Opening Post to Sovereign’s Campaign Mission – Race Against Time

Act 1

Sovereign was among many vessels of the Fourth Fleet, all that waited patiently for the Barzan Wormhole to open. There were other vessels of Task Force 93 that held stationary near the Sovereign but one of the more prominent ones was the Verity, the flagship of the task force. The news of what happened in the Delta Quadrant had caused quite a stir everywhere else. Many merchants and traders’ vessels have already gone through the Barzan Wormhole about thirty days before them, to try and earn a profit from this outbreak of dilithium. But one thing that was on Vakai’s mind was, how exactly did this happen? Why is it happening? And why is it affecting the telepaths?

Unfortunately, there is a significant change in the crew roster on board the Sovereign and the change could not have come at a better time. A Danube-class runabout had landed on the main hangar deck on the Sovereign just hours ago, the very same runabout that a few people boarded before it rose up off the hangar deck, backed out of the hangar, and then pulled a ninety-degree turn before it pulled away from the rest of the fleet. Where the runabout was going, only the new commanding officer knew.

The second officer and the helmsman stood there as they stared at the briefing room door that had closed after many officers had gone inside. Lexie Ward stood there with her arms folded across her chest as her right foot tapped away in anticipation. Or was it anxiety? She could not tell.

“Uh, Commander?” The Ferengi spoke up.

“What is it, Tagg?” Ward asked, her eyes not leaving the door.

“Is your foot okay?” Tagg asked as he had been staring at her tapping foot.

Ward sighed, unfolded her arms, and began to walk to her chair where she had chosen to sit down. “It’s fine.”

Tagg blinked, looked at the center chair, and then at her. “Are you okay?”

Ward frowned. “What do you mean by that, Lieutenant? I’m fine.”

Tagg chuckled nervously. “Well, I mean, you have the conn. That is what that one goatee guy said before he went in there with all those other officers.”

“Yes. And?” Ward was starting to get annoyed.

“Well. You’re there. And the conn chair is there.” He pointed at the center chair. “Or did I misread something at the academy?”

Ward blushed in embarrassment before she stood up and sat back down, in the correct chair this time. “It does not matter where I sit, honestly. But it is appropriate to sit here when you have the conn.”

Tagg chuckled again nervously. “Look. I don’t know what’s going on either. It’s very irregular for so many new officers to join us before this whole operation begins. As the pilot of this amazing ship,” He had not stopped saying that since he got on board. Clearly, he had a thing for large vessels with a lot of useful facilities and teeth. “So I absolutely would love to know what is going on and if it affects my position as the pilot in any way.”

Ward sighed as she was in agreement with the Ferengi as well. She was the Second Officer of the Sovereign and she was being left out of some very important business. Why? What could possibly be so important that she didn’t have the clearance to know about? Suddenly she heard not one but two doors open. She stood up and saw that both doors to the briefing room had opened to let two groups of people leave, they both hopped into separate turbolifts and were just that. Gone. She had recognized them too. Commander Ryker, Lieutenant Gomez, Lieutenant Gomo, Maya Egil, Koyda Daco, Gatia and Lieutenant Commander Sucil. There were some ensigns that had been left with Ryker and Gomez that she didn’t recognize but that was it.

The man with the captain rank and goatee stepped out and looked directly at her. “Lieutenant Commander Ward. Lieutenant Tagg.” He then turned his head to look at Bazial. “Lieutenant Bazial. Join us.” With that, he turned and returned to the briefing room.

All three that were called went to the door but Ward had stopped to allow Tagg and Bazial to go in first. Then she stepped in right behind them and saw a bunch of new faces. It was strange and unsettling at this time, but she had a feeling that she was about to get answers. Ward went around to her seat at the table and sat down. Her eyes then began to scan each and every new face that was at the table, some of them looked at her, and some of them were busy tapping away with one hand directly at the padd before them in the other hand. She then turned her head and looked at the man to her left that sat at the head of the table. He looked directly at her.

“I know you have questions, Commander. So let me start answering them. Captain Vakai is no longer the commanding officer of this ship. I am his replacement. He chose to resign his commission, as well as did Lieutenant Commander Sivol. They both had left the ship, with Lieutenant Commander Sucil, our former chief ship’s counselor. I don’t know where Commander Sucil plans to go, but I do know that Vakai and Sivol plan to join the Romulan Republic Intelligence Agency. That is all I know about the three.” He then smirked as he realized that he had forgotten to introduce himself. He looked at everyone and licked his dry lips. “I am Captain Henry Maxwell. For those who do not know me too well, I was the Task Force Commanding Officer of Task Force 93. I chose to resign. I had no executive officer and after five months, it had taken its toll on me. Plus, this is my ship.” He raised and outstretched his arm to gesture to the Sovereign. 

“I had served on board the Sovereign since I graduated from the academy back in 72′. After sixteen years, I was promoted to Commander and given the position of First Officer under a great Captain. I remained on board as the First Officer for eleven more years. And then I was offered the position of executive officer of Task Force 93, where I served in such position for three months and then was elevated to commanding officer after Captain Gar’rath resigned. As much as I tried to appoint someone to be my Executive Officer, the fleet had difficulties finding a suitable placement. I remained in such position for five months until I chose to resign from that position.” Maxwell explained. He then took in a deep breath and smiled on the heavy exhale. “I am where I belong. I am home. Fleet felt that the best place for me was here, on the Sovereign, where I belong. Plus, Vakai had informed one of the staff members that he had planned on resigning and joining the Republic. So, that was mainly the key element as to why I was given command of the Sovereign. If he had chosen to stay, I would have likely been assigned elsewhere.”

 Maxwell cleared his throat. “As the new commanding officer of this ship, I had the choice of staff. I chose to bring my staff from Verity. Now, at first, this did upset Commander Ryker for a moment, until I briefed him on his new job. I know I left you out, Commander Ward but that was not intentional. I have seen your record and I knew you would have zero issues with the change in the roster. Plus it made no sense for you to be here when I had no plans of removing you from your position. The meeting I had with everyone was to make sure everyone was clear on their new assignments. I want zero confusion.”

Ward nodded her head in acknowledgment. “I completely understand, sir.”

“Does that mean I get to keep my position, sir?” Tagg raised his voice in question.

Maxwell smiled at the Ferengi. “Of course, Lieutenant. Vakai and Ryker made a good choice. You’re a fine pilot and I am going to need you at your place. The same goes for you, Lieutenant Bazial. You’re also a fine officer and I could not find it in myself to replace you.”

Bazial cleared her throat, she had not expected such praise. “I appreciate the compliment, Captain.”

Maxwell smacked his hands together in a clap to make sure he had everyone’s attention. “So. Because some of you were not here in the previous meeting, I will happily introduce the new staff.” Maxwell gestured to his left. “This is Commander Arthur Graves. He will be our first officer. At first, I was considering him as a candidate to be my executive officer of Task Force 93 and had him conduct missions with a team to assist the independent colonies that are in the non-aligned region. But since things changed, he is now the executive officer of the Sovereign.” Maxwell then pointed to the man beside Graves. “This here is Lieutenant Zane Bates. He will be the Chief of Security and Tactical on board. He came from the Aquarius until I chose him to be my Chief of Security and Tactical on board the Verity when I became the task force commanding officer.”

Maxwell then gestured to the woman beside Bates. “That is Lieutenant Akira Rowe. I handpicked her from Columbia for the same reason, to be my Chief Operations Officer on the Verity. She is now in the very same position here on board Sovereign.” Maxwell continued on to the man beside Rowe. “That man there who has his eyes buried in his padd, is Lieutenant Alex Beck. He was the Chief Engineer on board the Altai and I requested him to be my Chief Engineer on the Verity, who is in the same position here as well. What are you doing, Mr. Beck?”

Beck lifted and turned his head to look at Maxwell and everyone else. The look on his face was like he had been caught red-handed, which disappeared when he remembered that he was just doing his work. “Analyzing the efficiency of Sovereign’s engines. They are good but they can be much better. Also, I placed a requisition order to Starbase 38 for one of the DOTs.”

Maxwell frowned. “Do we need one?”

“Well, they’re like the exo-comps but more efficient in my opinion. And if it wasn’t for the one that I requisitioned from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers Starship when it was helping the Altai refurbish and restore the listening outpost.” Beck cleared his throat. “Well, I would not have got the holographic system installed without the DOT.”

Maxwell nodded his head. “I’ve read about that system. It is impressive and when I had the chance, I made sure the schematics of such a system were submitted through proper channels so that your work would not go unrecognized. Hopefully it will be used for other facilities like that listening outpost.”

Beck smiled. “I appreciate that, sir, but it was not necessary. I didn’t do it for recognition or fame. I was just doing my job to improve the safety of my friends.” Beck then returned to staring at his padd and tapping away.

