—- USS Luna, Bridge —-

Lieutenant Yuhiro Kolem might well have stayed in bed that day, as it was not shaping up very well. Not only had she just heard the most ludicrous plan for bringing back the minds of her crew mates, including the Luna’s First Officer and Captain, but as soon as the Chief Counseling Officer and current Captain entered the bridge the ship went into red alert as two Klingon warships declocked. This deep into Romulan space they could not mean well and likely it was the Hunters of D’Ghor again who had less reason to worry about the consequences of a incursion into Romulan space as a war between the Empire and the Romulan Repbulic would work to their benefit.

Given that Red Alert had already been declared, and with it the shields had raised and weapons systems had been brough online, she dispensed with those commands, and instead jumped right to, “Hail the Klingons.”

At the tactical conn Lieutenant Jara nodded, the Chief Security Officer raising them and then pointing out, seemingly needlessly, “On screen.”

Kolem was looking at an annoyed, and busty, Klingon woman, “I’m Lieutenant Kolem of the USS Luna, you seem to have gotten mixed up and ended up in Romulan space.”

”I’m Hod Jatar’q of the Klingon Defense Force, follow us back to Klingon space and prepare to surrender your ship under charges of treason,” she said.

Kolem could tell she was lying even without being half-Betazoid, but they did not know that, “You know I’m a Betazoid right, I can read your thoughts.”

The woman’s eyes grew wide and the screen cut out. 

“Klingon ships moving to attack positions, arming weapons,” Jara said.

Tapping her commbage she called the Sickbay, “Doctor Va’Tok I could use the Captain and Klar back now. Whatever you need to do please get them back now.”

”This is not a process that can be rushed,“ the doctor argued but with another tap he was cut off, “Engineering, we’re about the get kicked a few times, can you give me everything we’ve got?”

The voice of Ensign Constable, the Assistant Chief Engineering Officer came though, “Okay, but Young is in sickbay playing with the Captain’s brains. But I’ll get you what you need.”

”Bridge out,” Kolem said, adding, “Give the Klingons the first shot then attack pattern Cruz Seven Two.”

Both Pr’Nor at the Conn and Jara at tactical nodded. Kolem hoped that it was a good plan, though she had Bridge Officer certification but she was not a bridge officer, and not a specialist in tactical matters. Honestly either of the two Lieutenants that he words has spurred into action would have been better Second Officers, and had more experience but it had fallen to her because the Captain was trying to encourage her career. Which was fine, the 2XO role had little in the way of responsibilities, at least until both the First Officer and the Captain had their brainwaves sucked into the computer.

The ship rocked as several Klingon photon torpedoes hit the shields, and Kolem had to sit down in the Captain’s chair. With both senior officers out there was no one who took the seats next to her, and instead the rest of their crew remained at their stations. The Luna moved forward now, guided by the precise Vulcan fingers of the Chief Flight Control Officer Lieutenant Pr’Nor. Neither the Vulcan nor the human behind the Tactical controls were worried, and their sense of calm professionalism was settling to Kolem.

The ship looped around, firing off phasers and torpedoes in accordance to the plan ‘Cruz Seven Two’ that they had been drilled in. The Luna-class ship leapt forward, its more slender profile than the California-class helping to minimize the hits that its shields had to absorb. While it had previously prevailed against three Klingon Birds of Prey the Luna was not at an advantage, and the Klingons already had their shields raised and where on an attack footing. All the Starfleet vessel had going for it was superior engineering. And this time not being in the no man’s land of the Triangle, the advantage was location though that was not immediately obvious to the crew.

”Shields down to seventy-four percent,” reported Jara, bracing herself as the ship rocked through another round of explosions against its shields. She added, “We’ve detected two blips, too far away to tell who they are yet but their sizable ships.”

At one of the panels Lieutenant Elenor Dorian of Strategic Operations said, “We were tracking a fleet of Romulan State ships in that direction. Likely they’ve observed us having issues, we’re invited here remember.”

”Meaning the Klingons have a time limit to finish us off,” Kolem said, “Fire another volley and switch to maneuver ‘Lovell Six Six’.”

If they could hold out for Romulan ships the Klingons would back off. The trouble for the Romulan State is a Federation exploration vessel invited by the government was destroyed in Romulan space after being invited by them was not something that Kolem wanted to think about. The Klingons though had thought that they could sneak in while cloaked, finished off the USS Luna and sneak out cloaked no only damaging the Federation but also potentially igniting conflict between the Klingon Empire and the Romulan State. Kolem had to admit it was a good plan and one that would achieve several aims of the Hunters of D’Ghor while only risking two ships.

As another salvo of phasers and torpedoes hit their shields the ship rocked again and again Lieutenant Jara chimed in with an update of the status of the shields which had fallen to sixty-seven percent at this point.

”Pr’Nor, arc us away from the Klingons, try to make a break for it towards the Romulan ships,” Kolem ordered and was met with a nod. The USS Luna did just that, engaging warp and having the Klingons chase after it, lobbing a few more shots in their direction before falling back and re-cloaking and disappearing.

“Keep up our speed and head toward the Romulans,” Kolem said, and then she tapped her badge, “Engineering how are we doing?”

“Minor damage to decks one through four, all superficial,” came the voice of Ensign Constable, “Some internal damage but nothing we can’t fix up in a few hours.”

Glancing at tactical and Lieutenant Jara she asked, “Injuries?”

”A few reports of sprained ankles, things like that but nothing serious,” Jara said. 

“I’ll be in the Captain’s Ready Room drinking all her wine, don’t bother me unless we’re being boarded by the Borg,” Kolem said tiredly as she headed into the attached Ready Room.

”That is a lot of wine,” Pr’Nor observed, “I assume she was exaggerating, a human body would die well before that much was consumed.”