“Captain, I still think this is a bad decision,” Commander Thaustin protested as he followed Rio Canção into transporter room two.

“And what feels like the forty-seventh time, commander, your objection is noted,” Canção stated as she walked in to find her away team standing there, ready for her. All of them, like her, dressed in the combat EVA suits. 

Thaustin sighed, hoping he could convince her not to go on this suicidal mission. However, he couldn’t. He looked at his mentor. “Then make sure you come back in one piece.”

She chuckled at him as she put her helmet on. “Well, that would be spoiling all the fun, commander.” She popped the magnetic seal, and her helmet was fixed on tight with the backup clicks activating too. The away team consisted of not just the captain but she was also taking with her a well-armed detachment of security officers (some of whom were using the other transporter rooms) that Lieutenant Lonar was leading. Alongside them were also Lieutenant Commander Jayshon, Doctor Uknare and Counsellor Oron. The latter was there for his strength, while the engineer and medic would be crucial in ensuring they could succeed in their mission.

Stepping up onto the platform, Canção looked at her first officer. “The ship is yours commander,” She looked at the transporter chief as she raised her phaser rifle, “Energise.”

Thaustin wished them luck as they vanished within the transporter beam. He looked at the transporter operator, who confirmed they had made it on Gul Jacet’s ship. 

Minutes later, Commander Thaustin stepped onto the bridge and relieved Commander Kazlaf. “I take it our teams are safely on board the Jorrene?” She asked as she used her anti-grav chair to return to her science station. Though she was technically the acting first officer now, her expertise was needed at the science station.

 “For now,” Thaustin answered as he slipped into the centre chair. “Ethav, is our graviton pulse ready?”

The Andorian at the ops station nodded first before replying. “It is, commander.”

“Then signal the Jorrene we’re ready on our end,” Thaustin ordered. He still wasn’t sure about this plan of Canção’s. He gripped tighter onto the chair’s arms, knowing what would happen next.

Jorrene, Deneb Sector, Alpha Quadrant

Gul Jacet welcomed his visitors on board very quickly. Time was of the essence, and they needed to get going sooner rather than later. “Captain Canção, are you sure about this plan?”

Canção rolled her eyes as she watched the Cardassian finish getting himself ready in his EVA suit. “Have you been discussing this with my first officer?” She questioned with a light tone. “We need to move fast if we’re to secure that Dominion ship; the graviton pulse followed by the quick attack by the Triton and your ships will be enough of a diversion for us to beam in using your transporters. Are your teams ready?”

Jacet finished with his suit and picked up his rifle before tapping his communicator on, “As long as your teams are?”

“They are,” Canção said over her suit’s intercom. She hadn’t stepped off the much larger transporter platform they had used. “Canção to all teams, get ready to implement Operation: Light Brigade.”

Lornar, who smiled at Gul Jacet when he and his team joined theirs, sent a message to Thaustin to activate the graviton pulse. She hadn’t met many Cardassians face-to-face since she joined Starfleet. “Lornar to the Triton, you are good to go, commander.”

“Pulse activated,” Thaustin reported. “They’re dropping out of warp; all ships open fire!” 

“Energise,” Jacet ordered, and the Dominion transporter system came to life. Every single member of the assault team was wrapped by the long-range transporter system and was deposited on the Dominion ship.

Dominion Battlecruiser

The transporter cycle seemed to have taken longer than Canção had expected, but she found herself and her team onboard the Dominion battle cruiser before long. Using the Jorrene’s more advanced transporters was Canção’s idea. Hopefully, they would get some time before the internal sensors detected them. Instantly the team threw their combined smoke grenades and stun grenades, just in case any Jem’Hadar troops were shrouded. Fortunately, there were none. Then the intruder alarm sounded. So much for extra time. 

“Let’s move people,” Canção ordered. 

The conflict between Starfleet and Cardassian troops pitted against the formidable Jem’Hadar soldiers aboard the Dominion’s battle cruiser was nothing short of a fierce and gruelling battle. The air was thick with smoke, and the sound of phaser fire reverberated ominously throughout the ship’s corridors. The Jem’Hadar soldiers proved to be formidable foes, but the Starfleet and Cardassian forces were resolute in their determination to seize control of the vessel. Canção was impressed that as they moved through the corridors, each team that had beamed on board was on track to reach their targets. A team was sent to take their engineering room, another was to head to the primary shield generator, and another was sent to secure the hanger bay while her team was going to secure the multiple transporter buffers that contained the life signs of the Federation colonists.

“Alpha team in place,” Someone announced over the secure communication channel. “Engineering is ours.”

“Upload the compute virus,” Canção commanded the team leader. “And begin locking out the bridge once you can.” 

“We’re doing it now, ma’am,” came the response.

As they dodged more fire from another squad of troops, the call from Bravo team came through to announce they had taken the shield generator room. 

“We seem to be slacking,” Jacet announced as he fired his rifle down the corridor, taking out a Jem’Hadar. “We should pick up the pace a bit more.”

“Agreed,” Canção stated before she called on Lornar to get them to their destination. 

“It’s just around the corner, ma’am,” Her chief security and tactical officer shared.

