Bittersweet Victory

The Leviathan had onboard her a few new found friends. The Nuan ambassador, Major Opinger Maul was enjoying her stay. She, however, was also taking a liking to the young and charming Commander Harris who on the Bridge was directing the Bridge officers with an efficiency that would have marvelled even the Borg. Major Maul sat normally where Commander Harris did, however as Captain Devore was not onboard, Harris took the command chair and was getting quite comfortable with it, but he knew that that would end as soon as the Captain returned.

The ship's crew was on constant yellow alert. Ever since they entered Barien space, Harris kept them battle ready, but if she was scanned, then they would not necessarily seem to be threatening. The phaser banks were fully charged and the refractive shielding was at full power in hopes that the Barien colony may not detect their presence in their space.

"Commander. I feel that we should deviate from this course. The Bariens are sure to detect us," Major Maul suggested. She was young, but far from naive. She knew how to defend herself and her people. As one of the youngest officers in the Nuan defence forces, she has proven herself countless times against the Barien threat. Now she was trying to use her tactical expertise to prevent the Leviathan's destruction. Her actions were noted and genuinely taken into consideration by Harris.

"Major. The Leviathan has a special shielding that enables us to remain virtually unseen. So we can cross this expanse of space virtually undetectable. Helm... What is the distance to that colony ?" Harris asked.

"We are 250,000 km from it." Ensign Rhodes replied.

"Mr. Mason ? Has there been any activity from the surface ?"

"No sir."

"Very well steady as she goes Mr. Rhodes. Increase speed to full impulse and once we have cleared the sensor boundaries go to warp 5."

"Aye sir."

"You see Major no problem," Harris said.

The Major smiled softly as she sat back and enjoyed the sight of the planet so beautiful from the distance, but yet filled with such a deadly and brutal race of people. The planet was now at 135,000 km and they were almost beyond it boundaries when suddenly the Leviathan shook violently.

"Report ?" Harris ordered.

"Sir, four battle cruisers somehow managed to get in behind us." Captain Phanan yelled.

"Damn ! Shields up. Red alert! Get me a damage report."

"Damage to port nacelle and secondary dorsal section. There are hull breaches on decks 18-22. Emergency force fields are in place. Sir our warp core is off-line." Mason informed over the klaxon of red alert sirens and bells.

"I don't believe this. How did they get so close to us without us know ? Do they have a cloaking device ?" Harris asked banging his fist on the arm of the chair.

"No cloaking device Commander." Began Maul. "However they have a masking technology that hides their warp signatures and absorbs sensor pulses. They only way to detect them is by visual scanning and then they are within so many kilometres."

"We see that." Harris said rubbing his chin. "Fire aft phasers at the lead ship."

"Aye Commander." Phanan replied. The phaser fired a pulsating pulse that hit directly the engines of the lead ship. It now stood motionless. "Direct hit to the warp engines. They are disabled."

"Good shooting, Mr. Phanan." Harris wasn't comfortable calling Phanan Captain. Many times he called Jon Mr. Phanan or just Phanan but either way hardly ever used Captain Phanan. He felt that was reserved for one man, the one man who was not here.

The Leviathan rocked as another phaser blast from a Barien battle cruiser hit the impulse drive. The Bridge burst into smoke as overhead pipes cracked open from the built up pressure. Then an idea came to Harris. "All Stop !" He yelled, to the amazement of the entire Bridge crew. All turned and faced Harris who was busy on his arm chair console calculating figures and entering co-ordinates."Vent plasma from the nacelles and take all engines off line. Mr. Hansen."

[Go ahead !]

"Be ready to give all power to the impulse engines on my mark."

[Aye sir, but it isn't going to be a lot.]

"Just give me 120% to full impulse on my mark."

[Aye sir.]

"Mr. Rhodes. Use these co-ordinates on my mark, understood ?"

"Yes sir."

The Leviathan took a series of two more phaser blasts.

"Sir..." Mason said worriedly. "...shields down to 10%."

"That is fine Ensign. Mr. Phanan open me a channel to the lead ship."

"Channel open."

"Barien ship. This is Commander Grant Harris of the Federation Starship Leviathan. I wish to discuss terms for our surrender."

