma'am we're being pursued by four Dominion warships, a battle cruiser and three fighters." The ship gave a slight shudder. "Last I heard we are barely staying ahead of them. The captain has ordered me and my men to secure you in your quarters."
The admiral's lips thinned. "No, you will escort me to the bridge. I need to speak to your captain, now!"
"Ma'am, with all due respect..."
"The longer we argue the closer those ships come and the less time you'll have to secure me after I've talked to the captain."
The Major nodded. "Very well, but I want it on the record that I protest this action," he said as he and the admiral began walking towards the closest turbolift.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
Location: Deck 1, Main Bridge
The Captain was the picture of calm as Admiral Nechayev stormed onto the bridge. "Captain, what's our status?"
Captain Macintyre mentally groaned as he turned his chair to face the admiral. "Well admiral, we're currently running at warp 9.8, but we won't be able to maintain our speed for much longer. Not that it matters, because the Jem'Hadar will intercept us in..." he looked over at T'Entreia.
"Approximately 9 minutes, 38 seconds."
"However we do have a plan to even the odds a little. Before they intercept us we plan on shelling them with a long range torpedo barrage. Tora, how long until they're in effective range?"
Tora looked down at his console. "Just another minute sir, but to make sure that they don't have enough time to stop them all they'll have to get closer. Three minutes should be good enough."
Captain Macintyre nodded back. "Admiral I suggest you observe from the flag bridge on deck six."
Admiral Nechayev's eyes narrowed to slits. "I was not aware that the Ajax had a flag bridge."
He smiled back. "All Excelsior-class starships up to the third flight had them installed. The Ajax was one of the last flight three Excelsior-class cruisers built, so she had the facilities built, but as far as I know they were never used. You'll be far better protected down there behind several decks worth of armoured bulkheads, plus you'll have the same amount of information I get, you just won't have any other ships to command."
The admiral relaxed her shoulders and her eyes opened back to normal. "Very well, I'll leave you to command your ship. Good luck." She turned back towards the turbolift behind the bridge with Major Johnson following in her wake.
The captain then thumbed the comm. system from his armrest controls. "Captain Macintyre to Major Johnson, I suggest you get a fire-team down to the flag bridge. If the Dominion wants the admiral I want them to be disappointed."
"Aye sir," replied the major.
"XO, get the beta shift crew down to the flag bridge, the admiral is going to need some assistance. As far as I know the LCARS of the flag bridge haven't been updated in a while."
"Aye sir," replied Commander Eckland.
The captain turned to the main viewscreen. "Tactical." Now all he could do was wait for the inevitable. Icons of both his ship and the four Dominion warships following them, and showed the tactical information about their respective combat ranges. Currently they were well out of range of the Dominion's torpedoes, but they were rapidly gaining. He smiled slightly as he noticed that his ship's torpedo range was slightly greater. The seconds seemed to tick by, but he forced himself not to fidget in front of his crew.
At long last the countdown to torpedo range reached zero. "Mister Tora, fire at will."
Not even a second later the two aft torpedo tubes launched four photon torpedoes each in less than a second, recharged and reloaded in less than two seconds and fired again, and again and again. In response the four Dominion warships opened fire with their polaron disruptors in brief bursts of fire. Unfortunately for the Jem'Hadar fighters they didn't have any secondary beam weapons. One fighter moved ahead of the battle cruiser, firing its forward polaron disruptor as quickly as possible, detonating the first two torpedoes, disrupting the guidance systems of the next two, making them veer off-course, only to detonate just ahead of the battle cruiser, slowing it down slightly.
The fighter continued to fire its forward disruptor in rapid fire mode, destroying another couple of torpedoes, but the last torpedo detonated too close, blinding its sensors to the next pair that impacted one after the other in rapid succession. The first destroyed what little remained of its shields, the second punched through its bow and smashed its way through to the fighter's bridge. The Jem'Hadar First and Vorta in command could only stare in shock before, in a blinding flash of light, the torpedo detonated, vaporizing everyone on the bridge and cooking off the ship's onboard anti-matter supplies.
The explosion blinded the scanners on all three remaining Dominion warships, allowing the next set of torpedoes to impact and destroy the last two fighters with no resistance. Multiple torpedoes also impacted the forward shields of the battle cruiser.
Tora smiled. "All three Dominion fighters destroyed, but the battle cruiser's shields are still up. It seems they've transferred their aft shields forward, and they're continuing to gain on us."
