-Proto II and Protous IV-Simix looked from the cockpit of his transport ship at what looked like a solid strand of cordage that ran from one planet to an adjacent one. ‘It is beautiful and from this distance shimmered with an ethereal look.’, he thought to himself.

Of course Simix knew exactly what that strange line was, and a line it was. From the planets of ‘Proto II’ and ‘Protous IV’, was a constant line of interplanetary commerce being imported and exported between the two planets, mostly ore and what little food that could be grown on the planets.

He himself was a recently appointed governor of the system. To him it was just a title and nothing more. Simix loved being a transport Captain more than he enjoyed what being a governor meant.

Suddenly as Simix was sitting there, staring off into space, he noticed three warp flashes near the line, and then suddenly explosions along it. His eyes widened and he swung the nose of his ship toward it.

-USS Heracles – en route to Velorum outskirts-Vausees was in her ready room reading over the profile of the Velorum Sector. She wanted to be sure that she knew just about everything that was inside of the sector before her ship and crew entered.

As she continued to prepare a chime echoed in the room and she looked up at the door.

“Enter,” she said as she waited for the person on the other side. “Cody.”

“Sorry to disturb you, Captain Vausees,” he said as he stepped in front of her desk. He was holding a stack of PADD’s under his right arm.

Vausees saw the PADD’s and instantly knew what they were, more progress reports from the department heads. “Looks like my studies are going to have to wait a little longer.”

Cody looked down at the stack for a moment before looking back up at Vausees, “I could handle this if you want to continue your studies on the Velorum Sector,” he stated, realizing just how important of a mission they were on and how his Captain was trying to do the best she could on being prepared, even if it was a tad bit of overkill.

“Nonsense,” Vausees stated as she patted the cleared corner of her desk, “after all it’s the duty of a captain to make sure that all the details are correct. Don’t you worry Cody, your time will come that you will understand what I mean,” she stated as she smiled.

“Of course, Captain,” Cody said as he placed the PADD’s on her desk.

-USS Heracles – Bridge-While Vausees was busy in her ready room, Cody had command of the ship. He sat in the central command chair and was looking over a PADD, when a soft beep came from behind him. Jonton was at his station at the operations console when the beep came in. He looked down at the console and tapped on the holographic icon that was assigned to the incoming message.

“Commander, message from Velorum Sector,” he said as he brought it up on the main viewscreen, “Audio only,” he stated when no image came up.

‘This is Governor Simix from the Proteus System. To any ship near the Velorum Sector. We are under attack from an Orion Slavemaster Battleship. Please anyone hearing this, help us.’

The message then went silent, and Cody looked back at Jonton, who was trying to reconnect to the message. Jonton shook his head.

“The message has been terminated, but I was able to verify that its origin was indeed from the Velorum Sector, and more specifically the Proteus System. Which I believe is one of the systems that we are heading for, Commander,” he stated as she brought up the Heracles’ course on the main viewscreen.

Cody stood up and looked at their course for a moment before he took a step toward the ready room.

“Commander Fergouson, the conn is your’s,” he stated just before he disappeared behind a closing door.

-USS Heracles – Conference Room-Cody looked at Vausees as she sat in silence. She looked at the holographic monitor that was built into the center of the conference room’s table. It was projecting the course that they had laid out for the mission into the Velorum Sector. Now with this transmission the plan was changed.

Both Cody and Vausees had agreed that all stops before the Proteus System would be placed on hold until after they had dealt with the Orion’s that had begun to attack that system.

Vausees reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat there, “This was supposed to be an easy mission,” she stated as she looked up at her second in command. “A simple show of force to keep this kind of situation from happening.”

Cody nodded to what she had said, “Pirates, marauders, and the occasional Orion Raider or Interceptor but a SlaverMaster Battleship,” He shook his head, “This is a going to be a handful if anything else shows up,” he stated as he looked back at the holographic image of the SlaveMaster Battleship just before the image shifted back to the Heracles’ route.

Reaching down Vausees, tapped on the intercom icon on the console that was built-in to the conference table.

‘All Senior Officers, please report to the conference room at this time.’, she said before closing the intercom.

-USS Heracles – Ideas-As the door to the room closed behind the last of the Senior Officer’s, Vausees looked at each of them. Reaching out she tapped one of the icons on her console which paused the repeating loop on the holographic display, onto the SlaveMaster Battleship.

“I need ideas on how we are going to handle this,” she stated as she pointed at the ship on the display. “And I needed them yesterday.”

Debrah and Jonton brought up both of their stations on the consoles before them and began to organize their ideas. Before too long Jonton and Debrah had an idea.

“Captain, what if we drop out of warp here,” she said as she indicated a massive gas giant near where the Orion ship would be by the time they arrived.

“It should mask our arrival and give us an element of surprise when we pop out in their blind spot,” Jonton indicated as he pointed at aft end of the ship where the engines were.”

Vausees looked at Trever and then the proposed plan. “You think you can handle it Lieutenant?”