Maxwell raised his brows with a smirk then looked to Ward. He gestured to the woman beside her. “This lady here is Commander Olivia Bates. She is Zane’s sister, but also the Chief Medical Officer on board. I have no problems with family members serving on the same ship as long as they don’t cause problems.” Maxwell said as he looked between the two Bates’. Then he gestured to the woman next to Commander Bates. “This lady there is Lieutenant Commander Chelsea Pearson, the new Chief Ship’s Counselor.”

Maxwell waited for everyone to get a good look at each other, seeing Ward and Graves eyeing each other made Maxwell feel that those two will get along just fine. Or he was reading them incorrectly. Not sure. “All right.” Maxwell raised his voice to get their attention once more. “Now you must be wondering where former staff went. Well, I have not kicked them off the ship if that is what you were wondering.” He said as he looked at Ward.

“Sir?” Ward asked.

Maxwell smiled and pressed a button, the viewports began to tint just enough to where you cannot see anything through them. Then the lights dimmed a little as a holographic display appeared just above the middle of the table to reveal the Gradin Belt. “The Delta Exploration Initiative has reported a subspace pulse came from the Gradin Belt. A massive subspace pulse that was detected across fourteen sectors.” Maxwell paused for a moment to let that sink in. “What’s more, is that many planets, moons, and asteroids in those sectors, are suddenly sprouting large quantities of dilithium. This dilithium has an unusual side effect, one that I will not allow affecting the crew during such a critical mission. Graves.” Maxwell looked to his first officer.

Graves cleared his throat. “All Betazoid and Vulcan crew have been reassigned, Captain. Anyone else telepathic was also reassigned. We have a full crew complement with zero telepaths on board.”

Maxwell nodded his head. “Good.” He then looked back at everyone. “This new dilithium has a strange effect on telepaths. Within 10,000 km, they will first begin to hear voices, and the closer a starship gets to this new dilithium the symptoms get much worse. Paralysis by fear, voices get louder and more demanding, then they’ll become violent, and aggressive, and start attacking fellow crew members, whether it be minor punches and kicks to biting and scratching. Lastly, they will lose control completely and begin to sabotage ship systems and violently resist anyone who gets in their way. I will not have that happen on my ship.” Maxwell explained to them. He then pressed a button and the image changed to a bunch of logos of different factions or races.

“The Turei Alliance may allow us to use their Underspace for a quick traverse across the Delta Quadrant. And the Kinbori and Shivolian governments are allowing us to use the Markonian Outpost as a staging area. We have no facilities or bases established in the Gardin Belt, so once we are in there, we are essentially relying on each other in the Fourth Fleet.” Maxwell explained. “Here is where it gets difficult. No doubt, the Orion Syndicate have managed to slip ships through the Barzan Wormhole and will do whatever it takes to get their hands on as much dilithium as possible, regardless of how they affect any civilians. There is no doubt that there are colonies with innocents in the Gardin Belt that are being affected by this sudden growth of dilithium and will no doubt be harrassed by miners and with the Orion Syndicate, they’ll most likely try to enslave them and force them to mine the dilithium. We will not let that happen.”

Maxwell then pressed a button to bring up two icons. The Hirogen and the Devore. “The Hirogen have launched several hunting packs throughout the affected sectors around the Gardin Belt. Once we get in there to assist any colonies that are in need of our help, we will have to be careful when the Hirogen shows up. They might think the Sovereign is a warship and worthy prey. If they do, we will be forced to fend them off.” Maxwell explained then removed the Hirogen symbol, leaving the Devore symbol alone. “I’m sure plenty of you have read up on the Devore as of late, that is another reason why I had all telepaths removed from my ship. Not that it will matter. The Devore will likely request us to stop and try to inspect our ship for telepaths and if we come across a corrupt captain, they will try to attempt in accusing one of our crewmembers to be a telepath and try to arrest them.” Maxwell pressed a button, the holographic display disappeared, illumination slowly rose and the tint on the viewports disappeared.

“I want to make something absolutely very clear to everyone here.” Maxwell looked at each and every single officer at the table. “I will not allow the Devore to take a single crewmember off my ship. That is why the original staff are remaining on board.” Maxwell licked his lips as he felt that they were getting dry. “Commander Ryker will lead a Special Operations team under my direct command. The four ensigns that were once under Commander Graves’ command when I gave him assignments in the non-aligned territories are now under Commander Ryker’s command. Graves assures me that these ensigns will do the job but I made it clear to Ryker that I want them ready for anything. The same goes for Lieutenant Maya Egil. Her husband, Koyda, will be the executive officer of her Hazard Team. Lieutenants Ashley Gomez, Gomo, and Gatia will be part of that Hazard Team. Simply put, when shit hits the fan, both teams will sweep the ship, stun any Devore operators on board, and Bates.” Maxwell looked at the Lieutenant. “You will have explicit direct orders from me to eliminate the Devore vessel. That is only if the Devore attempts to take any crew member off of my ship. No one on board is a telepath and if they so much as lie and attempt to take any crew member, I will act in accordance to protect my crew. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir!” Everyone announced in unison.

Maxwell took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily before he looked at Ward. “I know you’re a by-the-book kind of gal and I’m sure you have an issue with my orders to protect the crew.”

Ward blinked in surprise at his words. “Then you knew my former captain?”

Maxwell nodded. “And I read your file.”

Ward nodded right back. “Sir, any means to protect the crew is a valiant effort and a responsibility to anyone on the Command Staff. I assure you, I would do anything to protect the crew.”

Maxwell smiled. “I’m glad you understand, Commander.” Maxwell took in another deep breath and exhaled slowly as he looked down at the table. Then he looked up at everyone. “This ship will be an instrument for the fleet. We will save lives and we will eliminate anyone who threatens those lives. We can be an instrument for diplomacy or we can be a weapon. I would prefer that we settle things diplomatically, but we know the history with the Hirogen, Orions, and the Devore. Diplomacy will fall very short. So the only option is that this ship becomes a weapon.”

Maxwell looked to Tagg, Zane Bates, Akira Rowe, and Alex Beck. “You three. I need you all to increase the efficiency of our engines, weapons, and shields as well as maneuverability as best as possible. I know she’s a big boat, but we all have seen these improvements before. So make it happen.” All four acknowledged, rose up from their seats, and left the briefing room.

Maxwell then looked to Olivia Bates and Chelsea Pearson. “I want you two to prepare your staff for anything. Minor injuries to major ones. Anxiety to a total mental breakdown. A lot of crew joined Starfleet to do good, not to be thrust into combat or intrusively interrogated as the Devore do.” The two nodded in agreement, then rose up from their seats and left.

Maxwell looked to Bazial. “I want you to get as much information from Starbase 38 in regards to the Gardin Belt and the sectors around it. It’s mostly unexplored but any relevant data will be vital. Star charts, anomalies, nebulas, anything.”

“Yes, sir.” Said Bazial before she rose up and left.

Maxwell then looked to Graves and Ward. “Both the Hazard and Spec Ops team understand their orders. But I want you two to visit them and make sure they get everything that they need to get the job done. If we are stopped by the Devore,” Maxwell pressed a button and a holographic image of the Sovereign appeared above the table. Then he pressed another button and two different colored dots appeared with a key indicating which color belonged to who. Red for Hazard Team and Blue for Specs Ops.

“Hazard team will be deployed here,” The red dot blinked near main engineering. “They will be in a small compartment that will be modified to hide their biosignatures and comm badges. The same goes for the Spec Ops team,” A blue dot blinked near the bridge. “They will be hiding in a compartment here with the exact same setup. I already have someone setting up a modified crew roster that will have both teams non-existent on this ship. So when the Devore happens to stop us and inspect our logs, they will show that the roster was updated today, at this date. If they ask us about it, just notify them that those crew members were reassigned elsewhere before we came to the Delta Quadrant. Or you could be cute and tell them that we kicked those crew members off the ship because we didn’t much care for them. It doesn’t matter to me. I just do not want the Devore to know that those teams exist.”

“It is like I said before. If they try to claim that one of our crew members is telepathic when they are not, I want those teams in a position to retake vital areas of the ship. Bridge and main engineering. Then we can unload a full volley of quantum torpedoes right into the Devore warship. Once they lose their only means of home, hopefully, their troops on board our ship will stand down. If not, then your next assignments will be challenging. I need you both to find capable officers to be ready to step up to fight the Devore troops when things are put in motion. The code word will be ‘We Will Comply’. It will be a challenge because those officers cannot be armed or the Devore will suspect it. Their goal will be to tackle the Devore troops, get a hold of their weapons and eliminate the threat. At this time, I don’t know if their weapons have a stun capability but that will be on the Devore, not on us. Are we clear?” Maxwell asked.

Graves nodded his head. “Clear, Captain.”

“Thank you, Number One.” Maxwell said to Graves then looked at Ward. “Commander?”

Ward nodded her head as well. “Clear, Captain. And I think I knew a few ensigns for the job.”