"Continue launching torpedoes, and reset aft phaser banks to point defence mode." The captain then thumbed the intercom. "Engineering, status report?"
"Captain, our warp nacelles are overheating. We've got to slow down sir," said Chief Engineer Macdougan as a sharp whoosh of gas was heard in the background. "Damn it, lock down that valve! Captain, we've got plasma and coolant leaks down here, and superheated warp plasma has begun to leak out from the nacelles."
"Captain, they've closed to weapons range. Incoming torpedoes," reported Tora as the battle cruiser launched a barrage of its own.
Multiple large white glowing orbs launched from a trio of launchers, a quad burst from the bow launcher between the pincers and a triple burst from the flanking wing launchers. In response orange-gold bursts of phaser fire erupted from the Ajax's aft phaser banks, resulting in a string of short lived plasma explosions, much smaller in comparison to the photon explosions of the intercepted MK12 torpedoes. The battle cruiser's warp engines glowed brighter as it accelerated even harder and closed in on its prey.
Tora gritted his teeth as he worked his console as quickly as he could, launching another barrage of torpedoes from the aft launchers, even as he increased the aft phasers rate of fire. The status lights for the aft phasers began to turn from orange to red, indicating overuse. "Tactical to engineering, I need more coolant routed to the aft phaser banks."
A frantic Macdougan shot back over the comm. "Tora, I've got every ounce of reserve coolant going to warp nacelles, just to stop them from overheating. Don't worry too much about the shields, they can take a hit."
"It's not just the one torpedo I'm worried about, it's the following torpedoes that comes after it," replied Tora as he slowed the aft phaser banks rate of fire to compensate.
The battle cruiser closed the distance as it continued to launch torpedoes, finally coming into disruptor range. Purple-blue beams of polaron disruptor fire briefly connected the two opposing starships, slamming hard into the Ajax's aft shields, followed by a fusillade of torpedoes.
Tora began to sweat as he countered with a barrage of both phasers and photon torpedoes. The phasers swatted most of the Jem'Hadar torpedoes, but three managed to slip past. "Incoming!" Tora warned a second before the first torpedo hit. With a thunderous crash that was felt through the shields everyone lurched forward, making him pitch forward into his console, while the captain and XO were launched out of their seats.
"Damage report!" Captain Macintyre demanded as he struggled back up into his chair, followed closely by Commander Eckland.
"Aft shields are down to fifty percent," said Tora as another disruptor barrage impacted. "Make that thirty percent, returning fire."
This time phasers joined the next torpedo barrage. Long golden-orange lances of nadion particles impacted the battle cruiser's forward shields followed closely by eight photon torpedoes set to maximum yield. The combination of both phaser fire and photon torpedo impacts finally stressed the forward shields enough to momentarily fail. Two phaser beams raked the bow of the battle cruiser just moments after the battle cruiser launched a single brightly glowing torpedo, destroying the launcher before the next torpedo could be launched.
In retaliation a pair of polaron beams fired and rapidly overtook the torpedo, penetrated the Ajax's shields and raked her port nacelle, badly burning the tritanium armour, and listed sharply to starboard from the impact, just as the torpedo passed through the still non-functional aft shields. It homed in on the tiny plasma leak at the end of the nacelle and smashed through the nacelle housing, penetrating a good ten metres in before detonating, igniting the plasma formerly contained by the warp coils and exploded, destroying the coils and blew out a third of the nacelle. The Ajax unceremoniously dropped out of warp in a flat starboard spin with blue warp plasma spewing out into space like an open wound.
Everyone on the bridge was knocked down to the deck as the Ajax spun and the inertia dampeners reset after absorbing ninety nine percent of the G-forces incurred by the violent deceleration from warp.
Captain Macintyre once again got back up from the deck and back into his chair. "Engineering, damage report!"
"Sir, it's a royal mess down here, we're still picking up the pieces. From the looks of things the port warp nacelle is a lost cause. It's going to take a while to reconfigure for single nacelle operation, but I'm not sure if we're going to be able to reinitiate the warp field with the warp coils in the state they're in. The good news is we still have impulse power and shields, and without the warp nacelles screaming for power I can now divert that energy to the shields and weapons."
"Understood, keep me posted Duncan. Macintyre out." He then turned to a nonplussed T'Entreia. "Commander, where is that battle cruiser?"
