“Red alert, all hands, battle stations!” Wallace announced as the Nausicaan vessel came into view ahead of them on the screen. The lighting dimmed, and immediately everyone got focused on the task at hand.

“Distance?” he called out, standing in the centre of the room. His eyes locked on the viewscreen.

“Eight hundred million kilometres, they’ve detected us and are increasing to warp 9.8!” the conn officer reported.

“Maintain pursuit, Hail them!” said Wallace, keeping his composure. This was the first time he had been left in sole command since departing the Thyanis. He had no safety net of his captain to support him.

The tactical officer immediately reported that the channel was open, and the chime of the communications system rang out across the bridge, confirming the same.
“Nausicaan vessel, this is the USS Fairfax. By order of the United Federation of Planets, your ship is being interdicted. Slow to impulse, power down weapons and shields, or we will open fire!” Wallace said confidently, doing his best to convey authority.

“No response, sir. They are pulling away!” reported the conn.

“Bridge to engineering, we need as much power as you can give us!” said Wallace, realising that their quarry was beginning to pull away.

ENGINEERING

T’lira heard the order from the Commander, she took a glance over at the system’s display and could already see alert messages flashing on the console. The warp core almost appeared to groan as the constrictor coils strobbed rapidly, indicating the engine was almost at its maximum rated power.

“Bridge, I can’t push the engines much further without compromising containment!” she said, feeling a deep concern for Snowfire’s health, in the same way that a parent might feel anxiety when their child climbs to the top of the jungle gym.

“We need to keep up with that ship T’lira!, Give me everything you’ve got!”

Wallace’s voice echoed through the control room, his intonation showing strain under pressure.

“I can give you 9.9, sir, but it’s gonna be a rough ride! I don’t know how long she can take it!” she said, poring over the engine data. She could open the injectors to maximum and adjust the constrictors to compensate for the Increased flow. But the core temperature was already tickling critical, and the chamber pressure was in the red.

“Ensign, open the antimatter injector to 100 per cent. While I adjust the constructor harmonics,” T’lira ordered, grabbing her nearest colleague. “We have to synchronise this perfectly, or it could trip the overpressure safeties”

“Yes, ma’am,” the ensign acknowledged, setting up her console to receive her command.

T’lira made a few calculations and started inputting her parameters into the master console. It was a battle of concentration to ignore the warnings from her console telling every fibre of her being that this was a bad idea. “Okay, harmonics set, open the injector on my mark…” She counted down to synchronise with her colleague, then, with the precision of a fine watch, they both executed their commands. Immediately, alarms began screaming as if Snowfire was being tortured to the brink of death.

T’lira watched the data like a hawk; chamber pressure was holding steady at nearly 1000 times atmospheric pressure, and the core temperature pushed just past 3.5 trillion kelvin.

Inside the reaction chamber, they were harnessing forces of incredible power. The annihilation of matter and antimatter under these conditions was about as close to the primordial nature of the early universe as could be synthesised by a living being.

Despite the alarms, the reaction began to stabilise, and the engine responded with the appropriate power output she needed.

“Engineering to bridge, you’ve got warp 9.9. However, I’m not sure for how long. I’ll do my best to keep it under control!” she reported, now having to take a more hands-on approach to juggle her settings and dozens of variables. She glanced up at Snowfire with dread. Considering the violence of the reaction hidden from her view inside the chamber, it wasn’t so much an engine anymore. It was potentially a bomb waiting to go off.

BRIDGE

As soon as the helm officer initiated the increase in speed, a low rumble began rolling through the deck plating, indicating he was pushing the limits of the Fairfax’s capabilities. He felt closer to a racecar driver with his foot firmly planted against the gas pedal, top gear, and his revolutions in the red line. “Warp 9.9, sir, we’re catching up!”

“Is the Cunningham still in formation?” Wallace asked.

“Yes, sir, they’re matching our speed,” the helm officer responded.

“Sir, I believe I may have a way to force the Nausicaans to impulse,” Sovek said reservedly.

“Hit me with it!” Wallace replied, turning to listen to his science officer.

“I have been analysing the Nausicaan’s EM output. I believe that they are also at the limits of their warp drive. Synchronised tachyon pulses directed ahead of their ship might alter the subspace coefficient, reducing the integrity of their warp field and invoking a collapse.” Sovek explained.

“Like throwing a bed of nails in front of a speeding car?” Wallace paraphrased.

Sovek raised an eyebrow, “A crude, but accurate analogy.”

“What’s the catch?” said Wallace.

“Catch, sir?” said Sovek, confused.

“Are there any risks or problems with that approach? There’s got to be a reason why it’s not in the book of tricks?” Wallace expanded, curious as to how this seemingly perfect plan could go wrong.

“In order to achieve a pulse of sufficient strength, we will have to synchronise the defectors of two ships. And my calculations will have to be exact. If we fail, our own warp field could collapse.” Explained Sovek.

Wallace scratched his chin, thinking about the risks. “We could end up stalling our own engine, flooding the core with tachyons!”

“I feel it is prudent to also point out that we risk a warp core breach if that happens. I am, however, confident I can perform the procedure safely.” Sovek appealed.

Wallace paced back and forth for a moment, considering his options.

“Sir, engineering says we can’t maintain 9.9 for more than a few more minutes; the core is overheating!” A voice called out from across the bridge, the engineering station.

