Chapter 506

BRIDGE

USS T'PAL

The Science Officer turned around from the console and said excitedly, "SHIP DECLOAKING BEHIND US!"

Broderick just stepped up on the bridge, "What kind?! What is it doing?"

The Science officer glanced and said, "It is a Klingon Bird-of-Prey! They are targeting the Siq!"

Broderick said quickly, "Shields up! Helm! Come about to…."

BRIDGE

IKV SIQ

The Weapons officer was the first to notice. "Sir! Ship decloaking astern us!"

Frung ordered, "Shields up! Helm, hard to left!"

They watched as the Lomqa came out of cloak and fired its weapon.

The weapon came out of the front of the Lomqa and shot out towards the Siq. It looked like a writhing ball of white energy, which essentially it was. The shot came out faster than a torpedo, but nowhere near as fast as a phaser beam.

The weapon was properly aimed. The ball of energy hit the Siq squarely in the engineering section. The ball of energy hit before the shields fully came on line. It crashed through the hull and entered the engineering section. Once there, it destroyed all computer and electrical equipment. Motors lost power, magnetic seals unstuck, there was an uncontrolled dump of antimatter into the reaction chamber. Since the magnetic controls were not in place, the antimatter was free to float around and when it hit matter, the two annihilated.

All this happened in a fraction of a second. What came about was that the entire energy inside the ship meant to drive the ship at faster than light speed for years was used up virtually instantly. An incredible explosion happened and the SIQ was instantly vaporized. The explosion was significant in blast, but since it happened in the reaction chamber of the warp drive, it also had a significant subspace disturbance.

This subspace disturbance had the effect on the T'Pal's warp engine as well. The warp reactor picked up the disturbance like a radio antenna and caused the reaction chamber severe stress fracturing the casing. The automatic controls sensed that the reaction chamber no longer was able to contain the matter-antimatter reaction and started automatic safeguards. The antimatter supply to the chamber was cut off, and the chamber's lower hatch was blown and the warp plasma was immediately vented to space. This happened prior to the physical blast wave hitting the T'Pal. With the warp reactor offline, there was only minimal power for the shields, which were no match for the blast wave. The blast severely stressed the ship and with the flexing of the ship it caused numerous structural failures with their own consequences.

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

"AAARRRGGGGHHHH! That was fantastic! Now target the T'Pal. Quickly! Before we come above the horizon again!"

The weapons officer said, "Sir! Their warp reactor has shut down!"

Chuk ordered, "How much longer for the special weapon to recharge?"

"Two more minutes sir!"

Chuk knew this was the answer. "Target their impulse reactor with all remaining weapons! Fire when ready!"

BRIDGE

USS T'PAL

The bridge consoles were showered with sparks from overloaded circuits. The blast wave shook the bridge violently and threw everyone from their consoles. Something went wrong with the antigravity and it was now working stronger than Earth standard of 1 G. People struggled back to their stations. Broderick pulled himself up to the arm of his chair and said, "Helm! Hard over! Evasive!"

"Helm sluggish. The ship is still vibrating from the shock!"

The engineer reported, "The Warp Core SCRAMMED! We are down to impulse power! Half the systems are showing shock damage! Shields are unresponsive!"

"Who did this?! Communications, surrender!" Broderick said.

The science officer said, "Sir! It is another bird-of-prey! The Siq is destroyed!"

The helm officer reported. "Sir! That blast has slowed us significantly! Our orbit is decaying! We are going to reenter the atmosphere! I cannot stop it sir!"

Broderick looked at the communications officer, "Call the Wisconsin on the Emergency channel! Immediate help please!" The communication officer started working.

The science officer reported, "Sir! They are locking weapons on us again! They are firing!"

Broderick looked up at the main screen. He could see the bird-of-prey lining up for another shot. For an instant, he thought he could see the disruptor beam lance out at his own ship, but that would be impossible, disruptors moved at the speed of light.