Phanan looked at Harris with an evil eye and took it upon himself to mute the com channel. "Commander Harris. How could you even think of surrendering. We haven't even fought."

"Mr. Phanan. I have no intention of surrendering. Arm 8 Mark IV torpedoes all with magnetic heads. On my mark drop them as mines." Harris said turning to the Marine.

"Fine. It will take two minutes to configure the warheads."

"Good."

On the screen was the Bariens. They were a large race bigger then most with a gray wrinkle face. Their eyes were an ice blue that seem to pierce right through to Harris' soul, a quality in the Bariens that intimated many of their conquered or even would-be conquered. Their uniforms were similar to a Cardassian with squared off shoulders, tampering at the waist. On the Bariens' right side was a long saber that hung to their knees. The length of the saber seem to denote the rank of office. This particular Barien had the longest. With a low, throat-filled voice, the Barien spoke.

"Commander Harris. We agree to your terms of surrender..."

"Wait a minute. We haven't discussed terms."

"Oh my apologies. However, I feel that you are in no position to deal therefore, we will be happy to seize you vessel and your crew," the Barien said arrogantly.

"I don't think so. To whom might I be speaking."

"Your conqueror, but if you must I am Yuig'le Tarok. Now lower your shields and prepare to be bordered."

"Tarok. I think not." Harris looked at Phanan. "End transmission. Execute Attack Pattern Harris Tango." Harris sat down quickly.

The Leviathan lurched perpendicular to it current position and jumped to full impulse. She began to spin on her X-axis dropping small but deadly droplets from her aft torpedo tubes. The torpedoes lay motionless as the Leviathan sped upward away from the Bariens. The tail ship began to pursue and as it did, the torpedoes became active and sped to the vulnerable underside of the Barien vessel. Five of the eight torpedoes detonated and the ship exploded blinding the lead ship.

The other ship, careful to avoid the deadly path, spun around and re engaged the crippled Leviathan. Even at full impulse, the Leviathan did not get too far. The Barien cruiser overtook her and fired her spread of decrum torpedoes.

"Evade those torpedoes, Commander or else." Maul yelled as she detected the decrum torpedoes.

"Evasive pattern Harris three." The Leviathan slowed to 1/8 impulse and banked to starboard as a the torpedoes passed by. "Major ? What happened ?"

"Those were Decrum torpedoes." Major Maul began. "They were weapons that my people were working on that we couldn't quite get to work. Somehow the Bariens got their hands on them. They are a weapon that is based upon Decria, a type of crystal that derives its power from external sources. When placed in a warhead and fired upon a unprotected ship with no shields, it would act as a "leach" weapon and drain the power from it till it was nothing more then a lifeless hulk. However if the vessel had shields, it would usually attach itself to the energy matrix of the shields and drain the power from the shield generator till it was powerless. Once the shields were down, it would then use the power-taken as an explosive. The stronger the shields, the more powerful the torpedo."

"Mr. Rhodes evade those torpedoes at all costs."

"Understood."

The Leviathan shook again as phasers from the tailing ship struck her.

"Commander. We have just lost shields."

"Transfer all available power to the shield generators."

"There is no more power to transfer."

"Fine. Helm. Turn into the tailing ship. Mr. Phanan target all weapons on the that ship."

"All set."

"Do it."

The Leviathan spun around and closed the gap to the battle cruiser. The Bariens saw the Federation ship coming at her and small silhouette didn't leave much to fire at, and as they were able to finally get a firing solution, a volley of enhanced Federation phaser fire and four quantum torpedoes impacted the bridge section causing a massive cascade of explosions throughout the Barien cruiser.

"Yes !" Rhodes said over the cheers of the Bridge crew. Suddenly there was a massive explosion to the right of the Bridge that sent Rhodes over his position and on to the floor of the Bridge.

"We have lost all power to the weapons array." Mason said as Harris stood up to tend to Rhodes.

"Re-route life support to the phaser array. I am not going out without a fight."

"That is suicide !" Mason yelled.

"Do it ! That's an order."

"All power has been re-routed."

"Fire."

