"Red Alert! Shields up!" ordered Riker. He looked around the bridge and realized that most of the senior staff was on the Orville. He tapped his commbadge, "O'Brien, are we able to get a lock on the away team?" He knew the answer but had to ask.
"Sorry Commander," answered the Irish transporter attendant. "We are working on it. We believe we can compensate but it will take some time."
He turned back to the viewscreen. A large oblate spheroid ( wiki/Spheroid for those interested) with an outer rim and a center circle that had a large red light in the middle. Riker knew better than to judge the ship by its appearance, but "ominous" was the word that came to mind for him.
"Ensign Lavelle, why didn't we detect this ship before it dropped into sublight?" asked the Commander.
"I am sorry commander," answered the acting operations officer. "They seem to be using a variation of the quantum drive that the Orville uses. Typically, we scan for sub-space warp signatures, not quantum displacements."
"Commander, we can adjust the sensors accordingly," said Commander LaForge over the communication system. "I am making those adjustments now."
"Understood," replied. He refrained from expressing frustration that those adjustments had not been made yet. "Ensign Ro, place the Enterprise between the Orville and the Kaylon ship. Ensign Lavelle, please hail the Kaylon ship." He straightened his tunic and put on his best poker face.
"Kaylon ship, I am commander Riker from the Federation starship Enterprise. We have no quarrel with you and do not wish to engage in a hostile act. We have crew members onboard the Orville and cannot allow you to attack the Orville and put them in harm's way," there was a long pause. Much more than Riker expected given that the crew of the Kaylon ship was compromised of logic-based automatons. The entire bridge crew held their breath as they waited for the response.
"Sir we are getting a response," answered Lavelle.
"On screen." Riker took a small step forward as he prepared to speak. The screen switched from a starry background with the large Kaylon ship to an internal view of the Kaylon control room. It was incredibly sparse and did not have room for even casual movement. Three humanoid individuals who were virtually identical to Isaac stood in a triangle formation on the screen. Riker did note that their eyes were different colors than Isaac's blue, both red and orange. Riker turned towards LaValle and ordered, "patch in the Orville."
On the bridge of the Orville, Captain Mercer looked on as the Enterprise moved between the Orville and the Kaylon ship. Ed knew that this version of the Kaylon ship was more than a match for the Orville one-on-one. He still wasn't sure of the military capabilities of this Enterprise. It goaded him a bit that they felt they had to "protect" them but he also understood that members of the Enterprise were onboard his ship and the commander was being protective. He was about to give an order to move more into an offensive stance, when Bortus spoke up.
"Captain, the Enterprise is attempting to patch in a communication with us."
Captain Mercer looked to Captain Picard who had taken a seat at an empty duty station. "If Commander Riker wants you to see this, I would recommend you take a look," suggested the Federation captain. Mercer nodded and a split screen appeared with three Kaylons to the right and the bridge of the Enterprise to the right. Riker spoke up.
"I am Commander William of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We are not members of the Union and have no quarrel with you but I have crew members onboard the Orville and cannot allow you to engage with them." Riker noted that the Kaylons were virtually identical to Isaac with the exception of their eye colors. The did not seem to react but there was some sort of high pitch exchange between them. The middle one spoke, or at least Riker assumed it was the middle one because his eyes blinked slight. "I am Primary. We do not know about your vessel. You claim that you are not members of the Union but most of your crew are human which are the founders of the Union. In any case, you are biological beings which we have determined must be eliminated so we can acquire more space for Kaylon growth and ensure that biological do not ever again repress the Kaylons. Therefore, your ship must be destroyed along with the Orville." Suddenly the Enterprise rocked. Just before the ordeal, Riker noted a flash of light from the middle of the Kaylon ship.
"Report!" yelled Riker.
"Shields are at 73%!" answered Lavelle, "Composition of the weapon is unfamiliar but they are very strong."
"Commander, we can't take too many hits like that," shouted Geordi LaForge over the intercom. "I am working on strengthening the shield."
"Mr. LaValle, prepare photon torpedoes. Keep us between the Kaylon ship and the Orville." Riker knew already the Enterprise might be outmatched. "Return fire all phasers."
From the large disc of the Enterprise, two counter rotating lights met and initiated a beam of power that lashed out at the Kaylon ship. The Kaylon had shields of their own but ran into the same problem the Enterprise had. They did not know what phasers were. Their shields were impressive but were not designed to compensate for the vast destructive power of a Galaxy class starship.
"Minor damage, Commender. The Kaylon is coming around," reported LaValle. "The Orville is moving to intercept."
"Captain Mercer, I can't have you endanger our men," said Riker to the screen. "This is not our war."
