The Final Battle : On Target

Bridge

"Captain, we're approaching the Theta Gibron system." Cadet McCaffee announced from the helm.

"Mister Barker, bring the refractive shielding online." Captain Taybar ordered. "Helm take us out of the slipstream."

Like a bullet out of a gun, the USS Leviathan-A emerged from the quantum slipstream and back into normal space. As soon as it came to a stop, the ship disappeared off all sensors as the refractive shielding came online. The ship was a few hours away from the system itself, but they had dropped out early to avoid being detected by long-range sensors. All they would have picked up would have been the shockwave as the slipstream emerged into normal space.

Once the refractive shielding shrouded the Akira class vessel for sensors, no-one would know that they were there. Less effective than a cloaking device, but also requiring less power and resources, the shielding effectively masked any ship from view until it came into visual range.

"Captain, I'm picking up strange readings very close to the black hole." Lieutenant Commander Barker announced from the science station. "It looks like there's a vortex of some kind emerging. My hunch about the black hole being important to the process of opening an inter-dimensional wormhole looks right."

"Any sign of the ISS Leviathan ?" Aki enquired.

"We're too far out to tell." Chu replied. "The sensors are being swamped by the signals coming from the vortex. We'd need to be a lot closer before we can pick up any vessels."

"So we're running blind for the moment." Aki suggested.

"Until we get closer yes." Chu admitted.

"Go to Yellow alert." Aki ordered.

The lighting on the Bridge dimmed and the yellow alert signalled on the consoles. It took an hour before they reached the outer rim of the system.

"I've got the ship." Chu suddenly announced. "It's about five light seconds from the event horizon of the black hole. It looks like the ISS Leviathan is directing some kind of energy beam at the event horizon, creating the vortex. And it's growing."

"How large ?" Aki asked.

"At the moment, it's about thirty metre across." Chu replied. "But it's expanding at a fixed rate. I'd estimate in an hour the vortex will be large enough for them to pass through."

"Got to red alert." Aki ordered. "Battle stations, all weapons online."

The anxiety onboard the ship grew as the alert status changed. They were about to go into battle with themselves.

"All weapons systems are online Captain." Ensign Omega reported. "The first Decrum torpedo is ready to be launched."

"Target their rear shield emitters, then the pod." Aki ordered. "We need to stop them increasing the size of the vortex anymore."

"All weapons systems are locked on target, ready to fire on your command." Omega reported. "We'll be in range in thirty seconds."

"We'll be within range of their sensors in twenty." Chu reported. "The vortex is effecting the refractive shielding, it's losing its integrity."

"Captain, I'm detecting several smaller vessels leaving the ship." Ensign Omega announced. "They appear to be shuttles and they're heading straight for us."

"Launch the Talon fighters." Aki ordered.

On the viewscreen, the image of six small Valkyrie class fighters leaving the shuttlebay appeared. Almost as soon as they were launched, the sky was filled with phaser fire as the fighters started to do battle with the shuttles.

"We're in range of the Leviathan." Chu announced.

"Fire Decrum torpedo." Aki ordered.

The torpedo left the ship and the viewscreen tracked its progress towards the target vessel. The torpedo hit the weapons pod and stayed there, the ship's shields glowing electric blue as it fed on them. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the Leviathan.

"What was that ?" Aki asked.

"Ferengi Marauder of the port bow." Omega announced. "Returning fire."

Phaser fire and torpedoes started to fill the air once more as the USS Leviathan tried to fight off this new attack.

"Where did he come for ?" Aki enquired.

"Looks like he was hiding on the far side of the black hole." Chu reported. "They were hidden from our sensors by the signals form the vortex."

"Captain, Second Decrum torpedo is ready to launch." Omega announced.

"Target the Marauder's weapons array." The Captain ordered. "Fire."

The second 'leecher' torpedo was fired and hit the Marauder's shield. Within seconds they buckled and fell, leaving the Ferengi vessel vulnerable.

"Take out all their weapons and then their engines." Aki ordered. She was in no mood for a fair fight and the USS Leviathan was more than a match for the Marauder.

"They're running." Omega announced. "Looks like they know when they're beaten. We managed to damage most of their weapons systems before they fled."

"Re-target the ISS Leviathan." Aki ordered. "Let's finish this now."

The vessel turned and suddenly they were face to face with their enemy. Their shields were still glowing as the leecher torpedo continued to suckle on them.

"Their shields are only down to seventy percent." Chu announced. "They're a lot stronger than we expected. It's going to take a while for the torpedo to …."

Suddenly an explosion rocked both ships and the USS Leviathan was blown off course.

"What happened ?" Aki asked.

"One of the shuttles just destroyed the Decrum torpedo." Omega reported. "The shockwave knocked us off course, our shields are down another five percent. Looks like they've figured out what was happening."

"Fire all weapons at that ship." Aki ordered. "Load another Decrum and prepare to fire." "Captain, Engineering is reporting that the probe launcher is damaged, we can't launch another torpedo until it's fixed." Junora Loris announced for the Ops station she was manning.

"How long ?" Aki enquired.

"Ten minutes." Junora replied.

"Contact the Talon fighters, we need to stop those shuttles from destroying any more of the torpedoes."

