Chapter One
Vice Admiral Shenki Haman sat staring out of the view-port, absent minded, tapping the data pad sitting on her desk with reports of the current situation with the Borg. The Borg were a conundrum to Shenki, they had been in her life from an early age. They had killed her parents, she had help liberate one, they had killed her adoptive father, Captain Gendo Misumaru, they had made her career, gained her command of the Kyoto during a battle in the Vega colony, and now they would like it to be the end of it all.
The report detailed current systems under threat of being attacked or possibly already under attack, as well as the battle strength of Federation fleets in the sector and details of a Klingon fleet arriving to aid in the fight. Though the war was on hold to deal with the Borg threat there were still tensions between the Federation and Klingon Empire. The war had been another catalyst for Shenki’s rise in the ranks and in just a few years she had gone from ensign to Vice admiral. This meant she wasn’t that keen to get to close to the Klingon ships, after all they weren’t known for their forgiving nature.
She knew at least one ship was in operation in the area, the I.K.S Ko’Vash, a Raptor class ship. Shenki knew little else other than the name of the ship. She had nothing against the Klingon race; she had an excellent tactical officer and sparing partner who was a Klingon, but she had learnt to be wary of them.
Her orders from Admiral Quinn were to patrol the Arturo sector which was where the ship, U.S.S Lightning was heading to now. She stood up and walk to the replicator, tapped the panel which displayed the time, 1400. She had 20 mins before their arrival in the sector before beginning her patrol.
“Gunpowder tea, Hot.”
A second later there was a soft whirring and a cup appeared containing the green tea. She raised the delicate cup and took a sip, it was good but she preferred the real thing. Making it was part of the experience, as her adopted father had taught her and her step sister. Shenki returned to her desk and picked up a different data pad, this one had two letters loaded. One from Admiral Quinn stating her sister Yurika Misumaru had been promoted to Vice Admiral. The second from her sister asking if she would be able to attend the ceremony at the Earth Space Dock, but that she knew and understood that her mission took president. Shenki had written a reply straight away congratulating her sister, promising they would spend some time together on Risa as soon as they could.
Yurika was two years younger, and Gendo’s natural Child, her mother had died giving birth to Yurika. When Shenki was found and taken in, Yurika had been five but no sooner had she seen Shenki then she became instantly attached to her, rarely spending any time apart. When Gendo died, they lived on earth and it was due to the insistence of Yurika that Shenki joined Starfleet and promised to join up when she became old enough. When Shenki had joined Starfleet it was with the liberated Borg, seven of seven, who had been a good friend too them both over the years. Shenki missed her sister a lot. She had hoped they may have been assigned to the same fleet but that never happened. Shenki had managed to get Seven of Seven assigned to her ship though.
She took a long sip of the tea, feeling it warm her, she shuddered and smiled to herself she put the pad back down and gazed out of the window when the chime went.
“Vice Admiral Haman. We will be entering the Arturo Sector block shortly.”
She tapped her com badge.
“Understood, I will be on the bridge shortly.” She drank the rest of the tea and pulled her tunic from the back of the desk chair and began fastening it on. She then leaned over and tapped a few icons on the console to begin a recording.
“Stardate 89651.72. After receiving orders to patrol an area of the B’Tan Cluster called the Arturo Block, a sector in the cluster consisting of 12 habitable systems. We are now arriving in the area to begin patrols. Borg activity has been detected in the area as well as the Klingon Fleet that was dispatched.”
She tapped more icons on the console and the recording ended, then straightened, pulled her tunic neat and strode through the door on to the compact bridge of the Lightning. The small bridge was typical for an escort class ship, her first officer Thrysis, an Andorian who had served with her ever since command had been given to her, rose out of the captain’s chair.
“Though we hadn’t detected Borg presence on our approach, we are now picking up a distress signal from the Arturo system itself though it is too weak to know much other than the colony is under attack.”
“Lay in a course for the system, top speed and run checks on all combat systems. If the colony is under attack I want to be prepared. Once we drop out of warp activate the cloak.”
“We will arrive at the system in twenty minutes.” The helmsman reported
“Beginning checks.” T’Shemap, her tactical officer, confirmed.
Now there was nothing to do but to wait to drop out of warp and see what was happening. At least the cloak would give them thinking time if it was the Borg. She looked around at the crewmen and bridge officers, they all looked tense, and clearly they weren’t looking forward to meeting the Borg either. She crossed the bridge to the Captain’s chair, running her fingers across the back, before sitting and leaning back. There was something about it she had never been able to put a finger on, but it always felt right to be sitting here, even back on the Vega colony as an ensign taking her first command, like it was meant to be.
Briefly closing her eyes and listening to the sounds of the bridge, beeping consoles, officers discussing readings and situations. She preferred the bridge to any other part of the ship; they were all far too quiet for her.
