Chapter 507

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

The first officer said, "The Federation Cruiser has broken formation with the T'Pal's wreckage, they are climbing into orbit!"

Chuk asked, "Our relative position!"

The navigator said, "Two hundred miles ahead of the Wisconsin and in Standard orbit."

Chuk ordered. "Increase altitude by ten miles. He will assume a standard orbit and pass beneath us."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Starfleet is predictable, they will return to what they always do. We will approach from above, that will give us a good vantage shot of their engineering section as they pass underneath." Chuk explained. He sheathed his well-sharpened knife. "Minimal power for maneuvering, this will be a very close approach." Chuk looked at his weapons officer, "And be sure you hit the engineering section."

The first officer said, "Ten miles is very close for a warp breach."

"At the time we fire it will be more like fifteen miles. We will be fine."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Climbing into Standard Orbit." Carter reported.

"Very good. Keep an eye out ahead of us. He will be coming from ahead." Jacobs stated.

Octavian asked, "How do you know that?"

"He is going to want to be close, he must be very precise in hitting the engineering section and we do not know what kind of guidance that weapon has, if any. Being that close, he is going to be on minimal power, so he is going to use orbital mechanics to let us come to him."

"I don't understand"

Jacobs smiled, "Ian, I am betting he is going to assume that we are going to go into a standard orbit. He will be slightly higher and therefore slower. Since we are lower, we will be faster and will close to him. This narrows where we have to look for him. He will be in front and above us. Of course, that is my guess."

Leonaidas observed, "Spotting a cloaked ship even when you know where to look still is like a needle in a haystack."

"True Leo, but nothing says I can't make the haystack smaller. Adjust the main screen for forward, one degree up, magnification ten." The screen was adjusted. All eyes except Grimm on Weapons and Maya on Sensors were on the main screen. The tension was high on the bridge, everyone started talking in whispers. Jacobs said quietly, "People, don't forget to breathe."

Leonaidas suggested, "Sir, what about warning the Klingon away? We still are under the treaty."

Jacobs looked at Jareau who worked some controls then nodded back. Jacobs pushed the mike button on his chair and said sternly, "This is the USS WISCONSIN to any cloaked vessel in orbit around Organia. We have been on a rescue mission under emergency rules of the treaty. According to the Organian treaty, any cloaked vessel inside the established border is to be considered hostile. Leave now or we will fire on you."

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

"They sense us!"

Chuk spat, "No they do not! He is bluffing. They know something destroyed those ships, and are guessing. If he could sense us, they would have fired by now! Be ready for battle!"

SECONDARY BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Pell was sitting at the helm, following all what was being done. The Secondary Bridge was manned during Red alert in case of the Primary Bridge being incapacitated. "I don't understand Mr. Anders."

"The Captain is making an educated guess, and is being predictable to draw them in. This is to lure the Klingon into a position where we hopefully will see him before he decloaks. We need to hit him first." Anders stated.

Pell shrugged, "But by being predictable, won't that make us fall in his trap?"

Anders said with a straight face, "That's the only way to set a reverse-ambush."

"Is that a real tactic?"

Anders shrugged, "Generally you need bait, which I guess is us. We will find out soon."

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

The communications officer turned around, "Captain! The Wisconsin is sending out a general message. They are warning that they will fire on any cloaked vessel."

Nirf looked at the communications officer. "How? You cannot see a cloaked vessel, how do you hit it? He is trying to mislead us."

The first officer mentioned, "Sir, more to the point, the Ambassador's ship didn't have cloaking capability, according to treaty. Captain Jacobs would know that. He is hunting someone else."

The weapons officer said, "What are they hunting? Is there truly another vessel out there?"

Nirf asked angrily, "Sensors! What can you sense in Organian orbit?"

"All I read is the Wisconsin. I am not even getting them that clearly, there is a lot of interference left over from the explosion earlier."

Nirf snapped, "Still? That should not be. All the debris causing interference is either burned up in the atmosphere by now or accelerated into a different orbit, miles away from the Wisconsin now."

