USS Alexia Alexia Class Strike Carrier

NCC-61667

En-Route Orion Frontier

The bridge had already darkened to tactical lighting. The bridge team, despite being young Academy graduates, had all passed their training with flying colours and quickly found their places at each station.

Logan took his spot at the weapons console, while Rei found her place at the XO's seat to the right of Shyvax. With a quick pointing action, Ingles sent Rela to cover the weapons console, while Kayla moved to cover the opposite side of the bridge.

There wasn't much any of the three Marines could do – realistically – to influence a space battle, but there was always the remote possibility that Alexia could be boarded, and it was their job to be ready, no matter what.

The ship dropped out of warp moments later. On the viewscreen, three Republic freighters were floating dead in the water through the blackness of space. The lead freighter was on fire, while the other two floated helplessly, with large chunks of their hull missing from their green bodies.

"No other vessels on sensors, Captain. Faetor Faeoh is on fire and her impulse drives have been damaged. The other two freighters appear to be totally disabled," Logan reported from his console.

"Life signs, Mr McLeod?"

Logan hit several switches, but could only shake his head, "Nothing on the other two, Captain. Faetor has a few, but I can't filter anything out due to the plasma fire."

"Are you able to open a channel to the Faetor?" Shyvax asked.

"I'm trying. There's some sort of weird," Logan started to report, before Rela shoved him out of the way.

The Romulan Marine hit several buttons in rapid succession while she shook her head, "Didn't they teach you auto-bounceback at the Fishie Factory, Feanna? Push these two over here."

Logan stood back and let Rela perform her magic on his weapons console, adding with a smirk, "Well, If my instructors had been as pretty as you, Leftenant."

Rela blushed, but Ingles shot back with raw anger, "Both of you can it and raise that freighter already! That's an order!"

After many long moments of adjustments and silence, Logan was at last able to report, "Channel open, Captain."

"Romulan Freighter Faetor Faeoh, this is the Federation Starship Alexia responding to your distress call, are you receiving our transmission?"

Shyvax and the rest of the crew stared for long, uncomfortable moments at the viewscreen, waiting for a response that no one figured was coming.

"No response, Captain. I've got the auto-ack from her main computer, but that's it," Logan said as he looked over his status boards.

Ingles stepped forward to look at the Captain, "Sir, I recommend we get a Raptor ready to send a team over. There could be injured survivors aboard that can't respond to comms."

Shyvax nodded and hit a switch on his chair, "Bridge to Sickbay, assemble a medical team and have them meet Major Ingles and his Marines in shuttle bay two. I'll join you there shortly as well."

Kayla had memorized not only the FMC General Directives book, but the SCMJ code, and felt the need to ask a related question.

"Captain, you're not supposed to go on away missions."

"Back at your post, Leftenant," Ingles shot back.

Shyvax however simply nodded back at Kayla, "I am aware of regulations, Leftenant Kaimeao. However, Faetor Faeoh has certain cargo aboard that I am personally responsible for. I will be safe under the Major's care."

"Aye, Captain," Kayla replied.

The Captain than turned to Rei, "Ms Nechayev, you have the bridge. We will contact you by QC every thirty minutes."

Rei took over the Captain's chair – confidently, without any show or circumstance – and nodded back at Shyvax, "Good luck, Captain."

"Vulcans do not believe in luck, Ms Nechayev. But I appreciate your gesture. Do try to keep my ship in one piece."

─•~:~•─

Kayla took the empty XO's seat and stared at the viewscreen, a few short minutes later.

"I hate when I don't get picked," she pouted to Rei.

"If it makes you feel any better, Leftenant, this isn't exactly my ideal choice for my first real command either."

Kayla smiled back, "I think we know each other well enough. Kayla," she said as she extended her hand.

"Rei," she replied, taking Kayla's hand.

"Raptor 2-7 to Alexia, on course and exiting bay now," broke in the QC to the bridge.

"Acknowledge 2-7. I have you on motion trackers now, no change in initial sensor readings," Logan replied from the weapon's console.

"So why didn't we go on this op, Kayla?" Rela asked from her position next to the weapons console.

"The most powerful force in the entire universe that isn't Ginny Tatum, little sis. Orders," Kayla replied.

Rela simply sighed deeply, and instead returned to her study of the weapons loadout. Waiting was the hardest part for any Starfleet Officer or Marine. The long periods of nothing to do but think would kill as sure as any weapon.

But Logan broke the waiting and the silence with a loud burst of shock, "Rei, I've got incoming contacts on full impulse, they read as Scorpion class fighters. They're running weapons hot!"

Before anyone else could move, Five Scorpion attack fighters surged out from seemingly nowhere and swarmed around Alexia's Raptor. The Romulan built fighters quickly laced the Raptor with green disruptor fire, and a heartbeat later, the tactical shuttle exploded in blue light.

Everyone stood in mute shock, for only a second. But Kayla's mind went to work in milliseconds.

Using the XO's station's control, she brought the ship to red alert, charged her weapons, and channeled her confidence in her words, "Helm, take us on a new course, heading 0-2-2 mark 1-8-8, full impulse. Tactical, standby CIWS and look out for more fighters!"

She turned and looked at her little sister, "Rela, any idea where those fighters came from?"

"Dunno yet, they're not transmitting Republican Karansu IFFs, and they aren't flying Rei Karansu colours either, give me a minute-"

Rela was cut off. The Scorpions veered sharply to port and chased after Alexia, ripping disruptor bolts and plasma torpedoes up and down the Strike Carrier's hull.

Her shields and armour were more than capable of stopping both however, and the pilots suddenly realized they had made a deadly mistake.

"Permission to return fire, Captain?" Logan asked.

