The first Klingon boarding craft struck the USS Johnston hard enough to move the ship.

Not much, but enough to feel it.

The deck shifted beneath Ensign Sara Winters as she reached the junction outside transporter room 2. Somewhere behind the bulkhead metal groaned under a new load it had not been designed to carry.

Her security team spread out automatically. There were eight of them including her, three had beamed over with her from the Horizon, the rest were from the Johnston’s security team.

Everyone of them had phasers drawn and ready but none had a real clear field of fire.

That was the problem. The corridor ahead of them was functioning as ad hoc triage for wounded personnel. Crew lay against both walls beneath emergency blankets while medics worked between them.

Winters stared at it.

Of course the Klingons had decided to board here. There were at least fifteen wounded personnel between her security team and the breach point.

“Everybody down.” She ordered.

Those who could move did, others were dragged lower by medical staff.

Winters touched her commbadge. “Winters to Bridge, boarding contact confirmed, deck seven. At least one craft has struck near transporter control.”

The acknowledgement came from the bridge as a heavy impact stuck somewhere beyond the junction. The Klingons were cutting through the hull.

Winters looked at the officers around her. “Stun if you can. Kill if you have too. No body fires through the casualty area unless they have a completely clear shot.”

One of the Johnston security officers glanced at the breach area. “The Klingons won’t give us the same consideration.”

“No,” she replied and shifted position. “That’s why were better than this than they are.”

The corridor wall ruptured. Smoke burst through the far end of the corridor and the Klingons came through it.

—–

On the bridge of the USS Horizon, Lieutenant Kaelen Rix was watching everything unfold at the tactical station. He stopped thinking of the battle as one engagement. 

The Vor’cha was still engaging with them.

Three small Klingon vessels had been used as boarding craft and had reached the Johnston. A fourth had been destroyed.

The Klingon cruiser was attempting to force the Horizon away from the damaged vessel while attempting to continue firing at it.

Captain Tahlari Vahl turned to him, “Can you target the Klingon vessels on the Johnston’s hull?”

“Not without doing more damage to her,” he replied.

“Security teams have been deployed to counter them,” Lt Cdr Cavendish cut in.

Vahl nodded in acknowledgement as another Klingon volley struck the Horizon’s shields. The bridge shook hard enough for several officers to have to brace themselves.

Lt B’lai Ty’ler looked at her ops console. “Starboard shields at fifty-three percent.”

Rix watched the Vor’cha change direction again on the tactical readout. He’d worked out they had perhaps twelve seconds before another pass, he prepared to return fire.

“Minor hull buckling on deck fourteen,” Ty’ler reported

Cavendish nodded, “damage control teams to deck fourteen,” he replied.

Vahl kept her attention on the viewscreen. It took her a moment but she realised what he’d done. He didn’t ask permission or seize authority, he was there as her first officer already. She wanted to smile, wanted to acknowledge his actions, but now was not the right time.

“They’re coming round again,” Rix reported, pulling her attention back to the task at hand.

“Helm keep us between them,” Vahl ordered

Ensign Rio Rydar’s hands moved quickly as she manoeuvred the vessel. The Horizon rolled and shifted across the Johnston’s bow just as the Klingon cruiser attempted to climb above them. Rix watched his tactical display as the readout showed another volley from its forward disruptors heading straight for them.

The impact rocked the deck again as panels sparked around the bridge.

Ty’ler swore quietly. “Forward shields at forty-eight percent.”

Rix tapped the tactical console to return fire. Phaser beams responded and crossed through space. The Klingons rolled exactly how he’d predicted and they struck their damaged dorsal section again.

Armour blew away in glowing fragments.

“They dorsal weapons array is offline,” he reported.

Vahl nodded once without taking her eyes of the screen, “good.”

Rix was already looking for their next weakness.

—–

The first Klingon cleared the smoke with a disruptor rifle raised.

Winters fired, the phaser bean struck his directly in the chest and threw him back toward the breach.

A second followed behind him, then a third. They were not advancing to take the ship. There was no interest in securing the corridor. They charged forwards. Fast purposely. One fired at Winters position, so close she could feel the heat on her skin but it missed. The disruptor blast struck the wall beside her showing the corridor with sparks.

A wounded crewman cried out.

“Hold your line!” Winters ordered.

Her security officers returning fire toward the Klingons. Phaser beams snapped between walls, carefully angles above the patients who were sheltering as best they could.

One Klingon dropped.

Another moved behind a bulkhead.

Winters could not get a clear shot, she moved.