The weapons lanced out from the Lomqa. The disruptors hit the sides of the hull, turning large sections of the side of the ship into dust. Several decks started venting to space. The conduits for systems that were in the area also were dissolved and various systems either started shorting, burning, or erupting. The Lomqa's weapon's officer did a good job on aiming the disruptors. Numerous systems were catastrophically damaged with the weapons fire, including the weapons systems.

The impulse engine runs on nuclear fusion, vastly different than matter-antimatter reaction. While the amount of energy was significantly different, the process was remarkably similar. The well-aimed disruptors catastrophically damaged the containment system of the nuclear fusion reactor. Without magnetic containment directing the fusion energy to controlled, productive uses, the energy now was totally uncontained. The disruptor beams took out a wide swath of engineering systems, including safeguards and backups for the fusion reactor. Without those systems, it amounted to having a thermonuclear bomb being detonated inside a ship.

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

"Even an Impulse engine failure is most satisfying! Cloak the ship immediately! Prepare for phase 2!" Chuk was salivating so bad that there was a small pool of saliva on the floor.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Lt Maya looked up suddenly, "Sir! I have just had a large subspace disturbance at Organia."

Jacobs looked up, "Organia?"

"Yes sir, it is on the far side of the planet, but it is so large we picked up the longwave signature. I also have secondary indications of subspace disturbance reflecting off a nearby moon!" Maya said, "It's too large to be anything except that of a catastrophic warp core breach."

Lt Jareau turned around, "The T'Pal sent a momentary message out. First was 'Attacking vessel we surrender' then shortly later was 'Wisconsin'. The second message was incomplete."

Jacobs hit the PA button, "All hands! RED ALERT, Battlestations!" He pushed the button again and one could feel the ship suddenly come alive from its state of standing by… nothing.

Jacobs was about to say something when Lt Maya said quickly, "I'm picking up debris sir!"

"Composition!"

"Federation alloys sir. Sufficient mass to be the T'Pal. It is exploded sir! The parts are on a decaying orbit, they will hit the atmosphere in an hour!"

Leonaidas was looking at the displays and said dryly, "The technical term is 'fragmentized'."

Octavian stepped onto the Bridge and grabbed the shoulder level handle on the wall by the engineering station. He started soaking in all the information, along with all the stress from the bridge officers. The situation instantly went from just waiting to combat. Octavian immediately started praying quietly for the officers.

Jacobs said quickly, "I intend to go in and look for possible survivors. Opinions quickly."

Leonaidas observed, "Obviously it will be a treaty violation. Will the Organians let us come in?"

Octavian added, "Or the Klingons."

"We don't know what happened." Grimm observed. "Was there a fight?"

Jacobs looked at Maya who shook her head, "I cannot tell from here. The warp core breach happened on the other side. It would have to be the Siq. A warp core breach on the T'Pal would have left nothing. All I can say is that it is Federation wreckage that is falling toward Organia now. I am also reading radiation consistent with an impulse reactor overload."

Leonaidas said, "We need to address the treaty violation if we go in."

Jacobs nodded, "JJ, Hail the Tad."

BRIDGE

USS TAD

The sensors operator exclaimed, "Captain! I just detected a massive subspace event."

"Where?"

"By Organia! It has got to be from a warp core breach!"

"Anything else? Any confirmation?" Nirf asked.

"No sir, no other signals at all."

The communications officer said, "Captain, the Wisconsin is hailing."

Nirf snapped, "Onscreen! And raise the Siq! I want to know what is going on over there!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jareau worked the controls and soon Captain Nirf's image was on the screen and was clearly angry. "Captain Jacobs! What has happened on Organia?"

"There has been an explosion. We will forward all sensor data to you. We are picking up Federation wreckage that is in a decaying orbit, impacting the atmosphere within an hour. There is no trace of the Siq."

Nirf said angrily, "Federation trickery! You assassinated our Ambassador!"

"Captain Nirf, I do not know what has just happened. I am telling you that I intend on going to Organia to rescue all survivors."

Nirf pointed a finger at Jacobs, "If you cross over the border, that will be a treaty violation!"

