Recon and Insertion (Part 2 of 2)

It was bright and early at 06:00. Jon's group of Marines, along with Captain Goerl's band of troops were assembled in in the main shuttlebay, lined up against the wall. Jon and Goerl stood at the front of the group, with Lieutenant Commander Rashad and Commander Toran to his right.

"Good morning. Captain Devore has added to our landing party Commander's Toran and Rashad." A nearly audible hiss was came from Second Lieutenant Truman. Jon quickly shot him a look, and Truman quieted down. "Commander Toran has been assigned to pilot us through to our LZ, while Commander Rashad is going to try and disable the Lynx which we presume to have set down near the garrison, do to some findings that Commander Loris has come across. Apparently, the Nuan's have a type of imaging shield that produces a cloaking field around a certain area to hide assault vehicles, shuttles, and the liking that my be set down in one place."

"Like a mesh screen sir ?" Sergeant Sharpe asked.

"Exactly. However, this calls for a slight change in tactics. Jack, you're going to lead a group of security personnel with Rashad to rally point beta on the map. That is where the supposed cloaking field has been activated. From there, I want you to board the Lynx and disable her. Commander Rashad will take care of that."

"What do we do about hostiles ?" Jack asked. "How many people are expected to be onboard ?"

"Knowing Admiral Beard from what I've read about him, most of the crew of the Lynx will probably be in the installation trying to protect it. However, expect heavy opposition and always watch your back."

"Yes sir."

"Mr. Sharpe, have you finished affixing the heavy weaponry to the Ohio ?"

"Yes sir." Sharpe ran through the mental check list in his head. "I've affixed two retractable mortar launchers and an artillery launcher. We should be able to park the Ohio nearly three quarters of a kilometre away and not have to worry about taking fire. The retractable rapid fire personnel phaser cannon has also been installed and fire tested."

"Excellent." Jon looked over to Goerl. "Anything you would like to cover Captain ?"

Goerl stepped forward and looked at the assembled mass of people. "We do this for the dead and the good of the Nuan nation. I expect nothing from the best of everyone here. Now let's get them." A loud 'Hoorah!' followed Goerl's simple statement, and everyone quickly loaded onto the Ohio.

The pre-flight checks were finished, and Commander Toran watched the mission clock on the Ohio's main control panel. It finally reached "000" and Toran tapped his combadge. "Commander Toran to Bridge. Mission clock has reached the triple zero. Requesting permission to launch."

[Go ahead Commander,] Captain Devore said over the comms. [Godspeed to you and everyone aboard. Devore out.]

The doors to the shuttlebay opened, with the warning klaxons indicating that a shuttle would soon be leaving.

"Here we go." Toran slid his fingers over the command console of the Ohio. Rashad sat next to him, manning the co-pilot's terminal. Everyone else was in the rear cargo compartment, preparing to unload. The humming of the warp core powering up could be heard. The Ohio's warp nacelles came online with a glow and then, the runabout left the shuttlebay, heading down towards Limeria IX.

"Major Phanan, the clock is running." Toran took a quick glance at the mission clock as it began it's count upwards towards. It would take about an hour for Toran to do terrain mapping type flying until they reached the drop off point on the northern side of the small mountain range where the emergency exit was located. From there Goerl's team would make their way into the installation and Lieutenant Truman would lead his team with Rashad towards the presumed location of the Lynx which was approximately one eighth of a mile from there. Then, Toran would pilot the Ohio into the town and land near the governor's mansion. From there, Jon and Private Rikel will sneak their way north towards the garrison. Jon would take up a sniping position on the roof of a residential complex that was higher then some of the other buildings. Private Rikel would take up a position a few blocks from his location in a bell tower of a religious gathering place. Both of them were in transporter range of the Ohio if something were to happen.

Limeria IX became bigger and bigger in the forward viewpoints as Toran made a hard dive through the atmosphere, making an effort to evade sensor detection. Red flames from the Ohio entering the atmosphere came up over the nose of the runabout and reached towards the viewport. They finally came upon clouds, and past the clouds, until underneath them was water. Toran pitched upwards, and brought the Ohio into level flight about three metres above the ground.

"Piece of cake." He commented to Rashad.

"Indeed." Rashad commented, following up with a raised eyebrow.

The flight south was smooth, with no major complications. Toran was able to avoid any sensor detection by flying low enough to the ground. Sensor readings would confuse the runabout to be a atmospheric transport at best. Toran activated the inter-ship communications. "Attention Alpha and Beta teams. Prepare to be off loaded."

