Chapter 721

RAPTOR 1

TC was watching the clock now; it is going to happen quickly. If they fired when the Kah'less was in the sights, it would be too late. TC made a '3' with his left hand and made a chopping motion for time. '2' and then '1'. He was checking his alignment with the mechanical attitude indicator. For the fire time, '0' he clenched his fist and tapped the dash.

Ensign Washburn pulled the fire handle. The handle activated a fuse which fired all 24Merculite in .1 second intervals. In just under two and a half seconds a stream of rockets streaked forward. Raptor 2 did the same at the same time. The two streams of rockets streamed forward and the Kah'less literally ran into the stream. The rockets had impact fuses and everything was calculated so that they would start impacting roughly amidships from underneath. The Kah'less was now powerless because of the EMP and as such, its shields were down. Two lines of explosions started to hit and progressed quickly to the back of the battleship, doing minor damage. The Kah'less had impressive armor on its hull. The one place where it could not have armor is the impulse drive vents. You cannot put armor to cover up what essentially was a rocket nozzle, and these were the ultimate targets. Four rockets hit the left impulse vent and three hit the right vent. The Merculite rockets were extremely powerful chemical explosives and tore into the impulse vents, destroying them and the machinery behind them. In short order the Kah'less could not maneuver. Once the EMP effect faded, it could change its attitude with thrusters, but not its velocity.

Washburn did a celebratory fist-pump. TC pitched over until he saw the base. TC quickly found the next target. The Excalibur will now deal with the Kah'less, this next target was all for the Raptors. Washburn pulled another handle disconnecting the missile launch package. TC started toward the base and more specifically the dock area. TC and Washburn used hand signals. Washburn looked through a low-power telescope taking measurements off key positions of the base to determine range. He wrote them down on a large white board so TC could see easily. Shortly, Washburn had velocity data written down for TC. The next part of the operation had to proceed quickly.

BASE DEFENSE PLATFORM 1

The lieutenant was furious, he got the order to fire on the Starfleet Battleship, but now the base was clouded in static. He stepped quickly over to a nearby window. He could see the base as a bright dot in the distance, and the large, gas giant they were orbiting in the background. "You can't even see them?"

"No sir!"

"Pick a Starfleet ship and start shooting at that."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Rockets away," Jacobs reported. "I can't see the impacts." Jacobs moved the periscope to start taking readings off the base.

Maya squinted. Her eyes were covered up by the eyecover. To get better sight, she morphed her eyes to be of a Tytherian Eagle. "I can, looks like a half dozen plus impacts. Both impulse units are impacted." Maya switched magnification. "It looks like both impulse units are scratched off."

Jacobs reported, "Base directly underneath us. No relative motion."

Leonaidas said, "Helm, right roll 180 degrees."

The bridge had errie green glow lights in key places. Lt Bragg could see some mechanical instruments that were fixed to the upper portion of his console. He could clearly see his attitude indicator and did the roll. A large ship does take a while to roll. "Aye aye, sir. Roll right 180 degrees."

Maya slewed the periscope to the right side and could see the edge of the dish. She was waiting for the base to show up. Grimm could see by the angle she was looking and said, "Conn, I advise thirty degrees toward the base during the roll to bring the target into the firing arc."

Leonaidas nodded. "Helm, make the final attitude 180 degrees roll, minus sixty from start of maneuver."

Bragg repeated back, "Aye aye sir. Thrusting right yaw and nose down to accomplish maneuver." He gently tapped the attitude controls to accomplish the maneuver. Each time, everyone could feel the nudges on the bridge.

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

Captain Kroth was amazed in the total darkness of the bridge. Whatever had been done to his ship not even emergency lights in batteries worked. He then could hear a series of what sounded like explosions come through the hull. The executive officer was anchored to a console and said, "I feel vibrations."

Kroth heard the voice above him. He must have rolled in the meantime. What is happening to his ship?

BRIDGE

USS EXCALIBUR

"Optical telescope on Kah'less." Jackson ordered.

The screen changed to show the Kah'less. The image showed the explosions. Jackson ordered, "Slow down and bring us underneath. Are the torpedoes armed?"

"Yes sir."

Jackson said, "Good, target their shields generators, then whatever weapons you can hit."

The weapons officer said, "Weapon lock not operating yet. They are still in the sensor-deprived area."

"How long until they emerge?"

"Two minutes."