Jacobs said, "This is an emergency! You can come join us to find survivors. We will not fire unless provoked. Jacobs out." Jacobs turned to Jareau, "JJ, Priority message to Starfleet. Warp core breach detected in orbit around Organia. Siq presumed destroyed, T'Pal wreckage detected but on decaying orbit. We have notified the Tad and are proceeding inbound for rescue."

Leonaidas asked, "Shouldn't we code that sir?"

"No time Leo, besides, if the Klingons are reading our mail, they are way ahead of us now. This needs to get out now. Set course for Organia, Warp 8. Time until we orbit?"

Agathon worked the controls on the navigation console, figuring out acceleration times, deceleration times, and time to assume orbit. "Maximum warp attainable is 7.1, total time is one hundred sixty seconds, that is without slowing down for their asteroid belt. I judge the risk as minimal based on the current density of asteroids on our path."

"Very well, engage your plan." Jacobs pushed the PA button. "All hands, this is the Captain. We have detected an explosion in orbit around Organia and are proceeding inbound for rescue operations. We are assuming hostiles will be in the area, along with the possibility of the Klingon escort ship may hamper rescue. Prepare for possible boarding action." Jacobs pushed the com button ending the PA. He could also feel the warp engines engage through the deckplates. They were underway.

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

"The Wisconsin has just entered warp." The sensors operator reported. "They are going straight to Organia."

Nirf angrily said, "What of their data? Can you confirm what he claimed?"

The sensors operator shook his head, "No. We sensed the same warp core breach explosion. They detected a good signature reflected off a moon. Our data is not as good as theirs, we just know something blew up. This reflected signature does look like a Klingon warp core breach. Our position does not allow any kind of confirmation on the supposed T'Pal debris."

The first officer asked, "What do we do?"

Nirf's eyes squinted, "Forward the data to the High Command. Alert our warriors, we may be coming to battle soon. This could be a Federation ploy to draw us into a trap."

"You said the Captain of the Wisconsin was honorable."

Nirf nodded. "Yes, he would have to be for Kang to trust him. I do not trust his superiors. Starfleet serves the Federation government. Their government is chaotic, back-stabbing, not single-minded."

"You make them sound like Romulans."

Nirf waived his hand, "They are almost as bad. Let's wait until we can confirm more. If we get any evidence, we attack. Communications! Any luck in getting the Siq?"

"Nothing yet sir. There is a lot of interference because of that warp breach."

Nirf said gruffly. "Keep scanning."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Agathon said, "We are picking up asteroid debris."

"Evasive as necessary, adjust speed as necessary. Jack, prepare landing parties."

Bauer nodded and looked at Maya, "What can you tell me of what's going on the T'Pal?"

Maya was working the controls, "Standard spacesuits should be good for now. They will protect you from the radiation, and the heat from inside will not overload the suit's systems until after the wreckage reenters the atmosphere. Be sure to have protective pads for the spacesuit's gloves and boots."

Bauer nodded and started working on his own controls. "I will have two teams in transporter rooms one and two in a minute. Do you want Dr. Blake?"

Jacobs shook his head, "Yes, and an engineer should be there."

Santini said, "I'll send Petty Officer Black to the Badger Den."

BADGER DEN

USS WISCONSIN

When the red alert was first sounded, all ships personnel went to their battle stations. For the Badgers that were on duty, they were already suited up and armed and went to sensitive areas around the ship. The off-duty Badgers armed up in their quarters and reported to the den for assignment.

The officer on duty at this time was Lt Teal'c. Teal'c was coordinating the incoming Badgers for the response. Petty officer Black ran in from Engineering with a backpack of equipment. Dr. Blake ran in just behind him with his medical kit. Teal'c gave a quick briefing in his normal, formal self. "Attention!" All the Badgers came to attention.

"The T'Pal has been attacked, and now has broken into several segments. The wreckage is now in a decaying orbit and will impact the Organian atmosphere in less than an hour. We are warping to rendezvous with the T'Pal now and will beam over two squads to conduct search-and-rescue operations." Teal'c pushed a few buttons. "You will don spacesuits; information is being uploaded to your HUDs in the suits and your tricorders. More information will follow as we obtain it. You have sixty seconds."

