The Hour of The Wolf
Chapter Twenty-Three

Dropping out of warp Will watched the stars ahead shrink from thin rainbow lines to the more familiar pinpricks of light. He was more interested in the battle. 'Red alert, shields up. Hail all ships, find out what the hell is going on!'

There was three ships engaged in a fire fight. The first was an old Excelsior Class, the Crazy Horse. It was crippled, venting plasma from a damaged nacelle and there was what looked like torpedo damage to the drive section. Excelsior Class were old, but still in service. The other Federation ship, a Nebular Class, was the Bellerophon. A survivor from Wolf 359 Nebular Class were based on many of the same designs as the Enterprise and while smaller it was still a force to be reckoned with.

The other ship was Cardassian, a Galor Class. All too familiar from the border wars. From what Will could remember it was no match for the Bellerophon, not to mention the more powerful Enterprise. It looked like the Cardassians knew that too and were trying to make a break for it, but it looked like they had already taken damage to their warp drive

'Captain, the Bellerophon is responding.' the Security officer at Tactical announced.

The screen changed again to show a middle aged man with Captains' pips on his collar 'Enterprise, stand down. We've got this.'

'Hold your fire Bellerophon.' Will ordered. 'You destroy that ship they will consider it an act of war.'

'We're already at war Captain. The Crazy Horse is dead in space! They've taken casualties…'

Will winced. 'Understood, but my orders are to preserve the new treaty however I can.'

'Sir, we're being contacted by the Cardassian Ship.'

'Bring them up as well, dual-screen.' Will ordered and half the view was replaced with that of a darkened bridge as a grey skinned alien sat on a high chair and looked down.

'I am Gul Macet, of the Cardassian Order…'

'What gives you the right to attack a Federation ship in Federation space?' demanded the Bellerophon Captain.

Macet turned to address him. 'The right of war Captain. Your presence on our boarder is a conformation that the Federation has broken it's treaty with us. If more was needed.'

'You are referring to the reports of a rogue ship in this area.' Will replied. 'We are here to investigate, if true we will be arresting the ship's captain.'

'He has committed crimes against the Cardassian people and will be dealt with by us.'

'Maxwell is a Federation Captain, We won't turn one of our own over to your justice.' The Bellerophon's Captain sneered the last word.

Will didn't like it either. Cardassian trials were more like a theatre, where the sentence was pre-decided by the military government. Rumour had it some times even before the perpetrator was caught. 'Gul Macet, I am inviting yourself and two of your men on the Enterprise. Captain I want to see you and the Captain of the Crazy Horse as well. One hour.'

'I have no intention of becoming a prisoner on your ship.' Macet insisted.

'That's your choice. Your only other option is for my fellow Captain to continue firing. Killing you and your crew.' Will told him. 'Please, let's try and work this out before something happens we can't come back from.'

Macet seemed to sigh. 'One hour Captain.' His side of the screen went blank.

'You can't be serious Riker! They attacked without warning! Ambushed the Crazy Horse, knocked out their communications!'

'And if we're going to find a peaceful solution to this mess we need to talk. Not blow each other out of space with Photon Torpedoes. One hour Captain. Riker Out.'

With that he sat down in his chair and claimed himself. They hadn't even started and already everything had gone wrong.

Ben touched the announcer and the door opened. 'Benjamin, Hello, I wasn't expecting to see you today, is something wrong?' Colonel Tigh asked.

'No, well nothing out of the ordinary.' He admitted to his friend. 'Have you got a minute?' He held up the PADD he'd brought with him.

Tigh frowned and looked at his chronometer. 'I think so.' He seemed to shrug. 'There's a Replicator in the Officer's Club and it's about time I had something to eat.' Ben agreed and they headed down the grey corridors of the Battlestar.

'I heard a rumour that Commander Adama was spending more time with the Council than he was on the bridge these days. Is everything alright?' he asked.

Tigh shook his head. 'Sort of. The Commander's looking at stepping down from the Galactica.'

'I heard a rumour about that too, but I didn't believe it.'