The sensors officer guessed, "Perhaps I am getting interference from that anomaly. I only register the Wisconsin as a ship, I cannot even resolve it as a Federation Starship."

Nirf ordered. "Get that image cleaned up now or I'll feed you to the targ handler!" Nirf turned to his First Officer, "We will assume Jacobs is trying to mislead us and there is no phantom ship in the system. He could be jamming our sensors to prevent us from sensing the Ambassador's ship."

"For what purpose? Does he intend to attack the Ambassador?"

Nirf eyes narrowed at that thought. "Is the Siq alive or dead now?"

His First Officer shook his head, "We do not know. We cannot sense them or raise them."

"Let's go 'investigate', but cautiously. Ahead warp 2." Nirf did not know how this was shaping up. There were too many possibilities and what he knew didn't make sense.

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

"Enemy ship down to 100 miles and closing."

Chuk was watching the screen. The surface of Organia was on the lower portion of the screen, with a very nice curved horizon. The Wisconsin was small but approaching at a good pace. "Excellent. Prepare to send that message. We need to send that soon enough to get the Tad over here and make the Federation look like the aggressors. Be ready to drop a decoy. Stand by."

The Wisconsin proceeded in its orbit and was closing on the Lomqa. Chuk was partially mesmerized by the scene of the cruiser closing. It was both beautiful and frightening. If he could pull this off, he would be regarded as a hero in the Klingon Empire. Chuk was salivating at the chance.

SECONDARY BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

The officers in the Secondary Bridge could hear all what was said on the main bridge, best to be able to take over in case it was needed. Suddenly Pell jumped up, "There it is!"

Anders squinted, "I don't see it, show me!"

Pell bounded to the main screen and pointed at the area. "I just saw that star flicker!"

Anders watched; he saw another star flicker. "Miss Reeves, bracket that spot." Robin adjusted some symbology and Anders nodded agreement. "Send that up to the main bridge."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jareau turned and said excitedly, "Secondary Bridge reports a contact."

"Show it!"

Brackets appeared on the screen, it took a little while, but you could see a slight distortion. "Ben, can you target that?"

Grimm shook his head, "Not against a cloaked ship. I would have to aim manually."

"Get the torpedoes ready, proximity fuse. Maya, what do you estimate the distance?"

Maya glanced at her displays. "Too early to tell yet, but I would guess between fifty and seventy-five miles. I am starting a motion tracking analysis on it. They are right where you guessed they would be."

"Let's get closer, I want those torpedoes to hit. Ben, be ready to target anything that is revealed by the explosion."

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

The magnification on the screen was continually adjusted down. The Lomqa was now so close that the magnification was normal. The tension and anticipation were thick, and instinctively everyone was talking in hushed tones. There was no need, but it was still instinctive to be quiet when stalking a target. Chuk said in a hoarse whisper, "Helm! Make sure all thrusters are off, let us drift. We will pivot and fire as they come under us."

The helm officer whispered back, "They are now fifteen miles from us."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Maya kept playing with the image on the screen. The screen was magnified somewhat, the important thing now was they could mostly make out a patch of distorted space. "Sir, I estimate they are fifteen miles now. Target solution is sent to weapons." Grimm nodded that he received the data.

Carter announced, "I'm still holding course, we are now in standard orbit. That thing is going to pass above us."

Grimm announced, "Ten seconds until the object is too high to shoot with torpedoes. At least without pitching up at first."

The problem was the torpedo bays were on the secondary hull, the saucer section was above them. Normally, that would not be an issue, but they were using a manual setting on the torpedoes. On manual, you could set the course, and that is it. You therefore could not shoot at targets much above the saucer section because that would require too much turning for the torpedo not on guidance.

Jacobs breathed in and said, "Fire both torpedoes."

Grimm had his finger on the button and fired the first torpedo and a second later the second torpedo. "Torpedoes away!"

The torpedoes shot out of the launcher at a high speed and immediately started tracking on the course that Grimm had programmed. It was only a slight turn and pitch up, and then they accelerated to full speed. All this happened in the matter of a few seconds.