Maxwell smiled. “I figured you would. Anyone you pick, let the officers that you select be aware of the dangers so that they have a choice to accept the job or decline. There will be no repercussions if they decline.”

“Understood.” Graves and Ward said in unison.

Maxwell’s smile grew. “Perfect. We have several more hours before the Barzan Wormhole opens up. So get to it. Dismissed.” Maxwell watched both Graves and Ward rise from their seats and leave the briefing room. This left Maxwell alone, to relax in his chair and look up at the ceiling with a big heavy sigh. “Back together again, Sovereign. Let’s show them what we can do.” He then rose up from his seat to stand before the wall of ship models that previously bore the name Sovereign. He took one last gaze at the familiar wall that he had seen so many times in the past before he strode his way onto the bridge where he took his place in the center seat that he had long awaited for.

Just before crossing through the Barzan Wormhole.

To recap from the eyes and thoughts of Captain Maxwell. Just several hours ago, Maxwell had boarded the Sovereign, and relieved former Captain Vakai, former Lieutenant Commander Sivol, and Lieutenant Commander Sucil of their positions. He has no idea what Commander Sucil’s plans are for her future, but he has some idea of what Vakai and Sivol plan to do in theirs. It was also the same time that he was about to give the boot to the other staff members in place for his own, Commander James Ryker, Lieutenants Akira Rowe, Gomo, and Gatia. But Commander Ryker had an idea that sounded promising and useful to Maxwell.

Commander Ryker proposed to form a new team, a Special Operations kind of team much like the Hazard Team that Lieutenant Maya was currently in command of on board the Sovereign. But Ryker did not want to take command of the Hazard Team from her, which is why he proposed a separate team. Commander Graves gave his feedback on the idea and suggested that Ryker take the ensigns that Graves once commanded during the humanitarian missions that Maxwell had given him a month ago. At first, Maxwell was uncertain about the idea of placing ensigns in life-threatening situations that Commander Ryker mentioned his team would volunteer for with this proposal; but Commander Graves was persuasive, stating that the ensigns were ready and after a month with him, they wanted to do more for Starfleet.

This saved Maxwell some more paperwork of relieving five officers off of his ship and Graves stated that he would take care of the roster, as well as duplicate the roster and make it appear that both Ryker’s team and Maya’s team didn’t exist in case they were stopped by the Devore. The more Maxwell thought about it, the more he liked it. This placed Ryker in a unique position, as well as gave Maxwell, Graves, and Ward a unique opportunity to have two teams for dangerous situations. And because Ryker’s team was a separate division altogether, this does not put any complications or confusion in regard to who is in charge. Ryker would be in full command of his team, and Maya would be in full command of hers. Ryker would have no authority over Maya’s team, regardless of rank, but among normal duties, his rank would still supersede hers. Both teams answer to Maxwell, Graves, and Ward only, unless a Flag Officer were to take command of the Sovereign at any given point. The fact is, it gives them a wide variety of opportunities.

Then there is this mission to the Delta Quadrant. If they were to run into a Devore warship that is equal in strength to the Sovereign or more so, Maxwell would be forced to comply with the safety of his crew. But there’s been rumors that the Devore has been more aggressive, and possible corruption among their captains. Maxwell had removed all telepaths off of his ship, so the risk of being ‘impounded’ for having telepaths on board would be null. But if he were to encounter a corrupt captain who would randomly pick a non-telepathic crewmember and accuse them of being telepathic and try to impound his ship, then the two teams, being removed from the roster and hidden in their assigned compartments, would be able to secure the bridge and main engineering so that the ship would be back under their control and the crew would have a chance to repel the enemy.

Sounds so perfect on paper and in his head. But he knew that if something can go wrong, it will. He is prepared for the repercussions of forcing the Devore off his ship, even if it means destroying their own if it meant protecting his crew, and completing his mission.

Maxwell’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted when his yeoman stopped before him and held a small padd out to him. Maxwell then smiled at the yeoman and took the padd. “Thank you.” The yeoman smiled and departed. Maxwell took in a deep breath and began to read the message on the padd. His smile soon faded to a raised brow of curiosity.

“News, sir?” Ward asked, beating Graves to it.

Maxwell took another deep breath and exhaled in a heavy sigh. “A little late in the game but the Sovereign has been reassigned to Task Force 86. Fleet Command must think we will do better there.”

Graves smirked. “We advertise that we are Starfleet, officers of diplomacy and peace. But when it comes to dealing with pirates and scumbags of the galaxy, we are also an instrument of war.”

Maxwell looked to Graves. “We don’t advertise. We do. And we only fire in self-defense of ourselves and others.”

Graves shrugged a shoulder. “Just stating facts, Captain. Many of our vessels have tried to be diplomatic with pirates and marauders. What do our vessels get? A warning shot to the hull.”

Ward frowned, “How is that a warning shot?”

Graves chuckled. “To the pirates, they think they’re doing harm but to most of our starships, it feels like a warning shot.”

Ward shook her head with an eye roll before returning her attention back to Maxwell. “So, who do we report to?”

Maxwell smiled. “Fleet Captain Brodie Lewis and, well it was Captain London Malik, but he too was reassigned.”

“Do you know them, Captain?” Graves asked.

Maxwell shook his head. “No. Not really. I’ve heard about them during my time as 93’s CO. But I never truly got the chance to meet them.”

“You’ll likely have a higher chance this time,” said Ward.

Maxwell nodded his head and was about to say something when Tagg spoke up. “Captain, the wormhole.” said the Ferengi who pointed at the viewscreen. The mouth of the Barzan Wormhole had appeared before the fleet. It was now time to get underway.

“You know the drill, Lieutenant. Stay in formation, follow the flight path at the recommended speed, and we’ll get through to the Delta Quadrant in one piece,” ordered Maxwell.

“Aye, Captain. We’re in the queue with formation, it will be about five minutes before we depart.” Tagg reported.

“Good.” Maxwell smiled. “Once we are through, follow the route to the Markonian Outpost.”

It had been some time since the fleet went through the Barzan Wormhole. Not all of them went in the same direction as the Sovereign did. Some had their assignments already; others had their own plans. All that mattered was that they were there, and it will certainly be a mark in history for the Delta Quadrant. Who could possibly forget the number of ships coming out of a wormhole? Not as glorious or frightening when the Dominion came through the Bajoran Wormhole. But still, a sight to behold.

Akira Rowe was going through some readouts from the sensors when an indicator light illuminated to notify her of an incoming transmission. She opened up the source and turned in her seat to look at the command staff. “Captain, incoming transmission from a Talaxian Freighter.”

“Talaxian, huh?” Maxwell asked with a smirk.

“On screen, Lieutenant.” Graves ordered.

“Aye, sir.” Rowe turned back towards her console and accepted the transmission and linked the video feed to the main viewer.

“Ah! You certainly look like a very promising starship, with teeth too!” said the Talaxian.

Maxwell snorted with his smirk turning into a grin. “There are plenty of starships here that look promising, and with teeth. I am Captain Henry Maxwell. How can the Sovereign assist you?”

“Well, Captain, it’s not me who needs help really, it’s the poor people in the Gardin Belt region.” said the Talaxian.

“What about them?” Maxwell asked.

“Well, some group showed up. They call themselves the…Iron…Orean…” The Talaxian struggled.

“Orion.” Ward corrected with some annoyance.

“Ah yes. The Orion Syndicate, they called themselves. Anyway, they have been going to a couple of colonies already and have enslaved colonists, forcing them to mine this new dilithium that’s been popping up all over the place. They’re not good folks at all, I tell you. They do not care who they force to mine.” The Talaxian sighed dreadfully with a few ‘tsks’. “Women. Children. Elderly. Does not matter to them. And unfortunately, some have died in the mines.”

Ward turned her head to look at Maxwell. “We have to do something.”

“Oh yes, please! Your ship looks like it could rip theirs to pieces!” said the Talaxian.

“We will try a peaceful, diplomatic approach with the Orions but if they force our hand, then yes…we may resort to that,” Maxwell explained.

The Talaxian shook his head. “It would not matter. I tried to tell them what they were doing was wrong, but they took a couple of potshots at my ship. I barely got out of there in one piece! Look. I know where they are going.” On-screen they could see the Talaxian was pressing a few buttons. Then Akira Rowe’s console beeped to indicate that she received a packet. “That is where the Orions are going. A colony not too far from here. This new dilithium has grown quite big on this planet and it will take the Orions about a week to get as much as they can force the colonists to get.”

Rowe did the calculations before she turned in her seat to look at the command crew once more. “It would take us four days at warp nine to reach the colony, sir.”

“Yes, yes! As fast as you can, please! I know some friends in that colony that they’re going to. Really good people! They do not deserve this kind of treatment.” pleaded the Talaxian.