Jackson smiled, "Good, charge the phasers also. What about our orbit, where are we at?"

The navigator said, "We are retrograde from the station, rapidly going out of weapon range of the remaining platforms. Currently, the periapsis of the Kah'less is still too high, we need to pull 120 meters a second off them to bring them into the atmosphere."

Jackson's smile evaporated. "As massive as that is, it's going to take a while."

RAPTOR 1

The clock was counting. They needed to get this done quickly. TC could see the D7S in the dock, with various mechanical arms and cables attached to it. TC tapped Washburn and motioned behind them. Washburn looked behind and gave a thumbs up. Raptor 2 was tracking to their target and diverging in course. No problem.

TC came up to the head of the D7S and killed his velocity. On the back of the crown was the airlock. TC adjusted his attitude and moved in. The airlock now was directly above him and he was closing in on it. Washburn pulled another handle arming the clamping charge. TC not so gently slammed into the airlock door and the clamping charge fired fastening the Raptor's airlock ring to the airlock of the D7S. That should have made a sound TC thought. He glanced at the clock, 1:45 into the EMP. They estimated it should be five minutes, but it probably will be less.

TC looked back at Magnum and gave the thumbs up. Magnum unbuckled and floated up to the hatch, grabbing a handhold. He pulled a handle that fired a charge that cut through the Klingon airlock door. Magnum motioned to the rest of the Badgers ready in the green glow of the chemical light. They all unbuckled and signaled ready. Magnum readied his weapon and opened the Raptor airlock door. Nothing. He had a chemical light ready and tossed it into the dark abyss. It stuck on the far wall. A room about ten feet by ten feet. No enemies. Magnum backed clear and pointed into the door. The Badgers poured into the room and started working on the next door. It was a single-width door, and tapping on the metal, the demo expert fixed an appropriate shaped charge to the door. He gave an all-clear sign then blew the door.

Two Badgers fired glowy-squishy-sticky things into the next room which was the bridge. Bewildered Klingons were floating and trying to brace themselves to fight. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The first few Badgers through the door fired with their firearms and made it short work eliminating the Klingon bridge crew. Once inside, the Badgers floated to positions around the bridge to search for others. None were seen and more sticky-lights were set up to see what was around. Magnum thought it could be thought as an unfair fight since the Badgers were used to zero g and the Klingons were not. In war, there is no unfair fight, or if you are fighting on fair terms you messed up. Magnum smiled inwardly at that thought. He made a gesture and took his helmet off. He replaced it with a cap, goggles, and facemask. Magnum fastened his helmet to the back of his belt. The others did the same. "Ok, let's double-check the area. Make sure nobody else can get in. I want two guys at the Raptor at all times, and the rest looking for entrances. Petty Officer Stickell, do your magic."

Stickell floated to what he thought was the science station. Or maybe a computer station. He stuck a chemical light on the floor and opened some panels underneath the dead console and recognized some circuits. "I've found it sir." Stickell opened his tool kit. Inside was a small box that he opened to pull out some special instruments. The box was made of the same material that protected the forward phaser bank from the EMP. The material was extremely valuable and rare, and used sparingly.

Stickell took the instruments, parts that he custom-made from experience and started attaching them to parts of the computer interface. The connections fed into individual small boxes which Stickell called Splices. He started to work the controls on the splices doing whatever it was that he does.

Chief Muldoon floated up to Magnum. "Lieutenant, all exits are located and mined. I have teams at each entry point. We are secure."

"Thank you Chief." Magnum looked at his watch. "Three minutes, forty-five seconds. A whole minute left over at least.

"Luther, how are you doing?" Magnum asked.

Stickell nodded, "I'll be ready. I got the splices all in place and calibrated the best that I can. It will be ready when the computer powers up." Stickell pulled out of his backpack a portable computer that he and Petty Officer McGee custom-made and started plugging in connections to the computer. The two of them made the portable computer to be super-fast on power-up.

Magnum nodded, "Ok people. Let's get ready. The next few minutes will be critical." Magnum floated over to the door to the docking room and yelled, "TC?"

TC yelled back from the Raptor. "Lieutenant?"

"We are all good here. You can go as soon as we power up."

"Roger that, I'll button up and be ready for undocking. If you need just hammer on the hatch." TC yelled.

