"Red Alert!" Garek stepped down from the CO's chair on the command deck of the station. Ensign Michael Kalvin sat at the Operations Station to the right of the chair. Lieutenant Sovick was at the Tactical Station. Chief Anderson stood sentry near the turbolift, phaser rifle in arm. He looked over the bridge with the eyes of a hawk. Garek patted the Type II phaser at his side almost instinctively.
"Here comes the Arizona," Kalvin called out. With a flash of light, the Arizona dropped from warp. There were noticible scorch marks on her hull, indicating her fight with enemy craft. "Captain Wallace is hailing."
"Put him through."
[Commander, good to see the station's in order.]
"I'm surprised you'd expect anything less of me Captain," Garek replied with a grin on his face.
[Undoubtly,] Richard replied. Garek didn't have to be an empath to pick up the concern on Wallace's face. Whatever was following him was going to be big. [I'm going to be reboarding the station. Commander Kelly is going to take command of the Arizona. I need you in Engineering. We're going to need as much power as you can churn out of this station.]
"Aye sir. Shouldn't be a problem. 901 out." The channel closed. "Mike, beam the Captain over. Sovick, weapons to full power. Extend the rapid fire torpedo turrets, and bring the Type X phaser arrays to full power." He through a glance over to the engineering panel manned by a young Bajoran ensign. "Ensign Rendelli, watch the shield systems. They're very tempormental on this station."
"Yes sir Commander. You can count on me."
"Good." Garek made his way to the aft of the command deck, and onto the turbolift. Next stop: Main Docking Bay
Garek looked over the Mystique as the light escort slid into a docking birth. The docking collar extended, and the indicator showed good air flow between the base and the ship. The airlock then opened, and Amelia stepped through the opening. "I didn't expect a welcoming party," Amelia stated coldly. She wasn't too happy about the ruling that Garek gave her a few moments ago.
"We can argue about this later. Captain Wallace has just beemed over, and the Hawke transports and runabouts landed while you were docking. Right now, we've got some more serious problems."
"Such as?"
"Amelia, I'd like you to meet Farris Connor." Garek extended his hand over to the female next to him. She was slightly shorter then Garek with brown hair draped over her shoulders. She wore a starndard civilian engineer's jumpsuit, and had a PADD in her hand. "She's a civilian engineer who's volunteered to assist us with the ensuing battle."
"Nice to meet you," Amelia said, shaking Farris' hand.
"Likewise," Farris replied.
"I'm going to need both of you to work together." Garek looked at the two. "We've detected the enemy space carrier in sector Seven Alpha Romeo. The main attack fleet will be arriving within the next half hour. At that time, the Sutherland, Midway, and Banshee Squadron will engage the fleet and attack. Captain Wallace is going to stay behind and lead from the station. I, on the other hand will be on the Lambda Flier. What I want the two of you to do is get the Mystique ready to go for another run."
"This coming from the guy who said that the Mystique wouldn't be going out again." Amelia crossed her arms infront of her chest.
"From what Captain Wallace has told me of the situation, we're going to be in some serious trouble if we don't have all the firepower we can muster out there. Farris is going to help you on repairs to the Mystique." Garek motioned with his head out the docking bay window where a few engineers in EVA suits were already installing a new shield generator. "We've already got teams replacing your damaged shielding and weapons systems. Farris will help you bring your engines to full capacity."
Amelia looked over the younger woman. "Her? She barely looks like she barely looks old enough to be a cadet."
"For your information," Farris started, "I'm one of the best structural and electrical engineers this side of the Alpha Quadrant."
"Really? So I guess that means you were able to distinguish a shuttle from a battle cruiser by the age of 18 then huh?"
"Both of you knock it off!" Garek yelled out, seperating the two. "Amelia, your top priority is to get your ship ready in..." Garek checked his chronometer, "Only 24 minutes now. I suggest you get to work."
"Aye aye sir," Amelia mocked. She headed back into the ship.
"Erg..." Farris started after Amelia left.
"Don't worry about her. Do as much as you can, and report to the Lambda Flier's hanger. I'm going to need the extra help out there."
"Alright. See you then." Farris made her way into the Mystique. Garek made his way to the hanger.
"Phaser cannons?"
"Charged and set." Amelia checked the co-pilot's display board as Garek read off the systems.
"Torpedo launcher?"
"Loaded and armed."
"Targeting systems?"
"Set."
"Sheilds?"
"Charged and ready."
"Buttfor."
"What's a buttfor?" Farris looked to her left side at Garek, confused.
"For sitting, silly." Garek grinned, and reached over to his side. The Lambda Flier began hovering, and he retracted the landing skids. "Commander Loran to SB901."
[SB901. Go ahead Garek.]
"Rich, I'm ready to head out."
[Acknowledged. Permission granted. Ms. Donaghy is waiting on station.]
