The Blackout was down. But the battle for Alpha Centauri wasn’t over.

The bridge of the Endeavour was a storm barely held at bay. Emergency lights glowed hostile red across consoles, some of them cracked and sparking. Bulkheads groaned under strain. Officers moved with practiced urgency, the sharp, honed edge of people who knew the war was not yet done.

Valance stood behind her command chair, braced against the gentle lurch of Endeavour’s impulse thrusters. Through the viewscreen, the battered remnants of Sirius Squadron wheeled in a slow arc between Alpha Centauri III and IV, coming about to face the next thick wave of Vaadwaur defenders, capital ships flanked by seemingly countless smaller escorts.

‘Swiftsure and Scylla repositioning,’ reported Kharth, reeling off strategic movements from the panel on her XO’s armrest. ‘Redemption and Mercury on the far flank. Sirius leading the push.’

Airex’s gaze flickered up from Science. ‘Scylla and Redemption have taken a hammering -’

‘I know,’ said Valance coolly, swinging around to take her seat. ‘Bring us up beside Sirius. We’ve got to take the brunt of this if we’re going to punch our way out.’

She had not expected the Vaadwaur to crumble the moment their thick, oppressive veil of the Blackout fell. But she had not anticipated the wall the occupiers would form, blocking the squadron from withdrawing from the killing field of the gravity well of Toliman. Perhaps they knew they’d lost, perhaps they didn’t. Either way, they seemed intent on making Sirius Squadron pay.

It was worse than she knew, as a second later, Kally called, ‘Message coming in on all channels! It’s from the Vaadwaur flagship!’

That Gaul-class juggernaut, sat back and coordinating the enemy ships, not yet getting its hands dirty. At a curt nod from Valance, the viewscreen changed to show the gaunt features and cold eyes of a Vaadwaur officer on that mighty bridge.

‘People of the Federation,’ he said, voice level and devoid of feeling. ‘You forced this conflict. You resisted peace. And now you will pay the price.’

‘Gaul class is entering orbit of AC-III!’ called Logan. ‘She’s holding position – Captain, she’s holding position over Alpha Centauri City.’

‘Starfleet ships, you may run and live, and know millions of your people will burn. Or you can stay and fight for them, and die. The eyes of the whole galaxy are upon us now,’ continued the Vaadwaur admiral’s cold tones. ‘Let the whole galaxy see what defiance will bring.’

Beside Valance, Kharth uttered a low, chilled, ‘Oh, shit,’ as the viewscreen went blank.

A second later, Rourke’s voice crackled over comms, direct from Sirius. ‘All ships: belay that withdrawal order. Engage that juggernaut. We stay.’

Valance looked over at Kharth. Perhaps they could take out one flagship. But surely then there’d be another Vaadwaur vessel, and another, and the squadron would run out of ships before the enemy did. If they truly wanted to make Alpha Centauri City, the first interstellar human settlement, burn, they would, and there was nothing this dozen battered and bruised Starfleet ships could do to stop them.

She stood and cleared her throat. ‘Bring us about, Helm. Direct course for that juggernaut.’

Kharth was beside her a heartbeat later, talking a heartbeat later. ‘Tactical, all power to forward shields.’

There was no hope. And no choice.

The orders rippled out through the decks, a fresh tremor more powerful than the shudder of impulse engines. That same impact shivered through the squadron, across a dozen battered bridges, a hundred decks, a thousand souls. Helms set course, tactical crews armed weapons, and captains committed their ships to the fight. The formation tightened, engines flaring, ships banking into this new heading. And as the juggernaut above Alpha Centauri III charged its weapons, Starfleet bore down on it.

Soon, Endeavour was pitching as another impact rocked her port nacelle, inertial dampeners fighting to keep the bridge steady. Sparks showered from a ruptured wall panel. Across Centurion Caede’s display at Ops, damage reports scrolled faster than Commander Thawn could clear them from engineering. Shields flickered at barely a quarter strength, and even then, only because auxiliary power had been rerouted twice in minutes.

‘They’re coming about from the rear!’ Logan barked from Tactical. ‘Astika-class cruiser closing, three hundred thousand kilometres.’

‘Scylla can’t intercept,’ said Airex as he pored over sensor data. ‘They’re down to impulse and venting drive plasma. Redemption’s limping.’

