“Approaching the edge of the gas cloud.”

Watching on the holographic viewscreen at the front of the bridge, the bridge crew prepared for the clash to come with the steely determination they always demonstrated. As the toxic gas clouds began to evaporate before them, the shadows of vessels lying in wait appearing in their path, deep breaths could be heard across the command center, officers bracing themselves against consoles and chairs alike. Combat was never a Starfleet officer’s preference, and whilst they were always prepared to defend themselves, it was never their desire to inflict harm on anyone else. Today, there was an inevitability about the situation they faced; some species could not be negotiated with, hell bent on using violence to further their cause. It just so happened that in the last week or so, Ulysses had come across two of the most dangerous species in the Delta quadrant.

In mere seconds, the mighty Starfleet vessel, which towered over the swarm of Hirogen vessels awaiting her, emerged from the nebulous gases, a large target on her massive hull. In an instant, the wolf pack began their assault, surrounding the behemoth and unleashing the full force of their weapons at will; but the Starfleet ship was tougher than any Alpha quadrant vessel they had come across to date. Torpedoes bounced off of her high-powered deflector shields, and she absorbed their energy beams as her impulse engines propelled the Galaxy-class starship through the swarm.

Unbeknownst to the hunters on their smaller warships, their prey was not as wounded as they were led to believe. And having never encountered one of her kind before, they had no idea what she had in store for them. In a hail of fury, bright orange lances of phased energy seemed to burst from every port possible on the hull of the Starfleet ship, firing indiscriminately in an effort to hold off her much smaller foes. When they entered her forward and aft firing arcs, photon torpedoes launched at high velocity, in single shots and in bursts, all in an effort to provide an effective defense through the art of a strong offense. At first it worked, scattering the Hirogen ships and causing them to regroup and refocus, but soon, their coordinated attacks threatened to overwhelm even her powerful shields.

Rocking under the targeted strikes of their enemy, the bridge felt less like a command center and more like a triage unit on a battlefield. Medical personnel had already arrived to deal with bloody heads and burns from exploding consoles; her internal wounds far more severe than what could be seen on the hull beyond.

“Shields down to forty-seven percent,” Vasoch called from the tactical Arch behind his Captain, never once removing his beady eyes from his display.

“Rerouting power to the defence grid from non-essential systems,” Linn barked from Ops just a few feet away.

“Evasive maneuvers, point seven three,” Tharia barked over the din of the battle, her eyes glued to the screen at the forefront of the bridge.

“Aye Captain,” Henry barked, fingers dancing swiftly across the CONN, the mighty ship answering to his will and changing course as best it could under the strain of battle and with her limited maneuverability.

“Enemy vessels regrouping for an assault on the aft shield grid,” Vasoch revealed, “rerouting targeting array.”

“All power to the aft shields,” Tharia barked in response, watching as the enemy vessels on the screen swerved her outpouring of the weapons grid and made for the back of the ship, where her defences were weakest. Tapping her commbadge, the Captain called down to the lower decks. “Engineering, are you ready?”

“Warp engines standing by Captain,” the familiar voice of Lieutenant Prida responded swiftly.

“Henry…”

“Entering warp in three… two…”

But one never came; a massive blast on the aft shields caused explosions across the ship, including on the bridge itself, sending the flight controller hurtling from his station at speed. As his relief took over, medical teams tended to the injured flight controller, but for now they seemed to be dead in the water.

“Prida!” the Captain barked into the open comm array, getting a curt ‘on it’ in response from the Bajassian in the ship’s nerve center.

“Fire at will Commander,” the Andorian instructed the Tellarite at tactical.

“Sickbay to bridge!”

Tharia cursed under her breath before tapping the controls of her chair arm and opening a channel in response to the medical bay. “Go ahead Doctor,” she answered.

“I really need you down here, Captain. There is something you need to see,” Doctor Torres called out over the audible chaos in the medical bay.

“I’m a little busy up here right now, Doctor!” Tharia exclaimed, watching as one of the Hirogen vessels evaded a photon torpedo from the ship’s forward launch tube.

“I know Captain,” Torres barked back, “but we’re losing Commander Zinn,” the man’s voice sounded fragile, almost broken.

Glancing over her shoulder at Vasoch, the Tellarite was already on his way down the ramp and to the command arena. “Linn, take over at tactical,” the Andorian ordered as she flew out of her command chair and headed for the aft turbo lift, a silent passing of the torch to the Tellarite her last act on the bridge before disappearing from sight.

At the science station on the port wall, and so far relatively ineffective during the course of battle, Akaria had been monitoring various matters when something caught her eye. Something had been detected at the extreme range of the long range sensors. A swift analysis gave them hope.

“Commander!” she exclaimed, looking across at the restless Tellarite. “Sensors have detected a Starfleet vessel at extreme sensor range.”

For the first time in days, Vasoch smiled, turning his attention to the science officer. “Excellent news! As soon as they are in communications range, transmit a recurring distress signal. Tell whoever it is we’re under attack, outnumbered, and in need of urgent assistance.”