The Leviathan was rocked again as the mirror vessel fired at them.

"Returning fire." Omega reported.

A salvo of quantum torpedoes headed for the mirror vessel, impacting on the shields, which appeared to buckle for a moment, leaving a hole.

"Their shields were down for a moment." Omega announced. "But they're rising again."

"It looks like we disrupted their shield emitters when the quantum torpedoes hit." Chu suggested. "It could be a weakness in their systems, one we could exploit."

"How long were they down ?" Aki enquired.

"Just over a second." Chu replied. "Not enough time to fire a second salvo."

"Let's concentrate on the weapons pod first." Aki suggested. "That's where the vortex emitter is, destroy that and they can't return home."

[Kaleth to Captain Taybar.] The voice of the Talon squadron commander announced. [All shuttles are destroyed.]

"Well done Lieutenant." Aki replied, pausing to think. She had been about to order the small fighters back into the protection of the Leviathan's shuttlebay when suddenly an idea came into her head. "Lieutenant, stand-by for new orders."

[Standing by.] Kaleth replied.

"Lieutenant, we're think we may have found a weakness in the enemies shields. We're going to launch a salvo of torpedoes at the weapons pod. We need you and your squadron to fire your weapons at the pod, as soon the torpedoes hits the shields." Aki ordered. "Prepare to fire."

[Linking weapons systems.] Kaleth announced. [Captain, we're ready.]

"Ensign Omega, fire another salvo at the ship." Aki ordered.

A second salvo of twelve quantum torpedoes headed towards the ISS Leviathan. The torpedoes hit their target and the small fighter's fired their weapons. Seconds later, the pod exploded, sending debris into the shields as it broke up behind the ship. The weapons pod was gone, the support struts flashing with plasma fires and electrical shorts.

"Well done." Aki stated. "Talon squadron, return to the Leviathan."

"Captain, the ISS Leviathan is on an intercept course." Omega announced. "They're going to ram us."

"Helm evasive manoeuvres." Aki called out.

Brayden ran his hands over the helm console like he had never done before. The mighty Akira class vessel turned more violently that it was designed to and the inertial dampers strained under the immense stress they were put under, throwing many of the crew off balance.

The two Leviathans missed each other by metres, as the USS Leviathan managed to move out of the path of the oncoming mirror vessel, but not without damage. The mirror vessel fired all it's remaining weapons at its enemy and the ship rocked from the explosions.

"Weapons systems are damaged." Junora announced. "Shields are down to twenty percent, we've lost the rear torpedo launchers and the dorsal phaser arrays. Damage reports are still coming in, but we're picking up heavy casualties."

The top of the USS Leviathan had been split open, with the upper three decks behind the Bridge now open to space.

[Engineering to Bridge.] The voice of Chief Taline announced. [We've suffered heavy damage, the auxiliary warp core has become damaged, we're trying to stabilise it, but if we can't we'll be forced to eject it.]

"Understood. Taline, how are we doing with the repairs to the probe launcher ?" Aki enquired.

[They should be complete in about a minute.] Taline replied. [We're working on the shields and the weapons systems, hopefully we'll have the shields and the dorsal phasers back online in two to three minutes.]

"Keep at it." Aki announced. "Bridge out. Where's that other ship ?"

"Twenty thousand kilometres to our aft." They're staying out of weapons range for now." Chu announced.

"Captain, I've got some more details on the damage." Junora announced. "We've got sixty dead and nearly a hundred injuries, plus another fifty unaccounted for. Decks two, three and four are open to space, but emergency force fields are now in place. Engineering reports that they will have the forward dorsal phaser arc online in about two minutes. Shields are holding at seventeen percent."

[Engineering to Bridge. The probe launcher is back online.]

"Helm, set a course for the mirror vessel. Tactical, target their forward shields, fire the Decrum as soon as we are within range." Aki ordered. "Helm, as soon as the torpedo is fired, I want to get back out of weapons range."

"Understood Captain." Brayden announced.

The USS Leviathan slowly moved towards its target and as soon as they were in weapons range, they fired the Decrum torpedo and moved off once more.

"The torpedo has attached itself to their shield." Chu announced as he monitored the leecher. "But it doesn't seem to be having much effect, they're not draining fast enough."

"Helm, take us in on a intercept course." Aki ordered. "Tactical, target their Bridge, let's put as much stress on those shields as we can, drain as much power away from them as we can."

Targeting the Bridge of an enemy vessel was a very unusual tactic to use, but Aki was ready to use whatever means to destroy the mirror vessel. The ship slowly manoeuvred towards the mirror vessel, firing every available weapons system still working. Brayden was sending the ship in an almost unpredictable pattern of attack, trying to avoid any weapons fire from the enemy vessel. The ISS Leviathan's shields started to light up blue once more and then they failed completely.

"Helm, get us out of here now." Aki ordered.

The Decrum torpedo finally hit its target and unleashed all the stored energy, obliterating the mirror vessel. The remains started to spiral out of control and were suddenly caught in the gravitational pull of the black hole. The crew of the USS Leviathan-A had won the day, the mirror vessel was destroyed and the threat neutralised.

Or so they thought……