The Battlefield

"Talk to me Jack." Marine Captain Jon Phanan said from the command chair.

The Leviathan was still floating in Barien space, awaiting yet another attack from Barien craft. Long and short range sensors were online, giving the Leviathan an idea of what was coming at them. However, with no propulsion, it wouldn't be able to do them much.

"Reports coming in. All decks are ready. Main Engineering reports that the warp drive is almost operational. Weapons systems are standing by." Second Lieutenant Jack Truman was filling in for Jon at the Tactical station.

Jon tapped his commbadge. "Lieutenant Hansen, What's the holdup ?"

Jonathan Hansen lay on his back, staring up at the underside of a computer console. It was laying in pieces and he, like an old mechanic, was swearing each time he put it together and it wouldn't work. He then tapped his commbadge. [Captain, the main control console in Engineering is acting up. Give me some more time to get it working.]

*Damn these Marines. Always so pushy. *

"Captain, long range sensors detecting another Barien vessel coming in. This one is larger then the previous ones we've encountered." Commander Chu Barker looked up from the science console.

"How long till they get here ?" Jon asked.

"I'm giving them another half hour before they come within weapons range." Chu replied.

"Perfect." Jon tapped his commbadge again. "Mr. Hansen, you have ten minutes to get that thing operational."

[Understood.] Came Hansen's slightly agitated response. Jon had to give the man credit, however. During the past three days, he and his teams were able to get the weapons, shielding, and sensor systems operational. However, the warp drive was being temperamental and wouldn't start up. Hopefully, this console would be the last of the things needed to be fixed to get the warp drive running.

"Jack, what's the weapons status ?" Phanan enquired.

"Shield maximum output is at 94 percent and climbing. The phaser cannon is operational, along with the phaser arcs. One of our four forward facing torpedo tubes is broken down. Our rear burst torpedo launcher is operational."

Well, if we don't get moving, at least we can slug it out. Jon sat silently in the command chair, thinking things over. He had placed Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Birchfield in as Executive Officer when he wasn't in Sickbay. However, right now he was in Sickbay, still addressing the wounded. Jon had assigned Second Lieutenant Robbie Gleason to help out the overworked medical teams as well.

Then a slight shudder could be felt throughout the ship, and the hum of the warp core could be heard. A low rumble made it's way through the floor panels of the vessel, and eventually faded away. [Captain, the warp drive is operational.]

Jon smiled. "Good work Mr. Hansen." He then addressed Lieutenant Shaka. "Ms. Shaka, do we have the ion trail from the Hellcat's warp drive ?"

"I'm getting the feed from Commander Barker now." Shaka's hands flew over the panels of the Conn, receiving information, and transferring it over into co-ordinates."We're ready to go."

"Engage at warp 8. Let's go get our friends back."

"Aye sir." Shaka slid his hand over a slider panel bringing up the desired warp velocity, and then tapped the ignition key. With that, the Leviathan jumped to warp in pursuit of their comrades.

A beep sounded. Jon's attention deviated from his novel, and he sat up on his bunk. WHACK! His head slammed into the ceiling above him. He rubbed his head. Gotta remember that. "Who is it ?"

"Lieutenant Commander Barker."

"Come in." Jon swung himself into a sitting position on the edge of the top bunk. Originally, his quarters was meant for Chief Petty Officers, where there were two to a small quarters. It also contained lockers for clothes, and a small desk. Jon used the top bunk as his bed, and the bottom as his guest seats and another desk.

The doors opened and Lieutenant Commander Chu Barker stepped through. "Captain Phanan. Sensors indicate the co-ordinates of the Hellcat. From long range scans, we've also been able to detect the plasma trails of another vessel we presume to be the Lynx and another unidentified vessel. Besides those, we've also detected a lot of unidentified debris and another ion trail from a Barien ship.

Jon thought silently for a moment. "Alright. Begin sensor sweeps for any vessels. We must take into consideration that the Hellcat may have been destroyed. How long until we reach the debris field ?"

"Well, Shaka estimates another five to six hours. If we were to go faster, we would get their quicker."

"I would love to, however, Mr. Hansen informed me that the maximum safe speed right now is warp eight until the warp core is fully restored. Once the warp core's fixed, we'll increase speed."

"Understood." Chu then turned to exit Jon's quarters.

"Mr. Barker, one more thing."

"Yes ?"

"Thanks for all of your help over the past few days and good work." Jon offered up a smile, that he barely ever used.

Chu returned his smile. "No problem." Barker then exited the quarters.

"Genius. Pure genius." Jon read on about the life and strategy of General George S. Patton Jr. He had covered about 20 chapters on the trip to the debris field. Jon read of the strategy of the famous World War II hero as he lead his troops on a mad dash across Europe on his way to Berlin, Germany. True, it was nearly four hundred years after the second world war, however, the strategy and maniacal generous was in his plans.

[Captain Phanan. We've arrived at the debris field.] The voice was of Jack Truman.

"I'm on my way." Jon swung himself from his top bunk and exited his quarters.

"Report." Jon said, as he walked onto the Bridge.

"I'm detecting some wreckage of a Federation vessel," Ensign Mason chimed in from Ops. "I'm not exactly sure from what ship."

"I suggest we beam a piece of the wreckage aboard so I can take a closer look at it," Barker suggested. He looked up from his science panel to get a response from Jon.

"Go ahead." Jon looked at the image on the viewscreen as huge pieces of bulkhead floated lifelessly in space. "Looks like there was a major fight."

"There was, from what I can tell." Mason began reading off information coming onto his Ops console. "Most of the wreckage appears to be from flaked off layers of ablative armour and pieces of bulkhead and armour from Barien vessels."

"Any ships on long range scanners ?" Jon looked over at Mason.

"None that I can detect."

"Alright. Let's begin collecting anything we can salvage or use. Keep on the lookout for enemy or friendly ships." Jon then paused and then spoke up again. "Let me make this clear everyone. We've already lost our XO, and I'll be damned to the far reaches of Hell if we're going to loose the Captain as well. Failure here is not an option. Let's make sure we get the Captain and the Hellcat crew back." Jon then sat solemnly in the command chair, as everyone went to work.