"Thank you Commander." Jon replied, tapping his combadge. He then turned to address the group. "All right. Remember, no unnecessary radio communications. Be sure to use your assigned identification numbers, no names. Also. Do not give up. We are not going to fail this mission. Understood ?" Jon looked around to see nods from all around. "All right. Captain Goerl and Lieutenant Truman. You guys are up. Prepare to off load."

A few minutes after Jon's small speech, the Ohio quickly set down with a thud. The rear access panel "drawbridge" opened and the two teams quickly exited. Captain Goerl's Alpha Squad ran towards the nearby mountains about 50 meters away, while Lieutenant Trump's Beta Squad with Commander Rashad started their hike Northeast, staying within the treeline. As soon as they were off loaded, the ramp closed, and the inertial dampers barely had time to compensate for the rapid "jump" of the Ohio as it made its way into the colony.

Moments after taking off again, the Ohio set down. Toran quickly powered down all non essential systems, leaving only passive sensors, the weapons systems, the communications systems and the transporter on standby online. Jon made his way up into the cockpit area. "All right Commander. Private Rikel and I are going to make a run for it. Lieutenant J'Lan and Sergeant Sharpe are here, along with some of the security personnel.

"Good luck Major." Toran turned around in his chair to face the Major. "Don't get killed out there."

"I don't intend to." Jon smiled. Then, both he and Rikel made their way out of the Ohio running down alleyways till they reached their position. Jon chose to bring the Federation S-III mark 2 projectile weapon with him. The S-III Mark II was a projectile based sniper rifle. The main features being that it was small and lightweight. It also featured a sniping scope with a maximum of 200x electrozoom and up to a 500 yard range. Lastly, the weapon had a silencer feature on it. On his thigh, Jon had another three clips of ten rounds, aside from the ten that was already loaded in the weapon. He also had a collapsible compression rifle in his backpack, along with the standard Type II phaser on his belt. Jon got himself down into a lying prone position on the roof of the residential complex with the garrison in sight, and activated his helmet comm unit. "Charlie to Delta come in."

Private Rikel was setting herself in the bell tower with a weapon similar to Jon's except it fired a fast, high powered energy blast instead of a projectile. She got herself into position near a guard-rail, and got into a laying prone position as well. She then activated her comm unit. "This is Delta. I am in position."

Jon checked her off mentally in his mind as being ready. "Echo, report in."

Commander Toran hit a button above his head. "This is Echo team. We are in position and ready."

"Alpha and Bravo teams, report in."

Commander Goerl activated her comm unit. "This is Alpha. We are in position."

Truman listened in. He then, as well, activated his comms unit. "This is Bravo. Ready to roll."

*All units were ready. Good. We can call in the bombardment.*

"Echo, contact Angel and inform we are ready to drop the hammer. Over."

Toran switched over the main panel over to communications, and switched to a narrow beam communication. "Copy that Charlie." Toran then switched to the channel that would broadcast to the Leviathan which had gone into a very shallow orbit over the colony. Ohio to Leviathan. We are in position. Prepare to begin aerial bombardment in ten minutes. Ohio out."

Captain Devore acknowledged the transmission with a simple radio 'click.' "Ms. Savage, bring main phaser array online. Fire the phasers at only one third their normal power and target the outlying areas."

"Aye sir. Bringing weapons online now." Savage accessed the phaser controls and began plotting out different points to fire at.

Jon received the information from Toran that the clock was running until aerial bombardment would begin. They would have to start immediately. "Alpha, and Beta teams proceed. Echo, begin launching in three minutes. Radio silence unless extremely necessary from here out. Over." Jon was welcomed by the sound of three radio clicks by the three different teams. Then, another message.

[Charlie, Delta. One tango acquired in security tower. Over.] Rikel had found a hostile. Jon quickly turned his attention to the tower. She was right, one 'tango', a nickname used by ground fighting forces for centuries as a code name for a hostile. Jon activated the zoom on his S-III mark II and zoomed in. There was definitely one person in the tower. It was a Bolien male. He was accessing something on the security tower's computer.

"Delta, Charlie. Fire." Jon watched through his scope. A fast moving blue light flashed through the plexiglas of the security tower's window, striking the Bolien in the head. The dead Starfleet officer then fell to the ground. Rikel was a nice shot.

[Charlie, Alpha. We are entering the nest. Moving towards the egg.]

