The Edison shook as the Orion freighters opened fire, their emerald disruptor striking the Edison. AJ gripped the armrests of his chair, his eyes locked on the viewscreen. “Damage report!” he barked.

“Shields holding at 72%, but that last hit overloaded sections of the aft array,” Lieutenant Krev called out. His antennae twitched as his fingers moved over the console. “Returning fire.”

The Edison’s phasers lashed out, their target striking the lead Orion vessel. The enemy’s shields buckled but stayed intact. Two other freighters flanked the Edison, their disruptor fire coming in rapid bursts.

“They’re trying to box us in,” Lieutenant Parker said from the helm, as she tried to adjust their position. A moving target was harder to hit. “Bringing us around to keep some maneuvering room.”

“Good thinking, Parker,” AJ replied, leaning forward. His voice was calm despite the chaos. “Krev, target the freighter on our starboard side. Disable its engines.”

“Aye, sir.”

The Edison moved quickly, delivering a precise hit. The targeted freighter’s engines exploded, sending the ship into an uncontrolled spin.

“Target neutralized,” Krev confirmed, a bit of satisfaction in his voice.

AJ allowed himself a brief nod. “Good work. Let’s keep the pressure on them. Parker, maintain distance from the others. Don’t let them box us in.”

Down in sickbay, Doctor Andrews moved between biobeds, issuing orders to her staff. Sickbay was filled with the hum of medical scanners and the groans of the injured crew. She stopped by a young ensign lying on one of the beds, his breathing shallow, skin pale.

“Ensign Jekar, stay with me,” Andrews urged, adjusting the hypo in her hand. She administered a dose of pain meds, but the Andorian’s antennae twitched weakly. 

“Doc,” a nurse called from across the room, “we’re out of sterilized dermal regenerators!”

“Then clean the ones we’ve got, emergency protocols people!” Andrews snapped back without looking up. Her focus remained on Jekar, whose condition was deteriorating faster than she’d anticipated.

“Doctor,” the ensign muttered, his voice faint. “How bad is it?”

Andrews placed a hand on his shoulder. “Bad enough that I need you to focus on breathing, not talking.”

She moved her scanner over his chest and frowned at the readings. Internal injuries from the blast. She grabbed a device and handed it to the nurse who had returned to her side.

“I need to stabilize his lung. Keep the oxygen steady,” Andrews said.

The nurse worked, but a sudden crash behind them drew both of their attention.

A Bolian Officer slumped to the floor, the blood pooling at his side, “Nurse! Get him back up,” Andrews shouted. She turned back to Jekar, forcing herself to focus. “You’ll be fine, Ensign. Just hang in there.”

Andrews heard the muted thud of boots as another team carried a stretcher into the already overcrowded space. The cries of the injured and the medical alerts threatened to overwhelm them, but she shut them out. “We’re not losing anyone else,” Andrews whispered, more to herself than to the room.

Down in Engineering, Threx growled under his breath, as he slammed his fist against the console. The readouts flickered, red warnings dominating the screen. “This damn power relay isn’t stabilizing,” he muttered, leaning closer to the console, as though glaring at it would fix the issue.

“Commander, we’ve got plasma pressure spiking again!” Ensign Fujikawa called out from across the room, her voice dripping with urgency.

“Of course it is,” Threx grumbled. He exhaled sharply, brushing his hand across his face before straightening. “Hold it steady; I’m coming to you.”

He moved quickly, weaving around the central column of the warp core as the hum of the engine grew louder. Fujikawa was already crouched by an open panel, a tool in hand, trying to reroute power manually.

“We’re out of time for diagnostics,” Threx said, dropping to one knee beside her. He glanced at the fluctuating numbers on her handheld PADD and swore in Bolian.“Dump the auxiliary reserves into the containment field, now. If this core overloads…”

“I know!” Fujikawa snapped, sweat beading on her forehead. She fumbled with the tool but managed to execute the reroute.

For a tense moment, the warp core’s pulse slowed, stabilizing to a steady hum. Threx a brief sigh of relief, then stood and turned to Carter at the opposite console.

“Carter! Tell me we’ve got impulse engines back!”

Carter, looking pale nodded. “Impulse is green. Warp drive is… hanging on by a thread, but we’ll keep her together.”

