Outside of the Astra, the surrounding starscape was choked with the battle raging on. Phasers lanced across the void, the jagged arcs of torpedo trails cut through space, and hulking Vaadwaur vessels moved like predators hunting prey. Amid them, the Astra ducked and weaved, the youngest ship in the squadron refusing to bow to fear. She was fast and nimble and able to outmanoeuvre the larger enemy ships.  

Amidst it all on the bridge at one of the aft stations, Commander Grey and Ensign Jaceon were hardwired into the interlink frequency, their neural interfaces glowing with pulsing blue light as they fought to keep the Vaadwaur from reclaiming control of the automated defence platforms. The Borg technology helped the allied fleet keep one step ahead of their enemy. They kept the platforms firing on the Vaadwaur through sheer will and technical finesse, holding the line with code and concentration.

The rest of the bridge was a flurry of coordination and shouted commands. Though the odds were stacked against them, this battle had to be won. 

“Cadet Westerham-Banfield, adjust shield harmonics to compensate for the fluctuations in the forward arc!” Captain Niro ordered, voice sharp but steady. “I don’t want the Vaadwaur thinking they can match our frequencies!”

“Aye, sir!” Athena responded, her fingers blurring over the controls. Her brother, Brook, stood at an adjacent station, feeding tactical telemetry to Cadet Grant at targeting.

“Multiple contacts on our port bow!” Grant called. “They’re shifting formation!”

“Lieutenant Commander Askew,” Niro turned toward tactical, “options?”

“Recommend flanking,” Askew replied, her voice gruff, eyes locked on her console. “We’ve been pushing that escort hard. If we press now, we can knock it out.”

“Mister Lee, bring us around,” Niro commanded, turning his chair to face forward again. “Mister Merez, give him the targeting profile.”

“On it,” replied Lee at the helm, a trickle of blood seeping from a cut at his temple as he forced the ship into a tight roll. “Hold on everyone! I’m initiating a spiral dive.”

The Astra surged forward, skimming past one of the automated platforms and using its bulk as cover. Phaser fire surged from the dorsal arrays, slicing clean through the Vaadwaur escort’s flank.

“Direct hit!” Merez called. “Shields failing and they’ve got a core breach!”

On the viewer, the escort vessel imploded, scattering debris in every direction. The cadets and officers across the bridge erupted in a brief cheer.

But the celebration was short-lived.

“Captain,” said Counsellor Parker, seated at communications, her brow furrowed, “I’m detecting a transmission. Not Vaadwaur. It’s a datastream. Originating from…Deep Space Nineteen.”

The bridge quieted.

Niro turned slowly. “Source confirmed?”

“Encrypted, Starfleet signature. It’s legit.” She tapped her console. “Playing it now.”

The screen shifted to static before resolving into the image of Vice Admiral Jaret Taila. The admiral looked battered but unbroken, standing in a dimmed operations centre. It was clear Deep Space Nineteen had been attacked by the Vaadwaur, and the admiral wasn’t giving up. 

“Odyssey and Constellation Squadrons, this is Vice Admiral Jaret of Deep Space Nineteen. The Vaadwaur’s grip is breaking. The Alpha and Beta Quadrants are rising. A joint effort from the Federation, Cardassian, Klingon, Romulan Empires, and many others is working. We’re fighting back. Working together, we have destabilised the Underspace corridors at our ends. The Vaadwaur can no longer rely on them. Their empire ends here. Hold your ground. We are turning the tide.”

As her image vanished, hope surged through the crew.

“Send that to the Odyssey,” Niro said immediately, his voice filled with conviction that they could do this. “Let the Commodore know what the admiral has shared!”

“Aye, sir!” Parker confirmed. “Sending now—”

She never finished the sentence. Instead, she only pressed the button in time for it to transmit to the Odyssey. 

The Astra was rocked as multiple torpedoes slammed into its hull. The ship spun violently on its axis, throwing officers from their stations. Bulkheads collapsed. Consoles erupted. The viewscreen cracked and blinked out.

Gray and Jaceon were ripped from their neural interfaces by the backlash. Both crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Sparks danced around them.

“Captain!” yelled Lee, but Niro was already down—trapped under a twisted section of the bulkhead, his legs pinned. Blood trickled from his scalp as he fought to stay conscious.

Parker was slumped against her console, her shoulder dislocated. Merez lay dazed, a large gash across his forehead. Askew struggled to her feet, coughing, blood on her lips.

“Status!” she barked, trying to steady herself as the ship’s systems flickered and groaned.