The Vulcan quickly checked the ship's scanners. "It overshot us and is approximately fifty million kilometres ahead on our previous heading. They've come about and are heading straight for us. If I were human I would be terrified."
Macintyre couldn't help but chuckle at his science officer's quip. "Well, in combat there are three options. Run, hide or fight. We've already tried to run, and we're in deep space with not a nebula in sight for us to hide in. I don't see we have much of a choice. Helm, full impulse power on a parabolic course away from the battle cruiser, keep us out of their weapons range for as long as possible and angle the ship so that our strongest shields are facing them."
"Aye sir," said the young helmsman.
"Tora, what's our weapons status?" Commander Eckland asked.
"We still have of our phaser banks, except for a burned out single phaser bank, just above shuttle bay 2. As for torpedoes we're down to 190 standard MK12s and a dozen tricobalt warheads. Enough to give that battle cruiser a decent fight."
Captain Macintyre took a closer look at the tactical plot. At sub-light speed it would take decades to reach the closest star system where they could potentially hide, at least until they were in better shape. In deep space without warp that option wasn't open to him.
"Put up the scans of the Dominion battle cruiser," he ordered. Immediately a schematic of the battle cruiser came up on the view screen, displaying the damage that has been done, and the status of their shields. They were still focused forward. A plan began to percolate in his mind. "Tora, are they still coming straight at us?"
Tora quickly checked his tactical display. "Yes sir, and they still haven't transferred their shields back to normal. Their stern is still protected only by minimal shielding."
Macintyre smiled as everything seemed to fall into place. "Shield status?"
"We have full forward shields, but aft shields are still down to fifty percent," replied Tora.
"It'll have to do. Helm, set a collision course for the enemy battle cruiser." Every crewmember on the bridge turned to look at their commanding office, their eyes wide and in some cases their jaws dropped to the deck. "Don't worry, I'm not ready to die just yet. I intend to shove down every last phaser bank and torpedo we have down their throats. Tora, load the aft torpedo launchers with both photons and tricobalt devices."
Tora's brow furrowed. "Aye sir, loading aft torpedo bay with both photons and tricobalt devices."
A rumble was felt through the deck plates as the ship turned and accelerated, and the schematic of the enemy battle cruiser fell away and changed to a tactical display, showing the distance between his ship and the enemy battle cruiser. In seconds both ships closed to weapons range and the Dominion warship opened fire with a triple burst barrage from both of the still intact flanking torpedo launchers. The bridge shook hard as the torpedoes impacted and detonated on the forward shields.
"Multiple direct hits, forward shields down by forty percent, returning fire," reported Tora.
The six forward phaser banks erupted in golden-orange double lances of energy that impacted heavily against the battle cruiser's shields, along with a barrage of photon torpedoes. Energies powerful enough to vaporize a couple of continents washed over the battle cruiser's shields, forcing them to divert more shield power forward.
"Time to impact?" the captain demanded.
"Thirty seconds," said the helm officer.
"Standby dorsal thrusters, full power, wait for my mark!"
More polaron disruptor beams and torpedoes slammed heavily into the Ajax as she continued on her collision course. She responded in kind with both phasers and photon torpedoes, all the while charging forward.
Commander Eckland looked to her commanding officer. "Sir?"
"Not yet," he calmly said as both his ship and the enemy exchanged weapons fire. As the seconds ticked away Commander Eckland seemed to breathe even heavier as she fingered the phaser attached to her left holster.
"Captain, we must break off!" she tried again.
"Not yet!" said the captain even more forcefully, even as the battle cruiser seemed to loom ever larger in the viewscreen until..."
"Enemy is turning to our starboard," reported T'Entreia.
"Fire dorsal thrusters and come about to port. Continue firing Tora, all dorsal phaser banks!" the captain called out.
The ship heaved as both dorsal and starboard thrusters fired. Golden-orange phaser fire raked across the weaker ventral and aft shields of the battle cruiser. Tora waited for just the right moment then launched a barrage of torpedoes at the enemy from the two aft tubes. Six standard flaming red photons and two pulsating blue tricobalt devices. The photons detonated only micro-seconds from impact, unleashing their pent up energies in a directed manner, eviscerating the meagre shields the Jem'Hadar had left, allowing the true hammer blow to slip in. Both tricobalt devices detonated with enough force to split open a small planetoid and on contact with the battle cruiser nearly half the ship was destroyed in the titanic dual explosions.