Instead of firing, Winters stepped into the open, crossed the distance quickly and struck the Klingon with the side of her phaser as she turned.

He was larger, much larger.

He grabbed her arm as she thrust her knew into his abdomen.

He grunted. Then smiled.

“Oh wonderful,” Winters muttered.

He swung.

She ducked.

One of the security officers fired over her shoulder and struck the Klingon at point blank range. He collapsed.

Winters looked back. “Thanks,” she said.

The officer shrugged.

“You looked busy.”

Another disruptor blast struck the ceiling above their heads.

Winters turned and saw two more Klingons forcing their way through the breach. One shouted something in Klingon as the other pointed down the corridor. Not towards the bridge or engineering. Towards the medical section.

Winters understood, “they’re looking for the Klingon delegation.” She tapped her combadge. “Winters to bridge. Boarding parties are moving towards medical, they’re looking for them.”

The response came almost immediately. “Then someone should tell them they aren’t here.”

—–

CPO Rebecca Thorne heard the weapons fire getting closer. The medical team from the Horizon had not made it off the vessel before the attack began.

She’d known that the crew on the Horizon would be needing them but they couldn’t bring themselves to leave this many wounded with little care.

She did not stop working.

The patient she was treating wore engineering gold, maybe ops or engineering she thought. It didn’t matter. What mattered was the shrapnel embedded below the ribcage. His blood pressure had been falling steadily for the last two minutes.

Dr Rob Maguire stood on the other side of the table. “Again.”

Rebecca adjusted the field as the patient gasped.

“Pressure seventy over forty.”

“Too low.”

“I noticed.” She said.

The phaser fire came again. Much closer now. One of the Johnston’s nurses looked towards the door.

“Chief?” The young nurse said.

Rebecca did not look up, “keep working, nothing to worry about.”

“the Klingons are getting closer?” the nurse continued.

“I’m aware, our security teams are holding them off, don’t worry.”

Rebecca looked at Maguire, she could see the same fear on his face. “Doctor,” she said.

He looked up at her. “You know,” he said, “most medical facilities are traditionally considered non-combat areas.”

Rebecca nodded, “Klingons rarely make that distinction.”

The lights flickered and the patients monitor faltered. Rebecca slapped the side of it and the display returned.

Maguire stared, “highly technical.”

“I learned from engineering.”

A security officer appeared at the doorway. “Medical we need everyone who can move into the aft compartments.”

Rebecca looked around.

Most of the people who were left could not move. “That’s going to be difficult,” she said.

Maguire looked towards the patient and back at the security officer, “how long have we got?”

“Minutes.”

Rebecca looked toward the corridor. Then back at the patients.

“No,” she said.

The officer frowned, so did Maguire.

“Chief?”

“We’re not moving them.”

“Those are Klingons charging down the corridor.”

Rebacca’s expression did not change. “Then stop them.”

The officer stared at her as she turned and returned to working on the patient. “He survives if we finish this. He probably doesn’t if we move him.”

Maguire looked toward the security officer, a look of realisation on his face. “She’s right” he said.

He opened his mouth but no words followed, he clearly thought better of trying to argue with them. He turned back toward the corridor as the sound of weapons fire got louder.

—–

Main Engineering shook.

Lt. Sengar Hesh grabbed the railing before the vibration could throw him into the panel beside him. As he did so a panel exploded on the upper level. Ens Wei Chen looked up from the primary regulator.

“What was that?” Hesh called to him.

Chen checked the structural display, “External impact.”

“No” Hesh said. “I know what cause the shaking, I’m asking what exploded?”

Chen checked again, a little unsure of the vessels systems. He’s of course studied all this at the Academy but he’s just gotten used to the Horizon. The older systems on board this Ambassador class were just…. Different. “Coolant monitor relay.” Hed replied finally.

Korren looked over toward the pair.

Hesh noticed and called over to her, “we can lose one commander, but we can’t lose what it was monitoring.”

Korren checked her display, the numbers were falling again. She sworn under her breath, something in Cardassian that did not translate.  The repair had stabilised the core but it had not fixed all the problems on the Johnston.

Every time the ship moved or another hit came the damage got worse, or shifted to somewhere else.

Hesh studied the display. “We could vent through the emergency plasma exhaust.”

Chen nodded as Korren looked at the schematic. It was an ugly fix, potentially dangerous too. But under the circumstances, it was promising. “Do it,” she ordered.

“It requires a manual control from the secondary maintenance station, three desks away.” Hesh replied.