Magnum heard one of the hatches close to the Raptor. "Any minute now…"

RAPTOR 2

As soon as Anders fired his missiles, he pitched over to face the base and thrusted toward it. His target was slightly different. Anders made his way to an airlock that was attached to the dock tower. The dock was basically a large hole in the ground lined with durasteel, lights (inoperative), manipulator arms, gantrys, and a large room coated in glass that could oversee the entire dock and regulate traffic. The airlock was normal for the dock supervisor to be able to go do inspections at any time. Currently, it was empty and that was Anders' target. Anders maneuvered around a gantry and used his thrusters to track toward the hatch. Anders pitched to put the airlock facing the Klingon Airlock. Pell readied to fire the docking clamps. On impact Pell fired the clamps and they were secured.

Anders gave Lt Commander Maxwell a thumbs up and Maxwell fired the cutting charges. Then they opened the door and Maxwell fired a whole magazine around into the darkness beyond. Two other Swordsmen tossed in sticky chemical lights giving the room an eerie green light. A third pulled a pin and tossed in a stun grenade. It blew with a loud sound and blinding light. Swordsmen started pouring in firing at Klingons that were still alive. Anders saw the lone Badger; Petty Officer McGhee go through the hatch. Last through the hatch were two Swordsmen pulling a large box. The box was probably big enough to house a large dog. Pell dutifully placed and armed a claymore just outside the hatch and strung a string into the Raptor through the hatch. After that he closed the hatch and stood ready.

Maxwell and the Swordsmen proceeded swiftly into the base. They secured room after room, and placed claymores along the way. They finally got to where they thought the operations room was. Maxwell looked at the sign and verified with Fritz. Maxwell then gave orders via sign language and backed up. Two Swordsmen placed shaped charges and made a hacking motion on their arms. The charges blew and the entry procedure was repeated with one change. After the chemical lights and stun grenade, Swordsmen poured in being very careful of their targets.

The door blew open and Commander Chu saw the explosion. Before he could even think another louder sound and blinding light overwhelmed his senses. He blinked and could not process what just happened to him. Even though his ears were ringing, he could still make out many rapid 'thuds' happening. He still could not see but suddenly felt his arms pulled behind him and something clasped around his wrists. Chu tried to struggle but could not. Slowly his eyesight and hearing came back. He could see a Starfleet team on board dressed in black. He had never seen these before, they moved like humans, but it was difficult in zero gee to tell.

Then he saw the menacing large box floating in the room. The one human nearest him raised a faceplate up and was yelling at him. In Klingon even. Fluent.

"Are you Commander Chu?"

Chu struggled again and said, "You will pay for this! How dare you!"

"I'm sorry commander, but you started it, we are going to finish it. McGhee, you done yet?"

McGhee said, "I'm all hooked up. Ready to interface as soon as systems come back on."

Maxwell ordered, "Guys, get the weapon into position, start mining the room."

Chu watched as two Swordsmen maneuvered the box on the floor and activated something. Four large spikes slammed through the floor with a loud bang. They grabbed cranks and tightened the box on the floor. Swordsmen pulled flat plate things which must be the mines and started setting them up all over the place. It will be very difficult for somebody to get in, much less approach the box without tripping the wires.

The lights came on and gravity was restored. Chu came crashing down on the deck. A swordsman pulled him upright. Chu said, "This is an outrage!" He struggled against the restraints but could not break free. "What are you doing?"

Maxwell smiled and said, "Commander, that young man there is hacking into your system…"

McGhee corrected, "I've hacked in."

"Impossible." Chu said.

McGhee shook his head, "Not really, you never had the chance to lockout your command codes. I've just changed all of them." Chu had an incredulous look. "And I've also implanted a virus that is now making its way to your defense platforms."

Chu glared. Maxwell did not want to waste time. "Why McGhee?"

"The virus will change what the platforms see. The platforms will start hitting the Klingons and each other. Wrote it myself." McGhee said.

"Impossible. They will never shoot on another Klingon!"

Maxwell waited for a second, then pressed McGhee. He loved this. "Go ahead and explain, son."

"I changed it so their sensors will register Klingons as Starfleet and vice versa. They are now on our side. We just have to sit back and pick off the ships. And they will help us with it. Sir, I'm all done."

Maxwell nodded. "Ok guys. Remember the first rule of warfare! Always leave scorched earth! Arm the device."

One of the Swordsmen came up and tapped the controls. The controls blinked and then a door covered them up. "Timer is counting, signal sent."