Trever brought up the gas giant and what it was composed of. “Piece of cake,” he stated.

“Good,” Vausees said as she placed her hands on the top of the conference table. “Let’s get it done.”

-USS Heracles – Battlestations-‘T-minus three seconds’, the computer announced as the entire crew of the Heracles braced for a sudden emergency stop, inside of a gas giant with frozen methane clouds.

Suddenly the viewscreen changed from shooting stars to a fog of green-ish white vapor. “We’re here,” Trever said as he released the controls for a moment. He flexed his fingers as he sat there.

The entire time that the Heracles had been en route to this giant, he, Debrah, and Jonton had been masking their approach from any signals that might have given their position away. Now that they were here it was time to execute their plan. The only problem was, that even though they had chosen to warp into the gaseous planet, the clouds were keeping them as blind as the Orion ship. Now they needed to pop the cork and expose themselves to the vacuum of space and see if their calculations were spot on.

Trever slid his fingers over the console once more and the Heracles began to emerge out of the clouds and into space.

Vausees let out a semi-relaxing sigh when she saw the back end of the Orion ship. Without thinking she tapped on the holographic icon for ‘Red-Alert’.

‘All hands to stations. This is not a drill.’, the computer stated as the ship was configured for combat.

The lights on the bridge dimmed as red flashes illuminated the bulkheads, flooring, and ceiling, from the klaxon.

“Tactical, prepare for war!” Vausees said in a dark tone as she stared at the light blue tones of the activated engines of the Orion SlaveMaster Battleship.

“Helm, Delta pattern, four.” Vausees ordered as she pressed back into her seat.

-USS Heracles – She didn’t see that coming-As the Heracles began its attack several bay doors along the side of the Battleship opened and scores of interceptors began to engage the Heracles.

Without thinking Vausees tapped the Main Hangar intercom, “Captain Roberts, get your wing up,” she ordered and then closed the channel.

Moments later six Valkyrie fighters left the nose of the Heracles as phaser arrays light up and sent bolts of charged plasma at the hull of the Orion ship; followed closely by quantum torpedoes.

The Valkyries charged in and after the interceptors that the Battleship had unleashed. Explosion after explosion could be seen on the viewscreen as the fighters did their duty to protect the Heracles from the Battleships fighters; all the while the two ships bombarded each other with disruptors and phasers, as well as complements of torpedoes.

“Three ships decloaking off the starboard side,” Debrah stated as a D’deridex class and two Valdore type Romulan ships decloaked and headed into the battle.

The main viewscreen shifted from the Battleship to the face of a Romulan, “Captain Vax, General Viktor here, I presume that you could use a little help,” Viktor stated as all three Romulan ships opened fire with their disruptors.

The viewscreen split in two as Captain Roberts appeared. “Captain, I am detecting that the interceptors are in full retreat. Now might be a good time to end this.”

“Agreed Captain,” Vausees replied and nodded to both Kalsie and Viktor. “Follow my lead.”

Vausees turned and looked at Trever. “Attack pattern Beta-three,” she ordered. “Tactical, unleash hell.”

The Heracles suddenly pitched up exposing its underside as it bolted upward. At the peak of its climb it rolled over and began to dive down toward the center of the Orion SlaveMaster Battleship. As it grew closer to the ship a barrage of phasers and torpedoes erupted out. All of the Valkyries had followed the Heracles into its climb and were now firing upon the ship.

Viktor had his three ships dive and were coming at the Orion ship from below; their disruptors firing-at-will.

A massive explosion along the spine of the SlaveMaster Battleship caused the ship to tilt to one side as half of its engines suddenly flickered and then ceased to operate. As if on cue the ship attempted to warp away but the sudden use of power caused the ship to rip in two as the engines warped away from the front half of the battleship.

Vausees signaled the rest of the ships to halt their firing as she hailed the battleship. When no response was returned she brought the nose of the Heracles right up front and into the view of the bridge.

“Jonton, send them a message to surrender or be fired upon,” Vausees said as she looked into the flickering windows of the bridge.

“No reply, Captain,” Jonton stated.

“Do they still have the capability to reply?” She asked as she kept her eyes locked onto a single window.

“Yes, Captain,” Jonton replied.

“Kelsie, Viktor, the Orion ship has refused to reply to hails. They have the capability to reply. I have given them the chance to surrender and live but still have not replied.” She states to Kelsie and Viktor. “What would you two prefer to happen to them?”

“Well for one they have attacked my system, unprovoked.” Vikor states, “I for one want retaliation.”

“You’re my Captain, I will follow whatever orders you give,” Captain Roberts states as she sits in the cockpit of her Valkyrie, her targeting reticles flashing at the Orion’s bridge.

“So be it. Open fire,” she orders as the Heracles moves out of range and targets the smoldering remains of the Orion ship. All ships open fire and a massive explosion occurs and all the remains is a floating mass of debri. “General Viktor, I think it is time that we head for Proto II,” Vausees states as the Valkyries begin to return to the main hangar.

“Indeed,” Viktor states, “We have much to discuss.”