"Commander, I appreciate this but this is our war. I don't know why there is a Kaylon ship here but it needs to be destroyed." Riker noted that this was the most militaristic that Mercer had sounded.
"Commander, Captain," interrupted Data. "I have an idea. Is it fair to say that the Kaylons would not be looking for Warp Signatures in their normal scans since they are not widely used in this reality?"
Isaac raised his hand mechanically and said," Just as the Orville did not routinely monitor subspace, there is no known reason a Kaylon ship would so either. Especially in a battle situation."
Riker looked at Lavelle and then to Ro. "Ensign Ro, set course 107 mark 23 Warp 1. Be prepared to come about quickly. Mr. LaValle, arm photon torpedoes. Engage."
On the Kaylon ship, Tertiary noted the disappearance of the foreign vessel. "Primary, we have lost sensor contact with the unknown vessel."
Primary computed quickly the possibilities. "That ship should be too large for a cloaking device. They may have technology that we are unaware of. If that is true, we should acquire it. Continue to scan and refocus our attention on the Orville. It must be punished for the betrayal to Kaylon."
On the Orville, Lieutenant Keyali shouted out, "The Enterprise is gone!"
Picard smiled and said quietly, "Just give them a minute. They'll be back." Suddenly the Orville lurched violently as the Kaylon ship launched a new salvo against the union ship.
"Gordon, evasive maneuvers. Ride the donkey if you have to." Mercer knew he was out gunned and hoped the brilliant, if occasionally idiotic, navigator could get them out of this. He could feel the ship take a sudden sharp turn. The inertial dampeners kept them from being obliterated from the severe G forces but they were still thankful for their chair restraints. Picard made a note that Starfleet really should implement a similar system. He couldn't think of why they had not.
"Captain, I can't keep ahead of them for long and they do outgun us." Malloy's fingers moved quickly as he tried to evade the larger spheroid. The Orville began to take more and more hits.
"Shields are beginning to fail." Reported Bortus. "We must retreat."
"What do you think I am trying to do?" exclaimed Malloy. He was starting to sweat as he continued to evade the Kaylon vessel.
In the Kaylon ship, Primary calculated that they most likely destroy the Orville in 1.867 minutes. "Continue the attack," he ordered in the Kaylon binary language. Suddenly the Enterprise appeared on their screens. Four star-shaped projectiles launched from the upper saucer section. "Analysis," he ordered.
"They appear to be anti-matter explosive devices. We may not survive the impact," responded Secondary with no hint of emotion.
Mercer looked as the Enterprise re-appeared. He glanced at Captain Picard with a slight smirk on his face. He watched as the Enterprise launched its volley of photon torpedoes. They hit in a synchronized pattern simultaneously against the Kaylon hull. There was an initial flurry of explosions on the exterior quickly followed by a series of internal explosions which cascaded into large fireball in space with pieces of the Kaylon ship being propelled into space in all directions.
Commander Riker looked on with a mixture of satisfaction and concern. Who knew what the long-term consequences of this action would be. "Damage and casualty reports. Hail the Orville and get Captain Mercer back on the line," he ordered. Captain Mercer came back on the screen.
"Thank you for your assistance, commander," said Captain Mercer once the connection had been re-established.
"I trust our crew members are well?" Asked Riker. "We are all fine," interjected Captain Picard. "I believe it is time we got back to the Enterprise. Please ensure the area is secure and we will shuttle over immediately." He turned to Captain Mercer," you will excuse us, I am sure can understand there are matters to attend to. I will contact you as soon as I have ensured the Enterprise is secured." Mercer nodded and Lieutenant Keyali got up to lead the Enterprise crew away to the shuttlebay.
Onboard the Enterprise, Commander Riker monitored as the shuttlecraft began its approach to the shuttlebay. While he had complete confidence is his own ability, he was relieved that the crew would be intact soon. The safety of his captain along with the crew as a whole was his primary responsibility. We had faith in Lavalle, Ro and the others but the primary bridge crew was the heart and soul of the Enterprise. Especially now that they were in a completely unknown Universe with no way to get home.
"Sir, I am getting a reading in Quantum space. It appears to be a vessel," reported Ensign Ro.
"More Kaylon?" asked Riker.
"I don't think so. The readings are somewhat different. They are dropping into normal space," she reported.
The ship looked nothing like a Kaylon ship or a Union ship for that matter, It was tinted green and had a much more angular appearance than either of the alternatives. The first thought that came to Riker's minds was that it was "menacing." He tried to remember not to prejudge first contact participants.
"We are being hailed, sir," said Ensign Lavalle. On the screen appeared a humanoid with pronounced features. He was very pale and had ridges that were not Klingon but would have given Worf a run for his money.
"I am Captain Skarg of the Krill. Tell me who you are or by Avis, I will destroy your ship where you right now."