Cat and Mouse

In the Captain's ready room, Devore was sitting at his desk. He was burdened with the idea of to fight and not to fight then it hit him- the probe! Devore jumped out of his seat and ran on to the Bridge. "Have you launched the probe yet ?" He asked frantically.

"Yes sir. Just launched it." Lieutenant Toran said from tactical. "Is there a problem ?"

"Damn! It is just that the probe will tip off the Dominion fleet that we are in the area."

"Sir, don't worry. I took the liberty of installing the probe with a modified refractive shielding. It won't be detected." Toran said with a smile.

Devore looked at Toran and smiled. Relieved Devore walked to his chair and sat down. "You know something old man ? You are fine officer ! Thank you."

Toran smiled. "I figured that you didn't want to be detected to hide us I did that."

"Good thinking."

Devore sat in his chair. He quickly looked over status reports, as the computer at tactical starting to go off.

"Sir. There is information coming back from the probe." Toran announced.

"Fine. Patch the information directly to the conference room. I want all senior officers there in five minutes." Devore ordered. "Oh and notify Commander Harris."

"Yes sir." Lieutenant Toran relayed the message from the captain and a few minutes later, Harris and Rashad emerged from the conference room.

"Well you two, turn right around. I have called a conference," Devore said.

In the conference room, all the senior officers were present. Commander Harris sat in his chair going over the data gathered from the probe and Lieutenant Rashad gave Harris an icy stare that Toran noticed immediately. Lieutenant Shaka was there ready to give the Captain her status reports, as was Lieutenant Hansen. The only person missing was Lieutenant Barker.

"Okay.. we need to get started..." Devore said. Just as he did the door opened and Lieutenant Barker came in. He was breathing heavily.

"I am sorry sir. I was in cargo bay three going over something about Clairidge's experiments." He said taking his seat.

"Okay," Devore said looking over his officers. They were a fine assortment of Starfleet's finest. All of them have proven their loyalty to the ship and to its Captain and Devore couldn't have asked for a better crew. "Mr. Harris. What have you got ?"

"Sir, the Dominion fleet is directly ahead about five light years. The only way we can go is through them."

"What is the battle readiness of the Leviathan ?" Devore asked.

"She is ready to fight, but I recommend against it," Toran said. "Against one or two Jem'Hadar, no problem even three, but the combined Cardassian and Dominion, we would put up a good fight, but in the end, we would lose."

"Agreed Captain." Rashad said getting over her hatred for Harris. "We are in no real shape to engage them in a fight."

"Well I didn't intend on fighting them, Lieutenant. I actually agree with you. We are in no condition to have an armed conflict when we are totally outnumbered, but is it possible to slip right through them ?" Devore asked.

After a moment of contemplation, Barker spoke up. "The refractive shielding, sir ?"

"Yes Chu. If we diverted power from non essential system to the shield emitters, would that boost the effectiveness ?" Devore asked.

"It is conceivable. The more power to the shields the stronger they would be, so I should expect so."

"However sir, we would not be able to use the SS drive." Shaka said. "The stream wake would give us away. We would have to go past them by conventional means."

"The warp engines are online and ready to go, Captain." Hansen interjected.

"Very well. Boost the refractive shields with power from all nonessential systems. I want weapons at the ready. Go ahead and adapt the torpedoes with the refractive shielding so that if we are pursued we can drop them off as mines. The new shielding should by us time to slip by and make it harder for the Dominion to avoid them once they are detected." Devore ordered.

"Consider it done," Toran said.

"T'Kul? What do we know about this section of the Beta Quadrant ?"

"Just that there are very few M Class planets within twenty-five light years. The Klingons were not much for mappers so all we do know is that they did come through here but didn't pursue much else."

"Meaning ?"

"There is nothing known to us. We just have to see what is out there."

"Okay. Let's get to work. Dismissed.

"Jem'Hadar 50000 km bearing 290 mark 1." Ensign Michaels said from Ops.

"Very well. Go to gray mode. Red alert. Bridge to engineering?"

[Go ahead Captain.]

"Everything ready done there Mr. Hansen?"

[Aye sir. Engines read warp 1]

"Very good. Bridge out. Mr. Ambrose switch to maneuvering thrusters. I want to slip by them, not run !"