Even as the crew cheered their victory turned sour as soon as the subspace shockwave hit, sending everyone sprawling to the deck for the third time this day, and this time something popped and a sharp pain shot through Captain Macintyre's left shoulder on impact. "Okay, computer, make a note in the log, safety harnesses for all seats."
The captain and his crew struggled back up to their feet and back to their stations. "Medical teams to the bridge," he ordered as he looked around the bridge. Most of the bridge crew were up and about, except for Commander Eckland. She had flown forward into the conn console and her head had been snapped into an unnatural position.
The helmsman saw her and knelt down to check her vitals, only for Eckland's body to suddenly turn into a living fluid and punched him straight in the face, knocking him into the ops console. In the XO's place now stood what the captain instantly recognised as a changeling. He tried to move his right hand to grab a phaser, but the changeling rushed him and he fell back into his command chair, further aggravating his dislocated shoulder. Phaser fire erupted from multiple stations, including Tora and T'Entreia's, but had no effect. The changeling leaped up into an air vent and disappeared into the ventilation system.
"All hands, intruder alert. A changeling has been impersonating Commander Eckland. All security teams attempt to capture, but if necessary shoot to kill!" Commander T'Entreia announced over the intercom.
She quickly moved toward the captain and examined his shoulder. "I suggest that you stop moving around, otherwise you'll just make that shoulder of yours worse," she said as she ran a tricorder over his left shoulder.
"Damn it, Commander, just pop it back in, I need to..." he grunted in pain as he tried to get out of his chair.
"Not until the medics arrive, this is a bad dislocation, and while I did learn basic first aid at the academy I am far more knowledgeable in my people's biology than in yours," his science sternly rebuffed.
"Commander, this isn't my first dislocated shoulder, so help me up and I'll pop it back in myself."
"And as your acting First Officer I strongly recommend you wait until the medics arrive," she said as she gently pushed him back into his seat, though moments later two medics entered the bridge.
((((((((((DWC))))))))))
Location: Deck 6, Flag Bridge
"All hands, intruder alert. A changeling has been impersonating Commander Eckland. All security teams attempt to capture, but if necessary shoot to kill!"
Major Johnson, and the fireteam of marines with him tensed at the science officer's announcement. Was the XO only recently replaced or was she the changeling this whole time? he asked himself. There are only two possibilities where she could have been replaced. Our extended stay at DS9 or before she took up her post aboard the Ajax.
The admiral's eyes narrowed as she observed the crew around her. They all stood at their posts, but every last one shared the same look of shock on their faces. All of them young, and all of them both elated and terrified. At the science officer's announcement her stance shifted from regal to something far more predatory. She started eyeing the ventilation system.
"Keep a watchful eye on the ventilation ducts, not just the doors. A changeling has a wide range of metamorphic abilities, including the ability to turn into a cloud according to Odo. Trust nothing!" she ordered as she started pacing the deck.
Major Johnson eyed the admiral for a moment before returning to his hawkeyed vigilance of the room. She's definitely not acting like any admiral I've ever heard of, or met. She's not even moving like a human anymore. He heard a noise, something that was definitely not native to the ship or any of its crew. He tensed and aimed his rifle at a nearby vent, but the noise disappeared. He relaxed slightly. A mistake. A sudden tearing of metal sounded behind him and a large mass hit him in the back. His head rang like a bell for a few seconds after he was face planted into the deck and he heard a brief fusillade of phaser fire erupt from his men's rifles only to hear...
"Cease fire or I kill the admiral!" said the changeling. It had chosen a female persona and still shared much of the same features and voice with Commander Eckland. She had coiled herself around Admiral Nechayev like a python, though she still kept a humanoid upper torso and had morphed her hand into a long dagger which was pointing at her captive's throat. None of the marines stood down as the situation became tense as the changeling began to tighten her grip on admiral. "I demand a warp capable shuttle off this ship. Admiral Nechayev here will accompany me as insurance."
"Do you really think we'd allow you to leave with a hostage!? Let her go, and you live. Kill her and me and my men won't have any qualms about vaporizing you on the spot," said the major with a barely hidden snarl.
To both the major and changeling's surprise the admiral laughed. "Besides, I'm not the admiral." In an instant the admiral morphed into a much smaller form. She left her uniform behind and revealed she had turned into a blue terran cat and took off between the coils of the stunned changeling.