Maxwell nodded. "Ok, let's get out of here!"

Chu started struggling against the Swordsmen. Maxwell smiled and said, "You really like making my day, don't you?" He pulled out a stun stick and jabbed it into the side of Chu. Every nerve suddenly felt like it was on fire and his muscles convulsed. Chu fell over and two Swordsmen pulled him back up. Maxwell said, "I can do this again. You are going to be coming with us."

"I will not comply."

Maxwell shrugged. "Oh kay." And jabbed him again. While Chu was on the ground gasping for breath, two Swordsmen unfolded a stretcher and fastened him to the stretcher. They activated the anti-grav and lifted Chu up.

Fritz smirked and looked at Maxwell. "Where did you find that?"

"Historical database, look up Taser. I had Commander Matthews make me one." Maxwell smiled. "Come on Fritz, let's get going."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Lt Maya reported, "I have the target. In sights now."

Lt Grimm added, "Target in firing arc."

Jacobs said, "Fire when ready Maya."

Maya looked at the object on the base. She changed magnification and made a fine adjustment. "Fire!"

Lt Grimm pulled a large handle. It connected a contactor to the one part of the ship that was shielded from the EMP. The contactor allowed energy to flow to the phaser and the phaser fired in the direction of target the periscope that Maya was working.

The energy leaped out from the Wisconsin and hit the target. The main powerplant was a fusion reactor, buried deep inside the asteroid. You can protect a reactor well, but the weakest link in the power chain was generally the cooling system. Maya had targeted the cooling system for one of the reactors. The phaser completely destroyed the cooling system. "Target destroyed." She also noted. "Just in time, the base power seems to be coming back online."

Leonaidas asked, "Estimated distance to the base?"

Maya took a look at a known object. An airlock hatch. She measured it with the lines in the scope and made the mental calculation. "Twelve Hundred meters."

Leonaidas, "Helm, match bearings to the base and give me a delta-v of ten meters per second.

Bragg said, "Aye pitch to match bearings and close at ten meters per second." He pitched to the correct attitude and pushed on the translation control. He started counting silently and after ten seconds he released, "Ten Meters per second."

BRIDGE

USS EXCALIBUR

"Weapons lock on the Excalibur. It has left the jamming field."

"Fire targeting program." Jackson ordered.

The Excalibur started firing photon torpedoes at the hardest targets, the shield generators, then moved on to eliminate the weapons one by one quickly. It didn't take long but the weapons officer said, "Firing program complete. Shields permanently damaged. Heavy disruptors are down, about fifty percent of the other weapons are damaged."

"That will do. Engage tractor. Full impulse retrograde. Let's start working on that 120 meters/second."

PLATFORM 1

"What do you mean you lost it?"

The weapons officer said, "Our displays have just gone out. The computer is glitching."

"Get them back now!"

The weapons officer was working furiously trying to get the information back. And suddenly, it reappeared. Something was wrong, though. He could not put a finger on it. "Sir, we are being targeted by a Federation light cruiser. It's standing still."

"Target and fire immediately!" The order came too late. They felt a huge impact on the station that knocked them from their seats. The weapons officer reached up and fired the disruptors.

"Sir! Our shields are damaged!"

"Blast it! Fire at the cruiser!"

COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER

USS EXCALIBUR

Adama nodded approval. He pushed the PA button. "All hands, their defenses are compromised. Start working exclusively on the rest of the ships. Leave me a bird-of-prey alive."

Ressler asked, "Is that going to be risky?"

Adama shook his head thoughtfully. "Not really. We just have to be careful of our timing."

RAPTOR 2

DOCKED TO DOCKING TOWER

BASE 3

"Assault 2 actual to Raptor 2."

Anders responded, "Raptor 2. Hat Trick speaking."

"Be there in thirty seconds."

"Roger." Anders said. "Ok Pell, open the door."

Pell opened both hatches in the airlock. He had his phaser ready, now that it works. He aimed it in the room, but nothing but dead Klingon bodies were there. Suddenly, the Swordsmen appeared in the far doorway and Pell said, "Come on guys, we got a schedule to meet!"

Pell went back to the copilot seat and everyone started piling into the Raptor. Soon, it was crowded and Maxwell was the last in and closed the hatch. "GO GO GO!"

Anders disconnected and reported, "Raptor 2 is off. Raptor 1 launch now!"