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

To say it was a surprise was an understatement. They were watching the Wisconsin close and start to pass underneath them. Suddenly two torpedoes shot out and immediately Chuk could tell that they were coming toward his ship. Chuk yelled, "EVASIVE UP!"

The helm officer started pushing buttons when the first torpedo zipped past them. Within one second, Chuk went from hoping it was going to miss to sheer rage when torpedo detonated behind them. The second torpedo exploded in front of them almost at the same instant.

The Lomqa shook violently throwing everyone all over the bridge. The helmsman yelled above the noise, "Helm offline! Main power loss!"

Chuk yelled, "Emergency power! Send that message to the Tad! Is our cloak up?"

The weapons officer said, "Cloak is operational! The torpedoes were on proximity fuse, it was not a direct hit!"

Chuk continued to bellow, "Drop the decoy!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Grimm was intently watching the explosion, looking for anything that could possibly show the trace of a cloaked ship. Maya suddenly said, "Eddy at five o'clock position of the explosion!"

Jacobs could not see what it was but ordered. "Target and fire with one phaser bank! Sweep if you must!"

Grimm chose the forward bank and set the shot up. "Starboard phaser firing!"

Maya announced, "Contact above us! Wait, it is just a decoy!"

"Are you sure Maya?"

"Yes! Ignore it! I have a direct image, it is just a decoy!" Maya stated.

Jacobs smiled inwardly; Maya did get desperate sometimes to be understood. "Understood Maya, disregard contact. How did our phaser do Ben?"

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

"Helm online! Pulling up on evasive!"

Suddenly, the bridge shook violently again. "They hit us again! Port disruptor down! How do they keep finding us?"

Chuk glanced at the damage screen, "They're not! Helm, random evasive but work your way behind them! What of the Tad?"

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

"Incoming message from Organia! It's the Siq! They are under attack by the Federation Starship!"

"How can that be? We are not picking the Siq up!" Captain Nirf said.

The sensors officer said, "Perhaps they are jamming us somehow, wait! I am picking up weapons fire! It is Federation technology. And now I am picking up the Siq! It's definitely a Bird-of-Prey!"

"Set course to intercept, minimum time possible, EXECUTE! Communications! Send a message to the High Command, Ambassador ship under attack by Federation Starship, we are intercepting!" Nirf was incensed that Starfleet would do such a dishonorable act. He thought it was impossible for Starfleet to shoot on an unarmed vessel. They will pay for this infamy.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Phaser hit!" Grimm announced.

"Best guess Ben, keep on him!" Jacobs ordered.

Grimm worked the phasers and fired again, missing. He reset and fired again with the third phaser bank. "Clean miss sir, I'm not sure where he is."

There was too much debris, and it was hard to reacquire the cloaked vessel. Grimm announced, "I've lost him sir, sorry."

"Not to worry, good shooting. He is going to think twice." Jacobs mused.

Maya said, "The Tad is going to warp! They are intercepting us!"

"Time to intercept?"

Agathon announced, "Two minutes thirty seconds!

Maya added, "Their weapons are charged."

Jacobs looked up to Santini, "Dom, start dropping mines. Proximity fuses. Alan, fly a minefield pattern. We are going to be outnumbered soon."

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

The engineer said, "Between the torpedo blasts and phaser hit, we're down twenty percent of power, dangerously close to losing the cloaking capability, and one disruptor."

"We still have the weapon!" Chuk stated. It was almost a question.

"Charged and ready. They have fired a third phaser bank. Their forward phaser bank must be recharged by now." The weapons officer reported.

"What about their aft phaser?" Chuk asked.

"We are too high for it to be aimed at us."

Chuk saw that the Wisconsin started moving again. "Perfect! We are now in perfect position, above and behind. Decloak and Fire!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

The Lomqa started decloaking, it only took a few seconds, but this is when the ship was at the most vulnerable. Maya saw it first, "Ship decloaking, above and behind us!"