The marines got over their shock quickly and fired. Orange beams of energy connected all five marines to the changeling. They kept up their beam fire for several long seconds, watching as the changeling's outer layers turn liquid and dispersed the energy across her entire form, until finally she seemed to go down and ooze into a pure liquid form on the deck.
From his belt Major Johnson produced a small container and held it over the changeling. A thin energy beam emitted from an emitter and began sweeping over the changeling. In seconds it was scooped up and sealed within the miniature brig.
"I see the changeling trap box works as advertised," said an unfamiliar woman's voice that the major didn't recognise. He looked around for the source, but he didn't see anyone. "Down her, you fool!" He looked down and saw only the Russian Blue, whose face he could only describe as smirking up at him with its tail swishing from side to side. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Commander Saeihra Twi, Starfleet Intelligence."
"How do I know that you are not a changeling?" Major Johnson challenged as he pointed his rifle at the cat.
"I'm an allassomorph from Daled IV, a being of both matter and energy. We can take many forms much like changelings." The cat stood up on its hind legs and began to morph and grow, and definitely not the liquid transformation of a changeling. This time it opted for a female form a good half foot taller than the admiral with blood red hair, golden eyes and her athletic and blue skinned body was very much unclothed.
Major Johnson struggled to keep his eyes from wandering below eyelevel. "Um, Commander, may I suggest you put some clothes on?!"
Commander Twi looked confused for a moment and looked down. "Oh, knew I forgot something." She walked over to the discarded admirals uniform and began dressing herself, smirking slightly at the shocked looks from the other officers and enlisted personnel.
"Return to your duties, ladies and gentleman!" she snapped, making them turn back to their consoles. She then tore off the admiral's insignia from her uniform's collar and sleeves. "I believe I need to report to the captain and reintroduce myself. Now that the changeling has been captured there is no need for my ruse."
Major Johnson nodded. "Computer, location of Captain Macintyre?"
"Captain Macintyre is in Sickbay 1," replied the computer in its pleasant female voice.
"Let's go Major," said Commander Twi as she set off at a brisk pace with the major and his marines following closely.
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Location: Deck 5, Sickbay
As Captain Macintyre lay back on a sickbay bed waiting for the nurse to finish her scans of his shoulder he watched the goings on. Crewman came in every few minutes, mostly wearing the gold undershirts of engineering personnel and coming in with various plasma burns, mostly by stretcher. It was barely controlled chaos, though its master conductor, chief medical officer Commander Retzu Zar, was controlling it with calm professionalism.
The nurse finally completed her scans. "Looks like you were lucky sir, no broken bones, only a dislocation of your arm."
"I could've told you that ten minutes ago when you and your partner dragged me down here. Just pop the damn thing back in its socket and put it in a sling so I can get back to work!" growled the captain, making the nurse cower slightly.
"Sorry sir, but I was under orders from Doctor Zar to bring you down here for a full physical as well. She said you missed your last one," said the young nurse.
"Of course she did," grunted the captain as he sat up. "Just make it quick and get this over with!"
The nurse nodded and took hold of the captain's arm and braced herself. "Stop!" She froze at the CMO's stern voice. "If you pop his shoulder back in like that you'll cause more harm than good. Let me show you." Quicker than a flash Zar stepped in, took hold of the captain's arm from the nurse and none too gently popped the arm back into its socket. "There, now get a sling from that cabinet over there please." As the young nurse hustled to get the requested cloth she turned her icy stare back to the shocked captain. "Let that be a lesson. Don't rush my nurses and you won't have to go through such pain. My Hippocratic Oath compels me to do no harm, but I can inflict as much pain as I like as long as it's for a good cause. Now if you excuse me I do have other patients to attend to."
He could only watch as the scariest CMO in the fleet walked back into the chaos of triage. "I think I'm in love," he mused before the nurse returned and helped him get his arm into a sling. "Thank you ensign." He then stood up to leave only to almost run into Major Johnson and a blue skinned woman wearing an admiral's uniform. "Major, what's the meaning of this, I thought I told you to watch the admiral?"
"He is, I am the admiral," the young lady said as she quickly morphed into Admiral Nechayev, then back into her prior form. "And no I am not a changeling. I am..."
"An allassomorph, yes I know," replied the captain to the consternation of the shape-shifter. "I read the Daled IV mission reports. Salia and her guardian Anya, some sort of princess and her guardian, were allassomorph just like you. I'm surprised that your people are involved."