The phaser blast hit the Barien cruiser which only seemed to anger the Bariens. They fired a volley of phaser fire that hit the Leviathan. The ceiling caved in just over Harris causing a beam to swing down toward him. One of the beams had a metal rod protruding from it that struck him and pierced his abdomen. He yelled in pain as the beam's momentum sent the rod through to the other side. Harris' body spasmed for a moment and then stopped.

"Commander Harris !" Phanan yelled as he saw Harris slump over, the hanging beam supporting Harris' lifeless body.

[Prepare to be boarded USS Leviathan.] Tarok said through the statically viewscreen.

Phanan shut down the picture on the viewscreen and moved over to where Harris had fallen over.

"MEDIC !" Jon yelled out. Realising that he wasn't onboard the *Utopia* anymore, he assessed the situation. Tapping his communicator pin, he called Commander Birchfield. "Doctor Birchfield, this is Captain Phanan. We have a medical emergency on the Bridge."

The reply came in statically over the communications device. Myn took off the Starfleet device and ran over to the Tactical station. Reaching under the panel, he declipped his Federation Marine helmet and affixed it to his head. He then lowered the communications microphone and turned the frequency over to the one used by Starfleet Communicators. "Robbie, Jack, come in."

[I.. here...... sir.] Bobbie's statically voice came back through the helmet's small speakers.

"Get to the Security office, and get your gear on. We're gonna have visitors."

[Aye.]

The signal closed. Knowing his apprentices duty schedules, both Jack and Robbie would be off duty right now, and probably in their quarters.

A loud and insistent beeping started from the Tactical panel. Jon went over to investigate it. "Damn it!" He yelled out.

Security reports indicated that the Bariens had started invading the ship, starting with the Engineering decks. Jon moved back over to where Harris was and quickly assessed the situation. "Mason, do we have enough power for a quick site to site transport ?"

Mason was rubbing a bump on the side of his head. "Yes sir. I have enough power for two people for one site to site transport."

"Beam me, Commander Harris and the thing poking through his gut to Sickbay."

"Aye." Mason replied.

*Hope this works...*

He slid his fingers over the operations control panel. The two dematerialised.

Jon and Harris rematerialised in Sickbay. Sickbay didn't look much better. Many people were entering, carrying other people. Jon hoisted Commander Harris onto a biobed, and Commander Birchfield approached quickly. "What happened ?"

"A bulkhead exploded, and this piece of metal rammed through the Commander's gut." Jon looked over Harris' lifeless body. The piece of metal had gone right through the middle of his torso, probably puncturing his intestines and stomach. "Take care of him Doc. I'm going to welcome our visitors to the Leviathan. Jon ran out of Sickbay, drawing his Type II phaser.

As soon as Jon ran into the Security office, he was greeted by charging up sound of compression rifles and the crashing together of Starfleet anti-phaser armour. Second Lieutenant's Jack Truman and Robbie Gleason were already dressed in their Federation Marines armour, with their backpacks slung over the rear armour plates. Robbie tossed Jon his armour, while Jack held out a compression rifle. Jon quickly threw on his armour and fastened the straps that held them on. He then put on the thigh armour, and took the backpack, slinging it over his back. Jon then accepted the compression rifle from Truman and took a quick count of how many security officers were available. The total count, 30, including Jon and his two Marines.

"What's the status ?" Jon asked.

"The bad guys have taken over decks 16-20. Decks 21 and 22 have hull breaches. Everyone got out in time though, and no casualties, however, it's uninhabitable. They also got Main Engineering."

A frown crossed Phanan's face as he quickly took inventory on how bad their situation was. "Can they get into the small arms locker on Deck 18 near Main Engineering ?"

"Impossible." One of the Security personnel chimed in. "A soon as the Bariens started to board, the we encrypted the main computer systems. Every terminal on those decks won't work."

"Good, there's a plus." Jon stopped to gathered his thoughts. "All right, here's what's going to go on. Deck 16 is mainly labs and residential areas. Deck 17 is more of the same. Once we get towards Decks 18-22 That's mostly Engineering equipment, deuterium storage, antimatter storage and the like. However, one of the computer cores run through those decks. Our main objective will be to get everyone of those decks. Secondly, close down those decks of the ship and contain the Bariens. Finally, take back over Main Engineering and the Computer core. No one screws with the Leviathan. You get me ?"