"Helm, hard nose down! Snapshot aft phaser and torpedo as they come to bear!" Jacobs ordered. The ship pitched over as fast as it could, the object was to use the shuttle bay as a shield for engineering. The snapshot fire order meant to fire even if there was no weapon lock. As soon as the Lomqa was inside the firing arc of the aft phaser, Grimm fired at the rapidly appearing Bird-of-prey. Soon after that, he fired the aft torpedo on dead-reckoning mode. The torpedo accelerated out but missed the Siq.

"Aft phaser hit!"

Maya announced, "They're firing!"

There was nothing further to do, Carter had maneuvered the ship to have the shuttle bay pointing right at the firing Lomqa. Carter yelled, "Hang on!"

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

As the weapons officer was pushing the fire button, a phaser beam lanced out and hit the Lomqa, there was a terrible shaking of the ship, throwing off the aim of the weapon. The weapon fired and a ball of writhing white energy shot out and went toward the Wisconsin. The ball of energy went through the shields and only some of the energy was lost in the shields. The path after it penetrated the shields was higher than what Chuk wanted. The ball of energy passed above the shuttle bay, over the engineering section, to the left of the neck joining the saucer section to the lower hull, and impacted the saucer on the left side.

Chuk yelled, "You missed! Cloak and come hard to left! We need to recharge!"

"Sir! The weapon still will have to have done some damage to them!" The weapons officer retorted.

Chuk drew his disruptor and shot his weapons officer, killing him instantly. "Not enough damage! XO, call up a new weapons officer!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

The impact of the weapon was dramatic, there was not much shaking of the ship but there were a lot of sparks flying across the bridge, the screens flickered and went off. Emergency lighting came on. "Alan! Continue evasive maneuvers, do not let them get a shot at our warp core! And keep us close to our minefield!"

"Captain, helm is down!" Carter said.

Suddenly, some of the screens for each station came on. Santini had two of his displays showing damage control. He faced the Captain and said, "Maneuvering thrusters down on the port half of the saucer section. Helm control reduced by maybe a third. They hit us in the saucer section, our main computer is offline. We are down to individual workstations, and I have no idea if our shields are still up."

"Work on it Dom. What else is out?"

Grimm announced, "Fire control is out, port and forward phasers are down, and I'm not connected with anything in the lower hull."

No aft phasers, no port phasers, no forward phasers, no aft torpedo, unable to move. Great, Jacobs thought grimly. "Time until the Tad arrives?"

"One minute thirty seconds." Agathon reported.

Jacobs asked quickly, "What works on this ship?"

Santini said, "You have warp engines, but I do not recommend warping with the damage in the saucer section. We may not be able to control the ship at warp. Our impulse engines work, maneuvering thrusters are at two thirds effectiveness, it is better to turn to the left. My gauges for the shields are now working, port and ventral shields inoperative."

Grimm said, "All I have is starboard phasers. I am still not talking to anything in the secondary hull."

"Battlestations EMP, maybe that will recover your lost thrusters, Alan." Jacobs was hoping that manual control of the thrusters would restore operation.

The ship started its transforming process to get the ship able to fight without power.

Carter was trying the controls out, "I have helm but it's still sluggish."

"Well, do your best. Any chance of recovering the lower hull weapons Dom?"

Santini said exasperatingly, "I don't know."

SICK BAY, PORT SIDE

USS WISCONSIN

The sick bay was in the best protected part of the ship, practically in the center of the saucer section. It almost wrapped around the computer core. When the weapon hit, the port side of sickbay went dark. When the survivors of the T'Pal came on board, the port side was where it was decided to do triage and primary care.

Nurse Griffin was doing triage when everything went dark. She noticed that the tricorder she was using also quit and the artificial gravity quit. She had this sickening floating feeling as she floated free of the deck. Griffin also was mostly in the dark. Because the bridge had called for battlestations EMP, the room had the chemical glow lights on, and everyone had put on Velcro booties over their shoes. Everyone except Griffin. Dr. Blake came floating in and expertly put his feet on the floor and was temporarily velcroed to the floor. "Nurse Griffin, we are at battlestations EMP. Didn't you put on your Velcro booties?"