They turned a corner. 'It's true. I told you I was going to retire before the Exodus. So was he. The Commanders nearly two hundred, well above the mandatory retirement age, but with everything going on with the Fleet he needed to be in command. We needed him. We still do, but as soon as he feels it's time he's stepping down.'

Ben could understand that and once again he was astounded by just how alike and different the Colonials were. Two hundred of their years… He could hardly accept it. 'What will happen to the Galactica?'

'I don't know.' Tigh admitted. 'I know the Commander wants me to take over from him, but I… I haven't decided.'

'I understand, if you need any help you just have to ask.'

'Thank you Benjamin.' They turned another corner and went inside the Club. It was like a lounge, or ships mess hall, but mostly for the Viper pilots. There were a few of them in there, with most these days shuttling survey teams or helping with security on New Kolbol.

'Colonel, Commander.' Lieutenant Starbuck saw them and jumped to his feet, nearly breaking up the card game he was probably winning.

'As you were.' Tigh told them.

'Actually, Colonel that thing I wanted to discuss with you. Perhaps the Lieutenant can help.' Ben tapped the PADD. 'When he's finished with his match.'

Starbuck grinned 'Love to.' he said and sat back down. Tigh didn't look too convinced.

After ordering a simple meal from the Replicator. Tigh asked; 'What is it you want to talk about?'

'An idea. I think if we both go to the Admiral with this when he arrives he might agree to it.' He handed over the Padd.

Ben got a ham salad sandwich, a glass of water and waited for his friend to read the proposal. 'What made you think of this?' Tigh asked after a moment.

'I noticed it when we arrived here. You landed a number of your ships on the planet and used them as distribution points. Federation ships don't do that, most classes of our ships aren't designed to land and wouldn't survive if we tried. A heavy transport come escort would fill that gap for us and make the combined fleet a more versatile force.'

Tigh took a drink and looked again. 'We wouldn't have to shuttle our forces back and forth, and wouldn't rely too much on your transporters.'

'That in battles can be jammed or blocked.' Ben admitted.

Tigh lent back and waved Starbuck over. Grinning from obviously winning the card game the Lieutenant tried to look a little more professional when he sat down.

Starbuck had a look at the Padd and seemed to like it. 'A heavy assault ship to fill in between Vipers and that Akira type. So this is going to be for landing a boarding actions? What are you going to call it?'

'I was thinking along the lines of Reliant, or maybe Defiant.'

Will sat in the Observation Lounge as the Bellerophon's Captain stormed in. 'Captain Riker, Thank you.'

'Captain?' Will blinked.

'As my First Officer pointed out after your hail I was out of line. We're here to protect the peace treaty. It's just, I fought in the Cardassian Wars. I lost friends to those bastards.'

'So did I.' Will stood up and walked over to his fellow Captain. 'But that's why we need to stop this now.'

The other man offed his hand. 'John Eddings.'

'Will Riker.' He shook it. 'Any idea how we solve this problem?'

'We wait, at least until the others get here.' Will sighed. 'Take any damage?'

'Minor, I had my shields up even before the attack. I think that's why they went for Tim. Any word?'

Will was about to answer when the doors opened again and His First Officer lead Gul Macet, two of his own officers and four members of Enterprise's security into the Lounge. Shelby had been waiting in the Transporter room for them, as had security. 'Gul Macet. So glad you could make it.'

'I have been in contact with Central Command. They have asked that I extend you every curtsy and my official apologies for the attack.' Macet said his head held high.

Will kept his poker expression. 'We will talk about that later. First have a seat, there is a lot we have to discuss.' The Cardassian nodded and sat down. Captain Eddings obviously still didn't trust him and sat opposite.

'I hope, captain I did not cause any serious damage to your ship.'

'Nothing we can't repair.' John said carefully, sitting opposite the Gul. 'I can't say the same for the Crazy Horse. We still don't know the full extent of her damages.'

Will sat at the head of the table. 'Actually I had my science officer establish communications. The Crazy Horse is badly damaged, Warp Drive disabled and several casualties. Including her Captain. Currently her XO is doing their best to get warp online so they can make it to the nearest Starbase. I have an engineering team ready to go over and help'

'Damn.' whispered John. 'I'll send my own team as well.'