“Good,” Threx replied, his tone firm. “Because if we don’t, that Orion ship out there will rip us apart.”

The situation grew serious on the bridge as the two remaining Orion freighters continued their attack, coordinating their fire to overwhelm the Edison’s shields. “Shields at 38%,” Krev reported, his antennae twitching with stress. “The ship can’t take much more of this.”

AJ’s mind raced. They needed to even the odds quickly. “Options?”

Krev hesitated. “If we overload the forward phasers, we might punch through their shields. But it’ll leave us vulnerable if it fails.”

AJ weighed the possibilities. This was a gamble, but whatever the risk, they had to take it. “Do it. Parker, line us up for a clean shot.”

The Edison banked hard, its nose pointing to the Orion freighter. Krev keyed the commands, and the phasers charged with a high-pitched whine. “Firing!” he shouted.

The phasers discharged a bolt that slammed into the Orion’s shields. For a moment, it seemed like nothing happened. Then the freighter erupted in flames as the shields failed.

“Yes!” Krev exclaimed.

“Don’t celebrate yet,” AJ warned. “The last one’s still out there.”

The remaining Orion freighter began to retreat, realizing that the Edison was more problematic than expected. “They’re running,” Parker said.

“Not so fast,” AJ replied. “Krev, disable their warp drive. Let’s end this.”

The Edison fired again, a precise shot that struck the freighter’s engines. The Orion vessel drifted, powerless.

“Target neutralized,” Krev confirmed.

A cheer erupted on the bridge, but AJ raised a hand to silence it. “Good work, everyone. Krev, signal Eos Station. Let them know the Orions have been neutralized.”

AJ allowed himself a moment to breathe as the adrenaline began to fade. The Edison had held it together, and her crew proved their strength under immense pressure. In the aftermath, the crew regrouped, tired but victorious. AJ leaned back in his chair, and he smiled. The pride was evident in his expression.

“Parker set a course back to Eos Station,” he said. “Let’s go home. Our Edison needs some care.”

The Edison turned gracefully, its hull bearing the scars of battle. Behind them, the Orion freighters floated silently.

Commander AJ Tindal looked around at his team. They had stopped the Orions, but the stolen weapons were gone. This was a win, but the long-term goal remained out of reach.

As the Edison cruised away from the remains of the Orion ambush, a chime interrupted the quiet of the bridge.

“Incoming transmission, sir,” Ensign Mavik said from the communications console. “It’s encrypted… and marked urgent. It’s from Eos Station.”

AJ straightened in his chair. “Put it through to my ready room. Liz, you have the bridge.”

AJ stepped into his ready room, and the door shut behind him. He moved to his desk and tapped the console, the screen flickering to life. To his surprise, the face of Ambassador Rempeck appeared, his Romulan features sharp and unreadable. The background was dim, hinting that the ambassador was not in his usual quarters or office.

“Commander Tindal,” Rempeck began, “I trust you are unharmed after the Orion encounter?”

AJ’s eyes narrowed. “We’re intact, though I wonder why this situation required a personal call from you, Ambassador. This isn’t exactly your jurisdiction.”

Rempeck offered a smile. “Let’s just say I have… interests in certain parties aboard those freighters. Interests that would be better handled with discretion.”

A chill ran down AJ’s spine, the hairs on his neck standing up. “Interests? You mean the Orions?”

Rempeck smiled. “What I mean, Commander, is for you to remain cautious. What you uncovered today may seem random, but it is a thread that could lead to something far more dangerous. Be careful who you share your findings with… even within Starfleet.”

AJ leaned forward, focusing on the screen. “Are you saying Starfleet’s compromised?”

Rempeck leaned closer to the screen, his voice quiet. “I’m saying nothing, Commander. Only that you’d be wise to exercise restraint until the pieces are clearer.”

Before AJ could react, the screen went dark. Rempeck had ended the call, leaving AJ staring at his own reflection. He sat there in silence for a moment before tapping his communicator. “Tindal to Krev. Run a deep scan on those freighters’ remains. I want every piece of data pulled and analyzed. And keep this strictly between us.”

There was a pause, and then Krev replied, “Understood, sir.”

AJ leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. Whatever game Rempeck was playing, it was clear this wasn’t over.