Paint and Powder

A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.

The Klingon War 2372-2373. Battle of Magellan.

"Hello, I am Captain Stolin. I'm a Bolian and was captain of the Miranda class cruiser USS Indomitable. Indomitable alongside the USS Dragon and the USS Chicago were tasked with patrolling the border near the Magellan system. Word had come down that the Klingons were up to something and we needed to be alert. This was a few standard days after the battle of Deep Space Nine."

"Two days into the patrol we were joined by Commodore Jeffries's command ship the Nebula class cruiser Coral Sea and by, what we thought at the time was another Nebula class cruiser, USS Wrath of Achilles. I tell you to this day it was hard to differentiate the two of them. The spinal phaser does not stick out and I just thought that it was simply a new design element for the ship."

"We were a week along the patrol route when Achilles sent out an alert about cloaked starships coming at us and for us to go to red alert. Jeffrie's demanded to know How Achilles knew that cloaked ships were approaching and Captain Wilkins obliged us and shared sensor data with what they had detected. There they were at least a dozen tracks approaching our position. Even though we had reports of conflict along the Klingon border Commodore Jeffries wanted to try the diplomatic approach and ordered all ships to only yellow alert. Wilkins strongly objected to that and said we needed to go to red alert. Shots had already been fired and the Klingons were looking for a fight. Jeffries's said he would take it under advisement."

"Well, it was Klingons alright...about twenty ships. The leading element was a Neg'var class cruiser with a trio of Vorcha's backing it up. The rest a mix of D-7s, D-10s, and K-22 Bird of Prey."

"Jeffries contacted them and alerted the Klingons that they were in Federation territory. That if they could still talk about what was going on and negotiate a deal that would benefit us all. For his trouble, his ship was hit by the four Klingon heavies. He was at yellow alert and only had the bare minimum of shielding up. The Coral Sea took heavy damage from the attack...then Achilles gave the Klingons an answer. An answer I won't soon forget."

"I saw four Klingon ships disintegrate under the fire that monster unleashed. I am not joking...I saw a D-10 and 3 K-22s hit with twenty torpedoes each in less than a second. Of course, they would disintegrate. The Neg'var lost a warp nacelle to the spinal phaser as the Achilles began to maneuver at speeds I did not think a Nebula could achieve. Later I found out that it had been fitted out with the same drives as a Galaxy class...A galaxy-class mass is at least a third more than a Nebula class. That thing was maneuvering like a shuttle."

"Over the next ten minutes, all we could do was offer support and try to stabilize the Coral Sea as Wrath of Achilles lived up to his name. He spun on his axis t bring the lance to bear...I saw it punch through one D-7 to cut a second D-7 in half. It would launch torpedoes from those cells it had faster than a normal launcher should. It would fire at what I thought was empty space only for it to be revealed a Klingon ship had cloaked to try to sneak to a better firing position. "

"And then USS Woden warped in...the Klingon Task force decided that discretion was the better part of valor and warped out. The Coral Sea would spend six months in drydock being repaired. Commodore Jeffries...dead, a Klingon torpedo had hit the bridge directly. My ship and the others had moderate to heavy damage. We could move under our own power but would spend a month being repaired."

"The Klingon losses were hard to calculate given how fast the fight was. I know they definitely lost the Neg'var. Achilles and Woden both ganged up on it. One Vorcha gutted, the second one last a warp nacelle. 2 D-10s destroyed...as well as a number of D-7s and K-22s. All in all a victory for the Federation."

"That was also the last time I saw Wrath of Achilles. Both were with us at Starbase 25. Both had their torpedo launchers reloaded and then they took of for who knows where. All I can say is that it would have been a disaster for us if Achilles wasn't there. I am also utterly terrified that Star Fleet was able to build not one but six of those monsters and keep them utterly secret until that time. I shudder to think what other dark skeletons Star Fleet Intelligence has that they have yet to talk about."

Reflections of War. The Lead up to the Dominion War.

Klingon D-10 Heavy cruiser is a FASA creation. In Kirk's time it was a Klingon attempt to create a warship that could go toe to toe with a Refit Connie.

K-22 is the FASA designation for the scout Bird of Prey. The one with a crew of 12 or so.

Background:

NX-71000 Woden. An experiment by Star Fleet intelligence. Tripple hull with regenerative shields and the firepower of a Galaxy in a much smaller package. Had the sensor suite of a Science and Exploration vessel. Built approximately the same time as Tthe Galaxy Class Woden was seen as a testbed for new technologies that could be applied to other Starfleet ships in the future.

The primary mission was patrolling the Romulan and Klingon borders. During the Dominion war, he found himself at DS-9...

Several ship girls watched as the older ship-boy spoke to a group of Defiants. They couldn't hear a single word he said but he held their attention as no one else had.

Invincible: "Can you believe it? He is so good with them. I have never seen a squadron of Defiants so well behaved."

Atlanta: "Tell me about it. The rapt attention. Some are even open-mouthed. What is he telling them?"

Tone: "Who knows, but it must be good."

Inside the little gathering. The one-eyed avatar kept speaking. "A cloaking device is not a magic carpet. It is not an instant I win button. It is a tool like many others and must be used wisely. I have killed thirty Romulan and Klingon warships while they were still cloaked. "

"How?" Came from one Defiant. The others nodded with her. This was a rare opportunity to learn from an older warship. So far the data had been...enlightening.

"Simple. All starships affect their surroundings. Cloaked or not you leave a wake. Dust and gasses are disturbed. These can be detected. These can be used to direct fire. I simply set my torpedoes to command detonation and fired them where there was disturbance where none should be. Cloaked your shields are down and a close detonation from a 64 megaton warhead will nicely disrupt your systems. Afterward spraying the now revealed starship usually doomed them."

He leaned forward "If you have a cloak use it wisely. Allow other ships passing to disguise your wake. Use terrain to your advantage. In open space, there is nothing else to hide behind, in an asteroid belt or better a ring system you can more easily hide your wake if something passes close. You have a mind. Use it. Any questions?"

"How did you lose the eye?"

He froze then looked at the one Defiant that had spoken up. Nearby the 'older' ship girls and a group of Klingon ship girls listened in. He took a breath, then sipped his drink before speaking. "Once long ago... I sought wisdom. I was told that it could be had, for a price at Ymir's well. So I traveled for three days and three nights to reach it. There did I meet Ymir and he told me the price."

"If you seek to drink from my well you must sacrifice. For nothing is free. The closer and more personal the sacrifice is the greater the reward you shall receive." He then stood there and awaited my sacrifice. I thought about it and then made my choice. I plucked my own right eye out and gave it to him. For my eye was quite personal to myself and I would miss it greatly. He tossed it into the well and I did drink of the waters therin. For as he said nothing of worth has ever been gained without sacrifice."

The girls were silent until one of them spoke up. "OK, nice story but...I think it is total bullshit."

Woden smiled at her. The Klingons following chuckled a bit until they saw him reach for his eye patch and lift it up. Instead of a normal eye, there was an empty pit. A hole in his skull where the orb should be. Scarred and damaged tissue encircled the opening. Slowly he lowered the patch down until it covered it again. He then looked at the squadron of Defiants. "Does that answer your question?"

Written by Typhonis1.