"WE GET YOU SIR!" Jon's two Marines yelled out in reply, attracting a few stares from and looks from the rest of the security personnel. "All right, let's move out. three teams of ten for now. I'll take out one group. Jack, you take Robbie and some more guys for another group. Ensign Jacobsen, you have the last group. Full deck sweeps, including personnel quarters. I want every Jeffries tube, closet, crawlspace and bathroom on this ship checked. Let's move out."

With that Jon led his group out and towards a Jeffries tube access that would lead to deck 16. Robbie and Jack led their group towards a turbolift tube that would lead towards deck 17. Ensign Jacobsen took his group to another Jeffries tube access that would lead towards Deck 18."

Jon opened the Jeffries tube access door slowly, extending the barrel of his compression rifle through the port. Seeing as though he didn't draw any fire, he exited and carefully peeked around the corner. Nothing. He waved forward for the rest of the security personnel to exit. "All right, break up into two teams of five. My team will cover the starboard side, your team will take the port side. Send in a communication to me every five minutes. Got it ?"

"Yes sir." The Ensign replied.

Jack Truman poked his head around a corridor wall on Deck 17. He then pulled back quickly. Robbie was about ten feet behind him with the rest of the security team. Jack waved to get Robbie attention, and then motioned that there were three Barien intruders in the corridor that intersected the one they were in. They appeared to be standing guard. It appeared that two of them were guards, the other one appeared to be a superior officer, by the way he was scolding the other two. The universal translator in their helmets hadn't figured out their language yet, but some of their words were starting to come through.

Jack then transferred over to the Marine channel. "Sir, we have three Bariens guarding a room. I'm figuring their holding hostages in there."

[Proceed to liberate the hostages and secure the deck. Then, get yourself down to Deck 19. Ensign Jacobsen's group is having some problems. We're going down there now. Decks 16 and 18 secured. Phanan out.]

"Get that ?" Jack asked.

"Loud and clear," Robbie whispered back.

Jack then motioned for the rest of the group to come over to where he was. "All right, here's what we're gonna do. We'll launch a smoke grenade in the corridor. Robbie and I will move in with our fog goggle helmet attachments on. We'll move in, take out the opposition, and move the hostages towards you. Once they're clear, get them onto a secure deck. Understood ?"

Everyone nodded. Robbie reached into his pack and pulled out his goggles. He then clipped them onto the upper part of his helmet, and flipped them down. Jack did the same. The security personnel got back against the wall and stayed out of sight. Jack reached onto his belt and pulled off a small cylinder. He pressed a button and pulled a pin out of the top of the canister with his thumb. He then released the button and tossed it into the adjoining corridor. Yelling was heard from inside the corridor. Then Robbie and Jack ran forward firing their compression rifles. The three Bariens dropped to the ground lifeless hunks. Stunned, not killed. As per Captain Phanan's orders, they would be more valuable alive for sources of information and hostages, then they would be dead.

Robbie reached onto his shoulder pad and pulled out a small magnetic box. He affixed it to the doors access panel and entered a security code. The door opened and the two rushed inside. Two more Bariens had their weapons pointed at a group of civilians and assorted personnel. Before the Bariens could lift their rifles Jack and Robbie dropped them to the ground.

"Let's go everyone. Time to get out of here." Robbie helped a Lieutenant off the floor. Everyone quickly followed out and around the corner where they were met by the rest of the security personnel. Robbie and Jack quickly followed.

"Get them up to Deck 12." Jack folded up his goggles. Robbie followed suit.

"Aye sir." One of the security officers replied. He lead the group of people to the turbolift shaft they had climbed down to get to deck 17. Robbie and Jack then looked at each other.

"Care to go for a stroll ?" Robbie asked.

"I'd be delighted." The two then started running down the corridor on their way to deck 19.