Griffin snapped, "No I didn't! I was attending to this patient! I didn't have time!"

Blake grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. "Grab onto that desktop there! Is your patient strapped down?"

Griffin was stressed and snapped back, "Of course!"

"Nurse, do not use that tone with me! I'm here to help! We need to stay focused to help these people." Blake looked at her patient. "What's his case?"

Griffin said with her voice full of stress. "Third degree burns over ten percent of his body, he is in shock. I was just starting to treat him for that until he gets far enough in the queue to get better medical treatment. But now I can't! What happened to us?"

"Something hit us. Sickbay on the starboard side still has power. I'll get a landing party medkit to you." Blake started floating off.

"Will the medkits work?"

"You better hope so Nurse. If not, your patient is going to have a bad day." Blake stated.

SICK BAY, STARBOARD SIDE

USS WISCONSIN

Dr. Mallard was operating on one of the more complex cases. This person had third degree burns along with a compound fracture, dangerously close to the femoral artery. Fortunately, transporting over to the Wisconsin did not cut the artery. Dr. Blake came in from the dark area of triage and expertly had his feet in place when he returned to gravity. "What's going on over there Simon?"

"Power loss. I've talked to engineering; they're sending up a team to work on it. I'm sending over some medkits for the triage teams. It does not look good Ducky."

Dr. Mallard shook his head, "We're going to lose some people if we can't get that power back. Too many of these burn victims are going to need those artificial stabilizers just to stay alive."

Dr. Blake nodded his hand, "Yes sir, I'm thinking of grabbing a portable generator from stores."

"Approved, with due haste, Simon. I'll send a message to the bridge."

The ship shook again, "I hope they can stop whoever is shooting at us." Mallard said dejectedly.

Blake observed as he grabbed an armload of medkits. "That shaking was maneuvering, and not very good. The main computer must be down." He took out his communicator and flipped it open. "Whatever happened, my communicator is still working."

Mallard observed, "And Sickbay on the portside isn't working?"

Dr. Blake shook his head, "No it's not. Whatever hit us, it fried everything within its field. That field is no longer around, so my communicator and hopefully other items will work as well."

Mallard motioned up, "Contact the Bridge, let them know about our problems."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

" Tad is now thirty seconds from intercept." Agathon announced.

"Helm, bring our starboard to bear." Jacobs ordered.

"Coming right sixty degrees, aye aye sir." Carter reported.

Grimm said, "I have phaser lock."

"JJ, hail the Tad." Jareau worked the controls then nodded.

Jacobs pushed the com button, " TAD! THIS IS THE WISCONSIN! DO NOT APPROACH US OR YOU WILL BE FIRED ON. WE ARE IN COMBAT WITH AN UNKNOWN CLOAKED SHIP. REPEAT, DO NOT APPROACH OR YOU WILL BE FIRED ON!" Jacobs pushed the com button and looked at Jareau.

"They did receive sir." Jareau reported.

"Fire when in optimal range Ben." Jacobs said dryly. This situation was getting worse. He was down to the firepower of a destroyer, maybe. Now here was a heavy cruiser coming to join in the fight. Worse, he could not escape because it was too risky to use the warp engines.

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

Nirf looked at the displays, "Weapons, be prepared to fire when we are in weapons range!" The Wisconsin was practically broadside, strange it was not turning to have all weapons able to fire.

"In range now."

"Fire disruptors! Helm, slow to one quarter impulse power." Nirf could hear the machinery hum change when the disruptors fired.

SECONDARY BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

The bridge shook with the impact of the disruptors. Pell turned to Anders, "We're sitting ducks!"

Anders nodded, "Yes, but we have to present our best side to fight."

Lt JG Mendez reported, "Starboard phaser firing."

Anders thought aloud. "The Main Bridge's weapons board is not talking to anything down here in the secondary hull. Do we have control?"

Mendez worked some controls, "I have access to all weapons mounted in the secondary hull."