Maxwell nodded his head and then stood up from his seat. “The Sovereign will dispatch and stop the Orions, Talaxian. We very much appreciate this information.”

“I will appreciate you even more if you can save those people, Captain. No offense.” said the Talaxian.

“None taken. Sovereign out.” Maxwell then looked to Tagg. “You heard, Lieutenant Rowe. Set course for that colony, warp nine! Ward, dispatch a message to task force command of our flight path and mission.”

“Ready on your command, Captain,” said Tagg.

“Punch it!” Maxwell ordered. The Sovereign would then break formation from the remaining group, then the Sovereign rolled hard to port until the ship was lined up with their course and jumped to warp, on their way to clean up some trash.

With his fingernail, he dug between some of his teeth, to pick away the remaining pieces of meat that got stuck between them. It was a slight annoyance when you enjoy a good meal after a long trek across these sectors, and as you run your tongue over the backs of your teeth, you find debris and pieces lodged between them. Then you try to dig them out with your tongue, some give, and some resist. At which point, you’re forced to use alternative measures to get that debris out, in this case, his fingernail, one he has yet to trim off with the very chompers he was trying to clean. All the while, his eyes never left the group of enslaved people before him, fixated on their movements.

He would watch as they lift up those mining lasers and begin drilling away at the bloodstained rock, chipping pieces away at a time. He watched as one of his men would kick an enslaved person in the side and show them for the tenth time how to drill correctly, that they wanted large chunks of this rock, nothing smaller. He felt that he might have to step in and teach this group a lesson by dragging out the incompetent, placing the emitter of his pistol to the temple of his head, and pulling the trigger, forcing them to watch the individual’s head explode into pieces. But it looked as though that individual finally understood what they should do. About time they caught on, he thought.

Then his eyes caught a child taking a small shard of the blood rock and tucking it away inside his shirt—big mistake. He stepped down from the high point of the cavern and made his way over to the child, the others turned to watch as he placed his hand on the child’s head and grab a handful of his hair. He then lifted up the child as it wailed in fear and pain, their hands grabbed his wrist to try and pull away, but his grip was too strong for it to break free. With his free hand, he reached into the child’s shirt and pulled out not one but several small shards of the blood rock. This infuriated him. He threw the child several feet away onto the cavern floor with little care that the strength he put into that throw had knocked the wind out of the kid, as well as scraped his left elbow and bonked his head into the cavern floor pretty hard. He then reached down to the holster that rested over his right thigh, attached to his belt, grabbed the pistol grip, and pulled his sidearm free. Within seconds of him grabbing his pistol and raising his arm to take aim, an old man stepped in between him and the child, with his arms outstretched.

He growled heavily in annoyance, “Step away, old man!”

“I will not!” Said the Elder Hidarian.

“He must be punished. Stealing from the Orion Syndicate is punishable by death!” He shouted.

“Then punish me! I am responsible for the boy’s actions. I told him to steal from you.” Said the Elder.

His frown deepened as he snarled. “I thought I taught you old bastard a lesson. Wasn’t the death of twelve of your people not good enough?! I need you alive, to ensure that your people understand who the boss is! And to make them understand, that as long as I get what I want, you will all be set free. Then you tell this boy to steal? From me?!“

The Elder lowered his arms with a heavy sigh. “I only accepted your demands because I want to keep my people safe.”

He spat towards the ground in annoyance. “That makes no sense! You want to keep your people safe, and yet you allow a child to steal? He placed himself and your people in danger by defying me! You’re a hypocrite, that’s what you are.” He redirected his aim to the elder’s head. “Who is next in line?”

“What?” The Elder asked.

“Do not. Make me. Repeat myself. Again!” He demanded.

The elder then looked to his son, who had lowered their drill to watch the commotion. Then he looked to his father, the elder, with his eyes pleading with his father to not do this. They exchanged those glances, the elder understanding his son’s pleas, where his glance told his son that he must take his place and that he loved him. The elder then pointed to his son and in an instant, a green bolt of powerful, focused energy seared across the room and impaled the elder right in the head. The body of the elder then collapsed to the floor, completely headless.

“You!” He shouted as he aimed his pistol at the new Elder. “Grab that boy and get him back to work. And if he so much as steals from me again, you both die!” He ordered before he shoved his pistol back into its holster and made his way back to the highest ledge of the cave where he returned to watch the Hidarians. Where he watched the new elder grab the boy and brought him back to the group. Of course, they checked the boy to make sure he was okay before they gave him his mining tool back to return to their work.

As he watched, someone had stopped by his side. The aroma that he was getting was all too familiar, one that he has grown so accustomed to. It is fortunate that he is immune to these tricks, otherwise, he wouldn’t be the leader of this group in the syndicate. “What do you want, Hedou?”

Hedou smiled as her eyes remained on the enslaved Hidarians. “You’re as ruthless as ever, my dear Captain Gaigec.” She placed a hand on his bicep and then ran it down his arm and over the back of his hand. Her way of showing affection is by physical touch.

He swatted her hand away with the back of his with a growl. “Now is not the time, woman.” Ever since he had shown to be immune to the Orion female’s charms, he had somehow obtained the affection and admiration of this particular female. At first, he thought it to be a weakness and a diversion, but instead, it had proven to be quite useful. Not only that, but she was also an excellent first officer, one that he was proud and happy to have. Not that he would ever admit to that to anyone, especially to her. Although, at times he wondered if perhaps he was not immune after all, just highly resistant, because whenever he took her to his chambers, he felt as though he has lost all self-control and would find new scratch marks later in the morning. Losing control has brought no fear to him, as it was the feistiness from Hedou that he most enjoyed. Every morning he felt empowered, stronger, and more daring than ever. Now, with the growth of this strange new dilithium and his whole fleet returning home with loads of it, he may be able to finally challenge the leader of the Orion Syndicate, take the seat, and lead his brothers and sisters to a new era.

“What is the status of our ships, Hedou?” Gaigec demanded, his eyes narrowed on an individual or two but nothing out of the ordinary.

She let out a sadistic giggle. Or was she just merely humored by something? He would soon get his answer when she replied, “Starfleet are fools. Our ships, though appearing as mere traders and merchants, were able to slip past them and return back to the Alpha Quadrant once the Barzan Wormhole opened up. We are all that remains, Captain.”

Gaigec growled in frustration. “Then we must hurry and fill our hold.”

Hedou tilted her head in curiosity. “Why the rush?”

Gaigec took this moment to trust his men and pulled his eyes off the Hidarian people to look at his first officer. “Because we will have to wait another month for that wormhole to open up again in order to return to the Alpha Quadrant. I assume our ships also sent a report?”

Hedou nodded her head. “Indeed, they did. Starfleet has sent an entire fleet into the Delta Quadrant.”

Gaigec then smiled. “Ah. So that is why you were enjoying yourself a moment ago. Our ships truly got past an entire fleet?”

Hedou nodded her head once more. “They were able to shield their cargo holds, keep Starfleet’s sensors from finding out what they had.” It is also possible since the Orions had no clue about the strange properties that this dilithium has, were able to shield those properties so that any Starfleet vessels with telepaths on board were unaffected. Not that these Orions would know anything about it.

Gaigec smile faded. “An entire fleet. That is troubling.”

Hedou tilted her head again in curiosity. “How so?”

Gaigec brought his eyes back to the Hidarian people. “Starfleet has a knack for meddling in other people’s business. There was a Talaxian ship in orbit that tried to tell our officer in temporary command of our ship to stop mining, is that correct?”

Hedou nodded her head once more. “Of course, Captain. That officer scared off the Talaxian.”

Gaigec growled and spat on the floor in annoyance. “Remind me who that officer is, so I can kill him when we return.”

Hedou smiled as she stepped into his view and placed her hands on his bare chest. “You need not worry about that, my love.” She spoke quietly, her smile growing more wicked. “I took care of the problem for you and placed someone else in charge.”

Gaigec felt the rage for such incompetent people under his command soon fade away when he looked into her eyes as if those eyes and those hands of hers were sapping out all the anger he had inside. “Who did you put in their place?”

Hedou smile remained. “Oh, that lovely weapons officer. That one who carved up a few of the Hidarian people for trying to resist us, remember?”

Gaigec chuckled. “Ah yes. Her. A very good choice. I had only wished we had put her in command earlier.”

Hedou’s smile faded with another tilt of her head. “Why?”

Gaigec frowned. “Because. That Talaxian would have certainly warned Starfleet of our operation here. So you can guarantee that Starfleet will be coming to barge into our business and shove some garbage nobility and human rights down our throats.”

Hedou patted his chest before she began to step away. “I will ensure that the ship is ready for combat.”

“I will see you as soon as our hold is full,” Gaigec told her before she left and then he smiled to himself. He could not see any possible chance of him losing in the future. With her at his side, he was going to achieve greatness.