General Kar'Ok snapped to attention by the lights being shut off in his quarters. By this happening, it meant only one of two things. Either there was damage to the electrical circuitry on Deck 19 or someone had cut the power. The way he figured it, it was the latter of the two. He edged his way over to a wall in his temporary quarters where he had hung up his Bat'leth. He knew trouble was going to be coming his way and he wanted to be prepared for it. Suddenly, the doors to his quarters opened and two Bariens made their way into his quarters quickly, both wearing black. The doors closed.

The two Bariens hadn't shot him with any energy weapons which meant one thing, they were trained in hand to hand combat. *Finally, some worthy adversaries.*

Tactically, he was at a disadvantage. The enemies he was facing probably had some sort of night vision equipment to see in the dark of his quarters. He, however, had a warrior's skill and intuition. That with his keen sense of smell and hearing would help him. First, he made his way towards room's doors. They didn't open. Seeing as though he was going to have to hold his own here, he crouched into a fighting stance and didn't move, taking in the sounds of the room. He could faintly hear footsteps to his right. They started getting louder and faster. Waiting until the last second, he held up his Bat'leth to hear a muffled grunt, and then a heavy weight fell to the floor.

The razor sharp knife edge of the bat'leth had struck his opponent in the torso, leaving a deep gash. He slumped to the floor. Kar'Ok then listened again. Another set of footsteps was heard, but then they quieted. Kar'Ok positioned himself best he could to face the source of the sound. However, by then it became too late. The Barien sprinted forward, and dodged the Klingon's attack. He rolled on the floor and sprang to his feet behind the ageing Klingon. Then, with his knife he quickly inserted it into the Klingon's armpits, rupturing two major arteries and then in the jugular of Kar'Ok's neck. Kar'Ok leaned forward and then slumped to the ground. He finally mouthed out, "I die with honour." Before his last breath was exhaled.

The Barien gave a toothy grin. He was pleased with the kill. The Klingons had always been a tough competitor. He'd add this to his list of merits when he reported back to his superiors. He put his knife back in the sheath that was strapped near the small of his back. He then walked forward and opened the door to Kar'Ok's quarters. The Barien was greeted by the muzzle of a compression rifle in his face.

"Hello. Welcome aboard the Leviathan you Barien bastard." Jon swung the butt end of the rifle forward with lightning speed connecting with the side of the Barien's head.

The Barien fell to the floor unconscious. Jon nodded forward, and he and his security team moved into Kar'Ok's quarters, rifles raised. Jon lifted swung up the night vision goggles that were attached to his helmet to clear his view.

"Get the damned lights back on." Jon yelled out to an engineer that had followed Jon's security team across Deck 19. They had only made it across a third of the deck and were still working aft. Main Engineering had been secured, however, there was still Barien running rapid on deck 20.

Jon knelt down beside the Klingon General and felt for a pulse. Finding nothing, he gave a traditional low growl and finally a loud blood curdling scream, keeping Klingon tradition when a fellow warrior died. He then stood up and looked down at the General's dead body.

Jon then looked at the other security guards. "I had Klingons in my last platoon. They taught me about their traditions and how they handled things when one of their friends died. Kar'Ok wasn't a friend, but a fellow warrior. He deserved a warrior's farewell."

Jon solemnly exited the General's quarters and looked around. "Phanan to Truman, come in."

[Truman here sir.] Jack responded. They had caught up with Jacobsen's security team, and were making their way across the port half of the deck.

"General Kar'Ok is dead." Not a hint of emotion crossed Jon's voice, although he had learned to suppress it. During covert operations training, he had to learn to become someone that was completely the person he wasn't. He had to admit, becoming a Vulcan wasn't the easiest task, but he accomplished it. He also had to admire the fact that even when being harassed, or when troubling news hit them, they kept a blank face, stayed cool, and got on with their lives. There was a long moment of silence.

[Understood sir.] Jack Truman's response finally came through. [Yeoman Parker Dawson is dead also sir. We found him, well, what was left of him sir, on the fore parts of Deck 19.]

"How can you be sure it's him ?" Jon asked.

[His head was laying next to what was left of his body sir.]

Jon took a deep breath. "Understood. Keep moving across the deck. Phanan out."

Jon leaned himself up against the corridor wall. After a few moments of silence for the information he had just taken in, he raised his compression rifle up again. "All right boys, let's get moving. You two, take our visitor to the holding area. Everyone else, you're with me. It's time we got these bastards off our ship." A loud battle cry was heard from the rest of the group and they moved forward.