"Copy. Garek out." Garek threw the thrusters full forward, and manuevered past the docking births out the space doors. The sensors indicated the Mystique was "hovering" under one of the commerce pylons with only minimal systems activated. She wanted to give a full element of surprise. "Flier to Mystique. Come in."
[Mystique here. Yes Commander?]
"The Sutherland and Midway are orbiting over the southern polar axis of New Canada. When the battle begins, I want you attacking with them, unless further contacted by Captain Wallace."
[Alright. Where will you be?]
"I'll be with the Banshees. Flier out." Garek closed the channel and went to full impulse, rapidly closing in on New Canada. Soon enough, five menacing silouttes became evident over the horizon.
[Hark! Who goes there!] It was Jo Schmidt.
"A friend," Farris replied.
[Oooh. Listen to that Kim. Garek's got another girl in the cockpit.] That time it was Max Vasser.
Garek grinned. "Something I should know about?" Farris asked.
"Don't worry about it," Garek replied. Suddenly, a warning klaxon went off on a panel to the side of Farris. "Let's get ready to rumble..."
The attack group had arrived. There was a problem, however. Garek only detected eight of the twelve vessels that were expected to attack. He threw the fighter around on it's medial axis, and slammed hard on the impulse drive. The Flier shot forward. He began heading towards the ships at an increasing speed.
"Shoot them!" Farris yelled out.
"Can't. Not yet. 'Only fired when fired upon.'" Garek said, paraphrasing Captain Wallace at a previous briefing. As the range between the vessels closed, Garek saw the bright purples and blues of the Jem'Hadar vessels light up. Then, one fired, scoring a hit on the Flier's dorsal sheilds.
"Shields holding at 95 percent," Farris called out.
[Arizona, Banshees, and Lambda Flier attack at will.] It was Captain Wallace.
Almost, seemingly out of nowhere, the Banshees flew past at blazing speed in attack formation. The group fired two blue spheres a piece and pulled up and away from the Jem'Hadar vessel. The first set of spheres impacted on the shields, while the others weaseled their ways in through the distorted shields, and hit the hull. Orange and red chemical fires shot up from the vessel. Garek pulled up and around, and Farris launched two micro quantom torpedos, and fired the phaser cannons repeatedly. The torpedos impacted. One struck a torpedo launcher, the other, Garek assumed, struck just aft of the launcher in the weapons bay. The chain reactions of explosions crippled the ship, and it finally exploded in a horrendous blaze of fire. Debri from the vessel impacted on the surrounding Jem'Hadar and Hirogen vessels which were flying in close formation.
[Commander, looks like you scored a kill on that one,] Lieutenant Lee Carter came in over the comms system.
"I'll mark it as an assist," Garek replied. "My torps were just the exclimation point." Garek grinned, but it slowly disappeared as the last four ships that were expected dropped from warp. They were Son'a Dreadnaughts. They were equal in size to that of the Hirogen ones, and dwarfed the size of the Jem'Hadar ship they had just destroyed. "This is not going to be good..."
An orange torpedo launched from the Son'a cruiser and headed right for the Flier. Garek began manuevering out of the way, but it wasn't enough. He could tell this one was going to hit, and when it did, it wasn't going to be pretty. Suddenly, the Sutherland flew inbetween the path of the torpedo and the Flier, absorbing the blast. The Sutherland returned fire with her Type X phaser arrays and quantom torpedo launchers.
"Looks like luck is on our side," Farris commented as she moved towards the aft engineering station to draw more power from the Flier.
"Hopefully so." Garek slammed the throttle down hard, and switched flight control and targeting over to manual. His flightstick popped up from the armrest in the right console, and a targeting HUD became superimposed on the viewport. The Lambda Flier within a matter of seconds transferred over from a shuttle over to a full blown fighter. To his left and right sides were status displays giving sensor readings, target scan readouts on his current target, warning systems, counter measures. Everything was now at his disposible. "I suggest you strap yourself in Farris. The internal dampners sometimes have a hard time catching up with the manuevers I preform."
"I'll keep that in mind." Farris watched as the Flier's orientation changed. The viewport was now occupied by one of the Son'a dreadnaughts. Over the image, red boxes appeared indicating vital areas from past experiances with the Son'a. Garek skillfully fired phasers and ion cannons at these systems, attempting to puncture the shields and disable systems. The Flier was rocked by a phaser blast. She slid the chair along it's small rail system towards the other end of the panel and began to reroute power and make repairs. Garek turned, and started heading towards the station.
"Come on Rich... Come on..." Garek said quietly to himself. As if the Captain had heard him, the station awakened from its dormancy. The phaser array running along Section 2 and the two visible Commerce Pylons sprang to life. Three massive red beams lashed out at the enemy vessels. From underneath the docking bay, blue spheres indicating quantom torpedos fired. Like a swarm of bees, the torpedos flew past the Flier. They then began to seek out their target and slam themselves into the shields. The launchers on the Commerce Pylons followed suit, and the seemingly harmful station became a messenger of Valhala. The Battle for New Canada had begun.