*Excellent.* Goerl's team had made it past the security door at the end of the tunnel, and were moving into the garrison. Suddenly, Jon heard a high pitched whine go through the air, and then a chunk of ferrocrete blew out of the wall of the garrison. Sergeant Sharpe had begun firing. Jon checked his chronometer. *Right on time.*

[Charlie, Bravo. We are clipping the wings of the bird.]

Jon smiled. The plan was going off without a hitch. Truman's team had entered the Lynx and were setting themselves up in the operations control centre, disabling every system on the Lynx. Beard wouldn't be going anywhere. Another boom was heard in the distance. Jon turned to see that a small barn type structure was destroyed. The Leviathan had begun the bombardment. Jon smiled. Then, his smile faded by what he saw in his scope. It was what appeared to be a small type of atmospheric fighter. It quickly swooped in over the garrison and through the down, then pulled off into the sky. "Charlie to Echo. We have problems."

Toran shifted quickly in his seat. "Damn-it !"

He saw the fighter roll off into the sky. *Not good.*

"I see it Charlie." Toran quickly ran out the back of the runabout to where Lieutenant J'Lan was on the starboard side of the roof, firing a roof mounted mortar. "Lieutenant ! LIEUTENANT !"

J'Lan pulled the ear plugs out of his ears, and slid down the side of the runabout. "Yes sir !"

"We have an atmospheric fighter in the sky. Can that phaser cannon that's mounted on the Ohio bring that thing down ?" The two quickly ducked and covered as a bomb explosion went off near them. The atmospheric fighter had just dropped a bomb in the general vicinity of where they were. Lucky for them, he was a bad shot.

"Yes sir. It should be able to."

"Man that gun and shoot that thing down ! I'll see what I can do with the Ohio's main phaser array."

"Yes sir !" J'Lan quickly scrambled back up the side of the runabout onto the roof and activated the rapid fire phaser cannon. He then watched the skies for the fighter.

Toran had made his way back into the Ohio and contacted the Leviathan that they had company. He then began re-routing extra power to the shields and to the phaser cannon.

"How much more time do you need Six ?" Truman whispered to Rashad. He quickly scanned the room with the barrel of his compression rifle. Four members of the security team clad in anti-phaser armour was doing the same. All of them were crouched down behind a stack of crates to help protect themselves from hostile fire.

"Be calm One. My work is nearly completed." Rashad looked over the computer display she was carrying. She was quickly reprogramming computer code in the Lynx so that when a person powered up the ship's warp core systems, one of the fusion reactors would explode, causing a chain reaction of explosions inside the small vessel. "There. I'm done." She shoved the computer display into Jack's backpack and pulled her Type II phaser from her belt. "Let's get moving."

"No need to tell me twice." The group started forward when Jack through up his arm to signal a halt. As he peeked around the corner, he noticed a group of security personnel from the Lynx were making their way down the corridor. He then whispered to the rest of the group. "Two and Three, you're with me. Four and Five, watch Six." Everyone nodded and Jack pulled out a canister from his left thigh. He then pulled the pin and held down a button. He quickly tossed the can in the direction of the oncoming personnel and made his way out of the doorway.

Screams of agony could be heard down the hall, complaining of blindness. Truman along with two security personnel ran forward, firing their compression rifles. They quickly eliminated the opposition. "Four, Five, and Six move forward." Beta group quickly made their way through the Lynx and headed towards the Lynx's small shuttlebay. There sat a small Cochrane-class shuttle. Jack looked at the small craft and smiled.

"I don't think they'll mind if we borrow this." Quickly, the team made their way into the craft. Jack powered up the shuttle and lifted it off of the bay floor. He then fired the phaser array blasting a hole in the "drop doors" of the bay. The Cochrane shuttle then dropped out of the bay towards the ground below. Jack powered up the impulse engines and then they were on their way.

"Tango down." Jon struck down another Barien making his way out of the main gates. A small pile was beginning to accumulate near the door. *Idiots....*

Then, an explosion went off behind him. Someone had gotten to one of the weapons emplacements and was firing on his location. Jon looked, and found the culprit. He then lined the tango up in his sights. However, the enemy turned the weapon, putting it in front of his line of fire.

*Damn......* Jon's heart raced as he could nearly see the enemy pressing the trigger on the giant weapon.

[Tango down.] The operator of the weapon dropped to the ground dead. Jon let out a sigh of relief.

"Good shooting Delta." Jon then saw some movement heading towards the weapon emplacement again. Very quickly, he lined up his shot and fired. The tango hit the ground hard. "Tango down."

[Tango down.]