Traveling at high warp in some random area of the Delta Quadrant, were half a dozen vessels traveling together in a pack. There were four smaller vessels that led in a diamond formation in front of two larger vessels, the two were known to Starfleet as Venatic-class warships. They belonged to the Hirogen. Side by side, the Venatic-class warships were only several kilometers apart from the four smaller vessels before them. Both these warships held the Alpha and Beta of the pack. Normally, the Alpha would be leading the charge while the Beta would be a few kilometers behind off the port aft while the four smaller ships would be in the same formation, directly behind the Alpha, only several kilometers distance between them and the Beta. But the Alpha had chosen a different formation for the pack, a formation of defense as they were on their way home to one of their larger colony bases.

Inside the Alpha ship, the one who was deemed as the Alpha stood there before the trophy wall. On that wall, were many skulls of many preys that he has hunted, whether alone or with his pack. On that wall were skulls of a single Human, a couple of Talaxians who had proven to be quite formidable prey as strange as that may sound, several Kazon, Devore, and other skulls of other races that have been or have yet to be discovered. One stood out more prominent, a skull with borg implants attached to it, disabled implants of course. The hunt with this particular Borg was difficult but not as difficult as his most recent prize. In his hands, was the skull of what the Borg call, Species 8472. The hunt for that one was the most difficult but the most rewarding challenge of them all. The Alpha would raise his arms, lift up the skull and place it on the wall at the very top, shadowing all the skulls below it. It had earned its place.

He then heard footsteps, quiet as they were, his other honed senses had told him of their approach. “If you were going to take my place as Alpha, you would have to do better than that.” He spoke as he lowered his arms and stared at the 8472 skull.

“Not my intention, sir.” Said the hunter.

“Intention or not, you were still too loud. You must practice if you are ever to claim the spot of Alpha.” He told them before he turned to look at them. “What is it?”

“Beta has hailed us, sir.” Said the hunter.

He grumbled. “What would Ganar want to discuss now? Are we not home yet?”

“I do not know, sir. But Ganar has urgently requested to speak with you. We are still several days away from home base.” Said the hunter.

He gestured for the hunter to go away as he approached one of the consoles to activate the ship’s communications and accepted Ganar’s transmission. “What is it, Ganar?”

“Zagrin. The rumors are true,” said Ganar.

He had to stop to think for a moment, the hunt with the species 8472 was still lingering on his mind. Then it hit him, the rumors of a large fleet entering the Delta Quadrant via a wormhole, one the human he had hunted had called it the Barzan Wormhole. “Starfleet?”

“Yes, Alpha,” said Ganar. “And one has appeared on our sensors.”

He looked to the hunters manning the other stations and grew annoyed. “Apparently someone has failed to inform me of a contact.” He spoke loudly, gaining the eyes of his hunters. They knew that they were in trouble.

“Do not mind them, Alpha. Our sensors were enhanced, remember? Here, let me share the data.” said Ganar.

He stared at his console as the data came in, where he read the information and his eyes then grew wide. “Is it true? Can it really be?” The human he had hunted, was from a small Starfleet scout vessel, which they were able to board and kill the crew but the captain, the one in which he had hunted on a heavily dense forested planet. But while he hunted the captain, his Beta, Ganar, had obtained large portions of data from the ship’s computer. A lot of it had information on Starfleet ship classes. He had hoped for an Odyssey-class, the largest one of them all. But from what Ganar’s ship sensor data is telling him, they had found a Sovereign-class, one of the few most heavily armed warships in Starfleet.

“It is, Zagrin. What are your orders?” asked Ganar.

He should give his men time to rest and enjoy themselves, for they have been in space hunting for several years now. But the news of such a vessel was within their reach, it was weighing heavily on his heart. He could feel his blood boiling with excitement, the joy of the hunt growing inside of him, becoming nearly intolerable to resist. Plus they have made improvements on their weapon systems, their subnucleonic beams weren’t the only arsenal that they had in disabling a warship of this size. They had created subnucleonic torpedoes with equal purpose but have proven to be far more efficient than the beams. A combination of both weapons, though, would certainly bring a warship like this to its knees. Unfortunately, his ship and Ganar’s ship carry such capacitors capable of charging the weapon and firing it at the enemy and they were like any torpedo, capable of being destroyed before they reach their target. Nevertheless, the four smaller vessels in the pack carried several different types of torpedoes from several vessels that they had crippled in the past.

He stepped away from the console and went over to a table in the center of the room. Here, he grabbed his helmet that bore two green stripes on the left side of the helmet. He took that helmet and slipped it on over his head, he then made sure it was secure before he turned his gaze onto his men. “I want a tactical analysis on that ship. Now!” He ordered.

“Already done, Zagrin.” said Ganar.

He turned to the empty station and approached it. “Anticipating the hunt again, are we, Ganar?”

There was a low chuckle, followed by Ganar’s voice. “I know you well, Zagrin.”

He grunted in approval. “You do indeed, Ganar. What are our odds?”

“With our current arsenal, we should be able to disable the ship and with a ship of that classification, it should have many good prey for us to hunt!” Ganar explained. “So. Question remains. Do we change formation?”

He analyzed the data that Ganar sent over on this Sovereign-class vessel. “No. Keep the small ones up front. We will use them as a shield for us, same tactic we used against the Borg. If this ship is indeed powerful, then the smaller vessels will absorb the attacks. Plus, we can fire our subnucleonic torpedoes while we are behind them, so we will not be out of the fight.”

“Understood. Shall I signal the pack?” Ganar asked.

“No.” He turned to a hunter who knew what order Zagrin would give. With one single nod of their head, Zagrin knew the channel to the pack was open. “This is the Alpha!” He spoke loudly as he stepped towards the center. “We have found ourselves new prey! One that I believe will be most worthy! We will have to work together to disable the ship, then we can have much fun hunting the crew!” He looked at each and every one of his hunters on his bridge before he rose his voice again. “It will be a glorious hunt!”

Zagrin then faced forward, gestured towards it and a hunter put the ship on a large holo-screen. It was small but soon, it will be big. “All ships. Lay an intercept course for that vessel.” The data on the right corner of the screen began to list the data that they were receiving from the ship’s IFF. First the registry, NCC-73811 and then USS Sovereign.

Graves stood there in the turbolift as it moved across the ship. About two hours ago, he had just finished a good old traditional breakfast. Scrambled eggs with crispy hashbrowns, couple slices of bacon and two pieces of buttered toast. Then an hour ago, he had just come from main engineering where he had a small discussion with the Chief Engineer, Alex Beck. The DOT and three exocomps that Beck had requested have already improved engine and maneuverability efficiencies. Not a lot from what Beck stated but it was still an improvement, one he was certain that Captain Maxwell will be happy with.

He could not help that he had eyes on him since he had entered the lift from main engineering, and when he turned his head to the side to look, he could see a female lieutenant staring at him. Only that she looked away and her cheeks began to turn red, caught in the act. Graves chuckled softly and he was about to say something when the door to the lift opened, and Commander Ward stepped in. “Ah. Lieutenant Commander. Good morning.”

Ward looked at him and the lieutenant briefly before she made a full one-eighty turn just as the door closed. “Good morning, Commander. Bridge.”

“Just heading there, myself. How was your morning?” Graves asked.

“Productive. Quick shower, light breakfast, and a quick chat with a few ensigns along the way.” She told him.

Graves nodded his head. “I see. About the…issues that the captain mentioned?”

“Of course, Commander.” Ward answered.

“Good. Good.” Graves replied just as the lift halted and the door opened, revealing the bridge to them. All three stepped off the lift, the lieutenant that he has yet to get a name of, went to an empty station. He still has time to read through the roster. Graves’ eyes then landed on Lieutenant Bates. “Lieutenant! How are things going with your departments?”

Zane looked up from his console and shrugged a shoulder. “Small bump in efficiencies but we’re still working on it.”

“Don’t stress yourself if you can’t get them any higher. Starfleet engineers have gotten better at making these ships far more efficient than they used to back in the day. Almost like all starship engineers decided to take a break and work in the fleet yards.” Graves chuckled as he went to his seat, sat down and started going over reports on his console.

The door to the Captain’s Ready Room opened up and out came Captain Maxwell, who immediately went to his chair and plopped right down with a heavy sigh. “Ladies and gents. Good morning to you all.”

“Sounds like you had a pleasant morning yourself, Captain.” said Tagg as he had turned in his seat to look back at everyone from his station.

“Oh, you know, Lieutenant. Couple reports here, command updates there. And a nice hot cup of coffee or two to get you fired up.” said Maxwell.

Tagg frowned, “I wouldn’t know, really. I’ve never been a ‘captain.’”

Maxwell chuckled. “You will someday, and then you’ll understand.”

“Command updates, sir?” Ward asked.

Maxwell chuckled again. “Figured that would get your attention, Commander. Yes, just minor updates. Positions being filled here and there. Nothing that would impede our current mission.”