She nervously looked back and forth along the corridor. "Do you mind if we went somewhere a little more private?"
The captain nodded and led the two into a turbolift. Minutes later the three of them arrived in the captain's ready room, and much to Macintyre's despair it was still trashed. The chairs had been tossed and turned on the floor, a model of the Ajax had been thrown to the deck and one of the nacelle struts had been broken, reminiscent of the damage done to the real one. He gingerly picked it up, but forgot about his recently reset arm and a strong twinge of pain ran up his left arm and into his socket as he reached out to pick up the broken off nacelle. Much to his surprise a blue hand picked it up while he put the model back onto its mount.
"Thank you," he said as he walked behind his desk and righted up his chair, followed quickly by the allassomorph who took a seat for herself before him while Major Johnson took up a guard position not a metre behind her. "I suggest you reintroduce yourself to me. Name, rank and assignment."
The allassomorph straightened in her chair. "Commander Saeihra Twi, Starfleet Intelligence, currently assigned as a decoy for Admiral Nechayev whose whereabouts I currently cannot tell you."
"Because you don't know where she is, standard compartmentalization procedures. How long were you going to keep up the act?"
"Originally I was to maintain my cover all the way to the Britannica System, you weren't supposed to know I was even aboard, but due to the changeling's actions I had no choice but to use my own abilities."
The captain nodded at that. "Very well. Major, I suggest you take Commander Twi back to her quarters. Until I can verify your identity I'm going to have to confine you to quarters for the remainder of your stay aboard."
"Understood sir," said Commander Twi with an emotionless mask that would make a Vulcan seem emotional as she stood up and left with the Major following close on her heels.
The captain reclined back into his seat and closed his eyes, hoping for a few moments peace. Unfortunately it was not to be.
"Tora to Captain Macintyre," sounded the comm. system.
The captain let out a deep sigh as he straightened up in his seat. "Yes Commander?"
"Captain we just found Commander Eckland in her quarters, bound and covered in some sort of mucus. I think the changeling kept her here during its stay. According to her she's been tied up ever since we left DS9."
"Get me out of this gunk Tora, or I swear to your precious Prophets I'll have your guts for garters!" came Commander Eckland's incensed voice over the comm.
"Needless to say she's a bit upset about her situation."
Captain Macintyre face-palmed. "That is the understatement of the day. Get her to sickbay ASAP before she has a chance to carry out her threat Tora, that's an order."
"Aye sir."
The captain pondered the situation for a few moments, then made a quick decision. "All Senior officers to report to the briefing room for a general debriefing in fifteen minutes. That is all."
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Location: Deck 1, Briefing Room
A sense of gloom had settled over the briefing room as the ship's senior officers took their seats. All of them appeared not quite at their best, with Duncan being the dirtiest since he was still wearing an engineering protective suit covered in soot and plasma burns. A testament to the dangers of the engine room while the ship was in combat. Doctor Zar looked the most drained and the most bloody, since she had just gotten out of triage. Commander Eckland however was in a fresh uniform, but he hadn't seen her look so despondent before.
"Commander, are you sure you've fully recovered from your confinement?" Captain Macintyre asked.
Her eyes narrowed. "Sir, that bitch kept me in that cocoon for five days, merged with me when she came off duty, both mentally and physically." She shuddered in remembrance. "I just know that I'll never be able to feel clean again. On the flipside I know everything she did when she was masquerading as me. To be honest sir I need to feel useful."
The captain nodded back. "I'm sure you do." He then turned his eye to his CMO.
"Physically she's no worse for wear, except for some minor muscle degeneration from being in bed for five solid days, nothing a little solid exercise won't cure" said Doctor Zar.
With a nod the captain asked, "Alright doctor, what's the butcher's bill this time?"
The doctor stoically looked down at her PADD. "We have a total of ten dead and over sixty wounded, mostly from the engineering departments and damage control crews."
"There are also another fifteen missing, sir," interjected Commander Tora. "They're either in sections that have been sealed off and we can't get to or been..." the tactical officer wilted under the steely gaze of the good doctor.
"Duncan, what's our engine status?" the captain interjected.
Commander Macdougan rubbed at his face a little. "We've managed to switch over to single nacelle operating mode, so I might be able to get you warp 2, maybe warp 3 if I can coax the coils into it, but right now it's just a slim hope. The warp coils are so badly overtaxed it'll be a miracle if we even manage a stable warp field. The port nacelle is a complete write-off, half of the coils were destroyed, the rest have fused together into a large mass."