“Then go,” she said,

He stood and looked and her for a moment before picking up his maintenance kit and heading to the door. He knew the dangers, especially with Klingon boarders aboard, but what choice did they have.

“And Lieutenant?” Korren called as the engineering doors opened before him.

“Bring my lights back.”

Korren almost smiled, then he ran.

—–

On the bridge Cavendish had multiple status windows open on his display. Vahl had noticed. She also noticed that she’d only got two.

“Security update?” she asked.

Cavendish nodded, “Three boarding points. Winters has contained deck seven team outside of medical. Raine is engaging the dorsal group with the Johnston security personnel. It looks like they’ve got them boxed in.”

“Casualties?” Vahl asked him simply.

“Unknown Captain, Medical hasn’t reported any additional patients in medical and no one had arrived. But they’re not finished.”

She nodded thoughtfully. And the Johnston command?

“Captain Sand still has the bridge. Keating reports partial impulse power but they can’t use it while they’ve got Klingon ships attached to their hull.”

“How about us Commander, status of the Horizon?”

“Deck fourteen fire suppressed. EPS relay repair underway. Seven injuries now, all minor.”

He delivered everything calmly. There was no flourish. No attempt to make the quantity of information impressive. He has simply taken the pieces and arranged them. Vahl realised shed stopped looking at the panels herself. For the first time since the distress call, part of the crisis excited outside her own head.

Cavendish looked towards her. “Captain.”

“Yes?” she replied.

Cavendish’s expression remained neutral. “I have it.”

For a second Vahl considered objecting but Rix spoke from tactical which caught her attention. “Captain, I think I have an opening.”

“Show me.”

Rix transferred the targeting model to the main viewscreen which appeared as a window within the main display.

The Vor’cha’s damaged dorsal systems glowed red. Its propulsion remained undamaged. But every time the ship rolled through its attach pattern, it exposed a narrow section of aft shielding near the impulse manifold.

“We keep damaging their weapons,” Rix said. “They repair or compensate. If they decide to cloak and withdraw we’ll be back where we started.

Vahl nodded as he continued. “Can you disable it?”

“Yes,” he replied. No hesitation.

“Probably,” he then said.

Vahl turned in her command chair. “That’s less reassuring.”

“It’s more accurate ma’am.”

The Vor’cha turned for another pass. Rix watched and tapped his control. He fired a shot deliberately wide. The phaser blast struck the Vor’cha’s starboard shielding. Not enough to damage them but enough to get a reaction.

The Klingon cruiser rolled port.

Rix smiled. “There.” He said and fired.

The Horizon’s phasers struck their aft. Once, Twice and the third beam punched through.

The Vor’cha’s aft shields collapsed completely.

Rix launched two torpedoes. They crossed the darkness, one striking the impulse manifold and the second against a power transfer junction beside it. The Klingon ship lurched. Its port engine flare disappeared.

Rix fired again.

A narrow phaser beam cut across the dorsal hull causing their cloaking generator to overload.

Ty’ler looked up from her display. “Massive power failure aboard the hostile vessel.”

Vahl watched as the Klingon vessel began to drift.

“Boarding craft?” she asked.

Rix checked his scans, “they’re disengaging from the Johnston.”

“Stop them.” She ordered.

Phasers fired toward the smaller craft. Once lost its engines immediately, the other surrendered its approach and drifted with systems failing.

The third didn’t move. Winters team on board had already secured it and the remaining attackers.

Vahl looked toward the hostile cruiser. “Open a channel.”

Ty’ler tried and shook her head. “No response.”

Vahl looked toward the viewscreen. The Vor’Cha was beaten. Not destroyed, nor harmless, but they were no longer a threat.

For several seconds the bridge settled into something close to silence. No new impacts, no sounds of explosions.

Cavendish looked at his panel, “Winters reports the Johnston’s sickbay is secure. Twelve Klingon warriors in custody, four dead.”

Vahl closed her eyes for half a second. “Casualties?”

“Three security officers injured. Two Johnston medical staff. No fatalities reported.”

Ty’ler’s ops console began to beep.

“Captain, Lieutenant Commander Korren is hailing from the Johnston’s engineering.”

“Go ahead” she said.

“Hesh managed to stabilise from the auxiliary control but Captain, we have a problem.”

Korren’s next words came quickly, “structural damage around the core is extensive. That last barrage did more damage that we’d have hoped.”

Cavendish stared at his console again. The numbers were falling and fast.

Vahl stood.

A pause.

Then Korren spoke again. “The Johnston’s core is going critical.”