Oyvo grabbed at the edges of her console, the long curving shape bracing her into her seat as the world shook once gain. Next to her Eyma’s slender green hands punched in sensor variables furiously, the helmsman doing double time supporting the science team, her normal duties on hold whilst the ship was holding position. Another strike on the hull sent the deck rocking as a large red warning appeared on her screen. “Direct hit to starboard pontoon, shields are down, starboard dorsal generator is offline.”

“Disabled?” Bib shouted from the rear wall where he helped a shaken ensign to his feet. 

“Gone.” Oyvo replied, “Our shoulder is exposed. Armour will hold short term but not for long.”

“David?” Bib strode over to the science station where the green-shouldered lieutenant looked as though the world sat on his shoulders. He wasn’t entirely wrong. 

“We’re close, I just need more time, there’s so much data to go through.” The young man’s eyes were slightly glazed as his mind worked almost as fast as the ship’s computer, calculating and dismissing variables and options lightning-fast. “So close.”

“More time… more time…” Bib rubbed his temple as he returned back to the central podium. “Bahir, load proximity warheads into all tubes, lets see if we can’t knock them all back a bit. K’Sal have the Heliades take cover”

“I see your plan, sir. Loading into all tubes.” The Saurian’s brows were furrowed into a frown of focus as a thick river of crimson blood continued to slide down his forehead and through the river delta formed by his scaled skin. “All tubes standing by.”

“Fire.”

An array of miniature suns sprang from Helios‘ hull, momentarily illuminating the grey surface in an orange glow. Port and starboard launchers, nestled beneath the expansive windows of the ship’s twin lounges spat out a stream of single torpedoes whilst the hexagonal battle pod, held high between the ship’s catamaran pontoons, spewed forth a waterfall of white-blue warheads as the ship’s supply of quantum torpedoes came into play. In the emptiness of space, there was a gulp anticipating a silent thunderwave as timers in the warheads counted down. 

3.

2.

1.

Ignition. 

A white-hot wave screeched out from Helios’ position, a tidal wave of untamed energy charging in all directions as the torpedoes exploded in clusters of blinding light.  All four brown hulled Kazon raiders found themselves carried on the relentless wavefront forcing them to peel away lest they take the brunt of the impact. Two successfully turned headlong into the galloping energy wave; the other two, less nimble craft found themselves struck amidship, their paltry shields fizzling away as the furious kinetic energy beat its angry fists against the tan hull. Where four wolves had sought to maim the ship, two now remained circling warily, the explosive wave rattling the debris field, dark metallic flotsam rolling in all directions, as the wavefront continued echoing out into the system. 

“Targets Bravo and Delta took major hits, they are falling back. Echo and Foxtrot are holding outside weapons range, for now.” Bahir announced, a hesitant but satisfied smile spreading across his face. 

“Good, more time acquired. Headlines please everyone.” Bib flopped back into the centre chair, determined to take advantage of the respite, however short. 

“Shields are patchy and unstable. We’ve lost primaries & secondary emitters on the starboard side, we’re evacuating the starboard outer ring. All weapons are operational and standing by.” Bahir nodded as he lifted his sleeve to mop the slight crimson river that slowly flowed at his temple. 

“Heliades are all accounted for but they’re in bad shape. Circe is venting plasma, Merope has lost aft shielding, Astris is having intermittent power fluctuations.” K’Sal announced, the three women’s voices chattering in her ear. 

“Pull them back into the bay. We’ve knocked out two of the raiders, I won’t risk losing them now.” The Bajoran nodded her understanding before she began relaying commands for the fighter wing to return. “Oyvo, dare I ask.”

The Xindi woman turned at her console to face Bib, her dark eyes grimly accentuated by her knitted eyebrows. “Hull integrity is stable but low, SIFs are working overtime to keep us in one piece and we have breaches along the deck 4 port pontoon and deck 11 aft, shuttle bay three is vented. We have casualties.” She swallowed, her mouth dry as she prepared to answer the Commander’s unspoken question, “Initial numbers say twenty-five plus.” Her tone dropped low into the deck, “the bay was being used as emergency medical.”