He leaned back into his seat. "We still have impulse power, but that last thunder run you did, did a real number on the coils. The primary energisers have practically undergone a quadruple bypass, so if you intend to take us into combat, please don't give me too many bumps."
Captain Macintyre smiled back at his old friend. "No promises Duncan. Tora, how's our security situation?"
"We're secure for now sir, the changeling is in the brig behind multiple layers of force-fields, plus the stasis box Major Johnson secured it in. The Jem'Hadar warship however is still relatively intact, even after the beating we gave it. Say what you will about the Dominion, they really know how to build a warship," replied Commander Tora with a shake of his head.
Captain Macintyre looked at the large monitor at the end of the briefing room where a real-time visual of their defeated opponent hung dead in space, slowly spinning on its Y-axis. His eyes seemed to sparkle slightly, something Doctor Zar couldn't help but comment on. "What's percolating in that insane human brain of yours?"
"Commander Eckland, how would you like to get some payback?" he asked with a smirk, which she returned.
"Give the word, Captain, and I'll make the Jem'Hadar regret ever giving chase after us."
"Commander, consider it given. Major Johnson, assemble your troops. We're going to take that ship."
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Location: Dominion Battlecruiser, upper decks
In an empty corridor six columns of light appeared and deposited six heavily armed and armoured Starfleet personnel. All wearing SFMC armour with phaser rifles up and ready to engage. Commander Eckland in the centre of the formation pulled out a tricorder and began a low powered scan of their surroundings.
"Looks like main power is out, what little is running is being powered by auxiliary generators," said Eckland with a frown. "Life support is at minimal sustainable levels, so keep your helmets on boys and girls. Life signs are indeterminate, but there seems to be a single relatively strong signature three decks below. Registers as a vorta."
Major Johnson nodded back to his superior. "Let's find a way down there. Odds are that vorta is the ship's commander."
Commander Eckland nodded, but put a hand to her left ear, activating the built in communicator. "Captain, we've got our beachhead. You can begin transporting the rest of the marines."
Moments later eight more blue columns of light appeared, depositing a full eight man fire-team who quickly spread out and made room for the next fire-team, then the next and then the next.
"Major, stay with the beachhead forces and begin sending your fire-teams on search patrols. I want every cubed centimetre of this ship searched and cleared out," Commander Eckland ordered. "I'm going after the vorta."
"Aye aye sir," replied Major Johnston as he shortly after began to organise his men.
Eckland's squad moved forward, moving slowly down a long and empty corridor and quickly found a broad circular stairway. There was only one problem. There were dozens of Jem'Hadar bodies littering the stairway, all badly burned by hot plasma, the source being a ruptured plasma conduit, its plasma having been vented into the compartment and was now cold and shut down. The team continued down, deeper into the ship and found more bodies of dead Jem'Hadar littering the deck.
"Commander Eckland, be advised that we've lost the transporter lock on you, some kind of inhibitor field," said Captain Macintyre over the comm.
"Understood sir. We're closing in on what we believe is the ship's command centre. Stand by," said Eckland, just before a blast of plasma nearly took her head off and she dropped to the deck. "Well, that confirms it. Return fire!"
The marines already in cover opened up with their phaser rifles, firing in brief pulses of accelerated nadion-plasma bolts, taking down the first two Jem'Hadar that had dropped their shrouds and fired at their commander. Commander Eckland rolled back into cover and brought up her own rifle and fired off a couple of rounds, hitting a charging Jem'Hadar in the chest and neck, dropping him to the deck. A plasma blast followed that clipped Eckland's left arm, but thankfully didn't penetrate her armour's shields, though they dropped to half strength.
"We need to finish this. Ready stun grenades!" Eckland ordered as she reset her phaser to full auto, followed by half her squad, while the other half loaded their 30mm grenade launchers slung underneath their phaser carbines. As one they launched their grenades in long lazy arcs through the doorway into the command centre, releasing massive blasts of light and sound, deafening and blinding the defending Jem'Hadar who didn't stand a chance as the whole squad rushed into the command centre and proceeded to stun them into submission.
When the 'all clear' was sounded by the marines and herself Commander Eckland breathed a sigh of relief as she surveyed the room. A vorta lay prone on the ground, a female in dark purple garb with a sizable bruise forming on her left temple. She smirked as she began to secure the prisoner with cuffs and tied her down to a nearby console.
