“Shields at 90%!” Kondo reported from his station at the front of the bridge while at the helm, Castillo moved the large Excelsior II class ship through the attack.  De La Fontaine had found her easy to work with, if only a bit skittish and nervous.  The ten Jem’Hadar fighters were proving a challenge.  The five Galor class ships were running point with Gul Hasara’s help at a rear station on the bridge.  The Olympic had left an hour ago for safer sectors, so the battle field was clear.

Wren sat in her command chair, watching the battle play out on the screen.  They had unloaded security officers from Olympic and Mackenzie to various cities on the off chance the Dominion forces went planetside.  She had given Kondo the ‘weapons free’ command early, and the ten phaser arrays were doing the bulk of the work.  She gripped the arms of the chair as the bridge shook.  Kondo reported, “Shields at 80%.”  Two officers who sat at two rear stations behind the command chairs assisted the tactical chief.  The Mackenzie’s eight torpedo launchers hadn’t been activated.  Walton knew this was partly a test by the Dominion forces.

A sudden report came from Park at the science station, “Captain, two fighters are breaking loose and heading for the planet!”

Wren tapped the communication channel button on her chair console, “Lieutenant Vol, you have two targets coming your way.”  The operations chief had volunteered to coordinate the planet’s defenses.  Walton had her theories for the officer’s request.  Vol had been a new addition looking to make a name for herself and trying to impress the CO.  This was an opportunity for the operation chief to show something outside of working on the projects on board the Mack and Janoor III.  Kondo reported two fighters had been destroyed.  That left six in the air. 

“Shoot the bastards down.” The voice of Vol spoke quietly as Kiazas tapped at the console in the command center on Janoor III.  They had found a setup in an old missile silo just outside of the main city and quickly adapted the existing electrics to connect to the three operating weapons platforms. They’d managed to get two phaser banks and one torpedo launcher operational. “Morrison – start the search vector!”  She tapped nervously at the console as the underpowered sensors sputtered online, searching the skies.  

Ensign Kelly Morrison kept his eyes on his flickering screen, his palms sweating.  He had put in his time on the simulators and the holodeck. He’d run the drills.  Did the tests.  Now he was sitting at a console, ready to activate the recently repaired and refurbished planetary defense weapons.  He wiped the bead of sweat from his brow.  Morrison searched the screen, and suddenly a beeping sounded as two icons were identified and circled with emphasis, “Targets acquired, Lietuenant.  They’re heading on an attack vector.”

Kiazas looked up, “Get a lock, Morrison.”  The young ensign had the highest consistent score in the tactical simulations they’d run and had performed well enough in the stress tests.  ‘The Bull’ was worried now that the kid was in the fight, he’d collapse and fold.  “I hope you’re wrong.  He fails; whole lotta people are gonna die.” Vol encouraged her to be positive, and she replied, “I’m positive he’s going to fold.”  Her symbiote chuckled darkly in her mind.

“Shields at 75% – we’re down to four fighters.  One Galor cruiser is disabled and drifting.  Another is losing shields.”  Kondo tapped quickly at his console.  The beam weapons packed a punch, but improving shield technology had long ago negated their ability to cut through shields.  

Wren leaned forward, “Can we finish them off without torpedoes?”  She was hoping they could keep their larger arsenal closer to the chest.

Kondo swayed as the deck rocked, “Shields at 70%.  Four fighters remain.”  He tapped at the console, “We can, but the risk of further damage to the shields and the emitters….”  De La Fontaine understood where his captain was coming from.  He knew there was a finite amount of torpedoes onboard.  Yet…

Park shook her head from the science station, “The remaining fighters are registering an unusual power signature in both shield harmonics and weapons frequency.”  A creeping sense of worry was climbing her back. She had a bad feeling about this.  

Wren soon stood beside her, reading the results.  “Compare to the previous readings during the war.”  She traced the signal on the screen and grumbled, “Goddamn, Dominion.  Either the Breen helped them, or the Breen helped them.  They didn’t get that on their own 25 years ago…or now.”  The bridge shuddered as Kondo reported shields were at 70% and holding.

Park pointed out, “Whatever they’re using as a power source is more resilient and competitive with ours.  It’s preventing our phasers from having more of an effect.  I think we’re going to have to add torpedoes to the mix, Wren.”

Walton agreed begrudgingly, “Mr. Kondo, you are cleared to engage all weapons now.  Fire at will.”  She returned to her chair.  

The sudden burst of torpedoes startled the Jem’Hadar fighters.  Kondo smiled as he watched the fighters stumble in their navigation and signaled Castillo at the helm to get more aggressive.  Two fighters exploded after multiple torpedo impacts, and the other two turned to flee.  Kondo didn’t even have to ask his captain.  “Castillo, intercept the hell out of those fighters.”  The Mackenzie pressed on.

“One fighter down, Lieutenant.”  Morrison felt jubilant but held it to himself.  He had learned early on with his chief what she would and wouldn’t tolerate.  Celebrating victory before the job was done was on the list of not tolerating.