“That’s a bad habit you have developed.” Seven of Seven put in from her engineering station.
“I like the sounds and I don’t need to see that my crew know how to do their jobs.”
“What if something happens?”
“I’m not asleep you know I can open them again.” Shenki retorted with a sly smile before opening her eyes and looking at the liberated Borg.
The Borg wasn’t looking at her she was studying the read out from the consoles, her hands dancing deftly across the glossy surface, changing power levels between systems.
“Are you mad with me now?”
The Borg looked up and watched Shenki for a few moments.
“No, frustrated with your stubbornness. But it’s your Ship and you are the Vice Admiral.”
“Do you need to bring rank into a friendly discussion between us; is it to ease the nerves?”
Seven sighed “That wasn’t my intention, it’s just them.” She looked out of the view screen.
“I know the feeling.” T’Shemap, the tactical officer stood next to Shenki and held out a data pad. “They make me nervous and there is something very foreboding about engaging the Borg, especially when you read of past engagements, but I expect it’s different for you.”
“A little, yes’” Seven returned to the console.
“Status report Ma’am.” The Vulcan stated as Shenki took the pad, “Ships shields and weapons are functioning correct, and the cloaking simulations were within tolerances.”
Shenki scrolled through the data on the pad taking note of the results from the simulations “Didn’t think Vulcan’s got nervous.”
“We have misgivings about situation, if that is more accurate.”
Shenki pressed a button at the bottom of the pad, acknowledging the report sending it to the ships logs, then passed the pad back.
“Arriving in the Arturo System, engaging the Cloak.” The helmsman reported as the lights dimmed and the red alert light began blinking on the walls.
“Anything on sensors around the colony?”
“There are signs of damage around the colony, though no direct damage, life signs show fifty thousand people, no Borg. That’s the number of colonist from the last census, 6 months ago. There is some debris in a high orbit, its Borg.” Saatok reported.
“Did the colony have any defences that could repel a Borg attack?”
“No, no defence listed at all.” T’Shemap responded.
“Scan the rest of the system, Open up a channel to the colony; I want to know what happened.”
“Channel open.” Commander Davis responded
“This is Admiral Shenki of the Federation Starship Lightning to Arturo V colony. Please respond.”
A second later a Caitian appeared on screen “I am Governor Xantor, I am in charge of the Colony. Thank you for driving the Borg away so quickly.”
“We didn’t, when did they stop attacking?” Shenki responded, confusion crossing her mind the same way it was crossing the Governors face.
“No more then five minuets ago Admiral, but if you didn’t engage them, who did?”
“Something I intend to find out, keep a channel ready we will let you know what we find out.”
“Understood Admiral.” The screen returned to a view of the planet.
“Do you have anything?” Shenki got up and moved over to the science station.
Saatok eyes were darting back and forth over the screens. “Yes there are five Spheres and 3 Probes engaged in a battle with another ship, it appears to be a Klingon Raptor.”
“Set an intercept course, full impulse, and all hands to battle stations.”
The planet disappeared out of the view screen, and stars moved rapidly across the screen as the ship accelerated away from the planet. Shenki moved back to the chair and sat down. She hadn’t thought that the Klingons would be here already or that they would respond to a Federation colony distress signal.
“As soon as we reach them decrease speed and divert power to weapons, and once the cloak is down take attack pattern Alpha 5. I want to take out as many of the Borg ships as quickly as we can.”
A chorus of acknowledgments signalled her officers knew their roles and she was certain they knew what action to take. Her crew had served with her for long enough now.
“Admiral we are within visual range.” The helmsman informed “bringing it up on screen.”
The Raptor was leading the Borg away from the planet while firing with aft mounted turrets, but the Borg weren’t letting it get away, spreading out evenly behind it, all eight ships where firing continuously, wearing down the Raptor shields.
“The Raptor shields are at thirty percent and there are minor hull breaches across the aft sections. Power fluctuations in their main power and her engines are reaching critical limitations.” Saatok reported.
“How long till we are within weapon range?”
“Two minutes.” T’Shemap replied. “We can draw their fire if we use a full spread of quantum torpedoes.”
Shenki nodded and moved over to Seven’s station, “Is there anything we can do to stabilise their power systems?”
“Not while being fired up, I can boost weapons damage a little more, by an extra five percent, that might be enough to get their attention and maybe destroy one or two.”
“That will have to do.”
“We are about to enter weapons range!”
“Deactivate the Cloak and open fire!”