'I know they'll be welcome.' Will agreed as John tapped his badge and relayed his orders. Macet was obviously uncomfortable with the news.

'Is there anything I can do?' he offered.

John glared across the table. 'I think you've done enough.' he snarled.

Will didn't like it anymore than his fellow Captain, but it gave him the opening he needed. Channeling Picard he realised he was straightening his tunic 'Gul Macet, we have an opportunity here. I propose we make the best of it. We might be willing to overlook attack. In exchange we will investigate the attacks ourselves, find the Phoenix and if the reports are correct he will answer to the Federation.'

'Outrageous!' one of Macet's officers jumped to his feet.

John was just behind him. 'You want to sweep this under the carpet? You said it yourself, they killed Tim!'

'And if the reports are accurate Captain Maxwell has killed dozens. Are you willing to leave him and the crew to Cardassian Justice?'

'You don't want justice. You want to give your murder a medal!' the same officer shouted.

'Sit down.' Ordered Macet. After a moment the Cardassian obeyed. 'The Central Command will never agree to your terms.'

'You have my word Captain Maxwell will pay for his crimes. As soon as we establish what they are.' Will promised.

Macet looked at him. 'The Central Command must be able to send observers. To ensure justice is served. My men and I will remain onboard, during your investigation and the arrest.' Will nodded. 'Then I will forward your proposal to the Central Command.'

As they left the Bellerophon's captain turned on Will. 'Riker, we can't let them get away with murder.'

'We're not.' He pointed out. 'First of all, just because we're not prosecuting doesn't mean the Cardassians won't.'

'They won't do anything to him, it would mean admitting they were in the wrong!'

'Not publicly.' Will tried to make his fellow captain see sense. 'Look, the last thing we want is Maxwell in Cardassian hands. Now it's a tragedy, but we have to get what good we can out of it. Bringing Macet up on war crimes won't help anyone, and like you said they aren't likely to hand him over even if we asked. It was made clear to me that our priority here is the treaty. We can't have another war.'

'You forget, I was at three-five-nine Riker.' John pointed out 'And I've fought Cardassians before. They have nothing that can match the amount of fire power on a single Battlestar. And from what I hear there's two of them. If they want a war, I say we give them one.'

Will sighed. 'We can't reveal the Colonials. They're still rebuilding their civilisation.'

'So because you want to keep a secret you're going to let that killer walk?'

'No, I'm going to wring every last concession I can out of him. Then I'm going to throw whats left back to the Cardassian Central Command and let them with the man that wasted their only advantage in the treaty negotiations.' He snapped. 'Now that's not how I want to do it. I want to throw that man into my brig, blow his ship into debris and chalk it down to a weapons malfunction. But our job here is to save lives. That's what we're going to do.'

John spun away and looked out of the window. After a moment he calmed down and faced Will again. 'You're right Captain. It's just… I knew Tim. We were friends from our days in the Academy. He'd just invited me to his wedding.'

'I'm sorry.'

'I'll support your decision Riker. With one addendum. I'm coming with you. The Bellerophon can stay here, once the Crazy Horse is stable she'll tow her to the nearest Starbase, but I'm staying. I've got orders to.'

'The Admiral doesn't trust me, so I'm not surprised. Welcome aboard.'

Apollo sat in his quarters on the Galactica, he was reading up on Federation weapons. Ever since he'd seen the strange hand lasers, called Phasers, he'd been equal parts fascinated and appalled. Modern colonial laser pistols were simple high energy plasma weapons with little in common with their focused light projecting namesake. Phasers were different. They were modified, small scale, particle cannons. Used originally for mining and while ingenious required a lot of complex equipment to regulate. The smallest was called a "type-I" and fit into the palm of your hand. They were short ranged and relatively weak. Most noticeably they were also apparently hard to aim. Far more common was the larger pistol version, called a type-II.