‘I wish T’lira had more time to fine-tune the reactor,’ Wallace thought to himself. “Patch in with the Cunningham science officer, set up the pulse!” he ordered. Deciding that the wider risk justified the extreme measure.

Sovek nodded and began working on his console with precision and efficiency, “Fairfax to Cunningham, adjust main deflector modulation for synchronous tachyon pulse with the following parameters.”

“Core is approaching critical!” the engineer called out again from across the bridge

“Sovek?” Wallace prompted; there was nothing he could do but let the Vulcan work, but he also wrestled with the responsibility to the ship and stood by to order the helm to disengage.

“Standby… Initiating pulse,” Said Sovek.

With clockwork precision, Fairfax and Cunninham spread their formation to obtain line of sight ahead of the Nausicaan ship. From their deflectors erupted two dazzling beams of cyan, converging just ahead of the Nausicaan corsair.

A wave of lustrous energy burst through the Nausican warp field; its nacelles flickered and crackled with sparks.

“The pulse was successful, the Nausicaans are dropping out of warp,” reported Sovek.

“Slow to impulse, lock phasers and hail them again!” delightedly Wallace ordered as he seated himself in the command chair. “Nausicaan vessel, you are ordered to stand down and heave-to immediately!”

As Fairfax and Cunningham encircled the vessel, a firestorm of disruptors began raining upon the starfleet ships. They returned fire, slamming successive beams of gold into the enemy in coordinated bursts.

As the bridge quaked with each impact, Wallace cast his mind back to the beating they took the day before, only this time, he felt in control and comforted by the Cunninghams’ support.

“Shields at 82 per cent!” Tactical called out.

“Maintain co-ordinated fire and signal the Ki’tang, they have a go!” said Wallace, bracing himself in his chair.

IKS Ki’tang

“The Fairfax is signalling father!” Vekrah cried with glee as she received the message.

Korgh grinned with pride as he watched the battle unfold on the tactical overlay. “Lock disruptors on her stern, drop cloak, take a sweeping pass!” he bawled, salivating with anticipation.

As Fairfax and Cunningham kept the Nausicaans focused. From the shadows, the Ki’tang emerged from the veil of her cloak. Her wings locked in attack position, disruptors firing rapidly like machine guns across the Nausicaan’s stern.

Repeated impacts lit up the shield grid and rippled across its threshold until it flickered and failed, with the last impacts detonating the impulse engines and scattering debris behind the ship.

“Their shields are down!” Vekrah said, reading her display.

Korgh pressed a button on his chair arm “ Over to you, Captain. Today is a good day to die! Fight well!” he said over the intercom.

Klingon transporter room

“Energise!” Alex ordered the Klingon transporter operator. Seconds later, a fiery red static enveloped his body, deconstructing him, K’vagh and two other Klingons into the matter stream. After a brief period of semi-awareness, he found himself materialising inside the Nausicaan ship.

He took out his Tri-corder and began sweeping the area, while K’vagh and the Klingons secured the immediate area. They were all equipped with rifles and sidearms, but K’vagh and the other Klingons also slung bladed weapons across their back for close-quarters encounters.

Alex and K’vagh wore Hazzard Team body armour and tactical webbing, adorned with spacial charges and stun grenades.

“Picking up low-level triolic energy two decks up. That’s got to be the Hej’ogt!” Alex said, interpreting his readings.

“We’ll follow you, Starfleet. But stay out of our way when the fighting begins!” one of the Klingons laughed.

“I want to be clear, we give them a chance to surrender, I don’t want unnecessary bloodshed!” Alex retorted, stowing his tricorder and preparing his rifle.

The Klingons nodded, though this gave Alex little confidence that they weren’t out for blood.

“K’vagh, take point, Overlapping fields of fire. House of Korgh, take up the rear and watch our six!” he ordered. He immediately recognised expressions of disappointment in a few of his Klingon comrades; they were not particularly happy with the arrangement.

“Or.. you can beam back to Ki’tang and let us deal with it. Your captain put you under my command, so we do this Starfleet’s way. Understood?” He admonished.

“Understood,” one of the Klingons reluctantly expressed.

“Good, now move out!” said Alex, charging his rifle and raising it forward as they proceeded down the hall as a unit.

NAUSICAAN BRIDGE

With repeated and violent quakes, the bridge crew poured all their effort and focus into trying to fend off the Federation ships. Small fires were being extinguished from blown-out circuits and consoles. Everyone was swapping between their normal duties and those of damage control. It was effectively chaos.

“Focus fire on the Federation cruiser, it’s already damaged, we might be able to disable it!” The captain cired out, slamming his fist into his chair arm.

“I’ve lost targeting!” reported the tactical officer.

“Then fix it!” the Captain snarled

“I can’t, we just took a direct hit to our sensor array!” the officer replied.

In a rage of anger, the captain stood up, drew his pistol and pulled the trigger, directing it at the tactical station, executing his crewmember.

The Nausicaan cried out in anguish as his atoms were ripped apart by the blast, vaporising him in a few agonising seconds.

The rest of the bridge froze, some in fear and others out of shock.

“I don’t want to hear excuses! Someone get the sensors back. Now!” the captain screamed.

“Sir, we have intruders. Deck six!” another officer reported with urgency.

The captain growled with frustration, “You and you! With me!” he appointed two random officers as his personal guard and stormed towards the exit, intent on dealing with the problem himself.

Eager to avoid suffering his wrath, the remainder of the bridge got right back to work, avoiding eye contact as much as possible with each other.

TO BE CONCLUDED…