Anders looked to Lt. Jensen, "Send a message to the Bridge, we have access to secondary hull weapons."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Shields down thirty percent on the starboard side!" Grimm reported.

"Alan! Be sure you keep our shields that are down away from him until those phasers get recharged!"

"Aye aye sir." Carter was working on that already; the Klingon was trying to slip under them. Carter started a roll.

Jareau turned around, "Secondary bridge reports they might be able to operate the photon torpedoes and aft phasers."

"Fantastic! Ben, coordinate with them on targeting and firing. Alan, bring aft weapons to bear. Ben, relay to secondary bridge fire when ready." Jacobs ordered. "Alan, one quarter impulse power."

"Course?"

"Evasive, turn as necessary. Just do not put us in a decaying orbit, and keep us near the minefield." Jacobs said.

"Anything else?" Carter asked a little sarcastically.

"Don't hit the anomaly." Leonaidas suggested.

"Yes, big safety tip. Do not go near the anomaly." Jacobs echoed.

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

"Their first volley was ineffectual, shields down only seven percent."

Nirf asked, "Sensors, what damage did we do to them?"

The sensors operator said, "We brought down their starboard shields thirty percent. Their port and ventral shields are down, they have a massive power failure on the port side of the saucer section."

"How? We did not do that to them! Never mind. Helm, come underneath them. Weapons, be ready to fire when we get to the exposed section." Nirf ordered.

BRIDGE

IKV LOMQA

Chuk was pleased. "We got a fight between the two of them. It may serve better than I hoped. This could draw the war that General Chang wants into being."

"What do we do?"

"Stay and watch." Chuk said. "We may need to do some interference later."

The XO asked, "The Tad outguns the Wisconsin, they need no help now."

Chuk snickered. "I'm not talking about that. We may help the Wisconsin blow up the Tad."

"Why?"

Chuk suggested, "Can you imagine the High Council believing the Federation that a Bird of Prey helped them live? I'm still thinking about it, I'm not saying I'd do it, just thinking about it."

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

"That ship is moving!"

Nirf was just about to give an order when the ship shook and the weapons officer said, "They fired aft phasers at us, shields down to.. INCOMING TORPEDO!"

"EVASIVE STARBOARD!" Nirf shouted. Too late. The impact shook the ship and the lights blinked a bit.

"Shields down to twenty percent. Some of the energy got through to various systems."

"Disruptors charged yet?" Nirf snapped.

"Thirty seconds!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Get me the Tad!" Jacobs ordered.

Nirf's image filled the screen. "Criminals! We will come around and blow you out of the sky!"

"We did not destroy the Siq! Captain Nirf, we tracked three Klingons here! There is another Klingon around somewhere."

"You lie! We detected nothing, Human! You will die and we will be at war for you killing our ambassador." Nirf stated. The screen went dark then back to a tactical display.

"Carter! Crash stop, pivot upward and bring forward tubes to bear." Jacobs ordered, "Secondary Bridge! Fire both forward tubes as they come to bear!"

"Aye aye sir!"

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

"Federation Starship stopping and pitching up!"

"Fire both disruptors!" Nirf yelled.

The Wisconsin had started a pitching maneuver and the disruptors hit the top shields, "Their shields are down thirty percent on the top!"

"Swing around! I want to hit them on their port side!" Nirf was seething. He kept hitting the Wisconsin shields when a perfectly open shield was available. Whoever was manning the helm of that Starship was doing some heavy maneuvering. He had never seen anything like that before. It was almost like watching a one-man fighter craft in slow motion.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Maya said excitedly, "Disturbance starboard side!"

"Target and fire with Starboard phasers!" Jacobs ordered. "Carter! Hard to port, bring our aft weapons to bear on that disturbance!"

The ship rocked with another impact from the Tad's disruptors. "Damage!"

"Top shielding down another thirty percent! We cannot take much more of this!" Santini said.

The engineer's standard mantra when things started going bad. Jacobs mused; they must all go to the same school.

"Sir! I missed!" Grimm reported.