RAPTOR 1

DOCKED TO D7S

"Roger, Raptor 1 launching." TC activated the controls and Raptor 1 was undocked. He flew out quickly and looked around. "There's the Wisconsin. Right where she is supposed to be."

Washburn said, "I have contact with Wisconsin."

"Raptor 1, returning to base."

Jareau's voice came through. "Raptor 1 cleared to land."

"Cleared to land."

RAPTOR 2

Pell said, "There's the docking port."

"Got it. Stand by." Anders maneuvered and docked with the ring that Raptor 1 left behind.

"Seal good, you can open it, Commander." Pell said.

Maxwell opened the hatch to a waiting Lt Magnum. "Magnum, fancy meeting you here!"

"Yes sir, glad to have you. Any troubles?"

"Nope. All according to plan. How about here?"

"We've hacked the computer and are just about set to do the evacuation." Magnum reported.

"That would be good. We only have about five minutes before this rock blows." Maxwell said. "Ok, everybody off except Malloy and Reed. You stay on and escort Commander Chu back to the Excalibur."

"Aye aye sir!"

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jacobs had returned to the Captain's chair and Maya returned to her position. Jareau reported, "Raptor 1 on board."

Jacobs nodded. "Are sensors up yet?"

Maya nodded. "Good enough for a transporter lock."

Jacobs turned to Leonaidas. "JJ, notify Excalibur their package is ready. Helm, prepare to intercept the Kah'less."

Bragg said, "Aye aye, sir."

BRIDGE

IKV KAHLESS

They have been moving for a little while. Kroth had been holding himself on a beam he thought was on the ceiling and if so, there was a slight acceleration forward. Maybe a tenth of a g but it was there. It gave the bridge a new up/down for frame of reference, but that was largely a moot point because it was also pitch black.

The lights came back on, and the gravity too. Kroth saw he was above his command chair at an awkward angle and fell clumsily onto it then onto the floor. Kroth and the others got up and Kroth yelled, "Status!"

"The computers are still coming back on." After a little while, "We are damaged, sir."

"Of course we are, idiot! What is damaged?" Kroth thought a little bit, there has not been a weapons impact in a while now. What is going on?"

"Sir, impulse drive is down, warp drive is down. The impulse drive looks to be completely wrecked. We do have attitude control however."

"Where are we?"

The navigator pulled up a tactical map. "We have effectively left the battlezone. It looks like we are being tractored free from the battle."

Kroth exclaimed, "Do we have any weapons?"

The weapons officer said, "A few small disruptors on the top, and the big weapon too."

"That's it?" Kroth looked at the tactical map. It showed the base, platforms, and vessels maneuvering. They were still within range, but that was going away quickly. Why keep tractoring us away. "Why are they tractoring us? Surely, they know that we can't maneuver. We will be out of range in a few minutes. What is the hurry?" Kroth started to feel something that he hasn't often before. A twinge of fear. Starfleet is up to something.

"The battleship has cut its tractor beam and is leaving us."

"Fire on it if you can. They need to know we are still in the fight." Kroth said.

"Platform one has just blown up!" The weapons officer said. "Sir, the platform was fired on by one of the other platforms!"

"Captain! One of the heavy cruisers is coming up behind us. They have now attached a tractor beam."

"What is the reason for them tractoring us? What is their objective?" Kroth muttered. He could not figure this out. Things were happening too quickly. "Get the base on audio!"

"Sir, I've been trying, but they do not answer! They also are not firing at anything but do have power. Their power is at reduced levels."

Kroth was bewildered. "Get me maneuvering thrusters! Turn us around and get us back in the fight!"

The helmsman stated, "Thrusters won't do anything. We are too massive and without the warp field we will not be able to turn. We could not change our speed significantly even if that cruiser wasn't pulling us." Suddenly the helmsman connected what was happening. "They are trying to deorbit us."

Kroth could not believe it. "What?"

"Captain, they are trying to deorbit us. They ruined the only thing that we can perform maneuvers. And we did most of the work for them." The helmsman said disdainfully.

Kroth didn't understand. "How?"

"We were chasing that battleship. At the time we lost power, we were moving retrograde relative to the gas giant. That is no coincidence." The helmsman said. "They only have another hundred meters a second to change our velocity to cause us to enter the atmosphere."

Kroth said to the communications officer. "Get the fleet over here. Get this cruiser off us."

BRIDGE

D7S

Lt Commander Maxwell walked in from the docking room and met Lt Magnum. "Report, Lieutenant."