‘They’re not the only ones.’ Valance looked at the damage display, then turned. ‘Logan, hit that Astika with everything we’ve got. Buy Scylla some breathing room.’

‘Torpedoes away,’ Logan confirmed grimly a moment. ‘Give ‘em hell, darlings.’

‘Now they have to watch our asses,’ grumbled Kharth.

‘They do,’ Valance agreed. ‘Tactical, fire control priority: the Gaul.’

On the viewscreen, the Gaul-class juggernaut squatted like a black mountain bristling with firepower. Beneath it, Alpha Centauri III’s atmosphere rippled, the highest clouds scattered by the power of its engines and the descending gravitic wake.

‘Swiftsure’s down to deploying drones. I think they welded phasers to their DOTs,’ reported Lindgren. ‘One of their shuttles just rammed an Astika. Minimal damage, but it’s drawn attention.’

A chill ran down Valance’s spine. ‘Then let’s use it. Bring us hard to port, right at the Gaul’s targeting array.’

‘Executing!’ confirmed Lindgren, hands dancing over controls.

As Endeavour swung around, two battered hulls flanked her.

‘This is the Liberty,’ came Galcyon’s voice over comms, tight but firm. ‘We’re with you, Endeavour.’

Yves of the Ranger cut in. ‘We’ll hold your flank. We’re not sitting this one out.’

They’d spent most of the battle so far tying up flanking Vaadwaur ships and protecting the Memphis, but having clear eyes of the killing field didn’t matter any more. This was the closest thing that existed in the squadron to fresh legs, though both ships bore their own battle scars.

Valance gripped her armrest. ‘Good to have you with us.’

Another tremor shuddered through Endeavour’s decks.

‘Tempest breaking off,’ Kharth called. ‘Cutting across the Gaul’s starboard side. They’re trying to confuse targeting sensors.’

Valance didn’t need to ask how dangerous that was; Tempest was fast, but her defences battered. A solid hit could be the end of her. But Tycho was committed.

‘Gaul’s almost in position,’ Airex warned.

Valance swallowed. ‘Get me as much as you can in power to forward shields,’ she said, not for the first time. ‘Lock on all weapons and fire on my mark.’

Caede hissed an oath. ‘We fire all phasers right now and we might overload the array -’

‘We won’t get another shot,’ Valance cut him off. ‘Mark.’

Endeavour shuddered as she loosed everything. Phaser bursts sliced the void, torpedo spreads arced towards the juggernaut’s belly. Then Sirius was swinging in to join from the flank, her own salvo crashing into the Gaul’s forward deflectors in a brilliant burst of red-gold flame.

For a moment, the giant lurched. One of its forward turrets sagged under the bombardment. Plasma vented into space. Valance’s breath caught –

Then the return volley hit them.

‘Shields collapsing!’ came Thawn’s yell through comms from Engineering. ‘We’re down to seven percent!’

‘Fire suppression failing on Deck Five!’ added Caede. The bridge lights flickered.

‘Captain.’ Logan’s voice was taut. ‘They’re over the city.’

The juggernaut loomed large on the viewscreen, its cannons glowing. Smoke hung heavy in the air, and for a moment Valance wasn’t sure if the metallic taste was that or blood. Sparks spat from shattered consoles. Somewhere aft, a conduit blew with a dull crack.

Again came Thawn’s voice. ‘Shields at four percent. Structural integrity at critical in three seconds. We can’t take another hit.’

‘Ma’am, we’re losing engine control,’ said Lindgren, breathless. ‘We can’t manoeuvre.’

Valance paused. Before she’d so much as assembled a thought, though, Kharth had turned to her, face smeared with soot, hair wild.

‘If you say, “today is a good day to die,” I’m going to shoot you,’ her XO said flatly.

Despite herself, Valance’s lips curled. ‘Promise?’ she murmured. Then she turned. ‘We hold. And keep firing til we can’t.’

‘Two phaser arrays still active an’ blastin’,’ Logan confirmed with a gleam of satisfaction.

Then there was a pulse at Science. A chirp, different from the barrage of alerts. Airex straightened. ‘New contact, coming in fast.’

‘Those bastards,’ rumbled Kharth. ‘This is already an unfair fight.’