The Badgers quickly moved to the lockers where the spacesuits were stored. In very quick and efficient manner, the Badgers changed, checked, and double checked their partner's suits. This is one of the drills that is continually drilled to maintain proficiency in short time scenarios such as this.

Teal'c ordered, "Form up!" All teams formed up in front of the main screen where Teal'c was standing. Teal'c pushed a couple of buttons and a diagram of the T'Pal was shown. "We will be shortly forming up behind the wreckage of the T'Pal. Exact time until re-entry will be displayed on your suit's HUD. The T'Pal has broken up into a couple of major sections and some minor debris. The lower secondary section is relatively intact, and it has relatively few personnel in it. Squad One will beam into that section and conduct a search as quickly as possible. The other section is the main saucer section, however that is heavily damaged. Impulse engineering is gone along with most of the aft section of the saucer. Sensors detect that the saucer section is barely together and further hull breaches are likely. Squad two will beam to the Bridge and start rescue operations from there. Dr. Brown, Petty Officer Blake, Chief Petty Officer McGee, you will be part of the Bridge squad. McGee, your primary role is to recover what information as to what happened. Squads, report to the respective transporter rooms immediately! All remaining personnel form up into Squads three and four and report to transporter rooms three and four for backup operation. Also, all of you grab protective pads for your boots and gloves, the Bridge says surfaces inside the T'Pal may be hot. Move out!"

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

"That cruiser is closing on us fast!"

Chuk nodded, the speed of the approach was very fast. It spoke to a well-drilled crew. This is the ship that Kang had reported about. "Helm! Make sure we use minimal power for maneuvering. And make absolutely sure nothing of consequence passes behind us! I do not want that ship to see us! What of the Tad?"

His first officer said, "The Tad is still staying in position. I am not sure what he is doing."

"He's waiting for orders." Chuk mused. "Where is the Wisconsin now?"

"It is approaching the T'Pal now. It looks like they are going to get in close range of the wreckage. The Starship will not be able to hold that for long, just under an hour. We are still in orbit and are moving past the Wisconsin now."

"Do you detect any life signs on the T'Pal?" Chuk was thinking.

"No, but radiation from that is making it difficult to sense, that is probably why they are getting so close to the T'Pal. Plus, if survivors are in spacesuits, it will make it more difficult to get life signs under present circumstances."

Chuk thought, "I would wager that they are going to beam over rescue parties. We will wait until they have rescue parties on the T'Pal, that way the Wisconsin's tactical situation will be tougher."

His first officer asked, "What about attacking? Do we attack?"

Chuk nodded. "Yes, but we must be careful. We do not know how our weapon behaves with Federation shields. I would like to shoot when the Wisconsin's shields are down for transport. We need to time how long they drop their shields for transport. Sensors! Start recording in high-fidelity everything you are seeing. We may need to analyze this for our attack. Weapons! Have you determined where to hit the Cruiser?"

The weapons officer nodded. "Our spies have provided excellent detail on this class of ship. I'm all ready for the shot. Sensor lock will happen the moment we decloak."

Chuk nodded. Now it was the patience of the hunt. Study the prey.

The sensors officer reported, "The Wisconsin just beamed over what looks like two parties."

Chuk nodded. "How long were their shields down?"

"Only ten seconds."

Chuk thought that this was not good. The crew was efficient and well-drilled. The plan may need to be modified a bit. "We wait for now. Prepare a message, we may need to pull the Tad over here. I need to think this through a bit." Well, more than a bit. It is one thing for him to destroy an unarmed scout with one shot, quite another to take out an armored Cruiser with only one shot. Will the weapon work as well? All the testing that General Chang said that was done on the weapon indicated it should, but the conditions are not the same. It would help in more ways than one if the Tad could somehow be drawn into this situation.

BRIDGE

USS T'PAL

Squad two finished beaming and started working the tricorders. Lt Magnum suddenly felt heavy, "The artificial gravity has malfunctioned, its operating heavier than normal. Mr. Black, can you do anything about that?"

"I'll try sir." Jacob Black walked to a smashed console that should be engineering and set to work.