The threat was over. It had been nearly three hours, but the battle for the Leviathan was finally over. Jon Phanan, along with his Marines and Toran's security teams had cleared out the remaining deck and had amassed a total of 30 Barien prisoners. However, the death count didn't satisfy Jon at all. Six total deaths.

However, in comparison with that, they had rescued a total of nearly 100 hostages. Jon now stood in Sickbay, his helmet removed. Jack Truman and Robbie Gleason stood behind him their helmets under their left arms. They were standing next to the biobed that Commander Harris was laying on. His vital signs weren't the best, but holding steadily. He had been drifting in and out of consciousness. Harris started to stir slightly, and his eyes opened to narrow slits.

"Phanan," He said quietly. "Status."

*Always looking out for the ship.* Jon thought to himself. "Ship is secure. We've got 30 hostages for interrogation. We also scared off the other attacking ships."

"Good." He said weakly, looking around Sickbay. There was a beeping on his biobed monitor. His hear rate was starting to drop once again. Harris coughed.

Doc Birchfield ran over again with some medication and a tricorder. Taking a few readings, he injected Commander Harris with another set of medications and then lead Captain Phanan away from Harris' biobed for a moment.

"Captain Phanan, I doesn't look like Commander Harris is going to pull through on this one. The damage is too far gone."

"How long do you give him, Doc ?" Jon asked.

"Anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. No longer." Birchfield, with a disgusted look on his face, made his way back over to a few other patients. Jon walked back over to Harris' biobed. The readings on Harris' biobed went down again and started to beep. Coughing, he reached over and grabbed Jon's arm. "I need you *cough* to do me a favour."

"Yes sir ?" Jon asked, leaning over.

"Watch the ship for me *cough* when I'm gone, and get the Captain back. That's *cough* an order.... Captain." Harris released his grip and lay back again. The vital sign readings on the biobed monitor started to fail and lower once again. Birchfield ran over one last time to give medication, but Harris waved him off, knowing that nothing could help him now.

Commander Grant Harris lay back, closing his eyes for the last time. The vital sign indicator drifted into the red, and finally, a flat line indicator was reached. The beep was loud and consistent, indicating that his heart had failed. A few minutes later, the brain wave pattern indicator also went flat and red-lined. Commander Grant Harris, Executive Officer of the USS Leviathan had died. Jon reached over to the panel above Harris' head and pressed a few buttons turning the display off.

Jon stood, with his two Marines at the side of the biobed. His face showed no emotion, except for the solitary tear that had formed, and began to roll down his right cheek.

"PRESENT ARMS!" Jon yelled out. He, and his two Marines snapped to attention, giving Commander Harris' body a salute. The three stood with emotionless faces, however, it was clearly self evident that they were being torn apart on the inside. The Bariens had succeeded in removing the life of Commander Harris, but they didn't succeed in taking over the Leviathan.

Jon's eyes stared straight forward, not looking at the Commander's dead body. He, Jack and Robbie just simply stared ahead, like three living statues. Flashing his eyes left and right, Jon noticed that they were starting to attract attention.

"DISMISS ARMS !" The three Marine's arms snapped back to their sides with military precision. "ABOUT FACE!"

The three turned around on their left heels and snapped their right leg next to their left. "DISMISSED!"

The three exited Sickbay, knowing that they couldn't do anything to bring back their fallen crewmates. However, they could do something to get revenge for their deaths.

"It's time we bust some heads." Jon said to his two recruits that were following behind him.

"Aye sir !" They both responded in unison. They held the same frame of mind that Jon did right now. The three would make the Barien's pay for what they had done to the Leviathan.

Jon switched his helmet comm unit over to shipwide frequency. "Attention crew of the USS Leviathan. Commander Grant Harris has died in Sickbay. As per his orders, I will assume temporary command of this ship until Lieutenant Commander Toran returns with the Captain. Until then, I want the Engineers to begin repairs to the warp drive, weapons, and shielding systems. Science personnel, begin increasing sensor capacity so we can get a fix on the Hellcat's warp route. That is all."