Preparing to Attack (Part One of Two)

The Hellcat dropped out of warp, several seconds after they had detected that the rogue Jem'Hadar vessel was reaching Regial Seven system. They'd reduced their own speed gradually so as not to provoke a reaction when they dropped out of warp. They'd still be able to track the vessel and remain both cloaked and undetected.

"They're definitely heading into the asteroid field." Ensign Vasquez announced.

"Mister Shale, take us in a little closer." Lieutenant Commander Barker ordered.

As they grew closer, they could see the mass of stellar debris scattered out in front of them. The systems former sun going nova had created the asteroid field. The result was that those planetary bodies not vaporised by the expanding atomic explosion had been shattered into thousands of smaller pieces.

"Commander, I'm picking up several sensor reading that I can't fully explain." Vasquez announced. "It looks like the after effects of matter-antimatter explosions, but they're scattered across the outer edge of the belt. They're also too small to have come from any ship."

"Let me have a look." Chu suggested, tapping a few buttons on the console beside him. He pondered the sensor scans for a few moments. "I agree, these are definitely the after effects of some kind of M-AM explosion. It looks like these explosions occurred over a wide area of the asteroid field and they appear to be spread evenly, strange."

"Could have been a mine-field." Lieutenant Shale suggested. "If the mines had anti-matter warheads, that could explain the sensor reading."

"True." Chu commented. "But we'd expect to see a concentration of explosions, these appear to be about ten kilometres apart. Plus, I'm not picking up any other debris in the field, if the mines were detonated, then something must have caused them to go off."

"Unless they were detonated by whoever put them their in the first place." Vasquez suggested.

"But why destroy your own defences, especially when you know that you're about to be attacked." Chu stated. "There must be another answer."

"Commander, I'm picking up some debris." Vasquez suddenly announced. "It looks like a small vessel, possible a shuttle."

"Can you get a positive ID on the vessel." Chu asked.

"It appears to be of Dominion design" Vasquez replied. "It's a battle-bug, but I'm not picking up any power of life-sign readings. It appears to be just drifting away from the asteroid field."

"Helm, set an intercept course." Chu ordered.

Ten minutes later, they were alongside the wreckage of the Dominion vessel. It was indeed a battle-bug, designed to be a fast, manoeuvrable and deadly ship. During the Dominion war in the Alpha quadrant, these vessels had proved to be the Dominions greatest asset, until the Federation began to produce smaller warships, such as the Sabre class and the Defiant.

"What's the status of the ship ?" Chu enquired.

"It's been hit by polaron beams." Vasquez reported. "They were hit by Dominion weapons. No life-signs and minimum power. Their propulsion, shields and weapons have all been hit and destroyed, whoever did this didn't want them going very far."

"Anything we can use ?" Chu asked.

"I've managed to access their computer core." Vasquez replied. "Downloading it now…. Done. Let's see what we've got."

Ensign Vasquez was quite as she working on the data that she'd downloaded. Occasionally she'd stop as if she'd found something, then carry on. Finally she spoke once more.

"Commander, I think I know what those explosions are all about." She announced.

"Carry on." Chu suggested.

"The last entry in the ships systems says that they have managed to escape the rogue base and are heading away from them. They've transmitted the location of the base to the Dominion fleet command, destroyed the sensor grid and disabled the weapons platforms."

"The explosions, they're a sensor grid." Shale remarked.

"Makes sense." Chu suggested. "The radiation in the asteroid field would make detection of any approaching vessel difficult from the base itself. But if you placed a series of small sensor arrays along the outer edge, then you'd have a pretty good sensor net. By disabling the sensor station, you'd effectively blind the base from an incoming attack."

"Is there anything else ?" Chu asked.

"Not a lot." Vasquez replied. "The message was sent a couple of hours before the one that was sent to Mirisam V. I've got the schematics of the base here and a few access codes."

"Let's look at the schematics." Chu suggested.

The holographic viewscreen dropped down and an image of the base appeared on the screen.

"The base is carved out of one of the larger asteroids in the centre of the field." Vasquez started to explain. "It's about three hundred metres high and six hundred metres long. The upper hundred metres appears to be a hanger bay area, cut straight through asteroid with strong shields at both ends. I've got access codes to raise and lower both of these shield systems, which should work, unless they've changed to codes."

"What about the rest of the base ?" Chu asked.

"The lower hundred metres appear to be mainly power systems and cargo space." Vasquez continued. "The central decks are the main area of the base and appear to be divided into four areas. We have command areas immediately below the hanger decks, then what appear to be barracks. We've got two decks set-up as a huge holodeck below them and then the science and technology decks. It looks like they've got a small cloning facility."

"Contact the Taurus on a secure channel." Chu ordered. "We'll send them the data we've acquired, it could prove useful."

"Channel open." Vasquez announced. "It's audio only."

"USS Hellcat to USS Taurus." Chu announced. "What is your status and ETA ?"

[Hellcat, we are still enroute to Regial Seven.] The voice of Captain Taybar responded. [Our ETA is one hour twenty three minutes. What is your position ?]

"We have followed the Jem'Hadar back to Regial seven." Chu replied. "However, we've stumbled on some valuable information, which we think you will find useful. We've discovered a Dominion vessel adrift close to the asteroid field and we think that the Dominion spies within the rogue group may have used it to escape. They appear to have destroyed a sensor network that would have detected the arrival of any ships into the area. We've also recovered a schematic of the base, which we're transmitting to you now."

[Well done.] Aki replied. [Remain on station and await our arrival. Major Phanan will be very interested in these schematics, it should help him prepare his troops. Taurus out.]

The channel closed and Chu sat back. In just over an hour, they would be joined the Taurus and then attack the Jem'Hadar base. In a few hours this could all be over.

"Ensign Vasquez." Chu said. "What are the bases defences like ?"

"The schematics show no defences on the base at all." Vasquez replied. "Apart from the shielding there are no weapons systems on the base itself. There are however a number of Battle-bugs stationed on the base, plus the rogue Jem'Hadar vessel."

"I'm sure the Hellcat and the Taurus can handle a few Battle-bugs." Chu suggested.

"What about the weapons arrays the data we collected ?" Shale suggested.

"Got them." Vasquez replied. "Two Cardassian weapons platforms, programmed to 'patrol' the asteroid field. From the data we've got, they could still be active, the Dominion spies appear to have only been able to disable, not destroy them."

Let's go and have a little look shall we." Chu suggested. "Mister Shale, take us into the asteroid field."

"Commander, long-range sensors are picking up several vessel approaching this system." Vasquez stated." They're coming from Dominion space."

"How long until they reach here ?" Chu enquired.

"About three hours." Vasquez replied.

"Understood." Chu announced. "Helm, take us into the asteroid field, let's go hunt down these weapon arrays. It looks like every second is going to count."