It was only formality, since any officer in the CO position could be referred to as "Captain," but a part of Rei still smiled at the thought.

"Permission granted. Clear the skies, Mr McLeod," Rei ordered.

From the aft mounted torpedo launcher, the MK V Spatial Torpedoes launched a spread of missiles through the blackness of space, chasing the Scorpions by the tail.

In the 22nd century, Spatial Torpedoes were barely adequate anti-ship weaponry, designed for a different era when UESF Warp 5 cruisers were barely capable of defending themselves. Compared to photon or quantum torpedoes, they were horribly primitive rockets that should have been decommissioned three centuries ago.

But the Marines, either out of stubbornness or sheer insanity, took an out-of-date concept and made it deadly in the 25th century. The new MK-5 Spatial Torpedoes were equipped with advanced seeker warheads, redesigned impulse engines, stealth coating, and a dilithium-enhanced warhead.

Three dozen missiles chased five Scorpions through space. Two were hit in seconds and exploded, while the remaining three just barely managed to dodge the torpedoes, unable to vector fully to a proper interception point. Not that it mattered.

Just a few kilometers behind, Alexia fired her forward quad phaser cannons, lashing into the fighters with orange bolts that streaked across space faster than the eye could track. Seconds later, the Scorpions were hit clean and exploded in a dazzling green light in front of Alexia.

"Local space is reading all clear, Captain," Logan reported.

Rei nodded back and issued more quick orders, "Scan for transporter signals. Did anyone make it off the Raptor?"

Kayla quickly joined Kiyrutia at the science station and ran through sensor spectrums. Her hands moved faster than the Fishie manning the station, and her mind work faster anyway.

"Nothing. They're gone, Rei."

Most of the crew let out a gasp of shock. Shyvax was a twenty-year man of Starfleet, while Ingles was a combat veteran of Soul's Edge and Sniper Wolf. The thought that these highly experienced and decorated officers could be killed with the blink of an eye was as heartbreaking as it was shocking.

Rei took a sharp breath. Making this into a readable report would be a challenge on its own. But explaining losing the Captain and the OC-MCT to Mom would be nearly impossible.

"Okay, okay," She said, mostly to herself, "Helm, get us in transporter range of Faetor and standby-"

Rei wouldn't finish her order. The proximity alert screamed out in the bridge, and a massive new adversary appeared between Alexia and the freighters, dropping out of warp barely one hundred kilometers away.

"Hnaev," Rela cursed under her breath.

"That's a Corsair class Carrier, Captain. Probably where those Scorpions came from," Logan reported from the console.

Rei studied the screen closely. For everything that was written and said about the alleged capabilities of the Orion Space Navy, the Corsairs were the one effective system they possessed.

A little smaller than the three Illustrious class Carriers in Starfleet, Corsair was an ungainly, bulky design, with parts and equipment from a dozen races slapped and patched together all over her olive-green hull.

But for as ugly and ungainly as she was, Corsair was loaded with weaponry, fighters, and according to MIS, over five thousand Orion Marines.

"We're being hailed. Should I put her through?" Logan asked over the beeping of his console.

Rei nodded. She sat down, straightened her white and gold dinner jacket, and cleared her throat as the channel opened.

"Orion vessel, this is the Federation starship Alexia. Identify yourself and state your intent," said Rei, trying not to sound too much like mom.

Seconds later, the image of the carrier was replaced with a shot of the Orion bridge, looking almost like the inside of a Persian tent.

The Orion Captain stood up. Like most Orion women, this Captain was tall, slender, strikingly beautiful, and yet looked strong enough to fight a Kinshya.

"Hello little Bird. You're a rather long way from home, aren't you?"

"Identify yourself and state your intent!" Rei said, harshly.

"You can't even say 'hello'? What a rude little Bird you are," The Orion Captain said with a smirk.

Kayla stepped forward towards the view screen, "This little Bird has some sharp teeth, Captain. Careful that we don't bite. And my Captain asked you a question. So let me rephrase it. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

The Orion Captain sat back in her chair and crossed her legs seductively. Her uniform consisted of a black leather bodice, much like a Klingon deployment uniform, equally tight black leather pants, and a solid duty belt containing a Romulan disruptor pistol.

"Ah, the so called Sharkies of the Federation. I've heard of you. At least you have a modicum of manners. My name is Tetro. I am the Commanding officer of OSN Corsair. And under the ancient right of plunder, I have claimed the cargo aboard these freighters as my own."

Rela was next to speak up, "And what about the crews of those freighters, Captain?"

Tetro, who seemed previously in a playful mood, stood, and sharply turned her tone, "If that… creature, speaks to me again, I'll blow your quaint little vessel out of the stars. You can have one of them back. I'll be taking this cargo with me, and out of respect to your manners, I'll allow you to leave."

"I can't let you do that, Captain," Rei said, "You've attacked civilian transports under the protection of the Milky Way Alliance. At best, you've committed an act of war."

"And the worst, little bird?"

Rei smiled, "The worst? You'll piss me off."

Tetro smiled back, "Spirit. I like that. Don't follow me, prey."

The channel closed suddenly. On the screen, Corsair turned in space and raced into the darkness of space at maximum warp.

But before anyone else could speak, Faetor and the other two freighters exploded, rocking Alexia with the impact.

Rei steadied herself against her seat and cried out, "Damage report!"

After quickly checking the sensors, Kayla replied, "We're fine. But I've got one contact, looks like a Romulan in an enviro suit. I'm beaming him aboard now."

"Stand down from red alert," Rei ordered as she stood up. The exhaustion, like the exhaustion of the rest of the crew, hit her hard, and she felt the need for a black coffee.

"I guess… we should probably call our moms about this?" Rei asked Kayla.

"We should."

─•~:~•─