More grenades were thrown, and their path was cleared. As they entered the room, they were surprised to find that it was a converted cargo bay filled with transporter buffers. All of them were active. 

“Get to work, people,” Canção ordered both Jayshon and Uknare. Between the two of them, they would check the life signs for degradation and set up the transporter enhancers to give everyone something to lock on to.

“Triton to Delta Team, Mumma Bear and Pappa Bear have arrived,” Thaustin’s voice could be heard through the speakers built into their helmets. 

Canção smirked as the ship rocked hard from one side to another. Thaustin’s code was to announce when the Themis and Odyssey would arrive. She was impressed with their timing. After acknowledging the update, she closed the channel and then turned to see both Jayshon and Uknare frozen in their work. “What’s wrong, people?” She asked.

The Haliian doctor answered. “Ma’am, the metagenic weapons are also being stored in the transporter buffers.”

“What?” Jacet asked, surprised to hear that revelation. “They’ve done it on purpose.”

“Zinda, his eyes red,” grumbled Jayshon. “We will have to purge each buffer of the weapons before we beam the colonists out and into our buffers.”

“That will take time,” Jacet said. He turned to Canção, “Time we do not have.”

Canção couldn’t agree more with the Cardassian leader. She turned to her chief engineer. “Is there another option, commander?”

Jayshon accessed the transporter controls and attempted to determine what he could do. He then nodded and grimaced. “Shaka,” He muttered. “If we use their system, we could beam the weapons out and into their theta band device.”

“But that would give them a weapon to use against us and any of our unshielded ships,” Uknare stated. 

The Tamarian shook his head. “No, not if we set everything to go off simultaneously. The Beast at Tanagra.”

“Get to it then, commander,” Canção ordered her chief engineer.

It only took him a minute, but the Tamarian was again showing off his miracle worker efforts. “Ready!”

“Do it!” Canção ordered.

The process started, and straight away, the colonists’ transporter patterns were transferred from the Dominion ship and into each of the other vessels. Then there was an explosion at the doors they had closed. Jem’Hadar troops started to rush through. Ducking out of the way, the team all started to return fire. 

“Keep going with the process,” Canção told her engineer and doctor while she and Jacet moved ahead to support their forces in defending their position. 

Between the exchange of fire, it appeared the Starfleet and Cardassian side was winning, but then several Jem’Hadar scored a few direct hits against the controls Jayshon and Uknare were using. Both of them flew backwards as the explosion caught them off guard. Canção rushed to their side and automatically called for the Triton to beam them back as they were injured. Jayshon tried to protest, but Canção told him to hang on as they were taken back. She went over to the controls, avoiding the enemy fire. Pulling out her tricorder, she saw they had three more buffers to clear. There were so many life signs within them; she couldn’t let them perish here. Peering over the top of the controls, she saw they were about to be overridden by more Jem’Hadar troops. So she quickly tapped away at the console when Jacet and Lornar moved to her side.

“What are you doing, captain? We need to get out of here.” Jacet told her as he fired his rifle a bit more.

“We’ve got three more buffers; I’m not leaving them behind,” Canção replied. 

“Ma’am, he’s right. We’re up against the odds here,” She fired her phaser rifle some more and took out three troops. “And they’re starting to activate transporter inhibitors. We’re going to be trapped if we don’t get out of here.”

Canção paused and had an idea. “All of you beam back now; I’ve got an idea.”

“No way, not without you.” Lornar protested.

Ignoring her, Canção disabled her transporter enhancer before ordering Triton to beam the assault teams off the Dominion ship. 

Seconds later, Thaustin crackled over her intercom. “Captain, what the hell are you doing?”

“It’s called poetic justice, Number One,” Canção answered as she hid behind the console and activated the last sequence to beam the colonists’ final set of transporter signatures to the Themis. At the same time, she beamed the final metagenic weapon into the cargo hold she was in. “And tell James it’s been fun!” 

The metagenic weapon then appeared in front of the Jem’Hadar troops. Their leader told them to cease fire. Canção noticed she needed to buy herself a bit more time, so she raised her weapon against it and stood out in front of the Jem’Hadar. Seeing that she needed another few more seconds before the transporter buffer was clear of transporter signatures. She smiled at them all. “Hello, boys,” She smiled at them. “I take it you realise what that is?” None of them replied, and then she saw the buffer had been emptied. She fired her weapon at the device. In that moment, a sense of satisfaction rolled across her face, and finally, she knew she had done her duty. She had no regrets. It was all fun!

Her weapon hit the device and exploded – instantly, what it contained spread like wildfire throughout the ship, targeting every piece of organic matter it came into contact with. 

USS Triton (NCC-80106)

“Fire torpedoes!” Thaustin commanded as the Triton flew across the Dominion battle cruiser and destroyed it. The young commander realised what his captain had just done and knew what he had to do to avoid any more of the weapons on that ship from falling into anyone else’s hands. Thaustin watched the enemy ship explode into a million pieces, and a lump hit the back of his throat. He felt a tear roll down his cheek. 

“Thank you, Captain Canção,” Thaustin said with a sigh of disbelief.