So far he found them dangerous, and not in a useful way. From the schematics he knew, along with other problems it shared with the smaller version, that it's power cell was fully integrated. Which meant once it was expended the weapon was all but useless unless recharged. To get over that design flaw the Federation had supercharged the cell, but that meant with very little effort it could be overloaded. Turning it into the equivalent of a solonite charge. In the middle of a fire fight the last think Apollo wanted to worry about was the very likely possibility of his weapon exploding.

Other issues he had problems with included the settings. A Laser Pistol had two, stun and kill. With most civilian models hardwired to the Stun setting. The type-II Phaser had a power scale that meant you could chose for it to do anything; from be nothing more than a light to vaporising a wall. Of course that last setting drained the power almost instantly, as well as burn out the emitter array and half the weapons internal components.

The Phaser was more a disposable tool than an effective weapon. Impressively high tech and versatile, but almost worthless in the long term. As a final issue the whole thing was a sealed unit, and while it was possible to modify it for multiple uses, if any part did malfunction it was easier to throw it away and find another than it would be to replace a single governor. Apollo had his pistol since before the Second Exodus. He'd take it apart and put it back together so many times it was almost part of him. He trusted his life to it countless times. The idea of a disposable weapon concerned him.

Of course the Federation had seen the same flaws and in turn devised what they called the type-III Phaser. An oversized combat rifle. This had all the problems of being too complex to be effective, and too cumbersome to use in cramped conditions, but at least it had a replaceable power cell.

He had been asked to help with the training of the combined Colonial Federation forces, which is why he had to try and convince them that their weapons were Feldercarb. As he tried to put it into words his door opened.

It was Starbuck. 'Apollo, you busy?'

'Nothing I can't put off, something wrong?'

Dropping himself in the seat opposite Apollo's wingman threw his hands in the air. 'Just going stir-crazy buddy. Wondering if you can get me on the next deep patrol'

'Sorry Starbuck, you're not the only one. I've already given Jolly and Greenbean the job.' He shook his head. 'I'm sure theres a card game or two you can get in on.'

'I'm talking action Apollo. Riding fire. Anyway, after winning the last few games words getting around that I cheat.'

Apollo laughed. 'You do!'

'I assist the odds, as any good player does.' Starbuck protested. It was a discussion they'd had so many times both knew it off by heart. 'Come on, there's got to be something. What are you doing?'

'Looking up technical manuals on Federation weapons.' He waved at the PADDs on the table.

'Any good?' Starbuck sounded genuinely curious, he must have really been bored.

Apollo tossed the top most one to his friend. 'Not that much more than a rock.' He admitted.

'Is that a Thumb trigger?' Starbuck sounded skeptical

Apollo nodded and the other Warrior mock shuddered. 'I've got to try and convince our brothers to use laser pistols.'

Starbuck frowned at the PADD some more. 'You've heard about those Hologram rooms they've got?'

'Yes?'

'There's going to be one on that new ship, the Akira. What say we talk with Benjamin and see if we can't get onboard and use it. We could get some of the Warriors on board to help.'

Apollo lent back, not sure what his friend was thinking 'With what?'

'A demonstration. We use the room for a simulation where we, I don't know, run a ground attack. We show them, who knows those Phaser things might be good.'

After a few microns Apollo rapped a knuckle on the table and stood up. 'You coming?'

Starbuck smirked. 'Of course. You know some of those Federation uniforms do look good.'

'Really?'

'I've seen some filled out very well.'

'Am I going to have to have a word with Cassiopeia?'

'Why, think you can get her one?'

End Chapter Twenty-Three

Authors note.

I'm being a bit cruel to the Phaser here, but the sad truth is it's not an effective weapon. The more complicated you make a gun the more that can go wrong with it. Sure, with all the things it can do its a wonderful plot device but it's not without it's flaws, Which Apollo points out here. Be honest, would you want a weapon that could EXPLODE with a minor malfunction? All it takes is three buttons to turn it into a bomb! Then theres a problem with the wide beam settings. I had to think why it wasn't a popular choice. To stun a room and work it out later is incredibly practical on the face of it. Burning out the emitters makes sense. It's all good having one shot that can knock out a room, but what about the next room when you've already used that one shot?