Vol kept an eye on the entire planet’s defense monitors, “Good work.  Where’s that second one going…oh hell.”  She tapped at her console, “Alert Polaris Control – you have a fighter on its way.”  She shouted at the ensign, “Switch to the nearest phaser battery – take her down!”

Kelly snapped out his jubilee and quickly tabbed over to the unit and moved quickly to target the fighter as it swung towards the capitol.  His hands trembled as he locked and fired.  The fighter tried to dodge the blast at the last minute, and the phaser fire winged it, obliterating the engines and sending the fighter careening toward the city.  He desperately tried to reacquire the target but watched in horror as the targeting system shorted out and the screen blinked.

Kiazas swore and slammed her fist on the console, shouting into the open channel with Polaris, “You have a damaged fighter incoming – why haven’t you sounded the alarms!  SOUND THEM, DAMNIT!”  They watched as the fighter arced across the sky and dropped into a crowded residential area, exploding in a fireball.  The operations chief reported the situation to the Mackenzie and fell into her chair.  Morrison wasn’t sure what to say.  He looked to his commanding officer, who waved his impending apology off, “You did the best you could, ensign.  The damn system needs some serious work before we can do anything more than just throw rocks at the Dominion.”

Longfellow ran.  Hiro ran.  The entirety of the Mackenzie medical staff ran.  They ran for the lives of those they were sworn to protect, save, and recover.  They ran towards the billowing smoke and raging fire as shuttles swarmed the sky, dumping fire retardant in showers of red and orange.  Angry sirens and blaring klaxons shouted from what felt like every corner.  It was a mad scramble as officers, crewmen, cadets, and anyone with medical training had been pressed into service.  The Olympic was an hour away.  The people of Polaris needed their help.

Park blinked as the transporter beam faded, and she took command of the ground response.  Three crewmen followed with a console and generator.  She pointed to an area off to the side, and the setup began.  The smoke burned black and billowed into the sky, a stark comparison against the bright blue splayed across the sky.  It took them ten minutes, but she was soon at the center of communications and triage reports as survivors were brought to her station, where an operations team quickly filled out the triage role.  An hour later, relief came in the form of hundreds of replacement officers and crewmen from the Olympic. Two hours later, the numbers were in the hands of the captains of the Mackenzie Squadron.  One hundred dead.  Two hundred were injured.

Crawford sat on the couch in Wren’s ready room, the report on his PADD.  “We’re going to have to step up our game.  Despite your best efforts to jam the signals, a few errant signals made it out of the sector.”

Walton sat at her desk.  She was annoyed.  She was frustrated.  She was angry.  She felt so many emotions she wasn’t sure where to start.  Scowling at her XO, who sat in the seat across from her, wasn’t helping.  For her part, Park scowled back, “It sucks no matter how many ways you phaser cut it, Wren.  Glaring at me isn’t going to change the fact that we failed the test.”

Peter raised a point. “Our orbital operations worked pretty well.  Chief Okada and Greer report the damaged Galor cruisers will be back in action by tomorrow afternoon.” Seoyeon gave him a look, and he returned the favor, “What, commander?”

She replied, “Orbital operations?”  She felt a warning look from her CO in her peripheral vision, and she fell back into the chair, “Sorry, Captain Crawford.  Been a day from hell.”  She felt her face burning.

Peter looked at her carefully.  She had been the first to take command of the search and rescue operations after the fighter crashed and had run an effective operation for the hour it had taken his ship to rush back.  Crawford could have formally disciplined or upbraided her in front of her CO.  He decided to try a different tact, “First time?”

She rubbed her face with her hands, the exhaustion setting in, “Yea.  I can still smell…all of it.”  The truth was it felt as if all of it had seeped and soaked into her uniform.  Park took a long breath and turned to face Crawford, “How do you do it, sir?  How does your crew…do it?”

The Olympic CO signed the report on the PADD and stood, feeling all of his years.  “You don’t get used to it if that’s what your asking.  I take comfort in knowing that with everything I see, hear, or smell…that I’m going to help someone in there survive, recover…or live.”  He went to the door and turned to give her one last bit of advice, “Don’t hold those feelings in, Commander Seoyeon. What we saw today…doesn’t come out in the first or second wash.  It takes a few runs through the water before we can find the comfort we ultimately need.”  He gave a nod to Wren and departed.

Park was quiet before she sat up the chair, “He’s kinda cute.”  She smiled manically at her CO’s groan.  “Seriously though, I know he’s right.  I’ve spent a lot of my career trying to hide and find comfort on my own.”

Wren sighed, “You were never very good at askin’ for help, Park.”  She signed the report and tossed the PADD onto her desk, “I’ll take on organizing the overnight and morning repair schedule for the planetary operations.  You take your shower…take the time to wash the day away.  Find me when you’re ready…and only when you’re ready, commander.”

Seoyeon gave a smile of thanks and stood muttering, “But seriously…he’s kinda cute.”  Wren playfully shoved her out the door.