A/N All descriptions of Enterprise's weaponry are based on the films, not the series
Kirk charged onto the bridge at a dead run as the deck slid under his feet, telling Kirk the Enterprise was maneuvering in ways that would've made her designers puke.
"Report," he barked.
Spock sprang out of the captain's chair while fielding his captain's question.
"As our sensors were blinded in the moment we dropped out of warp to enter the Arenya system, the unidentified motion sensor contacts accelerated towards us at high warp. Before we could react several vessels appeared within the general area of our sensor readings and opened fire. Direct hit to port nacelle, warp drive offline. They have not responded to any of our hails. We have managed to evade them slightly, but they will be in weapons range again in 41 seconds."
"Any identification?"
"The specific design of the vessels is unfamiliar but the design is clearly Romulan."
Kirk turned to the viewscreen where, sure enough, three gray-green crab shaped vessels with predatory birds painted on the ventral hulls lurked, almost looking as though they were stalking their prey before moving in for the kill.
Romulans. Definitely not some of Kirk's favorite people. Another part of Spock's report jumped out at him.
"What do you mean they appeared?"
"It seems the Romulan vessels are equipped with some form of cloaking technology."
The statement, as well as its implications, bludgeoned Kirk like a sledgehammer. "The Romulans have been trying to make that work for over 100 years!"
"It would appear they have finally succeeded," Spock noted dryly.
Kirk turned to Carol. "Tactical analysis."
The blonde science officer turned from her readouts. "These ships are approximately half our size with less than two thirds our firepower, however there are three of them."
This was not an encouraging statement. The Enterprise may be bigger and stronger than one of these ships, but not two, and certainly not three. Kirk turned to the navigation console.
"Mr. Chekov, how long to Starbase 15 at full impulse?" The base was well armed, there was no way the Romulans would be able to handle them both. Unfortunately, Chekov's answer did not give Kirk that option.
"Tventy minutes, Keptin."
Okay, no help there. Kirk didn't need Spock to tell him the odds of the shields lasting under that pounding for twenty minutes were slim to none. If the Enterprise was to survive, she'd have to do so herself.
"Tactical display."
Sulu touched a control on his panel and the viewscreen lit up with a map of the general vicinity. Three red icons displaying the bird-like symbol of the Romulan Star Empire were closing in on a blue Federation symbol. Other representations of the starbase lined the outer edge of the screen, too far away to be of any help. Uhura's voice broke in from her station behind Kirk to his right.
"Captain, we're getting a message from the Romulan ships."
"Onscreen."
The viewer changed from the displaying the dismal tactical situation to the equally dismal face of a smirking Romulan commander.
"Enterprise, this is Commander Kenyar of the Romulan vessel Tulrix. You have thirty seconds to surrender or we will destroy you. This is your only warning." The transmission cut out before Kirk could respond. The crew turned to look at Kirk as he regarded the screen in front of him again showing the tactical display.
What do we do now? We're outnumbered and outgunned. The Romulans are trying to deprive the Federation of its top scientists, it'd just be nice bonus if they could capture them. But we don't stand a chance against that much firepower. If we could get even one out of our way-
Kirk cut off his verbal monologue as his last sentence melded with what he saw on the screen. Out of our way. That might just- oh who am I kidding, that's insane!
The irony of that response was not at all lost on Jim. He had never been one to play it safe; quite the contrary, the crazier an idea was, the more it usually appealed to him. So why now of all times did he feel like there was no way his plan, which was far from his nuttiest, would work?
Unbidden, memories of the last few days pounded through his mind. Arguments with his mother, taunts from Frank, the bruised and battered mess hall, his blind fury in going after Frank. How could he trust his judgment after all that had happened on his watch? How could he risk his crew on the basis of such a stupid plan? Frozen with indecision, Kirk's eyes refocused on the world around him as he took in the faces of his people surrounding him. What he found shocked him.
Each and every one of his crew was looking at him, waiting for him to tell them what to do. This was nothing new, it was their jobs. The part that startled him so was that there was absolutely no fear on their faces. They weren't being brave and working through their fear like most people, they weren't afraid.
Sulu and Chekov, in front of him, tense and ready for action, but not afraid. Carol, behind and to his left, looking at him with frank curiosity, waiting for his next move, as if this were an experiment where she was interested to see the results, but not afraid. On the other side from her, Spock, cool, calm and collected as always, looking to him for orders, obviously not afraid. Nyota, next to him, her eyes confident, anticipatory, but not afraid. All of the other crewmembers on the bridge, not parts of his close-knit family circle, but still family, and all poised to follow where he led, knowing everything would be fine, not afraid.
Maybe they have enough confidence for all of us.
Kirk punched the comm on the arm of his chair.
"Kirk to Engineering. Scotty, divert as much power as you can spare to the inertial dampers and batten down, it's about to get rough."
"Aye, Sir."
"Sulu, Chekov, Spock, do you trust me?'
The question may have been a little strange in their circumstances, but for this to work, they'd have to take everything Kirk said at face value. The slightest hesitation, one misstep, would doom them all. They didn't even pause to think.
"Aye, sir."
"Da, Keptin."
"Yes, Captain."
Part of Kirk wanted to choke up, but he simply didn't have time. "Then listen very carefully."
As the 3 Romulan vessels closed in on their prey, Enterprise turned and shot off toward the starbase at her top impulse speed. Fortunately for the Romulans, they'd anticipated such a maneuver. The ships were positioned in advance to allow one of them to easily intercept the Enterprise, leaving her caught in a pincer, one ship ahead and two behind.