Dr. Blake observed, "Tricorder says the temperature is 150F in here. The floor and rear wall are warmer of course, but our normal suits will protect us, no need for the hotpads for now. Atmosphere is holding, contaminated with smoke though. I am getting some readings under the debris."

Magnum pointed to Petty Officer Johansen, "Swede, help me clear this. McGee, get to work on those logs."

McGee stumbled over to the science station. He cleared the console only to see that it was unpowered. He opened a service panel and started working. "It is going to take a little time, Lieutenant. I have to get some power here." Magnum nodded and looked around.

A little bit of debris was cleared away revealing a Bridge officer and Ambassador Nucatola. Dr. Blake worked with the tricorder. "Blunt force trauma, burns, heat exhaustion, she also has a broken leg. Fortunately, some of the debris protected her from the heat of the floor, she would have been burned to death in the meantime."

Magnum looking at the wreckage said, "We need to get her positioned better for transport, stabilize her best you can Doc."

Chief Warrant Officer Muldoon reported, "Captain Broderick is here Lt Magnum."

Dr. Blake said, "He has burns also, we really should beam them back to the ship."

Magnum asked, "Can we move them?"

Dr. Blake nodded. Magnum motioned, "Place transponders on them and arrange them in the flat area over there." Two of the Badgers started arranging the victims. Magnum pushed his com button on his helmet. "Magnum to Wisconsin, standby for two to beam up." Magnum looked at Dr. Blake. "Doc, we can only send one to sickbay. Which one do you want there?"

Dr. Blake looked at the Broderick. "Send him there. He has more burns. The Ambassador will be just fine being gurneyed from the transporter room."

Magnum touched his earpiece again. "Wisconsin, send transponder 2 to the sickbay. Two to beam up." The Captain and Ambassador were beamed over. Magnum started looking around. Now's the time to search for others.

SENSOR CONTROL SUITE

SECONDARY HULL FRAGMENT

USS T'PAL

The landing party finished materializing. Lt Gibbs said, "What's the condition in here?"

Ensign Kenn worked the tricorder, "Temperature about 100F, the ceiling is the hot surface. No need for protective pads on our suits. Pressure normal, atmosphere contaminated though."

"How bad?"

"Smoke primarily. A person will live, I would not recommend taking our helmets off." Kenn was working the tricorder. "It is difficult to say, but I think there is somebody over here under the debris.

The landing party started sorting through the debris, and soon found a crewman. Gibbs ordered, "Tag him and send him back to the ship."

Denozzo put a transporter transponder on the victim and called the ship. "Boss, they will beam him back next time there is a window. The Captain wants to minimize his risk with the shields down."

Gibbs was searching through another area. "Be careful how you put things Denozzo, we have a very cautious Captain, and we are still not sure what happened here. We want to have a ship to return to."

Kenn said, "Lifesigns next room over, I think there are two. Sir, what do you mean we do not know what happened? The Siq blew up and broke up the T'Pal."

Gibbs walked over to the door and tried it. It did not give. "If the Siq blowing up caused the T'Pal to break up, everybody on board should be dead from the forces that caused the breakup. The T'Pal broke up from something that happened here."

Everybody stopped. Denozzo was smiling, then lost his smile when Gibbs made his statement. "But that would mean…. Something blew this up?"

"That is right Denozzo, and that something may still be around here, waiting for us to make a mistake. Now guys, let's phaser this door open." Gibbs pointed at the door.

The team took out their phasers and soon there was a sizeable hole in the door. The floor was strangely void of debris. Denozzo was about to step through when Gibbs stopped him. Denozzo said, "Boss, I was just…."

Gibbs was giving Denozzo one of his patented 'you're an idiot' looks, which made Denozzo back away. Gibbs reached down and grabbed a small piece of debris. He tossed it through the door and the part fell up. "Kenn, what's the temperature on the ceiling?"

"I'm showing about 150F. If the victims are on the ceiling…" Kenn started to say.

Denozzo chimed in and said, "They're deep fried." Gibbs slapped the back of Denozzo's helmet, "Sorry Boss."