Penelope, the Emergency Command Hologram, appeared in a shimmer of blue light.

“Primary and secondary command systems are damaged,” she stated. “Internal sensors indicate hull breaches on Decks four, five, and six. I have activated all EMHs. Emergency triage teams are responding. I’m trying to activate engineering support but struggling with our automated systems.”

“Penelope,” Askew said, limping toward the hologram, “what’s the status of engineering?”

The hologram hesitated. “Communication links to engineering are down. I detect rising temperatures near the warp core. Warp containment field integrity is falling. It’s at risk of breach within the next fifteen minutes. The core needs to be ejected. It’s beyond repair.”

Askew paled. “Who’s in engineering?”

Penelope didn’t blink. “Cadet Alfie McCallister. Cadet Jordan Duncan-Court. Cadet Scott Florrick.”

Askew took a deep breath. She knew she couldn’t leave them down alone without help. That wasn’t fair or right. “Then let’s hope they’re alive,” she muttered. “Transfer yourself down there.” She looked over her shoulder. “Eden, I’m heading down there to lend them a hand. Athena, Jameel, you’re with me too! Someone get Kit up here on the double!”

Darkness flickered with strobing red emergency lights. Smoke curled from shattered consoles, and the low wail of an alarm echoed like a heartbeat. The warp core at the centre of Astra throbbed with unstable energy. Its usual tranquil hum now a rising whine, like a scream waiting to burst free.

Scott lay slumped against a bulkhead, blood seeping from his shoulder where a jagged piece of shrapnel pinned him in place. His face was pale, twisted in pain, but he was conscious. Just.

Beside him, Jordan was sprawled motionless, his head resting inches from a sparking console. A deep cut marred his temple.

Near the master systems display, Alfie was slumped forward over a console, his breathing shallow, blood matting his curls from a visible contusion on the side of his head.

With a flicker of failing light, Penelope’s holographic form, along with an EMH, shimmered into view. “Engineering status, critical,” she said aloud. “Doc, prioritise triage on all three cadets.”

The EMH turned toward Scott, kneeling, but his form crackled with digital static before he could lift a hand. The holo-projector above the warp core exploded in a flash of sparks, and the doctor vanished mid-motion.

“No!” Penelope snapped, her image glitching. “Projector failure. My holographic integrity is compromised.”

She moved toward Scott but couldn’t kneel. Her physical form was visible but useless. She couldn’t move or touch anything. She tried, but objects just went through her like ghosts. 

“Cadet Florrick,” she said, voice firm despite the flickering of her projection, “don’t move. You are impaled. If you remove the shrapnel, it could cause further damage.”

Scott grimaced, breathing heavily. “Not planning on going anywhere. Are Jordan and Alfie okay?”

She shifted her gaze to Alfie. “Cadet McCallister. Wake up. Wake up!”

A spark flared nearby. Alfie stirred.

His head throbbed with a searing pain, his vision swimming. Groaning, he pushed himself upright, eyes focusing through the haze of smoke and damage.

“Jordan?” he rasped, staggering up. “Scott?”

“They’re alive,” Penelope said quickly, “but injured. The E-M-H has gone offline. The medkit we brought is by the plasma manifold. I cannot assist you physically, but I can guide you.”

Alfie didn’t wait. He darted to the dropped medkit, scooping it up with shaking hands. His whole body was barely working, but he pushed through the pain and agony he was in. He turned and ran to Scott and Jordan.

Scott looked up, jaw clenched through pain.

“Jordan needs it more,” he gritted out. “Help him. I can… I can manage.”

“Jordan,” Alfie’s voice cracked as he looked down at Jordan’s bloodied face, the boy he had once loved, and maybe still did.

Scott locked eyes with him. “You’ve got to save him. And the ship.”

“I’ll save you both,” Alfie muttered. His eyes were barely staying open as he pulled out the medical tricorder. He had to blink several more times to get his focus. After a quick scan, an injection into Jordan, Alfie pulled him up and rested him against where Scott was. Jordan started to come around slowly. “He’s stable, for now,” he turned the tricorder to Scott. “You’ve got a massive cut here, Scott. If I don’t do anything, you’ll bleed out. Hang on.”

Penelope’s voice cut through. “Cadet McCallister, you must act quickly. Warp containment field integrity is at forty-seven per cent. The ship will be lost if we do not eject the core.”

Alfie stared at her, wide-eyed. “Eject the core?! I need to stabilise Scott.”

Scott put his free hand out to Alfie for comfort and shook his head. “No, save the ship, Alfie. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll die, Scott.”