Bib’s heart sank into the soles of his boots, the thought of those crewmembers unwillingly committed to the debris field because he had decided to stand and fight. He looked out at the viewscreen where the mouth of the Underspace portal remained clamped shut and felt his blood turn to ice. 

The moment of sadness was interrupted by the chirping of Oyvo’s console. “We are being hailed.” she announced, her voice thick with confusion.

“The Kazon?”

“No… Helena.”

Bib’s heart skipped a beat, they had found wreckage, they had consigned Helena to the stars. “Open a channel”.

The weary face of Commander Tyll appeared on the viewscreen, dismissing the object of their communal frustration. “Hi team. Miss me?” K’Sal let out an unwilling sharp intake of breath from the rear of the bridge, before quickly resuming her muttering, no doubt relaying the scene word for word to the Heliades squad. 

“Like my mother’s pot pie.” Bib offered his own, weary smile. “We found debris…”

“My Valkyrie is heavily damaged, a large chunk of the port wing appears to have been sheered off but I think she’s still viable. At least enough to get a few thousand meters.”

“Where are you?”

“A Kazon ship, presumably the leading one, about 3000 meters from your port stern.”

“How do we get you back?”

“I figured I’d blast the bay door and fly super fast?” she reached out of frame to a console, causing a large bruise to be revealed across her temple as her hair fell to the side. “I don’t return empty-handed either. Oyvo, incoming.”

The operations officer looked down, her mouth still slightly aghast at Helena’s miraculous return to the world of the living, to see a wealth of data pouring into her screens. “I’ve got… direct access to the Kazon ship systems. How did you even…?”

“I guess I was listening in those delta quadrant coding classes after all.” Helena began reaching behind her to secure her harness for flight. “We’ll have to be quick, that trick with the torpedoes knocked them for six but once they realise we have access they’ll be back with a vengeance.” She placed her helmet over her head, the visor lighting up with a small HUD. “Shall we? I’m ready for a drink on the Sundeck.” 

“Just take a breath Helena, we don’t have anywhere to go yet, the portal is still stuck shut. David, please tell me you have solved it.” Bib looked pleadingly to the lieutenant.

The man turned from his console, his dark eye sockets and sloped shoulders answering Bib’s question before he could open his mouth. “There’s just so many variables and between its inherent instability and the weird tetryon interference we would need hours worth of sensor data.” David sighed, his already fragile hopes shattered on the floor. 

“Do you mean like the sensor data these raiders have collected over the years?” Helena offered from her hiding place in the dim hanger bay. 

David’s eyes suddenly turned into saucers as the trill woman offered some proverbial glue for his broken hopes. “Exactly like that.”

Oyvo began tapping at her cracked console, her thin fingers spinning a digital thread “Plugging in Kazon sensor data.” 

“This is amazing, this is data going back decades.” A ping emanated from his corner console. “I think we might have it.” David’s fingers were dancing across his console with increasing speed. “I’ll just need a few minutes with Nakashri to get the deflector prepped.”

On the viewscreen, Helena was suddenly bathed in red light as a siren sounded in the background, a sharp squeel of a bullhorn cutting through the air indicating her subterfuge had been discovered, as had her absence from her cell. 

“They are attempting to cut the link.” Oyvo announced, confirming their suspicions. 

“Permission to fly fast?” Helena asked, clicking a few switches and bringing the Valkyrie to life. 

“Permission to fly super fast.” Bib confirmed. ”K’sal…”

“Heliades are moving into position to provide escort.” the Bajoran woman confirmed from the rear of the room. 

“I’m not sure I gave that order.” Bib raised an eyebrow. 

“I don’t believe they asked for it.” K’Sal smiled wryly.

“Right Bahir, full sentinel protocols, let’s have everything pointing outwards, start lobbing chairs from the lounge if needs be. Oyvo please evacuate all exterior sections and pull everyone back inside, I expect we’re going to have a few more breaches. Eyma be ready with impulse engines to move as soon as the portal is open. David, deflector, yesterday. K’sal get those doors open and have emergency teams standing by, get those wonderful women back inside.”

For the first time in several minutes, there was a warm swell across the bridge, a strength renewed as hope was reignited aboard Helios.