Gibbs put on his boot pads, then expertly went through the door, and did a half flip landing on the ceiling. He walked around some then looked back. "Come on through. I am not doing this alone."

One by one the others managed to get through the door. They found the two other victims in the room and set them up for retrieval by the transporter.

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

Chuk was looking at the readouts from the sensors. "This crew is very fast. They average ten seconds for time that the shields are down for their transporter cycle."

"We can decloak, lock, and fire in that length of time." The weapons officer said.

Chuk shook his head, "No margin for error. The total time to decloak, lock, and fire is more than ten seconds, just barely."

The weapons officer said, "I can shoot manually!"

Chuk shook his head. "We need to hit them squarely in their engineering section. If that cruiser is not taken out the first shot, they outnumber us ten to one. Communications! Do you have those codes from the Siq?"

"Yes sir. General Chang gave us all applicable codes."

"Fashion a partial message. I want it to be weak, barely readable by the Tad. Identify us as the Siq, massive failure, and are under attack by the Wisconsin. Ambassador in peril. Repeat once, then go offline. Get ready to send it." Chuk said. "We will send that as we decloak to fire."

The Weapons officer said, "Sir, what do you intend on doing?"

Chuk stated flatly, "We will close to point-blank then fire as they do their transporter cycle. If we catch them with the shields down, great. If not and the weapon does not perform like we hope, then our message to the Tad will draw them into the fight."

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

The sensors operator reported, "The Wisconsin has come over the horizon of Organia. They appear to be in formation with some wreckage in a decaying orbit to Organia."

"Is it Federation wreckage or Klingon?" Nirf asked.

"I can't tell from here."

"Any other vessels in the area?" Nirf was trying to figure this out. Where was the Siq?

"I still can't tell, it doesn't look like it, but there is still a lot of radiation left over from the warp breach."

Nirf did not like this. "So, was the T'Pal the one with the warp core breach? I would have thought that they would be destroyed."

The first officer said. "Maybe not, we know that Federation systems have more safeties than ours. Perhaps they were not completely destroyed."

"Then the Siq may be one of those wreckage pieces you think is from the T'Pal?"

"Perhaps."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Any contacts out there?" Captain Jacobs asked nervously.

Lt Maya shook her head. "None. No anomalous readings."

Octavian was still up on the turbolift landing. "What's bothering you, Captain?"

Jacobs shook his head. "It is too quiet. Time until reentry?"

Agathon said, "Twenty minutes."

"Dom, what's your opinion on what happened?"

Santini said, "As far as the T'Pal is concerned, it looks like to me they lost containment in their fusion reactor. I have to hand it to the design, the saucer section held together better than what I thought."

"The back third is missing." Jacobs said.

"And we are getting survivors. I would have thought no one would survive. The interior bulkheads are stronger than what I originally thought."

Jacobs thought. "What caused the loss of containment?"

Dom had been thinking about that. "Only a catastrophic loss of multiple systems in engineering. It did not happen by accident, something hit her, it had to. I would say they were also very close to hit in just the right areas in engineering."

Jacobs nodded. He felt a little helpless. His team was working hard, and all he was doing was sitting around. He had enough of this, Jacobs got up and went to the periscope for the upper telescope array and pulled the lever. The scope came up and Jacobs started moving around in a search pattern. Leonaidas quipped, "You look like a World War 2 submarine commander."

"Right now, I feel like one, I know there is somebody out there, and I know they mean us harm, but we have no idea where he is. Time until reentry?"

"Nineteen minutes." Agathon stated.

Jacobs started panning slowly in his search pattern. This was going to take forever.

CARGO BAY 1

SECONDARY HULL FRAGMENT

USS T'PAL

The search was not very productive, Squad one still had to cut its way through many doors to the search. Gibbs was about to enter the next compartment when he heard his communicator circuit beep. He touched the button on his chest. "Gibbs."

Lt. Jareau's voice came through the helmet's speaker, "Nineteen minutes until reentry. The Captain is requesting an update."

Gibbs shook his head. "We will not finish by then. Do we have an idea how many were in this section?"