"Aye sir."

The entire ship's power systems were shut down except for life support and critical systems. Devore didn't want any power signature to reveal the presence of the Leviathan.

"Mr. Barker. Status on the refractive shielding." Devore asked.

"All systems operating within normal parameters Captain." He replied.

"Good. Old man, I want regular updates as to the location of the ships."

"Understood."

"Captain, " Ensign Michaels said. "Jem'Hadar 'battle bugs' in range."

"'Battle bugs ?' Mr. Michaels." Devore said with a smile.

"I figured that we should do something to liven the atmosphere."

"Cute. Okay Lieutenant Toran on screen."

The 'Battle bug' as coined by Ensign Michaels appeared on the view screen. They were stationary orbiting a larger Galor class Cardassian Warship.

"Mr. Ambrose. I want you to slowly alter course so that we just skirt their sensor range," Captain Devore ordered.

"Uh sir ? What would that be ?" Ambrose questioned.

"Set course, 114 mark zero," Commander Harris said punching a few buttons on his console.

"Aye sir." Ambrose acknowledged.

The Leviathan banked slightly and headed away from the fleet.

"Lieutenant Toran.. keep an eye on the ranges. At the slightest inkling of them detecting us I want to know," Devore said looking over his shoulder.

The maneuvering thrusters propelled them slowly approximately 100km per seconds at full thrusters. At this rate they would never reach a safe distant. Devore re-evaluated the situation and determined that it may be safe to go faster. "Mr. Ambrose. Increase speed to 1/4 impulse. However do it gradually."

"Yes sir."

"Sir ?" Harris said leaning over speaking softly. "Is that safe ?"

"I think so, Grant we are far enough away to run if we need to. Lieutenant Shaka ?"

"Yes sir ?"

"Have the SS drive ready to engage on my mark."

"No problem sir. The drive seems to be ready to go !"

"Good." Devore punched in to his side console 000 mark two. "Mr. Toran, tell me if these co ordinates I just entered plots a course just behind that fleet."

Lieutenant Toran quickly looked over the flight plan and saw the tactic. Devore was planning to draw attention far away if detected, then return to their very back door. "Yes sir."

"Great." Devore said getting up and walked to Lieutenant Shaka's station. "Shaka.. let me ask you something. Is it possible that while we are in the stream to leave something behind ?"

"Sir ?" She asked curiously.

"Like mines ?"

"Well I don't know. It has never been done. I would think that it might be all right for us, but the residual 'wake' would be longer with an object remaining. "

"For how long ?"

"Well the undisturbed wake would last about at the most one minute, but an object 'dropped' off would last maybe five."

"Would it reveal our position ?"

"It could, but I don't know."

"Captain," Lieutenant Toran said. "A battle bug has left the fleet and is heading our general direction."

Devore rushed back to his seat. "Lieutenant Barker. Have we been detected ?"

"We shouldn't be. We are well beyond 25000 km."

"I don't know." Commander Harris said. "It sure looks like it is heading straight for us."

"Mr. Toran.. Prepare three of those torpedoes equipped with refractive shielding. On my command I want you to drop them as mines."

"Aye sir."

Devore transmitted the coordinates he had entered earlier to the helm. "Mr. Ambrose. Set course from the data I sent you."

"Course laid in."

"Lieutenant Toran. Drop one torpedo, Mr. Ambrose change course and speed to Warp 1. Engage!"

The Leviathan turned back toward the fleet and wisped away, in its path torpedo/mine laid in waiting. The Battle Bug noticed the distortion and went to investigate, but just as it identified what it was and made visual contact, it magnetically attracted itself to the ship and detonated on it port nacelle. The Battle bug exploded before it had a chance to react. The Dominion Fleet detected a linear wake that ran along the back side of the Cardassian battle ship as it went to identify it, the same happened. The hidden torpedoes/mines were drawn to the ablative armor of the Battle bugs and without the shield up, were vulnerable to the high yield torpedoes. They ships exploded one by one, leaving only the warship and one battle bug to fend off possible attackers. On board the warship, crew members tried to determine what just happened. All they knew that the turbulent wake just wiped out the Phantom Fleets' defensive/offensive capabilities in a matter of seconds.