*Good. One less to worry about.* Captain Goerl along with the others of her squad made their way through each room one by one coming across nothing. They had covered about 2 of the 4 levels of the garrison, starting at the basement and working their way up. She peered around a corner, making sure it was clear, and then motioned forward. Everyone moved forward while Goerl held the position, then she too rounded the corner.

"Found anything Two ?"

"Negative One." Robbie Gleason checked the tricorder for any signs of life. "No wait. I'm detecting three moving this way."

"Into the room." Goerl, along with her group moved into a room they had vacated. She then closed the door, leaving it ever so slightly opened so she could get a look at the enemy.

"This is obviously one of Devore's plans. We must get to the Lynx immediately." A somewhat tall, older balding man commented to two officers walking next to him. "Let's get to the underground transport now."

"That's Beard," Gleason whispered to Goerl.

"Alpha one to Charlie. We have the spotted the Jackel."

*Yes!* That was all Jon could think.

"Proceed to capture the Jackel. Bring him to the extraction zone. Charlie out." Jon then turned over radio frequencies. "Echo, we're capturing the Jackel. Over."

[That's great Charlie. We have some problems right now.]

*Son of a b***h stop moving!* J'Lan fired more pulses of light into the sky, each one narrowly missing their mark. Sergeant Sharpe continued launching mortar shells towards the garrison. The garrison and it's protective wall was beginning to look like Swiss cheese. Another large explosion blew away pavement close to the Ohio's position.

*Erg....* J'Lan fired again, this time hitting the fighter. One of his engines started flaming.

"Yes!" The engine was quick to flameout, however the fighter continued to run on the other one. "Damn...."

"I have our shields up to 85 percent. However, I don't have much more energy to play with," Toran yelled up at J'Lan.

"Thank you sir." J'Lan opened fire again. "So close !"

Suddenly, the fighter exploded in a huge ball of red and orange flame. Then, a shuttle quickly occupied the space that the fighter was in. It quickly came around, and set down near the Ohio. The rear ramp opened, and Beta team exited.

"Hello gents." Truman smiled.

"Jack, am I glad to see your ugly mug." J'Lan smiled.

Goerl and her team moved forward with lightning speed. They quickly killed the two officers, and then captured Beard. "You will die pig !"

"Wait !" Robbie lifted up the end of her rifle so the blue blast blew away a piece of the wall. "This isn't Beard." Robbie grabbed near the throat of the officer and ripped off a latex mask. "We've been fooled."

"How did you ?...."

"I quickly scanned him medically comparing it to Beard's. He must have gotten away."

The impostor smiled. "That's right and you'll never find him either ! The Admiral is to smart for the likes of you all. HA HA HA HA... OOF."

Captain Goerl whacked him in the side of the face with the end of her rifle. "Alpha to Charlie. Alpha to Charlie. Jackel was a fake. Repeat, Jackel was a fake. We are still tracking down the real one. Over."

*Damn-it!* Jon was standing with Rikel back at the Ohio. Sharpe had destroyed the two major weapons emplacements with artillery and mortar blasts and so the major threat was gone.

"Keep searching Alpha. Charlie out." He looked over at the assembled group. "They tracked down an impostor. However, Beard is still here. Commander Rashad, did you disable the Lynx ?"

"Yes Major. If he attempts to leave orbit, he will be destroyed."

"We'll just have to assume that you're right...."

Beard sat down at the helm controls of the Lynx. His first officer dead and most of the Bridge crew with him. He was only able to escape with about fifteen other personnel. It was enough for him, however. Soon, he would be off of this colony and away from the reaches of Devore. A menacing smile came to his face. "Engineering, give me full thrusters."

[Aye Admiral.] The reply came from engineering. Beard smiled, and the Lynx lifted off the surface of the planet. The landing claws retracted and the Defiant class vessel headed out through the atmosphere.

"Captain ! The Lynx has made it's way out of the atmosphere !" Savage yelled out from Tactical.

"Brayden, pursuit course ! Don't let him get away !"

"Aye sir, I'm on it." Brayden McCaffee coolly plotted a course and brought the Leviathan out of the shallow orbit, heading towards the Lynx. The Leviathan lurched forward, and increased speed.

"Patterson, give me warp power." Beard looked over the helm display. He then activated the viewer, seeing the Leviathan gaining on him. "Patterson. NOW !"

"Aye sir." Patterson powered up the warp core. Suddenly, the warp core shut down and a slew of warning lights went off in engineering. Then, the Lynx shuddered as a fusion reactor exploded. A few moments later, another exploded, following by another, until all of the six fusion reactors on the ship exploded.

