SEASON 2: EPISODE 04

CHANGE IN COMMAND: Part One

  Commander Core rushed to her fallen captain.  There was blood covering his face from a gash in the head, which was caused when part of the ceiling of the bridge fell in.  She felt his neck for a pulse and was relieved to find one.  She put her hand down next to the Captain’s body and felt something wet.  She brought up her hand and found it covering in blood, there was a growing puddle of blood next to the Captain.  She turned him over and saw a piece of the ceiling was lodged in his chest.  The Captain must have fallen onto it and impaled himself.

  “Commander, we’re getting an order to retreat,” said Lt. Commander Whitechapel.

  “About time.  Get us out of here!” She tapped her combadge.  “Bridge to sickbay, medical emergency, beam the Captain out of here!”

  “The transporters are down, Commander,” responded Dr. Murphy.  “I can’t spare anyone to come up there.  You need to bring him down here.”

  Commander Core started to lift Masters’ limp body up.  She was having difficulty with his size and the unstable situation the ship was in.  She looked to the nearest crew member for help.  “Ensign Cole, give me a hand.  Karak, take the helm!”

  The Ensign left his station and came to the Captain’s side.  When he got to the Captain’s side his face went ashen and he froze.

  “There is a problem, Commander.  The exit point is on the other side of the Keldon class cruiser,” reported Karak.

  The Commander had gotten the Captain’s arm over her shoulder and she was trying to get him up.  “We’re in no shape to battle through that Keldon!”

  “You see our dilemma.  The Pacific and the Gallant are heading in to help us but they have taken significant damage already.”

  “Tell them to get out of here.  We’ll find our own way out.  Come on Ensign, put some back into it.”  It was then that the Commander noticed that the Ensign wasn’t helping; he just stared at the Captain’s bloody body in terror.  “ENSIGN!”  The Ensign snapped out of his trance.  “Grab the Captain’s other arm and help me get him into the turbolift.”

  The Ensign nodded and did as the Commander ordered.  The two of them got the Captain to his feet.

  “The Pacific and Gallant are breaking off.  Course, Commander?” reported Karak.

  “Anywhere but here, Lieutenant Karak.  Just jump in a direction, hopefully they won’t expect us to do that and we’ll get a head start and be able to plot a new course home.  Whitechapel, you have the bridge.”

  They got the Captain into the turbolift.  “Return to your station, Ensign.  Assist Karak in plotting a new course out of Dominion space.”

  As the turbolift doors closed she saw space stretch as the ship went to warp.  The turbolift headed to sickbay and Commander Core lent back on the wall of the turbolift trying to calm herself down.  Her side was damp with the Captain’s blood and it would only get damper since his limp form was pressing her against the wall, she hoped that the Captain was going to be okay.

Wing Commander Maxine Benton strafed a Cardassian Tonga class cruiser.  The large Cardassian cruiser was an older design that had made a come back into the Cardassian fleet following the Klingon invasion two years previous.  After suffering heavy losses the Cardassian military had reactivated many of the retired Tonga class, the vessel was designed during a time of great Cardassian expansion and the design showed that.  Cardassian expansion and subjugating weaker races went hand in hand and the Tonga was an example of that, it was larger then the Galor but only had half the weapons, instead it could carry a large number of troops and supplies to support or start invasions.  The design was meant to cow weaker opponents, but if that didn’t work it was well armed enough to destroy vessels of less advanced species, but against a similar sized vessel from Starfleet or the Klingon fleet it wasn’t a match one-to-one.  But that didn’t really matter to the Cardassians, they were pack hunters and they preferred their vessels to travel in small groups.  The Tonga was also becoming a favourite target to the Starfighter Corps, it had poor weapons coverage and was a big lumbering target for the quick, agile fighters.

  “All fighters disengage.  The task force is retreating,” came the orders over Benton’s subspace radio.

  “Lead, the Swiftfire is on the wrong side of the battle,” pointed out her wingman.

  Maxine analysed her scanners and found this to be true.  The Swiftfire was cut off from the rest of the task force by several enemy ships.  Her sensors showed that a Keldon class cruiser was hammering at the Swiftfire mercilessly.  It also looked as if the Excelsior class USS Pacific and the Intrepid class USS Gallant were heading to assist the Swiftfire.

  Benton switched to her squadrons frequency.  “All fighters form on the Pacific and the Gallant.  We’ll give them a hand getting the Swiftfire through.”

  “Belay that order,” ordered the group’s commander, Captain Amphlett of the USS Renown.  “The Swiftfire is going to find her own way back.  Head towards the escape point now.”

  She wanted to argue, but she could already see the Pacific and Gallant breaking off.  Without the help of the larger vessels there wasn’t much she could do for the Swiftfire.  “As ordered, Captain.  All fighters, change course.”  Benton watched as the Swiftfire veered away from the Keldon before suddenly jumping to warp.  By the looks of it the ship wasn’t in good shape, she hoped that Captain Masters knew what he was doing.

  “We lost them,” reported Lieutenant Letac.

  “Are you sure?  You said that last time,” asked Ensign Cole.

  “I’m sure.  No one can track us in the Tong Beak nebula because of the interference from the nebula’s energy clouds, even if they saw us enter it, which they didn’t.  Not one of the pursuing ships was close enough to notice the change in course.  They’ll keep following the decoy probe.”

  “I hope it works, I’ve never had to use one before,” said Lt. Commander Whitechapel.  The raven haired tactical officer looked exhausted from the battle and the escape.  The Swiftfire was equipped with decoy probes, these probes were designed to be launched and travel at warp on a different course to the ship so to lure pursing ships away from the real ship.  It had a warp signature mask that would appear similar to the Swiftfire’s allowing the real ship to drop out of warp and hide or go on a different course.  The probe would travel for a set distance before it destroyed itself ending the trail far, far away from the real ship’s true position.  The Dominion and Cardassians would be searching the entirely wrong sector for the Swiftfire.

  “Full stop,” ordered Commander Core.  She had taken the Captain to sickbay and basically dropped him off before returning to the bridge.  She felt like everyone else, exhausted.  “I need a damage report done.  Keep the ship at red alert, shields and weapons on full.  Nikki, you have the bridge, I’m going to check on the Captain.