— USS Falcon, Bridge —

It was late when the USS Falcon dropped out of warp above Tenverian VI with the bridge staffed by the fourth shift. Traveling at warp three had proven to be tedious, and slow.

With the Vaadwaur Supremacy having already broadcast their intentions of galactic domination the crew of the USS Falcon had some idea that they were not going to arrive at a Starfleet facility that was unpreoccupied. Indeed they arrived to find a group of two Manasa-class assault escorts bombarding the planet side base.

Eager for a tussle, after having been frustrated by the effects of the Vaadwaur-created blackout, Captain Paul Aike did not waste any time before he started barking out orders, and despite Starfleet’s mandate for peace and exploration, he skipped right past the entire part where had hailed the attackers and gave them a chance to surrender.

“Shields up,” Captain Aike said, “fire phasers, launch torpedoes.”

It was clear that the arrival of the Falcon was not anticipated by the two Vaadwaur ships. They were bombarding a Starfleet outpost that had long existed on the Federation side of the Triangle for the purpose of quietly watching. Other some basic shielding its best defence was that it had nothing worth stealing and offered nothing much in the way of defence. Attacking it was simply a way of showing all parts of the Federation that the Vaadwaur were there to dominate everyone and everything.

The Excelsior-II ship lit up the attackers. At tactical Lieutenant William Hume listened to the captain, unleashing the full extent of the ship’s arsenal. While he held some torpedoes in reserve, eight Type-XII phaser arrays targeted the attacking ships and lashed out with powerful bursts.

“We’re being hailed,” Hume said, “by the Vaadwaur.”

Captain Aike nodded, “Onscreen.”

A female Vaadwaur of a rank that nobody on the Federation ship’s bridge could decipher appeared. She gazed at the bridge of the Falcon and then said simply, “Surrender or prepare to die.”

Captain Aike smiled, “Lady this ship’s been up against the Dominion, the Klingons, and the Gorn. If you think that you scare me thinking again.”

The woman glanced to her left and then the feed cut out. Both ships stopped their bombardment of the Starfleet facility and turned to properly greet the Falcon.

Hume’s panel lit up, as fighters were launched from the Manasa-class assault escorts, fifty Pythus-class fighters.

“We have fighters sir,” Hume said, readjusting firing patterns to greet the speedier lightweight craft that was now beginning to buzz around the Falcon.

The Falcon lacked the pulse phaser turret of the Andromeda in the same division, and so was not quite as capable against the smaller and quicker fighters. The Vaadwaur’s change of tactics was disruptive as using a torpedo to clip a fighter was a waste of resources. The Starfleet ship was forced into evasive maneuvers ceased its onslaught of torpedoes and switched the phasers.

“The main ships seem to be both capital ships and carriers,” Commander Ashley Attwell observed, holding tight to her chair as it rocked under a hail of fire from fighters.

The Vaadwaur had also clearly trained in fighting with fighters on their side as the two larger ships fired torpedoes and the fighters moved out of the way to allow the torpedoes through. The Falcon rocked, hit hard by the blasts as Hume read out the dropping status of the ship’s shields.

A conn burst into a shower of sparks, and Hume had to duck to turn away from the explosion. Getting back up he read off, “Shields down to seventy percent.”

Captain Aike nodded, taking in the information, “Take us between the two larger Vaadwuar ships, ready quantum torpedoes.”

“We’ll be stuck between them,” Attwell said, concerned as she listened to an officer read off injury reports from decks all over the ship.

“The Falcon’s tough,” Aike said confidently.

Still firing phasers the Falcon changed course and moved between the two ships. The fighters followed, still buzzing but with less space to maneuver between the three capital ships. As soon as it was alongside the two threat vessels Aike said, “Fire, all launchers.”

The two Manasa-class assault escorts fired first, and between exploding fighters, torpedoes, and bits of ships the space between them filled up with fire and radiation. Readings both of and for the Falcon became confused. For a moment it was hard to tell what was happening or where the Falcon was amongst the flame. Then it emerged on the other side.

“Sensors coming back online,” Hume said, adding, “the Vaadwuar ships are heavily damaged. Fighters closing, about ten of them, firing phasers now. Shields at five percent.”

The fighters managed to land hits on the Falcon, the ship’s ablative armour the last defense against the oncoming phasers. Returning fire however the Falcon was able to pick off the remaining attackers. Behind them the assault escorts began to break up, internal explosions working their way through the ship.

With the last of the fighters picked off, Aike sat down, “Status report.”

Hume read off the damage, “Shields offline. We’ve got damage to the hull, damage to the secondary hull, and damage to the ablative armour.”

The captain nodded and singled that the work was to begin to set things right after the fight. Worker-bees would be released to take care of the eternal damage and Chief Engineer Murf would handle getting the ship up to fighting shape. Then they had the facility on the planet’s surface to check in with and see what they could discover about the state of the galaxy, at least as far as that one lone base could tell.

How this had happened was still a mystery, but it seemed like the Vaadwuar were behind it. The question for the crew of the Falcon was how to get around it so they weren’t stuck isolated here on the edge of Federation space, and where should they go next? Obviously, this was more than just a way to attack one outpost of little significance.