Rowe had been staring at her console for the duration of two hours, since the moment she began her shift and took her station to just now. The calibration and adjustment to the sensors had just finished overnight and she was making final adjustments to ensure that everything was running smoothly when sensors began to pick up a large single entity heading their way. But it wasn’t right. After going through several settings of the long-range sensors, she finally found the problem and made the correction. Now more efficient, the single entity turned into six signals, and it took a minute for the system to update on those signals. Hirogen.

Rowe turned in her seat with the look of someone who’s been caught with their pants down. “I have six Hirogen vessels on long-range sensors.” She then turned back and checked her instruments. “Bearing one-six-zero, mark one-nine-five. Distance, one hundred and fifty thousand kilometers and closing, fast! One forty-five…one thirty…”

“Someone hail the lead ship and tell them we are on an important mission. We are of no threat to them!” said Ward.

“Belay that.” said Maxwell and he turned in his seat to look at Ward. “Someone forgot to do their studies on the Hirogen.”

“I did not forget, Captain. I simply wish to try a peaceful diplomatic solution.” Ward replied.

Maxwell smiled. “I appreciate that, Commander but there is no point with the Hirogen.” He turned his seat back to its original position before he pressed the red button. “Red alert!” He barked as the lights shifted to the red hue and the klaxon blared throughout the ship for a couple minutes.

Graves had already pulled up tactical information regarding the Hirogen ships. “Two energy signatures from the pack indicate that they are the Venatic-class, heavily armed. Lieutenant Bates!” Graves turned his head to look at the man. “Set both dorsal and ventral phaser arrays on the nacelle pylons to point defense. They will certainly launch torpedoes at us. Then get ready to load up a full spread of photon torpedoes from all aft launchers.”

“Distance?” Maxwell requested.

“One hundred thousand kilometers. Ninety-five!” Rowe replied.

Ward pulled up data on the Hirogen from her station as well. “Captain, they are capable of firing their weapons at a range of fifty thousand kilometers. Not to mention, the smaller vessels can fire a subnucleonic beam to disable ships weapons, warp engines, communications and navigational sensors.”

“Engineering to Bridge. Beck here, couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the situation. Dottie here and the exocomps have already came up with an automatic rotational field sequence for shields that should protect us from their disabling weapon. It’s funny too, it almost operates the same way as the Breen disabling weapon that was used on our ships during the Dominion War. Now they just have a weapon to disable shields, which-”

“Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Beck. You’re positive the shields will protect the ship from their disabling weapon?” Maxwell asked.

“Dottie here assures me that yes, the shields will keep us safe. To an extent.” said Beck.

“I knew there be a catch.” said Graves.

“Thank you, Mr. Beck. Bridge out.” Maxwell cut the internal comm and sighed. “We will just have to keep the shields up. If they go down for a split second, and hit the hull with that beam, we’re done for.”

Ward got up from her seat and went to the secondary tactical station where she relieved an ensign. “I will work on maintaining the shields, while Bates focus on taking out any torpedoes coming our way.”

“Sixty thousand kilometers!” Rowe spoke up.

Maxwell pressed a button to shift the main viewer to the rear, where they could see the four small vessels and the two large ones behind them, all gaining on them. “We’re going hot!”

Zane pursed his lips as had been looking over multiple holo-projected displays before him to keep an eye on the incoming enemy fire and it had been quite taxing. A couple of the displays were views of the rear where the enemy ships were, to keep an eye on the port-aft and starboard-aft sections of the ship as well as keep an eye on when they plan to fire. Most of the time he could see within a matter of seconds of an energy building where their emitters or launchers were located, which gave him time to switch over to a different phaser array to anticipate. Other displays were the rear sensor and targeting array to detect and lock onto an incoming torpedo.

For a while now, he had been keeping up with the enemy’s torpedoes and shot them down with dorsal and ventral arrays on the nacelle pylons, he locked onto the incoming torpedoes and the system would automatically shoot them down in time. But then the enemy began to change tactics, firing more torpedoes at once, alternating their firing sequence, practically keeping Zane on his toes. They were good and so he was forced to manually take over locking on and firing the arrays to keep up. He had to, while he couldn’t stop their beam weapons from hitting the shields, their torpedoes packed more of a punch and their nullifying effect bled through the shields which collapsed the ship’s warp field and forced them out of warp.

“Captain! One of the smaller ships is pushing forward, trying to overtake us.” Said Akira Rowe.

Zane had seen it and he was already preparing for it by selecting the main dorsal phaser array. Linked to the forward phaser capacitor, he cranked up the energy flow to that very array to a hundred and twenty percent.

“Zane?” Commander Graves addressed him to make sure he heard the Lieutenant.

“Already on it!” Zane replied as he locked onto the small Hirogen vessel, and pressed and held down the fire command. Charged and ready, the array lanced out a beam towards the vessel which made contact with its shields and the beam continued with no interruption.

Curiosity overcoming her, Ward pulled up a display to monitor the array which Zane was using on the Hirogen vessel and saw what he was doing. Ward looked at him, “Lieutenant, you’re going to burn out the array!”

“Forgive me, Commander, but I know what I am doing. Just a few more seconds!” Zane’s eyes monitored the integrity of the array, integrity of the enemy vessel’s shields, and darting back and forth to the rearview displays to ensure that he wasn’t slacking on defending the ship. He did switch back to auto-fire mode to the rear phaser arrays but he wanted to be certain nothing got through. And then he saw it, the enemy vessel’s shields had lost the fight to sustain the continuous assault from the beam and failed. The beam then made contact with the hull and worked its way through, hitting vitals. Systems, plasma junctions, all that which had caused secondary explosions that cascaded to its warp core, which overloaded and destroyed the vessel completely. The second Zane saw the beam had done enough damage, he released the button and the beam was disengaged.

Ward sighed annoyingly. “Great. The forward capacitor is completely drained. It will take several minutes for it to recharge.”

“Then I will just have to keep them on our backside.” Said Tagg as he coaxed more speed out of the impulse engines.

Maxwell turned in his seat to look at Zane. “Have the aft torpedo launchers reloaded yet?”

Zane nodded his head. “Aye, Captain. They have.”

“Then let’s try again, but alternate it,” Maxwell ordered.

Zane smirked, “Aye, sir.” He then brought up the torpedo launcher display and selected the aft launchers. First, he set each one to fire a second after the other, to try and overwhelm the enemy. Then he adjusted how many torpedoes in each launcher will fire. He also adjusted yields, expecting the first few torpedoes to be shot down first from each salvo, not wanting them to explode and have any of those torpedoes cause too much damage to their own shields from being detonated too close to the ship. Once he was certain he got them set up exactly as needed, he targeted three of the remaining small vessels in front of the two larger ones. “Ready on your command, sir.”

Maxwell stared at the enemy on the main viewer and paused for just a split second before he spat out the command. “Fire!”

Zane pressed the button and the computer took over with the programmed sequence. They watched as at first four torpedoes, then eight, and then twelve left their respective launchers and divided up toward their targets. As Zane had anticipated, some were destroyed by enemy beam weapons but the rest made contact with their shields and those that did have a much higher yield. “Reading massive damage to their forward shields.”

Rowe shook her head. “The smaller ships are falling back and the two Venatic’s are pushing forward!” Just after she finished that sentence, the ship was bombarded by a salvo of beam and pulse weapons from the two larger vessels.

Ward held onto her console with one hand, while she tried her best to enter commands with the other hand. “Trying to compensate but the aft shields are taking a beating!”

“Captain, we need to get out of here.” Said Graves.

“I agree, Number One.” Maxwell tapped the button that linked the comms from the bridge to main engineering. “Beck, I need a status report on warp drive.”

“Dottie and her exocomp team are still trying to recalibrate the warp field against those weapons of theirs. We can only give you warp in short bursts.” Beck’s voice came over the intercom.

Akira turned in her seat to look at Maxwell and Graves. “There is a system not too far from here. If we can get warp five in a short burst, as Mr. Beck stated, we will make it right outside the edge of the system.”

“What’s so good about this system?” Ward asked.

Akira turned slightly more to look at Ward. “For one, the system has an ice asteroid belt along the edge, which we will have to cross to enter the system. We could go up and over or under, but there are smaller asteroids in the belt that we can use in our favor.”

Maxwell leaned forward in his seat, the idea becoming very interesting to him. “What do you have in mind, Lieutenant?”

Akira smiled slightly. “I can modify the tractor beam to act as a repulsor beam. I can use one tractor beam to grab and line up some of those rocks then as I turn off that beam to release it, I will use another to push it at higher velocity towards the enemy. If timed correctly, which I will, we can potentially damage some of those ships severely, if not destroy them.”

“You hear that, Chief?” Graves asked as he looked up at the ceiling as spoke directly to Beck.

“Loud and clear, Commander. We will get the warp engines ready for the brief jump,” said Beck.