The lights on the Lynx flickered on and off. Panels exploded, along with roof panels and cooling tubes began venting coolant gas. "WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON ?"

The Lynx came to a quick halt. The viewscreen then activated, with Devore's face filling it.

[Admiral Beard, this is Captain Devore of the Leviathan. You are hereby under arrest under the charges of treason against Starfleet. Prepare to be taken aboard.]

"NOOOO!!!!!!"

A smile came across Toran's face. "Good news, we've got Beard !" A large roar of happiness came across the insertion teams. Jack Truman had gone to pick up Alpha Team, and everyone was together. Hugs were exchanged between all, along with salutes and handshakes.

"Hold on everyone." Jon raised a hand to quiet everyone. "I just took inventory on our kill tally and some Bariens are still missing. We are going to have to sweep out the colony. A few scattered murmurs were heard, but everyone was ready to go. "All right, we'll be working in two man teams. Sergeant, you come with me. J'Lan, go with Gleason. Truman, take the Crusher sky born and feed the teams sky born info.

"Yes sir." The Marines responded in unison. Captain Goerl did the same with her troops. Commanders Rashad and Toran went back up in the Ohio to do the same thing that Truman was doing in the Crusher. With that, the teams broke up, and headed out.

Before everyone departed, new codenames and assignments were handed out. Goerl's team was Bravo team. The eight women were each divided into four groups of two, each two person group assigned a number. Jon's two Marine teams were dubbed Alpha team, each two man groups having a number. Finally, there was Charlie group, Charlie one being the Ohio and Charlie two being the Crusher.

Phanan and Sharpe made up team Alpha One. They were assigned to patrol the south western area of the colony. Sharpe was plastered against the wall, with Jon next to him doing the same. Sharpe peaked around the corner. Seeing nothing, he moved forward. Jon quickly followed. "Where is he Charlie Two ?"

[I see him one floor up, first room.] Second Lieutenant Truman hovered silently above the building, scanning it for life forms. There, he fed info to the Marines and could quickly feed transfer them to another building where another hostile was hiding. Sharpe moved up the stairs quickly and quietly, setting himself in a crouching position near the door. Jon stood to his left. Reaching onto his right thigh, he pulled out another "flashbang" grenade. Jon pulled the pin, and pressed the button down. He then through the grenade into the room. The grenade went off with a blinding flash, and Sharpe ran into the room as quick as lightning. The Barien was holding his eyes, whining. Sharpe brought the butt end of his phaser rifle around, hitting the Barien square in the neck. A loud crack was heard, as the metal composite of the compression rifle cracked the vertebrae running down the Barien's neck. The Barien twitched, and then died.

"Fast." Jon commented.

"Faster you are, the better chance of you living sir." He activated his helmet comm. "Charlie two, tango down. We'll meet you on the roof for transport."

[Already there.] The two Marines then climbed the stairs to the roof.

After another three hours of work, the colony on Limeria IX was presumed clear of hostiles. However, a toll was taken on the colony itself. The garrison would have to go extensive repairs. Houses were levelled to the ground do to the atmospheric fighter, and there were a few isolated fires do to random phaser fire from both the Bariens and the allied Nuan/Federation troops. It would take time to restore the colony to its original lustre.

As Jon looked over the colony from above as the Ohio and Crusher made their way back to the Leviathan, he realised many things. In the end, the ravages of war helped no one. In this case, it only hurt. Sure, civilians had vacated the colony in fear, running towards the outlying areas and leaving everything behind, however, what would they end up returning to ? Some, it may be their homes, intact with their belongings. Others, nothing but a pile of rubble. What he had heard a long time ago was true. War's only purpose was to serve itself.

"Major ! I don't think that we are out of the woods yet ! Look !" Toran said pointing spaceward. Coming just from the far side of the Leviathan, three Barien battle cruisers came into visual range.

"Um.. Ohio to Leviathan." Phanan said opening a comchannel.

[Toran! Get your butts back here now ! What is your estimated time of arrival ?] Devore said over the red alert klaxon.

*He sees them* Toran thought. "Looks like about fifteen minutes."

[Those ships are going to be on us in about five.]

"Increasing speed !"

The Ohio started to pull away from the Crusher. "Ohio to Crusher." Toran said.

[Go ahead !]

"Look we need to get back to the Leviathan like now. You better follow us up."

[Sorry sir. Minimal impulse is all we have.]

"Damn. Prepare to beam over to the Ohio."

[Will we all fit over there.]