Not so fortunately for the Romulans, this was exactly what Kirk was counting on.
As Enterprise sped toward the Romulan vessel, her tractor beam lanced out to connect with it. Tethered to each other, the ships grew closer and closer. Red flares began to show on Enterprise's ventral hull as Sulu began firing maneuvering thrusters just as Spock began manipulating the tractor beam.
Enterprise steadily rose, on a course to miss colliding with the Romulan ship from just above it, but her speed was dropping. The reason for this soon became evident as the speed of the ship she had tethered herself to began increasing at the same time. As the two ships neared the point where they'd become closest, the Starfleet ship began a roll, her saucer tucking downward and nacelles coming up. The two ships continued exchanging their momentum as they passed, the smaller one stealing acceleration against his will. Pouring her own speed into the Romulan ship, Enterprise cut the beam andliterally flung her adversary back at his friends behind her.
Both of the Romulan ships began to move to avoid the incoming ballistic missile of a starship. The one to starboard was barely in its path and managed to avoid a collision with ease. The port ship was not so fortunate. The two crab-shaped Birds of Prey did not hit each other straight on, rather scraping each other, their shields cancelling each other out at the points of collision. This would normally have not done any more harm to the two ships than a need for a new paint job, but there was another factor- Enterprise was just coming out of her roll.
The inertia of the roll had pinned the crew to their seats. Having anticipated this, Chekov poured all of his strength and willpower into sliding one hand downward to hit one button, executing a preprogrammed computer targeting sequence. The forward launcher on Enterprise's 'neck' spat out a volley of white-hot photon torpedoes. Six missiles streaked forward, homing in on their target; the area where the 2 Romulan ships were currently in the process of ramming each other's shields out of existence.
The torpedoes smashed into their targets, the explosions of each one venting their fury into both ships because of how close the two were. Without shields in place to protect them the Romulan vessels were left with nothing but bare, scratched hull metal to protect them from the matter-antimatter detonations. Both ships emerged from the firestorm, black battle damage scarring their hulls, completely crippled and no longer a threat.
The crew on the bridge was thrilled with the results of their maneuver, right up until Spock stymied the moment with a rather unwelcome announcement.
"Captain, our own shields pinged those of the Romulan vessel as we passed. They are down to 15%."
As if to reinforce the seriousness of his statement, the ship rocked from another hit from the remaining Romulan.
"Shields at 8%, Captain!"
Kirk spun away from Spock's science station, his brain whirling a light-year a minute, looking for the best way out.
"Chekov, Sulu!"
Commander T'shal of the Romulan vessel K'vrel smirked silently. His momentary alarm at the Starfleet ship managing to knock out his two brother ships so quickly had been tempered by the damage their shield had taken in the process. He regarded the enemy vessel on his screen hungrily, sensing the glory just within his grasp as he beheld his weakened foe, made all the sweeter because he had not expected the glory to go to him; he was not the leader of the strike group. Perhaps he should thank the humans for taking Kenyar out of the running before he killed them….
"Weapons officer! Target all batteries on the Enterprise! Stand by-"
T'shal's order was interrupted by the sight of the Federation vessel launching three more torpedoes at them. T'shal opened his mouth to order his crew to brace themselves and return fire but he needn't have bothered. The torpedoes exploded long before reaching the K'vrel. As the image on his screen was filled with flames from the detonated munitions, T'shal believed he realized what the Starfleet captain was attempting to do.
"Helm! Weapons! They will use the explosions as cover to change position and fire! We must move as well and prepare to fire as soon as we-"
T'shal's orders died on his lips as the flames were parted by the saucer of the Enterprise, coming straight at them!
"Evasive!"
The K'vrel lunged to port as fast as she could, while Enterprise nudged her own course to her own port, allowing the two ships to miss each other by less than 40 meters. As the two passed by, Enterprise let loose with the full fury of her starboard phaser batteries. Not having to waste precious energy covering the distance to its target as usual, the Romulan vessel took the full brunt of the far more powerful starship's formidable weapons array. Angry red phaser bolts tore through the Romulan shields like tissue paper to sledgehammer the starship they protected. To his credit, the Romulan weapons officer managed to get off a single disruptor blast during the fast confrontation, blasting through what little remained of Enterprise's shields and gouging an ugly scar in her engineering hull. But the decisive victor of the point-blank firefight was without a doubt the Federation flagship, as she slid past the smoking wreck of the Romulan vessel to come to a stop, battered, bruised, yet triumphant.
The crew on the bridge cheered for their victory as Kirk leaned back in his chair and expelled a breath. As the shouts and whoops died down, Jim turned to Spock.
"Damage report?"
Spock consulted his readouts to check the still incoming reports.
"Shield generators and warp drive are offline. We have a breach in the secondary hull, decks 16 and 17, already sealed off. Sickbay reports significant injuries, but they are hopeful that they will be able to avoid any fatalities."
Kirk let loose a tired grin as his adrenaline began wearing off. "Excellent. Stay on top of it Mr. Spock. Mr. Chekov, keep our weapons locked on the Romulan ships, watch them carefully for any sign that they're becoming a threat again. Uhura, get me Starfleet Command. We need to know how the admiralty will want to deal with this.
With the chorus of 'Aye's at his back, Kirk got up and turned to the door to head to his ready room and talk to command. Seeing the starboard side of the bridge for the first time since the battle had begun, Jim only just now saw the presence which had been skulking there the whole time. Refusing to let himself be fazed, Jim held his head up high and strode out, the unreadable gaze of his mother following him the whole way.
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