"We've access to their computer and some control. The ship is not warp capable and it would take a full engineering crew to make it capable of using the impulse drive. It appears the Klingons were in the middle of an engineering overhaul right now. So far, onboard sensors show two dozen Klingons onboard in what we think are oversight roles overseeing a hundred plus slaves from various races." Magnum reported.

"Do they know about us?"

"No sir, they do not. The bridge was just in a monitoring role since this ship was not capable of combat. That won't last long though." Magnum said. "We have the bridge mined just in case."

Maxwell smiled. "Good, as soon as we get clear we will beam more security onboard and get the rest of the Klingons off. What about the slave races?"

Magnum suggested, "We offer to leave them behind?"

Maxwell shook his head, "That won't work. This facility will be destroyed shortly." He glanced at this watch. "We are out of time. Prepare to launch us out of the dock." Maxwell looked at Stickell. "What stations are working?"

"Helm, sensors, communications." Stickell said.

Maxwell nodded. "Ok, someone grab the helm and thrusters forward. Let's get out of here."

Lt Fritz sat down and started looking at the console. He used his tricorder to translate the icons. "Okey dokey. Let's try this." He pushed a button. The ship lurched slightly. Fritz looked at the displays. "We should have moved a bit but aren't."

Magnum sat down at the sensors. "There are some umbilical cables attached."

Maxwell tapped his communicator earpiece. "Maxwell to Raptor 2."

Anders' voice came through. "Raptor 2 here. Was that lurch you?"

"Nope, it was Fritz. First, undock and cut some cables that are hanging us up. Prepare to land at Excalibur when she gets here."

"Aye aye, we are undocked. What was second?" Anders asked.

"Give Fritz some flight lessons. He is going to need some." Maxwell said.

"Aye aye, sir. Give Lt. Fritz flight lessons. Raptor 2 out."

Fritz had a look on his face as if to say, 'Really?'

Petty Officer McGhee said, "Sir, I think I can help us out some."

"How so?" Maxwell asked.

"Sir, I think Luther, I mean Petty Officer Stickell and I can do what we did to the Excalibur several months ago. I think we can get enemy personnel to evacuate." McGhee said.

Maxwell nodded. "Do it."

McGhee looked at Stickell then back to the Lt Commander. "Don't you want to know how?"

Maxwell shook his head. "Nope. Mr. McGhee, you would not do anything that would cause harm to them, so I don't need to know. Just do it and let me know when it happens."

"Aye aye, sir."

Magnum reported, "I think the cables are all cut."

"Get us out of here Fritz." Maxwell said.

The D7S started moving forward, but was not moving straight. It hit a gantry and that caused a rotation. Fritz tried to correct but not before the head of the D7S impacted the left side of the dock and started scraping. Fritz grimaced as he tried to correct, but something wasn't working quite right. Maxwell hung on and pointed at the screen, "Look out for that gantry base ahead!"

"I can't get the nose off the wall sir!"

"Then just give it more power, plow right through it!" Maxwell said. "Remember rule #1."

"If it sticks, force it. If it breaks it needed replacing anyway." Fritz said. There were a few nervous laughs on the bridge. The Head of the D7S hit the gantry and had enough energy to shear the gantry off the side of the wall. The whole ship shook violently and then an alert started.

"What is that alert?" Maxwell asked. He could not understand the Klingon voice, it was badly garbled.

"We're trying to simulate an impulse reactor going supercritical." McGhee said.

"We're getting calls from all over the ship, basically what is going on."

Maxwell nodded, "Say Nothing. Is Raptor 2 out there?"

"Raptor 2 here. I'm free and clear, you are just steering clear right now."

"Raptor 2, fire on the impulse drive." Maxwell ordered.

"Aye aye, sir."

Soon, the ship shook again. Magnum looked up from the display. "Impulse drive hit, he actually pierced the hull, we are venting."

"Good, sound evacuation. Maybe they will leave." Maxwell said.

McGhee asked, "Should we make a PA?"

Maxwell gave a sarcastic look. "I don't speak Klingon and the Klingons won't recognize the translator's voice. Let them figure it out."

Magnum said, "Evacuation underway."

Maxwell felt the ship lurch again. "Fritz?"

"Just trying to get farther away from the base."

"Good man." Maxwell said.

Magnum reported, "All the Klingons are off the ship. The slaves are in the process of escaping."