"We are going to have to ! Initiating transport !"

The entire crew of the Crusher was beamed aboard to the Ohio and just in time. Somehow during this few minute transaction, a Barien battle ship has seemed to creep behind the two ship to the Leviathan's dismay.

"Ohio, this is Devore. Change course to 111 mark 11 and we may be able to offer you some protection !"

From the viewscreen, the crew could see the battle cruiser take a position directly behind it.

"Barien Ship. This is the Federation Starship Leviathan. Break off pursuit of our shuttle or we will be forced to open fire," Devore said rubbing his five o'clock shadow. Instead of answering, it opened fire.

The explosion on board the Ohio rocked the ship and Toran was thrusted forward bumping his head on the console. He was knocked unconscious.

"Toran!" Phanan yelled.

[Ohio, What is your status ?] Devore said frantically.

"Attitude control off line, Engines off line, Weapons obliterated. That shot took out most of our systems and we are going down."

From the Bridge of the Leviathan, Devore did not concern himself with the other two but turned his tail towards them to engage the one. Mason turned to him. "Captain. We are vulnerable to the far ships."

"And...??"

"Well sir. "

"Stow it Ensign. I am not going to sacrifice anyone to include the crew of the Ohio. Ms. Savage Open fire full spread."

"Aye sir," Lieutenant Savage said from tactical/security. The quantum torpedoes left the tube and flew straight to the Barien battle ship. It detonated on the shields.

"Damage to their secondary hull." Mason yelled.

"Arm the Scattering Beam !"

"Beam armed." Savage said.

"Captain, " Mason said. "The other two Bariens are taking station behind us."

[Ohio to Leviathan. We are going down ! We have entered the atmosphere and are falling fast.]

"Stand by we are going to beam you out, " Devore said as he looked at Mason.

"Sorry sir. I can't get us with in range and......"

The Leviathan was rocked by a serious of explosions as the Barien ships opened fire systematically.

"Fire that beam at the lead ship. Maybe we can get a little of their attention."

"Beam firing, " Savage said. Aft phaser array lit up and the bluish beam flew straight and hit the lead ship. The Barien ship began to glow as their shield started to crack like a windshield being hit by a rock. "Captain their shields are gone."

"Fire full weapons."

"Firing."

There was nothing. Devore looked up at Savage. "Um. Ms. Savage.. Firing the weapons when I order them would be really nice !"

"Sorry Captain. But the weapons array have been overloaded. I can't fire the phasers and the torpedo launchers only have one torpedo ready !"

"Then fire that one !"

"The outer hull is glowing red ! We are going in too fast !" Commander Loris yelled as the intense noise screamed over her.

"I can't slow us down," Phanan yelled.

<Impact in 45 seconds>

"Fire reverse thrusters."

<Firing reverse thrusters at this speed is inadvisable. 40 seconds till impact>

"Everybody. Secure the decks and brace for impact. Computer. Shut off all engines. Re-route all power to the structural integrity field."

<Power re-routed !>

The Barien Battle Cruiser took a position just to the aft of the Leviathan and more explosions ripped through the Leviathan.

"Captain. Engines are off line. We are sitting ducks. Shields are down to 12%. " Savage reported.

"Fire torpedo." Devore ordered.

"Aye sir." Savage said cringing. The one torpedo flew to the Barien battle cruiser. Devore didn't know what else to do he was in a very precarious situation. Now trying to save the Ohio was out of the question but now he could try to save the Leviathan. However he knew the Ohio was in good hands and as long as they make the descent, he would be able to rescue them. However the three ships versus the one with the lifeless hulks of the Lynx and the Crusher now just floating in space just aft, Devore knew the odds were definitely against him.

The quantum torpedo his the battle cruiser in the main engineering section. The explosion ripped the fabric of space to threads as the massive ship exploded from the concussion of the barien engines imploding.

"Yes!" Devore yelled.

[Leviathan, Ohio is going down fast impact in ten seconds. Good luck Captain. Get those Bariens.] Phanan said through a statically comlink. Suddenly it went dead.

"Captain!" Brayden yelled. His crush on Commander Loris now coming to a head. It was no longer a secret, but as the ship went down, so did a feeling in Brayden's stomach.

"Stand your post cadet." Devore yelled now turning to the remaining two ships. "Ensign Drax. Is our guest secure ?"

[Aye Captain! Snug and secure]

"Good."

The view monitors came on and on the screen was a Barien.

[Captain Devore! We met. I am Premier L'Kar. I believe you have something that belongs to us.]