As the Lightning de-cloaked the lights came up, the bridge was illuminated as the tetryon cannon unleashed a volley of fire. The ship shuddered softly as the torpedo spread was fired, then a second volley of cannon fire tore the shield of the first Sphere and a Probe next to it just before the torpedoes hit, the Probe exploded in a green plasma surge, the hit on the Sphere did enough damage for its engines to fail and for it to drift off from its pursuit course into the second Probe smashing through the shields as both ships collided in an explosion of plasma.
The next volley was unleashed against the Sphere closest to the Klingon vessel. It took three volleys to break down the shield before a round of torpedoes could tear through the ship. Now the Borg had turned their attention to the Lightning and had slowed to engage her. The helmsman altered the course taking her off perpendicular to the course of the Raptor.
“Try to pull further ahead of them, and keep the turrets firing on them to wear down their shields.” Shenki order the helmsman,
“Aye Ma’am”
Shenki looked over at Davis “Distance?”
“Coming up on eight and a half Kilometres.”
“Bring us about and open fire!”
The stars zipped across the view screen as the Lightning came to bare once more and the bridge being illuminated by the flashes of the cannons and torpedoes, then the flash of green as one of the Spheres and the final Probe were destroyed. The ship shook violently, as she was pulled to a virtual stop by two tractor beams from the remaining Spheres.
“We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.” Came through the ship’s com channel.
“Shields are down to fifty percent” Seven reported as the ship shook under the attack.
“Well that was fun while it lasted” Davis chirps from his operation consol
“Phasers!”
Shenki had barely pulled hers when the five Borg materialised she took aim and shot the closest square in the chest, it crumpled to the ground as the one behind stepped over the corpse. Two more phaser beams hit the invaders, one disabling a drone but the next just hit a green energy field. Shenki moved to the back of the bridge, while tapping the modulation settings on the phaser. She took aim and another two were disable by hers and T’shemap shots, the last had advanced on Seven, who simply turned her phaser rifle around and smashed the Borg around the head causing it to drop to its knees before she struck it again snapping its neck.
“Report.” Shenki called as she approached the Borg she had first taken down and kicked it. There was no reaction.
“Boarding parties on Deck one, five, ten and twelve, all contained, the Sphere on the starboard side shields are failing and the other still has shields at fifty percent.” Thysis reported.
“Our shields are down to 30 percent, the engines are approaching critical levels unless we break free. We have severe power drains in all main systems and weapons are down to sixty percent power.” Seven put her report in.
“T’Shemap, finish that Sphere off, then put everything you have on shutting the other one’s tractor beam. Someone get these things off my bridge.”
Three torpedoes shot from the launcher shattering the hull on the Sphere. The explosion rocked the Lightning. A console on the left side of the bridge exploded, sending sparks, cables and shattered glass on the crewman operating it. Across the bridge Saatok quickly picked up the med kit from her station and move to the crewman while Davis took and extinguisher to the fire.
“Shields down to ten percent.”
“Destroy that damned thing now!” Shenki yelled over the alert sirens.
Flashes of green light shot across the screen, Shenki turned and looked, the Raptor was leaking plasma from its starboard nacelle, but she was firing upon the Sphere, which broke its tractor hold and turned its attention to the renewed assailant.
T’Shemap needed no order she quickly turned the ship and brought the full power of her armaments to bare, despite their limited power. Now within firing angle the cannons opened up and the combined fire from the two damaged ships began pounding the Spheres hull, before both ships launched a volley of torpedoes to finish the Borg Ship off.
“Admiral, we are being hailed by the Klingon ship audio only.” David reported from his station.
“Put it through, Seven, Thysis, Saatok, I want reports from all stations and decks.” Shenki returned to her chair.
“This is Commander Himaki, of the Klingon Defence Force Ship I.K.S Ko’Vash, Thank you for your assistance in dealing with the Borg. Though my tactical officer claims we were doing fine without the aid.” The voice came through the speakers around the bridge.
“This is Vice Admiral Shenki of the Federation star ship U.S.S. Lightning, We are glad we could help, we owe you our thanks for returning the favour and for defending the Colony.”
“Our orders were to stop the Borg incursion. I believe that covers defending colonies that cannot defend themselves. My ship has taken a lot of damage. We are heading back to the colony to begin more substantial repairs. Perhaps when we arrive we could arrange a meeting, our view screening was damaged, and I am a more of a personal type.”
Shenki looked over at T’Shemap, who nodded her approval.
“I look forward to it. We are also going to return to the colony. Lightning out.”
A soft knock sound came through the speakers, signalling the channel was closed.
“A Klingon with a personal touch.” Mused T’Shemap voicing her thoughts, “That’s not a statement we hear a lot.”
“No, I’m curious, they said thank you. Never heard that from a Klingon either.”
T’Shemap tilted her head slightly with eye brows raised. “No, not often that’s for sure.”
“Send off probes to the reaches of the system I want to know if anything gets close to warping in.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
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More to come soon!