Jareau's voice sounded disappointed. "No, Mr. McGee is having problems downloading the logs. Once we have an idea, we'll let you know. Anything else we can help you out? Are more people warranted?"

Gibbs looked around and thought a bit. "No, I understand that we only wanted two teams over for transporter control." The Wisconsin had four transporter circuits. Two were allocated for the two teams, and the last two were for beaming survivors aboard as they found them. This way they always had two circuits fully charged to beam the teams back if evacuation was needed. "I think that's the safest plan."

"Roger that, Wisconsin out."

Gibbs looked at the team, "You heard the ship, we only have eighteen minutes, let's phaser through that door."

BRIDGE

USS T'PAL

McGee finally got the science console working. It took a portable power supply being attached to the console, but it was finally working. McGee worked the computer and frustratingly pushed his communicator button on his chest, "McGee to Lt Magnum."

"Magnum here, what is it McGee?"

"I got the console working, but I will only have the recent sensor logs. Basically, whatever was in the console's memory at the time of attack. The central computer bank is down." McGee explained.

"We are down two decks now, get what you can and get back to the ship. Maybe you will be able to tell us where the other ship was before the attack."

"Aye aye, sir. I got it all now, beaming back."

TRANSPORTER ROOM 1

USS WISCONSIN

McGee stepped off the pad and went to the transporter console. Chief Frye asked, "How bad was it."

McGee popped his helmet off and set it on the floor. "It was bad, can I use your computer?"

"Sure, I got it ready for you to upload."

McGee smiled wanly, "Thanks Chief, you're the best." McGee quickly connected the storage box and uploaded the information. He pushed the com button, "McGee to Bridge."

"Lt Jareau here."

"I just uploaded the recent sensor logs from the T'Pal. There was not much available."

"Captain sends his thanks, this will help." Jareau offered. "Bridge out."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Analysis quickly!" Jacobs ordered. The crew had already divided up the task on analyzing the data before it came in. That way they could cover the most in the least time.

Santini quickly said, "The T'Pal was destroyed by an impulse containment breach. I'm reading a massive failure. Looks like an attack to me. Just before that the Warp reactor SCRAMMED due to stresses from a very nearby subspace explosion."

Lt Grimm added, "It was attacked, both of them were attacked."

"Both?"

Lt. Grimm looked up, "A bird of prey decloaked, they fired something at the Siq and destroyed it with one shot. I have never seen this before."

Lt Maya added, "The T'Pal had very good sensor readings on the weapon. The weapon's effect basically caused total containment failure in the warp core of the Siq. That is what initially damaged the T'Pal."

Grimm finished, "Then the attacker shifted and hit the T'Pal with standard disruptors. Their shields were practically off at that point."

"Because the warp reactor SCRAMMED." Santini interjected.

"Bottom line, we have a bad guy out here. JJ, new message to Starfleet. We have arrived at the T'Pal, survivors found, initial sensor logs indicate a third Klingon in vicinity has destroyed the Siq and T'Pal. Enclose our sensor logs. For that matter, send a copy to the Tad." Jacobs ordered.

"Aye aye, sir."

"Maya, any sign of that Bird-of-prey out there?"

Maya shook her head. "No sir, they're good at hiding themselves."

Jacobs peeked around the periscope and looked at Leonaidas, who nodded knowingly. "Let's make sure we leave no one behind."

Grimm asked, "Why hasn't that Klingon attacked yet?"

Octavian observed, "He's studying us. He'll attack when he's ready."

Jacobs was thinking the same thing. He kept circling around panning left and right, up and down looking for something. The odds of him seeing something were low, it was more like something to do to relieve a little stress. There was little change in the display screens on the bridge, so there was no harm in just looking outside. "Ok, let's be ready for him when he attacks." Jacobs looked away from the periscope and at the bridge crew. "Maya, get the science department to analyze those sensor logs, quickly. My big question is the effectiveness of our shields against that weapon. Alan, be ready for evasive at the earliest moment, be thinking on different approach vectors and how best to make that weapon miss engineering."

Leonaidas asked, "You think they are going to go for the one-shot kill?"

