The blue of the Gilroy‘s shields spread out across her hull, indirectly highlighting the impacts from the Vigilant‘s pulse cannons. The California-class ship continued to reverse her engines, the gap growing between the vessels. The Gilroy returned fire, her phasers individually stronger but far fewer in number. As they struck the Vigilant, her own shields lit up in mixed patterns of blue and purple. Moments later, a plasma fire began to billow forth from where the Gilroy had just hit.

“Two pulse cannons destroyed,” updated the tactical officer. “Our own shields are holding at 70%.”

Captain Sands, seated in the center of the bridge, nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Helm,” he ordered, “shift to forward impulse and move us around their port shielding.”

The Gilroy shifted in space, dipping slightly as the engines lit with increased power. She managed to dodge several more blasts as she repositioned, though her shields lit up again seconds later as a series of hits made contact. Slowly, she began to draw closer to the Vigilant as the helm followed the Captain’s orders.

“Fire all forward phasers along her port shields,” commanded Commander Tehm Mall, the ship’s First Officer. “Then fire quantum torpedoes!”

The bridge fell silent, even the tapping of consoles ceasing, as all eyes turned towards the Betazoid officer. He seemed unaware of the awkwardness as he stood from his seat and stepped to the middle of the bridge, eyes staring intently out the viewscreen.

“Commander…” called the tactical officer, his voice shaky. “Commander,” he repeated when Mall seemed to not respond.

“Commander Mall,” spoke the Captain, his voice louder as he stumbled briefly from a weapon hit. “We are not equipped with quantum torpedoes.” Few in the crew had ever seen Sands raise his voice, and no one was sure if he was meaning to reprimand the First Officer or if he thought volume was the way to pull the man’s attention.

“Of course we have them,” answered Mall, turning to look at the Captain, eyes wide. Sweat was beginning to pool on his forehead and he was breathing rapidly. “Now fire!”

The ship shook again as several shots of phase cannons struck her shields.

“Commander, I need you off my bridge. Report to medical,” said Captain Sands, who now stood to face his First Officer face to face.

The two officers locked eyes, one breathing rapidly and the other barely at all. Slowly, Mall’s wide eyes turned to a smaller, more fearful expression.

“Where am I?” asked the First Officer, a slight quiver to his voice.

Sands, wanting more than anything to reach out and embrace his First Officer, instead turned and nodded to two security officers. “Please escort Commander Mall to sickbay immediately.”

With haste, the officers came to the man’s side and, arms on either of his shoulders, began pushing him forward. It took what felt like ages for the doors to the turbolift to close. Captain Sands took his seat back in the middle of the bridge.

“Status report,” he said, the traditional warmth now missing from his voice.

“Shields at 55% but stable. We’ve circled around the Vigilant, now facing port-side, Captain,” came the tactical officer.

“Fire phasers, full rotation – continue to target the phase cannons. Helm, rotate as needed to preserve maximum shielding. We’re not a combat ship, everyone – but we are Starfleet. Stay focused,” ordered the Captain.

The blue of the Gilroy‘s shields continued to sparkle as she rotated quickly, phase cannon shots missing or striking stronger, more refreshed emitters. Her phaser fire struck slow and steady, bouncing against shields that sometimes seemed seconds from collapse.

The Vigilant, which largely stood stationary with most of her cannons able to rotate, continued to fire back even as bits of plasma began to vent from her hull.

The Gilroy banked aggressively to starboard while tilting her axis, hoping her fully charged ventral phaser could connect, when her lights began to flicker violently. The charged emitters, glowing hot orange and ready to fire, cooled quickly before going dead.

On the bridge, consoles danced between darkness and scarlet alarms as crew frantically moved from one station to another, trying to react as quickly as they could.

“Report!” shouted Sands as he twisted his neck from side to side, hoping to get an answer. The chime of the comm system was barely heard over the clamor of the bridge.

“Lieutenant E’Spor to the bridge. We’ve just lost half the EPS flow units on decks 2, 4, and 8.” The Vulcan Chief Engineer’s voice was tense and the background sounds of commotion and mild panic flooded through the comm line. “We’ve lost main power and I can’t get it restored!”

The viewscreen showed the Vigilant turning slowly, her starboard side now fully facing the Gilroy. A volley of fire launched from the Hierarchy ship.

“Evasive maneuvers,” called Sands just before the ship rocked violently.

Sparks flew throughout the bridge as several officers toppled over. The roars of explosions and tumbling bodies overwhelmed any reports or orders. A panel fell from the ceiling, landing solidly on Jericho’s shoulder, and he let out a yell.

Head pinned to the ground, he gazed, blurry-eyed, towards his helmswoman who had managed to stay seated at her station. “Move… move us into the… move us into the nebula as fast as you can,” he said, growing in volume with each word. She nodded just as Sands’s vision went black.

The Gilroy began to turn. Her hull was ripped open in places, raging sparks of power and plumes of plasma billowing out as she tried to keep herself together. The engines, dimmed from reduced power, pushed her forward towards the swirling mass of purple and red that presumably hid the Tiro as well. She shook on occasion as stray phase cannon shots made contact, diluted as they were by distance, until her profile finally disappeared from view.

Not unharmed herself, the old Vigilant began to move as her own engines came alive with power. Inside her bridge, Captain Varon smiled with a smug expression, his excitement palpable.

“Soon,” he announced, more to himself than his crew. “Soon we’ll have them – and all will be restored.”