Maxwell pushed himself out of his chair just so he could turn around and look at Zane. “Bates. How many torpedoes have reloaded into the launchers?”

“Two of the launchers have two, the third has one. Why?” Zane asked.

“I want you to maximize their yield but I want them to act as mines and perhaps modified to blind their sensors, just for a brief,” Maxwell suggested.

Zane smiled and immediately began to work on adjusting the settings on the torpedoes in the launchers. “Doing that now.”

“Launch them on my mark, Zane. Tagg, after all torpedoes have been ejected, warp us to that system.” Maxwell ordered after he had turned towards Tagg.

“Aye, sir.” Tagg and Zane said in unison.

“We’re ready!” said Beck.

“Mark!” Maxwell ordered.

Zane pressed the ejection button and all five torpedoes were ejected from their launchers. “Ejected!”

“Engaging warp!” said Tagg and the second after the torpedoes had detonated in front of the enemy, the ship had jumped to warp, only to drop out seconds after.

“Lieutenant Rowe, change our view if you would please.” Said Graves.

Akira entered a couple of commands and the main view screen blinked to load up the forward feed. From there, they saw the system right before them, along with a belt of ice asteroids that grew closer by the second.

“Not too fast, Mr. Tagg. Ease us into the field,” said Maxwell.

“How are the shields?” Graves asked after he stood up to look at Ward.

“I’ve had to redirect shield strength from other areas towards the aft to compensate for the damage intake we were receiving from those Venatics.” Ward said followed by a sigh. “I got aft shields at ninety percent, port and starboard at fifty, and forward at thirty. I don’t want to take too much from them without making them any weaker.”

Zane let out a heavy sigh of relief before he chipped in. “But at least the aft shield generator wasn’t overloaded from the barrage we were sustaining. All generators have already begun to recharge, it will just take some time.”

Akira’s face nearly whited out. “I don’t know if we’re going to have it. Five ships just dropped out of warp, bearing one-eight-eight, mark one-eight-zero.” Then her console chirped a warning notification as Tagg eased the ship into the asteroid belt. “Damnit! Two more contacts coming out from behind a large asteroid, bearing two-eight-five, mark one-six-seven!”

Zane cursed under his breath. “They’re also Hirogen!”

Maxwell and Graves sat back down into their seats, Maxwell leaning forward in his. “Alright Tagg, push the engines a little more but keep an eye out for those larger rocks, if you would please. Scratch the paint and it’s coming out of your paycheck.”

Tagg bared his teeth with a hefty grunt, “Aye, sir!”

Graves looked at Rowe. “We need that trick of yours, Lieutenant.”

“On it!” Akira stated as she had already found a couple of candidates to lock a tractor beam onto. She adjusted the settings to pull the ice rocks in but not too close. Then she adjusted their location so their paths would meet up with the enemy vessels. She had to do this with split seconds of accuracy and timing, as she didn’t want the enemy to realize what she was doing. As soon as she released the ice rocks, she used the aft tractor beam, modified as it were, to repulse and propel the two ice rocks at greater speeds toward the enemy. However, one ship was able to foresee the attack and moved out of the way just in time, but the other failed to anticipate it in time. As it tried to move out of the way, the ice rock slammed into its aft-ventral side which knocked it off its course, sending it towards a much larger ice asteroid with which it collided into. Such collision at the speed it was moving, was more than enough to destroy the ship.

Maxwell smiled. “Good work, Lieutenant. Now we just need to fool the rest.”

Akira shook her head. “I don’t think we will. They adjusted their course so that they are flying above the belt.”

“Surely that will tell them to back off,” said Graves as he looked at Maxwell.

“You’d think, Number One,” Maxwell replied, and then the ship shook underneath them. “Report!”

“They’re firing at the ice asteroids ahead of us, destroying them and creating smaller chunks,” Akira answered and then on the main viewer, they witnessed several torpedoes contacting a much larger asteroid ahead that broke off into smaller chunks. Yet these chunks were still large enough to cause quite a bit of damage if they were to hit one of them.

“Get us out of here, Mr. Tagg!” Maxwell ordered.

While that was happening, Graves had pulled up the system chart to see if he could get an idea of his own. “Mr. Tagg! Bring us further into the system. There is only one planet in the system, likely due to having a neutron star as a primary that’s sucking the life out of the secondary, the white dwarf. But lucky us, that planet is a gas giant!”

“What do you have in mind, Number One?” Maxwell asked.

Graves looked at him and grinned. “Just trust me. Punch it, Tagg!”

“Punching it!” Tagg replied as he pulled the ship out of the field and increased to full impulse towards the gas giant.

Graves then pushed himself out of his chair and stepped closer to the helm and ops stations. “Start slowing us down and ease us into the upper atmosphere.”

Tagg turned his head to look at Graves with concern on his face. “This ship isn’t an Intrepid or a Defiant.”

Graves nodded his head. “Trust me on this, Lieutenant.”

Tagg bared his teeth with a grunt of worry, but he turned back to his controls and complied by reducing speed as they approached the gas giant and began to ease them into the upper atmosphere.

“Commander?” Maxwell asked.

Graves turned but didn’t look at the Captain. “Power down weapons and divert the remaining power to the shields. Commander Ward, have our shield bubble hugging the ship as much as you can.” Graves turned to look at Rowe. “Lieutenant, I want you to rig us for silent running but keep the shields up and give Mr. Tagg all he needs to keep the ship from being pulled in further into the gas giant.”

Akira nodded her head. “Aye, sir.” She replied as she worked on cutting power to various systems throughout the ship.

Graves then turned to look at the comms officer. “Ship wide, please.” With a quick acknowledgment, Graves spoke up towards the ceiling. “Attention all hands. We are rigging for silent running. Power throughout the ship will be reduced as minimum as possible, excluding vital systems needed for our current situation. Standby for further instructions.”

“If we’re going to be hiding from the Hirogen in here, shouldn’t we cut power to the shields and pump power to the structural integrity field?” Ward asked.

“We could, but as long as Akira can lower our energy emissions as much as possible, we should be fine. We are going to need those shields, in case they do find us and launch an attack.” Graves replied.

Ward shook her head, “But with the shields hugging the ship, any attack will simply bleed through and cause hull damage.”

“With the shields reinforced with extra available power, they should be able to reduce the bleed through.” Graves replied and then looked at Maxwell. “It’s a risky shot but if we need to, we can relocate inside this gas giant and shut the shields down to try and reduce our energy emission even further.”

Akira spoke up. “I would recommend that right now, sir. Even with all the systems shut down, excluding the ones mentioned, we’re still producing quite a bit. I’m certain that they’ll detect us.”

Graves smiled. “That’s where the second part of my plan comes in. You still got one of the tractor beams set to repulse?”

Akira nodded her head. “Yes, sir. I do.”

Graves then turned to look at Zane. “I want the main dorsal array on standby. They might detect us but they won’t know our exact location, they’re going to send a ship or two to investigate. If we can trick them and get behind them…”

Zane’s eyes lit up. “Then we can disable their engines.”

Akira got in on it as quickly as he did. “And I can use the tractor beam to shove them further down in the atmosphere.”

Graves smiled. “Which will be too much for their structural integrity field, and they’ll be crushed like a tin can.”

Akira returned to check on her displays and noticed two signatures closing in. “Well, it looks like we are going to get our chance to try this. Two are coming in right now.”

Graves looked at Zane. “Launch a probe, throw its energy signature through the roof, and make it look like us, quickly!”

Zane entered several commands and then he fired a probe modified to what Commander Graves requested. As it moved further away, the two signatures on Akira’s sensor display adjusted to follow. The two signatures were two of the small Hirogen vessels that had just entered the atmosphere and dropped down right in front of the Sovereign as they began to investigate the probe. When they realized the large energy signature in front was just a probe and began to redirect their attention to the energy signature behind them, which was the Sovereign, it was too late.

Zane powered up the main dorsal array, targeted their engines, and fired. Several beams lanced out and contacted the ships with small explosions emitting from where their engines were. Then the forward tractor beam grabbed them and pulled them towards the Sovereign but also below the ship. Once they were in place on their ventral side, the forward tractor beam disengaged and the central beam activated just to repel them deeper into the gas giant. With no impulse engines to climb out of the increasing gravity pull and pressure, they were crushed instantly.

Akira adjusted the ship’s sensor strength and located the rest of the Hirogen pack. “I think they noticed what happened to their two ships. They’re not sending in any more of their vessels.”

“That leaves them with what. Four?” Ward asked.

Zane nodded his head, “Yup. Two small ones and those two Venatics.” Then Zane’s terminal began chirping a warning from the proximity sensors. “Incoming!” But the warning was too late and the ship rocked hard from several impacts.

“They’re firing blindly at us!” Akira reported as she witnessed a few torpedoes pass in front of the main viewer.

“Not blindly enough, the dorsal shields took a heavy hit. They’re down to forty percent.” Ward reported.