"Keep on it! If you tag him, it proves our case!" Jacobs said loudly.

Carter did a masterful job. He was trying to keep the starboard side of the ship pointed more or less where they thought the cloaked ship was. Carter also was trying to keep the port and ventral shielding away from the Tad. He also was trying to stay close to the minefield. "Sir, they are going to get around on me eventually, I just can't turn fast enough."

Jacobs was looking at the tactical screen behind Leonaidas. "Dom, how many mines have you been able to lay?"

"Three so far. With all the maneuvering in the last minute, we have not been in a good position to drop another mine yet."

Jacobs nodded. "Put the positions of them up on the board." Jacobs looked at the relative positions of the mines.

Leonaidas also looked at the tactical screen and knew what Jacobs was thinking. "Captain, do we lay mines and sacrifice a future shot on the cloaked ship?"

Jacobs was thinking on that when Grimm announced, "The Tad is coming into our aft firing arc."

"Fire aft weapons as you bear!" Jacobs ordered. "No, Leo, I think we prep this battlefield. Carter, resume to laying mines, keep the bad shields away from the Tad."

"Aye aye sir, lay mines, keep bad shields away from the Tad." Carter repeated back.

BRIDGE

IKV TAD

The ship shook again, "Hit on dorsal shielding! Shield is holding at fifty percent!"

Something was bothering Nirf, actually many things were bothering him. He just could not put his finger on the last item. His weapons officer announced, "Aft torpedo ready."

"Hard to port, fire as you bear!" Nirf ordered. The maneuvering of that ship had changed somehow. It was still extremely aggressive, but something had changed, style? Nirf shook that off.

PORTSIDE SICKBAY

USS WISCONSIN

Nurse Griffin could feel the deckplates shake under her. She would have been shaken worse but in zero gravity, she did not have good contact with the floor. She had passed one patient on to the other side for surgery and was working on the next patient. Nurse Morgan Brody floated past and handed some more supplies to Griffin. "Here's a fresh medkit for you."

"I cannot handle all this! When is it going to stop!"

Brody grabbed Griffin and planted her feet on the floor. She said sternly in her Florida accent, "Karen! You've got to pull it together! This is no pleasure cruise! You knew that it was possible when you signed up in Starfleet to be involved in combat!"

"It was arranged that I was supposed to be on a Starbase. Not on a starship! This is horrible here! I just cannot take it anymore!" Griffin was starting to sound panicked.

"Karen! Stop it! Get it together. It's not about you, but your patients! I need to continue, but you have got to calm down and get your job done or we will lose more people!" Brody pushed off and floated to others that were being treated.

Griffin was just thinking about how much she wanted to get off this ship. Can't Starfleet just let her leave?

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"I got seven mines out there now!" Santini announced.

"Good! Alan, change course to go right in the middle of the field. We need to do this before they disperse too much." Jacobs ordered. "Ben, cease fire for now. Let's get ourselves fully charged up."

"Disturbance port of us!" Maya said.

"Let it go! Let's hit the Tad and try to bring it down a little bit. We are still outgunned. Dom, are we going to get anything back soon?"

Santini shook his head dejectedly. "Not anytime soon. Whatever hit us literally fried all the electronics and wiring in a limited area. My teams are reporting it is not just circuit boards, but wiring as well. We'll have to rewire power and control lines to the affected systems. As for warp speed, the control coils in the saucer section are down. Best we can do is warp 1.8. It is going to take a week to fix them."

"Ok, we fight for now. How long until the Tad is in the center of the field?"

"Thirty seconds." Agathon said.

"Dom, activate the torpedoes in twenty seconds." Jacobs ordered. "Ben, prepare to fire aft phasers when the mines go active."

Octavian had a small smile on his face. Jareau saw it and was puzzled. "Pastor, what are you thinking of?"

"An old foot-soldier's saying." Octavian recalled.

Jareau asked, "What was it?"

"The only thing worse than finding a minefield is finding out you're in the middle of a minefield." Octavian chuckled at what was going to happen. "Nice way to shift some odds in your favor."