"Let's see what secrets you have in your databanks," Eckland mused to herself as she opened up her tricorder and interfaced with the ship's systems. The first thing she did was shut down the transporter inhibitor field blocking their transporters, easing her mind and the possible risks. Within minutes the tricorder began translating the massive amounts of data from the Dominion language to Federation Standard, and her normal straight face turned into a smile, then a grin, and finally into an evil smirk and started to laugh long and hard, startling the marines who were guarding the command centre.
Commander Eckland's face turned red as she realized how she looked and physically reined herself in with a brief huff, but a smile was still on her face as she tapped her communicator. "Captain, you are not going to believe what I've found in this ship's databanks."
"What? What did you find?" Captain Macintyre asked.
"Not over an open channel, sir, beam me back in a few minutes, there's a lot of data to download," replied Eckland as the data downloaded into her tricorder. She noticed a subtle flashing from a nearby console. She examined it and her eyes widened as she slapped her communicator. "Ajax, emergency beam out. Now! Damn it, Now!" and Eckland, who quickly picked up her tricorder, and every Starfleet Marine and their vorta captive disappeared in columns of light, just before the Dominion battle-cruiser's warp matrix destabilised and exploded, destroying the ship and everything and everyone left onboard.
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Location: USS Ajax, Transporter Room 1
A huffing Commander Eckland materialized on the transporter pad as she experienced the sight of Dominion warship exploding all around her as the transporter whisked her away, still holding the tricorder in her hands. She got her breathing under control and turned her tricorder right side up and checked the data she downloaded and sighed. "It's all here." She smiled as she got off the transporter pad after the marines that beamed off with her. "Chief, how many managed to get off in time?" she asked the transporter chief.
"We managed to get everyone off in time, thanks to your warning," said the smiling chief, a smallish caitian male with visible large fangs.
"Good work, chief, and convey my thanks to the rest of your team," said Eckland just before she left the transporter room, where just outside she almost collided with Captain Macintyre.
"I heard there was some excitement over there," said the Captain.
"Yes sir. Taking the command centre when we did was a stroke of luck that I really don't want to rely upon in the future. We also took the vorta commander prisoner and I managed to download a good sixty percent of the ship's database before it exploded. It's all in here." She held up said tricorder and handed it to Macintyre. "If you excuse me sir, I need to doff my armour and hit the showers, followed by a nice long sleep."
Macintyre smiled back. "Permission granted, in fact I insist," he said as he felt a whiff of pungent sweat coming off his XO now that her helmet was off and her normally tied up hair was loose and slick with said sweat.
Commander Eckland let out a small chuckle as she marched ahead while the captain gingerly opened up the tricorder and took a quick look inside. "Interesting," he mused to himself as he walked to the nearest turbolift. "Bridge."
"Bridge to Captain Macintyre," said Commander Tora over the intercom. "Go ahead."
"Sir, the Sutherland has just made contact with us and is on an intercept course. Time to intercept is roughly fifteen minutes."
"Great, then they can help expedite our immediate repairs. I'll be on the bridge shortly Commander. T'Entreia, I assume you're still at your post?"
"Yes sir, I haven't left it since my shift began," stated the Vulcan science officer.
"Good, because I've got something that's going to really test your skills," said the Captain, just before the turbolift doors opened and standing just to the side of the doors stood T'Entreia. "Eckland managed to download a significant amount of data from the Dominion warship's databanks, only problem is most of its encrypted and some of the data isn't complete either. I need you to start to work on decoding and translating the data into a useful format." He handed T'Entreia the tricorder, who took it with the most intense look he had ever seen in the normally unemotional vulcan's eyes.
"I'll get to work on it right away," said T'Entreia as she left the bridge, surprising the Captain.
"Where are you going Commander?"
T'Entreia raised one of her perfectly groomed eyebrows. "A secure science lab." With that the turbolift doors closed.
Macintyre shook his head. "Succinct as always. I'll be in my ready room, Tora. You have the bridge."
As Commander Tora acknowledged his captain, Captain Macintyre made his way once again back into a comfy chair and punched up his desk terminal.
"Computer, display the names of everyone MIA and dead in the last action."
"Working!" replied the computer and the names began to scroll down the page, at the same time he began to compose condolence letters on a PADD.
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AN: That took longer than expected to finish. Any helpful criticism is much appreciated.