Maxwell pushed himself up from his seat and placed his hand on Graves’ shoulder, an indication that he was taking over. “I have about had enough of this. Time to see just how desperate they are in wanting this ship as a prize. Bring us out of silent running, and set a course to pass directly in between the binary stars.”

Graves stopped himself from taking his seat again to return to Maxwell’s side. “Now I know my idea was a bit much but your idea is borderline insane!”

Maxwell looked at Graves. “I know what this ship can do. She’s been through hell and back, she will hold.” Maxwell stared into Graves eyes and Graves knew not to question. Maxwell was there when the Sovereign participated in the Dominion War, regardless of how brief it may have been compared to when it began and when the Sovereign had joined the fight. Maxwell was there when the Sovereign made continuous trips to try and save as many of the Romulan people as they could before they were ordered to stop. Maxwell was there when the Sovereign answered the call for help, only to be infected by some computer virus that came from the Protostar and suffered severe damage. Maxwell was there when the Sovereign answered the call to join the fight in the Archanis Sector against the Hunters of D’Ghor, where the ship had sustained damage, although hardly compared to the damage that the Sovereign had dealt to the enemy.

Maxwell looked at Tagg. “Take us out, on a course between the stars, full impulse.” He then turned towards the comms officer. “Open a channel to the Hirogen pack.”

“Keep firing torpedoes! We will draw her out, or we will destroy her and send her remains to the depths of this gas giant!” The Alpha shouted at his crew.

“Reading a full power signature below! They’re…coming out!”

The Alpha laughed. “Yes~! That’s it!” And then the large holographic display showed the Sovereign rushing out of the atmosphere, trailing gas right behind it as it flew toward the binary stars. “Intercept! Maximum speed!”

“But, they’re going between the binary stars. The sheer force will tear us apart!”

The Alpha growled. “Then we will meet them on the other side. Adjust our course!”

“Receiving a transmission. It’s from the prey!”

“Hirogen hunters! I am Captain Henry Maxwell of the USS Sovereign that you have been hunting. I am going to say this only once. You will never have this ship or its crew. Even if it means flying between a white star and a neutron star that’s feeding off of it. If it destroys this ship, so be it. If it doesn’t. I guarantee you, I have been going easy on you from the beginning. If you do not back off now, I will launch the full arsenal at my disposal and you will not survive. So, I recommend that you take what ships you have left and run. Run back home and tell them how you failed to capture a Sovereign-class ship.”

The Alpha growled in frustration and annoyance. “Tell the pack to intercept that ship and disable its engines, now!”

“But-”

The Alpha drew his pistol and fired a shot directly at his helmsman’s head. Then he proceeded to take over the controls of his ship. “I will not let my prize get away!”

Ward shook her head. “Whatever it is you said, it got their attention.”

“Funny. None of them are backing down. They really follow their Alpha blindly, or stupidly,” said Zane.

“Or they follow out of fear,” said Graves.

“Either way, we got a problem. I want all power diverted to the structural integrity field! Take it from life support if you have to.” Maxwell then looked at Graves. “This is going to get rough.”

“You said it.” Graves replied.

“Oh Grand Nagus, don’t let me die on this ship by my crazy Captain!” Tagg spoke out loud to himself.

“You’re better off praying to me, Lieutenant,” said Maxwell as he went to Tagg’s side to look at the plotted course. Maxwell made some adjustments and then patted Tagg’s shoulder. “Stay on it and do not deviate.”

At first, there was a small, yet growing, vibration beneath their feet. Then the deck began to shake, only to grow more violently as closer they got to the center between the two stars.

“Engineering to Bridge. What the hell is going on up there?” Beck’s voice came over the intercom.

“Not right now, Chief,” said Maxwell.

“Captain is flying us right in between the two stars,” said Graves, who smirked with a shrug at Maxwell when he got a look.

“Are you mad?!” Asked Beck.

“Just keep an eye on the structural integrity field! Manually adjust it if you have to but keep it from collapsing! Bridge out,” said Maxwell who gave Graves one more look followed by a smirk then returned his gaze back to the main viewer.

“They’re still following us!” Akira reported and then clapped her hands. “The two smaller ships lost integrity and were destroyed! The Venatics are struggling but holding.”

“We just crossed the halfway point!” Tagg shouted. “I don’t think we’re going to make it though!”

Maxwell pursed his lips. “Bridge to Engineering. I need more speed!”

“Oi, first ya want more power to the structural integrity field. Now you want more speed,” said Beck.

“Just give me what you got, Beck. Take it from anything and everything!” Maxwell ordered.

“Aye, that I will have to. You got it, Captain,” said Beck.

Tagg grinned. “We’re picking up speed! We’re going to make it!”

Maxwell smirked, “And you had your doubts.”

Graves raised his brows. “I sure did.” Everyone looked at him and he threw up his arms a little bit. “What? I’m allowed to say these things, now that we’re coming out of it.”

“How about our two Venatics?” Maxwell asked.

“Their structural integrity fields are holding but they’ve sustained damage,” Akira reported.

Maxwell nodded. “Tagg, as soon as we reach a safe distance from the two stars, reduce speed and bring us around. Zane. All power to weapons, have the main forward launcher loaded with quantum torpedoes, maximum yield.”

“Aye, sir.” Both Tagg and Zane said in unison, again.

In mere moments, the Sovereign had drawn away far enough from the two stars that she began to slow down before she began to make a full one-eighty-degree turn where they now faced the two Venatics that were just reaching the safe point. Though, with the Sovereign now facing them, instead of fleeing from them, the two Venatics slowed to a halt where they now were in a standoff.

Maxwell folded his arms over his chest with a heavy exhale. “Hail them.” He ordered and after about a minute, the view screen flickered to show the interior of one of the Venatic ships. “I suspect that you are the Alpha.”

“I am. And you must be Captain Henry Maxwell.”

“That I am. I have one final proposition for you.” Maxwell began but was interrupted before he could continue.

“I don’t want it.”

Maxwell shook his head. “I insist. You cease this hunt of my ship and crew, and I will let you and the remainder of your hunting pack live. There will be no glory in this hunt, only death.”

“We are not as bad as you think we are, Captain.”

Maxwell smirked. “I hate to disagree with you there, but your ships have sustained more damage passing through the binary stars than mine did. And from the looks of it from here,” Maxwell peaked at Akira’s station but didn’t really see anything useful. “Your shields are barely holding, on both ships. I told you that if you do not cease this hunt, I will unleash the full arsenal at my disposal. Scan my ship, you will see that to be true.”

They watched as the Alpha worked the console before them before they returned their gaze back to Maxwell’s. “What are your terms?”

Maxwell lowered his arms to his side, easing a sigh of relief without exposing himself. “Simple. Leave us alone, and tell everyone else that if they so much as try to hunt another Starfleet vessel, we will come back and we will make sure you and the rest of your packs regret it.”

“I will order the hunt on your ship to end, but I cannot guarantee that other packs will do the same as I do not command them,” said the Alpha.

“It will have to do. Sovereign out.” With that cue, the transmission was cut and the main view screen blinked back to the two Venatics before them. Maxwell let out one more sigh of relief. “All right. Mr. Tagg, take us back to our original course. Get us the hell out of here.”

“With pleasure, Captain,” Tagg acknowledged.

“Engineering to Bridge.” Beck’s voice came over the intercom once more.

“Go ahead, Chief.” Graves answered as he and Maxwell returned to their seats.

“I will be maintaining structural integrity above maximum but Dottie and her exocomp team have detected stress fractures on the frame all over the ship,” said Beck. “They stated that they can repair those fractures but I cannot recommend going more than warp five.”

Tagg and Akira turned in their seats to look at Maxwell, Graves, and Ward, who she had eventually returned to her seat as well. “There’s no way we will make it to the colony in time at warp five,” said Tagg.

“I agree, Captain. I hate to say it but I’m afraid we will fail in our attempt to stop the Orions,” said Akira.

“Dottie and her team believe it will take twenty-four hours to make the repairs, by then we can punch up the speed to maximum. It’ll be hard on the engines, but we should be able to make it by then,” said Beck.

Akira turned in her seat to make the calculations at her station before she turned back to face the Command Staff. “That will work.”

Maxwell sighed. “I hate being delayed but we don’t have much of a choice. Proceed back on course at warp five, Mr. Tagg.”

Tagg nodded his head. “Aye, sir.” He acknowledged as he turned in his seat and laid the course. As soon as they were at the edge of the system, passed the ice asteroid belt, the ship jumped to warp.

“The worst thing that could happen to slow us down, would be the Devore,” said Graves.

“I sincerely hope that you did not just jinx us, Commander,” said Zane.

Maxwell looked at Graves. “Same here, otherwise you’ll be buying the entire crew a round when we get back to Starbase 86.”

Graves laughed, “Come on. What are the odds?”