Whilst the focus of the bridge crew returned to the battle at hand, especially without their Captain to focus their efforts, Akaria complied with her orders. She transmitted a simple distress call on all Starfleet frequencies.

“This is Starship Ulysses. Help.”

USS Sojourner; Bridge – Deck 1;

Kirin sat on the bridge watching the space streak by as the Sojourner travelled at warp 8 towards the entrance to the Underspace network and then onwards to the Markonian Outpost. After the last few days and the ordeal in the binary pulsar system travelling at warp with no alien zombie creatures or strange crystalline entity like blood dilithium constructs trying to destroyer her ship was very soothing.

“What is our ETA to the network?” Kirin asked.

Dese, back at the con glanced at her controls, “Four hours at our current speed.”

“Ok, Ril,” Kirin said, turning back to look at the tactical officer. “The bridge is yours, I will be in my ready room.” Kirin was about to sit down at her desk with plans to write the official report when the coms activated.

“Captain to the Bridge!” Kirin rushed out of her ready room, hearing the urgency in Ril’s voice, “Report!”

“We have detected a Starfleet distress call four light years from our current position. It’s the Ulysses, they are under attack by multiple Hirogen ships,” Ril responded.

“Shit,” Kirin said aloud without realizing it. The Sojourner wasn’t in peak shape after the previous few days but she wouldn’t leave a Federation ship in need.

“Go to red alert and change course, maximum warp. We have a ship to help,” Kirin said as she settled down into her chair just as the lights dimmed and the klaxons began to sound through the ship.

USS Sarek Stardrive Section; Bridge;

There were hardly four steps of distance between the captain’s chair and the forward consoles in the USS Sarek‘s secondary bridge and that was the way Elbon liked it.  Serving as acting captain of the stardrive section, Commander Elbon Jakkelb was absolutely comfortable with a small handful of officers circling him.  As with the rest of the Sutherland-class decor, the secondary bridge’s surfaces were all burnished bronze and reflective copper, but the scale was much smaller.  It was a far cry from the screaming Elbon had to do to be heard across the cavernous space of the main bridge.

“Ensign Dolan, provide me a status update on the construction of the subspace trumpet?” Elbon asked.  

Before he even finished the question, Elbon had stood from the captain’s chair and moved to stand behind the two forward consoles, close to the viewscreen.  In a bit of retro furniture design, the chairs were half-reclined like the battle bridges of old.  This, however, was no battle bridge.  As a research cruiser, the forward stations were devoted to flight control and science.

Seated at the science one console, Dolan bluntly replied, “I don’t know, captain.  I’m not assigned to that project.”

“This is your time, ensign,” Elbon said with sagely enthusiasm.  “We left your department heads behind on the saucer section at Burleigh Minor.  You’re the captain’s duty science officer today.  It’s time for you to pause and take in the broader view.”

“Aye, captain,” Dolan replied dutifully, if not whole-heartedly.  “I’ll contact the mechanical science lab.”

Turning his back on Dolan, Elbon began the scant steps back to the captain’s chair.

“I don’t need to hear about every turn of the screw, mind,” Elbon added.  “A summary is all we need.  You’ve got to keep one eye on long-range sensors for Devore vessels or new signs of blood dilithium.”

When Elbon eased back into the captain’s chair, he asked, “CONN, what’s our ETA for rendezvous with the saucer section?”

A shrill LCARS beep interjected.

“Captain, I have a summary from the science lab,” Dolan said, “but I also have a distress signal.  How would a science chief–“

“Distress signal!”

A massive explosion in the StratOps suite at the back of the Ulysses bridge rendered the entire area powerless and out of action, the personnel who had been working there forced to relocate onto the bridge and the extra consoles dotted around the command center.

“Engineering to bridge! Impulse engines are back online,” the joyful voice of Lieutenant Prida filled the bridge, causing the relief CONN officer to smile and begin moving the ship once more.

“Change course for the Starfleet vessels Akaria detected,” Vasoch ordered, clinging to the arms of the command chair to keep his body steady and upright under the strain of the battle. “Engineering; prepare to jettison the blood dilithium capsule,” he called into the open channel.

“Transporters standing by,” Prida reported over the comm.

“Helm, pick up speed. Put some distance between us and the enemy vessels,” the pig-faced, mottle-skinned Tellarite instructed in a tone far sterner than he had meant.

But the helm officer responded as expected, and so too did the ship. In a sudden burst of speed, the ailing giant sped forth from its would be captors, creating the space her crew craved in order to make their plan work. Unresponsive at first, the Hirogen hunters soon gave chase to their prey, trying to close the gap between them when a strange blue light flickered in the darkness of space, signalling the appearance of a peculiar object. It didn’t stay there for long.

From the aft torpedo bay of the Starfleet ship, two blue lights hurtled across the distance and slammed into the object, obliterating it and causing an incredible shockwave that seemingly stunned all of the vessels in the vicinity.

It was a race to see who would respond first… A race won by the Hirogen, as the wolf pack surrounded their helpless prey and began to pound upon the vessel’s shields.