Jacobs said grimly, "That is what I would do. A bird of prey is no match for a straight-up gunfight with us. If he does not take us out in the first shot, we are going to blow him to smithereens. And Ben?"

Grimm nodded, "I know, get ready for clobbering time."

Jacobs resumed his search on the periscope. "Exactly."

NOME PUBLIC LIBRARY

NOME, ALASKA

Halls walked in and started setting up his security protocols. He had done this so many times that it was almost muscle memory. Very quickly he was in Starfleet's computer system and started working on copying files.

It did not take long at all to copy the files that were needed. His progress suddenly crashed to a stop. There were a few files that were high security files. Halls could decode only the names and that they were secured with: codeword 'Peanutbutter'. Halls worked on trying to access them but the security on these was very, very high, higher than he had planned. Being a clever thief, he decided to abandon these files and press on to others. Halls was progressing by copying files and altering their access logs. This would not take long at all.

STARFLEET SECURITY COMPUTER CENTER

SAN FRANCISCO, EARTH

Theodore Finch 'Rat' was living in hog heaven. He never thought doing 'legit' work could be so fun. He not only was working on tracking down the communications leak, but also the apparent back door into Federation systems. Lastly, he was also busy trying to hack Klingon communications as well. That was a challenge Rat did not anticipate. He had to figure out a totally alien mindset on how Klingons programmed computers to hack them.

Rat worked like some computer hackers work, not on one project at a time but multiple simultaneously. It would take longer to complete a project because you were not focused on it all the time, but the way hackers think it has benefits, they could complete three projects faster if working simultaneously rather than three projects one after another. One of his side displays had some windows open related to the communications link. Rat noticed out of the corner of his eye that files were being copied. He jumped over and started recording in real time what was happening. He then started to work a trace back on where the work was.

"Rat to Lt Cdr Ressler, STAT!"

Ressler's voice came over the speaker, "What is it, Rat?"

"I got the hacker presently copying files from the Excalibur logs. I'm working a trace. You better get your assault team ready to go." Rat was furiously typing on his keyboard.

"Any idea where he is?"

"Definitely in the Sol system. With the time delays I see now; he is probably on Earth. This guy is good, he is rewriting access logs as I watch. He has been here before."

Ressler asked, "How do you know?"

"He already knew which files he was going to copy. He prepared false access logs for the files he was going to copy. Yep, I got them. Oh oh."

Ressler said impatiently. "I don't like oh oh."

"You are definitely not going to like this. He is trying to hack into files that are codeword only, I cannot even read what the word is, he is having trouble as well. It looks like he is abandoning trying to access the codeword files and now he is into the Wisconsin's logs."

"Any idea where he is at? My team is ready."

"Somewhere within this hemisphere, he has a protocol to scramble the trace. Sir, he is placing commands for monitoring the Excalibur and Wisconsin communications, all communications. This is the same guy that helped me get the personal emails, I recognize some of the coding." Rat mused. "We are not going to find this guy this time. We need to rethink how to catch him. This guy is very good."

SECONDARY HULL FRAGMENT

USS T'PAL

Gibbs' communicator chirped and he hit the communicator button on his suit, "Gibbs here."

Jareau's voice came over, "Time to come home Lt Gibbs, prepare for transport."

Gibbs said, "Roger that, six to beam up. No more survivors found." Gibbs motioned to the others to stand in the appropriate formation for beaming.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jareau turned in her chair and said quickly, "Transporter room reports all landing parties back on board. All accounted for, 22 people rescued."

Jacobs folded the handles back on the periscope and pulled the lever to lower the scope. "Very well. Helm, gently pull us away from here, 1G acceleration, pull back into a standard orbit. Maya, Ben, keep your eyes sharp." Jacobs walked back and sat down in his chair and pushed the PA button. "All hands, this is the Captain, we have secured from rescue operations and are now climbing back into orbit. The wreckage from the T'Pal is going to enter the atmosphere within thirty seconds, very good job done by all. Now, we expect to be attacked by what destroyed the T'Pal. We are still at Red Alert and at Battlestations. Prepare for combat, the fight comes soon."