Interlude

"Damage report!" The bridge shook, and in the back one of the science stations exploded, showering the bridge in sparks.

"Hull breach on deck 16. We've lost main power on decks 11 and 12. Admiral, we've lost the Challenger and the Budapest. The Al-Batani has taken severe damage to her impulse drive. She's a sitting duck."

Admiral DeSoto acknowledged the damage reports with a nod. "DeSoto to Neeley. We can't hold the Borg off for much longer. How long until you reach the target?"

Commander Lisa Neeley's voice sounded frantic. "We're fighting our way through these drones one at a time, Admiral, but they're more resistant to the new phaser calibrations than they were back in the Alpha Quadrant." In the background, DeSoto could hear those phasers firing and the telltale sounds of drones marching forward and crumbling under the fire from Neeley's platoon. "You've got to give us another ten minutes, sir."

"Acknowledged, Commander. Hurry, Lisa, we're down to six ships."

"Yes, Sir. Neeley out."

Around DeSoto, the bridge of the Hood sparked under the Borg onslaught. They were still outnumbered badly, as they had been when the engagement began. The Federation ships had inflicted a three to one casualty rate on the Borg defenders, but soon they would be overcome. We've got to give her just a little more time. If she can get to the hub's central plexus, she can end this right here, right now. Looking at the massive fleet of Borg vessels, DeSoto knew the Borg Queen was on one of the vessels out there trying to kill him and his people. He wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.

The Hood and her sister ship, the Al-Batani, worked in concert, concentrating their torpedoes on the cubes that stayed at range, and blasting the ships that got close with phasers. With the Al-Batani's engines offline, she couldn't keep up with the still-mobile Hood, but her torpedoes continued to cut right through the cubes. It's too bad we didn't get here years ago, when we'd just developed these weapons modifications. If we had, we would have blown right through these bastards.

DeSoto watched as the sensor pod containing the Ulysses' torpedo launchers was sheared off her primary hull by a pair of Borg torpedoes. Charging the cube whose weapons had brutally maimed her, her phasers flashed and DeSoto watched as the crippled Nebula-class Ulysses slammed headlong into the cube. Both ships vanished in the ensuing anti-matter explosion.

The shockwave shook the Hood. "Get me Reynolds aboard the Centaur. We're going to have to make our last stand here to give Neeley more time," he barked to the woman manning communications. She acknowledged him, and Reynolds appeared on DeSoto's viewer. "Charlie. We're down to five ships, and there are still thirty cubes out there. We have to give Neeley some more time."

"I hear you, Bob. I'm bringing the Centaur in behind you and the Al-Batani. We'll add our launchers to yours. The Yamato and Appalachia are going to try to disengage from the cubes they're battling with on our starboard flank and join us. We'll make the last stand over the hub itself. How long until Neeley triggers the cascade?"

"She said ten minutes four minutes ago. We'll just give her as long as we can."

"Acknowledged." Reynolds bared his teeth with a feral grin. "To quote my friend Chancellor Martok, today is a good day to die. Reynolds out."

The Yamato, a Sovereign-class starship, and her escort the Steamrunner-class Appalachia, threw some torpedoes at the three cubes they were battling, and one of the three exploded violently. Then they turned tail and sped towards the Hood, coming in to support the flagship. The Centaur threw dozens of torpedoes as the cubes moved forward – she had more firepower than any of the other ships – and some of them staggered under her barrage. But they were outnumbered too badly, and some of the ships got into range.

To the stern of the Hood the Al-Batani suddenly surged to life. Her crippled engines screamed under the strain, but the ship moved nonetheless. She interposed herself between the Centaur and a spread of Borg torpedoes, intercepting them on her secondary hull and saucer. Holes were blown cleanly through her saucer and a nacelle was torn cleanly from the ship, but she had prevented the Centaur from taking that damage. Firing phasers as a final, dying gesture, she tore a hole in a Borg sphere before the Appalachia blew it to pieces. Then, blazing, the Al-Batani was torn apart as her warp core detonated.

The Centaur rose up through the explosion. Sheets of weapons fire emerged from her launchers, and the Borg vessels staggered. But then a second volley of torpedoes, like the ones the Al-Batani had sacrificed herself to intercept, turned the Centaur into little more than wreckage. What little was left of her spun slowly away from the battle.

There was no time to mourn Charlie. Three Federation starships remained, and there were still two dozen Borg vessels closing. The Hood's engines gave out now, stranding her in the middle of the battlefield with Borg ships closing on either side. The Yamato and Appalachia charged outwards, blowing holes in the cubes and spheres as they closed, but the Appalachia caught a torpedo on her forward hull. Then another. The ship flipped end over end before Borg energy weapons cut what was left of her hull to pieces. She hung in space, technically intact, but there was no one left alive on board. In a few minutes she would simply disintegrate when her structural integrity failed.

The Yamato caught a sphere with phaser fire as it strafed her hull, scorching the sphere's armor. Then a torpedo from the Hood punched a hole in the sphere's hull. Desperate, the sphere went into retreat, falling behind two tactical cubes. In pursuit, the Yamato put another torpedo into her hull, but was unable to finish the job as the sphere skated away. Caught between the two cubes, each grabbed the Yamato in a tractor beam. Their weapons carved through the Yamato's hull and a cutting beam blasted through engineering. She exploded violently, and both cubes, still holding her with their tractor beams, joined her.

On the bridge of the Hood, communications were down. DeSoto's helmsman was dead, as was his first officer. The only ship left from what had been a fleet of thirty-one, the Hood wheeled to face the enemy. A cube closed, preparing to fire… and then everything stopped. DeSoto breathed out, watching as the Borg ships started to wander around in confusion. Two actually exploded outright. The sphere the Yamato had been chasing moved away, fleeing the battlefield. Neeley. She did it. It's over. It's all over.

Floating amongst what was left of two battle fleets, one destroyed, one forever maimed by the ingenuity of Starfleet engineering and the bravery of Lisa Neeley's team, was the brutally damaged Hood, a memorial to those who had lost their lives at the Second Battle of Galahad Point.

From the void of space, the eyes that had watched the Centaur charge into the battle now moved from the Hood to the crippled sphere, which was running from the events that had taken place. Despite everything, they were filled with a deep satisfaction.