But Airex drew a sharp breath, and looked up. ‘It’s Starfleet.’

Valance rounded on the viewscreen. ‘It’s the First Fleet.’

The tactical display flashed. Blue signals poured in like a flood breaking through a dam, and crashed into the Vaadwaur lines from the side. The lead vessel broke through first, a broad-shouldered Inquiry class, weapons hot, hull gleaming. The Iskandar, the flagship, opened fire before the Vaadwaur even finished turning to meet her, and her blasts hit the Gaul portside, bringing its shields crushing down.

‘They made it,’ breathed Kharth, her voice a rasp of disbelief.

Endeavour’s bridge, broken and battered, barely made a sound, but it was like the smoke cleared, like breathing came easier.

That relief was audible in Rourke’s voice when it punched through comms. ‘Sirius Squadron. Fight if you can. Pull back if you can’t. Let the First Fleet have their turn being heroes.’

For a second, Valance considered giving the order to hold. To fire those arrays. To sink their teeth and claws into the Gaul’s side and not give up. Then she tilted her chin. ‘You heard him, Lindgren. Pull us back.’

On the screen, more Starfleet ships poured into the fray, the Vaadwaur lines buckling. The juggernaut staggered under the weight of new firepower, forced to divert its cannons from the planet to its attackers.

‘Gaul’s shields are failing,’ Airex reported as Endeavour swept away. It took only minutes before his tone shifted, a jubilant edge creeping in. ‘Vaadwaur ships breaking off – Captain, they’re heading for the Underspace aperture.’

‘They’re running!’ whooped Logan.

On screen, red signature after red signature evaporated as the First Fleet snuffed it out or, in vaster numbers, the Vaadwaur vanished back into the network that had shielded them for so long. But this was not a coordinated withdrawal. This was a rout.

As quickly as the invaders had arrived, they were gone, and silence hung in the air over Alpha Centauri. Valance could hear the low chatter from Kally’s station as Rourke and the fleet commander talked, but then she herself had to turn, speak with Thawn in Engineering, check with Caede, see what they needed, see what the damage was.

When she told Lindgren to bring them up alongside one of the First Fleet’s ships so they could beam relief teams over, it took two orders before her helm officer replied.

‘Sorry, ma’am,’ Lindgren stammered. ‘Coming about.’

It took that before Valance realised. ‘Blackbird.’

Airex was looking over his sensors, but gave a faint shake of the head.

Valance thinned her lips. Their mission had succeeded, the Blackout was down. But even if they’d survived that, had they survived the flood of retreating Vaadwaur forces, who would have likely delighted in taking them out as they fled?

She had to turn away from what she couldn’t control. Stop at Caede’s console to double-check the logistics of medical relief. Speak with Thawn to coordinate power reroutes to wounded ships. Keep her mind and body and purpose on her people, on what she could do.

Only when she’d circled back to her chair and stood with her hands braced on the rail did she notice how quiet it had become.

‘Anything?’

Lindgren shook her head, unable to speak. Valance considered having her relieved, but wasn’t sure the young pilot would thank her.

Then, Airex’s voice: ‘Captain.’

On the viewscreen, it was only a flicker. Just a gleam of blue for a split second, something she wouldn’t have noticed on her own, wouldn’t have spotted without Airex’s expert help.

Then the Blackbird dropped all stealth protocols as she slid through the aperture and into normal space. Limping. Scorched. Alive.

It was just one ship to survive. One small ship against many that hadn’t, one small crew against scores that had died. Perhaps hundreds, the full tally of losses from the occupation of Alpha Centauri still unknown.

And still, Valance let herself sink onto her chair with relief, eyes closed. Around her, the bridge crew let out breaths they’d held. Kharth gave a stunned laugh of relief, Airex reeled off reports with an audible collapse of tension, and at the front, Lindgren sagged against her station.

A moment later, the comms crackled with the voice of one of their own, who’d stood by them in battles in the Delta Quadrant, who’d swung to their rescue at Izar.

‘Sirius Squadron, this is Blackbird,’ said John Rosewood, exhaustion audible even on a bad connection. ‘Good to be back in familiar skies.’

It was just one small ship. But they brought with them the end – the end of the battle, the end of the occupation, the end of the Blackout.

And one blue signature on her tactical display had never gleamed brighter.