Maxwell touched his earpiece. "Maxwell to Excalibur. We need a tow."

"Excalibur here. Standby." Lt Holt said.

Maxwell checked his watch. "Roger. We have ninety seconds."

Soon, all could feel the ship lurch. Magnum reported, "Tractor beam locked."

"How is the ride? You are at .5 g right now." Lt Holt asked.

Maxwell put his hand under his chin and lifted it up. The action looked comical and it was. "We don't feel it. Inertial dampers are operational."

"Good, we are getting you out of here now." Holt responded.

RAPTOR 2

ON DECK OF USS EXCALIBUR

The door opened and the Swordsmen escorted Commander Chu out of the Raptor. There was no ceremony as Chu was still in shackles. Chu was led to an airlock door. Just before the door, Commander Matthews walked up and stopped them, "Hang on just a minute." He held up a datapad that had a view of the Klingon base.

"Admiral's Complements. Watch. Any second now."

Chu instantly recognized his base. Suddenly, fissures formed on the surface only to emit white-hot gasses. The base fragmented and was a ball of slowly expanding gas and debris. Chu was shocked. Matthews reminded him. "Remember that box the Swordsmen fastened to your deck? That contained a powerful nuclear bomb. Your base is now destroyed. Completely."

"Why do you tell me this?" Chu asked defiantly.

"We are just starting. You will witness what is about to happen." Matthews ordered the Swordsmen, "Take him to the brig."

Chu was sizing up the Swordsmen, Mallory and Reed. Matthews saw that and said disgustingly, "Don't even think of it."

Just at that time through the door came a dozen more Swordsmen. Matthews said sternly, "We aren't your normal group of pushover Starfleet types. Starfleet is getting smart. Just to make sure you understand. You taught us a valuable lesson. We've learned."

Chu was escorted out by the Swordsmen with a sour look on his face.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

"Periapsis is now in the upper atmosphere of the gas giant." Hornblower reported.

"Good, maintain course. Let's get this down as far as we can into the atmosphere." Jacobs said. "I wish there was a way to circularize this orbit below the atmosphere."

Hornblower nodded. "To do that, we'd need to apply delta-V at the periapsis."

Jacobs shook his head, "It'll be too low in the atmosphere for that."

Leonaidas asked, "Why is that important? The ship will be destroyed on the first pass."

Jacobs nodded. "It will, but I want that neutronium weapon to be unusable. Each pass through the atmosphere it will lower the apoapsis a bit until the entire orbit is inside the atmosphere, but as massive as that thing is it could take months."

Hornblower added, "Or years."

Jacobs turned. "I didn't want to exaggerate." Hornblower nodded. Jacobs said, "Go ahead Mr. Hornblower, explain it to the Commander."

"The neutronium device is incredibly dense, and that makes it massive. The entire thickness of the barrel may be only microns but its mass is that of a small mountain. As it goes through the atmosphere, it will heat up and probably burn up the battleship around it, but the drag will slow it down only a little bit." Hornblower stopped and thought a bit.

"Go ahead Mr. Hornblower, what is your idea?"

"The problem is drag. Atmospheric drag is a lot more than that of earth. It's almost like going through water. Our first goal is to bring the orbit down into the atmosphere. What if we brought it down to the core?"

Jacobs looked at Maya. Maya nodded, "The center of gas giants is still largely a mystery. No scan can go down that deep. It's been theorized the center is compressed elemental carbon or something like that."

"That is what we'll do, we are well outside the battlezone, and have the time." Jacobs said.

Leonaidas said, "Another platform is down, there are only two left. And I think the Klingon fleet is down to a bird-of-prey."

An alert sounded. Bragg reported, "The Bismark is changing its attitude, I think they are trying to get a bead on us!"

"Tractor Beam off! Evasive!" Jacobs ordered.

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

Kroth had been maneuvering the hulk of his ship the best that he could. And now a random rotation that had developed for some reason or other the last few minutes Kroth had been able to capitalize into bringing the weapon to bear at this infernal ship. It may be the last shot his ship can fire, but at least it will bring down a ship.

Kroth watched as the indicator tracked across space and finally to the other ship. Kroth yelled, "Fire!"

In a split second, Kroth watched as the tractor beam to his ship disengaged and the Wisconsin pitched and yawed to get out of the way. The Klingon weapon fired and a blue beam leaped out at the Wisconsin.