"What was so important that it required my immediate attention Paul?" asked Tarik as he stepped off the turbolift.
"Zhis" replied Paul. He pressed a button and the viewscreen shimmered to life showing a distorted image of Max Vasser.
[Any Federation ship within range. Operation "Fusion Fun" is a no go. Repeat, Operation "Fusion Fun" has failed. Team member down. Requesting assitance of any...] The signal gave up and the image vanished.
"If I recall, zhe lambda flier iz ere and az tranzwarp. I could be zhere in zix ours."
"I'm not sending you Paul. I need you here."
"You ave to Tarik. Zhere iz no one else."
"Alright Paul, but take Ensign Tycho with you." said Tarik after a bit of thought.
"Ok, Sank you Tarik, I'll be back before you know it."
"Paul, be careful."
"I will".
Paul entered the shuttle bay behind Garek's office where the lambda flier was kept. I ope Garek won't mind me borrowing iz toy Paul thought as he climbed down the ladder onto the main deck.
"Enzign Tycho!" He yelled at the top of his voice.
A head emerged from inside the Lambda flier followed by a body. "Yes?" she asked hesitantly, shocked to see the officer who supposedly kept harrassing Commander Carter and was known amongst the Banshee squadron as a bit of a pervert.
"We're going for a ride." he answered as he boarded the lambda flier.
He entered the cabin and sat down at the tactical station to the left and motioned for Kim to take the helm. "You iz a better pilot zhan I am. Take er out."
"May I ask where we are going and why?"
"Becauze, your infamous Banshee Squadron ave been captured by zhe Jem H'adar. It iz up to us to save zhem."
The reality of what Paul had said sunk into Kim's head and she immediately sat down at the helm. Knowing her friends were in trouble, she was eager to help in any way she could.
"Set a course for co-ordiantes 024 mark 458, az fast az zhis sing can go."
"Aye sir" she said as the lambda flier left its private shuttle bay, turned and sped away into the distance in a blinding blue flash of transwarp energy.
On the six hou trip, Paul filled Kim in on the mission the Banshees had been sent on and brought her up to speed on the defenses of the relay station. They also came up with a plan to get Carter and any of the other captured Banshees out of the station, although it would be difficult to pull off.
The nearest Federation starship was the USS Lexington. The ship that was used to originally transport the Banshees to the relay station. It was a Nebula class and the perfect bait. In another hour, the lambda flier had reached the Lexingtons position and Paul was onboard discussing the rescue operation with the Captain.
Captain Asunder was hesitant to go along with the plan as he wasn't fond of the idea of using his ship as bait and this plan meant considerable damage would be done to his ship. None hte less, saving the lives of fellow officers eventually influenced his decision and he went along with it. Now all that was left to do was to carry out the plan.
The two ships both activated the refractive shielding and moved in toward the relay station. Sensors picked up only eight Jem H'adar battle bugs left to defend the station, but no sign of the banshees. This may not be as difficult as was originally planned, Paul was expecting a greater defense than this. The time was now and Paul set things in motion. "Lexington, you may begin." He siad through the comm system.
The Lexington had been set up with a dampening field to mask all life signs aboard (A field of Pauls design which he used during a battle with the Proktolans). This was activated and the ship went into warp. Within 2 kilometres of the station, all power was cut to the Lexington and she dropped out of warp and hung there lifeless in space. The Jem H'adar, curious as to what this ship was doing here with no life signs and no power sent five of the bugs to investigate.
Meanwhile, the lambda flier was sneaking quietly past with its refractive shielding up as Commander Carter had done only a few hours before.
The five bugs had now encircled the Lexington and were performing scans. Suddenly, the Lexington sprang to life. The deflector array began to glow brightly. After only a few more seconds, the deflector dish emitted a large beam and as the thrusters on the port side activated, the Lexington began spinning, effectively creating a form of flamethrower. The Battle bugs didn't have a chance to react and were vaporised on contact with the beam. Once they were all destroyed, the deflector dish fissled out and became completely inactive. Inside, the immense amount of power used to perform that maneoveur blew out consoles and bulk heads inside the ship.
The remaining three battle bugs headed straight for the Lexington which was now in not much of a position to fight as they needed time to recover enough power for shields. This is where Paul and Kim came in. The Lambda Flier arced around behind the three battle bugs. A volley of mini quantum torpedoes took out the first, another volley took out the second. Paul was just about to launch another volley to take out the third when six blue phaser beams sliced through the hull and blew up the ship. Three small ships flew through the flames of the explosion and came to a halt along side the lambda flier.
[Garek? Is that you?] Crackeled a voice over the com channel.
"No, zhis i Lieutenant Deveraux." Paul answered.
"And me!!" added Kim.
[Kim, what are you doing out here?] asked Max.
"Paul needed a pilot and I was the only one around."
[I was impressed with the way you used the Lexington like that.] said Sam.
"So am I" answered Paul proudly. "I read about zhat maneouveur in zhe tactical logs of anoser ship. I can't remember which one now. And with a few alterationz of my own..."
[Ok, enough of this, how are we going to rescue Lee?] asked Max.
[And detonate the bomb at the same time?] asked Jo.
"Leave zhat to moi." said Paul. He had had everthing planne dout for any eventuality, and he knew exactly what to do. "Max, you, zhe banshees and zhe Lexington get zhe eck out of ere. You don't want to be around when zhis sing goes off.
[But...]
"No buts mon amis! Zhis iz zhe way its going to be, now get out of ere!"
No more arguing was heard, and the three ships that were along side headed off into the distance.
"Kim, can you get a transporter lock on Carter?"
"No, their shileds are up"
"Try it now." said Paul after tapping in a few commands to the computer.
"I've got a lock! How...?" Paul simply tapped his nose and started getting into an environmental suit. "Your not going out there?"
"I am mon amis, and don't try and stop me. Someone as to retrieve zhat fighter and blow zhe bomb. Iz zhe bomb still in place?"
Kim scanned the station. "Yes, it's still attached to the core."
"Right" said Paul walking over to the Airlock. "Beam Carter aboard and zhen get out of ere and don't look back. Head straght for SB901"
"Sir"
"Do it Ensign!"
Kim looked at Paul with understanding and looked back to the controls. "Good luck" she said.
Paul opened the airlock doors and floated out into space. He maneouvered himself with the suits thrusters downward toward the Banshee fighter which was still attacehd to the hull of the relay station. He looked behind him and saw the Lambda flier moving off. It was just him now. He found his way toward the cockpit of the fighter and clambered in. He closed the canopy and repressuirsed the cockpit. He removed the helmet and began powering up the fighter. Luckily, the bomb was in a diret line from te hole in which Carter cut to enter the station, other wise, this wouldn't have worked and Paul himself would have had to go in.
The fighter powered up and moved off the hull. Paul backed it off until it was at maximum phaser range and lined up perfectly with the hole in the hull. Paul sat there for a moment, knowing that the next thing he would see would be the ceiling of SB901's sickbay. He took a deep breath and fired, quickly turned the ship around and activated the warp burst.
The phaser was perfectly aimed and cut directly into the heart of the relay stations power core connecting with the fusion bomb placed by Commander Carter. The station went up in a blinding flash. The explosion was massive and the lone Banshee fighter was consumed in the flames of the explosion, however, within only a second, the fighter shot out at warp 33.