“You’re being dramatic, Alf.” He looked down at Jordan and then back at him. “Please, Alfie, save us. Just give me something for the pain.”

Alfie took out a hypospray and injected the pain relief into Scott’s neck. After seeing that Scott was almost stable, he looked at Penelope. “Help me with the warp core.”

“Yes, of course,” she said calmly. “I’ll guide you.”

“What do I need to do?” he asked.

Penelope met his gaze with that unblinking, unwavering calm.

“You need to eject the warp core, manually by accessing the magnetic locks.” Before anything else could be said or advised, Penelope disappeared as another holo-emitter went offline. 

Scott, still propped against the bulkhead, kept pressure on his own wound with one hand, his breathing shallow and ragged. “Containment field’s spiking…” he muttered, eyeing the alert panel through bleary eyes.

Suddenly, the rear doors burst open with a rush of air and movement. Askew stormed in with Athena and Jameel close behind her.

“McCallister!” Askew shouted, zeroing in on the cadet. “Status?”

Alfie looked up, wide-eyed with a mix of panic and relief. “They’re alive, barely, and the warp core is unstable. Penelope says we need to eject it!”

Askew scanned the room, eyes landing on the sputtering containment readout. “Damn right we do. Athena, Jameel, go grab Max and Scott, and get them to the outside corridor. Now!”

Athena didn’t hesitate. She hoisted Jordan onto her shoulder as Jameel carefully helped Scott to his feet, supporting his weight under one arm. 

“Come on,” Jameel urged.

“I’m not leaving, Alfie,” Jordan mumbled to Athena, coming around just as they reached the threshold. He struggled weakly. “He’s gonna…he’s gonna get himself killed.”

“He knows what he’s doing.”Athena snapped. 

“I love him,” Jordan gasped, delirious.

“Don’t we know it!” Athena groaned as she tugged at him. 

Alfie heard it. His breath caught, but he didn’t look back. Not yet. He needed to focus on the danger ahead of them and help resolve it. 

Askew was already moving toward the core’s central control hub. “There’s no time to wait for automated release. We have to do this manually. Help me out, cadet.”

Alfie was at her side in seconds.

They moved fast, working in tandem to disengage the mag-lock clamps that held the warp core in place. The thick mechanisms recessed into the deck all needed to be unlocked. With each one, they had to disengage structural locks and wrench the clamps free by hand. 

The core’s housing groaned, the rising whine becoming an almost banshee scream.

Emergency lights pulsed faster.

“Two more!” Askew called.

Together, they unlocked and yanked the next-to-last clamp. Then Askew moved for the final mag-lock, but a nearby console erupted in a fireball. The blast flung Askew across the room with a cry of pain, slamming her into the deck with a sickening thud.

“Commander!” Alfie screamed, skidding over to her.

Askew groaned, blood streaking across her face. “Get… out…”

“Warp core breach in thirty seconds,” announced the computer. 

Alfie didn’t hesitate.

He scrambled to the final mag-lock, his arms screaming with effort as he forced the twisted latch into place. The handle jammed halfway through. “Come on… come on!”

With a cry of defiance and raw strength, Alfie slammed the release mechanism down with his entire weight.

The mag-lock disengaged. A loud clang echoed as the warp core slid downward into the launch chamber.

“Computer, prepare to eject the warp core!” Alfie shouted. Then he turned and ran to Askew.

She was trying to sit up, dazed. “Go, Alfie, go!”

“No chance.” He ducked under her arm, hoisting her up. “We’re doing this together.”

He half-carried, half-dragged her through the buckling engineering bay. Just as they reached the corridor, Alfie shouted at the top of his lungs. “Computer, eject the warp core!”

There was a mechanical whine and then a violent thud as the massive reactor was fired from the ship.

A second later, the deck beneath them shuddered.

Through the corridor’s small viewport, a flash lit the void of space—a silent but spectacular explosion. The core had gone critical only seconds after ejection, but the Astra was safe.

Breathing heavily, Alfie turned to the others as he reached the corridor.

Athena laid Jordan down gently, and Jameel pressed a field dressing to Scott’s shoulder. Penelope’s flickering image was barely holding together nearby.

Alfie didn’t wait.

“We need to get to sickbay. Now.”

No one argued. Askew nodded weakly. “Lead the way, cadet…”

Alfie looked down at Jordan, whose eyes fluttered open again. “We made it, okay?”

“I couldn’t… not if I lost you…”

Alfie gave him a brief, trembling smile, then turned to the others with resolve. “Let’s go.”